They just don’t get it.
Todd Munson forwards news of an online petition calling for a ban on bicycles on Mandeville Canyon and Westridge Roads in West LA.
Which as of early Thursday morning, had managed to collect a whopping 70 signatures — 44 of them anonymous.
Maybe someone should point out that an anonymous signature is the same as no signature at all. Which leaves just 26 people brave, and mistaken, enough to put their name where their mouth is.
Mistaken, because California law allows bicycles on any public roadway where motor vehicles are allowed, with the exception of some limited access highways.
Which means that the only ways to ban bicycles from those roads is to —
A) Change the state law;
B) Start a crowdsourcing campaign to raise the several million dollars it would take to buy the roadways from the city, and convert them into private streets; or
C) Ban all motor vehicles from the streets, requiring residents to walk up the steep hillsides to get to their homes.
Personally, I’m all in favor of the last option; if they want to get rid of bikes, they can give up their expensive cars and massive SUVs. At which point they’d complain about all the damn hikers clogging the streets.
Then again, there is one other option.
They could accept that the public roadways belong to the public, and that anyone who wants to use them is entitled to do so, for any reason, using any form of street legal conveyance. And then slow the hell down and learn to drive safely.
But that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
Which is not to say the people on bikes aren’t part of the problem.
We can all make a point to be more courteous and ride safely, and make room for others on the road to get by when it’s safe to do so.
Even if we’re the only ones who do it.
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Congratulations to Michelle Mowery on her new job with the City of Long Beach.
It was under her leadership as Senior Bicycle Coordinator for LADOT that Los Angeles was named a Bicycle Friendly Community in 2012.
She spent years struggling with LADOT’s notoriously auto-centric senior engineers — and often, the city’s more vocal bike advocates. But showed what she could do when she finally got the chance under former Mayor Villaraigosa.
Too bad the progress they made has come to a screeching halt since then.
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Here’s a must read from Curbed’s Alissa Walker, who asks why city leaders want to keep LA streets dangerous.
Meanwhile, LA transportation advocates call on Mayor Garcetti to keep his promise to use Measure M funds to improve safety on LA streets, accusing the city of backpedalling on Vision Zero.
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Bring a bike — or a helmet — and ride free on Metro buses and trains today.
And don’t forget tonight’s Bike from Work Handlebar Happy Hours, in Claremont, Downtown LA and Santa Monica, just to name a few. Just try not to be like the beer-toting guy at the bottom of this post.
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The highlight of the Giro so far: Belgian cyclist Victor Campenaerts asked out the woman of his dreams by writing a message on his chest before competing in Wednesday’s time trial; fortunately, she said yes, especially since he was fined the equivalent of $87 for “damaging the image of the sport.”
Cycling Weekly asks if Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin can hold the leader’s pink jersey all the way to the Giro’s finish in Milan.
Wednesday’s fourth stage of the Amgen Tour of California finished with a five man breakaway in Santa Clarita. The Daily News says today’s fifth stage Mt. Baldy finish will be a contest to see who has the best legs.
Heartbreaking news from San Jose, where a cyclist was killed just hours after posting a video from the Tour of California as he was riding on the same descent where Toms Skujins crashed during Monday’s stage 2; he went over his handlebars trying to stop when he encountered a fire truck coming uphill as he was descending on a narrow road.
Bicycling says pro cycling has to address the risk of concussion, like pro football is just beginning to do.
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Local
The LACBC offers advice on what to do if you get a ticket riding your bike. Which is timely advice, since the tone-deaf LA County Sheriff’s Department celebrated Bike Week by cracking down on bike riders in Malibu yesterday.
This is all it takes to commute to UCLA from Santa Monica by bicycle.
Damien Newton talks with Bike SGV education director Jose Jimenez about the county’s first bike traffic school.
There’s a special place in hell for whoever robbed a 72-year old Irwindale man at gunpoint as he rode his bicycle home from a doctor’s appointment, after cutting him off with their car.
Writing for the International Journal of Transportation Innovation, the LACBC’s Tamika Butler asks uneasy questions about the role of Vision Zero in a racist society, and whether the engineers and policy makers responsible for implementing it have the skills to rectify inequity in city planning.
State
Thousands are expected to take part in San Diego’s Bike to Work Day.
Two dozen riders turn out for the Ride of Silence in Riverside, joining riders from around the world.
KTLA-5 talks Bike Week with Jenson USA in Riverside.
Bike-friendly Redlands ups the ante by making plans for another 26 miles of bike lanes.
Caltrans plans to install green bike lanes on both sides of the exceptionally wide five lane main street through Joshua Tree. Not just to improve safety for bike riders, but to save the lives of pedestrians.
Bad news from Turlock, where a man on a bike was run down from behind by a pickup driver. Note to Turlock Journal: When someone is hit by a truck doing nearly 60 mph, it really doesn’t matter if he was wearing a helmet. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
National
A real estate website says yes, it is possible to live in the suburbs without a car.
A new nationwide insurance policy promises to provide liability coverage for bike riders anywhere in the US. Although here in California, your car insurance should cover you on your bike.
