Resident Reports Cyclist Hit By SUV Near DHS on Friday
Decatur Metro | September 10, 2011Brent writes in…
I didn’t see any post about this, and with all the bike related commentary going on, I thought I would post this. About 4:45pm today, there was a auto/cyclist accident at the intersection of N. McDonough and Maple, in front of the High School. The accident had already occured when I passed by. There was an SUV in the outside northbound lane of North McDonough, and a bicycle was underneath the tire of the car. Police had already responded. When I passed by again, it appeared that the cyclist was sitting on the tailgate of a pickup receiving medical treatment. My daughter identified him as a freshman at the high school, but didn’t really know him. He didn’t appear to have any life threatening injuries. I figured someone would know more and have already posted about it.
I’ll follow up with DPD and see what more I can find out about this.
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I just posted about a cyclist I saw who appeared to have been hit by a car on W Ponce today around 2:30, just down from Trinity. Looked like he had been hurt pretty badly and EMTs were on the scene. Does anyone know anything about it?
I was at the cyclist down on West Ponce yesterday. His fall wasn’t witnessed, but the first person to arrive said the victim was demonstrating seizure-like activity. When I got there, he had some road rash and was acting post-ictal (confused, etc). His bicycle didn’t show any evidence of being hit by a car, and I didn’t see a helmet. Kudos to Decatur fire and police who showed up within 5-6 minutes, and to the quick-thinking people who log-rolled him on his side to help prevent aspiration.
The cyclist was sitting on the tailgate of my truck. I had the dubious pleasure of watching him get hit. He seemed to be banged up a bit but no major injuries. The Paramedics let him go to the hospital with his father in their personal vehicle.
My less than humble observation is that those who assume they can cross the street in a crosswalk without looking out for traffic may find themselves hit by a car. I have seen any number of pedestrians step into traffic at a crosswalk without looking left of right……..
BTW for all you drivers out there it is a $200 ticket if you do not stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
I’m glad the cyclist wasn’t seriously injured. But I actually have a question about those crosswalks. It says on the sign ‘Stop for pedestrians WITHIN crosswalk’. What if they are on the curb waiting to cross? There are times when I can’t stop to let them cross because of the person behind me. It seems if they are on the curb, they need to wait. It’s safer for them and the driver.
As you would normally approach a stop sign slowly, you should also approach a crosswalk as such, looking for pedestrians who want and/or are attempting to cross. Come on, if you live here, you know where they are! The brick pavers and pedestrian signage should alert drivers from a safe enough distance that they should approach with caution. I’ve reported the crosswalks at Adair and Howard Ave. to PEDS and the Decatur police several times, because cars speed much faster than the 35mph limit along Howard Ave., giving zero thought to pedestrians in that crosswalk. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If you wait at the curb, nobody stops. If you follow the law and cross in a crosswalk while traffic is approaching, you risk your life.
PEDS has an excellent hazard reporting page: http://peds.org/get_involved/report-hazards/. Crosswalk complaints get routed quickly to the right person in charge. I’ve had city engineers and police chiefs respond to me within 24 hours. Now if they would only slow the traffic down on Howard!!
Thanks for drawing my attention to this! I just made my first report.
“within” means that – actually in the crosswalk. Standing on the curb does not count, but, strictly speaking, “within” means ANYWHERE in the crosswalk regardless of whether they’re in your lane or not.
Thanks for clarifying! I’ve seen a lot of people slam on their brakes for people on the curb. It can be very dangerous. I also see a lot of pedestrians just step right off the curb assuming the cars will stop. Seems like we need more educating on the rules for everyone’s safety.
Was the cyclist crossing the street using the crosswalk? Motorists often ignore the rule to stop for people in crosswalks, roaring through at dangerous speeds. That’s maybe not entirely their fault. There hasn’t been much attention paid to the issue, so far as I know. The Decatur police should mount a sting operation. Have a plainclothes officer act as the pedestrian and another officer standing by to ticket the infractors. There are great examples online. Here’s an okay one without an ad, put out by the police department in question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTUF_ieIfMs
We need to step up enforcement of pedestrian safety issues — cars passing in bike lanes, cars passing less than three feet away from a cyclist, crosswalk infractions, etc. Safety is vital.
The Decatur Police have done crosswalk stings – I have witnessed them. Even with on officer in plain view on the sidewalk, people will blow the crosswalk.
