Geo Duarte
At 3:07 p.m. Wednesday near the intersection of N. Fairview Ave. and Berkley Rd, a Goleta Valley Jr High (GVJH) student and his friend began traveling West, riding their bikes on Berkley Rd. The green-light-signal had just turned green in their favor.
A white Honda Civic traveling west and turning left toward South Fairview did not see the pair of bicyclists and thus struck one of them. The stricken bike rider then went on to the hood and rolled off, continuing to roll on the asphalt.
Just to note the sunset has been a factor here in past incidents.
Both of male juvenile’s knees and ankles, along with other leg scratches, seemed visually obvious. The bicycle sustained a broken Fender and a front light was detached.
First Responders took care of his immediate scratches and wounds. Family members soon arrived and were advised to take the child to Cottage Hospital for further evaluation.
The young victim of the incident did not feel he had suffered any head injuries, although the visor on his helmet was broken-off.
One neighbor reported that from her experience, “people tend to look left and right but not at what’s right in front of them at this intersection.”
The GVJH Principal also arrived on-scene with a teacher from an afterschool program. This seemed like a supportive experience to the kiddo who went down in the accident. He and his buddy were not left alone in the awful yet sharable incident.
If further pictures or video of the scene are needed by family members please contact Geo at @Xtek_Overload on Instagram or at the KZAA News page on Youtube.
Stay aware and be very protective and proactive bicyclists. Wear your helmets and stay under 20 MPH on any scooter or bike.
[P.S. At this same intersection a couple of weeks ago a female senior citizen apparently struck another vehicle and was taken into custody for further investigation in a possible DUI related incident. The breathalyzer test was performed many times but failed due to several technical issues.]
Thank you Geo for reporting this. I believe there was a similar accident at this intersection last year. I question the safety of the streets for kids to bike to school. These incidents need to be reported widely.
I heard that the driver was on the phone, which would explain how one could do something so egregious and stupid as run into a cyclist in a crosswalk. I know for a fact that these kids were taking Berkeley because Cathedral Oaks is even more dangerous. I’ve seen several close calls there in the morning, with kids in the bike lane and drivers doing 50 mph (the speed limit is 40). The outcome there would not be so benign.
I have had several close calls as a driver, usually when turning right, with e-bikers coming up fast on the wrong side of the street. I don’t know what can be done about this stuff. If the streets were safer, more kids could ride to school and there would be a lot less traffic in the morning since parents wouldn’t need to drive their kids. How awesome would it be to close the streets from 8-9 am and 3-4 pm so that people could bike to work and school and back home without have to worry about being run down by distracted driver?
Brian – as a father of school age kids myself, I agree. It’s too dangerous. I don’t let my kids ride their bikes to school at GVJG, just because of Cathedral Oaks. Too many distracted, frantic drivers trying to get their kids to school on time/get to work, etc.
We also definitely need to do something about the ebikes though, I agree. Drivers generally don’t expect something going that fast in the wrong direction, on the sidewalk or even in the bike lane. The schools and parents need to really crack down on bike/ebike rules and safety. Not saying it’s their fault all the time, but there’s been many times I’ve been caught off guard with a fast moving scooter/ebike coming seemingly out of nowhere.
Closing the streets would be difficult, given the thousands of drivers/cars that need to get to/from work at that same time. Biking doesn’t work for everyone. I think a better solution would be a dedicated, separate bike lane along Cathedral Oaks. Maybe this would also keep the spandex “racers” out of the driving lanes when they ride next to each other.
Sharing the road is dangerous when people don’t follow the rules!
The sun may have also been a factor. And, drivers tend to look left and right and no so much where the car is actually traveling and changing direction.