I’m hearing news reports this morning that a maniac driving a car in San Francisco deliberately targeted and hit several cyclists.

From SFist:

Police say that a driver targeting cyclists injured four people in the Mission and Potrero districts on Wednesday night. A male driver allegedly went after cyclists in four different locations in San Francisco: “in the 2700 block of Harrison Street, the 2800 block of 24th Street, at the intersection of 23rd and Pennsylvania streets, and at 17th and Missouri street.”

The motorist is still at large, but he wrecked his vehicle (a Nissan Rogue of all things) and apparently left his wallet behind in the vehicle. Sports radio talk show host Tony Kornheiser, who once advocated running cyclists down as a joke, could not be reached for comment. The injured cyclists were treated for their injuries and all are expected to recover.

SFist has more with links out to other news sources and photos. Watch Streetsblog SF for more coverage of this today.

The SF Chronicle story on this maniac has the usual idiot user comments, but I like this one from user trencherman:

The comments by certain drivers here betray the sadly common lack of empathy and sense of community of many California drivers these days. I commute every day on 280. At least four times a week I see people

– speeding up to prevent someone from passing them (literally)
– merging with only a few feet of space
– streaking across several lanes to an exit
– dialing or texting on their phones

It’s as though being in a car confers some kind of perceived immunity to being part of a society. Courtesy, patience and just plain awareness of others are absent. Driving is not a competition.