Southern California bike riders are being left to die in the streets by heartless, murderous drivers at an ever increasing rate.
Nearly half of the twenty people who’ve died riding bicycles in the past two months have been killed by cowardly hit-and-run drivers, who refused to stop and render aid as required by law.
Or had the basic human decency to call for help, rather than leave another person suffering alone in the last moments of their life.
The latest hit-and-run victim lost his life early this morning in Santa Ana.
November 4, 2019 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Owner of Silver Lake hit-and-run car not talking, Solis honors fallen riders, and Ramona hit-and-run prelim
Unfortunately, she refuses to cooperate with investigators and tell them who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.
Which means the investigation could be stymied unless police can find a witness or other evidence to show who was driving.
That’s just one more way the law needs to be changed.
In the event of a crash or some other event, the owner of the car should be presumed to be driving, unless they can show that someone else was behind the wheel.
………
She gets it.
Thanks to LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis for recognizing the victims of traffic violence with a Dia de los Muertos altar and ghost bike at Grand Park over the weekend.
Thirty-four-year old Ramona resident Chase Richard faces up to nine years behind bars on charges of hit-and-run with death or permanent serious injury, and hit-and-run with injury.
He’s currently being held on $2.5 million bail.
His alleged victim, 53-year-old Ramona resident Michelle Scott, remains in a coma with few signs of brain activity over a month after the crash, although she is breathing on her own after being taken off a ventilator.
A British police investigator somehow concluded that a bike rider who collided with a 79-year old pedestrian as he stepped into the street was doing a remarkable 38 mph at the moment of impact. Even though his Strava account says he was just doing 18.
Yet another bike rider has died in Oxnard, in what has turned out to be a very bad year for the town of just 210,000.
According to the Ventura County Star, 75-year old Oxnard resident George Dominguez died Thursday afternoon, six days after he a struck by a driver while riding his bike.
Oxnard police investigators say Dominguez was turning left off northbound C Street into an alley near Roderick Avenue around 1 pm Friday, October 25th, when he was struck by the driver of a pickup headed south on C.
He was reportedly coherent and alert despite a visible head injury.
It’s not clear why Dominguez apparently rode in front of the truck, or who had the right of way.
The driver stayed at the scene, and wasn’t suspected of being under the influence. Police also say speed does appear to have been a factor.
Of course, speed is always a factor, even if driver was traveling at or under the 30 mph speed limit; slower speeds are less likely to result in a fatality in the event of a collision, and makes it easier to avoid.
This is at least the 63rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Ventura County; all but one of those have been in Oxnard.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for George Dominguez and his family.
November 1, 2019 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Time change means street dangers, bighearted people in the bike world, and delivery bikes in the snow
San Jose’s road columnist notes that the three-foot passing law doesn’t apply when it’s “impractical,” without apparently noticing that’s the major flaw in the law. That’s thanks to Jerry Brown, who vetoed a provision allowing drivers to briefly cross the center line to pass a bike rider if there’s no conflicting traffic. Even though other states safely allow drivers to do exactly that. And many California drivers do it anyway.
And yet another reminder of why people keep dying on our streets.
Two years.
Suspended, of course. ‘Cause she’s learned her lesson.
Upon her July conviction for all counts, Judge Julan Baliley sentenced Mehta to 3 years in State Prison. She left for her Chowchilla vacation almost immediately and was bussed back for her re-sentencing last week.
His Honor informed her that he’d sent her up the river in the hope that exposure to the element that fills our prisons would allow her to reflect on the person she wished to be. She did just that, observing her ilk from what little distance she could keep in such close quarters. According to her diagnostic assessment, she was a “model inmate” who did not create any disruptions during her brief stay.
She was allowed to address the court, and, through tears, expressed regret that she was unable to be present with her family, who experienced two deaths during her absence. She stated that she never wishes to experience incarceration again.
It is telling that she did not state that she never wants to harm an innocent human being with her car ever again, nor did she express regret for the permanent injury inflicted on that “bum” (direct quote from the post-collision texts collected as evidence).
Yup, she intimated that prison was unpleasant for her, but she never once referenced the extensive medical bills, physical pain, PTSD, permanent scars, loss of income, and limp she inflicted on her victim. Not to mention damaging the Peugeot her victim had bought in 1984.
Mehta’s assessment by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation psychologist concludes that she is unlikely to reoffend. I agree, because she doesn’t wanna experience the hassle of mandatory court appearances, restitution, and incarceration. She won’t deliberately slam her Mercedes against another bum again, not because she gives a damn that others may suffer. Just because she might be affected by the repercussions, and it’s already been such a headache.
Frankly, Mehta lacks empathy. She’s not sorry for her victim; she’s just sorry she got caught.
