Police say pick-up driver plows into Cambridge bicyclist on purpose, then speeds away

What city do you live in? Speeds that cars fly by in Boston are frequently faster than is safe. As for speed roads were designed for: have you ever driven down the J-Way? That was designed for horses and buggies. So if in sticking to the premise that speeds for which roads were designed should be the prevailing speed for motorists, cyclists, etc. then vritually all traffic on the J-Way is moving far faster than the "designed speed."

On the other hand if motorists drove at human sppeds rather than pretending they are part of the machine and so need to drive at the machine's speed then there could be a vast improvement to the quality of life in Boston by simply slowing down.

There would probably be fewer mangled and dead people from racing cars. Heck even gang bangers would have to slow down if everyone else was slower - with the result that drive by shootings would not be a good idea since they would be more easily be caught.

Extrapolate further: motorcycles and scooters moving at slower speeds, Perhaps less noise even.

But when a person has lost their humanity upon enterring a car and see themselves as merely a human piece of a powerful machine then nothing else matters other than speed and everyone getting the hell out of their way.

To bicycle safely your handle bars need to be a car door's width from the parked cars. Any further right is unsafe and to insist otherwise is to show disregard for another human's safety. Bicycling in the center of the lane makes this more clear to people who wish to pass you.

I think you have the likely legal scenario here a bit backward. In fact I think it is more likely to be used against the pickup driver than the cyclist. Barring some kind of extreme circumstance, it's hard to imaging a court agreeing that a person could be so stubbornly unwilling to move to the right as to put their own life in immediate danger.

The cyclist has an obligation to avoid an accident. That said, what the rider and the driver are doing prior to the moment the truck strikes the bike defines the progression of events and the context for applying the law. Indeed, the rider had the lane and the driver struck the bike by trying to take the lane.

Bicycles are considered vehicles, they entitled to the lane and responsible for obeying traffic laws. Cyclists have the same right of way as drivers.

The cyclist is riding on the single lane road and passing a parked car on his right, which means he must ride his bike closer to the center line to pass the car.

At the same time,the pickup truck makes a decision to pass the cyclist from behind. There is not sufficient room in the lane to do so safely. He leaves his lane and crosses the solid yellow center line to pass the cyclist which is illegal. If his line-of-sight was limited by a right curve in the road, that's a second violation of driving law.

"Passing is illegal and unsafe when your line-of-sight is restricted or limited by a curve, hill, or weather conditions, cross-traffic is present, when there is a solid yellow line on your side of the roadway..."

Those two potential driving violations aside, the question remains who has the obligation to insure that when you pass a vehicle ahead of you, you must complete the maneuver safely and and not collide with them?

It appear that the cyclist is about 10-15 yards past the park car.

The cyclist has an obligation to make room by moving into the next lane but in this case there is only one lane.

When returning to the lane, the driver is required to; ,

• Check the rearview mirror for the front of the car (or cyclist) being passed
• Signal your intention
• Change lanes and maintain speed
• Cancel turn signal

If the driver had checked his rear view, he would have know he could not yet return to the lane.

Both the truck driver and the cyclist have an obligation to yield right of way to each other, even though the truck driver violated the law at least twice when passing the cyclist.

"The driver/cyclist should never assume that other drivers/cyclists will start or complete any maneuver and should never insist on the right of way nor attempt to force their way into traffic. Drivers should try to anticipate other driver’s actions as well as yielding whenever needed or required by law. Giving up the right of way to other drivers also helps to avoid crashes, as does gaining eye contact with all operators of motor vehicles that come directly into conflict with you.

The cyclist didn't cause the collision by not yielding, the truck driver did by taking the lane after passing the cyclist illegally. Notice there was no car coming from the opposite direction.

I would find the driver guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and give the cyclist a ticket for failure to yield [to avoid an accident]

No obligation.

Download more at massrmv.com. They have a whole book about what you are and are not supposed to do.

Cyclists are not required to move right, slow down, etc. Motorists are required to pass safely or not at all. Period.