Another tragedy
 

My friend who was hit and run on the road in August was hit again, this time it's much worse. Once again the driver mowed him down, and drove trying to escape detection.

Gosh that's awful. Hope he's alright, Arch.

Best wishes to him. I hate to hear these stories.

Did they catch the driver?

What is wrong with people out there?

Hit and run always boggles my mind. You would think that even if the hitter had no concern for the safety of the injured person, the hitter would remain onsite for selfish reasons, as opposed to compounding the problem by running.

I am going to channel my inner EPU here and request that all hit and runners, drunk drivers, etc be rounded up and severely beaten.

You're too much of a liberal to channel me. You got the round 'em up part right, but I'd rather see the beating go farther than severe.

Arch, I pray your friend will be fine and hope the cretin who did this is caught and dealt with in what I see as the proper manner.

ha. actually, i was going to say that they should be shot, because I know that is WWEPUD, but it just sounded too harsh, even in jest.

at any rate, they deserve severe punishment.

If it were up to me, drunk drivers would be beaten to death, as shooting is too humane.

However, if the law could be that the first - and consequently the only - offense were to be life in prison without any chance of parole and that the drunk also have to be made to perform very hard labor 12 hours a day 7 days a week, I could accept that as sufficient punishment.

How serious is it? Is this a local friend?

This sickens me, and it's frightening to think of my husband and friends riding on the road.

It's one of his riding partners. It really worries me that Arch hasn't posted an update. I hope everything's okay.

No everything is not okay. Two cervical vertebrae fractured, one lumber, numbness in the hand and other problems. It's awful, and it's a loser with no life who hit him.

I'm sorry, Arch. I hope he's able to make a full recovery.

Some how we need to convert our anger into more cycling awareness to make it safer on the roads and to impose stronger penalties against road range anger against us. We've had several other incidents of this rage out there, and a number of us are packing, legally I might add.

Are you saying somebody deliberately mowed down your friend? Who would do that?

Some low life. He honked horn and then moved over to run two cyclists off the road. The cyclists were on the white line with no extra space.

It's amazing what people think they can get away with when it comes to cyclist. Honestly some of these people would never dream of deliberately running over a dog yet they will throw shit at cyclist, buzz them and even run them off the road. Arch I hope you friend has a fast recovery and please be careful while your riding.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised considering what they do when they have to stop for the wheelchair schoolbus.

I will never comprehend mean people. A complete mystery to me.

Thank you all, just venting because it hurts me to learn of any cyclist being injured. It's worse when it's a friend or you, and compounded when you have to witness it.

The cruelty of humanity has been memorialized for longer than we know, yet it still confounds me. I'm glad there are mostly good people, who occasionally must deal with malicious people. Moving to the side to avoid a cyclist, or slowing down for a wheel chair is such a simple act. May some of these people have a change of heart. Lives being changed or lost is tragic, even if just one.

He will not have a speedy recovery but he is luckier than some. So thank you again. I would like to research some cycling advocacy groups to help slow the madness down.

This is one of those things that just infuriates me and there is nothing to do to channel the rage. I joined the Provo chapter of Critical Mass and am attending the ride on the 7th this month in hopes of spreading awareness.

Sorry Arch, I wish him the best.

I am not a cyclist, so I ask honestly...are there really cases of road rage against cyclists? What causes it? What do cyclists do that get drivers so upset?

I have passed groups on the road several times. I live in an area that has a decent amount of undeveloped land (at least for South County), so the main roads are not highly trafficked. I cant tell you how many times I have seen a group ride by....about 50 or so strong. I always think it looks cool because there are so many of them.

I just drive by them and go about my business.

Why do these other cars try to hit the riders?

If we understood it, maybe we could stop it. But for some reason, any inconvenience to some drivers causes road rage, and we cyclists just happen to be that inconvenience.

Ok, I can get that, but what exactly is the inconvenience?

For example, do you take up the entire lane, thereby making it impossible or unsafe for a car to pass?

