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Woman killed in Paso Robles crash

November 29, 2014

CHP@A woman riding a bicycle died Friday afternoon in a crash with an SUV near Paso Robles, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Shortly after 3 p.m., a man and a woman from out of town were riding bicycles on Adelaide Road near Nacimiento Lake Drive when they were struck by a Chevy Tahoe. The woman died at the scene and the man was transported to a hospital with severe injuries.

The driver of the SUV, a local man, allegedly dropped his phone on the floor of his Tahoe and attempted to pick it up. He then swerved to avoid another vehicle and hit the cyclists.

Officers do not believe drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.


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So many mistakes here. 3. Bicyclists exercising their RIGHT to be there and thereby placing themselves in harms way and at the mercy of idiot motorists. 2. Idiot motorist stopping in the middle of the road to turn left in an area where speeds are 55-60 mph, thereby putting themselves at risk of being rear-ended by moron motorist. When I am on a two lane road and cannot immediately turn left due to oncoming traffic, I look in my mirror and if anybody is overtaking me I go to the shoulder and wait until ALL traffic in both directions clear and then turn. 1. And the winner for biggest moron is the fool kid who takes his eyes off the road to pick up a friggin’ cell phone and kills two bicyclists.


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“placing themselves in harms way and at the mercy of idiot motorists”


If you ask me the Idiot is the one on a bicycle that wants to share the road with two ton vehicles traveling at 65 mph driven by “idiot motorists”


Take the bike lanes off of our roadways and put them in safe places before more are needlessly killed.


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The ONLY way to stop the carnage is to change the culture. When ME is trumped by life, then and only then will things change. If we continue down this path of essentially self destruction….we are doomed.

Life is about give and take……not JUST TAKE.


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Dead right. The bicyclist was riding legal, but is Dead Right.


I just returned from Auberry. There were swarms of bicyclists riding on Auberry Road two and three abreast with most of them on the fog line if not well into the lane. For those not familiar with Auberry Road, it is a curvy, two lane, mountain road. I almost took a car head on, trying to maintain the required 3 foot clearance on a blind corner.


Prudence says not to ride your bicycle on narrow winding roads or close the road to vehicle traffic while the bicyclists play.


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If he had hit the oncoming car that he swerved to avoid and injured or killed the driver, would you say that driver shouldn’t have been on a narrow winding rood?


Like it or not, you are supposed to slow down and wait if you can’t see that there is room to safely pass cyclists (or other slow-moving vehicles like tractors). I won’t defend those riding two abreast where it impedes safe passing but they have as much right to be on that or any other road as you do. I have ridden a bike on Auberry but did so at a time with minimal traffic (early Sunday morning) because of the situation. Nacimiento Lake Drive beyond the Chimney Rock turnoff is even more dangerous but still rideable if one pays attention and picks their times (i.e. not Fri. evening, Sat. morning or Sun. evening).


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He did swerve to avoid an ONCOMING car. He swerved to avoid idiot driver STOPPED in the road to turn left.


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“He did [NOT] swerve…”


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Uh, excuse me but the driver who tried to avoid the car turning left was clearly at fault…or don’t you remember that part of the CVC? It was his/ responsibility to maintain a safe distance between vehicles. The bicyclist was clearly the unfortunate victim of his IRRESPONSIBLE distracted driver.


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@OnTheOtherHand: “… but they have as much right to be on that or any other road as you do.” Right. You are “Dead Right”.


I was driving my Motor Home which is 8 1/2 feet wide. Most lanes are 11 feet wide. That only leaves me 2 1/2 feet even if the bicyclist is NOT in the lane, but against the fog line. “Slow down until it is safe to pass” may work on a straight road where visibility is unlimited; however, on a narrow winding road the visibility is not much more than the stopping distance of a diesel pusher. By the time I slow to the speed of the bicyclist, wait for a “passing lane” (in order to legally cross the double yellow) I have significantly impeded the flow of traffic myself.


