Month: November 2009

Patrick Watson, one of the cyclists victimized by Dr. Thompson in the now-famous LA road rage case, is asking cyclists to write to the DA (Mary Stone, mstone@da.lacounty.gov) in support of strong sentencing. You should especially write if you are a resident of LA County, and a constituent. But this case is of national importance, so all letters are encouraged.
Mr. Watson writes:
"As some of you have no doubt heard, the jury has reached a verdict in the Thompson case. The jury found the defendant guilty on all seven counts charged:
– Count 1: Reckless Driving Causing Specified Injury (victim: Ron Peterson)
– Count 2: Battery with Serious Bodily Injury (victim: Ron Peterson)
– Count 3: Battery with Serious Bodily Injury (victim: Christian Stoehr)
– Count 4: Reckless Driving (victims: Patrick Watson and Josh Crosby)
– Count 5: Assault with a Deadly Weapon (victim: Ron Peterson)
NOTE: The jury also found that the defendant had committed a Special Allegation of "Causing Great Bodily Injury"
– Count 6: Assault with a Deadly Weapon (victim: Christian Stoehr)
NOTE: The jury also found that the defendant had committed a Special Allegation of "Causing Great Bodily Injury"
– Count 7: Mayhem
If you are unaware of this case and the verdict I copied some links below for you to review.
The range for the defendant is anywhere from probation to 10 years in prison and the District Attorney is anticipating that the defense will submit a boatload of letters to the judge and/or the probation department on his client’s behalf. Please, if anyone from the community who has views on the sentencing you are also allowed to write the judge and/or probation officer.
As the defense will probably argue that no one else’s opinion is relevant to this defendant, the District Attorney will indicate that we are offering letters toward the issue of general deterrence, in other words, simply because the defendant was in his car does not change the blunt nature of the unmitigated assault on the cyclists and that drivers everywhere must become aware that they have to share the road. To that end, anyone who would like to contribute a letter or an e-mail may send it to the District Attorney’s office (below) or to the District Attorney herself, her e-mail address is also below. She will package all the letters and e-mails for us and submit them with her motion so the judge gets them all at once instead of a slow trickle. She plans to file the motion at the end of next week [Friday, November 20, Ed.] so it would be great if she had the letters/e-mails by then. And, yes, the more, the better.
Please address your letters appropriately, like we were able to touch on in court, which is that cyclists are not some alien breed of monsters that are claiming the streets, but regular people, fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, police officers, bankers, lawyers, doctors, teachers…. So, if anyone is writing a letter, it would be nice if you could begin with an identifying fact such as what your occupation is and that you are a motorist and a cyclist. I truly appreciate everyone’s commitment to this request and I hope you all feel the same as I do in making sure the defendant serves his appropriate time in prison for all 7 counts the jury found him guilty on and not just a slap on the wrist and probation. Please make your voice heard as I spent a great deal of my own personal time throughout this entire process and because I’m passionate about trying to make our community a better place to ride our bikes. Also, please forward on to your cycling community and make your voice heard throughout your area. This has resulted in National attention and the more letters from across the country the louder our voice will be heard."
For background on the case, Patrick also posted some links in another forum. https://forums.bicycling.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2181017265/m/4641029846
Write to DA Mary Stone here:
mstone@da.lacounty.gov
Or,
District Attorney’s Office
Attn. Mary Stone
11701 S. LaCienega
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Please spread the word!
Continue reading “Cyclist victim in LA road rage case seeks letters to DA”

[Baltimore Spokes: fairly impressive benefits of the plan.]
[Dutch] Cabinet finalises kilometer tax plan
Monday 16 November 2009
The Netherlands is set to become the first country in Europe to replace road tax with a kilometer charge for all motorists, over 10 years since the idea was first put forward.
If the legislation is passed by parliament, motorists will start paying tax on every kilometer they drive, which the government hopes will reduce traffic jams and pollution.
On Friday, ministers agreed that the tax will be three cents a kilometer when the charge is introduced in 2012, rising to 6.7 cents by 2018 – for the greenest cars . But if revenues generated by the tax are not in line with expectations, the tax can be adjusted, the transport ministry said.
Rush hour
The tax will be higher during the rush hour and for more polluting vehicles.
To make sure motorists are not worse off, road tax will be scrapped and the purchase tax on new cars will be reduced. Some 60% of drivers will be better off, the government claims.
The transport ministry said on Friday it expected fatal accidents will fall by 7% and carbon emissions would be down by 10%. Traffic jams will be halved and the amount of kilometres driven will go down by 15%.
Each car on the roads will be fitted with a GPS device which will use satellites to monitor where and when the car is driven and send the information to a central billing point.
…
Continue reading “Per mile car tax + rush hour surcharge”

