62-year old man killed riding a bike on PCH in Huntington Beach Friday night

March 8, 2020 / / 9 comments

As if the news hasn’t been bad enough this weekend, yet another person was killed riding a bicycle, this time in Huntington Beach Friday night.

According to the Daily Pilot, the victim, identified only as a 62-year old homeless man, was struck by a 72-year old driver on deadly PCH near Seapoint Street around 10:20 pm.

The Orange County Register reports he was riding south on PCH when he swerved across the five lane highway, and was hit by the northbound driver.

He died at the scene as a result of serious head injuries.

And no, he wasn’t wearing a helmet. Although we have no way of knowing if his injuries would have been survivable with one.

Or whether it could have made any difference on a road where the 55 mph speed limit is little more than a suggestion, and virtually any crash is a death sentence to anyone not surrounded by a couple tons of glass and steel.

We also don’t know if the victim was without a helmet by choice, or because he didn’t have access to one.

The driver remained at the scene, and police don’t suspect intoxication played a factor.

Anyone with information is urged to call Huntington Beach Police Department traffic investigator Adam Turner at 714/536-5670.

Sadly, too many people will write the victim off as just another homeless person, as if that makes his death any less tragic. Or any less of a loss to his family and friends.

People forced to live on the streets have little enough value in our society when they’re alive. They shouldn’t be forgotten in death, as well.

This is at least the eleventh bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in Orange County.

It’s also the fourth bicycling death we’ve learned about in the last two days.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

Huntington Beach BMXer Tyler Kanarr died after hitting ceiling beam at Vans Skatepark in Orange

March 7, 2020 / / Comments Off on Huntington Beach BMXer Tyler Kanarr died after hitting ceiling beam at Vans Skatepark in Orange

Word is just breaking that a Huntington Beach man died last week following a freak accident at an Orange County skatepark.

According to KCBS-2, 25-year old Tyler Kanarr was riding at the popular Vans Skatepark in Orange on February 25th when he somehow hit a ceiling beam, and suffered a gash in his neck from a florescent light.

When firefighters arrived, they found t-shirts wrapped around his neck in an effort to stop the bleeding.

Despite reportedly doing everything they could to save him, Kanarr lost too much blood before they could get him to the hospital directly across the street.

Sadly, he died just one day after his birthday.

A celebration of life will be held on March 21st to remember him, while a crowdfunding page started by friends of his parents has raised nearly $4,400 in four days, exceeding the $4,000 goal.

The skatepark remains closed. And yes, his family has retained a lawyer.

While BMX is a dangerous sport, something like this should never happen in an indoor skatepark.

Especially not one owned by a major corporation like Vans.

This is at least the tenth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in Orange County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Tyler Kanarr and all his loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Update: 21-year old Escondido bike rider killed in crash after allegedly running a stop sign

March 7, 2020 / / 2 comments

An Escondido man has paid the ultimate price for allegedly failing to observe a stop sign.

According to a notice from the Escondido police department, the crash occurred at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Cedar Street around 8:04 Friday morning.

The victim, identified only as a 21-year old Escondido resident, was riding north on Cedar Street when he reportedly rode through the stop sign, and into the path of a minivan driver headed east on Grand.

He died there in the roadway, despite efforts to revive him.

The driver remained at the scene, and did not appear to be under the influence.

As always, though, the question is whether any independent witnesses actually saw him blow the stop, and whether it might have been possible for the driver to avoid him.

Anyone with information is urged to call Officer Mike Nelson of the Escondido Police Department’s Traffic Division at 760/839-4407.

This is at least the ninth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in San Diego County.

That compares with just five deaths in the county for the entire year in 2019.

Update: The victim has been identified as 21-year old Escondido resident Joseph Palacios.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Joseph Palacios and all his loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Man killed riding bike on deadly Alicia Parkway in Laguna Niguel

March 6, 2020 / / 7 comments

Sometimes, bad news never makes the news.

Like the death of a bike rider in Laguna Niguel on Thursday.

Thursday evening, OC bike lawyer Edward Rubinstein forwarded a post from Nextdoor, which said Alicia Parkway was closed after a bike rider had been struck by a driver.

That was followed by an unconfirmed response stating the victim didn’t make it.

Sadly, that was followed by the tweet below, confirming a man in his late 60s was killed.

Twitter post

The tweet places the site of the crash at Alicia Parkway and Awma Road, at the entrance to Alisa Woods Canyon Park.

