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| Re: Read these three articles about cycling (325052) | |||
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Re: Read these three articles about cycling |
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Posted by BusMgr on Fri Aug 25 19:40:30 2017, in response to Read these three articles about cycling, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Aug 14 14:38:42 2017. What I read was a tragedy, of course, as are all collisions that result in serious injury or death. But what wasn't clear was causation. The victim's daughter wrote that her mother "followed pedestrian laws with a near-religious fervor, [and] had a green light [when struck]." No mention was made as to whether the victim observed to see if it were safe to enter the street. Contrary to popular belief, green does not mean "go"; green means that it is permissible to go if it is safe to do so, but not if unsafe. Unfortunately, I think most "pedestrian safety" efforts focus on training pedestrians to follow traffic signals rather than to observe actual traffic conditions and actual safety. I don't want to blame the pedestrian here, but it does seem contrary to ordinary experience that a cyclist would suddenly appear and strike a pedestrian without warning. But it is possible that negligence on the bicyclist's part might have caused the collision. There are just not enough facts here to properly make a judgment.The conclusions I reach are: (1) fatal bicycle-pedestrian collisions occur so infrequently (compared to fatal automobile-pedestrian collisions) that it is news when it happens, likely the result of lower inertia (velocity and mass) of bicyclists, and so bicycling should not be discouraged for that reason, (2) that bicyclists have the same duties as operators of other vehicles, though their risk of liability is lower because of their lower inertia, and (3) pedestrians and vehicle operators alike should not rely exclusively on traffic control devices (or roadway markings), but should place great reliance on observation. |
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