My apologies for yesterday’s server outage that knocked us offline all day. You can catch up on everything you missed here.
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More mass casualty bike crashes in the news, as an Arizona website offers an update on the case against Shawn Michael Chock.
Chock is accused of deliberately slamming his massive pickup into a group of up to 50 competitors in a master’s bike race in Show Low, Arizona last June.
He ended up killing one man and injuring six other people when he smashed into the group, then backed his truck up and attempted to make another pass.
Prosecutors allege Chock huffed computer cleaning fluid before getting behind the wheel, whether that motivated the attack or simply gave him the courage to carry it out.
He was shot by police after fleeing the scene and engaging in a standoff with cops behind a local hardware store, and was arrested on his release from the hospital.
He continues to be held on a half million dollars bond, facing decades behind bars on charges including 2nd degree murder, aggravated assault against a peace officer and eight other counts of aggravated assault, leaving the scene of a collision involving death or serious injury, and unlawful flight from a law enforcement vehicle.
His next court hearing is on the 29th of this month. Hopefully in a courtroom full of bike riders.
The website adds that Chock is presumed by court to be innocent until proven guilty.
Thankfully, we’re under no such obligation.
Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.
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Couldn’t have said it better myself.
What leadership? Compared to his predecessor @Anne_Hidalgo, @MayorOfLA @ericgarcetti has let anti-progress forces run the show. We don’t have a protected bike lane network, we don’t have many bus lanes, we don’t have congestion pricing.
Climate action > climate talking points https://t.co/YrenxiqRQ8
— Streets For All (@streetsforall) November 2, 2021
Garcetti spoke with Spectrum News 1 about his climate goals following COP26. Although as we’ve seen too many times, the mayor is great at talking, not so good at following through.
Meanwhile, bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid takes the COP26 climate conference to task for inexplicably ignoring the quickest and most efficient way to decarbonize.
Bicycles.
That was the same message contained in a letter from over 80 bicycle organizations around the world, who argued that “government leaders must commit to boosting cycling levels to reduce carbon emissions and reach global climate goals quickly and effectively.”
Cycling represents one of humanity’s greatest hopes for a shift towards a zero-carbon future. New research shows that life-cycle CO₂ emissions drop by 14% per additional cycling trip and by 62% for each avoided car trip. Switching from a car to a bicycle saves 150g of CO₂ per kilometre. E-cargo bikes cut carbon emissions by 90%compared with diesel vans. Swapping the car in cities for walking and cycling even just one day a week can reduce your carbon footprint by about half a tonne of CO₂ over a year. Building synergies with other travel modes such as public transport can critically enhance this potential.
Our world is on fire. We must urgently leverage the solutions that cycling offers by radically scaling up its use. What we need now is for governments to politically and financially commit to more, safer and integrated cycling that is equitable for everyone living in our countries, cities and regions…
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Culver City is opening the city’s first mobility lane designed for scooters, bikes and ebikes on November 20th.
Join us to create and celebrate "Scenes from Ballona Creek". Volunteer painters needed! Register at https://t.co/d7I42E0Lh4 🎨🚌🛴🚲 pic.twitter.com/Da6dnKpN07
— Culver CityBus (@CulverCityBus) November 2, 2021
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Both San Diego and San Jose are celebrating open streets events this Sunday, with San Jose hosting Viva CalleSJ.
And the San Diego Bike Coalition co-hosting CicloSDias on the streets of Pacific Beach.
Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.
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Leone also reminds us to take extra precautions as Daylight Savings ends this Sunday.
Make sure you have lights on your bike if you’ll be riding after dark, with the sun setting around 5 pm next week; I also carry lights with me anytime I ride in the late afternoon, in case a flat or mechanical problem delays my return.
And ride defensively, especially for the first few days next week, because the initial days after Daylight Savings ends are always among the worst days for traffic collisions.
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Damn, that really is a close call. If the guy on the bike hadn’t been a cop, the driver probably would have gotten away with it.
Court result: last week I was informed of a court result relating to this incident of dangerous driving. The driver of this HGV was disqualified for this incident from 11 February 2021 pic.twitter.com/PtVggntO5f
— Sheffield North West NPT (@SheffNW_NPT) November 2, 2021
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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
San Diego police are looking for a man riding a blue mountain bike with black rims and silver spokes, who is described as a person of interest after a woman was sexually assaulted in a Mission Bay restroom.
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Local
LADOT is planning to extend the bike lanes on Riverside Drive in Los Feliz from Glendale Blvd to Los Feliz Drive, after the street is resurfaced over the next year; the work will also include upgraded paint and crosswalks.
A writer for the Financial Times laments LA’s unrealized potential as a bicycling city. As do we all.
Santa Monica-based Bird is planning to go public despite a history of financial losses, merging with a Dallas-based special purpose acquisition company in hopes of raising $384 million in capital.
Opening arguments began in the civil trial against a Metro contractor for the 2017 death of 13-year old Ciara Smith on PCH in Redondo Beach; her attorney blamed poor training of the driver, while the defense placed the blame on bad road design.
A 31-year old man was fatally shot while riding a bike in Long Beach on Friday.
State
Santa Barbara County will take its ebike demo to Santa Maria for five days this month, allowing people to try them out and even take one home overnight.
Sad news from Oakland, where an e-scooter rider was killed by a wrong-way driver who allegedly ran a red light; Streetsblog argues that the paint on the street was insufficient to protect her, or anyone else.
More in the Santa Rosa woman who was seriously injured in Saturday’s mass casualty bike collision in Liberty County, Texas; 59-year-old Barbara Anne Ferrell was one of three bicyclists struck by the driver while on a cross-country ride.
National
They get it. Fast Company compares the $12,500 tax incentive to buy an electric car contained in the stalled Build Back Better bill with the relatively paltry $1,500 tax break for buying an ebike, charging that the bill continues the harmful automotive dominance in our cities.
This is who we share the road with. Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III faces up to 20 years behind bars for the fiery, high-speed crash that killed an innocent woman and her equally innocent dog; he was released from the team hours after his arrest on felony DUI and reckless driving charges. You know you’re toxic when even the Raiders won’t touch you.
The bike theft scourge has infected the entire country, even in small Midwestern towns like Iowa City.
Hundreds of people turned out to honor a fallen Chicago man at a ghost bike ceremony yesterday, while a crowdfunding campaign for the popular amateur cyclist has raised more tha $164,000 in just four days.
International
Canadian mountain biker Magnus Manson has started the Conquer Your Challenge crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for aspiring Canadian cyclists, as he battles stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; he’s already topped the $10,000 goal bu raising over twelve grand.
A Toronto op-ed accuses the city of falling short on efforts to stop pedestrian traffic deaths, despite its Vision Zero program.
A Scottish legal columnist explains the defense of automatism — where someone isn’t in control of their actions through no fault of their own and have no knowledge of what happened — after a driver was acquitted of killing a man on a bike because she claimed she had no memory of the crash.
A website in Scotland recommends banning cars from schools and building a walking culture in kids to improve safety and cut climate-damaging emissions. Although they should also add riding their bikes to school to that.
A South African musician is scaling up the country’s first ebike delivery service.
Competitive Cycling
British cyclist Alex Dowsett is in Mexico City, attempting to retake the hour record he first set in 2015.
Finally…
If you’re going to steal a bike, at least have the decency to leave your old one in its place. Who needs carbon fiber when you can build your own bike out of wood?
And why carry a tent on your bike when you can build your very own self-powered wooden e-camper van bike?
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
