A California judge sentenced a 69-year-old man to 90 days in jail for killing a bicyclist last year when he swerved his car into a bicycle lane while he was looking for a freeway onramp.
The victim, Michelle Mazzei, 34, of Redwood City, (at left) was an elementary school teacher. News of her death — at the time the 26th in the region in five years — sparked a memorial ride by more than 100 area cyclists.
Theodore Charles Thornbrough of Westminster, Colorado, pleaded no contest in August to charges of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the death, according to SF Gate. His Mercedes-Benz drifted into a bicycle lane where Mazzei was riding while he looked for a ramp onto Interstate 280 in Woodside.
His attorney stated his client had not been drinking, was not speeding, or talking on the cellphone when he struck the woman.
A total 784 bicyclists died in traffic accidents in 2005, a nearly 8% increase over the previous year, according the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
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