"H. Fred Kveck" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:

"Kurgan. presented by Gringioni." wrote in
message
...
Dumbasses -

I find this to be somewhat unbelievable.


From:
http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_16915266

Here's what I wrote a couple days after the incident, after I rode
through
the intersection again... and again... and again... looking for
answers-

http://chainreactionblogs.com/diary/...-rain-yesterda
y/

What I didn't include then, because an investigation was going on and
I
didn't want to add speculation in place of facts, was my feeling that
it
might not have been the truck at fault, but rather another car
overtaking
the truck and Ms. Ward, trying to beat them to the freeway on-ramp. I
saw
this very thing happen several times, and could imagine being either
startled or literally pushed into the truck. The truck was moving
very
slowly at the time, evidence of this shown by the point of impact and
where
the truck came to stop, a very short distance. Plus there was no real
need
for the truck to be doing any unexpected maneuvering. He was already
in the
turn lane, already pretty far to the right side of the road (evidence
again
being the point of impact, clearly marked on the pavement).

But that remains pure speculation on my part. I believe someone in a
motorized vehicle was responsible, but it was probably someone who
sped off.
I'll also add that the intersection is busy enough that it's
surprising no
witnesses came forward.

That is a sort of strange section of road, in that it's very wide as
it goes under
the overpass and the turn lane onto the cloverleaf starts fairly late.
But I've been
through there a lot of times and seen a few cars do sketchy things, as
well as a few
cyclists. Riders sometimes stay by the curb for a long time before
moving across the
already marked turn lane. I thought that might have been what happened
until I read
that she was struck by the left side wheels of the truck. That's when
it seemed like
the most likely reason she headed to her right at that point was a car
going by
closely. One trying to rocket by the slow moving truck and beat it to
the on ramp.

But Henry's right - the fact that the police report came out and
said that she'd
made an unsafe turn and that the driver was not at fault, yet they
sued him and his
employer. That pretty much sucks. The local paper has been repeatedly
mentioning the
other accidents he's been involved in but *not* mentioning that he's
been found to be
not at fault on them.

The reality is a bit different than that; in general, the local papers
have been focusing on the CHP guy saying that it wasn't the truck
driver's fault and feeling sorry for him, with the CHP even being quoted
as saying the poor guy isn't even driving right now.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com