(January 28, 2010) — Five years of imprisonment and driver’s license revocation was a recent sentence that a 60-year-old retired emergency room doctor, Christopher Thompson, received for assaulting two bicyclists along a canyon road in Los Angeles in 2009. What started as an angry confrontation ended up heavily injuring both cyclists. According to the Los Angeles Times , one cyclist collided headfirst with Thompson’s red Infinity, breaking his nose and front teeth, while the other crashed into the sidewalk, dislocating his shoulder. Thompson testified that the disrespect and endangerment cyclists showed toward drivers upset several residents. Labeling the case a “wake-up call,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott T. Millington encouraged motorists and cyclists to show respect and understanding, as well as the government to provide more bike lanes. According to the Glendale News-Press , with only three miles of established bike lanes along Glenoaks Ave, the city is far from safe for cyclists and drivers alike. Even Clark’s Bike Club avoids Glendale bike lanes on their group trips due to their unsafe nature. “When we do ride on the road, it’s only in Burbank,” said Carol Pettegrew, the Bike Club advisor. “It’s really not very safe in Glendale.” According to Pettegrew, because of the lack of bikeways, regulations and overall bike safety education in Glendale, cyclists generally avoid Glendale roads. Integrating the laws and regulations regarding bike safety into permit and driving tests would be one way to educate new drivers about cyclist interactions on the road. “It would be good to educate everybody, so to get your driver’s license, you should understand that cyclists have rules they have to follow just like drivers,” Pettegrew said. According to Glendale News-Press , although Santa Monica has half the population of Glendale, it has 35 miles of bikeways, while Burbank has 19.5 miles. To improve on Glendale bikeways, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC), a local nonprofit organization that develops campaigns, programs, and events supporting bicycle advocacy, education and outreach, proposed a coalition with the City. The LACBC was awarded a $305,000 grant, over a three-year period, by the City of Glendale. Also, another grant awarded the City an additional $20,000 for improving the safety and education of pedestrians and cyclists. Through these newly implemented grants, LACBC and the Glendale City Council will focus on the creation of pedestrian and cyclist route maps, installation of new bike lanes, bike rack installation, as well as other educational projects. According to Pettegrew, for the time being, both drivers and cyclists need to respect the law and be understanding towards each other. If they don’t, “it makes it dangerous for everybody,” she said.