One of the top hazards an urban bicyclist has to contend with is having a car turn right in front of the bicyclist's direction of travel. This type of accident happens often and occurs even when the bicyclist is riding in a designated bike lane and would seem to be easily visible by the car driver who often had just passed the cyclist. It can even happen at an intersection when the cyclist is proceeding straight next to a marked crosswalk and ample time for the vehicle driver to see the cyclist.
In the fall of 2022, I was hit by a car while bike commuting and had multiple injuries. I was initially reluctant to work with a personal injury lawyer but thankfully I reached out to Michael Colbach. -->More
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Sometimes a bicyclist may lose control of the bicycle, or it may necessitate the bicyclist needing to force a fall to prevent contact with the vehicle .
Mike and his team were wonderful to work with as I navigated the unfortunate situation of being hit by a car on my bike. -->More
Kristi Runderg Drivers do this type of accident scenario cutting off a pedestrian's right of way as well, even in marked crosswalks, which some experts say may be because the driver is focused on looking to the left in order to make their right hand turn that drivers do not scan the sidewalk nor sides of roads for cyclists and pedestrians.
At intersections, the odds that a crash that killed a crossing pedestrian involved a left turn by the vehicle versus no turn were about twice as high for SUVs, nearly 3 times as high for vans and minivans and nearly 4 times as high for pickups as they were for cars.
The odds that a crash that killed a crossing pedestrian involved a right turn by the vehicle were also 89 percent higher for pickups and 63 percent higher for SUVs than for cars.
They had the drivers make right turns on a small course of well chosen roads both with controlled lighted intersection and without, near a bike lane, and also near a protected bike lane.
What did surprise lead author Birsen Donmez, who studies human behavior and transportation, was that more than half of her 19 participants were guilty of such attention failures. And these were drivers between 35 and 54 years old—the ones who, according to insurance companies, represent the lowest crash-risk age group. [...]
Overall, 11 out of the 19 drivers failed at one turn or another—five failed at both turns—and all were related to not diligently checking for cyclists. (Donmez suspects that might be in part because pedestrians tend to move slower and are therefore, in the drivers' view longer than cyclists.)
Science Tackles the 'Right Hook,' Biking's Most-Feared Crash
Many cities including Portland, Oregon, have put side guards on city trucks (city fleets that is, not requiring them yet on commercial or privately owned trucks) because of the extreme danger this type of accident poses to cyclists and pedestrians, as well as motorcyclists and even small cars.
Truck side guards are vehicle-based safety devices designed to keep pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists from being run over by a large truck's rear wheels in a side-impact collision.
Volpe is advancing this technology's adoption in the United States by conducting research and partnering with public- and private-sector fleets to help deploy side guards and other technologies that address the deadliest road crashes: those between large trucks and pedestrians or bicyclists.
While large trucks comprise 4 percent of registered vehicles, large trucks are involved in 10 percent of pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities.
In 2016, these fatalities rose to 468, the highest since 1990. [...] Based on studies conducted in the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, and the Netherlands, side guards are an effective technology for reducing the number of vulnerable road user fatalities and the severity of injuries, especially for bicyclists.
The above and below images illustrate Truck Side Guards.
