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Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit
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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. |
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Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit
"Ryan Cousineau" wrote in message ... In article , wrote: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/cgi...psafe/psafe.pl Jobst Brandt 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. 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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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Bicycle police officer on bicycle hit
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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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