Had LADOT been allowed to carry out it’s plans, the street would have undergone a road diet. Not just to install bike lanes, but to calm dangerous high-speed traffic.
Now a bike rider is dead, the victim of a speeding hit-and-run driver.
At that speed, there is virtually no chance of survival. Especially since the victim was dragged several hundred feet underneath the car as it sped away.
The second rider wasn’t struck. No word on whether they were riding or walking in the crosswalk.
The victim has not been publicly identified; he is described only as a man in his 20s.
The car’s bumper was left lying in the road, which should make the car easy to identify if it can be found. Police are looking for a small black sedan, possibly a Nissan Altima.
There should be an automatic $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver, based on the hit-and-run reward program recently passed by the city council.
Despite overwhelming support in public meetings, plans for a road diet to improve safety on North Figueroa were halted by Councilmember Gil Cedillo.
Cedillo claimed he was canceling the plans for safety reasons, an argument this morning’s wreck has proven wrong.
Now he has to answer to the victim’s family. And the rest of us.
This is the 34th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 15th in LA County; it’s also the eighth in the City of Los Angeles.
Update: An arrest has been made in the case.
According to KTLA-5, a witness tipped police to the location of the abandoned vehicle, which had biological matter from the victim on it.
That led them to 21-year old Alexis Virto, who was found asleep in bed with his girlfriend at 7:15 am, roughly four hours after the collision.
Virto was still drunk when he was taken into custody. He insisted that he wasn’t the driver; however, he had injuries consistent with a crash, and windshield debris clinging to his hair.
He was booked on suspicion of second-degree murder and felony drunk driving with great bodily injury.
The LA Times reports the victim is a 33-year old man, whose identity is being withheld pending notification of his family.
The Times also says there were 68 collisions that resulted in severe injuries to bicyclists on that stretch of North Figueroa between 2002 and 2012; there were also nine pedestrians killed in that time period.
Why was this person on the street at 3am? Usually only meth-head criminals looking for something to steal are riding around on bikes at that hour.
Update 2: The LA District Attorney’s office has finally identified the victim as Jose Luna, also known as Bizzy.
According to the press release, his alleged killer, Alexis Virto, has been charged with one count each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage causing injury, driving with a .08% blood alcohol content causing injury and hit and run driving resulting in death or serious injury to another person. Not surprisingly, he entered a plea of not guilty to each count.
Virto reported drove the length of two football fields with Luna on the hood of his car.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jose “Bizzy” Luna and his family.
Thanks to everyone who tipped me off to this story. And thanks to fig4all and Terri Moore for their help in IDing the victim.
June 25, 2015 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Metro commits to DTLA bikeshare, US pros swear they’re clean, and $50K reward for fatal hit-and-run
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton says we should let the disparate systems thrive. I wish I could share his optimism; my fear is that multiple, incompatible bikeshare systems will doom them to failure.
And British pro Lizzie Armistead has recovered from her recent collision with finish line photographers, and will be racing in the country’s national championships this weekend.
CiclaValley pens an ode to the 300 volunteers helping to put on Sunday’s LA River Ride. I’m planning to be there, so stop by the main LACBC booth and say hi after your ride.
Malibu’s city council approved the new PCH safety study by a vote of four to zero; as the story notes, the problems will come when it’s time to implement the recommendations over the likely objections of local residents.
Some Redondo Beach residents are declaring the city’s new separated bike lanes, sharrows and reverse-angle parking a failure a whole week after they were officially unveiled.
For reasons that probably only make sense to them, the CHP opposes a statewide hit-and-run alert system; you’re urged to voice your support for the bill before Monday.
The bike rider who was deliberately run down by the UC Santa Barbara shooter has filed a lawsuit against the shooter’s parents, as well as the university, the county and the sheriff’s department.
Now that’s more like it. A Florida man gets 20 years — yes, 20 — for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider.
International
A bike thief with a conscience returns the BMX bike he stole and rebuilt, and offers a heartfelt apology to the parents of the bike’s 11-year old Calgary owner eight months after he died in an accident — and exact one year after he first brought the bike home.
Speaking of Calgary, the local police get it, saying of you’re too drunk to drive, you’re too drunk to ride. But if they had to choose, they’d rather see you drunk on two wheels than behind one.
London mayoral candidates says the priority given to motor vehicles in the city has to end. Any chance we could get them to move here?
A salmon cyclist reportedly yelled at a UK pedestrian to get out of the way before slamming into her and riding off, breaking her leg in five places.
A Portland Baptist church isn’t really calling for a cover-up of the city’s World Naked Bike Ride. Your next e-bike foldie could provide turn-by-turn navigation and warn you about potholes. But not, evidently, naked bike riders. Or Baptists.
