The #BikeWalkNC transportation summit bike ride is headed into the exact same intersection where I nearly met my end two days ago. We have some awesome town staff along for the ride, but those in power are noticeably absent. 🧵
#BikeTooter #WalkTooter #RoadSafety #VisionZero #ChapelHillNC
The Friday morning situation was a classic crosswalk triple threat:
I'm the black arrow in the image, about to enter the northbound zebra crossing with an active walk signal.
The exact moment the walk signal came on for me, 3 other things happened:
1. (yellow arrow) A driver was attempting to turn right on red onto the freeway, completely blocking the crosswalk (I had a thread about this situation a few days ago).
(2/5)
My attention was focused on the first two threats (yellow and green), so I did not notice the third, most dangerous one--the red arrow guy flying up behind me--until it was almost too late.
Thankfully he and I both saw each other in time and we did not collide, but hot damn was that a close call.
(4/5)
To reiterate, I had a walk signal. At the same time, 3 drivers, coming from 3 different directions, were given permission to use their judgement about whether it was safe to drive into my path.
Thankfully we have a local traffic engineer who cares, and he responded to my email about this issue within minutes.
The freeway is owned by the state, so it's anyone's guess if he succeeds in fixing it, but he's giving it a go.
In the meantime, we continue to watch our backs. Literally.
(5/5)
@DrTCombs scary, Tab! When a system leaves mortal decisions to fallible human drivers, it fails all of us.
@DrTCombs your thread makes me think of the book, There are no accidents
2. (green arrow) A southbound freeway driver with a flashing yellow arrow was attempting to turn left onto the sidestreet, focused on finding a safe gap in traffic to squirt through rather than on whether there was anyone in the crosswalk.
3. (red arrow) A northbound freeway driver was flying through a right turn off the freeway onto the side street, using the ridiculously generous turning radius to execute the turn (and thus cross my path) at high speed.
(3/5)