Sad news...

[tomgrrrl]

Popular grade school teacher was killed yesterday in Woodside, CA. riding her bike....

here's the story:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...04/TEACHER.TMP

[Bustertb]

That is awful. It's such a shame because it was so preventable. I bet she thought she'd go out for a nice Sunday morning ride. You'd think with bike lanes you'd be safer. Guess not!

[Trek420]

I'm so mad at my local (Bay Area) news channel for their coverage this morning, the "teaser" blurb saying a cyclist was killed while "riding on a dangerous road".

She was in the bike lane, she had a helmet, was with the flow of traffic, in the middle of the day when it's light doing everything right.

F*&^% it then, *All* roads are dangerous to us. Tell me where when and how are we supposed to ride that it's safe?

Plus it just sounds like she was a great teacher, a great gal, this is so senseless. From what I read the driver will not be charged. Even if he was that does not bring her back.

Let's all be careful out there

[bikerchick68]

what a tragedy... Sounds like she was a wonderful person and a positive part of the community... I'm sure she will be missed greatly...

[jobob]

I ride that section of Woodside Road road very often. It has very wide shoulders and imho it's one of the safer roads one can be on in the Bay Area.

If it happened where I think it happened, it was right after a bend in the road just before the entrance ramp to 280 north. The bike lanes are quite well marked, except at the spot where the bike lane moves over from the shoulder to the left hand side of the lane leading to 280.

But that's absolutely no excuse for an inattentive drivers' actions.

Since that's one of my favorite rides, I'll keep riding it.

- Jo.

But as someone so aptly pointed out on the VeloGirls list, "Bike lanes are painted sticks - not a force field."

[doctorfrau]

From what I read the driver will not be charged. Even if he was that does not bring her back.

Let's all be careful out there

Not Charged????!!!!

He KILLED someone with his vehicle because of his inattention!! Does that not amount to vehicular manslaughter? What if he had hit a pedestrian instead? Doesn't matter if he MEANT to or not - he still KILLED her and should be charged with SOMETHING!!!!!!

[Trek420]

yep, that'w what they said on KGO 7 morning news.

I agree, he should be charged. I'm not a lawyer, don't play one on TV so don't quote me.

Is there a lawyerfrau in the house?

[shewhobikes]

but if he admitted his attention was "diverted," causing him to drift into the bike lane and KILL someone, then he indeed should be charged with manslaughter. So what if he was from out of town and trying to read a map? He should have pulled off the road in a safe place to get his s**t together.

[skibum]

Not Charged????!!!!

He KILLED someone with his vehicle because of his inattention!! Does that not amount to vehicular manslaughter? What if he had hit a pedestrian instead? Doesn't matter if he MEANT to or not - he still KILLED her and should be charged with SOMETHING!!!!!!

Sadly, it probably happens quite often that a motorist does not have to bear the responsibilities for his actions. I am riding a century this weekend that is a memorial to a rider that was killed in this area last year. The driver was not charged in that case either. I know of another case in this area where a young woman was killed. The driver was charged but was found not guilty. In these cases, all you can hope for is that the driver suffers with the pain of knowing he took someone's life.

[slinkedog]

I don't know why they decided not to charge this guy, but I can kind of see both sides a little. My husband's best friend, Greg, was killed in a car accident that was not his fault. He was driving on a country road (his friend still lived in Indiana where they grew up) where there is really no speed limit, and the other driver was at a stop sign, blinded by the sun and went right in front of him. Greg didn't have time to stop his car. Greg's family didn't want to charge the guy for a few reasons. The guy felt horrible and it was an accident. Yes, he was negligent and not careful, but they didn't feel that charging him with something would make a difference because the other guy was a good kid who had never gotten in any trouble. He just made a bad decision that unfortunately cost a life. Greg's family figured that living with what he had done was going to be hard enough. The second reason was that they didn't want to go through all the legal proceedings because they had been through enough pain and didn't want to keep re-living everything.

I suppose the D.A. could have charged him anyway, but they didn't. I have no idea whatever happened to the guy who hit Greg. But my hubby sure misses his buddy.

I feel awful about this poor woman. I hope her family, friends and class can heal and go on. This event makes me realize that I need to be even more careful. I know I often take it for granted that cars will make room for me. I need to be more proactive about protecting me.