The breathtaking views on the Pacific Coast Highway carry risks for cyclists, who ride in the sea breeze at considerable peril as cars on the narrow road zoom by.
On Saturday morning, a catering truck hit two cyclists, who had been forced off the northbound shoulder and onto the road by a construction project. The driver did not stop immediately after hitting the men, who died soon after being airlifted to UCLA Medical Center.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday September 15, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 42 words Type of Material: Correction
Cyclists' deaths -- An article in Wednesday's California section about cyclists killed on Pacific Coast Highway said they had been riding in the bike lane. There is no bike lane on that stretch of the highway. They were riding on the shoulder.
It was the first fatal bicycle accident in at least five years on this stretch of PCH, said Philip Brooks, traffic sergeant for the Malibu-Lost Hills Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The collision, which occurred about 10 a.m., killed Stanislav Ionov, 46, of Calabasas, an accomplished physicist at HRL Laboratories in Malibu; and Scott Bleifer, 41, of Santa Monica, a vice president at Union Bank of California. The two avid cyclists do not appear to have known each other.
On Tuesday, Victor Silva, 27, of Compton was charged with two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter and two counts of felony hit-and-run in their deaths. Silva apparently has no prior record.
In an interview just after the accident, Silva said he hadn't seen the men before the accident. After hitting them, he said, he couldn't stop for fear of injuring a person cooking in the back of his truck, said Sheriff's Det. John Caffrey. Cooking in the back of a moving vehicle is illegal, Caffrey said. Authorities believe Silva was traveling around the 50 mph speed limit.
Witnesses said the impact flung the two cyclists 150 feet forward.
Both Bleifer and Ionov were wearing helmets. They appear to have been riding in the bike lane until orange traffic cones forced them into the right-hand lane. The cones signaled the start of a construction project for a synagogue at the Malibu Jewish Center. For the length of the construction site, concrete barriers cut off the shoulder.
The men were riding side by side when they were hit, and it's possible that one was passing the other, which is legal, Caffrey said. Riding side by side in other circumstances "is highly not recommended," he said.
So far in 2005, eight cyclists have been injured on PCH, according to the Sheriff's Department. Seven were injured in 2004 and six in 2003.
