Then fled the scene without stopping. Or apparently giving a damn.
The couple were riding on Jefferson Boulevard at Denker Avenue in Expo Park around 10:30 pm when the victim was struck by a speeding driver headed west on Jefferson.
The man, who has not been publicly identified, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died a short time later.
His girlfriend was uninjured, though the trauma of watching someone she cared about get killed right in front of her last a lifetime.
A street view shows a four lane street with left turn bays, and no bike lanes or any other form of infrastructure or protection for people on bicycles.
Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD South Traffic Division Detective Flannery or Officer Pollard at 323/421-2500. As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
Hopefully that will be enough to bring this coward to justice.
This is at least the 40th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 16th I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the eighth in the City of Los Angeles.
Update: A friend of the victim, who remains unidentified publicly, tells me was almost home when he was killed.
I may have witnessed the high water mark of driver entitlement and assholery yesterday.
A paramedic unit came up our narrow street yesterday with red lights and siren blazing, then came to a halt in front of the building next door, blocking the entire roadway.
An Uber driver came up the street and stopped behind them. After a few seconds, he started blaring on his horn for them to get the hell out of his way.
Then wisely shifted into reverse and made a fast three-point turn to go the other way when an angry LA firefighter got out of the truck and started walking back towards his car.
He nearly left skid marks going around the corner to get away — and probably on his seat, too.
And was barely out of sight before the paramedic unit took off again, this time with someone aboard.
In June, Critical Mass got pulled over. In front of the McDonald’s at Hollywood & Highland. No need to go into the history of previous Mass/LAPD interaction at this exact location, right?
We were eastbound on Hollywood Blvd, and Brian, who drives the lead support vehicle, had remained stopped through a green interval. The ride was pretty big (yay summer vacation!), and this stop was to allow the stragglers huffing uphill to catch up. As soon as Brian proceeded across the intersection, BOOM, lights & sirens. Brian pulled over to the curb, so the whole ride stopped, too. In the intersection.
I was five bikes over, on the left of the leftmost lane, so I couldn’t hear the exchange, but I saw Brian staying calm and presenting his driver’s license. Altogether four LAPD cruisers responded, one of which whipped eastbound down the westbound lane of H’wood, closer to my left elbow than I liked.
After a few minutes, the ride marshals herded us forward, and we stopped again on Hollywood at Normandie. Because our AirBnB was nearby, this is where my bf & I ditched, but not before asking the SAG vehicle guys for an update. Apparently, Brian wasn’t cited. And nobody had their phones stomped into confetti by jackbooted thugs this time. I look forward to getting more details next Friday.
San Francisco supervisors vote to tame traffic by closing a busy street for one block, while installing protected bike lanes in other sections. Meanwhile, LA officials lack the courage to take the obvious step of turning Hollywood & Highland into a pedestrian plaza.
A Seattle bike rider calls for protected bike lanes after getting squeezed off the road when a semi driver cut into the narrow painted bike lane he was riding in. Although it’s never a good idea to undertake a big truck, whether or not you’re in a separate lane. And especially not when he’s got his flashers on.
Bike riders, skateboarders and e-scooter riders will now be required to get off and walk on the street in front of Coors Field when the Colorado Rockies baseball team is playing.
You’ve got to be kidding. A Vancouver criminal defense attorney attempts to justify an $81 fine a careless driver received for killing a bike rider in a dooring, saying the driver merely forgot to check his blindspot before opening the door and nothing he did showed a disregard for life or safety. Except maybe failing to check his blindspot before opening his door and killing another person. Yeah, except that.
Britain’s Chris Froome has won the Vuelta a España. No, not this year’s, the 2011 Vuelta, after Spain’s Juan José Cobo was disqualified for doping eight years after the fact.
There’s no explanation given for why the victim was riding in the traffic lane, as opposed to the paved shoulder. Or whether he was riding in the center of the lane, or hugging the white line at the edge of the road.
The driver remained at the scene, and was not suspected of being under the influence.
Anyone with information is urged to call CHP office in Ventura at 805/662-2640.
This is at least the 39th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third I’m aware of in Ventura County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
July 18, 2019 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Hermosa Beach sharrows fight, and what the hell is going on with LADOT and the Arroyo Seco Bike Path?
The incident started when the guy on the bike complained that the driver passed too close while he was riding on the city’s sharrows. Then allegedly attack the other man after he stepped out of his car.
Police officials say the incident is still under investigation, but that both men could be responsible for the incident.
Meanwhile, the man who shot the video says he rides a bike too. But thinks the sharrows make bike riders “feel entitled to more than common sense would allow.”
