> Apparently, the driver did not know he had hit the
> cyclists and continued west for about 700 feet until he
> was stopped by an off-duty Vallejo police officer, the
> spokeswoman said. The officer detained the man until CHP
> officers arrived, she said. He is now in custody and
> charged with driving under the influence.
I read and hear about things like this and once in a while
think that maybe I shouldn't be taking life for granted. I
don't think there's anything I can take from what happened
that might make me safer on the road, nor much I can see
that might be done to ensure that things like this don't
happen in general. The guy was drunk, before noon even.
Unless we make alcoholism a capital offense...
When I was in DC for the Bicycle Summit, we were discussing
how best to use money to make the roads safer for cycling.
When we looked at how money is spent and where most of the
danger comes from, it was blindingly clear that ANYTHING
done to reduce drinking drivers being on the road had the
most significant impact on safety. Nothing else was even
close. I'm just not sure how far society is willing to go
to handle the problem. Look at all the hoopla every time
they set up sobriety checkpoints! Still, this guy was
operating far outside of the norm, meaning that any
additional efforts to target drunk drivers on the road is
best spent when there are more drunk drivers on the road,
specifically in the evenings.
Basic laws regarding serving alcohol in California can be
found here-
http://www.bartendergirl.com/gar_state.htm
So I question this- is there a need to be selling alcohol at
6am at a bar (or anywhere else?)? So I retract my earlier
statement that there's nothing that can be done about
accidents like this. I don't know if the guy was actually
drinking in a bar or had a six-pack at home before he took
to the road, but it seems that anything done to encourage
early recreational drinking is a bad thing.
This particular story, these particular cyclists aren't
merely an excuse for an academic exercise. They were both
customers of ours.
--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com
