Truck towing boat runs into our group

[Keith A]

We had a very scary group ride last night!

There was about 30 riders that gathered last night for our weekly hammerfest, which takes place in a more rural part of Brevard county with not much traffic. Everything was going along just fine and we had a double paceline going at about 28 mph when this guy driving a dually pulling a very large boat decides to pass us with an oncoming car. He had to move over close to us and he forced the other driver off the road...but this wasn't the really bad part. He continued to pass us with two more cars coming towards us, but he didn't care and just keep going and then moved right into our paceline and the boat hit one of our riders. Amazingly, he was the only person that went down...but the truck driver sped off and didn't stop.

One of the drivers that was coming towards us saw the whole thing and turned around and chased the guy while calling 911. The fire and rescue truck showed up quickly and was shortly followed by an ambulance and several police officers. At this point, the driver hasn't been charged with anything :eek: and understandably, we are all livid as this guy could have easily taken the life of a rider or even one of the car drivers. Fortunately, we have a captain of our local police department that was riding with us and he his pursing the matter.

As for the guy that was hit, he has a good amount of road rash and he hit the deck hard enough to crack his helmet, but he is doing okay.

I was only about two riders behind the guy who was hit and saw the whole thing happen and was thinking I was about to go down with the way the truck was moving towards us. Such a scary sight and I'm grateful to be here typing this today.

[vqdriver]

:eek:
wow. that's one of those crazy lucky but crazy unlucky type deals.
glad it wasn't worse than it was. sounds like it could have been really bad.

[timto]

OMG Scary to read - glad you guys are all OK.We had a very scary group ride last night!

There was about 30 riders that gathered last night for our weekly hammerfest, which takes place in a more rural part of Brevard county with not much traffic. Everything was going along just fine and we had a double paceline going at about 28 mph when this guy driving a dually pulling a very large boat decides to pass us with an oncoming car. He had to move over close to us and he forced the other driver off the road...but this wasn't the really bad part. He continued to pass us with two more cars coming towards us, but he didn't care and just keep going and then moved right into our paceline and the boat hit one of our riders. Amazingly, he was the only person that went down...but the truck driver sped off and didn't stop.

One of the drivers that was coming towards us saw the whole thing and turned around and chased the guy while calling 911. The fire and rescue truck showed up quickly and was shortly followed by an ambulance and several police officers. At the point, the driver hasn't been charged with anything :eek: and understandably, we are all livid as this guy could have easily taken the live of a rider or even one of the car drivers. Fortunately, we have a captain of our local police department that was riding with us and he his pursing the matter.

As for the guy that was hit, he has a good amount of road rash and he hit the deck hard enough to crack his helmet, but he is doing okay.

I was only about two riders behind the guy who was hit and saw the whole thing happen and was thinking I was about to go down with the way the truck was moving towards us. Such a scary sight and I'm grateful to be here typing this today.

[Bud_E]

What did you expect? You probably would have delayed him by at least 30 or 45 seconds so he had to risk several peoples lives to get by you at that exact moment.

[Tom]

Fortunately, we have a captain of our local police department that was riding with us and he his pursing the matter.


It is good to have friends in low places. The chief of police in a neighboring town is an avid rider, and the one investigation his department did that I was a party to was pretty amazing in its results. I think the driver's going to be ruing his impetuosity.

[crownjewelwl]

i grew up in tejas...beware of dudes rockin duallies...

[fiataccompli]

I agree it's good that you are here to write about it & the rider who went down is OK too. it could have ended very differently. I have to say it's also impressive a driver chased down the truck & cared enough in general. That doesn't seem as common an attitude as I'd expect.

[William]

Freakin" people! I'm glad everyone was okay and not hurt too bad.





William

[Keith A]

I agree it's good that you are here to write about it & the rider who went down is OK too. it could have ended very differently. I have to say it's also impressive a driver chased down the truck & cared enough in general. That doesn't seem as common an attitude as I'd expect.Agreed. When the driver came back, many of us went over and thanked him for caring enough to get involved.

[Lewis Moon]

What did you expect? You probably would have delayed him by at least 30 or 45 seconds so he had to risk several peoples lives to get by you at that exact moment.

A lot of lolks moan about our "entitlement society". This guy obviously felt entitled to endanger your lives in order to save a small amount of time.

I am very glad to hear that all is well. What that driver did was nothing less than reckless endangerment. He/she should be charged accordingly.

[tiretrax]

i grew up in tejas...beware of dudes rockin duallies...

And diesel pickups.

Glad everyone is ok.