My experience is when someone waves you across, if the person on the other side doesn’t allow to you cross, no one behind them does either, so then you’re trapped in the middle.
It’s the herd mentality, no one ahead of them stopped and neither will they. Realistically it’s an inconvenience to stop, they just don’t give a damn, and keep on moving.
So, the cyclist was riding his bike in the pedestrian crosswalk? Or was he walking it across?
Perhaps he was doing a little of both, feet on the ground, not pedaling. Doesn’t really matter, you don’t get to pick and choose who you prefer to stop for in the crosswalk. It’s up to people in them to pay attention (I never assume someone will stop for me), but there are also signs approaching crosswalks that alert cars to slow their speed, so there’s really no “I didn’t have time to stop” excuse when someone is crossing.
From HDog’s description, it sounds like he just wasn’t paying full attention when he entered it. Not that he purposely darted out, and expected everyone to come to a screeching halt to accommodate him.
People walking zone out, people in cars zone out, and sometimes people on bikes zone out. It should never happen, and there’s really no excuse it for it, but we’re all only human at the end of the day.
The PEDS (Pedestrians Educating Drivers on Safety) information on current crosswalk law can be found at
http://peds.org/resources/pedestrian_right_of_way/
Kids with bikes think they should be on sidewalks. They are wrong. My own son fell off his bike on sidewalks twice, broke his arm twice, and now won’t ride a bike, period.
SUVs are big and scary. They are often unnecessary as well. Incidents like this make me wish gas were $10/gallon.
Not sure the SUV comment is totally necessary. We should be happy that the cyclist had no major injuries. Perhaps we can all walk away with more of an understanding that we all need to be careful and watch out for each other regardless of the vehicle that we drive.
“Scary”???? Good grief.
Yes, they’re scary if you’re walking or on a bike or a motorcycle. You can’t even see around them when you’re in a regular car. They’re too big.
Well, I’ve been walker and cyclist and, they don’t scare me! I am so glad that, even as a woman, I have a pair! Oh, and if you raise gas to $10/gal, the price of every single thing we need goes up. That’s right, every thing from baby forumula to organic, free trade chai tea leaves. Pretty poor thought process. Punish those who do/have what I don’t like. Brilliant.
How about we go ahead and make bike and pedestrian safety top priority inside the city limits. Just create large speed bumps 20 feet on either side of every crosswalk.
After awhile,many people will avoid cutting through Decatur just because of the speed bumps.
There are two issues with your suggestion:
1) Can’t be done on a state designated road, which leaves out several heavily traveled streets
2) Emergency responders would be significantly slowed down
How about we just go ahead and do what everyone is really thinking: make most of downtown a pedestrian-only area. Let’s start at Clairemont, the courthouse, and go to Church St., Leon’s. Traffic wise, it’s a clusterf***.
Going from 2 lanes to 1 lane is one thing. Going from 1 to 0 is quite another.
As I understand it, much of the policies being put in place today are about giving people options. In 2011, car is still king, so much of the effort of diversifying transportation options is about taming car infrastructure to make our cities more amenable to other forms of transportation. However, eliminating the car as an option seems like it could be the same mistake as making it the ONLY option.
Of course, areas without cars do exist – Times Square being the most recent, high-profile example – but I don’t think Decatur has the grid network around downtown (not to mention the sheer size) to handle run-off and other implications from a “no cars” downtown policy. As such, it would have a much more profound impact on the economic and traffic life of the city.
What DM said. Plus, closing the heart of downtown to motorized vehicles would slam the door shut for elderly people and others with physical impairments that make it impossible for them to walk more than a very short distance. My mother stayed active and fit past the age of 80, then lived for several more years after it became difficult for her to walk farther than about 50 feet (with even that representing a big deal). Another close relative suffered a disabling injury in early middle age (after coming out on the bad end of a pedestrian-car misunderstanding), and it is often painful for her to walk more than a block or two.
Downtown’s not bad. We could cut off a street or two to motorized traffic (and that would further increase the appeal of downtown), but in general it’s good. What needs work are the areas farther out. McDonough, for instance, where the kid was just hit by an SUV, doesn’t need to be two lanes in either direction. One lane. Better crosswalks. We’re getting so much better, and there’s so much positive momentum. It’s exciting! If we keep it up we’ll be one of the top pedestrian-friendly towns in the country.
The streetscape improvements that will be done on McDonough (some day – it is GDOT, you know) will address many of these points. Take a look here: http://www.decaturga.com/index.aspx?page=167