They all died at the scene, despite the efforts of paramedics. They were identified only as a 30-year old white man and a 38-year old woman man who had been on the motorcycle, and a 57-year old Black man riding the bicycle.
Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on how the crash occurred.
Anyone with information as urged to call the Victorville Police Department at 760/241-2911, or call anonymously at 800/782-7463.
This is at least the 33rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the just the second that I’m aware this year in San Bernardino County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for all the victims and their loved ones.
April 10, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Protest calls for safer streets, more on death of masters track cycling champ, and not guilty plea in San Pedro hit-and-run
Mora’s injury is far from the first to happen on the one-mile stretch of Whittier Boulevard between South Boyle Avenue and South Lorena Street. According to the Transportation Injury Mapping System, between 2013 and 2022 there were 225 crashes resulting in injury or death.
“Enough is enough,” said Damian Kevitt, the founder of the non-profit organization Streets are for Everyone. “People need to slow down.”
Kevitt went on to add that local residents have been pleading for safety improvements at the crosswalk for years, including safety cameras and other security devices.
Meanwhile, San Francisco’s KRON-4 reports there were calls to pass AB-645, which would legalize speed cams around schools and dangerous streets.
Like in Boyle Heights, where the traffic fatality rate is 53 percent higher than the overall city, with more traffic deaths than any other L.A. neighborhood over the past five years.
The 51-year old Montoya had just picked up a meal from a food when he was allegedly run down by Lockhart’s speeding car. Police arrested Montoya five days after the crash, based on tips from the public.
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In case you ever wondered why those plastic car-tickler bendy posts aren’t protection.
Mobility lanes that are separated from automobile lanes with delineators (a.k.a. flex posts) offer no significant collision protection for a vulnerable road user.
A new video refutes the myth that no one uses New York’s bike lanes, with 321 people on bikes passing through a single intersection in a single half hour during rush hour, compared to a little more than 500 motor vehicles.
And it notes that no one rode salmon, despite the city’s reputation for wrong-way bicyclists.
Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.
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North Carolina Public Television offers a feature on Charlotte CyclingSavvy Instructor Pamela Murray, calling her a local bike hero.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. A London website reports that bicycling trip segments have tripled in the city over the past 20 years — but then goes on to question whether concerns about road safety, “though perfectly right and proper,” have taken undue precedence, and been overly influenced by campaigners and “misplaced public opinion.”
No bias here, either. London’s Daily Mail tries to stir up controversy by sharing photos of 19 bike riders rolling through a floating bus stop as passengers are getting on or off. Buried in the story is the fact it took place over five hours at multiple locations, along with the fact that the bus stops are new and it will take everyone time to adjust to them.
A new coalition of Westwood Village and UCLA groups unveiled the new Westwood Connected campaign, which calls for a rail stop on the UCLA campus, pedestrian improvements, and protected bike lanes on Galey and Wilshire, as well as the long fought for bike lanes on Westwood Blvd. And it actually has a chance now that anti-bike lane former Councilmember Paul Koretz is gone.
Prolific character actor Michael Lerner passed away over the weekend at 81; the Oscar-nominated performer appeared in films ranging from Barton Fink, Elf and The Candidate, to Harlem Nights and Eight Men Out. Although the highlight of his career was undoubtedly playing a bicycle salesman in The Brady Bunch.
The CHP reports a man riding a bicycle in Oakhurst made a suicide swerve Saturday afternoon, striking the side of a large pickup as he allegedly began to make a U-turn. Which is probably bullshit; most alleged suicide swerves are likely the result of overly close passes, rather than careless bicyclists.
Fortunetalks with Forward health systems CEO Adrian Aoun, who rides his bike for mental clarity, calling it his meditation. I’ve long considered bicycling to be a moving meditation, allowing you to get out of your head and become one with the world around you.
That comes in behind only New York’s 17. And tops Houston, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida with ten each, followed by Chicago and Detroit with eight.
But on a per capita basis, we’re not even close.
Tucson, Arizona led the nation with 1.26 deaths per 100,000 residents, followed closely by Detroit with 1.2 per 100,000 people.
Los Angeles was all the way down at number 16, with a relatively paltry 0.30 per 100,000 residents. Or we could be 20th, since we were tied with Oklahoma City, Las Vegas, Chicago and San Jose.
Despite leading the US in sheer number of bike riders killed, New York didn’t even make the top 20 on a per capita basis.
But however you look at it, it’s still too damn many.
Then again, even one traffic death is one too many.
Joshua Mora was crossing Whittier Blvd at Osme Ave when he was struck by the speeding motorbike rider, who left him sprawled and bleeding in the street as he angrily got back on his bike and sped away.
Next week: Virtual Happy Hour w/ Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky @CD5LosAngeles on Wednesday April 12 @ 5p!
