Fa’amaligi was riding on Mission Ave near Ocean Point Road around 7:45 pm Tuesday when he was struck by a driver. He was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, where he was pronounced dead early Wednesday.
Unfortunately, that’s all we know at this time. There’s no word on how the crash occurred, or who may have been responsible.
We don’t even know if the driver stuck around after the crash.
Meanwhile, Fa’amaligi’s sister provided a moving remembrance on Facebook Thursday.
This is at least the 44th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the ninth we know about in San Diego County, which is continuing a one a month pace.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Christian Anthony Fa’amaligi and all his family and loved ones.
We’re going to take a little different approach today by focusing on a single story, with another quick note at the end, due to the importance of this issue and the time required to put it together.
Barring anything unexpected, we should be back tomorrow for our usual links and hijinks.
………
Don’t take my word for it.
For some time now, I’ve been a voice crying in the wilderness about the dangers of the flat design and ever-increasing height of today’s grills, as pickups and SUVs continue to get bigger, and designs more aggressive.
Make that aggressive, as in dangerous.
I’ve come under a lot of criticism for calling them murder grills, because they are literally designed to kill. Maybe not intentionally, but the design of their grills and extensive blindspots dramatically increase the lethality of these increasingly popular vehicles.
And no one is doing a damn thing about it.
The design of a typical sedan, with a lower hood and a more rounded grill, means pedestrian in a low speed crash is likely to land on the hood, absorbing much of the impact. Although at higher speeds the victim can be thrown into the windshield or even over the car, greatly increasing the risk of serious injury or death.
However, the same crash involving a vehicle with a high, flat grill means the pedestrian will likely be knocked forward on the the roadway, and can easily be run over before the driver has time to react to the crash.
“We see a lot of devastating collisions even at lower speeds because the pedestrian gets punted forward,” said Shawn Harrington, whose company, Forensic Rock, conducted crash tests for us. “Before the driver knows what’s happened, the pedestrian’s head is under the wheel.”
More vehicles than ever have hoods that exceed the average American’s center of gravity, which is generally around the belly button.
The hood of an average passenger vehicle today is about three feet high. Anyone shorter than 5-foot-6 — about half of American adults — would frequently be rammed to the pavement. So would most children.
, who is
, is likely to be knocked down by about 39 percent of vehicles today. In 2002, that number would have been 29 percent.
They even offer an interactive graphic comparing the difference when someone in a smaller passenger vehicle hits a pedestrian compared to a large truck, making the impact crystal clear.
Pun intended.
In fact, researchers for The Times found that approximately 10% of the increase in pedestrian deaths over the past quarter century could be attributed to the sheer size of today’s vehicles, compared to just 25 years ago.
That’s 200 to 400 people each year who might not have had to die, if they hadn’t been sacrificed to the greed of American automakers. Not to mention the vanity of American car buyers, who gladly pay for oversized vehicles with excess capacity most will never use.
Then complain about gas prices.
In fact, The Times cites the excess growth in American vehicles as at least one factor explaining why traffic deaths in the US aren’t declining like they are in most of Europe — particularly for people outside of the vehicle.
Like those of us on bicycles, for instance. And others who just happen to be in the street — or even on the sidewalk — in the wrong place, at the wrong time, for whatever reason.
Then take the increase in blind spots.
Please.
To analyze how these blind zones have changed, we used a three-dimensional scanner to compare sightlines in four of the most common pickups today — the Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-150, GMC Sierra and Toyota Tacoma — with their counterparts from the 1990s or early 2000s.
The Silverado’s blind zones have nearly doubled.
The Sierra’s and the Tacoma’s grew by about 60 percent.
The smallest increase was the F-150’s. Its blind zones grew by about 25 percent.
Our overall findings match what we found in court records and heard from dozens of experts who reconstruct crashes for police and lawyers.
Nicholas Vela, a 4th grade student at Alexander J. Stoddard Elementary School, did everything he was supposed to do. He waited patiently at the corner for the oncoming truck to stop, then rode his bike out into the crosswalk.
The driver proceeded to roll forward and over the boy and his bicycle, later telling police he never saw the kid on the corner because of his large wing mirror. And didn’t see him riding right in front on him because of the height of his jacked-up truck.
Here is how I described it at the time.
