What is happening in Windsor? Last month an e-cyclist got the door prize big time, and yesterday this story appeared in The Windsor Star:

"The rider of an electric bicycle is in hospital with a serious head injury after he collided head-on with a car Saturday night.

The accident happened around 6:30 p.m. as the rider of the silver e-bike attempted to make a right turn onto Silverdale Drive and collided head-on with a blue Dodge Spirit approaching the stop sign.

"It looks like he was trying to carry too much speed, took that turn a little too wide and caught that car as she was slowing down for the stop sign," said Windsor Police Staff Sgt. Todd Lamarre.

The cyclist, a Windsor man in his 40s, was thrown from his electric bicycle into the windshield of the car before landing on the pavement.

"I was working on homework when I heard a big thud," said Dilshan Pieris, who called 911. "I came outside and the guy was on the ground twitching, he had blood on his face and the driver was hysterical."

Lamarre said the rider was taken to hospital with a serious head injury. His condition was unknown at press time.

The driver of the Dodge Spirit will not be charged.

Another e-bike rider suffered non-life threatening injuries last month when he struck the door of a parked van on Wyandotte Street.

The cyclist was wearing a helmet and the driver of the van was charged with opening a vehicle door improperly."

Hard to picture . . did the cyclist swing too wide and enter the car's lane, as it was coming from the opposite direction? And what, exactly, does, " trying to carry too much speed" mean? Exceeding the posted speed limit? Transporting a ton of meth?

btw - no mention of whether the poor e-biker was wearing a helmet in this most recent accident.

drive safe cheers



Source:http://www.windsorsta...

The first accident was clearly the drivers fault. But this one seems like the ebikers fault. Sounds like he hit the car at full speed. Seems to me that instead of slowing down to make the turn he was going WOT and crossed into the cars path.

-Vic

I guess we can make that a 3rd in Windsor http://windsorite.ca/...

This isn't good. Maybe time to setup some ebike safety courses?

-Vic

I guess we can make that a 3rd in Windsor http://windsorite.ca/...

This isn't good. Maybe time to setup some ebike safety courses?

-Vic

Yes, bike/e-bike safety courses are available, but I guess unless it is required, most of us will continue to be self-educated, or self-deluded?

btw ~ it would be helpful to see comparative stats regarding trad bike vs. e-bike accidents, eh? i'm betting ebikes fair better.

knock-on-wood cheers

This isn't good. Maybe time to setup some ebike safety courses?
-Vic

This in inevitable. The press will use the word "ebike" whenever they can. I am reminded of the last wave of cheap kids kick scooters to hit North America where scooter kids started having accidents. From press reports the US Consumer Products Safety Commission decided to investigate. They compiled stats from hospital admissions.

From their findings:
"CPSC staff compared scooter injury rates with injury rates for similar products -- including skateboards, in-line skates, and bicycles."

"The comparison showed that:
Scooter riding had the lowest rate of emergency-room-treated injury per 1,000 participants among the four products/activities (3.09 per 1,000)."

"Bicycling had the highest rate of emergency-room-treated injuries (12.58 per 1,000)."

"Bicycle riders reported more than twice as many days of riding (61.3) on average than did scooter riders (29.9) in 2000. But the injury rate for bicycles (2.05 per 10,000 days) was still double the rate for scooters
(1.03 per 10,000 days)."

"When considering the injury rates per 10,000 days of participation for these four activities, skateboarding
was associated with the highest rate of injury. The skate-boarding rate (2.51 per 10,000 days) was almost
2.5 times the rate for scooters."

"Scooters were associated with the lowest rate of injury among those four products, regardless of which exposure measure was used."


And even with the "lowest rate of injury" noted, what these quotes omit to say is that their study found that many of the injuries to scooter riders were do only to poor design and cheap construction (sharp edges, for example.) And that of course, most of the riders they were studying were very young and inexperienced.

The CPSC even detected a small drop in the number of bike/skateboard/rollerblade injuries at the time that may have been due to the kids switching to scooters.