Big bike, bus, + rail projects are coming to CD5! Bring your transpo questions for the councilmember and newest @metrolosangeles Board member. RSVP: https://t.co/xASYcp7MEa
Which sounds like a position better suited to The Batchelor, but it pays up to 150 grand.
ICYMI: We're hiring!
NACTO is looking for a movement builder to be our next Director of Engagement. This role will lead our efforts to connect and champion the transportation professionals working towards equitable policy and street design!
A writer for the Los Angeles Timeswalks all 25 miles of Sunset Blvd in a single day. That’s long been one of my favorite LA bike rides, taking you through a microcosm of virtually every type of LA neighborhood from DTLA to the coast. Although it’s a lot more fun if you do it when it’s not choked with cars and drivers.
State
A father in Aliso Viejo credits an Apple AirTag with recovering his daughter’s stolen ebike, reclaiming it from the thief himself when sheriff’s deputies were unable to find it. Although you should be cautious about that doing yourself, since you never know if the thief might be armed.
We recently mentioned a three-year old boy in Maine whose Spider-Man bike was stolen when he went into a store with his mom; now a bighearted woman who can’t even afford shelter for herself used what little money she had to buy him a new one.
Six months after they were installed, new bike and pedestrian lanes on a Maryland roadway have eliminated crashes for people walking and biking, while increasing travel times just 30 seconds for morning motor vehicle commuters.
March 17, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Motorcyclist gets 4 years for killing Carlsbad bike rider while fleeing cops, and tales of an Entitled Cyclist in Los Angeles
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This is the amateur Olympics of drinking, so ride defensively. And assume every driver you see on the road after lunch this afternoon is under the influence.
Twenty-nine-year old Eric Monte Burns pled guilty to a single felony count of evading an officer causing death, with an allegation of causing great bodily injury to his passenger, for the death of 69-year old Solano Beach resident Brad Allen Catcott last August.
Burns was fleeing from a park police officer for speeding and reckless riding at Carlsbad State Beach, with a 22-year old woman on his bike, when he slammed into Catcott as he merged his bicycle into a turn lane.
Catcott died at the scene, while both Burns and his passenger were seriously injured.
Prosecutors dropped charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI, with up to ten additional years in prison, in exchange for the guilty plea.
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One of the stars of Los Angeles Bike social media has caught the eye of the LA Times.
Tom’s online moniker formed as he got more involved in Bike Twitter and noticed a widespread “attitude that drivers have towards cyclists as being entitled.” Then his penchant for sarcasm kicked in.
“I’m trying to turn the idea of entitled around to mean: ‘Yes, I’m entitled to be able to move around the streets without getting run over by you.’”
I forgot the other lovely piece of this… The mirror of the truck that broke the bone in my arm was ripped off the vehicle, left sitting at the scene. I pointed this out to the cops several times.
When I got the police report the evidence section said "none."
Fonseca goes on to describe the sensation of watching Fonseca’s nearly daily videos of close calls, blocked bikeways and overly aggressive drivers from the comfort of his desk chair.
Watching Tom’s videos can be a harrowing experience — and I’m viewing them safely from my office chair. The number of near-collisions he’s faced due to speeding, inattentive driving and sometimes deliberately aggressive drivers is all the more shocking as I remind myself that this is one person’s regular commute in a county with millions of people and tens of thousands of miles of roads.
On top of the multiple tons of speeding metal that Tom has to watch out for, his feed is full of parked vehicles and trash cans blocking designated bike lanes and sidewalks. He also regularly documents the conditions of bike lanes and other safety infrastructure as he navigates L.A. and neighboring cities.
It’s a good read, and well worth a few minutes of your day to read the whole thing.
And if it gets some drivers to recognize themselves and reconsider the way they operate behind the wheels, that’s a win for all of us.
Do you live in Council District 13? Join our newest local chapter, Bike Central LA, in calling for bike lanes to be added to newly paved Belmont Avenue, between Beverly and Temple. Send a letter at the link below!https://t.co/Tj52j5JGCf
If you were planning to ride the east section of Angeles Crest Highway this weekend, you might want to think again.
*SR-2 in Angeles National Forest* SR-2 remains CLOSED from Mt. Wilson Rd. to Big Pines Hwy. Multiple slides west of SR-39 & a washed out roadway at mile post 46 / Windy Gap. Closure updates at https://t.co/O37QesJHpwpic.twitter.com/Bbyx0EprDn
We may have missed this one earlier this year, but it’s no surprise that bicycles have become tools of survival for the embattled people of Ukraine.
It’s common for people picking up WCK food kits in Ukraine to come by bike—some ride for 30 minutes each way for the support. The kits are heavy, full of items including flour, rice, oil, canned meat & veggies, and tea—enough to last families between deliveries. #ChefsForUkrainepic.twitter.com/Yh4qgTLT6V
This is who we share the road with. A “recidivist reckless driver” has been offered a plea deal of nine years behind bars for driving against traffic on a New York street before crashing into another vehicle, and sending them both onto the sidewalk where they killed a three-month old girl and gravely injured one of her parents; the wrong way driver has nearly 100 previous red light and speed cam violations on his record. Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until they kill someone.
