As Chuck so nicely posted, what happened on Walnut Street on Tuesday, when a driver struck and seriously injured a teen on a bike, is gut-wrenching. I hope that the young man’s injuries are not severe and that he recovers completely.
We obviously don’t know enough to speculate about the details of the crash and who is responsible. But, a few themes are emerging that can be addressed now, independent of whether or not they apply to this crash:
- Site-specific conditions — almost a moral certainty that the specifics of the particular stretch of Walnut Street are not the issue, we need safe bike infrastructure all over Newton
- Solar glare — should never be an excuse
- Wrong-way riding — shouldn’t excuse a driver hitting a cyclist, but a really bad idea
Site-specific conditions
After I learned about the crash, I happened to be driving around the south of Newton, as the sun went down. And, I was struck by just how many people on bikes there were on various streets. And, it struck me just how vulnerable riders continue to be. We may learn that Tuesday’s accident was freakishly related to site-specific conditions and that fixing them will eliminate any possibility of a future crash at that location. Doubt it. More likely, we’ll learn that what happened on Walnut Street could have happened just about anywhere in Newton.
We want more bikes on the streets, not fewer. But, independent of the best efforts of bike advocates or detractors, there are going to be bikes on our streets. Unless we do more to protect cyclists — with infrastructure changes, not just education — we’re going to have incidents of serious injury and death.
Let’s make sure that the response to this crash is not to focus just on Walnut Street, but on the city as a whole.
Solar glare
Again, we don’t know specifics, yet, but there is some suggestion that solar glare might have been an issue in this crash. Stepping outside the particulars, solar glare should almost never be an excuse for any driver not staying in her lane or not being able to see things in the roadway.
If you are driving into the sun in the morning or the afternoon, the sun creating visibility problems should not be a surprise. You should be prepared for it. You should immediately take steps — like wearing sunglasses and/or pulling down the sun visor — to ensure that you retain adequate vision to perform the potentially dangerous (especially to others) of piloting a multi-ton vehicle at potentially fatal speeds (say, above 15 MPH). If you cannot ensure that you will have complete, continuous visibility in the event of the relentlessly foreseeable occasion of sun in your eyes, GET OFF THE ROAD UNTIL THE SUN SETS OR RISES.
It’s really that simple.
Again, we don’t know whether or not solar glare was an issue in Tuesday’s crash. But, if it was …
Wrong-way riding
If a driver crosses into a bike path and hits somebody or something, it’s the driver’s fault. Cars do not belong in the bike lane. That a cyclist (or other) was riding the right way, was stopped, or was riding the wrong way, ought not to matter. It’s the driver’s responsibility, by law, to keep the aforementioned multi-ton vehicle out of the marked bike lane.
And, again, we don’t know what direction the teen was riding on Tuesday.
But, for the love of all that is good and kind in our world, cyclists, DO NOT RIDE AGAINST TRAFFIC (except in very specific, well-marked contraflow bike lanes). It’s simple physics: riding against traffic reduces reaction time and increases the force of any impact.
Two objects heading in opposite directions will meet at a time equal to the distance divided by the sum of their speeds. Less reaction time. Two objects heading in opposite directions meet with the sum of their kinetic forces. Greater impact. Two objects heading in the same direction will meet at a time equal to the distance between them divided by the difference of their speeds. Greater reaction time. Two objects heading in the same direction meet with the difference of their kinetic forces. Less impact.
Don’t think this matters? Assume a car going 35 and a bike going 10. Their combined speed going in opposition directions is 45, in the same direction it’s 25. The reaction time of the car overtaking the bike will be almost double the reaction time of the car and bike approaching in opposite directions. Since the force of the collision is a function of the square of the velocity, the force of a head-on collision is over three times the force of a hit from behind. That’s the difference between treated-and-released and admitted or dead.
For another post: what we can do to stem wrong-way riding.
“We obviously don’t know enough to speculate about the details of the crash and who is responsible” but speculate away we shall. Well, maybe not speculate, but as is so common from this writer, pass judgement on what should and should not be done as though the issues were black and white and his answers the only acceptable ones. It is a shame that Mr. Roche’s absence from the blogs has come to an end recently. The tenor of the conversation is the poorer for it.
Oh yes, there is no physical quantity known as “kinetic force.” There are forces and there is a common quantity known as kinetic energy. The two are related though not identical. On a related note, it is the energy of the collision and not the force that should be discussed. When discussing collisions, one usually considers energies and momenta. Forces, not so much. Finally, since velocity is a vector quantity, one should not talk of its “square” but rather “square magnitude.”
Elmo,
I am chastened by and grateful for the technical corrections. I’ll update as soon as I get to a computer.
As for “speculation,” I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Oh, and thanks for the kind words about my re-engagement. You totally made my kids’ day!
Even though I am feeling dazed and confused after reading the above, I think I got it.
Wrong way bike riding is very dangerous and should be avoided.
Sidewalk bike riding is dangerous and should be avoided.
Driving when there is the possibility of sun glare does not qualify as a reason to not have proper control of the vehicle.
Streets will always be dangerous places but they are even more dangerous if they are not made safer for cars, bikes and pedestrians. Livable streets are a benchmark to strive for all over Newton. My inclusion.
Sean,
Besides being a bad idea, is Wrong Way Riding technically illegal? Or is this just a perceived illegality when thinking of “Same Road Same Rules” when in fact it is not? The MGL section does not address it that I saw and I have heard conflicting comments on “salmoning”.
Elmo bloviates:
Sigh. There’s nothing for the tenor on the blogs like an ad hominem attack.
I ride my bike wherever possible, and am surprised how close people drive their cars to me. But I have a simple question – how many tickets have police written related to dangerous driving or biking? And what is Newton Council doing about distracted driving (aka checking smart phones while driving)?
Rules are meaningless, when they dont get enforced.
Riding the wrong way in the bike lane is a REALLY bad idea for more reasons than “simple physics.” Obviously, cars should not be driving in the bike lane, but they do have to cross the bike lane when turning. The day after this crash, I was driving north on Walnut, preparing to turn right on Hull. While there was a long line of cars ahead of me, there were no cars approaching from the south waiting to turn left onto Hull, and no bikes behind me in bike lane to my right, but I started the turn a teenager on a bike heading the wrong way in the bike lane suddenly appeared – I couldn’t see him until that point because he was hidden by the vehicles heading north, and I’m sure he couldn’t see me given both the traffic and the hill/curve he was approaching from. Luckily, it was just a close call for both of us, but it could have been really, really, bad. An important safety principle for anyone operating any vehicle – car, bike, boat – is to do what is expected. Stop when you are supposed to stop. Give way when you are supposed to give way. Go when you are supposed to go. And if you are a car or bike, be where you are supposed to be.
I am directionally challenged – I was heading south on Walnut. Replace “north” with “south” in my comment above and it will make much more sense.
One of the main reasons not to ride a bike on the wrong (left) side of the street: you are likely to have a head-on crash with another bicycle that is riding on the proper (right) side.