Head-on bike collision on Denver’s Cherry Creek Trail

[fiamme red]

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/06/2...ek-bike-crash/

A bicyclist is in critical condition and riders across Denver are talking about safety on the Cherry Creek Trail after a high-speed, head-on crash there Tuesday night.

Multiple witnesses said a young woman cyclist crossed the dividing line of the two-way cycling trail, putting her in the path of an oncoming male cyclist at full speed. The man was William Latimer, 55, of Westminster, according to his brother.

The collision was so severe, Latimer had no pulse and wasn’t breathing after the crash, according to a physician assistant who had been riding on the trail and stopped. Latimer regained his pulse and resumed breathing but remained unconscious after CPR was performed by the physician assistant, who declined to be identified, and another civilian...

I see this a lot in NYC (mostly on the Manhattan Bridge path and West Side Greenway): cyclists going into the opposite lane to overtake slower riders, without waiting to make sure that it's safe to pass.

[Clean39T]

MUTs are MULTIPLE USE TRAILS - not training grounds..

I see this all the time on the Springwater Corridor in Portland. Combine kids on bikes with walkers, families, runners, jogging clubs, homeless stumblers, roller-bladers, triathletes, segment seekers, variable path widths and surface irregularities, and cycling teams trying to do rotating pacelines and you've got a recipe for disaster.

I still use the trail, but I'm heads up, and watching for the inevitable at all times.

[Jaybee]

This is awful.

That path, and vritually every other mup in Denver (cept maybe the c470 bikeway) are too narrow and too crowded to exceed the 15mph speed limit. At peak times, even 15 is too much to weave around the dog walkers and stroller parents.

If youre going to hammer, get on the roads with the other vehicles.

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

I see this a lot in NYC (mostly on the Manhattan Bridge path and West Side Greenway): cyclists going into the opposite lane to overtake slower riders, without waiting to make sure that it's safe to pass.

I have to say I was guilty of this once and have since learned my lesson.

Was at the Upper West Side area of the shared bike/pedestrian path directly next to the Boat Basin Cafe. Group of 4 pedestrians were walking directly in the middle portion of the path which is marked for cyclists, and two much slower cyclists weaved around the pedestrians to try to overpass. I tried to go even further around the cyclists and pedestrians and before I knew it was looking headfirst at two cyclists going in the exact opposite direction. Grabbed ALL the brakes, flipped ass over tea kettle, and my bike flew out so hard that it hit another cyclist in the helmet.

Now know to go at MOST 15mph on the shared portions of the path, if not slower, and NEVER pass on the left unless I can see a 5 second gap in front of me.

[dbh]

I just took my wife and kids on a very slow and leisurely toodle on the cape cod rail trail. I was towing a trailer and my daughter was on her 16 inch kids bike. I couldn't believe the number of kitted pathletes blowing thru on the trail at speed. I was even lectured by a couple of roadies for not pulling over far enough into the brush on the side of the trail when I had to stop to adjust my kids harness. Total assholes. No wonder we cyclyists get such a bad rap.

[KJMUNC]

Sucks to hear that someone almost died because of this. I see this all the time on the Strand in the South Bay of LA and it drives me crazy.....the speed limit is 15mph and people ride at high speeds all the time amidst beach cruisers, kids, etc.

These paths aren't built for cyclists to go train at race pace....they're made for everyone to enjoy and ride. I get that people want to ride on them because they don't have to battle cars, but if you want to ride at speed, go ride on the roads where you're not massively exceeding speed limits and putting other people at risk.

When I head north to Malibu I can either ride on the trails or ride on the roads....most times I choose roads as I can ride at pace. Yeah there's risk of cars, but I'm not going to be the a-hole riding 20mph+ on a MUT.

[unterhausen]

I seem to recall a similar incident earlier this year that resulted in a fatality

[ultraman6970]

You want to train in trail you have to do it like at 5am... 9am is way too late already. I see it here... or go super late at nights.

The problem I see is just common sense from the riders and even walkers.

For example here there's several areas where you can rest and you can read the rules of the trail, for safety they say, the problem is that some riders and walkers follow the rules to the T and that's when bad things happen, because they forgot put the last rule in the list "PLEASE USE COMMON SENSE!"...

Guys trying to ride the bike with the dog

Dog walkers with the dogs at their left hand.

Dog walker at the right side of the trail and dog at the left track of the trail with the leash crossing from one side to another. GENIUSES!

