How To Almost Kill Someone: Right Hook Edition
Written by Boston Biker on Dec 17If you drive a car, you need to see this video. I got this from Ian yesterday.
From Ian
I got right hooked in a bike lane this morning on Beacon St in Somerville,
MA, and got the entire thing recorded on my GoPro. I called the cops, who
did respond, but basically seemed uninterested in the fact that a motorist
right hooked a cyclist, and in fact the officer told me that I needed to be
more careful!A co-worker recommended contacting you, and said that you might be
interested in the video to help raise awareness of how dangerous a right
hook is to cyclists.
When making right turns it is not enough to simply turn on your signal, you need to also make sure NO ONE IS IN THE LANE NEXT TO YOU! Including but not limited to the bike lane. Just treat the bike lane like a lane for cars, check your mirror, yield to traffic already in that lane, etc. There was very little the cyclist could have or should have been doing in this situation, he was riding legal down the road, and a car dramatically changed lanes with very little warning. If you look at the video the signal and the turn happen at the same time, basically this driver flicked on his signal (a rare thing in this town), and began turning the wheel for the turn at the same time. There is no way he could have had time to check behind him to make sure there was no one in the bike lane.
Luckily the gentleman in this video is ok, but it could have been a lot nastier. I applaud his calm reaction, I have a feeling I would have flipped my shit.
Another even bigger problem here is the blasé reaction from the cops. Waiting until someone is killed is not an effective strategy for preventing deaths. This motorist should have been issues a citation (Ian was unclear about if he was or not), and legal action should be taken against the driver and the company he is driving for. For every horrific death by right hook there are hundreds of these nail biting close calls, only if the police get serious about reducing these incidents will the deaths be prevented.
With the advent of cheap go-pro style cameras we are going to be seeing a lot more of this kind of thing. I imagine a future several years from now when a simple USB stick style camera can record a days worth of video, and you would simply strap it to your jacket and use it as a daily commute recorder, if nothing happened that day you could erase the memory and go about your day. If however some asshole right hooks you, you will have it all recorded. If you have the money, and you ride often perhaps integrating a personal recording device into your safety gear is not such a bad idea.
Add to Reddit. Tags: holy shit, right hook, safety, video
Posted in Commuting, education, video | 32 Comments »
32 Responses
to “How To Almost Kill Someone: Right Hook Edition”
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.
By Ian on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
Ian here (the cyclist who took the video).
The driver was, to my knowledge, not cited. The officer did take down our information and provide us each an “Accident Data” form, but considered any other actions a civil matter that he would not be involved in. I’m not sure if this was the correct response from the Somerville Police Department, but I will be following up with the City of Somerville tonight.
As far as the GoPro, I have a GoPro Hero 3+ Silver edition, along with a helmet mount and a 32 GB Micro SD Card. The whole thing cost about $350, and it can easily record over an hour of footage (there is more storage than battery life). I usually erase footage and charge the camera once or twice a week. I figure that I’m saving enough money not paying for car insurance that I could afford a GoPro (for me and my wife) to act as a insurance policy, particularly against hit and runs. I expect this camera to last several years, at which point there will likely be one available with better low light recording that I’ll want anyways!
I highly recommend that *all* cyclists wear a camera, if you’re going 1/2 a mile or 100 miles (bring extra batteries for those rides!). The hardest part about wearing a camera is remembering to keep your cool, because you too are being recorded. On the flip side, many drivers see the camera and act far more civilized, because no one wants to be caught acting like a jerk on camera!
By WHYNEE on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
So I watched this video a bunch of times.
a. biker was in the wrong and had AMPLE time to get out of the way of the man in the van that put on his directional.
b. this kid was not calm and basically rode his bike (saddle bags and all lol) into the back of this car and it looked intentional. which would indicate that he was riding too close.
c. no other biker wanted to stay and help.. tells a lot about the situation.
d. accidents happen.. and why not be amicable in even the most difficult of situations when, let’s face it, no one got hurt. Happy holidays.
