How To Almost Kill Someone: Right Hook Edition

If 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.

Tweet

Great Commute Video

pleasant commute from lucy Martin on Vimeo.

Puke warning…if you can handle it though this is a SWEET commute video. Guy commutes from the top of the mountain (where the shop is) to the bottom (his home). I am guessing the ride to work is probably less exciting.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet