I’d like to say a few things.
Crawford County got sued when a cyclist died in the 2004 Ragbrai event, and had to pay $350,000. The road was closed to auto traffic, so no motorist was at fault. He didn’t get hit by a car. His skinny wheel got stuck in the expansion joint between east and westbound lanes, and he flipped over the handlebars and broke his neck. What a calamity. But no motorist was involved.
What if this fatal bicycle accident was like 90% of fatal bicycle accidents, and an automobile was involved? Would the Courts order the motorist to pay $350,000? Three Hundred and Fifty grand isn’t a lot of money in a lawsuit involving a death. But it would give motorists a good reason to be more careful when passing a bicycle.
I am saying that the Court’s judgement may be misleading, since most fatal bicycle accidents are the fault of bad drivers, not road conditions. Maybe in the next lawsuit, an individual motorist will be forced to pay $ after being found at fault.
Depending on what county, sometimes they do close the roads for the bikes, but usually they do not.
Now, I’ve lived in Iowa City for most of my life and I could never see the appeal of riding a bike across there state in the middle of a hot summer. But I reallized how much I hated RAGBRAI when it stopped in my home town 13 years ago. These bike riders do bring in a lot of money, but it makes driving around town a pain. The City of Coralville blocked off streets two years ago (it may have been last year, I don’t remember). They play loud music, they drink a lot and then the place a mess when they leave. I’m happy I don’t live in Coralville any longer.
Bike racing is an assumption of risk and city should get a waiver from every rider. Public monies should not be directed at repairing minor defects just so bike riders won’t fall on their asses. (or heads). If these clowns want 100% smooth surfaces, let them race indoors on a smooth track. Yes, the roads are a public facility, but their design and intent is for transportation, not racing.
Simple solution is to outlaw bicycles on public highways altogether. While some deny it, the truth is that they are a hazard to all other traffic as well as to themselves.
Um, a little accuracy in reporting here would be nice, perhaps with a few more details.
RAGBRAI is not a race, it is a ride.
(Des Moines) Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.
This is a week long event in which cyclists will ride from one side of the state of Iowa to the other, stopping each night in host communities which will provide them camping space, food from local organizations and some festivities (outdoor movies, dances, etc.)
Generally, the route is only on state highways. I can’t remember a time in which the route was on either I-80 or I-35, the two federal interstates in the state.
For the 30,000-some rides who participate, it would be a logistic nightmare to collect waivers for each of them, particularly since people will join up or leave at any time during the week, depending on their schedules or desire to ride the route… for example, the route this year will go through North Liberty, Iowa… which until recently was my residence. I could decide to join up and ride half the route the next day, but if I had to sign a waiver to ride my bike on a public road, then I certainly wouldn’t.
I don’t know how or why the county settled this case. They must have been pretty darned negligent in failing to fix that hole for them to have to pay out that much.
Not to mention the fact that this yahoo couldn’t have been the only one to hit it, but was the only one to die as the result.
Crawford county is certainly over-reacting to suit and their settlement of it. They really are only hurting themselves by not allowing this huge number of tourist into their county.
In its 35 (?) year history, there have been other deaths on RAGBRAI, generally they are freak accidents.
The thing that is making the other counties freak out is just the volume of increased bike traffic over what is already a questionable system… the state highways.
Anyway, seems to be a stupid thing to want to have the state step in on from my perspective.. I know that I can get killed walking the street, or riding a bike. I take some level of responsibilities for my actions and failure to be safe.
I wish I was everyone.
The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. Heading into its 36th year, RAGBRAI is the longest, largest and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world. RAGBRAI is sponsored by The Des Moines Register newspaper. It is NOT a race. There is medical support as well as traffic control on busier intersections by law enforcement between 6am & 6pm each day. The riders begin somewhere in western Iowa & end in eastern Iowa traveling from west to east to alleviate headwinds as well as riding in the setting sun when they are tired. The RAGBRAI officials have limited the number of bikers to 8,500 plus all of their support vehicles. This is because in 1988 there were 23,000 riders, which were too many to be accomodated at the overnight stays. The overnight stays are in the towns mentioned in the article and over 200 towns request they be scheduled for the overnights. The towns have different events and food for the riders. The thousands of riders consist of individuals, teams, families, etc. from all over the WORLD. Lance Armstrong has ridden in the event for the past two years. The 99 counties in Iowa (all of which have had RAGBRAI go through) are only trying to alleviate future lawsuits. The course the riders take across the state of Iowa are mainly county roads & even gravel at times, so that vehicle traffic doesn’t become hindered as much. It takes a long time for thousands of riders to go from one overnight stop to the next. It’s the public’s mindset today to have somebody else pay for a tragic accident. The “I need to sue somebody. Somebody should pay!” attitude has caused all the issues with liability to the counties! The event has seen 26 deaths of which only 3 are directly related to bicycling accidents. The ride was held for 11 years before anyone passed away and the cause of death was a heart attack. After 35 years with the first lawsuit last year, stemming from the death of rider in 2004 on the Crawford County blacktop, who was wearing a helmet, what else can you say, but WHY???
I thiink the County Board of S(t)upes (who must have approved this settlement) have their collective heads filled with the Jello left over from the NY party
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I’d like to say a few things.
