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

[LemonSauceD]

Apparently helmets protect you from a 6000 pound accelerating object. Good lord.

 

[swiftwin]

Failed a sobriety test too, apparently.

I'm pretty sure they meant he failed to provide a sample. Ie. couldn't blow hard enough.

 

[Shane Diesel]

It’s not necessarily a victim blame.

Biking rural roads at night is like walking through a dark urban park at night. Regardless of whether it should be as safe as broad daylight, on a practical level you’re going to encounter different dangers.

It absolutely is.

MOD

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Not the best spot to be shit-faced and passing on the right.

JFC I'm so angry.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Unfortunately it's the inconvenience of having to retrieve your vehicle the next day, etc., that makes people drive drunk. Even if the right thing to do is very convenient.

The inconvenience of a day versus a lifetime. I do agree with you that as a society we always wants instant gratification of things versus looking at things long term but that's a longer discussion on a different day and not today.

 

[LordBacon]

Were they wearing helmets? If not, that's another lesson to take from this.

Get the f*** outta here.

 

[Selanne00008]

Man, my heart goes out to those kids and his wife. The entire family, my gosh. Seems like such a great loving family all around, life just isn't fair.

If there's anything I'll take from this it'll be to hug your family and love them as much as you can. That and, let's all suppress that road rage Please and put the damn drink down.

I can not imagine trying to aggressively pass cars on a road like that. The murderer then right away admits his drinking was a direct cause of the accident? Sounds like he was in self destruction mode, and along with him he tore into an amazing family. This guy needs to ROT.

 

[Acallabeth]

Your average reasonable person knows their limits. The unreasonable people aren't out to follow the law regardless.

We're already in a severely overly policed state, I'd rather not add even more to it.

I see your point.
I think adding zero-tolerance policy would be well-justified. It has successfuly decreased the amount of accidents and fatal accidents in many countries, and it doesn't come with some crazy cost.

Most people who drive after drinking aren't some sociopathic outlaws, they are just regular persons lacking self-control, which is very typical for young persons. I have no idea what 'my limit' is and struggle to understand how a guy would assess it.

'Yo I feel entirely sober, I can easily have another beer!'
'OK I'm starting to feel it, but I'm not really that drunk, another one won't hurt!'
'OK I'm done for today. Well, I think can still walk straight and control my movements overall. I'm OK to drive!'

Where is the line you must not cross?
An exaggerated comparison, but it's like having a machine gun aimed at the crowd and shooting from time to time. 'It's OK, I just shot 20 bullets, I think it's within my limits'.

It doesn't absolve Higgins from his responsibilities, but there's a system failure as well.

- no easy-to-follow law, just some amorphous idea about personal limit;
- a guy decides he's fine to drive (maybe within his idea of acceptable consumption) despite alcohol impairing his ability;
- OMG worst person ever.

The more I read about it, the more f***ing mad I get. The rest of his natural life in jail. Throw the book at him.

The human centipede is the only punishment for this guy and those who drink and drive

I know we can't wish ill on others here on this forum so I won't do so - but I just hope the wheels of justice move very quickly on this one. Lock this loser up for the rest of his life.

The Gaudreau brothers were as good as murdered by a savage who should never walk free for the rest of his life.

Hopefully New Jersey has the death penalty.

Meanwhile multiple posters ITT are reflecting on their own erroneous decisions to drive drunk. I guess they are awful, awful people too.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I did not know about this until I just saw this post. How awful. In addition to not treating drunk driving seriously enough, the US simply does not protect or respect bike riders the way we ought to. Other countries have actual dedicated lanes that are protected from the automobile traffic. I wish we took biker safety more seriously here. As it is, I would never ride along a busy road because of reckless and inconsiderate (and drunk) drivers. Just a truly horrific incident.

I totally agree with your sentiments on this, but it sounds like it was a rural road. Not a lot of rural areas are truly bike friendly. Which is only to say, this isn’t a US attitude problem so much as a problem with the logistics of mixing bikes in with motor vehicle traffic.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I know this may sound nasty. But I would suggest we wait till we have all the info before we pass judgement. We have bits and pieces but not the complete picture

 

[PuckG]

Who's that jackass?

Just move the bucket and quit whining. Dude in full tantrum mode instead of making a simple fix.

Seems like he’s more inclined to make a point against his management than he is to just take action.

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

Such a tragic story to wake up to. Heartbroken for the Gaudreaus, especially on what was supposed to be a memorable weekend with their daughter's wedding.

Hope that POS driver gets the book thrown at him. Zero excuse when Uber, Lyft, etc. are right there. And the place that served him all those drinks should get sued out of business.

 

[SoupNazi]

Hopefully New Jersey has the death penalty.

They don't.

And even in states that do, vehicular manslaughter isn't generally (ever, I believe, but I'm not an attorney) a capital offense.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

Condolences to the Gaudreau family and friends.

 

[MayonnaiseOreo]

Failed a sobriety test too, apparently.

He was still drinking while he was driving too. Absolute scum.

 

[swiftwin]

It’s not necessarily a victim blame.

Biking rural roads at night is like walking through a dark urban park at night. Regardless of whether it should be as safe as broad daylight, on a practical level you’re going to encounter different dangers.

Both things can be true. You're right that ideally you should wear high viz, have lights and generally avoid biking at night.

But it's still victim blaming, and this isn't the time or place for this. Read the f***ing room.

 

[xECK29x]

Mods can the title be updated to include Matthews name, he did play at a pro level.

 

[tarheelhockey]

It absolutely is.

MOD

How? The onus is still on drivers not to plow into cyclists (or anything else) while drunkenly weaving through traffic in an illegal manner.

There’s a difference between victim blaming and saying “this is why I don’t do X thing that puts me in a position to be a victim”.

 

[Sheppy]

There's some real, real winners in this thread. My god, some of these takes are absolute insanity.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

They don't.

And even in states that do, vehicular manslaughter isn't generally (ever, I believe, but I'm not an attorney) a capital offense.

Especially when it's a cyclist that's killed. When cyclists are killed or injured the punishment is often much lighter.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Both things can be true. You're right that ideally you should wear high viz, have lights and generally avoid biking at night.

But it's still victim blaming, and this isn't the time or place for this. Read the f***ing room.

See my comment immediately above. Nobody is saying Gaudreau was at fault.

 

[Shane Diesel]

I know this may sound nasty. But I would suggest we wait till we have all the info before we pass judgement. We have bits and pieces but not the complete picture

What details are we missing?

NJ man charged in deaths of NHL star and brother who were in town for family wedding

The 43-year-old New Jersey man charged with vehicular homicide in the deaths of National Hockey League star Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother, Matthew, allegedly caused the crash because he had been, and still was, drinking, and that made him both reckless and impatient, according to a...

www.nbcnewyork.com

 

[Sheppy]

Were they wearing helmets? If not, that's another lesson to take from this.

Dude.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

There's some real, real winners in this thread. My god, some of these takes are absolute insanity.

It’s a good reminder that some posters on here are genuinely unintelligent and also bad people who aren’t worth engaging with even about trivial matters

 

[behemolari]

Two young men are dead after being killed by a drunk driver and this is your response? That it was partly their fault?

By the account of what happened lights and reflective vests wouldn't have made a difference (you're also assuming they didn't have lights on their bikes).

Your post is the perfect example of what I said in my previous post. A drunk driver hit and killed cyclists yet in the mind of many people there's often this belief that the cyclists were somehow to blame.

I think what he meant to say was.. its fully avoidable to been hit by drunk driver