Collision at 14th and Cherry sends man on bike to hospital

A collision at 14th and Cherry shortly before 9:30 p.m. Thursday night sent a 35 year-old man to the hospital with a head injury, police say.

The details of the collision are not yet clear. Officers on the scene took a report and forwarded it to Traffic Collision Investigators. As is typical in collisions, no citations were issued at the scene, pending investigation.

The man was treated at the scene by medics before being transported. According to the radio scanner, he did not have any other injuries aside from the head injury. We don’t have any more information on his condition at this time.

34 thoughts on “Collision at 14th and Cherry sends man on bike to hospital

  1. People speed through this intersection regularly. There is no room for bicycles to head west on Cherry due to all the parked cars. Hopefully people will think about this and exercise caution when driving through this area.

  2. I fully support biking improvements and am a biker that uses our streets.

    All the money being spent on Sharrows is wasted. The money should be spent on things like: 1) intersection improvements that aid line of site; 2) street paving and maintenance on bicycle corridors – this allows bicycles to focus on traffic rather than Seattles terrible concrete streets. I have to stare down an the road so I don’t bust a wheel, flip over and die. Watching out for cars is an afterthought.

    I don’t understand the City’s pre-occupation for painting things green or labelling them as ‘sharrows’ instead of actually improving the infrastructure. It seems like an easy way to spend a few million dollars and employ low skilled workers rather than a plan to accomodate bike traffic.

    If I tell you I am a nice guy and then hit you in the face with a bat – what counts? Blood on the street is the new green.

  3. Please update if you have any info about the rider’s condition. My coworker suffered a life altering injury due to a bike accident, and I have a family member with a brain injury. It’s horrible. I don’t know how anyone has the guts to ride a bike on the street! I ride on the sidewalk!

  4. MrsD – it’s a common misconception that you are safer on the sidewalk…. but actually you are more likely to be hit – about 25 times more likely…. Crossing side streets or parking lot cuts on a bike from the sidewalk is extremely dangerous. Motorists are not looking for something moving as quickly as a bike on the sidewalk. It is better to learn to ride confidently and assertively on the road with auto traffic – oh and to wear a helmet, not to say that the victim in this accident did not have one on, he may have, nor will I claim that it offers total safety, helmeted cyclists can certainly die from head injuries or other injuries when in a very serious collision, but it sure does lessen the chance that you will have a severe head injury from what may have otherwise been a relatively minor fall.

  5. As a cyclist – commuter, recreational, fitness, errands, racer (so in other other words I spend a lot of time on my bike) I totally agree. I think sharrows and bike lanes that have parking to the right are a complete and total waste of money and can actually make a street *less* safe…. The “bike lane” on MLK is a prime example. Some pig headed motorists think that because it is there that gives them the right to try to force you to use it, when it reality it is way, way to narrow to be at all safe to use without asking to collect a door prize (having someone open their car door directly in your path) The other place that deserves the traffic designer booby prize is the crazy hokey pokey dance at the intersection where Madison, Union and 12th Ave come together OK.. now come down Union going the wrong direction where it’s one way, use the crosswalk, get in the green box and turn yourself around…. and it’s still not signed no right on red, so hope that while you are doing all this someone doesn’t try one….

    I’m with you wish the city would save their money and put it into more useful projects… how about some motorist education.

  6. MrsD

    I appreciate your concern for the bicyclist and bicycling.

    But… Bicycling is an inherently safe and pleasant activity — when it is done well (while recognizing any such activity is not 100% risk free)

    The problem is that bicyclists learn to ride as children but never get the training they need to handle their bikes as adults and upgrade their bike riding to drive with traffic. Some do, and their confidence and safety record is equal or superior to motorists even though they often prefer major streets. But since no-one makes politics or money from training bicyclists, their is no mechanism to promote it so people can be aware of the opportunity of responsible bicycle “driving”.

    Your point about needing “guts” to ride a bike in traffic and the admonishment to ride on the sidewalk is an example of well-intentioned but misguided information. Sidewalk bike riding has always shown higher crash risk than riding in the street where it just takes a responsible approach to learning simple skills. Remember the bicyclist who was fatally injured riding on a side walk about a year ago? I reported on another when I studied Wasington State fatals for a year.

