Good commentary from Mr. CiclaValley (who apparently has no idea how hard it is not to type CicLAvia by mistake) on the ridiculous efforts to undo a road diet on Chase Street in Panorama City.
As he points out, the argument comes down, as it usually does, to the convenience of pass-through motorists versus the safety of people who live, work and attend school along the street, which was never intended to be the arterial people seem to use it for.
Or that the local neighborhood councils want it to be, at least.
Battles like this are best seen as the violent death throws of LA’s overdependence on motor vehicles. Simply put, the city has no choice but to change; as he points out, increasing capacity on our streets does nothing to reduce congestion in the long run.
The only choice we have is to provide viable alternatives to driving. Which means, not just providing transit options, but making our streets safe to bike and walk.
As an added benefit, improving safety also makes our neighborhoods more livable, resulting in increased property values and greater profitability for local businesses.
Which seems to be more than worth a small increase in congestion — which usually only lasts until drivers adjust to the changes, anyway.
But hey, that’s just me.
………
This one’s just too sad for words.
A Wisconsin father and daughter were killed, and the mother injured, when a stranger opened fire on a family out for a bike ride before killing himself. Just because he was pissed off after a fight with his girlfriend, and they happened to be there.
There are no words.
………
Give Lance his yellow jerseys back.
A new study says doping not only doesn’t improve performance, but it can actually have the opposite effect.
So Armstrong may have won in spite of cheating, not because of it.
Yeah, good luck with that one.
………
Local
The WeHo Bicycle Coalition posts candidate questionnaires for all the candidates in next months West Hollywood election, while the city’s City Council considers jacking up fines for parking in bike lanes.
Malibu is hosting a free bike rodeo for kids ages 4 – 13 this Friday afternoon, along with the premier of a new video promoting safety on PCH.
Look ma, no hands! Actor Orlando Bloom impresses the impressionable Brit press by riding his mountain bike hands-free through the ‘Bu.
A Long Beach rider walks away from a collision in Belmont Shore.
State
All-diabetic Team Novo Nordisk will compete in this year’s Amgen Tour of California, while former non-diabetic Astana rider Evan Huffman struggles to come back with an entry-level team competing in the tour.
A a meth-fueled Santa Barbara woman attempts to make her getaway by stolen bike after attacking an elderly woman with a pitchfork.
San Mateo County can afford to widen the freeway, but can’t seem to scape up enough funds for a safe way for bikes and pedestrians to cross it.
Bay Area-based Google gets a patent for how driverless cars can detect bike riders and recognize hand signals. But can it recognize the one we give to too many human drivers? Yes, that one.
Chico bicyclists smartly adapt the tweed ride for the California climate with an annual seersucker ride.
National
Advice on how to choose a lock and effectively secure your bike.
A $100,000 grant from REI helps fund protected bike lanes in six cities. And no, Los Angeles is not one of them.
A Mac website says the non-Apple-made Stromer ST2 e-bike is such a blast to ride it shouldn’t be street legal.
A Honolulu protected bike lane increased bike traffic by 70% in just one year, while cutting sidewalk riding from 66% to just 14%.
Oregon begins a new campaign to increase bike tourism in the state.
My hometown offers an alternative to bike share, with a bike library that lends out bicycles to anyone who needs one. Note to the Coloradoan newspaper: Don’t let them pull the wool over your eyes. Fort Collins wasn’t a cow town; it was all about the sheep. Which explains why my high school team was called the Lambkins, something I’m still trying to live down.
Yesterday we mentioned a cyclist with pancreatic cancer who spent the last three years touring the US. Now another rider pauses in Texas on a cross country ride to raise funds to fight pancreatic cancer; his wife, who suffers from the disease, is following in the support van. My mother died of pancreatic cancer, as did Steve Jobs and Cardinal Joseph Bernadin. And as a relatively newly minted Type 2 diabetic, I face an increased risk, as well. I fucking hate cancer.
Tres shock! The editor-in-chief of Vogue is nearly flattened by a bike rider on her way to a New York red carpet event; the rider was reportedly led away by police.
Bono falls off his bike once again. But this time it was just a stunt for Jimmy Fallon.
West Virginia tells drivers to give bike riders three feet.
A South Carolina motorist faces an attempted murder charge for jumping out of his car and attacking a woman riding her bike; the victim was seriously injured in the assault.
International
Good for them. A UK appeals court tells a hit-and-run driver who killed a cyclist and tried to cover up his crime that he deserves every day of his eight-and-a-half year sentence.
A bicyclist is beaten to death by a motorcycle rider attending a wedding in India, after he lost his balance and broke a turn signal on the motorbike. A mob responded by trashing the wedding site, yet the couple still managed to exchange vows under heavy police protection.
Adult cyclists may soon be allowed to ride on the sidewalks in one Down Under state.
The LA Times looks at the problems besetting Giant’s giant Taiwan bike manufacturing plant.
Not surprisingly, the speeding Thai driver who plowed into a group of cyclists, killing three and injuring six, was under the influence.
Finally…
It often seems like spandex and those who wear it are under attack these days, but bike shorts still come in handy for smuggling a half kilo of coke jammed into your nether regions. When you’re claiming to be the victim in a road rage incident, it helps if you don’t head butt and bite the cops when they respond; it also helps if the Kiwi press can manage to keep the damn parties in the story straight.
And caught on video: A Brit bike rider flips through the air along with his mangled bike after he’s hit by a car, and catches the whole thing on his helmet cam.
Love the comment about the Russian judge only giving him a 6 inspite of sticking the landing….
One would think that people who live on or near the roads which will get road diets, or have school children to deliver would applaud the road diets. They could make for safer places to drop and pick up their children.