Sunnyvale councilmember injured in bike collision

A Sunnyvale official’s recent bicycle accident is reigniting concerns about traffic safety.

Sunnyvale Councilmember Richard Mehlinger was hit by a car while riding his bike on California Avenue Aug. 30, breaking his left thumb and right wrist. Mehlinger, a staunch traffic safety advocate, said the incident shows the necessity and urgency of installing safety infrastructure.

“There wasn’t a bike lane, so I was having to bicycle in traffic, and that’s why I got hit,” Mehlinger told San José Spotlight. “Frankly, I’m really lucky to be alive.”

Despite being a minor crash, Mehlinger said the two-month recovery time and financial requirements could be devastating for someone without insurance.

There have been 11 pedestrian or cyclist fatalities on Sunnyvale’s streets since 2020 — and hundreds of injuries. In the first six months of 2025, there were two deaths and 36 injuries, according to a Department of Public Safety presentation.

The City Council passed a Vision Zero traffic safety plan in 2019 that aims to halve fatalities and serious injuries by 2029. But after six years, the city hasn’t reduced the trend of injury-sustaining crashes, according to a July 17 update presented to the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission.

Sharlene Liu, founder of the advocacy group Sunnyvale Safe Streets, said the city needs to implement traffic safety measures faster by cutting study time and casting a broader net for funding. The bike lanes being added to Tasman Drive will provide physical protection from traffic, but may take years to be installed due to lack of funds.

Sunnyvale’s Active Transportation Plan, approved in 2020, proposes 17.1 miles of physically protected bike lanes on major roads throughout the city. The city is far from that goal, with less than 1 mile constructed.

Liu’s organization is advocating for bike lanes on Hollenbeck Avenue, which councilmembers are expected to vote on in November. These bike lanes won’t have physical barriers from traffic, but Liu said it’s better than nothing. She said there are concerns about removing parking on Hollenbeck Avenue, which may prevent the lanes from being installed.

“I’m just really frustrated with this going back and forth, and there’s a very real danger that we’re not going to get safe bike lanes on Hollenbeck despite our experiences with all these crashes,” Liu told San José Spotlight. “We as a city are really dragging our feet.”

She also said the city has many Class 3B bike lanes known as “sharrows,” which have bicycles and cars sharing a lane on quieter, residential streets. Liu said this is unsafe, as it relies on drivers giving cyclists the right of way.

City spokesperson Jennifer Garnett said the city remains committed to fulfilling its traffic safety plans.

“The accident Councilmember Mehlinger was in reminds us all to drive, ride and walk with safety first,” Garnett told San José Spotlight. “We can all help prevent accidents when we pay attention, slow down and follow the rules of the road.”

California Avenue, the road where Mehlinger’s accident occurred, has one lane of traffic with a second lane for street parking on both sides. Bryce Beagle, a member of the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission, said the city has many roads like this and has to remove the parking to install bike lanes — like on Hollenbeck Avenue. Beagle agreed bikes sharing a lane with cars is unsafe.

“The city is trying to make improvements and they have a plan … but it’s being really impeded by parking in a lot of scenarios,” Beagle told San José Spotlight.
Beagle said the city has been moving faster on transportation safety projects this year, but full installation will likely take years. He said quick-build methods could be used in the interim, which are cheaper to install while still adding some level of protection.

Mehlinger said the crash has made him even more committed to moving these safety projects forward.

“This was on a quiet street on a quiet day,” he told San José Spotlight. “I want to acknowledge that we’ve made real strides over the past few years, but the lack of safety infrastructure comes with a real human cost.”

Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X.