Tag Archive for reverse-angled parking

LA suggests un-Healthy Streets alternative, LADOT commits climate arson, and drivers back it up on Ventura Blvd

August 28, 2023 / / 2 comments

My apologies if you received an email with just the barest outline of a post earlier.

I seem to have had a twitchy publish button finger.

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Somehow, you knew this was going to happen.

A full year after the Los Angeles City Council rejected the proposed Healthy Streets LA ordinance, the city has finally come back with their long-awaited alternative version.

And suffice it to say it leaves a lot to be desired.

The original measure, which easily qualified for next year’s ballot, requires the city to build out the already-approved Mobility Plan 2035, which subsumed the 2010 Bike Plan, any time a street in the plan gets resurfaced or resealed with slurry.

The council had the option of approving it as written, or sending it to a vote of the people.

They chose the latter, while promising to come back within weeks with an even better, new and improved version of their own.

You can guess how that turned out.

According to an analysis of the proposal from Streets For All, who wrote the original ballot measure, the city changed the requirement from covering any resurfacing over 1/8 of a mile to 1/4 of a mile, which they say would exclude 80% of the projects in the Mobility Plan’s Neighborhood Enhanced Network, as well as removing slurry seals from the plan.

Correction: I originally wrote that the change to 1/4 mile would exclude 80% of the projects, which was a misreading of the text on my part. I have corrected the paragraph above to more accurately reflect the effect of the change.

Then there’s this.

When defining “standard elements” it was interesting that the City Attorney didn’t simply say “the improvements in the Mobility Plan” but said that it’s the improvements that the Board of Public Works, Director of City Planning and General Manager designate for inclusion in a Project.” In other words, if any of those entities don’t “designate” an improvement to be included in a Project, then it’s excluded, and a bike or bus lane is ignored. This is the first “out” the City has given itself, and it’s a big one.

But wait, there’s more, as they say in the world of informercials.

This next section is a doozy. It basically says that the General Manager of LADOT and Director of City Planning — in “consultation” with LAPD, LAFD, and the City Attorney (three entities often hostile to bike and bus lanes in the first place) — can “revise” Mobility Corridors. In other words, they’re usurping City Council’s authority over the Mobility Plan and taking it for themselves. It’s a dangerous precedent to set that City departments can change the City’s General Plan without Council, and especially dangerous to put it in the hands of LAPD, LAFD, and this City Attorney (who has implied the City shouldn’t be at fault for pedestrian deaths even if the City has failed to implement its own Vision Zero or Mobility Plan 2035 plans).

Read that again.

The city’s revised version would remove the requirement to include any street or project in the already-approved Mobility Plan, and replace with the judgement of city officials likely to be hostile to any changes.

The city version goes on to include a public outreach process, which has too often been gamed by city officials to kill projects they don’t like, or are afraid to implement.

Like shovel-ready lane reductions on Lankershim, North Figueroa and Temple Street, just to name a few.

Streets For All ends their insightful analysis this way.

So what is our overall take on the City’s version? It’s full of holes, exceptions, and bureaucracy, and is not an attempt to actually implement the Mobility Plan during repaving; it’s an attempt to look like it’s doing something, while actually continuing to mostly ignore the Mobility Plan. It also does not address any of the equity additions (former Council President Nury Martinez) had promised, nor does it establish a centralized office of coordination, or provide for a multi year funding plan.

In other words, it’s not nearly good enough. We have raised more than $2,000,000 to get our ballot measure across the finish line this spring. Our polling shows an overwhelming number of Angelenos are sick of the status quo — and will support Healthy Streets LA at the ballot box. If you’re ready for change, join us! You can stay up-to-date, volunteer, donate, and get involved on our website.

See you at the ballot box.

And in the meantime, contact your councilmember to let them know the city’s proposal is dead in the water.

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LADOT appears to be committed to committing climate arson.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports Los Angeles continues to widen streets throughout the city, calling out more than a dirty dozen streets that will soon have more room — and in most cases, more lanes — for motor vehicles.

In fact, Linton lists a full fifteen streets either currently being expanded or set for expansion, at a total cost of more than $218 million.

Although that’s barely a fifth of what the city is spending to give raises to the LAPD.

Some folks out there may be under the mistaken impression that Los Angeles is not really widening roads any more. Though widening roads is counterproductive in many ways, it has long been and continues to be an incessant L.A. City practice.

