dual650c

CBS executive's wife left brain dead after being hit by 'speeding' cyclist in Central Park while out shopping for daughter's birthday present* | Daily Mail Online

dougmc

Wow, that article is awful. And this one I saw on Facebook attached to an anti-cyclist screed is worse.

It may have happened in Central Park, but it apparently happened in a road, so his "pedalling furiously" speed may be a completely normal speed for a car.

Not sure what "wrong lane" means ... it could mean many things.

The bike is *clearly* not brakeless, whatever the article said. The other article says "Fenton’s pal Tom Longman said Marshall was hunched over the brakeless, triathlon-style “aerobars” attached to the handlebars of his high-performance, yellow and black ride." so obviously the fact that there's no brake handles on the aero-bars has been translated into "brakeless bike".

At least there's no comment on if anybody was wearing a helmet.

vol

What a news for anti-cyclists.

"the brakeless high-performance yellow bike"? Was it brakeless? I see brake shifts in the picture.

JoeyBike

Was she wearing a helmet?

Like Mama taught me - "Look both ways before crossing the street!"

A green light does not insure your safety when crossing the street.

A crosswalk does not insure your safety when crossing the street.

Only YOU, paying ATTENTION, can create safety crossing the street.

Most pedestrians in my city are already brain dead.

Not trying to be irreverent here. A woman just died because she stepped out in front of speeding traffic WITHOUT LOOKING.

Does not excuse the cyclist if a crime was committed. But a woman is still dead and SHE could have done something about that too.

Matariki

I feel sympathy for the victim and her family. Whoever bears the most fault here is not discernible from the news article, which is full of conjecture, hearsay, and hype. Let's all wait for a more objective report before we judge either party.

Coal Buster

A woman is dead. Why don't you tone it down a bit.

JonnyHK 

Based on what is said I'm reading that as 'not in the bike lane'. Not that really makes a difference - he might have only been 3-4 feet further over.

Doesn't the NYPD give you a ticket if you are on a road with a bike lane, but are not in it (i.e. riding in a full traffic lane)?

dougmc

It makes a pretty big difference in the court of public opinion -- it's just another thing that the cyclist was doing wrong, whatever it is.

That said, if the "wrong lane" just means a car lane, then that further excuses his speed (which presumably was high, though we don't know how high), unless he's going even faster than the car speed limit.

To the court of public opinion, a driver going 25 mph in a 25 mph zone (the low speed limit is there because there's a lot of pedestrians) is a law abiding, responsible driver, but a cyclist going 25 mph in the same place is a speeding menace. That said, I hope the courts and police see things more fairly.

trailangel

Tragic.
He yelled at her to get out of the way but made no attempt to stop the bike, I guess because riding on aero bars.
Maybe that's why they called it brakeless.
When someone.. or something is in my way I take evasive action and/or go for the brakes instinctively. I usually don't yell at them.
BTW, who rides aero bars in heavy traffic?

spivonious

It's sad that she died. It seems like an accident.

Facts we can glean from this article:
-bicyclist on the aero bars (no instant access to brakes), riding outside of the (compulsory in NYC) bike lane, riding fast (speed limit in Central Park?)
-woman crossing street in crosswalk
-unclear who had right-of-way (whether or not light was red)

dual650c

She's NOT dead. She's brain-dead.
From what other articles indicate, she and other pedestrians had the right of way and were in the crosswalk.
The rider remained on the scene and admitted fault to the police.
The article I posted IS wrong about the bike having no brakes.... Eyewitnesses in other articles say he didn't slow or stop until he hit her... maybe that's what the "journalist" meant.

Either way, I thought this was of interest considering all the posts/threads about reckless drivers hitting cyclists leading to outrage and screeds against motorists. My point being - accidents happen. Some are due to carelessness; some due to mechanical failure; some are just accidents. In this case, it was the bicyclist's fault. S*** happens. It sucks when it happens. Thank goodness it didn't happen to me.

spare_wheel

Woman In Critical Condition After Getting Run Over By Cyclist In Central Park: Gothamist

Woman brain-dead after getting hit by cyclist in Central Park | New York Post

A brakeless tri bike in central park???

