The Spokane Police Department just sent out a news release about a bike collision that happened yesterday. According to them, it happened at Post and Cora Streets when a bicyclist was southboung on Post approaching Cora. A pedestrian was crossing Post from East to West and was mid-intersection at the time of the collision. A vehicle was stopped at the stop sign west on Cora at Post.
The bicyclist failed to yield to the pedestrian in the crosswalk. The stopped vehicle, upon seeing the pedestrian crossing the street, and knowing the bicyclist must yield to the pedestrian, proceeded to cross Cora. The bicyclist struck the crossing vehicle, causing him to be ejected off of his bike.
The speed of the bicyclist appears to be a factor. He was cited for Failure to Yield Right of Way to a Pedestrian, causing a collision, which is a $261.00 penalty. Fortunately, the cyclist suffered only minor injuries.
All this reminds me that there was something I was supposed to blog about last week: the Spokane Regional Health District's 'Spokane Moves Safely' campaign aimed at reducing the number of collisions between vehicles and people on foot or on bikes.
The Health District has been working for several months now, analyzing data, to determine what causes collisions so that they can work to prevent them. Among other things, some interesting items they found out is that the peak of these kinds of accidents is around 5 p.m., kids are more often involved in collisions in the summer and the month of October, more adult pedestrians are involved in collisions in the winter (probably because it gets dark earlier), and the most prevalent reason for bicycle collisions is bicyclists travelling on the wrong side of the road and failure on the part of vehicles to yield.
You will be hearing more about this when the Health District launches the public part of their campaign in mid-June, so stay tuned. In the meantime, @Ryan said he likes New York City's 'Don't Be A Jerk' campaign, which uses humor to spread its message. Watch this until we have something local to show you.
15 comments:
I really like the NYC "Don't Be a Jerk" campaign. Very appropriate and funny, too:
http://bit.ly/mrVx92
The folks at the Health District said that humor, such as used in the 'Jerk' campaign, was cited in focus groups and surveys as a definite tool that would get members of the public to pay attention to their message.
HA HA!
If cyclists ride like motorists and follow the rules, they should ride in the road (allowing cars to pass, of course)
FOR THE SAKE OF PETE!!!
GROW A BACKBONE AND GET OFF THE SIDEWALK!
HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
Here's what I don't get about the description of the collision:
The cyclist should have yielded to the pedestrian because a pedestrian crossing at an intersection has right of way. No doubt about that (and people should learn that there doesn't have to be a painted crosswalk for it to be a legal crossing).
BUT the driver was stopped at a stop sign.
From p. 29 of the Washington Driver's Guide:
Stop sign – A stop sign has eight sides and is red with white letters. You must come to a full stop at a marked stop line, but if none, before entering a marked crosswalk or, if none, at the point nearest the intersecting roadway where the driver has a view of approaching traffic. You must wait until crossing vehicles and pedestrians have cleared and pull forward only when it is safe.
This doesn't say "assume crossing vehicles and pedestrians will behave perfectly and pull forward when you think someone is going to stop."
Sounds to me as if the driver also deserved a ticket.
This is yet another reminder that people on bikes and people walking are the most vulnerable in any encounter with a vehicle. We have far more to lose in these encounters and thus more to gain by following the law.
@BarbChamberlain
I found it odd too that the driver just kind of 'assumed' that since the bicyclist was supposed to yield to the pedestrian, it was safe to go. I know it doesn't happen every time, but most times when you're driving, don't you wait to see what happens before just going? Stop signs always make me nervous because a lot of people treat them as just a 'suggestion' so I try to wait and see where everyone else is going before making my move.
As a friend of mine said, I've been wasting a lot of time at stop signs if I can just assume people will get out of my way.
(I'm being flippant and I don't mean to disregard the fact that I'm sure the driver feels terrible about hitting the cyclist.)
We seriously need to develop a 'sarcasm' font because flippancy has gotten me in trouble in the past :) By the way, try our new Facebook 'Share' button when you get time. I'm finally getting with the times. Twitter starts hopefully tomorrow or Monday as well.
The driver sure made a wrong assumption, but I agree with Barb's earlier comment, that the driver is responsible for what happens when crossing traffic. It sounds like, if the reports are accurate, that the cyclist should have yielded to the pedestrian, but he need not have come to a complete stop to be in compliance. He may have been able to slow, let the ped cross, and be on his way.
I don't think the officer intentionally targeted the cyclist for a ticket. I'm not that cynical. But I do think there tends to be too much deference given to drivers in situations of this sort, more of a cultural than individual concern that needs to be addressed.
Yeah, I wouldn't go so far as to say the officer intentionally targetted the bicyclist. I know it happens sometimes, but an unnamed police officer I talked with recently said the department recognizes the perceived bias and would very much like to change that.
Wow Brice, we have a real live celebrity on the blog! We're glad to hear you're still with us. Want to tell us what happened- in your own words so we can quit speculating? Thanks for commenting by the way.
I'd be happy to talk with anyone about it. However my experiences so far with comment threads has been pretty disappointing. Which is why I removed the comment I made earlier.
But I appreciate the comments here so far anyway.
You can email me at brice@bricetebbs.com if you want.
I can understand that Brice. I'll email you tomorrow, need to get a project done before I can go home tonight.
By the way, Brice went to court on this and the Judge found him not guilty because, by hitting the car, he did yield to the pedestrian.
I think it's messed up that the car was not cited. You cannot drive based on assumptions that other users are going to follow the rules. Especially when you're driving a 2 ton killing machine; it's not only courteous to drive cautiously, it saves lives (and who wants a death on their shoulders?).
I'm glad to hear that Brice was found not guilty! A situation like that is stressful enough without getting ticketed as well.
Seems to me (and this is just my opinion) that if Brice wasn't at fault, and yet got hit by a car, that DOES make it the car's fault.
Unless you can read minds, it's safer and smarter to see what the other drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, etc. are going to do than just assume, like you said @Rachel.
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