Bicycling + Mossy Road = Broken Hip

I am sorry to hear this woman is injured, I do believe it is a challenge for her, but I have to say that it is totally irresponsible of her to ride a bike when she doesn't have health insurance. It's so irresponsible for people like her who do these dangerous hobbies to not protect herself. For her to sue the city is in no way going to get the end result she is saying she is hoping for. It will only take more money from city that is already in financial trouble = the money came out of tax payers pockets, just in case she forgot this. This woman needs to take responsibility for her own life and the decisions she makes. I do wish her well, but enough with the demands being put upon the city to tell you about every danger in the world, it's impossible...and there is no way to anticipate every thing that could happen and put a sign up for it!

Concur with Jilly completely.

However, as a long-time cyclist, I also agree that this spot is treacherous. Since Erin only had 6 months riding experience, she was too inexperience to anticipate the danger. Heal quickly, Erin.

I've fallen there too... another woman to add to the statistics. But usually I ride east so I'm going pretty slow.

There is a similar situation at Cold Spring.

Would be great to route both creeks under the road.

Good luck Erin, we're rooting for you!

Sorry for your crash but I too totally concur with Jilly. Ditch the lawsuit talk and take responsibility for your own lack of health care actions. FYI there really isn't much difference for moss growing on a wet road than moss growing on a rock in a creek bed you'd hike in. Who would you sue if you slipped and fell on that, yourself? Too many lawsuits, too many lawyers, lack of personal responsibility... I'm over it.

Foothill roadway creek crossings are totally impassible during and after heavy rainstorms, but much the rest of the year the slow flow of water over the road encourages algae to fluorish. The roadway becomes slick as ice. Many times I've biked on Mountain Drive at Cold Springs crossing, I've very slowly moved across, ready to go down at any moment.

I'm unsure what the county can do. Replace the creek crossings with bridges? Scrape the algae off every day? At least post signs "Slick pavement, use caution"? Now that they are aware of the dangers, maybe their liability lawyers will encourage action? I'm going to watch for something.

This is the definition of frivolous. This lady falls off her bike and now wants to blame the city/county? Are you kidding me? Doesn't take a genius to realize that if you ride your bike through water, it's going to get a bit slippery. Same concept in a car when it's raining. If you ride a bike, you're going to take a spill eventually. Some get it worse than others, but it just comes with the territory.

I consider it a privilege that in SB we still have natural creek crossings that break up the unnatural roads. It's part of what makes SB beautiful. Please don't allow your urbanized New York mind to poison the landscape of our city. Consider your fall a lesson learned in bike handling and leave it at that.

As far as your medical expenses go, I hope the publicity you gain through the independent will help you cover those. Maybe you can set up a paypal account for people to make donations to. I’ve got a few bucks to send your way once it’s up and running.

Please reconsider your planned actions though. Realize that a creek crossing is representative of much more than water on the road. Realize that you’d be fighting for the dissolution of the little bit of freedom we have left in this ever increasing Disneyland town.

I wish here well in her recovery and dealing with our American Health Insurance Crisis.

Of course, these creeks should have proper bridges instead of these roadbeds in the creek channels. That would be good for the fish passage and good for the bicyclists.

There are terrible road hazards for bikes all over the County roads; unfortunately threat of lawsuit is one of the effective ways to get the County to wake up and be responsible.

Last year someone hit a big (3" or so) tree root eruption on the Obern bike trail, fell, broke their arm, and the County finally got out and fixed many of those protrusions.

The Maria Ygnacio bike trail has loads of such eruptions, and the County is thankfully getting around to them.

I do think the slipperiness of the creek crossings on Mountain at Cold Spring and Bella Vista at Romero are way beyond safe for cyclists. The only reason the County gets away with it is the infrequency of cyclists riding there and the small probability of serious injury like this. But in this case a lawsuit might well be justified.

Erin suit is not frivolous in my opinion.

Give me a break (so to speak)! Anyone who has spent more than thirty seconds in a stone-filled creek or river, or who has walked outside on moss or leaves after a rain, or (gasp!) rode a bike over the old and perpetually wet cobbles under the Castillo underpass, knows that most wet rocks are slick.
Cyclists know that we can crash for a multitude of reasons: debris on the road, wet roads, mother-of-god potholes, stem failure, crank failure, front brake hanger failure, and the like. Everyone knows these creek crossings are slick. You can SEE they are slick, as they've been polished almost glass-smooth by the grit of countless tires. The fords on Paradise Rd are the same way.

