Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on July 5, 2012 at 6:39am

In our work with media, we work to educate them about crash (not accident, please) reporting. The culture of police and crash reporting is challenging to say the least. We've taken the opportunity to discuss this with editorial boards, editors, reporters, producers, etc.

Letters to editors and emails to reporters and producers can help make a difference in changing this culture. 

In almost all cases, we believe crashes are preventable. It's so sad to hear about when people are killed when it could have been prevented.

Ethan Spotts, Active Trans

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 5, 2012 at 7:43am

Thanks for all your tireless work on this.  I'm a firm believer that the culture of police and crash reporting is much more likely to change if they hear from more of US that the way they're doing it is biased and perpetuates misunderstandings about bike-related traffic laws.  If we say nothing, they're more likely to think it's okay to keep on doing things the same old way.

Active Transportation Alliance said:

In our work with media, we work to educate them about crash (not accident, please) reporting. The culture of police and crash reporting is challenging to say the least. We've taken the opportunity to discuss this with editorial boards, editors, reporters, producers, etc.

Letters to editors and emails to reporters and producers can help make a difference in changing this culture. 

In almost all cases, we believe crashes are preventable. It's so sad to hear about when people are killed when it could have been prevented.

Ethan Spotts, Active Trans

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on July 5, 2012 at 10:29am

Someone who claimed to witness the crash commented on Grid Chicago, saying:

"I witnessed this crash and I am so sad for the man and his family. It was absolutely horrible! The accident actually happened slightly further west than on the map above. It was just west of the intersection with Le Mai and was approximately in front of the library sign/snow route sign on the street view above. I was walking with my family on the opposite side of the street on Hiawatha. I didn't see the entire imact, but I heard the screech and bang (it was very loud) and I saw the man as he was thrown into the air. The car was travelling in the right lane and the accident happend on the left (drivers side of the car.) I have already spoken to the police, and they have my name and number."

Mike Keating said:

What would be most interesting is whether there are any unbiased, independent witnesses. Otherwise, it would just be the word of the motorist as obviously the bicyclist cannot speak for himself.

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Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on July 5, 2012 at 2:04pm

No, I'm referring to the first paragraph where they state he was riding in the street.

h' said:

I think you're referring to "riding in the middle of the street," and of course I received it the same way, as in "can you believe this guy was riding a bicycle right out in the middle of the damn street?!?!?"; but this horribly written entry is not the only news posting about this incident and what the idiot writer was trying to explain was that the cyclist was reportedly riding on the median, and then tried to merge into the traffic lane but apparently merged into the side of the SUV instead. 

Which seemed plausible to me until I saw a street view grab on some site while searching, and now I can't reconcile the "riding on the median" thing with there being a grade-separated and planted median.

notoriousDUG said:

The most upsetting part of that article to me is that the way parts of it are worded they make it seem like the cyclist should not even have been in the street.

In the first paragraph they make the statement 'while riding in the street.'  Of course he was in the street, that is where you ride a bicycle... Making note of it makes it sound like he should not have been there.

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Permalink Reply by David Barish on July 7, 2012 at 2:39pm

I found the story and comments on the Grid interesting, frankly much more so than the reactionary "The Newspapers are biased against cyclists" stream herre.  We really don't know what happened and I frankly find the quick judgements, well offputting. The report mentions he was on the street. Yes, he was. The report infers that he was on the left. It appears that is true to.  These are things we have all done and there is nothing wrong with them and I really don't see any inference that this was wrong.   The Police allege that the poor man swerved into the SUV. If so, that's not good but we are not sure that happened.  That's all we have.  We know that this is not a great location for cycling. I never ride Devon but have met a group at 8 am on a few Saturdays that has biked a short distance right where this accident happened. There is minimal traffic at that time and its a much easier time to ride.  We know it wsa brutally hot and the genetleman was not young.  We know he was on the left but its unclear exactly what he was doing. He was a local. Was he preparing to make a left turn?  The median is grassy but opens at cross streets.  I looked at legacy.com and Mr. Van Pelt was a beloved former Boy Scout leader and he died tragically.  We really don't know who was at fault at this time and speculation is well, kind of silly. 
 
Steven Vance said:

Someone who claimed to witness the crash commented on Grid Chicago, saying:

"I witnessed this crash and I am so sad for the man and his family. It was absolutely horrible! The accident actually happened slightly further west than on the map above. It was just west of the intersection with Le Mai and was approximately in front of the library sign/snow route sign on the street view above. I was walking with my family on the opposite side of the street on Hiawatha. I didn't see the entire imact, but I heard the screech and bang (it was very loud) and I saw the man as he was thrown into the air. The car was travelling in the right lane and the accident happend on the left (drivers side of the car.) I have already spoken to the police, and they have my name and number."

Mike Keating said:

What would be most interesting is whether there are any unbiased, independent witnesses. Otherwise, it would just be the word of the motorist as obviously the bicyclist cannot speak for himself.

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Permalink Reply by David Stone on July 7, 2012 at 4:56pm

I have to agree with Mr. Barash. This stream reads like bad HLN coverage that goes on and on with no new facts.  Was the cyclist in the middle of the street making a LEGAL left turn, only to be sideswiped by the SUV? Or did he make an ill-timed move from a median area - say after making a left onto the street - and run into the SUV? Westbound at noon rules out the sun being in anybody's eyes (although a national champion racer was once hit by a driver who claimed sun-blindness despite the obvious fact that it wasn't possible). And "due care" is great unless the bicyclist makes a sudden, unexpected movement. We can and should demand a full investigation, and that the driver be prosecuted if the facts lead there. And let's all remember that when it comes to colliding with cars it is quite possible to DEAD-to-rights. 

