Girl dies in cycle race



S

Spider1977

Guest
From today's Sunday Tasmania

A 14-year old Launceston girl was killed yesterday following a collisio
on the North-West involving a bicycle, truck and a Mitsubishi ute

Police said the girl was riding her bike in a junior cycle race a
Moriarty about 2pm and collided with the truck after turning int
another road

The girl died instantl

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

No doubt we will get more details in next few days. I understand th
girl had been picked in the TIS Talent Identification program and wa
really enjoying her participation in the sport

What a tragedy! A reminder to us all, be careful and be safe


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From The Mercury:
http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,8624977%5E3462,00.html

Shock death of rising cyclist By JOHN BRIGGS 09feb0

TASMANIA'S cycle racing community was yesterday struggling to come t
terms with the death of rising star Samantha Hellyer

The 15-year-old state junior champion was killed in a freak accident a
Moriarty, near Latrobe, while competing in the junior division of th
Devon 80, one of the state's major road races

Sam, from the Launceston suburb of Trevallyn, was killed instantly in a
accident involving a truck and a utility on Saturday

Racing was cancelled immediately after the accident as the shock new
reached fellow riders, family, officials and friends

(more details in article


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What a terrible story spida. I've had a few close ones of late on the
tar and have decided to spend more time in the forest on the MTB. You
still have 4WD's and motorbikes to contend with but that's only on the
fire tracks and you can generally hear them coming. However the single
track is all ours!



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Spider1977 wrote:
> No doubt we will get more details in next few days. I understand the
> girl had been picked in the TIS Talent Identification program and was
> really enjoying her participation in the sport.
> What a tragedy! A reminder to us all, be careful and be safe.



This is extremely distressing, a talented girl with a potential cyclin
career ahead of her. I was reading the news article on Sunday, the
remembered seeing the TIS signage on skinsuits worn by younger cyclist
at the Austral Wheel Race. :

A tragic loss


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Mandatory death sentence for any driver found guilty of killing
cyclis


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Was this actually a recent incident

Seem to remember an identical thing happening in a club race in Tassi
when the road was not closed off properly and rider went round a corne
to hit car head o


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flyingdutch wrote:
> Was this actually a recent incident?
> Seem to remember an identical thing happening in a club race in Tassie
> when the road was not closed off properly and rider went round a corner
> to hit car head on



This does sound like a really freaky accident and the cyclist was jus
in the wrong place at the wrong time. :( See Spider1977's link below

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php...feb04/feb08new


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Spider1977 <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> From today's Sunday Tasmanian
>
> A 14-year old Launceston girl was killed yesterday following a collision
> on the North-West involving a bicycle, truck and a Mitsubishi ute.
>
> Police said the girl was riding her bike in a junior cycle race at
> Moriarty about 2pm and collided with the truck after turning into
> another road.
>
> The girl died instantly
>


"Witnesses said Sam swung out wide on a corner as she cycled out of a
side road.

She collided with a farm truck, which rammed a utility as its driver
apparently tried to avoid the young cyclist."

What the ...? If the route required riders to pull out of a side road,
and the route wasn't closed to traffic, why was there no marshal there
directing traffic? Or are racers expected to stop and give way to
traffic in these events?

Allister
 
[email protected] (Allister McLaren) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Spider1977 <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > From today's Sunday Tasmanian
> >
> > A 14-year old Launceston girl was killed yesterday following a collision
> > on the North-West involving a bicycle, truck and a Mitsubishi ute.
> >
> > Police said the girl was riding her bike in a junior cycle race at
> > Moriarty about 2pm and collided with the truck after turning into
> > another road.
> >
> > The girl died instantly
> >

>
> "Witnesses said Sam swung out wide on a corner as she cycled out of a
> side road.
>
> She collided with a farm truck, which rammed a utility as its driver
> apparently tried to avoid the young cyclist."
>
> What the ...? If the route required riders to pull out of a side road,
> and the route wasn't closed to traffic, why was there no marshal there
> directing traffic? Or are racers expected to stop and give way to
> traffic in these events?
>


Perhaps she was turning left onto a road, and went wide into the right
lane ? A marshall would probably have stopped the traffic in the left
lane, but would not for oncoming traffic in the right lane.
 
flyingdutch wrote:
> Was this actually a recent incident?
> Seem to remember an identical thing happening in a club race in Tassie
> when the road was not closed off properly and rider went round a corner
> to hit car head on



Happened on Saturday

I also wonder about the circumstances of the control of road traffic. I
races I've participated in Tassie there are usually marshalls i
vehicles at the front and rear of the field plus good signage at th
start and turning points. Usually races are held on routes fairl
regularly at the same time, so locals are well aware that there is goin
to be bicycle traffic, not all of them appreciate it mind you. In thi
case it sounds as if traffic was local, because the area is fairly quie
country roads. I'm sure there are race organisers who are strugglin
with their emotions at the moment. There is no value in apportionin
blame on anyone. It's just one of those unforseen things that happen
which can't be covered unless you have marshalls on every single corne
and even then it may not make any difference. But we should learn fro
this incident

I hope there are no knee jerk reactions to ban road racing. We don'
want the farcical situation that occurred in NSW last year. It would b
hard to find enough volunteers to marshall road events and cover ever
circumstance, especially in Tasmania

Just remember how vulnerable we all are on a bicycle in the face o
large chunks of metal with wheels. Take care and live for another da
when you can post to CF


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[email protected] (rickster) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> [email protected] (Allister McLaren) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > Spider1977 <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...


