Steve Meier - a good article in yesterday's Cap Times! It looks like you got it initiated. Thanks.
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=45386&nt pid=1 Comments are similar to observations I made on Bikies on June 10. "What happened here appears to similar to a problem I have when going against traffic (westbound) on the Starkweather Path that parallels Aberg. When I get to the Right Turn Ramp coming from Packers Avenue all of the cars and trucks are in a hurry to make a right turn onto Aberg. They look long and hard for Aberg traffic coming from the left, but never even glance to the right to see if anyone is on the path. Often I have to yell so drivers look my direction before I can safely cross within the crosswalk." "I hope the police consider this scenario in their investigation. It seems probable that the driver looked left for an opening to turn right, but never looked right even for a legally crossing bike. A bike is considered a pedestrian when riding on a sidewalk or in a crosswalk." Matt Logan provided the website for the police accident report. I reviewed it and have a couple of questions. * Did the FedEx actually stop behind the cross walk? I have no doubt the driver stopped, but where? Drivers at this location cannot safely pull out - due to sight restrictions in both directions - unless they are totally across the cross walk and ahead of the stop sign. This would require a double stop. * If the driver looked right, the approaching bicycle would have been obvious and would have dictated caution by the driver. Apparently the bicyclist did not expect the truck to pull out. * Alcohol was noted in the report. I assume blood tests were taken from both the deceased and the driver. I believe that is standard practice in fatalities. I would be curious of the final results. * Citing the bicyclist for "Fail to Yield Right of Way" as a probable cause is troublesome. The truck had a stop sign and Marquette is a thru street. Does that mean that if after stopping, the truck pulled out and was hit by a car on Marquette, the probable cause would be the car on Marquette failed to yield? Who would get a ticket in this case? The stop sign is before the cross walk for a reason. There seems to be some motorized bias in reasoning. In reality the truck failed to yield the right of way. Just a few thoughts... All of this confirms that, even though legal, sidewalk biking by adults is not safe especially when "going against" traffic. Michael Rewey [EMAIL PROTECTED] "So many roads, So little time..." _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
