Tag Archive for Los Angeles County

Update — Bike rider killed in Griffith Park AIDS/LifeCycle hit-and-run; driver may have been under the influence

April 16, 2022 / / 14 comments

News is just breaking that someone on a bicycle was killed in a hit-and-run in LA’s Griffith Park this afternoon.

According to KCBS-2, the victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was stuck by a driver shortly before 4 pm, in the 4600 block of Crystal Springs Drive.

They were dead by the time first responders arrived at 4:54 pm.

The driver fled on foot; KCBS reported on air that he or she had been captured by police.

There is no information on how the crash occurred.

Video from the scene shows two cars, one with a shattered windshield and apparently missing a wheel; a broken white road bike lies in the center of the street some distance up the road.

The station reports the victim had just left a bicycling event in the park, which may have been the AIDS/LifeCycle SoCal Day on the Ride. Another comment suggested he or she was just a mile from the finish line when he was killed.

Hopefully we’ll learn more later.

This is at least the 30th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth this year in Los Angeles County.

Eleven of those deaths have been hit-and-runs.

Update: The victim reportedly was a man in his 70s. The driver appeared to be under the influence, following his arrest by park rangers. 

Update 2: AIDS/LifeCycle has identified the victim as Andrew Jelmert, a five-time participant in the annual fundraising ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. 

UPDATE 3: WeHo Times cites participants in the AIDS/LifeCycle ride expressing shock at Jelmert’s death, with one saying the driver passed him at an estimated 80 mph just moments before the crash, despite the park’s 25 mph speed limit. 

According to the site, Jelmert had worked as a real estate agent and investor for over 30 years. 

 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Andrew Jelmert and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Lionel Mares and Metaverse HOA President for the heads-up.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , ,

Bike-riding man killed in El Monte hit-and-run; fourth fatal SoCal bike hit-and-run in three weeks

March 23, 2022 / / 4 comments

Another day, another bike rider murdered by a hit-and-run driver.

According to My News LA, El Monte police are searching for a driver who didn’t have the basic human decency to stick around after running down a man riding a bicycle.

The victim, identified as 59-year old El Monte resident Ruben Vicario, was struck at Lower Azusa Road and El Monte Ave around 9 pm Tuesday.

He died at the scene.

The suspect vehicle was described as a red or burgundy 2019-2021 Toyota sedan; no description was given for the driver.

There’s no word on how the collision occurred.

Anyone with information is urged to call the El Monte Police Department at 626/580-2100.

This is at least the 25th bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Ten of those SoCal deaths have been hit-and-runs, including the last four in a row.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Ruben Vicario and his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Update: Bike rider killed in collision with Long Beach city employee; 5th SoCal bike death in just 8 days

February 18, 2022 / / One comment

The bad news just seems to keep coming these days.

Because for the fifth time in just over a week, someone has been killed riding a bicycle in Southern California.

This time in Long Beach, at the hands of a city employee.

According to the Long Beach Post, the victim was struck by a city worker, driving a city-owned pickup, when the man on the bike allegedly ran a stop sign at 17th Street and Oregon Ave around 7:40 Friday morning.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram reports the driver was headed south on Oregon, which would suggest the victim, who has not been identified, was traveling on 17th when he was struck in the middle of the intersection.

The crash was reportedly witnessed by another city employee, who remained at the scene with the driver. Police do not believe the driver was under the influence, speeding or driving distracted.

There’s no word on why the victim would have run the stop sign directly in front of an oncoming truck, which did not have a stop sign.

This is at least the 15th bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County, in what has been a very bloody start to the year.

Update: The victim has been identified as 22-year old Long Beach resident Ayomipo Lawal. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Ayomipo Lawal and his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

37-year old man killed in Highland Park collision while riding a bike on the 110 Freeway

February 17, 2022 / / Comments Off on 37-year old man killed in Highland Park collision while riding a bike on the 110 Freeway

Once again, someone has been killed riding a bicycle on a Southern California freeway.

The Citizen app reported last night that a man had been killed when he was struck by a driver shortly after midnight at South Ave 60 and the offramp to the 110 Freeway in Highland Park, although video from the scene appeared to show the highway.

Now The Eastsider confirms that the collision actually occurred on the northbound 110 itself, otherwise known as the Arroyo Seco Parkway. The website places the crash in the traffic lanes of the freeway between LA’s Hermon and Highland Park neighborhoods, north of Avenue 60.

