Scarey Semi Experience

[emily_in_nc]

The following info helped me to better understand the risks of cycling.
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm

I don't know if you are aware, but ironically, Ken Kifer, who wrote this page, was hit and killed by a motor vehicle a year or so (2 years?) ago. Very, very sad. Thankfully his informational web pages do remain behind. He was an incredibly safe and experienced cyclist. I believe he was hit from behind, which is statistically a rather rare way to be hit while riding a bike.

I had many thousands of miles of safe riding under my belt when I had my accident (dog-induced) in April of 2005 and fractured my pelvis in three places. Unfortunately, it's not really a matter of if you will crash, but when you will crash. Fortunately, some crashes are not serious, but some are obviously deadly. Close calls can be good if they teach us how to better handle a situation later. I definitely believe in rear view mirrors! Unfortunately, mine didn't help a bit with the two dogs who ran right out at me from the side -- nor could I even reach for my "Halt" pepper spray in time.

Emily

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I don't know if you are aware, but ironically, Ken Kifer, who wrote this page, was hit and killed by a motor vehicle a year or so (2 years?) ago. Very, very sad. Thankfully his informational web pages do remain behind. He was an incredibly safe and experienced cyclist. I believe he was hit from behind, which is statistically a rather rare way to be hit while riding a bike.

Emily, it appears Ken was hit by a drunk driver going in the opposite direction:
http://www.kenkifer.com/death.htm
So so sad and so tragically needless. His friend is maintaining his website which is so full of wonderful information for cyclists.

Beelady, I was not aware of Ken's website, thank you for pointing it out- I will read every single article!

[BeeLady]

The driver who killed KenKifer was drunk and released from jail only four hours earlier for DWI.

Also, what I've been able to glean from his site is that Ken did not wear a helmet and felt quite strongly about his right and his reasons not to wear one. I don't know if that would have made a difference when the drunk hit him.