Bicyclists call for more protections and safety education after fatal crash in La Jolla

In the days after a bicyclist was struck and killed by a car June 23 in La Jolla, avid cyclists spoke out about the need for better safety measures and cycling education throughout the area.

The crash occurred at about 4:20 p.m. in the southbound lanes of North Torrey Pines Road approaching La Jolla Village Drive, according to San Diego police.

The bicyclist was identified by her family and employer as Swati Tyagi, 34, a scientist at La Jolla’s Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the mother of an 11-month-old son.

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Family and Salk Institute identify scientist killed while cycling in La Jolla

Swati Tyagi, 34, was struck and killed June 23. The Salk Institute postdoctoral researcher was the mother of an 11-month-old son.

Tyagi was riding her bike in the right lane when she merged into the left lane and was hit from behind by a 2005 Mercedes-Benz SL500 driven by a 74-year-old man, police said. Tyagi died at the scene.

San Diego City Councilman Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, said “the loss of life is a tragedy. We are awaiting the details surrounding the crash. Until then, my thoughts are focused on her family and friends.”

La Jollan Dan Goese said he was driving in the area that afternoon, heading up Expedition Way. “When I reached North Torrey Pines Road to take a right … I noticed all the police blocking the road and examining the roadway to my left. This was all happening to the immediate north of the intersection of Expedition Way/Revelle College Drive and North Torrey Pines Road.”

A bicyclist was struck and killed by a car June 23 on southbound North Torrey Pines Road approaching La Jolla Village Drive, according to San Diego police.

(Bing Maps / La Jolla Light)

Kurt Hoffman, an experienced cyclist who rides throughout La Jolla and elsewhere, said North Torrey Pines Road near UC San Diego, where the crash occurred, “is in terrible shape.”

Though he “generally supports public universities,” Hoffman said he is concerned about the impact of UCSD’s many construction projects on nearby traffic and infrastructure.

“They could do a protected bike lane in front of the whole university,” he said. “That whole area could use some better bike protections.”

In November, Hoffman asked the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board to consider protected bikeways and sidewalks on Torrey Pines Road between “The Throat” — the intersection of Torrey Pines, Hidden Valley Road and La Jolla Parkway — and La Jolla Village Drive.

Cars often weave into the currently unprotected bike lane on Torrey Pines Road, Hoffman said at the time. “The sidewalk stops a third of the way down, and it’s basically a dirt path. The cyclists are at the mercy of the speeding cars.”

T&T Chairman Dave Abrams asked Hoffman and others to confer with a La Jolla Community Planning Association subcommittee, which LJCPA President Diane Kane said was looking into pedestrian and car access in and out of The Village, including via Torrey Pines Road.

On June 24, Kane told the La Jolla Light that the subcommittee, called the Village Visioning Committee, has “been working diligently on streetscapes in The Village and on entrances into La Jolla,” such as Pearl and Nautilus streets.

She said she hasn’t seen anything yet for Torrey Pines Road. “So far, bicyclists haven’t been part of the committee’s conversation on traffic calming and streetscape enhancements but will be welcome once the initial concepts are melded into a coherent whole,” Kane said.

During the November T&T meeting, the board heard updated plans for the city of San Diego’s Coastal Rail Trail project, designed to create a Class IV bicycle lane separated from vehicle traffic by raised medians along Gilman Drive between La Jolla Village Drive and I-5.

La Jollan and avid cyclist Serge Issakov, a board member of the San Diego Bicycle Club, San Diego Bicycle Coalition and California Association of Bicycling Organizations, said at the time that he was “very concerned” about the project.

He said the Class IV lane, a change from the current Class II lane delineated by paint, would risk the safety of bicyclists who typically achieve higher downhill speeds on Gilman Drive.

Hoffman said June 25 that the Gilman project is “not really going to increase safety. In fact, it is going to be more dangerous because the serious bike riders … are going to be riding in the traffic lane, avoiding that constricted safety lane, and it just doesn’t make sense.”

At T&T’s January meeting, the Coastal Rail Trail project was approved with the addition of sharrows — painted markings indicating a road is to be shared by motor vehicles and bicycles — on the southbound side of Gilman.

LJCPA approved the project in February after the addition of sharrows on both the southbound and northbound sides of Gilman.

The project was slated to begin construction in spring 2022, but a June 25 update from city spokesman Anthony Santacroce stated that construction has been pushed back to early 2023 “due to real estate acquisition proceedings.”

The project schedule is at sandiego.gov/cip/projectinfo/featuredprojects/railtrail.

Santacroce said the project’s environmental document is available for public review, and “it is estimated that its final approval will come shortly after the review process is completed.”

Though Hoffman called the Gilman project “ill-conceived,” Torrey Pines Road “really is much more of a problem,” he said.

Santacroce said there is a Class II bike lane along North Torrey Pines Road in the vicinity of the June 23 accident, with no immediate proposal to change that.

However, “the University Community Plan Update is underway and contemplates new mobility networks including bikeway classifications,” he said.

Karl Rudnick, who teaches monthly Smart Cycling classes for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, said he couldn’t weigh in on the fatal crash but said that in his view, “bicycle education, both for cyclists and for motorists who need to understand best safety practices for cyclists, is so important, much more so than spending big bucks on specialized infrastructure.”

“Some of these practices are not intuitive for the majority of folks who feel that safety is best achieved by separating bicycle and motor vehicle traffic entirely,” Rudnick said.

Santacroce said “bicycle and pedestrian safety is one of the highest priorities for the city of San Diego and the most important part of the continued expansion and improvement of mobility options throughout the city.”

— La Jolla Light staff writer Ashley Mackin-Solomon and San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Alex Riggins contributed to this report. ◆