Girl dies in cycle race

[Spider1977]

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

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

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.

 

[Spider1977]

More details at

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/feb04/feb08news

 

[its_stuart]

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!

 

[cfsmtb]

Originally posted by Spider1977
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 cycling career ahead of her. I was reading the news article on Sunday, then remembered seeing the TIS signage on skinsuits worn by younger cyclists at the Austral Wheel Race.

A tragic loss.

 

[cfsmtb]

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 09feb04

TASMANIA'S cycle racing community was yesterday struggling to come to terms with the death of rising star Samantha Hellyer.

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

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

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

(more details in article)

 

[its_stuart]

Mandatory death sentence for any driver found guilty of killing a cyclist

 

[flyingdutch]

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

 

[jazmo]

Originally posted by flyingdutch
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 just in the wrong place at the wrong time. See Spider1977's link below.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php...feb04/feb08news

 

[Allister McLare]

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

 

[Spider1977]

Originally posted by flyingdutch
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. In races I've participated in Tassie there are usually marshalls in vehicles at the front and rear of the field plus good signage at the start and turning points. Usually races are held on routes fairly regularly at the same time, so locals are well aware that there is going to be bicycle traffic, not all of them appreciate it mind you. In this case it sounds as if traffic was local, because the area is fairly quiet country roads. I'm sure there are race organisers who are struggling with their emotions at the moment. There is no value in apportioning blame on anyone. It's just one of those unforseen things that happens which can't be covered unless you have marshalls on every single corner and even then it may not make any difference. But we should learn from this incident.

I hope there are no knee jerk reactions to ban road racing. We don't want the farcical situation that occurred in NSW last year. It would be hard to find enough volunteers to marshall road events and cover every circumstance, especially in Tasmania.

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

 

[Rickster]

[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.

 

[Allister McLare]

[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

 

[Hippy]

"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

 

[M. Atta]

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

 

[Hippy]

"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

 

[Rickster]

[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]

 

[Spider1977]

Originally posted by M. Atta
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 by police. I assume roads scholars (the guys with the stop go signs) have some authority when road works are in progress. In races in Tasmania if you disobey road rules and line markings you are liable to be disqualified from the race. Mrshalls are simply there to warn traffic. Sensible motorists will take heed of the warning and stop or give way to racers, but there are always the pig headed ones who can't delay their journey for any time or anyone. I'm not saying this happened in the case here. We will have to wait for the inquest.