In the first circumstance, the rider was in the bike lane on a straight, smooth, level road, and was struck behind by a driver who admitted to having been searching for her cell phone rather than focusing on the road.
The second was a broad curve on a wide mountain road. No bike lane, but a wide shoulder. The driver stated that the rider swerved into the road, but the cyclist's riding partners and the CHP disagreed. The driver admitted to having been distracted, either tuning the radio or inserting a cd into the player, I disremember which.
The third was, I suppose, a type D incident, in that the rider was rding in about the right wheel track of a one lane road and was struck by a drunk in an old pickup.
The fourth was intentional. Some lunatic took offense to the presence of the cyclist and mowed him down. The details never came out, but the cyclist wasn't actually on the road at all by the time he was struck. I can't imagine the terror of trying to escape from a nutcase intent on running you over.
The fifth was in a bike race in South America when another drunk in a pickup drove into the pack.
And the sixth was struck by a dump truck piloted by a coked-up moron. This took place in an intersection. The driver blew the red without even touching the brakes.
In retelling these incidents -- for the first time, I might add -- it strikes me that alcohol and/or drugs were involved in half of them. It also strikes me that -- this time, not for the first time -- how little the cyclists involved could have done to prevent it. I have long considered being struck from behind as the lottery of cyclists.
BTW, I have no doubt that crashes of type D are quite rare, as I almost never see people riding in the middle of the street, which makes it kind of hard to get hit there.
