Stop Signs Part 5

The day after that, I met with Fort Collins Bike Director Dave “DK” Kemp to get his take on the Idaho Code.
“Did you hear about the latest cycling accident?” he asked me.
“No. What happened?”
Two days before, on the same day that I’d been stopping at stop signs for recreation, cyclist Thomas Baxendale ran a stop sign, crossing Stuart on Remington. Darrell Keller - maybe because he was driving into the sun, maybe because the stop sign was slightly obscured by a tree - ran his stop sign on Stuart at the exact same time. Baxendale was hit by Keller’s Ford Expedition and dragged 100 feet down Stuart before Keller could stop. He was in the hospital in serious condition, miraculously alive, when I heard about it.
This was just an example of the danger of the Idaho Code, DK said.
“There are all of these factors, you know. Maybe someone's drunk. Maybe someone's unaware or oblivious because they've got something on their mind. There are all these variables, then you bring it all together and everyone’s moving.”
Thomas Baxendale is 26 years old, my age. And I’d run the same stop sign that Baxendale ran more than once. The view to the left is obscured by a tree. But it’s a four way stop. If there’s a car coming, they’ll stop.
I’m sure that Darrell Keller didn’t mean to run that stop sign. But this illustrates DK’s point. A cyclist can’t always count on a driver to do what he’s supposed to do. Riding a bike on city streets can be dangerous.