Topic: Open Season has Started Again! -- 6 cyclists injured on Quebec highway

[Angry Chicken]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/05/14/quebec-cycling-accident.html

Three cyclists are in critical condition with life-threatening injuries and three more are in serious condition after a highway accident southeast of Montreal.

Quebec police Sgt. Claude Denis said a car and six cyclists — five women and a man — were involved in the Friday morning accident on Highway 112 near Rougemont.

The accident happened just before 10 a.m., Denis said.

The driver of the car was not injured. It's not yet clear what caused the accident.

Traffic on the four-lane highway is being rerouted.

Rougemont is about 60 kilometres from Montreal.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/05/14/quebec-cycling-accident.html#ixzz0nv66CQdK

Edit:  One cyclist has died as of this writing.

[blur911]

As I was reading this CBC radio said one of the cyclists  has died. 

[quadzilla]

Sad.

I know we don't know the whole story yet but I always wondered how somebody can't see 6 cyclists. I was thinking blind crest/corner but if that Google Street view is from the accident site, the road is flat there.

I also don't understand why we don't pave the shoulder on our roads to give cyclist a safer place to ride. We have some great roads north of Toronto that I won't ride because I have a strong feeling that I would become the next statistic.

[safristi]

>>Unfortunately bicycling is becoming more of a target sport in and around many towns and cities....there doesn't seem to be an in built repsect for one group to the other,and indeed the country roads are often narrow and bound by dangerous gravel and motorists who still want to pass each other while squeezing cyclists to within an inch (and has been stated to
) their lives.............I suppose the vast majority of car drivers have no experience of biking beyond  12 years old and teach their offspring the same B/S ride facing the traffic...and  it's OK  to dart about near their houses while not paying any attention. as Mummy/daddy is nearbye !!!!
....  I don't see Millions being spent outside our Major Cities on bike lanes or road widening...i tootle about in the woods now and when i'm up in Collingwood on their great bike pathway system.......Survival is the better part of Valour...........

[normancw]

This is so sad

i tootle about in the woods now and when i'm up in Collingwood on their great bike pathway system.......Survival is the better part of Valour...........

Me too - I used to bike on the road all the time.  Now, I mostly stay on the bike paths or go mountain biking.  Fortunately, Ottawa also has great paths.

[quadzilla]

UPDATE: The story just gets more sad.

Three female cyclists are dead and three more are seriously injured after a pick-up truck struck them on Hwy. 112 in Rougemont, Que., Friday morning

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/05/14/13949306.html

[Turbo Bob]

Holy!

That is terrible news indeed, condolences to the families... 

Reminds me of this tragedy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/4592412.stm

[Angry Chicken]

Un-freaking-believable!  At least, unlike the guy that mowed down the cyclists in Kanata, this guy stuck around and rendered aid.

[Railton]

Cervello bikes and zip wheels, those were Tri people that got hit. Terrible.
I use to ride with a small mirror attached to my sun glass frames to watch things happening behind me like cars for instance. Whenever I forgot to wear i I felt totally exposed. I wonder if any of these people had that.
Railton

[RunsinLight]

I think you'd have to be a insane to ride a bike and share a lane with a car in Canada. Get them off the road or make them take the whole lane.

[Angry Chicken]

Cervello bikes and zip wheels, those were Tri people that got hit. Terrible.
I use to ride with a small mirror attached to my sun glass frames to watch things happening behind me like cars for instance. Whenever I forgot to wear i I felt totally exposed. I wonder if any of these people had that.
Railton

Yeah.  I was looking at the footage on TV and noted that they had seriously nice gear.  No doubt experienced cyclists from what I gather, too.  

A shame all the way around.  A tragedy, really.  My condolences to the families involved.  They must be devastated.  It's early days as far as the investigation is concerned, but I can imagine a number of things that the cyclists might've done which could create a chain reaction that the pickup driver would find difficult to avoid.  That is because, unlike the accident in Kanata, this was a rural road with no paved shoulder and, judging by the pics online, crumbly asphalt and lots of tar strips.  Still, the pickup driver will have a lot of explaining to do.

I had a small mirror attached to my helmet and found it was very useful.  I must get another one as it's been broken for a while.  

[normancw]

I had a small mirror attached to my helmet and found it was very useful.  I must get another one as it's been broken for a while.  

I also always wear bright clothing (yellow or red) and use a bright coloured helmet.  I would never wear all black.  You can never be too safe.

