A picture's worth a 1000 words...

[tonyzackery]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090610_82_a1_mangle509819

http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleid=20090611_12_A1_AnOkla416397

http://www.tulsaworld.com/articleimages/2009/thumbs/20090610_borlandmug0610_thumb.jpg

Wrong place, wrong time...

 

[frenchyge]

I agree that incident was sad. Those riders were fairly well-known racers in these parts and will be missed.

I have to take exception to the "wrong place, wrong time" sentiment, however. This horrible event is the result of a crime on the driver's part rather than a poor choice of timing on the part of the cyclists or some mystical, cosmic coincidence of time and space. Negligent behavior does not an accident make.

Let's hope the jury agrees with me.

 

[JTE83]

It's crazy to bike on a hwy... They do this in TX too but the worst I saw was a biker going opposite direction of traffic on the side road of the hwy and he could have easily gotten run over by a sudden car's swerve to an off ramp from behind another vehicle or truck... He was taking bad chances.

People are idiots and I don't count drivers being safe to us bikers...

 

[tonyzackery]

I agree that incident was sad. Those riders were fairly well-known racers in these parts and will be missed.

I have to take exception to the "wrong place, wrong time" sentiment, however. This horrible event is the result of a crime on the driver's part rather than a poor choice of timing on the part of the cyclists or some mystical, cosmic coincidence of time and space. Negligent behavior does not an accident make.

Let's hope the jury agrees with me.

I believe in fate. I have no problem with the apparent fact that you don't - to each his own.

Negligent behavior can make an accident. Not defending the driver, but I doubt it was her intention to run down these cyclists. Nonetheless, negligent behavior can be criminal, and punished accordingly.

 

[frenchyge]

I believe in fate. I have no problem with the apparent fact that you don't - to each his own.

Fair enough. How tragic for those 2 fated to be road-kill for an alcohol-impaired driver with previous offenses.

It's crazy to bike on a hwy... They do this in TX too

Not sure which highways you are thinking of, but it's not uncommon for rural 2-lane roads with driveways and mailboxes to have highway designators rather than street names. Did you look at the picture and the map? Nothing strikes me as crazy about riding on that ~10ft wide shoulder pictured, unless you're referring to how all cyclists are crazy and taking their lives in their hands by expecting drivers to refrain from running them down from behind.

... but the worst I saw was a biker going opposite direction of traffic on the side road of the hwy and he could have easily gotten run over by a sudden car's swerve to an off ramp from behind another vehicle or truck... He was taking bad chances.

People are idiots and I don't count drivers being safe to us bikers...

Interesting, but the story is about 3 cyclists being run down from behind on the shoulder by an alcohol-impaired motorist. I'm failing to see how other cyclists doing other things has any bearing.

 

[swampy1970]

Frenchy,

This wasnt a rural 2 lane hick road... It was two lanes each way with a huge center divide, something similar to riding I-5 between LA and Sacramento. I wouldn't ride something like that but it doesn't mean that one shouldn't be able too, nor does it take away from the fact that the woman in question should be stapped down and zapped with a million volts DC.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=161st+West+Avenue,+sand+springs,+ok&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=16.72257,43.066406&ie=UTF8&ll=36.13635,-96.174155&spn=0.002275,0.005772&t=h&z=18&iwloc=A

"Warren said the driver tried to leave the scene but was eventually stopped by other motorists. Authorities found an open container of alcohol in the SUV and detained the woman while they took a blood sample for a toxicology test."

You just gotta hope that she comes up infront of a hard nosed judge and jury who puts her away for a long time...

 

[frenchyge]

This wasnt a rural 2 lane hick road... It was two lanes each way with a huge center divide, something similar to riding I-5 between LA and Sacramento. I wouldn't ride something like that but it doesn't mean that one shouldn't be able too, nor does it take away from the fact that the woman in question should be stapped down and zapped with a million volts DC.

Agree, the pic shows 2 lanes each way with a center divide. I was responding more to the general statement that it's "crazy to bike on highways" (like these cyclists are somehow at fault for doing so) since highways come in such a variety of shapes and sizes. Even on that satellite pic, you can see that there are homes/farms along that road, with driveways and roads entering and crossing the roadway rather than the on/off-ramps and overpasses of a major interstate freeway -- that's no I-5.

I agree that I would prefer to just stay off of that kind of road (not that that would keep me from being run over from behind by an alcohol-impaired driver on all the rest of the roads), but we also have a short stretch here where the state-highway shoulder is the only way to cross a river, and so we do ride as a group along the shoulder of that road (legally) from time to time.

http://tinyurl.com/lz5n3g

Fortunately, the cycling community here has made a lot of headway with city planning about including bike/pedestrian access on new bridgework.

The green line which the article shows as the "route commonly used by cyclists" appears to take the frontage road along the north bank of the river, then crosses the dam on the west end and follows the frontage road as far as possible along the south bank until it dumps into hwy 51 for the stretch back to the bridge at hwy 97 in Sand Springs. Looks like a pretty nice route other than the shoulder stretch along 51 and the bridge crossing on 97, but it doesn't look like there are any other paved options for that part of the return trip on the south bank either.

 

[Yojimbo_]

As her punishment, the woman should be made to ride a bicycle along a road, and then be run down by a speeding SUV.

If the punishment really fit the crime, I think there'd be a lot less crime and lot more responsible behaviour.

 

[j-dogg]

that is just horrible, hope she burns in hell.

Figures some dumb broad in a bloated SUV not paying attention to where she is going, I would have set bond at a mil a piece for that, and half-a-mil for the lucky survivor.

 

[kellyjdrummer]

I'll bet a years pay the cell phone in her cage had text evidence dated within seconds of the accident. I use the term 'accident' very loosely.

 

[Canzures]

this is most unfortunate...I hope that ***** doesn't get jail time...jail time IMO only puts a burden to the tax payers. she need effin death penalty.