Remember that cyclist that was hit by that Jeep in Lawrenceville? (fit in, daycare)

[selltheburgh]

Yes, on mother's day. His poor mother. He was likely drunk. I forget the stats, but well over half of the drivers after midnight are above the legal limit.

[CaptainPittsburgh]

I'm sure that I'm oversensitive as a cyclist, but I wish that alongside all other punitive measures there was a mandatory permanent revocation of driving privileges for perpetrators of hit and runs. Granted, that would just ensure that nobody would ever turn themselves in after the fact, like this loser apparently did, so it wouldn't really be viable, haha.

I don't think you should ever be back in the driver's seat after doing something like this. The fact that this yahoo already had a suspended license really is nauseating. I'm glad the victim is recovering and planning to continue work in bike advocacy.

Maybe they should sentence the driver to like forty years of community service working for Bike PGH.

[selltheburgh]

Originally Posted by CaptainPittsburgh

Maybe they should sentence the driver to like forty years of community service working for Bike PGH.

he should have to repaint the bike lanes all through the city by hand and be forced to bike between each section.

[CaptainPittsburgh]

Hahahahahahahaha. Yes.

[Scott2187]

Originally Posted by CaptainPittsburgh

I'm sure that I'm oversensitive as a cyclist, but I wish that alongside all other punitive measures there was a mandatory permanent revocation of driving privileges for perpetrators of hit and runs. Granted, that would just ensure that nobody would ever turn themselves in after the fact, like this loser apparently did, so it wouldn't really be viable, haha.

I don't think you should ever be back in the driver's seat after doing something like this. The fact that this yahoo already had a suspended license really is nauseating. I'm glad the victim is recovering and planning to continue work in bike advocacy.

Maybe they should sentence the driver to like forty years of community service working for Bike PGH.

The fact that he was driving on a suspended license shows that someone was trying to keep him off the road... too bad that didn't work the way it should have.

[Joe Magarac]

It's worth noting that the intersection where this accident happened - Liberty Avenue and Ligonier Street - is an extremely dangerous one for bikes. Liberty Avenue has a bike lane as you head downhill toward the Strip District, but it ends - and Liberty becomes a four-lane thoroughfare - just before this intersection.

I commute by bike to work and go through this area every morning. In my opinion, the intersection as presently configured is WAY too dangerous for bikes to proceed safely downhill on Liberty after the bike lane ends. I did it once and won't do it again. Cars coming up out of the Strip (as the car that caused this accident was doing) are usually proceeding at a high rate of speed, and cars in the left lane (as this car apparently was) are supposed to continue onto Ligonier. It's true that the cars coming uphill out of the Strip and bearing left onto Ligonier are supposed to give vehicles coming downhill the right of way, but bikes are hard to see under the best of conditions, and that is especially true when it is late at night and the bike is moving at a fast clip downhill.

Riding downhill into this intersection at any time of day is a very risky thing to do; at 2:30 am it would be extremely risky: you are trusting that vehicles coming uphill out of the Strip and bearing left onto Ligonier are going to be looking for a bike - which they are not. The safer thing for bike commuters who are heading downhill to do is to exit Liberty before this dangerous intersection, by turning right onto 34th Street - which is marked with huge sharrows - and then turning left onto Spring Way, which leads into the Strip District and is used by many bikes.

I say this not to excuse the driver - he was wrong for not giving the bike the right of way, and wrong again for not stopping after he hit someone. But it is also important to bike cautiously.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by Joe Magarac

It's worth noting that the intersection where this accident happened - Liberty Avenue and Ligonier Street - is an extremely dangerous one for bikes....

for drivers, too. impatience, and speed...did you ever drive up 34th as someone comes down ligonier to make a left hand turn onto 34th? if they stop at all, they only glance to their right before they pull out in front of you. i actually think its arguably safer sometime to bike around bloom/lawrenceville into the Strip.

good luck to young Dan Yablonsky for a full recovery. (i cant imagine id be as restrained as his parents must be, based on that recent article in the PG. i would be livid if it were my kid).

[CaptainPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

(i cant imagine id be as restrained as his parents must be, based on that recent article in the PG. i would be livid if it were my kid).

Indeed, while wise (and classy) of them to maintain that sort of congenial discourse in the media, I'm sure it's extremely difficult. I would attempt to do the same, but I'm not sure how successful I would be, haha.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I guess a Lawyer would do it, since they know it is in the best interest of themselves.

Since BrianTH is an attorney should we be expecting him to run you over with his (Prius, I'm assuming?) sometime soon and then prance away, unscathed, laughing?

[Pitts64]

People drive too fast period..

I'm not a cyclist but I always look out for them, especially in my work truck with the mirrors sticking out. It's a shame, these people are trying to rebuild this city and make it something other then dope fiends and methadone clinics and some of these jaggoffs try to run them over....