The Benefits of Bicycling

Temecula Approves 5-year Bicycle Trail Plan

We did it!

The Temecula City Council last night approved (5-0) a five year Bicycle Trail Master Plan. Thanks to everyone who made this possible, from Temecula Bicycle Coalition, Temecula Velo, The Bike Shop, Jax Bikes, City Council subcommittee Mike Naggar and Chuck Washington, City Manager Bob Johnson and City Planner Matt Peters

This plan will guide the city in connecting on-street bike lanes, there are about 20 miles of them right now but we need another 7 miles just to connect some of them, off street bike paths, that will take a lot longer, and signage.

My thought is that once it gets started, more cyclists will use the lanes, the plan will snowball and things will happen quicker than the five years.

All in all, a great night for cyclists, and for the young cyclists that are just getting started.

Ride on City Hall Oct. 9

Let's get as many people as possible to City Hall Oct. 9 at 7p.m. to show our support/celebrate the City Council approving the Bike Trail Master Plan, five years of work on on street lanes, paths and other amenities. Let's show the Council we support them, our planners and staff that will make these projects happen!

90 days in jail for killing a cyclist

I have posted the article on a motorist who is leaving jail today, serving 90 days for killing a cyclist, Jorge Alvarado, in 2010. Motorists will have no qualms about speeding, swerving, intentionally hitting cyclists in the future with these slap on the wrist sentences. Again, cyclists are treated as second class citizens, just because we are on two wheels. These are not accidents. They are wanton, reckless, with a complete lack of regard for human life.

SAN BERNARDINO: Cyclist’s death triggers little jail time

 RICHARD BROOKS/STAFF PHOTO

Brett Michael Morin awaits sentencing for the April 2010 vehicle manslaughter death of 26-year-old profession bicyclist Jorge Alvarado in Highland. 

BY RICHARD BROOKS

STAFF WRITER

rbrooks@pe.com

Published: 03 October 2012 12:57 PM

A Text Size

A 20-year-old San Bernardino man drew three years' probation -- but no additional jail time -- for his role in the vehicular manslaughter death of a professional bicyclist in Highland.

“I would like to express how sorry I am for the loss of your son and friend,” Brett Michael Morin told the audience during his sentencing hearing Wednesday, Oct. 3, in San Bernardino Superior Court. “No family should have to go through this. I wish with all my heart that I could bring him back.

“This event has changed my life and has reminded me of how very important it is to follow all the laws of the road.”

Morin and Patrick Michael Roraff of Highland were 18-year-old Redlands East Valley High School students when their driving killed 27-year-old Jorge Ivan Alvarado of Ontario on April 8, 2010, along Greenspot Road.

The crash originally was described as the result of street racing. But in court Wednesday, the incident was characterized as reckless driving that began with Roraff driving up behind Morin and moving into the on-coming lane to pass him, prompting Morin to block the effort.

Morin also blocked what he may have perceived as a second passing attempt by Roraff, who lost control, causing his car to spin and slam into the bicyclist, according to Deputy District Attorney William Lee.

Roraff and Morin got identical sentences: 90 days in jail and three year’s probation. Roraff’s hearing was held Aug. 6. With credit for time served, Morin was due to be released within hours of his sentencing.

“We wanted prison,” Lee said after the hearing.

However, prosecutors had no say in the deal, because Morin pleaded guilty -- as charged -- directly to the judge in return for a guarantee that he’d serve no more than a year in county jail.

In court, Lee urged Judge William Jefferson Powell to impose the full one-year term.

Roraff is the driver who caused the fatal injury, but it was Morin’s blocking maneuver that caused Roraff to lose control, Lee argued.

“It’s not something you do on Greenspot Road,” said Lee, referring to a road long notorious for street racing. “People don’t care (about the consequences) until it’s too late.”

Defense attorney Stephen Levine argued that Morin was driving no more than slightly above the speed limit and clearly wasn’t street racing. In his written statement to the court, the victim’s father got it right when he said that the death amounted to “imprudent actions of the youngsters,” Levine emphasized.

The judge agreed.

A harsher sentence, the judge decided, would compound the tragedy of Alvarado’s death.

Experts have determined that Morin probably was traveling between 64 and 66 mph. And Morin’s driving didn’t rise to a level that calls for prison or a long jail term, the judge said

Powell explained that he was seeking to protect the public and hand down punishment for a tragic death without destroying the life of a young man who has no prior criminal record and, whom the judge said, has led an upright and productive life.

“I see no reason to destroy another life when the life could be saved,” Powell concluded shortly before imposing the 90-day jail term.

Minutes after the hearing, the victim’s brother decried the decision as too lenient.

Said 31-year-old Luis Alvarado of Ontario, “I believe the judge made a mistake.”

Ride on City Hall is October 9!!!!!

Join us for Ride on City Hall!

The Temecula Bicycle Coalition is just a year old, born in a coffee shop amongst a handful of cyclists who wanted to change the culture of Temecula to be bike friendly, now front and center pushing for projects that make cycling safer in Temecula.

We've done Bike Rodeos for kids, Bike Trains for students, and 150 of us showed up to become the largest entry in the Fourth of July Parade.

We worked with the City Council and City Planners The Temecula City Council on a 20 year old master plan for bike trails.

And now, just a year later, the City council is going to vote on the Temecula Bike Trail Master Plan. The plan calls for the city to connect all the bike lanes in town, add new trails and plan future city wide cycling loops.

The meeting is October 9 at 7 p.m. Let's all ride to City Hall, and get as many cyclists as possible in the room when the vote is taken.

Let's show our supporters on Council that we notice what they do.

Let's celebrate this new plan, a complete change of heart by the city, a proactive plan to make cycling safer and more fun in Temecula.

If you are in a club, organize a ride from where you usually start to City Hall. We will all converge on the meeting. Let's fill up the courtyard in front of City Hall with bicycles!

Any questions, call Rick Peoples, founder, Temecula Bicycle Coalition. 951-764-4075.

See you there!

TEMECULA: Road rage incident hurts bicyclist

 

 

BY SARAH BURGE

STAFF WRITER

sburge@pe.com

Published: 02 October 2012 03:00 PM

A Text Size

A 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault Monday, Oct. 1, near Temecula after authorities say he swerved at a pack of bicyclists in an apparent act of road rage and accidentally clipped one of the riders.
Carl Albert Robbins, of Temecula, was driving on Rainbow Canyon Road about 8 a.m. when he encountered a group of four bicyclists, said Sgt. Jon Wade of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Robbins swerved close to the riders at the back of the pack then continued down the road, swerving again at the lead bicyclist, he said. The mirror on the side of Robbins’ car struck the bicyclist’s hand, causing minor injuries, Wade said.
“It appeared to be an intentional act,” Wade said. “He was just upset that they were in the road.”
Robbins told deputies that the bicyclists should not have been on the road but contended that he did not intend to clip the rider, Wade said.
Robbins was booked into the Southwest Detention Center with bail set at $25,000, jail records show. He was released the same day.
Follow Sarah Burge on Twitter: @sarahkburge