“It’s always darkest before it turns absolutely pitch black.”
— Paul Newman
Actually, things are finally looking up with my scratched cornea. It’s slowly healing, and improving a little more every day.
The problem is, I have two eyes.
And the other one is recovering now after getting an injection in the eye to address a bleeding retina caused by diabetes.
Yes, I said in the eye.
So now I’m dealing with two balky, blurry eyes that can read the headlines, but can’t make out much of anything underneath.
As a result, I’m going to take the rest of the week off to rest my eyes and try to get my eyesight back to normal. Or whatever passes for normal these days.
We’ll be back bright and early Monday morning to catch up on all the weekend news.
I managed to survive my birthday, but woke up Saturday with corgi hair in my eye. By the time they finally got it out at urgent care, my cornea was scratched so badly I can’t a thing.
This included, so if I screw something up, please forgive me.
Hopefully, my sight will clear up and we’ll be back tomorrow. If not, we’ll be back once I can see again.
In the meantime, take advantage of this great weather and get out for a ride.
September 22, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Las Vegas teens face life in Probst murder, bicycling up 37% in US, and SAMOCAN talks with Streets For All founder
Yesterday I found out the hard way what happens when you accidentally inject long-acting insulin directly into a vein, rather than the fat surrounding it.
The result was a rapid fire, 300 point blood sugar swing that knocked me on my ass for the rest of the day.
Good times.
So if I had any sense, I’d be in bed already.
Instead, I’m going to try to get through this, then pull a pillow over my head and sleep for the rest of the weekend. Or maybe the rest of the month.
Which is the best way I know to face another birthday, anyway.
So Gamar hatimah tovah to everyone observing Yom Kippur on Monday.
The two teens were held without bail on several charges, including murder and attempted murder. However, due to their ages, they won’t face the death penalty, since Nevada law imposes a maximum sentence of 20 years to life in state prison for murder committed before the age of 18.
The driver, Jesus Ayala, was 17 at the time of the crime, while Jzamir Keys, the passenger who recorded the attack, is just 16.
Ayala now matches his age with 18 criminal counts, including murder, and already has a lengthy record as a juvenile. So if he’s lucky, he might be out in 30 years.
Meanwhile, Streets For All is hosting a fundraiser tomorrow featuring guest speakers including Councilmember Katy Yuroslavsky, Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur and State Senator and Congressional candidate Anthony Portantino.
The group says pay what you can if you can’t afford the full $100 ticket price.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A writer for City Journal cries “E-nough,” arguing that ebike and gas-powered mopeds are “reversing more than a decade’s progress in making New York’s dense streets safer for pedestrians and traditional cyclists.” Or maybe they’re just encouraging more people to get out of cars, which pose the real risk, and onto two wheels, which don’t. Although I’d distinguish between ped-assist ebikes and any kind of throttle-controlled or gas-guzzling bikes.
Houston could soon have two docked bikeshare systems, as the Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority considers opening its own bikeshare to compete with Houston’s struggling BCycle system
September 21, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Killer Las Vegas teens charged as adults; Huntington Beach drafts new bike regs; Marina Freeway removal gains support
Seventeen-year old Jesus Ayala and 16-year old Jzamir Keys will both be charged with murder for running down Probst with a stolen car as he rode his bike in Las Vegas.
Ayala is accused of being the driver who killed Probst, while Keys laughingly recorded the crime on his cellphone.
They will both face charges of murder with a deadly weapon, battery and attempted murder. Ayala also faces another case in Las Vegas juvenile court, where he is also eligible to be charged as an adult.
The plan, which would replace the virtually useless spur with a new Marina Central Park, has received the support of the Del Rey Neighborhood Council, as well as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who has requested a $2 million federal grant to fund a feasibility study for the project.
However, Culver City councilmembers objected to being asked to take the lead on the project, noting that it is mostly in LA’s 11th Council District.
The paper also seemed to object to the “outsized influence” of project co-sponsor Streets For All, after previously reporting on the “cycling advocacy group’s involvement with the planning and implementation of the so-called ‘road diet’ on Venice Boulevard in Mar Vista well before any of the affected neighborhoods’ councils were notified.”
In other words, they object an advocacy group being involved in…advocacy.
………
Metro Bike is offering a half-priced yearly membership tomorrow.
