unterhausen

Never hit a deer at night, but I've had some close calls. Maybe there have been deer in the road that I didn't see that I didn't hit, but the close calls I've had involved deer that I could see. The one deer I have hit came in from above, wouldn't have seen that, but it's nothing like a cyclist either. I spotted a ninja cyclist the other night by their pedal reflectors. A properly alert motorist is not going to strike a cyclist going in the same direction without knowing what they have hit, just not possible.

since the bike went under the car, it seems most likely that the cyclist went over the car.


I'm really bad about maintaining my vehicles, but I think I might have stopped to investigate the noise from that.

10 Wheels

No windshield damage?

unterhausen

It appears that the cyclist was right in front of the driver's position at the time of impact. I wonder what the explanation for that is?

Too bad the cops don't seem to be capable of accident reconstruction in cases like this, something isn't right.

Ira B

It would take quite a few shots of Jack Daniels before I would fail to notice I was driving a vehicle like that!

dynodonn 

I just finished reading the article's comment page, and I found this:



People please Ms Pettigrew is not dead.

She is in critical condition but is still

holding on her own. This is a very

sensitive matter to us the Green Party.

and also her family. The Police Dept

should be held accountable as well as the

driver.

Dchiefransom

The most insulting coment on that page seems to be about the county officers.

dobber

That's just swell. Maybe you could use it to garner some more votes.

dobber

One of the basic tenets of cycling is visibility. If she was riding in pre-dawn hours without the aid of reflective clothing and/or proper lighting than responsibility for what occurs falls squarely on her shoulders.

Brontide

Visibility in no way removes the responsibility for the driver, with headlights, to avoid reasonable obstacles in the road. That said if Ms Pettigrew was out in the dark without lighting ( I personally feel this is highly unlikely ) then this becomes less of an avoidable crash and more of a tragic accident.

Lets let the crash reconstruction team put the physical facts together while the police should be questioning the timeline. My heart goes out to Ms Pettigrew's family.

On a side note I find it a little disturbing how little is written about the crash and critical condition of someone, longshot I know, who is on the ballot in November for a Senate seat.

dobber

Define reasonable obstacle. I doubt it means a somebody riding a bike without any visual aids in pre-dawn hours on a major thoroughfare.


The fact that she's an electoral candidate doesn't make her any more important than my letter carrier or my dentist.

dynodonn 

I'm not affiliated with the Green Party, I was just posting a comment that was stating that the Green Party candidate was not deceased.

chrisb71

It would also be not an accident if she drove away and refused to stop for help, and faster response would have meant the difference between life and death.

ianbrettcooper

Yet another incompetent driver puts a cyclist in hospital. When are the police going to start taking this hit-and-run stuff seriously.

The Human Car

Thank you for that. There are street lights on this road, a white T is not reflective clothing but should be good enough for these conditions. Also note we have "issues" with MD police not doing a thorough investigation in cycling crashes, they do not routinely interview the cyclist that was injured, they just look over at the stretcher and note what they are wearing after the medics have taken clothing off. Lights fell off during the crash = no lights.

dobber

Or an incompetent cyclist.

Consularrider

The current news reports are that Ms. Pettigrew died overnight. My condolences to her family.

https://www.wusa9.com/news/local/stor...2106&catid=175

cab chaser

Sounds like pretty typical behavior for Escalade drivers, IMO, they tend to be the biggest pricks on the road. There's something about that car that ******bags just loooooovvveeeee.

dougmc

Wearing reflective clothing is not the only way of achieving visibility. It's not even a legally recognized way -- the law requires a headlight and either some other lights or reflectors (I don't know the exact law in that state.) The story says no reflective clothing. It says nothing about lights or reflectors, though the more recent story did mention reflective shoes.

If she had the legally required lights and reflectors, then she has satisfied the visibility requirements, whatever she was wearing. And really, even if you did hit a cyclist wearing all black with no lights -- that STILL doesn't automatically mean that it's all their fault.

Quit making excuses for the driver. Had the driver stopped and rendered aid to the "deer" (the one that popped her tire and made all that metallic scraping noise as they drove four miles home and then backed into her garage) I'd be more inclined to feel sympathy for the driver, but considering what happened instead ... no.

Also, it's rather telling that the most recent news story tells how their reporters "found pieces of reflective plastic just a few feet from the accident scene as well as a reflective sneaker which Pettigrew's mother identified as the victim's." Somebody was critically injured under suspicious circumstances and died shortly afterwards, and the police couldn't even bother to search the area for obvious evidence about what really happened?

I generally like to believe that the police generally do their job and the problems are rare ... but damn.

Kurt Erlenbach

I woud be amazed to learn that this woman was not using lights when riding in early morning darkness. She was an experienced triathlete training for an event on a predawn ride. She was not a day laborer biking home from the bar. The road was a four lane municipal street with streetlights. The car has extensive front-end damage and a bike scraping underneath it, and the driver didn't call the police for an hour after the crash. The driver might not be criminally liable for the crash, though she clearly is civilly liable. She obviously committed a felony by leaving the scene of the accident.

noisebeam

It is fairly easy to see cyclists with dark clothing, no lights or reflectors on municipal streets with even minimal street lighting - even long before ones headlights illuminate them after which there is still plenty of time to hit the brakes. I also doubt that this cyclist had no light or reflector.

ianbrettcooper

Welcome to Maryland.

ItsJustMe

So, the COPS said that they didn't find any reflective material, but the news crew found pieces of reflector AND a shoe with reflective material that the victim's mother identified as being hers?

What incredible competence on the part of cops. I wonder if they even got out of the car, or whether they just drove by, chomping on a donut and said "good enough, she was just a cyclist."

ianbrettcooper

Oh come on! Give the cops a break. Fact is, it was early - they probably hadn't got to the donut shop yet. With low blood sugar and a lack of caffeine, who can really expect them to be on top form? And hey, it is Maryland after all. I mean what do you expect? You want yellow police tape and CSI - for a mere cyclist? This ain't Miami.

And guess what - according to NBC, since the woman reported it as soon as she got home, the police aren't even going to treat it as a hit and run.

Hell, the Keystone Kops would probably have done a better job.

no motor?

Mine too.

Have to agree with you there.

unterhausen

let's say she didn't have any lights or reflectors. Any competent motor vehicle operator will see a bike in plenty of time to recognize what it is, even if a collision is unavoidable. Then, when the body of the cyclist slides across the hood, there is a second chance. This driver was impaired or is lying or both.

Her mother also said that she always wore a reflective belt. The initial story from the police doesn't look good, but the news article says there may be charges.