This is a week that started bad, and just keeps getting worse.
News is just breaking from multiple sources that a bike rider was killed in a collision in Santee, northeast of San Diego.
According to the Southwest Riverside News Network, 48-year old El Cajon resident Erik E. Gilbert was hit by a pickup around 5:20 this morning at the intersection of Vomac Road and Mast Blvd. No word on how the collision occurred.
Emergency personnel found Gilbert suffering from head injuries; he was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:30 am.
This is the 23rd cycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth in San Diego County. Gilbert is the 3rd cyclist to die in San Diego County in just the last two weeks, and the fifth SoCal bike rider killed in the last six days.
My prayers and condolences for Erik Gilbert and his loved ones.
That looks like a safe road to ride on too.
Mast does have bike lanes, and the Adventure Cycling Association does route the Southern Tier route on Mast through Santee. But there’s always yahoos that will run stop lights and signs in their motor vehicles.
I wonder what lights the cyclist was running. It’s still pretty dim at 5:20 in the AM here.
I know it won’t bring back the cyclist, but I really hope the driver is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law! I don’t know about the specifics of this accident, but until drivers realize that if they don’t give cyclist’s space, and continue to kill us by driving distracted, the death toll will rise!