March 14, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: 73-year old woman dies after apparent right-hook hit-and-run in Koreatown Monday; suspected DUI driver arrested
Seriously, this has got to stop.
For the fourth time just this week, someone has died riding a bicycle in Southern California.
The driver stopped briefly, then backed up and fled the scene.
The crash occurred around 6:40 am at Olympic Blvd and Vermont Ave, as the pickup was headed east on Olympic. The driver attempted to turn right onto Vermont, and apparently right hooked the victim as she rode east across Vermont.
The driver stopped for a moment, then backed up onto Olympic and fled east.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was taken to a hospital, where she died sometime later.
Police found a white Dodge Ram pickup matching the description of the suspect vehicle nearby and took the driver into custody. Investigators note that drug use “may” have played a role in the crash, though it’s unknown if alcohol may have also been a factor.
The crash is still under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to call detectives with the LAPD’s West Traffic Division at 213/473-0234 or 1-877/527-3247.
This the 21st bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the ninth already in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fourth we know about in the City of Los Angeles.
Six of those SoCal deaths have involved hit-and-run drivers.
However, someone should tell My News LA that once a driver flees the scene, it’s not a “suspected” hit-and-run driver, it is a hit-and-run. The driver is only suspected once they’re accused.
However, there also seems to be some question whether the accused driver was taken into custody; KTLA-5 says an arrest was made, but My News LA says police are still looking for the driver, with the usual standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and her loved ones.
March 3, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Hit-and-run victim left in Boyle Heights, Westchester/Playa NC talks Pershing Drive safety, and CA legislature talks DUI
Apparently, it only took the death of a 36-year old mother and her unborn baby to spur them into action, and consider re-reversing the Complete Streets improvements that were installed in 2017, then ripped out later that same year to appease angry motorists.
Not to mention business owners who somehow thought they’d get more sales from drivers zooming past, usually without stopping, than from people who could safely walk or bike to their establishments.
But hey, if I sound disgusted, it’s only because I am.
So if you live, work, walk or bike in the area, or know anyone who does, you owe it to yourself to be there tonight. Or at the very least, take the survey from CD11’s Traci Park.
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We’ve recently featured Calmatters‘ excellent License to Kill series discussing California’s lax DUI laws, and how the state seemingly goes out of its way to keep dangerous drivers on the streets.
The Legislature has planned a number of hearings in the coming days that I thought you might want to know about.
Tomorrow (March 3): The Assembly Public Safety Committee will take up discussion on a bill to tighten punishments for repeat drunk drivers and another bill to close a diversion loophole that allows people charged with vehicular manslaughter to avoid having the case on their driving record.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. You can attend in person (room 126 of the State Capitol) or remotely. The bills are two of many issues on the agenda.
The bills address two issues we’ve covered in our investigation: the state’s weak DUI laws and how the diversion program means you can face more consequences for a speeding ticket than a deadly crash.
March 10: The Senate Transportation Committee will hold an informational hearing titled “Examining California’s DUI and Traffic Safety Laws.” It’s the first such hearing in well over a decade.
We don’t yet know who will be speaking, but it will begin at 1:30 pm at 1021 O Street, Room 1200. You can also stream the live video or audio.
If you can’t make these hearings but would love to watch or read what happened after, we’ll also have access to recordings and a transcript. If you’d like me to send those to you when they become available, reply to this email and let me know.
Starting Thursday 3/5 – The L.A. City Transportation Department (LADOT) will host two Westwood Boulevard Safety and Mobility Project public input meetings. The in-person meeting will be Thursday 3/5 from 6-8 p.m. at Westwood’s Village Square at 1109 Westwood Boulevard. The virtual meeting will take place on Thursday 3/19 from 6-8 p.m. via Zoom. Details at LADOT newsletter.
Middlesbrough, England is removing what’s been called the UK’s “most hated” bike lane, after it was criticized for causing injuries and offering a “clear getaway” for shoplifters and drug dealers — never mind that it will cost over a million dollars more to remove the four-year old bikeway than it cost to put in.
Burbank will post a table on the Chandler Bikeway from 9 am to 12:30 pm this Saturday to answer questions and solicit input about planned bicycle infrastructure in the city, focusing on the upcoming extension of the Chandler Bikeway; you’ll find them at the east end of the bike path at Chandler Blvd and Mariposa Street.
He gets it. A writer for Mountain Bike Action pens an open letter to the bike industry, saying we need to stop calling anything with an electric motor an ebike, and create clear distinctions between electric bicycles, electric mopeds and electric motorcycles.
They get it, too. Police in St. George, Utah cited a driver for hitting a bike-riding boy in a right-hook crash, leaving the kid with minor injuries; she was cited even though a cop said utility boxes and the position of the sun could have obscured her view of the boy, adding “Regardless, you still have to yield the right of way, especially when you’re at stop signs.” Can we hire that guy to be our LAPD police chief? Pretty please?
That’s more like it. A 69-year old Louisiana man was sentenced to 9 years behind bars for the hit-and-run that killed a 67-year old man riding a bicycle, along with six months for driving while intoxicated, to be served consecutively. Or concurrently. Or maybe both.
