DiabloScott

What I see happen a lot at this intersection is that a cyclist will see the green light from 30 yards away and speed up to make it across before it changes (I have done this myself). The problem is that you can't see cross traffic until you're right at the edge of the road.

In this case though, if the rider was going EAST and the driver was going NORTH (toward Treat) the rider had already crossed the southbound two lanes and he should've had time to see that the car wasn't going to stop. Something doesn't add up here though because the head-windshield impact was on the passenger side of the automobile (private photo I saw) so I think the bike rider may have been going west... like in RumRunn's photo with the rider a little farther back and impacting that Prius on the passenger side. That kind of collision would be what I would expect from my first paragraph.

Paul Barnard

Legal does not equal safe.

Illegal does not equal unsafe.

Joe Bikerider

It’s more than just a ditch.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_Costa_Canal

CliffordK

Oh, I can imagine.

I like those countdown timers on crosswalks, and can really hit the speed when they get down to a few seconds.

Still, one should be paying attention to traffic, but one can get pretty concentrated on beating the lights.

Note, of course, that if the light was "stale", then it means the cross traffic had a red for quite some time.

Good point about East/North.

One additional issue. Cities like planting shrubbery, trees, & etc. It looks like that center strip has quite a bit of freshly planted vegetation. The planted vegetation may well be good for cars (helps them see a place not to drive & separation between lanes). But, it can be bad for bicycles. Either obscuring the cyclist, or perhaps giving the car driver a false sense of being in an isolated lane.

rumrunn6

yeah I wound up running a red light this summer. my bad. it was a mistake I regret it & I won't do it again. those "stale" green lights are a clue we're better off stopping

skip to 1:54 (actually looking at it again I had a yellow, not a green, ugh)

CliffordK

Ahh, turns red right at the point you cross the crosswalk, just before the upper light goes out of view of the camera.

I think in Europe, they often do a 1 or 2 second delay between red & green for cross-traffic. But, that may be even worse as it conditions drivers to expect that delay.

I think you were climbing so it naturally slows you down.

For many lights, if I see the countdown timer, on level ground, I hit the light at 20+ MPH. Light turns yellow at Zero. So if I hit the interchange at the Green/Yellow, I'm across all lanes before red.

There is just one light I hit that inevitably short-cycles me in the evenings. If I'm at a dead stop on the sensor (below bike lane). Then as soon as I start rolling when it turns green, the light turns yellow, and it is red by the time I'm halfway across, and the end of the freeway gets a green. So far OK, but it is a bit unsettling.

rumrunn6

lovely

FedUp

"guy in his 20’s was hit while crossing the cross walk on his bike, no helmet. Head smashed the windshield, major bleeding"

i have seen bicyclists after bicyclists doing stupid and illegal things and then it's sad when they are hurt?

To be blunt- if you don't want your brains on the road maybe consider wearing a helmet. And following traffic laws.

MattTheHat 

Wearing a helmet or not, yes, it's sad when a cyclist gets hurt.

To be blunt...based on your other thread, I wonder if you're not just here to bash cyclist.

Berg417448

Let us know when automobile drivers start following traffic laws. Maybe then you can complain about cyclists doing stupid things.

FrenchFit 

I bike and drive this section routinely. I suspect the problem is the two intersections/red lights are too close to each other without segregation elements. If the driver looks past the first ped crossing and sees the green light at the shopping center intersection they can fail to realize they are blasting through a red light right in front of them. In other words, bad planning by the City. Big surprise, Walnut Creek, the City that paid god knows what for its consultant inspired "pop-up demonstration" on Lincoln.