Watch out for those left-turning drivers, since they’re not watching out for you

[consularrider]

FYI, your link doesn’t seem to work.

[bobco85]

FYI, your video is set to only play on Youtube and not external sites like the forum.

Sounds like the driver didn’t even notice you were there because they didn’t LOOK.

This is not an excuse, but I can see how the driver probably waited for the last SUV to pass, looked to see that no one was coming straight-on from P St, and assumed it was clear before starting their turn. Then, when you avoided a collision with them and crashed, they probably were surprised to see a cyclist and thought that you were being goofy/imbalanced instead of perhaps realizing that maybe their actions were the reason for your reaction.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@bobco85 158111 wrote:

Sounds like the driver didn’t even notice you were there because they didn’t LOOK.

This is not an excuse, but I can see how the driver probably waited for the last SUV to pass, looked to see that no one was coming straight-on from P St, and assumed it was clear before starting their turn.

If you watch closely, you’ll see that P St. has a red light, so the driver in question wasn’t yielding to traffic going straight through 23rd on P St. Rather, the driver was yielding to another car making the same move that Ken did (turning right onto P from 23rd)! So it seems to be not so much that the driver didn’t look (because they properly yielded to the car who made the turn before Ken), but rather the driver was only looking for other cars.

[jrenaut]

It’s a terrible traffic pattern – having an un-signaled left turn that close to a light. DDOT bears some responsibility here. But I think TwoWheels is right, the driver saw the other car and ignored the cyclist, either through inattention or deciding that Ken didn’t have the right of way without a giant metal box.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@jrenaut 158116 wrote:

DDOT bears some responsibility here.

Evergreen post.

[Judd]

@jrenaut 158116 wrote:

…deciding that Ken didn’t have the right of way without a giant metal box.

Can we get Vicegrip to weld a giant metal box to Ken’s bike? That should solve everything.

In seriousness, I’m glad that Ken was able to successfully employ a harm reduction strategy.

[KLizotte]

No, the driver was cutting across an opposing lane so hebears all responsibility for ensuring that it is clear just like they would have had to check for peds in the crosswalk.

It is an incredibly bad set up though for cars trying to make that turn though being so close to an intersection. Sigh.

[Steve O]

Wow. That is perfectly designed for creating crashes. I’d be curious to see how many car-on-car crashes have happened there. I bet it’s common. Mostly low speed fender benders I suspect, since the cars would mostly be in turning mode at the point of impact.

The only real solution, given the way those roads are, is to prohibit that left turn. That is, only allow cars that are traveling westbound would be allowed to enter the ramp. Otherwise I see no way to eliminate the danger there.

[Author]

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