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Crash sends Somerville motorcycle cop to the hospital
By adamg on Mon, 10/27/2014 - 11:28am
Tim captured the scene on Medford Street where the pictured minivan and police motorcycle collided shortly after 10 a.m.
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Comments
Gilman Square
Intersection of Pearl and Medford streets, behind (and down the hill from) Somerville High School.
Any idea how the crash happened?
wild guess
minivan driver too impatient to wait for oncoming traffic and pulls a left in front of the motorcycle. from the looks of it the minivan started that left turn way too early as well. RMV will have the minivan driver back on the road sooner than the police officer will heal from their injuries.
Impatient or inattentive
You're probably right, most motorcycle-vehicle collisions are caused by a vehicle turning left in front of an oncoming motorcycle. So often the vehicle driver simply didn't see the bike, even though it's right there in front of them.
As a rider I have to constantly assume the oncoming car at every intersection doesn't even see me. It's even scarier with so many drivers' faces buried in their cell phones while they are driving. Until you ride, you really have no idea just how pervasive this is. Now that cars are coming with built-in WiFi and in-dash systems that let you search the web and all that nonsense these kind of accidents are just going to become more common.
It's called being human
Not talking about mistakes - it's about how our brains work. Have seen several interesting documentaries lately about how vision and the brain work that point out that we generally see what we are looking for. Two examples:
1) Our peripheral vision sees motion but other than that almost no detail. Great piece where they ask a bunch of guys to stare at the cheerleader in the middle and then tell them which of two cheerleaders standing on each side is prettier. What they don't know is that one of the two on the side is a guy and 50% of the time, they pick the guy even some with substantial facial hair I believe - i.e. they can't see anything a few degrees to the right or left other than "an object standing there". You could probably put a mannequin in there and move it with strings and 50% of the time it would be chosen as the most attractive cheerleader.
2) They do other examples of the classic "gorilla" trick - they ask the audience to focus on a group of people performing a task and observe some detail of that. In the middle of that a person in a gorilla suit walks through the whole activity. Like 90% of the people don't notice the gorilla and don't even believe it happened until they show a video.
The driver can pay 100% attention -but if s/he's looking for cars/trucks/pedestrians and the unexpected bicycle/motorcycle come by - they can look right at it in rapt attention to their driving and never see it. If you are on a bike of any kind - always assume the driver doesn't see you - even if you are right in front of them. They're really not trying to kill you. They are literally looking right through you.
We think so unalike
I would argue people need to slow down, pay attention, and drive like an adult. You mine as well just blame the cop in your idea of "mistakes". Maybe the car was simply driving like a jerk....
This happened to me
I was signaling to take a left from a main street onto my side street and there was oncoming traffic. My attention shifted to some kids on bikes who were riding their bikes on the side street. In my efforts to make sure that the kids had moved onto the sidewalk and the side street was clear, I started to turn across traffic and almost hit an oncoming car. I was so focused on the kids that I wasn't able to divide my attention. It was very scary. Luckily the car stopped in time.
All true
As a psychologist with some background in this stuff I can say that is all true and relevant. People do tend to see just what they are looking for and miss what they aren't. (I considered that part of being "inattentive," just didn't say it). Add in distraction and it's even more perilous out there for bikers (and yes, cyclists). I've personally been cut off by a driver turning left even though she looked right at me first and I'm wearing that dorky yellow/green high-viz gear, and she was shocked to see this motorcycle appear out of thin air and almost hit her. I realize she was really looking THROUGH me. So for all those reasons - distraction, inattention and inattentional blindness, I assume they don't see me and I try to plan my escape route.
Doesn't matter
If you can't handle driving without killing people, you need to stop driving.
Then you shouldn't drive
Unless you are superhuman. Doesn't apply to people who have superhuman powers, only the other 100% of us.
i ride too
and it amazes me how many drivers are unaware of their surroundings while driving.
I'm always amazed at how many
I'm always amazed at how many people I see texting while driving on the Pike. Idiots.
One way street
This is a one way street. They may have pulled out around another vehicle at speed and rear-ended the cop, too.
The cop may have been blasting down a one way the wrong-way, too.
Not true, both Pearl Street
Not true, both Pearl Street and Medford Street are one-way streets. Looks like the minivan was bearing left onto Pearl Street.
No - both Pearl and Medford are TWO-way streets
and moderately busy ones. Bus route #80 runs through this intersection.
I meant to say two-way.
I meant to say two-way.
Likely true...
Or simply "didn't see" the motorcycle. Lousy intersection on a good day, far worse on a bad day.
what happened.
The minivan was on the correct side of the street. He was preparing to take the left but stopped when the motorcycle appeared over the hill of Medford Street. The van was stopped when the motorcycle appeared to lose control and struck it. From the conditions observed a sun glare coming off the minivan may have contributed to the police officer colliding with the minivan.
What planet
... did this happen on?
Seems to me like quite a concocted story, given the time of day and angle of the sun and the hill ... nice try, though.
On my planet, I actually prefer to bike at night with full lights and vis. I'm far more visible at night, at least it seems that way, judging from the way that drivers notice me and react appropriately to my presence.
Not concocted- that is what the witnesses said.
I also saw the the scene of the accident and the van was at the stop in the proper lane. I dont know why the crash occurred but I hope the cop is okay.
Like Ron, I recognized that
Like Ron, I recognized that intersection immediately. I turn from Medford to Pearl sometimes on my bicycle, and it can be pretty unnerving.
Agreed, it's very tough on a
Agreed, it's very tough on a bicycle because you have to put yourself in the middle of a very large expanse of pavement to make that turn. It's also takes a long time to cross the westbound lane of Medford Street since it's at such an acute angle. I'm sure they'll fix this when the new station is put in there, but it would be nice if they did some traffic calming before then.