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Another road rage with cyclists incident

snwbrdr

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tball

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They are still looking for the crazy person who intentionally hit the women near Evergreen, CO:



They were riding on the extremely popular Lariat Loop bike route. There is a decent shoulder on 40 where they were hit. The route is popular enough they recently built a nice bike path just west of where they were hit, so you no longer have to ride on I-70. There are tons of bikes on that route.

Lariat Loop Route:


I used to ride that loop all the time. No longer. It's probably been 20 years since I last rode it. I'll still ride up Lookout Mountain on the road, but not beyond the climb where the speed of cars picks up. Too many vehicles driven by too many careless, if not malicious, jerks. Fortunately, we have great bike paths in the Denver metro area, and I'm happy sticking with those.

Edited to fix pronouns. :rolleyes:
 
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fatbob

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I assume that there is some modern lack of certainty over gender. First article refers to the suspect as Alan "Haley" Mill while the second I note the Ch 9 reporter used the pronoun "them". Not making some PC gone mad point but it must be difficult if law enforcement aren't clarifying whether it is a man or woman they are looking for.
 

cantunamunch

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I assume that there is some modern lack of certainty over gender. First article refers to the suspect as Alan "Haley" Mill while the second I note the Ch 9 reporter used the pronoun "them".

I'll note that law enforcement have peculiar patterns of speech anyway, and then notice that there could be reporting word choice artifacts on top of that.
 

martyg

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We live in an incredible area for cycling. In 6 years, I only had one incident. When living in Metro Seattle, it was one a week.

That being said, I never ride without my Fly6. Garmin’s new unit looks promising as well. I am educating drivers, one at a time.
 

skibob

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We live in an incredible area for cycling. In 6 years, I only had one incident. When living in Metro Seattle, it was one a week.

That being said, I never ride without my Fly6. Garmin’s new unit looks promising as well. I am educating drivers, one at a time.
"Educating" can be worthwhile. I posted this in another thread a few years back. After an incident with a city bus, I sent this email to the director of public transport for the city:

I am writing to you to describe an incident that happened yesterday (Sept 1, 2016) and ask for your help in ensuring that citybus drivers are more aware of cyclists and understand how the rules of the road apply to them.

At about 7:45 a.m. I was riding west bound (on the North side of the road) along Sonoma Ave in Montgomery Village (between Farmer's and Hahman). As I approached the bus stop in the middle of that block, I saw a bus stopped at the blue shelter and loading passengers. This of course requires them to pull over to the curb and block the bike lane.

I looked over my left shoulder and saw no cars approaching in the lane. I signaled with my hand and moved left to go around the bus. When I was even with the rear 1/4 of the bus, the bus accelerated into the lane, cutting me off. I had to brake suddenly and return to the bike lane. I was able to do so, but clearly a second or two would make all the difference between this and a very dangerous situation. Although the sun was rising behind me, the morning was heavily overcast. And I was riding a white bike and wearing a bright red jacket.

At the stop light half a block later I pulled up behind the bus and took note of the number on the back: xxxxxx.

There are many possible explanations for why the driver would do this, and I think true negligence and ill intent are far and away the least likely. So I want to make it clear that I am bringing this to your attention in hope that you will see to the proper training and education of the drivers. Unless this is (or becomes) a recurring theme with a particular driver, I am not requesting discipline in any way. I simply want Santa Rosa to continue on its way to becoming a premier bike friendly city.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Several days later, I got a reply saying that my very specific description of where and when this happened enabled them to find the incident on cameras mounted on the bus. They reviewed the film not only with the driver in the bus that day, but with all drivers.

It might be worth the time and trouble sometimes.
 

martyg

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"Educating" can be worthwhile. I posted this in another thread a few years back. After an incident with a city bus, I sent this email to the director of public transport for the city:

I am writing to you to describe an incident that happened yesterday (Sept 1, 2016) and ask for your help in ensuring that citybus drivers are more aware of cyclists and understand how the rules of the road apply to them.

At about 7:45 a.m. I was riding west bound (on the North side of the road) along Sonoma Ave in Montgomery Village (between Farmer's and Hahman). As I approached the bus stop in the middle of that block, I saw a bus stopped at the blue shelter and loading passengers. This of course requires them to pull over to the curb and block the bike lane.

I looked over my left shoulder and saw no cars approaching in the lane. I signaled with my hand and moved left to go around the bus. When I was even with the rear 1/4 of the bus, the bus accelerated into the lane, cutting me off. I had to brake suddenly and return to the bike lane. I was able to do so, but clearly a second or two would make all the difference between this and a very dangerous situation. Although the sun was rising behind me, the morning was heavily overcast. And I was riding a white bike and wearing a bright red jacket.

