8 people have died in bike-vs.-car crashes in SLO County since 2021
San Luis Obispo County has seen a string of vehicle-vs.-bicycle collisions over the past five years, ranging from minor injuries to deadly hit-and-run crashes.
Below is a summary of recent fatal and non-fatal cases reported by The Tribune.
Here are key takeaways:
Fatal crashes:
- Gregory Koch, a 64-year-old from Long Beach, was struck and killed by a vehicle near Edna Valley at the intersection of Orcutt Road and Tiffany Ranch Road around noon on May 20, 2026.
- Cyclist Saul Goldberg, 87, of Avila Beach, died after a July 23, 2024, hit-and-run on South Higuera Street, and Vanessa Noblitt, 44, was later arrested on charges including felony vehicular manslaughter and felony DUI. Martin Suits, 73, of Avila Beach, was riding with Goldberg but sustained only minor to moderate injuries.
- Michelle L. Seybert, a 57-year-old Grover Beach nurse, was struck on her bike Jan. 1, 2024, by an SUV driven by 74-year-old Richard J. Grandi and died 12 days later; Grandi was charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.
- Sean Ogawa Hillman, a 20-year-old Cal Poly freshman from Seattle, died on April 24, 2023, three days after a pickup truck collided with his bicycle at Grand Avenue and Fredericks Street in San Luis Obispo.
- Gavin Matthew Robinson, 22, of San Luis Obispo, was killed Feb. 11, 2023, after being struck by two vehicles at South Higuera Street and Prado Road in SLO. Eduardo Torres, 29, was later arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter after fleeing the scene of the Robinson crash.
- 58-year-old Diego Cuevas Jr., a cyclist from San Luis Obispo, was killed Nov. 17, 2022, after swerving from a bike lane into westbound traffic on the 12200 block of Los Osos Valley Road.
- A 29-year-old Arroyo Grande man on an electric bike died July 27, 2022, after crashing into a Five Cities Fire Authority fire truck at Trouville Avenue and 13th Street in Grover Beach.
- Andreas Kooi, a 23-year-old incoming Cal Poly graduate student, was killed while biking on Aug. 6, 2021, when a 17-year-old driver struck him on Foothill Boulevard and fled the scene. The 17-year-old driver in the Kooi crash was arrested on felony hit-and-run and DUI charges after officers found her damaged vehicle parked on Rockview Place.
Non-fatal crashes:
- A 12-year-old riding an e-bike without a helmet was critically injured May 9, 2026, after colliding with a car at Spooner Drive and Welsh Court near DeVaul Park and was flown to an out-of-area trauma center.
- A helmeted cyclist suffered minor injuries Feb. 5, 2026, after being struck by a car on South Higuera Street near the South Street intersection in San Luis Obispo.
- A 56-year-old e-bike rider without a helmet suffered severe head trauma Dec. 2, 2025, after being hit by a Subaru Outback near Broad and South streets in San Luis Obispo.
- A 21-year-old Cal Poly student on a bicycle was hospitalized Oct. 30, 2025, after crashing into a Mercedes SUV at Highland Drive and Highway 1.
- A cyclist walking a bike was struck and dragged about 30 feet down Broad Street on May 6, 2025, by a pickup truck whose driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI of narcotics.
- A bicyclist suffered moderate to severe injuries Dec. 4, 2023, after being hit by a vehicle on Fair Oaks Avenue near Valley Road in Arroyo Grande.
- A 73-year-old Arroyo Grande woman was seriously injured July 20, 2021, after she was knocked off her bike by a commercial truck’s side mirror on South Bay Boulevard in Los Osos.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.
Chloe Shrager
The Tribune