The death of a cyclist on Montezuma Road near San Diego State last month has rallied San Diego’s bike community to protest the dangers of taking to the road. KPBS reporter Tom Fudge tells us what it would take to make our streets safe for bikes, even though they were built for cars. Five years ago, Fudge ended up in the hospital after being hit by a car on Montezuma Road, just 200 yards away from where Charles Gilbreth was hit and killed.
By Tom Fudge
It was on Montezuma Road near San Diego State. That’s where 63-year-old Charles Raymond Gilbreth died after being hit by a car while riding his bike on April 20th. It was an event that set the local bike community in motion.
Over the following week, fellow bikers chained a white “ghost bike” to a sign on Montezuma to remember him. Others took part in a memorial ride from Balboa Park to downtown San Diego. Philip Young was part of the memorial ride, and he knew Gilbreth. He described him as a very religious man who was commuting home from work when he was hit.
“You know, he tried to do everything the right way,” said Young. “He had lights. He had bright clothing and a mirror. So he was doing everything right, and unfortunately he was killed while riding in the bike lane.”
Bike advocate Samantha Ollinger, with BikeSD.org, said because Gilbreth was doing the right thing, San Diego must do the same for cyclists.
“It’s an outrage, and we want the city to know that something needs to be done,” she said.
Data provided by a City of San Diego study show more half of all traffic fatalities in public rights of way are pedestrians or people riding bikes. Among the many problems with San Diego streets are multilane thoroughfares like Fairmount and Montezuma that feel like freeways to motorists.
Civil engineer and cycling enthusiast Tom Adler said streets that encourage speeding and discourage slowing down or stopping at intersections cause great danger. Speaking with me near Nimitz Boulevard in Ocean Beach, he pointed out another problem with traffic design: high-volume streets that funnel cars into diagonal exit lanes, where they don’t have to yield to bikes.
“Anytime you have high speed cars, and you’re at an intersection, and they’re not stopping, you have a potential conflict,” said Adler. He referred to an old-fashioned video game, saying, “The biker has play Frogger to get to the other side.”
Bill Harris is with the City of San Diego’s traffic department said the problem is San Diego streets weren’t built for bikes.