Blind Paralympic cyclist and Iditarod musher Rachael Scdoris-Salerno announces plans to run for Congress as an Oregon Democrat.
In yet another example of allowing dangerous drivers to remain on the road until they kill someone, an Oregon driver gets three and a half years for killing a bike rider, by driving with bald tires that caused his truck to fishtail in wet weather. He admitted to receiving somewhere between 30 to 40 tickets for driving with a suspended license, but would just buy another cheap used car when his got impounded.
Colorado passes a bill that will allow the state to suspend driver’s licenses drivers who flee the scene of an injury collision, regardless of whether they’re convicted. Which is something I’ve been advocating for years.
Slap, meet wrist. A Wisconsin woman was sentenced to 11 months behind bars for killing a bicyclist while texting — to be served one week a year on the anniversary of his death, apparently for the next 50 years.
Revenge is a dish best served cold when a squirrel makes you do a faceplant off your bike, as long as you’re a Chicago alderman.
Surprising no one, the NTSB concludes that the Kalamazoo crash that resulted in the death of five cyclists was due to a drugged driver, as a judge rules the driver’s prior DUI arrest can’t be used as evidence. The victims were remembered during Wednesday’s Ride of Silence.
Boston’s mayor says cyclists and pedestrians need to take more responsibility to avoid crashes, and “be more cognizant that a car is a car.” Because so many people who walk or ride bikes have no idea that getting hit by a car can hurt, apparently.
A Florida writer tells drivers to thank a cyclist. Or if they can’t manage that, at least put down their phones.
International
We missed Global Bike to Work Day by one week; riders logged 276,818 commutes on Strava, breaking the previous record by nearly 200,000.
Maybe there’s a forgotten network of 1930s separated bikeways here in the US, too.
Volvo’s LifePaint ad has been banned in the UK for misleading imagery; the reflective spray, which the company said works on any surface, was designed to work on dry textiles and fibrous materials, not bike frames, as the ad suggests.
Caught on video: Evidently, things are no different on the Emerald Isle than anywhere else, as an Irish cyclist records a 52-second highlight reel of punishment passes.
It took a bike thief just three seconds to make off with a Dublin bikeshare bike using a technique posted online.
Motorcycle legend Nicky Hayden was seriously injured in a bicycling collision in Italy on Wednesday, reportedly suffering severe head and chest trauma.
Adding insult to injury, a road-raging Kiwi driver tried to punch a bike rider and spit in his face after trying to ram him into a fence.
Finally…
If you have to get run down by an 80-something hit-and-run driver, at least make it a Rolls Royce. If you’re riding drunk and carrying a beer on your bike, try to avoid people driving at nearly four times the legal alcohol limit.
And our own Phil Gaimon reaches new heights in his Clif Bar commercial debut on Kimmel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDt05qM345A&feature=youtu.be
Great idea! For hit & split drivers they should lose their license. They at least deserve that minor inconvenience. Hit & run seems to be such a common thing here in LA.
A report by the LA Weekly awhile back said a little less than half of all crashed in LA were hit-and-run, but never said where they got their stats. The LAPD responded with a report saying roughly 1/3 of all reported injury crashes were hit-and-runs.
Check your math on anonymous letter count! 70 minus 44 is not 36.
You’re right. Thanks for the proofread!
History repeats itself (https://pvcycling.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/they-really-do-care-about-us/):
“On west ridge especially it is do dangerous and the bikers are very violent about taking the whole road disregarding stop signs and threatening motorist”
“Bikers are not stopping at stop signs and residents have difficulty seeing bikers when pulling out this is very danger and unsafe. Bikers have also urinated on our property. .”
“So many times I come around a tight curve in the road and I have to slam on my breaks because two riders and riding next to each other and not in a single file”
“I worry every time I see a cyclist on Westridge. They ride in the same lane as the cars. Much too dangerous. This should not be permitted.”
“How do I pass a bike on Mandeville Canyon, when we have double yellow lines.”
“Yes, please stop this! I have two teenage daughters that have been in near fatal head on collisions because they are forced by bikes and other drivers to speed into oncoming traffic to pass bikes. I have also had bikes hit and throw rocks at me and my car, and I can’t even walk my dog because it’s too dangerous. There is no room on this already dangerous roadway for bikes. They have bike paths and mountain bike paths all over the city. My family and I just want to safely come and go from our homes.”
I live near and have been on Mandeville by bike for many years.
It’s a great local ride up and down. 5 miles up no stopping and you don’t need to pedal for the 1st 3.5 miles down.
If it could be redesigned again, they could put a bike lane on each side.
But we are stuck with what it is. It is dangerous for cyclists, but I and many still use it. Danger at every turn with no shoulder, no bike lane, speeding cars up and down around blind curves, and dozens of driveways.
I hate the fact that there is petition.
Cyclists must understand that while it is a public road, every effort to be courteous and safe should be extended.
Personally, I stay to the far right as possible.
I yield to cars that want to pass me, especially on the down hill, never ride double there, and going up, I always say hello to residents on the streets walking a dog or hanging out in the driveway. Most of the time they say hello back.
Keep good relations!