I have already published a post in this blog about the Amanda Phillips fatality in Inman Square.
Well, there’s more. Four things:
* The design of Inman Square at the time pushed bicyclists westbound on Cambridge Street bit by bit closer to the stream of motor traffic, unless they controlled the through lane when crossing the Square, or paused till traffic cleared so they could control it on exiting as shown in this video. Controlling the lane was the safe option here, but to adopt it, cyclists need to understand that defensive driving also often requires an assertive lane position.
* It is undisputed that Phillips struck the opening door of a parked vehicle, then fell under a truck just west of Inman Square.
* But, contrary to news reports, Phillips did not ride off the sidewalk — which would pin the blame on Phillips by charging her with riding illegally on the sidewalk, and so she would have been visible only very briefly if the driver whose door she struck had checked his driver’s side mirror at just the right time.
* Video evidence which came out as the investigation was released was altered to make it appear that Phillips rode off the sidewalk, The video evidence revealed that she had been crossing Inman Square on Cambridge Street and was a fast, strong cyclist. She was not controlling the lane. Who altered the video, I do not know.
It’s been years since I reviewed the evidence and created the two videos. Since then, I have made several inquiries attempting to alert advocacy organizations and news media to what I found — to no avail.
I’ve had it with the silence, and I am going public with this information here.
Inman Square is being reconstructed, largely due to the need felt following the Phillips fatality. How the current redesign of Inman Square will play out, I don’t know. I need to return and check the completed project before I can draw conclusions.
It’s quite discouraging to hear about additional controversy related to this incident. It doesn’t make sense that someone would have the time, skills, and motivation to edit that video and neither did the district attorney’s public statement shortly after the accident report was released: the accident was no one’s fault? If someone died, how could no one have been at fault? And worse than the frustration of not having all the answers, as happens so often these days, is the irresistible urge for advocates to point fingers and drift away from the larger issue that constantly affects many more people than Ms Phillips: road users should obey the rules of the road. These rules are similar to masks… they help to keep everyone safe, and we’re all in it together.
Comment by george stylianopoulos — July 6, 2022 @ 10:03 am
“It doesn’t make sense that someone would have the time, skills and motivation to edit that video.”
Editing the video in the investigator’s report made sense to someone, or it wouldn’t have happened.
“[R]oad users should obey the rules of the road. These rules are similar to masks… they help to keep everyone safe, and we’re all in it together.”
I agree that road users should obey the rules of the road. The driver who doored Amanda Phillips was in violation of a Cambridge ordinance. Safe use of the streets, however, requires more than just obeying the law, it requires situational awareness and defensive driving — that is, anticipating that other people may make mistakes. For bicyclists, that includes staying out of the door zone, and for the driver of the truck that killed Amanda Phillips, it could have included more caution, to give her a wider berth or to slow and follow until a safe opportunity to pass arose.
Comment by jsallen — July 6, 2022 @ 3:08 pm