Your Cell Phone Could Alert Cars You're Walking Or Bicycling Nearby

Your cell phone could keep you safe from being hit by a car in the future when walking or bicycling.
Researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) in Munich, Germany have developed technology that enables the computer system in cars to see the location of pedestrians and cyclists – even while they're not visible to the eye.
Pedestrian’s and cyclist’s cell phones will serve as transponders that will send a signal to a car's onboard positioning systems. The system will compute the projected trajectory of the person on foot or a bike and initiate an emergency braking sequence in case a pedestrian or cyclist moves into the path of a car.

 

Here's more on how it will work.

Rule Proposed Saying Electric Vehicles Need To Be Louder

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wants cars to be louder. Well, just electric cars. The NHTSA is proposing a law that would require electric cars to make a detectable sound when travelling less than 18 miles per hour so they can be heard by bicyclists and pedestrians.

The Seattle Times has the details on the so called 'Quiet-Car Rule.'

Bicycle/Pedestrian Fatalities Increase In 2011

The common perception seems to be that a lot of people get hit by cars while walking or biking around here lately. New data is out from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 2011 thought and it shows a nationwide increase in bicycle, pedestrian and traffic deaths.

Last year, 677 cyclists were killed in the United States -- an 8.7 percent increase over 2010 and 3 percent more pedestrians were killed. So what's behind the increases?
StreetsBlog looks at some of the contributing factors.

Alleged Drunk Driver Runs Over Bike Trailer With Girl In It

A two-year-old Spokane Valley girl is in intensive care after the bike trailer she was riding in was run over by an alleged drunk driver on Saturday. The Spokesman-Review has the story.

Bicyclist Hit By SUV

A man in his 60’s was hit by an SUV while riding a bicycle at North Columbia Circle and North Park Boulevard near the Downriver Golf Course Monday, according to the Spokesman-Review.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. Sources say the bicyclists didn't have a heartbeat when paramedics arrived, but they were able to get a heartbeat and a faint pulse before the man was transported to Sacred Heart Medical Center for treatment. I haven't been able to find any further information on the bicyclists condition. 

A Ride Of Death

Holy cow, it's amazing anyone rode bicycles in the 1940s after reading this bicycle safety guide on the Retronaut website. Every picture shows someone getting crushed to death, maimed, suffering multiple fractures or a 'limp, lifeless body.' And, in pretty much every example, the bicyclist is blamed for causing an accident that could have been avoided, although in several cases the booklet even points out that a car was following too close or speeding.

Dutch Produce Vehicle Airbag To Protect Bicyclists/Pedestrians

Obviously, the best way to prevent injuries to bicyclists in collisions with vehicles is for drivers to slow down and be more observant and bicyclists to do the same, plus follow the rules of the road. However, that doesn't always happen so in the event that a car does hit a bicyclist, technology is trying to help minimize the damage.

A consortium in the Netherlands has been working on an airbag that would protect pedestrians and bicyclists in the event of a crash. The technology consists of a sensor on the front or bumper of a vehicle that alerts the car when it's approaching an object to either automatically apply the brakes or deploy an airbag on the front of the car.

The blog DutchMobility.com has the details.

Widow Of Bicyclist Has Questions About Incident

The wife of a man killed when he was hit on his bicycle earlier this summer still has a lot of questions regarding the incident. And admits she'd built an image in her mind of who the perpetrator was, and it doesn't fit the description of the person who actually did hit her husband. Here's the story from the Spokesman-Review.

County Considers Mandatory Bike Helmet Law

Spokane County considers a mandatory bike helmet law, there's a new website for young drivers and lots of construction. Here's what's happening this week from the Spokesman-Review's 'Getting There' column.

'Stickman Knows' Campaign Launched

The Spokane Regional Health District has launched 'StickmanKnows,' Spokane's first comprehensive bike, pedestrian, and motorist safety awareness campaign. The goal is to reduce the number of bicyclist and pedestrian collisions, using humor.

Watch for Stickman billboard and bus advertising, TV commercials, print ads, promotional items, community events, law enforcement emphasis patrols, in neighborhoods, and in schools.

Here's where you can check Stickman out at. And he has a Facebook page, so be sure to 'like' it.

Bicycle Hit & Run Victim Still In Hospital

A local man hit while riding his bicycle back on June 23 is still in the hospital, and upset about the hit and run collission that put him there. Dennis Widener and his wife are looking for tips on who hit him then left the scene. The Spokesman-Review has the story.

UPDATE: Dennis Widener died today. His wife reported to the Spokesman-Review that he suffered a fatal heart attack, but it's not clear at this time if it's related to the initial hit and run incident.

Bicyclist Involved In Collision Says He's Eager To Get Back On Bike

Here's an interesting end to Bike to Work Week: I've been talking with the bicyclist who was hit by a vehicle earlier this week. 'Brice' made a comment on the blog yesterday and when I asked him to tell us what happened, he said he wasn't feeling up to getting beat up in a blog forum (I hope you'd all be respectful) so I've been emailing back and forth with him instead.

His post yesterday said he is glad to see a blog where people didn't automatically blame the bicyclist, although Brice was ticketed for failing to yield to a pedestrian. Here's what happened, according to both Brice and the police report diagram: Brice was heading south on Post on his bicycle. A pedestrian was crossing Post at the intersection with Cora. There was a vehicle stopped at the stop sign on Cora headed west. Brice didn't see the pedestrian and continued through the intersection. The vehicle apparently thought Brice was going to yield to the pedestrian and proceeded through the intersection. Brice couldn't stop in time and hit the car.

I wasn't there or anything, but it seems to me the car should've waited at the stop sign until he saw for sure what the bicyclist was going to do.

Brice says he's pretty banged up but thankful he's not dead. Although he goes back and forth at being grateful and upset about what happened and how it played out. He says a witness at the scene said he was thrown about 30 feet, and had someone had a video camera 'he'd of had a million hits on YouTube already.'

As soon as paramedics showed up, Brice was loaded onto an imoblization board and into an ambulance. He never gave a statement but a police officer came into the ambulance and issued him a ticket. I'm not sure what standard procedure is in cases like this. I've been in injury accidents in a vehicle before and both times the police either came to the hospital or to my home to talk to me about it, but didn't do it at the scene.

The good news is that Brice is still eager to ride. He is a 25+ year avid cyclist and his only concern is that he will try to ride before he's healed enough. The bad news (besides the injury and traffic ticket) is that before the accident, Brice was on his way to buy a last minute 25th anniversay gift for his wife. Obviously he never got it. But he's alive, so that's a big gift to his wife. Get better Brice, we're glad another 'ghost bike' didn't show up in this case.

Another Bike-Vehicle Collision and Why/How Accidents Happen

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.