Wow, almost everything we've posted today on SFist (except for SFist Tonight) is transportation-themed. Well, we're sorry to have to continue the trend with this news item: there's been a bad accident on 101 near Redwood City, involving a big rig that hit the center divide and burst into flames. What's going on with all these trucks combusting around here these days? One report said that the cab of the big rig exploded with the......

In a sad story, the wife of the dean of the USF School of Education was killed when a Cadillac Escalade making a U-turn hit an SUV going through the intersection. The SUV careened into two people in the intersection and then slammed up against the wall of a building, and the wife of the dean was pinned under the car. There's upsetting pictures from the scene online too. A freshman possibly on shrooms fell......

A cabbie at Laguna and California on Tuesday at 3:30 a.m. driving someone home was unpleasantly surprised to look up from his driver's seat to see a SUV flying through a red light right at him. The SUV hit the cab, and the cab burst into flame. Amazingly, no one was injured, and even more amazingly, the cops managed to catch the driver of the SUV (who had fled the scene) shortly later. Turns out there were three bullet holes in the roof of the SUV, and the driver admitted he was previously around Lombard Street, where the police had received reports of gunshots being fired. South Bay commuters, better go download some audiobooks for the drive home -- two lanes of 85 N in Sunnyvale, near 280 S, are blocked after an accident and hazmat spill after a van carrying motor parts flipped over and landed on an embankment. The spill appears to involve boxes that were labeled "explosive." That's no good. ...with all this, is it any wonder that BART ridership is soaring? Even with those perennial switching problems, BART's announced that they're going to be extending its cars during rush hour, so you won't be moving to the center of the platform to squeeze onto that Dublin/Pleasanton train. (All Dublin/Pleasanton trains will now be nine cars long. Nine! We'll practically be stretching out in the aisles with that much space!) BART notes that ridership is at 326,500, which is 11,000 more than projected, and 16,500 more than last year. It would take seven fully-loaded 10-car trains to accommodate 11,000 riders. (Dividing that out, a fully-loaded individual car can accomodate 157.142857 repeating people). Picture of cab on fire from KTVU ...

We were recently contacted by friends of biker Spider Davila (also known as Joel Comford), who are seeking information about a hit-and-run that left Spider with a broken jaw and broken wrist. They also provided us with a picture of Spider in the hospital, at right. Spider was on his bike at the corner of 20th and Florida in the Mission at about 12:30 p.m. on December 17, making a cell phone, when a black SUV driven by a white or Hispanic man sped by him. Spider shouted out, "Nice way to drive your SUV." The SUV driver then stopped, put the car in reverse, hit and ran over Spider, and then fled the scene. Other people in the neighborhood say they've seen a black SUV driving dangerously around there too. Spider was rushed to SF General's intensive care unit, where he stayed for over a week. He was placed on a ventilator and then underwent a seven-hour surgery to repair his face. He now has five plates in his face and his jaw is wired shut. His friends are hoping he can come off the ventilator this week, at which point they want to take him home. There's a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the driver, and Spider's friends are taking up a collection to help him pay his medical bills. If you saw anything, call the police at 415-553-9179, ask for Inspector Krimsky, and the case is case no. 051413864. We wish Spider a full and speedy recovery and are keeping our fingers crossed that the SFPD will find the man responsible for his injuries. ...