Last week, I thought I was passing a parked car on a narrow road. As I got up on the front bumber and started over to the curb to make way for an oncoming car, the driver of the "parked" car (Ford Expedition) started honking and lunged his car towards me. He then continued to honk and drive right next to me, cutting down the lane so I had to jump the curb. It's getting harder and harder to riding in cities. Scary stuff - it only takes one crazy person to screw up a bunch of lives (the lesson we learned again at the Boston mararthon).

[FlashUNC]

Craziness. Glad to hear everyone's relatively okay. And by that I mean alive.

[texbike]

Was the boat okay???? Just kidding!

Man, that is scary. I'm sorry to hear about the rider in your group that hit the deck but am glad that it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Be safe out there. Idiots abound...

Texbike

[Ahneida Ride]

The solution ?

10 minutes with Uncle William would be a re educational experience.

[slidey]

Man, that does sound quite bad.

Glad everyone got out alive...and, hope your copper buddy can make things work to suspend the joker's license for a while.

[zap]

Glad everyone is ok (excepting the road rash).......the driver must be charged with hit and run

but........

if Florida has a single up law, I sure hope your outside line was riding on the shoulder.

[tuxbailey]

Wow, that was scary just reading it.

Please keeps this thread updated so we know how your friend is doing as well as the fate of the driver. I hope he gets charged as well. If that is not reckless driving as well as intentional assault.

As to the double pace line issue, I feel that even if the group is violating the rule, the driver is still in the wrong. As a driver, it is his responsibilities to recognize the potential hazard and act accordingly. He was free to call the police to issue the group tickets instead of endangering the lives of 20+ people.

[Lewis Moon]

Wow, that was scary just reading it.

Please keeps this thread updated so we know how your friend is doing as well as the fate of the driver. I hope he gets charged as well. If that is not reckless driving as well as intentional assault.

As to the double pace line issue, I feel that even if the group is violating the rule, the driver is still in the wrong. As a driver, it is his responsibilities to recognize the potential hazard and act accordingly. He was free to call the police to issue the group tickets instead of endangering the lives of 20+ people.

This is exactly correct.

[mike p]

I would love to hear what the driver had to say......what excuse do you use for that!

Mike

[Ralph]

Just thankful it was no worse than you report. We gotta be careful out there. Folks out to get us.

[93legendti]

Crazy. Glad you're ok

[regularguy412]

Coming up on my one-year anniversary (5-2-2012 date of accident) when I got hit from behind. I don't remember flying through the air. Just remember waking up the road ditch with the driver in question trying to pick me up. Practically had to fight him off to keep him away from me. Ended up spending the night in the hospital. Lots of road rash and had to have a plastic surgeon fix my left ear (Helmet strap cut it badly. Had some cartilage missing and much of it exposed).

Drivers don't care. Neither do they pay attention as they should. It's a crap-shoot.

Glad all are as well as they can be. Hope the guy gets the book thrown at him.

Mike in AR:beer:

[Len J]

Glad it wasn't worse......that's scary stuff.

Len


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[cachagua]

Drivers don't care. Neither do they pay attention as they should.



For "drivers", insert "humans".

[Suctionprints]

I would love to hear what the driver had to say......what excuse do you use for that!

Mike

I was late for bridge club. My ferret was in labor. Bikes belong on the sidewalk. I didn't see them. Any of these will work for the average police department.

[charliedid]

Glad everyone is okay.

As humans, we all make hundreds of decisions each and every day. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we get it wrong. Maybe the driver just got it wrong this time and is not some cyclist hating cracker with evil intentions.

We all make bad decisions sometimes.

[oldpotatoe]

We had a very scary group ride last night!

There was about 30 riders that gathered last night for our weekly hammerfest, which takes place in a more rural part of Brevard county with not much traffic. Everything was going along just fine and we had a double paceline going at about 28 mph when this guy driving a dually pulling a very large boat decides to pass us with an oncoming car. He had to move over close to us and he forced the other driver off the road...but this wasn't the really bad part. He continued to pass us with two more cars coming towards us, but he didn't care and just keep going and then moved right into our paceline and the boat hit one of our riders. Amazingly, he was the only person that went down...but the truck driver sped off and didn't stop.

One of the drivers that was coming towards us saw the whole thing and turned around and chased the guy while calling 911. The fire and rescue truck showed up quickly and was shortly followed by an ambulance and several police officers. At this point, the driver hasn't been charged with anything :eek: and understandably, we are all livid as this guy could have easily taken the life of a rider or even one of the car drivers. Fortunately, we have a captain of our local police department that was riding with us and he his pursing the matter.

As for the guy that was hit, he has a good amount of road rash and he hit the deck hard enough to crack his helmet, but he is doing okay.

