Once again, a Southern California bike rider has been murdered by a drunken hit-and-run driver.
Allegedly.
According to My News LA, the driver fled the scene after running down the victim in Riverside Saturday night.
But for a change, the driver was captured a short time later.
The victim, identified only as a 48-year old Riverside man, was crossing Indiana Ave on La Sierra Ave on his bike when he was run down by a speeding driver traveling east on Indiana; there’s no word on what time the crash happened
He was taken to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Witnesses followed the driver, who was arrested on suspicion of DUI. He was identified as a 40-year old man from Corona, but no name was given.
This is at least the 49th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
Cacho was also charged with violating probation on a previous DUI conviction. That raises the question of why he hasn’t been charged with murder, since he would have received a Watson notice informing him that would be possible if he killed someone while driving drunk anytime in the future.
The proposal calls for building out the previously approved Mobility Plan 2035 whenever a street in the plan gets resurfaced; the city has currently built out just 3% of the plan in the seven years since it was adopted.
At that rate, they should call it Mobility Plan 2268, since that’s how long it would take the city to finish it.
If they actually did.
This proposal probably won’t have the teeth of the ballot proposal, which would require the city to carry it out.
But it’s still a big step forward, and would serve as a strong backup if the ballot measure fails at the ballot box this fall.
Although the second part of that should surprise exactly no one.
Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
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Robert Leone forwards word that Camp Pendleton will be doing construction work affecting the bike path through the base.
1. From 22 June to 8 July, there will be constructions on Vandegrift near the intersection of Stuart Mesa Rd/Ash St. This construction will impact the bike path due to lane closure so cyclists need to be extra careful and maintain single file, per Base requirement.
2. From 9 July to 22 July, Vandengrift Rd west of the Stuart Mesa/Ash St intersection will be closed to inbound and outbound traffic 24/7 and that forces us to close the bike path from the Main gate to the Las Pulgas gate.
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Evidently, he did more than just play Auld Lang Syne every New Years.
Born on this day, June 19: Guy Lombardo (1902-1977), bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racer (wha…!?), shown here with actress Joan Marsh in Many Happy Returns (1934). Happy #bicyclebirthday, Guy!#botdpic.twitter.com/sN1mrJjXRs
Once again, bike riders are heroes. A group of Forth Worth bicyclists paused in the middle of their weekly ride to rescue a dog who had been abandoned on a bridge support.
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This may be the best, if not strangest, 11 minutes of your day.
I mean, after all, who wouldn’t fall for someone with a flying bicycle?
British drivers are up in arms over bicyclists with helmet and bike cams capturing their bad driving and reporting them to the police. Or maybe it’s just the British tabloids trying to stir up trouble to sell more papers.
An adjunct professor from Pacific Oaks College makes the case for the Arroyo Link, which would be the city’s first protected bike and pedestrian path, connecting Old Town Pasadena with the Arroyo Seco.
He was thrown several feet into the middle of the intersection, and died after being taken to a nearby hospital.
The victim has been publicly identified only as a man in his 30s.
The driver speed off, evidently without stopping. Witnesses describe the vehicle only as a gray colored sedan.
Hopefully, we’ll get more information soon.
This is at least the 42nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 16th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. It’s also the ninth in the City of Los Angeles.
Shamefully, 15 of those Southern California victims have been hit-and-run drivers, with six taking place in Los Angeles County, including five in the City of LA.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
June 14, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on 6 years for hit-and-run death of Colton boy, LA votes on bike chop shop ban today, and demand Griffith Park bike safety
Thirty-seven-year old Riverside resident Rosendo Morales Caldera pled guilty earlier this month to hit-and-run resulting in death, with a sentence enhancement of fleeing the scene of a crime, after prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor count of driving without a license.
Caldera might not have faced any jail time if he’d just stopped his damn truck, since Colton resident Gonzalez and his friends were riding on the wrong side of the street.
However, it will exempt “people in possession of a single bike being repaired with the express purpose of allowing them to ride it again.” Which means you shouldn’t be subject to the law just for fixing your bike in public.
Key word, shouldn’t.
Although whether it will actually have an effect on bike theft remains to be seen.
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A Reddit post reminds us about the Griffith Park Advisory Board, which meets twice a month to discuss matters concerning the park.
