|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A Menlo-Atherton High School student was hospitalized with moderate, non-life-threatening injuries after colliding with a car while riding an electric bicycle Thursday morning.
The crash occurred around 8:30 a.m. at Crane Street and Valparaiso Avenue, according to the Menlo Park Police Department. The 16-year-old bicyclist was taken to a hospital, and parents were notified. The cause of the collision remains under investigation, and fault has not been determined, police spokesperson Nicole Acker said.
Bicycle safety has been a recent focus for both the Atherton and Menlo Park police departments. Menlo Park police previously stationed officers near Menlo-Atherton before school to stop bicyclists and check for traffic violations, Principal Karl Losekoot told parents. Atherton police have also reportedly conducted pre-school bike safety checks, looking for e-bike models with additional legal requirements and monitoring students’ compliance with traffic rules.
The incident comes several months after Menlo-Atherton athletics coach Dylan Taylor was killed in a bicycle collision with a garbage truck in Atherton last May.
Menlo-Atherton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Still looking for Menlo Park to take a stand to protect bicyclists instead of blame shaming the victims. Furthermore, looking for greater enforcement and education of drivers along with bicycle infrastructure, in the form of protected bike lanes.
Its hard to talk about enforcement and education of drivers while cyclists run stop signs so routinely that cars won’t take their turn at a 4 way stop if a bike is coming because nobody wants to claim right of way like that (fortunately for so so many cyclists). And it’s not just the non-driving cyclists. Plenty of adults are also routinely ignoring traffic laws. I think everyone needs to be better about following the rules that make shared public spaces work safely for road users. I’m not blaming victims, just sharing frequent observations from my daily ride across town and back.
Was it a throttle e bike? Those things should not be ridden by anyone without a drivers license. They are basically small motorcycles that are very dangerous in the hands of inexperienced riders. Most of the people I see riding them at, at least 30 mph, are wearing bike helmets rather than motorcycle helmets. If parents are going to be dumb enough to give these to their kids, they should at least make sure they are properly protected. A bike helmet isn’t going to do much of anything in a collision at 30 mph+.
The entire tone of this piece lays the blame on the cyclists. No, Dylan Taylor was not killed in a “bicycle collision.” He was killed when a reckless truck driver hit him while he was riding lawfully in a designated bike lane.
We need to crack down on the dangerous driving habits of motorists who think they own the road.
“A Menlo-Atherton High School student was hospitalized….after colliding with a car while riding an electric bicycle Thursday morning.”
Let’s try this: “…after being hit by a car while riding an electric bicycle.”
See the problem?
At least choose neutrality in the absence of information. Ex: A Menlo Atherton student was hospitalized following a bike/car collision. Details about fault have not yet been established.
Your version is as bad as the lede in predisposing blame when the article says fault has not been determined. Perhaps you were an eyewitness. Maybe you should add that detail then.