Tag Archive for LASD

Sheriff’s deputies shot Dijon Kizzee 16 times, blaming road diets for CA decline, and things are looking up in Santa Ana

October 5, 2020 / / Comments Off on Sheriff’s deputies shot Dijon Kizzee 16 times, blaming road diets for CA decline, and things are looking up in Santa Ana

The official autopsy is out.

And it’s not good.

A pair of LA County sheriff’s deputies shot Compton bike rider Dijon Kizzee 16 times — yes, 16 — in an incident that began with a failed traffic stop for riding salmon.

And escalated when Kizzee allegedly dropped a stolen gun as he struggled to escape the deputies; what’s in dispute is whether he attempted to pick the gun back up. Especially since the official version of events has changed several times in the days following the shooting.

At least four of those shots could have been fatal.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas last year, a Black man told police officers 24 times that he couldn’t breathe before he died, in an incident that began when police tried to stop him for not having a bike light.

Yes, both men took actions that helped lead to their deaths.

But a simple traffic violation should never escalate to the death penalty.

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No bias here.

A writer for the libertarian magazine Reason concludes that California is a cautionary tale for America — including road diets that remove traffic lanes and install bike lanes.

Never mind that road diets have been successfully used for decades throughout the US, including in red states.

But that would have involved doing a modicum of research, which might have gotten in the way of his preordained conclusions.

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It looks like things are about to get much better in Santa Ana.

And should be everywhere.

https://twitter.com/lisandroOC/status/1312569428173705216

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This kind of puts it all in perspective.

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Mr. CiclaValley reminds you to put more gravel in your life.

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A couple more reminders to register your bike for free with Bike Index.

Especially now that Bike Index is partnering with the LAPD and the City of Los Angeles to create a new citywide voluntary bike registration program.

it’s up to us to make sure the free, voluntary program stays that way to prevent abuses like we saw with the city’s previous mandatory licensing program, which became an excuse to stop people of color without probable cause as they rode their bikes.

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Deep thought of the day.

https://twitter.com/henrygrabar/status/1311665276467855368

Thanks to Tim Rutt for the heads-up.

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

Horrifying attack in New York, where a speeding SUV driver appears to intentionally ram a group of bike-riding protestors before fleeing the scene; fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Once they find the driver, this should be prosecuted like the terrorist attack it is.

Talk about not getting it. Apparently confusing the treatment with the disease, a London columnist complains that bike lanes are choking the life out of the city through fume-filled traffic jams. Someone should tell him that it’s all those cars that cause the noxious fumes — and the traffic. And safe bike lanes mean fewer of those on the roads. 

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

An English teenager suffered a head injury when another man attacked him with a mountain bike.

A young Dublin man was accused of intentionally riding his bike into a taxi to file a fraudulent claim, but rode off after realizing he was being filmed by dashcam.

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Local

LADOT wants your input on building stress-free connections on neighborhood streets. As opposed to all those stressful connections we’re all used to.

You have one more week to tell Metro what you think about fareless transit system.

The Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee — the city’s only official voice representing bicyclists — is meeting virtually via Zoom at 7 pm tomorrow evening. You can see the agenda here, including draft motions addressing bias from the LAPD and the fire department in killing the Uplift Melrose project.

South LA could be on its way to a safer and more beautiful Broadway, including parking protected bike lanes, on one of the city’s most dangerous corridors.

Walk Bike Burbank puts three important questions to three candidates for city council. Read it before you vote.

The nascent GoSGV bikeshare system expands to Baldwin Park with 45 ped-assist ebikes and nine docking stations.

Santa Clarita residents can win prizes during the city’s Rideshare Week celebration.

A columnist for the Southern California News Group remembers Long Beach real estate scion and bike advocate Mark Bixby, who fought to get a bike lane across the new replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge, and won, before dying in a 2011 plane crash along with four other people.

 

State

Sad news from Eureka, where a bike rider was killed in a collision when the victim allegedly swerved in front of an oncoming car, according to the driver and multiple witnesses.

 

National

This may just be the best biking on the moon photo you see today. Thanks to TedFaber for the link.

Travel & Leisure recommends the country’s best bike paths to explore US cities. Including one I grew up riding in my Colorado hometown.

After a bicyclist crashes into a cliff wall and falls into the roadway, a bighearted Tesla driver blocks traffic before rushing the victim to the hospital with a likely broken collarbone.

Wired explains what the ebike classifications are, and what that means to you.

Sad news, as longtime bicycle writer Garrett Lai died of natural causes last week; he was just 54.

The Daily Beast talks with Seattle’s Trumpet Man, the protestor who was run over by a bike cop while lying on the ground.

Three men who survived the tragic 1970 plane crash that killed most of the Wichita State University football team are riding their bikes from Wichita, Kansas to the Colorado crash site to remember their fallen teammates on the 50th anniversary of their deaths.

Chicago business owners blame new protected bike lanes for a drop in business, with one hardware store owner insisting the loss of parking spaces has meant a 30% drop in sales. Although a far more likely explanation is the same drop in business suffered by brick and mortar retailers across the US during the coronavirus pandemic.

A pair of men are now in custody for stealing a $3,500 handcycle from an Ohio man; they were captured after riding the bike in front of security cams in a Circle K parking lot.

