Posted on 01/09/2014 9:04:13 PM PST by Lonely Bull
(01-09) 14:08 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A bicyclist who was struck by a tow truck in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood was traveling in the wrong direction on a one-way street, police said Thursday.
The bicyclist, a 31-year-old woman who has not been identified, was hit at Seventh and Folsom streets at about 5 p.m. Wednesday.
She had been riding west on Folsom, which runs one way in the opposite direction, said Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The bicyclists here are out of control. Even after all the bike lanes the Board of Supervisors bent over backwards building to accommodate riders (and thus creating even MORE traffic problems), someone rides in the wrong direction?? REALLY??
Its sad when any accident like this happens. But the bicyclists in this city act like everyone else is at fault but them. Many bicyclists are aggressive, don’t yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk, treat drivers like garbage, and automatically assume they always have the right of way.
Walking here in the city I feel like I have to pay twice as close attention as I used to so some bicyclist doesn’t come out of nowhere and run me over. Time for the “Share the road” crowd to take some responsibility for the fact that the rules of the road apply to them too.
So. It's not like it's a car going the wrong way down a street. I'm sure she was riding alongside parked cars regardless. Not down the middle of the street. Question is, how the heck didn't she see the truck coming, especially when she was facing it. Was the tow truck driver perhaps driving recklessly racing to an accident?
Then again, maybe she WAS riding in the middle of the street. Who knows. The article doesn’t add any of the details. Maybe she had turned to enter the block just as the tow truck was racing down the street on a call. Dopey news reporter should have added SOME details.
Well, that's how it could have happened...
Good possibility. And you’re right, both are likely to blame. I ride about 25 miles a day, average, and at times do ride the wrong way. But I’ve been driving for almost 40 years, and so know how to put my mind in that of drivers I encounter.
Maybe the tow truck driver didn’t like bicyclists. When I rode year-round, I followed the rules of the road and I hugged the curb and I guaranteed it that, at least once a ride, some driver would pass me by close enough that I could just about scrape the side of his car with my pedal or an idiot would suddenly stop and make a right hand turn without having signalled.
Chances are near 100% that the bicyclist was wearing spandex and pedaling on a bicycle worth somewhere around a $1000.
Probably the bicycle cant jump up a curb nor either the bicyclist.
I actually DID get swiped by a car, twice, the last time being about a month ago when a woman on a cellphone drifted over bumping me with her mirror. Stupid itch didn’t even know she hit me. I caught up to her at the light and wanted to kick her window in, but wisely let it go. She seemed to have no idea what I was upset about.
Another time a few years earlier, another woman (mere coincidence) again with her mirror hit the edge of my left handlebar knocking off the plastic insert that plugs up the end of the bar. She actually got angry with me, denying she had hit me.
Lol. They do look like complete a-holes, guys that wear spandex. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it. But nowhere near 100% of riders do. Women wearing it, I don't mind so much, especially when I'm riding behind them.
It’s your life, I guess. At least you know what you’re facing out there on the roadways atop your 15 pound tube frame vehicle, unlike the other guy on FR years back who declared his God given right to pedal one of those atrociously nerdy reclining bike rowing scull-like things down the boulevard and if that anyone ran him over they’d be in serious trouble with his lawyers.
I haven’t seen him in years, so I wonder if he was finally slain by a teenage girl who was texting while driving an SUV... That or he wised up. One of the two.
Any bicyclist worth his salt knows what’s out there and those who successfully ride generally have few problems.
I forgot to mention, in both of those cases where I was bumped, I was riding in the proper direction and along the side of the road, about 2-3 feet from parked cars, as is recommended for avoiding instances where doors are suddenly opened in your path. Again, neither driver was paying attention enough to even be aware that they had hit me.
So what? You hajzd a purpose, right?
In my experience, operators of recumbent bicycles are somewhat more responsible on the road - perhaps because their ride costs more, or perhaps it's not a gizmo for novices, or perhaps they are so close to the road that a pocket size Yugo looks like a tank to them. They often have flags, because otherwise they'd be invisible.
I, personally, don't mind sharing the road with a bike... as long as there is road to share. Unfortunately, bicyclists are attracted to scenic, winging, and narrow roads, where there is no space to safely and legally pass a bike. This is what makes me not entirely happy - these people are forcing innocent drivers to leave the lane, and to risk a collision with oncoming traffic just because the bicyclist wants an exercise. Some roads (one lane in each direction) even have a sign "Share the road", and a solid yellow double line all along the road. How is one supposed to share a single lane that is just wide enough for a car? One bicyclist, moving slowly along such a road, can endanger hundreds of drivers... and many of them are just doing their job, working for Fedex and UPS, delivering LNG and construction supplies... they do not deserve such treatment; not any more than a construction crew would tolerate a stranger who walks all over the site and interferes with work. It's easier to understand when someone rides to work, but plenty of bicyclists ride on weekends, purely for their pleasure. Roads should not be personal gyms.
Care to repeat that in English?
Nope.
That has been my experience as well. I was even told at a 4 way stop that cars always have the right of way.
All such discussion are heavily site specific. I agree that there are some roads that can’t easily be shared. But most can. I do most of my riding in the city and am close enough to ride to work, which I would do regularly were it not for school pickup duty in the afternoon. I take the side streets and stay off arterial roads. Sometimes one is forced onto a busy road, and if that’s the case, I hop onto the sidewalk, if there is one. Good traffic design solves a lot of problems. This includes sidewalks, generous shoulders, and a street grid on a regular city square system that allows you to get around efficiently on the side streets. Neighborhoods that are built that way are a pleasure to ride in. Neighborhoods that are built entirely for automobiles are problems.
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