Martin Erzinger, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney wealth manager. Photo: Treehugger

Over in Vail, Colorado, the new rule seems to be that you don’t even have to stay at the scene, if you’re sufficiently rich and well-connected. Manage a billion dollar portfolio, and you can do whatever the hell you want with your car and get away with no felony charges.

Vail Daily reported last week that Martin Erzinger, a wealth manager for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and local resident, will not face felony charges stemming from a July 3 collision in which he reportedly ran down New York City physician Steven Milo, causing severe spinal injuries, and drove away. Over Milo’s objections, District Attorney Mark Hurlbert won’t pursue anything stronger than a misdemeanor charge for the hit-and-run. The decision has little to do with justice or deterrence and much to do with money:

“Mr. Erzinger struck me, fled and left me for dead on the highway,” Milo wrote. “Neither his financial prominence nor my financial situation should be factors in your prosecution of this case.”

Hurlbert said Thursday that, in part, this case is about the money.

“The money has never been a priority for them. It is for us,” Hurlbert said. “Justice in this case includes restitution and the ability to pay it.”

Hurlbert said Erzinger is willing to take responsibility and pay restitution.

“Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger’s profession, and that entered into it,” Hurlbert said. “When you’re talking about restitution, you don’t want to take away his ability to pay.”

Blogger Felix Salmon says the decision amounts to Erzinger buying his way out of a felony charge. Over at Cyclelicious, Richard Masoner is calling for a Vail tourism boycott and points to other reactions around the web, including this petition to Hurlbert at Change.org.

Safe streets advocates often ruefully say, "if you want to kill someone and get away with it, do it in a car." In fact, unless alcohol is involved, very few motorists who kill vulnerable road users -- like pedestrians and cyclists -- are charged with a crime, even when they break traffic laws in the process.

Even the word "accident" drives traffic justice advocates to distraction, since it implies a lack of agency, as though drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and mow them down aren't culpable for their actions.

Despite the fact that more people in America die from car crashes than from handguns, few policy makers or law enforcement officials are willing to equate the danger of car death with gun death.

Now, that hesitance has stalled a bill that could make California's streets safer.

In an attempt to deter dangerous driving, California Assembly Bill 1951, introduced by San Francisco Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, would significantly bolster penalties for dangerous driving and would give district attorneys greater discretion in pursuing traffic justice cases. Currently, unsafe operation of a motor vehicle carries a fine of $70 if it results in bodily injury, and $95 for "great bodily injury."

Under Ammiano's bill, DAs could charge unsafe driving as either an infraction or a misdemeanor for bodily or great bodily injury and could seek "imprisonment in a county jail for not less than 5 days and not more than 90 days, or by a fine of not less than $145 and not more than $1,000, or by both a fine and imprisonment."

But Ammiano couldn't get the bill out of committee yesterday, where, perhaps ironically, the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) voiced its opposition. That gave committee members an easy out, said the bill's supporters.

Ammiano's spokesperson Quintin Mecke said opposition from the CDAA was disappointing, particularly because the bill doesn't mandate penalties but would have given DAs more leverage in cases where they felt drivers were dangerous. He also contended that the CDAA's position didn't reflect the stance of many individual DAs, especially in cities, where there are proportionally more pedestrians and cyclists.

"I bet if we went around to county DAs, we'd find support from a lot of them," said Mecke. "The disconnect is with the lobbying arm."

Mecke said Ammiano's office was committed to pushing forward and organizing support among lawmakers and law enforcement officials around the danger of unsafe driving. According to Mecke, committee members said they were hesitant to criminalize driving, and one member of the committee said about collisions, "Well, isn't that why we have insurance?"

"We need to move beyond this notion that 'accidents' are a neutral value occurrence," said Mecke. "That is such an ingrained notion"

Bicycle groups had pushed hard for the legislation, arguing that other potentially dangerous activities tend to come with greater expectations of caution.

"When you put the key in the ignition, you accept a lot of responsibility to make sure this two-ton vehicle doesn't hurt someone," said California Bicycle Coalition spokesperson Jim Brown. "If you're picking up your registered, loaded handgun, you know that you have the responsibility to protect the public."

Corrinne Winter, Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, said the bill would be a step in the right right direction for road safety. "Motor vehicle crashes kill more than 40,000 people and injure several million in the United States each year -- this is a social problem of epidemic proportions," she said.

A study [PDF] by the San Francisco Injury Center for Research and Prevention at SF General Hospital found that injuries are costly, too. Between 2004 and 2008, pedestrian injuries in San Francisco cost a total of $74.3 million. Less than a quarter of that cost was covered by private insurers; the rest fell on public funding and patients themselves. In one case, an uninsured patient was billed $505,952.

Market and Octavia Stoplight Camera Bill May Have Brighter Prospects

Another road safety bill, California Assembly Bill 2729, which would allow San Francisco to install traffic enforcement cameras at the intersection of Market Street and Octavia Boulevard, appears to have stronger support in the Assembly.

Traffic enforcement cameras are generally restricted to red-light violations in California, but Ammiano introduced AB 2729 to create an exception for Market and Octavia, where illegal right turns from Market onto the US-101 on-ramp have created hazardous conditions for cyclists.

The bill made it through committee on a 10-2 vote with bipartisan support. That should bode well for its success in the full Assembly, said Mecke. "Given that [San Francisco Assemblymember Fiona] Ma is a co-sponsor, we think it will pass Assembly," he said.

As for the Senate, Mecke is confident in the bill's chances. Senator Leland Yee, who previously opposed a similar bill, appears to be more open to the bill this time. "We've had conversations with Senator Yee and we think there is a good chance in the Senate," said Mecke.

