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This Could Be Our Skyline, In a Couple of Decades
This just in from the SFBike mailing list.
Does anyone know if this guy is OK? No Darwin jokes please.Park Station Officers responded to Divisadero and Golden Gate Ave with regard to a injury accident bicycle versus vehicle. The officers contacted the bicycle rider who stated he was riding his friend's "track bike" that does not have brakes down Golden Gate Ave. The bike is stopped by skidding. The rider was skidding down the hill when the bottom bracket broke. The rider said he attempted to lose speed by "Fred Flinstoning it," straddling the center bar and dragging his feet on the road. The rider was going fast and he ran through the red light. The rider turned right on Divisadero, unable to stop, he hit the center median and catapulted over his bike and into an oncoming truck. The rider was transported to SFGH.
So, anyone see what went down? Is the rider OK? No offense aimed at fixed-gear riders or "hipsters" (an aside: unless you too are sharp enough to put a modicum of thought into that you wear in the morning, please don't poke fun at hipsters, people; not everyone needs to dress like your office's autistic IT guy), but you need to be careful on the road, fixie types. This brakelessness sounds ever so dangerous. Really, we fret.
Also, creationist humor only in the comments, please.
Also plus, tonight is Critical Mass. You've been warned / have fun.
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This went down a couple of days ago right? My friend saw the whole thing from her apartment window. She said he got loaded off in an ambulance.
OUCH.
Any word on whether a HELMUT was involved?
Perhaps he was dressed in Lang?
The only known accoutrements were Newton
His laws, at least, were obeyed.
Well played, sir
Well played!
I just asked her. She said no helmet. :(
Good Lord.
- no brakes down Golden Gate Ave with NO helmet?
I've biked in this City for years...and this is tragic
BUT WHAT THE FUCK WAS HE THINKING?!
No brakes in a city full of hills? Um, what did he think was going to happen?
"Thinking" appears not to have been involved in the equation.
The California Vehicle Code requires that all bicycles have brakes. I hope the dude is OK - I really do - but once he's out of the hospital he had better get a SERIOUS traffic violation for this. I am thinking failure to maintain his bicycle in safe condition, running a red light, and reckless driving to start.
"We are traffic" cry the fixie riders! So fucking act like it and bike safely. Dude could have killed someone else, easily.
Perhaps after he pays the ticket (cash please) he should do a community service announcement aimed at his fellow fixie riders. Someone who has survived a wreck like this might be able to speak with a little bit more authority on the need to think, just a little bit, about safety.
@AJ: You are incorrect.
21201. (a) No person shall operate a bicycle on a roadway unless it is equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make one braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement.
A Fixed Gear drive train satisfies this legal requirement.
O RLY?
I wonder if this has been tested in court. Many, many fixie cyclists are NOT able to stop in a timely fashion.
Brock, when we talk about mainstreaming people on the autism spectrum into society at large, I'm not sure this is what we meant. And if it is, I'm not sure I like it. Still, awareness is awareness...
this unfortunate incident proves the theory of intelligent design, as a monkey would have enough common sense to ride a bicycle equipped with brakes.
Oh, and also... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQgAMkMmsfg
http://www.bittermancircle.com/my%20images/BeatDeadHorse.gif
This person was not smart. That block of golden gate is steep, and after that light Golden Gate is one way, 3 lanes, timed lights beauty.
Normal, intelligent bicyclists wait at the top of the block for the green light, then let gravity pull them down to Divis just in time to make the light and they easily stay with the flow of traffic through all the other lights to Gough. They do NOT just barrel down the street with a red light at the bottom.
This is also why it's sad that the bike messenger died on Fulton below Alamo Square park. Instead of testing his luck with a raggedy mix of lights and stop signs and two way traffic, 2 blocks over there is a perfect 100% even downhill 3 lane timed light street without too many cars, even during rush hour.
Excellent points all SteveIst.
Yeah, the timing of those lights is pretty understandably predictable. Even for someone that is new to them. In any event I hope the person hasn't been hurt too badly.
I walked by a little while after. Saw a white truck stopped on NB Divis, and the bike was leaning against the light post, front wheel bent. The SFPD was still talking to (I assume) the driver, but no one else was really around. FWIW, I didn't see/notice any blood anywhere.
What was he thinking? Looking down a steep hill with 4 lanes of cross traffic at the bottom without brakes? Somewhere around the middle of the hill, staring death in the face, I would have jumped off the bike and crossed my fingers about the number of bones I would break skidding on the asphalt to avoid entering Divisidero.
