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Santa Ana Boy Killed in Bicycle Accident Identified
July 01, 2008

A 14-year-old boy who was killed in a bicycle accident in Santa Ana, California on Monday has been identified as Esteban Nunez. The boy was a Santa Ana resident, and the bicycle accident took place at Poplar Street and Saint Andrew Place at about 7 pm on Monday. A big rig, it seems, was headed westbound on Saint Andrew Place. The driver stopped at an intersection for a stop sign, and when he started the truck again, Nunez rode into his path. The boy was killed instantly, and his parents were notified immediately.

At this point it's too early to go into the nitty gritty of the truck accident, and it may be a while before facts are clear. The truck driver has submitted blood samples, police say, although the report has not yet been confirmed. As of now, police say that he is cooperating with all investigations, which may or may not mean anything.

If anything, this truck accident brings home to us how fragile the balance between life and death is for those who chose to pedal their way on our city streets. It's no surprise that Nunez was killed instantly. With the kind of difference in size and weight between a bicycle and truck, it would have been hard for the 14-year-old to survive. According to police, at the time of the bicycle accident, the bicycle was stuck under the tire of the truck. Paramedics tried hard to save the boy's life, but were unsuccessful.

Bicycles share an uncomfortable relationship with other vehicles on the street, and that's a fact. Most drivers don't know whether to treat bicyclists just like any other drivers on the street, or as a special group of drivers who need to be treated with special concern. A recent survey of drivers reveled that most drivers had a very poor understanding of the rights of bicyclists. This is a dangerous trend, and the California Highway Patrol administration needs to be doing more to increase awareness among drivers, so more such bicycle accidents can be averted.

The fact is that bicyclists need to be respected when they are using the streets. The availability of bicycle lanes, many auto safety experts have argued, actually contributes to the growing number of bicycle accidents because then the lonely bicyclist plodding along in his lane is treated as just another diver by most of other drivers in their SUVs, passenger cars and trucks zipping past him. The consequences are often disastrous.

Considering that so many people chose to pedal along the streets of soft sunny California, there has to be more education of bicyclist's rights if we're not to see more tragic bicycle accidents like the one here.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of bicycle accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

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