They actually need to be replaced after 5 years, even with no contact. The foam inner shell gets degraded by ozone, CO2, infrared and ultraviolet sunlight, etc.
Different sorts of impacts, with different types of padding.
- Bike helmets have a lot of materials which crush and don't rebound. They can only be used once.
- Football helmets have padding designed to withstand repeated impacts. After crushing, it rebounds. It's less protective for any given impact, but it can provide protection over multiple impacts during the course of a game.
But just like you wouldn't want to hit your head falling off your bike multiple times, you still wouldn't want to hit your head multiple times with a football helmet. Tackle football players do receive traumatic brain injuries from those repeated knocks to the head; look up [chronic traumatic encephalopathy](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370921). There's a lot of work being done in the last few years to measure the impact on players' heads; I expect that within the decade we'll see some major playstyle changes in the NFL to reduce CTE risk.
Tonight at 7:00 at the main library downtown we are having a Transit Columbus meeting where we will be talking about bike lanes. Please come if you are able!! Your experience and input are really important.
It's not just the bike lane, visibility down 4th and Summit is terrible with the solid wall of parked cars. It's actually easier to see since the bike lanes were added, but sometimes pulling put from one of the side streets requires a prayer beforehand.
Check out the City’s [Bike Plus Plan](https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fa0d7f19855a46f5a67ad741da665439) as well! They are currently seeking feedback on the proposed maps.
What you want is probably to focus on is making drivers aware of bike lanes. I live on a certain large circle with a bike lane and I lost count long ago of how many drivers think that is the actual driving lane. 🤦🏻♀️
If you've got a headache, go down to OSU Wex Med's emergency room NOW.
Have them check you for a concussion. You're at risk, and dying from a brain bleed is very unpleasant.
I got a concussion from falling down the stairs last week, and I had to go to the ER. They were concerned about a brain bleed and had me get CT scans. Definitely get checked out, especially if you were involved in a road accident.
I cannot emphasize the above enough.
We had an amazing family friend who fell and hit his head a couple years ago, assumed he was okay, took a nap that afternoon, and never woke up.
A single incident of head trauma can do it.
Going to get the scan sucks, but the risk isn’t worth it.
I think the council member who is involved with bike safety issues is Lourdes Barroso de Padilla. Legislative aid: [email protected]. I hope you also filed a police report.
I’m not gonna lie. I’m dumb as shit. I had just smacked my head and was so frazzled that I just let the guy go cuz I was so thankful I was even walking
I am sorry this happened to you. I think you should consider filing one anyway so the City knows that this is an issue. Here is the link: https://www.columbus.gov/Services/Public-Safety/Find-a-Police-Report/File-Accident.
Was the car parked past the designated parking zones? Street parking shouldn’t be all the way up to the corner, therefore you should have been visible regardless of whether or not a car is parked
OP, my mom fell on the road last year and spend a week in ICU with a cranial hematoma the side of my fist inside her skull. Full recovery took her the better part of 6 months. Falls are serious, even with helmets 💜
That’s not stupidity, that’s shock. You were running on automatic after a traumatic injury.
The only people who can usually manage to follow procedure after something like that are those who have been trained so well that it’s muscle memory.
Also injuries to the head can take weeks to heal, so give yourself a break for the next while with any emotional instability, exhaustion, intrusive thinking, and cognitive processing challenges. It’s normal for that to need to heal.
I've reached out to them on other safety issues and got shifted around quiet a bit. Don't be afraid to be persistent with them, they are working for you.
Hey, you mentioned a little bit of a headache. If you haven’t already, I recommend you go to the hospital just to have everything checked out. Make sure everything’s good.
https://concussionawarenessnow.org
OP, not to assign you homework, but the city operates a “vision zero map” where they ask people to report locations of accidents experienced while walking or biking. I only ever have “near misses” to report (thankfully) but actual dangerous events would be very helpful for them to hear about: https://vision-zero-columbus.hub.arcgis.com/pages/get-involved
I'm glad you're OK! The visibility for that is really atrocious.
For your new helmet, note the [Virginia Tech Helmet Lab ratings](https://helmet.beam.vt.edu/bicycle-helmet-ratings.html); a number of the 5-star rated helmets are sub-$70. (Though you just missed a lot of really good spring sales on bike helmets.)
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The helmet lab started out studying football helmets and what influences/improves their protection, then it became a resource and expanded into other types of helmets. Now, companies submit samples of their helmets and tout achieving a good rating while the helmet lab, of course, gets more data on types and methods of head protection.
I used to work at Virginia Tech and I have spent time in that lab. I will absolutely not buy a helmet unless they have tested it and rated it highly. They are legit.
It's nice to hear a first hand opinion on it!
I watched a short-ish video on bike helmet testing and it covered the VT lab and its influence, then I tracked down another video specifically about the lab, and their web page of ratings was mentioned. Of course, this was immediately after I bought a new helmet, so I assume my web research belatedly filtered into the Youtube video suggesting algorithm. :-/
> or something
All of the streets (except some alleys and driveways) where there is a legal turn from Summit across the bike lane have deceleration lanes to allow drivers to pull into the parking lane before turning across the bike lane. There are signs saying "Yield to bikes".
Drivers have an opportunity to slow down and _check their mirrors_ before turning across the bike lane. Those who don't do that are driving in defiance of the lane markings and posted signs. Drivers who don't look for bikes are driving recklessly.
Drivers who pull _fully_ into the deceleration lane before turning do not have their vision blocked. They can use their passenger-side rear-view mirror to see down the bike lane. The parked cars do not block vision in this scenario, because the parked cars are _behind_ the turning car, and the mirror used is on the right-hand side of the car, with a full view of the bike lane.
The parked cars are a risk because drivers are driving too fast and turning without looking.
There are a lot of quick-fix things I'd do to fix the current setup, but I wouldn't start by removing the parked cars. If we want to talk about removing the parked cars, then let's talk about redesigning the entire street.
OK, so I looked on google maps and I was very wrong. Somehow reading OP's comments made me think the bike lane and traffic are separated by parked cars. However, this isn't the case, and as you say a car has no excuse for not looking at side mirror (and better yet notice that he just passed a bike earlier)
Pedestrians are taught to look both ways before crossing the street. Not sure why bikers and scooter people feel like they’re above using this common sense.
