This is ridiculous: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/257260.php
To sum up this tragic story in short, a teenage boy was riding his bike to school this morning on one of the most frequently traveled cyclist routes in Tucson. He was headed southbound, going straight, and a school bus was making a right hand turn. The teenager was pulled under the rear wheel of the bus and killed. First off, my thoughts go out to his family and friends. Second, I feel the need to rant about this for a minute.
In addition to this particular incident, I have witnessed this happen once before – on the exact same road. The incident was not quite identical, but similar. I was riding with a group of cyclists from the University of Arizona. We were headed northbound, going straight, and a school bus – from the same school district – was making a right-hand turn. There were about 10 of us, and we were lined up at a red light in pairs. The bus pulled up next to us – I might mention that we were at the light first – and since there was no oncoming traffic, the bus proceeded to make the right-hand turn. It should be common knowledge to bus drivers – and I’m sure it is – that the back of a long vehicle makes a turn tighter than the front of the vehicle. Basic physics…plus, we have all seen the graphics on the back of semi-trucks. So the bus makes the turn, and in the process, manages to roll over the rear wheel of the guy standing next to me. The frame of the bus rolled over the top of his rear wheel sucking the bike under the bus. He literally grabbed on to me and managed to pull his bike out from under the bus. Although his wheel was ruined, fortunately, we all were unscathed.
The bus driver was completely oblivious.
This exact same thing happened to a friend of mine at the beginning of this summer. Her entire bike was pulled under the bus in the exact same fashion, and as she was trying to wiggle out from under the bus before the rear wheel rolled over her, the screaming passengers and people on the sidewalk managed to get the bus driver to stop.
Now, my point in this rant is not to bash on bus drivers. The last thing I want to do is create any more animosity from motorists towards cyclists. However, this situation needs some attention. Let’s face it, there is a social bias against cyclists. I don’t care what kind of cyclist you are or what kind of motorist you are, there is animosity. Even when a cyclist gets behind the wheel of an automobile and has to deal with pain-in-the-ass cyclists who don’t follow rules of etiquette on the road, that cyclist-motorist gets pissed. Now imagine those motorists who are not inclined towards cycling, any cyclist on the road is liable to make them angry, even if that anger is not justified. I’m clearly pointing out the obvious to most of you reading this, but as cyclists, we need to be aware of this every single second we are on the road.
Bottom line – ride defensively, ride smart, and don’t ride like a jerk…but the audience on Missing Saddle, probably already knows that. I guess what I am saying is that maybe, if experienced cyclists who know the rules of the road use good etiquette and ride defensively, maybe those cyclists who aren’t so experienced at dealing with traffic will pick up on it. Probably not, but I can dream, right?
I’m all for teenagers riding their bikes to school, and it really sucks that incidents like the one today in Tucson make that an unrealistic expectation. It’s dangerous out there, but remember, power in numbers. The more cyclists on the road, the less motorists, for one. And two, the more cyclists on the road, the more likely motorists will more frequently be on the lookout for cyclists. Because today’s tragedy was not an issue of animosity, but simply an issue of attention – or lack thereof – to one’s surroundings. Next time, I’m gonna let the bus go first or ride out into the intersection and look that bus driver in the eye, because I know that even my bright pink spandex kit is not flashy enough to draw attention to me all of the time.
Ride safe out there.
