After Florida – plenty of room to move a bike lane inside on Pershing
Broken leg results from collision between car and bicycle
By John P. Anderson
Tuesday afternoon a cyclist was hit on the north-bound Interstate 5 onramp from Pershing Drive, on the south side of Balboa Park near Downtown. The San Diego Police Commander’s Log offers the following details:
Incident: 20049
BegDateTime: 02/11/14 16:15
EndDateTime:
Beat: 531
Watch Commander: OFFICER DELIMITROS
Location: FLORIDA ST/PERSHING DR
Neighborhood: GOLDEN HILLType: SERIOUS INJURY ACCIDENT
Synopsis: An 18 year old HMA was riding his bicycle in the bike lane on westbound 1700 Pershing Dr. He swerved into the path of a Nissan 4 door driven by a 38 year old HMA. The bicyclist suffered a broken leg. Traffic Division is investigating.
My wife is a regular bicycle commuter from North Park to Downtown and was heading the opposite direction on Pershing Drive at about 4:45 PM yesterday. Riding in the bicycle lane she was nearly hit by a vehicle that attempted to make a right turn around her while she was crossing the intersection.
Continuing up Pershing to the intersection with 28th Street she was nearly hit a second time when crossing the intersection adjacent to a vehicle and a turning vehicle came around the vehicle she was beside. Upon her return home, thankfully safe and sound, she was very agitated and upset. Not only had she nearly been hit, twice, but in the first incident the driver had also angrily pointed, yelled, and given her an angry glare – clearly communicating that the cyclist was the one at fault and to blame for the near collision.
Intersection of Pershing and Florida
I’ve written previously about the potential that Pershing Drive has as a safe route for all modes of transport and the currently extremely dangerous hazards it presents to cyclists and pedestrians. Yesterday’s serious injury underlines the hazards and could easily have been a fatality instead of a broken leg.
I offer this personal anecdote primarily for readers that may not ever ride a bicycle. Until you’ve been on the road and experienced the heart-pumping, high-stress experience that riding on most of our streets is you probably don’t realize how scary a passing car or near collision can be. Perhaps this view into one person’s daily commute can help spread empathy and remind us to be a bit more considerate of our fellow San Diegans.
I hope the City of San Diego will take actions to make this route more safe for all with physically separated space for cyclists and pedestrians. If you drive on this road I’d also ask you to take a few extra seconds, slow down, and keep an eye out for other cars, cyclists, and people on foot. I would greatly appreciate it and I’m sure those on the road will as well. That is, excluding your fellow motorists that may find a slower speed an inconvenience and honk at or tailgate you.
John P. Anderson
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Sadly, it is every man (and woman) for himself. The laws in our state and city say that bicyclists have the right of way butthe perceived elevated inconvenience for motor vehicle drivers seems paramount when it is 1/2 tons versus 200 pounds (or less) and a simple foot on an accelerator versus all your leg strength to keep the pedals moving and thusly the bike too. There are few places where the bicyclist has a real realm to utilize while riding on the paved roads of San Diego. The city of Coronado does it right wherever they can. But San Diego City proper does less than the bare minimum to keep the right of way clearly identified and protected. One can see a representative pictorial sketch of a bicyclist drawn (painted white) on several roads but what does that accomplish? Just a futile attempt to alert drivers that a bicycle may be on the road. These pictorial reminders carry no weight either in law or real life and when I am riding on the roadways it seems that drivers are more apt to try and race by you so they can turn right immediately in front of you at an intersection rather than grant some form of patience and wait until I have passed safely through the intersection. Then there are those who can’t seem to wait to turn right from a side street and even after seeing you coming dash out into the intersection so you have to slam on the brakes and hope you don’t get rear ended by a car from behind or fall over on the street whilst avoiding the CAR that had no right of way to begin with doing the turn. And , then there is the dreaded left turner coming at you at an intersection that can’t wait for the slow moving bicycle to pass through so they will turn left, right in front of you, with no regard to how you will deal with the dilemma of stopping or veering away from their newly placed impediment to your safety and health as they fail to yield during the left turn. Should the police ever take a break from writing tickets to cars for money generating reasons and actually patrol the streets for drivers not yielding to bicyclists as demanded by the law, we frail human two wheeled, non powered, pilots are and will remain targets for the drivers of motor vehicles. The only deterrent is official well marked and separate bicycle lanes and an elevated awareness by the public as to who actually has the right of way at all times and that the penalties for running a bicyclist off the road or causing a crash that was needlessly created by the car and driver becomes a financial burden on the perpetrator. Too bad this is what is required but it is about time that bicycles (and the riders of such) gain the status of a protected species and not left to the whims of the careless and reckless that are in such a hurry that the life and health of a mere rider never enters the equation as worthy of protection or even consideration from the driving public. The new 3 foot buffer zone that the state legislature passed is a start (but also doesn’t go into effect until way later in the year, for some unknown reason) but what is being done to educate the populous? Nothing! And so the danger continues and will only escalate until the rider and bicycle gain the priority that they deserve and need to safely gain passage on the thoroughfares of our (and every other) city.
