Sami Fournier
I think the Sherrif and his men did the exact right thing: They took an opportunity to educate us. The impression I got from the lecture was that motorists were seeing bikes all over the road all day -- it was a 65 mile ride with probably over 60 riders, of all types. And we had just all blown a stop, failing to yield and acting pretty entitled.
The officer who was called for 'back up' (he was a sr. officer, and Dozier was just needing to ask his superior for guidance) said he had interviewed 6 separate witnesses (all motorists) at the accident scene, and all said the car was swerving to avoid killing a cyclist. (The facts on this were unclear, but it sounded like the cyclist turned left in front of the oncoming vehicle -- but who knows, because the cyclist did not stop.)
The cyclists who rendered aid (they had turned back to help out) saw some cyclists riding away from the accident, and wondered why they had not stopped. I suggest that whomever was a witness in the closest proximity to the wreck -- and there were as many as 3 -- should call the sherrif's office and take responsibility, and clear up the record. The truth will help. Those who left the scene, if they truly did, are really irresponsible, in my book.
Those of us who were stopped (at least an hour later, and probably 30 miles away) mostly had broken the traffic law at the intersection. I was the only one who made a full stop, but I still didn't yield to the car stopped to my right at the four way. So we could all have been ticketed, but we were not. They were extremely lenient with us.
The frustrating thing is that we are giving ourselves a bad reputation on the roads in the following ways:
Failing to yield, stop and be cognizant of traffic laws.
Failing to do what the officers asked, which is educate our fellow riders that breaking the law makes us look like jerks, and it ultimately makes us more vulnerable.
I know cyclists usually get the shaft in traffic situations. However, if we obeyed the law, rode predicably and took the lane only when needed (and that is often) we could improve things a lot for all riders. That was the only point the guy made in his lecture, and that there are consequences for group riders who spaz out in traffic. He did not say Hutch's would be or could be sued. He said the shop / ride organizer was "Potentially liable." But I don't think that is true in any case. For example, if you hold an event at Les Scwab amhitheater, and people drive drunk and crash, do they sue the concert promoter? A good lawyer could clear Hutch's. And it would really help if any other cyclist witnesses (a Mr. Rogers perhaps?) would come forward.
--- On Sun, 6/15/08, Randy Dreiling wrote:
> From: Randy Dreiling
> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Deschutes County Sheriff Hates Bikes!
> To: RCJohnson1@attglobal.net, "Julie Wose / Thane Jennings"
> Cc: obra@list.obra.org
> Date: Sunday, June 15, 2008, 1:54 AM
> I would contact the county commissioners
> Find out which ones are pro outdoor rec first and have
> them lean on the sheriff and be sure to point out some
> riders helped at the wreck.
>
> As an elected official(In Oakridge) of a tourism/ outdoor
> rec town we as elected officials take this stuff seriously.
> I remember one year a good old boy was screwing around with
> racers during the Oakridge FTF and the police went and found
> him and cited him, because they didn't want bike riders
> to feel unwelcome in Oakridge or to feel like the police
> didn't respect them.
> Then again who knows how they feel over there.
>
> Take care
>
> Randy Dreiling
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Rick C Johnson
> To: Julie Wose / Thane Jennings
> Cc: obra@list.obra.org
> Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2008 9:50:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Deschutes County Sheriff Hates
> Bikes!
>
> I was in that second group that was stopped and heard the
> lecture. All I
> will say at the moment is to correct the record on this one
> issue: The
> Sheriff did not accuse a Hutch's rider of causing the
> accident. He
> stated the Hutch's Bicycles was responsible because
> they sponsored the
> ride.
>
> Rick
> Hutch's Bend
>
> Julie Wose / Thane Jennings wrote:
>
> >Today was the annual Double Dawg Tandem ride to Smith
> Rock and back from
> >Bend sponsored by Hutch's of Bend. The ride was
> relatively uneventful
> >until the way back. Approximately 15 of us were pulled
> over in Redmond for
> >rolling a stop sign. One in our group came to a full
> stop but this went
> >unoticed by the sheriff deputy. The sheriff used his
> siren and then
> >pulled in front of the group and slammed on his brakes.
> Traffic was
> >completely blocked in one direction. The deputy
> proceeded to scream and
> >yell and lecture us, not on running the stop sign but
> on causing an
> >accident that had happened earlier in the day. He also
> called for back-up
> >because we were such an unruly bunch. It was his
> contention that someone
> >on the ride pulled in front of a car causing him to
> swerve and hit someone
> >else head-on. As far as I can tell no one in our group
> caused or even saw
> >an accident. A number of the folks on the ride who
> were behind our group
> >had stopped for several flats and they came across the
> aftermath of the
> >auto accident. One of the folks who stopped for the
> flats is an EMT who
> >works for Lifeflight, he rendered first aid to the
> victims of the auto
> >accident. This is in direct contradiction to the
> Sargent who lectured us
> >about causing the accident, he claimed that no cyclist
> had stopped, this
> >is untrue, a whole group had stopped to render
> assistance. Every cyclist
> >who happened to ride by our group was stopped by the
> county sheriffs and
> >warned that they were watching cyclists in Deschutes
> County and that
> >Hutch's Bicycles was going to be sued because it
> was one of the riders on
> >their sponsored ride that had caused the accident. We
> were told that the
> >sheriff was fed up with the bad behaviour of cyclists
> and that the sheriff
> >would not tolerate it in the future and that we were to
> pass this
> >information on to our fellow cyclists.
> >
> >I plan on writing a letter to the Deschutes County
> Sheriff and demanding
> >an explanation. I don't like the way the Deputy
> Dozer personnally
> >threatened everyone in our group, his behaviour was
> completely
> >unproffessional. No one in our group caused an
> accident yet we were
> >blamed by someone who clearly hates cyclists. I would
> appreciate hearing
> >from anyone else who was on the ride who can provide
> their version of the
> >days events and I would encourage other cyclists who
> were pulled over to
> >write to the Deschutes County Sheriffs office and set
> the story straight,
> >we did not cause this auto accident!
> >
> >Thane Jennings
> >
> >
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> >
> >
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