by 
If you haven’t already seen this video, go ahead and watch it. The crash happens at 2:38.
Now I could get on here and bash the motorist that struck these bike riders, call him every name in the book and continue the nonstop hostility between driver and cyclist, polarizing the two groups even further, but I won’t. That’s not saying the driver in this video isn’t guilty, he fucking is. He sounds like a real asset to the human race…
Berkeley police found Michael Medaglia, who was on parole in connection with an earlier incident, at the Jack London Inn in Oakland after Oakland police found his car, which Medaglia had reported stolen Wednesday, some time after the cyclists were knocked off their bikes on Tunnel Road in Berkeley. Medaglia is the registered owner of the vehicle involved in the collision with the cyclists, police said. Police did not release the make or model of the car.
Berkeley police arrested Medaglia in his hotel room on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, heroin possession, a felon in possession of ammunition and violating parole. He was on parole from a 2010 case for possession of a switchblade, police said.
This story aside, I’m amazed by the growing failure of both drivers and cyclists to put their egos aside, acknowledge each other, respect each other, and be able to control their own set of fucking wheels without hurting one another. There always some point to prove. The cyclist machismo versus the driver ignorance/arrogance.
It’s sad because most motorists are good people, and most cyclists are good people. The generalizations of the two groups are outrageous, and unproductive. I think we can all agree on that, can’t we?
When are we all going to grow up, learn a little bit of patience, respect each other, and remain safe and calm so we can all go on our marry ways without having to go to the hospital, the grave, or prison? I’m pretty sure nobody wants to go to any of these places. They all suck and they all are a waste of money.
Take a deep breath and calm the fuck down. Everybody.
In other news, Cupcake Whiskey report coming soon. Asses, deer, bacon and beer…
by 
Agreed, and well said. But while people are quick to generalize about cyclists, very few generalize about car drivers. So yeah, if one cyclist hits a pedestrian, we are all lumped together as the scourge of society. But you won’t catch people saying all car drivers are bad when someone gets mowed down by a driver not paying attention. It’s an unfair double standard.
The reasons motorists are quick to lump all cyclists together is ignorance. In the U.S., it’s pretty accurate to say that EVERYONE drives. Maybe five or ten percent are cyclists.
Rest assured, every time you hear someone say, “cyclists don’t obey the law,” they come from that 80-90% of people who drive but don’t ride.
The fact, is they’re simply wrong.
…while you make an intelligent point regarding the cooperation needed vie-a-vie drivers & cyclists & while you do take the time to scathe the driver, perhaps the inclusion of this particular video was a bad choice to solidify your point, amigo…
…this falls into the category of ‘unusual circumstances’ ‘cuz the driver knew he was in deep shit for reasons other than a nonfatal accident if he stopped…it’s quite likely the illegal possessions he was busted with were in the car at the time so he chanced getting away & lying about the car being stolen…
…but – having ridden & driven that stretch of ‘tunnel road’ in the past, (never regularly) i was basically watching for locale identifiers & what i’m seeing is the two cyclists riding completely through numerous ‘stop’ signs…
…i’d never, ever suggest their actions in any way justify what happened to them, particularly in this situation, safety being a separate issue but i am wondering if that’s what you mean regarding cooperation…
…ride through a stop sign & you’ve pretty much closed the door on discussion to anyone in a car who witnesses it…even the clowns who make ‘hollywood stops’ in their vehicles…
I obey every stop sign. I even obey the ones on the rail trail, and have been cussed by cycling trail users (won’t call ’em “cyclists”) for doing so. Wudup wit dat?
Oh yeah, and Cupcake? Don’t know as I’d call it a “crash”. Attempted vehicular homicide. At least that’s how it looked to me. Don’t care how many stop signs they ran, either. Well I do; I’d sure never do anything so foolhardy. But there was none of that going on at the time of the attempted homicide.
If drivers are around, then I stop at every one. If no drivers are around, I’ll hollywood stop, making sure there are no surprises from an unnoticed car. We all pay for the jerks who run all the stop signs in traffic.
Trackstand are golden.
They obviously didn’t deserve to be hit, but damn those were some squirrely riders. Blowing stop signs, riding in the door zone, continuing straight from the turn only lane, swerving for no apparent reason. Squirrels man.
it’ll be an absolutely snowy day in Florida before I speak in support of a driver hitting a cyclist or pedestrian, so let me make that clear. What that driver did is indefensible.There can be no reasonable or sane excuse for such behavior. That said, the attitude of the cyclist in front in fairly disturbing to me. Other than running stop signs he rarely if ever check his six for what’s going on back there. He appears to run a stop sign without sparing even a glance for any dangers, then many times swerves to the left without looking behind to see if he may be swerving into the path of a car that’s about to pass him or even another cyclist who may be in the process of passing him. As a cyclist who occasionally rides streets and fear the dangers there, watching this guy’s action on the video gives me chills. I would hate to be the guy beside or behind him on a group ride.
