Jogger wearing headphones hit by cyclist

let me tell you. a little over two months ago i was running on a crowded lake shore path on the chicago lakefront. i would run on this path almost every day. it is a shared path for runners, cyclists, walkers, rollerbladers, etc.

i was running northbound in a segment of the path where there is a beach and folks play volleyball. this is about the most congested part of the path. i made a move to pass two women walking in front of me. i looked behind me and saw no one coming, but kept close to these two women anyway because it's a shared path. right as i turned my head and was probably five feet in front of these women, planning to cross back, a cyclist going i estimate 20+ miles per hour slammed into my back, sending me to the ground.

it destroyed my knee but, compared to this woman, i am lucky. i don't think the guy would have stopped except that he landed on me when his bike collided with my body. bikers, as has been said, are self-righteous. i used to defend their right to share roads and everything, but if you want to be on a path with motor vehicles, you must observe their rules. same goes for on a pedestrian path. like anything else many do and many don't abide by the rules and it's those that don't that will stand out.

this situation is a tragedy, and i think we should just leave it at that rather than trying to assign blame.

My condolences to the woman's family, though as a cyclist I must say the following:

1. First, that the cyclist, if it was indeed a pedestrian path, should've cut the pace and found sufficient space in anticipation of passing pedestrians. Not sure if he did that, but if it ended in the woman's death, I'm rather skeptical.

2. In the cyclist's defense, I really have a problem with pedestrians having headphones in their ears or talking on their phones with their backs towards me and when I call them out or try to make braking or panting noises to announce my presence, they just don't turn around. It's all the worse if I'm doing a workout and I'm trying to train for a time trial.

Final note, I used to be a runner, and I got hit in the butt by a cyclist by suddenly going left during a group run(when he called out). I am fortunate to have gone uninjured, unlike the woman, but I consider the incident completely my fault.

sdfasdfasd wrote:

Actually, I drive with my stereo up really loud all the time. What's the difference?

Me too, if you suddenly changed direction it would still be your fault.

If I come up to a blind juntion I would run the stereo off & wind the windows down

On a busy road, because of general traffic noise and your own cars engine it would not make much difference if you have the radio on loud. A car has mirrors as well a runner needs to look around & keep their wits about them

I used to do a few triathlons so I would train on my bike. I live in Indy and would try to ride on the Monon trail (multi-use path). I quickly gave up on that idea. Walkers and runners are generally oblivious. People making sudden moves on the trail, little kids jumping in front of you, dogs with long leashes walk to the other side of the path, etc.

If you want to get a solid workout in on the bike, move to the roads. It's not possible on a multi-use path, without putting people in danger -- even if it is THEIR fault for being oblivious.

I'm always amazed at people who make sudden moves on packed trails without looking behind them to see what's coming. They probably wouldn't do it in their car, but they do it there....who knows. 99% of people have no awareness about what is going on around them. They are the center of the universe, everyone else be damned. Unfortunatley, it can cost you your life.

"As a side note, thats what is great about running. Shirts, shorts, and maybe sunglasses are all that are required in many months of the year."

noooo you havent seen all the iPods, the feul belts, the hats, the sunglasses, calf sleeves, arm warmers, etc..

joeink wrote:

I can't believe how long this thread has gotten. Runner made a U-Turn, didn't signal, rider doing what they were doing couldn't avert the runner. It's sad that someone is dead, but there's just no other way to look at this. It was the jogger's fault. Enough with the biker-bashing and other weird, self-involved accusations and alleged solutions. Look at the facts.

I run on paths all the time, with headphones. I never make a move out of my line of running without looking. I don't switch lane on the road without looking. It's common sense.

I have to agree with you here. It was tragit what happened, but it was first and formost the joggers fault. She didn't look and made an abrupt change in her direction in the path of the cyclist. Now it is possible that the cyclist was going too fast, but it is also possible he was traveling at a slow rate of speed. We don't know for sure. Let's put it this way. When we drive down the street, we have to keep our distance between cars. In fact we are supposed to keep one car length for every 10 miles per hour we are traveling. Now lets say we have no cars in front of us and are going well under the speed limit, and a car driving the other direction crosses in front of you and you hit him head on. Is it your fault that you were traveling too fast that you couldn't stop when another driver decides to change direction and cross your path? No! Same as if you were traveling 20 miles per hour down a street and a kid runs out in front of you chasing his ball. You had no time to stop because of the abruptness of the situation and how close you were. Yes it is possible that the cyclist was traveling too quickly. But we don't know this. We only know that someone wasn't paying attention and is now dead. Tragic, but it was ultimately their fault.