Following a full year of international travel, bicycling helped a writer for the New York Times fall in love with the city again during the coronavirus lockdown. Thanks to David Drexler for the link.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A New York nurse who spent the past several months on the frontlines of the the Covid-19 pandemic was killed in a collision with a motorcyclist as she attempted to ride her bicycle home following a late-night shift.

 

International

Your bike might be responsible for your back problems.

Road.cc examines the results when carmakers take a stab at making bicycles.

A bighearted triathlete bought a new bike for a 16-year old Canadian boy whose bike was stolen just weeks after finishing a nearly 375-mile ride from Montreal to Toronto, raising over $8,000 to provide clean water for indigenous communities.

The Sportsman offers a nice profile of Josh Quigley, the bicyclist who set a new record for the northern crossing of Scotland, just months after he barely survived getting run down at 70 mph driver by a Texas driver while on an around the world bike tour. He was inspired to do the ride by Britain’s Sir Chris Hoy after a failed suicide attempt.

A British woman wishes she gotten on the saddle sooner, after spending most of her adult life thinking riding a bike wasn’t for her.

In a truly heartwarming story, a seven-year old girl in the UK rode her bike around her school 100 times, completing nearly 16 miles over two days to raise funds for the hospice where her grandfather spent his last days. At last count, she’d raised the equivalent of nearly $1,500.

A German man turned his bike into a mobile video game.

A writer for Outside searches for meaning by island hopping through Norway on two wheels.

An Indian movie screening on Netflix centers on a brahmin’s stolen bicycle, without hiding the country’s dehumanizing caste system.

Ex-Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong took a lap around Beirut on Sunday, leading a bike tour to raise funds and call attention to the city that was devastated by a massive explosion.

Heartbreaking news from Kenya, where a pediatric dentist who had called for the government to reduce crashes was killed in a collision while riding his bike.

A bike-riding Philippines columnist says it’s time the country has a mandatory bike helmet law. Never mind that experience around the world shows that helmet laws depress bicycling rates, which is exactly the wrong thing to do with the world facing a climate crisis — let along the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Competitive Cycling

It was a bad day for new world champ Julian Alaphilippe, who missed out on winning the rescheduled Liège-Bastogne-Liège by celebrating too soon, losing out to Primož Roglič at the finish line. Then was stripped of his podium position and relegated to fifth for an overly aggressive sprint.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Lizzie Deignan won the women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège in a bold breakaway, racing about half the distance as the men.

The Giro kicked off on Saturday with a mini-tour of Sicily replacing the originally planned Hungary start that was derailed by the coronavirus, which did not work to three-time former world champ Peter Sagan’s advantage.

Good news as Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel is back on his bike, just six weeks after falling off a bridge in a dramatic crash at the Il Lombardia classic.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to perform bike stunts on your 12th floor balcony, at least put some damn clothes on — and try not to fall off. That feeling when a cat finishes the around the world bike tour you’re still dreaming about.

And who says you need a car to go shopping?

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

5 mph speed limit on SaMo bike path, Kizzee protestors sue Sheriff, and bike rider gives his life to save his daughter

September 22, 2020 / / 6 comments

They’ve got to be kidding.

David Drexler writes that Santa Monica has finally installed a curb separating bike riders and pedestrians on the newly widened Marvin Braude bike path through the city’s beaches.

But at the same time, they’ve installed a ridiculous 5 mph speed limit on the pathway, which is a fast walking pace, and slower than most people run. And almost half the 8 mph speed limit in Hermosa Beach.

Never mind that, as he points out, it’s hard to ride a bike that slowly without falling over, even on a cruiser bike.

Just more evidence of biking rules being set by people who’ve never ridden one.

Photos by David Drexler.

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Los Angeles County protestors aren’t backing down in the ongoing street confrontations with the Sheriff’s Department.

A group of people have filed for a temporary restraining order against the LASD’s use of nonlethal weapons during sometimes violent crackdowns against protestors following the shooting of Compton bike rider Dijon Kizzee.

Deputies have insisted that they are justified in cracking down on the protests, citing things like bike helmets and shields as proof of protestors’ violent intent.

Meanwhile, the people protesting Kizzee’s shooting have decried what they consider heavy-handed assaults on largely peaceful protestors.

It’s hard to say who’s right, since the department has gone out of its way to intimidate and arrest legitimate members of the press.

Meanwhile, bike riders in many parts of the county continue to express a fear of being harassed or arrested by sheriff’s deputies for Biking while Black or Brown.

Which is something no one should ever have to fear.

Let alone experience.

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Once again, a bike rider was a hero.

Tragically, this time.

A 45-year old Tracy CA man was riding bikes with his nine-year old daughter when a speeding driver suddenly drove directly towards them; his final act was urging his daughter to safety before the careening car took his life.

Compounding the tragedy, the formerly two lane street where the crash occurred has suffered from speeding drivers since being widened to four lanes earlier this year.

We’ll never know if he and his daughter might have both made it home to their family if it hadn’t been.

And someone should ask Sacramento’s ABC10 why it took until the next-to-last of 17 paragraphs in their story to mention that the damn car even had a driver.

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A frequent bike rider, who asked not to be named, forwarded this dashcam video taken during a recent drive through Santa Monica, demonstrating why stopping for red lights matters.

Or at least observing the right-of-way.

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A new short film documents life in Los Angeles for people on two wheels, with a veritable who’s who of LA bike luminaries.

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Former pro Phil Gaimon explains why bicyclists ride in the road, answering the question countless clueless drivers have hurled at him over the years.

Got to hand it to Gaimon.

