Tag Archive for Upland

74-year old Upland man dies in apparent solo fall on San Gabriel Canyon Road in Azusa; 50th SoCal bike death this year

Now we finally know what happened.

In Friday’s update, we mentioned multiple reports that someone was killed in a collision involving a bicyclist in Azusa Thursday morning.

Now we know that the previous reports were right.

And wrong.

According to My News LA, 74-year old Upland resident Stephen Naftilan was riding at mile marker 24.10 on San Gabriel Canyon Road around 10:15 Thursday morning, when he fell to the right and collapsed in the roadway.

Another bicyclist and a passerby witnessed his fall, and found he was unresponsive when they stopped to help.

He died at the scene.

Apparently, there was no one else involved.

Anyone with information is urged to call the CHP Baldwin Park Area office at 626/338-1164.

This is at least the 50th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 18th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

My deepest prayers and sympathy for Stephen Naftilan and all his loved ones.

Rancho Cucamonga man killed in Upland collision with apparent Metrolink train Wednesday morning

It seems like a collision with a train would be the easiest kind of crash to avoid.

Yet it still happens far more often than it should.

That was the case in Upland Wednesday morning, where the Fontana Herald News reports a 53-year old Rancho Cucamonga man was killed by a train.

The victim, identified as Leo Steven Beveridge, was struck by a train at the Metrolink crossing on Central Ave at 8:53 am, and pronounced dead at the scene nearly 40 minutes later.

It’s not clear from the limited information whether Beveridge was struck by a Metrolink train, or if other lines might use that same track.

There’s also no word on whether there was a working railroad crossing at the site, or why he would have been unaware of an oncoming train.

However, it’s a tragic reminder to never cross under or around crossing gates, or assume it’s safe to cross after one train passes, because there’s often another coming from the opposite direction.

This is at least the 35th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Leo Steven Beveridge and his loved ones. 

Tour de Foothills co-founder dies after bike collision, Streets For All happy hour, and a little entitled driver schadenfreude

If you missed it last night, the SoCal bike community lost a good friend over the weekend.

Tom Thomas, who spent two decades on the Upland city council, died on Saturday, two days after he was struck from behind by a motorcyclist while waiting at a Montclair red light.

So much for the myth that bike riders never stop for them.

Thomas was a founder of Upland’s Tour de Foothills and a supporter of the Pacific Electric Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail, as well as a noted local philanthropist.

One more reminder of the high cost of traffic violence.

Photo by pixel2013 from Pixabay.

………

Streets For All is hosting another virtual happy hour next Wednesday, featuring LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell.

………

No, we probably shouldn’t feel good about an overly entitled driver ending up feeling a little deflated.

But it’s kind of hard not to.

………

Pink Bike offers a beginners guide to American mountain biking.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. San Diego letter writers debate the value of the new 30th Street bike lanes, with local residents claiming no one uses them, because they don’t see anyone riding on them at the exact moment they happen to look.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Even fictional bike riders get blamed, as the mother of a character in 9-1-1: Lone Star was killed off when she stepped off a curb and was hit by a man on a bicycle.

………

Local

Los Angeles police are looking for a man who was seen riding a bicycle nearby when a woman’s body was set on fire in Chinatown and left burning in a shopping cart.

Streetsblog checks out the new 4.2-mile extension to the San Fernando Road bike path, which will result in a ten mile path extending north from the Burbank airport, parallel to Metrolink’s Antelope Valley Line railroad tracks, when it’s finished around the end of the year.

Montebello received a nearly half-million dollar grant to build a better connection to the Rio Hondo River bike trail from the Grant Rea Park.

 

State 

Governor Newsom announced $296 million in Clean California grants to remove litter and beautify underserved communities, as well as building walking and biking paths, and other Complete Streets features.

Calbike highlights workshops for next month’s California Bicycle Summit in Oakland.

Santa Barbara’s one-year old bikeshare system is still operating at just 50% of capacity, after struggling through a number of problems in its first year.

Palo Alto decides to keep California Street carfree at least through the end of next year. Meanwhile, a former Palo Alto bike shop could be home to 124 below-market-rate apartments for low-income residents.

Around a hundred people turned out to demand that San Francisco’s JFK Drive be kept carfree, rather than returning it to a high-traffic throughway bisecting Golden Gate Park.

Sad news from Concord, where a teenage boy who had recently immigrated from El Salvador was killed when he was struck by several vehicles as he rode his bike to school; a crowdfunding page has raised over $21,000 to send his body back home.

 

National

Forbes examines the recent study that shows children in bike trailers breathe in more exhaust fumes than the adults they’re riding with, due to their lower position.

