Morning Links: Amgen Tour of California starts Sunday and yesterday; horrifying drunken road rage assault

The Amgen Tour of California men’s race starts on Sunday, while the separate but unequal women’s race is already under way.

Bicycling offers advice from a nine-year old bike racer, who is youngest reporter at this year’s Tour of California.

The Pasadena Weekly looks forward to the final stage, which ends in the Rose City, while Pasadena Now highlights the finish line festival and VIP experiences.

CiclaValley offers his own preview of the race.

………

In a truly horrifying story from Illinois, a driver is under arrest for attempted murder and a host of other charges after she flipped off a retired police captain as he rode his bike, then repeatedly rammed his bicycle and ran over him, and fled the scene with his bike still jammed under her car.

Not surprisingly, the judge ordered a mental health evaluation.

Thanks to Andy S for the heads-up.

………

Local

The EGP News says Tuesday is D-Day in CD1, while suggesting the majority Latino district could see a non-Latino elected to represent it for the first time if Cedillo supporters don’t turn out to vote.

Streetsblog examines new bike lanes on Hooper and Firestone in unincorporated South LA, which naturally don’t connect with any other bike lanes and disappear where riders need them most — in part thanks to Councilmember Curren Price’s ceaseless efforts to block a badly needed bike lane on Central Ave.

The Daily News offers photos of last year’s North Hollywood Ride of Silence; this year’s ride will take place on Wednesday.

The annual Cyclofemme ride rolls tomorrow at the new LA State Historic Park.

Collisions involving bicyclists and pedestrians make up just 18% of all collisions in Santa Monica, but result in 70% of the city’s traffic fatalities and 60% of severe injuries.

Santa Monica’s Cynergy Cycles is hosting a commute by bike clinic on Tuesday to get you ready for Bike to Work Day.

Long Beach will be honored for a plan to redefine the Long Beach Blvd corridor to enhance walkability and improve options for bicycling and transit, as well as housing.

 

State

Apparently, civil war has broken out in Cardiff, pitting neighbor against neighbor in a battle over which side of the railroad tracks a bike path should go on; the Coastal Commission voted to run the pathway along the railroad tracks, rather than along the Coast Highway.

An allegedly drunk San Diego driver was arrested at gun point after running away from a crash that left a bike rider seriously injured.

A 12-year old Antioch girl got her stolen $4,000 adaptive tricycle back thanks to a cop who made it his personal mission to find the thief; he found a 24-year old man riding it, who claimed he just found it.

The San Jose paper calls out salmon cyclists.

A barricaded pedestrian bridge might have spared the life of a San Lorenzo teenager who was killed by a train on his way to school; the crossing was fenced off years earlier due to concerns over graffiti and drug use. So instead of cleaning up the bridge, officials chose to put lives at risk.

The Bay Area celebrated Bike to Work Day yesterday; LA will observe it next week.

A Napa family makes a 15-mile round trip to school every day. Which shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is.

 

National

Toilet plungers once again form a DIY protected bike lane, this time in Providence RI. Except this time, the city plans to let them stay if they don’t impede traffic.

Boston bicyclists demand more money for safety programs in the wake of a rider’s death; the ex-wife of the victim blasted the mayor for not doing more to address traffic fatalities.

A writer for the New York Daily News gets it, asking why the NYPD cracks down on cyclists when drivers are the ones who pose the biggest danger. And the biggest jerks, in his estimation.

The widow of the bike rider killed by the drunken hit-and-run Baltimore bishop calls on drivers to put their phones down, and think before they get on the road.

A Tampa FL paper says America’s bicycling renaissance needs to be about more than just fun and fetish.

 

International

Toronto’s Globe and Mail considers the many ways bicycles help build better communities.

It turns out the bicyclist rammed into a tree by a pregnant London driver is a former Boston resident.

Here’s ten suggestions on where to ride on your next trip to Italy.

Australia’s Queensland state considers allowing student drivers to take a bicycle training course, and apply it as part of the required training for a driver’s license. Good idea. Except it should be required, not merely allowed.

Caught on video: An Aussie cyclist broadsides a car after bypassing stalled traffic in a bike lane, but apparently not paying attention when he entered an intersection.

 

Finally…

Running bicyclists and Californians out of Portland since the 1900s. Combining recreational shooting, hiking and bike on a single trail; what could possible go wrong?

And seriously. It doesn’t do a lot of good to gesture angrily at the train that just missed you, after going over the crossing gates.

 

2 comments

  1. Jose says:

    The charter school not caring about students trip to campus after the public school built a bridge then leased school to them is stunning.

    A public school can look to taxpayers, like LA does, to pay millions back when it kills. So they built bargain bridge. Then comes shallow pocketed charter, who instead of installing gate off campus to bridge, hires guard, transfers bridge to fourth or fifth party, who Permanently instead of nightly shuts it.

    The railroad meanwhile let’s it’s bridge substitute as everyone knew would occur because the trains make only a single file canvas or the diesel blacks it out with soot? Too grimy to Tag?

    The kid who died did not know we built a bridge for him, but decided to help out teacher union agenda by killing him for Lack of access to its wide concrete path.

    Had he known he might of opened It.

    So for not posting info the railroad is complicit.

    They threaten prosecution and believe the attraction is not a liability, but they could of spoke for students, as school district did not.

    By leasing part of school without safe path mandated in lease, but retaining ownership, landlord district must be crushed.

    The lease presently is a danger to students.

    Taxpayers paid for bridge but have ignored closure, let them via district regret that.

    The district is the public, in ceding control of bridge however remains culpable, they built it for reason having nothing to do with who runs school.

    This charter did not ban student arrivals without car in tote. Some have as reported here in bicycling monthly magazine.

    The charter has no right to let kids bike or walk to campus after it shut bridge district built for precisely that.

    All such students must find other campus or have proof bridge closure does not endanger them.

    Parents who chose train danger over tiny assembly area without car supervision are morons so a moot issue. Don’t blame parents of students just sue pros.

    Charter cares about metrics other then survival, has replacement student wait listed possibly.

    A bridge cuddles. Kids who do not walk extra miles daily are at fault, the exercise if they survive will raise scores, the deceased does not get to turn in bubble sheets.
    Wrong. Give the dead kid F grade for remaining years, get zero bucks for attendance, don’t let them use his seat, have it glow empty in every classroom forever.

    Here could of sat the honor student we instead mandated a train conductor to daily for many years ahead of time fear going splat.

    Turn the bridge into a Plaza, a garden walkway, a one way wheelchair highway with the loot for folly we must to something in penance pay.

    To tag, or be sliced by steel wheels he did feel.. we chose for him the latter. Shame on us.

  2. Jose says:

    I meant coddle, not cuddle, sorry. The tracks for train have too cozy bridge, instead of public coddling wide Ada path.

    It was that also. Ramps may allow access, but also are too costly, wide, just too dam nice for ordinary kids.

    Let disabled kids be driven in cars, vans far away, the charter gets local able bodied ones who do not need compliant path, can improvise, cuddle with thousands of tons at high speed trespassing to campus cheaply.

    Make them cuddle with Metro and locomotives, they are not adults, needing no public supervision at all off for campus what gall… here off campus is dedicated path technically only not school itself left in place, secured forever as monument to district who failed to remain teacher employer… if not our employees, if only tenants, blank the treasonous students. Let them be crushed for choosing competitor.

    This reporter has a masters degree guiding his time. A real journalist has let us punt now. Will we, or is his fate also obsolete despite dangers over tolerated horrific feat reported.

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