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Friday, March 21, 2008

Another Biker Down

posted by on March 21 at 10:36 AM

I recently moved to an office by a window, which I discovered isn’t all happiness and flowers. I just saw a biker get hit by a car on the street right outside; she had to be hauled off in an ambulance.

bikewreck.jpg

And the car driver just took off and left her lying in the street. Hey, Silver Subaru, do the right thing and take responsibility for this!

RSS icon Comments

1

X-files. X-files! X-FILES!!!

Posted by Mr. Poe | March 21, 2008 10:43 AM
2

This thread is gonna get ugly.

Ready....FIGHT!

Posted by Rotten666 | March 21, 2008 10:46 AM
3

I hope they catch the driver and the rider is OK.

Posted by elenchos | March 21, 2008 10:52 AM
4

And I thought Slog comment threads were full of raving lunatics ...

Posted by seattle98104 | March 21, 2008 10:52 AM
5

Bad Mr. Poe. BAD!

Posted by kid icarus | March 21, 2008 10:53 AM
6

EEEEEEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXFIIILEEESS!!!

Posted by pencil riot | March 21, 2008 10:57 AM
7

I love you guys.

Posted by Aislinn | March 21, 2008 11:03 AM
8

Attention Bikers: There's a reason why you shouldn't fuck with someone who has a lethal weapon. Ten times out of 10, the guy with the lethal weapon is going to win. In case your little vegan minds haven't figured it out yet, a car is every bit as deadly a weapon as a gun. Sometimes more so.

Posted by Elvis | March 21, 2008 11:03 AM
9

Oh please someone get that license plate, oh please...

Posted by Anon | March 21, 2008 11:09 AM
10

elvis lives and he drives a subuaru. goddamn i wish my grandma jean was live to see this day. ::tear::

Posted by some dude | March 21, 2008 11:09 AM
11

@8: Kinda reminds me of people who cross at crosswalks without looking both ways... yes, you may be "in the right", but that's of little worth when you're a smear on the pavement.

Posted by UNPAID BLOGGER | March 21, 2008 11:12 AM
12

why don't you put a webcam in your window and monitor the intersection? would that help? or would that not help?

Posted by john | March 21, 2008 11:13 AM
13

@11,

Drivers in this city are so stupid, pedestrians are well advised to look both ways when crossing a one-way street.

Posted by keshmeshi | March 21, 2008 11:18 AM
14

Hope the rider's OK. Throw the fucking book at the Subi driver for taking off...

Posted by Big Sven | March 21, 2008 11:20 AM
15

Drivers are stupid in every city, keshmeshi.

Posted by Mr. Poe | March 21, 2008 11:22 AM
16

#2: Why are cars allowed on capitol hill again? We could really use these roads for less evil purposes like bus lanes and condos.

Posted by Routes 8/9/10/11/12/14/43/49/60/545 | March 21, 2008 11:22 AM
17

Everything you know about the silver Subaru is a lie.

Posted by Cancer Man | March 21, 2008 11:26 AM
18

Are you sure it wasn't a mail box?

Posted by Silver Subaru | March 21, 2008 11:26 AM
19

You have no idea, the forces you are dealing with.

Posted by Cancer Man | March 21, 2008 11:34 AM
20

You should have yielded to the car ya dumbshit...

Posted by ecce homo | March 21, 2008 11:41 AM
21

If they don't have the plates now, they're not gonna find the person. Whoever did it is not going to come forward, because if they're the type to hit and run, they're not the type to come back later and admit responsibility.

Hope that cyclist had insurance.

Posted by Gomez | March 21, 2008 11:46 AM
22

@15,

Whatever you say. Seattle is the only city I've lived in or visited where I've seen multiple drivers drive the wrong way down a one-way street or on the wrong side of a two-way street.

Posted by keshmeshi | March 21, 2008 11:52 AM
23

Isn't the East Precinct right there? Did you call the cops?

Posted by DOUG. | March 21, 2008 11:54 AM
24

That sucks. But was it the biker at fault or the car?

