dsilver668

He is ok but dang what an idiot!
https://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/cri...n.on.tape.kmov

Tunnelrat81

Looks like NOBODY was paying attention. Unless it was somehow intentional, which I don't believe, it was a gross example of oversight for both their parts. Cyclist came out of nowhere VERY quickly and should have noticed what the car was doing. The driver probably was in a hurry and just didn't look at all before slamming it in drive and punching it. Crazy. Glad he's ok, and I hope he learned something about being a defensive bike rider.

-Jeremy

mattm

so now the cyclist was at fault? i'm not sure we can make that call, given the limited video we get to see..

Copper1122

If that was an urban/downtown area, which it may appear, I find the bicyclist 51% at fault. I'm new to road, however, I've been a commuter in Detroit for years. No one knows how to drive around cyclist in the midwest and on your bike you constantly have to be aware. From the video it appears that the guy on the bike was riding way too fast, in a gas sta parking lot, at night.

The guy driving the car was also obviously an idiot, however, cycling in the city, homeboy on the bike should have been more aware

bryantp

We should all be more aware but the car should yield to the bike. If he wasn't in the wrong, he wouldn't have left. Can't believe that, in this forum, the conversation is going this way. Fundamentals, you don't leave the scene if you're in the right. In Japan, where I live, the driver would be jailed a few years. But, in Japan, it wouldn't have happened. We watch for bikes here.

mattm

for some reason (posters on) BikeForums takes odd anti-bike stances now and then.. weird indeed. guilt from driving too much perhaps?

DrPete 

Late night... 22 year old riding a bmx bike... Hate to say it, but I'm guessing prior DUI and probably drunk at the time. Not an uncommon patient at a busy trauma center. Total conjecture, though.

Of course, the driver of the minivan should stare down some jail time for hit and run. Who knows how this was all spun for the media.

mattm

are you anti-bike or just anti-bmx? =] if he was a 30-year old guy on a cervelo, would you think differently about it? why?

the point of the story was the fact that the driver took off afterwards. at least that was my take.

dsilver668

Yup tottaly. Honestly the dude didn't even slow down or stop, I mean accedents happen but geez, what that guy did was criminal.

DrPete 

What's up with the anti-bike whining? Is there something magical about riding a bike that suddenly means that you can't possibly be doing anything wrong?

I've worked in one of the busiest trauma centers in the country. Almost every weekend night you get at least one or two "cyclists" who come in hit by cars who were drunk, high on weed, smoking crack, whatever. Suffice it to say that there's ALWAYS a prior DUI and the only reason they're riding a bike is because their license got suspended or revoked.

So, as I said before, 1. there's nowhere near enough info to know what happened, 2. CNN occasionally likes to spin things, and 3. Just because you're riding a bike doesn't mean you're 100% faultless. And I totally agreed the guy should do time for hit and run.

urbanknight

Cold, hard statistics. Most (not all, but most) grown men riding trashy BMX bikes in urban areas are drug dealers. They don't want to have their car impounded, plus the bike is easier to get away through narrow paths and/or ditch when necessary.

But you're right, the fact still remains that the motorist hit the cyclist and fled the scene illegally. I also find it interesting that the car found it necessary to back up and then gun it in forward. Makes me wonder if it wasn't done intentionally. I think there are three sides to this story, and the driver and rider know each other... or at least which gangs each other are in.

False logic. Innocent people run away because it's a traumatic moment and they are afraid. Of course, leaving the scene of an accident is a felony even if they weren't at fault in the accident in the first place, so the driver is screwed now... if they catch him.

hammond9705

I don't think that the rider was at fault, but he could have been a bit more careful and maybe avoided being run over. Passing a parking lot like that is always a bit dangerous as cars are pulling in and out in different directions.

mloywhite

+1. I think the guy should be punished for hit and run, but I also don't equate a guy riding a bmx in the middle of the night, in a parking lot, with a cyclist who is riding down the road, minding his own business and hit from behind. Just because he was on a bike does not make him faultless.

mattm

sort of. for me there is something special about riding a bicycle; it's called not polluting the earth as you travel. driver in the minivan has nothing in that sense going for him/her.

well i can't argue with that.. but i didn't see anything in the piece about the 'cyclists' priors. was there? seems like you're blaming the victim. just a tad.

i don't see how CNN can spin the video clip.. maybe i missed something there. i know you're not "anti-bike," pete; i was just joshin ya.

(and btw i'm not even going to touch urbanknight's post about how the guy is a drug dealer.. did you base that purely on his skin color or?)

roadiejorge 

It's comical that some people on here assume that the cyclist is always right and anyone who criticizes bad cyclists is automatically "anti cyclist".


There wasn't enough to see on the video to show how much if any was the cyclist's fault, but there's no question the driver needs to be apprehended and charged with hit and run.

mattm

what's comical is the amount of victim-blaming going on here. did the piece say anything about the guy's prior convictions (if any)?

sad to say, but if that had been a white guy on a cervelo, it seems like this thread might have taken a different turn. for one i doubt anyone would accuse him of being a drug dealer..

urbanknight

Actually, I would accuse anyone riding a Cervelo through a gas station of being a complete moron. At least the drug dealers have basic accounting skills.

Szczuldo

bah why is it that any moron on a bike is called a cyclist. As someone above mentioned if you are an adult riding a crappy walmart bmx bike and especially when you are lower class, chances are he was up to something shady. There was no need for the driver to pull into reverse, so he probably saw the guy and then ran him down because he knew him and either that guy owed him money or something else.

On the slight side topic going on, weekend drug overdose victims who are taken in multiple times should be denied treatment the following times unless they pay for it up front. I'm sick of my money paying for the low life of this country to live. Survival of the fittest needs to prevail with help from medicine only when the person has an illness, not when they almost kill themselves with drugs.

timmhaan

let's leave all speculation about drug dealing, DUI having, no employment, etc. out of this. doesn't do anyone good and just turns these types of threads into a gigantic mess.

mattm

wow, that's pretty much explicity racist. nice one.

and even if they knew each other... does that change anything? it's still a hit and run. or?

and i'm tired of paying for bombs that blow up children overseas... which is worse than fixing up druggies.

DrPete 

No, but your assumption that by "lower class" he meant "black" is. My last bike-riding crack addict patient was white.

urbanknight

Both are reasons I'm considering moving to Canada.

timmhaan

i assume you're white?

urbanknight

What does that have to do with disagreeing with the way my government is headed?

DrPete 

How about if you come in from a car accident when you were at fault and you're bleeding to death... Should I just move on to the next patient?

If I wanted to play judge, jury, and executioner I'd have gone for a different job.