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Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 7th 04, 06:03 AM
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Default Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/cgi...psafe/psafe.pl

Jobst Brandt

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  #3  
Old January 7th 04, 09:06 AM
Benjamin Weiner
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Default Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/cgi...psafe/psafe.pl

try
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/arc...es/01local.htm

Grim story: critical condition, head injuries, so even if he survives,
he may not be doing much bike riding.


The SUV was...driving in the bike lane? I assume you know this roadway.
Do cars regularly cut into the bike lane? Sounded like a distracted
driver drifted into the bike lane and tagged him.


AFAIK, he's not a bicycle cop, and was riding recreationally.
The highway is the Pacific Coast Highway, a two lane road with
shoulders, which are wide most of the time. There's no bike lane
as such. Quite a few people ride on it, you do have traffic
whizzing by relatively close to you. One is reliant on them
to pay attention, especially the RV drivers. In a few places
there are turnouts and parked cars on the shoulders. It's
generally safe and there's no alternative route. 4:30 pm was
half an hour before sunset (I forget if it was sunny that day)
and he was heading away from the sun, so sun-in-the-eyes would
not have been an issue; it can be heading north on that road.

  #5  
Old January 7th 04, 01:25 PM
Doug Huffman
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Default Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit

'An inexperienced driver with a vehicle to big to handle.' Another excuse
mitigating the culpability of motorists. Why aren't we so dismissive of
improperly handled legal firearms? Driving is a heavily abused privilege
while firearms are seldom abused and the RIGHT to them is guaranteed by the
2A.



"Q." LostVideos-AT-hotmail.com wrote in message
...

"Ryan Cousineau" wrote in message
...
The SUV was...driving in the bike lane? I assume you know this roadway.
Do cars regularly cut into the bike lane? Sounded like a distracted
driver drifted into the bike lane and tagged him.


It's sad ... the driver was a 19 year old girl. Sounds more like an
inexperienced driver with a vehicle to big for her to handle.

C.Q.C.




  #6  
Old January 7th 04, 03:24 PM
Brendon M. Troy
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Default Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit

"Doug Huffman" wrote
"Q." LostVideos-AT-hotmail.com wrote
It's sad ... the driver was a 19 year old girl. Sounds more like an
inexperienced driver with a vehicle to big for her to handle.


'An inexperienced driver with a vehicle to big to handle.' Another

excuse
mitigating the culpability of motorists. Why aren't we so dismissive

of
improperly handled legal firearms? Driving is a heavily abused

privilege
while firearms are seldom abused and the RIGHT to them is guaranteed

by the
2A.


This is predictable on this ng ... somehow I knew what this reply was
going to say before I even opened it. My read of Q's post found no
excusing the accident or suggestion that the driver not be held
(appropriately) accountable for her actions. He simply gave his read of
the situation (which I happen to share): it's a sad case of an
inexperienced driver in a vehicle she probably shouldn't have been
driving yet. I don't know how you turned that into a right-to-bear-arms
post, but you managed to. Since you did, I'll use your analogy and say
this: when firearms are accidentally discharged, we don't charge the
"shooter" with Murder-1. I don't think you were suggesting that, but
perhaps something close? You didn't make a suggestion for how this case
should be handled without 'mitigating the culpability' of this motorist,
and I'm honestly (not combatively) curious as to what you would suggest.

-Brendon


  #7  
Old January 7th 04, 03:59 PM
Pamela Cooper
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Default Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit

wrote
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/cgi...psafe/psafe.pl

Jobst Brandt


The link wasn't working this AM...here is their archived link:

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/arc...es/01local.htm

Austin

  #8  
Old January 7th 04, 04:52 PM
Rick Warner
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Default Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit

Ryan Cousineau wrote in message ...


Grim story: critical condition, head injuries, so even if he survives,
he may not be doing much bike riding.

The SUV was...driving in the bike lane? I assume you know this roadway.
Do cars regularly cut into the bike lane? Sounded like a distracted
driver drifted into the bike lane and tagged him.