    I plan on taking action on this issue soon to help bicyclists examine and understand their options and I’m planning to announce it soon.

  7. I didn’t admonish anyone to ride on the sidewalk. I just said I do.

    Cyclist can be as safe as safe can be and someone texting in their car is still going to mow them down (and nearly dislocate their head from their body, as happened to one local parent last year). Hence, I don’t think it’s safe. That’s just my opinion. I don’t expect or ask all bikers to agree with me. Speaking of which (I live 1 block off the Lake Wa bike loop so might as well be on it – my street is very heavily trafficked by cyclists), cyclists should stop bossing the cars behind them. Honestly. I come up behind one waiting at the light and I’m turning right. The biker in front of me (this has happened three times!) turns around, pointing to the space between himself and the curb ,and angrily waves his arm like I’m supposed to go right on red, not wait on him. I’m way back, keeping a car length’s distance plus some, perfectly content to wait for the light to change, and not at all wanting to jam my wide car between him and the curb. Ride your own ride, and let me drive mine in what I feel is the safest manner, bossypants.

    Anyhoo, I reiterate, I hope the cyclist ok!

  8. For what it’s worth I’d be really quite irritated if you shoved yourself between me and the curb to make a right on red…. so I’m not on that cyclist’s side… I dislike it period when people come up on my side at stop signs or red lights. Intersections are the most dangerous place for me, so just give me my space.

    I also tend to ignore folks who stop on busy streets (with no stop signs) when I’m on a side street (with a stop sign) and try to wave me across NO! it’s super dangerous to take someone up on that offer. The people behind have no idea why they are stopped, the opposing traffic has no idea why they are stopped… it’s bad all around. The person who is stopped could be rear ended, if you cross in front of them you could get hit. If you wouldn’t stop for a car, then don’t stop for me.

  9. Even a slow cyclist is usually faster than a fast walker…. I almost got T-boned (on my bike) by a sidewalk cyclist once… then again she was running a don’t walk and I had a green, so I *really* wasn’t anticipating her.

  10. “Watching out for cars is an afterthought.”
    -Sharows are not very good tools.

    If that’s true, you need to get off the road.

    Statements like that are why I have very limited sympathy for cyclists. As a motorist or a pedestrian I have the same crap to deal with, except I have to deal with you too.

    I’m all for you being able to do whatever it is you want to do so long as it doesn’t hurt me, but you just being on the road makes the road more dangerous for everyone.

    You should be trained, tested, licensed, taxed, insured, and fined as appropriate. Start paying for the streets you use. Just paying property or sales tax shouldn’t give you the right to ride an unlicensed vehicle on the street with no proof that you know what your doing.

    Collectively start making better choices and stop being so entitled and maybe you’ll one day create a non-confrontational environment from which you can propose, pay for, and receive the infrastructure enhancements you need. You can start by obeying the traffic laws (that means stop at the big red sign that says STOP), and obey the four way stop.

    You are the problem… so fix it!

  11. Point of information: People who bike in Seattle pay effectively the same for the streets as anyone else. See the city transportation and paving budgets here: http://publicola.com/2010/08/31/we-all-pay-for-the-roads/

    And people have a legal right to bike in the streets, and an ethical right to seek improvements to road safety for themselves and others. Perhaps this comes off as entitlement to you (someone who for some reason feels entitled to tell someone else how many wheels their vehicle should have), but it’s just a simple expression of basic rights and being a part of the community.

    Second, the day you can convince every person driving to “collectively start making better choices,” maybe that will be the day people who bike can convince other bikers to do the same. However, people who bike are all individuals making their own choices just like everyone else in the world.

  12. Jeez. And people think I’m a jerk.

    In some strang fashion I think we all agree to some extent that bicycling is made more dangerous by various peoples choosing not to follow the basic rules of the road. Sharrows create false entitlements. Bikes should procede in any reasonable roadway following the rules of the road, and cars should be following those same rules of the road and assume that bikes will as well. We all know this stuff.

