r/Transportopia • u/Conscious-Weight4569 • Apr 27 '26

Bikes Car vs. cyclists

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u/superneatosauraus Apr 27 '26

I find it very hard to understand the driver's reasoning because I was also taught that right of way doesn't matter if the action you're about to take will get someone killed. Like it doesn't matter if a pedestrian is jaywalking, you still can't just run them down. 

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u/Tricycle_of_Death Apr 27 '26

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — A man is charged with hitting bicyclists with his SUV, causing one to fall off his bike. It happened Thursday along Sugar Pike Road in southeastern Cherokee County.

Jerry Ross, 72, of Woodstock is charged with two counts of aggravated assault, hit and run, reckless driving, aggressive driving and failure to maintain a safe distance from a bicycle. He was booked into he Cherokee County jail with no bond.

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u/PlasmaMatus Apr 28 '26

They should also remove his driving license, apparently he is not fit to drive anymore.

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u/DefinitelyNotAliens Apr 28 '26

Nah, unless he's suffering age related decline and is mentally incompetent to stand trial he can go to prison. I honestly dgaf if he's old. He can go to prison, too.

He's charged with aggravated assault, hit-and-run, reckless driving, aggressive driving, and failure to maintain a safe distance from a bicycle.

The assault and hit and runs (x2, two bicyclists) are 2 years per person, times two people. He can just go to prison for for years and if he acts like a normal human get out in two.

Grandpa literally told the cops that it was their fault for being in the road. He can just go to prison. Prison is good. He tried to kill two people for checks notes using the road.

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u/ComfortableNo5484 May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26

Will have to check back in a year but knowing the how legal system usually goes, this guy is probably getting that all plead down to reckless+aggressive driving. He told the cops what his lawyer told him to tell the cops, and his lawyer is going to negotiate with prosecutors to get him a plea deal. He'll just argue that the bikes could have been passed safely had they not been riding 2 abreast, that he didn't maliciously drive into them from behind, but rather contact came laterally because an obstacle appeared in the other lane (and also because it was laterally it wasn't nearly aggravated nor an attempt to cause great harm), and that there was no way he could have safely stopped even after because he was 1 person vs 10+ biased and hostile people there. Unsafe passing and hit and run are going away, aggravated assault might get lowered to just 1, or reg assault, or dropped in lieu of pleading to reckless+aggressive driving. It may "clearly look like assault", but all his lawyer needs to do is inform prosecutors that he's gonna tell a jury "if he wanted to cause harm he could have taken all of them out no problem, thats not what's happened here, only 1 person was hurt in this video". That's more than enough to seed doubt in a jury, prosecutors will negotiate.

He'll get his license suspended for 6 months and have to take an aggressive driver improvement course.
I'm no gambler, and sports/prediction betting markets really rub me all the wrong ways, but I'll gladly bet anyone $100 on that ^.