Category: accident

Road rage hit & run arrest in Santa Rosa

Richard MasonerJuly 31, 20131 Comment on Road rage hit & run arrest in Santa Rosa

Cyclist in Santa Rosa, CA was nearly hit by a man in a Volvo when things escalated.

The cyclist yelled at the driver, Matthew Dewayne Hamilton, 22, of Santa Rosa, [Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Mike] Lazzarini said. Hamilton apparantly threw the car into reverse to go back and confront the man, but in the process ran him over, Lazzarini said.

More in the Press-Democrat: Man arrested, cyclist injured in Santa Rosa road-rage incident. Volvo seems to encourage exactly this kind of behavior with advertising that disguises aggression to other road users under the guise of cute.



The city of Santa Rosa passed a cyclist harassment law earlier this month, but it doesn’t take effect until August 10. The council passed the law on the same day 82 year old Santa Rosa resident Harry Edward Smith was sentenced for felony hit-and-run and assault with a deadly weapon after Smith chased a cyclist and ran him down as the cyclist fled for his life on a golf course path. Smith was sentenced essentially to house arrest at a nursing home.

H/T to Murph.

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No charges for driver who Jerry Browned Palo Alto boy

Richard MasonerJuly 19, 20135 Comments on No charges for driver who Jerry Browned Palo Alto boy

What does it take for the Santa Clara attorney to file charges against somebody who runs down a 12 year old boy on a bike?

12 year old Sebastian Lerrick was on his way to school at 7:19 a.m. when Hau’s Nissan Quest struck him from behind, breaking his bicycle frame in two and damaging the Nissan’s front bumper, hood and windshield. The boy was wearing a bike helmet, but he sustained a leg and wrist fracture, a broken jaw, broken teeth and brain swelling, according to a police report. He still suffers traumatic brain injuries, resulting in physical, cognitive, psychological and emotional issues.

Luis Felipe Hau was allegedly speeding down a narrow, bike-laned street with a suspended license, the sun in his eyes and meth in his blood when he steered his Nissan Quest minivan into the boy, resulting in disabling injuries for the boy.

Apparently even this bar is too high; the Santa Clara Attorney’s office declined to bring charges because they feel this case is not winnable in court.

Go ahead and drive like a maniac; the Santa Clara attorney’s office says it’s okay.

Hau’s actions did not constitute reckless driving under the law, [Supervising Deputy District Attorney Cindy Hendrickson] said.

“We could not find a single case where similar driving was found to be ‘reckless.’ The evidence here supports at most a finding that the driver violated two California vehicle codes: unsafe speed for the conditions, assuming the sun impaired the driver’s vision and the safe speed was therefore 0 mph; and improper driving in a bike lane.

Details in the the Palo Alto online.

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Man arrested in Seth Vidal hit & run

Richard MasonerJuly 10, 20131 Comment on Man arrested in Seth Vidal hit & run

An update on the sad news of Seth Vidal’s passing at the hands of a hit and run driver.

27 year old Maceo Christopher Kemp Jr turned himself in. Durham police charged Kemp with felony hit-and-run and driving without a license.

More –>

* Durham Herald-Sun: Driver arrested in cyclist hit-and-run.

* WRAL.com: Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed bicyclist.

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Seth Vidal killed by hit & run driver

Richard MasonerJuly 9, 20138 Comments on Seth Vidal killed by hit & run driver

Seth Vidal, a well known open source software contributor, was cycling near his home in Durham, NC last night when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver. The 36 year old software developer was pronounced dead after he was taken to Duke hospital.

Seth Vidal from his Twitter Account

Witnesses describe a late 90s or early 2000s dark colored sedan that slowed then swerved before hitting Vidal on Hillendale Road near I-85. Police are asking the public for help in identifying the suspect.

Vidal was a emeritus board member of the Fedora Project and an employee at Red Hat, Inc. where he developed the Yellowdog Updater Modified (yum), a command-line tool to manage software packages for Linux distributions.

Although Vidal is known around the world for his contributions to open source software, local friends describe him as a valuable and giving member of the local cycling community who worked to improve cycling and walking conditions in his area.

Elsewhere:

Russ Roca and Laura Crawford met with Vidal when they traveled through Durham. Vidal describes the local cycling in this video.



Photo taken from Seth Vidal’s Twitter profile.

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Weekend CARnage

Richard MasonerJuly 1, 2013Leave a Comment

The Merc-News reports an eleven year old girl perished after a rollover crash on I-280 near Page Mill Road. The driver lost control and flipped her Ford F-150 pickup truck several times. Three passengers, including the girl, were ejected from the truck.

If you read the Highway Patrol dispatch log (read bottom to top), you’ll see this noontime crash really backed things up for other travelers. While first responders tried to work the scene of this bloody wreck, CHP and local police had to manage dozens of motorists who drove the wrong way on freeway access ramps to get around the crash site. One of the people trapped in this mess was an individual on his way to Stanford Hospital because of liver failure.

Transit Strike

Although I’ve scheduled this post for Monday morning, I’m typing this Sunday night shortly after union representatives walked out of their contract negotiations with BART management in Oakland, CA. At this point, it looks like the Monday morning commute should be interesting for several hundred thousand commuters in the East Bay and San Francisco as BART workers strike for the first time since 1997. Commuters likely already have seen the pleas for ride-sharing from regional transportation planners, and Caltrans will limit certain East Bay HOV lanes to HOV 3+ (transit, motorcycles, commercial vehicles, and private vehicles with at least 3 passengers only), which CHP says they will enforce. Although there’s a lot of uncertainty about AC Transit (will they strike or not?), the ferry operators are stepping up their game by more than doubling their capacity between the East Bay and San Francisco destinations.


Bay Bridge toll plaza access during BART strike

Rumors are afoot also of a group of people who plan to mob the Bay Bridge with bikes, although bikes are prohibited from the highway link between Oakland and San Francisco. If you want to see the excitement, watch the toll plaza at 9 AM. Rememer, though, that police presence will be heavy at the toll plaza, and Caltrans is opening the highway shoulders for HOV and bus traffic, with special police attention paid to Grand Avenue.

What are some of the more creative solutions you’ve heard of to get through the BART strike?

You’ve heard by now that California’s excise tax for gasoline increased 3.5 cents overnight, giving the Golden State the highest gas tax in the nation. Has anybody noticed yet that the price of gas at the pump didn’t actually go up 3.5 cents? A gold star to the first person who can explain why that is

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