Cyclist killed in Boston this AM

[Bruce K]

Breaking news in Boston:

20 something woman hit by a red semi with a flatbed trailer

DOA at hospital

Driver left the scene but police are not sure if he even knew he had hit her

Red semi with sleeper and chrome grille

Police are reviewing traffic camera video

I am really starting to think about an MTB

BK

[Keith A]

:(

[bikerboy337]

so sad, thoughts and prayers to her family...

[bicycletricycle]

sad.

riding around long vehicles always makes me nervous.

[velomonkey]

i really hate hearing this stuff. sad

[JAllen]

Terrible news. :(

[dgauthier]

Breaking news in Boston:

20 something woman hit by a red semi with a flatbed trailer
( . . . )
I am really starting to think about an MTB

BK

Yuck.

My wife recently asked me not to ride the road bike while we live in Los Angeles. It's the texting idiots, not the semi's, that make me realize she has a point. I'm researching mountain bikes now.

[4Rings6Stars]

Yuck.

My wife recently asked me not to ride the road bike while we live in Los Angeles. It's the texting idiots, not the semi's, that make me realize she has a point. I'm researching mountain bikes now.


Since having my son this past February my desire to ride on the road has dropped off almost entirely. I started to do some mountain biking and it's way more fun anyway...

[Fishbike]

When I heard this new this morning I wacked my steering wheel and said a bad word. So heartbreaking. We must all face it: riding in cities is inherently dangerous.

[rugbysecondrow]

Since having my son this past February my desire to ride on the road has dropped off almost entirely. I started to do some mountain biking and it's way more fun anyway...

Ditto

[etu]

riding around long vehicles always makes me nervous.

Wow, it really is unnerving to hear of so many accidents. My thoughts go out to her family, but I refuse to believe that we don't have some control of the risks of riding in traffic. I remember talking to a friend who was a daily commuted from the mission district of SF (east side of the city) to the sunset (west side) and she'd never had a close call. She talked about developing an instinctive sixth sense of dangerous situations and making appropriate adjustments. Most of who have ridden in cities have probably approached a truck or a bus that was stopped a red light. If you listened there was either a very loud or quite voicing saying "don't do it". That was you survival instinct talking.
BTW I want to make it clear that I am in no way blaming the cyclist for the accident in anyway. That would be ridiculous, but for my piece of mind, whether I am being delusional or not, I have to believe we have some control on the road whether it be the route we choose, visibility aids we use, or how we position ourselves in lane, etc.

[Bruce K]

I have had more close calls with horse, boat, and utility trailers than the vehicles towing them or motor vehicles in general

It seems drivers forget that the trailers track INSIDE the line that the towing vehicle takes and lose track of spacing

No one will protect us but us

BK

[metrotuned]

Scare tactics like this get riders off the road. Helmet laws, stop sign laws, all these things make living a sustainable green lifestyle "threatening." The courageous heroes of mine, even after scrapes and bruises (some hospital visits even), continue to ride. Because: RIDE EVERY DAY.

[rzthomas]

We must all face it: riding in cities is inherently dangerous.

I don't quite know about that. Riding in cities requires more spatial awareness, but it seems more and more that the cyclists getting killed are dying on quiet country roads where passing traffic drives faster and drivers are less accustomed to passing riders safely.

I split my time riding in rural Champaign, IL and populated south Chicago suburbs. I have more close calls in the country.

[etu]

Art of Cycling by Robert Hurst
Best book on urban cycling and how to do it safely as possible.

[tiretrax]

Sad news. With all the construction in Dallas and semi's delivering materials, I've had some near misses with semi's in my car recently. Be very careful out there.

[notsew]

This is clearly a terrible thing. Its awful when someone dies. Period.

