By admin 
Sunflowers and daisies were woven Wednesday night into the spokes of a white-painted bicycle set up on the shoulder of Hutchison Drive where 20-year-old Lincoln Sabini was struck and killed while riding.
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Friends and loved ones of the avid cyclist and UC Davis student filled the westbound lane of the road, encircling the memorial located feet away from a university housing complex. His parents, Keith Sabini and Rucha Powers, leaned on each other in the center.
The group of about 50 cyclists had biked to the road as part of the worldwide “Ride of Silence” honoring all cyclists who have been injured or killed on roads. The Davis crowd specifically paid tribute to Lincoln Sabini and two other local cyclists who had been killed in crashes. Beneath some of the mourners’ feet were skid marks that community members said follow the path of the vehicle that struck Lincoln Sabini on April 13.
Following his death, community members have rallied around his family and pushed, even more than before, for improvements to be made along the western portion of Hutchison Drive.
The section of the road, located on campus’ western fringe, was described by many cyclists as a dangerous spot.
“I’ve known for a long time that that area of UC Davis campus is not bike-friendly whatsoever,” six-year Davis Bike Collective volunteer Shaw said. “When Lincoln got hit on that section of road, everything became painfully obvious that something needed to change.
“And it was long overdue,” he added.
Community members and cycling advocates, including Shaw, have banded together to develop road safety improvements and convince university leaders that changes need to be made to prevent another death.
The crash
A vehicle hit Sabini about 3 p.m. on Hutchison Drive near the West Village housing area, the university said the next day in a news release.
According to his parents, Sabini was astride an orange cargo bike and was headed in the same direction as the vehicle that hit him. He was cycling toward Jennifer Funk’s Lab in the west research fields — it was his first day assisting with the sheep, Powers said.
Authorities said in the release that Sabini was pronounced dead after being taken by ambulance to Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center. Medical officials, Powers said, told her family a more nuanced story.
“We do believe that he died on impact,” Powers said, according to what an on-site EMT told her later. “Died later at the hospital sounds like he had a chance, and he really didn’t.”
“The doctor was pretty clear about that,” Keith Sabini said.
UC Davis police have released few additional details since announcing the crash in April, and a university spokesperson earlier this month declined to answer further questions about the investigation.
About 40 hours after the collision, Shaw said he went out to the crash site and found skid marks in the bike lane and orange markings that appear to have been left by investigators, indicating the path of the vehicle and where it came to a stop. On April 21, Shaw posted a video of the area on the Instagram account justice4lincoln, which has been used to get the word out about the road’s condition.
“There’s even blood on the road,” Shaw said.
He found Sabini’s nose ring in the dirt.
Lincoln Sabini
Sabini grew up in Sacramento. He graduated from C.K. McClatchy High School, where he swam competitively and played water polo. He started at UC Davis in the fall of 2024, studying sustainable agriculture and food systems.
“I think Lincoln really was excited to follow in his dad’s footsteps and be an Aggie,” Powers said. Keith Sabini graduated from the university in 2004.
At the university, Lincoln Sabini worked on the student farm, was a member of the triathlon sports club and was a swimming instructor with campus recreation. Outside of school, he was involved with the Davis Bike Collective and generally had a knack for making friends and building community.
Billy Goater, a second-year UC Davis student, said he introduced himself to Sabini during orientation.
“We were thick as thieves ever since that moment,” he said. “He just had the most intoxicating smiley energy.”
Fourth-year student Kaya Kurtz met Sabini through the triathlon team, and though she didn’t know him well, he always made her feel seen.
“He would just remember things that you would tell him,” Kurtz said. “You could just tell he’s very attentive and notices the small details.”
Sabini was an active cyclist, having grown that love during many family vacations outdoors at Manresa State Beach, his parents said. Some family friends would join for the trip, including Sabini’s best friend since kindergarten, Singer Soules, and his parents, Bryon and Rachael Soules.
Singer Soules described his friend as a “genuine” and “moral” person who will be remembered for “the amount of good that he put into the world.”
During his freshman year, Sabini biked every day from his parents’ home in south Sacramento to the UC Davis Medical Center, took the bus to campus and rode his bike all day, Powers said. Some days he would cycle the full ride to campus.
He had good style, Powers said Wednesday night while wearing a pair of his old Realtree camo pants.
He was inquisitive, loved school and wanted to make the world a better place. He spent a lot of time thinking about sustainable practices.
“He was really dedicated to reducing his carbon footprint and doing things that improved the situation in the world,” Keith Sabini said. “It’s really hard when you lose someone like that.”
‘Terrifying road’
Local cyclists described Hutchison Drive west of Highway 113 as a road that is only traveled when necessary. The unprotected bike lane, 45 mph speed limit and the types of vehicles that pass through the area make it dangerous for cyclists and worth avoiding if possible.
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“It’s a terrifying road to bike down because cars are flying past you, and they do not swerve out of the way for you,” Kurtz said. “(And) it’s not just cars, it’s trucks, it’s cars with trailers, it’s tractors, it’s oversized vehicles.”
