Unfortunate irony, indeed.
A bike rider is hit by an apparently distracted driver on a ride to remember a bike rider killed by a distracted-driving sheriff’s deputy.
Fortunately, the cyclist should be okay, despite being pretty banged up.
………
It’s starting to look like this story isn’t going to go away.
A columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle says bike advocates are splitting hairs in opposition to SB 192, the bill that would mandate helmet use for all riders. Although someone should tell him that the law requiring helmets for minors, which he calls a success, is often blamed for why so few California children ride bikes, which is a major contributor to the obesity crisis in our youth.
The Daily News prints letters on both sides of the issue; once again, licensing people on bikes rears its ugly head even though it has nothing to do with the question at hand.
San Diego’s KPBS public radio station discusses both sides of the question, as well, while Santa Monica Spoke comes out in opposition to the bill. Digital Slurry echoes Copehangenize with a tongue-in-cheek call for walking helmets.
And if you still have any doubt whether the proposed helmet law is a bad idea, Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry nails it.
………
Local
USC’s Neon Tommy says a watered down MyFigueroa won’t be finished until the end of next year.
Next City is suitably impressed that Ed Begley, Jr. biked the Oscars in the rain Sunday night. So I am.
Move LA and the SFV Council of Governments are hosting a San Fernando Valley Town Hall on Thursday to imagine our transportation future in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys.
Westwood’s Hammer Museum invites you to design your own bike to suit the environment in a family friendly workshop this Sunday.
State
A Santa Ana coalition wants to empower local residents to transform the streets to make them safer for bike riders and pedestrians.
A Bakersfield driver faces four charges, including two felony counts, in the hit-and-run death of a bike rider.
A Modesto letter writer insists there will never be safety for bicyclists as long as we’re required to ride with traffic; someone should show him the safety stats for salmon cyclists.
The new director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition intends to push the fight for Vision Zero.
National
Kids added their voices to bike advocacy at the national Youth Bike Summit in Seattle.
Now here’s an idea LA should steal copy, as Houston opens a Bicycle Museum this week. I’d gladly pay to see Connie Carpenter’s gold medal-winning bike from the ’84 LA Olympics, along with one of the bikes that beat a JetBlue jet to Long Beach and made Wolfpack Hustle a household name among local cyclists.
An Omaha flying saucer-shaped building is set to become a new bike shop operated by a non-profit group. Actually, most local bike shops are unintentional non-profits these days.
A Minnesota man prepares to ride next week’s 350-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational along a portion of the famed sled dog trail.
An Ohio fat bike rider doesn’t let freezing temperatures — or a frozen beard — stop him.
Bike riders recreate the legendary Selma to Montgomery civil rights march on two wheels.
New York’s CitiBike workers want the raises they were promised by the bike share’s former owners.
International
Must be something in the water, as a racist UK jerk hurls abuse at a bike rider and threatens to set his dogs on him, and a big hearted Londoner is caught on video saying bike riders are their own worst enemy and deserve to die.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A 93-year old British WWII vet still rides up to 5,000 miles a year; last year he notched 3,500, which is a lot more than I managed.
A Brit thief steals a bike, and uses it to break through the window of a toy store.
Finally…
Roseville bike thieves simply ride off with bikes being sold through Craigslist. An apparently anti-bike OKC city councilmember follows up on his failed attempt to force bike riders to keep three feet from cars with an ordinance allowing police to ticket lane splitting cyclists.
And if you’re drunk off your ass and get caught trying to take a shortcut through a fenced-off business lot, don’t ride salmon and crash into the police car trying to stop you from getting killed by riding into the path of a truck.
Seriously.