We're celebrating Car Free Day this Friday, 9/22 with a special deal on our 365-Day Pass. Best time to become a Metro Bike Share passholder! Use code BIKECARFREE23 at check out in the app and online! pic.twitter.com/1mZqAH04Wh
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
The recent spate of horrific violence against people riding bicycles just keeps on coming. On Monday, a student at Canada’s University of Winnipeg was intentionally rammed by a road raging driver who somehow became incensed when the student gestured for another motorist to give him more room after that driver cut him off. Fortunately, he had stepped off his bike, and managed to dive away to escape injury before the truck driver rammed his bike and drove off with it still trapped underneath.
A Toronto man faces multiple charges after allegedly using his motorcycle to slam into a man riding a bicycle, in a road rage attack that began when he sped his motorcycle out of a driveway and nearly crashed into the other man.
Maybe mountain biking is safer than we think. Bicycling reports a new study in the medical journal PLoS ONE shows a much lower risk of injuries than anticipated, suggesting that its perception as an extreme sport is exaggerated. Which kinda takes some of the fun out of it, somehow. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.
The Chicago Tribunehighlights bike trails around the Midwest, from the site where Field of Dreams was filmed to a 50-mile Wisconsin trail modeling the solar system to scale.
The Guardianexamines the state of bike theft in the UK, where most thefts aren’t violent but few get solved, while noting that the crime can leave victims financially and emotionally crushed.
A French company has created the first ebike that doesn’t need a battery, relying on a supercapacitor that recharges during easy stretches and as the bike brakes, which not only eliminates the the need for environmentally sensitive rare earth minerals, but also the risk of lithium-ion battery fires.
San news from the world of pro cycling, as Belgium’s Nathan van Hooydonck was forced to retire from the WorldTour after having an internal defibrillator fitted because of a heart muscle anomaly; the 27-year old cyclist was injured recently when he crashed after becoming ill while driving.
We’re learning more about the vehicular rampage in Las Vegas that led to the intentional hit-and-run death of 64-year old retired Bell, California police chief Andreas Probst.
Including that Probst wasn’t the first bike rider attacked by the two teens.
Not surprisingly, X/Twitter owner Elon Musk drove much of the attacks, after accusing the media of a lack of sufficient outrage to meet his demands.
On Sunday morning, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, amplified one of the screenshots, posting “An innocent man was murdered in cold blood while riding his bicycle. The killers joked about it on social media Yet, where is the media outrage? Now you begin to understand the lie.” That post had 68.2 million views as of Monday evening…
The Review-Journal’s social media accounts and other staff also received vicious attacks. When Schnur shared that she’d received 700 notifications on X and an onslaught of angry emails and voicemails, editors jumped in to support her and make sure she was safe.
Executive editor Glenn Cook said that during his 30-plus years in journalism, he’d never seen vitriol of this volume or intensity. “It’s like a fire hose of hatred to the face,” he wrote in a column about the social media outrage.
The attacks were also driven by other rightwing sources, including far-right commentator Laura Loomer and Fox News host Greg Gutfield.
Forty-six-year old Benedicto Solanga was walking with a friend when Gutierrez drove by in his pickup, flipped the men off for no apparent reason, then made a U-turn to come back and slam into Solanga from behind. He died in a hospital three days later.
The Riverside jury also convicted Gutierrez a sentence-enhancing allegation of using his truck as a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.
There’s no word on whether Gutierrez knew Solanga, or if this was a case of road rage. Or if there was some other reason for his murderous attack.
Gutierrez is currently being held without bail at Riverside’s Robert Presley Jail, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for December 15th.
Deputy Director of Planning and Modal Programs Jeanie Ward-Waller, the former Advocacy Director for the California Bicycle Coalition, is reportedly being “reassigned” in the department.
Curry speculates that the move may have come because Ward-Waller argued too strongly for incorporating the state’s climate plan in highway projects, as “some Caltrans planners are still pushing strategies to get around changing state regulations.”
If so, that is troubling. But sadly, not surprising.
In my efforts to catch up from my unexcused diabetic crash and burn a few weeks ago, I have been remiss in not mentioning next month’s LA Bike Fest, hosted by BikeLA, the former Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.
Huntington Beach is the latest city to consider overwriting state traffic laws to regulate bicycles, including a ban on riding against traffic on the sidewalk.
Even though sidewalks aren’t directional, and a newly passed state law will legalized sidewalk riding throughout the state, if it’s signed by Governor Newsom.
