This is a Cautionary Tale, as it always is when talking about cars and cycles, but especially so this week as the news reported to us about something that went horribly wrong during the week. It seems that the driver of a 4X4 collided with a pack of cyclists and sent them all to hospital.
The Costa Levante News reported that a collision took place between a car and the Dutch-based Giant-Alpecin international racing team of six cyclists while they were out on a practice run. Two were so seriously injured that they required Medi-Vac by helicopter, and one had one of his fingers ripped off.
This is a staggering blow to the team's chances of competing in the coming summer of events that are scheduled.
This must serve as a reminder to us all that cycle racing is a keen sport in Spain, and cyclist groups can be seen any day of the week in training. They have as much right to their patch of the road as do we in our cars. When encountering such groups, to overtake them is a very tricky thing to do, and often takes patience until you see you have a clear opportunity to overtake them all as one group.
I think the very worst thing that could happen would be to start to overtake a long cluster of bikes, only to be confronted by oncoming traffic. What do you do? You cannot pull back in to the right because there are cyclists there. You are faced with another car, or truck coming right at you and you are in their lane. You had better hope there is a place to pull off the road to the left, thereby allowing the oncoming traffic to pass safely. After you finish peeing yourself you can get back on the road, and this time when you pass the cyclists take care to get it right.
The news article ended with the comment that the driver of this major mess who seems to have entered into the lane of the cyclists will appear in court to find out whether she will be charged with dangerous driving.
You think?
Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael
