A 68-year old man riding a road bike is dead because a driver couldn’t be bothered to observe a stop sign.
According to the Desert Sun, 68-year old Bellingham, Washington resident Jack Roger Laird was killed when he was struck by a driver at 12:06 pm yesterday, at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Avenue 62 in Thermal.
The driver, a woman in her mid-20s, reportedly blew through a stop sign and plowed into Laird’s bike; she stayed at the scene and was cooperating with police.
Laird died at the scene.
A street view shows a pair of two-lane roadways converging in the middle of the desert, controlled by stop signs in every direction. A CHP spokesperson says that drivers frequently ignore the stop signs.
There is a 55 mph speed limit on 62nd, and no reason to believe drivers go any slower on Fillmore.
Or that slowly, for that matter.
There’s something seriously wrong when someone can’t visit this state without going back home in a box. Or ride a bike in the middle of nowhere without worrying about drivers to whom a stop sign apparently means nothing.
This is the 61st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth in Riverside County this year. Laird is the 2nd bike rider to die in Thermal in the last four years.
That compares with 70 in SoCal this time last year, and ten in Riverside County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jack Roger Laird and all his family and loved ones.
