Posted by Leif Irgens on September 04, 2007 at 14:08:30:
In Reply to: Re: Viking Invincibility posted by Monetta Roberts on September 04, 2007 at 11:49:53:
Please allow me another attempt at making my point: This is certainly a tragic incident. One of the deceased was a neighbor of one of my colleagues. Say's he was a very nice person. A good neighbor, a great father. Very sad.
However, based on what I've heard from others, what I've read in the news, and what I've seen on TV, this was not a cars-don't-respect-bicycles accident. This was an irrisponsible-driver-fails-to-control-his-vehicle accident. If these two cyclists had been in a car or a truck or an SUV on the same road going the same direction at this same time, they would have still been in a horrific head-on collision and would likely still be dead or horribly injured. The only difference would have been that the driver of the vehicle at fault might have been dead as well rather than hospitalized. By the way, I hear from a colleague who recognized the drivers name that this driver was the same driver who ran over that environmental activist in Daphne two years ago. If that does turn out to be true, I hope he does jail time and then rots in hell.
Back to my point: What I'm saying is I don't think we should turn this particular tragic accident into a platform for the dangers of bicycles or the lack of respect for bicycles. I've ridden in many other states and am active on a bicycling forum that has members from all over the world (yes, the world). And from what people in Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas say, in combined with my own personal experiences here and in other states, I say with confidence (as I ride down Highway 43 to work) that the Mobile area really does not have a drivers-don't-respect-bicycles problem. I feel very respected by the vast majority of drivers in this area and I know from experience that it is much worse in other areas of the country.
OK?