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Bike safety action? (another) local weekend tragedy
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Got a text while on a ride this weekend that a 15 yo boy we know was killed on his bike, collision with a truck. The little brother of my daughter's high-school boyfriend. 6:22 pm >the time change, dark and no bike lights? I don't know the details, other than it was so terrible.

On top of that, less than a year ago a 17 yo girl was run over by a large truck on the same road, different intersection. As a cyclist that broke my heart too. Add to that...(I'll spare you). In a town of 15,000? Isn't it time for a safety intervention? What are we doing? What am I doing?

There is a new community cycling body that was planning on this or that. So I am going to email the President and tell him what I think needs to be done.

I've got a call into the local bike shop/czar and talk to him about this.

Need to come up with a plan because I think the goal/solutions are actually fairly simple. I don't think the town's road cycling culture is developed (as it is in say Vancouver)

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Re: Bike safety action? (another) local weekend tragedy [SharkFM] [ In reply to ]
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Bike Law is a growing cycling advocacy group, but it’s an uphill battle. They have attorneys to help you if you end up needing one (god forbid), but they do a lot of work trying to promote safe cycling and cyclists rights.
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Re: Bike safety action? (another) local weekend tragedy [TJP_SBR] [ In reply to ]
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TJP_SBR wrote:
Bike Law is a growing cycling advocacy group, but it’s an uphill battle. They have attorneys to help you if you end up needing one (god forbid), but they do a lot of work trying to promote safe cycling and cyclists rights.


That's a good point, thanks . Time to "lawyer up" as well. I know a great cycling attorney here in Vancouver.

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Last edited by: SharkFM: Nov 13, 18 18:09
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Re: Bike safety action? (another) local weekend tragedy [SharkFM] [ In reply to ]
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Cascade bike club (https://www.cascade.org/) in Seattle does a lot of educational work. You may want to reach out to them.
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Re: Bike safety action? (another) local weekend tragedy [grrladventure] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks - that is a well developed website #Visionzero is cool.

Couple of notes:

The future of safety is driver aids eg collision avoidance and autonomous driving. Technology that will keep cyclists safe. Unfortunately a good 20 years away.

So we are left with suiting and lighting up properly to riding from experience.

Also after some thought i've come to the conclusion that the main fatality "traps" are (large) trucks, buses, towed trailers which are wide or welded boxes/frames on pickups, that sort of thing. A collision with a car has a much better chance of surviving because of the impact friendly design and low ground clearance.

Training Tweets: https://twitter.com/Jagersport_com
FM Sports: http://fluidmotionsports.com
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Re: Bike safety action? (another) local weekend tragedy [SharkFM] [ In reply to ]
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Hello SharkFM and All,

https://www.greencarreports.com/...n-with-human-drivers


I think it is early in Tesla Motorist Autopilot statistics and development .... but the crash rate data from Tesla is encouraging .... the fatality rate not so encoruaging ..... yet ....

Hoping for continual improvement .......

(and it is unlikely that the Autopilot will drink and drive)

Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster
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Re: Bike safety action? (another) local weekend tragedy [nealhe] [ In reply to ]
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I just busted out a cycling safety video (1hrs work), specific to our area on the Island here. I
have a safety presentation to do @ work this week my subject will be “Traps”. The logging trucks around here are absolute monsters, and I am sharing the protocol I’ve used since I started riding around here (ie I get the hell out of way!). imo the traditional cycling signals are a bit of a distraction .

Script:

Tip # 1- Cycling PPE/lighting
#2 Steer clear of/avoid large vehicles/trucks
#3 Communicate to drivers by pointing
#4 Intersections Look Left first, then right (seems obvious but…)
#5 Use a bell
#6 Plan your route


Training Tweets: https://twitter.com/Jagersport_com
FM Sports: http://fluidmotionsports.com
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Re: Bike safety action? (another) local weekend tragedy [SharkFM] [ In reply to ]
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SharkFM wrote:
Thanks - that is a well developed website #Visionzero is cool.

Couple of notes:

The future of safety is driver aids eg collision avoidance and autonomous driving. Technology that will keep cyclists safe. Unfortunately a good 20 years away.

So we are left with suiting and lighting up properly to riding from experience.

Also after some thought i've come to the conclusion that the main fatality "traps" are (large) trucks, buses, towed trailers which are wide or welded boxes/frames on pickups, that sort of thing. A collision with a car has a much better chance of surviving because of the impact friendly design and low ground clearance.

