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

[Nunymare]

RIP, too sad to even think about much


There's a pack of kids in my subdivision who ride around on electric bikes going 35 mph on the sidewalks and it's so dangerous for this reason. Sight lines are especially bad in peak summer with the vegetation at its maximum. The police are holding a public meeting about it next week and I hope people wake up before we have our own tragedy.

Yeah, riding a bike at speeds faster than 20mph/30kmh is completely different than at a leisurely 5-10mph pace. Any crash at those speeds can seriously injure or kill.

 

[norrisnick]

Considering there are 40,000+ car related deaths in the US on an annual basis, there really needs to be massive federal (not state, because if you're allowed to drive across state lines the standards and regulations need to be uniform nationally) reforms on
1. How to become and continue to be a licensed driver? Should honestly be closer to what it takes to become a pilot
2. The penalties associated with not being safe/licensed driver and
3. The absolutely comic book absurd size of some of the cars on the road in this country. Cars of all varieties are just shamelessly huge for no functional reason. The roads get bigger and safer if the cars get smaller.
4. Public transport. A massive number of cars need to be taken off the road in general.

 

[Oilslick941611]

RIP, too sad to even think about much


There's a pack of kids in my subdivision who ride around on electric bikes going 35 mph on the sidewalks and it's so dangerous for this reason. Sight lines are especially bad in peak summer with the vegetation at its maximum. The police are holding a public meeting about it next week and I hope people wake up before we have our own tragedy.

only idiots goes faster than 20k/m on a sidewalk. Full stop.

The pathways in my city are capped at 20km/h and it's plenty fast enough. My bike in its top gear at cruising speed is slightly less than that.

 

[Skeletorrr]

I literally felt my life at hazard driving in Italy and have never seen such disregard for other drivers' health as I did in that situation. And the private corporations who "maintain" the highways will literally put up fake construction zones, with wildly fluctuating speed changes, just to get out of liability. Bad driving and unsafe road maintenance is a worldwide issue.

Like I stated earlier. Italy is one of those countries in europe where I haven't driven a car, or even been to. I've driven in every central european country, UK and Ireland and most of the eastern eruopean countries.

 

[TheBeard]

NYPOST reporting Higgins had a hearing today and proceeded to let out a sigh when the judge told him he would be held until Thursday.

Alleged drunk driver who fatally struck Johnny Gaudreau, brother lets out exasperated sigh as he’s ordered held another week behind bars

Judge Michael J. Silvanio ordered Higgins to be held until his detention hearing next Thursday, September 5.

nypost.com

“Man, now I’m gonna miss the boys ‘chug-til-ya-barf-a-thon’!”

 

[tny760]

RIP, too sad to even think about much


There's a pack of kids in my subdivision who ride around on electric bikes going 35 mph on the sidewalks and it's so dangerous for this reason. Sight lines are especially bad in peak summer with the vegetation at its maximum. The police are holding a public meeting about it next week and I hope people wake up before we have our own tragedy.

those e-"bikes" (they're really basically motorcycles) are a huge problem

i think they're awesome personally and more people riding them would be great for traffic overall but the scene is just infested with stupid "bike life" wheelie kids with rich parents who only own them because they're unlicensed and have negligible running costs. they destroy mountain bike trails/dirt jumps like it's their job too. things need to be licensed similar to motorcycles.

 

[JPT]

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.

It's already messed up that a person can be sober at the time of driving, but can be charged with DWI/DUI if they smoked days before. Giving people DWI/DUI for drinking days before is just continuing a messed up practice. We aren't going to solve this problem by making people criminals despite not actually violating the spirit of the law. Impaired driving laws are intended to prevent people who are impaired from driving in that condition, and to outline punishment for those who are caught doing it. They aren't intended to keep someone from doing something completely legal only to be charged with a crime a couple of days later.

 

[paragon]

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.

This.

Our former member of parliament said: "I wouldn't have driven drunk if I was sober." But maybe the driver involved here also normally believed drunk driving was bad, but his judgement was impaired by alcohol. We will never know.

 

[Selanne00008]

But look at the damage to the children wife mother father grand parents just so he could pass another vehicle on the road

10000%

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

Hopefully New Jersey has the death penalty.

If more death would make you feel better, I regret to tell you that that there will be no death sentences here.

 

[Freaky Styley]

Are you f***ing insane?

Get the f*** outta here.

Dude.

People and their outrage these days. Is it really so bad to suggest that could be a lesson if it's the case? Lesson number 1. Don't drink and drive. 1b. Don't drive recklessly/aggressively 3. Do what you can to protect yourself from reckless drivers when on the road, especially if you're on a bike/motorcycle.

Honestly, depending on how fast this guy was going, helmets weren't going to do f*** all to save either of them.

By the sounds of the story, they were heading in the same direction, so the impact would be limited.

*IF* is a key word in my statement. If they weren't wearing helmets and they died due to head injuries, it's a really tough reminder.

If they were wearing helmets and/or it wouldn't have mattered, my statement is null and void.

It's a tragedy regardless. I don't get what's so insane/evil to suggest that there's lessons to be learned from all perspectives about how this can be avoided. In fact it's really the only thing that can be done. And no I'm not victim blaming. I despise reckless driving, intoxicated or not.

 

[swiftwin]

Once again you are grossly and irresponsibly misrepresenting what people are saying to you.

