The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding south on Fanuel Street at Grand Ave shortly before 1 am, when he attempted to turn right onto Grand and was struck by the westbound driver.
He died at the scene.
There are sharrows on Grand, which could have given him an illusion of safety.
However, there’s no explanation at this time why he turned in front on the oncoming motorist, although it’s possible that he may have gone into the traffic lane to avoid parked cars in the residential neighborhood.
Police said that alcohol was not a factor in the crash.
Anyone with information is urged to call San Diego County Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-888/580-8477; it’s not clear why they don’t want people to call the police directly.
This the 18th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the third in San Diego County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
The 37-year old Minneapolis VA nurse, who was fatally shot — okay, murdered — by ICE agents on Saturday was a lover of the outdoors, and an active mountain bike rider.
The Radavist is calling for the entire bicycling community to come together for healing and to honor Pretti, who he says could have been any of us. Although I’m not sure how many of us would have stepped up to help a stranger at the risk of our own lives.
Meanwhile, Minnesota-based Salsa Cycles is urging bike riders to contact their legislator and join in a Unity Ride to protest the recent fatal shootings by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
“Our neighbors are being unlawfully detained, harassed and murdered at the hands of the federal immigration enforcement agents,” Salsa Cycles wrote in its statement. “Now is the time to speak up and stand up…”
“Community is important in times like this,” Salsa Cycles states. “Alex Pretti was a member of our local cycling community…We encourage you to come ride with us, host a ride in your community, or simply go ride in solidarity on Saturday.”
The former carries a maximum of six years, while the latter has a max of just four years, thanks to California’s lax hit-and-run laws.
And that’s only if she is convicted on both charges, and gets the maximum penalties, to run concurrently.
Anyone want to give odds on that?
Sanchez is accused of knocking Hudson off his bike as she turned right into an alley, stopping briefly, then fleeing the scene and driving over the boy as he lay helpless on the ground.
“The defendant did not stop, she did not render aid, she did not assess the situation or try to help out, she didn’t, she did not call 911,” said Cassidy McWilliams, deputy district attorney.
Never mind that she hasn’t had a valid driver’s license for nine years, and shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place.
She was ordered into custody on $150,000 bond, and will be required to wear an ankle monitor and forbidden from driving if she manages to post it.
This analysis includes people walking, biking, using wheelchairs or riding personal conveyances such as rollerblades or skateboards. In total, nearly 6,500 people were killed while walking or biking across California during this five-year period, a toll that includes about 800 cyclists.
Fatalities climbed steadily for nearly a decade across the state, reaching a peak of 1,429 deaths in 2022, before receding to 1,208 in 2024. In comparison, the Bay Area has remained relatively stable. The number of fatalities has ranged between 150-180 deaths per year.
The map pinpoints the location of both pedestrian and bicycling deaths, while blocking out high-fatality hotspots.
The latter of which makes Los Angeles look like the hot mess it is.
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Active SGV is hosting a free Learn to Bike class in El Monte on Sunday.
🚲 Build your confidence on two wheels at our FREE Learn to Bike class in El Monte.
📅 Sunday, Feb 1 | 9:30 AM 📍 Jeff Seymour Family Center Bikes & helmets available to borrow!
The group is also hosting an easy ride to Whittier Narrows next weekend.
Join ActiveSGV for an E-asy Access Ride to Whittier Narrows! Ride with us as we head to Whittier Narrows and learn how our region is building a more sustainable water future. RSVP: https://t.co/FPFa7X7Alupic.twitter.com/9wbgz5IiAX
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A New Jersey legislator is “backpedaling” on his own proposal to require a $50 annual bicycle registration fee to make bike riders contribute to the cost of their own infrastructure, with public comments running 61% against. Because apparently, people who ride bikes don’t pay taxes like normal folks, and the proven societal and health effects of bicycling are worth nothing. And no, drivers don’t pay their own way; the overwhelming cost of building and maintaining roadways comes from general tax funds.
Once again, a bike thief has been busted in Orange County, after stealing a bait bike worth over $2,000 in Huntington Beach, which makes it a felony. Meanwhile, the LAPD still won’t employ bait bikes because a former city attorney feared it could be construed as entrapment, even though similar charges have held up in other cities that do.
Bike-friendly Davis has released a new citywide bike map. Granted, it’s easier to build a connected bike network in a small city, but at least Davis has one. Los Angeles doesn’t.
