The victim, identified as Leo Steven Beveridge, was struck by a train at the Metrolink crossing on Central Ave at 8:53 am, and pronounced dead at the scene nearly 40 minutes later.
It’s not clear from the limited information whether Beveridge was struck by a Metrolink train, or if other lines might use that same track.
There’s also no word on whether there was a working railroad crossing at the site, or why he would have been unaware of an oncoming train.
However, it’s a tragic reminder to never cross under or around crossing gates, or assume it’s safe to cross after one train passes, because there’s often another coming from the opposite direction.
This is at least the 35th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Leo Steven Beveridge and his loved ones.
May 26, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Able-bodied mtn biker confronts disabled ebike rider, Metrolink helps promote bikes, and redesigning LA’s worst intersections
A video from last fall has popped up again, causing fresh outrage online.
Justifiable outrage, for a change.
David Wolfberg forwards a story from Boing Boing that picks up a video we posted last September, showing an able-bodied mountain biker complaining about a disabled rider’s adaptive ebike, and demanding to see the rule allowing him to use it on the Indiana trail.
Maybe you’ll remember it.
Lord knows I do.
The story doesn’t end there, though, as reprehensible as this uncomprehending attack on a disabled man is.
Morris…has since said he has been in touch with Terry Coleman, the deputy director of Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR), who told him that his bike was perfectly legal to ride on trails.
Morris said: “What I’m on is not an e-bike, it’s an adaptive piece of equipment. And adaptive equipment is allowed on all of the trails throughout all of Indiana. So if you’ve got this equipment, get out and use it, use it in the state parks, use it on these trails.”
Morris also said Coleman told him that the DNR had actually just bought 12 “off-roading wheelchairs”, to give disabled people in the state more access to trails and paths for leisure activities.
So the next time you find tempted to criticize someone else for some infraction, real or imagined, think twice.
Then don’t.
There may be some reason why they’re doing what they’re doing. And it doesn’t really matter whether you understand or agree with it.
Because it’s not your job to enforce the rules, any more than driveway vigilante drivers have the right to enforce their interpretations — or misinterpretations, more often — of bike laws on you.
Try a little empathy and understanding instead.
And maybe make this world a little better for all of us in the process.
Image by Michael Gaida from Pixabay.
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Remember this tweet the next time someone insists Los Angeles isn’t (insert more progressive city here).
"We can't change our city. We are not Amsterdam!"#Vienna: 'hold my #Weisswein*'
— Cycling Professor (@fietsprofessor) May 25, 2021
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Metrolink is teaming with the LACBC to promote bicycling as Bike Month sinks slowly in the west.
We've teamed up with the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition (@lacbc) to promote the many benefits of cycling as an alternative transportation choice that improves our health and our environment in Southern California. Head to our blog to learn how: https://t.co/8pmx74pNN7pic.twitter.com/hTpO3xYTt6
And particularly now that it’s getting safer to get back on a train.
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Great thread from 18-year old housing and transportation enthusiast Zennon Ulyate-Crow, who is doing the work LADOT should be doing to reimagine some of LA’s most problematic intersections.
Inspired by this tweet, I’ve started a new art project where I’ll be slowly redesigning all the intersections people listed in this thread, alongside other dangerous streets, to make them safer for all. https://t.co/K4uJQ4gtxH
Here’s his latest project, which turns an East Hollywood mess into something we could all live with.
My next intersection is Hollywood/Virgil/Sunset/Hillhurst on the border of #CD13 and #CD4. I removed the car connection to Sunset Dr. and changed Virgil St. to a three lane configuration, continuing the already existing road diet from Santa Monica. pic.twitter.com/CoRaXeK6ly
Let’s hope LADOT is already keeping an eye on him, with the promise of a job once he gets his degree.
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Speaking of LADOT, it seems the ostensibly progressive department ostensibly focused on Compete Streets still hasn’t gotten the message of the mayor’s Green New Deal — that we have to reimagine our streets and how we get around if we’re going to meet the city’s climate change goals, let alone survive.
Or maybe they still have old school engineers on staff who retain their focus on automotive throughput, as an obsolete plan to widen Burbank Blvd rises from the dead.
With auto-centric crap like this is still being pushed by Metro and LADOT, maybe we can’t afford to wait, and need to get Ulyate-Crow working there now.
