Another one! R.I.P Carla Swart

Karl2010
Karl2010 Posts: 511
edited January 2011 in Pro race
Pulled this from Twitter:

"Carla Swart, 23yrs of HTC died moments after colliding with a truck during TT training in Sth Africa today."

Its just not right is it? 23 years old for f**ks sake!
It makes me mad!

What a tradgedy!

Comments

  • stagehopper
    stagehopper Posts: 1,593
    She had a great breakthrough season last year with US team which led to HTC picking her up for 2011 for her first season with pro-team.

    Good piece here:

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cycling ... arla-swart
  • sonny73
    sonny73 Posts: 2,203
    Tragic news, RIP. Such a waste. Thoughts go out to her family and friends also.
  • http://triplecrankset.com/2010/05/swart ... criterium/

    Found this nice article on her racing this past year for her prior team.

    You know, I think cyclists sometimes get into trouble when they ride on unfamiliar roads and South Africa might have been a big change for her.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    You know, I think cyclists sometimes get into trouble when they ride on unfamiliar roads and South Africa might have been a big change for her.

    Er, she was South African.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    Terrible news.

    As a side point; we all know how Phil Liggett struggles with his names during *LIVE* commentary, but today he out his foot in it.

    Unfortunately he decided to tweet that Carla Ryan passed away, which was news to a lot of us who follow her career here in Australia.
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,906
    I think South Africa has the most road deaths of any country in the world.

    http://www.economist.com/node/17913486? ... 6&fsrc=rss

    20110115_mac877.gif

    Very sad.
  • The initial report on cyclingnews suggests she turned in the road to retrieve her cycle computer, into the path of the oncoming truck which had nowhere to go.
  • ilm_zero7
    ilm_zero7 Posts: 2,213
    http://veloviewer.com/SigImage.php?a=3370a&r=3&c=5&u=M&g=p&f=abcdefghij&z=a.png
    Wiliers: Cento Uno/Superleggera R and Zero 7. Bianchi Infinito CV and Oltre XR2
  • Rich, Thanks for the note,

    Now to stats, backed by a blog asserting this:
    Cyclists Injured per 10 million Km

    * US 35
    * UK 6
    * Netherlands 1.4


    Read more: http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/cycling/c ... z1BbLV1Ki5

    A few other stats there too.

    So, I was under the impression riding in the US was quite a bit more dangerous than in the UK. I think some areas of the USA are hospitable and then, others are not.

    I get a news alert for cycling safety stories. Interesting what comes up.
    Police in Oxfordshire are urging road users to exercise extra caution following a spate of thefts of manhole covers in and around Henley-on-Thames, which the AA has warned could result in a cyclist being killed.

    .........

    A fortnight ago, nineteen were stolen from the A4074 between Woodcote and Checkendon, and Thames Valley Police are trying to trace a white transit van seen nearby shortly beforehand

    http://road.cc/content/news/29653-theft ... t-warns-aa

    That's kind of scary.
    BEIJING — Pedestrians are flattened by trucks as they walk along China's highways, cyclists are flipped high in the air by speeding cars and sudden death haunts the anything-goes intersections in cities.

    Global automakers may be salivating over massive car sales in the world's most populous nation, but hundreds of people die on China's roads each day -- and some of their deaths are shown in gruesome detail on television.

    The carnage in Beijing alone is staggering, prompting a local television network to replay some of the most grisly accidents as a way to educate the thousands of new drivers that hit the capital's roads each day.

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... 80b5e0.1d1

    I guess they did not have stats for China on that graph.
  • Absolutely tragic with the loss of two amazingly talented young athletes in less than 24 hours.

    Here's a FB page in memory of Carla Swart, couldn't find one for Lewis Balyckyi yet.

    http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/In-Mem ... 4791924125
  • scazzer
    scazzer Posts: 254
    R.I.P to both talented riders who where only just starting their journey of life and ready to take that next step to better things :cry:

    I work on same station as Lewis's dad and only couple weeks ago he was telling how well he ws doing,and so proud that he had just signed for cycle team.......Gutted