(we cover South Jersey's media market)

I saw a picture earlier today after that win where one of the players skated around carrying the little Gaudreau kid.

when they were killed by a drunk driver. It's no less a tragedy. Still, makes you wonder why riding bikes while drunk at night beside a busy highway was such a good idea.

Gaudreau brothers crash: Prosecutors say blood alcohol levels should be inadmissible at trial - 6abc Philadelphia https://share.google/hFhIFaWxN5hh3GITK

It was the night before their sister's wedding, so they were apparently doing what bros do before "the big day".

Katie Gaudreau Marries Devin Joyce in Emotional Ceremony 1 Year After Her Brothers Johnny and Matthew Were Killed on Eve of Her Wedding

when drunk. Make bad decisions , not just driving drunk. Are reckless. Taking an Uber might have been a better choice.

and at least didn't get behind the wheel of a car like the drunk driver that hit them - just rode their bikes.

Here are the FACTS -

alcohol.org

The brothers each had significantly higher blood alcohol levels than the drunk driver who hit them. They put themselves at risk needlessly when they decided to ride their bikes--drunk--at night next to a busy highway. Maybe they would have made the same decision anyway if they hadn't been drunk because they were young and overconfident in their own abilities. Maybe. It's much easier to blame a drunk driver for a tragedy than to accept the fact that maybe the brothers made a poor decision that put themselves in a risky situation because they were also drunk.



https://6abc.com/post/gaudreau-brothers-nj-crash-bac-levels-sean-higgins-trial/16151165/

and not the driver who witnesses said was "driving aggressively".

Got it.

This thing about a "busy road" makes it seem like it was a multi-lane highway going through a city.

This LITERALLY happened on what could be called a "country road" in the boonies of South Jersey LITERALLY adjacent to corn fields.

All I am doing is raising the question --for the purpose of educating people about the effects of alcohol --of whether the brothers alcohol level might have impaired their judgement regarding the risk they were taking by choosing to ride their bikes at night on a road where there was traffic (if there hadn't been traffic there wouldn't have been witnesses).

Car vs bike doesn't usually end up well for the bike rider. Were the brothers oblivious to the risk they were taking? Did they not understand it? Right now in The Lounge there's a DU'er who has posted about his bike accident: it was the driver's fault. There's also the story on the thread from another DU'ER of his bike accident which he says was his fault for being young and riding recklessly. They say that riding a bicycle is good for your health. LIARS! - Democratic Underground Forums https://share.google/W3hssQHaRkpoJ8mvn
Locally where I live there is a marvelous walking/biking trail. Not long ago a man on the trail was killed by a car that hit him while he was crossing a place where the trail intersects a road. A bike rider even on a trail is at risk just crossing a road. 'It can happen to any one of us': Gathering remembers cyclist killed in hit-and-run - 9th Street Journal https://share.google/9Ws8mFXtgMgDtw8Fx

All I'm doing is asking the question whether alcohol played a role in the decision they made to ride their bikes--while drunk themselves --at night on a road where there was traffic. They didn't have to be there. If an Uber wasn't an option, surely they could have called a friend or family member to come get them? But maybe being young males was their downfall. Maybe they couldn't acknowledge the limitations on their ability to control events. Maybe they thought there was no risk. We'll never know.

It was a tragic accident.

and there is a whole DU group that discusses the issues of addiction including alcohol.

I expect the brothers were going to be a part of that wedding and had probably been a part of rehearsals and whatnot that day and traditionally, the bride has some kind of get-together lunch/dinner or whatever for the wedding participants the day/night before.

Back decades ago when I as their age, I used to ride my Trek "commuter style" bike (with commuter treads) every weekend for several years from spring to fall, down along the River Drives here in Philly. Had my gear (helmet, biker top and pants, tach on the handlebar, all kinds of flashing lights on the front/back of the bike). I was doing different circuits each weekend along their walking/biking/jogging/blading paths and/or on the street on one or both drives, some weeks a 9.3 mile single circuit from the Falls Bridge, up and around the Art Museum, and down the other drive back to the Falls bridge, and other times I doubled up one of the sides for 17 miles and once did a double circuit and a half for almost 25 miles. One of the times I was out there, I got to meet then-Mayor Ed Rendell when he helped to open a new city Rec center right there behind the Art Museum and got some free hotdogs!

The city has tried to make strides to accommodate bike riders on both trails and on the streets, and as long as they follow "the rules of the road" (i.e., not blowing through stop signs or red lights and not forgetting to signal turns as I have seen far too many times), they ARE permitted on the road (and in many municipalities NOT allowed on sidewalks with pedestrians for the purpose of them going on the road).

And from what I understand, there is no ordinance in that town for DUI for bikers. You don't expect that kind of issue on a country road. But then you don't have to be on a bike to have the same thing happen walking along a country road with no sidewalk. Ask Stephen King.

It's not about a DUI for bike riders.

In bike vs car, the car will win every time. The brothers chose to ride bikes--drunk--at night on a road where there was no protection from vehicles. It wouldn't take a drunk driver to injure/kill them. Someone texting could do it. An older person with failing night vision could not see them. A car full of teenagers listening to music and out for a drive could not see a stop sign and crash into them. A couple getting lovey dovey could be distracted and swerve into them. One of them could not see a rock or pothole, hit it and go flying over the handlebars into an oncoming vehicle. There are any number of ways they could have been hurt/killed by riding their bikes at night on that road. It was risky. They rolled the dice and lost. Would they have been riding their bikes that night if they weren't drunk? Probably not.
The point is that their alcohol consumption played a part in them being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It does not absolve the drunk driver. But to ignore the role that alcohol played in the decision they made is to suggest that alcohol does not impair judgement in ways that don't have anything to do with driving. It does.

Those kids growing up without a father need to know that there was more to the accident than a drunk driver hit their dad and uncle while they were riding their bikes. The fact that their father and uncle were drunk, too, should not be ignored, because it may have contributed to them making a poor decision which did not adequately take into consideration the danger of riding bikes at night on that road.

you are "risk taking". You could walk a couple steps along on a sidewalk and some lunatic behind the wheel could come careening around a corner and smash into you. The same could have happened to them without being on bikes.

It's bad enough seeing more and more cars ignoring school zone speed limits or school bus flashing lights and "stop" gates, and driving around the bus only to hit a child trying to cross the street.

In other words, the child "took a risk" assuming a car would stop with all that notice but "she lost".

Not sure why you are defending the driver and assuming the same might not have happened if they biked along the same road without having had any alcohol, and especially after 2 other drivers indicated the perp was "driving aggressively" trying to get past the cars in front of him (meaning those other drivers could have been in an accident caused by that guy), is beyond me.

.....what a win!!!

hey Kracken you need to offer Jack a contract!