Be careful biking with your family

[Anonymous]

I see people biking recklessly on Capitol Hill every freakin' day with kids. The latest was a guy with a tiny toddler (not even 2, I don't think) with no helmet on himself or his baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Road biking is so, so dangerous. I wish our roads were more bike-friendly, but they're just not.

They were biking on a bike trail. They were simply crossing a street, at pedestrian speed. They waited for traffic to stop and then entered crosswalk. They should have been pretty visible with bike and colored gear. Assume black suv was on phone.

No, they weren't going at pedestrian speed. And even if they were - would you let your 4 year old walk ahead of you in a cross walk across such a pedestrian unfriendly street? I don't think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t seem like an appropriate road for a family bike ride with such a little biker. Maybe they’re only on it for a very short distance to get from their house to a quieter street or a trail, but cars go pretty fast, there are hills and curves, no bike lanes. Yeesh.

Did you watch the video?? They were on a bike trail. Simply crossing the busy road to return to the trail.

They should have gotten off their bikes and walked. 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t seem like an appropriate road for a family bike ride with such a little biker. Maybe they’re only on it for a very short distance to get from their house to a quieter street or a trail, but cars go pretty fast, there are hills and curves, no bike lanes. Yeesh.

Did you watch the video?? They were on a bike trail. Simply crossing the busy road to return to the trail.

They should have gotten off their bikes and walked. 100%.

Why do you think it's safer to walk your bike across a road than to ride your bike?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is so scary!! The diver was 100% in the wrong.

At the same time, bikes should be WALKED across traffic lanes. Is this not a thing anymore? Her parents should have also accompanied the small child across the road.

If the plates are legible, can the police ticket the car?

Honest question here - how does walking a bike across a crosswalk make it safer?

It's a good question. I grew up "knowing" this and I still do it today as an adult. I thought it was becuase when you are walking you are going slower and are not darting in front of cars. I googled and this is what I read:

https://exchange.aaa.com/safety/bicycle-safety/on-the-road/#.W74qRRNKiRs
"Walk your bike on pedestrian crosswalks and overpasses. This gives you the right-of-way as a pedestrian. If you ride your bike across crosswalks and overpasses, you may not have the legal right-of-way."

I kept googling. I may be wrong about walking the bike? Second set of eyes needed for below:

https://www.roads.maryland.gov/index.aspx?PageId=357

When riding on a sidewalk, where such riding is permitted, or a bike path, a bicyclist may made ride in a crosswalk to continue on their route. Motorists are required to yield right of way to a bicyclist operating lawfully in a crosswalk at a signalized intersection. (TR §21-101, §21-202, & §21-1103) look for bikes coming from both directions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is so scary!! The diver was 100% in the wrong.

At the same time, bikes should be WALKED across traffic lanes. Is this not a thing anymore? Her parents should have also accompanied the small child across the road.

If the plates are legible, can the police ticket the car?

Honest question here - how does walking a bike across a crosswalk make it safer?

Because it's slower, so it gives cars more of a chance to see you and yield. And it's easier to control a small child walking than a child on a bike already in the middle of the intersection.

[Anonymous]

I’m going to blame the parents here. First, they should have waited until it was clear. Next, dad should have seen that the SUV was coming. The kid should not have crossed until dad got to the the other side, so he could tell her it was safe to go. When Mom crosses the street, she never looked to the right. Did she not learn something seconds before? They are lucky they all didn’t get run over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is so scary!! The diver was 100% in the wrong.

At the same time, bikes should be WALKED across traffic lanes. Is this not a thing anymore? Her parents should have also accompanied the small child across the road.

If the plates are legible, can the police ticket the car?

Also, I notice that the dad crosses the road while the intersection is not clear.

True. And, the video starts several seconds before the car arrives at the crosswalk, so you can tell that there is a fairly decent stretch of straight road approaching the crosswalk. That SUV driver had plenty of time see the family ahead, but the parents also had plenty of time to see the SUV approaching and to make sure it was actually going to stop.

Which they did, and that's the only reason the child isn't dead and the driver isn't facing a vehicular manslaughter charge.

No, that vehicle had to already visible to mom when the little girl started to cross. She shouldn’t have even been in the crosswalk until the SUV was clearly stopping.

You don't know the vehicle was already visible to mom when the little girl started to cross. Visibility was limited by the stopped car, and that SUV was going really fast.

If visibility was so bad, then even more negligent for the parents to let her cross alone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This car was 100% at fault. You can nitpick a hundred different ways the parents could have been even more cautious to prevent this, but the car was driving recklessly and almost killed a kid.

You can see they are all trailing each other. Dad doesn't realize how far back the little one is, the girl doesn't slow down enough before she enters the cross walk. Mom sees the car and does almost jump off her bike but would have been way too late. It was about 3 or 4 small things that if NOT there, would have kept this from being so close. Yes, I'd make sure the kid knows to never enter the crosswalk without stopping at the side first and getting the go-ahead from mom or dad. Yes I make sure my kids are next to me, with an iron grip on their hands when we walk across. But I still do not blame the parents at all here.

