ehirsch83
08-29-2007, 07:32 AM
Last night there was a serious crash in south miami(about 45 minutes south of me) 12 riders injured, 2 of them seriously(one was airlifted out). I do not know anyone personally who was injured, but I see all of these guys at the crits, and race against some.
Please keep them in your thoughts.
Here is the article from the miami herald, along with a link to the original article.
Follows is this morning’s Miami Herald article:
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/218587.html
KENDALE LAKES
11 bicyclists hurt in collision with SUV
A pack of bicyclists collided with a vehicle in Kendale Lakes, seriously injuring two riders and hurting nine others.
Posted on Wed, Aug. 29, 2007
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BY EVAN S. BENN
ebenn@MiamiHerald.com
ANDREW ULOZA/FOR THE MIAMI HERALD
An officer works and injured bicyclists commiserate at the scene Tuesday in Kendale Lakes.
Video | Tragedy on the roads
Bicyclists riding at least 30 mph were unable to avoid a vehicle that pulled into their path Tuesday evening on a Kendale Lakes roadway, leaving two riders critically injured and hurting several others.
''The impact created a real domino effect,'' said Miami-Dade fire-rescue Lt. Shanti Hall. ``The front of the pack is what hit the car, and then everyone behind them piled on top.''
Rescuers set up a triage area on Kendale Lakes Circle, a looping trail along the Miccosukee Golf and Country Club, to assess the multiple casualties. Besides the two bicyclists who were flown to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, five others were taken to area hospitals and four were treated at the scene, Hall said.
Ramon Joa avoided serious injury, but said it was ''devastating'' to watch his fellow riders get mangled in the crash. He said there were about 40 riders in the group.
''There were cyclists flying all over, the glass of the car flying all over,'' Joa told Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS4. ``One of the riders, his hand was pinned underneath the tire of the car.''
The bicycle group rides along the four-mile Kendale Lakes Circle loop about five nights a week, according to neighborhood residents and some of the bicyclists. They use the course for race training, often hitting speeds of 30 to 35 mph.
''They usually get together around 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon, and they ride hard,'' said Miami attorney Lee Marks, a bike enthusiast who has been on rides with the Kendale Lakes group. ``We're talking high-intensity training.''
The pack was riding west on Southwest 62nd Street -- Kendale Lakes Circle -- when a driver pulled out of an apartment-complex driveway onto the roadway about 5:30 p.m., said Miami-Dade police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta.
The driver failed to yield the right of way to the bicyclists, causing them to slam into the small sport utility vehicle, Zabaleta said. Traffic homicide detectives are investigating the incident and had not filed any citations or charges Tuesday. The driver's name was not released.
Neighborhood residents said it's possible the driver's view of the roadway was obstructed by a row of cars parked in the street's bike lane. The cars have been parked there during renovations to the apartment complex's parking lot.
The two most seriously injured cyclists were in critical but stable condition late Tuesday, Zabaleta said.
Beker Esteban, who lives across the street from the site of the crash, said he sees the bicyclists riding their thin-wheeled racing bikes and wearing bright-colored jerseys almost every day.
''I've been here since '95, and back then they used to come in groups of 10, 15 people,'' Esteban said. ``But now it's dozens of them, and they fly through the streets.
''This is not a safe place to ride a bike at high speeds,'' he added. ``It makes it dangerous for everybody.''
Bicycle groups -- both recreational and racing -- organize rides in various parts of Miami-Dade County. Many ride at off-peak driving times so the roads are less busy. At least two cities, Coral Gables and Miami Beach, offer police-escorted bike rides once a month.
Cyclists ride together for safety, Marks said.
''Drivers typically pay more attention if you're riding in a group,'' Marks said. ``They slow down and pass safely. If you're riding alone, cars just overtake you and zoom past.''
Florida passed a law last year that makes it illegal for drivers to pass bicyclists with less than three feet of space between them. A push for the law came after cyclist Omar Otaola was struck and killed by a truck in Key Biscayne in February 2006.
The past two years, members of the Everglades Bike Club helped organize a Ride of Silence in Miami-Dade to urge improved safety for riders, and Coral Gables has hosted a number of town-hall meetings in recent years to educate riders and motorists about sharing the roads.
A fatal crash involving a bicyclist happened in May 2002 in the same neighborhood as Tuesday's incident. Miami firefighter Jose A. Menendez Jr., a father of three, was killed when he was riding his bike along Kendale Lakes Drive and crashed into a parked landscaping truck. That road loops around the outside of the golf course, while the site of Tuesday's crash was on an interior road.
