And yet….. another

[ToonaBP]

https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-storie...KMSIZ5EOKHH5I/

[joosttx]

yeah, threads with links only are kinda annoying. and here is another one...

[muttley]

Here is the sad, sad story:

"July 22, 2021 at 12:59 pm EDT
By WPXI.com News Staff
MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — A car hit four bicyclists, killing one, early Thursday morning on Route 22 in Murrysville, officials said.

The crash happened about 4 a.m. on Route 22 eastbound at Brick Hill Road. Eastbound lanes of Route 22 were closed until just before 7:30 a.m.

Police said the bicyclists were part of a church group riding from Ohio to Altoona.

The bicyclist who was killed, Marcus Coblentz, 25, of Sugarcreek, Ohio, died at the scene, officials said.

“Very tragic. My advice: I wouldn’t go on Route 22 on a bicycle. It’s very unfortunate that this did happen, but they are allowed, as you know. Bicycles are allowed on highways, just as long as they’re not limited access roadways. In other words, like an interstate, turnpike, things like that,” Murrysville Police Chief Thomas Seefeld said.

The other three bicyclists were taken to a hospital and are expected to be OK, according to officials.

Police said the 16-year-old driver of the car was not hurt and stayed at the scene to talk with investigators. It is not suspected that drugs or alcohol were involved. A 17-year-old was also in the car and was not hurt.

When the car was towed away, the front and back windshields were visibly shattered."

[nmrt]

Wow! The blame game has begun.

Originally Posted by muttley

Here is the sad, sad story:

"July 22, 2021 at 12:59 pm EDT
By WPXI.com News Staff
MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — A car hit four bicyclists, killing one, early Thursday morning on Route 22 in Murrysville, officials said.

The crash happened about 4 a.m. on Route 22 eastbound at Brick Hill Road. Eastbound lanes of Route 22 were closed until just before 7:30 a.m.

Police said the bicyclists were part of a church group riding from Ohio to Altoona.

The bicyclist who was killed, Marcus Coblentz, 25, of Sugarcreek, Ohio, died at the scene, officials said.

“Very tragic. My advice: I wouldn’t go on Route 22 on a bicycle. It’s very unfortunate that this did happen, but they are allowed, as you know. Bicycles are allowed on highways, just as long as they’re not limited access roadways. In other words, like an interstate, turnpike, things like that,” Murrysville Police Chief Thomas Seefeld said.

The other three bicyclists were taken to a hospital and are expected to be OK, according to officials.

Police said the 16-year-old driver of the car was not hurt and stayed at the scene to talk with investigators. It is not suspected that drugs or alcohol were involved. A 17-year-old was also in the car and was not hurt.

When the car was towed away, the front and back windshields were visibly shattered."

[ERK55]

16 years old? How long did this driver even have a license?

[unterhausen]

Almost all of 22 should be perfectly safe to ride on a bike. There might be some spots in between where they were and Altoona that wouldn't be that safe, I don't remember.

The only problem is people on that road drive like they're in a pinball game and they are inside the ball powerless to do anything.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by muttley

The crash happened about 4 a.m. on Route 22 eastbound

Someone in charge of that church group may have made a bad decision about being on the road at 4 am.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by nmrt

Wow! The blame game has begun.

I just looked that road up on Google maps street view. I am absolutely not blaming the victims here, but that does not look like a road I would personally feel comfortable riding on.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4119...7i16384!8i8192

4 lane divided highway. It has a wide shoulder, but also that shoulder has a rumble strip in it. I occasionally have biked on such roads, and never enjoyed it. No one should be killed or injured riding on that road, but that is the type road that if somebody asked me, as a cyclist, my advice would be "if there's any other road you can take, take that road instead."

[rwsaunders]

Route 22 is a 4-lane, heavily traveled road that is really not suitable for bikes in that area, but the cyclists were on an Amish church trip from Ohio and probably didn’t know any better. It looks like they rode the route from Ohio, through West Virginia into Pennsylvania and they were headed to Altoona, which was another 80 miles East.

The driver is considered a junior driver in Pennsylvania (under 18) and she is not permitted to be driving from 11pm to 5am (work is an exception) and she had a passenger under 18, also not permitted. Sad event all around.

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Someone in charge of that church group may have made a bad decision about being on the road at 4 am.

As someone that rides a lot at 4am, I don't think this is true at all. There are a lot of roads I wouldn't ride at any other time that are just fine at 4am. It's the main route between Altoona and Pittsburgh, but that part of it is almost empty at that time. It has tons of commuter traffic during the day, but that dies out by 9pm or so. For whatever reason, most of the truck traffic seems to go turnpike->I99.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Someone in charge of that church group may have made a bad decision about being on the road at 4 am.

And who the hell let's their 16 year old drive at 4am? Lots of bad decisions in this one, but as the Chief said, they are allowed too ride there.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I just looked that road up on Google maps street view. I am absolutely not blaming the victims here, but that does not look like a road I would personally feel comfortable riding on.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4119...7i16384!8i8192

4 lane divided highway. It has a wide shoulder, but also that shoulder has a rumble strip in it. I occasionally have biked on such roads, and never enjoyed it. No one should be killed or injured riding on that road, but that is the type road that if somebody asked me, as a cyclist, my advice would be "if there's any other road you can take, take that road instead."

With no idea of their route possibilities, if that was still better than the other options (narrow, busy, no shoulders), I'd ride that. You can get way over, it has the rumbles to alert cars they are drifting, and a clear line of sight. Would it be my first choice of roads? No. Would I ride it? Yes.

[bitpuddle]

Originally Posted by muttley

. My advice: I wouldn’t go on Route 22 on a bicycle. It’s very unfortunate that this did happen, but they are allowed, as you know."

The guy responsible for traffic safety think the road isn’t safe. OK….

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by makoti

With no idea of their route possibilities, if that was still better than the other options (narrow, busy, no shoulders), I'd ride that. You can get way over, it has the rumbles to alert cars they are drifting, and a clear line of sight. Would it be my first choice of roads? No. Would I ride it? Yes.

I looked at strava heat maps. Almost everyone rides old 22 at this location, and it does look a little better. OTOH, it doesn't go very far and the heat map doesn't show a good alternate route to Altoona. And I assume Amish teenagers don't know about strava heat maps anyway.

There are a few hardy souls that ride all of 22. Up until the end of evening rush hour, it would be unpleasant because of the vehicle noise, but after that it would probably be a little better than the alternates.

[spoonrobot]

It's insane that a roadway with shoulders that are about as wide as the travel lanes isn't "safe" for cyclists



If it's not safe here, it's not safe anywhere - which, as often as this happens, is obvious