Tag Archive for bicycling

Happy National Bike & Roll to School Day, and the LA Times calls for genuine action on city’s moribund Green New Deal

May 8, 2024 / / No comments
Just 237 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re up to 1,131 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she meets with us! 

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Happy National Bike & Roll to School Day!

Or as it’s known here in Los Angeles, Wednesday.

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They get it.

The Los Angeles Times writes that Los Angeles needs to take genuine action on the city’s moribund Green New Deal — there’s that word again — to reach its climate goals, not more excuses.

According to the paper, former mayor and current ambassador Eric Garcetti had the easy job of setting ambitious goals for the city, leaving it to his successor to actually carry them out.

You can guess how that worked out.

Plans for more than $40 billion in rail, highway and mobility projects that were supposed to be finished in time for the 2028 Olympics have been scaled back dramatically after Metro was unable to line up even half of the funds needed. A City Controller’s report last fall found that Garcetti’s Green New Deal plan has not accomplished much, lacks meaningful metrics of progress and doesn’t amount to a “comprehensive and actionable set of steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

It’s disappointing that these lofty efforts to make Los Angeles an environmental and transit model have yielded so little.

In the latest instance of lowered expectations, Metro’s staff has for the second time in a year tried to delay the transit agency’s 2030 deadline to convert its entire 2,000-bus fleet to emissions-free electric models, without so much as a vote. In the seven years since Metro adopted the zero-emission policy, it has managed to order only 145 battery-electric buses and get just 50 of them delivered.

A big part of what’s been forgotten in the brief 3+ years since Garcetti breathed the program into life has been any commitment to expanding the city’s bicycle network.

After Garcetti initially left bicycles out of his first draft of the Green New Deal, he followed up a month later by signing a new executive order calling for a “comprehensive citywide network of active transportation corridors, including protected bike lanes, paths along regional waterways and low-stress neighborhood bike improvements,” along with a host of other transportation and energy goals.

In fact, the city committed to expanding the percentage of all trips made by walking, biking and micro-mobility to at least 35% by next year, climbing up to 50% by 2035.

But Los Angeles won’t come close to meeting that goal, after failing to build more than a tiny fraction of the city’s ambitious mobility plan. And it’s not likely to meet the goal for 2035 unless someone lights a fire under city leaders, who so far have shown more interest in delaying, if not halting, any action on building out the plan.

Which is exactly what led to Measure HLA, committing them to building out the mobility plan as streets get resurfaced.

Yet Mayor Bass and the city council have responded to HLA by proposing a cut in transportation funding and a hiring freeze for the already understaffed LADOT and LA Street Services. And slow walking the street resurfacing program to delay implementing the measure.

Ensuring that the city will fail to meet its Vision Zero and Green New Deal commitments for next year, and likely for years, if not decades, to come.

So if you ask me why I’m angry, and why we need to meet with the mayor, there’s your answer.

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A hard-hitting Scottish traffic safety PSA tells drivers to give bike riders a 1.5 meter passing distance — the equivalent of nearly five feet —  “Because it’s not just a bike. It’s a person.”

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It’s now 140 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. After a man riding in a London bike lane was filmed being cut off by a driver turning into a No Entry roadway to make a U-turn, UK pro-driving traffic lawyer Mr. Loophole blamed the victim, insisting the bike rider should be prosecuted for the crash, while bike-riding BBC presenter Jeremy Vine said anyone who thinks the bike rider was at fault “should have their driving license rescinded” — a comment that got Vine labelled as “arrogant.”

No bias here, either. Local residents say the UK’s biggest bike lane is a waste of money because not enough bicyclists use it, and the space should be given back to motorists because “they’re the majority.” Meanwhile, bike riders say they don’t use it because it’s covered in twigs and stones, making it too dangerous to ride.

Welsh drivers claim that a new bike lane and walkway that gives more space for bicyclists and pedestrians than to drivers is “an attack on your right to drive a car,” and part of an “anti-car agenda.”

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Police in Singapore busted a group of 20 bicyclists for violating the country’s draconian limit of no more than five people riding single file, or groups up to 10 riding two abreast; they were also charged with using “non-compliant active mobility devices,” whatever that means.

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Local 

A Next City podcast discusses LA’s “mobility wallet,” which it describes as the biggest Universal Basic Mobility experiment ever attempted in the US; the program provides 1,000 South LA residents with $150 per month to spend on any form of transportation, from transit and micro-transit to bikeshare and ebikes.

West Hollywood will hold an informational open house in Plummer Park on Tuesday, May 21st, to discuss the planned bike-friendly Complete Streets makeover of Willoughby Ave, and Vista/Gardner and Kings streets.

LA County has approved a nearly $3.4 million settlement in the killing of Dijon Kizzee, who was shot by sheriff’s deputies as he tried to flee from a traffic stop for riding his bike on the wrong side of the road, in the Westmont neighborhood of South LA in 2020.

 

State

Calbike reports on what they hope is the last workgroup meeting for the California E-Bike Incentive Project before it finally launches. They hope.

Twenty-six-year old Christian Joshua Howard pled not guilty to a felony count of hit-and-run causing death for the St. Patrick’s Day death of 51-year old Oceanside postal worker Tracey Gross as she rode her bike home from work.

Sad news from San Jose, where a male bike rider was killed in front of a local high school when a speeding driver ran a red light, and slammed into the victim. But sure, tell me again about that bike rider you saw roll a stop sign.

 

National

Bicycling considers how long it takes to ride a century. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you. 

Electrify News says ebikes are the greatest form of green transportation, and now is the best time ever to buy one. Thanks to Malcomb Watson for the links.

Outside recommends the best bike accessories and tools for road and gravel riding.

A writer for Streetsblog says ebikes are the key for creating financially sustainable bikeshare programs.

Strong Towns considers five ways the National Bike to Work Day can miss the mark.

The White Line Foundation, which was founded in response to 17-year old US National Team cyclist Magnus White’s tragic death, will host the memorial “Ride for Magnus: Ride for Your Life” this August along the same Colorado road where he was killed last July.

California isn’t the only state considering requiring speed limiting devices; a New York state bill would require the devices on vehicles belonging to serial speeders, limiting them to no more than 5 mph over the limit, unlike the California bill, which would require the devices on all new vehicles while allowing a maximum of 10 mph over the posted speed limit. The New York approach sounds like a great complement to the California bill, which will take decades to replace every car now on the road. 

New York plans to permanently reroute the city’s First Avenue protected bike lane through an existing underground tunnel in time for September’s meeting of the UN General Assembly.

A Baltimore woman started selling ice cream from her bicycle ten years ago, founding a company that now brings in a quarter-million dollars a year.

 

International

Cycling News lists the best Giro d’Italia inspired bicycling bargains in both the US and the UK.

Momentum says bicyclists will have an unprecedented opportunity to ride through the iconic streets of Paris to the giant Grand Picnic des Champs on the Champs-Elysées at the end of this month.

An ex-pro paracycling champ has made the unusual transition from the New Zealand national team to owning the leading fence painting firm in Waikato, a district of half a million people.

An Australian study shows replacing parking spaces with bike lanes could improve city accessibility and livability without affecting business revenue, calling it a Robin Hood planning tactic

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-two-year old New York native Magnus Sheffield is making his Grand Tour debut in the Giro, as the youngest rider on the Ineos Grenadiers, he’s already won the 2022 De Brabantse Pijl, as well as finishing second overall in the Tours of Norway and Denmark.

Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan claimed stage four of the Giro with a “monstrous” effort in the final 200 yards; there was no change among the top three riders in the general classification.

Jonas Vingegaard took his first ride in over a month following a horrific mass crash in the Tour of the Basque Country, and said he’s aiming to make the start line for this summers Tour de France to compete for a third straight yellow jersey.

This year’s edition of America’s top international bike race, the Maryland Cycling Classic, has been sunk by complications from the Baltimore bridge collapse, after the city’s Francis Scott Key Bridge fell when it was struck by a massive freighter.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a triple Tour de France stage winner stops to fix your flat. Or when a four-year old girl pedals the bike while her dad rides in the basket.

And we may have to worry about a near miss with LA drivers, but at least we don’t often brake for a “deer miss.”

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Bass budget cuts safe streets funding; appeals court considers whether DEA agent can be tried for killing bike rider

May 7, 2024 / / 3 comments
Just 238 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re up to 1,130 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she meets with us! 

………

Somehow, I missed this one last week, as Streets For All called out Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ proposed new budget for the City of Angels.

Which doesn’t just fail to fund safer streets, but actually makes cuts to vital programs — include the city’s ability to roll out Measure HLA as streets are resurfaced, something required by the ballot measure that passed with overwhelming support.

StreetsLA’s Pavement Preservation Program — which is the primary mechanism for Measure HLA implementation, was cut by 21%. Even worse, despite the department now having to put in ADA compliant curb ramps every time they repave a street (maybe?), no new money was allocated for curb ramps. A budget reduced by 21% will actually repave even fewer streets because the money for curb ramps will have to come from the resurfacing budget. The net effect will be fewer streets repaved, meaning fewer Mobility Plan safety improvements implemented.