People need to get a grip on relative risk, and they need to get outdoors A LOT more. The Indy has not been helping much lately, what with its ridiculous scare story about a rattlesnake bite and now this. Yes, it's all SO dangerous out there! Better not venture out. Better to drive somewhere and do some indoor shopping. But what did you say the riskiest thing is we do in daily life? DRIVE? Could it be? Gott im Himmel!

Erin,

I have absolutely rocketed through there on the rig, and just want to say MONSTER THANKS for going to the press with this information.

As for all the those here who say your lawsuit is wrong, I say American health care is wrong. Go for it! The government system supports corporations because the government IS a corporation.

Health care is a human right.

In so so so many other countries, your injury would be fixed without injuring your finances.

If they, government, aren't willing to realize that human right, find another means to make it happen. -AB www.andrewbaker77.com

Totally agree with Sacheverell! Back country roads may have stream crossings; water crossing a road, especially a paved road, may be and probably is slippery. If you see an area that may be slippery, get off your bike and walk it through, carefully. This is so obvious -- even New York roads can be slippery.

Sorry she broke her hip but maybe when she recovers she should beware of nature and ride her bike only on city streets --- but watch out for the cracks and potholes, as well as cars. If she sues, the County should respond with a complaint for a frivolous lawsuit: not every hazard has or should have a fix and if there were signage wherever there is an obvious hazard, that's all we'd have, signs everywhere.

This is the second story in what is now a regular Indy feature: "People who make bad choices and then play victim."

The first was the story about the lady driving on some crazy medication for seizures who was arrested for DUI, and then put on suicide watch when she threatened to kill herself.

What? Don't do anything dangerous unless you have health insurance? Dumb and mean. Where's the compassion, man? What if it was you or your child? Hang in there Erin. Not all of us are haters. BH

Yeah no doubt. Hang in there Erin. Too bad so many angry people in the world, even amazingly in Sunny Happy Santa Barbara. This place is epiccccccc. -AB www.andrewbaker77.com

This is a standard County road and Erin was using it in a very standard and unexceptional way.

The hazard is predictable, recurring, and uncommon. Darned few creeks on this side of the Santa Ynez Mountains flow over the roads regularly... most roads have bridges or the creeks are routed in culverts under the roads. Old San Marcos, Gibraltar, and Refugio have no recurring slippery spots like Mountain and Bella Vista have.

One of the main reasons for routing creeks under roads is that constantly flowing water makes a predictable and recurring hazard for vehicle operators.

This is not a burglar falling through a skylight and suing the school, or a hot coffee drinker suing McDonalds.

This is an unexceptional regular user encountering a predictable recurring hazard that has caused prior serious accidents and which has not been addressed by the County. Seems to me suing the County is appropriate; the real blame is on the County decision makers who left the hazardous condition unaddressed.

Why does everyone want to blame someone for their mistakes or bad judgement? It is a true bummer what she went through and shows the horrible state of our healthcare system. However, a person riding a bike should know that you will encounter hazards during every stroke of the pedal. There are potholes all over town, curbs, uneven surfaces, water on roadways, vehicles, no bike lanes, etc. Cyclists (I am one) are taking risks every ride and you must be aware of that and take responsibility for your decision to operate in a dangerous environment. If a hazard is unknown, exercise extreme caution. A lawsuit would seem reasonable if there was some type of negligence, however, that is all in the eye of the beholder.

It's not that I am a hater, I just see so many people who don't take personal responsibility and then expect someone (or everyone in this case) to pay for their problems. We need to spend money on the good of the whole, not taking care of ONE person because she took up a dangerous sport without taking precautions for herself. I also agree, our healthcare needs an overhall....and yes, you shouldn't take risks when you don't have a plan to catch yourself when you (literally) fall. We have other issues that need our IMMEDIATE attention that the money our city has should be applied to...have you heard about the lack of funding for SCHOOLS? I feel bad for her, but she should just make payment arragements.

I must say that Sacherell is being super critical about the Indy reporting scare stories. The snake bite story was indeed long and detailed about a little eight year old who encountered a rattler. It was a scary situation and because of prompt action on the mother's part and getting to the fire station immediately, the child lived through a terrible experience. The precaution part of the story, from the Calif Poison control was valuable information. Scary? No, precaution beats out scared any day.

And the County must see this as a heads up, as many are now relating their stories of that particular stretch of riding area.

