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Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

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Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#141

Post by joeyh »

I'm a Debian guy. I randomly encountered Seth at a hotel in Berlin, and we spent several very jetlagged hours in the lobby waiting for rooms to open up and talking about everything from yum performance to peak oil to blacksmithing. That trip turned out to be my worst European trip ever -- most of my other memories of it involve shivering under an expensive feather duvet and trying not to infect anyone when I dragged myself to meetings. Seth let me have a positive memory of that trip. We swam in different circles online and I only knew him briefly, but he was clearly a great guy.

(Also, this is the second friend of mime to be killed in a hit and run car vs bike. The other was lilo. Sucks.)

Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#142

Post by adrr »

malandrew wrote: post #117
oinksoft wrote: post #64

The sad truth is that while bicycles should be respected as vehicles, they are given lip service at best in driver education and there is little attempt made at going after motorists who drive aggressively around them. As a result, you put yourself at great risk of life and limb when you ride on a road like this one: http://www.mapquest.com/?version=1.0&hk=6-LvU0mhA3 (Hillandale Rd, Durham, NC) I accomplish all of my…

In San Francisco, according to CSC 21202, the bicyclist is allowed full use of lanes. The important clause to pay attention to is clause (c). The most important part of that clause is the use of the term "substandard width lane", which although not defined in the statute, has been established via jurisprudence to be approximately 14-15 ft. Many many rightmost lanes in SF are not 14+ ft wide, meaning that on most road…

Santa Monica has the same rules. I biked to worked for two months straight, my car never left the garage until one day someone didn't like the fact i was in the middle of the lane. Accelerated at me, and then tried to run me off the road at 35+ mph on a small street. Tired of people honking at me or cutting me off so i quit riding my bike. Not worth my life. City really needs to take every 4th or 5th street and make them bike streets where cars are allowed but required to yield to bikes at all times. No passing, no overtaking etc. Gladly ride an extra 4th blocks if means i'm not going to get run down.

Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#143

Post by nkohari »

xanderstrike wrote: post #60
danso wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fatal vehicle accidents are not always vehicular homicide/manslaughter. A standard of negligence (such as being past the DUI limit) has to be established. Hit-and-run also does not necessarily result in a homicide (or assault) charge being filed.

Someone struck him with a car and killed him. I think leaving the scene after killing someone with a vehicle should satisfy any any standard of negligence.

That's not what "negligence" means in the legal sense.

Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#144

Post by gamache »

baddox wrote: post #102
oinksoft wrote: post #64

The sad truth is that while bicycles should be respected as vehicles, they are given lip service at best in driver education and there is little attempt made at going after motorists who drive aggressively around them. As a result, you put yourself at great risk of life and limb when you ride on a road like this one: http://www.mapquest.com/?version=1.0&hk=6-LvU0mhA3 (Hillandale Rd, Durham, NC) I accomplish all of my…

> The sad truth is that while bicycles should be respected as vehicles, I tend to agree, but I can see both sides. There is also very little (and, as far as I know, zero required) bicyclist education, and many bicyclists make little attempt to drive predictably and safely either out of boldness or ignorance. Similarly, while stricter rules and enforcement for automobile drivers is warranted, I think the same goes for…

I don't think it's appropriate to consider bicycles as "first-class vehicles" in all situations, namely in the dangerous situations you list (speed limits >~25mph, multiple automobile lanes, etc.).

Driving a motor vehicle on a road is a privilege. This privilege is represented by a motor vehicle operator's license, which may be revoked by the state for a variety of reasons.

Riding a bicycle on a non-Interstate public road is a right. If this clashes with driving habits, driving habits need to yield.

Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#145

Post by oinksoft »

aroch wrote: post #128
oinksoft wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that a cyclist flaunting traffic laws should always be liable for accidents, but the last thing we need if we want to encourage bicycling is nanny-state policing of proper signaling and such. Any city that has resources for this ought to take a hard look at the size of their police force. Your idea of banning cycle traffic on >25mph roads is misguided. Most cyclists have no trouble traveling at a speed greate…

>Most cyclists have no trouble traveling at a speed greater than 25mph, even uphill I doubt that, maybe in burst/sprint but not sustained...Hell, the average top speeds in the Tour de France during the sprints is barely 25mph and those are top athletes. >but the last thing we need if we want to encourage bicycling is nanny-state policing of proper signaling and such. So we should enforce traffic laws on cars but not…

You're right, there are lots of slow cyclists who seldom top 15mph. Nevertheless, the speed limit is a speed limit, and if I can manage 25mph on a 35mph road, I don't see the issue. Mixed-use roads that see cyclists clogging traffic should provide simple painted bike lanes if nothing else.

