BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ and EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff
A Greenwaste truck fatally struck an employee of La Entrada Middle School while he was riding his bike to work yesterday.
Dylan Taylor, who was a paraeducator at the Las Lomitas School District, was remembered yesterday by Superintendent Erik Burmeister as someone who truly loved his job and enjoyed mentoring students.
Burmeister said Taylor’s passing is “heartbreaking,” as he was excited to see him expand his impact on students at Las Lomitas.
Taylor started at La Entrada this school year, but had previously worked at the Menlo Park City School District, where Burmeister was superintendent from 2017 to 2022.
Taylor, 30, was a track and field coach at Menlo-Atherton High School and grew up in the area.
Taylor was struck by a greenwaste vehicle at 7:40 a.m. near Encinal Avenue and Middlefield Road in Atherton. The crash happened near Encinal Elementary School and M-A. Taylor was taken to Stanford Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, according to San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault.
Police closed Middlefield Road from Encinal Avenue and James Avenue due to a “traffic collision,” not saying that someone had died.
The road was reopened around 1 p.m. Police asked people to avoid the area and drivers to use alternate routes.
Crisis counselors were at La Entrada yesterday and will be on site again today, Burmeister said.
Las Lomitas Board President Paige Winikoff said that Taylor’s importance to the community could be measured by how the community has reacted.
I’m heartbroken by the loss of Mike’s son. I’ve had the privilege and honor to have known and worked with Mike with our community CERT trainings. Mike is such an exceptional man and exuberates love and community supports. My heart goes out to you. Mike, I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m speechless as what to what to say , sending as big a hug as I could possibly send to you and your family. I didn’t know your son but I’m sure he was an exceptional man just as you are ❤️❤️
Condolences to Coach Taylor’s family, what a tragic loss. I know any educator wants to prevent tragedies like this in the future. It’s reported that this accident may be related to cars making surprise right (hook) turns. Drivers on Middlefield, please remember that when making right turns, when the bike lane lines become intermittent dashed lines, you are legally required to merge into the bike lane to make the right turn (driver’s intutition of staying out of the bike lane creates dangerous right hook scenarios, it’s why the bike lane paint changes near intersections), and bikers, you are supposed to let cars merge, so stay behind those merged cars, to prevent sudden dangerous right hooks in front of you.
A lot of Middlefield traffic is repeat daily traffic. if we train the majority of those who use Middlefield of road laws, then this tragedy may never happen again. So sad, and we must honor Coach Taylor by educating people.
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Condolences to the Taylor family. And gratitude for Taylor’s work as a coach!
Do we need better signage on this part of Middlefield, especially considering the “hook turn” described in earlier comment?
For a garbage pack? Shouldn’t the garbage truck already know not to turn into a bike lane without looking to make sure there’s no one approaching?
This tragedy should show our “leaders” that it’s dangerous to make busy Middlefield Road a bike lane. The same applies to all other busy roads like Embarcadero a bike lane which recently suffered another fatality at Newell Road.
What it should show is we need better thought out road designs that support all legal users of the road, more investment in multiuse infrastructure, and more consequences for drivers who kill people while executing illegal manoeuvres. If the driver had been speeding, rear ended someone and killed them, there would be legal consequences. For some reason, when a driver kills someone doing an equally dangerous and reckless turn across another lane killing a cyclist there are rarely consequences. If you were in your car driving in the right lane of a two lane road and a driver cut across your lane in front of you without merging to make a right turn, that would seem pretty reckless and jarring, right? Unacceptable, right? So why are we so dismissive when it happens to cyclists? Why do we always end up blaming the cyclists?
This is very close to a school and one of the primary ways to get there. It’s not practical to eliminate bike lanes. What IS practical is people being careful and obeying traffic laws. And, by careful, I mean cyclists, scooters, e bikes and motor vehicles.
Let’s hope the “I hate all cars” movement doesn’t hijack this death and convinces our weak politicians to do some stupid “traffic calming” on Middlefield Road. Accidents happen. Sad, tragic though they may be, they don’t obviate the need for people to bicyclists to ride responsibility. Not trying to blame the victim, but we shouldn’t put ourselves or our family into harm’s way.
I can smell the bike coalition groups headed our way!
what a terrible thing to say, absolutely no ability to read the room.
Reading the room is way less important than the dangers to which the bike coalition exposes bicyclist in their insistence on pushing their agenda.
Agenda?
I agree.
