Cyclist mentality
 

Fighting fires isn't dangerous enough, I guess.

This accident could have been avoided, and on the cyclists part, IMHO, seems downright suicidal. Allow me to point out one thing in the article that is false, it's not a bike lane, there is no signage reminding drivers of possible activities (except no parking). It's also a 55mph zone, and 4pm is high time for traffic. The accident location happens to be right in front of my brothers place. It's dangerous leaving his driveway anytime of day, as it is a blind curve. A vehicle that blows a tire could take you out when checking the mail box. I've always been extra cautious, in a car or not, near this section of roadway.

I guess what bothers me is that I could have been the one that pegged the guy, and be in jail for another's stupidity. Unfortunately, I see similar behavior everyday, and I thought the Lance and dope thing would discourage certain behavior. Guess I was wrong.

Official: Firefighter in bicycle crash remains critical | www.statesman.com

So what did the cyclist do wrong?

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/firefighter-injured-in-bicycle-crash

"Meanwhile, Austin police said the driver, 60-year old Stephen Murphy was arrested on charges of failure to stop and render aid and aggravated assault"

"Colin was doing what he was supposed to do. Wearing a helmet and in the right place in the bike lane when he was struck," said Buck.

cyclist gets rear ended
truck driver flees the scene.
yes, if you had "pegged" him you would be in jail.

My bad, the latest update I read was that he did stop. That was at 11am cst. Burn his ass.

It's still pretty stupid to ride along that stretch of roadway.

There is a >10 foot wide shoulder on that part of the road. Per the aerial photo.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=10500+manchaca+road+south+austin+tx&hl=en&l l=30.16574,-97.828027&spn=0.001327,0.001206&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=55.586984,79.013672&t=h&hnear=10500 +Manchaca+Rd,+Austin,+Texas+78748&z=20

Perfectly reasonable place to ride, assuming he was in the shoulder which I think is what the "bike lane" reference in the article means.

Not "pretty stupid" to ride there, unfortunately on any road at any time you can encounter a pretty stupid driver who can maim/kill you whether you are on a bike, on a motorcycle, or even in a car. When that pretty stupid driver flees the scene, he becomes a criminal and I truly hope he does jail time, and not a week or a month.

I like to bike and generally like bikers...

I live near the ocean with a bike path so we regularly get bike events... the pro bikers are always cool.

We had some charity event recently... lots of chubby armatures in spandex... still no big deal...

I'm leaving my house driving uphill on coming lane is packed with bikers... filling the lane... some spilling over into the oncoming lane... not cool but still no big deal... most of them were wiggling and crossing the line obviously not 100% in control so no big deal, it is all for charity after all.

But then I get up to the highway to my destination, I find an opening in the bike group(s) and pull over to park... of course I check my mirror to make sure I don't open it into a biker... I see some grumpy lady grinding up the hill... I wait for her to pass my parked car... even though she can see I am looking in my mirror and waiting for her... right as she passes me she screams at the top of her lungs "CAR!".

I felt like pulling up beside her and screaming "BIKE!"

But I didn't

Is there a point to this thread? I'm sure somewhere a surfer drowned this week after being hit by a board. I'm sure a pedestrian was killed this week by a car somewhere. Somewhere a cop probably got shot. A troop probably got killed in the Middle East.

People on bikes that get run over are not news.

I lost one of my closest friends on a Christmas eve. He was riding within a very wide shoulder lane, on a perfectly straight highway, in the middle of the day, with his wife riding 200 yards back. I now consider it an unacceptable risk to ride alongside highways, especially when you know the "average driver IQ" is diminishing.

I consider riding my bike in the city as a pleasure as long as I don't get hit. Every two years I have a near miss with a car or another cyclist. I wear a helmet and have a rear view mirror. I know the odds(the reverse lottery!) so I mostly walk for exercise.

Its fashionable to yell "CAR" even thought riders are scattered all over the road and everyone see the big car on the side of the road. If they can yell, they ain't riding hard enough. It is something we do in training group rides and occasionally yells out cars because some drivers just have no clue 10 riders are coming up on them fast. This is not to tell the drivers, but the riders behind. Normally its just a hand signal to warn the guy drafting behind. At 25-28 miles an hour, things can happen real quick.