The regulations would also ban going around stopped of slowed traffic, and includes a vague ban on riding in an unsafe manner, and a provision allowing impounding bikes belonging to juvenile scofflaw riders.
Any and all of which could be tossed out by the courts, since the state, not cities, is responsible for regulation all forms of traffic under California law, on two wheels as well as four.
New bicycle, moped, etc. laws will be voted on tonight at city council. They further define what an “unsafe manner” is. It also includes new language for impounding bicycles, mopeds, etc. #HuntingtonBeach#bicyclespic.twitter.com/6Z3QzYuQS6
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
The founder of Streets For All is reminded that plastic bollards are no protection against LA drivers.
I was admiring the new bollards at Rosewood / La Brea @LADOTofficial recently put in to stop drivers from illegally going straight. And as I’m shooting the video…@timfremaux can we add a few more across? Cahuenga / Lexington has more and prevents this absurdity pic.twitter.com/yDHV4XYHIh
Los Angeles is asking the federal government for up to $10.3 million in grant funding for a series of new active transportation and public open space projects, including proposals to reconnect bisected MacArthur Park by closing Wilshire Blvd, and studying the possibility of capping the 101 Freeway in Hollywood to build a new park over it; the city is also teaming with Metro to request another $86 million for new bus lanes, bike lanes, and other active transportation and transit infrastructure projects.
The Cities of Los Angeles and San Fernando are hosting a non-CicLAvia open streets festival from 10 am to 2 pm this Saturday “promoting an active lifestyle and community engagement, all while celebrating the joy of biking, walking, and rolling.”
Sad news from Bakersfield, where a 39-year old woman was killed by a driver when she allegedly rode her bike in front of the oncoming car. Although what actually happened hinges on whether there were any independent witnesses, or if investigators are relying solely on the driver’s statement, since the victim can’t give her side of the story.
Palo Alto parents are demanding steps to improve traffic safety after two children were struck by drivers in separate incidents, including a middle school student who was critically injured while riding his bike.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has introduced a new 12-point ‘code de la rue’ (street code), in addition to France’s existing code de la route (highway code), to help bike riders, drivers and pedestrians better share the city’s streets; the rules include giving pedestrians priority and banning all two-wheeled vehicles from sidewalks, as well as a ban on drinking before driving, biking or scooting.
And repeat after me. When you’re riding your bike under the influence, while carrying controlled substances and already wanted on an outstanding warrant, put a damn light on it.
The bike, that is. Not the warrant.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Among the bills that passed are measures to legalize a speed cam pilot program, provide transparency on highway building and emissions, require daylighting at intersections, and prohibit criminal charges for transit fare evasion.
Bicycling bills that made it to Newsom’s desk would create a Caltrans bike czar, legalize sidewalk riding throughout the state, allow vehicle-mounted cameras to enforce bike lane parking restrictions, and require landlords to let tenants store and charge ebikes and e-scooters inside.
Based on Newsom’s previous actions, I’d expect the sidewalk bill to face the greatest veto risk, followed the ebike charging bill, due to the risk of fires.
Other measures would unbundle parking costs from rent, allow businesses to share excess parking, require a human driver in autonomous trucks, and study the costs and benefits of imposing a weight-based vehicle fee.
Bills that didn’t make it include the ban on pretextual traffic stops, free transit passes for youths, and requiring the state to take climate change into account on highway projects and monitor air pollutants.
The 17-year old driver was recorded on a now-viral video deliberately aiming his car at retired Bell police chief Andreas Probst as he rode his bike in a Las Vegas bike lane last month.
It’s also no surprise that the car was stolen, one of several auto thefts the teen is accused of taking part in that day. Or that the driver had used it to sideswipe another car moments earlier, apparently just for the hell of it.
Reaching that goal is vital to the city’s health. The increased use of bikes usually means the decreased use of cars, which will shrink the city’s carbon footprint and its need for costly parking spaces. At a time when the T is slow or undependable, cycling can not only fill gaps in the transit system but can also be the most efficient mode of travel.
Moreover, bicycles add to the vibrancy of street life, a potential boon to neighborhood stores, restaurants, and cafes. And let’s face it, we could all use a bit more exercise.
Yes, it will require a network of safe, connected bike lanes, the paper argues.
But it will also take adult bike classes, and bicycle training in elementary schools. Along with state and local ebike subsidies, and tax deductions to help defray the cost of bike commutes or pay for Uber rides in bad weather.
