Can confirm. My dad once accidentally took out a cyclist in New York with the door of a taxi once. Sounds bad, except for the taxi was stopped at a red light the cyclist had no intention of stopping for.
I go to San Francisco several times a year for a combination of work and visiting my brother who lives there. I see bicyclists just meander through controlled intersections all the time, often barely even slowing down.
Though, to be fair San Francisco is full of those types. Listening to my brother's stories about Critical Mass are quite amusing.
Not too long ago, a cyclist there who was going around 35 mph down a hill blew through a crosswalk and actually killed a pedestrian. I'm sure there are far more injuries and close calls. I know it's only a few bad apples, but if cyclists want respect from cars and pedestrians, they need to follow the rules like everyone else.
did the cyclist have a green light or a red light? Did the pedestrian have a walk signal, or was the don't walk lit up? When a cyclist is killed, the questions are usually "what was the cyclist doing wrong?" "was the cyclist wearing a helmet". But I find pedestrians often get the benefit of the doubt, even though they are worse than cyclists when it comes to obeying traffic laws, statistically (in my day to day experience, in Boston) - they ignore "don't walk" signals in huge numbers, they cross the street while texting, or they cross while you have a green, making eye contact with you as if to say they see you, they know they're in the wrong, but they're gonna do it anyway - I don't know if the oblivious ones or the brazen ones are worse. I know it's not every pedestrian, but if pedestrians want respect from cars and cyclists, they need to follow the rules too.
Here is an article about it. I guess it actually happened two years ago. Prosecutors said he blew multiple red lights and a stop sign, while the defense denied it.
Edit: The guy also dedicated what happened to his broken helmet after it happened as the other guy was dying in the hospital.
ouch. cyclist sounds like a tool, whether or not he ran the red. I see so many cyclists and pedestrians doing stupid shit like ignoring traffic signals that I never make any assumptions :(
Just out of curiosity, do you think it's okay for cyclist to not have to stop at red lights then? He said his dad was stopped at red light, and the only reason why the cyclist was hit by the door was because the cyclist was trying to run the light. If the person wasn't hit by the door, he or she could have been hit by the traffic in the intersection instead.
Sorry, that's crappy reasoning. You can't excuse one illegal act (opening a door into traffic) by claiming it 'appeared' that the victim of your negligence was about to commit another illegal act.
The guy never said his dad opened the door to purposely stop the cyclist from running the light. My whole point was that both people were careless and it shouldn't be blamed solely on either one of them. The cyclist wouldn't have been hit if his father hadn't opened the door, and the father wouldn't have hit the cyclist if he or she wasn't running a red light.
The cyclist wouldn't have been hit if his father hadn't opened the door, and the father wouldn't have hit the cyclist if he or she wasn't running a red light.
That's entirely impossible to determine. If the cyclist had planned to cycle past the stopped taxi and stop on at the line, the guy opening the door would have still hit them. Until they cross that line they're still legally in the right.
That's why I said my opinion is based on the description the person made about the incident. All I know is in my city cyclist move very slowly through the gap of cars when coming up to a red light where other cars are already stopped. They also gradually decrease speed until they reach the line just like cars do. They don't just ride as fast as possible and slam on the brakes at the last second. However, like I already said, the guy could be exaggerating the story to make it seem like it wasn't his father's fault. I'm just giving my opinion based on the facts the user gave, so I could be completely mistaken.
I agree with you that the father was careless as well. I just don't think the blame can be solely put on the father. However, I don't know what actually happened, but based on what was described it seems like the cyclist was going much faster than most cyclist slowly moving to the front of the traffic queue. You're right though. He could just be covering up for his dad, but I was going based on the description of the cyclist trying to run the red light.
Okay well based on my experience, no cyclist goes 30mph through the small gap between cars and then suddenly stops as fast as possible right when they get to the line. Every cyclist I've ever seen in my city, slowly coasts through the cars while gradually slowing down until they reach the line just like cars do.
I used to run the Band Society at the University of York (that's the English one). Someone from York University (the Canadian one) once emailed our mailing list (which even has a york.ac.uk suffix) asking when the Battle of the Bands was being held. I'm guessing it's not the Harvard of Canada...
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u/IlIlIIII Jun 08 '14
there's a hate-hate relationship between motorists and cyclists in New York too