Streetsblog San Francisco » Hit-and-Run Berkeley Driver Caught on Camera Injuring Two Bicyclists

Hit-and-Run Berkeley Driver Caught on Camera Injuring Two Bicyclists

Posted By Aaron Bialick On April 27, 2012 @ 2:39 pm In Berkeley,Bicycle Safety,Bicycling,EBBC | 23 Comments

Footage of an egregious hit-and-run crash where a driver injured two bicyclists in Berkeley was posted online by one of the victims yesterday. The man who recorded the incident, identified on Youtube ^[1] as “Bruno,” wrote in the video’s description that police have found the car and the owner, but that he is “waiting for the return of the police on the case.”

Calling the video “horrific,” East Bay Bicycle Coalition Program Director Dave Campbell told the Oakland Tribune ^[2] that the incident highlights the need for a bike lane on Tunnel Road, especially since drivers often speed up on the approach to a nearby highway. Caltrans and the cities of Oakland and Berkeley are working on putting in a bike lane, according to the Tribune.

Still, as Campbell noted, “No amount of engineering is going to stop the kind of reckless driving like we saw in Concord ^[3].” So the question remains: Will Berkeley authorities prosecute this clear case of reckless endangerment, or let another all-too-common case slip through the cracks?

Update: As Christopher Kidd pointed out in the comments, the victims could also potentially file a civil suit against the driver under Berkeley’s new bicyclist anti-harassment ordinance ^[4].

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URL to article: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2012/04/27/hit-and-run-berkeley-driver-caught-on-camera-injuring-two-bicyclists/

URLs in this post:

[1] on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3LatOGCWVc&feature=player_embedded

[2] Oakland Tribune: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20496010/video-shows-bicyclists-violently-struck-by-vehicle-berkeley

[3] we saw in Concord: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/baycitynews/archive/2012/04/01/01.DTL&tsp=1

[4] bicyclist anti-harassment ordinance: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2012/02/21/berkeley-enacts-law-to-protect-bicyclists-from-driver-harassment/

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