David Thursday, April 24, 2008

Entertainment

Drunk NC State Student Kills Cyclist (Updated)

imageRaleigh isn’t the most bike friendly place but that has never stopped the area’s forward thinkers from using this alternative transit.  Any day of the week you will see dozens of cyclists around town sliding through traffic.  Thats why its so disturbing to hear news like what the N&O reported yesterday.  NC State student Brian Reid, just 21, hit and killed 60 year old Nancy Leidy who was cycling.  Leidy an unpaid entomology professor at N.C. State University, was a recreational cyclist who had just done the same ride this past Sunday. 

Reid had a blood alcohol level of .12 and it was 11 am. There is no ‘safe time’ as a cyclist. You always have to be vigilant and wear safety equipment, even then you probably aren’t ‘safe.‘  New Raleigh is using this event to encourage all of its young readers to please wear your helmets.  So many of our friends ride the streets with no lights or helmets in the dark of night and we think it would be a whole lot cooler if you did, man. Be safe be smart and take Dr. Leidy’s fate to heart- you aren’t invincible.

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  • 15004/24 05:40 PM

    This situation is so sad.  Drunk driving is just so horrible and irresponsible.  It’s such a shame that a person lost their life and a family is forced to mourn.

    David, I agree with your thoughts about wearing helmets.  I’d also add that if you are riding your bike in the road (and yes, I know bicyclists are allowed to be there), please be aware that cars can kill you if you are not very careful.  I’ve seen way too many bicyclists riding dangerously in Raleigh.  This obviously is a case where the motor vehicle driver is at fault, but it’s a good reminder for everyone to be careful.

  • Julie Woosley04/24 08:34 PM

    This is a sad example of the great need for better awareness, education, and facilities for cyclists in Raleigh and the Triangle.

    To that end, the CAMPO Bicycle and Pedestrian Stakeholders Group is teaming up with TTA and the SmartCommute Challenge to hold a Community Leader bike ride on Friday, May 16, Bike to Work Day.  We’re inviting elected officials, community leaders, and cyclists to come to a breakfast (7:30 am) on the Centennial Plaza next to the Natural Science Museum, followed by a group bike ride down Fayetteville Street at 9:00 am.  We hope that this event will help to raise awareness of the needs and rights of cyclists and gain some local support for improving bike lanes, signage, bike racks, and other amenities.  Please see http://www.campo-nc.us/BPSG/BPSG_Home.htm for more info.

    Please join us to show your support for cyclists and cycling in Raleigh!

  • Dana04/24 11:41 PM

    Sad for all parties involved. Of course it is sad for Leidy, but it’s also sad that Reid’s life as he had always envisioned it, is over. After serving his punishment, he will never go a day without thinking about this monumentally stupid decision.

  • Donald J. Mertrud04/27 03:56 PM

    My heart goes out to the Victims family.
    DUI is such a preventable tragedy. I hope this tragedy changes people minds about Driving Drunk not riding a bike.
    I can’t remember the last time I saw a DUI check point downtown or on hillsborough street. I see drunks on the road EVERY weekend.

    More DUI enforcement combined with Safer bike routes to schools and bike lanes would boost public confindence for folks to utilize alternative transportation (cycling).

  • Doug04/27 09:32 PM

    David, your article comes off to me as victim blaming.  How about New Raleigh use this event to encourage all of its young readers to please not drive drunk, to be vigilant of cyclists on the road, or be patient and wait for a safe time to pass a slower moving cyclist; instead of telling us to wear our helmets.  (Nancy Leidy was wearing a helmet when she was hit)

    I am a cyclist who wears a helmet, but i realize it may not save me if i am ever struck by a motorized vehicle.

  • AHands04/28 03:46 AM

    > it’s also sad that Reid’s life as he had
    > always envisioned it, is over.

    why does THAT always come up?  are there other crimes where we always get this sympathy for the killer?

