The victim, identified only as a man, was taken to a local hospital suffering from major injuries, where he died.
There’s no word at this time whether the driver stayed at the scene, or fled. Or if there even was a driver, for that matter.
There’s also no word on how the crash happened, or what kind of vehicle was involved. It could have been an aircraft, for all we know.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Azusa Police Department’s Traffic Bureau at 626/812-3200.
This is the 37th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the 12th we know about in Los Angeles County.
Those numbers could be higher or lower, depending on how many of the people killed riding ebikes were actually on electric bicycles, or were riding e-motos or electric dirt bikes, since the police and media don’t seem to know the difference.
The State Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan (SBPP) is Caltrans’ statewide policy plan for walking and bicycling. Caltrans has started work on a new plan, with a final version expected in 2028. It sits under the larger California Transportation Plan, alongside statewide plans for rail, freight, aviation, and other parts of the transportation system. The current SBPP will update Toward an Active California, the plan Caltrans adopted in 2017, which was the first plan of its kind in California.
Caltrans says the new plan will identify the major needs, challenges, and opportunities facing people who walk and bike. It will then lay out a set of actions for the agency to carry out. It is important to note that the SBPP will not contain a statewide list of infrastructure projects. A bike lane, safer intersection, or improved highway crossing does not need to be named in the plan to move forward. Those projects are generally developed through Caltrans districts, local governments, regional agencies, funding programs, maintenance work, and other parts of the project delivery process.
The report finds that California’s three-class e-bike system is functional, though poorly understood outside of professional policy circles. The larger problem is the growing number of faster and more powerful electric devices that fall outside those classes while being sold or marketed as e-bikes. That failure of translation has consequences at every stage of the debate. A parent shopping online may see a product advertised as an e-bike without any clear indication that it falls outside of California’s legal classes. A reporter covering a collision may use “e-bike” as a catch-all term even if it is actually a much faster device. An officer at the roadside may have little more than the device’s appearance to determine what the rider is operating. By the time residents bring their concerns to a city council, several distinct types of devices and behaviors have often been collapsed into a single category. The resulting policy can end up restricting legal e-bikes instead of addressing the faster, unregulated devices that often prompt the concern.
The report goes on to argue that Senate Bill 1167 — authored by Senator Catherine Blakespear and cosponsored by CalBike, PeopleForBikes, Streets For All, and Streets Are For Everyone — would address that problem by clarifying what is and isn’t a legal ebike, and establishing a “lawful regulatory path for devices that exceed the limits of a legal ebike.”
A Seal Beach letter writer complains about kids on ebikes harassing a coyote, which managed to escape by crossing PCH. No word on whether a roadrunner was also seen in the area, or if the coyote employed any devices from the ACME Company.
An op-ed from the head of a Santa Barbara advocacy group argues that two people crashed into local businesses, and another person killed a pedestrian, but not one of the crashes involved an ebike, despite the panic in the city over them.
Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, which has completed somewhere south of 5% of its plan adopted a few years earlier.
In addition, just over 80% of the city’s major streets have some sort of bikeway, even if most have disconnected sections forcing riders to fight their way through traffic, and only 8% of that is protected.
According to the paper,
The report also pointed to the need for more low-stress biking options, such as designated bikeways or multi-use paths dedicated to cyclists and pedestrians — types of infrastructure where riders face less traffic stress. While 63% of the network is considered low-stress, over 30% of the network is considered high-stress, the study found.
“While a majority of the network is technically bikeable, a substantial portion consists of high stress segments that may discourage use, particularly among the ‘interested but concerned’ population,” the authors wrote.
So I’ll settle for her getting out at a tad over 112 years old even if she serves the minimum. Because that’s someone who should never see the light of day again, but you never know what the courts will do.
Which is a pretty good indication that she was probably riding an illegal e-moto, or at least an illegally hacked ebike, rather than an electric bicycle.
Triathlon site Slowtwitch discusses the most common mistakes new cyclists make. Actually, the most common mistake new cyclists make is trying to become cyclists, instead of just learning to enjoy riding a bicycle before trying to win a Grand Tour.
