Tag Archive for Chatsworth

Nelson Rodriguez gets 15 to life for killing pregnant bike rider and 2nd man; 21 years for Long Beach man for bike dispute killing

That’s more like it.

The driver who killed two people in an apparent DUI hit-and-run in Chatsworth last year could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Sixty-year old Chatsworth resident Nelson Rodriguez was sentenced to 15 years to life behind bars after pleading no contest to two counts of murder last month.

Rodriguez was convicted of killing 37-year old Ana Hernandez, who was 29 weeks pregnant, and 58-year old Matthew Zink as they rode their bikes on Plummer Street in January, 2022.

He fled from the scene, crashing into several other cars and objects before finally coming to rest against a wall on Knapp Street, west of De Soto Ave, where he was finally detained by witnesses.

There’s no word on why he was charged with murder, which usually requires driving under the influence, after receiving a Watson advisement following a previous DUI conviction. That informs the driver that they could be charged with murder if they kill someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.

The only other explanation for the murder convictions is that police investigators concluded the killings were intentional, but there’s been no suggestion of that in the press.

There’s also no word on why Rodriguez wasn’t charged with hit-and-run for leaving the scene of multiple crashes.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

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A 26-year old Long Beach man will be well into middle age before he gets out of prison.

Junior Alexander Munguia was sentenced to 21-years in state prison for fatally shooting 46-year old Fernando Rodriguez five years ago in a dispute over who actually owned a bicycle.

As we’ve said many times before, no bicycle is worth taking another person’s life. Or giving your own.

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Streets For All is hosting their latest virtual happy hour this evening, featuring Metrolink CEO Darren Kettle.

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The late, great River Phoenix was one of us.

And the Curries were, too.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. Michigan’s Supreme Court denied an appeal from a man who was injured when his bike hit a “yard-wide” pothole in a public park, after the park’s lawyers argued the pothole was pretty obvious and easy to see. And implying it was his own damn fault.

No bias here, either. Residents of a couple Baltimore neighborhoods rallied against traffic calming and expanding bike lanes, calling Complete Streets a “complete failure” that prioritizes special interest groups over the needs of everyday people. Because people who ride bikes or want safer streets aren’t everyday people, evidently. 

Multiple North Carolina bicyclists went down when they were brake-checked by a road raging driver, who had honked and yelled over having to briefly slow down when the group of bike riders took the lane as they climbed a blind hill; no word on whether the driver will face charges, even though he used his vehicle as a weapon.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Police in Brisbane, Australia are looking for a bike-riding man, after he apparently deliberately scratched 20 cars along the same road.

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Local 

LA Walks is looking for a new executive director.

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, helped install the first two ghost tire memorials to honor victims of traffic violence in Los Angeles County; the program is similar to ghost bikes, but for people who were walking or in cars when they were killed.

Streetsblog says the 500-foot long, tree-lined bike and pedestrian Alameda Esplanade is partially open, and should be finished later this month.

Electrek suggest Commerce-based ebike and electric motorcycle maker SONDORS may be the next ebike brand to fail, as all signs point to a serious financial meltdown at headquarters — in fact, their California headquarters appears to be permanently closed, and their website is no longer taking orders.

ActiveSGV wants your input on the Santa Anita Avenue Complete Streets project in South El Monte.

One of the world’s biggest fundraising triathlons will take place in Malibu next month, when the star-studded Malibu Triathlon returns to Zuma Beach for the 38th year.

Metro, Metro Bike Share and the Auto Club of Southern California are offering a free virtual class on bikeshare 101.

 

State

Sad news from Fresno, where a 35-year old man was killed when he allegedly rode his mountain bike off the sidewalk, and into the path of trailers being pulled by a semi-truck. Which sounds more than a little suspicious, since it would require attempting the impossible by riding between the truck and the trailers. Never mind that a local Central Valley website seems to think a bike helmet could have protected him from harm when he was run over with a truck

San Francisco Streetsblog says the protected intersection and bike lane project on Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue is nearing completion, without the commercial armageddon feared by local business.