According to the driver, he never saw the boy, and he was not cited by police. Evidently, California drivers are no longer required to be cautious, alert and aware of their surroundings when behind the wheel.
I’m sure the driver is devastated. Lord knows I would be.
But somehow, I don’t think “Oops” should be a universal Get Out Of Jail Free card for someone who kills another human being. Especially not an innocent child who, by all accounts, was riding in a safe and legal manner.
I’ve been haunted by Nicholas’ death for 17 years now.
And how the sheer size and height of a jacked-up truck could hide a boy on a bicycle from the driver’s view. Although I doubt his truck was any larger or higher than some you can drive off the showroom floor today.
Murder grills.
The Times goes on to explain that vehicle design is not the only factor affecting rising pedestrian death, citing road design in particular.
Like America’s wide, straight urban streets and rural highways designed and built with excess capacity that virtually encourages speeding. Along with this country’s many cramped intersections with restricted sightlines, and our penchant for red lights and stop signs instead of roundabouts.
Automatic obstacle detection and braking systems are the miracle that’s supposed to save us.
And they do help. In fact, The Times reports that one study found that GM vehicles with so-called front pedestrian braking reduced the frequency of injuries by 35 percent.
Which ain’t nothing.
But they aren’t always reliable under variable conditions. And relying on them, rather than actually seeing what’s in the roadway in front of and beside you, invites needless collisions, injuries and deaths.
But let’s get back to that question of automakers appealing to the vanity of our fellow Americans.
Again, according to The New York Times,
What used to be utilitarian vehicles for construction workers are now marketed to the American masses, with messages tailored to specific audiences.
Other approaches emphasize the perceived safety of being the biggest vehicle around. “You’re the king of the road,” said Frank Hanley, a director at the automotive research firm JD Power.
At Ford, Nicole Gayney’s job was to identify specific social and psychological groups to target.
One was men who hoped to be seen as the neighborhood’s hero, keeping everyone safe, said Dr. Gayney, who left Ford in 2022. Another group was women who viewed a roomy S.U.V. as a way to be the community’s caregiver, taking the soccer team out for ice cream.
Yet the problem didn’t go unnoticed.
The ever-growing size of vehicles, and increasing rollover requirements resulting in ever-larger windshield support columns, or A-pillars, reduced visibility to such a degree that researchers at the US Department of Transportation became concerned, meeting with regulators four years ago.
That November, the researchers met with leaders at the department and N.H.T.S.A. They delivered a stark message: Large vehicles, with their big blind zones, were increasingly deadly. They were killing hundreds of pedestrians and cyclists every year and injuring thousands more, the researchers estimated, according to attendees and meeting materials we reviewed.
The researchers hoped that their warning would spur regulators to consider how to address the problem.
But a single senior official disputed the data, and argued that new pedestrian-sensing systems were already solving the problem. So in typical American fashion, the answer was to do nothing.
As you were, boys and girls. Nothing to see here. Pay no attention to that pedestrian or bike rider writhing in pain over there.
Never mind that higher grills — more than 50″ tall for pickups like the Ford F-250 and Chevrolet Silverado 2500, and luxury SUVs like the Lincoln Navigator and Cadillac Escalade — are becoming significantly more common, and more lethal.
Murder grills.
The Times built a complex statistical model to estimate the effects, while noting the inherent difficulties in calculating all the factors, and predicting an alternate reality in which vehicle sizes had remained the same.
But based on the best available data, the model reached a sobering estimate: The shift toward vehicles with higher hoods caused about 3,000 deaths from 2016 to 2024.
The estimate is conservative in many ways…
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, for example, found last year that vehicles with larger blind zones were substantially more likely to hit pedestrians when turning left.
And yes, once again, they clearly illustrate it, with side-by-side comparisons of a Chevy ’98 Silverado and the ’22 version of the same make and model.
In one, a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk to the left of the vehicle is clearly visible as the driver turns. In the other, they’re not. I’ll let you conclude which one is safer.
I strongly encourage you to read the full article, because it’s a remarkable piece of work, and I have only begun to do it justice. (I’ve used a gift link for the article, so you should be able to read it without a subscription.)
And as bicyclists, and humans, our lives are literally on the line.
