A 40-year-old Los Angeles man biking near the 210 offramp near Huntington Drive apparently sideswiped the driver's side of a minivan turning right onto Huntington from the freeway on Saturday morning, according to Monrovia police.
The incident is still under investigation, and Sgt. Daniel Verna of Monroiva PD said it would be difficult to determine which driver is at fault, since both the bicyclist and the driver, a 39-year-old woman, told police that they had a green light.
While the bicyclist appeared to not be thrown from his bike or sustained life-threatening injuries, he was screaming, Verna said. There were also no witnesses to the incident, Verna added.
It's a quick read and should help promote peace and understanding on our roadways. Motorist's have a huge incentive to stay out of a collision with a cyclist due to the fact that collisions with cyclist are very expensive and can easily exceed insurance limits. A case in point: This past year a motorist turned left across the path of a cyclist on Foothill, the cyclist struck the car broadside, spent roughly a week in the hospital/ICU for the grand cost of $78,000 the motorist's insurance maxed at $15,000.00 leaving the motorist's other assets in jeopardy and the 78k is just the ER bills, compensation for pain and suffering is usually 3X that number plus time off work and rehab etc. This crash may have never happend if the cyclist were riding further left in the roadway. Unfortunately, a very small percentage of motorists will do what I call, "Bluff attempted murder" by using their auto to drive very close to the cyclist and create the sensation of nearly killing the cyclist. Obviously, we'll all be better off when those folks are better educated. Here's another good link, intended for FL cops but applies to CA: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FMqvgr-cH_A8&h=jAQEMVOda