Jogger wearing headphones hit by cyclist

Pretty sure Pro Cyclist is trolling from the opposite angle. I don't know why I bother.

This is too bad, no doubt, but basically if the lady had not been wearing headphones, she'd be alive. The biker almost certainly should not have been going that fast, but I believe the fault still lies with the runner.

In case you hadn't guessed, I'm against people wearing headphones when they run for this exact reason.

Rickey Henderson wrote:

This is too bad, no doubt, but basically if the lady had not been wearing headphones, she'd be alive.

I zone out when I run ... I don't hear anything because I'm so caught up daydreaming.

I have a friend who is deaf that is also a runner.

Many of the super fast road bikes aren't heard coming. If the trail is crowded, who is actually going to continuously yell "on your left"?

I'm very chatty when I'm on morning runs. Sometimes my teammates and I are talking so much that it can be hard to hear anything over the commotion.

My girlfriend runs with her cell on the trail just in case of an emergency. She accidentally dropped it one time and immediately reacted by trying to catch the phone.

Sometimes I throw my arms out wide when I'm stretching on a morning run.

My friend has one leg shorter than the other, he's always weaving slightly left when he runs.

Sometimes I have a dog on a leash on the public trail. The dog might dart left to chase a cat in the woods.

Sometimes I ride my bike on the trail. One time I got a flat tire and suddenly wrecked. The wreck involved me flipping out of the saddle for the width of the trail.

My daughter is 8 years old. She is just learning to ride her bicycle and will sometimes suddenly weave.

You give many excuses but none of them include wearing headphones. Wearing headphones is a conscious act on one's part unlike some of the things you give as examples.

there's a reason why people arent allowed to walk in the streets

either put a speed limit on the trail (for runners also maybe. 10-15mph is fast enough to hurt someone), make some bike trails like some parks have, or do away with bikes altogether

I'm going to second zero out of ten- "i care about people" and "Pro Cyclist" are the same person, and its not funny to troll about this. You may find it amusing, but someone is dead, and it would be nice if you at least showed a little restraint having fun with the death of an innocent person.

I heard the cyclist was talking on a cell phone at the time.

I can't help but think about this famous internet meme:

http://niggastolemybike.ytmnd.com/

You're just lucky I even bothered with your idiocy.

dean moriarty wrote:

Well, all I can do is thank you for dedicated service in valiantly defending this ridiculous messageboard from harmless speculation about a running-related news story.

RealTalk wrote:

The biker was going too fast if he hit this runner with enough impact to kill her.

Get a freakin clue, she was killed by HEAD injuries, not internal injuries. People slip and fall in the tub and impart enough force to their heads to make the injuries fatal. You don't need to hit someone with a whole lot of force to conceivably make their head hit the ground hard enough to kill them.

Nowhere in the article does it say at what speed this person was riding at so I don't think it's fair to immediately jump on the "assume the cyclist was reckless bangwagon" simply because others ride excessively fast. I've ridden a lot miles both on the road at good speed and as a simple commuter on my way to school and I've experienced the drastic pedestrian shift in direction. Even tooling around at 6-7 mph through campus where I am keeping a sharp eye out for pedestrians if someone aburptly changes direction directly in front of you it can be tough to avoid. Also, it wasn't the force of the collision that killed this person, it was hitting her head on the pavement which happens to people who slip and fall all the time and could have just as easily been the cyclist.

If a trail is mixed use, it is not wrong for a cyclist to ride on it. It may be irresponsible if they are tearing down it at 25+mph but a real cyclist would never do that on a "bike path" anyways as they are never long enough or wide enough to properly navigate at any reasonable speed. This coming from a guy who has logged a couple 4000 mile years afoot and consistent 400mpw on the bike.

None of us were actually there to see what happened so all this finger pointing is baseless. It's a tragic event and one that could have easily been avoidable. My sympathy goes out to all involved.

RealTalk wrote:

The biker was going too fast if he hit this runner with enough impact to kill her.

u r a clown wrote:

Get a freakin clue, she was killed by HEAD injuries, not internal injuries. People slip and fall in the tub and impart enough force to their heads to make the injuries fatal. You don't need to hit someone with a whole lot of force to conceivably make their head hit the ground hard enough to kill them.

She was killed by head injuries, caused by being struck by the cyclist.

If someone put a bullet through your head, it would be ridiculous of them to say well your head would be worse off if you fell of the top of a building.

Obviously the guy didn't just "touch" her with his bike, causing her to fall down and die. He rammed in to her at too great of a speed, causing the impact and her death.

Nope, the injuries came as a result of her head hitting the ground, not the cyclist hitting her in the head. The cyclist hitting her is what caused her to fall and hit her head. A bare head doesn't have to fall very far or very fast onto concrete for major injury to occur. Try it yourself sometime if you don't believe me.

Also, the cyclist "rammed" into her because she chose to step into his path of travel. Same as if she had stepped in front of a moving car, bus, train, or runner. Any of those would have knocked her down, too.

Please explain how it is the cyclists fault. If a pedestrian walks in front of a car it's not the drivers fault, the same as a pedestrian who walks in front of a cyclist. I have called out to joggers wearing headphones but they don't hear me. They shouldn't be wearing headphones and need to pay attention to what they are doing.

BulletSoul wrote:

wilfredo wrote:

no reason to be going fast enough to kill someone on a pedestrian path

Exactly. I was hit by a cyclist who was riding his road bike on the running path at dusk. He came around a corner, had no light, and was riding on the *runner side* of the path. I was not wearing headphones and had on reflective gear. He was going fast enough to cause bruised ribs and torn cartilage when he hit me.

BulletSoul I know you.

Sorry, but I was that biker.

Proof: My bike was red (got rid of it). Your a girl.

If you read the comments to the stories, you'll find a post by an eyewitness. She said she was walking and she could see the woman ahead of her. The walker said the cyclist called out to her before passing and that he was traveling at a reasonable speed... slower than other cyclists who had passed her. She didn't give any comment on the actual impact, but other reports said the cyclist did call out before attempting to pass the runner. The path there is concrete, which may have contributed to the fatality. Concrete is one of the hardest running surfaces.

Very well said SserPrun95, I was not going to bother posting here, due to the manner this post was beig handled. Thank you for saying exactly what I was thinking, As a pedestrian and a cyclist I have seen the hazards from both sides. As I know many of us have. The Traggic thing is that a life was lost that could have been avoided, and everyone has forgotten this because their too busy pointing fingers. My thoughts and prayers to all that were involved..

I didn't read through every post, but I have had many of the same experiences here in FW. It also amazes me how so few people on bikes, when passing on the Trinity trails, are courteous enough to warn you when they are coming up to pass you. I can tell that it does happen with less frequency than 7-8 years ago.

As well, I agree with the statement about the absurdity of the riding outfits. I don't think it is a stretch to say that half of them rely on their uniforms and gear to hold their fat guts in...men and women.

As a side note, thats what is great about running. Shirts, shorts, and maybe sunglasses are all that are required in many months of the year.

....meant to say shoes, shorts, maybe sunglasses and a shirt...