A road accident in Taipei earlier this month that killed US neuroscientist Bruce Bridgeman occurred because he was apparently confused by traffic on Renai Road, police said yesterday.
Taipei Medical University said that the accident happened on the morning of July 10 and that Bridgeman had been scheduled to visit the school to give a speech.
Following a preliminary review of footage taken from a bus’ video recorder, Chang Yu-hao (張育豪), head of the Taipei Police Department’s Traffic Division, said that Bridgeman was crossing Renai Road when he was struck by an oncoming bus, apparently because he was minding traffic to his left, but did not see the bus, which was coming down a bus lane to his right.
Photo: Screen grab from the Web site of the University of California, Santa Cruz
The accident could have been due in part to trees planted on the road, which could have obstructed Bridgeman’s view, Chang said.
Bridgeman was rushed to hospital, but died of an intracranial hemorrhage, Chang said.
He said that traffic on Renai Road, which has as many as eight lanes, was different from that on other arteries in that cars can go only one way, but buses travel both ways, which could have confused Bridgeman and led to the mishap.
The bus belonged to Taipei Bus Co (台北客運) and the case is being investigated to work out the liabilities connected to the accident, Taipei Public Transportation Office Chief Secretary Yang Ching-wen (楊清文) said.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that the accident showed that the traffic signs on Renai Road could be improved.
Ko said that since most traffic signs are in Chinese, Bridgeman probably did not realize that some buses were going in an opposite direction to the cars.
“We need to figure out ways to let foreign visitors understand the signs, even though they are in Chinese,” Ko said.
University of California, Santa Cruz, where Bridgeman was a professor emeritus, said that Bridgeman was on a speaking tour of Asia with his wife at the time of the accident.
He was an internationally renowned researcher of neuroscience and spatial orientation.
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