Speaking of New York, the city is planning a makeover of dangerous Delancey Street, from the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan to the Bowery; 38 people have been killed or injured in the area directly below the bridge in just a five-year period.
No bias here. A London columnist is shocked! shocked! to discover a price tag for the equivalent of nearly $4,900 for a new cargo bike, while noticing the disparity between cargo bike-riding affluent parents and non-affluent delivery workers. But he probably wouldn’t think twice of people paying ten or twenty times that much for a motor vehicle to haul their kids, or deliver takeout. Or takeaway, as they call it.
Bicycling Australiareviews World Bicycle Relief’s single-speed Buffalo Bike; Trek has named the bike, designed to provide transportation for people in underdeveloped countries, as their Bike of the Year for two years running.
For the first seven months of this year, it was one of the safest places to ride a bicycle in Southern California, with just four deaths.
Even though just one is one too many.
Yet the county has doubled that total in just the last ten days, with the latest death coming yesterday in Carlsbad, where the victim was collateral damage in a police chase.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, died at the scene, while both the 28-year old motorcyclist and his passenger, a 22-year old woman, were hospitalized with serious injuries.
There’s no word on when or where the pursuit started, or how fast the motorcyclist was going at the time of the crash.
However, it raises inevitable questions about the wisdom of police chases that place innocent people at risk, and whether a parks cop was properly trained in how to conduct a chase.
Anyone with information is urged to call Carlsbad Police Investigator Adam Bentley at 442/339-5559.
This is at least the 58th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
It’s also the 4th bicycling death in the county in the last ten days, and the second in Carlsbad.
Catcott was reportedly moving from the bike lane to a turn lane when he was run down by the fleeing motorcyclist, and succumbed to blunt force trauma.
The paper reports Carlsbad Police referred questions to State Parks officials, who said there “is no new information to share with the public” ten days after the crash.
Not that they’re trying to cover their collective ass or anything.
My deepest prayers and sympathy for the Brad Allen Catcott and all his loved ones.
February 4, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Bike-riding victim ID’d in Azusa motorcycle cop crash, Angeles NF crashes, and murder charges in 2020 Venice shooting
The officer remains hospitalized in stable condition.
However, there’s no explanation for why the crash happened. Or why Li’s age had been estimated as anything from his 40s or 50s, or why he was originally identified as a pedestrian.
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.
This is the downside of riding in the Angeles National Forest above Los Angeles.
ANF is a fabulous place to ride, except for one thing…
"I saw a map that showed where the accidents were and there's no one dangerous spot. The crashes happen everywhere on all the roads." @bikinginla@Pflax1https://t.co/ElaNF8x0Tv
Something tells me they could use this in the rest of the country right about now.
Bicycle snowplow, Copenhagen, ca. 1941
Made from two short john delivery bikes attached together with rods. The plow was made of beech, with a 3 mm steel edge, as well as small skids to keep the blade from catching on uneven surfaces. pic.twitter.com/pGMaFnWILa
The motorcyclist was riding east with three other motorcycle riders when he somehow slammed into the other man on the narrow two-lane road around 9:30 am today.
There’s no word on what may have caused the crash.
This is at least the 3rd bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the first that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
Update: The victim has been identified as 40-year old Chula Vista resident Julius Cunanan; he leaves behind his wife and two young sons, one just a month old.
However, the initial news report from the Ventura County Star, which is no longer available online, suggested that there were two dead at the scene in a collision between car and a motorcycle.
A Saturn Ion driven by woman, who has not been publicly identified, was traveling south on Moorpark south of Tierra Rejada at 55 mph when she slammed into a cyclist riding on the shoulder, then overcorrected to hit the motorcyclist head-on on the opposite side of the road.
He was identified this morning as 53-year old Emmy Award-winning sound editor Maciek Malish. KTVA reports he won two Emmys for his work on the X-Files, as well as receiving numerous Emmy nominations. IMDb lists a number of credits dating back to 1987; he was currently working as dialogue editor on the new Westworld TV series.
The other victim was identified 42-year old Fillmore resident Jesse Cushman.
No reason is given for why the driver drifted onto the shoulder at such a high speed, although the description of the wreck suggests some form of distraction, However, it’s still under investigation by the CHP.
This is the 48th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first in Ventura County.
Update: The Star confirms that investigators suspect that distraction appears to have played a role in the crash.
A CHP spokesman said the driver was apparently looking for something in the car when she swerved off the roadway, but it’s too early in the investigation to determine if the 26-year old woman will be charged.
The paper also notes that both victims were wearing helmets. However, a collision at 55 mph was unlikely to be survivable, with or without one.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Maciek Malish and Jesse Cushman, and all their loved ones.
