Twenty-eight-year old Neomi Velado was sentenced to nine years behind bars after she was convicted of felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and hit-and-run causing death.
She was busy texting her boyfriend when she slammed into Montalvo’s bicycle back in 2020, after reportedly drinking and smoking weed; it was her fourth distracted driving crash, which alone should have justified a murder charge.
But by fleeing the scene, she gave herself enough time to sober up before her mom convinced her to turn herself in — but only after she had replaced her windshield to hide evidence of the crime, and driven to work the next day.
And was photographed partying with her boyfriend in Las Vegas shortly afterwards. Apparently, taking the life of an innocent man didn’t do much to dampen her spirits.
Montalvo’s mother is appealing to Governor Newsom to halt the early release. She is also supporting Senate Bill 907, which would add gross vehicular manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated to the state’s list of violent felonies, which would allow sentences to be reduced by just 15%.
The fact that they aren’t already considered violent felonies would be impossible to believe if this wasn’t California, where even the most egregious motor vehicle collisions are still just considered “oopsies.”
The bill would also require a Watson notice anytime a DUI is knocked down to hit-and-run, allowing drivers to be charged with 2nd degree murder if they kill anyone while driving under the influence again.
Although they should also require a Watson notice after a first-time distracted driving conviction, so the driver could face a murder count if they kill someone while driving distracted again.
Let alone a fourth time.
Instead, we once again allowed a demonstrably dangerous driver to remain on the streets until it was too late.
And even then, shamefully let her go with a relative slap on the wrist.
LADOT is conducting yet another survey, this time to consider changes to the Sunset/Cesar Chavez corridor.
Sunset/Chavez Safety and Mobility Project
We want to hear from you! Take our survey for a chance to win a $50 gift card!
The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) is kicking off a new planning effort to improve safety and mobility along Sunset Blvd and Cesar Chavez Ave, between Fountain Ave and Alameda St. This major corridor connects neighborhoods across the city to key destinations such as Dodger Stadium, LA State Historic Park, Chinatown, Olvera Street, Union Station, and Downtown LA – Today there are critical gaps in the transportation network and ongoing safety concerns for people walking, biking, and taking public transit along the corridor.
At this stage, LADOT is focused on understanding the full range of issues people experience along Sunset Blvd and Cesar Chavez Ave. We are especially interested in hearing from community members about safety concerns, access challenges, and ideas for how the street could function better for everyone. LADOT wants your input to better understand the full range of issues experienced along Sunset Blvd and Cesar Chavez Ave to ensure the project reflects the community’s needs. Please take our survey to share your experience along the corridor and let us know how the corridor can be improved for all road users.
The survey is available until Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in English, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese.
Survey participants will be entered into an opportunity drawing for a chance to win a $50 gift card.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Um, okay. A columnist for the London Telegraphcalls for all of us “selfish” bike riders to be forced to wear license plates, arguing that drivers are ‘”terrified” by “egomaniac” bicyclists with “absolutist green agenda.”‘ Maybe we should just rivet a license onto our bike shorts. Or jeans. Or whatever the hell you ride in.
The head of a Denver design firm makes the case for why the city’s protected bikeways provide a year-round return on investment. When I lived in Denver back in the Dark Ages, I could ride my bike across most of the city without ever riding in the street. And did year round, unless it snowed. In which case I used the same paths to ski to work.
People For Bikes marks Black History Month, without mentioning it, by celebrating the North Omaha Trail, saying it connects communities while centering its culture, in the birthplace of Malcom X.
Florida cops conducted a full-blown police chase, complete with helicopter, and eventually took the miscreant into custody — a 14-year old kid on an ebike.
International
Travel site Islands takes a look at Montreal, after Copenhagenize named it the most bike friendly city in North America. Which oddly, is not an island. But still.
You’ve got to be kidding. In a story that’s equal parts heartbreaking and infuriating, a 58-year Korean man walked without a day behind bars for using a choke chain to drag his dog to death behinds his ebike, while leaving a half-mile streak of bloodstains from the dog’s bleeding paws. Maybe someone should put the judge in a choke chain and make him run barefoot behind an ebike for an hour on an 82° night.