Streets for All founder Michael Schneider terms L.A. City road widening “the opposite of fighting climate change,” noting that “widening streets induces more driving, meaning more pollution burden locally and more greenhouse emissions further harming the climate.” Widening is expensive, and adversely impacts safety, health, climate, air, water, noise, housing, historic preservation, and more.

That money could make a sizable dent in the city’s bike plan, which could actually get some of those cars off the streets, rather than flushing more money down the toilet by funding still more induced demand.

This far into the 21st Century, it should be clear that we can’t build our way out of traffic congestion.

And that fighting climate change will require getting people out of their cars, and onto their feet or bikes, and into transit.

Widening streets is the exact opposite of what we should be doing.

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Reverse angled parking is supposed to improve safety for people on bicycles by improving sightline for drivers pulling out of spaces.

But the new configuration on western Ventura Blvd isn’t exactly winning rave reviews, as bicyclists complain about drivers using the bike lanes to back into parking spaces, as well as double parking to wait for a space to open up, forcing riders out into unforgiving traffic.

https://twitter.com/gatodejazz/status/1695998850182660507

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Santa Monica is improving safety on deadly Wilshire Blvd by making several cross streets right turn only.

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CicLAvia’s North Hollywood CicLAmini along the Lankershim Blvd corridor is less than four weeks away.

The good news is you can just step off the B (Red) Line subway at the NoHo station and you’re there.

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OC bike advocate Mike Wilkinson forwards evidence of why you should always hesitate pulling out from a red light, until you know every driver in every direction is coming to a stop.

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If you build it, they will come.

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Remember this the next time someone questions why bike riders insist on riding in the street.

Or better yet, just send it to them.

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

Maybe starting the Vuelta in the Catalonia region wasn’t the best idea, as someone tried to sabotage the complicated second stage by tossing tacks and nails on the course, flattening the tires of around 15 cyclists.

An “arrogant” road-raging driver — and possible government employee — in the Philippines assaulted a man riding a bicycle, then pulled out a gun and aimed it at the victim before cooler heads apparently prevailed.

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Local 

Beverly Hills is looking for your input on the parking-protected bike lane pilot project on Roxbury Drive, as they consider making the bike lane permanent.

Police in Long Beach are looking for a pair of robbers who fired a gun as they struggled with a man to steal his bicycle along the Los Angeles River bike path Thursday night; the thieves eventually ran off without the bike.

 

State

Video from a TikTok user shows people in San Diego standing by and watching as a man steals a woman’s bike in broad daylight, calling it an example of the Bystander Effect. Then again, the person taking the video didn’t intervene, either. 

Sad news from Sacramento, where a woman riding a bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

 

National

US colleges are beginning to ban ebikes due to a fear of fire risk as well as a risk to pedestrians. After all, it makes so much more sense to force students and faculty back into their cars, which evidently don’t pose a greater risk to anyone. Right?

The Better Business Bureau offers tips tips to help you pick the right ebike for your budget.

Bike Rumor offers their picks for Best in Show at Portland’s MADE handmade bike show; Velo offers their favorites, too.

Cycling Weekly visits MADE to examine the new Moots prototype spec’ed with 750D wheels, asking if we really need another wheel diameter standard.

A Seattle website profiles Seattle Bike Blog author Tom Fucoloro, who has a new book examining the city from behind the handlebars.

My hometown paper offers highlights from the massive turnout for the country’s last remaining Tour de Fat.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Sixty-four-year old John Kezdy, the lead singer of the ’80s punk band The Effigies, died on Saturday, three days after he was critically injured crashing his bike into an Amazon van illegally parked in a Chicago bike lane. The inevitable lawsuit will be just the cost of business for the online shopping giant.

It’s apparently open season on bike riders at Indiana University, as three students who participated in the iconic Little 500 bike race were hit by drivers in three days last week; the race was made famous in Breaking Away.

There’s a special place in hell for the hit-and-run driver who left a 12-year old Boston-area boy bleeding alone in the streets. Or any other kid, for that matter. 

A writer for The New York Times says he improved his mental and physical health by ditching his car and walking to biking to run errands, though he suggests that anyone wanting to emulate him may not want to start with a trip to Costco. Thanks to Bike Talk’s Taylor Nichols, who suggests getting writer Andrew Leonard to appear on the show, for the heads-up.

A Long Island woman faces charges for slamming into a triathlete as he rode his bike in the middle of a race, after pulling out of a parking lot at a high rate of speed and onto the race course that had been closed to traffic.