LADOT’s budget was cut by 1%, from $217M to $215M. However, this is worse than it seems on the surface, as there are zero new positions for LADOT to be able to keep up with StreetsLA’s (reduced) repaving, meaning the current plan at LADOT is status quo (ie. very slow implementation of the mobility plan). The net effect will be that LADOT will struggle to do even a fraction of what StreetsLA could repave in the next year on mobility plan corridors, further slowing down mobility plan implementation. You can read LADOT’s response to the budget here.

The mayor has made a billion dollar commitment to housing homeless people and preventing the needless deaths of the unhoused on LA’s mean streets.

But she has failed to show any concern for the record number of needless traffic deaths on our streets — including the 77 people who have already lost their lives in just the first quarter of this year.

Which is yet another reminder why we need to demand a meeting with her to listen to the risks we face just walking or biking on our streets.

Streets For All also criticizes the City Administrative Officer’s blatant, last minute attempt to sink Measure HLA prior to the election with a vastly overinflated cost estimate.

Perhaps most egregiously, the CAO claimed that HLA would cost $310M/year over 10 years, and told the City Council that, if passed by voters, “Council would need to make hard decisions immediately about how to pay for it.” While we called out his numbers as a political stunt at the time, this budget makes it very clear how much of a stunt it actually was, as the only money the budget actually allocates specifically to HLA is $102,000 to LADOT to create the measure’s mandated dashboard. That’s a difference of $309,898,000.

Fortunately, the people of Los Angeles saw through their attempt to put a heavy hand on the scale in an effort to sink HLA without openly opposing the measure.

Shameful doesn’t begin to describe it.

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The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments today on a case we’ve been following since last year, which will determine whether a DEA agent can be held accountable for killing a woman riding a bicycle in Salem, Oregon.

After the local press caught the police deliberately slow walking the investigation, county prosecutors finally charged Samuel T. Landis with criminally negligent homicide last September, after Landis admitted to running a stop sign and killing the victim.

However, his lawyers successfully argued that the case should be moved to federal court because he was part of an undercover team surveilling a major drug dealer at the time of the collision.

Which means he could escape accountability entirely, as the Salem Reporter explains.

The key dispute is over whether Landis should be prosecuted at all for Allen’s death. The agent can only seek immunity in federal court because that legal defense doesn’t exist under Oregon law.

Landis’ attorneys say that he only needed to claim that he might get immunity at the federal level to justify the shift to federal court. Landis could then argue for the case to be dismissed entirely by claiming immunity. Otherwise, prosecutors would then try the case in federal instead of state court.

The proceedings will be streamed live if you want watch it yourself.

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David Drexler offers photos from the CicloIrvine open streets event in Irvine on Saturday.

According to Drexler, the cloudy skies and threatening weather may have limited the turnout, though he notes the extremely wide streets could have also contributed to a perception that there were fewer people than there actually were.

It’s also possible that the short route distance may have kept more bicyclists from attending, as well as the fact that it was a first time event with little advance publicity outside the city.

He also added this thought —

Irvine really put on a first-class event and I would have liked to see more of a cycling turnout.

But really in Irvine everyday is CicloIrvine because they have miles and miles of dedicated bike paths/tunnels/bridges all over the city where you can cycle without dealing with a car combined with their wide street bike lanes on almost every road.   I can take you on a 40+mile ride in Irvine, crossing back and forth, up and down and not even have to stop for a traffic light or car or even ride in the street with cars. (50+ miles if you combine it with Newport Beach into Back Bay.)  I think cycling infrastructure in Irvine is 2nd to no other non-beach front city.  But it’s a totally master planned city with modern road engineering.

All photos by David Drexler

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It’s now 139 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

The San Francisco Fire Department was forced to apologize after they made up an imaginary traffic law requiring bicyclists to ride single file.

No bias here. After a New York council member insisted without evidence that a pair of new protected bike lanes made the streets more dangerous, the actual stats showed just the opposite.

Once again, someone has tried to sabotage a UK bikeway, tossing dozens of tacks on a 30-year old rail trail that forms a part of the country’s National Cycling Network, and is very popular with families riding with their kids, in an apparent effort to puncture their tires, which could result in serious injuries.

No bias here, either. A British writer says it’s time authorities caught up with the recklessness of ebike riders, who he accuses of “no regard for red lights, pedestrian crossings, one-way streets or right of way,” blaming everyone who rides one for the actions of a few.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A New Orleans woman may have stolen all the potted plants from in front of a market at four in the morning, but at least she used a bicycle to do it.

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Local 

Streetsblog offers an update on bus and bike lanes in the San Fernando Valley, including a short, newly protected bike lane on Laurel Canyon Blvd.

This sounds like fun. A social-paced group ride on Saturday, May 25th will retrace the route of the abandoned 1890s California Cycleway, an elevated wooden bikeway stretching from Los Angeles to Pasadena that was only partially built before being scrapped.

A Pasadena Urban and Regional Planning professor calls for completely remaking the city’s ugly North Lake corridor with a comprehensive plan for a complete street, greenstreet, streetscape and beautification concept, rather that simply reversing an earlier street widening.

Santa Monica police will conduct yet another Bike & Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operation today, ticketing any traffic violations that could cause a collision between motorists, pedestrians and/or bicyclists. As usual, ride to the lett of the law until you cross the city limits today, so you’re not the one who gets fined.

 

State

The former Governator says ride your bike or walk instead of driving, because we all have to work together to reduce pollution. Although he hasn’t look like that picture for a long damn time. 

Calbike says the recent California Bike Summit in San Diego offered inspiration, excitement and new ideas.

The Seal Beach Police Department offers tips on how to protect your bike from thieves. And actually gets it right.

It’s a mixed bag on whether you’re allowed to ride your bike through a Fresno pharmacy drive-thru.

Merchants along San Francisco’s Valencia Street are calling on the city to scrap the street’s contentious centerline protected bike lane, and convert it to a more conventional curbside protected lane.

That’s more like it. The Berkeley city council will vote on a proposal to hire a program manager for the city fire department, tasked with reducing injuries and deaths on city streets, while keeping roads clear for medics to reach crashes in time to save lives.

 

National

A new study shows Louisiana has the most aggressive and angriest drivers, followed by New Mexico and Montana. The only real surprise is that California didn’t even crack the top ten. 

Houston will celebrate the arts this Saturday with the city’s third annual Art Bike Parade, featuring hundreds of fancifully decorated bicycles.

The world’s most rural bikeshare station just opened in a tiny Nebraska town of only 2,600 people.

A Michigan police dog deserves extra treats tonight for flushing a hit-and-run driver out of the woods, where she had run to avoid arrest for running down a 73-year old woman riding a bicycle, leaving the victim hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries; she left a passenger in her car behind to falsely claim she had been the one driving.

Some New York bike riders are complaining that ebike riders were allowed to participate in the city’s 40-mile, carfree Five Boro Bike Tour, somehow diminishing the accomplishment for those who did the whole thing under their own power.

 

International

Fifty bicycles donated and refurbished in Chicago were ridden across the US-Mexico border to be given to people in need in Mexico, in a ride coordinated by the consulates of both countries.

A killer UK driver is finally behind bars, 24 years after he skipped bail before he could be sentenced for killing a pair of bike riders while driving dangerously; he was finally tracked down living in France under an assumed name.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar leads the Giro after stage three with a 46-second lead over 2nd place Geraint Thomas, with Daniel Martinez in third just one second behind Thomas; Pogačar and Thomas nearly won Monday’s stage in a breakaway, before being reeled in by the peloton just before the finish.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you just want to give your kid a quiet post-royal birthday, and hope no one shows up with another bike. Your next vastly overpriced e-mountain bike could be an Audi.

And if you have to clear noxious plants from along a bikeway, don’t let them get your goat.

Or goats, even.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

77 LA traffic deaths in 1st quarter of 2024, arrest made in fatal Oceanside hit-and-run, and don’t count on CA ebike voucher

May 6, 2024 / / No comments
Just 239 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re up to 1,130 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she meets with us! 

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

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Speaking of Vision Zero fails, Crosstown LA reports that traffic deaths are down for the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year. But still significantly higher than the pre-pandemic years.

According to the site, 77 people have been killed on the mean streets of Los Angeles, seven fewer than last year.

And about 77 more than we should have seen in the penultimate year before LA traffic deaths are supposed to be down to zero.

Thirty-nine of the fatalities so far this year were pedestrians, along with three people riding bicycles; another 32 bicyclists suffered serious injuries.

Hit-and-run drivers accounted for 31 of the 77 deaths this year, putting the city on track to far exceed the 108 hit-and-run deaths in 2023, the highest year on record.

And already half of the 62 fatal hit-and-runs in all of 2019.

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Oceanside police have arrested a suspect in the hit-and-run that killed an Oceanside postal worker earlier this year.

Twenty-six-year old Riverside resident Christian Howard was arrested Friday morning at his Corona job site for the March death of 52-year old Tracey Gross.