    I would guess that Mrs. D riding on the side walk is not the same as me trying to do 20mph on the sidewalk. I try to stick to roads where bikes make sense – 20th Street – not Rainier. On 20th if I try to move at 20mph and 25 downhill, cars should be fine with that. They can pass when safe, but, don’t need to be doing 35+. Due to the wide gaps in the concrete running with traffic near the parking area – Bikes frequently have to be out in the middle of the lane to keep from getting their tires in the gap. And as stated for fear fo doors.

    Biking is not safe at all. I don’t need any stinking training to ride a bike. You just have to be carefull, but, there are a thousand ways for cars to kill you off no matter how attentive you are. Choosing the best routes and having well maintained streets is best. I just think we should spend the money improving the roads. Didn’t mean to start a fight.

    I hope the biker is OK.

  13. I couldnt agree more CD biker. Folks should follow the rules of the road… period! Whether they are on bikes or in cars dont make an exception for me. I’m content to wait my turn so dont wave me across. Its way more dangerous that way. I confess though that the percentage of cyclists I see who blatently disregard stop signs and stoplights is pathetic and a hazard to the rest of us.

  14. The way I see it, the *general* lack of knowledge and blatant disregard for the rules of the road that is pathetic. You really can’t single out any particular road users for this, because it’s across the board. Few people stop properly for stop signs and don’t get me started about those who think it’s right through red, rather than right on red (meaning STOP first…) and folks who think it is acceptable to routinely do 20mph over the speed limit. The thing is it looks bad when cyclists do it, but it’s unfortunately a *bigger* problem when automobile drivers do it, because they have 2+ tons of relatively poorly maneuverable destructive power behind their missteps. It’s certainly not cyclists who kill 400,000 people every year….

  15. I ride to the corner store and back, on a residential block, on the sidewalk. If I get in the street, Lance-Armstrong-spandex-clad ANGRY, speeding cyclists will take every opportunity to yell at me for not going fast enough and thus being in their way as they rocket around a blind corner, or snot shot near me which – honestly – would take my attention off the road while I vomit. My kids found out the hard way that living essentially on the Lake Wa biker loop (1 block off, but everyone thinks my block is on it apparently) means that you cannot even back out of the drive, much less ride a bike, without militants screaming at you. We’ve seen many an accident, and have also been cursed at while trying to help someone who became airborne and landed in our yard (he couldn’t control his temper enough to realize a child was trying to ask if he needed an ambulance).

    Yes, cars AND cyclists can be dopes. Today a car failed to stop at a 4 way stop while I was off to get coffee. Coming back, a cyclist clad in red spandex was weaving in and out of cars going down Madison – DOWN amazingly steep Madison. Jesus.

    I just want to survive my day without a car, or a bike, endangering me. Can’t we all just get along? And can we get these potholes fixed? Lordy.

  16. my biggest complaint about cyclists are all the spandex your ‘sport’ requires…Hey, Lance, shouldnt you appreciate the extra 2 lbs of drag regular clothing would give you? do you really have a shot at the Tour this year?

    sincerely,
    lifelong cyclist and spandex hater.

  17. I agree that everyone needs to do better and that we as ar drivers have a bigger responsibility. Its is my experience that bikers are much bigger offenders when it comes to stop signs etc.

  18. It is amazing how upity so many riders are. I always like when they holler out “on your left!” which makes my dog startle and jump right in front of them, sometimes me to. And I’m talking about on the park trails where bikes have no business doing 20mph. When I ride the parks it is to take a break, relax, and putz along at 5-10 until I feel like hitting the street again.

    Bikers seem to think we owe them some special dispensation of diminitude yielding to their application of biker etiquette (shouting giberish at pedestrians). What is really funny is to see these angry shrimps get so flusterred they fall over and then huff around.

    Man. They are easy to despise. And again – I ride every day, but, believe it or not I manage to be safe and civil. Mainly by choosing a good route and enjoying the ride. And quietly riding into the grass rather than yelling out “on your left” as I speed by deaf old women.

