Miss America Runs Over Cyclist- And Kills Her!

[missliz]

I kid you not- some bimbo beauty queen turned a corner and ran over cyclist and killed her. The press is very worried about poor Miss America - mention of the cyclist was minimal, besides the fact that the woman DIED!
This was the queen of Vaseline Teeth from 2000- she's married to the leuitenent governor of Kentucky. Poor thing- the sun was in her eyes so she couldn't see the rider who apparently had the right of way.
Any of you in Kentucky who know more about this, please tell. Reading between the lines it sounds like a very careless vehicular homicide that will be covered up because hey, it's Miss America. And the leuitnant governors wife.
I am utterly disgusted. Think she listens to the Bob and Whosit show?

Lizzy

I got this off Earthlinks news feed from the wire service. I don't know how to post the story, but the reporting is so ignorant and biased it's a spin job.

[Irulan]

link to CNN story (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/10/13/miss.america.accident.ap/index.html)

[ChamChick]

This is the story as printed in the Louisville courier journal today.

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2003/10/13ky/met-front-heatherm1014-5593.html#top

[missliz]

Thanks for the Courier article- it's MUCH more objective than the AP wire feed. Still, it sounds like the woman on the bike had the right of way, and how come I can't be Miss America but I know to slow down when driving into the sun? A regular person would be busted.
Not that I want to be Miss America- but this combined with Clear Channel with my own bad experiences (hit by an idiot in a truck) is just grating on me.

Lizzy

[ChamChick]

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2003/10/14ky/met-back-cyclist1014-2338.html

As you read today's article, unfortunately it seems to me that the cyclist was crossing on a yellow at best, or red light.

This is my first season to ride on the road and I have, knock on wood, only had one jerk try to intimidate me by getting as close to me as he could without hitting me. So, I ride cautiously and assume I am invisible to the motorist. I think we have to do that to be safe because most of the time we are a surprise to them when they come up on us.

[missliz]

Thank you, Cam Chick. I appreciate the info. The Courier-Journal is certainly journalisticly superior to CNN and the AP; The other reporting on this has all been about Poor Miss America, and I find that apalling when someone has died- especially one of us. In Louisiana, drivers are expected to be paying attention to the road, and she would still be in deep poop. Even if the cyclist ran a yellow/red, the impact was all in the Navigators front grill- meaning the truck ran the bike down from behind. And apparently went over her? Here the law is that whoever does the hitting is at fault.
Hope the German ladies family takes 'em down in the civil suit- running over a cyclist from behind is just plain inexcusable, period. If that's what happened, but all that damage to the grill looks like it. The whole scenario just doesn't jell as a blameless driver thing. Sun in her eyes? She wasn't looking ahead as she turned and saw the bike cross? I suspect there was jabbering on a cell phone involved. But we'll never know, will we?
I commuted by bike for twenty years, and finally bought a car because I was injured. In all those years of watching drivers eyes to see if they saw me, I got a pretty good feel for how people screw up and have wrecks- which is how I lasted that long. Careless sounds more accurate than accidental.

Lizzy

[DoubleLori]

The article I read said that the bicyclist was riding against traffic, which is the surest way to get hit. (I don't know if it was true or not that she was riding against traffic, but that is what my newspaper said.) Accident studies have shown that even riding one block against traffic GREATLY increases your chances of being hit. Don't ever do it, not even for a second!

[pedalfaster]

I have been following this story since I am on the Louisville Bicycle Club's mail list.

From what I have read over the past few days, there is at least *some* agreement in that the cyclist did indeed cross against a light and she was not wearing helmet. Reports stated that a helmet would not have saved her. Other than that, the topic has ingited plenty of heated debate. We even got the rehash of SUV bashing, as in "would she still be alive if she had been hit by a CAR?"

Sadly, there are no easy answers.

Here are a few comments I found interesting:

"I think unfamiliarity with the intersection may have played a part here since I think I heard this person was from Germany. It wouldn't have mattered whether she was crossing this intersection with traffic or in the crosswalk; she had a legal right to do either since the crosswalk is part of a designated shared use path. However, she would have been required to wait for the signal in either case. "

"The intersection fails to recognize bicycles as vehicles, and tries to make pedestrians of them. Because of their speed and the way they move laterally, bicycles fit better into vehicular than in pedestrian traffic. "

"I think bad design killed her. That's something we should ask questions about. "

It made me think of a few "tricky" intersections in my hometown and how I need to stay alert and pay attention; whether I am on my bike OR driving my car.

I am hoping that if anything can be salvaged from this situation, it will be an opening for dialogue about integrating bicycle traffic into city planning and motorist education (e.g. "share the road").