Sad news to mark my return to blogging, a man on a bicycle was struck from behind in a hit-and-run accident early Friday morning:
A hit-and-run incident left a Norman man seriously injured Friday, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.
Troopers said Brian Dressler, 32, was struck from behind about 4 a.m. while riding his bicycle on the shoulder of the Interstate 35 bridge over the Canadian River in Cleveland County.
via Norman bicyclist was knocked off Canadian River bridge | NewsOK.com.
Dressler and his bike then fell 25 feet from the top of the bridge. He was transported to Norman Regional Hospital where he was last listed as being in serious condition. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is asking anyone with information on this crash to contact them at 405-425-2323 or *55 on their cellphone.
While this is a clear-cut case of a hit-and-run crash, I am curious about what the rules are about cyclists being on Interstates? Not that I ever want to ride on one . . .
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I’m pretty sure its illegal in Oklahoma to bicycle on the interstate. Even up here in Washington, which is the bike-friendliest (is that a word?) of states, there are only certain parts of I-5 that you can get on with a bicycle. That being said, this is still a tragic event and will send some prayers out to the cyclist and his family.
I can’t imagine a person being calloused enough to be able to drive away from such an accident. I pray that the cyclist makes a full recovery, and hope that the hit-and-run driver gets any bad karma he or she deserves for driving off after what could’ve easily been a fatality accident.
I’ve considered riding south sometime, and have heard that taking US 77 south works pretty well in most places. I think its bridge over the river is near Lexington, and should be far less busy than the I-35 bridge.
According to the lady I spoke with at the Highway Patrol’s Troop A office, it is legal to ride a bicycle on an interstate.
@Ryan Johnson: In Washington, I-5 is open to bicyclists it’s entire length from Oregon to Canada except for short segments in urban areas where there are inadequate shoulders on bridges or particularly tricky ramps to cross (and it’ll be posted as such if you can’t enter at a particular spot, and there is signage letting you know the freeway is about to close to cyclists coming up). Most states operate freeways in this manner.
Oklahoma prohibits bicycling on any road with a minimum speed limit, unless it’s also a posted bike route. I’m not familiar with that segment of I 35, but if it’s anything like OK 51 in Tulsa/Broken Arrow and I 44 through Tulsa, then it’s entirely possible to enter the freeway and not know that you can’t bike there until you’re far enough in to actually pass a speed limit sign. For some reason, OklaDOT doesn’t follow the US MUTCD for prohibition signage at ramp entrances (ie, post that you can’t enter if you’re travelling by specific modes), but the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority does…go figure…
I was hit at 5;00 in the afternoon and was knocked out under the bridge. It took me an hour and a half to crawl to a near by apartment complex where a nice lady called me an ambulance at 4:00 AM. Papers cant get anything right.
I’m terribly sorry to hear of your ordeal but thrilled to hear from you. The lack of follow-up to the initial story was a bit worrisome I hope you are recovering well . . .