EDIT: Here’s the latest from mercurynews.com.
Most of you have probably heard about this by now, but if not: Yesterday a Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy veered across Stevens Canyon Road in the hills west of Cupertino and rammed a group of road cyclists out on a training run. One died at the scene, the second died hours later. A third was critically injured but survived. From this morning’s Mercury News:
Coming around a bend near a straightaway, the deputy accidentally crossed the center line and struck the group, Morrissey said. He called for help and immediately began CPR on one of the fallen cyclists, Morrissey said.
The sheriff’s office did not release the names of the victims. But friends and bicycling Web sites identified the dead cyclists as Matt Peterson, 30, of San Francisco, and Kristy Gough, 31, of Oakland. Peterson died at the scene of the crash and Gough died several hours later after she was airlifted to Stanford University Hospital. Before and after she died, dozens of cyclists gathered at the hospital.
A 20-year-old man, identified by friends as Christopher Knapp of Germany, was seriously injured and was listed in stable condition Sunday night at Stanford University Hospital. The fourth rider was not hurt, CHP officer Todd Thibodeau said.
Eyewitnesses told local TV stations they overheard the deputy saying he had fallen asleep at the wheel. Mind you this is fourth hand by the time you’re getting it from me, so take that with a gain of salt.
The article at the Chron’s page generated over 180 comments at last look, most of them the usual empty speculation blaming whoever they assume to be blameworthy based on knowing none of the facts at hand.
This thread at bikeforums.com is a bit more sane, though they do get a bit preoccupied with the initial news reports — which are always based on tiny scraps of known facts — that don’t square with their way of seeing things.
We’d all be best served at times like these to think of the friends, families, teammates and co-workers of the deceased. We’re not going to be able to ease their pain but we can, at the very least, not make it worse.
UPDATE: Another interesting thread at Mountain Bike Review
This story has freaked me since I first heard it, I used to ride my bike up there regularly. At the time, my biggest fear was the trucks going to and from the quarry. They were always going too fast. I never liked going around that particular bend. I hugged the shoulder and got off the road as soon as possible (the park entrance is about 100 yards up). Very sad for everyone involved.
I hate to say that I have been going through a bit of grief myself over the last week. My next door neighbor was killed a week and a half ago riding his bike on Los Gatos Blvd while making a left hand turn onto Blossom Hill. He and his wife had only been my next door neighbors for about a year and in that time he became a really good friend, helping me with my photography along with great advice on all manner of problems one encounters around the house. He was trained in photography and added the final touches to the Henry Coe picture of mine 10 rows down on this page and really made a difference in it: http://www.cynscapes.com/html/henrycoe.html
He was the nicest guy, forever cheerful, and loved by so many of the neighbors, just a pure joy to be around and his wife is the same way. Just wonderful and the best neighbors you could ever have. We were planning to do a photographic hike into Henry Coe later this month to look for wild flowers and then this happens and suddenly the neighborhood feels empty and lonely. It is a real punch in the guts for me and I can only imagine how his wife and daughters must feel. And so hearing of this new accident little more than a week later feels freaky in such a horrilbe way. I can only offer sympathy to all those involved as no words of mine could ever suffice. It is painful.