Morning Links: SaMo bicyclist injured in hit-and-run, more holiday bike giveaways, and stupid criminal tricks

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Santa Monica Spoke’s Cynthia Rose forwards a report that a bike rider was injured in a hit-and-run at 20th and California around 6:30 pm Wednesday evening.

The 30-something victim was taken to UCLA with head injuries and bleeding, but was reportedly conscious following the crash.

No word yet on a description of the suspect vehicle.

Anyone with information should contact the Santa Monica Police Department.

………

‘Tis the season.

The Pasadena Rotary bought and donated 200 bicycles for underprivileged kids.

Dozens of children of service members at Edwards Air Force Base will receive bicycles after it was determined their families could use a little extra help for the holidays.

The San Luis Obispo sheriff’s department gave 600 bikes to underprivileged kids after they were refurbished by inmates at the SLO Honor Farm.

Tennessee’s Bike Elf is working to provide bicycles for 109 children who asked for them on a Wishing Tree.

………

Local

The LA Times reviews a documentary about a man suffering from Friedreich’s ataxia, who put a team together to compete in the Race Across America on a tricycle along with another sufferer of the neuromuscular disease.

A man slashed another Expo Line passenger on the neck and face with a knife following an argument yesterday afternoon, then made his escape on a dark-colored cruiser bike.

CiclaValley offers tips for riding in the rain. Oddly, given the weather as I write this, build an ark does not seem to be one of them.

The wife of fallen cyclist and teacher Rod Bennett has established a college scholarship in his name for Santa Clarita students who want to study music or music education. It takes a big heart to try to find some good in a tragedy like this by helping others.

 

State

San Clemente is ready to open a half-mile extension of Camino del Rio, including buffered bike lanes. Then again, given the usual high OC speed limits, a retaining wall might be more appropriate.

San Diego residents call for a kids’ bicycle park in discussions over a largely undeveloped park in the Tijuana River Valley.

Santa Barbara receives a $7.1 million grant to create two bike lanes that will provide a continuous east-west route across the city. Meanwhile, Los Angeles can’t even manage to create a continuous route from Downtown to the coast.

Police in Morgan Hill are looking for the public’s help identifying a suspect in a burglary at the headquarters of Specialized.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition expressed concern about driverless cars sharing the road with bicycles after witnessing Uber’s autonomous cars make unsafe right turns that could have right hooked a rider. Then again, bikes could be self-driving soon, too.

 

National

NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth is one of us, as he talks cycling with Bicycle Magazine.

A Seattle jury awards a bike rider a whopping $38 million after he was severely injured by a driver for a valet company taking an illegal short cut across two lanes of traffic.

The Tacoma Wheelmen bike club decides it’s time to change their historic, but outdated, name.

Smart move. Colorado’s economic development office is inviting prospective business leaders and venture capitalists to come out for a bike ride to promote the state’s business interests.

A Gulfport MS man will spent his life behind bars after shooting his uncle over an argument about a kid riding a bicycle in the street.

Fort Lauderdale FL officials are concerned about how to protect bike riders when a new streetcar line opens in 2021.

Once again, the most important detail is buried in the last sentence, as Chicago DOT officials agree to review a DePaul University study calling for adoption of the Idaho Stop Law.

Fed up with seeing his friends hit by cars, a Philadelphia bike rider used traffic cones to build his own DIY protected bike lane, which has remained in place for two years.

A Florida bicyclist is suing for multiple broken bones after he was attacked, but not bitten, by a vicious dog. Although the real story is, before he was attacked, the 83-year old rider was training to be a competitive cyclist.

 

International

Vancouver reveals how the city intends to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2040 under its Vision Zero plan.

What do you call an unprotected protected bike lane in Halifax, Canada?

London approves a plan to ban cars and trucks from an intersection near the Bank of England during daylight hours.

A $4,100 ebike stolen from a DJ outside the BBC’s studios turns up nine months later in Lithuania.

Caught on video: Britain’s Transportation Secretary doors a bike rider, but leaves without providing the contact info required by law — then turns around and criticizes cyclists a few weeks later. Thanks to Danny Gamboa for the heads-up.

A Brit driver screams in fright as a multiple GoPro-equipped bicycle vigilante catches her taking a selfie behind the wheel. Then again, if I saw that outfit coming my way, I might scream, too.

A new study on how to achieve Vision Zero has won a prestigious international road safety award in the UK; the study concludes the goal of zero deaths is demonstrably realistic, rather than utopian.

October’s world championships in Qatar is credited with boosting interest in bicycling in the Middle East.

Ambitious plans to double the number of bike riders in an Australian state by 2020 are going the wrong way, as the total drops by 20,000 over the last five years.

Bangkok’s metropolitan government makes plans to scrap some of the city’s bike lanes to make life easier for all those poor, put-upon people in cars.

 

Finally…

No, seriously. If you finally manage to escape after getting locked in the building you’re trying to burglarize, don’t come back to get your bike. If you’re going to conduct a bird-themed graffiti spree, don’t ride your bike with can of freshly used spray paint in your hand.

And LA riders may have to deal with bored drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about wild boars.

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