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Scooter driver seriously injured after driving into a car on Morrissey Boulevard, State Police say
By adamg on Mon, 09/23/2019 - 6:47pm
State Police report a Quincy man heading south on Morrissey Boulevard suffered serious injuries when he hit the rear panel of a Chevy Spark whose driver was turning right into the Star Market parking lot about 1:20 p.m.
State Police say the man, 43, was taken to a local hospital. The driver of the car was unhurt.
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Comments
preliminary investigation, remains under investigation
Some of the diligence is lost when news outlets report it.
This is called a "right hook"
Drivers often (illegally) don't check their right mirror before turning right. It's a problem even with protected bike lanes, which is why some intersections now have an advance green for the bike lane.
You'll note that this will readily happen anywhere there's a straight travel lane to the right of a right turn lane, and this is why I often avoid bike lanes entirely.
Yeah but...
In this instance it was someone on a motorized vehicle who should not have been passing on the right, but rather using normal traffic lanes.
I don't know this road
but that's still called a right hook, and drivers are still required to check their mirror before turning.
Also, are you advocating that cyclists and scooter users always take the full lane when there's no bike lane? You'll have some serious pushback on that.
jumping to conclusions
1. We don't know how close the scooter was to the car when the driver of the car turned right.
2. The rear quarter panel runs from the taillight to the edge of the rear door, we don't know where on the quarter panel they ran into the car. You can hit a rear quarter panel even after seeing an active blinker on a car ahead of you.
3. Did the driver signal their right turn?
4. We don't know how fast either of the vehicles were going during this crash.
5. We don't know what was happening prior to the crash: did the car speed up to pass the scooter to make the turn or were they travelling at the same rate of speed or was the scooter speeding up to pass on the right?
6. Scooters sometimes sit in drivers' blind spots. This does not absolve drivers from looking all around prior to making a maneuver. But writing as a motorcyclist, during training we were taught to pay attention to this kind of situational awareness and avoid it like the plague. Yes, drivers of cars should look out for those more vulnerable around them, but motorcyclists and scooter-ists (?) need to be aware of their surroundings and proactively adjust.
Slow your roll, Tim. There are so many unknowns that you can't put the blame solely on the car driver. Yet.
And yes, cyclists and scooters are encouraged to take the full lane as necessary. Have you ever read comments here?
I never claimed the driver
I never claimed the driver was at fault. Who's jumping to conclusions? :-)
But yes, I suspect it. I've seen any number of cars right-hook cyclists, and zero cyclists just like... run straight into the side of a car.
tsk
Your language showed your bias. No worries, it happens to all of us.
Oh no, not *bias*!
It's a good thing you don't have any of that.
where
did I say that I don't?
not necessarily
mopeds are legally permitted to ride in bike lanes with traffic
theres a strong possibility the driver didnt check their mirror and ran the rider over not unlike pedal bike accidents which occur regularly
no marked bike lane in this location
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3196589,-71.0505614,3a,75y,182.3h,86.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSlBDMDlFXGC-iTBqQjDDKA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
note: posting this for accuracy, not meant to excuse the driver or make any assumption about whether or not they were at fault in this incident.
Except Morrissey Blvd
doesn't have a bike lane, there is a large, separated sidewalk both pedestrians and bikers use. This would be a case of another biker using a road built for cars and not following the traffic laws imposed on said space. A car would not be trying to pass the car the biker hit on the right (or maybe they would but they would also be wrong, rear end collision is the fault of the collider.). I don't mind bikes in the street. I am not a bike-hater. I actually ride my bike as well through the city sometimes, and when I do, I don't blow red lights and split lanes and ride around cars and travel on the opposite side of the road, because the car can hurt you. Badly. Its not even common sense so much as it is survival instinct. Some people are oblivious to it.
Are scooters bikes now?
This was a scooter rider, not a biker. My experience is the scooter riders generally ride faster (because it requires no additional effort) than bikes and wear helmets way less often. I assume the injuries per mile travelled is way higher for these things.
there is a bike lane in front of Star Market
Heading southbound, it starts after the JFK stop and ends under the pedestrian bridge. This includes the part that goes by Star Market. There is a southbound ramp from the rotary as well but this happened at an entrance.
If the motor is less than 50cc and max speed is 30, a scooter can use the bike lane. Since the description says rear panel, not rear bumper, that means that the scooter struck the left side of the car.