 

National

Streetsblog says young people of color must be at the forefront of the mobility justice movement.

Bicycling highlights 22 bicycle products they say are among the best made in the US. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Speaking of Electrek, a writer for the site says stop calling it an electric bike craze because we’re looking at the future of transportation. Although a Santa Barbara paper evidently didn’t get the memo.

A pair of Tacoma, Washington brothers face murder charges for killing a man they had robbed less than two hours earlier, after the victim spotted the men and chased them down an alley to recover his stolen bicycle and necklace.

F! cars don’t have lights, so Formula 1’s Red Bull Racing team used bike lights to light their drive down the Las Vegas Strip.

Nevada’s Burning Man has issued guidelines for ebikes at the festival after deciding not to ban them — for now.

Utah is opening new world-class downhill mountain bike trails as phase one of the new Solitude Mountain bike park.

A Denver couple were violently attacked with a bat and five-foot tow chain when they spotted their stolen bike, and tried to buy it back from the person who had it. Which is another reminder to let the cops deal with it — if you can get them to, that is.

Colorado bikewear maker Pactimo is donating $60 from the sale of bike jerseys and running t-shirts designed by a Maui artist to benefit victims of the recent fires on the island.

An Abilene, Texas newspaper says pedestrians are worried for their safety after a man riding a bike was hit by a driver, in a town with limited bike infrastructure. Evidently, they couldn’t find any bike riders to talk to. 

The Arkansas Farm Bureau is attempting to educate rural farmers on what to do when they encounter a spandex-clad bicyclist on a gravel road, and vice versa.

Kalamazoo, Michigan installed a lane reduction and two-way parking-protected bike lane on a major street, while insisting there’s still enough room for downtown traffic to flow freely.

A Michigan developer is suing a township over its requirement that builders fund bike lanes in order to get their projects approved, claiming it’s unconstitutional. Which should be a hard case to make, since it’s a pretty common provision throughout the US.

They get it. A Kentucky paper says yes, people on bicycles are required to stop for stop signs, then goes on to explain why someone reasonably might not.

Life is cheap in New York, where a 19-year old flatbed truck driver faces a whopping $500 fine or 15 days behind bars for killing a bicycle advocate as he rode his bike home from the market; the driver got a lousy traffic ticket for failing to yield.

New York’s Great White Way could soon have a two-way bike boulevard running next to Union Square.

She gets it. A Princeton, New Jersey pedestrian and bike safety educator says if people ride their bikes on the sidewalk, it’s because a lack of safe infrastructure means they don’t feel safe on the street.

Good question. The family of a Maryland man killed while riding his bike wants to know why the hell the driver hasn’t been charged.

Kindhearted Florida cops gave a 10-year old boy a new bike after a driver crashed into his old one.

 

International

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid, who marks a full century since cars drove people walking off the roads.

He gets it. An op-ed from a Toronto ER doctor says the bicycling injuries he sees are preventable if the city would just build more bike lanes.

He gets it, too. A Halifax, Nova Scotia writer tries Googling “bicyclist” and “pedestrian” compared to “person biking” or “person waking,” and discovers the difference is more than semantics.

After a pair of Scottish men were convicted of killing and burying the body of a man taking part in a fundraising bike ride in a drunken crash, a government watchdog has launched an investigation into the police who investigated the missing person’s case.

James Corden is one of us, as the former Late Late Show host was ordered to move his bikeshare bike when he tried leaving it in front of a posh restaurant in London’s Mayfair district.

A British designer has launched a new line of bike-friendly streetwear in a collaboration with Lime, featuring the company’s lime green branding.

The largest bicycle association in the Netherlands announced they will no longer insure fat tire ebikes, citing a 90% chance they’ll be stolen. So there’s hope, then. 

A US Army major maintained her readiness by riding over 1,000 miles on local mountain bike trails while she was deployed in Poland.

After a writer buys a “super cheap” Chinese ebike, he quickly concludes it was a super bad idea.

