Tag Archive for bicycling fatality

Victims and driver identified in San Diego bike path collision; speed may have been a factor

June 2, 2011 / / 4 comments

One was a 40-year old father of two small children; the other is a 51-year old father of a college age son. One was an executive with a bioenergy company; the other is president and CEO of the YMCA in San Diego County.

One was a bike commuter on his way home; the other an avid triathlete who rides several times a week.

Both are married; neither one knew the other.

Yet yesterday, both men were the victims of a possibly speeding driver who lost control of her SUV and ended up flipping over on the bike path they were riding on.

Now bioenergy executive Nick Venuto of Poway is dead, while YMCA CEO Baron Hederlin-Doherty is in stable condition, his body shattered with broken hips, ribs and arms, according to the North County Times.

The San Diego Union Tribune’s SignOnSanDiego reports that 27-year old Sheena Saranita was driving her Ford Escape at an estimated 65 – 80 mph when she attempted to change lanes. She overreacted after seeing a vehicle in the right lane and went off the road, climbing the 15-foot embankment, blowing through a chainlink fence and flipping over onto the bike path; her SUV landed on its side, hitting both riders in the process.

Police don’t think drugs or alcohol were factors in the collision; no word on whether Saranita may have been texting or otherwise distracted behind the wheel. However, the nature of the collision would suggest that either excess speed or some sort of distraction could have been a factor.

According to the Union Tribune,

Dr. Dave Chotiner, a dentist from Carmel Valley, witnessed the accident and was the first to render aid. He said Venuto, who appeared to have been hit first, died within minutes. Herdelin-Doherty was lying on his back about 40 feet behind Venuto.

He said Saranita was out of her SUV near Venuto and was yelling hysterically, “you have to help him.”

Both papers feel compelled to report that the riders were each wearing helmets, despite the fact that bike helmets can’t, and were never intended to, protect against a multi-ton vehicle travelling at highway speeds.

And as Hederlin-Doherty’s injuries make clear, helmets can do absolutely nothing to protect against injuries to any other part of the body.

Don’t get me wrong.

I’m a firm believer in wearing a helmet every time I ride. But in a collision like this, they would have been of little, if any benefit.

And whether or not the victims were wearing them is truly irrelevant in this case.

My heart and prayers go out to the family, friends and loved ones of Nick Venuto, and best wishes to Baron Hederlin-Doherty for a full and fast recovery.

……..

On a related subject, I’ve received word from a source who doesn’t wish to be identified that cyclist Richard Lauwers is doing very well, back on his bike and is now a firm believer in the power or prayer. As you may recall, Lauwers was critically injured last January when a driver went off the road and hit him while he was riding on the Huntington Beach Bike Path; the driver, Glen M. Moore of Newport Beach, was allegedly intoxicated and racing a BMW driven by Michael D. Roach.

And a memorial will be held this Sunday for Nick Haverland, the 20-year old Ventura College student killed last month in an allegedly drunken roadway rampage. Driver Satnam Singh was reportedly  involved in three separate collisions in a matter of minutes, injuring five other people.

Update: Jim Lyle forwards some good news about Adam Rybicki, the cyclist critically injured when he was hit by an underaged, allegedly drunk driver in Torrance in April. While he has been unable to respond to verbal commands, he is now moving his hands and responding to commands and questions written on whiteboard. Clearly, he faces a long road back, but this is the first news that offers real hope for his recovery.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

San Diego cyclist killed, another seriously injured when SUV flips onto bike path

May 31, 2011 / / 2 comments

At least one cyclist was killed and another seriously injured when an SUV lost control on busy highway and flipped onto a bike path near Rancho Peñasquitos in north San Diego.

Initial reports indicated that two cyclists had died at the scene; however, later reports said the second rider had been transported to Scripps La Jolla Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The collision occurred about 6:20 pm on the 56 Bike Trail, which runs parallel to the eastbound side of State Route 56 west of Black Mountain Road; the CHP called for a coroner less than 25 minutes later.