I don't want to come across as crass, but I'm not loving the new thread everytime someone dies on a bike. Sure, people should recognize the risks of riding a bike, but piling on the anecdotes is not helping anyone assess the risks of their behavior. It creates an emotional response that is often illogical. According to this (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/how-safe-is-cycling-its-hard-to-say/?_r=0)article, cycling deaths come in around .26 to .35 per 100,000. Driving is over 10 per 100,000. (http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalityfacts/state-by-state-overview). So if you want to be safe, hang up your keys and get on your bike.

Obviously, each person needs to assess their own risk tolerance. But if you are giving up road biking to drive more, you've created a false sense of security. I for one would encourage people not to feed the fire by posting everytime a stranger on a bike gets hit.

I'd never give up road riding. I f'ing love it, like I've never loved an activity. Viva la bike!

[FL_MarkD]

nicely said notsew.

'The plural of anecdote is not data'. The ability to share information globally with a simple update to a forum or blog or see the news makes things seem like they 'happen more often'.

It doesn't reduce the impact to the truly impacted by these events and our hearts (rightfully) go out to them.

[Coluber42]

Another thing I've noticed is that whenever we hear about a crash like this the first thing we tend to do is start talking about all the things the cyclist should have been doing differently.
Obviously there are lots of things we can do to make ourselves safer on the road and those are worth discussing, but at the same time we need to hold vehicle operators responsible, too. (And road design, for that matter).

It's true that there's a point in a turn where the driver of a large truck is essentially blind to anything happening alongside. BUT that's no excuse for not looking out BEFORE executing the turn. It's no excuse for making the turn too fast for someone who didn't realize what was going on to get out of the way. If that means holding up traffic every time a truck has to make a turn on a narrow city street, that's what it means. Crashes are not "just accidents", they are not inevitable, they don't just happen. They are the result of human error and in the vast majority of cases they could have been prevented.

What I found particularly telling was the last line of this Boston Globe article:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/07/woman-bicyclist-injured-apparent-collision-with-vehicle-back-bay/zsjWYLZIZ324kSkmbjOaWM/story.html (https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/07/woman-bicyclist-injured-apparent-collision-with-vehicle-back-bay/zsjWYLZIZ324kSkmbjOaWM/story.html)

It said that two other vehicles collided while the police were investigating the scene.

[oldpotatoe]

Scare tactics like this get riders off the road. Helmet laws, stop sign laws, all these things make living a sustainable green lifestyle "threatening." The courageous heroes of mine, even after scrapes and bruises (some hospital visits even), continue to ride. Because: RIDE EVERY DAY.

Soooo helmet laws(none that I know of), stop sign laws( the same law for cars?)
Is a conspiracy to get those who follow a 'sustainable green lifestyle' off the road? I didn't know that nor did I know I was so 'green'.

[rugbysecondrow]

What this does though is underscore the consequences and the finality of our hobbie.

I enjoy riding my bike, but do I enjoy it enough that I would find a bike accident worth missing work and impacting my financial security? Miss raising my kids? Worth have a significant injury? Not really. I made the same decision when I quit playing rugby. Keep playing or quit and be able to stand up straight and walk without knee pain?

It is a value judgement at a personal level.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[etu]

this is clearly a terrible thing. Its awful when someone dies. Period.

I don't want to come across as crass, but i'm not loving the new thread everytime someone dies on a bike. Sure, people should recognize the risks of riding a bike, but piling on the anecdotes is not helping anyone assess the risks of their behavior. It creates an emotional response that is often illogical. Viva la bike!

1+

[numbskull]

I suspect that the cardiovascular health benefits of serious cycling significantly outweigh its risks. Sure there are other less risky ways to exercise but most quickly become tedious or damaging and are abandoned. Exercise with risk is likely safer than a protected sedentary lifestyle.

[Jgrooms]

This is clearly a terrible thing. Its awful when someone dies. Period.



I don't want to come across as crass, but I'm not loving the new thread everytime someone dies on a bike. Sure, people should recognize the risks of riding a bike, but piling on the anecdotes is not helping anyone assess the risks of their behavior. It creates an emotional response that is often illogical.


