This can't be good.....

-------------


An elderly man has died in hospital after being struck by a cyclist in Melbourne's south on the weekend.

The 77-year-old Mentone man was crossing Beach Road at a traffic light near the intersection of Naples Road in Mentone at 8.30am on Saturday.

At the time, the "Hell Ride" - a weekly communal ride involving cyclists in groups of 100 or more - was taking place along Beach Road.

A spokeswoman from Victoria Police said the elderly man had signalled his intention to cross the road as cyclists approached, but he was struck down and received serious head injuries.

The man was taken to the Alfred hospital, but a spokesman said he died today.

Police said a 30-year-old man from St Kilda East would be issued with a penalty notice for failing to obey a traffic light. The penalty carries a $210 fine.

Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

theage.com.au


------------

Now I have no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding this, but in the same way I'd be outraged if a motorist hurt me and got away with a pitiful fine, $210 seems an awfully cheap way to kill someone...

No doubt the Hell ride will be surrounded by controversy once again...

eddiec wrote:
> This can't be good.....
>
> -------------
>
>
> An elderly man has died in hospital after being struck by a cyclist in
> Melbourne's south on the weekend.
>
> The 77-year-old Mentone man was crossing Beach Road at a traffic light
> near the intersection of Naples Road in Mentone at 8.30am on Saturday.
>
> At the time, the "Hell Ride" - a weekly communal ride involving
> cyclists in groups of 100 or more - was taking place along Beach Road.
>
> A spokeswoman from Victoria Police said the elderly man had signalled
> his intention to cross the road as cyclists approached, but he was
> struck down and received serious head injuries.
>
> The man was taken to the Alfred hospital, but a spokesman said he died
> today.
>
> Police said a 30-year-old man from St Kilda East would be issued with a
> penalty notice for failing to obey a traffic light. The penalty carries
> a $210 fine.
>
> Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.
>
> theage.com.au
>
>
> ------------
>
> Now I have no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding this, but in
> the same way I'd be outraged if a motorist hurt me and got away with a
> pitiful fine, $210 seems an awfully cheap way to kill someone...
>
> No doubt the Hell ride will be surrounded by controversy once again...

for that ride, it was never matter of "if", but "when", someone would
get seriously hurt or killed.

Hmmm, sounds a 'little' late for the 'Hell ride', although they would have been in the vicinity at this time. If the responsible party is able to be identified they need to have the 'book' thrown at them

Regardless as to whether the "hell Ride" was involved, the cyclist(s) who ran the lights should be charged with a heck of a lot more than failing to obey a traffic light. Manslaughter comes to mind!
Lets face we get all upset when a motorist mows down a cyclist, why should a cyclist killing a ped be any different?

In article <steve46au.2d8zsz@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com>,
steve46au <steve46au.2d8zsz@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> wrote:

> Manslaughter comes to mind!
> Lets face we get all upset when a motorist mows down a cyclist, why
> should a cyclist killing a ped be any different?

When motorists start getting charged with manslaughter, you will have a
point. Not necessarily a good one, but more than you have now.

--
Shane Stanley

steve46au wrote:

> Regardless as to whether the "hell Ride" was involved, the cyclist(s)
> who ran the lights should be charged with a heck of a lot more than
> failing to obey a traffic light. Manslaughter comes to mind!
> Lets face we get all upset when a motorist mows down a cyclist, why
> should a cyclist killing a ped be any different?

Agreed. We play by the same rules, or at least, we should.

Bleve wrote:

> Agreed. We play by the same rules, or at least, we should.

I didn't see it written this was the only charge - there may well be
further charges after the investigation and report to the Coroner. I
expect the investigation will comment on the two sides of the story and
what charges are appropriate. A troll?

Donga

How is the bike?

"eddiec" <eddiec.2d8dl0@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> wrote in message
news:eddiec.2d8dl0@no-mx.forums.cyclingforums.com...
>
> This can't be good.....
>
> -------------
>
>
> An elderly man has died in hospital after being struck by a cyclist in
> Melbourne's south on the weekend.
>
> The 77-year-old Mentone man was crossing Beach Road at a traffic light
> near the intersection of Naples Road in Mentone at 8.30am on Saturday.
>
> At the time, the "Hell Ride" - a weekly communal ride involving
> cyclists in groups of 100 or more - was taking place along Beach Road.
>
> A spokeswoman from Victoria Police said the elderly man had signalled
> his intention to cross the road as cyclists approached, but he was
> struck down and received serious head injuries.
>
> The man was taken to the Alfred hospital, but a spokesman said he died
> today.
>
> Police said a 30-year-old man from St Kilda East would be issued with a
> penalty notice for failing to obey a traffic light. The penalty carries
> a $210 fine.
>
> Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.
>
> theage.com.au
>
>
> ------------
>
> Now I have no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding this, but in
> the same way I'd be outraged if a motorist hurt me and got away with a
> pitiful fine, $210 seems an awfully cheap way to kill someone...
>
> No doubt the Hell ride will be surrounded by controversy once again...
>
>
> --
> eddiec
>

Hopefully the Coroners findings will come out quickly.


