‘Look right’: Video shows SUV striking cyclist in crosswalk at Johnson County intersection
A video quickly started trending online Tuesday, showing a SUV striking a bicyclist in a crosswalk as the vehicle driver attempts to turn right on red at an Overland Park intersection.
Overland Park police posted the video to Facebook and other social media pages Tuesday morning and by 2 p.m. it had been viewed on Facebook more than 2,400 times, said Officer John Lacy, a spokesman for the Overland Park Police Department.
Police are using the video to remind drivers that they need to make sure the intersection is clear both ways before they attempt to turn, he said.
“In my opinion, this driver had tunnel vision,” Lacy said.
The short video is of a crash that occurred about 3:50 p.m. on Oct. 4 at 119th Street and Quivira Road. The bicyclist, headed south on Quivira, stopped on the sidewalk at the intersection and pushed the crossing button twice, Lacy said. Meanwhile, a driver headed west in a SUV pulled up and stopped at the red light.
When the crossing signal showed it was safe to go, the bicyclist began to cross on the bike. As the bicyclist got in front of the SUV, the driver accelerated from a stop and started turning right. The SUV crashed into the cyclist, throwing the rider onto the hood of the SUV before sliding off. The cyclist landed partially in the path of oncoming traffic.
The cyclist suffered minor injuries and was expected to recover. The cyclist had the right of way and was in the right to cross the intersection while riding the bicycle, Lacy said.
Lacy believes that the driver was looking left at oncoming traffic to see if there was enough space to turn right on the red light and failed to check back to the right before accelerating.
It was not immediately known if the driver had been charged, Lacy said.
The department uses crash videos like this one as an educational tool for novice drivers and to remind experienced drivers to be aware.
In this case, once drivers look left, they need to look right again to make sure no one is there and that the intersection is clear for them to go through, Lacy said.
Last week, 28-year-old Eduardo Loredo-Martinez was killed in a similar crash in Olathe. That crash occurred shortly before 6 a.m. at South Lone Elm Road and West 159th Street.
Loredo-Martinez was on the sidewalk prior to entering the crosswalk on his bicycle, traveling east on 159th Street. Meanwhile a driver of an SUV also headed east was turning right onto southbound South Lone Elm Road.
The SUV hit Loredo-Martinez in or near the crosswalk, police said.