What a heartless comment Winston. What’s wrong with slowing down cars? Or are you an idiot who wants to kill people and wants to design streets to kill?
The man is dead. Dead because of an illegal and reckless manoeuvre by the driver who is either ignorant of the law or displayed callous disregard for the life of another. Those of us who have lost someone to a driver illegally in a bike lane have the scab ripped open every time we read about these incidents and the ill-informed and insensitive comments people make. I think you need some perspective.
In the article, I don’t see the comment about “illegal and reckless maneuver by the driver.” Speculation?
Mp
Why was he riding so close to a garbage truck that he got killed? And don’t say the garbage truck was going too fast. Has a garbage truck ever gone fast? When assignimg blame, when does personal responsibility enter the discussion?
In the article, I don’t see any comment about/if Taylor (was) “riding so close to a garbage truck.” Speculation?
Here’s what the police said: “Preliminary findings indicate that the vehicle was traveling southbound on Middlefield Road and began to turn right onto Prior Lane when it was involved in a collision with a bicyclist who was also traveling southbound in the designated bicycle lane. Emergency medical personnel transported the bicyclist to a nearby hospital, where they were sadly pronounced deceased a short time later.”
Winston – I’m sorry butyou are off your rocker! Dylan was in a bike lane going straight down Middlefield Road. The Green Waste truck turned right and took him to his death. Yes – I have seen garbage trucks drive erratically. And they are like the size of tanks compared to a bicycle so they are responsible for making sure there is nothing in their path when they turn into a bike lane. It’s just common sense!
The bike coalition routinely assigns blame usually telling everyone to SLOW DOWN even when the person is saying they were PARKED or at a FULL STOP.
Their reactions are reflexive and as irrational as their claims “no one wants cars” any more — a claim that mainly helps developers who don’t want to provide parking because it’s not profitable to them — too bad about all the surrounding neighbors who have to absorb the parking!
GreenWaste is responsible for Dylan’s untimely death . . . NOT traffic, NOT bike lanes, NOT city planning. Why has GreenWaste not made a public comment? What is Menlo Park’s police department not naming the company as the responsible party in this unecessary death to a 30 year old public servant? The questions we should be asking are these:
What is Greenwaste doing to ensure that its trucks are properly retrofitted with appropriate safety features? Today’s cars have warning lights, steering wheels that vibrate and brakes that slam when in close proximity to an object. Are these massive death trips not equipped with the same? IIf so, how found this have happened?
What are the company’s standard operating procedures for their drivers entering bike lanes?
Why hasn’t Greenwaste stepped up to make a public statement? Its the respectable thing to do!
As a long-time motorcyclist, I don’t trust car drivers. When I occasionally ride a bicycle I will not ride on Alma. Never. On Middlefield, El Camino, Embarcadero, I’m riding on the sidewalk, slower (and illegal) but better than getting hit by a drunk driver, driver distracted by his phone or a driver who should have his DL pulled (not suggesting any of that was involved in this sad tragedy).
The consequences need to be increased dramatically.
No more 90 days probation or community service. Termination (not suspension) of driver’s license. In some cases incarceration. Give negligent drivers what drunk drivers get when they accidentally kill a cyclist or pedestrian. I think some are charged with Manslaughter. If it involves a fatality, is the cause of negligence still relevant? Harsh consequences are the best way to alter behavior. Take inspiration from MADD 40 years ago. Drunk drivers used to get a slap on the wrist.
I don’t understand why the bicyclist wasn’t able to stop and avoid the garbage truck? How did he not see thar huge truck?
Winston, shut up!!! You’re destroying the narrative. In a bike fatality, the driver of the car or truck is ALWAYS at fault. It’s wrong to even bring up the issue of personal responsibility when it comes to cyclists. They’re never to blame! I’d elaborate but I’m trying to find a “ghost bike” to eoll out there to memorize the narrative.
@Bike Activist. what an incredibly illogical statement that the driver is ALWAYS at fault. It’s the same type of nonsense where the activists scream SLOW down at PARKED or STOPPED cars.
Your bias is showing and it’s absurd.
Why attack Winston’s point that smart bicyclists avoid dangerous and busy streets when that’s REALITY, not silly virtue signalling untruths aka LIES that no one wants or uses cars???
Stop making everyone’s lives more dangerous by pushing bike lanes on our busiest roads! It’s dangerous and costly and will cost even more when the bike lanes have to be removed like they’re being removed elsewhere when smart communities realize how flawed the plan was.
