She was taken to a local hospital. Sadly, Phil Gaimon reports the victim, a friend of his, was taken off life support this morning. She has not been publicly identified.
The driver remained at the scene, and reportedly cooperated with investigators.
A street view shows an intersection of two residential streets without lane markings. While it’s been awhile since I’ve ridden through there, I’ve occasionally used Idaho as a quieter alternative to busy Montana a block away.
Twitter/X user Mobility For Who offers a little more information about the crash site.
This is a 2-way stop, that the victim apparently rode through, but it’s also a neighborhood residential street with schools nearby. People have been asking the city for traffic calming measures there for years, from what I hear from residents. Drivers use 19th to cut through the neighborhood to get to/from San Vicente, so I guess the street is just setup to let them do that.
If you’re riding Idaho and crossing there, you’re basically just hoping that a speeding car isn’t coming hidden behind parked cars, so rolling through that stop sign often feels safer, just to get out of there as quickly as possible.
This is at least the 47th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 13th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
Update: The Santa Monica Mirror reports the victim was apparently riding west on Idaho, when she was struck by the southbound driver, who didn’t have a stop sign.
Update 2: A Nextdoor post identified the victim as Tania Mooser. A vigil will be held in her honor this Friday.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Tania Mooser and her loved ones.
Thanks to bikematic, Mobility For Who and Diana Williams for the heads-up.
October 27, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Driver arrested in grisly Willowbrook hit-and-run, and PCH killer of 4 Pepperdine students allegedly driving 104 mph
My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.
I suffered a bad blood sugar crash Wednesday night, dropping down to a dangerous level and unable to get it back up; I was minutes from waking my wife to take me to the ER when it finally started rising again.
Two teens accused of intentionally running down a 64-year-old retired police chief while he was riding his bike in Las Vegas were seen in court flipping off the family and trying to intimidate them.https://t.co/DnaJCxNoWXpic.twitter.com/DtAy40GvNu
NEW GRAVEL GUIDE(4K): Definitely Los Angeles has a shortage of great, community bike shops which is why Maverick Cycles and has great riding in their back yard to boot!@bikinginla@TheRadavisthttps://t.co/QXJNBuZu7n
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Santa Rosa street vendor was busted for riding his tricycle around the city selling ice cream, chicharrónes, snacks and other items, including cocaine and meth.
TV station NBC Los Angeles and KCRW’s Greater LA offer more information on Sunday’s ArroyoFest, which will let you bike or walk on the 110 Freeway for the first time in 20 years.
A Culver City group has filed a crowdfunded lawsuit challenging the legality of the newly conservative city council’s decision to rip out the MOVE Culver City pilot project without conducting an environmental review.
Men’s Health offers advice on how to lose weight by bicycling. I had to add weight training before the extra pounds came off, but maybe that’s just me. You can read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.
October 25, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on 4 murder counts in PCH deaths of Pepperdine students, trial set for LV teens, and Bass flip flops on 90 Freeway removal
I’m writing this after getting the second in a series of shots directly into my right eye to control retinal bleeding caused by diabetes.
So please forgive me if I miss a few mistakes today, because I can’t read shit right now.
The question is what evidence deputies have developed to justify a murder charge, let alone four. Under California law, elevating vehicular manslaughter to murder would require evidence that Bohm knew his actions were likely to result in death.
That included calls for speed cams, which are currently only allowed in Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach, along with three NorCal cities, under a recently passed pilot program.
But what’s really needed is a redesign of the highway with protected bike lanes, walkways and traffic calming measures to make speeding difficult, if not impossible. And turn LA County’s deadliest highway into the Malibu Main Street it always should have been.
Jesus Ayala and Jzamir Keys — who were 17 and 16, respectively, at the time of the crash — are scheduled to be tried as adults beginning September 16th, 2024.
And people wonder why I don’t trust city officials.
LA Mayor @KarenBassLA in August: No one drives the 90 Freeway and tearing it down would make up for demolitions and lead to much-needed housing. It's a "freeway to nowhere."
No bias here, either. British tabloids are accusing London’s cycling czar with “cherry picking” stats to show bike ridership has tripled in a busy part of London in order to justify more spending on bike lanes; critics accuse him of counting bicycle delivery riders, who are, in fact, riding bicycles, and would all be using cars if they weren’t.