A pair of college students rode across the US, raising $15,000 for lone soldiers in Israel. Although maybe someone can explain what the hell a lone soldier is, and why they need our financial support.
The 18-year old grandson of legendary Australian ultracyclist Bob Montgomery remembers his 82-year old grandfather and riding companion, who died suddenly just one day after completing a ride across the continent to raise funds for a Motor Neurone Disease charity.
Competitive Cycling
For the first time in four days, the yellow jersey remained on the same shoulders as Marlen Reusser defended her narrow 12 second lead, while Demi Vollering outsprinted Kasia Niewiadoma and Reusser to win the 5th stage of the Tour de France Femmes.
According to reports, the series of incidents began when the 49-year old man, who was not publicly identified, attacked a woman on a public street around 7 am with no warning, causing bruising to her face, head and upper body.
And yes, without pants, apparently naked from the waist down.
When a passing Good Samaritan stopped his car and ran out to help, the pantless man jumped in and sped off.
After striking a number of cars, he veered his car into a cycling club on a training ride, striking five teenage victims from behind, and injuring three, one critically. Although it’s not clear if he intentionally struck the bicyclists, or if they just happened to be in his way.
After crashing into the bike club, he approached a woman walking two dogs, grabbed one and strangled it.
He then apparently got back in the heavily damaged car, and drove to a gas station, where he crashed into one of the pumps, and tried to jack another car, but couldn’t start it because the driver had taken the key.
He was finally tased by police and arrested, and booked on 14 separate charges.
The only good news is that no one was killed, and it was not a premeditated attack.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the motion, introduced by Heather Hutt and unindicted City Staffer B, two of the more conservative members of the city council, passed the council’s Rules Committee yesterday.
It asks LADOT to come up with ways to regulate ebikes, because the bills currently under discussion at the state level apparently aren’t good enough. Or maybe they just want to appear to be doing something about the problem before facing voters in two years.
Which would seem to give them enough time to see what the state legislature does this year, but still.
According to the Times,
The motion outlines a number of possible measures including banning the sale of e-bikes, e-motorcyles and electric mopeds that don’t meet legal standards out of the box, banning modifications that can make e-bikes faster and requiring education for riders under 18 or who don’t have a driver’s license. The motion, authored by Councilmembers Heather Hutt and John Lee, also suggested implementing rules for storage and charging to prevent battery fires.
“Banning the conversion of e-bikes to an e-moto will be an important step to preventing injuries,” Hutt’s office said in a statement. “Most importantly we need to ensure children are riding the appropriate vehicle for their age,” including kids staying off e-motos until they are 16 years old.
Although it’s not clear if they can legally go beyond state law by requiring education for riders under 18, while the other measures are already covered by state law, though perhaps not yet explicitly.
The proposal now moves on to the Public Safety Committee, then the full City Council.
The bike rides were connecting him to his city in ways he never expected. “I’m not necessarily saying that everybody needs to go out and ride their bikes,” said Papas, though he’d certainly love it if more Angelenos did. Instead, he hopes his biking project is showing people what’s possible — in the most extreme way. Yes, you can bike in Los Angeles, as many Angelenos often do out of necessity. It’s even enjoyable. And yes, you can do it across every single mile of the city, even if the cycling infrastructure isn’t perfect yet. “I think to me, success would be if people just go out and explore their own neighborhood,” he said. He views cycling as a form of civic engagement and a way to see things otherwise invisible when speeding by in a car. For beginners, Papas recommends sticking to bike paths and joining cycling groups. More experienced riders should venture out into new areas, said Papas. “Biking is like a superpower to gain familiarity with your neighborhood, but it just needs to be unleashed.”
It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing, because maybe it will inspire you to take that turn you always ride past, and discover what’s waiting for you.
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Donate now to support Streetsblog California
Somehow I missed this earlier, but Streetsblog California is trying to raise ten grand to help close a $125,000 gap left by reduced foundation funding.
They’re among the good guys in the battle for safer streets, so help ’em out by clicking the banner above if you’ve got some extra cash stuffed in the sofa.
