
Bike ride, accident, and ambulance trip tracked on Runkeeper - j_b_f
http://sperber.posterous.com/tracking-the-route-of-an-accident
======
parfe
Cyclists and Motorcycle riders are most often killed by the oncoming left
turn. It's one of the most dangerous scenarios for a rider as you cannot react
until it's nearly too late. If you see a driver doing something stupid (like
speed past you with the right turn blinker on) you can slow down and allow
them to make a right turn and avoid a collision.

A car slowing to make a left on the other hand looks like a driver acting
properly. Slowly to a stop... waiting for cars to pass.... waiting for yo...
and then the driver jerks the wheel and speeds across attempting to beat the
next oncoming car. Turns out you're trapped halfway across the intersection
with a 3000 lb vehicle crossing your T.

Or worse yet they just assume you're going to yield to them because you're on
a bike. In that case, no amount of visibility will change the fact the other
driver hasn't ridden a bicycle in 30 years and has forgotten the rules of the
road.

Riding a motorcycle creates another issue in that drivers have trouble
immediately identifying something small oncoming at twice the speed limit
(relative). You end up with a dead rider and a driver confused because they
saw the motorcycle, but their subconscious driving habits were not trained to
deal with it properly. I think that is called beta reaction? e.g.
absentmindedly braking when you see a red light without consciously connecting
the red light with stopping.

 _6\. In the multiple vehicle accidents, the driver of the other vehicle
violated the motorcycle right-of-way and caused the accident in two-thirds of
those accidents._

 _7\. The failure of motorists to detect and recognize motorcycles in traffic
is the predominating cause of motorcycle accidents. The driver of the other
vehicle involved in collision with the motorcycle did not see the motorcycle
before the collision, or did not see the motorcycle until too late to avoid
the collision._

 _8\. Deliberate hostile action by a motorist against a motorcycle rider is a
rare accident cause. The most frequent accident configuration is the
motorcycle proceeding straight then the automobile makes a left turn in front
of the oncoming motorcycle._

source: <http://www.motorcycle-accidents.com/pages/stats.html>

PDF of Study: <http://isddc.dot.gov/OLPFiles/NHTSA/013695.pdf>

~~~
pavel_lishin
Honestly, this is why I do not ride my bike like I would drive my car. When
I'm biking, I'm assuming there's a bounty on my head, so I stay on sidewalks,
I wait to cross intersections until there's no cars that can hit me, etc.

Playing by the same rules as everyone else works fine _if_ everyone plays by
the same rules - but a lot of drivers don't.

~~~
sophacles
Get off the sidewalk. No matter what good you think you are doing, you are
wrong. This only encourages people to ignore bicycles because they think "see
bikes should be on the sidewalk".

Further, more injuries occur to cyclists on sidewalks than on roads. The
sidewalk is narrow, so you have less escape route. Cars do not expect you on
the sidewalk, so exit parking lots and driveways into you. Pedestrians, kids
playing, and other hazards also appear without warning. Sidewalks are usually
poorly maintained providing even more hazards.

~~~
enjo
I'll second this. A very common bike accident scenario involves a bike on a
sidewalk on a busy street. The driver turning left is only looking at the two
lanes of traffic. A biker crossing on a sidewalk moves so fast that the car
will often not account for him. Be on the road and be visible.

~~~
pavel_lishin
When I ride on the sidewalk, any time I approach any sort of driveway where a
car might be turning, I make sure there's none approaching that could
potentially turn into it.

