latexyankee

This happened last Monday. He was pronounced brain dead Sunday night.

Bicyclist hit on Strip near Treasure Island is identified - Las Vegas Sun News


Now this is not my family member or friend. I am lucky enough to have never been involved in an accident with an automobile, nor any of my personal friends or loved ones.

Matt was the best friend of my coworker who is sitting in the cubicle directly next to me as I type this. He just returned from vegas last night after spending a week there. Supposedly Matt was an incredible father who gave up his business to start a bicycle touring company. I am told he worked incredibly hard and was quite successful, but nothing compared to his children. My coworker is pretty torn up and as a triathlete is considering giving it up or at the very least not riding on roads ever again.

Since I've heard the news last week its been in the back of my mind on the few rides I've been on. I have been somewhat paranoid on the bike, not fully enjoying the experience or just having fun. I know this will most likely pass in time, but now I see images of my daughters in my head, think bad thoughts etc...

Some of you here have been in pretty bad accidents and were able to rebound and continue riding. I'm not sure if I could ever do that and I applaud and admire your courage. To those of you who have lost someone or a friend of a friend etc, how do you keep the negative thoughts at bay and continue to do what you love? The more I think the more intimidated I become. My commute is 30 miles and roughly half of that is through downtown Columbus Ohio and other VERY busy streets. I am fortunate that about 15 mi I can detour to a dedicated bike/jogging trail.

Here is the link to help the family. As always $1 could go a long way for his children. Be careful guys.

Matthew Hunt's family help fund by Farshin Damanpour - GoFundMe

My thoughts and prayers are with Matthews children and wife, along with my coworker Rob.

thanks

rpenmanparker 

Truly a sad story. Like you I am deeply sorry for everyone involved. But if I ever thought of giving something up, it would surely be driving before cycling. Now that is dangerous.

banerjek

It just takes time. A good friend of mine was killed about 15 years ago. Although the accident was his fault, I suddenly developed a fear of cars -- a very bad thing since my commute was along busy two lane highway, including a section designated as among the most dangerous in the state.

I got off the bike entirely for two months -- which my wife strongly encouraged. But the bike started calling me and I found I could ride in normal traffic. After a few months I was back to normal.

No need to make a forever decision. Just do what feels right, and go with that.

StanSeven

Life is filled with dangers. Avoiding things you enjoy for fear is short hanging yourself. You aren't happy and people around you aren't as well.

Use common sense, assess the danger, and take actions to mitigate. But don't avoid doing things you like when it's irrational.

Sure cycling has danger. On the other hand it's filled with benefits. You can stay healthy spending your life indoors at a gym and get dome of the same benefits, but are you as happy? Enjoyment is one of the benefits you may be missing.

alanm9

I haven't lost a friend or loved one but was in a pretty bad accident myself on May 4, 2014. Broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade, broken rib, punctured lung, road rash. I'm nothing special and certainly not courageous, just a guy in his 50s who loves to ride and can't imagine not. I was back on the bike in two months, back in the weight room in 3, and back to 100% of pre-crash levels of both within 6. I'll bet you would do the same, or better.

You just do it because you love it and you always have. Be careful, try not to focus on the negative, and try always to remind yourself what your life would be like without riding; probably not a life you would want.

Best of luck and please extend my condolences to your co-worker.

latexyankee

This is good advice. I know how I get when I cant get out. I guess its just who we are.

rumrunn6

dam hot rodder, sorry for your friends loss.

merlinextraligh

And what's the basis for that? However it happened its a tragic loss.

However, I don't see anything in the article or comments to say this wa the result of hot rodding. From the limited information available it appears possible the riders moved left in front
Of the car to make a left turn. It's possible, that they did so without giving enough room.

There's just not enough information to assign blame, but on BF we always know for a moral certainty it was the cars fault regardless of a complete lack of information.

jgscisum 

Truly sorry about the loss. I was a hit and run victim. Serious damage. But your one statement kind of sums it up.... "how do you keep the negative thoughts at bay and continue to do what you LOVE?" It is truly love of the sport and the freedom it provides. If I die doing what I love... so be it! I am lucky to have NO fear of death.

