Bici Veloce

Tom Thomas of Upland, CA was a true cycling advocate for the local community. He will be missed.

I deleted the linked article as it was a potential violation of forum rules.

The article on Tom can be found with a simple Google search.

https://www.dailybulletin.com/2022/0...ng-councilman/

CliffordK

It isn't frequent that one reads about a motorcyclist killing a bicyclist. It sounds like it was a pretty hard hit.

If Thomas had a red light, then the motorcyclist should also have had a red light.

Accident approximately here.
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0956...7i16384!8i8192

Lots of median strip barriers.

I'll be curious if a more complete report comes out. Unfortunately, as with Advocacy & Safety, the news blurbs have terse details.

The only thing that I can think of that would bring a motorcycle into a left turn lane with a red light at moderate to high speed is if the motorcylist was using the left turn lane to pass cars with the intention of going straight.

UniChris

"Tom Thomas, 68, an avid cyclist, was on his bike in the left-hand turn pocket of Monte Vista Avenue, waiting to turn onto Richton Street near the Montclair TransCenter on Thursday, Feb. 24, when a motorcycle hit him from behind."

Ick. Person who has every self interest in being more than average aware of situation hits and kills person who was doing everything right, in defiance of the narrowness of both.

Bici Veloce

Just north of that intersection is the Pacific Electric Bike Bike Trail. It's possible Tom's intent was to turn left left onto the trail to resume his ride. The trail usually continues west into Claremont, but a burned down bridge requires cyclists to travel north or south on Monte Vista Ave to access one of the alternate east/west streets.

The case is still under investigation by the Montclair Police Department's Major Accident Investigation Team.

UniChris

The location shows a three-lens traffic light, ie, without a protected left. So the bicyclist may well have been waiting on a green for an opportunity for a safe left.

That does indeed sound probable, modified by the light being green but oncoming traffic precluding executing the left.

But seriously, how do you miss someone sitting there?

Two wheels on two wheels is a really sad blue on blue.

CliffordK

The Google Street View I posted above seems to show 2 green lights for going straight, and a red for the left turn (marked with a red arrow above the turn lane, as well as on the street corner).

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0953...7i16384!8i8192

Some cities will use a blinking yellow or blinking red which would require someone to actually be there to determine the configuration in use.

There are, of course, many different light timing scenarios, so the light could have changed from green to yellow/red, or changed from red to green.

UniChris

You could be a right.

However in the image I saw, the green was just a circle, not an arrow. To me that would imply there are times you can't turn.left, and times you can in the absence of oncoming traffic, but there is no protected left, so you could be waiting there while other traffic zips past.

CliffordK

I agree, sad thing to happen, and motorcycles and bicycles each have their own issues on the road.

Since this is Advocacy and Safety... One might want to ask about lane positioning.

2 straight through lanes, 2 turn lanes.

In some cases one will choose to come out on the left side of a one-way road, and start far to the left. But, usually one will choose to come out on the right side of the road, so positioning oneself in the rightmost turn lane.

My general rule is to position myself in the middle of the turn lane if I am the first one in line (or try to find one of those signal sensors and hope the bike activates it). If there is a line of cars, I'll generally just get in line behind the back vehicle. In that case, I'll generally position myself just to the right of the last car (avoiding sandwich position). I'll generally not lane-split and filter forward.

stevel610 

Very sad, prayers for him and his family.

UniChris

I don't think I've ever faced this on a bike, but I think it would depend on which road concerned me more.

Taking the leftmost left turn lane feels a bit more protected by the median curb and less adjacent to traffic that could be proceeding while I'd be waiting (I can think of situations where the slipstream of traffc doing that will make a waiting car rock a tiny bit). But it would mean having to merge back to the right after the turn, especially as in an intersection that large there's a real chance someone will pass the cyclist during the joint turn, no matter their original position in the lane they were waiting in, though that could influence which side they're passed on.

GamblerGORD53

That intersection looks familiar, like it's happened before.
Seriously, WHY would anybody think they NEED to cross 5 lanes of busy traffic and dangle?? Makes ZERO sense. The right side is a dead end.
Do a ped cross and have ZERO chance of dying.

livedarklions

Oh, good, time for post-mortem second-guessing again.

We all know no one is ever struck in a crosswalk, right?

njkayaker

A link to the article:

https://www.dailybulletin.com/2022/0...ng-councilman/

It's OK to link to stuff (that actually helps the site being linked to).

mr_bill

Full stop. Maybe you want to consider why you want to share your inexperienced views on safety here?

(I have ridden through such intersections. I also blow a kiss to the ghost bikes installed at two such intersections. I also know there are no right answers on how to negotiate such intersections. I choose to STFU.)

