5 Bicyclists killed

I read that this morning, very tragic. 

Horrible, absolutely frigging horrible.  It used to be that you'd feel realitively safe/comfortable when ridding in larger groups... not so much I guess.  Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends.

Yes, I horrible tragedy.  Equally tragic are the large number of comments to the article I read that actually blamed the riders somehow.

Well if you want to be angry instead of sad read the comments section in any of these stories.  I didn't read them on this one but I would bet it goes along the lines of "bikes shouldn't have been on that or 'the' road."  "They shouldn't have been riding in a pack like that.  I see it all the time and they always disrupt traffic."  Or any variation of that.  I think a certain percentage is trolling but there's sadly enough that actually believe that stuff. 

Our guys deal with motorists complaining about cyclists all of the time......and there is VERY REAL animosity among them.  Motorists are MUCH MORE angry at cyclists then we are at motorists.....believe it. (at least here in St. Louis)

I just posted this in cup of Joe, not realizing a thread was in the triathlon forum.

The comments on the link I posted are all against the driver.. At least one or two posted in defense of the driver from the perspective of waiting until we know if he had a medical condition (physical or mental).  Based on the article, the driver was hiding nearby the scene so I think the medical condition angle isn't likely..

I didn't see a single comment against the cyclists.  Overwhelmingly they wanted to hang the driver and a few also wondered why the police weren't able to find the driver and get him pulled over since there were 3 separate 911 calls regarding an erratic driver...

Definitely a lot of blame being shot around, in the end 5 cyclists died doing something they love... 

Just for starters from a Reuters article: 

"This was unfortunate , but it doesn't surprise me either. I see a lot of people on their bicycles that are riding in the middle of the road when they have a dedicated bicycle trail availble, but they choose not to use it "

"If the cyclist are as ballsy there as they are here in Florida. They ride side by side on busy highway's like State Road 46 and 44 where the speed limit is 55 and on many state roads even 60 and 65 I have no real pity for them."

"I have ridden bikes for years, including triathlons and century rides. Bicyclists MUST abide by the SAME rules of the road as cars."

"I see this happening more and more in this Country.... The attitude of Bike Riders and their entitled actions will just bring more and more of these crashes to occur. They make Bike Lanes so stay in them."

Those actually aren't as bad as I've seen, or you as well I am sure.

Getting a little off topic, but this is why I always come to a full stop at a stop sign that has cross traffic (if I can see the road in each direction, and there are no cars, I do slow and roll), and i offer the car to go first.  9 times out of 10, they wave me through, and I give a wave of thanks.  I also always, when safe, ride as far right as I can, I do take the lane but only to the extent and as necessary, and then when I get over I give the car that had to wait for me a wave.

Maybe once grain of sand in a landslide, but we have to do our part to respect drivers on the road if we want them to respect us.  Because if they don't, we lose every time.  Doesn't excuse a driver's bad behavior, but hopefully shows the driver we don't all ride like entitled jerk offs -- we've all seen that too

Now, this clearly has nothing to do with this accident, if you've seen the photos, I doubt the driver applied his brakes at all, the way the truck and the bikes look.

Having been to a couple thousand accidents including many fatal......judging from the pictures that was a tremendous impact.  It knocked that truck backwards like a head on collision between cars.  That's crazy and I've never seen anything like it in a vehicle vs. bicycle.

The craziest thing is that he hit them from behind, I would think.  Just looking at the damage you wouldn't come to that conclusion.  I wonder what speeds were involved.

I don't ride on roads much anymore.......but my kids ride to work, working out, to swim practice, etc.  Most of the roads are crowded to very crowded.  I hate it. I should of raised soccer players.

I was just talking to our accident reconstruction guy going over the possible weight, speeds, force, possible position of cyclists, vehicle, etc.  Of course there are more unknowns than knowns from the cheap seats here.....but all are in agreement they've never seen anything like it.

I didn't see the pictures of the truck.  But from other views I wonder if he hit the rocks that were on the lawn?  I'm just going by the news video but it looked like the front yard might have been lined with large rocks.

Also disturbing was the picture of the one bike on the ground that had a blinker on the rear which was still flashing.