This doesn’t sound good.
The LA County Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station announced a two-hour closure of a roughly half-mile section of PCH in Malibu.
The section from Heathercliff to Bonsall was shut down after the driver of a vehicle transport carrier hit someone riding a bicycle yesterday afternoon.
Closing the entire roadway in both directions for a crash investigation suggests the victim may have suffered serious, potentially life-threatening injuries; police usually don’t close the road entirely unless there’s a death or possibly fatal injuries.
Let’s hope that’s wrong in this case and they’re okay, whoever it is.
Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.
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Maybe the Healthy Streets LA initiative is having an impact already.
LADOT unveiled the first of what they’re calling their new BLAST program, starting with the newly completed protected bike lanes on San Vicente.
If you can call a flimsy plastic bollard protection.
New bike lanes on San Vicente Blvd are ready thanks to the hard work of @LADOTofficial, @BSSLosAngeles, @Midcitywest, & @PICONC2. The BLAST program, a new City project, will develop new bike lanes with street resurfacing––making it easier & faster to expand our bike lane network. pic.twitter.com/GtguUqKEtY
— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) October 27, 2022
The program marks a new effort to coordinate operations of the Bureau of Street Services with LADOT, which both bike and government advocates have been demanding for years, if not decades.
It appears to mimic Healthy Streets LA by implementing bikeway projects as streets are resurfaced, though it lacks the initiative’s enforcement mechanism to require implementation after resurfacing.
It also doesn’t necessarily follow the city’s mobility plan, let alone the 2010 bike plan.
LADOT provided this plan for the BLAST project for Windward Circle in Venice – impressive! Two-way protected bikeways, painted curb extensions and more! pic.twitter.com/l6da11aN6w
— StreetsblogLA (@StreetsblogLA) October 27, 2022
Streetsblog also notes that these projects will happen after termed-out LA Mayor Eric Garcetti leaves office at the end of this year, after overseeing a dramatic drop in implementing bike lanes.
Though the next 24 bikeway projects sound like they will be great, note also that Garcetti presided over a precipitous decline in new and upgraded bikeway mileage pic.twitter.com/xe2sKZAO7E
— StreetsblogLA (@StreetsblogLA) October 27, 2022
Just one more reason so many of Garcetti’s former supporters will be happy to see him go.
Myself included.
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Turns out singer, songwriter and producer — and Billie Eilish brother — Finneas is one of us.
Although, as usual, we only learned about it after he crashed his ebike and pulled a major endo, shattering his elbow and collarbone.
But he insists he’ll be back in time for his sister’s show at the Forum in December.
— FINNEAS (@finneas) October 27, 2022
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Gravel Bike California takes a ride up Mt. Lowe Road in the Angeles National Forest.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A Berkeley letter writer trots out the usual town versus gown conflict, complaining that a new bike lane supported by university students will kill local businesses, to the detriment of longtime residents. Never mind that studies show bike lanes are good for business, even if they require removing parking spaces. And chances are, the university was there long before she lived there, and will be there long after she’s gone.
No bias here., either. New York’s MTA says they need to see proof that bike riders will use bikeways on city bridges before they’re willing to build them. Which is nearly impossible to demonstrate when riding a bike on most bridges is dangerous and illegal.
A New York bike rider captures what it looks like — and sounds like — to get hit by a red light-running driver while recording other red light-running drivers. And gets left lying in the street afterwards.
And a road raging driver in a $230,000 Bentley subjected BBC host Jeremy Vine and a couple other bicyclists to punishment passes, and called Vine him a dick, when Vine called him on it.
https://twitter.com/theJeremyVine/status/1585159290137956352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1585159290137956352%7Ctwgr%5E3392dffb763723f955cc091df3cfd6d7a9fb248d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-27-october-2022-296887
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police in Gloucester, England are looking for a man who fled by bike after robbing a local shop armed with a crowbar.
A British man who fled by bicycle after fatally stabbing another man, and attempting to flee the country disguised as a woman, has been sentenced to just seven years behind bars.
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Local
Malibu-based fat tire e-bikemaker SONDORS is the first US ebike brand to file an IPO, although the prospectus reveals the company has shown a loss for the last two years, and may not be able to meet its financial obligations if it can’t secure adequate funding.