Darn! I guess I should have sued back when I crashed my mtn. bike in that drainage ditch the Forest Service didn't fix in the trail or how about the time I slipped on some moss walking over Paradise Road back near Red Rock or the time I skidded out over cross walk paint when it was wet on Cabrillo Blvd. Darn that water. But don't get me going about our health care system. For the 6th year in a row, ours is going up again while the quality drops, again. More than darn on that one!!!

Not angry, not hating and genuinely sorry for her pain from the injury ---- but am not sympathetic to the thought of a lawsuit about a foreseeable injury. I am am an occasional biker and am well aware from a couple of falls that such are the risks of the ride. Unless the water over the road was hidden (and if the photo was of the spot where she fell, it was very evident) then she knew or should have known that riding through it risked a slip.

Why does this headline and elsewhere confuse moss with algae?

These instream road crossings are way cheaper to construct and maintain than a proper bridge or culvert. They also block steelhead fish from swimming upstream.

It's not just water, it is the slippery algae. It is way, way more slippery than a usual wet road and is not within the realm of normal experience, unless you have walked on black ice.

I wish we'd all complain more about the horrible potholes that endanger cyclists, and I think the County deserves a gold-plated lawsuit in that case too... one with multiple prior warnings.

Odd how some folks accept poor maintenance, planning, and execution from County roads and instead attack the victim.

Do fish really get up to Mountain Drive/Bella Vista, which are near 1000' in elevation?

Super-slippery indeed, snugspout. Phenomenally. I've been green-sided at creek crossings in spite of going very slow & erect. Or ***because*** of going slow? Kill the gyros, lose control? No doubt signs should be posted saying

"Conserve Angular Momentum
L = mvr"

I'm with Jilly and the other like-minded people who have responded.

This is indeed an unfortunate ACCIDENT, but as others have pointed out, she took it upon herself to participate in what can be a dangerous physical activity w/out health insurance. Sure, no one expects to crash, but it still happens whether we like it or not. Bottom line, it's not the roads fault she fell down, it was simple basic riding inexperience and her subsequent medical bills are her responsibility.

I personally feel the whole debate on heath care is an entirely separate issue and unfortunately, her lack of insurance doesn't automatically make our town (and the tax-paying residents) fiscally responsible for everyone who doesn't have any (or enough) and has an accident. Of course, it would be beneficial for many reasons if everyone had affordable health care, and I too am rooting for it, but that needs to be figured out and implemented on it's own.

With that said, I like others, do wish Erin a speedy recovery and all the best as she goes forward in taking care of herself.

Had a little bike crash yesterday when I turned left into some unexpected gravel/sand and got some road rash. County, you should have had a flagman there to warn me!!

What? Shouldn't ride a bike if you don't have health insurance? Maybe people ride a bike because they can't afford either a car OR health insurance. Duh. I have gone down twice on a slippery crossing on Refugio Rd. After numerous complaints to Public Works they replaced the culverts under the crossing so that they could be periodically cleaned by hand. The problem is that most "summer" crossings have culverts under them that clog with winter storm runoff. The County used to clean these culverts with a backhoe each spring. Now they claim that Fish and Game won't allow equipment in the creeks during summer to protect fish. But the fact is these culverts can be cleaned by men with hand tools, shovels to be exact. But no, that would be hard work and County crews don't do that. Instead shovels are for leaning on while they watch power equipment do the work. Meanwhile the "fixed" culvert on Refugio Rd. was plugged again this year until some locals with shovels cleaned it.

Sorry you got hurt but how about using some common sense? The same situation occurs in concrete street gutters at intersections that stay wet during the winter. How about suing someone about sand and gravel on road ways? How about closing all the trails and back country roads so people like Erin don't hurt themselves...

By all means, Ms Tague should use her unfortunate experience to educate others about the dangers of such activities and the necessity of taking precautions, such as having health insurance and getting off the bike when you spot water or other hazards. (She says she exercised caution but perhaps needs to learn to exercise --more-- caution.) Only good could come of such educational efforts and she is to be lauded for and assisted in using her time in such a manner.
But suing the county would be frivolous and a waste of the taxpayers' funds. I hope she will reconsider any such thoughts.
BTW, yes, some people ride bikes because they can't afford cars an therefore, also might not be able to have health insurance. However, it appears that Ms. Tague was willfully engaging in a sports activity, not for instance, riding a bike from necessity on her daily commute to work or school.
P.S. People commenting really should learn the difference between the city and the county.

I don't think it is an accident if the problem recurs at the same spot, is predictable, occurs for many, many days in a row, and involves conditions that are way, way worse than a simple pothole or gravel on the road.

