Sad Story: Promising Runner Killed While Running

Ho Hum wrote:

There are many, many places where it's not convenient or even possible to just go "find a park". Besides that, pedestrians are killed all the damn time, so sidewalks aren't the safe haven you think they are.

+1

I carry a stick with me when I run in the country, and anytime a car or truck veers towards me, I whack it real hard.

don't mess with me twice wrote:

I carry a stick with me when I run in the country, and anytime a car or truck veers towards me, I whack it real hard.

Golf ball size rock to the windshield works pretty good too.

This is tragic but the problem is not new and will only get worse (more distracting personal electronics + aging generation that WILL NOT release their grip on driving). A woman I know had her 8-year son hit and killed under similar circumstances a few summers ago.

The solution to this is rapid development of driver-less cars. Once developed and proven-safe it would solve a lot of medium-risk, high-damage incidents in our society. Plus, talk about a "shovel-ready" high-end technology that would seemingly fit into the breadbasket of a progressive administration. Enact a 5-year liability moratorium and create tax-incentives/public-private entities (with the likes of Google, etc) to get this moving.

My thoughts are with the family of Phillip.

I think distracted driving is now worst than DUI.

trance dance turn in shawowski wrote:

This is tragic but the problem is not new and will only get worse (more distracting personal electronics + aging generation that WILL NOT release their grip on driving). A woman I know had her 8-year son hit and killed under similar circumstances a few summers ago.

The solution to this is rapid development of driver-less cars. Once developed and proven-safe it would solve a lot of medium-risk, high-damage incidents in our society. Plus, talk about a "shovel-ready" high-end technology that would seemingly fit into the breadbasket of a progressive administration. Enact a 5-year liability moratorium and create tax-incentives/public-private entities (with the likes of Google, etc) to get this moving.

My thoughts are with the family of Phillip.

Elon Musk will have the technology ready within 24 months. Are your ready?

TrackCoach wrote:

I think distracted driving is now worst than DUI.

Definitely more common. A study at U of Minn some years back had one group talk on a cell phone and another get legally drunk. They tested brain waves while in a driving simulator and they were eerily similar, and drunk reaction time was not significantly worse. It had NOTHING to do with hands-free, either, but rather the lack of attention to the primary task of driving - brain function was simply occupied with the conversation with an unseen person.

That said, there's no way a 67 year old lady in the middle of nowhere was texting. Come on.

Flagpole, you suck. First writing something ignorant and insensitive, now deleting my post.

Running on a vacant county road on the "correct" side (against traffic) is safe...I would argue safer than running in the'burbs.

There is VERY little traffic on county roads. This is a one in a million accident and there should be nothing said about fault; especially on the side of the runner.

In rural america we would have nowhere to run if constricted to parks and suburbs.

Bdubs wrote:

Flagpole, you suck. First writing something ignorant and insensitive, now deleting my post.

Running on a vacant county road on the "correct" side (against traffic) is safe...I would argue safer than running in the'burbs.

There is VERY little traffic on county roads. This is a one in a million accident and there should be nothing said about fault; especially on the side of the runner.

In rural america we would have nowhere to run if constricted to parks and suburbs.

1) I do not suck.

2) NOT insensitive or ignorant.

3) I didn't delete any post of yours.

4) Well, running on a "vacant" road is safe, yes, but the road he was running on obviously wasn't vacant, and that's not a reality.

5) Since the speed limit is 25 in the burbs, you have more time to get out of the way of an errant driver, and if you are hit, while you still could die, there's less of a chance at that speed. Of course someone could be speeding, but I didn't say this idea was perfect; just better than running on roads outside a subdivision.

6) You are misunderstanding my tone here. I am not blaming the runner. It IS the fault of the driver. BUT, when considering my own children, I tell them not to run on roads with traffic. If they were to die, I would not be comforted by the fact that it wasn't their fault. These kinds of accidents will continue to happen if people continue to run on these types of roads. Believe it or not, but on a lonely country road, SOME drivers wouldn't even imagine a runner would be out there running on it, so they don't look for them, don't expect them. You have to get into the mind of a non-runner.