The 51-year old mother of two was found lying in the roadway badly injured, and died after being rushed to the hospital; her bike was found two mile away, apparently dragged by the killer’s car as he fled the scene.

Howard is being held on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run resulting in death.

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All of which brings us to our next topic, as Pasadena prepares for next week’s annual Rose Bowl Ride of Silence.

Here’s a recent press release for this important event.

THE PASADENA RIDE OF SILENCE INVITES THE PUBLIC TO ATTEND THE 22ND ANNUAL RIDE HONORING CYCLISTS KILLED
Pasadena and the world participate in a silent cycling procession, during National Bike Month, to honor injured and fallen cyclists and to advocate for safer streets for everyone. 

Doves realized at the 2023 Ride of Silence

PASADENA, CA, May 1, 2024 – The cycling community of Pasadena invites the public to join in for the annual Ride of Silence on Wednesday, May 15th, at 6 p.m. This solemn event, now in its 22nd year, honors cyclists who have been injured or killed on public roadways and raises awareness about sharing the road safely.

  The Pasadena Ride of Silence will begin at the Rose Bowl in the north end of Lot K, with announcements beginning at 6 p.m. and white doves from White Dove Release will be sent off individually to honor the cyclists lost during the last year. At 7 p.m., a police escort will lead cyclists of all ages and abilities en masse on a slow and silent 9-mile route to Pasadena City Hall, where attendees will observe a moment of silence to honor friends and family lost to traffic violence. The ride will finish at the Rose Bowl with free tacos for all participants. 

 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently reported that 1,105 cyclists were killed by drivers of motor vehicles in 2022, the highest number ever recorded since the federal government started collecting data in 1975. Experts believe the increase in fatalities is due to several factors: inadequate street designs to include safe lanes for cycling, larger vehicles such as pickups and SUVs which are deadlier in size and shape, higher horsepower in vehicles that are more likely to speed, and distracted driving. 

As grim as the statistics are, there is hope for the future. Announced April 29, 2024, the NHTSA and the Biden Administration will require all new U.S. cars and trucks to be sold with automatic emergency braking (AEB) by September 2029. AEB are sensors that hit the brakes to avoid a collision if the driver does not. The new system will detect vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians. 

“We ride to remember. We ride to advocate. We ride for change,” said Thomas Cassidy, Pasadena Ride of Silence organizer. “Everyone deserves to return home safely from a ride. The Ride of Silence serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of mutual respect and vigilance on our roadways.” 

Local bicycle shops, ambassadors from the cycling community, and safe street programs will be in attendance, including Dorothy Wong. Dorothy Wong is a member of Altadena Town Council, a community organizer specializing in bicycling advocacy and she was recently honored with the Woman of Distinction Award for the 41st Assembly District.

2023 Ride of Silence riders at Pasadena City Hall

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It’s now 138 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

However, there finally seems to be some movement.

But not all for the good.

Streetsblog reports on the latest update, following the recent meeting of the California Air Resources Board ebike incentive workgroup.

On the plus side, the program administrators are considering — yes, just considering — requiring that any ebikes sold through the program be required to be UL or EN certified to reduce the risk of fires.

The proposed battery certification requirements were welcomed by many callers, and particularly those who worry about e-bike batteries catching fire while being charged. A bill currently wending through the legislature, A.B. 1271, could make the point moot anyway, as it would require all bikes sold in California to be either UL or EN certified for safety.

To make up for the higher cost of a certified ebike, the current plan is to allow up to $1,750 regardless of the type of ebike, or $2,000 for low income applicants.

On the other hand, your chances of actually getting on would seem be on the low side between slim and none.

And even if you do qualify, you may have a long wait.

The current plan is to offer rebates in a series of six windows, each of which will close after receiving just 2,500, with a two-month period in between to provide time to process the applications.

Yes, two months.

I guess hiring enough people to process the applications in a timely manner is out of the question.

The project website is supposed to have a place where applicants can get a jump start by setting up a user profile and log-in, but that doesn’t seem to be available yet. Keep checking back, because once the first launch window opens, it is very likely to close quickly – even immediately. The plan is to close it once 2,500 applications have been received, so as to avoid backlogging a waiting list until the next launch window.

Eligible applicants are California residents at least 18 years old with an annual household income at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. That means, for a household of one person, an applicant must make $45,180 or less; for a household of four, income must be $93,600 or less. People with incomes less than 225 percent of the federal Poverty level (so: $33,885 for one person household, $70,200 for a four-person household), or who live in a disadvantaged or low-income community as defined by law, are considered “priority applicants.” That doesn’t mean they get to jump ahead in line, though; about $5 million from the total available $31 million in the program has been set aside to make sure priority applicants get incentives. Priority applicants are also eligible for a slightly higher amount.

And never mind that the 2,500 application window means the program will only accept a maximum of 15,000 applications for the first year. That’s a total of just 15,000 for a state with 39 million people.

Which means that you’ll have a less that .04% chance of even applying for a voucher, let alone actually getting one.

And that assumes the people running the program actually get their shit together and somehow manage to stick to their painfully slow schedule.

Which seems like a very long bet at this point.

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A new crowdfunding campaign is raising money to assist LA yoga instructor Peter Anderson, who was seriously injured in a bicycling crash a couple weeks ago.

It currently stands at nearly $2,200 of the relatively modest $10,000 goal.

Thanks to Joni for the heads-up.

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Bike Long Beach is hosting a Bike to Work group ride from Long Beach to DTLA on Friday, May 17th.

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A well-done, if somewhat lengthy video, examines how Amsterdam settled on the “correct” 30 kilometer per hour speed limit, the equivalent of 18 mph.

Thanks to Norm Bradwell for the forward. 

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Sometimes it’s not a matter of bikes versus cars, but bikes against…trees. Or at least, that’s how a Madison, Wisconsin alderman unfairly framed his decision to kill a long-planned North/South pathway through the Sauk Creek Greenway on the city’s far west side. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

A Minnesota driver was caught on bike cam video intentionally swerving head-on at a bike rider, apparently just for the hell of it.

A Member of the UK Parliament is calling for bicycles to be required to have numbered plates to curb anti-social behavior by their riders, allowing the them to be identified and prosecuted. Because that’s worked so well to stop bad behavior by motorists, apparently. Never mind that for the numbers to be legible at a distance, the plates would have to be so large as to be totally impractical on a bicycle.

The UK’s Conservative government demonstrated its pro-car bias, asking if the current fines for drivers caught using bike lanes are fair to the people who aren’t supposed to be there in the first place.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Charges were dismissed against a London man who killed an 81-year old woman in the city’s Regents Park while riding his bike 29 mph in a 20 mph zone, after the court ruled speed limits don’t apply to bicycles.

An English woman was punched in the face by a bicyclist as she walked on a bike path, after the man got off his bike to talk to her. Something tells me there may be another side to the story. But violence is never the answer, regardless of how justified you may feel in the moment.

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Local 

A writer for LA Downtown News says there’s little danger to riding a bicycle in DTLA, if you know where and how to ride.

West Hollywood will team with the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition to host a pop-up Bike to Work Day pit stop on Santa Monica Blvd Thursday, May 16th.

 

State

Calbike calls for support for Burbank Assemblymember and likely future Congresswoman Laura Friedman’s Quicker and Better Bikeways Bill, arguing that California can’t afford not to build better bikeways, and do it quickly.

Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette forwards more information on Encinitas docked bikeshare provider BCycle’s decision to pull out of the city due to low usage rates.

A La Jolla op-ed writer wants to know how San Diego is supposed to encourage more biking and walking, when it can’t even manage to maintain the infrastructure it has.

An op-ed from a Santa Barbara physician questions whether the bicycle movement is failing the city, as injuries climb despite a decrease in ridership.

Hundreds of mostly young bike riders turned out for a San Francisco Cinco de Mayo Rideout.

 

National

Bicycling offers answers to cycling’s silent epidemic, as too many women quit riding due labial swelling and pain. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.

A Colorado speech pathologist and brain injury specialist trainer says the state needs a mandatory bike helmet law to go along with its ebike voucher program. But gets it wrong when she says traditional bicycles are regulated as motor vehicles under federal law, while ebikes aren’t; actually, both are regulated under state law, but never as motor vehicles.

No bias here. A Massachusetts newspaper says the local community rallied to help three young boys after they were hit by a car while riding their bikes home from school, leaving two seriously injured and their bicycles destroyed — without ever mentioning that the car probably had a driver, who somehow managed to hit not one, not two, but all three at once.

Hundreds of bicyclists participated in the annual Blessing of the Bicycles at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine Saturday morning, one day before 32,000 bike riders took advantage of 40 miles of carfree streets for the city’s 46th annual Five Boro Bike Tour.

Meanwhile, riders participating in the Five Boro ride were none too happy over reports New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority threatened to charge organizers of the ride for lost tolls from the Verrazzano Bridge, which was closed to cars for the day.

The New York Times says BMX star Nigel Sylvester has used his corporate tie-ins and social media presence to become one of the most recognizable faces in the sport, as Sylvester says he wants to be “one of the greatest to ever touch a bicycle.”