Like how to keep bike riders safe from all the cars and drivers they let in to what should be a safe place for people.
He gets it. An op-ed from former Santa Monica City Manager and Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Rick Cole says stop spending billions on freeways. That money could be better spent on transit, biking and pedestrian projects to reduce the need to drive, instead of fueling it.
Kansas drivers are reminded to watch out for bike riders this month, as the Trans Am Bike Race and the Race Across America, aka RAAM, roll through the state, along with the annual Biking Across Kansas; three riders have been killed in the last five years.
A Calgary man was sentenced to three years and three months behind bars for the drunken crash that killed a bike-riding man as the driver was leaving a golf course; the judge rejected a defense plea for a lenient sentence, saying it wouldn’t deter other people from drinking and driving.
Forty-year old Capistrano Beach resident Joshua Gene Cervantes was riding north on Avenida La Pata near Avenida Pico when he was run down by an unidentified driver around 1:25 am.
The driver fled after the crash, abandoning his car a short distance away.
There’s no word on how the collision occurred, or whether Cervantes was struck while riding in the bike lane on Avenida La Pata, or while crossing the intersection.
June 6, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on 41-year old man riding bike killed by Colton hit-and-run driver; 13th SoCal bike rider killed by hit-and-run drivers this year
Once again, someone on a bicycle has been murdered by a hit-and-run driver.
June 3, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Plea deal in death of 15-year old Javier Gonzalez, grieving families fight for safer streets, and housing for people not cars
Happy World Bicycle Day!
Now get out there and ride one.
And contact your elected leaders to demand safer streets when you get back.
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It looks like there will be justice for Javier Gonzalez, after all.
If you consider over six years justice for fleeing the scene after killing a teenage boy.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 13th. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of six years and eight months, significantly above the standard penalty of four years for a fatal hit-and-run in California.
And yet, it seems like it’s still not enough.
Caldera has a lengthy criminal record, with prior convictions for car theft, possessing a forged driver’s license, vandalism, and being felon in possession of a firearm; he was out on probation at the time of Gonzalez’ death.
Today’s must read is a hard-hitting, inspiring and heartbreaking piece from the New Yorker, about families of fallen pedestrians and bike riders who banded together to fight for safer streets — leading to the country’s first Vision Zero in New York, and traffic safety wins at city hall and the state capital.
By century’s end, cars had grown progressively larger, better insulated from the feedback of the surrounding environment, and safer for the people inside them. Those on the outside were less lucky. The U.S. automotive lobby resisted regulations enacted in Europe that made cars and trucks less lethal, and, by 2018, the number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths per kilometre in the United States was more than four times higher than in the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Among the most vulnerable are older adults, who in 2020 made up twenty per cent of killed pedestrians, and people who live in low-income neighborhoods where there has been little investment in safe road design.
Between 2010 and 2019, as the number of U.S. drivers or passengers who died in collisions held fairly steady, deaths of those on bikes rose thirty-six per cent, and deaths of those on foot nearly doubled.
It’s a long piece. But more that worth the time you’ll invest in reading it.
Farhad Manjoo calls for the passage of AB 2097, which would prohibit minimum parking requirements near public transit, or at least SB 1067, which gives developers more leeway to get around parking minimums.
For early risers, the LACBC will host a Twitter Space to discuss women, children and bicycling starting at 6:00 this morning.
Yes, 6 am.
So chances are, you may have already missed it.
For those not familiar with Twitter Spaces, think of it as a live podcast. Set a reminder and listen here, and please feel free to share this link with your partners and networks on Twitter https://t.co/ZcgBIAYCea
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bike just keeps on going.
No bias here. Call it friendly fire, as a self-professed non-leg-shaving cyclist says everyone hates bike riders, so we should ride cringingly at the edge of the road to keep from annoying drivers more than they already are. Even in the English countryside where he says hedges block drivers’ views, making it far safer to take the lane, regardless of who you piss off.
Horrible news from the UK, where a woman riding a bicycle was left with a life-changing injury when a man sicced one of his large dogs on her, forcing it to bite her upper leg and clamp down for several minutes until she managed to break free, after accusing her of nearly running into his kid on a bike path. Let’s hope he goes away for a long time. And those dogs — and his kid — get a new home with someone who isn’t so cruel.
