MikeyMK

Just me happy to pull the Darwin card, then..?

Look where you're fkn going. The van was parked, it was a solid stationary object, he rode into it. It could've been a child, or a pram.

Milton Keynes

Looking at the picture on the provided link, it looks like there's damage to the rear window of the van, likely where the cyclist's head hit. So a broken neck is a very likely scenario, and if they weren't wearing a helmet blunt force trauma to the head.

Hypno Toad

Looking at the photo in the linked story, how is there no clear damage to the front wheel? I would expect it to be taco'd

laurentide-cyclist-1.jpg

DrIsotope

Not necessarily. Wheel would make contact with bumper, then the whole apparatus rotates around the front hub. All of the impact force is the rider's head/torso going into the back door of the van-- just like the .gif of the guy who rode into the back of a parked car.

There's just no way that impact mark is from someone going anywhere near 10mph. I dodged a car making a left turn in front of me on a descent, and slowed from 30mph to 10mph before going into some trees overhanging the roadway. I went from 10mph to 0mph instantly, and received nothing more than some scuffs and scrapes. Neither the tree branches nor the bike showed any indication of the event. I rode the remaining 10 miles home. If that dude hit a parked van at 10mph, he'd still be alive today.

Daniel4

I just visited the collision site this afternoon. It's level ground. There's no way any cyclist would have missed seeing a parked vehicle no matter how fast he could have been going. The posted speed limit is 40 km/hr but I don't think any cyclist will be going that fast anyways. I believe the cyclist wasn't looking forward.

Rollfast

It looks like his head impacted the left rear window and the blow was pretty wicked. I doubt the poor guy ever had a chance to know what happened, it was over instantly. Pretty sad indeed.

mcours2006

Why not? On flat ground, even without the preceding downhill one could get up to 35-40 km/h easily, especially if there's a slight tailwind, and with that bike.

Milton Keynes

He was definitely going faster than 10 MPH. The 10 MPH figure was just something I came up with as an example as to how you could be seriously injured hitting your unhelmeted head on something at that speed. I have no idea how fast he was actually going, but he had to have been going at a pretty good clip looking at that picture. I have no doubt that his head impacted the rear window of the van and shattered it. The part of the window that's completely knocked out is about head level of someone on a bike.

Rollfast

35-40 kilometers per hour is in between 21-25 miles per hour. This isn't implausible if the cyclist was remaining at speed from a previous stretch, and it's not farfetched with multiple gears.

Daniel4

There is no preceding downhill. To enter the Laurentide, you have to make a left turn at a three way stop. You cross Tetbury and then around the bend you approach Minorca. The lots are set in so there's nothing really to block your vision as you approach around the bend. So Minorca doesn't suddenly appear in front of you. You can see it coming.

At 40 km/hr, there didn't appear that any cars have had any problems in the past and I've been around this area for 25 years. Even if a cyclist were to reach that speed, he should be able to react just as well as any car even to swerve. But the dent at the back of the van looked like straight on.

Some cyclists like to run stop signs. I'm guessing in order to do that, you would have to look far ahead to check for anybody that would be crossing your path. If this cyclist did run the stop sign, he certainly would have to ability to look far enough to see the van. So that's why I think he didn't look ahead and may have been distracted for a significant amount of time - not just by an instance.

mcours2006

My mistake, or at least Google Map mistake for thinking there was a 3% grade. Nonetheless, it's not difficult to achieve speed of 35-40 km/h on flat ground. Regardless though, it does appear that the cyclist was not paying attention.

Maelochs

Fact is, the guy slammed into a stationary object hard enough to kill himself. What other facts are we really lacking? Speed was sufficient to be fatal. Unless he was blacking out or seizing at the time of impact, then he was most likely simply not looking. at the time.

Condolences to the surviving family and friends.

GamblerGORD53

It looks to me like he was pretty tall, 6'+. Also I think he braked hard at the last 3 feet and got flung into the van, maybe he turned the wheel hard also. It really does look like he hit with his right side. An autopsy would obviously know that. Old people are frail, no matter how fit. This is a residential area with all curved streets, so it makes little sense to be going 20 mph.

scott967

I live in a residential area with all curved streets, and I go 20 mph all the time (legs permitting). Hell, there's a hill that I get 30-35 on. You do have to keep a look out.

scott s.
.

KraneXL

Thank goodness.
Always would appreciate a WARNING and "spoilers" for the visuals with the serious endings.

rydabent

The demo video looks like a typical head down DF rider staring at his front wheel. It is something DF riders claim never happens. But it does.

Maelochs

It is something some bent riders claim DF riders claim never happens.

Plenty of DF riders right here in this thread talk about it happening.

You're a great guy, Rydabent, and sometimes you make claims which I hope are meant to be comical.

I-Like-To-Bike

To be a bit more accurate, that alleged DF riders' claim is something that only one bent rider claims but never happened except in that one bent rider's imagination.

Branko D

Speed of impact is really key. A collision at 45km/hr, which is not hard to reach at all on a descent, even a pretty shallow one, is equivalent to falling from almost 8 metres (25 feet). It's likely to be fatal if you hit a obstacle which stops you near-instantly, helmet or not.

Sure, if you fall and keep rolling on the ground it's a different story, but just smack into an obstacle... brrrr.

Dunbar

This is something I try hard to avoid - zoning out towards the end of a ride as you fatigue. You think that you’re in a low risk situation so it’s tempting let your attention wander. It doesn’t help that, if you’ve ridden a certain route hundreds of times, that can reinforce your complacency (“nothing dangerous ever happens here”.)

mcours2006

I have done the 'head down' thing one time where it could have been catastrophic, but I was going pretty slow, like up a gradual slope at the end of my commute with the wind bearing down, and I was sucking air. So maybe 17 km/h. There was a bend in the road where I couldn't see a work vehicle parked. I looked up 20 m before I got to it, and even at 17 km/h, it felt like it came up pretty fast.

It's not inconceivable that at twice that speed I could have easily run right into the truck.

Rollfast

There ain't no reason to do aero tucking in a residential neighborhood no how. That is probably another reason I pedal upright on a cruiser.


That and my gut does not like that, I can't turn my head very well to see what's behind/around me...


The kink in the tucked in theory is that it looked like his head was up and hit the left rear window. The torso impacted the door below and the bike itself doesn't seem to have taken so much damage.

Maelochs

Actually even if he was fooling with his data recorder or looking to see if his chain was on or whatever, he could have seen the van in his periphery and looked up and started to sit up and grab for the brakes just prior to impact.

I had an encounter with a big white SUV entering my little cul-de-sac once because i always time my rides to the entrance, and then shut down the GPS app. This time was taking too long and when I looked up there was an SUV coming.

Normally I slow right down once i turn in ... but maybe this guy was just finishing a ride and shutting down before he slowed down?

I don't know ... and neither does he anymore, i guess.

Rollfast

I don't touch my little radio in the front basket until I can stop. Otherwise the fat guy on the seat is the only addition.

Rollfast

Jim from Boston will remind you that I hit the back end of a 1957 Chevy 4-door once. Good steel in those, thank goodness.