Inpd

I love to ride, but I won't risk riding on roads anymore.

Not only are people distracted, but most drivers are prosecuted with a misdemeanor even when its a fatality. Unfortunately the thought process in our society is that if you ride on the road you take your life into your hands and if you get hit, sobeit.

Wheever

This is a tragic situation, and I hope the poor fellow recovers. They don't say what is injuries are, but whatever they are they are too dear.

This is is a dangerous sport, mostly because we have to share the road with cars. We all know it's a calculated risk, riding on roads, but we can take precautions to try and help mitigate the risks in whatever way we can. I just started riding with both a daytime rear light (a flare -R) and a bright front flasher (a knogg blinder 4) . Having the rear flasher really seems to have changed the amount of room cars give me when they pass--which means, I hope, that I am more visible from the rear; and the front flasher has stopped at least two people from pulling out in front of me that I've seen. This doesn't eliminate the risk, but it lessens it, somewhat.

There are things we do to mitigate the risk, sure, but in the end we are each vulnerable, and could have an accident at any time. Could be me next. But I wouldnt trade it for the world.

be careful and aware out there, kids.

rumrunn6

knew I would get flamed for that. took one look at the car and profiled the cr*p out of it. I doubt very much that was a slow and courteous driver with eyes on the rd and hands on the wheel. yep, doubt it very much

merlinextraligh

It isn't an unreasonably unsafe sport, and to conclude that it is for anecdotal evidence is the wrong takeaway.

By hour of participation, it's safer than many things, including swimming or riding in a car.


Then consider that the statistics for bike fatalities include child dart outs, and drunk ninja salmons, and the actual risk of a reasonably safe adult cyclist gets pretty low.

Then add in the offsetting health benefits, and road cycling becomes a totally reasonable risk balance proposition.

It just doesn't seem that way on BF because every bicycle fatality in the country is reported here.

Would you quit driving to work because the friend of a forum poster died in a car accident?

latexyankee

From what I gather the driver was incredibly too close to the back wheel, when she turned her head to pass, she clipped the bike tire resulting in the individual hitting the windshield and going up over the vehicle. Not sure if I believe it or not, seems like another instance of texting or a status update to tell her friends she was now driving. I hate facebook, I despise it. I don't need to know where you're at or what your dogs doodie looked like every second. Or how your dinner preperation is going. What will we have to talk about? Apologies but I am heavily critical of social media even though I know it was designed for good and that there are significant benifits to it when you live a long distance from friends and family. I also apologize before hand for being stereotypical but the woman who struck him was 23. Not saying she was doing anything else aside from ****ty driving which is clear, buuuuut, most of the 23 year old GIRLS I know can't pull their phone out of their ass for 30 seconds. Again, God strike me if I'm in the wrong and living in an eternal prison of mistakenly taking someone's life, someone's dad,someone's husband is pain enough.

Phew...aside from all that I feel I started this thread out of selfishness. I am looking for ways to combat the thought of not riding and to gain even more confidence while out on the road and I hope my coworker is watching this as well, I know he loves his bike. But this thread should move its focus more towards the accident, what we can do as a community to help prevent these scenarios and helping the family.

If everyone that views this thread just gave $1 it could make a difference. Think about your situation, your children, I'm sure we would come to help you as well.

I don't really belive in God much anymore but God bless yall, please be safe and don't ever stop riding. Like I said earlier, it's who we are.

StanSeven

Yep, you assumed and profiled. By the way, I hope you don't want a job with the FBI because I don't think you'll make it.

The car is a 17 year old six cyclinder Mustang driven by a woman at 8:00 am. Not exactly hot rodding ingredients.

shyonelung

Tragic and terrible. A woman here lost a good friend in a cycling accident in Arizona (I think) recently (drunk driver hit a university professor). It does make you take inventory for sure. But something I always think about when I read about these accidents is to remember to pay attention more. Not only when I'm on the bike, but when I'm in my car. And, I mention this to as many people as I can. Having been a journalist covering cops and fire and being around many law enforcement people, I've heard time and time again that so many accidents occur because people are just not paying attention To the road or their surroundings or bothering to check twice before passing or turning . It's a lesson we should all take to heart because it could save your life one day or the life of someone else at your hands.