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.
………
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.
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.
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.
We’re planning upgrades for Ohio: Proposals include a 1.3-mile protected bikeway, signal improvements and safer crossings! Your feedback will help shape the final design. Take the survey and share your thoughts: https://t.co/bHod2PFwdUpic.twitter.com/Fqux8I7xyo
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.
October 15, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Yaroslavsky decries traffic violence, LAPD waits 5 months to ask for hit-and-run help, and just 4 CA safety bills signed into law
Day 288 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
Last Sunday morning, someone driving a pickup truck struck a member of our team in a hit-and-run while she was walking her dog in the Miracle Mile neighborhood. She sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized with multiple fractures for several days. She is now in stable condition and recovering. Tragically, her beloved dog, Kobe, was killed in the crash.
Kobe was part of our office family. His playful energy and easy affection brought smiles to everyone who met him, whether in the office or out at community events like CicLAvia, where he was a familiar face. Our office feels emptier without him, and our thoughts are with our colleague as she recovers from both her injuries and this heartbreaking loss.
The driver has since turned herself in, but this devastating incident is a reminder that far too many Angelenos are hurt or killed on our streets every year. In 2024 alone, more than 300 people lost their lives to traffic violence, many while simply walking or biking in their own neighborhoods. Behind every death or injury is a family changed forever, a community left grieving.
As I mentioned, the victim is a friend of my wife’s and mine, and Kobe was probably our corgi’s best friend.
They were always together, every time we saw her. And our corgi would run to give her kisses, and around Kobe a like a lovesick puppy.
Which she probably was.
To say I’ve been devastated by this whole damn thing is probably the understatement of the year.
The most heartbreaking part was when she posted news of Kobe’s passing on Instagram, saying her final memory of the dog she adored was staring into one his eyes after the crash, both unable to move to comfort the other.
And if that doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, you’re a stronger person than I am.
There’s no word yet on whether the driver has been charged. But at most, she’ll face a maximum of four years and a fine up to $10,000 for felony hit-and-run causing serious injury. Which LA prosecutors will probably bargain down to misdemeanor to get a guilty plea, unless someone puts pressure on them.
And here in California, the hit-and-run murder of her dog is just a misdemeanor property crime.
The 64-year old victim, who hasn’t been identified, was reportedly riding on Hoover Street at 20th around 3:15 am on May 28th, when he was hit head-on in a left cross by a driver turning left onto Hoover.
Who knew that both Hoover and 20th could go east and west?
What makes far more sense is if the victim was riding south on Hoover, and was struck by the northbound driver turning left onto 20th. Although you’d think that after five months the cops could get the damn details right.
The suspect vehicle, described only as a white sedan, was last seen headed west on 20th Street toward the 10 Freeway west on-ramp.
The victim was hospitalized with severe injuries. There’s no information on his current condition.
Anyone with information is urged to call Detective Holmes of the LAPD’s West Traffic Division at 213/473-0216.
And yes, there is a standing $25,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in any serious injury hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
Reducing the speed limit to 30km/h across residential areas doubled the amount of bike travel on low-stress streets – creating a safer environment for children and less confident cyclists, said the study’s lead researcher, Dr Afshin Jafari.
“Slowing traffic makes bicycle riding less stressful, encouraging more people to choose bikes as a safe and viable mode of transport,” Jafari said…
Meanwhile, the study – which was published in Cycling and Micromobility Research – found car travel was barely affected by the 30km/h limit, as it was only applied on local streets rather than the busier roads – such as main roads or highways – that were designed to maximise the flow of traffic.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A writer for Cycling Weekly says he was passed so badly by a truck driver that an inch the wrong way would have meant he wouldn’t still be here to tell the story — and that’s normal for bicyclists, who are expected to just accept it. As the bard put it, “‘Tis true, ’tis pity, And pity ’tis, ’tis true.”
