The victim, who was not publicly named, was lying dead in the roadway when police and paramedics arrived at the scene.
Both the driver and his passenger were taken to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries. Thirty-two-year old Hesperia resident John Godinez was booked on a DUI charge upon his release.
Hopefully additional — and more serious — charges will be added later.
Anyone with information is urged to call Rialto police at 909/820-2550.
This is at least the 34th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.
Update: A commenter below has identified the victim as 34-year old Justin Vaughan.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Justin Vaughan and all his loved ones.
June 13, 2019 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: A mea culpa, discussion of bikes & climate change in the ‘Bu, and murder change for speeding NoHo driver
Mea culpa. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.
Let me start with a profound apology for yesterday’s unexcused absence.
Usually when my blood sugar crashes, I get warning signs, like uncontrollable shaking or yawning, sleepiness, or the cold sweats, that allow me to catch it before it’s too late.
But sometimes, none of those thing happen. And that’s when it’s most dangerous, when I have no idea that my blood sugar has dropped to dangerous levels.
That’s what happened Tuesday night.
When I checked my blood sugar before taking the Corgi out for her last walk of the day, I felt fine. So I was shocked to discover it was just 53 mg/dl.
Normal for you is around 100; normal for me, as a diabetic, is 100 to 150.
And much below 50, for too long, is dead.
In fact, that’s the point where my doctor has instructed my wife to get me to the ER, stat, if I can’t get it back up.
I was just four points from that before I even knew there was a problem.
Fortunately, a fig bar and a bowl of ice cream got me back up around 80 mg/dl within half an hour.
And no, the irony is not lost on me that my life-saving medication is dessert for anyone else.
But the damage was done.
The symptoms, when they finally came, hit with the impact of a failed parachute.
Then once I got that under control, I passed out. Except this time, it didn’t last for just an hour or two, allowing me to resume work once I woke up.
Instead, it was 4:30 in the morning before I could rouse myself just to make it from the couch to the bed. Then almost noon before I woke up enough to take the Corgi out, sleeping through a number of alarm clocks and a phone call from my wife along the way.
Not to mention one hell of a headache.
So my apologies for not posting yesterday, or even posting about why I wasn’t posting. But I was in no shape to write anything.
And frankly, too out of it to care.
………
On the other hand, there’s one bit of good news before we get started.
My physical therapist has given me the okay to actually ride my bike out on the street, instead of on the trainer, once I feel up to it.
Problem is, I don’t feel up to it right now.
If I lived in a quieter neighborhood, or had better access to an offroad path like the LA River of Ballona Creek, I’d give it a try.
But here in Hollywood, with its heavy traffic and almost complete lack of bicycling infrastructure, I need a lot more strength in my newly repair leg before I’m confident enough to mix it up with LA drivers.
And don’t even get me started on those laughable sharrows on Vine Street.
I’m getting stronger every day now, though, and hopefully I’ll have enough confidence in my new knee to give it a try in the next week or two.
Because we definitely won’t be getting any new bike lanes anytime soon.
Now if we could just see charges like that when someone runs a bicycle rider down.
………
A British bike rider blocked a pair of angry salmon motorists from taking a short cut on the wrong side of the road. And got so many pats on the back from fellow bike riders and passing drivers he may not be able to wear a backpack for a few weeks.
Thanks to J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.
LA Councilmember Paul Koretz tries to shove the genie back in the bottle, declaring his fevered desire to get rid of e-scooters entirely, while calling them anti-Vision Zero. In which case he should support them, since he’s been fighting Vision Zero since the beginning. And if he really wants to talk anti-Vision Zero, wait until he hears about cars.
Bike lawyer Bob Mionske is back with advice for how to deal with an assault by an unfunny prankster. Best advice — always ride with a bike cam. I mount mine on my helmet; the minimal neck strain is offset by the ability to focus it anywhere I turn my head.
You’ve got to be kidding. The hit-and-run driver who fled after crashing into a Charleston SC pedicab while driving with a BAC of .24 — three times the legal alcohol limit — walked with less than a slap on the wrist, as a judge sentenced her to a fine and a lousy 48 hours of community service. If you want to know why people keep dying on our streets, this is it.
When Aussie bike riders post a video of crashes and near misses, commenters are quick to blame the people on two wheels. Even though a kangaroo caused one of them.
Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome suffered a major setback in his quest for a fifth title when he crashed into the side of a house at high speed. Froome had just finished a descent when he took his hand off his handlebars to blow his nose, and a sudden gust of wind blew him off the road; he’s currently in intensive care with undisclosed injuries.
The victim was walking or riding his bike on the west sidewalk along Fairview when man driving south on Fairview somehow jumped the curb and slammed into him.
