What does it mean when the driver does not stop?

There is a particular cruelty in a death that arrives during an ordinary morning ride, when the light is still soft and the roads are quiet and a person is doing something they love for reasons that are entirely their own. Joseph Paratore, forty years old, was a husband, a father of two young boys, and a general manager at Southern Steel WA. He was also, by the account of those who rode with him, a "larger-than-life character" who had embraced cycling as a way to live longer for his family. "He often told me that cycling had saved his life," said Jeff Grbelja, a member of the same cycling group. "Those words are particularly heartbreaking now" .

Paratore was riding north on North Lake Road in Bibra Lake, a suburb south of Perth, just before 5:20 a.m. on Tuesday when he was struck by a white Toyota Prado. The vehicle did not stop. It continued north, turned left into Phoenix Road, right into Sudlow Road, and left again onto Forrest Road, according to Detective Senior Sergeant Hugh Le Tessier. Police believe the Prado would have sustained front-end damage, and a piece of an outside mirror was found at the scene . CCTV footage released by police shows Paratore cycling in the early morning light, his front light illuminated, moments before the white four-wheel-drive speeds past .

The driver remains at large more than a day after the collision. Police have urged the person to come forward. "The decent thing is to come forward," Le Tessier said. "The family want answers. This is a purely innocent victim that has lost their life" . The investigation is focused on identifying the driver of a white Toyota Prado seen in the area between 5:10 and 5:30 a.m., and anyone with dashcam or CCTV footage has been asked to contact Crime Stoppers .

There is a context to this death that extends beyond a single morning. Paratore's death is the sixth cycling fatality on Western Australian roads this year, compared to an average of four annually, according to WestCycle CEO Wayne Bradshaw . Just days before he was killed, Paratore completed the MACA Cancer 200 Ride for the Perkins for the fourth time, raising $982 for the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research . He had celebrated his fortieth birthday earlier this year with his wife and two sons, a cycling-themed cake on the table beside him .

For the people who knew him, the loss is layered. He was a manager who was "always there for his people," a friend said, someone who "would go the extra mile daily to make sure people were ok" . He was a father who rode to stay healthy for his children, and who died on a road he had every right to share. The white Prado is still out there, missing a mirror, carrying a driver who has not yet explained what happened.

The police search continues. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers online or by calling 1800 333 000. The family has asked that Paratore's photograph not be published. What remains is a community of cyclists grieving one of their own, and a question that only the driver can answer: why did you not stop?

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Sources: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, WAtoday, PerthNow, Daily Mail