This is bad. You road riders on the coast look out....

From 10News:

Bicyclist Hit and Killed In Encinitas on Highway 101
The Search is on for the Motorist

ENCINITAS, Calif. -- Early Sunday morning a bicyclist was hit and killed on Highway 101 in Encinitas.

It's the second hit and run accident involving a bicyclist in that area in recent months.

10News has learned police are talking with a witness who says the driver never slowed down.


Investigators with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department are looking into the horrific thought that the driver didn't stop because he wanted to hit the bicyclist.

Around 1:00am, someone slammed into a bicyclist heading north on Highway 101 near Encinitas.

The victim was thrown from his bicycle, and eventually airlifted to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

47-year-old James Swarzman of Encino was pronounced dead three hours later.

"When I hear about this one, number one it sickens me because someone actually lost their life," said Heath Bernstein.

In January, he was the victim in a hit and run that sounds a lot like this latest case.

Bernstein was riding his bicycle on Highway 101 in Carlsbad when a dark-colored pick-up truck ran him down.

"The truck that hit me came across one empty lane of traffic, across the bike lane taking me out, and then back to the traffic lane. To me that was 100 percent intentional," Bernstein told 10News Reporter Kevin Roy.

Bernstein says the facts between the two cases points to a possible connection.

In this recent case, 47-year-old Swarzman rode competitively and was on a late-night training ride for the upcoming season.

The suspect's vehicle is described as a Ford F-150 pickup, newer model, blue or dark colored with obvious front end damage, probably to the headlights. That description is almost identical to the first hit and run case.

Heath Bernstein's recovery has been long and painful and this new case is only making it worse. "I'm sick to my stomach number one, and I'm actually becoming more upset," Bernstein said.

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Thus, if we are to understand the world, we should live somewhere between judgement and amazement — Alfredo Lopez Austin

Bikers are going down like flies and all the police and DA are complicit. There are no consequences for hitting and killing a cyclist.....none. That is total BS.

I am not in any way condoning a hit and run, but we as riders need to be smart about where and when we ride. Just like I would never go out without my helment, I would never ride the 101 at 1 am. Most people out driving at that time are tired and that mixed with the darkness works out poorly for us.

My thoughts and prayers go out to this riders family.

Jim

I ride PCH during the day and it's bad enough but, riding PCH at 1:00 AM is a recipe for disaster, as the bars close at that time.
Hope they catch the driver.
My condolences to the victim's family.

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"My favorite part of riding a bike is when I get off the bike." - Jim Gaffigan

Studies have been done on how impaired and drunk drivers swerve towards lights (target fixation), it was shown to be the main reason police cars were hit at night.

If there is one car/person to call 911 some else needs to get info on the offender.

Damn, this morning I saw a newer-model medium-blue Toyota Tundra with damage to both headlights & front fenders, parked over by my neighborhood in Pt. Loma.

I wonder how sure they are this was a F-150? I'm debating calling the Encinitas sheriff's office.

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"Those skilled at the unorthodox are infinite as heaven and earth, inexhaustible as the great rivers."
— Tzun Tzu

If anyone has information or even a lead, CALL IT IN. The "worst" that will happen is the cops will check the car, find it's unrelated, then cross it off the list. It's better to have 3 decent leads than none. Sure, you can remain anonymous, but it's better to give your information so authorities can get back with you if they can't find the car, need you for a report, etc.

That's horrific. As much as it does sound intentional, I almost hope it was just an impaired driver. Not that that makes it any better, really... but just the thought of it being intentional is just horrible.

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~I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
~Nothing from nothing is nothing.
~I'm allowed to be a pussy because I have one!

I'll second what Dave said, go ahead and call it in. You might just call the SD Police, they can come check it out and coordinate with the Sheriff's. If it's right nearby, you might want to head back over and get a license number, and maybe snap a cell-phone pic, just in case they drive away before the cops show up. Like Dave said, worst thing that can happen is the cops check it out and cross it off the list.

Done. Messages left at Crimestoppers and Encinitas Sheriff.

edit: Just spoke live to a Deputy up there and gave him the info. He said they're getting lots of calls about it.

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"Those skilled at the unorthodox are infinite as heaven and earth, inexhaustible as the great rivers."
— Tzun Tzu

I'm an insomniac. Alot of the riding I do in and around my neighborhood is done at night. I never go riding on a friday or saturday night or between 11pm and 3am on any night. All the drunks are out. I was on my way home from PQ, headed south on black mountain road one night. I was climbing on the sidewalk because I wanted to save my lights for kearny villa road. A silver toyota truck slowed down, pulled along side me, and threw a water bottle.

They weren't young'ns either. The passenger (guy that threw the bottle) was at least in 35y/o. Why all the hate?

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Best riding advice I ever got... "make sure you have air in your tires"

Ignorance and poor parenting. Parents ultimately are the ones who teach their kids about respect and it carries far beyond serious crimes like this one or even the assault that you received. How people are willing to leave trash in a parking lot (fast food bags/cups/etc) just dumbfounds me. But going back to your story. I had a coworker who was riding home from work on Kearny villa after it turns right just past the 52 east on ramp. He's heading to Clairemont mesa blvd and a dodge ram gets impatient with the fact that he's in the bike lane and not being allowed to make his right hand turn faster and dove into the lane and clipped him and took off.

What's worse is that not 1 car that was there stopped to help him, or try to chase down the driver. It wasn't until the line of cars cleared that a driver in a car in the back stopped to assist him. my coworker ended up getting picked up by his wife and on the way back they spotted the truck with minor damage (scrape/scuffs) where he hit my coworker but he denied that it was him. They're still dealing with it with the cops.

Honestly to me it comes down to respect and people like this were never taught it by their parents.

That just plain Sucks. PCH is one of my favorite routes too. The only time I will be riding in those hours is during Midnight Madness this August. MAYBE!.

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My Favorite Trail is unknown to many, everybody here loves it.

they are now saying it's a dark dodge ram truck and not a ford f150
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/encin ... a164d.html

suspect arrested. link

edit: this report says he turned himself in. not exactly a happy or satisfactory ending, but it is good to know that some people will eventually do the the honest thing