She was taken to a local hospital, where she died four hours later.
The driver remained at the scene, and was not suspected of being under the influence.
The question is why he failed to notice the victim riding her bike in the roadway directly in front of him, regardless of whether he had the green light.
This is the second bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first in Los Angeles County. It’s also at least the fourth bicycling death in Long Beach in the past year.
According to the paper, a 25-year old Florida man, who has not been publicly identified, died after he was struck by a driver while riding in Imperial County’s Slab City Wednesday night.
A 23-year old woman who was being towed in a cart behind his bike was seriously injured, suffering a partial amputation of her leg, as well as a broken arm and facial cuts.
Her dog, who was apparently in the cart with her, was also killed.
The victim was apparently riding on the wrong side of the road when his bike was struck head on by a car traveling at 50 mph; there’s no word on whether he had lights on his bike in the desert darkness.
The driver remained at the scene, and was not suspected of being under the influence.
This is the first bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first I’m aware of in Imperial County in the nearly two years.
Update: I’m told they did have lights on the bike, and were struck when they were cut off by a driver, forcing them onto the wrong side of the road. The victim is reportedly recovering from multiple injuries.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victims and all their loved ones.
January 4, 2019 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Bike commuting down in US, PA man faces jail for riding a bike, and $500,000 bike shop thefts
Although the story also notes that ridership is up in some cities, particularly where they’ve invested in safe bike networks.
Around the country, city transportation officials wish there were more bicyclists like Dandino as they seek to cut traffic congestion, promote health and identify alternatives to cars. After rising for several years, the percentage of commuters turning to bikes declined for the third year straight, U.S. Census Bureau figures show.
Nationally, the percentage of people who say they use a bike to get to work fell by 3.2 percent from 2016 to 2017, to an average of 836,569 commuters, according to the bureau’s latest American Community Survey, which regularly asks a group of Americans about their habits. That’s down from a high of 904,463 in 2014, when it peaked after four straight years of increases.
Census Bureau figures are notoriously unreliable, however, since they only count people biking to work, and not commuting or riding for other purposes.
And if someone uses a bicycle as part of a multimodal commute, it’s usually not categorized as a bike commute.
Meanwhile, the news was mixed in Long Beach.
Long Beach, California, saw a 23.1 percent increase in the number of bike commuters from 2016 to 2017, though it was down 19 percent from 2011 to 2017, the league’s report says. Over the past decade, Long Beach added bike lanes throughout the city and dedicated routes separated from traffic, including some that recently opened. Its bike-sharing program continues to grow, having 11,000 members.
“I think we are getting a lot of commuters coming into the downtown,” Public Works Director Craig Beck said. “A separated bike lane that goes four blocks doesn’t really do anything. It’s about point-to-point safety.”
And as usual, the view from Los Angeles was far less rosy.
In a push to make the city more bike-friendly, Los Angeles started installing miles of protected bike lanes and embracing “road diets,” or slowing streets to make them safer for bikers and pedestrians. In a city where the car is king, a backlash from motorists drastically cut back those efforts.
Something LA city leaders still haven’t addressed. Or even seem to care about.
The story goes on to quote the author of a certain humble LA bike blog.
“The City Council and the mayor’s office are only listening to angry drivers who don’t want their commute to be slowed down by anyone,” said Ted Rogers, a veteran bike rider who writes the BikingInLA blog.
“I hear from countless people who say they quit” biking, he said. “They just don’t feel safe on the streets anymore.”
………
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger.
Authorities had accused David Smith of repeatedly riding in the traffic lane on narrow country roads, causing major traffic backups and — allegedly — posing a danger to motorists by not allowing them to pass.
His defense had been that his bicycle is his only form of transportation, and that he was only riding where he was supposed to by taking the center of the lane.
Evidently, though, the local authorities weren’t fans of vehicular cycling. Smith was sentenced in 2017 to up to two years in jail, but released on probation after having already served a total of 20 months because he refused to accept a mental health evaluation that could have led to his release.
One condition of his probation was that he not ride a bicycle until his probationary period ended in 2020.
A condition he allegedly broke by riding this past October.
Still, there’s something very wrong when what a simple traffic violation — if that — can lead to serious jail time.
………
Either something is a little fishy, or a Colorado bike shop owner may be the world’s unluckiest pedal peddler.
Because he’s now lost half a million dollars worth of bicycles in two separate break-ins less than three years apart.
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton says Westside traffic safety deniers cynically rushed to blame the Venice Blvd Great Streets project for the death of a pedestrian on Centinela Ave over the holidays, even though the crash occurred four full blocks away. And even though the tragedy makes a better argument for implementing similar safety improvements on Centinela.
Arraignment was postponed for the allegedly stoned driver who killed Costa Mesa fire captain Mike Kreza as he rode his bike in Mission Viejo last November. That’s nothing unusual; preliminary hearings and arraignments are often postponed several times before anything actually gets done.
