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2008-12-04 4:12 PM

Veteran
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Georga
Subject: Another needless death
James Nelson Binch, 41, of Charlotte, died doing what he loved on Monday, December 1, 2008, after an accident on his bicycle. He was born on February 15, 1967 in Charlotte to Jack and Judy Binch of Cornelius.

In addition to his parents, he is survived by his wife, Sandra Binch; brother, William Binch and wife Robin of Lake Mary, FL; grandmother, Virginia Carlin; special uncle, James Wallace; brother-in-law, Ken Ferrell and nephew, John Ferrell. He is preceded in death by his grandparents, James and Mary Wallace and Leslie Carlin; in-laws, Richard and Deloris Bradshaw and niece, Jessica Ferrell Black.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Sandra Binch.

A memorial service will be held at 11 am Friday, December 5, 2008 in the chapel of Raymer Funeral Home with Rev. Travis Norton officaiting. Visitation will follow.

Another example of how dangerous our sport/hobby can be.

Here is the story according to the Charlotte Observer:

A 41-year-old bicyclist died Monday after a car hit him near the heavily traveled fork at U.S. 29 and N.C. 49.

James Nelson Binch died at the scene just after 2 p.m.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police reported the driver as 22-year-old Feu Thaou. Police did not release any information on charges or an arrest.

A police report said that Thaou was driving south on North Tryon Street near the 7400 block when the 2001 Lexus hit Binch.

Christopher D. Kirkpatrick

I would be willing to bet when the truth comes out, if it ever does there will be a cell phone, blackberry or other distraction that caused this needless death. I hope they can nail this idiot with criminal charges and put her in jail for a long long time!


2008-12-04 6:26 PM
in reply to: #1839092

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Expert
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Charlotte, NC
Subject: RE: Another needless death

This is probably the absolute worst intersection in Charlotte for someone trying to cycle and for traffic in general.  Within a half mile stretch, traffic is merging from a heavily traveled road using a single lane to merge onto an even more heavily traveled two lane road, which turns into 3 lanes at that point, and then it splits into two sets of two lanes, one headed onto I-85 and the other set heading off into downtown. This intersection is ridiculously complicated for vehicles and I see near misses every day on my commute to work.  The reason I've always ruled out any bike commute to work is this very intersection.  A bicyclist would be traveling in the right line of a busy road and then have to cross over 2 lanes of high speed merging traffic in order to continue on the "city" street.  I haven't seen any further updates about whether or not the driver was charged.  Don't we get offended when the non-cycling public automatically jumps to the conclusion that the cyclist was at fault?  Why do we immediately make the same assumptions about the driver and its ok?  What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Disclaimer--I'm a medic in Charlotte and am actually quoted in several of the news stories about our response to James' crash.  I don't know who was found to be at fault.  I'm simply saying this is a dangerous area.  We had a pedestrian struck and killed by a vehicle at nearly the same exact spot less than a month ago. 

I've responded to far too many incidents involving bicyclists struck by vehicles in my career.  In just the last 6 mos--I was struck by a car during an Olympic race and my wife was taken by ambulance to the Emergency Room after being struck by a car on a training ride. 

No matter what the outcome of the Police Department's investigation, this is a tragedy.  A family lost their loved one.  Thoughts and prayers go out to James' family.  I can't imagine their loss.



Edited by medic0020 2008-12-04 6:27 PM
2008-12-04 6:57 PM
in reply to: #1839092

Extreme Veteran
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Charlotte,NC
Subject: RE: Another needless death
This is terrible. I live in Charlotte and I agree with Medic that it is a very busy and dangerous intersection. However this can not be an excuse for the driver to get away with waht he did if he is at fault.
Unfortunately this is the third accident in Charlotte in the last 10 days involving bicycles that I know of. Thank God the others did not end up with fatalities but injuries only.
We are living in a country(some states excluded) where you don't even pass a driving test in the traffic to get a drivers license and on top of that drivers do not know and understand that the bicycles are part of the traffic and belong to the roads.

Edited by doubleplay 2008-12-04 7:01 PM
2008-12-04 8:25 PM
in reply to: #1839092

Veteran
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Georga
Subject: RE: Another needless death
Both of you make excellent points and I may have jumped to conclusions to blame the driver. That being said the motor vehicle drivers have a responsibility while driving their 1500# plus weapons to pay attention to the road and yeild right of way to pedestrians and cyclists and not participate in all the distractions that take away from their driving abilities, like texting,reading, cell phones etc. I have been run off the road, had bottles thrown at me and watch a driver run my 15 yo daughter off the road, I have also been dispatched to cyclist accidents invloving a motor vehicle. I have come to the conclusion that in the general publics eyes hitting and killing a cyclists is the same as hitting a dog or cat. Maybe if these drivers who are at fault have a stiffer punishment they will eventually become more aware of our presence on the roads. I will concede the some of our cycling brothers and sisters don't always d the right thing regarding traffic laws but if we screw up and hit a car or truck, rarely will it result in anyone being injured or killed besides us. Just a tought, please be safe and keep the family in your prayers.
2008-12-04 11:02 PM
in reply to: #1839092


2

Subject: RE: Another needless death

James was about as experienced as bikers get. The driver is, regardless of what the courts say, at fault. So, too, are the MORONS who plan and build roads in this area. They are DELINQUENT whereas safety and traffic flow are concerned.

 

I want the driver charged and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and jailed. Personally, I would like to see his little arse run over.  I also want the IDIOTS who plan roads around here removed from their jobs. For Christ's sake, they're putting a WAL-MART and an IKEA ON that intersection.

 

 

 

 



Edited by IHateMeckCo 2008-12-04 11:04 PM
2008-12-05 3:12 AM
in reply to: #1839092

Veteran
119
100
Georga
Subject: RE: Another needless death
You are correct about the infrastructure in char/meck. It took a real moron to build a city and then decide to carve what amounts to goat trails for roads throught it, and to top it all off they continue to build and build and build some more without any idea where to put the cars and they make feeble if any attempt to provide safe places for bicyle traffic! Good point.

Edited by firefighter5765 2008-12-05 3:15 AM


2008-12-05 11:39 PM
in reply to: #1839092


2

Subject: RE: Another needless death

The only thing that they seem to be successful at is making it worse.

 I wonder if they put that on their resumes?

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