… stop reading right here if you don’t want speculations about How It Happened.
there wasn’t damage to the big ol’ truck that allegedly hit him (well, the man said he’d been hit by “the big truck, but he can’t say any more) that would “indicate fault.” Much damage tot he front end of the bike (so a “statistically typical” non-rear-ender). I wonder if he were traveling North … and the truck had to swing wide and he was riding out in the lane … or maybe there really wasn’t room. The report didn’t mention the underpass but I don’t remember exactly where it is in relation to the intersection.
It’s also a place where people don’t ride much, though it is the best way to get out to North of the Interstate, so it doesn’t get the kind of “we need bike facilities here!” attention that the more common routes do — though we have discussed exactly that fact at planning meetings. Wretchedly, maybe now people will say that…
In the bike rider’s defense, he was probably lucky to be even able to respond to questions in a coherent fashion at that point. I’m not sure I’d have done as well, regardless of why he happened to run into such a big and predictably moving an object. Thanks for the update, and I thought you were VERY sensitive.
Since the injuries were fatal… the word luck just doesn’t fit… but thanks ;)
And as you say. Life. Ended. Someone left home, said goodbye to his family and never came back. I find it remarkable that death by motor vehicle is considered ‘normal’, that a cyclist is killed and there’s no outcry.