Too often, hit-and-run drivers get away with their crimes.
But not this time, apparently.
The LAPD announced the arrest of 27-year old Anisha Marie Lockhart, accusing her of being the heartless coward driver who killed Oscar Montoya as he was riding his bike in San Pedro early in the morning on Sunday, March 5th.
A statement from the department reported that citizen tips led them Lockhart’s car two days after the crash, and additional tips helped them take Lockhart into custody two days later.
She was reportedly under the influence at the time of the crash, and on her way to another bar when she slammed into Montoya, who was just picking up an order from a food truck.
Lockhart was being held on $100,000 bond on a charge of felony hit-and-run; it’s not clear if she’s still in custody.
Meanwhile, it’s likely that multiple people will split the $50,000 reward if she’s is convicted.
………
The Big Bear Cycling Association has more information on Saturday’s memorial ride for Dr. Michael Mammone, who was murdered while riding his bike on PCH in Laguna Beach last month, by a man apparently suffering from mental illness.
The cycling community has rallied in an effort to honor the life and contribution of Dr. Michael Mammone.
With support from Providence Mission Hospital Foundation a celebration of life and ride has been organized on Saturday March 18th, 2023 at the Leonard Cancer Institute at Mission Hospital 27799 Medical Center Road Mission Viejo.
All cycling groups small and large are encouraged to ride to the event. We ask that your ride does not “start” or “end” at the hospital but instead “STOP” at the event no later than 11:00 A.M. Groups should plan their own independent rides and converge at the event.
Armbands (optional/free) to be worn on the ride may be picked up at Rock n Road Cyclery, at all 4 Orange County locations and Specialized of Costa Mesa, any time prior to the day of the event and worn on your group rides that day.
For those individuals and families wishing to attend without riding to the event, free parking will be provided on the first three levels with the rooftop level reserved for standing room only attendance.
Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.
………
Los Angeles CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky will take former Councilmember Mike Biden’s place on the Metro board, which should be good news for active transportation.
https://twitter.com/DavidZahniser/status/1636180907685195776
………
Costa Mesa could use someone who bikes for their new Energy/Sustainability Manager.
Job posting: https://t.co/MKzbDWqkj2
Link to full job description: https://t.co/diJWjFCs2Q
— Arlis Reynolds (@arlis4costamesa) March 15, 2023
………
The San Diego Bike Coalition is teaming with Families for Safe Streets San Diego for a hard-hitting new poster campaign calling attention to the record number of traffic deaths in the county.
The group is looking for volunteers to help put up posters around the city this Saturday. You can learn more and RSVP here.
Sadly, they’ll need another one in Oceanside after a man riding a bike was killed by a driver high on heroin yesterday.
Thanks to Phillip Young for the tip.
………
The war on cares may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
He gets it. A writer for The Spectator calls on everyone to stop demonizing bike riders, and give colleagues a pass for showing up in the office in a bit of Lycra, because more people on bicycles benefits everyone.
But sometimes, its the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Scranton, Pennsylvania man walked without a day behind bars for groping four women as he rode by on his bicycle, after the judge sentenced him to four months home vacation confinement.
An assistant to a Baton Rouge, Louisiana judge was lucky to escape unscathed after she nearly hit a pair of teenaged bike riders, who responded by shooting her in the arm; the same suspects reportedly stole a running pickup minutes later, then repeatedly shot the driver when he tried to reclaim it after they crashed into a stop sign with their bikes in the truck bed.
………
Local
The UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge will spend the next two years examining transportation issues with local stakeholders through their new TRACtion program, short for Transformative Research and Collaboration.
Chris Hemsworth is one of us, riding barefoot on an ebike made by Los Angeles-based Super73.
State
The UCI Health system will host the 7th Annual UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge this October, featuring bike routes of 14, 35, 60 or 100 miles, as well as a new mountain bike route, and 5K and 10K run/walks.
She gets it. A Solano Beach letter writer says that the increase in bicycling collisions isn’t because bicyclists are riding in an unsafe manner, but rather, “due to the explosion in popularity of ebikes, more people are biking on our unsafe roads.”
San Jose will use a $2 million federal grant to fund a design study on how to transform a six lane highway into a boulevard with dedicated transit lanes and protected bike lanes; nicknamed Blood Alley, Monterey Road has long been the city’s deadliest roadway, with 42 deaths and severe injuries in less than four years. Maybe Malibu could take a few notes on how to transform PCH from SoCal’s deadliest highway into the Main Street it should be.
San Francisco opened a two-way bikeway on Battery Street, which Streetsblog’s Roger Ruddick bitingly describes as “just more paint, plastic, and prayers masquerading as ‘protection.'”
National
Men’s Journal offers their choices for the year’s best road bikes, with prices starting at around $800 and going up — a lot.
A mountain biker discusses three things that can kill your confidence on the trail.
Surprising news from bike-friendly Portland, where bicycling rates have dropped to a 17 year low, including a 45% drop in bicycling in the central city from nine years earlier.
A Wyoming paper talks with Michael “Mac” McCoy, the father of the 2,700-mile Great Divide Trail, which follows the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico.
Chicago approved a plan to use cameras to ticket drivers who park in bus and bike lanes, employing a combination of cams mounted on poles and on buses and other city vehicles. LA Metro approved a similar program to use bus-mounted cameras to ticket drivers who park in bus lanes.
The Washington Post reports on the battle to make pandemic era Slow Streets permanent, as some drivers refuse to give up without a fight.
International
Undefeated UFC fighter Lerone Murphy is preparing to return to the ring, 18 months after surviving a near-fatal bicycling collision in London.
London-based luxury fashion and lifestyle magazine Salon Privé examines the physical health benefits of riding a bicycle. Although the mental health benefits are equally, uh, beneficial.
A Dublin, Ireland man filed a multi-million euro lawsuit alleging he suffered a catastrophic brain injury slamming his head into a series of bollards, despite wearing a helmet, after losing control of his ebike hitting a low curb on a protected bike lane.
Life is cheap in Ireland, where a former bus driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a man riding a bicycle, after playing the universal Get Out of Jail Free card by claiming the sun was in his eyes. Which may or may not be true, but the correct response to being blinded by the sun is to stop until you can see, not keep going until you run over someone.
Belgium is creating a voluntary national bicycle registry to combat bike theft.
Germany’s bicycle industry quadrupled in just a decade, rising to a combined total of seven billion euros, the equivalent of roughly $7.5 billion, while every second bicycle sold in the country is an ebike.
Competitive Cycling
Twenty-three-year old British cyclist Tom Pidcock is out of Saturday’s Milan-San Remo after he showed mild concussion symptoms following a crash in the final stage of last Sunday’s Tirreno-Adriatico.
Belgian cyclist Lotte Kopecky won the country’s Nokere Koerse bike race on Wednesday, just four days after the unexpected death of her brother; Belgian national champ Tim Merlier successfully defended his win in last year’s men’s race.
Finally…
Seriously, who wouldn’t ride a bicycle to get ice cream in the middle of a blizzard? If you’re going to steal a cargo bike worth over $2,600 in a petty crime spree, it might raise fewer red flags if you tried to sell it for more than 60 bucks.
And it’s that time of year when mountain bikers emerge from their winter hibernation.
https://www.tiktok.com/@thecaliradokid/video/7203741560847060270?embed_source=121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&refer=embed&referer_url=www.bikemag.com%2Ftrending-news%2Fmountain-bikers-spring&referer_video_id=7203741560847060270
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
