Tag Archive for Dia De Los Muertos

Morning Links: Owner of Silver Lake hit-and-run car not talking, Solis honors fallen riders, and Ramona hit-and-run prelim

We mentioned this last week, but it’s worth a reminder. 

The first Monday after Daylight Savings Time ends is often among the most dangerous traffic days of the year

Drivers are still adjusting to the time change and the early darkness on their drive home. 

So ride with extra care today, and for the next few days.

And if you’re riding home after dark, put some damn lights on your bike, already.

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The car that was allegedly used in the Silver Lake hit-and-run that left a homeless bike rider severely injured is owned by a woman who works for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The owner of a Glendale auto body shop saw video of the crash, and contacted police after recognizing the car as one he had in his shop; the owner had brought it in claiming she found it vandalized when she got up the next morning.

Unfortunately, she refuses to cooperate with investigators and tell them who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.

Which means the investigation could be stymied unless police can find a witness or other evidence to show who was driving.

That’s just one more way the law needs to be changed.

In the event of a crash or some other event, the owner of the car should be presumed to be driving, unless they can show that someone else was behind the wheel.

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She gets it.

Thanks to LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis for recognizing the victims of traffic violence with a Dia de los Muertos altar and ghost bike at Grand Park over the weekend.

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A preliminary hearing will be held tomorrow for the alleged hit-and-run driver who critically injured a Ramona woman riding her bike to work last month.

Thirty-four-year old Ramona resident Chase Richard faces up to nine years behind bars on charges of hit-and-run with death or permanent serious injury, and hit-and-run with injury.

He’s currently being held on $2.5 million bail.

His alleged victim, 53-year-old Ramona resident Michelle Scott, remains in a coma with few signs of brain activity over a month after the crash, although she is breathing on her own after being taken off a ventilator.

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Evidently, Orson Welles wasn’t a big fan of cars.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real.

A road raging Irish driver was fined the equivalent of $500 and banned from driving for two years for crushing a bicycle with his car, then backing up and driving over it again, because the rider asked politely to get past him at a red light.

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Local

One bit of very good news today. Roberto Diaz, the then-15-year old South LA boy who was critically injured when he was struck on his bike by a red light-running driver, and dragged 1,500 feet under his car, was finally released from the hospital after three months and a dozen surgeries.

A new street safety group will meet on Saturday the 16th to discuss how to pedestrianize Hollywood Blvd, starting from La Brea to Highland.

Justin Bieber is one of us, as he flashes his tatts riding his bike through Beverly Hills, with an IV still attached.

 

State

A San Diego man will spend the next six years behind bars for beating a 57-year old man to death, who tried using a bicycle to defend himself.

The San Diego Padres — the only major San Diego pro sport team that hasn’t moved to LA yet — will host their annual Pedal for the Cause bike ride to raise funds for local cancer research.

Sad news from Santa Cruz, where a man was killed after his bike somehow went off a cliff.

A San Francisco op-ed says a proposed tax on Uber and Lyft rides won’t work, and will only justify their drivers bad behavior. Like blocking bike lanes.

No bias here. A Marin columnist calls a new protected bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge a boondoggle even before it opens, saying his paper will be counting rush hour bike riders to prove it doesn’t work.

 

National

No, riding an ebike isn’t cheating. But it could put your car out of work.

Omaha, Nebraska considers changing the law to clarify that bike lanes aren’t parking lanes.

A San Antonio, Texas op-ed says it may seem counterintuitive, but if you want less gridlock, reduce road capacity.

They get it, too. Bike riders in Stillwater OK complain that a driver who injured a bicyclist wasn’t ticket for violating the three-foot passing law, saying it would be nice if the city recognized “bicyclists as people that are trying to get from point A to point B just like people in the car.”

A 38-year old Illinois woman with cerebral palsy is still enjoying her freedom on the adult tricycle her uncle built for her 26 years ago.