The AP offers not necessarily safe for work video from the Philadelphia World Naked Bike Ride.

This is who we share the road with. A road-raging Philadelphia driver with a concealed carry permit pulled out a gun and began firing after his car was surrounded by dirt bike riders on an apparent rideout, shooting one man before he was wounded by return fire.

 

International

Evidently, you can kill a man on a fundraising bike ride while driving drunk, bury his body a shallow grave on a remote Scottish estate for three years, and get off with just 12 years behind bars — and could get out in as little as six. And get just five years and three months for helping your brother hide the body.

BBC host and bicycling advocate Jeremy Vine causes a stir in the UK by saying drivers should pull over and let bicyclists pass in urban centers, since people on bicycles can often travel faster than people in cars — and that drivers shouldn’t be allowed to pass bicyclists at all. Finally, a campaign platform I can get behind.  

Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is one of us, after he posted video of going on a cargo bike ride with his twins while vacationing in Yorkshire, England. From the looks of it, the bike was almost as long as his name. 

GCN shares the “most bizarre and beautiful” bikes from last week’s Paris-Brest-Paris.

A Nigerian website says bicycling is a must if the country hopes to “be rid of hydra-headed transportation gridlock that often sends road users to nightmarish spasm.”

Giant Taiwanese bikemaker Giant warns customers that a scam website posing as the bike brand may be ripping off consumers.

 

Competitive Cycling

Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel said enough is enough and intentionally slowed the peloton after a crash by Primož Roglič in Sunday’s stage 2 of the Vuelta; Italy’s Andrea Piccolo took the leader’s red jersey as Denmark’s Andreas Kron won the day on a stage shortened by flooding near rate finish.

Britain’s William Bjegfelt just won the Paracycling World Championships after he was told he’d never walk or bike again following a head-on collision with a driver in 2015.

L39ION of Los Angeles cyclists Kendall Ryan and Ty Magner wons the elite women’s and men’s races, respectively, at the IU Momentum Health Indy Crit in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Cycling Weekly takes a look at the alternative, off-road race scene in the UK.

More bad news, in what has been an unbelievably tragic year for pro and amateur cyclists, as 22-year old Belgian rider Tijl De Decke was killed when he crashed into the back of a car on a training ride.

 

Finally…

You may have to blow up your next bike helmet. That feeling when the man accused of stealing your bicycle finally gets arrested — 38 years later.

And they get it.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Venice bike lane Zoom meeting tonight, Ventura Blvd bike lane plan fails smell test, and cars “social and environmental curse”

August 31, 2022 / / One comment

We mentioned it yesterday.

But it’s worth repeating, as Kent Strumpell reminds us about tonight’s virtual meeting to discuss expanding the bus lanes and protected bike lanes on Venice Blvd in Mar Vista.

Super important!  Virtual meeting for Venice Blvd. bikeway/busway expansion.  The Venice Blvd. Safety and Mobility Project, Wednesday 6:30. Zoom registration and link: https://ladot.lacity.org/venicersvp.

The city needs to see strong support to move this project forward.  It could be transformative, creating LA’s first crosstown protected bikeway.

The plan would expand the bike lanes from National Blvd in the east, to Lincoln Blvd in the west, and provide the Westside’s first safe bike commuter route.

You can learn more from Streetsblog’s report.

Meanwhile, a writer for Patch explains the need for the project, which would serve nearly 47,000 people who live within five minutes of the deadly street.

Venice Boulevard is a part of the City of Los Angeles’s High Injury Network due to a disproportionate number of traffic collisions, according to a statement from LADOT. From 2012 to 2022 there have been 1,203 collisions and 25% of them have involved pedestrians or bicyclists, which is higher than average for Los Angeles. In that same time frame, there have been 58 people who were killed or severely injured in collisions on Venice Boulevard, according to the statement.

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Maybe the news about bike lanes on Ventura Blvd isn’t as good as it seemed.

A couple comments from Lionel Mares and Joe Linton paint the changes in a different light, describing them parking improvements to encourage more driving, instead of safer bikeways to get people out of their cars.

Let’s hear from Mares first.

I am glad that Ventura Blvd in the San Fernando Valley is getting a ‘Bike Lane’, but the traffic road design by LADOT is awful! The bike lane should be moved closer to the curb (by the sidewalk), and NOT in-between moving cars and parked vehicles!! The LADOT rendering (design) is awful!!