State
Here’s your chance to name San Diego’s new mini bike lane sweeper. And yes, Sweepie McSweepface is probably taken.
Um, no. A 62-year old Poway man was seriously injured when a driver crashed into his bike; sheriff’s investigators said the rising sun could have been in the driver’s eyes — even though the crash was nearly an hour after sunrise.
Sad news from Los Banos, where a 19-year old woman was killed when her bike was rear-ended by a motorist, allegedly while riding after dark without lights or reflectors.
More bad news, this time from San Mateo County, where an 80-year old retired Stanford water polo coach was killed when he crashed his bike into a street sweeper parked on the side of the road Tuesday afternoon.
San Jose reached a 25-year high for pedestrian deaths, with 29 people killed walking the city’s streets; no word on how many of the 54 people overall killed in traffic collisions were riding bikes.
An Oakland website asks candidates for mayor how they would improve street safety, after 11 people were killed on city streets this summer; one councilmember is calling for increased police enforcement — despite his own DUI arrest — and turned down funds for a seven-mile bikeway.
National
A new study examines disparities in bikeshare use among lower-income residents and people of color in three US city, examining why they use the services less than wealthier and whiter residents.
Bike USA is recalling their Punisher adult bicycle helmets for failing to meet the Consumer Products Safety Commission’s standards for positional stability and impact attenuation.
An Oklahoma man was sentenced to ten years behind bars for the shooting death of a man riding a bicycle; he was driving the car when the victim was shot by another man, who was sentenced to life last week.
Misdemeanor charges have been filed against a white Milwaukee man who was caught on video grabbing a young Black man by the neck after accusing him of stealing his friend’s bikes; the 25-year old victim reportedly has the mental capacity of a five-year old. Although it appears the man may have been right about the stolen bikes.
A new 58-mile greenway will allow bike riders to travel from West Michigan, through Indiana to Chicago without setting a wheel on the roadway.
There’s a special place in hell for anyone who could flee the scene after killing a 13-year old Ohio kid riding his bike; a suspect is on trial for hit-and-run and vehicular homicide, as well as possessing coke when he was arrested the next day.
Kindhearted cops in New York’s Hudson Valley bought a new bike for a teenage boy after his was stolen.
New York will develop a comprehensive Greenway masterplan for the city’s bike and pedestrian infrastructure for the first time in three decades.
A Franciscan brother has founded a campaign to get Queens bike riders to use lights after dark — and stay off the sidewalk and stop for red lights — after returning home to care for his Jewish mother.
Momentum offers a biking guide for your next trip to the Big Easy.
This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Louisiana woman pled guilty to negligent homicide in the hit-and-run death of a bike-riding man — eight years after killing a 15-year old boy as he was riding his bike. Just another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late. Again.
Miami is lowering the speed limit on the city’s deadly Rickenbacker Causeway to improve safety for bike riders, after several fatal crashes in recent years. Although lowering the limit just 5 mph, from 45 mph to 40 mph, may not make as big a difference as they might hope. Particularly when so many drivers ignore it anyway.
There’s something seriously wrong when a Florida man still rides a bike at 82 year old, only to be killed by an SUV driver.
International
Off-road.cc explains the meaning of singletrack.
Cycling Weekly addresses five textbook mistakes to avoid when you take your riding inside.
Don’t mind me. I’ll just be applying for this assistant bike shop manager job in Edinburgh. You know, the one in Scotland.
A bike rider in England’s Surrey County calls it the worst place in the world to ride a bike. Meanwhile, riders in cities around the world are shouting “Hold my beer!”
British officials were warned last year that removing plastic bollards from a bike lane would leave it in a substandard condition; now two bike riders have been killed in separate incidents in the past six months.
Competitive Cycling
The route for next year’s Tour de France was announced yesterday; Rouleur says it’s all about the mountains.
The 2023 women’s Tour will feature eight stages, including a finish atop the legendary Tourmalet.
Finally…
That feeling when you call the cops on your own 14-year old sister for stealing your son’s bike. Or when your relationship can survive BMX racing, but not reality TV.
And you won’t be hearing alleged Hitler aficionado Ye, nee Kanye, in Peloton classes anytime soon.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
