Professional runner Sally Meyerhoff (2 time RRCA Roads Scholar) died Tuesday after her bike collided with a pickup truck in Maricopa, police said. Meyerhoff apparently biked through the intersection of White and Parker Road and Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway around 1:30 p.m. heading south and collided with a truck heading east, according to Maricopa police spokeswoman LaTricia Woods.
The driver showed no signs of impairment, Woods said.
Meyerhoff, considered one of America’s top 10 marathon runners, was training for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston. She won the women’s section of the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon in January.
Tempe Marcos de Niza High track coach Anna Rodriguez, who ran on the same cross country and track teams with Meyerhoff at Phoenix Mountain Pointe High in the early 2000s, said she confirmed the death through Meyerhoff’s younger sister, Samantha, whom Rodriguez coached three years ago at Marcos de Niza.
“It’s shocking; I still don’t believe it happened,” Rodriguez said.
Meyerhoff, a 2002 Mountain Pointe graduate, was a seven-time state high school track and field champion in the 1600 and 3200 meters. She finished 12th at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in 2001. She graduated in 2006 from Duke, where she was an NCAA All-American in cross country in 2004 and in track in 2006. She was the Atlantic Coast Conference cross-country champion in 2004. In January, Meyerhoff celebrated a marathon championship in her home town, winning the P.F. Chang event in 2 hours, 35 minutes, 49 seconds. It qualified her for her second Olympics Trials in the marathon.
“This is what she dreamed about,” Rodriguez said. “She wanted to have a family and kids. But I kept telling her, ‘You’ll have that, too.’ She was so driven. Nothing was going to get in her way.”
While any person killed in a bicycle car accident is tragic and nearly impossible to comprehend, the sad fact is that many of the victims of bicycle accident are children who are hit by motorist who do not see them.
NATIONALLY
- U.S. Department of Transportation statistics show that more than 8,000 bicyclists died and 700,000 were injured in motor vehicle-related crashes in the past decade.
- More than one-third of all bicycle fatalities involve riders 5 to 20 years old, and 41 percent of nonfatal injuries occur to children under the age of 15.
- Each year, more than 500,000 people in the US are treated in emergency rooms, and more than 700 people die as a result of bicycle-related injuries.
CALIFORNIA
- California Highway Patrol gathered statistics for 1,997 accidents which show that the bicyclist was placed at fault approximately sixty percent of the time where the rider was severely injured or sustained fatal injuries.
- In California, bicycle plaintiffs lose two out of three cases that go to trial.
LOS ANGELES
- In Los Angeles, cyclists may ride on sidewalks unless they exhibit “willful” or “wanton” behavior. In San Francisco it is forbidden, except for bike riders under age 13.
- Los Angeles has 1,200 miles of bikeways, but many are along busy thoroughfares on which cars and bikes compete for space.
- At the turn of the 20th century, Los Angeles was considered the bicycle capital of the nation, and portions of the route taken by the Pasadena Freeway had been a bikeway.
- Just 0.6% of Los Angeles’ 28,000 miles of street lanes are for bikes, compared to cities like Portland who have about 6% of its 3,949 miles of street lanes for bikes.
- In 2006, 28 people in Los Angeles County were killed on bikes, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety.
To fully protect your rights you should consult with an experienced California personal injury lawyer as soon as you are able, and even if you are still in the hospital, your lawyer can easily visit you to gather the facts surrounding your bicycle accident necessary to begin filing a claim with the at fault drivers insurance company.
California bicycle car accidents can be deadly. If you or a loved one has been injured while riding a bicycle you need an experienced California bicycle accident lawyer who will fight to protect your rights and get you the money you deserve to cover your medical bills, repair your bike and a cash settlement for your pain and suffering. Visit Nadrich & Cohen, LLP for a free consultation today.
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