According to KTLA-5, Edjan Rocha turned himself in to Santa Ana police after they had located the vehicle he had allegedly been driving, and impounded it as evidence. He was booked into the Santa Ana Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run for killing the 60-year old bike rider.
No word yet on whether he has made bail or is still being held.
June 17, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on West Hollywood named one of 8 to Watch, fallen Ventura County bicyclists ID’d on Instagram, and Macron gives Trump a bike
Just a quick update today.
I have an early commitment in the morning, and I’m still having trouble seeing after having my eyes dilated yesterday.
On the plus side, though, I haven’t had to get a shot for retinal bleeding for over two years now.
West Hollywood has been making big moves for better biking in recent years. In April 2025, the city council unanimously committed to building only protected bike infrastructure on future street projects — the first city in the Los Angeles area to do so — and followed it up by painting all existing bike lanes green on Fairfax Avenue, San Vicente Boulevard, and Santa Monica Boulevard for improved visibility. With the 2028 LA Olympics on the horizon, West Hollywood’s premier location in LA positions it as a key corridor for the broader active transportation push underway across Los Angeles ahead of the Games.
On the other hand, WeHo compared very favorably to LA’s subpar rating of 32 compared to the national average of 36, ranking us 1350th in the US, and barely in the top 200 California cities at 195.
And no, Los Angeles is not a city to watch. Even if we have climbed from the nadir of 2023, when we scored a whopping 19.
However, they still haven’t been publicly identified by any official source, so I won’t name them here. But reading what others had to say about them, it sounds like we lost some very exceptional people.
Then again, we’re all exceptional in some way, to someone.
There’s also no word yet on the name of the accused driver, who should have appeared in court by now, which raises the question of why they’re holding back his identification.
………
Finally, someone in France must have a hell of a sense of humor.
There was no hot mic moment to detect the reaction of Trump, who is not known to bike and has joked about doing minimal exercise beyond regular golf outings.
Despite being called — or calling himself — the fittest, healthiest president in recent history, Trump has said he will never, ever ride a bicycle, and has mocked Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and John Kerry for their two wheeled exploits.
June 16, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on No ID on victims or suspect in PCH DUI crash, LA’s most dangerous intersections, and grand jury says San Diego bikeways ain’t cutting it
The victims were riding in the bike lane on SoCal’s killer highway, just north of Ventura, when they were run down from behind.
There’s also no word on why investigators concluded the unnamed 24-year old Oxnard man was under the influence. Or why he was arrested on suspicion of murder.
It seems odd that we haven’t learned anymore by now, particularly since he was scheduled for an initial court appearance yesterday.
Although they also blame people on ebikes and e-scooters for blowing through red lights, and illegally using sidewalks. And, of course, they warn pedestrians to stay alert, rather than telling scooter riders to stay the hell off the sidewalk.
KABC-7 reports the the most dangerous intersections this year have been:
Figueroa Street and 7th Street in downtown Los Angeles – 11 crashes so far in 2026
Highland Avenue and Pat Moore Way, near the Hollywood Bowl – 6 crashes so far in 2026
Century Boulevard and Main Street in South L.A. – 5 crashes so far in 2026
Sherman Way at the 170 Freeway entrance in the San Fernando Valley – 5 crashes so far in 2026
No word on where the most dangerous sidewalks are.
………
In a hard-hitting report, a San Diego grand jury says the city is not meeting its own ambitious climate goals.
Shocking, I know.
According to Streetsblog,
The new report, Shifting Gears, arrives at a moment when San Diego is trying to reconcile two competing realities. On one hand, the city has adopted ambitious goals. The Climate Action Plan calls for 10% of all daily trips to be made by bicycle by 2035. Vision Zero commits San Diego to eliminating traffic deaths and severe injuries. The Bicycle Master Plan Update is meant to create a safer and more connected network. On the other hand, San Diego remains a city where the automobile remains king. While the report itself is not binding nor enforceable, it validates San Diegans’ concerns and recommends a path forward.
Safety and connectivity remain the two biggest barriers preventing more people from choosing to bike. A recent city survey of more than 2,000 riders found that “traffic safety concerns” and “gaps in the bike network” were the first and second most frequently cited barriers to bicycling.
The report cites a disconnect bike network, where bike lanes suddenly start and stop, leaving bicyclists to confront freeway on and off-ramps on their own.
Something I can attest to from my time there four decades ago. Apparently, some things never change.