Even Streets For All can agree to this!

I have advocated for and demanded city officials and to Michael Schneider that we need better representation in the San Fernando Valley! We want better and safer Bike Lanes!! I can’t take it anymore! The silence is complicit! We demand better and safer streets for all people including bicyclists!

Linton explains the situation further.

Reimagine Ventura (in CD3, Blumenfield) is a half-mile project that is about adding more car parking – it does a road diet then allocates former car travel lane space to diagonal car parking. It “includes bike lanes” but only in the sense that it just keeps existing unprotected bike lanes. It came out of a parking study that analyzed protected bike lanes, then recommended against them.

Clearly, this isn’t the kind of “improvement” we need.

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There may be hope yet.

A writer for The Guardian says we’ve reached peak car, and that private motor vehicles — and not just the gas-fueled ones — are thankfully on their way out.

Now if someone will just tell LA’s elected leaders.

The worldwide love affair with the car, which promised consumers convenience, status and freedom, is over. The reality from Hotan to Hull and Lagos to Lahore is that the car is now a social and environmental curse, disconnecting people, eroding public space, fracturing local economies, and generating sprawl and urban decay. With UK temperatures hitting highs of 40C this summer, this reality has become impossible to ignore. Instead of the prospect of speed and cheap mobility, consumers now get soaring costs, climate breakdown and air pollution, the devastation of nature, mounting debt, personal danger and ill health, and the most serious energy crisis in 30 years…

From here on, it looks like death by 1,000 breakdowns for the private car. Just as the coach and horse were pushed out by automobiles 120 years ago, so the car is being steadily evicted from world cities by the authorities or by public revulsion. As thousands of jubilee street parties showed, car-free streets are popular, and the surest and best way to save money, improve health and make cities quieter and more livable. A recent report from the Centre for London shows how low-traffic neighbourhoods, introduced widely during the pandemic to encourage walking and cycling, reduce car use and make roads safer. Wales has slashed the default speed limit on residential roads from 30mph to 20mph.

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Yes, there’s a smarter way to shop with a bike.

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The last time I checked, the willful destruction of private property was a crime.

Regardless of who does it, or why.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

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

Vandals took a sledgehammer to bikeshare ebikes in Tulsa, Oklahoma, knocking ten percent of the bikeshare fleet out of commission.

Madison, Wisconsin bicyclists were warned someone is planting booby traps on a busy commuter bike path, after a 52-year old bike rider was clotheslined by an HDMI cable strung across the bikeway at neck height; the cord was replaced two more times after he removed it. This should be charged as attempted murder at the very least, if and when the jerk responsible is caught.

No bias here. A British driver complains about a “militant,” and “self-important” bike rider, because she did the right thing by taking to the center of the lane when she felt unsafe.

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

A 37-year old Visalia, California man was convicted of four counts of premeditated attempted murder for setting a fire at the home of his ex-girlfriend and their two children, as well as her new boyfriend; he rode his BMX bike both to and from the home to set the arson fire. 

Friends mourn the 44-year old Singapore immigrant who was killed in a collision with a hit-and-run bicyclist in New York earlier thus month.

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Local

Los Angeles County supervisors have ordered unspecified “immediate steps” to slow speeding drivers at La Brea and Slauson, nearly a month after a red light-running driver traveling at an estimated 90 mph killed five people, as well as an infant just two weeks from full term. The supervisors also called for changes in California law to allow automated speed cams, which they could have backed before the bills died in committee during the last two legislative sessions.

Smart Cities looks at the opportunity of LA residents to vote on the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal in 2024, after the city council declined to adopt it outright, and placed it on the ballot, instead.

A letter writer in The LA Times suggests connecting the Ballona Creek bikeway to the Los Angeles River bike path to create a network of bicycle superhighways, while another complains that cars don’t just go away when streets are closed. Actually, studies show they do, because traffic on nearby streets usually show only marginal increases when roadways or bridges are closed to cars.

 

State 

Sad news from Santa Rosa, where the 52-year old chef of a Mexican restaurant was killed when he crashed into a car-blocking bollard while on a casual bike ride with ten co-workers on a local bike path. Just one more example of a protective measure intended to keep people on bicycles safe actually putting them in greater danger.

Predictably, bicyclists in San Mateo County are complaining that recent road resurfacings using chip-seal are increasing the risk to bike riders, while making some rural roads virtually unridable.

