Comments by "UzuMaki NaRuto" (@UzumakiNaruto_) on "Police provide update on cyclist death after being struck by vehicle in Yorkville" video.

@thecinephilefish9465 Its the driver's responsibility to check their blind spot, but its also the pedestrian or cyclist's job to HAVE SOME COMMON SENSE and know that if you're around vehicles especially large ones you have to be careful and look out for your own safety. I'll never understand why people simply blindly believe that drivers will keep them safe and don't just look around and be aware of their surroundings and make sure they're not in blind spots or anywhere near vehicles that they could harm you. It only takes a few seconds of your time to look around and it could save your life.
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@thecinephilefish9465 Simply based on hierarchies, Pedestrians > Cyclists > Cars. One always has to be vigilant of the more vulnerable road user. Hence, drivers are TAUGHT to be more vigilant, but somehow they seem to forget. The same applies for drivers, "It only takes a few seconds of your time to look around and it could save SOMEONE ELSE'S life." The thing is EVERYONE has to do their part in keeping the streets safe. Drivers, pedestrians, cyclists etc. ALL have to contribute to keeping everyone safe and injury free. Even the safest most aware driver who's constantly looking out for others cannot be 100% perfect. This is why EVERYONE should be doing their part. If the driver is looking around but somehow misses a pedestrian crossing from between two parked vehicles, if they pedestrian is aware and is looking both ways before crossing then they will see that vehicle and stop and wait for it to pass before crossing. If one or the other wasn't paying attention there might've been an accident. Do you understand how that works? When everyone is paying attention then that's multiple layers of security and backup. If everyone is aware of their surroundings then if one person misses something then they other hopefully will catch it and avoid a possible incident. This is how society SHOULD work and its how it works in Japan where cyclists have almost zero bike lanes to use and have to share the road with drivers and yet you always see drivers giving cyclists a wide berth when passing them. Conversely cyclists aren't riding like they're in the Tour De France and its why cyclists can regularly bike on sidewalks that are full of pedestrians without any issues because everyone is mindful of others and cyclists ride slow and often give people the right of way. The point is the Japanese show what's possible when everyone is considerate, aware of their surroundings and cares about their fellow human being. I don't know why we can't have a little bit of that in the west where the least we can all do is look out for each other instead of all the onus and responsibility on others for YOUR OWN safety.
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Many here are blaming the cyclist for being in the driver's blind spot. They don't realize that the truck was stopped on the right side of the road in the curb lane. The cyclist was driving past on the truck's left in an open lane of traffic. I'm assuming the truck was stopped on the curb lane because they were waiting to make the left turn and didn't want to be in the centre lane holding up traffic so they pulled over to the rightmost lane to wait until the way was cleared for them. Possibly the cyclist ignored a warning signal, gesture or shout from the curbside worker to make way for the truck. (I wonder if the cyclist's attention was inappropriately divided or if he/she was listening to headphones. Or maybe not. Maybe the spotter dropped the ball.) That's what I'm thinking. The cyclist if they were paying attention should likely have noticed something was going on in front of them and/or if they weren't going too fast they could get out of the way of the truck once they noticed it was turning into them. Equally obvious, the onus is always on the driver to allow for such things. I can't see the excuse to not check what's going on in the centre lanes before moving. One can always simply put one's head out the window first. Maybe the driver checked and thought the way was clear and made the turn or perhaps they didn't check at all before turning, however the cyclist also should be aware of their surroundings and not rely on drivers to always know who's around them all the time and then take precautions not to hit them. In society everyone needs to do their part in keeping the streets safe, not just drivers or pedestrians/cyclists alone. If everyone does their part then accidents would be greatly reduced.
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@dixonpinfold2582 I get what you're saying but at the end of the day WE ALL COLLECTIVELY need to do our part in keeping the streets safe and preventing people from getting hurt. As a driver I try my best to be aware of my surroundings and avoid hitting anyone or anything. As a pedestrian I try my best to be aware as well so that if something happens hopefully I'll see it earlier and have time to react. The point is I'm always trying to do my part in keeping myself and others around me safe. That's what EVERYONE should be doing so that there are multiple layers of security and protection. Namely if a driver happens to miss something, then if a pedestrian or cyclist is aware then they can prevent themselves from getting into an incident and vise versa. If everyone pays attention then there's more chance that someone will see something and then take action to avoid a possible accident. To say only drivers need to take more care is as dumb as saying only all pedestrians/cyclists need to take more care. If everyone just pays a little more attention and does their part in being aware of their surroundings then there will be much fewer injuries and deaths as a result.
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