Cyclist killed in Charlestown, MA

[Bruce K]

Breaking news here

Details are sketchy but it's a fairly busy Boston neighborhood

Not even sure if it is a commuter, "serious cyclist", or ????

BK

[wc1934]

Pictures from a distance looked like a really smashed road bike.

[eippo1]

Apparently a hit and run dump truck. No other details besides that

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Bruce K]

They have the truck and the driver.

No details or charges yet.

BK

[Louis]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the truck was just driving along and the cyclist "suddenly and without warning swerved out into the road right in front of me."

[scottyjames]

As a resident of Charlestown, I can tell you Sullivan Square is one of the most dangerous spots in Boston for all forms of traffic, especially peds and bikers, which is saying something in Boston. Sullivan Square and its ilk put the lie to the myth that Boston has somehow become more walker and bike friendly in recent years -- a nice marketing hook, but utterly removed from reality. This latest story is very sad and is further argument for a complete overhaul of the Sullivan infrastructure mess, which is guaranteed not to happen during my lifetime.

[druptight]

I rode through yesterday AM, and this AM. Avoided it yesterday on my way home from work as I didn't want to see whatever was going on there. I understand they were recreating the scene and that the person was not removed from the scene for some time - something I just was not prepared to witness on my ride home.

It's a massive rotary with traffic coming in from all over the place, people running lights, a highway exit right there - it's certainly a place to keep your head on a swivel at all times, and people trying to get across multiple lanes as they enter/exit the circle over a very short distance. While it's fairly empty on my way through it in the AM as I ride through it fairly early - I do my best to avoid the majority of it on my route home.

I have a feeling it was a side-swiping scenario where the truck driver probably didn't even realize they ran someone over, but time will tell as details emerge.

It was emotional riding through this AM, and my thoughts certainly go out to the cyclist & their family as we await details on what exactly happened and how it can be avoided in the future.

[druptight]

Brief update - they are charging the driver of the "sanitation truck":

http://www.boston.com/2014/04/03/bdc-fatal-bike-acciden/GROpbbzwYSHNXWtvV46OPM/story.html

[scottyjames]

I don't know about you, druptight, but when I ride through/around Sullivan I find it almost impossible to play by the rules without putting myself in danger--so I do what I need to do to be as safe as possible, which of course ends up being unsafe in its own way, a choice I hate having to make. Sounds like you're willing to navigate SS far more frequently than I am. I'll do just about anything to avoid it, but that's not always possible, either. Imagine what the Sullivan traffic could be if the proposed Wynn casino opens less than a half mile up the road.

[benb]

That area is frightening..

Where do they get these constantly reduced charges? "Leaving the scene of an accident after causing death"? :confused: Not even "vehicular manslaughter" or something?

[druptight]

I come from North, heading to the city so the Alford Street Bridge is my only real option unless I want to travel further west then head back east. As soon as I cross that bridge, I'm in the Sullivan Square traffic circle. I go straight through onto Rutheford ave though, so I don't turn right towards Cambridge (where the accident happened). Coming home, I cut through Charlestown (rather than take Rutheford) and only hit the very end of the traffic circle right by the Schrafts building - so I do my best to avoid going through it as much as possible.

Based on the pictures and where the bike was - it appears to me that the bike was on Spice street, just off Cambridge. The cyclist ended up a little further up Spice Street. I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but I'd guess he was travelling on the right side of Cambridge Street towards the traffic circle, and as he was approaching Spice Street the garbage truck hung a right ONTO Spice Street taking the bike out. Whether the truck was signalling, looked, etc will probably never be known. There's almost no reason to turn onto Spice street unless you're trying to cut through that side street to avoid the traffic circle (which LOTS of drivers do, and was probably what this driver was doing). They then come bombing out on Rutheford right by where you cross over the train tracks, and I have to avoid them there all the time.

Horribly tragic.

[Dead Man]

That area is frightening..

Where do they get these constantly reduced charges? "Leaving the scene of an accident after causing death"? :confused: Not even "vehicular manslaughter" or something?

I'm certainly no expert on Mass law, but generally a manslaughter charge is going to require some recklessness or negligence, which is hard to prove even when it exists, and it usually does not exist in a traffic crash, even where someone dies.

Leaving the scene of a crash is really easy to prove, on the other hand.

Likely, it was just a simple miscalculation or moment of inattention that would have, in any other situation, caused no harm or possibly just a simple insurance claim to fix someone's gouged fender. Is the driver more guilty because the "vehicle" he collided with is softer than most?

It's also entirely possible the cyclist was at fault for the accident. I don't know the details.

Just some arguments for arguments sake.

[RAS72]

Always sad to hear news like this.

[druptight]

Guy was arraigned - his story is exactly what I surmised up above:

1) Turning right onto spice street (cyclist must have been going down Cambridge street)
2) Says he thought he hit a pot hole, which is why he kept going.
3) Defense claims cyclist struck side of truck as he was turning.

http://www.boston.com/2014/04/03/bdc-fatal-bike-acciden/GROpbbzwYSHNXWtvV46OPM/story.html

https://twitter.com/martinepowers/status/452081867941240832

Keep your heads on a swivel and hands on the brakes any time there's cars/traffic around.