He may not have set the world on fire in the pro peloton, but he’s become one of the most effective and entertaining ex-pros after retiring.

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

No bias here. A BBC crime program ostensibly about bike theft wasted its time with an unrelated call for mandatory helmets for bike riders. Call me crazy, but even 100% helmet compliance would do nothing to stop the theft of a single bicycle.

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

Police arrested a San Mateo CA man as he attempted to flee by bike after shooting up his neighbors’ mobile homes, then barricading himself inside his trailer.

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Local

You could get the Bird for your birthday or some other special event. Or just buy your own from the Santa Monica-based company for the low, low price of $599.

Pasadena police ticketed 79 drivers during the city’s latest bike and pedestrian safety crackdown, along with 12 bicycle riders and 12 pedestrians.

 

State

More bad news from Northern California, where a San Jose bike rider was killed in a collision Sunday night.

No surprise here, as Bay Area advocates complain about city officials and employees speeding in San Francisco and willfully blocking safety infrastructure in Oakland.

Good news for Bay Area bike riders, as Colorado’s bike-friendly New Belgian Brewery is establishing its first West Coast outlet in San Francisco’s Mission Bay.

San Francisco authorities are struggling to identify a hospitalized man who was seriously injured when he was hit by a driver while riding his bike. This is why you should always have some form of ID that’s not likely to get lost or stolen when you ride your bike. I always wear my RoadID, but you can also carry a card with your name and emergency contact information.

 

National

Tech Crunch likes the new Lumos smart helmet.

Now we’re getting somewhere. A small DIY ebike conversion kit attaches to the disk brake mount on your mountain bike — although it will set you back nearly two grand.

A rider for Jalopnik is fascinated by the process when he takes an old steel Schwinn to an expert framebuilder to have his broken frame repaired.

Four years after an Iowa collision in the middle of a coast-to-coast bike ride left a man confined to a wheelchair, he’s back to finish the ride using a handcycle. And raising funds for a cancer charity.

Kindhearted cops bought a pair of new bikes for a couple of Detroit sisters after learning the girls had to share a single bicycle.

New York bike riders will be on their own, as city officials plan to close part of the Hudson River Greenway for reconstruction work with no safety provisions for riders forced to detour onto the streets; the pathway is the busiest bike path in North America. Which is saying something for anyone who’s ever tried to ride the Venice bike path on a holiday weekend.

A Philly bike messenger offers advice on how to bike commute with confidence. Although that the last bit of advice to “Act like you’re in a car,” could taking up too much space, emitting noxious gasses, and threatening everyone else on the road. And yes, you can read it on Yahoo if you’ve been blocked by Bicycling’s draconian firewall. Which kind of makes you wonder what’s the point of having it.

A Virginia billboard honors five-year old Cannon Hinnant, who was fatally shot point blank by a neighbor for the crime of riding a bicycle on his lawn earlier this year.

In a near mirror image of the Tracy crash, an angry Florida family wants to find the hit-and-run driver who injured a seven-year old boy as he was riding bikes with his father.

 

International

Cycling News explains the difference between mountain and gravel bikes.

Vancouver has just quadrupled the fine for dooring a bike rider. Although the new $368 fine still seems too low. And that’s Canadian dollars.

A British military vet says losing his right arm and shoulder in a motorcycle crash is the best thing that ever happened to him, after competing as a paracyclist in the Invictus Games and becoming an advocate for positive body images.

Owners of Belgium’s Cowboy ebikes will get a free GPS-enabled crash detection system through a software update to alert emergency contacts with their exact location; the company says the risk of a false alarm is “near zero.”

Berlin police are engaged in a bicycle and pedestrian safety crackdown of their own in the face of a rising traffic death toll.

Great idea. Mumbai bike riders can get free emergency IDs issued by the city to provide their name and emergency contacts, as well as doctors and vital health information, in the event of a crash. That San Francisco unidentified bicyclist could have used something like that.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling News looks back at eight memorable moments from this year’s Tour de France.

Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar ditched his power meter and relied on the Force for the pivotal ascent during Saturday’s time trial. Okay, so maybe the Force reference was just a metaphor.

French judicial authorities are investigating doping accusations against Colombian cyclist Nairo Quintana’s Arkea-Samsic team, as well as entourage members who aren’t actually with the team. However, that does not necessarily mean Quintana or other team leaders have been implicated. Good thing the era of doping is over though. Right?

 

Finally…

Evidently, even mountain lions like to watch kids ride bikes — unless maybe they’re just looking for dinner. Who needs to actually ride a mountain bike when you can just play it on your phone?

And when you’re carrying funny money, oxy laced with fentanyl, pipes, scales, knives and brass knuckles on your bike, put a damn light on it, already.

And poop before you go out.

Seriously.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

More details in cop shooting of Black bike rider Dijon Kizzee, Van Nuys bike lanes in peril, and Seattle guerrilla bike brigade

September 3, 2020 / / One comment

More details are emerging in the shooting death of Dijon Kizzee as he was riding his bike in South LA on Monday.

The Lancaster resident was shot at least 18 times by LA County Sheriff’s deputies as he attempted to flee a traffic stop for an undisclosed vehicle code violation.

Relatives note that he never pointed a weapon at the deputies, and no effort was made to de-escalate the situation.

US Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who represents the area where the shooting occurred, called out the sheriff’s department for a pattern of abuse.

