Terrible Crash, another perspective
Last year my friend was dragged to death at the age of 29 by the back wheels of a commercial vehicle while crossing the street legally as a pedestrian in a pedestrian-friendly town. Two links:<a href="http://www.thebostontraveler.com/graduate-student-killed-crossing-the-street/">http://www.thebostontraveler.com/graduate-student-killed-crossing-the-street/</a>;
<a href="http://chemiche.blogspot.com/2008/03/killer-truck-backwheels-where-poor-man.html">http://chemiche.blogspot.com/2008/03/killer-truck-backwheels-where-poor-man.html</a>;
As you can imagine, we spent a great deal of time investigating the death, and the following are my conclusions.
Trucks have no idea what the back end of their vehicle is doing. They don't know exactly where the back wheels go, they don't know if they have struck someone with their back wheels, and they really can't be held responsible for that. The issue has nothing to do with people valuing the life of a bicyclist or favoring cars.
Perhaps the conclusion is that, given how little control drivers have over their rear wheels, 18 wheeler container trucks have no business driving on most city streets near pedestrians. Businesses could use smaller delivery trucks or get their deliveries at night.
Realistically, they won't stop using 18 wheelers at least not in the near future. It's left up to everyone else to stay far far away from these behemoths.
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