  So we should enforce traffic laws on cars but not on
  bicycles? That's fairly myopic...
Fewer than 1000 people die in bicycle accidents a year. It is just not comparable to the danger of auto transport.

Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#146

Post by _delirium »

mh- wrote: post #132
_delirium wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Without living in the US it is hard for you to come up with a valid argument against prioritizing automobile infrastructure. I'm American, and have lived in the U.S. for about 90% of my life, so I'm pretty familiar with the issues. Even leaving aside major change, and just taking cities as they exist today, pedestrian/bicyclist access and safety is just not prioritized even within cities. I lived in midtown Atlanta…

in short: you're (incorrectly) extrapolating what you know about one midsized city to the rest of the US.

I could tell you about the years I lived in Houston or Los Angeles if you prefer. The situation for pedestrians there was not any better. I've also, more relevant to this article, spent a little time in Raleigh, though I haven't lived there. There is about a 2 block by 8 block area of downtown Raleigh that is reasonably safe for pedestrians.

Maybe somewhere like Portland is different; I haven't been there.

Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#147

Post by stevesalevan »

I had the opportunity to work with Seth on the Func project and knew him to be a seriously stand-up dude who cared deeply about the quality of his work and the people who used it. You just had to say 'skvidal' on #fedora-devel and, as if by magic, he'd appear and get you unblocked on whatever it was you were hacking on. It was just unbelievable, I've never known a developer that cared so much about making people's lives easier.

Everyone who had the privilege to be in Seth's orbit knew he was a hell of a developer, a hell of a sysadmin, and a man who worked his ass off to make the world of Linux a better place, and by god did he make it so.

RIP Seth, I will miss you greatly and I know that there must be a massive crowd of folks up there vouching for you, having saved this mortal world from dependency hell.

Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#148

Post by lutorm »

aroch wrote: post #128
oinksoft wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that a cyclist flaunting traffic laws should always be liable for accidents, but the last thing we need if we want to encourage bicycling is nanny-state policing of proper signaling and such. Any city that has resources for this ought to take a hard look at the size of their police force. Your idea of banning cycle traffic on >25mph roads is misguided. Most cyclists have no trouble traveling at a speed greate…

>Most cyclists have no trouble traveling at a speed greater than 25mph, even uphill I doubt that, maybe in burst/sprint but not sustained...Hell, the average top speeds in the Tour de France during the sprints is barely 25mph and those are top athletes. >but the last thing we need if we want to encourage bicycling is nanny-state policing of proper signaling and such. So we should enforce traffic laws on cars but not…

No, laws that are appropriate for cars may not be appropriate for bicycles. Stop signs, for example. There is no justification for requiring bicyclists to come to a complete stop to safely cross an intersection. (There isn't for cars, either, but that's a separate issue.)

Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#149

Post by malandrew »

josh2600 wrote: post #12

This is terrible, but I wonder if there's a technical way we can provide a black box for bicyclists so that these sorts of injustices don't go unpunished. RIP :(.

GoPro.

It's becoming more common for bicyclists to do what they do in Russia with dashcams.

What I don't know is if there is a model that will continuously record and maintain a log of the last hour of your trip. The only thing they would need is an accelorometer that would trigger an auto-shutoff timer of about 5 minutes in the case of a sudden change in acceleration in an accident.

Re: Seth Vidal, creator of yum, killed in hit and run accident

#150

Post by maw »

enraged_camel wrote: post #86
oinksoft wrote: post #64

The sad truth is that while bicycles should be respected as vehicles, they are given lip service at best in driver education and there is little attempt made at going after motorists who drive aggressively around them. As a result, you put yourself at great risk of life and limb when you ride on a road like this one: http://www.mapquest.com/?version=1.0&hk=6-LvU0mhA3 (Hillandale Rd, Durham, NC) I accomplish all of my…

I only ride my bike on dedicated bike lanes (by "dedicated" I mean those blocked from the main road) and bike paths. Everywhere else, I ride on the sidewalk. Fortunately, most sidewalks where I live are sparsely populated, and I make sure to slow down to walking speed or dismount completely when going through areas with lots of pedestrians. Someone told me I could get cited for riding my bike on a sidewalk. Fuck that…

* I only ride my bike on dedicated bike lanes (by "dedicated" I mean those blocked from the main road) and bike paths.*

Where I live, Mexico City, there are lots of idiots who ride in the wrong direction in those lanes. I confront some of them and am told that I am crazy, because, you know, no pasa nada.

Be happy that you have bike lanes at all; for all intents and purposes there aren't any where I live.

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