Truck ran over cyclists head!

https://news.wjla.com/news/stories/0507/423016.html


Like ILB says - maybe the helmet was off his head and the concussion was from the fall

Betcha $5 that your helmet won't be much help if your head is inside the helmet when a truck runs over it. Put your money up in advance before proving me wrong.

I hate truchs.

Sorry.

Nah, I have a feeling that you'll a pretty good indication the second or two before it happens. And a severe indication afterwards.

The story reads slightly differently at:
https://www.madison.com/tct/news/inde...133934&ntpid=0

There was also plenty of video of the intersection on the Milwaukee news last night.

I don't want to turn this into a pro-vs-anti bike "facility" debate (there's plenty of other places for that) but I think this an example of a very poorly designed bike facility.

As far as I can tell from the press, the biker did nothing legally wrong and the van driver did lots wrong (fail to yield right of way and leaving the scene, possibly driving too fast for conditions).

However, lets look at the bike path itself. The "path" that "parallels Eastwood Drive" is a glorified sidewalk. The biker did not have a "green light" on the path/sidewalk, he had a "walk" signal and he rode his bike into a crossWALK (this is what was shown on the news). He also was not at the intersection when the light changed, he came up to it with the "walk" already on.

At even moderate speeds, bikes move faster than pedestrians and this biker was riding "swiftly" (or "pretty fast" depending on the article). Therefore his appearance in the intersection could have been quite a surprise to motor vehicles (unless they're locals who know this is both a sidewalk and a bike path). Even when I'm actually walking, I hesitate entering a crosswalk if I wasn't right there when the light changed.

Again, I want to point out that I'm not blaming the biker and I'm not excusing the driver. I AM asking whether or not the basic design of the intersection is dangerous.

There are a couple of intersections like this on my commute and I avoid them because they look dangerous and they seem to confuse right-of-way issues.

How many of you have problems with "is it a bike path or a sidewalk?" facilities on your commutes? How many of you have those types of paths and have never had a problem?

Tom

SNAP!

Occasionally I ride on paths like that as long as they don't have too many intersections (if they do, forget it - I'm taking the road). I haven't had any problems, but that's because there is no chance in hell I'd ride into any of those intersections full speed unless there is good visibility and I see no traffic around.

The bit about the truck running over the guy's head is ridiculous. What's amazing is that it seems to me (from a couple of other threads) that some people accepted it without questioning and went on to sing praises to bicycle helmets. That kind of furthers my convictions that there is a religious cult of bike helmets and that it's becoming the state religion of many countries... with prosecution of those who do not subscribe to the belief.

Glad to hear he's ok. When I read about stuff like this, I ask myself, would I have ended up like him if I was in that situation? Although the cyclist did nothing wrong and the truck was the one that failed to yield, we should all know how to avoid accidents like this. So, never zoom into a crosswalk and know how to stop quickly without flipping forward.