Today in San Francisco I saw an ebike rider get hit very hard by a pickup driver who ran a red light. The biker was hurt badly and taken away in an ambulance but luckily was conscious and had movement in all extremities. I saw the truck run the light but only heard the impact (and immediately saw the aftermath). Bike totaled, truck had ... a broken headlight. Happened at Fell and Masonic (driver ran red westbound on Fell).

Every year I am more and more nervous about biking in the Bay Area, even as bike infrastructure improves. This intersection has a red-light camera, a resident told me, and this still happened. Oakland has no red-light cameras that I know of and I see people blatantly run reds almost every day.

Be safe, y'all, it's scary out there.

@BikeEastBay
#sf #bayarea #biking #cycling #bicyclerights

Also, even disregarding the driver's negligence, this accident was undoubtedly made worse by the design of the F150 pickup he was driving. Trucks today are rapidly moving tanks with a brick wall in the front. They hit harder and do more damage than smaller trucks of just a decade or two ago.

https://www.axios.com/2023/01/23/pickup-trucks-f150-size-weight-safety

How pickup trucks became so imposing

Small pickups have nearly vanished as Americans have bought into big truck lifestyle.

Axios
@msavener I was T-boned on my bike in a bike lane in the middle of a block by a full size SUV doing a u-turn in Brooklyn. I still can’t believe I survived it
@ChrisBoese That is terrifying. I'm so glad you're ok. My nerves were THRUMMING right after and I wasn't even the one hit (was on a bike though).