In Memoriam Johnny Gaudreau & Matthew Gaudreau killed by drunk driver while cycling (MOD WARNING. No Flaming, Trolling, or Politics.)

[Coastal Kev]

The bicycle/pedestrian fatality rate per capita is less in Canada and Australia, similar car-based countries. And they’re trending better, while we’re getting worse.

I just don’t understand why Americans continually excuse this. Even when you have tragedies like this with Johnny Hockey, still the excuses pop up. Ridiculous.

I ride over 1k every year on my bike, my favorite hobby. But unlike most byclist, 95% of those miles are on designated bike paths. Whenever I do travel on the road, I say a prayer. And the number one thing I fear is being hit by a cell phone using distracted driver. My path crosses a main road and I sit at the light waiting to cross, I would say nearly half the cars that go pass, the driver is using their phone. I have the right to ride my bike on any road I choose. My abundance of common sense usually prevents me from doing so.

I'm just saying Alcohol is an easy scapegoat to demonize. A bad driver will kill you whether they had beers, using a phone or from any other distraction.

 

[JPT]

No, I'm insinuating that just because you're required to drive doesn't mean that you have to drive like a moron, and you definitely shouldn't drive intoxicated. There's more than just you on the road, and you're not the only person with somewhere to be. It's an easily avoidable tragedy if you're not a dumbf***.

I agree, but i don't think that was the point @seafoam and the other poster earlier in the exchange were trying to make. There definitely are infrastructural issues in the US that make driving more dangerous than it has to be, and those issues are more impactful due to the necessity of so many people living in places where they are required to use a vehicle to get around.

 

[Bond]

Day before the sister's wedding, newborn, and a pair of brothers. Just absolutely brutal

 

[Legionnaire11]

Condolences to the Gaudreau family, and Johnny's fans. What a horrible tragedy.

 

[ThisIsMyAlibi]

Riding a motorcycle in the first place indicates a sense of invulnerability, or a death wish.

You’re not wrong.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

There's no excusing drunk driving. Absolutely none. It's entirely preventable and should be treated as murder, if you ask me. Totally senseless. Now, two young lives have been snuffed out and a whole family has been irreparably broken.



RIP to the Gaudreau Brothers.

 

[YukonCornelius]

Unspeakable tragedy, I’m heartbroken for his friends, family, and the broader hockey community.

But maybe cool it with some of these lynch mob hot takes calling for the death penalty, life in solitary, etc… It’s really not a good look.

And for the record, I’m speaking as someone whose youngest brother was killed at 21 by a drunk hit-and-run driver while out walking with friends.

 

[Summer Rose]

Oh no. This is terrible.

 

[Putt Pirate]

Terrible news. And, by a drunk driver.

 

[JTToilinginToronto]

RIP

 

[CaptainBenn]

wow I has to read the title 5 times to make sure i wasnt misreading

shocking…

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

Whole situation is devastating. He was an all time fav Flame that gave us tons os good memories. Two young kids.. a wife and could only imagine what his parents are going through.

Sad sad day for the hockey world.

 

[McJedi]

Hard to wrap your mind around the awfulness of this story. Painful.

Rest in peace gentlemen. It was a pleasure to watch Johnny play the game. He was very gifted with the puck on his stick. Just feel so disgusted by this news. The driver needs to spend several decades behind bars.

 

[Blitzkrug]

How shocked and sad I am I realized just how much worse it must feel for family and friends. Just an awful tragedy

Doubly (underselling it, probably more like millionly) so given his sister was supposed to be getting married today with the brothers as groomsmen.

What is supposed to be one of if not the happiest days of her life, f***in turns into this. The pain this asshole driver caused will never be forgotten. Push the wedding back? Have fun being reminded why you did that.

Lock the driver up and then bury him under the jail.

 

[JohanFranzenstein]

It's easy to destroy the man since there is alcohol involved, would people feel the same if he was using his phone instead of having a drink?. Looking at his mugshot, he doesn't look out of it. This sounds to me like aggressive driving. Throw in the fact that it was either dark or dusk and possibly raining, it's a tragic accident. Terrible judgment by driver, poor judgment by the two brothers.

