3alarmer 

https://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/30/335...y-coexist.html

VaultGuru

Saw it too. What a shame. I ride that road a lot. It does make me a little nervous climbing out of the river towards Colfax because the road doesn't have any shoulder. It isn't a high speed road either because it is so twisty, but it requires the drivers to pay attention to driving, not screwing around with cell phones, etc.

UmneyDurak

"I didn't see him" should be an automatic admission of guilt with revocation of drivers license permanently.

cccorlew

Yep.

caloso

Good article. I wish I hadn't looked at the online comments.

Red Rider

+1

BlastRadius

+1. Guilty, much along the same lines as "I didn't know what the speed limit was" or "I didn't expect him to stop so quickly and I couldn't stop in time".

bigbenaugust 

And also a choice of hanging or the firing squad.

x136 

As far as I'm concerned, "I didn't see [him|her]" IS an admission of guilt.

I keep Javascript disabled unless I allow it on a site-by-site basis. A great side effect of this is that the festering boil that is the comments section of most websites is called by Javascript, and thus doesn't display.

3alarmer 

I went through a difficult period late last summer/
early fall when we had the string of auto vs bicycle
fatalities here in Sacramento.

I was reading those comments, many apparently
posted by troglodyte scum with nuttin' better to
do that day. It is not until you think about it and
realize that all of them drive (many apparently rather
large vehicles), that the full import and consequences
of such attitudes start to become apparent.

I was pretty paranoid before that, but i would now
describe my riding style as nothing short of "war
zone survival mode". Just the way it is in my lifetime,
i guess.

I stopped reading the comments sections on these, but
I'm grateful for the edification. Only takes one person
to kill you.

Mike Larmer

SClaraPokeman

in the police report: "I never saw him!"

I suspect he was on a hands free cell phone when he passed me and apparently forgot about me. I really think reading this article that the driver was on the phone (or doing something really important like looking for a CD).

How in the world did people live in the olden days, like 20 years ago, w/o cell phones?
What the heck do people talk about for hours on end-what they're planning on having for lunch or picking up at Costco after work? (I ask this as one of seven people in California who doesn't have a cell phone.)

I mean cell phones can be useful tools but their usage shouldn't be allowed in cars. This seems beyond obvious to me.

3alarmer 

Who are the other five, please?

bikingshearer 

Not necessarily.

By itself, "I didn't see him" is an automatic admission that the driver didn't see him - nothing more. There can be a host of reasons for this. Dumb inattentiveness is only one of them, and that's what it sounds like here, or the DA wouldn't be prosecuting this the way he/she is.

But what if the road at that place and time was headed directly into blinding sunlight? What if is was foggy/dusky/early morning with resultant bad lighting and the rider was in low-contrast clothing and no lights? What if the road was going into and out of the shadows at short intervals, making it next to impossible to see from the sunny spots into the shady spots? In any given situation, there can be mitigating circumstances.

Don't get me wrong - in far too many instances, the driver is simply being an idiot. It sounds like that was the case here. In such cases, the driver should have to face the consequences, criminal, civil, and moral, of their actions.

But just as it is wrong to assume that every car-bike collision is the cyclist's fault (are you listening, CHP and police departments?), it is wrong to assume that every such collision is the driver's fault. "I didn't see him" will, in many instances, equal an admission of fault in light of all of the surrounding circumstances. But it may also mean that the driver didn't see the cyclist because the cyclist could not be seen for reasons beyond the driver's control.

Sometimes, sh*t just happens. The fact that it sure sounds like this is not one of those times doesn't mean it isn't so some of the time.

I guess my point it - don't be so quick to make such sweeping generalizations based on one incident, even one terrible incident. Be glad that this DA is taking this incident seriously. Be incredibly sorry that the incident happened at all. And be very, very grateful you weren't there in any capacity because there but for the Grace if God go us all.

UmneyDurak

Too fast for conditions...

As the quote from the movie goes "**** doesn't just happen, **** takes time to happen, **** takes effort to happen". The attitude of **** just happens is probably one of the major reasons for lack of people taking driving seriously, and being ok with all the collisions and deaths on our highways.

On one incident? How about on incident a week ago on Foothil where a driver "didn't see" a cyclist as he was driving in a bike lane, or a driver who didn't see SClaraPokeman or the lady who T-boned me when she made a left turn in a shopping mall from the opposite lane. She didn't see me either as I was coming towards her in my lane in neon green hiviz jacket. These are just ones I remembered from the top of my head and the recent/local ones.

Then there was hit and run on 9 that left a cyclist in pretty bad condition. Or how about cyclist killed by a young women in SUV as she left the roadway and hit an older woman on a bicycle in a bike lane. She didn't see her either. Then there was an incident in Oregon, I believe, where a driver turned left in front of descending cyclist. Cyclist was killed. Driver also "didn't see him". Of course you are right there are circumstances where driver really didn't see a cyclist. Like a Santa Clara Deputy who fell a sleep and ran over three cyclists killing two. He is still with the department by the way, but behind the desk so he can only make 70k (if I remember correctly from the article) a year.

Red Rider

Well-said. This ^^^^ sums it up nicely.

3alarmer 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12149696

So I am somewhat dismayed that we seem
powerless to do something to change the
situation.

Mike Larmer

UmneyDurak

Two countries separated by an ocean and a common language, but apparently united by the same prejudices.