The car was driving recklessly and should be ticketed.

Absolutely agree. There was a stopped car to the SUV's left. It was incredibly reckless for the SUV driver to blow past a stopped car without understanding why that car was stopped. I hate people who don't notice their surroundings when they drive. It's happenned to me in parking lots before. People suck.

[Anonymous]

Mother of the year candidate right there.

Instead of being next to the kid while crossing she's literally 2.5 lanes away with the kid out in front of her. Dad was an idiot too, he just peddled away obliviously, instead of staying in the road to be visible.

Both are complete dumbasses. CPS should investigate their home, God only knows what other hazards there are. These are probably the same people who leave loaded handguns laying around.


Some people shouldn't be parents at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This car was 100% at fault. You can nitpick a hundred different ways the parents could have been even more cautious to prevent this, but the car was driving recklessly and almost killed a kid.

You can see they are all trailing each other. Dad doesn't realize how far back the little one is, the girl doesn't slow down enough before she enters the cross walk. Mom sees the car and does almost jump off her bike but would have been way too late. It was about 3 or 4 small things that if NOT there, would have kept this from being so close. Yes, I'd make sure the kid knows to never enter the crosswalk without stopping at the side first and getting the go-ahead from mom or dad. Yes I make sure my kids are next to me, with an iron grip on their hands when we walk across. But I still do not blame the parents at all here.

The car was driving recklessly and should be ticketed.

wtf? you just listed 10 things the parents did wrong, then concluded the driver was 100% at fault?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Road biking is so, so dangerous. I wish our roads were more bike-friendly, but they're just not.

They were biking on a bike trail. They were simply crossing a street, at pedestrian speed. They waited for traffic to stop and then entered crosswalk. They should have been pretty visible with bike and colored gear. Assume black suv was on phone.

No, they weren't going at pedestrian speed. And even if they were - would you let your 4 year old walk ahead of you in a cross walk across such a pedestrian unfriendly street? I don't think so.

What I wouldn't do:

1. Drive at 35 mph (or faster) in a turn lane, as though it were a through lane.
2. Pass a stopped car at a very-well-marked crosswalk.

The second, especially, is a terrible idea. It's called "multiple threat", and it kills people. I don't want to kill people when I drive.

Also it's illegal (see MD Transp Code § 21-502 (2017)): (c) Passing of vehicle stopped for pedestrian prohibited. -- If, at a marked crosswalk or at an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, a vehicle is stopped to let a pedestrian cross the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear may not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle.

The transportation department responsible for the road should narrow the road to one lane each way at the trail crossing, to eliminate multiple-threat crashes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, you never let a small child cross a street alone, the taller parent should have dismounted and walked the child across. Yes, the car seems reckless too but they couldn't see the little kid behind the vehicle in the turning lane. So lucky!

But if the child got hit, would the car be at fault? I don’t see why it actually would

Striking a child in a crosswalk???? Yeah. Driver at fault.

I can't believe that someone with a driver's license actually does not KNOW that pedestrian/biker in the crosswalk always has the right of way, always.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This car was 100% at fault. You can nitpick a hundred different ways the parents could have been even more cautious to prevent this, but the car was driving recklessly and almost killed a kid.

You can see they are all trailing each other. Dad doesn't realize how far back the little one is, the girl doesn't slow down enough before she enters the cross walk. Mom sees the car and does almost jump off her bike but would have been way too late. It was about 3 or 4 small things that if NOT there, would have kept this from being so close. Yes, I'd make sure the kid knows to never enter the crosswalk without stopping at the side first and getting the go-ahead from mom or dad. Yes I make sure my kids are next to me, with an iron grip on their hands when we walk across. But I still do not blame the parents at all here.

The car was driving recklessly and should be ticketed.

wtf? you just listed 10 things the parents did wrong, then concluded the driver was 100% at fault?

Not that poster, but yea, the SUV was 100% at fault. Yes, the parents could have been more cautious, but there is zero excuse for the SUV to blow through that crosswalk without ensuring it was clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is so scary!! The diver was 100% in the wrong.

At the same time, bikes should be WALKED across traffic lanes. Is this not a thing anymore? Her parents should have also accompanied the small child across the road.

If the plates are legible, can the police ticket the car?

Honest question here - how does walking a bike across a crosswalk make it safer?

Because it's slower, so it gives cars more of a chance to see you and yield. And it's easier to control a small child walking than a child on a bike already in the middle of the intersection.

I've crossed a billion roads as a pedestrian and a bicyclist, and I've never felt safer on foot than on a bike.

Also, cars don't see anybody. People driving cars see people - if the people driving cars are even looking.

In contrast to the two drivers in the video, the small child didn't seem out of control to me.