A Bike is not a Car

I learned how to ride a bike many years ago. It was so fun sailing down the street with the wind blowing through my hair. Then the asthma kicked in and made me go home -- but still, for a few moments, it was fun.

One thing that was stressed a lot when I was young was bicycle safety. I mean, seriously, a bike is not a car, and a collision between the two has pretty predictable results. One of the most important rules I was taught was that you NEVER ride a bike through an intersection -- crosswalk or not. The reason is pretty simple: a bike is small and moves faster than a pedestrian. A person driving a car through an intersection is not expecting a bike to come flying off the sidewalk into his/her path.

Last weekend, a bicyclist in Tempe rode his bike in a crosswalk through an intersection. He was hit by a car, and recently died from his injuries. The case received a lot of attention because the person who hit the cyclist did not remain at the scene (in itself a felony) and the cyclist died.

However, in all the coverage of this accident, not once has it been mentioned that -- yes, all these years since it was taught to me -- it is still illegal in Arizona to ride a bicycle through an intersection. Most bicycle safety manuals suggest walking a bike through a crosswalk; but it is the law in Arizona. If the cyclist in this case had been walking his bike it is less likely he would have been hit (slower speed, more likely to have been seen). It is no guarantee against being hit, but it is safer.

You can see surveillance video of the incident in the two links below (the actual moment of impact is not shown). However, in each you can clearly see the bicyclist entering the crosswalk intersection very fast. Add to that the fact that it was late at night and you can easily see how the accident occurred.

This is no way excuses the driver who left the scene. The irony is, had he stopped, he would most likely have been cleared of any fault because the cyclist was not walking his bike. Now, his life if probably ruined because he fled the scene.

A news report of the accident will be found here.

A follow-up story after an arrest was made is here.