By WHYNEE on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
dude.. that guys blinker was on forever, pretty much the top of the video.. bicyclists need to pay attention too.
By Mike on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
The law states that all vehicles must turn right from the right most lane, and the bike lane counts. The driver was attempting to turn from the middle lane which means vehicles (bikes included) in the right lane have the right of way. Regardless of how long his blinker was on, he didn’t start to enter the bike lane until Ian was beside him, at which point Ian is entitled to the lane.
It becomes very clear if you imagine that Ian was driving a car instead of riding a bike. Just because the bike lane is smaller and the vehicle is a bike, the law doesn’t change.
By Ian on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
Ian here again. Please don’t refer to me as a kid, I’m not. It’s condescending and frustrating as it implies you’ve already determined I’m not smart enough to understand what is happening here. I assure you that is not the case here.
Please keep in mind my GoPro is mounted on my helmet, and has at least 6″ of vertical height over my eyeballs, so it’s not representative of what I saw, though it is an impartial observer of what did actually occur, so yes, I’ll concur the signal was on earlier than I saw it, but I personally did not see it until the driver was moving into the bicycle lane. In any case, I wasn’t aware that signaling gives an operator the right to occupy a lane without checking that the lane is first clear. At least, this morning when I signaled left to make a turn a couple of cars passed me, too impatient to allow a cyclist to make a left turn. Are you saying that just by signaling left I should assume the lane is mine to take? Sounds like a good way to get killed.
As far as allowing enough distance to safely stop, I was going slow enough that I would have been able to stop in less than 30 feet, from the time I grabbed my brakes. Allowing for some reaction time, let’s bump that up to about 45 feet (that’s about 2.5 seconds at 12 MPH, a high estimate of my speed). I did not have 2.5 seconds of warning from the time the driver began moving into the bicycle lane, and I had maybe about 20 feet to stop, compared to what was just a second before a wide open lane. I’m sorry, I really am, but I’m not sure how I could have stopped in time in this situation. It’s not like I want to crash, it hurts, it’s embarrassing, and it has a significant cost, both in time and money. To suggest otherwise is actually very hurtful.
And as far as no one got hurt…that’s not true. Yes, I have no broken bones or lacerations, but I’ve got a couple of really annoying bruises and lumps on my knee, shin, and elbow. Sure, I don’t need medical treatment, but they still hurt and are really annoying. I’m just glad it was cold out, if I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt instead of bruises they would be pretty bad road rash.
By craig on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
OK after watching this a few times I believe both driver and biker can share the blame. The driver did have his blinker on in plenty of time for the cyclist to yield. The cyclist didn’t react until the vehicle turned across his lane. The operator of the vehicle fault was to not merge into the bike lane before making his turn just as a driver would merge into the right hand travel lane of a multi-lane road prior to making a turn.
By WHYNEE on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
So.. maybe get a taller bike so you can actually see the blinker? Not a very good excuse if you can’t manage to see a tail light/blinker?
By WHYNEE on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
Just to be sure of what your idea scene would be here… you would rather the car drive into and then turn from the bike lane? Maybe that’s a Mass law? Never heard of that anywhere else.
By Mike on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
For the exact reason this incident illustrates, yes we would all prefer the car to turn from the bike lane, which is why it’s the law in most places.
By WHYNEE on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
And to Mike’s point.. I agree with you on the fact that the bike lane counts. However, what would you suggest? Driver signaled, had plenty of room and the bicyclist (admittedly) didn’t see the driver’s blinker because his gopro has a better view of the cars and traffic around than the bike’s operator? Even the police , after watching the video, declined to ticket. More holes than a colander,if you asked me.
Furthermore, re: Ian’s huff about the “kid” comment. He acted childishly by cursing and beating the man’s van. That’s where my kid comment came from. Even if the driver was wrong.. people can communicate in an adult fashion. Expectations are that if we share the road.. we’re sharing the responsibility. Just because your “vehicle” is smaller, doesn’t mean you have to pay any less attention to say… blinkers. So sorry if you were offended, this is just my opinion and what do I know?