A response from Jim Martin suggests the crash may have been in the northbound lane.

Looks like Northbound, Lane 3/Left turn pocket. Lots of bikes cross there. No light, though a ped crossing light ~100 yards South that cars often blow at 60+ mph.

Unfortunately, no time is given. However, the email from Rubinstein came around 8 pm Thursday night, while the first Nextdoor post came nine hours earlier, placing the crash sometime before 11 am Thursday.

There’s no description of how the collision occurred.

A street view shows a six lane speedway, with just a stop sign on Awma. According to Rubinstein, the painted bike lane on Alicia was removed in a recent repaving and hasn’t been restriped yet, leaving riders at the mercy of drivers who frequently exceed the 50 mph speed limit.

The placement of the victim’s bike next to the center divider suggests he may have been trying cross the roadway and didn’t make it. But it’s also possible it was knocked there by the force of the impact.

Meanwhile, the SUV next to the bike doesn’t show any visible signs of an impact, high speed or otherwise.

Hopefully, we’ll get more information soon.

This is at least the eighth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Orange County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Edward Rubinstein, David Becker and Jim Martin for the heads-up.

 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

Bike rider killed in Laguna Niguel, more coronavirus cancellations, and LA Marathon Crash Ride rolls Sunday

March 6, 2020 / / One comment

Before we get started, it looks like the foster corgi we’ve been looking after will get his well-deserved 15 minutes of fame in tomorrow’s LA Times. 

He and his owner will be featured in the City Beat column written Nita Lelyveld, with my wife and me in a supporting role. 

There probably won’t be any bikes involved this time, even though the foster corgi’s owner is one of us, too. 

It’s a beautiful story.

And if I know Nita, she’ll tell it beautifully. 

………

OC bike lawyer Edward Rubinstein has forwarded a Nextdoor post saying a bike rider was seriously injured in a collision on Alicia Parkway in Laguna Niguel on Thursday, along with an unconfirmed report that the victim didn’t make it.

Rubinstein relates the crash appears to have occurred in the southbound lane of Alicia Parkway between Aliso Creek and Highlands Ave.

There normally is a painted bike lane on Alicia, but it was removed in a recent repaving and hasn’t been restriped yet, leaving riders at the mercy of drivers who frequently exceed the 50 mph speed limit.

Update: Sadly, we have confirmation a man in his 60s was killed.

Twitter post

Hopefully, we’ll get more details today. I’ll get a story online later in the day.

Thanks to Edward Rubinstein and David Becker for the heads-up.

………

More fallout from the COVID-19 coronavirus, as the annual Sea Otter Classic pulls the plug on this spring’s event, with hopes of rescheduling later in the year when the virus will hopefully be less active.

And Italy’s Strade Bianche and Strade Bianche Women Elite races were cancelled as cycling teams continued to withdraw from tomorrow’s races due to fears of the coronavirus.

………

The LA Marathon takes place on Sunday.

Which means the annual semi-official Marathon Crash Ride will as well, with a 3 am meet time at the former Tang’s Donuts on Sunset, and 4 am start.

But as canadianangeleno points out, this year 3 am comes a little earlier due to the time change.

https://twitter.com/iliveinpalms/status/1235707611284029442

Meanwhile, Redditors offer a number of tips and feeder rides.

Thanks to everyone who helped confirm this year’s ride. There are far too many to thank here individually, but I really do appreciate the help from all.

………

CicLAvia has posted photos from their recent South LA open streets event.

Meanwhile, the Militant Angeleno provides the CicLAvia schedule for the rest of the year, including a return to South LA before the year is over.

Twitter post

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Having failing to learn their lesson from the highly criticized Peloton Wife ad this past Christmas, Peloton now thinks you should give one to your mom for Mother’s Day.

No, really.

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Congratulations to BikinginLA sponsor, bike lawyer and all-around nice guy Josh Cohen on joining the board of the LACBC.

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Local

Santa Monica-based Bird is officially unveiling their new fat-tired Scoot e-mopeds, offering a seated ride with top speeds of 20 mph.

 

State

Newport Beach-based Electric Bike Company proves that you can build a quality ebike in the US.

Great idea. The San Diego Bicycle Coalition is hosting a monthly series of public bike rides celebrating new bus and bike lanes on El Cajon Blvd, featuring “weird and wonderful” entertainers along the way.

Pismo Beach’s formerly “swervey curvey” road is now straighter but “lumpy bumpy.”

 

National

Streetsblog looks at how the media helped build, and continues to reinforce, America’s car culture.