 

International

GCN considers the latest trends in bike tech.

No bias here, either. The local press says residents of Bournemouth, England are angry about a new bike path costing the equivalent of $4.1 million a mile, insisting that there aren’t enough people using it to justify the high price. Never mind that it also includes new wider paths for pedestrians, bus stops with shelters featuring electronic information boards and upgraded traffic light signals. But sure, blame all the cost on the people on two wheels. 

Cycling Weekly examines why bicycling rates have stagnated in the UK, following what was supposed to be the “golden age” for bicycling during the pandemic.

A member of the Estonian Parliament is riding more than 1,000 miles from the country’s capital of Tallinn to Kyiv, to raise funds for the Ukrainian armed forces. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

A bike rider in India was lucky to escape being crushed by a water tanker driven by a distracted driver, jumping off his bicycle at the last second and breaking his leg in the process.

An Indian father and his adult son were arrested for allegedly beating a 55-year old neighbor to death, after the victim apparently complained about the son parking his bicycle inside the apartment building where all three lived.

 

Competitive Cycling

Now you, too, can learn how to gravel race from legendary mountain bike champ Rebecca Rusch.

Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering won the La Vuelta Femenina, aka the women’s Tour of Spain, claiming the final stage in a solo breakaway by nearly half a minute; Évita Muzic and Riejanne Markus rounded out the podium.

A columnist for Cycling Weekly says no matter how well organizers may plan — or how poorly — bike racers rarely crash where you think they will, due to their individual skills and the vagaries of the course. Then again, that’s true for the rest of us, too. 

 

Finally…

Who needs earbuds when you’ve got your very own gramophone horn on your bike? And that feeling when bike rack form completely overwhelms function.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

LA Quality of Life rating reaches record low, more Bike Month events, and Orange Line bike path faces 3-year closure

May 3, 2024 / / No comments
Just 242 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re up to 1,129 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she meets with us! 

Image by Wendy Corniquet from Pixabay.

………

No surprise here.

Satisfaction with the quality of life in Los Angeles is at a record low. Although that record only goes back for nine years, reflecting the length of time the survey has been taken.

LA residents blamed the high cost of living for their dissatisfaction, primarily excessive costs for housing and goods, as well as the quality of the city’s schools.

Residents also aren’t thrilled with transportation and traffic, which continues to deteriorate in the face of inaction by the city to provide any viable alternatives to driving.

With rare exceptions, Metro train lines don’t connect anywhere but downtown. Buses seldom run on time, and many people don’t feel safe using transit after recent high profile crimes.

And long-promised biking and walking improvements remain just that.

Promises.

Advocates are understandably jaded after a long line of broken promises by city leaders in recent years, from the unbuilt and largely ignored 2010 bike plan, through the unfunded and unfulfilled Vision Zero plan, and Eric Garcetti’s completely forgotten Green New Deal.

The recent passage of Measure HLA shows the overwhelming hunger of Angelenos for safer and more livable streets. But that will take decades to build out as streets slowly get resurfaced.

And that’s if city leaders don’t find a way to weasel out yet again.

Paris has shown how quickly a major city can transform itself, given a genuine commitment by the people in charge.

We need to see that same sort of commitment here. Key word being “genuine.”

Because we’ve seen far too much of the other kind.

………

More on Bike Month events throughout the LA area.

Metro will host an East Hollywood Art Ride tomorrow.

Santa Clarita’s city manager invites you to hit the trails and enjoy the city’s natural beauty as part of the Santa Clarita Bike Challenge.

Beverly Hills will mark National Bike Safe Month with yet another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation on May 21st.

Pasadena will mark Bike Month next weekend with a pair of rides examining significant landmarks of local African American History, as well as honoring the contributions of women to the city’s history and culture.

Yo! Venice lists Santa Monica’s Bike Month activities.

………

Bad news for anyone who rides the Orange Line bike path, which will be closed for construction work until 2027.

………

GCN recommends installing a tracking device to keep your bike from getting stolen. Although that’s actually more useful for getting it back after it’s stolen than keeping thieves from making off with it.

………

It’s now 135 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Life is cheap in Washington state, where two University of Washington football players just face misdemeanor assault charges for attempting to run down a man riding a bicycle with their car, after yelling at him to get on the sidewalk, then getting out and beating the crap out of him when the victim responded by flipping the bird.

………

Local 

The San Fernando Valley’s Roscoe Blvd will get a ten-mile peak-hour bus lane, which means it will also be open to people on bicycles.

Inglewood is home to the LA area’s first pump track, which the LA Times describes as looking like a “modern sculpture emerging out of a grassy field.” Meanwhile, Mission Viejo has opened a temporary pump track in Orange County.

 

State

Streets For All, aka SAFE, lists their agenda for this year’s state legislative session.

Trek-owned BCycle is pulling out of Encinitas after two years as the city’s docked bikeshare provider, citing low usage rates.

This is who we share the road with. Three people were hospitalized when a distracted driver slammed into a previous collision scene in Hesperia, as police investigated after a pickup driver struck a bike rider, who was hospitalized with serious injuries.

The annual Tour de Big Bear is set for the first week in August.

 

National

Momentum considers what could be the worst bike lanes in the US. And yes, we’re talking to you, San Diego. And Irvine, too. 

Tragic news from Oregon, where an eight-year old boy died after contracting a flesh-eating bacteria falling off his bicycle.

Anchorage, Alaska will get its first protected bike lane this summer.

The US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs CO held its first-ever Bike to Work Day on Wednesday.

Kansas reminds both drivers and bicyclists that traffic safety is a shared responsibility. Because evidently, you have the same responsibility not to get killed as drivers have not to kill you with their big, dangerous machines.

Michigan state police are warning about an alarming increase in bicycling fatalities, which jumped 64% over the previous three-year period.

No tragic irony here. A 62-year old Massachusetts driver faces a vehicular homicide charge after hitting a pair of bike riders head on, killing a 76-year old man and critically injuring his 72-year old riding partner — while knocking down a sign warning drivers to watch out for bicycles.

 

International

The sister of an English teenager who died after he was struck by a driver and hit his head on a curb is calling for a mandatory bike helmet law in the country, saying she wants to make people who don’t wear one look like the stupid ones. Although a far better solution is designing safer streets so people don’t get hit by cars in the first place.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar is the overwhelming favorite for his first attempt at the Giro.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to call the cops for help with a flat bike tire after you just killed someone. Why sit in traffic with all the other drivers when there’s a perfectly good bike lane just sitting there?

And that feeling when you turn a bikeshare bike into a gas-guzzling vehicle capable of up to 30 mph, for no apparent reason.

And pretty much defeating the whole purpose of the damn thing.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

More on May’s Bike Month, the Radavist says shred lightly, and suspect flees police on the 5 Freeway — on his bicycle

May 2, 2024 / / No comments
Just 243 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. 

We’re up to 1,129 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she meets with us! 

………

More on this month’s Bike Month.

Metro is marking Bike Month with discounts on Metro Bike memberships — including free rides on Bike Anywhere Day May 16th — along with community bike rides throughout the month. But once again, there’s no mention of actually doing anything to encourage bike commuting on what was formerly known as Bike to Work Day. 

Pasadena posted their schedule for Bike Month activities, starting with next week’s National Bike to School Day. Or as Metro calls it, Wednesday.

New York is marking Bike Month with a new “my bike, my city” campaign to encourage bicycling by “women, girls, transgender and gender-expansive” residents.

May is also National Bike Safety Month, which includes motor bikes as well as bicycles.

………

A new short film from The Radavist urges everyone to “shred lightly” through the desert biocrust.

………

It’s now 134 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A Louisiana couple faces attempted murder charges for running down a bike rider with their car, then getting out and brutally assaulting the victim, who suffered significant injuries and severe facial trauma; no word on whether this was a road rage incident or they knew the victim.

No bias here. A Philadelphia man has posted a sign reading “My neighbor is a Karen,” in response to complaints about his 11-year old “bike life” influencer son riding his through the neighborhood popping wheelies and zipping around on the sidewalks.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A 24-year old shooting suspect led LAPD officers on a bizarre chase, weaving his bicycle through traffic on the 5 Freeway, before exiting onto surface streets where he tumbled to the ground after being cut off, or possibly struck, with a patrol car.

………

Local 

Pasadena cops will conduct yet another bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operation on Friday, ticketing any traffic violations that could put either group at risk, regardless of who commits it. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets written up.

 

State

The South Coast Highway 101 will go carfree for four hours on May 19th, when Encinitas hosts the city’s Cyclovia open streets event.

The City College of San Francisco is going to the mattresses to fight a planned bike lane in hopes of saving a whole 29 parking spaces, along with another nine motorcycle spots. But the city’s transportation agency intends to build it anyway.

Bike East Bay and the Marin County Bicycle Coalition are calling for Bay Area bike riders to turn out to the Bay Conservation and Development Commission board meeting today to save the endangered bike lane on the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge.

A Bay Area TV station profiles Rich City Rides founder and Richmond community advocate Najari Smith.

