Why they waited so long to release the news is known only to them.
Especially when both the city and the state have adopted a yellow alert system intended to alert residents to hit-and-runs within hours, when there’s a far better chance of actually catching the driver.
Not two weeks later, after the driver has had his or her car fixed or hidden. And any potential witnesses may have forgotten exactly what they saw.
Instead, the LAPD waited until Friday to release news of the crash, when they asked for the public’s help finding the driver who fled the scene of the Sunland crash after killing a bike rider on Friday, August 23rd.
According to the Daily News, the victim, publicly identified only as a 55-year old Tujunga man, was riding west on Foothill Boulevard at Oro Vista Avenue at 2:15 am when he was rear-ended by driver and thrown into a parked car.
He died at a nearby hospital.
His killer continued without stopping.
Police are looking for what is believed to be a late model Prius with likely damage to the front passenger side. No description of the driver is available.
Anyone with information is urged to call Valley Traffic Division Officer J. Takishita at 818/644-8116, or anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS. As always, there is a $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
This is at least the 47th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 20th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the tenth in the City of LA.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
September 6, 2019 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Jeff Jones Memorial Sunday, the cost of traffic violence, and biking through a 6-year old’s eyes
Before we move on to today’s news, I received word yesterday that a memorial service will be held this Sunday for Jeff Jones.
Exactly the kind of residential street so many people insist we should ride on. And one that was supposed to get new bike lanes under the LA bike plan passed nearly a decade ago.
And the effect their — as the victim preferred to be called — death had on the people left behind.
It’s definitely a must read piece.
One that also reflects the marginalization too many people experience when they decide to get on a bike.
Even in New York, which has done far more than most major cities to tame its streets.
There remains a public perception that most cyclists are entitled hobbyists, but even normally privileged individuals who get on a bike can experience what it feels like to exist in the margins of society, where one’s right to exist without threats is frequently challenged by systematic animosity, flawed infrastructure, and inadequate legal protections. And for someone like Robyn Hightman—who had struggled to find stability in their daily life and who rode a bike as their primary mode of transportation and employment—that marginalization was exponentially more intense. Robyn had endeavored to find a safe place through riding and was denied in the most extreme way possible.
As I did the reporting for this story—talking to more than 30 people who knew Robyn well—one unexpected theme emerged: Every single person who rides a bike told me about getting hit.
And it’s far worse here in Los Angeles, where little has been done in recent years to make our streets safer and more inviting for anyone who chooses not to drive.
In an apparent effort to increase traffic congestion on a new Maryland bridge, a letter writer says bicyclists and pedestrians should pay their fair share and be subject to the same tolls drivers are. Because Lord knows you wouldn’t want to encourage people to walk or bike across the bridge instead of getting back in their cars and making traffic worse for everyone. Besides, if bike riders and pedestrians were charged our fair share, they’d have to pay us to cross.
Life is cheap in Florida, where a driver walks with loving caress on the wrist for killing a nine-year old boy riding his bike, after the judge gives her a lousy $1,000 fine and suspends her license for a whole six months. It’s hard to call that justice when it was her carelessness that sentenced an innocent little kid to death.
“We have to think about what’s going to be safe for people first, but also what’s going to work,” the mayor said of the helmet requirement. “Is it something we could actually enforce effectively? Would it discourage people from riding bikes? I care first and foremost about safety.”
Although if he truly cared about safety, he’d start by banning motor vehicles from Manhattan. And taking steps to tame them everywhere else.
Questioning whether 4th tier presidential candidate is trying to undermine his own city’s bikeshare system,Streetsblog succinctly captured their take this way —
De Brainless: Mayor Endorses Meritless Helmet and Licensing Requirements for Cyclists
Whether or not he moves forward with the license requirement, the mayor said he plans to crack down on cyclists who break traffic laws, despite little evidence suggesting that bikes are a menace to public safety.
Maybe just he’s hoping that attacking people on bikes could boost his presidential poll numbers up to a full one percent.
CiclaValley’s Zachary Rynew will be speaking at the official opening of a new section of the LA River Greenway — aka the LA River bike path — at 10 am today.
Look behind the Coffee Bean if you want to attend.
Meanwhile, Streetsblogprofiles new Caltrans Director Adetokunbo Toks Omishakin, saying he has a background in healthy living initiatives, Complete Streets and activite transportation with AASHTO, Nashville and the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Looks like we won one for a change. Buried in an LA Times story about LA’s self-appointed anti-everything NIMBY extortionists Fix the City suing to halt the city’s Transit Oriented Communities program — which would stop much-needed affordable and market-rate housing — is the news that the group’s challenge to the Los Angeles mobility plan recently failed. That should free the city to finally get started on building bike lanes and safer streets. They should change the group’s name to something else with one more letter that also starts with F, which would be a hell of a lot more accurate.
Metro will start using automated cameras on the front of their buses to catch drivers illegally using the Bus Only Lanes. Maybe they could put them on all their buses to catch people parking in bike lanes while they’re at it.
State
A 78-year old San Diego man suffered life-threatening injuries when he allegedly rode though an intersection without yielding, and collided with an SUV. As always, the question is whether there were independent witnesses who saw him violate the right-of-way.
Once again, a dangerous pass has taken the life of a bike rider, as a man riding in Fresno County was killed when a driver passed a semi and struck his bicycle head-on as he drove on the wrong side of the road.