Streetsblog calls on San Francisco voters to keep JFK Drive carfree, after city officials recently made the temporary pandemic closure permanent.

A 31-year old Fairfield man faces 15 to life after a Solano County jury found him guilty of second degree murder and hit-and-run causing injury or death for the drunken, high-speed crash that killed a 52-year-old man riding a bicycle last fall; Nadhir Muftah Ghuzi has been held without bail since his arrest.

UC Davis police are investigating the recent incidents of racist and anti-semitic banners being hung from a bike overpass on the campus.

 

National

Streetsblog considers how to design better cities for the “unseen” bicyclists.

British bike parking and infrastructure company Cyclehoop is launching in the US.

CNN likes the Rad Runner 2, calling it the e-utility bike for everyone.

A Utah thief was caught on security cam video smashing a vehicle through the front of a bike shop, and making off with 50 grand worth of ebikes.

Nice move from nonprofit group Operation Get Out, which gave a new bicycle to every elementary school kid in Uvalde, Texas; the group gave away 800 bicycles, along with helmets, locks, tubes and hundreds of stuffed animals.

Sad news from Chicago, where an unlicensed driver allegedly ran a stop sign, killing a 55-year old man riding a bicycle on Saturday. And yet people somehow complain about scofflaw bike riders, who usually don’t pose a risk to anyone but themselves.

Following the death of a State Department diplomat while riding her bike near DC last week, Fox News reports that two women who worked for the department were killed in collisions on their bikes in just over a month; both were in their 40s.

 

International

Canadian Cycling Magazine writes about the absurd heights people go to so they can drive their massively oversized trucks, which threaten the lives of everyone else on the road.

You’ve got to be kidding. The BBC has spanked radio host Jeremy Vine for breaching the network’s impartiality rules by voicing his support for London’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods, the equivalent of American Slow Streets.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel dominated the individual time trial in Tuesday’s stage ten of the Vuelta, gaining another 48 seconds on three-time defending champ Primož Roglič, who looks like he won’t need to worry about defending again next year.

Britain’s Simon Yates was forced to abandon the race after getting infected with Covid-19, the first contender to withdraw due to the virus.

Everything you always wanted to know about the Vuelta a España’s red leader’s jersey but were afraid to ask, including that the maillot rojo was only adopted 12 years ago.

Bummer to take a wrong turn in the Vuelta time trial.

VeloNews reports on the global mourning over fallen Kenyon pro cyclist Suleiman “Sule” Kangangi, who died after a high speed fall during the Vermont Overland gravel race at just 33 years old; Kangangi was called a giant for blazing a trail for African cyclists.

Cycling Weekly looks at the newly formed National Cycling League, questioning whether the competitive crit teams represent the future of cycling, or just another gimmick. We’ll see if they actually begin racing next year, which remains questionable.

A paratriathlete relates how he took his cycling to the next level after losing a leg to cancer in college. For a change, you can read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you. And yes, AOL is still a thing, evidently. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when your ebike is your favorite photography accessory. But who needs an ebike when you’ve got a jet-powered tricycle?

And that feeling when you tour the world on a tall bike with a rescue dog you just met along the way.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Morning Links: Hermosa backs safety improvements; San Diego details deaths in the county, including on bikes

June 17, 2015 / / 4 comments

A reader sends word that Hermosa Beach is backing up its commitment to bike safety.

Literally.

A married couple were exploring the new bikeways on Harbor and Herondo linking Redondo Beach and Hermosa when they came upon some odd markings on the street next to a new bike lane.

Photo by Allison Sheridan

Photo by Allison Sheridan

A quick look online confirmed they are reverse-angled parking spots, designed to improve bike safety by increasing visibility for drivers as they pull out of the spots (scroll down to pages 26-29). Although I neglected to ask just which street they were on.

I’m told these could be the first reverse-angle parking in the South Bay. And one of the few anywhere in the LA area.

So hats off to Hermosa for reversing the usual risky angled parking to help keep riders safer.

Update: A comment from Margaret says the street is Herondo; this is what it used to look like. And Vince points out that the south half the street is actually in Redondo Beach, so they should get credit, as well.

Thanks to Margaret for the heads-up and the correction.

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Philip Young of the San Diego Wheelmen forwards a series of annual reports from the San Diego Medical Examiner examining the causes of deaths in the county for the years 2011 through 2013; he notes the 2014 report hasn’t been released yet.

