Woman on bicycle struck by dump truck in Downtown Seattle
SEATTLE (AP) - A woman riding a bicycle was hit by a dump truck and dragged at a downtown Seattle intersection.
Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore says the 25-year-old woman was wearing a helmet. She was in pain but able to talk to medics who took her to Harborview Medical Center.
The driver remained at the scene for police.
The accident about 9 a.m. Thursday was similar to a Nov. 13 accident that sent a 50-year-old bicyclist to the hospital with critical injuries. Both involved double-dump trucks. The driver in the Nov. 13 accident left the scene and may not have known the bike hit the back part of the truck.
And, in another dump truck accident on Oct. 30, an 88-year-old pedestrian was struck and killed at a Seattle intersection.
Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore says the 25-year-old woman was wearing a helmet. She was in pain but able to talk to medics who took her to Harborview Medical Center.
The driver remained at the scene for police.
The accident about 9 a.m. Thursday was similar to a Nov. 13 accident that sent a 50-year-old bicyclist to the hospital with critical injuries. Both involved double-dump trucks. The driver in the Nov. 13 accident left the scene and may not have known the bike hit the back part of the truck.
And, in another dump truck accident on Oct. 30, an 88-year-old pedestrian was struck and killed at a Seattle intersection.
wish there were details on what'd happened to cause the accident =)
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if there were, people might have something of substance to get into flame wars about.
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there's no mention of the driver or woman being ticketed, i assume from that, that this was a plain ole ordinary accident? one where bad things happened and not much anyone could do about them?
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my heart goes out to both the people involved in this, it's a terrible thing that's happened.
i found this on a web sight. i think some of this should change to larger vehicle such as a semi truck cause big trucks got more to deal with and need more space to be able to maneuver around corners or getting through intersections.
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 Make sure to yield to cyclists when turning left or entering the road from a side street, driveway, or parking lane. Merge completely to the far right edge of the road in advance of making a right turn. Wait for any bicyclist ahead to clear the intersection before you make a right turn â do not turn across the path of the cyclist. Even if there is a bike lane, you should merge into the bike lane before turning right.
p.s believe me i know how seattle roles. i lived in seattle (capital hill) for about 10 years.Â
THIS IS 80K
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lol. man i like all this debating, Bicyclist fallow the law as every one elts. Im a truck driver and proud of what i do. But you bicyclist really need to get your priority straight when it comes to big trucks and cars. ive seen so many of you blow through red lights and stop signs, take over side walks and dont give a crap about people on foot when your in a dash to get some where. you make it so much harder for us to do what we need to do. and for the bicyclist that have posted on here, do your research on truck drivers. we fallow the laws, we are more safe then you are, we have to look at every thing around us to make sure we arnt gonna hit any thing. we have to go to school...."SCHOOL"  to be understand the laws and what we know now about safty out there on the road. yes pleace blame truck drivers but under stand this it wont stop us doing what we are doing for the ever day person out there. think about  it....were dose ur bike come from, food, clothes, even your house? comes from a truck driver. have respect for what we do....at least you get to see your family every day. most of these truck drivers dont get to see there familys for three to four months at a time or even a year.  so yes blame the truck driver for doing his job and supporting your dumb ass for what you have.Â
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THE LAWS NEED TO BE STRICTER FOR BICYCLIST.Â
I have understood your type - you are a small, fast moving object that is usually pretty hard to see.  When I was learning to sail, I remember that one of the golden rules of the road is that a smaller vessel must yield to a larger vessel - the reason being is that a larger vessel is harder to maneuver in proximity to a smaller vessel.  My opinion of most of the bike crowd is that you folks seem to not understand what "share the road" means; you dart and weave through traffic at will, ride side by side instead of single file, blow through stop signs and stoplights, and when it's convenient to you, you go from the road to the sidewalk - blowing past pedestrians.  This isn't the tour de France, your not Lance Armstrong in your nifty little outfits  Get your collective crap together.
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@n9078jk4 If there is no law like you state... then try common sense. You on your little bike will die and the truck will not even get a dent. If your riding 15 in a 40 mph zone, your asking for it and even tho the law will possibly side with you in an accident... you got hurt and the vehicle driver did not. I guess common sense isn't included with your spandex eh?
