Cyclist killed in King George county by minivan passing in passing zone

[kensei]

Articles here:

http://wtvr.com/2017/08/10/bicyclist-killed-after-being-struck-by-van-in-king-george-1039399/

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/crime/police-identify-cyclist-killed-after-getting-hit-by-van-in/article_6869eb11-2b59-5fcf-84d7-ab76eec1a36c.html

KING GEORGE COUNTY, Va. – Police have identified the bicyclist who killed Thursday morning after being struck by a van in King George County.

Virginia State Police said around 11:10 a.m. a trooper was called to the scene of a fatal crash on Windsor Drive.

“A bicyclist was traveling westbound on Windsor Drive about a half mile west of Route 301 when a van moved to pass the cyclist in a legal passing zone. As the driver attempted to pass, the cyclist appeared to veer into the lane and was struck,” said a Virginia State Police spokesperson.

The bicyclist, identified as Edward W. Abendroth, 28, of King George, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver, Thomas T. Henderson, 47, of Montross, was not injured.

Police said there are no charges are expected at this time.

Police said the crash remains under investigation.

Sad news about this young guy, Edward Abendroth, who I happened to know for a long time as we grew up together in the same social circles. he is my age, only 28, leaving behind a wife with 2 young children. I hear he was biking to work when the crash happened.

To make matters worse, their family has already been through eerily familiar tragedy. in 2014, Edward’s brother John was struck by with a car when on a bicycle in 2014. John is now paralyzed from the waist-down.

I really feel sympathy for their family.
I hope it won’t be out of place to post a gofundme.com link here once it goes live. It’s a donation site if anyone wants to pitch in any amount of money to support the surviving family through this hard time. I’ll put it up once I get it.

Anyways, this just happened today and I have my doubts about the actual events of the accident. If the van supposedly passed legally in the passing lane, in what situation would the cyclist “veer in front of him”? google streetview shows this is a one lane road (each way) with a 1ft shoulder plus gravel, Hopefully more details will follow.

Topic

[kensei]

Here is a donation page to help support the family.
https://www.gofundme.com/support-for-ed-abendroths-family
If you feel you can give anything, I’m sure they’d very much appreciate it. They don’t know I’m posting this to the cycling community, but I think it would help show solidarity. No pressure, though.

Thanks,
Kensei

[Judd]

Thanks for posting, Kensei. This is incredibly sad news and I hope my donation helps a little bit.

[scoot]

Sad story. So many questions here.

“westbound” = northbound?
“half a mile west of Route 301” = south/east of route 301? The road doesn’t go a half-mile the other way.

“van moved to pass the cyclist in a legal passing zone”: did the driver cross the double-yellow, or not? And did he get his entire vehicle across the center lines?

“cyclist appeared to veer into the lane and was struck”: It’s amazing how many cyclists are veering to their deaths these days. Also amazing how convenient it is that such behavior always happens to exonerate the sole survivor in these incidents… :rolleyes:

[n18]

@scoot 164076 wrote:

Sad story. So many questions here.

“westbound” = northbound?
“half a mile west of Route 301” = south/east of route 301? The road doesn’t go a half-mile the other way.

“van moved to pass the cyclist in a legal passing zone”: did the driver cross the double-yellow, or not? And did he get his entire vehicle across the center lines?

“cyclist appeared to veer into the lane and was struck”: It’s amazing how many cyclists are veering to their deaths these days. Also amazing how convenient it is that such behavior always happens to exonerate the sole survivor in these incidents… :rolleyes:

I think they mean northwest of the intersection, the speed limit there is 35 MPH. The limit is 55 MPH in the southeast(East) section of Windsor Drive. Crossing the double yellow line to pass a ped/cyclist is legal in VA since July 2015.

I think the description of what we are hearing is based on what’s the driver is saying. Hopefully, there are other witnesses. I am not sure if they measure tire marks to see how fast he was going.

[Emm]

This is very sad. Sending my prayers (and part of my paycheck…) to the family.

[Author]

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