A 14-year old Malaysian boy was injured when he crashed his bike into a house while being chased by a dog, which wisely ran away after he hit the wall.

 

Competitive Cycling

American Sepp Kuss is confirmed for the Vuelta, marking his fifth-straight grand tour in support of Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard, as their Jumbo-Visma team looks to sweep all three of this year’s grand tours.

 

Finally…

Seriously, how bad a driver do you have to be if you can’t even escape bike cops with a Dodge Charger? That feeling when a DeSantis supporter’s naked bike rides and fake fuzzy balls would run afoul of Florida’s new drag ban.

And even the great fail sometimes.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

No Chatsworth COLT ride this year, a mea culpa on Friday’s SB 50 post, and Los Angeles Times goes gravel grinding

Let’s start with something that’s not happening.

For the last several years, the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council has held a community ride celebrating the Orange Line Bike Path, called Ride the COLT — aka Chatsworth Orange Line Tour.

It usually happens right around now; last year, on June 12th.

But this year, not so much.

In response to a question from J. Barrios, I reached out to the Chatsworth NC to ask about this year’s ride, and was told there was nothing planned at this time.

I was also told that could change, so there may be hope.

But I wouldn’t hold your breathe.

Photo by Michael Gaida from Pixabay.

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Sometimes I get it wrong.

That may have been the case Friday when I wrote about SB 50, which would ban police from stopping motorists and bike riders for minor offenses, in an effort to prevent pretext stops.

But a comment from someone calling themselves An Observer suggests my understanding of the bill was off base.

Your presumption that SB 50, if enacted, would prohibit “stops for failing to register a bicycle, or rolling through a stop sign or riding salmon” isn’t correct.

The former is already prohibited; Cal. Veh. Code § 39002, as amended by last year’s AB 1909, says that cities or counties “shall not prohibit the operation of an unlicensed bicycle.”

The latter two wouldn’t be affected by SB 50, in which the definition of “low-level infraction” is limited by reference to two sections of the Vehicle Code relating to bicycle equipment and helmets; it wouldn’t cover violations related to bicycle operation in general:

“(E) A violation related to bicycle equipment or operation in Sections 21201 and 21212.”

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB50

Peace officers would still be allowed to stop bicyclists for other violations, including Cal. Veh. Code § 22450 (stop signs), § 21202 (right-hand curb or edge), or for that matter, §§ 22107–22111 (hand signals for turning and stopping).

So it may offer much less protection to bike riders, particularly people of color, than I thought.

Mea culpa.

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The Los Angeles Times writes about gravel cycling, with 11 spots for grinding it out around the LA area.

And they talk with our old friend Zachary Rynew, the voice behind the Gravel Bike California videos we frequently share on here.

Zachary Rynew is a longtime Los Angeles cycling advocate who runs the website Gravel Bike California, which details numerous gravel rides in the region. He has been pedaling two-wheelers since he was in grade school and says riding on gravel roads takes him back to when he was a kid. It also makes navigating L.A. more efficient. “I was commuting from the San Fernando Valley to UCLA and cut my driving time in half by doing gravel and going through Fryman Canyon Park, then Franklin Canyon,” he said.

Southern California, Rynew believes, has a ton of off-road opportunities. “You can make your own adventure on gravel in the Santa Monica Mountains to the San Gabriels and in the hills above Redlands and Chino,” he said. “I love the versatility around here.”

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The East Side Riders are hosting a community meeting in Watts tonight.

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Turn out next Sunday to help make Ballona Creek more rideable.

 

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Caltrans is conducting a survey on road safety; Streets For All offers suggested responses to demand safer streets.

Meanwhile, the California state transportation agency has launched a new traffic safety campaign for the state, where someone is killed on our streets every two hours.

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More proof that plastic car-tickler bendie-posts don’t really protect anything.

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Bicycling says the trailer for the new Netflix docuseries about the Tour de France just dropped, “and it’s intense.” Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you. 

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

No bias here. Slate interviews Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer, calling him the “biggest bike dork in Congress.”

