In less than nine months, two pedestrians have been killed in San Francisco due to reckless cyclists; the most recent victim was injured on March 29.
āIāve never had any incident with cars trying to run me down, but Iāve had several cyclists almost knock me out,ā Jared Lindenberg, a San Francisco resident said.āItās like a teenager with a brand new car; they are all over the road.ā
Chris Bucchere ran a red light and rode his bike into a crowded cross walk in San Franciscoās Castro District. He crashed into a 71-year-old San Bruno resident, Sutchi Hui, who died a few days later from his injuries. Bucchere inadvertently called attention to himself and the incident after writing an approximately 400 word blog post about the crash and thanking his helmet for saving his life on the mission cycling website.
āThe light turned yellow as I was approaching the intersection, but I was already way too committed to stop. The light turned red as I was cruising through the middle of the intersection and then, almost instantly, the southern crosswalk on Market and Castro filled up with people … I couldnāt see a line through the crowd and I couldnāt stop, so I laid it down and just plowed through the crowded crosswalk in the least-populated place I could find,ā Bucchere wrote.
He ended his post saying the moral of his story is to always wear a helmet, which caused outrage among San Francisco residents as well as the cycling community. The post has since been taken down from the site and Bucchereās twitter account has been deleted.
āSome of these kids donāt care about anyone, but themselves,ā said Stephanie Boyette, who commutes to work on her bike. āThey think that because they arenāt in a two-ton machine, that they wonāt cause any harm. They forget we arenāt all walking around wearing helmets.ā
Boyette also mentioned that even while on her bike she has had other riders try to run her out of the bike lane because she isnāt speeding down the street.
Cyclists are obligated to comply with the same rules as motor vehicles according to state law. They are allowed to share the road, but they must signal any lane changes or turns, and are required always to yield the right of way to pedestrians.
In a city where a large portion of the population rides a bicycle, organizations like the San Francisco Bike Coalition hold regular workshops regarding bicycle safety. They also have lots of information available on their website in an attempt to inform the public about their rights and responsibilities on the road.
āAs advocates working for safer streets, we condemn reckless behaviorāwhether on a bicycle or in a car,ā Leah Shahum, the executive director of the San Francisco Bike Coalition, said in a press release on the organizationās website. āThose who put others in danger should be held accountable for their actions.ā
On July 15 San Francisco resident, Randolph Ang ignored a red light and crashed into Dionette Cherney, 68, a tourist from Washington D.C.
Cherney hit the back of her head in the incident and subsequently died from the injury.
Ang pleaded guilty to one charge of vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to three years probation and 500 hours of community service on March 12. He will also have to pay his victimās family $15,000 in restitution, but will not serve any jail time.
As of the time of print, the District Attorneyās office has not filed any charges against Bucchere.
āBucchere was being irresponsible. Itās common sense, the faster you go the harder it is to stop,ā said a police officer who asked to remain anonymous because he was not at the scene of the accident. He mentioned that heās never had to give a cyclist a traffic citation, but that if he saw one breaking the law heād be happy to help them learn a lesson.