Cyclist
Peach District (State of Mind)
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Bicyclist Struck, Killed While Riding To Work
Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:08 AM
A bicyclist was killed Thursday morning when he was struck by a passing vehicle on the city's southeast side.
The man was riding south on Alum Creek Drive near Watkins road at about 5:45 a.m. when he was struck, 10TV's Patrick Bell reported.
The driver called 911 after the crash.
Mercurius
First Avenue
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Columbusite
Minneapolis
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You can thank the Transportation Division personally. It's not enough that 33 parallels this road and that part of I-70 does too. Speed>peoples lives.
In this case, I doubt a helmet would have made a difference. Aside from reflective tape, I would have blinkies front and back just as I would during the night. There are no side streets to make it easy to get here and obviously no bike lanes. This would be a road where those would make more sense, since it goes through an industrial area, but I doubt they will be implemented here despite what happened.
kessler
Georgian Heights
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Ndcent wrote Uh, the "transportation division" didn't hit and kill the guy on the bike on Alum Creek.Also, what a horrible place to ride a bicycle.
Yes so quick to jump, however it is such a horrible place to ride a bike because of the transportation division.
Statements like this piss me off sounds like your blaming the biker for commuting to work or whatever he was doing there that early!
Transportation isn't to blame but if they don't look at this for a need (then they become at least somewhat to blame).
WAKE UP!
Sorry for ranting, guess I need to get another cup of coffee :wink:
Peace between motorists and cyclists where is the harmony?? I shall seek till I shall find!! Those bracelets sound more and more appealing
blammo
in the shadow of the wonder of bread
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I know several points have been made against dedicated bike lanes…but it seems like on busy roads, in low-visibility situations like this, they'd give both the bikes and the cars a place to go. A motorist might still be surprised or "not see" a cyclist, but at least they wouldn't be trying to occupy the same space.
Cyclist
Peach District (State of Mind)
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Ndcent wrote What's the solution?Make every single road out there 25mph so they're "cyclist friendly."
I don't think so.
That would be a good start. And in fact its one of the bases of my mayoral platform. Also bike lanes would be proper in setting like Alum Creek Road.
jawjack187
Columbus
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Cyclist wroteNdcent wrote What's the solution?Make every single road out there 25mph so they're "cyclist friendly."
I don't think so.
That would be a good start. And in fact its one of the bases of my mayoral platform. Also bike lanes would be proper in setting like Alum Creek Road.
Good luck with that. Are you thinking 2012, or after he's appointed by President Obama?
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Sad to hear this, this morning.
Stay safe all.
Coremodels
Really close to Explorer's Club.
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blammo wrote I know several points have been made against dedicated bike lanes…but it seems like on busy roads, in low-visibility situations like this, they'd give both the bikes and the cars a place to go. A motorist might still be surprised or "not see" a cyclist, but at least they wouldn't be trying to occupy the same space.
I'm interested to see how this study in San Fran works out. There seems to be some evidence stating that increasing bike lanes actually increases pollution...
BBJ
Detroit, MI
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I heard about that today too, I think on Rush today? It was not that bike lanes cause more pollution, but that cyclists in general cause more pollution, because they obstruct traffic, and create slower moving and idling traffic. San Fran thinks it is worth looking into so they have halted all new bicycle initiatives including: bike racks, bike lanes, etc. while they study this subject.
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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The Dispatch wrote He had lights on the bike, front and back - reflectors, too. And he always wore an orange safety vest to stand out in the early-morning dark.Tracey Corbin, 46, shared the road with the cars and the big rigs that rumbled along Alum Creek Drive, so he took it slowly, his family said. More than an hour before he had to punch in at his job at Shaklee Corp. off Groveport Road, he'd leave the Fairwood Avenue home he shared with his mother.
When he arrived, he always called to let her know he'd made it.
"That was a must," Yvonne Corbin said today.
That's what jolted her awake before 6:30 a.m. No phone call.
Bear
The woods
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So given that quite a few cyclists are of a generation that possesses some pretty remarkable technical skills, has anyone done or seen a Google maps compilation of car-bike (a) incidents or (b) fatalities in Columbus? It's pretty easy, in retrospect, to point to characteristics of this or that road that are hazardous, or to say that ODOT values speed over lives, but those are arguments that are really hard to assess based on a single incident at a single point in time, without comparing it to other places at other times.
For example, if this is the first cyclist ever to be killed on this road, and it's heavily traveled by bicycle (??), maybe it's not that hazardous -- after all, accidents do happen... but if very few people are foolish enough to cycle there, and of those, 10 a year are killed, that's a reason to write in. Unless 30 a year are killed on the next street over. That's the sort of thing that a systematic compilation can bring to light.
(A brief digression. For those who haven't seen it, John Snow's map of the London cholera epidemic of 1854 is a great example of what maps can tell you. Look at the deaths -- horizontal lines stacked up at addresses -- and see if you can see what might be responsible for them... then click here to read more. And he did it without Google....)
Columbusite
Minneapolis
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Ndcent wrote What's the solution?Make every single road out there 25mph so they're "cyclist friendly."
I don't think so.
Reading is the first step to comprehending. I repeat:
There are no side streets to make it easy to get here and obviously no bike lanes. This would be a road where those would make more sense
As for the TD's hand in this (quoted from their front page):
The Transportation Division plans, designs, inspects and oversees construction of and maintains the roadway system and its right-of-way within the City of Columbus.(italicized by moi)
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Bear wrote but if very few people are foolish enough to cycle there
I got some of this same sentiment from the 10TV report, my apologies if I read into this the wrong way or take it too far off topic.
I think when it comes to cyclists you can pretty much break us down to 2 groups. Those where cycling is more of a luxury (kind of like driving a car) and it's a choice, an option, in our transit. You'll pretty much see this at CB.
Then there are those where cycling is a necessity. The gentleman that was killed yesterday falls here. Not everyone can afford a car, not everyone can afford a house or apartment in walking distance to their job. Not everyone is serviced by a dependable COTA route. I really see some points in Columbusite's argument. Why have we allowed a system to be created that doesn't set the whole community up for success? Catering to one segment and ignoring the rest leaves a sizable portion without access to an alternative that can help them.
Bear the two accidents that come to mind in the last few years were both on high traffic roads. One in Reynoldsburg on Main near the Hooters and the other on Lane just across form the athletic complexes.
Coremodels
Really close to Explorer's Club.
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Despite the desire to make this into anything more than a standard traffic accident (which it appears to be), after seeing this young man's brother interviewed on the news last night, it's truly a shame.
This kid biked 1 hour each way to work every day to support their mother, and a human being of that calibre will be missed.
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