December 9, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: Man killed getting off bike on Downtown LA freeway offramp in early morning crash; 4th SoCal bike death this week
Then there was four.
For the fourth time this week, someone riding a bicycle was killed on the streets of Southern California.
This time in Downtown Los Angeles.
And once again, there’s very little information available.
The victim was struck when he got off his bike after reportedly riding on the offramp, which suggests he may have been illegally riding on the freeway in the moments leading up the crash.
He died at the scene.
There’s no word on why the victim may have been on the freeway, especially at that hour, or how and why the crash occurred.
This is at least the 79th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 26th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; he’s also the 14th person killed riding a bike in the City of Los Angeles.
December 9, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Baldwin Park gets grant for new mini-park, bike rider collateral damage in police chase, and Streets For All party tonight
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Baldwin Park announced they’ve received a $761,000 grant from the San Gabriel & Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy to build a new mini-park on Maine Ave.
According to a press release from the city,
The Maine Avenue Mini-Park will join a series of new mini-parks along the soon-to-be-extended Big Dalton Wash Trail and the Susan Rubio Zocalo Park in Downtown Baldwin Park, which will come on-line over the next couple of years and promote public health, mental health, climate resilience and educational and employment opportunities for youth…
A bioswale, smart water irrigation system and stormwater capture improvements will ensure the sustainability of the mini-park. Additionally, its proximity to the San Fe Dam Recreation Area and the region’s extensive trail network support active transportation, furthering local and regional sustainability goals…
When completed, the park will include various passive and recreational amenities for the community, including 14 shade trees, an outdoor fitness area, shade structures, picnic tables, a grill, benches, accessible play equipment for kids and restrooms.
A spokesperson for the city suggests it will be great stopping point for bicyclists using the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area.
The park will be built using an additional $346,000 in matching funds from LA County Measure A. It’s expected to open to the public in 2024.
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A Koreatown bike rider was collateral damage in a police chase.
The California Transportation Commission — no, not Caltrans — is investing a billion bucks in boosting bicycling and walking with 93 projects targeted to low-income areas.
Twitter post
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No one who’s spent any amount of time on a university campus should be surprised that college administrators can’t manage to differentiate between safe, high-quality lithium-ion ebike batteries, and the fire-prone, secondhand junk ebike and scooter batteries.
Gravel Bike California grinds to the highest point in the City of Angels, at a whopping 5,079 ft.
Which sounds impressive, unless you’re from Colorado, like me.
But still.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A report from the uncomprehending National Transportation Safety Board, aka NTSB, incomprehensibly blames the victims for the meth-fueled crash that killed five bicyclists outside Las Vegas last year, for the crime of riding their bikes in the right lane of the highway. In other words, exactly where they were supposed to be. Las Vegas hospitals are about to be overrun with facepalm injuries.
Or here. A New Jersey columnist compares mandatory bike helmets to seat belts, saying he can’t understand why bike advocates would be against a helmet law, while ignoring the reasons advocates gave to opposite it. He also compares that opposition to bike helmets to opposition to motorcycle helmet laws, even they were opposed for diametrically differing reasons.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A British court dropped the charges against a road raging, 68-year old former Olympian, who called a woman fat and blind in an expletive-laden tirade, and reached into her car as she begged him not to hit her, all because she cut his bicycle off in traffic; the case was dismissed due to his PTSD resulting from an earlier crash.
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Local
Curbed’sAlissa Walker writes about LA’s outgoing Climate Mayor, who’s leaving the city’s broken sidewalks just as bad as when he found them, if not worse — thanks in part to his habit of getting distracted by shiny objects like a potential presidential run that never launched, and a nomination to be ambassador to India that crashed and burned. Eric Garcetti could have been a good mayor, if he had actually been interested in doing it.
A 44-year old man was seriously injured in San Diego’s Point Loma neighborhood Thursday evening, when his bike was left-crossed by a pickup driver while allegedly riding in a crosswalk against the Don’t Walk signal. Although once again, it depends on whether there were independent witnesses to the crash, or if police are relying on the driver who hit him.
A Paso Robles woman faces six years behind bars for pleading guilty to DUI after crashing into several parked cars while driving with a blood alcohol content of .30 — three and a half times the legal limit. She apparently hadn’t learned her lesson about drinking and driving, despite receiving an early release from prison for a ten-year sentence for the drunken, hit-and-run death of a bike-riding Cal Poly student in 2017. If there were any justice, she’d have to serve the remainder of her original sentence, consecutively with the new term.
Apparently, you can make an illegal U-turn while driving on the wrong side of the road, killing a British motorcyclist, then flee to the US under the cover of diplomatic immunity, and still walk without a single damn day behind bars, like the wife of an American diplomat/spy did in the death of 19-year old Harry Dunn.
