Something is terribly wrong with the grand jury decision not to indict the truck driver in the death of cyclist Alex Motsenigos (Metro, Feb. 5). I rode my bicycle to the Wellesley site of the accident the day after it occurred, and it was easy to see how the driver could have pulled Motsenigos under the truck. The site is a narrow and dangerous intersection. The video image of the truck overtaking the cyclist, as seen on WCVB television, clearly suggests the events that followed.
We need more vigorous efforts on the part of law and traffic authorities not only to prevent future such occurrences, but to prosecute those responsible when they happen.
Comments
Mr. Wright: Please share with us the pertinent facts or specifics you appear to be privy to in conclusion to said grand jury's injudicious judgment.
The guy on the bike took a chance...he decided not to brake and wait a minute for the truck to pass...it didn't work out and he died...not the trucker's fault...
oops, though this was the guy in Cambridge...
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Look at the video: http://on.aol.com/video/family-sues-after-no-criminal-charges-to-be-filed-in-fatal-wellesley-crash-517663201 . The accident happened on the other side of the bridge, so the video provides no evidence of what happened.
I ride a similar (expensive, lightweight) roadbike about 4,000 miles per year, all recreational. I rode along that road all the way from Weston to Wellesley just once a few years ago, and decided that it was too dangerous. It is an exceptionally busy road and the white line is right up against the kerb so there's no way for a bicycle to move over so that a vehicle can safely pass. I do ride on some other, less busy narrow roads, and I am not the kind of biker who rides on sidewalks, but even so I will pause in a driveway if I see (in my mirror) or hear a heavy truck behind me. I know that many cyclists believe in standing on their legal right to be treated as a vehicle on the road, but I wonder how many have sat in the driver's seat of an enormous 18-wheeler and tried to maneuver it past a moving bicycle.
My advice to any cyclist, including those of us who wear the black spandex and multicolored jersey, is to be better safe than sorry.
The full 16 second video as shown on WHDH is, by itself, a damning indictment of the trucker. The cyclist is clearly ahead of him as he turns left off of Rt. 135 onto Weston Rd. he then proceeds with his huge, wide vehicle to attempt to pass in the short distance between the bridge and the end of the intersection at which point the road narrows tremendously and bends. To attempt this pass at that location was murderously reckless on the part of the trucker. I believe this was criminal on at least the two minor accounts presented to the grand jury.
Weston road is busy and not particularly wide but it is a reasonable road to ride on except for a few hazardous spots like this intersection. In this case the WHDH video shows the trucker, not the cyclist, was 100% at fault.
Here is the link to the WHDH coverage. In it you can see the truck overtake the bicyclist and you can see the bicyclist to the side of the truck as it approaches a very tight spot. The cyclist was not highly experienced and may not have appreciated the lethal spot the TRUCKER put him into. I also don't believe the trucker is truthful when he said he didn't hit anything and never saw anything. Stonewalling all the way! He had to know how risky his move was to the cyclist. He said he had been down that road before. He cannot claim ignorance of the dangerousness of that intersection.
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/12009771306720/wrongful-death-suit-filed-in-wellesley-bike-accident/
All the trucker had to do was look in his right mirror after passing and he would have seen the carnage he had inflicted. I have trouble believing he didn't look at that mirror after passing. You saw the images of the bicycle totally destroyed and all over the street.