Illinois 130
I dont get the idea that there is no way she could have expected that a bicycle was going to be on the road. I call BS. It is a vehicle that is allowed to be on the road you should expect anything when behind the wheel. Kids running out in the road after balls etc etc
OK, in her defence, Rt 130 is a major pipeline for this part of the country, going through several towns from it\'s start at camargo at rt36 in the south up to 150 just east of urbana. Depending on population it is possible for the kids running out, but that is very rare for a RT road of this type. (at least based on what I know of them out here in ct/mass). When I ride, I am usually on routes (71, 77, 68, 17, 22, 179, 219, 146 to name a few), they have the best scenery and are the most challenging. Get on a main road and you are stopping every couple of miles for lights and stop signs, which slow you way down. On routes you don\'t have to deal with that. Of course, the trade off is you have 18 wheelers fly by you time to time, but if you know how to possition yourself, you can draft there airpocket and actually take a break about 5 seconds after they pass you. The point is you have to be careful and know how to ride. Things like this are always in the back of your head. Even more so after reading this. On a bike you have to be aware of your suroundings and listen to the road and traffic a hell of a lot more than you do when driving. The most you have to protect yourself is about 2 lbs of titanium strapped to your feet and a piece of foam rapped around your head. They have a steel cage to protect themselves. Car vs. bike, the car wins every time. The sad part is, this guy never had a chance. She came up right behind him. Even if he heard it, traveling on a route, even at top speed he couldn\'t have been doing more than 40 mph (average level land speeds for tour de france), and was probably between 15-28mph. Even if she was obeying the speed limit, a route road between cities is going to be at least 45-55mph, so she most likely was going close to twice his speed (not even accounting that she got fined twice for speeding here). And, he was also ALREADY OVER ON THE SIDE. If he had any clue, what is he going to do in the few seconds he has? ditch INTO the road? He can\'t go any faster than her, he never had a chance. ugh.
The fact that this is a road with lots of riders and joggers on it, just outside one of the biggest cities in the area cancels out everything I have said about this being a rt road out in the middle of nowhere. As a bicyclist, I am outraged and insulted by this, because it could happen to anyone, myself included and that is really scary to think about as a way of dying. I think that this should be fought and loosing her license should be the first in a list of things that should be done to her.
Ugh. I feel like puking. I really hope the cycling community responds to this and she pays for what she has done. I hope Il uses this to pass stringent laws about cell phone use in cars if they do not already exsist, and if they do, the fines should be much higher. The states attorney should be fired as well.
I will not give up biking, but this seriously makes me sick. If something like this ever happens to me I expect every single one of you to make that persons life a living hell.