FLCC> FW: crushing of local cyclist

Tue Oct 23 11:37:29 EDT 2007

John, FLCC,

It's probably just coincidence but the two times I was hit in the city were by large Jeep SUVs. On the first occasion, the guy went right through a red light and hit my car in the back, spinning me completely around (claimed he didn't see the red, or any, light). On the second occasion, I was hit while riding my bike to work by someone who turned into me trying to get into a driveway (claimed he didn't see me).

Yesterday, I saw an accident on Meadow street by the Ithaca bakery and, you guessed it, a large Jeep SUV was involved.

Ride safe,
Alex

-----Original Message-----
From: John Dennis <jvd at baka.com>
To: flcc at icycle.org; 'Mike Simkin' <mes13 at cornell.edu>
Sent: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 8:29 pm
Subject: FLCC> FW: crushing of local cyclist

Hi Mike and the FLCC listserv, 

Yes, I was in error in my earlier post to have implied that the driver of the Jeep was at fault, as there was little or nothing first IJ article to warrant such an implication. From the IJ today we learn that witnesses saw the FedeX truck driven into the path of a Jeep Grand Cherokee which had right-of-way. 

My point about momentum is that many SUVs are unnecessarily heavy and thus are more prone to cause harm to others when involved in accidents.  Why not complain about this? 

According to Wikipedia, “vehicles over 6,000 pounds are restricted from many city roadways in the United States although there is some dispute about whether this restriction is for actual curb weight or for GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating). GVWR is the maximum allowable total weight of a road vehicle or trailer that is loaded, including the weight of the vehicle itself plus fuel, passengers, cargo, and trailer tongue weight.” In the United States, two important GVWR limitations are 6,000 pounds (2,721 kg) and 8,500 pounds (3,856 kg). 

Andy Bowers suggests in a 2004 article that California has banned big SUVs from many of its roads without realizing it. He claims that many big SUVs are banned from most roads in LA, San Francisco and Santa Monica by pre-SUV laws that banned trucks weighing more than 6000 pounds. Below I have made a table showing the GRWR and curb weights for various 2007 model SUVs and a few 2007 sedans. Note that the Jeep Grand Cherokee—the sedan involved in Friday’s accident--is just under the 6000 pound GRWR threshold. 

NYS’s limits on vehicle weights appear to be very liberal.  The weight on a single wheel “shall be not  more

  than eleven thousand two hundred pounds.” That’s the equivalent of an entire H1 Hummer resting on a single wheel.

Vehicle weights in pounds for 2007 vehicles unless indicated

factor

GRWR is

GRWR

curb weight

>6000 lbs

Hummer H1 (2006)

10,300

7847

1.72

Hummer H2

8600

6400

1.43

Lincoln Navigator

7800

6008

1.30

Chevy Tahoe 2008

7300

5524

1.22

Chevy Suburban

7200

5505

1.20

GMC Yukon

7100

5635

1.18

Toyota Land Cruiser

6925

5425

1.15

Toyota Sequoia

6600

5140

1.10

VW Touareg

6493

5254

1.08

Jeep Grand Cherokee

5900

4488

0.98

Hummer H3

5850

4700

0.98

Toyota Rav4

4535

3444

0.76

Toyota Camry

3680

Toyota Corolla

2550

Toyota Prius

2890

VW Passat

3344

VW Beetle

2948

Does the Town or City of Ithaca have any weight limits?  Engineer Tom West of the City of Ithaca told me today he didn’t know of any, but he will check. I have found a limitation of truck weights to 5 tons in parts of Forest Home.

Would it be out-of-line for cyclists as a group to ask that the Town of Ithaca and the City of Ithaca to impose limits on the size of SUVs allowed on Ithaca streets?  I think not.  For one thing, it would be a show of solidarity with the cyclist, Edward Coil, who was crushed by the Fedex truck as a result of Friday’s accident. Second, are streets would be safer for everyone, no just cyclists.  Third, our pavements would last longer and there would be less pressure to raise taxes. And fourth, our City and Town would be on record as taking a stand to say, Enough is enough from a sustainable livelihoods perspective.  In this age of global warming that may yet have catastrophic impacts on many millions of people, there is no need to drive to work or to the store or anywhere in a vehicle that weighs over 6000 pounds. Could a ban be imposed on a given street, when a (12,000 lb?) snow plow was allowed to operate on that street. I have no idea!  The latter is an emergency vehicle and the objective of minimizing weight stresses to pavement and the number of heavy vehicles on our streets would still be served.    

Friday’s accident is at least the second fatal SUV-related accident in Ithaca in the past year, is it not?  In an earlier accident on Seneca St., a female pedestrian was fatally run over by an SUV as she crossed the street. The driver of the SUV continued on without stopping.  Police later found him shopping at Home Depot and he apparently denied knowing that he had run over anything.  According to the IJ on-line comment section, the driver received only a traffic citation. 

One wonders if members of the community spoke up and asked the police and District Attorney’s Office how much investigation went into the driver’s claim to have been completely unaware of having hit anything? Was this driver asked to submit to a polygraph or related test?  Did the District Attorney’s office order simulation tests to be performed to test whether it would be physically possible for an SUV of the model in question to hit a manikin of the victim’s weight, size, and density without the impact shock being clearly noticeable to a driver?  

If California’s major cities already have 6000 pound weight limits for most of their roads, why shouldn’t Ithaca pass similar laws?  In our case, however, I would be in favor of there being a clear intent to enforce these laws for both SUVs and commercial trucks (with exceptions for fire trucks, snow plows, garbage trucks and similar service vehicles). 

Best,   John

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