New law fails to curb car vs. bicycle deaths, Orange County person killed every month

Let’s try this to save lives: When you are behind the wheel and distracted, think about the 12 people riding bicycles who were killed by drivers last year.

That’s right. A dozen humans were cut down on local roads in 2016 while doing nothing more than pedaling their bikes.

A review of Orange County Coroner records and published reports found that despite new laws, thousands of dollars spent improving safety and more “share the road” signs, we averaged a bicycle death by vehicle every month.

This year so far, three cyclists have been killed.

The youngest victim last year was Brock McCann, only 8 years old. The third-grader was riding home from school on May 25 in Newport Beach when he was hit by a trash truck.

In a cruel twist of fate, the boy died during National Bike Month, a four-week period that includes a global Ride of Silence – this year, Wednesday, May 17 – to raise awareness about driver and cycling safety.

The dead also included Deborah Gresham, a 44-year-old Stanton resident who was a fan of the “Walking Dead” television show and also very much a fan of life.

Her “Zombie Killers 2” Facebook page had 20,000 followers. “We all loved her,” recalled Sarah Medley, of Madison, Wis. “We’re just going to go on from here and honor her in our individual ways.”

The human carnage is nothing new. I’ve been documenting bicycling deaths in Orange County for a decade and every year we average about one road death a month.

Still, the carnage is especially tragic coming less than two years after a much-heralded law that requires drivers to leave a 3-foot space between steel steed and fragile bicycle when passing.

Yet there is hope. With a just little effort we can reduce the death toll.

Be polite

In total last year, Orange County witnessed 17 cycling deaths.

Two people died on bicycle trails, one cyclist was killed by a train, one man fell riding his bike and one man hit a parked van. I excluded them from my tally of a dozen traffic deaths.

California has the sixth-highest death rate in the nation. In 2010, there were 100 cycling deaths. Three years later, 123 cyclists were killed.

Nationwide, 818 people died in bicycle-motor vehicle crashes in 2015. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Board, since 2006 there was a 6 percent increase in deaths.

Thanks to helmet laws, the number of children killed in bicycle crashes has plunged. But at the same time, the number of adult deaths has increased.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states the largest concentration of cycling deaths is among adults 35 to 54 years old. In recent years, that mortality rate has gone up nearly threefold.

While drivers often are to blame, cyclists, too, need to change behaviors.

Roadies, as they are called, ride in tight packs and often scare drivers. They sometimes slow traffic and make it nearly impossible to turn. Like drivers, cyclists sometimes race through traffic lights, blast through stop signs.

After several decades cycling Orange County roads and more than a decade receiving reader email, I will stress that one of the most important things cyclists can do is to be ambassadors.

Just one rude cyclist can damage relations with a host of drivers. All cyclists need to obey all traffic laws, be polite and be super considerate when riding in a peloton.

Bill Sellin is a long-time cyclist and a volunteer advocate for safe cycling. He has worked with the Orange County Transportation Authority on several projects, assisted the Orange County Bicycling Coalition, and serves as communications board member for the “non-racing” Bicycle Club of Irvine. I reached him in the Yosemite Valley this week appreciating one of the best year’s ever for waterfalls.

Sellin told me that the 3-foot law helped raise cycling awareness, but remains ineffective. He pointed out the fines for littering far exceed the fines for passing a bicycle with only inches to spare.

“The reality is for drivers to just slow down and do the right thing.”

“Drunk driving is certainly a problem,” Sellin said. “But addiction to cellphones is now a problem as well. People are no longer paying attention to driving, but paying attention to a device.”

Sixty-six percent of Bicycling magazine readers who responded to a survey released this month reported seeing at least one distracted driver on every ride. If the cyclists weren’t focused on trying to avoid being killed, I’m sure they would have seen far more.

Even the popular motorist website Edmunds.com offers tips for drivers: appreciate bicycle vulnerability, spare cyclists the right hook by turning in front of them, beware of left turns, look before exiting your car, adjust anti-cyclist attitudes.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles, too, warns drivers, “Motorists must look carefully for bicyclists before turning left or right, merging into bicycle lanes, and opening doors next to moving traffic.

“Respect the right-of-way of bicyclists because they are entitled to share the road with you.”

I’ll point out that’s not only the law, it’s good manners.

As I write this — and I am not making this up — my wife returns from a road ride and reports a guy in a pickup truck yelled an obscenity at her.

Really dude? Your mother would be ashamed.

Share the road

Sellin offers hope in something that at first may seem counter-intuitive but then makes sense.

“As we get more cyclists on the road, collisions should become fewer because people get used to bicycles.”

If Sellin is correct, the tide will turn. Road riding is an increasing trend in Orange County and across the nation.

The League of American Bicyclists reports that bicycle commutes between 2000 and 2013 jumped 105 percent, far outstripping the increase in commutes by car. In California, getting to work by bicycle since the Millennium went up at least 40 percent.

Next week marks National Bike to Work Week. Let’s make it an especially auspicious time for cyclists.

But more than anything, let’s never forget the Ride of Silence. Perhaps someday there will be no need to remind motorists to share the road.

Ride of silence

What: 14th annual global single-file, slow-paced silent ride that welcomes everyone

Why: To increase safety awareness, and to honor cyclists injured and killed in traffic

When: Wednesday, May 17; gather at 6 p.m., assemble at 6:30, ride at 7, end about dusk

Equipment: bicycle, reflectors, lights, helmet.

Routes: About 10 miles, generally flat.

Where: Fullerton start: 100 block of East Wilshire Avenue, between Harbor Boulevard and North Pomona Avenue

Huntington Beach start: City Hall, 2000 Main St.

Irvine start: Civic Center, Harvard Avenue and Barranca Parkway

Orange start: Civic Center, 300 E. Chapman Ave.

Santa Ana: to be announced.

More: Sellin.com/silence