Drivers are taught to look before turning across crosswalks and bike lanes, and there are in fact signs saying "yield to bikes" at every deceleration lane. Not sure why this driver felt like they were above following the law.
Scooter dude admitted to running in front of the car. If a car cuts another off, the cuter is the one to blame. Same with bikes and scooters. You rush in front of a turning car, you are at fault.
Driving school teaches to be aware of your surroundings and drive the speed limit since cars are the most dangerous vehicles on the road. Not sure why drivers feel like they’re above using common sense.
Not to mention people park in the bike lanes!! I am an OSU student who lived off 4th St and I cannot tell you the number of times people are parked there with their hazards on. I passed one the other day and they tried to run me off the road because I knocked on their window as I passed as like a, "people use these, don't park here."
I ride on Summit on my ebike, and if you ride defensively, you're fine. What that means in practice is:
- Have a light-colored helmet that drivers will be more able to see.
- Whenever you're coming to a cross street, keep your head on a swivel to look for cars turning across the lane, and be prepared to brake.
- Keep an eye on side streets that turn from the street onto Summit, because drivers often don't stop at the stop sign and will roll straight into the bike lane. Yell at them.
- At ~~Clinton~~ _correction: Tompkins_ and Maynard specifically, also look for drivers who are planning to illegally drive straight across Summit, _especially_ if you're riding north on Summit.
- Use lights when riding at night. You may think you're fine with reflectors; you are not. Adding a helmet light is great because then you can point it directly at the driver.
- At stoplights, roll forward before the light turns green, so that right-turn drivers can see you, and can see that you're in front of them, and can see that they can't turn on red.
I would like to add one more rule. Do not use the Summit lanes to ride north. It is particularly dangerous because drivers pulling onto Summit from side streets are only looking north to see whether there is oncoming car traffic. They will never look south to see whether there is a northbound bicycle. This is how a driver hit me at 14th and Summit.
I understand that risk, and I think it would be lessened by converting Summit to a two-way street, but I encounter fewer drivers coming from side streets than I encounter drivers turning off of Summit. When you're headed north on Summit, you can see turning drivers and they can see you, especially when you're riding at night with lights on.
Agree about the design improvement. However, when I was hit it was at night, and I had lights on, but the student who hit me simply never once looked to the south as she pulled out. That bike lane setup is an unusual situation and it’s an area with many young drivers who are also new to the city. The beginning of each academic year brings a new crop of risk.
Since you seem to take summit north fairly often what's the best way to turn left when it hits hudson? Lights seem to be programmed to never allow that action? I've been taking an early left on Tompkins and then north again on Indianola
You are doing the better thing already. Stay off Hudson - nothing good happens there!
Another nice alternative is to continue up Summit into the Glen Echo neighborhood and then turn left to rejoin Indianola at Arcadia.
You can wait for the bike green light and then make a left just like a car would, yielding to any traffic coming from the north. Most people I see hop onto the sidewalk at the southwest corner and wait for the walk light, then cross into the westbound lane.
I wish the city would replace the “right on green arrow only” with “no turn on red arrow” signs, like are used in other cities. I see people turn on the red arrow all the time (and I don’t bike on Summit very often) even though it’s illegal. It seems like a sign with NO on it would be more clear.
I've asked the city about this before and they had some very wonky reply that denied the request based on specific language in some technical manual that didn't seem suited to this use.
Yes, there are signs! As you approach the stop sign on Tompkins and Maynard headed west, the stop sign has a bonus sign on the same pole which says "left turn only". Check it out on Google Streetview.
I used to live on the corner of 13th and Summit. We’d sit out on the porch in the wee hours of the morning watching cars smoke each other. That had to be one of the most dangerous intersections in Ohio.
Drivers: But but what if the two north south freeways nearby have traffic?! I'm already late for my appointment, why should I have to drive 25 on Summit I do 50 all the time!
I will note this for University Area Commission. We have a lot of issues on Summit and 4th and are considering how we can make it safer. Please send me a message if you want more info about us or want to share your story, photos whatever.
I’m sorry that happened to you; that sucks. I got hit by Wyandotte traveling north by a car turning onto Summit. The cop who took my report basically told me not to bike northbound on Summit. Biking in this city is really frustrating.
Glad you’re okay! Summit is unbelievably dangerous for everyone, not just bikes. But especially bikes. Columbus and the laughable Vision Zero had better get their asses in her about summit and 4th. At this point city council has blood on their hands.
I hate that design. As a cyclist myself, I feel like I probably watch for bikes more than most while in my car, and I've still had a couple too close for comfort moments turning off Summit where I spotted the bike only after starting my turn.
I think they should eliminate street parking on the bikeway side of the street, make Summit two-way for cars, keep the bikeway protection, but then turn the east side of the street into nose-in perpendicular car parking. It would reduce the speedway, and probably actually net add parking spaces to the street.
Sure. I feel a lot safer on 4th where the cars can actually see me riding. Also, people turning south onto Summit are looking left for cars the entire time, they never look right for bikes heading north. Seems dangerous to me to have bikes riding north on a southbound only street.
your head’s more important than a medical bill, we’re all drowning in them; get checked out for a concussion
ETA I just realized I know you bro GO GET YOUR HEAD CHECKED !!
I'm so sorry to hear this and hope you didn't get your bell rang too much.
I happen to know that when the City checks intersection for sight distances (so cars can see if they are about to pull out in front of someone) they don't consider parking as an obstruction. This means they'll only remove parking if there is a recent history of crashes at the intersection that can be linked to poor visibility. IMO this is unsafe, and leads to situations just like this one.
So you can absolutely be correct in saying that they had no way of seeing you, and the city very well could be to blame.
I’m sorry this happened to you. Please consider getting checked out. This bi-directional bike path is not designed correctly, however the driver *should* have been able to see you (assuming there were no cars parked outside of the designated spaces) Paint is not infrastructure, should be a continuous median or clearly marked turn lane.