Nope, no bias here. A Florida county discusses “essential safety protocols and the legal responsibilities shared by all road users” with a huge graphic listing a dozen safety accessories for people on bicycles, along with advice to use that safety equipment, wear a properly fitting bike helmet and replace it after a crash, and follow the same laws as drivers and use hand signals — then tells drivers to just remain vigilant and give bike riders at least three feet passing distance.
Dubliners make over half a million journeys by bike and foot every day, after investing the equivalent of nearly $700 million in active transportation over just the past five years, in a metro area with a population of less than 1.4 million.
February 25, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Why people keep dying: Drunk driver kills bike rider while on bond for DUI, stoned driver with 5 DUIs killed 13-year old boy
He was facing up to 15 years for first-degree vehicular homicide. Yet prosecutors negotiated a nearly minuscule plea deal, despite an extensive record of traffic crimes dating back more than a decade — including a pending case for a previous DUI.
According to the Augusta Press,
At the time of the crash, Walker had a pending DUI case from an October 2019 arrest. While awaiting trial on the vehicular homicide charge, he pleaded guilty to the earlier DUI, receiving a one-day jail sentence, probation, a $1,000 fine, and a risk-reduction program requirement from Judge Monique Walker.
Walker’s driving record spans more than a decade, including multiple speeding convictions, driving with a suspended license, attempted eluding of police, and prior DUI allegations. In 2015, he served 40 days in jail for attempting to elude police, driving with a suspended license, and a stop sign violation, as well as 10 days for driving with a suspended license and marijuana possession. His 2019 DUI case lingered in court for years before being resolved during the homicide case proceedings.
Read that again.
One damn day behind bars for driving under the influence, even after he killed someone while driving drunk yet again.
Talk about authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.
The plea deal also includes credit for time served. And since he has a record of driving without a legal license, we can expect he’ll be back on the street and free to kill again in no time.
Yet just acouple hours away in Savannah, Georgia, prosecutors have thrown the book at another DUI hit-and-run driver, who killed a popular local known as the Flag Man for riding his bike around town carrying an oversized American flag, while driving stoned and with multiple prior DUIs.
That driver faces charges of homicide by vehicle, hit-and-run resulting in death, serious injury by motor vehicle, tampering with evidence, operating a vehicle without a tag, no proof of insurance, driving with a suspended license, and failure to yield right of way to a bicyclist.
The driver was asking for early release from a sell-deserved sentence of up to 15 years behind bars, along with a second term of up to five years — even though he had five — count ’em, five — previous DUIs.
And once again, authorities can take pride in knowing they kept a dangerous driver on the road until it was too late for a 13-year old boy.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
An insurance expert criticizes New Jersey’s draconian, “knee-jerk” ebike law, which requires licensing and registration for all ebikes, regardless of power or speed, which he says will be particularly harmful to delivery riders.
No bias here. Traffic tickets issued to London bicyclists dropped by a remarkable two-thirds in just two years, but The Times summarily rejects even the possibility that bike riders are behaving better by blaming it on a drop in the police force.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Travel site Islandslooks forwards to New York’s massive annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour through all of the city’s boroughs. And no, I’m not making the same mistake I made with Montreal, because this time I know Manhattan is an island, as is Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens.
Brompton is addressing London’s high rate of bike thefts by sending theft victims a loaner bike free for two weeks while they shop for a replacement. That’s actually a brilliant marketing move, providing a free trial of their foldies at the exact time people are shopping.
L39ion of Los Angeles cyclist Jyven Gonzalez won the Elite race at the awkwardly named 4th Annual Alfred Parks “Ketch D Bull Fi Mi” Memorial Race in Belize.
February 18, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on New slate of bills stiffen CA DUI laws, completely incomplete killer pathway, and raising funds for LB hit-and-run victim
With all of yesterday’s holiday greetings, I forgot all about Mardi Gras for the first time since I lived in Louisiana with the Pirate Lafitte .
But just like a flat inevitably follows a forgotten spare tube and patch kit, so Ash Wednesday must follow on the heels of Mardi Gras.
So I hope you’ve gotten the partying out of your system at least for a day or two, and have a good Ash Wednesday if you’re so inclined.
Personally, I’m giving up flipping off dangerous drivers for Lent.
Like why wasn’t the driver charged for running the victim down from behind with a massive SUV, when only some form of carelessness or distract could reasonably explain why the driver couldn’t avoid someone on a bicycle directly in front of him.
It should have at least been a prima facie violation of the state’s three-foot passing law, since the driver trier to go through rather than around him
Then there’s the obvious question of why this section of the pathway is considered complete, when it’s just nine miles of narrow country road with no bike infrastructure or paved shoulder of any kind.
As in zero.
Never mind on a two lane farm road with a 55 mph speed limit.
It’s worth giving the full piece a read, because they raise a lot of the same problems we face down here, despite the more rural setting.
Like how the hell people are supposed to stay active as they age, when doing it puts them in the crosshairs of dangerous drivers.
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I want to share a press release I received yesterday promoting a crowdfunding campaign to help pay funeral expenses for Lori Ann Carreon.
GOFUNDME CREATED FOR LONG BEACH CYCLIST KILLED BY HIT-AND-RUN-DRIVER
Long Beach, CA – Friends and family of Lori Ann Carreon, the bicyclist killed by a hit-and-run driver on Saturday, February 7th, have set up a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral and memorial expenses.
