February 13, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Man killed in collision attempting to ride bike across Anaheim freeway onramp, CHP blames victim’s clothing
Freeway ramps are among the deadliest places to ride a bike.
That was driven home once again early Friday morning, when a man was killed trying to ride across an Anaheim onramp.
Before he could reach the pedestrian crossing, he was struck by a car attempting to enter the freeway, driven by a 67-year old Anaheim woman.
No word on whether he died at the scene, or passed away after being taken for treatment.
The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.
A CHP spokesman was quick to absolve the driver of responsibility, instead blaming the victim’s dark clothing, and poor visibility due to rainy conditions and the early morning darkness.
However, no mention is made of whether the victim had lights or reflectors on his bike, or whether the onramp itself was lighted.
There’s also no mention of how the design of the onramp may have contributed to the crash. Dual slip lanes that begin at the intersection with East Riverdale Ave could enable drivers to accelerate to highway speeds before ever entering the freeway, especially at that hour.
But it’s much easier to blame the victim’s clothing than to confront road conditions that not only made a collision more likely, but less survivable.
It’s also yet another tragic reminder to avoid freeway ramps whenever possible, which are seldom designed for the safety of anyone not encased in a couple tons of glass and steel.
This is at least the tenth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in Orange County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
February 12, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on $35 million lawsuit in LASD shooting of Black bike rider, driver turns brick wall into drive-thru, and Ted Lieu is one of us
He attempted to flee on foot, allegedly dropping a gun he was carrying inside some clothes, then picking it up and continuing to flee.
Deputies alleged Kizzee pointed the gun at them, shooting him 19 times in response.
However, witness testimony and security cam video don’t support the deputies’ version of events, suggesting Kizzee was turning away from them with his hands raised when they opened fire.
Just two years after record-setting Scottish bicyclist Josh Quigley barely survived a horrible collision in Texas while attempting to ride across the US, he suffered a number of fractures throughout his body when a gust of wind knocked him off his bike while training in Dubai.
Duran died at the scene. There’s no word on just how long he had to lay there, alone and bleeding, before someone saw him.
Police arrested 28-year old Mark Bravo of Indio on Wednesday; he’s being held on $75,000 bond on a single count of felony hit-and-run.
If there was any justice, he’d face a second degree murder charge for allegedly leaving his victim there to die; there’s no way of knowing if Duran could have survived if he’d gotten help sooner.
This is at least the ninth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
The helmetless victim, who has been identified only as a 32-year old man, died at the scene.
A CHP spokesman said the eastbound driver, a 48-year man from El Cajon, somehow drifted to the right, striking the victim’s bike at around 45 mph and hurling him to the roadway.
The driver remained at the scene; police don’t believe drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash. However, there’s no word on whether the driver’s phone was examined for evidence of distracted driving.
There’s also no word on whether the victim suffered a head injury; if not, it really doesn’t matter whether or not he had a helmet. And a crash at that speed was likely not survivable, with or without one.
This is at least the eighth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
And according to him, they’re only for people with big effing engines.
Which means bike riders should stay the hell off.
It’s time for bicyclists to learn their place on the roads of Indianapolis.
Yes, we’re all very happy that you’re under the impression you’re saving the environment and “keeping healthy” while breathing exhaust fumes and increasing your odds of getting crushed by a Goodyear radial. Bravo! Also, we hate you.
Yes, bicyclists can gain access to roads. Yes, they can use them for travel if they so choose. So can a squirrel, and we all know how that story ends.
WIBC host Tony Katz was responding to the following tweet from new Transportation Secretary Mayor Pete.
In other words, Buttigieg gets it, while Katz clearly doesn’t.
And probably never will.
“Roads are for cars, trucks, busses, and the movement of people,” Katz continued. “Not [bicyclists] thinking they can make a left turn without signaling because ‘Look! I’m in spandex and I’m just like the people who compete in the Tour de France but without the hills and extraordinary athletic ability. But I’ve got the hat!’”