Someone could have just as easily run into them and they fell and hit their head. Is it now the runners fault for running too fast and someone steps in their way at the last moment?

It's a sad event, but the need to always assign blame is an obsession. To put this 1 incident in perspective here are some deaths from National Safety Council's data on accidents for 2000.

Accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed 327

Drowning and submersion while in or falling into bath-tub 341

Fall on same level from slipping, tripping and stumbling 565

Other fall on same level 1,885

Fall involving bed, chair, other furniture 650

Fall on and from stairs and steps 1,307

Fall on and from ladder or scaffolding 412

Fall from out of or through building or structure 506

Other fall from one level to another 687

Other and unspecified fall 7,310

I'm glad to see that people agree with me.

It was the woman's fault, for getting in the way of the bike.

/thread

Seems like ya'll are forgetting the general rule that if you hit someone from behind it is your fault. That makes it the cyclists fault; he hit the woman from behind.

You are supposed to expect the unexpected. Clearly the biker was going to fast to avoid the collision.

I'm a runner that has also done a fair bit of cycling. All of my bike training has been on the roads. I would never, ever train on a multi-use path. Those paths are for leisure riding only.

Any cyclist training on such a path is an idiot. It's like the flash dude at the ice rink whipping around families and beginners expecting them to be able to hold a line; accident waiting to happen and if you see this behaviour, give 'em a hip check :)

On the other hand, the runner made some errors in judgement, headphones and unexpected turn, which place a small part of the blame on her.

The city also seems to have some liability if the trail is as dangerous as everyone seems to say it is.

As a lawyer, I'm wishing I were in Dallas right now so I could sue them all, ROFLMAO.

jeb wrote:

As a lawyer, I'm wishing I were in Dallas right now so I could sue them all, ROFLMAO.

Proving once again that there is a reason for the stereotype.

The article never said she was hit from behind. It said she abrubtly turned left. You are making assumtions here. The only thing we know is that she abrubtly turned while not paying attention and now she is dead!

Finally. A bike can be moving SLOW and still knock someone down who is not paying attention. No reason to blame a cyclist, if he is obeying the "rules" - which sounds accurate - even calling out while passing. Unless the running path/trail is forbidden to cyclists, we have to be responsible for our actions.

The count just called...wants you to return your degree to the cereal box you got it out of.

Thanks for that too...you need a little work on your skills at eliciting angry responses by the use of sarcasm..lmao

If he was going fast enough to kill someone else, he was going to fast. At such a speed, she would have had barely enough time to react before he careened over her. Furthermore, a bike rapidly approaching behind her with someone shouting on it might have alerted her and prompted her to turn around in the first place.

Cyclists need to understand that for how much they bitch about the way drivers are to cyclists, cyclists are every bit as bad as that to pedestrians.

For those cyclist that have not been to Katy trail need to understand this is not a great, or even good place to "train". Its only fit for pedestrians, rollerbladers and people on bikes (NOT ROAD BIKES). I run out there almost daily and I never wear headphones, yet I've been clipped by cyclist hauling ass many times.

This was a freak accident, only losers. One lost her life, the other will never ride their bike the same again. Joggers should NOT wear headphones, even on closed paths. Cyclist should always, always, always be super cautious in high traffic pedestrian paths.

Sad story......tragic.

bottom line.

bikers - are arrogrant sob's (get out of my way or die)

runners - are cool people (relax and have a beer after a 10 miler)

trianyone wrote:

Finally. A bike can be moving SLOW and still knock someone down who is not paying attention. No reason to blame a cyclist, if he is obeying the "rules" - which sounds accurate - even calling out while passing. Unless the running path/trail is forbidden to cyclists, we have to be responsible for our actions.

This is exactly correct. I hit asshole runners all the time, and if they fall down that's their problem, they should have been paying attention and stayed out of my way. I'm really trying to be kind about this but what am I supposed to do anyway. It's not possible to just turn or stop so quickly on a bike. We do the best that we can but we shouldn't be expected to stop just because someone gets in front of us.

man, this thread is troll city