Graphic Discussions of Cycling related deaths - Reader Caution Advised!

[ultimobici]

1. I understand that in the Nederlands, the cyclist is given "priority" in that: in event of a collision (or incident) between a cyclist and motorist, the motorist be be presumed to be at fault.

This formula shifts the burden of proof entirely to the non-cyclist. Such a situation will not prevent people from: being drunk, falling asleep, becoming enraged... however I believe it would result in giving "road users" pause.

My guess it would also operate sub-consciously to temper the actions of all.

Perhaps we could push our respective legislatures to consider the above.

2. IIRC, Dutch motorists are preternaturally aware of cyclists and the resulting positive outcome is a benefit to all road users.

My apologies as I do not have references to either 1 or 2.

Apparently, according to my Dutch friends, there is no such thing as a Dutch motorist. They are all "Cyclists who happen to be behind the wheel of a car", hence the much better attitude in the Netherlands towards cyclists.

 

[Ninety5rpm]

Threads like this can you give the wrong impression by focusing on the crashes, which are relatively rare, and getting rarer.

I started a separate thread about this point, here:

Cycling is getting safer in the U.S.

 

[DAOTEC]

Ciao -- adios -- goodbye thomas

Thomas Casarotto stopt breathing today and died on Wednesday September 14, 2010 around 19:00 hour, just reported at[tuttobiciweb.it]

Thomas went in a Coma in the 3rd stage of the del Giro del Friuli, while leading the race solo and then hitting a parked car. Report here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/casarotto-seriously-injured-in-giro-del-friuli-crash

Our prayers will be with the family

 

[King Of Molehill]

Accidents are, by far, the leading cause of death among children and adolescents...

"They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you're having them." - AA Milne

 

[DAOTEC]

What a drama

'10-year-old boy kidnapped while cycling and still missing, presumed dead'

Around 100 police officers have been assigned to physically searching the countryside around the Rhineland town of Grefrath Germany, in the search for missing Mirco Schlitter who disappeared 12 day's ago on his way home from a skateparknearby, while the detective team has been expanded to 80.

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100912-29761.html

The latest is that also his poloshirt has been found, and the search for his body is extended into the Netherlands.

 

[DAOTEC]

The Canadian Press | 17/09/2010 10:58 AM

New York man, 23, shred to pieces when bike struck by truck on New Brunswick highway

[Andrew Wolf], 23, from Brooklyn, N.Y., was struck and killed while cycling on Highway 7 between Fredericton and Saint John.

He was riding with two other cyclists when a tractor-trailer collided with them just before 3 p.m.

News of Wolf's death shocked people who knew him from his active role in various non-profit organizations in the United States.

A week ago, Wolf and other members of the [Ottawa-based Otesha Project] to promote environmental issues true theatre started in Canada.

The group was supposed to perform in Grand Bay-Westfield this Friday. > http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/new-york-man-23-killed-when-bike-struck-by-truck-on-new-brunswick-highway-103139439.html

 

[hiero2]

In life - there are white threads and black threads.

This is a black thread.

 

[DAOTEC]

'no lust for life'

'Cyclist riding in the path of an Amtrak flattened to a penny'

On Tuesday, police identified the cyclist that died Monday night, as 48-year-old Kenneth Kevin VanLoo from Milwaukie.

As vehicles were waiting for the train to pass, the male pedaled in front of the train at ... [http://local.Police-in-Amtrak-collision]

 

[DAOTEC]

Well have you ever

Hand cyclist crushed by an ambulance in gruweling event.

Steven B. Johnson, struck the Boyertown ambulance that was traveling around a curve on its way back from a call.
A story recently published in the Reading Eagle, indicated Johnson received the hand cycle from the IM ABLE Foundation.
The group gave the hand cycle to him before it held its first duathlon Saturday in Wyomissing

Johnson was "a long-time cycling road racer who was paralyzed as a result of a spinal cord injury in a 1993 downhill road bicycling accident", Johnson was with his wife and daughter.

Source: http://pottsmerc.com/articles/2010/09/24/news/srv0000009470141.txt

 

[The Hitch]

Hand cyclist crushed by an ambulance in gruweling event.

Steven B. Johnson, struck the Boyertown ambulance that was traveling around a curve on its way back from a call.
A story recently published in the Reading Eagle, indicated Johnson received the hand cycle from the IM ABLE Foundation.
The group gave the hand cycle to him before it held its first duathlon Saturday in Wyomissing

Johnson was "a long-time cycling road racer who was paralyzed as a result of a spinal cord injury in a 1993 downhill road bicycling accident", Johnson was with his wife and daughter.

