A reminder that the Ride of Silence is Wednesday around the world - http://www.rideofsilence.org/main.php. It certainly won't solve this problem anytime soon, but it is an effort to do something rational and peaceful.

It's stories like these that reaffirm my decision to sell the bikes and give up road riding. I did a lot of tris and used to ride 3 days a week with 50 to 60 mile rides every Saturday but over a period of 6 years, almost everyone in my small tight knit riding group got hit. Most were in the hospital but they all mostly recovered. While I loved the comraderie and exercise and zen like quality of a good long ride, I can't risk it anymore. With a house full of kids to take care of, road riding is an activity I don't see as favorable in the risk v reward category anymore. I moved since my heavy riding days and the roads around my new location are miserable and I wouldn't even think or riding them.

Yes, I do drive a car, fly in airplanes and lots of other things that have an amount of risk, but those aren't hobbies and I am required to do them. I can run, swim and take spin classes to stay in shape.

I contend that 99.999999% of events currently labelled "accidents" are not accidents at all and are entirely preventable.

Correct - There is most often reason, bad choices, too much speed, distraction, etc for the incident - but drivers NEVER seem to get it. They rarely take the full brunt of the responsibility for what has happened. The simple phrase " I did not see them" - is often enough to relinquish them of ANY responsibility. But I'm thinking here - How absurd is this? Think how ridiculous that sounds (but the police, the courts and judges go for this all the time) Isn't seeing where you are going, and what's going on in your view when you are driving a motor vehicle a key skill and responsibility of the driver?? -


Yes and the word "accident" helps in all of this because it sounds like it was some act of God, but rarely is that the case and it's a true accident - they were driving too fast, following too close, not watching where they were going, distracted by who knows what, making poor/bad choices etc . . .


It's shocking actually that there is not more up-roar about the total amount of deaths on the roads each year - from all causes. It's all WAY to high and I am sure many of these deaths preventable, with better behavior!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I can't say I agree with your view that almost nothing is an accident just because it could have been avoided. What's your definition of an accident? If it's something that can't be foreseen or prevented by any means, then sure, most events aren't accidents, but I don't see what that changes.


It's a behavioral thing. Look at more benign events - like snow storms or in particular that first big snow fall. Here in the Toronto area there are many hundred cars that end up in the ditches and many minor collisions that happen. The default cause/blame - The Weather. No - drivers were driving too fast for the conditions that accounts for many of these - that's being irresponsible and/or negligent, or they did not bother to put snow tires on their car - poor/bad choices. That's all on the drivers - but they all blame the weather, and pretty much everyone buys into that!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Add this story to the long list of sad, terrible and tragic stories of death, mayhem and carnage and NOTHING against the driver - http://www.cbc.ca/...ath-sussex-1.4104463

This the high profile incident here in Canada, of emerging road-cycling star Ellen Watters, killed last fall on a training ride near her home! No charges against the driver! Nothing! Good grief!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I've now gotten involved in the development of ADAS systems through work, which my employer has famously become very involved in. This will eventually make the roads safe for us again. I can see we have a long way to go to make it affordable enough that nearly every car has some higher level of autonomous control; it will come but some of us may give up riding first. The legislative issues may be even tougher than the technical issues, so support autonomous vehicle friendly legislation.

That is shocking. Did the collision occur at an intersection? I assume there were no witnesses? The investigation couldn't determine from the damage to the bicycle whether she was hit from the rear? I'm guessing there was no evidence that the motorist attempted to brake before the collision.

After this weekends ransomware issue, do you really want driverless cars on the road?
I'm all for electronic driver assistance, auto braking to avoid accidents and stuff, but please don't give me driverless cars.
Just because there are problems with drivers in cars, doesn't mean driverless cars are a better option.
Besides, I love driving cars! At least 8 out of the 10 best holidays I've ever had have been driving holidays. route 66, driving across Canada or the US, EPIC.
and while we're at it, how about having smaller lighter vehicles. There is no actual need for a 4 ton personal vehicle. I did a 2 week driving holiday years ago (including camping gear) with a 2 year old kid, in a 1981 3 door Honda Civic! There is no need or SUV's

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

I lived in Ontario for years so I can echo your driving in snow stories. I agree that it's the drivers fault, not the weather.

My whole contention was that it's not an accident, it's a choice by the driver that caused the accident. Drivers will only behave responsibly when they personally are held responsible for their driving actions. For example, if you cause an accident, and kill someone, you should lose your licence for life. With that kind of consequence, a huge majority of people will behave a lot better. And getting known killers off the road, will make it a lot safer for the rest of us. If you don't like the risk of killing someone and losing your licence for life either don't drive, or take extreme care!

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"