Drunk Driver Crashes Twice, Hides in Bush

A South San Francisco man's judgment was clearly impaired when he decided that he could elude police searching for a drunk driver by hiding in some bushes.

Cops quickly found Joseph Cronin following what the San Francisco Examiner called a "horrific hell-ride" that put a young couple in the hospital. The drunk smashed his car into the two people, causing serious spinal and hip injuries, before speeding away.

A few blocks later, he blew through a red light and crashed again, causing more bystander injuries. Cronin then abandoned the car and dove into some foliage, but was unable to avoid capture.

And it's not his first DUI. He has a previous conviction for causing injury while driving drunk. It's unclear why he was allowed to keep his driver's license after that incident.

The mayhem is just the latest in a string of gruesome assaults via car. In Novato, a motorcyclist killed a 9-year-old girl, and was then stabbed to death in prison as retribution. A CHP officer is dead after a crash that investigators say he caused. Two senior citizens in Glen Ellen crashed into each other Wednesday, just days after the DMV announced plans to put more elderly drivers on the road.

In addition, a Milpitas teen drove her car into a a San Jose woman, sending her to the hospital in critical condition.

Fortunately, cities are learning from the regular bloodbath, and have taken steps to reduce cars. Collisions along Van Ness in San Francisco are down 25 percent, according to the Examiner, after traffic-slowing measures like better crosswalks and narrower streets.

But incredibly, other cities are moving in the opposite direction. East Contra Costa announced plans to widen the highway, bringing more death and dismemberment to the city.

The good news is that gas prices are about to spike, with some experts predicting $5/gallon gas within months. Maybe if saving lives isn't enough to make some people stop driving, saving money will.