dvdslw

I had a close call a few months ago where part of my usual route on a mup has a fast downhill section followed by a sharp left just after a bridge with a guardrail and then crosses a road with 50mph traffic. Coming down the hill and looking left over the silver guardrail for cars I thought I was clear and committed to crossing the road at speed, but a silver Camry blended in with the silver guardrail and I was within inches of hitting it. I swerved right and stopped just before hitting a fence. Thankfully I had a good outcome, it could have been the end? One positive from this experience is that I learned to be more careful, I now stop every time at that intersection and slow way down for others that I usually breeze through. I also got in the habit of when riding with my children or if there's some random strangers riding with their children I'll be sure to stop at any crossing just to lead by example.

BadBurrito

Over the years, I've known 2 highly admired individuals that were killed (in seperate) car/bike accidents. I've also know a good friend that was seriously injuried and was off the bike for over a year in a car/bike accident about a mile from my house. I've had 3 very close calls. 1 was with a semi-truck passing me so close I thought it was the end. Not too long after that I heard about guy who helped me get started randonuring was killed by a semi-truck/bike accident. Another close call, was on my last 200k, my front tire dropped in a crack in the road and stuck, and I went flying over the handlebars and skidded across 2 lanes of traffic, amazingly the oncoming car stopped in time before I got squished.

I see it every day, drivers weaving around while they are texting. Personally, I'm scared to be on the road with the cars/trucks - I think about it every single time I ride - I almost always stick to the MUP if I can.

Everyone has to make there own decisions, at the moment, I think it's crazy dangerous to ride in traffic. I don't fault anyone that does, you're braver than I am.

rumrunn6

she was probably curling her eyelashes

merlinextraligh

And I'll make mine based upon evidence:

Is Cycling Dangerous? -- The Risk of Bicycle Use -- Accidents, Fatalities, Injuries, and Benefits

The health risks and benefits of cycling in urban environments compared with car use: health impact assessment study | The BMJ

https://www.ubcmj.com/pdf/ubcmj_3_2_2012_6-11.pdf

Statistics Library - Health Statistics Archives | PeopleForBikes

Obviously, you can get killed riding a bike. But you can get killed doing any number of things, including sitting on your couch, which puts you at dramatically greater risk of death from disease associated with sedentary lifestyle, than the risk from riding a bike.

There are clearly things than can and should be done to improve bike safety.

Retreating from riding on the road is exactly the wrong answer. As more people ride, cycling becomes safer. Not only is there simply safety in numbers, we become a more powerful force for better infrastructure, laws against texting etc.

So if you want to honor Matthew Hunt, ride more not less.

DaveWC

Texting & talking on a cell while driving create huge risks. But they are risks to cyclists, other drivers & pedestrians. So if you're going to stop cycling I guess you should also stop driving & walking near or on any roads. I'd never ever ride on bike paths & stick to roads that primarily have wide shoulders. Seems much safer to me. I won't get hit by a car on a bike path but the dangers from dog walkers, people with strollers, joggers with ear buds, other bike riders driving aimlessly etc. seems much greater. I guess you could just stay indoors on your bike, but I've got rollers & that presents another set of dangers.

rumrunn6

+1

GreenAnvil

Gets another vote from me.

latexyankee

I have to argue the first link. Most of this information seems as if it was gathered before the year 2000. Hence before the smartphone. I'm sure there are updated stats somewhere but the damn cell phone has made daily driving a risky activity.

Not saying that cycling on the road now is ridiculously dangerous BUT i firmly believe the risk has increased 1000% in the last 10 years.

merlinextraligh

^ The data in the first link is a bit old now. However, in that timeframe, more people are cycling more miles, total highway fatalities are down, and there's been no surge in the numbers of bicycle fatalities.

While they fluctuate from year to year, 732 cyclists died in 2001 743 in 2013.



While I certainly would not contest that cell phones and texting create a risk to cyclists, it would appear from the fact that cycling is on the increase, and fatalities aren't, that other factors, such as the safety in numbers effect, and improved infrastructure are more than offsetting that risk.