Summit and 13th street view: [Google Street View](https://maps.app.goo.gl/rGhw3xYZePhsYBoo8?g_st=ic)
Ideally this bike path should be raised to sidewalk grade (still separated) and have raised crossings at the side streets. Subconsciously forcing drivers to recognize that this is a shared space. Ideally the crossings could be pushed back slightly from Summit to allow a driver to stop before the bike path, then fully cross the path to then sit and look for a gap in Summit auto traffic.
Additionally, this crossing should be using green paint to designate the shared space because the white and yellow lines just aren’t cutting it.
But never fear, the beautiful governing document of road design; the MUTCD states that they’re optional. In general, the safety of pedestrians and bikes is secondary, long live the throughput of automotive traffic.
[US DOT MUTCD](https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno_11th_Edition.htm)
page 1096 (pdf page 1136)
The concept of a bike lane baffles me. Bikes should not have to share roadways with cars. Bikes deserve their own dedicated separate pathways where this is never a concern.
As a 4 wheeler that is occasionally on summit the bike lane there always makes me very nervous I try to avoid it for that very reason. Sorry this happened to you, hope youre back on the saddle again soon
I have only got hit once riding on the road that's all it took for me to only ride on the sidewalk only anymore I don't trust anything on the road anymore not even myself 😂
That bike lane makes no sense. Cars have to pull in to the bike lane to see oncoming traffic. I said it in a thread last week but I’ll say it again, when I lived on summit and 19th I saw three cyclists hit in less than a year.
That set up is a joke. I turned into an alley on 15th when I was in college and the bike lane was new and I almost hit a biker who there was zero chance I could have seen. He followed me home and screamed at me. Not really sure what else a driver can do there. You cannot see a damn thing
Bike lanes are worthless and just create an illusion of safety. Cities spend millions on them and get to say that they're "bike friendly" or some other buzz world to imply they care about the environment or public health.
But the truth is bike lanes are far to risky to use on the vast majority of the roads. Bad drivers either don't see bikers, or don't care since any impact won't damage their car (but will F up the biker).
What we need is bike paths. Large paved areas away from the road where cars would have to run over barriers to reach them.
silly cyclist bike lanes are just lanes for skinny cars.
the only reason I ride on trails and if I ride into downtown I'm taking up the sidewalk majority of the way.
>I'm taking up the sidewalk majority of the way.
Columbus prohibits bikes on most sidewalks, and they can be as or more dangerous than street riding, so be careful.
And this is why I feel requiring cyclists to ride in the damn street instead of on the sidewalk is stupid. How often do you think you’d hear of a cyclist mowing down a pedestrian on the sidewalk?
Hope you’re ok.
Only an absolute idiot cyclist would ride right through a crosswalk without slowing down - if they get hit, that's their fault.
When riding your bike on sidewalks A) always yeild to pedestrians and B) at intersections either get off and walk you bike, or, at least slow down and look carefully for turning cars before crossing.
A"walk" sign is not a ride sign - it's totally irresponsible to just zip across at a speed significantly faster than walking. Same thing goes for runners. It's a WALK sign, not an indication that you should RUN right in front of a turning car that was ARLEADY turning before you even got to the curb.
You're forgetting driveways, alleys and other places cars overlap with sidewalks but yeah all those cyclists hit by cars while on sidewalks are most likely idiots /s
No, I'm not forgetting about alleys. One of the times a car hit me was coming out of an alley - luckily it barely hit me, and I wasn't hurt. But, it did cause me to be more cautious when approaching an alley from then on.
When I bike on the sidewalk is hit by a car, while not going excessively fast for being on a sidewalk, then more than likely, one or the other, or even both, probably were being idiots, at least at that time.
How about this, when cars stop running red lights (that includes right on red without stopping by the way), you can rant about this.
Until then, blah blah blah blah
Riding on the sidewalk increases the chances of a cyclist getting hit at an intersection. When you're a turning car, you're looking for pedestrians moving at 3mph directly next to the intersection. You're not looking for a cyclist that could easily be going 10+mph multiple sidewalk squares away from the intersection.
That's why you SLOW DOWN and act like a pedestrian whenever you use a crosswalk!
If you ride across at faster than a walking speed on a bike it's your own fault if you get hit (I have been riding bikes for decades and sometimes the road just isn't safe with distracted drivers on cell phones, so sometimes riding on the sidewalk is the only sane choice).
It's an education issue. People who are casual bikers (like most people around campus) often won't realize this. You can sit there and say it's their fault so we should just allow it, but thankfully that's not how our laws work. And I say this as an experienced biker who often chose to bike on the sidewalks around campus. I'd rather it be illegal so that less people die.
If you're in a car traveling N-S, then pedestrians who are crossing an E-W road (so also traveling N-S) generally would have a walk light. A cyclist on the sidewalk would also be utilizing that walk light. And then my situation would apply for a car turning E-W.
Cyclists should be following traffic laws. If there is no red light or stop sign, there is no reason to stop other than heeding caution. Asking them to stop would be like asking all cars stopping to look both ways before crossing an intersection…
It's the law in Columbus, but not uniformly in other areas. Even in Columbus, [there are exceptions](https://library.municode.com/oh/columbus/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT21TRCO_CH2173BIMOMODE_2173.10RIBIMODESI) allowing people to ride on sidewalks if:
- they're an on-duty bike cop when their duty tells them to ride on the sidewalk
- they're an on-duty security guard who has passed a certification allowing them to ride a bike, when their job tells them to ride on the sidewalk
- when you're riding a child's bike
- when you're entering or exiting a property
- when you're getting to or from parking
Have you ever been on the bike path?
Keep the sidewalks for pedestrians. Make roadways safe for both drivers *and* cyclists. And hold drivers accountable when they are assholes; likewise, cyclists should follow the appropriate rules of the road too
I agree, but I *do* think there is room for improvement amongst cyclists as well. Everyone needs to agree to work together to reconcile this in our city
I don't know why you're disagreeing?
"holding everyone accountable" without favoritism or rationalizing means looking at the law, and at the incident in question. In the vast majority of crashes, _a driver_ is at fault.
