A bicyclist has died after being struck by a speeding Porsche near the four corners intersection by Alice’s Restaurant in Woodside, the CHP said today (July 15).
The crash happened on Saturday at 11:25 a.m., when the 28-year-old driver of a black Porsche speeding on northbound on Skyline Boulevard, lost control of their vehicle, crashing into Jakub Solovsky, 34, of East Palo Alto.
Solovksy was declared dead at the scene, according to the CHP.
The driver of the Porsche was not injured and cooperated with officers at the scene, said CHP Officer Sophie Lu.
The CHP is still investigating the crash, Lu said.
However, this crash occurs less than a year after bicyclist Eric Biron, 53, of Redwood City, died after being hit by a pickup truck on Aug. 29 near the intersection.
Biron’s death spurred Andy and Jamie Kerr, the owners of Alice’s Restaurant, to start a petition asking Caltrans to set a 25 mph speed limit at the intersection.
The petition was signed by 543 residents from Woodside and Portola Valley, Woodside officials said at a February meeting on the matter. At that meeting, the Woodside Town Council agreed to send a letter to Caltrans asking to set a 25 mph speed limit along with its other plans to improve the intersection.
During a meeting in October, Acting Caltrans Chief Safety Officer Inder Preet Singh said that plans are to add more stop and warning signs to help people better navigate and anticipate where and when cars are going. There are also plans to replace deteriorating signs, repaint streets and add a flashing beacon crosswalk.
Dr Jakub Solovsky was a beloved cyclist, scientist, and community member. Life ended by a reckless driver. I hope justice prevails.
Bicyclists on Skyline Boulevard have a death wish. If you insist on biking on this dangerous road, be careful and look out for cars. There are many places where cars can’t see you until it’s too late. Find another place to bike.
I agree skyline is dangerous place to ride but the Porsche was clearly speeding and driving recklessly. Hopefully he is prosecuted.
Or maybe drivers obey the law. Murder chargers are in order because the driver was driving at a high rate of speed. If he was impaired he would have been arrested on the spot, but since he rich he drive away from the scene in his murder weapon
“but since he rich he drive away from the scene in his murder weapon” Do you have any proof that this driver was treated differently because he was driving a Porsche? Please provide that proof.
More victim blaming. Bicycles have a right to use the rode, no users of the roads have a right to treat the roads as a personal play ground and use them in irresponsible ways that endanger the people they are sharing the road with.
I’m accustomed to murder suspects to be named in news articles. Why is this not being reported?
Because the Porsche driver hasn’t been arrested. I guess you’ve just started reading newspapers and don’t know about these things. Go to the story above the truck driver. Notice he was named because he was arrested. If the Porsche driver is arrested, I’m sure the paper will list his name. (You ought to start reading newspapers. You’d be surprised at the things you don’t know.)
This is a great thread. The bicycling community is really a hive-mind that makes decisions about a driver’s guilt or innocence without any evidence. To them, it is impossible for a bike to veer into the path of a car. It’s always the fault of the car’s driver. This logic is on display every time a bicyclist is killed. Then, when a DA looks at the facts and decides not to bring charges, they go berserk. They turn the death into a grotesque political cause. They wheel out that white bicycle and put it on private property near the accident scene, and won’t allow the property owner to remove it. They never sit back and wait for the facts to emerge.
The above comment is a great comment. Cyclist haters are always ready to imply things about the cyclist culpability without any evidence. To them, it is impossible that a cyclist is a safe cyclist who did everything right and was harmed in the worst way possible by a reckless driver.
The article above clearly states that the Porsche driver lost control of the vehicle.
[Portion removed. Terms of Use violation. Please don’t quote from other publications.]
I agree that not all cyclists ride safely, but this one did, and we should all get our facts straight before spewing toxic hate online.
It’s not always the fault of the motorist. Remember Andrea Vallebueno who was hit and killed on the Holly Street overpass in San Carlos a couple of years ago? The bike advocates wanted the driver’s head on a stick. But the DA looked at the facts and decided not to charge the driver, despite the shrill protests of the bicycle advocates. Thank God the DA never released the motorist’s name or the bike freaks would have doxxed him and destroyed his life — even though he was innocent.
My husband & I used to bike to HMB every weekend. The corner 84 and Skyline was always dangerous with speedy drivers. Bicyclist on the other hand do ride in pairs, side by side. On a winding road it’s very dangerous. There are more cars on 84 and Skyline now, we all need to be cautious about our safety. As for us, we’ve stopped biking that route. Rest in Peace to the cyclist. He was too young to be taken away
Anonymous, are you privy to facts that the rest of us don’t know about?
All I’m saying is wait for the evidence before deciding. Don’t declare the driver guilty now based on what you’ve read in one press account.
Hello Observer, yes actually, I have read many accounts (you can do a search) and my facts come from various reputable sources. I tried to cite above but it was removed. You probably should have chosen a different case to push your anti-cyclist agenda.
It’s fair to encourage everyone to wait for evidence before making judgements, but you don’t know that people didn’t do that, because in this case the evidence really is on the side of the bicyclist. Especially given such a context, your toxic comment is extremely disrespectful to the deceased.
Anonymous claims to have read many accounts.
Let’s count them.
There’s the press release from the CHP (not the accident report, just a press release).
The DA hasn’t filed anything, so you won’t find an account at the courthouse. Trial lawyers representing the family haven’t filed any suit, so we don’t have their version of events.
Two newspapers and two TV stations have posted accounts of the accident, but those accounts are based entirely on the CHP press release.
The bicyclist community is fond of advancing their theories on blogs and through social media, but what is that based on? Speculation? Actual reporting? First-hand interviews of eyewitnesses? I don’t see anything like that.
So the only thing we’ve got at this point is the CHP press release.
Please, Mr. Anonymous, interrupt me if you have some additional hidden source of knowledge.
The truth is — you don’t have anything beyond the CHP press release.
Accident reconstruction experts will be able to tell us if the bicyclist was traveling along the side of the road or in the middle of a traffic lane. Before convicting the Porsche driver, we should know whether the cyclist was acting responsibly.
For the record, the cyclist is allowed to ride in the “middle of a traffic lane.” On Skyline, where the shoulder area varies widely, this happens all the time. Cars can’t just run you over – they have to be under control and pass safely if they choose.
I don’t know the specific details of this tragic accident but I have ridden with Jakub many times on long difficult rides. In fact, he acted as a ride leader on these routes and I have always seen him bike safely and ride appropriately on the shoulder or far side of the road, especially on dangerous and high traffic roads like Skyline. So yes, I have seen many cyclists taking risks they shouldn’t but from my experience he was definitely not one of them.
Yes, I also knew Jakub and know that he was a safe, skilled, and very aware cyclist. Setting aside the whole thing about the car crossing lanes, the article already says the Porsche was speeding and it lost control. But ok, we can wait for the official report.
To Observer, there is an reddit thread where eye witnesses posted that Porsche was dangerously speeding and lost control at the curve and hit the cyclist on the other side of the road. Assuming that eye witnesses are not lying Porsche driver was reckless and should be charged. As for the trial lawyers, seems like dr Jakub is originally from eastern Europe based on his publication records and it will take time for his family to prosecute the driver.
Well, gosh, if it’s on social media, it’s got to be the truth. Reddit — that’s a reliable source.