I’m sure we can come up with a million explanations but this is a new one for me

[dilligaf]

Motorcycles running into motorcycles yes but into a bicycle.
http://www.journalscene.com/article/20150405/SJ01/150409900/1059/SJ01
Matt

[segesta]

Hmm, happened in broad daylight but the relatively slow speeds and unpredictable behavior of many bicyclists means anything could have happened.

But just as we tell drivers to watch for motorcyclists... we need to watch for bicyclists.

[rocker59]

It happens...

This motorcyclist got a two-fer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFaAqS2f18

[oldbike54]

It happens...

This motorcyclist got a two-fer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFaAqS2f18

 Classic case of target fixation , watch the rider's head , he looks right at the bicycle . Fancy leathers do not a rider make .

  Dusty

[PJPR01]

Hmm, happened in broad daylight but the relatively slow speeds and unpredictable behavior of many bicyclists means anything could have happened.

But just as we tell drivers to watch for motorcyclists... we need to watch for bicyclists.

Article seemed to indicate it was 9 pm, so I might suspect the cyclist didn't have any lights flashing perhaps while riding at night.  As a cyclist as well, one always worries about a car hitting from behind, but at a minimum precaution, all night riding should have a strong front and rear light just in case!

[Randown]

Bicycle riding sends more people to the ER than any other sport or activity...[source: NEISS].

The popularity of cycling, from training wheels to extreme mountain biking, lends itself to the higher number of injuries and a chart-topping 541,746 ER trips. But there's one more factor that makes cycling more dangerous than any other sport: other vehicles.

Those who cycle off-road have 40 percent less chance of getting injured [source: Thompson]. When your mom told you not to play in the street, it looks like she had a point.

But for cyclists who do frequent the paved roads of America, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has some tips. Cyclists should follow the rules of the road, it suggests, and enthusiasts should avoid riding at night [source: NHTSA].

Cyclists get picked off all the time & a lot of them are oblivious to or downplay the dangers. Not unlike motorcyclists.  :P ~;

[PJPR01]

and I would venture to say that many of these accidents for cyclists are because they don't follow the rules of the road...basic stuff like stopping at stop lights, stop signs etc.  If you're going to ride, you have to follow the rules of the road or you risk annihilation...no doubt.

[charlie b]

Just this last year I decided to get back on a bicycle.  After several cases of cars avoiding me by less than a foot I decided it was best to stick with an exercise bike ;)

I know two people who were killed on bicycles, both on highways with really broad shoulders.

I have also noticed the huge number of cyclist 'monuments' on my motorcycle routes.

OTOH my brother has more bicycle miles than many have on motorcycles.  Not been hit once (although MANY close calls).

[Arizona Wayne]

In the past there have been times around Davis, Ca. where bicyclists have gone out of their way to piss off MC or car drivers and I've considered mowing 1 of them down on my MC.......when there's a group of them on a 2 lane road and they ride 2 wide blocking my lane and stop me from passing them because of oncoming traffic!  :wife:  They know what they are doing and don't care.  UC Davis is nearby and the whole town thinks riding a bicycle is the preferred way to get around.  ~;

[segesta]

Article seemed to indicate it was 9 pm, so I might suspect the cyclist didn't have any lights flashing perhaps while riding at night.  As a cyclist as well, one always worries about a car hitting from behind, but at a minimum precaution, all night riding should have a strong front and rear light just in case!

I read it as: the accident itself occurred some time before 12:40 pm, when the motorcyclist was taken to the hospital, but the bicyclist died around 9 pm. Anyway...

[sib]

Well, I lived in Davis for several years, and I wouldn't want to argue the point of whether or not they are the preferred way to travel.  Davis is the only place I know of where traffic laws are actually enforced for bicycles.  For example, I know of cases where the rider didn't stop fully at a stop sign and got ticketed by the police (some of whom patrol on bicycles and have the legs to catch any casual bicyclist).  I also rode a motorcycle and drove a car when I lived in Davis.  The motorcycle was a Honda CB77, so you can guess how long ago that was.  I never had a conflict with bicycles when on the motorcycle or vice versa.  Out in the countryside, I did once experience a bullet whizzing close over my head while riding, from a "hunter".  My Easy Rider experience.

I agree with the assessment of the video of the motorbike taking out the two bicycles, as well as himself, was due to target fixation and/or other inexperience.  One of my other pastimes is watching bicycle road racing.  Although the riders are sharing the road at speed with many motorcycles that televise the race, provide support, and marshall the course, and although the bicyclists crash more often than is good for their health, it's almost unheard of for a motorcycle to collide with a bicyclist on the course.  The motorcyclists are usually retired bicycle racers or enthusiasts themselves, and have been in the business long enough to know what they're doing and how the bicyclists will ride the course.

[rocker59]

The militant bicyclists don't do their sport any favors. 

