OT: cyclist injured in bernal heights crash

[Devon Proctor]

Does anyone know anything about this crash? It apparently happened 630am last Thursday. The video is terrifying and I hope the cyclist is ok :(

https://bernalwood.com/2017/08/08/video-captures-bad-bike-accident-on-steeps-of-cortland/amp/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=amp&utm_source=hoodline.com-RelayMediaAMP

[Christine Ryan]

Deep down in the comments (Bernalwood being one of the only places I dare venture into them), someone posted the following: 

First of all thank you so much to everybody who shared information and videos regarding that accident. It helps a lot figuring out what happened and it will help the police doing his job.
I am a very close friend of the cyclist, and I would like to reassure all of you who cared about him that he’s alive and back home after few days at the hospital.
He suffered multiple severe injuries but he’s safe now and need to rest.

Everything here has been shared with the police, so please keep posting if you have any further information or video regarding that accident. It would help making that neighborhood safer for everybody.

Clearly, the white vehicle should have stopped and help. It is terrible to see that car leaving without even calling an ambulance…So thank you so much to the neighbor who might have saved my friend’s life by calling 911.
The only thing I can tell you, is that my friend is a young man, great cyclist, very used to that trip and this neighborhood and with excellent reflexes. He wasn’t riding on the sidewalk at any moment and just tried to dodge a car which was on his way…
So please don’t try to judge who’s fault it was, a terrible accident happened, and the most important is to receive as much help as we can now!

Thanks again to anybody who helped and will help, be safe and take care!

On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 4:47 PM, Devon Proctor <devon....@gmail.com> wrote:

Does anyone know anything about this crash? It apparently happened 630am last Thursday. The video is terrifying and I hope the cyclist is ok :(

https://bernalwood.com/2017/08/08/video-captures-bad-bike-accident-on-steeps-of-cortland/amp/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=amp&utm_source=hoodline.com-RelayMediaAMP

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[Devon Proctor]

Thanks, Christine, for wading through the comments to spot that. Definitely good to hear that the cyclist is recovering.

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[Christine Ryan]

You're welcome! I live in Bernal, so had a particular interest...

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[Matthew Hiller]

Alternate view of the crash, from further down in the comment thread:

https://youtu.be/sMP7vufOjGo

Looks to me like the Escalade driver was at fault insofar as they inched into their turn and failed to yield. But it looks like the cyclist had ample time to see what was happening downroad and brake or otherwise evade, and did not. Not solid defensive riding.

The more upsetting thing is the driver's failure to stop and render aid.

[Ted Lesher_]

Wow very scary. That scenario is the same one that happened to me a few months ago on Golden Gate near USF going towards downtown. A driver turned left in front of me illegally causing me to hit him head one and fly off my bike. My bike was totaled and I miraculously walked away with a bruised elbow. At least the guy stopped for me, although I hit his car and flew over his hood directly in front of him. 

In terms of defensive riding- always try to make eye contact or at least look at the driver to see if he/she sees you. Sometimes that isn't realistic but worth a shot. If you aren't sure if they see you, slow down. 

[Ken MacInnis]

When you take the MSF (motorcycle safety) class, they tell you some absurdly high percentage (80%?) of accidents are cars "not seeing" motos and turning left in front of them.

Taking that class and years of subsequent moto riding made me a much safer bike rider. You develop a sixth sense for what cars are going to do, and a skill for always having an out no matter what. Recommend it to all.

https://www.msf-usa.org/BRC.aspx

Remember, everyone is trying to kill you.

Ken

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[Matthew Hiller]

Never done a moto class or ridden a motorcycle, but 16 years of cycling in varying conditions (and sometimes even at speed :)  ) have taught me the same lesson. Coming down a hill like that with a driver poised to make a left would make me very nervous; I'd slow momentarily to 10-12 mph until clear and probably do a few preventative toots on my AirZound* leading up to the intersection.

Even then, if the driver made the wrong move at exactly the wrong time I might not have time to make a panic stop or panic-turn.

* Assuming I'm on a bike with an AirZound mount. My others generally have an Orp horn on them, but I've had limited luck getting road users to actually pay attention to the Orp horn, even its "angry" tone.

[Kurt Wallace Martin]

The moto/stupid fast road bike lesson I have on Replay in my head is ‘have an out.’ I.e. always know what you’ll do when the black SUV does exactly what it needs to do to mess you up. 

But yeah, classes are good for reminders.

kurt

[Peter Colijn]

I've heard the "have an out" advice before, from many people. Although it sounds good, it's not really practical. Physics dictates that there are situations I cannot escape even if I have 0 reaction time: there are physical limits to what my bike's brakes and tires can accomplish, and something could always pop out in front of me that I cannot avoid given those limits.

I agree that riding defensively is a good thing to strive for, for our own safety as cyclists. However, that doesn't absolve drivers of their responsibility to drive safely, which this driver was definitely not doing by failing to yield to oncoming traffic while making a left turn.

In this particular instance, the cyclist probably could have avoided the crash in several ways (and, if it were me, I would probably be beating myself up about it and trying to think about how I could have avoided it for weeks or months afterward). But I'd like to ride in a world where riding down the street doesn't require me to constantly make split-second decisions that could make or break my life.

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