Staff Reports
J.C. Derrick
Marion County Sheriff’s deputy hit and killed a 63-year-old Gainesville man riding a bicycle along State Road 200 in Ocala early Wednesday morning.
According to a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) release, the 22-year-old Ocala man was driving a marked Marion County Sheriff’s Office SUV east on SR 200 near SW 80th Avenue at 3:19 a.m. when he hit a non-illuminated bicyclist from the rear who was traveling in the right lane.
The area where the collision took place was dark with no street lighting and the bicycle did not have any illumination devices and the bicyclist was not wearing reflective clothing, according to the release.
Marion County Fire Rescue pronounced the bicyclist deceased on scene. Â
Tags: bicycle fatality Florida Highway Patrol Gainesville Marion County Fire Rescue Marion County Sheriff's Office Ocala State Road 200
It is certainly too bad this happened, but at 3 AM a good set of bike lights is absolutely necessary.
Having traveled that particular road at night I cannot fathom how anyone with any common sense would ride with zero lights and not expect to be hit! The MCSO LEO will feel badly but I am confident FDLE will close his case expeditiously….As for our bike loving Gainesville – biking at night sans lights, vests, weating dark clothing, etc. on completely dark roads is all too common. I travel thorough some of these streets in the middle of the night as part of my job and NEVER see any law enforcement presence. Maybe some proactive policing to cite these riders MIGHT help them to change their ways is in order?