Sad news from San Diego, as a bike rider has died in a solo fall.
According to the Union-Tribune, the 59-year old cyclist crashed his bike in the Lake Murray area after apparently suffering some sort of unidentified medical issue.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was riding on Kiowa Drive near Lake Murray Blvd when he fell around 7:30 pm Thursday. He died after being taken to a local hospital.
No other information is available at this time.
Remarkably, this is just the 12th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, compared with 31 in the seven-county SoCal region this time last year — a drop of nearly 61%.
However, it’s the fourth bicycling death in San Diego County, compared to two last year at this time.
Update: San Diego’s Fox 5 places the scene of the incident as on a bike trail near the baseball fields.
Correction: The original version of this story mistakenly said this was the eighth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year; it was actually the 12th. The story has been amended to reflect the accurate total. My apologies for the error.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
The first five months of California Highway Patrol SWITRS data for the 2014 LAPD traffic collision reports are just about complete. Bicycle collisions are less than the first five months of 2013 and 2012. If the total number of reported bicycle collisions for 2014 is less than 2013 or 2012 and the Census Bureau American Community Survey bicycle commuting share data goes up for 2014 as it did in 2013, then its almost certain that the more than 250 miles of bike lanes installed since 2009 have not decreased the safety of bicycling in Los Angeles.
Our prayers go up for the family and friends of our fallen comrade.