Woman Cyclist Struck and Killed May 3rd in Olney

[Terpfan]

@acc 19075 wrote:

http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/204291/44/TRAFFIC-ALERT-Cyclist-Killed-Rt-108-Closed-at-Zion-Road

that’s sad to hear. My thoughts and prayers go to the family of the cyclist.

That’s a very heavily traveled road with no shoulders up there. Growing up not too far away, I saw many accidents in that stretch of 108 from just outside Laytonsville to Olney Mill Rd.

[RESTONTODC]

Sad! Condolences to the family.

I drove this road a lot when I was in Maryland. It’s narrow, blind curves with many speeding drivers.

[creadinger]

Ugh… tragic. This is making me question my ride for tomorrow… I was going to head down to La Plata from Arlington, but a lot of the roads between here and there are busy and narrow (i.e. Livingston Rd), just like that section of Rt 108.

[MCL1981]

I have to wonder if there should be actual legal requirements for operating a bicycle on a public road. Think about it, there are hundreds of pages in FMVSS108 that regulate safety and conspicuity of motor vehicles being operated on public roads. Primarily as it relates to us, lights of a required intensity and placement as well as reflectors of a required intensity and placement. Yet we’re allowed to place ourselves on the same roads, in the middle of the travel lanes, and we’re not required to have anything. We’re approx 1/10th the size of all surrounding objects (other vehicles). We might even have the same color clothing as the car next to or ahead of us. Or just all black. We don’t need to have lights. Reflectors are too small to be worth anything.

With this in mind, I don’t know how accidents such as this don’t happen more often.

[acc]

All I could think about today was the possibility that a child’s dinner would not be on the table tonight, or a son or daughter would not be picked up from school because Mom tried to ride her bike to work. That breaks my heart. I am grateful to the motorist who stopped and stayed at the scene. I am so sorry for the woman’s family. Any cyclist who pays the ultimate price for riding the roads is a tragic loss. I hope the accident investigation is thorough. I hope the conclusions of the report are used to make the roads safer for motorists and cyclists. This was a terrible day.

ann

[Bunjabi]

This is a very sad story. Also sad for me (a news reporter in a different medium) is the hateful slew of comments on this story over at ABC 7 (http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/05/bicyclist-dies-after-maryland-crash-75567.html)

I took a minute to offer some constructive comments on the board and to refute some of the anti-bike rhetoric thereon.

A note: On stories like this, reporters often monitor the comments sections to see what type of play the story is getting in the community. Putting a pro-bike comment on there is a simple gesture that can stick in the mind of a reporter for the next time they cover something bike-related. As ineffective as it may sound, I encourage you to post a pro-bike comment (or condolence for the cyclist) on any story you see on this topic.

[KLizotte]

Due to Bunjabi’s post, I’ve left a pro-cycling comment on the site. I’m glad to see people are striking back at the haters.

[MCL1981]

@KLizotte 19174 wrote:

Due to Bunjabi’s post, I’ve left a pro-cycling comment on the site. I’m glad to see people are striking back at the haters.

Simply not wasting your time and electrons on WJLA would be a more productive and stress-reducing solution.

[SerialCarpins]

I visited the site, and commented too….man, it’s always funny whenever something like this happens, there are some reasonable people, but more often than not there are people that stick to their guns and act like immature sad excuses for human beings…there is always the “My way is best….you are an idiot!” people that make up the majority of comments….I rarely read the comments sections for anything online anymore…often cyclists will hate on drivers, drivers will hate on cyclist, pedestrians will hate on both….it’s so extreme….no compromise, no give and take, no “I see your point…we’ll agree to disagree.” so many people think they are 100% right, and that it’s their way of the highway….frustrating. Condolences to the family…

[Mark Blacknell]

@MCL1981 19150 wrote:

I have to wonder if there should be actual legal requirements for operating a bicycle on a public road. [ . . . ] Yet we’re allowed to place ourselves on the same roads, in the middle of the travel lanes, and we’re not required to have anything.

Maryland law:

• A lamp is required on the front of a bicycle or motor scooter, if the bicycle or motor scooter is used on a highway when people and vehicles are not clearly visible at 1,000 feet. (TR § 21-1207)
• A red reflector on the rear is required if the bicycle or motor scooter is used on a highway when people and vehicles are not clearly visible at 1,000 feet. (TR § 21-1207)
• A bicycle or motor scooter may be equipped with a bell or other audible device, but not a siren or whistle. (TR § 21-1207
• A bicycle or motor scooter must be equipped with a brake. (TR § 21-1207)

[eminva]

Not limited to this article or this topic, I think the online comment format tends to invite people to say things that are provocative and that they wouldn’t say to another person face to face, and indeed, may be a wild exaggeration of their own beliefs. I would hope that journalists reading the comments would take this into account and take inflammatory rhetoric with a grain of salt. For this reason, I am in favor of respected publications/news sources requiring subscribers to use their real names for comments (e.g., The Wall Street Journal’s website).

I also send my condolences to the family.

Liz

[americancyclo]

I’ll echo here what I said in the comments on that article. Each accident like this is an opportunity for a teaching moment to educate non-cyclists about their responsibilities to obey the law and cyclists rights under the law. Spending even 15 seconds mentioning state cycling law out of a two minute report on an incident like this would educate thousands and possibly help prevent further problems. It might not change people’s minds, but at least it would be a good platform to disseminate information.

[MCL1981]

Mark, those laws are meaningless. There is nothing that specifies position, quantity,intensity, or type. They might as well not even have it.

And like I said, just stay off the WJLA site. Comment sections like that, and the behavior you see, is allowed because it racks up their web site advertising hits. Don’t even bother.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

[Riley Casey]

I have to disagree strongly with this ( regardless of their advertisers page hit counts). If even one person reads a reasonably stated response to the ” roads belong to cars ” mindset and takes even a modicum of additional care in their next drive to the grocery store and thus is even slightly less likely to mow down a pedestrian or cyclist then it was well worth the spilling of a few words in the cause of thoughtfulness.

@MCL1981 19210 wrote:

Mark, those laws are meaningless. There is nothing that specifies position, quantity,intensity, or type. They might as well not even have it.

And like I said, just stay off the WJLA site. Comment sections like that, and the behavior you see, is allowed because it racks up their web site advertising hits. Don’t even bother.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

[Mark Blacknell]

@MCL1981 19210 wrote:

Mark, those laws are meaningless. There is nothing that specifies position, quantity,intensity, or type. They might as well not even have it.

You just asked whether
@MCL1981 19210 wrote:

there should be actual legal requirements for operating a bicycle on a public road. [ . . . ] Yet we’re allowed to place ourselves on the same roads, in the middle of the travel lanes, and we’re not required to have anything.

And I showed you that there are, in fact, “actual legal requirements for operating a bicycle on a public road.”

Sure, there’s lots of room for discussion as to whether the existing requirements should be changed*, but that’s not the foundation you laid.

*And I’d point anyone who wants to have that discussion toward a review of how the existing CPSC requirements came to be, first. It’s not a simple matter.

[Author]

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