“speeding on a wet road, drinking and possibly distracted by a cell phone.”
Speeding 6 mph too fast would be considered blocking traffic where I live. Drinking has not been shown, and neither has the cell phone.
When I was a kid, I didn’t ride my bike at 1:30 AM...but when I rode at night, I assumed all responsibility for avoiding cars was mine. Why? Because the headlights of a car & the noise they make means it is easier for the bicyclist to see the car than the car the bicyclists, and because of the disparity in consequences if things go wrong.
In a different article, the father said the kid’s bike had a reflector under the seat and on the pedals. There was no mention of any lights.
I second that emotion. It’s tough.
I ride at night a lot.
Anybody who does so without lights is an idiot.
My bike’s light is 1800 lumens, car headlights are 800 to 1000.
Pretty hard to claim you didn’t see me coming.
Some people think the "stop" sign panel on a school bus means "please, if it's no inconvenience."
The woman was driving 10 kilometers/hour over the speed limit on a rainy, misty night when she should have been driving 10 kilometers per hour under the speed limit.
As you note, the father said the bike had reflectors on the pedals and the seat. That's all any driver should need by way of warning, even in the middle of a foggy, rainy night.
A reflector under the seat doesn’t help when your bike is driving TOWARD the car. And often, your downward sloped foot hides the front reflectors on the pedals.
And really, on a 50-mph speed limit road, you think a car driving at 1:30am should see tiny reflections off pedals 6 inches from the ground driving TOWARD the car?
When I go out at night, I have a blinking red light on the back, a blinking blue light on MY back, reflectors front and back, yellow reflective tape on my helmet, and at least one 300-lumen light facing forward, although I recently got a nice 350-lumen light which I really like.