Happy Halloween: Bay Area mayhem, death & destruction

Do you remember that poor 12 year old kid who was right hooked by a Lincoln Navigator at his school driveway in Byron, California? Bike lawyer Bob Mionske writes about him and compares the response of local authorities here vs what they do in the Netherlands.

When the driver says, “I didn’t see the cyclist,” that’s usually enough for everybody to call it a “tragic accident.” It’s not that the driver wasn’t looking where she was going. It was just a “tragic event” and the driver is “devastated.”

It’s the American way. But there’s another way.

Read more in Bicycling Magazine: In the US and the Netherlands, two children on bikes are struck by cars — and the responses couldn’t be more different.

More carnage around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond below.


CHP lane splitting


Biking In LA lists California bicycle fatalities. I’m glad he tracks this stuff, but for fairness and balance, I give equal time to motoring deaths to put the focus and fear where it belongs.

As of Wednesday night when I put this post to bed, I’ve tracked 18 traffic fatalities this week in the state of California. Some of the Bay Area ones are listed below. Drive careful and watch for the little ones tonight.

Wednesday:

Motorcycle fatality on Highway 101 in San Rafael.

5 hospitalized after Strava KOM-seeking driver blows through a red light in San Francisco.

Injuries and serious damage to a San Ramon hair salon after a woman drives into the building. “We have no reason to believe at this point it was anything but an accident,” said San Ramon Valley Fire District spokeswoman Kim French, which apparently has taken over traffic accident investigations from the San Ramon police department.

Fiery crash Wednesday morning blocked both directions of I-80 in Fairfield. No Tesla electric vehicles were involved in this highway inferno.

Major injuries after head on collission between Volkswagen and an Acura in Aptos.

Tuesday:

Coroner called to Highway 121 after horrific crash closes the highway in Sonoma County. Drunk driver in Jaguar killed his passenger and seriously injured three other people in two cars. The suspected drunk driver, Damodar Chandradas, has a record.

Examiner: Pedestrian-vehicle injury collisions rising in San Francisco

Man on bike injured by taxi driver.

$150 million verdict in wrongful death suit against a Santa Cruz County trucking company in a freeway crash in which most of a family burned to death inside their GMC Yukon, which has a 5 star safety rating for front and side impact crashes. Again, no Tesla electric vehicles were involved in this gasoline fueled fire.

Teen jumps out of moving car during police chase in Hercules; out of control car damages two other vehicles.

Monday:

Pedestrian killed by van in S.F. Mission District.

3 vehicle crash snarls Highway 1 traffic in Santa Cruz.

Driver crashes car into home in Hayward.

Jason Aldean blames the victim in his condolence message after his tour bus hits and kills a pedestrian.

Sunday:

San Jose: Woman backs over and kills her friend in a residential driveway.

Fremont teen dead, another arrested after crash.

Berkeley: Hit & run vs 3 blind pedestrians.

SFPD DUI case is a medical issue.

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