Life is cheap in the UK, where a driver walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that left a bike-riding man barely conscious and struggling to breathe; he later told investigators he thought he hit a traffic cone. Trust me, if anyone runs me down, they’re going to hear enough choice words to know exactly what they hit.
Nice. Dublin, Ireland opened a new community bike hub, providing free use of adaptive bikes for people with disabilities or mobility issues, a project to repair old and unused bikes to donate to community members, and bike repair and safe bicycling courses for kids.
It takes a lot of effort to steel myself to write about yet another bike rider killed on our streets, sometimes.
I tell myself I’m just waiting for more information. But in reality, I’m working up the strength to confront another needless tragedy.
Especially when it’s the third time in three days.
That was the case today, when I received an email forwarding a report from the Redlands Police Department, which announced the death of a man riding a bicycle near 5th Ave and Marion Road, shortly before 9 this morning.
A response to the post indicated that seven people, including two doctors, struggled to save the victim’s life before paramedics arrived. He died at the scene, despite their efforts.
Unfortunately, that’s all the information we have right now.
This is at least the 78th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eleventh that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
Update: I received the following comment from Amanda Frye in response to this crash, which I asked if I could share here — including the first indication that the victim may have been a 18-year old kid.
Never mind that the crash still hasn’t seen a single word in the local press.
Two days later in Redlands, a 16 year old boy riding a bicycle near Moore Middle School was struck and killed. The Redlands City Council justification for raising speed limits were based on an obviously flawed Engineering and Traffic Survey (ETS) conducted by a company from out of town. The Engineering report contains obvious omissions including schools in the vicinity or residential area with bicyclists and pedestrians. These engineering road condition omissions would have provided justification for lower speed limits in the vicinity where the 16 year old was killed, Fifth Avenue was listed as 45 mph with no notation in the survey for a school in the vicinity. Redlands’ Moore Middle School borders Fifth Avenue. It appears that Redlands staff just rubber stamped the study with little to no review or oversight. Other Redlands schools on streets included in the ETS were not noted either resulting in raised speed limits in residential neighborhoods with the public pointing out these omissions. Near my house the engineer missed the large bicycle symbols on the road as this is a popular bicycle route and failed to note a residential area with pedestrians and bicyclists or an open drainage channel. How could these items be missed?
While residents were asking for lowering speed limits to make our roads safer for everyone, Redlands city council voted to raise the speed limit claiming the police said they had to raise speed limits in order to enforce them. The action and rationale lacked logic especially given the flawed Engineering and Traffic Survey. The California Vehicle Code provides the local authority the ability to lower speed limits to make our streets safer for all.
Update 2: The victim was identified by relatives as 16-year old Juan Pablo Carrillo-Salazar, who was just visiting Redlands from his home in Mexico when he was killed.
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Which makes sense in a way, since Los Angeles also has the second largest population, behind only to New York.
The correlation ends there, though, as Phoenix comes in third, followed by Houston, Dallas and San Antonio; Chicago, the third largest city, ranks all the way down at 7th, which suggests they must be doing something right.
Pedestrian deaths increased every year over the past decade in the US, rising 65% from 2011 through 2021.
2021 deaths were up 13% over the previous year.
People of color accounted for 2/3 of pedestrian deaths, despite being just 24% of the overall population.
Four out of five pedestrian deaths occurred in urban areas, which makes sense since that’s where the most people are. And the most cars.
People in cars continue to cause twice as many pedestrian deaths as those in SUVs, though the number of people killed by SUV drivers grew twice as fast over the past decade.
Largely rural New Mexico had the highest level of pedestrian deaths per capita, followed by Florida, which traditionally leads the nation in pedestrian and bicycling deaths; despite LA’s high ranking, California as a whole is only the ninth most deadly state on a per capita basis.
Nearly a third of pedestrians killed had a blood alcohol level of .08, while a quarter had a BAC of .15 — nearly twice the legal limit for motorists.
However, that last tidbit is meaningless without knowing whether a) they were responsible for the crash that killed them, and b) whether their intoxication contributed to their actions in some way.
It important to remember that it’s a hell of a lot easier to walk after drinking or using drugs than it is to operate a big, deadly machine that’s dangerous even under the best conditions.
To no one’s surprise, Burbank’s Transportation Committee Chair Laura Friedman tops the rankings in the state Assembly, followed by San Mateo County’s Phillip Ting.
Sadly, no Republican appears in the rankings until Jordan Cunningham all the way down at 65; all 19 Republicans reside at that bottom of the chart, accompanied by just two Democrats.
An indication that the car-centric party has a long way to go to embrace the state’s desperately needed shift to transit, active transportation and Complete Streets.
The same holds true in the other chamber, where every Democrat grades out at a C or higher, led by the San Gabriel Valley’s Anthony Portantino and San Francisco’s Scott Weiner.