The problem with sharrows is that they put you right in the path of drivers.
Impatient, road-raging and brake-checking drivers, at times, as cyclist Michael Schinderling learned out the hard way while riding on Fountain Ave in Los Angeles.
The driver first honks, then repeatedly slams on his brakes in front of him. Even though Schinderling was riding exactly where the sharrows indicate he should be.
The big problem with LA’s cyclist anti-harassment ordinance is that it’s so hard to get proof that a driver deliberately antagonized a rider.
But this looks like an open-and-shut case.
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Caught on video: Those new Redondo Beach separated bike lanes seem to be working well. Except for curb-jumping drivers who can’t seem to figure out why the traffic lane is green and there are so many bikes in it.
Meanwhile, former pro team leader Bjarne Riis chose to ignore doping by his riders. Or more likely, tacitly encouraged it, if not openly.
Cycling Weekly looks at the best bike tans in the peloton. Dutch police evidently feel the best way to get a new collective bargaining agreement is to delay riders in the Tour de France, thus ensuring it won’t besmirch their country again.
The LA-area’s Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) wants your input on a new regional transportation plan.
State Assemblymember Richard Bloom and two Westside councilmembers say Metro is going the wrong way with plans for a bike share system that will be incompatible with systems opening soon in Long Beach and Santa Monica, and as well as systems planned for West Hollywood, UCLA and yes, the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills.
The second Tour de Laemmle will roll on July 19th, as Greg Laemmle invites you to ride with him on all or part of a 125+ mile tour of all the Laemmle Theaters.
State
Santa Ana conducts a reverse road diet, forcing long-time residents out of their homes to make room for an added lane and bike lanes on Warner Ave, as the OC Register says evicted residents will have to be made whole.
A bike rider suffered major injuries in a collision with a pickup in Anaheim on Tuesday; a comment on Bike Forums suggests the victim was riding in the crosswalk over the onramp to the 57. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the link.
Big oops from the Bay, as San Francisco retracts a report that a new bikeway saw a 651% jump in bike traffic; the actual figures ranged from a 12% to 62% increase depending on time of day. You’d think someone would have noticed that those numbers seemed just a tad high before sending out the press release.
Oakland is planning to trade traffic lanes for bike lanes, with twelve road diets proposed for the next three years; needless to say, bike riders are thrilled while motorists are worried. Maybe Oakland could explain how the process works to Santa Ana.
The Marin tech exec who viciously beat a driver who clipped him with his mirror has been found guilty of felony battery and misdemeanor assault; he faces up to four years in prison. Seriously, never resort to violence. Period.
Evidently, the penalty in Texas for riding a bike without lights is to get Tased, then beaten after falling off your bike. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.
Needless to say, Chicago business owners are worried about the loss of parking with the city’s first curb-protected bike lane; Chicagoist asks if it will be good for business. Bikes are usually good for business. And there’s something seriously wrong if your customers won’t walk a few extra feet to do business with you.
A Maine driver is accused of intentionally running down a 10-year old boy on a bike over a dispute with the kid’s mother; unbelievably, the man was released on just $1,000 bail — despite using his car as a weapon to attack a child.
Caught on video: The UK’s “vigilante cyclist” catches a woman texting behind the wheel with two kids in her car. I see something similar almost every time I ride. Like a woman who was steering with her knees as she texted with her kids in the back seat.
Switzerland is telling e-bike riders to slow down, following a rise in single-vehicle bike wrecks due to riders misjudging their speed and stopping times.
India gets its first cycling café in the “Detroit of India” even though the city doesn’t have a single bike lane.
Australian bike riders may soon be allowed to ride on sidewalks in the state of Victoria, but could face on-the-spot fines for using a handheld phone. So what happens if they can’t pay? Are they arrested on the spot?
It takes a bold thief to ride off with a bike cop’s bike as she stood just a few feet away. Caught on video: an Ohio bird defends his territory against a cyclist. Or maybe he just doesn’t like they guy’s taste in bike helmets.
And a new study from the University of Duh confirms that marijuana use impairs driving. Next up, a study confirming that it gives people the munchies, too.
……..
I need to find a better name for the Morning Links, since I seem to be temporally challenged these days. Chain Links is too cutsie, while Bike News seems a little dull.
Not women on adult tricycles. Or the dogs they carry with them.
That’s exactly what happened last night in Garden Grove, as suspected DUI driver killed a cyclist, and her little dog, too.
According to the Orange County Register, a woman believed to be in her 50s was riding her adult tricycle eastbound on Chapman Ave near Faye Ave, carrying a small dog in the bike’s basket, when she was struck from behind by a pickup around 9:45 pm.
