@ TW Rising American Cycling Star Killed By Driver

[wanderingback]

I was actually going to make a separate post about e-bikes after I found some more relevant articles. E-bikes have nothing to do with this tragic accident. E-bikes are a real problem here so would love to discuss further. They do all the deliveries here and don’t follow any rules, on sidewalks, wrong way on streets, etc. I’ve almost gotten hit and people post on my neighborhood board about kids and adults getting hit They typically don’t face any consequences/there’s no follow up since they just ride away.

[goldengirlz]

I bike around 30 miles a week, but I often end up driving to the bike path because biking from my house makes me anxious. In particular, there’s one intersection where the bike lane ends and I need to merge with two lanes that cross a freeway entrance. They are NOT happy about seeing a bike, and the two lanes means they do stupid things like attempt to veer around me.

But at the end of the day, the problem is that bikes need to share lanes with cars in the first place. We’ve spent quite a bit of money building a beautiful bike path along the Bay (which is amazing and much appreciated) but when it comes to biking for transportation, there’s a lot of be desired. As a driver, I’d ALSO prefer that bikes have their own protected lane — it just seems safer for all involved. It’s a chicken-or-egg-type problem because I think more people would bike if it were more feasible, but counties need to invest in more bike lanes to create the demand.

[sonrisa]

Sept 1, 2023 12:15:14 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Sept 1, 2023 11:17:21 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Do they have consequences though? Because if they hit and kill a pedestrian or cyclist, THEY are always physically fine, and they're also rarely prosecuted. But the person with no protection is usually far from fine. 

As of today, Paris has banned e-scooter rentals (think Lime and Bird) because they killed literally three people. In 2020, 6,516 pedestrians died in traffic crashes, and 938 cyclists died in the US. Police reports most often cite a failure to obey traffic laws as causes for fatal pedestrian or cyclist deaths. 

Hell (can't remember if I mentioned this above) my city won't even enforce the state law of giving 4 feet of clearance to cyclists because "the streets are too narrow" instead of, you know, insisting that drivers just NOT try to squeeze past a cyclist on a one lane street.

On top of this, vehicle/ped and/or bike crashes are rarely reported in the news because they're not novel/sensational. So while sonrisa may not have heard of any crashes, digging around would certainly pull them up.

this is a very good point.

[aurora]

I wasn't expecting (though maybe I should have) this to turn into an anti- bike thread.

I do want to point out that there is absolutely no evidence that this cyclist did anything wrong. Let's not obscure this tragedy with unrelated speculation.

[aurora]

devonpow, I'm sorry for your loss.

[AAM2012]

Sept 1, 2023 9:48:26 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

Sweet, the victim blaming has begun. God forbid we mourn the loss of a talented kid without someone coming in and complaining about cyclists.

I read the article posted and didn’t see any mention that the victim did something wrong. Can you clarify?

The article appears to be based on the release of the initial police report which is based on initial preliminary investigation. My guess is that there have been subpoenas for cell phone data to include social media, accident reconstruction (which was mentioned in the article), any black box vehicle data (if available), etc.

I don’t think aurora post really articulates the take aways from the article TBH

—
Edit:

I’ve handled insurance claims in which a cyclists severely injured or killed a pedestrian of someone on a moped/motorcycle, etc. because they didn’t proper the rules for that state/jurisdiction.

I’ve also handled claims which a pedestrian severely injured or killed a person on a moped, motorcycle, etc

What it seems to comes down to is that there are drivers, cyclists and pedestrians who don’t always behave in the manner they should.

[Vespasia]

AAM2012 I was responding to sonrisa, who came in here spewing nonsense. She deleted when she got called out.

[gemini79]

Sept 1, 2023 10:05:52 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Sept 1, 2023 9:56:06 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

All this needs is how cyclists don't pay road taxes and we have the general rant against cyclists that the no-necks around here spout.

I deleted because it isn't relevant to the thread or this kid.

There are good and bad drivers and good and bad cyclists. But shitty drivers get tickets, lose their license or have other consequences. As they should. But e-bikes have really led to safety problems. They move at motorcycle speeds without the licensing or regulation and are allowed in all the spaces bikes are. Irresponsible cyclists have killed multiple people within the last year around here and are never held accountable.

Something is wrong with you.

[scm1011]

The majority of e-bikes on the market top out between 20-25 mph. They’re VERY few on the road that reach “motorcycle speed”.

[wanderingback]

Sept 2, 2023 10:22:35 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

The majority of e-bikes on the market top out between 20-25 mph. They’re VERY few on the road that reach “motorcycle speed”.

Unfortunately there are ways to make e-bikes faster than the manufacturer sets. People do it all the time, at least where I live. Regardless even 15-20mph on the sidewalk is pretty fast when people are walking.

www.hiboy.com/blogs/news/unlocking-speed-how-to-make-ebikes-faster-with-some-simple-tricks

[scm1011]

Sept 2, 2023 12:41:59 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Sept 2, 2023 10:22:35 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

The majority of e-bikes on the market top out between 20-25 mph. They’re VERY few on the road that reach “motorcycle speed”.

Unfortunately there are ways to make e-bikes faster than the manufacturer sets. People do it all the time, at least where I live. Regardless even 15-20mph on the sidewalk is pretty fast when people are walking.

www.hiboy.com/blogs/news/unlocking-speed-how-to-make-ebikes-faster-with-some-simple-tricks

m

Oh I 100% agree they shouldn’t be on the sidewalks! And as someone who rides an e-bike daily I have zero problem with speed limits and enforcement. I see my fair share of idiots acting unsafely and am in no way trying to discredit your experience. I am just so tired of the anti-bike sentiment all around me. I would not be able to bike with 85lbs of kid passengers without e-assist.I just looked in my app and my average speed is 9 mph lol.