October 24, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: 65-year old man riding bike killed in Willowbrook hit-and-run; victim dragged a mile under van in possible murder
As if that was gruesome enough, witnesses report the crash appeared to be intentional, as well.
The victim was riding on Broadway at 117th around 9:15 Tuesday morning when he was struck by the driver of an older van; security cam video shows the driver continuing south on Broadway without slowing down.
KABC reports the victim’s mangled bicycle was found at the scene, and his shoes were strewn about on the street outside of Bo’s Mini Market at the initial point of impact.
A police spokesperson would not confirm that this is being treated as a murder investigation, saying only that they need to speak to the suspect first. Because of course he’ll just admit to doing it intentionally.
Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD at 877-LAPD-247. As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
This is at least the 46th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, the 12th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County, and the seventh in the City of Los Angeles. It’s also the 16th time someone riding a bicycle has been killed in a hit-and-run since the first of the year.
And it’s the third time a person in SoCal has apparently been run down intentionally while riding a bicycle, after bike riders were murdered in Dana Point and Huntington Beach earlier this year.
George, who reportedly rode his bike everywhere, was riding in the westbound bike lane on Fountain when he was doored, and knocked into the traffic lane in front of an oncoming car.
He was killed just a block from where a pedestrian was killed seven years earlier, which LADOT commemorated with a memorial sign a few months ago in an effort to encourage people to drive more safely on the street.
Good luck with that.
Sorry- earlier tweet was not clear – the LADOT sign is commemorating an earlier traffic death (a pedestrian) on Fountain- near where the recent death took place pic.twitter.com/bxiYscwnN1
The city could, and should, have removed parking from one side to at least make room for wider bike lanes in both directions. Or better yet, a parking protected bike lane on one side, and a curbside bike lane on the other.
They didn’t, because here in the City of Angels, our leaders clearly prefer making yet another angel over taking away people’s God-given right to park steps from their door.
Now a man is dead because of it, and those responsible for this decision have his blood on their hands.
Ans if that doesn’t make you mad, maybe it should.
Anesthesiologist Jim Janik swam the 21.5 miles from Catalina to Los Angeles, biked 358 miles up Highway 1 to Monterey, then ran and walked 132 miles to the tip of San Francisco, completing the trip in four days, 21 hours and 29 minutes.
He has applied for a trademark for what he termed the Ultra Pacifica Triathlon route in hopes of encouraging other people to try it.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A writer for a Staten Island website complains about drivers being tarred as homicidal menaces, when scofflaw bike riders and pedestrians are sometimes at fault, too. Except bike riders and pedestrians hardly ever kill anyone, while careless and law-breaking drivers put everyone at risk.
A Baltimore letter writer says don’t bother building bikeways, just let bike riders use the city’s alleys, instead. Great idea, if you want to see more people on bicycles killed by delivery drivers, and run down by motorists as they try to cross busy streets without traffic signals.
It was a big day for L39ion of Los Angeles Saturday, as the team won the men’s, women’s and team titles in the inaugural CRIT Championship in St. Petersburgh, Florida; Tulsa Tough omnium winner Samantha Schneider led a team sweep of the elite women’s race, while three-time US Pro criterium champion Luke Lamperti took the men’s title while racing as a guest of the team.
A Hollywood producer is dead, apparently because Los Angeles refused to remove parking to build a damn bike lane.
For three days, we’ve been searching for confirmation of a bicycling fatality in East Hollywood, since word first surfaced late Tuesday. Friday it came, not from the traditional media, but from the Hollywood trade publications.
Jones told The Hollywood Reporter that George, who reportedly rode his bike everywhere, was doored by the driver of a parked car as he rode in a bike lane. then immediately struck by the driver of an oncoming car.
The reports I received indicated the fatal crash occurred Tuesday at Fountain Ave and North Edgemont Street, next to the Church of Scientology complex on Sunset Blvd. That appears to be in East Hollywood, but it could be considered Silver Lake.
If the city had removed the parking from either side, they could have installed protected bike lanes in both directions, instead of a single door zone bike lane.