New York’s bicycle death toll rises to 27 — nearly three times the ten riders killed last year — when an 87-year old man died a day after he was hit by a speeding driver; naturally, the NYPD blamed the victim, even though witnesses said he wasn’t at fault. Some accounts put the city’s bike death toll at 25, after bizarrely excluding two people killed riding ebikes.

Evidently, those “virtually theft-proof” Van Moof ebikes aren’t so theft-proof after all, as New York police are looking for the owner after recovering one a thief was using an electric grinder to make off with.

Gothamist says this could be the beginning of the end for free parking in NYC.

Baton Rouge LA opens a key link in a planned 13-mile bike and pedestrian trail around the city.

A pair of Florida bike riders say they were arrested for running stop signs, although the local sheriff insists that’s not the whole story.

 

International

Road.cc looks at the stats, and concludes we’re not the demons some drivers insist on insisting we are.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a ghost bike for a fallen Canadian bike rider.

A British police investigator somehow concluded that a bike rider who collided with a 79-year old pedestrian as he stepped into the street was doing a remarkable 38 mph at the moment of impact. Even though his Strava account says he was just doing 18.

A ten-year old Edinburgh boy starts an anti-bullying campaign after he was attacked and beaten by a group of older boys, who stole his bicycle.

Evidently, bike thieves start young in Scotland, where a toddler makes off with a balance bike from his daycare, then tries to convince his grandmother he bought it on Amazon.

Cycling Tips offers advice from a Melbourne, Australia psychologist on how to keep riding your bike after you become a father. Or a mother, presumably.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling says there were a lot of problems that led to the demise of next year’s Amgen Tour of California, but a new state law requiring gender pay equity wasn’t one of them.

American pro Peter Stetina says everyone wanted to compete in the AToC, just to race in California. But the race won’t be finishing at the Rose Bowl again any time soon.

 

Finally…

Remember, only one person on a bike. If you’re going for a bike ride, don’t forget your shades — no matter how many legs you have.

And nothing says fall like a jack-o-lantern protected bike lane.

Busy bike calendar with Ride Colorado, Spookycross, important meetings and Dia De Los Muertos

Bike Talk airs every Saturday at 10 am; listen to it live or download the podcast from KPFK.

Bike Long Beach hosts Bike Saturdays every weekend; ride your bike to participating local shops and business throughout the city to get special offers and discounts.

They say every blog post needs a photo. Here's the Corgi in her $4.95 Halloween costume.

They say every blog post needs a photo. Here’s the Corgi in her $4.95 Halloween costume.

The Ghost Bikes of LA exhibit continues through November 16th at the red#5yellow#7 gallery, 4357 Melrose Ave.

If you read this Saturday morning, you may still have time to celebrate the recent bike and pedestrian improvements to Colorado Blvd in Northeast LA with Ride Colorado. Join Councilmember Jose Huizar, Take Back the Boulevard, LADOT, the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council, Safe Moves, and LACBC with a series of events centered around Eagle Rock City Hall, 2035 Colorado Blvd from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.

The annual Spookycross cyclocross event returns to the Fairplex Stadium Complex in Pomona this weekend, 1101 W McKinley Ave in Pomona. Scheduled events include Saturday’s Spooky Cross costume race for kids and adults, and Sunday’s Krosstoberfest cyclocross race, as well as a family ride, 6k run, kid’s rodeo and bike swap and expo.

The SGV Bike Train and Bike San Gabriel Valley invite you to join in on a Halloween Bike Train and BBQ this Sunday, October 27th from 9 am to 2 pm at the Santa Fe Dam.

Also on Sunday, the Halloween Haunted Hollywood Ride rolls from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd. The easy, 15 mile ride meets at 9 am, rolling at 9:30 for a tour of 20 ghostly haunts, with a bathroom break midway in case they scare the crap out of you. Thanks to Sweet Ride USA for the link; their second episode is online now. 

And one more on Sunday, as the Do Good Bike Ride rolls from 1 Windward Ave in Venice to pick up trash and plant wildflowers on a leisurely two hour, 10 mile ride, departing at 10 am.

