this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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This sucks all around. Sad for the cyclist who was killed, for the driver who has to live with it, along with the other riders.
How could a cyclist not understand inattentional blindness?
As a motorcyclist, this is one of the first things you learn in class - other people don't see you because they don't expect to see you.
Assuming others see you is like planning to make this situation happen.
I've had drivers not see me and I have a really annoying headlight flasher with other lights up front.
It's my life on the line, I never assume other drivers see me - even when they look me in the eye. Ive seen too many mistakes, and avoided (so far) all of them.
Why would you not expect to see other road users at an intersection? You would expect to see a car, why not a cyclist?
Because everybody on the roads are complete idiots and you should always drive accordingly. Don't trust blinkers "I had it on from the previous turn", don't trust lack of em, don't trust someone slowing down to let you pass "oh I wasn't letting them pass (and anyways regular drivers cannot 'give you right of way'). Don't trust cars at crossings - people pass when others have stopped. Lower cars can sometimes not see you because of the edge of the car door / the thing that the windshield sits in. Higher cars can not see shorter people or kids.
At the end of the day, cars are 2 ton machines that go at very high speeds, a cyclist is basically 80kg + the weight of the bike. Same in trains vs cars.
It's worthless to have "he had right of way" written on your tombstone.
I mean you're making a lot of assumptions about the situation here. The only piece of context the article provides is that they were at an intersection (doesn't state what kind), the cyclists were already going through and "she just came right across and split the group."
It doesn't say if there was a hill for the oncoming traffic which could have caused them not to see the car before the group began to cross. It doesn't say that the cyclists all saw the car and decided "you know what we have enough time let's just go." It doesn't say she was on her phone (though that is what my assumption is).
What we know is that she, intentionally or not, killed someone because "she didn't see them." How could you possibly fault a group of 10 people for this?
Editing to add: Your argument is all about trust. You can trust or not trust anyone to do anything and all that does is increase or decrease your chances of a critical outcome like this. I ride very defensively and very visibly. Safety vest, front and rear cameras with lights, the works. At a certain point the only thing I can to do increase my odds of not getting hit while riding is just not riding my bike, which is not an option for me or many other people.
I'm not making any assumptions or speaking about this specific situation. I'm saying this as a general rule.
You are quoting something that I didn't say in my comment. It wasn't even remotely close.
I'm sorry, that was the top level comment user. That's my mistake.