
How Being Hit by a Vehicle Changed Times Colleagues’ Lives (2014) - jseliger
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/nyregion/how-being-hit-by-a-vehicle-changed-times-colleagues-lives.html?_r=0
======
wcarron
I ride a motorcycle and was involved in a collision a few months ago and I can
attest to one thing from the article:

"Your life will probably not be the same"

I wasn't injured as badly as the author was but flying through the air and
breaking bones hurts. Thing is, I only changed my perspective because I was
forced to. I'm much more patient on the bike, and more alert too. People
everywhere drive while distracted (eating, makeup, the phone, their computer!,
putting clothes on) and now I have to assume they will attempt to murder me.
Most drivers don't have to go through that. They literally forget that driving
is inherently extremely dangerous because they have ever improving cages
around them. I would say that the vast majority of drivers are grossly
negligent on the road.

Like other commenters mentioned, I've changed my language about vehicle
collisions. I refuse to call them "accidents". Some may be, but "accident"
implies that there's no fault. That nobody fucked up; but that's just not true
in real life. People literally merge on top of me, while I'm __not__ lane-
splitting at least 4-5 times a week. I consider almost any traffic death
manslaughter, at least. If there's clear fault / distracted driving I consider
it murder. It might be an extreme conclusion, but distracted driving is
essentially saying "My trivial needs are more important than other motorists'
lives." and it saddens me that our judicial system fails to adequately select
for responsible driving.

~~~
netinstructions
Makes me think of a recent incident in Seattle where an aggressive driver in a
large truck sped up and passed intentionally close to a bicyclist to
intimidate them (incredibly, incredibly dangerous). This happens frequently
enough as any cyclist can attest, but it was special because it was caught on
camera and shared with the police. The cyclist tried to report it as attempted
murder (and even the former mayor of Seattle described it as such), but the
police department said, "This looks like an inconsiderate/unsafe pass. An
officer would typically need to witness a violation in-progress to be able to
stop the driver & confirm their ID to issue a citation." Nevermind that there
was clear video of the whole thing.

About a month later a car hits and kills a cyclist and runs away. Who knows,
maybe the driver was trying to do a non-prosecutable "inconsiderate/unsafe
pass" that got a little too close.

[https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/10/12/25468300/this-
vi...](https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/10/12/25468300/this-video-shows-
how-entitled-drivers-endanger-cyclists) [https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-
news/transportation/bic...](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-
news/transportation/bicyclist-dies-in-crash-in-sodo-police-say/)

~~~
poulsbohemian
In 2003 a work colleague and I were crossing 5th ave in Seattle headed to
lunch. While legally crossing, multiple cars ran the red light, collided with
each other, then struck her. It was truly a miracle that she lived; frankly
her being significantly overweight was likely the only reason she was saved. I
was very lucky to jump back out of the way and avoided being struck.

That same year, there were two other car-pedestrian accidents _at that same
intersection_ with at least one involving the fatality of a German tourist.

When I was called by the Seattle Police Department as a witness to the
accident, they did everything they could to tell me that we had been
jaywalking, rather than recognizing that no, _multiple cars_ had in fact been
speeding trying to make it through the already red light. Fuck the police.

In reality, I'd say that my co-worker's life changed for the better. She lost
a lot of weight, took up new activities, moved to the Bay Area, and had a new
outlook.

For me, having seen all of it in moving detail, I guaranteed it resulted in
undiagnosed PTSD.

~~~
c22
In 2005 I was in Seattle watching a couple with a small child receive a
citation for jaywalking because they were still in the road after the red hand
stopped blinking. While the officer was writing the citation I saw the lights
change and three cars ran the red, then at the beginning of the next cycle a
car jumped the green to make a left before oncoming traffic. The officer
didn't even look up.

------
Steltek
In the US, cars kill more people than opiods, more people than guns. If you're
under 35, your highest chance of dying is in a car crash. After 35, it's heart
attacks and diabetes; in other words, severe lack of exercise because we drive
everywhere. It's truly the silent health epidemic of our time.

Of course, you won't see improvement any time soon. Every bike lane or safe
street initiative is met with "But my parking!" Every fatal accident due to
driver intoxication, negligence, or road rage is dismissed by judges and
juries alike because "That's just how it is".

~~~
dsfyu404ed
> Every fatal accident due to driver intoxication, negligence, or road rage is
> dismissed by judges and juries alike

Do you honestly believe there's even a shred of truth to this?