This dude should be sitting his sociopathic @$$ in jail for a very long time. Sadly, he will almost certainly get off with a slap on the wrist. We need strong vehicular assault laws that trigger mandatory minimum sentences. A cyclist (or motorist) who negligently plows into a vulnerable road user has committed a disgusting violent crime that should be prosecuted and sentenced as a violent crime.

spare_wheel

i started a thread on this above (was editing my post when this thread was started).


to merge the threads here is my response:

spare_wheel

Is there a difference?

spare_wheel

The speed limit for bikes in central park is 15 mph.

Edit: I guess it's ambiguous.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/nyregion/24bike.html

bikemig 

+ 1.

mr_bill

Bicycling in Central Park. (25 mph.)

-mr. bill

spare_wheel

This was a park, not a city street. Anyone who is riding at high speeds around peds in a public park should have the fracking book thrown at them.

JoeyBike

Because when we tone it down, we die.

For most people in the USA, the most dangerous thing we do is to leave the curb and enter the stream of wheeled traffic. No matter if we are in a tractor-trailer, car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, skates, or on foot. In the spectrum of danger for the average person, leaving the curb is on the "extremely dangerous" end of the spectrum. (Unless you are a deep sea diver or looking for roadside bombs in the desert, leaving the curb is THE most dangerous thing we do).

Now it only makes sense that while engaged in THE most dangerous thing we ever do, that perhaps we should be on high alert and extremely watchful, vigilent, and cautious to tilt the odds in our favor. But what do many of us ACTUALLY do? We text, daydream, look at the fluffy clouds, and take our safety for granted.

When I leave the curb, be it on my bike, in a car, or on foot I believe that EVERYTHING that happens between those two curbs is at least partly my fault. No one forced me to play in the street. It is MY responsibility to protect myself by paying strict attention to everything going on around me including all of the "what-iffs". At the VERY LEAST...I should look both ways before stepping foot off that curb. And KEEP looking. And keep looking.

^^THIS is what I would teach my children. If that woman was my child, she would still be enjoying her daughter's birthdays for years to come.

You tone it down and you die in this world. Does not really matter who is legally at fault when you are burying your mom. This is the message the worthless news media should be broadcasting.

Coal Buster

You don't know that. What you're doing is blaming the victim.

FBinNY 

Not getting into any specific details about the accident, but to clear up a few misconceptions especially for those not familiar with Central Park.

The Central Park circular roadway has been closed to motor vehicles for years. It's now divided into 2 main sections, a pedestrian/jogger lane, and a bicycle lane which is also shared with inline skaters and other wheeled vehicles. So it's not a MUP in the sense of a single roadway for mixed use, but two separate facilities -- a pedestrian lane (think sidewalk) and roadway for bicycles -- side by side on what used to be a 3 lane motor roadway.

None of this relates to blame or fault, even if the victim was legally crossing in a walkway with or against a light. I just want to clear up any confusion about the nature of the road and rules governing it's use.

IMO, no generalizations can be drawn form this, except that speed kills, and everybody -- pedestrians, bicyclists, skaters, and MV drivers have to be alert and aware of what's happening at all times when moving faster than 3mph (walking speed) or near people doing so.

As to the specifics, I leave that to the investigators, and the witnesses on the scene.

However, a person is severely injured and near dead, and that's a tragedy for all those involved.

BTW- IMO snide comments about helmets are out of place here in deference to the circumstances.

I

walrus1

This is going to be a **** show of epic portions if it doesn't die down soon. You lot are just feeding the fire. Keep in mind right now the media is going to use this guy to wrongly represent cycling culture especially in NYC. If they find these posts blaming the victim without hard evidence are just making things easier. This is already spreading like wildfire in NYC.

I don't know anything concrete about the collision other then the cyclist's speed was a factor in it.

LesterOfPuppets

Cars are actually allowed on this section of West Drive from 8-10am on weekdays. This happened around 4:30pm, however.

dougmc

We don't even know that, at least not beyond the true but not helpful "speed is a factor in every collision, because if everybody was standing still there wouldn't have been a collision at all".

The witnesses say he was going fast, but we really don't have any idea what that means -- it could mean 10 mph, it could mean 35 mph. There's no mention of the rider being injured, and the only visible damage I see on the bike is his seat turned sideways. so I doubt he was going *that* fast. It's entirely possible to knock somebody over while going at walking speed and have them end up brain dead as well -- all it takes is them falling and hitting their head.

It's tragic that this happened, but ultimately we don't know much about what exactly happened at all.

LesterOfPuppets

He was an avid Straver, I wonder if data from his recording device will be used, especially if it was a phone (since they're pretty inaccurate IME).