Safety near trucks at intersections.

overbyte

This week, two severe bicycle accidents involving large trucks occurred at the same intersection near my home, in Santa Cruz, California. Here's the news story about the second one, which resulted in death of the bicyclist at the scene:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ar...ies/01local.htm

This intersection is not large -- Mission Street is a 4 lane (2 each way) main artery through that part of Santa Cruz. Bay Street is a 2 lane street that goes through a residential neighborhood up to U.C. Santa Cruz campus. In both cases, the cyclists were hit by the rear wheels of a truck along side of them as it was making a turn. Moral of the story -- assume the worst and stay clear of the blind areas at the sides of large trucks, especially at intersections where they can't see you well because you're under their line of sight in the side mirrors. Let the truck make his move and you follow after it's clear where he's going. Maybe we should all ride with flags, not just the low-rider recumbents, but even then, the driver may not be as alert as he should be, and therefore you must be. Even with these precautions, you can still be hit by the big rig rear wheels making a turn in front of you even while you're just standing still at the intersection, as the young woman involved in the first accident apparently was. Sometimes those trucks making tight turns in narrow streets will run their rear up over the curb onto the sidewalk, so treat that zone as a high danger area to avoid when next to a truck.

I try to stay away from that intersection and use this heavily traveled main street as little as possible, and when I must use a segment of it because there's no alternate parallel route, I ride slowly on the sidewalk even though it's against the law. My thinking is that it's better to be safe and have to talk your way out of a traffic citation on the grounds that the city is negligent by not providing adequate width of bike lanes in these dangerous areas, so they should relax the sidewalk rules where safety requires it. That intersection is heavily traveled and narrow, but it's not unique -- there are many intersections like this one, although this is the first time I've heard of such bad accidents in such a short period of time anywhere in the city. In California, probably as elsewhere, the vehicle code says that bicycles have all the rights of motor vehicles in the use of traffic lanes, but that's no help to these two accident victims.

alfeng

Unfortunate accidents.

But, think about it ... when the truck is already at the intersection, the cyclist is violating the "rules of the road" by coming up alongside the other vehicle ... ANY other vehicle.

Stay behind large trucks, "regular" sized pickup trucks, cars, etc. at intersections ...

buckybux

At intersections, I force/take the full lane and treat myself like a vehicle. I have had too many situations where a car past me, only to then take a right turn, not giving me enough space. I especially stay behind trucks, because they can not see, and they are not looking for a cyclist. Bike lanes at intersections create the same problem and I don't use them in that situation either.

aubinmg

Ditto for me.