  • AHands04/28 04:02 AM

    so, what do we do about it? we tried prohibition already…we’ve got DUI laws…lord knows our legislature is doing their best, why just two years ago they strengthened the DUI laws by…removing the exemption for bicycles and lawn mowers!  now, as far as the law and sentencing are concerned, if you’re drunk, you may as well drive a hummer—why put yourself at risk?

    mr. reid wanted to get drunk.  mr. reid wanted to travel.  if he’d taken the bus, driven a bike (or lawnmower, or scooter), mrs leidy would still be alive.

    bicycles, and other lightweight vehicles, do not present the threat to others that an f-150 does.  any two-wheeler inherently includes an automatic, fail-safe sobriety test.  its insane for the law to fail to recognize this.  which of our elected officials vying for our vote next week will pledge to revert this law change or to make penalties be proportional to gross vehicular weight?

  • Deb04/28 02:37 PM

    AHands: Reid would not have ridden a bicycle regardless of whether the law allowed drunk cycling. As long as it was easier to grab the keys to the F-150, that’s what he was going to do.

    There are taxis available for this very reason. I have seen responsible State students visiting friends next door call a cab when they know they are too drunk to drive. This is the type of thing that can very easily prevent tragedies like this from happening. I don’t know why Reid of his friends didn’t just call a cab instead.

  • AHands04/28 02:49 PM

    I don’t know Reid, and I don’t know if HE might’ve biked, but i know there are many others who would opt to bike. our legislature does us a disservice when they discourage safer alternatives.  taxis are one safer, but expensive, alternative.  buses are safe, and inexpensive, but public transit is inadequate around here.  we all know there are people driving who should not be—because of alcohol problems or the infirmities of age.  the system looks the other way because the system has failed to provide the alternative transportation needed.  treating a cyclist like a truck driver with respect to DUIs makes zero sense.

  • David G Dickson05/02 11:57 AM

    Have been following this case.  If anyone knows where in the legal system is Mr. Brian Reid please email me. If anyone suspects that Mr. Reid will get off easy due to certain unmentioned persons, please email me.

  • Chris08/04 12:39 PM

    Try and get a taxi here in Raleigh.  My friend and I tried on Friday night, and waited for over an hour and a half, and we called 3 different taxi companies.  Eventually, after ANOTHER hour and a half of drinking, we drove back to his place. 

    This is not an excuse, I realize it, but the reality is that even if you are trying to be responsible, it is SO much of an inconvenience that drunk people with less inhibitions are much more likely to drive.  If anything, drunk people should be catered to MORE because they have little inhibition.

    On a side note, I am from Portland, OR, the most bike friendly city in the US, and there are still idiots there that ride bikes.  Here, I have maybe…MAYBE seen one safe bike rider.  The streets are rife with people riding bikes and not obeying traffic signals, not wearing safety equipment, and not being safe.  It is always a sad thing to see a bicyclist killed, but more often than not, it is their fault.

  • David G Dickson08/04 02:04 PM

    To Chris:  Yes, in the past I have driven drunk.  During my second marriage, my current wife confided to me that she was an expert at driving under the influence.  This is certainly not an excuse.

    Since shortly after puberty, I started using excess caution (my words) while driving, much to the chagrin of drivers lusting after the rear of my car; I have only been in one accident attributable to my error. That accident would not have happened, I believe, if the driver kissing my rear had not been there. I turned left on a yellow light and was hit by a pickup truck.

    Apropos, laying blame—the child who acts irresponsibility and “disobeys” established traffic laws and courtesy rules can be said to be at fault when our highly esteemed driver clobbers him or her. Saying: “It wasn’t my fault, I didn’t know the gun was loaded,“ does not exonerate a child or bicyclists killer. And does not condemn the victim of said vehicle driver to a hell of public approbation.

    Let us all drive with excessive caution and courtesy and try to avoid killing animals, birds, children, elderly bicyclists, and ourselves. Violent death is so messy!!!

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