Whatever details the sheriffs leak or reveal over the coming days about why Dijon Kizzee was shot dead in Westmont, we know for a fact that a Black man stopped while riding his bicycle should not be dead today,” Waters, D-Los Angeles, said in a statement. “I stand with the community in condemning unaccountable rogue sheriffs and police officers who continue to hunt and murder unarmed people of color in our communities.

“It’s past time for the attorney general of CA, Xavier Becerra, to intervene and investigate the pattern of abuses at the L.A. (County) Sheriff’s Department,” she said. “The department is out of control and has lost the confidence of the community it is supposed to protect. There will be no peace in our streets until the LASD cleans house.

Kizzee’s family retained famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump — the lawyer representing Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Jacob Blake, among other victims of police shootings — who asserts Kizzee was shot 20 times in the back as he tried to run away.

Security video from the scene appears to back up that claim; while difficult to make out, it looks like Kizzee is running away and some distance from the deputies when the fatal shots were fired.

Residents of the area, and others from throughout Los Angeles, expressed understandable sadness and outrage over the killing.

LA Times readers weren’t happy about the shooting, either, though one seemed to be just as unhappy with scofflaw bicyclists.

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Apparently, the proposed rapid bus line on Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock is not the only Metro project that could result in removing much needed bike lanes.

https://twitter.com/pjrocks/status/1301231676752683008

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Stop whatever you’re doing — okay, reading this — and take a few minutes to read this great illustrated memoir of a woman’s time in a guerrilla bike brigade supporting Seattle BLM protests.

Thanks to Pops and Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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

An Illinois woman faces a hate charge after telling three Black bike riders they needed a permit to be on a public pier, then smacking one rider to stop him from filming her, and claiming she’d been attacked by them even though she was the aggressor throughout.

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

A man on a bicycle attacked an Asian couple in New York, yelling “You are Chinese, God hates China, China has virus” before spitting at them and throwing his bike at the man.

A mountain bike-riding man attacked a Vancouver traffic control flagger with some sort of undisclosed weapon, before fleeing the scene.

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Local

According to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, Los Angeles installed 37.5 miles of new and improved bike lanes during the last fiscal year, though there’s still nothing even remotely resembling a bicycle network in the city. However, those are lane miles, rather than centerline miles, so it actually works out to less than 19 miles of roadway.

 

State

An Irvine site profiles our old friend and Orange County bike advocate Bill Sellin, founder of the Bicycle Club of Irvine.

Authorities have arrested the heartless cowards who fled the scene after critically injuring a 66-year old San Diego bike rider last month; 29-year old Mauricio Flores and 50-year-old Jessica Bailey were taken into custody outside a Lake Isabella Vons store. Their van’s Georgia plates had been changed at least twice, first to California government plates, then to Vermont license plates, in an apparent attempt to coverup the crime.

Riverside will shut down its ebike bikeshare system next month, after vandalism and Covid-19 undercut ridership and revenue for the two-year old program.

Seriously? A 77-year old Napa man was seriously injured when he was struck by a driver while walking his bike in a crosswalk — yet police don’t seem to think the driver did anything wrong. Except maybe crashing into a man and his bike walking in a crosswalk directly in front of him.

 

National

More evidence bicycling is a miracle cure, as a new study shows older people who ride bikes walk more efficiently than those who walk for exercise.

Trek’s chief financial officer says be patient, there are a lot more bicycles on the way to restock empty stores.

Streetsblog says it will take a different form of advocacy to get Americans on ebikes. Although the current bike shortage might argue otherwise.

If you can get past their paywall, the Wall Street Journal offers easy biking escapes in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Vehicle miles are down significantly in Colorado, but traffic deaths are up slightly. It’s a sad commentary when a slight increase in bicycling and pedestrian deaths is considered good news.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole the Schwinn American bicycle an Oklahoma City woman received 63 years ago for her 11th birthday, and has never been without since.

A second grader has created a historical bike tour of the Massachusetts town where she spends summers with her grandparents.

Heartbreaking story from South Carolina, where a man was killed and his dog critically injured when they were struck by a driver while on a bike tour from New York to the Florida Keys; a crowdfunding campaign to send them both home has raised $4,200 of the $5,000 goal.

No surprise here, as a witness contradicts the account of a veteran New Orleans police officer who killed a bike rider; officials claimed the victim ran the red light, while the witness said the cop was speeding and hit the victim while he was still standing on the curb with his bike.

 

International

The bike boom is surging in Mexico City.

Ontario, Canada officials still haven’t identified the victim in the bike-on-bike crash we mentioned yesterday, posting photos of his bike and other personal items in hopes someone will recognize them. Yet another reminder to always carry some form of ID that won’t get lost or stolen following a crash; I wear a Road ID every time I leave my home, let alone ride my bike. Speaking of which, if you know anybody who works there, tell ’em they should sponsor this site, as often as I plug them on here. 

Donations of bicycles and laptops are helping migrant workers in Ontario keep in touch with their families and the community, despite the coronavirus lockdown.

Montreal officials are caving to angry residents and ripping out a bike lane in favor of parking spaces that had been removed to make room for it.

A pair of Welsh drivers played the universal Get Out of Jail Free card, claiming they couldn’t see the bike rider they killed because the sun was in their eyes. Never mind that if you can’t see, the correct solution is to pull over to the side of the road until you can, not keep driving until you hit something. Or someone.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a British doctor’s bicycle while he was working a 13-hour shift. Then again, the same could be said for whoever stole firefighter’s bicycle while he was working.