A woman driving an SUV on eastbound SR56 apparently lost control while making a lane change, went off the road, up a grassy embankment and through a chainlink fence before flipping over onto a group of riders.

According to SignOnSanDiego, both riders were in their 30s or 40s; neither has been publicly identified as of this time. Pedestrians and other cyclists reportedly attempted to aid the riders until paramedics arrived.

The driver was also taken to the hospital; reports disagree on whether anyone else was in the SUV. No explanation has been given for why she lost control of her vehicle.

There’s simply no way to protect against a collision like that. The riders should have been safe from motor vehicles on an off-road bike path; undoubtedly, they thought they were. Certainly no one expected a vehicle to fall onto a bike path — let alone at the exact moment a group of riders are passing by.

SignOnSanDiego reports that both riders were wearing helmets; if anyone ever invents a helmet strong enough to protect against an SUV falling on top of a cyclist, I hope they let us all know.

This is the 32nd cycling death so far this year, and the ninth in San Diego County since the first of the year, which includes 7 traffic deaths and one shooting.

That compares with 8 cycling deaths for all of last year for San Diego County, and an average of 6.8 over the last five years, according to the FARS database maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Thanks to Eric Bruins for the heads-up.

Update:  The Times now reports that two cyclists have been injured, in addition to the rider who died at the scene; however, they still say just one rider was hospitalized, in addition to the driver.

Update: as of 9 am Wednesday, no other source has confirmed that report, and the Times has changed the wording of the story to remove any reference to a second injured rider.

Update: both victims and the driver have been identified; speeding may have been a factor in the collision.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

91-year old cyclist dies in Riverside

May 26, 2011 / / 6 comments

The Press-Enterprise reports that 91-year old Riverside resident Fred Walsh has died, eight days after he was hit by a pickup while riding his bike.

The collision occurred at 1:09 pm on Monday, May 16th on California Avenue just east of Rucker Lane in Riverside; he passed away from his injuries Tuesday night at Riverside Community Hospital.

No other information is available at this time.

It should be uplifting story that he was still riding at that age; instead, it’s just heartbreaking that his life was taken away. My deepest sympathy to Fred Walsh’s friends and family.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

Breaking news — Cyclist killed in San Diego area

March 6, 2011 / / One comment

In what’s shaping up as a bad weekend for SoCal cyclists, a male rider was killed in the San Diego suburb of Lomita Sunday morning.

According the local NBC affiliate in San Diego, the collision occurred on the 8000 block of Skyline Drive at around 7:30 this morning. According to the report, the driver of the van remained at the scene.

That comes just 12 hours after last night’s hit-and-run in Ventura. No further information is available online yet on either collision.

However, it does serve as a reminder that while warmer weather brings more cyclists out onto the streets, drivers may not be looking for us yet.

So use extra caution out there.

Update: According the Lemon Grove Patch, the victim was a Hispanic male in his 50s, whose identity has not yet been publicly released. He was reportedly riding west on Skyline Drive when a van driving in the same direction veered to the right and struck the curb before hitting the cyclist.

According to a police spokesman, the driver of the van is currently considered the primary cause of the collision.

Update: The cyclist was identified as 73-year old Ignacio Manriques Sanchez of San Diego; the driver does not seem to have been publicly identified.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

Breaking news: Cyclist killed in Ventura hit-and-run

March 5, 2011 / / One comment

A bicyclist was killed in a hit-and-run collision in Ventura Saturday evening.

According to the Ventura County Star, the collision occurred at 7:35 pm on PCH just south of Faria Beach.

No other information is available online yet; however, KABC-7 reports that a driver was arrested approximately 45 minutes after the collision.

More information as it becomes available.

Thanks to Stanley Goldich for the heads-up.

Update: According to the Ventura County Star, the CHP has identified the victim as 40-year old Santa Barbara resident Jose Luis Carmona.