One of the Register’s photos from the scene shows damage to the hood of the truck, suggesting she was thrown onto it by the force of the impact, while KTLA-5 says the dog was thrown several feet away, still inside the basket.
No word on whether she was using lights or reflectors after dark.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene; she has not been publicly identified. Her dog died later at an Orange County Animal Services clinic.
The driver, 58-year old Rita Faye McLaughlin of Santa Ana, remained at the scene, and was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI after failing a field sobriety test.
Anyone with information is urge to call the Garden Grove Police at 714/741-5800.
This is the 33rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth in Orange County; that compares with 10 in the county this time last year. It’s the first bicycling death in Garden Grove since November, 2012.
Meanwhile, Toronto takes action to improve safety, dropping speed limits on residential streets to the equivalent of 18 mph; then again, the city clearly needs help. Of course, enforcement is the key; LA has a 25 mph speed limit on most residential streets, which is almost universally ignored.
Even formerly auto-centric Malibu is making improvements on the deadly coast highway, as the three-year PCH safety study is finally ready for approval by the city council. The plan calls for bike lanes the full length of PCH through the city — except where that would mean the loss of a parking space, of course.
On the other hand, a Montreal writer says we should stop wasting money and road space on bicycles when we can just get on the damn sidewalks, instead.
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton tries to put LA declining driving rate in perspective; evidently, it ties in nicely with the declining national trend, even if traffic planners and LA city council members haven’t noticed yet.
After a too close call, a texting LA driver gives it up and urges everyone else to put their phones down, too.
Just days before an LA man was attacked with a machete in an attempted bike theft, a Pasadena bike rider was punched in the face when he refused to give up his bike to a would-be robber.
San Mateo cyclists and pedestrians could soon get a new bridge over the 101.
The bike-riding COO of Berkley-based GU Energy labs is tired of cleaning up after you. Seriously, shove your trash in a jersey pocket or your seat bag when you ride, and throw it away somewhere besides the side of the road.
Good question. Writing for the Guardian, our own Nate Berg asks if Google’s new bike plan will help riders in the rest of the often bike-unfriendly Silicon Valley.
Just Another Cyclist, aka Ross Del Duca, looks at paying for the roads and the anti-bike argument that just refuses to die.
A new lighted bicycle lock on Kickstarter aims to keep more than your bike safe. Even if they did name it after a leading porn producer.
A Las Vegas cyclist is calling for safer roads and better drivers after his neck was broken in a hit-and-run.
A Texas driver is under arrest in the hit-and-run death of a cyclist riding in a bike lane; the driver claimed he thought he hit a deer on the city street, which is evidently why he sped away so fast witnesses couldn’t keep up with his car. Thanks to Steve Katz for the heads-up.
A Cincinnati resident calls on the city to build out the bike plan when they fix streets. Which is exactly what’s supposed to be happening here, but doesn’t always. Right, Councilman Koretz?
A South Carolina writer says we all have to obey the same rules. Including the bike rider who slammed into a pedestrian after blowing a stop, and left without leaving his contact information. Even if you did stop, it’s still hit-and-run if you leave the scene without exchanging information, regardless of whether you’re on two wheels or four.
An apparently suicidal New York cyclist is blamed for inexplicably swerving into the side of a truck in a fatal collision. Because no truck driver would ever pass too close, right?
A British drivers’ group offers surprisingly good advice on how to share the road with bike riders — including if one cyclist does something dangerous, don’t assume all cyclists do.
An Aussie study says the country’s mandatory helmet law really did reduce head injuries 29%, without noticeably reducing riding rates.
Finally…
Let’s end on a rare double caught on video, as an Indiana bike rider captures a series of bizarre lights in the sky on his bike cam, which NASA says is probably just lightening. Because they don’t want us to know about the coming alien invasion, right?
Police have finally made the connection that seemed to be obvious.
The Press-Enterprise reported yesterday that a man had been found dead on a bike trail near Hemet on Sunday, a day after a mountain biker had been reported missing in the same area.
Yet even after authorities identified the victim, they wouldn’t say if he was the person who had been reported by his family when he failed to return from a Saturday off-road ride.
That changed tonight when police finally confirmed that 33-year old Hemet resident Shane Gainer had been found dead after riding in the hills a mile north of Simpson Park.
Police located his car in the park’s parking lot, then conducted a search of the area before finding his body in a ravine off one of the trails in the area.
No cause of death was evident; the Press-Enterprise reports it could take up to six weeks to get the results of an autopsy and toxicology report.
However, the paper reports temperatures in the area reached 100 degrees on Saturday, which could easily have resulted in dehydration or heat stroke.
This is the 32nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth in Riverside County. That compares with eight in the county this time last year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Shane Gainer and his family.
