The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.
According to the police, he was apparently riding in the bike lane when he hit some unidentified object, and was thrown from his bike.
The article stresses that no other vehicle was involved.
However, without identifying the object he allegedly struck, it’s also possible that the victim could have been sideswiped by a passing driver, or fallen in an attempt to avoid one.
There’s also no word on whether the victim was wearing a helmet, which might have helped in this situation, depending on the speed he was riding. Or it might have been of no use, since they don’t specify what injuries he suffered.
Hopefully we’ll learn more later.
Anyone with information is urged contact Traffic Investigator Keith Phan at 562/799-4100 ext. 1625, or email kphan@sealbeachca.gov.
This is at least the 45th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eleventh that I’m aware of in Orange County, which is having a very bad year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
The city settled a civil rights case filed by the victim’s family for $5.7 million.
The fired cop was also one of a group of officers who killed an aspiring rapper who fell asleep in his car in a Taco Bell parking lot with a gun in his lap.
Another reminder, if anyone needs it, that bicycling can be literally life changing.
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Apparently, when you’re rich, $2 million bail for killing two kids while — allegedly — drunk and street racing is no big deal.
RELEASED ON BAIL: Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Center, posted $2 million bail and was released just after midnight, following her arrest in a DUI crash that killed 2 young brothers in Westlake Village. https://t.co/DGoW0w8kxJpic.twitter.com/XB1jLyoVkD
This is the cost of traffic violence. It turns out the 77-year old woman killed by a driver while riding her bike north of Davis was a chemistry professor emeritus at UC Davis, who certainly deserved better. Few things piss me off more than the CHP’s knee-jerk reaction to blame the victim in a bike crash, when the only surviving witness is apparently the person who killed her.
Contra Costa County is now offering rebates of $150 on the purchase of an ebike, or $300 for low income residents. Which should be available everywhere, since it’s one of the best ways to get people out of their cars, while staying safe during the coronavirus crisis.
Police in Manitoba returned a stolen bike to its owner after busting a man for an outstanding warrant and several baggies of meth; a check revealed the bike he was riding had been stolen two years earlier. Hint: See item above.
October 1, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Socialite kills brothers in alleged drunken street racing crash, more endorsements, and Burbank bike/ped overpass opens
The hit-and-run driver had apparently been drinking, and may have engaged in street racing at the time of the crash.
According to KCBS-2, she was identified as a 57-year old socialite and humanitarian, who should have known better.
Rebecca Grossman, 57, was arrested on two counts of vehicular manslaughter and is being held on $2 million bail. She did not stay on the scene, and her white Mercedes with front-end damage was towed away about a half-mile from where the boys were struck.
Grossman is the founder and chair of the Grossman Burn Foundation, and has also been recognized for her humanitarian work across the world.
Now two little boys will never grow up.
And if there’s any justice, it will be a long time before she sees the light of day again.
Chris Buonomo reports a new Burbank bicycle/pedestrian bridge is finally open, complete with nifty curved fencing to keep anyone from throwing things over the side. Or jumping.
A major ruling from a California appeals court, which overturned one of the biggest limitations on damage awards for injured bike riders, ruling that encountering a giant pothole is not an inherent risk of long-distance bicycling. That could open the way for all kinds of damage awards for bike riders — especially if the people responsible for the roadway already knew about the problem. Thanks to Phillip Young and Richard Duquette for the heads-up.
The victim, who was not publicly identified or described in any way, apparently died at the scene. Meanwhile, the driver fled the scene; no word on whether the police have any information to go on.
There’s also no word on how the collision occurred.
In other words, pretty much all we know is that it happened, and someone died.
Which is pretty damn shameful.
The TV story reports investigators are looking for witnesses, but once again, they don’t tell anyone how they can come forward if they know anything.
This is at least the 44th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in Ventura County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his or her loved ones.
Lacey inexplicably ruled that the shooting was justified, because Zeferino gestured as he as speaking, and failed to understand the orders shouted to him at gunpoint in English.
At last report, all three officers were still working as Gardena cops, without so much as a slap on the wrist.
Which is more than enough reason to give my vote to Gascón.
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Ted Faber reports there are new bike lanes on Manchester Blvd.
When conversations about race within the cycling industry come up, white cyclists often say things like, “The trail/bike/biking doesn’t care what color you are … just ride.”
When I’m feeling generous, I can write this off as naiveté. When I’m being brutally honest, I understand this as a dangerous distraction from the real issue.
For many white cyclists, the bike is often separate from their sociopolitical lives; it’s a means of escape, a recreational machine reserved for fitness or fun.
For many BIPOC cyclists, the bike is a tool that is intimately connected to the way we experience the world.
For those of us who are white, it’s impossible to know what it’s like to experience our streets as a person of color, unless we take the time to actually listen.
Pieces like this may not celebrate the world of bicycling that we know and love.
But they are vitally important to make riding a bike, and our world, more inclusive for everyone.
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Here’s your chance to enter Dutch academia, while working on the science of bicycling.