Clever piece from a Dallas man who rode 1,617 miles to work over the past two years; he started riding after leaving his car at the office Christmas party, then riding his bike back to get it the next day after he sobered up.
Life is cheap in the UK, where an unlicensed, road raging driver got just five months behind bars for using his van as a weapon to ram a rider off his bicycle. It’s questionable whether he would have gotten the same light sentence if he’d used a gun instead of a motor vehicle.
Two Chinese boys were lucky to survive with minor injuries when they were run over by a large truck and dragged 30 feet in a crash caught on security cam. As usual, be sure you really want to see it before clicking the link; even though the boys weren’t seriously injured, the image is horrifying.
Evidently, those step-through bikes are stronger than they look. After a Chinese salmon cyclist was hit head-on by a driver, the car suffered major damage to its bumper, while the bike and rider were relatively unscathed.
Between last night’s bad news, and a bout of high sugar caused by a minor medical procedure, I haven’t been able write a word of today’s Morning Links.
And at 1:30 in the morning, it’s a little late to start. Especially on something that usually takes me four to five hours to finish.
As much as I hate to do it — especially this early in the year and just one day removed from taking the holidays off — I’m going to have to give up on getting anything done tonight.
We’ll be back as usual tomorrow, and catch up on anything you might have missed today.
So get out and ride your bike. And take a few minutes to read yesterday’s epic post-holiday post if you haven’t already.
I’ll see you back here bright and early on Friday.
It may be a new year, but last year’s bad news isn’t done with us yet.
According to the Orange County Register, 25-year old Chandler Espinoza died on New Year’s Day, 17 days after he was hit by a driver while riding his bike.
The Trabuco Canyon man had spent the last two weeks in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo before succumbing to his injuries.
There’s no word on exactly where the crash occurred, or why the driver wasn’t able to see Espinoza or stop for his bike while he rode in the crosswalk.
However, a Caring Bridge post apparently written by Espinoza’s mother says “There appears to have been no reckless behavior on behalf of the driver, who stayed at the scene.” She goes on to describe it as “just a tragic accident.”
His mother describes him as an adventurous risk taker since early childhood.
Photo from Chandler Espinoza Caring Bridge Page
Chandler engages life with his body, mind, and spirit. He is loyal, funny, a great dancer, athletic, a deep thinker, adventurous, protective, generous, and never meets a stranger.
I knew he had a lot of friends, but I never understood the impact Chandler had on those friends and what he meant to them until this week. Chandler makes everyone feel special. I have a whole new perspective on my son now.
This is at least the 51st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Orange County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Chandler Espinoza and all his loved ones and friends.
January 2, 2019 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Recapping the biking year that was, New Year’s bike resolutions, and one last ’tis the season
Please accept my best wishes for a very healthy, happy and prosperous new year for you and your loved ones.
We have a lot of ground to catch up on after taking the holidays off, so grab your coffee and strap yourself in. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Phil Gaimon continues to ruin a good retirement, this time going for KOMs on a pair of the South Bay’s favorite rides.
………
Local
Get ready for the next round in Pasadena’s battle over unsafe streets, as the city holds a meeting next Tuesday to discuss a lane reduction and Complete Streets proposal for Cordova Street. If previous meetings are any indication, the city’s traffic safety deniers are likely to turn out in force to halt any hint of progress.
Great story. After a Massachusetts man is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, he dedicates whatever time he has left to putting underprivileged kids on bikes.
Tragic news from the city, however, as a New York ebike rider was killed when he was doored by a cab driver, knocking him into the path of a car headed in the opposite direction. Doorings are among the most common types of bicycle crashes, but are seldom fatal.
Writing in the Washington Post, a self-described occasional bike rider says he knows bicyclists don’t have all the answers on bike safety, because he was hit by one while he was walking in a park. And he wants bike riders to be required to have insurance and a license — or at least turn signals on their bikes, which wouldn’t have helped him in the slightest since he was hit from behind.
Toronto’s mayor says the city’s Vision Zero program just isn’t working, despite investing $100 million in making changes over the past five years; advocates says it’s because the city hasn’t made the right changes. Los Angeles tried the opposite approach; don’t fund Vision Zero and don’t make any major changes, and just hope deaths go down.
It’s a Toronto trifecta, as well, as a driver writes that society is over governed, so people on bicycles should be, too. And drivers should be required to learn all those silly little traffic laws that they’re already required to know.
If you want to be invisible, ride a bike. A drone-flying couple disrupted thousands of flights at London’s Gatwick Airport before Christmas, making their getaway in plain sight on bicycles. And while wearing hi-viz.
In a desperate attempt to go viral, a Singaporean teen turns himself into a human crash test dummy, jumping off at the last second as he deliberately crashes a dockless bikeshare bike into a wall. If he really wanted to go viral, he should have stayed on the bike.
