Warning....Long post
Just to clarify things a little bit (media reports are not always accurate)....and this is not first hand knowledge but came to me from a reliable source:
Beach Rd, where the incident occurred is a very heavily used cycling route in Melbourne with literally thousands of cyclists using it particularly on weekends - including recreational/social riders, solo riders out training plus bunches of anywhere from 2 to 30 are quite common.
In this instance the Hell Ride bunch had split because the pedestrian crossing had been triggered just before they got to it and the front 20 or so had gone through before it turned red and then sat up to wait while the rest of the bunch (perhaps 60+ riders) stopped at the crossing. Two riders came along the road from behind the stopped bunch and moved into the right hand lane, (remember we ride on the other side of the road here) to pass the other stopped riders and blow the red light resulting in one of them colliding with the pedestrian with extremely tragic consequences.
The rider involved was completely wrong and stupid beyond belief and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Unfortunatley there exists some anomalies in the laws in this State and in
this situationit seems a bicycle is not considered a vehicle so a charge of vehicular manslaughter cannot be made, and a fine for running a red is all that can be issued. I expect that due to the public attention this story is receiving, particularly in the tabloid media that police will be looking into any other avenues.
One of the outcomes of this tragic incident which will affect all cyclists here in Melbourne is the way the the trashy/talkback type media is lapping it up and giving as much negative press as possible to all cyclists and stirring up much anti-cyclist hate. This could make the roads a bit less safe for anyone on a bike in the coming weeks.
A key lesson to all who feel they can run reds & do whatever because, "well, it's my life & it's only me who will get hurt/killed"..... think again! Not only has a pedestrian been killed, but the cycling public has now been relegated further down the respect ladder thanks to the actions of a fool.
