Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT: Cars vs Bicycles
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May 10, 2011 at 5:09 pm #598874
ElizagraceParticipantCars, please respect the bicycles. You may not like them going slow(er) in the road, you may not like having to scoot over to accommodate them. You may even have some aversion to them as a whole. You may even see them as a nuisance.
Bottom line: if a car hits a bike, no matter who is at fault the bike always hurts worse.
As the sun comes out(?) we will see more on the road and we all need to be mindful of sharing the road.
*This weekend my husband was riding on Beach drive and was hit by a car who was coming off a stop sign. He ended up getting clipped, hitting a parked car and landing on the pavement. Damage: his bike has damage, the parked car lost a side mirror, and he is in the hospital getting x-rays for a shoulder that won’t function as a result of the shoulder to pavement action.
Maybe he should have slammed on the breaks but he and the driver made eye contact and he made the assumption that the car would yield since he had the right of way and because in car vs bike the car always wins. Except you don’t get a trophy, you get damage to everyone and thing invovled.
Slow down. Be aware of your surroundings. Remember that we have to share the road!
May 10, 2011 at 5:31 pm #724080
dbseaMemberI’m sorry to hear about your husband. Bad way to start “summer.” Just curious, were the police involved?
May 10, 2011 at 5:55 pm #724081
ElizagraceParticipantThanks dbsea, I feel badly for him since he was just trying to get warmed up for biking to work this summer and now he is unable to put a shirt on comfortably. He didn’t even think about calling the police at the time and looking back later said he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it since the driver felt bad and he got their info. (most non-confrontational person ever!)
There was a witness who said that he was not at fault and stuck around. the driver did stop and gave their information. My husband went to the house of the owner of the damaged car and spoke to her aunt and gave all three pieces on contact info (his, the witness and the driver) so they have all that for their car repair.
It was just so avoidable.
May 10, 2011 at 6:04 pm #724082
amaliaParticipantPlease, for the sake of all cyclists, fill out a police report! It doesn’t mean the driver will be cited (although it sounds as if s/he should be), but your husband may have ongoing fitness issues that his insurance doesn’t cover, and the driver’s insurance should.
I’m sorry that your husband got hit. It’s a shame that riders have to be so hyper-attentive to drivers constantly (make eye contact with every one of them at every intersection, assume they will pull out in front of you, assume they will run the stop sign, assume they don’t know how fast you are going or don’t see you, assume they are looking at their phone…) – definitely detracts from the pleasure of the ride.
May 10, 2011 at 6:43 pm #724083
dbseaMemberSounds like it was handled very well. Hopefully he can be back on that bike soon.
I ride regularly round the western half of WSea and it’s amazing how little I actually see. I’m always looking in my mirror and into parked cars (waiting for that opening door). It’s work trying to be non-stop vigilant but when your body is in the street you have to be. And even then it’s a gamble. Sometimes I wish I lived in the boonies. But usually not.
May 10, 2011 at 8:43 pm #724084
AlParticipantGlad your husband is ok.
On a personal note seeing “Cars vs Bikes” is a bit inflammatory. It’s not a war or a fight between the two, but rather learning to co-exist and navigate with different road users. Although some people would agree it’s a battle…but I don’t think the OP means it that way.
I do agree with reporting it to the police or at least here: http://www.bikewise.org/
City agencies use this data – you can report not only crashes but hazards and bike theft.
May 10, 2011 at 11:23 pm #724085
ElizagraceParticipantOh man I didn’t even think about that. I was just thinking in this case, the accident was a car and a bike. Can I change the title?
May 14, 2011 at 3:36 am #724086
sun*eParticipantAs a bicyclist, I move over if there is a car behind me cuz I know they can drive faster than me. As a driver, I can never figure out WHY some bicyclists don’t understand that concept – you are NOT faster than a car.
May 14, 2011 at 1:39 pm #724087
AlParticipantSun-e, a cyclist does not have to move over for a car if the cyclist thinks it is unsafe to do so. There are several places in my commute at which the road is just narrow enough or drivers are so aggressive that unless I “take the lane” they will pass me too close. More experienced cyclists will do this to some extent. It’s better to slow down and yield to the cyclists’s right of way until it’s safe to pass or the cyclist moves over (many will do so once it’s safe for them). Remember there is no minimum speed on any of our local roadways and slowing down for a few seconds is ok.
May 15, 2011 at 5:25 pm #724088
dgirlMemberThis can be an exceptionally sensitive subject…especially since bike riders are obviously more vulnerable than the driver of cars. But…pedestrians are more vulnerable still. I used to work on the Seattle waterfront and commuter bicyclists would ZOOM down the sidewalk as I tried to walk to work. I wasn’t the only one who felt in danger…many of my co-workers called the city to determine our “rights”. Seems we didn’t have any. Bikes can use the street OR the sidewalk. Imagine walking down the sidewalk and feeling a breeze as a zooming bicyclist passes you by…within inches! We had accidents and injuries…and many bikes who hurried on their way after clipping a walker. So…safety and manners for all!
May 16, 2011 at 9:42 pm #724089
ElizagraceParticipantOur family used to live in New Delhi India where the informal road rules were as follows: biggest vehicle gets the right of way no exceptions and no questions asked. Bike trumps ped, but he is trumped by tuk tuk (three wheeled scooter) which is overtaken by the Ambassador car, which can be taken off the road by the elephant which is in danger of the over packed bus and on it goes…
In 2009 the per hour death toll on the roads of India were 14.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5519345,00.html
“road accidents have earned India a dubious distinction. With over 130,000 deaths annually, the country has overtaken China and now has the worst road traffic accident rate worldwide.”
All the more reason to remember to respect the other people on the road (and sidewalk) and using the opposite mentality to that of India might serve us well.
Watch out for the little guys!
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