Cyclist Killed In Bike Lane; Driver Gets 90 Days
"[H]is Mercedes-Benz drifted into the bicycle lane on Woodside Road, hitting Michelle Mazzei . . . " Another case of a car (possessed by demons?) doing things on its own?
What really possessed the car (and reporter and the driver) is our car culture, In the U.S. it's normal to hurtle down the road in a thousand pound chunk of steel without paying attention. When a driver's recklessness and speed end up killing someone, we call it an "accident."
Driver gets 90 days in bicyclist's death
By John Coté, San Francisco Chronicle
A 69-year-old Colorado man was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail and three years' probation for killing a Menlo Park elementary school teacher a year ago when he accidentally swerved his car into a bicycle lane where she was riding in Woodside.
Theodore Charles Thornbrough of Westminster, Colo., told police he was looking for the on-ramp to Interstate 280 on Oct. 2, 2005, when his Mercedes-Benz drifted into the bicycle lane on Woodside Road, hitting Michelle Mazzei of Redwood City.
Mazzei, 34, was taken to Stanford Medical Center, where she died. Thornbrough pleaded no contest Aug. 11 in San Mateo County Superior Court to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the Oak Knoll School teacher's death.
. . .
"They lost a very good person," prosecutor Josh Stauffer said after leaving the Redwood City courtroom. He described the 90-day sentence as reasonable.
"He's crushed," [Defense attorney Brendan] Conroy said after the sentencing. "Obviously, the victim's family is more crushed."
A guy could go and on about this.
Bicyclist hit, killed on daily commute (St. Petersburg Times).
Comments:
· http://freewheelingspirit.blogspot.com Most drivers who hit pedestrians/cyclists are able to pin the blame on the deceased. I guess that's not as easy to do when the cyclist is riding in a bike lane.
Nice blog!
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10/12/06 @ 06:26 