By Steve on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
Blinker was on forever…you clearly rode your bike into the guy and did one of the worst flop jobs I have ever seen (From a POV perspective).
Also you complain that the guy didnt properly turn from the right most lane, but you scream your heads off if a car even comes close to the bike lane.
So please let me understand this…if the car did pull into the bike lane to turn right (even though you would probably go nuts over for slowing you down) and even though you weren’t paying attention; this would have been avoided? Because he was clearly going about 2 miles an hour when turning and you somehow couldn’t have avoided him.
I honestly feel bad for the guy in the car, you pretty much ruined the guys day because you weren’t paying attention or wanted to be some bicycle advocate jack ass.
By C on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
Here’s my take on the video:
Driver puts blinker on, sees no one to his right so starts merging over the bike lane in preparation for turning into the driveway.
Bicyclist coming up from behind in the bike lane, moving faster than traffic. Doesn’t see the driver’s blinker until the driver is already merging over.
I agree that they both share the blame, although I believe legally the bicyclist was correct. The driver should have made sure that the bike lane to his right was clear enough so that merging into it won’t cause any bicyclists to have to slam on their brakes. The bicyclist should have been more cautious when passing vehicles on the right and as soon as he saw the driver’s blinker should have slowed down, especially since he hadn’t yet come up alongside the car until after the blinker had been on for a few seconds.
Passing slow or stopped traffic on the right (even in a bike lane) can be very troublesome. You have to worry about people opening car doors (I’ve actually had passengers in cars in traffic open their doors, not just drivers of parked cars). Cars in traffic may turn right, with or without signaling. And of course if there are oncoming cars turning left, they will likely not see you because you’re obstructed from their view by the cars going the same direction as you. My strategy is to take it slow and try to look out for all these hazards. Being able to slow down or stop quickly is very important in these situations to avoid a crash, regardless or who is right or not.
By JohnJ on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
I’m usually siding with the cyclist on these. This video however makes me embarrassed to be a cyclist! This kid clearly choose to hit his horn instead of his brake. He is just lucky he has an embarrassing video for his friends to see and not a 1000 dumb ways to die submission. Ride on the defensive. You will lose against a 4 wheeler every time.Maybe if you slow-mo the video you will sound slightly more masculine when the F-bomb comes out.
By Stephanie on Dec 17, 2014 | Reply
I feel sorry for this young women. Listen to the fear in her voice when she strikes the van. We need to double check before a turn as responsible motorists. There are hundreds of young ladies riding the road like this girl.
By Mike on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
Again I argue the it becomes very clear who’s right and who’s wrong if you re-imagine the scenario with Ian driving a car and not a bike, which is a legally equivalent scenario.
I think the bottom line is that the vast majority of drives don’t know what to do with a bike lane and are not experienced looking for bikes on the road. The guy clearly was turning at the driveway and not trying to merge into the bike lane before his turn which he was probably totally unaware he was supposed to. I’d also put money on the fact that he didn’t see Ian as opposed to seeing him and assume he we would stop.
By whynee on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
Yeabut.. Don’t you agree that had he seen the drivers blinker (again.. On from the top of the video.. ) shouldn’t he have grabbed the brake instead of the horn? This passive aggressive baby stuff. Flailing around.. Waving his arms like the flappy happy selling blowup thing.. Doesn’t solve the issue. I see an opportunity to continue on the “hey man.. A bike is a vehicle” walk in life. Because.. You don’t pay insurance, you don’t pay registration yet I’m supposed to bow down to the hipster movement so you can save on your insurance.. Piss off. Furthermore.. Seeing as you are uninsured.. How would you pay for the damage to his vehicle( you slapped the business outta his window by the way) should the police officer review and find you guilty of not paying attention?