Dana – thanks for the thoughts and I hope that we’ll all see improved road conditions for all travelers in the near future, if even in small and incremental ways. BikeSD and the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition are doing good work in many different ways to promote the rights of bicyclists and pedestrians and I think we’ll see increased momentum in 2014 and 2015 as a result of their efforts.
Hopefully Pershing Drive will be a route that sees increased focus and changes on the ground.
This might be a good time to remind folks of the recent update to the vehicle code that requires at least a three foot distance when passing cyclists. This may not be as much of an issue where there are bike lanes, but it’s important to remember for situations such as turns at intersections.
Thanks for highlighting that, Rak. This law was pushed for (and failed in the past) and is a big step forward. 3 feet isn’t a lot of room and it’s not likely that drivers will be receiving tickets under this law in any sort of frequency but having the protection of law when there is an issue is a big deal.
I’m a recreational cyclist, so I don’t have to take the shortest, quickest routes and can avoid the fearsome realities of on-ramps and drivers made impatient by narrowing of the lanes on urban streets with paths.
And so long as this country pursues its fossil-fuel path to oblivion we’re going to need center islands dedicated to pedestrians and bikes, even dedicated overpasses and on-ramps. We need narrow connector bridges over canyons like Florida Canyon so that cyclists can use safer roads like First or Fourth Avenues to get to and from downtown. Road rage seems to have become a social disease that is not going to go away. Survival of biking and bikers seems to require their separation from the insanity of over-fueled transportation.
I know I am preaching to the chior, but, it will be quite a revelation if Faulconer gives this issue even a nod in future road improvement developments and on the current streets that are so woefully lacking. I see other priorities in our future and the mere citizenry will be on the bottom of the dreaded totem pole again. At least Filner gave this issue some prominence and visibility. Todd G seems to be ambivalent at best. We’ll see and let’s keep their (his, K/F) feet to the fire.
I drive on Pershing drive often, and it can certainly be a dangerous place. I do also hope that it can be a safe corridor for transportation to downtown for all modes of transportation in the future. That being said, for all the bad drivers there are plenty of bad cyclists. Those who run through stop signs and red lights can cause drivers to panic. People behind the wheel can get nervous when a cyclist is on the road near them. I don’t believe anybody wants to get into an accident and hurt someone. I believe that bikes are part of the future of San Diego, but so are cars. We need to work together to find safe bike routes that ease traffic congestion and offer protection for the cyclists.
Sharing the road works both ways.
Separate them, as much as possible. The roads are built for cars,
not bikes.
Souonds good, but in the meantime…….
