Earlier this month, a Yellow Hummer H2 struck and seriously injured a pedalcyclist. The full story is here:
The pedalcyclists have an ironic spin on the incident. They claim that the Hummer driver "ignored a stop sign" and struck the pedalcyclist. Odd - the newspaper report does not mention that the H2 driver ran a stop sign. Sloppy journalism? Perhaps...
Here's a photograph of the intersection, looking to the northeast:
Notice the 4-way stop. This means that the pedalcyclist, who was riding from right to left in the picture, would also have had a stop sign. It's difficult to imagine a scenario where a pedalcyclist, starting from a complete stop, could fail to see a "Safety Yellow" Hummer coming down the cross street in broad daylight; if she had been stopped, she would have been moving slowly and it would have been easy for her to stop before moving into the path of the oncoming truck. OTOH, if the pedalcyclist ignored her own stop sign, and rode right out in front of an oncoming vehicle, then whose fault is that?
Oh, but a pedalcyclist would NEVER ignore a stop sign. Right?
Note that there is no excuse for the H2 driver's failure to stop. I just find it fascinating the way the pedalcyclists automatically blame the vehicle driver for ignoring a stop sign, something they do as a matter of course. A little projection, perhaps? It's also fascinating how Tommy Nevin's Pub is a more recognizable landmark among pedalcyclists than the 12-story Best Western motel sitting on the opposite corner. ;)
Here's the press release:
-- President of the Geoff Gbutt Fan Club