Dads/moms with their kids in a bike but let the kid to next to them but at the left side. U can hit one of those kids if the kid does the wrong move.

Old lady walking that suddenly turns around and cross to the other side because is time to return?? w/o looking before turning around... last week saw two of those...

The guy in the bike or walking listening music, no matter what you scream at them they cant hear jack.

Relatively old dude that wants to show up his skills, or... "im better than you" and those go full gas and with poor riding skills as well... seen a couple of those crashes already.

Idiot that can't handle the bike at all and thinks with his butt... seen those off the road and crashing poles and people more than once already.

2 lady friends that took over both sides of the road while talking about their last love conquest... once stayed behind two like for 30 minutes, they noticed I was there because i had to sneeze. THe story was pretty good.

So what happened in this case? who knows, chick was not paying attention? who knows, people just does dumb S...T all the time and looks like this chick f... it up. She got lucky the man is not dead, happy for that to be honest. I bet she was listening music or at the phone and did not pay attention. Cant blame the guy that was going faster, specially if he was at his side of the road. Good somebody with cpr training was there....

[ibis]

I commute across the Golden Gate Bride almost daily and have seen a few accidents and more than a few close calls in the afternoon when the tourist numbers are high. I can't fathom why some locals get so pissed...like they've never stopped in a foreign country to admire the view or take a photo only to have inadvertently been in the way of some local. Crowds come with living in a tourist destination.

Electric bikes have only increased the risk. Those whom have little cycling courtesy (because their first introduction to cycling is via a battery) will just try to bolt right in front of someone, or make a dangerous pass, because they cannot calculate oncoming traffic or read how comfortable that oncoming traffic is on the bike.

[beeatnik]

https://www.strava.com/segments/966218

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by beeatnik

https://www.strava.com/segments/966218

27mph over 11.4k

[jtbadge]

Originally Posted by beeatnik

https://www.strava.com/segments/966218

Good luck to Gaimon on that KOM with all the damn construction.

[beeatnik]

https://www.strava.com/segments/1153021

Local shop had a T/Th evening ride to the Queen Mary in Long Beach from an industrial suburb (ya, I know) east of Downtown LA. A quarter of the ride was on surface streets and the rest on the LA River Trail (mainly on the segment above). The group averaged about 15 riders and they would attempt to maintain a pace of 25mph but generally averaged about 22 (headwind!). Ride disbanded after the ride leader and bike shop owner veered left in the middle of the paceline. He didn't see a rider coming from the opposite direction. Collision and 2 weeks in the hospital, one week in coma. Short story long, the LA River Trail is essentially abandoned evenings and you'll see more pedestrians and stray dogs than cyclists. Pacelines are so weird.

[seanile]

Originally Posted by dbh

I just took my wife and kids on a very slow and leisurely toodle on the cape cod rail trail. I was towing a trailer and my daughter was on her 16 inch kids bike. I couldn't believe the number of kitted pathletes blowing thru on the trail at speed. I was even lectured by a couple of roadies for not pulling over far enough into the brush on the side of the trail when I had to stop to adjust my kids harness. Total assholes. No wonder we cyclyists get such a bad rap.

if this was this past weekend, you were graced by the MS Ride: Cape Cod Getaway.

Originally Posted by unterhausen

I seem to recall a similar incident earlier this year that resulted in a fatality

it was in boston on the minuteman, i was riding by the scene after the cops had blocked it off and ambulances were being loaded.

[Bradford]

I ride this part of the path in and out of work on my commute and was on it yesterday. It is almost always a crazy mix of cyclists, people cruising on flat bar bikes, scooters, one wheels, and homeless people. You have to be an idiot or selfish jerk to ride this at full speed, which I see most days.

I don't ride faster than 15 MPH on this section and never pass unless there is a clear lane ahead. Unfortunately, it is a rare day that I'm not passed by some bike path Olympian who thinks mid 20's is a safe speed in a crowd. I'm always amazed at how people can't slow down and sit in until there is a clear section for a pass. I ride with my head up and left elbow ready to pop up and put someone down if they are about to ride into to me, and close calls aren't rare. The ride is fine once I clear the park and pass the bridge to REI, but the Cherry Creek Trail is almost always a mess.

I'm not surprised about this, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more. If you ride in Denver, just slow down and be safe when riding in a crowd, there are plenty of places to ride hard and get your work in, just not there.