Or better yet, running it.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to instruct you in how to wear a bike helmet.
#DidYouKnow: When it comes to a bicycle helmet, one size doesn’t fit all. It may take time to ensure a proper helmet fit, but your life is worth it. Learn more about proper helmet fit today: https://t.co/Kp40W736xYpic.twitter.com/LW4RYvRXc7
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. San Carlos has installed a bicycle dismount zone where people are supposed to get off their bikes and walk them across an intersection to “minimize conflicts between vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists.” Even though bike riders have every right to just ride across the damn street.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Streets For All introduces Destruction for Nada, a much-needed campaign to stop all highway widening in LA County, as Metro considers an induced-demand boosting jump in highway spending at Thursday’s board meeting, along with a proposal to kill the wasteful and destructive $8 billion plan to widen the 710 Freeway. It’s long past time all of Metro’s funding was shifted to transit and Complete Streets.
The post-pandemic reopening is raising a debate over the streets of San Francisco, as advocates call for keeping closed-off streets carfree, while drivers insist they need the roads open to get around. That’s a debate that should be happening in Los Angeles, as well, as the city faces an urgent need to reimagine how people get around in order to meet climate goals, and confront the ever-increasing congestion on our streets. But isn’t.
San Francisco installs the city’s first advisory lane, where bike riders use bike lanes on either side of the street, while drivers in both directions share a single center lane.
Sad news from Northern California, where a man riding a bike in Cottonwood was killed by a hit-and-run driver who just left him on the side of the road to die. As we’ve said before, in cases like that, the driver should face a murder charge once they’re caught for making the conscious decision to let their victim die.
A Chicago man took an “epic” bike ride across Indiana just to dine at the nearest Waffle House. Although the real story is how he was able to make almost the entire trip on offroad bike paths.
Island Pressintroduces Bike Easy, which has played a significant role in the remarkable transformation of New Orleans into a bike friendly — or at least, friendlier — city.
A Canadian girl got a new BMX bike for being honest enough to return a bike a stranger had given her, after learning it had been stolen. Although the question is why did a stranger give her a stolen bike to begin with.
International politics once again reaches into the sports world, as Germany responds to the hijacking and apparent torture of an opposition journalist in Belarus by pulling out of next month’s Elite Track European Championships in the country. And yes, that’s the right move; hopefully other countries will follow their lead.
Except this time it happened the worst possible way.
Like a number of other people, I’ve followed Dave Salovesh, aka @darsal, for some time. And vice versa, for reasons only he knew.
The extremely popular DC bike advocate has been an outspoken supporter of protected bike lanes and safer streets, as well as taking action now to fight climate change. I’ve enjoyed his humor and insights, and learned a lot from him over the years.
Food delivery drivers will get their own dedicated parking spaces in front of two restaurants in downtown Santa Monica for a three-month trial to keep them from double-parking in the bike lane. Now maybe they can do something about the FedEx and UPS drivers who park in the bike lanes on Ocean and San Vicente on a daily basis.
In a horrifying story, the CHP is looking for a hit-and-run driver who left a Merced woman to die on the side of the road after crashing into her bicycle; her body was found at 1 pm, hours after she was struck the previous evening. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know if she would have survived if she had been found sooner. Or if the coward who hit her had stopped to get help.
Talk about not getting it. A Texas man will spend the next ten years behind bars after repeatedly violating the terms of his probation for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider; he had originally gotten out after serving just 17 days of a two-year sentence thanks to a loophole in the law. You’d think someone would have enough sense to keep their nose clean after a gift like that. But apparently you’d be wrong.
Even though the council’s Transportation Committee had voted to devote 60% of Measure M return funds to stop killing bicyclists and pedestrians.
And even though LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds estimated it would take $80 million to meet the mayor’s goal of reducing traffic fatalities 20% this year. Let alone ending them by 2025.
And even though the mayor’s own budget had included a woefully inadequate $16.7 million for Vision Zero.
Instead, the council’s Budget Committee voted to zero out funding for Vision Zero, while saying it was no one’s intention to zero out funding for Vision Zero. They promised to circle back at a later date to consider giving some unspecified piece of the pie to improve safety, while channeling much of the funding to repaving streets.
And we’ve learned from experience what their promises are worth.
