Bike commuter injuried in collision with motorist on May 19th

[Bruce Rosar]

Copied from TriangleMTB Forum:

Jason, who works at the All Star Bike Shop in Cary, was seriously injured Monday evening when riding his bicycle home. A motorist pulled out in front of Jason and with no warning or time to react, Jason struck the vehicle. The motorist then left the scene leaving Jason in the road seriously injured.

Many know Jason from his laid back personality and always making every effort to help people. Jason needs our help now because he is the bread winner of his family, with a wife and one year old son. If you are able to make make a donation to Jason, it would be a tremendous aid to his situation. Donations can be made to Jason at the All Star Bike Shop.

Our address is:
All Star Bike Shop
1427 S.E. Maynard Road
Cary, NC 27511

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
All Star Bike Shop Staff

[Erica]

wtf? >:^(


something REALLY needs to be done about all these 'accidents'. People who leave the scene after injuring cyclists should be hunted down and shot on site.

With gas prices creeping up and crossing over $4 a gallon in this state, cyclists are going to be more and more plentiful....as will the 'accidents' associated with them.

What a bummer...wishing Jason a speedy recovery, and vindication as well. I hope there were witnesses who can track down the selfish piece of crap that did this.

[chaproc]

With the intent of moving to your area from Kansas City later this summer I've been reading with interest and trepidation the tales of jerks and yahoos (Jonathon Swift types) on your roads and streets.
It will be no comfort to know that your neck of the woods is not unique. We have the same species of driver (gasholis automobilis americanus) here. The police used to be pretty hopeless in that they generally sided with the gasholis automobilis americanus types.
That is until a few people were tragically killed and almost every bike rider that had an incident or near incident started filing reports on reckless and careless drivers every time something happened. The police got tired of all the paperwork and started to be more proactive in protecting bike riders. They started patrolling popular bike routes more regularly and writing tickets. It has helped a lot but it hasn't been a cure.
This was a double edged sword. The police also wrote a lot of tickets for the species pedalass idiotus americanus. I'm sure you know the type: blows stop signs, fails to ride single file when necessary, etc.
There has also been a strong effort with the many city councils in the area to raise their attention levels.
I encourage everyone to make reports to the police for each incident. I realize it's often difficult to gather details but get what you can. Most of these gasholis automobilis americanus jerks are repeat offenders. The chances are good if you keep after them they will eventually be caught before they actually hurt someone.

[Erica]

it might not be comforting to know that areas with gassholes exist elsehwere, but the rest of what you said was very comforting, and needs to be in print EVERYWHERE. personallly, i wouldnt have a problem with the double edge sword effect because i fall into the category of safe cyclists....i dont choose to to blow stop signs, etc, in favor of making it home to my kids alive. we've got a guy we all love that rides with us that is well known for his lack of safety, and its going to be a shame when we are reading the news article when its him that ends up a hood ornament....or the person who was riding behind him thinking the coast was clear... :(

thanks for your input on this thread, chaproc. hopefully if its repeated enough to report report report, it will catch on and things will start happening. until then, we are just a bunch of silent victims. i wonder if we can file a report for the gasshole who scared the hell out of us yesterday.....or if they'd say its not a crime to scare people. i dont know. the tire tracks those idiots laid down are pretty indicative of wreckless driving. i dont know....all we really know is that it was a really dirty black car, possibly a taurus. can the cops even file a complaint that is that vague?

[TracyW]

It's unfortunate to read thing like this in such a frequency. I have to agree that we need to make an effort to report as many as possible. After a while of doing that we would have some background to approach the General Assembly and ask for something to be done about it. Until more incidents are reported, we have nothing.

[chaproc]

Erica & Others;
I don't know if you are familiar with Bob Mionske's column "Legally Speaking" in velonews.com. He had a column in November 2005 (velonews.com/article/9204) that addresses issues similar to what happened regarding the driver that tried to "scare" you and what the legal ramifications may be. I'm sure you will find it to be interesting reading.

[Erica]

ill have to check it out. ramifications are good :)

[Bruce Rosar]

FYI: WRAL-TV produced a piece about Jason on May 24th:
Cyclist recovering from second hit-and-run (http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2936950/)
Back-up video (http://video.aol.com/video-detail/cyclist-recovering-from-second-hit-and-run/1771043870) link

[williamtash]

So much for bike saftey month in just this week alone

[Bruce Rosar]

FYI: There's a thread in another forum (http://trianglemtb.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=12992.0) about the benefit ride (on single track trails) for Jason today (June 4th) at Harris Lake County Park (http://www.wakegov.com/parks/harrislake/default.htm). Meet at 6pm and ride by 6:15. Park in the paved lot at the Hog's Run trail (http://www.trianglemtb.com/harris.php) entrance.