Handlebar Mounted Camera Captures License Plate of Vehicle that HitTwo Bicyclists in Berkeley. Arrest made Last Night.

http://albany.patch.com/articles/berkeley-police-arrest-alleged-driver-in-hit-and-run-with-cyclists

Per SMS:
http://albany.patch.com/articles/berkeley-police-arrest-alleged-driver-in-hit-and-run-with-cyclists

And if it hadn't been for the camera?

BTW: The rez looked pretty good to me. Anybody know what kind of
cam was used? Hero?
--
Pete Cresswell

On 04-28-2012 11:34, SMS wrote:
http://albany.patch.com/articles/berkeley-police-arrest-alleged-driver-in-hit-and-run-with-cyclists

There are a lot of idiots out there with four wheels and a gas tanks.
Not all of them are evil (as this guy apparently is) but they're still
idiots.

However, defending against them might be easier if more of us had good
brains and good behavior. A newspaper article said

Campbell said the top three type of bicycle-car crashes involve
turning movements in an intersection; incidents where a motorist
park a car and then opens a door, striking a bicyclist passing by;
and when a bicyclist rides on the wrong side of the street.

First one: who's at fault? Could be either.

Second one: Both at fault. Motorist passed bike but doesn't look before
opening door. Bicyclist not thinking if he didn't prepare to stop or go
around in anticipation.

Third: Bicyclist blatantly breaking the law.

In this case, the motorist was clearly evil, and his past record
suggests also stupid. I feel sorry for all the other Michael Medaglias
who are trying to make an honest living but are mixed in the Google
search with the evil idiot.

On the other hand, the lead cyclist at about a minute into the video
went through a stop sign in a traffic lane without slowing down or
looking for traffic. (Hard to see, he might have looked but it looked
like he didn't.)

A bit later, both went straight from a left turn lane, but the video did
not reveal whether they looked.

The stupidest idiot, though, was the commenter who concluded it was
obviously a Christian Republican hate crime.

--
Wes Groleau

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
will make violent revolution inevitable.
— John F. Kennedy

On 4/28/2012 8:43 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per SMS:
http://albany.patch.com/articles/berkeley-police-arrest-alleged-driver-in-hit-and-run-with-cyclists

And if it hadn't been for the camera?

Unlikely that there would have been an arrest. No witnesses. Unless the
second cyclist memorized the license plate number.

Bottom line is that you should not go out on a ride without everyone
having a video camera on their handlebars or helmet.

On Apr 28, 11:55 am, SMS wrote:
On 4/28/2012 8:43 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:

Per SMS:
http://albany.patch.com/articles/berkeley-police-arrest-alleged-drive...

And if it hadn't been for the camera?

Unlikely that there would have been an arrest. No witnesses. Unless the
second cyclist memorized the license plate number.

Bottom line is that you should not go out on a ride without everyone
having a video camera on their handlebars or helmet.

The crash was a bummer; catching the driver via the video camera was
great, but saying "you should not go out on a ride without having a
video camera" is even more paranoid ridiculous than saying you should
not go out on a ride without a helmet.

I'd love to have one, but still need rain chaps worse.

On Apr 28, 12:57 pm, Dan O wrote:
On Apr 28, 11:55 am, SMS wrote:

On 4/28/2012 8:43 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:

Per SMS:
http://albany.patch.com/articles/berkeley-police-arrest-alleged-drive...

And if it hadn't been for the camera?

Unlikely that there would have been an arrest. No witnesses. Unless the
second cyclist memorized the license plate number.

Bottom line is that you should not go out on a ride without everyone
having a video camera on their handlebars or helmet.

The crash was a bummer; catching the driver via the video camera was
great, but saying "you should not go out on a ride without having a
video camera" is even more paranoid ridiculous than saying you should
not go out on a ride without a helmet.

I'd love to have one, but still need rain chaps worse.

That said, I *do* think the world would be(come) a much better place
for bicyclists if *everyone* had one.