I've always found it odd that 50cc scooters are not legal for 55mph highways, but bicycles are.  Strange.

I wish the bicycles were restricted  from any roadways with over 35mph speed limits.  On some days, on some roads, they are a real nuisance.

Of course my opinion would be hotly opposed by any avid bicyclists...

[not-fishing]

Bicycle riding sends more people to the ER than any other sport or activity...[source: NEISS]. [/color]:P ~;

Only works when you look only at specific data because from the NESS 2013 data

Basketball treated & released---561,485; Hospitalized or DOA ---8,246

Bicycling treated & released ----514,422; Hospitalized or DOA--- 42,221

I wonder that the Hospitalized figure would be for Basketball if they played on the roads?       :pop

[Triple Jim]

....when there's a group of them on a 2 lane road and they ride 2 wide blocking my lane and stop me from passing them because of oncoming traffic! 

The other side of that is riders riding single file, who are repeatedly passed with oncoming traffic in the other lane, causing a very dangerous situation.  Sometimes the cyclists feel forced to ride (legally) two abreast to force motor vehicle drivers to wait until it's clear to pass.  It's not a good situation, I agree, and I'm glad I now live in an area with very little traffic so I don't face this situation.

I wish the bicycles were restricted  from any roadways with over 35mph speed limits.  On some days, on some roads, they are a real nuisance.

Of course my opinion would be hotly opposed by any avid bicyclists...

In a city situation, you may be right.  Out here in the country where I live, most roads have a 55 mph limit, and some are 45.  Your rule would prevent any cycling in an area where there are few problems between motor vehicles and bicycles.

One attitude I do dispute is that bicycles are in the way and slow car drivers down, and therefore are the problem.  Motor vehicle codes generally treat bicycles as having a similar right to the road as cars, so my interpretation is that it's give and take.  If I have a tractor trailer behind me when I'm riding a bicycle, and there is no straight stretch of road coming up, I'll pull off the road and let it by.  I'll do that for cars too, if they're piling up behind me and can't pass safely.  But in return, I expect motor vehicle drivers to slow to my speed and wait for a safe time to pass, rather than expect they should be able to fly around me at the speed limit, regardless of the safeness of doing that, and what's coming the other way.

Unlike when I lived in the DC suburbs, in rural NC the majority of motor vehicle drivers and bicyclists are courteous toward each other, and we get along OK.

[dilligaf]

Not much information in the article.  Still a freaking motorcycle runs into a bicycle going the same way on a straight as an arrow four lane road.  GMAB.   :BEER:
Matt

[Penderic]

Takes one or two troublemakers to give the rest of us two wheelers a bad reputation.

[nellborg]

I used to race road bikes. But over the course of have many thousands of miles of road-riding in multiple states over 20 yrs, and having one friend run over from behind and killed, and another run over from the front and left paraplegic, I quit.  In most places, it's just not safe anymore on the main roads - even those with wide shoulders.  And now with the added distractions from smart phones.... 

Regarding riding two abreast...it's safer for the cyclist even though it pisses off the motorists behind.  Riding single file all the way over on the right of the lane invites the passing cars and trucks to pass without slowing and without going over the centerline.  With two abreast, or a single cyclist riding about 1 ft inboard of the white line, the overtaking motorist sees that they have to commit to putting at least two wheels over the centerline to pass safely.

[charlie b]

If there is shoulder enough I expect the bicycles to ride there and keep the lane clear.  Yep, I know it's a problem.  Flat tires, gravel and all that.

Two abreast is akin to tailgating and other 'bullying' tactics on the road.  You are doing something to force a reaction from someone else.  You may consider it 'safer' while others may not.  I find it especially irritating and dangerous when the 'clueless' are doing that on a blind corner, leaving no where for a car to go.  Stupid.

It all comes down to being in the right, but, still being dead.

[lucydad]

Matt,

Yep, its a real issue here in Houston and much of Texas.  And I have personally gotten back on a bicycle the past couple months.  Courtesy and common sense can really be lacking by bicycle riders.  Packs practicing for the huge MS 150 from Houston to Austin are an enormous issue:  hope its not same weekend as COTA.

I won't ride a bicycle at night around here, but others do, and they are very difficult to spot, and often going very fast.

[boatdetective]

Regarding riding two abreast...it's safer for the cyclist even though it pisses off the motorists behind.  Riding single file all the way over on the right of the lane invites the passing cars and trucks to pass without slowing and without going over the centerline.  With two abreast, or a single cyclist riding about 1 ft inboard of the white line, the overtaking motorist sees that they have to commit to putting at least two wheels over the centerline to pass safely.

Precisely the sort of self centered behavior that pisses me off. It's only safer for bikes to ride two abreast because there's a  possibility I might get photographed intentionally crushing them while other motorists cheer me on.  I'm not about to defend distracted drivers and the legions of poor drivers. However, the new "share the road" bicyclist mentality where they think they have the right to control a car lane is really frustrating. On that note- how come it's only the d-bags with psuedo racer multi colored spandex who behave this way and refuse to ride the shoulder?

