Decatur Police Report on Car/Bike Accident Near High School
Decatur Metro | September 12, 2011Decatur Deputy Police Chief Keith Lee sends in this report on the accident Friday involving an SUV and a bicycle near Decatur High School…
On Friday September 9, 2011 the Decatur Police Department responded to a reported traffic accident on North McDonough Street. Upon arrival, officers found that a 15 year old Decatur High School student had collided with a motor vehicle, while crossing North McDonough Street on his bicycle. Based on witnesses’ statements, it was determined the bicyclist caused the accident by failing to yield. The bicyclist was treated for minor injuries on scene by members of the Decatur Fire & Rescue Department. He was later taken for further medical examination by his father.
On another note, the reports of a serious motor vehicle collision on West Ponce de Leon Avenue involving a bicyclist are mistaken. Police and Fire personnel responded to a bicyclist having a medical emergency at that location. The bicyclist was not involved in a traffic collision.
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I’m sure all the witnesses are part of a car culture conspiracy to make bicyclists and pedestrians look bad.
I hope this particular story doesn’t turn into a back and forth on the matter in this specific case where a local kid was involved, and he or his family and peers could be reading this. There are several other places on the blog that this has been discussed in the past few days, no need to pile more blame on the kid. There’s no doubt he learned a valuable lesson, and I’m just glad he’s OK.
Word.
I truly hope he did learn his lesson, Becs– I wouldn’t want to have been the driver who hit him, even if it was due to his negligence. Something like that would seriously freak me out for quite some time, especially if (unlike here) the injuries had turned out to be serious!
No doubt. Hitting a kid on bike would scare the living hell out of anyone. I have a friend who was driving along and a kid flew out and hit the side of his car while he was in motion (child uninjured, no parents in sight), and it completely shook him up for all the obvious reasons. He was plenty thankful there were witnesses. But get this part lady lawyer, his insurance company wouldn’t cover the damages because it wasn’t a motor vehicle that had struck his car!
Interesting. I can see where it might not be covered under collision, but I would think it would fall under comprehensive, such as when a tree branch falls on your car.
It would be covered under comp. Same thing as hitting a deer or other animate object. Problem is that many people just don’t have comp coverage.
That’s what I thought. Still interesting, because typically, conventional wisdom says to cancel collision when your car gets older, but keep comp. I have never cancelled comp.
Thing is, if a driver carries only liability, then collisions are the only covered incidents– everything else is shank’s pony for the driver (IOW, he gotta pay outta pocket). And as we all know, Georgia requires only that drivers carry liability auto insurance (the minimum coverage permissible under state law). So sometimes, depending on your level of coverage, your insurance won’t pay for acts of God or children…
I hope you’re wearing your bike helmet – before the rocks start to fly!
Column in yesterday’s NYT about the campaign to make the streets of New York City more bike-friendly. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/opinion/sunday/bruni-janette-sadik-khan-bicycle-visionary.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
That’s a great link, smalltowngal. Thank you! The key to NY’s increasing success is to fully separate bicycle and automobile traffic with physical barriers, as they do in other pedestrian-friendly places, like Paris or the Netherlands or Copenhagen or, increasingly, Portland. It clarifies things much more. Much of the vitriol in the car-pedestrian debates we’re increasingly having comes from a lack of clarity. Should cars be able to pass other cars in bike lanes? Should bikes have the right to go thru a stoplight if the pressure plates aren’t sensitive enough to change the light for them (so long as they stop and make sure it’s safe)? We have to change the infrastructure to accommodate pedestrians instead of favoring cars at every turn.
Thanks for sharing STG. Decatur would do well to implement this particular strategy referenced:
“Its mayor recently deployed a tank to crush a Mercedes-Benz illegally parked in a bike lane.” That had to be pretty fun to watch. Maybe there could be a festival for that?
I posted this piece here a while back so forgive the double post if you have already seen it.
This is just such a wonderful model of a pedestrian/bicycle friendly city. The article also notes the difference it makes in a city when everyone bikes, and it’s not just seen as something for lack of a better wording from me, a small group of bike elites or “spandex cyborgs” as he calls them. Americans would never go for $1k drivers license, but it works for them.
The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/opinion/sunday/the-dutch-way-bicycles-and-fresh-bread.html
I really enjoyed this article both times! What keeps turning in my mind is how cool it’d be if the biking groups would do a big ride dressed as they do in Amsterdam–” in everything from jeans to cocktail dresses”– to kind of break the ice with the rest of us. Besides all of us sharing smiles and a good laugh, it’d show that they really do want us all to join in!
I’m going to peer pressure you into it one of these days. And I’ll even wear a cocktail dress just for the occasion!
This is how bicycle parades get started…! :0)
Do you think Ridgelandistan and DEM would be willing to wear cocktail dresses too? (I’d include Token, but he only likes to wear his dress shoes!)
I’m confused. Was the crosser in the crosswalk or not? If he was, then the motorist should have yielded. Isn’t that the point of crosswalks?
I asked the question before as to whether he was riding or walking the bike in the crosswalk and never got an answer. Walking the bike seems like it would be the same as walking with no bike in the crosswalk. RIDING in the crosswalk may not have the same protection. Riding the bike on the street, he would have to follow the same rules vis-a-vis yielding as anyone. BTW, does anyone know if he had a helmet?
The police report above reads: “while crossing North McDonough Street on his bicycle.” Operative word is “on” so I take that to mean he was a rider and not a pedestrian.
That’s the way I read it, so the crosswalk that was right there didn’t come into play. Plain and simple, he didn’t yield to the automobile.
I see some great “street theater” possibilities with this story and the comments.
‘…. Upon arrival, officers found that a 15 year old Decatur High School student had collided with a motor vehicle, while crossing North McDonough Street on his bicycle…
The statement does not state whether the accident took place in the crosswalk or not.
Again, he was ON his bicycle so the crosswalk does not come into play. It doesn’t matter if he was on, in, around, near, or in love with the crosswalk because he was not a pedestrian.
I think all the signal lights from that intersect E. college from Commerce to McDonough Street…need be looked at. There so many right turn signal lights when there needs to be left turn signals as well.
McDonough should be one lane in either direction. No need for two lanes there.
Again I point out the streetscape plan for McDonough:
http://www.decaturga.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=1112
Thanks, Steve, for pointing this out. It looks great! Is it a firm plan at this point, or still more of a vision statement?
It’s a firm plan pending funding which has been approved, but any time GDOT is involved the reality is going to take a while.