The foldable, carbon frame Companion Bike allows anyone to take a handicapped friend or family member out for a bike ride.

A writer for Grist says yes, ebikes really are good for the environment.

A Denver writer questions why it takes so long for bike lanes to get approval in the city. If he thinks that’s bad, he should try living in Los Angeles, where we’re still waiting for the 1977 bike plan, let alone the 2010 plan.

Speaking of Denver bike lanes, a new survey shows 80% of Denver residents support bike lanes, even at the expense of parking or travel lanes. It’s long past time someone did a survey of Los Angeles voters, which might surprise some of LA’s less than bike-friendly councilmembers.

Unbelievable. A Michigan appellate court rules a bike rider was at fault for a crash after he got high the night before and might have been looking at his speedometer, even though he was left-crossed while he had the right-of-way by a driver who wasn’t looking. And the driver allegedly admitted fault.

A stoned Connecticut driver got a well-deserved four years behind bars for a head-on wrong way crash that killed a bike rider, after using heroin prior to driving.

New York police are still looking for a gang of violent bike thieves targeting ebike riders on the Queensboro Bridge.

 

International

C/net loves GM’s new ebike foldie, which is designed to solve the first mile/last mile problem. And says it’s a shame it’s only available in three European countries right now.

Heartbreaking story from Ireland, where a man lived with locked-in syndrome for 16 years after falling off the handlebars of a friend’s bicycle, fully alert, yet trapped in his own body and unable to move.

PeopleForBikes considers how Paris raised bicycling rates 54% in just one year.

Speaking of Paris, the former French Health Minister and wannabe mayor insists that riding a bike isn’t good for you, and that plans for more bike lanes in the City of Lights were “violent.” No, really.

A 49-year old Indian soldier rode his bike nearly 2,200 miles from Tripura to Delhi in just 20 days to demonstrate the importance of fitness.

British bike scribe Carlton Reid previews a four-hour guided ebike tour of the religion, politics and Banksys of modern Bethlehem.

A writer for New York Magazine hops on her bike and rides deep into Sichuan province to escape the coronavirus and surveillance state in Chengdu, China.

That was fast. It took less than 24 hours for someone to toss Melbourne, Australia’s first Jump dockless bike into a pond.

This is who we share the roads with. A Chilean worker faces charges after somehow running down one of the famed Easter Island statues, or moai, with his pickup, causing incalculable physical, archeological and cultural damage.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Colorado, where German pro mountain biker Benjamin Sonntag was killed when he was struck by the driver of a pickup Wednesday afternoon.

A writer for Singletracks recounts the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike endurance race through Sonoran Desert north of Tucson.

Bicycling sings the praises of the European Spring Classics, which may or may not even happen this year.

 

Finally

You may want to wipe down that bikeshare seat first. When you care enough to get the most expensive bike accessories, if not the very best.

And when you’re riding bikes with an outstanding warrant, don’t run the stop sign — and don’t toss your drugs when there’s a helicopter overhead.

………

Thanks to Margaret W for her annual donation to support this site, and keep bringing you SoCal’s best bike news every morning. 

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The good, bad and ugly from Tuesday’s election results, and drivers park 30 times worse than scooter riders

March 5, 2020 / / One comment

Bike the Vote LA rounded up the good, the bad and the ugly from Tuesday’s primary election results.

Like Nithya Raman forcing a runoff against David Ryu in CD4, and Kevin de León taking CD14.

Some of the other results aren’t looking as good, with Loraine Lundquist trailing incumbent John Lee in CD12.

However, it’s important to note that it could be weeks before all the results are in and the votes counted, so things could change.

Photo by Element5 Digital from Pexels.

………

So much for all those complaints about e-scooter and dockless bikeshare left all over the place.

According to a study of five cities, including Santa Monica, the real parking problem isn’t micromobility parking, it’s all those scofflaw drivers.

The study found that parking noncompliance rates across the five cities were far higher for motor vehicles (24.7% of 2,631 motor vehicles observed) than for micromobility vehicles (0.8% of 865 scooter and bike observations).

Food delivery and ride-hailing vehicles accounted for a disproportionate number of improper parking incidents impeding access or mobility for other travelers, Klein said. Most of these violations occurred while dropping off or picking up people or food, including double parking, occupying “No Parking” or restricted areas and blocking driveways.

………

It looks like the COVID-19 coronavirus may be affecting the bike world for awhile.

