A month has passed since 2 cyclists and a dump truck had a fatal interaction at the intersection of Eastlake and Fuhrman here in Seattle. I went past the site on the way home tonight to see what’s changed in the last 4 weeks. What’s there is mostly paint – painted ghostbike up on the street sign, painted signs on the sidewalk and roadway, and a touching memorial to 19 year old Bryce, the cyclist who was killed.
What is going to make this intersection safer? It only took the 10 minutes I was at the corner for me to see another close call between a car and bike. If history’s any guide, we’ll be lucky to get paint. Unfortunately I don’t think paint would have made any more difference than if the cyclists had brakes (they did), freewheels (they didn’t), or if they were wearing helmets (they weren’t, and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway).
Update: SeattleLikesBikes.org plans a memorial ride for Nov 3rd.
I’ve been a bit disappointed by the local media coverage, and the citizen response. The Stranger’s gone out of their way to point out the danger of brake-free track bikes. The Seattle PI found time to fit in a note that neither cyclist was wearing a helmet in the second paragraph. Both imply that the cyclists were doing something wrong and were thus at fault in the accident. It may very well have been the case that Bryce and Caleb were doing something wrong, but these two facts have nothing to do with the accident. If you want a real chill just read the citizen comments on the PI article (although a read today suggests that the worst ones have been deleted).
World Changing has some good suggestions, courtesy of the author of the flawed Stranger articles. Denny Trimble gets it right on though: what’s Seattle doing to make things safer for cyclists?
The scenario is one of my own personal worst cycling fears: cars turning right at an intersection. Riding a bike lane (as the cyclists were) puts you in the path of danger when an automobile makes a ‘free right turn’. A recent interesting study from London highlights the subtle dangers riding the bike lanes – cyclists who left the intersection while the light was still red were involved in far fewer accidents than those who waited for the green and got creamed by cars turning left (the equivalent of a right hand turn here in the States).
There are 3 ‘infrastructure’ solutions floating around right now: Blue Lanes: Bike Lanes around and across intersections. I understand the safety evidence from Portland is good but I’m still not convinced these are enough. The two cyclists hit by the dump truck were in (or very near) a painted bike lane — I’m not sure how much more paint applied to the lane is going to solve the problem.
I think a more promising approach is Bike Boxes which actually put cyclists out ahead of the lane of traffic in a designated space. This has the advantage of putting the cyclist directly in the line of sight of the motorists rather than counting on them to read the street as well as the traffic lights and signs. In fact, many commuters I ride with take this approach at 34th and Stone Way, pulling our bikes into the left hand side of the right lane so we don’t get creamed as cars try to make a right.
Bike signal heads on traffic lights are another appealing option. The advantages here are again that the motorists can focus on familiar signaling, while the cyclists get a ‘head start’ from the traffic, hopefully moving them out of the intersection danger zone before many cars start to move through.
None of these are perfect, and if you read through the comments on some of the PI articles you’ll see that an option popular among motorists is to move bikes off streets. Presumably they mean on to bike paths or physically separated bike lanes. I’m still on the fence regarding bike paths. The stretch of the Burke-Gilman around the top of Lake Washington is a prime example of some of the dangers of bike paths — driveways and roads cross the path at random intervals allowing ample opportunities for automobile/bicycle interactions.
Segregated bike lanes got some press earlier this year as New York City prepared to add some. Sheldon “Ineffable” Brown has some insightful things to say about the press, and about physically separated lanes. They’re no substitute for educating all roadway users.
My unstudied opinion is that Seattle would do well to adopt Bike Boxes, and a more effective educational campaign for cyclists and motorists. “Give 3 feet” really seems a bit lame — it’s basically imploring automobiles to lend cyclists an extra bit of space, volunteer a bit of extra courtesy. I’d like to see a campaign aligned around “Give me the lane — it’s the law”. Empowering cyclists to use roads as needed to travel safely should go hand in hand with educating motorists that bicycles are actually allowed on the street.
Infrastructure may help, but I can’t think of any way more paint would have prevented the terrible events on Eastlake and Fuhrman. I’m very saddened for Bryce’s family. I sincerely hope the neighborhood council and city will sit up and take some notice of this intersection and other high-conflict areas in Seattle and take some steps to try and reduce the chances of it happening again.
Now that I know what intersection that is, I’ve also nearly been hit there. I car turned into the bicycle lane, and I slide sideways to avoid it.
In Seattle’s bike v. car culture, it’s hard not to take sides and blame. One of my colleagues was on the scene after the accident happened. No helmet, no brakes, and his conclusion that they were racing each other is tough to defend, if it needed a defense.
I’ve said all-along it’s just more bike lanes.
I use the ‘virtual bike box technique’ which means going to the furthest point i can, on the other side of the crosswalk, which effectively blocks the right turners, and is out of the way of people crossing. This only works if the lights red. Now cruising through the intersection is another story; i just assume that the cars around me are TRYING to hit me, or turn right across my path or sideswipe me.
I rode by it this last weekend. Just sheer tragedy…setting aside anything to do with helmets, brakes, and riding, those guys were in the prime of their life. My kid sister is 18 years old and just started at the U. I’d be devastated if she were to gone.
