bay area cycling news

The Menlo Park Patch is reporting that the CHP today updated findings on the November 2010 collision between cyclist Lauren Ward and an 18-wheeler driven by Gabriel Vera of Randazzo Enterprises Inc. After reviewing the data from the initial report, conducting a forensics analysis, and reconstructing the events that transpired that day, CHP Spokesman Art Montiel says their findings have changed. “It has been determined the big rig truck and bicycle came into contact with the left front portion of the truck colliding with the right rear portion of the bicycle, while the bike was still in an upright position,“ Montiel said. Read more on the Menlo Park Patch's site . What's still unclear is whether the CHP will be filing charges against the driver, or whether Lauren was cleared from being at fault for her own death.

SF StreetsBlog is reporting on the collision between 25-year-old Nancy Ho and a delivery truck in SoMa on Wednesday. Nancy Ho of San Francisco was pronounced dead at San Francisco General Hospital shortly before 11 last night. She is the first bicyclist to die from a collision with a vehicle on San Francisco streets this year. San Francisco police said she was traveling eastbound on Mission Street yesterday around 8:04 a.m. when she was hit by a Berkeley Farms truck while making a left turn onto Fremont Street. Lt. Troy Dangerfield said the left turn is prohibited except for buses and taxis, and blamed Ho for causing the crash. Read the article (and the hundreds of comments) on the SF StreetsBlog website .

56-year-old Timothy Bucher was killed last Wednesday bicycling in Castro Valley near Fairmont Drive and Foothill, when a San Francisco woman didn't notice where she was driving and hit him. The bicyclist, 56-year-old Timothy Bucher, hit his head on the windshield of the car and landed in the roadway, CHP officials said. Bucher was wearing his helmet but still suffered major injuries. He was taken to Eden Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, according to the CHP. Read a few more details at the Pleasanton Weekly .

The Mercury News is reporting that a San Jose man, David Garcia, was hit and dragged by a car around 10am Sunday morning near Crucero Drive and Dubert Lane in San Jose. He's now in a coma and the police are looking for the car. Josette Garcia said her brother was bicycling, with no helmet, about 9:30 a.m., home after a trip to Jack's Liquor Store, where his parents had asked him to buy lottery tickets. Apparently, people from an apartment complex near McLaughlin Avenue saw what happened, Josette Garcia said, and pulled her brother out of the street. Police asked anyone with information about this hit-and-run to contact the San Jose Police Department's Traffic Investigation Unit at 408-277-4654.

The newly launched Bay Citizen has an interesting article about cyclist vs car accidents in San Francisco. One September morning last year, Mary Jenn, a San Francisco massage therapist, was riding her bike to work when a police officer who was parked on O’Farrell Street opened the door of his cruiser in her path. ... The police officer was one of 101 drivers to “door” a cyclist in San Francisco over the past two years, according to an analysis by The Bay Citizen of 1,147 bicycle accidents recorded by the San Francisco Police Department during that period. That's from an article about dooring in the city , which references a nicely statistical article cataloguing cyclist vs car accidents up there. Additionally, they're releasing much of the raw data in various formats .

Lauren Ward was killed last November when an eighteen-wheeler collided with her on Alpine Road at highway 280 in western Palo Alto / Los Altos Hills. A month later the CHP concluded that Lauren had made an "unsafe turn" into the big-rig, and that the driver was not at fault, despite having a history of previous accidental deaths . Today, however, the Los Altos Town Crier is reporting that the CHP is reopening the investigation , prompted by "new information" about the accident. The CHP spokesman is careful to not assume anything about the new information, however: "Our original investigation is completed and everything’s still the same (regarding the party found at fault),” [ CHP spokesman Art Montiel ] said. “We don’t know if the additional info will make that change." Read (only a few more) details on the Los Altos Town Crier's website .

Lists are abuzz today with some firsthand reports of cyclists witnessing an elderly gentlemen in a Mercedes drift into the southbound bike lane on Foothill Boulevard just south of Arastradero Road in Palo Alto, hitting a female cyclist. The driver had stopped but the woman was transported to the hospital for severe back pain. At the moment there seem to be no official news articles or police statements. Foothill Boulevard is a very common thoroughfare for cyclist either commuting north and south, or out on lunchtime rides from around the prolific companies in Silicon Valley. The bike lanes are sometimes unmarked but very wide shoulders that usually provide comfort to cyclists who can stay away from the 45mph (and often faster) traffic.

Hours after the CHP release a report on how Lauren Ward allegedly biked into a big rig, her family is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the big rig driver, Gabriel Manzur Vera, and his company, Randazzo Enterprises Inc. “Lauren was an experienced cyclist who was strong and confident on her bike, knew the rules of the road and advocated for bicycle safety. While the CHP was conducting its investigation, we brought in scientists and other experts to evaluate the circumstances surrounding Lauren’s tragic death, and the team disagrees with the CHP’s conclusions as to the cause. As a result, Bob and the Ward children would like a jury to hear the evidence and decide,” said John Feder of Rouda, Feder, Tietjen & McGuinn. Read more on the family's press release .

The Palo Alto Daily News (hosted by Mercury News) is covering last night's CHP report detailing Lauren Ward's fatal accident with a big rig on November 4. According to a redacted CHP report released Monday night, Vera was driving his truck west on Alpine Road in the right lane between 10 and 15 mph at about 3:40 p.m. and Ward was to the immediate left of the vehicle sharing the lane. Ward, who was riding at an unknown speed, "unsafely turned" her Trek bicycle and fell to her right side, the report states. ... The trucker told the CHP the collision happened as he was moving from the right westbound lane into a lane that turned right onto southbound Interstate Highway 280. Vera told the CHP he had his right blinker on and was looking at his right rear view mirror, but when he looked forward he heard a "bump." It strikes me that short of swerving across the entire lane, even an "unsafe turn" causing a crash means that the driver was *way* too close to...

