A man was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries Tuesday morning after colliding with a van at Pike and Boren.
According to police, he was riding eastbound westbound on Pike (which is uphill) (UPDATE: Commenter X below said the man was traveling westbound) when he collided with the side of a van traveling south on Boren at 6:20 a.m. The incident is under investigation.
UPDATE 4 PM: Capitol Hill Seattle reports that the man is in Harborview’s ICU in critical condition.
While the specifics of the collision remain unclear, Capitol Hill Seattle reports that there have been several recent collisions at the intersection of Pike and Boren. A woman was struck by a car at the intersection in February. Her injuries were minor. Earlier this month, a cab and a police cruiser collided. All injuries in that incident were minor, as well.
Last year, we had a good conversation on the blog about what a safer Pike/Pine would look like. The corridor is one of the most heavily traveled by people on bikes, but it is also among the most dangerous. It’s also among the most dangerous for people walking.
Biking and walking is vital to life on Capitol Hill. Residents walk and bike to work in unprecedented numbers, and street life is vibrant and unique due to all the human interactions that occur when people walk and bike where they go. Protecting and encouraging biking and walking in this corridor is not only the right thing to do for the sake of protecting lives, it’s also vital to encouraging the neighborhood street life to continue to flourish and grow.
As the city takes a serious look at creating a safe north-south cycling facility in downtown, we should consider dramatic improvements to Pike and/or Pine as an east-west route at the same time. Imagine modern protected bike lanes on Pike, 2nd Ave and Broadway. Seattle would really start looking like a 21st Century cycling city, and the number of people cycling would go climb through the roof.
Comments
18 responses to “Person biking seriously injured in collision with van at Pike and Boren”
I wonder what Seattle would look like in a Vision Zero world.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/05/chicagos-ambitious-plan-zero-traffic-fatalities/2117/
It pains me that, to the best of my knowledge, absolutely nothing has been done in the U-District to address the dangerous on-street conditions that led to Robert Townsend’s death.
I almost got creamed this morning at Pine at Boren when a guy decided that his turn across the bicycle lane was more important than almost hitting me. He yelled at me for him cutting me off!
Were you absolutely obeying ALL laws?
I witnessed and gave a statement.
You are wrong: he was Westbound, going downhill, quite fast.
Car was going southbound, uphill.
Bike hit car in the side and smashed out the windows.
Thanks for the update. The SPD Blotter post said eastbound, which seemed odd to me. I called and asked if it was an error, but they couldn’t say. I’ll fix it in the story.
Do not take my statement to infer blame on either side. I heard but did not see the moment of collision.
I saw biker before he entered intersection; he went by me just up the street on Pike.
He was going fast, but not fast enough for me to think it was unusual or reckless at the time.
It’s a blind corner. Be careful, everyone.
I see dudes on bikes (I suppose technically they are cyclists) bombing down capital hill all the time and I find myself shaking my head and thinking to myself.. “one of these days, that guy is going to pay for that wreckless behavior.”
I will pray for this guy as much as I pray for the many others who are wreckless on their bikes and hopefully, this kind of thing won’t happen again.
If they were “wreckless,” they would have nothing to worry about.
What is “Bombing”? Like going above the speed limit (I believe it to be 30 at that point)? I seriously doubt that was happening, you have to ride pretty quick to get to that speed. It isn’t reckless to ride at or below the speed limit. It would be very reckless to ride through the intersection against a red light, but I doubt any cyclist would intentionally do that at this intersection (even those damn dirty lawbreakers on fixies). Maybe the van either ran a red light or was turning right off Boren onto Pike and didn’t see the cyclist. In that case, the cyclist could be considered somewhat reckless if he hadn’t been using lights (this did happen in the early morning after all) or maybe the van driver was reckless by not looking before turning. We just don’t know what happened, so lets not call anybody reckless until we have some facts. Mmmkay?
Leif, I’m probably a little older than you at 67. Having been an active cyclist since age 19, we’re not talking semantics here. We’re talking common sense and safety. Speed, however you want to define it, kills. And, it doesn’t matter who might have been reckless, whatever that means to you. When cycling, it’s best to be safe AND prudent, don’t you think? Sure, going lickity-split downhill is fun, but it shouldn’t be challenging. If it is, you’re going too fast. Reminds me of a 21-year old woman who was doing just what it described in the article, only in my neighborhood, West Seattle. Her end story? She died at the scene after broadsiding a van that pulled out too far beyond a stop sign. Fault? Does it matter? Moral of the story — if you want to be lucky in life, and make it to the ripe, healthy and intact old age of 67, ride like your life and limbs depend upon it. After all, one of the chief benefits of cycling is sustained healthier living, not pretending like you’re in a destruction derby. If you want to be the figure eight champion, better have your wheelchair bought and paid for as a consequence; or your funeral plan kept current.
The woman hit in February is a friend of mine. I am pretty sure she was at Boren and Pine though. Also, her injuries were not minor. She didn’t die, but she broke her leg and couldn’t walk for a long time.
Please, no “protected bike lane” on 2nd. In fact, we’d be ahead by ripping out what is already there. It’s not hard to keep up with traffic and hit all the lights going downhill and hugging either side is just asking to get creamed by someone turning off or onto 2nd.
maybe not for you — but it’s hard for ME to keep up with traffic. Please do create a protected bike lane downtown, designed so that drivers are prevented from crashing into me when turning. The present configuration with bike lanes on the left of car lanes and no controls on turning traffic is terrifying.
Does anyone have information on the cyclist’s condition beyond yesterday (5/29) afternoon?
Does anyone know how/if SPD has concluded their investigation?
These investigations often take weeks or months.
Leif.. I didn’t say I saw THIS guy bombing down the hill so don’t let that take you to crazy town.
The speed limit is the limit, not the speed you should be riding/driving at. You need to go at a speed you have control of your vehicle. If the car in this situation ran a light, then that driver is responsible. If the cyclist is at fault (ran a stop) and didn’t have control of his bike to avoid the collision, then speed along with the violation contributed to what happened.
So “bombing” down a hill is going fast and unable to control the bike if it’s necessary to make a quick stop or course correction. The guy in the story said he saw this riding going fast so it is possible this is what happened.
This is a public message board so if you don’t like to read things that offend your loyalties, then perhaps this isn’t the place for you to be?
Chris, you wrote this: “I will pray for this guy as much as I pray for the many others who are wreckless on their bikes and hopefully, this kind of thing won’t happen again.”
You are implying the person in this story was being “wreckless” (sp). That is a big assumption and I’m just pointing out you shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
I have no loyalties to cyclists who ride in a way that endangers themselves or others. I do have loyalties to the truth and facts, so I guess you did offend those (though I disagree that I was acting crazy in any way).
And yes, I’m very aware that the comments section of this blog are a psuedo-public forum, which is why I read your assumption and implication, took issue with it, and wrote a retort. If it offends you to have your assumptions and implications judged for what they are, then perhaps this isn’t the place for you to be posting them?
P.S. – As a courtesy for other readers, please reply to comments by clicking the “reply” link directly below them. This ensures they are nested and makes it easy for those who want to skip this kind of thing. Thanks!
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