 

Competitive Cycling

The world road championships have been moved to Italy later this month after Switzerland backed out due to Covid-19 restrictions; only the elite men’s and women’s races will be held.

The Tour de France has a new leader, after Julian Alaphilippe was penalized 20 seconds for taking a water bottle in the final 20 kilometers of Thursday’s stage.

The Guardian calls Wednesday’s stage uneventful.

Pez Cycling News considers why pro cyclists crash so much.

A new jersey material being used by Team Sunweb in this year’s Tour promises to protect cyclists from road rash in crashes up to 60 mph, and reduce severity at even higher speeds.

And this is how it should be done, if NBC was willing to spend a few more bucks to broadcast cycling.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to steal a bike, make sure no one sees you — when you take it, or when you ride it later. If you’re going for a drunken early morning bike ride while carrying meth and weed, put a damn taillight on it.

The bike, that is, not the weed.

And evidently, lions aren’t just king of the jungle.

https://twitter.com/QTAnon1/status/1300721316719452160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1300721316719452160%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-2-september-2020-276945

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

Sheriff’s deputies kill Black bike rider in South LA, driver rams LA bike protest, and Metro nixes Eagle Rock bike lanes

September 2, 2020 / / Comments Off on Sheriff’s deputies kill Black bike rider in South LA, driver rams LA bike protest, and Metro nixes Eagle Rock bike lanes

Biking While Black has long been treated like a crime.

But it’s not supposed to carry the death penalty.

Yet that’s what appears to be what happened Monday afternoon when a pair of LA County Sheriff’s deputies spotted a Black man riding a bicycle on Budlong Avenue in the Westmont neighborhood of South LA.

They attempted to stop him for some unspecified traffic code violation, which could have been anything from riding the wrong way to riding a cruiser bike with raised handlebars.

Or it could have just been a pretext to stop and search, despite a lack of probable cause.

Twenty-nine-year old Dijon Kizzee attempted to flee on foot, and allegedly punched one of the deputies when they caught up to him a block later.

He dropped a bundle of clothing he was carrying; the deputies opened fire when they reportedly spotted a semi-automatic handgun in the bundle — making Kizzee just the latest in a long line of Black and brown men and women killed by police under questionable circumstances.

But LA Congresswoman Karen Bass asks the same questions I have. Especially why did the deputes shoot after Kizzee dropped his weapon?

A day later, the Sheriff’s Department attempted to clarify, saying Kizzee had made a motion towards the weapon.

Which, again, can mean absolutely anything, from lunging towards it to merely pointing in that direction.

But what’s painfully clear is that he was not holding it or threatening them with it when both deputies shot him multiple times.

And continued firing after he was on the ground.

One witness insists he never had a gun, and what the deputies saw was his cellphone; however, authorities say a gun was recovered from the scene.

Another indicated that Kizzee had his hands in the air at the time of the shooting.

Sadly, I have no confidence in the Sheriff’s Department to conduct a full, fair and honest investigation of the shooting. Especially under the leadership of a sheriff who seems more interested in getting fired deputies back on the force than in protecting the people of LA County.

And one who continually denies the existence of tattooed gangs within the department, including a clique called The Executioners operating out of South LA.

The mere name of which raises questions anytime they fire a gun.

We need to wait for more information before drawing any conclusions about what actually happened, because initial reports are often wrong.

And we may never know what really happened, since the LASD doesn’t require body cameras on its deputies, although thankfully, that may soon change.

Yes, there’s an argument to be made Kizzee shouldn’t have run, and shouldn’t have fought with the deputies. Let alone carried a concealed weapon.

Although some of that could have been caused, or exacerbated, by Kizzee’s ADHD.

But nothing he did appears to have called for a summary execution without trial on the streets of LA County.

One thing is clear, though. 

It’s long past time to stop needlessly killing Black and brown people.

And no one should ever be executed merely for riding a bike with the wrong skin tone.

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Somehow, this didn’t make the news here in Los Angeles.

A driver rammed through a crowd of bike riders, apparently part of a rolling Black Lives Matter protest, at Melrose and La Brea on Sunday afternoon.

And may have deliberately tried to run down a 14-year old boy.

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Metro proposes taking a big step backward by removing bike lanes on Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock, and replacing them with bus lanes that bike riders can use.

As long as they don’t mind having a speeding bus run up their ass.

https://twitter.com/topomodesto/status/1301016105004142593

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The candidates for LA City Council in CD4 will hold a virtual debate tonight.

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In what’s definitely the best story of the day, after discovering a boy riding his bike in his driveway, a man responded by taking some chalk and drawing a racetrack for the kid.

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Today’s common theme is an incredible string of violent assaults involving a question of bicycles, and who owns them.

A 19-year old New Mexico man faces a murder charge for fatally shooting another man in a dispute over the victim’s bicycle.

A Wisconsin man was arrested for using a knife to fight with another man, armed only with a belt, in the middle of a street over who owned a bicycle.

Police in New Jersey arrested two men for attempting to steal a bicycle, and swinging a bottle at the victim’s head.

An English man was knocked off his bike and punched in the face by a group of teenage boys, who then made off with his bicycle.

A 17-year old Irish boy faces a murder charge for allegedly stabbing an 18-year old man five times in a dispute over a possible stolen bicycle.

