Report on the relatively recent trend of cyclists using small video recorders to document bad run-ins with motorists. A couple of recent, higher profile examples of how video helped draw attention to cyclists’ vulnerability.
Good idea: I think I’ll start saving my money to get one. Continue reading
Here’s an excellent article by Steven Elbow, a cyclist in Madison, imploring motorists in that city to open their eyes a bit. Apparently, things in Wisconsin are a bit out of control. I should be thankful for the climate we have here in Los Angeles. Here’s one, very good quote, from Dave Schlabowske, Milwaukee’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinator in the article:
“…[Motorists] see this bicyclist roll up to a red light and then just roll through it, to them it seems so obvious and so egregious,” he says. “But they never think, ‘Well, I was just breaking the law for the last eight miles.’ They’re not thinking about their own behavior.”
And here’s another:
I also think that the motorists’ anger toward cyclists is way out of proportion with bicyclists’ anger toward drivers, not because bicyclists are better people, but because almost all of them also drive cars. Maybe things would get better if more motorists got on a bike.
Cyclists Struck in Separate Crashes in Brooklyn and Manhattan; One Dead
by Noah Kazis on April 14, 2010
One person is dead and another appears to be seriously injured after two separate car-on-bike crashes in New York City today.
Via Gothamist, a driver struck and killed a cyclist at Flatbush Avenue and Duryea Place in Ditmas Park this morning. NYPD says that the cyclist, a white male in his twenties, was traveling east on Duryea and the motorist was traveling north on Flatbush. The investigation is ongoing.
At 23rd Street and Lexington, Gothamist reports that a cab driver struck another cyclist, who witnesses say was not moving after being put in an ambulance. We have requests in with NYPD and will report additional details as they become available.
In a third incident, a commercial van struck a pedestrian at Front Street and Washington Street in Dumbo, according to Brownstoner. The pedestrian, a 32-year-old female, sustained minor head injuries. There was “no criminality involved,” according to the NYPD, although there were stop signs at the intersection for each of the two one-way streets.
A year of pursuit leads to arrest in hit and run
While this article has the ring of good news–the perpetrator has been found & arrested–it is still anything but. Continue reading
Dear Black Mercedes-Benz Driver,
I just want to thank you for your wonderful help this morning. I have to admit, pushing the pedals on my bicycle along at such a rate that I was maintaining 23mph and an elevated heart rate, I’m sure I was in danger of falling asleep. If you hadn’t passed me so close that your side mirror came within three inches of my handlebar and woken me up with a sudden shot of adrenalin, I don’t know what I would have done. I’m sure I would have fallen asleep and fallen off my bicycle. It’s people like you as you look out for your fellow man who make me glad to be alive. Our world is such a wonderful place because of you.
Oh sure, there are poor examples of humanity out there, people who only look out for themselves and their perceived rights. But I am sure you are not one of them, Ms. Black Mercedes-Benz Driver. I am sure you were only looking out for my safety and didn’t want me nodding off. And as you sat at the very next red light as I passed you, you didn’t even seek acknowledgement from me. What character!
It is grand of you to push aside the laws of this fine state so that you could alert me to the danger I was in. Thank you. So California law allows cyclists to leave the “far right as practicable” in order to go around obstructions. So California statute allows bicyclists to “take the lane” when the lane is not wide enough to safely accommodate the bicycle and a passing vehicle. You didn’t let those silly little laws slow you down from doing your civic duty. I thank you, Ms. Black Mercedes-Benz Driver.
My apologies, Ms. Black Mercedes-Benz Driver, for possibly slowing you down, and causing you to go out of your way to alert me to my situation. I don’t know whatever I can do to make it up to you. I am sure you must have missed your very important appointment this morning, all due to me riding around that parked bus.
Again, thank you for you consideration for my well-being.
– The C-Blog