The speed of both vehicles, and whether the car passed the scooter previously will determine the fault of the accident. Although, you pretty much have to get out of your car and shoot someone with a gun to override the bias against anything non-car.
If a scooter has a motor, it
If a scooter has a motor, it's a motorized vehicle, as compared to a bicycle which is powered by a human not a motor... I would think it was evident. Are cyclists now pushing for all non-car motorized vehicles to be classified as bicycles? Weird.
No
The law as written describes a motor of less than 50cc as moped. They are allowed to use bike lanes but not bike trails.
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/moped-registration-and-operation-requi...
Personally, I hate scooters in the bike lane but the law is the law. Just because I don't like them doesn't mean they are at fault in a crash.
As I said before, it depends on speed. If the scooter was parallel with the rear of the car, they can't see the signal. And even if the scooter was farther back, the car needs to make sure the way is clear before turning.
50cc is a engine size. So i would agree that modern efficient engines could go much faster than 30mph, so the law should be updated. Its going to be even more confusing with electric bikes and scooters.
What Kind of Scooter
because when someone says motorized scooter I assume it is a Vespa or something similar from Honda or whomever, and is basically just a motorcycle with smaller wheels and should drive as such - NOT in bike lanes.
Whereas if they said electric scooter I would assume it's one of those Bird type abominations that belong on neither the street [in any lane] nor on the sidewalk. They belong nowhere and should be illegal.
unfortunately
the law disagrees with you
50cc engines and under are LEGALLY permitted to use bike lanes
so sorry
Depends on the Scooter
For example.
Bird: No
Vespa: Yes
I mean sure whatever
But OP kinda was talking about right hooks in general that cyclists face, even in protected bike lanes, I don't think its meant to absolve the scotter rider here.
Pretty obvious, so of course that warrants a pretty oblivious take about cyclists breaking the law.
"Protected" bike lanes make
"Protected" bike lanes make the right-hook problem WAY worse.
They only thing they protect you from is any chance of a sight line into the other lane. I have no idea how you're supposed to check for traffic in the other lane, as a cyclist or driving a car, when there's a row of parked cars in between.
Cars in floating parking *uniformly* hang into the buffer zone, negating the intended anti-dooring benefit. And the snow berm in the buffer is a black ice machine for WEEKS after the general lanes are clear and dry. Even Cambridge can't keep a cycle track clear when it's designed that badly.
Traffic lights with separate right turn phases (i.e. no right on green) are not the answer. Sitting around waiting for the few seconds per cycle when you're allowed to go straight on a bike, or turn right in a car, is like a dictatorship where you have to apply for a travel permit and wait weeks for your allotted time when you're allowed to leave the house. The right turn lane is a waste of space. And it's just not possible to install such a light at every minor cross street and driveway.
Yes and No -
I don't know if you can technically call this a right hook.
Aren't scooter drivers supposed drive as if they were driving a car?
Not saying who is at fault since I wasn't there - but scooter drivers are absolutely ridiculous lately - zero regard for their own safety.
I say this as a daily driver, daily runner, and occasional cyclist.
depending on the size, they
depending on the size, they can use the bike lane so then it would be a right hook.
I don't think the pictures I found are that conclusive, but they do support a right hook scenario.
You cannot tell how fast the scooter was going, or what the traffic was like. The intersection of Old Colony, Mt Vernon and Morissey is always a standstill at that time of day. Once people get through the intersection they race south, and change lanes to get ahead.
Probably the only way a Chevy
Probably the only way a Chevy Spark could damage anything.
what about this scenario?
I was stopped in D.C at a traffic light for a minute or more waiting to turn right (this is a no turn right on red location) Like I said, I was stopped for a good minute waiting for the green light as the first person in the lane. The light turns green, there are NO pedestrians anywhere in sight waiting to cross either from my immediate right, or across the street to my left. Out of no where, and completely out of my line of sight (checking my right side mirror would not have revealed anything except parked cars) a scooter comes barreling down the sidewalk at a high rate of speed and nearly PLOWS into the rear passenger side of my 4 door Jeep! I just caught in my peripheral vision him jumping off the scooter and pulling the scooter back. I'm thankful he had super fast reflexes, but I feel I would have been blamed for the accident when there is no way a driver can look DOWN the sidewalk for an approaching fast scooter who is simply only looking for the white walk sign and not paying any attention to turning traffic. Walking pedestrians do this too BUT I see that they are approaching the intersection before I reach my turn. This isn't necessarily possible with something moving fast.