If you look at the intersection of Elk Tree Road and Skyline on Street View you could see how this could happen. Turning left on Elk Tree (http://goo.gl/mBIpK3) someone coming around that turn at high speed heading south would have little stopping distance if there was a car in their lane. Not really sure what the speed limit on Skyline is there, and we don't know how she died, if she broadsided the car, or swerved into oncoming traffic behind the other car.
So there's a couple of scenarios:
1) driver sees cyclist and tries to turn left in front of her at too close of a distance, causing cyclist to collide with driver, or swerve into other traffic, or fall down
2) driver starts turn just as cyclist comes around corner, but for whatever reason, driver is taking too long (e.g. car that made left turn in front of it suddenly stops), cyclist does not have sufficient stopping distance, or may be exceeding speed limit. Cyclist evasive action leads to crash.
In many of these freak accidents, the knee jerk reaction is to blame the person who is more in power (the person with the car), but I wouldn't jump to conclusions. It might be a bad intersection that is just waiting for this kinds of accidents of bad timing.
She impacted the side of the van (from a different article I was reading) and aggressive riders apparently ride about 2-3mph under the 40mph speed limit in that section (from a bike forum I frequent).
All signs point to the driver not seeing her and turning into her path when she was well past the corner.
Wow, at ~40mph, on a bike, the stopping distance I think would be at least 80-100ft, that leaves precious little distance to react, if you come around the corner and your reaction time isn't immediate emergency breaking.
I think it also depends on the type of bike she was riding. A road bike with 23c tires and caliper breaks has a completely different stopping power than a mountain bike with 2.1 tires and disc brakes. In an emergency breaking the former would lock the rear wheel and/or lose the front of the bike (rider would fall to the side), whereas the latter would have much better control with reduced wheel locking. From my own experience, stopping a road bike at ~40mph in around 100ft is an optimistic estimate, specially if you are going downhill.
Also, IF you were going at that speed, you will have issues breaking while turning. Just like a motorcycle, you will be at a high risk of sliding, so to avoid this, you must straighten out to break hard.
I would recommend all bicyclists to look into motorcycle safety tips before riding on the road with cars.
Based on the Street View image, I would agree with you. Plenty of road left after the corner to brake even at those speeds. At a minimum, slamming on your brakes would have reduced the speed to one that would not be fatal.
I almost got broadsided last week while doing 42mph. I was able to slow down to a reasonable speed on a steeper road than the one pictured.
EDIT: at those speeds and on such a curve, she probably was riding in the hoods with her hands on the brakes. If she saw the van after the curve, she could have slowed down to a far slower speed. Then again, people die from just walking if you hit your head just right.
If you are turning, it is solely your responsibility to avoid obstructing legal oncoming traffic. If you hit someone doing the speed limit, you fucked up. That's it. There aren't ifs and buts about it. If it's hard to see, try harder. If you don't have much time, make the turn quickly when you commit to it. If the way isn't clear to proceed as soon as you turn, make the turn immediately. Whatever: it's your job to figure it out. If you can't figure it out, you don't get to drive.
I don't think that volume of data would be considered "big data". Semantics aside, municipalities regularly analyze these types of information in order to guide changes that make things safer.
No. Do not assume that just because the data is being collected, that it it is actually being analyzed, and definitely don't assume that even if it were analyzed, that the political will needed to effect reform will act.
On a small and not so happy scale, a certain city in North Dakota would only sand the roads in the winter if accidents had occurred (budget savings). They had year to year data. I would imagine most cities have the full accident data, but I bet getting it will be hellish since it might be a lawsuit problem ("you knew this was an issue...").
So there's a couple of scenarios:
1) driver sees cyclist and tries to turn left in front of her at too close of a distance, causing cyclist to collide with driver, or swerve into other traffic, or fall down
2) driver starts turn just as cyclist comes around corner, but for whatever reason, driver is taking too long (e.g. car that made left turn in front of it suddenly stops), cyclist does not have sufficient stopping distance, or may be exceeding speed limit. Cyclist evasive action leads to crash.
In many of these freak accidents, the knee jerk reaction is to blame the person who is more in power (the person with the car), but I wouldn't jump to conclusions. It might be a bad intersection that is just waiting for this kinds of accidents of bad timing.