June 15, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: 17-year old boy killed by San Diego Amtrak train after riding around crossing gates; 2nd SoCal bike death Friday
Sadly, there was more bad news for the Southern California bicycling community on Friday.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was crossing the railroad tracks on Sorrento Valley Blvd, between Sorrento Valley Road and Roselle Street, when he was hit by the southbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner at 12:34 pm.
He died at the scene.
The victim was one of three boys who stopped their bikes at the railroad crossing gates to wait for a northbound train to pass. But as so often happens, he rode around the gates after that train had passed, not realizing another train was coming in the opposite direction.
Tragically, Fox5 reports that the victim’s parents arrived shortly after the crash, while officials were still removing his mangled bike from the tracks.
The other two boys were not injured. It’s not clear if they were riding with the victim, or just happened to stop together at the gates.
This is yet another tragic reminder to always wait until the gates go up to cross any rail tracks, regardless of whether it seems safe at the time.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Sheriff’s Department’s non-emergency line at 858/565-5200.
This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
Friday was a bad day for Southern California bike riders — starting with a deadly pre-dawn wreck in Long Beach.
According to My News LA, the victim was riding east on 7th Street at Bellflower Blvd around 5:05 am, when he was run down from behind by a driver traveling in the same direction.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, died at the scene before paramedics arrived.
The driver stopped after the crash. Police don’t believe that speeding, distracted driving, or driving under the influence were factors in the crash.
There’s no word on whether the victim had lights on his bike in the pre-dawn hour, or why the driver was apparently unable to see him riding directly in front of their vehicle.
According to reports, the victim was riding in the right traffic lane when he struck by the driver, who also has not been publicly identified.
However, there is a bike lane on 7th, which the victim would likely have been riding in unless it was blocked, or he was moving across the roadway to make a turn.
Since his body was found on the sidewalk, it seems more likely that the driver drifted into the bike lane, knocking him to the right, than the other way around.
Anyone with information is urged to call Long Beach Police Detective Joseph Johnson at 562/570-7355, or Crime Stoppers at 800/222-TIPS.
This is at least the 23rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
June 14, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Convenience over safety on Western, assaulting Redondo Beach ebikers, and proclaiming June CA Mountain Bike Month
Just 200 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We finally made it up to 1,204 signatures! I’ll send this to the mayor’s office on Monday, so there’s still time to sign it!
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Please forgive the recent unexcused absences, caused by my site crashing one night, and me the other, as caring for my wife’s and my unrelated injuries is still taking a toll on me.
The good news is, my ribs are almost healed, and I’m getting PT for my back. The bad news, my shoulder is screwed. I’ll find out just how bad, and what that means going forward, next week.
The project, scheduled to get underway in 2026, is slated to included bus lanes and bike lanes, as well as other traffic safety and streetscape improvements.
The bipartisan and bicameral ACR 152 now moves on to the state Senate for final approval, then onto the governor’s desk for his signature. And while Newsom has been hard to predict when it comes to bike bills, there shouldn’t be any reason why he’d say no to this one.
No bias here. Washington and Oregon GOP legislators suggest charging tolls to bicyclists on a new Interstate Bridge Replacement project, or banning bikes from the new span entirely, arguing that the project is too focused on non-drivers. Because evidently, only cars should have a right to cross it, and everyone else should just stay on their own damn side.
In a hard-hitting piece, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton argues that cities have no problem blocking off streets for rich residents, so “they shouldn’t be shy about using diverters/closures for prioritizing the safety and convenience of people getting around on foot and on bike.”
After four years of talking about it, Los Angeles finally decides to do something about having someone other than armed cops enforce traffic laws — study it. Which is what the city seems to do best; acting on those studies, not so much.
No surprise here, as the wife of a US spy who fled the UK under diplomatic cover after the wrong-way, hit-and-run death of a 19-year old London motorcyclist failed to show up for a four-day inquest into his death; she has refused to return to the country, despite receiving an eight-month suspended sentence in exchange for pleading guilty over video.
A British police inquest can’t figure out whether a driver’s failure to look, or the victim’s lack of a helmet and hi-viz are to blame for an “unavoidable” collision that killed a popular bike club member. Although it sounds like they think that unavoidable crash could have been avoided.
A Singapore ebike delivery rider was spotted riding without the required helmet and license number, and with a sticker reading “Fuck LTA,” an abbreviation for the island city/state’s Land Transit Authority — which could allow other road users to file a police report for harassment for “potentially offensive content.”
Um, okay. UCI, cycling’s governing body, will try giving out yellow cards to offending riders to improve safety; no action will be taken against recipients now, but riders could face a seven-day suspension after the first of the year. Because that works so well in soccer, evidently.
Wealthy socialite Rebecca Grossman was sentenced to a well-deserved 15 to life for the vehicular murder of two little kids.
The co-founder of the famed Grossman Burn Foundation, Grossman was convicted of the high-speed deaths of 11-year old Mark Iskander, and his 8-year old brother as they crossed a Westlake Village street with their parents.
