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

[alliuk12]

If the original vehicle is moving over to give the cyclists room, the road is not adequate for cyclist safety

Nothing the driver did was right no matter the condition of the road if it wasn’t safe to pass then he shouldn’t have attempted to pass and you always look ahead before you attempt to pass

 

[Oilslick941611]

Holy hell…what a tragedy. Completely devastating loss and 100% avoidable. What unspeakable grief one selfish person’s actions have caused.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, what obligation do the Jackets have to pay his remaining contract? His family would certainly benefit from the payout of the remaining guaranteed contract; but Columbus would seemingly have an out due to this unthinkable and unexpected loss, right?

Yikes. What a shit thing to hear today. RIP Gaudreau boys.

This is what you are thinking about?

I imagine insurance covers it.

Drinking and driving is a huge issue that needs some political and societal will to change.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Unfortunate incidents like this highlight issues with our infrastructure. We can’t control drunk drivers, people have free will over what they do. What we can control is how we build our roadways

Easier to just have self driving vehicles become more common.

 

[swiftwin]

I've always felt conflicted about drunk drivers. On one hand, when thinking of it rationally, I do believe that more often than not it's someone who is making a huge mistake, rather than being a bad person at heart.

Then again, when anything of this sort happens, I can't help but feel immense amount of anger about how one can so selfishly put the lives of other in danger. Although I've never had issues with alcohol myself, it's a touchy subject because of certain family members, so I'm probably unable to really think of it subjectively.

In any case, rest in peace Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, and may their families find some peace.

I find people put too much emphasis on drunk driving, and not enough emphasis on reckless driving in general.

If a driver is capable of making it most of the way home and chooses to pass someone on the right when the other car was making room for the cyclists, they are likely a shitty, agressive driver when sober too. Being drunk likely made things worse and removed some inhibitions, but that type of maneuver points to underlying behaviours this person likely has when driving sober too. This was not a case of someone simply having reduced motor skills due to being drunk.

It's the same as domestic abuse or spouting racist shit when drunk. Alcohol is not the cause of it, it just exacerbates it.

 

[Youngguns1380]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1829518656155295747

Two eventual Teammates in Columbus for the All-Star Game

 

[TheBeard]

If we teach kids early in life about the dangers of drunk driving early in life before they ever get behind a wheel we can definitely make a difference. For me personally those times peoples from MADD came to talk to my school or class stayed with me to this day.

Even if it looks impossible we shouldn't surrender and stop pushing for change through our Government. If we give up nothing will change, However if we keep on trying there is always a chance.

A lot of that influence happens in the home. If you get lectured about it in school and then you watch your cool ass daddy who you worship chugging a brew before driving home you’re gonna mimic that behavior. My point though is that everyone seems to be held accountable except all the companies that profit off drinking and driving. Bars, liquor companies, ride share programs… they all rely on people drinking and driving to stay in business.

 

[M88K]

If the original vehicle is moving over to give the cyclists room, the road is not adequate for cyclist safety

the logic here is predicated on that if there was more room, the drunk may not have tried to pass on the right. Of course the scenario exists that if a bike lane did exist or the shoulder was larger and their was oncoming traffic, passing on the right through the bike lane becomes just as likely

 

[DavidHasselhoffsFist]

Condolences to their family and friends. Horrific news.

 

[Coffey]

Biking at night in a rural area is a terrible idea. It puts your life completely in the hands of strangers, and raises the likelihood that they make a bad choice compared to day/urban biking.

That doesn’t assign the outcome of the driver’s bad choice to the cyclist. The driver is still 100% responsible for a) being sober b) driving like a sane person c) avoiding manslaughter.

Both things can be true.

Yes both things can be true.
But I'm talking about a guy whos post just mentioned "Don't bike at night"
So if it was during the day, would he have said "Don't bike on country roads"
And if it was in an urban area, would he have said "Don't bike in New Jersey"
And so forth and so forth.

It was just a stupid post and shouldn't have been made. Doesn't matter how much risk you are alleviating, a drunk Pejorative Slur is going to kill you regardless.

 

[Waterbuf]

There's a picture of the road earlier in the thread. It's a typical rural road with a thin shoulder

Thanks. I went back and found it. Different than what I had imagined. Being a city dweller I was imagining either a city road or city freeway.

In general cyclists are like every asshole car driver. They just don't have near the level of destruction at their fingertips

Weird take. I think you probably know that you're being ridiculous with statements like this.

Anyway I'm going to log out of here. I think all our feelings are raw and we're attacking each other as we try in vain to find meaning in such a senseless tragedy.
Cherish your day folks

 

[SEALBound]

I swear I could drive 6 months in any european country and I wouldn't see half as many boneheaded ass backwards moves in traffic that I saw in just one month in the east coast.

