A sad, tragic incident on our Cedar River Trail.
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From: Kevin Milosevich
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 1:34:17 PM
To: Council; Jay B Covington; Denis Law; Terry Higashiyama;
Gregg A. Zimmerman; Alexander Pietsch; Larry Warren; Mark Peterson;
Nancy Carlson; Iwen Wang; Preeti Shridhar
Subject: Pedestrian-Bicyclist accident update
Auto forwarded by a Rule
The pedestrian from yesterday’s accident on the trail passed away.
Renton Police Department
Media Release
On April 18th, 2010 at 4:47 pm the Renton Police Department responded to a bicycle vs. pedestrian collision on the Cedar River Trail approximately a quarter of a mile east of Hwy 405.
The initial investigation revealed that an 83-year-old female was walking eastbound on the Cedar River Trail and that two bicycle riders were also traveling eastbound behind her and off to her left side. As the bicycles began to pass the pedestrian she stepped in front of them and was struck by one of the bicycles. The cyclist and the pedestrian were both knocked to the ground as a result of the collision. The 57-year-old male bicycle rider was treated at the scene for minor injuries. The female pedestrian is a Renton resident and was transported to Harborview Hospital in critical condition with head injuries.
The Renton Police Department Traffic Division responded to the scene and is investigating the incident.
Commander Paul Cline
Patrol Operations Division
Renton Police Department
I hope this doesn’t lead to more restrictions on the CR trail against bicyclists. While it is a sad ending. It is one fatality in how many incidents or years? There is an excellent chance the bike rider could come out on the worse end because they have farther to fall. Any more restristicions would only force bicyclists onto the city streets thus endangering them and causing additional problems for motorized vehicles.
Recently a cyclist struck a runner on the Lake Young’s trail. Cyclist was cresting a hill at high speed. Runner ended up in Harborview with severe injuries. Cyclist claimed runner jumped in front of him. That’s just crazy. What probably happened is both moved the same way, and collided head-on.
Some cyclists are going way too fast for conditions. They are whizzing on crowded urban trails, and can’t stop or avoid collisions. Not all of them call out “to your left” or whatever when they pass. And some pedestrians don’t yield, because they are hard of hearing, listening to music or are generally oblivious.
Some of the cyclists are simply a$$hats. I think the cyclist should be cited for going too fast for conditions. Sure it was a clear, sunny day, and he treated the trail like the velodrome. Now a woman is dead.
Another possible remedy is to separate faster, wheeled traffic from pedestrians. Green Lake in Seattle has this – a solid line down the middle. Not everyone follows the rules, but more do than don’t.