MetaChat REGISTER   ||   LOGIN   ||   IMAGES ARE OFF   ||   RECENT COMMENTS




artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

Home

About

Search

Archives

Mecha Wiki

Metachat Eye

Emcee

IRC Channels

IRC FAQ


 RSS


Comment Feed:

RSS

17 September 2012

These folks went to a bicycle awareness benefit less than two weeks ago,[More:] after a cyclist was hit and injured on one of the streets in town.

This afternoon, Iris, the woman on the left was hit and killed by a car while riding her bicycle home from work.

Very sad. :(
Sometimes life is a slap in the face. Sad indeed.
posted by arse_hat 18 September | 00:14
Just so sad.
posted by Twiggy 18 September | 02:21
Oh that's awful. One of my coworkers is out injured too, from a car hitting his bike. Terrifying.
posted by JanetLand 18 September | 06:52
That's terrifying. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Thanks for telling us. I will never ride a bike again.
posted by Hugh Janus 18 September | 12:19
This is why I ride on sidewalks.
posted by Ardiril 18 September | 12:49
That's not really a good idea either, Ardiril. I've nearly gotten hit by cyclists a couple of times recently while walking on the sidewalk. We need bike lanes.
posted by Orange Swan 18 September | 12:56
It's the lesser of bad ideas. Bad drivers far outnumber the few people who still use sidewalks.
posted by Ardiril 18 September | 13:05
Bike lanes are not the answer either. I live in an area with plenty of bike lanes, and about once a month I see another rider who was hit . The woman whose room I rent is permanently disabled after being struck in a bike lane.
posted by Ardiril 18 September | 13:50
Here they rally cracked down on side walk riders for a while after a woman was killed by one as she came out of a store.
posted by arse_hat 18 September | 15:48
Being an involuntary bike commuter over the last couple of months has made me aware of just how dangerous the roads are for cyclists. In this time, I've been abused twice (once by a person saying I deserve to die for riding a bike on the road), deliberately run off the toad once and almost ended up under the wheels of the car following and collided with a car once when the driver pulled out of an intersection directly in front of me (think about how close you have to be that a bike can't stop in time). It's like a fuckimg war zone ou there.

It doesn't help that my route is mostly on country roads with a 100kph speed limit and no hard shoulder, but I have every right to be there and riding on footpaths is illegal and dangerous for pedestrians. The only enjoyable part of the ride is the section that has a bike path, but that's only about 800m of the 11.5km trip.

I've come to the sad conclusion that car drivers, while safely wrapped in their steel box at least, are the biggest arseholes in the world.
posted by dg 18 September | 16:26
Many of the bike lanes in this part of Washington are actually bus lanes, thus a full travel lane wide. Yet bike riders are still struck by passing vehicles.
posted by Ardiril 18 September | 20:15
For anyone who does ride the streets, please peruse this website: CommuteOrlando. Dive into On the Road > Smart Moves (top menu bar). A good first article to read is You Lead the Dance. I am a firm believer that the best place to be is out in the traffic lane in a lot of situations. One other recommendation: Get, and use, a glasses- or helmet-mounted mirror. It gives you the security of knowing that traffic behind is, in fact, behaving.
posted by Doohickie 18 September | 21:23
For the record, the cyclist was struck on a two lane bridge on a country highway while she and the truck that hit her were heading into the sun.
posted by Doohickie 18 September | 21:24
I'm really sorry to hear that. If they were both riding into the sunlight, there might not have been much either of them could do.

A few months ago some new houses were built round the corner from me on the site of a small factory that closed down. Those houses have made my drive to the station so much safer on sunny mornings. Before they were there the sun would be so blinding that I couldn't see anything on the road, including other traffic, cyclists, road markings, etc. I was always terrified of hitting a cyclist (or straying across into the other lane and hitting an oncoming vehicle). The new houses block the sun and, eyesores that they are, I thank them for that.

posted by Senyar 19 September | 10:11
After today's encounter with an idiot who deliberately tried to hit me, I am seriously considering carrying a gun for defensive purposes.
posted by Ardiril 19 September | 13:19
Just strap some explosives to your chest and take out the whole block.
posted by Hugh Janus 19 September | 20:48
10 most durable Hollywood marriages || What kind of mousepad does an editor who's into swans buy?

HOME  ||   REGISTER  ||   LOGIN