Ouch

Article and video...cyclist hit by politician

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madison-Politician-Runs...

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on September 3, 2009 at 7:49am
WOW.
Permalink Reply by Jessica on September 3, 2009 at 10:03am
At least the politician straight up admitted fault...
Permalink Reply by igz on September 3, 2009 at 10:13am
that is what it sounds like. i hope its just understated.

Brian Kennedy said:
That's ugly to watch. I too like that the politician came clean. Did I read it right that the only penalty is that he ran the stop?

"Clark was given a ticket by police for the red light driving offence."

No biggie that he took out a cyclist?
Permalink Reply by Michael on September 3, 2009 at 10:25am
"the cyclist was hospitalized with non-life-threatening back injuries"

No comfort there. For all we know, the cyclist could be paralyzed from the neck down. Sure, he'll live, but how will the injuries affect the quality of his life? Hopefully the cyclist is OK.

The driver should face criminal charges.
Permalink Reply by joe on September 3, 2009 at 8:48pm
yeah. unless your drunk or on drugs or what ever your not goin to jail for hitting anyone, be it car or bike. im sure there will be a huge law suit that will take about 2 or 3 years to finish. my roommate is still dealing with that crap...payin huge bills from gettin flattend from an suv is pretty fuckin stupid. and by stupid i mean it sucks.
Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on September 4, 2009 at 2:58am
As far as his ticket goes remember that a bicycle is treated just like a vehicle on the road so I would bet money that he was issued a ticket for running the red light and there was an accident report filed for the collision; exactly the same as would have happened had he run a light and struck another car or a motorcycle.

At this point the whole thing becomes an insurance/civil court issue.

FWIW, and I know I may get it because this is a bike site but...

From the looks of the video the cyclist may have pulled what I consider to be a dangerous maneuver by passing the bus on the right and then entering an intersection basically blind to possible oncoming traffic. I know he had the green but I think we can all agree a red light, or stop sign, does not have the power to stop a car. Personally I try to avoid coming out from behind a buss or large truck into an intersection because it leaves me blind to potential red light runners or people blowing stop signs.
Permalink Reply by igz on September 4, 2009 at 6:10am
you make a very valid point, DUG. The dude was not taking certain precautions when crossing the intersections. No, he was not at fault in any way whatsoever, but he should have taken a moment's glance to see if its safe to go. i cant tell in the video if the light 'just' turned or not, but im guessing it did since its when the bus started moving.

any and all variables to the incident aside, the cyclist should have been a bit smarter, using his 5th eye, bikey-sense, knowing a car may be coming as the light just turned, and should have avoided being in such a blind spot shooting across that intersection. YES, the politician is at fault, but this could have been prevented.

moral of the story...just watch out, know that as a bicyclist, you are inferior on the road so you need to take precautions as a defensive rider
Permalink Reply by Michael on September 4, 2009 at 9:25am
Yes, cyclists should ride defensively, but let's not blame the victim. Plenty of that in the newspaper comments section, already. Operating several thousand pounds of machinery at high speeds in public spaces should carry with it a greater degree of accountability than is currently expected in our society.
Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on September 4, 2009 at 1:51pm
Not blaming the cyclist in the slightest just pointing out that there are actions that can make you more susceptible to other peoples stupid mistakes.

Michael said:
Yes, cyclists should ride defensively, but let's not blame the victim. Plenty of that in the newspaper comments section, already. Operating several thousand pounds of machinery at high speeds in public spaces should carry with it a greater degree of accountability than is currently expected in our society.
Permalink Reply by 8vPete on September 5, 2009 at 9:04am
Makes me cringe... another reason why I always wear a helmet. A helmet wouldn't protect me from getting paralyzed, but would prevent other terrible injuries.

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