I have been debating with myself if I should relay this report, because I’m a member of the rather small community to which this man belonged even though we never actually met. One of my passions is building Human Powered Vehicles for both transportation and competition, and Mr. Nicodemus was also a competitor (that participated to a much more involved degree than I ever had the opportunity). He was hit as he rode his recently repainted Lightning F40 streamliner on a training ride by a vehicle that pulled out of a driveway as he was passing. This is a picture of Mr. Nicodemus’ ride before he painted the nose HiVis yellow
As you can see this was not a small bike, and the fairing made it even larger visually, plus the color at the time of the wreck was that obnoxiously bright and ugly neon yellow that everyone thinks that all cyclists should be dressed head to toe in. The driver that killed him swears he never saw Mr. Nicodemus until impact, something I find … improbable. I don’t know if the bodysock was replaced with the HiViz color or if the fabric part of the fairing remained bright red behind the yellow nose. If any bike should have been easily seen it would have been this one in either color scheme. I don’t know what will make drivers start seeing cyclists if this cyclist was missed.
I’m angry about this, and frustrated beyond measure. This was a member of my community, and his life was just snuffed out like a candle, by a person that might as well been blind at the controls of a motor vehicle, and at this point there doesn’t even look like there will be much more than a traffic ticket if even that. Even after letting my anger cool for 2 days since I first saw this I’m still having a hard time coming up with words I can use to express my outrage and anger over both the initial killing, and the “Oh, hum” response from LEO about it.
PSA, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 