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You’re a Cyclist Who Was Just Struck by a Car Driver. Here’s Why It Was Your Fault
(www.mcsweeneys.net)
this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
421 points (95.5% liked)
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Really confused by the description here (no clue what side of the road you are driving on, not sure why the cars are moving when the light is red, or why the car beside a bike needs to brake the avoid hitting the cyclist). But two main things: as a pedestrian, I don't see how this is relevant to you. The car is always wrong principle should also apply to peds hit by cyclists: the cyclist is always wrong.
Also someone who regularly drives and recently had a person random step sideways into the middle of the road (no intersection) right in front of me the other week, I think me stopping in time is just basic reaction someone should have. If your car can't do that and you aren't expecting people to do that, you are failing what should be the most basic of requirements to be allowed to drive a car. If I had hit them, it would have been my fault imo.
So a cyclist darting out in front of oncoming traffic bears no responsibility if they get hit?
The scenario they're talking about is in a 4-way intersection. Imagine you're driving straight through an intersection; you have a green light, everything is fine. Then out of nowhere on your right side a cyclist zips by in front of you. You have 0.3 seconds to see them and apply the brake and have your car stop. That's not always feasible.
It was about to turn red for the cyclist. Meaning it was red for the cars. Or it just turned green and they should still be going <20mph. If you can't stop when someone runs a light that just turned red for them, then you're not prepare for what cars regularly do, and they sometimes do it at 60mph, giving you even less reaction time.
In most of the US, there's no separate lights for cyclists.
In any case, you're missing that the cyclist did the equivalent of coming from an adjacent lane to cut off cars next to him. No car can anticipate that, from a cyclist or from another car.
Exactly. Which is why the light must have been red for the cars perpendicular to the cyclist if they light was yellow for the cyclist.
Yes you can? How else would you drive without getting in a wreck most days? That's happens to you at least on a weekly basis if you drive regularly here on the interstates. I've never hit them. Generally you can read when people want to get over if you pay attention. Cyclists are even easier to read since they're not in a box with tinted windows. I've had a few times I've hit my breaks before one has even turned their head to avoid collisions (on my bike) because I could tell they were gonna suddenly turn. I would say without warning, but given I could tell they were, that wouldn't be entirely accurate: they just gave no intentional signals and those not paying attention will easily miss the intent (unfortunately, the person right in front of me did collide with the person suddenly turning in front of them in one of those cases).
If you can't tell most of the time, you aren't paying attention.
...what? Have you ever driven before? This behavior causes wrecks ALL THE TIME, it's probably the #1 cause of wrecks. It's definitely one of the most dangerous things a driver can do. Same applies to cyclists.