Since items in the local news RE bicycling, bicycles, bicyclists seem to come up periodically, let's have one thread to talk about them rather than starting a new one every time. These two items from the U-T today are what prompted this.

Woman injured in pedicab fall is brain dead.

AND

Bicyclist found dead

In the first case, I'm really wondering what the pedicab driver could have done (the story says "swerving") and *why for god's sake* to make this woman fall out and get injured so severely. And if it's determined that the driver is at fault, I seriously hope that he/she is treated just the same as any taxi driver who caused the death of a passenger. EDIT: the SDNN blurb says the driver "made a sudden move", which sounds like there were other circumstances in play, like traffic or road conditions, while the U-T story says "began swerving back and forth" which to my eye (ear?) would imply intentional carelessness. It will be interesting to see what comes out in the wash.

In the second, notice the mention that the mysteriously dead bicyclist was not wearing a helmet. Gah! Where in the "story" (which is really just a "newsblog" entry) does it suggest that this would have made any difference? The man was riding on a path, apparently alone, and suddenly his bike is crashed and he's dead, and the only thing anyone can think to say is "he wasn't wearing a helmet" so it must have by extension been somehow his fault? What?!?!

Right, dismissive or just oblivious, bicycling is just not on any of the news organizations' radar. I mean, SDNN's featured story right now is "Drink on the Cheap in San Diego 7 Days a Week" while the story about the woman falling from the pedicab is several items down, and the story about the bicyclist found dead on the bike path does not even appear to be on their site at all. I had high hopes for SDNN after one of their very first features was about bicycling, but they clearly have no intention of making bicycle coverage any part of their mission.

No charges filed against the pedicab driver pending further investigation. It's going to be *really* interesting to see what develops from this.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/09/bn09pedicab144545/?metro&zIndex=129471

http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-07-09/news/no-charges-filed-against-pedicab-driver

Anyone ever hear anything about the bicyclist found dead on the bike path?

Strange, I was watching the news while eating breakfast this morning when I heard about the manslaughter charges. How fast things change.

Franz -- wow, I missed that. How did you hear that part? Inside connections at the SDPD or what?

I would think negligence on the part of the driver would still play a role in determining what charges, if any, will be filed. After all, the operator is supposed to know better than to do this kind of thing, even if the customer says they want to. I don't think the driver can be reproached for not having seat belts, since he didn't own the vehicle, but he certainly wasn't operating in a safe manner. If anything, the lack of belts should have made him *more* safety-conscious.

I read it on uniontrib comments page so please use a VERY large grain of salt. I was merely speculating on what happened and a possible(albeit weak) explanation on what happened.

<blockquote><cite> thom:</cite>By the way, I almost have trouble admitting this on a bike forum, but I haaate pedicabs. And even more, I hate those things that people can rent in the park that seat four and they always ride on the frickin' sidewalk. But I digress...</blockquote>

I don't mind pedicabs if they are handled well. There's a portagee lady who can literally spank most anyone here, she's FAST....

But the 4 seat bikes.. I'm with you. They really pi$$ me off!!

Cycling Discount. no comment

Sorry I keep posting bad news, but the way this story was headlined in both the U-T and SDNN you'd never know a bicycle was involved, so I wanted to bring it to the attention of the group. Apparently, the child was in a seat without a helmet (for kids, I make an exception to my "stop mentioning helmets" screed against the press) and her dad decided to go around closed trolley crossing gates. Really terrible. Stop at trolley gates! *Especially* with little ones aboard.

Four-year-old girl dies after being struck by trolley. (Chula Vista)

Trolley strikes and kills girl in Chula Vista; dad hospitalized.

San Diego City Council Puts Brakes on Pedicabs

Some relevant points:

-limits pedicabs to streets under 25 mph unless using bike lanes
-prohibited from taking up metered parking spaces

I'm personally worried about the "slippery slope". How long before bicyclists are next? I just talked to a coworker that strongly believes bikes don't belong on the road; that sentiment is awfully popular.

Also, why can't any vehicle take a parking spot, as long as they pay the fee?

Some of the posts in this thread have been devoted to alerting other members about traffic accidents involving bicyclists in San Diego.

Bicycling, as do many other sports and outdoor activities, involves exposure to a certain set of risks: This set of risks is different from (but not necessarily any worse) than those exposed to by sitting on the couch in front of the TV eating chips and soda, or driving your car to the Bay Area or Las Vegas. I firmly believe that most of us here realize there are risks involved in riding a bicycle. However, at the very moment when we mount our bikes, I also believe we have willingly assumed those risks.

Why even bring up news about accidents involving bicyclists here? I am wondering if members of forums dedicated to other "activity sports" such has offroading, car, motor cycle and boat racing, yachting or ocean fishing find it necessary to post about accidents in their particular realm of sports - I think probably not!

