Update, Tuesday, 12:02 p.m. The 74-year-old cyclist who was hit by a driver Saturday is in stable condition, according to police.
Witnesses saw the cyclist riding south on Fulton Street around 3:45 p.m. Saturday, when a car driving west on Ashby Avenue crashed into him, said Officer Byron White in an email. Police had previously said the collision occurred at Wheeler Street.
“When officers arrived, they found the bicyclist in the roadway with a significant leg injury,” White said.
The driver continued down Ashby and abandoned the car near Otis Street, about five blocks away.
Police are investigating the hit-and-run. Witnesses described the driver as a black woman, age 30 to 40, with black hair and a medium build, wearing a long dark jacket, pants and brown boots, according to White’s update.
Original story, Sat. March 2, 6:16 p.m. A 74-year-old Berkeley man is in the hospital with serious injuries after a driver hit him while he was riding his bike on Ashby Avenue at Wheeler Street on Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
The driver abandoned his vehicle and fled the scene, said Berkeley Police Lt. Peter Hong. No arrests have been made.
Police responded to the incident around 3:45 p.m. during the rainy afternoon, and closed off the block while investigating. The area has now been reopened to traffic, Hong said.
“The bicyclist had significant injuries that required emergency transport to the hospital,” he said in an email.
The collision is one of numerous — more than 30 in January alone — injury crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists in Berkeley this year.
The incidents have spurred intensifying calls for action and stronger traffic safety throughout Berkeley. The city is working on a plan, called Vision Zero, in hopes of eliminating pedestrian and cyclist fatalities by 2028. City staff has said the vast majority of those fatalities occur on just 14% of Berkeley’s street miles, with Ashby among the “high-injury corridors.”
