Talk about close.
A late start meant I didn’t have a lot of time to ride yesterday, so I took a quick spin along the beachfront bike path through Santa Monica and Venice — despite my long-held preference to avoid it as much as possible this time of year.
And I nearly paid for it with a head-on collision with a scofflaw salmon cyclist.
Make that a four-year old scofflaw.
On a tricycle.
She didn’t seem too pleased when I suggested she should ride on the other side, either.
……..
Yet another coward has fled the scene following a serious collision, leaving a bike rider to bleed in the street. This time in Orange County.
According to KABC-7, a teenage cyclist suffered critical head injuries when he was hit by an unidentified vehicle around midnight Wednesday on North Harbor Boulevard near La Palma Avenue in Orange.
A passing motorist saw the victim lying in the street and called for help.
Anyone with information is urged to call Anaheim police at (714) 765-1900.
……..
Tuesday’s twin meetings called to oppose bike lanes in NELA and San Pedro may not have turned out the way opponents might have planned.
The special meeting of the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council’s Sycamore Grove Local Issues Committee — maybe they could work on shortening that just a tad — gave every indication of being a set-up for opponents of bike lanes on Figueroa Street in Northeast L.A. Even going so far as to allow a bike lane hater to present an uncontested 15 minute video in opposition to the lanes.
A presentation he reportedly botched — eventually leading to his ejection from the room for disrupting a public meeting.
The Fig4All website calls the meeting a farce in every sense. Yet one that resulted in an overwhelming 41 to 16 in favor of the bike lanes.
Meanwhile, the highly contested road diets and bike lanes recently installed in San Pedro received unexpectedly strong support from city officials, in a special meeting with area Councilmember Joe Buscaino.
The lanes were installed as part of the 2010 L.A. bike plan, as well as in an attempted to calm traffic on streets with excess capacity — including in front of a school, where parents inexplicably complained about the difficulty of dropping their children off, rather than praising the attempt to increase safety for their own kids.
Fortunately, cooler heads seemed to have prevailed, as Buscaino suggested drivers get used to the changes and find ways to avoid the brief periods of congestion.
I’m starting to like this guy.
Now let’s see if he, and the other members of the council, show as much backbone dealing with Hollywood’s irrational demands to remove the Spring Street green bike lanes at Friday’s council meeting.
………
A couple bike-related items from Metro made it into my inbox yesterday.
First up is how to cope with the new locking turnstiles being activated in Metro train stations this summer.
Metro Rail turnstiles will be activated this summer and open only with a valid TAP card. If you bring your bike on board, please plan ahead for how this change can affect your station access.
Some important tips to remember for bringing your bike through turnstiles:
- Follow ADA-accessible routes to find elevators and wider turnstile gates to safely walk your bike in and out of stations.
- If lifting your bike over turnstiles, please be careful. Avoid lifting your bike over turnstiles in a crowded station.
- Using the emergency exit gate for non-emergency purposes is not allowed and punishable by fine.
Whatever type of fare you’re using – single ride, pass or transfer from another system – it must be loaded on a reusable TAP card to ride any Metro Rail line. Please be sure your TAP is loaded with cash or valid fare before approaching turnstiles at Metro Rail stations. If you don’t already have a TAP card, you canpurchase one along with your fare from the TAP vending machine for a $1.
I can’t say I’m fond of the idea that one-time train users will be forced to buy a tap card, increasing the cost of a single ride to $2.50.
And Metro will be working with bike advocacy organizations to co-sponsor a series of bike education and safety classes throughout the county.
All cyclists can benefit from a working knowledge of the rules of the road.
Continuing efforts to educate all road users, Metro presents a new series of free bicycle traffic safety workshops, rolling out across the county over the next few months.
With funding from the Office of Traffic Safety, Metro is working with the LA County Bicycle Coalition, Bike San Gabriel Valley and Multi-Cultural Communities for Mobility to lead the workshops. A 3-hour beginner’s road rules class will be offered in English and Spanish, and an 8-hour workshop for intermediate cyclists will focus on building traffic skills.
The series kicks off with the following classes. As more classes are scheduled, information will be available able at metro.net/bikes andfacebook.com/bikemetro.
