The scooter rider struck Thursday night by an SUV and critically injured near the intersection of Demonbreun Street and 14th Avenue South appears to have turned left into the roadway (after, according to his friends, riding on the sidewalk) and into the path of the vehicle.
Brady Gaulke, 26, is being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The driver of the Nissan Pathfinder that struck Gaulke, Jurius Foley, 26, was not hurt.
The preliminary contributing factor to the crash is improper turning on the part of Gaulke. A bicycle lane was present on Demonbreun Street. Scooter riders are required to follow laws applicable to bicycles being operated on a roadway. As a reminder, scooters are not permitted to be ridden on sidewalks within a business district*.
*“Business District”, as defined in Tenn. Code Ann. §55-8-101(9), means the territory contiguous to and including a highway when, within any six hundred feet (600') along the highway, there are buildings in use for business or industrial purposes, including, but not limited to, hotels, banks, or office buildings, railroad stations and public buildings that occupy at least three hundred feet (300') of frontage on one (1) side or three hundred feet (300') collectively on both sides of the highway.