The Murrieta Patch is reporting that a mountain biker has died after losing control of his bike on a local trail.
Sixty-five-year old Murrieta resident Dennis Fabozzi was reportedly trailing a group of riders around 1 pm Saturday on a dirt trail near Tenaja Road and Via Volcano, when he fell and struck his head on a rock, resulting in a serious neck injury.
Witnesses performed CPR until paramedics arrived; however, he died at the scene without regaining consciousness.
The story notes that he was wearing a helmet. Unfortunately, that would have done nothing to protect his neck from blunt force trauma.
This is the 13th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first in Riverside County.
My deepest prayers and sympathy for Dennis Fabozzi and all his loved ones.
Like whether the victims’ intoxicated state had anything whatsoever to do with the crashes that killed them.
The report implies pedestrians stumbling drunk into the path of oncoming motor vehicles, or weaving bike riders blowing red lights to meet their demise.
Yet it’s just as likely that a drunk pedestrian could have been hit while walking legally in a crosswalk, or that a bike rider may have been rear-ended while riding in a bike lane, despite having a couple beers.
As LAPD officers have repeatedly drilled into my head, intoxication is never the proximate cause of a collision. A driver may run a red light or veer onto the wrong side of the road because she’s drunk, but the cause of the crash is the traffic violation, not the DUI, which is considered a separate offense.
And never mind that a drunken bike rider or pedestrian is a danger to him or herself, while drunk drivers pose a danger to everyone around them.
So yes, the public should be made aware that walking or riding a bike after drinking can put you at serious risk. And taking transit or ordering a Lyft may be a better idea if you’ve had too much.
But seriously, everyone will be better off if you do anything except get behind the wheel.
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Another new study shows building bike lanes compares extremely well to other interventions designed to protect health, resulting in significant health cost savings and benefits to society at minimal expense.
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The LACBC is asking you to turn out next Tuesday to support bike lanes in Hollywood, which currently has none.
The Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council Transportation Committee will be discussing transportation issues including cycling. A public show of support for bike infrastructure is needed so that the committee will prioritize bike safety issues. In particular it would be helpful if cyclists were able to speak about The Hollywood Boulevard commercial district/corridor, Vine Street, Cahuenga Blvd, and/or Highland Avenue as they are all heavily trafficked and precarious for daily cyclists.
When: 6 pm Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Where: Hollywood Methodist Church located at 6817 Franklin Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90028
As someone who lives and rides in the area, I can attest to the need for major changes, since there’s currently no safe way in or out of Hollywood in any direction.
Let alone that we’ll be throwing tourists to the wolves once Metro’s bikeshare comes here in the next few years.
An Alhambra man was critically injured when he was hit by a car while walking his bicycle across the street; for a change, the driver stayed at the scene.
Oceanside puts a planned crosswalk on hold as the city questions plans to install a road diet that would protect the lives of kids walking and biking to school.
The new Copenhagen Wheel, which promises to turn any bicycle into an ebike, is finally available for purchase. With starting price of $1499, it costs more than most bikes it might be used on.
A Massachusetts town votes to remove two whole parking spaces to sort of make way for a bike lane, because removing the four spaces that were actually needed was just too much to ask.
The drunken hit-and-run Baltimore bishop who left a bike rider to die in the street is now eligible for parole, despite serving just 18 months of her seven-year sentence, because Maryland doesn’t consider vehicular manslaughter a violent offense. I’m sure her victim would beg to differ.
A Georgia driver faces multiple felony charges, including aggravated assault and hit-and-run, for turning around and intentionally clipping a cyclist after honking and yelling at the group of riders as he passed moments earlier.
Irish police sergeants and inspectors say the country’s streets are too dangerous, so they call for making helmets and hi-viz mandatory for bike riders instead of making the streets safer. At least wiser heads prevailed on a plan to force pedestrians to wear fluorescent clothing.
Based on the extremely limited description, it appears Oh may have been riding against traffic on the wrong side of the street. It’s also possible that he was actually on the sidewalk and attempting to cross Frederick.
However, instead of blaming the victim for riding the wrong way, or the driver for not seeing him, Burbank police appear to be placing the blame on Oh’s lack of a helmet. Which wouldn’t matter if he hadn’t been hit by a car.
And whether it matters at all depends on whether Oh’s injuries would have been survivable, with or without one.
This is the 12th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jin Soo Oh and all his family.
The meeting of the Mid-Town NoHo Neighborhood Council starts at 7 PM, at the Senior Citizen Center at 5301 Tujunga Blvd. RSVP to greatstreets@lacity.org if you plan to attend.
