mudpuppy

Doesn't sound like the police are investigating very seriously.
https://bit.ly/axzohf

ahsposo 

Possibly because your link sux.

Copy and paste.

GraysonPeddie

I read about that in Orlando Sentinel. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,6156951.story

Not to blame the boy riding the bike in the road, but the boy needs to be supervised by an adult.

Wake

"...crossed into the road and struck the side of the bus." is certainly different than just "killed by bus".

Too bad for the kid[s], though. Life is like that - sometimes you don't get a second chance.

chambers

What makes you think that the police are not investigating very seriously? The article provided the link to said "She said there was no evidence the bus driver was impaired or driving recklessly, and she did not expect criminal charges, though a more thorough investigation was still pending." The drug test that the driver was given will take time to get back. That is why the investigation is still pending. Other than interviewing the people on the bus and maybe any other drivers that may have seen the accident and the little girl on the other bike what else do you think they can do?

Chris516

I didn't have to 'copy n paste'.

Speedwagon98

I find this rather funny:

How are helmets relevant, when you get pulled under the side of a bus and run over? I'm fairly certain that helmets are not meant to sustain several tons of bus, thus irrelevant to the fact that they got run over.

sudo bike

Yeah, but it's always the first question asked. May as well get it out of the way....

CB HI

Cause of the death may significantly depend on the speed of the bus as it passed the cyclist. Yet there is not even the slightest mention of the bus speed.

Large tourist buses, just like 18 wheelers, can cause a large pressure wave in front with a vacuum in the middle. A close pass to a cyclist can push them away initially and as the cyclist compensates, the vacuum gets them and sucks them under the bus/18 wheeler.

I-Like-To-Bike

Interesting theory, any evidence that any cyclist has ever been sucked under a bus or 18 wheeler by a vehicle induced "vacuum"? All the accidents I have heard of where cyclists are run over by the rear wheels of a large vehicle involved turning vehicles at relatively low speeds.

sudo bike

You've never felt it before? It's not major, granted; but I could see it possibly putting a kid off-balance enough to crash.

Mos6502

The bus would have had to of been going about 50mph or faster. Buses also generally lack the open space in the center to create a vacuum anywhere other than at the rear of the bus.

gcottay

I could well have been the boy's parent. For me, nine or ten can be old enough to ride unsupervised in something like a campground environment or quiet neighborhood.just so the child has received instruction and been observed riding properly.

Is nine or ten really too young?

Bekologist

RIP, young rider. The operator of a large commercial vehicle has the duty to avoid situations that potentially endanger the public and especially children in proximity to the vehicle.

in some countries in Europe, wouldn't this driver be at fault regardless of if the kid 'somehow rode into the street'. bus needs to take extreme care around vulnerable road users. if it means going 7 miles an hour until it is clear there is no potential encrochment on a vulnerable road user , so be it.

This is irrespective of the particulars of this case, but a general consideration of vehicles mixing in public space with vulnerable road users.

those who think 10 is too young to ride a bike without ones parents needs to seriously reconsider what it is to be a 10 year old with a bicycle. i suspect more than a few of us used to pedal across town, delivering papers, etc. I personally remember riding 50 milers, riding on state highways unsupervised, going fishing, riding to pick up craft supplies at the native craft store, and general mucking about with relative impunity, and possessed the ability to safely operate a bicycle on public roads.

This young man may have made a fatal mistake and piloted himself into the side of a bus; i doubt this is the sole factor. When it comes down to how one operates a bus in proximity of children in a campground environment, some element of negligence or disregard for public safety likely occured at the hands of the bus driver.

(When i was in maui recently we had one shuttle bus driver that was TEXTING while driving!)

RIP, young rider.

closetbiker

it's a natural point the media raise after been battered for years with the sales pitch/propaganda that bicycle helmets prevent 85% of head injuries and then a cyclist dies from a head injury.

(it doesn't seem to matter that the 85% never really happened, what injuries were prevented were superficial, and that being hit by motor vehicles are what kills people on bikes and that 85% figure didn't include a single collision with a motor vehicle)

I-Like-To-Bike

Anything is theoretically possible; given that assumption, large vehicles "sucking" bicycling victims under the rear wheels may be a problem. I doubt anyone can cite a real life example other than sensing the presence of a large vehicle as it passes.

chambers

Did you actually read the story that the link leads to? The boy was riding on the sidewalk and then turned into the bus as it passed. How in this case could the bus driver be considered negligence or disregarding public safety. Are you saying that all drivers should slow down to "7 miles an hour until it is clear" when ever they see a biker or walker on the sidewalk? The kid was not in the roadway he was on the sidewalk as the bus approached.

CB HI

The article is likely too old to still be accessible. Occurred in Florida, cyclist was on the shoulder, 18 wheeler driver passed too close and sucked the cyclist under killing him. Truck driver gave up his CDL over his grief and began teaching classes given by the state police to CDL applicants on “CDL’s duties towards cyclist safety”.

I am pretty sure you read the thread that was either on Chainguard or BTI list.

njkayaker

If the cyclist (kid, adult, elephant, whatever) actually road into the bus from the sidewalk, the driver would not be at fault, even in "some countries in Europe". As far as I know, no country requires drivers to be psychic.

Nice strawman!

There are some adults who are not skilled/careful enough to ride in traffic. No one is suggesting a proscription against all 10 year olds from riding bicycles in traffic.

Well, the rest of us aren't psychic and are "likely" disinclined to speculate so recklessly!

===============

Silly! Why let yourself be inconvenienced by facts and reading stuff? That sounds like work!

njkayaker

How fast was he going?

dobber

Because it's a pretty open and shut case. The poor kid ran into the side of the bus. Or is it your contention that Mickey doesn't like cyclists.

CB HI

I do not remember for sure, but I think it was around 50 mph.

I had felt a pretty good push from a tour bus going 35 mph. Knowing the hazard, I let the push move me away and then simply countered the the suck. Not a big deal for experienced riders, but for a 10 year old?

CDL drivers should be trained in this and give greater clearance to cyclist, especially kids. It has been an issue that I forced on our city bus administrators.

I-Like-To-Bike

Perhaps you remember better what I allegedly read in the distant past than I do. Anyhow, if the only "known" event is to an incident so long ago that no reference to it can be found, I will assume that the "hazard" of cyclists being sucked under the wheels of passing vehicles is too insignificant for any rational person to worry about.

Bekologist

particularly in a campground.

and what 10 year old is going to ride a bike directly into the side of a bus? There's bound to be contributing factors in this collision. one account mentioned the grass where the collision happened was worn from the tracks of vehicles moving off the main roadway.

However, I'm not going to engage in a inflammatory, heated discussion about the validity of my opinions and degrade this thread about the tragic death of a child cyclist- people need to show some respect and take a look at their personal headspace, maturity and wellness,

if an internet thread about a dead child cyclist incites such a drive to angrily argue vacuous semantics.


RIP young rider.

chambers

The pictures and maps I have seen do not show any possible left turn anywhere near the accident. The police say that the physical evidence and witness statements indicate that the bike rider was on the sidewalk as the bus approached and started to pass the kids, the rider then turned off the sidewalk and hit the bus.