Bicyclist Killed in University City Crash with SDPD Car
Posted By Thomas Bahde on November 9, 2009
LATEST: From the NBC7 broadcast news, we learn that the bicyclist was likely moving left across the southbound lanes of Genesee Avenue to turn left onto Governor Drive when he was struck from behind by the police cruiser, also traveling southbound, apparently at the posted 45 m.p.h. Because the police car was traveling at non-emergency speeds, lights and siren were not activated. The officer stopped at the scene and called for emergency medical assistance.
UPDATE: We learn from NBC7 that the police car was traveling without lights or sirens and that the bicyclist was heading southbound on Genesee in the bike lane before moving to the left. We do not yet know whether the bicyclist was attempting to turn left onto Governor Drive, and we do not know in which direction the SDPD cruiser was traveling, or the rate of speed. We also do not yet know whether the bicyclist entered the intersection with or against the light.
A bicyclist was killed this morning when he was struck by a San Diego Police Department cruiser in University City. The crash occurred in the 3900 block of Governor Drive at the intersection with Genesee Avenue. According to SignOnSanDiego, the bicyclist was struck when he made a left turn directly in front of the patrol car. The police officer involved was responding to a call, but it is currently not known whether the car had its lights and sirens activated, or how fast it was traveling. We’ll stay on top of the story and update as soon as there is more information.
See coverage of the story at SDNN and SignOnSanDiego.
I’ll reserve final judgement for when the whole story comes out, but this statement seems very, very curious:
“[Detective] Wall said the bicyclist was coming up the hill and was making a left and ‘drove right into the oncoming car.’”
So, if the cyclist was coming up a steep hill at Genesse, he must have been going about 5 miles an hour. And this cyclist “DROVE RIGHT INTO” a speeding patrol car? In both discourse and physics, this seems impossible. Difficult situation. Sad for everyone.
This was in the neighborhood I live in and I ride my bike through that intersection just about every day. Very sad day for our community, and I’m still waiting to hear if the victim is someone I know.
Like everyone else, I have a lot of speculations about how it could have happened, but I’ll keep those to myself until the report comes out.
This is known as a very dangerous intersection, probably more so for peds, and is one reason a lot of people in our neighborhood drive very short distances to “the other side of Genesee,” especially if they’re taking their kids somewhere. Maybe this will be the catalyst to finally get something done to fix it.
–Larry
This is such a sad story.
We agree that it’s best to reserve final judgment until more information is made public.
However, considering what we know now, almost 14 hours later, it seems that the police officer did not see the cyclist. The cyclist was hit from behind even though a cyclist is legally allowed, under California law, to be in the left lane and left-turn lane if that is the right-most lane which serves one’s destination. Once in that space, traffic law is supposed to function under the ‘first come, first serve’ principle. Approaching traffic must yield to the road users ahead, regardless of speed.
This officer did not yield to the cyclist ahead. As a result, the cyclist sadly died there in the street after being struck at a speed which SDPD Traffic Division claims was 45mph, the exact posted speed limit.
If the officer had seen the cyclist, the officer most likely would have yielded (even if the cyclist was in the right lane, at the time), and would have and should have “played it safe” by turning on his/her lights and sirens on to alert the cyclist.
That didn’t happen.
This death also says something about the urban design of the UTC area and also driving culture in an auto-dependent society.
Larry, your statements about Governor and Genesee being such a dangerous intersection that people feel unsafe walking or riding across Genesee with their kids is very interesting, hard-hitting, and sad at the same time.
It’s sad that people must live in neighborhoods w/ such dangerous, auto-centric streets.
Can you believe that one of the largest University of California campuses is nearly a mile away from the ‘very dangerous [auto-centric] intersection’ where a cyclist was killed today? The urban design of UTC and La Jolla is resembles anything but a “college town.”
Traffic engineers, who would more appropriately be labeled ‘automobile traffic engineers,’ have had their way with the UTC area. The automobile traffic engineers have designed this area and most areas in San Diego for motorists first and pedestrians and cyclist last. The many UCSD college students and faculty and families who live in this area have been denied a safe neighborhood. Why is the speed limit on this road 45mph? It should be 25mph.
One huge and deadly problem w/ driving culture in our auto-dependent city is that many motorists don’t expect to see cyclists and most motorists don’t know that cyclists are allowed to ride vehicularly; so, many motorists may not anticipate or be prepared for a cyclist turning left since they think cyclists belong “over there” in the gutters.
Cyclists are everywhere. Motorists need to learn that.
And traffic engineers need to leave the ‘motorist first, pedestrian/cyclist last’ design philosophy for freeways.
Police Officers should be ambassadors for safety. It’s sad that this officer was not one. A cyclist died as a result.
It seems as though the cyclist victim was in the left turn lane, preparing to make a left when he was hit by the squad car. This may not be the case (we’ll find out, maybe), but the thought if it is reason enough to pass the Idaho Stop Law — I almost always turn left on a red light if its clear, as I don’t like standing in the middle of the intersection like a sitting duck, waiting for a straying texter to slam into me fore or aft at 45 mph.
Sounds to me that the most likely scenario is that the cyclist changed lanes to get to the left turn lane without checking if there was overtaking traffic behind him. I get lazy, occasionally, too. I imagine I’ll be less lazy now…
For me, a helmet-mounted mirror helps a great deal in always knowing what’s behind me.
[...] art show starting Saturday. Maybe they really are out to get us: Police cruisers kill cyclists in San Diego and the D.C. area. The Examiner notes that white people aren’t the only ones who bike. Starting [...]
Cyclist need to stay off the streets.
Folks, don’t feed the trolls.
Zero-Emissions and Esteban,
This intersection in particular has been the subject of a lot of community debate. I’m sure some of the intersections like La Jolla Village Drive/Genesee might be just as bad, but this is the one with which I’m most familiar.
A few years ago I was on a committee studying transportation issues in University City, and it was amazing the way the whole conversation was steered by city staff toward automobile Level of Service. Z is right that pedestrians and cyclists are completely left out of the picture. Those of us advocating for more consideration for cyclists and peds just didn’t have the expertise or the language to attack the holy grail of LOS for autos. I’ve learned more now about complete streets and I wish I had been armed with this knowledge back then.
As far as this particular accident, there’s still a lot of confusion, including a new eye-witness account, but I’m fairly certain Mr. Freeman wasn’t in the southbound left-turn lane when he was struck. He may have been starting a lane change motion to get over there from the bike lane, and this new eye-witness account has him turning from eastbound Governor to northbound Genesee (a maneuver I make on my bike all the time).
-Larry
I live in the neighborhood & my husband went through the intersection about 20 min after the accident, so we’ve heard a bit about it & seen the process during removal of the bicyclist. A few points: 1) the speed limit “is” 25 mph at this time of day (7:30 am). There are many children going to school at this time of day. The elementary school on the corner (Curie Elem) starts their jogging club at this time of day, for example. So the 25 mph should have been in force “when children are present” (which they were). 2) no emergency or ambulance did come to the scene. Only the coroner’s van. My husband thought this was strange, considering one usually comes in this kind of event. 3) If the bicyclist was crossing the lanes, travelling uphill (on Genessee), he would certainly have been going very slow since its a big big hill. Many cyclists struggle up the hill only to realize that they need to get over to the far left lane to wait for a left turn signal (if they’re traveling left at the intersection). Just a few thoughts.