2023 Cycling fatalities

[AdelaidePeter]

I know the road well: speed limit is 50 and it is straight; there is just no reason for this to happen.

And quite wide too with plenty of parking places

But that is a double-edged sword: they put a pseudo-bike lane (i.e. a symbol of a bicycle but no sign, meaning it is not a legal bicycle lane) on the right hand side of the parking lane, i.e. right in the door zone.

Looking at the Channel 7 photo, it looks like it happened going westbound, which is a bit downhill; after Sunnymeade Ave but before the school crossing. The pseudo bike lane becomes impossibly narrow at the school crossing because a road island is built out from the kerb. I wouldn't be surprised if the cyclist moved out of the pseudo bike lane in anticipation of that .

Crappy road planning with a tragic result. (I am not saying the driver was not at fault either, but crap road design did not help). (Pardon my language, I am upset).

EDIT: GSV photo of the crossing https://imgur.com/a/2WfNNnQ. The crash happened "behind the photographer", at a guess about 50m before the crossing.

[elantra]

Just after 8am on Wednesday 13 December, police were called to Wattle Street following reports a cyclist was struck by a Mercedes sedan.

Sadly the rider, a 53-year-old Fullarton man, died at the scene.

Major Crash Investigators attended the scene and are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Wattle Street was closed between Fullarton Road and Kenilworth Road but was reopened just after 12.30pm.

The man’s death is the 108th life lost on SA roads compared with 66 at the same time last year.

I know the road well: speed limit is 50 and it is straight; there is just no reason for this to happen.

Very sorry to hear this… please keep us posted if you hear more about the circumstances of this tragedy.

[AdelaidePeter]

It seems the cyclist was doored.

Security footage has captured the freak sequence of events that cost a 53-year-old cyclist his life in Adelaide’s leafy inner suburbs, just a street from his home.
...
CCTV shows the door of a car on Wattle St opening as the cyclist rides past, knocking him off his bike and into the path of a white Mercedes driving behind him.
...
[a witness] said she believed it was a child that opened the car door into the cyclist.

Of course it is not a "freak sequence of events", but an accident waiting to happen. That road has a bicycle sign painted on the edge of a wide parking lane, encouraging/directing cyclists to ride in the door zone. It is not a legal bicycle lane, but there are many of these around Adelaide.

[warthog1]

Never, ever ride in the door zone regardless of any road markings indicating to do so.
There was a bunch ride I used to go on occasionally here. A fairly slow paced one with older 50+ riders like I am now. Anyway it used to end up going through the main st of Kangaroo Flat at about 9:30 in the morning.
A shopping strip with on street parking and 2 lanes each way. Yep in the door zone for the L side of the bunch.
Sure enough someone nearly doored whilst a stream of traffic was passing.
The last time I ever went on that. Such a stupid route.

[g-boaf]

It seems the cyclist was doored.

Security footage has captured the freak sequence of events that cost a 53-year-old cyclist his life in Adelaide’s leafy inner suburbs, just a street from his home.
...
CCTV shows the door of a car on Wattle St opening as the cyclist rides past, knocking him off his bike and into the path of a white Mercedes driving behind him.
...
[a witness] said she believed it was a child that opened the car door into the cyclist.

Of course it is not a "freak sequence of events", but an accident waiting to happen. That road has a bicycle sign painted on the edge of a wide parking lane, encouraging/directing cyclists to ride in the door zone. It is not a legal bicycle lane, but there are many of these around Adelaide.

Council convenience lanes we call them here. Council gets the convenience of ticking the box and saying "we've satisifed active transport requirements for cyclists" at minimum cost.

[warthog1]

Council convenience lanes we call them here. Council gets the convenience of ticking the box and saying "we've satisifed active transport requirements for cyclists" at minimum cost.

Council kill zones is what they should be called.
We have them too. Far worse than nothing as they encourage some cyclists to ride in that deadly zone and many drivers expect we should be there.
I slapped the side of a people mover hard a few years back who tried to force me into one.
Thought it was going to be on afterwards for a km or so. I was ready as I was pretty angry.

[Mr Purple]

It seems the cyclist was doored.

Security footage has captured the freak sequence of events that cost a 53-year-old cyclist his life in Adelaide’s leafy inner suburbs, just a street from his home.
...
CCTV shows the door of a car on Wattle St opening as the cyclist rides past, knocking him off his bike and into the path of a white Mercedes driving behind him.
...
[a witness] said she believed it was a child that opened the car door into the cyclist.

