Word is just coming in that a bike rider has died after being struck by a car in Montbello yesterday.
Seventy-one-year old Julio Fuentes Mendoza was riding on Lincoln Ave around 6 pm when he was hit by a vehicle. He was taken to County USC, where he passed away sometime today.
The driver remained at the scene; no other details are available at this time.
A ghost bike ceremony will be held at the site on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get the exact time and location of the ceremony in advance.
This is the 72nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 28th in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Julio Mendoza and his loved ones.
As if you needed another incentive to ride a bike.
The LA Weekly says the city’s traffic congestion costs motorists $5,700 a year, compared to an average of just $1,700 nationwide. And that’s in addition to the estimated $2,458 LA drivers lose due to bad roads.
On the other hand, traffic congestion doesn’t cost bike riders a dime. Although those bad roads can bust wheels and frames.
And bones.
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Writing for Flying Pigeon, Richard Risemberg says as if anti-Fig4All City Councilmember Gil Cedillo isn’t bad enough, CD4 Councilmember Tom LaBonge manages to insert himself into bike photo ops while blocking much needed bike safety projects.
And now, Sixth Street in the Miracle Mile, a narrow four-lane that impatient scofflaws use as a fast alternative to Wilshire one block away, sometimes hitting speeds of 60 and 70 miles per hour…
Sixth Street was slated to receive a road diet, but—yes, you guessed right!—Tom LaBonge chose to “defer” it. His rationale? Road work on Wilshire might send more traffic onto Sixth. But his presumptions have led him into error: road diets, while they restrain top speeds, often smooth out traffic flow and result in quicker, if calmer, A to B transits of a street.
Something is seriously wrong when a single councilmember can derail already-approved road treatments designed by people actually qualified and paid to make those decisions.
If Mayor Garcetti really wants to do something about our dysfunctional city government, this would be a damn good place to start.
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In pro cycling news, the Astana cycling team risks losing its license for the pro tour after yet another rider is caught doping. Good thing the sport has cleaned itself up.
Meanwhile, VeloNews attempts to fit injured cycling scion Taylor Phinney for next year’s yellow jersey in the Tour de France, even though he’s still working on his comeback and has never ridden — let alone won — a single stage of the Tour.
The Guardian says bicycling is good for everyone; mass cycling could save the National Health Service £17 billion — the equivalent of $27 billion — over 20 years, and prevent 500 road deaths a year.
Britain’s Department for Transport calls for doubling cycling by 2025, but lacks the funding to do it.
And a road raging Kiwi cyclist goes off on the driver who rear–ended him following a roadside dispute; something tells me there are no innocent victims in this one.
A Hesperia mother seeks justice for the still unsolved hit-and-run death of her bike riding son; Daniel Sanchez was killed after positioning himself to protect his date from an approaching pickup.
Evidently, they take human life seriously in Hawaii, as a careless driver gets 10 years for drifting across a roadway and killing a bike rider. Note to West Hawaii Today: 66 years old is not elderly.
An Edmonton writer says city officials should give up on bike lanes because no one is going to ride during the winter. Ignoring the fact that people bike year-round in cold weather cities around the world.
Turn out Harrison Ford is one of us, as he dons spandex and yes, compression socks for a spin around London.
Big hearted Brits donate over £3000 — nearly $5000 — after a bike is stolen from a charity auction.
Just heartbreaking. A driver was holding the hand of a cyclist he’d just hit to comfort the man until help arrived when they were both struck by another car.
The car carrying Australia’s premier nearly hits a cyclist “riding dangerously down the middle of the road.” Or in other words, someone who was most likely riding safely by taking the lane.
Finally…
I want to ride it. A Glasgow artist creates a human-powered rollercoaster — in effect a multilevel figure-eight velodrome. Caught on video: A stunt rider pulls a major endo on landing after a forward flip 72 feet in the air; then again, just riding that knife edge before the jump is enough to give me nightmares.
Photo of the collision scene courtesy of Chris Willig
I’m just getting word of a fatal bicycling collision just outside of Agoura Hills last night.
Details are still sparse, however, a bike rider identified only as Pete was struck and killed at the intersection of Kanan Road and Triunfo Canyon Road in unincorparated LA County sometime yesterday evening.
The victim was well known and liked in the area; local residents report he was often seen riding his bike through the canyons, though usually without lights.
Sadly, he leaves behind a wife and two teenage daughters. He reportedly didn’t have insurance; a fund will be set up to help pay funeral expenses.
