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Entries tagged: Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition

The assault started long before Anoush Zebarjadian was knocked to the pavement by a hit-and-run driver.

On October 9, 2010, cyclists pedaling the popular Gran Fondo route in Sonoma County, California, were confronted by a maroon Ford Explorer, allegedly bent on making their Saturday ride as unpleasant as possible. The motorist in the mid-90s vehicle verbally assaulted and harassed riders for miles, before side-swiping Zebarjadian with the car’s mirror and sending the cyclist to a San Francisco hospital with critical head wounds.

The man or woman behind that wheel still hasn’t been brought to justice. But the advocates at Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition are working with local law enforcement to make sure the hit-and-run driver faces the consequences of recklessly and gravely injuring a cyclist. “The community must not tolerate those who harass and injure cyclists,” SCBC urges on its website. So the California advocates started a campaign to raise $10,000 as a reward for information leading to an arrest.

“We’ve been interested in doing something since the day of the hit-and-run,” Sandra Lupien of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition told Bike Radar last week. “We immediately notified our membership once we had a description of the vehicle and we [notified] our members that they should contact the California Highway Patrol with any information that they might have about the possible driver of the vehicle.”

But the CHP acknowledges that it needs citizen assistance to solve the case. “The California Highway Patrol has reached a point in this investigation in which all reasonable leads have been exhausted,” says CHP Sergeant Robert Mota. “The CHP needs the public’s help in this investigation. I believe that someone out there has information that could lead to the arrest of the responsible person. The reward money will hopefully entice that person to come forward.”

The advocates at SCBC certainly hope so. Thus far, the community has responded in dramatic fashion. Already, the SCBC has raised nearly $5,200.

Luckily, Zebarjadian is expected to make a full recovery. But, according to SCBC, “it will be a lengthy and challenging one.”

Click here to make a donation or read more about SCBC.

In a major victory for Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, Sonoma County Supervisors unanimously voted to approve asphalt paving of a 2.1-mile section of the Santa Rosa Creek Trail, a plan set back in the early 90’s. The existing gravel path will parallel the new paved path accommodating walkers, wheelchairs and all types of bike tires. The path connects two schools and is part of the county’s long-term goal of a route to the coast.

For more information, click here…