Out of the Blue: A plea from the heart for bike safety

Last Tuesday night, about 200 bicycle enthusiasts assembled at Laguna Beach City Hall to voice their outrage over the needless death one month to the day of cyclist and Laguna resident John Colvin.

They called for the kind of immediate change that cities around the world have implemented to provide safe passage for cyclists and pedestrians. Perhaps nobody said it better and more courageously than Colvin’s widow.

Here’s what she wrote:

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My name is Joan Marcus-Colvin. These are my daughters, Natalie and Shayna.

Four weeks ago tonight, my husband and best friend of 30 years, John Colvin, lost his life riding his road bike. His last text to me was, “Hi sweetie; just finished a meeting, going home to ride, xoxo.”

Our lives, and those of John’s friends, were forever changed at 6:55 p.m. June 17.

John was an avid mountain biker, and more recently a triathlete, who only took to the road because he was training for his first Iron Man. We spoke endlessly about the dangers road cyclists faced, especially on PCH.

We raised our daughters in south Orange County and always dreamed of the day that we could call Laguna Beach home. That day came a little over a year ago when our girls flew the nest for college, and John and I moved into a beach cottage.

Besides being stunningly beautiful, we thought the culture of the community was special, a community that was compassionate — compassionate for our day workers, compassionate for our homeless, compassionate for our sea lions. It’s staggering to imagine that this very place has one of the worst fatality records for pedestrians and cyclists in Southern California. It is unimaginable in this day that this city does not have a single dedicated bike lane.

I don’t believe any of you want to represent a city that has this kind of record. Could a rumble strip have warned the driver he was crossing a line prior to hitting John? Could a traffic signal at Emerald Bay that was approved by the county but rejected by our city have slowed down the car enough to have prevented John losing his life?

I know you agree that it isn’t OK for pedestrians and cyclists to lose their lives in Laguna Beach. I am a home builder. I understand jurisdictional issues. I understand competing priorities with Caltrans and the county, but I also understand that more can get done at a city level than anywhere else in our state.

We need our Laguna Beach to do what so many other cities across the globe have figured out — to safely share the road. It isn’t just changes to our road infrastructure; it is creating a compassionate culture around cycling and walking. Take a look at the city of Davis near Sacramento. You can find their beyond-platinum-bicycle-action-plan on their city’s website.

I could only hope we could adopt half of what they have put in place to make their community safe for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. I ask you tonight to please address cyclist and pedestrian safety immediately before another fatality occurs. Please do not just tell my daughters and I to go speak to a committee handling this issue.

I know this is not the first time the topic has come before your council. I’m just not sure how many deaths of our beloved husbands, wives, fathers, mothers and children have to happen before we take substantive action.

What I wish for tonight is that this city, that we love, actually takes steps to become bike friendly — this would be the best legacy for John’s memory.

Thank you.

BILLY FRIED is the chief paddling officer of La Vida Laguna and member of the board of Transition Laguna. He can be reached at billy@lavidalaguna.com.