NY bike path terrorist spared death penalty, and memorial ride Saturday for murdered bike rider Dr. Michael Mammone

March 15, 2023 / / 2 comments

Convicted terrorist Sayfullo Saipov will spend the rest of his life in a Super Max prison, after a New York jury failed to agree on the death penalty.

Saipov was convicted of killing eight people, and injuring several others, when he drove a rented U-Haul truck down a Manhattan bike path on Halloween Day in 2017.

Several of the other victims suffered life-altering injuries, ranging from paralysis to lost limbs.

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Laguna Beach will host a Ride in Peace memorial ride on Saturday for Dr. Michael Mammone, who was murdered by a man apparently suffering from mental illness as he was riding his bike last month.

Dr. Mammone, an emergency physician with Providence Mission Hospital, was stopped at a red light on PCH in Laguna Beach when he was allegedly intentionally run down from behind by Vanroy Evan Smith, who got out of his car and stabbed Mammone to death, apparently choosing his victim at random.

So when you ride to remember Dr. Mammone this weekend, remember, too, this country’s failed mental health system that led to his murder.

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Some of LA’s leading advocacy groups are teaming up to fight for safer streets.

Although the question is whether street safety advocacy groups Streets For All and Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, weren’t invited, or chose not to play.

And why, either way.

https://twitter.com/LosAngelesWalks/status/1633961609013116929

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ActiveSGV invites you to help scout out the next 626 Golden Streets ride.

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Mark your calendar for June’s Culver City Pride Ride.

https://twitter.com/CulverCityPride/status/1633252099537666050

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This is why people keep dying on our streets.

And why it will only get worse as vehicles keep getting bigger.

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Very cool to know the estimable will.i.am is one of us.

And so, evidently, is Twisted Sister.

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The war on cares may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

Fox News wants you to be afraid, very afraid, of ebikes and their supposedly exploding batteries.

Apparently, it’s okay to pass someone on a bike too close, as long as they’re riding a Penny Farthing on the streets of London.

A bike rider in Bristol, England says he’s fed up with a “pointless” bike lane, which is always blocked by drivers who find their desire for a convenient cup of coffee more important than his desire to stay alive.

Sadly, the tweet below is an all-too typical example of victim blaming, when watching the replay at the end makes it clear the bike rider was right hooked; thankfully, the victim escaped unscathed, even if his bike didn’t.

But sometimes, its the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Inconsiderate bikeshare users will be now be charged five times as much for dumping rental ebikes in central London — a whopping ten pounds, or $12.16 at current exchange rates.

Um, okay. A Dutch “traffic psychologist” blames Amsterdam’s “bicycle fetish” for traffic misconduct, describing it as a feeling of superiority that “my bike and I are completely in charge here.” A feeling I would love to have just once in my life.

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Local 

LAist recommends riding with People for Mobility Justice if you want to make friends on two wheels. And talks with honored PMJ volunteer and immigrant rights advocate Erick Huerta.

Nice move from South LA’s East Side Riders, who are marking their 16th anniversary by establishing an ebike lending library for residents of Watts, Willowbrook and Compton.

UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs takes justifiable pride in parking maester Donald Shoup being featured in discussions of parking reform in both the New York Times and the Congress for New Urbanism’s Public Square.

This is who we share the road with. A Pasadena man faces charges for repeatedly, and intentionally, ramming a woman’s car after rear-ending her at a red light; he was arrested after causing a disturbance at a nearby business.

A Santa Monica man faces hate crime and attempted murder charges for yelling racial slurs at a Black man who was just walking his dog, then attacking a Black man and woman with a pipe on an Expo Line platform, again shouting racial slurs, after fleeing the first scene on his bike when nearby firefighters intervened.

Work has finally begun on a long-planned beautification project on Front Street in San Pedro, including construction of a 22-foot wide multiuse path.

 

State

Caltrans announced a number of traffic safety projects in Orange County, including extending bike lanes through intersections in Huntington Beach.

The Orange County Register invites you to sign up for their new traffic and transportation email newsletter, The Road Ahead. Let’s just hope they take an expansive view of transportation, rather than just limiting it to the vroom, vroom crowd. 

Hats off to Carlsbad, which has narrowed traffic lanes on historic Highway 101, aka Carlsbad Blvd, reducing one section to just one lane to make room for a buffered bike lane, as well as marking areas where drivers and bike riders have to share the lane.

Five-time world champion triathlete Lesley Paterson co-wrote and executive produced the German movie All Quiet On The Western Front, which won four Oscars out of nine nominations, including best foreign language film; she wrote the script as she rode her bike around San Diego. I always did my best work while riding my bike, too. 

A Streetsblog op-ed accuses San Francisco officials of trying to fake their way to Vision Zero, citing the failure to slow speeding drivers and improve safety on the city’s Franklin Street.

That’s more like it. A first-term Oakland councilmember says she’s had it with the city’s dangerous streets.

 

National

CityLab suggests e-trikes are coming to the rescue of aging suburban Boomers, who quickly discover the roads aren’t as friendly for people on wide bikes as they are for drivers.

Bicycling says the Bicycle Film Festival is coming to your living room through the end of this month. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

MotorBiscuit raises the question of whether a bicyclist is a driver or pedestrian, saying bike riders exist in a weird gray area between the two. Which is exactly the problem, since people riding bikes are neither one, but traffic planners, engineers and government officials insist on forcing us into one camp or the other. 

