June 25, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: 15-year old boy dies days after collision while riding ebike in Encinitas; 2nd bike death in San Diego County this year
A teenage boy has died, no more than two days after he was struck by a driver while riding an ebike in Encinitas.
Champlain-Kingman was hospitalized at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla with major injuries; family members confirmed his death two days later, on Saturday.
The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. Police don’t believe he was under the influence.
However, there’s no word on whether any other witnesses saw the crash, or observed Champlain-Kingman change lanes.
Anyone with information is urged to call the North Coastal Sheriff’s Station Traffic Division at 760/966-3500.
The paper reports a candlelight vigil is scheduled for 7 pm Tuesday at San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas.
Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign to pay Champlain-Kingman’s medical and funeral expenses has raised over $21,000 of the $50,000 goal in just one day.
The crowdfunding page describes the teenager this way,
Brodee Braxton Champlain-Kingman was brought into this world on November 2nd 2007. During his 15 1/2 years, he touched many lives with his grace, compassion, determination and kindness. Anyone that knew Brodee could feel his authentic, heart-forward energy. Brodee was fiercely steadfast in his desire to excel academically, thrive socially and grind for those gains in the gym. Nothing was more striking than Brodee’s natural ability to connect with others and his sincere desire to reflectively grow in his relationships and life pursuits. He lived with grounded humility – always learning, always evolving.
And horrifyingly, that is with only 49 states checking in.
According to new estimates from the Governors Highway Safety Association, “at least” 7,508 people on foot were killed by drivers on U.S. roads last year — an estimate, that notably, excludes the entire state of Oklahoma, which failed to deliver its preliminary totals this year due to technical difficulties but has averaged 92 pedestrian deaths in recent years.
If that estimate sticks, U.S. walkers will have experienced a stunning 77-percent increase in deaths since 2010, rising at a rate more than three times faster than the rest of the traveling public, for whom fatalities increased 25 percent over the same period.
While the total doesn’t include bicycling fatalities, a rise in one usually corresponds with rise in the other.
The GHSA report suggested that common factors in pedestrians deaths include large arterials designed to prioritize vehicle speed, the ever-increasing size of motor vehicles, and dark road conditions.
You can add to that a lack of safe sidewalks and crosswalks, and all the multiple and varied forms of driver distraction — including distracting video and touchscreen systems installed directly into the dashboard.
The GHSA reports that “in the absence of urgent action to address those systemic factors, safety officials are begging drivers themselves to be more careful.”
Sure, that’ll happen.
Notably, pedestrian deaths are estimated to have dropped 20% in California, tied by South Carolina, and exceeded only by New Jersey’s 27% decrease.
Meanwhile, according to a report from Pro Publica, the US Department of Transportation allowed trucking lobbyists to review an unpublished report recommending sideguards on all large trucks.
The goal of the report was to save lives by preventing bike riders and pedestrians from getting trapped underneath turning trucks, or from overly close passes.
Needless to say, trucking firms rejected the modest cost of sideguards, which are already required in the European Union, apparently preferring to pay higher insurance fees and the occasional legal settlement when they actually kill someone.
And making it clear that the USDOT exists to maintain corporate profits, rather than save human lives.
Orange County bike advocate Mike Wilkinson sends word of an important active transportation survey in Buena Park.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! Buena Park is developing its first Active Transportation Plan. This is a rare opportunity for people who bike or walk to tell the city what they need.
There are two surveys. One is near the top of the page linked here, and it asks for basic information about biking and walking in the city. Scroll down further, and there is an interactive map that allows you to click on streets or intersections that need to be improved. It’s a little complicated, but please take your time to figure out how to use it, and then let the city know what needs to be done!
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Wealthy NIMBYs in San Diego’s Pacific Beach used their cars to protest permanent safety installations on Diamond Street, claiming they will somehow cause more traffic emissions.
And missing the irony entirely.
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Rhodes scholar, country singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson is one of us, or at least he was in his college days at Oxford.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
Bike-riding Encinitas Assemblymember Tasha Boerner is making her third consecutive attempt to pass a California Safety Stop, aka Stop as Yield, aka Idaho Stop law, after Governor Newsom vetoed the bill two years ago; last year she pulled the legislation after it passed both houses of the legislature to avoid another threatened veto.
If you’re going to tour Roswell, New Mexico, do it from the seat of a bike. That way, there will be some evidence left behind after the aliens grab you.
He gets it. The Aussie academic behind the recent study showing drivers see bike riders wearing helmets and hi-vis as less than human says “If you have a safe and normal cycling culture, how could you see people as anything but human?”
