Morning Links: Getting facts straight on Venice, fight for safer streets in South LA, and Forsyth Cup returns

In a must read piece, blogger Harrison Hopkins politely takes Keep LA Moving and other traffic safety deniers to task for manipulating data on the Venice Great Streets project to make it appear the street is less safe after last year’s road diet.

Nothing, he points out, could be further from the truth.

Ultimately, the data is clear: the Venice Road Diets did not result in an increase in injuries along that stretch of road. At worst, injuries have remained flat from 2016 in 2017 during the same time period. The Great Streets project isn’t some unsafe wasteland — it’s alternative infrastructure that works just as well as it did before.

When coupling this with LADOT data on commute times remaining largely unchanged (at worst, the average commute increased by half a minute), there is ultimately no real argument to be made from collision data for the removal of the road diet. The folks behind KeepLAMoving (who seem to be content hiding their identities) are, at best, misrepresenting the data, and at worst, deliberately misleading the Venice community for some ulterior motive.

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It looks like bike riders in South LA are trying to turn their anger over the recent hit-and-runs and the deaths of their friends into positive action.

Jane Voodikon forwarded news of a community meeting tomorrow night to address the issue.

Just wanted to let you know that Edin of Chief Lunes Ride has organized a Bicycle Community Meeting this Thursday at 7 p.m. at Sole Bicycles, USC Village location (835 W. Jefferson) to discuss what concerned cyclists can do in the face of recent hit and runs, and the general lack of infrastructure for cycling in South LA. All are welcome to attend, and if you can help spread the word, we’d appreciate it!

Let’s hope a big crowd turns out and demands real change for a change.

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The recently postponed Wolfpack Hustle: The Forsyth Cup 2018 series of track races at the Encino Velodrome have been rescheduled for five Saturdays in the coming months.

  • May 5
  • June 2
  • July 7
  • August 11
  • Sept. 8

Be sure to show up to enjoy some great bike racing; you can register here if you want to compete.

And special thanks to bicycle attorney Thomas Forsyth for his continued support of SoCal cycling — and his ongoing sponsorship of this site.

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Today’s common theme: e-scooters and the people who love — or hate — them.

A new bill under consideration in the California legislature would legalize e-scooters on sidewalks.

The New York Times says not everyone is happy about the spread of electric scooters, though as one Bird employee says, “I’ve never seen a scooter-on-scooter accident kill somebody.”

And The Guardian asks if the ride-share electric scooters that have taken over the streets of Santa Monica are the future of urban transport.

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Local

CD15 Councilmember Joe Buscaino testified before the LA city council Transportation Committee to make the case for a proposed cycle track connecting parks and business districts in the port area. Let’s hope this gets the backing it deserves.

Metro Bike could soon be spreading to Echo Park and Silver Lake. Meanwhile, Streetsblog points out that Metro’s bikeshare system is far from a rousing success, and faces increased competition from less expensive dockless bikeshares.

Pasadena will hold another public meeting to discuss the proposed complete streets makeover of Union Street on May 9th. Don’t miss the cool mouse-over demo of what the street could look like if NIMBYs and traffic safety deniers don’t get their way.

CiclaValley shares photos from Sunday’s CicLAvia, and looks forward to its return to the San Fernando Valley in June.

 

State

Is anyone really shocked that a new study shows California has the most aggressive drivers? I didn’t think so. Thanks to Patrick Pascal for the heads-up.

Like Dylan at Newport, San Francisco’s Ford GoBike bikeshare goes electric.

A campaign to get Oakland to repave the crumbling asphalt on Telegraph Avenue gets results.

The local paper questions whether bike lanes belong on a busy downtown Chico street. Which is kind of the point; they aren’t needed on quiet ones.

 

National

Switzerland is offering a free day of bikeshare in four US cities, none of which are named Los Angeles.

An Oregon paper says ebikes don’t belong on the state’s beach bike paths.

A Louisiana man has been convicted of critically injuring a bicyclist participating in the 2016 Iowa RAGBRAI when he drove over the man’s tent while driving at twice the legal limit.

How can you tell when a street is too damn dangerous? When a Houston bike rider gets killed in front of a ghost bike for another rider killed in the same spot a year earlier.

The Evanston IL city council rejects an attempt by one councilmember to have a protected bike lane removed.

Opening statements have begun in the trial of an allegedly stoned driver for the death of five bicyclists in Kalamazoo MI two years ago, and injuring four others.

Boston bike riders complain that bike lanes on a rebuilt bridge fall far below modern safety standards, with one rider saying it seems inevitable that an inattentive driver will catch up with him.

 

International

Road.cc offers a beginning guide on how to load loads of stuff on your bike.

Pink Bike delivers a stunning photo essay on fat biking the Haida Gwaii archipelago off the northwest coast of British Columbia.

Five epic Canadian rides to add to your bike bucket list — unless you prefer cycling around Taiwan.

A Quebec bill would increase fines for bicyclists by as much as 433%.

A British triathlete’s efforts to complete a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile overnight ride to London to compete in the London Marathon were derailed by a pothole in the road.

Life is cheap in Ireland’s County Cork, where a driver walks with probation for killing a bike rider when she turned around to take a tag off her child’s new toy.

City Metric examines how Copenhagen puts bicyclists at the top of the social hierarchy.

 

Competitive Cycling

The USA Cycling Team will be led by Megan Guarnier and Katie Compton at the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Race next month.

Cycling News lists the top ten contenders for this year’s Giro d’Italia. Guess how many are from the US. No, really, go ahead and guess.

The Giro declares Lance persona non grata as he announces plans to travel to Israel for the start of the race.

A Northern Irish cyclist says he’s lucky he landed on barbed wire after a driver forced him off the road while on a training ride.

So maybe e-mountain bike racing isn’t so easy after all.

 

Finally…

Go mountain biking in Westworld. Taking your penguin for a ride on a Penny Farthing.

And not everyone can win a KOM, but you can always try to break the record for riding a bike backwards with no hands while playing a violin.

Or not.

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Thanks to Danila O for her generous contribution to the unofficial BikinginLA Dead Laptop Replacement Fund. As always, any donation in any amount is deeply appreciated. 

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