By whynee on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
And as an intelligent, responsible rider.. Wouldn’t common sense indicate that perhaps this van’s operator, operating a van with no windows on the rear quarter, doesn’t have xray vision and indeed cannot see you? My point is that sometimes you have to take your safety into your own hands. Ounce of prevention situation…
By C on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
If I was in a car and a blinker of a car in the next lane over just ahead of me over came on, I would immediately slow down or at least stay behind that car and give that driver room to change lanes or do whatever he/she was doing. I would not try to come up alongside it or pass it. I wouldn’t pull up alongside them and start honking.
By bikesarenotcars on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
This video has noob all over it. With experience, you’ll be able to avoid these situations.. To be honest tho.. His protocol was textbook.
When bicycling and a van is going to turn in front of you.. Make sure you ride up on their tail, initiate air horn by jamming on the button, force a fall ensuring you slap their window multiple times, swear in a high pitched voice and follow up by reminding all who come within a three foot radius that you have a camera and they are used for recording. Seems like he followed all the steps?
By search is good on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
Oh man.. looks like Ian has an axe to grind and made this his soapbox to stand on… a quick google search for “city of somerville ian cyclist” turns up this : https://www.facebook.com/SomervilleCity/posts/761442176902
seems like he saw his opportunity and wanted to prove a point. So.. I feel sorry for that van driver.
By lolfag on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
Bikesarenotcars: the constant reminders about recording devices stems from Massachusetts wiretap laws. You must inform that you are recording someone or else you are breaking the law. Especially important if you try to use it as evidence with a cop or post on YouTube (where YouTube video of police brutality was used as evidence of illegal recording and the guy with camera was charged, not cop)
By search is good on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
@lolfag. haha at ur sn.. Did not know that.. interesting fact. That’s a crazy law tho..
By search is good on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
lolfag: even in a public place tho? I’d be interested to read that law.. SO what is the deal.. can someone prevent another from filming them in public??
By lolfag on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
I’m not a lawyer, but i the law was for wiretapping and only covers audio, but a video recording of course includes audio, so it does get applied to public recording- particularly of police. Of course wiretapping is pretty serious offense and mass has maybe the strictest laws covering it, but applying it to public recording seems dumb. recording happens all the time, and if someone in authority doesn’t like you, they have a law like this to use against you conveniently.
By Steve on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
lolfag …that works both ways..if someone doesnt like someone in authority (due to more reasons than just abuse…jealousy, greed, inflated ego) they use this law to remove their recordings to. Its not a one way street.
Also, can someone actually help me out with this…my understanding is that a car cannot enter the bicycle lane to turn unless its a dotted line. A car is only allowed to merge into the bike lane only when a dotted line (not a solid line) is visible. Ive seen police pull cars over numerous times for this infraction.
By damned if you do/dont on Dec 18, 2014 | Reply
so “search is good” found this link :
https://www.facebook.com/SomervilleCity/posts/761442176902
Unfortunately, for the driver of the van.. I feel like we’d be watching a video of the biker squeeling and whining that the car was in his precious bike lane if he merged into this lane to make the turn. The biker had a goal to make a point.. so there is actually no preferred method here. Just a venue to complain.
By Chris on Dec 20, 2014 | Reply
>> but a video recording of course includes audio
No, it doesn’t. A video camera often also contains a microphone and a video recorder; but the two are recorded separately. Even if a camera does record audio, you can turn off the microphone, or turn down the microphone gain all the way, to record silence.
The wiretap provision would also only kick in when you record someone talking. In 99% of record-my-commute footage, you only pick up traffic noise, no voices.
Personally I’m astounded that the injured biker here responded so calmly. If it had been me, my trusty U-lock would have been called into action.
By Peter W. Polack on Dec 22, 2014 | Reply
Passing on the right, regardless of whether the passing vehicle is a bicycle in a bike lane, or an automobile, is expressly prohibited in most jurisdictions. Anytime I see a vehicle as the van in the video, my antenna and awareness go up.
Yes, the cyclist should have anticipated the van making right turn especially since the driver’s signal was on and if the cyclist was very experienced, would also have known that there is a larger blind spot in the passenger side mirrors of vehicles and ridden accordingly.