Culver City discusses bike parking at Monday’s city council meeting; 7 pm, October 28th, at CC City Hall, 9770 Culver Blvd.

The City of Los Angeles responds to public uproar over plans for the Hyperion-Glendale Bridge Complex by scheduling a public meeting this Monday, October 28th at the Friendship Auditorium, 3201 Riverside Drive. Current plans call for eliminating the promised bike lane contained in the 2010 bike plan, and narrowing the sidewalk and reducing it to one side, while turning the bridge into a dangerously high-speed, virtual freeway that could destroy the surrounding neighborhoods. But other than that…

The LACBC’s Civic Engagement Committee will meet on Wednesday, October 30th to discuss the conjunction of bikes and local politics. The meeting takes place from 6:45 pm to 8:30 on the Mezzanine level of LACBC headquarters, 634 South Spring Street in DTLA. The meeting is open to everyone,; you don’t have to be an LACBC member to attend.

Celebrate the season and honor fallen riders with the Dia De Los Muertos Ride on Friday, November 1st from 7 pm to midnight. Meet at Placita Olivera, aka Olivera Plaza, at 7 pm for face painting and raffles, then ride to visit ghost bike altars on a 30 mile zig-zagging ride; they promise no rider will be left behind.

For riders who prefer to avoid things that bump in the night by honoring the dead in the daytime, you’re invited to join in the Dia De Los Muertos Bici Party Ride on Saturday, November 2nd. Meet at 11:30 am at Placita Olivera, aka Olivera Plaza, to zig-zag through Downtown LA with a mobile altar on the way to the Dia De Los Muertos Festival at Grand Park.

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition invites you to Ride Lankershim for a People Friendly North Hollywood on Saturday, November 2nd. This second Ride Lankershim is being held to educate and inform local residents and businesses about the benefits of proposed bike lanes on NoHo’s main street in the face of opposition, including from the area’s ostensibly bike-friendly councilmember. Meet at 11 am at Metropolis Bikes, 4660 Lankershim Blvd.

The LACBC’s popular Sunday Funday Rides take place on the first Sunday of the month. This month’s ride takes place on Sunday, November 3rd from 8 am to 1 pm with the Fresh Prince of Bel Air Ride, led by LACBC Board Chair Alex Amerri. The ride meets at 8 am in the parking lot of the Wlshire Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd, rolling at 8:30 to explore the architectural gems of LA’s most exclusive neighborhood.

The 2013 edition of the Beverly Hills Gran Fondo rolls through Rodeo Drive and the Malibu Hills on Sunday, November 3rd, with rides of 47.6 and 90 miles; register online by Saturday, November 2nd. A two-day expo will be held next to the Montage Beverly Hills Hotel; which two days they don’t say, but we’ll assume it’s Saturday and Sunday, November 2nd and 3rd.

The next Metro Bicycle Roundtable takes place on Tuesday, November 5th from 5:30 pm to 7 pm in the Huntington Room of One Gateway Plaza in Downtown LA.

Wednesday, November 6th, popular LA cyclist Will Campbell begins a series of weekly morning bike rides with the Happy Foot Bicycle Club; the ride departs from the Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign at the corner of Benton Way and Sunset Blvd in Silver Lake promptly at 6:30 am.

The next ride in Metro’s series of monthly bike rides in conjunction with CICLE takes place on Sunday, November 16th with The Northridge Diners & Delis Ride; meet at the Northridge Metrolink Station, 8775 Wilbur Ave, at 10:30am.

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition teams with LA Walks to present Let’s Talk About Health: The Public Health Approach to Walking and Biking on Thursday, November 21st from 7 pm to 9 pm. The panel discussion will be held in the Edison Room of LACBC Headquarters, 634 South Spring Street. $10 admission; free for LACBC members and 2013 LA Walks donors.

The Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee meets at 7 pm on the first Tuesday of each even-numbered month; the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 3rd at the Hollywood Neighborhood City Hall Community Room, 6501 Fountain Ave.