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So apparently, there was a witness who gave a statement. He said that the woman driving her car ran the red light and sent Ryan flying 50 feet. That doesn’t matter, I guess.

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To the guy riding on the 4MR trail underneath Mt Vernon Ave where it is a winding path with bad sightlines. Perhaps if you weren’t sitting on your clip-on tri-bars while navigating tight turns, you may have been able to better hold your line. The trail isn’t a time trial course. Don’t treat it like one.

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I have just heard that the police and attorney general have decided not to press charges. No one is sure if the woman received a citation.

The attorney general did not reach out to the family to let them know. It required a phone call from the family’s attorney to the AG to get this bit of information.

Lovely.

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@Mariner 140529 wrote:

I was headed south on the MVT just past the Gravelly Point parking area. As I rounded a slight bend, which is a blind curve, there were three cyclists headed NB in close single file, well to their right. Unknown to me, someone else was behind me on my left attempting to overtake. There were shouts, a crash of bikes, and I turned around to see bikes and bodies flying.

At least one rider from the three NB riders was on the ground. I didn’t see blood but I’m sure there was some from hitting the asphalt. The person who caused the collision was profusely apologetic while I screamed at him.

Dude, it is a blind curve. Next to the Parkway. Next to a roadway with no separating barrier. On a trail with nowhere to go. On a blind curve. Your behavior caused some injuries, I don’t know how bad, but could have sent all five of us to the hospital. And all because you wanted to pass.

Location:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.863862,-77.0421732,20z

and here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.864186,-77.0421626,3a,49.4y,204.53h,84.42t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqcDkuFOHbenZ7s6BzxVWwQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I have video but it doesn’t show the crash. It probably did record my screaming though.

I’ve seen my share of jerks attempting to make passes at that corner. I’m sorry to hear that you had this incident. Hopefully, the riders are OK.

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]11834[/ATTACH]

At Farragut Square last Friday thanks to goDCgo.

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@bobco85 140337 wrote:

Where exactly did it occur? I know that just north of the Duke St underpass is a T intersection where people continuing on the trail would have to make a 90 degree turn. Going straight would lead to the Duke St sidewalk which gets a moderate amount of pedestrian traffic. Also, at that time of day with such nice weather, that section of the Holmes Run Trail gets a lot of pedestrian traffic, so the potential for ped-bike conflict is greatly increased (it doesn’t rise to the levels of the MVT, though).

FYI this is the area being described: https://goo.gl/maps/9i2fJeU1Rry

I hope she’s okay. Thank you for stopping to help everyone out.

When you exit from the Duke Street underpass and continue on the trail towards the Beatley Bridge, you come across a bench on the right hand side of the trail. That’s where I encountered the couple and young woman shortly after the incident.

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@KLizotte 140075 wrote:

I certainly hope the cyclist is okay. I’m a bit perplexed that no one else was at the scene that appeared to be injured so perhaps he crashed on his own??? There really isn’t anything to bump into around there. Perhaps he had another medical issue that caused him to crash? Vomiting is also a sign of a heart attack.

Did he have a helmet on? It’s disturbing that he could have had such a bad head injury with a one on. Yikes!

He was wearing a helmet.

@AlexandriaBiker The man was lying on the trail right about here: http://bit.ly/25eJQXz

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@OneEighth 139753 wrote:

Do you do this at all times or only when you are approaching a situation where you want to discourage passing?

I do it mostly when I want to discourage passing however my tendency is to sit close to the center line at other times.

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This doesn’t surprise me at all unfortunately. Since the weather turned warmer, I’ve seen the trails far busier and some people cycling on them are jerks. Threading the needle and passing around blind corners are common habits of these people. This is why I usually hug the center line on the MVT. It usually dissuades the impatient from trying to pull dangerous passes.

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@Sunyata 139480 wrote:

There are no specific regulations in VA banning speed cameras, but there are no speed camera programs in the commonwealth at this time.

Red light cameras are permitted under certain circumstances and are only allowed one site per 10,000 residents up to 10 sites.

The police have simply not bothered to operate them for the past little while.

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@Steve O 139400 wrote:

Too bad these red light cameras are facing the wrong way.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]11736[/ATTACH]

I’m not certain they’re even functioning. The ones at Duke and Walker haven’t flashed in months either.

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@KLizotte 139380 wrote:

Anybody know if the police were able to cite the person who hit him?

I was privy to information that the police had and did not see any indication of a citation given on Thursday. This was at about 8:30pm that evening so things may have changed since but I can’t be sure.

Being cynical, I expect no action on the part of the police.

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@scoot 139334 wrote:

Very sad situation.

So I wonder if the driver was coming straight through on Duke. Did someone blow a traffic signal?

That is what I suspect. Ryan was likely crossing Duke at W Taylor Run and was hit by a person driving eastbound. Considering the conditions on Duke in that area, I suspect it highly unlikely that Ryan was crossing against the light. From the photos I’ve seen, the bike was at least 25-30 feet away from the intersection indicating that the car hit Ryan at high speed ergo, not stopping at all.

I donated money last night and hope that others do too.

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I’ll be there.

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Hmm, skullcap or cycling cap. Decisions decisions.

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