Gravel Bike California explains randonneuring, and takes a 200 km — 124 miles — test ride.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A Pasadena lawyer says he just doesn’t get the federal government’s war on bicycles, with one DOT spokesperson defending his boss’ defenseless battle against bikes by saying it makes sense “despite the Left’s belief that everyone should ride a bike to their shoebox-sized apartment to eat crickets to achieve a phony climate agenda.” He says he takes offense because he loves his bike, and doesn’t eat crickets. Same here, on both counts.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Streets For All explains why they bought full page ads in early Democratic primary states South Carolina and Nevada calling out Governor Gavin Newsom for cutting $2 billion from programs supporting public transit, affordable housing, and clean air and water in the new state budget. I understand their anger, but that’s a lot of money that could have been used right here at home.
A new protected bike lane connecting New York’s Inwood neighborhood to the Hudson River requires bike riders to cross a busy highway on-ramp and carry their bikes up and down a flight of stairs to preserve 40 precious parking spaces, which the local community seems to value more than the safety of bicyclists. I think we can all look forward to bicyclists slipping down icy steps this winter, if not rain-slicked steps before then.
A 31-year old Windsor, Ontario man is camping out for 24 hours to become the first person to bike from the Canadian side of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor to Detroit, Michigan. Although it only seems right that riders should be required to explain who Gordie Howe was as kind of a toll or password before being allowed to use the crossing.
Seriously? Life is cheap in the UK, where a 35-year old van driver walked without a day behind bars for killing a 54-year man riding a bicycle, because he was really, really sorry and had no idea why he hadn’t seen the victim, who was lit up like a Christmas tree in the predawn darkness, describing the crash like he wasn’t responsible for, or even aware of, what happened.
The yellow jersey moved to the third rider in three days, as Swiss cyclist Marlen Reusser powered to victory in Tuesday’s stage 4 time trial at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, giving her a 14 second lead over Demi Vollering. For anyone who’s not a fan of women’s cycling, when was the last time you saw lead changes like that in the men’s Tour?
Velo looks at how Belgian pro Sandrine Tas transitioned from speed skater to WorldTour cyclist in just six months. Tas follows in the footsteps — or maybe tire tracks — pioneered by siblings Eric and Beth Heiden, who both won Olympic speed skating medals before becoming top pro cyclists back in the 80s.
Donald Trump persists in insisting on imposing tariffs on much of the world, using a different section of the law that allows him to tariff countries that either have not established or adequately enforced rules regarding forced labor.
And yes, that includes parts and accessories, too.
Which means you’ll soon be paying more. Even on American-made bikes, virtually all of which rely on foreign-made parts. And you can probably drop “virtually” from that sentence.
So unless the courts find a reason to throw this one out, too, count on a new 10% or so inflation rate at your friendly local bike shop.
One such proponent of the car-centric society is Randall O’Toole of Bandon, Oregon. He’s an avid cyclist, but he’s also a think-tank guy, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, who opines that it’s time the car got its due and that — despite the hype heaped on other modes of transport — Americans appreciate the right that the automobile has wrought on the Republic.
When I spoke with O’Toole, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t be construed as anti-bicycle or anti-public transportation. His stance is that the best form of transit is the one that pays for itself, which leads, he says, to vital questions: Why should the government subsidize non-automotive transportation, and if said modes can’t make it on their own, why should they be preferred? O’Toole urges governmental neutrality when it comes to how Americans choose to travel, adding, “That neutrality should extend to financing. There should be no subsidies to any form of travel.”
Never mind that state and local governments in California subsidize motor vehicles with a whopping $25 billion or more each year for roadwork, highway construction, and pavement maintenance.
Not including the cost of traffic enforcement.
And while bike riders are often depicted as freeloaders, as they are in this hit piece, we pay the same taxes as anyone else. The only exception is car registration fees and gas taxes, which makes sense since bicycles cause approximately zero damage to the roadways, unlike any and every motor vehicle.
In fact, bike riders subsidize the cost of roadways we don’t even use, like limited access highways. And that doesn’t take into account the fact that most bike riders also drive, which means they pay the same taxes and fees any other driver does.
