The Hidden Story of the Hitten

[XLFD]

Recently a story was reported on seven different internet media relating to a collision between a car and a bicycle that happened in the Clare area.  Perhaps the best reporting done was by the Clare County Cleaver: 

"At approximately 6:05 p.m. on July 1 Clare County Central Dispatch received multiple 911 calls reporting a bicyclist hit by a vehicle on Clare Ave. South of Dover Rd., within Grant Township of Clare County.
Responding Deputies arrived to the scene and found that a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt, being driven by a 36 year old Clare man had been traveling North on Clare Ave., when the vehicle collided with a bicyclist, 18 year old Jonas Troyer of Clare, near Dover Rd. It was found that the bicyclist sustained life threatening injuries as a result of the collision. The bicyclist was treated at the scene by Mobile Medical Response Ambulance Service and then flown to Midland Hospital for treatment. The driver of the vehicle sustained no injuries from the accident. It was learned that the driver had three minor children in the vehicle, ages 12, 6, and 8 at the time of the collision. One child sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene.
It was later learned that 18 year old Jonas Troyer succumbed to his injuries sustained in the accident.  The accident remains under investigation."

The highlighted sentence shows that the driver was headed north on Clare Avenue, this is confirmed by one of the other sources:

TV 9&10:  "a man driving north on Clare Avenue collided with Jonas Troyer near Dover Road"

Two other qualified news sources indicated that the now-dead bicyclist was also traveling north on Clare Avenue:

The Morning Sun:  "Jonas Troyer of Clare was riding his bike north on Clare Avenue near Dover Road"

ABC 12 WNEM:  "Jonas Troyer was riding his bike north on Clare Avenue near Dover Road"

The three remaining media offered zero information on the directions either was going, just reporting that a collision had taken place and a young man was dead because of it, and one of the child passengers of the car had minor injuries treated at the scene:

Mlive

UpNorthLive (TV7&4)

WSMH Fox66

So let's take the consolidated story that both driver and rider were headed north down this rural road (you'll notice farms along the side of it, this is Amish country and it's likely that Jonas Troyer was of that persuasion from reports).  Now there is two possible scenarios, the first, and least likely being that Troyer was pedaling furiously behind the Cobalt and crashed into the back of it, killing himself and injuring a passenger.  We can be fairly confident that this was not the case, and a view of the Cobalt would likely show damage towards the front.

So the driver of the Chevy Cobalt going the same direction as the bicyclist proceeded to overtake the rider, but instead of passing, he plowed into the back of the bicycle and killed this vulnerable user of the road.  

You might be wondering:  Didn't the Michigan legislature just pass a law recently that those who pass bicycle riders must give them three feet clearance?  Right, but nothing in that law really protects a bicyclist who suffers from somebody who violates it and disables or kills them because of unsafe passing.  The legislator dropped the bicycle helmet when they failed to add any sort of teeth into the law.  This driver will effectively get away with negligent homicide in this case and will likely not even receive a citation or points on their license unless they test positive for some controlled substance.  

There should be no excuse for a vehicle driver not providing at least three foot clearance when passing cyclists and others on a roadway, it is no wonder that distracted driving incidents (like this seems to be) will continue to happen if people are not held accountable when their lack of attention kills others needlessly.

As the eighth source to report on this incident, here's my take: 

"Jonas Troyer of Clare was riding his bike north on Clare Avenue near Dover Road at around 6 PM on July 1st.  A 36 year old Clare man driving his 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt the same direction failed to pass Troyer with at least three feet to spare, as required by law.  He plowed into the back of the bicyclist, who died shortly after being transported to Midland Hospital.  The Clare County Sheriff's Office is investigating the collision to discover why the driver failed to pass the bicyclist safely."