From The Australian..



http://tinyurl.com/gzrb3

AN elderly man has died after being knocked down on a pedestrian crossing by a speeding cyclist in an unofficial race called the "Hell Ride".



James Gould, 77, was on the crossing in Mentone in Victoria, when he was hit by the cyclist about 8.30am (AEST) on Saturday. He died in hospital yesterday.

The 30-year-old cyclist, from East St Kilda, will be issued with a penalty notice for allegedly failing to stop at a red light.

A police source said the rider could not be charged with culpable driving because he was not behind the wheel of a car.

The Hell Ride is a loosely organised race that attracts about 300 riders every Saturday.

It starts at a Black Rock roundabout at a designated time then snakes along Beach Rd to Mt Eliza and back.

Cyclists reportedly reach more than 60km/h as they race along the bay. The ride has been staged for more than 20 years and is not officially aligned with a cycling club.

Mr Gould, from Mentone, was on a walk when he was hit while crossing the road in front of the Mentone Surf Life Saving Club, near Naples Rd.

He was taken to The Alfred hospital with serious injuries.

Police told the Herald Sun the riders started early and were on their way back from Frankston when he was hit.

Mr Gould strolled each day along the strip as a morning ritual.

His neighbour of four years, Richard Sherburn, said Mr Gould was a jovial man who was well liked in Mentone.

"He used to walk down there every day and he'd smile and wave, and talk to everyone," he said. "He loved living here near the beach and he was always such a happy man."

Mr Gould, who was born in England, had never married or had children, and told his neighbours he had no living family.

He jokingly referred to himself as the orphan.

Neighbours said Mr Gould worked at a city accountancy firm for 30 years and since retiring often returned to England by ship for holidays.

A police officer said the Hell Ride was a regular problem through the bayside suburbs as they raced along at up to 60km/h.

"It's an unofficial race. That's the easiest way to put it," the source said.

"These guys have no regard for motorists.

"They ride on the wrong side of the road, they don't give way to cars, they don't stop at red lights."

On 2006-08-29, sinus (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
> eddiec Wrote:
>> This can't be good.....
>
> Hopefully the Coroners findings will come out quickly.

It won't stop them coming out with utter bollocks like the following:

> "It's an unofficial race. That's the easiest way to put it," the source
> said.
>
> "These guys have no regard for motorists.
>
> "They ride on the wrong side of the road, they don't give way to cars,
> they don't stop at red lights."

Furffu!

--
TimC
pivot_root manpage: BUGS:
Some of the more obscure uses of pivot_root may quickly lead to insanity.

The implication is that all cyclists who ride up/down port Melb to Frankston are involved in the "Hell ride".

The whole 'lemmings' behaviour in bunches out on the road (outside competition) has got to stop.

TimC wrote:
> On 2006-08-29, sinus (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> >
> > eddiec Wrote:
> >> This can't be good.....
> >
> > Hopefully the Coroners findings will come out quickly.
>
> It won't stop them coming out with utter bollocks like the following:

You're sure that's bollocks?

pffta.... I got caught at the back on a light change just the other week...

Where is the utter bollocks there? I think it describes it rather well.

On 2006-08-29, Bleve (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
> TimC wrote:
>> On 2006-08-29, sinus (aka Bruce)
>> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>> >
>> > eddiec Wrote:
>> >> This can't be good.....
>> >
>> > Hopefully the Coroners findings will come out quickly.
>>
>> It won't stop them coming out with utter bollocks like the following:
>
> You're sure that's bollocks?

<unsnip>
>> "It's an unofficial race. That's the easiest way to put it," the source
>> said.

OK, I'll give that for the front 50 or so of the bunch. The rest
there are merely participating with not a hope of taking out any of
the sprints

>> "These guys have no regard for motorists.

Not the ones who overtake stupidly, nor the ones that try to scream
across 3 lanes to turn left infront of the bunch from the traffic
light, even though they placed themselves in the right lane in the
first place by choice, as they arrived there well before we did. No,
why?

We had no problems with motorists who didn't choose to do something
stupid though. Maybe I was riding in an anomalous hell ride?

>> "They ride on the wrong side of the road, they don't give way to cars,
>> they don't stop at red lights."

Did we blatantly go through all red lights? We stopped at all lights
that were red before we got there, although on the ride I did, we
pushed through a single amber and subsequent red for a short time
before the rest of the bunch pulled up. No drivers or peds were
threatening to push their ways forward, so it wasn't horribly unsafe.

There was no riding on the wrong side of the road. And we yielded to
any motorist who we were legally obliged to give way to, apart from
that one short red-light episode (perhaps the copper thought that we
didn't give way to cars that wanted to pull out in front of us. Well
duh. It's nice to be in a situation where there's more of us who can
beat an errant motorist to a pulp, than them, for once).


In short, the quotation was a somewhat bent version of the truth.

--
TimC
"The application did not fail successfully because of an error"