Miami Herald staff writer David Smiley and WFOR-CBS4 reporter Natalia Zea contributed to this report.
Please keep them in your thoughts.
Here is the article from the miami herald, along with a link to the original article.
Follows is this morning’s Miami Herald article:
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/218587.html
KENDALE LAKES
11 bicyclists hurt in collision with SUV
A pack of bicyclists collided with a vehicle in Kendale Lakes, seriously injuring two riders and hurting nine others.
Posted on Wed, Aug. 29, 2007
Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY EVAN S. BENN
ebenn@MiamiHerald.com
ANDREW ULOZA/FOR THE MIAMI HERALD
An officer works and injured bicyclists commiserate at the scene Tuesday in Kendale Lakes.
Video | Tragedy on the roads
Bicyclists riding at least 30 mph were unable to avoid a vehicle that pulled into their path Tuesday evening on a Kendale Lakes roadway, leaving two riders critically injured and hurting several others.
''The impact created a real domino effect,'' said Miami-Dade fire-rescue Lt. Shanti Hall. ``The front of the pack is what hit the car, and then everyone behind them piled on top.''
Rescuers set up a triage area on Kendale Lakes Circle, a looping trail along the Miccosukee Golf and Country Club, to assess the multiple casualties. Besides the two bicyclists who were flown to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, five others were taken to area hospitals and four were treated at the scene, Hall said.
Ramon Joa avoided serious injury, but said it was ''devastating'' to watch his fellow riders get mangled in the crash. He said there were about 40 riders in the group.
''There were cyclists flying all over, the glass of the car flying all over,'' Joa told Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS4. ``One of the riders, his hand was pinned underneath the tire of the car.''
The bicycle group rides along the four-mile Kendale Lakes Circle loop about five nights a week, according to neighborhood residents and some of the bicyclists. They use the course for race training, often hitting speeds of 30 to 35 mph.
''They usually get together around 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon, and they ride hard,'' said Miami attorney Lee Marks, a bike enthusiast who has been on rides with the Kendale Lakes group. ``We're talking high-intensity training.''
The pack was riding west on Southwest 62nd Street -- Kendale Lakes Circle -- when a driver pulled out of an apartment-complex driveway onto the roadway about 5:30 p.m., said Miami-Dade police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta.
The driver failed to yield the right of way to the bicyclists, causing them to slam into the small sport utility vehicle, Zabaleta said. Traffic homicide detectives are investigating the incident and had not filed any citations or charges Tuesday. The driver's name was not released.
Neighborhood residents said it's possible the driver's view of the roadway was obstructed by a row of cars parked in the street's bike lane. The cars have been parked there during renovations to the apartment complex's parking lot.
The two most seriously injured cyclists were in critical but stable condition late Tuesday, Zabaleta said.
Beker Esteban, who lives across the street from the site of the crash, said he sees the bicyclists riding their thin-wheeled racing bikes and wearing bright-colored jerseys almost every day.
''I've been here since '95, and back then they used to come in groups of 10, 15 people,'' Esteban said. ``But now it's dozens of them, and they fly through the streets.
''This is not a safe place to ride a bike at high speeds,'' he added. ``It makes it dangerous for everybody.''
Bicycle groups -- both recreational and racing -- organize rides in various parts of Miami-Dade County. Many ride at off-peak driving times so the roads are less busy. At least two cities, Coral Gables and Miami Beach, offer police-escorted bike rides once a month.
Cyclists ride together for safety, Marks said.
''Drivers typically pay more attention if you're riding in a group,'' Marks said. ``They slow down and pass safely. If you're riding alone, cars just overtake you and zoom past.''
Florida passed a law last year that makes it illegal for drivers to pass bicyclists with less than three feet of space between them. A push for the law came after cyclist Omar Otaola was struck and killed by a truck in Key Biscayne in February 2006.
The past two years, members of the Everglades Bike Club helped organize a Ride of Silence in Miami-Dade to urge improved safety for riders, and Coral Gables has hosted a number of town-hall meetings in recent years to educate riders and motorists about sharing the roads.
A fatal crash involving a bicyclist happened in May 2002 in the same neighborhood as Tuesday's incident. Miami firefighter Jose A. Menendez Jr., a father of three, was killed when he was riding his bike along Kendale Lakes Drive and crashed into a parked landscaping truck. That road loops around the outside of the golf course, while the site of Tuesday's crash was on an interior road.
Miami Herald staff writer David Smiley and WFOR-CBS4 reporter Natalia Zea contributed to this report.