Comments on: CVC 21456: Did Pedestrian Sutchi Hui Have the Right-of-Way When He Walked Onto Castro Street? Possibly Not

By: sfcitizen

sfcitizen — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 04:51:50 +0000

He might have been in the crosswalk illegally. It matters to the case of Chris Bucchere.

Some presume that Bucchere was running the Castro Street Bomb. If that were the case and assuming he was there to time himself on this former Strava segment, then his only choice was to go straight.

It’s not clear what he meant when he said that he laid it down or whatever. Some feel that means he pedaled as hard as possible.

45 MPH would be tough to achieve on that run.

By: Bigjoe

Bigjoe — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 04:27:27 +0000

What was the question? The dead man may have been illegally in the cross walk? It doesn’t matter. The intersection in question is a full city block wide. Go look at a picture of the intersection and you will see that the cyclist had at least 4 choices in direction: Straight (South), which he chose; right onto Market St or 17th St (West); left onto Market St (East) or soft right (Southeast) onto 17th St. It is painfully obvious that apart from laying his bike down the cyclist made no attempt to slow or maneuver. He may have been too far into the “need for speed” to react in time or he may have panicked and froze. Crosswalk laws aside, a driver of any vehicle MUST be ready to respond to emergent situations. I was taught to try and predict pedestrians’ actions. And remember, Hui was IN a crosswalk when he was struck; he did not pop out in the middle of the street from between parked cars. It has been estimated that the cyclist was moving at 35 MPH entering the intersection. I believe he was traveling excess of 45 MPH; even at 35 MPH the biker should have at least been able to slow substantially, IF the biker realized what was happening and reacted. Obviously, not this time.

By: Cow

Cow — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:39:39 +0000

Bucchere clearly deserves maximum penalties for travelling 119 MPH!

That is clearly UNSAFE behavior.

By: sfcitizen

sfcitizen — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:15:52 +0000

Well, for a wrongful death lawsuit, I don’t think the standard is all that high.

But for the crim case, it’ll be an uphill battle to show Bucchere was when the light went red…

By: pchas

pchas — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:26:29 +0000

Seems like the only way to know definatively if Bucchere.was running a red would br from a video.

By: John Murphy

John Murphy — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:06:41 +0000

“Police sources tell us the file forwarded to the district attorney includes the name and number of a motorist who reported seeing Bucchere and another cyclist fly through several red lights and stop signs before the deadly Castro district crash. Hui’s wife, incidentally, was walking a few steps ahead when her husband was hit.”

Bucchere was riding alone when he crashed, and probably for the last several blocks. The witness is very suspect.

By: John Murphy

John Murphy — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:04:42 +0000

pchazzz -

“The wakk signal must have been green for a few seconds in order for the crosswalk to have been as full as Bucchere said it was.”

If you look at the video I took this AM, 2 pedestrians leave the curb from the West side of Market Street and reach the middle of the intersection in 3 seconds. And then the Walk sign turns white as they reach the middle.

“According to the info uploaded to Strava, he was traveling at 35 mph”.

His last recorded datapoint was 35.2 MPH. That means he was definitely going pretty fast, but it doesn’t mean he was going 35.2 MPH. He was using an iPhone as a GPS recording device. 3 second sampling leaves a lot of room for error. If they managed to get video they will be able to get a very precise speed as well as figure out when he entered the intersection relative to the light.

By: sfcitizen

sfcitizen — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:24:26 +0000

So, after braking / “laying the bike down” Bucchere was going 35 MPH? I don’t know.

I don’t know that he was speeding.

Did you know that Bucchere’s average speed for the 20th Street Bomb segment was 119 MPH? (That’s what was indicated before that info went down the memory hole.)

Anyway, tell me his position when the light turned red and tell you who had the right of way. Obviously, Bucchere needs to look out for peds who both have the right of way and who don’t. Obviously, Bucchere needs to follow the Basic Speed Law. Obviously, Bucchere needs to have brakes sufficient enough to be able to skid one tire on dry pavement. Obviously.

But at least now you are looking at the correct law and the proper issue: Did Bucchere enter the intersection legally?

By: pchazzz

pchazzz — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:14:22 +0000

Quite apart from the CVC 21456 issue is Chris Bucchere’s speed. According to the info uploaded to Strava, he was traveling at 35 mph, 10 mph above the 25 mph speed limit:

22350. No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed
greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather,
visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the
highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of
persons or property.

So, even if he entered the crosswalk legally,he was still speeding. Add to that his admisssion that he was unable to control his vehicle and you can slap a reckless driving charge CVC 23103(a) on top of that.

By: Alai

Alai — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:16:10 +0000

While I agree that the biker was reckless and should be charged, precedent is that drivers are NOT charged when they run over pedestrians in crosswalks. See: various people last year, such as Aurora Venida, Lourdes Richman, and the man who was run over by the paratransit van this february.

Of course, this should be changed.