Sorry to hear about the death of the boy. Terrible tragedy.

Technology will not save us, and we don't need it: we already have the tools to drastically reduce traffic fatalities. The problem is that most cities/counties lack the political will to institute them. As you have correctly identified, by the laws of physics it is the weight of the vehicle as well as its speed that is the primary factor in whether a person on foot/bike will live or die. A car weighs 2500lbs. A pickup truck 5000. A bus, 13 tons. Logging trucks much more. Large trucks also have a lot of blind spots and cannot see very well around them. At 40mph, 10% of pedestrians hit by a car will live. At 20mph, 90% of pedestrians will survive a crash with a car.

Industrial safety has known for a long time that safety must be DESIGNED into the system. Do factories rely on workers being smart enough not to stick their fingers into the rotating machinery? No. They have built grills and guards and switches that the machine can only be operated if all of the workers hands and body parts are in the proper places.

We cannot rely on the users (drivers, pedestrians, cyclists) if we want a significant improvement in safety. Until we design our roads to be safe, not much will change. Current traffic design emphasizes fast, uninterrupted motor vehicle flow above all else, and your island (based on a Google maps view) is no different.

Cars and pedestrians/bikes can mingle in the same road/street if the cars are traveling at very slow speeds (20mph or less.) Therefore shared roads/streets must be DESIGNED for drivers to feel uncomfortable or unable to drive faster than 20mph (narrower lanes/streets, speed calming by choke points, speed bumps etc.)

Large trucks/semis/buses/trains should never mingle with pedestrians/bikes/motorcycles in the same road/street because they are so large/heavy and have such limited visibility that it is never safe to be around them when they are moving.

Cities must install good street lighting, especially at intersections and pedestrian crossings.

If roads are for large trucks, we must build separate roads for bikes/people. These must be physically separated.

We cannot enforce/educate our way to #VisionZero. High viz jackets, helmets, ever brighter and flashier bike lights are great against victim blaming by the police/media, but have no real effect on reducing death rates.

Condolences to the boys family and friends.

Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.
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Re: Bike safety action? (another) local weekend tragedy [DrTriKat] [ In reply to ]
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DrTriKat wrote:
SharkFM wrote:
Thanks - that is a well developed website #Visionzero is cool.


Your reply is detailed and well said. Help me better understand some of what you said, and at the same time I'll try to explain my view on a few things:

Technology will not save us, and we don't need it: we already have the tools to drastically reduce traffic fatalities.
Technology already does. Every time you step on a plane there is technology-driven safety a work, from design right through to operation & maintenance. A plane is a definition of the death trap. Deftly apply technology to trucks and it will make a difference, imo. There was a hockey team crash in the prairies could have been avoided by gps mapped/autonomous braking systems or collision avoidance.

The problem is that most cities/counties lack the political will to institute them.

I've heard this one before. But $budget for infrastructure improvement are quite limited. The only way I can see that agenda moving forward is to pick off projects one by one. Especially in a backwards town with a shrinking tax base.

Even in Vancouver it's a work-in-progress. I think they are doing a great job, in the face of the mobs-of-crazy-drivers. Just to renovate to a user friendly street in Vcr, Point Grey the opposition was downright nutty. Did I just prove your point?


At 40mph, 10% of pedestrians hit by a car will live. At 20mph, 90% of pedestrians will survive a crash with a car. Good to know. Cyclists are travelling same direction, faster you go the less the impact actually.

Industrial safety has known for a long time that safety must be DESIGNED into the system.
Industrial safety is not where it should be. We have correctly ID's the "SIFs" Serious Injury and Fatality factors. There a 16 SIF's in the chart. A cycling incident hits 2 or 3 of them.

We cannot rely on the users (drivers, pedestrians, cyclists) if we want a significant improvement in safety.
Unless we start all over again on Mars (see my instagram, I wrote a song about that) what can we do? Can we prevent the next victim here? 3 trucks, 3 kids on bikes, within a few km of each other. We have to hit it short term and then work on the longer term gaps.

In my experience, drivers don't (normally) want to hit cyclists. Truck drivers don't want to run over children.

Condolences to the boys family and friends.Thank you,

Training Tweets: https://twitter.com/Jagersport_com
FM Sports: http://fluidmotionsports.com
Last edited by: SharkFM: Nov 19, 18 18:00
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