MEXICO, Maine — A Mexico man was injured late Thursday afternoon when police say he failed to stop at a Rose Street stop sign and was struck by a car.
Gavin Halacy, 20, complained of pain in his left hip and was taken by Med-Care Ambulance to Rumford Hospital, Mexico police Lt. Roy Hodsdon said Friday morning.
Hodsdon said Halacy was riding west downhill on Rose Street, which is off Route 17 (Roxbury Road) just north of Tommy Guns Pitstop.
He said the bicyclist didn’t stop at the stop sign at the intersection with Kimball Avenue and was struck at 3:57 p.m. on his left side by a 2000 Chrysler Concorde driven by Jennifer Theriault, 32, of Rumford.
Halacy was thrown onto the Chrysler’s hood, Hodsdon said.
Theriault wasn’t injured, but Hodsdon estimated damage to the hood and bumper of her car at $500 to $800. The mountain bike was wrecked, he said.
No charges were filed.
running a stop sign is bad.
2 wheels or 4.
Ask a taxi driver what they think of bike riders.
How many taxi drivers have been killed by bike riders?
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3344642.ece – Eight year old Londoner cyclist killed by cabbie.
http://fulano.info/forum/thread-2391.html – COZUMEL, Quintana Roo – Training for the Half Ironman, Val Robichaux was killed by cabbie. Commisioner blames cyclist, even with witnesses saying cabbie turned right in front of Robichaux.
“• 57.1 percent of all bicycle
fatalities in Maine involved
children under the age of
18 — a total of 16 fatalities
in the last ten years • Many children are also injured;
for every child on a
bike who is killed by a car
another 100 are injured, for
a total of 160 children injured
by cars while bicycling
in Maine each year.” : http://www.ewg.org/files/ME.pdf (Third page after “Share the Road”) May, 1993
But then bicyclists don’t create big bucks for the local corporate gas station economy
Mammon’s way or the highway, Republicans?
Taxi drivers are some of the worst drivers there are.
So my bicycle riding friends, here we have a perfect example of what I said in the “Maine Friendly to Bikes” story. The majority of bike riders do not follow traffic laws and are a menace to motorized vehicular traffic. Just yesterday in Belfast I had 2 bikes pull out in front of me and ride side by side while crossing route 1 at the lights by Athena Healthcare. Then they proceeded, side by side, down past Hannaford towards the city center blocking traffic the whole way.
License riders, inspect bikes, register and tax the bikes, ticket riders when they fail to follow laws, and amend the traffic laws so that bikes cannot ride side by side or more than 3 in tandem, and must pull over to the side of the road giving adequate clearance for motorized traffic.
The majority don’t? Can you provide facts to back up that claim?
Yes, my observations over 45 years of driving on our roads!
You’ve seen a majority of the people who have bicycled in Maine? Extraordinary!
“Pedestrians were
23 times more likely to get killed than car
occupants in 2001 (140 vs 6 fatalities per
billion kilometers), while bicyclists were 12
times more likely than car occupants to get
killed (72 vs 6 fatalities per billion kilometers).
30 Walking and cycling in American
cities are much more dangerous than in
many other countries.” | John Pucher, PhD, and Lewis Dijkstra, PhD from Rutgers University report: http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/ajphfromjacobsen.pdf (page 1511) Sept. 2003
” Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” – Matthew 7:14 (KJV)
What a ridiculous spin on my statement. You must work for the GOP. And what’s with the biblical quote? Matthew has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion!
Your observations are not facts. They are observations — from behind the wheel of a car. The bicyclist in this story was in the wrong, but how many drivers routinely give a bicyclist the legally required 3 feet of clearance, or wait for a safe place to pass, which might mean they get to their destination 30 seconds later? A little mutual respect goes a long way, and yes, part of the responsibility for this is on me and my fellow bicyclists. But to characterize bicyclists as a menace to traffic is a bit much. Bicyclists ARE traffic. The entitlement mentality of drivers has built up over decades of car-first policies. I would pay a licencing and registration fee in proportion to the costs of services vs. cars and trucks. It would amout to less than a dollar per year.
