Bad month for cyclist in Boise

[user 135]

Last night real close to my house a cyclist was hit and later died at the hospital. This is the third cyclist within a month to be hit and killed by a car. Two of them were very experienced cyclist. I have altered my commuting route in recent months to one that is safer.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/eyepiece/ ... 00283.html

 

[voodoo curse]

An SUV.

Figures.

 

[thatismytruck]

That really is sad.

 

[socal_jack]

Tragic

An SUV.

Figures.

One of the other fatalities was involving a Dodge Neon according to the article, but they sure did hype the SUV in this incident. Probably had more to do with a teenager behind the wheel than the vehicle. In the other cases they also state "so and so was hit by an *x-vehicle*" rather than who hit them which seems odd to me.

 

[thatismytruck]

I was about to type almost the same thing about inexperienced drivers, Socal, and stopped because I didn't want to divert the conversation from the tragedy. lousy drivers are not limited to SUV's. In fact, the type of car is not important to the story, really.

 

[user 135]

I had met this guy a few times when I would go into the bike shop where he worked. Nice guy.

Yeh the story is sensationalize a little bit. Don't even look at the comment section- mostly blaming each other-car vs. bike. I am guessing there will be a memorial ride like the last funeral. 100 cyclist led the funeral proccession to the graveyard.

More education needs to be done about everybody's rights and responsiblity on the roads. Drivers and riders both have lots to learn.

 

[2manybikes]

That really is sad. I know Cman has kids that are learning to ride and I do as well. These knds of accidents make me worried for my kids. It is kind of frustrating that cyclists do not have more rights to the road. Our community has started to work on bike lanes and signs to let motorists know to look out for bikes, but I still see close calls happen on a regular basis.

 

[C.S.]

--Boise Police Lt. Bryan Hagler called the collision "tragic" Thursday night.
"I wish there was a magic piece of advice to give to prevent these tragedies," Hagler said. "We have to share the roadway and we have to watch out for each other."--

And then this:

--Boise police haven’t charged any of the three drivers as of Friday morning.--

I leave it at this, any comments will be very unfriendly, like: Somebody lost the brain cell.

 

[MonsterMetal]

Hey I know this is likely to catch some flak and my intent is surly not to downplay or minimize this tragedy. Its always sad when one of our own is run down regardless of the circumstances

--Boise Police Lt. Bryan Hagler called the collision "tragic" Thursday night.
"I wish there was a magic piece of advice to give to prevent these tragedies," Hagler said. "We have to share the roadway and we have to watch out for each other."--

And then this:

--Boise police haven’t charged any of the three drivers as of Friday morning.--

I leave it at this, any comments will be very unfriendly, like: Somebody lost the brain cell.

But its quite possible that the driver hasn't been charged because he was not at fault or break any laws. We automatically think the driver has done something wrong when many times if the cyclist would have been obeying the law he/she would still be alive. My son rides in the Critical Mass rides here in Seattle frequently and I am really amazed at how crazy many of the participants thoughts are. Cyclists are not above the traffic law. In light of the topic and out of respect I dont want to get into it here but let me say I think we all should take a look at our own riding habits and make every effort to ride safe and obey the traffic laws. Like I said before what ever the circumstances i feel for the family and its a sad thing when a biker gets hit. But the flip side is just as bad. I have a friend who drives a delivery truck who hit and killed a guy on a bike a few years ago. He was just driving down 2nd ave in Seattle when a bike darted out from a ally right into the road without looking or stopping.. there was nothing he could do, he had zero fault... But he is still looked at as "that guy who ran down the cyclist. It has changed him, wrecked him emotionally and I doubt he will ever recover, A reckless, irresponsible cyclist ruined his life and he gets labeled as the bad guy... If your driving or riding... be safe, be empathetic and do what you can to help out your brother/sister on the road


Anyway Boise is way to small of town to have three bikes involved in fatality accidents. Ive ridden quite a bit in Boise and my recollection is its a very bike friendly town, much more so then even Seattle. Its very sad...

 

[MonsterMetal]

I just read the Statesman article... What a sad deal. Sounds like a combination of inexperience and unawareness on the part of the young driver played a part

 

[user 135]

I just read the Statesman article... What a sad deal. Sounds like a combination of inexperience and unawareness on the part of the young driver played a part

Driver error on 2 out of the 3. Going back to your previous post - bikes do need to evaluate their habits and routes.

Here is a great piece on that. http://www.biketreasurevalley.org/node/404

 

[MonsterMetal]

That is a great peice... a frustrated yet sane view of the problems we all face on the roads every day.... ( I am one mentally-defective macho redneck and thats just my opinion)