Cyclist Hit by Car in Arlington

[care free family]

@DismalScientist 67694 wrote:

Unfortunately, at this intersection, westbound cyclists are traveling from the bike lane on the street to the trail/sidewalk on the other side of Wakefield. And the pavement sucks before and during the current reconstruction of the intersection.

Agreed. It is a challenging intersection on so many points!

[jrenaut]

@DismalScientist 67698 wrote:

If the bike in the picture is the bike in question, that bike has a steel frame. It’s going to be a lot tougher (and more malleable) then the flimsy aluminum things that jrenaut would buy.:rolleyes:

I’ll have you know my current bike is “Bianchi Cr-Mo, triple butted main tubes, tig welded”. The Giant was aluminum, though.

Still, I bet no bike manufacturer’s legal team is going to disagree with Giant. A steel bike that looks fine probably is fine, but you never know.

[americancyclo]

I’m curious as to what kind of lighting you have on your bike. In your previous post, you mentioned loving the little blinkies that BikeArlington gives out, which are cute, but not sufficient to ‘be seen’ in traffic or noticed by cars. Do you have a light that is brighter that you can use in the future? Something that might approach the level of brightness of a car headlight, to help you get noticed by drivers that aren’t looking for cyclists.

[Guus]

Gina, I am sorry to hear about this and wish you a speedy recovery.

[jabberwocky]

@car(e) free family 67697 wrote:

Jabberwocky-

I agree that crosswalks are dangerous places for riding on bikes. If I use them while on my bike, I dismount and walk my bike. I think that you lose your visibility and there is risk of a collision with a pedestrian.

In this case particular, I was on the roadway when I was hit. ( If I hadn’t been hit, I would have briefly passed through the crosswalk to use sidewalk to get to the trail…if that makes any sense

Thanks for your comments!

Ah, ok. I couldn’t tell for sure from your description, but it sounded like you merged into the crosswalk at the start of the intersection and crossed Wakefield in the crosswalk. I was mistaken.

Unfortunately, sometimes you can do everything right and still get hit because someone else did something wrong. Hope you recover quickly and don’t let this keep you off the bike.

[care free family]

Yes, I was using a more standard bike light at the time of the accident. I have a Sigma Illux light on the front. It is fairly bright but I am looking to upgrade to something better that also has a mode that won’t blind other riders on the trails.

This is the one I currently have and was using that morning:
http://www.sigmasport.com/us/produkte/beleuchtung/safety_lights/illux/?punkt=features

@americancyclo 67701 wrote:

I’m curious as to what kind of lighting you have on your bike. In your previous post, you mentioned loving the little blinkies that BikeArlington gives out, which are cute, but not sufficient to ‘be seen’ in traffic or noticed by cars. Do you have a light that is brighter that you can use in the future? Something that might approach the level of brightness of a car headlight, to help you get noticed by drivers that aren’t looking for cyclists.

[americancyclo]

Glad to hear you’re looking at some bright lighting. Some folks here have mentioned lights that have a ‘cutoff’ so that they don’t shine in other’s eyes, but I can’t find a link at the moment.

Recover Quickly!

[jabberwocky]

@car(e) free family 67704 wrote:

This is the one I currently have and was using that morning:
http://www.sigmasport.com/us/produkte/beleuchtung/safety_lights/illux/?punkt=features

They don’t list lumens, but anything that can run on 3 AAA batteries for 40 hours can’t be throwing out much light.

[ronwalf]

Sorry this happened to you. Humans can be quite inattentive. There’s only so much you can do with lighting without going to extreme measures.

[Greenbelt]

@jrenaut 67683 wrote:

Really sorry this happened. I hope your recovery is quick and easy.

I agree with the Kelley’s comment on the blog post – right on red should be illegal anywhere there might be pedestrians and cyclists.

At the very least, jurisdictions can bump out the right turn angles so that drivers are forced to come closer to a complete stop.

My wife and I were almost hit pre-dawn by a speeding right turner (northbound Route 1 going right at Armentrout Road) who drove up OVER THE CURB!

Speeding right turns can be prevented by good infrastructure — unfortunately Maryland road engineers prefer to facilitate speeding and illegal turns rather than safety.