That decision apparently cost Bob George his life.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Peoria, Illinois native began his career as production accountant on big-budget films, including Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Sum of All Fears, The Lone Ranger and three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, before moving up to producing.
He was a production consultant on Divergent (2014) before producing his first feature, Scott Free’s Newness (2017). Starring Nicholas Hoult and Laia Costa and written by Jones, it premiered at Sundance and was acquired by Netflix.
He reunited with Doremus on the Ewan McGregor and Léa Seydoux-starringZoe(2018), which bowed at Tribeca and was picked up by Amazon, andEndings, Beginnings (2019), a Toronto title that starred Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan and Sebastian Stan and was acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
George was currently working with Jones on Aurora, another Doremus film, as well as serving as a production consultant on the upcoming Brad Furman action thriller Tin Soldier, starring Jamie Foxx and Robert De Niro.
He is survived by his wife, artist Yasmine Nasser Diaz, as well as his sister.
This is at least the 45th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, the 11th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County, and the sixth in the City of Los Angeles, although there are probably more we haven’t learned about.
Meanwhile, bike industry officials question whether regulations are needed distinguishing between ped-assist and throttle-controlled ebikes.
Which is exactly what I’ve been calling for lately, as the rising ebike panic fails to distinguish between ped-assist bikes that give the rider a boost, and high speed throttle-controlled ebikes that are virtual mini-motorcycles, too often in the hands of kids too young to safely ride them.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A New York ambulance driver argues that bicyclists are responsible for their own safety, complaining about “two-wheeled demons…running red lights and stop signs, going the wrong way, riding at night with no lights or reflective equipment…” She might have a better argument if she seemed to care a little more about those “demons.”
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Life is cheap in New York, where the e-bikeshare rider who killed a beloved 69-year old preschool teacher as she crossed the street last month walked without a day behind bars, escaping with a lousy ticket for running a red light.
A former US Capitol Police officer faces up to ten years behind bars after pleading guilty to attempting to cover up his involvement in a reckless, unauthorized pursuit of two people riding motorized bicycles, along with the crash that left one of the riders with minor injuries — and a $5 million lawsuit.
USA Cycling has seriously complicated the question of trans cyclists competing in women’s races, requiring trans women competing in non-UCI sanctioned events in the Elite, Cat 1 and Cat 2 levels to complete an “elite athlete fairness evaluation application” proving they’ve maintained low testosterone levels, while both trans men and women competing in the Cat 3, 4, 5 and novice levels must have a self-identity verification request reviewed by the USA Cycling Technical Director. Got that? I didn’t think so.
October 20, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on 73-year old man killed by driver while riding bike in Orange crosswalk; 9th SoCal bike rider killed in less than 2 weeks
This has got to stop.
For at least the ninth time in the past 13 days, someone has been killed riding a bicycle on the mean streets of Southern California.
According to New Santa Ana, the victim this time was a 73-year old man from Orange, killed while just trying to ride his bike across the street.
The driver, a woman from Orange, remained at the scene — which should be a given, but isn’t. Police don’t believe she was under the influence.
There’s no word on who had the right of way at the signalized intersection.
Canyon View has a 40 mph speed limit; a pedestrian struck at that speed has just a 15% survival rate. And that’s assuming she wasn’t traveling above the speed limit, like most drivers in Southern California.
Anyone with information is urged to call Orange Police Department Traffic Unit Detective A. Rocha at 714/744-7342.
This is at least the 44th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Orange County.
And hopefully, the last one we’ll see in this tragic streak.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
It’s only a pity that the people who have gone out of their way to keep this killer highway dangerous and deadly won’t face charges with him.
It was nearly a decade ago that I began representing the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, now BikeLA, on the PCH Task Force.
The task force was created by the state legislators who then represented the Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica and Ventura County areas to address safety and other concerns on the highway, with input from the various stakeholders.
The LACBC took an interest because PCH is such a popular route for bicyclists of all kinds. And claimed so many as victims.
In fact, it is the single most deadly roadway for bike riders in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
The LACBC joined with other representatives to demand safety improvements to the highway, ranging from road diets and protected bike lanes, to eliminating roadside parking and reducing speed limits.
In almost every case, we were told what we were asking for was impossible. We were told the road, Malibu’s 22-mile long main street, was necessary to funnel commuters from Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley in and out of the LA area.