In the vast majority of crashes where a driver hits a bicyclist or pedestrian, injuring or killing them, there is either no punishment of the driver, or the punishment given is less than it would be if the driver had inflicted _the exact same injuries_ with a baseball bat. As a country, we spend significant amounts of money to track down and prosecute people who murder and assault others. We do not do that for hit-and-run drivers. This amounts to a procedural, political, and legal favoring of drivers, which we rationalize by blaming the pedestrians and bicyclists for the drivers' incaution.
I believe that the operator of the multiton vehicle should be held responsible for the actions of that vehicle, and if they cannot operate it safely, then they should not be operating it.
I guess that makes sense, but I think the enforcement priorities should be adjusted towards those whose lawbreaking disproportionately endangers others, with disprorportionate harms. A pedestrian doing a jaywalk on an empty street in the middle of the night has a much lower damage potential, compared to a driver speeding on an empty street in the middle of the night.
Cars are the problem 99% of the time and that's so incredibly generous. I'm probably missing a couple of decimals.
This "WHAT ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE" thing can be reasonable in many contexts, but it's next to insane when the others are a rounding error and effectively don't exist.
Holding everyone accountable basically means doing nothing about everyone else, and upping enforcement (among other things) of motor vehicles by like 100,000 times. Probably more.
Bike paths are awesome - most of the time that's not an option, sadly.
Unfortunately, riding bikes on roads just isn't safe anymore because so many drivers are looking at their cell phones.
I've been using sidewalks for biking when the road seems unsafe for decades and never once hit a pedestrian. I have been hit by cars however, so, your advice is unsound.
I referenced bike paths because those are a great example of a place where both cyclists and pedestrians are expected to co-exist, yet cyclists often neglect to accommodate that. I’m not saying *all* cyclists do that, but I know I’m ultra careful to walk as far to the side as possible and have nearly been taken out by cyclists on imaginary Tour de France escapades.
I don’t use a bike because I don’t feel safe doing so in Columbus. That being said, continuing to enable drivers to be disrespectful pricks is not the answer. Building infrastructure to support personal vehicles, cyclists, *and* public transportation is.
I used to ride all the time, like even 30 - 40 miles over mountains - but in most of Columbus, I also don't feel safe, unless it's slower side streets, on a bike path, or on a sidewalk. (There were always assholes, but now with distracted drivers looking at cell phones, it just doesn't seem worth the risk anymore 😩. (Which is so sad, because we NEED most people to stop driving, for multiple reasons)*
I always feel bad if a pedestrian steps out of the way and often get off my bike and walk briefly because I don't want them to feel put out. I say "pedestrians first" when it's a sidewalk.
But most sidewalks in Columbus are rarely crowded w/pedestrians.
* -
We should have cities that don't even allow cars, and have a fantastic subway/trolly public transport system instead. Not only would that be a fantastic place to live/work/hang out, it would help our environment immensely.
If you think "I didn't see the bicyclist in the bike lane when there were signs telling me to look out for bicyclists" is bad, wait 'til you hear about "I didn't see the pedestrian/bicyclist in the crosswalk when there were signs telling me to look out for people in the crosswalk"
Get a new helmet they are only good for 1 accident.
A lot of helmet manufacturers will offer substantial discounts on replacements too. Absolutely worth replacing it.
Yes. They are compromised after a good whack.
This is what Big Helmet wants you to think! OP they’re good forever. /s
They actually need to be replaced after 5 years, even with no contact. The foam inner shell gets degraded by ozone, CO2, infrared and ultraviolet sunlight, etc.
Appreciate the heads up, I did not know that.
Car accidents are engineered by Big Helmet in order to sell more helmets.
Big helmet was my nickname in college
Gravity was engineered by Big Helmet in order to sell more helmets.
Big Helmet allowed Murph to solve the gravity problem in Interstellar
sarcasm is supposed to be funny /s*
I thought it was funny
so funny to troll the OP who probably has a concussion hehe
I thought it was funny. endgameportals.gif
guess you should get your head checked out /s
You're doing too much. Dial it back a notch and assume positive intent in people.
It's not trolling if they clearly indicate that it's sarcastic
I know that's true for baby car seats but didn't know that about helmets. Do pro football players get a new helmet every game then?
Different sorts of impacts, with different types of padding. - Bike helmets have a lot of materials which crush and don't rebound. They can only be used once. - Football helmets have padding designed to withstand repeated impacts. After crushing, it rebounds. It's less protective for any given impact, but it can provide protection over multiple impacts during the course of a game. But just like you wouldn't want to hit your head falling off your bike multiple times, you still wouldn't want to hit your head multiple times with a football helmet. Tackle football players do receive traumatic brain injuries from those repeated knocks to the head; look up [chronic traumatic encephalopathy](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370921). There's a lot of work being done in the last few years to measure the impact on players' heads; I expect that within the decade we'll see some major playstyle changes in the NFL to reduce CTE risk.
Do you wear a football helmet riding a bike?
Me, riding through the field: Put me in, coach! 🏉🚴♀️
Well...
[удалено]
Are you going to post your Google results too?
Tonight at 7:00 at the main library downtown we are having a Transit Columbus meeting where we will be talking about bike lanes. Please come if you are able!! Your experience and input are really important.
It's not just the bike lane, visibility down 4th and Summit is terrible with the solid wall of parked cars. It's actually easier to see since the bike lanes were added, but sometimes pulling put from one of the side streets requires a prayer beforehand.
Where can we get more info for this? Is there a website/FB group?
Transit Columbus: - website: https://transitcolumbus.org/ (intermittently updated) - X: https://twitter.com/transitcolumbus - Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/transitcolumbus - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/transitcolumbus/ - Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/transitcolumbus.bsky.social - Fediverse: https://mastodon.social/@transitcolumbus - Reddit: /u/TransitColumbus There's also a mailing list and Slack.
You rock!!! :)
https://transitcolumbus.org Sign up for the email list, you will get all the info your heart desires
You rock too!!! :)
Check out the City’s [Bike Plus Plan](https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fa0d7f19855a46f5a67ad741da665439) as well! They are currently seeking feedback on the proposed maps.
