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Another Cyclist Has an Incident with a Metro Bus

4:31 PM PDT on June 9, 2008

It's starting to seem that barely a week goes by without a prominent member of the Los Angeles cycling community having a run in with a Metro bus.

The problem with Metro buses endangering cyclists seems to be becoming a trend rather than a rare occurrence.  A couple of months ago Enci Box and Eric Richardson both had incidents in the same day, and at the end of Bike to Work week Enci had a second run-in.  These reports shouldn't just be brushed aside.  Enci, Eric, and now Patricia are strong cyclists that know the rules of the road and follow them. If they're all experiencing dangerous situations, there's a real problem.

The good news, Metro seems to be getting better at handling the problem.  After the jump read a first-hand report of last week's incident from Urban Hippie:

This morning when i was crossing the 110 in the right lane with a rowof cars parked along my right side, the 704 decided it wanted to bewhere i was. it began to quickly move in to the right lane despite thefact that there was no room for it and it would have to merge back intothe left lane before stopping at Figueroa. I have never had a bus brush by me so close as though i was not eventhere. It scared the crap out of me. The first chance it got to blockmy way completely it did, making me have to go into the left lanes inorder to continue east. I managed to pull ahead of while it stopped butwhen it caught up he again pulled the bus incredibly close. I really wish i had my lock, because at that point i felt threatened and would have used it.thankfully I turned up grand as the murderous 704 rumbled down Cesear Chavez.

But my adventure was not over.

I was as far to the right as i could possibly be as I crossed the 101 on grand.  Out of nowhere a gold honda's side mirror grazed my elbow. I look over and the idiot driver is texting and running me over.  He realized what was happening most likely from hearing me screaming obscenities at him and proceeded to gun it and turn down temple before I could catch up to him and throw my bike at him.

Thisis the first time in almost a year that I have had this kind ofcommute. What more can we do as cyclists, citizens, taxpayers,activists, humans to make the streets safe for all types oftransportation? how can I be more visible on the streets DURING THEDAY??

Later, at the end of the post she gives an update:

I was able to get the number from the back of the bus so that i couldtell Metro what a fine job their drivers are doing at running ridersover.  I sent in a complaint through the mta's customer comment form aswell as an email to Tom Horne and Lynne Goldsmith at Metro.  Tom gotback to me within 5 minutes of sending the email, which was a nicermore professional version of the above post.  Both his and the mtacustomer comments response told me that the incident will be lookedinto, the driver delt with accordingly, and both apologized for whathad happend to me.  Stephen Box was also made aware of what happendbecause He and Enci are hoping to bring attention to the lack ofattention that the bus drivers pay to cyclists. It's really importantthat we as riders in this city make note of when we are bullied bythese beasts otherwise how can we make change?  As long as we are silentabout how cyclists are treated on the roads nothing will get done tochange that. thanks to everyone who told me that they're glad i'm okand who helped me get this information to the right people (that meansyou rhombus).

 Photo: Kworth30/Flickr

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