Timothy Carlson chatted with Greg Bennett and he couldn’t have been nicer about the crash he was involved in. He seemed to be truly empathetic for the driver who hit him and just had a great attitude altogether. Get better soon Greg.
http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/Greg_Bennett_lucky_in_crash_946.html
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I could not agree more. I just read that article myself and really thought his position on the whole thing was very evolved. I know my immature, occasionally pissy, vengeful self could not have handled it as well as he did. What a tremendous attitude!
def seems like an awesome guy. wishing him a speedy recovery. get well benno
I think that’s partly due to how apologetic and sympathetic the driver was. If the driver was a jerk, as so many who hit cyclists seem to be, I’m sure Greg’s mood would be different.
But still, it is quite nice to seem him being so mature about the situation.
Thanks to Tim Carlson and Slowtwitch.com for the interview. Thanks for all the tremendous response from everyone. The body is healing and I’m moving around slowly. I’m putting together a recovery program and have a strong team around me to make things happen smoothly and quickly.
Thanks again,
GB
Good to hear…best wishes on a speedy recovery!
Yes, a class act. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery. It can happen to anyone, anywhere.
I hope to have your attitude if it ever happens to me ! Get better asap !
Greg,
Best wishes and speedy recovery. Hopefully you will be ready come Chicago.
From my reading of the information it appears to be entirely Greg’s fault? Or am I missing something? Don’t you always have to be able to stop/avoid hitting a vehicle in front? I’m not sure, so I’m not accusing or alledging, but it just seems like he was at fault.
You can’t just cut in front of someone when you turn and that is apparently what the motorist did.
You can’t just cut in front of someone when you turn and that is apparently what the motorist did.
I’m just trying to work out what happened - all too often we assume cars are in the wrong, I’ve had two friends die in the past year in cycling accidents with cars and sadly both times they were at fault. I think it is important to establish how accidents happend and can be avoided so that we can build up a knolwedge bank so that we can all avoid them in the future. For example, I myself, never cross an intersection even if I have full right of way unless I can actually see that the oncoming car that is supposed to “yield” or “give way” to me has actually seen me and is going to stop. Sure, I have the right to keep cycling through the intersection and assume they will give way, but if they don’t I’m a lot worse for wear and it isn’t much good being “in the right” if I’ve got a dozen broken bones or worse??
From Greg’s words
“We were both going south on a slight downhill, fairly fast. I was in the bike lane and he was just in front of me when he suddenly put on the brakes to turn into a driveway on the right and there was nothing I could do.”
At all times you are supposed to be able to avoid hitting a motorist in front of you. A bike lane isn’t a dedicated lane as such, merely a marked section where it is safest to ride. So he is actually sharing the same lane as the motorist (I could be wrong here and happily corrected as laws differ from state to state etc). So it appears, although the car may have made sudden movements that Greg should have always been in a position to avoid the car ahead.
The “We were both going south on a slight downhil fairly fast” bit probably doesn’t tell us enough info. For example, if the car just went past Greg, yes it was stupid of the car to then turn suddenly in. But if the car had no idea Greg was there because Greg was catchting up due to the downhill speed etc then what else is the car to do? You are probably not expected to look for vehicles passing you on the incorrect side??
I’m not trying to sully Greg’s name. He is one of the genuine “good guys” of the sport and I’ve personally experienced him being a great ambassador some 10 years ago now. But as I said, I really like to know all of the details of incidents so we can learn from them and hopefully if there have been ways in which the cyclist could have avoided the incident.
This is also not about blame - I don’t care so much who is in the right or wrong - as I said, no point being in the right when you’re in hospital or worse. Sometimes as cyclists it is better to accept cars won’t always do what they are supposed to and we should be ready to work around the common errors drivers make.
Yes, if you pass someone you have to check and this has nothing to do with cars versus bikes. It is no different than if you as a cyclist pass another cyclist and then turn in front of that person. If you want to turn, just relax for a second. Plus in this case was actually turning into a driveway.
Imagine you running with a baby stroller on a sidewalk and a cyclist turns in front of you into the driveway. Do you think anyone wonders why you didn’t manage to stop?
Dynamic Du, You raise a fair question and I am happy to take you through it as I would agree that not all times is the driver at fault and that cyclists do often blame when they shouldn’t.
Like I said, it was an honest mistake on his behalf. It was determined to be his fault but there was obviously no intent.
I hope this answers your theory. I do agree that not always a cyclist is in the right. But this time I can tell you I was.
Cheers guys,
GB
when i read the article last night i had the same thoughts expressed by others as well: this guy is a class act.
i can say with some certainty i myself would not have been such a level headed gentleman about the situation.
hope he has a speedy recovery and “hats-off” to him for handling the situation so well. most people would not have.
Dynamic Du, You raise a fair question and I am happy to take you through it as I would agree that not all times is the driver at fault and that cyclists do often blame when they shouldn’t.
Like I said, it was an honest mistake on his behalf. It was determined to be his fault but there was obviously no intent.
I hope this answers your theory. I do agree that not always a cyclist is in the right. But this time I can tell you I was.
Cheers guys,
GB
Fantastic Greg, thanks so much for the clarification, all makes perfect sense now and yes, not much you could have done. As much as we try we can’t anticipate every drivers every move - especially when they are “wreckless”.
Wish you a speedy recovery.