No bias here. An Irish TV commentator accuses “mouthy” wealthy cargo bike owners for a property crisis brought on by soaring home prices by trying to “ringfence cities as active travel playpens for the better off,” and forcing an entire generation to live at home with their parents. Although that doesn’t explain why we’re having the same problem over here.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
President Trump threatened to move next year’s World Cup out of Boston, and take the 2028 Olympics away from Los Angeles, ostensibly because of potential safety concerns. Or more likely, because he just doesn’t like us, never mind that he doesn’t have the authority to do that.
Pasadena residents strongly backed slow speed greenways on El Molino Ave, Wilson Ave, Sierra Bonita Ave and Craig Ave, with over 1,000 people signing petitions backing them, and 18 local organizations endorsing the projects, as well as 200 emails and around 35 speakers who supported them at Monday’s council meeting.
As expected, 18-year old Jzamir Keys pled guilty to second-degree murder in the death of former Bell, California police chief Andreas Probst as he was riding a bicycle in Las Vegas, with a sentence of 18-to-life; Keys was a passenger in the car who laughed and filmed the murder as Probst was intentionally run down by 20-year-old Jesus Ayala, who pled guilty last week.
The Guardian offers “expert” advice on cleaning and maintaining your bike, including a tip that you could save hundreds just by giving your bike a bath once a fortnight. Or every two weeks for those of us on this side of the pond.
Britain’s Neil Campbell set a new world bicycle speed record of 175.89 mph by drafting behind a high-powered pickup truck at a competition in Arkansas last week, topping his previous record of 174.33 mph. And to think I was happy when I finally topped 30 on level ground.
October 8, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on A look at South LA’s hit-and-run epidemic, Andreas Probst killer plead guilty in Vegas, and Victorville supports injured teen
Day 281 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
Call it a mental health day.
I couldn’t get my head straight after writing about Sunday’s fatal bicycling crash in Lemon Grove, and just didn’t have it in me to write anymore about bikes yesterday. Or anything else, for that matter.
All these years of writing about fallen bike riders is really weighing on my heart, and I honestly don’t know how long I can keep it up.
Although you could have fooled me on that last part.
And only an infinitesimal amount of LA’s hit-and-runs ever results in an arrest.
Here’s an idea of how rare that is. There were more than 7,000 known hit-and-run accidents in Los Angeles from 2022 to 2024. While only a small percent of the hit and runs resulted in death, the troubling, eye popping statistic was that an infinitesimal number of hit-and-run drivers were ever arrested. How infinitesimal? Exactly 1%.
It gets even worse. The number of hit and runs, according to Los Angeles Police Department figures, have dropped in the last year. But not in South Los Angeles, where a disproportionate number of the hit and runs occur. And as the figures show, the likelihood of an arrest is slim to almost none.
He also goes on to explain the most common reasons drivers flee.
A driver who strikes another vehicle or — worse a pedestrian — often panics. They fear arrest, jailing and potentially a conviction and imprisonment.
There are many circumstances that cause hit-and-run accidents. The most common are drug and alcohol impairment, speeding, driver distraction, cell phone use and sleep deprivation drowsiness.
Drivers that hit and run flee because they have been involved in a crime, lack a valid driver’s license and/or insurance, are intoxicated or on drugs. At the very least, a driver involved in a hit and run fears not just prosecution but loss of a driver’s license.
These days, you can add immigration status to that, as people fear they could be deported by ICE if they get arrested, let alone convicted, of a traffic crime.
Hutchinson goes on to add that even LA’s standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of killer hit-and-run drivers isn’t enough to get witnesses to come forward, who too often fear getting involved.
The solution, according to Hutchinson, is a proposal to create special multi-agency law enforcement hit-and-run task force, followed by tough prosecution of the drivers.
All I can say is about damn time.
And good luck with that.
Because California’s lenient hit-and-run laws actually provide an incentive to flee, since the penalty for hit-and-run is often lower than for DUI or other crimes. And LA prosecutors usually bargain away serious penalties to get a guilty plea, rather than go to trial.
But even if a driver is sentenced to jail time, California’s overcrowded penal system means it’s too often a revolving door that results in an unwarranted released after serving just a fraction of their term.
