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Driving into cyclists the Emma way

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movingtarget

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Archibald

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winkybiker said:
http://media.smh.com.au/video-news/.../kangaroo-crash-happened-so-fast-6184068.html

As if I needed another reason to never cycle in Australia again. Never mind the bogans, even the wildlife is trying to hurt you.
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mate of mine was doing 50kmh+ down montague rd when he went through a roo. Wiped out his bike and he ended up a bit messy, but the roo was fine.

The one you really don't want to collide with is a wombat - even the truckies fear hitting one of them. They're made of something harder than concrete



42x16ss said:
Poor bloke gets hit by a 4x4, then has his bike stolen while he's on the ground getting help!!!

http://road.cc/content/news/140924-...ief-steals-bike-injured-rider-after-car-crash
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let's remember the "London Lootings"? and the guy that got pole-axed, where while people help him up, some low-life goes through is backpack and steals something? SSDD...
 
nayr497

nayr497

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frenchfry said:
Drunk OK, but it was the phone that appears to be the real cause.

People who text (or change songs) while driving are the real terrorists that we have to combat.
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The barriers to attaining a drivers license in the U.S. are comically low. A few hours in a class, a few hours in a car, here you go 16 year old kid, a deadly machine and...a cell phone. Have at it!

You should have to commute by bicycle for 2 weeks before you even apply for a license.

Also, it should be U.S. federal law that texting while driving is illegal and you MUST use a hands free device for your phone. It's insane that some states have these laws and others don't.

I'm not that old but I remember a time when cell phones didn't dominate and dictate how we live. Now most humans in the U.S. under the age of 25 are just robots playing with a phone. It's depressing and disgusting.

3 cyclists killed in my city in a few weeks at the end of 2014.
 
RedheadDane

RedheadDane

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It isn't federal law? :eek:

As for commuting by bike for 2 weeks before even applying for a licence; I'd say that should be the least amount of time commuting, a couple of years would be more appropriate.
I'm gonna be pretty prejudicing here, but it seems to me that in the USA parents drive their children around until the children turn 16, at which point they get a license and can drive themselves around.
 
frenchfry

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elapid said:
At least some headway is being made: http://hosted2.ap.org/NHWLV/43dda9ff6c4347c09d7ecdb8d0d1cdea/Article_2015-01-26-US--Century%20Ride-Bicyclists%20Killed/id-ba03ff17820a4e9e9cefa229c8a3f830
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http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...wrong-turns/ZOxM03NRjHbfMjOuvOZGKO/story.html

“I only took my eyes off the road for a second”

result: 2 dead cyclists

In fact it is necessary to read to the end of this long and descriptive article to realise that she was on her phone when she plowed into the group of cyclists.
 
nayr497

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RedheadDane said:
It isn't federal law? :eek:

As for commuting by bike for 2 weeks before even applying for a licence; I'd say that should be the least amount of time commuting, a couple of years would be more appropriate.
I'm gonna be pretty prejudicing here, but it seems to me that in the USA parents drive their children around until the children turn 16, at which point they get a license and can drive themselves around.
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Nope, it's state by state. I'm from NY and hands-free and no texting are the law and you can be given a ticket. I now live in NC and hands free isn't a law. It's very frustrating.

Don't worry, as an American I angry, frustrated, and depressed about the carelessness of drivers. I was actually cycling to work yesterday when I saw a mom heading out to her car with a girl, maybe about 7 years old. The mom had her phone against her ear, looking like a fool trying to move about one handed, open the door, etc.

I actually commented how cute it was to see mom modeling terrible behavior for her daughter. I'm sure she's ready to fight if someone even sneezes in the same room as her daughter but...driving one handed, endangering her daughter, cyclists, pedestrians...oh, that's cool.

We actually had a local 52 year old roadie hit and killed by a driver. The guy was 84 and admitted to the police that he saw the cyclist but decided to pull out anyway! The district attorney has yet to prosecute, the driver still has his license.

Hitting a cyclist is almost always labeled a "mistake." A tow truck driver was hit while loading a car onto his truck and he died. The driver is being charged.

Four cyclists have been hit and killed in the last two years. Only one was charged (hit and run, turned himself in a few days later).

It's very upsetting how casual drivers and the officials who enforce driving laws (police, DAs) are about negligent operation of a deadly machine.
 
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winkybiker

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nayr497 said:
Nope, it's state by state. I'm from NY and hands-free and no texting are the law and you can be given a ticket. I now live in NC and hands free isn't a law. It's very frustrating.

Don't worry, as an American I angry, frustrated, and depressed about the carelessness of drivers. I was actually cycling to work yesterday when I saw a mom heading out to her car with a girl, maybe about 7 years old. The mom had her phone against her ear, looking like a fool trying to move about one handed, open the door, etc.

I actually commented how cute it was to see mom modeling terrible behavior for her daughter. I'm sure she's ready to fight if someone even sneezes in the same room as her daughter but...driving one handed, endangering her daughter, cyclists, pedestrians...oh, that's cool.

We actually had a local 52 year old roadie hit and killed by a driver. The guy was 84 and admitted to the police that he saw the cyclist but decided to pull out anyway! The district attorney has yet to prosecute, the driver still has his license.

Hitting a cyclist is almost always labeled a "mistake." A tow truck driver was hit while loading a car onto his truck and he died. The driver is being charged.

Four cyclists have been hit and killed in the last two years. Only one was charged (hit and run, turned himself in a few days later).

It's very upsetting how casual drivers and the officials who enforce driving laws (police, DAs) are about negligent operation of a deadly machine.
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All well said. But thank your stars you aren't in Australia where it is essentially legal to murder someone provided you do it with a car while they riding a bike. The only country where drivers go out of their way to harass and hurt cyclists on a regular basis. It is well beyond carelessness. The bogans target cyclists.
 
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winkybiker said:
All well said. But thank your stars you aren't in Australia where it is essentially legal to murder someone provided you do it with a car while they riding a bike. The only country where drivers go out of their way to harass and hurt cyclists on a regular basis. It is well beyond carelessness. The bogans target cyclists.
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It's not only bogans. You don't have to be a bogan to be a moron.
 
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Hawkwood said:
This article relates to a acrash where four cyclists were killed, it happened nine years ago, but it still makes chilling reading today: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ey-the-story-of-a-cycling-tragedy-412717.html

Note that the driver got done for having bald tyres, and was only fined ?180. The fact that he was probably driving too fast for the conditions was never put before a court.
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I remember that one well. An awful mass murder. The driver should be rotting in a jail somewhere.
 
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movingtarget said:
It seems life is cheap and speeding and driving with bald tyres don't matter. Such a tragedy and an utter disgrace from a legal point of view.
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On the day this happened the local senior police officer said that it was just a tragic accident, I thought hang on you haven't had time to investigate this yet. When having driving lessons we're told to moderate our speed if there might be ice on the road, clearly this guy paid not heed to this.
 
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