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

[SoupNazi]

Glad you lived to tell the tale

Trust me, so am I. My ex-wife was pregnant at the time. My son never would have known his father if I hadn't lived.

 

[Frank Drebin]

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.

I've seen passing on the shoulder on the two lane multiple times on my commute. Left and right.

 

[TheFurryPickle]

My thoughts are if somebody is DUI-ing, they have had a problem with alcohol for a long time (except if you are a Pejorative Slured kid). It's like when a judge told my friend after a speeding ticket that if you got caught speeding, then you have sped for most if not all your life...you just got caught that "one time."

Alcohol is a relaxant, especially in people with traumatic memories. It is for people who do not wish to go to a psychologist/psychiatrist. The biggest loser in all of this is that mental illness is still being given a negative position in the Western world society. I truly believe we all face our own mental demons, going to get it fixed by a psychologist instead of deepening your sorrows in alcohol is the right way to do things. I wish more people realised that.

The problem with the limit, is allows for an alco to have his fix in the morning, then go to work,have a beer at lunch and then after work and still theoretically be under the limit -- that is alcohol in the system. They teeter on the limit, only takes one beer to send them over the edge, then over the limit.
Its scary a lot of people function like this.

Weed is another one, has zero tolerance where I am, regardless if you smoked days ago.. boom. busted. Do not pass go. Time to do the same with the booze imo.

 

[Empoleon8771]

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.

Yeah people just blame alcohol for messed up things people do when drunk are missing the point. Alcohol just makes you more brazen, if you're a reckless driver sober you'll be an even more reckless driver drunk.

Drinking doesn't magically just make you a shitty person, it just enables the shitty person inside of you to come out.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Extremely awful news. My prayers for their family.

 

[Prntscrn]

Devastating. Can't even imagine what the family and close ones are going through right now. Watching Johnny play hockey brought me joy.

RIP Johnny and Matt.

 

[Three On Zero]

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

Oh absolutely, you’ll never find a perfect solution for these issues. My hope would be that with the appropriate infrastructure the originally vehicle wouldn’t be moving over and the second driver would be able to see the cyclists clearer as they would be in a designated cycling lane.

Really it’s still a large human factor just like driving under the influence. Would it realistically keep drivers from trying to pass? No, but you can hope it helps. A drunk driver will always be unpredictable

 

[Turin]

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.

Prisons should be about restitution in most cases.

In many many other cases they should be holding cells for people waiting to get the axe. The death penalty is tragically underused.

 

[HFpapi]

RIP to Johnny Hockey and Matthew. Truly shocked and devastated to hear this.

This is exactly correct. In a perfect world, the bike infrastructure would be good enough that cyclists can safely bike wherever they want and drivers respect the safety of cyclists by driving safely. But we're not in the perfect world, we're in the real world.

Cyclists should absolutely be fighting to improve bike infrastructure and make the roads safer for cyclists, that's absolute true. But until that happens, you still need to stay safe while biking.

I live in the Netherlands which, for those who've visited and especially any that've lived/spent significant time here, it's the gold standard for societies that have rejected the supremacy of cars.

I bike from my apartment 3 minutes on perfectly constructed bike lanes that are as extensive and exclusive as the actual roads in most other countries. I park in a 5 story bike garage and take an intercity train from one major Dutch city to another major Dutch city in a grand total of 20 minutes. Cars are banned from the city centers.

It revolutionizes your life and makes you never want to go back to North American, car-centric living.

The problem is, the Netherlands has phenomenal rail infrastructure connecting the entire country, flat terrain, and condensed cities. (Ottawa has the same population as Amsterdam but is geographically 10x larger).

I don't know how it could ever work in North America. They don't have good intra or inter city rail. Cities are too sprawling and distance between cities too great. Terrain is uneven and rarely flat.

 

[TheBeard]

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

I agree. There should be no wiggle room.

 

[Dr Pepper]

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

Embarrassingly so, definitely in Canada and I'm sure in the US as well.

 

[archangel2]

can someone post the guys lawyers response?

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

This can't be real.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

^^^ wouldn’t be surprised if the dude saw the SUV pulling to the middle of the road, and thought the SUV was trying to prevent him from passing, so he accelerated and tried to zoom around him on the right. I’ve noticed people who drive like dicks tend to assume everyone else is trying to drive like dicks too.

Looks like that theory has been confirmed by the Ny post. Crazy.

“Higgins allegedly told the trooper that he had “five to six beers” before the fatal crash.

