Thursday, November 27, 2008

another cyclist killed

Another Huntsville cyclist was killed yesterday afternoon. The officer said the cyclist was flying down the hill on Pulaski. Really? The speed limit is 40 I think. He probably wasn't even doing 40. And even if he was going over 40, it's the van driver's responsibility to not pull out in front of the cyclists just like not pulling out in front of a car going 50. Only it matters more with a cyclist. What has the city been doing to help? Has enforcement or education increased much? I haven't noticed it. Signs have been added to Cecil Ashburn. How many drivers pay attention to that. As far as I know, no charges have yet been filled against the drivers who killed the last 2 cyclists in Huntsville. Would the motorists pay attention to that? Does the city care?

link

6 comments:

Unknown said...

thanks for getting this posted Clint. This time I didn't know the Cyclist who was killed buy we all need to come together and show the same support for Horace Fletcher as we did Sara. I hope everyone participates in Critical Mass Tomorrow and I think it would be good for us as group to show up to the next City Council meeting again and demand immediate action to prevent this happening again.

I agree with the points you made about the cyclist having right of way being that he was on Pulaski Pike and the motorist was coming off and neighborhood street. If this had been and Car to Car collision driving from the side street would be held responsible without question. It seems to be the attitude of Law Enforcement to immediately blame the cause of the accident on the cyclist. And again some of the comments on al.com about this event are disturbing and reflect the attitude that many drivers have towards cyclist. The are also some good comments and nice things people are saying to show their support and concern for the family of the victim. I can only hope the negative attitudes towards held by others can be greatly changed in the near future.

Bello Velo said...

Thanks Clint and Tyler, Lets go to city hall thursday. As Tyler said we should support Horace just like Sarah.

clintpatty said...

x-posted from sccc-roadies list, if this is the case, the city can't be blamed so much for this one but we still need to be on them about education and enforcement:

I got a hold of the police report and the official report states that the call went in at 4:46PM. The van was stopped at the stop sign on Mallory waiting for traffic on Pulaski Pike. The cyclist was making a right hand turn onto Mallory. The driver was stopped/stopping at the stop sign and the cyclist struck the “driver’s side fender and door” at a high rate of speed. It was NOT a head on collision. The accident happened actually on Mallory. The cyclist appears to have lost control in the turn and took it wide and hit the van. If anyone wants to see a copy of the report let me know. It is 5 pages and the van driver as well as a witness gave very similar stories.

Bello Velo said...

thanks clint

Anonymous said...

All that said, are we still going en masse to city council on thursday? perhaps with a focus on public cycling education?

Anonymous said...

I'm a little unsure of the details, they are always sketchy at first until the drivers conscious catches up with them.

I do agree that the agenda we should address is public education...we need commercials on VNN, you know the conservative talk station AND we need announcements during prime time spots of jerry springer for all of those redneck KKK members sporting 4x4 trucks with gun racks.

We can't get out message to those who need to hear it if were sticking with the left wing communist stations such as NPR, remember communists know how to drive just great.

Seriously though showing up to the city council meeting to address the situation and give condolences for the victims family would be a great thing to do.

6:30? ride there? who's in?

jims

jimm j spaggranola