Years ago, I use to do a training ride around the Rosebowl at 6pm with a ton of runners around. 40-50 riders hauling ass at close to 30mph at some areas. Runners have no clue we were coming. All they have to do was to step out two steps to avoid a little stone on the road, they would cause a major wreck. We yell runner to warn riders behind of the danger on the road. It was never directed at them, but we can't blame them for not understanding that. Runners begin to complain about the cyclist yelling at them. Cops city officials well called to try and stop us to they can run in peace. it got out of hand.

I very familiar with calling "CAR" and "DOG" or "GLASS"...

This lady could see that I was watching and waiting for her... she was also alone and there were no other bikes around.

She was obviously in pain and in a bad mood and hating anyone who was not suffering along with her (and the rest of the pack that was miles ahead of her)... I'm 99% sure her yelling at me had nothing to do with the safety of other riders.

You can't fix stupid, Scott.

I dislike riding on the bike path. When I come up to someone on the path, usually they are taking up the lane. I fly past on the left. Sometimes I have to slow down and some people will yell at me and demand that I say "On your left". I fail to understand why we have to warn people all the time. It is their responsibility to notice their surroundings. Just like driving on the road, they can't except us to honk every time we come up on them on the left. I am like you, just move on.

When I am on my bike I ring my bell as a forewarning to walkers. Conversely when I am walking I expect a cyclist to say something or ring a bell or else to be honest it can scare the cr-p out of me. Just saying.:)

We train a lot of new riders each year for the Houston-Austin MS150. Part of it is to warn those in front and those behind to hazards.

We don't simply yell "Car!". We use: Car up or Car Back. If there is a car approaching from a side road, car right or car left. The people up front are supposed to spot hazards for those behind: Gravel, hole, debris, dead hooker, etc.

As far as not riding hard enough if you can still call out the hazards: If that is how you ride, I'm not riding with you. I run 2 dis-organized rides a week during training season. We dis-invite people who can't follow the rules.

Back to the firefighter. I'm confused by this story. In one place, it says that the driver stopped. Another article says he didn't. If he didn't stop, I certainly understand his being arrested. Otherwise it sounds like a tragic accident.

I was too lazy to do that not riding hard enough in green. On the Rosebowl ride is race pace, so its all lungs. People get drop left and right.

Car up, runner up or right up are some of thing we yell out also.

Nice young man was killed on the cancer ride here this weekend.
No proper group rider training.
A group situation can be a very dangerous place.

Lots of beginning riders just want to jump into a group and starting riding with them. there are so many rules that are not understood by new riders to the sport so the learning curve is at least 4-6 months. If I am not strong enough, I just wouldn't go to the training rides because in back of the pack is where things happen. People getting tire, and many lack experience and the tri-guys are there

A lot of the tri-guys live by different rules, since their goal is different. As I said, we train a lot of people! The Houston-Austin MS150 is a very safe ride because most people take safety seriously.

I saw a lot more accidents on Hotter'n Hell in Wichita Falls. I think I saw 3-4 ambulance accidents in the first 1.5 hours. About 4 hours in, I saw an extremely bloodied rider at a rest stop. He locked horns (handlebars) with another rider. I can't believe he rode 5 more miles, with a concussion. HHH is a dangerous ride.

I know what the road looks like, I drive it everyday, and work/visit the location where the accident happened. It's absurd to even consider riding along that stretch of road. It's 55mph! When I help my brother cut/weed eat the grass near the road side, there's a pucker factor, always a constant awareness of the surroundings, and that's farther away from the pavement than where this guy was mowed down.

They built a special track for cyclists about 4 miles from where this guy was taken down. It's a free track, yet you see dumb asses riding their bikes on 55-70mph roadways training to be the next tour de france winner.

It's suicidal.

Yeah, it was Trevon's fault.

Seriously, I pray to God that I never hit or kill a biker. Sorry it happened so close to home.

The point being ?


Let's all be careful out there.