If you’ve been reading this site for awhile, you know what I propose to address, if not solve, the problem.
But one way or another, we have to do something.
Because failing to make an arrest, let alone get a conviction, not only means the driver won’t be held accountable.
It means the victims have to bear to full cost of recovering from their injuries.
And more California drivers will just continue to flee.
Today’s photo may be from Long Beach’s popular Beach Streets open streets event, but it’s a gentle reminder for drivers after a crash, too.
The crash was recorded by Probst’s killers, and shared with their fellow high school students. And quickly became one of the highest profile crashes in a nationwide rash of deliberate vehicular assaults on bike riders by teens in stolen cars, and recorded for social media.
According to Las Vegas News 3, the driver, Jesus Ayala, faces a sentence of 20 years to life after pleading guilty to felony counts of robbery, battery with the use of a deadly weapon, and second-degree murder.
The deadly weapon being a car, in this case.
Jzamir Keys, the passenger who filmed the attack and laughed afterward, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea on Tuesday of next week.
Probst’s wife and children have filed a lawsuit against Ayala and Keys, as well as Hyundai Motor Company, alleging that a defect in Hyundai Elantras enabled them to steal the car they used to murder him.
………
The Victorville community is rallying to support a 13-year old boy who was severely injured by a DUI driver while riding his bike last week, according to the Victorville Daily Press.
A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $5,000 for the victim, identified as Manuel Sanchez.
According to his uncle, he’s hospitalized on a breathing tube, with injuries including a broken leg, broken arm, lacerated liver and kidney, internal bleeding in his stomach, as well as bruised lungs and injuries to his small intestine and spleen.
Thirty-six-year old Victorville resident Rosalie Marie Morales was released on $250,000 bond, after she was booked on suspicion of DUI involving both alcohol and drugs causing severe bodily injury.
Although LA drivers probably still wouldn’t know how to navigate one.
In the 1920s, Wilshire and Western was one of the busiest intersections in LA. Chaos ensued when city planners adopted the use of a roundabout to control traffic in those pre-traffic signal days, and newspapers published graphic tutorials for motorists. pic.twitter.com/ScTbkiYGh1
Dr. Grace Peng rightfully complains that bicyclists are not allowed to use the “beautiful newly widened underpass where PCH crosses the old Pacific Electric Railway in Manhattan Beach.”
The only problem is, Manhattan Beach refuses to allow bikes to use it. @calbike.bsky.social @streetsforall.org @bikinginla.bsky.social @streetsblogla.bsky.social
Don’t miss the latest edition of Bike Talk, which has shifted from its original local Los Angeles focus to a national perspective.
@strongtowns.org founder Chuck Marohn with Strong Townish Love Letter to Suburbia author Diane Alisa, @ericbrightwell.bsky.social on the fight for bikes in WeHo, Boston Bikeway Block Party, Bikes, Birds, & BART with @bikingmzstacey.bsky.social, and more. soundcloud.com/biketalk/253…
Police in the UK complain about “inaccurate” news reports that they won’t investigate bike thefts from train stations if the bikes have been parked for more than two hours, before confirming that it is, in fact, true.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A San Diego TV station says a new road diet and parking-protected bike lanes on the city’s Claremont Drive draws a mixed reaction from drivers and bicyclists — while apparently talking to exactly two people. And for the woman worried about evacuating in a fire, in the event of an emergency, feel free to use the center turn lane and wide bike lane buffer, which probably mean there’s actually more room for cars to escape, not less.
The organizers of Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride have set this Sunday as the date for their “emergency ride” in response to President Trump’s efforts to deploy the National Guard in the city. Which gives you plenty of time to get up there and join in, no suitcase necessary.
Cycling Weeklyasks if bike paths are doomed, as Donald Trump declares war on bicycles, and cities in the UK just don’t use available funding to build them.
A Canadian radio program discusses a world-traveling adventure cyclist, who returned home to ride from one end of Edmonton, Alberta to the other, and posted the video to YouTube. Although it’s kinda hard to see the video on the radio broadcast. Thanks again to Megan for the heads-up.
