Pa. bicyclist on cross-country cancer ride killed

[davidinalameda]

Source: SF Gate

A 19-year-old Pennsylvania man riding his bicycle across the country to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research was struck and killed by an SUV in New Mexico.

Officials say John Anczarski, of Ringtown, Pa., died Tuesday of injuries suffered a day earlier in New Laguna, N.M., about 50 miles west of Albuquerque.

Anczarski, a University of Colorado engineering student, and three friends called their project "The Pink Pedal." The group said it had raised several thousand dollars for cancer research. They left Pennsylvania on May 23 and expected to reach San Diego next month.

Police say the investigation into the crash has been turned over to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, because the accident occurred on tribal land. No charges have been filed.




Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/06/24/national/a060124D14.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0rmSHK4KD

[alsame]

1. That is incredibly sad. RIP. nt

[Wickerman]

2. R.I.P.

Poor kid.

[keith the dem]

3. Fuck, just fuck,

I rode across many, many years ago and grew up not far from his hometown.

This just hurts.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[disillusioned73]

8. WTF??

not funny

[Occulus]

10. Scroll down a couple posts so you can say it to his face!

YUCK!!!! What a terrible thing for you to say!

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[wtmusic]

5. Awful.

Apparently hit head on by a driver not paying attention. RIP John.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=389530&src=3

[Raschel]

12. The world's loss. Thank you John for being a caring and giving person.

[Blue_Tires]

17. +1

[madmax]

23. RIP John

[superconnected]

6. Very sad. Condolences to the family. Rip.

[bhikkhu]

7. Another tragic death...

How about a call for drivers this summer to chill out a little, slow down a little, share the road, and remember as they are driving that they are directing thousands of pounds of metal and steel through heavily populated areas at very deadly speeds.

[mike_c]

9. between this and the news about Jeff Skilling I'm just thoroughly depressed this morning....

:cry:

[thereismore]

13. No room for bicycles in a country of SUV's. nt

[SocialistLez]

14. A cyclist here in AR was killed a few days ago by a distracted driver.

This is why I personally wish we had bike lanes that were physically separated from the "car lanes."

[maxsolomon]

15. almost an impossibility, particularly in Murka.

vehicles rule the roads and will until the petroleum is gone. then there won't be any issues because the roads will be empty of long haul drivers and freight will move on trains again.

[wtmusic]

16. Studies have shown that segregated bike lanes are more dangerous

Most accidents occur at junctions (there are a lot more of them).

If someone's being a total idiot and driving on the wrong side of the road, there's not too much you can do about it.

[boppers]

19. A partial solution to lanes vs. junctions issues:

http://www.google.com/images?q=portland+bicycle+box&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Nv0jTI3QKoHB8gby89CTAg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDwQsAQwAw

[SocialistLez]

20. I could not see that being effective here in AR.

People here have their car sticking out halfway at stop signs.

Plenty of people run stop signs and red lights.

That is why the cyclist died, some idiot distracted on their cell phone ran a red light and killed her.

[boppers]

21. Better basic enforcement?

Maybe AR could shore up it's budget by enforcing, uhm, laws, and fining people for acting like idiots?

[SocialistLez]

24. I don't disagree. At the same time, around here the cops

are placed in areas where they think they will find speeders and in the poorer neighborhoods so they can focus on people selling drugs, not that people in richer neighborhoods don't buy drugs or use drugs.

::sigh::

[Art_from_Ark]

28. Whereabouts are you in Arkansas?

In NW Arkansas, at least, I have rarely seen anyone running red lights or stop signs. Most of the drivers I've seen will even stop for yellow lights.

[SocialistLez]

30. Central AR: Little Rock, NLR...NT

[Art_from_Ark]

31. Ah, that explains a lot

If you came up to NW Arkansas (Bentonville, Rogers, etc.), you'd probably be amazed that the drivers stop for yellow lights!
However, the traffic light system is a little annoying.

[wtmusic]

26. I hate, hate, hate this idea.

I can think of several reasons off the top of my head:

1) Most states require that cyclists stay as far to the right as possible except in certain circumstances. Now they can swerve out into the lane, but at intersections only? Cars can enter the boxes if no bikes are there, but what if a bike needs to enter the box when a car is already there?

2) Motorists will *love* being blocked from making a right on red. In fact, the last thing cyclists need is another reason to piss off motorists.

3) If cyclists are in the box while a car is in the right lane waiting for pedestrians, they could easily block all the traffic in the street. Motorists will love that one too.

I'm a cyclist who rides 5,500 miles a year; I've been hit by cars twice, once separating my shoulder and breaking ribs. So I have a lot of experience on two wheels, and this is just a bad idea. What we really need is more driver education and integration with traffic - not creating some sort of privileged class which complicates matters and only makes the situation worse.

[boppers]

29. Hm...

1. Cars shouldn't enter the boxes, unless the light is green. If a driver can't compensate for traffic, they shouldn't be driving.
2. "The last thing cyclists need is another reason to piss off motorists"... uhm, I would argue that motorists need more reasons to get over themselves.
3. Blocking traffic, Ooh, so what? If you want special road privileges, ride a bike, get in a wheelchair, walk with a blind cane, or just plain walk, but don't demand any special privilege simply because you are in a car.

We're both basically coming at the issue in the same way, but from different angles.

I don't think that people in cars should have any special considerations given to them, but since they are driving inherently dangerous machines, they have to be isolated away from safer traffic. They should have to wait for cyclists. They should have to back off and stay behind cyclists.

[tinrobot]

32. The safest cyclist is the one who is seen.

The vast majority of motorists will not purposely hit a cyclist, no matter how pissed off they are. I'd much rather encounter a motorist who sees me and is pissed off than one who doesn't see me at all.

The boxes are not an ideal solution, but they accomplish one important thing - they allow the cyclists to be seen.

[Haole Girl]

18. How horrible

:-(

[pitohui]

22. sry to hear it...and eerily similar to all the bike killings i've known of personally

"no charges have been filed"

the person who hits and run a person on a bike just pretty much never gets found, at least not in the south, i hope it will be different out west

[BrklynLiberal]

25. No good deed goes unpunished....

[U4ikLefty]

27. And if they were on the way to/from WalMart we have a DU trifecta!

Let's see, we have:

1) Cyclist killed by negligent motorist.

2) Driving an SUV.