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5 Bicyclists Killed in Michigan After Pickup Truck Crashes Into Them

Top Cat said:
No Laura didn't run. But it's pretty clear something doesn't add up in her case.
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Teenagers run stop signs and get into accidents all the time. The other driver died most likely due to the car he was driving. The corvair was a well documented death trap. Laura and her passenger were barely injured. Back then a lot of cars were death traps unfortunately. I lost quite a few friends to car accidents in those early teenage driving years. I was the passenger in several accidents in those teenage years. I was fortunate to not have an accident while driving until I was 35. I should note accident that was my fault. I have had a lot of people run into me. So many I have lost count.
 
PIPEWRENCH said:
Teenagers run stop signs and get into accidents all the time. The other driver died most likely due to the car he was driving. The corvair was a well documented death trap. Laura and her passenger were barely injured. Back then a lot of cars were death traps unfortunately. I lost quite a few friends to car accidents in those early teenage driving years. I was the passenger in several accidents in those teenage years. I was fortunate to not have an accident while driving until I was 35. I should note accident that was my fault. I have had a lot of people run into me. So many I have lost count.
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There are plenty of question marks surrounding what happened. It was a tragedy. Yes. But Laura had no consequences.
 
Top Cat said:
There are plenty of question marks surrounding what happened. It was a tragedy. Yes. But Laura had no consequences.
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Not surprising. Even drunk driving was acceptable back then. A lot of times the local police would take drunks home. A different era. Back then people were not punished for accidents unless their was evidence of intent. Big difference between a teenager running a stop sign by mistake and Kennedy knowingly not reporting an accident where people were killed. He was no teenager and knew darn well that he was breaking the law. We all know why Kennedy did not report the accident. Talk about a bias stretch to even try and compare the two incidents. Please.
 
Napoleon said:
I hope the driver receives the appropriate punishment, but bicyclists should not be allowed on the road without a partitioned lane.
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uh how would that have stopped this? a guy I knew well from the bar association, lost his wife several years ago, when she and another cyclist were killed during a morning ride, when some asshole high on cocaine crossed into the bike lane and killed them.

a guy I went to HS with was killed the same way by a drunk driver. In this case-just like the other one-the driver CROSSED THE YELLOW LINE and drove into the ONCOMING riders
 
TurtleDude said:
uh how would that have stopped this? a guy I knew well from the bar association, lost his wife several years ago, when she and another cyclist were killed during a morning ride, when some asshole high on cocaine crossed into the bike lane and killed them.

a guy I went to HS with was killed the same way by a drunk driver. In this case-just like the other one-the driver CROSSED THE YELLOW LINE and drove into the ONCOMING riders
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Partitioned doesn't mean merely a line painted on the road to me. There should be bollards in place at minimum.
 
Napoleon said:
Partitioned doesn't mean merely a line painted on the road to me. There should be bollards in place at minimum.
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yeah how many millions do you have for that?
 
Top Cat said:
I find bicycles a major annoyance on the road. I live in WA. They think they own the road. That said, this is a major crime.
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Not really, inside the city of Seattle they ride aggressively, but the city is a low speed environment requiring attention anyway.

I've driven a 48 foot tractor trailer right up freakin' first avenue through pioneer square and pikes place. just go slow and pay attention they're not a problem. outside of the city there's hardly any one them except on saturday mornings
 
TurtleDude said:
yeah how many millions do you have for that?
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If you don't want to pay for the safety measures then either prohibit bicycles on anything but residential streets or let them know that traveling on major thoroughfares is a dick thing to do and they do so at their own risk. Maybe we can ticket them for obstructing traffic to pay for the bollards.
 
Napoleon said:
If you don't want to pay for the safety measures then either prohibit bicycles on anything but residential streets or let them know that traveling on major thoroughfares is a dick thing to do and they do so at their own risk. Maybe we can ticket them for obstructing traffic to pay for the bollards.
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I like the idea of hammering someone who drives stoned or recklessly and hurts bike riders.
 
PIPEWRENCH said:
Not surprising. Even drunk driving was acceptable back then. A lot of times the local police would take drunks home. A different era. Back then people were not punished for accidents unless their was evidence of intent. Big difference between a teenager running a stop sign by mistake and Kennedy knowingly not reporting an accident where people were killed. He was no teenager and knew darn well that he was breaking the law. We all know why Kennedy did not report the accident. Talk about a bias stretch to even try and compare the two incidents. Please.
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I am in no way forgiving Teddy. You won't live long enough to see that. The two are not related.

