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Category Archives: Dangerous
Video of Berkeley cyclists hit by car
Update: 8 a.m. 4/30 — It appears the driver was arrested on Friday by police. He was booked on other charges and the police are still investigating. See the report on KTVU.
Update: 4:30 p.m. 4/29 — KGO-TV out of San Francisco has this report on their website.
Update: 6 p.m. 4/27 — SFist reports the hit and run vehicle has been found and is apparently a stolen car.
This is scary video of a car sideswiping two cyclists in Berkeley. The crash happens at 2:40 in the video. The motorist took off after hitting them. They seem to be okay – standing and moving around after the incident. The video is posted to YouTube by brunogfmtube
Update 2:30 p.m. 4/27 – From the YouTube site where the video was posted:
Bruno posted this, “Thank[sic] guys for your support! Yesterday I went to the police department and I reported the crime. I also gave the video to the police officer. It was possible to identify the number of the car on the video. The police have located the car and the owner. Now I’m waiting for the return of the police on the case.”
Bicycle safety is the topic of KQED Forum radio show
A cyclist heads west along P Street across the intersection at 15th Street in Sacramento during the Wednesday evening commute.
If you haven’t listened to the Forum piece on public radio on bike safety in San Francisco that aired on KQED on Monday, April 9, you’re missing out. It was a great program. Although it focused on San Francisco, there is much to be learned from the program by cyclists in any community.
I downloaded the podcast from iTunes and listened to it on my morning commute – with only one earbud, which is legal.
Michael Krasny hosted the show with guests that included the executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the executive director of Walk San Francisco, a captain in the San Francisco Police Department, the chair of the Bicycle Advisory Committee and a concerned San Francisco resident.
You can listen to it here:
or go to the KQED site and listen to the show.
Posted from Sacramento, California, United States.
PA police video of car hitting bicycle
This is video released by the Bethlehem, Penna. Police Department shows a car hitting a cyclist Frank Pavlick from behind and then trying to leave the seen of the accident. A quick-thinking bus driver used his bus to block both lanes of traffic, preventing the car from leaving the scene. The crash happened on the Fahy Bridge in Bethlehem on Monday, April 2. Police charged the driver with multiple offenses. The police department’s press release provided a picture of Pavlick’s damaged bicycle at the right. Pavlick was able to stand up and flag down a passing motorist but was later taken to the hospital with leg pain, according to a story in the The Express Times.It’s ironic, that the accident came on the day Pennsylvania’s new law went into effect to protect bicyclists. The state law requires motorists passing bicycles to give the cyclist a four-foot buffer.
Thanks to Dale Crozier of the Bike Hikers for pointing me toward this video.
Posted from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States.
A right hook and then a door
Riding down 21st Street in Sacramento these days seems a bit dangerous. On Monday, a driver pulled ahead of me and, without signaling, turned right in front of me. Then, two days later not 100 yards from that same spot, a woman in a parked car pops open her door into the bike lane right in front of me. I’ll probably be riding home a different way for a while.
Posted from Sacramento, California, United States.
Cow t-bones cyclist in Fresno
Yikes. Check out this story and pictures on KFSN-TV out of Fresno of a woman who was hit by a cow while riding her bike during a training ride for RAAM.
“As soon as I come around the corner, he just barrels and t-bones me. Sends me about 30 feet down the hill,” Melanie Spigelmyre told the TV station. Amazing she wasn’t hurt worse.
Riding with the finger
On a recent commute home, I saw this rider on a single speed blow past me at a light and almost get hit by cars racing to beat a red light. A couple intersections later he rides circles until traffic clears and then blows through the red light and takes off. Kind of scary. Maybe he thinks the Giants fan foam finger interlaced through the spokes on his front wheel gives him good karma or something.
Posted from Sacramento, California, United States.
Trail repairs begin Tuesday near mile 29 of the bike trail
UPDATE (1/19/12): According to a story on sacbee.com by Bill Lindelof, the rainy weather has postponed the trail repairs. Read his story here.
It appears the worst section of the American River bike trail will finally get some much needed attention. Signs posted by the California State Parks department along the trail at mile 29 near the Mountain View Court overpass say the bike trail repair will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 17 and end on Friday, Jan. 27. The signs say to expect delays, although they don’t say the trail will be closed.
Posted from Folsom, California, United States.
Freeriding with a shopping bag
I’m not sure whether to laugh or cringe at this YouTube video from Italy of a lady with a shopping bag riding on one pedal, downhill. I first saw this video on the Change your Life, Ride a Bike blog.
