Pedestrians are some of the most exposed victims in traffic-related crashes. While it is true that most of the serious injuries suffered in a pedestrian accident are the result of a collision with a motor vehicle, it is not always the weapon.
A San Francisco collision involving a bicycle on March 29 left a 71-year-old pedestrian with serious injuries that eventually led to his death four days later. Although the cyclist claimed that there was a “sea of people crossing” through the intersection, a video has surfaced that seems to contradict the man’s account of the collision.
According to the biker, he had been heading down one of San Francisco’s many steep streets on the day of the crash. He said that when he approached the intersection, he had already been “too committed” to crossing through the light before he noticed the people crossing the intersection.
The biker claimed that there were so many people crossing from both directions that he “couldn’t see a line through the crowd.” In an attempt to cause the least amount of damage, he laid his bike down on the street at a point he felt was the “least-populated” by pedestrians. The biker had made the statements shortly after the crash on an Internet site.
The video surfaced this week shows a slightly different version of events. It shows that there may have only been three or four people crossing the intersection at the time of the accident. While the video may seem to contradict the description of the people in the crosswalk, it does not clarify whether the light was yellow or red at the time of the crash — both factors that could help determine negligence in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, “Video of fatal S.F. crash may contradict bicyclist,” Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, April 11, 2012