They also cite a lack of maintenance, particularly on the city’s protected bike lanes.
In fact, the only advice he has for drivers is to look before you open the door to avoid dooring bike riders. But it’s still the bike rider’s fault, even when the driver is at fault.
Motorists can prevent this by looking over their shoulder as they open the car door. But Faber believes that cyclists also share the responsibility to avoid this type of accident.
“Of course, if there’s a collision, the driver is actually to blame,” he said. “But to prevent it from happening in the first place, the cyclist must remain alert at all times and allow for the possibility that other road users might make mistakes,” he said. In practical terms, this means reducing speed and increasing their distance from parked cars passing parked cars.
And of course, he tells bicyclists to wear hi-viz and a helmet. Drivers, just look over your shoulder when you open the door to make sure there’s not someone wearing a helmet and dressed like a reflective clown riding too close to your door.
Because you don’t want to hurt someone, even if it’s their fault.
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French TV talks with American activist Shannon Galpin, who played a key role in exfiltrating the Afghan women’s cycling team following the return of the Taliban.
Which, translated from politese, means she had to get the women, and some men, out herself after UCI stopped helping with the mission, which has been ongoing since 2021.
Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps going on.
A New Jersey woman is recovering from a concussion, cuts and bruises, and a man is facing criminal charges, after she told the man and his girlfriend to slow their ebikes down, and he responded by getting off his bike and punching her in the head. Even though the bikes look like electric motorbikes, it looks like his bike has pedals, so they may actually be ebikes. Or not.
Yeah, maybe it’s time. Bicyclists in Duluth, Minnesota are invited to “Bike for Science” to gather real-world riding data to update the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s bicycle facilities design guide, which is based on data collected in the 1980s. Which, for anyone unclear on the concept, is, like, a really long time ago, okay?
Four young men who have overcome problems like substance abuse, legal troubles and emotional struggles are planning to ride 500 miles across Georgia to honor the founder of their youth home, who road 1,200 miles from Vidalia, Georgia to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1961 to help raise awareness and support for the newly established youth home.
London Penny Farthing riders set four Guinness World Records, including for the largest and smallest rideable big wheelers. Although I initially left out the “h” in “Farthing,” which would have made for a much more interesting set of records.
Seriously, don’t flee from the cops when they try to pull your bike over for multiple vehicle code violations — and don’t try to punch them out when they finally stop you. Whacking a cop with a bike pump is not one of the recommended uses for it, even if you are 86-years old.
But in brief, the alleged driver, Amber Calderon, was arraigned on Wednesday, and we learned more about the condition of the other victims.
So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll quote myself this one time.
Calderon was charged with one felony count of hit and run causing permanent injury or death, and two felony counts of hit and run with injury.
Thanks to California’s lax hit-and-run laws, she faces a maximum sentence of 5 years and four months, according to the DA’s office. She did not enter a plea, and the hearing was rescheduled for Nov. 13 in the West Justice Center in Westminster…
The DA’s office says the other two victims, who should not be overlooked in the anger and grief over Williams death, suffered serious injuries “including spinal fractures, broken ribs, a broken ankle, as well as cuts and bruises.”
Calderon’s charges could be changed based on her toxicology report, which is still pending.
But 64 months hardly seems like justice for killing one person and severely injuring two others, then just driving away.
Longtime LA bike advocate Joe Linton writes that Los Angeles is dealing with appeals over projects that should be governed by Measure HLA exactly the way we expected.
Evidently, our president isn’t the only one who doesn’t feel constrained by the rules.
Or maybe the city is just bored of Public Works.
Linton writes that the city’s rejection an appeal over a missing crosswalk at Western & Marathon is emblematic of their actions so far.
GM Rubio-Cornejo appears to have missed the point raised in the appeal: that the resurfacing – though mostly on Marathon Street – also overlapped with part of Western Avenue. See the overlap outlined in yellow in the above photo. The area where the crosswalk goes – along Western – was repaved.
The rejection of Western/Marathon is one of at least a half-dozen similar rejections. I haven’t had time to post them all here, but most are similar to Western/Marathon. An appellant requested the city add missing crosswalks on a PED street, and LADOT GM Rubio-Cornejo rejected the request, without it even going to a hearing of the Board of Public Works, which is where the city HLA ordinance states that appeals will be decided.