Obviously, each person needs to assess their own risk tolerance. But if you are giving up road biking to drive more, you've created a false sense of security. I for one would encourage people not to feed the fire by posting everytime a stranger on a bike gets hit.



I'd never give up road riding. I f'ing love it, like I've never loved an activity. Viva la bike!


It is news. It is important news. It may create a false sense of 'happening all the time', however, the facts are important. Some of which may save the next rider and/or make how that rider handles the aftermath critical.

What may have someone been reminded of here? When approaching an intersection with a tractor trailer, don't assume driver sees you- they are high & you are low & small- & if he/she makes a right you are going to get clipped as the tail end comes through.

So if one doesn't wish to read a post of this type, move on & refer to the statistics.

[LegendRider]

I have had more close calls with horse, boat, and utility trailers than the vehicles towing them or motor vehicles in general

It seems drivers forget that the trailers track INSIDE the line that the towing vehicle takes and lose track of spacing

No one will protect us but us

BK


Trailers frighten me. A top racer here in Atlanta was run over by a pick-up truck with trailer (local landscapers) while warming up for a race. He now races wheelchairs. Ugh.

[Louis]

He now races wheelchairs. Ugh.

He paid a very high price, but probably has a much better upper body now.

Top image = Before vs Bottom image = After

http://www.velovert.com/photos/news/mediums/135964606211.jpg

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01399/david_weir_1399152c.jpg

[rugbysecondrow]

I suspect that the cardiovascular health benefits of serious cycling significantly outweigh its risks. Sure there are other less risky ways to exercise but most quickly become tedious or damaging and are abandoned. Exercise with risk is likely safer than a protected sedentary lifestyle.


I think cycling vs. riding the couch is not really what most here are discussing.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oliver1850]

Not to put too fine a point on this, but why does this thread (which we can't influence the outcome of) have more responses than this one (which we can)?

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=172369

[Louis]

Not to put too fine a point on this, but why does this thread (which we can't influence the outcome of) have more responses than this one (which we can)?

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=172369

But there are lots of threads on the forum, some of which are quite frivolous, that have many more responses than this one.

[bikinchris]

This is clearly a terrible thing. Its awful when someone dies. Period.

I don't want to come across as crass, but I'm not loving the new thread everytime someone dies on a bike. Sure, people should recognize the risks of riding a bike, but piling on the anecdotes is not helping anyone assess the risks of their behavior. It creates an emotional response that is often illogical. According to this (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/how-safe-is-cycling-its-hard-to-say/?_r=0)article, cycling deaths come in around .26 to .35 per 100,000. Driving is over 10 per 100,000. (http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalityfacts/state-by-state-overview). So if you want to be safe, hang up your keys and get on your bike.
Both drive and ride like your life depends on it. getting cycling lessons from a book is not very efficient. Do you study Karate from a book? Take a Traffic Skills 101 course from a League Cycling Instructor. It will lower your chance of a crash by orders of magnitude.

Obviously, each person needs to assess their own risk tolerance. But if you are giving up road biking to drive more, you've created a false sense of security. I for one would encourage people not to feed the fire by posting everytime a stranger on a bike gets hit.

I'd never give up road riding. I f'ing love it, like I've never loved an activity. Viva la bike!

If we put up a new thread every time 10 more people died in a car crash, there would be no other threads on the front page. Understand that every time you enter the roadway, you are doing the most dangerous thing you are likely to ever do unless you become a special forces soldier. Car or bike, they are both incredibly dangerous.

[oldpotatoe]

This is clearly a terrible thing. Its awful when someone dies. Period.

I don't want to come across as crass, but I'm not loving the new thread everytime someone dies on a bike. Sure, people should recognize the risks of riding a bike, but piling on the anecdotes is not helping anyone assess the risks of their behavior. It creates an emotional response that is often illogical. According to this (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/how-safe-is-cycling-its-hard-to-say/?_r=0)article, cycling deaths come in around .26 to .35 per 100,000. Driving is over 10 per 100,000. (http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalityfacts/state-by-state-overview). So if you want to be safe, hang up your keys and get on your bike.