  19. Both previous posts are a hoot. It’s the bossy, militant part that bothers me. They can ride in a tutu for all I care, just don’t holler at and boss everyone and go so fast that you can’t control your own vehicle. And snot shot, because I really will vomit.

    And FOR THE LOVE OF SWEET JESUS stop shouting to each other entire conversations at 5am on residential streets! We’re sleeping!!

  20. The law says to use a bell or voice when passing. Unfortunately, some people think that ringing a bell or yelling means “get the hell out of my way.” But slowing down and giving a courtesy warning is the time-tested best way to do it (though I hop on the grass sometimes, too, depending on the situation). I am still searching for the most polite-sounding bell or bike horn I can find, because some bells and grouchy yelling can be really startling to people (though not as bad as a speeding bike without warning). And if you give a warning and someone confusedly moves into your path, you should be going slow enough and/or giving enough space to avoid that collision.

  21. hope the biker recovers ok, please wear your helmets people.

    there’s a lot of misinformation here…

    1. it is illegal to ride on sidewalks. not to mention stupid and dangerous. (EDIT: ok this is “legal” but still dumb)
    2. bikers have the right-of-way on LWB, there’s signs telling you this every 1/2 mile or so.
    3. as Tom just stated, it’s again a law that you have to signal or let someone know you’re about to pass them from behind. i do it always and wish other rides did as well. i don’t care what you think of me doing it, i don’t want you or your dog to step into my way because you don’t know i’m coming. i’m just as annoyed at the wannabe pros passing you at 25mph and not saying anything. don’t assume i know you’re there.
    4. it’s actually again a law to stop and let pedestrians cross the road, crosswalk or not. this had been argued about here on this site before. don’t fault drivers for following a law.

    you can’t complain about everyone following the rules if you don’t educate with the correct laws.

    and also, bikersRinsane is an ignorant troll.

    oh and leon, have you tried riding in spandex? while you may think they look stupid it feels like your riding naked. there’s nothing like it. it’s life changing.

  22. Ihunter76 – you can’t complain about everyone following the rules if you don’t educate with the correct laws.

    riding bikes on sidewalks is perfectly legal:

    “Section 11.44.120 RIDING ON A SIDEWALK OR PUBLIC PATH. Every person operating a bicycle upon any sidewalk or public path shall operate the same in a careful and prudent manner and a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation, taking into account the amount and character of pedestrian traffic, grade and width of sidewalk or public path, and condition of surface, and shall obey all traffic control devices. Every person operating a bicycle upon a sidewalk or public path shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian thereon, and shall give an audible signal before overtaking and passing any pedestrian.”

    http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikecode.htm

  23. Actually in Seattle you are allowed to ride on sidewalks:

    Seattle bicyclists may ride on any sidewalk provided they do so in a “careful and prudent manner.” [SMC 11.44.120]

    Not my preference, but perfectly acceptable for people who ride in that manner and feel safer riding on the sidewalk.

  24. i stand corrected. it’s been a law in every other state i’ve lived in. (for good reason)

    and i don’t think it’s perfectly acceptable, i’ve yet to see someone riding on the sidewalk (not a child) “operate the bike in a careful and prudent manner and a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and…”

    as someone else said here, sidewalks are for pedestrians. roads are for everything else. common sense! i personally feel like if you’re not comfortable riding in a bike lane on the road where you belong you should just get a bus pass. and when you cream that person walking on the sidewalk, i’m pretty sure you’ll still lose the court case.

  25. All right then let’s go for a little more detail on the park paths sush as Judkins. According to above, it is legal to ride in carefull and prudent manner, and most do. A few, however, think that as long as they yell “on your left”, then they have done all that is required and are free to speed past in a disgruntled huff about how you did not immediately jump to the side.

