Thursday Afternoon Commute - Cheh

Good afternoon

• Yesterday afternoon a cyclist was critically injured in a collision with a school bus in Montgomery County. "The bicyclist was heading north on Berryville Road and the bus was traveling eastbound on Darnestown Road when the two collided in the intersection" Here are photos. The driver was taken to the hospital as well.  "The bus -- which was carrying students home from Poolesville High School -- came to a stop on the wrong side of the road. Skidmarks were visible crossing the double yellow line. The front left side of the bus' windshield was cracked." I wonder if the driver had a heart attack or something and lost control of the bus. Let's hope they both recover. 
• L Street cycletracks underway. M Street coming next year. Some drivers complain that cyclists break the law "Until you get cyclists to obey the laws, you are going to have continued difficulties as drivers and cyclists fight for the road."
• CM Mary Cheh had her bike stolen."It was stolen a couple of weeks ago around the corner of 13th and Mass where she had it locked up—at 9 in the morning, no less. She tried checking online (Craigslist) to see if the thief was selling it, but had no luck,"
• One writer wrestles with two contradictory opinions: helmets are useful and she doesn't think she has to wear one all the time.  
• DDOT is encouraging more people to bike to work to deal with a 12-percent growth in downtown transportation activity by 2015.

Comments

[MM]

"Until you get cyclists to obey the laws, you are going to have continued difficulties as drivers and cyclists fight for the road."

Who is fighting? Well, drivers apparently. I just want drivers to share the road, but I certainly don't question or oppose their right to use it, despite the fact the feeling tends to not be mutual.

Regarding the Darnestown crash, as I pointed out in the BikeArlington forum, one of the articles has this quote: Our Collision Reconstruction Unit is on the scene there and will begin their investigation in the event the bicyclist dies, but we still don’t know his condition right now

This seems to imply that MoCo only investigates bike/car collisions if there is a death. So if the cyclists dies, they'll see if maybe someone did something wrong. If he/she makes it, they'll just assume that both driver and cyclist shared fault evenly and call it a draw.

[Tom]

The article about bicycle helmets has possibly the worst statistics I've seen all year:

> According to the NHTSA’s 2009 Traffic Safety Facts, there were 630 cyclist fatalities involved in traffic accidents during that year in the US. This accounts for less than 2% of all traffic fatalities.

Can anyone really read this and not realize what's wrong with her reasoning?

[antibozo]

A Montgomery County school bus has passed me unsafely on Sligo Creek Parkway between the Beltway and Colesville a couple of times over the last several months. Both times the driver crossed over well into the oncoming lane with oncoming traffic approaching, in one case going around a blind curve. And, of course, both times i caught up with the bus at Colesville.

I think Monkey County may need to do a bit of remedial training.

[david]

The USA is the most backward of all the western nations in many ways. It's lack of infrastructure bicycle is one. The traffic laws,care another which in Germany, Netherlands and Denmark all give the cyclist the way of way and presumption of fault for the motorist , rather than the cyclist as is the case here. Further the so called legal system does not take reckless drivers off the road much less punish them. The bus hit the cyclist there were many witnesses , the kids on the bus, yet there is doubt about what happened. If it were not a cover up in progress then we would have heard from the witnesses. I have no doubt that even if the cyclist dies the bus driver shall not go to jail .

[Bob Smith]

@MM/David: I agree, I'm not opposed to sharing the road with cars. I just know that I have more at stake if a collision occurs.

WJLA's reporter has already decided the cyclist is at fault in his report, in which he states: "[The Accident Reconstruction Team tries] to piece exactly what went on here. But, at this point, it does look like this bicyclists somehow or another pulled in front of the school bus. "

I know exactly where this happened. I was driving through there a few weeks ago. They are repaving the road and that one area is VERY ambiguous as to where the shoulder/lane is because of lack of lane striping, but there is a "bike lane" sign right there.

I am STILL laughing about how MD SHA has put signs on MD routes 193/650 to "share the road" Oye. No thanks!

Stay safe out there!

[david]

@BoB Smith if the cyclist "pulled in front of the bus" then the bus driver should have taken action to avoid a collision, if he wasn't going to fast which it appears he was from the skid marks.American motorist will say or do anything other then drive like they respect the lives of other people on the road and take responsibility for their actions. I do not believe the states Accident Reconstruction Team as they have an interest in avoiding liability for the state. I my self was hit from behind , thrown more then 50 ft., had a light on my bike rear rack, the driver told the police he had 5 or 6 beers and the Montgomery country court let him off scott free. If you do a little research you will find that my case is no exception. The courts are a joke.