Just three months and four days after Deborah Gresham was killed in a Stanton hit-and-run, another person riding a bicycle has lost his life to another fleeing driver, just two and a half miles away.
According to the Orange County Register, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was struck by a vehicle at the intersection of Chapman Avenue and Beach Blvd in Stanton around 2:40 this morning by a driver who fled the scene.
He was transported to UCI Medical Center in Orange 17 minutes later, where he died shortly after arrival.
No word on how the collision occurred, if the victim had lights on his bike, or who may have been at fault. However, judging by the taco’ed rear wheel on the victim’s badly mangled beach cruiser, it appears he may have been struck from behind with considerable force.
Garden Grove police stopped a 44-year old man whose car matched the description of the suspect vehicle at 3:15 am. KCBS-2 reports he was arrested for an alleged probation violation, but as of midday, had not been charged with the hit-and-run, though an OC sheriff’s spokesperson said no other suspects were thought to be at large.
A satellite view shows a eight lane road with double left turn lanes on Beach Blvd, and four to five lanes with turn lanes on Chapman, depending on direction; the Register ranks it as one of the ten busiest intersections in Orange County.
This is the third confirmed bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first in Orange County. It’s also the third in Stanton in less than 18 months, and the second on busy Beach Blvd.
To learn more about Deborah Gresham’s tragic death, read this heartbreaking piece by former Bicycling Magazine editor-in-chief Peter Flax.
Update: The Orange County Coroner has identified the victim as 38-year old Paul Hurst.
Update 2: The Orange County Register says Hurst was a transient; the area in which he was killed has a heavy homeless population, and a number of low cost hotels frequented by people with no fixed address.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Paul Hurst and all his loved ones.
Thanks to Mike Wilkinson and Robert Peppey for the heads-up.
The first shoe has dropped in the race for city council in CD5.
Typical of LA’s gerrymandered council districts, the sprawling Westside district stretches east from Sepulveda to nearly encircle Beverly Hills, before reaching north to the San Fernando Valley west of Sepulveda.
For the past eight years it’s been represented by career politician Paul Koretz, who moved into the district once he was termed out of the state assembly, after serving on the West Hollywood city council.
His reasoning is that Westwood, which is included in LA’s High Injury Network under the Vision Zero plan, is too dangerous for bike riders. So his solution is to keep it dangerous, and shunt all those riders who currently use it as the most direct route between the Expo Line and the UCLA campus onto other less practical alternatives.
And with the exception of Motor Blvd, he has failed to implement any of the major bike lanes called for in the city’s Mobility Plan.
But the bottom line is that Koretz has had eight years to prove his support for bicycling is more than just talk. But his actions, particularly on Westwood Blvd, have proven otherwise.
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Heartbreaking news, as there’s an unconfirmed report that the owner of Santa Monica’s Bicycle Ambulance shop was killed while riding to work recently. I’m working on getting official confirmation; if anyone has any information, please let me know.
Update: A comment from Chris, along with an email from Brian Nilsen, confirms that a GoFundMe page raising funds to defray funeral expenses has been set up by the son of Tony Barnes, the owner of Bicycle Ambulance. There is also a ghost bike in Barnes honor at South Centinela Ave and Jefferson Blvd in Playa Vista. I’ve reached to the LAPD for more information.
Thanks to Stanley E. Goldich for the heads-up.
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San Francisco is threatening legal action to stop a Chinese app-based bikeshare provider from “dumping” thousands of rental bikes on the city’s streets without the proper planning or permits.
In other words, doing exactly what Uber did in moving into new markets, by establishing their ride hailing service first and dealing with the paperwork later.
But then, Uber was cars. And wasn’t Chinese.
And wasn’t threatening to disrupt the city’s existing dock-based bikeshare.
The LACBC is calling for bike riders to submit comments on a proposed redesign of Ventura Blvd in Woodland Hills by this Friday; the section under consideration currently has painted bike lanes, which the coalition would like to see upgraded to parking protected lanes.
San Diego has secured funding to begin design work on a crucial link between the Chollas Creek bike path and the planned 24-mile Bayshore Bikeway; the path would allow residents of lower-income areas to safely cross the I-5 and I-15 interchange and get to jobs in the downtown area.
