mr_bill

Oh for <diety's> sake. He was riding an 1980s Nishiki with 27x1 1/4 tires.

-mr. bill

MikeyMK

I don't ride on roads, as i deem it too dangerous to do so. And i don't have to, as my town was built from scratch with a separate pedestrian/cycleway system. It is no accident that i live here.

But i still wouldn't call it victim-blaming. I only victim-blame when the victim was a clear subject of Darwinism. Here however, is a common incident which just highlights how use of the motorcar has completely taken over our world.

Everyone has the right to use the roads. As a pedestrian, on a horse or horse-drawn cart, on a skate board, bicycle, steam engine.. it doesn't matter how you choose to get around, you should be able to travel on a road. That we can't do so safely, almost entirely due to the modern automobile and many of their mentally deranged ''i pay road tax'' drivers, is a sad state of modern times.

dynodonn 

........a lot to ask from a number of motorists, especially the ones that will over drive their headlights or road conditions. I like to throw a considerable amount of lighting and reflectivity into the mix, both static and dynamic for added insurance purposes.

Maelochs

Ummmm .... Not over-driving their own headlights on a flat, straight road is too much to ask from a driver? I would say, it would be the minimum.

Yes, I run a taillight (at least one) visible from half a mile away. And at least twice, due to rain or battery drain, the light has failed while I was riding and I didn't know it. So .... that makes me fair game?


If a driver cannot see something in the road ahead, said driver is not fit to drive. End of that story.

Actually, there is more ... I am gong to assume that you meant, Not that we should not hold drivers to a minimum driving standard, but that we should not depend upon them to always uphold it. I agree we are each responsible for our own safety on the road ... I was addressing specifically comments about dim, low-quality tail lights.

Even if a bike has No rear reflective surfaces, there is never an excuse for a driver not to see it. Cars' headlights show what's there---if the driver bothers to look.

dynodonn 

From personal experience, motorist do and will over drive their headlights, plus thanks to a bright tail light and mirror, I usually spot rather quickly when my tail light has failed. In instances when I'm unable to regain a tail light, I have considerable amount of SOLAS reflective material on the static and dynamics parts of myself and my bike for backup. These efforts help make me more visible and noticeable to a motorist at a further distance in case of tail light failure,

jon c. 

At 55 mph, seeing an unlit object on a dark road is tough. One can quibble about exact distances, but stopping distance and headlight range are at best pretty close at 55 mph. No margin at all for error. "Over driving" headlights is a routine factor on rural roads. There was a guy around here who used to ride his bike without lights down to the convenience store on the main highway and I'm not sure I'd have seen him at times were if not for the reflectors on his pedals.

KraneXL

On any road, from my observation; and more fatalities occur at a lot lower speed than that.One of the reason they're required: the constant motion. But its not hard to overdrive a cyclist with only his reflector since its significant more difficult to track his speed and determine distance. You'd have to continuously focus on him, which would distract you from other potential driving hazards.

Maelochs

Yeah ... the driver would have to ... like ... Slow Down when he realized there was some other human being on the edge of the road. Or ... just keep driving at undiminished speed and eithe r ginre him and hit him, or focus on his and drive off the road. yeah .... no reason to slow down, and the reflectors just make it more dangerous for the car. The cyclist should just accept getting hit.

Really?

I don't find either cycling or driving to be all that difficult.

I use lights at night .... but hey, at night cameras wouldn't work, eh?

KraneXL

You're preaching to the choir bub. I've been hit while riding my bike 3 times by distracted drivers (cell phones I suspect). Twice at night and each claimed they "didn't see" me. I'm simply being realistic, not offering an excuse for them.I used to be a night rider and commute to work at night. I road all 7 days...nights. I know the realities and dangers of cycling at night.

Maelochs

Yeah, in this one instance we are in agreement.

mcours2006

Lots of data on pedestrian survival rate at different speeds: >90% at 20 mph, ~55% at 30 mph, and <20% at 40 mph.

If the vehicle in OP was travelling at the limit of 50 mph and cyclist was at, say 15 mph, that gives a relative impact speed of 35 mph. So, he didn't stand much of a chance. But I'm probably underestimating the vehicle speed and overestimating the cyclist's.

shoota 

Agreed, that doesn't look like a safe place to ride. Sucks.

Paul Barnard

On any road in my opinion. Never outdrive your line of sight. I am a motorcyclist. It's easy to look at that 25 MPH swarning sign on a sharp curve and see doubling that number as a challenge. You have to ask yourself what if? A downed tree, stopped postal carrier, accident, blind driveway entrance etc. lies around the corner.

Maelochs

Add to that water on the pavement, left by somebody's mis-aimed lawn sprinkler or even just a slight depression holding a little leftover rain. I hit a slick patch crossing some train tracks on my little Honda a couple decade back, and was highly impressed both that I had the reflexes to control the tank-slapper and also to not stain my clothing while it was happening. Shortly after I was trying the same stunt in my 40-wheeled Honda, hit a puddle on a blind, off-camber, downhill corner and did a 360 right in front of another car. Luckily I had the time and presence of mind to jam it in gear and blast out of the way ... but that really woke me up because I was half a second from hitting the other car.

Paul Barnard

I finally took a little time to piddle around on Google maps at that location. The satellite view shows a good bit of traffic on that road, but very little on a nearby parallel paved street.

Jim from Boston

As a bicyclist, I have posted my warning about approaching sharp curves:"Head-on collision between group cyclists and car (video)" BTW, when coming out of a sharp curve behind you, I have posted:

Chris0516

Ditto!!!