Charges Pending Against Driver in Tuesday Fatality

Failure to yield

Arthur John Martin Jr., 51, of New Windsor was riding his bike on Shepherds Mill Road when a tractor-trailer driven by Anthony Edward Woodie, 37, made a right turn onto Route 75 in front of him, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Based on preliminary investigation, troopers say that Woodie failed to yield to Martin when turning, but do not believe alcohol or high speeds were a factor.

Charges are pending against the truck driver.

From the brief amount of information we have, there are many similarities with the Swanson crash.

Comments

[SJE]

Except that no charges were filed.......

[Geof Gee]

Sort of similar to Swanson. I recall that after initiating the turn, the truck was waiting for pedestrians to cross in order to make a right hand turn. Swanson was not at the intersection when the light initially turned green and was approaching in the bike lane on the right. Unfortunately, as an opening appeared Swanson tried to pass on the right resulting in the collision and fatality. The Martin collision sounds more like the traditional right hook where an impatient driver speeds up to pass the cyclist only to cut them off at the intersection.

I see in your link that you do write about the legal obligations of the Swanson driver and Swanson herself. My point here is that the circumstances are quite different including the cyclists' actions which is probably why the truck driver will be charged so quickly. Since this can be a touchy subject, let me be clear that I don't think that Swanson should be blamed; i.e., if everyone fulfilled their legal obligation she would be alive. But I think that it is clear that her choices were unwise.

[washcycle]

Agreed, there are similarities and differences.