No bias here. A Bakersfield bike rider gets hit by a drunk driver who flees the scene. Yet police still blame the victim for wearing dark clothing and not riding in a crosswalk — even though there was no reason for her to even be in crosswalk.
The war on bikes continues, as an Arizona bicyclist was shot repeatedly with BB guns by a man and woman in a passing car, with the couple’s child in the backseat. Seriously, there’s not a pit in hell deep enough for people like that.
A Colorado letter writer says “stupid is as stupid does” in deciding whether to ride on the roadways with motor vehicle traffic, suggesting — or rather, outright stating — that bikes don’t belong on public streets. I’d apply that same aphorism to people who can’t resist the urge to share their particular anti-bike bias with the rest of the world; saying it’s not safe to share the roads with motor vehicles is really just saying that people are incapable of driving safely, which I refuse to believe.
Chicago bike riders continue to ride through the winter as part of a two-week challenge. Oddly, no one seem to consider doing something like that here in Southern California, where the weather is much more conducive to year-round riding.
Now that a Canadian reporter has recovered from a near-fatal bike crash, she says it was one of the best experiences of her life, because it changed her for the better. And yes, she plans to ride again.
Toronto is studying near-miss incidents, as well as actual collisions, before and after bike lanes were installed on a major street, in order to get a more complete look at how safety has changed.
London cabbies bring traffic to a standstill to protest plans to close a key junction to motor vehicles; cyclists argue that taxis are one of the biggest causes of congestion and drivers are just supporting “the right to poison Londoners.”
That was the case in North Hollywood last week, when a bike rider was killed after falling in front of a car that had changed lanes to go around him.
According to an officer with the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division, the 50-year old victim was riding south on Coldwater Canyon Ave near Saticoy Street last Tuesday, riding with one hand while holding a cup of coffee in the other. When he moved left to go around a parked car, he clipped the car’s mirror and fell into the left lane, where he was hit by the car.
Tragically, the driver had seen him, and had already moved left to give him a safe passing distance.
No word yet on the victim’s identification, what time the crash occurred or whether he died at the scene.
This should be a reminder to stay out of the door zone, and hold onto your handlebars as if your life depends on it. Because sometimes, it does.
This is the second bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second in Los Angeles County. It’s also the first in the city of Los Angeles since the first of the year.
Update: The victim has been identified as 52-year old Efrain Molina; the crash occurred at 5:55 am on Coldwater between Elwood and Saticoy.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Efrain Molina and his loved ones.
Welcome back from what was a three-day weekend for some, and just another Monday for others. Either way, I hope you took advantage of the weather, maybe took in the parade, and spent a little time on your bike.
The wife of a New Jersey chef has filed suit after he was killed riding his bike into a sewer excavation trench that was left unmarked and uncovered by workers.
A Philly writer says bike lanes are key to the city’s plans for safer streets, even if some residents don’t like them. Although a spokesman for a motorist group says people are going to drive at whatever speeds they feel comfortable with, regardless of any efforts to slow them down.
A Baton Rouge LA bike rider says he feels like an urban archeologist as he sifts through the litter on the side of the road, saying “what is deplorable is countered by what is captivating.”
You’ve got to be kidding. Police in England’s South Yorkshire say it’s not worth the effort to enforce the law against passing bicyclists too closely because not enough riders get killed to justify the cost.
The 62-year old chief information officer of a global electronics firm is working to make Singapore more bikeable; he says the island nation needs another five years to catch up to Japan’s bicycling culture.
It was a slow weekend on the local front, but there’s plenty of bike news from around the world for your entertainment and edification.
But before we start, let’s take a moment to remember the wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King, with words as appropriate now as they were fifty years ago.
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
A message as meaningful for our streets as for our nation, and our world.
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Local
Once again, no news is good news. Right?
State
High desert cities are working to keep up with road repair on their crumbling streets; a new project in Victorville will add bike lanes along with pavement improvements — whatever that means — on La Mesa Road.
An app website lists the three best cycling apps all cyclists must have on their iPhones. Assuming they have iPhones. And for some reason, they filed it under “Hobby.”
In an update to the story of the homeless man who rode his bike from California to Wichita to build planes, because he said God told him to, a local bike shop talked him into letting them fix his bike and gave him new tires so he can ride on ice this winter.
A former Canadian pro cyclist is lucky to be alive after suffering sudden paralysis from the neck down when a blood vessel burst between two vertebrae; he was able to drag himself to his phone using only his chin, then had Siri call 911.