The algae is incredibly slippery there, way more slippery than a wet street or a winter gutter. Winter storms or black ice conditions are rare, unpredictable, and don't last for many days in a row.

On a public road we all have an expectation that going under the speed limit in any vehicle is more or less safe; the expectations are way different when one hikes off-road on a trail.

I've ridden through the similar spot on lower Refugio; you enter it straight on and not in the middle of a curve, so I've never fallen there. I have seen others fall, though. These over-road creek crossing are really dangerous for cyclists, and because they have been eliminated just about everywhere, the responsibility does fall back to the County for their ill effects.

How funny that some people would infer that one should stay home, off the bike, off the trail, off the surfboard, off the skateboard because they can't afford it. Is this how we should live our lives, because our country is backward in regards to healthcare? Shame on all you rich people. Sue the bastards and take it all...

Spacey has a good point. Should people stop participating in healthy activities (e.g, running, biking, hiking, playing sports) because their health insurance hasn't kicked in yet?

If you read the story you'll see she actually could afford health insurance, but she procrastinated on mailing in the paperwork.

I wish Erin the best, and while there's a lot of fingerpointing going on, let's spread the responsibility around.

Yes, a new rider needs to learn the area and ride carefully. We promote cycling as a great exercise, but are new riders made aware of the risks? Is it irresponsible to ride without health insurance? Not so sure about that, what are the huge % uninsured supposed to do, stay on the couch and watch TV?, (that's safe in the short term)

The Biltmore, upscale business, the main employer, do they offer folks that work for them health insurance, or do they prefer them to work as private contractors and therfore duck having to contribute the health of one of their staff?

The roads? These wet streaks have been around a long time, and cycling a sport/[pastime has grown along with the population. Maybe it's time to put in a small under the road drain that would allow the road surface to be dry most of the time, and spill over during peak rainy periods.

After looking at that I do feel for Erin, if you look at it neither her employer or the government of the community seem to care much about her welfare.

Pinatubo,

You missed the point of the question posed by Spacey and myself. Regardless of the reason for the lapse in coverage: Should people refrain from engaging in physical exercise if they do not have health insurance?

Of COURSE Erin's going to sue! Her boyfriend is a "personal injury" lawyer. That's what they do for a living. They sue.
Call me a cynic, but I'm pretty sure the point of this article was to bolster her case, i.e. "She’s encouraging anyone else who has crashed at this crossing or others to email her at ..."
I'm sure it hurt, and I'm sorry for her, but don't ride in those areas if you can't figure out that water + pavement = slippery.

Kingprawn: yes.

I was told from the first time I started driving that I always had to be in control of my vehicle. Shouldn't the same apply to people who ride bicycles?

I realize I'm treading on sacred ground but why is it that we now encourage bicyclists to use public streets as their race track (often tearing through stop signs at high speeds) but we tell motorists to "share the road"?

This "live hard, play hard" mentality comes at a high price. Race car drivers drive on specially designed race courses, and as such, bicyclists should confine their competitive spirit specially designed courses as well.

Public streets are for transportation--not for racing. Realizing this could save a lot of grief.

Rode through there over the weekend; definitely the real danger is coming westward, where Bella Vista has a steep downhill into the sharp curve at the Romero Creek overcrossing.

Since I usually ride in going eastward, which is uphill until just before Romero Creek, I usually don't fall, although I have fallen on the reverse journey when I come up Toro/Ladera/Bella Vista.

The road is definitely polished from the water flow, and the algae makes it even slipperier. Not quite black ice slippery, at least not right now, but fairly slippery.

Way, way more dangerous than gravel or most potholes.

Both the Romero and Cold Spring overcrossings back on
Mountain could benefit from road roughening and better signage right now. Then long term both need culverts. There are 10 or so culverts/bridges in analogous spots on the portion of Mountain between Gibraltar and about Cold Spring Road, it is very odd that the Cold Spring itself as well as Romero Creek have been neglected.

Thanks Erin for going public with this!!

for all the males out there who have not seen this, nor riding through it: i am guy with 20yr of riding experience and this stretch is not like anything i have seen. I slowed down and anticipated the danger [had gone through many other creeks before], this one was very short, maybe 1.5 bicycle length. In spite of my precautions, there was no loss of control, just bang i was on the ground. Now, i know three riders who went down there [four including snugspout].

Now, if cars would go of the road at the same spot lawsuits would come a lot faster. The point is not the lawsuit, but TO GET THE TOWN to fix this and prevent other preventable injuries and accidents. Roughening or just a pipe under the road would do it. This creek is small and run off water in the spring can still go over the road.