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

No bias here. A London paper blames a jump in rural bicycling injuries and deaths on weekend warriors chasing KOMs, without a single mention of the people in the big, dangerous machines.

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

A pair of Fresno men were injured when they were shot by someone on a bicycle, several minutes after first coming in contact with him.

An Arcata CA bike rider is under arrest for throwing several large rocks in a road rage incident, shattering a store window at a local shopping center.

Someone on a bicycle attacked a New York City judge, punching her in the jaw as she was walking to the courthouse Monday morning; it’s not clear whether she was the victim of a random attack, or if someone deliberately targeted her. Thanks to John Damman for the heads-up.

A New Jersey bike rider faces a sex charge for allegedly fondling a woman after circling back to assault her.

Apparently, it’s possible to have a drive-by shooting without a car, after a bike rider fired several shots at an Alabama home.

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Local

Apparently, LA bicycle advocates have gone “way beyond the pale of being pro-mobility” and are somehow tied to crooked developers. In that case, I want to know who’s getting my take, cause I’m sure as hell not getting it.

The Harvard Park intersection of Slauson and Western Aves ranks as the most dangerous in Los Angeles, in terms of the number of collisions.

LADOT wants your input on creating safe, stress-free connections on neighborhood streets. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the tip.

Metro is celebrating a long-delayed Bike Month in September.  Uh, yay?

Pasadena police wrote 82 tickets during a seven-hour crackdown on traffic violations that endanger bike riders and pedestrians; 67 tickets went to drivers, while 11 pedestrians were ticketed, along with just four bike riders.

Pasadena is extending their free Project Wheelie low-income bike repair program.

Santa Clarita sheriff’s deputies are holding their own bike and pedestrian safety crackdown today. As always, ride to the letter of the law until you get outside their jurisdiction.

 

State

The California legislature passed SB 288, which streamlines CEQA approval for environmentally friendly transportation projects such as bike lanes, light rail and bus lanes; now it goes to the governors desk for approval.

The rich get richer. Oakland has extended the parking protected bike lanes on iconic Telegraph Avenue.

Newly rebranded Jump dockless ebikes will return to the streets of Sacramento, after Lime bought the brand from Uber.

 

National

Yahoo names America’s most bike friendly cities, led by Portland and Minneapolis; California is represented by San Francisco and Oakland, ranking fifth and twelfth, respectively, as well as a surprising Irvine at 24th. Needless to say, Los Angeles is nowhere to be seen.

SGV Media talks with new PeopleforBikes CEO Jenn Dice.

An Oregon man will spend this month riding down the Left Coast from Canada to Mexico to call attention to suicide awareness.

Unbelievable. After a Reno bike rider gets left crossed by a driver, a local  TV station blames the victim for hitting the car.

A Wisconsin family drove across the US to deliver 50 refurbished bicycles to a Lutheran mission in Texas, to donate to underprivileged children in El Paso and across the border in Juarez, Mexico.

New York responds to a jump in traffic deaths by lowering the speed limit on nine major streets. Which compares to Los Angeles, where speed limits only seem to go in one direction. And it ain’t down.

New York won’t be upgrading the bike network in the Bronx, despite four bicycling deaths in just three months; instead, the city will respond with heavier police enforcement, even though that didn’t help when they tried it earlier this summer.

New York Magazine offers advice on everything you need to start mountain biking, from the bike up.

A Christian radio host claims a bike rider harassed him as he was leaving the White House last week, while denying he tried to punch the other man, despite video appearing to show exactly that.

A North Carolina company is literally reinventing the wheel, creating a new bike wheel with carbon spokes half the weight of metal spokes.

A kindhearted Georgia cop bought a new bike for a Walmart employee, after a bike theif forced him to walk to work.

Kindhearted Florida sheriff’s deputies got a new bike for a 13-year old boy after his was destroyed by a hit-and-run driver.

 

International

Road.cc offers advice on crosstown bike commutes.

Another reminder to slow down and ride carefully on bike paths — and always carry ID — after an unidentified Windsor, Ontario man suffered life threatening injuries in a collision with another bike rider.

Scotland will invest $100 million a year for the next five years to improve conditions for bicycling and walking, along with reallocating more road space from cars to bikes.

A new study shows that closing central Madrid boosted retail spending nearly 10%. Thanks to W. Corylus for the link.

Sad news from Australia, where 26-year old BMX legend Charlie Gumley apparently drowned while on a kayaking trip.

 

Competitive Cycling

In today’s spoiler-free Tour de France update, that guy with the unpronounceable name won the race’s first mountaintop finish

Sunweb cyclist Tiesj Benoot escaped without any major injuries after crashing over a guard rail in Tuesday’s fourth stage of the Tour. But his bike wasn’t so lucky.

Bicycling looks ahead to today’s stage five.

The BBC talks with South LA’s Williams brothers about their efforts to diversify cycling and create bike racing superstars.

This is what is looks like when photographers don’t get the hell out of the way.

 

Finally…

This is what you get when bikemakers consider getting into the e-car business. Seriously, don’t touch the horses when you zoom by on your ebike.

And that feeling when you’ve got a big truck tire to move, and your cargo bike must be in the shop.

……

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

Morning Links: Founding father of BMX found dead in Indio; man fixing bike shot dead by LASD deputies

July 6, 2015 / / One comment

Sad news from Indio, as one of the founding fathers of BMX riding was found dead in a tent over the weekend.