 @n9078jk4 You so right. And yet SO wrong
 @n9078jk4  @Pegasus One other thing i have found.Â
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Revised Code of Washington State 46.61.160 Restrictions On Use Of Limited-Access Highway Use By Bicyclists. The department of transportation may by order, and local authorities may by ordinance or resolution, with respect to any limited access highway under their respective jurisdictions prohibit the use of any such highway by funeral processions, or by parades, pedestrians, bicycles or other nonmotorized traffic, or by any person operating a motor-driven cycle. Bicyclists may use the right should of limited access highways except where prohibited. The department of tansportation may by order, and local authorities may by ordinance or resolution, with respect to any limited-access highway under their respective jurisdictions prohibit the use of the shoulders of any such highway by bicycles within urban areas or upon other sections of the highway where such use is deemed to be unsafe. The department of transportation or the local authority adopting any such prohibitory regulation shall erect and maintain official traffic control devices on the limited access roadway on which such regulations are applicable, and when so erected no person may disobey the restrictions stated on such devices.
 @n9078jk4  @Pegasus Granted for your recent post. But how ever you might wanna talk to your biker buddy's that have been hit by cars or trucks or even broke these laws by giving you and the rest a bad rep witch I think will continue till the bike laws are stricter.  Here is part of a review i have copied for you n9078jk4.
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seems like your a bit wrong. sorry.Â
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Riding Upon Roadways And Bicycle Paths. (1) Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a rate of speed less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and place shall ride as near to the right side of the right through lane as is safe except as may be appropriate while preparing to make or while making turning movements, or while overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction. A person operating a bicycle upon a roadway or highway other than a limited-access highway, which roadway or highway carries traffic in one direction only and has two or more marked traffic lanes, may ride as near to the left side of the left through lane as is safe. A person operating a bicycle upon a roadway may use the shoulder of the road way or any specially designated bicycle lane if such exists. (2) Persons riding bicycles upon a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast except on paths or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.
 @80k  @n9078jk4 Another cyclist I presume. your the second cyclist to point out the laws - yet you and your brethren continue to do what you want.
 @n9078jk4  @Pegasus In the State Of Washington. The safety of bicycle riders is a responsibility shared by motorists and bicyclists. By law, bicycles are considered vehicles, just as cars are vehicles. Bicycles do share the same rights, duties, and responsibilities as do automobile drivers. Obey all traffic laws. Ride with the flow of traffic. ( Motorists do not expect bicyclists riding on the wrong side of the roadway! ) Bicyclists can choose to ride in a bicycle lane or on the shoulder of the road, but they are not required to do so. Motorists and bicyclists who don't obey traffic laws can be ticketed. All persons who use public roads must understand state traffic laws and use safe driving and riding habits. The Traffic laws apply to all BMX, Freestyle, Mountain, Road, Tandem, Triwheeler, bicycles just as they apply to motor vehicles. You should treat bicycles the same as any other vehicle on the roadway.
OK contractors, start talking to your drivers,. This is a populated city setting and we have had a string of these incidents now. OK cyclists, take responsibility for your safety and also start treating cyclists who break traffic laws habitually as outcasts. Open your mouth when another cyclist runs red lights or cuts across traffic illegally.
 @Citizen#3457899654 Nice middle of the road comment.  But I take issue with the "start talking to your drivers" part.  These are heavy vehicles these fellas operate - there is NO wiggle room to be complacent.  These drivers practice serious situational awareness - they are alert at all times.  Unfortunately, (especially for this cyclist), most cyclist are not.
 @Pegasus  @Citizen#3457899654 Thank You Pegasus for your support. It's so unfortunate that most people come here simply to lay blame on someone instead of offering support for the victoms in this. I say VICTOMS cause NO ONE truck driver goes to work in the morning all pumped up to go out there and tag bicyclists or pedestrians. it's DEVASTATING to us when this happens despite all our efforts to keep you safe. Somethings are just out of our control.Â
If you people really HAVE to post SOMETHING then focus on the well beings of all involved. Or BETTER YET !! Ask to be educated on how YOU can prevent this from happening to you and pass that knowledge onto your childrens, friends, and neighbors.  I am sure there are alot of responsible Riders as well as truck drivers that can offer up some excellant advice and knowledge
HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL and well wishes to the injured as well as the Driver in this unfortunate accident
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Sending good thoughts to the cyclist and the driver.  I live on Capitol Hill & mainly drive the city center & main arterial streets in & out of downtown.  i am not a cyclist but have dozens of neighbors who ride bikes daily.  THE NEW BIKE IMPROVEMENTS have been a great advancement in safety for cyclists AND motorized vehicles.  Reminding us to be aware of the 2 wheelers and also providing more uniformity in where the cyclists ride. I feel more confident, yet still cautious, these days when sharing the road.  Win and Win. Accidents happen.  Dangerous & irresponsible drivers/cyclist happen.  That being said - the current roads and marked lanes in my 5 mile "world" seem more safe and more defined.  Wondering if the statistics will bear this out. ALSO, in my 27 years in the city, i find the intersections of pike/boren & pine/boren to be amongst the most frightening due to speed / congestion / mix of vehicles & pedestrians.  BETTER SIGNALS & turn lanes might slow it all down. Â
I'll be the first to admit that I don't know the first thing about news gathering, but for an incident that occurred in downtown Seattle, why is this story from the AP?
