This is the face of hit-and-run.
It’s not often that we learn what happened to a crash victim after the initial news stories.
If it even makes the news, that is.
But we’re learning a lot more about the bike-riding victim of a Fountain Valley hit-and-run driver, who barely survived the initial impact.
We gave the hit-and-run a brief mention on Monday, based on the limited information that was available at the time.
Fountain Valley police are looking for the hit-and-run driver who critically injured a 20-year old Huntington Beach man when he was rear ended while riding in a bike lane in the Orange County city on the 4th of July.
Since then, KABC-7 has added more information to the story, including identifying the victim as 20-year old Huntington Beach resident Caysen Robinson.
They place the crash at 10:30 pm on Tuesday the 4th, when Robinson was run down from behind as he was riding in the northbound bike lane on Bushard Street.
A crowdfunding campaign started by the victim’s family to help pay his medical expenses reports Robinson’s heart was ruptured when he was literally run over by the driver’s SUV, surviving only because one of the first people on the scene had medical training.
He was rushed into surgery, where doctor’s were able to repair his heart, despite suffering an injury with a less than 1% survival rate.
They add this about his ongoing injuries —
Caysen was in a medically induced coma and put on a ventilator. Drs weaned him off, and he had surgery for a compound fracture of his tibia. Caysen still needs surgery for the 4 facial fractures. Today Caysen had unidentified pain in his shoulder and wrist, and Drs are looking into additional broken or fractured bones.
According to his family, Robinson is facing a long road to recovery.
Police are looking for the driver of a possible 2014-2019 Toyota Highlander. Anyone with information is urged to call the Traffic Bureau with the Fountain Valley Police Department at 714/593-4481.
The crowdfunding campaign for Caysen Robinson has raised nearly 80% of the $50,000 goal — an amount that is likely to barely put a dent in the hospital and therapy bills illegally left on his battered shoulders by the heartless coward who left him lying broken in the street.
So if you’ve got any extra cash lying around, they could certainly use the help.
Photo from the GoFundMe page for Caysen Robinson. Thanks to Bill Sellin for the heads-up.
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Once again, California’s proposed Stop As Yield law, aka the Safety Stop or Idaho Stop Law, has failed to become law, as Assemblymember Tasha Boerner pulled the bill from consideration for the second year in a row without explanation, after a pair of previous attempts were vetoed by Gavin Newsom.
And yes, that’s the same Tasha Boerner who pledged to introduce a bill mandating licensing for ebike riders; we should have more on that tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a number of bills were passed out of committee in the state Senate, including —
- AB 645 creating a speed cam pilot program in six California cities, including Los Angeles, Long Beach and Glendale;
- AB 413 mandating daylighting at intersections to improve safety;
- AB 825 to legalize sidewalk riding anywhere in California that lacks good bike infrastructure (and no, sharrows aren’t “good” bike infrastructure);
- AB 7 requiring transportation and highway planners to align their work with the state’s climate goals;
- and AB 610 to create statewide a youth transit pass program.
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This is who we share the road with.
Part 1 — A 69-year old man was critically injured when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver in LA’s Pacoima neighborhood; the driver hit the victim as he was standing next to his car after drifting into the bike lane. As always, there is a standing $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injuries in the City of Los Angeles.
Part 2 — A Pennsylvania driver faces charges for killing a 54-year old man during a New York road rage confrontation, accelerating into the victim after he got out of his truck to slash the Pennsylvania man’s tires; witnesses absolved the killer, saying he acted in self-defense to protect two young girls in his car.
Part 3 — A 75-year old man was killed, and a 13-year old girl was injured, when a driver fleeing a traffic stop by the Secret Service plowed through a crowded DC crosswalk; at last report, police were still looking for the driver.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
Police on Michigan’s Mackinac Island are impounding ebikes belonging to visitors who break the strict rules on the carfree island, where only Class 1 ped-assist ebikes are allowed, and all ebikes must be licensed on the island.
A Toronto bike rider complains he was almost killed by someone driving nearly 40 mph in a bollard-protected bike lane, who couldn’t comprehend that what they were doing was wrong when he confronted them.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Spain’s Ecological Transition Minister was subjected to well-deserved criticism for virtue signaling for riding her bike to a climate summit, after she was seen removing it from the trunk of her car a just mile away — and escorted to the meeting by security vehicles front and rear.