The driver pulled into a nearby parking lot before calling 911 and running back to the scene.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was taken to a Santa Ana hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
There’s no word on why the driver jumped the curb. It’s possible he may have been distracted or under the influence; it’s also possible there may have been another vehicle involved.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Santa Ana Police Department at 714/245-8200.
This is at least the 33rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Orange County.
June 11, 2019 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: AP e-scooter panic, LA is (not) famous for road diets, and Cedillo thinks people in CD1 don’t need scooters
Andrew Hardy was crossing the street on an electric scooter in downtown Los Angeles when a car struck him at 50 miles per hour and flung him 15 feet in the air before he smacked his head on the pavement and fell unconscious.
And here’s what our anonymous commenter had to say in response.
The car was going 50 in DTLA, an area where it’s really hard and really illegal to drive 50 mph, and that is the last mention of an obviously speeding car. Instead, it gave 5 paragraphs to helmet use. It outlines the dangers of sidewalk riding (which are valid), but gives no space for discussion of weak infrastructure or vehicle speed that make people feel unsafe riding on the streets. It closes with a quote on how “companies are just dumping in scooters in cities” from Drew Howerton, a 19-year old who visited Austin last October and may not have the most informed view of municipal scooter regulation.
So, to sum it up, scooters are the problem, cars are never the problem and the reporter didn’t interview any subject matter experts. War on cars? Only in your dreams.
Since it is AP, this lazy reporting made its way into nearly every local media outlet in the country.
And one commenter opposes the road diets by insisting “This isn’t LA…”
Never mind that road diets haven’t exactly been welcomed with open arms here, either.
………
The LA City Council Transportation Committee will meet Wednesday afternoon, squeezing in discussion, amid all the micro-restrictions on truck parking and idling, of actually maybe doing something to close the Northvale Gap on the Expo Bike Path, along with banning dockless bikeshare and scooters in Gil Cedillo’s Council District 1.
Because evidently, only people in wealthier districts deserve inexpensive, convenient transportation options.
“Let them drive cars” seems to be Cedillo’s equivalent of “Let them eat cake.”
When I started writing about the war on bikes, stories like this came along maybe once or twice every few weeks; now they’re a daily occurrence. And like today, often more than one.
Kellen Winslow II has been convicted of rape, indecent exposure and lewd conduct in a series of San Diego assaults, while jurors remain deadlocked on eight other counts; the former NFL star was caught in part because Strava placed his bicycle near the site of one of the attacks
Kansas officials say that with riders from the Trans American Bike Race passing through the state, it’s a reminder for people to drive safely around bike riders, after two Trans Am competitors were killed by Kansas motorists in the past two years.
A Kiwi writer bikes Bolivia’s Death Road. Seriously, if the road had any other name, hardly anyone would bother, regardless of how scenic or challenging it might be.
Good question. A Vancouver city planner and urbanist asks if only experienced bicyclists feel safe in a painted bike lane, is it really a bike lane at all? Then again, as someone who lives in Hollywood, I’d settle for any bike lanes right now — good, bad or otherwise.
New San Gabriel Valley e-bikeshare provider Gotcha is looking to fill several positions in the LA/SGV area to help get the system up and running, including —
Architectural leaders say LA architects have to step up their game, like designing more buildings to accommodate bicycles, because cars may be a thing of the past due to the city’s “notorious traffic congestion.” We can only hope.
Great idea. Chico residents celebrate the city’s 10th annual Bicycle Music Festival by riding to several locations to hear live music, all the while being serenaded by a musician on a bike, amplified with a pedal-powered generator.
The popular Wolfpack Hustle Presents: 2019 Forsyth Cup returns to the Encino Velodrome for three days of bike racing on July 20th, August 17th and September 1st. There will be free admission and cash prizes, with free tacos, rice and beans for all spectators and participants courtesy of BikinginLA sponsor Thomas Forsyth.
I was recently interviewed by a German radio reporter about the miserable conditions on the streets of Los Angeles, and the lack of any real action on Vision Zero in the city.
Then helped her correct the, um, errors in the information she got in a later interview with LA’s favorite traffic safety deniers Keep LA Moving.
So if you understand the language better than I do, give it a listen and let us know how it went.
………
The biggest problem with the popular Orange Line Bike Path comes when you have to cross a major street. And drivers don’t exactly cooperate, as Brayden Dakota illustrates with a trio of videos.
No bias here. An Associated Press report carried by KTLA-5 says e-scooters are like a death wish, as injuries and fatalities mount. Even though only nine people have been killed on rental scooters since the beginning of 2018, compared to 38.5 million trips last year alone — which works out to just one death for every 4.2 million trips. I’ll take those odds to Vegas any day.
San Diego appointed long-time bike advocate Andy Hanshaw, executive director of the San Diego Bike Coalition, as to lead the city’s new Mobility Board.
