Five cyclists killed in Kalamazoo

That's why cyclists need to reach up and grab the tops of cars, spoilers or roof racks, whatever is up there.

 

But not so sad as to not mock people doing the same thing just 22 minutes later.

 

I'm not mocking cyclists. I'm mocking 21st century yuppie culture.

 

A lot of my friends are hard-core cyclists. I want to get into cycling. Five people are dead, senselessly. That makes me sad. It would make me sad if it were five gang-bangers. It would make me sad if it was five Klansmen. It's sad. Do I need to prove it with a torture fantasy, per SJ.com protocol?

 

You're an early riser if I recall correctly. Riding early in the morning is the best ... no traffic and the whole world belongs to you.

 

Were the Klansmen minding their own business reading poetry or being all Klanny? I am not sure I'm sad about them.

 

For the record, I am advocating torture fantasy because I was once a bicycle rider struck by a pick-up truck driver in a hit-and-run incident that left me on the receiving end of CPR and in the hospital for 6 weeks.

So fuck this guy with a chainsaw.

 

My dad was an avid cyclist until someone opened his car door into him, launching him over his handlebars and into the street. He's been too fearful to do it much since. The guy who doored him felt terrible about it—he even printed thousands of stickers for drivers to put on their dashboards, a reminder to look before they open their doors. (By the way: Please look before you open your door.) Although it sucked, there's a difference, to me, between accidents like that—just a moment's carelessness and bad timing, followed by sincere remorse—and accidents like this one, where the guy was obviously driving either drunk or like an asshole and then ran after hitting a bunch of people. I get the desire to inflict damage on someone like that. If it turns out he was drunk or driving recklessly, he should be charged with murder and put away for a long time. If I'm remembering right, he killed one fewer person than the insane Uber driver did in Kalamazoo.

 

I live in the Long Beach Ca area in between two concrete river beds (LA River and San Gabriel). When I was training for mini-triathlons, I loved biking on the river bike paths. I was scared shitless every second of biking to get to them. One texting driver, and I'd have been fucked. Not worth it to me.

 

Haven't read the story (don't want to) but can't help be reminded of a similar story from my hometown about 10-15 years ago. Man in his 60s or 70s was cycling on a residential street early one weekend morning, and some psycho just mowed him down and killed him. Thrill kill, apparently.

 

Driver charged with five counts of 2nd Degree Murder.

 

Today in "What the fuck is the matter with people?"