Posted on 09/01/2010 9:57:15 AM PDT by MissTed
SUDBURY, Ont. — A cyclist who may have been taking part in a Share the Road campaign bike ride was hit by a vehicle Tuesday evening.
"I heard it at first and when I looked over I saw the guy was flying in the air and then he hit the ground and was not moving," ride participant Jason Russell said.
"After a little while he was moving around and the emergency crews got there right away. I couldn't talk to anyone on the ride back to Science North. It was really scary to see. It could have been me."
The large group of cyclists were out to raise awareness about cyclists and motorists sharing the road. The ride was lead by Sudbury Olympian Devon Kershaw and Share the Road founder Eleanor McMahon.
Kershaw was clearly shaking and upset upon returning to Science North and had only one thing on his mind at the time.
Both McMahon and Kershaw lost loved ones due to the negligence of vehicle drivers. McMahon lost her husband, OPP sergeant Greg Stobbart in June 2006. Kershaw lost his girlfriend, Sofie Manarin, when she was killed in Sudbury in 2001 by a truck.
The accident happened eerily close to where Manarin was killed.
"I didn't see it and I didn't like it that's for sure," he said. "It sucks. I just hope the man is OK. This was the reason why I am here so stuff like that doesn't happen. My thoughts are with his family, more than they know."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnews.canoe.ca ...
>>When I ride a bike, I ride as if every car approaching, passing or turning could do something that could result in injury to me.<<
Thinking that way is exactly why I was able to ride a car around a right hand corner instead of smash into the side of it.
I was going down a hill at about 45 mph. The hill had a right turn right at the bottom. A couple of high school age girls passed me at the halfway point and as I watched them I said to myself, “Geez!, I’ll bet she’s gonna slam on the brakes and turn in front of me. So I started hitting the brakes to try to get behind her and pass her on the left, but she was braking too hard, and I could not match her braking power. So she turned and I hit her not too hard and just rode around the corner as my pedal scraped her door and my left arm snapped off her mirror. She came to a stop after the turn and I continued forward, looped around to the drivers side and told her that bikes cannot stop as fast as cars and her dad might be bummed about the scratches - as I rode back to the intersection and continued on my ride home.
I was actually nice about it. You could tell they were shaken up. I never linger though. It gives people too much time to rationalize that it may have been your fault somehow. In one case it was really important as the car I hit was a new Porsche Carrera and I ripped up his wheel well as I forced my pedal up and through to stay up.
There are a few hillside roads here that have those “Share the road with bicycles” signs. And there are bicycles. The catch is that the roads are steep, and the bicycles are crawling uphill at 2-3 mph. There is only one lane in each direction, with solid double yellow line dividing them. Passing is not allowed because the road twists and turns, not giving you enough visibility. What do the city planners expect from a car driver stuck behind a bicycle?
I love my bike, but no matter how you what to frame it, bicycles and automobiles do not belong in the same roadway.
>>I don’t understand why cyclists appear to think themselves excempt from traffic laws.<<
I don’t think that is always the case, even though they blast through stop signs. I’m one of them.
I obey traffic laws for the most part - when in my car. When on my bike I also do except for the lemming laws. You know, stopping at a stop sign at the bottom of a hill where you can clearly see that there are no cars in the vicinity.
I’m a “spirit of the law” sort of guy. That is, I look at traffic laws as being in place for two root reasons.
1. Ensure a certain level of safety.
2. Ensure efficient flow of traffic.
Those two often compete with each other for priority. As an autonomous human being, when on my bike with a 360 degree view, if I see that blasting through a stop sign (or traffic light) is not unsafe but DOES increase the efficiency of traffic, I will do it without hesitation.
Assuming there are none of those “letter of the law” types with blue lights around. ;)
“I heard it at first and when I looked over I saw the guy was flying in the air and then he hit the ground and was not moving”.....Share the Road?
You too can look foward to “flying in the air” when we all have to ride bikes to work.....
Guess he didn’t want to share the road with the auto.....................
Maybe the bikers should avoid the area. In return, motor vehicle operators ought to be a little more cautious as well.
This morning I witnessed a bike commuter, in a nice gray suit, stop at a red light and answer his cell phone.
He then proceeded to bike one handed, weaving back and forth through the entire lane adn into the next one, while he chatted on his phone.
Oh - and no helmet. He almost deserves to be a gray and red splat.
This just in:
Guy chokes to death at the “Eat Smart and Healthy” day ceremony.
Guy breaks leg in the “Safety Run” this summer.
That is one of the circumstances that really frustrates me, as a cyclist. It is the one time I break the safety rules and get as far over to the right as I possibly can, and even get on the sidewalk if there is one.