I saw a man on a bicycle miss getting hit by a car by about 2 inches on Monday near Sodo, because he was running a red light......the idiot on the bike, not in the car.

For whatever reason a lot of the bicyclists in Seattle think they have the right of way in any situation.

Posted by mo | March 21, 2008 11:55 AM
25

Give me a break: No matter who is at fault, you don't just drive off and leave a person wounded in the street.

*Maybe* the biker was an idiot, but that doesn't make the Subaru driver less of an asshole.

Posted by be responsible | March 21, 2008 12:00 PM
26

Why is the driver always immediately guilty?

Is it possible the "pedestrian" did something illegal to incur getting hit?

I'm not going to hang a driver of a car, simply because a pedestrian is lying on the ground.

Pedestrians don't always have all the rights.

Posted by Reality Check | March 21, 2008 12:01 PM
27

22 - are you kidding me? seattle drivers are total pussies. they actually stop for pedestrians. try walking or riding a bike on the east coast. if you think seattle drivers are aggressive, i'd like to hear what you think of east coast drivers.

Posted by some dude | March 21, 2008 12:15 PM
28

Actually, pedestrians legally have the right of way. And anyone who hits someone with a car and leaves them there is guilty of a hit-and-run even if the initial accident wasn't the driver's fault. Yes, cars are bigger. Remember that line, "with great power comes great responsibility..."
good grief.

Posted by livid | March 21, 2008 12:15 PM
29

The driver is immediately guilty of leaving the scene.

Posted by asd | March 21, 2008 12:16 PM
30

It's about damn time someone shed light on the truth about cars.

Subarus are driven by WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY more-dangerous people than SUVs.

In the time it took me to type this, no less than 14 Suburus drove past my window. All were driven erratically and had Obama and/or NPR bumper stickers.

Posted by frederick r | March 21, 2008 12:17 PM
31

@30: Subaru also makes an SUV or two.

Posted by Jerod | March 21, 2008 12:22 PM
32

Just wait. There will also be multiple calls of the ambulance to the bus stop right across the way. It's usually a bi-weekly event or thereabouts.

And then there's the fact that many people consider that bus stop and open air restroom as well. Mmm. I'm not going to miss that.

I will miss the cute dogs, the guy who jogs around the field all the time with his kid in a stroller and the teeny little kids bundled up for a day at the park.

Posted by Nay | March 21, 2008 12:49 PM
33

hopefully the subaru was driven by a rabbi on a cellphone, so he can get a slap on the wrist.

cause he is sorry

Posted by meanie | March 21, 2008 12:59 PM
34

@27,

I didn't say Seattle drivers are aggressive. I said they're idiots. East coast drivers may be aggressive, but they aren't so stupid as to cruise the wrong way down a one-way street wondering why everyone is honking at them.

Seattle drivers may not be all that aggressive, but they're still way too aggressive for their intelligence level.

@26,

The fact that the driver ran off seems to indicate that he/she was in the wrong.

Posted by keshmeshi | March 21, 2008 1:12 PM
35

ALL Subarus are SUVs, since a few years ago when they deliberately had their entire vehicle line reclassified as Truck/SUV to avoid even the minimal mileage/emissions standards applied to cars. Subaru SUCKS ASS, even though their vehicles are actually pretty good cars.

Reality Check, the driver is automatically guilty because they left the scene of an accident they were involved in. Poetic justice would send them over a guardrail into a 100-foot freefall on an overpass, but, more realistically, I hope they get caught and spend some serious jail time.

Posted by Fnarf | March 21, 2008 1:17 PM
36

Lots and lots of people ride bikes where I live and I've never seen one look where they're going in traffic. They just swerve out and expect not to get killed by magic, I suppose. Sometimes they actually stay in the bike lanes, most of the time they ride on the line or in the street. They also race along on the sidewalks and run down pedestrians. It makes it very hard to feel sorry for one when they get hit, but you can't just leave them bleeding in the street, even if they are careless, irresponsible morons.

