This was posted to the New River Valley Bicycle Association listserv today by NRVBA president Beth Lohman:
Liz and I met with the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Brad Finch, to understand how the incident involving Bonnie Tinker occurred. We gave Mr. Finch an opportunity to describe the incident and the police findings, and we followed up with additional questions – some of which came from a few of you that emailed me independently. What follows is a summary of the incident.
There was one eye witness that observed the entire incident. Ms. Tinker and ***, the driver of the dump truck, were both headed north on West Campus Drive. The truck was in the main vehicle travel lane, and Ms. Tinker was in the bike lane. The witness stated that both vehicles, the bike and the truck, were traveling in their respective lanes, and that neither vehicle encroached on the other’s lane.
The truck was ahead of Ms. Tinker, but as Ms. Tinker descended the hill on West Campus Drive she caught up to the truck and became even with the truck. Without any visual cues as to a cause, the witness observed Ms. Tinker’s bike begin to wobble. Ms. Tinker’s bike moved left, bumping into the truck, then back to the right toward the curb. Then she moved back to the left into the truck and became entangled with the truck. All of this occurred well before the right turn onto Drillfield Drive.
The crash investigation teams were unable to determine the cause of the wobble (e.g., flat tire, broken spoke, hard application of front or rear brakes), because the bicycle was so badly damaged by the truck. While the speed of the truck was not an issue, the investigation did consider Ms. Tinker’s speed coming down the hill but drew no conclusions.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office has decided not to pursue charges against ***, because *** was operating his truck properly and the accident appears to have happened when Ms. Tinker lost control of her bicycle. Liz and I are confident that this decision was correct given the information from the investigation.
We took additional time to discuss the nature of this particular segment of West Campus Drive with Mr. Finch, where a bicyclist can gain quite a bit of speed descending the hill. As many of you know, the stretch between Washington Street and Drillfield Drive is about 1/3 mile long and consists of a steep descent, a bend in the road, multiple crosswalks (approximately nine), and multiple parking lot entrances (at least four). We asked Mr. Finch for recommendations that he may have in addressing the obvious and not so obvious safety issues with this stretch of the road.
As we have received a number of comments about specific concerns and hazards, the NRVBA will continue to look at this segment of the road. We will approach the university to discuss some of the issues and to make some recommendations. If you have specific comments or recommendations about this stretch of West Campus Drive, please feel free to submit them to me (ealohman@gmail.com) and Debby Freed, VT Alternative Transportation Manager (dfreed@vt.edu).
If you should have any questions or comments, please send them off line to me (ealohman@gmail.com) or Liz Hokanson (egrucker@vt.edu), and we’ll be glad to answer them. If you decide to respond to the listserv, please be considerate of the other listserv members. Avoid using derogatory language and keep any criticism constructive.
VBF welcomes, and encourages your comments below.
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