{"id":191911,"date":"2026-02-24T21:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191911\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T21:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:10:08","slug":"cycling-public-safety-advocates-call-for-action-after-fatal-hit-and-runs-in-pb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191911\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling, public safety advocates call for action after fatal hit-and-runs in PB"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ghost<\/a>Completed ghost bike re-installation. (File photo courtesy Circulate San Diego)<\/p>\n

PACIFIC BEACH \u2013 Two recent hit-and-run deaths in Pacific Beach \u2014 one a 6-year-old child and the other a beloved restaurant general manager \u2014 are intensifying calls for action to prevent vehicle violence by outraged residents, along with cycling and public-safety advocates.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrashes are preventable, and behind every crash is a person with a family and a story that was cut too short,\u201d said Laura Keenan, co-founder of nonprofit Families for Safe Streets San Diego<\/a>, which she started four years ago after her husband Matt was killed in a head-on vehicle collision in a protected bike lane.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the tools and knowledge to prevent crashes. We just need the political will,\u201d\u00a0she said.<\/p>\n

Matt Keenan was riding, with a helmet on, in the bike lane on Camino Del Rio South when a wrong-way driver crossed into his lane. The vehicle struck him while going at least 35 miles an hour. <\/p>\n

Keenan died at the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found out the next morning and had to get our 15-month-old out of bed and tell him his dad was never coming home again,\u201d said Laura Keenan.<\/p>\n

\u201cStatistics show that if she was traveling just 5 miles per hour slower, or had there been a protected bike lane to slow the driver down upon impact, or if the street was less straight to prevent drivers from going deadly speeds, that Matt would likely be alive today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a span of just three weeks, we lost two lives to fatal hit-and-run crashes,\u201d said San Diego City Councilman Joe LaCava, who represents Pacific Beach. \u201cWe carry Qwente Bryant, Hudson O\u2019Loughlin, and their loved ones in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaCava added that his office is working with the mayor on a \u201ccomprehensive speed management plan\u201d in Pacific Beach, including speed reductions on both Pacific Beach Dr. and Garnet Avenue. <\/p>\n

\u201cImproving safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers is paramount, as is slowing down, staying alert, and driving with care,\u201d LaCava said.<\/p>\n

The San Diego City Council\u2019s infrastructure committee also recently took action on the subject, approving lower speed limits on about one-fifth of city streets \u2014 680 miles \u2014 in an effort to make vehicle crashes less frequent and and less lethal. Those lower speed limits are called for in a long-awaited\u00a0speed management plan\u00a0prioritizing safety near schools, in business districts, and at intersections deemed dangerous.<\/p>\n

The plan calls for reducing speed limits on more than 1,500 stretches of San Diego roadways to make them less deadly for pedestrians and cyclists, while also giving drivers more reaction time in dangerous situations.<\/p>\n

Also, a 2022 state law, AB 43<\/a>, gives cities much broader discretion in reducing speed limits if they complete a thorough analysis, such as the city\u2019s 135-page speed management plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many examples of smart, easy infrastructure that protect pedestrians and cyclists and slow down drivers,\u201d said Jessica Sportelli, president of nonprofit BeautifulPB<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know reckless driving is a major issue because we see it daily\u2026 running stop signs and traffic signals, excessive speeding, distracted driving, and other aggressive behaviors on the road are rampant because there is inadequate traffic-calming infrastructure and enforcement PB residents cannot enforce traffic laws, cannot install better crosswalks, and cannot change the speed-limit signs. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnly our city leaders can do these things, and they must do them now,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Roadways designed to address speed rather than safety are a major contributing factor to vehicle violence, said Chlo\u00e9 Lauer, executive director of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition<\/a>, promoting safe biking through education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main factor is speed, which has been shown to have a profound effect,\u201d Lauer said of one of the root causes of traffic-related deaths to cyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n

Historically, traffic engineering has focused on moving cars quickly, not safely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know, now, that more cars going faster results in greater fatalities to pedestrians and cyclists on our streets. Obviously, moving cars faster isn\u2019t the best way to go about keeping people safe,\u201d Lauer said. \u201cOur traffic engineering should be focusing on safety rather than speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aria Grossman, policy manager at Circulate San Diego<\/a>, an organization dedicated to advancing mobility, cited Vision Zero as another possible answer to making public streets safer for everyone.<\/p>\n

Vision Zero<\/a> is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries It calls for system designers and policymakers to improve the roadway environment via policies, such as speed management, and other related systems, to lessen the severity of crashes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be making improvements to our road safety infrastructure,\u201d said Grossman. \u201cThat would seem to be a no-brainer, that we shouldn\u2019t be doing things retroactively after something tragic happens. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need to be doing things to prevent the tragedies from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Completed ghost bike re-installation. (File photo courtesy Circulate San Diego) PACIFIC BEACH \u2013 Two recent hit-and-run deaths in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[89987,79107,21828,79110,12258,74,76,75,45281],"class_list":["post-191911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-beautiful-pb","tag-bikesd","tag-circulate-san-diego","tag-families-for-safe-streets-san-diego","tag-pacific-beach","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-vision-zero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}