The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition is saddened to announce the first recorded San Diego County cyclist fatality of 2022. On Saturday, February 26th, a man was killed in Solana Beach when he fell off his E-bike and was struck by the driver of a Dodge Ram Truck.
Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of the victim of this tragic crash. Riding a bike or an E-bike should be a safe and enjoyable activity for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities; no one should ever have to fear that their friend or family member will be killed while riding a bike.
While we don’t yet know all the details of this specific crash, at the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, we believe in the mission of the international road safety movement Vision Zero. By building safe infrastructure and providing high-quality education, it is possible to eliminate all traffic fatalities.
Nonetheless, this first fatality of 2022 continues a disturbing trend: cyclist fatalities in San Diego County are increasing. From 2016 to 2020, an average of seven people were killed while riding their bikes each year. In 2021 alone, at least 16 cyclists were killed. There are several factors behind this increase, including increased distracted driving due to smartphone use, high vehicle speeds in response to reduced traffic, more people riding bicycles, and most importantly, a considerable increase in the weight and front-end height of cars and trucks.
Most of these factors point to a similar problem– cars and their drivers are becoming more dangerous than ever before. That’s all the more reason for San Diego County to invest in safe bicycling infrastructure and education to ensure no other family has to experience such a tragedy.
The San Diego Bicycle Coalition will be tracking every cyclist fatality in the County for the remainder of 2022. We will continue to fight alongside our partners to make 2022 the year that the trend of increasing cyclist fatalities is reversed.
To see reports of every cyclist and pedestrian crash in the City of San Diego, follow @SDCrashBot on Twitter, or check out the San Diego Crash Tracker page on this website.
