Cycling in Sydney Australia
Family sues Strava over descending death
http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/news/family-sues-strava-over...
The gist:
A Strava user dies in an attempt to record the best time on a segment of a descent after another user beat his previous time.
Family believes that Strava negligently encouraged him to ride dangerously and sues Strava for "justice".
Seriously?
Strava's comment:
“The death of Kim Flint was a tragic accident, and we expressed our sincere condolences when it occurred in 2010. Based on the facts involved in the accident and the law, there is no merit to this lawsuit.”
I agree, surely there is no merit to this case. The word "tragic" accurately captures event - the tragic downfall is the the failure to achieve greatness due to an internal flaw or limit which brings about self-destruction.
Be safe and take responsibility for yourself when you are out on the road.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by timothy.clifford on -
I think everyone could see this coming in the land of our landsuit happy older cousins. It will be an interesting court case - just how much duty of care does Strava have? I have always looked on it not as a competive comparison, but rather an interesting training tool. Now I just need to work out what it is I'm actually training for.
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Permalink Reply by PeterT on -
IANAL but yes, I'll agree there's no merit to the case.
I believe there's a feature in Strava to report dangerous segments, for example in Australia it doesn't have to be descents, but even those involving roundabouts etc.
Strava is just a measurement tool, and being caught up with the leaderboard is one thing, but taking unnecessary risks is entirely another, especially for something as intangible as a virtual leader on a leaderboard which is a mere subset of riders who happen to post their rides on Strava.
Still, I think the lawsuit serves a purpose, as in the resultant news/publicity of the lawsuit and underlying circumstances could be very useful as a wake up call.
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Permalink Reply by herzog on -
Would our attitude be different if it were a site/system which was not for bikes, but for petrolheads?
Eg: Something for the hotted up P-Plater crowd setting PB's on certain sections of Macquarie Pass for example?
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Permalink Reply by herzog on
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On a related note, is there a Strava for a reverse lap of Centennial Park at the moment?
Riding home from work yesterday through the park I saw 3 separate cyclists riding the wrong way around the main drag. Two of them were going flat out, and only about a metre out from the parked cars.
This is monumentally stupid, given that any drivers reversing out of their spaces will be looking in the opposite direction.
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Permalink Reply by Rob Berry on -
My attitude wouldn't be a whole lot different - the responsibility is that of the driver, not the site administrator.
The simple fact is that there is no necessary relation between the existence of a record and an attempt to break that record. There is no necessary relation between a website or a book or any other form of information storage maintaining evidence of records and an attempt to break them. Individuals make the free decision to try to break the record and they need to accept responsibility for that action.
That being said, there are some practical differences between a bicycle and a car that can't just be ignored (the capacity for a car to far exceed the speed limit no matter if the road is flat, an ascent or a descent, the greater capacity of a car to do damage to people other than the occupant...).
As a result, I doubt the site would last long - the police would probably pay a bit of attention to people posting GPS tracked evidence of themselves breaking the law. I don't think there is much chance of anyone on the 200km ride I did on the weekend posting a time that required them to be over the speed limit the entire time (considering average speeds over the ride hover around the 20-30km/h), whereas a car on the same route could probably be breaking the law the entire time to set a record speed. In saying that, maybe the police should have a look at a few Strava records for cyclist descents and lay some charges if justified? I wouldn't have a problem with that.
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Permalink Reply by Bob Moore on -
If not laying charges based on Strava data, if that is possible, they could do some preemptive work and call for cyclists to not attempt descent records on open roads, if that is what some cyclists are doing.
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Permalink Reply by Will Wassell on -
This explains this mornings e-mail from strava pointing out their updated T’s & C’s, privacy policy and liability policy.
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Permalink Reply by Paul on -
YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES, WHICH GENERATE THE CONTENT YOU POST OR SEEK TO POST ON THE SITE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO CYCLING) CARRY CERTAIN INHERENT AND SIGNIFICANT RISKS OF PROPERTY DAMAGE, BODILY INJURY OR DEATH AND THAT YOU VOLUNTARILY ASSUME ALL KNOWN AND UNKNOWN RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THESE ACTIVITIES EVEN IF CAUSED IN WHOLE OR PART BY THE ACTION, INACTION OR NEGLIGENCE OF STRAVA OR BY THE ACTION, INACTION OR NEGLIGENCE OF OTHERS. YOU ALSO EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT STRAVA DOES NOT ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE INSPECTION, SUPERVISION, PREPARATION, OR CONDUCT OF ANY RACE, CONTEST, GROUP RIDE OR EVENT THAT UTILIZES STRAVA’S SITE.
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Permalink Reply by kirby on -
This is indeed a sad thing, a similar thing happened to a friend of mine happily he did not die. He was trying to best his Strava time going around this airport and came off and broke his elbow knocked out two teeth used his face for a brake and was unconscious for half an hour.
He doesn't in anyway blame Strava. His words 'Live by the sword'
Isn't this weather Glorious??
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Permalink Reply by sit ubu sit on
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A Strava trophy is not a suitable headstone. Don't let you epitaph be "Would have been the second fastest down McCarrs Creek Rd".
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Permalink Reply by Michael Fagan on -
This guy was 41 years old! That makes this less tragic and more tragicomedy in my view.
Check out the complete local TV story. It will make you angry.
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Permalink Reply by Neil Alexander on -
Not sure why that would make anyone angry. It was a well balanced, thought-provoking and intelligent report of a tragic event and its aftermath.
What makes me angry is the thought of how the same story would be presented, and promoted, by Channel 7 here.
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