    We are not talking here about reasonable people. We’re talking about that fringe that feels they have moral superiority and can tell others what they should and shouldn’t be doing – Creeps like RidersR.
    Judkins is full of walkers, dogs, and kids, as is the Mountains to sound path. I haven’t seen many problems on Mountains to sound – as it seems wide enough and has good visibility. More problems occur on the Judkins path. I don’t see much reason to ride judkins in a hurry when 20th and 23rd are good alternatives (except for the longitudinal gaps in the concrete that can suck a wheel into the rut). It’s a simple matter of selecting the route that matches your speed/intent. I come through the tunnel along the MTS and then cut up 23 or 23/Judkins/20th to head north. I don’t like to go MTS/Hiawatha/Rainier. There is nothing you can do to make Rainier/Dearborn Safe for Bikes. It would be better to Go MTS to PacMed and north on the bridge to Jackson if you were headed downtown or to Broadway. Just my choices, not saying anybody should. I pick the routes that are safest and practical for me. And I wait for pedestrians to be aware of my intent. Not just yell and blast past. Also, If I don’t want to engage them, I just cut into the grass and go well clear of them and have never had any resulting conflict.

    If cars are present or nearby, following the rules of the road are a must. But, is there really a single bicyclist out there that stops at a 4way when nobody else is there? Not me. Not gonna. Let’s be honest.

  26. i guess then riding naked feels like wearing spandex ;)

    i have worn that stuff, and even in tri-shape, i felt like a human sausage. i gave it all away years ago. c’est la vie!

  27. One thing for sure, it is dangerous to ride your bike on the street. No need to teach people how to drive with bicycle riders. The bottom line is bikers always seem to ride in the driver’s blind spot. They’re always on sneak up on the passenger side of the car and when you go to let someone out they almost knock the rider off the bike! Bikes and cars simply do not mix well. I will not ride my bike on a busy city street. The bike lanes should had been placed on the sidewalks!! Bikes and cars do not mix well. It was a waste of tax dollars to create all those stupid bike lanes. Bike lanes on the sidewalk would be better, there are less people traveling on sidewalks; if you crash into a person you have a higher survival rate. It isn’t fair to call the car drivers dumb. It is dumb to drive bikes on busy, hustle bustle streets as people are not thinking about bikers as they are too busy thinking about getting to where they’re going on time. Besides it is too hard to see bikers. They are always riding in blind spots. It is too hard to see motorcycles let a lone flimsy little bikes!

  28. rae rae –

    just so you know, as drivers we are responsible for checking our blind spots and opening our car doors without hitting things.

    please make a note of that.

  29. I really hate dingy bells – I’m not sure exactly why, but I have a totally irrational, grating, grinding, loathing of the things. Each smarmy fake cheerful little ding makes me want to shove the stupid things somewhere unmentionable…. but like I said it’s somewhat irrational….

    By far my preference is to avoid MUP’s (the street, any street is *safer* than a MUP…. the only place less safe than a MUP is the sidewalk….), but there are times when there really is no other viable option (say across I-90) so when I have to use one at all I like to as much as possible pass with such a very wide berth as to not have to say anything. If that is not possible my second preference is to slow down and simply state “passing” rather than “on your left” as a)I don’t think people can really hear that well- it’s like when someone shouts at me from a moving car – usually I don’t understand a word of it…. b)I think it can be misunderstood as “move to your left” causing people to suddenly jump in front of you, rather than to just stay where they are.

  30. I usually do wear spandex – then again I actually participate in my chosen sport rather than just watch it on TV….. (and yes participate competitively). I actually count it is a bit of a point of pride that though I turned 40 recently, I was also wolf whistled at by a truck driver probably no less than a week later. Apparently I’m not particularly offensive looking ;p

  31. Ya, when I hear somebody coming up on me fast and yelling something, my gut reaction is to throw something at them. This happens when I am riding and a car honks/yells and happens the same when I am walking and a rider yells something. It’s just a normal reaction to consider violence when startled.

    Bikers get in the habit of communicating with other bikers. It makes sense to me when another rider talks biker talk to me. Out of context it just seem like some lunatic is shouting at me so I think about hitting them.

    My dog thinks the same way.

    I like to just say hello. People figure out what’s going on pretty quick that way.

  32. you dont know what you’re talking about. if you cant see bikers than you need to voluntarily forfeit your license. you’re not a safe driver and shirking your due diligence to be aware of your surroundings is going to get someone killed.