The crash that killed Lincoln Sabini specifically occurred near the southern edge of The Green apartment complex for the West Village. The neighborhood, according to UC Davis’ website, is advertised as a “distinctive place to live in a pedestrian oriented, bike-friendly energy efficient environment.”
Many different university facilities, including the California National Primate Research Center and the UC Davis Agronomy Field Headquarters, also border Hutchison Drive on the west campus. So some cycling students are not able to divert their path.
Laura Roser, a university staff researcher focusing on plant breeding projects, said depending on the season she could have to bike on Hutchison Drive every week to check on her field. But she said she chooses a slightly longer, safer route when she can.
“Even though it’s slower, we’ll go up and around through West Village,” Roser said. “Even though it’s a little bit out of our way.”
For some students, classes take place in spots that would be inaccessible without using Hutchison Drive, Goater said.
“There is a whole series of ‘hands on’ animal science classes out there that are major requirements for me and Linc. Classes we had to take to graduate,” he said in a message Friday. “The only way to get out to that zone was by taking Hutch.”
Logan Ley, a second-year student and close friend of Sabini, said he works at a germplasm repository that can be difficult to get to without using Hutchison Drive. The day Sabini died, he was biking on the road’s shoulder.
“I almost got swept off the road by a gust from a car,” Ley said.
The Lincoln Loop
Advocates want protected and separated bike lanes along Hutchison Drive. Specifically, they are pushing for the construction of what they have dubbed the “Lincoln Loop” — a connected loop of bike lanes along Road 98, Hopkins Road and Hutchison Drive.
It would be “a bike and pedestrian corridor that connects Putah Creek to West Village, providing safe passage for commuters and recreationalists,” according to a mass email message compiled by advocates. The email is automatically addressed to officials such as Chancellor Gary May and the email address for the Moving Forward Together project, which is a sustainable transportation plan made using more than a year of community feedback.
Shaw started a Change.org petition for protected bike lanes that has garnered just over 4,400 signatures. There have also been a series of bike rides commemorating Sabini and highlighting the conditions of Hutchison Road. At the ”Ride of Silence,” the Davis riders paid specific tribute to Sabini, as well as Julie Veress, a 60-year-old nurse who was killed in a March crash with an e-bike rider, and Trisha Yasay, who was struck and killed by a garbage truck on Hutchison Drive near Dairy Road in 2022.
Supporters of the Lincoln Loop, including Shaw, also spoke at a public town hall meeting held in late April by the university’s design and construction management department.
Some of the bike lane sections for the loop would be on roads outside the university’s jurisdiction, such as Road 98. So community members organized a meeting with Yolo County Supervisor Lucas Frerichs, whose district includes Davis and southwest Yolo County, and Congressman Mike Thompson, who represents part of Yolo County.
Thompson said in an emailed statement that he is scheduled to meet next week with university administrators, “and I know from our preliminary meetings that they are taking this seriously and are committed to keeping students and faculty safe.”
University spokesperson James Michael Nash said by email that UC Davis “has been in communication” with Lincoln Sabini’s family and “are aware of their support for Lincoln’s Loop and appreciate their thoughtful and heartfelt advocacy.”
Powers confirmed she received a letter of condolences signed by Chancellor May this month. She and her husband requested a meeting with May, which is scheduled for next week. They have already met with the vice chancellor of student affairs.
“Many thoughtful proposals for safety enhancements and ideas on ways to honor Lincoln have been submitted to UC Davis leadership,” Nash said. “UC Davis constantly evaluates information, such as community input and collision investigation reports, to inform our approach to designing safer transit corridors and educational efforts for our community. We will continue to utilize this process and apply it to all of our transportation network.”
The university, Nash said, will be considering crash investigation findings when making long-term decisions regarding Hutchison Drive.
Shaw said he and others are determined to facilitate change and make it safer for cyclists on the road.
Back on the bike
The feeling of freedom you get on a bike, Bryon Soules said, is something bicyclists experience all over again after a long pause from the practice.
Soules brought sunflowers to the memorial ride on Wednesday. The brightly colored flowers bounced on the back of his bike as he described watching Sabini grow up around campfires and in canoes. When they had arrived at Sabini’s ghost bike, he pushed some stems into the spokes.
UC Davis has long been considered a bike-friendly campus. Last year it was once again awarded platinum status from the League of American Bicyclists, indicating its commitment to “safe, accessible and innovative bicycle programs,” according to a university news release.
And outside the university, the cycling community is strong, convening at spots such as the Davis Bike Collective and Davis Bike Club.
Cycling is part of what brought Lincoln Sabini to his community. It helped keep him active and reduce his carbon footprint. It’s not something he planned to stop doing and something he wanted others to do too, to experience that freedom.
“For a life to be lost simply because someone was pursuing something as simple as a passion like that… that’s just disappointing,” Singer Soules said.
If the university is to continue encouraging people to jump on a bike, Shaw said, it needs to make sure all parts of campus are safe.
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