Maybe I can clear this up. The feeling that being in the bike lane would not have helped anything in this situation is mine alone, and has no bearing in law other than the cyclists being correct in occuping the motor vehicle lane since the bike lane was blocked.

The cagers illegally parking in the bike lane and blocking it is a matter for local law enforcement. The news article stated that law enforcement would be investigating for liability. If the owners of the vehicles can be slapped with some kind of legal repercussion for blocking the bike lane, it would be a very good thing.

On the other thing; cager can be a derogatory term, or it can be rather innocuous, as in anybody in a vehicle with a front, back, sides and a roof, as if they were in a cage. That's how I feel when driving. As if I'm in a cage. The way I have used it so far on this thread, it is meant to be derogatory. In the past, you may have also seen me use the term Moron Cager as a first and last name.

Another thing that crosses my mind is; how did the cager pull out in front of 12 cyclists? He most likely didn't. Likely he pulled out in front of one, or two if they were riding side by side, and those one or two were rear-ended by those following. As such, it is possible, no matter how unlikely, that the following cyclists could be charged with everything that applies when one driver rear-ends another. Likely a lot of the injuries were not caused by intial impact with the car, but subsequent impact from the rear.

This wreck is a good example of how each bicycle is a vehicle unto itself, a group of bicycles is not a single vehicle, and how riding in a pace line can be a dangerous and irresponsible practice. If I were that cager, I would go after the cyclists for damages from this angle.