The victim, publicly identified only as a 37-year old man, died at the scene. The driver apparently remained at the scene following the crash.

There’s no explanation for why the victim was riding on the freeway, where bicycles are prohibited, as they are on all freeways in the Los Angeles area. Let alone why he would have been riding in the traffic lanes.

This is at least the 14th bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. It also appears to be the third in the City of Los Angeles.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones. 

 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

Man killed riding bike in Lancaster hit-and-run; heartless killer got out to look at victim before driving off and leaving him to die

February 8, 2022 / / Comments Off on Man killed riding bike in Lancaster hit-and-run; heartless killer got out to look at victim before driving off and leaving him to die

Once again, someone on a bicycle has been left to die in the street by a heartless coward.

According to the Antelope Valley Times, the victim, described only as a man in his 30s, was riding east on Avenue H east of Division Street in Lancaster when he was rear-ended by a pickup driver at around 9:02 pm Saturday.

He died at the scene.

The driver actually got out of his truck to examine his victim lying bleeding in the roadway, before simply getting back in his truck and driving away without attempting to aid the victim or call for help.

A witness attempted to follow the suspect, before losing him around Avenue E and 20th Street West.

The driver is described as a Hispanic man wearing a reflective vest and construction boots, while the suspect vehicle is described as a 1994-2000, dark colored GMC Sierra or Chevrolet Silverado, possibly red or green, with front end collision damage.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station traffic investigators at 661/948-8466.

This is at least the tenth bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Shamefully, drivers have fled the scene in four of those ten deaths.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones. 

Thanks to Joe Linton for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Update — Bike rider killed in collision with Azusa motorcycle cop; 9th SoCal bike death this month

February 1, 2022 / / Comments Off on Update — Bike rider killed in collision with Azusa motorcycle cop; 9th SoCal bike death this month

KCBS2/KCAL9 is reporting that a person riding a bicycle died after being struck by an Azusa police officer Monday night.

According to the station, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was stuck by a motorcycle cop at the intersection of Cienega and Sunflower Avenues around 9:10 pm.

Both the victim and the officer were taken to local trauma centers, where the bike rider died of their injuries.

The motorcycle officer is expected to recover.

Unfortunately, that’s all we know at this time.

There’s no word on how the collision occurred or who had the right-of-way, or if the officer was using lights and siren or responding to a call at the time of the crash.

Hopefully, we’ll learn more later.

This is at least the ninth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Update: Three days later, the victim has still only been publicly identified as a man. No further details about the crash have been provided.

Update 2: The victim has been identified as 67-year old Xueqi Li, no city of residence given.

Li was reportedly crossing Cienega Ave at Asherton Ave when he was struck by the off-duty officer, who was traveling east on Cienega on his way home. 

The officer remains hospitalized in stable condition. 

The collision remains under investigation by the CHP. Anyone with information is urged to call the Southern Division Investigative Services Unit at 323/644-9550.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Xueqi Li and his loved ones.

 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Bicyclist killed at PCH and Big Rock in Malibu; 4th Malibu PCH bike death in nine months, and 2nd at the same intersection

January 22, 2022 / / One comment

Southern California’s killer highway has claimed the the life of yet another person on a bicycle.

The Malibu Times is reporting that a bike rider was killed on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu Thursday afternoon — the same day another victim was killed on PCH in Huntington Beach.

And at nearly the same location another bike rider was killed just a month ago.

The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was struck by a driver at PCH and Big Rock Drive around 2 pm.

He was dead in the street by the time emergency personnel got there.

According to the Canyon News, the driver isn’t suspected of being under the influence, which suggests this was not a hit-and-run.

Traffic signals were upgraded at the intersection in 2014 to improve safety; clearly, it didn’t work.

Unfortunately, there’s no further information at this time. No word on which way the victim and his killer where going, or how the crash occurred.

This is at least the seventh bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

It’s also the fourth person killed riding a bike on PCH in Malibu in just the last none months. Just more evidence of a serious traffic safety problem in the beachfront city.

Correction: I originally misidentified the cross street as Black Rock, rather than Big Rock, for reasons that will forever escape me. Thanks to Andrew Goldstein for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

At least 83 people killed riding bikes in SoCal last year, no more “car oopsies,” and Sartre and Hackman are one of us

January 11, 2022 / / Comments Off on At least 83 people killed riding bikes in SoCal last year, no more “car oopsies,” and Sartre and Hackman are one of us

Let’s start with a followup to yesterday’s news.

