Another dead cyclist...
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- ********
This is the fourth person I've known—or known of through mutual friends—that has been killed by a reckless driver in that last six years or so. This time, it was a god damn woman driving an SUV...go figure.
http://www.veloblog.net/2009/10/…
http://www.news-record.com/conte…
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the difference between this sort of murder, and shooting someone between the eyes, and why these criminals walk away consistently with minor punishment. The scratch marks/damages are there on her car, she fled the scene of the accident, so where is the disconnect? I thought the role of the court system was to blindly judge a case based on the evidence at hand, and not base the outcome on a few reckless bike messengers on fixed gear bikes.
This type of thing really irks me.
- detritus0
This kind of story is exactly why I can't abide the shite drivers come out with about cyclists 'flouting laws' - if we don't, we're fucked.
Sorry to hear about your friend, man. What a shitter.
- BusterBoy0
Shocker. That's why I hardly ever ride on roads. Bike path all the way to work even though it takes me longer.
- airey0
sorry to hear about this man, read it and it sounds terrible.
just to add a balanced view to what will no doubt become a 'cyclists of the world unite thread', i cycle and have to add here that i've witnessed more than my fair share of riders acting like fuckwits and then blaming a driver. taking up half the road on a .5kg metal frame 'aint smart. even if you are in the right (as in correct), getting hit by a ton of metal will win. motorbikes are told to take up a carspace of room on the road understandably but 2 3 cyclists taking up half the road is ridiculous and dangerous as it leads to some people loosing their shit, and loosing their shit behind a large vehicle is ugly.
- loosing - losing. loosing would be really ugly. especially in white bike shorts.airey
- Amicus0
The real problem is the road system. Any time you have a mix of vehicle sizes, speeds and ability to maneuver you will have problems.
I hope that in the future as vehicle numbers soar we can create new roads that allow different classes of vehicles to be separated for higher levels of safety.
- ********0
^ That is certainly a part of it. The roads unfortunately don't even try to support cyclists in most cities anymore.
There's already a gang of vapid idiots leaving ridiculous comments on the N&R page. It's just sad that a man has died, and people sit behind their keyboards acting like twits, saying shit they would never have the balls to say in real life.
Welcome to the Internet.
- Road administration, that is. I will say that there are some great cities out there that pour resources into it.********
- Road administration, that is. I will say that there are some great cities out there that pour resources into it.
- dbloc0
sorry to hear that...I had a buddy get dragged by a car a while back...
- utopian0
Sorry to hear about your friend dMullins :(
In Philly we have the opposite problem, the bicyclist are killing pedestrians and then taking off... This is the second hit-and-run death by a bicyclist this year.
- Point50
This type of thing is horrible. My wife is a first grade school teacher; last year they had to pull a kid out of her class about 30 minutes after school started because his mother had just been hit from behind, ran over and drug by a car for about 70yards by an elderly driver who had no idea he even hit her until after he parked his car in a parking lot. That woman rode her bike along with her kids to school and back every day.
- ********0
I didn't know this guy, but he's local to my area and a friend of an ex-coworker, so it's still relatively close to home.
- BuddhaHat0
That sucks, sorry to hear it. I witnessed one earlier this week on the way to work. A crap way for me to start the day, and even crappier day for him :/
People just don't learn.
- Amicus0
While riding up a hill as a teenager I got hit by a drunk driver in a 4WD coming out of a gravel driveway. I was relatively unhurt, luckily, except for gravel rash up both legs and arms. My bike was trashed, but in shock I walked it the block home. When I got home I realised no one else was there so I ran a bath full of dettol and jumped in. FUCK ME, I still remember that pain as if it were now. I raced out the back nude and hosed off quick before getting dressed.
An hour or so later the guy was knocking on doors looking for me to pay for the bike. Dad was home by then and took him down the cop shop. The idiot had gone home, and drunk some more before he drove back. The cops, realising he was plastered, let him get back in his car and drive out of the parking lot before pulling him over and arresting him.
