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Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 2:50 pm - by Guest Commentator. Filed under: Community.
Here's a sign that's needed in South Philadelphia
By Dan Pohlig
Tom Skerritt had a great line in Top Gun that I’ve borrowed on many occasions when I need something other than “he went to the well once too often.” When breaking the news of Goose’s death to Maverick (and if you don’t know who these people are, c’mon on!) he says, “You fly jets long enough, something like this happens.”
Well, you ride bikes in South Philly long enough and something like the picture above (taken after I was able to pry the wheel out of my front fork) happens. Let me first say, in case you care, that I am perfectly OK.
Apparently I’m made of some sort of strong stuff or I just bounce really well because aside from three pronged cut on my ankle where it was driven into my front gears and a tender back today - which just as easily could have come from incorrectly picking up the cat yesterday - I am fine. And the bike made it through in relatively good shape as well. A horribly mangled front wheel and a slightly bent but probably not fixable back wheel were the only things damaged on a bike that was rescued from the trash in the first place.
I also must make a few mea culpas before getting into details of the actual incident which happened yesterday morning around 9:00 a.m.
For one, I wasn’t wearing a helmet. I had become rather cavalier about the whole helmet thing and was pretty darn lucky not to have landed head first yesterday.
Two, I had been riding on the sidewalk. The crash took place about 50 feet from my front door at the intersection of 12th and Dickinson. As is my usual route, I started by coasting slowly along on the sidewalk until I got to the corner, at which point I intended to take to the street once I cleared the parked cars.
Intersection of 12th & Dickinson (looking north from 12th st)
My third mea culpa is that I was also heading north on 12th which is a one way street going south. Yep. I usually go about half block contraflow until I can take a quick left on a little side street and make my way to 13th where I can enter the flow of traffic heading north.
Ok. So while I wasn’t exactly riding like a Boy Scout, nor was I one of the holy terrors that so many pedestrians and drivers lament when they point out the worst examples of cycling protocol. The sidewalk was clear of pedestrians at that time and 12th Street was clear of cars for at least several blocks which would have given me plenty of time to make it to the street where I make my left.
Unfortunately, I didn’t quite make it that far. As I cruised to the intersection of 12th and Dickinson, I looked west and saw a white mid-90s sedan approaching and slowed down to a near stop.
Assuming (my other mistake - assuming) that the car would follow the vehicular code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and come to a complete stop at the stop sign - yeah, yeah, South Philly, I know - I started pedaling my way through across the cross walk to the north side of Dickinson.
It was about the point when I was between the car’s passenger side headlight and the center of its grill that I realized it wasn’t stopping. It just rolled right into me. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, allowing me time to brace myself as the car made contact with my bike, pedal, wheels, etc. and push them out from under me. WIth the lower part of me going right, my upper part pitched left and I caught myself with my left arm on the hood of the car.
At that point, the driver finally.. you know… saw me, and stopped. Thank goodness or I may have gotten a free ride to the Delaware Avenue big box retailer that employs her. The conversation went something like this:
Driver: “Are you OK? Do you require medical attention?” (Honestly, that’s how she talked. I think she’s been in this situation before.)
Me: “I think I’m OK. Why did you hit me?” (At this point I was wondering if she just didn’t like the color of my bike.)
Driver: “I’m sorry. I didn’t even see you there.”
Me: “I understand. I was right in front of you. I see how it could be tough to me miss me.” (Remember, I’m 6′4″ on a very large RED bicycle.)
Driver: “I was looking up the street to make sure no cars were coming.”
Me: “OK. But generally before you go forward you want to make sure you are looking forward.”
She made her way to the other side of 12th and told me that she gets paid on Friday and would call me to see how much she owed me for the damage to my bike, which at the time I thought only needed a new front wheel. I’ve since figured out that the back wheel is fried as well. I gave her my number and thinking that I really have no way to force this woman to pay me, nor did I have the time or energy to get the cops and insurance companies involved since I wasn’t hurt and the bike, as I said, cost me nothing, I simply said, “if you do the right thing and call me, then you do.”
As she was getting ready to get back in the car and head to work, I reminded her to please, please, PLEASE stop at the stop signs, or at the very least look both ways before rolling through them or at the very, VERY least be looking forward when you drive so as not to hit the people DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF YOU. I’m convinced that given how slow I was going on the bike at that point, if I had been a pedestrian it is just as likely that I would have gotten hit.
Although the car was just coasting (Dan estimates maybe 5 mph) it's amazing to see the damage a slow car can inflict
So now the frame of my beloved red Schwinn hangs in my backyard as I try to locate some cheap replacement wheels (27 x 1 1/4 if anyone happens to have a front and rear) and figure out if my rear derailleur (that’s fancy French bike speak for gear shifty thingy) is also damaged.
Until then I’ll be riding a Mongoose to work. Literally. I’m riding a small, cat-like carnivore now. No. It’s actually a freebie given to me by a former WHYY colleague when the last expensive bike I’ve ever had got stolen from it’s locked up parking spot AT A CHURCH.