These are the same bike lanes former Councilmember Tom LaBonge blocked while he was in office; now that he’s gone, maybe we can finally make the street a little safer for everyone.
Looking west from Foothill and Riderwood towards Wentworth
Looking east from the same spot towards Sunland, next to the barriers that previously trapped riders next to fast-moving traffic
The road diet should slow traffic, while giving people on bicycles a safer and more comfortable piece of the roadway. Sullivan calls it a very welcome change on a street he regularly rides as part of his commute.
My understanding is that these plans were in the works long before Knopp’s death. But it’s good to see a dangerous road made a little safer.
Gonzalo Aranguiz Salazar says the appearances mandated as part of his five-year probation have allowed him to help heal himself.
I sincerely hope he’s able to peace, and live with the knowledge that he needlessly destroyed an innocent life.
But I’m far more concerned that Aguilar’s loved ones are able to come to terms with his loss, and the fact that his killer wasn’t sentenced to a single day behind bars.
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Very sad news, as Peter Flax reports the husband of fallen OC cyclist Deborah Gresham — the subject of his moving piece on the creation of a ghost bike — has died unexpectedly, leaving their four kids without a mother or father.
Let’s hope there’s someone to take them in and comfort them. Because that’s just too much tragedy for any child to bear.
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A driver buzzes a bicyclist as he’s filming a trailer for a documentary. And proves once again that too many drivers don’t have a clue when it comes to the rights of cyclists, or how to drive safely around people on bikes.
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Spoiler alert: If you still haven’t seen Sunday’s Paris – Roubaix, skip to the next section. Or watch streaming video of the race courtesy of SoCal Cycling, then come back for the rest.
A helmetless La Jolla woman suffered life-threatening injuries in a solo fall after losing control of her bicycle going downhill. Sadly, crashes like this are exactly what bike helmets are designed for.
Two Stockton teenagers were killed fleeing from police following a robbery after crashing into a bike rider and several cars; fortunately, the bicyclist and the people in the other cars weren’t seriously injured.
Seven months later, Sebastopol authorities still can’t prove — or disprove — that a fatal crash between two cyclists on an organized ride was caused by a careless driver.
A kindhearted friend of a Virginia McDonald’s customer bought a new bicycle for one of the store’s employees after learning he was walking 10 miles each way to get to and from his job after his old bicycle gave out. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.
The Tampa Bay Times offers a strongly worded editorial calling for better safety for bicyclists and pedestrians, saying it’s time to stop accepting injuries and deaths as “collateral damage in a culture focused on cars.”
Caught on video: A British driver tweets that a bike rider should be prosecuted for riding through a red light when there was no traffic coming in any direction.
Australian police are closing in on a suspect in the 15-year old cold case murder of a man who was gunned down in his home weeks after finishing an eight-month tour of the country that ended when his bike was stolen.
As predicted, incumbent CD1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo is getting down and dirty as he fights to retain his seat in the face of a strong challenge from outsider Joe Bray-Ali.
Today’s attack from the city’s most anti-bike councilmember comes in the form of repeated accusations that Bray-Ali is just a Republican in Democrat clothing. And that he only switched parties to run for office — fighting words in the strongly Democratic and independent district.
Except he isn’t. And didn’t.
Bray-Ali is the first to admit he was, briefly, registered as a Republican several years ago as he searched for his place in the political landscape, before landing in the Democratic party after equally brief stints as a Green and an independent.
And never mind that Los Angeles local elections are supposed to be non-partisan, so whatever the hell party he belongs to shouldn’t matter in the slightest.
Which is absurd coming from a career politician who gets the overwhelming majority of his donations from outside the district. And who has been in bed with mega donors like Chevron and Walmart for years, leading to questions whether their donations have influenced his votes.
After Saturday’s bizarre Lyin’ Joe episode, and today’s overblown tweetstorm attacks, it’s starting to look like Gil has been studying at Trump U.
And learning all the wrong lessons about how to conduct a campaign.
Fortunately, he was able to maintain control of his bike, and didn’t stick around to find out what they wanted.
While incidents like this are relatively rare, it’s a reminder to always remain alert and aware of your surroundings when you ride, especially on bike paths or anywhere else out of direct public view. He did the smart thing by getting out of harms way as quickly as possible before stopping to call the police.
He doesn’t give the date or time of the attack, but it makes me wonder if that’s why I saw a CHP cruiser turn onto the bike path as I passed by on Los Feliz Monday afternoon.
LA bicyclists have long called for regular police patrols on the bike paths in the city and county, to little effect; incidents like this sometimes result in an increase in patrols, which die down after awhile as other hotspots take precedence.