On Apr 28, 11:18*am, Wes Groleau wrote:
On 04-28-2012 11:34, SMS wrote:

http://albany.patch.com/articles/berkeley-police-arrest-alleged-drive....

There are a lot of idiots out there with four wheels and a gas tanks.
Not all of them are evil (as this guy apparently is) but they're still
idiots.

However, defending against them might be easier if more of us had good
brains and good behavior. *A newspaper article said

* Campbell said the top three type of bicycle-car crashes involve
* turning movements in an intersection; incidents where a motorist
* park a car and then opens a door, striking a bicyclist passing by;
* and when a bicyclist rides on the wrong side of the street.

First one: who's at fault? *Could be either.

Second one: Both at fault. *Motorist passed bike but doesn't look before
opening door. *Bicyclist not thinking if he didn't prepare to stop or go
around in anticipation.

Third: Bicyclist blatantly breaking the law.

In this case, the motorist was clearly evil, and his past record
suggests also stupid. *I feel sorry for all the other Michael Medaglias
who are trying to make an honest living but are mixed in the Google
search with the evil idiot.

On the other hand, the lead cyclist at about a minute into the video
went through a stop sign in a traffic lane without slowing down or
looking for traffic. *(Hard to see, he might have looked but it looked
like he didn't.)

There is no "on the other hand" -- unless the bad conduct contributed
to the collision, which it did not. I know you're not making this
point, but if you look at the posts below the video on the YouTube
site, some regressive pin-head does, viz., hitting the cyclist was
appropriate pay back for his running a stop sign. I've had people
yell and scream and swerve towards me or cut me off, all the time
claiming that I failed to stop or made an illegal lane change or what
have you. Do they do the same thing with other cars -- swerve in to
them for speeding or changing lanes without a signal, etc., etc? It's
really weird behavior. If I went around enforcing the traffic/vehicle
codes on others, I wouldn't have time to ride my bike.

-- Jay Beattie.

SMS wrote:


Bottom line is that you should not go out on a ride without everyone
having a video camera on their handlebars or helmet.

Oh, good grief.

--
- Frank Krygowski

Wes Groleau wrote:
On 04-28-2012 11:34, SMS wrote:


Campbell said the top three type of bicycle-car crashes involve
turning movements in an intersection; incidents where a motorist
park a car and then opens a door, striking a bicyclist passing by;
and when a bicyclist rides on the wrong side of the street.

First one: who's at fault? Could be either.

Second one: Both at fault. Motorist passed bike but doesn't look before
opening door. Bicyclist not thinking if he didn't prepare to stop or go
around in anticipation.

I think preparing to stop is impractical, unless you mean riding past
the car at roughly walking speed. It takes less than a second to pop a
car door open. Even a 10 mph cyclist would need to be at least ten feet
behind the car to have a chance of stopping in time.

Just don't ride in the door zone. And remember it's bigger than most
cyclists think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TQ7aID1jHs


--
- Frank Krygowski

Jay Beattie wrote:
I've had people
yell and scream and swerve towards me or cut me off, all the time
claiming that I failed to stop or made an illegal lane change or what
have you. Do they do the same thing with other cars -- swerve in to
them for speeding or changing lanes without a signal, etc., etc? It's
really weird behavior.

Some of them even try to enforce mythical laws.

Perhaps the worst I recall was when a well-known local asshole (a term I
seldom use) blared the horn of his customized whale-tail Porsche at me
in the 25 mph zone in the village center, right in front of the police
station. It wasn't even one blare; it was continuous, and he was
yelling "Pick a lane! Pick a lane!"

But there's only one lane at that point! As I waited for traffic to
clear for my left turn, he stopped and continued yelled "Pick a lane!"
I said "There's only one lane!" but his yelling didn't stop.

And btw, I wasn't even slowing traffic. I always make a point of
breaking the speed limit on that downhill, even with a load of
groceries, and it's plenty wide enough to pass a cyclist if necessary.

The asshole is actually ex-local now, because he went bankrupt and had
to sell his large house and move out of town. I don't think anybody was
the least bit sorry to see him leave.


--
- Frank Krygowski