The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments is teaming with the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), Active SGV and the California Transportation Commission to open up a second round of funding for ebike vouchers.
A crowdfunding campaign has raised over $700 of the $900 goal to buy a new ebike for an 81-year old El Cajon jokester, who has gained internet fame in a series of viral videos, after the ebike he relied on for transportation was stolen. Which is a damn good reminder that ebikes can provide mobility people long after they stop driving. And for those who should.
They get it. The American Bicycling Education Association calls on the AP to add a section on ebikes to its industry-standard AP Style Book, defining an ebike as having fully operable pedals and an electric motor of 750 watts or less, as well as limited speeds (typically 20–28 mph), suggesting electric motorcycle, electric dirt bike or off-highway electric vehicle for bikes that don’t meet that definition.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for this, or any other fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Officer Diaz or Sergeant Nily at 323/421-2577, 1-877/527-3247 after business hours and weekends. Or anonymously at 1-800/222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.
This should surprise absolutely no one who has been paying attention for the past several years.
Things are not looking good for the completion of the vaunted Twenty-eight by ’28 projects that we were promised would be finished in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Even after the list was dumbed down by removing the hard stuff, like finishing the LA River Bike Path through DTLA and Vernon.
LA released a progress report last month on 18 “open-by-the olympics” street safety + bike/bus lane projects (summer 28’)
Only a single one has started construction and most haven’t even entered the contract/bidding stages!
The driver eventually stopped and called the police, but only after being chased down by a witness, who apparently stopped to pick up the victim’s wife after she had been knocked in a ditch.
Local residents have called for safety improvements following multiple hit-and-runs on the roadway, where speeding is common.
Speaking of which, as promised, and at long last, here are the photos David forwarded from Sunday’s West LA CicLAvia, where I’m told a good time was had by nearly all.
All photos by David Drexler
As an added bonus, he also sent along a reminder why you don’t park under a palm tree on a windy day, spotted outside a Porsche dealership along the route.
Thanks to Megan for forwarding video of the bicyclist who inspired Breaking Away looking back on his victory in the Little 500.
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Local
Finish the Ride and Finish the Run will take place in Griffith Park this weekend to call for safer streets and honor the victims of traffic violence; the events will take on added poignancy as Caitlin Cole, the sister of fallen bicyclist Regan Cole Graham — who was seven months pregnant with her daughter Ophelia when they were both killed in Playa del Rey — will ride Regan’s bike to complete the ride they never finished.
Bad news from East Oakland, where a 38-year old man was in grave condition after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle Monday night; police are looking for the owner of a black Land Rover who just kept going without stopping after striking the victim, who is believed to be homeless. Unfortunately, you’ll have to find a way around the paper’s paywall to read the story.
Streetsblog talks with Josh Naramore of the National Association of City Transportation Officials about how cities can get ready for the robo-taxi revolution, arguing that it can be done without losing momentum on building livable streets for people outside of cars, too, if it’s done right.
Britain’s Ineos Grenadiers Cycling Team will will have a new name and team colors for next month’s Giro d’Italia; they will now be known as the Netcompany Ineos Cycling Team after signing the AI company to a five-year sponsorship agreement.
To be honest, I’m pretty wrung out after writing about our third SoCal bicycling death in just three days.
And I don’t have a lot of time left to work tonight after dealing with all that before my last drop-dead deadline to get some sleep — hopefully not literally. So let’s just see how much we can get done, and try to catch up on more tomorrow.
And that includes the photos I promised you from Sunday’s CicLAvia, so I hope you’ll be patient with me for a few days.
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Mark your calendar for at least two more CicLAvias this year, despite Metro’s threats of cutbacks to future events that would only coincide with the World Cup and the ’28 Olympics.
Police in Santa Monica will conduct yet another of the LA area’s traffic safety enforcement operations targeted at traffic violations that endanger pedestrians and bicyclists today.
As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, because the cops may be focused on motorists, but they’re legally required to enforce any violations they see, regardless of who commits it.
The driver later told sheriff’s deputies “it wasn’t ‘reasonable’ for cyclists to take a whole lane, so ‘he drove into them.'”
“I told him I had video of the incident and offered to show it to him, which he stated he didn’t want to see because he knew he did nothing wrong,” the report says.
