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SIERRA VISTA — The cyclists involved in the tandem-bicycle versus-deer accident on Oct. 12 are still recovering from broken bones and a concussion.
The couple attribute their survival of the crash to their helmets, and expressed gratitude to the Huachuca City Police Department and Fry Fire District first responders, as well as the assisting motorists and the Sierra Vista emergency room staff for their quick and competent help.
And while they recover, they would like to remind the motoring community to respect and be courteous to the bicyclists and motorcyclists that share the road.
About 6:20 a.m. on Oct. 12, Jeff and Barb Franz were northbound on Highway 90 on their tandem bicycle and collided with a sprinting deer that was moving west near the intersection of McCray Street.
 Battered but well, optometrist Jeff Franz and his wife Barb survived an early morning collision with a deer on Highway 90 in Huachuca City on Oct. 12. The tandem bike sustained damage, and they say their helmets saved their lives. The deer wasn’t so lucky. It died. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review) |
The Franzes ride tandem every morning for about 20 miles. On the weekend they usually ride a trip between 50 and 80 miles.
A favorite route for their long weekend trip is from their Sierra Vista home to the Mustang Corners highway junction in Whetstone, east on Highway 82 to Tombstone, then toward Bisbee past the Highway 90 junction up to the Mule Pass Tunnel, where they turn around and ride back to Sierra Vista via Highway 90.
“She makes a good stoker,” Jeff said of his wife.
That is, Barb is the back rider on the tandem.
Some deer hair is still stuck in the creases of the front handlebars of their tandem bicycle from the collision that killed the three-point buck, shattered Jeff’s clavicle and gave his wife a concussion.
The two both have some colorful injuries as a result of their contact with the pavement.
“I had a fraction of a second that I knew it was a deer,” he said. “I saw it just for a flash.”
The point of impact was approximately shoulder to shoulder between Jeff and the buck. The deer hit the ground, Jeff flew feet over head and landed on his shoulder, which broke his collarbone in three places. He was momentarily unable to breathe, he said. Until the accident, Barb did not wear her helmet as tightly strapped as possible, so it buffered her head’s contact with the ground, but she suffered a concussion.
The deer got up, traveled about 200 yards, and died.
“I think there was a brief moment when I was unconscious,” Barb said.
She said she could hear her husband saying he couldn’t breathe, and she was trying to go to him and it seemed she was moving “in the dark.”
Both of their helmets were damaged.
“Wearing safety gear works. You may feel like it’s a nuisance to put on some gloves,” he said.
But his hands were uninjured.
“She tended to wear her helmet a little loose, and we used to have a lot of discussion about that,” Jeff said. “You can’t just wear a helmet, it has to be fitted properly.”
In addition to re-enforcing the importance of protective gear, traffic laws, courtesy and respect are other important issues related to this incident, the Franzes said.
“People don’t understand, we’re not in traffic, we are traffic,” Jeff said. “The majority of people are courteous, but we get a lot of people yelling ‘get off the road.’ ”
Sierra Vista police Officer Brian Sebastian said the law is clear about courtesy and respect for cyclists.
“It’s useful if everybody regards bicycles as rightful members of the traffic right of way. The statutory requirement is that you give them three feet, but generally they’re entitled to a lane if it’s feasible,” Sebastian said. “And for the bicyclists’ part, they’re required to ride as close to the edge of the road as is safe and reasonable.”
Dump trucks were driving along Highway 90 in Huachuca City near the crash, and the drivers stopped to help the injured Franzes and block traffic.
“There were good people who stopped,” she said.
Incidentally, Jeff is an eye doctor. He said deer don’t see in color as far as he knows. At the time in the dawn light, it seemed the deer had charged them as they traveled quietly at a quick clip on their tandem, but more probably the buck was just sprinting along en route to his morning activities, Jeff said.
“We know there is wildlife out there,” Barb added. “He was probably on a mission to get into his hinterlands. And we’re just normal people trying to enjoy life.”
The Franzes’ recovery time will prevent them from competing in the upcoming Tour De Tucson, which is disheartening to them.
But they are obviously glad they survived, and they look forward to getting back on their tandem, which allows them to train together.
Arizona Game and Fish Department Wildlife Manager John Millican said the wildlife are part of the Southeastern Arizona way of life, and he reminded the public to watch for animals on the roads.
In the Franzes’ case, it was just a bad situation for the deer and the cyclists, Millican said.
“It could have been a dog, it could have been anything else,” he said.
As the wildlife-rich region becomes more developed with roads and the population continues to grow, the animal-traffic interaction increases, he said.
The verdant areas next to asphalt tends to be the first to rejuvenate after a dry spell, and the drainage corridors next to roads provide food and water to wildlife, contributing to their presence around the highways and byways, Millican said.
With the drought in the last 10 to 12 years, the deer population has thinned, Millican said. But with recent wet winters and decent summer rains, the population is growing.
There are no problem spots with exceptionally heavy deer traffic, but, for example, there are a lot of deer run over on Highway 92 between the Mesquite Tree restaurant and Hunter Canyon, and the roadkills will probably increase as residential development in that area increases, Millican said.
Drivers and cyclists should be alert for wildlife in the roads, even though there may not be any avoiding an animal sometimes, he said.
Some people give advice to brake forcefully or swerve when a deer jumps in front of a vehicle, but that can cause loss of vehicle control that can lead to human injury or death, he said.
The Huachuca-area animals are not as massive as the moose and elk that motorists in other places must deal with, Millican said. So, sometimes it is better off to just hit the deer.
REPORTER Gentry Braswell can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at gentry.braswell@svherald.com.
deer wrote on Oct 20, 2007 8:33 PM: