What should it take to lose your driver’s license? From the Orange County Weekly:

Danae Marie Miller, 22, of Newport Beach, is accused of killing bicyclist Amine Britel on San Joaquin Hills Road with her car. Miller was allegedly drunk; since 2005, when she was 17, she has racked up 15 to 17 traffic tickets for various infractions. Her driver’s license was not suspended because she clears her record at traffic school.

Mr. Britel’s memorial site is here. Although dated, more information about his considerable athletic achievements can be found here.

–Erik Ryberg

Pedestrian struck in crosswalk dies

A 79-year-old man who was struck by a vehicle on the west side last week died Sunday.

The vehicle hit Jose Jesus Garcia in a marked crosswalk near the intersection of West St. Mary’s Road and North Cherokee Avenue around 4 p.m. Wednesday, said Sgt. Diana Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Tucson Police Department.

The driver, whose name hasn’t been released, is facing a citation.

Marisa Gerber

I was talking to my friend Collin the other day. He has invented some clever computer robots that compile crash data in Tucson and he runs various analyses on the data. He has enough information now to learn some interesting things about when most crashes occur and (possibly) why. For example, his database showed that cyclists are less likely to be hit on Mondays. He found that to be puzzling until he realized that some Mondays are holidays, which probably accounts for the dip.

Anyway, during the conversation he said, “After looking at this crash data all I can say is I am glad I’m not a pedestrian. Those guys have it way worse than us cyclists do.”

My condolences to Mr. Garcia’s family. I hope one day this city is safer for all of us who, like Mr. Garcia, choose alternative means to get to the places we want to go.

–Erik Ryberg

Colorado District Attorney Mark Hurlbert has dropped felony charges against Martin Joel Erzinger, a Morgan Stanley Smith Barney wealth manager who controls $1 billion in investments, because financial rules would require Erzinger to notify his clients that he was charged with a felony, and this would have “serious job implications” for the financier. Erzinger is facing charges for allegedly rear-ending cyclist Dr. Steven Milo, and then leaving the scene of the crime. Milo, a liver transplant surgeon, has spinal and brain injuries, disfiguring scars, and will likely be in pain for the rest of his life.

Story here and original story here.

There’s a lot of talk around the Web that the prosecutor has a right to ensure that the motorist can pay the injured cyclist, and not leveling a felony charge is the way to do that.

I think that’s bull. First, the motorist is most likely a multi-millionaire already. Second, the victim, who is also wealthy (or presumably is — he is a NYC surgeon) is begging for the appropriate charge. Third, what about that whole “justice is blind” business I am always hearing about?

To me, this whole thing stinks of a good old boy network doing its magic.

UPDATE from Huffington Post:

District Attorney Mark Hurlbert told HuffPost on Monday afternoon that news reports about the prosecution have been inaccurate. “We charged him with a felony, first of all,” he said.

What’s happening is that prosecutors offered Erzinger a plea bargain for restitution and two misdemeanors potentially carrying two years of jail time. What the victim wants, Hurlbert said, is for Erzinger to plead guilty to the felony of leaving the scene of accident, causing serious bodily injury. Under that deal, judgment would be deferred and the felony would be cleared from his record after a few years of good behavior. The misdemeanors, though, would stay on Erzinger’s record permanently.

“This is the right plea bargain given the facts of the case, the defendant’s prior criminal history and his willingness to take responsibility,” Hurlbert said. “We feel this is far more punitive than the felony deferred.”

Hurlbert did not offer details on the restitution, except to say it would be “significant.”

“As far as employment, in any case where there is significant restitution we certainly take that into account….but it is not the overriding concern. In this case it was not the overriding concern,” Hurlbert said. He added that he’d received mixed signals about how a felony or misdemeanor rap would affect Erzinger’s ability to do his job.

–Erik Ryberg

I sure hope the local authorities determine that something worse than just leaving the scene of an accident occurred here.

–EBR

Ed is judiciously collecting bike fatality data from all over the state. He’s doing all cyclists a great service by analyzing and publishing his findings. His Flynn posting is here. Check it out.

–Erik Ryberg

Later that day the bicyclist gets back from the hospital to discover his bike has been stolen.

One of the reasons I started this blog back in 2007 was because I kept encountering similar stories here in Tucson of bicyclists being treated extremely badly by the police.

But I am seeing less and less of that now. Police reports seem to be getting better and better, and only rarely do I find the police blaming the rider for being right-hooked, left-hooked, and hit from behind.

This is not to say there isn’t an awful lot of work to be done, but as I have said many times before, I think things are getting better. And one reason for that is that stories like the one above are getting a lot of play, and embarrassing the agencies that are at fault.

–Erik Ryberg

From the Yuma Sun:

No charges filed yet in cyclist’s death

November 26, 2009 9:45 PM
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER

The case involving a woman whose car allegedly struck and killed a 37-year-old Yuma man two months ago has been referred back to the Somerton Police Department.

The 25-year-old female driver from Somerton, whose name has not been released, reportedly struck and killed Doug Flynn on Sept. 24 in the 300 block of East Madison Street as he and other cyclists were nearing Somerton.

Flynn, an avid cyclist, was president of the Yuma Bike Club and had been employed by the Yuma Sun since 2002, most recently as its creative services manager.