Carmona was reportedly walking his mountain bike facing northbound traffic on PCH when he was struck by a car driven by 43-year old Shannon Richard of unincorporated Ventura County, who fled the scene. In a report forwarded by DC, KTVA News reports that a passing motorist saw Carmona’s bike on the side of the road; he was found lying nearby and pronounced dead from multiple blunt force trauma.

After searching the area, police discovered a vehicle with damage to the right front side. Richard admitted being the driver of the car, reportedly telling police that she thought she hit an animal. She was arrested for felony DUI, hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter.

Her two-year old daughter was also in the car at the time of the collision.

Thanks to DC for the KTVA report.

Correction: I originally wrote that the victim was from Santa Monica; I meant Santa Barbara, of course. Thanks to Dr. Michael Cahn for the correction.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

60-year old cyclist killed in San Diego; police and press fall over themselves to blame the victim

February 5, 2011 / / 53 comments

Excuse me if I’m a little livid.

But once again, a cyclist has been killed. And once again, the police — and the local press — have fallen all over themselves to blame the rider.

Let’s start with official version first.

Around 11:50 am Saturday, a pair of cyclists were riding in a designated bike lane on eastbound Friars Road in San Diego, near the off-ramp for the northbound I-15 freeway. The riders attempted to cross the off-ramp; one made it, one didn’t. The victim was described only as a 60-year old white male who lived with his wife in San Diego.

According to some reports, he was hit when he attempted to ride in front of a truck; according to other reports, he hit the side of the truck and fell beneath its wheels.

No, he didn’t.

There are very few cyclists anywhere who don’t have a healthy respect for — if not fear of — large trucks. The chance that anyone would actually ride into one is somewhere between slim and none.

Then there’s the comparative speeds. The rider would have likely been travelling at somewhere around 15 – 20 mph, possibly a little more or less, while the truck would have been exiting a major freeway at highway speeds.

So who exactly hit whom? Saying the bike hit the truck is kind of like saying you hit Mike Tyson’s fist with your face.

Meanwhile, according to the San Diego NBC station, a spokesman for the police suggested that the cyclist was clearly at fault.

“It appears at this time, that the bicyclist traveled in front of the truck violating his right-of-way and was struck by the commercial vehicle,” said San Diego Police Lt. Dan Christman.

Maybe it’s me. But one of us seems to misunderstand the most basic concepts of right-of-way law.

I was taught that merging traffic must yield to through traffic. Which means, unless the intersection was clearly marked to the contrary, the cyclists should have had the right-of-way, not the truck.

There is nothing in the law that says that the larger vehicle — or the faster vehicle — has the right-of-way.

Then, in an astounding demonstration of failing to understand the most basic traffic concepts, the officer points out that the bike lane the cyclists were riding in stops just before the off ramp, then begins again in the far right lane on the other side of the junction.

So what, exactly, were the cyclists supposed to do when the bike lane ended? Magically levitate to where it starts up again?

Or maybe they just weren’t supposed to be there in the first place?

As the satellite view clearly shows, cyclists using the bike lane have no choice but to ride across a busy, high-speed off ramp, hoping against hope that exiting drivers will yield to them.

Maybe the police should try riding across that off-ramp themselves.

So rather than the fault lying with the cyclists, it would appear to be a case of exceptionally poor road design, combined with the driver’s failure to yield to oncoming traffic — in this case, a bike. And an investigation by a police department that could use a little more training in the rights and responsibilities of cyclists.

I hope his family has a very good lawyer.

It looks like they’re going to need one.

Update: The victim has been identified as Marberry Ben Acree of San Diego; his brother-in-law writes to note the family is still in shock, as would be expected, while friends express their grief.

A couple of the news reports indicate that satellite photos show the bike lane runs along Friars Road as the off-ramp merges with the through lanes. I relied on Google’s satellite photos because I’m over 125 mile from the scene of the collision; there’s no excuse for any San Diego-based station relying on satellite photos instead of taking news van over there to look at the damn road themselves.

A man was killed; isn’t that worth a little actual reporting?

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,
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