Portland is considering an update to the city’s Freight Master Plan, including a proposal to use cargo bikes for last-mile deliveries.

Advocates in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown are pushing for construction of a “world class bike park” on the site of the former football stadium where I used to play in the marching band. And may have smuggled booze for the band inside my tuba.

This is who we share the road with. In a truly bizarre case, a Texas boy is dead, along with two horses, when a driver slammed into three teenaged rustlers riding stolen horses along a freeway.

Evidently, Los Angeles isn’t the only place with inconsiderate film crews, as Chicago bike advocates had to spring into action when the catering crew for Chicago Fire set up shop in a separated bike lane.

Chicago Magazine takes a ride down the city’s busiest, and most dangerous, bikeway, where 50 bike riders have been hit by cars, and three killed, in the last three years.

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor is proposing to more than double spending on recreational trails, raising funding from an average of $7 million to $18 million a year.

Illinois is considering an ebike rebate bill, with a focus on people who receive government assistance or earn less than 300% of the federal poverty level. Which is similar to plans for California’s ebike rebate program, if it ever actually happens.

Kindhearted community members pitched in to buy a $4,000 ebike for a 60-year old Bowling Green, Kentucky bike shop worker who rides his bike everywhere, due to a learning disability that prevents him from driving.

A Philadelphia man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the driveby shooting that killed a 16-year old boy who was just riding his bike home from a convenience store, in a case of mistaken identity.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. DC is replacing its flimsy plastic car-tickler bendy posts with concrete dividers to improve safety on separated bike lanes where drivers have just driven over the plastic bollards.

A Florida lawyer and bicyclist alleges that Miami-Dade County has done absolutely nothing to improve safety in the nine months after two bicyclists were killed riding along the city’s deadly Rickenbacker Causeway.

Police have charged an 86-year-old Clearwater, Florida man for the hit-and-run death of a 36-year old woman riding her bike. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive, and why officials insist on keeping elderly drivers on the road until it’s too late. 

 

International

Momentum Magazine says getting serious about active transportation in Europe means getting serious about eliminating street parking. The same would be true in this country, except eliminating street parking seems to be a nonstarter most places.

Momentum also considers the best ways to carry groceries on your bicycle.

A British Columbia writer says biking to work is her form of self-care, after becoming lethargic and irritable working from home.

A Toronto op-ed says the city’s residents are turning from cars to bicycles, which is reflected in a new condo development.

Scotland’s Endura bikewear manufacturer takes helmet design to the extreme by auctioning off four bike helmets imprinted with actual CAT scans of bicyclists who suffered life-threatening brain injuries, to benefit The Brain Charity in the UK. I’ll pass, thank you.

Cycling Weekly examines the phenomenon of middle-aged British men geeking out over vintage bikes. In my case, it’s just lusting after the classic bikes I couldn’t afford when I was younger. Then again, I can’t afford them now, either.

Brexit claimed another victim, as the UK distributor for bike brands including Tern Bicycles, Lake, Forme, ETC, Emmelle and MeThree has entered liquidation proceedings.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 74-year old driver walked without a day behind bars for killing 41-year old father as he rode his bike. But at least he won’t get his license back until he’s 81.

A 49-year old Irish woman embraced the single life as she rode her bicycle through six continents, describing herself as “just Bridget Jones on a bike.”

A Hong Kong man faces charges for stealing the bicycle of a Chinese influencer, which he had ridden through 32 Chinese provinces over the past three years.

Bike riders blame aggressive motorists as Australian bicycling injuries reach a record high.

 

Competitive Cycling

VeloNews says French cyclist David Gaudu is setting hearts aflame in his home country with hopes for the Tour de France, after finishing second to Tadej Pogačar in Paris-Nice.

No bias here. Cycling’s governing body showed its antagonism towards diabetics competing at the highest level by stripping Alaska’s Kristen Faulkner of her surprising third-place finish in the Strade Bianche Donne for wearing a continuous glucose monitor during the race.

Rouleur tells the “heartwarming” story of how French cyclist Romain Bardet’s old bike is carrying the dreams of Oman’s national champion, as he strives to race in Europe.

Bicycling reports Belgian road and track cyclist Lotte Kopecky will take part in this week’s Nokere Koerse race, despite the unexpected death of her 29-year old brother last week. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you. 

If you held the Strava KOM for Tenerife volcano Mount Teide, Remco Evenepoel  has some bad news for you.

Nothing like having a rogue motorist driving salmon on a supposedly closed bike race course during Sunday’s final stage of Paris-Nice.

 

Finally…

When you’re carrying meth and heroin on your bike, maybe don’t pop a wheelie in the middle of an intersection with the cops looking on. That feeling when you need a ebike that shares tech with the Mars Rover.

And fortunately, she said yes. Because it would have been very embarrassing to jump off a bike mid-race to propose, otherwise.

https://www.tiktok.com/@hanner.knapp/video/7202635612095024426?embed_source=121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&refer=embed&referer_url=www.bikemag.com%2Ftrending-news%2Fcyclist-dream-proposal&referer_video_id=7202635612095024426

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Let me offer a special thanks to a longtime friend of this site, who made an unexpected donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day, which literally came in five minutes before an automatic payment would have bounced. 

As always, donations of any size, any time and for any reason are always welcome and very appreciated.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2 comments

  1. David says:
    March 15, 2023 at 9:44 am

    A NY Jury could not agree on the death penalty!?

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