Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Dad Of Bicyclist Struck By Hit-and-run Driver In Pinellas Park Speaks Out

Howard Altman at TBO tracked down the father of the bicyclist struck by a hit-and-run Toyota SUV Sunday night in Pinellas Park and made one request: come forward and turn yourself in to police.

I'm going to quote Andy Clark, president of the League of American Bicyclists, who wrote to Hillsborough County Comission and the Tampa City Council last week when both governing boards chose to buy into a bicycle action plan in response to the recent string of bicyclist deaths.

His comments are also appropriate in this matter of a driver striking a bicyclist in Pinellas Park and fleeing, leaving the cyclist on the ground and hospitalized.

Clarke's letter said, in part: Our plea to the residents . . . especially those behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, is to stop treating cyclists like animals. The callous disregard for human life shown by the driver who won’t even stop when they hit someone is inexcusable; as is the level of vitriol towards cyclists on display in the on-line newspaper comments that follow every such incident.

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