A 59-year-old bicyclist was killed Tuesday afternoon when a big rig driver turned right into his path at the intersection of Siempre Viva Road and Otay Center Drive in Otay Mesa, an industrial corridor near the U.S.-Mexico border that has no bike lane or other protective infrastructure at that crossing. The cyclist was declared dead at the scene.
According to the San Diego Police Department, the collision happened at approximately 2:17 p.m. on Tuesday when a 38-year-old truck driver made a right turn on a green light and struck the bicyclist, who was traveling along the right side of the tractor-trailer, as reported by Pacific Attorney Group. Police determined that alcohol was not a contributing factor in the crash. But accounts of exactly what happened just before impact differ depending on the source.
BikinginLA reports that the bicyclist was riding south on Otay Center Drive next to a semi-truck that was stopped at a red light at Siempre Viva Road. When the light turned green, the big rig driver turned right onto Siempre Viva Road, and the crash involved the truck and the bicyclist’s right front wheel as the rider attempted to continue straight on Otay Center Drive. Per Fox 5, cited in the same BikinginLA report, the victim was traveling behind the truck. The San Diego City News Service offered a different characterization, reporting that the victim rode his bicycle into the big rig after being right-hooked by the driver.
A Contested Description of the Crash
That gap in framing has drawn scrutiny from bicycle advocates, who argue that describing the cyclist as riding into the truck shifts blame onto the victim in a maneuver — the right hook — where the law places responsibility on the turning driver. Under California Vehicle Code Section 21717, drivers preparing to turn right across an adjacent bicycle lane must merge into that lane before turning and yield to any bicyclist already riding there, according to Justia’s compilation of the vehicle code. Even without a marked bike lane, Vehicle Code Section 22100(a) requires that right turns be made as close as practicable to the curb, and Section 22107 bars drivers from turning until it can be done safely…