Candy Cranks

Good report from NPR on a terrible road rage case. In Los Angeles in 2008, a former emergency room doctor got into an argument with cyclists and deliberately pulled his car over in front of them, causing the cyclists to crash into his car.

Cyclists Christian Stoehr and Ron Peterson were riding side by side when a doctor who lived in the neighborhood came up from behind in a sedan.

“There was an exchange of words,” Stoehr recalls. “He then accelerated within five feet in front of us, pulled over and slammed on the brakes.”

Stoehr says there was no time for them to stop. He was thrown over the car and landed across the road. But Peterson didn’t have time to swerve.

“And he went right in through the back window of the car,” says Stoehr, adding that Peterson crashed headfirst. “I think they found his teeth in the back seat.”

You can listen to the story and read the text here.

If there is a bright side to this story, it may be that it will bring more attention to the necessity of road-sharing.

“The road rage was so egregious,” says Bicycling editor Loren Mooney. She says this may be a landmark case in protecting cyclists and pedestrians. “It’s the intent, the actual road rage, that’s part of the conviction in this case.”

Ride safely!