An early Monday morning crash between a vehicle and a bicyclist in Riverbank left the bicycle rider with fatal injuries.
California Highway Patrol officers out of Modesto responded to the scene on Terminal Avenue north of Plainview Road shortly after 4:30 a.m. on July 8. Officers said the bicyclist, a man still unidentified as of press time for The News, was riding his bicycle in the northbound lane of Terminal Avenue north of Plainview Road without a helmet. He also did not have any reflective clothing on and the bicycle was not equipped with lighting.
A 21-year-old Riverbank man, driving his 1993 Jeep Cherokee northbound on Terminal Avenue, saw the bicyclist directly in front of his vehicle at the last moment, said the CHP. The driver applied his brakes but was unable to avoid striking the bicyclist from behind, the right front side of the Jeep colliding with the rider. The bicyclist was ejected from the bike and came to rest along the east dirt shoulder area of the roadway.
According to the CHP report, the bicyclist sustained fatal injuries in the crash and was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The Jeep driver was not injured and he was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash.
Identification of the bicyclist was still pending as of Tuesday morning.
The collision remains under investigation.