[myoglobinologist]

Dear CCF;

I was really sorry to hear about your accident. I bike(d) through this intersection twice a day for a year. It was because of a near miss from a minivan (also turning right on red) that I bought a new set of bright lights: a 600 Lumen front headlight and a Korg Blinder for the back. From what I’ve read in your blog and the original posts, it looks like neither of these would have helped because the driver wasn’t paying attention.

About six months ago, I changed routes to connect to W&OD via Bluemont Jct trail. This stays on the south side of Fairfax (construction is on the north side), and also helped me avoid the intersection w/ the Custis where there was an armed mugging in April ( http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?4725-Muggers-on-Custis ).

Hope you have a quick recovery.

-k

[rcannon100]

I am very sorry to hear about your accident.

Unfortunately, several years ago, I had a similar experience. Down on Lincoln Circle, I was wearing high-viz, I had flashing headlights, I was riding with a pack, I was in a cross walk, and when I started crossing, all the cars were stopped. What happened? The light one block away on Independence turn green and a car in the middle lane decided it was her turn to go and plowed right into me. She didnt see me; she wasnt even beginning to pay proper attention. I had done everything right – I still got hit.

The motor cycle police officer who came said exactly the same thing. When they go through motorcycle training, they are taught that when drivers look at them – they do not look at the cyclist – they look THROUGH the cyclist.

I believe the cycling can be safe. But I also believe that it requires more than doing everything right – it requires more than PAL. It requires an accident avoidance approach. It requires assuming that the car does not in fact see you. It requires, when crossing two lanes of traffic, waiting for BOTH lanes to actually stop before crossing (this drives the driver in the first lane, who in fact stopped, crazy – because that driver cannot understand why I will not go). It requires changing routes to safer routes. It may even require refusing to ride in “bike lanes” that are dangerously placed (such as next to parked cars or in bad traffic areas).

It took me a long time to regain my confidence on my bike. I have. I love cycling. What I might recommend is taking one of WABA’s Confident Cycling classes. It might be a good way of getting back up on the horse.

BTW were you going to Bluemont Junction or to the Beaver Pond Trail to Custis? I agree with all; I hate that little stretch of traffic. I ride through there regularly to Bluemont Junction – and I will only ride on the south side on the sidewalk and through the hotel driveway. I do not consider the road safe and the north side sidewalk is problematic.

PSS: When I had my accident, I took my totaled bike to SPOKES Vienna which game me an written estimate for repair. This was extremely useful when working with the drivers insurance company. They bought me a very nice bike.

[Riley Casey]

Very sorry to learn of your accident and even more so the circumstances that led to it. That sort of thing just means that, as you say, cyclists are at risk regardless of our behavior, precautions and preparation. Still your resolve to be back on your bike ( or it’s replacement, nice fenders btw ) is most appreciated.

I had to elite your post for having your bike so prominently placed in your hospital bed pic. 😮 My Coda salutes your Coda.:rolleyes:

[baiskeli]

Sorry this happened to you and I’m glad you’re okay!

@car(e) free family 67688 wrote:

I understand what you are talking about with the morning sun in that spot. But actually at the time I was hit, the sun had not fully risen yet. So the driver doesn’t get that excuse this time around.

I’m confused – on your blog your wrote “It was after daybreak, it was light out.” and that it was 7:25 am.

And it sounds like you would have been heading west, and so was the car, so the driver should have clearly seen you and the sun would have been behind both of you anyway.

This time of day is probably even more dangerous than total darkness if you don’t have a light or reflector. At night there’s contrast and headlights to bounce off of your, and in the day there is daylight, but the only thing that will get you noticed in twilight is a bright blinky light. It’s a good reminder to use those even when the sun is up or not quite set yet.

[GuyContinental]

Just thought that I’d post a street view of the intersection- it’s pretty messed up:

http://goo.gl/maps/HcV62

I used to ride through here every morning and had numerous close calls with cars squeezing me out (at extremely high speed) at the weird bump out after the first driveway (in front of the gray van). There you are cruising along and suddenly your bike lane basically dead ends into a curb forcing you to merge into traffic. What seems like an obvious detour (enter the MUP and then crosswalk before Wakefield) actually isn’t- the cut on that driveway has about a 1″ rise to it that could wreck you if you approached it at an oblique angle with road tires. Then the sidewalk has been a mess there for years (note the cone) and the curb cut badly eroded. Even so, my MO after about a year was to just bunny hop the driveway and rumble over the bad pavement.

Maybe the trail re-alignment will fix this???

[Author]

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