Of course, the entire point of putting people like that on the radio is to piss listeners off, because angry people listen longer and tune in more often, and drive the ratings up.
The problem is many of those people are listening while they drive. And they may just decide to take that anger out on the next person thet see riding on two wheels.
Fools like Katz just load and cock the gun. They let someone else pull the trigger.
Funny how the news didn’t come out until after his Jeep Super Bowl ad aired, though.
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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Mounties in British Columbia are looking for a trio of men, including one on a bike, who sprayed bear spray into a building lobby. It must have worked, though, since there were no bears in the lobby afterwards.
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Local
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers a number of good actionable transportation suggestions for new CD14 Councilmember Kevin de León, including quick-build protected and painted bike lanes, and longer term projects like adding back the protected bike lanes that were removed from plans for the new 6th Street Viaduct.
A retired cop argues against adding bike lanes to Highway 67 in Ramona, insisting that bike lanes are only used by the privileged few. Never mind that even the most expensive bike costs just a fraction of a new car. Or that many people who rely on bikes cling to the lowest economic rungs. So maybe it’s the people in cars who are really privileged.
They get it. CityLab says transitioning to electric cars won’t be enough to avert climate disaster; instead, we’ll need to dramatically cut motor vehicle use. Which is where those ebike rebates come in.
Speaking of Colorado, one hundred bucks will buy you a chance to win a hand-built Alchemy Atlas road bike, with the funds going to benefit the Bicycle Colorado advocacy group, while seven bucks will enter you to win an Electra Townie cruiser bike.
February 10, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on LA scores major Canoga Park bike grant from state, frightened bull scatters bike race, and Ride for Love rolls Saturday
The CTC, which is distinct from Caltrans, selected just 49 projects statewide, out of a remarkable 454 applications, for this four-year cycle.
The good news for LA is that a major project in the San Fernando Valley made the cut.
Highlights include the largest monetary award in the ATP’s history, $31 million for “Connecting Canoga Park.” This project will make improvements within the Canoga Park neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, focusing on improving intersections and bike facilities. It will add a new Class IV bike path between the L.A. River Greenway and the Orange Line path, create enhanced crosswalks, and add urban cooling elements.
Funding was also approved for three Safe Routes to School projects in the City of Los Angeles.
Other projects in LA County include sidewalk improvements and a $7.5 million cycle track on Pacific Avenue in Long Beach, as well as projects in Maywood, Bell Gardens and South El Monte.
In addition, the commission blessed active transportation projects in San Jacinto and Perris in Riverside County, Ontario and Muscoy in San Bernardino County; San Diego, Oceanside, Imperial Beach and National City in San Diego County; and a Safe Routes to School project in Ventura County.
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The peloton suddenly rides in reverse when confronted by a frightened bull in the middle of a Spanish bike race.
For the Español challenged, like me, that tweet translates to —
#Ciclismo| This happened during the start of the 5th stage of the Tour Por La Paz in Jalapa. A scared bull, pounced on the cyclists waiting for departure. Fortunately no one was injured. The animal continued its course and the riders managed to get out. Via Hard To Pedal.
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South LA’s annual Ride for Love rolls this Saturday.
Solvang will get a new $12 million bridge on Highway 246 courtesy of the state, while the city will pitch in another $1.2 million to widen it enough for bike lanes and pedestrian improvements. Which is probably just another word for sidewalks.
Last year may have been one of the worst years on record for hit-and-runs involving people on bicycles, as unofficial figures from Outside show 26.3% of drivers who killed a bicyclist last year drove away like the heartless cowards they are. That tracks with what we see here in Los Angeles County, where roughly a quarter of all bicycling deaths involve hit-and-run drivers each year.
Chicago traffic fatalities spiked 45% last year, despite — or maybe because of — the pandemic, as average speeds increased while traffic rates declined; bicycling deaths more than doubled over the year before.
Kindhearted local businesses and organizations pitched in to help a Massachusetts man known as the Bike Man fix his truck after he blew an engine, with a car dealer tossing in a new engine and a repair shop installing it; he uses the truck to deliver bicycles, back packs and food to people in need.
