Good kid dies biking on Manhattan Bridge

[Bill Sornson]

Pat wrote:
>> It's a really a shame, as all that hostile honking probably panicked
>> the kid to make a turn in bad light. I would personally never ride
>> over that bridge on the automobile lane, especially at night, and
>> the kids made a bad decision given the situation, but it didn't need
>> to end up that way and it's just a horrible tragedy. A few months
>> ago, I joined the Ghost Bike ride to commemorate all the riders who
>> got killed by automobiles in NYC, and am afraid there's going to be
>> a ghost bike on Manhattan Bridge.

> The guy was 27 years old! When does a person become a grown-up in
> Manhattan, anyway?

When they're no longer eligible for SCHIP -- $83K and age....65! LOL

 

[Pat]

>
>> The guy was 27 years old! When does a person become a grown-up in
>> Manhattan, anyway?
>>
>> Pat
>>>
>>
>>
>
> I call anybody younger than me a kid and anybody with a camera who
> staggers all over a bike lane a tourist. Try to catch up.

Well, first, you're going to have to post your age. Try to catch everyone up
on how old you are.
>
>

 

[Pat]

>
>> The guy was 27 years old! When does a person become a grown-up in
>> Manhattan, anyway?
>>
>> Pat
>>>
>>
>>
>
> I call anybody younger than me a kid and anybody with a camera who
> staggers all over a bike lane a tourist. Try to catch up.

Well, first, you're going to have to post your age. Try to catch everyone up
on how old you are.
>
>

 

[Bellsouth Ijit 2.0 - Global Warming Edition ®]

"Pat" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>>
>>> The guy was 27 years old! When does a person become a grown-up in
>>> Manhattan, anyway?
>>>
>>> Pat
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I call anybody younger than me a kid and anybody with a camera who
>> staggers all over a bike lane a tourist. Try to catch up.
>
> Well, first, you're going to have to post your age. Try to catch everyone
> up on how old you are.
>>
>>
>
>

Take a hike, kid.

 

[catzz66]

Bob wrote:
>
>
> Since you don't specify your point I don't know what point that may be
> but whatever point it is might not necessarily be the lesson to be
> learned from this incident. A truly useful lesson would be that, just
> as drinking and driving don't mix, neither do drinking and cycling in
> traffic. As far as the honking is concerned, based on my experience
> I'd say any honking was most likely not directed at the cyclists but
> at motorized traffic that may have taken sudden and unexpected evasive
> action to avoid striking those cyclists. That's why I rather doubt
> that the sound of the horn(s) contributed much to this incident. The
> sound of skidding tires from cars braking severely as they bear down
> on you is much more unnerving than even the longest and loudest horn
> blast from the cars behind *them*.
>
> Regards,
> Bob Hunt
>
> P.S.- You may continue to shout swear words in capital letters all you
> want but the fact is that motorized traffic does indeed have a right
> to be on the roadways- not a *superior* right but a right nonetheless.

This thread's brought out the worst in some people, Bob. I feel sorry
for the victim, but knowing no more than I do, it sounds like there were
several things that contributed to the accident, including the rider's
decisions. We all make bad decisions from time to time. Sometimes,
unfortunately, the consequences are fatal.

 

[Bob]

On Nov 25, 6:31 am, catzz66 <[email protected]> wrote:

> This thread's brought out the worst in some people, Bob. I feel sorry
> for the victim, but knowing no more than I do, it sounds like there were
> several things that contributed to the accident, including the rider's
> decisions. We all make bad decisions from time to time. Sometimes,
> unfortunately, the consequences are fatal.

I think "Speak no ill of the dead" is an almost universal reaction to
any sudden death. We all want to avoid assigning any responsibility to
the victim because it can make us sound callous. I have to wonder at
the posters condemning the drivers on that roadway on that night as
being responsible for the cyclist's death because some of them honked
their horns. Would they feel the same way if the cyclist had been
driving a car instead of riding a bike when he apparently lost his way
and ended up in a closed traffic lane on his way home from the bar?

Regards,
Bob Hunt

 

[marika]

"Pat" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...


> The guy was 27 years old! When does a person become a grown-up in
> Manhattan, anyway?
>
maybe he had a false id?

mk5000

"The kings of the sea.'

But, children, at midnight,
When soft the winds blow,
When clear fall the moonlight,"--forasken merman, matthew arnold

>

 

[Scott Gordo]

On Nov 21, 12:16 pm, "Bellsouth Ijit 2.0 - Global Warming Edition (R)"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> "Pat" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:[email protected]...
>
>
>
> >> It's a really a shame, as all that hostile honking probably panicked the
> >> kid to make a turn in bad light. I would personally never ride over that
> >> bridge on the automobile lane, especially at night, and the kids made a
> >> bad decision given the situation, but it didn't need to end up that way
> >> and it's just a horrible tragedy. A few months ago, I joined the Ghost
> >> Bike ride to commemorate all the riders who got killed by automobiles in
> >> NYC, and am afraid there's going to be a ghost bike on Manhattan Bridge.
> > The guy was 27 years old! When does a person become a grown-up in
> > Manhattan, anyway?
>
> > Pat
>
> I call anybody younger than me a kid and anybody with a camera who staggers
> all over a bike lane a tourist. Try to catch up.

"Sam Hindy rode his bicycle from his Manhattan office to the family's
Gowanus home every night, usually opting for the well-marked bike path
on the Brooklyn Bridge, his father said."

He may be a 'kid' in that, at 27, I was still prone to even worse
decision making than I am now. However, if you ride the NYC bridges
often, you know that if this kid lived on 8th St in Brooklyn and went
over the Manhattan Bridge more than a couple times he was being either
a daredevil or a moron and tempting something akin to what he got.
There are lanes on BOTH sides of that bridge that can be used to ride
over. Harsh? Absolutely.

As far as the Brooklyn Bridge being "well-marked" inviting the
assumption that the Manhattan Bridge is not, that's isn't true.

And, as someone who has been honked at, harrassed, and even attacked
by motorists for riding a bicycle, for the most part if someone honks
at you they're not going to hit you. It may be unnerving, but at least
you know that they see you. This isn't stemming from some kind of
'cyclist guilt'. It's the knowledge that comes after years of biking
among assholes in cars.

With all that said, I feel bad for his dad, especially as this was
totally pointless.

/s

 

[Jym Dyer]

> However, if you ride the NYC bridges often, you know that
> if this kid lived on 8th St in Brooklyn and went over the
> Manhattan Bridge more than a couple times he was being either
> a daredevil or a moron ...

=v= The article said "the Brooklyn Bridge," not "NYC bridges."
The Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges are very different, and it
could well be he was only familiar with the one he regularly
commuted on. So your harsh criticism is very much unfounded.
<_Jym_>