Carreon was killed while riding her bike just blocks from her apartment in the Bluff Park neighborhood of Long Beach. Carreon, a long-time Long Beach resident and occupational therapist, was a beloved member of the community.
She was hit by a driver going in excess of 60 miles an hour on Second Street while crossing the intersection of Redondo Avenue and East Second Street. The driver fled the scene and turned himself in to the police on February 11th.
The intersection of Redondo Avenue and East Second Street has been the scene of numerous accidents over the years, and residents have urged Councilmember Cindy Allen and Mayor Rex Richardson to take action to make it safer, either by adding speed bumps or a traffic light, but their pleas have so far been ignored.
Long Beach Police have increased patrols at the intersection following the accident and have issued dozens of tickets, underscoring the need for more substantive efforts.
Below, the sponsors offer a schedule of the busy two day event, or rather, a series of events, including bike rides up to a half century, along with how to register and get more information.
WHEN: February 28-March 1, 2026
Sat, Feb 28: 50-mile Bike Ride; 8 a.m. – via Chinatown, LA River Bike Trail, Griffith Park, Burbank, Glendale, Tujunga, La Crescenta, Montrose, La Canada Flintridge, Pasadena, Alta Dena, South Pasadena, El Sereno and Lincoln Heights • Sat, Feb 28: 20-mile Bike Ride; 8:15 a.m. – via Chinatown, LA River Bike Trail, Griffith Park • Sat, Feb 28: 2K PAW’er Dog Walk; 9 a.m. • Sat, Feb 28: 3rd Annual Lantern Paw Festival; Blossom Plaza, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.;A dog-centered Lunar New Year Celebration from https://www.instagram.com/pawsitivemgmt • Sat, Feb 28: Free Festival until 4 p.m. • Sun, March 1: 5K Run/Walk; 8:00 a.m. • Sun, March 1: 10K Run/Walk; 8:40 a.m. • Sun, March 1: 1K Kiddie Run: 9:45 a.m.; includes Kiddie Fun Zone (Carnival Games, Airbrush Tattoos, Pony Rides, Arts & Crafts, Rock Climbing Wall, Activities with the LA Zoo and LA Public Library, Freebies and Giveaways, and much more)
• Sun, March 1: Free Festival until 1 p.m.
Be careful riding river pathways in this weather, for obvious reasons.
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Joe Linton’s lawsuit over Metro’s failure to implement Measure HLA on the Vermont corridor is kinda headed to court today.
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Los Angeles is shamefully giving back millions in hard-won California Active Transportation Program funding, because city budget cutbacks mean we don’t have enough staffing to implement the projects.
And that’s because Mayor Bass and the city council approved massive, unfunded pay increases for police and other city workers.
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Apparently, LADOT is making up for their lack of staffing by conducting an endless series of surveys, including this one on improvements to Marmion Way.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
This is a perfect example of dangerously impatient driver behavior. On the other hand, this wouldn’t have been a problem if the bicyclists had stuck to a single lane, leaving room to pass safely.
A Culver City paper is concerned that a proposal to divert funds that voters approved to fix deteriorating school facilities will be used to “force a connection in between through our quiet residential neighborhood.” Never mind that the purpose is to provide a safe alternative to the usual parent drop-off so kids can walk or bike to school. But what’s the safety of a few kids compared to keeping the riffraff and rugrats out of the ‘hood?
January 14, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Reforming DUI law to make it kinda less lax, Venice NC rethinks the bike plan, and throwing a bike at a hit-and-run driver
Apparently, CalMatters is getting results for calling out California’s lax DUI laws.
Or repeatedly getting busted while too drunk or stoned to drive.
And how those overly lenient laws adds to the state’s ever increasing body count due to traffic violence caused by people who shouldn’t have been behind the wheel in the first place.
Now they’re reporting that a number of bills are being proposed in the state legislature to tackle the problem, including one directly addressing DUI.
(Assemblyman Nick) Schultz, a Democrat from Burbank, is the chair of the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee and a former DUI prosecutor. He unveiled a new billlast week – which he called “the tip of the spear” – that would crack down on repeat drunk drivers. The bill would:
Let prosecutors charge a felony for a third DUI — a “paradigm shift” for sentencing, he said, that would bring California more in line with states like Oregon, where Schultz worked. Right now, in California, a driver generally can’t be charged with a felony until their fourth DUI in 10 years.
Require any driver who gets a fifth DUI conviction within 10 years to have their license revoked for five years, and to install an in-car breathalyzer for four years. As we’ve reported, California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the nation, and these measures touch on two reasons why.
Look, I’m glad to finally see some action to address DUI. Any action.
But waiting for a fifth DUI in just ten years to get serious about taking away someone’s driving privileges is like giving someone his gun back because his first few shots missed.
A driver’s first DUI should result in an automatic six-month loss of license, and a requirement to use an interlock device for at least two years.
A second DUI should result in automatic jail time, or at least home vacation confinement. And a third should mean serious prison time, and a permanent loss of license.
That’s three in a lifetime, not 10 years. Or 20.
We should also impound the cars of any drivers who have their license suspended, for whatever reason. Because as we’ve seen, too many people continue to drive even after their license has been taken away.
Does that sound harsh?
So is having to arrange a funeral for a loved one.