Yes, they have a “right” to be there. A Dead Right at that.


This was my first trip with my new Dash Cam. I will not travel without it for this very reason.


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Rationalize all you want about your right to maintain a higher speed being greater than a cyclist’s right to use the road at all. If you exercise that “right” and injure or kill a cyclist doing so, you will find that the law will not recognize your right.


What is your big hurry anyway? Will a 2-minute delay ruin your day? Even a series of half a dozen such delays shouldn’t matter when you are RVing. Time for some attitude adjustment perhaps?


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correct, OTOH.


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Amen! You stole my thunder.


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Attitude adjustment time. This is exactly the kind of attitude that results in the continued deaths of innocent bicyclists. This is NOT your road, it is OUR road. If you are so totally inept as to nearly have a head on collision perhaps you should consider some driver training or consider slowing your life down.


The fact is that these bicyclists have as much right to ride side by side on the road as you do. The speed limit is NOT a minimum. You can slow down and wait your turn (remember kindergarten?) and, when it is safe, cross that center line and pass them safely. If the road is curvy, you can just WAIT until it’s clear.


Wake the hell up and get off your high horse.


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We should all learn from this tragic crash. We’ve all dropped something while driving. We all need to wait until it’s safe and then pull over before attempting to deal with whatever it is that seems so urgent. Otherwise, we put not only ourselves at risk (along with our passengers) but occupants of other vehicles, pedestrians, and, as in this case, bicyclists. 100% tragic. 100% messed up a male bicyclist. 100% KILLED a female bicyclist. 100% avertible.


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Tragic, perhaps. But why isn’t this treated as murder? Surely that’s what it is. The driver was doing something other than driving. How many fatalities-by-phone do we need to have before we say: “Enough! Your phone is off limits when you’re driving?” Oh, I can hardly wait for all the negative responses. Folks, cellular phones have become an addiction. We don’t need to tie ourselves to this cheap junk from China 24/7. Give it a break when you need to be paying attention to the road. Look at the road. Look at the scenery. Enjoy life, and check your messages later, when it’s safe to do so. Or, choose to be a murderer.


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Exactly right. It is irrelevant that cyclists were hit. It could have been a head-on with another vehicle and the results may have been the same. No one is as good at multi-tasking as they think and safe driving requires full attention. Get in the habit of ignoring distractions or pulling over when safe to do so to deal with them.


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It’s not murder. Penal Code 187(a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a

fetus, with malice aforethought. (Hint: PC 192)


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Did you say fetus? Huh, that could anger some ……


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They can be mad at the Legislature they put in Sacramento then.


There are 7 lost souls (thumbs-down) who apparently think the law is wrong. Same to them as well. Go lobby to change the law if you don’t like it. That’s what it says… not murder.


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how troll bait is made


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On this very road my hubby was cut off on his way home from doing a service alarm at a winery. The semi truck driver saw it happen and left, as well as the person that cut him off! He rolled down a 40 ft embankment, only to get out and have no help. People kept driving by him as he was waving his arms to get people to stop. People are inconsiderate A holes! I’m lucky my hubby didn’t get killed! Such a shame! Especially since that person shouldn’t have had his phone on him anyhow.


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I am sorry to hear about your husband’s accident. I do think that it is unusual for locals to not stop when they witness such an event but we are getting more and more immigrants from metropolitan areas where such behavior is more acceptable. I can guarantee that I would have stopped if I had seen that and have know a couple of others who did receive assistance right away.


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So much for the new, useless and unnecessary “3 feet” law.


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The 3-foot law will not solve every problem and certainly had no role here. In fact, it mostly serves to make drivers more aware of what constitutes a safe passing distance. That alone makes in useful.


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Back country highways are not a prudent place to ride a bicycle. Little to no shoulder. 55 mph. Curves. No thanks.


