Safety While Driving

Re “Memorial Service Planned for Cyclist Killed in Crash,” June 22. Mehran Delavari, an avid biker, was changing a flat tire on a Westlake Village sidewalk when a pickup truck plowed into his group. The driver, Jordan Lampos, 17, of Westlake Village, told police he was distracted at the time.

Was this youth distracted by the peaceful Saturday morning tranquillity of Westlake Village, where hundreds of cyclists and walkers gather every weekend to enjoy the quiet streets and bike paths? At the intersection of the slaughter at 8:30 a.m., there is so little vehicular traffic that the gray asphalt resembles a quiet creek more than a street.

Allowing yourself to get distracted while operating a motor vehicle, especially at a quiet intersection such as Lindero Canyon and Lakeview Canyon, is reckless driving! Ramming a one-ton vehicle into a group of innocent people in the bike path is reckless driving!

We taught our children that while driving a motor vehicle nothing else matters--not the cell phone, not the CD player, not the buttons on the radio. There is no defense acceptable to this young man’s foolish and selfish inattentiveness.

Although I feel sorry for Jordan, defending or excusing his actions is unthinkable. This driver killed the father of two young children, a husband and family provider, someone’s loving son, a nephew, a brother, a respected research scientist--just because he found something more important to do while operating a motor vehicle!

T. SCHWARTZ, Westlake Village