Momentum Magazine reviews the new $5,000, carbon-fiber Dutch-style ebike made by America’s only remaining Tour de France winner.

The Arkansas man who drove home with the body of a bike rider in the back of  his pickup will face reckless manslaughter and hit-and-run charges, as well as being changed as a habitual offender; he claimed he didn’t know the man was in there until he got home — and then just went to bed until police tracked him down.

A “boneheaded” New York bill could make it harder to install or remove bike lanes and bike racks by requiring electronic and written notification to local community boards and elected officials before any action is taken, which could result in a six-month hearing process. To which Los Angeles bike riders respond “Welcome to our world.” Except most of us would be overjoyed if the process only took six months. 

New Jersey drivers will now be required to change lanes to pass bike riders and pedestrians, or give at least a four-foot passing distance if that can’t be done safely. Although like California’s three-foot law, there’s a loophole allowing drivers to pass closer than four feet if they slow down and pinkie swear they really, really had to.

He gets it. A New Jersey columnist says cities must embrace ebikes to break their dependency on motor vehicles.

A sportswriter for The Washington Post learns it’s okay to show weakness and rely on friends when she decides to ride her age for her 42nd birthday, and they won’t let her quit — even if it takes her nearly seven hours.

Here’s your big break to get into television, as long as you’re a bike rider in Key West.

Florida authorities are investigating a drawbridge operator for possible manslaughter charges after a 79-year old woman was killed when the bridge opened while she was walking her bike across it.

 

International

You know a London intersection is designed to kill when eight bike riders have died there in just 14 years, and no one does a damn thing about it.

Once again, life is cheap in the UK, where a 23-year old driver will spend a whole two years and three months behind bars for killing a ten-year old boy as he was riding bikes with his dad, as a result of an ill-advised passing attempt. Meanwhile, the boy’s family will face a sentence of life without him, without being guilty of anything.

A German startup is making a bike cam with distance measuring technology and other sensors to reveal hidden dangers, while preserving detailed evidence in the event of a crash; the data can be combined with other riders and analyzed to create urban heat maps of individual cities.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A horrible story from Bangladesh, where a passenger van driver and its owner face charges after killing six of seven brothers as they were walking home from their father’s funeral.

A South African bike advocacy group is fighting back against dangerous streets and drivers with a campaign declaring #CyclistsLivesMatter. Which I would probably appreciate more if it wasn’t co-opting a fight for racial justice.

An Australian man pled guilty to using meth before he got behind the wheel and killed a 57-year old man riding a bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling’s governing body responded to the invasion of Ukraine by banning all UCI teams, national teams, regional teams and race commissaires from Russia and Belarus; UCI is also removing all cycling events in both countries from the calendar. However, individual athletes will still be allowed to compete for teams from other countries.

 

Finally…

Evidently, a mountain bike is an important bicycling accessory. It’s perfectly okay to call new traffic rules the “Lunatic Highway Code.”

And tell me again why you can’t carry groceries home on a bike.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1498745270733094919

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Someone is

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A

………

Local

Gabe the Sasquatch

 

State 

Governor Newsom announced $296 million in Clean California grants to remove litter and beautify underserved communities, as well as building walking and biking paths, and other Complete Streets features.

Palo Alto decides to keep California Street carfree at least through the end of next year.

Around a hundred people turned out to demand that San Francisco’s JFK Drive be kept carfree, rather than returning it to a high-traffic throughway in the middle of Golden Gate Park.

 

National

New Jersey drivers will now be required to change lanes to pass bike riders and pedestrians, or give at least a four foot passing distance if that can’t be done safely. Although like California’s three-foot law, there’s a loophole allowing drivers to pass closer than that if they slow down and pinkie swear they really had to.

Here’s your big break to get into television, as long as you’re a bike rider in Key West.

 

International

You know an intersection is designed to kill when eight bike riders have been killed there in just 14 years, like this “infamously hostile” London gyratory (a more complex version of a roundabout), and no one does a damn thing about it.

Once again, life is cheap in the UK, where a 23-year old driver will spend a whole two years and three months behind bars for killing a ten-year old boy riding bikes with his dad during an ill-advised passing attempt. Meanwhile, the boy’s family was sentenced to a life without him, despite not being guilty of anything.

Britain’s official press watchdog has ruled that it’s perfectly okay to call the country’s new traffic rules the “Lunatic Highway Code.”

A German startup is making a bike cam with distance measuring technology and other sensors to reveal hidden dangers, while preserving detailed evidence in the event of a crash; the data can then be analyzed to create urban heat maps of individual cities.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Horrible story from Bangladesh, where a passenger van driver and its owner faces charges after killing six of seven brothers as they were walking home from their father’s funeral.