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Local
Metro, LADOT, Walk ‘N Rollers and BikeLA are hosting a community meeting tonight at the Helms Design Center in Culver City to consider first and last mile connections to the Culver City Metro Station; this comes after Culver City’s newly conservative city council voted to remove the highly successful Move Culver City protected bike lanes through the downtown area. Which is probably the most I’ve ever used Culver City in a single sentence.
Santa Monica Daily Press says the city still has a way to go to meet its Vision Zero commitment to eliminate traffic deaths by 2026. But unlike its much larger neighbor to the east, they’re actually trying to. And could.
State
Kids and teenagers in Temecula caught riding a bicycle with their helmet on will be rewarded with gift certificates to local restaurants, cookie shops and ice cream parlors. And Staples.
Good for them. Caltrans took Palo Alto residents by surprise with plans to install bike lanes on El Camino Real after repaving the street, which received a lukewarm response from local officials — but since it’s a state highway, they may be powerless to stop it. Now do PCH through Malibu, which is also a state highway.
Sad and infuriating news from Northern California, where an Oakland man was killed by a hit-and-run driver in a stolen car Wednesday morning. And a San Jose woman died five days after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bike.
Sacramento’s Sactown Magazine talks with former Vancouver chief city planner Brent Toderian, who has become a star consulting planner in the years since, and is now working with the California city.
Yosemite National Park — or Yo Semite as our former president once called it — is addressing the crushing traffic congestion caused by tourists cars by introducing a free bikeshare system.
National
I want to be like them when I grow up. An Ohio newspaper talks with a couple in their 70s who were riding their tandem home to Iowa after visiting their son in Virginia — which is nothing compared to their 4,500-mile Washington to Maine cross-country ride.
A Seattle man settled a lawsuit with the city for $10 million, six years after he crashed into a metal bollard placed in the middle of a bike path to keep drivers from using it, breaking his neck and leaving him a quadriplegic.
Seattle’s Rad Power Bikes is following up on its withdrawal from Europe with its fifth round of layoffs in just over two years.
Dueling demonstrations took place between people for and against a planned road diet in Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood, although only 50 people turned out to protest it. Someone should tell them that road diets and protected bike lanes have been shown to increase sales and reduce retail vacancies, while improving safety for all road users.
A Florida TV station remembers Miami’s Jack the Bike Man after the local legend passed away at 81; he led a nonprofit that gave away thousands of refurbished bikes to kids and adults in need each year.
International
A writer for Cycling Weekly found deals on five fully-built bikes he says are better than anything you could have found on the recent Amazon Prime Days.
Toronto’s new mayor is one of us, as she rides her bike to work on her first day.
London is making permanent a popup, bi-directional protected bike lane, despite criticism from conservative politicians and an almost even number of comments for and against it.
No surprise here, as Dutch ebike-maker VanMoof has filed for bankruptcy protection after suspending operations earlier in the week; if the company goes out of business, the bikes’ app-based connected functionality may be bricked.
An investigative journalism foundation takes a long look at why bicycling continues to claim lives on Nigerian roads.
Philippine news anchor Gretchen Ho is one of us, laughing off a “really bad” fall off her bike while riding in Switzerland; she appeared to suffer minor injuries, while, in typical bicyclist fashion, she expressed more concern for her bike and GoPro.
Competitive Cycling
Jasper Phillipson sprinted to victory in Wednesday’s stage of the Tour de France, giving him over a third of the eleven stages so far.
Velo examines the diverging trajectories of back-to-back U-23 world champs Quinn Simmons and Remco Evenepoel, as the Belgian star has shined on the world stage, while the American faded into the pro peloton until he won the US national road championship, just ten days after directing rescuers to fallen cyclist Gino Mäder in the Tour de Suisse.
Velo also discusses how their competitors plan to reel in Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, as the former winners threaten to ride away with this year’s Tour de France.
Tuesday’s stage victory by Bahrain Victorious rider Pello Bilbao was hailed by His Majesty the King’s Representative for Humanitarian Work and Youth Affairs His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain. They probably would have given him a longer title, but couldn’t think of anything else to add.
Bicycling reports Costa Rican cyclist Andrey Amador overcame overwhelming odds to lead Wednesday’s stage 11 of the Tour, before dropping off the podium; the 36-year old rider was severely beaten, robbed and left for dead a dozen years earlier. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.
Finally…
How to inflate anything without a bike pump — except bike tires, or course. That feeling when you turn your bike into a car.
And in this country, it’s script writers — and now actors — on strike; in the UK, it’s bicycling instructors.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
