RobbieTunes

This is his stomping ground. I've sent him a PM. Local group there is called the CyclePaths.


4 people on bicycles hit by vehicle in Johnston County
WNCN Published: February 20, 2016, 3:46 pm Updated: February 20, 2016, 3:56 pm


Photo by Patrick Preist/WNCN

ANGIER, N.C. (WNCN) — Four people on bicycles were hit by a vehicle in Johnston County on Saturday afternoon.

The crash happened around 2:45 p.m. at 256 Massengill Pond Road near Sue Drive.

A witness told WNCN that he saw the bicycle riders before the crash and that they were riding in a single file line along the white line on the right side of the road.

The witness said that he heard the crash and turned to look and saw a bicycle in mid-air.

Little more is known about the crash, including the condition of those who were hit.

sloar 

That doesn't look like it ended well. I hope they are ok!

The Golden Boy 

Hope all the riders escaped serious injury...

RobbieTunes

Still no update. Local news will have an update, I hope.
NC lawmakers are considering stricter rules on bikes because of complaints from motorists.

Most likely, this motorist will not have enough insurance coverage for the injuries caused by his/her actions.
Hopefully, the cyclists are licensed, insured drivers in their own right, and can use their UM/UIM coverage, Med Pay, and still pursue the motorist.

norskagent

It was just on the news, woman came up on the cyclists just as another car was passing in the opposite direction. Apparently it never occurred to her to slow down as she approached.
Another link:
https://wncn.com/2016/02/20/4-people-...hnston-county/

DMC707

This makes about as much sense as anything else A politician would do. "The cyclists are causing mental anguish for our poor motorist's when they run one over-- they need to have stricter rules !"

eschlwc

criminal.

RobbieTunes

Yep, people don't realize that big pedal also allows the car to slow down and avoid hitting things. Like people.

I did notice one of the bikes was steel, as I saw the fork sticking up on TV. 3 male riders, 1 female rider.

Drillium Dude 

I hope all four recover 100%. All the rest will take care of itself or it won't.

I wish people who seem to see cyclists as just another obstacle would get a clue. A similar accident could've happened this past summer while on Bob Freeman's Vintage Ride. Clueless woman passing us on an uphill, gunning it and giving us barely half the required 3' of space.

It's getting scarier and scarier out there. I see it all the time when driving, especially the number of distracted drivers. Geez, put the frickin' phones away!

DD

Pemetic2006

Hope all is well with the victims.
The comments in the linked WNCN story are......enlightening.

I have to cross a fairly major street at an intersection with a light on my typical ride. Most opposing traffic is turning left and I'm going straight. The amount of people that do not yield to me is roughly 25 percent. Not all, but enough, drivers simply do not care what the rules are regarding cyclists. We've all had riders shout, curse, honk, etc at us.

DMC707

Thankfully it was only 1 or 2 of the commenters that were jerks - most i read were defending the cyclist's right to use the roads

--- I applaud the cyclists i see who use the road safely --- but i have to admit, some near misses and some fatalities in my area just about caused me to hang up my spurs a couple of years ago. -- I pretty much stick to a couple of seldom travelled lake roads that are common cycling routes , - and if its the middle of the day (less traffic) i have a loop from my driveway i will do -- but after 3pm or before 9am? Forget it
Sadly the genie is out of the bottle regarding cell phone use --- dont see it changing anytime soon

RobbieTunes

Yes, I added my 2 cents worth there, and I'm sure a couple people feel it wasn't worth that.

I have still not heard from roccobike, but he's not on here as regularly as he once was.
I used to have his number and email, but no longer do.

I see the names are published now, and Al is not one of them.
Note the ages: 34, 57, 57, and 60. At least one of them was on steel.

mstateglfr 

Dang, it good to see the 4 cyclists have non life threatening injuries. Coulda been way worse.

They were reportedly riding in a line at some point before the accident...if thats how they were hit, it incomprehensible.

Hope the driver manages to eventually move on from this.

gugie 

Article was updated:

"The four bicyclists all have non-life-threatening injuries and were identified as: Christopher Graham, age 34, Joel Arthur Lawrence, age 57, Lynn Lashley, 57 and Michael Dayton, age 60, according to officials."

10 Wheels

Head Injuries Suck..

RobbieTunes

+1 on all counts.

Classic case of eyes probably seeing, brain not triggering instant response until it analyzed what the eyes saw, and by then, at the closing rate, too late. Her first thought was to swerve, as most motorists do, and there was oncoming traffic. Using the brake was probably the second option in the mental checklist, and again, at the closing rate, too late. Very often, in auto-bike and auto-pedestrian and auto-moped accidents, the skid marks are after the impact. Simple case of reaction time being inadequate for the closing rate once the object is analyzed and a reaction determined by the brain.

See it all the time with motorcycles at intersections. Quite often, the motorcyclist will say "the driver looked right at me." Yes, the driver did. The driver's brain, however, had not recognized the situation in time to react correctly, hence the "driving too fast for conditions," a broad term that can mean terrain, light, weather, etc.

I know of no driver's ed class that teaches that. I think they all should. Combat pilot training, with a closure rate so much faster than a person can think, covers it in some detail, but almost every fighter or close air support pilot will tell you they've had a close call that really shook them up, and after that, they were different pilots. One reason landing on carriers is almost all automated. Stall speeds have gone up, so closure rates are necessarily faster, and the reactions required, even with fly-by-wire, are not always humanly possible.

Chrome Molly

People that quote physics as their defense may as well be inanimate objects.

RobbieTunes

Yes, he has challenged me in PM's.

norskagent

Dang, M. Dayton is a local randonneur, he has ridden paris-brest-paris several times I think. Also has a nice C&V collection. I hope all recover well.

RobbieTunes

I think I noticed one bike had a dyno front hub, and may have been a Lemond or a Soma, had the white panel. The pic was too small to tell.

norskagent

One bike was a coho.

dksix

It seems like @Lazyass is from over that way but maybe farther east.

Sir_Name 

Wow. Scary, scary stuff. Wishing them all a full and speedy recovery, including the driver. Drivers only see other cars; that's just the way it is, or at least what to plan for. Unfortunately, planning only gets you so far. Not sure what else can be said.

"...her mother, who was driving, didn’t see the bicyclists until it was too late. Her mom was too distraught to speak. The daughter says her mother was coming up over the hill and didn’t see the cyclists. A car was passing in the other direction and she panicked.

“I really couldn’t hardly understand her. She just kept saying ‘Tiffany I hit somebody, I hit somebody.’ She said ‘come down here, come down here.’ I said ‘where you at’. She told me like ten times, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying because she was so hysterical,”

oddjob2

Sad tragedy, hope all the riders will recover 100%. I lost a dear friend a few years back riding before sunrise and getting hit by a semi.

i see a Davidson in the scrap heap.

DMC707

The machinery and the ages of the cyclists point to an experienced bunch (just speculating i know - but age, machinery and a well known local randonneur in there) --- This points to a level headed group out getting some exercise and cameraderie

Then the reports of the hysterical woman in the aging domestic full size who caused this ---- scary stuff

Its not just us "slow vintage guys" --- i remember S. African mtb'er Burry Stander a couple years back getting plowed down, --- another RAAM competitor not too far from a friends house in KAnsas, -- even in the TdF with tv's all over the press -- every year some idiot in a press car manages to put a few guys into a ditch