Quote Originally Posted by mimitabby View Post
good point, Grog. In bicycling just like in driving a car, if you are going too fast to stop safely you're going too fast.
There's a difference between going too fast and having someone intentionally swerve in front of you and slam on the brakes. The group may not have been going too fast to stop for the conditions that were in front of them, until the officer did what he did. I didn't see the entire incident report, but it certainly sounds like the officer did something spectacularly stupid that lead to an accident that should not have happened. If there had been another vehicle in front of them (that could stall etc) the cyclists more than likely would have been prepared for it - they were not prepared to be passed and then for the passer to suddenly stop.

I don't like your argument that they must have been going too fast, because I've seen it used too many times to justify a motorist killing a cyclist. When Suzanne Scaringi died last year a lot of people said the same thing about her. She had a car turn in front of her as she was descending a hill. Well, if she couldn't stop she shouldn't have been going so fast, she was at fault because she was going too fast for the conditons... YES people said that! NO - the motorist who turned in front of her was at fault. Cyclists should not always be taking the blame for the boneheaded manouvers of others.