Raise the Hammer

I almost guarantee that the driver was doing a rolling stop and only looked left for any oncoming cars and didn't give a crap about any pedestrians or cyclists coming from his right. Or else if he did he'd seen that person approaching the intersection. This happens all the time to me. The only thing you can do is watch the driver's face and try to make eye-contact, and far too often they are not looking in that direction, only in oncoming. It's even worse on one-way streets.

Now people will say, "riding a bike on a sidewalk is dangerous", but she could've been walking and he still would've ran over her with his redneck pickup. It's simple he basically didn't check to see if anyone was approaching... or he would've saw her, but yet always in Hamilton, the driver is never at fault when he/she mows down a pedestrian or cyclist. It is far too often that the driver is not at all looking to his right, the driver is looking to his/her left for a break in traffic then he/she guns it... and oops I hit someone. That is not an accident, it's criminal.

This happens to me all the time, I have turn onto Canon (the one-way section), and I first check the sidewalks for people, then if there are no cyclists, legally riding or not, (there are many people walking and biking around there, pushing baby-buggies, riding scooters, and cyclists randomly riding in the wrong direction on a one-way street). It is still my responsibility as a driver of a vehicle to check for all that FIRST.... before I merge into the traffic. I asked my insurance company and yes I'm at fault even it I run over a cyclist riding on the sidewalk. Can't the cops charge this guy? His action totally shows a lack of respect for other people's safety.

The point of a stop sign or intersection is to make sure it is clear of any traffic, people or vehicles or scooters or e-bikes or anyone before merging or entering oncoming traffic. This guy should be stripped of drivers' license for years and made to pay a huge fine, and I hope insurance premiums are $6000 a year.

Comment edited by TreyS on 2011-09-15 22:09:12