First, the good news: My friend is essentially okay, aside from some bumps and bruises. His bike took some damage, but likely not catastrophic: From what we could tell, both derailleurs on his bike and the bar tape were damaged; there may be other damage we couldn’t identify immediately, such as the handlebars themselves.
We were riding on this road with two lanes, no shoulder, and there’s a light at the bottom of a hill, with a right turn lane. The light was green, so our group was cruising at a pretty high pace - probably 25 or 30 mph - in the right lane (not the turn lane, the through lane) and some driver needed to turn right, but couldn’t wait a few seconds. So, they went into the LEFT lane, then turned right in front of our group, hit one of our riders, and kept going.
(“Must get in front…oh I have to turn here…” Shitty driving habits in general, I’ll bet.)
A few other cars stopped, and someone called the police, who took a report and got an ambulance to check out the victim. Hopefully they’ll do some investigation and find the guilty party. The cross street leads into a neighborhood with no other exits, so there’s a good chance the perpetrator lives there. Also there is a camera at that light, and one person thought to note the exact time it happened, in case the camera does continuously record.
I hope they find the driver. They deserve to pay for all damages and a huge fine.
Our friend commented that his bike was likely worth more than the minivan that hit him, which is almost certainly true, given it was an older model van and his bike is a high end Pinarello. He also noted that none of us stopped his bike computer, which was good for a laugh.
The ride leader’s husband was able to come and pick up her, the victim, and another rider that wasn’t comfortable continuing after the crash (we were only about halfway through the planned route). The rest of us pedaled on, albeit a bit more subdued for a while.
By brother also got hit near Seattle and needed dental work and I think hospitalization. He was largely okay, but was hit hard enough that he blacked out. The frustrating thing is that he was riding on a separated bike path and was hit when he had right of way at a car intersection. It turned out that the city was at fault, because both the car and the cyclists had right of way, so they were able to successfully sue the city for a settlement and get the intersection fixed.
Yes, in many areas it’s “not safe yet,” but situations like this have a silver lining: it’s getting safer.
In my area, I have an awesome bike path that goes something like 20 miles (I live right next to the midway point), and my city is finally connecting one of the minor trails in my city to it. There are also trails connecting to both ends (15 more miles to the south, northern end goes >50 more miles), so the actual total length is closer to 100, and many of the busier intersections have tunnels for the bike path. I used to ride it 10 miles each way to work (work was right off the path), and it was fantastic.
That said, my new job isn’t along this path, and getting from the path to my work requires 7-ish miles on a narrow 2-lane road (one each direction) with minimal shoulder. These paths go through the main residential areas and connect to several hiking and MTB trails, but they don’t go into city centers and avoid many of the business districts, so they’re mostly useful for recreation unless your work happens to be near residential areas.
That said, I do encourage people to get into it. Cycling can be really safe and a very healthy way to get around, but only if you’re careful on your route. There are routes I absolutely avoid, but most places I want to go have a (slightly longer) safe route using side roads and trails to get there. So if you’re interested, don’t take the “it’s not safe yet” for given, check your local area and likely routes and see what the infrastructure looks like. Maybe even drive the route a couple times to get a feel for how the car interactions look before jumping in the saddle.
I will say, the only accident I’ve had on my bike was taking a spill on the bike path due to icy conditions, and that was just some scrapes and a bruised ego. Cycling can be completely safe, just be careful where you ride.