Normal members of God's creation time the light, only leaving the top of the hill when the light will be green at the bottom when they get there, and let their momentum carry them through the remaining perfectly timed lights all the way to Gough.
It's a good thing Fred Flintstone doesn't live in San Francisco. Would you want a giant rock with wheels and no breaks running down the street into an intersection? Would be a disaster.
*gets brilliant idea for next Burning Man Precompression*
Are the words "Fred Flintstoning it" in the official Police report? Do hope so. But I'm confused, I though "Fred Flintstoning it" meant "banging the Wilma" as in...y'know.
Note to self: not everything they do in cartoons works in real life.
Wait, really? I was going to try this later...
Wait, really? I was going to try this later...
Jesus, SFist, now you're just trolling.
Oh, and hey, it's working swimmingly. So keep up the good work.
I didn't see the accident, but I sure heard it - and ran to my window to see what was going on. When I saw the bike mangled on the ground in front of the truck, I grabbed my mobile with one hand, grabbed my orange safety vest out of my closet (yeah, yeah, i keep an orange safety vest in my closet - they're hawt!) and shoved past my landlord to get down to the intersection.
When I got there at first it looked like the cyclist was ok, but it turns out that was someone he was riding with - someone said that the injured cyclist was pinned under the truck and they said his head under the wheel to some degree.
And even though traffic was backing up, cars were still pushing past. Having been hit by a car before, I know it's frightening as hell to think that some frustrated driver would cut over into the lane you were flattened out in after passing the car that hit you, so I put on the orange vest and hightailed it down to McAllister and Divis and tried to keep traffic from going that way. Most drivers were cool, but some I had to actually block or yell at to get to turn.
And the ambulance/firetruck were on scene super quick... but I stayed down at that corner for about 10-15 minutes before a cop drove his car down to block the intersection - he actually had to cut off one of the two cheesedicks who refused to turn and went straight instead (yeah, green prius driver, I'm talking about you!)
So by the time I got back to the other corner, the ambulance was gone and the officers were taking statements and measurements and all of the other post-accident goings on... But there were some people standing on the corner who saw the cyclist when he was in the ambulance and it looked like he wasn't doing too well on his neurological exam... but then again, he was riding a bloomin' fixie down Golden Gate, so one might not expect him to do too well in the first place.
But seriously, I hope everything turned out ok. There was another cyclist with him, so somebody out there must know exactly what happened...
yea, exactly what happened is
rider one: "dude! we gotta get goin, grab yo helmet and lets go!"
rider two: "that helmets gonna mess up my look man! besides any accident i get into will be the fault of the driver, cause i'm a cyclist and therefore god"
rider one: "but dude...the hills!"
rider two: "let em try and beat my master skidding!"
hill one: "you asked for it..."
we're dyin to be fashionable
Um, why do these bikes have no brakes? Doesn't state law require any moving vehicle, and bikes are included in this, to have brakes? I hope that SF police department charges him for reckless driving.
I think that all these bike riders should check this site out and realize these bikes are illegal if they are used on a CA street:
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21201.htm
I am starting a new trend, removing the brakes from my '08 Escalade. Instead of breaking, I'll just turn the wheel really fast and flip it on its side to slow me down. I mean, srsly, what can possibly go wrong?
Hope the rider isn't more brain damaged than he/she was before they decided to ride down a steep hill with no brakes.
Yaba daba do!
Best wishes to the rider--even if you do ride a bike with no brakes!
I was crossing Bay St yesterday, on my bike, and narrowly missed being hit by a minivan who never bothered to slow down or acknowledge a red light. I had the green. This one was way too close.
Be careful out there.
I am no friend of fixies, but the problem here is not that the bike had no brakes. It had a way of stopping (however inefficient and difficult to use), which is backpedaling or skidding. The real problem is that the bike hade ONLY ONE way of stopping. As this incident shows, it's good to have two completely separate braking systems, in case one fails. I had a brake disintegrate while riding downhill on Polk and the thing that stopped me from being the guy in the article was my other brake. Many fixie riders have a front brake on their bikes, which is a very sensible thing to do. All others are courting disaster. It doesn't matter how skillfully you can skid. You are unprotected against equipment failure. If your chain / bottom bracket / welded freewheel etc. fails, you will be SOL.
"The officers contacted the bicycle rider who stated he was riding his friend's "track bike" that does not have brakes down Golden Gate Ave."
the fact that the officers were able to have a conversation with him makes me pretty optimistic about his prognosis.