Here's the deal... If you see a flippin' dump truck with his signal on to take a flippin' right hand turn DO NOT try to fit in the lane between the truck and the curb. Â That is what happened here and most of the other times when these kind of accidents happen. Â There are plenty of smart cyclists out there but let me tell you the guys that operate these huge trucks take more responsibility for your safety than you do. Â They always have to make sure YOU aren't doing something that will get you killed even when they aren't doing anything wrong. Â If they rear end you because you cut them off you will die and it's not the truck driver's fault. Â If you are a dumb ass and try to fit in between the curb and the truck odds are really good you will get the short end of the stick. Â Common sense friends!!! Â Â
 @Trishzaco THANK YOU Trish for your support....I have been driving those trucks for 25 years ( without incident ) thank goodness. I have to say tho that not a night goes by I don't thank my lucky stars for not killing someone in the city that day !!! Driving big trucks in the city has got to be the most stressful job there is when it comes to dealing with pedestrians and bicyclists. Today alone two woman power walking and talking almost got tagged by a dump trailer finishing a right hand turn. They weren't paying attention and dove right into the crosswalk prior to the light turning green for them. A quick airhorn and fast hands on the CB radio saved their lives. No Blame should be laid on ANYONE here...If You wanna lay blame on ANYONE then lay it on OLYMPIA and rally to UPGRADE our driver training programs to educate the public on how to drive around commercial trucks. My daughter has called me several times in her young driving career and thanked me for educating her in this area and saving her life by knowing how to handle sharing the roads with large trucks and giving them courtesy and room to work both on and off the freeways.Â
We as truck drivers have Many MANY Blind spots, Especially when making a right hand turn and we require two sometimes 3 lanes to maneuver those turns safely without jumping curbs or taking out phone poles, people etc etc. It's not easy so Give em space guys and be patient. We don't deliberately hold you up to piss you off. Have a great holiday folks !!!
 @Trishzaco I will add to the above. Do you like it when someone comes to your place of work and screws around with you ? Do you like it at work when you are busting your butt to make a living and someone gets in the way ? Well like it or not dump truck drivers and truck drivers are at workin,working for a living to support their families . Just like you are. So next time you cut off a truck,think how you would like it at work if somebody deliberately got in the way.Â
I"ve seen plenty of cyclists who are responsible and easy to share the road with. It's the ones that don't follow the traffic laws and weave in and out of traffic that make it difficult. I just don't want to be responsible for hitting someone who isn't riding respsonsibly. Irresponsible drivers bother me also, not just cyclists.
Bicyclist and cars do not mix well. What a waste of money this last mayor has spent. We have far too many car and not enough road space. Bicyclist never follow the rules of the road, how many times do you see a bicyclist wait at a red light to cross the street, (never)use hand signals, weave in and out of the car lane, hold up traffic. More and more people will be getting hit by cars, trucks and dump trucks as long as they are are the road.
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They really should have titled the article "Hey Everyone! Time to Bash Cyclists!!!"
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(Oh yeah... and one of them was seriously hurt this morning. )
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As a cyclist myself I'm always tempted to unleash in these comments about the fantastically idiotic driving I see around some of the idiots around here.... But.. .I Â won't... as it's universally understood...Â
 @Poisonous Giraffe Yes most are riding bicycles. Thinking they do not have to follow the rules of the road.Â
Bicyclists without their waste-of-money bike lanes pose a hazard to motor vehicles. Bicyclist never obey stop signs, always go through red lights or hop onto the sidewalk to take the pedestrian crossing.Â
 @3rase No no, we never never obey any laws. We are all just out there willy nilly! *rolls eyes*  I'm glad you've seen one or two people breaking the law and judge everyone on that. I guess ill just judge every car driver on a few people too - The ones that are extremely aggressive towards bikes for no reason. The cars that never turn into the proper lanes. The cars that don't signal. The idiots on their cell phones.
 @quidproquo I will definitely agree that there are aggressive and irresponsible drivers out there, but I've had more close calls with bicyclists this year at intersections than other vehicle. So yes, I am a little bit more aggressive against bicyclists because I'm tired of almost hitting them.
 @3rase Both on my bike and in the car, my biggest pet peeve is drivers who refuse to turn into the proper lane (When you turn left you turn into the left most lane when you turn right you turn into the right most lane) and almost no one follows these rules.  I've seen cops break this rule! It means, as a driver, they are being completely unpredictable.
