Bicyclist recounts hitting pedestrian who dies, dedicates it to his helmet (Oakland: to live in, dangerous)

[ubringliten]

More news today. Drivers everywhere are killing peds and cyclists.

Ped killed by a driver in Mountain View.
Police seek ID of pedestrian struck and killed by vehicle in Mountain View - San Jose Mercury News

Cyclist killed by a SUV driver in Oakland.
Oakland man, 51, killed on bike by SUV

I can post this kind of news everyday but it never gets the attention like the two bike-ped accidents in 5 years. We should do away cars and install mass transit and bike paths.

As for bikes taking full use of the lane, I wholeheartedly agree. Cyclists have to be visible to those distracted drivers. Ipods, Iphones, radio, book-listening, drinking latte, eating, etc. are adding to the growing distractions. Cars have rear-view cameras and auto-assisted parallel parking are making driver more complacent, not to mention about the pounds they gain from driving.

[ubringliten]

Originally Posted by NYCtoSF

Just hang this dude, make an example out of him.

But we need to hang the drivers that kill 33,000 of peds/cyclists killed every year in the US first. Deal?

[ubringliten]

Bethlehem Car v Bike Crash Hit and Run - YouTube

Dozens of hit and runs occur every day in the States and that is way more reckless than the cyclist that killed the elderly man in Castro. Those never get reported. I wonder why?

[fizbin]

Agreed that the cases of bikes hitting pedestrians are way overblown in the media compared to car vs. bike or car vs. pedestrian. Sorta like man bites dog. On the scale of ways we can die, getting hit by a bike is way down my list of concerns.

[rkwalton]

Originally Posted by SunDevil1212

This is why I've started biking in the center of the lane, at least on busier streets (unless of course its a unusually wide street or there is a dedicated bike lane). If you squeeze as far to the right of the lane as possible, cars will attempt to pass you without changing lanes - often with another car in the lane directly to the left of them, giving them little to no breathing room to make the pass. Plus, you are more exposed to getting "doored" by a parked car. It's an accident waiting to happen.

Cars get upset, of course - but I don't lose any sleep over it. Just point out the signs:

Totally. I tried to look ahead enough for heads in the driver's seats of the vehicles parked on the side, but, yes, I know it's a risk. That's why I do ride as far to the middle of the lane as possible.

However, on Divis yesterday? I just wanted to get off that street and to the bus stop ASAP. It was only a short distance before I was like "f$%k this". I made it in one piece to California St., but this whole argument about dangerous bikers is sort of ridiculous.

Neither group is stacked 100% with inconsiderate people. In fact, I'd say that most err the other way of not wanting to hit or hurt someone. However, drivers that are hostile to bikers are just a$$e$. Bikers who are inconsiderate are the same. I think we can all agree on that.

[rkwalton]

Originally Posted by ubringliten

Bethlehem Car v Bike Crash Hit and Run - YouTube

Dozens of hit and runs occur every day in the States and that is way more reckless than the cyclist that killed the elderly man in Castro. Those never get reported. I wonder why?

LOVE that the bus saw it and blocked the driver!

[jade408]

Originally Posted by bentobox34

I take issue with this. Biking on the street can be extremely dangerous in areas where there is no bike lane and you are sharing the road with a bunch of ignorant drivers. Plus, in many cities in the Bay Area, the sidewalks are so underused that you are not inconveniencing anyone.

The no-sidewalks rule is incredibly restrictive against beginning and less confident cyclists. Lets get real, biking in a city like Oakland or SF is hair-raising. It's no coincidence that the vast majority of urban cyclists in the US are 20-something males. What about the rest of the population? Now in cities like Copenhagen you have everyone from 5 to 85 riding bikes in the city, because they have the infrastructure and culture that makes it safe to ride a bike. Until we get there, I say sidewalk riding at low speed, and dismounting when there are actual pedestrians on the sidewalk, is perfectly acceptable as far as I'm concerned.

As a sidewalk user, I disagree. Unless you live in shiny new suburbia, sidewalks are narrow. MAny of them can't fit more than 2-3 people walking across.

Pedaling on the sidewalk makes you significantly faster than the pedestrians. I can't tell you how many times I have been nearly rundown by a cyclist on the sidewalk who is riding in the middle, and assuming he has the right of way.

But more importantly, some bicyclists feel entitled to follow all of the rules of the road, depending on how convenient it is. They pretend to be a car and zoom through green lights. Then of course, go back to pedestrian status, and keep on cycling through the crosswalk to keep up momentum, or go on the sidewalk on the reds. Or take up the whole lane and then split lanes when car traffic is going too slowly.