RIP Bryce.
Tai
I turn R at that intersection on my ride home…the concept of going straight through onto the bridge scares the new-to-cycle-commuting poop out of me! Seattle drivers are some of the worst as far as head-up-butt syndrome that I’ve seen anywhere. I used to drive the same corner on my way home and would stop to let bikes go before I turned, more then once the riders actually yelled a thanks as they passed, that is if they believed that I was stopping…don’t blame them, and it probably helped that I had a bike rack on my roof…
I just moved to Dublin, where many intersections have bike boxes, and many roads have shared bus/bike lanes.
The local cycling advocates aren’t happy, for good reasons. But coming from the bike-hell of Midwestern suburbs, this place is heaven.
In my experience, the bike boxes do a great job of protecting cyclists, making cars and trucks aware of their presence, and making traffic as a whole more efficient.
Most cyclists enter the intersection just before the light turns green, which smooths everything a bit more.
Dublin’s cars hardly ever appear to resent the presence of bikes, and move to accommodate us without much aggression or noise. (Which, by the way, benefits the flow of traffic for the cars more than the bikes!)
So the big difference may be the culture and the hostility. I think bike boxes would have the opposite effect if drivers grumbled every time a bike “cheated to get in front” of them.
That said, there were several tragedies this year. I just don’t know enough about the details to make that comparison.
I ride in Green Bay WI. The traffic I am assuming is not quite as busy as Seattle. We do have our fair share of inattentive drivers. I take a philosiphy of they dont see me approach when coming onto an intersection with a car on my left side. There has been more than one occasion when I had to adjust my path for a right turning car. Most drivers see the error of their ways but you do get some cluesless drivers. The other approach I take is when at a red light I take the whole lane. This prevents vehicles from turning right in front me and allows a safer transition for the green. Ride safe and smart. Its not going to get any easier with shorten daylight.
I have been crossing that intersection since 1983 when I lived on Capital Hill and rode down to UW for grad school. I did it almost daily for the past 7 years; now I ride/bus to the eastside.
This is a very dangerous intersection for a number of reasons.
The bike lane is runs along the block where the french bakery and the Flower Lady are; cars exiting that parking garage often pull into the bike lane before they really look to see if anyone is coming. I’ve had a number of close calls there.
When you are stopped at due to a red light, the south bound cars turning left onto Fuhrman get a green light first before north bound traffic does. I have seen at least a dozen cyclists over the years ignore their red light and play dodgeball with turning cars. I just shake my head and mutter about someone having a death wish. It’s just nuts!
When the light does go green you still need to also watch more cars sneeking in their left turn. And you can’t forget the cars on Furman that are making a right onto the bridge as your ride north.
Finally, there’s the issue with right turning vehicles crossing bike traffic onto Furhman. Here and everywhere I always watch the wheels of vehicles when I am riding next to them. I have found it much easier to see tires starting to turn first before you notice the rest of the car.
I’ve been commuting for 35 years on my bike in Boston and in Seattle. Over the years I’ve come up with guidelines that have helped me avoid every being hit by a car.
Always assume that cars don’t see you. Always assume they are out to kill you.
It’s easy to get angry at drivers but remember that many of “us” are sometimes “them” when we use our cars for some reason. And there are plenty of bad cyclists in Seattle riding all types of bikes with and without helmets.
Hey Dave: I’m the guy on the 545 that asked you about your Surly 1x1. Thanks for turning me onto the blog!
If you can get out there and try the dedicated bike lanes do it. I spent time in Copenhagen, Paris and Amsterdam in the last 6 months and the bike lanes are liberating. they aren’t everywhere within those cities but on busy streets like Eastlake they are a godsend. In Amsterdam they come complete with their own bike signals, unbelievable. I too have ridden that section of Eastlake, it is not fun. Furthermore if the city wants to encourage regular joes to bike they need to invest in a bike system (the Paris model is one to watch) and put in at least one dedicated bike path in town, one that is on the right side of parked cars, out of the door zone.
sclark’s mention of Copenhagen reminded me of a large study that published this year: Road safety and perceived risk of cycle facilities in Copenhagen
Here are two quotes from that study:
“… cycle lanes* have resulted in increases in accidents and injuries of 5% and 15% respectively on the reconstructed roads. The worsening in road safety occurs almost exclusively as a result of considerable increase in accidents and injuries among cyclists.” *cycle lane - a part of a road designated for cycles
“… cyccle tracks* constructed have resulted in increases in accidents and injuries of 9-10% on the reconstructed roads.” “A decline in road safety at junctions has undoubtedly taken place after the construction of cycle tracks.” *A cycle track is separated from other roads or other parts of the same road by structural means
IMHO, the root cause lies in the concept. In general, traffic conflicts occur where streams of traffic cross. The separation of traffic into two closely spaced parallel streams approximately doubles the number of potential points of conflict at intersections when compared to a unified (i.e., integrated) stream. For an example (using driveways) of this principle, see figures 3 and 4 on page 3 of SUDAS roadway design manual 5I-2: Limiting the Number of Conflict Points