Bike, run, walk or swim farther than you have before, and a bike-riding English professor — the country, not the language — will plant a tree in your honor.
February 9, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on New USDOT head wants agency to think small, just moving money around won’t cut it, and a call to keep Ojai bike lanes
On ways the pandemic has changed transportation forever, Buttigieg said his department will be thinking more “micro”: “We think trains, planes and automobiles. But what about bikes, scooters — wheelchairs, for that matter? And getting around in a way that’s a little closer to home.”
Buttigieg goes on to add that roads aren’t just for motor vehicles, and calls out the need for pedestrians, individuals, bicycles and businesses to co-exist on the same roads.
So under the circumstances, maybe we can forgive him for the hopefully inadvertent implication that people on bikes somehow aren’t individuals.
Our organizations believe that putting advocacy efforts behind creating new agencies or interagency committees would be a cosmetic change no more meaningful than a bike sharrow painted on a four-lane 45mph road. At worst, it would take energy away from real change by creating a positive talking point when we should be creating a transformational approach to transportation. The urgency of the crises before us require more from us than “checking a box” and potentially undermining the very change we are seeking.
Instead, they say nothing less than a complete shift in emphasis to a Complete Streets approach and a radical reconsideration of how we get around will meet the moment.
For Americans to feel this change on the ground, advocates for active transportation, the environment, and equity need to look beyond retrofitting mistakes that make our roads unsafe for those outside of a car, more polluting, and less of a means of access to opportunity. While seeking a separate Active Transportation Administration (or a mobility or research agency) may sound like an innovative idea, we firmly believe that exiling non-drivers off to the jurisdiction of a separate administration will not create safe, convenient, and just mobility for people of all travel modes across the transportation system. We need to look at system-wide policy and spending changes that help address the bigger issues of safety, racial equity and climate change. We will be working with our partners to push the Biden administration and the 117th Congress to do just that.
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An Ojai bike shop calls for support for the new bike lanes on Maricopa Highway before tomorrow’s city council meeting.
Even though we usually have the perfect weather for it, unlike most of the places that celebrate it every year.
So mark it with your own pre-weekend ride to work, school, or wherever you have to go. Or just ride nowhere in particular, if that works better for you.
And drop a line to Metro and your local elected leaders to ask why we’re not doing more to promote year-round bike commuting right here.
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A woman from the UK writes a Twitter thread on how she went from anti-cyclist to a joyful one.
And offers some insights on how to get more women on bikes — and how not to.
Orange resident Diana Rodriguez pled not guilty to three felony counts for allegedly using her car as a weapon to deliberately run down her boyfriend as he was riding away on his bike; she also faces a pair of sentencing enhancements, as well as misdemeanor drug charges. A neighbor had to use a jack to get the car off him. Something tells me they may not be spending Valentines Day together this year.
How to choose and install bike fenders for wet weather rides. Good advice for what passes for winter in Los Angeles, where all you have to worry about is getting a little wet. You can read the story on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you out.
Mardi Gras may be cancelled this year, but you can’t stop the spirit, as New Orleanians decorated their homes instead of floats to mark the day, making for an ideal self-guided bike tour.
British cyclist Tom Pidcock set tongues wagging with a remarkable time of 13:25 for a 5k run during an off-bike training session, just five seconds off the British record and 50 seconds off the world record; he plans to repeat the run later in the week to confirm his time after it was challenged by several runners and triathletes.
And we were struck by what a pleasant shopping street it is.
Or more precisely, what a pleasant street it could be without the constant noise and fumes from all the cars and trucks funneling through.
Maybe someone should explain to the merchants along the route just how much they could benefit from a Complete Street that makes room for their customers, and not just the cars they came in.
And thanks to everyone who let me know this site was down Friday morning. I still don’t know what happened, but it seemed to resolve itself after an hour or so.
Sometimes even I get tired of harping about the need to always carry some form of ID and emergency contact information with you when you ride.