Oakland and Berkeley have done a great job with bicycle boulevards that are adjacent to the main arteries. These streets are low traffic with speed bumps, so you can bike in the middle of the street with no problems. Perfect for a novice. You don't have to spend your whole ride on Telegraph.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by ubringliten

Concord SUV kills father, daughter riding bikes

Here is something that occurs every freaking day in the Bay Area that doesn't get mainstream media attention.

Ponder long and hard when you drive you are a weapon to society.

Disagree, this was a big story. They have been doing near daily updates on this one on SFGate. (If there is a kid involved it is a big story)

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by ubringliten

More news today. Drivers everywhere are killing peds and cyclists.

Ped killed by a driver in Mountain View.
Police seek ID of pedestrian struck and killed by vehicle in Mountain View - San Jose Mercury News

Cyclist killed by a SUV driver in Oakland.
Oakland man, 51, killed on bike by SUV

I can post this kind of news everyday but it never gets the attention like the two bike-ped accidents in 5 years. We should do away cars and install mass transit and bike paths...

Here's an interesting opinion piece about the double standard in the media of bike-on-pedestrian incidents vs. car-on-pedestrian incidents.

SF Media’s Double Standard on Traffic Crashes Rears Its Head Again | Streetsblog San Francisco

Some highlights:

...Two or three people are injured on the city’s streets every day, statistically speaking. And Bastida, being the hands-on newscaster he is, was in the field to get to the root of this “growing problem for pedestrians,” as CBS 5 put it.

“We talked to a lot of the people who live in the neighborhood. It’s not just this neighborhood,” Bastida said before cutting to an interview with a man on the street. I was glad to hear him acknowledge this — a pedestrian was injured around the corner from my home in the Inner Sunset that evening.

This issue needs more scrutiny from the media. After all, 800 pedestrian injures are reportedly hit every year, and 13 people were killed last year — the vast majority by cars.

Except Bastida wasn’t there to talk about cars. CBS sent the journo-turned-pedestrian-advocate out there to talk about bikes.

That’s because a bicycle rider hit an elderly man at that intersection yesterday morning, and both were hospitalized. “Witnesses say a bicyclist came barreling down the street, right down Castro, through the red light, and struck him,” Bastida said. Fortunately, both parties seem to be making a recovery today.

There’s no excuse for colliding with a pedestrian in a crosswalk, no matter what your mode of travel. But there’s also no excusing the double standard apparent in the media’s obsession with bike crashes, while traffic injuries caused by motorists go vastly under-reported...

Lots of people really find bikers annoying. I get it, I can see where they're coming from (even if I think having that opinion is childish, completely simplified, and generalizes a non-monolithic group made up of many, many different types of people (maybe even you)). But, if we're going to talk about overall danger posed, cars/buses/trucks are still BY FAR the greater risk to pedestrians.

It is really unfortunate that the few moron bike riders out there, who fail to adhere to any road laws, really do give all bikers a bad name. And, it is also unfortunate that when I listen to the radio talking about this issue in the bay area, people are talking about making threats to pull people off of their bikes and beat them up (referencing a story on "forum" on KQED yesterday). Seriously...that's just sad if that is where we are as a society.

At some point, we're all pedestrians, and many of us are cyclists, motorists, or even both...so next time you're driving and dream about "running over" that cyclist who has the gall to ride in the middle of the lane...or next time you're biking and want to flip off and yell some profanity at some driver for getting to close to you, stop and think: that person could be you. And what good does it do to incite anger in "the other side" (since this always seemed to be framed as a war). Respect for each other will be the only thing that will fix this problem. I can hope this can be achieved, but who knows if that's possible (I certainly have my doubts).

[DinsdalePirahna]

Bikes should be able to use the road, as they stay to the right far enough to avoid "door zones" and take the lane only when making a turn. Common sense.

I ride and I drive, pretty much equally. I prefer riding when ever I can. great way to avoid traffic and get some exercise along the way.

That being sai, I am all for ticketing cyclists that violate the rules (especially riding against traffic) - I wish the police be more vigilant. Yesterday, I was almost pushed into a retaining wall by some knob riding on the wrong side of the street while playing with his phone. Off course I had some "words" with him.

The other thing I would do is ban brakeless bikes or bikes without a functional rear brake. Stupid hipsters can find some other way to draw attention to themselves.