Altona woman dead after electric bicycle collides with truck

Dave Sloan

Dave Sloan

100 W
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
128
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/breakingnews/Altona-woman-dead-after-electric-bicycle-collides-with-dump-truck-131020178.html

Keep it safe out there!Sad news to hear about this happening to somebody so young.
 
Wow, and half the comments removed for breaches of terms and conditions.

I knew anti-cyclist sentiment was high, but to let it come out with the death of a young woman is totally sick.
 
Very Sad indeed! :cry:

My thoughts and prayers go out to her loved ones.
 
Not much to comment on, except what a bummer. All they say is it happened at an uncontrolled intersection.

So who had the right of way? The heaviest? the one who got there first? the one who could stop? I hate to even imply that the rider was at fault, but when I have driven dump trucks it always amazed me that folks in cars would pop in front of you like you could stop in the same distance as a lightweight car. That huge following distance I was leaving in front of me was because I needed every inch of it with a full load of dirt. Then they would change lanes in front of me with a red light coming up.

But really, we are not told what the dump truck driver or the rider were doing. Maybe the truck floored it instead of trying to brake, making the hole the rider thought she had too small. Maybe she made a right turn and the truck driver moved left to give her room, but not far enough. No telling if either could see each other in time for any action to be taken. Who knows?

To repeat the obvious again, out in the street it's often your choice to take a route, or go at a time when something could happen. Other routes or just waiting a bit longer to enter a street can make all the difference. Hurry can get you killed in any vehicle. Road rights are a great thing, but I don't bet my life on cars giving me them.
 
What a shame here and the obviously dreadful comments some folks have left are truly disgusting.

Electric or not, people really need more rider training before taking to the motorized streets. New riders only think about controlling a bike and rarely, if ever, the much more important aspect of defensive traffic strategies and techniques. It's a two-part process - 1st learn how to seamlessly master control of a bike next learn how to stay alive on the streets.

Yeah Dogman,I know how it is working a Lousiville when teenage girl's think everything stops and drives like the BMW daddy bought 'em. Not blaming the victim here, not nearly enough details and they paid the ultimate price anyway regardless of the sequence of events leading up to the accident.
 
Never ceases to amaze me I survived that 15-25 period myself. I once pulled the car into the path of a speeding ready mix truck. Never could really explain my looking and not seeing a cement truck. Distracted I guess, but I wasn't fooling with the radio or eating. Got lucky. Could well be this poor girl did someing similar, without the luck.
 
Sunder said:
Wow, and half the comments removed for breaches of terms and conditions.

I knew anti-cyclist sentiment was high, but to let it come out with the death of a young woman is totally sick.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, outright hatred is par for the course these days in comment sections of news reports of bicyclist deaths and injuries. Bicycles are small, slow, and spindly vehicles in comparison to just about anything else on the road, yet they bring out something fundamentally insecure and fearful in a whole lot of people. Its something so deep and dark that they feel it perfectly acceptable to use the death of person they know not at all to grind an axe, hurl invectives, and pump themselves up at another's expense. I'm far from anti-car (I own more than one at the moment and have no compunctions about acquiring more), but I am still worried about the outright hatred expressed.
 
dogman said:
To repeat the obvious again, out in the street it's often your choice to take a route, or go at a time when something could happen. Other routes or just waiting a bit longer to enter a street can make all the difference. Hurry can get you killed in any vehicle. Road rights are a great thing, but I don't bet my life on cars giving me them.
Click to expand...

The sooner Google launches self-driving vehicles with the potential for warning systems the safer everyone will be.

Looking at the posts here about the article and the comments, I think I will give reading it a miss. :shock:
 
All they say is it happened at an uncontrolled intersection.
Click to expand...

What's bizarre about this is that the intersection is surrounded by flat country and farmers fields. Zero visual obstructions in all directions...

Lock
 
I know my ride today will be in mourning of this young woman....... It really dosent add up, visibility might have been a factor . I for one am very aware of speeding trucks on our gravel roads here in manitoba, many of these trucks are farm vehicles , barely safe for the road, often driven by teenagers or very young people -- especially this time of year. .....many accidents ,, all I can say is be careful out there kids!!!!

There is a lesson to be learned here somewhere.., my prayers to the family.....

mike

edit Yes its lots of flat , but also treed areas and hills, there are many many many uncontrolled(no sign)
 
How sad, with as many bike deaths there are, it was only a matter of time before someone on a e-bike got killed. Regardless of what happened here, cars just do not give bikes the respect they deserve on the road. Yeah it's a smaller vehicle, but it's still transporting a human life. Shit, just yesterday I had to yell at a lady who was blocking a bike lane on a busy road. My choices were either stop, hit her car, or swerved into bumper to bumper 45+mph traffic. Then the dumb bitch had the nerve to get mad at me for yelling at her. I almost got off my bike to ask this fat cow what exactly was her problem.
 
Easy for either the truck or the bike to get lulled into inattention when driving out in the farmland. Nothing happens for miles and miles, then whoa!
 
Tell me about it...similar setting was the downfall of my Ex's mint condition, totally restored, 75 LT1 Camaro. I almost cried when she totaled it.
 
I'm guessing the girl had her iplod cranked to full and was bopping alooooong to the music, she was a million miles away when she pulled out into the path of the truck, I find it hard to blame the trick driver if the girl simply pulled out, as dogman
Covered in his post, these big trucks with loads don't like stopping on a dime.

KiM

P.s I also find the comments from some on t s sites totally disgusting, I blame teenagers and the fact they can post away anonymously, their immature minds think others will find their comments amusing in some twisted way...
 