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So very true, and certainly not a good place to be fumbling around with a cellphone. Odds are he was texting when he dropped it or checking his facebook account. A… needless tragedy as a result of a needless obsession……sad


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Exactly. Disasters are usually a culmination of multiple factors. Search “normalization of deviance”:


Normalization of deviance means people become so accustomed to a deviant behavior that they don’t consider it as deviant, despite the fact that they far exceed their own rules for safety.


(1) Taking your eyes off a curvy road is deviance.

(2) Biking a no-shoulder curvy road where distracted drivers surely exist is deviance.


When deviance become common practice your odds of disaster greatly increase.


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For you, I highly recommend back country highway rides as frequently as possible. Enjoy the scenery.


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….. and don’t forget – plenty of life insurance!


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Hauling butt with an ORV through the Oceano dunes on a holiday weekend is just as dangerous. So is surfing in some of the rougher areas along our coast. Neither appeal to me but I don’t seek to deprive others of their chosen entertainment just because there is danger associated with it. I would rather die a violent death from a crash than gradually succumb to the ravages of diabetes or emphysema or some other disease related to poor health conditions.


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What a concept, OTOH. YOU won’t be faced with cleaning up your bloody mess following your “violent death.” Just thoughtfully leave that to those who are “deprived of their chosen entertainment.” They’re sure not to mind the gore.


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Oh, please. Nonsense. Getting old, bed ridden and leaking smelly fluids is plenty disgusting for caretakers as well. Live your life your way and keep out of other peoples lives with that nanny tyranny crap.


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#1 You’re wrong. (And, by the way, how many hours riding experience do you speak from?) #2 Sand is softer than asphalt or a front bumper and that’s from all kinds of first-hand experience. Get-offs are normal and expected. Ride within your ability and they will be minimal. #3 “Ride to ride again.” = Don’t be stupid, ignorant, ride beyond your skill level or surroundings or in unknown proximity to others (situational awareness). #4 No one is trying to deprive anyone of anything. If cyclists want to compromise their safety, be my guest. Doesn’t mean it’s not foolhardy. (Cyclists should see #3 before placing themselves on a veritable freeway—actually, a freeway would be much safer than a shoulder-less winding country road.)


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My experience operating ORVs in the dunes is precisely 0 hours. I do have friends that are out there twice a month or more and they avoid the “play areas” on holiday weekends (if they go out then at all) because of all the crazy and careless people at those times. Also an old cycling buddy of mine used to volunteer to work holiday weekends at his job at the AG hospital because 1) there were too many nuts on the roads for pleasant riding and 2) the shifts went quickly due to the high number of ambulance trips from the dunes.


Just as on the highways, the dangers in the dunes come from people who do not operate their vehicles safely and/or don’t watch our for others who are reckless. Even if you are careful, you can be hit by someone who isn’t although your caution can reduce the odds greatly. Sand may be less traumatic than asphalt but having some idiot’s RV launching off a dune and landing on top of your kind of negates the importance of that. Also ATV roll-overs can leave some nasty burns if you get trapped in contact with the engine block/muffler/etc.


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Nice job of blaming the victims …


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And yet another life taken unnecessarily as the result of distracted driving. It won’t be long before impaired driving takes a back seat to distracted driving related to traffic fatalities…perhaps it already has.

Something need to be done. Enough of this carnage.


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cars that help you avoid accidents are almost here


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car


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Irrelevant. How would this have prevented this idiot from killing a biker? More technophilia in place of old fashioned brain work and common carefulness.


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Actually, it might have prevented such an accident if the idiot had engaged the self-driving features of such a car. While I am not convinced that they have all the bugs worked out yet, they have done more than I expected and dealing with cyclists is one of the things they have worked on.


One of the biggest problems they have encountered with these computerized cars are decisions where no good options exist. (Does a computer-controlled car choose to crash itself off the road to avoid a head-on collision that can’t be dodged otherwise?)


