She became trapped under the wheels, and died at the scene.
#BicyclistFatality; INC#1465; 8:26PM; 360 W Florence Av; http://bit.ly/2DQs1Gu; #Florence; PRELIM: One adult female bicyclist apparently struck by and found trapped beneath truck, determined dead at scene once freed by firefighters; Male vehicle driver not injured; LAPD South Traffic Incident #4811.
A street view shows three lanes and a left turn lane in each direction.
No other information is available at this time.
Crashes like this usually involve a vehicle somehow turning across the path of the rider, but we’ll have to wait for more information to understand how this could have happened.
This is at least the 46th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 24th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and her loved ones.
Meanwhile, former Portland resident Mitch Pryor also lost his home in the Camp Fire that has killed over 70 people. And like Spence, he’s only accepting $10,000 of the money raised for him on his GoFundMe page, and giving the rest to fire relief causes.
Between them, that’s over $6,000 that will go to victims of the Camp Fire thanks to their kindness and generosity.
Maybe we can do something to help push that total up a little.
Thanks to James Biffin for the heads-up. Photos of Mitch Pryor (top) and Alistair Spence from their respective GoFundMe pages.
I wonder what she’d say about medical professionals who diagnose people they’ve never met from the comfort of their studio chairs?
Let alone allow their own windshield bias dictate how they respond.
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Call it the Lake Wobegon effect.
Like Garrison Keillor’s fictional town, where all the children were above average, British motorists seem to think they’re better than average, as well.
Although the problem with that last stat is that bike trips tend to be far shorter than car trips; bike riders spend more time covering shorter distances.
So a more accurate measure would be comparing actual time spent on the road.
Best wishes to longtime SCAG Senior Transportation Planner Alan Thompson, who left his position with the Southern California Association of Governments last week to head up the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Bikeway’s Division.
While he’s somehow managed to stay out of the spotlight over the years, Thompson has been a forceful advocate for bicycling in Southern California, and will be very missed.
NIMBY New York residents rally to demand their unsafe street back; the oddly misnamed Queens Streets for All wants to take the street back from all users, and turn it back over a cars.
Ignoring studies showing that bikeable, walkable streets are good for business, New York business owners complain about a lane reduction and newly widened bike lane that took away 150 parking spaces; a DOT spokesperson says the real problem isn’t the bike lanes, it’s drivers double parking in the only remaining traffic lane.
Once again, a British bike rider has had to withdraw a claim that injuries he suffered from hitting a pothole left him too badly injured to ride, after social media posts showed him competing in the “best obstacle-packed course on the planet.”
Schadenfreude is also a dish best served cold. Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has been arrested on fraud charges in Japan for under-reporting his salary; Ghosn had told CNBC in 2016 that bicyclists usually “don’t respect any rules.”
Belgian cyclist Stig Broeckx is back on a bike, two years after suffering a severe brain injury in a crash with a race moto in the 2016 Tour of Belgium.
Relive Lance’s victory over Marco Pantani on Mount Ventoux in the 2000 Tour from the comfort of your theater seat.
Yet most business owners will insist that their business can’t even survive the loss of a few parking spaces.
But that’s just the start.
The study shows that improving access for people on bikes and on foot nearly doubles the number of people walking in a given neighborhood.
People also spent more time there, increasing activity such as going into shops and cafés by a whopping 216%.
At the same time, retail rents increased 7.5%, with a 17% decline in retail vacancies.
Which proves once again, that business owners who fight bike and pedestrian improvements are just shooting themselves in the foot.
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This is how easy it is to blame the victim in a bike crash.
According to the Sacramento Bee, a 75-year old man was killed in a crash while riding his bike Saturday evening.
This is how they described it.
A 50-year-old Carmichael man was driving a red Lexus, the release said, when he entered an intersection at the same time as the biker, who was not using a light or wearing a helmet. The impact caused the biker to be thrown from his bicycle onto the roadway.
Note how mentioning the lack of a light and helmet subtly shifts the blame, even as the next sentence notes that the crash is still under investigation.
And never mind that every crash is the result of the operators of two or more vehicle attempting to occupy the same space at the same time.
The question is why.
But chances are, after reading the above description, most people would assume that a 75-year old man somehow ran a stop sign or a traffic signal.
Metro wants to know where you’d put new bikeshare docks as they plan their expansion west from Downtown. Unfortunately, Hollywood is still not an option.
Speaking of Metro, should we really be surprised that they’re recommending replacing plans for the recently cancelled 710 extension with equally car-centric surface street plans?