The overly wide traffic lanes, high speed limits that were nearly universally exceeded, slip lane right turns and roadside parking were all necessary to prevent excessive traffic congestion, or so we were told.
Never mind they also encouraged speeding drivers weaving in and out of slower traffic 22 hours a day. And put bike riders at needless risk of right hooks and dooring.
Caltrans, which has responsibility for the roadway, could have taken steps to dramatically improve safety years ago.
They didn’t.
Malibu, Los Angeles and Santa Monica could have demanded changes that would have saved lives.
They didn’t.
Sure, minor changes were made. A painted bike lane here, widening the shoulder there. But the killer highway remained, and remains, a deadly speedway for most of the day and night.
Now four young women, who did nothing to put their lives in danger, are dead — victims of an alleged speeding driver, and the officials, engineers and bureaucrats who enabled him.
The young man behind the wheel is likely to be middle-aged before he gets out of prison, unless an overly lenient judge takes pity on him.
It’s just a pity that the others who have worked so hard to keep PCH so deadly won’t be there with him.
What a fucking waste.
A 2013 publication highlights the joys of biking sans helmets on SoCal’s deadliest highway.
Yet once again, they fail to put any of it in context.
Injuries can be expected to rise with increasing rates of any activity. If more people started playing Frisbee golf, we’d see rising rates of arm and impact injuries as a result.
What matters is whether those injuries are rising faster than the increase in ridership, or becoming more serious than a baseline of bicycling injuries.
Unless and until we have that context, reports like this are nothing more than a concerning, but anecdotal, data point.
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Frequent contributor Megan Lynch forwards news that UC Davis journalism students, not the professional press, are digging into what’s been done since a student was killed by a university employee while riding her bike.
I was lucky enough to be logged on to Mastodon at the time the MuckRock bot sent this through. Otherwise I’d never have known someone was finally making a CPRA request on this. Sadly, it was not made by UC Davis student journalists, but students in a journalism class at University of Nevada, Reno.
You may remember that (19-year old sophomore)Tris Yasay was killed by a yet-unnamed UC Davis employee driving a UC Davis sanitation truck on May 25, 2022. First responders were all UC Davis employees as well (UCDPD and UCDFD). Local press didn’t ask many questions and the few that the Davis Enterprise followed up on was because I got after the reporter about it. It still wasn’t what was needed. UC Davis was successful in burying the questions.
So far as I know, UC Davis has not done any campaign to re-train its own drivers or at least it has not publicized one. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that the claim was that the driver could not see the cyclist in the side view mirror. In which case, the position and efficacy of these mirrors needs to be examined. Because cyclists are a regular feature of the UC Davis campus and if the side view does not accurately reflect what’s going on, drivers should be trained to crane their heads around and look for themselves BEFORE turning. “Blind” spots should be minimized on the vehicle.
But haven’t read about any of that happening.
I’m interested to see what the student journalist finds and if the MuckRock interface will let everyone see it when UC Davis responds. They also requested the City of Davis Bicycle Action Plan.
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Our Deutschland correspondent Ralph Durham forwards a newsletter from the ADFC, aka General German Bicycle Club, on the subject of licensing bicycles, and why that’s a bad idea.
Bicycling offers a requiem and post-mortem for the popular Surly Cross Check, which has been discontinued by the bikemaker. This one doesn’t seem to be available from other sources, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
The wife and daughter of fallen former Bell, California police chief Andreas “Andy” Probst first realized he was injured when they got an alert of a fall from his Apple Watch, then heard police sirens and helicopters just blocks from their Las Vegas home; two teens face murder charges for intentionally running down Probst in a stolen car, apparently just for the hell of it.
Once again, a cop has killed someone riding a bicycle, this time in Marion County, Florida, where a 22-year old sheriff’s deputy ran down a 63-year old man early Wednesday; investigators quickly blamed the victim for riding on a dark roadway without a helmet or reflective clothing, or using lights on his bike. Because apparently, patrol cars in Florida don’t have headlights that could have illuminated someone riding a bike.
October 18, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Disappointing new LA bike lane totals, Angelenos suffer from car blindness, and Long Beach needs bike count volunteers
It just keeps getting worse.