If there is any collective learning for us to be gleaned from an accident, however, discussing it would indeed make sense: But the typical newspaper article about bike accidents reads something like: "Bicycle and car involved in accident on Sports Arena Blvd. in Loma Portal last night. The bike rider, a man in his 40s who did not wear a helmet, died instantly, according to the Police". The only thing to learn from this is not to ride a bicycle in Loma Portal (and certainly not at night!), which is an illogical conclusion, or worse yet, to decide not to ride at all. (The most non-sensical conclusion from the article would of course be to assume that the lack of helmet caused the deadly injuries, or even worse, that this very fact caused the accident and somehow made the bicyclist guilty, or even deserving, of the accident and own demise).

As contrast, a newspaper article rarely mentions something truly useful, something like: "Witnesses say that the rider was intending to head straight through the intersection, but failed to take the through lane: Instead, he stayed in the inside of the right-turn lane and was hooked by a car turning right", or "The bicyclist rode in the wrong direction at high speed on the sidewalk, and was hit by a car exiting from a parking lot", or "The rider hit a pot hole at the intersection of ABC and XYZ, lost control of his bike and was run over by a bus": Now, this sort of journalism would be educational for many bicyclists and warrant discussion - but alas, such reporting is in most cases non-existent!

The typical newspaper article therefore contains no or very little information that we collectively as a bicycling community can learn anything useful from: By publishing mere news about such accidents - in the newspaper or on SDBikeCommuter - the only thing we achieve is for bicyclists to ride less, not at all, or to be defensive and nervous when we ride in traffic: We all know that being overly defensive might mean not to exert ones rights in traffic - for example by staying in the right-turn lane even when you need to go straight, by riding on the sidewalk when you should be in the roadway, or by being too preoccupied with motor cars to notice the pot hole in front of you!

Simply reporting on bicycle accidents without any educational information is not only a waste of time, it is counter productive to the goal of getting people out of cars and onto bikes, and to confidently co-exist with cars.

IMHO, of course - so please discuss!

here's a great article on steel vs carbon written by a local writer for Road Bike Review.

Njord Noatun:Why even bring up news about accidents involving bicyclists here?

The one I recently posted was not an accident. The woman hit the bicycle intentionally. The rider managed to get out of the way, but the bike was stuck under her vehicle and dragged for miles.

Personally, I'm very concerned about incidents like this. I've been threatened many times, while riding completely legally, by people who do not understand the rules of the road. I think we need more public education about bicyclists rights to the road and the circumstances under which they do not need to keep the far right. It has to start from somewhere. Why not here?

Local cycling champion, coach, advocate, and all around great guy Randy Clark passed away yesterday morning after a brief battle with an aggressive form of melanoma. He won his last masters state jersey at the ADT Velodrome in Carson on June 20.

I'm posting this in several threads so folks will be sure to see it:

A small group of San Diego bicycle bloggers has just launched a new site called, appropriately, Bike San Diego. Drawing inspiration from sites such as BikePortland and Streetsblog, the primary mission of Bike San Diego is simple: to provide a one-stop source for bicycle-related news, events, and advocacy in America's Finest City. This is an all-volunteer effort at citizen journalism by and for bicycle riders in metro San Diego and San Diego County.

BikeSD.org is in pre-launch status right now; the site is up and content is flowing, but the editors are accepting suggestions from the community as the site takes shape. This is your site, riders of San Diego, be the change you would like to see in the world and help us provide content that is relevant to you! Please send your comments, suggestions and tips by filling out the Contact Us form at BikeSD.org.

Cool news about a potential "bike haven" along the Bayside Bikeway
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/03/8216bikeway-village8217-sought-along-trail

that elliptical bike looks difficult with you tossing your weight side to side. any why? it's mimicking a pedal stroke sooooo why not ride a bike, the most efficient human powered transportation ever invented. it's like going backwards in technology.

I was riding near fiesta island a few weeks ago and saw the elliptical bikes. The company who makes them (which I assume is local) had two they were letting people get on and try. They look goofy and inefficient. I think they will be sold more as exercise machines than as a means of recreation or transportation.

Senator Kehoe, from San Diego, actually had the seatless bike bill passed. I received an e-newsletter from her office touting the bills she passed, which included this one. However, when I first saw it, I just scratched my head trying to figure out why anyone wouldn't want a seat on his bike. Originally not aware of the elliptical seatless bikes, it made slightly less sense.

Seatless Bicycles (SB 527): This bill would allow bicycles designed to operate without a seat to be legally ridden on streets.

tomorrow the Fox morning news is doing a story on being "green" or something like that. they'll be doing this segment with two of my Rando style bikes. the gold rando with the Honjo fenders and the Astro Daimler. i think they said it airs on the 7 and 8am broadcasts.

Bev:Would like to see the segment, if I were only up at that hour!

i'll actually miss it too. i have a business meeting tomorrow to discuss the discount program with other South Park businesses at that time.

.

VC bikes got about 30 seconds. Shop name mentioned once, but you really have to listen for it. (about 3:39 seconds in)
 

"Veeelo Cult".

:face-plain:

That "reporter" was obviously more interested in the yoga girls.

but still, probably for the first time there's Randonneuring style bikes on the morning news in San Diego. it's a start. i had VERY low expectations of this since Fox News was running it so im not too worried about it.