Typically infuriating for these cases, she is required to sign away her Constitutionally protected right to possess firearms. Yet she is still allowed to drive. In fact, the Judge stated unambiguously that “I am taking no action against your driving privilege.” A driver who fails to use a turn signal will be sentenced to traffic school. But, gosh, all Mehta did was leave a guy lying in the street with his bone sticking out of his leg, and that’s not substantial enough to warrant remedial driver’s education. It might have been helpful if Judge Bailey had used his discretion to order Mehta to comlpete a Savvy Cycling class before returning her privilege to drive.
Also infuriating: Some hideous person left a comment on your blog about how horrible it is that poor li’l Pratiti’s career has been derailed because of all this inconvenience. Well, Mehta’s victim is a stage hand, a manual laborer whose ability to labor manually was taken away from him by her violent assault. To this day, he walks with a limp, and will probably never be 100% again. Although he’s working now, he lost lucrative, prestigious opportunities (plural) because he was unable to work during his physical rehabilitation. The commenter’s ignorance in suggesting that the victim shared fault is terrifying, and it’s disgusting to consider that Mehta associates with those who think this way and who might be able to influence her thoughts, especially since she is still allowed to continue to drive without any education.
In addition to time served (with credits for good behavior), the Judge sentenced Miss Mehta to 2 years in State Prison, suspended, for the felony hit and run count; 6 months in County Jail for the misdemeanor lyin’-to-the-cops count; and fines for the infraction of CVC 21070, “unsafe operation of a motor vehicle causing injury.” Count 4, CVC 21107 (“unsafe turn”), was dismissed.
Mehta will be on formal probation for the next three years. She will probably drive to report in for every appointment.
………
I recently wondered why a driver had been charged with murder for killing someone, which almost never done except in the case of repeated DUIs.
Here’s what she had to say.
Regarding murder charges. I spoke briefly with a random attorney in the courthouse hallway, and “implied malice” (the reasonable knowledge that an act is dangerous) is sufficient to file a charge of murder. “Express malice” (“I’M GONNA KILL YOU, BITCH!”) makes it a lot easier to prosecute, but if you get reasonable jurors, a murder conviction is not just possible but likely.
This should be a giant duh, but murder is rarely sought in cases involving motor vehicles. Unless, of course, the driver is impaired, or if a threat has been expressed.
And conviction is never a sure bet, as in this case, which ended in acquittal, probably because of the, uh, questionable sobriety of one of the pilots. (This case was actually referenced by DA Cornwell in one of his filings in a vehicular manslaughter case a few years ago, which is why I looked it up.)
………
Yet another reason why people keep getting killed on our streets.
If nobody’s pointed it out yet: 10.4 miles of Vanowen Street is gettin’ a speed limit increase.
Not at the same Vanowen High Injury Network location where a crossing guard was killed at a yellow crosswalk and a HAWK beacon was installed last month. West of there. 10.4 miles, the longest stretch designated for an increase, all within a half mile or less of over twenty preschool and K-12 facilities. But at least those 10.4 miles don’t have many of those useless HAWK beacons. And only about 3 of the 10.4 miles are on the High Injury Network.
Good job, Vision Zero team!
………
That “wipeout” video you posted.
I recognized that Starbucks (and hideous Wells Fargo) instantly. That was my commute route for nearly 10 years.
Also, right where the video began, that’s where Michael Bastien was killed. (His killer’s already out, fwiw.) And that Starbucks is in the same strip mall where another Huntington Beach statistic worked, at Valentino’s Pizza. The dough slinger saw Bastien’s ghost bike every day, just meters from his work; he was hit on October 13th, 2015, and died in the hospital on the 19th, on the anniversary of Shaun Eagleson’s murder. If I’m marking dates, Wednesday would’ve been AJ Brumback’s 17th birthday. (Note: The killer of the then-eight-year old boy didn’t spend a day behind bars.)
A simple right-hook video shouldn’t create a cascade of these associations.
David Whiting’s friend Pete Tomaino was wearing a helmet when he was killed while riding his bike. Look, there’s a picture of Pete in the newspaper, wearing his holy, all-protective helmet!
The human brain can shut down permanently as a result of trauma not inflicted by a direct blow to the head. Even if you’re wearing a motorcycle helmet, damage to your rain not inflicted by a direct blow can kill you. No helmet will prevent trauma-induced hypoxia or rhabdomyolysis.
………
And she ends on a personal note.
Sunday night I was nearly killed by a creep who ran a red (not orange; very, very red) at a blind corner at 50 mph. I am still shook.
You know how your brain replays everything over and over and over in these situations, all the scenarios with variable timelines could have resulted in a different outcome. Yeah, that’s what my head’s been doing. For days.
Also, I had the plate, driver’s description, and location, and damn right I called it in, and the Sheriff will do nothing about the piddly little infraction that nearly killed me and the other driver with the same green light.
I won’t rant, but I am still shook. If I weren’t the type to look for cross traffic, if I hadn’t been on my slow janky bike while my Kilo TT’s in the shop, if I hadn’t yielded a block before for a turning driver, I wouldn’t be writing this.