And I’ll be watching out for those cars like Captain Hook ever vigilant of that crocodile that wanted to finish him off.
Anyway, Cars 1. Bike 0. Cyclist, still in the game - and back to wearing a helmet.
(editor’s note: A different car/bicycle accident occurred early this morning in South Philadelphia. This incident has left the bicyclist in critical condition)
Dan Pohlig is a contributing writer for It’s Our City. He is a former WHYY staffer having served as chief blogger for The Next Mayor website.
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Last summer I was hit head on at 4th and washington by a woman in a mini van making an illegal u-turn. I did need medical attention and in my pained stupor agreed to let her take me to the hospital. Once there and she saw that I was attended to, she gave me her phone number so I could call her and tell her how much she owed me. She then left before the cops arrived and gave me a fake phone number. I hope she didn’t hit anyone else and I hope karma comes back to bite her.
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:45 pm
“As I cruised to the intersection of 12th and Dickinson, I looked west and saw a white mid-90s sedan approaching and slowed down to a near stop.”
That leads me to assume that while you were approaching the intersection, the car was as well. Who got there first? While you’re “crusing” she’s slowed to a “near stop.” If she was the first to enter the intersection, she should be the first to leave.
Traffic codes apply to more than just cars. I live in South Philadelphia too and I can’t remember if I’ve *ever* seen a cyclist come to an honest to goodness, no forward motion stop. I sure see a lot of them swear up and down on blogs like this and PhillyBlog’s forum that they stop every single time they see a car, but I’ve never seen it as a pedestrian or mass transit user.
I’m glad you didn’t get hurt, but seriously, the guy admittedly breaking two laws who probably rolled a stop sign while not wearing a helmet doesn’t have the right to be a pompous dick when a woman taps him.
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:54 am
Please go to http://www.RoadGuardian.com to mark the spots of these cycling incidents so other cyclists can learn where the danger spots are located.
Thank you,
Joe
jo@roadguardian.com
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Hence all my admissions. Patrick, I’m sure you’ve read other things that I’ve written on this site about how I feel about the relationship between cars and bikes and pedestrians. Car yields to bike yields to pedestrians no matter what the circumstances… no matter what the laws say. We can disagree on that but since her choice of transportation could literally kill me, I don’t think it’s too much to ask. Regardless of that… car looking forward when moving forward should be a minimum requirement.
As for how I acted to her, I’m sure there are plenty of folks who ride in that neighborhood who would have been MUCH less courteous than I was. I never raised my voice, nor took an angry tone. I have to say, all things considered, I was quite nice about it.
But thanks for your input. I’m glad this post sparked this discussion.
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Dan,
The ironic thing to me about this situation is that it seems like this woman was actually driving like a cyclist! She, as many cyclists would on a quiet morning in South Philly, was rolling through a stop, scanning down the one-way to be sure no one was coming. And while a roll-through is neither safe nor legal, neither is riding from the wrong side on the sidewalk. Legally, I would say you’re both to blame. But, personally, I’m going to side with the woman on this one because, well, you’re a well-informed, cycling, blogging, local-politics wonk who should know to walk his bike to the next street that’s heading the right direction! The best way to avoid getting hit by cars is to ride like you’re one of them.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:25 am
I know exactly what Dan means by the driver moving forward when not looking forward, because I find that I have to constantly check myself on this, too. It’s a very unsafe habit. While I’m scanning left and right, a pedestrian might’ve started to cross, a child could’ve suddenly run out, or a cyclist might not have been following the rules! So I think, Dan, that it was appropriate and necessary that you pointed that out to her. I’m sure that the driver and you have both learned something from this experience. And I’m really glad that you’re OK.
Did she call you yet to offer to pay for your bike?
July 24th, 2009 at 10:36 am
To give the driver some slack - if I understand the bike and car positions, the bicycle was riding from the wrong direction even if the road was 2-way and entering the crosswalk at possibly faster than pedestrian speeds. So as the driver approaches the intersection she might check, briefly, in the bicyclist’s direction for pedestrians and doesn’t check again as there should be no cars or other faster vehicles coming from that direction. Meanwhile, the bicyclist enters the intersection. Also, by riding in the sidewalk onto the crosswalk the bicyclist is actually harder to see than if he had been riding further out in the street. So unless the driver was explicitly looking for wrong-way bicyclists riding in the crosswalk it is unlikely she would she the bike until he was right in front of her.
She shouldn’t of rolled through the stop, but in that area that have 4-way and 2-way stops at nearly every intersection and everybody, bicyclists and cars alike, treat them as “slow and yield” rather than stops.
I really can understand riding out my door onto the sidewalk until the intersection or whatever. I’d probably do the same. But I can also see the difficulty of the driver seeing you in these circumstances. As is typical, this collision is caused by multiple errors on both the driver’s and bicyclist’s part, but I would say the bicyclist is the one who really set up the accident by popping out from an unexpected direction.