Obviously, each person needs to assess their own risk tolerance. But if you are giving up road biking to drive more, you've created a false sense of security. I for one would encourage people not to feed the fire by posting everytime a stranger on a bike gets hit.

I'd never give up road riding. I f'ing love it, like I've never loved an activity. Viva la bike!

Agree. It's about riding defensively. I don't get on 2 lanes roads during the week(semi's), I generally don't ride on roads w/o a shoulder. I don't stop next to a vehicle at a light, in case they turn right. I slow way down when turning left and if I gotta, go the cross walk to cross rather than turn in front of a car.

Flying is the same. WAY safer than driving but lose an aircraft, and you will see it on the news for days.

BTW-I have been hit from behind while riding by a Dodge Dakota..lady fell asleep, at 10:30 on a Saturday MORNING. But I ride the road, only.

[Bruce K]

The good news is that police have found the driver and the truck - out of the state.

Investigation is on-going.

BK

[numbskull]

I think cycling vs. riding the couch is not really what most here are discussing.


Nor are we discussing why head injuries are a good reason not to play rugby.

My point is that people make bad health decisions based on short sighted risk assessment all the time.

It is very hard for most people to maintain an exercise habit over decades.
If cycling achieves that for you then giving it up because of fear of accident is probably a bad decision unless you are certain you can replace it with an alternate form of exercise that you are likely to maintain long term. My experience is that most people can't or don't.

As for switching to mountain biking, are you sure the absolute risk of serious injury or death is less or is it just that breaking your neck is easier to accept if it is your own fault?

[Grant McLean]

I suspect that the cardiovascular health benefits of serious cycling significantly outweigh its risks. Sure there are other less risky ways to exercise but most quickly become tedious or damaging and are abandoned. Exercise with risk is likely safer than a protected sedentary lifestyle.

Exactly. The health benefits outweigh risks by 20 to 1.
Cyclists live longer lives, higher quality of life, less stress, etc.

It's an unfortunate unintended consequence of the safety advocates
work that has made some fearful of cycling. Fear is a major barrier
that prevents participation. Read Dave Horton on this topic, he has
written some excellent articles on the way the fear of cycling has been
socially constructed.

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/09/fear-of-cycling-01-essay-in-five-parts.html

[93legendti]

I've morphed most of my riding into daytime solo rides, sometimes with the fat tire or cx bike, rather than group evening rides. 95% of the impetus is the huge amount of large, deep potholes which are a danger I prefer to navigate without relying upon group riders in front of me who may or may not point them out in time. Our pot holes make Sarajevo look like Beverly Hills.

The secondary benefit is I can choose low speed, low traffic subs. I like getting home to play with my kids and be with my wife. Ymmv.

[fuzzalow]

City riding is a completely different game than "normal" road biking. What happened here with this woman rider is a terrible happenstance but is also a known danger to riders, especially as it involved a semi.

Semis are particularly tough and extremely dangerous because they always present the risk to a cyclist in being "vectored off" by the vehicle should a cyclist be traveling alongside the vehicle. That vehicle changes lanes or even drifts in the lane and the gap narrows into a wedge as the trailer squeezes the gap in following its cab. This can be extremely dangerous because the rider also runs the risk of being pulled under the rear wheels if in being squeezed and running out of roadway he elects the tiniest amount of free road space under the middle of the trailer - vectored off in this way positions the rider to be run over by the rear trucks of the vehicle. The right move is to anticipate the danger and avoid completely. Or if being vectored off hit the brakes immediately and let the semi go on ahead - do not hesitate. Life & death is a game of inches and milliseconds because if you ride 2 more feet into the narrowing part of the wedge you will risk getting pulled under.

Similar to being taken out by the vehicle if you might be positioned along the inside radius of the vehicle when it attempts to complete a 90 degree turn. The length of the vehicle requires the cab to sweep wide but the middle part of the trailer will cut dangerously across the apex of the turn and a stationary rider could be caught out. The right move is not to be in the apex space of the turn if there are semis in the traffic picture.