Responsibility in this case is regardless of the bike vs. car thing. Typical vehicle law assigns responsibility to the vehicle executing the pass, since visual awareness to the rear of ANY vehicle is much more limited than forward vision.
Had the van passed the cyclist then executed a turn and hooked him, it would be a different story. If Boston traffic law states exceptions or deviates from typical law when bike lanes are involved, then perhaps those laws would side with the cyclist.
By James on Dec 22, 2014 | Reply
Ian is some sort of gopro vigilante. As pointed out its a bad flop job. Keep your hands on the bars and leave the air alone. Its a consistsnt theme in your “i got it on video” themed life you yell all the time. Your act, its not even very good.
By Bill on Dec 23, 2014 | Reply
There seems to be a lot of incorrect information in this dialog as to Mass. Law. General Laws, Part I, Title XIV, Chapter 90, Section 14:
“In approaching or passing a person on a bicycle the operator of a motor vehicle shall slow down and pass at a safe distance and at a reasonable and proper speed.”
“No person operating a vehicle that overtakes and passes a bicyclist proceeding in the same direction shall make a right turn at an intersection or driveway unless the turn can be made at a safe distance from the bicyclist at a speed that is reasonable and proper.”
“It shall not be a defense for a motorist causing an accident with a bicycle that the bicycle was to the right of vehicular traffic.”
“No person shall open a door on a motor vehicle unless it is reasonably safe to do so without interfering with the movement of other traffic, including bicyclists and pedestrians.”
By Angelo Dolce on Dec 26, 2014 | Reply
you would rather the car drive into and then turn from the bike lane? Maybe that’s a Mass law? Never heard of that anywhere else.
Actually, this is the law in CA, and the safe way. It is prohibited in OR (legal method is less safe). Most other states don’t address the issue explicitly, so bike lane designers (and often police) don’t know the law.
By Angelo Dolce on Dec 26, 2014 | Reply
In this case, I think the bicyclist was riding legally but not intelligently (not legal). The problems are caused by a bad combination of Somerville law hostile to bicyclists and poorly designed bike lanes.
Mr. Polack, we’re not dealing with most jurisdictions, it’s MA and Somerville. As noted above, in MA the bicyclist can legally pass on the right, and is not required to use the bike lane, especially not in slow traffic on the video.
Contradicing this, Somerville (Article XIII, Sections 13-6 & 13-7) requires bicyclists to use bike lanes and to yield to motorists turning right. For good measure, 13-6 tells motorists to stay out of the bike lanes, creating the right hooks (hence the city’s need in 13-7 to hold bicyclists responsible when motorists are required to drive unsafely in 13-6).
I’ve read that the drafters/council knew this contradicts state law and standard traffic practice but approved it knowing it would likely not be legally enforceable – it is difficult for bicyclists to fight it even if it is not legal.
In essence, bicyclists can ride legally (in the bike lane, set up for right hooks and dooring) or safely (in the lane with cars that aren’t going any faster than they are), but not both if they ride at traffic speeds.
To do this safely, the driver should have merged into the bike lane (violating 13-6) and the bicyclist should have left the bike lane and passed the motorist on the left (violating 13-7).
Practically, I’m not sure posters would be as sympathetic to the driver if he did it deliberately, or if he had done it to a motorist. Neither is hypothetical – a woman tried to push me off the road to make a left turn from the right lane in Philadelphia. She told me there were too many cars in the left lane to merge and she thought she could run me off the road more easily than the cars. 10 mph traffic was too slow for her to complete the move. Without profanity I told her the law and to learn to drive. I did not call police, I did not think they would care at all.
I don’t know Ian’s history. I do know I see similar problems with the bike lanes in Philadelphia. I found it much easier to ride safely and avoid right hooks, dooring, and make left turns using the regular lane when I lived and rode in Somerville (including Beacon St) before bike lanes (in the 90’s; traffic was no better then). I don’t see how these lanes help if Somerville & police always consider bicyclists at fault (tell bicyclists to ride more carefully and must always yield).