Of course it is not a "freak sequence of events", but an accident waiting to happen. That road has a bicycle sign painted on the edge of a wide parking lane, encouraging/directing cyclists to ride in the door zone. It is not a legal bicycle lane, but there are many of these around Adelaide.

Made the mistake of stumbling across a Facebook thread about it in the aftermath of this one.

So a motorist opens the door on a cyclist and knocks them into another motorist in a school zone (presumably not leaving the 1m distance).

The number of morons who took the lesson from this 'why was the cyclist there?' and 'there needs to be more parking in school zone' was astounding. If a cyclist can't be safe in a school zone than who is safe in a school zone? Certainly not kids.

Car centric morons everywhere...

[antigee]

On Jan 28th TheAge reported the death of a cyclist in NE Victoria:

".....Separately, police have charged a young driver after the death of a cyclist in a collision at Lilliput in Victoria’s north-east on Friday.

Emergency services were called to Rutherglen-Springhurst Road about 8.20am, where a 59-year-old man from Rutherglen on a bicycle was hit by a car and died at the scene.

The alleged driver of the car, a 22-year-old Rutherglen woman, stopped following the incident and was interviewed by police.

On Saturday, she was charged with dangerous driving causing death. She has been bailed to appear at Wodonga Magistrates’ Court on January 31.

RIP

https://www.theage.com.au/national/vict ... 5cg6m.html

noticed that Bicycle Network (was Victoria whatever) have an update on this:

"A driver was sending and receiving Snapchat messages on her phone in the period immediately before the crash that killed bike rider Anthony Reeckman last year.

Instagram was open on the driver's phone at the moment of the crash, a court has heard

The allegations were part of police evidence in the trial of 23-year-old Wodonga woman, Abby Sturgess, who has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.

Reekman, 59, an experienced rider from Norong, was riding his bike along the Springhurst-Rutherglen Road on January 27, 2023, when he was hit from behind. He died at the scene.

The prosecution told the Wodonga County Court that the car was travelling at about 80 km/h at the time of impact.

There was no evidence of emergency braking or steering........"

.....The next court hearing will be on 9 April 2024.

https://bicyclenetwork.com.au/newsroom/ ... tal-crash/

[redsonic]

On Jan 28th TheAge reported the death of a cyclist in NE Victoria:

".....Separately, police have charged a young driver after the death of a cyclist in a collision at Lilliput in Victoria’s north-east on Friday.

Emergency services were called to Rutherglen-Springhurst Road about 8.20am, where a 59-year-old man from Rutherglen on a bicycle was hit by a car and died at the scene.

The alleged driver of the car, a 22-year-old Rutherglen woman, stopped following the incident and was interviewed by police.

On Saturday, she was charged with dangerous driving causing death. She has been bailed to appear at Wodonga Magistrates’ Court on January 31.

RIP

https://www.theage.com.au/national/vict ... 5cg6m.html

noticed that Bicycle Network (was Victoria whatever) have an update on this:

"A driver was sending and receiving Snapchat messages on her phone in the period immediately before the crash that killed bike rider Anthony Reeckman last year.

Instagram was open on the driver's phone at the moment of the crash, a court has heard

The allegations were part of police evidence in the trial of 23-year-old Wodonga woman, Abby Sturgess, who has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.

Reekman, 59, an experienced rider from Norong, was riding his bike along the Springhurst-Rutherglen Road on January 27, 2023, when he was hit from behind. He died at the scene.

The prosecution told the Wodonga County Court that the car was travelling at about 80 km/h at the time of impact.

There was no evidence of emergency braking or steering........"

.....The next court hearing will be on 9 April 2024.

https://bicyclenetwork.com.au/newsroom/ ... tal-crash/

This is the sort of nightmare scenario that keeps me awake at night. The latest 2024 fatality on a straight, quiet road could well have been a similar situation.

https://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/view ... 6#p1608290

[uart]

A driver was sending and receiving Snapchat messages on her phone in the period immediately before the crash that killed bike rider Anthony Reeckman last year. Instagram was open on the driver's phone at the moment of the crash, a court has heard

Many studies have shown the dangers of texting and driving, with the risks similar to high range drink driving. There as absolutely no reason that a person causing a death like this should be treated any more leniently than if it was done by a high range drink driver.

Killing someone due to high range drink driving will almost always result in some very serious jail time. If this driver still ends getting a slap on the wrist then there is something very wrong. Let's wait and see.