I was only about two riders behind the guy who was hit and saw the whole thing happen and was thinking I was about to go down with the way the truck was moving towards us. Such a scary sight and I'm grateful to be here typing this today.

Why it's not smart to go to Carter Lake around here in the summer on the weekends..boat people are pushy.

Glad the guy is OK..hope the truck driver is charged with something.

[Climb01742]

Glad no one was more seriously injured. Glad, too, there was a policeman in your group. Should make justice a more likely outcome. Be safe.

[gasman]

Glad to hear nobody was hurt worse. As the wheels of justice move slowly let us know the outcome.

[Keith A]

Will do. Apparently the FHP who is handling the investigation has been off for the last two days and so I'm hoping for an update tomorrow.

[redir]

I'd say it's unbelievable that the driver was not charged but it's really not. I guess you have to have a police captain on your rides to get anything done.

That's great that the driver took action!

[firerescuefin]

In the summer...boat and landscape trailers...are really bad for your health. I've had to avoid landscape/boat trailers numerous time, been brushed by one landscape trailer...often times (unlike the case here)...the drivers are oblivious of the width of the trailer exceeding the width of their tow vehicle..and once they pass you in the tow vehicle, completely forget they have the trailer behind them.

[bluto]

any news on that jacka55 behind the wheel ? :mad:

[Keith A]

Sorry about not updating this situation, but I found out the following the middle of this week.

From our friend and captain at the local police department:
I was just informed by FHP Sgt. Carpenter that the driver was found at fault and cited for “failure to use due care”. I’ll be contacting a media rep I know to see if we can get some media attention to inform the public on the safety issues we face when riding and to educate them on the laws that protect us.

I replied with:
Thanks for the update. So what is the penalty for this? Any idea why he wasn't charged with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries?

And his response:
The fine for a moving citation is $169.00. Additionally, if found guilty the state takes 4 points off the person’s license which is likely to increase insurance premiums especially in cases of accidents. A “Leaving the Scene of an Accident With Injuries” charge would pose a much greater challenge to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” which is the standard to be found guilty in court for two reasons. First, the driver called the accident in just after it happened and gave no indication that he hit anyone and told the trooper that he didn’t know he hit Matt. We believe he knew but again that’s difficult to prove. Second, he stopped on US1 which doesn’t fulfill his obligation when involved in an accident but remember he’s saying he didn’t know he hit Matt which would have to be established. I agree a more severe charge would be fitting but I’m sure this is going to cause some problems for him.

We are all disappointed that something more fitting to his crime wasn't imposed, but I'm not sure how we can make this happen.

[moose8]

In the summer...boat and landscape trailers...are really bad for your health. I've had to avoid landscape/boat trailers numerous time, been brushed by one landscape trailer...often times (unlike the case here)...the drivers are oblivious of the width of the trailer exceeding the width of their tow vehicle..and once they pass you in the tow vehicle, completely forget they have the trailer behind them.

To this I would add that driving with a trailer is a skill, and since a lot of people only do it a few weekends a year it makes them pretty unskilled which often equates to dangerous for bikers.

I really hope the poor guy hit doesn't have longterm health consequences. These kind of stories scare the crap out of me because it seems as though there is nothing the biker could do different other than not ride a bike, which is not really an acceptable outcome.

[LouDeeter]

It is definitely scary with all the boats on trailers on our Florida roads. I have felt the whiff of the wide mirrors many times while riding. I'm even more concerned with folks with cell phones than I am with the wide mirrors though.

[Ralph]

Thanks for the update. One of the roads I use to get "out" to my riding area sees a lot of landscape trailors. Which are wider than the pickups towing them. Been some close brushes. Scary. Roads, trails, etc......there is danger to cyclists everywhere.

[torquer]

" First, the driver called the accident in just after it happened and gave no indication that he hit anyone and told the trooper that he didn’t know he hit Matt.":confused::confused::confused:
So why call in the accident?

[Keith A]

" First, the driver called the accident in just after it happened and gave no indication that he hit anyone and told the trooper that he didn’t know he hit Matt.":confused::confused::confused:
So why call in the accident?The driver knew he had done something...just not exactly what that was. Plus one of the oncoming drivers that he ran off the road whipped around and was following him while talking to 911.

[ultraman6970]

Dunno if anybody had driven a big ass truck or with a big as trailer, there is no way for the driver to even notice if he hit somebody or even hit another car sometimes. So well, at least the guy called... probably he will be more careful next time.

[joep2517]

Keith I am so sorry to hear about this situation. I don't understand how this isn't anything more than a "failure to use due care". But what's important is everyone is okay.

I grew up on the north end of the county (Mims). I was never fond of riding in the area knowing that their are a lot of people driving their trucks acting tough. I knew most people didn't think we belonged on the road. Luckily I was never in an incident.