Speaking of bike helmets, a new study shows drugs, alcohol and not wearing a helmet are frequent factors in e-scooter injuries — even though most of the injuries involved leg, ankle, collarbone, shoulder blade and/or forearm fractures, which bike helmets aren’t likely to prevent. And evidently, dangerous streets and bad drivers don’t play any role at all in e-scooter injuries.
A Minnesota woman got a minor miracle when someone spotted her stolen bike for sale on Facebook, and she arranged to meet the seller so police could swoop in and make the arrest. Which is exactly the right way to do it, without putting yourself at needless risk.
Forget parking. The newest argument against a bike lane bordering New York’s Central Park is that it would cause problems for carriage drivers and their horses. Because really, what could be more romantic than forcing bike riders to contend with impatient drivers?
Trade industry publication Bicycle Retailer and Industry News is reporting that Chad Peterson, Chief Operating Officer and Product Director for mountain bike maker Intense has died following a crash on Labor Day.
Unfortunately, no details are available. It’s not known at this time if he was injured while riding offroad, which seems most likely, or in some other way.
He moved to Intense nearly six years ago, following stops at Patagonia, Brooks England, Selle Royal and Crankbrothers.
He leaves behind his wife of 20 years, as well as two sons, the oldest of whom is a recent Marine Corp recruit.
This is how the company’s press release summed up their loss, concluding with Peterson’s favorite quote.
Chad’s strong spirit will live on in our memories,” stated Jeff Steber, INTENSE founder and CEO. “He lived his life INTENSE and his drive for cycling inspired the majority of the bikes created since his arrival. There is no person that represents INTENSE For Life in a better way than Chad has. He felt like our Superman here—always invincible—and his passing will continue to not seem real.
“It’s all OK in the end. If it is not OK, it is not the end!”
This is at least the 46th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year.
It’s unclear at this time if Peterson was injured while riding in Orange County or Riverside County; it would either be the eighth bicycling death in Orange County, or the seventh in Riverside.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Chad Peterson and all his family and loved ones.
Whether they be traffic-related or gun-related or manifest in the sheer number of folks living on the street, there’s too much evidence of how little we care for our fellow Angelenos, particularly those on the margins.
Too much evidence of how little we are willing to expend to make their lives even just the tiniest bit less fraught.
By all appearances, just another one of those Angelenos living on the margins that Sulaiman referred to.
But the simple fact is, we’re dying out here — rich and poor, bike riders, pedestrians and, yes, even drivers. And no one is doing a goddam thing about it.
Yes, our elected leaders talk about it, and make endless promises to do something.
But talk is cheap.
Speaking strictly for myself, I’m sick and tired of waiting for the day when our elected officials care enough to actually do something to keep drivers from fleeing the scenes, instead of futilely trying to track them down after the fact.
Let alone the day when our city leaders finally take our hard-won bike plan off the shelf and build the fucking thing.
And don’t even get me started on the city’s ludicrous lack of action on Vision Zero, as that promised 20% drop in traffic deaths the first year has turned into a continually rising curve.
As someone else pointed out, there’s no need to flee a crash that never happened in the first place.
I don’t have the answers. Lord knows, I wish I did.
Simply put, no one is going to walk blocks out of their way for a crosswalk if there isn’t one where they need to cross.
Nor should you have to dress up like a clown during the day, or light yourself up at night just to attract the attention of drivers who probably won’t see you anyway because their noses are illegally buried in their phones.
While people should pay attention crossing the streets — or just walking on the sidewalk, for that matter — no one has shown that distracted walking is a significant cause of traffic deaths and injuries, here or anywhere else.
And I’d much rather see someone walking after getting drunk or stoned than getting behind the wheel. Or in or on any other personal transportation device.
And yes, that includes a bicycle. Although even that is far better than driving.
Maybe next time they can try a little harder, and not just reprint AAA’s seriously windshield-biased talking points.
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Semi-frequent contributor Mike Wilkinson asked me to urge you to contact your state legislator to support SB 127, the Complete Streets Bill that would require Caltrans to consider the needs of all road users whenever they rework a state-owned or managed roadway.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on coming.
No bias here. An Oklahoma country DJ says yes, bicyclists have a right to the road, unless they get in his way or slow him down, in which case he reserves the right to throw ball bearings at them, or crash into a group ride because he somehow thinks several humans on bikes will cause less damage to his pickup than hitting an animal.
The LA Timesconsiders LA’s new Rainbow Halo project, which will place colored disks at the site of traffic fatalities to cast a rainbow on the sidewalk below, as part of the city’s Vision Zero program. So we can’t get road diets or safe bike lanes, but we’ll try to stop drivers from killing people with rainbows. Maybe they couldn’t find any unicorns, so they’re hoping to attract leprechauns.
There are worse ways to mark your 66th birthday than riding a 66-year old Bottecchia ten speed down Route 66 through Oklahoma. Except for the part where he drives part way before getting out and riding for awhile. Although anyone who would abase himself by riding in a car when he has a sweet piece of Italian steel like that really doesn’t deserve it anyway.
And a tip of the Stetson to that Okie DJ we mentioned earlier, who somehow thought this cool pre-war bike safety video was a slam against modern bike riders.
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Thanks to Matthew Robertson for his generous monthly donation to help support this site, and keep SoCal’s best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.
The crash comes barely over 24 hours after Frank Mendez messaged to say he witnessed the aftermath of another crash just half a mile away at 92nd and Compton, suggesting a major safety problem on the street; fortunately, the victim did not appear to be seriously injured in that collision.
This is at least the 45th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 19th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the ninth in the City of Los Angeles.
At least six of those deaths in the county have resulted in hit-and-runs, half of which occurred below the 10 Freeway.
