Cyclists angry after car kills rider near Cornelius

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The usual routine: Car + bike = death and destruction for cyclist. Online article + comments section = idiot chimes in and says “quit bitching and get off the damn roads, they are designed for vehicles, not bicycles.”

My tax dollars pay for the roads. Bicycles are 100% legal to operate on the roadway. Cyclists have a right to the roadway.

Cyclists expressed grief and anger Monday after a weekend crash that left an Aloha cyclist dead.

Timothy O’Donnell, 66, was riding on Northwest Cornelius-Schefflin Road when he was hit Saturday by a 2006 Dodge Avenger while signaling a left turn onto Long Road, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. O’Donnell, who was with four other riders from the Portland Velo cycling group, died at the scene.

The driver was cited for careless driving, passing in a no-passing zone and driving with a suspended license. She may receive a maximum fine of $1,115.

The incident has sparked some strong reactions in the cycling community and has focused attention on House Bill 3314, which would increase the penalties on a motorist if careless driving contributed to the serious injury or death of a cyclist or other “vulnerable users,” such as pedestrians. The bill passed out of the Senate Rules Committee on Monday and is headed to the Senate floor for a vote next week.

Source blog.oregonlive.com

To be clear, I’m referring to the comment section and not the original article.

Why is it, even when the cyclist is obeying the traffic laws and the driver is “passing in a no-passing zone and driving with a suspended license” that people feel the need to bring up some cyclist who blew a stop sign once in a different town. The only thing that matters in this instance is the two parties involved. One was obeying the traffic laws, one was not. One is alive today, one is not.

About big jonny

The man, the legend. The guy who started it all back in the Year of Our Lord Beer, 2000, with a couple of pages worth of idiotic ranting hardcoded on some random porn site that would host anything you uploaded, a book called HTML for Dummies (which was completely appropriate), a bad attitude (which hasn’t much changed), and a Dell desktop running Win95 with 64 mgs of ram and a six gig hard drive. Those were the days. Then he went to law school. Go figure. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

7 Replies to “Cyclists angry after car kills rider near Cornelius”

  2. Now I am ashamed that I sent this in to get put up. I cant believe how stupid sound and the dumb comments they are making. This makes me feel want to get the heck out of this state. The article is about someone dieing and few have the respect to honor that, and say dumb comments like the SUV guy. I hope those people who write these get into an accident and the cyclist involved, reads the comments and sues them for all they are worth. It pretty much sounds like some are going to go on a cycle killing spree so that they can say F. U. pay theri 1000 dollar fine and laugh. Again what a dissappointing state I live in, does anyone know of a more bike friendly enviroment to move to or is this a national problem

  3. Ok, simple question…If someone kills someone else in a car with their car, it’s vehicular manslaughter. Car kills biker…petty fine…anyone else seeing holes here? Why is something like this not considered a homicide?

  5. Ahhhh… OregonLive… Where the asshats of the world congregate and the bored go to debate with them. The whole forum they have on every subject makes me ashamed to be an Oregonian.

    Bottom line on the whole mess is that dang bill needs to get passed. Fingers crossed.

  6. if ya read “immortal class” you will find that roads were designed for bikes and horses, not for cars…