That is relatively open roadway in that section, moderately wide
shoulder.
Cars occasionally drift onto the shoulder, mostly due to lack of
attention
(talking to friend, on cell phone, playing with CD, who knows but not
uncommon to see cars ahead of you drift a bit into the shoulder).
Unfortunately this sounds too similar to the retired San Mateo
motorcycle
cop who was bicycle touring last summer when a truck drifted onto the
shoulder and struck and killed him near Fortuna, CA ... because the
driver was trying to retrieve a CD she had dropped.

- rick
  #9  
Old January 7th 04, 08:41 PM
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Default Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit

Ryan Cousineau writes:

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/cgi...psafe/psafe.pl

Grim story: critical condition, head injuries, so even if he
survives, he may not be doing much bike riding.


The SUV was...driving in the bike lane? I assume you know this
roadway. Do cars regularly cut into the bike lane? Sounded like a
distracted driver drifted into the bike lane and tagged him.


I ride there often, a beautiful part of the coast. The road has broad
shoulders beyond the edge stripe, a part of the road that is not
specifically marked as Bike Lane except in Santa Cruz. This is
something that can occur on almost any road where an inattentive
driver (changing a cassette tape, etc) is not aware of drifting into
another lane or off the road for that matter. Only a couple of
red-neck incidents have occurred in this region in the last 10 years,
some fatal.

Rear view mirrors don't help here either, because you can't watch all
the time and the driver maneuver, even if observed, cannot be evaded.

Jobst Brandt

  #10  
Old January 8th 04, 12:32 AM
Chalo
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Default Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit

"Brendon M. Troy" wrote:

"Doug Huffman" wrote:

'An inexperienced driver with a vehicle to big to handle.' Another excuse
mitigating the culpability of motorists. Why aren't we so dismissive of
improperly handled legal firearms? Driving is a heavily abused privilege
while firearms are seldom abused and the RIGHT to them is guaranteed by the
2A.


....
it's a sad case of an
inexperienced driver in a vehicle she probably shouldn't have been
driving yet.


Yet? How 'bout ever? Why should a road vehicle that seats 5 weigh
three times as much as an airplane that seats 6?

"SUV" usually means "passenger car that abuses a loophole in order to
avoid meeting minimum passenger car crash safety and fuel efficiency
standards". There is no reason _anybody_ should be driving one. They
are supposed to be illegal to produce!

I don't know how you turned that into a right-to-bear-arms
post, but you managed to. Since you did, I'll use your analogy and say
this: when firearms are accidentally discharged, we don't charge the
"shooter" with Murder-1.


An accidental shooting death resulting from negligence is likely to
get a firearms user convicted of involuntary manslaughter, though,
while a driver in a directly comparable situation will most likely
only be ticketed for a traffic infraction (or not face any legal
responsibility at all).

Take the same players and the same level of negligence that
accompanies most auto fatalities, change only the type of killing
machine in question, and the killer will face consequences. Not so
for the car driver. Some drivers have left their victims dead, have
later been apprehended, and still have not been charged in the deaths.

Here's a table containing reported car-bike collisions in Austin, TX,
population ~600K:
http://bicycleaustin.info/justice/table.html
It would be illuminating if folks in other cities were to compile this
sort of information the way Michael Bluejay has. I am not certain how
complete or up-to-date this table is, but it clearly shows the
prevailing pattern of motorists escaping legal responsibility for
their misdeeds.

You didn't make a suggestion for how this case
should be handled without 'mitigating the culpability' of this motorist,
and I'm honestly (not combatively) curious as to what you would suggest.


I for one believe that drivers involved in fatal accidents with
non-motorists (and I realize that the victim in this case is not dead
yet) should forfeit their driver's licenses permanently, on a
no-fault, no-questions-asked basis. This measure would not only do no
harm to the errant driver (perhaps even protecting him from later
injury), but would tend to promote due care from drivers in the
presence of non-motorists. I believe we'd see many fewer cars
bullying through crowded crosswalks or blasting by cyclists in the
same narrow lane, such as I have witnessed many times lately.

In this particular case, assuming the victim survives, I believe an
appropriate criminal charge would be Battery.

Chalo Colina
 




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