An op-ed writer says if anyone is truly outraged that the country spent €100,000 — the equivalent of $116,000 — to build secure bike parking at an Irish hospital, they should see what car parking costs, let alone the country’s “investment in congestion, pollution and the continuation of car-first planning.” Yes, credit Megan for that link, too.
A Senegalese bicyclist is using social media to bring calm to the roads and end the transportation culture wars, arguing that “We’re not the enemy, and drivers aren’t either.” Which is true, except only the drivers are operating multi-ton weapons of mass destruction.
Yet another young cyclist is throwing in the towel, as 23-year old Alexandre Vinokurov announced his retirement from the XDS-Astana cycling team, saying he’s “been riding in fear and pain” since a devastating crash in March when he was struck by a driver while training in Greece.
June 11, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Good news and bad news as CA legislature hits halftime, and “oopsie” shouldn’t get killer drivers off the hook
Day 162 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
Among the winners so far are AB 954, aka The Bike Highways Bill, and AB 891, Quick-Build Project Pilot Program.
The former would set up a pilot program to connect existing bikeways into bike highways, while the latter would instruct Caltrans to use quick-build designs to improve state roads.
Among the other bills also passing in the Assembly was AB 366, allowing interlock devices for drivers convicted of DUI.
Bills passing in the state Senate included SB 71, streamlining CEQA environmental review requirements for public transportation, bike and pedestrian projects that would reduce car dependency.
Also passing the Senate was SB 445, which imposes a deadline on local agencies to review permits for Complete Streets and sustainable transportation projects.
Dying for this year were a bill that would have placed a statewide bond issue to fund sustainable transportation projects on next year’s California ballot, and one to allow victims of climate disasters or their insurers to sue oil companies to recoup their losses.
Meanwhile, the long awaited Stop As Yield, aka Idaho Stop, law that would allow California bike riders to treat stop signs as yields — and possibly roll through red lights after coming to a complete stop — will have to wait until we have a new governor in two years.
It wasn’t introduced this year because Gavin Newsom already vetoed two previous versions of the bill.
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This is why people keep dying on our streets.
Life is cheap in Los Altos, where a man walked without a day behind bars for the distracted driving death of a 38-year old woman riding a bicycle after he was sentenced to probation and community service; he had faced up to six years for felony vehicular manslaughter. Not a single year, as the story suggests.
And life is equally cheap in Michigan, where a former cop walked without a day behind bars for killing an 83-year old man riding a bicycle, after he was sentenced to 12 lousy months of probation; the victim had just finished a ride across the country, and was on his way back home to Florida.
So what’s the point of even having traffic laws, if overly lenient judges won’t even hold drivers accountable for killing someone when they break them?
Just saying “oopsie” shouldn’t be good enough.
………
Local
No news is good news, right?
State
A San Francisco woman has filed suit against Waymo after she was doored by the passenger of a Waymo self-driving cab, and prevented from taking evasive action by another Waymo cutting across the bike lane.
CNN recommends the best bike shorts for a more comfortable ride, according to “seasoned cyclists.” Which raised the question of how were they seasoned, and whether they should be grilled, baked or air fried.
Hundreds of people turned out for a Slow Roll memorial ride to remember a 38-year old Ohio woman who was killed when an 18-year old driver crossed onto the wrong side of the road, slamming head-on into her and another woman riding their bikes together, along with a third person who escaped the crash. Maybe if we had a turnout like that when someone gets killed here, we could see some real change in LA, for a change.
Streetsblog says if New York’s mayor really wants to improve traffic safety, the city should take advantage of a one-year old state law allowing it to lower speed limits to 20 mph, rather than scapegoating ebike riders, since NYC drivers injure over 9,600 pedestrians each year, leaving less than 40 due to all other causes.
The BBC has finally realized that bicyclists with bike cams aren’t “vigilantes” or “grassing snitches,” belatedly concluding that cameras help bring dangerous drivers to justice and are often the only recourse riders have. Although California law doesn’t allow them to be used against drivers for traffic violations or misdemeanors, technology be damned.