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.
He is now being held without bond on two counts of aggravated assault, hit and run, reckless driving, aggressive driving and failure to maintain a safe distance from a bicycle.
Which is a lot of charges for “not doing anything wrong.”
ALERT: 72-year-old man arrested for hitting a group of cyclists after honking and heckling them for taking over the road in Georgia.
Jerry Ross was driving when he pulled up behind a group of 10 cyclists in the road.
Waymo effectivesly tells London bike riders “screw you,” arguing that it’s just too high a bar to expect their autonomous cabs to keep out of bike lanes, because customers want to be dropped off in them. Although the few times I’ve used one, I can’t recall ever being asked whether or not I want to be let out in a bike lane. I can recall getting extremely carsick, however.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Binghampton, New York man faces charges for playing repo man with a baseball bat, beating another man senseless when the victim didn’t pay everything he owed after buying an ebike from him; he then rode off with the bike in question.
You’ll now find a new conservation mural facing the Ballona Creek Bike Path on the ima Members Lounge building on Sepulveda Blvd; created by Victor Ving with support from the League of Conservation Voters, the mural calls for protecting our public lands.
A 26-year old Stockton man was lucky to escape injury when a car pulled up next to him as he was riding his bike, and someone fired a gun out the window.
There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for a Pennsylvania man accused of fleeing the scene after killing a third grader riding a bicycle, while driving under the influence; when police smelled alcohol on his breath after tracking him to his home, he first asked “How can I get a DUI if I have been drinking at my house all day?”, before admitting he’d felt “a bump” while he was driving home.
Heartbreaking news from North Carolina, where a 51-year old man faces multiple charges after he “veered off” a roadway while under the influence of coke, opiates and benzodiazepines, and slammed into a nine-year old boy as he sat on a bike in his own driveway, knocking the kid into retaining wall and severing his leg. Speaking of that pit in hell…
International
Residents of Liverpool, England say they don’t think plans for a five-mile bike lane connecting two other bikeways is popular with locals due to a loss of parking, even though 77% of respondents support it, and 69% say they’ll use it.
The victim, identified only as a 70-year old man, was riding south on PCH when he began to merge left in an apparent attempt to turn left onto Newland Street around 11:50 am. He was struck by a 20-year old driver traveling in the same direction, who stopped following the crash.
Huntington Beach police found the victim lying unconscious in the roadway. Despite the efforts of paramedics, he died at the scene.
Police don’t think drugs or alcohol played a roll in the crash — at least not for the driver.
However, they noted in a press release that it’s “unknown if impairment was a factor with the rider of the bicycle,” which is a very odd statement to make.
It’s not clear what lane the driver was traveling in, or how fast he may have been going. Or why the victim apparently thought he had time to cross the busy roadway, or why police seem to question whether he was under the influence.
Anyone with information is urged to call Traffic Investigator Steve Flynn of the Huntington Beach Police Department at 714/536-5666.
This the 29th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the second we know about in Orange County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
My site was down for some time Sunday night, preventing me from being able to work. Then I had to write about Saturday’s bicycling death in Jefferson Park before I could get to Monday’s post.
So now it’s after 1:30 am, which means if I started now, I wouldn’t get to bed until the sun is coming up and my wife is already up to go to work.
And I’m way too old and cranky for that crap these days.
So come back tomorrow, and we’ll catch up on anything we missed today, including Sunday’s West LA CicLAvia.
The victim, described only as a man around 48-years old, was thrown onto a parked car with enough force to cause significant damage to the rear of the car.
He died at the scene.
The driver fled following the crash. No arrest has been made, and there is currently no description of the suspect vehicle.
There is also no word on how the crash occurred, or where the victim and the driver were located in relation to the intersection.
We also don’t know at this time what kind of ebike the victim was riding; whether it was a Class 1, 2 or 3 ebike, or an e-motorbike or electric dirt bike. An earlier report describes the bike as a motorized or motorbike, but that description was removed from the later update.
The earlier report also describes the victim as 38-years old.
This the 28th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the tenth in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fifth we know about in the City of Los Angeles.
Eight of those deaths have involved hit-and-run drivers.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any fatal hit-and-run driver in the City of Los Angeles.
