Overview of the Crash
A crash involving a car and a cyclist was reported in an article in MLIVE. The August, 2024 city administrator’s report acknowledged the crash as resulting in a serious (A level) injury.
CIAA also received more information about this crash after a FOIA request.
According to the UD-10 report, a driver was turning her car right from the south driveway of the Maple Village shopping center onto southbound Maple Rd. During the turn, she crashed into a cyclist who was riding northbound on the sidewalk adjacent to Maple.
Excerpt of the UD-10 with narrative and diagram.
About Looking Left While Turning Right Crashes
With the information that is available now, it’s impossible to know exactly what happened in this particular crash. However, crashes like this one are not uncommon; they often happen when a driver is looking left for a break in traffic in order to make a right turn. If a sidewalk user approaches the intersection from the driver’s right, the driver may not see them before proceeding. While the driver may briefly glance to their right, their primary focus is on any traffic that may be coming from their left. (A similar crash happened at one of the Pioneer High driveways in 2022, view the UD-10 report.)
Illustration of Looking Left While Turning Right. Image adapted from the Oregon Driver & Vehicle Services page at Oregon.gov.
Why not just avoid riding on the sidewalk against the flow of adjacent vehicle traffic? In general, that’s probably the safest option. But there are some times when using the sidewalk contraflow (against traffic) may be the best–or only–option. For example, I choose to ride contraflow on the sidewalk of Oak Valley (in Pittsfield Township, southwest of Ann Arbor). The only non-motorized infrastructure on Oak Valley near the Pittsfield Library branch is a sidewalk on the side of northbound traffic. I use that sidewalk when I am riding northbound and southbound because I don’t want to share a lane with vehicle traffic going 45 MPH or faster.
I became a vocal advocate for complete streets, with bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides, after my child and I had a close call while riding to the library branch near our house. When this incident happened, there weren’t bike lanes on both sides of Scio Church Rd. yet, and the only sidewalk was adjacent to westbound traffic. The best option for going eastbound appeared to be riding on that sidewalk. As my child and I did so, a right-turning driver almost didn’t see us as we approached from the west (their right). Thankfully the driver did see us in time to stop, and no one was injured. I didn’t fully understand what happened until I was involved in a similar incident a few days later–as a driver. I started to pull out of a driveway, turning right onto Stadium Blvd. Two cyclists were approaching from my right, and all three of us stopped short to avoid a crash. No one was hurt, and in that moment I grasped how dangerous it can be to ride on the sidewalk going against the flow of the adjacent traffic.
There are times when riding on the sidewalk, going opposite the flow of the adjacent car traffic, is the best choice, and using the sidewalk this way is legal in Ann Arbor. But riders should use extra caution when approaching driveways and cross streets, since drivers are less likely to see them as they approach from the right.
Details About the Crash
Without knowing where the cyclist was coming from or going to, it’s impossible to know why he chose to use the Maple sidewalk in this direction. There is a sidewalk on the other side of Maple, and a bike lane. Depending on his origin and destination, using the sidewalk or bike lane to go north on Maple might have required crossing Maple (6 lanes wide in this area) two times. It’s also worth noting that if he was coming from the west (on Jackson) or the south (on Maple) there are no bike lanes on those streets, so the simplest and least stressful choice for him may have been to just stay on the sidewalk after going through the intersection instead of navigating an awkward transition from sidewalk to bike lane.
The Google Maps satellite view of this area shows some unusual geometry for the sidewalk. To the south, the sidewalk is in a very narrow setback between the turn lane and the building. Further north, closer to the driveway, the street is narrower and the sidewalk jogs east, following the curb line. When CIAA visited this site on August 17, there was a sign in the grassy setback area (in red in the satellite image below) advertising the swimming school that operates out of the adjacent building. Due to the unusual layout of this sidewalk, the sign blocks approaching sidewalk users from the view of drivers exiting the parking lot.
Satellite image of the driveway where the crash occurred. Pictures from locations 1, 2, and 3 are in the images below. Credit: Google Maps.
While on site, CIAA collected pictures illustrating how the sign degrades visibility for drivers and sidewalk users. The three pictures below were taken while a bike rider waited, stationary, on the sidewalk. One picture is from each of the three locations labeled (1, 2, 3) in the satellite image above.
Pictures collected on site at the scene of the crash show the sidewalk from the perspective of a driver leaving the shopping center. Photos were taken on August 17, 2024.
After a cyclist clears the sign obstruction, a driver will have a clear view of them–but not for long. A cyclist could easily achieve 20 MPH (almost 30 feet per second) on this downhill portion of Maple. At that speed, it would take 2 seconds or less to ride from the portion of sidewalk that is obscured by the sign to the driveway, in the path of an exiting vehicle. A driver who checked for any traffic on their right and saw no one might look left for a break in traffic for two short seconds and think it’s safe to proceed. But in reality, during those two seconds a cyclist could have emerged from behind the sign and proceeded into the driveway.
Distance from the portion of the sidewalk that is obscured from view to the driveway is only 60 feet. Image credit: Google Maps.
Recommendations:
Evaluation of This Crash By Transportation Experts
The Transportation Engineering staff of the City of Ann Arbor need to evaluate this crash and recommend changes to prevent future incidents like this one. In the last Ann Arbor Transportation Commission meeting, Lt. Scherba (the AA Police Department representative to the commission) reported that engineering and AAPD are starting a new process that includes a monthly meeting to review recent crashes and even evaluate some crash locations in person. Hopefully this will be one of the crashes they review in their first meeting.
Implementing a crash response protocol like this is an important step towards achieving Ann Arbor’s Vision Zero goal. Thank you to the AAPD and engineering staff members who are getting this process underway!
Remove The Sign and Other Obstructions
As noted earlier, it’s impossible to know if the sign contributed to this particular crash. I have not been able to confirm if it was installed prior to the July 22 incident. But there can be no doubt that the sign, and to a lesser extent the bushes, inhibit the clear line of sight for drivers exiting the parking lot. These obstructions exacerbate the danger of the Looking Left While Turning Right condition and need to be removed.
This crash event should be proof enough that this area needs safety improvements, so let’s do what we can to make this driveway safer–starting with removing these visual obstructions. Maybe in the process, we will remove the hazards that contributed to this particular crash; regardless, this driveway will be safer tomorrow than it is today.
To that end, after the site visit, I submitted a Seeclickfix ticket through the A2Fixit website. As of September 3, the ticket has been acknowledged but no corrective actions have been documented in the ticket. (See notes at the end of this post for updates.)
Email sent to Royal Swim School, asking them to remove the sign.
I also emailed the Royal Swim School (the company advertising on the sign) and asked them to remove their sign. As of September 3, I have received no response from them, and the sign is still in place.
The site plan for this building that was finalized in 2018 does not include a sign in this location.
Reduce the Number of Lanes
Maple is 6 lanes wide at Jackson. In 2023, Ann Arbor’s City Council passed a resolution directing staff to evaluate all multi-lane roads in the city’s jurisdiction–including Maple–for reconfiguration or a “road diet”.
Narrowing Maple would make it easier, safer, less stressful and generally more pleasant for bike riders to cross and ride on the side of the street that has traffic in their direction. It would also give more room for buffering between vehicle traffic and bike riders. Getting bike riders (in bike lanes or on sidewalks) headed in the same direction as vehicle traffic will help to prevent Looking Left while Turning Right crashes.
As of September 3, no results of lane reconfiguration evaluations have been shared with the Transportation Commission.
CIAA will update this post if improvements are made.
9/15/2024 Edit: The sign next to the sidewalk has been removed.