Accidents happen, be prepared
As the new year begins, it’s a good time to think of reviewing your auto insurance coverage. While every cyclist hopes never to have a collision with a car, accidents happen. And, they can be incredibly expensive if you’re significantly injured.
I was reminded of this recently as I read an email exchange on the SABA (Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates) discussion list. In response to a query about what to do after a bicycle accident, SABA Executive Director Tricia Hedahl, who was involved in an accident last year, replied with the following email:
Here’s a message my husband wrote to friends on our lessons learned:
1. Immediately talk to a lawyer; don’t talk to the police, the driver, and especially not the driver’s insurance company. Personal injury lawyers generally collect a portion of whatever they collect; so, if you don’t get anything neither do they. They generally charge 30% – 40% of whatever you collect. Find a good one as they all charge the same and a good one will take care of everything for you. 2. Your own car insurance coverage will cover you, even though you weren’t driving at the time. Review your uninsured/under insured motorist coverage and boost it up to $1,000,000. Tricia and I just increased ours and it will cost us about $8/month more than the $25K we were running. 3. If you have health insurance that covered your hospital stay, don’t freak out when you find out that there is still an outstanding bill of $216,000. They are only able to collect on a portion of whatever you recover from the person who was at fault (in California they can only collect 30% of what you recover, up to the total bill). If you collect nothing, then you owe them nothing. If you don’t have health insurance, you are likely screwed with a massive bill, so read #2 again. In our case, the driver had $10K in coverage. We’ll be able to collect the $10K plus $15K from our car insurance ($25K coverage less the $10K that we received from the at-fault driver). Of the $25K total collected, 1/3 goes to the hospital, 1/3 to the lawyer, and we’ll end up with $8K. Money that will go toward Tricia’s continuing care and rehab.
Mountain lion warning signs by Nimbus Dam
Just east of the Nimbus Dam, park rangers have posted warning signs about mountain lions sightings. There have been four sightings according to a story on sacbee.com. Read Bill Lindelof’s story here.
Posted from Fair Oaks, California, United States.
Left cross hits cyclist
Ouch! I saw this video last night on the Cyclelicious blog. A young girl runs into a car making a left turn in front of her. She appears to be okay but her bike looks seriously damaged. See the original Cyclelicious post here.
Swerving across the bike lane
Sometimes drivers do the craziest things like swerving across the bike lane right in front of me to snag a parking spot.
Posted from Sacramento, California, United States.
Risky Behavior
Today seemed to be the day for risky behavior on both the morning and evening commute. In the morning, there was the guy who blew through a stop sign on his bike, then the woman who didn’t even appear to try to try to stop for a stop sign on her scooter.
In the evening there was the guy in the Chevy SUV who didn’t see me at the stop sign and pulled out right in front of me, then there were the two cyclists who decided today was “leave your helmet at home day.” Geesh!
Cell phone in traffic
My afternoon commute yesterday featured a guy riding his bike with no hands while carrying on a conversation on his cell phone. When he would come to a stop with cars present, he would switch hands with the phone and use one hand to put on the brakes. When he would arrive at a stop sign with no traffic, he would just mosey on through while still chatting away. When I passed him and then stopped at a stop sign, he blew right past me.
Posted from Sacramento, California, United States.
Turning into the passing lane
Riding to work this morning on the bike trail and as I’m passing a cyclist he starts turning into me. Whoa.
Posted from Sacramento, California, United States.
Mountain Biker taken out by a buck
This is some crazy video of a mountain biker getting hit by a buck. According to the information with the video on Max Cluer Sports Marketing’s YouTube channel where the video is posted, mountain biker Evan Van der Spuy of Team Jeep South Africa got taken out by a Red Hartebeest (a grassland antelope) during a bike race at Albert Falls Dam in Africa. Van der Spuy appears to be alright at the end of the video, but he took a tremendous hit. Check out his helmet.
Red light, Green light
I’m on my way home on my evening commute. I pull to an intersection and wait for the light to turn green. It changes and a guy in a white SUV, jabbering on his cell phone, blows the red light and pulls into the middle of the intersection. Everyone hesitates until he realizes his error and backs up, a bit, while still talking on the phone.
Posted from Sacramento, California, United States.
Dooring caught on dashcam – ouch!
The Commute Orlando website has a shocking video of what happens when a cyclist gets “doored.” Ouch!
Daily commute
Headed home from work and I get passed by this guy with no helmet who then almost runs into a turning car. In his defense, the driver did not turn on his turn signal.
Too close for comfort
Driver in a dark green Toyota Corolla passes a little too close on Hwy. 49 just before the drop into the American River canyon north of Cool.