His reading was .158 and his licence was suspended for a year. I can't remember how much he got fined, but I know I didn't get a new bike :(
- That sucks! Good call on the cops' part letting the schmuck drive away into handcuffs.********
- That sucks! Good call on the cops' part letting the schmuck drive away into handcuffs.
- BuddhaHat0
I know that pain Amicus, I've been hit a couple of times in the city, one old lady hit the skids on my hand and tore a lot of the skin off. At the hospital, the nurse made me scrub the gravel out of my hand with an alcohol sponge while she did my back. I saw white and almost passed out it was so painful.
The bitch snapped the crown on my front forks and half folded the front wheel. I didn't get a new bike either :(
- fuck, sounds a little more dramatic than my experience.Amicus
- ********0
Well, while we're at it (and sharing personal biking hell experiences), here's my door-ing, whereupon my elbow was shattered into 19 fragments. I now deal with pain anytime it rains, I can barely lean on it when laying down (6 years later), that arm constantly goes numb, and the skin has yet to reform completely (it feels significantly thinner there and I can feel the metal through it):
In the end, the car owner got off/absolved of all fault. I didn't get a dime out of it:
- airey0
in an unrelated note, does anyone know how to cheaply remove a large dent in my car bonnet and get rid of lycra scraps stuck in my radiator?
- ismith0
I got clipped on my way to school in 7th grade by an SUV. Fucker didn't realize how wide their ass rig was, probably didn't feel a thing either. Trashed the whole front end, I was lucky because I flew into a pretty thick patch of grass and leaves (fall season). Walked the rest of the way to school and called my parents, they were quite glad that I only had a few scrapes and bruises. I did get a new bike though...
It's all country here, lots of windy roads and blind curves (and drivers cutting corners). Police are an hour away and would never bother with a cycling hit-and-run. It's really terrible that this shit happens, but aside from adding a bike lane I don't see how it could be improved. On my driver's test we had a brief section on cyclists, but what it boiled down to was "the road is yours, so pass them ASAP".
- Projectile0
without knowing exactly what happens I can't really point a finger.. but the fact that she scarpered is pretty telltale. I hope the bitch gets what's coming to her!!
Yeh recently on my way to work I was in a spot where the road splits into two lanes, so I check behind and see that 15m behind me there are some cars, so I get into the middle so I don't have a battle to get into the correct lane. Next thing I know, just before the intersection, there's the side of a car bonnet abot 2 inches from my legs and closing!! I swerve away and hit the brakes and she passes me, only to stop 3 metres later. I go to her window to say "do you realise how close you were?" and she starts yelling at me for taking up the whole road. Then tells me she knows what she's on about cos "she's a cyclist too, you know"
Fuck me i've never been so close to punching a woman if the face. I wish it had occurred to me to grab her car keys and lob them over a wall. I mean she nearly killed me just to teach me a lesson.. but I was doing what hundreds of cyclists do at the intersection- obviously the most sensible thing. I'll bet anything she'll cause accidents on her bicycle too when "cycling" down a quiet country lane once a year
- Daithi0
There's a lively debate going on in Dublin at the moment, the road conditions for cyclists are pretty shocking. I've been knocked off my bike a few times, worst I had was a broken arm
Check out this in the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/enviro…
- erikjonsson0
im amazed nothings happened to me yet
- _niko0
I don't know how many times I've almost hit a cyclist at night in the rain when they ride with no lights/reflectors. They are completely invisible and carrying on like it's up to everyone else to look out for them.
The problem is that bikes and cars are not meant to share the road, we need dedicated paths for each.
I know 6 people at work who have been hit by a car this year and in two cases it was riders fault.- "..are not meant to share the road"? There's the problem right there!!!Projectile
- motorists want it all to themselves and believe it's theirs.Projectile
- 5000 lbs of metal going 80? absolutely 100% it's theirs. Cities need to rethink road systems._niko
- duckseason0
*knocks on wood*