I want to add more to this. Dennis Hoffarth of the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign is a man who deserves a great deal of respect. His defense of the bicyclist charged in the deadly crash is a worthy effort. The bicyclist in Atlanta is the lowest person in the food chain. Someone has to stand up for us.

But at the same time, Peachtree Industrial Boulevard is not really a "boulevard" at all. It has metamorphosed into a limited access highway. It looks like a freeway, it acts like a freeway, it smells like a freeway...it's a bloody freeway...! People are doing 80 there sometimes! In addition, Peachteee Industrial Boulevard has access roads with posted speed limits of 35 (am I right?) and many alternate routes, except where it passes under I-285. If the crash happened in the underpass I'd still wonder what the younger cyclist was doing riding 5 feet out into the lane.

At his age, the court will need to go easy on him. He made a stupid mistake. He'll be haunted by it all his life (I'm talking about the young cyclist who was charged, not the driver.) Keep in mind the charges are misdemeanor charges of riding too far out into the lane and not having a reflector, nothing serious. To their credit, Gwinnett County police also said that the 35 year-old cyclist who rode with him was riding according to the rules of the road.