Cycling advocate dies after collision with ____

[se7en]

link

Apex, N.C. ? An avid cycling advocate died after a collision with a vehicle on South Salem Street, near the Apex Peakway, shortly after noon Saturday, Apex police said. The cyclist was identified as Bruce W. Rosar, 52, of Cary. Friends said when Rosar got on his bike on Saturday moments before the wreck, he was in control.

Rosar, owner of Triangle Roadway Bicycling, had been bicycling in the Triangle for more than two decades, according to his Web site. He served as the director of the North Carolina Active Transportation Alliance and was a founding member of the NC Coalition for Bicycle Driving. ?He was passionate about pretty much anything about bicycles, and he put a lot of his heart and soul into making bicycling safer," said Scott Chilcote, of the NC Bicycle Club.

Friends said Rosar was a defensive driving expert.

Hate to see anyone die like this but even more so for a guy working to stop this kind of thing.

 

[NFS4]

Yeah, saw it on the news last night. Sucks to hear about anyone dying, but given the traffic patterns here in Wake county, I wouldn't be caught dead riding a bike on city streets. 3,000+ lb car or 5,000+ SUV vs bicycle = pwnage.

Yeah, yeah, cyclists should be able to share the road. Yeah, yeah, drivers should be made more aware of cyclists. Bottom line, it's crazy enough driving city streets in a vehicle; setting yourself up for fail on a bicycle on city streets is your own gamble with meeting your maker.

 

[Madwand1]

Police Capt. Ann Stephens said a preliminary investigation shows the vehicle was traveling south on Salem Street and the bicycle was going north on Salem Street. The cyclist turned left toward the Apex Peakway and crossed into the path of the vehicle.

Stephens said the vehicle involved in the wreck stopped at the scene.

"The guy (driving the vehicle) didn't even have a chance to react. It was like instantaneous. He just went 'boom' and hit the car," witness Peter Schenck said.

Making a left turn in traffic on bicycle is inherently dangerous, and this time he didn't do what he needed to do to be safe. I've made dumb left turns too -- it's easy to make a mistake in some such cases with traffic from multiple directions potentially, etc., and for that reason taking two pedestrian crossings is often the better thing to do.

 

[amdhunter]

His own fault. It sucks he died, but he is just as retarded as the guy who tried to outrun that train. I'll have to side with the car driver on this one.

 

[waggy]

i agree with amdhunter. it sucks he died but he should have been paying attention to traffic.

 

[nanette1985]

Now he's REALLY an advocate for bike safety: don't do what he did. What a sad story.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Sad.

 

[91TTZ]

Sad, but he was at fault. That's the problem with riding bikes on the street- whether the accident is your fault or not, if you're unlucky enough to be in an accident it often results in death.

It's still sad to hear that someone died.

 

[GeekDrew]

It's definitely tragic when anyone dies / is killed. Hopefully cyclists learn to keep themselves off of the street then.

<dons flamesuit>

 

[Babbles]

Sucks that a person needlessly died, but from what I read it sound like he just pulled right into oncoming traffic. Almost an ironic death I suppose.

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: Babbles
Sucks that a person needlessly died, but from what I read it sound like he just pulled right into oncoming traffic. Almost an ironic death I suppose.

As far as we know, the other car had a stop light, flashing yellow/red, or yield sign or something. Other witnesses didn't stop. Also, if a so-called "smart light" doesn't see a bike, most jurisdictions allow you to treat it as defective (four-way stop, then go when safe to procede). Depending on the conditions, it may have been impossible to know when it was truly safe if the speed limit and visibility didn't help.

 

[Drakkon]

How is it these guys think they are invincible because they don a helmet and are on a bike when going up against a 1 ton vehicle? Wear all the fancy gear you want and stick to the bike paths. Its what i do when i ride my bike and seems to keep me safe. If there ain't a bike path where I am going it ain't worth risking my life over. I encounter all these geniuses on the highway going out of Vegas...on a highway where people are going 70mph+ they ride on the line of the shoulder while semi's wizz past. How there aren't more ore of them splattered across the road I don't know.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I'm waiting for a lane splitting motorcyclist to knock himself out on the mirrors of my F250 here in CA.

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I'm waiting for a lane splitting motorcyclist to knock himself out on the mirrors of my F250 here in CA.

Why? Lane-splitting helps traffic. Obviously, they shouldn't do it if there isn't enough room, but there's no reason to anticipate it like you want it to happen.

 

[Nik]

Roadways are meant for motor vehicles. Period. Not pedestrians. Not bicyclists. Not little kids who can't be bothered to find some place else to play.