As Linton wrote,
Despite LADOT having submitted a Vision Zero work plan with costs (see budget memos 130 and 131), Krekorian and Englander both asserted that directing monies to LADOT for Vision Zero was – in Krekorian’s words “buying a pig in a poke” – paying for an unknown quantity lacking “specific expenditures.” The Bureau of Street Services has not submitted an expenditure plan, but can pour money into its perpetually backlogged repaving programs, which divide expenditures by 15 for the 15 council districts….
In an interview with Streetsblog this morning, Bonin expressed frustration that his colleagues were praising the city budget for its no-kill animal shelters, while not yet dedicating any money to no-kill sidewalks. Bonin said that it didn’t make any sense for the council to put off Vision Zero funding that would prevent deaths and save lives. Bonin further stated that he is continuing to push for a genuine city commitment to Vision Zero.
So for now, at least, it’s exactly what so many of us have feared.
LA may have a Vision Zero plan. But zero commitment to follow through.
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Forget those reports from a few years ago that bicycling can cause erectile dysfunction or other sexual problems.
But we already knew that, right? And so did our undoubtedly very pleased significant others.
And you can stop riding those cut-out and cutoff saddles, because bike seats didn’t matter, either.
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Metrolink will be hosting a Bike Week Twitter Party this evening.
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As a public service, no more news about today’s elections in CD7, and especially, CD1 until we have actual results, and can kiss this seemingly endless election cycle goodbye.
Team Sky’s Ian Bosewell wants to rebuild fans’ trust in American cycling by showing the new generation of riders can succeed without doping; he’s going to participate in a bike giveaway at the Hollywood Boys and Girls Club the day after the race’s Pasadena finish.
The Daily News says business owners are struggling to deal with the increasing homeless encampment along the Orange Line bike path in Van Nuys, with open drug dealing and prostitution, as well as people turning the bikeway in an open air toilet. I’ve heard from several riders who no longer feel safe riding the bikeway, and asked an LAPD officer to look into it; he reported that they couldn’t be legally removed because they’re on private property.
Writing in the Fresno Bee, a conservation advocate seems to believe the prospect of allowing bicycles in American wilderness areas will crack the final seal holding back the two-wheeled apocalypse.
A Michigan woman gets six months in jail for a fatal collision with a bicyclist because she had THC in her blood, even though she had the right-of-way and, according to her lawyer, police concluded there was nothing she could have done to avoid the crash.
Heartbreaking news from Indiana, where a driver lost control swerving to avoid a bike rider who had fallen while crossing the roadway and collided with a truck, killing an 11-year old girl in the passenger seat.
The LA Times puts the time as around 7:10 am, and identifies the train as Metrolink 682 bound for Orange County from Downtown Los Angeles. The paper reports the victim rode around the crossing gate; he died at the scene.
Train collisions are the easiest type of collision to avoid, yet there have been at least 14 other riders killed by trains in Southern California since January, 2011, including eight last year.
There is simply no excuse, ever, for riding around a railroad crossing barrier. However, the high number of fatal train collisions — cyclists, drivers and pedestrians — would suggest that more needs to be done to keep people off the tracks when trains are approaching.
This is the second bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first in Los Angeles County.
My sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said the train was headed to Downtown Los Angeles, based on information in the Times’ story.
Update: According to the Whittier Daily News, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding the wrong way on eastbound Lakeland. That would have placed him on the opposite side of the road from the crossing barrier. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:24 am.
Update 2: According to LAist, the LA County Coroner’s office has identified the victim as 23-year old Dale Hummels of Whittier. Oddly, the coroner’s felt a need to clarify that Hummels’ death was not a suicide.
That’s how many bike riders have lost their lives in what has turned out to be a horrible year for SoCal cyclists. And how many of those riders have died as a result of train collisions.
The paper reports he apparently tried to beat the train, despite the fact that the warning gates had already been lowered. He was struck by the 218 train on its way to Union Station in Downtown LA, and pronounced dead at the scene.
With this death, nearly 10% of the fatalities involving Southern California bike riders have been the result of train collisions — the easiest type of collision to avoid. All you have to do is stay off the tracks when there’s a train coming.
Unlike motor vehicles. trains are restricted to a specific pathway, and can’t vary their route in any way. And they have warning systems to let you know when they’re coming; all you have to do is squeeze on the brakes.