With your help, we raised nearly $2,100 to help support this site, and keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.
And let’s all give a special thanks to Todd Rowell for his exceptionally generous donation of a new laptop keep BikinginLA online and, at long last, put an end to nearly a year of dead and dying laptop misery.
Thanks to Eric L, Michael D, Hamid V, Don E’s Store, Penny S, Gregory S and Brian N for their generous donations to support this site. And to everyone who gave to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive this year.
As usual, we’ll be taking off between the holidays to spend time with family and do a little work behind the scenes. But as always, we’ll be available to bring you any breaking news in the meantime.
Please accept my best wishes for joyful Christmas, and a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year.
And ride safely. I want to see you back here bright and early on January 2nd.
Any amount is truly and deeply appreciated, no matter how large or small, to help keep this site coming your way every day. And ensure the Corgi has a little kibble under her tree Christmas morning.
Despite the claims of opponents, who seemed to be operating from their own set of alternative facts, the newly configured road has resulted in far fewer serious crashes, while carrying just as much traffic, just as quickly, as it did prior to the new design.
In fact, peak travel times are only 30 seconds slower than before.
But while bicycle counts dropped 16 percent, the number of people walking on the street jumped by a full third over the year before. And Mar Vista business is booming.
So much for the specious claim that no one goes there anymore.
This is what one reader, who forwarded the video to me, had to say.
I’m sure you saw this, but Bonin just sent out a pretty encouraging video on Mar Vista Great Streets.
The 1-year LADOT report is apparently favorable on safety, bike/ped/scooter volumes, and (even) car travel times. (Not sure if the report is out yet.) Seleta Reynolds is recommending that the street configuration (i.e., bike lanes, I think) be made permanent, with Bonin recommending that as well.
They had some big numbers about business activity & business openings being *way* up year-on-year. (My take is this probably has more to do with the macroeconomy than the bike lanes, but it at least proves that bike lanes haven’t “killed” Mar Vista)…
Bonin also announced a bunch of traffic changes to reduce cut-through traffic on the side streets around Venice/Centinela, including some protected left turns and longer right-turn pockets on the arterials, as well as more stop signs on Victoria & Charnock.
I was hoping it’d be an announcement about more protected bike lanes, but after the last couple years, anything that’s not moving backward feels (alas) like a victory.
Unfortunately, the report hasn’t been released, and no word yet on when it will come out. Correction: The report was released the same day as the video; you can read it here. Thanks to Eric B for the heads-up.
And I’m sure whenever it does, opponents will once again deny virtually everything in it, just as they’ve done for the last year since the project was installed. Note: The traffic safety deniers are already hard at work in the comments to the YouTube video.
But maybe, just maybe, we can finally get city officials to start making decisions based on actual facts and real world experience, instead of just listening to whoever screams the loudest.
It goes on to say defensive walking is not the antidote for the city’s high rate of pedestrian deaths.
Or bike deaths, for that matter.
Because, while we all need to take practical steps to protect ourselves, the real problem is cars, and the distracted and overly aggressive people in them.
And dressing up like a glow-in-the-dark clown isn’t the answer.
It should also be pointed out that every corner has crosswalk in every direction, painted or not, unless crossing is specifically prohibited with posted signage.
And jaywalking isn’t against the law unless there’s a signalized intersection on both ends of the block.
Too bad the LAPD doesn’t seem to think any of that is worth mentioning.
The LA Timesexamines the practicality of Elon’s Folly, the underground tunnel system he promises will whisk cars at high speeds underneath Los Angeles. Although I’m in favor of anything that would get more cars off the streets, even if that means sending them down into the bowels of the earth.
The former sex change capital of the world — and the halfway point by rail between Los Angeles and Chicago — will host the first Southwest Chief Bicycle and Comedy Festival next May, combining a “love of the outdoors, bicycle fetishism and the obligatory live entertainment-and-partying.”
Honda is testing a smart intersection system in an Ohio city that warns drivers if a pedestrian or bicyclist — or a red light running driver — is about to cross their path. But only if they have the connected car system installed.
Bikes are being stolen from an English train station because the bike racks are merely bolted to the ground, allowing thieves to simply remove the bolts and walk off with the still-locked bicycle. Which is why you should never use a rack unless it’s embedded in the concrete.
Any amount will help, and is truly and deeply appreciated, no matter how large or small.
Or if you own a business, consider buying an ad on BikinginLA to show your support for this site, while you spread your message to thousands of bike riders in Southern California and around the world.
Besides, you can write off the full cost as an advertising expense on next year’s taxes.
New York added nearly 21 miles of protected bike lanes in 2018, for a total of 45 in the past two years. Meanwhile, Los Angeles only added the semi-protected MyFigueroa.
Thanks to James E and Darryl K for their generous donations to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive to keep this site coming to your favorite screen every morning!