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Local
A writer for City Watchpushes back on the recently approved plans for a bus rapid transit line on Colorado Blvd through Eagle Rock, calling the reallocation of traffic lanes undemocratic because it doesn’t give all the road space to people in cars. Even though it seems far more democratic to reserve space for pedestrians, bike riders and yes, transit users, too.
Très scandaleux! A San Diego TV station claims to have caught the 30th Street bike counter double counting some bike riders, not counting others, and even counting an armored truck illegally parked in the lane, which some local business owners claim proves the new bike lane is underused.
Berkeley residents are fighting for a carfree future on Telegraph Ave north of the UC Berkeley campus; as usual, business owners along the street are fighting back, unable to imagine any customers walking or biking to get there. If customers won’t walk or bike a few blocks to do business with you, there’s something seriously wrong with the way you do business.
Housing inspectors in Minneapolis are saying goodbye to their SUVs and using Rad Power ebikes to conduct their inspections instead; the city purchased five of the ebikes for a total of $12,000, and have already put 1,200 miles on them. Which is a hell of a lot less than they would have paid for five motor vehicles.
One casualty of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was New York’s ultrafast bicycle delivery startup Buyk, which was forced to declare bankruptcy and layoff all of its American employees when US sanctions cut off access to its Russian co-founders and parent company, as well as financing from Russian banks.
Life is cheap in Florida, where a Vero Beach driver walked with a lousy $148 fine for swerving into a bike lane and killing a 63-year old man riding a bike, despite his long record of traffic violations and refusal to take a blood test.
A new study from a Sydney, Australia hospital shows injuries to delivery bicyclists are dramatically underreported, with delivery riders 13 times more likely than other bicyclists to be injured between the hours of 8 pm and midnight.
Sanchez also admitted to special allegations of fleeing the scene and committing a serious felony involving great violence.
He was sentence to nine years, after prosecutors dropped charges of second degree murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with prior DUI convictions, which could have resulted in a sentence of 15 years to life.
Instead, he’ll likely spend less than half his nine-year sentence behind bars.
Let’s at least hope he’s never allowed to drive again.
Hermoso, better known as Panduh in the cycling community, was killed in a head-on collision while riding the Santa Clara Truck Trail near Santa Clarita 12 days ago.
Hey LA Bike Twitter – check out this toolkit to make our voices heard on Friday. Show up in person or tweet about the need for our City to fund bike & pedestrian infrastructure https://t.co/2xzA3oMRYF
Unfortunately, the city council isn’t taking phone-in comments anymore following the reopening of City Hall, despite rising Covid rates. So you’ll have to show up in person, or email members of the committee in advance of the Friday afternoon meeting.
And if you have any question what difference more funding could make, just take a look at the photo in the tweet below.
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Your periodic reminder that this is what we could have in Los Angeles, where the terrain and weather are more inviting than London.
And London commutes didn’t look like this, either, until the city built out a network of bicycle superhighways just a few years ago.
Cycling is a remarkably efficient mode of transport, just look at the number of people compared to 3 vehicles in the same amount of space. pic.twitter.com/hkM4NauWge
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton digs deep into Metro’s proposed budget for the 2023 fiscal year, which calls for a 27.2% increase in active transportation spending. Although the $80 active transportation budget is dwarfed by the agency’s proposed $634 million in highway spending, a 35% increase over this year.
A Calgary, Alberta couple dug up a metal 1935 bike license while working in their garden. Note that it wraps around the frame, and would be virtually invisible to anyone at a distance, for all those who insist bicycles should a license to force scofflaw riders to behave.
Columbia’s Miguel Ángel López withdrew from the Giro after getting dropped in the first miles of Tuesday’s fourth stage; he reportedly suffers a left hip injury that failed to bounce back on Monday’s rest day.
Martinez was charged with felony counts of murder and hit-and-run driving resulting in death, as well as a misdemeanor charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license following a previous DUI conviction.
He reportedly ran away on foot after killing Jelmert, who was participating in a training ride for next month’s 545-mile AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.
Martinez remains behind bars on $2 million bail.
The murder count stems from receiving a Watson notice after his previous DUI conviction, which states that he could be charged with murder if he kills someone while driving drunk anytime in the future.
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There might be hope for LA’s 1st Council District after all.
