Posted on 07/13/2015 12:46:06 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Father moved family to Sacramento amid security concerns in Afghanistan
CHP: Driver, looking at text message, drifted into bike lane and struck dad and son
‘Charges are pending,’ spokeswoman says
After risking his life working as an electrical engineer on U.S. military projects in northern Afghanistan, Mustafa Rafi believed he had found a safe haven for his family in Sacramento County.
But less than two weeks after settling his family into a modest apartment, the 33-year-old was killed Sunday morning and his 8-year-old son suffered life-threatening injuries after a driver suspected of texting while at the wheel swerved into the bicycles they were riding in front of their complex, authorities said.
Haroon Paikan, a friend and fellow civil engineer who worked with him in Afghanistan, said Rafi had applied for a special visa to come to the United States two years ago. He said Rafi had feared that his work for U.S. forces – on Army Corps of Engineer projects in the Afghan provinces of Balkh and Kunduz – put him in danger of being killed by Taliban forces.
On Sunday, Paikan, who moved to Sacramento five months ago, said he couldn’t fathom his friend dying at the hands of a driver who was checking a text message.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Used to ride my bike near there myself. Probably have ridden down that road.
Authorities, IMO, have given bike riders a false sense of security with the whole bike lane business.
Lines of paint on a road do not protect you from a couple tons of metal traveling at high speed.
Should be a mandatory jail sentence for anyone caught doing this - irrespective of whether they hurt anyone or not. The potential is there, and it's a selfish act.
And ironically a LASD officer got off scott free for doing the same exact thing recently.
No they don’t. The mindful drivers respecting the bikers in their own lane are supposed to do that.
Right. I really enjoy risking my life based on the assumption that all automobile drivers are always mindful of their obligations.
I don’t think it costs anything to understand that drivers can be dismissive of the safety of bikers in bike lanes when they should be exceedingly cautious. Jail a few for negligence and make it splashy.
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