A Vancouver letter writer says there’s no need for business owners to worry about the loss of parking spaces to make room for bike lanes, because people on bikes will more than make up for it.
Caught on video: Ottawa police say no charges will be filed after video surfaces of a bike rider using his bicycle as a shield to block the path of a driver, who continually lurches into it. No word on what triggered the confrontation.
London’s mayor clarifies his recent remarks, saying he didn’t mean cycle superhighways cause pollution, but that badly planned construction of them causes congestion, which does cause pollution. That clears up everything, right?
January 14, 2017 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Weekend Links: North Dakota could legalize killing peds, kid antichrist from The Omen convicted of road rage
The bill would create an exemption under state law for drivers who crash into people in the roadway, whether they’re holding protest signs or, presumably, standing in a deserted roadway after their car breaks down.
It’s not hard to imagine the law being applied to bike riders who have the audacity to take the lane or ride two abreast, if someone concludes they were in the way.
Hopefully, the rest of the legislators will have a little more sense.
The Fort Wayne IN newspaper says drivers need to stop for red lights. Clearly, it’s not just bike riders who go through traffic signals, despite what some drivers seem to think.
A study in a Malta medical journal calls for mandatory bike helmets for kids under 18, but not for adults, in order to avoid discouraging potential cyclists.
January 13, 2017 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Protected bike lanes in Culver City, DIY BMUFL signs in PVE, and strategically placed cycling caps
Happy Friday the 13th.
You could be one of those unlikely people trapped in their cars today. Or you can improve your day just by getting out on your bike.
Seems like that makes this a lucky day for all of us.
Culver City considers building protected bike lanes to link the Expo station with the city’s downtown half a mile away, as well as connecting the Helms District with Culver Blvd.
A determined San Ramon detective tracks down a stolen bicycle that was a woman’s only means of transportation, and returns it to her in less than a week.
A hit-and-run driver who ran down a Florida bicyclist on New Year’s Day drank for eight hours before the crash and still smelled of alcohol when he was arrested, but hasn’t been charged with DUI.
Federal marshals seize the property of a Florida deputy, including his clothing, golf clubs and fishing poles, to satisfy a fraction of the $22.4 million judgment against him for shooting an unarmed bike rider, who is now permanently paralyzed.
Very moving piece from the Guardian, as a physician thanks all those who came to her daughter’s aid after bad fall while riding on a bike path, from the strangers who stopped to help and offered her what little money they had, to the surgeon who saved her and the nurses who cared for her afterwards.
Thanks to John Hall for his generous donation to help support this site. Even though the holiday fund drive is over, donations are always welcome and appreciated.
While it’s not an outright endorsement of the shovel-ready bike lanes Koretz singlehandedly killed at the behest of wealthy homeowners, it’s a huge step towards improving the dangerous street following its shameful removal from the city’s Mobility Plan.
It should be noted that a study of the proposed bike lanes was already underway when Koretz halted it, insisting that they would not be built no matter what the study showed. And even though I’ve been told by multiple sources that it would have shown the bike lanes would improve safety, with no significant impact on travel times or parking.
While Westwood is part of LA’s Great Streets program, it’s also part of the Vision Zero High Injury Network, indicating that it’s one of the city’s most dangerous streets — especially for pedestrians and the many bike riders who have no other viable route to get to Westwood Village from the Expo Line or other areas further south.
As Creed notes, despite the Great Streets designation, nothing has changed on the street under Koretz’ watch, unlike some of the others which have made great strides since receiving the designation. And despite the councilmember’s apparent belief that the best solution to a dangerous street is to keep it that way.
Creed seems to get that Westwood — or any other street, for that matter — can’t be a Great Street if it’s not safe and inviting for everyone who uses it, and that it needs to serve more than just a handful of local residents who claim it as their own.
Santa Monica police revive a three-year old victim blaming bike safety spot that twists the meaning of Share the Road; the ad ran on yesterday’s KABC-7 evening news.
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Now get the bad taste that left you with out with a little nerdcore bike rap from Santa Monica’s Public Bikes.
https://vimeo.com/198397594
And somehow, I’d forgotten about their Corgi-themed holiday video, which is still worth a watch even if the holidays are over.