And preferably something that won’t get stolen if you’re incapacitated, which sadly happens far too often.
But this comment, which is reposted with permission from Gravel Bikes California, offers a tragic reminder why it matters.
This is long, but please read to the end.
Yesterday I met my friend Adam Lopez for a ride. We met at Eroica California in 2018 and have ridden together a number of times since he got his gravel bike in 2019. We started in Summerland at 11am and did just a wonderful/casual/beautiful ride through Santa Barbara on fantastic pavement, dirt, and gravel. We stopped for a burger at 4pm and were headed back to the cars when he started slowing down on easy climbs. He said that his heart rate was fine but that the air felt cold in his lungs. We passed butterfly beach and stopped again right before the turn at Jameson. We were 2.5 miles from the cars. He decided to press on since we were mere minutes away. He was pacing me just a few yards behind. Every 15 seconds or so I would glance back and see his light. This happened for a about a mile, and then I glanced back and didn’t see him. I rode maybe 150 feet back and saw that he was collapsed over onto the chain link fence, still clipped in, unresponsive and staring. Myself and passers-by who stopped to help called 911. I started chest compressions until fire arrived just a few minutes later. They took over, shocked him twice, established an airway, and continued cpr for 15 minutes. Unfortunately he never revived. He was gone when he hit the ground. His mother died of a heart attack 9 months ago, and his brother died of a heart attack a few weeks ago.
Now for the reason why I’m telling you this: he didn’t have any emergency contact info on him. Although I’ve known him for a while I only had his cell number. The sheriff was required to follow protocol and have the law enforcement agency closest to Adam’s home do an in person notification. I was absolutely helpless. I did advise the deputy that I authorized him today to give my information to Adam’s family, and his wife made contact with me today. She was happy that at least he died doing the thing he loved. She also told me that he had been feeling tired for some time but hadn’t been checked out yet.
Had he had something like a Road ID wristband we would have much more information, and his family could have been notified much sooner.
Please, I BEG YOU, get something like a Road ID so fellow riders or first responders can help. Please look after your health and get checked. And ride with buddies whenever possible. No one should see and go through what I did. I’m deeply saddened and affected.
As I’ve mentioned before, I always wear a RoadID anytime I leave home, whether or not I’m on my bike.
It serves as both my ID and contact information, and a medic alert bracelet for my diabetes.
I’ve never needed it, and I pray I never will.
But as this story so painfully illustrates, I’d much rather have it on me and not need it, than the other way around.
Yesterday, West Los Angeles Detectives reunited a victim of a bike theft with his stolen bike. The victim had registered his bike on Bike Index which helped detectives to return it to its rightful owner.
Nothing like protesting traffic violence, only to be met by police violence.
Tired of police inaction in the wake of too many deaths and serious injuries, bike riders in Mexico City took to the streets to demand better safety and protection from the police.
In fact, while motor vehicle traffic has decreased as much as 50% in the city due to the pandemic, bicycling deaths doubled over the past year.
But instead of addressing their concerns, the protesters were brutally attacked and beaten by the same officers they were pleading with for help.
Even people who were trying to leave were stopped by multiple cops and brutalized.
Every week in 2021 a cyclist has been killed or brutally injured in Mexico City. Fed up with the utter lack of concern for their lives, bikers took to the streets in protest and were met with this police repression tonight. pic.twitter.com/uDXNYEebEr
The police attacked this Friday night a group of cyclists who were demonstrating in Mexico City. The confrontation took place in the Periférico, one of the main arteries of the city, at the height of the Naples neighborhood, during a bicycle protest to demand justice for the deaths of cyclists in the capital. The head of Government, Claudia Sheinbaum, described as “unacceptable” the aggression of the agents to the demonstrators and assured that the Secretariat of Citizen Security will carry out an investigation to determine responsibilities. This Saturday, the mayor reported that “about 10” agents have already been removed from their positions.