[Randown]

Precisely the sort of self centered behavior that pisses me off. It's only safer for bikes to ride two abreast because there's a  possibility I might get photographed intentionally crushing them while other motorists cheer me on.  I'm not about to defend distracted drivers and the legions of poor drivers. However, the new "share the road" bicyclist mentality where they think they have the right to control a car lane is really frustrating. On that note- how come it's only the d-bags with psuedo racer multi colored spandex who behave this way and refuse to ride the shoulder?

B/c we use thin latex inner tubes & super light tires that gain us another .83 mph but also puncture if we run over a sharp pebble so naturally we're not gonna ride in the shoulder silly.  :P

[Vasco DG]

Canberra is a planned city, always was, it's only been here since federation and didn't really start growing until the 1950's. One of the side effects of this, for want of a better word, is that there is an extensive network of cycle paths and dedicated cycle lanes on many roads. Many of these are truly pleasant winding through bucolic parkland and bush in a manner that also promotes efficient mobility from point a to point b.

So why, in the name of all that's holy do huge peletons of be-spandexed numbskulls insist on riding not only two or three abreast, sometimes with a 'Blocking' vehicle behind them, up the main arterial routes into the city? Particularly at the weekend! It's bloody insane!

Apart from being extremely frustrating for other road users I simply cannot see what possible enjoyment they can gain by riding along what is effectively a six lane freeway! Even weirder is after they actually leave the city. The 'Main Drag' out of Canberra towards Goulburn and Sydney is called, rather unoriginally, Northbourne Avenue. It's a six laner. Once it leaves the outer suburbs it becomes the 'Federal Highway' a six lane motorway with a 110kph speed limit that is, if not ignored then treated in an 'elastic' fashion. Every weekend you will see packs of cyclists toiling out of and back into Canberra on the hard shoulder which is liberally sprinkled with the sort of puncture inducing debris that hard shoulders the world over are full of. Broken bottles, nails that have fallen off the back of tradies Utes, bits of packing cases and blown out truck tyres! Riding along it must be a nightmare even without the traffic whizzing by a couple of feet from your ear! The absolute screaming two-holer of an acme of idiocy though is that 100 metres off to the side of the freeway there is a great, clean, well surfaced and scarcely used service road that used, forty years ago before they built the freeway, to be the highway. The be-spandexed ones seemingly refuse to use it!

It seems to be that sort of 'It's my right to be an uncomfortable danger to myself and general public pest so I'm damn well going to use it!' Attitude. Bit like idiots on motorbikes with loud pipes I guess but with a bigger dose of sanctimony because they reckon they're 'Saving the Environment' while they're at it. I break wind lavishly in their general direction! What an attitude to go through life with!

Pete

[boatdetective]

Alright- a bit of thread drift here- but I'm calling for an immediate vote:

Who wants to see Dr. Roper trussed up in a dayglo spandex cyclo unitard with the silly little cap?  I can see it now- perched on some diaphenous carbon contraption with a camelback full of organic gojiberry tea so he can rehydrate- our own Vasco would cut quite the rakish figure!

[lucydad]

Dusty is right:  classic target fixation on 2-fer.

Good one for me to remember on Texas FTM 359 going NW towards Brenham.

Excellent lesson, thanks.

[Bill929]

I've got somewhere between 20-30k of bicycle road miles under my belt and a lot more on the motorcycle and there is no question - road bicyclling is far more dangerous in populated areas.  In Florida, cyclists can be ticketed for riding two abreast, but cars are also required to give them a minimum of three feet of clearance when they pass (which 90% of the cars drivers do not do), meaning a legal pass must cross the center line, unless you are on a MC or really small car...  I also find that many of the pseudo racers have an attitude problem, but almost all road cyclists wear spandex, so don't throw us all in the same boat.  I no longer road ride in Florida, confining my rides to rail trails.  I do ride roads in rural NC, but as was posted above, the drivers are largely courteous and leave plenty of room.  I also notice that in rural NC many cyclists wave to MC riders and vice versa.  Not sure why, but maybe there are a lot more like me - riders who cycle and motorbike.      

[HDGoose]

There was a group of bicyclist just north of T.W.O. in Suches GA that do not know how lucky they are. I can around a corner at the speed limit (ya, act surprised) and found a group all over the road going up hill. Taking up both lanes on a two lane road. I was pissed and those idiots claimed they owned the road.

I've learned that some bicyclist are jerks also. Had several run-ins with bicyclist running stop signs and red lights.

[Randown]

That's a doctor showing the appropriate emotion before being sentenced to five years in jail for slamming on his brakes in front of a couple of d-bag cyclists. So don't let your emotions get the best of you.

[dilligaf]

Thank everyone for their input but it's time to move on.