At the stop light half a block later I pulled up behind the bus and took note of the number on the back: xxxxxx.

There are many possible explanations for why the driver would do this, and I think true negligence and ill intent are far and away the least likely. So I want to make it clear that I am bringing this to your attention in hope that you will see to the proper training and education of the drivers. Unless this is (or becomes) a recurring theme with a particular driver, I am not requesting discipline in any way. I simply want Santa Rosa to continue on its way to becoming a premier bike friendly city.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Several days later, I got a reply saying that my very specific description of where and when this happened enabled them to find the incident on cameras mounted on the bus. They reviewed the film not only with the driver in the bus that day, but with all drivers.

It might be worth the time and trouble sometimes.

How I have rocked this:
- Driver takes liberties with my safety.
- I smile (more on "why" in a bit).
- I finish my ride, upload the footage to a password protected YouTube link, and call the sheriff.
- They review the footage.
- I file a report with them.
- They go to the motorist's house and write them a ticket. This is why I smile. Because I know that the motorist's day will be fucked later.
- To be effective you need to know your state's safe passing regs, and be able to quote them. If you don't live in an area that is a cycling hotbed, most LE have no knowledge of these regs. I have successfulluy executed this in WA, CO and AZ.

More here:
 

Tom K.

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"Educating" can be worthwhile. I posted this in another thread a few years back. After an incident with a city bus, I sent this email to the director of public transport for the city:

I had a similar experience with a school bus while living in a very small town. The bus supervisor and driver came over to my home after I made a phone call and everybody left happy. I seem to stick more and more to single track these days. Mean folks aside, there are just too many people driving along while staring at their phones.

I sure hope they find the jerks in question.
 

Snowfan

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..." I saw a bus stopped at the blue shelter and loading passengers. This of course requires them to pull over to the curb and block the bike lane.

I looked over my left shoulder and saw no cars approaching in the lane. I signaled with my hand and moved left to go around the bus. When I was even with the rear 1/4 of the bus, the bus accelerated into the lane, cutting me off. ..."

Am I missing something here? In my area, passing any bus while loading/unloading is illegal. It does not matter if on a bike or in a vehicle. All traffic coming and going in all lanes have to stop.
 

François Pugh

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As I understand it, here you are allowed to pass the busses have a little sign on them that lets you know you must yield to them when they pull out from the stop. So if a buss runs you down as you pass them, it's on you. School busses with light flashing or a street car are different.
 

doc

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Back to the OP, the injured cyclists were on a regular Team Evergreen (our local riding club) ride and I had several friends on the ride who were 10 secs behind the riders who were hit and saw the whole thing.
The driver, whatever gender it is, deserves no less than a charge of attempted murder, and more if the critically injured rider passes.
 
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tball

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Back to the OP, the injured cyclists were on a regular Team Evergreen (our local riding club) ride and I had several friends on the ride who were 10 secs behind the riders who were hit and saw the whole thing.
Thanks for those details.

I'll add that It was 9:45 am on a Sunday. Even if there weren't a group ride, there likely would be more bikes on that road than cars on a Sunday morning, given the route's popularity.

This makes me wonder about the conventional wisdom of more bikes on the road making you safer.

I'm sure that's the case with nearly all drivers, but I think some crazy people get increasingly frustrated with each bike they have to pass. Eventually, they may crack and do something deadly.
 

doc

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As much as Team Evergreen preaches bike safety, its a pretty social group, and I can't help but wonder whether some of the riders were riding two or more abreast, which is not good and which can trigger drivers.
 

slowrider

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As much as Team Evergreen preaches bike safety, its a pretty social group, and I can't help but wonder whether some of the riders were riding two or more abreast, which is not good and which can trigger drivers.
Respect gets respect. At least with normal thinking people.
 

fatbob

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Thanks for those details.

I'll add that It was 9:45 am on a Sunday. Even if there weren't a group ride, there likely would be more bikes on that road than cars on a Sunday morning, given the route's popularity.

This makes me wonder about the conventional wisdom of more bikes on the road making you safer.

I'm sure that's the case with nearly all drivers, but I think some crazy people get increasingly frustrated with each bike they have to pass. Eventually, they may crack and do something deadly.


Yep I always try to give cyclists more than enough room but our last public holiday weekend I was driving along a lake in a popular tourist spot where there was a whole string of cyclists in a group on a road that was just about 2 way including a tandem! If I was them I'd have been proactively pulling over rather than allowing anyone to attempt risky passes especially given wet road surface etc etc
 

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