Metro’s argument is that as a city ordinance, HLA doesn’t apply to them as a county agency. Even though the work is being done on a city street, in junction with the city.
Something tells me Linton’s won’t be the last HLA lawsuit.
Surprisingly, Los Angeles doesn’t make either one, but Santa Clarita and Lancaster both check in at the Bad Place, at #7 and #20.
Not surprisingly, no Southern California city appears in the Good Place. In fact, San Francisco is the only California city to make the list of the most car-optional cities, at #12.
And if a site pimping storage facilities and equipment doesn’t know all there is to know about living without a car, who does?
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
An Arizona man known locally as Bicycle Barry after he gave up driving for health reasons is now battling an ankle infection that could cost him his leg, ten months after he was nearly killed by a road-raging driver. Never mind that driving is so normalized that merely giving up your car is enough to earn you a bicycle sobriquet.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Chicago man is blaming the cops for a $3,000 ambulance bill after he was struck by a young woman riding an ebike as he was getting out of his car, complaining that they let her go without a citation. Although the fact that they didn’t cite her just might suggest she wasn’t at fault.
A carfree Angeleno examines the promise of a carfree LA Olympics, even if Mayor Karen Bass walked it back just days later. Speaking of Bass, word is she bet the mayor of Toronto she’d ride a bike wearing a Blue Jays jersey if the Dodgers lose the World Series. Which I’m pretty sure is the first time she’s mentioned riding one since she was elected.
Despite a recent report showing Stockton’s bike fatality rate was six-times the national average as of 2023, recent safety improvements have brought that down to zero this year. More proof that bike deaths can be eliminated, if cities are willing to spend the money and do the work. Looking at you, Los Angeles.
National
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Peter Flax, who writes for Bicycling about nine “badass” women who’ve raised millions for cancer research, calling them “the fiercest sisterhood in cycling.”Unfortunately, though, the story is hidden behind their paywall for members only.
Day 276 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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He almost gets it.
A columnist for the Washington Post writes about the onslaught of teens on e-motos, almost — but not quite — distinguishing the “e-bike menace” of non-street legal electric motorbikes and dirt bikes from standard ped-assist ebikes.
I was in Hermosa Beach, California, the sweetest little beach town your toes can dig into, when I pressed the crosswalk button. The flashing lights came on, meaning: let’s go. I was one step into the street when a kid about 13 on a bike nearly sent me to my obituary.
But not just any bike. This was one of those e-motorbikes. Have you seen these things? They look like Suzuki dirt bikes, only cooler, quicker and deadlier, since you don’t hear them coming…
But this kid wasn’t just riding his. He was pulling a wheelie on the thing while doing about 40 mph. His front wheel was up so high, it nearly took my face off. Which means he wasn’t looking at any stupid flashing crosswalk lights.
Never mind that under California law, and most states who’ve copied it, ebikes are limited to a max of 28 mph, making anything that can go anywhere near as fast as he said the kid was doing illegal.
But then, he seems to have considered that.
There are tons of e-bike rules and regs, but somehow it’s legal in many states to ride an e-moto on streets as long as it has pedals and can’t go over 28 mph. Kids just go on YouTube and learn how to defeat the speed limiter.
All of which points out the need to clarify the distinction between ped-assist ebikes and e-motorbikes, which Calbike pushed the state legislature to consider this year.
And which they rejected.
Which leaves us with the same problem we’ve faced for the past few years. People who want — or need — a ped-assist ebike to exercise, run errands, replace the family car, or use as a mobility device, are getting lumped in with kids riding overpowered e-motos, and using poor judgement.
Sort of like kids have always done. But with a lot more speed and power at their disposal.
Which means we all get tarred with the same brush.
A success that consisted of exactly one misdemeanor arrest, three illegal e-motorcycles seized, 22 stops for various traffic violations, and just eight tickets.
Which would suggest that maybe the problem isn’t as big as advertised.
And maybe they would have been better off cracking down on the people in the big, dangerous machines, rather than the little annoying ones.
Complicating matters even further, Westfield, New Jersey Police Chief Christopher Battiloro is a close family friend and neighbor of one of the victims.
The same could presumably be said of the local school district and yes, the police department headed by his “distant” relative, who apparently did nothing to stop him.