 

National

CNN lists the best bike accessories, as chosen by “actual cyclists.” Although they don’t clarify what kind of certification process you need to go through to be an actual cyclist, as opposed to someone who just rides a bicycle.

Outside ranks the best road bikes for racing and endurance, selected by a team of experts.

Bike Magazine remembers all the Konas they’ve loved before, as the popular mountain bike maker could be going belly up.

Life is cheap in Las Vegas, where an unlicensed, unregistered and uninsured driver who killed a bike rider last fall could be back out on the streets after just 28 months behind bars, despite the judge saying he “shouldn’t have been on the road” after getting 19 traffic tickets over the past 14 years.

Once again, someone riding a bicycle has been injured in a collision with a cop, this time a Tomball, Texas man in his 70s.

A New Jersey op-ed says proposed legislation requiring even low-speed ebikes to be registered and insured, just like motor vehicles, would unfairly target delivery riders.

Police in Florida arrested an 84-year old hit-and-run driver who fled the scene after killing a 28-year old bike rider. And adding still more evidence to the case against elderly drivers.

 

International

Momentum says you have to see these “stunning and unique bicycle routes” to believe them, ranging from Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh Trail to Europe’s nearly 1,900-mile Danube Cycle Path; the only one in North America is the The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route through the US and Canada.

A 39-year old Toronto bike rider was killed by the driver of a flatbed truck, in an area where the city has long been sitting on calls for safety improvements.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. Over 25% of Scottish drivers have no idea that driving dangerously around bicyclists could result in losing their licenses, or even prison terms.

No bias here, either. A new protected bike lane in the UK is being attacked by motorists as “an accident waiting to happen for pedestrians” — even though it creates a protective barrier between cars and people walking. Then again, it’s in the same city where a woman was fined for riding her bike on a multi-use path.

GCN takes a tour of Ghent, Belgium, to discover how the city cut motor vehicle use in half in just seven years.

 

Competitive Cycling

NBC looks forward to the Paris Olympics with a page of Olympic cycling history, records and results.

 

Finally…

Evidently, having a bike lock makes you a professional protester. Turn your favorite shoes into clipless bike shoes.

And when a high-end Italian bikemaker shows you just how sexist they really are, believe them.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Santa Monica offers ebike rebates, while California’s ebike voucher program goes nearly 3 years with no progress

May 1, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 244 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. 

We’re up to 1,129 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Photo by Maxfoot from Pixabay.

………

Well, that was fun. 

What was supposed to be the quick and easy removal of a small skin cancer on my ear turned into an excruciating five hours on the surgical table, scraping every half hour before they got the whole thing. 

All because every doctor I asked about it told me it was nothing to worry about, allowing it to spread unchecked for over a decade before anyone actually bothered to do a biopsy. 

But at least I left with my ear still attached, albeit lacking most of the skin inside, and with a bandage the size of a golf ball shoved in.

Which leads to today’s hard-earned life lesson. 

Just wear some damn sunscreen, already. 

………

It’s now 133 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Unfortunately, Washington state is following California’s lead, with no set launch date for their ebike voucher program a year after it was approved.

Meanwhile, Santa Monica will provide ebike rebates up to $2,000 for 90 low and moderate income residents.

Denver, which started it all, saw its latest round of ebike vouchers claimed in just three minutes, with over 8,200 ebike vouchers redeemed so far.

Even tiny Basalt, Colorado — population 4,062 — is offering residents a $500 ebike rebate, while Minnesota will provide rebates up to $1,500 on ebikes and accessories.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Even the ungulates are out to get us, after two people riding a tandem bike were taken out by a deer near the entrance to Zion National Park.

Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Adding insult to injury — literally — a 58-year old Valdosta, Georgia man will face charges for causing a traffic collision by abruptly turning directly in front of a pickup. As usual, the charges will be based strictly on the driver’s perspective, since the victim was found unresponsive and unable to give his side of the story.

………

Local 

LA Progressive calls for the defeat of incumbent CD14 Councilmember Kevin de Leon, in part for cutting off communication with community leaders over the $16.3 million in funding raised by local residents for street improvements on Eagle Rock Blvd, allowing the project to go dormant for two years.

Santa Monica will conduct yet another bike & pedestrian safety enforcement operation on Friday, ticketing anyone who commits a violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits to ensure you’re not the one who gets ticketed. 

 

State

Streetsblog celebrates Bike Month with events throughout California.

San Diego police will are looking for a hit-and-run driver who fled after striking a homeless father of five, who died nearly a month after he was run down while walking in a Balboa Park bike lane.

A Santa Maria bike club for kids now has 110 riders and more than 50 coaches, eight years after it was founded by three mothers and their kids.

The organizers of the Bay Area Bike to Wherever Days named their Bike Champions for the nine Bay Area counties, recognizing some of the area’s top bike advocates.

A Marin County Grand Jury is calling on local governments to strictly regulate ebikes and ban kids under 16 from riding throttle-controlled Class 2 bikes — even though that conflicts with existing state law.

 

National

A writer for Cnet says riding an ebike for a year not only saved him money, but changed his life.

Craig Medred takes a deep dive into the death of a 48-year old Alaska man who was reportedly among the area’s “safest and most responsible cyclists,” yet who was blamed by investigators for his own death, despite doing everything right before he was run down by a driver — because police couldn’t find the missing bike light they may not have looked for.

A Michigan man is turning his pain into advocacy, calling for a redesign of the bike lane he was riding in when he was struck by a driver leaving a Taco Bell drive-thru.

A Kentucky TV station answers the eternal question of why bicyclists don’t have to pay a road usage fee — and gets it mostly right. Although they left out a) local roads are funded primarily through the same state and local taxes we all pay, and b) most people who ride bikes also drive, and pay gas taxes and registration like anyone else.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts city council narrowly approved a plan to delay completing a 25-mile network of separated bike lanes by one year, in order to gather more data on how they will affect local businesses. Although the best way to study their effects would be to build them on a trial basis and see what happens.

 

International

Momentum rates the “seven best and most affordable” commuter bikes for spring.

It’s Bike Month in Colombia, too.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list. A new 435-mile elevated, tree-top level bikeway through the Italian countryside, leading to a 16th Century UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Italy.

 

Competitive Cycling

An Egyptian woman is being accused of assault after forcing another woman to the side of the road during the final stretch of country’s Women’s National Cycling Championship, then using her bike and hands to knock her off her bike.

Twenty-three-year old Jamaican chocolate maker Llori Sharpe is honing her crit skills with LA-based L39ION of Los Angeles, the first Jamaican cyclist to ride for a UCI road team.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be a four-wheeled, pedal-operated ebike capable of hauling a whopping 800 pounds. Or an ebike that can quickly convert from a cargo bike to an e-rickshaw.

And now you, too can have your very own Bob Marley One Love bike, a collaboration between State Bicycle Company and the reggae master who’s been dead for the last 43 years.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

New automatic braking regs protect peds, Bike Month just a day away, and SaMo and Pasadena honored for best bike lanes

April 30, 2024 / / No comments
Just 245 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. 

We’re still at 1,128 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

On top of everything else, I’ll be having a small skin cancer today, no doubt a souvenir of decades of riding a bike when they still thought the sun was good for you, and and any lotion you might use was meant for tanning, not screening out dangerous rays. 

So the status of tomorrow’s post is to be determined at this point. Not because of the minor surgery, but whether I’ll survive riding the bus with an effed up shoulder and ribs. 

Hopefully I’ll bounce back and see you in the morning; if not, we’ll be back bright and early on Thursday. 

………

There may be hope yet. Eventually, anyway.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, unveiled the final draft of a new regulation to improve traffic safety, requiring every new motor vehicle sold in the US to have forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection braking.

According to the AP,

The standards require vehicles to stop and avoid hitting a vehicle in front of them at speeds up to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour). Also they must apply the brakes automatically at up to 90 mph (145 kph) if a collision with vehicle ahead is imminent.

The systems also have to spot pedestrians during the day and night, and must stop and avoid a pedestrian at 31 mph to 40 mph (50 kph to 64 kph) depending on the pedestrian’s location and movement.

Presumably, any system than can detect pedestrians should be able to protect people on bicycles, although that’s not guaranteed.

Or even required.

Yet another reminder that we remain an afterthought when it comes to safety.

However, the new regulations won’t take effect for another five years. And it will take decades before most older cars with more limited capabilities are off the roads.

It’s predicted the new regs will save just 362 lives each year, less than 1% of the more than 40,000 people killed annually on American roads.

But it’s a start.

………

Metro offers a guide to next month’s Bike Month, including Metro Bike discounts for Bike Week, starting May 13th, and free Metro rides for Bike Day on Thursday the 16th. Although what’s missing is any mention of Bike Day activities, or the pre-pandemic Bike to Work pit stops to encourage more people to try bike commuting.

UCLA will observe Bike Month with a series of mobile bike repair services across campus, along with pit stops on Tuesday the 14th, and Wednesday the 15th.