While I am a strong believer in the need to fund Vision Zero projects in Los Angeles, and feel that it should take precedence over repaving streets and filling potholes, that doesn’t mean the latter isn’t important, as well.
As yesterday’s tragic news reminded us, bad roads can be an expensive annoyance to people on four wheels. But they can be deadly to those of us on two.
Vision Zero should not attempt to improve safety at the expense of our streets, but in conjunction with repaving efforts to ensure a safe riding, driving and walking environment for everyone. We have to somehow find room in the budget to pay for both.
Because it doesn’t matter whether our streets are dangerous because of aggressive drivers, bad road design or crumbling street surfaces. The results are the same.
And human lives are at stake.
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This is seriously one of the scariest close passes I’ve ever seen, as a driver for a British market buzzes within inches of a cyclist. But says it’s okay since he didn’t cross into the extremely narrow bike lane.
Just as scary is the response from the company, which was basically “We didn’t hit him, so who cares?”
Thanks to Jon for the link.
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I’ve never had a lot of heroes.
Willie Mays when I was younger, Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King as I got older, though both were gone before I reached my teens. But there are a lot of people I’ve admired; a few I’ve tried to emulate.
And one of the best and brightest of those was killed in crash early Wednesday morning.
Steve Tilford was everything I wanted to be as a young rider. A passionate cyclist who was among the first wave of American riders to storm Europe and show that we could compete on equal terms with the best names in the sport, he made it all seem effortless, competing on the road and winning in mountain biking and cyclocross.
Chico police bust an ebike thief who broke in from the shop next door to steal a $3,000 bike from a local dealer.
National
A writer for City Lab says bike helmet laws do more harm than good, and the idea that they improve overall safety for cyclists isn’t backed up by the evidence.
Prosecutors offer an undisclosed plea deal to a road raging Arizona driver who allegedly murdered a bike rider earlier this year; he faces up to 25 years if he’s convicted.
Last week, the LA City Council’s Transportation Committee debated whether to patch potholes or fund Vision Zero projects, ultimately deciding in favor of safety over street repair.
Today, we got a painful reminder that sometimes it’s the same thing.
Hansen reports the pothole had been patched a week later, too late to save the very popular rider.
This is the 11th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth in Los Angeles County.
Update: I’ve received second-hand reports from people who were on the March 11th ride that Lim may have lost control to avoid hitting the pothole, striking his head on the curb. However, even if that is the case, the pothole would have been the proximate cause of the crash, since he would not have swerved if it hadn’t been there.
As Albert Lakes points out below, though, we don’t have all the facts at this point; all we can do is consider the limited information that is available and draw our own conclusions.
My deepest sympathy and prayers Edgar Lim and all his family and loved ones.
More reaction to Wednesday’s meeting of the city council Transportation Committee, which voted to devote 60% of Measure M local return funds to the city’s Vision Zero plan.
According to the LACBC, the remaining funds will be split with 10% going to bike infrastructure, 10% to sidewalk repair and reconstruction, and 20% to median island and curb extension improvements.
A Los Feliz paper looks at Wednesday’s meeting that resulted in prioritizing Vision Zero work over repairing potholes with Measure M return funds.
The anger is understandable. Measure M was pushed in large part with promises that it would fix our crumbling streets. Although I’d like to think we could all agree that improving safety for everyone on the road is more important than patching potholes.
But I could be wrong on that.
The proposal goes before the Public Works and Gang Reduction committee next week.
Whether this comes under the heading of public works or gang reduction remains to be seen.
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Hats off to a group of LA police officers, who will be riding from Hollywood to DC to honor fallen police officers in the first-ever Hollywood Memorial Ride.
New Zealand cyclist Keagan Girdlestone completes a near-miraculous recovery after severing his carotid artery and jugular vein when he crashed into a team vehicle during a race last year, as he prepares for his first race since the crash.
Model CJ Franco is one of us, as she rides a WeHo Pedals bikeshare bike to Bristol Farms in Beverly Hills for a little shopping. But if the Daily Mail doesn’t stop drooling over her, it’s going to short out my keyboard.
Miami considers adopting a Vision Zero plan to reduce bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities; the city ranks third in the US for pedestrian deaths, after Los Angeles and New York.
Yet another bike rider has been murdered by a heartless cowardly driver in Los Angeles County.
According to KABC-7, the victim, who the coroner said appeared to be a woman in her 30s, was found by someone passing by the Pico Rivera crime scene shortly after 2 am this morning.
Sheriff’s investigators say there are no apparent witnesses. However, based on debris from the crash site, they’re looking for a dark green Honda Accord, 2003 to 2007, with significant front end damage.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Station at 562/949-2421.