[Ardan MacNessa]

The driver knew he had done something...just not exactly what that was. Plus one of the oncoming drivers that he ran off the road whipped around and was following him while talking to 911.
First off, glad no one was seriously injured.

The "failure to use due care" is a bummer outcome. The trailer boat dually driver will plead guilty, perhaps attend traffic school and most or all the points will be reduced to zero.


316.192 Reckless driving.— (http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0300-0399/0316/Sections/0316.192.html)
(1)(a) Any person who drives any vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving.

Your entire pack of cyclists should fight the "failure to use due care" and also get a statement from the motorist to support reckless driving charges. You have to have a lawyer in your local club... I wouldn't let this go.

Just for posterity sake, you're all considered "moving vehicles" and what the dually-boat-trailer driver did was reckless regardless. By this guy getting off Scot Free on a lesser charge he'll be a moving weapon behind a vindictive wheel for future cyclists.

Sad event. D!cks are everywhere. He fled the scene and perhaps realised his plate was memorised ...and decided to stop because it was evident the cyclists had his tags and I.D. It wasn't out of his lovely tear soaked heart he pulled over and stopped.

[Pete Mckeon]

on Saturdays this time of year. People not familiar with tailers and boats require a 1/3 LANE as a protection. (makes driver pull out some) and is legal for there are few shoulders for bikes. Afternoon returns from lake are even worse than mornings. Early early AM is best there.:mad:

Why it's not smart to go to Carter Lake around here in the summer on the weekends..boat people are pushy.

Glad the guy is OK..hope the truck driver is charged with something.

[Keith A]

I'll talk to the our police officer cyclist and see what he has to say about pursing this charge.

[Pete Mckeon]

Plenty of witnesses and it sounds like he did not take the proper action when passing, he crossed divider, ran oncoming car off road, and left the accident he caused. ONE of these (and maybe more) will get him to court.:mad:


I'll talk to the our police officer cyclist and see what he has to say about pursing this charge.

[Tony T]

Dunno if anybody had driven a big ass truck or with a big as trailer, there is no way for the driver to even notice if he hit somebody or even hit another car sometimes. So well, at least the guy called... probably he will be more careful next time.

"we had a double paceline going at about 28 mph when this guy driving a dually pulling a very large boat decides to pass us with an oncoming car."

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRX9u_EmuZSTUPB2Z7KtFatcyh3ldR9P u1NuGvg5IynEwpQI153mw

[ultraman6970]

Tony i never wanted to defend the guy, he screwed up, but as the cop said... anything will be hard to prove.

Was me I would take his DL for a year and force him to ride a bike mandatory during that period of time just for him to learn the lesson really good. Never imagine why judges do not do stupid things like that with stupid drivers...

[Ardan MacNessa]

Tony i never wanted to defend the guy, he screwed up, but as the cop said... anything will be hard to prove. ...
Usually an officer will look at the complete results of the predicament. By making the driver of the trailer-boat-dually guilty [by issue of ticket] it appeases the insurance claims of the cyclists for injuries incurred and personal property [their bikes]. At that point it's the driver's insurance company that coughs up the costs of medical and cycling equipment damaged in said accident.

What's troubling, the driver [dually-boat-trailer-dude] walks with a tiny slap on the wrists. If it had been a motor vehicle he had run off the road ...oh wait ..he DID run a motor vehicle [on coming] off the road ...

Lemme see. I have to rethink this ...

Yes the boat-trailer-dually guy has to hang by his over-sized belt buckle at high noon.

[mike p]

In my dreams I see the judge in all these case's take away the guilty persons license and make them commute by bike for 6 months or a year. :-)

Mike

[Keith A]

In my dreams I see the judge in all these case's take away the guilty persons license and make them commute by bike for 6 months or a year. :-)If this were only true :( BTW, I've emailed my officer friend asking him what can we do to get this guy charged more appropriately.

[tuxbailey]

He might be able to escape severe criminal punishment, anyway to make a big dent in his wallet?

[moose8]

It's a pain for those involved, but if you show up for any court hearings and make sure the prosecutor knows, and ask him to tell the judge when the case gets called, it will make a big difference.

[slidey]

I don't want to come across as extortionist, but that seems like an awfully low monetary fine to really cause the driver much anxiety. Out of curiosity, how much does a speeding infraction/violation cost in FL? In CA this fine is $260.

Apart from the monetary aspect, what about the fact that he ran drivers off the road? Was that fact also considered while handing down this charge?

We are all disappointed that something more fitting to his crime wasn't imposed, but I'm not sure how we can make this happen.