AussieJester said:
I'm guessing the girl had her iplod cranked to full and was bopping alooooong to the music...
Click to expand...

+1

Sad. The perverts commenting on the site are pathetic.
 
AussieJester said:
...P.s I also find the comments from some on t s sites totally disgusting, I blame teenagers and the fact they can post away anonymously, their immature minds think others will find their comments amusing in some twisted way...
Click to expand...

I wish it was just teenagers. A lot of the anti-bike drivel on comment boards is clearly written by adults as they complain about taxes, mentioned work, and make belittle in very adult ways. Teenagers can be excused a lot of the time, adults are just assholes.
 
It's very sad. :(
My sincerest thoughts are with her family.
Good point was made about the earphones..........they really shouldn't be used when bicycling or boarding either.Cell phones just as bad.
This July a youg lad on a skate board lost his life that way at an intersection just a couple of blocks from here.Flowers and memoriam are still there.
They are toys that can be lethal when not respected.I've rode motorcycle for years and had to learn to ride very deffencively,This is even more so important with e-bikes.I saw today someone today,a girl in her twenties riding with no helmet on an e-scooter with all the farings.Then she goes down a one-way street the wrong way.Argh!!
A lot of people don't respect them on the road.Now even a lot of pedal bikers are getting hostile.
A lot is image and first impressions.People would probably be more excepting if the speed was allowed so that the e-bikes could go with the flow of traffic at up to 30mph.
Its a terrible tragedy that hopefully will not be repeated soon.
 
Wolfy said:
It's very sad. :(
My sincerest thoughts are with her family.
Good point was made about the earphones..........they really shouldn't be used when bicycling or boarding
Click to expand...

I would add while driving a car to that also, for alot of the population, as alot are
bad enough without distractions. People seem to forget driving is a privilege
not a right, piloting a few ton of automobile down the highway can turn deadly
in the blink of an eye, some people just don't seem to realize what happens when they are travelling at 50-60mph
and hit something and stop suddenly, its like they think they will be fine and be able to get out and dust themselves off, some people just shouldn't be allowed licenses...myself included (which is why i haven't re-applied to get mine back in over 10 years)

KiM
 
dogman said:
Other routes or just waiting a bit longer to enter a street can make all the difference. Hurry can get you killed in any vehicle. Road rights are a great thing, but I don't bet my life on cars giving me them.
Click to expand...
That's why in my CrazyBike2 ride videos, you'll see me ignore what might seem like a long enough gap in traffic to get out on teh street, because unless it is longer than I know I need, I won't take the chance; if just a little something happens to slow my startup, I mihgt take half a second longer to get out there and get going, and that might be long enough for me to be in someone's way. Or, I don't go becuase someone coming up seems slightly unpredictable.


nuevomexicano said:
Unfortunately, outright hatred is par for the course these days in comment sections of news reports of bicyclist deaths and injuries.
Click to expand...
And it is often enough from officials, too. There is an attorney for the state (that used to be a police officer) here that expresses some very awful attitudes towards these things, usually in newspapers. He's been brought up on Azbikelaw.org at least once or twice as one of the problematic people around here, because he deliberately stirs up anti-bike people and sentiments. I spent a while trying to find the article I recall, but couldn't. :(

I just don't understand why it is active hatred from these people. I can see that they have the attitude that the roads are theirs, and antyhing on the road that "impedes their enjoyment" is automatically a problem to be removed with whatever force is necessary. I just don't understand it.
 
I just don't understand why it is active hatred from these people. I can see that they have the attitude that the roads are theirs, and antyhing on the road that "impedes their enjoyment" is automatically a problem to be removed with whatever force is necessary. I just don't understand it.
Click to expand...
The attitude in NM isn't much different except for Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The rural drive I take to work everyday has an intersection where people stop at a four way stop only when traffic is coming. I always look for cars and stop when I see something coming there is no reason not to see a car as you can see for all four roads for about 3/4 of a mile.
:cry:
 
You can clearly see the BIAS of the reporter.

electric bicycle collides with dump truck

A 1981 International dump truck was driving on a grid road near Altona when it collided with the pedal powered electric bicycle at an uncontrolled intersection today about 1 p.m., say RCMP.
Click to expand...


Blame the victim in the headlines, begrudgingly tell the story in the body.
 
The quality of writing in news stories is appaling, till you find out what they get paid. Locally at least, they get paid a salary, so they don't run in to problems with paying reporters less than minimum wage per hour.

We call the local paper, the daily dissapointment. Used to stories so badly edited they were unintelligible, we now are getting used to misspellings in headlines. :lol:
 
Another problem is that most of the people I've known that wanted to "grow up to be a reporter" were the gossip-mongers, or at best they wanted to always be first to find something out and tell everyone about it (and make sure they all knew who found out first). Actually waiting to collect the facts and include them wasn't relevant to their interests. :(

I dunno if that's what the reporters are like that actually work at these places, but the way things read I would guess that they are.

Add to that editors that usually prefer sensationalism to sell papers, and you don't get much actual news.
 
Perhaps you are right about some journalists, Amberwolf.

However, the real problem is the lack of sub-editors. These are the people that create good copy and turn some journalists/columnists unreadable mess into something legible. And sub-editors have the gift of being able to see what is on the text - not what is supposed to be there.

In an effort to cut costs, they are being laid off all over the world. Only the Nationals and the large 'Regionals' can now afford to keep sub-editors. Although even in those there is no longer enough to keep up high standards.
 
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