Comment by netinstructions | Hacker News Reader

Comment by netinstructions | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

netinstructions

Makes me think of a recent incident in Seattle where an aggressive driver in a large truck sped up and passed intentionally close to a bicyclist to intimidate them (incredibly, incredibly dangerous). This happens frequently enough as any cyclist can attest, but it was special because it was caught on camera and shared with the police. The cyclist tried to report it as attempted murder (and even the former mayor of Seattle described it as such), but the police department said, "This looks like an inconsiderate/unsafe pass. An officer would typically need to witness a violation in-progress to be able to stop the driver & confirm their ID to issue a citation." Nevermind that there was clear video of the whole thing.

About a month later a car hits and kills a cyclist and runs away. Who knows, maybe the driver was trying to do a non-prosecutable "inconsiderate/unsafe pass" that got a little too close.

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/10/12/25468300/this-vi... https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/bic...

In 2003 a work colleague and I were crossing 5th ave in Seattle headed to lunch. While legally crossing, multiple cars ran the red light, collided with each other, then struck her. It was truly a miracle that she lived; frankly her being significantly overweight was likely the only reason she was saved. I was very lucky to jump back out of the way and avoided being struck.

That same year, there were two other car-pedestrian accidents at that same intersection with at least one involving the fatality of a German tourist.

When I was called by the Seattle Police Department as a witness to the accident, they did everything they could to tell me that we had been jaywalking, rather than recognizing that no, multiple cars had in fact been speeding trying to make it through the already red light. Fuck the police.

In reality, I'd say that my co-worker's life changed for the better. She lost a lot of weight, took up new activities, moved to the Bay Area, and had a new outlook.

For me, having seen all of it in moving detail, I guaranteed it resulted in undiagnosed PTSD.

Cars run red lights all over in downtown Seattle. Probably every other day I see a near-miss that if pedestrians were simply following their WALK sign and not being extra cautious they'd have gotten run down.

The most frustrating is when cars run red/yellow lights and then block the intersection so other traffic can't proceed on their greens. (Annoying when you see your bus coming but it can't get through an intersection because cars are blocking it). And the police don't care. There will literally be a police officer helping direct traffic out of a garage just feet away from vehicles that ran red lights and are now blocking intersections or trying to drive through a crosswalk as pedestrians are using it.

But boy are they eager to issue jaywalking tickets to pedestrians.

In 2005 I was in Seattle watching a couple with a small child receive a citation for jaywalking because they were still in the road after the red hand stopped blinking. While the officer was writing the citation I saw the lights change and three cars ran the red, then at the beginning of the next cycle a car jumped the green to make a left before oncoming traffic. The officer didn't even look up.

Almost got hit in downtown Mountain View of all places over the summer when a car ran a red and we had entered the crosswalk after the pedestrian signal turned to walk.

It's insane that a driver would try to run a red in an area teeming with pedestrians in the middle of the day.

When we were kids, my brother got chastised by the police for getting hit by a car while riding his bike 'dangerously' along the non-stopping direction at a 2-way stop.

It's a pretty good way to impress upon a kid that the police are operating on some other end than simply enforcing the law.

While cyclists have the right to use the road and I don't want to see anyone hurt, I don't understand the apparent lack of sense of self-preservation it takes to cycle on a busy road. Bottom line, if a cyclist becomes entangled with a 4,000+ pound vehicle, it doesn't matter who's at fault: the cyclist loses.

I myself only cycle on low-traffic streets or dedicated bike paths.

Am grandparent poster. I also ride and race road bicycles and that means on busy public roads, too. We are aware of the bottom line, as you say. Cyclists will lose a fight with a car or even a motorcycle and there's no two ways about it.

But, while I dunno about other people, I'm not going to let risk prevent me from living my life. I'm going to ride my bike, consequences be damned! However, I probably have what most people consider an unhealthy tolerance for risk, so I'm not a particularly good person to sample.

That used to be me, however, if you go fast enough with a bike, those low-traffic streets (likely more turns/intersections) or bike paths slow you down considerably. There is a happy medium (big enough road either with separated or minimal traffic), but not always available.

Honestly, I simply can't wait for AI to dominate driving and remove increasingly distracted humans from the loop.

This is why when I need to enter a lane of traffic on my bike, I make sure I'm right in the middle of it. I'd rather stay to one side so cars (or other two-wheeled commuters) don't have to fully change lanes to get around me, but I've had plenty of experiences like the one in the video and I've decided that it's better to be safe than sorry.

In Orange County, on average one person a week dies from getting hit as a cyclist. Knowing that, it's the true road warriors who risk riding on the main roads. I use the beach boardwalk which is pedestrian only and it goes 30 miles roundtrip. That's plenty.

What that driver did should be treated the same as pointing a gun at someone's head. It's a threat of death.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com