Update: The victim has been identified only as a 38-year old man, pending notification of next-of-kin, while police are now looking for the owner of a dark-colored Jeep Wrangler, no model year given.
Anyone with information is urged to call Officer Diaz and Sergeant Nily at 323/421-2577, or 1-877/527-3247 during non-business hours. Or call anonymously at 1-800/222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
The victim was riding on the east sidewalk of Sequoia Ave, heading south, when they “failed to stop in time” at the railroad crossing at Sequoia and Los Angeles Ave, and was struck by a passing Amtrak train.
It’s not clear if the victim died at the scene, or was taken to a local hospital.
If the description is accurate, it suggests that the victim tried and failed to stop in time, raising questions of how fast the ebike was going — and what type of ebike a victim that young was riding. As well as why the crossing gates did not provide more warning before the train arrived.
It’s also possible that the victim may not have noticed the gates were down, or could have tried to go around the gates after they had been lowered.
Either way, it’s a needless tragedy that will be felt throughout the community.
Anyone with information is urged to call Simi Valley Police Department Traffic Investigator Abel Martinez at 805/583-6224, or email AMartinez@simivalley.org. Or contact Simi Valley Police Department Traffic Supervisor Sergeant Josh McAlister at 805/583-6940, email JMcAlister@simivalley.org.
This the 27th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the fourth in Ventura County.
That compares to three all year last year, and two the year before.
According to KCBS-2, he was riding a Class 3 ped-assist ebike, which could have legally reached speeds up to 28 mph. And as Christian points out below, he was riding on the sidewalk that would have faced traffic, so the traffic arm would have been on the opposite side of the railroad tracks.
“He was a beloved son, brother, teammate and a true friend to so many,” the post says. “His love for the game was evident every time he stepped on the field, but it was his kindness, his energy and his unforgettable smile that truly made him special.”
A memorial has been set up inside Simi Valley’s Sinaloa Middle School, where he was in the 7th grade.
The ride takes place on the last Friday of every month on the corner of Western and Wilshire across from The Wiltern. Routes change monthly, turning each ride into a moving tour of the city. Some rides head west toward Marina del Rey, others east toward Mariachi Plaza, passing through neighborhoods that rarely feel connected outside of car travel.
As the ride moves through different neighborhoods, it often brings energy — and customers — to local businesses along the route as riders stop for food, drinks and supplies throughout the evening.
By my calculations, that means it rolls tonight, making it a perfect kickoff for CicLAvia weekend.
In addition to pledging affordable housing for all and protecting Angelenos from ICE and harassing landlords, she offers an extensive section on transportation and traffic safety, including this:
Angelenos are tired of sitting in traffic, feeling unsafe on their streets, and navigating broken sidewalks. We’ve voted for real change — Measure R (2008) and Measure M (2016) committed $120B to the expansion of rail and transit across the county, and Measure HLA (2024) mandated that street safety improvements happen when streets get repaved, not decades later. We’ve been waiting for City Hall to deliver on those promises with the urgency they deserve. Los Angeles moves too slowly, spends too inefficiently, plans too haphazardly, and acts too timidly to give people the transportation network they’ve already voted for…
Since 2015, Los Angeles has had a Vision Zero policy, a commitment that no one should die on our streets from traffic violence. Instead, traffic deaths have risen by more than 50%. It has never been treated as a genuine priority. Walking, biking, and driving are all less safe than they should be.
Residential streets are overwhelmed by cut-through traffic. Bike lanes lack physical protection. Roads are too fast and crosswalks are too few. Every time the city repaves a street without fixing any of this, we miss the cheapest chance we’ll ever get to make it safer.
And enforcement is aimed at the wrong things. LAPD spends too much time on pretextual stops and equipment violations that have nothing to do with the dangerous driving that is actually killing people.
That’s a damn good start, especially after four years of Mayor Bass ignoring bike and pedestrian safety on our streets, and dragging her foot, if not her ass, on implementing Measure HLA.
But we’ve heard promises like this before, most recently from former Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was great at formulating policy, and not so much on follow through. So what matters isn’t what a candidate says, but what actually ends up in the city budget.
And we won’t know that until after she, or someone else, is elected.