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A ton of people in these comments seem to be operating under the assumption that it was the fault of the cyclist and there's nothing in this story that indicates that at all.
I've been told by more than one bicyclist that they consider traffic signals and stop signs to be "suggestions". Most of the ones I see on the road don't look, don't stop, just breeze right along, expecting the cars who are obeying the signals and signs to watch out for them and grant them right of way.
They scare me to death. I honestly don't want to hit one of them.
Stupid cyclist in Seattle. I walk to the train station and see them doing stupid things and almost getting hit all of the time. They don't look, go WAY to slow and are just stupid. Get the bikes off of the road, it is meant for motor vehicles. Feel sorry that she got hit. Hope the other cyclist remember that you won't win against a vehicle, even if you have the right of way.
Many bikers seem to suffer from tunnel vision. Turning your head to see works great. Don't rely on those tiny mirrors.
 @Klondiko Wow. Are you claire voyant, or something? How on earth do you know the cyclist even HAD those "tiny mirrors"? Besides, the article says NOTHING of HOW the accident happened or even who was at fault.
Speedy recovery to the cyclist, and thanks to the truck driver for staying on the scene. We hear too many times that car or truck drivers simply keep going, often not even knowing they did hit a cyclist.
 @DrugFighter  @Klondiko When they get hit by the tow dump it is fairly obvious they weren't paying attention.
It's my understanding that in the earlier incident the man was standing on the corner of the sidewalk with his bike, the second trailer did not clear the corner but went up and over the sidewalk, the man and his bike.
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 @Goldie Mae Why didn't he give some room and watch what was happening. Did he really think standing there the trailer was going to miraculously miss him.
I'm really sorry about the accident. That being said, I've encountered more and more bicylists who are determined to cross right in front of me. I've also encountered people walking into the street or in a parking lot right in front of me (with plenty of space behind me...why can't they wait??---and with small children...what are they teaching them??), thinking that I'll will see them and stop just for them. Sorry people! As a child, I was taught to Stop, Look and LIsten. Obviously that's not taught or learned any more. I may not see you! I don't want to live the rest of my life with the thought that I injured or killed someone due to something over which I had no control.
 @Rentonav8r And this applies to all cyclists, right?  Just like black people can't swim and white people can't jump, right?  Good God. Â
 @MPS  @Rentonav8r Dont bring race in this conversation....IDIOT !!!
Looks like more pedestrians are getting injured or killed by motor vehicles in the downtown area than they are in school zones in residential neighborhoods, where McGinn and the idiots on the clowncil want to put up speed cameras for safety's sake.
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Where are these fools' priorities?
 @StringerJoe It's not really downtown where this happened. There are several large construction projects going on right now on First Hill and Capitol Hill. These large dumpsters have been visible all over the roads for months now. From what I've seen, they are very careful drivers and have had to deal with a lot of nonsense from others.Â
 @lakeview  @StringerJoe Downtown, uptown, First Hill, Capitol Hill or HICKVILLE it really doesnt matter. It can happen anywhere at anytime. Bicyclists, pedestrians, cars, etc just don't discriminate when it comes to driving and walking amongst us !!!
@lakeview , This happened on Boren near Pine. I call it 'downtown' because Boren is west of I-5, which I consider the district boundary, at least at this location. East of I-5 at this location is where Capitol Hil begins. I don't believe in making up nifty neighborhood names for those areas caught in the twilight zone so it's 'downtown' to me.
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@StringerJoe
Yeah, one might barely get away with calling it First Hill, but "downtown" is probably more accurate.
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You're right about the "twilight zone" area this is. A couple blocks south and it would be First Hill, or a couple blocks east would be Capitol Hill.
With the children. Adults should know better. Children don't.
I can easily see how this happens. The front of the truck passes you and you don't register the linkage to the trailer in your peripheral vision. Now that the truck has passed you think you can move left a little to gain more distance from the curb... I will not ride my bike in down town, just not. Best wishes to the bicyclist.
 @Komo Dragon I almost drove my car into a double dumpster truck on a busy road because of exactly what you said when making a right turn. It scared me to death that I didn't see the second part.Â
I was waiting to cross the street when this happened. I saw what was going to happen and I yelled at her to get out of the way. I just can't believe that this happened. It was horrible. She would have died had she not had a helmet on.
 @aaronkhawaja Did the truck make a right turn onto Boren from Pine or something?Â
 @lakeview Yes it did. The truck was making a wide right onto Boren from Pine. The light was red, they were both stopped, the truck started taking the free right. The bar connecting the trailer to the truck took her down.
 @aaronkhawaja  @lakeview Thank you for the clarification.