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SUV Hits Doc on Bike During TOSRV

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Started 4 years ago by AmyArt21
Latest reply from Yethu

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AmyArt21
Short North
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This is a really sad story :(
From NBC4:
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio
A Michigan surgeon was killed Sunday morning on the second leg of OhioÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s popular bike race that goes from Columbus to Portsmouth and back over a weekend.Ã‚Â
Chillicothe troopers say William Crowley, 57, was northbound on U.S. 23 shortly before 8 Sunday morning when his bike was struck from behind. The impact threw Dr. Crowley from the bicycle and he was pronounced dead of his injuries at the scene.Ã‚Â The OSP told NBC 4 that Crowley had been hit by a 2005 GMC Envoy driven by Sara Bender, 35, of Lucasville.Ã‚Â Ã‚Â
Ms. Bender had been driving northward near Piketon when the collision took place.Ã‚Â The Pike County prosecutor was at the scene. No criminal charges have been filed but the case is under investigation, says the patrol.Ã‚Â The accident cast a pall on the remainder of the race. This year marked the 47th anniversary of the popular Tour of the Scioto River Valley bike ride.Ã‚Â Ã‚Â
One weekend every spring, hundreds of bikers leave from the front yard of the Statehouse and ride south on U.S. 23 over the challenging hills leading toward the Ohio River. The riders spend the night in Portsmouth, and then make the return trip the following day.Ã‚Â The bikers had left Portsmouth a little more than an hour before the fatal accident.Ã‚Â
More on this developing story on NBC 4 and nbc4i.com

Posted 4 years ago #
columbusfoodie
West Side
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AmyArt21 wrote This is a really sad story :(
Chillicothe troopers say William Crowley, 57, was northbound on U.S. 23 shortly before 8 Sunday morning when his bike was struck from behind. The impact threw Dr. Crowley from the bicycle and he was pronounced dead of his injuries at the scene.Ã‚Â The OSP told NBC 4 that Crowley had been hit by a 2005 GMC Envoy driven by Sara Bender, 35, of Lucasville.Ã‚Â Ã‚Â
I think it's more common than this article leads you to believe. I used to live up in Dublin and my daily bicycling routine was to go down Wilcox to Tuttle Crossing to Emerald Pkwy to Perimeter Loop, then up Avery Rd to the Hilliard bike path, up to Plain City and back down Avery to Hayden Run to Wilcox. Every single day I rode I felt like I was coming this-><-close to getting ran over. And I rode in the shoulder, followed all traffic laws, made sure I was visible, etc. And then the people had the nerve to yell out the window to me after they almost hit me.
Now that I live near Grovetucky, there is literally nowhere for me to ride. And my poor Prius can't handle a bike rack, I don't think. So my poor bicycle is sitting in my garage gathering dust. But as sad as this news story is, I can see how it can happen, even during an event like TOSRV where I'm assuming there are sag wagons everywhere just to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

Posted 4 years ago #
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Without a lot of details, I won't speculate.
By appearance, he was on the right side of the road, with traffic cycling legally. It would not surprise me in the least if she claimed not seeing him. I wonder if she was on a cell phone when this occurred? My prayers will be with him and his family.
A sad note to the beginning of B2WW.
Ride of Silence is May 21 at 7PM to honor all cyclists killed in motor vehicle accidents.

Posted 4 years ago #
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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More details.
After hitting Crowley, she drove to her home in Lucasville in Scioto County and returned to the scene about a half hour later, said Sgt. Brandon Cruz, the Highway Patrol officer overseeing the patrolÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s coordination of the tour.
Once Bender returned to the scene she indicated that she thought she may have hit a sign, Pace said last night. Crowley was on the right side of the road, but it remains unclear if he was in the lane or riding in the berm, which runs along the right lane past a set of rumble strips.

Posted 4 years ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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Who comes back to the scene where they thought they hit a road sign. :roll:

Posted 4 years ago #
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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More importantly, who doesn't stop when they think they hit something as big as a road sign to check for damage?

Posted 4 years ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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I hate to think about the time passing when it might have been possible to help him.
Pure speculation on my part. The thought really disturbs me.

Posted 4 years ago #
Angel
Grandview
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on a similar note, i have a cyclist question.
ok so saturday i get off of 270 onto 23, and i'm right in front of crosswoods stopped at a light, i'm in the right lane and two semis are next to me. this cyclist comes right between us, at a pretty fast pace right when the light was green. that's illegal right?
i mean he really could have gotten hurt and was pretty stupid IMO

Posted 4 years ago #
roy
Downtown
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As others have noted, the Ride of Silence is an important way to memorialize the life of this and other bicyclists injured and killed on American roads.
It's a medium-paced, silent way to make a loud statement and I hope all CU bikers, amateur and otherwise, will consider joining in the ride this year.

Posted 4 years ago #
Ndcent
OTE
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Very sad.
I'm sure ppl will want to jump all over those super dangerous SUV's now, but in reality - I bet the dumb broad was texting or on her cell phone.
Yes criminal charges please!

Posted 4 years ago #
LauraA
LaLaland
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this is a sad turn of events.
until police start caring about bike/vehicle collisions and people get morals, this will unfortunately continue to happen.

Posted 4 years ago #
dredd

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I wonder if those new laser detection systems they are having on cars nowadays could help with avoiding these things. Have the thing start beeping if something is within two feet. Seems like a worth while invention. It is pretty odd she thought she hit a sign though. Sketchy.

