Sometimes, bad news never makes the news.
Like the death of a bike rider in Laguna Niguel on Thursday.
Thursday evening, OC bike lawyer Edward Rubinstein forwarded a post from Nextdoor, which said Alicia Parkway was closed after a bike rider had been struck by a driver.
That was followed by an unconfirmed response stating the victim didn’t make it.
Sadly, that was followed by the tweet below, confirming a man in his late 60s was killed.
— Dave B (@davidlbecker2) March 6, 2020
The tweet places the site of the crash at Alicia Parkway and Awma Road, at the entrance to Alisa Woods Canyon Park.
A response from Jim Martin suggests the crash may have been in the northbound lane.
Looks like Northbound, Lane 3/Left turn pocket. Lots of bikes cross there. No light, though a ped crossing light ~100 yards South that cars often blow at 60+ mph.
Unfortunately, no time is given. However, the email from Rubinstein came around 8 pm Thursday night, while the first Nextdoor post came nine hours earlier, placing the crash sometime before 11 am Thursday.
There’s no description of how the collision occurred.
A street view shows a six lane speedway, with just a stop sign on Awma. According to Rubinstein, the painted bike lane on Alicia was removed in a recent repaving and hasn’t been restriped yet, leaving riders at the mercy of drivers who frequently exceed the 50 mph speed limit.
The placement of the victim’s bike next to the center divider suggests he may have been trying cross the roadway and didn’t make it. But it’s also possible it was knocked there by the force of the impact.
Meanwhile, the SUV next to the bike doesn’t show any visible signs of an impact, high speed or otherwise.
Hopefully, we’ll get more information soon.
This is at least the eighth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Orange County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
Thanks to Edward Rubinstein, David Becker and Jim Martin for the heads-up.
We offer up our prayers for the family and friends of the victim.
your a idiot….there were plenty of signs of damage to the vehicle. Also the bicyclist caused the accident. He failed to signal and look left while crossing from bike lane to turn lane quite and sharply. Not sure why bicyclist think they own the roadway. The city provides a bike crossing but arrogant bicyclist don’t want to wait for the light. I saw it happened I was behind the silver SUV. Also praise the motorcycle deputy who quickly got there and and administered CPR for 12 minutes until firefighters finally arrived. I noticed once another motor sheriff got there they took turns doing CPR as fire started I.V.
Thank you for calling me an idiot, Jack. If you saw this crash, I hope you gave your name to the police as a witness. Have a great day. Oh, and it’s you’re, not your. You’re welcome.
Are you the A hole who drives as close to bicyclists as possible when passing?
This is very sad – I know this spot well, have ridden here for years. Although there is a pedestrian crossing south of where the accident occurred, it leads to a dirt trail which is not usable for a road bike. The only way to enter Aliso Creek riding trail is to cross the 3 northbound lanes and make a left turn at Awma. While it is perfectly legal to do this, it can be dangerous at this segment of Alicia where vehicles are traveling 50-60mph, and advisable to come to a complete stop and wait for traffic to clear before attempting the crossing. I’m guessing he may not have seen the oncoming traffic or underestimated their speed before attempting the crossing. My condolences to family.
Thank you Jason. That helps make this senseless death a little easier to understand.
I don’t know the actual details of how this tragic accident happened and if this is relevant, but I would never cross multi-lane 55 mph Alicia Pkwy here without using the nearby signals. I use the sidewalks to access the safe(r) ped/bike/horse(even a high-up button for that) crossing if I need to get between the bike path from Crown Valley to Laguna Niguel Regional Park and the Aliso Creek Trail or the Aliso and Wood Canyons paths. Even cyclists using the bike lane on Alicia and needing to cross can use this option, it involves just a short distance on the sidewalk; it will add a minute or two to your ride but it could save your life. This spot is a vortex for several good off-road rides I described in enCYCLEpedia so I’ve spent a good bit of time exploring options here.