I’m still having problems with extreme, sudden-onset illness, either due a bad reaction to one of my diabetes meds, or yet another physical problem resulting from diabetes that recently came to light.
Or maybe both.
Which serves as yet another reminder to get yourself tested if you’re at risk, watch out for symptoms of diabetes, and do whatever you need to do to avoid it.
Because you really don’t want this crap. God knows I don’t.
No one needs any preaching from me about the need to maintain a healthy weight, or to get out and exercise.
Even though that’s one of the best ways to avoid diabetes, despite not working in my case.
But what we do need is safe bike and walking infrastructure that would allow people of any age to travel under their own power, instead of forcing kids into the back of their parent’s SUVs.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
New York disability advocates are calling for restrictions on ebikes, citing NYC stats showing more than 1,200 incidents of ebike, motorbike and bicycle crashes in the past year. Even though there’s no way to credibly lump motorcycles in with bicycles, either in the number or severity of crashes.
You’ve got to be kidding. A road-raging driver in the UK walked without a single day behind bars, despite physically attacking a man riding a bicycle, threatening to shoot him, and attempting to run him over with his car. But at least he lost his license for a whole three years — even though it should have been a lifetime ban.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies busted a man following a high speed chase through the San Gabriel Valley, after he abandoned his car and somehow commandeered a bicycle, calmly riding through the neighborhood until he was taken into custody.
Sadly, no surprise here, as witnesses contradict the official police statements about the death of a Vancouver, Washington man riding his bike with his young son; the state police say he fell over in front of a passing pickup, while a witness says the truck never moved over and ran him down from behind, while questioning why cops would protect the driver.
Life is cheap in England, where an 88-year old woman walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that knocked a 46-year old mother off her bike, where she was killed by another driver as she attempted to get up; the driver said she felt a thud, but had no idea she hit someone. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive.
Unbelievable. A British paramedic will be allowed to keep his medical license, despite being sentenced to five years behind bars for the drunken, distracted off-duty crash that killed a man riding a bicycle; he had ten pints of beer before getting behind the wheel, and was looking at his phone when he veered onto the wrong side of the road.
No surprise here, either, as a Spanish study from three months in the future confirms that commuting by motor vehicle is bad for your mental health. And not great for your financial health, either.
Outside’s Velo looks at who’s coming to the Tour de France, including Caleb Ewing, while Primož Roglič confirms he’s sitting this one out, along with the worlds.
The 14-year old boy was riding north on Main Street near Adams Blvd when the car headed in the opposite fishtailed direction fishtailed and knocked him off his bike around 7:30 pm on Tuesday, May 16th.
The victim suffered a broken knee and arm, with bruises and road rash all over his body.
The incident occurred around 5 pm last Wednesday in the Lindberg Park area.
Fortunately, no one was injured.
The suspect is described as a man wearing a red sweatshirt and shorts, with a dark baseball cap and tattoos on his hand, riding a black bike.
Anyone with information is urged to call Culver City police at 310/253-6316 or 310/253-6202.
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Heartbreaking news from the Tour de Suisse, aka the Tour of Switzerland, where 26-year old Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder died after going off the road on a high-speed descent.
Mäder was found lying unconscious in water at the bottom of a ravine. He was rushed to a hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
A Boston-area letter writer says a West Roxbury group is fighting plans for new bike lanes using fear mongering over lost parking spaces, small businesses suffering, and interfering with emergency response — even though it would remove just two parking spaces, and preserve five of the six existing lanes.
In a terrifying incident, road-raging Welsh retiree threatened to kill a bicyclist at a busy intersection before physically assaulting him, then driving his car at the victim, telling him “You will die on this road today!” And even after he was arrested, demanded the cops give him the victim’s name so he could have a hit put out on him.
Houston’s mayor says violent incidents won’t be tolerated after a group of people on bikes swarmed a driver’s car, kicking a scratching it, and bashing in the windshield with a bike chain.
A writer for the Westside Currentgoes for a test ride in a Waymo self-driving taxi.However, there’s probably no truth to the rumor that the name comes because they’re way mo’ likely to run you down as you ride your bike.
The Guardian says an e-cargo bike could be the future of carfree local transportation, but only if the cost comes down. Even though the $2,500 cost of the one she tested is on the low end for e-cargo bikes. And just a fraction of the cost of the cheapest motor vehicles.
No bias here. An op-ed in London’s liberal New Statesmancalls the 15-minute city a working-class nightmare, adding that “a car-free lifestyle is only possible for those whose profession and income permit it.” Never mind that many low-income people ride bikes and walk because they can’t afford a car.
Three-day weekends and holidays mean more drunks on the road, and more distracted drivers rushing to get out of town.
