I don't often say this

[james_davis_nicoll]

My sympathies are with the bicyclist.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[kaffy_r]

Oh my. I fully concur with the bicyclist's comment at the end of the clip. And I, too, am only rarely sympathetic to urban bicyclists. (A failing of mine, I readily acknowledge, but one I shall probably be unable to excise from my personality.)

[mishalak]

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/06/car-bicycle-collide-pedestrian-path

I found a report what the police and VDOT are saying about this.

[kaffy_r]

Thanks for the link - it's interesting that the VDOT say they have signs warning pedestrians to be careful of vehicular bridge tenders on the pedway during shift change. Those must be posted at the ends of the pedway, because I don't think I saw any in the video. It's also interesting that other agencies clearly don't think much of the idea.

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

Any chance you could start providing the link with these? you always give the flash version and I can in consequence not see it.

[lostwanderfound.livejournal.com]

Ditto. From an iThingie using POV, James' LJ contains quite a lot of invisible videos.

[fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQtudJ3cxvg

[lostwanderfound.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQtudJ3cxvg

[mme-hardy.livejournal.com]

....WHAT?

[findyourself91.livejournal.com]

wow i cant believe he caught this all on camera. hope the bicyclist is ok

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

I know quite a few people who record their rides as a matter of course, just in case something like this happens. For all the good it appears to be doing this particular rider.

[dagbrown.livejournal.com]

I ride my motorcycle with a camera on my helmet just because once I saw a hit-and-run incident, and I wish I'd been able to record that to be able to give the victim the memory card with the footage.

Turns out, I got to use it to defend my own story when someone decided to go yoink and turn left in front of me without warning, leaving me in the hospital for a good healthy five weeks. The cops and the other guy's insurance company reviewed the footage and came to the conclusion that it was entirely the car driver's fault. I sure wish I'd had a chance to use my footage to defend someone else, but at least the rolling footage worked to my advantage.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I watched an SUV full of kids cut off a transport truck carrying what looked like steel girders. The driver was smiling to himself as he took the intersection ahead of his turn.

[bruce munro (from livejournal.com)]

Does this driver also take shortcuts through schoolyards when he's in a hurry?

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

I was once nearly run down on a gravel park path by a driver who had pretty clearly got very lost and was reacting to uncertainty with acceleration. (Under conditions where there were branches scraping on both sides of the car.)

I can see how someone would get into that situation and handle it badly; lots of people's first response is to get out of the improper place quickly, because if no one sees them they haven't failed and it doesn't count. What I don't understand is how it was possible, every cycle or pedestrian bridge I've ever used has pylons or stairs to prevent motor vehicle access.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

It turns out the pedway is normally used by bridgekeepers going to and from their work in the control booth.

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/06/vdot-contractor-was-driver-suvbicycle-collision

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

WTF VDOT! In my region (Northern Virginia) if there are motor vehicles on a ped/bike path, the path is closed, whether trail, bridge or what.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

the article says it has signs warning of the use by bridge operator vehicles - of course, that's no excuse for the bridge keeper not to be super-careful in such a tight space.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

That is a much better reply than my "What the HELL, man?"

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Apparently since the biker did not call the police to the scene of the crime, they won't do anything?

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Well it's not like the license plate wasn't visible...

I'm more curious as to what happened to the pedestrians the bicyclist passed earlier.

[drcuriosity]

If I were that cyclist, I think I would have started swearing considerably earlier.

[laetitia-apis.livejournal.com]

One doesn't have CPU capacity to spare for swearing until afterward.

One doesn't even have enough unoccupied brain cells to panic.

[drcuriosity]

As a regular cycling commuter, I've been in enough car-on-bike accidents over the years to know how I react, and that it's probably not typical. (In the right circumstances, PTSD brain is damned useful.)

I've managed to save myself from injury a few times by making a loud enough noise that an inattentive driver didn't wipe me out entirely. That said, I have had to brake hard and/or climb the fence/kerb in some circumstances, too.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

I remember quite clearly what I said when I ran afoul of the old "never cross a trolley line at other than a right angle" situation.

What I said was, "Crap!"

reaction times, etc.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for mostly kind response.

Normally, VDOT trucks drive at a snail's pace. They also stop as soon as they see anyone, even if you're behind them. You have to squeeze by it is so tight - 10 feet, tops.

In this case, the guy was doing about 25 mph initially, slowed down to 18ish, and seemed to have no idea he was supposed to stop.

The impact was actually from my thumb smashing door handle which, in turn, froze the brakes and sent me hurtling. shoulder hit the mirrow which, fortunately, gave way.

I spoke out, otherwise.

http://altdaily.com/features/news/121-opinion36/6911-first-person-a-vdot-contractor-hit-me-my-bike-on-a-pedestrian-bridge