At least three of those eight deaths resulted from riders attempting to beat the train or ride around the warning gates. Which makes me wonder if they were truly attempting to beat the gates, or if at least some might have been fixie riders forced to ride through because they lacked the skill to stop in time.
Unfortunately, we may never know, since none of the reports identify the type of bike the victim was riding.
But it’s a question worth asking as we struggle to understand why so many riders have died in a type of collision that’s so easy to avoid.
This is the 81st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 33rd in LA County. This is also the 14th rider to lose his life in the City of Los Angeles since the first of the year, three time the average for the city.
Update: According to KCBS-2, the victim, identified only as a 30-year old Hispanic man, was riding west on Van Nuys at the time of the collision.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his family.
Update 2: Over two weeks later, there’s still no ID on the victim. He is described as a Hispanic man over 21 years old, about 5’2” and 144 pounds, with brown eyes and a black Mohawk, and a red stud earring in one ear. Anyone with information is urged to call coroner’s investigator Daniel Machian at 323-343-0754 or the coroner investigations division at 323-343-0714.
No other details are available at this time, including the time of the collision or which directions the rider and train were headed.
This has been a horrible year for bike/train collisions in Southern California. Seven bike riders have been killed by trains so far this year; this is the second this month alone. That compares with just two in all of last year, and four in 2011.
Yet this is the easiest type of collision to avoid. Just stop when the crossing gates come down, and wait until they go back up — even it if looks like it’s safe to cross.
And don’t even think you can beat the train.
Because chances are, you won’t.
This is the 70th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 30th in Los Angeles County; that is eight more than were killed in the county in all of last year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
Update: The LA Daily News reports that the victim, who still has not been publicly identified, was a 22-year old man.
According to the paper, a witness at the scene said the victim was riding with a group of friends around 7:10 pm when he tried to outrun the northbound train. The paper doesn’t say if he was the only one who tried to beat the train, or if any others might have made it across before he was hit.
Not surprisingly, none of the passengers on the Number 269 train were injured.
Update 2: The Antelope Valley Times identifies the victim as 22-year old Manuel Correa, no hometown given.
Meanwhile, a comment from Bryan Laine, below, indicates that he not only knew the victim, he was on the train at the time of the collision. According to him, the leaders of the group kept riding after the crossing arms began to fall, which led to Correa’s death as he evidently followed them across the tracks.
It’s been exactly 26 days since the last bicycling fatality anywhere in Southern California. Lately I’ve kept my fingers crossed the we could make it to a full four weeks; a much needed respite in what has been a very bad year for SoCal cyclists.
According to Murrieta Patch, the young man, who has not been publicly identified, was crossing the tracks at Madison Street near Indiana Avenue at 5:58 pm Thursday when he was struck by a train headed from Orange County to San Bernardino.
A satellite photo shows standard drop-bar crossing arms on both sides of the tracks.
No word on which direction he was riding, or how he ended up on the tracks as the train was coming through. However, a division chief for the Riverside Fire Department speculated that there may have been a second train coming in the opposite direction after the first train had passed.
There are few things easier to avoid than a wreck with a train. Unlike cars, they can’t deviate from a set track; all you have to do is stop when the barricades come down, and wait until they go back up before crossing the tracks — regardless of how safe it may seem at the time.
This is the 68th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 10th in Riverside County. That compares with 62 and 11, respectively, this time last year.
He is also the sixth Southern California bicyclist to be killed by a train this year, compared to just two in all of last year, and four in 2011.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his family and friends; this news will be devastating for whatever school he may have attended.
Thanks to Danny Gamboa for the heads-up.
Update: A report from KNBC-4 confirms that the victim was 15-years old, and that witnesses said he waited for one train to pass, then was hit by second train coming from the opposite direction when he attempted to cross the tracks.
Update 2: According to the Press-Enterprise, the victim was riding south on the sidewalk on the west side of Madison Street when he stopped for the first train.
A witness who recognized the boy waved at him, and watched the wreck unfold.
“We saw him riding his bike, and we just waved at him,” said Soto, who was heading to a friend’s home in the Casa Blanca neighborhood. “He stopped right there at the (crossing) light” when an eastbound freight train passed by.
