Tandem Cycling - Car/Cycling Accidents Attract Media Attention

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/bicycleretailer/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1532608

"Jay Buchbinder's regular Sunday morning tandem ride with his son Gregg ended in tragedy when a sleeping driver plowed his car into them from behind on Pacific Coast Highway. The elder Buchbinder was killed and his 49-year-old son was taken to the hospital. The driver was not charged."

:confused: :mad:

a little more info from http://ocregister.com/local/bike00701cci1.shtml:

Police said the Buchbinders were riding east on the right shoulder of the highway when they were struck from behind by a Toyota Cressida driven by Chanpenbeau Sar, 43, of Long Beach. He has not been charged in the crash.

so how can the driver NOT be charged? will he be charged and they're just not sure for what yet? in that case he should at least be in jail awaiting official charges. is there any question who was at fault? it sounds as if the cyclists did absolutely nothing illegal or unusual and one was killed and one injured by the motorist inattentiveness. how can there be no charges? at minimum it is involuntary manslaughter, but i think that is far too low a punishment for killing someone...

if motorist behavior is not severly punished even when the worst possible happens (death), how will drivers ever learn to drive with the responsibility they should when operating a heavy death machine at high speed?

i'm not sure about serving time, but this person should at the very minimum forever loose his right to operate a motor vehicle -- but in similar cases that has unfortunately not been the case - i just don't understand! how can that be? how can we put our unquestionable 'right' to drive above that of human life?

Martin Bryant and everyone else who's ever gone mad and shot a heap of people with their gun obviously didn't think it through. The thing it, they could have killed just as many people with their car and got away with it.

I was riding my single road bike in that area about 30 minutes after the accident. I have kept looking for any updates on how thw son is doing with the broken neck but there has been NOTHING in the OC Register. GHas anyone heard any futher details?

There will be a Memorial Ride tomorrow morning in Jay's memory. It is organized by Velo Allegro Club of Long Beach, CA. I will try to attend and report next week. Keep Jay in your prayers.

Originally posted by bac
"The driver was not charged."

:confused: :mad:
WTF is this world coming to? How is it POSSIBLE that that driver not be charged? I mean, it's clearly HIS FAULT. His dumbass fell asleep behind the wheel!

Arggggggh. This is so F#@ked up! I understand insurance covers thief, collision, property damage, etc....but it shouldn't cover things like STUPIDITY!

:cry: :irritated :mad: :(