A man was killed when he was run down from behind while riding a bicycle in Oxnard Thursday morning.
According to the Ventura County Star, the victim was riding north Vineyard Ave when he was struck by northbound semi-truck driver. The paper places the collision in the city’s Del Rio neighborhood, just north of Simon Way on Vineyard shortly after 10 am.
There’s no identity for the victim or the driver at this time. There’s also no word on why the driver apparently didn’t see someone riding a bicycle directly in front of him in broad daylight.
The victim was taken to the Ventura County Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.
The driver remained at the scene and assisted the fallen bike rider.
Anyone with information is urged to call Oxnard Police Corporal Manuel Perez at 805/385-7750, or email manuel.perez@oxnardpd.org.
This is at least the 44th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in Ventura County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
September 24, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Trump cuts make America more car-centric again, new book on changing urban landscape, and bike Eastside toxic sites
Day 267 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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More on the president’s move to make American more car-centric again.
A San Diego County road improvement project including bike lanes “appears to reduce lane capacity and a road diet that is hostile to motor vehicles,” a US Department of Transportation official wrote, rescinding a $1.2 million grant it awarded nearly a year ago.
In Fairfield, Ala., converting street lanes to trail space on Vinesville Road was also deemed “hostile” to cars, and “counter to DOT’s priority of preserving or increasing roadway capacity for motor vehicles.”
Officials in Boston got a similar explanation, as the Trump administration pulled back a previously awarded grant to improve walking, biking and transit in the city’s Mattapan Square neighborhood in a way that would change the “current auto-centric configuration.” Another grant to improve safety at intersections in the city was terminated, the DOT said, because it could “impede vehicle capacity and speed.”
In other words, anything that might slightly inconvenience anyone in the big, dangerous machines, or somehow inhibit their ability to go “zoom, zoom” to their heart’s content is now on the chopping block, regardless of how much it might reduce congestion or how many lives it could save.
Never mind that some of Trump’s own supporters ride bicycle, and demand for better bike and pedestrian safety and active transportation networks is rising in both red and blue states.
And despite the desire of government officials to return to a more petroleum-driven past, canceling projects like this will do nothing to reduce congestion or improve safety, while likely having the opposite effects.
The world is rapidly urbanizing, and experts predict that up to 80 percent of the population will live in cities by 2050. To accommodate that growth while ensuring quality of life for all residents, cities are increasingly turning to technology. From apps that make it easier for citizens to pitch in on civic improvement projects to comprehensive plans for smarter streets and neighborhoods, new tools and approaches are taking root across the United States and around the world. In this thoughtful, inquisitive collection of City Tech columns—originally published in Land Lines magazine and updated with new reflections and resources for the book—Rob Walker investigates the technologies that have emerged over the past few years and their implications for planners, policy makers, residents, and the virtual and literal landscapes of the cities we call home.
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People For Mobility Justice is co-hosting a bike tour of Eastside toxic sites next weekend.
Instagram post
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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Canada’s new Vancouver Crossing Loop offers a 314-mile gravel route that begins and ends in Victoria, British Columbia; the trail is designed for ebikes and beginners, as well as seasoned bicyclists. However, what they’re seasoned with remains to be determined, although they are known to be somewhat salty.
A Scottish van driver was sentenced to six years behind bars for killing a 32-year old father who was riding his bike to work, while he was busy reading paperwork instead of watching the road — and he was somehow still working as a commercial driver, despite nine previous traffic violations and a history of illegal drug use.
September 23, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Florida man who fled with hit-and-run victim lodged in windshield is repeat offender, and Willowbrook taco ride tonight
Day 266 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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No surprise here.
It turns out that Xavier Omar Rigby, the 22-year old Florida man accused of killing a 38-year old woman riding an ebike — then driving eight blocks with her body lodged in his windshield before falling off — is a repeat offender.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, he admitted to drinking alcohol and smoking weed after he was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road two years ago. Although the Daily Mail reports prosecutors plea bargained the charged down to just reckless driving last year.
The Daily Mail also says this wasn’t even Rigby’s first hit-and-run, since he was involved in another hit-and-run in 2022 — three years before killing the bike-riding Florida mother last week.
Oh, and when police arrested Rigby this time, they found him at a liquor store about a mile from the crash scene.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
That’s more like it. A pair of British men have been sentenced to life behind bars on murder charges for deliberately driving their pickup into a couple of young men riding ebikes, after chasing them on the wrong side of the road when they mistook them for burglars; the driver will have to spend at least 34 years in prison before he can be considered for parole, while his passenger was sentenced a minimum of 29 years.
Authorities in the UK have arrested six men and one woman for attempted murder after intentionally crashing into an 18-year old bike rider; five of the suspects have already been released on bail. Must have been a very crowded clown car.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Colorado magazine recommends eight fall bike rides in and around Denver. Which was always my favorite time to ride when I lived in the city, after the tourists were gone and the students in class, the air was crisp and cool, and the leaves turned vibrant colors.
Life is cheap in Colorado, where a 46-year old man walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a bike rider; he received just one year of probation and a lousy 20 hours of community service as part of a very lenient plea bargain.
