Cyclist hurt in Rivermont collision
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By Dave Thompson
Published: June 24, 2008
A wreck between a bicycle and a sedan sent a Lynchburg man to the hospital Tuesday night.
According to Lynchburg police, 43-year-old Steve Coats was riding his Mongoose bicycle west on Rivermont Avenue, near its intersection with Belvedere Street, at 7:38 p.m.
He was struck by a Toyota driven by 20-year-old Kandis Banks, of Madison Heights, also traveling west.
Coats was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition late Tuesday night.
Banks did not sustain any injuries in the crash, though the bicycle smashed her windshield.
Azell Slaughter, a friend of Coats, said he saw the bicyclist just before the accident, and waved to him just before Slaughter lost sight of the bike.
Slaughter and a friend heard the impact seconds later and rushed to the scene.
“He was unconscious at least for a few minutes, face down, you know,” said Slaughter.
Another bystander, he said, called 911, and police responded shortly after.
Slaughter said Coats was conscious by the time he was taken to the hospital, but was not very coherent.
Rivermont Avenue was blocked between West Princeton Circle and Belvedere until after 9:30 p.m.
Police redirected traffic through nearby streets as they surveyed the scene, reconstructing the accident.
Officer Ronnie Sitler said no charges have been filed in the incident, but charges are pending.
Anyone with information regarding the crash is asked to call the Lynchburg Police Department’s Traffic Safety unit at 455-6047 or Central Virginia Crime Stoppers at (888) 798-5900.
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Posted by ( midtown ) on June 26, 2008 at 7:32 am
Whoops, I see that the driver DID hit from behind (both going west). Maybe at that time of the evening it was a problem of the sun being in both their eyes, or maybe a careless driver. I don’t know. Again, cars and bikes don’t mix at higher speeds.
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Posted by ( midtown ) on June 26, 2008 at 7:30 am
damalama—you’re partly right and partly wrong according to this study:
http://www.hsrc.unc.edu/safety_info/distracted_drowsy/Cell_Phone_Use_NC_2002.pdf
Lynchburg needs better accommodations for bikes, but I don’t think the bike lane would have helped in this case. I was a block from this accident site at the time and I saw a middle-aged rider go past wearing bright colors, etc. And if his bike ended up in the car’s windshield, it sounds like it was a head-on thing, not a from-behind collision.
Bike lanes help with cars approaching from behind but not from turning cars or whatever else. I think a bike lane might be best for Rivermont but the ideal, like they have in the Netherlands, are separate bike paths or “bike boulevards,“ which are regular streets with very light car traffic and which give bikes a right to the entire lane.
Bikes and cars just don’t mix well at speeds over 25-30 mph. The city should figure out some separated paths for bikes to be used for transportation (not just recreation) through the parts of the city where it makes sense.
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Posted by ( damalama ) on June 25, 2008 at 2:48 pm
i dont understand why as soon as it’s a young person, the accusations of the use of cell phones or text messaging comes into play. and that people yell about young people and cell phones. i am on the road just as much if not more than the average person, and i will have to say that i see many more “old” people on the cell phones than i do young people. and it doesn’t matter how old you are or how many years you have been driving, a cell phone is a distraction to all drivers, when it rings you are going to look at it, when you reach for the phone you take your eyes off the road as well as dialing. i don’t care how much experience you have, it isn’t going to apply when you take your eyes off the road.
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Posted by ( I_have_an_opinion ) on June 25, 2008 at 7:36 am
I agree Lynchburg needs bicycle lanes, regardless of the cost.
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Posted by ( John Miller ) on June 25, 2008 at 4:05 am
Lynchburg needs to consider adding bicycle lanes to its roadways as part of its long-term master plan; and, the cell phone records of the driver should be acquired to determine whether or not the driver was engaged in a call or texting. Drivers- particularly younger ones- are busier with their cell phones/ PDAs than they are operating a potentially (in this case it was nearly an actual one) lethal weapon. It’s a real problem.
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