Bicycle vs red light vs bus
 

Offered without comment, opinion or agenda. Feel free to use this as an example to make any point you wish.

http://www.highwaysindustry.com/video-cyclist-ignores-red-light-but-cant-ignore-bus/ .

Stupid is as stupid does.

In life, you have to take responsibility for your actions.

:thumb:

If you read the comments on the Youtube video, the cyclist posted up. He was trying to time the light, when he realized he wouldn't, he got on his front brake and his cable snapped and the back brake couldn't stop him in time.

Or so he says.

I saw pretty much the same thing happen... only downhill. The cyclist purposely ran into a car (someone I work with) rather than cross into the intersection on red. He ended up with a concussion.

Kudos to the pedestrian in sport jacket who immediately went up to help the falling cyclist.

Agree. That was the most relevant part of the video for me. We all make mistakes and many of us have had equipment failures.

The speed he was moving and the obviousness that he was slamming that bus makes me believe that something did go wrong with his braking.

Wow! I've never seen a suicidal cyclist before. Hopefully they obtained mental health treatment.

The cyclist was also not doing it right. When I want to completely blow a red light I always enter the intersection at a modest diagonal while countersteering.


examples here at 2:05, 2:34, and 2:43.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y6ngX6Mu0c

At what used to be my local double century ride last week, a rider ran a stop sign and T-boned the semi-trailer of a truck in the first fifteen miles. It didn't end well. Oddly enough, the truck was coming from the cyclists left and the intersection was at such an angle that the cyclist had a very long, clear view that direction (with an obstructed view the other way). Weird way to die.

So, he was LATE for the light. I don't see the yellow, but it was clearly red by the time he hit the crosswalk which was quite some distance before the intersection. And the official mark to stop was quite some distance before the crosswalk. There was a taxi that appeared to make a right turn after the light turned red too.

So, the bike is a fixie, front brake (maybe), no rear brake, wet weather, and broken equipment.

I have to say that I'm glad it wasn't much worse.

Perhaps this wasa mechanical that prevented him from stopping in time... perhaps not. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and also glad he seems to be okay.

When I was a kid (around 10 years old), I was in my parent's car stopped at an intersection and witnessed a cyclist ignore a red light. Unfortunately the mass of the gravel dump truck that was the cross-traffic wasn't able to ignore the laws of physics. The cyclist was dragged about half a block and left a pretty large red stain on the concrete. Let's just say that left a pretty lasting impression on me.

A few years back, I had a conversation with an owner of a fully loaded 20,000 lb truck, in which he uses several parked cars as a brake when his brakes failed, no one was hurt, but several vehicle owners were none too happy when they returned to their parked vehicles. Later on, I was able to talk to one of the parked vehicle's owner, they had just paid it off a week before the collision.

Stupid Hurts.

It should hurt, but not kill.

It'd be nice if stupidity didn't kill, but it does. Unfortunately it often kills someone else, and not just the offender.

The "Stupid Hurts" slogan is from a Honda marketing campaign a few years ago.

http://ns11.ecommercediscovery.com/i...idersafety.gif

Link: ATV Source Article - Honda "Stupid Hurts" Campaign

The "I was trying to time the red light but my brake cable snapped" story stretches credibility. I think the cyclist was trying to time it to slip through the traffic on the cross street but the bus was moving too slow to clear out of his path. It does look like he slowed down but it was too little too late especially with wet conditions.

I always disliked the use of the term "versus" when used in the context of bike/motor vehicle collisions. Neither are adversaries out to defeat the other.

A little bit of stupid can hurt for a long time, but extremely high levels of stupid only hurt for a second or two.

Indeed. It looks to me like he's still pedaling well after the light turns red. He was blowing the light pure and simple.

I don't have the stomach to read the YouTube comments. However, I watch the video once and I thought the biker was trying to slow. There are wet roads, plus a mechanical and add a little gamble (timing the light) .... it all adds up to me. However, the bike-hater will happily use this video to support their hate for all bikers.

Comment on the Manchester Evening News Facebook Page, fwiw:

"Gary Wilkinson I was the driver of the bus and just to let everyone know I parked just round the corner and ran back. The cyclist was very lucky and only suffered a cut to one of his knuckles. Also in the cyclists defence his brake cable snapped and he couldn't stop. Scariest thing that ever happened to me"

-mr. bill

Darwin Award nominee