The boys’ mother testified during trial that her older children had been walking ahead of her and her youngest son in the marked crosswalk on Triunfo Canyon Road when she heard engines roaring. Two sport utility vehicles were barreling toward them.
Iskander dived for safety, grabbing her 5-year-old son. Her next memory, she said, is of Jacob and Mark crumpled on the roadway.
Grossman was driving behind Scott Erickson, a former Dodgers player, who earlier in the day had been drinking cocktails with her at a nearby restaurant. She was driving as fast as 81 mph and traveled another half-mile after slamming into the children, according to evidence presented at trial.
However, the judge apparently took pity on her, sentencing Grossman to two concurrent terms for the murders, plus another three years for the hit-and-run to be served concurrently.
She could have been looking at 33 years before she’d be eligible for release. Instead, the 60-year old Grossman could get out when she’s a relatively young 75.
Although it would be nice if Erickson had been held accountable for his not-insignificant role in the boys’ deaths, rather than given a walk by prosecutors.
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Hermosa Beach adopted an emergency ebike ordinance that mostly restates existing state law, but can’t seem to distinguish between electric bicycles and electric motorcycles.
And if it’s so effing urgent, why didn’t they include a link to the damn press release, and not bury it on their website?
CicLAvia looks forward to their fourth open streets event of the year, and the 53rd overall, when they come to Western Ave in South LA on the 23rd, with a list of where to eat and shop along the route.
Once again, an elderly person has been killed in a collision with someone on a bicycle, this time a 70-year old woman in Dublin, Ireland. Note to Irish Cycle — putting an urgent call for more funding in the middle of a story about a woman getting killed by a bike rider probably isn’t the best look.
The San Francisco Chronicle says the city is ready to throw in the towel on the deeply unpopular centerline bike lanes on Valencia Street, and replace them with some form of side lanes, even though putting the bike lanes in the middle of the street has reduced doorings. Which makes you wonder how the hell someone gets doored when they’re riding in the middle of the street.
If you build it, they will come. Just a month after critics said a new bike lane in Colchester, England was an accident waiting to happen and would cause carnage, bicycling rates are up 300% on the route while gaining positive reviews from riders.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’re up to 1,195 signatures, so don’t stop now! Let’s get it up to 1,200 before I send it to the mayor’s office!
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Seriously, guys, get a clue.
According to KTLA-5, a group of teenagers on ebikes tormented nighttime revelers at the Hermosa Pier Saturday night, setting off illegal fireworks in and around families and adults out enjoying the evening, resulting in a number of minor injuries.
They also require helmets for anyone over 16 riding a class 3 ebike, while banning anyone under 16 from riding them, and prohibiting multiple people riding on a single bike.
The new rules also prohibit riding more than two abreast on county roads, and set a maximum 28 mph speed limit for bicycles.
But only the state has the power to set traffic regulations, so where the new county regulations conflict with state law — such as limiting the number of people who can ride abreast, or setting bicycle speed limits that differ from that for motor vehicle — they are probably illegal and unenforceable.
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A Vancouver, British Columbia newspaper goes all in on calling out reckless bicycle and ebike riders in a series of articles.
A man writes that some bike riders treat other trail users as badly as drivers treat them. That’s something I’ve long noticed here in Los Angeles, too, confirming my belief that there are always assholes among us, regardless of how we or they travel. And those of us who pose the greater risk to others have the greater responsibility to look out for their safety.
Speeding bicyclists are accused of forcing the closure of London’s Billionaires’ Row, the city’s most expensive residential street. Although something tells me they would have found another excuse if blaming bike riders wasn’t such a popular theme these days.
Heartbreaking story from Florida, where a mother found her own son lying dead on the side of the road, just a block from their home, when he didn’t return after riding his bike home from work; the driver just kept going after veering into the bike lane where he was riding.
International
Bicyclists in Winnipeg, Manitoba expressed their outrage after a 61-year old man was killed in a hot-and-run while riding a bicycle, with dozens participating in a sit-in at the site of the crash. That compares with Los Angeles, where a few people sometimes express mild annoyance in the comment section following a fatal hit-and-run. If there even is a comment section.
Cunanan was riding east on Thunderbird Road at Wichita Road around 9:10 pm Monday, when he was rear-ended by an SUV driver traveling in the same direction at a high rate of speed.
The 36-year old driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.
A message from his church the next day had asked for “fervent prayers” for Cunanan, as well as his wife and children.
The earlier story had said Cunanan was riding in the traffic lane when he was struck. However, that was not repeated in the second story reporting his death; there is a westbound bike lane on Thunderbird, but not headed east.
The crash remains under investigation. Any with information is urged to call the Apple Valley Station of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department at 760/240-7400, or Sheriff’s Dispatch number at 760/956-5001.
This is at least the 22nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Victor Cunanan and all his family and loved ones.
