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Senior citizen hit by bicycle on Mass. Ave. now a fatality
By adamg on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 5:29pm
Boston Police report the 84-year-old man who tried crossing a gridlocked Mass. Ave. Friday afternoon has died. "The preliminary investigation suggests the incident to be a terrible accident," police say:
Witnesses informed officers that motor vehicle traffic was stopped due to gridlock when the elderly male stepped from the curb in an attempt to cross the street. They further stated the victim was immediately struck by a bicyclist traveling on Massachusetts Avenue heading towards the City of Cambridge. The elderly male fell to the ground striking his head. The victim sustained head trauma including a large laceration. The bicyclist stayed with the victim awaiting the arrival of the Boston Police Department. ... According to witness statements, the victim was not utilizing a crosswalk at the point of impact.
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Comments
Not surprised, cyclists are unpredictable
While it sounds like the pedestrian in question wasn't crossing the street in a safe manner, its almost impossible to predict what cyclists are going to do.
While there is a large number of really responsible cyclist out there. Most want to be treated like a car when it is convenient and like they are exempt from the rules when it isn't convenient. They run red lights, make illegal turns, don't signal and almost run people down without thinking, even if they are in a crosswalk.
Every time I hear a cyclist whine about respecting them, I suggest they mount a campaign to get all cyclists in line. Maybe some stricter laws are in order.
Right forum?
"Most" cyclists? Ahem.
There's no description of the gridlock in question. There are witness statements that the pedestrian tried to navigate without the benefit of the crosswalk. Absent all the facts, it's difficult to [anonymously] indict the cyclist.
What's to say there was gridlock going south (perceived safety), the appearance of no traffic going north (again, perceived safety), and the pedestrian didn't see the cyclist? I used to live around the corner, and have seen that situation many times.
It's a tragedy someone perished, but maybe you could reign in the "I hate bicycles and everything is their fault" crusade until all the facts are made known.
No charges...
No charges have been filed against the cyclist. Doesn't this mean that he did nothing wrong?
But he was riding a bike!
That automatically means he should be charged with daring to exist!
Never mind that the guy could just as easily been hit by a car doing the same thing - crossing between cars and not at a crosswalk. Or that a motorist would not have been charged for the same situation.
Consider this: drivers who hit pedestrians are not often hurt. Cyclists who collide with pedestrians are frequently injured. Regardless of who was at fault here, this isn't something that a cyclist really wants to do because it carries a heavy penalty for both parties.
precious little snowflakes on bicycles
precious little snowflakes on bicycles have to be responsible for their actions too!
Drive by anons
have to be dragged out and tied to the tobin bridge.
Bike Accident Mass Ave.
I was walking on Friday on a red light on Cambridge St. in Boston going to M.G. Hospital. Two cars plust one byciclist were lawfully stoped at the red light. Another Cyclist with backpack, about 35 years old, came racing down Cambridge St., I saw him in time, and as he approaced shouted "Nearly". I think he met nearly hit me. There was not way I could have seen him above the superstructure of the cars. I am also blind in my right eye and partially blind in left eye, by an accident with a bike. I have learning never to trust and looked right up Cambridge through the traffic and saved myself. He cyclist proceeded onto storrow drive while others stayed stationery at the light. People were motionless as I shouted a few things. Light mean nothing to most of them. It is my second close call in two days. I agree with the blogger. I am scared to death to walk in Boston now. I used to ride a bike for years before I got hurt. Safety was paramount.
Unnecessary out
I suppose that's better than being hit by a garbage truck, but the old fellow was probably not intending to do himself in.
We'd all benefit if each of us traveled by foot, on bike and driving a car regularly to keep the spatial realities fresh. He was surely old enough to know to look before entering traffic, even when jaywalking. He certainly had it somewhere that a bike or motorcycle can do just what happened.
If it is as the cops write, legally the cyclist was in the right. While keeping an eye out for just such issues as well as drivers who don't look, signal or yield, bikes can pass stopped traffic to the right. In fact, they are encouraged to keep to the right as far as safety permits.
I bike Boston, Cambridge and the burbs daily. I couldn't begin to count the number of gormless pedestrians who walk between parked cars directly into the paths of vehicles, motorized and otherwise. I am constantly looking for them as well as drivers who park or double park and fling their street-side door open. For all of them, I'm likely to call out, "You should look!", but am unsure it has much effect.
I'm real careful crossing and taught my three kids the same. Don't count on everyone else to watch out for you.
The deceased had outlived his actuarial span, but that was a shame for him, any family, the cyclist and any witnesses.
Oh, and as an afterthought, Mass Highways had a shot at a bike lane there recently, which it refused to paint. Just maybe, the man would have been more alert if he had to step into such a lane.
So he's still warm, and
So he's still warm, and you're calling him a gormless pedestrian?
Nice. Typical bike kook.
