Most of the time, I’m a very cautious cyclist. I wear a helmet. I’m always aware of my surroundings. But, sometimes I get a little brazen in downtown traffic. I can often ride faster than downtown traffic. But, I am always aware of where cars are. Once you get on the street, your putting yourself in danger.
Although I am aware that I could get hit, that’s not my biggest concern. I’m always afraid of getting “doored”. I’m sure you can picture what I mean. I fear riding along a steady line of parked cars along the street and suddenly someone opens their door. That scares me more than anything. Well, up until a few minutes ago, it did. I just saw a video that scared the crap out of me. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A man mowing down a large group of cyclists in Brazil. I don’t know if anyone died. But, a large group was certainly hurt. It’s truly horrific. I see from the comments on youtube, that someone is claiming that the driver has been identified. He abandoned his car. There is also a claim that he said he did it because the cyclists were kicking his car. So, even if that happened, that justifies him mowing down people left and right? I hope he gets a maximum sentence in Brazil’s worst prison.
Here’s the video:
Oh my gosh, I saw that video this afternoon. Several long seconds after seeing that car plow through the car, I realized I hadn’t been breathing. My heart was pounding.
That was scarier than any actual near-miss I’ve been involved in.
And yeah, stories say he was starting to pull out into to the riders, nudging some of them. It’s when he initiated contact that other riders started banging on the car, asking him to stop. That’s when he rocketed through them all.
And he’s claiming “self defense.”
I can hardly believe there were no casualties.
This kind of thing seriously calls for a Zero Tolerance kind of response. He doesn’t get to drive a car ever again. Ever.
Ever.