Posted on 11/06/2009 2:07:10 PM PST by Chet 99
On Monday, Dr. Christopher Thompson, the driver who abruptly stopped his car in front of two cyclists last summer, was found guilty of six felonies and a misdemeanor. The trial, which lasted three weeks and captivated the cycling community, revealed a particularly virulent form of road rage. Christian Stoehr suffered a separated shoulder and Ron Peterson shattered several teeth and broke and nearly severed his nose when the two hit the back of Thompson's Infiniti sedan on Mandeville Canyon Road.
Thompson, a former emergency room physician who lives along the winding five-mile road, claimed that he was merely trying to take a photograph of Stoehr and Peterson, evidence of the way cyclists flout the law in the canyon and flip off the residents. An LAPD traffic investigator who arrived on the scene shortly after the incident testified that Thompson told him he "stopped in front to teach them a lesson."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Well, I am curious about something. If traffic laws apply equally to bikes as well as cars, how is a driver who stops suddenly culpable for bicylists rear-ending him?
Not meant as an attack on cyclists, just want to see what the legal rationale is here. Normally, if I plow into a car that is stopped in front of me, it is at least partially my fault.
Rule #1 as a cyclist.
Never flip off a motorist or yell something in ear shot.
If the ‘motorist’ doesn’t come back and take you out, more than likely they will take their anger out on the next rider/s.
Many times I have wished I had a 45 in my back pocket.
But to be fair, I have seen more than one damn idiot cyclist that is asking for death for the rest of us.
Oh, there you go. Trying to make sense of something.
They were tailgatinhg but the driver should have kept his mouth shut except to say he was breaking for a small furry lovable animal.
Six felonies? What a bunch of crap!
Six felonies? What a bunch of crap!
I wonder if a cyclist could or would be able to make the same claim if one decided to stop suddenly in front of a motor vehicle.
I am think a little commin sense and decency on both sides would go a very long way
oops replied to the wrong thread
Before I semi-retired I rode my motorcycles over 60,000 miles per year on business.
My biggest safety motto was "never piss off any one who out weighs you." I have really improved myself by having to keep my anger in check while riding my motorcycles. Helps at home to.
I have run more than one redlight because I was afraid that the truck behind wouldn’t. I would rather pay a fine than wake up dead
on a motorcycle that is
Roads are public property. That means they aren’t just the property of those in cars.
If they were licensed, plated and could be identified by their plate number, they would behave better.
Their licensing fees could be used to pay for bike lanes.
Our winding two lane highway has many blind corners, and it's pretty frustrating not knowing when you will round a corner to find one going a fraction of the posted speed while oblivious to the traffic they have kept waiting behind them. The law requires a slow moving vehicle to pull over and let traffic pass.
One morning I passed a biker going in the opposite direction. He refused to pull over to let traffic pass. I spent 20 minutes passing the line of hundreds of cars that were backed up behind the selfish SOB. It was rush .hour and this jerk was making people late for work! I'm sure he boasted about saving the planet, and had warm fuzzy feelings about scoring points in Dogooderville!
They are paid for by those in cars, and only cars get in trouble for usng the roads, since the bikes don’t have license plates and can’t be turned in for violations.
Without that statement, I doubt that there is a criminal trial.
And I agree this needs to apply to bikes as well.
It's an irritant to me, to say the least, particularly on my road out front here, a 50 mph road with a big wide paved shoulder, when bikes are in the middle of the lane of travel, and I'm pulling a horse trailer, and can't get around them because of oncoming traffic. And they still don't move over after they have brought me to a crawl and know damn well I'm there.
In a car, or even in my truck, sans trailer, I could zip around them at some point, but I can't "zip" anywhere pulling the horse trailer, and even if I could, I wouldn't, not wanting to knock my poor horses off their feet back there. No, I need about a half mile of clear oncoming traffic to get around them gently and safely, and that they won't pull over into the perfectly serviceable paved shoulder for even the few seconds it would take for me to pass in the lane and be on my way chaps me to no end. And no... I can't even honk at them, because I don't want to scare my horses.
So bikers, if you're blocking someone, particularly a larger or less maneuverable vehicle like a horse trailer, pull over for a minute! Be nice! I have nothing against a nice ride through the country side... I'm trying to go on one myself. I'm just not doing it in the middle of the road.
Rant finished :~)
I get so sick of seeing cyclists in their plum snuggling spandex garb ignoring separate bike paths choosing instead to ride on the roads in some sort of elitist yet profoundly naive assumption that all operators of motor vehicles are attentive, drive defensively and never do anything unexpected.
I thought “Too close to follow” was strictly enforced in California?
Here in Florida, we motorists are urged to “share the road”. Indeed, there is even a vanity plate (Florida has over 150 fifty of those to chose from) that says just that. My problem is simple; bicyclists pay absolutely nothing, zip, zero, nada to pay for their share of the road. This county we live in paid several million tax dollars to convert an abandoned rail line to a bike trail. Think those gigolo looking speedo wearing clown-like fools use it? Not on your life. They stay out here in traffic where we pay all the bills. Arrogance, indifference and ownership are their domain. I, for one, are sick of them.
Dork yes but at least the waffler wasn’t decked out in spandex looking like his real purpose for obstructing traffic is to pick up some other guy.
A friend of mine was actually ticketed for speeding on his bike. A cop clocked him at 45 in a 25 on a steep hill in his small town.
Didn’t matter that there was no plate in a town small enough for the cop to know who he was and where he lived.
Cyclists need to obey the rules of the road just like cars. They constantly blow stop signs and red lights, ride against traffic and fail to have proper lights at night.