A final verdict may never be reached in the Italian pay-to-race cycling scandal after lawyers and officials were driven from the hearing room by a broken heating system.
After taking up cycling to keep up her fitness in the offseason, a Canadian skier became the first from her country to compete at three different Olympics in three different sports; now she’s set her sights on becoming just the sixth person to medal at both the summer and winter games.
The LACBC will host their rescheduled Ask An Officer panel discussion, featuring representatives from the LAPD, LA County Sheriff’s Department and the CHP, along with bike lawyer and BikinginLA title sponsor Jim Pocrass, on the 30th of this month.
The San Diego Union-Tribune wants your bike commuting stories. Actually, they want everyone’s commuting stories, which means they’ll need bicyclists and pedestrians to balance out all those people in cars.
It was nice while it lasted. Colorado Springs CO caves to NIMBY’s demanding they undo a road diet and remove buffered bike lanes on a formerly six lane street, even though it carried less than half the traffic it was designed for.
Road rage, yes; assault, yes; hit-and-run, only in the most literal sense, as Scottish police are looking for a cyclist who punched a driver through an open window following an altercation.
A group of Silver Lake residents have created a website to support the successful Rowena road diet in the face of continued opposition from some people who want it torn out, even though it has dramatically improved safety on the formerly dangerous street by cutting overall traffic injuries 22% and serious injuries and fatalities a whopping 75%.
They urge you to contact CD4 Councilmember David Ryu and tell him to keep Rowena the way it is, and sign up for the mailing list to stay abreast of future action.
As expected, CiclaValley’s Zachary Rynew won the award for Journalist/Writer of the Year, and Bike SGV won a well deserved award for Livable Streets Advocacy Group.
Other winners were
Elected Official of the Year: Tie between Councilmembers Mike Bonin, Marqueece-Harris Dawson and José Huizar
Civil Servant of the Year: Metro’s Phil Washington
Livable Streets-Friendly Business Award: Metro Bike’s Bicycle Transit Systems
Deborah Murphy Award for Excellence in Advocacy: Los Feliz Neighborhood Council president Luke Klipp
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If you live or ride in the Valley, don’t forget tomorrow’s meeting to reimagine iconic Ventura Blvd. And hopefully make it safer and more inviting to bike riders, even if we got left out of the invitation.
And mark your calendar for the next Draft People for Bikes meetup at Burbank’s Pure Cycles on the 19th.
LAist offers good advice for riding in the rain. I’ll add a little more: Most drivers can’t imagine anyone riding a bike in the rain, which means they won’t be looking for you. So be conspicuous in your lane positioning and at intersections. And use the best, brightest — and as many — lights as you can manage, and wrap them in plastic unless you know they’re waterproof.
Life is cheap in Kansas, where a driver walks with a slap on the wrist for killing a cyclist competing in an amateur time trial, despite attempting an unsafe pass and violating the state’s three-foot passing law; the victim was blamed for an alleged suicide swerve.
Must be nice. Iowa’s governor calls for better protections for cyclists and stiffer penalties for distracted and impaired drivers. Most California bicyclists have given up on ever hearing something like that from Jerry Brown.
Despite rising numbers of pedestrians and cyclists hit by cars, a group of New Hampshire lawmakers want to repeal the state’s hands-free cellphone law in the name of liberty. So why not just pass a law giving people the personal freedom to drive drunk, stoned or blindfolded? The same principle applies.
Former New York DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan says as long as security for Donald Trump’s 5th Avenue apartment threatens to make the street a traffic nightmare, they should turn the street into a pedestrian plaza like Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.
The governor of New York announces plans to fill in the gaps between existing pathways to create a 750-mile biking and hiking trail through the state in just three years. Notice that no one has proposed anything like that here in California, despite an ideal climate for year-round riding. Present wet weather excepted.
A South Carolina man finds and restores the 55-year old bicycle his brother got for Christmas in 1961, and gives it to him again.
January 10, 2017 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Meditations on a ghost bike, raising funds for a hit-and-run victim, and new bike jobs in Pasadena
Last year, 72 people died riding their bicycles in Southern California, just one less than the year before.
Yesterday I received the following email, from someone moved by the memorial to a young man who deserved to be more than the punctuation point to another year of needless tragedy on our streets.
When my coworker arrived at work Christmas morning, she mentioned “at least a hundred candles” at an intersection down the road. “Like when someone gets killed on the street.” So on the way home, I made a detour.