As we noted, 18 people were killed riding bicycles in Los Angeles last year, a 20% jump over the year before. And ten more than the eight we had counted.

That news confirmed that running total of bicycling deaths maintained on this site was a dramatic undercount. Because too many tragedies on our streets never make the news, and the LAPD is often too slow in releasing reports of bicycling deaths.

If they ever get around to it at all.

Adding those 10 extra deaths to our totals comes out to 35 bicycling deaths in Los Angeles County last year, which compares to 34 in 2019, and around 30 in 2020, when we saw a similar problem confirming bicycling fatalities.

Orange County showed just seven deaths last year, which again seems like an undercount compared to 15 in 2020, and 13 in 2019.

San Diego County suffered through a horrible year, with 17 bicycling deaths, compared to just seven in 2020 and four in 2019.

The nine deaths in Riverside County fell in line with previous years, with ten in 2020 and eight in 2019.

The same is true for San Bernardino County, where seven people lost their lives riding bikes last year, compared to five in 2020 and eight the year before.

Ventura County showed a significant jump, with eight deaths in 2021, double the total of four for 2020, and six in 2019.

Finally, there appeared to be no bicycling deaths in Imperial County last year or the year before, compared to two in 2019. Although it’s easier to get light out of a black hole than news from Imperial County, so take that with a grain of salt.

But bear in mind these are only rough estimates, based strictly on reports in the press or announced by the police, the coroner or some other credible source.

Each death included here has been confirmed, eliminating any risk of an overcount; if anything, this is more likely to be an undercount. I’ve heard of several bicycling deaths over the past year that I haven’t been able to confirm, and so haven’t included them in these totals.

That leaves us with at least 83 people killed riding bicycles in the seven county Southern California region last year.

Eighty-three mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, friends and loved ones who were not here to greet the new year.

And likely more.

Maybe many more, when we finally see the official government totals in a few years.

Photo by Ted McDonald from Pixabay.

………

The older term was more accurate.

………

Gene Hackman is one of us.

And boy do I want to be like him when I grow up.

………

A soaked Sartre on a foldie.

https://twitter.com/nedboulting/status/1480534309387837440

………

Those vintage ice bikes we shared with you yesterday?

They’re still a thing, if somewhat more stable now.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. And apparently, no sense of irony either, as a proposed new Virginia law would would charge people on bicycles twice as much as motor vehicle drivers for rolling a stop sign, despite the people in the big, dangerous machines posing a much great risk to others. And just try impounding people’s cars for a simple traffic violation.

https://twitter.com/yitgordon/status/1480610900444778496

At least they’re honest about it. The BBC backtracks on an earlier story claiming new bike lanes are responsible for making London the world’s most congested city, correcting it to lay blame on a number of factors; a reporter admits that the “anti-cycling angle ‘gets more readers.'”

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Reminiscent of the infamous Crimanimalz ride on LA’s Santa Monica Freeway more than a decade ago, over 100 people taking part in a Berkeley ride out took over the right lanes of the I-80 Freeway on Sunday, before they were escorted off by a CHP officer. As someone else pointed out, despite their scofflaw behavior, fewer people are killed by bicycle ride outs than everyday motor vehicle traffic. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

………

Local

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Huh? A San Diego letter writer criticizes the Union-Tribune for using the widow of a fallen bicyclist to illustrate the need for safer bikeways, saying that safety was never raised as a reason for bike lanes on 30th Street, because everyone knows it was too dangerous to ride a bike there.

A 20-year old Merced woman is under arrest after she was found with a man’s stolen bicycle, which was taken when the man was smashed in the head with a hard object; her alleged partner in crime is still on the run.

San Francisco Streetsblog says a fix to the formerly unprotected bike lane used by an SUV driver to bypass stalled traffic last year, killing a pedestrian in the process, still wouldn’t stop anyone with its new car-tickler plastic bendie posts. Although that may not be quite the way they phrased it.

 

National

How not to bonk on your next mountain bike ride.

E-pickup maker Rivian has applied for an ebike trademark, suggesting a foray into bikemaking could be in their future.

