BikinginLA

It’s election time once again in and around the City of Angels.

The LA Times looks at the very crowded race to replace Tom LaBonge in CD4, where LA’s pitiful voter turnout and 14 candidates splitting the vote means it could take only a few thousand votes to win the race.

Which means that a single dedicated group — like bike riders, for instance — could be enough to sway the outcome.

Let’s hope the candidates remember that. And that we do, too.

Meanwhile, candidates for the West Hollywood City Council discuss pedestrian safety and whether to ban all sidewalk cycling in the city.

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Local

Public Radio station KPCC wants to know how you learned the rules of the road. Would that be the legal rules of the road, or the ones we have to live by to survive on them?

UCLA Transportation shares an infographic that makes the case for protected bike lanes.

A man walking on a Santa Clarita bike path is pepper sprayed, then whacked on the head with an unknown object.

 

State

The good news is, it’s not going down; the bad news, it’s not going up. Caltrans’ director assures legislators that the state’s funding for active transportation will remain unchanged for the next two years.

San Diego’s Business Association has discovered a great new way for its members to network and get to know each other: form a bike club.

A Salinas teen receives a national extraordinary courage award for competing on his school’s mountain bike team after losing a leg to cancer.

Nice. After a pancreatic cancer patient on a national bike tour had his bike and equipment stolen in Turlock, locals pitch in to get him back on the road.

A cyclist killed in a rear-end collision on a Sunnyvale highway over the weekend was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, which is likely where the investigation will both begin and end, regardless of any other factors.

 

National

It should come as no surprise to anyone that 75% of people who have had their licenses suspended continue to drive anyway, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Shocking, but not surprising.

People for Bikes offers up five reasons why you should talk your boss into allowing a lunch ride; personally, I usually get my best ideas on a bike.

Bikes are under attack once again in bike-friendly Oregon, as a bill in the state legislature proposes licensing all riders over 18, instituting a mandatory $10 bike registration plan, and barring the use of state highway funds for bike projects.

I don’t even where to start with this one, as a teenage St. Louis-area driver is charged with the hit-and-run death of a man sleeping on a bike path.

Evidently, they take human life seriously in New Hampshire, as the unlicensed driver who killed two cyclists when she plowed into a group of riders while under the influence of drugs gets up to 40 years in prison, with a minimum of 15.

 

International

Next City says cyclists and pedestrians are the best of frenemies, as a Canadian study shows shared paths and sidewalks increase the risk of severe injury. Which you probably already know if you’ve ever ridden the beachfront bike path through Santa Monica.

No. Just no. After a man calls out a bike rider for rolling a stop sign, the rider returns a few minutes later and beats him with a baseball bat.

In an interview with the BBC, Lance Armstrong says if he had to do it all again, he would do it all again.

A cyclist in a UK city suffers two broken fingers when he’s kicked off his bike by a moped rider, something that seems to happen there every January.

A 65-year old woman sets off on a 5,000 mile tour around the British Coast to raise money for charity, and takes her golden retriever in a trailer behind her. Which is exactly what I’d do if my wife ever kicks me out, except she’d probably keep the dog.

Bike riding is booming in Ireland; unfortunately, deaths are on the rise, as well.

Government officials debate whether to pull the cord on Melbourne’s troubled bike share program or exempt it from Australia’s ill-advised mandatory helmet law.

Once again, a Facebook page is accused of inciting violence against bike riders, this time in New Zealand; operators insist it’s not a hate site, despite the death threats to cyclists. Well, what the hell did they think would happen?

 

Finally…

In today’s nod to literature, an ode to a nun on a bike. And for those of us who are cash-challenged, the next edition of English bike scribe Carlton Reid’s excellent Roads Were Not Built for Cars will be published online for free.