Bicyclist Killed in Collision with Muni (Updates)
Photo by SF Citizen
Original post: A bicyclist was killed in a collision with the 44 O’Shaughnessy bus at Sixth Avenue and Clement around 5 p.m. Thursday evening. According to Streetsblog San Francisco, this is the second bicyclist fatality this year. CBS5 has the raw footage of the scene after the accident.
The bus and the bicyclist were both traveling north when the collision happened, reports CBS5. The bicycle became trapped under the bus after the accident. A witness told Streetsblog that he believes the 44 bus had been trying to pass another 44 bus when the collision happened. The identity of the bicyclist has not been released.
See coverage of this story:
…two BIG busses trying pass each other on NARROW 6th avenue…a FULL recipe for DISASTER…
I didn’t see the accident but I was at the scene. I didn’t understand why the bus driver didn’t roll the bus off the victim, and would have never known there was a death until I saw the crowd and body. The drivers were chatting and looked oddly calm and normal. I was disgusted by the fact that a gawker took a photo of the body. My gut says based on the aftermath before the police arrived was that it was the bikers fault. There was NO reason for this biker to be in the middle of the road. It was no where near the right side or a crosswalk. I would guess the biker pulled in front of the bus and the driver tried to swerve as the biker was found on the right side of the bottom of the bus. It haunts me today.
I work for a transit authority and first, the reason the vehicle can’t be moved because it is a crime scene. Evidence must be maintained in it’s present state, in order to investigate properly. Having no facts, I wouldn’t even hazard to determine liability. As far as gawkers, chalk that up to human nature. I have seen some pretty gruesome scenes involving pedestrians and buses, as well as pedestrian and trains, and I can tell you that people’s curiosity can over shadow their sense of common decency. I say that, as a person that responds to these scenes and may be have a touch of what I accuse.