A Houston paper says the local bike lanes in the auto-centric city are an “absolute joke and incredibly dangerous to any cyclist who decides to risk it and ride in them.” So, it’s like most other major cities, then.

A writer for Chicago Streetsblog questions who we should really be building bike lanes for, concluding that they should be for inexperienced bicyclists who’d like to ride more, rather than more confident, experienced riders.

 

International

UK GQ recommends stylish and practical panniers for your bike. I’ll take the bright yellow leather ones, thank you very much. 

That feeling when a drunk Irishman breaks into your home and demands an ebike charger. Probably for the e-scooter he just stole to carry your television out on.

A German sociologist concludes that bicycles are becoming status symbols, since poorer people are more likely to drive to show they can afford it, while bike riders tend to be wealthier and more educated, and more likely to send a message by choosing to ride. Methinks he’s full of scheisse.

Life is cheap in Israel, where a professional soccer player was given early release for good behavior after serving just two years for the hit-and-run death of a 17-year old ebike rider.

Popular Bangladeshi actor Bappy Chowdhury is one of us, taking a spill after losing his balance while filming a scene on a bicycle.

An Indian man learns the hard way that if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is, as he orders a $600 bicycle from a discount site for just $155 — and gets a box full of scrap.

No surprise here. A Singapore report shows an average of 560 serious crashes involving bicyclists in each of the past five years, compared to just 90 a year on bike paths and park connectors. Meanwhile, the island city-state requires ebike and e-scooter user to pass an online test and carry a certificate with them when they ride.  And no, I don’t know what a park connector is, either.

Most of Japan’s abandoned and second-hand bicycles end up in Cambodia’s thriving used bike market.

 

Competitive Cycling

A team of Bangladeshi bicyclists set a new Guinness record for a relay team by riding 1,037 miles in just 48 hours.

VeloNews says UCI is disrespecting women’s cycling by banning team kits, while disrespecting women’s cycling themselves by hiding the editorial behind a paywall.

It’s time to head to Austria and get your snow bike racing on.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your toddler arrives in a bike trailer like an aristocrat. Stop your kid’s balance bike by remote control.

And can we have these on every street?

Please?

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Man riding bicycle killed in Venice hit-and-run Wednesday night; 17th bike rider killed in LA County this year

December 23, 2021 / / 4 comments

Another day, another innocent life needlessly ended by a careless driver.

One who couldn’t be bothered to stick around afterwards.

According to KTLA-5, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding his bike near the intersection of Grand and Venice Blvds in Venice when he was run down by a hit-and-run driver around 9:50 pm Wednesday.

The driver was making a U-turn when he slammed into the victim, then fled the scene like the heartless coward he — or she — is.

The victim was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died later that night.

Police are looking for a dark-colored Chevrolet Bolt, which will likely have front-end damage; unfortunately, there’s no description off the driver.

It’s hard to imagine how the crash could have occurred on Venice, since it’s a divided roadway with a wide median extending several blocks. That suggests it could have happened mid-block on Grand.

Both streets have painted bike lanes in both directions, which clearly didn’t offer any benefit to the victim in this case.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD West Traffic Division Officer Twycross at 213/473-0235.

This is at least the 65th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 17th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. It’s also at least the 8th bicycling death in the City of Los Angeles since the first of the year.

Twenty of those SoCal deaths have been hit-and-runs.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Breaking News: Bike rider killed in PCH collision near Big Rock Drive in Malibu; 3rd PCH bicycling death this year

December 21, 2021 / / Comments Off on Breaking News: Bike rider killed in PCH collision near Big Rock Drive in Malibu; 3rd PCH bicycling death this year

It looks like LA County’s killer highway has claimed yet another victim.

KCBS-2 reports that someone has been killed riding a bicycle on PCH in Malibu, between Big Rock Drive and Topanga Canyon Blvd.

Video from the scene appears to place the crash on the westbound side of the roadway, where riders are forced to either share the lane with impatient drivers, or use the poor quality shoulder, which varies in width and is frequently blocked by debris and parked cars.

According to My News LA, the crash occurred around 2 pm Tuesday afternoon; the victim died at the scene.

Malibu State Senator Henry Stern had this to say after driving by the aftermath of the crash.

No other information is available at this time.

This is at least the 63rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 16th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

The victim is also at least the third bicyclist killed on PCH in Malibu this year.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his or her loved ones. 

Thanks to Yves Dawtur for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,
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