David Barish said:

I found the story and comments on the Grid interesting, frankly much more so than the reactionary "The Newspapers are biased against cyclists" stream herre.  We really don't know what happened and I frankly find the quick judgements, well offputting. The report mentions he was on the street. Yes, he was. The report infers that he was on the left. It appears that is true to.  These are things we have all done and there is nothing wrong with them and I really don't see any inference that this was wrong.   The Police allege that the poor man swerved into the SUV. If so, that's not good but we are not sure that happened.  That's all we have.  We know that this is not a great location for cycling. I never ride Devon but have met a group at 8 am on a few Saturdays that has biked a short distance right where this accident happened. There is minimal traffic at that time and its a much easier time to ride.  We know it wsa brutally hot and the genetleman was not young.  We know he was on the left but its unclear exactly what he was doing. He was a local. Was he preparing to make a left turn?  The median is grassy but opens at cross streets.  I looked at legacy.com and Mr. Van Pelt was a beloved former Boy Scout leader and he died tragically.  We really don't know who was at fault at this time and speculation is well, kind of silly. 
 
Steven Vance said:

Someone who claimed to witness the crash commented on Grid Chicago, saying:

"I witnessed this crash and I am so sad for the man and his family. It was absolutely horrible! The accident actually happened slightly further west than on the map above. It was just west of the intersection with Le Mai and was approximately in front of the library sign/snow route sign on the street view above. I was walking with my family on the opposite side of the street on Hiawatha. I didn't see the entire imact, but I heard the screech and bang (it was very loud) and I saw the man as he was thrown into the air. The car was travelling in the right lane and the accident happend on the left (drivers side of the car.) I have already spoken to the police, and they have my name and number."

Mike Keating said:

What would be most interesting is whether there are any unbiased, independent witnesses. Otherwise, it would just be the word of the motorist as obviously the bicyclist cannot speak for himself.

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Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on July 8, 2012 at 3:52am

This issue is with the wording; when you read the story it reads, at times, like him being in the street was a bad thing.

David Stone said:

I have to agree with Mr. Barash. This stream reads like bad HLN coverage that goes on and on with no new facts.  Was the cyclist in the middle of the street making a LEGAL left turn, only to be sideswiped by the SUV? Or did he make an ill-timed move from a median area - say after making a left onto the street - and run into the SUV? Westbound at noon rules out the sun being in anybody's eyes (although a national champion racer was once hit by a driver who claimed sun-blindness despite the obvious fact that it wasn't possible). And "due care" is great unless the bicyclist makes a sudden, unexpected movement. We can and should demand a full investigation, and that the driver be prosecuted if the facts lead there. And let's all remember that when it comes to colliding with cars it is quite possible to DEAD-to-rights. 

David Barish said:

I found the story and comments on the Grid interesting, frankly much more so than the reactionary "The Newspapers are biased against cyclists" stream herre.  We really don't know what happened and I frankly find the quick judgements, well offputting. The report mentions he was on the street. Yes, he was. The report infers that he was on the left. It appears that is true to.  These are things we have all done and there is nothing wrong with them and I really don't see any inference that this was wrong.   The Police allege that the poor man swerved into the SUV. If so, that's not good but we are not sure that happened.  That's all we have.  We know that this is not a great location for cycling. I never ride Devon but have met a group at 8 am on a few Saturdays that has biked a short distance right where this accident happened. There is minimal traffic at that time and its a much easier time to ride.  We know it wsa brutally hot and the genetleman was not young.  We know he was on the left but its unclear exactly what he was doing. He was a local. Was he preparing to make a left turn?  The median is grassy but opens at cross streets.  I looked at legacy.com and Mr. Van Pelt was a beloved former Boy Scout leader and he died tragically.  We really don't know who was at fault at this time and speculation is well, kind of silly. 
 
Steven Vance said:

Someone who claimed to witness the crash commented on Grid Chicago, saying:

"I witnessed this crash and I am so sad for the man and his family. It was absolutely horrible! The accident actually happened slightly further west than on the map above. It was just west of the intersection with Le Mai and was approximately in front of the library sign/snow route sign on the street view above. I was walking with my family on the opposite side of the street on Hiawatha. I didn't see the entire imact, but I heard the screech and bang (it was very loud) and I saw the man as he was thrown into the air. The car was travelling in the right lane and the accident happend on the left (drivers side of the car.) I have already spoken to the police, and they have my name and number."

Mike Keating said:

What would be most interesting is whether there are any unbiased, independent witnesses. Otherwise, it would just be the word of the motorist as obviously the bicyclist cannot speak for himself.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 8, 2012 at 9:40am

Sarcasm isn't funny in the context of someone getting killed.

Daniel G said:

Won't someone please think of the poor defenseless motorists?

When did all the newspapers get together and decide to be as right-wing reactionary as fucking possible about fatal car-cycle collisions? Another death, another round of righteous indignation on the part of our upstanding citizen drivers. It's their RIGHT to pay as little attention as required by law while operating heavy machinery at speed.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on July 9, 2012 at 5:53pm

There's now a memorial page for Mr. Vanpelt on LAB's Every Bicyclist Counts website.

I had not heard of this website until a friend emailed me the link today. 

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