Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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Zero penalty for driver who t-boned cyclist on Shoal Creek Blvd. 3/17

This is old, but I just found it.

Driver t-boned cyclist Tom Carlson, and faced no penalty, not even a ticket.

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local … -425973952

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 631

Re: Zero penalty for driver who t-boned cyclist on Shoal Creek Blvd. 3/17

It still doesn't answer one big question for Carlson: why when a car hits another car, a ticket is issued?

That's it right there -- Calson's assumption is wrong.  Most of the time, a ticket is *not* issued.

In fact, when I think back to all the collisions I've been involved in (as a driver, passenger or rider -- fortunately, none as a pedestrian), only *one* has resulted in a ticket for anybody.

Police are reluctant to give tickets for things they didn't witness.  Cops *can* give tickets if they didn't witness it, but they just don't like to -- and mostly what does get a ticket to be given is when the guilty party confesses to breaking the law to the officer, but the officer figuring out what happened can also trigger it (but even more rarely).  And if they leave in an ambulance, that usually means no ticket for them either -- they *could* get a ticket later, but there is zero follow-up unless it's something more serious (like a DWI or worse.)

And this article is from 2017, but I'd bet it's even worse today with APD's "quiet quitting".

In the end, Carlson's point in going public with his story is to warn other cyclists. If they are ever hit by a car, the driver may not face any fines.

This warning is spot on, but it's not just about cyclists: drivers have the same reality.

Personally, my advice is to run a GoPro or something similar on your bike and a dashcam in your car, and to use it all the time.  This won't usually do anything to help the police give tickets (but sometimes it does: sometimes the cop will look at the footage if you offer it), but it will make a huge difference when people (insurance companies, lawyers, you, etc.) start arguing about who has to pay for the damages.