Beverly Hills will mark Bike Month with a series of events, ranging from a month-long commuter challenge and a “May the 4th Be With You” family bike ride to the kind of Bike to Work Day pit stop Metro appears to have forgotten.

Pasadena will also celebrate Bike Month, starting with National Ride a Bike Day this Sunday, the annual Rose Bowl Ride of Silence on Wednesday the 15th, and refreshments at City Hall for Bike to Work Day.

Meanwhile, LAist offers a guide to living carfree in the City of Angels, including how to use your bike for transportation; you can listen to their podcast from last year on the same subject below.

………

Momentum lists the 20 best new bike lanes in the US, topped by projects in New York and Redmond, Washington.

Southern California is represented by Pasadena’s Union Street protected bike lane at #6, and Santa Monica’s 17th Street at #16.

And it should come to the surprise of absolutely no one that Los Angeles is nowhere to be found on the list.

As usual.

………

Gravel Bike California conducts a little recon for NorCal’s planned 300-mile Great Redwood Trail network.

………

It’s now 132 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 34 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. Sheriff’s deputies in San Marcos will conduct an “ebike safety sweep” on Wednesday afternoon to educate riders on ebike safety, while ticketing any violations committed by ebike riders — including a requirement to ride to the right, which only applies if you’re traveling at less than the speed of traffic. If you do get a ticket, fight it, because an operation specifically targeting ebike riders rather than all road users suggests illegally biased enforcement. 

A road-raging Maryland man faces charges for attempting to run a pair of bicyclists participating in a charity ride off the road with his pickup, then pulling into a driveway and firing three blasts with his shotgun, apparently missing them.

No bias here, either. A writer for Strong Towns says Florida Governor Ron DeSantis isn’t wrong when he says “some activists want to make driving so miserable that people have to abandon their cars,” accusing a “significant percentage of safe streets activists” of being motivated by a hatred of cars and the people who drive them. Never mind that a “significant percentage” of safe streets activists are drivers themselves. 

………

Local 

A 38-year old man was shot by an unknown assailant while riding his bicycle in Sun Valley Friday night, calling police after “noticing” he’d been hit by gunfire.

 

State

Irvine will host the city’s first-ever open streets event this Saturday, with a relatively petite 1.66-mile CicloIrvine from 11 am to 4 pm.

An Encinitas paracyclist is looking for donations to help her make it to a qualifier for the Paris Paralympic Games.

San Diego recommends five scenic bike rides, calling the city a bike rider’s paradise. Just remember your ebike won’t be welcome in Mission Bay. 

Good question. A Redwood City writer wants to know what happened to the award-winning plans for the city’s first bike boulevard, which seem to have disappeared without a trace from the list of upcoming projects.

Eureka explains to drivers how to operate their big, deadly machines after a pair of new bikeways currently nearing completion are finished. Because evidently, that whole “licensing and registration” thing they keep insisting should be required for bicyclists isn’t enough to guarantee the people who pass them actually know how to drive already. 

 

National

If you’re looking for a bargain on bikes, parts and accessories, Colorado Cyclist and Planet Cyclery are holding online going out of business sales with up to 30% discounts across the board. But look around and compare prices before you buy, because liquidators often jack up prices before they cut them.

McLaren IndyCar racer David Malukas may be regretting being one of us, because he lost his contract after missing the year’s first four races due to an off-season mountain biking injury.

That’s more like it. An Arizona man will spend at least 12 years of a 14-year sentence behind bars, after pleading guilty to negligent homicide and hit-and-run charges for fleeing the scene after killing a bike rider; he was already wanted on outstanding state and federal warrants at the time of the crash. Which at least explains why he fled.

Autopsy results show a Colorado mom, whose body was found three years after she disappeared on a Mother’s Day bike ride, was murdered “by unspecified means,” and had been injected with an animal tranquilizer used to immobilize wildlife before her death; her husband was initially charged with her murder, but charges were dropped because authorities hadn’t yet found her body.

Christian music star Amy Grant discusses the Nashville solo bicycle crash that took her memory, and nearly her life, forcing her to relearn the words to her own songs while leaning on her faith and family.

 

International

Mathematically challenged website Discerning Cyclist lists five things people get wrong about road bikes, which turns out to be six.

Israeli Occupation War Cabinet minister, and former opposition candidate Benny Gantz is one of us, too, breaking his foot while riding a bike in Southern Israel. But at least he has the freedom to ride a bike, unlike most people in Gaza these days. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Sofia Gomez Villafañe and teammate Matt Beers won this year’s Belgian Waffle Ride in San Marcos on Sunday, with Courtney Sherwell and Caroline Wreszin rounding out the women’s podium, and Alexey Vermeulen and Petr Vakoč finishing second and third for the men.

Bicycling considers how collegiate cycling can save American bike racing. This one doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if they block you. 

British Cycling demonstrates the track bike they hope will carry their athletes to victory in the Paris Olympics. Demonstrating once again that victory in Olympic track cycling depends at least as much on technology as actual talent.

Former Tour de France champ Geraint Thomas blames UCI boss David Lappartient and race organizers for half of the crashes in pro cycling, saying that level of carnage wouldn’t be accepted in any new sport. Although someone should tell him about all those people flooding ERs with pickleball injuries. 

 

Finally…

Now you, too, could host your very own bicycle museum, assuming you own a vacant building somewhere in the Twin Cities. Your next bike could have a very cool looking Bugatti frame, handcrafted from a design created by Ettore Bugatti himself 115 years ago.

And who needs to ride a bike, when your bike can ride itself?

……... 

Thanks to David V for his generous donation to help support this site, and keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

Or every day my internet works and I’m not too banged up to do it, anyway. 

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Strava ranks LA 9th for bike commuting, ActiveSGV named nonprofit of the year, and LA rips out Winnetka buffers

April 29, 2024 / / 3 comments
Just 246 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. 

We’re now up to 1,128 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

………

We’re back!

Kind of, anyway.

It’s been a rough ten days, but I’m finally doing a little better after my unplanned visit to the ER. I’m still struggling with pain and a loss of mobility, but at least I can lift my arm again and hold my laptop without too much discomfort. 

I’ll try to keep bringing you the all latest bike news every day, but no promises until I can put this damn thing behind me.

And my apologies to everyone who sent me something while I was out last week. I’m just too worn out after writing this to go back and see who sent what, so please just accept my thanks, and I’ll try to do better going forward.  

Meanwhile, my adventure cycling, former Iditarod-mushing brother has made it to the Arkansas River on his cross-country bike tour, after riding out Saturday’s Oklahoma tornadoes in a cement restroom in a deserted roadside campground. 

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A new Strava report shows Los Angeles is a surprising ninth on a list of the top ten bike commuting cities in the US, behind Boston and above Denver.

We also have the longest average commuting distance of any of the cities on the list, at a whopping 9.5 miles per commute. Which suggests that people are actually replacing their lengthy car trips with their bikes.

It’s also worth remembering that Strava only tracks people who have the app installed on their phones, and misses a lot of casual and low-income riders. Which means LA probably has even more bike commuters than what shows up in their stats.

Just imagine what that could look like if we actually had safe streets to ride on.

Here’s the full list, courtesy of Momentum Magazine.

Riding the Green Wave: Top 10 Commuting Cities
  1. Portland, OR: Leading the charge with 36% of cyclists choosing the green commute.
  2. Chicago, IL: A close second at 37%, boasting efficient and compact commutes.
  3. Seattle, WA: Rain or shine, 35% of Seattle’s cyclists opt for pedal power.
  4. Washington, DC: The nation’s capital follows closely with 34% of cyclists commuting.
  5. New York, NY: The Big Apple’s cyclists alone have saved over 2.3 million kilograms of carbon.
  6. San Francisco Bay Area, CA: Sharing the same 36% commute rate as New York, the Bay Area stands tall.
  7. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MI: A robust 32% of cyclists in this region choose green commutes.
  8. Boston, MA: Boston boasts a 33% commute rate among its cyclists.
  9. Los Angeles, CA: Surprising many, LA cyclists average a significant 9.5 miles per commute.
  10. Denver, CO: With a 33% commute rate, the Mile High City is reaching new heights in sustainability.

………

Hats off to ActiveSGV, aka Active San Gabriel Valley, named 2024 California Nonprofit of the Year for District 49 by Assemblymember Mike Fong.

………

Good question.

https://twitter.com/gatodejazz/status/1783954841280331924

………

It’s now 131 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 34 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A Singapore crash devolves into an ugly racist road rage incident, after a bike rider and a driver argue over who hit who in a crosswalk, before attacking the other’s ethnicity.

………

Local 

I wouldn’t plan on riding Topanga Canyon above PCH anytime soon, after the recent rains caused a landslide that may not be cleared until fall.

Auto-centric WeHoVille calls on West Hollywood city leaders to share the pain of local residents whose parking spaces could be displaced by new bike lanes by giving up their own parking privileges.

Speaking of WeHo, the LA County Sheriff’s Department will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian traffic safety operation on Wednesday, ticketing anyone who commits a traffic violation that could put either group at risk, regardless of who does it. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets written up.