So I’m absolutely fine with calls to stop subsidizing bicycles, as long as we stop subsidizing motor vehicles, too.
Let’s stop using general tax dollars and state and federal grant money to pay for roadwork, and let drivers pay their own way with costs based on vehicle weight, required road space and damage caused to the roads.
And see how they feel when they start getting several thousand dollars in road taxes, while bike riders end up paying pennies.
Then there’s this rocket scientist from the conservative Reason Institute.
“If the streets are underused and there’s room for the bicycle lanes, I have no problem with San Diego putting them in. They’re relatively cheap to install, assuming all you’re doing is re-painting lines or painting the bicycle lane green. That’s fine. The challenge is that when you have a lot of car traffic in that area, the bike lane will make congestion worse. Since car traffic seems to be dominant in San Diego, motorists are the folks we should actually be building the infrastructure for. There is a subsidy for automobiles, but it’s typically much smaller than the ones for other forms of transportation. Cyclists don’t pay for the use of the infrastructure they’re utilizing; there’s no ‘bicycle tire tax’ or anything like that. But we should be planning for the way people actually commute, not the way we’d like them to commute. Since most San Diego residents are driving, I’m hesitant to take away lanes for cars and allocate them for bike use unless there’s excess capacity.”
Yet governments have literally always planned for the way they want people to commute, from the first Roman roads to auto-centric policies that have built today’s automotive hegemony on the roads.
But no one is building bike lanes to force anyone to ride a bike. Bike lanes are built to a) calm traffic, because so many drivers seen unable to take their foot off the gas, and b) provide viable alternatives to driving.
The latter is nothing more or less than an attempt to balance the scales, so people have options in how they want to get around. Which is less a matter of putting a finger on the scales than it is of taking it off.
Whether in San Diego, Los Angeles or anywhere else, when 100% of spending and traffic planning has gone to motor vehicles for over a century, devoting a relatively small amount of funding and road space may seem like we’re taking it from cars.
In reality, though, we’re just giving it back to the people, so they can decide how they want to get around.
Someone reportedly came out of the surrounding neighborhood and began arguing with the victim, then pulled out a hatchet and chopped the bike rider in the ribs; fortunately he was hospitalized in stable condition.
No word on whether a suspect was arrested.
Bizarrely, though, that wasn’t the only hatchet job on a bicyclist in recent weeks.
Luckily, his blow struck the bike’s handlebars, narrowly missing the victim’s hand.
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More proof of LA’s current level of incompetency, where the city’s incessant delays and public meetings have caused a nearly 50% budget increase in a project to close a gap in the LA River bike path in the San Fernando Valley — forcing bike riders to cross streets at surface level, rather than going underneath as originally planned.
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Thanks to Megan for forwarding more on the Colorado bike shop embroiled in an FBI asset seizure.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A woman was heckled by three teens on an ebike while she was riding her bike up the Shady Canyon trail in Irvine, leading her to question whether she’s too old to keep riding the trail, before recovering and continuing on — and remembering why people hated middle school. Never mind that any ebike that can carry three people isn’t an ebike, and isn’t legal.
Talk about blaming the victim. After a Singapore woman was right-hooked by the driver of an on-demand rental car while riding her bicycle with her husband, the driver blamed her for riding too fast, even though her fitness app said she was doing about 10 mph, and demanded that she pay for damage to the car when she was still in the ER.
The adult children of a 92-year-old Venice man filed a lawsuit on Monday against the City of Los Angeles and the driver who killed him in a right hook while he was riding an e-scooter, alleging that the roadway striping and pavement markings did not show the the bike lane as it passed through the intersection.
An 18-year old Arizona man was sentenced to five years behind bars for robbing a 12-year old boy at gunpoint to steal his ebike; police arrested the suspect riding the purloined ebike moments later, as well as his 14-year old accomplice after a few days. And no, five years isn’t anywhere near enough for pointing a gun at a little kid to steal his bike.
Biking in Las Vegas could become less of a gamble, as the city builds its first protected bike lane, connecting Henderson, Nevada with the headquarters of the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders.