While some state lawmakers have been hesitant to legislate about a specific intersection, Marc Caswell of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, said Market at Octavia is clearly a special case.

"The argument we made was that this intersection is extremely unique, an interstate on-ramp meeting with a city arterial," he said. "It's not easy to make a right at this intersection. Those turning right here are doing so knowing that they are putting pedestrians and cyclists at risk."

Cyclists rally in memory of Christophe Le Canne. Photo: rydel/Picasa via Miami Bike Scene

The horrific death of a 44-year-old resident of South Miami has enraged
cyclists across South Florida, igniting a debate over street safety in
a region historically dominated by devil-may-care drivers.

On January 17, Christophe Le Canne was out for a Sunday
morning ride on the Rickenbacker Causeway, which connects the city of
Miami with Virginia Key and Key Biscayne, when he was hit from behind
and knocked from his bike by Carlos Bertonatti, a 28-year-old aspiring
musician with a long history of traffic offenses. Bertonatti drove for miles with Le Canne’s blue Cannondale wedged beneath his Volkswagen Jetta.
Le Canne died before paramedics arrived on the scene.

Bertonatti was arrested outside his Key Biscayne apartment after a police officer observed him
dragging Le Canne’s bike. He was charged with DUI manslaughter,
vehicular homicide, resisting arrest, driving without a license and
leaving the scene of a fatal accident. 

This could have been
written off as an isolated incident — another drunk driver with a
checkered driving record takes another life. But for several possible
reasons, that didn’t happen. Consider the arrogance of the killer.
Bertonatti’s website, according to the Miami Herald, "had boasted of his poor driving record." Police had to strap him to a fire department backer board in order to extract a blood sample. After the crash, Bertonatti issued regrets through his publicist. He is currently out on bail.

Some
also blame Le Canne’s death in part on a bungled response by emergency
personnel. Due to confusion over who should handle the 911 call, it
took more than 15 minutes for help to reach the victim. By then it was
too late.

Whatever the reason, Le Canne’s death has acted as
a flashpoint for cyclists who have long endured pariah status on the
chaotic streets of the Miami megalopolis. A memorial ride for Le Canne drew thousands. Advocates are calling for
separated bike facilities, in addition to tougher penalties for drivers who harass or harm cyclists. The Miami-Dade County Commission has discussed lowering speed limits, increasing police presence, and streamlining emergency response operations.
Stricter rules for alcohol service have also come up.

It’s
impossible to ignore the parallels between the Le Canne tragedy and any
number of local cyclist and pedestrian fatalities. A driver with a long
rap sheet is allowed to remain behind the wheel of his own car until he, almost inevitably, ends up visiting misery on innocent victims.

And
as in New York, the perniciousness of motorist entitlement asserts
itself in less obvious ways. There was once talk of raising the toll on
the Rickenbacker at Key Biscayne, which could have funded extended
hours for a fire-rescue station closer to the spot where Le Canne was
hit. That station was closed at the time of the crash.

Dr. Christopher Thompson is taken away in cuffs Monday. Photo: Los Angeles Times

Following
a highly-publicized, intensely-followed trial, Christopher Thompson,
the physician accused of using his car to seriously injure two cyclists
in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, is behind bars.

Thompson was convicted yesterday of six felony counts: two counts each, according to VeloNews, of assault with a deadly weapon, battery with
serious bodily injury, and reckless driving causing specified
injury and mayhem.

On
July 4, 2008, Thompson passed cyclists Ron Peterson and Christian
Stoehr as the pair rode through the emergency room surgeon’s upscale
neighborhood. Angry after a verbal exchange with the men, Thompson slammed on the brakes
of his red Infiniti as Peterson and Stoehr rode behind. Stoehr ended up
in front of the car, wounded with a separated shoulder. Peterson hit
the rear window, suffering severe facial injuries. Thompson told police
on the scene that he was tired of cyclists in his neighborhood and
wanted to "teach them a lesson."

At trial, Thompson denied
making that statement, claiming that he had been attempting to get
photographs of the cyclists, who he said had frightened him. But the
jury didn’t buy it, possibly because of Thompson’s history of hostility
toward people on bikes. He was also convicted Monday of misdemeanor
reckless driving, a charge stemming from a prior encounter with two
other cyclists.

Prosecutor Mary
Stone urged that Thompson be remanded to jail, saying: "In terms of
public safety, there isn’t a cyclist in Los Angeles who would be
comfortable if he were out on the streets." Judge Scott Millington
apparently agreed, ordering Thompson held without bail. Sentencing is
set for December 3. Thompson faces up to 10 years in prison.

Thompson
could very well get off with a light sentence. But to have prosecutors,
a judge and jury members agree on the heinous nature of this crime, and
to deem its non-driving victims worthy of justice, can scarcely be
interpreted as anything other than a positive development — one that
will hopefully be noticed by law enforcement officials nationwide.

Damien Newton at Streetsblog LA has followed this case since Thompson’s arrest last year. You can catch up on the coverage here.

Here's another installment in what could ideally become a series on how police departments are doing right by pedestrians and cyclists. We posted the Chicago bike video a couple of weeks back. We now present the Sacramento crosswalk sting. (Warning: Insufferable Geico commercial may precede video.)

Back in April, TV station KCRA filmed a plainclothes Sacramento officer busting motorists who couldn't be bothered to yield the right of way. Notice how, though they cite the potential amount of the fine, neither the anchor nor the reporter ever intimate that the operation is a money-making scheme? Instead of sticking a mic in a driver's face for a quick-and-dirty accusation of extortion -- a near-must in most any mainstream media story about traffic enforcement -- the reporter is completely sympathetic to the pedestrians in harm's way, and rightly credits the officer for putting his life on the line.