BikinginLA

When I was injured in a road rage incident, I had a hard time finding a lawyer to represent me.

I needed an attorney who understood bicycling, but had no idea how to find one. The lawyers I called either had no experience in bike cases, or had no interest in taking a small case with no serious injuries — and no hope of a large settlement.

And no one I called was willing to challenge the LAPD over a flawed investigation that let a violent assault go unpunished, and left a dangerous driver free to do it again.

Of course, that was over 10 years ago.

Now we have a more responsive police department, taking the hard steps to change their culture and be more protective of bike riders. We also have a more activist bike community, ready and willing to step up to defend our rights.

And we have more lawyers who’ve handled bike cases — or who ride themselves and understand how bikes work and collisions happen.

In the next few days, I’ll be adding a section of links to lawyers who represent cyclists in civil, criminal and/or traffic cases. I know a few personally, and have already received their permission to include them.

But if you’re a lawyer with experience in bike cases who wants to be included — at no charge — or you know someone who fits that description, email me at bikinginla at hotmail dot com.

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KPCC reports on the hearings for the L.A. bike plan; upcoming sessions will be held on the Westside on Wednesday, South L.A. on Thursday and in the Valley on Saturday, with an online session at 11:30 am Wednesday.

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Famed framebuilder Dave Moulton says we need to share the road, too, citing weekend stories about embarrassing bicyclist behavior. Meanwhile, an Ohio lawyer says if you have the right of way, you don’t have to share, period; link courtesy of Baltimore Spokes.

Note: one of the articles Moulton cites discusses bike riders who blow through red lights when pedestrians are in the crosswalk. For anyone still unclear on the concept, people on foot are the only road users more vulnerable than cyclists. And they should always, always, always get the right of way — even when they’re wrong.

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Will finds a source for those hard-to-find cable clamps, as well as a builder for his next fixie. Glendale counts cyclists and pedestrians over the weekend. After a year-long experiment, opinion on Santa Rosa’s bicycle boulevard is evenly split. San Francisco’s Critical Mass reaches legal age. Bicycling takes a ride on the rare Pederson bike. A cyclist is killed in a hit-and-run in Tulare County while walking his bike on the shoulder of the road. Nearly 5,000 cyclists take part in the semi-annual Rosarito to Ensenada bike ride.

Only one segment remains to be completed in an off-road bikeway along I-70 through the Colorado Rockies. Lance joins in on a charity ride in Aspen. On Friday, Maryland will become a lot more bike-friendly. Boston letter writers say enough with the bike bashing. Over 3,000 cyclists converge for Tour de Troit, “just like Amsterdam, with helmets.” A Tulsa-based convenience store chain finds humor in angry drivers trapped behind a slow cyclist; or at least, they think it’s funny.

The Vancouver Sun jumps into the debate over whether cyclists pay for their fair share of the road, finding that bike riders subsidize drivers, not the other way around; readers offer their take, as well. A Vancouver cab driver says late night lightless riders put themselves at risk. One of Toronto’s anti-bike lane mayoral candidates suddenly supports ‘em after all. Despite the high number of biking deaths in London, cycling deaths in the UK dropped 10% in 2009. A woman gets off with probation for intentionally running her biking boyfriend off the road. Turns out London cyclists are honest, after all, but authorities predict a 41% increase in bike thefts for one British city. Two Scotch riders with nearly identical names suffer identical injuries just days apart. Bikes for Bush provides free bikes for children in the Australian Bush; three carbon bikes hand-painted by indigenous artists will be auctioned to raise funds for the program Friday. An Australian report claims cyclists face a 34 times greater risk of being injured than people in cars, based on average distance traveled. Over 6,000 cyclists join in on the India Cyclothon. Friends and fellow riders remember the 17-year old Belize rider killed while training on Thursday. A cyclist is in police custody after a collision kills an elderly pedestrian in Beverly Hills; no, not that Beverly Hills, this one.

Finally, the mystery deepens in the death of the bicycling British MI6 intelligence analyst — who also had high-level clearance with the U.S. National Security Agency — as the FBI joins in the investigation.