Give Me 3

Every year hundreds of people riding bikes in California are injured or killed by drivers passing them unsafely. Here are a few of their stories.

September 2012: Cristin Zeisler was injured on the Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach when she was hit from behind by a shuttle van that fled the scene.

August 2012: A 16-year-old bicyclist was struck from behind and thrown from his bike and injured near the San Diego Naval Base by a hit-and-run driver as he and his brother were riding home from the store.

July 2012: An unidentified woman was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in a nighttime collision along the Pacific Coast Highway near Santa Monica. The collision occurred in a construction zone where bike advocates had urged construction contractors and local officials to install overhead lights to improve nighttime safety for bicyclists. The driver has not been identified or found.  

March 2012: On his morning commute to work, Pacific Beach resident David Ortiz was struck from behind by the inattentive driver of a large SUV near an I-805 on ramp in San Diego, then struck by two more cars. He died at the scene.

December 2011: While moving aside to let a truck pass on a narrow road, former Arcata Mayor Bob Orneles was seriously injured when he fell on a patch of muddy pavement and was hit by the passing truck.

November 2011: 82-year-old David Russell of Mendocino died when he was struck from behind by a pickup truck on Highway 1 in Mendocino County.

Alex Romero

October 2011: Three days after Gov. Brown vetoed SB 910, Pomona resident Omar Gomez was struck from behind and killed in Chino Hills by an unlicenced driver. In Anaheim, Disneyland employee Margaret Conway was killed after leaving work by a driver who hit her from behind. 

September 2011: Ryde bicyclist Robert Eugene White was killed near Dixon in unincorporated Solano County by a driver who was attempting to pass him from behind. Joaquin Martinez of Santa Cruz was seriously injured when hit from behind on Highway 1 near Bonny Doon.

July 2011: Winona Wacker was injured in Los Angeles by an enraged motorist who hit her because he claimed she wouldn't let him pass. While riding with a friend in the Santa Cruz Mountains near his home in Portola Valley, Tom Maddox was struck by an elderly driver trying to pass. He died three days later in the hospital.

June 2011: Bakersfield engineer Greg Walker and 14 other bicyclists riding as a group were injured near Bakersfield when they were struck by a truck driver impatient to pass them on a winding road. In Santa Cruz, Zachary Parke was struck from behind by a hit-and run driver in a late-night collision near the UC Santa Cruz campus. His body wasn't discovered until the next morning. Timothy Bucher died from massive head injuries after being hit from behind in Castro Valley by a San Francisco probation officer.

April 2011: 17-year-old high school student Alex Romero was killed in Canoga Park and Jim Swarzman of Encino was killed in Encinates in separate strike-from-behind collisions by hit-and-run drivers.

November 2010: 22-year-old Marco Acuapan of Tustin was rear-ended by a hit-and-run driver. He died six months later without regaining consciousness.

May 2010: Allen Earl Miller of Costa Mesa died when an SUV struck him from behind in Riverside County.

Jim Rogers

January 2010: Competitive cyclist and Nevada City bike shop owner Jim Rogers was killed near Nevada City by a driver who hit him from behind while handling her cell phone.

July 2009: UC Berkeley student and aspiring triathlete Eric Okerblom was killed in Santa Maria by a high-school classmate who hit him from behind while texting.

June 2009: Rodrigo “Rod” Armas of Kern County was killed and his 14-year-old son Chris was severely injured when a driver hit them from behind in Malibu just 10 miles from the finish of a 200-mile ride.

November 2008: Wife and mother Sherry Mann was killed in a hit-from-behind collision in Redding.

April 2008: Christopher Rock was killed by a passing truck on the same block in Santa Cruz where John Myslin was killed in 2007. Eric Okerblom

August 2007: Teacher John Myslin was killed on Mission Street in Santa Cruz when a truckdriver tried to pass him on a narrow street.

February 2006: Chris Mosher of Corte Madera was injured by a Golden Gate Transit bus that hit him from behind in a road rage incident.

January 2006: UC Santa Barbara triathlete Kendra Payne was killed in Santa Barbara when she was rear-ended by a driver. Her death led to the introduction of AB 1941, the first 3-foot passing bill introduced in California.

September 2005: Scott Bleifer of Santa Monica and Stanislav Ionov of Calabasas were struck from behind and killed by a catering truck in Malibu. Kendra Payne

August 2005: Simi Valley coach Phil Hernandez was killed on an afternoon ride.

January 2003: 6-year-old Amy Malzbender was killed and 10-year-old Chloe McAusland was injured while riding to school in Palo Alto with Amy's dad and brother when they were struck behind by a hit-and-run driver, later identified as a high school student also on her way to school.

June 2002: While on a training ride in Sonoma County, Boston College law student and competitive cyclist Ross Dillon was severely injured and left profoundly disabled when struck from behind by an inattentive driver going 50 MPH. 

March 2001: Bakersfield College instructor Norm Hoffman was killed near Amy MalzbenderBakersfield.

Late 1980s: John Whitehead of Davis was buzzed at close range in Solano County in an incident witnessed by a sheriff's deputy who did nothing to respond.

Clockwise from top right: John Myslin, Ross Dillon, Phil Hernandez, Sherry Mann, roadside memorials for Omar Gomez, Eric Okerblom, Scott Bleifer & Stanislav Ionov, Rod & Chris Armas, Norm Hoffman