It should be safe to ride a bike on the shoulder of a roadway in broad daylight.
But that wasn’t the case yesterday morning, when a man was killed while riding his bike next to Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley.
According to Z107.7 News, 52-year old David Delorisses Rodriguez was riding on the eastbound shoulder just east of Prescott Ave when he was rear-ended by a driver around 10:31 am.
Rodriguez was taken to Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree in full cardiac arrest, where he died of his injuries.
The driver remained at the scene.
A street view shows a 4-lane desert highway with a crumbling paved shoulder. The roadway has a 50 mph speed limit; California drivers typically exceed such limits by 10 to 15 mph.
This is the 50th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 10th in San Bernardino County. That compares to 61 in SoCal this time last year, and seven in the county.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for David Delorisses Rodriguez and all his loved ones.
Our prayers go up for the family and friends of Mr. Rodriguez.
I live in Yucca Valley. The city sewer project has begun and more traffic is being diverted onto the 62 in and around that area. I was riding my bicycle to Copper Mountain College before the construction began. I didn’t enter onto the 62 until I was in Joshua Tree. Because of construction I am forced to enter west of were this accident happened. Instead of going primarily north east we are detoured west into the most congested part of the city. I have a daylight visible taillight that helps with cellphoneitis. tHERE IS NO SCHEDULE OR PUBLIC NOTIFICATION AS TO WHICH ROADS OR WHAT TIME OF DAY THEY ARE CLOSED OR OPEN.