 

State

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Calbike’s recent 2024 California Bicycle Summit, with advocates calling for speed cams, speed limiters on city-owned vehicles, and revising state law to allow for lower speed limits; Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry says there were just too many sessions, conversations and highlights to cover them all.

A 13-year old Ramona boy flipped himself onto GoPro’s elite team of professional athletes by nailing a triple backflip on his BMX and sticking the landing.

Thousand Oaks wants your input on proposed new bike lanes and pedestrian improvements on Hillcrest Drive.

Santa Barbara County is hosting their 15th annual “CycleMAYnia” next month, offering over 40 community bike events under the theme of “Spring is here. Bikes are in bloom.”

A Santa Barbara op-ed calls for bigger and better bike lanes to accommodate bigger and better ebikes in the years to come.

Paso Robles officially opened a new bicycle pump track yesterday.

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a bike rider was killed by a semi-truck driver who drove off afterwards, before returning to the scene after a short time.

A Marin state Assembly Member has scaled back his proposal for a statewide ban on anyone under 16 riding a throttle-controlled ebike, instead proposing a pilot program just in Marin County.

 

National

A writer for Outside says he never thought he’d own a cruiser bike, until he discovered the joys of riding with his kids.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever just kept going after running down a ten-year old boy riding his bike in Reading, Massachusetts. Seriously, what the hell kind of person could just take off and leave a little kid bleeding in the street?

New York is on track for its deadliest year in a decade, with 60 people killed by traffic violence in the first quarter of 2024.

A weekly New Orleans social ride is providing bicycle therapy for the mostly Black participants, who celebrate the joyful, healing space on two wheels.

A Decatur, Georgia man was sentenced to life plus 15 years behind bars for fatally shooting his neighbor for leaving his bicycle in the hallway — and bizarrely claiming the victim was spying on him through his smoke detector. Apparently, the state plans to prop him up an extra decade and a half to finish his sentence. Unless he gets time off for good behavior, since dead men seldom cause trouble. 

Just days after a bike-riding Colombian man was killed by a driver fleeing from police in South LA, the same thing happened in Florida, where a 20-year old Pompano Beach man was killed while riding his bike home from work by a driver fleeing from deputies attempting to break up a street takeover.

 

International

That’s more like it. City leaders in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan have had a major change in attitude, now more focused on improving safety for people on bicycles than worrying about the cost.

You may be able to legally ride through a red light on the leading pedestrian interval signal in California now, but don’t try it in Ontario, Canada, where it remains against the law.

A blind man is offering a warning about a new curb-protected bike lane in Manchester, England, suggesting the floating bus stop and high curbs pose a risk to anyone with limited eyesight.

A UK coffee connoisseur conducts a deep dive into the “mysterious” relationship between bikes and coffee, calling it the original energy drink.

A new study from a British bike subscription service finds just 5% of women bike to work in the country, compared to 20% of men, with nine out of ten women citing concerns of getting hit by a driver, road rage and feeling vulnerable bicycling at night.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, with the “stunning” La Seine à Vélo bicycle route following the banks of the Seine River through the Île-de-France and Normandy regions from Paris to the coast.

 

Competitive Cycling

Transgender cyclist Austin Killips discusses the heartbreak of confronting UCI’s ban on transgender women competing in elite women’s races, just days after the ride of her life in winning last year’s Tour of the Gila.

Rising 21-year old American pro Luke Lamperti is scheduled to make his Grand Tour debut at next month’s Giro d’Italia.

Spanish pro Carlos Rodríguez won the GC at this year’s Tour de Romandie.

Twenty-three-year old Dutch cyclist Frank van den Broek claimed his first career stage victory in the Tour of Türkiye, the country formerly known as Turkey, after the final stage was neutralized due to rain.

The Lidl-Trek women’s cycling team won the opening team time trial for Spain’s La Vuelta Femenina, followed by Visma-Lease a Bike and SD Worx-ProTime.

Velo says the revival of South Carolina’s Greenville Cycling Classic after eight years is proof that enthusiastic bike racing fans are still around.

 

Finally…

When you’re carrying meth and weed on your bike, just put a damn taillight on it, already. That feeling when the new bike lane reminds people of a crime scene.

And no, this isn’t a photo.

……... 

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Live to Ride book signing in SaMo this Sunday, Balboa Park bike lane cleanup, and a Bill Nighy thanks for stopping

April 18, 2024 / / No comments
Just 258 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. 

We’re now up to 1,117 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

………

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.

Suddenly becoming a full-time caregiver for my unexpectedly incapacitated wife and her broken shoulder, while simultaneously attempting to maintain this site and care for my own torn rotator cuff, is totally kicking my diabetic ass. 

I honestly don’t know how I’m going to make it through the next few months before we both get back on our feet. But we’ll get there somehow. 

………

Take a break from Sunday’s Venice CicLAvia for a book signing with Peter Flax, author of Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle at the Rapha Clubhouse in Santa Monica. 

Or better yet, make that the first stop of the day for coffee and a social ride with the author, the former editor-in-chief of Bicycling Magazine, and one of the most talented, insightful and beautiful voices in the bicycling community.

And if you haven’t bought your copy yet, what the hell are you waiting for?

………

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, is marking Earth Day with a much-needed cleanup of the bike lane in Balboa Park.

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That feeling when Bill Nighy thanks you for stopping at a red light.

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It’s now 119 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 34 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

The LAPD is on the lookout for bike-riding teenaged flash mobs who swarm retail stores to steal merchandise, before disappearing on their bicycles.

A Singapore lawyer suggests a road-raging bicyclist may not have been responsible for her actions because she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, shortly after she stopped her bicycle in front of a driver’s car to confront him, opened the door to his car and clung to his hood.

………

Local 

The LA Times examines South LA’s new 250-bike ebike lending library.

CicLAvia recommends highlights from this Sunday’s open streets event on Venice Blvd.

Alyssa Walker’s new blog examines the abject failure of LA’s 28 by 28 plan to develop 28 major transit, pedestrian and bike projects in time for the 2028 Olympics.

Montebello’s City Council unanimously approved the Citywide Bicycle Master Plan, as well as the 2040 Citywide General Plan and the city’s Downtown Specific Plan. Although as we’ve learned the hard way, it’s one thing to pass a bike plan, and another to actually implement it.

Santa Clarita is preparing for its 20th annual Bike to Work Challenge as part of next month’s Bike Week, with a city pit stop on May 16. Although no one seems to give a damn about it down here in Los Angeles anymore. 

The Santa Monica-based developers of a noseless and bumpless bike seat that’s “changing the lives of cyclists” walked away from Shark Tank with a $200,000 deal, in exchange for a quarter of the company.

Today is the deadline to apply for Long Beach’s new ebike lending library.

 

State

Pinkbike says you should give a shit about this weekend’s Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, and other bike festivals. Actually, they coyly said “give a sh!t,” but whatever.

Officials announced that a new 72-mile trail from Truckee and Nevada City in the Tahoe National Forest will be open to ebikes.

 

National

Discerning Cyclist recalls the day in 1899 when “Mile-a-Minute Murphy” outraced a train on his bicycle.

Bike shop owners recommend their picks for the best affordable bikes for casual riders, from a $249 beach cruiser to an ebike for two grand.

Fox News ungrammatically suggests “20 bikes for every type of bike rider,” from daily riders to competitive cyclists. Assuming you’re willing to get laughed off the starting line by showing up at your next race on a $379.00 Walmart bike.

Bicycling talks with Matthew Modine about what he learned about bicycling while making the new movie Hard Miles, about a cycling team at a medium-security correctional school. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you. 

Women shopping at a New Mexico bike shop were victimized by a 21-year old store employee who secretly recorded them in the changing room.

Three Oklahoma men finished a 600-mile bike tour to visit each of the 13 remaining Black towns founded by former slaves after the Civil War.

Life is cheap in Minnesota, where a 28-year old man with an extensive record of driving without a license got a lousy five months behind bars, after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide for killing a 73-year old Catholic priest who was riding a bicycle on the shoulder of a roadway.

That’s more like it. A Kentucky man faces a murder charge, along with wanton endangerment and DUI charges, for fleeing the scene after killing a 39-year old woman riding a bicycle, but apparently escape hit-and-run charges by calling the cops to turn himself in shortly later.

A New York man credits his Apple Watch with saving his life by automatically dialing 911 after his bike hit a rain-filled pothole.

 

International

Road.cc suggests low-cost alternatives to expensive bicycling gear.

Momentum offers ten “amazing” examples of bicycling solutions from cities around the world, from a glowing bike path to a bikeway soaring through the trees. None of which are in Los Angeles. Or North America, even.

The rich get richer, as Toronto is set to get a veritable shipload of new bike lanes in the coming months. I learned very early in my advertising career that “shipload” doesn’t work in a radio ad, because everyone will inevitably hear it as something similar, but more offensive. 

Bike theft was down 15% in the UK last year, despite a doubling of ebike thefts.

Despite a lane reduction on one of Brussels, Belgium’s busiest streets, it continues to give little space to anyone outside of a car.

