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I'm with pog because I've been riding a bike all my life and some places are not such a good idea to ride especially during those twilight hours. Some places/times are risky, the rider took the risk and now may he rest in peace, he died doing what he loved the most.
Pog wasn't blaming anyone, blame serves no good purpose. No human is perfect or even remotely close to it, surely the officer feels absolutely horrible.
The Big Island needs more bike lanes. However once again, it's not feasible to have the bike lanes everywhere and some places/times will be risky....own it.
To this day when I ride my bike in any precarious situation like this scenario, I not only listen for the sound of EVERY approaching vehicle behind me, when I hear them I get off the road, hence I only ride a mountain bike on this island. Drivers coming around blind curves and/or at twilight hours may not see me, period. I own that and ride accordingly. Maybe this biker did as well and maybe the conditions at that very instance had the driver veering a little off the road too and it was impossible to see the rider. That would be fate and God bless everyone involved.
Condolences to the friends and family.
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Pog and Punatic007 - separated at birth?!
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Latest update..http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/trial-resume-ex-officer-charged-bicyclist-s-death
I follow this because I think the officer was in the wrong.
.. he was probably speeding. Just as everyone else does on that stretch. But he wasn't man enough to admit that he effed up.
And I bet the 69 year visitor was blissfully and ignorantly wobbling around in the middle of the road. Too old ? to check what coming up from behind like he should have. I would want to see his latest physical to see how was his hearing. We still do not know if he had headphones.
Standing by my comments. Go Brian !
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quote:
Originally posted by pog
And I bet the 69 year visitor was blissfully and ignorantly wobbling around in the middle of the road. Too old ? to check what coming up from behind like he should have. I would want to see his latest physical to see how was his hearing. We still do not know if he had headphones.
Standing by my comments. Go Brian !
I can hardly wait until you are too old to type Pog.
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Considering he is no longer on the payroll.. and was charged with tampering with evidence.. I'd say it's a bit more complicated than what pog suggests.
The cheery on top Joe is you won't be.
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quote:
Originally posted by TomK
jrw,
"Tom K forgive me but I guess you would just run the bikes down?"
Forgive me if I am old fashioned, but I would approach a blind bend knowing that I couldn't see around the corner. Therefore, I would plan to drive appropriately so that if I met an obstruction after the bend, I wouldn't have to swerve into the oncoming lane and therefore become a danger to other innocent road users.
And if this doesn't compute, no, I would not run down the bikers, because (1) it's likely I'll have spotted them before they disappeared around the corner, and (2) my speed would have allowed me to stop within the distance I can see in front of me.
You bet. What if there had been a foundering vehicle there, instead of a bike? Cop would have rear ended it. Then, I guess, everyone would clearly feel the fault was his, since it was another vehicle hit rather than some health nut on a bike.
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This is a sad incident. What it really illustrates is two general things I've seen in Hawaii:
* Many people are not good drivers around bicycles for a variety of reasons
* The roads do not allow enough space for pedestrians and bikes in general
Hawaii could be a huge biking destination if they had the vision to improve some of the main highways and had connecting roads. If there was a bike path between hilo and Puna and Hilo and humakua along with the saddle road improvements, I think there would be a lot of biking tourism and more people might even commute by bike. The ride into Hilo is pretty good until you get to Hilo and have to contend with crossing all the turn lanes and people often cut bikes off.
I've had several friends hit by cars and it's a horrible thing for everyone. We'd all be better off if we used this sad event to get the country to make the roads a little safer and educate/train the drivers better.
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huge biking destination if they had the vision to improve some of the main highways
They won't even improve the highways for the people who live here (and pay taxes here).