Winston and jam: imagine you are the family of Dylan Taylor or one of the students whose daily lives he made better by *always* being one of those people to reach out, chat with you when you’ve had a hard day at school, make you feel valued — as he did with my 5th grade son two years ago. Your decision to hijack the comments to become a political “bikes vs cars” narrative strikes many of us as not just irrelevant (Who was on here shouting “ALl cars should be banned – arrrrkhh I’m looneytunes! let’s ride horses instead!!” before you jumped on with your comments?!) but also horribly callous. “Why was Dylan riding so close to the garbage truck?” you ask. I mean, are you really that dense? The garbage truck goes at a faster speed than a bike, yes? So perhaps Dylan was riding along, the garbage truck rode up beside him in the car lane also going south and then passed him, as tends to happen when one vehicle goes faster than the other. THEN, garbage truck turns onto Prior Lane, but instead of easing into the bike lane to make the turn, turns *across* the lane. Dylan, on his bike, is unable to brake fast enough to avoid colliding into the garbage truck, which is huge. That could have been how it happened — or the driver of the truck pulled into the bike lane just before Prior Ln and didn’t see Dylan and knocked him off the bike. It is **SHAMEFUL** of you to suggest Dylan did something wrong here. None of us knows the facts exactly, but to even suggest for a minute that Dylan was biking anything but safely and according to the law when he was struck and killed is abhorrent. You shouldn’t make this comment about any cyclist, even if they were a dope of a person and cruel to others. It still wouldn’t have been their fault You just happen to be making this comment about someone who was a truly special human who lifted kids up and made them feel seen. Take your political nonsense elsewhere, please.
The Menlo Park longtime resident who possesses the moral high ground says he speaks for “many of us” … really? Did you do a poll? How many are you? Or is that just a BS phrase you added to give your weak argument some credibility?
You say, “The garbage truck goes at a faster speed than a bike, yes?” Have you seen a garbage truck before? They are so slow that cars back up behind them.
You say, “It is **SHAMEFUL** of you to suggest Dylan did something wrong here.” You have no accident report or information beyond what appears in this article, but yet you’re willing to blame the garbage truck driver. Isn’t that shameful?
You say, “to even suggest for a minute that Dylan was biking anything but safely and according to the law when he was struck and killed is abhorrent.” How do you know that? Did the police call you up and give you inside information that nobody else has?
You say, “(Dylan) was a truly special human who lifted kids up and made them feel seen.” Who is disputing that?
You say, “Take your political nonsense elsewhere, please.” It’s not political to say that the blame could have gone both ways, since we don’t know the facts. You’re being political by insisting the bicyclist is absolutely right and the driver is absolutely wrong. You’ve already decided without any evidence based on your preconceived beliefs. If that isn’t political, I don’t know what is.
What about the garbage truck driver? Let’s say he’s completely innocent. I think it would be **SHAMEFUL** to blame him for this tragedy, wouldn’t you agree?
Winston,
I am one of his student and I know him and i think everyone who knows him is going to say that he was probably driving safely on his bike to my school and i think its mostly the truck drivers at fault because he hit him its not like Mr.Taylor tryed to kill him self he helped me not to kill myself so you should just shut up
Winston, I fear that you are a great example of a keyboard warrior who doesn’t have much contact with others. You take the story of a human man who was killed–and the shock of the loss of this individual reverberates around the community–and turn it into a rant. Do us a favor, head over to Menlo-Atherton High School’s newspaper site and read a bit about the human who was lost last week, Dylan.
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Additionally, a visit to the ultimate frisbee page shows a post from his father that says the truck cut him off and he ran into it and was then run over by its rear tires. Please, please consider the human life lost and consider that his friends and family may read what you write. Maybe you want to think whatever you like and if some bike coalition comes around and starts making changes to bike/car laws, post something on *THAT* page, not one so soon after this tragic event and when people are so raw from the loss of an amazing human being.
Watch the bike coalition turn this human tragedy into an argument for traffic calming. They’re already talking about those “right hooks” trucks take. The pressure on the city council will be next. Sad to see how tragedies are hijacked by political people.
The bicycle coalition has already conned the gullible Atherton Town Council into reducing El Camino from three lanes to two. That’s going to cause traffic backups and put more bikers on a highway that is unsafe for them. Every chance they get, they push to make it harder for drivers to get from Point A to Point B. What once was a 5 minute trip in Palo Alto now takes 15 minutes due to the “traffic calming”.