By Bob Glissmann – WORLD-HERALD
It’s a two-way street.
Bicyclists need to follow the rules of the road. Drivers need to acknowledge cyclists’ right to be on the road.
Usually, the two groups peacefully coexist. When they don’t, most encounters end with a stern look, a few choice words or an extended middle finger, not physical violence.
The curb-side clash between Omahans Benjamin Brownlow, 24, and Edward L. Palmer, 56, ended with cyclist Brownlow getting slapped upside the head. That led, last week, to Palmer’s guilty plea to a misdemeanor assault charge.
Tensions between cyclists and drivers aren’t new or limited to Omaha’s streets. As more cyclists hit the road for recreation or to commute to and from work, they’re encountering drivers who may be leery of — or even hostile toward — the cyclists.
But biking advocates say that familiarity breeds comfort, not contempt; they say studies have found that the more bicyclists hit the streets, the more drivers adapt to their presence.
The League of American Bicyclists, quoting the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey, said 0.55 percent of Americans use a bicycle as the primary means of getting to work. That’s up 36 percent from the first survey in 2005 and 43 percent since the 2000 Census.
This year’s Bike Omaha Challenge, overseen by Activate Omaha, an exercise advocacy group, showed that 693 bike commuters in town logged more than 129,000 miles between mid-May and mid-August.
While far short of top rider Jerry Francis’ 3,039 miles, Brownlow, who doesn’t own a car, came in ninth in the challenge with 1,322 miles.
Brownlow says his run-in with Palmer occurred on Memorial Day when he was riding south on 50th Street between Dodge and Leavenworth Streets. Palmer was a front-seat passenger in a minivan that started honking at Brownlow from behind.
Brownlow said he gestured for the minivan to pass him, but Palmer started screaming obscenities from the van’s passenger side and yelling that Brownlow didn’t have a driver’s license, didn’t pay taxes and was supposed to be on the sidewalk, not the road.
Brownlow said he tried to tell Palmer that it’s legal for him to ride on the street. Then Palmer’s son pulled ahead of Brownlow and tried to cut him off, Brownlow said, but the cyclist was able to squeeze through. The second time, Brownlow said, the minivan blocked him in near Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
One witness told police it was clear to him that the van’s driver was deliberately swerving toward Brownlow.
Brownlow said Palmer got out of the minivan and continued to scream obscenities at him.
“I was thinking that I still might be able to talk him down,” Brownlow said. “Explaining what the laws were didn’t seem to help.”
After more yelling, he said, Palmer slapped him in the face. A witness told police that Palmer smacked Brownlow so hard she was shocked Brownlow was able to remain on his bike.
“It was kind of nice that I had my helmet on,” Brownlow said.
People who were tending their loved ones’ graves in the cemetery yelled at Palmer that they were going to call the police and yelled to Brownlow to get Palmer’s license-plate number. Palmer returned to the minivan, and the van left the area.
Palmer said last week that he entered the guilty plea only to spare his 19-year-old son, James R. Palmer, a reckless-driving conviction. He says Brownlow was riding erratically in front of the family minivan and repeatedly cursed at the vehicle’s occupants and flipped them off when Palmer’s son tried to pass the cyclist.
Palmer says he had his son stop the minivan so he could get out and confront Brownlow after Brownlow intentionally rammed his bike into the side of the vehicle. He says he told Brownlow to stop cursing, then stuck his finger in Brownlow’s face. He told police he may have touched Brownlow’s cheek.
After police investigated, misdemeanor warrants were issued in late August for Ed Palmer and James Palmer, and the two turned themselves in.
Ed Palmer was sentenced to 90 days’ probation and assessed a $50 fine. The charges against James Palmer were dismissed.
Julie Harris of Activate Omaha said drivers have honked and cursed at her and flipped her off while she was out riding. She also has had drivers get as close to her as they can or speed up just as they pass.
“In all fairness, however, I also have to say that I have encountered many courteous and attentive drivers who have gone out of their way to be accommodating,” Harris said.
All drivers shouldn’t be judged based on the poor behavior of a few, she said, and all cyclists shouldn’t be considered law-flaunting daredevils based on the behavior of a few.
Brownlow, who commutes from near downtown to the west Omaha bike shop where he works, said both drivers and cyclists need to follow the rules of the road.
“There’s a fair amount of people who are using a bike and not using it properly,” he said.
Continue reading “More bikes, more awareness”

Continue reading “Relief for Bicyclists; Shift for DC Drivers”