The simple fact is, no one has a right to drive. It is a privilege granted by the state, only after passing a test demonstrating a basic knowledge of traffic laws, and the ability to drive safely.
Which means that everyone should know it’s illegal to drive after drinking or getting high. Other than speeding or distracted driving, nothing a person does behind the wheel is more likely to result in the death of another human being.
And don’t get me started on how lenient our speeding and distracted driving laws are.
Right now, we enforce DUI with a wink and a nod, accepting a driver’s promise to never, ever do it again. Until they do, when we usually just do the same thing.
And keep doing it until they kill someone.
It’s long past time we put a stop to it, once and for all. And incremental steps, however well intentioned, won’t get us there.
Never mind that there’s already a Los Angeles bike plan, part of the city mobility plan, that maps that out in detail.
But whatever.
The Venice NC Parking & Transportation Committee met Monday to discuss the creation and distribution of a Bikeway Network for Venice in time for the ’28 Olympics.
According to YoVenice,
The purpose of the survey is to include community input, advice, and suggestions before the final product is distributed to the general public. Should they receive board approval, several methods of distribution will be used for maximum participation and input.
The creation of a Venice Bikeway Network would be the ultimate goal and objective.
It’s not that they shouldn’t take another look at it.
Obviously, things have changed in the decade and a half since the bike plan was unanimously approved by the city council. They should consider how it can be improved, particularly in a neighborhood where residents are five times more likely to ride a bicycle than most Angelenos.
But start with the work that’s already in place, without trying to reinvent the (bicycle) wheel.
He bizarrely told investigators that he knew he had been in a crash, but kept going because he thought someone had just thrown a bicycle at his truck, and had no idea there might possibly be someone riding it.
If he actually believes that, prosecutors should add a DUI charge to his indictment, because he’d have to be whacked out of his mind to have that thought even pop into his head.
He should also have been charged with murder, because it took half an hour to find the victim after he was run down, at which point it was too late to help him.
And to top things off, the driver was out on pre-trial release for a separate domestic battery case.
Nice guy.
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This is the future we could have.
Although as someone else pointed out in the comments, we already have a few Metro Bike Hubs, but nowhere near enough. And you have to have a membership, rather than just using it on demand whenever you need it.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. Conservative politicians in England’s Merseyside region are attacking a “ridiculous” new bike lane network as “crackpot stuff,” even as the local government calls for people to ditch their cars for some shorter journeys, insisting it will make area “healthier and safer.”
Apparently, a random video of bicycling through LA’s Skid Row is proof that California is “a third world hellscape,” where the “streets look like Mogadishu.” In other words, sort of like a few streets in any other major city.
A Eureka woman was arrested nearly a year after she used her SUV as a weapon by allegedly speeding up to intentionally strike a bicycle being ridden by someone she knew, while driving on the wrong side of the road, then backing up to run over the victim’s bicycle, and crashing into another car after running a red light as she tried to make her escape; fortunately, the victim didn’t appear to be seriously injured, although the driver of the car she hit was hospitalized afterwards.
She gets it. An Irish coroner looking into the death of a 58-year old bike rider blames the lack of a comprehensive bike path network, while a bike advocacy group says the street where he was killed by a truck driver “is not safe for people walking or cycling.”
Two-time Tour de France and defending Vuelta champ Jonas Vingegaard will race the Giro this year, as he tries to claim the only Grand Tour he hasn’t won. Yet. Note to newspapers — does it really make sense to paywall an AP story that’s readily available on the internet?
Australia’s Royal Automobile Association, the country’s equivalent to AAA, is urging drivers and bicyclists to be patient and courteous, and obey the law, during the upcoming Santos Tour Down Under. Although it’s not the scofflaw bike riders whose impatience and lack of courtesy puts everyone else at risk.
December 22, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Hit-and-run charge in Ackerman killing, driver kills 2 Texas triathletes, and Imperial Beach teen critically injured by DUI driver
Day 356 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
Thanks to John and Austin for their donations Sunday night to save our final fund drive weekend, and help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!
But time is quickly running out, with just three short days left to give.
If the information we give you every day is invaluable to you, but you can only afford ten bucks, then give ten. If it’s worth a hundred and you’ve got that, then give that. If you can and want to give more, then great, give more.
But if it’s not worth a dime to you, or you can’t afford to give anything, then thank you for reading, which I appreciate even more than your money.
If you want to donate, you can do it right now with just a few clicks through PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.
If you’ve already given, I sincerely and humbly thank you. But either way, I wish a joy filled holiday season for you and all your loved ones.
And yes, our spokescorgi is just a tad worn out by all this now.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
In an example of toxic masculinity run amok, a writer from Cayucos complains that buying your kid an ebike is “guaranteed to turn him into a weak-limb pussy,” and our “young male race into a bunch of butter-soft pansies.” Not that he doesn’t have a point about kids being better off with something they have to pedal, but still.
Seriously? A politician from Northern Ireland was peeved at the condition of a park after a recent ‘cross race, even though it recovers quickly, and says he refuses to be intimidated by “cycling enthusiasts.” Because it’s not like “cycling enthusiasts” might be local residents or, you know, voters or anything.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
No bias here, either. San Diego’s CBS8 reports that residents have concerns about two new community plans, but they can only seem to find one person who complains that a lane reduction and buffered bike lanes could cause problems evacuating the University City area, even while admitting that people could still drive in the bike lanes to get out, if necessary. Never mind that if there’s an anti-bike slant to any story, that station will find it.
