Seattle pays injured cyclist $9.25 million for poorly designed bike lanes

[John Brooking]

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/city-pays-injured-cyclist-9-25-million-for-poorly-designed-bike-lanes/

"... King County Superior Court Judge Kent Liu found the city was negligent, violated its own standard of care and breached its duty to the bicycle-riding public in designing the bicycle lane, according to court documents."

I'm curious as to the details of what the violation of its own standards and duty of care consisted of, though not quite enough to research it at 10:53 PM tonight. It is a parking-separated bike lane, so my natural question is how is it different from hundreds of other parking-separated lanes all over the country, including our own Park Avenue?

John Brooking

Cyclist, Cycling Educator, Technologist

https://www.facebook.com/CyclingSavvy4ME/, http://cyclingsavvy.org

[John Brooking]

A bike friend in San Diego says that the standards of care violation citation had to do with sight and stopping distance guidelines in the city’s design standards.

https://streetsillustrated.seattle.gov/design-standards/bicycle/bike-intersection-design/

I think the bike lane where it happened was on a downhill slope, which has a greater distance requirement due to greater cyclist speed. This may be the same downhill bike lane I heard about several years ago, hence my concern for the downhill bike lane we have on Elm Street. (Which is currently interrupted abruptly with a concrete barrier at Lancaster or Kennebec, I forget which, due to construction. But that’s another discussion.)

John Brooking

Cyclist, Cycling Educator, Technologist

https://www.facebook.com/CyclingSavvy4ME/, http://cyclingsavvy.org

[Scsmedia]

I read the article and came away with two thoughts.

The bicyclist was going 18 mph in a protected bike lane.  That seems extremely fast.  He hit the car, the car did not hit him.

Seattle has become an easy mark when it comes to these kinds of suits.

A string of other lawsuits in recent years — resulting in millions of dollars in settlements and jury awards — have accused Seattle and other municipalities or institutions of failing to keep bicyclists safe.

— In 2024, the University of Washington paid a cyclist and his family $16 million 

— Also in 2024, Seattle paid $5.75 million to settle a lawsuit by two injured bicyclist

— In 2019, the city paid $1.55 million to a bicyclist who sued after being tossed by streetcar tracks into the path of a Metro bus in May 2015.

— In 2016, a jury awarded $38 million to Thyce Colyn, a bicyclist severely injured after being hit by a Standard Parking valet driver 

— Also in 2016, Mercer Island reached a $7.25 million settlement with Margarete Chenoweth, who was paralyzed after a cycling crash

— Seattle agreed to pay $3.5 million to the family of Sher Kung, who was killed by a truck driver making a left turn from Second Avenue downtown.

Only one of these suits are noted as having gone to trial.

Steven Scharf

207-415-4662

SCSM...@aol.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Portland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to PBPAC+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/PBPAC/CAJg%3D2oy8dVguFthZ2gqF0XTQMuzPOBUPB0hEEDEDafjBNeGN4Q%40mail.gmail.com.