Horrible accident on the way to church

[Basil]

We were on our way to church this morning when we came upon a very bad accident. EMT were just arriving. Blood all over the road. It appears to have involved two vehicles (ca and truck) and possibly several bicycles. Be careful out there!

 

[Guest]

and possibly several bicycles. Be careful out there!

Yikes! That would explain the blood on the road. Lots of folks ride the backroads here. If they knew how folks drove 'round these parts they wouldn't.

 

[Banjo]

eeeeek.. that's not good. Hate to say it, being a bicyclist myself, but if your bikers are anything like many of the ones around here, they are likely the cause of the accident.
I hope it wasn't as bad as it looked.

 

[Guest]

My grandmother ran over one once and it was his fault. Bastage dented up my-now VW hood which was perfect. :madder:

 

[Basil]

eeeeek.. that's not good. Hate to say it, being a bicyclist myself, but if your bikers are anything like many of the ones around here, they are likely the cause of the accident.
I hope it wasn't as bad as it looked.

I don't know what cause it, but it was a head-on with two vehicles and involved more than a couple bikes. Bikers around here for some reason seem to think it's ok for them to ride either very close to the line or actually in the roadway. I myself had to move well left to avoid bikers who were out in the road, despite there being plenty of good, paved shoulder to ride on.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

And this morning, on the way to St. Arbucks, moron bike rider decided to swing into my lane just as oncoming traffic would prevent me from moving over.
So, I held my line (and lane), and since I am RHD, was able to clear him by about 3/4 of an inch. Probably gave him a wet spot in his crotch.

 

[vagt6]

I'm very sorry to hear about the bicycle collision. It's so sad. A similar crash occurred here recently, it was TOTALLY avoidable because the cyclist was riding in the middle of a busy road, darting in and out of traffic, totally ignoring the dangers!

Such tragic stories don't have to happen! Often, avoiding a car/bike collision simply requires a little common sense on the part of the cyclist. Just a little!

I just don't get it: why would <span style="font-style: italic">anyone</span> on a bike (weight = 50 lbs.) play "chicken" with a car (weight = 3,000 +- pounds)??? I've seen so many riding irresponsibly on local roads. It's crazy, like an epidemic!

Why are they so defiant about riding in traffic, right in the middle of the road? Why don't they care about their personal safety, and the welfare of their families? Why so nonchalant about <span style="font-style: italic">certain death or maiming </span>that will occur when the car collides with the biker??

Do these cyclists think they're <span style="font-style: italic">immortal</span>? They couldn't <span style="text-decoration: underline">all</span> be stupid, <span style="font-style: italic">could they</span>?

I just don't understand that kind of mentality. Safety and common sense, thrown to the wind: <span style="text-decoration: underline">Why</span>?

May God help them, and may he have mercy on their poor families.

Please be careful out there, folks.

 

[racingenglishcars]

Have you ever thought that cars DON'T own the road

 

[Basil]

Have you ever thought that cars DON'T own the road

Fine - tell that to whomever died yesterday (and someone did die). Bike going 16MPH, Car going 55 MPH on a two-lane curvy road. Car has to swerve to avoid bike going much slower. Car has head-on with oncoming car. The bikers where I live certainly act like THEY own the road sometimes (not all of them, but too many). It isn't a matter of who "owns the road" it's a matter of using common sense if you're riding a bike. A biker who want to "show who doesn't own the raod" may end up dead - at which point the point is moot, isn't it!

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

I have always used the term "dead right".

 

[Basil]

I have always used the term "dead right".

Exactly! This road was designed for cars and trucks to travel at 55-65 MPH, it was NOT designed for bicyles doing 10-15MPH. That's just a fact. It's no different than on the hiway where they have minimum speed limits - for a reason! Fast cars and trucks come up on a person moving too slow and sometimes they just can't stop fast enough to avoid a collision. Just a couple of summers ago a group of neigborhood kids had left Bible study and were headed to school in Moriarty (9 miles away). The decided to take I-40 where the speed limit is 75. For some reason the kids were horsing around and plaing a "let's see how slow we can go" game and they were hit from behind my a Semi. One girl died and one is paralized for life. These were friends of my son's. I just thank God he wasn't with them that morning!