A member of the BMX Hall of Fame, Scot Alexander Breithaupt had organized some of the first races while growing up in Long Beach in the 1970s, before going on to win a national championship and founding SE Racing bikes.

There was no sign of foul play.

He was featured in a 2005 documentary about the sport.

………

A Hawaiian Gardens man was shot and killed by sheriffs deputies reporting to a report of a prowler last night.

According to his wife, he was just fixing his bicycle when the officers arrived. Although she doesn’t explain why he jumped a fence in a apparent attempt to get away.

No weapon was found at the scene, and no reason was given for the shooting.

Meanwhile, the LA Times calls on Gardena to release the dashcam video of officers shooting the unarmed brother of a bike theft victim two years ago.

………

People for Bikes offers six reasons to watch the Tour de France, which kicked off on Saturday.

Aussie Rohan Dennis got a yellow bike to go with the yellow jersey he won in stage one of the Tour de France, while GoPro offers a first-bike view of the first stage.

Two of the four pre-race favorites are down, if not out, after just the second wind-swept, rainy stage in the Tour de France. Cavendish appeared to tank it at the end of the second stage, and blames everyone else.

Joaquim Rodriguez took stage three, as Chris Froome finished just behind and slipped on the yellow jersey this morning.

VeloNews says Andrew Talansky is riding back into form just in time. Bicycling asks if it’s safe to root for Tejay van Garderen or if he’ll break our hearts again. And looks back 40 years to when a fan punched the great Eddy Merckx, and kept The Cannibal from winning a record sixth Tour.

Turns out there’s another race going on right now. And unlike the other one, an American is in first place, as US Nat. champ Megan Guarnier takes the leader’s jersey after the second stage of Italy’s Giro Rosa.

………

Local

A bike-riding Pomona boy was seriously injured when he was hit by a car Sunday night.

A legally blind Santa Clarita vet rides a four-wheeled ‘bent led by his guide dog, and was honored as the 2014 National Veteran Volunteer of the Year.

Hundreds kick off the 4th with a bike ride in Long Beach’s Belmont Shore.

A 21-year old Harbor City man was killed in a bike-by shooting. Proof bike riders aren’t always the victims. Or the good guys.

Sounds like fun. Bike-themed restaurant Pedaler’s Fork hosts the 10-Speed Grinder ride, complete with BBQ lunch, on the 19th.

 

State

Inspirational story from Oakhurst, as a vet who lost both legs in Afghanistan — and nearly his life — is riding across the US on a recumbent handcycle to raise money for the Semper Fi Fund.

 

National

The Economist says America’s roads remain extremely dangerous. No shit.

Bike Radar discusses the nine things you should never ask a female bike shop employee.

Riding cross-country on a solar powered e-bike.

The Spokane sheriff concludes a deputy violated policy by driving 70 mph on a surface street without lights and siren. But somehow, that had nothing to do with the death of a teenage bike rider who went over his handlebars as the speeding car passed within one foot of him.

A Montana paper looks at how national bike routes bring bike tourists and cash to rural towns.

A Denver couple explain the benefits of going car-free.

Even tiny Norway, Maine — population 5014 — gets bike share before we do.

A West Virginia paper looks at one of the riders critically injured in the first responders bike race that took the life of a Brazilian police inspector.

Virginia police write a whopping 12 tickets for violating the state’s new three-foot passing law last year, but at least that’s up from two tickets for unsafe passing the year before.

 

International

The physics of how your bike can keep going without you.

A Canadian bike collector rescues an 1889 bicycle he found in a landfill.

The Toronto Star says too many bike riders are getting doored, and says it’s time for bike lanes everywhere. Those same stories could have been written right here.

A cyclist tries bicycling the path of the Thames on a path not intended for bicycling.

A British lord says a survey saying people don’t like spaces shared by cars, bikes and pedestrians is proof they’re a dangerous and costly folly. After all, there’s no point in relying on facts or anything.

A Brit driver is allowed to remain on the road with three-and-a-half times the number of points against his license for moving violations than the law allows. No point in taking dangerous drivers off the streets, either.

A record-setting adventurer rides 102 miles through the Scottish countryside on a Penny Farthing.

An Irish cyclist says everybody hates cyclists. Even cyclists.

A 10-minute mini-documentary explains how bicycles are helping to liberate women in war-torn Yemin.

Now that’s more like it. The man in charge of managing roadways for an Australia’s Victoria state says you can’t build your way out of congestion, and recommends getting a new job or riding a bike to avoid gridlock.

Aussie cyclists ride topless to protest the country’s mandatory helmet law. No, not like that.

 

Finally…

That’s one way to stop a breakaway. The CHP is called out to deal with a bull blocking a roadway — and a bike race; seems to be an epidemic of that these days. When you’re a convicted felon carrying coke, marijuana and a .357 on your bike, don’t ride salmon.

And don’t forget your ankle monitor when you ride.

 

Category: Law Enforcement, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

(Late) Morning Links: LASD changes deputy distracted driving policy, CicLAvia is coming, and we’re #9

March 10, 2015 / / 2 comments

Why does someone usually have to die before common sense comes into play?

Even — or perhaps especially — when it comes to law enforcement agencies.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department has belatedly come to the obvious conclusion that their officers are no better at distracted driving than the rest of us, over a year after a cyclist was killed by a sheriff’s deputy using his onboard computer.

The Daily News reports that the department has issued a new policy that curbs, but does not eliminate, the use of department-issued computers while driving.