Winter bicycling rates are skyrocketing in Cambridge, Massachusetts, increasing over 400% in the past ten years, thanks in part to the city plowing snow from bike lanes.
The victim, identified as Hudson Stephen O’Loughlin, was riding his bicycle with his parents on the sidewalk on the south side of Pacific Beach Drive around 3:44 pm, when he was right hooked by a driver as he crossed the alley at Ingraham Street.
The driver was turning right off Pacific Beach into the alley when she struck the boy, knocking him off his bike. She paused briefly without exiting her car, then accelerated south down the alley, running over Hudson as he lay on the ground in front of her car.
He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver, identified only as a 32-year old woman, was taken into custody after police located her car in National City.
Investigators said alcohol was not a factor in the crash, which does not make it better.
Especially considering that the boy might still be alive if she had just gotten out of her car and seen him there. Or even backed up instead of speeding forward.
Even worse, it’s likely that both his parents witnessed the crash that killed their son, according to 10 News San Diego.
Hudson’s mother, Juliana Kapovich, described her son over the phone as everything she could imagine – a fearless, confident child who was full of life. She said he loved his brother and science.
Kapovich said she and Hudson’s father were with him when he was riding his bike Saturday. Police say Hudson was hit and then run over by a car turning into a nearby alley.
Hudson was a bright, curious child who loved all things science, and his energy was contagious. He filled every room with his spirit and had a passion for BMX, cycling, swimming, skating, and building with Legos. Whether he was racing on his bike, splashing in the pool, or creating new Lego masterpieces, Hudson’s adventurous and creative nature inspired everyone around him. Hudson attended school in North Park where he made many friends and touched countless lives. Hudson dreamed of becoming a military scientist one day, and his love for learning was matched only by his love for his family. In his short life, he brought so much joy, kindness, and wonder to everyone he met. One of the sweetest memories his mom holds close is how, as soon as the sun came up, Hudson would come into her room to ask for cuddles. Those quiet, loving moments were a daily reminder of the deep bond they shared.
As of this time, the page has raised more than $35,000 of the $100,000 goal.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to contact the San Diego Police Department Traffic Division or Crime Stoppers at 888/580-8477.
This is the fourth bicycling fatality that I’m aware in of Southern California this year, and the first in San Diego County.
There’s just no excuse.
Update: The driver has been identified as 32-year-old Tiffany Sanchez. She was booked on charges of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run.
“My son is behind me, my other son and wife are about 10 feet behind us,” Matthew described. “No cars, I cross over, I’m fine…I look back to check on him and the lady just runs him over.”
He said his instinct was to capture the driver’s license plate…
“She ran him over taking off with no disregard for anybody, you wouldn’t even do that to an animal, she just left him die on the street,” Matthew said. “She just left.”
David Morrow, who was driving behind the woman at the time, recalled seeing her ‘cut right into the alley’ before running Hudson over ‘twice,’ he told the outlet.
‘Like, both wheels ran over the kid. She stopped right in front for about ten seconds. That’s when I pulled behind her and got her license number, and then she took off,’ Morrow added.
He noted that a bystander, who was possibly a paramedic, jumped in to help Hudson.
‘He got up at first and was standing there all in pain, and then they laid him down, and he stopped breathing right in front of me,’ Morrow said of Hudson. ‘It was sad, and then I left.’
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Hudson Stephen O’Loughlin and his loved ones.
June 29, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Encinitas declares bicycling emergency, support for Pacific Beach Slow Street, and car death cult piece misses mark
However, the planned state of emergency action items reported by San Diego’s NBC-7 seem a little lacking.
The local emergency allows the city quicker access to resources necessary for education and enforcement, if needed. Some actions that the city council hopes to accomplish include the rental of 10 messages boards that will be placed in high-visibility areas reminding both riders and drivers to share the road, 300 yard signs urging safety, additional work with schools to educate students on-campus and a bike safety video made in unison with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department that can be played at assemblies and meetings.
The declaration places the most of the onus for safety on the potential victims riding on two wheels, rather than the people in the big, dangerous machines.
Because yard signs and message boards aren’t likely to slow drivers down, and won’t do a damn thing for the distracted drivers who don’t even see them.
Thanks to Phillip Young and Marcello Calicchio for the heads-up.
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These days, every street project that might possibly inconvenience someone is contentious.