As well as growing Boston’s docked bikeshare system.
All of which applies equally well right here in Los Angeles, or pretty much anywhere else in the US.
Longtime Los Angeles bike advocate and former LACBC board member Kent Strumpell will interview Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, founder of the Streets For All PAC, in a webinar hosted by Climate Action Santa Monica this Thursday.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. San Diego’s KPBS is once again raising the panic over ebike and e-scooter injuries, as ER doctors cite a painfully small study showing a jump in injuries coinciding with the rise in e-scooter use. Although as any middle school science student could tell you, correlation does not equal causation. And an increase in injuries is to be expected with any increase in usage; the question is whether that rise exceeds what would be expected with greater usage.
Friends and family members are looking for answers after the beloved assistant director of the New York Chinatown Head Start program died days after she was struck by a hit-and-run ebike rider while walking to work.
Life is cheap in Illinois, where a 76-year old driver walked without a single day behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 20-year old bike-riding man, after the judge suspended his entire five-year sentence for negligent homicide. But at least he’ll be 101 before he’s allowed to drive again.
And you should always wear the proper attire for bike racing, even if it’s a suit jacket and knickers.
Of course there's a Brompton World Championships, in which competitors do a LeMans start – requiring them to run to the bikes and unfold them – and jacket and tie are de rigeur pic.twitter.com/1cdmb2J44c
It took about two weeks after the crash for Las Vegas police to determine that the killing of retired Bell, California police chief Andreas Probst in an August hit-and-run was intentional.
The reason became evident this weekend when horrifying video of the collision surfaced and quickly went viral.
In the video, which was AirDropped to students at a local high school at the end of last month, the teenage driver and his passenger(s) can be seen cursing at passing cars, before spotting Probst riding his mountain bike in a bike lane.
The 17-year-old driver and his passenger were cruising down a street in Las Vegas on August 14, coming up behind Andreas Probst as he rode his cycle in the bike lane. Filming with his cell phone, the passenger was chuckling with the driver as they plotted to run over Probst. You can hear them say, “Ready?” and “Yeah, hit his ass.”
The vehicle is seen in the footage coming up behind a red-clad man riding a bicycle alongside the road. The motorist pulls into the bike lane behind him, honks his horn, and purposefully strikes the cyclist’s back tire, sending him flying with the encouragement of his buddies.
The passenger records Andreas lying helplessly on the side of the road behind the vehicle. “Damn that n* got knocked out!” the passenger says as the driver can be heard stepping on the gas.
The Review-Journal’s coverage of the incident was also heavily criticized by readers who posted screenshots of a news obituary that ran in the Review-Journal on Aug. 18 — more than a week before the video surfaced — with a headline describing the incident as a “bike crash” and not an intentional killing.
In fact, a source had contacted the Review-Journal about the existence of the video more than two weeks ago, and a reporter had instructed the caller on how to forward the video to Metropolitan Police Department detectives investigating the case. Nine hours later, police announced that the incident had been deemed a homicide.
The Review-Journal also reports the passenger has not been charged, which seems inexplicable unless they were captured on the video screaming in horror at the deliberate carnage.
Hint: they weren’t.
At the very least, such a heinous crime would seem to call for a felony conspiracy charge, since both the driver and the passenger appear to have been planning the fatal assault.
Never mind that his own decision to ride on the sidewalk, rather than risk riding in the street, makes the case for building the bike lanes.
Let’s be clear: While WeHo talks a big game about “uplifting” marginalized people and “amplifying” their voices, the city’s pedestrians — those blue-collar, minimum-wage earning people the city claims to care so much about — are silently struggling just to get from Point A to Point B every day, as they’ve done for decades.
But fixing sidewalks isn’t glamorous, and that’s why WeHo hasn’t given a fuck thus far.
Even now, the impetus for reconstructing Fountain Avenue wasn’t to benefit pedestrians or disabled people. They were an afterthought.
Installing bike lanes, the cause celebre of every young politician and hip urban planner, was the point of this project.
Never mind that many of the “blue-collar, minimum-wage earning people the city claims to care so much about” are forced to ride their bikes to work along busy, dangerous corridors choked with traffic.
And not many use the sidewalks, because they can’t afford to live there.