I have never once stated that roads should be exclusive to cars. I have stated that I want roads and sidewalks to be safe for everyone to use, which means first acknowledging that most roads in this country are not designed or built with biker safety in mind.

You insisting that these roads are perfectly fine as is and it's all just bad drivers is potentially harmful to the efforts to design and build roads that are safer for bikers.

The laws are designed for cyclist safety in mind. If a cyclist is killed by someone disobeying these laws, it's their fault, not the fault of the road. Stop passing the blame around. We as a society treat driving like a joke. We need harsher punishments for those who drive recklessly, even when nobody gets hurt.

 

[3074326]

This is such a devastating incident. So sad for Johnny and his brother passing on way too young. Sad for his family who lost two people the day before one of the best days of their lives. Sad for Columbus, the hockey community, the Blue Jackets. Still having a hard time reading the headlines and processing that it’s real.

 

[Three On Zero]

Lol drivers do not do that.

Majority do, minority don’t

 

[Fish on The Sand]

This.

Our former member of parliament said: "I wouldn't have driven drunk if I was sober." But maybe the driver involved here also normally believed drunk driving was bad, but his judgement was impaired by alcohol. We will never know.

I find this difficult to believe given he was actively drinking still while driving.

 

[potatowejj]

Considering there are 40,000+ car related deaths in the US on an annual basis, there really needs to be massive federal (not state, because if you're allowed to drive across state lines the standards and regulations need to be uniform nationally) reforms on
1. How to become and continue to be a licensed driver? Should honestly be closer to what it takes to become a pilot
2. The penalties associated with not being safe/licensed driver and
3. The absolutely comic book absurd size of some of the cars on the road in this country. Cars of all varieties are just shamelessly huge for no functional reason. The roads get bigger and safer if the cars get smaller.
4. Public transport. A massive number of cars need to be taken off the road in general.

I disagree with the bolded, but the punishments for f***ing up should be stronger and also histories of drug abuse and alcoholism should factor in more. I agree with everything else. I think large pickup trucks (aside from those who need them for businesses) and SUVs should be outlawed like they have been in many other countries. The lack of fuel efficiency alone should be doing this.

 

[jay from jersey]

Really terrible news….
I feel so bad for his parents right now. I’ll keep them in my prayers. They must be devastated….
NJ/NY areas you have to have eyes in the back of your head…. There’s way too many people in a small area….
Combine that with the tons of roads that need work, and wacky aggressive drivers and it’s a recipe for disaster.
It’s a big reason why I got rid of my motor cycle… it’s not how I operated it, it’s the other careless drivers that were around me at all times. That was the scariest part. People have no regard for/patience. Especially in rush hour.

 

[swiftwin]

Reminded me of just yesterday. Side street, came to a full stop at a stop sign. Nothing coming, both ways, start in to a right turn. Teenage boy on a scooter on the sidewalk on the street I'm turning on to came just a flying down the sidewalk. No way I could have seen him, giant hedge on the corner blocking the view of that stretch of sidewalk from the stop sign. We both braked in time, but like 1 second and ten feet more from either of us and I don't know the outcome.

Exactly.

The rise of electric scooters is a problem jurisdictions need to figure out. This is why it is illegal to ride them on sidewalks in many places.

 

[NeelyWasAWarrior]

My condolences to his family. Can't replace loved ones. He's now like the hockey version of Johnny in that song "Shooting Star".

RIP Johnny

 

[BFLO]

do we know it was definitely alcohol related? seems more like a miscommunication between aggressive NJ drivers. their bad reputation continues

It has been reported that he was drunk.

But who cares?

If you're reckless enough to pass somebody on the right shoulder and in the process of doing so you mow down and kill 2 people, the penalties should be just as severe for you whether you're stone cold sober or blew a 0.3% BAC. You do not belong in society either way.

 

[Tanknation]

No words. Shocked. Horrible.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

so sad

 

[AKL]

The laws are designed for cyclist safety in mind. If a cyclist is killed by someone disobeying these laws, it's their fault, not the fault of the road. Stop passing the blame around. We as a society treat driving like a joke. We need harsher punishments for those who drive recklessly, even when nobody gets hurt.

This doesn't mean all of these roads are safe for cyclists at all.

I don't get why you think that acknowledging that we can build safer roads for cyclists is blaming cyclists for these types of incidents.

 

[Rafafouille]

NYPOST reporting Higgins had a hearing today and proceeded to let out a sigh when the judge told him he would be held until Thursday.

Alleged drunk driver who fatally struck Johnny Gaudreau, brother lets out exasperated sigh as he’s ordered held another week behind bars

Judge Michael J. Silvanio ordered Higgins to be held until his detention hearing next Thursday, September 5.

nypost.com

I wish I could see his face when he gets sentenced. They never expect to spend years in prison. Reminds me of Stephanie Melgoza, she was laughing it off after killing two people and asking the cop when she could leave because she has school the next day. Hopefully this guy gets at least the same 14 years as Melgoza got.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

People and their outrage these days. Is it really so bad to suggest that could be a lesson if it's the case? Lesson number 1. Don't drink and drive. 1b. Don't drive recklessly/aggressively 3. Do what you can to protect yourself from reckless drivers when on the road, especially if you're on a bike/motorcycle.

It's not the appropriate time or the appropriate venue.