Posted by Y.F. | March 21, 2008 1:29 PM
37

if we tax bikes and make bikers license there peddies. then they can pay for better bike lanes and stop bitching

Posted by benxer | March 21, 2008 1:31 PM
38

@34 - that's cool.

just random question: what if the driver of the subaru was a cyclist who also owns a car, and didn't want to face the ridicule of hitting one of their own?

I mean since we have no facts and any wildly speculative theory is just as valid as another, you can't say it's right but you can't say it's wrong, correct?

What if assholes are assholes, no matter if they're on a bike or not? And since the story earlier about that british MP who drove his bike like an asshole--and I declared it as proof that all cyclists are assholes--then we can logically deduce that all cyclicts who drive, due to the transitive property of assholishness--are asshole drivers. Since hit-and-run is a total asshole move, it very well could have been a car-driving cyclist.

Since cyclists also own cars, so I say we blame cyclists for everything bad that happens on the road, ever, and consider the matter settled? just a modest proposal.

Posted by some dude | March 21, 2008 1:34 PM
39

They can? Bike license fees would be unlikely to even cover the cost of collecting them, let alone "new bike lanes".

Posted by Fnarf | March 21, 2008 1:34 PM
40

@39
at a reasonable 107$ a year
what i pay for my motorcycle (which is way cooler and deadlier) im sure the gov can figure something out. look what portland is doing by removing bikes from car lanes and giving them corridors in the city to ride in worry free

Posted by benxer | March 21, 2008 1:39 PM
41

Fnarf@35-

ALL Subarus are SUVs, since a few years ago when they deliberately had their entire vehicle line reclassified as Truck/SUV to avoid even the minimal mileage/emissions standards applied to cars.

Umm, no. It was just the Outback.


Posted by Big Sven | March 21, 2008 1:49 PM
42

@38,

It seems you're way behind the curve since most of this thread is blaming the cyclist and not the motherfucker who ran away (and consequently looks a hell of a lot more guilty).

Posted by keshmeshi | March 21, 2008 2:01 PM
43

It's *possible* that the driver didn't even know the biker was hit: if the radio was playing, and/or the bike actually hit a rear fender, and/or if he just clipped the cyclist's tire (let's face it, it doesn't take much to send a bicyclist down), for example.

That doesn't let anyone off the hook, but perhaps it's not quite so automatic that we should be ready to hang the driver by his gonads (or the part of the female anatomy of your choice).

Posted by tomcat98109 | March 21, 2008 2:05 PM
44

I bet it was one of those damned fixed-gears that Gramma Barnett warned us about!

If so, it was the bike's fault. Good thing that Subaru wasn't a dump truck!

Phew.

Posted by Bicyle Jihad | March 21, 2008 2:43 PM
45

I'm so fucking SICK AND TIRED of Seattle motorists getting away with shit like this EVER SINGLE FUCKING DAY!!!!

People are being killed on the street by asshole motorists and NOTHING IS BEING DONE WHATSOEVER!

Posted by *gong* | March 21, 2008 2:47 PM
46

On the average day in Seattle, there are more total infractions committed by all drivers as a whole than those committed by all cyclists as a whole. Are people in agreement with that statement?


Posted by stinkbug | March 21, 2008 3:19 PM
47

Cars don't pay for roads in Seattle. Bikes have equal rights on roadways. Hit-and-run is illegal. Vehicular manslaughter is rarely charged. Some drivers are assholes. Some cyclists are jerks. Blah, blah, blah. I hope this girl is okay.

Posted by DOUG. | March 21, 2008 3:32 PM
48

@47
then what pray tell pays for roads in seattle good will?
maybe obama love?
possibly the blue pages in the phone book?

Posted by benxer | March 21, 2008 6:40 PM
49

Portland just implemented these weird bright green boxes at intersections to help out bicyclists and drivers.
http://www.katu.com/news/local/16645111.html

Posted by Kristin | March 22, 2008 1:46 AM

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