So by your reasoning the cost of operating a motorcycle in Maine should come down quite a bit. There are some who think that having to be licensed to operate a motorcycle and to have insurance and to pay road taxes and to be inspected is a bit much. But it is a law. When I sit at a crosswalk letting people cross in front of me with a police car in the on coming lane and 3 bicycles pass traffic on the right zip right across the cross walk, not stopping for the pedestrians and no one objects I wonder about the licensing issue. Had I just decided to say I am on two wheels so I am going anyway, do you think for 1 moment the police officer would look the other way? I am curious if there is an accident between an auto and a Bicycle and the bike is clearly at fault but has no insurance what so ever, who pays for the medical? Who pays to repair the car? It always interests me that those who push big government only object when it levels the playing field for all.
Oh good grief. I think LICENSING and inspecting bikes is a bit much. Get off your horse.
A lot of people just aren’t taught the rules of the road anymore when it comes to bikes and why should they if they know they aren’t enforced. Education needs to be improved and people need to start caring and enforcing the rules again.
It’s funny that the same people who complain about “big government” put forth ludicrous ideas like bike licensing.
When have I ever complained about “big government” here? Actually, in the political sense, I’m much more to the left than the right. However in the case of bicycles on our roads and the hazard they create, well I feel the problem needs to be addressed in a serious manner. We hear all sorts of propaganda about bicycles and most of it is not true. Bicycles don’t reduce pollution, they increase it because motorized traffic must respond to their presence. In my opinion, based upon decades of seeing them on our roads, a great many bicyclists disregard traffic laws. Pedestrians and horses aside, bicycles are the only form of transportation on our roads which are not licensed, registered, and taxed for the privilege of using those roads. There are children out there on these same roads, many just barely able to keep a bicycle upright, and they are legally allowed to ride down route 1 with bumper to bumper traffic surrounding them. That’s not safe. As for the tax issue, most pro-bike people ssay (correctly) that they already pay taxes. To that I say just because I pay property tax doesn’t mean I don’t have to pay tax my car. Furthermore, just because I have 1 car doesn’t mean that my second car is tax free. Uh uh, I must pay for both. This should be true of bicycles too.
I would strongly advise that, until motor vehicles start following the rules of the road, you keep your safety focus on those 2-ton boxes of moving steel.
Bicyclists have the right to the travel lane, same as cars. They are vehicles. Most bicyclists I have encountered usually show courtesy and let the faster vehicles pass, unless they are actively turning through intersections.
I also annoy people in my car when I don’t pass bicyclists on the road when I have no clear view of what is ahead. It doesn’t hurt to drive a little slower for a couple hundred feet.
true that bicyclists have the right to the travel lane, same as cars. However, they also have to OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS the same as cars. If they are not going to do this, they have to expect the consequences just like any motorist. He should be ticketed for failure to stop at a stop sign – he’s VERY lucky he only got a few bruises.
I think getting hit and having a ruined bike is enough of a lesson.
Traffic laws are there for safety reasons. If he had obeyed them, he more than likely wouldn’t have gotten his bike ruined. A small fine might drive the lesson home and possibly save his life sometime. If motorists are to be expected to “share the road” with cyclists, then cyclists should be expected to obey the laws or be held accountable. I’m sorry that he got hurt, just like I would be if he were in a car, but he broke the law and is at fault. I say ticket him.
If they were from Athena,maybe they were drunk?it was Friday,ya know…
I see no problem when bikers take up the road provided they are riding close to the speed limit. Some riders are very capable of this. I think that is why bicyclists are supposed to ride in the travel lane and off of the sidewalks.
On the other hand, when they start to ride say 10 mph or slower than traffic or the speed limit, I think it does become a danger and as a slow motorist a polite person should get out of the travel lane or pull over and let other faster travelers pass.
You mean people are supposed to stop at those red octagonal yield signs?
I think that if you are on a bike and you come to an intersection with stop signs then you should stop and look to see whats coming! Cars do, walkers do, so should bikes! Kind of common sense really.
Kind of the law really..
I have to say, when I see a bicyclist on the road, I always assume they aren’t going to obey the laws.
Bicyclists are supposed obey all laws car drivers do. No drunk biking, stop at stop signs/lights, and bike on the correct (the right) side of the road. And while we’re on that, pedestrians (aka walkers) need to be walking on the LEFT side of the road! Pet peeves >.<
The WORST, though, is when there is a biker at night with no lights on their bike. I've seen 3 in Bangor in the past month.
Lisencing, inspecting, and registering bikes is a silly idea from George Picklewalker. It doesn't help people drive cars any better. What we need is enforcement! If I were to call about the bikers with no lights, I’d probably just be laughed at. All I can say is good luck to those who don’t bike or drive in accordance with the law..