Boston Police: Snow Banks May Have Caused Fatal Biking Accident

By Christina Hager, WBZ-TV

January 24, 2011 10:30 PM

The man was on this bike when he was hit. (photo by Carl Stevens)

Reporting Christina Hager

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BOSTON (CBS) – Boston Police say they’re looking into whether piles of snow caused a biking accident in the South End Monday morning.

Boston Police: Snow Banks May Have Caused Fatal Biking Accident

Police examine the Honda after the crash. (photo by Carl Stevens)

A white Honda hit a 74-year-old man on his bicycle at the intersection of Arlington and Tremont Streets. Police say they are testing the brakes, and looking into whether solar glare or snow banks obstructed the driver’s vision. The driver is not facing charges.

David Watson, of the Massachusetts Bicycle Association, says bikers and drivers should take caution.

WBZ-TV’s Christina Hager reports.

“There’s just not as much room for everyone to maneuver…in some cases, bike lanes are completely covered by snow,” he says. “Motorists should always try to give bicyclists several feet of room, and if they can’t pass safely in the lane, then they either need to move into an adjacent lane, or wait for a safe opportunity to pass.”

chuckker

no damage to the bicyle. What the he77 happened? This one would be a hard one to reconstruct. Did the rider fall into the street or the snowbank? As a former bicyclist with thousands of mile under me I feel truly sorry for this person. Dying doing what he loved to do.
Brian Browne

it seems he hit the windshield of the driver side of the vehicle, making it probable that he was crossing an intersection heading west when the driver was heading south, and was blinded by the glare.
Brian Browne

Also, if the vehicle is still in a relative position as it was at the impact, the shadows in the photograph would support he was driving south into the sun, thereby supporting witness accounts of the driver being hampered by glare. The passenger side of the windshield shows salt splash that would even more prohibit the drivers vision at early morning driving conditions. Makes you mindful of your wiper fluid levels. Tragic.
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Cynic

How far out in the street was he forced to ride because of poor snow removal? That looks like a good sized snowbank to me.
Cynic As Well

I will chime in and agree with Cynic’s comment… Why are so many streets not cleared to the curb, especially when cars are banned form parking during the snow emergency. And why are interections being left so poorly plowed, as they have not been this way in past seasons. The city seems to be budgeting and speniding more and more money on snow removal but there is no accountability or follow up with the drivers running the plows and leaving intersections in such a sorry state.

Cynic

From the headline on this update,it looks like the Police agree with us.

jaygee

There is only so much room on the streets of every city after all of the snow we have gotten, so the question must be asked as to why some people find it necessary to either jog or ride bicycles on any street in or around Boston? A 74 year old man on Tremont Street at 8 in the a.m……………Why? Anyone who drives in Boston can attest to the simple fact that bike riders have a penchant of running red lights.

Ms.XYZ

Why?

Let me tell you this, why not? What about those who don’t have the luxury of a vehicle? What about those who don’t live near public transportation? What about those who are environmentally friendly? Got answers?

That’s why people ride bicycles.

Charlie

Of course it does, I moved away to Chicago, here they would embarrass Boston on snow removal, here they have a snow melter with a plow, they have no snowbanks and no snow in the downtown area, I remember that, people here talk about how they don’t plow right there
bronco

The tree huggers won’t let the city dispose of the snow in the harbor so there is no place to put it.