Dionette Cherney, the 67-year-old woman critically injured on July 15 after being struck by a bicyclist in a crosswalk at Mission Street and The Embarcadero, died this morning. "Police were called to the intersection around 8:30 a.m. and found the woman suffering from a life-threatening head injury," reports SF Appeal. "An investigation revealed that the bicyclist had run a red light, hitting the woman as she was crossing the street legally." Though the cyclist was questioned before being released, he could (and should) face the same charges that would be befall to a regular driver.

Although drivers are typically (and, more often than not, justifiably) chided for such erratic and life-threatening driving -- last week's downtown hit-run of nine-year-old Ryan White proved particularly worrisome -- this is a good reminder that even cyclists need to obey the same laws. "Every bicyclist in the city should be reminded each and every day that all the laws on the books apply to them, too," Officer Albie Esparza explained. "They need to stop at every stop sign and every stop light."

Even the city's most noted bike blog, Streetsblog, reminds cyclists that they too need to act just as cautious as their fellow motorized-vehicle-driving commuters, saying, "Cherney’s death is a reminder that we need more respect on the streets, especially as the [number of bike riders] continues to grow." (Pst, please leave us the sidewalks. For the love of God, just leave us scrappy pedestrians the sidewalks. Thank you.)

We should also point out that "811 people were injured by drivers last year, 18 people were injured by bicyclists," or so says SFPD data.

Cherney was a volunteer for Score, a non-profit that aided entrepreneurs and small businesses.

[Streetsblog]
[SF Appeal]