bfralph

Hi all, I am an on and off bicycle commuter. My primary bike is a Bianchi Milano (Nexus hub) and I very recently picked up a Bianchi San Jose singlespeed. I try to ride 3 out of 4 days per week. I ride along road that is on a bus route with bike racks attached on the buses so if there is a problem like lightning or a flat I can hop on the bus home. The route is 20 mi each way.

A very sad hit and run incident occured early this morning in Orlando. Here is the link

https://tinyurl.com/36zej3

Ralph
Orlando FL

ItsJustMe

It seems like running away and then calling back later and turning yourself in is very common. I wonder why that is? I've heard speculation that sometimes there might be something in the car (or in the driver) that they don't want the cops to know about. Waiting out a high blood alcohol or something.

[EDIT] ah, yes. Says the driver has a history of DUI, charges filed a year ago.

I've never been involved with hitting a pedestrian or cyclist; maybe it's scarier than hitting a car? I've been in several car accidents, and never been all that upset by them (nobody's ever gotten hurt though). I just get to the side of the road, secure everything, then get out and check stuff out, talk to the other driver, and get the police there for a report. I've had a couple of cars totalled, both < 2 years old, and I've never gotten upset about it. And I have never been found to have been at fault in any accident I've been involved with.

Some of the other drivers and even passengers have been pretty freaked out though. I witnessed an accident a few years ago where the passenger had a heart attack after the incident. That was a weird one, I was a couple of cars back, and I knew a good 20 seconds early that there was going to be an accident, just by the way the person in front of me was driving and the way traffic was flowing at the intersection we were approaching.

It's probably a lot scarier if someone gets hurt.

shuttoj

Very sad to read about this. Since the article refers to Mr. Franzoni as the "godfather of pedicycling", I hope that Orlando area bicyclists can use this incident to increase bicycle awareness, perhaps even get some safely laws passed. Anything that could be done to get something good out of this tragedy.

Having driven through Orlando several times on the way to visit relations, bicycle commuters in that area must have huge cojones. (That's YOU bfralph ) I couldn't say if its tougher than New York or Detroit, but the volume, speed, and number of confused drivers in the area would scare me off my rocker.

Having said that, I think if I lived in the area I'd man up and get out there anyways. After commuting to work for a year now, I can't imagine going back the cage or waiting on the bus 5 days a week.