The falling tears for the precious lives lost or destroyed from vehicular collisions will not dampen the demand for action now! The time to fulfill the promise of robust, safe infrastructure for all road users is right now. The advocating, talking, meetings, planning and designs have all been done; we must act to build safe infrastructure for all road users today, in order to save lives!
SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Police Tuesday were searching for a hit-and-run driver who struck and seriously injured a bicyclist while she was riding on a Pacific Beach street. The incident happened shortly after 10:20 p.m. Monday on Ingraham Street near Fortuna Avenue, south of Grand Avenue, San Diego police Officer John Buttle said.
A 39-year-old woman was riding her bicycle southbound on Ingraham Street when she was struck from behind by an unknown driver behind the wheel of a dark, four-door SUV, Buttle said. The impact ejected the victim from the bicycle and she fell to the ground face down, the officer said. The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries, including a fractured skull and a “major brain bleed,” Buttle said.
The suspect was last seen heading southbound on Ingraham Street and the suspect vehicle sustained front end damage, he said.
Anyone with information about the crash or the location of the suspect vehicle is asked to call SDPD’s traffic division at 858-495-7805 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) April 23rd, 2021 bikeportland.org
Lindsay Caron is in a San Diego hospital after being hit from behind by a driver while riding her bike on Monday. The collision caused life-threatening injuries and Lindsay is still at the hospital. A friend who set up a Facebook support group for Lindsay said she’s in a medically-induced coma and is scheduled for several surgeries.
Lindsay lives in Seattle and is a prodigious traveler and adventurer who attended Portland State University from 2009 to 2012. When not working toward her environmental studies degree, she was active in the cycling scene. In 2010 she wrote a few stories for BikePortland. In 2011 she earned a professional development grant from Portland Society.
Portland resident Joe Kurmaskie was a friend of Lindsay’s. He wrote on Facebook yesterday that he worked on traffic safety advocacy with her. “She’s always full of great ideas, a real caring person with a spark in her eyes — a happy warrior for good things.”
In an Instagram update posted March 9th, Lindsay shared what cycling meant to her:
“Grateful everyday that somehow at 19 a girl friend gave me a bicycle, and I started bike commuting. Grateful every day that such a simple thing – riding a bike – is such an easily accessible source of joy, strength, peace, fun, health, clarity, and grounding. Grateful for the way this simple machine has changed my life – and empowered women throughout history.”
Ingraham Street at Fortuna Street is a very fast, narrow, four-lane arterial road into and out of Pacific Beach.
Cycling advocates in San Diego say the stretch of road where Lindsay was hit is “is extremely dangerous” for people on bikes. A look at Google Street View shows a multi-lane street with parking on both sides and no dedicated space for cycling. “It’s time for @CityofSanDiego to take #VisionZero seriously,” said one advocate on Twitter yesterday.
I am heartbroken by this news. And I’m sick and tired of how so many drivers and city planners show absolutely zero regard for the safety of anyone outside of a car.
The stay-at-home lock-downs around the world, implemented to stem the contagion of COVID-19, has serendipitously demonstrated the utility of reduced vehicle traffic in cleansing the urban environment. Much cleaner and healthier air, reduced noise, reduced gridlock and traffic, reduced parking hassles, and especially safer, open streets for pedestrians, bicyclist, and other alternative transport users.
San Diego has moved quickly to adapt Safe Streets throughout the county. SANDAG, city governments, and local neighborhoods have all begun to phase in steps to open streets to the walkers, bicyclist, skaters, scooters and others, allowing for safe social distancing. Reducing vehicle traffic to only those necessary to access residents’ homes, provides for more healthy space to exercise, and to move safely around neighborhoods for shopping, dog walking, and children playing.
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Some ‘Slow Streets‘ programs from around the world.
As Mayor, Boris Johnson led the charge for safer cycling in London.
PRIME MINISTER Boris Johnson told parliament on May 6 that the near future “should be a new golden age for cycling.”
An updated Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy will be launched by Johnson in the summer, revealed Shapps today, including:
Creation of a national cycling and walking commissioner, and inspectorate. (The cycling champion role was announced some years ago, but no “cycling Czar” was ever appointed—the inspectorate is new, and if it was given “teeth” it could prove useful.)
Higher standards for permanent infrastructure across England. (This is the long-awaited and much-trailed cycle infrastructure design guidance.)
Creation of a long-term budget for cycling and walking similar to road funding.
Appointment of a zero-emission city with only electric motor vehicles and other forms of non-polluting transport allowed in the center.
As part of an emergency response to urban travel during the pandemic, the Department for Transport (DfT) has been inspired by “tactical urbanism” measures in cities such as Berlin, Paris, and Milan. Some U.K. cities have already introduced measures of their own: Leicester unveiled a “keyworker corridor” cycleway last week.
Christophe Najdovski (L), in charge of Paris transportation at the Paris city hall, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (C) and Mayor and President of Le Mans Metropolis Stephane Le Foll (R) ride new electric cycles “Velib Metropole” by Smovengo on September 19, 2018 in Paris, France. (Before COVID-19) (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images) Getty Images
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A lone cyclist passes along the banks of the Navigli canal system in Milan. The city is now cautiously exploring how to safely reopen. Francesca Volpi/Bloomberg
Milan may be ahead of the curve, but it is far from the only European city considering similar car-mitigation measures. Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi also wants to encourage more active travel and open summer schools, while boroughs in Berlin are also reclaiming road space to make into wider bike lanes. Brussels has gone yet further. From May 4, the Belgian capital’s entire city core will be a priority zone for cyclists and pedestrians, one in which cars cannot exceed a speed of 20 kph and must give way in the roads to people on foot or on bikes. This comes on top of an ongoing pedestrianization plan designed to make Brussels’ core a more attractive place for people on foot.
In Paris, meanwhile, that city’s campaign against private cars will get a fresh boost: As well as expanding the width of existing cycle lanes, Paris and the Île-de-France region are fast-tracking a temporary version of its planned new network of nine long-distance cycleways in response to the pandemic. Linking the inner city with the suburbs, the first stretches of this new network will open in May.
Many cities are adding temporary bicycle lanes to face the surge and allow safe cycling. In New York, Polly Trottenberg, city transportation commissioner, said her agency was even reviewing additional measures to accommodate the increased number of cyclists. For example, replacing some car traffic lanes with temporary bicycle lanes; or adapting some plazas and pedestrian areas in bicycle parking. Berlin did it on key commuters’ roads, and a pilot project launched on March 30 works on implementing new bicycle traffic facilities in other areas. In Bogota, it’s hundreds of car lanes that have been temporary replaced by cycle lanes, expanding the 550km of existing bicycle infrastructure by 76km in a first stage, increased to 117km as of 17 March. Mexico City may follow the same initiative, multiplying by four its bicycle paths.
Will cities keep better and more infrastructures for cyclists afterwards? Safe cycling provides equitable access to more places for more people. This pandemic is creating a momentum to acknowledge the major role that cycling can play to enable us to safely and resiliently navigate our cities. As former Olympian cyclist and current walking and cycling commissioner of Manchester, Chris Boardman said: “Pick a crisis, and you’ll probably find cycling is a solution”.