Candidates for mayor of Montreal insist they don’t oppose bicycling, but some don’t support expanding the city’s bike network, even though the limited loss of parking has generally been offset by an increase in retail sales and livability.
You’ve got to be kidding. Life really is cheap in the UK, where a 32-year old man walked without a day behind bars for killing a 54-year old woman participating in a bicycling time trial, despite admitting he never saw the victim because he was way too busy looking at his phone. But at least he was banned from driving for a whole year. So if you want to know why people keep dying on the streets, overly lenient sentences like this are a damn good place to start.
September 5, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Stockton sucks more than LA for bike riders but so does Long Beach, and victim’s dog rescued after South LA crash
Day 248 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
Surprisingly, the report from Consumer Affairs ranked Los Angeles all the way down as the 64th most dangerous American city for bicyclists, although we fared a lot worse for people on foot, coming in at 31st.
Long Beach was 38th and 41st, respectively.
Maybe Los Angeles ranks so low because we’ve already scared most people off their bikes, unlike the other cities.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.
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There’s always more to the story.
When I write about a fallen bike rider, I can only write what I know at the time. Which is usually what’s been reported in the media that day, or the next.
We seldom learn much about the victim, and little or nothing about what the deaths leave in their wake.
But we now know what happened to the dog that refused to leave his side for hours after his death, thanks to a heartwarming report from KNBC-4.
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This is who we share the road with.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that following a crash in Reseda, an ambulance was struck by another driver while transporting a victim of the first crash.
Then when a battalion chief arrived to investigate that crash, the truck was struck by yet another driver at the same intersection as the ambulance.
That makes three separate crashes stemming from the same incident.
2. Bike along rivers in the San Gabriel Valley
ActiveSGV and Amigos de los Rios will co-host a 12-mile bike ride from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday starting at the Jeff Seymour Family Center (10900 Mulhall St., El Monte). The ride will take city streets and bike paths as cyclists explore the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River. Register at eventbrite.com.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. London tabloids are up in arms over a new study showing one-fifth of all ebike riders, e-scooter riders and bicyclists in the city routinely jump red lights. Which, by my extensive calculations, means that an overwhelming 80% don’t. And how do they know people “routinely” jump red lights, which would require a) following individual riders to identify their behavior at multiple red lights, or b) identifying individual riders to witness their behavior at the same red light over multiple days.
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Local
Los Angeles is looking for comments about a new study on the sad state of LA Parks. Tell them parks are for people, not cars, and cars don’t belong in parks. Any parks. Period. And yes, I’m looking at you, Griffith Park.
Chula Vista is the latest city to crackdown on ebike riders, but will focus on education and warnings for the next three months before issuing citations. Once again, the real problem is with people riding dirt bikes and high-speed throttle-controlled electric motorbikes, rather than people on ped-assist ebikes.
Oops. Vallejo police jumped the gun in announcing a man had died after being hit by driver while riding his bicycle Sunday morning; the victim is still fighting for his life, although it doesn’t look good.
Edinburgh, Scotland finally protected a number of bike lanes around the city following months of delays and deferrals, making the lanes permanent, after they had been installed on a temporary basis and scheduled for removal next month.
This is what keeps me up at night. And what really pisses me off.
Because not only did the police, city and news media fail to inform us about yet another fatal hit-and-run, but the victim was a kid just out for a bike ride.
Here’s what we know so far about the needless death of Michael Smith, courtesy of a press release from Streets Are For Everyone.
The loved ones of Michael Kejuan Ramaun James Smith, Streets Are For Everyone, community members, and members of SAFE Families will host a Ghost Bike Memorial event to honor and remember Michael Smith, who was struck and killed by a speeding driver on July 22nd, 2025.
Michael was riding his bicycle on 83rd Street, headed toward Main Street to pick up a friend for a bike ride. He was struck and instantly killed by a speeding driver who was allegedly traveling at 75 MPH on a residential street. The driver fled the scene but was later arrested and has since been released on bail.
Michael, who would have celebrated his 13th birthday on September 16, was a radiant and compassionate child who loved riding bikes. He was also an entrepreneur, running his own ice cream truck since the age of seven, with dreams of growing his business and future.
This is at least the 36th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 14th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; this was also the seventh we’ve learned about in the City of LA.
