Too often when someone is injured while riding a bicycle, we never hear any more about it.
This time we did. But the news wasn’t good.
According to multiple, virtually identicalnews reports, 61-year old Scott Andrew Morris died three weeks to the day after suffering a head injury in an Irvine collision earlier this month.
Morris was riding his beach cruiser north on MacArthur Blvd, in the onramp to the 405 Freeway, around 1:20 pm on Thursday, August 1st, when police say he suddenly turned to the left, crashing his bike into the passenger door and mirror of a massive Chevy Suburban SUV.
He fell to the ground, striking his head, and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died on Thursday.
The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.
Morris was not wearing a helmet. Which is worth noting this time, since he apparently died of a head injury; however, we don’t know how fast the SUV was going, or whether the crash would have been survivable with or without one.
Although another possible explanation for how the collision unfolded is that Morris was forced to ride across a dangerous slip lane designed for high speeds, with no bike infrastructure or safety accommodations of any kind. And was sideswiped by the driver, who either didn’t see him or was trying to get around his bike as Morris tried to make his way across.
Something that could be supported by damage to the Suburban’s passenger-side mirror, which would have likely hit Morris first if the driver struck him, rather than the other way around.
The question is whether there were independent witnesses to the crash, or any video evidence, or if investigators simply took the driver’s word for it, since Morris may have been unable to give his version of events.
Anyone with information is urged to call Irvine Police detectives at 949/724-7024.
This is at least the 34th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Orange County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Scott Andrew Morris and all his loved ones.
August 21, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Guest Post: Take a brief SAFE survey to influence the future of California traffic safety
I received the following email from Sonia Garfinkel of Streets Are For Everyone, asking to share a brief survey about California traffic laws.
Since I’m still working with one hand, I asked if I could share her letter in the form of a guest post.
So please take just a few moments to compete this important survey, and help influence the future safety on our streets.
My name’s Sonia, and I’m pleased to be writing a guest post for this great community and readership. My organization, Streets Are For Everyone (known as SAFE), works to improve the quality of life for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers alike by reducing traffic fatalities to zero. SAFE is conducting a research project focused on California drivers’ knowledge of driving laws, and we need your responses! We will use the response data to guide SAFE-sponsored legislation that will require the California DMV to provide updated education on existing and new driving laws. In order for this survey to be equitable and representative, we need to collect data from as many communities as possible.
That’s where you come in! We would love for you totake our 5-minute survey on California driving laws. We would also appreciate it if you could share our survey to your networks via social media, email, or any other method. We have created a social media toolkit to make it easier to share the survey.Thank you for your responses, and your help!
They all died at the scene, despite the efforts of paramedics. They were identified only as a 30-year old white man and a 38-year old woman man who had been on the motorcycle, and a 57-year old Black man riding the bicycle.
Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on how the crash occurred.
Anyone with information as urged to call the Victorville Police Department at 760/241-2911, or call anonymously at 800/782-7463.
This is at least the 33rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the just the second that I’m aware this year in San Bernardino County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for all the victims and their loved ones.
I was hoping to post one last time before my shoulder surgery. But my surgery time was move up several hours, which means I should be sleeping already if I’m going to make it on time.
I’ll be out for most, if not all, of the month. But we should have a number of guest posts between now and then, so keep checking back. Or better yet, sign up for the email list over there on the right to ensure you won’t miss anything.
Stay safe out there, and ride with a smile on your face. And I’ll see you again in a few weeks.
August 6, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Bicyclists framed for bear’s murder in Central Park, and El Segundo bike rider critically injured by driver fleeing cops
Clearly, I’m still having trouble keeping this site online.
I’m told the problem is outdated and incompatible apps bringing it down, so maybe that’s something I can work on one-handed when I’m out following my surgery. Keep your fingers crossed that I get this post up and you get to read it before it goes down again.
Because that seems to be a thing right now.
I hope to be back again tomorrow before I go under the knife.
………
Just 147 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
But he ran out of time before he had to catch a flight. So rather than let a good dead bear go to waste, he took it to New York’s Central Park and dumped it next to a bicycle, staging the scene to make it look like a bike rider had killed the bear and run away afterwards.
Never mind that a crash with a bicycle is highly unlikely to kill even the barest of a bear. Which, as I recall, was what I wrote at the time, as the media ran wild with the story of the heartless killer bike rider who ran away rather than face the consequences for killing a cute, cuddly walking teddy bear.
This at a time when the media was whipping up a frenzy over New York’s expanding bicycle network, which eventually proved to be a boon to businesses and property values.
As well as reports of reckless, scofflaw bike riders crashing into joggers in Central Park and pedestrians everywhere, in which the person on two wheels inevitably received the full blame for the actions of both parties.
That was the environment in which Kennedy the Younger played his joke, leading to a police investigation that went nowhere.
Evidently, forensics don’t work on bear carcasses, since the cops couldn’t seem to figure out that the fatal injuries caused by a motor vehicle couldn’t have been caused by a lightweight bicycle.
However, it’s likely that Kennedy’s belated confession wasn’t just an effort to cleanse his soul and lighten the bear burden on his conscience.
Rather, he was apparently trying to get ahead of a rumored unflattering story in the New Yorker that would have pointed the finger at the formerly feckless scion of the Kennedy clan for the bear’s demise.
Or at least why its final resting place was next to a Central Park roadway rather than out in the woods.
The driver was fleeing from a traffic stop by members of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s gang and narcotics team when he slammed into the man riding a bicycle at Center Street and Mariposa Ave around 3 pm.
As usual, there’s no word on the victim’s current condition.
Police found the driver’s car nearby after he escaped on foot.
A new re-wilding project in Wales is being funded by the same mountain bikers usually accused of destroying nature, not restoring it. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.
Hong Kong bicycling deaths tripled over the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year — and already top the six riders killed in all of 2023. Although that’s just a quarter of the 24 bike riders killed in Los Angeles last year, even though Hong Kong has twice the population.
Aussie cyclist Rohan Dennis will face trial on charges of causing death by dangerous driving and driving without due care in the death of his his wife and fellow Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins.
August 3, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Breaking news: Man riding bicycle killed in Hyde Park hit-and-run; 12th SoCal bike rider killed by hit-and-run drivers this year
Yet another Southern California bike rider has been killed by a heartless hit-and-run driver.
He was identified only as a man in his 40s. His killer was apparently nowhere to be found.
Unfortunately, there’s no word at this time just how the crash happened, or any description of the driver or suspect vehicle. Hopefully we’ll learn more soon.
This is at least the 32nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth that I’m aware this year in Los Angeles County; it’s also just the fifth in the City of Los Angeles — at least that we know about.
Twelve of those SoCal deaths have been the victims of heartless cowards who didn’t have the basic human decency to stick around afterward.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
