Crime & Safety

Fatal Crash Raises Concerns About Bike Safety, Prompts Push for Change

A hit-and-run collision that killed an Encino bicyclist has Encinitas residents and the cycling community talking.

Often, out of tragedy positive change is born—but for many Encinitas cyclists, triumph cannot come soon enough.

A life lost on the city’s iconic highway last week has shaken the community, sparking questions about the safety of local roads and pushing budding development into action.

The accident has also inspired the victim’s fiancée, who was with him on the fatal ride, to speak out about the dangers of the road and what she hopes riders and drivers alike will take away from the tragedy that changed her life.

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At around 1 a.m. on April 10, 47-year-old James Steven Swarzman of Encino was riding along North Coast Highway 101 near Jason Street when he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Swarzman was transported to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, where he was pronounced dead at 4:09 a.m. despite aggressive resuscitation efforts.

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The next day, 46-year-old Joseph Ricardo Fernandez came forward to report that he believed he might have been involved in the accident. Detectives interviewed Fernandez and inspected his Dodge Ram 1500, which matched descriptions of the suspect vehicle—including front-end damage.

Though Fernandez was booked into the Vista Jail on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, no charges were filed against him at his April 14 arraignment and he was released. According to authorities, investigators are still reviewing the case and an arrest warrant will likely be issued at a later date.

“It’s so sad,” Swarzman’s fiancée, Nicole Honda, said on Monday.  “I was supposed to be wedding dress shopping today.”

The couple was engaged to be married in August and had just bought a house together in Augora Hills. Those dreams abruptly ended, however, that night in Leucadia when Honda, Swarzman and another cyclist embarked on a long-distance training ride for the San Diego Randonneurs brevet, a qualifying event for the Paris-Brest-Paris, a famous cycling event held once every four years.

“That was going to be our honeymoon, actually,” Honda said.

According to Honda, the group began their ride in Temecula on April 9.  The goal was to make it into Oceanside, where they would rest for the night, and continue on the next day back to Temecula.

Riding through Encinitas, Honda said all three cyclists were “lit up like Christmas trees” in a single-file line on the far right-hand side of the road when a dark-colored vehicle hit Swarzman from behind and continued northbound into Carlsbad.

According to a witness at the scene, the vehicle had started to drift in the middle of the two lanes before the collision.  The witness also said each rider was clearly visible.

“We were following all the rules, and we were fully prepared for the ride,” Honda said.  “We weren’t just out there—we weren’t drunk kids out there saying we’re going to ride to the liquor store before it closes. We knew what we were doing.”

Several others, however—including fellow cyclists—were surprised by the news of the late night ride, especially on a darkened stretch of road where many drivers might not think to look out for bicyclists.

“I don’t think it’s advisable to be on a road where people are driving more than 25 miles per hour in the middle of the night,” said Harvey, a cyclist from Pasadena.  “You have to assess at what point is it becoming a risk and is it really worth it.”

According to Encinitas’ Traffic Engineering Department, the Coast Highway is one of the highest crash concentration areas in the city. In 2010, there were 14 accidents in Encinitas involving bicycles. Five of those crashes occurred on the 101—four on South Coast Highway and one on North Coast Highway at Leucadia. Fortunately, none of the accidents was fatal.

Local cyclist Steve Masterson said he feels relatively safe riding around Encinitas, but that particular area through Leucadia is one of the more dangerous stretches—particularly at night.

An avid cyclist and president of Swami’s Cycling Club, Masterson said he took the news of Swarzman’s death seriously.

“If you’ve been riding for long enough, you’ve either had an encounter with a car or know someone who has, so news of a cyclist being hit by a car is always very sobering,” he said. “Once, in college, I got a worried call from the mother of one of my teammates who hadn’t come home for a ride. Turns out, he had a head-on [collision] with a truck and was killed. Twenty years later, the desperate tone of her voice is still stuck in my head, and I don’t want my wife and young daughters to ever have to go through that.”

While Honda admitted the risk in her group’s actions, she stood firm on their rights to share the road—any time of the day or night.

“Risk is inherent in every sport,” she said. “We were following every law, every safety precaution, every rule. I don’t want people to walk away thinking that cyclists don’t have the same rights, rules and responsibilities as cars do. Bicycles are vehicles and if there’s one thing I can get out of this tragedy, it’s for people to understand that [cyclists] have just as much right to be there [as motorists do].”

The real risk, she said, is in a person who is doing something to make the roads dangerous—whether it be an inattentive driver, a cyclist not wearing reflective gear or a pedestrian crossing the street unsafely.

Too, there comes a point when the roadway itself presents a threat to all.

“We have ridden that stretch of road several times and a number of times at night,” Honda said. “That area is always an uncomfortable area. The road is in very bad condition—there is no shoulder, there is no sense of protection and there are no lights.”

Encinitas resident Steve Shackelton is all too familiar with the problems. As vice president of the Leucadia 101 Main Street Association, Shackelton has worked with the city to help usher in changes within the corridor via the North Coast Highway 101 Streetscape Project.

of the project, which will begin this summer, will renovate the section of Highway 101 between A Street and North Court.  The number of lanes will go from four to three, one northbound and two southbound, and roundabouts will be constructed at La Costa and Grandview avenues. The plans also call for bike lanes.

“It was shocking,” Shackelton said of the accident. “It hit me hard and then of course being involved with the Streetscape, I was just really taken aback because we pushed so hard to bring all this to bear. You talk about all the elements that make up the Streetscape and the bike lanes are such a priority.”

When asked why bike lanes were not implemented on the Coast Highway to begin with, Shackelton replied, “I’m not sure. I guess it would encroach on street width. I guess it would encroach on traffic. I don’t think it’s been implemented as a realistic solution; it’s just been, more or less, let the motorists and bicyclists work it out.”

When traveling on his own bike, Shackelton said he prefers to stay away from the highway.

“I don’t feel safe riding on the 101, period,” he said. “We’ll get on our bikes and go bar hopping or to dinner and we’ll ride on the sidewalk and just do this kind of cruiser thing. But bicyclists are like, that’s their sport and their passion and their hobby and their lifestyle—and the Streetscape does acknowledge that.”

Though contracts for the project have already been approved, Shackelton said he believes the awareness surrounding the fatal crash will help push the project into action faster.

“Sometimes tragedies do bring forward positive things,” he said.  “A lot of times, people who are involved in tragedies need to focus on something positive.”

In June, the city will kick off the Streetscape project by planting 101 trees along the east side of the highway and along the existing medians, but Shackelton said there is no timeline for the actual road construction as of yet.

In addition to a more functional shoulder on the 101, Honda stressed that she would like to see improvements in community awareness and education.

“Having a clean shoulder all up and down that same road would do incredible things for safety, but you also have to work at a deeper level,” she said. “People need to have a different view of cyclists—that’s what I would love to see.”

Since the accident, Honda said she has been on her bike nearly every day—and she won’t stop riding.

“There have been times when I’ve been scared,” she said.  “If I wasn’t scared, there would be something wrong with me, but I still love riding. I’m not going to get rid of the thing that gives me joy and peace because I’m scared and because something could happen.”

As for the suspect in her fiancée’s case, Honda said she just wants the law to be played out.

“I know the DA is working as hard as possible to do a full investigation and I would absolutely like to see justice served,” she said. “I’ve lost the person I am going to spend the rest of my life with. I am moving into an empty house on Saturday. There are no words to describe that.”

Honda asks readers who are touched by Swarzman’s story to get involved and join the Los Angeles or San Diego County Bicycle Coalitions.

For tips on safe cycling and driving, visit dmv.ca.gov.


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