DiabloScott

I don't see any place on their site where we can find information like that.

Friend of mine was in the Black Bear Diner and didn't see it happen, but ran out right away to assist. He's an accident investigator so he took photos and notes to give the police. I got to see some gruesome photos. He's been dealing with witness trauma.

I understand why people cross here without the crossing light, but you gotta do it with full knowledge of the danger. I also don't cross WITH the light until I can see traffic stopping.

Joe Bikerider

Your Google-foo is weak grasshopper. You can look at: Daily Bulletin | City of Walnut Creek And select the desired date.

Regarding crossing with the light. I, like you always wait until the cross traffic is all stopped or is gonna be. I mean "DUH!". I will post back on this thread when I can read the report. Yes, I know it's one side of the story etc. but it's something, isn't it? Thanks Scott.

CliffordK

That was extremely informative.



I am a bit surprised that this hasn't been picked up by a local news outlet.

Joe Bikerider

I have been checking daily for any coverage on the cctimes. The library (ccclib.org) has daily issues of this journal. But as we all know local papers have been pretty much wiped out by the internet. Very sad since the CCtimes printing plant was right near the accident and their remaining offices are right there too. BTW the printing plant buildings have been repurposed into youth soccer/basketball/sports facilities. New industry. No comment.

mr_bill

SJMN - “Bicyclist hit in Walnut Creek still hospitalized”

-mr. bill

Joe Bikerider

Very sad. The local blog has this:

https://claycord.com/2019/08/27/gofun...-walnut-creek/

This includes gofundme sympathy text. Take it for it is. So many questions.

CliffordK

And that is the root of the controversy here. According to the GoFundMe page, Tommy was "legally" crossing the road at the time of the accident. Hopefully there is collaboration with witnesses and perhaps video.

The cyclist that waits, crosses halfway when clear, then crosses the second half when clear again, or perhaps stops in the median buffer when lights change may actually be safer than the cyclist that dutifully waits for the light, then goes without making sure all crossing traffic stops.

Of course, another cyclist may see the first cyclist cross against the light, and not fully understand the nuances of his crossing and put themselves (or vehicles) in danger by doing a more reckless crossing.

I have one trail that I ride on that has both a crosswalk light and a bus light. I tend to ride based on the bus light. But, if another cyclist saw me, it may not be immediately obvious that I wasn't simply crossing against a "do not walk" symbol.

curbtender

There is an elementary school off the trail to the east of that crossing and Heather Farms park is not too far down the trail to the west. A light is needed there. Yes, most people could navigate that crosswalk safely but apparently there are sight issues coming into play. The trail dips down on both sides before the sidewalk and fencing and hedges on both sides obscure vision. Maybe rumble dots on both the road and the trail would wake people up.

Joe Bikerider

There is a light there. Some riders wait for the green. Others think it’s better to cross at their own time. What actually happened will hopefully be revealed after more evidence is published.

CliffordK

How is the light triggered? Is it timed and synchronized with traffic lights?

Or, is it always red until someone triggers it. Then 5 minutes later, it actually switches. Can it be triggered, say 50 yards before the intersection?

CliffordK

The STOP marking on the pavement is 2 feet behind the button? Which one does one respect? And is it a STOP or a Light?

I do find those normally red lights where one has to get all the way to the light to push the button to be rather annoying. Although we have worse button placement in some places around here.

Especially if the lights are slow cycling, so one has to get all the way to the intersection to activate the light, then invariably one has a long wait.

Of course, it is better than no button, or a button way on the right side of the road (or on a sidewalk) when one is turning left (and in this case, no buttons on the center island if one gets stuck there).

Why not just time the lights along the boulevard. And, time this one to activate in synch with all the other ones. It wouldn't significantly impact traffic movement, and may well help vehicles get used to seeing a light there.

curbtender

Someone made a disastrous mistake. How do you regulate that?

CliffordK

Are you talking about basic design of the road crossing, or the driver (or perhaps the cyclist)?

Some people would wish to throw the drivers in jail for an "accident". Yet, they did cause brutal harm to an individual.

It should be noted that an attentive cyclist can avoid many dangerous situations, but there is always that person that it will catch up to.

Even the best drivers are only perfect, say 99% of the time, and the best cyclists 99% of the time. But, when those two intersect, 0.01% of the time, something bad happens.

rumrunn6

I think bikes & cars would both appreciate an overpass for the bikes. looks like this guy got stuck in the middle with a red light for the bikes

rumrunn6

I think the family of the dead person would disagree

curbtender

The light takes away the thought process of navigating traffic. Not always a good thing. As far as bridges, that trail crosses multiple streets. It would be nice to have unlimited resources but that's not going to happen. Your best defense against this type of accident is to keep your head on a swivel.

rumrunn6

fwiw - got lots of bridges for bike trails in MA ... but if that trail has so many road crossings then bridges may not make sense. just thinking out load

DiabloScott

Bridges generally get put in when the cycling traffic on the trails slows down the auto traffic too much.

This became clear to me when I was on the local bicycle advisory committee and had multiple meetings with the traffic department.

CliffordK

That is a pretty long crossing, but for a similar canal trail, we have underpasses around here (many, but not all road crossings).

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.0471...7i13312!8i6656



It is quite possible that the trail was cut under an existing bridge, or extending new bridge construction slightly wouldn't have been that big of an expense.

Underpasses make the riding along river and canal trails much more pleasant.

I presume the path floods periodically, but if one can cover 99% of the time, it is pretty good.

Unfortunately, the Contra Costa Canal Trail doesn't look like it has enough space under the bridges So, overpasses would be the solution. And, they would be fairly high and long.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9268...7i13312!8i6656

Fortunately the canal does limit the number of road crossings a bit, but most of them are major roads. Still, one could choose the largest roads for the first bridges.

There may be some places where the canal is low enough to get bikes under the bridges, at least seasonally, although it would be pretty tight.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9480...7i13312!8i6656

CliffordK

ICU with brain swelling?

rumrunn6

my bad, w/ all due respect to the family

rumrunn6

we also have trails with big metal tubes as underpasses, but with the canal thing, I guess that's an engineering nightmare

CliffordK

It depends a lot on the average water level and summer water level.

With the Amazon Creek/Canal/Slough trail, the water level is generally far enough below road level that one can cut under the bridges, most of the time.

I presume it had sloping banks, and one simply had to dig out some of the bank under the existing bridges to put the bike path in.

Although, there are some odd road crossings that remain including crossing the road and bridge to end up on the opposite side of the canal.

The Willamette River trails are nice because all of the vehicle bridges are way up there. No need for dips in the bike path under bridges. And, the city chose to build bridges around utility systems, so we have a LOT of bike bridges across the river.

We have a few bridges over roads such as going over the freeway in one place (plus a few going under other branch freeways, generally sharing bridges with other uses). At least 2 of the road bridges are near schools and designed for pedestrians and not bikes.

curbtender

It's really an irrigation ditch.

curbtender

They legalize mushrooms already?