Things are looking good for Raman, though, with betting on the Kalshi prediction market showing her with a good chance of winning on the first vote.
And yes, betting is the right word, since Kalshi and similar sites are just semi-legal workarounds for online betting bans in the US.
A bill sponsored by the California Medical Association (CMA) that aims to reduce the growing number of severe electric bicycle (e-bike) injuries advanced out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
Joint-authored by Assemblymembers Lori Wilson and Marc Berman, and co-sponsored by the California Orthopaedic Association, AB 2346 establishes speed limits for e-bikes (15 mph for riders under 16 years old and 10 mph on sidewalks) and would allow local jurisdictions to set speed limits on bike paths and multi-use trails. It would also require manufacturers, sellers, and distributors of e-bikes to equip e-bikes with speedometers and lights and provide safety-related disclosures to consumers at the point of sale.
It seems relatively harmless, primarily affecting kids under 16.
The question is whether ebike makers will respond to that limit by making 15 mph the standard speed for all Class 1, 2 and 3 ebikes, since the bill doesn’t seem to make any distinction between classes, or for older riders.
Agoura Hills City Engineer Charmaine Yambao also noted how complicated and confusing the states ebike classes and regulations are — which The Acorn somehow managed to explain in one simple paragraph.
This is the spot where Metro/LADOT inexplicably decided to omit the bike lane when the Regional Connector stations opened in 2023 la.streetsblog.org/2023/10/11/m…
The fastest descent was probably set by whoever the hell was on it when Mauna Kea last erupted.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes — and pedestrians — just keeps on going.
Hopefully, justice delayed won’t turn into justice denied in Wisconsin, where a man who admitted to driving onto a bike path and deliberately killing a man by repeatedly hitting him with his truck was ruled incompetent to stand trial, after he refused to appear in court, and appeared to have no understanding of the court proceedings; however, the judge said he could be competent within a year with treatment. It’s not clear from the description if the victim was actually riding a bike, though.
Streets For All has issued a new report on how bad LA streets are going to get, now that the city has halted repaving to avoid complying with Measure HLA and the Americans with Disabilities Act — not to mention the drastic budget cuts to pay for the unfunded raises cops and city workers received. Let’s just say they’re painting the city red, and not in a good way.
HR 7353, aka the Magnus White and Safe Streets for Everyone Act, has passed the US House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trademark, and could be included in this year’s Surface Transportation Reauthorization package; the bill — named for the 17-year old USA Cycling team member killed by a drunk driver in Boulder, Colorado — would require automatic emergency braking systems capable of detecting vulnerable road users such as bicyclists, motorcyclists, and wheelchair users in all new passenger vehicles by 2029, something that is already required by the European Union.
Tragic news from Poland, where a 36-year old member of the country’s Parliament was killed when a driver veered onto the wrong side of the road, and hit him as he rode his bicycle; a member of the New Left Party, Lukasz Litewka was known for his animal rights advocacy and a billboard campaign to help shelter dogs find homes.
London officials hope hosting of the first ever women’s team time trial in the next year’s Tour de France Femmes will encourage more women to ride bikes in the British capital. Or maybe they could just, you know, build more and safer bikeways.
I hope you had a good, environmentally conscious Earth Day yesterday.
I celebrated by spending most of the day on it.
Meanwhile, today’s image is Metro’s new limited-edition Earth Day TAP card; the fully functional bamboo TAP cards are available at any Metro Customer Center until they run out.
AB 1557, which redefines an ebike as having a motor limited to maximum of 750 watts, and lowers the maximum assisted speed for Class 1 and Class 2 ebikes to 16 mph, passed out of the Assembly Transportation Committee 12-0; the purpose is to clearly distinguish ebikes from e-motos of questionable legality.
AB 2284 passed the committee with 15 votes in favor; it would require the state Attorney General to maintain a public list of electric two-wheeled devices that don’t meet the state’s legal definition of an ebike.
Now for the bad news.
AB 1942 also passed the committee, and would mandate that all Class 2 and Class 3 ebikes have to be registered with the DMV and display license plates, just like cars, trucks and SUVs. It would be one of the most effective ways to put the brakes on ebikes, limit the growth of an otherwise legal alternative to driving, and start us down the slippery slope that could lead to licensing regular bikes and their riders.