Texas-based Segway introduced a new ebike that isn’t an ebike, regardless of what Popular Science calls it; anything that can do 43 mph off the showroom floor exceeds the top speed for a Class 3 e-bike by a solid 15 mph.
A New York state senator is sponsoring a new campaign to encourage bike riders and ebike riders to “Slow Your Roll, Respect the Stroll,” urging bicyclists to yield to pedestrians, don’t bike on sidewalks, stop at red lights, and don’t bike against traffic. Which is all great, but where’s the messaging to drivers to slow down, signal turns, look before changing lanes, put your phone down, respect crosswalks, stop at stop signs and red lights, and yield to bike riders and pedestrians?
Life is really cheap in Maryland, where a school bus driver walked with a lousy $390 fine for killing an 11-year old girl in a right hook as she was riding her bicycle in a crosswalk, after investigators concluded they “each contributed to the circumstances that led to the crash.” What part of 11 years old don’t they understand? Or do they seriously expect little kids to operate their bikes at the same level as a 55-year old trained bus driver?
Heartbreaking news from Australia, where 82-year old motor neuron disease (MND) advocate Bob Montgomery died one day after completing a 3,300-mile fundraising ride across the continent; Montgomery died after suffering an episode on the way home from a celebration of his latest ride. He had raised more than $300,000 for research and service support in his five charity bike rides for MND.
If I brush against something, I get a bruise. Bump anything with point or a rough edge, and I bleed like a stuck pig.
Or just give me a sharp look from across the room, and I’ll probably start bleeding.
Yesterday I accidentally bumped something in a restaurant, and seconds later, blood was running down my wrist. I carry bandaids and alcohol pads everywhere I go, just in case.
I’ve used six in the last week.
The other day, my dermatologist finally explained what the problem is. No dread disease or blood disorder, but skin baked thin from all those years riding a bike for hours on end, back in the olden times when the sun was supposed to be good for you.
The damage runs the full the front of my arms, from mid-shoulder to my finger tips. Or put another way, the entire area exposed by a bicycling jersey while holding the handlebars.
But this is a story with a moral.
There’s nothing I can do about it at this point. But you still can.
More proof that bike riders face the same problems everywhere, as a Japanese bicyclist tries to navigate a Tokyo bike lane.
Twitter post
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
WTF? A 39-year old Minnesota man was hit with a lousy misdemeanor charge after he was accused of of boobytrapping his own yard with a homemade spike strip embedded with dozens of 3-inch screws, just to keep neighborhood children from riding bicycles across his property. He faces a maximum of 180 days in lockup. Because who cares if a few kids get fucked up if it keeps them out of his yard, right?
Tragic news from New York State, where a 47-year old man was likely left paralyzed after a witness said a 21-year old driver intentionally slammed his pickup into the victim’s bicycle, directly in front of the victim’s home; the driver’s father later called to threaten the newspaper for reporting the story, adding the they aren’t the family “that owns everything.”
Nothing like blaming the victims. The UK tabloid Express says Britain’s new prime minister has already been hit with a crisis on the roads, with ebike riders jumping London red lights, and bicyclists accounting for 6% of traffic deaths, as “Cyclists have always been a safety issue for drivers.” Yes, killing bike riders is a safety issue for drivers — not for, say, the people who get killed or anything.
Dozens of Orange County parents may face charges after being warned their kids have been riding illegal e-motorbikes, as well as riding them in an illegal manner, and allowing them to do it anyway.
Vandalism charges were predictably dropped against former Olympic rower and Masters cyclist David Hearn for damaging DC’s reflecting pool, after the Justice Department was forced to concede the damage was due to rushed, poor quality installation work — although Trump continued to insist the damage was due to vandals, who had cut a virtually impossible 300 foot slit all the way across the pool.
Southern Living says the Gulf Coast’s most scenic bike ride is hiding in plain sight with a 28-mile trail system in Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. That wasn’t there when I spent a long weekend at the park back in the ’80s, which is how I ended up riding my bike along the coast to Pensacola, to the astonishment of the park ranger at the gate on my return.
Meet the bicycling sommelier of Girona, Spain, who observes “The bicycle has helped me to understand the territory. Understanding the territory is understanding wine.”
