In the absence of any hope of a quick and easy solution for car and pedestrian interactions, there are a couple of rules I always follow personally when crossing.

1) Cars always go first/have right of way, and I will wait until ideally, there is a gap in traffic

2) Move into a position where you are "almost" obstructing the vehicle's path (to get driver to stop, but to be able to pull back if they do not), and stare at the driver and make eye contact, waiting until the vehicle comes to a stop before entering its path.

3) Once in the path of the vehicle, sprint or move as quickly as possible out of the vehicle's path to avoid the eager accelerators

4) if possible, tag onto a group of strangers (run to catch up if needed, then stick with group). Cars have a lower chance of running over a larger group of people

5) Spend as little time as possible in the roadway, move quickly, and mentally focus on crossing before reaching intersection

Fantastically written article that, like many others in it’s genre, will be ignored

The title mentions the most dangerous road, but I see no pictures or visual details of the road itself except for a terrible picture taken from a corner that looks like 80% of the multiple lane roads in America.

The road toll in the US is staggering given its wealth. The conversation to reduce it doesn’t obviously exist like it does in other places. The NHTSA figures showed an increase per kilometre in 2021, where many developed nations are showing a year on year reduction. Any Americans want to posit a reason why?

I stopped biking to work decades ago because I figured it was only a matter of time before a car whizzing by 2 feet away at 50 mph was going to hit me.

You have to scroll about 2/3rds of the way down the article to see the description of the crash:

>> Andrew entered the left lane on the far side of the road as a 19-year-old was driving down it in a red Toyota Camry. In a statement included in the police report, the driver said he was headed to Starbucks and estimated he was going 55 mph. The speed limit was 40. At 55 mph, it takes the distance of a football field to stop a car. Suddenly there was a boy on a bike in the road before him and now that boy and his bike were rolling up the hood and into the windshield that abruptly shattered and now they were airborne and now they were not and the driver was pulling off to the side of the road and running over to the boy lying in the road by his twisted bike but the boy wasn’t moving. It all happened so quickly. The driver called 911.

Earlier in the article, they mention that he had been taught to cross in the crosswalk:

>> He crossed, probably, in the crosswalk because he’d been taught he’d be protected there

Searching google maps, this intersection[1] may be the one he crossed, but the article didn't really specify where he crossed, so it's not possible to determine whether he crossed at an intersection in a crosswalk or mid-block.

From the description in the article it says:

>> Andrew entered the left lane on the far side of the road as a 19-year-old was driving down it in a red Toyota Camry.

Does that mean that the motorist was going to run a red light? Was the cyclist crossing on a red light or a don't walk signal? Looking through Google streetview on Hempstead Turnpike between N Wantagh Ave and Berger Ave, there are no mid-block crosswalks that I can see; the only crosswalks are at traffic signal controlled intersections.

If the motorist ran a red light, then why wasn't he arrested and/or charged with violating that law? The motorist admitted he was exceeding the posted speed limit by a significant amount, but he wasn't even charged with speeding.

Or did the cyclist just cross mid block without checking for approaching traffic or crossed against the light and/or pedestrian signal?

[1] https://goo.gl/maps/pida8vz91j5iumjGA

Only tangentially related but .... In California, a double white line is supposed to mean "don't cross period"

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio....

> (b) If double parallel solid white lines are in place, a person driving a vehicle shall not cross any part of those double solid white lines, except as permitted in this section or Section 21655.8.

> (d) The markings as specified in subdivision (a), (b), or (c) do not prohibit a driver from crossing the marking if (1) turning to the left at an intersection or into or out of a driveway or private road, or (2) making a U-turn under the rules governing that turn, and the markings shall be disregarded when authorized signs have been erected designating offcenter traffic lanes as permitted pursuant to Section 21657.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...

> (a) Except as required under subdivision (b), when exclusive or preferential use lanes for high-occupancy vehicles are established pursuant to Section 21655.5 and double parallel solid lines are in place to the right thereof, no person driving a vehicle may cross over these double lines to enter into or exit from the exclusive or preferential use lanes, and entrance or exit may be made only in areas designated for these purposes or where a single broken line is in place to the right of the exclusive or preferential use lanes.

