Duck hunter capsizes kayak, drowns
Bikers, highway workers, cow herders, bicyclists (pedal-powered and motorized), wheelchair users, and just plain pedestrians are now considered ‘vulnerable users’ and motorists must give them at least a four-foot wide berth when passing, per state law.
On July 1, a new law went into effect in Vermont to protect vulnerable users on our roads. The law requires motorists to pass a vulnerable user at a distance of at least 4 feet, Drive Well Vermont state officials say.
Per statute, vulnerable users are defined as any of the following:
• A pedestrian;
• An operator of highway building, repair, or maintenance equipment or of agricultural equipment;
• A person operating a wheelchair or other personal mobility device, whether motorized or not;
• A person operating a bicycle or other nonmotorized means of transportation (such as roller skates, rollerblades, or roller skis);
• A person operating a motor-assisted bicycle or an electric bicycle; or
• A person riding, driving, or herding an animal.
For more information visit Safe Streets for All.
The AOT announcement about the new law on its Facebook page incited some online criticsm.
“The Law should have gone further that dictates that Bicyclists need to ride in single file as close to the right side of the road safety as possible. If a paved side shoulder ride in it, single file. If there is a wide breakdown lane then okay to ride size by side. Not too late to admend the law to make it safer for all that use the road.
Another commenter said: “Respectfully, was the person who wrote this law even from here? it’s not that i’m opposed, but there are an awful lot of very narrow roads in Vermont.”
And a third said: “How about we make the bicycles obey the laws of the road, they don’t stop for stop signs, if a school bus is dropping or picking up students they fly thru the reds , they zig zag like drunks.”
Duck hunter drowns
A kayaking duck hunter drowned in a Williamstown pond last weekend, state police say.
The Vermont State Police is investigating a presumed drowning involving Steven Jones, 30, of Brookfield, who was last seen Sunday afternoon in Rood Pond in Williamstown after his kayak overturned. Search crews recovered a body Monday morning, Oct. 14 that is believed to be his.
Police were notified of the incident at about 5:35 p.m. Sunday after witnesses heard yelling from the pond and saw the overturned kayak. Jones was reported to have been on the water to go duck hunting and was dressed in warm clothing but was not wearing a life vest. This incident does not appear suspicious.
Recovery efforts Monday involved the Vermont State Police Underwater Recovery Team, which located the body in the water at about 11 a.m. The body was brought to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for confirmation of identity and an autopsy to determine cause and manner of death.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact VSP’s Berlin Barracks at 802-229-9191.