Having recently spent two weeks in Scotland and Ireland (one week in each) and driven every single day in a rental car totalling over 1000mi, I'm not sure I can fully condone this statement. What I experience in the highlands of Scotland is unlike anything I've experienced in the US - urban or rural.

UK has what, 65million people? US has 330million. Nearly 5x as big so I tried to keep in mind that under a standard bell curve, for every absolute shit driver in Scot/Ire I saw, there's at least five of them in the US somewhere. The natural population disparity combined with population density of the east coast makes it a very difficult apples-to-apples comparison

 

[swiftwin]

In general cyclists are like every asshole car driver. They just don't have near the level of destruction at their fingertips

Yup. There are asshole drivers and there are asshole cyclists. There are good drivers and there are good cyclists. They are both cross sections of the same population.

But like you said, cyclists simply can't create the carnage motorists can.

 

[HBK27]

I think people might be overstating the "it was night time, bad time to be biking!" thing ... sounds like this happened around 6-7PM New Jersey time? Wouldn't the sun still be out at that time?

This dude just made a horrible choice (well two of them, being drunk and driving and then deciding to try and pass a car), and now he's completely changed the lives of the Gaudreau family. Such an awful tragedy.

The accident occurred around 8:30, which is roughly an hour after sunset.

I've lived in NJ my whole life and have never even heard of someone trying to pass on the right on a road like this. I can't fathom why anyone drunk or sober would ever consider doing such a ridiculously dangerous maneuver. Heartbroken for the Gaudreau family.

 

[TheBeard]

find people put too much emphasis on drunk driving, and not enough emphasis on reckless driving in genera

Living in Vegas I see an accident literally every time I drive to work and back (I’m using literally correctly. It’s every time). The combination of the booze in this town and the amount of construction leading to road rage spells disaster. I would never bike in this city and it HAS bike lanes.

 

[Oilslick941611]

I'm the kind of person who wants to view prisons as more reformation than punishment, but this guy is pretty irredeemable with the information that he was actively drinking when driving. It may just be IMO but actively drinking while driving is a step up from just driving drunk.

you can't exactly it an accident if we was drinking while driving.

Prison should absolutely be about reformation, but it's not set up that way. Its almost impossible for ex-cons to get real paying jobs upon release, the prison system itself is pretty inhumane and creates monsters out of otherwise redeemable people for non violent crime, with the way they treated by guards, fellow inmates and society as a whole.

I always looks to the Scandinavian countries for how we in NA should reform our prisons, but of course, we don't have the political will to do this and our politicians get rich off selling services to private instituitions and creating a modern slavery system with inmate labour.

 

[Stealth JD]

This is what you are thinking about?

Yes. His family. The ones left behind.
It's a horrible situation with far-reaching repercussions and financial implications.
Sorry to have offended; figured someone would know how these situations are handled.

 

[Youngguns1380]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1829576064781463912

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

RIP, prayers to the family.

I hope the perp is deleted in prison.

 

[WTFMAN99]

RIP Gaudreau brothers

Condolences to the family at this difficult time =(

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

That one got me. NGL

Same, took me a second to figure out who Beau's dad was. Hit hard when it did click.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Yes. His family. The ones left behind.
It's a horrible situation with far-reaching repercussions and financial implications.
Sorry to have offended; figured someone would know how these situations are handled.

I imagine there are death benefits in the SPC ( standard player contract ) or through the NHLPA.

 

[Guardian17]

Devastating news.

Two lives snuffed out because some idiot decided to drive drunk.

 

[Monsieur Miz]

I find people put too much emphasis on drunk driving, and not enough emphasis on reckless driving in general.

If a driver is capable of making it most of the way home and chooses to pass someone on the right when the other car was making room for the cyclists, they are likely a shitty, agressive driver when sober too. Being drunk likely made things worse and removed some inhibitions, but that type of maneuver points to underlying behaviours this person likely has when driving sober too. This was not a case of someone simply having reduced motor skills due to being drunk.

It's the same as domestic abuse or spouting racist shit when drunk. Alcohol is not the cause of it, it just exacerbates it.

Yeah, if you drive drunk, I would assume you would try to be super cautious in case you randomly get arrested but nope, this guy didn't give a shit.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Life in prison. No parole.

It's truly amazing how lenient the laws are on drunk drivers who end up killing people.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to it in a vacuum, but you are going to run into problems with people who simply don't have the breath to blow hard enough into one of those devices. You're also going to run into issues where people who, for example, use mouth wash with alcohol in it not being able to start their cars.

September 7 will be three years since I got sideswiped on the road by a driver who didn’t stop, less than a mile from my house. I walked away from it with a badly sprained shoulder, bruises, and a scar of twelve links of chain on the back of my right leg (I still have it) where the bike landed on top of me. But I was lucky. I walked away.

Glad you lived to tell the tale