Originally Posted by
echappist
i know you are being rhetorical, but just to be pedantic
most people drive in order to go to work; cycling is a hobby and a discretionary line item. The two are not the same.
not to mention that getting into a head on collision at 25 mph while driving is not comparable to getting smashed into at 25 mph while riding a bike, and that there's almost no risk of other cars trying to pass you on a narrow-two lane road...
Had a co-worker and extremely accomplished racer who was killed in a head on when the oncoming car never saw him because of the sun behind him. Still chose to turn anyway. 25 mph. Killed him instantly. He had just moved to Oregon from the midwest. His family (wife and 2 children under 5) had joined him (finished with relocation) that week. Company we worked for left the family out there and didn't help pay for any funeral arrangements or help with anything. While most wouldn't expect a fortune 500 company to do any of that anyway it was part of the reason I left. They relocated the family and then left them stranded there without any support, half a country away from their own family and support network.
It was covered in some form in velonews IIRC. That was something like 12 years ago. Impact from that is still hitting me. Once or twice a year I keep meeting people who knew and rode with him. I even met his parents last year at a race. Also his sister.
It never goes away. Even though I wasn't there and never saw the scene or pictures from it I have this immensely detailed vision of what I feel it was like and I replay it over in my head a lot.
It's part of why I lose my head when drivers complain about cyclists who don't obey traffic devices. While I agree that everyone should it baffles me how drivers don't see that cyclists are always the one that pays for the mistakes no matter who makes them.