Crawford County got sued when a cyclist died in the 2004 Ragbrai event, and had to pay $350,000. The road was closed to auto traffic, so no motorist was at fault. He didn’t get hit by a car. His skinny wheel got stuck in the expansion joint between east and westbound lanes, and he flipped over the handlebars and broke his neck. What a calamity. But no motorist was involved.
What if this fatal bicycle accident was like 90% of fatal bicycle accidents, and an automobile was involved? Would the Courts order the motorist to pay $350,000? Three Hundred and Fifty grand isn’t a lot of money in a lawsuit involving a death. But it would give motorists a good reason to be more careful when passing a bicycle.
I am saying that the Court’s judgement may be misleading, since most fatal bicycle accidents are the fault of bad drivers, not road conditions. Maybe in the next lawsuit, an individual motorist will be forced to pay $ after being found at fault.
Depending on what county, sometimes they do close the roads for the bikes, but usually they do not.
Now, I’ve lived in Iowa City for most of my life and I could never see the appeal of riding a bike across there state in the middle of a hot summer. But I reallized how much I hated RAGBRAI when it stopped in my home town 13 years ago. These bike riders do bring in a lot of money, but it makes driving around town a pain. The City of Coralville blocked off streets two years ago (it may have been last year, I don’t remember). They play loud music, they drink a lot and then the place a mess when they leave. I’m happy I don’t live in Coralville any longer.
Bike racing is an assumption of risk and city should get a waiver from every rider. Public monies should not be directed at repairing minor defects just so bike riders won’t fall on their asses. (or heads). If these clowns want 100% smooth surfaces, let them race indoors on a smooth track. Yes, the roads are a public facility, but their design and intent is for transportation, not racing.
Simple solution is to outlaw bicycles on public highways altogether. While some deny it, the truth is that they are a hazard to all other traffic as well as to themselves.
Um, a little accuracy in reporting here would be nice, perhaps with a few more details.
RAGBRAI is not a race, it is a ride.
(Des Moines) Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.
This is a week long event in which cyclists will ride from one side of the state of Iowa to the other, stopping each night in host communities which will provide them camping space, food from local organizations and some festivities (outdoor movies, dances, etc.)
Generally, the route is only on state highways. I can’t remember a time in which the route was on either I-80 or I-35, the two federal interstates in the state.
For the 30,000-some rides who participate, it would be a logistic nightmare to collect waivers for each of them, particularly since people will join up or leave at any time during the week, depending on their schedules or desire to ride the route… for example, the route this year will go through North Liberty, Iowa… which until recently was my residence. I could decide to join up and ride half the route the next day, but if I had to sign a waiver to ride my bike on a public road, then I certainly wouldn’t.
I don’t know how or why the county settled this case. They must have been pretty darned negligent in failing to fix that hole for them to have to pay out that much.
Not to mention the fact that this yahoo couldn’t have been the only one to hit it, but was the only one to die as the result.
Crawford county is certainly over-reacting to suit and their settlement of it. They really are only hurting themselves by not allowing this huge number of tourist into their county.
In its 35 (?) year history, there have been other deaths on RAGBRAI, generally they are freak accidents.
The thing that is making the other counties freak out is just the volume of increased bike traffic over what is already a questionable system… the state highways.
Anyway, seems to be a stupid thing to want to have the state step in on from my perspective.. I know that I can get killed walking the street, or riding a bike. I take some level of responsibilities for my actions and failure to be safe.
I wish I was everyone.
As an alternative, the state/county/city should pass legislation making them immune from suits arising out of participation in the race.
The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. Heading into its 36th year, RAGBRAI is the longest, largest and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world. RAGBRAI is sponsored by The Des Moines Register newspaper. It is NOT a race. There is medical support as well as traffic control on busier intersections by law enforcement between 6am & 6pm each day. The riders begin somewhere in western Iowa & end in eastern Iowa traveling from west to east to alleviate headwinds as well as riding in the setting sun when they are tired. The RAGBRAI officials have limited the number of bikers to 8,500 plus all of their support vehicles. This is because in 1988 there were 23,000 riders, which were too many to be accomodated at the overnight stays. The overnight stays are in the towns mentioned in the article and over 200 towns request they be scheduled for the overnights. The towns have different events and food for the riders. The thousands of riders consist of individuals, teams, families, etc. from all over the WORLD. Lance Armstrong has ridden in the event for the past two years. The 99 counties in Iowa (all of which have had RAGBRAI go through) are only trying to alleviate future lawsuits. The course the riders take across the state of Iowa are mainly county roads & even gravel at times, so that vehicle traffic doesn’t become hindered as much. It takes a long time for thousands of riders to go from one overnight stop to the next. It’s the public’s mindset today to have somebody else pay for a tragic accident. The “I need to sue somebody. Somebody should pay!” attitude has caused all the issues with liability to the counties! The event has seen 26 deaths of which only 3 are directly related to bicycling accidents. The ride was held for 11 years before anyone passed away and the cause of death was a heart attack. After 35 years with the first lawsuit last year, stemming from the death of rider in 2004 on the Crawford County blacktop, who was wearing a helmet, what else can you say, but WHY???
I thiink the County Board of S(t)upes (who must have approved this settlement) have their collective heads filled with the Jello left over from the NY party