World Masters Champion Killed after Being Hit by Rushing Driver
By Ryan Mallon, Highway.cc
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has referred to as for fast motion to be taken to guard individuals using their bikes within the metropolis’s Presidio nationwide park, the place world Masters monitor champion Ethan Boyes was killed lately after being struck head-on by an allegedly dashing motorist whereas using in one of many park’s cycle lanes.
Boyes, who received three rainbow jerseys within the Males’s 40-44 class ultimately 12 months’s Masters Observe World Championships, was using within the Presidio, a park and former U.S. Military put up on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, on the afternoon of April 4th when he was struck by a motorist travelling in the wrong way.
Based on a number of eyewitness accounts shared on-line, the bicycle owner was using within the non-segregated cycle lane on Arguello Boulevard, close to what Biking in LA described as a “treacherous” junction, when a “dashing” motorist heading northbound “swerved” throughout the street and into the bike lane.
Each Boyes and the motive force, who reportedly crashed the automobile following the collision, sustaining minor accidents, had been taken to hospital, the place the bicycle owner later died from his accidents.
U.S. Park Police haven’t but confirmed any additional particulars of the collision, which stays underneath investigation, or whether or not the motorist has been arrested, although a household spokesperson advised the San Francisco Chronicle that the motive force has been detained.
“Ethan was a really skilled bicycle owner and effectively regarded within the bicycle owner group,” Shaana Rahman, talking on behalf of Boyes’ household, stated. “This can be a fairly devastating loss for the household and for the San Francisco biking group.”
Tributes poured in from throughout the U.S. biking scene yesterday following the tragic information. Final autumn, Boyes received the Kilo and Dash occasions within the Males’s 40-44 class on the World Masters Observe Championships, together with a 3rd gold medal within the staff dash.
A ten-time U.S. nationwide champion all through his profession, the North Carolina-born sprinter holds the World’s Finest Efficiency file for males aged 35-39 within the Kilo, set in 2015, in addition to a variety of nationwide information.
In a press release on social media, USA Biking stated: “Past Ethan’s athletic achievements, he was an upstanding member of the American monitor biking group.
“His loss might be felt at native, regional, nationwide, and world occasions for years, as he introduced a combination of competitors and friendliness to each race. Our ideas are along with his household and family members.”
“You couldn’t miss him along with his customized Look monitor body with googly eyes,” buddy Veronika Volok advised SF Gate. “He was recognized to be a sprinter, a rattling good one too.
“Ethan was a really particular individual. The biking group, particularly the monitor group, received’t be the identical.”
Following Tuesday’s tragic collision, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition – a non-profit public-benefit group created to rework the town’s streets and neighbourhoods into “extra livable and protected locations by selling the bicycle for on a regular basis transportation” – referred to as for fast adjustments to be made to higher defend individuals using their bikes in Presidio nationwide park.
Biking activists in San Francisco have lengthy campaigned for adjustments to be made to Arguello Boulevard in Presidio, an space which falls underneath the jurisdiction of the park’s governing physique and never the town authorities.
“That is the primary fatality of an individual using a bicycle in 2023. Charges of fatalities and severe accidents on San Francisco streets stay unacceptably excessive,” the coalition.
“We’re reaching out to the Presidio’s governing physique to demand that fast motion be taken to guard the many individuals who trip bicycles within the park, together with on this stretch of Arguello.
“One visitors fatality is one too many. Final 12 months, we skilled probably the most visitors fatalities on SF streets in a decade. That is unacceptable contemplating the town’s Imaginative and prescient Zero aim of ending traffic-related demise and severe accidents by 2024 is only a 12 months away. Extra motion have to be taken by the Metropolis to handle security on our streets.
“For years, our members have referred to as on the Metropolis to extend security on Arguello Boulevard between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. Whereas these proposed adjustments wouldn’t affect the stretch of street the place this deadly crash occurred, we demand the [San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency] work with us and the group to implement security enhancements as shortly as attainable.”
Boyes’ tragic demise comes lower than two years since US Masters street race champion Gwen Inglis was killed in a strikingly related incident, which noticed a driver hit her from behind after drifting into a motorcycle lane.
The 46-year-old elite bicycle owner Inglis was struck and killed by Ryan Scott Montoya whereas using in a cycle lane alongside her husband Michael in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, on 16 Might 2021.
Motorist Montoya, who admitted to law enforcement officials that he had been ingesting and utilizing marijuana the evening earlier than, drifted into the bike lane and hit Inglis from behind, throwing her 20 ft alongside the street. The 31-year-old was beforehand convicted of driving underneath the affect in 2014 and had been charged with a second DUI simply 10 days earlier than Inglis was tragically killed.
In April 2022, Montoya pleaded responsible to vehicular manslaughter and driving underneath the affect and was sentenced final June to eight years in jail.
In December, Inglis’ household was awarded a $353 million verdict in a civil lawsuit in opposition to the motive force and his insurance coverage firm.
Article courtesy of Highway.cc – go to https://street.cc/
