By Rick Bernardi, Bicycle Law
What does one say, in the middle of the night, when once again, a cyclist lays dead and our system of injustice gives us its grotesque pro forma ritual of shifting the blame to the cyclist, and exonerating the driver? What does one say, when over and over again, the justice we receive is nothing but a mockery of justice? What does one say, when all one feels is a cold fury at the lies that perpetuate our system of injustice? What does one say when there are no words? What does one say?
I will try to find the words.
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That future was cut short five days ago, when David fell beneath the rear wheels of a tractor-trailer truck a few miles into the first day of the Trek Across Maine, a charity ride for the American Lung Association.
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And then the mockery of justice began.
Within days, Maine State Police announced that it was unlikely that the driver would face charges. The investigation determined that as the tractor-trailer was passing David, he “veered into the path of [the truck] while sipping water.” Well, isn’t that tidy. You see? The fatal crash was the cyclist’s fault. He was taking a drink of water. “He only had one hand on the handlebar.”
Never mind all of that other, inconvenient eyewitness evidence. Never mind that the truck passed David at about 3-4 feet distance, and that David was sucked under the rear wheels by the turbulence of the passing truck. Never mind that the truck passed “close and pretty fast.” State Police Lt. Walter Grzyb acknowledged that “witnesses said they felt a draft when the truck went by, and it seems plausible, but we just can’t know for sure.” What do the witnesses know? “He pulled his water bottle out and he’s taking a drink of water. He has the left hand on the handlebar, a little less stable than two (hands)," Lt. Grzyb explained. David was trying to take a sip of water, so of course, he was to blame.
Now let’s talk about what really happened, based on what we know.
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Furthermore, the driver was in a no-passing zone, so under Maine law, it was illegal to pass the cyclists unless it was safe to do so.
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He was sucked into the path of the truck, and the water bottle in David’s hand does not mean that the driver is absolved of his responsibility to pass at a safe speed and distance.
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But in our American system of injustice, drivers are routinely absolved of all responsibility, routinely exonerated, and in the rare instances when they are held accountable, routinely slapped on the wrist. In our American system of injustice, police routinely overlook the laws and the evidence and base their “investigations” on noticing irrelevant things like the cyclist taking a sip of water. In our American system of injustice, the District Attorney will receive the shifting-the-blame police report, and make a decision. While we might expect justice, do we believe that David will have justice?
Look, I get that this was an “accident.” I get that the driver didn’t mean to kill anybody that morning. I get that prosecuting the driver won’t bring David back. But I also get that drivers have a responsibility to operate their vehicles safely. I get that justice demands that we stop pretending there’s nothing we can do when negligent driving takes a life. I get that doing nothing when a life is negligently lost sends the wrong message to every other driver on the road. I get that shifting the blame to the victim sends the wrong message to every negligent driver on the road. So yeah, I get it.
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So yeah, the cyclist gets blamed, and yeah, negligent drivers are routinely given the kid glove treatment, and yeah, I’m fed up. And I’m not alone. We have to stop accepting this “blame the victim” system of injustice. We have to stop accepting this “bend over backwards to exonerate drivers who kill” system of injustice. We have to stop accepting this “slap on the wrist” system of injustice. We have to stop accepting excuses.
We have to start demanding justice.
https://www.bicyclelaw.com/blog/index.cfm/2013/6/19/Words-Escape-Me
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