Current CD1 Councilmember “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo has apparently made it his life’s work to throttle traffic safety projects that pose the slightest risk of inconveniencing motorists or annoying local business owners.
An act he followed up by actively blocking bike lanes in the district he runs like a fiefdom, going so far as trying — and thankfully, failing — to have every bike lane in CD1 removed from the city’s mobility plan.
Here’s the salient part of the endorsement for our purposes.
The council member (Cedillo) has also been a barrier to building bike infrastructure and street projects designed to make it safer and easier for people to travel without a car. Council District 1 has some of L.A.’s most deadly streets, yet he voted against the city’s Mobility Plan to make the car-dominated streets safer and more inviting for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit. He blocked bike lanes, including directing city staff to remove bike lanes from the widened Spring Street bridge.
Hernandez, on the other hand, has made transportation and street safety top priorities within her larger environmental justice and climate change agenda. She said she would launch community reviews of the most dangerous intersections, and advocate for bike lanes, bus benches and shelters, redesigned streets and pedestrian plazas, so it’s easier for people to get around without cars.
Cedillo was in serious danger of losing last time around when the community rallied around challenger Josef Bray-Ali — until Cedillo’s campaign leaked a handful of intemperate, ill-advised and offensive comments Bray-Ali had posted to various websites.
It will be interesting to see what Cedillo comes up with this time to attack his opponent. Let’s hope Hernandez has a few less skeletons in her closest.
Because people in CD1 are dying for a less regressive representative.
Too often, literally.
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A KABC-7 remote broadcast captures an attempted bike theft in the background on live TV.
Vicetalks with Silver Lake resident Eric Brightwell, who has been living carfree in Los Angeles ever since his broke down 11 years ago, leading to the unexpected discovery that he doesn’t need one here.
Seal Beach police announced a crackdown on drivers who threaten the safety of bike riders and pedestrians ths monththrough speeding, failing to yield to pedestrians or bicyclists, illegal turns and running red lights or stop signs. Although nothing says they won’t ticket you for the same violations, so ride to the letter of the law while you’re in the city.
A Mt. Hood ski area is banning bikes this summer, after paying out a $10.5 million settlement when a mountain biker was paralyzed hitting a signpost placed directly next to a double black-diamond trail.
The good news is, my migraines finally let up after about eleventy-seven hours of sleep the past few days.
The bad news is, they haven’t gone far.
It’s been more than a month since one of my many doctors decided the health problems I’ve been suffering since last fall were the result of vestibular migraines, necessitating a complete upending of my diet.
No caffeine. No chocolate. No artificial sweeteners — not a good thing for a diabetic. No aged cheeses or dried fruits. Or even a number of fresh ones, along with a very long list of other newly verboten foods.
Basically, if I like it, or used it to control my diabetes, I can’t have it.
But after five weeks of slowly adjusting the new diet, I’m feeling even worse than when I started.
But let’s try to plow through this anyway, and see how much we can catch up on today.
And a belated happy Mother’s Day to all you mom’s out there.
It looks like we’ll finally see justice for fallen bicyclist Frederick Frazier, who was run down by a speeding driver in a Mercedes SUV on a South LA street over four long years ago.
This is what our anonymous courtroom correspondent emailed me Friday afternoon.
On a beautiful sunny day over four years ago, Mariah Kandise Banks ran down Frederick Frazier and left him to die in the arms of a stranger just a few blocks from his home. She was later apprehended and charged with hit and run and vehicular manslaughter.
This afternoon, another gloriously sunny spring day, Banks accepted a plea deal from the DA.
The count of 20001(b)(2), hit and run involving great bodily injury or death, was dropped.
With tears, Banks pleaded no contest to one count of 192(c)(1), vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
For this charge, she was sentenced to four years in state prison, restitution, fines, and three years of parole upon release from incarceration.
She had requested a surrender date in September due to significant childcare obligations, which was denied.
Sentencing will be on August 19th. Woon’s family is expected to present their impact statements on that date.
RIP Woon. Ride in peace.
Banks could have received up to six years, with another four for the felony hit-and-run count that was dropped.
Peter Flax offered this heartbreaking account of Woon’s death, and the impact his loss had on his grieving mother, fiancé and infant son, who was born months after he was killed; he didn’t know yet that he was going to be a dad. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.
Four years doesn’t begin to seem like enough for the heartless crime and attempted coverup.
