Crash Reports Needed for Lyon Village Switchback

The Lyon Village Switchback is the shaded switchback along the Custis trail that connects the Lee Highway overpass to the trail along Lee Highway. The combination of wet, moldy leaves and sharp curves leads to several crashes (I wiped out there once several years ago). Arlington County has put some warning signs up, but the Arlington BAC would like the county to apply a high friction surface.  That will cost $18,000, and no one has the funds in their budget.

The BAC has agreed to ask the cycling community for their stories of crashing on those S turns. We have a number of them already from BAC members, but need as many as we can find to justify the cost. Those crashes are never reported, of course, because you just got up and rode on to work. So we need to document them.

Please send your crash story to David Patton in Arlington's DOT. His email is

dpatton[at]arlingtonva[dot]us

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Comments

[Kristopher Larsen]

I know there was a serious crash coming down that on Bike to Work day a couple months ago. I rolled by as the ambulance was pulling up, though I know no other details.

[charlie]

Umm,, slow down?

I go up and down that everyday. It is not a problem unless you insist on going at full speed.

Take the 18K and invest it the crossing there. Coming down Lee Highway, you either have to ride on bike lane and then do a busy street crossing to the bike path, or go down the sidewalk on the other side of the street.

[Washcycle]

The time I wiped out, I was going up hill. My back wheel spun on wet leaves, I lost all speed and tipped over. So the problem was not going too fast, but going too slow.

[ibc]

My back wheel spun on wet leaves, I lost all speed and tipped over.

Ah, but your rear wheel was going too fast!

[sorry ;)]

[Washcycle]

That's because the faster I can spin my wheels, the slower the tire will age (according to that know it all Einstein).

[old guy]

I've ridden here most days over the last 19 years (including winter). All my bikes are road bikes with narrow, bald clinchers. I've never crashed here. I have to conclude the problem is excessive speed and/or incompetence.

[Washcycle]

Thanks.

[Washcycle]

Just because you've never crashed it doesn't mean it's safe. (It doesn't even mean you're a skilled cyclist). Your experience makes for a very small sample size. If many people crash there, but few crash elsewhere - would that not be indicative of poor design? Shouldn't we build a transportation system that allows 95-100% of cyclists to use it safely every time?

[old guy]

2 Things -- I'd argue that the boardwalks over the swale areas along the Potomac when wet are far more dangerous than the LV switchback. That would be my friction priority.
And I wonder -- if the problem is wet leaves does a friction surface solve it? Or does it just make the wet leaves adhere even better to the surface and have more slipperiness atop a useless friction surface?

BTW -- I'm no star -- if I can handle it, any sensible rider can do it.

In any case, I'm sure that more than 95% of the trips through there are safe.

[old guy]

I figure I've ridden thru there about 6,000 times. I know a co-worker who has gone thru there safely (on a recumbent) at least another 4,000 times. That's 10,000 safe trips thru that spot. Does anyone really think it's the course and not the rider?

[Washcycle]

Yes. Many people do think it's the course or else no one on the Arlington BAC (comprised of experienced and knowledgeable cyclists) would be pursuing this.

You misread me above. I didn't say that 95% of trips through there should be safe. I said 95% of users should never crash there (if you crash there once in 10000 times, you are in the "has crashed there" group). There's a significant difference.

You and your friend have passed through safely 10000 times (BTW, that's still only a sample size of two). That makes you experts. But what of people riding it for the first time (like the person who crashed on Bike to Work Day)? Or only the tenth time? If you need to be an expert to safely maneuver through the area then it's badly designed. Almost every crash can be determined to have an element of human error to it. But since we can't yet design people who don't make errors, we need to design facilities that allow for as wide a margin of error as possible.

I can ski a double black diamond ski slope without falling. If someone else skied it and fell, it would be human error, but that wouldn't mean the slope wasn't difficult - it would mean you need to be an expert to do it. While it's fun to have double black diamond ski slopes, we shouldn't have any double black diamond bike trails.

Aren't all the crashes on the boardwalks you mentioned (which do have a high friction surface) caused by human error? Perhaps NPS should have just said "F--- them if they can't ride through there safely" as you're prescribing

Your lack of empathy is appalling. People have been hurt here. Badly. And many, very smart people think the facility has been partly to blame. If I were you, I'd take a good look in the mirror and ask myself why I find it so easy to blame the victim.

[Nancy]

I'm an experienced cyclist [do I have to enumerate how many years, how many miles per year and what kinds of conditions I ride in?] and I have had trouble with the switchback. Luckily [or, due to my SKILL], I didn't fall down but just had a wheel slip sideways. A friend of mine, a skilled bike handler and bike racer, also had a similar incident and had to put a foot down. In neither case were we going fast.

That kind of switchback is pretty terrible to have on a bike trail, but if it's the only way to get from point A to point B, then we should try to make it a bit safer.

Like Washcycle says, lack of personal misfortune on this stretch doesn't have anything to do with the crap that's happened to other bikers.

[Froggie]

Though I've never crashed or seen a crash there, I've noticed the combination of curves and a fairly moderate grade.

Unfortunately, improving that would likely cost a lot more than $18K, plus may require some ROW...

[Tom]

Old guy,

Be careful. Looking at your statistics, I'd say you're due.

I am also reminded of the quote "pride goes before the fall".

But the conventional wisdom may be wrong. The perceived danger may be an illusion.