> (b) Upon the approach of an authorized emergency vehicle displaying a red light or siren, as specified in Section 21806, a person driving a vehicle in an exclusive or preferential use lane shall exit that lane immediately upon determining that the exit can be accomplished with reasonable safety.

> (c) Raised pavement markers may be used to simulate painted lines described in this section.

Given that, it's interesting that a few sections of Valencia street, between 18th and 19th

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Valencia+St,+San+Francisco...

Between 15 and 17th

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Valencia+St,+San+Francisco...

Have double solid white lines separating the bike lane from the car lane. But, past the bike line are car parking spots. Given the law above, it would be illegal to use those parking spots since it's illegal to cross the lines to get to them.

I brought this up because cycling down Valencia the cycling lanes are often blocked by cars stopped for deliveries, pickups, dropoffs, other and so cyclists have to dangerously move into the car lanes.

I did see some police the other day telling these cars they had to move but I suspect that's rare. I don't know what the perfect solution is. Further down, like around 14th is I think a better solution where it's street->parking->bike instead of street->bike->parking. This puts a barrier of parked cars between the bikes and the traffic. At the same time, some accommodation for deliveries to businesses, people moving into/out of apartments, etc needs to be made.

Also, more on topic, the latest "Not Just Bikes" video is all about how deadly roads are but don't have to be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ByEBjf9ktY

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At one point I was determined to move to a car-free neighborhood in the US. Unfortunately they all seem to be tourist islands: Fire Island, Monhegan Island, Mackinac Island, Bald Head Island, etc.

I gave up and resigned myself to teaching my kids how to avoid being killed by drivers and advocating for safer street design. But if someone ever builds a Cyclocroft[1] or Culdesac[2] in my region I'd happily move there.

[1] https://twitter.com/mrmoneymustache/status/10960784095689891...

[2] https://culdesac.com/

One of the big differences between the US and Europe in this regard is the much larger proportion of bicyclists in Europe. In Europe, the larger number of bicyclists trains you as a driver to always be on the lookout for them. Driving past a bicyclist in the US is a much rarer event. Drivers should of course always be vigilant for anything in their way, but as a practical matter it's easier to mentally drift off when bicyclists are much less common.

Many years ago I took a course in high performance driving. One of the takeaways is the advice to always be predictable. Being predictable means the other drivers can avoid you. Being unpredictable means they'll hit you. Give the other drivers a chance to avoid hitting you.

I bring this up because Drivers' Ed never mentioned it.

For an obvious example, using turn signals is being predictable. Not passing on the right is being predictable. Driving at the same speed as the rest of the traffic is being predictable. There are all kinds of traffic laws, but most boil down to just be predictable.

For the cyclists, please don't draft behind some unwitting driver. (Yes, I see this now and then.) Please don't randomly weave in and out of traffic. And please don't bike across the crosswalk, walk your bike across it. Drivers cannot react fast enough to a bike darting across the road.

And when the bike lane does a Kriss-Kross across a car lane, stay alive and don't do it in front of traffic.

In much of Europe stoplights are on the near side of na intersection and there are stoplights exiting intersections as well as entering. This facilitates integration of pedestrian and bike lanes/crossing (often these are separate). Also there are no left turns across traffic, instead there are roundabouts, and these are more easily integrated with cyclist lanes.

Finally, of course, cars are smaller (on the the other hand, so are streets).

The majority of USA does not even have the minimum design that allows bike safety and nothing can be done about it since building anything now is almost impossible. It is just foolish to insist a life style that doesn’t have a infrastructural support.

> the driver said he was headed to Starbucks and estimated he was going 55 mph. The speed limit was 40.

And the driver was not charged with a crime? In many countries if you drive over the speed limit and kill someone that's a manslaughter charge. Several countries always have a driver at fault if there is an accident with a bike or car.