Bicycle Accident

December 12, 2008

Renton Car Crash Leaves Bicyclist Dead

A bicyclist was hit by a driver this morning in the Skyway neighborhood. According to King County sheriff’s Deputies, the cyclist was killed.

Sgt. John Urquhart said that the accident happened on South 130th Street and Renton Avenue South around 6:30 a.m. Thursday morning. The driver was a man in his 70s, and the male cyclist died at the scene. There was no further information available about the driver or the victim.

Urquhart also said that police are investigating how the fatal Renton car crash happened. The road will remain closed for several hours, he added.
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September 26, 2008

Fatal Bicycle Accident in Sumner Involving Dump Truck

By Kirk Bernard

Valley Regional Fire Authority reported today that a 22-year-old man was killed this morning in a fatal pedestrian accident with a dump truck in Sumner after he fell from his bicycle. The bicyclist died at the scene from his injuries.

Shortly before 7:30 am, the man and a friend were riding bicycles westbound in the 14200 block of Eighth Street East. The bicyclist hit a patch of grass on the gravel shoulder. He then lost control of his bike and fell onto the roadway, into the path of the dump truck that was hauling gravel. Though the man was wearing a helmet, his injuries were fatal. The second bicyclist, who was riding in front of him, was not injured.

No information about the case has been released by the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.

September 9, 2008

Hit-and-Run in Puyallup Leaves Bicyclist Dead

By Kirk Bernard

Monday evening in Puyallup, an unidentified driver of a Cadillac hit and killed a 50 year old man who was riding his bike. Police are asking for help identifying the driver. The victim of the fatal Puyallup bicycle accident has yet to be identified as well.

Puyallup police said that the cyclist was struck in the 2600 block of East Main Avenue. The car then fled eastbound on East Main at 8:10 p.m.

Witnesses said the man was driving recklessly before the collision, police said.

January 17, 2008

Storm Drains Pose Danger to Cyclists

By Kirk Bernard

A cyclist who was injured in a Seattle bicycling accident near the Washington Park Arboretum claims he knows what caused the 2004 crash: his bike tire got stuck in a drainage grate with slots parallel to the roadway.

According to an estimate by Seattle Public Utilities officials, there are between 70,000 and 80,000 grates throughout the city. Some have vertical slots. Others, including all replacements, have designs that make it unlikely bike tires can get stuck.

But because SPU employees don’t know the locations of the grates with wide parallel slots, and they don’t have a precise timetable to repair them, some cyclists are demanding action.

“We’re trying to figure out the most economical way of combining a street drain inventory with our existing work plans for this summer,” said SPU spokesman Andy Ryan last week. “We want people to be safe.”

But, said Ryan, a replacement plan needs to keep ratepayers in mind.

A new grate costs about $500, and “that doesn’t include labor costs or additional costs if drain work is needed,” he said.
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