two of my friends,
collier schoffield and sergey motorny,
and members of the des moines cycling community,
were struck around 630 a.m. this morning,
while on a training ride near grimes,
just north and west of des moines.
first reports from friends at iowa methodist hospital
indicate that collier has suffered
"a fractured back and neck, broken pelvis, hip and arm,
and has blood on his brain.
sergey is a little better but still critical."
. . . . .
please keep collier and sergey in your thoughts,
and
please be careful out there.
4 comments:
Sad news Kim
I'll wait to hear more about the specfics of the accident report, but I'll be interested to hear if there were any indications of panic stopping or attempting to avoid impact on the pavement before the point where the two men were hit. There's a line between "I didn't see them" and "I wasn't paying attention to the road". I'll be interested to see what side of the line the driver was on.
in my opinion, there is NO difference between "i didn't see them" and "i wasn't paying attention."
if you are driving, you are SUPPOSED to be looking.
it was 630 am, clear skies.
the driver has now reported that the sun was in his eyes.
bullshit.
he was driving SOUTH, for god's sake.
last i knew, the sun still rises in the east.
i hate stupid drivers.
We cyclist take to the road with all the awareness of the danger even knowing what the legal aspects are for public roadway use. On September 30, 2006 this writer also survived being hit from behind by a driver traveling at highway speed south of Atlantic, IA on Highway 71 just south of the Turkey Creek bridge. The driver stated they never saw me. There are eye witnesses that said the driver never slowed down, stopping only after the impact. The driver said they had no idea what the impact was until they stopped and got out of the car. Similar type conditions - long flat stretch - clear sunny day - traveling north -11:30 AM. The driver was charged with 'following to close' when they nearly killed me. Why not wreckless driving at a minimum or attempted manslaughter (the crime of killing someone, without intending to do so)?
Collier and Surgey are on my mind allot and will continue to be for I can relate to what they are facing.
A continuous public awareness program of alternative transportation modes such as motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles seems a no brainer. I would ask the question, "Why is public money spent to raise awareness of the lottery and virtually no money spent to raise awareness of accident prevention for all users of the public roadways and injury reduction with the advent of technology; i.e. helmets, and other injury mitigating personal protective equipment (PPE) for cyclist, motorcyclist and moped riders; helmets, knee pads, elbow pads and wrist protection for skateboarders and inline skates. We in the cycling community need to take the lead in a constructive path rather than finding fault and laying blame ( politically correct verbiage for bitching).
There are numerous solutions that need to be discussed that involve roadway design / construction, insurance and legal reform. The dialogue needs to start NOW! I see this clearly from my 20+ years experience in Loss Control and Risk Engineering - with insurance companies.
Think of Collier and Sergey often and all the others who have been injured or died - then act constructively.
TMH - tmhayesia@msn.com
Post a Comment