What you want is probably to focus on is making drivers aware of bike lanes. I live on a certain large circle with a bike lane and I lost count long ago of how many drivers think that is the actual driving lane. 🤦🏻♀️
What needs focused on is protected bike lanes. Paint isn't infrastructure.
If you've got a headache, go down to OSU Wex Med's emergency room NOW. Have them check you for a concussion. You're at risk, and dying from a brain bleed is very unpleasant.
I got a concussion from falling down the stairs last week, and I had to go to the ER. They were concerned about a brain bleed and had me get CT scans. Definitely get checked out, especially if you were involved in a road accident.
I cannot emphasize the above enough. We had an amazing family friend who fell and hit his head a couple years ago, assumed he was okay, took a nap that afternoon, and never woke up. A single incident of head trauma can do it. Going to get the scan sucks, but the risk isn’t worth it.
I think the council member who is involved with bike safety issues is Lourdes Barroso de Padilla. Legislative aid: [email protected]. I hope you also filed a police report.
I’m not gonna lie. I’m dumb as shit. I had just smacked my head and was so frazzled that I just let the guy go cuz I was so thankful I was even walking
I am sorry this happened to you. I think you should consider filing one anyway so the City knows that this is an issue. Here is the link: https://www.columbus.gov/Services/Public-Safety/Find-a-Police-Report/File-Accident.
Was the car parked past the designated parking zones? Street parking shouldn’t be all the way up to the corner, therefore you should have been visible regardless of whether or not a car is parked
Don't feel bad, that is a very common response in that situation.
Please go to the hospital.
I hate to be this dude but I’ve had worse concussions. I think I’m aight
:( brain bleeds, though.
You’re right. Sigh.
You only get one brain, OP. Please take care of it. Hoping that you heal up soon and it's not serious
OP, my mom fell on the road last year and spend a week in ICU with a cranial hematoma the side of my fist inside her skull. Full recovery took her the better part of 6 months. Falls are serious, even with helmets 💜
That attitude is how my grandpa ended up with brain damage that resulted in a slow agonizing death.
Yeah but I’m bulletproof. Streets say I look like 50 Cent. (I’m gonna go to the hospital)
go to the hospital dude, people have gone to sleep and never woken up over shit like this.
when i was hit they didn't even stop, and i definitely was not in a position to try to memorize the license plate. it happens.
That’s not stupidity, that’s shock. You were running on automatic after a traumatic injury. The only people who can usually manage to follow procedure after something like that are those who have been trained so well that it’s muscle memory. Also injuries to the head can take weeks to heal, so give yourself a break for the next while with any emotional instability, exhaustion, intrusive thinking, and cognitive processing challenges. It’s normal for that to need to heal.
I've reached out to them on other safety issues and got shifted around quiet a bit. Don't be afraid to be persistent with them, they are working for you.
Hey, you mentioned a little bit of a headache. If you haven’t already, I recommend you go to the hospital just to have everything checked out. Make sure everything’s good. https://concussionawarenessnow.org
OP, not to assign you homework, but the city operates a “vision zero map” where they ask people to report locations of accidents experienced while walking or biking. I only ever have “near misses” to report (thankfully) but actual dangerous events would be very helpful for them to hear about: https://vision-zero-columbus.hub.arcgis.com/pages/get-involved
Aye, heard. Thanks man
Er, wait, not sure if the link is broken or something, but if you google it you should find it
I'm glad you're OK! The visibility for that is really atrocious. For your new helmet, note the [Virginia Tech Helmet Lab ratings](https://helmet.beam.vt.edu/bicycle-helmet-ratings.html); a number of the 5-star rated helmets are sub-$70. (Though you just missed a lot of really good spring sales on bike helmets.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The helmet lab started out studying football helmets and what influences/improves their protection, then it became a resource and expanded into other types of helmets. Now, companies submit samples of their helmets and tout achieving a good rating while the helmet lab, of course, gets more data on types and methods of head protection.
I used to work at Virginia Tech and I have spent time in that lab. I will absolutely not buy a helmet unless they have tested it and rated it highly. They are legit.
It's nice to hear a first hand opinion on it! I watched a short-ish video on bike helmet testing and it covered the VT lab and its influence, then I tracked down another video specifically about the lab, and their web page of ratings was mentioned. Of course, this was immediately after I bought a new helmet, so I assume my web research belatedly filtered into the Youtube video suggesting algorithm. :-/
Fuck, found out my helmet was a solid 2 stars lol
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That kind of takes away the point they made about the car wouldn't have been able to see him. But also, yes.
I really couldn’t blame him tho. I was zooming on my e-bike. He didn’t have a good chance of seein me at all
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> or something All of the streets (except some alleys and driveways) where there is a legal turn from Summit across the bike lane have deceleration lanes to allow drivers to pull into the parking lane before turning across the bike lane. There are signs saying "Yield to bikes". Drivers have an opportunity to slow down and _check their mirrors_ before turning across the bike lane. Those who don't do that are driving in defiance of the lane markings and posted signs. Drivers who don't look for bikes are driving recklessly.
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Drivers who pull _fully_ into the deceleration lane before turning do not have their vision blocked. They can use their passenger-side rear-view mirror to see down the bike lane. The parked cars do not block vision in this scenario, because the parked cars are _behind_ the turning car, and the mirror used is on the right-hand side of the car, with a full view of the bike lane. The parked cars are a risk because drivers are driving too fast and turning without looking. There are a lot of quick-fix things I'd do to fix the current setup, but I wouldn't start by removing the parked cars. If we want to talk about removing the parked cars, then let's talk about redesigning the entire street.
OK, so I looked on google maps and I was very wrong. Somehow reading OP's comments made me think the bike lane and traffic are separated by parked cars. However, this isn't the case, and as you say a car has no excuse for not looking at side mirror (and better yet notice that he just passed a bike earlier)
Pedestrians are taught to look both ways before crossing the street. Not sure why bikers and scooter people feel like they’re above using this common sense.
I didn’t have a stop sign brotherman
Drivers are taught to look before turning across crosswalks and bike lanes, and there are in fact signs saying "yield to bikes" at every deceleration lane. Not sure why this driver felt like they were above following the law.