No bias here. A Singapore website accuses an ebike rider and a motorist of road rage for engaging in a heated dispute in the middle of the roadway. Never mind that the bike rider was minding his own business until the impatient driver started honking at him for no apparent reason.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Tragic news from New York, where police are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who killed a 69-year old woman as she was crossing a “chaotic” intersection. Since the bicyclist was on a bikeshare bike, police should be able to access user and GPS data to determine who was using a bike at that time and location. Which raises the question of why they apparently haven’t yet.
An ebike-riding man is recovering from injuries and faces sexual assault charges, after a Virginia woman flagged down a passing car when the man groped her on a bike path, then smiled as he rode away; she was able to catch up with him and apparently kicked his ass, knocking him off his bike and placing him in a chokehold until police arrived.
Streetsblog says Metro has installed new plastic bollards to protect the First Street bike lanes, which could be the first step in meeting their commitment to on bike/walk connections the promised for Metro’s new subway stations. However, it’s worth noting that the new bollards are spaced too far apart to keep motorists from driving or parking in the bike lanes, and won’t actually protect anyone from anything.
Huntington Beach will consider new ebike regulations at tomorrow’s city council meeting; the proposed ordinance would create different classes of electric bikes — which the state has already done — while providing for criminal or civil citations, and adding a section for unsafe riding. However, all of that may be moot and illegal, since regulating ebikes falls under the authority of the state, along will all other traffic regulations.
A La Jolla father calls for action on traffic safety measures after his 14-year old son suffered broken bones in his hand and foot when he was struck by a driver in a left cross crash, as he rode his ebike in a marked bike lane; the driver was waved through the intersection by another motorist, and failed to see the kid on his bike.
An 80-year old New York man was murdered by a black-clad man on a bicycle who circled the area apparently waiting for the victim to return home from a party, then rode up and shot him two times point blank in front of the victim’s horrified wife, in a killing caught on video; using a bike allowed the killer to approach his victim quickly and silently, without drawing undue attention.
More proof bike riders are tough, as a man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana walked himself to the hospital, despite three stab wounds in his back, after three people stabbed him and stole his bike and wallet, then left him bleeding on the sidewalk.
After courts awarded her the equivalent of over $620,000 for the death of her husband, a British woman decried the “inhuman” response of city leaders, who blamed him 100% for his own death after he was killed by a garbage truck driver as he rode his bike.
A Belgian bicyclist shown on video kneeing a five-year old girl in a viral video from Christmas Day 2020 has now won a defamation suit against the girl’s father, after a court fined the bike rider the equivalent of a dollar, concluding he didn’t intend to hurt her.
Helmet use has tripled among Japanese bike riders in the wake of a new law requiring them, although the lack of punishment for violating the law means it’s still only up to 13.5%.
Guyana’s junior cycling team was left standing at the airport, instead of flying to the Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships, because someone apparently forgot to check the airline’s strict no baggage policy, which includes racing bikes.
Especially since that video seems awfully familiar.
………
A special thanks to Steve Fujinaka for a very unexpected and generous donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way that lifted my spirits over the weekend.
September 15, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Culver City non-explains MOVE bike lane removal, Ethan Boyes ghost bike burned at Burning Man, and NoHo CicLAmini
Except the only time CEQA is even mentioned is in the first paragraph, and then only in passing.
At its meeting on Monday, September 11th, 2023, the Culver City City Council voted 3-2 to ratify plans to modify the MOVE Culver City pilot project, including a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption. MOVE Culver City is a city-led effort that reimagines city streets as public spaces and prioritizes moving people more efficiently and safely in the design of the street.
The story goes on to add that the re-imagined project will include new bike boxes at seven locations, which wouldn’t be necessary if the city wasn’t removing the current protected bike lane, and moving to a shared bus-bike lane.
And in doublespeak Orwell would be proud of, he describes the goal of the MOVE project as improving “the infrastructure and services for mobility alternatives and to offer the community equitable, convenient, and sustainable mobility options.”
It’s hard to imagine how removing a protected bike lane, and forcing bikes and buses to share a single lane, accomplishes any of those goals.
The bike had disappeared after officials at the Presidio ordered it removed, and passed among friends until it was taken to the event to be burned.
………
A reminder that the North Hollywood CicLAmini — a shorter version of CicLAvia intended to encourage walking over bicycling — rolls this Sunday.