Even so, I don't see how it justifies mowing some cyclist over, but trying to get some context as to why a driver would get pissed at someone on a bike.

I like swerving aside when motorcyclists are coming to pass me....I like giving them space to pass me within the lane. The cool ones extend their hand out as they pass and give you the "thanks" sign. If they don't give me the wave, I get annoyed. But I dont run them over.

It's unexplainable DDD. All I can say is sometimes they are immature kids that try to pull a top gun and buzz the tower, thinking this is funny and then there is the stereotypical redneck that hates you because he is a racist, homophobic asshole who wants to destroy everything he doesn't understand. I don't know how else to explain it. but it is universal everywhere I have ridden.

By law in most states, you may only pass a cyclist after providing five to ten feet clearance, otherwise you might be cited for reckless driving and endangerment.

If you're a dumb redneck, and you must actually slow down while drinking your beer, it annoys you to not be able to run down some pencil neck, French loving cyclist. And if for some reason, one might not be able to exceed the speed limit by thirty miles per hour, it is a horrible inconvenience to come upon some cyclists.

It really is mindless hate. Cyclists usually do nothing but exist, and that is offensive to some drivers. Of course Tex believes cyclists should just take it, even if they are mowed down by a cop.

I'm lucky that I live in an area where there are miles and miles of empty roads and for the most part people are very friendly and curious to cyclist but about once a year I will have a truck full of teenage boys buzz me or throw something at me. I will always be riding alone and their will be nobody else around. Three kids in a 5000lb truck up against one person in lycra on a 17lb bike is not very brave. I don't worry about myself getting hit but I do worry about my son serving a mission getting hit. If their is an even bigger target then cyclist I would guess that two young men riding in suits would fit that bill.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, Arch. I wish him a speedy recovery.

These kinds of stories are why I don't run on streets anymore, except for races. Only Parkways and trails. It's too bad cyclists don't have that same option.

It's kids, it's rednecks and its people that might kick the dog or scream at other drivers and so forth, It is too bad, but I think in some areas it is getting better although in others it isn't

If the dude purposely swerved and hit the cyclists, won't that be considered attempted murder / manslaughter / whatever?

This line cracked me up.

Is there some kind of stereotype out there that cyclists are gay? I have never heard that before.

I think it was Archaea who posted an online petition for increased cycling awareness several months ago. I posted it on my local moms board, which is fairly large. I was mildly surprised by the responses I got. They said, sure, they are all for cycling safety, but the cyclists better make sure to do their part. They recounted incidents where the cyclists broke some kind of traffic rule. They surmised that some of the examples of cyclist bad behavior was due to the new influx of people riding to save on gas money. Of course, none of the women who responded were likely to mow down someone, but there was a little undercurrent of annoyance there that might escalate in someone else.

Archaea, I'm glad to hear your friend will recover, even if it is a slow one. My thoughts are with him and his family.

It goes more to the stereotype of rednecks than cyclist. He sees a person in Lycra and automatically that person is gay. I have been called a "fag" so many times I am starting to believe I may be.

I was actually about to start another long-winded cycling post but something came up and I hae to wrap it up. So it goes

An article in the NYT about this, but geared towards runners:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/he...ewanted=1&_r=1

I just thought I would mention that as a result of seeing far too many biking tragedies and of being increasingly annoyed by bicyclists' needs failing to be recognized by local government, I applied for and was appointed to my city's Bicycle Advisory Commission, which provides input to the regional transportation planning committee. It is not a glamorous spot, but it is likely to be a much better opportunity to effect change for the better than riding in critical mass.

If any of you have any suggestions that you think might be useful in planning for bicycle use in a community, please let me know.

I like that, let me think upon it.

I would apprecaite it. The scope of the committee's resposibility is broad; we are asked to provide input into development and redevelopment, road and community planning, street singnge, revisions of ordinances, etc. So anythign at all along these lines might be helpful. As you know, I hav some strong opinions about these issues, but I woudl also appreciate any input.