It’s on the northeast corner. With the sun in my eyes, I might’ve missed it if I hadn’t been looking for a roadside memorial specifically, despite its size. “At least a hundred candles” was a vague and yet extremely accurate estimate.
Westbound Firestone has four lanes of fuckyou, including a designated right turn lane where a homicidally impatient pick-up truck driver with zero intention of stopping at that oblique angle nevertheless braked fast when he realized the crosswalk was occupied by a goddamn cyclist. My swerve left me too terrified to yell, and nearly sent me to the asphalt.
A handsome young man stood on the ADA ramp on the narrow sidewalk, taking a picture. I spoke with him. He had missed the memorial service, but promised his school friends he would come Christmas morning. And so here he stood, alone, at half past seven on a chilly Sunday morning, looking at the memorial for his classmate: the candles, the cross, the Christmas tree, the donuts, the white painted bike frame. From a second, much more polished (I’m tempted to say “professional looking”) bike hung a sign with Chandler’s name painted on it.
The young man told me he didn’t know Chandler well, but has friends who did. He expressed disbelief that a classmate would be killed the day before winter break started. The young man indicated that Chandler had been killed just east of the intersection; I squinted towards the blind vertical curve (an overpass crosses above the train tracks there) and considered how suicidal it would be to take the lane here, given the arbitrarily high (45mph) posted speed limit allowed despite the impaired line of sight. For the record, it is illegal in the City of Norwalk to ride on the sidewalk. At this location, the insane choice to obey the law puts a cyclist in mortal danger.
Before the young man left his house that morning, he said, Chandler’s GoFundMe page had raised over $20,000.
I passed the memorial on New Year’s Eve, too. The velodoras’ wicks were submerged under an inch of water. Amidst the bushes nestled two big white plastic lumps, trash bags stuffed with the plush animals left by those who came to the memorial. The sight was just temporarily unsightly; it meant somebody cared enough to stop by and protect the offerings. The sun returned, and when I passed by the next evening, the plush critters were lovingly propped up against the candles and the bikes. As I stood there, a woman who had been sitting in a car in the parking lot approached. She asked if I had known Chandler. I explained I was just passing by. The woman had never met Chandler either; she learned from her 15-year-old daughter that her classmate had been killed, and then they found out that Chandler had also been their neighbor, living only two blocks away. Her daughter has a bike that she never uses because she (the daughter) is scared to. This mom is glad her daughter doesn’t ride around their residential neighborhood.
There is something very wrong with the world when infrastructure is set up to terrify mothers and children.
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As of last night, the GoFundMe page for Chandler Ray had raised nearly $24,000 in just 17 days.
Contrast that with $840 in donations to another GoFundMe account opened the same day, intended to funds to replace the front teeth a bike rider lost in yet another hit-and-run collision.
Here’s a portion of what that page, set up by the staff of Streets Are For Everyone, has to say.
On Sunday, December 4th, Capitan Arreola was riding home after having spent the morning volunteering and instructing new cyclists how to ride safe during a group ride. Just a few blocks from his home, Capitan was hit by a speeding car. Landing on the hood, the driver sped away, tossing Capitan face down onto the asphalt — bleeding and barely conscious. 20 minutes went by before he received aid from a passerby.
Capitan suffered a concussion, the loss of his two front teeth, as well as other injuries to his face and body. Despite his pain and suffering, one week later, Capitan (who always keeps his word) showed up to fulfill his volunteer agreement to Streets Are For Everyone at our event, Finish The Ride.
No surprise here. Charges won’t be filed against a Spokane cop who killed a 15-year old bike rider in 2014, even though he failed to use his lights and siren despite driving 70 mph on surface streets. Until new evidence came to light, authorities had denied the car even struck the boy.
Evidently, it’s okay to kill someone in your sleep, as an Idaho woman gets a slap on the wrist for running down a bike-riding firefighter after dozing off at the wheel.
Kindhearted strangers pitch in to by a new three-wheeled bike for a partially paralyzed Texas man who has become a local role model for overcoming disabilities.
A neighborhood group is offering free women’s self-defense classes following a series of attacks on a Madison WI bike path. Too many bike paths are hidden from public view and often deserted after dark, making them poor alternatives to on-street bikeways, especially for women.
