JoeyBike

Forgive me if it's a repeated post. I could not find another one.

Baton Rouge Councilman Buddy Amoroso killed in West Feliciana crash; man arrested

Makes me wonder if Councilman Amoroso knew how "statistically safe" it is to cycle on public highways these days.

canklecat

Driver should have paid as much attention to the road as he did to his eyebrows.

CliffordK

It doesn't sound like hit and run to me.

Not a lot of details about the presumed cause of the crash.

A 61 year old's life was ended prematurely,

And, a 21 year old will go through hell for the rest of his life.

Milton Keynes

"Pulled over a short distance ahead" =/= hit and run.

JoeyBike

I just turned 60. Every time I throw my leg over a top-tube to ride near auto traffic I think to myself: "This could be my last few minutes on Earth". So if I ever get hozed, it's not premature - it's right on time. I make my choices and live or die by them without second guessing. However, I am totally done with cycling on 2-lane country highways with no shoulders (as many here already know). And lookie! I am still here wasting everybodie's breathing air!

The last thing most cyclists think when they clip in is - this might be my last ride. It's the FIRST thing I think of. Nobody is making me take any risk. It's all on me.

Paul Barnard

I wonder why the negligent homicide charges. I don't think I have seen that in LA in recent years. Just a few months ago some idiot was texting and driving when she killed a cyclist. No charges at all.

CliffordK

I can't get anywhere without riding on 2 lane country roads. Most have shoulders, but not necessarily clean shoulders. But, not all of them.

I am a bit perturbed by the state/county that just repaved a section of road near Mom's house for the first time in at least 40 years, and didn't bother to widen the shoulders on moderately busy road.

CliffordK

I have to wonder if it depends on who was killed, not how they were killed.

So, if it had been an ordinary citizen, perhaps low income, they might not have thought twice about it.

TheLibrarian

My thoughts exactly

Paul Barnard

That was my thinking Clifford. The victim's status probably had a lot to do with it.

CliffordK

Why am I not surprised?

Now, a couple of things that are unique about this. A "high profile" person was killed, and he presumably wasn't doing anything contributory to the accident.

Other accidents may have a cyclist riding salmon, running stops, swerving, etc. But, if Councilman Buddy Amoroso was riding in a straight line, and "visible", then it would be hard to do anything but blame the driver. Road condition? Position?

Nonetheless, 700 to 800 cyclists are killed on the streets a year. Singling out a couple of drivers for homicide charges, and letting the rest slide is an odd way of doing law enforcement.

Perhaps we need to look at different ways of doing law enforcement. For example, in our current "insurance" based society, fine the person $100,000, and they pay nothing, lose nothing.

Daniel4

It's too bad that the 30,000 motorist deaths including their passengers are never a concern when talking about statistics. It's as if bad driving was an acceptable norm. It's what you get into when to drive.

As for status, this year some big collisions grabbed national headlines in Canada: 1) a hockey team in Saskatchewan lost 14 members on their way to a game; 2) singer-songwriter Burton Cummings suffered a concussion and injuries. We mourned for the hockey team and we were thankful of Cumming's recovery. But nobody spoke anything about the bad drivers that caused these collisions.

rydabent

I take issue with your word thrive. Disgusted would be a better word.

jefnvk

Sad, but I don't see where this is a hit and run, nor do I think there is an implicit racial element to it. What police and prosecutors did in jurisdictions elsewhere really has no bearing on how police and prosecutors handle this.

Leisesturm

Agree, not a hit and run. Do not agree that there is no implicit racial element. Maybe if you can find us a similar accident where a driver of color kills a white cyclist and is not charged at all or is held briefly and released after satisfying trivial traffic infraction offenses. In my short time here I have read (and been outraged) by numerous accounts of white drivers killing white cyclists and receiving scant financial penalty and no loss of liberty even after pleading guilty to distracted driving. If you can find even one of the 815 cyclist deaths last year where the driver was a person of color and escaped with the usual slap on the wrist that nauseate us all, then you can keep your credibility about this being a color blind example of justice in action. Is the drivers side of the story even known? Or is that not relevant if the driver is a person of color?

Paul Barnard

We still don't have all the details. Did the driver admit to being distracted? Calling it racial without all the details is a fool's errand for the intellectually incurious. We probably don't have too many bicyclists of that status killed in THAT enforcement jurisdiction to make any comparisons in the way they were handled.

jefnvk

Can you find me one with these cops in this jurisdiction where a white driver was let go after hitting a black cyclist? That is a far more apt comparison, than what prosecutors in a different state with different laws and a different situation did. I can find you plenty of cases where white drivers were held on charges appropriate for MICHIGAN law, but you are likely going to say they don't count because Michigan law only defines vehicular homicide as a one year felony if there is no impairment or hit and run.

And, to be brutally honest, the number of stories I see about black cyclists killed by white drivers is nearly zero, certainly not with any sort of sample size to draw any significant conclusions.

no motor?

The Ghost of Scootertrash Past"Today is a good day to die" has been expressed by different cultures, and this guy explains it well. I met the author once at an annual BMW motorcycle rally, and he mentioned how this concept was understood by motorcyclists.
The Ghost of Scootertrash Past

Daniel4

Actually, I've been thinking that way more often now.

However, it would really make a big improvement on the road if motorists have this on their minds not as a fatalistic suicidal endeavor, but as something to avoid everytime they behind the wheel.

Kontact 

I would hope that all you fascinated with the extreme risks you take getting on a bicycle will throw out your ladders today. Your risk of death from a fall is 600 times that of your risk of death from a bicycle.

Get some perspective, fellas. Eating Mexican lettuce is a risky activity. Cycling is not.

rydabent

+1 on your points

JoeyBike

Pass the salad please...

JoeyBike

Entertaining read. I gave up motorcycles in 1988. 15 years of fun then cashed in my chips on that gamble as well.

JoeyBike

Yep. Same goes for everything. When I cycle around motor vehicles I accept the risk and do not hold anyone else responsible. Until I run out of nerves. Then I go find a new pastime.

If you swim (or bike) where you KNOW there are sharks (drunk, distracted people), then don't cry like a baby when you get bitten. Take the risk and accept the consequences or stop taking the risk. It's pretty easy. Who cares if the driver goes to jail for life when your back is broken?

Kontact 

And? People get killed at water parks, too. No activity is 100% safe. This just comes off as paranoia.