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news
Broken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)Driver kills cyclist after running him over three times
A cyclist in the United States was killed last month after being run over three times by a motorist as she tried to exit a car park – although police say there is no suggestion it was “anything other than an accident.”
The fatal incident happened in the city of Roy, Utah on 20 September, with the cyclist, 62-year-old Warren Watanabe, sustaining 14 broken ribs and serious injuries to his liver and kidneys, reports the Standard Examiner. He died from his injuries five days later.
According to a warrant signed by a judge to enable police to access prescription records, the victim was riding along the sidewalk at around 0822 hours when the motorist, a 77-year-old woman, drove out of the car park and crashed into him.
She then reversed, then drove forward, and ran him over again. She reversed once more then got out of her vehicle, and seeing the cyclist, called the emergency services on 911.
The incident was captured on CCTV and the woman underwent a blood test and told officers that the only medication she had taken was to control cholesterol.
Police undertook a reconstruction of the incident, and a spokesman for Roy Police Department, Officer Stuart Hackworth, said that the investigation was now complete.
He added: “There is no indication or any belief that this was anything other than an accident. She was not aware of what she had hit.”
The case is, however, being referred to the Weber County Attorney’s Office to consider any potential criminal charges that may be brought.
Cycling campaigners in the US and elsewhere have called on public institutions such as the police, as well as the media, to stop using the word “accident” when describing road traffic collisions, since that implies that they are purely down to chance whereas in the vast majority of cases there is a human element, such as driver error, involved.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 1 sec ago
But... the last is only not the case with drivers on normal roads because driving on the cycle path / footway / rolling a vehicle up there is seen...
- stonojnr 5 min 32 sec ago
Or the ones whose combo of super bright side/driving lights makes them assume they don't need headlights on at all.
- wtjs 6 min 29 sec ago
YOU'VE RUINED MY LIFE! WHAT FOR?!...
- mdavidford 38 min 1 sec ago
I think you're missing an opportunity to pack even more tech into it - add accelerometers that can detect whether they're pedalling or stepping....
- chrisonabike 1 hour 2 min ago
Thanks. I guess the question is "need". If the road is busy, it sounds like it is a desired route between places? In which case (given this an...
- mdavidford 1 hour 10 min ago
Don't know what you mean. I thought my suggestion was entirely practical.
- mdavidford 1 hour 13 min ago
...and a square of faux sheepskin for the back of your saddle.
- Rapha Nadal 1 hour 45 min ago
I'd buy a motorbike fo rthat kind of money!
Add new comment
14 comments
The visibility isn't great coming out of that car park...
https://goo.gl/maps/Lno6QPoxWmP4cCey8
Eddy Murphy (?) did this exact bit about 30 years ago. Life imitates art, sadly.
Run over a cyclist once and it's an "accident"...
Run over the same cyclist, at the same place, a second and third time... seems impossible to refer to that as an accident.
"To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."
I'm not sure what Lady Bracknell might have said if you'd managed to lose three.
Three times?
Someone please take her driver's license right now (it's alright, swldxer, it's in the States) and shred it into little tiny pieces.
She made sure. It's cheaper compensation to pay for a dead person than medical bills
RIP
Does sound a bit like that ol' "don't leave a witness" trope and the terrible thing is this is effectively incentivised. True even to a degree in the UK - see e.g. the "drove over but we can't really prove anything" recently. Less expensive in all ways for the victim to be dead than injured.
My understanding is that this is not uncommon in China. Where a victim is left requiring long term care this is to be met by the driver. A death however is dealt with via a fixed fine. This has led to a number of perverse outcomes where a driver has deliberately killed someone to cap off the financial hit.
https://supchina.com/2018/02/22/laws-prompt-motorists-kill-injured-accid...
What would we expect from the chinese? A nation that considers the state above all else and individuals of little value.
Stop buying their crap and you may have a future.
I think that the Chinese state considers the state above all else and individuals of little value. Not so sure about the individual Chinese...
I think reports like this and many reports of labour camps, aggression to ethic groups etc with their citizens encouraged to conform by turning a blind eye amply demonstate that many chinese invdividuals do not care much for their fellow citizens. Granted this may be because many are scared to protest but I think it has hardened them as a nation to the plight of others.
Walking by a dead child in the street probably wouldn't happen anywhere else in the world. A very harsh nation IMHO. And not one that I want to become so powerful that it overly influences the world I live in.
OTOH you have such lovely stories from the West as this one:
https://pennsylvanianewstoday.com/a-woman-raped-on-the-train-because-the...
EDIT: Sorry, just saying I think most countries are a bit sh!tty...
Some Chinese induhviduals make a living from repeating state propaganda in social media so while they are a minority, their popularity is a measure of confirmation bias by that population.
I don't buy their junk...
It's not that easy. I wanted a british made watering can. I found one but it was £45 - I hope it lasts a long time.