Advocacy & Safety - It'd happening too often in Montana...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MT_BICYCLISTS_KILLED_MTOL-?SITE=MTKAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=new_dil_template.html


Jul 10, 11:19 PM EDT

Boy struck, killed by vehicle in Somers

SOMERS, Mont. (AP) -- A 14-year-old boy died here Tuesday after he was hit by a vehicle driven by an off-duty Montana Highway Patrol trooper.

The Somers boy was attempting to ride his bicycle across U.S. 93 at the intersection with Montana 82. He was struck by a vehicle that was southbound on U.S. 93 at about 12:15 p.m.

The boy was transported to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where he died later Tuesday afternoon. His name was withheld pending notification of family.

Because the incident involved a trooper, the Kalispell Police Department and Flathead County attorney's office were assisting in the investigation.

Authorities released few details, citing the ongoing investigation, but said alcohol and excessive speed were not factors in the accident.

Meanwhile, another person died last week in a bicycle accident in Colstrip.

The victim was Grant Kemeny, 39, who lived in Colstrip and worked as the postmaster in Lame Deer.

Colstrip Police Chief Larry Reinlasoder said Tuesday that an investigation determined Kemeny suffered a fatal head injury on July 3 when his bicycle tire became entangled in twine at the site of a paving project.

Kemeny was first taken to the hospital in Colstrip but later flown to Billings. He was pronounced dead at the Billings Clinic the next day.

According to information from the U.S. Postal Service, Kemeny was appointed the Lame Deer postmaster in October 2005. He previously served as the postmaster in Superior.

Colstrip Police Chief Larry Reinlasoder said Tuesday that an investigation determined Kemeny suffered a fatal head injury on July 3 when his bicycle tire became entangled in twine at the site of a paving project.

Helmet use? Yes? No?

I'm sure the answer is no.

Helmet use? Yes? No?

Unfortunately no....


COLSTRIP POLICE DEPARTMENT PRESS RELEASE
Larry S. Reinlasoder, Chief of Police

FATAL BICYCLING ACCIDENT

COLSTRIP, MONTANA - Colstrip Police Chief Larry Reinlasoder announced that a bicycling accident in Colstrip on July 3, 2007 resulted in the death of the bicyclist.

Chief Reinlasoder gave the following summary of the events surrounding the accident, which resulted in the death of Grant M. Kemeny, age 39, of Colstrip.


On July 3, 2007, at approximately 5:57 PM, Kemeny was riding his bicycle west on the bike path that runs parallel to Pine Butte Drive. He was crossing the north end of the school bus barn lot on the bike path and attempted to negotiate through some traffic cones, which had been placed to mark the newly paved surface, when the bike became tangled in baling twine that was tied to the cones. Kemeny was thrown from the bicycle and struck his head on the pavement. He was not wearing a helmet.

Upon arrival of emergency services personnel, Kemeny was found unconscious. He was transported to the Colstrip Medical Center by ambulance and then flown to Billings Deaconess Clinic by Help Flight. Kemeny never regained consciousness and was placed on 1ife support at Deaconess. The family made the decision to donate his organs after it was determined he was brain dead. Kemeny was removed from life support at approximately 9:00 p.m. on July 4.

Chief Reinlasoder said that the investigation was complicated by the fact there were no witnesses to the incident and initial reports pointed to the possibility of a hit-and-run vehicle. The Montana Highway Patrol assisted the Colstrip Police Department in the investigation and it was determined that no other vehicle was involved in the accident. It was also later determined that the Colstrip Schools had surveillance cameras monitoring the bus barn and surrounding area and a review of the recordings confirmed the investigators' conclusions.

Chief Reinlasoder further reported that on July 8, another bicycling accident was reported to police in the area of Obert Rye Park where a Colstrip resident crashed on his bicycle and sustained a serious head injury. He also was not wearing a helmet. Reinlasoder said that the second incident could have also easily had very dire consequences to the lone bicyclist, who was transported by ambulance to the Colstrip Medical Center.

###
Grant Kemeny is the former postmaster for Superior, Montana.

Unfortunately no....

one of the great misconceptions on helmet use is the misunderstanding on it's effectiveness in collisions with motor vehicles, but don't listen to me, listen to the people who understand the problem in detail

. . . helmets will mitigate the effects of falling off your bicycle and striking your head . . . If a cyclist is accelerated by a car, then the helmet will not work and will not prevent a severe or even fatal injury.

-- Dr. Michael Schwartz, neurosurgeon and member of Canadian Standards Association Committee establishing helmet standards

in his paper online http://www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2023.pdf Brain Walker, one of the leading experts in the mechanics of bicyle helmet tries to set the record staight

"In many legal cases I have studies where a cyclist was in a collision with a motorised vehicle, the impact energy potentials were of a level that outstripped those that we use to certify Grand Prix motor racing helmets.

The tests that cycle helmets currently go through mean that they should offer similar protection to a pedestrian who trips and falls to the ground.

[the standard] is not intended for high speed cycling...it is intended for a fall without other vehicles [e.g. car] involved."

also in the paper the expert mentioned a court case in Britain where a QC, tried repeatedly to persuade the equally eminent neurosurgeons acting for either side, and the technical expert, to state that one must be safer wearing a helmet than without. All three refused to so do, stating that they had seen severe brain damage and fatal injury both with and without cycle helmets being worn. In their view, the performance of cycle helmets is much too complex a subject for such a sweeping claim to be made.

also check out this link http://members.shaw.ca/jtubman/deadhelmet.html

where it says

But anecdotal evidence, of course, can only show that something is not impossible. It does not mean that it is probable, or even that the conclusion drawn from the incident is correct. A polystyrene cycle helmet without a hard shell is designed to take a single direct impact at no more than 20 km/h. It is not magic.

Since many people find anecdotes more convincing than math and statistics (even those this is the only really sound way to make decisions on such a matter), I have searched the Web to provide a collection of links to pages about cyclists who died with their helmets on. I quit looking after the first 300 hits. I could have gone on and on.

one of the great misconceptions on helmet use is the misunderstanding on it's effectiveness in collisions with motor vehicles

Note that I was replying to the Kemeny case, in which a motor vehicle wasn't involved.

I was just curious, suspecting there wasn't one (read: one should have been used,) and I was right.

Note that I was replying to the Kemeny case, in which a motor vehicle wasn't involved.

I was just curious, suspecting there wasn't one (read: one should have been used,) and I was right.

Ah, I see. I'd bet if few people use them, chances are one wasn't being used.

In virtually all cyclist deaths, a motor vehicle is involved.

Locally, there was a death of a cyclist (who was wearing a helmet as most of us here do) who collided with a roller blader and died from his injuries. As far as I know, it was only the second fatality to a cyclist not involving a motor vehicle (or train) in 20 years in BC.

The Somers boy was attempting to ride his bicycle across U.S. 93 at the intersection with Montana 82. He was struck by a vehicle that was southbound on U.S. 93 at about 12:15 p.m.

Tragic. :( Thats not far from where I live. I don't think anyone on 93 expects to have to slow / stop at that intersection.