So there I was, last Friday, August 30th, sitting on the NE side of the El Camino Real and Sand Hill Rd. intersection.
Myself and two other bicyclists were waiting for our green light, to cross El Camino Real and head south-west on Sand Hill Rd..
Our light turned green, the traffic stragglers had finished running the yellow/red light and we were good to go.
The three of us were getting ready to crank it over, when a double-long SamTrans bus rockets through the red light, his foot, obviously put to the metal, so to speak, as he gunned it through the intersection. Not sure what the hurry was, but that was a close call!
Yes, a SamTrans bus outright ran the red light and scared the crap out of all three of us.
Scared because it was a few seconds after the intersection had cleared that this bus barreled through, obviously with our names on his (or her) front bumper.
It's one thing when the yellow/red light runners scamper through. You know the ones. The same folks that complain about red light cameras at intersections.
But these folk have become the norm that society and our law enforcement seem to readily accept these days. (It's obvious when laws were rewritten to incorporate the phrase, "when it's safe to go" on a green light.)
But city services should not be out to smite the innocent pedestrians out there.
If there was a fourth bicyclist who might have been coasting up to the intersection from behind us and decided to trust in the system and pedal out past us to cross as the light turned green, we would have had a fatality on our hands.
I say that because this SamTrans bus went through at a pretty good clip... at or maybe above the posted speed limit.
The bus was a double length bus, headed NW on El Camino Real, on Friday, August 30th, at 12:09 P.M., local time.
There were four ID digits on the upper right of the back of the bus, that started with either 13 or 31 (I think).
But to be honest, I was so stunned, I didn't quite catch that ID number because I had to stop short to keep from getting hit and was trying to catch myself from falling.
Yea... that close folks.
Shame on your SamTrans.
The moral of this story, in case you don't already, is to not trust the system. Watch it when you cross streets and just because it's a city vehicle, don't necessarily think it's a safe bet to walk out in front of them. They're human too and obviously, sometimes, in a very big hurry. At least this time, I did not become a newspaper headline.
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Myself and two other bicyclists were waiting for our green light, to cross El Camino Real and head south-west on Sand Hill Rd..
Our light turned green, the traffic stragglers had finished running the yellow/red light and we were good to go.
The three of us were getting ready to crank it over, when a double-long SamTrans bus rockets through the red light, his foot, obviously put to the metal, so to speak, as he gunned it through the intersection. Not sure what the hurry was, but that was a close call!
Scared because it was a few seconds after the intersection had cleared that this bus barreled through, obviously with our names on his (or her) front bumper.
It's one thing when the yellow/red light runners scamper through. You know the ones. The same folks that complain about red light cameras at intersections.
But these folk have become the norm that society and our law enforcement seem to readily accept these days. (It's obvious when laws were rewritten to incorporate the phrase, "when it's safe to go" on a green light.)
But city services should not be out to smite the innocent pedestrians out there.
If there was a fourth bicyclist who might have been coasting up to the intersection from behind us and decided to trust in the system and pedal out past us to cross as the light turned green, we would have had a fatality on our hands.
I say that because this SamTrans bus went through at a pretty good clip... at or maybe above the posted speed limit.
The bus was a double length bus, headed NW on El Camino Real, on Friday, August 30th, at 12:09 P.M., local time.
There were four ID digits on the upper right of the back of the bus, that started with either 13 or 31 (I think).
But to be honest, I was so stunned, I didn't quite catch that ID number because I had to stop short to keep from getting hit and was trying to catch myself from falling.
Yea... that close folks.
Shame on your SamTrans.
The moral of this story, in case you don't already, is to not trust the system. Watch it when you cross streets and just because it's a city vehicle, don't necessarily think it's a safe bet to walk out in front of them. They're human too and obviously, sometimes, in a very big hurry. At least this time, I did not become a newspaper headline.
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