Bike rider killed in Coachella collision; third SoCal bicycling death in two days

Yet another person has been killed riding a bicycle in Southern California.

According to KSEQ-3, a bike rider was struck by a driver on Tyler Street near Avenue 54 in Coachella around 9:18 pm yesterday, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police report the driver stopped, and cooperated with investigators.

Unfortunately, no other information is available at this time, including the identity — or even the sex — of the victim.

But that’s more information than the Desert Sun reported, which apparently thought the crash involved a zombie car, since they didn’t even mention the driver.

A street view shows a dusty desert intersection, with a pair of two lane roads controlled by a four way stop.

This is how Victor Bale describes it.

This is an area I also ride often. It’s mostly an agricultural area with many date trees. There are no bike lanes, but with a low level of traffic, it’s relatively safe as drivers usually just move over into the oncoming traffic lanes. I must mention that there are no street lights in that entire area and at night it’s not a place to ride. My guess is this person was perhaps homeless or poor, and a bike was the only form of transportation available to him or her.

This is at least the 23rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Riverside County.

It’s also the third person killed riding a bike in Southern California in the past two days, following deaths in Irvine and San Diego on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his or her loved ones. 

Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

3 comments

  1. I’m very sorry to hear about this. Our hearts and prayers are with the victim’s loved ones.

  2. JJD says:

    Our prayers go up for the family and friends of the victim.

  3. Román says:

    They always stay people kill people, the best way to get out of the problem is stay to cooperate “mean is not driver fault is always dead people fault” then police close those cases easy right.

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