A new Chinese-made ebike conversion kit promises to install the first time in just three minutes, and ten seconds thereafter, while offering one of the smallest and most portable sizes yet; a crowdfunding campaign will launch soon offering an early bird price of just $349. Although how that could be affected by Trump’s on-and-off tariffs is TBD.
A year and a half after Matt Keenan was killed while riding his bike in Mission Valley, Melissa Gonzalez was sentenced for misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Not the felony she should have been charged with for driving on the wrong side of the street around a blind curve. Let alone the distracted driving charge she likely deserved.
The kindhearted judge took pity — not on Keenan’s widow, or even his toddler son who will grow up without father, but on the woman who killed him.
In addition to four lousy days in jail, Gonzalez received a single year probation, 150 hours of community service, and had her license suspended for three years, as the judge bizarrely ruled she didn’t deserve a punishment that would wreck her life.
Never mind that she wrecked the lives of Keenan’s friends and family. Let alone literally wrecking, and ending, Matt Keenan’s.
If you ever wonder why people keep dying on our streets, this is exhibit A.
We can only hope San Diego voters will remember this one when the judge comes up for re-election.
Police are looking for a flatbed truck with a white cab, and a distinctive yellow logo on the passenger door. Not to mention the heartless coward behind the wheel.
As always, there is a $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
Thanks to KCAL-9 anchor Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.
You must assert your voice when you are talking to someone who approaches you in sketchy areas, because strangers don’t really come up to you to have a friendly conversation about the weather like we do in Australia. In America some people might come up to you to try to come up. #streetsmart#streetsmarts#safety#safetyfirst
Always helps to have co-workers nearby if you get run down by a drunk driver. Especially when they’re paramedics.
A Denver paramedic who was struck by a suspected DUI driver while riding his bike home from work says two of his co-workers happened to be responding to a call nearby and saved his life. @DenverChannelpic.twitter.com/I8aDO8MSNh
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police arrested a Denver man who rode his bicycle into a car wash to fatally shoot a driver who had just pulled onto the lot, and injuring the car’s passenger; he fled the scene on his bike before changing clothes twice in a homeless camp, hacking off his hair, and hiding in a hole under the train tracks.
More on the Florida crash that critically injured Dartmouth football coach Eugene “Buddy” Teevens, who was run down by a driver while riding home from a restaurant with his wife in St. Augustine; police reports blamed the victim, saying he didn’t appear to have lights on his cruiser bike, and was crossing the state’s coast highway outside of a crosswalk or designated crossing area. Even though bike riders aren’t expected, let alone required, to use crosswalks.
May 3, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Bike-riding woman injured in street takeover, and repeat DUI driver busted again five years after killing bike rider
Police are looking for the driver of a white car, who left the scene without stopping after the crash.
………
This is why people keep dying on our streets.
A 22-year old Los Osos woman is back behind bars after hitting several parked cars while driving at four times the legal alcohol limit, just five years after she killed a Cal Poly student riding a bicycle in a drunken hit-and-run.
Gianna Brencola was sentenced to seven years behind bars, but somehow released after just two years, and released from parole less than two years later.
Thanks to jmell for the heads-up.
………
Here’s your chance to demand that new vehicles protect the people outside of them, as well as those inside.
Streetsblogoffers a roundup of LA bike news, including a) Metro extends its Metro Bike contract for another year, b) Metro approved revised funding for South LA’s Rail-to-Rail bike/walk path, and c) new bike lanes on Burbank Blvd in Van Nuys and a one-way bike lane on 2nd Ave in South LA’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
Heartbreaking news from Australia, where former juniors cyclist Maddy Marshall died, four and a half years after she was diagnosed with leukemia; she was just 24. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
April 27, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Wrist slap for fatal Jurupa Valley hit-and-run, prelim for killer hit-and-run socialite, and bank robbing cyclist talks to BBC
Pizza deliveryman Andrew Scott Walters struck Guzman as he was riding his bike, then got out and pulled Guzman’s bike out from under his car before driving away, leaving the injured victim lying in the road when he was struck and killed by another driver — assuming he wasn’t already dead from the first crash.
