Crash on 15 and K this morning

@juanderlust 137399 wrote:

I commute daily from Dupont to downtown with the majority of my ride on the dedicated lane on 15th st. The intersection at K st is mostly always the most dicey of my ride and today I witnessed a two biker crash.

I was with a group of about eight cyclists approaching a green light on K street and ahead a car had pulled into the intersection waiting to turn right onto K while also waiting for pedestrians to cross the street. The car was directly in the path of cyclists coming from the bike lane. A second car pulled in front of the first, stopped in parallel next to it, and also waited to turn onto K. Given experience at this intersection and knowing that cars rarely look for cyclists approaching from behind, I pulled wide out of the bike lane and onto 15th in order to pass the cars. A couple of other cyclists did the same and one attempted to weave her way around the cars and as she was passing the first car a biker from the opposite direction, and also trying to avoid the cars blocking the bike lane ahead, ran into her head on. The first cyclist fell off her bike but from what I saw it did not look to be a very bad crash. Several cyclist stayed behind and got her out of the street. Further up I heard from another cyclist she had said she was okay. I hope she is.

Given the way this intersection works, it is not at all surprising this accident occurred. Neither cyclist could see the other coming given the two cars blocking their view.

This is my first time posting here and I assume this is not the first time there have been incidents and posts about this intersection. Are there ideas being circulated about how it might be better designed and used? Thank you for providing this Forum.

Thanks for posting. Was the crash reported? Did the drivers of the cars that caused the crash stay on the scene? Both of those would be helpful. I’m not as familiar with DC, but I think if you call 311 and say you’d like to report a dangerous intersection, they will take the report (in Arlington, you call the police non-emergency number: 703-558-2222)

Just last night I needed to ride north, and I officially decided (through my own policy review committee and everything), that I was no longer going to ride the 15th st bike lane with peak flow and would switch over to 16th due to more cyclists in the lane in warm weather and the wild west outside the Post building. The intersection with K St. is a recipe for disaster. I’m surprised there aren’t accidents there every rush-hour period. Negotiating with the buses on 16th is no picnic either, so I may need to find another road north.

Hope all parties are ok.