So practice the usual safety protocols. Ride defensively, and assume any driver you see on the road after noon today has been drinking, and that every driver is distracted in some way.
Or both.
Because I don’t want to write about you unless you leap from your bike to rescue puppies from a burning building, or return a little old lady’ lost life savings that you found while riding by in the street.
And I expect to see you here bright and early when we return on Tuesday.
Today’s photo of a smiling corgi on a Metro Bike is here just for the hell of it.
For the first time, that is. Not “bring them back,” as the headline suggest.
Apparently suffering from a bad case of windshield bias, she worries what could possibly go wrong. And answers her own question, in her own mind, by noting that the revenue from the speed cams will go to traffic calming projects.
So this speed camera bill is actually an attempt to fund an incremental plan to make driving more and more difficult, less and less practical…
It’s our goal to have no one struck at all, and 20 mph is obviously not the answer. It’s a way of saying, “streets are for everybody except people who are driving to get somewhere.”
Road diets and other tricks to strangle vehicle transportation are not really about pedestrian safety. They’re just the latest expression of a weirdly bitter hatred of cars, a mode of transportation that gives people freedom and options.
She goes on to bizarrely conclude that the reason pedestrian deaths increased 53% from 2008 to 2018 was — wait for it — because streets became darker after Los Angeles and other cities began installing new energy-efficient LED streetlights.
Not, for instance, because the emergence of smartphones over the same period led to a dramatic increase in distracted driving.
Or that the ever-increasing size and popularity of massive SUVs and trucks have made even relatively minor collisions exponentially more dangerous for anyone not safely ensconced inside multiple tons of steel and glass.
And never mind that LED streetlights are actually whiter and brighter than traditional high pressure sodium lights.
But evidently, she’s too busy fretting about her imaginary war on cars to notice.
However, you may have to find a way past the LANG’s draconian paywall if you want to read it.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
A New York website complains that hundreds of bike lane opponents in the city’s Greenpoint neighborhood jammed into an unofficial meeting with the city’s transportation commissioner, while supporters of the proposed bike lane were locked out.
The Los Angeles edition of the clothing optional World Naked Bike Ride is set to roll next Saturday, encouraging riders to go as bare as you dare; the first 200 people to pre-register with a $5 donation will get a pull-string backpack to hold your clothes during the ride. Because officials may not be so forgiving if you don’t wear something on the way there and back. And if you use a bikeshare, rental or borrowed bike, bring something to put over the seat. Please.
Streetsblog’s Damien Newton notes that Santa Monica’s concrete-barrier printing machine that built the new Ocean Ave protected bike lanes have gained worldwide fame.
Demonstrating a keen grasp of proper British etiquette, Montecito residents Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, sent a thank you note to the Santa Barbara bike shop owner who gave their son Prince Archie a new bike for his fourth birthday.
She gets it. A public diplomacy professor at Massachusetts’ Tufts University is very diplomatic in asking how many Americans have to die before we do something about road safety, noting that residents of Canada, Australia and France were about three times less likely to die on roadways than U.S. residents, on a per capita basis.
The first, and apparently only, British citizen to ride one million lifetime miles on a bicycle has passed away following years of declining health; Russ Mantle completed the feat to great fanfare in 2019. He was 86.
June 15, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Man riding bike killed in April hit-and-run in Historic South Central; 8th SoCal bicyclist killed by hit-and-run drivers this year
Once again, someone riding a bicycle was killed on the streets of Los Angeles
And once again, we didn’t find out until weeks later.
The LAPD announced today that a man was killed by a hit-and-run driver over two months ago in Historic South Central.
The victim, identified as 68-year old Salvador Gonzalez Arechiga, was riding east on Adams Boulevard at Trinity Street around 3:35 am April 13th when he was rear-ended by the driver, who sped away without stopping.
Arechiga was taken to a nearby hospital suffering from severe, life-threatening injuries, where he died nine hours later.
Police are looking for two men in a dark-colored 2007 to 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe. Security video shows the driver was a Black man approximately 30 to 50-years-old, 5’08” to 5’10” tall, 200-250 pounds. He was wearing a dark jacket, blue pants with a white pattern on the left leg, a white Dodgers LA t-shirt, white tennis shoes and a black dew rag.
The passenger was described as a Black man, with black hair and a black beard, approximately 5’10” to 6′ tall, and 250 to 300 pounds; he was wearing a white hoodie with a dark logo and dark pants.
This is at least the 20th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; half of those have been in the City of Los Angeles.
It’s also the eighth fatal hit-and-run involving a SoCal bike rider this year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Salvador Gonzalez Arechiga and his loved ones.
Thanks to LAPD Central Traffic Division for the heads-up.