The press chose to completely overlook these findings and only reported on a "dramatic" rise in the number of "scooter" injuries...

LoCk

Perhaps ebikers need another Rider Down thread like on BeltDriveBetty:
http://www.beltdriveb...

Perhaps ebikers need another Rider Down thread like on BeltDriveBetty:
http://www.beltdriveb...

Good idea, Lockster, thus the new heading for our thread. Visited the beltdrivebetty.com site . . very sad and scary stuff, eh?

Reminds me of what Doc over at Doc's Motorcycle Leathers was saying the other day . ."Be careful out there, biking is a dangerous sport." Doc himself was in a terrible crash, which he explains at the end of this CityTV interview in his shop, down on Queen Street West . . check this out:


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keepin' it real cheers

http://www.theobserve...

Stoned driver hit elderly cyclist, kept on going
Posted 3 months ago

NEIL BOWEN

The Observer

A Sarnia driver who was impaired by drugs when he knocked an elderly man from an electric bike was sentenced to five and half months in jail Tuesday in Sarnia court.

Keven Walsh, 40, had previously pleaded guilty to drug-impaired driving, dangerous driving, leaving an accident scene and driving without insurance.

Walsh pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating a driving ban, not having vehicle insurance and using a forged insurance certificate a month after the collision.

On June 18, 2009, Walsh's SUV struck the electric bike on Exmouth Street in Sarnia while turning into a parking lot. He failed to yield to the oncoming rider.

The elderly victim was knocked to the street, suffered minor injuries and was treated and released at hospital.

Walsh continued driving into the lot with the e-bike caught beneath the vehicle. It gouged the pavement and sent sparks flying.

Other drivers tried to follow Walsh as he drove through several parking lots. He eventually stopped and walked back to the accident scene, where a citizen recognized him based on a description overhead on a police radio.

Walsh told police he'd panicked and didn't mean to leave the scene. Witnesses said he appeared to be "stoned" with a frighteningly intense look.

A Sarnia police drug recognition officer determined Walsh was under the influence of narcotics, marked by slurred speech, chemical breath smell and agitated state.

Walsh admitted being on methadone and several other prescription drugs, and breath tests indicated he wasn't impaired by alcohol.

Urine tests detected prescription medications but a toxicologist couldn't determine their levels when Walsh was driving.

Defence lawyer Ed Gresham called for house arrest so Walsh can continue making progress with Canadian Mental Health Association support. He's struggling with personal demons, including substance abuse, but is currently drug-free.

Assistant Crown attorney Joe Perfetto requested jail time to protect the public, given the blatant disregard for court orders. Walsh told the probation officer preparing his pre-sentence report he'd driven to the office in violation of a driving ban.

"That's extremely troubling" Perfetto said.

Austin rejected house arrest, saying Walsh couldn't be trusted to comply, and sentenced him to 165 days. Pre-sentence custody reduced the jail time to 155 days.

A year's probation will follow when he must continue counseling for mental health and substance-abuse issues.

He must also pay $2,300 in restitution for the demolished bike and was fined $5,000 for the two insurance violations.

A two-year driving ban was also imposed.

nbowen@theobserver.ca

Article ID# 2656411

http://www.thepeterbo...

The Peterborough Examiner
E-bike driver remains in hospital
By Examiner Staff
Posted 7 months ago

The driver of an e-bike involved in a collision with an SUV Thursday afternoon remains in serious condition at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, city police said.

Police said a 48-year-old man was driving the e-bike on Maria St., between Rogers and Mark streets, when he turned in front of an SUV at about 4:10 p.m.

The man was hit, and suffered serious leg injuries in the collision, police said.

A portion of Maria St. was closed until about 1:30 a.m. while police investigated the collision.

Anyone who witnessed the collision can call the investigating officer, Karen O'Brien, at 876-1122 ext. 289.

Clearly Keven Walsh (see post above) is a dangerous douche who should be banned from driving for a long, long time. On the other hand, crazy Keven could probably drive an e-cycle quite legally! Scary, eh?

When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. ~ Freddy Nietzsche

e-psycho cheers