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Nine cyclists mowed down by idiot, five dead

C

cbrunny

Diamond Member
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/local/ka...iple-dead-after-car-hits-bicyclists/235907309

COOPER TOWNSHIP, MICH. - Five bicyclists were killed and four others seriously injured when they were struck by a pickup truck Tuesday evening on a road in Cooper Township.

In the half-hour before the bicyclists were struck, law enforcement in three jurisdictions received calls about a blue pickup truck driving erratically, Kalamazoo County prosecutor Jeff Getting told reporters in a late-night news conference Tuesday night.

At 6:36 p.m., before officers could track down the truck, a blue Chevrolet pickup headed north on North Westnedge Avenue near G Avenue slammed into the group of nine riders as they climbed a hill near Kalamazoo County's Markin Glen Park. The truck became disabled after striking the bicyclists, and when police arrived, they found a man they believed to be the driver not far away on foot.

The man was arrested and remained in police custody Tuesday night.

The crash occurred on a tree-lined, two-lane stretch of North Westnedge Avenue, one of Kalamazoo's main streets as it climbs a hill out of the Kalamazoo River valley near the county's Markin Glen Park.
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Sad story. Pay attention, people. This individual is obviously a terrible driver and that does not extend to everyone, but it is important to remember that vehicles can be deadly.
 
Jesus...my interest in road biking just dropped another notch. I'll mountain bike all day long...but I don't trust drivers one bit...especially with all the distractions these days.
 
Yeah it can be scary out there. I did about 130km total last week and had two close calls. One the driver didn't see me when stopped at a stop sign, my right of way, she was moving straight thru as was I. Had to emergency manouver out of the way. She seemed pretty shaken up by it. Definitely accidental but serious nonetheless.

The other I'm pretty sure was intentional - not that he tried to hit me but that he intentionally tried to turn in front of me. He was at a stop sign turning left. I was approaching the intersection with no stop sign signalling that I was turning left (towards him). He just went out in front and I had to slam my brakes. He definitely saw me. We made solid eye contact.

The scary thing is that those are only the ones I know about. Our city is pretty heavy into cycling, so I'm surprised we don't hear more about accidents locally.
 
I always try to be extra alert around pick up trucks on the road. Much higher probability of douche-baggery and recklessness, from my sample size. But yeah, it's just a risk you take when road biking, I try to stay on one way mountain roads as much as I can. At least here, this is prosecuted, they even sent a cop to jail for mowing down two cyclists when he fell asleep at the wheel.
 
For every 1 nut in a motor vehicle there are 10 dangerous people on Bikes that dont obey traffic laws.

I dont know what happened but I am not making any snap judgement.
 
piasabird said:
For every 1 nut in a motor vehicle there are 10 dangerous people on Bikes that dont obey traffic laws.

I dont know what happened but I am not making any snap judgement.
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for every 10 bicyclists who don't obey traffic laws there are 1000000 drivers that don't obey traffic laws
 
Man I don't like cyclists slowing me down one bit but to be driving so bad (or be so intoxicated) as to mow through 9 of them and killing more than half, that's just fucked.

Also the guy allegedly had 3 people call the police to report him driving erratically before he hit them, throw the friggen book at this asshole. I'm not sure about yall but I see shitty drivers every day so it takes quite a friggen lot for me to see one shitty enough to actually waste my time calling the cops.
 
piasabird said:
For every 1 nut in a motor vehicle there are 10 dangerous people on Bikes that dont obey traffic laws.

I dont know what happened but I am not making any snap judgement.
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You gotta be doing something reckless to mow down 9 bicycles. If it was one I might agree with you but even if the cyclists didn't have the right of way how considering the footage I saw of the location I don't see how he possibly shouldn't have been able to see them and take the appropriate measures not to hit them in time. Then there is the fact that he hit them with such force as to kill 5 of them.

If they were in the middle of the wrong lane and going over a hill while he was coming in the opposite direction I'd agree with you. Same situation but a sharp curve. From the video the speed limit is 35mph which is a stopping distance of 60' but lets say 80 plus reaction time. Lets give him another 120' just to make a nice even 200', looks like he had that all day long and even if he didn't he shouldn't have hit them at a non-fatal speed.

