Bicycle Accidents

Accidents involving bicycles, which are clogging the streets of Havana because of a fuel shortage in Cuba, killed 40 people in the capital in the first half of 1991, officials said Wednesday. Cuba's Communist government has imported tens of thousands of Chinese and Soviet bicycles to offset disruption to the public transport system caused by a national shortage of fuel, the result of a falloff in supplies from the Soviet Union.

Burbank police say they're concerned about an increase in the number of bicycle accidents over the last two years. Through October of this year, police have responded to 32 injury bike collisions — more than in all of 2007, when there were 24, and nearly as many as the 33 reported in 2008, Lt. J.J. Puglisi said. Based on the number of complaints from the public, police are worried that the rise is in part a result of cyclist behavior, such as running red lights. "I hear a lot of complaints from the community at large about the behavior they observe of people biking," Puglisi said, adding that, combined with a lack of awareness by motorists, the mix can be volatile.

On the last day of the Thanksgiving Day weekend, 13-year-old Tracy Pulley, a popular eighth-grader from Huntington Beach, took her dad's bicycle out of the garage and pedaled away to her part-time job as a horse exerciser at a local stable. She stopped along the way at a hamburger stand, grabbing a burger and fries to go and waving hello to some junior high friends before bicycling on.

Robert Sklar, a film scholar known for bringing the insights of the social historian to understanding the history of American film, has died. He was 74. Sklar, who also was one of the original Rotisserie League fantasy baseball "owners" in the 1980s, died in Barcelona, Spain, July 2 after suffering head injuries in a bicycling accident, said Richard Allen, professor and chair of cinema studies at New York University. A professor in the department of cinema studies at New York University from 1977 until his retirement in 2009, Sklar was the author of books that included "City Boys: Cagney, Bogart, Garfield" (1992)

Fewer than one in six children who rides a bicycle wears a helmet most of the time, but the rate is better than only a decade ago. A 1991 survey by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that about 15% of 26.4 million bicyclists younger than 15 used helmets more than half the time. It is the only national survey on bicycle helmet use among children. In the late 1980s, only about one in 20 young cyclists donned protective headgear, said Gregory B.

I am a high school student who has just heard of the new laws starting this year. Some of these, as you are probably aware, include: the bike helmet law; the teen-age DUIs; the no-smoking-in-a-public-building law and also the seat-belt-in-the-back-of-trucks law. I am in total agreement with all the new laws I listed, however, I do have a concern about the bike-helmet law. The law states that all kids under the age of 18 should be wearing...

Regarding the upswing in bicycling (May 28): I have been a paramedic in Newport Beach for 12 years. In that time I have seen various accidents and injuries. Bicycle injuries are on the upswing. During the summer months it is not uncommon to go on four to five bicycle-related injuries in one shift. Most of these are caused by operator error. Usually not paying attention to what they are doing or riding a bike in a car lane in heavy traffic. Most of the major accidents with bicyclists involve some type of head injury.

The editorial "A Cycle of Unnecessary Injuries" (July 2) misses the mark. Bicycling safety is a complex issue, and so many points were raised in the editorial that it is difficult to address them all. Sen. (Marian) Bergeson's bill is a bad piece of legislation that will not increase cyclists' safety. This legislation is bad because of the precedent it sets in the California Vehicle Code. Singling out bicycles in this way opens the door for enactment of other legislation that will allow cities to pass mandatory side path laws or other such nonsense.

This, the first week of school, is an ideal time for The Times to publish an article ("Trying On a Helmet Law" Sept. 10) about the common-sense notion of having our children wear helmets when riding their bikes to and from school; my initial reaction while scanning the paper was most positive. Then I looked more closely at the photo of the helmetless boy, and at the photo where the helmet has been attached to the bike rather than to the child, and I was furious. Reading the article didn't make me any happier.

