11 member of the Milligan University (TN) cycling team were out for a training ride when a driver plowed into them. Two of the cyclists, Haylan Engdahl & Brayden Rogers were killed & seven others injured, including four still in critical condition & two in stable condition.
This YahooSports article has a picture of his vehicle; how do you do that much damage to the front of your vehicle by plowing into 11 people & not see them? Just in case that article is updated/deleted below is the photo I’m talking about. Oh wait, one of the articles stated there was an odor of marijuana coming from his vehicle & he was arrested & is charged with two counts of vehicle homicide by recklessness and five counts of aggravated assault by vehicle by recklessness, with possible more charges coming. @#$%& stoned asshole ruined a lot of lives, including his own yesterday.
I used to race bikes myself. I used to ride a lot, but between the drunks, stoners, & texters I’m scared to be on the roads anymore.
I’m surprised this kind of tragedy hasn’t happened before, or more frequently considering how many accidents occur every day. IMO, riding any bike on a road with automobile traffic is only asking for trouble, not that it was the biker’s fault.
I’ve got to call you out on that, as legally, it should not be. All (or at least most) states have wording in their motor vehicle code very similar if not identical to
Now I don’t disagree with you & I’ve already stated above that I’ve stopped cycling, partially because I don’t want my headstone to read, “He was dead right to ride on the road” but it’s absolutely the wrong attitude. Too many times cyclists are treated as secondthird class citizens & even when you take video evidence to the PD they won’t do anything about it. Not just anecdotally, I have multiple first-hand experiences with it, including a traffic sergeant whose advice to me was, & I quote here, “Don’t ride in the township” because they wouldn’t set the loop sensors properly.
Damn. Riding/running as a group is often touted as safer because more visibility but that’s little help if a driver is just driving recklessly, distracted or impaired … Looks/sounds from reports like he just plowed straight through the whole peloton, prelim police reports say he was following another vehicle too fast/close and when the other vehicle changed lanes to avoid the cyclists he just kept going.
Horrible, my Ghu, that could have been a passel of kids, not college students [not that it is better nor worse, just imagine a whole neighborhood full of kids getting wiped out]
Killing people with a car, truck, 18 wheeler, the penalties are just not that great, considering. Potentially, yes. But in practice it doesn’t seem to work out that way.
Horrible story, and something I worry about in my own life since I cycle a lot. I do less paved road cycling, but still about 25 miles per week. I’m doing a lot more gravel and dirt road cycling (did a quick 15 mile gravel ride this morning before work), and at times I think it is safer, but there are a lot of blind corners and hilltops and people don’t necessarily stick to their side of the road when there aren’t lines. I ride with a bright jersey, neon green helmet, and have daytime running lights.
I’ve been struck by 4-wheeled vehicles once while cycling and once while on a motorcycle. Luckily both events barely hurt me (my bike and motorcycle didn’t fare as well). My wife was also ran over as a pedestrian and suffered traumatic brain injuries and extreme leg injuries.
People: Please pay attention when behind the wheel of death machines.
