The executive director of the San Francisco Bicycling Coalition does not know of “a single case” in which a driver who killed a cyclist has been prosecuted, except for DUIs and hit-and-runs. If you’re not drunk and you stay on the scene, you can pretty much run over every cyclist you see. In 2011, a teenager ran over a 49 year-old cyclist from behind, killing him, and was fined $42. In San Francisco last year, Amelie Le Moullac was in the bike lane when a delivery truck turned right and killed her. Police initially assumed it was Le Moullac’s fault, until surveillance video showed the truck driver turning through the bike lane in front of her at unsafe speed. Although the SFPD has acknowledged that the driver was at fault, no charges have been filed.
All of these examples come from Daniel Duane’s editorial in last Sunday’s Times, which asks a simple question: is it okay to kill bicyclists? The law says bicycles enjoy the same road privileges as cars, but if I rear-end a car and kill its driver, I will almost certainly face charges. When drivers do the same thing to cyclists across the country, police and juries decide that the bicyclist should have been more careful.
Fundamentally, most of us are drivers. Duane cites Portland bicycle attorney Ray Thomas, who believes that juries are reluctant to issue penalties in car/bike accidents because they identify with people who drive cars. Even in densely urban areas like New York or bicycle-friendly towns like Missoula, motorists far outnumber cyclists. The road is theoretically a place for both bikes and cars, but only one of those vehicles weighs thousands of pounds, wrecks the other vehicle on contact and is owned by 90% of American households.
As soon as something bad happens, the bicyclist shouldn’t have been there. Last summer, I was riding in the bicycle lane downtown when a Mercedes turned left into me. A few weeks later there was a sign in the same spot instructing bicyclists to watch for turning cars. One lane over, a driver who turned left through traffic and collided with another car would be in serious trouble. Hit a bike, though, and it’s a faultless accident.
The irony is evident and bitter. When I’m on a bicycle instead of driving a car, I am doing pretty much everyone else on the road a favor. In addition to not emitting carbon monoxide and greenhouse gas, I also pose much less of a danger to other drivers than if I were in my truck. Pretty much the worst bicycle error imaginable is not going to kill someone in a car. I could slam into the back of Honda Fits at speed for weeks at a time and hurt no one but myself. If I do the same thing in my truck, I’m likely to cause serious injury.
So yeah: bicycles are great unless you don’t ride one, and then they’re a hideous traffic nuisance. Law enforcement knows it. There are laws against turning through bike lanes and running down cyclists from behind, but they aren’t enforced. The real law is what most people do, and you violate it at your peril. What most people do is drive cars.
Bike Snob NYC has a good response to the same NYT article. http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2013/11/shafted-again.html
He’s almost as curmudgeonly as you, Dan.
Drivers have a responsibility to keep bicyclists safe. However, bicyclists have that responsibility as well.
Anecdotally, as a driver in Philly, the only responsibility bikers have is to tell me you go fuck myself.
I would say bikers and drivers are equally negligent. In addition to why drivers are subject to more consequences for their negligence, I don’t understand why their vulnerability doesn’t properly incentivize bikers to exercise more caution.
Oops “why drivers AREN’T subject to more consequences”
cars will hopefully be completely outlawed soon in city centers. we’re moving towards that in paris and london, bit by bit. they’re dangerous, annoying, noisy fucking things.
I guess children will be outlawed then too.
I mean, I take the train every day to work and love it. I don’t understand why people choose to drive into the city and park. But I go from home to kindergarten drop off to preschool drop off to train station in 40 minutes in my car. I can’t imagine how long that would take on foot or even if I bought a bike and a kid trailer.
“if I rear-end a car and kill its driver, I will almost certainly face charges.”
No, you won’t. The criminal system doesn’t exist to punish someone whenever someone else dies. A driver would have to be trying to hurt someone or be criminally negligent (a really high burden) to be criminally responsible. As long as a driver is sober and driving somewhat responsibly, a fatal accident probably won’t result in serious charges.
I came within about six inches today of being hit by a speeding cyclist going the wrong way on a one way street in Baton Rouge. . Since I was on foot, crossing the street at a legal crosswalk, I wonder what would have happened to this 200 pound dick on wheels had he injured or killed me? Maybe we need more laws regarding responsibility, bicyclists included? http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/07/23/san-francisco-cyclist-pedestrian-death/
what a bunch of crazy fucking american motorists read this blog! if we didn’t have cars, we would hardly ever have traffic deaths and much less global warming, and city noise, and smog, etc. But BECAUSE of the current crazy car-centric system, the only people who ride bikes are semi-insane death-risking maniacs like me, who take awful risks. our existence and pour behavior is hardly an argument against bikes; it’s further evidence of a broken system and an argument against letting people drive cars around, which discourages bike and public transportation use, and kills so many, many people.