It is to laugh
Take a look at the reports from the cops, witnesses and cyclist. You might look up gormless while you're at it. You'd have everyone else as a kook or villain. Yet, someone senselessly walking into harm's way -- and his death -- is OK, eh?
It doesn't take a cyclist or kook to note that we need to watch where we're going.
There was no shot at bike
There was no shot at bike lanes here. The bike lanes were proposed south of Huntington to the hospital. This is north toward Cambridge.
Past and future
That was only the latest proposal, during the latest repaving project. These questions and proposed solutions had come up not long before and will again. In fact, the next re-striping or repaving time, they won't have the excuse of an early plan to sidestep the DOT requirement for accommodation. They could have done it this go, but chose not to under a flimsy excuse of additional engineering cost.
As a pedestrian, cyclist and driver, I'm for multi-mode and accommodation. Share the streets and we're all safer.
You may note that the Harvard Bridge and Mass Ave in our neighboring city have bike lanes on this very busy road. It's past time, particularly in such stretches as by the mother church and Berkeley, with lots of bike and ped traffic. We have a big share-the-road need there.
Read it again
I'm sorry, I think you missed my point.
This stretch of Mass Ave (between Huntington and the river) was not under consideration for bike lanes.
The repaving/rebuild project you're talking about is in a different neighborhood.
Part of the view
Recent consideration has been from St. Botolph to Albany, but for years, whenever repaving and/or re-striping has been planned, compliance with Mass general law 90E:2A has brought this up for the other sections of Mass Ave in Boston, as well as through Cambridge and into Arlington.
While smaller burbs have good arguments, such as narrow two-lane roads with stone walls on one or both sides, we really don't. We seem terrified at doing what the Europeans commonly do, taking a parking lane to devote to ped and bike traffic. This has the other desirable effect of reducing cars in an area. Putting in the lanes at re-striping does take political courage. Consider the equally busy Cambridge with the same Mass Ave doing it.
This has come up repeatedly for multiple sections of Mass Ave as well as other thoroughfares. Painting the American Legion Highway for a couple of miles is the easy and less meaningful version. There you could count the pedestrians and cyclists on a given day on one hand each.
bike lane
A bike lane would NOT have made a difference in this case. Do you honestly think someone who opted to not cross a busy street at the crosswalk is going to do so because there's a bike lane? Think again. It's shameful that people exploit a tragedy to push their agenda.
Eye Cues
Yes indeed, visual cues can make a big difference. It's like the WALK and DON'T WALK flashers. They actually make some people be sensible and others at least hurry up. Those who insist on risking their lives or making lines of drivers wait won't pay attention. Others will. You can't know how Mr. Haley would have acted if he had seen he was entering a designated travel lane. All of us humans can sometimes benefit from such aids.
It's awful that someone
It's awful that someone died, but it's inevitable in a town where people jaywalk so much. I've seen mothers pushing strollers dodging traffic against the light on boylston st, the elderly trying to make it across clarendon and dartmouth. It's pretty ridiculous, especially considering how terrible the drivers are around here. As someone who walks, rides, and drives (occasionally), I think everyone should obey all traffic rules. It's transportation madness in this town, people all seem to think that laws don't apply to them.
It is pretty ridiculous,
It is pretty ridiculous, which is why when you're driving a car or riding a bike in this city, you have to be ready to stop at a moment's notice. Clearly this was a horrific accident. Someone lost their life and I'm sure the cyclist will be traumatized for the rest of his/her life by what happened.
I don't know if I can calculate this right ...
Let's see ...
http://www.universalhub.com/node/26722 - Bicyclist knocked unconscious in collision with car
http://www.universalhub.com/node/28965 - Senior citizen hit by bicycle on Mass. Ave. now a fatality
Car hits bike, bike hits person ... what possibly is common between both (and many other incidents) ... oh, right. The bike.
you sir are a great logician!?
One can only assume that you are making a terrible joke. But, if you are serious, re-run your "math" using these figures from the DOT's Fatality Analysis Reporting System: http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx
I've got it
They both have heads.
It's a head conspiracy, I tells ya.
A guy got stabbed the other day...
and he had a head too!
You should totally cut off your head, John, before you have an accident too!
Just in case you all missed it the first time
"The preliminary investigation suggests the incident to be a terrible accident," police say:
Witnesses informed officers that motor vehicle traffic was stopped due to gridlock when the elderly male stepped from the curb in an attempt to cross the street. They further stated the victim was immediately struck by a bicyclist traveling on Massachusetts Avenue heading towards the City of Cambridge. The elderly male fell to the ground striking his head. The victim sustained head trauma including a large laceration. The bicyclist stayed with the victim awaiting the arrival of the Boston Police Department. ... According to witness statements, the victim was not utilizing a crosswalk at the point of impact.
