There’s no information about the victim, or how the crash occurred. And the U–T story doesn’t even mention what kind of vehicle was involved, let alone whether it had a driver.
In fact, there’s no mention of a driver at all.
Hopefully, we’ll learn more later.
This is at least the 28th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year; however, it’s the seventh that I’m aware of in San Diego County already this year.
Update: The victim has been identified as a man, but no name or age was given. The driver was ID’d as a 39-year old woman in a GMC Yukon SUV.
According to the latest reports, the victim, who was riding a Motiv ebike, was headed south Monterey Crest Drive when he allegedly entered the intersection directly in front of the westbound SUV.
Given the size, flat front and high-clearance of the SUV, there’s little chance of survival if the truck was traveling at speed.
As always, however, the question is whether there were any witnesses other than the driver, particularly given the rural intersection at dusk.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
Yin died at the scene after hitting his head on the sidewalk.
Initial reports indicated that both Skene and the woman sharing the scooter with him suffered minor injuries; it’s illegal for two people to share a scooter under California law.
Skene was arrested on a DUI charge.
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Yet another clickbait study professes to rank America’s best bike cities.
The report, from lawn care company LawnStarter, rated the 200 largest cities based on criteria ranging from bike lanes per square mile to fatalities and air quality.
For instance, LA’s crappy roads were unsurprisingly in the bottom 25% in terms of road quality, checking in at 163 nationally, while San Francisco came in two ranks lower.
Yet despite that, San Francisco just edged out Portland for number one, while my Colorado hometown checked in at number three.
Los Angeles came in at a deservedly low, low 145 overall, just beating out Bakersfield.
Yes, Bakersfield.
SoCal cities making the top 100 were
Orange 37
San Diego 48
Pasadena 51
Ontario 53
Long Beach 57
Irvine 58
Huntington Beach 59
Garden Grove 64
Torrance 66
Santa Ana 77
San Bernardino 89
Escondido 96
Rancho Cucamonga 98
Santa Monica is evidently too small to make the list, while all the other SoCal cities on the list joined Los Angeles in the bottom half loser’s bracket.
Outsidesays 2021 is the year of the bike, and gathers stories from the past year to give you all the information you need to get going or take your riding to the next level.
A moving piece from a Canadian writer, who celebrates the open streets and low traffic of pandemic era Toronto — despite the death of his own father, who was killed by a driver while riding his bike less than 20 minutes from his Nova Scotia home.
Scottish cops will don plain clothes and get on their bikes to enforce the country’s safe passing laws this summer, as researchers suggest everyone who regularly rides a bike in the UK will experience a pass so close it can frighten them off their bikes. It’s no different over here, except police are more likely to insist that three-foot passing laws are unenforceable. And yes, I’m looking at you, LAPD. And LA Sheriff’s Department. And CHP. Thanks to John McBrearty for the heads-up.
Thanks once again to Matthew R for his monthly donation help keep this site coming your way every day; donations of any size are always appreciated, no matter how large or small, whether recurring or otherwise.
June 1, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on “Elderly” Venice man killed by drunken e-scooter user, white woman orders Black prof off “her” road, and ebike bias in CO
Tragic news from Venice, where an “elderly” man was killed when he was struck by an e-scooter user.
Make that an allegedly drunk scooter user.
The crash occurred around 9:45 pm Saturday on Lincoln Blvd at East Marco Court.
According to a report for KABC-7, the scooter rider was allegedly 1) illegally riding on the sidewalk, while 2) illegally carrying a woman passenger on the back, and while 3) wasted.
The victim, who was described only as elderly, or by other accounts, older — which could mean just about anything — died at the scene after hitting his head on the sidewalk.
Both people on the scooter suffered minor injuries, while the man operating it was arrested at the scene for DUI.
It’s unclear whether he can be charged under the state law prohibiting driving under the influence, or the statute prohibiting biking under the influence, which carries a much lower penalty.
This serves as yet another tragic reminder that sidewalks are intended for pedestrians.
While it’s legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in some California cities, you’re required to operated it safely, without posing an undue risk to people on foot. And basic human decency demands that you give as much space as possible and warn people before passing.
On the other hand, it is always illegal to ride an electric scooter on the sidewalk, or with a passenger.
And never while drunk or stoned.
Although I’d much rather see someone ride a bike or scooter while under the influence of anything than get behind the wheel of a car, which posses a much greater risk to everyone on the road.
But as this crash tragically shows, you can still pose a needless — and potentially fatal — risk to others.
Black University of Washington med school professor Edwin Lindo went out for a bike ride while on vacation, and ran into a white woman — aka a “Becky” — who literally told him he couldn’t ride his bicycle on the road she paid for with her property taxes.
Although this comment from an Aspen mountain bike instructor totally misses the mark.
“This is a framework of why it’s so important for e-bikers to have etiquette because they are now powered up with a weapon, really, that goes 20 miles an hour,” he said. “I say ‘weapon’ because now they can hurt themselves and others pretty easily.”
