It’s the final day of the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Give now to keep Southern California’s best source for bike news coming your way every morning!
One quick note before we start.
Unless there’s breaking news, this will be the last new post until after the New Year, as we take the next week off for a little well-deserved rest and the opportunity to make some behind-the-scenes improvements.
So please accept my best wishes for joyful holiday, whatever and however you celebrate. And for a very healthful, happy and prosperous year to come.
May we all have peace, if not on the Earth, at least in our hearts.
Ride safely, and we’ll see you back here bright and early on January 3rd.
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In a truly heartbreaking story, Hollywood Reporter editor — and former Bicycling editor-in-chief — Peter Flax follows a ghost bike from being stripped down and painted, to installation as a memorial to fallen bike rider Deborah Gresham.
As you may recall, Gresham was the victim of a drunken hit-and-run just seconds from her Stanton home this past October; she’s recalled as the giving, generous and caring founder of a popular Walking Dead fan site.
Flax traces the history of the ghost bike movement from its beginnings in San Francisco and St. Louis, and talks with local ghost bike organizer Danny Gamboa.
It’s a moving long read that reminds us of the horrible, needless waste on our streets, and the unbearable loss suffered over and over throughout the country on a daily basis.
And one that brought tears to my eyes before he was done.
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Delia Park forwards news of a good excuse to load up on coffee and sweets tomorrow for a Christmas Eve and pre-Chanukah celebration.
Join for some post Donut Ride carb loading!
WHERE: St. Honore Bakery in Lunada Bay, Palos Verdes Estates.
WHEN: This Saturday, December 24th from 10am to 12pm. Come anytime- we will be there!
WHY: Seth Davidson Bike Injury Lawyer and Cyclists For PV and So Cal Bike Safety will be picking up the tab for coffee and sugary bakery items in order to support local businesses.
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‘Tis the season.
Kindhearted employees of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office pitch in to buy a tandem bike for an El Rio man after thieves stole the money he’d been saving for two years so his medically challenged son could ride with him. Bad enough if thieves steal your bike; worse if they take your money before you can even buy it.
Food Network celebrity chef Guy Fieri rounded up bikes, helmets and other fun gifts for distribution to various NorCal children’s organizations.
Sacramento police give out bikes, helmets and toys to children. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office donated over 100 refurbished bicycles as part of its 17th annual Christmas Bike Giveaway.
An Ohio non-profit donates eleven new bicycles for children with a history of abuse, neglect and abandonment; since 2008, they’ve given new bicycles to nearly 6,500 children in foster care.
British cycling legend Brian Robinson dresses like Santa to give away 50 refurbished bikes for a UK charity.
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Local
Streetsblog’s Damien Newton talks with Bike SGV advocates David Diaz and Wes Reutimann, as well as South Pasadena Mayor Mike Cacciotti and Transit Coalition executive director Bart Reed about the years biggest stories, and what we can look forward to in 2017. Meanwhile, Joe Linton calls on readers to support the non-profit news organization.
West Hollywood’s Community Development Department says the lamely named WeHo Pedals bikeshare is off to a strong start, with 545 people completing 3,919 trips since it was launched at the end of August.
One Santa Monica paper says it’s been a great year for bikeshare in the city, while another looks at Santa Monica’s new bike counter.
Long Beach bike and pedestrian deaths are increasing, which reflects the larger national trend.
State
The family of fallen San Luis Obispo triathlete Bridget Dawson files a lawsuit alleging that the driver was on the phone with her employer at the time of the crash. Meanwhile, a pair of SLO bike advocates says it’s possible to halt the increase in bicycling fatalities in the county.
Richmond votes to conduct a road diet to create a four-mile Complete Street, including bike lanes.
A Marin County writer says the world isn’t going to come to an end when an existing trail is opened to mountain bikers, and that concerns over safety are just an excuse to try blocking bike access.
After an accused drunken, underage hit-and-run driver killed a bike rider in a Fairfield collision, he came back to ask a bystander what happened.
Redding police recover a 7-year old girl’s stolen lime green BMX after a month-long investigation.
National
Finally, a use for your hi-viz. Other that trying to not get run over, that is.
Streetsblog looks at how states are standing in the way of cities’ efforts to lower speed limits. California’s deadly and outdated 85th Percentile Law is to blame for our state’s constant increase in speed limits and the inability to reign them in.
No, seriously. As much as some of us would like to bring back hanging for bike rustling, it’s really not worth having a shootout with Tucson AZ police to escape after stealing a child’s bicycle.
An Austin TX bike rider settles with the city for $3,000, two years after he was hit by a police detective in an unmarked car who was unfamiliar with the rider’s right to the road.
The hit-and-run epidemic is really getting bad when even the cops are doing it. A Massachusetts police officer was charged with leaving the scene of an off-duty collision with a bike rider, as well as negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
An Alexandria VA writer discusses what his bicycle has taught him about local politics, noting “it remains socially acceptable to stereotype people riding bicycles as ‘scofflaws’, while people driving cars are given a pass on speeding.”
International
After a Calgary man tried to sell his bicycle to raise money for Christmas presents, he ended up in the back of a patrol car suspected of bike theft — even though he still had the original receipt.
Things are looking up for people-powered transportation in Winnipeg.
New Delhi drivers may soon have to prove they have a place to park it before they’re allowed to register a motor vehicle.
A letter writer says Rwanda must leverage its success in cycling, like other African nations have in marathons and soccer. And apparently, domestique translates to house-helper.
A 26-year old Eritrean man has been named African Cyclist of the Year.
Fifty Malaysian civil servants have been given foldies and instructions to bike to work.
A Singapore writer asks if tougher sentencing would reduce collisions — not accidents, please — before concluding that dangerous drivers need to be stopped before they kill.
Finally…
Now you can stick Peter Sagan on your next envelope. It’s one thing to take the lane on a busy highway, another to ride with no hands so you can give a cop the double bird.
And if you’re riding after dark with four grams of coke on your bike, put a damn light on it and stay off the sidewalk.
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Thanks to Samuel Kurutz for his generous support of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. And to everyone who contributed their hard-earned money to keep this site coming your way every day.
I can’t begin to tell you how much your support means to me.
And if you have given yet, there’s still time.
Austin TX bike rider settles with the city for $3,000, two years after he was hit by a police detective in an unmarked car
As I recall here in the Chatsworth area a sheriffs officer got just an “oopsie” reprimand after drifting over & hitting a cyclist in the bike lane while reading his patrol car monitor since he was in the line of duty. That cyclist was killed. Anything more happen with that incident.
Police get special treatment while driving. That makes sense in an emergency situation, but during routine driving they should be held to the same standards that other drivers are *supposed* to observe.
No, the DA refused to do anything at all with the case, and the City Attorney couldn’t since it was outside LA city limits. Our current DA usually doesn’t prosecute cops no matter what they do, and in the few cases she does, it’s just a slap on the wrist.
On the other hand, the Sheriff’s department did change their policy do require officers to pull over before using the onboard computer. Not that everyone will comply, of course.