Posted yesterday by the AP:

26 replies on “The War on Bikes”

  4. Three people suffered minor injuries when an 86-year-old driver barreled completely through the store at about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
    The woman, who was not cited or immediately identified, told authorities she was parking in a handicapped space in front of the store when she accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said.
    Bain said three customers and five employees were in the store when the 2001 Cadillac Deville and smashed through the glass front door. He estimated the car was doing 30 to 40 mph.
    […]
    The car continued some 100 feet or more through the store, plowing through a concrete wall into a newly built studio and slammed into the back wall with the back wheels still spinning.
    When store employees reached the woman, she still was pushing the gas pedal to the floor. The car was leaking some kind of fluid and the spinning tires had melted a hole in the floor, filling the store with smoke.
    “I literally thought someone blew the store up,” Bain said.
    The woman at first did not want to leave the car because she could not find her purse but eventually she was persuaded, Bain said.
    Her adult granddaughter also was in the car.
    They both seemed stunned after the crash, Bain said.
    They were “completely stone-faced, didn’t say a word,” he said. “No crying, no tears, no apology.”

    http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/5…

  5. @4

    What the fuck! She’s parked in front and builds up to 40 by the time she hits the store? In one sense it’s probably just as well that she didn’t stay on the street there.

  9. I know you’re trying to whip up support for all the poor oppressed bikers out there, Dominic, but sorry, I’m not buying it. Just the other day I had to slow down to 20 on an arterial if I didn’t want to hit this stupid bike shop that was leaning way outside of the bike lane. Its doors were flapping out in traffic and it was trailing a big fluttering cloud of informational pamphlets on helmets. Fucking thing acted like it owned the road.

    Because of my minor and passing inconvenience I hate all bike stores ever and they all deserve to get smashed if they wander out into traffic, the end. Suck it, MAYOR BIKE “WHEELIEFACE PLAYING-CARD-IN-MY-SPOKES HELMET-WEARING” MCSCHWINN

  11. Ohhhhhhh boy. I guess we can expect more of this as old people age in place in their car-centric communities. Or we can get serious about expanding transit and building complete streets, which the AARP calls for in this report.

    Gramma shouldn’t have to drive to get her prescription.

  14. #14

    Also, he doesn’t exactly rush to protect the woman on crutches…he darts away to save himself and she then hides behind him.

  20. @!4

    You didn’t watch the video, did you? It’s only less than a minute, I suppose you couldn’t be bothered in your rush to judge.

    They both see the car at :05. By the time :07 hits, the car is passing them. There is nothing either could do to ‘save’ the other, since there was only room for one body between counter & car. They both acted instinctively, (thank you genetic legacy) and both survived. Your attempt to assign blame to someone other than the driver is ignorant & misplaced, in the extreme.

  24. We need a column from General Motors on the War on Bikes next week.

    “We have nothing to lose but our rims.”

    “Let’s take that Parking Strip!”

    “Don’t honk until you hear the screech of their bike tires!”

  25. That’s right bicyclists – if you mess with us, we’ll take the war to your lair! We don’t care how many arthritic old ladies we must sacrifice to achieve our ends!

  26. I support yearly testing for the elderly after a certain age, or medical report. I witnessed a hit-and-run by an 86 year old woman who, when the cop pulled into her driveway behind her, simply asked, “Oh, did I do something wrong?” Meanwhile, since I’d witnessed it, I immediately took note of the license number, pulled in at the gas station and grabbed their phone without asking while the plate was fresh in my mind. Then the owner of the hit car comes in and starts screaming at ME that *I* hit his car, and when I said it wasn’t me, he was screaming that everyone in the restaurant SAW me hit it! Okay, if I were going to commit a hit-and-run, and lie about it, why would I be talking to the cops? Tried to shut him up while I got the info out, and the guy marched me out there to assess the damage he was CERTAIN was on my car…and found none. Gee, hope that restaurant serves CROW, bitch! The idiot cops declined to ticket the woman simply because she was old! This is the second accident I’ve been aparty to by the elderly. The other, the woman fell asleep at the wheel and hopped the curb. Then I know a 100-year-old in Renton that is a pretty scary driver, too!

Comments are closed.