Moscow, Idaho is delaying the opening of its new ped-assist bikeshare due to production delays caused by the Lunar New Year celebrations and the coronavirus outbreak.

A Korean woman was attacked by a group of Dutch men who yelled “Chinese” and tried to knock her off her bicycle in a racist attack linked to fears of the coronavirus.

The coronavirus is credited with a resurgence in Chinese bikeshares as employees slowly return to work, while avoiding crowded public transportation.

Team Ineos   — the former Team Sky — has pulled the plug on all racing for most of this month due to uncertainty over the disease and the death of director sportif Nicolas Portal.

The manager of the Cofidis cycling team is threatening a hunger strike if they aren’t allowed to leave the Abu Dhabi hotel where they’ve been quarantined since the UAE Tour was cancelled after some Italian support workers tested positive for coronavirus.

………

An online briefing next Wednesday will discuss how news coverage of traffic collisions affects received blame. You know, like the tweet says.

Twitter post

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That classic ’70s steel racing bike you’ve been dreaming of can be yours if you’ve got a mere nine grand lying around somewhere.

Twitter post

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She’s one of us, too. And so is Barbie.

Twitter post

Thanks to Meghan Lynch for the heads-up.

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Local

LA County is offering a $10,000 reward in the unsolved death of a young father who was gunned down while riding his bike in Harbor City three years ago.

The new safety improvements on Fountain Ave in West Hollywood will be made permanent. Now if they’d just replace those damn sharrows with some decent bike infrastructure.

Hermosa Beach will test a variety of safety improvements along a 1.4-mile section of Prospect Ave to improve safety for children walking or biking to school.

CiclaValley and company continue their quest to find the perfect gravel grind.

 

State

A Los Altos writer says by all means, pull your car over to make a call. Just don’t do it in a bike lane.

He gets it. A student at UC Davis calls for finding the right balance between wide and narrow streets to calm traffic and improve safety.

Here’s one for your bike bucket list, as long as you don’t mind riding the rails on a railroad bike through the redwoods of Fort Bragg.

A 20-year old Redding man faces charges of felony vandalism and polluting a waterway for throwing a $1,300 e-scooter into a river just for laughs. He’s probably not laughing anymore.

 

National

The Oregon Department of Transportation has identified 35 problem areas to be fixed as part of a 340-mile Oregon Coast Bike Route.

A Michigan woman is charged with stealing an $8,000 racing bicycle from the hotel where she worked and held a key to the secure room it was locked in; security video shows her brother walk into the hotel, then walk out with the bike minutes later.

Gotham bike riders and pedestrians now have a new 1.4-mile separated path on the Goethals Bridge between Staten Island and Elizabeth NJ.

A Bronx teenager tried to sell his bike on Facebook. And found himself robbed at knifepoint while a thief rode off on it.

Long delayed plans for a protected bikeway on DC’s 9th Street are on hold once again, after a councilmember withdrew the proposal due to opposition from African American churches.

No surprise here, as authorities have dropped all charges against the 18-year old Florida bike rider charged with resisting arrest for the crime of running a stop sign, after he paid the traffic fine.

 

International

A British Columbia man was knocked cold when he was cold cocked by an owl while delivering newspapers on his ebike.

A city councilor in Regina, Saskatchewan wants to force all bike riders to wear helmets, whether children or adults. Which simply forces the burden of safety onto the people on bikes, rather than building safer streets so helmets aren’t needed, or making drivers put down their phones and pay attention.

Liverpool, England residents want more protected bike lanes, even if it means taking space away from cars.

London bike riders are increasingly at risk from sometimes violent bike-jackings, especially when riding alone on the city’s Quietways and towpaths.

The ex-husband of a British woman killed in a collision with an ebike rider is furious that he was acquitted of charges in the crash.

No surprise here, either. An Irish study finds that four out of every five bicycling injuries occur on city streets, and nine out of ten injured riders were hit by cars. Maybe because that’s where the most bike riders and drivers are. And because cars pose a risk to anyone who’s not in them. 

A Dutch town is building Europe’s longest bicycle bridge, which will eventually stretch the length of ten football fields across four connected lakes. And is designed to be bat friendly.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mark you calendar for the track nationals in Carson this summer.

Twitter post

Thanks to David Huntsman for the link.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be a stealth single-speed ebike for people who don’t want to look like they’re riding one. Or it could be a Harley e-hog — or maybe just look like a 1930s motorcycle.

And watch out for rogue storm drain waves when you’re riding.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,
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