I had to head downtown today to go to the local newspaper. So on my way there things were alright. It was a bad hour (morning rush) but people slowed down and moved over, one guy even decided to just remain behind me despite allowing him enough space to pass.
Then downtown. I’m always cautious when riding, but extra cautious downtown. Narrow streets, lots of parked cars and people crossing any and everywhere.
It is because of being extra cautious I’m posting this right now.
At Geneva, St. Paul and Queenston (a terrible intersection, but never had an issue before), boom.
Well before the boom I should point out a few things.
- I was stopped at the red, waiting.
- Two cyclist coming the other direction used the scramble pedestrian crossing to proceed through (not sure if this is legal, but something I might start doing here).
- MY light turned green and proceeded through.
One car turning right went through the red, then without even batting an eye to he left, the boom kicked in.
Woman hit me and I fell off, fortunately it was a low speed collision. I got up within a split second (more worried about he running me over).
I’d also hope this is why no other motorist stopped to see if I was alright, but thanks to the two pedestrians waiting across the street who were more then willing to help.
I think she probably thought when I went to her window she thought I was going to kill her.
Unfortunately because I was in a hurry, I just let things pass. I got up with only a small scrape on the right hand and a dime sized bruise on the thigh.
I DID have my camera rolling which would have made for an entertaining watch, but the impact shut it off and the file didn’t save properly.
So if that wasn’t bad enough, on my way home I had to stop into the Fairview Mall. Geneva Street was too busy to cross so I pulled into a plaza parking lot, to cross at the lights.
Unfortunately the video below doesn’t show what happened clearly, but when the camera moves quickly to the left, understand that it’s because of a car…going through a red light.
To say he was in his own world is an understatement. I swear I was completely invisible, because he didn’t bat an eyelash at me.
He would be a prime example of having yearly testing for people of a certain age, as he was easily in his 70’s or 80’s. The woman who hit me was in her 50’s or 60’s.
Oh, you know how people use the “cyclists run red lights…” bit always. I swear I’ll slap the next person who says that upside the head, because it was two motorists that nearly killed running reds.
Must be something in the air here today.
Yikes sorry to hear about this! Glad that it didn't end up being super awful... Is this your first time being collided with? I guess I'm lucky, haven't had any yet.
ReplyDeleteJust google maps'ed the intersection. Wow you weren't kidding that was an awful intersection. Interesting, in street view, one of the businesses there at the time of photographing appears to be a law office specializing in traffic tickets.
And where are the bike racks on these streets? I've seen a few bikes in streetview, but they have to lock to parking metres and no-stopping sign.
When I stop and think about it, it really could have been much worse. Fortunately she wasn't travelling fast (15-20km/h tops).
ReplyDeleteIt is the first time this has happened to me. Although I suspect most bike/car collisions go unreported in this city, the ones that are reported ALWAYS end up with the cyclist dead.
Any incident on a bike before were just annoyances (close passes etc.), or when I started riding -- in the winter I didn't adjust to the conditions and went flying in parking lots from slipping on ice.
As bad as that intersection is, people who have lived here long enough (should) have no issues.
Also good point, noticing that lack of bike racks.
When I had to head to the newspaper building, my first thought was where to park. Fortunately a large TD bank building is next door with a bike rack.
Most of the downtown's bike racks are within 150 metres of one another. The library a few years ago added more bike racks (has about 4 + 1 underground). Pretty well across the street is the new parking garage, which has covered parking now for bikes, and outside both city hall and the farmers market there is a bike rack.
Even the bus terminal (across from the new parking garage) only has "wall" bike parking, which means you have to lift your bike up onto the wall for it to hang. For my two bikes this is impossible as they would never fit since I have front carriers/baskets.
When it comes to the rest of downtown, trying to find parking is tough as the only option are sign posts. I'd probably say the parking metres here would be off limits to parking.
I'll probably do a post on parking downtown in the late Spring or Summer. That way I can head down early morning when it's quieter (and warmer), and check out every little nook and cranny for bike racks :p
Some post(s) about downtown would be neat. Not just about biking, but the town in general would be interesting to read about.
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