Earlier in Delta Park, some yelled ‘get him’ to a bicyclist passing through and then pursued and stopped and harassed him – before letting him pass thru pic.twitter.com/I5KUReLQ0R
No bias here. After a Texas driver was confronted by a bike rider enraged by his close pass, he responded by suggesting that a) bike riders should be licensed, b) bikes are too slow to be allowed on roads, and c) bike cops should get tickets for not signaling their turns. Apparently d) maybe he should try driving a little more safely next time never crossed his mind. (Scroll down)
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Culver City continues to leap past Los Angeles in repurposing the streets, including a new protected bike lane on Washington Blvd. Although it seems to be best protected from pedestrians and diners, with only thin plastic bollards to keep the cars away.
Bay Area residents are celebrating the governor’s signing of SB 288, which streamlines bike and transit projects by exempting many projects from the environmental reviews that were too often used as a cynical tool to stop them. We should be celebrating that one down here, too.
September 29, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Lyft e-bikeshare coming to Santa Monica, Arroyo Seco bike path finally patched, and new survey on bike helmet laws
E-bikeshare is back in Santa Monica, following the demise of Jump Bikes after their sale to Lime earlier this year.
The bikes will be docked at the existing Breeze bikeshare docks, after Santa Monica’s municipal bikeshare bites the dust this November, eventually expanding to 500 bikes.
Here’s what the company has to say.
The new ebikes allow riders to travel around Santa Monica and West Los Angeles with less effort. When the rider pedals, the ebikes use a small electric motor to boost the rider’s pedal power, making longer trips easier and more accessible. Users will be able to rent ebikes in the Lyft app for $1 to unlock and $0.34 per minute – just scan the QR code and go. Riders can lock the bikes to any one of 80 Breeze stations with the attached cable, or to any public bike rack within the service area for an extra $1. For more about pricing and service area, visit the Lyft website…
Lyft also offers a Community Pass for bikes and scooters in Santa Monica. The Lyft Community Pass is a reduced-fare membership program for qualifying residents of Santa Monica and LA. Membership costs $5/month and includes discounted ebike rides at $0.05/min. The Community Pass program is available to residents ages 18 and older who qualify for the Big Blue Bus Low Income Fare is Easy (LIFE) program, Calfresh, Medicaid, SNAP, or the SCE Energy Savings Assistance Program and to qualifying Santa Monica Community College students.
Correction: I originally wrote that Jump had been acquired by Lyft, but they were actually purchased by Lime. My apologies for the error.
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Speaking of Santa Monica, David Drexler confirms that the 5 mph speed limit signs have been removed from the newly widened beachfront Marvin Braude bike path through the city.
As we noted last week, the signs with the ridiculously low speed limit were installed temporarily as part of a construction project.
The lengthy delay in getting it fixed could stem from the mishmash of public agencies involved in the repair work, including, but possibly not limited to,
LADOT
Bureau of Engineering
Board of Public Works
LA County
Regional Water Quality Control Board
StreetsLA (nee Bureau of Street Services)
Maybe someone should form a single umbrella agency to manage the city and county river channel bikeways so it doesn’t take the local equivalent of a UN Security Council negotiation every time something goes wrong.
I’m told credit goes to LA Bicycle Advisory Committee member John Laue for getting this done.
You may remember Christopher Kidd from his days running the LADOT Bike Blog, which is about the last time the agency communicated effectively to the general public.
Since then, he’s been building a successful career as a Complete Streets planner in the Bay Area.
Which should make this an interesting talk.
Centering equity in transportation planning is long overdue, but methods and tools are rapidly developing to meet the challenge. Join me, @remix and @TransForm_Alert this Wednesday to hear about & discuss our workhttps://t.co/8KlzdOewqv
Washington bike riders will now be able to treat stop signs as yields, as the state becomes just the latest to adopt a modified form of the Idaho Stop Law. California should join Oregon and Washington in adopting the law, making it uniform throughout the West Coast.
A Nebraska bike nonprofit is looking for a new home after losing their current location; the organization rescues and restores bicycles, and allows at-risk kids to work on them to earn their first bikes.
Cycling Weekly offers advice on how to keep your bike safe at home. My best advice is to keep your bike inside your home if at all possible; if you have to use a garage, make sure it’s locked to something that’s secretly anchored.
Stardom has changed life for the better for the 15-year old Indian girl who rode a bike over 700 miles to carry her injured father home earlier this year; she now has a new home, eight bikes, two possible movie deals and an offer to train with the national cycling team when the pandemic loses its grip.
There were apparently no witnesses to the crash; a passerby reported finding the wreckage sometime later. Just a couple more sacrifices to the motor vehicle gods.
And he leaves this world without ever seeing justice for his friend and fellow rider. After a retracted confession and countless delays, Mariah Candice Banks, the woman accused of killing Woon in her high-end SUV, has yet to set foot in a courtroom for anything other than her arraignment.
Her long-delayed prelim is now scheduled for November 4th.