Roger Nelson, chief criminal deputy attorney with the Yuma County Attorney’s Office, said no charges have been filed in the case. It was returned to police on Nov. 17, asking it be sent to the state crime lab to determine if the driver had any drugs in her system.

“We have not received a lab report yet,” Nelson said. “We are waiting for it.”

Once the county attorney’s office receives the lab report, it will review the case again and determine whether to file any charges.

According to the Somerton Police Department, the accident happened at about 6:41 a.m. An investigation showed that the vehicle that struck Flynn was traveling eastbound on Madison Street and the cyclists were riding in a long single-file line on the opposite side of street, heading west.

The driver, according to Somerton police, tried to pass a tractor pulling a farm implement in a legal passing zone.

During that passing attempt, Somerton police say, her car struck Flynn and another cyclist. Two other cyclists were riding ahead of Flynn at the time.

When paramedics arrived in less than four minutes after receiving the call, they found Flynn unresponsive, lying on the ground and being treated by some of the cyclists. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.

And from the comments section:

This was a very unfortunate accident and my condolences go to his family and friends. However, like it was said before it was an Accident! According to all the evidence the young woman driving the vehicle did not break any laws and the authorities would know that by now. We are nobody to judge people, you never know what the next day will bring us. My heart goes out to her, I’m sure she will never forget that day as long as she lives.

and

Bicyclist should of stayed off the road. It was unfortunate for Mr. Flynn but bicycles do not belong on the street they belong on the side walk. There is no logic in allowing bicycles on the street. One exaple of why they do not belong on the street is they hinder traffic and instances like these where the driver didn’t see these people until it was too late. Doesn’t the police department issue tickets for people that drive way below the speed limit. The bicyles cannot be considered the same as the vehicle. They don’t have turn signals, they can’t keep up with traffic. They are a hazzard on the road for motorist and they jeopordize their own safety. Just saying. My condolences to his family and friends.

–EBR

Apparently the poor firefighter is the one who was threatened, so he had little choice but to point a gun at the cyclist’s head and pull the trigger. But he feels just terrible about it.

Former Asheville fireman gets 4 months for shooting at cyclist

By Clarke Morrison • November 20, 2009

ASHEVILLE — A former Asheville firefighter will spend 120 days in jail for shooting at a bicyclist, narrowly missing his head with a bullet that pierced the man’s helmet.

Charles Alexander Diez, 42, pleaded guilty Thursday to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, but testified during his sentencing hearing that he only fired a warning shot and didn’t intend to hurt Alan Ray Simons.

“I was the one who felt truly, truly threatened,” Diez told the court. “It was not my intention to shoot him.”

I often have to tell my clients that bicyclists are basically hated by a large segment of the public, and must not expect the same treatment by juries, judges, arbitrators, and insurance adjusters that a motorist would receive. If you get hit from behind while on a bike, for example, you are going to be declared to have swerved in front of the vehicle until proven otherwise. Not so if you are a motorist.

And it seems that if you are shot in the head by a firefighter, you shouldn’t expect sympathy either.

–Erik Ryberg

Driver in fatal crash is fined
Published: Saturday, September 26, 2009 12:14 PM MST

Green Valley News

The driver of a car that struck and killed a Green Valley cyclist Sept. 3 pleaded responsible to two traffic violations and paid $254 in fines.

David Armstrong, 76, of Green Valley, pleaded responsible to “overtaking bicycles — fatal,” and “driving in the bike lane” and was fined $140.50 and $113.50 respectively.

Jerome Featherman, 84, was killed when he was hit in Green Valley.

There you have it, folks.

–Erik Ryberg

The reporter working on this article called me because he could not believe that you can run down a bicyclist in the bike lane and kill him and get away with only a civil traffic violation. He wanted me to explain that to him.

So I told him that we do have a statute in Arizona, the negligent homicide statute, which would apply to these crimes, but unfortunately it is never applied to motorists who kill bicyclists.

Negligent homicide is appropriate when a person causes the death of another person with criminal negligence. A.R.S. 13-1102. Criminal negligence occurs when “a person fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur. The risk must be of such nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.” A.R.S. 13-105.

Does the failure to perceive the risk of driving in the bike lane constitute a gross deviation from the care a reasonable person would take? You could argue that this was merely momentary inattentiveness, but the fact that thousands of drivers sped past Jerome Featherman in his lifetime without crashing into him suggests to me that reasonable people do indeed take the needed precautions not to strike bicyclists from behind.

I currently have two bicycles in my office that belong to victims of hit-from-behind incidents, and I look at them every day. They both look very similar, with bent rear stays and wheels that have literally been cut in half.

One bike belongs to a young woman who was hit at about 45 mph or so. She flew into the air in a frightening arc and slammed into the pavement, but, miraculously, was more or less okay. She didn’t even break any bones.

The other is from a man who was also hit at about 45 mph, and did not survive. He was run over by the vehicle that hit him.

The difference, it seems to me, lies completely in the design of the car. Neither cyclist ever had a chance to avoid these accidents, but one was hit by a compact car that was braking, and her center of gravity was such that she went up onto the windshield (as did the folks hit last week in the Shootout Ride).

The other man was hit by a pickup that was accelerating, and he went down, instead of up.

So ride carefully, and try to remember — mile for mile, cycling is safer than driving. Our job is to make it safer still, and from my vantage point, that primarily means changing the habits of motorists.

Erik Ryberg