Several protesters were injured in the head and face, according to images released on social networks, when they tried to access the second floor of the Periférico. In the recordings, it is seen how several agents surround some of the participants in the shooting and attack them with blows. The group was protesting to demand justice for the death of cyclists who died in traffic accidents in Mexico City, which in 2020 were more than 16, according to the Bicitekas association.
In the videos posted on social networks, protesters are seen with swollen faces and cuts on their faces after the confrontation. “We were protesting, we were leaving, and they ran, and they grabbed me like eight policemen,” one of the injured assured one of the reporters who was at the scene. “They cut my head open, they hurt my ribs,” said another, sitting on the sidewalk, when the protest, which had gathered around fifty people, already seemed dissolved.
The paper goes on the quote officials as saying an investigation has been launched into who ordered the attack, and the officers who carried it out. And that while some riders also attacked the police, the police had an obligation to maintain the peace, and ones responsible for their actions would be fired.
They get it. The Las Vegas Sun reports that efforts to protect bike riders are gaining traction in the wake of the meth-fueled crash that killed five bicyclists near the city last month, while correctly noting that people on bikes pay for the road, too.
There’s a special place in hell for the driver who ran down a Texas boy and just kept going in a crash caught on security cam; fortunately, the kid only suffered a few scrapes, even though he thinks the driver hit him on purpose.
When a teenaged Chik-fil-A employee won a new car at the company Christmas party, she immediately gave it to a coworker who was riding a bike seven miles each way to work every day through the frigid Wisconsin winter.
Thanks to Robert L for his generous donation to help keep SoCal’s source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. Our annual holiday fund drive may be over, but donations are always welcome and appreciated.
I haven’t had a chance to dig into it yet. But at first glance, the section on bike planning and implementation could use some major improvement.
While it’s good news that the city is finally getting around to working on the Neighborhood Enhanced Network — one of three comprehensive bike networks in the city’s mobility plan — completing just one major active transportation project per year sets an extremely low and unambitious bar for the city.
Click to enlarge
At that rate, it could be decades before we’ll finally have a safe route across the city. Or through your own neighborhood, even.
And that vague term doesn’t even guarantee that the “major active transportation project” will include bikes at all.
To be fair, Los Angeles Department of Transportation continues to be dramatically understaffed and underfunded, a situation that’s not likely to improve anytime soon, given the city’s precarious financial state.
Meanwhile, biking and walking continues to take a backseat to funneling ever larger amounts of motor vehicles through our already overstrained streets.
And don’t even get me started on the largely forgotten Vision Zero program, which has been pushed so far back on the list of priorities it risks falling off entirely.
While the commitment to major active transportation projects vaguely resembles the long-promised Backbone Network of bikeways on major streets, there’s no mention of the Green Network promised in the 2010 Bike Plan, which was subsumed into the mobility plan.
The idea was to have one network leading into another, giving riders the ability to travel in their own neighborhood, through the local community, and across the city.
Instead we’re left with vague promises, as LADOT continues to set the bar so low they have to be careful not to trip over it on the way out every night.
Although that would be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce.
A better option would be to offer some sort of tax benefit to encourage bike shops to do what some are already doing — register their bikes when they take them into inventory, then transfer the registration to the buyer if the customer wants.
Thanks to Joe Linton for the tip.
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Okay, so you may not get much of a workout. But who wants to be the first to ride it today?
The Burbank Channel Bikeway opens tomorrow at Noon!
In October of last year, the project broke ground on a three-quarter mile off-street bike and pedestrian path located directly adjacent to the Burbank Western Channel.
According to a statement issued by ICCC, the group’s members “cycle through a city where the neighborhoods have changed just like the terrain, we push and pedal towards the mountain top…we have our eyes set on the promise land and every muscle we burn, we are assured and filled with hope [that] the day of equality and justice are not just a dream. We pray for the courage to continue to stand up for justice, reconciliation and truth.”
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This is the cost of traffic violence.
