Deadliest City for Bicycle Accidents in California: Huntington Beach

Drunk Driving and Bicyclists: a Deadly Combination in Surf City

Deadliest City of Bicycle Accidents in California is Huntington Beach HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (July 24, 2019) — More children and young teenage bicyclists are injured in Surf City than any other California city, according to the most recent statistics compiled by the California Office of Traffic Safety.

There were 152 bicycle injury and fatality accidents in the city in 2016, including 22 involving victims who were under age 15 years old.

The beach city ranked first for bicycle accidents among teenagers and second for bicycle accidents among older teens riders and adults.

The city’s population is nearly 200,000 and it ranks fourth in size behind larger Orange County cities, Anaheim, Santa Ana and Irvine. Overall, the number of bicyclists killed in the county was 14 in 2018 and the year before it was 16 people in 2017, according to the Orange County Sheriff Coroner.

Yet another contributing factor to the large number of bicycle accidents in this coastline city is Pacific Coast Highway. PCH runs through Huntington Beach along the coastline making it a popular throughway for motorists and cyclists between cities. Many cycling enthusiasts use the bike lanes on PCH, but that doesn’t protect them from speeding or reckless drivers. These heavily-traveled highways are extremely dangerous to bicyclist. Motorists are typically driving at 50 mph or even higher if they are speeding.

While bicyclist fatalities happen all over the city, riders on Beach Boulevard (SR-39) and PCH are often at a greater risk. Mostly due to the large volume of vehicles traveling on these highways.

Fatal Bicycle Accidents in Huntington Beach

Indeed, Raymond Macdonald, 33, was killed back in March 2019. A hit-and-run driver struck him while riding his bicycle at Adams Avenue and Beach Boulevard. Last year, Charles Kam, 78, was killed in a traffic accident on Nov. 20th in Huntington Beach.

There are many possible reasons that the city has a high number of bicycle accidents. The city draws many cycling enthusiasts from all over Southern California. However, bicycle riding is also a popular mode of transportation among locals. However, alcohol and drugged driving are the greatest threat to bicyclists and pedestrians.

DUI Drivers and Bicycle Accidents

There is certainly a darker reason for the high number of bike accidents. The city of Huntington Beach has an extremely high number of DUI arrests and collisions. There are many drinking establishments and the beach city that attracts millions of tourists. In fact, the city ranks 21st out of 58 cities in California for alcohol-related crashes. If you take a look at the daily arrest logs for the city, you’ll see most are drug or alcohol related.

Five years ago, the state of California passed a law requiring motorists to provide a 3-foot space when passing a bicyclist or if they were unable to do so they are required to slow down when passing them.

Our California bicycle accident attorneys have extensive experience helping bicycle accident victims and their families. If you would like our lawyer to review your case, call us to request a free consultation at 800-235-6801.

Johnson Attorneys Group does not represent any of the parties mentioned above. It is not our intent to represent any of the parties. If you would like to contribute to this story, please contact us.

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James Johnson

James Johnson is passionate about educating the public about the myriad of individuals who are not following the rules of the road.His hope is to bring public awareness in order to change the laws to better protect our communities.