Update: 56-year old bicyclist killed in Huntington Beach early Sunday; 6th bike death in the city since 2010

This isn’t the news any of us wanted to come home to after a beautiful SoCal Sunday.

According to the Southwest Riverside News Network, 56-year old Orange resident Susan Stripko was killed while riding in Huntington Beach early this morning.

Citing the paywall-blocked Orange County Register as its source, the news site says Stripko was attempting to cross busy Yorktown Ave on or near Beach Blvd at 12:08 am Sunday when she was hit by a white 2002 Silverado pickup truck traveling east on Yorktown.

The story does not say which direction she was going, or if she had lights on her bike. Nor does it suggest how fast the driver was going, whether the intersection was lighted, or any other factor that may have contributed to the collision or shed light on how it might have occurred.

The Orange County Coroner’s office describes her as a pedestrian, which could suggest she may have been walking, rather than riding her bike at the time of the collision, and places the collision site east of Beach Blvd.

However, police reports sometimes refer to bicyclists as pedestrians on bikes, for reasons which will forever escape me, so that may or may not mean anything.

Stripko was pronounced dead at UCI Medical Center in Orange less than an hour later, as 12:55 am. The driver reportedly remained at the scene and was cooperating with investigators, and no arrest was made or citations issued.

However the Injury Law Central website places the collision one block further east at the uncontrolled intersection of Yorktown and Worchester; based on the conflicting reports, it could have happened anywhere between the two intersections.

Stripko leaves behind a daughter and two sons.

This is the 31st bicycling collision in Southern California since the first of the year, yet just the 3rd I’m aware of in Orange County this year, which normally averages over one bicycling death per month.

Remarkably, it’s also the at least the sixth cycling fatality in Huntingon Beach since late December 2010, making the small city of just under 200,000 one of most dangerous places to ride a bike in the entire seven county SoCal region.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Susan Stripko and all her loved ones.

……..

Update: I’ve received confirmation from multiple sources that the collision occurred at Worchester, rather than Beach Blvd. I’m also told Stripko had a medical condition that made it painful to walk or bike, and fatigue may have slowed her in crossing the street.

10 comments

  1. Bill says:

    For the record, Huntington and Newport are separate cities. The end of your blog references Newport.

    • bikinginla says:

      Thanks Bill. I meant Huntington Beach, but for some reason wrote Newport, instead. Just another typo from a half-asleep writer at the end of a long day.

  2. It makes a very sad thing and thank you for sharing!

  3. JD says:

    Our sincerest heartfelt prayers go up for the family and friends of the victim.

  4. Cody says:

    The injury law center is right on the location, I drove past the accident that night. I didn’t see a bike but I could have missed it.

  5. steve says:

    I am sorry to hear of this tragic and sad accident. All of us who love to ride must strive for the most safe conditions–riding in daylight conditions vs night has to be at the top of the list. Not being seen is far too dangerous. Forgive me, as a former navy pilot I was trained to learn from accidents of others and try not to repeat the same scenario.

  6. nameless37 says:

    It does not seem accurate to describe the site of the accident as “busy Yorktown Ave”. Maybe it is busy during rush hour, but, at 12:08 am, it’s empty.

    Yorktown is wide and straight as an arrow, and there’s even a street light on the south side of Yorktown directly opposite Worcester. The incident does not make much sense as described because both the driver and the cyclist should have seen each other long before the collision. There is a dip in the road east of the Yorktown/Worcester intersection, deep enough to obscure a cyclist.

  7. […] Daily Carnage: Cyclist Killed in Huntington Beach 10th in Less Than 3 Years (Biking in L.A.) […]

  8. Karl says:

    Yesterday’s WSJ put it a different way for me- both here and there, it’s in four figures that can count between each such fatality- four, that’s thousands not tens of thousands that survive only. (bragging about how only 11 per 100,000 versus 38 there are killed)

    Only 11! wow are we so proud. We have a decimal point in the middle of the number not ZERO’s follling it and only that on it’s left! Rather TWO numbers numbers to it’s left, and the second is more then Zero! (maybe they round up- what are the chances of that, I bet actually many moreo went spat even if just a tiny percent of a whole person per 100,000 that)

    So ….. stadiumsd have populatons of four figures also. And we think gladiators sick, or whatever that sport of lions and suckers fed them. Yet with cars alone we sacrifice far more of us then one for every group who assembles to watch some fun.

    IN the Uk they get a number after the decimal- a 7, and only one before, under five, so says the WSJ yestrerday. (Kersten Zhang contrbiuting). SO she was one of the over seven who was killed for living here instead of there per hundred G. OF the over three times as many we consider expendible compared to there. Do we really care that much about how we reduce this loss- to be better then even England? Does everyone say,well,I’d have tosee the details, I mean, don’t make my passenges have to wear seatbelts? Don’t make me have to show they need to drive, or pay to let my car stay near the beach if only for minutes with dollar’s I’ll preach? I don’t think so. I think it can be simple. IF you take off all your clothes and ride it’ll pop this pimple- keep it simple. Say no to abstaining from helping others in obtaining this reality. Don’t just watch- be there with fear, but no clothes. Or contribute to the argument that these deaths, that Susan’s death was not only necessary but welcome, that she deserved and we needed it and are ok with that. Keep your clothes. Don’t join the real world riding naked yet again. Show how incidents like this don’t offend. We only kill eleven- Bangkok, we clean there clock! We only kill eleven. My how we’ll deserve heaven. We only kill Susan’s. Just doing our cruizin’s. Letting killers keep snoozin. We only kill. We killed her. I care.

    I would prefer to not kill these people. Not killing them would in fact be very consequential. Sparing them would also spare us disastrous climate change and further ignorance mange. These people continuing to die is our only hope that wider madness might get considered finally as obscene, as something doing we should not be seen. Shame on us for not making much more of a fuss. We do not even dare sufficiently grossly cuss. Fuck Huntington for expending yet another life and ignoring all real strife. Dam the hives of those who drive without sufficiently being actually naive. Ralph Nader even sucks- for shrugging his shoulders also and saying just shucks. Wishing the rest of us better lucks. Luck has nothing to do with it. It’s cars and those who use them not being shamed. Most of the planet does not do this. Only us at the expense of even us do regard life so little, deaths belittle. Pretend we are actually that brittle. It took incredible engineering and persistence to kill her. Pat yourself on your back- another souls gone whacked.

  9. Me says:

    I know the family of Susan and it is very unfortunate that this woman had to die. Her family is heart-broke and need prayers.

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