Police in Cincinnati cited a bike rider for riding salmon after he was struck by a driver, even though he was only riding in the bike lane on the wrong side of the street because the other side was blocked by a construction project.

A half dozen pro-car protestors blocked a Toronto bike lane to demand its removal, forcing riders out into rush hour traffic

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly. 

A 29-year old man was shot by police and arrested after engaging in a running gun battle as he fled a traffic stop on his bicycle; he was booked on charges of attempted murder of a peace officer, several weapons-related charges and outstanding warrants after being released from the hospital.

A London writer complains about dockless bikeshare bikes carelessly strewn across the sidewalks by unthinking riders, calling them Lime Slime.

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Local 

Speaking of Streets For All, the transportation PAC reminds us to comment on the LA County Master Bicycle Plan.

Streetsblog says LA’s BLAST initiative to quickly build bike lanes has failed to launch. Which really shouldn’t surprise anyone, since it was started under the Garcetti administration, similar to other failed projects like Vision Zero and the mayor’s Green New Deal.

Los Angeles firefighters used a helicopter to rescue a 47-year old mountain biker who suffered a severe ankle fracture when he fell from a remote section of the Haines Canyon Motorway in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills Sunday afternoon.

 

State

A San Diego bike rider was hospitalized with a head injury after they were run down by a hit-and-run driver; fortunately, the injuries weren’t considered serious, and police located the driver shortly after the crash. No word on whether the driver was arrested, however.

CalFire used a helicopter to rescue a mountain biker who fell in a remote area while riding Chula Vista’s Sweetwater River trail.

The Fresno Dollar General worker caught on security cam video running down an alleged shoplifter as he made his getaway on a bike says she has been fired, insisting she didn’t mean to hit him with her car. Even though that’s exactly what she did. 

A Palo Alto editor says adding protected bike lanes to El Camino Real is a bad idea, questioning whether they would protect school kids from getting hit by motor vehicles, and whether removing parking spaces would hurt small businesses. Studies have repeatedly shown that protected bike lanes improve safety for everyone on the street, including pedestrians. And that bike lanes, particularly protected bike lanes, are good for businesses, large or small.

Over 2,000 bicyclists set off Sunday on the seven day, 545-mile AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising ride from San Francisco to LA; the ride will end in Los Angeles this Saturday.

A pair of Lodi men are headed across the US on a fundraising ride, three decades after one of the men, a high school geography teacher and track coach, made the same trip on a whim with two friends.

 

National

The best Apple Watch features to try on your next bike ride. Assuming you have one, that is. 

Architectural Digest says a few simple design changes — like safe bike lanes and bicycle garages — can radically cut travel emissions in the US.

Honolulu bike riders offer suggestions to improve the city’s sketchy intersections.

A Portland bike rider commends the kindness and caring he experienced from bystanders and medical personnel when he crashed his bike riding through an intersection, dislocating his shoulder.

Flagstaff, Arizona bike advocates accuse the city of slow walking bike safety improvements.

A 62-year old e-mountain biker died after being found unresponsive on a Utah golf course, where he apparently crashed while riding through a bunker.

Nice story from St. Louis, where a 14-year old boy with sickle cell anemia was given a new ebike after he walked six miles to attend his 8th grade graduation, while his grandfather, who takes care of him and his six brothers and sisters after their mother died, was given a new $40,000 minivan by a local car dealer.

A member of a Chicago-area school board was killed when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bike in Highland Park.

She gets it. A Boston University instructor says bike-friendly cities should be designed for everyone, not just wealthy white riders.

Brompton has fittingly opened a micro-bike shop in Brooklyn, at just 70 square feet. Apparently they couldn’t figure out how to make a folding one. 

An Alabama writer complains about a recent report that ranked four cities in the state near the bottom for bikeability for the nation’s 200 biggest cities, with Mobile in the penultimate worst position, just ahead of Jackson, Mississippi.

 

International

The Guardian offers advice on how to score a good deal on a new or used bike.

Wallpaper looks at the year’s best designed ebikes, ranging in price from around $1,600 to nearly $18,000.

