te’s Attorney Julia Rietz said a crash reconstruction specialist determined that Maul was driving 56 mph in a 55-mph zone when he hit the Combs’ tandem bicycle from behind. "There is no bike lane or shoulder. They were about three feet into the roadway," Rietz said. "Maul reported that he looked over at paperwork on his passenger seat, looked up and saw the bicycle and tried to stop but was unable to in time to avoid hitting them."
First off, get off the road. Bicyclists don't belong on streets with that high speed limit. There wasn't even a shoulder or bicycle lane, which is even worse.
In my state, the law says if the posted speed limit is 50+ (in urban areas it's maxed at 45; 50-60 is expressway speed), no bicycles:
Bicycles, motor scooters and EPAMDs are not permitted on any roads where the speed limit is more than 50 miles per hour or higher. (TR § 21-1205.1)
Second, yes I know we all do it, but what the hell was the driver doing? You can glance at stuff in your car, but only for a second; that second should be one where you know absolutely where everything is. If you're trying to read something off a paper, you're not glancing, and you're going to spend several long seconds focused on it, you're going to be doing too much processing to actually remember what was around you, and Bad Things Will Happen(TM).
If you have directions, circle and enlarge the important parts.
Exit 45.
Right -> South Street Parkway. And so on. Have plenty of vertical space between this stuff. That way you kind of know where it is on the paper (an inch or two below where the last thing you needed was), you really glance for just a split second if you need to verify while driving. I index card some shorthand directions and lift it up into my field of view, off to the right, so I'm watching the road when I glance at my directions; I've done that... three times ever.
Better yet, improve your memory (play Go, make it to mid-kyu, reading 10-12 moves in), and only read when you're stopped. I guess this one's a fantasy; everyone does something dumb once in a while, hell I've done it too. But having the ability does reduce the actual amount of stupidity done when you're being stupid anyway, so advice stands.
This is a whole lot of fail. I'd have avoided that road on a bike, the cars are going too fast; seriously, that's high-volume interstate highway speed, would you bicycle on the autobahn? Guy driving shouldn't have been reading crap off his passenger's seat (why would you be "looking at" paperwork?) and this should have ended in a minor annoyance to traffic and a lane change, not vehicular manslaughter.