The findings by Officer Donald Brew on last week's collision on the Capital Crescent Trail: both parties contributed to the collision that sent both of them to the hospital for medical checks.
According to Officer Brew:
The female runner was not wearing headphones. The male cyclist did call out to the runner, but here's how it breaks down according to Officer Brew:
The cyclist called out as he positioned himself to pass the runner, instead of calling out before moving to pass. This happened just as the runner apparently made a sharp U-turn without looking over her shoulder to check.
Officer Brew's conclusion: "...if the cyclist had given a warning before he tried to pass left, the lady might’ve heard him early enough to wait before she made her u-turn and if the lady had of glanced over her shoulder before she made her u-turn she might’ve seen the cyclist passing on her left."
A few years ago, I was cycling on the W&OD west of Vienna. I approached a jogger wearing headphones (not just earphones, but circum-aural headphones). I called out when I was about 10 yards behind and moved over to pass. He did a sharp u-turn right in front of me. Luckily, I had enough time to swerve more to the left and brake hard. We still bumped, but nothing serious. He maintained that he heard me and knew I was there, but that as the pedestrian, HE had the right of way and could make that u-turn w/o regard to traffic behind him. Sure, the same way you have the right of way in a crosswalk. But try walking out in front of a car and see how that turns out for you... Turns out, it was a House of Representatives member.
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