From: gdsomerv@eos.ncsu.edu (GARTH D SOMERVILLE)
Subject: Re: Car intentionally runs down cyclists!
Originator: gdsomerv@c00764-135wl.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: somerville@bae.ncsu.edu (Garth Somerville)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 12:54:10 GMT


In article <1jnppc$rat@agate.berkeley.edu>, annie@garnet.berkeley.edu  (Anne Jessop) writes:
|>
|>She reportedly told a bartender at a Doubletree Hotel _bar_ that "she felt
|>like doing something bad."  She then went out on the road and paced the
|>cyclists, and then accelerated into them, killing Vladimir and critically
|>injuring another rider to the point that he now is still in "critical
|>condition" and has had to have part of his leg amputated.  
|>
|>The last bit that I remember from what I read this morning is that, after
|>she turned herself in and was arraigned yesterday, she "smirked" and said
|>that she wished she had harmed more people before she gave up.
|>

Couldn't this be used to show that the crime was indeed premeditated?
That being the case, I think the law stipulates that she is guilty of
murder, even if she didn't intend to actually kill her victims, but only
harm them in some way. 

|>.... Being struck from
|>behind ON PURPOSE is horrifying, and I think it's something that those of
|>us who admit that we are concerned about what is going on behind us worry
|>about, on some level or another.  Maybe it doesn't register as worry. 
|>Maybe one is "alert," or "cautious," or "responsible." 

Being hit from behind is scary, and obviously serious.  But what can you
really do about it?  I mean, you can't go diving off into the ditch
every time a car comes up behind you, and in how many of these cases
do you have a truly clear comprehension that the vehicle is really
going to hit you, and not just pass close or squeeze you over?  Is there
any cycling program (like EC) that really deals with this issue?

|> Fact remains, we
|>love a sport, a way of life (sport, commuting, whatever) which can kill
|>us.  And it doesn't matter how "careful" we are.  Someone can come up
|>behind us and be crazy, and want to run us down for whatever reason.  To
|>go back to another thread, we could be intentionally run down if we "flip
|>someone the bird," if we're pissed off because somone has squeezed us out
|>of a lane or cut us off or knocked us over because they wanted a parking
|>spot right there where we happen to be.
|>

Your point is well taken, but I would like to stress that it is not
bicycling itself that is deadly, it is people.

|>Forgive me for being pedantic or moralistic, please.  This story just
|>scares me, and does something to my faith (the faith we all have, no
|>matter how responsible we are) that other users of the road will respect us.

When you have no such faith (and I can't imagine why you would), the
idea is to ride as safe as you can, try to take as much control over
what happens to you as possible, and simply hope that you don't
get run over or attacked.

This story is indeed truly tragic, and I am pained further to see in your post
that one of the survivors has had a partial loss of a leg.  I hope
this story will be followed closely.
-- 
Garth Somerville
somerville@bae.ncsu.edu
gdsomerv@eos.ncsu.edu