Congratulations to Streetsblog LA for being named Best Group Blog at the 56th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards.
And yes, that’s my name on there, too, thanks to my occasional role as guest writer and editor last year.
Photo shameless stolen from Damien Newton’s Twitter account.
The site also scored a third place award for best multimedia package, and Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman took second place awards for best online journalist and best news photo.
While I’m honored to have my name on the award, Sulaiman, Brian Addison, LA Streetsblog founder Damien Newton, editor Joe Linton and the other members of the Streetsblog team are the real rock stars behind Southern California’s best source for transportation news.
I’m just honored they let me play in their sandbox from time to time.
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LocalCycling in the South Bay discovers taking the lane on PCH through the ‘Bu works fine when you’re riding in a group, not so much when you’re on your own.
West Hill’s popular Spoke N’ Wheels Bicycles is out of business for now following an apparent electrical fire that gutted the store.
A pretty graphic. Until you realize it’s a heat map of Los Angeles bicycling crashes — and only those that get reported.
State
A new law could save our cities by replacing Level of Service as the standard for traffic flow.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition teaches Silicon Valley shuttle bus drivers how to drive around bike riders.
If you build it, they will ride. Marin County ridership is up 66% after the county invests $28 million in new infrastructure.
National
The Bike League examines bike share’s gender gap.
Iowa sets an official policy to reduce traffic fatalities in the state to zero, after suffering 127 traffic deaths so far this year.
A Michigan teenager with cerebral palsy returns home from his first bike ride — a 250 mile journey across the state.
Indiana will now allow cyclists to ride through red lights that don’t change after two minutes.
International
An Ottawa writer says the city still isn’t safe enough for cyclists. Then again, name one city on this continent that is.
UK’s Mirror looks at the recognition finally swirling around Yorkshire cycling legend Beryl Burton.
A writer for the Telegraph decries snobbish cyclists who place themselves above other riders.
Bicycling lists this year’s Tour de France contenders.
Christchurch, New Zealand cyclists are hit by a car on an average of one every three days.
Finally…
Someone has taken bike porn to a new extreme by hacking Madrid’s new e-bike share system. And a cute video from British retail chain Halfords introduces the Bike Whisperer.
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The original report you indirectly link to claims that quote over a dozen states “have a similar two minutes red light right to ignore law! So apparently this is not as new as it seemed. The cop says it’s easier for us to safely run red ljghts then motorcycles! To accelerate sooner either way accessory magnets are available to trigger the car detector and we all need an egg timer if there is a camera to fully comply with confidence. The reality though is that the law is bad and a. Excuse to not fix lights.
The magnet idea has been around for decades and disproven for about as long, it’s something that sets up an eddy current and bike wheels do that very well if aligned with the sensor loop. This is why there is a pavement marking in the MUTCD of a line interrupted with a bicycle symbol to show the area of greatest sensitivity for triggering the light.
But I agree that the law is just an excuse to not maintain signal sensors to detect cyclists.
Sad day for us that live on the West Valley. Spoke & Wheel was a superb local bike shop and Jody’s service was second to none. Here’s truly hoping for a speedy business rebuilding.