Posted on 06/16/2011 2:15:36 PM PDT by EBH
The car turned from a blind corner and hit riders who had stopped in a traffic lane to wait for others to catch up, said Sgt. David Krumer, the LAPD's bicycle liaison.
"It appears that they were stopped in traffic" and some who had dismounted to chat with friends technically were pedestrians, Krumer said.
Bicyclists have a legal right to use the right traffic lane unless they impede traffic, and pedestrians are barred from traffic lanes, Krumer said. Violators potentially could be cited, he added.
However, drivers have a legal responsibility to exercise caution regardless of the circumstances, Krumer said.
"They're not at fault simply for being out there in the roadway," he said of the cyclists.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Pack of cyclists impede traffic causing accident
How often do you encounter a pack of cyclists at 2am?
Last summer we had packs of cyclists hogging roadways in a highly used section of the metropark system. I wrote the park rangers and said if they were going to be in large groups like that...they should have a permit and safety escort. Haven't seen any packs of cyclists in a while...
So let's see - stop in the middle of the roadway in a major city at 2 a.m., and just hang out and talk. Nothing bad will happen...
“How often do you encounter a pack of cyclists at 2am?”
Not usually at 2AM, but they do this “Critical Mass” crap every couple months down the street in front of my house around 10-11 at night, with hundreds of cyclists ringing their bells and honking horns, all while clogging the street and flouting traffic laws. I saw a video of a driver in South America who just plowed through a “Critical Mass” rally, and I have to admit I kind of sympathize with the guy.
We get a few out here on our windy roads. Little small roads without a center stripe and deep bar ditches along the sides. But idiot cyclists think they’re communing with nature. Sure, commune with this - BAM! Cars do good enough just getting themselves up and around blind corners especially with the sun in their eyes (every morning) and oncoming cars on your side. Then there’s the road contruction going on and sure enough a few days ago I got stuck behind some idiot cyclists like they couldn’t see the bulldozers and the stop sign guys lined up for miles. Idiots, idiots, idiots.
I ride respectfully and don’t get in the way and still have hostile drivers mess with me and my group. With that being said...I wouldn’t be riding at 2am “the drunk hour”...EVER... not even in the middle of nowhere.
For those of you who have a problem with people riding bikes, try to understand that most of us ride defensively and are pretty much scared of crazy whack jobs who just hate all cyclists.
Sounds like the lady that mowed them down was trashed and wasn’t paying attention...OR she did it intentionally.
“A group of about 100 cyclists were on a ride about 8 miles south of downtown Los Angeles when they were struck by a Honda Civic shortly before 2 a.m.”
I would not drive through that neighborhood at 2 p.m. in an armored car.
Sighted Cyclist,
Recycled Same
You sum up my thoughts. I’ll add that one of the reasons I stopped bike commuting was that thanks to cell phones it’s pretty much ALWAYS “the drunk hour” nowadays.
That is what I was thinking...
wonder if they were ‘hoping’ for an incident...
lots of money to be made on this one unless the cops ticket the cyclist for their stupidity.
Yes, the lady was allegedly drunk and on a cellphone...
PS. And at a darn BLIND CORNER!
You sound like you’re happy the cyclists were mowed down. That’s freakin’ disgusting.
This sounds like a successful “Share the Road” demonstration.
Car and stupid cyclists sharing the very same section of road. Is this what you call a “win-win” situation?
I’m sorry. If you’re a bicyclist in LA, and you stop in the road at 2 A.M., you’re presuming on the alertness and sobriety of your average automobile driver. And that’s an extremely dangerous presumption.
And yes, 2 A.M. matters to the story. Under California’s ABC law, the curfew on liquor sales goes from then until 6 A.M. Therefore, the bars close at or before then. Therefore, there are (unfortunately) a lot of drunk motorists headed home, or at least wherever else they’re going. Therefore...it’s a really, really bad idea to stop your bike in a traffic lane and stand there. Pull off to the side if you’re going to be hanging out for long. Really. You’ll thank me later.
I used to cycle to work often, about 40 years ago.
Had lots of close calls and one collision. Finally figured out that attempting to bicycle on major commute routes was an unreasonable proposition.
There is no valid reason to cycle to work if it requires inconveniencing large numbers of people; we have more effective means of transport, and we are morally obligated to use them when doing otherwise creates an untenable situation for a large majority.
The cyclists don’t seem very bright.
Stopping on a blind corner and staying the middle of the road to socialise isn’t a smart thing to do in daylight, much less at 2am.
Not more tackses!
Yep. I will say that most of the commute routes I took had bike lanes and made extensive use of bike trails. My problem is that the bike lanes are not safe with all the teenaged and 20 something texting going on.
Christine Elizabeth Dahab is an interesting name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahab
Dahab is a small town situated on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Formerly a Bedouin fishing village. Following the Six Day War, the town was occupied by Israel and is known in Hebrew as Di-Zahav, a place mentioned in the Bible as one of the stations for the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt. The Sinai Peninsula was restored to Egyptian rule in the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in 1982.
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