deleuze wrote:
already guilty? wrote:The roads are for cars. If you insist on running/cycling on the road/on the shoulder of a road, then you have decided to risk your life.
Unfortunately, sometimes there are tragic ACCIDENTS. Proclaiming that the driver was drunk, texting, etc is wrong.
I do agree with your point that the driver may not deserve punishment, and that this could have been an accident. Those who know this stretch of road, however, struggle to see how an accident like this could have occurred without some form of negligence on the part of the driver.
I think when the general public assumes "roads are for cars," everyone needs to take a step back ... roads are for PEOPLE, and all cars are are vehicles for people! Even on interstates, where it is not even legal to run, pedestrians still have the right of way (I specifically remember this point in driver's ed, many years back!). The culture of cars is entrenched enough that people don't even register the fact that pedestrian's lives are just as valuable as the driver's.
In this case, I think there was clearly an element of negligence - if the driver just crossed into her own shoulder and hit a runner, that would be one thing, but instead, she went ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE ROAD.
Clearly there is no way to have a perfect system when we share the roads - and I am by NO means perfect on the roads either - but I think a lot could be solved by mandating people try other modes of transportation. If everyone had the personal experience of walking, running, biking, AND driving on a road - they might respect all the other modes of transportation a little more ... (and maybe be willing to support more funding for pedestrian/bike paths!)
Anyway ... RIP Cameron. I did not know him, but when the name and picture popped up, it was all to familiar - I had been looking at the ZAP Fitness website earlier this summer, and remembered having looked at his profile. He was one of the ones who inspired me, and made me think, "You've just got to keep training, you don't know what your limits are if you don't keep going!" In the running community, the ripples go further than just those who knew him directly.