10 Wheels

Bicyclist Bruce Marshall Struck, Killed Near Gunpowder Falls State Park In Baltimore County – CBS Baltimore (cbslocal.com)

Rick

Dangerous!: Entered crosswalk and collided with a car. It appears judgement has already ben passed courtesy of the news media. Still investigating as an after thought. It is quite likely that the only witness is the motorist that collided with him.

scottfsmith

I ride that trail regularly. They should put some blinking lights there, cars just blaze through and there is a lot of bike traffic.

redcon1

Agree. I don't like crossing that road as a cyclist, and I don't like driving thru there as a motorist. Lots of overflow cars parked along the road there also, adding to congestion and poor sight distance.

Rick

[QUOTE][Agree. I don't like crossing that road as a cyclist, and I don't like driving thru there as a motorist. Lots of overflow cars parked along the road there also, adding to congestion and poor sight distance./QUOTE]

So they are saying the bicyclist ran into the car. Or did the driver of the car see the bicyclist and speed up to beat them at the intersection. It seems odd that someone would just pull into the road without looking. The lack of info is a media controlled tool.

jack pot 

trikes are a real problem for humans & Teslas to see

JoeyBike

[QUOTE=Rick;22038803]I see that ten times an hour where I live. It is astounding how trusting people are getting in or out of the driver's side door in heavy fast moving traffic. As if everybody driving by is paying attention. Then they get into their car by sheer luck and drive around not paying attention. Their brains never make the connection. Humans are imperfect and trikes are a nice fat target. You just can't "miss" them.

zandoval 

Another tragedy - No matter who's at fault an true and traumatic loss has been owned.

Many times I have been driving and had "Bicycle Idiots" chancing thier lives by dancing in front of my moving vehicle in city traffic. And yes there have been times where I have placed myself, unintentionally, in danger at cross walks and crossings, or riding that loose gravel to the edge because there is no shoulder. It can be a game that has loser's on both sides for sure. Not long ago we did not have bike lanes, painted cross walks, or flashing lights. Now that I'm older there are many routes I would not attempt because of my degraded skills. I also don't see drivers, new and old, gaining better driving skills.

A bicycle rider has died and a driver has killed... God bless them and help them both...

Moe Zhoost

If drivers can see to avoid potholes they can certainly see a trike. The real question is whether or not a Dodge Dart can see a Tesla that wasn't there?

Here's a Google street view of that intersection. To me, it doesn't seem that a prudent and patient trail user would have much problem. There is a sign saying that motorists must stop and perhaps this is routine to the extent that trail users assume that they will stop. Right of way is an uncertain thing.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.5008...8i2752!5m1!1e3

scottfsmith

That sign says motorists must stop for pedestrians in crosswalk.. if there is nothing seen cars do not stop. They should at least slow down but they do not. They clearly need to modify that intersection.

Koyote

How on earth does a trike rider (or anyone else) get run over in that crosswalk? Straight road with super-clear sightlines. The rider must have willfully ridden into the crosswalk, assuming that the vehicle would stop - which is a mistake. That still doesn't absolve the motorist, who was legally obligated to yield and apparently did not. But a rider should never assume that a motorist sees him/her and will necessarily stop.

redcon1

Every time I have driven through that crosswalk to park in the lot (left side of the picture),which admittedly is always on the weekend, there are overflow cars parked on both shoulders. So a the sight distance for a rider on a low trike would be reduced to the moment he entered the crosswalk. I'm not sure that was the case on April 28, however.

The parking lot needs to be expanded. There are simply not enough parking spaces to accommodate the users of the trail

Moe Zhoost

Yes, I can see that overflow parking would be a big problem. A trike rider would not be able to see over them and what's more he or she would have to encroach into the traffic lane to have any view at all. There are "no parking" signs for a good distance on either side of that intersection. Do they not enforce this?

scottfsmith

The overflow cars are usually further down the road where parking is legal, but maybe not always.

They did add the median there a few years ago to try to slow things down a bit, but obviously that didn't help in this case.

Kat12

And, these signs are confusing. There are some of these in my town, and I just saw an article in the local paper clarifying. At least where I live, the car doesn't have to stop unless the pedestrian is already in the crosswalk (which I would think they'd do anyway?). But apparently a lot of people think a car must stop if a pedestrian is waiting to cross, and according to the article that's not true. Even the cops don't know-- I've had them stop for me before when I am waiting to cross such a crosswalk, and other times when they just breeze on through. (To me, though, this seems like it could be dangerous as a driver may be hurrying to get past before the pedestrian starts crossing, and the pedestrian might hurry into the road to start crossing when they see a car coming so that they're already in the crosswalk and the car has to stop.)

DangerousDanR

I am not trying to assign blame. I really don't know. But there are a few things that enter my thought process on this.

1) The speed limit there according to the images on Google Maps is 30 MPH

and from the other direction


2) Assuming that the car was traveling at 40 MPH (10 MPH over the limit, a speed where LEOs I have known start writing tickets) the stopping distance with normal reaction time should have been 120 feet. This was their view:



3) The cyclist should have stopped before attempting to cross the road. You can see the stop sign on the MUT.


This should be a fairly straight forward crash to reconstruct. Was the car impounded to allow for analysis of the ECU and the damage to the car? If not, "BAD cop..." That should be the standard procedure in a collision like this.

Was the driver of the car driving more than 10 MPH over the speed limit? Did the bicyclist enter the intersection when the car was less than 120 feet away. No matter what it is very sad.

What could be done to prevent such a collision? Enforcement might work, but probably not. Some bicyclists hate having to stop, but there are places where we should. Some drivers of cars don't slow down for such a trail crossing, and they should. Send a couple of LEOs out there and ticket every car going more than 40 and every bicycle that doesn't stop. Might work for a week or so, but this kind of intensive enforcement will come to an end and when it does the impact will wear off.

Installation of "traffic calming devices" (speed humps for cars, chicanes for the bicycles) would slow traffic without regard to the presence of an enforcement team and for the MUT they could have the bicyclist facing towards the oncoming traffic. I hate them both, but for a heavily used trail there is probably no better option.

Koyote

The thing that hasn't been mentioned is the cyclist's age: at 77, it wouldn't be uncommon for his vision, hearing, and reflexes to all be diminished. Add in the possibility that he was pulling out from in-between parked cars, and he may have actually allowed the motorist very little time/distance to stop.

shelbyfv

Yes. Most folks choose trikes when their abilities have become compromised. Nevertheless, MUP/road intersections are often tricky for both parties.

Koyote

Agreed. Without video evidence, I would assume that there is plenty of culpability to go around. But I do know that, crosswalk or not, I wouldn't ride across a road like that without making damn sure that no cars were coming.

DangerousDanR

I'm also an old guy. My vision is as bad as ever, my hearing is sh<o>t and my balance has gone with it. But even my feeble tired old eyes can read the "No Parking" signs


If there was a car parked in that no parking zone they have some 'splainin' to do.
Any time there is a collision like this there are two things that should be answered.
1) was someone negligent and the cause of the incident?2) is there something which can be done in a cost effective way to prevent this from happening again?

Koyote

Agreed. Lots of unanswered questions. All these people get concerned about video cameras everywhere, but they have some benefits: if there’d been one around there, the authorities would know exactly what happened. If the driver is responsible, or at least partly culpable, there should be consequences.