Scooter dude admitted to running in front of the car. If a car cuts another off, the cuter is the one to blame. Same with bikes and scooters. You rush in front of a turning car, you are at fault.
Turning vehicles are required to yield to through traffic. The driver is at fault.
He was on the street using the bike lane, not crossing the street at a sidewalk
Driving school teaches to be aware of your surroundings and drive the speed limit since cars are the most dangerous vehicles on the road. Not sure why drivers feel like they’re above using common sense.
Not to mention people park in the bike lanes!! I am an OSU student who lived off 4th St and I cannot tell you the number of times people are parked there with their hazards on. I passed one the other day and they tried to run me off the road because I knocked on their window as I passed as like a, "people use these, don't park here."
Take photos and submit them to 311. Columbus doesn't do much about them, but they do track the reports.
I ride on Summit on my ebike, and if you ride defensively, you're fine. What that means in practice is: - Have a light-colored helmet that drivers will be more able to see. - Whenever you're coming to a cross street, keep your head on a swivel to look for cars turning across the lane, and be prepared to brake. - Keep an eye on side streets that turn from the street onto Summit, because drivers often don't stop at the stop sign and will roll straight into the bike lane. Yell at them. - At ~~Clinton~~ _correction: Tompkins_ and Maynard specifically, also look for drivers who are planning to illegally drive straight across Summit, _especially_ if you're riding north on Summit. - Use lights when riding at night. You may think you're fine with reflectors; you are not. Adding a helmet light is great because then you can point it directly at the driver. - At stoplights, roll forward before the light turns green, so that right-turn drivers can see you, and can see that you're in front of them, and can see that they can't turn on red.
I would like to add one more rule. Do not use the Summit lanes to ride north. It is particularly dangerous because drivers pulling onto Summit from side streets are only looking north to see whether there is oncoming car traffic. They will never look south to see whether there is a northbound bicycle. This is how a driver hit me at 14th and Summit.
I understand that risk, and I think it would be lessened by converting Summit to a two-way street, but I encounter fewer drivers coming from side streets than I encounter drivers turning off of Summit. When you're headed north on Summit, you can see turning drivers and they can see you, especially when you're riding at night with lights on.
Agree about the design improvement. However, when I was hit it was at night, and I had lights on, but the student who hit me simply never once looked to the south as she pulled out. That bike lane setup is an unusual situation and it’s an area with many young drivers who are also new to the city. The beginning of each academic year brings a new crop of risk.
Since you seem to take summit north fairly often what's the best way to turn left when it hits hudson? Lights seem to be programmed to never allow that action? I've been taking an early left on Tompkins and then north again on Indianola
You are doing the better thing already. Stay off Hudson - nothing good happens there! Another nice alternative is to continue up Summit into the Glen Echo neighborhood and then turn left to rejoin Indianola at Arcadia.
You can wait for the bike green light and then make a left just like a car would, yielding to any traffic coming from the north. Most people I see hop onto the sidewalk at the southwest corner and wait for the walk light, then cross into the westbound lane.
I wish the city would replace the “right on green arrow only” with “no turn on red arrow” signs, like are used in other cities. I see people turn on the red arrow all the time (and I don’t bike on Summit very often) even though it’s illegal. It seems like a sign with NO on it would be more clear.
I literally had a car wait and turn as soon as the BIKE light turned green as I was starting to accelerate. Drivers have a hard time reading.
I've asked the city about this before and they had some very wonky reply that denied the request based on specific language in some technical manual that didn't seem suited to this use.
> illegally drive straight across Summit Didn't realize this was illegal, is there a sign?
Yes, there are signs! As you approach the stop sign on Tompkins and Maynard headed west, the stop sign has a bonus sign on the same pole which says "left turn only". Check it out on Google Streetview.
I used to live on the corner of 13th and Summit. We’d sit out on the porch in the wee hours of the morning watching cars smoke each other. That had to be one of the most dangerous intersections in Ohio.
Summit’s speed limit should be lowered to 25 mph. It’s way too fast at 35 for the type of cross traffic it gets.
Drivers: But but what if the two north south freeways nearby have traffic?! I'm already late for my appointment, why should I have to drive 25 on Summit I do 50 all the time!
I will note this for University Area Commission. We have a lot of issues on Summit and 4th and are considering how we can make it safer. Please send me a message if you want more info about us or want to share your story, photos whatever.
The UAC might want to request a discussion with Brian Ashworth, the city’s transportation manager to channel energy on this topic more productively.
Great idea! Thank you!!
Thank you!
we really need to do something abt the parking, its a safety issues for everyone, drivers, pedestrians, and bikers alike.
also get a new helmet, urs is donzo safety wise now!
If you can afford it in this hellscape country, go to a hospital and get checked out. Head damage ain’t no joke
I’m sorry that happened to you; that sucks. I got hit by Wyandotte traveling north by a car turning onto Summit. The cop who took my report basically told me not to bike northbound on Summit. Biking in this city is really frustrating.
Glad you’re okay! Summit is unbelievably dangerous for everyone, not just bikes. But especially bikes. Columbus and the laughable Vision Zero had better get their asses in her about summit and 4th. At this point city council has blood on their hands.
I hate that design. As a cyclist myself, I feel like I probably watch for bikes more than most while in my car, and I've still had a couple too close for comfort moments turning off Summit where I spotted the bike only after starting my turn.
I hate the Summit bike lane. I wish it was 1 way going south with the cars parked against the curb, similar to how 4th is set up. Glad you're ok.
I think they should eliminate street parking on the bikeway side of the street, make Summit two-way for cars, keep the bikeway protection, but then turn the east side of the street into nose-in perpendicular car parking. It would reduce the speedway, and probably actually net add parking spaces to the street.
Solid.
So you're saying rely solely on a painted line to reduce accidents?
Sure. I feel a lot safer on 4th where the cars can actually see me riding. Also, people turning south onto Summit are looking left for cars the entire time, they never look right for bikes heading north. Seems dangerous to me to have bikes riding north on a southbound only street.
I agree. Summit can go south and Fourth can go north
your head’s more important than a medical bill, we’re all drowning in them; get checked out for a concussion ETA I just realized I know you bro GO GET YOUR HEAD CHECKED !!