High risk areas require a reset as to the scope of the threat scenario you have to be mindful of as you pull up to a stop - it must be much wider in scope to account for a broader cross section of threats encountered in that space. Your alert status can return to normal when you have crossed safely and are back to a more normal traffic flow.

I ride a Brompton a lot in Manhattan traffic. Any truck with a high clearance in free space in front of the rear wheels is to be given full consideration. Manhattan is tough but it is finite for risk variables and also predictable to some degree. You must know what you are up against - not just Manhattan but anywhere! To stay alive you must anticipate which is a different style of riding than riding to react. Out on a country road you can ride by reacting because in that environment it is not neccesay to be on constant high-alert because the traffic density doesn't present as many threats.

Be careful out there.

[rugbysecondrow]

Nor are we discussing why head injuries are a good reason not to play rugby.

My point is that people make bad health decisions based on short sighted risk assessment all the time.

It is very hard for most people to maintain an exercise habit over decades.
If cycling achieves that for you then giving it up because of fear of accident is probably a bad decision unless you are certain you can replace it with an alternate form of exercise that you are likely to maintain long term. My experience is that most people can't or don't.

As for switching to mountain biking, are you sure the absolute risk of serious injury or death is less or is it just that breaking your neck is easier to accept if it is your own fault?

Yes, breaking my neck is easier to accept if it is my own fault.

I don't trust other drivers that much. I find it more and more stressful to ride on the road, wondering if the car coming up behind me sees me, is texting or otherwise not alert. Is the women pull up to the light going to roll through and hit me. Has somebody been day drinking while watching college football? That is less fun then it used to be. When I first started riding, many didn't have smart phones, texting was newish. The game has changed some. Quantitatively, the data might not be there, but there is enough qualitative information to impact my decision making.

I lived near Baltimore when Tom Palermo got struck by the Bishop. Wife, kids, family, friends...is this hobby worth risking death? The incidents are much more catostrphic than others. Unprotected bike vs. 3,000 lbs car traveling at 45 MPH. No small accidents if ···· goes sideways. Not a game I want to play much anymore.

The health benefits argument doesn't impact me as I was never just a one trick pony. I exercised before, I will exercise after. Riding my bike is part of a pattern of recreating and fitness, not the sole means by which I gain fitness.

This morning I rode my bike 6 miles (5.5 of which on MUT) to the Crossfit gym. Worked out with friends, lifted weights, did some running and burpees, then rode my bike 6 miles home. Biking is a great warm up and cool down activity, especially on a pleasant North Carolina morning when it was only 73 degrees in August.

I could still get hit on the roadi traverse, I could get attacked by a wheel spoke seeking squirrel, I could get rear ended by a MUTriathlete, but I am happy with my decisions thus far.

Some of you all might not like many other activities and riding is your life, your sole outlet, the way you manage stress and add fitness and recreating to your life. You will obviously view riding as from a different perspective.

[shovelhd]

The good news is that police have found the driver and the truck - out of the state.

Investigation is on-going.

BK

I walked by a newsstand today in Maine and noticed that this story was on the front page of the Globe, above the fold.

[etu]

Exactly. The health benefits outweigh risks by 20 to 1.
Cyclists live longer lives, higher quality of life, less stress, etc.


I don't know how they measured quality of life, but I think we can appreciate those moments of sublime happiness that we experienced thanks to this wonderful sport - memories that last a lifetime. Cycling not merely an exercise! It's hard to calculate this value in the risk vs benefit equation, but we give up a lot more than a means to physical fitness when we give up cycing.

[numbskull]

If I heard the news right last pm, this woman was a 38 yo endocrinologist from abroad in Boston to do research. They also mentioned she was an experienced cyclist.

[buddybikes]

From Switzerland where somewhat normal city streets for cycling. Real loss, endocrynologist surgeon/researcher. Probably a normal day her commuting from Cambridge to boston on a beautiful summer morning.