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in the not too distant future this is going to be something you’re going to buy at autozone and stick on your car, ie system of sensors and camera that avoids accidents for you its going to work like cruise control .


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The better systems also rely to some degree on communications between computers in different cars too. That is one of the things that still needs work. The after-market systems you talk about might help but they would not be as comprehensive. On the other hand, they might also be less invasive of your privacy if you didn’t want permanent records left of all your travels.


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Distracted, Incompetent, Whatever you want to call it is the cause of the vast majority of vehicle crashes, not impairment.

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/alcohol-impaired-driving/fatalityfacts/alcohol-impaired-driving/2012

Of course the obvious solution to reducing the MAJORITY of vehicle crashes is better Driver training and testing. But that will never happen.


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Unfortunately, better driver training and testing is unlikely to have changed this situation. People can know that something is not wise to do and still do it because they are preoccupied with other thoughts which appears to be the case here. There are laws against cell phone use when driving and almost everyone is aware of them. Yet many people do it because they are either unjustifiably self-confident in their ability to do so safely or because they just don’t get their priorities right and let the phone become more urgent than safe driving.


The only education that has any chance of working is a modern equivalent to the old DUI movies they showed in Driver’s Ed classes when I was a kid. Show enough of the carnage and the message will get through to some people (but probably not all.) Maybe a trip to the morgue to see the results in person would help too.


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You are thinking that what has used in the past for driver training has failed and that no amount of different training will work.

You are wrong

Ask any pilot if rigorous training is useless and imagine if getting a drivers license was just as difficult. Then add retesting every five years (written AND driving) with a mandatory training session every so often.

I’ll wager that would reduce automotive crashes far far more than drunk checkpoints and scary movies.


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It doesn’t take drugs or alcohol to be careless and stupid with a ton and a half of steel, and destroy someone’s life and the experience and peace of an entire family. My regrets for this loss do nothing to erase the awful suffering.


Test the creeps blood for THC and meth and prescription meds, and fry him in any way possible. I don’t care if it’s warrantless. Nobody from the White House down to the protestors has a whit of thought about the law. Might as well punish and exemplify this motorist.


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I cannot imagine what your family of origin must have been like for you to so impulsively “fry the creeps”. The person just picked up their phone-and it is likely that good people do make mistakes. I certainly hope you are not working in any way, shape or form with people who rely on you for kindness and care. THAT would be a real tragedy.


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Oh, he “just picked up his phone”!!!???!!! WHAT was he doing with his phone while driving, on a twisty road at that? His little “mistake” cost a life, maybe two. If he was drunk, he’d be crucified, but because he “just dropped his phone” it’s a mistake? Using your phone while driving should have the same penalties as drunk driving! The same lack of judgement and disregard for other’s safety. Riding a bicycle on that road is not very good judgement either, but it should not cost a person’s life. The driver should be charged with manslaughter at the least, but it probably won’t happen because he “just picked up his phone’. What if it was your family member killed, indigo? Just a “mistake’? Unreal…


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You got my attention, Indigo, questioning my family. That’s a third rail with me. You presume a LOT based upon my intensity of objection to that devastating motorist action.


Indigo, my “family of origin” were fantastically involved, giving, community and family oriented persons. I aspire to carry on their level of humanity and grace to others. They set the bar incredibly high. There were more than 150 people at each of my parent’s funerals, and if I somehow didn’t adopt forgiving such a costly careless act as crushing a bike-riding human with “a mistake” at the wheel, ….then…..


it’s not the fault of my family of origin. It’s my fault.


I DO try. Recently I paid my LA County property handyman to put in a free water heater for a near penniless shut in old lady. Hers was shot. On occasion I bring her food, Ralph’s gift cards, a specific canned dog food her poodle requires. I personally fixed her fence, gate, garage door springs, bathroom sink faucet replacement etc. ALL in the last six actually about 9 months, for free, because I heard she was a special needs child educator during her career and that is special to me. Her recent remark “nobody has EVER done so much for me” was touching. I continue during property inspection trips, and NO I don’t do it for the “thanks”.


