Around 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Santa Barbara Firefighters and Police responded to a vehicle vs bicycle collision on Modoc Road.
This is in front of La Cumbre Junior High School near the intersection of Portusello.
An ambulance responded, no word on the severity of injuries.
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Correction: La Cumbre Junior High
There are some interesting figures in this report:
The number of collisions in Santa Barbara has risen steadily during the past five years, including a big uptick in 2024, even though overall traffic is down, according to the City of Santa Barbara.
About 62% of the collisions are at intersections.
Drivers are at fault 51% of the time.
A majority of collisions involve vehicles only.
Of the 14 fatalities, four of the people who died were in vehicles, four were pedestrians, four were moped or motorcycle riders, and two were bicyclists.
Maybe a poor choice of verb, but I was struck by the even shares of fault and modes of transport of the fatalities. Very evenly spread out.
https://www.noozhawk.com/despite-reduced-traffic-collisions-on-the-rise-in-santa-barbara/
The report itself. Data begins on page 22 of the PDF:
https://santabarbaraca.gov/sites/default/files/filesync/Advisory_Groups/Fire_and_Police_Commission/Current/02_Current_Agenda/2025_05_22_FPC_Agenda_May_22_2025.pdf
I hope my posting this here is not taken as callous! I had just read Noozhawk.
My best wishes for a quick recovery to the person on the bike.
Accidents to non-drivers may drop precipitously as people become aware of the limitations of the new motorized bikes, scooters and such. They take farther to stop than automobles and they come up faster in the bike lanes then conventional bikes so turning requires extra care to assure the lane is open. Pedestrians must save themselves. They are responsible for their own welfare. Right-of-way and right or wrong, the pedestrian get the worst of it.
At around 6:30 a.m. and then 8:00 a.m. on the way back, I drive through this intersection five mornings per week.
The lanes are narrowed by the small islands. When pedestrians do use the crosswalks right next to the school (on Modoc), they are often shadowed by the tree shade —- their figures somewhat obscured. This happens more often on sunny days.
There are a lot of people who walk dogs along that part of Modoc and a lot of E-bikers in early morning.
What I truly loathe is the E-bikers all in black, with black hoodies and NO lights. Rain, fog and NO lights.
But that one crosswalk at Pilgrim Terrace gives me the heebie jeebies. I’ve had Jr. High kids step out right in front of me —- acting like it’ll be good fun to see how fast I can come to a stop. Don’t get me wrong. I ALWAYS stop for pedestrians at crosswalks (and often at no crosswalks), but when they come out of nowhere and walk right out . . . Not just the kids, either. It’s 25mph there when the kids are around, but even going slow slow slower than 25mph, I’ve had a couple near misses with pedestrians and E-bikers. I’m not surprised there was an accident next to these islands.
I sure hope the E-biker is going to be okay.