Trust the Los Angeles Times’ Steve Lopez to take on LA’s dangerous drivers, and the streets that encourage that behavior.
He says that Angelenos — or at least his readers — have had it with speeding drivers in the wake of last week’s crash that killed five people, as well as an unborn baby just two weeks from full term.
They want more enforcement, stiffer penalties for offenders and better street design, and they want to know why — even as we move toward electric vehicles to save the planet — the auto industry produces gas-guzzling behemoths that easily go twice the highest speed limits, and why the media culture celebrates velocity.
While he addresses safety concerns throughout the city, what especially stands out is a group of Angelino Heights residents who are fighting to stop filming for the latest movie in the Fast & Furious franchise, over fears it will encourage still more dangerously aggressive drivers to seek out the neighborhood.
“We will not stand for them filming here,” says a letter that was emailed to City Hall, arguing that the moviemakers “do nothing to dissuade their macho fans from endangering people’s lives on public streets in Los Angeles…”
“I am sick and tired of these knucklehead street racers speeding and doing doughnuts in our neighborhood,” said Echo Park resident Alan Lee, who lives near a market featured in one of the “Fast & Furious” movies. The market draws speeders and stunt drivers, Lee said, and he saw one lose control and plow into a neighbor’s car.
Michele McKinnon said tenants in her Echo Park apartment building complain of stunt driving and the smell of burned rubber, a familiar scent on weekend evenings. The “Fast & Furious” franchise has made billions glorifying “deadly street racing,” McKinnon said in an email to city officials, promising to disrupt filming “all day and night” in honor of those who have lost their lives to reckless driving.
Speed Racer wannabe see, Speed Racer wanna be do.
Lopez also isn’t afraid to take state legislators to task for failing to earn their pay.
Some legislators have tried to do something, but several bills to control speeding have failed. And I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that whereas national Republican lawmakers have failed to support sensible gun control proposals despite the ongoing firearm carnage, the Democrats who dominate the California Legislature have been missing in action when it comes to cracking down on drivers who use vehicles as weapons.
Amen, brother.
Still, there’s good news on the legislative front, as we’ll see in the next section.
Artwork by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.
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It was a good day from transportation bills in the state legislature yesterday.
First up, Assembly Member Laura Friedman’s bill to tie state transpiration projects to California’s Climate Action Plan passed out of committee.
It passes 5-2! Thank you to the hundreds of Californian's who sent letters. Thank you @laurafriedman43. https://t.co/CQMqDnp7zX
— Carter Rubin (@CarterRubin) August 11, 2022
Streets For All notes that several transportation bills passed out of the Appropriations Committee, where good bills too often go to die.
AB 2264 by @RichardBloom standardizing pedestrian head starts on state highways PASSED
— Streets For All (@streetsforall) August 11, 2022
AB 1685 by @ib2_real forgiving up to $1500 in parking fines for people experiencing homelessness PASSED
— Streets For All (@streetsforall) August 11, 2022
and 3 bills by @laurafriedman43 PASSED:
AB 2097 – eliminate parking requirements near transit
AB 2438 – align state transportation funding with greenhouse gas reduction goals
AB 1919 – make cycling safer and easier— Streets For All (@streetsforall) August 11, 2022
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GCN examines five descent positions so dangerous their were banned.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A dermatologist and self-annointed expert on urbanism honors the founder of City Watch after Ken Draper’s death, yet devolves into complaining about “bike nazis” while adding “you know who you are.”
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A San Francisco man will avoid anti-Asian hate crime charges after he was arrested for jumping off his bike and attacking former San Francisco commissioner-at-large Greg Chew.
A 44-year-old New York man was critically injured by a hit-and-run bike rider, who was part of a larger group of bicyclists riding through Manhattan.
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Local
LA Times readers weigh in on whether kids should be riding ebikes, after the parents of a Pacific Palisades girl files suit against Rad Power Bikes for her death.
Anne Heche was reportedly high on coke at the time of her fiery crash into a Mar Vista home; the actress suffered a catastrophic brain injury, and isn’t expected to survive.
