Bicyclist/RV Death
Just read this am: clicky Having just come back from 3 weeks on 2 lane Idaho and Montana roads, I feel for the rider and his family, but also for the RV driver. 2 lanes, curves, and bikes = pro...
Forum Discussion
'Doo-doo occurs' (Replace those words with the censored ones as you see fit).
We can wrangle the blame-game details all day long. However, at the end of that day it won't change the fact that the cyclist is dead. If any one of the three participants had been even a second or two different in time, this could have been avoided. The only thing to be done now is for the legal system to assess responsibility and assign penalties as the law provides.
Taking the law and traffic rules completely out of the equation, and I believe the cyclist is 100% at fault. A bad road to be on in the first place for a cyclist - 2-lane, questionable shoulders, and vehicle traffic that is way bigger than them. Situational awareness did not make him get out of the way, and the rest is physics. This was simply a physically dangerous place for that cyclist to be - regardless of the laws or rules that allow them to be there.
For me... I rode 23 miles yesterday on a linear trail. There is one section of that trail where it is also used as driveway access. A couple years ago I came through there around the corner and tearing up the trail was a car. They slammed on their brakes, gravel flying everywhere, and I went over the bank and in to the blackberries rather than bounce off their hood & windshield. Sure, the speeding driver would have been at fault, but it would have hurt me a helluva lot more than the blackberry bushes.
We can wrangle the blame-game details all day long. However, at the end of that day it won't change the fact that the cyclist is dead. If any one of the three participants had been even a second or two different in time, this could have been avoided. The only thing to be done now is for the legal system to assess responsibility and assign penalties as the law provides.
Taking the law and traffic rules completely out of the equation, and I believe the cyclist is 100% at fault. A bad road to be on in the first place for a cyclist - 2-lane, questionable shoulders, and vehicle traffic that is way bigger than them. Situational awareness did not make him get out of the way, and the rest is physics. This was simply a physically dangerous place for that cyclist to be - regardless of the laws or rules that allow them to be there.
For me... I rode 23 miles yesterday on a linear trail. There is one section of that trail where it is also used as driveway access. A couple years ago I came through there around the corner and tearing up the trail was a car. They slammed on their brakes, gravel flying everywhere, and I went over the bank and in to the blackberries rather than bounce off their hood & windshield. Sure, the speeding driver would have been at fault, but it would have hurt me a helluva lot more than the blackberry bushes.