Granted I didn't see the entire scene and there were vehicles blocking some of the road, I didn't see any marks on the ground to indicate that he slammed on the brakes. Even with ABS you will have intermittent skid marks.

To top it all off the police caught the guy walking away from the scene because his vehicle was disabled versus catching him rendering assistance to the people he just mowed down. That doesn't scream innocent accident to me.
 
My friend wasn't involved but she told me she runs up that way all the time and she was familiar with that group of cyclists.
 
It sounds like this particular motorist was having some issues and was an accident waiting to happen, but, sadly, there's a great many motorists that love to fuck with cyclists on the road. I haven't ridden in almost a year due to an accident that almost broke my hip, but I've ridden on and off for the better part of 50 years. Motorists like to blame cyclists for breaking the law while they're breaking the law -- kind of like the guy doing 65 in a 55 and bitching about the other guy doing 67.

Yep, cyclists do occasionally impede traffic and cause people to slow down, but cyclists are not the only ones that do that. How about buses, particularly school buses. What about farm tractors? What about pedestrians in the crosswalk or anyplace else they might step onto the road in front of you.

And, I'll second 'senseamps' observation that pickup truck drivers are much more likely to fuck with cyclists and more so if the truck is an older/beater type. But, in addition to pickups large SUV's are also more likely to fuck with cyclists.

I once had a couple of good-old-boy types drive by in a beater pickup and as they past me the passenger threw a slice of pizza at me. A driver behind him got his license plate and called the cops -- I have no idea what happened and no one called to get my story so...

But, to the asshole that suggested some equivalence in bad behavior between motorists and cyclists let me point out that while it's very easy for a motorist to injure or kill a cyclist the opposite, though not impossible, is vastly less likely.


Brian
 
Ns1 said:
for every 10 bicyclists who don't obey traffic laws there are 1000000 drivers that don't obey traffic laws
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LOL. There could be a cyclist Holocaust and someone would immediately complain about traffic laws.

Edit: meant to quote pizza bird but the point stands.
 
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As annoying as cyclists can be...you do what you can to avoid an accident. Whomever this person is that killed 5 people by driving like an asshole should most likely be executed.
 
On March 3rd a roofing company pickup driven by a methhead who said that he had a "head rush" and laid his head on the steering wheel for a minute killed two cyclists, severely injured my stepmother and gave minor injuries to a couple more. They were standing in a bike lane at a red light in Tucson. I wonder if this is going to happen more and more.
 
who? said:
On March 3rd a roofing company pickup driven by a methhead who said that he had a "head rush" and laid his head on the steering wheel for a minute killed two cyclists, severely injured my stepmother and gave minor injuries to a couple more. They were standing in a bike lane at a red light in Tucson. I wonder if this is going to happen more and more.
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Jesus... that's horrible. I hope he is in prison for a long time.... Is your stepmom doing ok?
 
Ironically, there is a bike path that runs parallel to that road.
RIP and I am glad they caught the guy. 2 bad storries from my hood this year already.
 
jaha2000 said:
Ironically, there is a bike path that runs parallel to that road.
RIP and I am glad they caught the guy. 2 bad storries from my hood this year already.
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I'm not sure of this area, but a lot of bike paths are not meant for serious cyclists going 20mph+ so when you have a group of more serious cyclists they can't actually use the cycling path and must use the road. Most cycling paths are actually multi use roads more intended for walking/running at less than 10mph so going faster than that is a problem.


Brian
 
Second-degree murder charges were authorized this afternoon against a 50-year-old Battle Creek man suspected of plowing through nine cyclists, killing five, on Tuesday.

Charles E. Pickett faces five counts of second degree murder, along with four counts of reckless driving causing serious impairment. The charges were authorized by District Judge Haenicke at the request of Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting, who was holding a press conference this afternoon.

It wasn't immediately clear when Pickett will be arraigned.
 
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