57 year old woman killed during charity ride for cancer research

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Yesterday, a woman riding in the Pelotonia Tour (for cancer research) was struck and killed when a truck decided not to stop at the intersection where a state trooper was directing traffic. This happened pretty close to me, in Hocking Hills.

Michelle Kazlausky, 57, of Reynoldsburg was killed in the crash, said Patrol Sgt. Max Norris.

A trooper was directing traffic at the intersection at about 2:15 p.m. with his marked cruiser’s lights on, Norris said. He motioned for the pickup truck driven by Ervin Blackston, 57, of Rockbridge, to stop, but the pickup truck continued into the intersection.

Norris said Kazlausky realized the truck wasn’t going to stop and tried evade by ditching the bike.

Blackston has not been charged in the crash. The crash will be reconstructed, the truck has been impounded and will be inspected and witnesses will be interviewed, Norris said.

WTF?

The rest of the story is here.

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About Judi

Bicycles are my salvation. They are my way of life. If you don't like it, then you can go straight to hell. Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

26 Replies to “57 year old woman killed during charity ride for cancer research”

  1. The police car was parked in the intersection with the lights on.

    The policeman was standing in the intersection directing traffic.

    The policeman instructed the truck to stop.

    It didn’t.

    It tried to go around the policeman.

    A woman was hit and killed.

    How on earth has the driver not been arrested????

    There must be numerous violations and yet he isn’t arrested?

    Oh, I forgot. It was just a cyclist.

    Sickening.

  2. based in the laundry list of stupidity pointed out by Icebreaker, I am guessing they have to figure out exactly what to charge to guy with. seems like there are lots of choices.

    how can this even happen unless the driver is drunk, texting or admiring his flip flops? sad stuff

  3. I was driving around during the ride yesterday here in Ohio. That’s a narrow road, with basically zero shoulder. There’s lots of big trucks here, driving impatiently around the bikers. To leave the cars to interact with cyclists with the few race officials and police seemed irresponsible to me. I was honestly shocked that they hadn’t closed off a lane for the bicyclists for this event. I commute daily in San Francisco, but I would not have ridden a bicycle on that road during this event or otherwise.

    On top of that, during the six oclock news, they were playing the feel-good prerecorded piece about the race, while the ticker at the bottom of the screen was talking about the cyclist killed. They didn’t talk about that until the 11 oclock news.

    As a side note, here in Logan, Ohio there are zero sidewalks, or bike lanes. I don’t think I’ve seen a bus stop. There seems to be zero infrastructure for getting around any way except in a car or truck.

  4. Damn.
    Why life gotta be so hard?
    I wish her friends and family peace now and in the future. I hope they can take solace in the fact that she died doing something she loved and in the act of trying to help others….we should all be so lucky.

    It ain’t easy, but it gets easier.

    KgT

  5. some crimes deserve capital punishment…or roundhouse kicks…which is the same thing.

  6. And transport to a hospital is just as easy in cuffs as out. What boggles my mind in the need for “crash reconstruction”. A police officer not only was THERE but directly involved. What’s to reconstruct?

  7. “Human rights pale beside the rights of machines. In more and more cities, especially in the great metropolises of the South, people have been banned. Automobiles usurp human space, poison the air, and frequently murder the interlopers who invade their conquered territory -and no one lifts a finger to stop them. Is there a difference between violence that kills by car and that which kills by knife or bullet?” (p.231)”
    — Eduardo Hughes Galeano (Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World)

  8. i was at a circuit race in asheville a couple of weeks ago standing on one of the corners with my buddy (the corner marshal at the time) and a local cop. his lights were on and a barricade was up. a lady turned onto the course and promptly drove around all the safety for the riders. the cop was fucking livid. wrote her up for $180 worth of dumbshittedness.

    this guy killed someone….and wasn’t arrested??? seriously.fucked.up.

  9. I ride around the Lexington, KY area every summer. I must say, as His hand guides me over the beautiful country roads, I know He is my soul. The local folk love and respect me. I must say, some of the most courteous folk in the USofA. Then, WHOOOSH, the 5 axler, 10 ton hauler comes buzzes my tranuility. My Lord slaps me and says, “My child, his Lord is more powerful and we shall bow our heads for he owns this road because he pays more petrol tax. ” I say, “Lord, aren’t you the same Lord as his?” My Lord says, “Nope!” From the book of Genesis.
    Messed up happenings down in Ohio! The Revolution will come!!!

  10. If there is no sign of a sudden catastrophic failure of the truck’s brakes then they should charge the driver with 2nd degree murder, for willfully disregarding direction of a LEO directly causing death. This was a premeditated act on the part of the driver, not an “accident”.

  11. Later news accounts (follow the links on the original) do indeed say that the truck’s brakes failed. That’s why cops do re-creations, that’s why they don’t necessarily arrest the driver, that’s why he had chest pains–you might too, if you just killed somebody. Let’s save our vitriol for those who really deserve it, like emergency room docs who swerve in front of bikers then slam on their brakes, or a politician who drags a screaming biker down the streets of Toronto until he’s dead. But it doesn’t appear to be warranted this time.

  12. If your foot brakes fail- your emergency brake is a separate system- I know 20/20 hindsight, but god damn- if you see a cruiser with LIGHTS on- you SHOULD be on your brakes a LONG DISTANCE AWAY- enough time to realize ‘oh shit, my foot brakes don’t work, I’m gonna step on the E-brake’ or ‘eff it, I’m gonna eff up my truck’s transmission and pull a PARK slam’

    Again, 20/20 hindsight, but still…

  13. failed brakes certainly adds an extra slice of tragedy to a already massive tradedy but really, failed brakes? what kind of clunker was the guy piloting around? goddamn.. head shaking sad.

    I agree also with bikescag on the notion that a more competent driver would have sacrificed the E brake, the transmission, and or taken out a light standard rather than coast into vulnerable person. Perhaps there really wasn’t time but the ability to deal with an emergency is part of what separates a truly competent driver from a casual pilot.

    Sadly though, in a society where a few thousand pounds of hurtling kinetic energy is perceived on the same level as a haircut, suit of clothes and just one more element of an individuals identity and licenses are seen as a right vs a privilege requiring skill, diligence, appreciation & respect then competent drivers will continue to be the exception and the death toll will march wearily on and the larger populace won’t bat an eye to the continuing cost of “accidents”.

    Fuck me, I absolutely HATE our North American cereal-box-prize licensing standards and the rudderless ignorant fools that it produces.

  14. It wasn’t the truck that didn’t stop, it was the inattentive asshole behind the wheel. I only can hope that there will one day be some accountIbility for the carnage caused by motor vehicles.