BIKE: Cyclist down on SoCo

[Michael Bluejay]

Dana mentions that the driver fled the scene and then wonders about 
possible solutions like licensing cyclists, driver education, slower 
speed limits, etc.

To me those are band-aid solutions, even if that's all we've got.  I'm 
more concerned about the fact that a motorist left a cyclist bleeding 
in the street for dead -- YET AGAIN.  Licensin cyclists, educating 
drivers, and reducing the speed limit might prevent some collisions but 
it's not going to make people more honest and responsible, and that 
concerns me much more.  About half of the serious car-bike collisions 
are hit and runs.  What does that say about humanity, that people would 
do that?  The next time you look out over a sea of cars, realize that 
about 50% of the drivers are willing to hit you and leave you for dead. 
  How can we be optimistic about anything when we realize that that's 
the kind of world we live in?

Those are the kinds of questions that haunt me.  Licensing cyclists, 
driver education, etc. all seems to pale in importance compared to 
that.

-MBJ-


On Oct 11, 2004, at 11:45 PM, dana_price wrote:

> Folks,
>
> I came across the scene of an accident this evening about 10:20 as I 
> was
> driving home down S. Congress. This time I was in the car, but Live Oak
> and Congress is on my daily bike commute route.
>
> A witness had stopped a car in the center lane near where the man had
> fallen and several people were there, including the man's friend. I 
> only
> stayed until help arrived because Liam was asleep in the car and I 
> didn't
> have any information or skils that would have helped.
>
> The cyclist was unconscious but breathing, and there was blood on the
> pavement. It shook me up to see the scene, I guess that's why I felt 
> that
> I had to write. Could have been any of us. Though he wasn't wearing a
> helmet, the bike had lights- at least, a rear blinkie. I didn't see the
> front.
>
> The driver who had hit him had fled the scene.
>
> I'm not going to speculate how it happened- there was at least one 
> person
> who says he saw it, so perhaps someone can find the police report.
> Sometimes there's something either party could have done to prevent it.
>
> I would like to see us as a cycling community think about some things:
> - how can we educate both cyclists and motorists about principles of 
> safe
> driving? How can we make cyclist education available to ordinary 
> working
> class folks who probably would never consider taking a class or 
> visiting
> Michael Bluejay's website.
> I would almost prefer having a license or certification for cyclists. 
> I'm
> sure this will set folks howling, but it would be one way of teaching
> everyone the same rules. I would also like to see drivers have to
> correctly answer a test on interacting with non-motorized traffic 
> before
> getting a license or renewal. The TX licensing system does nothing to
> educate drivers about the rights of alternative transportation users.
> - Rather than trying to teach folks to live with a potentially unsafe
> situation, what can be done to make the road system safer? A lot of
> studies are done on the causes of auto accidents, can we push for the 
> same
> for bike/ped accidents?
> Maybe the speed limit on SoCo needs to be lower? After all, it runs 
> right
> through neighborhoods and sees a lot of bike/ped traffic. I would like 
> to
> see a more concerted challenge to the dominant paradigm that moving 
> cars
> quickly is the #1 priority. I don't think traffic on Congress needs to 
> be
> going 40.
>
> Sorry for the long post
>
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