Somewhere in between good and bad, and also moving forward, are AB 1569, which requires students from kindergarten up to complete an approved electric bicycle safety training course before they could park an ebike on school grounds, and AB 2595, which creates a pilot program allowing cities in San Mateo County to ban kids under 12 from riding any form of ebike.
Mejer had been warned by deputies last year that the Surron Ultra Bee she purchased for her son was an illegal electric motorcycle capable of speeds up to 58 mph, and that her son had been riding it recklessly.
She is accused of lying to investigators about after the crash, claiming neither she nor her son owned a similar e-moto.
Meanwhile, former Marine pilot and substitute teacher Ed Ashman remains hospitalized, facing a long and costly recovery; a crowdfunding page to help pay his medical expenses has raised over $87,000 of the $90,000 goal.
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The Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council is hosting a CD13 City Council candidate forum next Thursday.
My finely honed political instincts tell me incumbent Hugo Soto-Martinez will probably cruise to re-election in the June primary. But I’m often, if not usually, wrong about such things, so take that with a bag of salt.
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The City of LA reminds us about the first West LA CicLAvia this Sunday.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes — and pedestrians — just keeps on going.
County officials in Ireland are urging the country’s government to reconsider a plan for mandatory hi-visibility clothing at night for bicyclists and e-scooter users, even though the initial plan to require hi-viz collapsed within a day from a withering backlash; then again, they’re also calling for pedestrians to wear hi-viz when walking 24/7. Which is about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
The Victor Valley News reports an ebike rider was hospitalized after being struck by a driver Wednesday evening — although photos of the bike make it look at lot more like a dirt bike or e-moto than anything that could be classified as an electric bicycle under current California law.
The plan to build a Complete Street and protected bike lanes on the lower section of Overland Avenue has drawn its share of detractors to a Facebook group calling to “SAVE Overland Ave in Culver CIty.”
Even though that’s exactly what proponents are trying to do. Apparently, they don’t grasp the concept that drivers and local residents, including older people, benefit from safer streets, too.
Then again, the group only has a measly 215 members right now. So maybe instead of torches and pitchforks, it’s just matches and spades this time.
Thanks to Adrian for the heads-up.
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Thanks to Andrew for forwarding news on Bluesky that West Hollywood will become the latest Southern California city to offer its own ebike incentive program, with eligible residents able to claim up to $2,000 towards one.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles joins California in continuing to offer eligible residents absolutely nothing.
Unfortunately, Bluesky seems to be having yet another of their recent service outages, so you may have to just take my word for it, unless the post below miraculously shows up, or the above link actually works. Otherwise, I’ll try again tomorrow.
The Pasadena Transportation Advisory Commission will receive an informational presentation on Pasadena Bike Month at their Thursday meeting, with events ranging from a beginner’s bagel ride to an ebike expo at the Rose Bowl. Meanwhile, that deafening silence you hear is the plans for Bike Month in Los Angeles.
That’s more like it. Sheriff’s deputies made an arrest four-and-a-half years after a 29-year old man riding a bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown, continuing to investigate until they had enough evidence to get an arrest warrant; the suspect was booked on charges of leaving the scene of an accident involving death and insurance fraud. Seriously, when was the last time you heard of LA cops or sheriff’s deputies arresting a hit-and-run suspect after four-and-a-half months, let alone four-and-a-half years?
An op-ed from a Louisville KY bicyclist and triathlete says that bike riders in the city don’t want “more ill-conceived bike lanes,” insisting that what they really want is for drivers to share the road and pass safely, while bike riders need to obey the law and pull over to let long lines of cars pass them. Except there’s a 100-year plus track record showing too many drivers are incapable of sharing the road safely, which is exactly why we need bike lanes.
A new study from the European Transport Safety Council says too many people are still getting killed on bicycles in the European Union, but that slower streets and protected bike lanes could help lower to toll.
No bias here. An Australian ad announcing the country is now at Level Two of the ‘National Fuel Security Plan’ due to the fuel crisis fueled by the war in Iran devotes a whole 1.5 seconds to using a bicycle, and the other 28.5 seconds to using your car more wisely, instead of not using it at all.
