Two car-bike accidents recently have Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police urging motorists to be watchful of motorcycles and bicycles.
The motorcyclist- and bicyclist-related car accidents took place on Oct. 18 at Camino Del Sol and Los Gatos Boulevard and at Loma Alta Avenue and Los Gatos Boulevard.
In the first one, reported at 12:11 p.m., a car driven by a 76-year-old San Jose woman pulled out from the stop sign at Camino Del Sol, across the northbound lanes of Los Gatos Boulevard, and for some reason, stopped, said Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police Sgt. spokesman Kerry Harris.
The motorcycle, ridden by a 31-year-old San Jose resident, was travelling northbound on Los Gatos Boulevard at about 25 mph and struck the car broadside, Harris said.
The motorcyclist was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital with lacerations and abrasions. "I have no other information about his condition," Harris said, adding that the driver was at fault for violating the right of way of the motorcyclist by pulling out in front of him.
In the second accident, at about 3:04 p.m., a 15-year-old young woman riding a bicycle, a resident of San Jose and Los Gatos High School student, was northbound on Los Gatos Boulevard from the school.
After stopping, she proceeded north through the intersection of Loma Alta Avenue, when the driver of an automobile, a 58-year-old San Jose woman, struck her broadside as she was turning left onto eastbound Loma Alta from the stop sign at southbound Los Gatos Boulevard, Harris explained.
The girl was thrown from the bike, and sustained an injury to her ankle, as well as lacerations on her leg and elbow. She was transported by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital, Harris said.
The driver in the latter accident was also at fault for violating the right of way of the bicyclist, Harris added.
"As always, the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department urges motorists to be watchful for motorcycles and bicycles. By virtue of their size, bicycles and motorcycles are harder to see, so require a greater degree of attention from motorists who are operating their vehicles near them," Harris said.
that said, i also experience drivers who are completely oblivious to the possibility of cyclists being on the road. my favorite: cars making right turns into driveways etc that do not check to see if a bike is DIRECTLY BESIDE THEM. we need to work at better solutions for integrating bikes into the road system.
interesting fact: my commute time to work (LG->mtn view) is reliably and predictably faster on my bike, and i am by no means a speed demon. on hwy 9 i routinely zip by morning commuters. want to get there quicker? bike!
I find it incredibly disappointing that our small town that could be a bike friendly community (where bikers follow the rules of the road and drivers keep their eyes open and see the bikers) does little to promote safety for everybody on the road. I read that our appointed "bicycle coalition" is scheduled to meet only once a year and they happened to cancel last year's meeting. Hopefully we can all try to slow down and be aware of others on the road to help avoid future collisions.
Obviously in your world, "sane society" as you put it, should exist with only two and a half ton motorized vehicles going around on the streets and taking priority, in the interest of safety of course. There are bad drivers and there are bad cyclists too that disobey traffic laws frequently and have unsafe driving/riding habits. Your comment implies not only that you have no perspective of what it's like to ride a bike around town comfortably and lawfully in conjunction with cars, but that you have no regard for anyone that does ride a bike in our town. Otherwise, why use the comment section pertaining to an article in which the two accidents sited involved the motorists clearly being at fault and the cyclists obeying the traffic laws according to LGPD.
Huh? She lives in San Jose? So she doesn't live in Los Gatos, but she goes to LGHS? Not to take away from the bike accident, that's horrible. But we have more kids in our schools than the census says we have in our town.