Today I found out that David Meeks, owner of Privateer Bicycles and avid cyclist, trail runner and multisport athlete, was struck and killed by a truck while apparently commuting to work.
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_146214.asp
He will be terribly missed by the multisport folks in Chattanooga and surrounding areas, but surely no one will miss him as much as his family.
It is very sad how fast that precious gift of life sometimes gets taken away again.
God Speed David.
Thanks for the heads up, Herbert. Well said.
“The driver of the truck told police that he never saw the bicyclist and did not know there was anything wrong until he saw the victim in the street.”
Read it and weep.
Considering how many lights David tended to have flashing on his bike in low-light conditions (and I saw these both when riding myself and driving, he lived pretty close to my house) I think the claim “I didn’t see him” is pretty bogus.
If you drive close enough to a biker to snag his bag, you should be prosecuted.
IMO. In AZ, 3 feet is the law.
As always, I feel for those experiencing the loss. Go out and have a good ride
in their memory. I’m sorry.
-Jot
It is precious, and ephemeral. We never know when the clock runs out. I sad to read this. He sounded like a fine fellow. Your reverence for him says a lot about him.
My sympathies and prayers to his family and friends- and for us too who continue to ride on- for all our safety.
“The driver of the truck told police that he never saw the bicyclist and did not know there was anything wrong until he saw the victim in the street.”
Which is an obvious lie, because he would have to look into his side view mirror to notice the downed biker since he hit him with his side board and would have been up the road by the time the biker was on the ground.
The secondary tragedy will be the slap on the wrist this driver will likely get, since drivers are rarely found guilty of killing bikers, regardless of the circumstances.
I’ve made wife promise to litigate the crap out of the driver that kills me, if it wasn’t my fault.
Herbert, I’m very sorry to hear this. Condolences to you, his family and friends.
Monday is the one-year anniversary of the death of Katy’s and my teammate Matt Peterson and Kristy Gough, so hearing of yet another accident is truly sad.
clm
Wow,
What a tragedy.
I have always thought that a single pannier on the street side of the bike would be better than on the curb side.
Giving you a wider profile and such.
But I guess it doesn’t matter at all if the driver doesn’t want to “see” you.
Tragic indeed.
Everybody who endangers, harms or kills a cyclist should also be sentenced to riding a bike on a busy road with no shoulder for at least 30 min.
Would be much more “educational” than a fine or suspended license.
Rest in peace, David!
Its not just cyclists here.
I had an interesting conversation with one of our local accident reconstruction investigators in Chattanooga about this case. I had said that I would hope there will be some charges against the driver, at the very least allowing the 3’ passing zone required by Sate Law (passed in '07), but that I would prefer the driver be charged with manslaughter.
He is not the investigating officer on this particular case, but he told me that here, they don’t generally prosecute for any accident involving either a cyclist or pedestrian unless alcohol is involved. Totally wrong, but that’s Chattanooga. I guess here if they claim “I didn’t see the muchsmallerandtotallyvulnerable person” that they can’t be held responsible for not paying attention.
Here is a little update. The family had requested that cyclists would ride along in the funeral procession ahead of the hearse. Considering that the funeral was on a Monday early afternoon and the request came late on Sunday, a surprising number of cyclists showed up to give David Meek a tribute.
Here is an image of a ghostbike that was set up in the place where David was killed.
