48-year-old bicyclist killed by infrastructure in Encinitas - The San Diego Union-Tribune

[Serge Issakov]

Dear Encinitas Council and other cycling community friends,

I’m sure most of you have heard about the tragic fatal cycling crash in Cardiff this weekend. The news articles are all vague about what precisely happened. 

However, photos taken today by 2-time Olympian and Encinitas resident Shaun Wallace, showing crash location paint markings and a huge blood stain on the northbound downhill section out of Solana Beach, right where the wheel stop and flexpost “protective barrier”  begins, tell the gruesome,  predictable, predicted, preventable, and tragic story from this weekend. 

This is the same location as some of the first crashes in 2020: numbers 2 and 3 on the list of now 32 crashes caused by this one mile stretch of dangerous, now deadly, bikeway. 

Here is a link to the list of all 32 known crashes:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X75Z_txehqEU5lnF1qnd6WcJUmweKlOsgIZg-Rc6AyU/edit

How many crashes, how many deaths, before these deadly hazards are removed?  If not now, then when?

Links to articles about this crash (with imprecise location information from Sheriff):

https://thecoastnews.com/bicyclist-dies-from-injuries-on-coast-highway-in-encinitas/

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/north-county/bicyclist-found-dead-along-encinitas-roadway/

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2024-03-17/48-year-old-bicyclist-killed-in-apparent-cycling-crash-in-solana-beach

https://bikinginla.com/2024/03/18/48-year-old-man-found-dead-near-his-bicycle-on-coast-highway-in-encinitas-no-sign-of-collision/

Warning.  The attached images, especially the last, are disturbing. 

Serge

Serge

[John Eldon]

Thank you, Serge. It's regrettable that no one listened to the recommendations of experienced cyclists. Even if the "advocates" wanted the posts, I still have absolutely no idea why we needed the deadly curb/berm segments between them. This additional "protection"(??!!??) was not deployed along Leucadia Bl., so why here? I suppose the berms in the southbound direction are for the benefit of motorists who don't know how to parallel park, but why northbound, where parking is not allowed? 

John A. Eldon, D.Env.

http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/JohnEldon
Digital Design Engineering Consultant
Environmental Engineering Consultant

Instructor, UCSD & UCSD Extension

Life Senior Member, IEEE

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[Karl Rudnick]

It's evident to me that the planners and leaders who promoted this clear hazard were/are on their own "learning curve," not the cyclists who know what is safe. I hope they've learned by now. And where are the 8-80 masses who were supposed to flood these cycle tracks? It's a pretty invisible lot, while the experienced cyclists simply bypass the mess.

-- Karl 

[Cassady Davidson]

To be honest, I think it’s all about money. I’ve seen it myself in Long Beach, where it seems like this kind of infrastructure is accepted by city council and those who have stake in development see it as, well, an opportunity for development money. Their eyes kind of glaze over when money involves. If it doesn’t involve money, well, why be involved at all? At city council I keep pointing out that the better cheaper way is always to implement various tactics to lower motorist speeds (as in, try to make sure everyone actually goes at the posted/legal speed limit!!), or try to actually enforce (Long Beach I believe will be/is one of the pilot cities for the recent speed camera law that passed finally last year—thanks to SAFE) instead of trying to build more infrastructure, but what good is anything if developers don’t make some money? Most of bike lanes, protected or not, are so narrow anyway, for practical/safe use, but as everyone here is chiming in people who design these things also appear not to really use any of the roads for cycling or walking, just driving, driving, driving. So there’s a gap there as well: motives and understanding.

 

Cassady Sakura Davidson, Esq.

Davidson Bike Law

21250 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 500

Torrance, CA 90503

(310) 503-8805 PHONE

(310) 349-3335 FAX

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