Hopefully, we’ll get more information soon.
This is the 71st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 27th in Los Angeles County.
Update: Chris Willig reports the victim’s full name is Pete Young. He was struck by a Prius headed south on Kanan around 7:16 pm, at which time it would have been full darkness, and was tended to by a doctor who lives in the area before EMTs arrived.
Willig also forwards a video — which I’m not posting due to the graphic nature of the collision scene — which shows a debris field strewn roughly 30 to 40 feet from the intersection to the right shoulder.
It would appear Young was riding just to the right of the through lane as it crossed the intersection, and that the driver would have to have drifted out of the traffic lane to hit him, and continued towards the right shoulder after the collision.
As always, the question is why.
Update 2: Evidently, pictures can be deceiving. According to a spokesperson for the CHP, Young was traveling west on Triunfo when he allegedly rode through a stop sign and was struck by a Kia — not a Prius — driven by a 19-year old driver. The driver, who was reportedly an emotional mess following the incident, stayed at the scene and attempted to help Young.
Meanwhile, a fund has been established to help defray funeral expenses for Young’s family; as of 2:30 pm today, it has already raised $1000 of the $7500 goal.
Update 3: Area resident Chris Willig offers more insights into the collision.
The CHP spokesperson is mistaken about the travel direction, Young was eastbound on Triunfo (where it doglegs to the south) preparing to make a left turn onto northbound Kanan (it is a skewed “T” intersection with Kanan headed briefly to the southeast). Young’s family lived on the south of Kanan off Mulholland, he worked on the north side and frequently made this trip. The attached aerial is top north (and unfortunately doesn’t show the recent restriping).
The impact point is to the right of the regular travel lane by several feet and would have be a “T”-bone type of hit. Since the travel lane is one lane width in front (to the southwest) of the stop limit line, it is plausible he stopped and then moved forward. The vehicle seems to have been to the right of the travel lane. This could have been the principal cause of the collision, catching Young off guard in what he might have thought was a “safe” zone.
Kanan transitions from one-lane in each direction to 2 south-bound and and one north bound lane. The right lane at the intersection are meant for turns only, but frequently through traffic violates this. We recently got the county to modify the intersection striping to make this more clear. Despite the new paint, drivers are still intent on the relatively long steep grade in front of them, lunging for more speed and the wider road ahead.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Pete Young and and all his family.
Thanks to Chris Willig and Leland Tang for their help with this story.
My suggestion is to take photos of your bike and the serial number with your cell phone, then email them to your yourself. That way, you’ll have copies in multiple places so you won’t lose or accidently delete them. And having a photo eliminates any risk of transcribing errors.
Have experience leading a nonprofit? The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is looking for a skilled new Executive Director (pdf), as well as a part-time bookkeeper (pdf). A great opportunity to help build SoCal’s leading bike organization into one of the nation’s top bike advocacy groups.
Speaking of the LACBC, they’re hosting the first ever Firefly Ball at the end of this month to benefit the coalition and honor civic leaders who help make the city more bike friendly.
A bike rider was killed after being hit by several cars while riding salmon in the traffic lane on I-80 in Vacaville; no word on why he was on the highway, let alone riding the wrong way in traffic.
Shameful. An NYPD police investigation shows a bus driver failed to yield when he left crossed a cyclist, leaving a Swedish model brain dead. Yet he walks away without charges, while she doesn’t. And never will.
Take note LA: A New York Streetsblog report says implementing the city’s Vision Zero plan will require a major culture change, as the previous item makes painfully clear.
Ooh, scary. Philadelphia’s new bike vigilante is taking on scofflaw riders by posting posters.
International
A British cyclist is knocked off his bike with a piece of wood and punched repeatedly by two men before they ran off; no word on whether it was a robbery attempt, random violence or if they knew the victim.
No, seriously. If you’ve got a bag full of meth hidden in your bike’s handlebars, put a damn light on it already. Turns out New York’s bike riding Senator Schumer takes calls while he’s riding, but will only stop riding if it’s from the president.
A very tongue-in-cheek San Jose letter writer complains that thoughtless bike riders add as much as 20 seconds to his daily commute. And keep reading for a typical windshield perspective comment from a county deputy.
Bicycling offers advice on how to deal with aggressive dogs. In my experience, the best approach is to give them an order to sit or go home in a loud, firm voice. Dogs are trained to respond to commands, so they’ll usually obey at least long enough to make your getaway.