“It passed by and 30 seconds later we’re still just waiting there for it (the crossing gate) to lift up. I see a train coming and oh, it’s another train,” Soto said. “I could see the kid go straight and I guess he didn’t look to his left and he got hit. It was a loud pop. At first … I didn’t believe it.”
The witness, who said he was scarred for life by what he’d seen, went on to say that the victim may have been fooled when the warning gate started to lift before coming back down again.
“I thought something was wrong with it,” he said, “so I guess he (the boy on the bicycle) saw that with the corner of his eye and went straight. I guess now he’s in heaven.”
Update 3: The San Bernardino Sun identifies the victim as Serafin Gonzalez of Riverside.
Update 4: According to the Press-Enterprise, Gonzalez was just out for a quick ride when he was killed; he was dragged over 170 feet by the force of the impact.
He was described by his teachers as an extremely good young man without a mean bone in his body.
And in an indication of a serious problem, the paper reports that Gonzalez was the fourth person in Riverside to be struck and killed by a second train after waiting for the first train to pass in the last four years.
Update 5: A vigil was held in Gonzalez’s memory Friday night. In a tragic irony, he lived on Railroad Avenue, paralleling the tracks he died on.
The Press-Enterprise reports a bike rider was killed by a Metrolink train in Jurupa Valley last night.
Or rather, barely reports, because the story only briefly touches on the fact that someone lost his or her life, instead focusing on the horrible inconvenience it posed to those on the train.
How rude that he should have delayed all those poor, unfortunate people from getting home by dying.
I’m going to be tied up all day today, but I’ll try to add more information later tonigt.
Update: According to the Press-Enterprise, the collision occurred around 5:24 pm Friday at Rutile Blvd and Van Buren Blvd.
The story offers no more information about the victim or the crash itself, even 24 hours later.
The Riverside County Coroner’s office offers a little more information, listing the victim as a 64-year old Riverside resident; his name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. He was declared dead at 5:34 pm.
And yes, unless the warning signals were malfunctioning in some way, a collision with a train is almost always the rider’s fault. Looking at the satellite view, it’s hard to picture how the victim could have been caught on the tracks by accident; although it is always possible he was riding along the tracks rather than crossing them.
Never go around a warning gate, even if the way seems clear at the time; a train can be coming from out of view, or a stopped train can start without warning.
Other than the flashing lights, bells and lowered gates, that is.
This is the 54th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 6th in Riverside County. Remarkably, it’s also the 5th SoCal cyclist killed in a collision with a train since the first of the year.
Update 2: The victim has finally been publicly identified by the Riverside County Coroner’s office as 64-year old Riverside resident Ronald Rodriguez.
Just when it looked like death may have taken a sabbatical from SoCal cycling, word comes of a rider killed in a collision with a train in Upland on Thursday.
Very few details are available at this time. However, according to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the male rider was hit by a Metrolink train near Benson Avenue and Eighth Street around 5:15 pm. The victim, who has not been publicly identified, apparently died at the scene.
The death is just the second SoCal cycling fatality this month, after a swarm of four fatalities in an eight-day period between May 25 and June 2nd, including bike racer Chris Cono, and Susan Stripko in Huntington Beach.
This is the 32nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, compared to 23 this time last year, and the third in San Bernardino County. This is also the third bike rider killed by a train since the first of the year.
Unless the safety equipment malfunctions in some way, or the rider is somehow forced onto the tracks, there is simply no excuse for a collision with a train, which is confined to a clearly defined space on the tracks. Never ride under or around the warning gates or try to beat a train across the tracks.
I speak from experience, having barely beaten a train in a foolish attempt to race it across the tracks when I was a child.
A lesson I survived by just inches. And will never forget.
Update: The Daily Bulletin places the actual location as Montclair, and identifies the victim as 19-year old Pomona resident Brendan Allen Adams. Witnesses saw Adams riding south on Benson towards the train tracks, where he either ignored or didn’t see the crossing arms, for whatever reason.
Mark your calendar and be there if you can. Because it will take all of us to convince the council to values the lives and safety of bicyclists over the simple convenience of filmmakers.
And you can hear the LACBC’s Planning and Policy Director Eric Bruins, LADOT’S Nate Baird and others discuss the bikelash over L.A. bike lanes with Warren Olney on KCRW’s Which Way, L.A.?