Vancouver bike riders held a funeral procession, complete with hearse and coffin, to mourn the recently removed bike lane through the city’s Stanley Park.

British Columbia is the latest city, state or province to introduce an ebike rebate program, with income-based rebates between $300 and $1,400; over 8,000 people signed up for the waitlist in the first 24 hours.

The Havana Times offers a sepia-toned photo essay of bicycling in the city.

A London man needed multiple surgeries after he was severely beaten by a hooded gang that bikejacked his $15,000 Specialized bicycle, leaving him with a broken jaw, collarbone and scapula, and several missing teeth.

Cycling Weekly admires a 1980s British-made Allin roadie, which is absolutely gorgeous.

A bicycle played a key role in the first 24-Hours of Le Mans when a Bentley suffered a punctured gas tank; after the driver ran three miles to the pits, his co-driver borrowed a bike from a gendarme, rode salmon back to the stalled car and plugged the hole with a wooden bung, before eventually finishing fourth.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is one of us, briefly losing consciousness when he fell off his bike while riding with his son. And yes, he was wearing a helmet.

An Indian writer marks last Saturday’s World Bicycle Day with detailed advice on how to ride a bike with diabetes. You, that is, not the bike.

Don’t try this at home. An Austrian judo Olympian will attempt to scale K2 on a bicycle; she’ll be riding up the world’s second highest mountain at 28251 feet.

An Australian couple have been together for over 30 years after meeting during a long-distance bike ride.

Popular Aussie bicycling photographer David Blucher is learning to walk again, six months after a mountain biker lost control at the bottom of a run, hitting him at full speed in a crash he can’t even remember.

 

Competitive Cycling

American pro Keegan Swenson outsprinted Czech rider Petr Vakoč to win this year’s Unbound Gravel, with Lachlan Morton third; Swenson’s win made up for last year, when he was out sprinted for the win.

Carolin Schiff dropped the competition like freshman English, sweeping to a mud-soaked 60-mile solo breakaway to win the women’s Unbound Gravel by a remarkable 15-minutes over second place finisher Sofia Gomez Villafane, with Sarah Sturm in third.

France’s Arnaud Demare won the 103rd Brussels Cycling Classic in a close sprint, following a 23-man breakaway that managed to stay ahead of the remainder of the peloton.

A 70-year old man was killed when his race motorcycle collided head-on with a competitor in a German triathlon, while the bicycle rider suffered severe injuries, and a camera operator on the back of the motorcycle was treated for shock. Yet another example of why race motos should be banned from bike races.

Road.cc says pro cycling needs to ditch its obsession with “hardness.”

 

Finally…

Who needs pedals when you have solar power? Your next roadie could retail for north of fifteen grand.

And where to shop when you’re in the market for “Strappy Cycling Culottes.” Or maybe just one of the world’s most expensive bikes.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

61-year old bike rider killed in Chatsworth collision Tuesday night; 3rd killed in San Fernando Valley neighborhood this year

Yet another person has been killed riding a bicycle in LA’s Chatsworth neighborhood this year.

According to KFI-AM, 61-year old John Manahan was identified Saturday as the victim of Tuesday’s collision.

Manahan was riding near 10201 Mason Ave, south of Devonshire Street, when he was struck by a driver just before 8:30 pm.

He died at the scene.

Initial video from the scene indicated Manahan was riding a minibike. However, it looks like a throttle-controlled ebike, and was identified by the police as a bicycle.

Warning: The victim’s body is clearly visible covered with a tarp. So be sure you’re comfortable seeing that before you click play. 

The crash appears to have taken place in the southbound lanes of Mason in front of a large apartment complex, across from a shopping center.

You can still see the headlight from Manahan’s bike shining down on the street.

Unfortunately, no other information is available. Or likely to be at this point.

This is at least the 28th bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the ninth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

It’s also the fifth in the City of Los Angeles. Remarkably, three of those deaths have occurred in Chatsworth, within just over a mile of one another.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for John Manahan and his loved ones.