And if you’re planning to make your getaway by bike, wear glasses so a bystander can’t spray something into your eyes and you won’t ride into a police cruiser.
News is just coming in that a bike rider has been killed in a collision in Pearblossom, near Lancaster in north LA County.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the victim, identified only as a woman, was struck by a vehicle at 7:42 pm Saturday at the intersection of Longview and Le Page Ranch Roads. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
No other details are available at this time.
A street view shows a narrow, two-lane highway with dirt shoulders intersected on one side by a dirt road.
This is the 70th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 26th in Los Angeles County. That compares to 69 in SoCal this time last year, and 29 in LA County.
Update: My News LA places the collision site one-half mile from the Devil’s Punchbowl in the Angeles National Forest.
Update 2: The Antelope Valley Times identifies the victim as Karla A. Thiel, a transient living in Littlerock.
According to the paper, Thiel was positioned two feet inside the white line. However, she was wearing dark clothes and riding without lights or reflectors; the driver reportedly never saw her before hitting her from behind at 45 mph.
Although someone should tell the CHP spokesman that in a collision at that speed, whether or not she was wearing a helmet is pretty irrelevant.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Karla Thiel and her loved ones.
Here in LA, this video would be all the evidence needed to file — and win — a suit against the driver under the city’s cyclist anti-harassment ordinance.
Instead, the Kentucky cyclist, Cherokee Schill, was charged and convicted for the crime of riding a bike in the traffic lane. And the police look the other way when she’s threatened and harassed by angry motorists.
Which is a polite way of saying they don’t give a damn because they don’t think she belongs there to begin with.
Fortunately, she’s less than $200 away from the $10,000 needed to appeal her illegal conviction.
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Caught on video: Before Governor Brown signed the current three-foot passing law, he vetoed a much better version that would have allowed drivers to briefly cross the center line to pass cyclists when it was safe to do so, fearing endless carnage and lawsuits.
Even though the state is largely immune from being sued. But still.
Caught on video: An irate woman berates a Chicago cyclist for riding on the sidewalk, nearly getting herself arrested in the process. And being unclear on the concept, tells him to ride in the street before wishing he gets hit by a car, which is probably why he was on the sidewalk to begin with.
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Caught on video: I missed this one earlier this year, as three cyclists experience a viscous goathead attack on the San Gabriel River trail. Thanks to David Wolfberg for the link.
Great idea. UCLA is hosting Bike (Re)cycling Day on Sunday the 19th; the university’s police and transportation departments will give out free abandoned bikes and parts to UCLA students, staff and faculty members.
Okay, so it’s not bike related. But in an apparent case of induced demand, travel times on the 405 freeway have increased a full minute following the $1 billion —that’s billion with a b — project to add an HOV lane through the Sepulveda pass.
Turns out there will be three workshops to discuss the Las Virgenes Malibu Regional Bike Master Plan, in Malibu on the 21st, Westlake Village on the 22nd and Calabasas on the 23rd of this month.
The Pasadena Star-News calls out one of the San Gabriel Valley’s most bike unfriendly cities while endorsing Eric Sunada for Alhambra city council. Thanks to Wesley Reutimann for the tip.
A San Diego writer says the new three-foot law will increase tensions with drivers, but gets it right in calling for more protected bike lanes. Another writer on the same site calls cyclists “scourges of the road,” while decrying that bikes aren’t required to stay three feet from drivers; seriously, I could spend all day just pointing out the fallacies in this piece of bikelash drivel.
Caltrans did the right thing for a change, building a pedestrian bridge and off-road bike path connecting Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties as part of a six-mile carpool lane project; I’m told it has dramatically improved safety for riders along the coast highway. Thanks to Alan for the heads-up.
Too typical. Santa Cruz creates up a sandwich sign to warn drivers to give cyclists three feet. Then puts it in the bike lane.
In the latest attempt to thin the herd by enabling more distracted drivers, a new app promises to let drivers use all their apps behind the wheel.
Despite that, it looks like the Feds are finally taking bike safety seriously, as the Department of Transportation releases new guidelines to make the streets safer for you and me. Maybe they could ban the use of onboard computer systems by drivers next.
Yet another caught on video, but one that can’t be embedded: A cyclist accuses a Penn university cop of using excessive force in a confrontation partially caught on camera.
After a New York driver runs down a cyclist from behind — and is found at fault by her own insurance company — she sues the victim for damaging her car. No, really.