StreetsLA has partnered with CAKE electric motorcycles to inspect 1,100 miles of bike lanes in the city.
State
The San Diego community mourns Christine Hawk Embree, the mother killed riding her ebike in Carlsbad on Sunday.
East San Jose has received a $10 million grant to improve safety around Senter Road, including new street lights, bike lanes and other protective measures.
A San Francisco music club threatens that they’ll have to close if a new bike lane running in front of the venue goes in, apparently thinking their survival depends on a handful of free parking spaces, rather than happy customers.
National
The Biden administration released the first round of funding for federal RAISE grants — Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity — which were formerly known as BUILD grants, which were themselves formerly known as TIGER grants, releasing roughly $2.2 billion to fund 166 initiatives in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
California Representative Mike Thompson has sent a letter to the USPS urging the Postal Service to use more ebikes.
Mother Jones talks with author Jessie Singer, who says when drivers kill — not cars, thank you — it’s not an accident.
A group of volunteers is building a 5,000-mile mountain bike trail stretching from Washington state to Baja California.
Strong Towns Program Director Rachel Quednau discusses opening an ebike shop with her husband.
Bicycling considers all the best bike locks — or at least the best bike locks you can get on Amazon. Meanwhile, ZDNet says you need two locks to secure your ebike, recommending a pair of Kryptonite’s.
Check the bikeability of your next neighborhood on Zillow before you move.
Police in Vail, Colorado busted a suspected serial bike thief.
A writer for Lonely Planet explains how he rode 468 miles across Iowa for RAGBRAI with 18,000 close friends.
Chicago is installing a trio of speed cameras to calm dangerous intersections near where two bike riders were recently killed. Yet they bizarrely remain illegal here in California, where speeding evidently isn’t a problem.
An Ohio grand jury indicted a driver who fled on foot after crashing into a family riding their bicycles, killing a three-year old girl.
New York is backsliding on open streets, as residents lost 63 miles of open streets over the past year.
A Florida state attorney — the equivalent of a DA — has rescinded a policy put in place by her predecessor to address the problem of police stops that disproportionately targeted Black people, aka Biking While Black.
International
F1 great Lewis Hamilton expands on his recent statement that he finds driving outside of the track very stressful. Thanks to Ralph Durham for the heads-up.
Cycling Weekly examines whether expensive sunglasses perform any better than the cheap ones.
Um, no. A British bike delivery startup prohibits its workers from wearing bike helmets, fearing helmet use will somehow make them more aggressive.
A bike rider in the UK complains the the country’s legal system “is not fit for purpose,” recounting his struggle for justice after he was hit by a driver 18 months earlier.
Police in Graz, Austria are cracking down on drunk bicyclists, after residents respond to drunk driving laws by taking to their bikes. I still say that’s counterproductive; I’d much rather see a drunk on a bike than in a car, where they could do far more harm.
Competitive Cycling
Marianne Vos has made it three for three in the Tour of Scandinavia, notching stage wins in the first three stages to build a modest 22 second lead going into today’s stage.
Twenty-six-year old Flanders pro Laurens De Plus tells drivers to think twice or wait five seconds after he was knocked off his bike in a collision on a training ride.
Maybe the era of doping isn’t really over, after all, as weekend crit warrior Jackson ‘Huntley’ Nash received a lifetime ban for multiple anti-doping violations, while 23-year-old Italian pro Michele Gazzoli got a one-year ban for using a prohibited stimulant.
Finally…
A Portland bike rider explains how to make your next move by bike. Yes, you can get a new sofa home by bike.
And now we know what inspired Far from the Madding Crowd.
Thomas Hardy – (Author/poet) – 1920's with his Rover bicycle. pic.twitter.com/BM9ewHs7Up
— classicretro (@classicretro) August 11, 2022
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
All those fancy glasses and no mention of an RX model.
I currently rock an eighteen year old pair of Rudy Project RB3
But since I don’t do contacts nothing they tested even applies.