There he was, still wet from the ocean, gliding along on his beach cruiser bicycle, enjoying about as fine a day as a 14-year-old surfer can. The waves had been good. The morning sun was bright. The breeze was gentle. Now if only he had noticed the stop sign. Or the two police officers sitting half a block away. "Oh, please, sir, don't give me a ticket," the high school freshman begged after Huntington Beach Police Officer Bert Adkins waved him over and pulled out his citation book.

Sally Meyerhoff, considered one of America's top marathoners, was killed Tuesday when the bicycle she was riding collided with a pickup truck in Maricopa, Arizona, according to Runner's World Magazine . She was 27. Meyerhoff did not yield at a stop sign, according to city officials who are still investigating the fatality, several websites are reporting. Meyerhoff was training for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston, according to the Arizona Republic . She won a marathon in Arizona in January.

"Today" host Matt Lauer is recovering from surgery to repair the shoulder he separated when he fell off his bike while avoiding a deer that jumped in his path. Lauer's fill-in, Lester Holt, said on Tuesday's show that Lauer hopes to be back later this week. Holt held up a headline in the New York Daily News that read: "Matt Goes Splat."

A bicyclist was struck and killed Tuesday in Oceanside in what authorities say was an apparent attempt to beat a commuter train across the tracks. San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Munsey said a Coaster train struck the male bicyclist at a crossing at Wisconsin Avenue and South Coast Highway.

After slamming on his car brakes in front of two cyclists riding down a narrow stretch of Mandeville Canyon Road and injuring them, Christopher Thomas Thompson gave police the impression that the incident this summer was no accident. The 59-year-old physician said he stopped his red Infiniti sedan in front of the cyclists to "teach them a lesson," a police officer testified Thursday at Thompson's preliminary hearing.

The National Park Service on Wednesday announced the suspension of commercial bicycle tours within Haleakala National Park, one of the most popular tourist activities on Maui. Park Superintendent Marilyn H. Parris said the "safety stand-down" was effective Oct. 10 for at least 60 days and was needed after last week's fatal bicycle accident, the third in a year.

Police on Tuesday were investigating the death of a 68-year-old Yorba Linda woman who was hit by a bicycle. Jung Yun Kim was walking on a trail along San Diego Creek near the intersection of Harvard Avenue and University Drive when she crossed the path of oncoming cyclists about 8:30 a.m. Monday. She was hit by a 46-year-old bicyclist from Huntington Beach, Irvine Police Lt. Rick Handfield said. The cyclist's name was not released. "It's just an unfortunate, very freak event," he said.

Craig Holmes was pedaling south on Balboa Avenue in the Granada Hills area last year when he suddenly found himself flung off his expensive racing bike and into the world of bicycle accident litigation. As the amateur marathon cyclist crossed the intersection of Rinaldi Street on the 20-mile commute to his job as a brewery supervisor, a car turned into the path of another car. The second driver decided it would be better to ram into the bike rather than to be hit by the other auto, Holmes said.

Seven years ago, Barbara Buchan was a world-class cyclist, a promising candidate for the 1984 U.S. Olympic road-racing team. In June 1982, she was entered in a 32-mile race across the Santa Monica Mountains on a course that Olympic Coach Tim Kelly called "the most severe for women cyclists in the world." Buchan was in the midst of a tight pack of riders, descending a steep, curving hill on Mulholland Highway in pursuit of the runaway leader, Pat Hines.

A hit-and-run incident early Thursday left a 52-year-old man hospitalized and fighting for his life, authorities said. Suha Assadullah of Irvine was found about 5:15 a.m. in a bicycle lane on Culver Drive south of Warner Avenue. He apparently was struck by a vehicle. There were no witnesses, and Assadullah was unconscious and unable to communicate. The vehicle would have sustained damage to its right front end. Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Jonathan Cherney at (949) 724-7024.

A 73-year-old man who fell off his bicycle has died of his injuries, police said Tuesday. Victor Antony Zovi of Costa Mesa was in the bike lane riding down a steep stretch of Newport Coast Drive about 10:30 a.m. Friday when he lost control and fell, police said. Zovi, who was wearing a helmet at the time, died at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, officials said.