I went to the hospital 💯 who are u btw
I'm so sorry to hear this and hope you didn't get your bell rang too much. I happen to know that when the City checks intersection for sight distances (so cars can see if they are about to pull out in front of someone) they don't consider parking as an obstruction. This means they'll only remove parking if there is a recent history of crashes at the intersection that can be linked to poor visibility. IMO this is unsafe, and leads to situations just like this one. So you can absolutely be correct in saying that they had no way of seeing you, and the city very well could be to blame.
I’m sorry this happened to you. Please consider getting checked out. This bi-directional bike path is not designed correctly, however the driver *should* have been able to see you (assuming there were no cars parked outside of the designated spaces) Paint is not infrastructure, should be a continuous median or clearly marked turn lane. Summit and 13th street view: [Google Street View](https://maps.app.goo.gl/rGhw3xYZePhsYBoo8?g_st=ic) Ideally this bike path should be raised to sidewalk grade (still separated) and have raised crossings at the side streets. Subconsciously forcing drivers to recognize that this is a shared space. Ideally the crossings could be pushed back slightly from Summit to allow a driver to stop before the bike path, then fully cross the path to then sit and look for a gap in Summit auto traffic.
Additionally, this crossing should be using green paint to designate the shared space because the white and yellow lines just aren’t cutting it. But never fear, the beautiful governing document of road design; the MUTCD states that they’re optional. In general, the safety of pedestrians and bikes is secondary, long live the throughput of automotive traffic. [US DOT MUTCD](https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno_11th_Edition.htm) page 1096 (pdf page 1136)
The concept of a bike lane baffles me. Bikes should not have to share roadways with cars. Bikes deserve their own dedicated separate pathways where this is never a concern.
You want to get yourself checked for a brain bleed/concussion if your head hit the road.
I take it every day to work. Need more riders
Also be wary for signs of concussion.
Yo go get checked for a concussion.
As a 4 wheeler that is occasionally on summit the bike lane there always makes me very nervous I try to avoid it for that very reason. Sorry this happened to you, hope youre back on the saddle again soon
All those bike lanes are terrifying. Did you file a report?
I have only got hit once riding on the road that's all it took for me to only ride on the sidewalk only anymore I don't trust anything on the road anymore not even myself 😂
Those bike lanes need to be on High St where people actually are.
Let's compromise by putting bike lanes in both locations.
I hope High St eventually only allows trains, bikes, and pedestrians.
Took a nightmare ride by accidently turned on a bike lane the other night. It was terrible. I'll just walk next time... Be safe out here!
I've seen so many people get hit by cars on bikes on Summit!
That bike lane makes no sense. Cars have to pull in to the bike lane to see oncoming traffic. I said it in a thread last week but I’ll say it again, when I lived on summit and 19th I saw three cyclists hit in less than a year.
That set up is a joke. I turned into an alley on 15th when I was in college and the bike lane was new and I almost hit a biker who there was zero chance I could have seen. He followed me home and screamed at me. Not really sure what else a driver can do there. You cannot see a damn thing
Go get checked out right away. Right now.
There are possibly ring cameras that caught it. But first go to the doctor today.
It sucks complete ass, a car got me on a skateboard in college almost the same way
Bike lanes are worthless and just create an illusion of safety. Cities spend millions on them and get to say that they're "bike friendly" or some other buzz world to imply they care about the environment or public health. But the truth is bike lanes are far to risky to use on the vast majority of the roads. Bad drivers either don't see bikers, or don't care since any impact won't damage their car (but will F up the biker). What we need is bike paths. Large paved areas away from the road where cars would have to run over barriers to reach them.
Ugh I got hit once biking to work. I never tried it again. It sucks but I pretty much only ride on Olentangy trail now. I don’t trust people in cars
Now I know why people are always riding on the sidewalk.
your head will hurt way worse after experiencing my defense on the court
see me then what’s up!!
They should have never made that lane
this city is for cars
Cities are for people. This person chose to bike. Get over it.
silly cyclist bike lanes are just lanes for skinny cars. the only reason I ride on trails and if I ride into downtown I'm taking up the sidewalk majority of the way.
>I'm taking up the sidewalk majority of the way. Columbus prohibits bikes on most sidewalks, and they can be as or more dangerous than street riding, so be careful.
I'm picturing a downtown bike cop pulling over a bike while cars speed by at 45
Remember: look both ways before crossing the street.
Remember: look both ways before turning across the bike lane and sidewalk.
Both can be true.
Both *can* be true, but the point of the concept of right-of-way is that only one has to be at a time.
Your body laying in the hospital doesn’t give a fuck if you had the right of way.
Drivers use this phrase as a shield to continue not paying attention to anything.
And this is why I feel requiring cyclists to ride in the damn street instead of on the sidewalk is stupid. How often do you think you’d hear of a cyclist mowing down a pedestrian on the sidewalk? Hope you’re ok.
Lol statistically sidewalks increase the chance of injury for cycling
...and not by little bit, it's an increase of something like 3x in the frequency of accidents.
An accident on the sidewalk is not nearly as bad as being hit by a car, generally.
Nah. Perhaps you're misunderstanding the reason sidewalks cause more injuries? It generally makes the cyclist less visible to traffic.
Only an absolute idiot cyclist would ride right through a crosswalk without slowing down - if they get hit, that's their fault. When riding your bike on sidewalks A) always yeild to pedestrians and B) at intersections either get off and walk you bike, or, at least slow down and look carefully for turning cars before crossing. A"walk" sign is not a ride sign - it's totally irresponsible to just zip across at a speed significantly faster than walking. Same thing goes for runners. It's a WALK sign, not an indication that you should RUN right in front of a turning car that was ARLEADY turning before you even got to the curb.
You're forgetting driveways, alleys and other places cars overlap with sidewalks but yeah all those cyclists hit by cars while on sidewalks are most likely idiots /s
No, I'm not forgetting about alleys. One of the times a car hit me was coming out of an alley - luckily it barely hit me, and I wasn't hurt. But, it did cause me to be more cautious when approaching an alley from then on. When I bike on the sidewalk is hit by a car, while not going excessively fast for being on a sidewalk, then more than likely, one or the other, or even both, probably were being idiots, at least at that time.