The driver was seemingly a fucking dirt bag. Not a typical citizen who also happens to drive a car, though. You make a good point regarding the need for some mutual respect.
Where I live in Vancouver, EVERYONE blows through stop signs. No exceptions. ALL cars and ALL bikes.100% of the time when the road is clear. Sure, we slow to check we aren’t likely to kill someone or ourselves, but we keep on rolling. The only time anyone comes to a complete stop is to avoid a collision. Having said that, these guys in the video seemed particularly oblivious to them.
This year, I decided to sell the road bike and focus on the trails. I am amazed that this person was arrested and charged with something. Until this becomes the norm, singletrack dreams will dance in my head.
http://sfist.com/2012/04/30/berkeley_hit-run_driver_arrested.php
I rode 4000 miles across the country and along the entire Pacific coast, sometimes on 80mph highways, other times through some of America’s biggest cities with no incidents whatsoever.
Last Friday I was riding on a local paved Greenway as I do almost everyday when a woman who was riding in the opposite direction inexplicably turned directly into my front tire, crushed my hand between our handlebars, and pulled my bike out from under me sending me flying to the pavement. I’ve got a separated shoulder, 3 bone chips out of my knuckles, and a sore everything.
Sometimes you eat the road and sometimes the road, well uh sometimes he eats you.
Wow.
It just goes to show you, even in the midst of a bunch of like-minded people (we’re all stoked on bikes, I presume?) you can’t even get people to step up and say – without qualification – that this video represents an assault.
It is a fucking ASSAULT. The driver of the car put the car in the bike lane on the cyclists at an angle which specified intent. He didn’t brush a dude with the mirror as he was on the fog line and the cyclist right over. No. Look again, he went into the bike lane at a sharp angle. He probably actually had enough time to swerve out of the lane after the contact (noise- what a normal non-felony assaulting person reflexively recoils from) with the first rider, but -nope-he kept going right at the second, and makes sure he takes him out too. And then he bolts.
Maybe you all ride on rides that don’t look like that. I ride on roads that look like that every day. A shit ton of good miles. Sure, these guys could’ve cleaned it up a bit. I bet they were probably just taking their time to get where they’d like to go, where they could open it up. Probably knew that area warranted a slower pace and caution. Probably talking about some stupid shit. Checking out chicks in yoga pants. They knew how far out in their peripheral vision they had to see to safely roll the signs. And they were going slow.
Fuckin’ a. Judging a man’s paceline skills from his lunchtime chat ride. You all are some unisex bitches tonight. Go drink something to put some hair back on your parts and come back at this with the flame-out comments to which we have become accustomed.
Most cyclists are good people. SOME motorists are good people, but many are slurpie sucking land manatees that think you, and not their worthless protoplasm, caused all of their failures in life. Including their failure to be at their desired location 30 seconds faster, no matter how early or late their dumb fucking asses already are.
There ya go. Take that “can’t we all just get along?” bullshit and ride it right on outta here, Rodney.
Looking at the video, what disturbs me is that not a single car seemed to stop to check if they were okay, some of them must have witnessed the accident!
The same thing happened when I got hit by a lanechanger on my motorcycle on Auckland’s motorway several years ago, I ended up sliding down the tarmac, cars were actually swerving to avoid me but not a single fucker stopped to see if I was okay.
& when I say motorway, at that time we’re talking 3 lanes with wide shoulders.
Yeech calm down. Dumbass fails to follow traffic laws. Makes him the DB that gives the rest of us spandex avengers a bad name. Doesn’t excuse the driver. Probably guilty of something along the lines of assault. But most motorists are cool with cyclists, just like most cyclists follow the laws. Hope these guys make a fast recovery and this dude serves time (probably will for the J and not for running someone else over, though).
Spandex Avenger?
Does this mean that I have to wear a pair of underwear, (or grunts as they’re called down here), over my cycling shorts?
Yeah Danimal yeah! HaHA! Cold Medina, boyee.
This happened on Highway 13 coming out of Berkeley, a route frequented by cyclists.
Danimal is spot fucking on. How in the hell did their running of a stop sign have anything to do with the fact that they got MOWED DOWN by a car obviously coming over the white line?
Just curious. Sure, it was dumb, but I guarantee you we’ve all done it. I do it all the time – hell, an on-duty Sheriff did it in front of me at an intersection today, while I was in it. Talk about scary shit – getting MOWED DOWN by the law.
The world is fucked up, and this instance definitely proves that point.
PS: Bonky, sure, they were squirrely, but really? Riding in the “door zone?” That’s called the shoulder here in Northern California. Ride in it, or expect to be pleasantly greeted by a bunch of the angriest (and dumbest) mother effing drivers in the world.
…gee whizz, danimal…the guy’s a junkie…they busted him with smack so maybe he was simply nodding while he was driving…maybe you better send him a nice written apology for being so insensitive & calling him out for assault…
…bwahahaha…
@Derp,
No, I have never, ever, run a stop sign or a red light on a bike.