A British bike rider is warning about the dangers of a green-painted bike lane, after he needed a hip replacement when his bike skidded out from under him because the smooth paint created a slick surface. Which is exactly the fear in this country when green lanes were first introduced, until cities — including Los Angeles — began using textured surfaces. Evidently, that city didn’t get the memo.
A senior political correspondent for the Guardian argues that the UK is not keeping up with rapid changes in bicycling, but emulating the bike-friendly highways enjoyed by the country’s European neighbors will take a lot more money and political will. Sounds a lot like this country, including a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name.
December 17, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Calderon on drugs in fatal PCH hit-and-run, life sentences in Probst murder, and Raising Canes giveaway goes Hollywood
Day 350 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
Sadly, yesterday was the first day during this year’s fund drive without at least one donation to support SoCal’s best source bike news and advocacy.
Although that’s partially my fault, as the spokescorgi’s full-time service dog job delayed asking for money until late in the day.
Don’t let it happen again. Because time is quickly running out on this year’s fund drive. So what are you waiting for already?
So stop what you’re doing, and take just a moment to donate through PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.
Forty-three-year old Amber Calderon was reportedly high on fentanyl, meth and weed at the time of the October hit-and-run, confirming reports that she appeared to be under the influence when she was stopped by a witness in a state park nearly a mile away, despite having a flat tire and “obvious damage” to her car.
Eric Williams was riding on the shoulder of the roadway with two other people when Calderon is alleged to have swerved right, running them all down from behind. Williams was the co-founder of the Community Church of West Garden Grove, along with his wife.
According to KTLA-5,
Following the toxicology results, Calderon’s charges were upgraded to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence, driving under the influence of drugs causing bodily injury, possession of hard drugs with two or more prior convictions, one felony count of hit-and-run causing permanent injury or death, two felony counts of hit-and-run with injury, and a violation of Section 11395(b)(1) of the Health and Safety Code.
She now faces a maximum of 12 years and four months behind bars if she’s convicted on all charges.
The only surprise is that this appears to be her first DUI, since no murder charges were filed.
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It looks like there was justice for Andreas Probst after all.
They were both teenagers and students at a Las Vegas high school at the time of the crash, where they shared video of the fatal crash with other students showing themselves laughing and egging each other on as they sent Probst flying off his bike.
As juveniles when the crime was committed, they will both be eligible for parole after 20 years.
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‘Tis the season.
The nationwide Raising Cane’s bike giveaway finally made it all the way west to Hollywood, as Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves teamed with poplar Hallmark actress Lacey Chabert to give 120 new bikes to kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood, with another 380 bicycles promised by Christmas; the fast food chain has donated a total of 4,500 bikes, valued at $1.5 million, in nearly 30 US cities this year alone.
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It’s a great ad for eggs. For yeast, maybe not so much.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A British mayor says returning a bike lane to a Cambridgeshire bridge would cause chaos, and demanded that the city council change its mind on restoring the temporary bikeway. Because evidently, it causes far less chaos to have bicyclists riding in front of cars and occasionally getting run over.
A New Yorker who led the fight that removed cars from New York’s Central Park says he opposes efforts to ban ebikes from the park, saying supporters of the ban don’t remember what it was like before when motor vehicles ruled the park. Maybe he could come here, and help us get cars out of Griffith Park.
Residents of Asheville, North Carolina are advocating for the passage of the Magnus White Cyclists Safety Act in the US Congress, which would require carmakers to install Automatic Emergency Braking Systems capable of detecting people who aren’t ensconced in a couple tons of automotive glass and steel, such as bicyclists and pedestrians.
This is who we share the road with. A 25-year old Toronto man was sentenced to five years behind bars and a 15-year driving ban, for the hit-and-run death of a 16-year old kid riding a minibike, then lying about it and telling investigators he’d been carjacked.
Bicyclists riding the UK’s National Cycle Network were forced into what may be a permanent nine-mile detour after a historic 350-foot Scottish biking and walking bridge collapsed due to fast-moving flood waters, as local leaders said it will be “nigh on impossible” to fix. Although something tells me they’d find a way if it carried motor vehicle traffic.
His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, ordered the construction of vehicle overpasses to completely separate cars from a 15-mile bike path.
November 21, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Murder charge for OC 3-time DUI driver, Western Ave 3rd deadliest US street for peds, and new demand for ebike vouchers
Day 324 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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I’ve finally managed to get to a place where my eyes, head and stomach are all in reasonable agreement, allowing me to gaze upon this screen for more than a few moments, without risk of one or the other exploding in a most unpleasant manner.
So let’s try to catch up on all we missed this week. This has turned into an epic post, so cinch down that saddle, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
A 59-year old San Juan Capistrano man faces a murder charge for jumping a pedestrian island with his truck, and killing 13-year old Luis Adrian Morales-Pacheco was he was waiting for the light to change while walking to school with his brother in Dana Point. Then fleeing the scene, until his truck broke down a few miles away.
Police arrested Bradley Gene Funk at the scene for driving under the influence. For the third time.