He also supposedly confessed that he believed the SUV was trying to block him from passing, and that his drinking exacerbated his impatience and reckless driving.”

 

[swiftwin]

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

It is adequate for cyclist safety. What is not adequate is people who do not follow the laws of the road.

 

[Oilslick941611]

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

not to mention bikes are allowed to be on the road and cars must share the right of way. I can't believe some people are trying to victim blame here.


of course, I personally don't believe in this and I never bike on the road, I use multiuse pathways ( my city has an amazing path system that goes east to west along our river) or sidewalks if need be. People get pissed off when I say I proudly bike on sidewalks, but I don't care, I'm going slow and yield to pedestrians and if I hit one, no one is dying unlike if a car hits a bike on the road. Seeing stuff like this happen to people ( getting hit by cars on the road) further cements my belief that bikes don't belong on the road but that doesn't change the laws. It's a f***ing shame it happened to Gaudreau and his brother but its also a shame when it happens to some no name guy coming from work.

 

[King'sPawn]

I guess what you are trying to say is, if I tell my kid not to go with strangers it's not because I blame the previous kids that have been kidnapped, but more that I'm trying to put a system in place where they recognize in the future that there could be danger in such situation.

Yes. Thank you for summarizing it.

Even if your kid were to get in trouble with a stranger after warning them, it's still the stranger's fault for their actions.

 

[Empoleon8771]

RIP to Johnny Hockey and Matthew. Truly shocked and devastated to hear this.


I live in the Netherlands which, for those who've visited and especially any that've lived/spent significant time here, it's the gold standard for societies that have rejected the supremacy of cars.

I bike from my apartment 3 minutes on perfectly constructed bike lanes that are as extensive and exclusive as the actual roads in most other countries. I park in a 5 story bike garage and take an intercity train from one major Dutch city to another major Dutch city in a grand total of 20 minutes. Cars are banned from the city centers.

It revolutionizes your life and makes you never want to go back to North American, car-centric living.

The problem is, the Netherlands has phenomenal rail infrastructure connecting the entire country, flat terrain, and condensed cities. (Ottawa has the same population as Amsterdam but is geographically 10x larger).

I don't know how it could ever work in North America. They don't have good intra or inter city rail. Cities are too sprawling and distance between cities too great. Terrain is uneven and rarely flat.

Yeah I think Amsterdam is the absolute best example of what a bike friendly society could look like. I think every urbanized area should be striving to be as close to Amsterdam in terms of bikability and public transit, it's just flat out not good in most parts of the United States.

I'm moving to the DC area in the next few months and it actually seems like DC is one of the best cities in the United States when it comes to bike trails and public transit. It was a big reason why I was looking there.

 

[Youngguns1380]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1829555994843881936

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

Absolutely heartbreaking. Had me tearing up.

This is one of biggest tragedies in our game's history.

He had such a boyish charm to him and his smile on the ice spoke volumes of how much he loved just playing Hockey. Being the smallest at every level and overcoming odds just illuminated his story even more. And even from podcasts and interviews he always spoke about family. Family was his everything.

One of the best posters of our online community here (Whiskeyyerthedevils) was raving about him from his prospect days and it was mind-blowing to see the way he processed the game and the evolution. I remember reading he processed the game like Gretzky. So I'd jokingly call him Little Gretzky whenever I'd catch a game with him playing.

Condolences to his loved ones. There's just no words. How can you ever find peace with this. One of the saddest days ever for our Hockey community.

 

[swiftwin]

Looks like that theory has been confirmed by the Ny post. Crazy.

“Higgins allegedly told the trooper that he had “five to six beers” before the fatal crash.

He also supposedly confessed that he believed the SUV was trying to block him from passing, and that his drinking exacerbated his impatience and reckless driving.”

Not surprised. Some people are so f***ing entitled when they get behind a wheel. This dude definitely has road rage issues when sober too.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Prisons should be about restitution in most cases.

In many many other cases they should be holding cells for people waiting to get the axe. The death penalty is tragically underused.

lol okay.

its not though at its heart, its just been corrupted.


your views are pretty extreme.

 

[ref19]

I know it doesn’t matter but out of curiosity has there been a BAC level of the driver reported yet?

 

[Three On Zero]

It is adequate for cyclist safety. What is not adequate is people who do not follow the laws of the road.

No they are not. We fail on both aspects

 

[AKL]

It is adequate for cyclist safety.

No it's not, and you insisting it is in your relentless crusade doesn't actually do cyclists any favors.