dguest

LIBERTY, N.C. (WGHP) - A bicyclist was killed in a hit-and-run accident on Highway 421 in Liberty, State Highway Patrol troopers said.

The body of Michael R. Pellegrino, 48, of Stokesdale was found by a passing motorist around 7 a.m. Sunday alongside Highway 421 between Old Liberty Rd. and Highway 49.

Pellegrino was riding a sports bike, and he was killed either Saturday night or Sunday morning, troopers said.

There were no skid marks at the accident scene, making troopers believe the driver hit Pellegrino and kept on driving without even slowing down. No arrests have been made, and there were no witnesses, troopers said.

Debris from the accident scene will be taken to auto body shops Monday to try to identify the type of vehicle involved, troopers said.

Brian Marcum, one of Pellegrino's best friends, told FOX8 Pellegrino was an avid cyclist, and he was planning to ride to the Carolina coast for the first time.

Both the SHP and the Randolph County Sheriff's Department are investigating.

ctyler

Why is it that it seems that you can kill someone with a car and get away with it? I hope they find the person who killed this cyclist and charge that person with manslaughter. But what usually happens is a plea bargin and a slap on the wrist. Untill we as a society recognize that killing someone with a car is the same as killing someone with a gun, nothing will change.

TromboneAl

I don't think they'll catch anyone using this kind of logic. Cars can slow down without leaving skid marks.

dguest

Your correct in a lot of your assumption. In the 7 cyclists killed in the 4 months, 3 cases have ended in quick plea bargins and 2 drivers have yet to be found. The other 2 are pending court adjudication. So it really makes you think that the court sustems do not take this seriously. One of the quick plea bbargins was 4 months in jail to a woman that hit and killed a cyclist while driving on a revoke license for DUI. She was found 4 days after the incident still driving the vehicle with a shattered windshield and extensive front end damage.

trek330

Scary.

Metric Man

Seriously? Let's say you accidentally run a stop sign say in a dark unfamiliar area and kill someone and it's the same as pulling out a gun and shooting them??

The Weak Link

I think we all can agree on one thing: IT SUCKS.

Metric Man

No doubt.

prathmann

One contributing factor to hit-and-run cases is that in many jurisdictions the penalties for causing an injury while DUI have been increased substantially, but there hasn't been a corresponding increase in the penalty for hit-and-run. So it can be advantageous for the impaired perpetrator to leave the scene even if he is later apprehended.

Timtruro

Worse if you then leave the scene and leave the poor guy or gal lyin by the side of the rode.

Metric Man

That is not the way it was worded...I would tend to be more agreeable to that scenario.

cccorlew

Yes, I'd say that. Driving a car is a responsibility, and if you "accidentally" kill someone they are still totally dead. You should go to jail and have to make serious financial restitution to repay the family and society for your negligence.

oilman_15106

The driver was more than likely drunk and did not even know something or someone was hit.

I have already left instructions with my wife that if this happens to me do not hesitate and file a 5 million $ wrongful death suit. The criminal courts will give no satisfaction as we have all seen.

Maybe, just maybe some large settlements from the insurance of these drivers will force the criminal system to take more notice.

Metric Man

Intent, my friend. One is intentional, the other not. There is, and should be a difference. Not to say the consequences should be light, but I don't think the death penalty is in order for an accident.

StephenH

It's easy to lose perspective on these things.

Here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, you basically have somebody getting killed driving every day. And while you know it happens, it's not front page news, either. A friend of mine from church was killed in a car wreck, and there was one little article a week later in a small-town paper- if you didn't know him, you'd never have heard about it. But I didn't see it posted on any "driver" forums, didn't hear anyone say "Wow, this driving sure is dangerous!", didn't hear any advice to quit driving before I got killed, nor did I hear any advice to always wear a helmet while driving.

Periodically, you'll hear of people getting killed on bicycles around here. Sometimes, it's recreational cyclists killed through no fault of their own. Other times, it's people riding at night without lights, etc. Unfortunately, that hazard is there. But as far as I can tell, your odds of getting killed while riding a bike, on an hourly basis, aren't any worse, and maybe better, than while driving a car.

cccorlew

I think we've lost perspective on cars. For some reason we accept auto deaths as the cost of doing business. In reality, autos are a leading cause of death in kids. People generally have no clue about the physics of mass and speed. Movies and TV that glorify the edginess of bad driving don't help.
If I were king of the forest I'd wage war on dangerous driving with law enforcement and education. Realistically cars kill more Americans that terrorists. That's where we should be putting our Make America Safe energy.

AzTallRider

Here is some 2000 data from a wiki article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...auses_of_death), which references the book Actual causes of death in the United States, 2000 as its source. Clearly there is some subjectivity in assigning deaths to the chosen categories, but that is inescapable when you start summarizing data:

Smoking tobacco 435,000 deaths or 18.1%

Overweight and Obesity 111,909–365,000 deaths or 4.6%–15.2%

Alcohol 85,000 deaths or 3.5%

Infectious diseases 75,000 deaths or 3.1%

Toxic agents including Toxins, Particulates and Radon 55,000 deaths or 2.3%

Traffic collisions 43,000 deaths or 1.8%

Firearms deaths 29,000 deaths or 1.2%
(Suicide: 16,586; Homicide: 10,801; Accidents: 776;
Legal intervention: 270; Unknown: 230)

Sexually transmitted infections 20,000 deaths or 0.8%

Drug abuse 17,000 deaths or 0.7%