Sims won’t be there; let’s hope he and Woon are riding together somewhere. But maybe some of us can take his place.
This summer, a group of L.A. City Council members filed a motion calling on the city’s Department of Transportation and legislative officials to work with community members and report back on alternative methods of traffic enforcement, collision investigations and other traffic safety duties currently handled by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Some potential changes that will be explored: replacing LAPD officers with a “transit ambassador program” staffed by unarmed LADOT personnel and/or automated technology to monitor and cite drivers for speeding, illegal turns and other moving violations.
“Such a move would virtually eliminate the LAPD’s role in traffic stops, one of the leading forms of interaction between police and the public,” states the motion, which was filed by L.A. City Councilmembers Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Mike Bonin, Curren Price and Herb Wesson.Breonna
It’s a challenging and thought-provoking read, well worth a few minutes of your time.
Because the current system really isn’t working for anyone.
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The C40 Cities — a group of 96 cities dedicated to taking action to fight climate change — says the concept of a 15-minute city is rapidly spreading around the world.
The concept of a “15-minute city” is picking up speed globally, and for good reason. In a “15-minute city” residents can meet all of their needs within a short walk or bike ride, making life in our cities more accessible & more sustainable.@CateSarfattihttps://t.co/rUXgquBcUk
WATCH: A car ripped through a crowd of Trump supporters at a BLM counterprotest in Yorba Linda. It was clearly deliberate and the driver did not stop even as the Trump crowd gathered to tend to the wounded. Trump supporters did NOT attack the driver. pic.twitter.com/f9nu6L0WBu
Seriously? A woman who was injured riding a Jump scooter in San Francisco has filed a class action suit against several e-scooter companies, including Uber and Segway, because…wait for it…no one warned consumers that scooters don’t have turn signals. No one tell her about bicycles.
An 11-year old English girl rode a tandem 70 miles with her dad to visit all 12 cricket clubs in the North Staffordshire area, raising more than four times her original goal of £500 for cardiac risk assessments for young people; she’s raised the equivalent of over $2,800.
Once again, a bike rider is a hero. An Indian family is alive today because an anonymous bike rider was in the right place at the right time, leaping into action to pull them to safety after their car went off the road and into a natural drain before simply riding away afterwards; sadly, though, he wasn’t able to save the family’s three-year old girl.
Last week we mentioned defending champ Chloe Dygert was injured after wiping out during the women’s time trial world championships. Turns out that injury was more gruesome than any of us probably imagined.
I remember thinking what if I can get my bike can I still win? The first thing I remember was asking @JimMiller_time if I was done.. Then I looked down and saw my leg.
A bad weekend for SoCal bike riders continued to get worse Saturday morning.
Just one day after people were killed riding their bikes in Lancaster and San Diego, a woman apparently lost her life while riding in Carson, thanks to a heartless hit-and-run driver.
She was not publicly identified; the only description was an initial call of a female down.
There’s no word on how the crash happened, and no description of the suspect or the vehicle used to commit the crime.
As we’ve noted far too many times before, there is simply no excuse, ever, to flee the scene following a crash. The driver should face a murder charge for making a conscious decision to leave the victim bleeding in the street if an autopsy shows she might have survived if she’d gotten help sooner.
But probably won’t.
This is at least the 43rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eleventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and her loved ones.
There’s no word on whether the victim had lights on his bike two hours before sunrise, or if there was some other reason why the driver failed to see a grown man on a bicycle directly in front of him.
Sheriff’s deputies say the driver did not appear to be under the influence, and speed did not appear to be a factor.
Which is only partially correct; speed is always a factor in a fatal crash, even if the driver was not exceeding the posted speed limit; slower speeds make collisions both more avoidable and more survivable.
Anyone with information is urged to call Lancaster Sheriff’s Station traffic investigators at 661/948-8466.
This is at least the 42nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
An email from the San Diego Council of Bicycle Clubs reports the victim was riding ahead of a companion when he crashed into the truck, which did not have any warning cones or flashers on.
The other rider attempted to perform CPR; however, the victim, publicly identified only as a 42-year old man, was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering severe head trauma.
Unfortunately, California law allows parking in bike lanes except where specifically prohibited by local ordinances. While the street is posted no parking, the signs appear to be spaced too far apart, and it is likely there is an exception for utility workers in the performance of their duties.
Whether that was the case here, or the driver just pulled over for some reason is still unclear.
It seems likely that the victim was descending at speed, not expecting anything blocking the bike lane, and was unable to stop once the truck came into view around a sweeping curve.
It’s also worth noting that, while there is no word on whether the victim was wearing a helmet, bike helmets aren’t designed to protect against hard impacts at relatively fast speeds. Especially one resulting from a near instantaneous stop.
It’s also worth noting that the police found the victim’s cell phone on the side of the road, and were examining it to see if he was using it at the time of the crash.
Which is a pretty good indication that the investigators have never ridden a bike downhill, let alone at high speed.
This is at least the 41st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