Near my farm in Kentucky the roads are, as I like to call them, “what Seattle bike trails aspire to be”. I didn’t feel that way at first because they have NO shoulder. However, there is also virtually NO traffic. And it’s bicycles and tractors that slow down people on the rare occasion one comes up on them.
People are generally just not in as much of a hurry there either. I know I’m not. In Seattle it’s different. In a lot of ways.
>>Maybe the bikers should avoid the area.<<
There are some areas I really try to avoid and others that I cannot avoid but am on edge riding through.
I usually drive my car exactly the same way, but not quite.
The biggest thing I found out is that I cannot talk on the cell phone and drive.
I can multitask like hell when I drive without endangering myself or others. I can eat a Taco Bell taco without spilling it, I can change a song on my stereo, and I listen to audiobooks non-stop while driving.
But I cannot speak on the phone. And I know for a fact that there are many tasks that people can do with a good margin of safety while driving, but talking on the phone is different.
I know it is for me. I am on call all the time, so I get paged constantly. I always pull off the road because I know that I just cannot function effectively.
The LONE time I decided I would use my phone while driving without pulling over, I was on a two lane country road on the way to work in bumper to bumper traffic that was barely moving, stop and go. I got paged, and thought, geez, I am not even moving, I can take this call. As I was dialing the number, I heard an angry yell. While dialing, my car had veered about six inches to the right as I creeped along at about 2 mph, and I had almost run a cyclist off the road who was speeding past the cars on the foot wide swath of pavement to the right of our stalled line of traffic.
The one time! This was winter! On a road that all serious cyclists avoid because of the heavy commuter traffic and the narrow road with no shoulders! Yet there he was, and I almost nailed him because I was dialing a phone. Sure, maybe he shouldn’t have been zooming up the side like that, but that would have been a cold comfort for me.
Now, I can listen to an audiobook version of “The Road to Serfdom” and not miss a single thing the guy is saying, but I can completely stay focused on the road. Completely. But talking on a phone...it does something different in your brain than talking to someone in the passenger seat. And I know I can’t do it.
“I am a competitive cyclist, and during most of my training rides I am wearing a team kit, with sponsors logos quite visible”
seriously, I’d never think to call your sponsors. ALL cyclists wear that stuff. it’s more fashion. even if you and 20 guys were riding wearing the same kit, I just assume you’re in the same club. nothing about sponsors.
I guess I need to weigh in, here. I work near a college, and bike riders are one of my per peeves.
I have no problem with "weekend" riders, who obey the laws, keep up with traffic, and generally sitck to low-travelled highways and/or bike paths.
I also have no problem with "everyday" riders, who obey the laws, who can keep up with traffic, and who generally "ride smart".
Where my patience breaks down is with the riders who flaunt the traffic laws, or who do stupid things "Because dammit, it's perfectly legal". Like the guy this morning, riding in the LH lane of the six-lane 50-mph divided highway during morning rush hour. Legal? Probably. But really stupid? Yep, IMHO. Tis a wonder that he didn't get smeared, or cause an accident, or both. Traffic was backing up behind him, and there were gawkers in the other direction, as well.
I wish that I could say that these doofi were the few bad apples who spoil the bunch. But, like I commented, I work near a college campus and see far more than I'd call "occasional".
“There is only one lane in each direction, with solid double yellow line dividing them”
we have that here in the mountains. steep grades and you come around a turn to find a bike in the lane, “because of the gravel on the edges”.
it really sucks when you’re pulling a trailer.
Question for clarity: If a group of people that plan CONVOYING with Automobiles more than(X-number), ie; Military , Utility Companies, Funerals etc., are required to obtain Permits before said events then why doesn’t “Critical Mass” and others have same obligation?
State of Florida requires permit and Troopers while Convoying on State roads!
Also required for unusually large Vehicles, ie Airline Tanker Trucks
(used only on Airports)!
Please explain, anyone!
In your case it was not talking. It was dialing. And I have the same problem. I’ve found that the safest way to do it is to take my hands off the wheel. I’m not kidding.
But I rarely call someone from my car, and when I do, it is always something I can speed dial.
Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve tried internet browsing while driving. It’s dangerous too.
Perfect!
Yeah, well try formatting a post on FR with html code while you're trying to navigate through rush hour traffic. THAT is darn near impossible.
Newly licensed teenagers do not have the experience to know how to react when they encounter a cyclist, especially at night night when the cyclist isn’t wearing reflective clothing. This is especially dangerous in rural areas. My special pet peeve is a cyclists who wears headphones and is completely oblivious to their surroundings. Share the Road is a recipe for catastrophe.
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