johnny99

Rodney Smith, retired CEO of Altera Corp., was killed while bicycling on Sand Hill Road (climbing the hill east of Portola Road). The incident occurred in 2007. Since then the CHP declined to file charges against the car driver. Mr. Smith's widow sued the car driver. Earlier this week, a jury voted 9-3 in favor of the car driver and against the widow. The car driver was an 87 year old man.

brief news report: https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/s...y.php?id=14768

kster

Any details available from CHP's accident report?

BlastRadius

Frak!

JoelS

*sigh*

UmneyDurak

I think an old fart who killed a CAL rider and put another in to a hospital is still driving also.

genejockey 

BlastRadius

Yup, I think in Danville or Lafayette thereabouts.

Red Rider

This stuff makes me sick to my stomach. Where is the humanity? At least the driver should be made to re-take a driver's test, or better yet, have his license taken away.

How awful.

pelikan

It was literaly yesterday that I randomly came across this article. It definitely has me questioning how 'safe' sand hill is or isn't.
https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object...FVK8RU.DTL&o=1

Those cars come flying by you, and I know it's been more than once people going into the Horse Ranch have turned right in front of the PV Ride.

HIPCHIP

Without more details we really can't judge. The CHP did the report based on California Vehicle Code laws, and even if they can't site the driver the drivers can be sued, which he was, and a jury found the driver not liable, so there must be something else going on we are not privy to.

UmneyDurak

I don't know... It is a 10 year statistic, and that road sees a lot of cyclist traffic. Although I agree that Horse Ranch is a problem.

johnny99

I think most of the car-bicycle crashes on Sand Hill Road occur on the eastern part of the road (at the I-280 interchange or east of that). Freeway interchanges are always hazardous. There are also a lot of business driveways in this section so cars may turn in or out without warning. And there are a lot of people commuting to work by bicycle when traffic is the thickest. Stanford has several labs in this area with a lot of student workers. I'm guessing that most of the crashes occurred during rush hour.

I do not recall any car-bicycle crashes near the horse ranch (other than Mr. Smith), but these aren't all widely publicized.

Dchiefransom

I remember that. The cyclist was riding on the shoulder when hit. The shoulder there is nice and wide.

kster

There must be something missing in the reported story as to why the driver wasn't found at fault (by CHP). When I was hit in the rear last April, the driver was cited for two infractions.