Monday Afternoon Commute - Railroad

Good afternoon

• CaBi posts another record with 203,896 Bikeshare rides in July. 
• Bikes abandoned at Metro stations have been tagged and after 10 days, they may be removed and sold at auction. And still more parking is needed. 
• While MDOT is installing the "Bicyclists may use full lane" on it's roads, most county and city transportation departments are not. 
• More grants: Montgomery County has been awarded  $40 million in grants for transportation projects at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda. Defense officials say the money will be used on projects including a bicycle and pedestrian path under Maryland Route 355 that will connect the medical center and a Metrorail station. But I doubt many cyclists will use this path. 
• The driver who struck and killed cyclist Lanie Kruszewski in Richmond last week claims he thought he hit a deer. Since 2002, he's been charged with reckless driving four times with one conviction. In two of the other cases, the charge was reduced to a lesser speeding violation. In the fourth case, the charge was amended to improper control/driving. In addition to those cases, Webb has gotten seven other speeding tickets. One of those was amended to disregarding a highway sign, and two were amended to a violation of defective equipment. He also was found guilty of a violation involving a right turn on red. So yes, it is impossible to lose your license in Virginia. As with the Pettigrew case I might believe that the guy thought he hit a deer. And, as in that case, I really don't care. It doesn't explain why he hit a cyclist with a light on her bike. And one has an obligation to determine - with 100% certainty - that they did hit a deer, and not a person, before leaving. So, while morally-speaking, driving away because you thought you hit a deer is better than doing so to avoid legal implications of hitting a person; legally it should be treated as the same thing. If his 2004 Dodge Durango has Airbag Control Module similar to the one the driver in the David Williams case had, I'm giving 10-1 odds that he was speeding.
• Bicycle railroad.

Comments

[oboe]

Since 2002, he's been charged with reckless driving four times with one conviction.

How in the name of all that's holy does one get charged with reckless driving *four* times in a decade in the United States of America? What was he driving 100+ mph backwards while ramming the rear bumper of a school bus?

[contrarian]

In Virginia anything over 80 is reckless.

[charlie]

actually it is over 80, or anything over 20 the posted limit.

Virginia used to have a mandatory repated offender regime. However, it was probably too harsh and encouraged gaming the system (as this gentleman did) and hiring attorneys. He was charged four times, but got it reduced in three of them.