At this point, I have to assume you’re as sick of reading about people killed while riding their bikes as I am of writing about it.
Yet the tragedies keep piling up in this bloody new year, as yet another cyclist lost his life last night, this time in San Bernardino.
According to the Press Enterprise, the victim was riding with his girlfriend on their way to a friend’s house around 6 pm last night when they attempted to cross East Orange Show Road at Lena Road. They saw an eastbound car approaching, but thought they had enough time to cross get across safely.
However, the car, a 2001 Chevy Monte Carlo, began to swerve to the right as it got closer, leaving them unsure which way they should go to get out of the way. In the resulting confusion, the car hit the male rider, throwing him onto the hood and passenger-side windshield.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The San Bernardino County Coroner identifies the victim as 39-year old Emmitt Palmer of San Bernardino. Though oddly, it says he was a pedestrian rather than riding bike; however, all the other details, including time and location, match up, except for identifying the car as a 2001 Impala.
The San Bernardino Sun reports the driver, 58-year old Esther Guardado, was taken to a local hospital for wrist pain.
This is the 6th bicycling fatality in Southern California so far this year — an average of nearly one every two days. And it is the first in San Bernardino County since the first of the year; there were 11 bicycling deaths in the county last year.
My deepest sympathy for Emmitt Palmer and all his loved ones.
