Medics transporting 25 year old female bicyclist to HMC after being hit and dragged by dumptruck at Boren and Pike street.patient stable
— Seattle Fire Dept (@SeattleFire) November 29, 2012
A woman was struck and dragged by a dump truck at Pike and Boren shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday morning. The 25-year-old was taken to Harborview in stable condition.
We’ll update as we learn more.
UPDATE: The woman appears to have no serious injuries or fractures, according to the Fire Department. EMTs arrived on the scene first and pulled her from under the truck.
She told firefighters she was hit and dragged by the dump truck. Medics then transported her to the hospital.
This is the second serious collision between a dump truck and someone on a bike this month. A man was seriously injured by a tandem dump truck at Howell and Yale around the same time November 13, just a few blocks from Thursday’s collision. The driver in that incident left the scene southbound on I-5.
Pike and Boren was also the scene of the tragic death of Nap Cantwell this spring. Cantwell was biking to work when he collided with a van the morning of May 29. He died a week later.
Comments
13 responses to “Woman struck by dump truck at Pike and Boren – UPDATED”
Ugh. Hope she’s OK. What a nightmarish situation that must be, to be dragged by a dumptruck. Can’t even imagine it.
Speaking of cyclists being hit, do you know if there’s been any update about the young child hit by a car while cycling on the sidewalk in Kent a few weeks ago? Last I heard, the driver had played the “I didn’t realize I hit and dragged this child” card and no charges were filed. Is there any situation where the “I didn’t realize I hit the person” defense is NOT going to fly?
It’s a little early to say, perhaps, but it sort of looks like the police and courts are going to keep letting drivers get away with anything, despite the clear intention of the legislature to address their excessive leniency when it passed the VUL.
Will the VUL only be brought out in cases of reckless manslaughter?
Its still totally legal to hit or kill anyone with a car as long as it cannon’t be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it was malicious.
Not really. There are lots of ways it can be illegal without malice. Law enforcement is just extremely lenient about it.
My work is just a few blocks away and I actually saw the incident as the EMTs were arriving. What I absolutely cannot understand is how the cyclist ended up where she did without serious injury. The truck was one of those double long dump trucks (ex: http://numberfirstsales.com/images/0446%20Kenworth%20W9000%20Double%20Dump.jpg) and she was underneath of the middle axel. I would like to know is if she was hit by the front of the truck and passed underneath it to get stuck there or if the truck somehow turned in front/on top of her. Or some other scenario? It was one of the most sickening things I have personally seen, she looked dead when I went past, I’m so glad that she is probably going to be ok.
I was the cyclist behind her and saw everything. The dump truck turned in front of her (he didn’t see her) and the dump truck in the back dragged her down the hill. I was there when EMT arrived and I can’t belive she only had minor injuries. It was awful to see this happen, I’ve been thinking about it all day. I’m so happy she is OK!!!
Oh, how horrible. I hate those double dump trucks.
What does didn’t see her mean? It wasn’t possible to see her? Should have seen her but didn’t?
Just curious to learn anything I can about intersection design of positioning within the intersection to prevent it from happening again.
I hope this was simply a case of accident, rather than negligence; but regardless, it’s time to ban double-trailers from city streets. Even when driven competently, they’re just not safe to operate on narrow arterials around pedestrians, bikes and, yes, other motorized vehicles.
I have no knowledge of this incident, but when cyclists do get hit, it almost always comes down to the driver not seeing the cyclist. I see countless cyclists riding with black coats, helmets and pants – urban camouflage. The most important piece of safety equipment for the daytime cyclist is a very bright outer top layer and a very bright helmet or helmet cover. Lights during the day don’t cut it; you need the bright outer shell.
Look at the big picture. If you look at places where cycling is more popular and safer than here, do you see lots of day-glo clothing?
Until we build the novice biker infrastructure we need to get the masses with us on bikes, we’ll need all the visibility we can get!
The dump truck was making a wide right turn. It’s the only way to complete a 90 degree turn on that narrow arterial. The cyclist tried to cut inside that turn. Possibly thinking that the truck would keep to the outside lane. The driver was not at fault. Just a horrible accident. As to the earlier post about double dump trucks. I agree that they are dangerous and cumbersome on crowded/narrow downtown streets. Glad she’s doing ok.