Six of those seven Los Angeles victims lost their lives riding in South LA.
Michael Smith was the 12th SoCal bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver since the first of the year — fully one third of everyone killed riding a bicycle in Southern California this year.
But at least this time, they — allegedly — caught the heartless coward who left Michel to die in the street.
If you want to attend the ghost bike installation tomorrow, here is the information from the press release. If you do, ask Councilmember Price why we continue to all this to happen in South LA.
Ellen Atwater, Michael’s Mother, and other family members
Councilmember Curren D Price Jr.
Damian Kevitt, Executive Director of Streets Are For Everyone
Pastor Patricia Strong-Fargas, Co-Chair, Faith for SAFEr Streets
John Jones III, Founder of East Side Riders
Members of SAFE Families
Friends and community members
In addition to the ghost bike, 13 white doves will be released in honor of Michael, who would have turned 13 years old next month.
Update: My News LA reports the crash occurred around 2:55 pm. Michael died after being taken to a hospital.
July 14, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Anger boils after deadly WeHo hit-and-run on Fountain Ave, and 79-year old San Diego man injured in crash with bike rider
Day 195 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
Local cyclist and advocate Nicholas Renteria organized a grassroots demonstration at the intersection of Fountain Avenue and Gardner Street, where the deadly collision occurred on Thursday, July 10, around 9:47 p.m. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the victim, Blake Ackerman, 26, was riding westbound on Fountain when he was hit by an older-model BMW sedan, which fled the scene. The victim was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.
Anger has built following Ackerman’s death because individuals and advocacy groups have demanded action on the deadly corridor for more than a decade.
Plans have finally begun moving forward over the past few years, but are hung up by the usual demands to persevere parking at the expense of human lives.
As calls for accountability grow louder, local leaders have pointed to upcoming initiatives like the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project, which aims to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety with measures such as protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks. A community meeting about the project is scheduled for August 19 at Plummer Park.
Renteria hopes awareness leads to action before another life is lost. “This isn’t a fight between drivers and cyclists,” he said. “It’s a fight between people and a government that’s not being responsive.”
In addition to the community meeting next month, plans are underway for a ghost bike to be installed in the coming days.
You’ll know more when I do.
Photo: Streets For All and Measure HLA stickers on a bicycle parked at Lowes Home Improvement in Mid-City LA Sunday afternoon.
Streets For All offered their July newsletter, including news that a total of $7 million has been approved to move forward with necessary technical and environmental clearance work on the proposed extension of the Ballona Creek bike path.
State
Police in Huntington Beach busted a bike thief who stole a bait bike valued at over $2,000, enough to qualify for felony charges. Yet the LAPD still won’t use bait bikes, following outdated advice from the City Attorney’s office that it could be considered entrapment
A hit-and-run driver left an Oregon woman lying in a ditch all night after they crashed into her bike sometime Saturday night; she was found by a passerby after 7 Sunday morning suffering from serious leg, facial, and other injuries. The driver should be charged with attempted murder when they find them for making the conscious decision to risk the victim’s life by leaving her there to die.
Police in an Ontario city put bicyclists on a stationary bicycle so they could get a feel for what it’s like to be passed by a driver at the legally mandated one-meter distance (approximately three feet); most felt shaken after the experience, with several wanting the mandatory passing distance increased to two meters. Although it would have done a lot more good to put motorists on that stationary bike, so they would understand just how it feels.
June 17, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Angry security guard rams car into kid on bike, burnout driver slams into Inglewood crowd, and crowdfunding for Marvin Cortez
Day 168 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
The story of his death is also beginning to change, as witnesses claim the driver was out of control, and rumble strips in the center of the roadway make it unlikely that Cortez would have been riding on the wrong side of the road, as initial reports claimed.
A London council is accused of installing “prohibitive, discriminatory” barriers on a steep ramp at the exit of a park in order to stop possibly nonexistent speeding bicyclists, forcing people with disabilities and families in cargo bikes onto a busy road with no bike lane, while ignoring a January compromise agreement.
A motor vehicle once again became a weapon of mass destruction when the 87-year old driver of a motorhome slammed into a group of four Swiss bicyclists in Cher, France, killing two people in their 60s and critically injuring a third. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive — especially a vehicle that can weigh seven tons or more.
