So that was the lead news story on the radio when I woke up, and my first thought was “How is that possible?” It turns out that a car was towing the boat, which came loose and hit the cyclists, killing one and seriously injuring the other.
Talk about your freak accidents!
Ok, sorry for being glib but this will replace my previous #1 on my list of strange and somewhat funny ways people have died.
“Getting hit by a boat while bicycling”
Previously it was:
“Walked into a tree while talking on his cell phone” (this happened in Korea a few years back).
I believe that one of the founding members of ELO was killed by a bale of hay that rolled down a hill and crushed his car.
There’s an ICD10 code for that, Annie-Xmas:
V16.4XXA: Pedal cycle driver injured in collision with other nonmotor vehicle in traffic accident, initial encounter
The things you can find when you work for a medical software company and the ICD10 deadline is 15 day away…
Wowser.
I knew of someone who was late for a business appointment because his car (and that of a nearby state policeman, who was NOT amused) was hit by a boat on a trailer at a rest stop.
Fortunateloy, no injuries in this case, just a great story.
Well, there’s also “crushed by a falling cow”.
No cite, but I read about it in my local newspaper about 30 years ago.
In a rural area, with windy roads, and some very steep hills: A car was driving on a road with a steep slope (almost a cliff) rising up from the side of the road. Cattle grazed on the hilltop above the cliff.Apparently, a cow slipped and tumbled down the slope, right onto the car, which was crushed.
But that’s not accurate!—the collision was with a motorboat.
Now, if it had been a sailboat, the ICD10 has you covered… 
I wonder how much negligence played in this. There should have been a safety chain on it.
Yes. Hitches can fail; safety chains are mandatory.
I think the driver will be held responsible.
I read about a guy who was beaten to death,--------by his anger management therapist!
Whoa!
OK, V19.59XA - Pedal cycle passenger injured in collision with other motor vehicles in traffic accident, initial encounter.
I can beat that, my car was hit by a flying boat!
I was driving down a 2 lane highway, up a long, low incline. There were 2 little old ladies in a big Mercury in front of me. Suddenly a Bronco towing a 22 foot motorboat crests the hill from the opposite direction. The trailer was swerving back and forth behind the Bronco, and was actually pulling the rear of the Bronco side to side a bit. I immediately began to pull on to the shoulder, in order to clear the road for the guy in the Bronco, but then it looked as though he sort of had it under control, so I stopped with the passenger side of my car on the shoulder.(important)
Suddenly, the Bronco swings into our lane and then back into his, causing the trailer to whip around and hit the car in front of me. The trailer rips off and flies into the ditch, the Bronco starts rolling down it’s lane, and the boat goes airborne over the top of the Mercury, and is lazily spinning through the air toward me. I closed my eyes and held on tightly to the steering wheel. I felt a huge thump, heard a loud crash, and opened my eyes.
The boat landed on my passenger side, flattening the roof on that side, obliterating the windshield, bowing out the passenger door, and kept going, taking out 2 signs on the side of the road. The police officer said they estimated the Bronco was travelling about 80 mph. I was completely unharmed.
But if I’d kept pulling onto the shoulder…
Yes, very sad…
WOWser, August West.
I have a similar (though boatless and squishless) story that involves a semi-trailer, two telegraph poles, a set of lights, half the width of one lane and me *not * hesitating at 80km/h. Had it turned out differently though, it wouldn’t have made Stoneburg’s Dumb Ways to Die list. That’s the dumbest part of it.
Hilarious deaths and injuries happen all the time when you take the 3-D agony out of it and just cartoon it up a bit.
Back-stepping over the edge of a cliff while taking a photo.
Running over your own head while leaning out of the car to retrieve the newspaper.
Drinking too much water to win a Wii.
And one of my all time favourites: drowning while giving a headjob to your also drunk boyfriend as he stands waist-deep in the ocean. At night.
Just personally, an experienced climber friend slipped off the roof while waiting for the fire brigade to arrive to a rather contained fire in the low-rise block of units in which she lived. Honestly, she could climb, scale, and balance on anything. It was like Lara Croft being downed by a papercut.
Another friend thought he’d just celebrate his wedding morning with a line before the boys arrived. After a while “The groom is late. No, the groom really is late. Really. He really is late…” and white wedding jokes came, and we like to think it’s because he’d have loved them, when really it was because somebody *finally * said one out loud.
I really do like the way that you can just be flicked off this earth in the most humorous way that only be truly appreciated by the anonymous.
And I like to imagine that the poor guy had taken up cycling because he’d always been nervous around water.
RIP, cyclist guy, family and friends - RIP snorter everyone else.
The vet in my small town was killed by a cow. He had the cow on a halter rope tied to a barn beam; the cow got frightened and ran around and around the beam, effectively lashing the vet to the beam and suffocating/smashing him to death.
A recent one.