The Daily Mail freaks out when Kerri Russell rides a bike sans helmet and talking on a cell phone.
A former British soldier recalls liberating a Dutch town in World War II by bicycle 70 years ago.
Sad to see Andy Schleck retire from pro racing at 29, after a career that started with such promise.
Okay, so maybe bicycling isn’t really the fastest form of transportation in Perth. Then again, the results might be a little different coming from a less biased source, no?
Finally…
Probably not a good idea to ask your Twitter followers to shoot another bike journalist, even if you’re not serious. Or especially if you are. If you profess to be a psychic, don’t channel a recently fallen rider, all the details of which could probably be found by picking up the local paper.
You’ll find them listed under the LADOT heading, where you can opt to receive BAC agendas and minutes, as well as other LADOT groups including the Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
And just below, you’ll find reports from the police and fire commissions. Both of which have a lot to say about your ability to ride legally and safely.
Thanks to BAC members David Wolfberg and Glenn Bailey for the heads-up.
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The LAPD cracks down on salmon cyclists at USC, calling it a last resort in response to a rising number of bike collisions on and around the campus.
Actually, the last resort appears to be campus officials acknowledging the high level of bike commuting students, and working with city officials to accommodate bike riders so they don’t feel a need to break the law.
Flying Pigeon’s Richard Risemberg attends a glum Bicycle Plan Implementation meeting, which brightens considerably when he discovers new LADOT head Seleta Reynolds had been listening patiently for the whole meeting. Turns out she stopped by Tuesday’s BAC meeting, too.
Cyclists are invited to participate in a public workshop on October 22nd to develop a joint bike plan for Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu and Westlake Village.
Inland riders are gearing up for Sunday’s Temecula Valley Century, with five rides ranging from 6.4 to 101.5 miles. None of which is a bike race, regardless of what the Press Enterprise might say.
The SF Gate talks with the Sonoma County Gran Fondo cyclist felled by a squirrel through the spokes; he was lucky to get away with a concussion and minor facial fracture. And you don’t want to miss that amazing photo of the squirrel jammed in his wheel; then again, maybe you do. Thanks to Kent D for the second link.
Now that’s more like it. A Texas driver gets 18 years — yes, years — in jail for killing a cyclist while under the influence. He was caught attempting to hide the victim’s body after driving away with his headlights off when the bike rider tumbled into the bed of his truck following the collision.
There’s a special place in hell for someone who’d shoot a seven-year old Detroit girl out riding her bike; she was collateral damage in a car-to-car shootout.
A Brit police and crime commissioner says cyclists should be forced to wear numbered plates big enough to be read at a distance so they can be identified and prosecuted when they break the law. After all, that’s worked so well to curb law-breaking by motorists, right?
Despite what the local authorities say, the jerks who stretched a cord across a British roadway at neck height aren’t morons, they’re terrorists attempting to injure or intimidate bicyclists and motorcyclists.
This is not the news any of us wanted to wake up to.
Multiple sources report a 57-year old bike rider was killed when he was trying to cross Camino del Rio West at Hancock Street in San Diego around 11:15 pm last night. The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was headed west on Hancock when he was struck and killed by a Jeep SUV traveling south on Camino del Rio.
According to San Diego’s ABC 10 News, a witness reportedly saw the west-bound victim run the red light before he was hit by the Jeep that had just exited the freeway. Police say the driver does not appear to have broken any laws.
“He was crossing the street while the light was green,” witness Kevon Smith said. “It wasn’t his light, it was the opposite light. And he just went on his bike, didn’t stop… A Jeep, it was already coming off the freeway, it tried to slow down, (and) hit him.”
Advocacy group Bike SD describes Camino del Rio West as a virtual freeway with six lanes of traffic where speeds frequently exceed 50 mph. And notes that cyclists often have a hard time triggering the traffic light on Hancock, which could explain why the rider went through it; it’s not clear whether he stopped before proceeding or just kept going without stopping.
This is the 69th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 9th in San Diego County; surprisingly, it’s the first bike-related death in the city of San Diego since the first of this year.
Update: The San Diego Union-Tribune identifies the victim as 57-year old San Diego resident Edmund Nicholas Davis. According to the paper, Davis was riding in the crosswalk, against the light, when he was hit.
The paper also says he was a registered sex offender who had been convicted of child molestation, as well as rape.
My sympathy and prayers for Edmund Nicholas Davis and his loved ones, as well as his victims.
