TonightWillFall

https://www.gainesville.com/article/2...CLES/110339939

Another cyclist gone too soon.

exile

Sorry to hear about your friends dad.

Hopefully the police will charge the driver with something. At least the news article mentions that the cyclist was doing what he was supposed to do and that the driver of the truck veered into the him.

randya

small consolation for 'following the rules'

exile

Definitely agree randya. At least the article actually stated what happened. To many articles start with drivers "I didn't see them" excuse.

Standalone 

sorry to hear it.

dmac49

My deepest condolences to your friend and his family.

Chris516

This is why I don't like bike lanes, shoulders, or sharrows. Because, There is no way to stop a motor vehicle from drifting.

genec

Lots of sharrows put cyclists in the middle of the right lane... you gonna blame a sharrow for bad driving behavior?

Quite blaming infrastructure for poor driving habits.

2wheelcommute

Agreed. Also, from the sounds of it, the driver wasn't looking at the road (was searching for his cell phone on the ground). He could have just as easily rear-ended the cyclist had he been in the lane.

OP, I'm so sorry for your friend's family's loss.

CB HI

I really get tired of the comments that 'it was just an accident' and 'the kid (you mean 23 year old adult) has to live with it the rest of his life' and other BS.

Chris516

I am not blaming infrastructure. I am saying that, by cow-towing to suggested areas within said infrastructure, is one thing that leads to a dead cyclist. Because while government has made allowances for the existence of bike-friendly means of transportation, both in the traffic code and with bike lanes, it doesn't stop a motorist from just drifting into the bike lane or, drifting on to the shoulder.

So as long as cyclists' basically forfeit their right to be on the road, things won't get any better.

John E

Right drifts into bike lanes are becoming pandemic, and I attribute this to inattentive motorists. The other huge factor is speed creep -- California state law has just been changed to force cities to raise speed limits, based on the misguided 85th percentile rule. Now, instead of truncating down to a 5mph increment, cities must round [b]up to the next higher one. We post a limit of 35mph, everyone knows they can get away w/ going 40, and the next time a speed survey is done, we are forced to raise the limit to 40. Now folks realize they can drive 43 or so w/ impunity, and the legally enforceable limit has to go to 45 next time, and the cycle continues.

longbeachgary

Sorry to hear.

Digital_Cowboy

Agreed as ****y as it may be, at least they're still alive and able to walk and lead a normal life.

Digital_Cowboy

Chris,

That's why I don't ride in the bike lane that goes around a curve on my route to get to PetSmart. I've seen way TOO many cars drift into it. And than when I get to the main stretch of road there is almost always too much debris in the bike lane for it to be safe.

Digital_Cowboy

On my way out to the VA today, after I got through a particular intersection where at first there is a right turn lane, followed by on street parking, and a substandard width lane.(pan the map to the right to see what I'm talking about) I take the lane to keep JAMs from passing too closely. Today I had two JAMs every few seconds hit their horns, which was greeted with my placing my hand behind my helmet flipping them off. I just maintained my road position and speed. I didn't speed up, nor did I slow down. I just maintained my position and speed.

ctyler

I too am tired of hearing those excuses. In this country, driving a car gives you permissn to do what you want with, in most cases, no consequences. As I always say: kill someone with a gun and do hard time. Kill someone with a car and get a slap on the wrist.

crackerdog

They could at least start taking away drivers license for speeding and dangerous driving and make driving without a license a felony. That way we may get most of the bad drivers off the road before they kill someone.

Santaria

Here, they get into the bike lane as a right turn lane upwards of 250-300 feet from the intersection. The excuse is "I didn't wanna wait for the 25 cars in front of me that DID NOT use the bike lane as their personal turn lane."

Yesterday, I had 3 of them pull up behind me WAY WAY ahead of the intersection (where they are allowed to turn into the bike lane within 20 feet of their turn) and proceed to try to run me out of the lane by speeding up to 25 MPH. I looked back and the guy behind me threw his hands up in disgust because I wouldn't get on the sidewalk, or swing out into traffic.

He also didn't seem as brazen when I allowed him to come up to my side and asked him wtf his problem was while I pulled out my cell phone. THEN he wanted out of the bike lane asap. Odd.


In regard to the OP, I'm sorry. I'm also even more sorry that people think that an "accident" means that they are clear of any liability. I'm positive that in 99% of criminal cases, it is an accident someone gets killed, maimed or permanently scared in the process of a burglary, theft, **** or other crimes. It doesn't mitigate their culpability.

Chris516

Ditto on the debris. That 'debris' should be understood to include bad road conditions like worn asphalt that has created a pothole, a recessed manhole cover, or a cover in the road that has a hole in it.

Chris516

I am glad you didn't give in.

Chris516

Very well said.

Chris516

Did it ever occur to you, that sometimes poor infrastructure precipitates bad driving behavior.

Santaria

I'm not sure I'd buy into the logic that the road's condition had any effect on the driver's inability to problem solve and realize that his cell phone falling to the floor was not a priority over driving his F-250 until the condition was safe enough for him to pull over and retrieve it.

Really, the crime here is that we are even discussing validation for the driver's behavior in the first place. He failed to operate his vehicle in a safe manner, as mandated by the state law. He killed someone due to this negligence. At the very least, negligent homicide with the understanding that he will see a wrongful death lawsuit filed. While it would be nice to believe that he learned his lesson, the responsibility he took when accepting that he was licensed to operate a vehicle, regardless of the road conditions, dictates that he understood the consequences of failure to do so.

We live in such a simple society - all you do is try to shift the amount of responsibility away from 100% and you win.

Digital_Cowboy

Exactly, I "meanly" ride around i.e. to most motorists "suddenly swerve for no reason at all" around ALL manhole covers in my path. There's a tree on my route out to the VA. It's been dropping LARGE flowers into the bike lane and the home owner has only just recently started to remove said flowers.

The sad thing is that they are large enough, thick enough and cover enough of the bike lane as to represent a safety risk. Also let's not forget the "well meaning" home owner who sets their garbage cans out in the bike lane.

Than there are the motorists who see the bike lane as their personal parking space.