[Blue Jays]

"...There's far more to this story..."

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While approaching a group from behind at 70 mph (while they are doing 15 mph) things are certainly going to unfold quite quickly.
At the same time, a focused and alert truck driver should have seen them from a half-mile away under those open desert conditions.
Curious to learn if they ultimately will discover the driver was texting, reading Facebook, or doing a video call with a friend?

[dragnet2]

Why blame the truck driver when vehicles routinely travel at 75mph+ on these open roads. A bicycle is doing what? 15 mph? That begs the question, why in tarnation would someone in their right mind get on a bicycle go anywhere near a venue like that? That’s down right suicide from my perspective.

[Professional]

Not casting blame but the worst people on the road for following rules are male bicyclists. They put motorcycle riders to shame for disregard to public and personal safety.

If you get a group of idiot bicyclists meeting a speeding truck driven by a drunk or drugged guy...

[Captain Rhino]

Time and the investigation will tell how much “accident” was actually involved in this accident.

What has not been commented on in the articles cited has been the fact that the accident occurred on a divided highway with a significant dirt margin separating the opposing lanes of traffic and that the incident site is at a crossover between the two halves of the highway.

This location may be just where the dynamics of speed and impacts caused everything to finally come to rest. Or, it may have been a significant factor influencing the panel truck driver’s behavior.

By this, I mean an anxious state of mind where the driver of the halted panel truck may have felt that he had to accelerate suddenly to prevent himself from being “stuck” behind a slow moving group of oncoming bicyclists. So he presses hard on the accelerator, discovers the bicyclists are moving a lot faster than he thought, finds the panel truck is not capable of the speed or turning circle needed to successfully execute an evasive maneuver, plows into the pack, and is then struck by the trailing escort/chase vehicle.

And there is a late report that a technical team was called to the accident scene to inspect the panel truck’s brake system. Sure. Because, of course; the brakes.

I mention an anxious state of mind because I see it all the time here in northern Virginia.

I’m retired now and no longer contend with trekking up and down I-95 to commute. I’m referring to driver anxiety about being delayed on neighborhood and local surface streets that have stop signs or traffic signals every one, two, three, or four football fields in distance apart. Not everyone drives this way, of course. But reckless driving is significant enough that I routinely (as in daily) observe it - often multiple times in the same trip.

And, for those wondering: No, I am not the cause of the problem. I drive the speed limit and maintain pace with the flow of traffic. But I do maintain a reasonable (not excessive) following distance because there is always, always some anxious person up ahead rewriting the traffic rules to suit themselves.