It has happened again. Another woman was hit by a car while crossing a road here in Fort Wayne. She was riding her bicycle on the Pufferbelly Trail when it happened.
This is the second such incident in less than a year. The first victim died in the crosswalk. This rider suffered life threatening injuries. Of course, the driver was not ticketed.
The video below is local news coverage of the first incident. They cover the proper procedure for trail users and motorists at these trail crossings.
I have crossed these same roads many times. They are dangerous in my opinion. I don’t know what the answer is. Trail users certainly need to be careful and not be lulled into crossing the road if someone stops to let them do so. Motorists are not suppose to stop to allow trail users to stop if they are still over at the side of the road. They greatly endanger the trail user when they do this. It is much safer to just waive the motorist on and wait until there is no traffic before attempting to cross. All too often other motorists don’t stop and then these horrible accidents happen. I have a hard time calling them accidents. In my opinion there is no excuse for motorists to attempt to go around a stopped vehicle at these crosswalks. When they do this they are guilty of murder as far as I am concerned. Of course, they usually get away with it.
In the video below I am riding the Pufferbelly Trail. Starting at about 3 minutes 17 seconds into the video I am coming upon Carroll Road where the woman bicyclist was killed last year. At the very end of the video I come up to Wallen Road where this latest incident happened. The trail ended there back when this video was made (2016) but since then it has been expanded a few more miles southward.
Be very careful at trail crossings. Don’t be a victim. Everyone needs to learn what to do and what not to do in order to safely cross roads. The life you save may be your own. We all want to …
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
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What a terribly tragic story. Thank you Steve for pointing out the details of this occurrence and explaining the reasons for it. Quick decision making and reasoning are vital in such a situation, particularly if a motorist is trying to encourage you to cross.
To solve this problem at that crossing, perhaps speed bumps combined with large warning signs and flashing lights might alert motorists about “invisible” trike riders due to their low profile, unlike more elevated bicyclists. Additionally cameras could also give better clues to traffic engineers for designing a safer intersection.