7) Finally, if running is a big thing for you or anyone who lives in "rural America", then build your own trail if you have enough land, or buy a treadmill, or MOVE. You don't HAVE to live in rural America. People who love to fish move close to the water. People who love the city life move into the city. If running is such a big thing for people, then they should move to where there are good places for running.

Running on roads with traffic is risky. I wish more of you would not not do it, because being killed or maimed by a car is sad. Flagpole doesn't like sad.

1)your opinion, letsrun has years of proof otherwise

2)Too soon. Imagine how the family/team community feels

3)CRAZY things happen in "safe" environments, I would say this is one of those low probability events

4)He was on the vacant side, the driver crossed the lane and hit him from behind, giving him no time to move

5)the speed limit might be 25, but most don't adhere to it. Plus, the feeling of "safety" might increase risk to runners a la traffic crossing accidents

6)True; I run into this as a biker all the time. I'm not misunderstanding your tone, just reading your terse post. Usually when I call you out, you amend posts with longer, thoughtufl responses. I agree about protecting kids as I'm accused of being over protective from time to time.

7)This is just silly. I won't even touch how stupid your ideas are.

Flagpole wrote:

7) Finally, if running is a big thing for you or anyone who lives in "rural America", then build your own trail if you have enough land, or buy a treadmill, or MOVE. You don't HAVE to live in rural America. People who love to fish move close to the water. People who love the city life move into the city. If running is such a big thing for people, then they should move to where there are good places for running.

Because we all know that everyone who loves running loves the city. You are an unqualified idiot with these posts.

I spent years living in the city before I finished school and moved to a rural area. Close calls with drivers were WAY more frequent in the city...practically a weekly occurrence. In a rural setting, only a single one in seven years.

Thank you, but I'll avoid the city because it's filled with too many people that are as narrow minded as you.

Charlie Freak wrote:

A one hour roundtrip is just too much time to find a place to run.

This is the precise attitude that has come to represent a stereotype American. Just saying.

I live in Paris and make a 50 min to 1 hour round trip everyday to parks to run. It's common. Nobody complains about it here. There's well connected metro which'd be faster, but everyone in my running group prefers to warm-up to the meeting point, unless they're really scarce on time.

There are plenty of parks and lakes around in Paris where you can run. But obviously you can't expect a park 5 min away from everybody's home.

Hephaestus wrote:

Charlie Freak wrote:

A one hour roundtrip is just too much time to find a place to run.

This is the precise attitude that has come to represent a stereotype American. Just saying.

I live in Paris and make a 50 min to 1 hour round trip everyday to parks to run. It's common. Nobody complains about it here. There's well connected metro which'd be faster, but everyone in my running group prefers to warm-up to the meeting point, unless they're really scarce on time.

There are plenty of parks and lakes around in Paris where you can run. But obviously you can't expect a park 5 min away from everybody's home.

I would say that the 'American attitude' is far superior to your 'European attitude' on this.

Why waste all the resources for a simple run. I walk out my door and run. No need to burn fuel, produce emissions or waste money on public transit. The chance of being run over while running is very low and does not warrant such actions just to run in a park. If you travel simply for the camaraderie of a group, fine. If I was to travel that far every day for personal safety, then it would be wasting resources.

Mythbusters did a whole episode devoted to it. They found even TALKING on a cell phone is as bad or worse than driving drunk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vFcIpzF7pc

Interesting that the posts are deleted...mine was reasonable as well.

Flagpole, the thing that is getting people worked up is that some of the things you say reveal that you're uniformed.

You ask why would we want to breath in all that exhaust....

Because there is NONE. Do you understand that when I run in the country I sometimes see less than 10 cars over an hour's time?

In South Dakota there are 830,000 people...total! Sioux Falls and Rapid City take up more than half of that.

I understand the city having lived in Denver and Chicago; it is my experience life-long city inhabitants don't understand the country. I guess you have to live there.

^uninformed.

Yeah I mean people shouldn't run on the sides of the roads cause it's dangerous, I mean like, going to school is dangerous. Someone might have a gun or a knife... or a bazooka! Someone might have a bomb. We should just stay home, but they someone might invade the house, so that won't work either. It's dumb to stay home in a house! Dangerous! Well.. it's safer to run on the side of the road.

Where did I say to move to the city? I said move where there are good places for running. Debating is not a skill you possess.

We should all move to Ethiopia, or Morocco!