 

[Sea Moose]

im not touching this thread with a ten foot pole

















I cant help myself

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Yeah, saw it on the news last night. Sucks to hear about anyone dying, but given the traffic patterns here in Wake county, I wouldn't be caught dead riding a bike on city streets. 3,000+ lb car or 5,000+ SUV vs bicycle = pwnage.

Well of course you wouldn't be caught dead, you'd be caught alive, and then the impact of that catch would cause the trauma that would lead to your death.

 

[SunnyD]

Me thinks this is a Safeway call out thread. :laugh:

 

[Tiamat]

for the bicyclist

As for the thread,

lawnchair, Popcorn, :beer:

 

[Sea Moose]

I cant help myself

 

[Sea Moose]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Me thinks this is a Safeway call out thread. :laugh:

If i know safeway, he would pull a gun out of his lycra panties and shoot the driver before he died

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I'm waiting for a lane splitting motorcyclist to knock himself out on the mirrors of my F250 here in CA.

Why? Lane-splitting helps traffic. Obviously, they shouldn't do it if there isn't enough room, but there's no reason to anticipate it like you want it to happen.

Uh...

/furiously taps sarcasm meter

If I ever look back and see some asshat on a motorcycle weaving between cars, I'd crank the wheel and give him a taste of side mirror too.

Idiots.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Yeah, saw it on the news last night. Sucks to hear about anyone dying, but given the traffic patterns here in Wake county, I wouldn't be caught dead riding a bike on city streets. 3,000+ lb car or 5,000+ SUV vs bicycle = pwnage.

Yeah, yeah, cyclists should be able to share the road. Yeah, yeah, drivers should be made more aware of cyclists. Bottom line, it's crazy enough driving city streets in a vehicle; setting yourself up for fail on a bicycle on city streets is your own gamble with meeting your maker.

I hate bicyclists. It's hard enough to deal with crazy drivers, let alone bikers.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I'm waiting for a lane splitting motorcyclist to knock himself out on the mirrors of my F250 here in CA.

Why? Lane-splitting helps traffic. Obviously, they shouldn't do it if there isn't enough room, but there's no reason to anticipate it like you want it to happen.

Uh...

/furiously taps sarcasm meter

If I ever look back and see some asshat on a motorcycle weaving between cars, I'd crank the wheel and give him a taste of side mirror too.

Idiots.

Lane splitting in traffic is legal. If you would do that, would you also paralyze a 17 year old walking down the sidewalk, minding his own business? Would you also cripple a 32 year old man delivering your UPS package?

Fuck sakes, think before you speak. They are allowed to split lanes in California. If you turned your wheels to hit them on purpose, you are a fucking criminal. The implications of doing something like that are endless -- you could paralyze or kill the person on the motorcycle. And for what? For stopping something that does affect you at all?

As for the rest of the thread posters:

He got what he deserved? He is now an advocate for staying the fuck off the road? Morons. I'm not exactly sure what happened at that intersection, but neither are you guys. If he rolled into oncoming traffic, then yes, it is his fault. That does not mean that he got what he deserved. If the oncoming traffic broke the law and sped through a red light, it is their fault 90%, his fault 10% -- for not taking the extra time to ensure that the car was stopping.

The lack of emotional aptitude is astonishing. The next time you say that some good guy deserved to die, maybe think about people close to you. Do they deserve to die right now?

Did acemcmac deserve to die? Using your logic, yes.

 

[Babbles]

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: Babbles
Sucks that a person needlessly died, but from what I read it sound like he just pulled right into oncoming traffic. Almost an ironic death I suppose.

As far as we know, the other car had a stop light, flashing yellow/red, or yield sign or something. Other witnesses didn't stop. Also, if a so-called "smart light" doesn't see a bike, most jurisdictions allow you to treat it as defective (four-way stop, then go when safe to procede). Depending on the conditions, it may have been impossible to know when it was truly safe if the speed limit and visibility didn't help.

From my experience in reading these sort of traffic accident stories, there tends to be reporting if there was some unlawful action by one (or more) of the drivers. There was no note of the vehicle in question doing some illegal and in fact a witness said:

"The guy (driving the vehicle) didn't even have a chance to react. It was like instantaneous. He just went 'boom' and hit the car," witness Peter Schenck said.

If the vehicle did indeed run a light/sign then I would tend to believe that the witness would have described it as such.

Basically it is more parsimonious to assume that the vehicle did not do anything unlawful as opposed to assume that the vehicle was the one that did everything illegal.