--
Now, how can any of you read that and think the bicyclist is at fault here in ANY way??
but but but..... he's on a
but but but..... he's on a bike, and young! It HAS to be his fault!
The deceased was my parent's age
This is awful, I feel bad for the victim's family - and for the cyclist. My parents are his age, and they could pass away any day, but I would not want it to be this way.
I can see how this could happen very easily. Someone sees traffic at a standstill, and decides to walk thru the stopped cars. Even as an avid cyclist, I think I would be prone to doing it. Hopefully, I'll remember this accident.
Perhaps when cars are at a standstill like this....
Bicycle riders ought to proceed between the lanes of cars only at a deliberate and cautious pace.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't THINK bicycle riders have any more legal right to ride between lanes than pedestrian have to cross outside cross walks.
You're wrong
Bikes and even mopeds have the right of way to pass vehicles on the right side of the way of travel (basically, even when right-side bike lane isn't painted, it's there if the bike/moped chooses to use it). The pedestrian was immediately struck after stepping off the curb. That's exactly where he should have expected bike and moped drivers to be.
It's not legal to ride between lanes, but that's not where this happened.
The right to ride some place...
...and the obligation to ride cautiously in that place are hardly mutually exclusive.
Absolutely, and there is no
Absolutely, and there is no evidence that the cyclist was not riding responsibly. The law is written the way it is in recognition of the fact that a bicycle can legally pass on the right when conditions permit. Generally speaking, what a pedestrian on the sidewalk might be about to do is not a readable condition. I find pedestrians to be far more dangerous to me as a cyclist than cars, for the simple reason that they are entirely unpredictable. Cars actually follow an accepted set of rules for the most part. Pedestrians quite frequently wander out on to the street without any prior indication.
Sorry
I think when auto traffic is snarled like this, bikes riding between lanes should travel _slowly_. Has there been any report as to the bicyclist's speed?
Stop assuming facts not in
Stop assuming facts not in evidence. Yes, the cyclist should ride slowly. What makes you think he wasn't? You don't have to be riding very quickly to knock somebody over. In fact, I think it's likely that fast enough to stay balanced >= fast enough to knock somebody down. When you present some facts that the cyclist behaved recklessly, I'll be the first to condemn him. But right now, we have few facts other than that police labeled this an accident. That means the cyclist is not at fault.
Excuse me
I didn't assume anything -- I asked a question.
And I stated a general principle (in respone to what seemed like "bicysclists can do whatever they want as long as they have a right to be where they are).
I find the response to this sad incident by some (not all) of the pro-bike contingent here really pretty creepy. I wouldn't have expected so much meanness of spirit.
This is my last comment in
This is my last comment in the tit for tat we have going on, but take a look at your own words: "what seemed like...." You admit in that line that your analysis is assumptive. As for response by cyclists, most of us are saying it is tragic, but please don't jump to conclusions.
Hey, just asking questions...
Yes, a misleading, pointed question that pretends not to assume any facts not in evidence just to pull an innocent implication of fault on the part of the cyclist.
This is a classic Glen Beck move and it makes you look like a douchebag...just like it makes Glenn Beck look like one. In fact, when turned against Beck, you can implicate him in a rape and murder and act as if you were "just asking questions".
Try phrasing your "innocent" questions in a way that ACTUALLY asks for more information and doesn't automatically come across as if you have an axe to grind against someone whose motivation, intention, and/or actions you have absolutely no knowledge of.
Otherwise, you're just being an asswipe.
Is that better for you, crybaby?
You're showing just how classy a guy you are
In other words, not at all.
Re-doing an attack post from an argument that ended long ago. Sheesh.
Tough call
I don't ride in the city, so I may have a warped view of things.
Riding in the burbs, when there's a string of snarled traffic I can pass on the right, I ride very cautiously, mostly for self-preservation. You never know when a car will take a right, or at least nudge over to the right, because they don't see you coming.
If I rode in the city a lot, I would still ride cautiously in this situation, but probably not as cautiously as I do in the 'burbs. Snarled traffic is more the norm in the city, you get used to it, and if you ride too cautiously, you'd never get anywhere. There's a lot more going on, between traffic, parked cars (i.e. doors), pedestrians, but you also get used to it. It's a tough call.
And I still think I'd be just as likely as anyone to just walk out in stopped traffic, forgetting about bikes.
One important indicator of cyclist speed
When he hit the jaywalker, he was not reported to have been injured.
You don't usually get that sort of deal when hitting a jaywalker unless you aren't moving too fast.
Duh
What's your point?
An upsetting story
because I can easily see myself as either party in this tragedy -- the cyclist riding alongside stopped cars, or the pedestrian walking across what he thinks is totally stopped traffic. We all need to be more careful now in either role.
One thing I haven't seen reported is whether the bicyclist had a working headlight. If he didn't, he could be considered partially at fault.