[Dead Man]

Guy was arraigned - his story is exactly what I surmised up above:

1) Turning right onto spice street (cyclist must have been going down Cambridge street)
2) Says he thought he hit a pot hole, which is why he kept going.
3) Defense claims cyclist struck side of truck as he was turning.

http://www.boston.com/2014/04/03/bdc-fatal-bike-acciden/GROpbbzwYSHNXWtvV46OPM/story.html

https://twitter.com/martinepowers/status/452081867941240832

Keep your heads on a swivel and hands on the brakes any time there's cars/traffic around.

Finding it really hard to believe he "thought" he hit a pothole. Even garbage trucks have rear view mirrors, and I'm sure seeing a bicyclist pulverized caused an immediate commotion on a busy road behind him.

So looks like he was at-fault, and hit-and-run. Not a good mix. If he'd simply stopped and owned up to it, he would have gotten a nasty traffic ticket and lost his job. As a city employee, he's covered civilly also. As it is, it's going to be a lot worse for him.

[druptight]

Finding it really hard to believe he "thought" he hit a pothole. Even garbage trucks have rear view mirrors, and I'm sure seeing a bicyclist pulverized caused an immediate commotion on a busy road behind him.

So looks like he was at-fault, and hit-and-run. Not a good mix. If he'd simply stopped and owned up to it, he would have gotten a nasty traffic ticket and lost his job. As a city employee, he's covered civilly also. As it is, it's going to be a lot worse for him.

On one of the other tweets from that reporter, the BPD apparently also quoted a witness as saying the cyclist hit the passenger door of the dump truck, so again - hard to believe he heard someone hit his passenger door and thought it was a pothole.

Here's what you're dealing with at that intersection, cyclist would have been coming straight at the camera up alongside the traffic here:

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.383512,-71.075338,3a,75y,210.2h,74.31t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s3INBzhpjz9oiy_HP6PGleg!2e0

And there's ALWAYS traffic there.

[eBAUMANN]

a coworker of mine mentioned that the victim was riding a colnago…which makes me kinda afraid it might be someone we know…

i dunno where he got that info from, just what he mentioned to me.

anyone know if they've released a name yet?

sullivan square is somewhere i avoid like the plague, no matter what my mode of transport might be. its a traffic nightmare.

[druptight]

Eric - I was thinking Colnago when I saw the picture/video associated with this article this AM:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2014/04/truck_driver_charged_in_fatal_charlestown_accident

Looks like the Rabobank colors. Last I heard they still haven't released the cyclist's name/info.

[moose8]

These stories always make my heart break a little. As much as people like to think they're different or safer, this really could be any of us who ride in busy places. It only takes one idiot driver, or one bad decision which we all make from time to time.

[eippo1]

This would be my way to work in Quincy via a bike commute if I did so. I went through there this morning and just can't imagine riding a bike through there. It is such a cluster····. This just solidifies my thinking that I'd head west, go around the city and come back west.

I used to ride in to S. Boston via the Longfellow and found the Charles St. rotary to be a mess every time. I did manage to get hit by a bus back then and will gladly go way out of my way to avoid bad rotaries.

[polyhistoric]

Saw the news and pictures (after I made my commute home via the Longfellow).

Looks like an older Colnago, maybe a dream in the Rabo colors - some type of branded aluminum rim shown mangled (reynolds?). Not a bike/cyclist I recognize from my groups/rides.

Horrible feeling in my gut and hope the family is alright (and avoid the comments section online under the article).

The DA better charge the driver - too many cyclists harmed in the Boston area with no recourse to the drivers.

[greenrositti]

This is awful. If I had a nickel for every time a driver drove past me on the left and made an immediate right turn across my wheel, I'd be rich. Aside from community activism for safer roads and greater accountability, the best we can do after this horrible reminder is be really careful not to ever let our guards down out there.

[Dead Man]

This is awful. If I had a nickel for every time a driver drove past me on the left and made an immediate right turn across my wheel, I'd be rich. Aside from community activism for safer roads and greater accountability, the best we can do after this horrible reminder is be really careful not to ever let our guards down out there.

People are going to have moments of lapses of attention... it'll never not happen. Yesterday, on my commute, I had a lady right-turn into my lane from a crossroad right smack in front of me... she waited patiently for a couple of cars that were passing me to cross the intersection, never made eye contact with me, and shot right out in front of me. As I E-braked about 6" from her bumper, I had to mentally chuckle at the bike-friendly "I Share the Road" sticker on the back of her Subaru as I shouted "HEY!"

As we came parallel she rolled the window down and apologized. She could even be a cyclist herself.. but she didn't see me. Right there in the bike lane in broad plain view and wearing an orange jacket... nope.

All it takes in a fraction of a second, and it doesn't even require an idiot or someone who doesn't look for or understand cyclists.