Ilan Vardi wrote:
>
> "James Calivar" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:<
[email protected]>...
>
> >
> > If you have friends or family who also agree that Clear Channel should not promote violence
> > against bicyclists, forward this to them.
>
> Hey, I have been attacked twice by commuter cyclists, in both cases for refusing to get off the
> bike path to let them pass (I was on a bicycle in one case, and roller skates in the second). My
> wife, as a pedestrian, was knocked unconscious by another, who fled the scene. One way or another,
> they should learn that they don't own the road.
Dumbass,
I'm sorry about that bad experience, but.....
No matter how rude or wrong, cyclists don't normally kill people out on the road. Motor vehicle
drivers kill and maim on a daily basis.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/29ate_b3.html "SANTA ROSA
Hit-and-run victim identified
A bicyclist killed over the weekend by a hit-and-run driver in Santa Rosa was identified Tuesday as
Burl Mull.
Mull, 44, was riding along Barnes Road on Sunday evening when he was struck by a pickup.
CHP officers are looking for a Ford F-150, possibly red or white, which could have damage to its
front and right side, one working headlight and a missing rearview mirror.
Mull had lived in Sonoma County for about five years, but coroner's investigators didn't have an
exact address and said he could have been a transient, Sgt. Will Wallman said.
-- Randi Rossmann"
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/opinion/letters/19lettsprerung.html "Hit and run EDITOR: To the person
who hit and injured my son on his bike at the intersection of Hoen Avenue and Cypress Way on Oct.
13, for your information he was not OK. We spent the night in the emergency room.
Your choice to leave my son bleeding and confused to save yourself is appalling to me. Leaving an
accident scene without giving any information is considered a hit and run.
We have filed a police report. Do the right thing.
RICHARD ILLIA
Santa Rosa"
http://www.rossdillon.com/ "Since Ross was hurt, the second or third question we are asked by those
who hear Ross's story is: "What is going to happen to the driver?" We have not had a good answer to
that question, indeed we still do not. But recently we spoke with an assistant District Attorney for
Sonoma County who explained the law as it applies to Ross's case.
Had Ross not survived his injuries, the District Attorney could have prosecuted the driver for
manslaughter since she drove off the road for no apparent reason and struck him in a marked bike
lane. However, the law will not permit, and the District Attorney will not prosecute, any criminal
offense for grave bodily injury under the same facts. Because Ross survived, the only other charge
with which to prosecute the driver is reckless driving with bodily injury.
The position of the District Attorney's office is that failing to see a bicyclist, driving off
the road, and plowing into someone is not reckless.The California Legislature would have to
modify the Penal Code sections defining recklessness in order to support criminal prosecution in
a case like Ross's.
To us, this means that the law offers no protection from inattentive, incompetent divers - not for
bicyclists obeying the rules of the road, not for children walking to school, not for anyone else in
the path of an oncoming vehicle.
Obviously, this is unacceptable.
If you are as outraged as we are that the kind of catastrophic injuries Ross has suffered goes
unpunished in our legal system, we would encourage you to take action. Write the Sonoma Country
District Attorney. Write your representative in the California Legislature. Write your local
newspaper or email your discussion group. We have absolutely nothing to lose."