July 27th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Still not bending on this folks. Car yields to bike yields to pedestrian. Of course, I’m never going to put this rule into action again since the consequences for me when encountering a driver who doesn’t share this philosophy are clearly more dire for me than for the driver. Also (to go off topic, slightly), I do notice a TON of drivers who do subscribe to this theory and are perfectly willing to yield to me even though they clearly reached an intersection before I did. I’d say over 70 percent of drivers that I’ve encountered in this situation wave me through without making my come to a complete stop.
@peteathome: Again, “legal” definitions notwithstanding, how much physical energy does it take for a driver to come to a complete stop then go forward compared to what it takes for a cyclist to do the same? In many cities, the slow and roll is actually legal for bikes. And the fact is, that the driver absolutely did not look to my side because I was very nearly at a stop before I went down the curb cut and into the crosswalk. I was actually at the intersection before she was and assumed (again… big mistake) that she would come to a stop. No dice.
@angela: Nope. No call. Oh well. Next time I’ll just have to get the authorities involved.
Again, sorry folks, not bending on this one so you’re going to have to continue to be annoyed at me and I’m going to have to continue to wear my helmet and watch out closely while I bend the rules of a motor vehicle code that, like everything else, is auto-centric and makes few if any concessions to the physical differences between bicycles and cars. Geez… never realized I was so militant about this.
July 27th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Dan,
Last night, at an emergency meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association Board, your membership was revoked in a unanimous vote following a brief review of the bicycle incident documented in your blog. In the view of the Board, you have brought shame to Harvard by furthering the perception that Harvard alumni, while being intellectually superior, lack the common sense God gave a horse. You should be Crimson with embarrassment.
George Birds
Acting Chairman
Harvard Alumni Association
July 27th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Ha! That’s fantastic but I wasn’t aware that there was a perception that Harvard Alumni are intellectually superior. And I’m sure there are Harvard Alumni who have been far bigger embarrassments to Fair H than I have been.
But very, very funny all the same. Go Crimson!
July 27th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Dan,
Indeed, here are a few from our files (based on the following from a 2007 Harvard Crimson newspaper blurb it appears the Board may have rescind last night’s vote!):
Harvard graduates Theodore J. Kaczynski ’62, the Unabomber, Jeffrey K. Skilling, former CEO of Enron, and Eugene N. Plotkin ’00, a former Goldman Sachs employee indicted for insider trading, have at least one thing in common.
Along with several other notorious alums, all three are listed in the post.harvard.edu alumni directory, entitled to receive invitations to class reunions, and allowed to make donations to Harvard.
Harvard officials declined to comment on specific cases, but accccording to Andrew Tiedemann, Harvard’s Director of Communications for Alumni Affairs and Development, and John P. Reardon Jr. ’60, the Executive Director of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), Harvard does not discriminate among alums on the basis of criminal convictions or allegations of human rights violations.
All alumni receive equal privileges, regardless of alleged misdeeds.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
From the perspective of a motorist, I still have to agree with Dan. Because my car can inflict more damage to a cyclist (or pedestrian) than vice versa, I do the yielding. It’s not a question of who’s in the right or wrong, but how to make sure everyone on the road is safe, even if it means yielding to an annoying cyclist. So, no matter how many rules have been broken by the cyclist or pedestrian, I still drive protectively of them. And because I’ve been driving in the city for a while, I know how some cyclists can behave, so yes, I should be super vigilant and consciously looking out for rule-breaking (and law abiding) cyclists, the same way I’m on the lookout for children who might suddenly run into the street. It’s just something that city motorists should be doing.
That said, cyclists also have the responsibility to ride safely. While there are degrees of unsafe riding, Dan’s experience shows that even small shortcuts can lead to an accident. Just because cars should always yield to cyclists doesn’t mean that some accidents are not the fault of cyclists, and others do suffer the consequences of those mistakes.
I do appreciate your sharing your experience, Dan. Hopefully, all of us – motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians – will become more conscious of how to keep each other safe on the road!
July 28th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
One last thing before I let this thread unravel (or ravel?). We’ve all had a pretty good discussion and a healthy debate here and even a few laughs. But in the end, no matter what our positions have been, I doubt that any of us seriously wish anyone else to come to harm.
So all remember what the common enemy is here: guns.
Anyway, I suppose Alan will be wanting me to write something else up soon. Until then…
July 30th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Dan,
It’s good to hear you are ok. maybe the person that hit you is the daughter of the 75 yr old Main Line granny that hit a young cyclist with her Volvo and drove off.
No blaming the victim, but please don’t ride the wrong way on a one way street. you are really asking for it when you do it. I wish the police would issue fines for cyclists that do it. i ride all the time in the city and never do, because when i’m driving cyclists coming at me going the wrong way are distracting and endangering themselves. And don’t assume anything from motorists - just like in the classic video game Frogger, you will always lose.