I’m betting you couldn’t hold a candle to my charitable giving either, not in dollars but in PER CENT of income. I used to borrow a limo on New Years Day to make a free 5:30am run to the Ritz Carlton to pick up the customary two disabled children to give them a limo ride to their float seats on the Shriners float, (Rose Parade) year after year. You can vet that with the organization. WHICH hospital thrift shop do you have scores of hours helping so they could assist a neo-natal care unit?


Refocus your thinking: You can’t see it, not through a posting board like this, but it is PRECISELY my consideration for humanity that makes me ANGRY enough over a wasted, crushed, washed out life from a dumb reckless act, to post an angry comment about the motorist. You ever stood at a casket holding someone due to a tragic needless early death?


Respectfully, Lame C


P.S. I find your characterization of RUNNING SOMEBODY OVER to be “a mistake” from “good people” to be appalling and dismissive.


P.P.S. As to K. Rice, ditto, on my concern for others. You are a visible community activist; I work out of the spotlight. You think I rag on intentional loud pipes because it bothers me? I can sleep though a gun battle if I have to, but I expect more QUALITY for my society, and particularly for my family, and sleeping babies. I expect some class and quality: From the loud thugs. From the lazy overweight cops. For the millions in tax dollars we all pay to enforce laws.


Naw, Kevin, I wouldn’t celebrate a violent death for a pipe thug. Nobody deserves to die simply for being a brainless uncaring fool with sociopathic “look at me” pipes on his manhood Harley oil dripping POS. But, hey, my ranch dozer drips oil and is LOUD. but I don’t wake families with babies with it.


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I gave thumbs up to Indigo’s and KevinRices’ responses before reading your rebuttal. BASED ON YOUR COMMENTS IN THESE FORUMS, I came to the same conclusions about you. It is good to see that they were quite a bit off-base. You might want to consider toning down your rhetoric and giving as much thought to what you write as you apparently do to what you do in real life.


I always prefer to judge people by their actions. But in lieu of knowledge of those actions, judging them by their words is the next option. To me, your past posts suggest a bitter old man who is consumed with anger and intolerant of anyone else who makes mistakes in their lives.


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Excuse the strong rhetoric about a horrid loss of life. I believe I see it in other posts, however I don’t mean to be over the top on this board. Guess I was OTT, based on thumbs down. You made a thoughtful response, OTOH. Got my attention. Difficult for me to tone down rhetoric, could be “old experienced man’s syndrome”, you’ve learned so much from personal blunders that you want to save others, save the world from itself, from catastrophic blunders etc. Methinks it is showing too much in the intensity of my posts. Might need work on that, except don’t expect me to tone down the thug motorcycle illegal modifications, which is one of the nation’s most unrecognized (an correctible) subtle harms to cardiac health as well as public peace.


I am communicating poorly, OTOH particularly if I’m communicating so poorly that you envision a bitter old man, intolerant of mistakes of others. Thank You Jesus that the impression is so diametrically wrong.


No bitterness inside, far as I can tell. I get profound joy using my many opportunities to give to others. I walk around humming and drive around enjoying Aerosmith and Maroon 5 like some other loonies from my generation. (And I liked the idea of disabled or locked cell and text phones posted above. Once in a while, on a nearly empty road with a handsfree headset, I too am guilty).


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Good people? Give me a break. ANYBODY on the phone, texting, playing with the phone while driving IS a creep, not a good person. Get off your phone and drive safely. I wonder if you’re one of those heads-down-to-text drivers I see every day? Sure sounds like you think they’re entitled to text while driving, and gee if they make a little mistake and kill somebody that those who get killed somehow deserved it and the little good person just made a tiny forgivable mistake. Geez. And for you to have the gall to talk about kindness and care! That takes the cake.


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