It seems news agencies are digging down into some of the news about Gabriel Vera, the driver of the big-rig who collided with cyclist Lauren Ward. The Contra Costa Times is now reporting that a civil wrongful death suit was settled against Vera for $1.5 million from the 2007 Santa Cruz death of John Myslin, the other cyclist-death accident that Vera was involved in. [demolition company] Randazzo [Enterprises] and Vera agreed to contribute insurance money in exchange for release of all claims and a dismissal of the lawsuit, according to the May 2008 civil case in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. Read more at the Contra Costa Times website .

Palo Alto Online is reporting that a cyclist was hit by a car and injured on El Camino Way in Palo Alto: The adult male was transported to a local hospital after the collision, which occurred in front of Palo Alto Commons senior housing in the 4000 block of El Camino Way , Battalion Chief Geo Blackshire said. Read (not much) more on their website .

It seems that the truck driver in the November 4 fatal collision with cyclist Lauren Ward was also involved in another cyclist getting killed in Santa Cruz in August 2007. On Aug. 7, 2007, Vera's big rig and cyclist John Myslin, a 25-year-old high school teacher, collided at the intersection of Mission and Bay streets in Santa Cruz. An investigation concluded that the popular Pacific Collegiate School teacher was at fault and police advised the Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office not to file charges against Vera. Police have yet to release a final statement on the November 4 crash because a lack of eyewitnesses is making the analysis difficult. If you have any information regarding the November 4 crash, please call CHP investigators at 650-369-6261. Read more at the Palo Alto Daily News (on Mercury News' website).

A 13-year-old boy suffered a broken nose when he apparently ran a stop sign and hit a school bus this morning, thankfully avoiding being in front of the school bus as it was passing. The boy, who was not wearing a helmet, was coming through a passageway from Oregon Expressway to Oregon Avenue, according to Montiel. "He basically ran the stop sign and hit the right front of a school bus that was traveling east on Oregon Avenue," Montiel said. Read more at the Palo Alto Online .

San Mateo County Times (via San Jose Mercury News website) has a great piece on Lauren Ward, the bicyclist who was killed Thursday by an 18 wheeler on Alpine road. Veronica Lentfer, a friend who knew Ward through the swim club and went on several bike rides with her, said she was always trying to help make the roads safer for bicyclists. Read more on their site .

Sadly, a sigalert says that a cyclist has been killed on Alpine & highway 280 this afternoon. Possible Fatality - Alpine Rd at 280 North 3:37 PM * Message/Item Delivered Fire 3:39 PM * 18 Wheeler vs Bicyclist 3:39 PM * Per 91-74 Inquire If a Comm Unit Can Rspn and Assist Please 3:43 PM * Female Advsing Subject not Moving Under Semi--Can See a Hat and Shoes Only Sticking Out 3:45 PM * Reporting Party on Line 10 Connected Fire--Fire Going On Scene 3:45 PM * Per 91-74 West Lanes is Closed 3:46 PM * CHP Unit on Scene 3:46 PM * Roll Corner 3:47 PM * CHP Unit on Scene 3:50 PM * Message/Item Delivered Smco Coroner, Will Call Back 3:51 PM * CHP Unit on Scene 3:51 PM * Transportation Management Center Copies-Confirm Only with B Alpine is Closed at this Time, E/b Still Open? Thanks 4:00 PM * CHP Unit on Scene 4:00 PM * Copy Thanks, Will Post in Media Log 4:02 PM * CHP Unit on Scene 4:03 PM * CHP Unit on Scene 4:05 PM * CHP Unit on Scene 4:26 PM * Thomas Guide Map Coordinates: 810 2E So it go...

A 59-year-old bicyclist was found dead on the side of Highway 9 on Sunday afternoon, the California Highway Patrol said. It was not immediately clear if the male cyclist, a Cupertino resident, was the victim of a hit-and-run accident or died of other causes. Read a few more sparse notes at the Mercury News .

William Flint II was riding downhill on South Park Drive near the Grizzly picnic area at about 2 p.m. when his bicycle drifted into oncoming traffic, police said. He crashed into the side of a 2003 Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle. Read more at SFGate . Please descend safe out there. The thrill of the descent is no match for not making it home alive.

A poor oakland man was run over by a bus he had just exited after being doored by another man in a parked car. He began to ride eastbound on MacArthur when he swerved to avoid running into a car door that a 42-year-old Manteca motorist had opened, said police and AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson. Read more at the Contra Costa Times article .

San Jose Bike Party is looking for eyewitness accounts of a March 19 hit and run. This incident occurred on Race St on Friday, March 19th. The fact that this happened on the ride where we were honoring Joshua Ryan West who was killed by a driver on Feb. 1, 2010 is especially ironic.

A cyclist in Sacramento was killed Sunday by a vehicle traveling the same direction, who apparently did not see the cyclist. He was peddling north on Howe, by the Highway 50 overpass, when he was hit by a northbound Ford driven by a woman, said police spokesman Konrad von Shoech. Von Shoech said the driver apparently didn't see the cyclist. No charges were filed. Read more at the Sacramento Bee .