Edhat Staff
By the edhat staff
A bicyclist sustained traumatic injuries following a collision with a vehicle in Montecito Tuesday.
At 11:00 a.m., Montecito Firefighters responded to a report of a traffic collision at Sycamore Canyon Road and Westmont Road.
Crews found a bicycle and vehicle had collided on the roadway.
The 27-year-old male cyclist was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital with serious injuries.
California Highway Patrol is investigating the incident.
Sycamore Canyon should be completely avoided by cyclists for this very reason. APS is another road that even the most-experienced cyclists amongst us should never/ever ride unless you have no regard for your life. I have come close to hitting riders when not expecting them to be in the middle of the road (like Ortega Hill for those riders who do not take the “new” bike path. Riders….be careful and always follow the rules.
Additional Helpful Advice: As a lifelong cyclist, and now E-bike rider, I would like to mention that cyclists always/always lose when going up against vehicles. Don’t think for one second that you are protected riding three wide along Cabrillo or PCH in Santa Monica/Malibu ..it’s not a matter of IF….it’s definitely a matter of WHEN you are going to get bulldozed by some texting or wasted driver. So, be careful out there my cycling friends and familia.
Looks like head on collision with the cyclist being projected in the car and hitting the windshield with his helmet at the spot of the whole.
Hope he’s OK and no severe concussion!
Hope both parties learn to drive/ride safer
That area is dark, curvy and it is hard to see cyclists coming out of that shadow. Some cyclists come down that signed as 15MPH stretch and around the last curve at over 30MPH even though it is only about 25 yards to the intersection. I am sorry someone was hurt, but the cyclist is lucky not to be dead. That is not a 15MPH collision. I stand by my observation, because the cyclist could have died and failure to learn from this experience might well be fatal next time
I saw a very similar accident on Gibraltar when I was climbing up on my bike. A faster guy I chatted with on the ride up was descending very hot, he went wide on a corner and the car cut it a little short and they met on what was a hair on the cars side of middle. A hole in the window was the done by the guys left shoulder and he actually bent the post with his shoulder and filled his shoulder with glass gravel. He was screaming in the middle of the road until he went into shock. Took 30 minutes for the EMT’s CHP Fire Dept. to get there and when they moved him he started screaming again. The cyclist was somewhat lucky because he could have flown over the side and fallen 100 feet. Excuse me for wanting parties to be more careful
The intersection where this occurred is neither particularly steep terrain, nor sharply curvy. There is, however, no shoulder space to speak of on either side.
Cyclist had a four inch hole in his neck according to scanner. Hope he pulls through.