Never mind that it’s pretty easy to do 20 mph on a road bike, without a motor. And not that unusual on a mountain bike.
And while there’s no shortage of rude and/or inexperienced bike riders, no bicycle is a weapon, unless someone — like a cop, for instance — picks it up and uses it that way.
There’s there’s this bit of advice, which they apparently think is so important that it was repeated verbatim in a caption.
Though you may be tempted to ride side-by-side with your friends or family members so you can chat on your e-bikes, always ride single file and as far to the right as possible, unless you’re passing. This gives other cyclists and cars an opportunity to pass you safely.
Where do we even start?
This is sort-of decent advice for trail riders, but horrible for those riding on the road.
Yes, try to keep to the right on trails so faster riders can pass you. Unless you’re the faster rider, in which case you should pass politely.
And try not to ride abreast if it means clogging up the trail so others can’t enjoy it.
But on the road, riding like a gutter bunny puts you a greater risk of unsafe passes.
Most authorities, like the League of American Bicyclists and Cycling Savvy — and even Caltrans, for those of us in California — tell you to ride in the center of the lane, unless there’s a shoulder wide enough and clean enough to ride safely.
Riding two or more abreast in a single traffic lane can also increase your visibility and help hold the lane by forcing drivers to move into the next lane to pass you.
It’s also legal to ride abreast in many states, but check the law where you ride before trying it.
Like here in California, where police sometimes misapply the requirement ti right to the right to ticket people who ride abreast, even though there’s not one word prohibiting it under California law.
And they may not get it right where you are, either.
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Meet what may be LA County’s first protected bike lane.
A group of Black women rode from Harlem to DC, covering 250 miles in 65 hours to replicate a ride taken by another group of Black women 93 years earlier, while raising funds to provide good used bikes to people in need.
You’ve got to be kidding. An Irish driver walked when he was acquitted of dangerous driving for slamming into a group of bicyclists, and killing a 34-year old woman — despite coming around a blind curve at high speed on the wrong side of road — in part because the victim may have fallen off her bike before the impact. Never mind that she was probably just trying to get the hell out of his way to avoid getting killed.
We’re taking a little different format today, after dealing with last night’s breaking news left too little time for the usual links.
But with far too much news to ignore.
Meanwhile, Friday means we’re finally on the cusp of the summer’s first three-day weekend.
So assuming you’re still here reading this, remember that holidays typically mean more drunks on the road, as people barrel into their cars after outdoor gatherings, or to make another drunken beer run.
So get out and enjoy the great weather. And by all means, ride your bike.
Just ride defensively, and assume ever driver you see after noon today has had a few. Or more than a few.
Chances are, you won’t be too far off.
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Call it much ado about nothing.
Or how to look like you’re doing something to improve bike and micromobility safety, while actually doing as little as possible.
As we’ve pointed out before, sharrows serve little or no actual purpose, failing to grant riders a single right or inch of pavement to which they weren’t already entitled.
People on bicycles are already legally allowed to ride in the full lane in any substandard lane. Which means any that isn’t wide enough for a bike rider to safely share the lane with a motor vehicle, while remaining outside the door zone.
A definition that applies to most right lanes in Southern California.
At best, sharrows remind riders to position themselves in the center of the lane, while providing wayfinding and directing riders to presumably safer streets.
At worst — which is usually how they work — they merely position unsuspecting people directly in the path of angry drivers who fail to comprehend what the strange chevron-shaped symbols are for, while the little arrows simply serve to help them improve their aim.
In this case, the sharrows appear to be an attempt to shunt bike riders and micromobility users onto quieter side streets, and get them out of the way of entitled motorists on larger arterials, while providing more space for parking.
Yes, they want us out of the way so they can store more of the cars they aren’t using.
South Bay COG even pats themselves on the back, saying the network is likely to win an award of innovation.
Apparently forgetting that sharrows ain’t infrastructure, and don’t improve safety.
But the already weak network was weakened even further when representatives from Torrance and other cities were assured that participation in the plan was strictly voluntary.
Seriously, it’s nice that they are trying to do something, even if their motives are highly questionable.
But in this case, it seems like it really is the least they could do.
Illustration from South Bay COG.
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Speaking of Linton, he forwards news that long-suffering users of the LA River bike path will have to keep on suffering.
After years of closures due to flood control measures by the Army Corps of Engineers — and the damage they caused — as well as multiple bridge construction projects, the pathway north of the LA Zoo is closed once again.
The section from Victory to Zoo Drive will be shut down until future notice to repair damage and deterioration to the path.
Which is apparently engineer speak for “don’t hold your breath.”
According to an email from LADOT, the agency must first find funding for the project before a timeline can be announced.
Let’s just hope the work can be finished before next winter’s rains cause further damage, or put a halt to construction work.
Assuming we get any rain, which is far from guaranteed.
In the meantime, LADOT will once again be putting up signs to mark yet another detour.
Finley was on his way to join the Ride For Black Lives on January 16th of this year, when he became the victim of a horrific careening crash as a speeding carjacker tried to make his escape through DTLA.