A Montreal PhD candidate crunches the numbers, and finds that despite the bikelash, bike lanes only take up 2.3% of the city’s roadways, with infrastructure for the big, dangerous machines claiming the other 97.7%.
September 22, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: 53-year old Micah Pan killed riding bicycle in Chino hit-and-run Saturday; 28-year old Chino woman arrested
The victim, identified as 53-year old Chino Hills resident Micah Pan, was riding on the 5200 block of Eucalyptus Ave around 6:35 pm when he was struck by the motorist, who drove away leaving him lying in the street.
Pan was taken to a local hospital, where he died.
Police arrested 28-year old Chino resident Jazmine Carreto on suspicion of hit-and-run causing injury, which is likely to be increased to hit-and-run causing death when she is arraigned.
There’s no word at this time on how the crash happened, or how police identified Carreto as the suspect.
Anyone with information is urged to call Chino police investigators at 909/334-3116.
This is at least the 43rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.
Pan is also the 14th bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver in Southern California since the first of the year, meaning one out of every three drivers who kill bike riders in SoCal flee the scene.
His patients remember him as a family man dedicated to his wife and children who was kind, professional and had a positive impact on those around him.
The driver, Jazmine Carreto, was arrested in Upland about five hours after the crash, and released on bail Sunday evening; no court date has been scheduled yet.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Micah Pan and his loved ones.
September 22, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Ghost bike vandalized after WeHo vote, bicycling man attacked ebiking 14-year old Santa Clarita kid, and bikes beat dementia
Day 265 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with some people?
The debate at West Hollywood City Hall that resulted in approval of the Complete Streets makeover of Fountain Ave last Monday was acrimonious.
To say the least.
And in any such debate, some people will inevitably be upset by the result. But why take that anger out on a memorial for a victim of traffic violence?
It was two months ago, nearly to the day, when Blake Ackerman’s ghost bike was installed, as his friends and loved ones, many of whom had flown in for his funeral, carefully attached photos and inscribed messages on the bike.
In the two months since, it has been carefully maintained, as someone — whether family members or friends — kept it clean and replaced the flowers before they could whither.
Then sometime after that contentious vote, some vindictive vandal destroyed all that.
According to the WeHo Times, the heartless destruction occurred sometime overnight, with the vandal ripping up photos and signs, dumping flowers and shattering vases. But at least they left the bike itself alone.
A photo taken the next morning showed shards from broken vase next to the sparse white bike.
Instagram post
It broke my heart to pass by in the days since, knowing the love and grief that had been poured into it.
So I resolved to buy a bunch of flowers to put on his bike, just to show that someone cared, and that hate and rage can’t be allowed to win.
But before I got there on Sunday, someone had beaten me to it, placing a small bunch of flowers in the basket, and adorning it with artificial white roses.
Maybe others in the community will be inspired to add to it, showing that we care, and sending a message that love is stronger than hate.
They swerved around him, with one boy letting out a scream as them continued down the path.
But instead of leaving him behind, the man chased the kids, and knocked the victim off his bike when he caught up to him. Within seconds, the man was on top of him, repeatedly punching the kid with one hand while holding a knife in the other, shouting that he was going to kill him.
The boys then recorded the man stomping of the victim’s ebike, cutting the cables and slashing the tires as they cried out for help.
The attack only ended when a Good Samaritan stopped his car and got out to help, and the attacker slunk away into the night.
The boy, whose name has been withheld, was lucky to escape without serious injuries.
Sheriff’s deputies are looking for a muscular white man with a mustache in his 30s or 40s, who was riding an orange bicycle.
If you think you know this jerk, call the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at 661/260-4000
Riding a bike is associated with a 19% lower risk of all-cause dementia and a 22% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, compared with taking nonactive travel modes such as a car, bus or train, found the study that assessed nearly 480,000 participants from Great Britain and published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Physical activity has long been associated with lower dementia risk in multiple studies, so much so that the 2024 Lancet Commissionidentified it as one of 14 factors responsible for preventing or delaying approximately 45% of dementia cases. More than 55 million people worldwide have dementia, a number expected to nearly triple by 2050.
An enterprising — or maybe desperate — Santa Fe, New Mexico bike rider started a fire to signal police, after he was the victim of a hit-and-run driver fleeing the cops after allegedly choking a family member; police arrested the 24-year old man on DUI and hit-and-run charges, as well as domestic violence and false imprisonment. Yet he was somehow still on the road despite three previous DUI convictions.
The Road Cycling World Championships are under way in Rwanda, with Remco Evenepoel winning his third consecutive time trial; Jay Vine finished second and Ilan van Wilder third, while Tadej Pogačar just missed the podium in fourth.
One victim died at the scene, while the other was hospitalized.
There’s no word on exactly where on the trail around Lake Murray that the crash occurred, but people who know the trail say there are a number of blind curves where you wouldn’t see someone coming from the opposite direction.
There’s also no information yet on the identity of either victim, or the condition of the survivor.
This is at least the 42nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
Authorities say he was not wearing a helmet, but while the medical examiner’s report says he died of blunt force trauma, it does not indicate whether he suffered a head injury.
The other victim was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for David Engler and his loved one.
And best wishes for a full and fast recovery for the surviving victim.