Meanwhile, every single Senate Republican gets an F.
Which, admittedly, could reflect the political biases of the group doing the grading. But more likely accurately reflects the failure of their votes on mobility issues.
If the GOP has any hope of regaining any kind of stature with state voters, they have to stop saying no to everything.
And start working with Democrats to make this a better state for all of us.
LA’s Livable Communities Initiative was unanimously approved by the city council on Tuesday, enabling the development of lowrise, “gentle density” neighborhoods and walkable Complete Streets near transit hubs.
Twitter post
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A new video looks at the legacy of outgoing CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin, who leaves the council on his own terms after just two terms in office, to protect his own mental health and spend more time with his family.
Bonin was long the lone progressive voice on the council.
And the best friend the Los Angeles bike community had for most of his time in office, responsible for many, if not most, of the wins we’ve seen over the last nine years.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Life is cheap in Illinois, where a 27-year old man will spend a whole 60 days behind bars, followed by two years probation and community service, after a judge suspended 120 days of his original sentence for the hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a man on a bicycle.
The man accused of using his car as a weapon to intentionally run down and kill a former co-worker at Mt. San Antonio College had engaged in a year-long tirade against the victim, accusing him of leading a campaign of microaggressions.
New bike lanes get the blame for an increase in traffic congestion in Bellingham, Washington, as a key corridor transforms from a “vehicle-friendly thoroughfare to an urban village where pedestrians and bicyclists take priority.” Even though the root cause of traffic congestion is just too damn many cars. And it usually goes away after drivers adjust to the new conditions.
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Yesterday I received a heartbreaking email from CyclingTips founder Wade Wallace, expressing his disappointment at what’s happened to the once great publication since it was acquired by Outside.
Like everyone else, I watched in awe from afar seeing person after person resign from CT after the lay-offs. To my knowledge, there are only a couple of employees left in the business now.
It pains me to see what has become of CyclingTips. The team we so carefully and thoughtfully put together is just a shadow of itself now and the new owners have never understood (nor have they asked) what CT’s mission was, what made us different, and why we all get out of bed each morning. On one hand I’m proud of how I deeply embedded those values are into CT’s culture, but when so many key people are taken out at once I have very little reason to believe it will continue.
All that said, there are still hundreds of good and talented people working at Pinkbike, Velonews, Outside Online, etc who I want to see succeed and I wish them all the best.
He goes on to recommend a podcast, temporarily named The Placeholder, from ex-colleagues Caley Fretz, Dave Rome and Dane Cash, available now on Apple and Spotify.
It’s sad to see what’s become of a site I’ve long relied on and enjoyed, though. Let’s hope the other ex-staffers take him up on his suggestion to create something new and beautiful out of the ashes.
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CicLAvia will double the number of its open streets events next year, before going monthly in 2024.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus refutes a one-sided, fear-mongering story we mentioned here yesterday, in which a hotel manager blamed a bike lane for problems caused by his customers.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
San Diego is looking for people willing to take part in an ebike pilot program; participants will receive a new ebike in exchange for committing to ride it a minimum of 100 miles a month, with priority given people over 18 with an annual income of $50,000 or less.
Finishing our San Diego trifecta, the city approved plans to makeover the car-centric Mira Mesa neighborhood north of the Miramar Marine air base, including lane reductions and bike lanes, as well as pedestrian bridges over busy roadways. I assume nothing’s gotten better since I lived there a few decades ago, when it was a car-choked hellhole.
This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Las Vegas woman faces her fourth DUI charge in 15 years after running down two people on a bicycle, sending both to the hospital — yet she hasn’t spend a day behind bars, despite three previous convictions. Just one more example of our criminal justice system and state officials keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.
A Facebook post asking for help identifying a young British girl injured in a hit-and-run while riding her bike is fake, just one of thousands of nearly identical posts in the UK and US that use photos from two separate incidents in Australia to drum up sympathy.
December 7, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on 31-year old Margarito Castro killed riding bike in high speed San Jacinto hit-and-run; driver arrested for voluntary manslaughter
Evidently, Sunday was a bad night for bike riders in the Inland Empire.
Barnes was traveling south on State “at a high rate of speed” when he crossed into the center lane, striking Castro before speeding away.
Castro died at the scene.
Barnes was taken into custody at an apartment building four miles away on the 1900 block of Acacia Ave in Hemet, after a witness to the crash gave police the license plate number of his car.
He’s being held on $100,000 bail, after being arrested on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter and hit-and-run resulting in death.
Anyone with information is urged call the San Jacinto Sheriff’s Station at 951/654-2702, or dispatch at 951/776-1099.
This is at least the 77th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
Castro is also the 26th SoCal bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver since the first of the year.
Update: I just got this response from Castro’s older sister.