Good or bad, cyclists still have the right of way no matter the situation. Short of just running a red light or attacking a car head on or being in the middle of the road and failing to stay to the right as best one can (given the circumstances of a car door opening or merging traffic, etc.) bicyclists are the ones who get the short end of the stick and it is incumbent on all motor vehicle operators to grant special attention and sufficient room for them to proceed in all instances. There is no other excuse for a bicycle mishap except lack of caring on the part of the CAR driver and the perceived “ownership” of the roadways by entitled CAR drivers who don’t think bicycles are allowed on “their highway”…
See, that sounds like exactly the kind of thinking that gets people hurt. Legal right of way doesn’t change the fact that if you choose to be on a bicycle, you are in an extremely vulnerable position. You should ride defensively. I’m not saying you don’t, most people do. I’m also not trying to point fingers, but relying on legal right of way isn’t going to save your life. And right of way isn’t going to address some areas of the city where bicycles and cars shouldn’t mix and alternative pathways are clearly needed. (one that jumps out in particular is washington st between 5th and 8th)
I work near the Ft. Rosecrans cemetery on Catalina Blvd. While once past the unmanned gate there is a bike lane, the stretch of Catalina between Cannon and the unmanned gate there not only is no bike lane, there is not even enough room for cyclists to not block traffic. The lanes are very narrow. The riders basically have to ride in the middle of the lane. While they may have the right of way, that often is not a saving grace for them. In the 4 plus years I’ve been working up there I have seen several riders get clipped. I also think it is incumbent on them (cyclists) to consider not riding there during morning or after work rush hours. Despite their legal right to ride there, I consider it rude on their part. If they are new to the area or are riding there during those hours for the first time then I understand. As the saying goes, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Aside from all that it is playing Russian roulette. We can go on and on all way want about their needing to be better laws to protect riders but until that happens I really don’t understand why anyone wants to ride there during rush hour. Hey I ride also but like most riders I drive.
With the DecoBike program coming this summer, changes will have to be made to the bicycling infrastructure in this town. The work Bloomberg did in NYC has been amazing, and I certainly hope Faulconer, another moderate Republican, does the same.
Thanks for bringing attention to that need. If San Diego is to support a bicycle infrastructure and get more people out of cars, that Pershing-downtown connection is an important link, but right now it remains extremely dangerous. I’m an avid cyclist living in North Park, but this can be a tough place to get in/out of, and I avoid Pershing entirely during the morning/evening commutes. And there are actually THREE different needs in a short one-third of a mile at the intersection highlighted in the photo if one is trying to cycle downtown. The first is getting safely across the northbound on-ramp (where cars are already moving at a high rate of speed; seems this is where the accident occurred), the second is getting across the southbound on-ramp (same problem), and the last is getting through the dark curve in the road under the freeway (with an almost non-existent bike lane) until you are safely through. For a cyclist, that’s GOT to be the most dangerous 1/3 of a mile in the city. There are other routes to downtown, of course, but for many people that’s the only one that’s viable and could get them out of cars if it was made safer!
The I-5 onramps to and from downtown at Pershing will kill people. Routing the cyclist across that ramp asks the cyclist to deliberately place the bicycle in front of onrushing cars. This is stupidity. An on-demand stoplight would change that, but there’s not even one of those crossings with blinking white lights for pedestrians that was recently installed on Park Blvd. just south of University Ave.
A LOT of work and decision making has to be done.
This article was a real eye-opener. It’s started another conversation.
Bicyclists and cars don’t mis well, but bicyclists and pedestrians mix great, example The Boardwalk; create Wide Walks along routes of passage, elevated wider sidewalks ,off the motor road, for safer, alternate forms of transportation.. If you build it, they will come…
Wide Walks
I’m a frequent rider here in the morning and evening rush hours. It’s stressful! I would like to start a group for riders on Pershing during rush hour. Meet at the South West corner of Pershing and Upas at 7:30. We ride together to downtown. Safety in numbers! Let me know if you are interested.
I take Pershing into downtown daily, but I don’t hit Upas until about 8:45am otherwise I would join you!
Thanks SDFP for publicizing this story. I have biked this route for 3 years and negotiating those on-ramps during morning rush is a daily challenge. There is truly no more deserving place for a bike bridge than that location.
I’m an experienced, fit, and confident cycle commuter, with 24 yrs of commuting in different U.S. cities. During my first year in San Diego, trying out various routes from College area to downtown, I ventured down Pershing (at the suggestion of the SD city bike map!) and encountered the gauntlet of ramps at I-5. I survived, but I’m flummoxed by why that would be a recommended route. I simply cut through Balboa and hop on one-way 6th Ave. Every city has areas that are high risk for cycling, and part of the reality (and appeal, I feel) of commuting is discovering a variety of (relatively) low risk routes, even if that means a few extra miles of travel. The joy is in the pedaling, but I won’t risk my life for it. We can grouse all we want about bad drivers, but the reality is that some road configurations are inherently dangerous for cyclists, and until they’re re-engineered it’s wise to avoid them.
Amen.
I know this is how the report will be written when I’m hit. They will say that I swerved into the path even though I was already using the path. I never swerve into the path of a vehicle and I don’t know any cyclists that do.