I get woken up by a monsoon outside my window at 4am, but by the time I’m leaving for work at around 8am, the sun is shining. So I mutter a quick ”WTF SF?” and diligently forego BART to get on my bicycle. Nearing Civic Center (Yay for Wednesday Farmer’s Market!) on Market St, I notice the Muni buses are beginning to pile up again, which can pretty much only mean one thing.
this doesn't look good
I approach an officer and ask what’s going on, and he just kind of shakes his head and more or less says (ridiculous paraphrase warning):
Well sir, a cyclist was trying to squeeze between some cars and a bus, and she slipped on those white circular raised bumps (in sweeping arrow formation) that attempt to separate the Muni and car lanes. So she loses balance on her bike and thuds against the side of a bus, and then to add insult to injury Muni rolls over her bike.
I couldn’t talk to the “victim” because she (deduced from officer’s pronoun usage) was in an ambulance, but she didn’t appear to have any life-threatening injuries, and luckily Muni rolled over her bike instead of her leg or face. Totally could have been much worse.
the culprit
Fellow cyclists! We are very aware of how dangerous and slippery Muni rails can be in inclement weather, but there is another enemy in our midst! Don’t let these unsuspecting lumps ruin your day!
More pics of the damage (and UPDATE) after the jump . . .
not so bad!
injured pride
scene of the "crime"
Honestly, I really hope she is OK. Seriously!
UPDATE!!! I am a jerk and there is a little more to this story! According to SFweekly.com, riders on the bus in question tried to get the bus driver to stop, telling him that he had hit a cyclist. The rider merely replied, “She fell by herself,” and continued on his route. Several eyewitnesses from the street supported the notion that the bus struck the cyclist yet continued on.
Conflicting reports received by Muni spokesman Judd True more closely reflect my initial account (probably since those reports were from police). Nonetheless, it is Muni policy for a driver to stop the bus when informed by riders that a collision occured, so this was definitely a violation of policy. Furthermore, it seems as though more than the cyclist’s pride was injured since she was laying dazed and bloody in the middle of the street and needed to be immobilized on a gurney in the ambulance.
Of course, we all know that this will just lead to even more MUNI RAGE.
 on Market St, I notice the […]</p>
%5Bvia+%3Ca+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.missionmission.org%2F2010%2F03%2F03%2Fmuni-cyclist-collision-at-5th-and-market-st%2F%22%3EMission+Mission%3C%2Fa%3E%5D&clickthru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.missionmission.org%2F2010%2F03%2F03%2Fmuni-cyclist-collision-at-5th-and-market-st%2F){kind=link}
Hmm….a different point of view: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/03/witnesses_5_fulton_bus_hits_cy.php
i saw this girl down as i rode by on my commute. glad to hear she’s OK. NOT surprised MUNI didn’t stop. :-/
The MUNI bus should have stopped. However< i know let buses pass me- splitting the lane and trying to squeeze through is a baaad idea. I used to do it all the time- until I saw a good reason not too.
How does a pronoun tell you someone is in an ambulance?
It tells you gender.
Be careful out there, everyone. Ride (your bike or your bus) safely and mind the rain!
I hope the person is OK but I see way too many “hero” cyclists around town — especially in shit weather.
MUNI wants you dead.
This story is snow ball’n. It’s (was) on kgo. She may be rich this time next year . . .
those arrow tiles almost took me down one time… also these bit.ly/bd7SoA on 5th and bryant… they’ll knock your handle bar right out of your hands…
something is clearly up with 5th st.
[...] the bus driver’s story: Well sir, a cyclist was trying to squeeze between some cars and a bus, and she slipped on those [...]
[...] here in San Francisco think we have it bad, what with bad drivers and menace-level cab drivers and Muni malpractice, but cyclists in Chicago have to deal with ROVING GANGS OF ARMED [...]