Vehicle accidents where people get hurt typically result in pretty severe
punishment if there's even a hint of some performance impairing drug (e.g.
alcohol) or malicious intent involved.

~~~
Steltek
I'm most familiar with the Northeast... The Globe did a study of DUI cases and
found greater than 85% of them were dismissed. All of the recent high profile
bike fatalities in the Boston area resulted in no arrests, let alone
penalties, despite the driver being at fault.

An SUV rolled over and killed 4 pedestrians on the sidewalk in the Back Bay.
No arrests because the police couldn't determine which person in the vehicle
was driving.

The case that will forever be burned into my head is Allison Lau in Queens. A
3yo in a crosswalk with her grandmother. The driver ran right over them,
killing her. He lied to the police, saying the girl ran into the street and
there was nothing he could do. Dashcam from another vehicle later showed he
was on his phone when he was turning left. After public outcry, he was finally
issued a $50 failure to yield ticket that was later dismissed.

------
kcorbitt
I know it isn't directly about cycling, but this story reminds me of the
parody article I saw in The Onion: "Study: 90% Of Bike Accidents Preventable
By Buying Car Like A Normal Person" [1].

I commute 30 miles each day on an electric bike, and while I haven't been hit
yet statistically it's only a matter of time. I wish we had the infrastructure
in place to make cycling a safe alternative, but it'll take years of build out
to get to that point.

One thing I will say is that San Francisco drivers are actually pretty
courteous towards cyclists, even when I have to take up a whole lane (happens
whenever there's on-street parking and no bike lane). It feels like about half
of the people who swear at me/flip me off for "impeding traffic" have out-of-
state license plates.

[1]: [https://www.theonion.com/study-90-of-bike-accidents-
preventa...](https://www.theonion.com/study-90-of-bike-accidents-preventable-
by-buying-car-1820403123)

~~~
tbihl
Top Gear did an episode where they made a bunch of PSAs just like that:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK_Ru6tScBE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK_Ru6tScBE)

------
OliverJones
Interesting. It's dangerous to be a journo in the big city.

The newspaper should change its style guide to prohibit the use of the word
"accident" to describe car crashes, except in verified quotations. They should
call them "crashes" or another word that doesn't connote inevitability.

~~~
JackFr
That would be weird because 1) what they are literally describing is the plain
definition of 'accident'; 2) 'Accident' doesn't really connote inevitability.

~~~
blacksmith_tb
It's worth disagreeing about - calling them 'accidents' removes responsibility
from the drivers involved, think about phrases in English like "accidents
happen" \- which are used specifically for this purpose. Calling them
'crashes' is simply a description of what happened, without any suggestion of
why.

------
TaylorGood
A friend from my early years was just hit and died from a car. Crossing the
street at night.

He was a musician and "the one to potentially make it" so it extra stings for
everyone who knew him.

I'm more alert as I walk my neighborhood daily. A bit more cautious. Cars and
other drivers simply do not care about you as much as you care for yourself.

------
noer
I was hit by a van a few weeks ago. I was on my bike, waiting to cross a busy
street, the van was next to waiting to turn right and the driver was looking
to his left to see when traffic stopped. Unfortunately he started moving
before he turned to see what was in front of him. I was knocked off of my bike
(I wasn't moving when I was struck) and my bike ended up getting run over &
destroyed

It was a pretty surreal experience. At first I flipped out at the driver who
was at work at the time. A woman called 911 and the police came to take
statements. The driver was pretty apologetic afterwards and I apologized for
being an asshole. It wasn't until a few hours later that I realized that I
could have died pretty easily. He put his foot on the brake reasonably quickly
after he hit me, but had he accidentally floored the van, I would have been
run over too.

I also felt pretty bad for the driver. He probably got in some kind of trouble
at work, and I realized that while I was mostly unharmed and only needed to
get my bike replaced, he could lose his job. I know that getting hit is pretty
serious, and the reason was because of the same carless behavior a lot of
people that drive seem to do (myself included).

~~~
tbihl
We make driving far too easy. Narrower lanes, trees right next to the roads,
and more potholes would probably go a long way toward making driving safer,
both for the drivers and for everyone else. Because at the end of the day,
drivers subconsciously adjust their behavior to achieve an apparently-constant
risk level as roads and cars improve.

Or there's always the spike-in-the-steering-column theory.
[https://jalopnik.com/theres-actually-a-name-for-a-
steering-w...](https://jalopnik.com/theres-actually-a-name-for-a-steering-
wheel-with-a-big-1791445206)

------
pkaye
I'm going to guess a lot of these accidents are during a turn right on a red
or an unprotected left turn? In a very crowded city they are very difficult to
make with constant pedestrian traffic. And then my own experience in Berkeley
and SF is that pedestrians tend to be impatient and cross on a red at all the
minor intersections. One of the reasons I just avoid driving in such crowded
places.

~~~
kd5bjo
Unless the law has changed since I got my California license, pedestrians have
the right of way at all crosswalks regardless of what the lights say. Also,
every intersection has crosswalks at it, even if they haven't been painted on
the street.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
And unless its changed since I got mine, a car may not enter a crosswalk that
_has a pedestrian in it_. Not often enforced, but I think its there to make it
always the car's fault?

~~~
ams6110
It varies. In a marked crosswalk I think you're generally correct, however if
a pedestrian just jumps out to cross the road in front of a car it's likely
going to be the pedestrian's fault. At some point pedestrians have to be a
little bit responsible and respectful of the gross difference in mass between
their bodies and even a small car.