[sparky]

I had a small mirror attached to my helmet and found it was very useful.  I must get another one as it's been broken for a while.  

I also always wear bright clothing (yellow or red) and use a bright coloured helmet.  I would never wear all black.  You can never be too safe.

I drove downtown in Ottawa the other night and I could not believe how many idiots were cycling after dark, on the streets, in all-dark clothing, most without helmets. They don't deserve to die, but they are morons.
I usually ride the rail trail, the bike paths or on the very quiet suburban streets close to home. If I'm going to spend some time on the streets, I put on a hi-viz mesh safety vest. And I have one of those little rear-view mirrors that attach to your eyeglass frames. I don't know how much it really helps, but I feel weird without it.

[No H2O]

...there doesn't seem to be an in built respect for one group to the other...

How can you expect that when there isn't respect between drivers of the same group.

A very good chunk of drivers are ignorant (but they are that in their everyday lives), unskilled and have way too much attitude (to me they seem frustrated in their personal lives) to be behind the wheel of anything.

Then you also have the bicyclists who are equally as bad as drivers. Some even think they have rights to the full width of the road and drive three or four abreast...as was reported in this incident.

[Turbo Bob]

I had a small mirror attached to my helmet and found it was very useful.  I must get another one as it's been broken for a while.  

I also always wear bright clothing (yellow or red) and use a bright coloured helmet.  I would never wear all black.  You can never be too safe.

I drove downtown in Ottawa the other night and I could not believe how many idiots were cycling after dark, on the streets, in all-dark clothing, most without helmets. They don't deserve to die, but they are morons.
I usually ride the rail trail, the bike paths or on the very quiet suburban streets close to home. If I'm going to spend some time on the streets, I put on a hi-viz mesh safety vest. And I have one of those little rear-view mirrors that attach to your eyeglass frames. I don't know how much it really helps, but I feel weird without it.

This probably isn't the thread to say it but I do agree. In Waterloo I can count on two hands the number of times I have seen a cyclist using lights when it's dark (in the two years I have been here), I don't know if it's partly because of the student population around here but they seem particularly suicidal.  I remember one roadie (full racing gear) when went right through a busy crossroads at some speed in the dusk without lights, I remember thinking at the time that he was lucky to be alive.

Is it illegal to ride without lights here?

[Guy]

Cervello bikes and zip wheels, those were Tri people that got hit. Terrible.
I use to ride with a small mirror attached to my sun glass frames to watch things happening behind me like cars for instance. Whenever I forgot to wear i I felt totally exposed. I wonder if any of these people had that.
Railton

Yeah.  I was looking at the footage on TV and noted that they had seriously nice gear.  No doubt experienced cyclists from what I gather, too.  

A shame all the way around.  A tragedy, really.  My condolences to the families involved.  They must be devastated.  It's early days as far as the investigation is concerned, but I can imagine a number of things that the cyclists might've done which could create a chain reaction that the pickup driver would find difficult to avoid.  That is because, unlike the accident in Kanata, this was a rural road with no paved shoulder and, judging by the pics online, crumbly asphalt and lots of tar strips.  Still, the pickup driver will have a lot of explaining to do.

I had a small mirror attached to my helmet and found it was very useful.  I must get another one as it's been broken for a while.  

They were riding to a training session for the upcoming Lake Placid IronMan. Was the pick up driver on the cell phone or texting when he hit them? There are some reports that he actually swerved in their direction and then hit them. The police seized the truck for inspection. Very sad..

[safristi]

David vs GOLIATH doesn't always come in biblical proportions..............as I said put the odds ON YOUR SIDE...............My Motorcycling rides are even more circumspect...after years of biking in the U.K..........I don't want any MOFO near me..............so I only go out when there are no BEARS inna WOODS...

[Guy]

One additional detail just came out on the news, the driver was on cruise control when the accident happened. Did that played a role in the accident? Unknown at this time.

[quadzilla]

Is it illegal to ride without lights here?

Yes.

[johngenx]

Before I landed the job in my local community, I had often wanted to cycle commute to the city.  However, there is a 2-3km stretch of high speed road with a narrow shoulder and no alternative route.  Too scary for me.  I move right out of the lane to pass cyclists, but I notice I am perhaps 1:1000 doing so.

Not sure about other parts of the nation, but Alberta is truck friendly and everything-else unfriendly.