Sad, but true.

There have been 3 bicyclist killed in the Greenville, SC area in the past
week due to careless auto drivers. What in the hell is wrong?

In article , TC wrote:
There have been 3 bicyclist killed in the Greenville, SC area in the past
week due to careless auto drivers. What in the hell is wrong?

Do you have more details on these incidents? Do they have something
in common? Drunk drivers? Poor road design? Problems with the end of
daylight savings time?

There have been 3 bicyclist killed in the Greenville, SC area in the past
week due to careless auto drivers. What in the hell is wrong?

Actually, in one of those incidents the cyclist had been drinking, making
it dubious that the auto driver was careless. One could argue that perhaps
if the driver was more careful they might have avoided the accident, but
then most accidents involve a string of "if only's".

That still leaves the other two, and SC _is_ noted for bad drivers.

TC wrote:
There have been 3 bicyclist killed in the Greenville, SC area in the past
week due to careless auto drivers. What in the hell is wrong?



People trying to catch a glimpse of Ginger out flippin' houses and not
paying attention to where they're going.

Bluejay wrote:
: There have been 3 bicyclist killed in the Greenville, SC area in
: the past week due to careless auto drivers. What in the hell is
: wrong?
:
: Actually, in one of those incidents the cyclist had been drinking,
: making it dubious that the auto driver was careless. One could argue
: that perhaps if the driver was more careful they might have avoided
: the accident, but then most accidents involve a string of "if
: only's".

And wasn't that one at 2 am on a Sunday night? The second incident involved
a driver who had been drinking, right? What was the third one?

:
: That still leaves the other two, and SC _is_ noted for bad drivers.

Yep...I always keep that in the front of my mind...

Do you have more details on these incidents? Do they have something
in common? Drunk drivers? Poor road design? Problems with the end of
daylight savings time?

The first incident was in Greenville. An avid cyclist and member of the
local cycling club was riding near, but somewhat before sunset. As is
proper, she had the sun at her back. Unfortunately, there was an oncoming
driver who made a left turn and hit her. He said he couldn't see because of
the sun. He's been charged with failure to yield right of way. As I
understand it, he'll get 4 points on his driving record and face a $250
fine.

The next incident was a young man riding his bicycle home from work at a
restaurant in Anderson. I don't have all the details on this one, but he
was run over from behind by a drunk driver who is, I believe, being charged
with a felony DUI.

The third incident is as already reported here ... a guy riding around in
the druggy part of Anderson in the wee hours. The guy on the bike had
something like 4-times the legal blood-alcohol limit and was wearing dark
clothing. This is the type of situation I've brought up in this newsgroup
before. I hate it when people like this are lumped under the term
"cyclist." This guy actually ran into a moving car and killed himself. No
charges against the driver.

The Anderson newspaper ran an editorial yesterday which started well, but
ended by pretty much saying, "don't drive drunk." There's a much larger
message the driving public needs to hear beyond merely, "don't drive drunk."

The Greenville paper ran an editorial today that was better. In the end it
blamed insufficient law enforcement and poor driver education. It did a
better job of reinforcing the fact that cyclists have a right to be on the
road and that drivers need to exercise caution and recognize that there are
other legitimate users of the roads.

I was the subject of a feature last week on the local TV station out of
Greenville. I was hit an nearly killed three years ago by a teenage driver
talking on a cell phone who made an unsignaled left hand turn and hit me
pretty much head-on. We spent and hour working on the story. I talked
about cycling safety. I talked about recent studies that show that driving
while talking on a cell phone results in a level of impairment as bad or
worse than being legally drunk. I talked about a local talk show host who's
been stirring up driver animosity against cyclists. I talked about all
kinds of important problems we face. In the end, they put together and ran
a story that, to me, came off pretty much like, "here's a freak who got hit
by a car and is still stupid enough to be out there riding." (Never minding
the fact that I actually moved way out in to the country so I can ride on
far quieter roads in an area where there's no cell phone coverage.)

Anyway, that's what's going on around here. I've noticed a marked increase
in close calls from cars and trucks lately. I've been buzzed several times
in the last two weeks and I don't recall that happening for quite some time
prior to that. I think all this publicity is doing our cause more harm than
good. I think it's just emboldening those who think cyclists have no
business on the roads.

--
Bob C.

"Of course it hurts. The trick is not minding that it hurts."
T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)
"C" wrote in message ...
In article , TC wrote:
There have been 3 bicyclist killed in the Greenville, SC area in the past
week due to careless auto drivers. What in the hell is wrong?

: Do you have more details on these incidents? Do they have something
: in common? Drunk drivers? Poor road design? Problems with the
: end of daylight savings time?

http://tinyurl.com/9mxnr

Earl Smith wrote:
the problem is the bicyclists need to stay the **** off the same road used
by cars!

haha plonk!

the problem is the bicyclists need to stay the **** off the same road used
by cars!

"TC" wrote in message
...
There have been 3 bicyclist killed in the Greenville, SC area in the past
week due to careless auto drivers. What in the hell is wrong?

Paul Hobson wrote:
Earl Smith wrote:
the problem is the bicyclists need to stay the **** off the same
road used by cars!

haha plonk!

He'll have a new name by the morning.