Part of Coast Highway is lined with protective bollards and wheel stops to help keep cyclists safe, but some advocates say they are actually the problem. NBC 7’s Omari Fleming reports on March 20, 2024.
Cycling advocates are calling for changes to protected bike lanes along Coast Highway from Cardiff to Solana Beach, after a cyclist died in a solo crash early Sunday.
Shaun Wallace is one of those calling for change. Though he makes his way around on an e-bike these days, he’s a two-time Olympic cyclist.
“It shouldn't take an Olympic level of expertise to avoid crashing. We need bicycle facilities that are safe for all types of cyclists, and that's what we used to have and what we could have again, if the bollards and wheel stops are removed," Wallace said.
The bike path has become known as the "Cardiff Cycle Trap" because of how dangerous some say it is.
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There's not a whole lot of space to maneuver, so if a cyclist has to swerve to avoid something, they’d crash into the curb on one side and potentially run into bollards or wheel stops on the other.
Wallace took his fight to get the bollards and wheel stops removed to the Encinitas City Council on Wednesday night.
Since 2020, Wallace says he and other cycling advocates on the Facebook page “Encinitas: PLEASE Restore Safety in Cardiff,” have counted more than 30 crashes along the bike path.
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Around midnight on Sunday, San Diego County sheriff’s deputies say 48-year-old Ronald Currie died while riding an e-bike along the 2700 block of South Coast Drive. It doesn't appear a car was involved.
“It’s very frustrating when you hear of yet another accident, and this time such a tragic one, because it is avoidable," Wallace said.
Biking advocate Stephan Vance says he understands the calls for change after the tragic biking death.
As a member of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, he says his organization could ask the city to study what's causing the crashes, as well as possibly discuss design decisions, like they did when the protective bike path was being built.
“When this facility was first being proposed, we did comment to the city of Encinitas and encouraged them to do a different design because of all the pedestrians," Vance said.
Until change is made, Wallace says he’s taking his chances outside of the protected bike path by riding in the number two lane.
“Sharing it with vehicles, which doesn't sound attractive, and it's not, but more and more cyclists have realized that, you know, that it’s the safer place,” Wallace said.
According to the most recent numbers from the "Statewide Traffic Records System," there were 88 bike crashes in Encinitas from January 2020 through December 2023. Four of them were in the area where the deadly crash happened.
A spokesperson for the mayor of Encinitas said he won't comment until the sheriff's department investigation is finished.