Street Cycling Skills Class
Saturday, June 22
8am-5pm
Alexander Hughes Community Center
1700 Danbury Rd
Claremont, CA 91711
Register with LA County Bicycle Coalition hereStreet Cycling Skills Class
Saturday, July 6
9am-6pm
Culver City Veteran’s Memorial Building
4117 Overland Av
Culver City, CA 90230
Register with LA County Bicycle Coalition hereStreet Cycling Skills Class
Friday, July 12, 6pm-9 pm
AND Saturday, July 13, 8am-2 pm
Azusa Memorial Park Recreation Center
320 N Orange Pl
Azusa, CA 91702
Register with LA County Bicycle Coalition hereBicycling on the Road Class
Sunday, July 14
10am-1pm
South El Monte Community Center
1556 Central Av
South El Monte, CA 91733
Register with Bike San Gabriel Valley by emailing info@bikesgv.orgStreet Cycling Skills Class
Wednesday, July 17, 5:30pm-8:30pm
AND Saturday, July 20, 9am-1pm
California State University Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Bl
Long Beach, CA 90815
Register with LA County Bicycle Coalition hereBicycling on the Road Class
Saturday, July 20
10am-1pm
El Monte Senior Center
3120 Tyler Av
El Monte, CA 91731
Register with Bike San Gabriel Valley by emailing info@bikesgv.orgBicycling on the Road Class
Saturday, July 27
10am-1pm
Palm Park Rec Center
5730 Palm Av
Whittier, CA 90601
Register with Bike San Gabriel Valley by emailing info@bikesgv.orgBicycling on the Road Class
Thursday, August 4
1-4pm
Culver City Veteran’s Memorial Building
4117 Overland Av
Culver City, CA 90230
Register with LA County Bicycle Coalition hereBicycling on the Road Class
Sunday, August 18
10am-1pm
La Verne Community Center, Classroom 1
3680 “D” St
La Verne, CA 91750
Register with Bike San Gabriel Valley by emailing info@bikesgv.orgBicycling on the Road Class
Saturday, August 24
10am-1pm
Barbara J. Riley Community & Senior Center
7810 Quill Dr
Downey, CA 90242
Register with Bike San Gabriel Valley by emailing info@bikesgv.org
………
Finally, you could soon fly over potholes; no, literally. And if you’re going to steal precious artwork by a revered artist, bring a bag big enough that it doesn’t stick out of your backpack as you make your getaway by bike at 4:30 am. Let alone big enough to carry everything you meant to steal.
It is unfair to Councilmember Joe Buscaino to call his support for bike lanes in San Pedro “unexpected.”
In Buscaino’s relatively short tenure, he and his staff have demonstrated a commitment to safer streets in his district, and a deep understanding of the benefits that road diets can provide, not only in making room for bike lanes, but improving motorist and pedestrian safety as well.
The most eloquent statements at the meeting were from residents on Westmont who told their neighbors that they are greatful that they can get in and out of their cars safely, and that they are in much less fear of their mirrors being broken off or cars sideswiped.
Thanks Jeff. I did not mean to suggest it was Buscaino’s support that was unexpected, rather that it was unexpected that the city held firm and did not cave into demands to remove the lanes, as they did on Wilbur. It’s nice to see some real backbone in the face of opposition.
The Metro tap card system is so patently ludicrous, it makes our city look like a joke compared to major metropolitan areas, not to mention it is enforced in a grandiosely racist fashion. Never before have i EVER seen subway law enforcement harassing people coming OUT of the turnstiles… Only the “darker” people, mind you. Metro is an absolute failure, and their minor concessions to bicyclists should not earn them a pass. The system is an atrocity, but the corporate malfeasance is no surprise, in a town ruled by its water dept…
Salmon recumbent riders are some of the worst to encounter. First of all obviously you’re not expecting a rider coming at you, but then they are also a little harder to see. They aren’t at the height you expect. Then to top it off they’re often wider than regular bikes. I happen to almost run into a tadpole salmon on the road once! I couldn’t help but chuckle at that one after I got PO’d!
Safer, fairer, better, usually depends on ourselves mostly.
Seems like Venice near the Skateboard park is percived as safe enough to let a little girl bike alone. That’s probably a plus for cycling. I mean if parents are that comfortable with her cycling, then she’ll soon be cycling to school, then cycling to work, and never own a useless cars, etc. Sound like a good pathway to me. Now if she can only learn to stay right…
PS – Joe – “…for the lack of a nickle, Charlie rode forever on the trains beneath Boston…” song by Pete Seger (may not be a completely accuate quote.) I grew up there – you had to pay to get off if you went far enough from the city center.
Joe again – And now that I think of it… Midnight 1988, Oakland’s BART. I’m the only one there, except for a cop. Not enough on the card to exit. The lone card machine won’t take one of my twenties. The cop says he’ll ticket me if I hop the turnstyle. I had to call a taxi, get change from the cabbie to add money to the card. (The taxi ride was next on my planned trip anyhow.) So, BART in San Fracisco requires exit money on the card too. I think Washington DC is the same. Don’t think LA’s Metro is really all that unusual, except deciding to add turnstyles for stations designed without them is so expensive that it will never pay for the cost of adding them.