The dude did not even get any prison time, just probation. Remarkably, the family of the victim expressed that they did not want to see him go to prison. I’d be a lot less magnanimous.
I thought that this was the case where there was a “King of the Hill” iPhone app where people would try to set speed records along a set course in the city. Asshole blew through 3 red lights before killing the poor pedestrian.
About bloody time.
Now they just have to be identifiable road vehicles.
Yay! Bike-hater pile-on time.
Never mind that the legal confusion was caused by classic contradictory laws regarding cyclists in the first place. Laws that were initially written to get cyclists off the roads and out of the driver’s way.
(For the record, yes this guy was an asshole and deserves to be treated as a reckless driver, however I am amused by how many want this to be a capital case or lead to more restrictions on cyclists.)
What restrictions do they already have? My experience is that they don’t have any - certainly in terms of road rules or speed.
Cyclists are required to obey the same rules of the road as other vehicles.
In addition to that, they are restricted from multiple types of roads, and must deal with poorly written rules about their position in the road.
They might be required to obey road rules, and a lot of the time, they don’t (running lights, not stopping at stop signs etc); a motorcyclist, for instance, would be booked for riding up the outside of a car and yet cyclists do it all the time. It’s just dangerous. They’re not supposed to ride on the footpath, and they do. All the time.
Trouble is, those that don’t behave in the manner they should get off scot free because there’s no way to identify them.
First of all, a lot of them do obey the laws of the road but drivers selectively only see the lawbreakers. Even then the eye of their prejudice shines bright - I have been accused of blowing a stop sign where I had stopped but all the driver saw was me off the seat accelerating and assumed that I was cranking all the time.
2nd of all, drivers are also required to obey the rules of the road, but lots of the time they do not. Stop signs in my neighborhood are treated as optional, drivers regularly exceed speed limits in residential streets and on the highways. In addition cell phone usage is almost epidemic and abuse of red lights is sufficient enough to warrant the use of red light cameras and delayed greens.
Drivers in cars kill tens of thousands every year, including hundreds of cyclists. Cyclists kill at best a handful - but when a cyclists does kill someone everyone has a hate-on shitfit.
Are you referring to lane-splitting? Because that is legal in many states.
If you are referring to sidewalk riding, you are right. They should not be there. I hate it when cyclists do that. But at the same time driver depraved indifference to cyclists can lead to that.
So the best solution you can come up with is to take action that discourages people from cycling, gives the cyclist zero benefits in return, adds more administration to the government, costs more, and does little to nothing. Great.
Depends on the jurisdiction and circumstances. In my area, only children are legally allowed to ride on them unless said sidewalk is also a designated bike trail.
Of course. Even if you ware just walking down the street, you can be subject to criminal penalties if you do something that causes bodily harm to another person. If I am walking down a street, and I carelessly or negligently run into another person and injure him, I can be held responsible for his injuries. with criminal prosecution. It has nothing to do with whether I am driving a car, riding a bicycle, or a skateboard, or galloping on a horse, or just walking or running…
Legal in California only.
Add me to the chorus of the cyclist got what he deserved.
For cyclists, much more so - in fact they are often required to split/share the lane with cars (if it is large enough)
That I agree. I just dislike the anti-bike pile-on that was generating.
I think nearly every state allows a car to pass a bicycle in the same lane. However, when a bicycle has the gall to do the reverse…shame on them!
Dropping the sarcasm, what Miskatonic said. I don’t get the hatred that automobilists have for bicyclists. I cycle nearly every day and am amazed at what I see car drivers doing. But that doesn’t mean I have a seething hatred for folks in cars.
Agreed. But the problem is that far to many drivers want bicylists treated like or more harshly than cars when a law is broken. However, if they do obey the law or do what is necessary to ride safely many of these same people still want them off the road.
Perhaps if bicyclists were actually treated with consideration and respect many would not feel the need to break the law.
When I do stop at lights and stop signs etc. even when no cars are near, just out of habbit. At the same time, I see many drivers blow right through them.
“Officer, they MADE me run that stop sign! It’s someone else’s fault I killed that guy!”
Do you really want to go there?
This pile-on was something you foresaw happening, I guess? I didn’t see any evidence of it before you posted.
Speaking as a cyclist, they run the signs because they don’t want to make the effort to start after making a stop. Maintain momentum and all that.
I’ve seen far too many cyclists run signs (and lights) at full speed even with cars in the intersection.
I’ve seen those too and they were not the ones I was referring to. They need to be stopped, ticketed and treated like any other bad driver.
I agree that whatever traffic laws exist should apply to bicyclists as well, but the fact that you don’t need a license to bike clearly sets up a different standard.
I guess I wish biking laws were clear.
I think there’s a good argument for the Idaho stop for bikes, too. But I’d live with anything as long as it was clear and spelled out.
The OP is from a known bike-hater with the single word ‘finally’ as if this was our nation’s longest nightmare solved.
Poster #3 reacts the same way and also wants to tag cyclists in some manner. Then demonstrates ignorance of cyclists after I confront him.
I’ve seen how these things cascade.