Usually, needlessly so.
That’s certainly the case with the Slow Street project on Diamond Street in San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood, where all of four — yes, four — people rose up at a recent Town Council meeting to complain about it.
Did I mention that it was just four people who complained?
Fortunately, the local representative for the City Council Mobility Board, who was also the researcher who evaluated the project, wrote to the San Diego Union-Tribune to support the project.
…The benefits are staggering. The project led to an increase in walking and biking mode share, and children and older adults using the street. Driving mode share decreased by nearly 60 percent with a smaller impact on traffic on adjacent streets.
People reported a greater sense of community and well-being. Most were using the street for transportation and half planned to visit a business during their trip. Most importantly, there was overwhelming support for making the project permanent.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but “overwhelming support” is probably more than four.
A lot more.
She goes on to say that making Diamond a permanent slow street shouldn’t even be up for debate, since it gets San Diego that much closer to meeting its Climate Action Plan and Vision Zero goals.
Let’s hope the city council is listening.
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Progressive magazine The American Prospect missed the mark.
But he goes off track at the end in blaming neoliberalism of the 1980s and ’90s for the American failure, which he argues resulted in less government oversight, drawing a straight line leading to today’s massively oversized vehicles, overly wide roads and high traffic death rates.
There’s no arguing that traffic deaths are too high, and getting higher, and that poor road design and the ever-increasing size of motor vehicles are at least partly to blame, along with a dramatic increase in distracted driving.
But fondly remembering the good old days when traffic death rates were even worse doesn’t help.
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I have somehow miraculously recovered the ability to embed tweets.
— People Powered Media (@pplpoweredmedia) June 28, 2023
here's the TL;DR for what we are asking of LADOT / officials. three things:
1. The Venice Bike Lanes needs regular sweeping/cleaning, especially given their gutter nature. There’s lots of trash and broken glass. pic.twitter.com/QFZppGLKWL
— People Powered Media (@pplpoweredmedia) June 28, 2023
— People Powered Media (@pplpoweredmedia) June 28, 2023
To be clear, we don’t begrudge city officials and activists for celebrating the Venice realignment as a big win. The project took years of work from electeds and stakeholders.
We just ask that the job be finished.
— People Powered Media (@pplpoweredmedia) June 28, 2023
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I’m not sure if we shared this short film from Nimesh in Los Angeles when it came out last December.
So we’ll correct that possible oversight today.
In it, he argues that LA’s flat terrain and year-round Mediterranean climate should make it the bicycle capital of the world. But it isn’t, because Los Angeles makes biking in paradise a nightmare.
Thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up.
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Robert Leone forwards news that the Marines will apparently be blowing things up on Camp Pendleton again.
Which means that the popular bike path through the base will be closed from July 31st to August 4th.
So if you’re planning to ride south from Orange County, or north from San Diego County, you’ll have to use the shoulder of the freeway from the Las Pulgas Gate north to the tunnel under I-5.
Like he says, Google Translate is your friend. But I don’t make friends easily, so I’ll let him give you the shorthand.
I got a newsletter from the German Cycling Federation ADFC, and in this issue it shows a proposal to do a street makeover for a major arterial into the center of town. Next step is through the city council.
The numbers for users from 2011 to 2022 are amazing. The north end of the project runs into a nasty intersection that has been undergoing total renovation for the last 4 years. The existing situation shows 9,300 users on bikes daily. There are a couple of pictures of the existing bike lane. Unreal usage, but it is a main route direct into the city center.
It would be great if it gets through the city council.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
This is who we share the world with. Even the bike-riding mayor of Emeryville has to deal with wannabe killer drivers. Unfortunately, though, this doesn’t cross the legal threshold for a threat, since it lacks a statement of intent — “I would” vs “I will.”
At a business mixer tonight an attendee heard I had biked to the event and said “I hate bicyclists so much. I would absolutely run you over and kill you if we left here at the same time. You don’t belong on the road.”
Two hours later and I’m still processing all of it.
Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus says we’re having the wrong conversation about ebikes, as people predictably point fingers at kids on bikes while calling for mandatory licensing after the death of a teenage bike rider.
The family of a 14-year-old boy pinned to the ground by an off-duty Chicago cop who mistakenly accused him of stealing a bike is suing the city and the police officer; Michael A. Vitellaro was acquitted of official misconduct and aggravated battery in the incident earlier this month.
