Pedestrian killed by cyclist

[han-grrl]

I agree aerobars are very handy. But around here, i see way too many commuter bikes with them on as well. And people riding the paved bike paths using them. there are a lot of different users on the paths (walking, blading, running etc) and using the aerobars in that situation or anywhere within city limits (which is what i was commenting about) is a recipe for disaster.

Han-grrl, feel free to rant against those that are known to be in the aero position in inappropriate situations and I’ll do it with you, but I was told that in the case I related above, the person was simply tooling through town on his way back from a training ride and did everything he was supposed to as a conscientious cyclist (with hands off the aero bars). One does need to train for races and would need the bars available once the rider is in the country. Also, people who ride ultra distances/randonneurs find these bars beneficial as do those with wrist/hand problems.

We don’t know about the Corvallis case but since the average cyclist doesn’t use aero bars, we can speculate that the pedestrian was killed by someone without them. Weight, speed, articles being carried on the bike plus the pedestrian’s lack of weight, speed, fragility to start with, etc. all go into play in such accidents. I can easily imagine a large rider slamming and knocking me to the ground hard enough to sustain severe head trauma or worse, all without aero bars involved.

This is the same argument that is used against SUVs. Defensive driving and riding when around others is always best. Otherwise we need to ban pick-up trucks, semi-trucks, buses, etc.

[bikerchick68]

drplasma... those links won't work for me... would you be so kind as to copy and paste them for me? What a sad story all the way around...

Can any of you even imagine what it would be like to KILL someone with your bike??? Dang, I can't even fathom what everyone involved is going thru...

[chick on a bike]

Awe man, if I hit someone and actually killed them with my bike, it'd literaly scar me for life; probably traumatize me. I was traumatized the first time I saw dead body and still haven't gotten over it. >.< ~shudders~ After an accident like that...I don't know...It's possible that I'd end up never touching my bike again, for fear of hurting someone else...... All I know is that I'm glad I'm not in that guy's shoes. My feet are probably bigger than his anyways.

~Liz

[drplasma64]

http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles...y/tueloc02.txt

is the article about the cyclist being charged with homicide.

http://www.gtconnect.com/articles/20...s/tueobi01.txt

is the obit.

OK, I'm having trouble NOT making these links so I will type in the address without the www and with some spaces so you can see the pertinent info. It seems like the link I posted yesterday automatically updated to todays date which is why it doesn't work today, since it should still be 09/13 not 09/14 (if that makes any sense)

gazettetimes.com /articles/2005/09/13/news/community/tueloc02.txt

gtconnect.com /articles/2005/09/13/news/obituaries/tueobi01.txt

[bikerchick68]

cool thank you! Those ones work...

[SalsaMTB]

Wow...she accomplished quite a bit in her life.

The other article mentioned the cyclist claiming he was only going 5-6 mph. I'm not some super speed biker but that seems awful slow (I do not have a computer on my bike so I don't have THAT good of an idea of how fast/slow this is). Doesn't it seem unlikely you would hit someone at that speed? I can understand going on a new path, down a hill and all of a suddent here is a stop sign you didn't know was there and plowing through and hitting someone, but 5mph and hitting someone??

[KSH]

I feel so sorry for that lady. How horrible!

Now, I also feel sorry for the cyclist... because I know that people in cars who kill cyclists... get off easier.

Yes, we are vehicles of sorts...but we aren't as big or fast as cars (sometimes?)... and we aren't as protected.

[roughingit]

Okay, I ride by that intersection all the time. The visibility is good, there's no way you shouldn't have been able to see someone, especially if you were going as slowly as he claimed. For those without bike computers, 5 or 6 miles an hour something you can keep up to while *walking* (or at least I can, I do walk quickly, but still, ya get the point) In order to have not seen her, he had to have been a) hauling *** and b) completely ignoring the sidewalk/crosswalk.

As mentioned, there are many good reasons not to bike recklessly here, not the least of which is a bored police department with nothing better to do than harrass students and/or cyclists.