Woman runs over teenaged cyclist, then sues his bereaved family

[SvennoJ]

MoHasanie said:

SvennoJ said:

I've been hit side on by a car, when I was about 10, while crossing the road. Apparently the car that hit me overtook the car turning right at the intersection. I don't remember the actual hit, it was at about 60 kph according to the police report. I had a broken leg and a severe concussion, the bicycle was quite dead. Anyway pretty survivable at 60. Dunno about 90, apparently it's not.

Well luckily you were alright, but 90hm/hr is 50% more than 60. The European Road Safety Obeservatory did an investigation and found that if a pedestrian was hit by a car 60 km/hr then the probablity of death is 0.6, and any speed above 80 results in death for sure. So even if this lady was driving at the speed limit, then the cyclist would most probably still have died. 

I guess age also plays a factor, plus when you're on a bike you are higher up compared to the bumper, more likely to glance of the windshield. And you already have forward momentum when hit from behind.
Stopping distance increases exponentially with speed, every bit helps. Anyway in the rain at night, with poor visibility, she should have stayed in the 60-70 range for that kind of road.