"Cyclist is killed by a car in Brighton" by Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent | August 11, 2010
A 24-year-old woman died Monday evening after she was struck by a car while cycling without a helmet in Brighton, according to police and Boston Emergency Medical Services. She was the second bicyclist fatally stuck this year in a city the mayor wants to make “world class’’ for cycling.
A Boston police spokesman said that the collision was an accident and that the driver of the car will not be charged. Police did not disclose the identity of the victim or the motorist.
At the scene on Commonwealth Avenue Monday afternoon, a purple bicycle with a bent front wheel lay in the middle of the street, near the intersection with Kelton Street. Two firefighters and three civilians bent over a person lying in the grassy divider between the eastbound travel and service lanes of Commonwealth.
The woman was taken by ambulance to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead....
Bicycling advocates and enthusiasts yesterday emphasized the need for helmets and continued cooperation from the city to make its streets more bike-friendly.
“The city’s putting together a pretty decent set of bike lanes; we’re trying to make sure the network spreads to the rest of the city,’’ said Peter Stidman, 38, director of the Boston Cyclists Union. “It’s not moving at the pace that would make us America’s cycling city, which is something the mayor likes to say.’’
Related: Morning Bike Accident in Boston
Yeah, just RISK YOUR LIFE for some agenda-pushing bulls***!
Stidman said bike lanes probably would not have made a difference in this accident. Witnesses reported in Internet accounts that the cyclist was riding down a steep hill in the service lane of Commonwealth Avenue when she was struck.
“When you’re coming down that hill and you’re in the service road, it does give you a false sense of security, because you’re separated from the traffic,’’ he said. “It should be looked at to see if there’s some mitigation that could happen at those intersections, possibly special signals.’’
Four bicyclists and pedestrians were struck by vehicles at that intersection between 2002 and 2007, according to data compiled by Boston EMS and the Cyclists Union. Over that same period, there was an average of one similar accident at every 10 city intersections, according to the data.
Sunday night, a bicyclist riding on Cambridge Street in Allston hit a curb, flipped over the handlebars, and struck his head, Kenneally said. The rider, who was not wearing a helmet and appeared to be intoxicated, was taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital with head trauma, Mehigan said.
Yeah, it is never a good idea to do anything drunk!
On April 7, Eric Michael Hunt, 22, of Mission Hill, was killed in a collision with an MBTA bus on Huntington Avenue.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino convened a bicycle safety summit within weeks of the accident.
Boston added 10 miles of bike lanes last year and plans to complete 20 miles this year, said David Watson, executive director of MassBike, a statewide bicycling advocacy group. New York City added 200 miles of bike lanes from 2006 to 2009.
--more--"So who died?
"Marlene Pineda, 24, was remembered fondly by family and friends yesterday after she was struck by a car and killed Monday afternoon while cycling down a steep hill on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton, where she had recently moved.
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C'mon, readers; the tour never stops because of a crash:
"After accident, mayor of LA is bike advocate" by Daisy Nguyen, Associated Press | August 16, 2010
LOS ANGELES — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is the new champion of cyclists’ rights in the nation’s second-largest city, a conversion that came after a bone-breaking fall from his own bicycle.
The mayor, who said little on the topic during five years in office, is campaigning to make streets safer for cyclists after a parked cab abruptly pulled out across a bike lane, causing him to shatter an elbow. The ill-fated ride was his first on city streets since taking office.
He's lucky he was not killed.
Since the July 17 accident, Villaraigosa has utilized the Huffington Post and YouTube to say it is time to recognize that bicycles also belong on LA’s streets, which were largely designed for autos. In the YouTube video, he announced plans to convene a bicycle safety summit.
Just like our Mayor Menino.
Hasn't this gone far enough, guys?
HOW MANY MORE PEOPLE MUST DIE because of "global warming?"
Cyclists who have tilted at LA’s car-crazy culture for years were shocked that the mayor was even on a bike.
“You could have knocked over any cyclist with a feather when we heard that,’’ joked Ted Rogers, author of the blog BikingInLA.
Others in the activist bicycle camp remained beyond skepticism, dismissing the summit today in advance as a failure because it is scheduled downtown during weekday work hours when they can’t attend.
Are you impotent, too?
That is what is behind the psychotic insanity of that camp, isn't it?
Compared with cities such as New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington that have added miles of bike lanes, among other measures, to promote bicycle commuting, Los Angeles has been stuck in the slow lane.
Then I will be passing them on the left.
Good weather and a significant amount of flat terrain would seemingly make the city ideal for commuter and recreational bicycling. Its hilly areas are prized by competitive cyclists for challenging rides on canyon roads.
Why bike when you can limo?
There is also a legacy dating back more than 100 years, when a wooden bikeway was built for commuting between Los Angeles and suburban Pasadena. The bikeway fell victim to the automobile and the route eventually became a freeway, but LA and its neighbors never fully gave up on cycling....
Yet cyclists say that riding in Los Angeles can be terrifying, as they jostle with cars and buses on packed roads....
At least NO ONE has been KILLED yet!
You would think LA could learn from Boston this time!
And while we are out there on the left coast:
"Spectacles of light, music, and mayhem; Girl’s death raises concerns on raves" by John Rogers, Associated Press | July 3, 2010
LOS ANGELES — More than 180,000 people packed into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum over two days last weekend for a rave party that featured spectacular light shows, pulsating techno music on stages the size of small buildings — and a lot of bad drug trips.
The suspected overdose death of a girl, 15-year-old Sasha Rodriguez, and the scores of injuries that occurred when people tried to force their way closer to the event’s five stages have sullied what has become a trend, particularly in Southern California, of mega-raves....
A friend who tried to shield her said others stepped on them before Rodriguez was taken to a hospital for drug intoxication. She died Tuesday....
Some critics have come forward to complain that raves are nothing more than open-air drug bazaars where tragedy is waiting to happen. Those who support raves say officials should concentrate on learning from what happened last weekend in Los Angeles and strive to make them safer....
Related: Germans Looking For Love
Maybe you should, mom and dad.
About 45,000 people attended a New Year’s Eve event at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena where one person died and numerous drug overdoses were reported. In suburban Inglewood, last year’s annual Hard Summer music-dance party drew more than 18,000 people, including several hundred gate-crashers who prompted police to shut the event down when a riot ensued....
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LOS ANGELES — More than 80 young people were arrested at a rave party in Los Angeles, most on drugs charges, authorities said yesterday.
Fire officials said paramedics treated 16 people for minor injuries at the 18th annual Love Festival late Saturday and early yesterday and three concertgoers were taken to hospitals.
Several minors were arrested for using false identification to attempt to enter the electronic music party, attended by about 4,100 people.
Partygoers had to prove they were at least 18 years old, and all were searched for contraband, especially illegal drugs.
The event drew special attention, occurring just two months after the suspected drug-overdose death of a 15-year-old girl who attended the much larger Electric Daisy Carnival.
Mass arrests also were reported by police in Arizona over the weekend. Authorities said 27 people were booked on charges ranging from attempted murder to participation in a criminal street gang after shootings Saturday in Chino Valley, north of Prescott.
The shootings involved members of rival motorcycle gangs, the Vagos and Hells Angels....
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Time to get back on the bike, readers -- or not.