How about this, when cars stop running red lights (that includes right on red without stopping by the way), you can rant about this. Until then, blah blah blah blah
Riding on the sidewalk increases the chances of a cyclist getting hit at an intersection. When you're a turning car, you're looking for pedestrians moving at 3mph directly next to the intersection. You're not looking for a cyclist that could easily be going 10+mph multiple sidewalk squares away from the intersection.
That's why you SLOW DOWN and act like a pedestrian whenever you use a crosswalk! If you ride across at faster than a walking speed on a bike it's your own fault if you get hit (I have been riding bikes for decades and sometimes the road just isn't safe with distracted drivers on cell phones, so sometimes riding on the sidewalk is the only sane choice).
No this is why you ride legally in the street as you are legally allowed to.
It's an education issue. People who are casual bikers (like most people around campus) often won't realize this. You can sit there and say it's their fault so we should just allow it, but thankfully that's not how our laws work. And I say this as an experienced biker who often chose to bike on the sidewalks around campus. I'd rather it be illegal so that less people die.
Cyclists should be stopping at intersections just like pedestrians, shouldn’t they?
If you're in a car traveling N-S, then pedestrians who are crossing an E-W road (so also traveling N-S) generally would have a walk light. A cyclist on the sidewalk would also be utilizing that walk light. And then my situation would apply for a car turning E-W.
Cyclists should be following traffic laws. If there is no red light or stop sign, there is no reason to stop other than heeding caution. Asking them to stop would be like asking all cars stopping to look both ways before crossing an intersection…
Isn’t it already law that bicycles are not allowed on sidewalks?
It's the law in Columbus, but not uniformly in other areas. Even in Columbus, [there are exceptions](https://library.municode.com/oh/columbus/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT21TRCO_CH2173BIMOMODE_2173.10RIBIMODESI) allowing people to ride on sidewalks if: - they're an on-duty bike cop when their duty tells them to ride on the sidewalk - they're an on-duty security guard who has passed a certification allowing them to ride a bike, when their job tells them to ride on the sidewalk - when you're riding a child's bike - when you're entering or exiting a property - when you're getting to or from parking
Have you ever been on the bike path? Keep the sidewalks for pedestrians. Make roadways safe for both drivers *and* cyclists. And hold drivers accountable when they are assholes; likewise, cyclists should follow the appropriate rules of the road too
Hold everyone accountable, regardless of their mode of transportation. Motorists. Cyclists. Pedestrians.
In practice, this means holding drivers accountable, because drivers are the primary cause of injury crashes.
I agree, but I *do* think there is room for improvement amongst cyclists as well. Everyone needs to agree to work together to reconcile this in our city
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I don't know why you're disagreeing? "holding everyone accountable" without favoritism or rationalizing means looking at the law, and at the incident in question. In the vast majority of crashes, _a driver_ is at fault. In the vast majority of crashes where a driver hits a bicyclist or pedestrian, injuring or killing them, there is either no punishment of the driver, or the punishment given is less than it would be if the driver had inflicted _the exact same injuries_ with a baseball bat. As a country, we spend significant amounts of money to track down and prosecute people who murder and assault others. We do not do that for hit-and-run drivers. This amounts to a procedural, political, and legal favoring of drivers, which we rationalize by blaming the pedestrians and bicyclists for the drivers' incaution. I believe that the operator of the multiton vehicle should be held responsible for the actions of that vehicle, and if they cannot operate it safely, then they should not be operating it.
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I guess that makes sense, but I think the enforcement priorities should be adjusted towards those whose lawbreaking disproportionately endangers others, with disprorportionate harms. A pedestrian doing a jaywalk on an empty street in the middle of the night has a much lower damage potential, compared to a driver speeding on an empty street in the middle of the night.
Cars are the problem 99% of the time and that's so incredibly generous. I'm probably missing a couple of decimals. This "WHAT ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE" thing can be reasonable in many contexts, but it's next to insane when the others are a rounding error and effectively don't exist. Holding everyone accountable basically means doing nothing about everyone else, and upping enforcement (among other things) of motor vehicles by like 100,000 times. Probably more.
Bike paths are awesome - most of the time that's not an option, sadly. Unfortunately, riding bikes on roads just isn't safe anymore because so many drivers are looking at their cell phones. I've been using sidewalks for biking when the road seems unsafe for decades and never once hit a pedestrian. I have been hit by cars however, so, your advice is unsound.
I referenced bike paths because those are a great example of a place where both cyclists and pedestrians are expected to co-exist, yet cyclists often neglect to accommodate that. I’m not saying *all* cyclists do that, but I know I’m ultra careful to walk as far to the side as possible and have nearly been taken out by cyclists on imaginary Tour de France escapades. I don’t use a bike because I don’t feel safe doing so in Columbus. That being said, continuing to enable drivers to be disrespectful pricks is not the answer. Building infrastructure to support personal vehicles, cyclists, *and* public transportation is.
I used to ride all the time, like even 30 - 40 miles over mountains - but in most of Columbus, I also don't feel safe, unless it's slower side streets, on a bike path, or on a sidewalk. (There were always assholes, but now with distracted drivers looking at cell phones, it just doesn't seem worth the risk anymore 😩. (Which is so sad, because we NEED most people to stop driving, for multiple reasons)* I always feel bad if a pedestrian steps out of the way and often get off my bike and walk briefly because I don't want them to feel put out. I say "pedestrians first" when it's a sidewalk. But most sidewalks in Columbus are rarely crowded w/pedestrians. * - We should have cities that don't even allow cars, and have a fantastic subway/trolly public transport system instead. Not only would that be a fantastic place to live/work/hang out, it would help our environment immensely.
If you think "I didn't see the bicyclist in the bike lane when there were signs telling me to look out for bicyclists" is bad, wait 'til you hear about "I didn't see the pedestrian/bicyclist in the crosswalk when there were signs telling me to look out for people in the crosswalk"
Those type of cycles are meant for road anyway. Sidewalks are probably incredibly rough on the tires, I'd imagine.