Source: http://pottsmerc.com/articles/2010/09/24/news/srv0000009470141.txt

THat is a very sad story

 

[khardung la]

A group of cyclists from Huelva (Spain) have been just crashed by a car. Two of them are dead at the moment. http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/09/26/andalucia_sevilla/1285492383.html

 

[ultimobici]

What is the point of this thread?

The "dangers" of cycling are far outweighed by the health benefits it bestows.

All this does is raise the negative profile of the sport & pastime.

[mod-comment: I have created a thread in the "forum feedback" area where people can add their pov to this discussion. http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=11549]

 

[usedtobefast]

What is the point of this thread?

The "dangers" of cycling are far outweighed by the health benefits it bestows.

All this does is raise the negative profile of the sport & pastime.

you are missing the point.

 

[DAOTEC]

'No' redlight district, cyclist ripped apart by 2 cars

(Mon Sep. 27 2010 9:10:00 AM)

The impact of the crash knocked the man off his bike and he was then hit by a second vehicle.
Police believe the man may have been trying to cross against a red light.

[http://toronto.ctv./NewsTO-crash-lakeshore-Toronto]

 

[DAOTEC]

Belgium cyclist Zakaria El Darabna (27) is dead

He died Sunday night of a cardiac arrest. We offer our sincere condolences to the family of Zakaria, whose older brother died in 2004 also from cardiac arrest, and to its many friends, many of whom considered him a model.

The two brothers Zakaria and Gelal had dreamed about cycling at the highest level.
Zakaria was riding with [CC Vieux Condé 2010].

Zakaria was a popular rider, who always aroused a lot of sympathy by his positive attitude. Because of his race style he was often called a "Brussels Flandrien", which he saw as a very flattering description.

The El Darabna brothers were considered role models for foreign athletes in the Belgium capital.

[http://nieuwsblad.be]

 

[cycle62]

I agree. Thats our country...."What About Me"?

 

[DAOTEC]

From the needle - 6 horror deaths in separate occasions| Sep 30, 2010 5:49 PM

Kentucky cop struck and killed while riding bike of duty

The officer - 40-year-old Paul Pegram - was flown to University Hospital in Louisville, where he was pronounced dead.

The Louisville officer was riding his bicycle Thursday westbound on Kentucky 248 near Taylorsville Lane just before 10 a.m. when he was struck.
Mayor Jerry Abramson, "We're really trying to get the facts, but right now it's the tragedy of losing an officer in what looks like a terrible, terrible accident."

[http://fox41.com/Global/story/Breaking-News.html]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

•Kayoko Ishizuka, a 30-year-old cancer researcher who died last Saturday in a hit-and-run near the University of South Florida.

Will be honored with 4 other byciclists who died in the TAMPA Bay area in recent time with A 15-mile bike ride come Friday Oct 1.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/sep/30/301004/bike-ride-to-honor-5-cyclists-killed-on-bay-area-r/news-breaking/

 

[DAOTEC]

murderer

Oct. 2, 2010-11:42 am | Teen cyclist smashed to death in DUI hit and run.

A 17-year-old boy riding a bicycle has been killed about 2 a.m., said LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman. The impact threw the boy and his bike across the intersection, she said.

The victim was transported to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center but died from his injuries, Eisenman said.

The motorist Shawn Fields, 26, who caused the Carnage, struck and killed the teen cyclist, driving a 2007 Saturn northbound on Laurel Canyon Boulevard at a Pacoima intersection early Saturday, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol, LAPD police said. [http://latimes.com/2010/10/teen-cyclist-killed-dui.html]

 

[benpounder]

Oct. 2, 2010-11:42 am | Teen cyclist smashed to death in DUI hit and run.

A 17-year-old boy riding a bicycle has been killed about 2 a.m.

I'm not unsympathetic towards cyclists getting slaughtered - I myself was smeared by a DUI 34 years ago.
But what the hell was a 17 year old doing out at 0200hrs on a bicycle on a busy thouroughfare.

 

[DAOTEC]

St Louis cyclist slaughtered in to fast to furious Cardinals touch down

Dramatic Video tells the story: http://kplrTV11.com/bicyclist-ejected-to-heaven-stlouis

October 3, 2010 - Saturday night at approx. 11:30pm, Police not released the victim's name but did say he was 27 years old. "We were just enjoying music we heard a screech of tires and a crash that sounded like two cars getting hit," said John Shulz, witness.
The driver of the car was going too fast."He said he didn't even see the guy you know". "He wanted to get him out of the road and I was just like dude you know chill out and wait for the ambulance," Police say accident reconstruction will take up to 16 weeks.

