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You've also prematurely absolved the bicyclist of any responsibility for the collision. "It's a very blind curve and bicycles come flying around that corner, a
by Pinatubo 13y ago
You've also prematurely absolved the bicyclist of any responsibility for the collision.
"It's a very blind curve and bicycles come flying around that corner, and right before the corner there's a turn on Elk Tree Road and sometimes things happen too fast," Lazarus said. "People are driving 45 miles per hour on the road and there's no place for a bicycle to go."
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Fpeninsula&id=9253452 http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Fpeni...
- akgerber 13y agoThe fact that drivers are regularly violating the speed limit[0] implies the bicyclist is responsible? [0]https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Elk+Tree+Rd,+Woodside,+CA&hl=en&ll=37.386356,-122.264228&spn=0.0104,0.017896&sll=37.708112,-122.308526&sspn=1.316786,2.290649&oq=elk+tree+rd&hnear=Elk+Tree+Rd,+Redwood+City,+California+94062&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=37.38629,-122.264126&panoid=giGQ8Z3oEhwc9P2iwvXquA&cbp=12,146.12,,0,1.94 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Elk+Tree+Rd,+Woodside,+CA&hl=...
- Permit 13y agohttp://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/09/18/bicyclist-killed-after-colliding-with-minivan-in-san-mateo-mountains/ http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/09/18/bicyclist-killed... Definitely not. However, the woman in the audio clip points out that there is both a blindspot and the sun makes it doubly difficult to see people around that corner. We have no context of the situation on which to assign blame. I trust the police and witnesses involved will help sort things out. Whether or not we assign blame on Hacker News seems somewhat irrelevant.
- cromwellian 13y agoHow do you know the cyclist wasn't violating the speed limit for that blind turn? Use Street View to go north of the accident and simulate traveling around the turn that the cyclist would have been going, and imagine the cyclist was doing 35mph. There's very little advance notice if a car is already turning. At 35mph, a bicyclist would probably need at least 100ft to stop, if you've got your wits about you, you might be able to slow down enough to evade or run yourself off into a ditch on the side. This just looks like a dangerous intersection to drive on, let alone bike on.
- Pinatubo 13y agoI think you've misunderstood that quote. The resident is saying that both bicyclists and motorists are going too fast around the blind curve. Here is the intersection in question, from the perspective of the van that was in the accident: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Elk+Tree+Rd,+Woodside,+CA&hl=en&ll=37.386356,-122.264228&spn=0.0104,0.017896&sll=37.708112,-122.308526&sspn=1.316786,2.290649&oq=elk+tree+rd&hnear=Elk+Tree+Rd,+Redwood+City,+California+94062&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=37.38629,-122.264126&panoid=giGQ8Z3oEhwc9P2iwvXquA&cbp=12,146.12,,0,1.94 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Elk+Tree+Rd,+Woodside,+CA&hl=... The van could have begun to make the left hand turn before the bicyclist even came around the corner.
- enoch_r 13y agoWhile I agree with you that we shouldn't prematurely absolve anyone of responsibility, the speed limit on that road is 40mph. It's possible that Covey reached this speed or above heading downhill, but very unlikely that she was traveling more than, say, 45mph. If a driver had turned in front of a car going 45, causing a collision, no one would talk about the speeding car "flying around the corner." It would be a failure to yield to oncoming traffic, period.
- Pinatubo 13y agoYes, I agree that the person turning across traffic would in most cases be legally responsible. FYI, the speed limit on that stretch of road is 35 mph: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Elk+Tree+Rd,+Woodside,+CA&hl=en&ll=37.386356,-122.264228&spn=0.0104,0.017896&sll=37.708112,-122.308526&sspn=1.316786,2.290649&oq=elk+tree+rd&hnear=Elk+Tree+Rd,+Redwood+City,+California+94062&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=37.38629,-122.264126&panoid=giGQ8Z3oEhwc9P2iwvXquA&cbp=12,146.12,,0,1.94 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Elk+Tree+Rd,+Woodside,+CA&hl=...
- enoch_r 13y agoEr, I might be going crazy, but the only speed limit sign I see there says 40. Am I missing something here?
- Pinatubo 13y agoSorry, wrong link! Here's what I was looking at. This is up the road a little ways from the curve where the accident happened: https://www.google.com/search?q=18140+Skyline+Boulevard%2C+Woodside%2C+CA&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a https://www.google.com/search?q=18140+Skyline+Boulevard%2C+W...
- sk5t 13y agoAFAIK the yellow signs are "advice" rather than law. I make a point of at least doubling the "advice", visibility and governing speed limit permitting.