UCLA transportation expert Michael Manville talks about the benefits of congestion pricing in an NPR podcast, saying a toll that would reduce driving less than 5% would increase speeds up to 20%. Although increasing speeds isn’t exactly what we should b doing under Vision Zero.
The owner of Performance Bike, and distributor of a number of bike brands, has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, though the CEO insists it will survive. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the link.
NBC News examines the rise in e-scooter injuries as providers spread across the US and around the world. The two scooter deaths that have occurred so far are two too many. But in context of the massive scooter usage numbers — Bird alone has surpassed 10 million rides — it’s not significantly more dangerous than riding a bicycle, and perhaps even safer.
Evidently, Los Angeles isn’t the only place homeowners leave trash cans in bike lanes. After Washington rider writes to complain — following a crash with a fog-shrouded garbage bin — a columnist says don’t leave your trash there, even if there’s no law against it.
There once was a teenager from Limerick, who stole 14 bicycles in four months. And no, it doesn’t rhyme and the meter sucks, just like the crime.
At least no one died when California drivers rose up in a failed attempt to roll back a gas tax increase. One person was killed and over 100 injured when French drivers rioted over plans to increase fuel taxes in that country. Thanks to Larry Kawalec for the heads-up.
A New Zealand driver is pissed off when she finds herself following a group of bicyclists riding up to four abreast. Even though they stayed in just one lane, and didn’t take up any more lane space that a single rider taking the lane would have.
Especially if you’ve impacted by dangerous street design and reckless driving in Southern California.
This Sunday, November 18, more than 100 family members, survivors, and allies will stand in solidarity.
We will remember the thousands of lives lost and forever changed in preventable traffic collisions across Greater Los Angeles. Join us.
Stand with Dr. Debbie Hsiung, who witnessed the death of her 7 year-old son Aidan Tam on May 31, 2014, while her family legally crossed the street in Pasadena. Dr. Hsiung went on to co-found SoCal Families for Safe Streets, a project of Los Angeles Walks.
SoCal Families for Safe Streets members bear witness to their pain and suffering in order to end preventable deaths and severe injuries on our streets.
Together the group will mark World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on Sunday, November 18 from 3pm-5pm at LA State Historic Park. RSVP now.
Streets Have Stories
In addition to participating in ceremonies that honor lives lost or forever changed by preventable traffic collisions, we invite you to share your story this Sunday with Monique López of Pueblo Planning, who will be on hand recording experiences.
Every 7 hours someone is killed or severely injured on LA city streets.
Thousands of people throughout our region live with the pain of a sudden, traumatic loss or a life-altering injury. But their experiences — the stories of people most directly impacted by dangerous street design and reckless driving — go unheard.
Nice program in Riverside, where city officials are working with Ride 2 Recovery to give bicycles confiscated by police to veterans, saying it can literally save a life by giving them a way to get to the doctor or cope with PTSD.
East Coast newspaper readers say reckless bike riders need to get off the sidewalk and follow the rules of the road. If you want to get bikes off the sidewalk, just give people safe places to ride on or off the street.
After a Virginia man killed a bike rider and fled the scene in his work truck, his boss had the truck repaired to hide the evidence; now they both face criminal charges.
London’s Evening Standard looks at five plans to cut toxic air and traffic deaths, including making deliveries from a train station by e-cargo bike and building safer trucks to protect people on foot and on bikes.
An Australian newspaper considers the myth around riding single file, saying most drivers consider riding two abreast illegal and dangerous — and it’s actually just the opposite.
You won’t be seeing Portuguese cyclist in the pro peloton anytime soon, following his four year ban for doping with EPO before the 2017 Tour de France.
November 15, 2018 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Cross-country bicyclist killed in Mississippi, dueling Purdue right-of-ways, and bike video Thursday
Once again, a bicyclist has been killed on a fundraising ride across the US.
There’s something seriously wrong when anyone has to risk their life just to ride a bicycle, whether across the country or around the block.
Photo from James Dobson’s GoFundMe page.
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No bias here.
Melissa McCurley forwards a story from last month, where police at Purdue University bent over backwards to exonerate a driver who left-crossed a bike rider.
Investigators somehow concluded that both the victim and the driver had the right-of-way, because both had green lights.
Even though that’s technically impossible, since right-of-way rules require drivers to yield to oncoming vehicles before turning.
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Nothing like landing on your feet after an ill-considered pass.
