Pickup Strikes Bicycle in River Park Drive Crosswalk

On July 2 in the early evening, around 5 or 6 p.m. while it was still fully daylight, the reporter stopped at a crosswalk on River Park Drive with a white walk signal. The reporter was riding with a 2-year-old child in an attached bike seat; the reporter’s mother and brother were slightly behind. After a large black/grey pickup with tinted windows had been stopped long enough that the reporter believed the driver had seen them, the reporter entered the crosswalk while traffic on University had a green light. The pickup moved forward and contacted the bicycle’s front tire, continued pulling forward for several seconds, jerked the handlebars, and its front-right tire pressed into the reporter’s left ankle. The driver backed up afterward, and the reporter and accompanying family hurried out of the intersection; the ankle mark was gone by the next day, the bicycle remained functional, and there was no contact with the reporter’s pregnant stomach or the child.

Issue type

Drivers not yielding in crosswalks

Location

River Park Drive, Provo, Utah 84604, United States

Submitted

Accident or near miss

Yes

At risk

People biking, School children

At risk (others)

Person with a disability, pregnant person, toddler

Risk to proceed

Immediate danger

What they did

They backed up afterward. I was not in much pain and was eager to leave the intersection, so we hurried away.

Vehicle markings

Black/grey pickup

Suspected contributing factors

Reporter suspects inattentive driving, fast wide roads, a bike trail sharing many intersection crosswalks, and lack of pedestrian refuge islands.