Cyclist hit on W&OD

Appears their injuries were not life-threatening

A bicyclist was struck by a car in Vienna on Monday, police said.

The bicyclist was traveling on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail and trying to cross Church Street Northeast at about 8:30 a.m.

Police said eastbound traffic had come to a stop at the intersection of the trail, but a 2006 Honda Civic traveling eastbound passed a stopped vehicle on the right side and struck the bicyclist.

The bicyclist was thrown from his bike on to the hood of the striking vehicle.

The bicyclist suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital.

The driver of the Honda, Edward Fitzgerald, 43, was charged with failure to yield the right of way.

Comments

[Tom]

I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. As a daily user of the trail I am mystified by the rules of the intersections. I am always relieved when I leave the trail on Fairfax drive in Arlington because my rights and responsibilities become clearer.

On residential street intersections many times drivers will stop even if I'm stopped waiting for traffic to clear and they (the cars) clearly have the right of way. This gives me the idea that I can cruise thru these crossings until something like this happens. In Herndon there are crossings where both the bike and car have stop signs (4-way stop). Bikes never stop. Even if you did stop, which I do, most cars won’t cross until bike crosses. This I’m afraid gives bikers the false sense of security. It only takes 1 out of 1,000 drivers not to get the memo “that bikes do not really have to pay attention to the stop sign” and you get a crash (I realize this was not the case in the reported accident).

In my distant past on the high seas we used terms such as “burdened vessel” and “privileged vessel” to spell out the rules of the road. The rules were clear. The bike-car interactions at bike path intersections are not clear at all.

[Ren]

I heard a collision in the GW Parkway crossing that is just south of Memorial Bridge (the one closest to the river) about 2 Thursdays ago at 5:30 pm. I was too far away to see what happened but my guess is that a guy in a black SUV hit a bicycle. Afterwards, he jumped the curb. I saw him slowly walking back to the scene, as if he were trying to calm himself down. I do not think he hit the cyclist. (Didn’t stop because was pretty far away, have no special abilities, and saw quite a crowd.)

I am also surprised that there are not more collisions in crossings. I have had some close calls in the area around Memorial Bridge.

[bobArlington]

Oye! This is one of the most dangerous traffic situations - one card yields - the biker thinks it is safe to go - and another car does not yield. Someone mentioned the GW. The GW is awful for this bc it is two lane, and while one car in one lane stops, smiles, and insists that the bike cross, in the other lane a car comes flying by at 50 mph. Terrible terrible.

[Jack]

Was it a two-lane situation or one-lane, i.e. did the driver pass in the right lane or on the shoulder?

IIRC four-way stop signs are not recommended for trail crossings because cyclists tend not to stop, knowing cars will. But cyclists usually stop (or at least look) when they know cars won't stop.

When I'm driving and I stop at a two-lane crosswalk (which is more than most drivers do) I've tried everything... blocking both lanes (usually impractical), honking if a car comes up fast (ped thinks you're mad but at least he looks), or waving my hand out the window (ignored).

[culimerc]

The driver in Vienna had to drive into the parking lane to pass the stopped car. He should be charged with aggravated assault at least if not battery.

[Steve]

Cyclist stopped at the sign, and traffic was stopped in both directions - the driver passed the stopped traffic on the right, trying to accelerate around the stopped cars.

Cyclist never saw the car until it sped around the stopped cars at the crosswalk.