A South African bike advocacy group is fighting back against dangerous streets and drivers with a campaign declaring #CyclistsLivesMatter. Which I would probably appreciate more if it wasn’t co-opting a fight for racial justice.

An Australian man pled guilty to using meth before he got behind the wheel, and killed a 57-year old man riding a bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling’s governing body responded to the invasion of Ukraine by banning all UCI teams, national teams, regional teams and race commissaires from Russia and Belarus; UCI is also removing all cycling events in both countries from the calendar. However, individual athletes will be allowed to compete for teams from other countries.

 

Finally…

Evidently, a mountain bike is an important bicycling accessory.

And tell me again why you can’t carry your groceries home on a bike.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1498745270733094919

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Longtime Upland councilmember and Tour de Foothills co-founder Tom Thomas dies 2 days after bicycling collision

Finally, confirmation.

Word began to spread Monday that a longtime Upland community leader was killed in a collision while riding his bike.

Now, sadly, we know it’s true.

According to Southern California News Group writer Steve Scauzillo, Tom Thomas, a 20-year Upland city councilmember and one of the founders of the Tour de Foothills, was struck by a motorcyclist while riding in Montclair last Thursday.

He was waiting in the left turn bay on Monte Vista Avenue at Richton Street, when the motorcycle slammed into him from behind.

Thomas died on Saturday, after undergoing surgery to repair internal injuries, as well as suffering numerous broken bones.

He was a member of the Upland council from 1990 to 2010, and was known as a philanthropist in the local community, in addition to being an ongoing supporter of the Tour de Foothills and the Pacific Electric Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail.

He leaves behind his wife, Ann Shriner Thomas, and three daughters, as well as a grieving community. Ann Thomas requested that anyone wanting to honor her husband donate blood, and give to any of the many organizations he supported.

This is at least the 20th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 1st that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.

Photo from Tom Thomas Facebook page

 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Tom Thomas and his loved ones. 

Thanks to Michael Wagner for the heads-up. 

Update: Bike rider killed by train in Upland; rash of NorCal and Central California bike deaths continues

Just when it looked like death may have taken a sabbatical from SoCal cycling, word comes of a rider killed in a collision with a train in Upland on Thursday.

Very few details are available at this time. However, according to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the male rider was hit by a Metrolink train near Benson Avenue and Eighth Street around 5:15 pm. The victim, who has not been publicly identified, apparently died at the scene.

A series of photos from the scene offer no additional information, other than showing a badly mangled bike.

The death is just the second SoCal cycling fatality this month, after a swarm of four fatalities in an eight-day period between May 25 and June 2nd, including bike racer Chris Cono, and Susan Stripko in Huntington Beach.

This is the 32nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, compared to 23 this time last year, and the third in San Bernardino County. This is also the third bike rider killed by a train since the first of the year.

Unless the safety equipment malfunctions in some way, or the rider is somehow forced onto the tracks, there is simply no excuse for a collision with a train, which is confined to a clearly defined space on the tracks. Never ride under or around the warning gates or try to beat a train across the tracks.

I speak from experience, having barely beaten a train in a foolish attempt to race it across the tracks when I was a child.

A lesson I survived by just inches. And will never forget.

Update: The Daily Bulletin places the actual location as Montclair, and identifies the victim as 19-year old Pomona resident Brendan Allen Adams. Witnesses saw Adams riding south on Benson towards the train tracks, where he either ignored or didn’t see the crossing arms, for whatever reason. 

The Press-Enterprise confirms that Adams was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Update 2: The Inland News Today confirms Adams attempted to ride around the crossing arm. Never a smart thing to do.

My prayers and sympathy for Brendan Adams and his loved ones.

……..

This has been a horrible week for bike riders Northern and Central California as well, as a woman cyclist became collateral damage when two trucks collided in San Jose, and one fell on her — the 6th bicycling death in just the last eight days, following fatalities in Sacramento, Dublin, Elk Grove, San Jose and the Modesto area.

Clearly, something is going on up there.

And it’s not good.

……..

One other quick note.

The City Council vote on restoring Downtown’s Spring Street green bike lanes in the face of film industry lies opposition has been postponed until Tuesday’s council session.

Mark your calendar and be there if you can. Because it will take all of us to convince the council to values the lives and safety of bicyclists over the simple convenience of filmmakers.

And you can hear the LACBC’s Planning and Policy Director Eric Bruins, LADOT’S Nate Baird and others discuss the bikelash over L.A. bike lanes with Warren Olney on KCRW’s Which Way, L.A.?