I forgot to link to this in this morning’s open thread, but this is sad. Glad she’s doing OK.
A woman was struck and dragged by a dump truck at Pike and Boren shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday morning. The 25-year-old was taken to Harborview in stable condition.
[…]
The woman appears to have no serious injuries or fractures, according to the Fire Department. EMTs arrived on the scene first and pulled her from under the truck.
She told firefighters she was hit and dragged by the dump truck. Medics then transported her to the hospital.
She’s doing well, and for this story, that’s obviously the most important thing. But these sorts of incidents are far too common. Sometimes reading Seattle Bike Blog is just a litany of horrible accidents.
Is there a Seattle motorcycle blog?
Quite a few motorcyclists will tell you they cut down or even quit riding their bikes because
people in cars and trucks just tend NOT to see you..
Why should it be different with bicycles?
Motorized vehicles and bicycles shouldn’t share the road.
I don’t see cars or trucks here:
http://daviswiki.org/South_Davis_Bike_Path
While I sympathize with the young woman and hope she’ll be okay, cyclists need to constantly remind themselves they’re nearly invisible to motorists and ride accordingly. That is to say, defensively. If you’re on a bike, and you assume a driver sees you, you’re gambling with your life because the driver probably doesn’t know you’re there. I don’t intend any value judgment about bicycles or cyclists, so please don’t read one in between the lines; I’m simply stating the facts of life on the streets, nothing more. Truck drivers, bus drivers, and car drivers have to use the streets; they don’t have any other option.
As a long time rider, unless I make eye contact I assume the driver does not see me. And the worst are the “Right on Red” drivers- don’t see a car, they blow through the light
I agree!
But since at this point in time they do share the road, its time that bicyclists be required to have a license, carry insurance, and have their bikes registered – just the same way other users of the roadway do.
@4 “its time that bicyclists be required to have a license, carry insurance, and have their bikes registered – just the same way other users of the roadway do”
I agree with that — for the protection of pedestrians. Some years ago, I was hit and knocked down in downtown crosswalks by aggressive cyclists who plowed straight through groups of pedestrians at high speed … twice in three days. On both times the cyclists, far from being apologetic, were belligerent and cursing. There needs to be a way to track down and sue these people if they injure someone.
@1 On the other hand, there seem to be more than a few motorcyclists who by their behavior seem to indicate that their safety is enhanced by doing everything possible to be noticed, including extremely aggressive riding and making as much noise as possible. To be sure, this makes sure that nobody’s unaware of their presence, but it also inspires “four-wheelers” (including the equally egocentric contingent of monster-truck and BMW owners) to indulge in fantasies of running their obnoxious asses off the road.
@6 Yes, but to give credit where it’s due, motorcyclists are a major source of healthy young donor organs. In fact, an ER nurse I know refers to these vehicles as “donorcycles.”
Commuting via bicycle is just not safe when it involves sharing streets with cars and trucks. If you’re riding for your health you should seriously reconsider, in my opinion, since it won’t matter how good your cardio is if your neck is broken.
I’d love Seattle to explore separated, bicycle-only thoroughfares. We could create many of them by utilizing non-arterial streets through the city. Only people with permits could use them to park their cars and only if they lived within a block or two of there they were driving. Otherwise they’d be bike-only streets.
But the problem is high-density areas downtown where it would be impractical to dedicate a street to bikes. Or would it? If we made second avenue a bike-only street would enough people ride bikes to take enough cars off the road to negate the traffic impact?