-mr. bill

UniChris

Do you really believe that someone's who's never had to contend with the unique situation of a double exclusive left is not in a position to put some thought into the tradeoffs of how they'd approach it if and when they do?

Did you even read what I actually said about the factors? Do you have any issue with those actual points? Do you have actual strategy recommendations, or experiential wisdom to share?

Did you even notice that I had confronted these situations in a car, and that what I mentioned about the car being rocked by the slipstream of passing traffic would obviously also be a concern on a bike?

No, you just went on the attack - not attack of the message, but attack of the author.

Daniel4

I know of a former coworker who had been struck from behind at a left turn lane by a motorist transporting a new car to a dealership. My coworker suffered a dislocated shoulder and back injuries. That was years ago. He's ok now.

When I look at that intersection, it seemed so busy with cars, it looked like it would be safe for a bicycle to wait and turn left like all the other cars. But he was there early in the morning when traffic was swift but not congested. I choose to go straight and then turn my bike leftward on the other side of the intersection.

Bad drivers are everywhere. Even when I do this, I still get drivers making right turns trying to race with me through the intersection when I get my light.

CliffordK

We don't have a lot of details of what happened. However, depending on the streets, the traffic frequently comes in surges, so planning ahead, one can generally safely move to the left long before the critical turn lane. The report indicates that he had moved into the turn lane and was stopped (where other traffic should also stop). Assuming he was in visible clothing and stopped in the middle of the lane, there shouldn't have been anybody going fast where he was at.

One of my exceptionally rare car/bike interactions, I was doing a left turn out of a median bike lane which more or less forced me to do a L crossing on crosswalks. I got across the first segment, then waited for the cross signal to do the second segment. And, when I got the cross indicator and started crossing, a car did a right on red... bam... flat on the ground. I had planned on tapping the car's hood, but hadn't quite done that. Fortunately no significant injuries or damage. Anyway, crosswalks don't create a bubble of protection around oneself.

livedarklions

I'm absolutely with you on the STFU approach. This stuff is situational and we weren't there.

Honestly, I don't know what the point of looking at a google maps picture of an intersection and stating "here's how I'd ride that" is. It's basically a hypothetical anecdote, no way of knowing if it bore any resemblance to what happened and whether the outcome would have been any different.

This amateur forensic crash analysis really needs to stop. Too many wanabee gurus giving speeches standing on a corpse.

livedarklions

It sounds like you either knew him or were affected by his good works. My condolences for the loss.

Bici Veloce

Thank you. Someone close to me enjoyed a professional relationship with him.

Although we never met, I'll never forget Tom. I ride portions of the trail he helped to develop three to four times a week while my wife worries about me. I pass the same intersection on nearly every ride. He encountered my worst fear; getting hit from behind and having no opportunity to engage in defensive maneuvers to avoid a collision. It's scary to think we can be here one day and gone the next because of another's negligence.

Best wishes to all those that cared enough to check out the post.

GamblerGORD53

=================
Actually there's 3 straight thru lanes and a bike lane at least 5'. The line is faded on the north part.
There's very few places like this here. The thru lanes need to be near empty for me to even think about going there.
Going south here on the #2 highway, I have to deal with those dreadful double merge lanes. I usually get over between the lanes while watching my mirror and let the traffic go by on my right, they will usually give me more clearance and go farther right to partly on the shoulder.

It's weird how the media said nothing about the motorcyclist or his MC. They always make a point of saying the SEMI driver was unhurt. But I couldn't get by the news site paywalls either.

SurferRosa

I do that a lot. It saves me time, and I hate waiting at any intersection. I'll even run a stop sign to do all this. But we have the "Idaho stop" here so it's a little easier. Sorta tricky with a traffic light.

The victim apparently got up from where he was hit. While sitting on a curb, he called his wife. He had broken ribs and died from internal injuries a couple days later. Hindsight is always 20/20, but he should not have been moved. RIP. Sounds like a great guy.

Comfort is King

I'm much the same way. I'm extremely weary of waiting like a car to turn left. It's such a vulnerable spot to be. I've seen a few cars get rear-ended while they wait, which tend to be minor fender benders. Stopped on a bike however...

I'll either go straight through, do a hard U-turn, then a hard right, if it's clear. I'll also take a right at the intersection, rather than a left, but then quickly do a U-turn and go straight through the light. Top choice is to just run the light. Momentum confers safety. If you're idol at an intersection, it's too hard to avoid someone coming at you.

Bici Veloce

I haven't heard any updates on the collision...doesn't really matter anyways.

Ride safe all!

This was placed yesterday (https://www.sbsun.com/2022/04/02/gho...st-tom-thomas/)

Bici Veloce

Here's a Twitter link with a few more photos...