I honestly don’t get it.
A couple of trains crashed in Spain, killing 68 people — a horrible tragedy that made headlines around the world.
Yet every year in the United States, we lose the population of a small city to traffic violence, and almost no one even notices. And ever fewer care
Somebody make it make sense.
Photo by Kindel Media for Pexels.
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At least it’s murder now.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office filed multiple charges, including two counts of murder, for last Saturday’s fatal hit-and-run that killed two people taking part in a joyful Halloween ride last Saturday.
According to the DA’s office,
“Multiple lives lost in one tragic, senseless, but entirely avoidable DUI. An October celebration turned into carnage because of one person’s decision to drive while intoxicated. There were numerous alternatives available to get home safely, yet he chose to get behind the wheel. That decision has now cost two people their lives,” said District Attorney Jason Anderson.
Filed Charges:
- Counts 1–2: PC 187(a) – Murder
- Counts 3–4: PC 191.5(a) – Gross Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated
- Counts 5–6: VC 23153 – Driving Under the Influence Causing Injury
- Additional Charge: VC 20001 – Felony Hit-and-Run
Additionally, our Office filed special allegations for Personal Infliction of Great Bodily Injury or Death and Fleeing after Committing Vehicular Manslaughter. Arraignment date and location is pending.
The murder charges likely indicate that this was not Montclair resident Valentin Alberto Rodriguez’s first DUI charge, and that he had received a Watson Advisement indicating that he could face a murder charge if he killed someone while driving under the influence going forward.
It also means that he could face multiple life sentences — which from what I’ve been told about the crash and the damage he inflicted, doesn’t began to seem harsh enough.
I struggle with cases like this, because I recognize that alcoholism is a disease which should be treated, not punished.
But as the DA indicated, no one forced Rodriguez to get behind the wheel after — allegedly — getting shitfaced. And no one forced him to keep driving after the crash, dragging one of the victims with him, or to foot bail after finally coming to a stop.
All he had to do was call an Uber, or take a fucking bus, and Robert Garcia Umanzor and single mother Rumor Ortiz could have finished their ride in peace, and gone home to their families instead of dying in the street.
So if there’s any justice left in this world, Rodriguez will sober up behind bars, and have decades to reflect on the cost of his actions.
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San Diego has launched a new guide for safer streets. Although they might have picked a name that wasn’t already in use just over a hundred miles away.
The City of San Diego has launched Streets for All, a new resource designed to guide communities that are interested in transforming their neighborhood streets into safer, more welcoming spaces, finding solutions to calm traffic or creating more spaces for neighbors to gather.
Streets for All is community-driven, meaning residents and businesses work together to develop and fund near-term “quick build” projects in their neighborhoods to calm traffic or create more gathering spaces. Communities can use the manual to help identify potential solutions to fit their location and existing conditions.
Whether they can get away with using the same name as the Los Angeles and San Francisco street safety PAC depends on the generosity of, and lawyers for, the Los Angeles-based group.
But you’d think San Diego would have done a basic web search before choosing the name — unless their purpose was to cause confusion with the previously existing group, in which case, carry on.
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Streets for All — the real one — calls for a no vote on prop 43.
Meanwhile, Calbike concurs on 43 and adds a no on 45.
No on Prop 43: Protect Local Funding for Safer Streets
CalBike urges Californians to vote NO on Proposition 43. The measure would make it harder for communities to approve citizen-led taxes for safer streets, reliable transit, and other essential local services. CalBike’s vision for California is a place where a bicycle can carry more of your daily life: the ride to school, the trip to the grocery store, the connection to a bus or train.
We have worked tirelessly to help California as a whole be knit together by Complete Streets, with signature legislation like SB 960. In this future, safe bikeways and reliable transit work together, putting more destinations within reach. Making a walking-friendly street into a biking-friendly neighborhood and less car-dependent regions or. Read more, or watch on our social media channels.
California voters will have a chance to push back against the Trump Administration’s rollbacks of the laws that protect our public health, air, land, and water this November by voting No on Proposition 45. Prop 45 is backed by PACs representing oil companies, for-profit utilities, and industrial developers, and would make it easier to build data centers, warehouses, and other polluting projects.
Prop 45 harms air, water quality, and public health by severely limiting critical public oversight of a long list of harmful projects. The independent and non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates implementing Prop 45 could cost taxpayers $100 million or more annually.
Every voter needs to know:
- Prop 45 weakens protections in California for clean air, clean water, and public health.
- Prop 45 doesn’t reduce costs – it shifts them to taxpayers and includes no guarantees to bring costs down for everyday Californians.
- Big corporations are spending tens of millions of dollars so they can build polluting projects – including data centers – with less public oversight.
Check out the No on Prop 45 website to learn more.