But he’s absolutely right in calling the chronic underfunding and understaffing at LADOT “a threat to public safety.”
Well, no shit.
As LAist points out, despite the adoption of Vision Zero seven years ago,
At the same time, the death toll on L.A. streets continues to rise. Within the first 15 weeks of 2022, 95 people were killed in crashes, according to preliminary city data. In the same period last year, the toll was 87.
The number of pedestrians killed by drivers is especially grim — up 53% citywide compared with the same period last year. The greatest share of those victims is in South L.A., where pedestrian deaths more than doubled from this time last year.
And last year was bad; 2021 marked the highest annual death toll in nearly two decades, with nearly 300 people killed in collisions. Roughly half of those victims were killed by drivers while walking or biking. Nearly 1,500 other people were seriously injured in crashes.
Yet shockingly, but unsurprising to any of us who have been paying attention, LADOT is currently working with a 21% vacancy rate — with a whopping 50% in the active transportation and Vision Zero programs.
Not to mention nearly two dozen additional positions that need to be added to meet LA’s active transportation goals.
The agency tried to address those needs by requesting 18 new active transportation positions, as well as two new Vision Zero hires.
Yet Mayor Garcetti, whose dreams of an India ambassadorship have largely gone up in smoke, responded by cutting LA’s transportation budget, while funding just the two Vision Zero hires.
That’s just two more people for a city of nearly 4 million, with 8,500 miles of streets and a rising toll from traffic violence.
Sure. That’ll fix it it.
Although, as the story notes, Vision Zero spending is up slightly over last year, if you squint hard and juggle the numbers just right.
But no matter how you slice it, it’s still just a fraction of the $80 million LADOT GM Seleta Reynolds said five years ago would be necessary to cut traffic deaths a modest 20%.
And a pittance compared to the $270 million New York invested in Vision Zero in 2019 alone.
As others have said, if you want to know a city’s priorities, look at its budget.
California’s bicycle omnibus bill — which would allow speed-limited, ped assist ebikes on bike paths statewide, permit bike riders to use leading pedestrian intervals, require drivers to change lanes to pass bike riders, and ban bike licensing requirements — has cleared the state assembly and is moving on to the senate.
California has the nation’s 6th highest cyclist fatality rate. This is heartbreaking, especially as we aim to encourage more active transportation and less driving. My “Omni-Bike” bill will help make roads safer for cyclists through a series of common-sense measures. #BikeMonthpic.twitter.com/2vLbQeeyC1
$70M isn't cheap for a new bike path – but wait until the Daily Bulletin finds out what three miles of highway (or even railway) cost! pic.twitter.com/8FMSbokbk3
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. Carlsbad CA uses Bike Month to actively discriminate against bicycle, ebike and e-scooter users, banning riders from sidewalks, ditches, sports courts or gyms, as well as requiring them dismount on any trails narrower than five feet or within 50 feet of a pedestrian or someone on horseback.
No bias here, either. Australia’s Daily Mail unleashed a recap of online motorist drivel and dreck, including “calling for cyclists to carry licences, criticising those on bikes for taking up ‘car lanes,’ and claiming that cyclists are ‘more dangerous’ than 4×4 drivers.”
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Streetsblog looks at the installation of a permanent rainbow memorial for Venice hit-and-run victim Prynsess Brazzle, who was killed while riding her bike at the intersection of Pacific and Rose Aves last year. Of course, this being Los Angeles, permanent usually means until it breaks or someone gets tired of it.
Barry Morphew, the Colorado man who recently saw murder charges over his missing wife dismissed, says he just wants her to be found. Suzanne Morphew was last seen riding her bike on Mother’s Day two years ago; authorities dropped the charges after claiming they are close to finding her body. Meanwhile, Fox News examines where the case stands now.
Yes, this is what pro cycling is like every day. Four-legged fans at the Junior Peace Race in the Czech Republic kicked up their hooves ahead of the advancing peloton, apparently preparing the young riders for spectators on the WorldTour, who often behave like animals.
And don’t try to tell us you’ve got bike skills if you can’t do it, too.
Christian Adam of Lübeck, Germany, holds the current world record for cycling backwards with a violin: 60.45 kilometers (37.56 miles) in 5 hours, 9 minutes. pic.twitter.com/09SlXYABE2