Down here a bicycle is classified as a vehicle & is subject to the same laws & restrictions as a motor vehicle.
Which does not stop hipster fuckwits blowing red lights in downtown Auckland, had several shouting matches.
Asses, deer, bacon and beer…
Sounds pretty damn good to me..
Loose Bambi & that’s pretty much my life quest at present..
Nicely put Danimal, gotta agree. These riders weren’t flexxin no ego; they were slowing rolling out early in their ride. The driver was inattentive (we’re living in the wonderful era of the most distracted drivers ever). One party is on a 20lb machine, the other is on a 2000lb machine, who’s got the capacity to damage shit around them if they’re snoozing? How can mutual respect be an issue here. I’m sure the riders were just pondering how all these motorists are really good people who would never harm them. The broad generalization of mutual respect is a nice sentiment, but when another inattentive driver mows down some folks out having some fun, staying fit, and enjoying some local adventure, that is nothing less than totally fucked and the driver should be severely punished.
“When are we all going to grow up, learn a little bit of patience,…”
You said that right. I’d bet everyone one of us has thought “where you going in such a hurry” when someone has performed some sketchy pass on a blind corner or swerved into oncoming traffic to pass a cyclist, but do we always ask ourselves the same question when we’re making decisions on our bikes?
It doesn’t surprise me at all that no one stopped to see if they were ok. For the most part, everyone’s in too big of a hurry to give a shit about anybody else.
Breaking the law and getting hit are two separate things. No, they absolutely did not deserve to get hit, and yes, the driver deserves punishment under the law. I’ve been hit while riding in a straight line in the bike lane. Shit happens.
But cyclists who run stop signs/lights, roll the wrong way up a one-way, or break other road laws drive me bananas, because they will invariably shout at motorists to treat them like vehicles.
My statements are not a testament to this particular video, they are focused on the issue of bikes versus cars as a whole, sorry for the misunderstanding.
I do in fact think the person driving the car in this video is guilty of everything they charge him with. With his background, and lying that his car was stolen, he deserves the harshest of penalties.
This isn’t a “I’m right, you’re wrong” problem, moderate and reasonable thinking are the only things that will help make us all safer on the road.
@Danimal
While your slurpie sucking land manatees is hilarious and probably pretty accurate, continuing to label all drivers and all cyclists a certain way won’t help to accomplish anything about this shitty problem we have.
When you say most cyclists are good people and most motorists aren’t…I find this hard to agree with:
You probably assume that Hummer drivers and fat people with lifted trucks are slurpie sucking land manatees. But I saw two cyclists at the Whiskey last weekend throw their bikes into their Hummer and lifted truck. I would assume most of us “cyclists” are also “motorists.” Does that make us all slurpie sucking land manatees.
Moral of the story, don’t judge the motorist because he’s a motorist, don’t judge the cyclist because he’s a cyclist. If you’re going to judge anything, judge the quality of their driving/riding and compel them to be better.
One of these days I’m gonna need to start wearing a helmet. Sike.
There are no turn signals or stop signs in Santa Fe; as a daily commuter and rider, laws must be bent to avoid the ignorances of automobile drivers who see me as a pest and a nuisance.
True dat, Mat. Self-preservation trumps black letter law, always.
Hurben – congratulations for being the holiest one of us on a website about beer and boobs.
You, sir, are a god for having never run a stop sign.
Well, at least it appears like these guys didn’t get seriously hurt. Re: them blowing through stop signs… if they got nailed at an intersection as a result of not stopping I guess then we could all point our fingers and say they had it coming. But can’t see that this has any bearing on them getting steam rolled by some random douche bag while they were in the bike lane. But shit happens, as they say in the parlance of our times.
@30
Thank you, thank you!
I owe it all to clean living & pure thoughts!
…cupcake @ 26…absolutely…in general, we could all be doing a better job at representing…
@ Cupcake 26 –
Labels, stereotypes, and unfair generalizations help me categorize and understand the world.
Some motorists are good people though, you are right. You can identify them by the bike racks they have on their cars, the bikey license plate, the “3 feet” sticker, and the steering wheel wrapped with handlebar tape. I tend to feel like rolling a hummer to the bike race is a mixed metaphor, but whatevs. I’ve only got time for so much rant today.
Whoop. Rubber side down y’all.
I feel compelled to agree with every word @34. see you out there, brothers and sisters
Jesus spoke to me last night. He said this stuff happens all over. In Korea, a truck driver was watching TV on his GPS and took out 3 professionals a few days after the end of The Tour of Korea. WWJD?
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/05/113_110034.html
about 7000 people die a day in the U.S., certainly some will be cyclists and others will be cyclists who are riding when it happens…the only way to avoid it is to not be a cyclist, of course you will still die eventually.
Like my Dad says, “You can be right and you can be dead right.” Being dead right doesn’t do anyone any good.