This sucks.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...AG3MC00511.DTL
Notice how California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Christine Jacobs is quoted as saying that cyclists assume the risk.....but the risk in this case extends to everyone, pedestrian, cyclist, other motorists, people sitting in their front yards.
At least the driver was immediately locked up.
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A female bicyclist who had apparently stopped to rest on the side of a country road in Sonoma County was killed Monday by a suspected drunken driver in a pickup truck, authorities said.
The identity of the 43-year-old victim from Clearlake in Lake County was withheld Monday by the coroner's office.
It is believed to be Sonoma County's third bicycle death linked to a drunken driver in the past year.
Monday's accident occurred under sunny skies at about 1:10 p.m. on Mark West Springs Road near the Quietwater Road intersection outside Santa Rosa. The woman, whose family is in the process of moving from Clearlake to Sonoma County, was riding solo on a mountain bike.
Joseph Lynchard, 72, of Santa Rosa, the driver of a silver 1997 Ford F- 150 pickup truck, was taken into custody after the accident. He was booked at the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of felony drunken driving, inflicting great bodily injury and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
"We have every reason to believe that he (was) under the influence," said California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Christine Jacobs. She said that laboratory results of Lynchard's blood alcohol level were pending.
A driver who witnessed the accident told investigators that the victim had stopped her bike on the right shoulder of the eastbound lane of Mark West Springs Road, a hilly road with a 15-foot-wide shoulder.
"It was not clear whether she had gotten off the bike and was sitting on the ground, or straddling the bike to drink some water," Jacobs said. "He swerves off the roadway to the right and hits her. For whatever reason, he turned the vehicle that way. Near as we can tell, he drives about 50 yards up the road and pulls over."
Paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene, with massive head injuries and a broken right leg. An autopsy is scheduled for this morning.
It is unclear how fast the pickup truck was going, Jacobs said.
Almost a year ago, 43-year-old winery marketing analyst Daniel O'Reilly of Agua Caliente was struck and killed by a drunken driver as he peddled home on Mark West Springs Road. William M. Albertson, 46, of Lake County was sentenced to 14 years in state prison for the crime.
Nearly a year ago, on April 11, Easter Sunday, Alan Liu, a 31-year-old engineer and triathlete, was killed, and his companion, Jill Mason, 26, was paralyzed when they were hit by a car as they cycled along Highway 12 near Oakmont outside Santa Rosa. The driver, Santa Rosa lawyer Harvey Hereford, had drunk more than three times the legal limit at which a person is considered too intoxicated to drive. He was subsequently sentenced to eight years, eight months in state prison.
"We have a lot of rural country roads out here, and people who ride their bikes on these country roads usually know the risk and assume the risk," Jacobs said. "They do the best to protect themselves, but can't protect themselves against everyone."