Yet somehow, he was allowed to remain on the road until it was too late.
Now an innocent kid is dead, and Funk faces life behind bars, just because authorities didn’t take the damn keys away from a driver who had already demonstrated he was a danger on the road.
And if you want to know why people keep dying on our streets, that’s a good place to start.
Because there’s nothing easier to avoid than a DUI, let alone killing someone while under the influence.
Just don’t get behind the effing wheel after drinking or using drugs.
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Maybe you might want to avoid riding on South Western Ave.
The Post investigation used data from police reports and other records collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, focusing from when pedestrian deaths began to climb in 2010 to the most recent year with data available, 2023. It revealed short stretches of road that have become exceptionally deadly.In Albuquerque, 34 pedestrians were killed along a three-mile stretch of Central Avenue between 2010 and 2023. In Los Angeles, 33 people were killed on Western Avenue just south of downtown during that time.
In fact, Western ranks as the 3rd most dangerous street for pedestrians in the US, behind streets in Houston and Albuquerque.
And you can stop smirking, Orange County, because Anaheim’s Beach Blvd ranks tenth on the list.
But the most dangerous city for pedestrians is Memphis, according to the paper. Thanks, in part, to roads like many found right here at home.
The road, seven miles from the city’s heart, has been documented by the city and state as disproportionately lethal but remains mostly unimproved aside from walk signals near where Booker was hit.Cars and trucks roar past apartments, restaurants, corner stores and gas stations, often well above the strip’s 40 mph speed limit. Within two years of Booker’s death, two more people were killed by drivers at the same intersection.
The national data shows how the design of such roads is closely linked to the fatality rate: Those with three lanes or more are by far the most dangerous, because they enable higher speeds. Above 30 mph, fatality risk increases sharply. At 50 mph, someone’s chance of survival when struck is less than 1 in 5.
Then there’s this.
In addition, more than 3,800 people were killed almost immediately when they were struck in 2023, an indication that high speeds and larger vehicles are making impacts more violent. The rate at which pedestrians are declared dead at the scene of the crash has more than doubled, according to The Post’s analysis.
Despite abundant evidence of dangers, state and city agencies have been slow to invest in improvements such as safer places to cross or take steps to curb vehicle speeds, according to experts and former officials. A priority among local transportation agencies remains avoiding traffic jams rather than responding to concerns of pedestrians in the most danger, who are more likely to live in poor neighborhoods and wield less political influence.
The story notes that Los Angeles has taken steps to improve safety on Western.
Not enough, obviously. But let’s hope it takes.
Because that only leaves the rest of Los Angeles, where cars continue to overrule safety.
The groups include Calbike, Streets For All, Streets Are For Everyone, Active SGV, Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, Move LA, Day One and Los Angeles Critical Mass, among more than a dozen others.
According to Streetsblog,
CalBike called for the ebike program to be restored, and earlier this week they sent a letter to CARB Board Chair Lauren Sanchez with a dozen other bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups amplifying that call. While program execution – by CARB and its partner Pedal Ahead – has been questioned, the popularity of the program could not be denied. “It was also clear that the pilot phase succeeded – over 2,000 low-income individuals were able to obtain high-quality e-bikes, and the demand far outstripped the available incentives,” the advocates wrote…
“This is not what climate leadership looks like. Over one hundred thousand Californians lined up for a modest voucher that would help them drive less, save money, and move freely.” said Kendra Ramsey, Executive Director, CalBike. “Ending that opportunity now ignores that clear demand and walks back hard-won progress.”
Los Angeles continues to underperform, installing 35.6 miles of new bikeways in the most recent fiscal year, although about half of that was new pathways — up significantly from last year’s 22.5 miles, but just a fraction of the 251 miles installed in 2012-13 under Mayor (and current gubernatorial candidate) Antonio Villaraigosa.
An aging woman says she did the right thing by giving up her car and riding a bicycle, but Los Angeles is failing bike riders like her. Although two of her complaints are actually in Inglewood, but still.
Nailed it. Calbike calls a proposal from the chair of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for the next highway bill to only fund “traditional” infrastructure like roads and bridges “car-brain at its logical endpoint” by assuming bike lanes and sidewalks are “not real infrastructure.”
Tell me about it. San Diego’s dangerous Friars Road is getting a makeover from Caltrans, with a separated Class IV bike lane on one side, and a painted bike lane on the other — although a spokesperson for a safe streets advocacy group says she’d hesitate to tell someone to ride on a bike lane with no protection, with cars going 45 mph or more right next to it.
Sad news from San Francisco, where someone riding a bicycle was killed on a “wide, high-speed street with painted bike lanes and no protection,” as Streetsblog calls it the inevitable outcome of the street design.
In yet another example of allowing a dangerous driver to stay on the road until it’s too late, a Kentucky man faces a hit-and-run charge, as well as driving with expired plates and an invalid license, for killing a man riding a bicycle despite 15 — count ’em, 15 — previous traffic violations. Which is one more argument for impounding their car instead of just taking their damn license away.
A North Carolina teenager was charged with murder after killing a 14-year old boy riding a bicycle and seriously injuring a man driving another car; the 16-year old was allegedly driving drunk at twice the speed limit at the time of the crash.