Maybe if Los Angeles was as progressive as the city seems to think it is, they might deputize a few bike riders to deal with blocked bus lanes and bike lanes.
Like a DC councilmember is actually proposing.
The bill creates a pilot program, "Citizen Bike Safety Enforcement Pilot Program," authorizing DDOT to create a training program and an app allowing up to 10 DC residents to photograph vehicles blocking bicycle lanes, and that photograph would be used to issue a citation. #bikedc
The rich get richer. San Francisco is building a one-mile East Bay bike path connecting with the city’s San Francisco Bay Trail, adding to what will eventually be a 500-mile pathway. Yes, 500 miles around the bay, which is a little less than ten times longer than the LA River bike path, which will be the longest path in the Los Angeles area when and if it ever gets finished.
A Sacramento driver with an extensive criminal record has been arrested in the hit-and-run death of a 14-year old boy as he walked to school, insisting it was an accident and he’s “not a monster.” I beg to differ; anyone who could leave another human being to die in the street — especially a kid — deserves that description. And it’s a crash, not an accident, which implies no one was at fault.
Apparently, it’s open season on Toronto bicyclists, after a cop doored a bike rider while parked in a bike lane gets off without even a slap on the wrist; investigators write it off as just a “momentary lack of attention.”
Good piece from an Aussie writer, who says he used to hate bicyclists and thought they shouldn’t be allowed on the roads — until he became one. Now he fears the bigoted, dehumanizing comments his wife and sister read after a rider is killed.
Hangzhou, China, with a population of 10 million people, is fighting chronic air pollution by eliminating the use of coal, and returning to the age of bicycles.
American cycling legend Nelson Vails describes how he became the first African American Olympic cycling gold medalist. And how he rode 1,000 miles with congestive heart failure, nearly dying next to an Iowa cornfield.
But in the meantime, you can support this site by telling your favorite local bike shop, donut shop, microbrewery or any other kind of business to support LA’s best bike news and advocacy by advertising on BikinginLA.
Just tell them to contact ads @ bikinginla dot com for a rate sheet or more information.
They’re onto us, comrades. A Palo Alto writer says a plan to add bus lanes and protected bike lanes on a major street is just a scheme to increase congestion.
Founders of Moscow’s massively popular bike parades say the city’s Department of Transport is muscling in on them with a goal of taking them over and shutting them down; the three-times a year rides attract as many as 30,000 people each time.
Transgender world masters track champ Rachel McKinnon is still facing a backlash — including death threats — a month after winning the title. I’ll leave it up to others to determine if being born male gives her an advantage or not — but she followed the rules, and beat cyclists who had previously beaten her. And no one deserves that crap, especially over a damn bike race.
Meanwhile, a New Zealand writer spent a month bicycling through the fields and cemeteries of France to remember the war’s dead, and contemplate the monster of endless war.
On a personal note, my own grandfather was a doughboy, and fought in the trenches of Belgium and France in WWI.
I wish I knew more about what he did. But the war wasn’t something he wanted to remember.
Let alone talk about.
I hope you’ll join me today in remembering him, and all those who have served our country, on this Veteran’s Day, and thank them for the sacrifices they made.
Let’s pray that our world will one day regain its senses, and learn to settle disputes without bullets and bombs.
But until then, let’s at least take better care of those who come back home.
And remember that not all scars are visible.
Thanks to J. Patrick Lynch, who wants a copy of that poster in the upper left, which was taken from the Forbes article, for the first link.
Smoke from a fire contains ash particles that can harm your lungs, as well as countless toxic chemicals that can do long-lasting damage.
Never mind the problems it can cause for allergy and asthma suffers.
So the best advice is, if you smell smoke, don’t ride. Or run. Or engage in any other physical activity outdoors.
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Arraignment was delayed once again for Sandra Marie Wicksted, who’s accused of murder for using her car to kill Leslie Pray as she rode her bike in a Claremont bike lane, as well as four counts of attempted murder for swerving at other bike riders before she killed Pray.
However, delays like that aren’t unusual.
Serious cases often see a number of postponements as prosecutors attempt to work out a deal, and defense lawyers get their cases together.
It really shouldn’t be news when a driver remains at the scene. But thanks to LA’s epidemic hit-and-run culture, it is.
Thanks to John McBrearty for the heads-up.
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According to the Claremont Courier, vehicular murder suspect Sandra Wicksted remains in the hospital for injuries she suffered when she allegedly ran down Leslie Pray as she ride in a Claremont bike lane; she continues to remain in custody on $6.1 million bail.