Posted 4 years ago #
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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I was volunteering with TOSRV this weekend helping with communications, course monitoring, and directing support vehicles/EMS. Even so, this event is so big, I didn't know about this until the 11pm news last night!
Yeah, there are a few "official" support vehicles, 30-40 Amateur Radio Emergency Service operators from 5 counties, 9 Red Cross first aid service corps vehicles, fixed TOSERV food/rest stations, 3-4 repair vans staffed by bike shop folks, a bunch of unofficial 'SAG waggons' that various bikers bring along the course to help. And almost 3000 bikes spread out over a 101 mile route
It's a massive event and not all the right hands know what the left hands are doing. Communication is handled by radio on 3 different frequency
"zones". Individuals on the course monitor the frequency for the zone they are in, and the central control operators run the 3 zones from a borrowed comm office at the Franklin County EMA up by New Albany. The local police/EMS also monitor those frequencies during the event to handle emergencies, and reports of harrassment and recklessness.
But even with all of this support there is no way for these people to do anything to PREVENT these accidents. Mostly all they can do is move to a reported problem after it has happened.
It makes me very very sad that this has happened. All it takes is a moment of inattention on someones part to produce a tragedy.

Posted 4 years ago #
turbo ninja
Crumb Bus, Oh.
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Angel wrote on a similar note, i have a cyclist question.
ok so saturday i get off of 270 onto 23, and i'm right in front of crosswoods stopped at a light, i'm in the right lane and two semis are next to me. this cyclist comes right between us, at a pretty fast pace right when the light was green. that's illegal right?
i mean he really could have gotten hurt and was pretty stupid IMO
A cyclist is supposed to use a lane, just like any other vehicle. It was illegal to ride between lanes of automobile traffic.
It was not illegal to get a running start at a green light (you can do the same thing in an automobile) but it was dangerous.

Posted 4 years ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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dredd wrote I wonder if those new laser detection systems they are having on cars nowadays could help with avoiding these things. Have the thing start beeping if something is within two feet. Seems like a worth while invention. It is pretty odd she thought she hit a sign though. Sketchy.
These are typically used as parking assist features and are not always active. The max range is around 6 ft. I'm referring to the ones based on ultrasonic emission and response times. These would not serve well as an impact warning indicator at speed.
I don't know of any laser based systems being used on any cars.

Posted 4 years ago #
turnedNOTburned
Grandview/Columbus, Ohio
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In the drivers defense...
I was involved with a fatal pedestrian accident in which a man (married, father of 1, foreign exchange student) ran out in front of a parked cargo van across my lane to catch a bus. Hit him about 25mph on the front corner of my truck and catapulted his head into the windshield. Even at 25, his head was only a black flash. He died 8 hours later in the hospital.
As if the guilt of being involved in the death of another human wasn't bad enough, The foreign student union took the high road, as some have on here, calling for criminal charges, lawsuits, etc. Don't hang your bad experiences of two wheels onto this driver - its both ignorant and unfair. If there is negligence, there should be charges, but, in absence of any factual evidence, please reserve your judgment accordingly.
My heart certainly goes out to the victim and survivors who bear the brunt of the loss. Keep in mind the driver will be impacted as well, carrying the knowledge they were involved with the taking of a life. Please be careful on trying to "figure out" what happened. There is such a thing as an Accident, usually resulting from a chain of poor judgment, including intersection design, visibility, other traffic - who knows?
That being said. I consider Columbus to be an incredibly bike "hostile" city. After moving here, I went from 4000 miles a year to less than 300 because of many of the reasons cited on this thread. The risk outweighs the gain and regardless of who has what rights in a court of law, the cyclist will ALWAYS lose on the road when toe to toe with a vehicle.
Hopefully his death will not be there in vain and there will be legislation and planning/change to take cyclists into account. Hope to see a lot of other CU'ers there on the memorial ride.
- Devo

Posted 4 years ago #
Angel
Grandview
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i almost hit a biker on old state road on saturday. the car in front of me wasn't paying attention and had to swerve around him, it was a large SUV and i couldn't see around him so i saw the cyclist at the last moment. scared the crap out of me.
out of curiousity, with the bike path along 315, and even streets with shoulders, why do cyclists choose to go the most dangerous route (i.e. 23 and old state road in this case)?

Posted 4 years ago #
joev
Merion Village
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I kind of take this attitude when I walking or driving: I know what I'm doing is legal/safe, and I forget to check what other drivers/pedestrians are doing. I feel terrible about this accident, and I'm not going to speculate on fault. But I think it is another warning call for cyclists. especially when biking on busy roads, I think some bikers need to take more responsibilty for watching out for cars. You do have a right to the road, but you don't have a right to run a red light or turn at a stop sign without checking. Whether I'm walking or driving, I see lots of cyclists doing some really stupid stuff that may or may not be "illegal."

Posted 4 years ago #
jgh

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Angel wrote
out of curiousity, with the bike path along 315, and even streets with shoulders, why do cyclists choose to go the most dangerous route (i.e. 23 and old state road in this case)?
you cant really ride on the bike path along 315, maybe as a commuter on the way into work or something, but not for just going out on a ride as a cyclist.

Posted 4 years ago #
Angel
Grandview
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umm you're going to have to explain that to me. how can a bike rider not ride on a bike path?

Posted 4 years ago #