I’m told someone was killed riding a bike yesterday on Fountain Ave in East Hollywood.
Today’s photo, in contrast with too much of the day’s news, is a very happy corgi enjoying a pedicab ride over the new 6th Street Bridge during Sunday’s CicLAvia.
And finds the current results underwhelming, with far too many disappointments including truncated mileage, downgraded facilities, long delayed timelines and false claims, just to name a few.
Or as we call that here in Los Angeles, Wednesday.
As noted in past posts (FY21-22, FY20-21, FY19-20), not all bikeway miles are equal. Quality protected bike lanes and bike paths serve riders aged 8 to 80, while sharrows serve almost nobody. New bikeway mileage expands the network; upgrades to existing bikeways do not. Among upgrades, some are significant (protecting unprotected lanes) and others are nearly meaningless (adding a buffer stripe to an existing lane).
In recent years, around a quarter of the city’s output consists of these less than newsworthy facilities. Among the city’s FY23 totals are about 6 miles of new sharrows and 5 miles of buffer stripes added to existing bike lanes.
The city’s FY22-23 total of 45.2 miles breaks down into 27.7 miles of newbikeways and 17.5 miles of upgrades to existing bikeways. This represents a slight improvement over last year, which saw 26.6 new bikeway miles and 12.5 upgraded miles.
That’s a far cry from the city’s commitment to build 50 miles of bike lanes a year when the current bike plan was approved. Which was quickly cut in half when the city switched to measuring by lane miles, which counts bike lanes on each side of the road separately.
Then reduced further, when they decided sharrows count, too.
Adding disappointment, on disappointment, on disappointment.
We are car blind in Los Angeles; as a City, we seem to have accepted cars as essential for society to function, and we overlook their downsides and harms they cause on our society.
Have you heard? There are sea turtles in the San Gabriel River! BikeLA is hosting a Cruise + Connect ride on Oct. 28 to visit the turtles. Sign up here: https://t.co/AVjcmMfpICpic.twitter.com/lERDjoN5OS
Check out this sea turtle in the San Gabriel River, spotted yesterday while scouting our upcoming Sea Turtle Ride! Join us on Oct. 28 to ride the river trail and watch the sea turtles. Get more information and sign up here: https://t.co/AVjcmMfpICpic.twitter.com/cnphDz59aD
SAFE offers a reminder that bike riders aren’t the only vulnerable victims of traffic violence.
Asia & Ryan were killed by a speeding driver. We recently placed a Ghost Tire memorial in honor of Asia and Ryan, surrounded by their family and friends.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A San Mateo bike rider was arrested for brandishing a weapon after a woman tried to pass a large group of bicyclists in the downtown area; he raised his shirt to show the weapon in his waistband when a group of riders surrounded her car and started beating on it.
Accused killer Kaitlin Armstrong’s recent failed escape attempt was apparently premeditated, as a Texas site notes that she exercised vigorously for months and wore civilian clothes in advance of a doctor’s appointment; Armstrong is accused of fatally shooting gravel cycling star Moriah “Mo” Wilson over an imagined love triangle.
New York officials blamed the increase in bicycling deaths on ebikes, with 62.2% of bicyclists killed in the city this year riding one, compared to 57.9% two years ago and 47.4% last year — but failed to provide any stats putting it in context, such as the proportion of ebike riders, or who was at fault in the crashes; meanwhile, 94% of this year’s deaths occurred on streets without protected bike lanes, calling into question the mayor’s failure to fulfill his campaign promise to build more.
A New Jersey man faces a manslaughter charge for allegedly pushing a 70-year old man off his bike, for no apparent reason; the victim died after hitting his head on the pavement and initially refusing treatment. A tragic reminder to always get checked out after hitting your head, because life-threatening injuries may not show up until hours later.
A British man will spend the next four years behind bars for killing another man with a single punch, after an argument over the sale of a bike, as he claimed the victim’s friend still owed him money for it. Yet another reminder than no bicycle is worth a human life.
My most humble apologies for neglecting to thank Megan L for her generous donation to support this site when my eyes were out of commission last month. As always, donations are welcome and very appreciated anytime, for any reason, even if I’m too blind to properly show my gratitude.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