More horrible news from North Carolina, where the body of a 15-year old boy was found in a ravine, overgrown with weeds, 25 days after authorities believe he was killed in a hit-and-run by the driver of a semi-truck while riding his bicycle home from a party. As we’ve said before, the driver should be charged with murder for making the conscious decision to leave the victim to die alone like that, rather than stop and call for help.
That’s more like it. A 25-year old Florida man was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, along with another five years probation, for the hit-and-run crash that killed a man riding a bicycle in 2023. The same crime in California would have garnered just four years.
Speaking of which, a pro-Palestinian protestor charged with disrupting the Toulouse finish on stage 11 of the Tour de France got off with a warning and a fine, saying he wanted to get people talking about Gaza. As if they weren’t already.
Choose Life Over Delay — tell the Planning Commission to Approve the Plan
On Monday, November 3, the Malibu Planning Commission will hold its final hearing to decide whether to approve the Caltrans PCH Safety Project — a $55 million once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild and make PCH safer for everyone. Based on the last meeting, they are not likely to approve the plans unless people express strong support for the plans.
You can view that meeting here. The presentation, public comment, and debate start at 38:10 and continue for a couple of hours.
This plan would repave and reconstruct the western end of PCH from Cross Creek Rd to the Ventura County line while adding long-overdue safety improvements like:
15 miles of new or upgraded bike lanes
6,956 linear feet of new sidewalks in high pedestrian zones, including in front of Pepperdine University
42 new dark-sky compliant light poles
The installation of 19 new guardrails
22 new or upgraded curb ramps
Three new retaining walls
Two realigned intersections
A vehicle pull-out for law enforcement use
Median reconstruction at various locations
Associated roadway improvements along Pacific Coast Highway within the Public Right-of-Way between the Ventura County line and Serra Road
There are additional safety improvements that can and should be made after this. They will require additional funding and much more work to secure approval from agencies like the California Coastal Commission. The items above are changes that can be easily implemented with the funds immediately available.
If the Planning Commission fails to approve the project, the funding will vanish. The road will not be repaved, the safety upgrades will not happen, and Malibu will lose its only realistic chance to prevent more deaths on the western end of PCH for years or even decades.
This is not just another meeting — it’s a moral choice between action and inaction. Every year of delay means more preventable crashes, more empty chairs at dinner tables, and more families devastated by the same road we all depend on.
What We’re Asking You to Do:
Email the Malibu Planning Commission today and tell them to approve the Caltrans PCH Safety Plan. Ask them to prioritize lives over delays — to say YES to rebuilding PCH safely, responsibly, and collaboratively. We can continue to refine the details, but we cannot afford to lose the funding and start from zero.
Please also show up to the Planning Commission Meeting on Monday, 3 Nov, starting at 6:30 at Malibu City Hall. This is the link to the agenda.
This is Malibu’s last real chance to fix the western end of PCH.
Not mentioned is that failure to approve the plan means the money will be reallocated to other projects, somewhere else in the state. Which will set back desperately needed safety improvements on SoCal’s killer highway years, if not decades.
The Malibu Planning Commission doesn’t want to hear from me, since I haven’t set foot or wheel on PCH or in Malibu for years.
California’s DUI enforcement system is broken. The toll can be counted in bodies.
Alcohol-related roadway deaths in California have shot up by more than 50% in the past decade — an increase more than twice as steep as the rest of the country, federal estimates show. More than 1,300 people die each year statewide in drunken collisions. Thousands more are injured. Again and again, repeat DUI offenders cause the crashes…
We found that California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the country, allowing repeat drunk and drugged drivers to stay on the road with little punishment. Here, drivers generally can’t be charged with a felony until their fourth DUI within 10 years, unless they injure someone. In some states, a second DUI can be a felony…
California also gives repeat drunk drivers their licenses back faster than other states. Here, you typically lose your license for three years after your third DUI, compared to eight years in New Jersey, 15 years in Nebraska and a permanent revocation in Connecticut. We found drivers with as many as six DUIs who were able to get a license in California.
Many drivers stay on the road for years even when the state does take their license — racking up tickets and even additional DUIs — with few consequences until they eventually kill.
Seriously, read it now. We’ll wait for you.
Back already?
Maybe you caught the part where they said “drunk vehicular manslaughter isn’t considered a “violent felony,” but DUI causing “great bodily injury” is. So breaking someone’s leg while driving under the influence can result in more jail time than killing someone.
Go figure.
Or that some California drivers have somehow remained on the road with up to 16 DUIs, until some innocent person pays the price. Or far too often, more than one.
And that arrests have dropped in half over the past 20 years, even as loosened cannabis laws and ready access to pharmaceuticals — legal and otherwise — mean more people than ever are likely driving under the influence of something.
This isn’t just theoretical for me.
One of my best childhood friends was killed by a drunk driver our senior year of high school. He was a state tennis champ deciding between a college scholarship and going pro when a woman somehow jumped a 50-foot median with guard rails on either side, and hit his car head-on, killing him and a passenger.
She walked away without a scratch. Or any jail time.
The same with my cousin, a rodeo queen killed when her father made a sudden turn, throwing her out of the back seat, then ran over her when he went back to get her.
So yeah, it’s personal.
And don’t even get me started on all the many victims of drunk and drugged drivers I’ve had to write about here over the last two decades.