Also, I live in Dallas - we don't really have sidewalk traffic. Every time I
ride my bike, I can count on one hand the number of people I see pedesting.

~~~
mseebach
> Also, I live in Dallas - we don't really have sidewalk traffic. Every time I
> ride my bike, I can count on one hand the number of people I see pedesting.

Also, someone else lives in Dallas. Every time he drives his car, he can count
on one hand the number of people he sees cycling. He uses that fact to justify
driving in a manner menacing to cyclists.

------
edd
What a coincidence, I was hit by a car while commuting in to London on my bike
today and ended up in A&E via an ambulance. The first thing I did was upload
the data to connect.garmin.com to see the vitals during and after the event.

------
dgallagher
I've ridden my bike along that area (route 20) in the past and it's,
unfortunately, quite dangerous due to poor road design and poor drivers.
Mostly it's a two-lane road which barely has room for a biker and car to be
side-by-side with. It's very very busy with lots of traffic and traffic
lights. I'm glad the author seems to be OK.

\--------------------

Whenever I ride, I assume every driver is an idiot. That means they run red
lights, speed, don't pay attention b/c of being on a cell phone, etc...
Actually that sums up a lot of Massachusetts drivers. ;)

There needs to be some sort of proactive movement in-and-around Boston to
increase bicycle safety. Ideally, under cover police on bikes, handing out
tickets and pulling licenses whenever they see a motorist doing something
dangerous. Make this very visible and public. If cyclists wear cameras on
their helmet, hand the video to police to track down bad drivers who cut them
off or do other things that are illegal.

Bikes and cars have equal right-of-way on the roads. Most people in this state
don't honor that law. It's an attitude problem that has to change.

Of course cyclists must obey laws too. Riding on the wrong side of the road,
not obeying road laws, not using hand singles to turn, are all recipes for
disaster.

One of the best pieces of advice I've read for cyclists is to always ride
predictable. That lessons your chance of being hit by a car.

Definately a problem that needs to be solved.

------
points
FWIW Endomondo allows others to track your ride in the free version. They can
also send you messages: eg They type in the webapp "Keep going! Go faster",
and your phone cuts the music out and does text->speech of 'Message from
<user>: keep going! go faster' It's quite cool :)

<http://www.endomondo.com/login>

------
VladRussian
The issue of attitude [be it a car driver or a bike rider] is a separate one.
It is easy solvable by using AK-47.

The another thing is the issue of mental automaticity of driving, of
monitoring of the road situation. For example, i frequently notice that
driving behind a motorcycle on highway i automatically keep right distance ...
to the car in front of the motorcycle.

It is important for the bicyclists to be as noticeable as possible. And to
look bigger - i'd paint the whole bicycles itself, including wheels, into
extremely noticeable bright colors, may be some blinking in the daylight
texture, and would make them fluorescent at night, so that the "automatically
driving part of the brain" would pay them more attention.

------
techiferous
Every single cyclist that I've met here in Boston, except for one, has gotten
into an accident. This city is a horrible place to bike or drive in (but a
wonderful place to walk in).

~~~
rottencupcakes
I crashed my bike December of my freshman year of college. I was biking in the
back bay and t-boned a car that was backing down a one way street (the wrong
way obviously).

If I hadn't worn a helmet, I probably would have had a concussion. I never
biked without a helmet again.

------
mpapi
Nearly the same thing happened to me back in May (hit by an oncoming left
turn, ambulance ride, broken bone, etc., and just a few miles away from the
OA's accident) and my phone got the whole thing.

The recording is an interesting souvenir. I was in a strange mood for the
first few days (suddenly confined to my apartment with very limited mobility)
and got a kick out of showing the recorded track to anyone that came to visit,
watching their horrified reactions to "Here's where I got hit, and over there
is where I landed..." Thanks to a little Python script I'd written a while
back, I had the track colored according to speed, and that made it even more
"fun" to look at.

It's weird to think that stuff like that -- and with that level of detail --
will be around for future generations to look at.

------
spinlock
This reminds me of when I worked at a start-up outside of Boston. I'd ride my
bike all the time and I got into the riders click in the city. The funny thing
was, people didn't measure how long they'd been riding in Boston in time; they
measured it in how many times they'd been hit. Boston drivers are the absolute
worst I've ever seen. If you go on a road trip to New Hampshire, you'll notice
the difference as soon as you cross the boarder.

------
kjell
I read through this and didnt see it mentioned, so here goes. The single most
effective thing I do to avoid mishaps at intersections is to look at the
driver of the car. Make eye contact and you know they see you. If you can't
catch their eye then be extra careful.

------
pkulak
I really need to buy a damn helmet.

~~~
rue
Yes, you do. Helmets can be replaced, heads not so much:
<http://yfrog.com/0shelmetij>

