{"id":958987,"date":"2026-11-10T05:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T05:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/958987\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T05:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T05:16:08","slug":"triangle-cyclists-push-for-awareness-safer-roads-after-deadly-group-ride-crash-wral-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/958987\/","title":{"rendered":"Triangle cyclists push for awareness, safer roads after deadly group ride crash :: WRAL.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of the Triangle’s cycling community are pushing for more awareness on the roads after a crash Saturday killed a rider<\/a> and injured several others near Holly Springs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police confirm that Patrick Turner<\/a>, 63, of Cary, died, and 20 others were injured after a car ran into the group of bicyclists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The driver in the crash, Donald Robert Morris-Jones, 76, of Apex, is facing more than a dozen felony charges<\/a>, including hit-and-run and DWI.<\/p>\n

Alejandro Sandoval is a cyclist who is a part of a handful of groups in the Wake County area. He was riding with another group nearby in Holly Springs when he heard of the crash.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It was devastating,” Sandoval said. “We all know at least someone on that team or that group that got affected by this.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many have shown support for those affected by the crash, Sandoval has noticed backlash online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“You jump into the the comment section of of every video or report out there, and you see how much people are upset or angry at the cyclist…I’ve read a couple comments that they say like we don’t have enough accidents, so it was a little bit overwhelming to to see that,” he said. “A lot of us took it personal because we are out there unprotected in a way from a car that that is just scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandoval says they are aware of the risks that come with cycling on the road. <\/p>\n

North Carolina state law allows bicycles to travel on public roadways. Many members of the cycling community are also asking drivers to be aware.<\/p>\n

“I would just like people to know that we both belong in the roads, drivers and cyclists,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sandoval also said it is safer for cyclists to ride in large groups.<\/p>\n

“If you stay in a group, it helps in the curves where a driver might not see you,” he said. “We try to take the whole lane…so they can see us as soon as they come out from a curve or from the distance.”<\/p>\n

He also said groups often have lights on and wear helmets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even with added protection, Sandoval says many riders tell him they are worried to get back on their bikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The fear is always there….you can feel the air passing when a car passes you, and it’s a little bit frightening,” he said. “You just have to get over it and and and see that you are doing this for a higher purpose.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

That higher purpose–a sense of community and raising money for local charities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We live in a world where we want to isolate from everything,” he said. “Joining a club, cyclist club, you can exercise, and you can build community. You can build relationships with other people from all walks of life.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of the Triangle’s cycling community are pushing for more awareness on the roads after a crash Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":958988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,1154,784,526391,16863,85,526392],"class_list":["post-958987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-crash","tag-cycling","tag-dwi","tag-safety","tag-sports","tag-wake-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}