Walters went so far as to call 911 to report seeing an injured man down in the road, without bothering to mention his own involvement.
He then went back to the Pizza Hut he worked at, where he explained the damage to his car by telling his boss that a drunk homeless man had hurled his bicycle at him “out of nowhere.”
Hidden Hills socialite and philanthropist Rebecca Grossman faces a preliminary hearing for the alleged street racing death of two young boys, who had the misfortune of crossing the street with their family while she was speeding down it.
She faces two murder counts, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and a single charge of hit-and-run driving resulting in death.
Which proves the over-privileged can be just as idiotic and deadly as the rest of us.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
The Texas car shop owner who posted video of himself rolling coal at a bike rider, then denied knowing anything about it, now says he’s really, really sorry. But only after the video went viral, leading to calls to boycott his shop.
Streetsblog looks at the new “protected” bike lanes on westbound 1st Street from Boyle Heights to Little Tokyo. Although once again, the protection is only in the form of little plastic bollards that won’t stop anyone from crashing through.
Residents of a San Diego apartment complex voiced their anger over new bike lanes in the Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood, which they say were striped in the dead of night with no advance warning. Although that’s hard to believe, since the parking spaces that were removed to make room for the bike lanes would have been full of cars at that hour.
This is why people keep dying on our streets, part two. A Las Vegas food delivery driver faces her third DUI in recent years after she ran into a child riding a bicycle, leaving the kid with moderate injuries. Although the two “popular food delivery service providers” she claimed to work for disavowed any knowledge of her. One more example of authorities keeping dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late.
YK Design looks at the top ten bikes designed for an eco-friendly urban commute, including some that are seriously weird, and/or just vaporware at this point. Although number nine may be very strange, but in a very cool way, even though you probably wouldn’t want to ride it with those wires just begging for your crotch.
A British van driver was sentenced to a total of eight years, including four behind bars, and barred from driving for 12 years, all for killing a 71-year old man riding a bicycle while so drunk he couldn’t to stand on his own following the crash; he had 25 previous traffic convictions. Yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until they kill someone.
A Malaysian paper decries kids riding the popular basikal lajak, illegally modified bicycles that allow users to race downhill in the Superman position, calling them “a threat to road safety.” Even though it was a woman driver who was convicted of killing eight teens who were riding them, rather than the other way around.
March 2, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Killer drunk driver walks free after 23 days, racist bike-hater gets probation, and 1/2 mile extension for Chandler Bikeway
My thanks to everyone who sent me links over the weekend.
Because of today’s overstuffed post, and the need to sleep sometime tonight, I’ll try to catch up on the rest tomorrow.
Which wouldn’t exist if Metro and the city hadn’t caved to a handful of NIMBY homeowners who were afraid thieves would ride bikes up to their homes to steal their flatscreen TVs.
No, really.
Because apparently, criminals don’t drive. And couldn’t accomplish the same thing by just driving up to their front doors.
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Why is it that bike safety goes out the window whenever someone wants to make a movie in Los Angeles?
A British driver complains that a mountain biker plowed into his car as he was stopped at a red light, then brutally attacked him when he got out to see if the bike rider was okay, while a young boy begged the attacker to stop. Although something tells me there might be another side to the story in which the driver is not wholly innocent.
Some people just don’t get it. A St. Paul letter writer says no one can commute or carry groceries on a bike, and people will stop riding when they get older. All of which is refuted by people who do it every day.
A new report from the International Transport Forum concludes that 80% of bicycling and e-scooters fatalities involve motor vehicles and the people who drive them. And traffic safety will improve if car, truck and motorcycle trips are replaced by scooters and bikes.
London is dropping speed limits to 20 mph in areas of the city used most by pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists. Which compares to speeds of 45 mph or more on some LA streets.
As I mentioned, the victim is a friend of my wife’s and mine, and Kobe was probably our corgi’s best friend.