The father of 26-year-old Rolando Pinto-Mendez, who was killed when a pursuit suspect slammed into his car, is in the hospital. He suffered a heart attack after hearing his son had died. A GoFUndMe has been created for the family. https://t.co/E7fmCCupY6
Bad news from San Diego County, where man riding in an El Cajon bike lane suffered a severe head injury when he was struck by a motorist turning into a driveway; no word yet on whether his injuries are life-threatening. Although someone should tell the San Diego Union-Tribune that it was the driver, rather than the car, who was responsible for the crash; it took them until the last paragraph to even mention that the car had one.
America’s first Bike City, joining cities like Paris and Copenhagen in receiving the designation from international cycling’s governing body, is…Fayetteville, Arkansas?
That’s more like it. An Aussie truck driver got four years behind bars for killing a bike rider after he was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and leaving the scene of a collision; the judge rejected the driver’s claim that that he didn’t know he’d hit anyone, finding it “totally lacking in credibility.”
February 4, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on LADOT sets priorities for state legislation, driver tries to run down Pasadena bike riders, and fallen DC cop was one of us
Thanks to all for the kind words after yesterday’s non-post.
My pain is back down to a more normal — and more tolerable — level, so let’s get on with it.
1 – Reforming state law, allowing LA to lower speed limits (it’s crazy, but today LA doesn’t have control over its own speed limits, and even has to raise speed limits on already dangerous roads!)
2 – Automating speeding tickets using speed safety cameras. Speed is the #1 factor in determining if someone lives or dies when hit by a car, and speed cameras are a proven solution to reduce excessive speeding. Armed officers must be removed from traffic law enforcement, and this is a great way to do it. LADOT has a thoughtful proposal that takes into account privacy and makes sure the burden doesn’t fall disproportionately on communities that can least afford it.
3 – Increase legal protections for the most vulnerable road users(pedestrians and cyclists). This would increase civil fines and penalties in the event of crashes caused by carelessness or driver distraction (ex. texting).
4 – Get rid of handicap placard abuse by reforming the benefits they provide and increasing enforcement, so we can preserve handicap spots for those that truly need it.
And if you want to call on the council to add a fifth priority to address hit-and-run, I won’t complain.
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A report has been circulating on Nextdoor about a driver intentionally trying to run down and brake check a pair of Pasadena bike riders.
I’ve obscured the license plate number since I have no way of verifying the report.
But keep your eyes open if you ride in the area.
And let’s hope the victims reported it to the police, because this is a crime — end could have easily been much worse.
Thanks to Steve Messer for the heads-up.
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Zachary Rynew calls out the sexism that’s been baked into the popular Belgian Waffle Ride in years past.
And which, like podium girls, doesn’t belong in cycling, period.
I felt like something had to be said on my @GravelBikeCal FB page after the sexist messaging around BWR earlier this week. What would you expect from the comments…. pic.twitter.com/qjrAeDmoLs
Caltrans Bay Area (District 4) manages nearly 1,400 miles of State Highway corridors throughout the Bay Area. The goal of this Study is to understand where Bike Highways may be installed alongside State Highway corridors.https://t.co/24ry91nC1p
Know about Kittie Knox? She changed biking forever by challenging white elitism in bicycling during the late 1800s. #BlackCyclingHistory "Take some time each week to focus on how you are keeping cycling as an elitist group instead of a big tent.” –https://t.co/CpgqvaeJhZpic.twitter.com/F9Uj9RkiSK
The Portland driver who deliberately ran down numerous bike riders and pedestrians in a wild 15-block rampage, killing one and injuring at least ten others, has been hit with a well-deserved 31-count indictment, including a second degree murder charge.
New York’s Suffolk County is confronting complaints about teen bicyclists swarming the streets by banning trick riding, weaving or zig-zagging “unless necessary,” as well as requiring a horn or bell, at least one hand on the handlebars, and no more than one person per bicycle, along with a raft of other requirements.
DC’s Vision Zero program actually has some teeth, requiring that any construction work on streets “pre-identified as a candidate for a protected bike lane, bus-only lane or private-vehicle-free corridor” has to include it in the final project.
