Weeks after appearing before the same Carlsbad City Council to call for traffic safety -- and with a tragedy in between -- a husband who lost his wife in a deadly electric bicycle crash once again stood before the council with an emotional plea to take action.
"I said [weeks prior], 'Let's save a life.' That's how I ended it. Now here I am, trying to save another life because my wife's life is lost," Bob Embree, a firefighter/paramedic said during a public forum at Tuesday's Carlsbad City Council meeting.
"We were supposed to live 40 more years together. We were supposed to grow old and gray. My daughter, who's running around, doesn't have a mom. No one should have to suffer. Please don't let my wife's loss of life go in vain."
A week prior, his wife, 35-year-old Christine Hawk Embree and their 16-month-old daughter were struck by a Toyota 4-Runner while riding an electric bicycle near the intersection of Basswood Avenue at Valley Street.
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"Never in a million years did I think three weeks later my wife would be hit by a 42-year-old female who lived in the neighborhood traveling approximately 40 miles-per-hour and blew a stop sign," Bob Embree said. "Thank God my daughter didn't die. But my wife wasn't so lucky."
Carlsbad police said the driver stayed at the scene and was cooperating with their investigation. Police did not confirm if the driver ran a stop sign or was speeding, but did say alcohol or drugs were not a factor in the crash.
Bob Embree said Christine had 12 broken ribs, two punctured lungs and her vital organs destroyed. She miraculously was able to speak with paramedics on the way to the Scripps Memorial Hospital, he said. She didn't survive much longer.
"Two trauma surgeons with a combined 70 years experience said it was the worst trauma they had ever seen," Bob Embree said.
Surrounded by family, he shared his story on Tuesday to ask the city council for more traffic safety measures on Carlsbad roads -- speed bumps, roundabouts, dips or reflectors.
"It's not the sleepy beach community it was 30 years ago," he said. "We have to evolve with the times. We build more and more, it's the way of the times, I understand it. But we have to slow people down."
Bob Embree and his family weren't the only ones to call the city council to prioritize traffic safety. Residents from other neighborhoods noted speeding drivers down streets outside his home and another brought up a second deadly crash involving a bicyclist that occurred about a week after Christine Embree's deadly crash. On Monday, a bicyclist was killed when he was struck by a motorcyclist evading officers along Carlsbad Boulevard.
Carlsbad City Manager Scott Chadwick acknowledged the deadly crashes and addressed the family's concerns. He said while both crashes remain under investigation, city staff has been directed to collect speed traffic and collision data for the areas of both crashes. The Carlsbad Police Department has also been asked to utilize all resources necessary to investigate the crash.
Efforts to address traffic problems in the city are underway, Chadwick said. The city's Residential Traffic Management Program connects neighborhoods with engineers to determine what short-term solutions can be utilized to combat speeding and other issues. So far, the city has completed work with 10 neighborhoods and is working to start several other projects, Chadwick said.
In the long-term, the city plans to implement its mobility plan, which will add things like crosswalks and bike lanes across the city to address the shift in traffic patterns in Carlsbad.