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Bike Long Beach is hosting a post-Halloween ride on Sunday, although the forecast is somewhat soggy for Sunday.
Bikes and Coffee 11/1/26: Post-Halloween ride
Join us on Sunday, November 1st for a post-halloween Bikes and Coffee ride! This is actually our October ride, which we had to push a week due to schedule conflicts. Starting at SteelCraft, we’ll loop up to Rancho Los Cerritos and other houses before heading down mainly through Wrigley via Daisy/Magnolia, checking out the Bembridge house before making our way down Broadway for a stop at Coffinated Coffee – they’re having their soft opening this weekend.
We’ll meet at SteelCraft at 9 a.m. and roll out at 9:30. This is a casual pace ride of about 14 miles on bike paths and quiet streets. Everyone is welcome, on any kind of bike. Come meet and hang out with fellow bike people. Bring a bike in good condition, helmet and a lock. See you there!
Please sign our ride waiver if you’re planning on attending.
Start and end location: SteelCraft, 3768 Long Beach Blvd
Meet time: 9 a.m.. We’ll roll around 9:30 a.m.
Distance: 14 miles
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/57708403
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Nope, no bias here. An English police force blames “dark clothing” for crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians, but can’t seem to find the words blame drivers for speeding or looking at their phones.
A British cafe replaced its billboard with an ad on the side of a car, which was thoughtfully parked blocking a bike lane.
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Local
Streetsblog offers five amazing simple hacks to avoid getting a ticket from the new Los Angeles speed cams, including only driving 10 mph over the speed limit.
Los Angeles General Medical Center gave away pamphlets on ebike safety and 100 bike helmets in an effort to reduce ebike injuries.
State
Um, okay. The Cal State Fullerton Daily Titan says the Anaheim Police Department outlined a three-pronged approach to ebike safety focusing on enforcement, education and engineering, while categorizing ebikes into three classes — which coincidentally just happen to be the same three classes spelled out under state law.
San Diego will host the 13th Annual Jim Krause Memorial Charity Cycling Ride the Point on November 7th to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research, with rides ranging from five miles to a metric century.
Horrible story from Stockton, where a 23-year old Navy vet was found dead two months after his bicycle was found half a mile from the In-N-Out Burger where he was last seen on July 19th; investigators don’t seem to have any idea what happened to him, or why it took so long to find his body. A crowdfunding campaign to help pay his funeral expenses has raised just $340 so far.
National
Life is cheap in Utah, where an 81-year old truck driver was sentenced to just 75 days behind bars, with credit for time served, along with three years probation, for the hit-and-run death of a nine-year old boy riding his bike in a crosswalk, because the victim’s family asked for forgiveness and mercy; he said afterwards that he knew he hit a bicycle, but didn’t think anyone was on it. Because apparently, people in Utah just randomly leave bicycles standing in crosswalks.
Nothing like learning just how cheap life is near your own hometown, where a distracted driver who killed a ten-year old boy three years ago while he was riding his bike in a crosswalk, just 10 miles from where I grew up — then deleted the incriminating text message to hide the evidence — got a whopping one year behind bars, with work release so she could continue teaching other little kids while doing her time. However, the story is hidden behind a paywall, so you’ll have to find a way around it if you want to see for yourself just how little a little kid’s life is worth.
It’s been four years since an 18-year old Michigan man was shot and killed by a driver while riding his bike, and police have nothing more than a sketch of a long-haired, bearded man and a light-colored sedan to go on.
An Indianapolis, Indiana man faces a felony hit-and-run count for killing a 56-year old woman riding a bicycle and just driving off, leaving her on the side of road where she was found 15 minutes later. But at least that carries a penalty up to three times what a fatal hit-and run would carry in California.
A 41-year old New York State man faces five to ten behind bars after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter for the hit-and-run death of a 50-year old woman riding an ebike.
International
An Indian man has spent the past 20 years riding over 124,000 miles through 191 countries to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS.
Competitive Cycling
Twenty-year old rising French cycling star Paul Seixas, who just happens to share my birthday, calls for better safety standards following the death of 19-year old British cyclist Finlay Tarling at this year’s Volta a Portugal.
Cycling Up To Date says the late, great Tour of California could make a comeback, seven years after Tadej Pogačar won the final edition. Personally, I’d like to see a two-to-three week race that starts in Colorado and continues by stages to the West Coast.
A Dutch amateur cyclist was lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries when he was hit head-on by a driver while on a training ride, leaving him with bruised ribs and one majorly fucked up bike, below.
Finally…
Nothing like keeping humans out of the loop by having your AI chatbot answer calls from a customer’s AI chatbot. Or imitating the Wizard of Oz by being lifted up by a tornado while riding your bike.
And nothing like recording a motorist merrily following behind you on a separated bike path.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
