bay area cycling news

A 25 year old bicyclist is the probable victim of a hit-and-run early this morning near the UC Santa Cruz campus on Empire Grade Road. The body was found by a passing cyclist around 8am today. Pieces of debris indicate the the car could be a maroon or burgundy Nissan. From the Santa Cruz Sentinel : Pudge said the driver of a maroon or burgundy Nissan is suspected of hitting the cyclist on Tuesday night or this morning. Pieces of the car's headlight were found at the scene, as well as paint chips, bicycle parts and other debris. ... Law enforcement officers are looking for the car and driver. CHP officer Sarah Jackson said the Nissan likely has a damaged headlight, side mirror, fender or other damaged areas on its front end. Please keep an eye out for a damaged red Nissan and call the CHP if you have any information; 831-622-0511 or 831-796-2160.

In Portola Valley, Mayor Ted Driscoll will be speaking tonight at a Town Council meeting about bicyclist safety, and improving relations between cyclists and motorists, which has been known to be rather tense these past few years as bicycling activity has increased around the Bay Area. Among the significant topics scheduled for the June 8 Portola Valley Town Council meeting, Mayor Ted Driscoll has prepared a 1,000-word analysis on the issue of bicycle safety in town. Mr. Driscoll's object: to engage the council and the public in a discussion leading to a regular forum, perhaps a bicycle committee, for dealing with the issues. The council meets at 7:30 p.m. in the Historic Schoolhouse at 765 Portola Road. The bicycle discussion is the first item on the regular agenda. Read up at the Almanac Online .

An article in the Half Moon Bay Review reminds us all of the impact lots of cycling events can have on a small, rural town. Echoing the complaints of others, PMAC member Rob Skinner stated that Pescadero had little to gain from hosting bike events. At best, cyclists would buy a bite to eat on their way through, Skinner said. At worst, they could be involved in collisions and tie up roads for hours. ... That happened last month when a representative from the Canary Century bike event presented a ride set for Memorial Day weekend to help benefit Stanford Medical Center. PMAC members were irritated by the proposal because it was scheduled for one of the busiest tourist days for the town, and the event had already been forwarded to the county for approval before anyone on the South Coast could provide input. Read more at the HMBReview website .

A few news outlets are reporting that an official bike lane is now being considered for the section of Alpine Road that meets highway 280, where veteran cyclist Lauren Ward was killed last November. The hundreds of westbound bicycles that traverse the Alpine Road intersection every day have been making do without a bike lane. That would change with the implementation of any of four proposed designs now being looked at by the San Mateo County Public Works Department and the California Transportation Department. The four design proposals are detailed on SVBC's website , and you can read more at the Palo Alto Online .

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 .