The guy admitted to having five or six beers before driving. He was at the very least, buzzed, and shouldn't have been driving.

 

[tlk]

Probably in poor taste but I’m curious to see the guys mugshot

NHL star Johnny Gaudreau, brother killed by alleged drunk driver in New Jersey

The fatal crash happened the day before Gaudreau's sister's wedding was to be held in Philadelphia.

6abc.com

 

[ThisIsMyAlibi]

Unspeakable tragedy, I’m heartbroken for his friends, family, and the broader hockey community.

But maybe cool it with some of these lynch mob hot takes calling for the death penalty, life in solitary, etc… It’s really not a good look.

And for the record, I’m speaking as someone whose youngest brother was killed at 21 by a drunk hit-and-run driver while out walking with friends.

The time clearly doesn’t fit the crime.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

I don't suppose there's a way to say this that doesn't make it seem like I'm minimizing the intoxicated aspect on the driver, but the impatience and poor judgement is almost the "worse" part of the crime. Being impaired would have slowed his potential reaction time but it's the aggressive driving that caused the sitution.

 

[soothsayer]

Wow, speed kills. Drunk or not I sadly see people driving like this all the time. People in a hurry, driving like lunatics. 95 corridor between Baltimore and NY is especially bad for whatever reason.

According to New Jersey State Police, Higgins, 43, from Woodstown, New Jersey, was traveling north on a county road in a Jeep Grand Cherokee behind a sedan and SUV.
Higgins tried to pass the slower-moving sedan and SUV, entered the southbound lanes, passed the slower-moving sedan, and tried to re-enter the northbound lanes, state troopers said. The SUV in front of Higgins moved to the middle of the roadway, splitting the north and south lanes to safely pass the Gaudreau brothers traveling north on the right side of the roadway.

Higgins then tried to pass the SUV on the right and struck the two bicyclists in the rear, the highway patrol said

If you do things like this on the road, you're an absolute simpleton piece of shit.

 

[RyCam]

RIP Johnny and Matthew

And my deep condolences to the entire family, what was supposed to be a weekend of celebration has turned into a tragedy

 

[Valdemar]

RIP

So sad to hear. Such a loss for their family. My prayers goes to them.

 

[BKarchitect]

Unspeakable tragedy, I’m heartbroken for his friends, family, and the broader hockey community.

But maybe cool it with some of these lynch mob hot takes calling for the death penalty, life in solitary, etc… It’s really not a good look.

And for the record, I’m speaking as someone whose youngest brother was killed at 21 by a drunk hit-and-run driver while out walking with friends.

Sorry to hear that man…this tragedy must hit you extra hard.

It’s a little disconcerting that there is an immediate jump to vigilante social media justice by a mob who I can guarantee you don’t have a spotless record when it comes to driving buzzed or never ever picking up their phone while behind the wheel of a car.

I’m not proud to admit it but when I was much younger like two decades ago, I got behind the wheel of a car more than once when I probably shouldn’t have. I’ve also picked up a phone to look at a text while driving on more than a few occasions.

To me this is just a reminder to “be better”. Not to sit on from up high and tell everybody I’m the logical arbiter of justice because I’m a flawless example of human decision making.

 

[RDTBay4]

This is horrible.

 

[HighAndTight]

What a hill to die on.

I ride over 1k every year on my bike, my favorite hobby. But unlike most byclist, 95% of those miles are on designated bike paths. Whenever I do travel on the road, I say a prayer. And the number one thing I fear is being hit by a cell phone using distracted driver. My path crosses a main road and I sit at the light waiting to cross, I would say nearly half the cars that go pass, the driver is using their phone. I have the right to ride my bike on any road I choose. My abundance of common sense usually prevents me from doing so.

I'm just saying Alcohol is an easy scapegoat to demonize. A bad driver will kill you whether they had beers, using a phone or from any other distraction.

 

[GermanRocket7]

Horrible news to read, my condolences go out to their families.

On the ongoing discussion: German law has been changed a few years ago, so that drunk-driving, illegal street racing etc. can be persecuted as first-degree murder with a machine. You really ought to think about implementing this in every rational country, even though it is, sadly, way too late for Johnny.