Officers are now expected to use their radios as the primary means of communication, with computers to be used only in emergency situations while operating a vehicle, or when a response can be given with a single touch of a button.

Of course, looking down at the screen for even the few seconds required to push a button still takes the driver’s eyes off the road long enough to kill someone.

Unfortunately, it comes too late to save the life of Milt Olin, who was rear-ended by a sheriff’s deputy who drifted into the bike lane while the entertainment lawyer and former Napster executive was riding on Mulholland Highway 16 months ago.

Let alone hold the driver accountable for his death.

And the new policy apparently does nothing to prohibit the use of handheld cell phones by officers, which is somehow allowed by an absurd loophole in state law that seems to assume police officers have superhuman multitasking powers that the rest of us mere mortals lack.

And yes, the sheriff’s deputy who took Olin’s life had also been texting with his wife in the moments leading up to the collision. But not, investigators concluded, at the precise time he struck Olin.

A standard which would seem to let most texting drivers off the hook.

The story notes the department is investigating further restricting the use of onboard computers by their deputies, including locking the devices when the car is moving or providing a heads-up display like the one used by CHP officers.

I’m still not sure if cops have the multitasking skills and lightening reflexes required to navigate busy traffic while reading messages that pop up on their windshield.

But anything would be an improvement.

Thanks to Richard Risemberg and BikinginLA sponsor Michel Rubinstein, who offers his own take on the policy change, for the heads-up.

………

Ready for CicLAvia yet?

LADOT is planning a one-day pop-up cycletrack on Chandler Blvd to give you a chance to offer your opinion on what riding in LA could — and should — be.

And CiclaValley finds support for the event even from car-related businesses along the route.

………

California is now ranked as the nation’s 9th most bike-friendly state, up from 19th. Which raises the question of whether this state has gotten that much better, or if other states just suck more.

………

More fallout from last week’s LA elections.

The Times says LA cyclists get at least some of the credit for CD14 Councilmember Jose Huizar’s landslide victory in last week’s primary election.

Meanwhile, the CD4 race is likely to be between a city hall insider and an outsider to be determined; no word on the role biking the vote is likely to play in determining the outcome.

………

Local

The LA Times is the latest paper to check in on SB 192, the state’s proposed mandatory helmet law; the story by Laura J. Nelson is one of the few to offer a considered look at the subject.

The LACBC is offering a Women’s Basic Bicycling Skills Workshop on Saturday.

A high school student questions whether bike riders are being considered in the rush to autonomous vehicles.

Celebrity chef and reality TV star Gordon Ramsay rides through the ‘Bu.

An El Monte bike rider suffered a head injury when he was hit by a minivan Sunday night. Police say the victim ran the red light; as always, the question is whether anyone other than the driver who hit him actually saw it. And the one time when it might be relevant, the story fails to mention if he was wearing a helmet.

Long Beach plans to improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians by replacing a dangerous intersection with a park.

Bike couriers finally come to the area’s most bike-friendly city, and Longbeachize looks at the last LACBC Operation Firefly bike light giveaway of the year.

 

State

No news is good news? Only one California report from outside the LA area popped up in yesterday’s news feeds.

A Sausalito councilmember wants to limit the number bikes, especially rental bikes, that swarm the small city every summer. But evidently all those cars that jam the roadways are just fine with him.

 

National

Bike Route 66 is now fully mapped out and ready to ride.

An 81-year old Phoenix man is fighting for his life after being run down by a hit-and-run bicyclist; apparently hit-and-run isn’t a crime in Arizona if you don’t have a motor. Either way, if you hit another human being, just stop already.

A Billings, Montana couple win the Adventure Cycling Association’s Trail Angel Award for their kindness to riders passing through the city.

A Wisconsin driver gets a year in jail for killing a cyclist in his sleep. Yes, you read that right.

A proposed 76-mile Naples to Miami bike trail faces opposition, but no one seems to object to the already existing highway next to it.

 

International

A Chilean designer offers a line of book racks that double as a place to park your bike inside your home.

The mayor of Saskatoon chokes on the $225,000 price tag for a protected bike lane, apparently having no idea what the same amount of automotive infrastructure would cost. Or that you don’t build bikeways for the people who ride now, but for those who will use it once it’s finished.

London’s congestion charge not only reduced the number of vehicles in the city, it also cut crashes by 40% and made the city safer for cyclists; meanwhile, bicycling could be the secret weapon for London’s suburbs.

Cambridge, England residents complain that the city’s antisocial cyclists don’t read signs.

A Welsh cyclist is about to complete a round-the-world tour to raise money for cancer research; he did half the ride solo after his companion was injured — in LA, naturally.

Brussels cyclists film themselves crashing into the city’s street furniture to demonstrate the need for better bikeways. And no, that doesn’t mean sofas in the roadway.

An Australian paper says if the country is going to achieve its Vision Zero goals, emphasis has to shift from blaming dangerous drivers to designing roads that reduce risk as much as possible.

Aussie bike groups call for government-backed safety awareness campaigns following the dooring death of a cyclist.

 

Finally…

There once was a bike share in Limerick. A South African tourist explores the City of Angels, yet somehow places the Pacific Ocean on the east of the city, which probably won’t happen until climate change worsens or the Big One hits, whichever comes first.

And a series of Canadian traffic safety ads place the blame for distracted driving right where it belongs.

Crotches-Kill-Man

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bike Events, Bikes & the Law, Law Enforcement, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,
 
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