Laura killed a young man. And she "doesn't know what happened" Sorry. But that dog doesn't hunt.
 
apdst said:
I agree, but we still don't really know who's at fault here. The hand wringers automatically want to blame the driver, but we don't know.
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He was driving erratically at high speeds and came around a blind curve and there they were....BAM....he plowed right into the middle of them. People in the vicinity said it sounded like he hit a tree. Then he got out of his truck and fled the scene....only to be found a block or two away.
 
TurtleDude said:
I like the idea of hammering someone who drives stoned or recklessly and hurts bike riders.
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If he is guilty of negligence or recklessness then he should pay a price for that, but bike riders shouldn't be in the middle of a major thoroughfare intended for vehicles traveling up to a 40mph speed limit. Just because they technically can be doesn't make it smart. Reminds me of idiot pedestrians who run into busy roads instead of using crosswalks.
 
Crosscheck said:
You definitely got to commend those citizens who took the time to call law enforcement of this erratic driving. Unfortunately the police weren't able to catch him before he killed the cyclist. This guy should be toast.

I regret in the past of seeing a vehicle screaming and weaving down the interstate and I didn't call law enforcement. Fortunately in that case about 2 miles down the road I saw the vehicle pulled over by a trooper.
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I hope the police were right on it with the reports. I once saw a guy pull out of a trailer court that was so drunk he was driving on the wrong side of the road. People had to pull of the road not to collide with him. We called it in right away on a cell phone and believe it or not the dispatcher didn't seem that interested. We were on our way somewhere but never saw anyone show up.
 
Napoleon said:
If he is guilty of negligence or recklessness then he should pay a price for that, but bike riders shouldn't be in the middle of a major thoroughfare intended for vehicles traveling up to a 40mph speed limit. Just because they technically can be doesn't make it smart. Reminds me of idiot pedestrians who run into busy roads instead of using crosswalks.
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that's a legitimate point
 
Don't wear Lycra, people.
 
Napoleon said:
If you don't want to pay for the safety measures then either prohibit bicycles on anything but residential streets or let them know that traveling on major thoroughfares is a dick thing to do and they do so at their own risk. Maybe we can ticket them for obstructing traffic to pay for the bollards.
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A dick this to do is not to slow down and pass when safe. They aren't "obstructing traffic", they are part of traffic.
 
This is how I feel about bicyclists.

 
No way should large groups of bike riders be out clogging the roads. Anything over 10 riders should need a permit and police supervision. I used to ride a lot, I would never consider being so inconsiderate, being such a danger to others.

But drunk driving..... that is worse.
 
Ikari said:
A dick this to do is not to slow down and pass when safe. They aren't "obstructing traffic", they are part of traffic.
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Only if moving at reasonable speed, which they were not.
 
Napoleon said:
If he is guilty of negligence or recklessness then he should pay a price for that, but bike riders shouldn't be in the middle of a major thoroughfare intended for vehicles traveling up to a 40mph speed limit. Just because they technically can be doesn't make it smart. Reminds me of idiot pedestrians who run into busy roads instead of using crosswalks.
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It was a 35 MPH limit zone, but they were going 30 miles, I bet they were planning on some 45 or 50 mph roads.

That is arrogant idiocy.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Only if moving at reasonable speed, which they were not.
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No, it's speed limit, not a minimum. Minimums do exist on certain roads. But the majority of roads do not. There's nothing that stops some old lady from driving slower than bicyclists ride.

So slow down, and pass when it's safe. You're not king of the road, the world isn't here for your convenience. We all share it, including the road, so calm down, slow down, and pass when safe.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
It was a 35 MPH limit zone, but they were going 30 miles, I bet they were planning on some 45 or 50 mph roads.

That is arrogant idiocy.
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It's not arrogant idiocy. That would be getting upset at people using roads they are supposed to be using because it may slightly inconvenience them.
 
Ikari said:
No, it's speed limit, not a minimum. Minimums do exist on certain roads. But the majority of roads do not. There's nothing that stops some old lady from driving slower than bicyclists ride.

So slow down, and pass when it's safe. You're not king of the road, the world isn't here for your convenience. We all share it, including the road, so calm down, slow down, and pass when safe.
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20+riders on a two lane road when the bikes will not get in single file on the side of the road will make it so it will almost never be safe to pass, so your argument fails. In that case the bikers are not sharing the road with the cars, probably cause they want to talk and ****, which does not work for me.
 
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