An LA Times reader says impound distracted drivers cellphones. Or better yet, make them drive over their own phones; maybe the treat of that will actually make them put ’em down.
Escondido is building a Missing Link Bike Path to connect two existing bike paths through the downtown area, with a combination of offroad bike paths and on-street protected cycle tracks.
CSUN skateboard users may soon find themselves on double-secret probation.
Like the Deltas in Animal House, skateboards are being targeted by a college dean who apparently wants them booted off campus.
And bicycles and scooters, too.
Dr. Jerry Stinner, the dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at California State University Northridge, writes in an email to faculty members that he was recently knocked down by someone on a skateboard.
Which is a bad thing.
And for which the person responsible should be held accountable. Not everyone who tries to get around the CSUN campus by any means other than walking or driving.
Just wait until someone tells him about cars, and the dangers they pose to students and faculty on campus.
Although the image of a college dean pointing a speed gun at unsuspecting students making their way across the massive campus, undoubtedly from his hidden vantage point, is pretty laughable.
But for someone who heads up the mathematics department, he doesn’t seem to have a solid grasp on statistics and polling. His survey questions are clearly slanted to elicit an anti-skateboard/bike/scooter response, rather than any clear gauge of actual attitudes.
Maybe he could have one of those statistics professors draft an actual, unbiased poll that could go out to everyone, including students.
Let’s hope CSUN has some Deltas of their own who are willing to throw a toga party or two to fight injustice.
And show Dean Stinner, and the rest of the CSUN administration, just how ridiculous this is.
Or the next time a pedestrian bumps into him, he may try to ban walking.
Meanwhile, Bicycle Retailercatches up with bike-related elections around the US, including the failure of California’s Prop 6. The article notes that Madeleine Dean, wife of the CEO of Performance Bicycle parent company Advanced Sports Enterprises, was elected to represent Pennsylvania in Congress, which should give a good voice for people on bikes.
Three public meetings will be held to discuss closing the eight-mile long gap in the LA River bike path from Elysian Valley to Vernon; the first meeting will take place at 6 pm tonight at Metro Headquarters in DTLA. If you’ve ever tried to make it through that gap section on surface streets, you know how badly the closure is needed.
The Santa Monica Daily Press looks at SaMo’s efforts to establish scooter and bikeshare parking on the streets; doing that throughout the LA area could eliminate complaints about haphazardly parked and abandoned scooters. Although the first thing that jumped out at me was not the parking space in front, but the stripped bike locked to a rack in the background.
Bike Snob says stop dooring people, already. Bad enough that the illustration shows motorists hitting a bike rider and pedestrian with their doors; dooring a corgi is just going too damn far.
Utah will once again consider an Idaho stop law, allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields. Which is only fair, since most drivers don’t come to a full stop, either.
A New York letter writer says bicycling “idiots” are a menace to “the 99% of New Yorkers” who don’t ride bikes, and police should shred lawbreaking riders on the spot(second item). I’m oaky with that, as long as the same policy applies to people in cars, as well.
This is also the cost of traffic violence. A driver charged with killing the four-year old daughter of a Tony Award-winning actress and another one-year old boy in a crosswalk while they were in a crosswalk has killed herself. Knowing you took an innocent life would be a damn hard thing to live with for the rest of your life.
London’s Sun newspaper asks what’s the point of lowering more speed limits to 20 mph when most drivers ignore it anyway — up to 94% during early morning hours. In that case, we might as well get rid of stop signs, legalize drunk and distracted driving and remove turn signals from cars, since many drivers ignore those laws, too.
Unless police are alleging that, like Wicksted, Scarpa deliberately targeted his victim, the murder charge suggests that Scarpa may have at least one previous DUI conviction.
People convicted of driving under the influence in California are required to sign a Watson notice stating they can be charged with murder if they kill someone as a result of an additional DUI offense.
Thanks to Erik Griswold for Wicksted links and photo of Leslie Pray ghost bike.
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Granada Hills bike thieves use their SUV as a step stool to break into a complex and make off with three bicycles. And even go back to grab what looks like a tire pump.
Thanks to Joe Linton for the link to the video.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real.
Streetsblogtalks with Caltrans Executive Director Laurie Berman about Complete Streets, climate change and culture change at the agency; she’s the first woman to hold the top position at California’s Department of Transportation.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi is one of us, participating in a youth bike ride for peace before launching a comprehensive anti-terror military offensive in the country.