 

[MrBill]

If you are alive you are going to die . I'm not going to stop riding because people get killed, just like i'm not going to stop driving a car or flying in a airplane.

 

[DAOTEC]

another bizar Call on duty Horror

3 Cop cyclists out riding down, 1 killed in a hit-and-run

Monday, October 4, 2010 |Greenfield, Ind. - Ultimate sacrifise in final duty ride for an Indiana police officer, killed in harness when a hit-and-run driver struck him as he rode his bicycle at night. The other two officers, Jimmy Condra and Steve Kalk, were injured. Reached on his cell phone, an emotional Greenfield Police Chief John Jester was able to make only a brief comment. "He was one of mine," Jester said

Thirty-two-year-old William Phillips was on an exercise ride with two other officers on an unlit stretch of U.S. 40 early Thursday, about 25 miles east of Indianapolis when he was hit. Phillips was a member of the Greenfield police department, he joined in 2006.

"Will loved bicycling," Greenfield mayor DeReamer said. "He'd go bicycling all over the United States. One of the officers at the scene said he went doing what he loved." A funeral is planned this week.

Henry County Sheriff Butch Baker has said investigators were going to talk with a witness woman who was considered, "the best lead" in the case. Now no description of the vehicle that killed officer Phillips could be provided, is making the identification of the driver difficult at best.
! It’s unfortunate, but as we say around here, if you want to get away with murder, just run over a bicyclist.

(And me thinking, that them coppers were always showing around, in those gas guzzling murderers themselves.)
All@: [http://indystar.com/Descr.-vague-hit-run-vehicle-that-killed-cop]

 

[Parrulo]

really sad stories. i have been hit by a car myself a couple years ago. my bike didn't live to tell the story even tho i was just fine(was coming back from a football game so i wasn't wearing any kind of protection, i guess i was lucky)

 

[DAOTEC]

Police hunt to nab speeding Indi bus driver after killing cyclist

06/10/2010 | The accident took place late afternoon in Jhala town, some 110 km from Lucknow, when the speeding bus of Shree Sadashiv Shiksha Niketan overturned after the driver applied the brake to avoid collision with another vehicle.

A massive manhunt has been launched to nab the bus driver who escaped after the accident, police said.

While the cyclist on the road was killed, from the students inside the bus, the condition of six is stated to be critical police Inspector R.P. Mishra told news reporters. [http://thaindian.com/man-hunt-underway]

 

[DAOTEC]

CyclingWorld Shocker

Jeff Littmann, Prez. of Attitude Sports killed while training with triathlete Lauren Jensen

Oct. 5, 2010 12:49 p.m. | [Jeff Littmann] died today on Tuesday from the injuries he suffered when a car hit him on a [training ride in Waukesha County last week], a spokeswoman at Froedtert Hospital confirmed.

The well-respected racer and owner of Attitude Sports in Pewaukee was riding eastbound on Wisconsin Ave. with Lauren Jensen (Picture) when a car struck both of them from behind.

The driver, Kyle Dieringer, 25, of Nashotah, told sheriff's deputies the bright morning sun blinded him, and he didn't see the bicyclists until after he hit them.

Jeff Littmann was regarded as a leader and ambassador for the sport in special cycling, particularly in the Lake Country of Waukesha County. Jeff served as president of the WIsconsin Cycling Association and competed on the Chirpopractic Patners/LAPT team in the road racing series.

The crash involving someone reported to be a skilled and safe rider has prompted a valuable discussion of cycling safety on area roads. The crash remains under investigation. [http://jsonline.com]
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Jeff lining up to race

2nd Littmann report - Oct 5, 2010 | 'Well-Known Cyclist Mourned By Many'

PEWAUKEE- News of Jeff Littmann’s death Tuesday was devastating to the many people he had touched. His friends say Jeff’s life was all about passion and positivity.

“They just don’t make guys like that anymore that are so magnetic. People were drawn to him,” said close friend Bill Ochowicz.

Jeff seemed to win over everyone he met. He was more than just a well-known cyclist. He also ran Attitude Sports in Pewaukee. Jeff became an ambassador for his sport of cycling.

Throughout Jeff’s life, he proved his heart was as strong as his body. He bounced back from a devastating injury during a bike race several years ago.
It wasn't the case this time around, his soul couldn't comprehend the injuries suffered from the devastating impact of the crash, so many mourn his death, but his friends are trying to remember what Jeff lived for. [http://www.620wtmj.com]
.