Even though that’s the exact purpose of sharrows, to demonstrate to everyone that bicyclists are entitled to ride in the lane, and just where they should be positioned.
And even though sharrows don’t give bike riders any rights we don’t already have on virtually any other street.
………
Good Twitter thread asking what the hell is going on with the seemingly endless closure of the Arroyo Seco Bike Path in Gil Cedillo’s 1st Council District, as LADOT insists they’re working on it.
And the LACBC politely responds, not very hard.
Twitter post
Twitter post
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………
Thanks to Opus the Poet for forwarding this educational video on how to throw a monkey wrench into the usual auto-centrism.
A self-described avid bicyclist insists bikes don’t belong on the streets, and says Las Vegas should start building wider sidewalks that bike riders can share with walkers and joggers. Aside from the obvious conflicts of sharing sidewalks, that begs the question, if bikes don’t belong on the streets, where does he ride now?
Sometimes, though, it’s the people on bikes behaving badly.
Illinois police are looking for the adult male bike rider who stopped kids on a bike path, dropped his pants, and offered them money to change his diaper. Twice.
Former New York Rangers hockey player Sean Avery is continuing his one-man defense of the city’s bike lanes, posting obscenity-laced videos on Instagram that deservedly, but rudely, call out the delivery people who block them; he’s currently facing charges for smashing his scooter into a driver’s car.
One of the counter protesters at the recent small demonstration demanding the removal of the Broadway road diet in Long Beach was the CEO of the company hired to manage the city’s bikeshare program, who carried a sign saying road diets save lives — even though his car’s mirror was knocked off by a passing driver while parked on the street.
State
The OC Register profiles Tustin’s Geoff Frost, a butterfly gardener, pine cone jewelry designer, didgeridoo craftsman, and now, beekeeper. And when he’s not doing all that, he sidelines as the manager of the Path Bike Shop.
Colorado bike riders will face a 1.6-mile detour after a separated bikeway between Denver and Boulder was closed when a bridge collapsed due to the ground subsiding beneath it.
A San Antonio TX driver learns the hard way that it’s probably not the best idea to run over a bike cop’s bicycle while fleeing a simple traffic stop.
Yes, it really does happen. A Brooklyn bike rider was seriously injured when he suddenly cut across both lanes of traffic, and was hit by a driver traveling in the opposite direction in a crash caught on security cam.
Another reminder that people in more enlightened countries can buy insurance to cover them and their bikes when they ride. Unlike the US, where you can only get collision insurance if you own a car. The main reason I’ve held onto my car this long is my reluctance to give up uninsured motorist coverage, which protects you on your bike, as well as your car.
Although something tells me the families and loved ones of the victims are pretty damn distraught, too.
The victims were riding in a marked bike lane when the driver pulled out of a San Jose strip mall parking lot and slammed into them yesterday morning; somehow going fast enough to cause life-threatening injuries to two people, despite just leaving the lot.
“Any time you’re exiting a parking lot, you have yield to pedestrian, vehicle traffic, as well as bicycles. So, the bicyclists would have the right of way because they were already in the roadway traveling southbound on Vistapark,” said Gena Tepoorten of the San Jose Police Department. “She was exiting a parking lot, we know, when this happened.”
Particularly since parking lots are usually controlled with either a stop sign or stop light, suggesting she had to speed through one or the other to cause that much harm.
Now he’s off on his latest adventure, a three and a half month bikepacking journey that will take him up to Seattle, down the left coast to Tijuana, and back up to Colorado, hitting a number of national and state parks along the way.
Not to mention a brief layover at BikinginLA world headquarters in Hollywood.
F. Lehnerz forwards video of a road raging driver who brake checked a group of bike riders, then got out of his car to scream at them for the crime of not riding their bikes the way he thought they should. Unfortunately, no word on where this took place.
No one is using Aspen, Colorado’s new $20,000 bike lockers, even though they rent for just $40 a season and have been moved to other locations to draw more interest. For 40 bucks, I’ll take one if they’ll move it to Los Angeles. Or move me to Aspen.
An older Boulder CO bike rider wants to know what happened to the formerly common bike courtesy of calling out “On your left!” when passing another rider or pedestrian. Good question, although I’ve found “Passing on your left” to be more effective. But whether you use your voice or a bell, some sort of audible warning should be given.
Shreveport police are looking for a car that fled the scene after striking a kid on a bicycle, since it apparently didn’t have a driver. Thanks again to F. Lehnerz for the tip.
A British neurosurgeon says skip the helmet, arguing that bike helmets are too flimsy and ineffective to do any good, and may encourage risky behavior. He also says people look at him like he’s mad when he rides in his cowboy hat and boots. Which is understandable, considering the relative lack of actual cowboys in the UK.
