I don’t even know what to say at this point.
After writing about two bicyclists killed as a result of collisions in South Bay beach cities this past weekend — an El Segundo hit-and-run and a San Pedro collision apparently caused by a careless rider — now comes word that a cyclist was killed in Long Beach on Saturday.
The Long Beach Post reports that the 68-year old cyclist, who has not been publicly identified, was riding east on Pacific Coast Highway near the Terminal Island Freeway when he was hit from behind by a 2011 Honda Accord around 6:48 am.
When police arrived, they found the victim lying in the roadway; paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. There’s no indication from the report where he was in the roadway or how he had been positioned when he was hit. While I’m not very familiar with this stretch of roadway, reports indicate that it can be a dangerous place to ride.
The driver, identified only as a 46-year old Long Beach woman, was questioned at the scene and released.
The past 4th of July weekend has just been devastating for South Bay cyclists and pedestrians; in addition to the biking fatalities, a pedestrian was killed in a San Pedro hit-and-run, and an 89-year old Redondo Beach woman was killed crossing the street.
This is the the 37th confirmed traffic-related cycling fatality in Southern California, and the 12th in Los Angeles County, since the first of the year. Remarkably, the three deaths this weekend represent over 12% of the county’s annual average for the last five years for which records are available.
There’s something terribly wrong when we celebrate our independence by watching bodies pile up in the street.
I just feel sick right now.
My heart and prayers go out to the victim’s family. Thanks to Allan Alessio for the heads-up.
I think the “Long Beach Post reports” is suppose to link to this story here, http://www.lbpost.com/news/allison/11929
I’ve called up the detective in the article from the above link. Since it was reported so dodgy, I wanted to possibly get more info and learn why the driver was never even cited. I did manage to speak to Detective Birdsall regarding this case. I just wonder if all the police and detectives that handle communication with the public are just tired of dealing with the public, or they just have a power issue? The guy was wondering why I had any interest in the case and why I wanted an accident report. When I told him I question why a bicycle rider was struck from behind, which I found out he was, there was nothing done against the driver at fault. He gave me some crap about not all the evidence gathered about this case. Such as a toxicology report and I guess a few other items. But it sounds to me that the case is pretty much reached it’s conclusion. Dealing with the guy he seemed to have little tolerance for anyone questioning his work. The guy goes off on these power trips such as cutting off my conversation before I’ve even said anything! Towards the end I just smart and kept on talking as he kept on interrupting me! It was kind of funny really, both of us talking and nether backing down, hahahahaha.
Anyways detective A Hole tells me that I can’t have an accident report unless I’m intimately involved with the case. Such as a family member or what not. I never heard of this and I always thought accident reports were public record. If anyone knows about this, I’d like to know the lowdown.
I’m in Sacramento and plan to go to the PD downtown. Oh, the bicycle scene is not bad here. The infrastructure is strong and I think there’s a good lobbying group here, cause there’s lots of new traffic-calming designs that have been implemented here. I rode here 20 years ago, and there was NOTHING in the downtown area. I’ll see if I can do a good job of documenting it all before leaving.
man this thing turned out long!