Yes, this state just approved a law extending the ability of judges to order DUI drivers to install an interlock device. But that won’t do a damn thing to stop someone from getting behind the wheel stoned out of their mind.
It’s long past time California got serious about drunk and drugged drivers, even if that means taking their cars away and not just their licenses. Or building a new effing prison to hold them all if we have to.
I’ll be happy to chip in to help pay for it, if it means a few more people will make it back home at the end of every day.
………
More on yesterday’s story about the California Air Resources Board stabbing the bicycle community in the back by quietly stabbing the California Ebike Incentive Program in the front when no one was looking.
Despite demand for e-bike vouchers being so high that it crashed the website each time the state opened the lottery, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted at their last meeting to end the statewide program it oversaw, rolling the remaining $17 million of the original $30 million allocated by the legislature into its “Clean Cars 4 All” Program.
The concept of California E-Bike Incentive Project began had so much promise but was plagued with scandal and incompetence to such a level that one prospective applicant told Streetsblog last April, “If they were actively trying to sabotage the program, what would they do differently than this?”
Regardless of the intent, the effect is the same. The April application portal was the last time the program gave out certificates.
He adds that the most surprising thing is how quietly the program slunk out — or was tossed out — the back door, with no official announcement, no press release, and no mention on the program’s website.
There’s more. A lot more, in fact.
It’s all worth a read.
But what occurred to me yesterday is that this could leave CARB exposed to a lawsuit for age discrimination and violating the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Because by transferring the funds to a green car program, they are favoring people capable of driving over those who can no longer drive due to age and/or illness, and needed an ebike to provide greater mobility.
Could it win?
I have no idea. I’m not a lawyer, and have no expertise in ADA or age discrimination law.
But if someone needs a plaintiff, I know where they can look.
That’s more like it. A 27-year old Bakersfield man was sentenced to 12 years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run crash that killed a 30-year old woman riding a bicycle in 2022, despite turning himself in a few days later after sobering up. As lax as California’s DUI laws are, the state-s hit-and-run statutes are even worse, providing an incentive for drivers to flee if they’ve had a few.
A Florida op-ed writer argues that greater enforcement against bike riders and pedestrians is exactly what’s needed to improve traffic safety. Because we’re the real danger, apparently, not the people in the big, dangerous machines.
That would put it in the vicinity of Lifeguard Station 13.
Police arrived to find the victims strewn in the traffic lane, their shattered bicycles on the side of the road.
One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene; he has not been publicly identified at this time.
However, KTLA-5 reported on air that the victims were members of a Long Beach bike club.
The driver fled the scene, but was arrested after stopping on the side of the road about half-a-mile away. Given the damage to the victims and their bikes, it’s likely her 2006 Mercedes E-Class wasn’t in drivable condition.
If she has a previous DUI on her record, those charges would likely be upgraded to murder.
Police are still investigating the cause of the crash. However, under California law, DUI can be considered a contributing factor, but not the proximate cause of any collision.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team of the Huntington Beach Police Department at 714/536-5670.
This is at least the 48th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Orange County.
Drivers have fled the scene in 16 of those SoCal crashes, or one out of every three fatal crashes involving someone on a bicycle since the first of the year.
There’s still no word on the identities or condition of the other victims.
Update 2: We have more information about the victims, thanks to a crowdfunding page for Eric Williams’ family, and a press release from the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
I’ll just let his family tell the story.
Our family is heartbroken. On October 20th, our brother-in-law Eric Williams — a devoted husband, father of four, and beloved pastor — was tragically killed while cycling in Huntington Beach. We’re doing everything we can to surround our sister Robyn and the kids with love and stability, and so many have asked how they can help. This fund has been created to support them through the days ahead.
Eric was a Godly man with a heart for Jesus and for people. He spent his life serving others — first as a youth and teaching pastor at Seaside Community Church, and later as the founder of Community Church of West Garden Grove. He was kind, funny, and steady in his faith, always lifting others up.
He and Robyn had just celebrated 20 years of marriage. Their children — Julia (high school freshman), Jeanette (6th grade), Alice (4th grade), and little James (3 years old) — were his greatest joy.
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.
Yes, that’s all.
Although the charges and possible jail time could change, depending on the results of her toxicology report.
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.”
The press release also provides more information on how Calderon was taken into custody.
Despite having significant damage to her hood, windshield, front bumper and losing her passenger side mirror at the site of the collision, Calderon is accused of driving on a flat tire for another 2/3 of a mile to a beach parking lot at Magnolia Street and driving past the parking kiosk without paying.
A parking attendant flagged her down before a witness to the crash blocked Calderon in with his vehicle and told the parking attendant not to let her leave because she had just hit three bicyclists. The parking attendant radioed for the California State Parks Police to respond.
Calderon was arrested on suspicion of felony hit and run resulting in death or injury, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, felony driving under the influence causing death or injury, and possession of a hard drug with a prior conviction. Toxicology results are still pending.
My News LA reports that Calderon has previous convictions for misdemeanor petty theft, felony sale or transport of a controlled substance, and misdemeanor burglary.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Eric John Williams and the other victims and their loved ones. And best wishes for a full and fast recovery for the survivors.
Thanks to Michael, Zachary, James Johnson, Jeffrey, Mike and William for the heads-up.