This is the tenth bicycling fatality in Southern California, and the seventh in Los Angeles County; nearly half of the deaths in the county have been hit-and-runs.
Given the hour, the driver should be assumed to have been under the influence at the time of the wreck.
Once found, he or she should face a second degree murder charge for making a conscious decision to leave the victim to die in the street, rather than call for the prompt medical attention that might have saved her life.
Of course, since hit-and-runs are seldom taken seriously in LA County, that’s not likely to happen.
Update: The LA Times reports a suspect was arrested after deputies pulled over a 2005 Honda Accord for several vehicle violations two miles from the crash site, and saw extensive damage to the front end that matched the suspect vehicle.
Twenty-one-year old Berta Ramirez of Pico Rivera was arrested, and was being held on $50,000 bond.
Update 2: The victim has been identified as 45-year old Pico Rivera resident Suzanne Corona. Her accused killer was released on bail a day after the crash.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Suzanne Corona and her loved ones.
Meanwhile, the results in CD1 are expected to be certified today, with long-time bike and community advocate Joe Bray-Ali taking on the extremely bike unfriendly Gil Cedillo. As you’ll recall, it was Cedillo who singlehandedly blocked the desperately needed road diet on North Figueroa, and attempted to have all the proposed bike lanes in CD1 removed from the Mobility Plan, earning him the moniker “Roadkill Gil” from some in the district.
Think of it as the game going into overtime. Both candidate start out on even footing, and who wins will depend on what happens in the coming weeks.
It will take the support of the entire bicycling community, and everyone who wants a better LA, to overcome the massive amounts of special interest money that will inevitably flow in from outside the district to help keep a career politician in office.
The ad depicts a fallen spandex cyclist. The text reads “When life gets rough.” The ad falls into the all–too–commongrim bicycling-equals-danger trope which shames cyclists and reinforces misperceptions about cycling safety.
To be honest, it really doesn’t bother me.
Given the unpaved surface, I read the image in the ad as a face plant by a mountain biker, which is just part of the sport.
But maybe that’s just me. What do you think?
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Former Stallone stunt double Eric Barone beat his own record with a 141 mph downhill on a snowy French ski slope. Which is just a tad faster than most of us have done on dry land.
Bay Area bicyclists ride to consider what can be done to fix the Hairball, a maze of intersecting highways where a bike path that runs underneath has turned into a de facto homeless camp.
Performance Bike is using the world’s most famous computer to get inside your head, or at least your browsing history, to target their marketing at you.
Outsiderecommends an e-fat bike to power your way over backcountry terrain. Because don’t we all want to rip up endangered terrain by riding off trail, while annoying the crap out of everyone else on trail? Or is that just me?
The Mayor of Maui tells bicyclists to ride in the door zone to avoid salmon cyclists in the bike lane, and misreads the law to suggest that’s required anyway. There is no law, anywhere in the US, that requires people to ride to the right in a bike lane. And it’s usually safer to ride in the center to left third, depending on the width of the lane, to ensure you’re outside the door zone.
Au contraire, Findley, Ohio’s The Courier; the city is not proposing a ban on bicycling in the downtown area, just against riding on the sidewalk. Big difference, mais non?
The Village Voice asks if racism will derail plans for bike lanes and other safety improvements on 111th Street in Queens; one opponent insists the lanes won’t be necessary once Trump deports all the illegals, since there won’t be anyone left to ride a bike. Maybe someone should explain to her that lots of people who ride bikes were born in this country, including the many of the ones she assumes don’t belong here.
They’re onto us, comrade. A North Carolina letter writer insists a group of new hotels under construction are a plot to make driving so impossible everyone would be forced to bike or walk.
A new British report says new roadways damage the countryside, quickly get jammed due to induced demand, and discourage alternative forms of transportation like biking and walking.
According to a CHP spokesman, the driver had veered into the the bike lane where Munoz was riding, and fled the scene after striking him.
KCBS-2 reports Anaheim police later spotted the driver, 25-year old Riverside resident Jason Roy Rocha, when they tried to pull him over for an unrelated traffic violation. Rocha fled from the police, losing the officers, until he crashed his Ford Expedition into a fence at the intersection of Seal Beach and Westminster boulevards in Seal Beach.
Munoz leaves behind a wife and three kids. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay his funeral expenses; so far it has raised just $85 of the $25,000 goal.
This is the ninth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, four of which have been hit-and-runs. He is the third person killed while riding in Orange County since the first of the year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Encarnacion Salazar Munoz and his family.
