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Police say they know who hit, killed bicyclist in Wellesley

The Globe reports Wellesley Police have interviewed the driver, are still looking for a particular witness.

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Funny, a cyclist gets killed in Cambridge and there's 100 responses in no time. Not one response when a cyclist gets killed in Wellesley.

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I agree, this seems strange. Usually the cycling community shows support on Uhub. Why the silence?

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People who comment here tend to live in or near the city, so if something happens at Mass. Ave. and Vasser Street, or Ruggles and Huntington, we've got a picture in our minds of the place. This is far enough out of town that most of us probably had to look it up on a map.

Also, if you're looking for cyclist outrage, try BostonBiker.org .

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When was the last time the lack of facts kept someone on UHub from commenting on something like this? ;-) Many times, there have been no facts at all and everybody chimes in with their own theories, assessing blame at will.

Location is pretty irrelevant here. It's a street in the burbs, like many others. Guy was riding along, and got hit.

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I presume that it is because not many UHubbers are familar with that part of the world (except as the butt of a joke involving "overentitled" types who reside in the "W"-towns), and had the sense, therefore, not to comment on it.

For my part, I have ridden that stretch of road before and have avoided it for some time in favor of other routes in that area which I thought are safer for cycling (e.g., Cliff Rd., which has lower traffic volumes, slower traffic, and critically, better and larger shoulders).

What appears to have happened to this guy is precisely what I fear most when riding out that way. I feel so bad for his family.

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that the cyclist was "overentitled" and riding recklessly, because he/she was "entitled" to ride anywhere.

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Just in case you were wondering (it appears that you were), my use of "overentitled" was a reference to someone else's pejorative on a thread about Swellesley from a long, long time ago. I wasn't trying to pull a BPS.

Now that I think of it, that thread might not have even been a thread on UHub, so I'll apologize for that part. As for the "riding anywhere" part, if you mean on the travel lane of a public way (e.g., where he was struck), yeah, he was probably entitled (or at least authorized by state law) to be there.

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Wellesley = 1%er. No love from the 'I bike to work every day, and you suck' crowd.

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n/t

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Folks are just waiting for someone to say it was obviously the bicyclist's fault. That's all. Markkk's concern trolling below is the closest thing yet.

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Such a tragedy. I hope police release the findings. Given the photos of broken pieces of carbon fiber frame, how could a driver do that much destruction and not know it? Clearly other witnesses were sought because the driver's version needed verification. Scene photos show storm drains. Riding a 15lb race bike with half inch wide tires is bad on rough roads leading one to swerve into the lane to avoid such obstacles. The bike rider might have swerved into a trailer behind the truck he had not expected. Sounds like Wellesley PD is doing a thorough job investigating before releasing a complete finding.

I hope road designers get a clue and stop making roads too narrow and sidewalks too wide, actually killing more people than theoretically saving with 1-2mph speed reductions. Cyclists need room too. "Traffic Calming" produces stress, sometimes road rage, and MBTA bus drivers going MBTA version of postal.

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Concern Trolling - "a false flag pseudonym created by a user whose actual point of view is opposed to the one that the user"

In other words, to pose to be one side but actually using the position to advocate for the other side by making the claimed side one supports with "concerns" about said cause.

You sir, by acting on your farce of being concern on behalf of the decease biker and subsequently other bikers but talking but voicing concern about the roads, you are by definition concern trolling. Disingenuously showing care to advocate your agenda.

I took the time to look up the location of the accident and the road you speak of. The road is not "barely wide enough for two trucks to pass", it is not wide enough to pass at all with trucks or cars. The only element of modification I can tell to the sidewalk is a ramp that have grips, the sidewalk itself looks like any other suburban sidewalk .

In other words, cram it with your "concerns" about traffic clamming. Your real concern is your wish to drive unimpeded as possible. This incident have nothing to do with traffic calming that you hate so much. The road is just narrow. It have nothing to do with traffic clamming that you decided to name drop so you can attack it.

BTW, your mentioning MBTA going postal cannot be made into a case against traffic calming. Not when you look at the history of MBTA drivers and the history of the driver herself. The onus goes to the person, only in extreme cases can environment excuse the responsibility of the individual of their actions. Same applies for road rage.

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The road was barely enough for two trucks to pass in opposite directions.

It's not legal for a car of any sort to pass a car of any sort at the location of the homicide. It's a double-yellow and no shoulder.

People drive too fast on Weston because they use it to avoid 128 rather than as local traffic. It's a totally crap road to bike on, and if I were doing it I would take the lane for the duration.

Letting the driver off without charges is a travesty. Either it's a knowing hit and run (with death, this is a felony), or he's such an oblivious driver he can kill somebody without even noticing. He should have his license revoked at the least.

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1. Yes, EVERYONE in Wellesley is 1%-er multimillionaires. Nobody lives in public housing, there are no modest homes or limited incomes, we hold fund-raisers for the summer-homeless. Yep, just living in the town says everything there is to know about someone & their circumstances.

2. Yes, Westin Road in Wellesley (aka Wellesley Street in Westin) is very narrow. The stretch from Rt. 9 to the intersection where the accident happened was rebuilt several years ago and while nicely paved, curbed, and sidewalked it is a tight fit.

The rumor is the town employee who oversaw the redesign is no longer in position. The rumored reason is fire trucks can't make it through traffic on the road. Supposedly the utility poles on the west side, the Wellesley College expansion land, weren't moved back from the road as part of the project. Thus supposedly there is now not enough room after the east side's sidewalk realignment.

However, where the accident happened there appears to be sufficient roadbed & sidewalk. But it is a busy intersection where traffic frequently backs up, drivers stuck in the backup often suddenly turn to use an alternate route, and pedestrians regularly step out into the road without waiting for their turns.

Therefore it is not inconceivable in the complexity of the intersection, while making a right-angle turn, a large truck could hit a bicyclist, or a bicyclist hit a truck, and the truck driver be unaware.

BTW, the underline tag doesn't seem to be working.

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