We have those idiots here, too.
One road is posted at 55 mph, it’s winding and tiwisty, going thorugh woods and farms, and every summer we get jackass cyclists who go 15 mph right down the middle of the road, not caring that there might be a car going 55 mph just behind him.
Total idiots, those folks...and the law says they can do it, furthermore, the law states that cars have to go SIX feet around them, which...if you’re going around a blind curve, is in the OTHER lane!
Our idiot legislature approved that law. I keep waiting for them to approve roller bladers and pedestrians walking down the middle of 55 mph highways!
Ed
I wouldn’t argue that bicyclists are not often reckless and dangerous. But this guy stated to the cops that he created a deadly situation purposely. He should have kept his mouth shut until he spoke with an attorney.
When I was rear ended at a stop light, and pushed into the guy in front of me, I was charged for following too closely. Everyone involved in the chain reaction was charged, except for the guy at the front...he didn't hit anyone.
When driving my Jeep Cherokee, I have an excellent defense against tailgaters: a bump of the rear window washer throws out a hefty spray of water. It’s amazing how a little clean water mist will place instant distance between you and a tailgating cyclist! ‘-)
I don't think that principle applies a driver intentionally causes the collision by cutting in front of another vehicle and slamming on the brakes. That's assault with a deadly weapon. And the poster that replied to your post stating that everything would have been just fine if the guy had kept his mouth shut is advocating attempted murder.
Besides that. It bothers the Gomer yelling at you a lot more if you just smile at them, or thank them for their advice. Once at a stop light a motorist rolled down his window and, not so nicely, informed me that their was a trail running near the road. I thanked him and informed him that, if were ever a pedestrian in the area, I'd be sure to check the trail out.
Trails are far more dangerous than roads for cyclists. Counter-intuitive I know, but true nonetheless.
Paths crowded by pedestrians walking their dogs are immeasurably more dangerous for cyclists than the nearby road, unless the road is very narrow and has no paved shoulder. Pedestrians and weekend cyclists with their kids are far less predictable than drivers. Drivers do the "unexpected" very rarely. People with dogs on leashes do unexpected and hazardous things all the time.
Apart from that, many trails have 10 mph limits. Sorry you don't like me on the road and think I should be on the trail, but I've been there done that. The road is the better place to be. And if it's a dangerous road with a narrow shoulder or heavy traffic, the guy you see on the bike isn't me.
If he's half a man, he framed the ticket.
In a typical year I log around 3000 miles on roads, bike paths, trails, dirt... If you want a thrill ride try a quick spin through suburbia on a bike path! You may not survive!
Here in northern Illinois the bike paths tend to be wide sidewalks with numerous hedge rows, large bushes and driveways. There is NO sight line for a car crossing the hedge line or worse a child stepping into the path.
Cars making right turns can also be very exciting as drivers seldom look to the right when turning right and many fail to signal. The joints at road crossings can be a bit irregular adding some extra fun to your ride.
The roads may not be safe but the bike paths are no better!
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure." Helen Keller
“Roads are public property. That means they aren’t just the property of those in cars.”
Cars pay fuel taxes to build and maintain roads bicycles don’t!
They should be outlawed from all streets!!!!!
Mine went to the landfill on my 16th birthday!!!
In California, they do. The first time I ever got pulled over by a policeman was for riding my bicycle on the sidewalk on the most dangerous street in San Luis Obispo after High School. I knew about the law, but I was terrified of the traffic on that street[1].
The only serious accident I had was in Barry's backyard at around the time he was at Oxy and near the campus. Totaled my bicycle. I hope I dented his car, but I'm not sure. I was riding legally on the street and the driver made a sudden unsignaled right turn.
You can't win in California. I don't know whose side I'm on on this one.
[1[ Johnson Avenue for any locals.
Cars pay a tax? How does that work? Cars also wear roads out. Bikes don't. Did I mention that cyclists almost all also own cars, and the ones that don't need their bikes for basic transportation? How about the young worker that can't afford a car and needs to get to school or work? Does your car centric world just tell them to stay home or walk?
They should be outlawed from all streets!!!!!
The laws and traditions of every single country on the planet make accommodations for bicycles on roads, and have for over 100 years. Good luck with your crusade there, Jethrow.
Mine went to the landfill on my 16th birthday!!!
Which partly explains the plaque in your arteries and the wheezing you do after one flight of stairs.
Hummm, public roads huh? May I then suggest you take a walk down the centerline of any public road to validate your thesis.
This is true. However, those in cars (and bigger vehicles) have the laws of physics on their side when it comes to accident protection. I don’t care if people ride their motorcycles on busy streets...I just think they have to be a little bit crazy to do so. I don’t even like to ride in small cars.
Shove your 2 wheel non motorized crap where the sun doesn’t shine!!!
Man, you fit the parody of a hayseed, pickup driving, mama's boy, bike hater like a glove. You must be just funnin with us. Good one.
Not a bit, go to hell!!!
When you pay your way for a wider lane, then maybe some of us cages will respect what you have stolen.
Somehow I have the idea that the three vehicles I license and operate; in addition to the property, sales, state and federal taxes I pay, counts as "paying my way". Am I wrong? Or does climbing on my bike somehow count as a theft of sorts? How exactly does that work? How about if I promise to pay the tax on every gallon of gas my bicycle uses, and repair any damage its massive weight of 20 lbs does to the road? Is little Johnny, pedaling over to little Suzie's house stealing from you?
How ‘bout you pay to widen that little tiny bike lane you already don’t pay for!
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