> > What the ...? If the route required riders to pull out of a side road,
> > and the route wasn't closed to traffic, why was there no marshal there
> > directing traffic? Or are racers expected to stop and give way to
> > traffic in these events?
> >

>
> Perhaps she was turning left onto a road, and went wide into the right
> lane ? A marshall would probably have stopped the traffic in the left
> lane, but would not for oncoming traffic in the right lane.


That's what it looks like. However, a) there was no mention that the
intersection was attended by a marshal. It seems to be a fairly
thorough report, I'm sure it would have been mentioned. and b) In a
race it's reasonable to expect that riders will by trying to go
through corners as fast as possible, thus they will be using the
entire width of the road. A marshal, if there was one should have been
aware of this and rovided some warning to the drivers or the rider, or
both.

This raises some questions. Were the racers made aware that there
would be traffic on the course? With such foreknowledge I for one
would have been riding out of a side road more cautiously. How many
other riders were in the vicinity at the time of the crash? Did they
go through the intersection in a similar manner? Were there 'cycle
race in progress' signs posted along the route?

Just feeling around for answers. It seems to me that the race
organisers may have been negligent and contributed to making the race
more dangerous than it needed to be.

Allister
 
"Allister McLaren" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> That's what it looks like. However, a) there was no mention that the
> intersection was attended by a marshal. It seems to be a fairly
> thorough report, I'm sure it would have been mentioned. and b) In a
> race it's reasonable to expect that riders will by trying to go
> through corners as fast as possible, thus they will be using the
> entire width of the road. A marshal, if there was one should have been
> aware of this and rovided some warning to the drivers or the rider, or
> both.


Before a lot of the road races I've done, the marshalls have said that
any rider caught on the wrong side of the road would be immediately
disqualified and fined. Most of the races I've done have also had
every intersection marshalled. Blackburn CC appear to place a
great emphasis on having sufficient marshalls for their races.

> This raises some questions. Were the racers made aware that there
> would be traffic on the course? With such foreknowledge I for one


They should have been told that it was NOT a closed course before
the race - this seems to be standard practice here (Melb).

> Just feeling around for answers. It seems to me that the race
> organisers may have been negligent and contributed to making the race
> more dangerous than it needed to be.


I guess we'll have to wait and see. Sympathy to the girl's
family/friends.

hippy
 
I thought it was a condition of the permit that each corner /intersection
must have a marshall. Issued by the local council & police dept
Im sure thats a condition of our permit.......& i was told by a motorcycle
patrolman that turned up at the wa state crit that a marshall has the power
to stop vehicles.Not that easy sometimes........

REgards
 
"M. Atta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I thought it was a condition of the permit that each corner

/intersection
> must have a marshall. Issued by the local council & police dept
> Im sure thats a condition of our permit.......& i was told by a

motorcycle
> patrolman that turned up at the wa state crit that a marshall has the

power
> to stop vehicles.Not that easy sometimes........


Not in Victoria. I've Corner Marshalled a couple of races
in Melbourne and we were specifically told that we CAN
NOT stop vehicles, we can only warn them to be careful
and wave our flags, etc.

I think that if you have a Traffic Controller license, you
"might" be able to stop traffic but not if you are an ordinary
Corner Marshall.
You'll have to ask someone with more experience than me
for more info on this though... one of the clubs could help.

hippy
 
[email protected] (Allister McLaren) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> [email protected] (rickster) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > [email protected] (Allister McLaren) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > > Spider1977 <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

>
> > > What the ...? If the route required riders to pull out of a side road,
> > > and the route wasn't closed to traffic, why was there no marshal there
> > > directing traffic? Or are racers expected to stop and give way to
> > > traffic in these events?
> > >

> >
> > Perhaps she was turning left onto a road, and went wide into the right
> > lane ? A marshall would probably have stopped the traffic in the left
> > lane, but would not for oncoming traffic in the right lane.

>
> That's what it looks like. However, a) there was no mention that the
> intersection was attended by a marshal. It seems to be a fairly
> thorough report, I'm sure it would have been mentioned. and b) In a
> race it's reasonable to expect that riders will by trying to go
> through corners as fast as possible, thus they will be using the
> entire width of the road. A marshal, if there was one should have been
> aware of this and rovided some warning to the drivers or the rider, or
> both.
>



For long road racers, it is the opposite for corners. The speed drops
so that everyone can make it through corner crud safely AND stay on
the left of the road. You don't have both sides, and road races are
not won/lost on corners.

In Victoria, not sure about Tasmania, every corner HAS to have a
marshal on it or no race. For part b, club races and even opens,
never have both sides of the road. Perhaps maybe only the Aus champs
have a closed circuit

>[snip]
 
M. Atta wrote:
> I thought it was a condition of the permit that each corner
> /intersection must have a marshall. Issued by the local council & police
> dept Im sure thats a condition of our permit.......& i was told by a
> motorcycle patrolman that turned up at the wa state crit that a marshall
> has the power to stop vehicles.Not that easy sometimes........
> REgards



Marshalls have no power to stop motorists at all. Can only be done b
police. I assume roads scholars (the guys with the stop go signs) hav
some authority when road works are in progress. In races in Tasmania i
you disobey road rules and line markings you are liable to b
disqualified from the race. Mrshalls are simply there to warn traffic
Sensible motorists will take heed of the warning and stop or give way t
racers, but there are always the pig headed ones who can't delay thei
journey for any time or anyone. I'm not saying this happened in the cas
here. We will have to wait for the inquest


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