 

[Number_6]

Have you ever thought that cars DON'T own the road

Cars may not own the road but bicyclists, for their own safety, should always exercise some common sense. In an argument between a 2 ton car and a bike, the bike ALWAYS loses.

 

[MikeP]

And cyclists, younger ones in particular, need to understand that sharing the road doesn't mean they can ignore stop lights/signs and other traffic. I try to be careful when I see someone but on a couple of occasions have nearly collected one when they blew through a sign head down.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

Gee, around here gas taxes and auto license fees pay for the roads. That makes the roads owned by cars...last I checked.

We actually had a local Chief Of Police who instructed his officers NOT to cite bicyclists.

Around here, the bikers are as vocal as any act-up group, never accepting responsibility, always trying to place blame.

And before you start getting out the tar and feathers, I rode bike for many decades, was L.A.W., but only the "goofballs" back in the 60's wore spandex, ran stopsigns, had one of their group "block" traffic so they could run stopsigns en-masse....we always stayed clear, only did the left-turn stuff when it was clear to do so, not swinging over on an uphill section when we were doing 3.2MPH in a 40MPH zone, in front of traffic.

As our Fearless Leader said, common sense is dead.

 

[AngliaGT]

I saw this mentality first hand,on highways 20 & 16 (Clearlake to-
Woodland,CA).They staged a bike race on two very narrow, (in many places)
winding two lane highways.The riders would take up the whole lane,& not
make any attempt to make it easy for us drivers.
I will normally give riders as wide of berth as I can,but with this
mindset,I think that a driver could loose patience,& do something delib-
erate,that they wouldn't normally do.
And guess who looses when this happens?

- Doug

 

[Don_R]

Own the road,

Here in PA, last I checked, cyclists are to ride in the lane with traffic unless there is a designated bike lane.

I will say kids are the exception for this as most drivers have a hard time seeing an adult on a cycle.

 

[John Turney]

Have you ever thought that cars DON'T own the road

Fine - tell that to whomever died yesterday (and someone did die). Bike going 16MPH, Car going 55 MPH on a two-lane curvy road. Car has to swerve to avoid bike going much slower. Car has head-on with oncoming car. The bikers where I live certainly act like THEY own the road sometimes (not all of them, but too many). It isn't a matter of who "owns the road" it's a matter of using common sense if you're riding a bike. A biker who want to "show who doesn't own the raod" may end up dead - at which point the point is moot, isn't it!

If the car tries to pass a slow vehicle (in this case a bike) on a curvy road by going into the oncoming lane when the driver can't see oncoming traffic, it's the car driver's fault. Same as if it had been a slow-moving truck, a stuggling British car, an RV or any other vehicle.

 

[John Turney]

... The decided to take I-40 where the speed limit is 75. ...

We don't allow bicycles, scooters and very small motorcycles on interstate highways out here for that very reason.

 

[Basil]

Have you ever thought that cars DON'T own the road

Fine - tell that to whomever died yesterday (and someone did die). Bike going 16MPH, Car going 55 MPH on a two-lane curvy road. Car has to swerve to avoid bike going much slower. Car has head-on with oncoming car. The bikers where I live certainly act like THEY own the road sometimes (not all of them, but too many). It isn't a matter of who "owns the road" it's a matter of using common sense if you're riding a bike. A biker who want to "show who doesn't own the raod" may end up dead - at which point the point is moot, isn't it!

If the car tries to pass a slow vehicle (in this case a bike) on a curvy road by going into the oncoming lane when the driver can't see oncoming traffic, it's the car driver's fault. Same as if it had been a slow-moving truck, a stuggling British car, an RV or any other vehicle.

What if the bike moves out into the lane where the car is coming at 55MPH? The police will decide who's fault it is, but the bottom line for me is, a bike has no business riding in the car traffic lanes - lanes that were designed for cars and trucks - NOT bikes. In Albuquerque we have bike lanes specifically for bikes - which is fine, but on a two lane rural road with a posted speed limit of 55 or 65 MPH, a bike traveling in the traffic lanes at 10-15 MPH is an accident waiting to happen - and happen it did. Now peopla are dead.

 

[3798j]

And while we're at it - let's get these darn great race drivers off my Pennsylvania roads - this 1911 Velie could not maintain 55mph up hills.

And these Amish drivers are clogging my highways at an average less than 20mph.

Hazards for anyone willing to crest blind hills knowing they won't be able to stop if....