Following the collision, the thief simply walked away, bizarrely carrying the truck’s steering wheel, as the popular father of two lay dying in the street.
Now LAPD investigators have used DNA evidence to identify 36-year old Ronald Earl Kenebrew Jr. as the suspect, charging him with murder for Finley’s death.
They didn’t have to look far to find Kenebrew once they got a hit on DNA collected from the truck; he’s been in the custody of the Sheriff’s Department since February on suspicion of robbery.
He was also identified from security videos of the suspect as he walked away.
Normally, I say something like let’s hope they lock him up for a long time.
Thirty-six-year old Virginia Christine Lewis Brown was arrested after speeding through a through a vaccine tent in a mall parking lot, yelling “No vaccine!” as workers dove out of her way.
Witnesses described her as driving at a high rate of speed, while she somehow claimed she was only doing a sedate 5 mph.
If convicted on all counts and sentenced to the max — which is unlikely — she could face up to 105 years behind bars.
Which somehow seems slightly worse than getting a little jab in the arm.
Although he told police he was just “varmint hunting.” Which is an odd way to describe your daughter’s husband.
He faces charges of “simple assault, making terroristic threats and possession of drug paraphernalia, as well as with the summary offenses of public drunkenness, harassment, criminal mischief and hunting without a license.”
I think we all know what he was hunting.
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Bike racing fan Peter Flax recommends Indiana University’s iconic Little 500 — the race made famous in Breaking Away — if you just can get enough.
Twitter post
And yes, that’s still the best damn bike movie ever made.
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Gravel Bike California gets a tour of gravel riding trails in California’s Great Not-So-White North.
Twitter post
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And finally, our last item of the day comes from Erik Griswold, who says don’t be like Kevin.
The Orange County Register identifies him as Huntington Beach resident John Crouch, while placing the time at 1:38.
Investigators allege Crouch was attempting to cross the six lane highway against the red light when he was run down by a 23-year old Bloomington man, who has not been publicly identified.
Crouch was unresponsive before being taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver stayed at the scene, and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence; no word was given on whether he was suspected of being drunk or stoned
There’s also no word on whether there were any independent witnesses who saw Crouch run the light; however, the intersection was likely to be busy at that hour, which raises the possibility that it was seen by multiple people.
This is at least the 27th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year; however, it’s just the third that I’m aware of in Orange County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for John Crouch and his loved ones.
The 32-year old musician was just 12 years old when he costarred with Jack Black and Joan Cusack in the hit movie, despite a lack of acting experience.
He had just formed a new band that performed live for the first time over the weekend.
Clark was riding a bicycle early Wednesday when he was struck and killed at a notoriously dangerous intersection on the Northwest Side. He was hit by a Hyundai Sonata around 1:20 a.m. in the 2600 block of North Western Avenue, Chicago police said.
Paramedics found him on Logan Boulevard and took him to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:04 a.m., according to the Chicago Fire Department and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 20-year-old woman, was issued several citations, police said.
Maybe someday, we’ll decide that too many people have died because of motor vehicles and the people who drive them, and actually do something about it.
But like gun violence, we seem to just talk about it, and look the other way.
The bill would provide purchase incentives to increase the affordability of ebikes by through subsidies for up to 10,000 people, similar to the $7,000 subsidies the state provides to buyers of electric cars.
Combined with a proposed federal tax rebate for ebike buyers, it could dramatically cut the cost of ebikes to replace motor vehicle use.
Maybe a jump in ebikes would finally push more California cities to provide safe spaces to ride them.
I definitely could have used that when I lived down there years ago.
Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up.
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A new video from Streets For All examines the true cost of LA’s freeway obsession.
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This is who we share the road with.
A road raging Maserati driver in DC got out of his car and opened fire on a woman with her two kids in the car, then apparently turned and shot at witnesses in another car.
Twitter post
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A bike rider was injured during a New York bicycle protest to mark the first anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police, after he jumped on the hood of a Volkswagen as the driver tried to push through the crowd of protesters.
Meanwhile, a second bike rider was injured by the driver as they tried to speed away.
A Mad City woman was busted for throwing a bicycle at another person during a large disturbance. No word on whether she was actually riding it or if she just grabbed the nearest thing she could throw.
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Local
The Sourceoffers a preview of today’s Metro Board meeting, which would finalize the route for the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit line along Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock, as well as consider highway funding and free bus and train fares for students and low income people.
Nice story from Redding, where the community got together to raise funds to buy a new ebike for a school security guard and coach who suffers from a hereditary form of neuropathy; after the fundraiser surpassed the $2,500 goal, a local organization said they would pay for the bike, and use the funds to customize it for his disability.
An associate professor at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University will ride across the US this summer to raise funds for public education; Dr. Chris Willis will take the Adventure Cyclists Association’s northern tier route, passing through 51 school districts he hopes to help fund at the end of the trip. You can donate to his trip here. Thanks again to Tim Rutt.
