Cyclist Struck Along North Decatur Road Back on November 2nd
Decatur Metro | November 16, 2010 | 10:48 amFrom the Emory Wheel’s Police Report blog…
A cyclist was struck by a vehicle on Nov. 2 at 5:23 p.m. The driver was traveling west on North Decatur Road toward Emory Village, and the cyclist was in a closed traffic lane that was marked off with construction barrels. As the vehicle moved onto the sidewalk, the driver turned her car to enter Fishburne parking deck, and the vehicle’s right front fender struck the cyclist.
I am concerned that this scenario will repeat itself on the new Ponce bike lanes. Vehicles entering from the side streets now will pull across a full (on-street parking) lane plus the bike lane to enter Ponce. Same goes turning off Ponce onto these streets. Everyone is going to have to be sharp at these intersections.
I’ve noticed that the Stop signs on the streets entering Ponce have been moved back…don’t quite understand what effect this will have.
It is also going to be critical for the city to effectively funnel two-lane traffic down to one on the hilltop at Thomas More School, where the bike lane begins. I presume the same will happen at the city limits end, as well. I’m waiting to see whether striping or bulb-outs will be used for this purpose but imagine bulb-outs will be necessary.
I am actually deeply concerned about all of the funneling down of traffic in Decatur. I live on the East side across the RR tracks and have to go through town way out of my way (and burn more gas). I see a lot more cars than bikes and I see drivers getting more frustrated and reckless because of the funneling down. Cars are a necessary fact of life around here and if we are inviting people here to shop, play, work and live, most of them will do so in a car. Unless it is an unnecessarily irritating process, then they will just take their dollars elsewhere.
Perhaps, but it’s worth noting that the one period in Decatur’s history in which we catered to automobiles at the expense of everything else was the single greatest period of disinvestment and decline this town has ever known.
We may be able to debate whether car-worshipping was the cause or partial cause of our decline during that period, one thing is without question: All those efforts failed to make anything better. We didn’t start seeing new signs of life around here until we reconnected with what we are and what we do best. Copying the ‘burbs ain’t it.
Italics off…? Let’s try it.
More substantially, I wonder just how big a hassle the funneling down is–to me seems fairly minor, and worth the benefit of traffic calming/encouraging biking etc.
Yep. Got a note into DM to correct my sloppy, ham-fisted HTMLin’… User error!
I am not a car worshipper nor am I an apologist. I try to be clear eyed in my views. One of the reasons I bought my house is because of it’s proximity to downtown Decatur and Oakhurst village. We walk all the time and love doing so.
I also have to drive and with the narrowing of the main roads through Decatur I realize that it is taking much longer. Church St. should bring people into our city and Commerce should allow them to scoot around the worst of the backups. Both roads are being narrowed Calm traffic on smaller streets and add bike lanes, don’t subtract car lanes. Are we trying to keep people out that don’t arrive by some “green” method?
I also have to drive and with the narrowing of the main roads through Decatur I realize that it is taking much longer. … Are we trying to keep people out that don’t arrive by some “green” method?
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No, we are trying to get vehicles to slow down and drive more safely. As a community, we are choosing a trade-off: less time efficiency for motorized through-traffic in exchange for making it safer and more feasible to walk or ride a bike. (It also makes it safer for motorists.) I don’t see how that discourages people from coming to Decatur–it just makes it difficult to go barreling through as fast as they can. That’s a good thing, IMO.
If we know it’s going to take longer than it used to, to get across town, the thing to do is leave a little sooner.
That section of N. Decatur is a nightmare for cyclists. I rode there almost every day before construction, and finally had to start going around the area because it is so dangerous. The road conditions are hazardous, the traffic patterns are a confusing, and many of the drivers are so desperate to get through the construction area that they could care less if they have to run someone over to do it.
The fact that they have not finished the construction there, after years of lane closings and work, should be a local scandal. Seriously, how on earth have they not finished it yet? It’s hard to even notice any progress, much less completion of actual work.
The cyclist that got hit “technically” was in the wrong spot, a closed, coned off lane. IMO it is the same as riding on the sidewalk. Both are at fault, IMO. I agree with Tom on the Ponce Bike lane. There needs to be a HUGE educational offering to Decatur residents for both cyclist and motorists.
“…the cyclist was in a closed traffic lane that was marked off with construction barrels. As the vehicle [I’m assuming this means the bicycle?] moved onto the sidewalk, the driver turned her car to enter Fishburne parking deck…”
OK, what am I missing? The cyclist is in a lane where s/he was not supposed to be, and the driver of the vehicle, who had no reason to suspect that someone would be using a CLOSED LANE, hits the cyclist– but it’s somehow BOTH their fault? How can that be? I mean, obviously, the cyclist stands to have gotten the worst of it (being less protected), but how would the driver have known that someone would come in from a lane where no one was supposed to be? I’m not an “almighty car at all costs” apologist, but under the facts that are given here, I don’t see how the driver is at fault. This seems to have been caused by the cyclist’s choosing to be where s/he had no permission to be, rather than a driver’s inattention…not hatin’, just sayin’.
Based on the description of the accident and my knowledge of that location, I disagree that the auto driver bears any responsibility for this accident. There is no reasonable expectation that a vehicle (bicycle) would cross the entrance to the lot from a restricted /closed area. This is also one reason that cycling on sidewalks is illegal in Georgia.
Full disclosure: I commute by bike about 1,500 miles a year but I also worship my car.
They just started work on the roundabout and that is on schedule to be completed next summer. I think you are probably referring to the effort last year to bury the power lines which did take some time. I live in the area and don’t think it’s that dangerous and actually believe that the roundabout will help pedestrian access in the end.
Patience is a virtue.
I am not against the roundabout — it may well be a far better solution in that intersection, long term. But the intersection has been under construction for a long, long time now, and progress seems very painfully slow. We can agree to disagree about how dangerous it is now for cyclists. I don’t feel unsafe there in a car. A bike is a completely different story.
Well, GDOT funded it…slow reason #1
GA Power had to bury their utilities, which they don’t enjoy…slow #2
The other guys (ATT, Comcast, etc) had to bury too. Slow #3.
DeKalb County implements….Slow #4.
Then a contractor has to actually build the thing; faster than the others, but Slow #5.
Based on the typical pace of a GDOT project, seems right on track. The McDonough Street streetscape is TE funded (I think), so it will be at least a year or two before that starts.
Ah, GDOT, what a smooth process you have there.