Update — man and woman killed riding bikes in Chatsworth hit-and-run, first SoCal bike deaths this year

News is just coming in that two people on bicycles have been killed by a hit-and-run driver earlier this evening.

According to KCBS-2, the victims were riding on the 9500 block of North Lurline Ave in Chatsworth when they were struck by the driver of a Toyota Tacoma pickup around 7:15 Tuesday night.

Both victims died at the scene.

Neither has been identified at this time, though the station says they’re believed to be transients. Which should not lessen the tragedy in any way.

The truck was found nearby, and the driver taken into police custody.

Unfortunately, no additional information is available at this time.

This appears to be the first two bicycling fatalities in Southern California this year, as well as the first in Los Angeles County.

Update: KABC-7 reports the victims are a man and a woman, while placing the location at Independence Ave & Knapp Street in Los Angeles, which is nearly a mile away from the original site

However, it’s possible that they may be referring to where the driver crashed into a wall while attempting to get away, after striking several other vehicles. 

According to the LA Times, the driver came to a halt at the corner of De Soto Ave and Knapp Street, which is less than a quarter mile from the location cited by KABC.

KABC also reports the driver may face a murder charge, which would suggest he — or she — may have been under the influence, and possibly a repeat offender.

Update 2: KNBC-4 reports the male victim was identified by his son as 58-year-old Canoga Park resident Matthew Zink; he was riding with a female friend, who was pregnant. 

Which means that three lives were needless snuffed out in a single moment. 

Update 3: KCBS-2 has identified the second victim as 37-year old Ana Hernandez.

Meanwhile, the driver has been identified as 58-year old Nelson Rodriguez. He is currently being held on $4 million bond, with arraignment scheduled for next Tuesday on two counts of felony murder, and a single misdemeanor charge of hit-and-run resulting in property damage. 

There’s no word on why he’s not being charged with felony hit-and-run for fleeing the scene after the murders. Or why he is being charged with murder, which usually requires an intentional act or driving under the influence after a previous DUI conviction. 

A pair of ghost bikes were installed for Hernandez and Zink Thursday night. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Ana Hernandez and Matthew Zink, and all their loved ones.

Bicyclist killed in Chatsworth after allegedly running red light

Just when it looked like we might get out of the 4th of July holiday weekend relatively unscathed, word comes that a bike rider was killed in Chatsworth last night.

The LA Daily News is reporting that 47-year old Chatsworth resident Samuel Martinez was riding west on Lassen Street at Topanga Canyon Blvd around 11:40 pm when he was struck by a Chevy Silverado pickup headed north on Topanga; he was pronounced at the scene.

A police spokesperson reports that Martinez went through the red light, making him responsible for the collision. And serving as a reminder why bicyclists — and everyone else on the roads — need to stop for traffic signals.

If you blow through a red light or stop sign, you’re likely to be held at fault for whatever might happen as a result. Regardless of what anyone else on the road may have done to contribute to the collision.

Which means that you could end up being the one ticketed for the collision. And that you, or your heirs, will be unlikely to receive any settlement as a result.

There is no mention of whether Martinez’ actions were confirmed by independent witnesses, however.

It’s a common problem that cyclists who are killed or seriously injured can’t present their side of the story, while the drivers who hit them understandably have an inherent interest in painting their actions in the best possible light. Unless someone other than the driver actually saw the collision, police should view driver’s statements regarding the actions of the victim critically.

Too often, they don’t.

It’s also possible that the light may have changed as Martinez was entering the intersection, leaving him unable to stop in time to avoid going through the red light or avoid the collision.

That is not to say Martinez didn’t simply blow through the light.

Just that such statements should be taken with a grain of salt if there are no corroborating witnesses.

Or sometimes, even if there are.

This is the 45th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 21st in Los Angeles County. Alarmingly, it’s also the seventh death of a bike rider in the City of Los Angeles since the first of the year — far surpassing the total for each of the last two years.

And this year is barely half over.

My sympathy and prayers for Samuel Martinez and all his family and friends.