On Jan 24, 2010, at 9:25 AM, Gary wrote:
In my opinion from what I've learned - you may be at fault. Riding, passing on the right through an intersection and not merging into the lane with traffic where you probably should have been. There was no bike lane marked and even if there was, given the circumstance, you still should have merged into the proper lane with traffic and taken your "turn" through the intersection.
I think your assessment is probably incorrect, but I don't know California law. By Minnesota law the cyclist is required to ride "as far to the right as is practicable" which means riding on the shoulder of the road where available. This is where James was- in Minnesota that would be his legally intended and permitted place on the road. Minnesota law allows bicyclists to pass on the right in such situations (if there is a shoulder or bike lane, but not if there is no shoulder or bike lane). In such a case, in Minnesota the driver could still be 100% at fault.
It's kind of interesting to see some of the "blame the victim" thinking in this discussion. I don't want to knee-jerkedly blame drivers because collisions are not automatically the driver's fault, but we just don't have enough information. I also don't want to blame James for the same reason. Was the driver on a cell phone or otherwise distracted (there's statistically about a 30% chance of that)? Was there a tall/large vehicle at the front of the line that blocked James's and/or the driver's views of each other? Was lighting a factor? Was James riding along and looking at the road in front of his front wheel (as often happens)? There's a whole lot we don't know and probably won't (because James should not be talking about it if there is the possibility of legal action). It's difficult to discuss things very well when we're missing most of the salient facts.
As a driver, I always watch for this type of situation. When I was in high school, two of my friends were nearly killed when making a left turn on a four lane road near a stoplight. A semi driver in the inside lane waved them through, but as they crossed the outside lane a pickup truck the semi driver hadn't seen in his mirror plowed into them. A 1970 something Mustang was not much of a match for an F150. A couple of years ago a motorcyclist was killed a half block from my house in a similar situation and there are a least a dozen collisions a year at that corner like this. Since then I simply don't drive across such situations, whether in a car or on my bike, much to the frustration of well-meaning drivers waving me through with increasing anger- often peeling out when the light turns green and the traffic in front of them moves away.
The SUV driver made a decision that contributed to the collision and was not an innocent bystander. The officer's subsequent refusal to cooperate in providing information to James suggests to me that he knows his investigation was one-sided and deficient. If I was James, I would consult with a lawyer familiar with California traffic law and get a read about the situation. It would be possible to subpoena the driver's cell phone records to determine if his/her cell phone was in use at the time of the collision. It would also be possible to advertise to find other witnesses.
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