According to Young, the reports show nine bicyclists were killed in San Diego County in 2011, ten in 2012 and seven in 2013.

Although my records indicate a higher bicycling fatality rate for each year — twelve in 2011, eleven in 2012 and eight in 2013.

I haven’t had a chance to dig through the reports to figure out the reason for the discrepancy yet. However, they may classify bicycling fatalities more conservatively than my records; I include anyone who was riding or walking a bike at the time of their death, including solo falls and bike-related medical conditions, as well as traffic collisions.

Update: Ed Ryder sends word that SWITRS shows 15 bicycling fatalities in 2011, which makes more sense.

I track fatalities primarily through news reports, as well as other sources, so my records may undercount the actual totals if the death of a cyclist never makes the news; that often happens if the victim dies several days or weeks after a collision.

The real question is, why does the Medical Examiner’s report undercount bicycling fatalities for that year by over 50 percent?

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The Women’s Tour of Britain is helping to bridge the equality gap in pro cycling, while a writer for Britain’s Guardian says it’s time for cycling to lose the podium girls.

Let alone bikini girls at women’s races.

Twenty-three-year old Astana women’s pro Anna Solovey has been canned by the team for “unprofessional behavior;” she was previously banned for two years for doping before she was even in her 20s.

And you’d think someone who once sponsored a major bike race would get that 72 years old isn’t too old to race, let alone ride. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

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Local

A Metro survey shows 37% of LA voters think separated bike paths are very important, while only 10% say they’re not important at all.

Pasadena gets that intersections are dangerous places for bike riders; the city is painting a new bike lane that remains green all the way through the intersection of Marengo and Orange Grove.

CiclaValley tells you why to get excited about the upcoming LA River Ride, set to roll on the 28th. And if you’re not too worn out from the River Ride, join CICLE, the Bike Oven and Metro for the Spintacular Fireworks Neighborhood Ride later that day.

 

State

Dozens of Santa Ana homes will be demolished to widen a dangerous Santa Ana street, including wider medians and sidewalks. And yes, bike lanes. I guess performing a road diet and keeping the houses would be out of the question in auto-centric OC.

Oceanside police will team up to compete in RAAM; the team competition starts on Saturday.

A San Diego County supervisor may have committed an ethics violation in nixing a bike lane that could have affected the value of a restaurant he’s a partner in. Although as a new study shows, he may have shot himself in the foot.

Coachella Valley bike riders are urged to donate old bikes, locks and helmets to benefit the local Boys and Girls Clubs.

 

National

A writer for People for Bikes says you don’t have to give up your car to live mostly car-free. I’ve put less than three hundred miles a year on mine for the last five years.

Someone is groping and harassing women riding on Phoenix bike paths; one woman was punched in the face by a homeless man.

Boulder CO moves forward with right sizing three major streets to make room for wider bike lanes.

A Chicago runner and firefighter makes a commitment not to use his cell phone when he drives.

Don’t believe everything your GPS tells you. A Minnesota girl learned that the hard way after her smartphone guided her and her bike onto a freeway.

Evidently, it takes concrete barriers to keep New York drivers from parking in bike lanes, green or otherwise. Maybe we could use some here to keep cops out.

Bike commuting in the DC area jumped 450 percent in just three years, while auto commuting has remained steady; now another area county plans to ramp up their bike network.

 

International

Twelve reasons why you should take a foldie when you explore Cuba. Which is sort of legal for Americans these days. Visiting Cuba, that is.

A group of 17 friends will team together to finish the epic ride a UK man had planned before he was killed in a collision earlier this year.

A British woman can ride a bike for the first time after being fitted with the world’s most lifelike bionic hand.

An Irish mom says yes, cyclists face dangers on the roads, but pedestrians run a risk from us, as well.

Tim Robbins casually rides a bike in Milan. Just don’t ask him about The Shawshank Redemption.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is riding his new bicycle on his Bulgarian set as he recovers from knee surgery.

Reckless Japanese bike riders can now be required to take safety lessons, and can face steep financial liability for injuring others.

 

Finally…

Caught on video: Eating behind the wheel is one thing; eating cereal out of a bowl is another. Eight years old may be just a tad too young for a naked Brit bike ride, by about a decade or so.

And when your name is Outlaw, it’s probably not a good idea to steal a bike, unlocked or otherwise.

Or anything else, for that matter.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , ,
 
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