Sleek new Swiss-made bike elevators in Bonn, Germany are designed to securely store bicycles near train stations with a minimal footprint.

 

Competitive Cycling

British cyclist Stephen Williams became the first Flèche Wallonne winner from the UK on Wednesday, battling snow for a first-place finish atop the Mur de Huy.

Double Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard has been released from hospital, 12 days after he suffered a broken collarbone, multiple broken ribs, a pulmonary contusion and pneumothorax in a mass crash during the Tour de Suisse.

Former Tour de France champ Geraint Thomas says WorldTour cyclists are exasperated by UCI’s lack of safety improvements, saying nothing has changed since Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder was killed during last year’s Tour de Suisse.

Seventy-eight-year old cycling legend Eddy Merckx is recovering at home after emergency surgery to have a bowel obstruction removed.

Belt-drive maker Gates is offering 100,000 euros — the equivalent of nearly $107,000 — to the first person who wins a Wold Cup downhill race using a belt-drive bike.

 

Finally…

Why sleep on the ground on your next bike tour when you can tow your very own bike camper trailer? When you’re riding with an outstanding arrest warrant and illicit drugs, don’t ride salmon through a red light — and don’t try to outrun the Mounties, either.

And seriously, who doesn’t enjoy riding through puddles?

……... 

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Help identify unconscious Boyle Heights bike crash victim, LA backing out of HLA, and South LA ebike lending library

April 16, 2024 / / No comments
Just 260 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the needlessly mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. 

We’re now up to 1,095 signatures, so let’s get it over 1,100 today! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

Well, I survived Tax Day, although my bank account may be on life-support for awhile. I hope you and your accounts faired better. 

We have a lot to catch up on, so let’s get right to it. 

………

Los Angeles General Medical Center is asking for help identifying a man who was struck by a driver while riding his bike at Fresno Street and Cesar Chavez Ave in Boyle Heights on Thursday.

The victim is described as approximately 55 years old, 5 feet, 11 inches tall, 150 pounds, with average build, brown eyes, a shaved head and multiple distinctive tattoos.

Anyone with information is urged to call Licensed Clinical Social Workers Brian Dillon at 323/409-3134 or Cristol Perez at 323/409-4317.

This offers yet another reminder to always carry ID with you whenever you ride — preferably in a form that isn’t likely to be stolen if you’re incapacitated.

………

It’s now 117 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 34 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Forbes says other states should follow Colorado’s example of offering a $450 credit on the purchase of an ebike.

Which would make far more sense than California’s bizarre plan to provide a larger voucher to a relative handful of the limited number of low-income residents who qualify, and which is likely to get far fewer people out of their cars than a broader plan open to everyone.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Poor, put-upon Welsh drivers are complaining they’re being squeezed off the road, after a new two-way bike lane nearly the width of the existing car lanes was installed. Because apparently, enough room for a motor vehicle isn’t enough room to satisfy them.

In an apparent attempt to thin the herd, a town in the UK has installed contraflow bike markings on a number of narrow, one-way streets. And by narrow, they mean barely wide enough for a single vehicle going one direction.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

The local DA says a Pennsylvania driver was justified in shooting a male bike rider who tried to forcibly enter the shooter’s car; the victim reportedly chased the driver, who had honked at him for blocking a line of backed-up vehicles, before opening the passenger door and trying to get in. Thankfully, the victim is expected to make a full recovery. Although I don’t suppose the driver considered just locking the door before getting out his gun.

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Local 

Urbanize looks forward to Sunday’s Venice CicLAvia. You’ll have to go without me this time; I’ll be home nursing a torn rotator cuff while looking after my wife’s broken shoulder. 

The LA County Sheriff’s Department will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation in West Hollywood tomorrow, ticketing anyone who does something that could jeopardize people walking or biking, regardless of who does it. Which means the usual protocol applies, so ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets written up.

Beverly Hills has launched a six-month traffic calming pilot program on Clifton Way, installing curb-cut extensions and a pair of traffic circles, which should make the residential street safer and significantly more pleasant alternative to Wilshire Blvd. Assuming local drivers can figure out how to navigate it, of course.

People using the popular Ballona Creek bike path may experience intermittent closures on a lengthy section between Sepulveda Blvd and Sawtelle Blvd due to flooding; LADWP is reportedly investigating whether the problem is due to a broken water main, or the result of excess rainfall.

 

State

Calbike’s new Executive Director Kendra Ramsey recounts her experiences at her first National Bike Summit.

A decade after becoming the first Congress member to ride in the 545-mile AIDS/LifeCycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Burbank Rep. Adam Schiff hopes to become the first US Senator to take part.

Apparently, the San Diego Padres aren’t fans of bicycles after the club banned bicycles from Gallagher Square, aka the Park at the Park, as part of a new renovation, despite being allowed for the past 20 years at the ostensibly public property. Thanks to Malcomb Watson for the link.

Video of a half-dozen Santa Cruz cops swarming a Black man is stirring controversy over what started as a traffic stop for riding his ebike through a group of pedestrians in a crosswalk; he was arrested after refusing to identify himself to the cop who stopped him.

Awful news from Berkeley, where bike-riding man’s leg was severed when a driver crashed into a row of parked cars, pinning him in between; police may have saved his life by applying a tourniquet within two minutes of the crash. A comment on Mastodon says the city refused a federal grant to improve safety at the intersection. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

Sad news from Modesto, where a 49-year old woman was killed when she reportedly rode her BMX bike around a railroad crossing barrier, and into the path of an Amtrak train east of the city.

A San Francisco business owner is going on a 30-day hunger strike to protest the centerline Valencia Street protected bike lane, which he claims is killing his business. The point of a hunger strike is being willing to risk death to call attention to the problem; a hunger strike with a limited duration is more like wanting to lose weight after the doctor refused to prescribe Ozempic.

The City by the Bay now has its first sidewalk-level protected bike lane.

 

National

Streetsblog talks with California 4th District Rep. Mike Thompson, the incoming co-chair of the Congressional Bike Caucus, who wants to get more of his fellow US Congress members on bikes.

Outside columnist Eben Weiss sings the praises of cotton clothing for bike riding, calling it the original performance fabric. As long as you don’t mind riding with sweat-soaked fabric clinging to your skin. And as for the original performance fabric, wool and silk might have something to subject.

Witnesses blamed an ebike rider for blowing through a red light, after the victim was struck by a New York cop in a marked patrol car. Seriously, if you’re not going to pay attention to the traffic light, at least look for the police before you blow through the intersection. 

Philadelphia protestors enjoyed coffee, churros and dance tunes as they partied to keep Sunday worshippers from parking in a bike lane.

An incumbent Baltimore city councilmember called for the bicycle community’s support against his “anti-bike” opponent.

 

International

Momentum ranks 30 of the world’s most beautiful bike routes. Yet oddly fails to include any in California. 

Momentum also considers whether cargo bikes are harder to ride, concluding they’re different, but worth the extra effort.

Road.cc looks at some of the world’s most expensive production bikes. For riders with more dollars than sense, apparently. 

Bike riders are on edge in otherwise bike-friendly Bogotá, Colombia, home to the world’s first ciclovia, where small gangs of robbers are targeting people riding bicycles, and a bike gets stolen every 42 minutes.

Hundreds of Toronto residents turned out for the city’s largest ghost bike ride in the past decade, to call for safer streets and honor the year’s third bicycling victim — which may be why Toronto is “getting a whack” of new bike lanes and pathways this year. Maybe if we had a turnout like that here in Los Angeles, we might finally see some safer streets, too. 

London celebrates 30 years of Critical Mass rides to fight for safer streets.

A “chatty” bike-riding French Bulldog charmed people in Amsterdam.

Le Monde considers how Taiwan became the world’s leading bikemaker.

This is who we share the road with. A 28-year old New Zealand man has been drastically undercharged for attempting to use his car to kill a 15-year old boy, who is fighting for his life after the man repeatedly, and intentionally, ran over him — yet the driver only faces a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

 

Competitive Cycling

A man after my tastes. Yorkshire, England’s Tom Pidcock won this year’s Amstel Gold Race, but remained decidedly unimpressed with the namesake beer.

Dutch great Marianne Vos slipped in to win the women’s Amstel Gold after her countrywoman Lorena Wiebes celebrated just a tad too soon; Canadian Cycling Magazine considers the worst premature cycling celebrations.

Velo looks at 18-year old American Andrew August, who makes his debut as the youngest rider to ever compete on the WorldTour.

Canadian Nadia Gontova won the women’s Redland’s Classic, as fellow Canuck Mara Roldan took the final stage in a two-rider breakaway; American Tyler Stites won the men’s GC.

No surprise here, as the US-based National Cycling League decided to “pause” operations for the 2024 season, and release all the league’s riders from their contracts. Which is business speak for shutting the whole thing down unless they can find more funding.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a driver can’t even see you on a Penny Farthing. When a gigantic gator tries to cross your path, maybe you should just let it.

And make your plans to tune in, turn on and drop out for this year’s Bicycle Day.

……... 

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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