Thank you, @ladailynews! "CicLAmini—North Hollywood, a mini-version of the usual CicLAvia closed-streets event, invites the public to bike, run, roller skate, skateboard or walk on Sept. 17 in the NoHo Arts District on and off Lankershim Boulevard."https://t.co/gjloOtrJx9
Joni Yung sings the praises of Pasadena’s new Union Street protected bike lane, suggesting she may have misjudged the wealthy, traditionally white and conservative city.
If LA schools really cared about student safety, they wouldn’t resort to part-time safety measures.
Seems weird to implement these traffic calming measures only during school hours? Like, this is an admission that our streets are unsafe but kids only deserve to feel safe from 8-3? What about the rest of the time? pic.twitter.com/52f7Ku3cXz
And no, burn it all down and start over probably isn’t a winning idea.
Share your comments on how to improve biking and walking conditions on the Westside! @LADOTlivable is raffling off a FREE bicycle to one lucky participant who submits a comment.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A teenaged bike rider was injured when they were struck by driver while taking part in a Salinas rideout, as the group popped wheelies and wove through traffic in front of the local high school. But despite several references to getting hit by a car, the lengthy story never once mentioned that it might have had a driver.
No bias here, either. Nowhere in this six paragraph story about a Wisconsin hit-and-run that left a 39-year old woman riding a bicycle with significant injuries, does it mention that someone was driving the vehicle that hit her.
………
Local
What could possibly go wrong? The Los Angeles City Planning Commission backed a proposal to install 80 digital billboards on sites owned by Metro, which could generate up to half a billion dollars in ad revenue over a 20 year period. After all, it’s not like the flashing billboards are distracting, or anything.
A 19-year old Roseville driver faces a felony hit-and-run charge after striking a 61-year old bike rider and driving off, leaving the victim with minor injuries. Although something doesn’t add up, since California’s felony hit-and-run statute only applies in cases of major injuries or death; a crash resulting in minor injuries should be charged as a misdemeanor.
A Gold County bicycling columnist offers safety advice while reviewing bike laws, but neglects to mention under his section about taking the lane that bicyclists can legally use the full lane on any substandard lane, which means any lane too narrow to safety share with a motor vehicle — and these days that means a large truck or SUV, not a compact sedan.
National
He gets it. A Colorado writer says instead of blaming the victim, it should be up to drivers to operate their vehicles safely and not hit bike riders or pedestrians. But please, can we finally drive a stake through the overly tired “safety is a two-way street” cliche once and for all?
The suspect, officially described only as a male juvenile between 14 and 18, is being held in Orange County Juvenile Hall on one count of felony murder, and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
He was arrested after police found the car used in the attacks on the 6000 block of Warner Ave, just half a mile from the last reported assault.
There’s no word on whether he was with the car, or if it had been abandoned. Or whether it belonged to the suspect or his family.
There’s also no word on a motive for the attacks, but it could have been a copycat attack based the East Bay Area attacks from earlier this year, in which young people in stolen cars attempted to door or strike people riding bicycles or e-scooters.
It could also have been for any number of other reasons, from a hatred of bicycles to perceived racial or political factors in the deeply red community.
Or he could have just been looking for easy targets.
The tragedy in all this is that one man is dead, and another’s life could be effectively over.
Gonzales was needlessly killed, apparently simply for the crime of riding a bicycle on a warm summer night. His family and loved ones will now have to find a way to go on without him.
At the same time, his young killer is likely to remain in juvenile custody until his 21st birthday, at the very least. Or could face life in prison if he’s charged as an adult, or even the death penalty.
Which means his family had better get used to living without him, too.
Streets For All will mark my birthday with a beer-fueled Santa Monica meetup on the 24th.
Just added another meetup to our calendar: come party with us at Santa Monica Brew Works on 9/24. We'll have the LADOT Westside Mobility Projects survey on hand if you need any help filling it out!
Campus police at the University of Southern California gave out bike bells and safety brochures to students in an attempt to improve bicycle safety on campus. Then again, if the school was really concerned about student safety, they’d ban cars on campus, and improve the infrastructure on and around the bike-unfriendly school.
DC protestors blame bike lanes for this summer’s decline in business — even though they haven’t been built yet. And somehow prefer having a dangerous “six-lane highway” in front of their homes to taking steps to improve it.
A 13-year old girl became the latest bike-riding police victim, suffering critical injuries when she was run down by a cop while riding across a Tampa, Florida street. Police naturally blamed the victim for riding “75 feet west of the crosswalk,” as if she had any obligation to ride in a crosswalk, or somehow wasn’t allowed to cross mid-block even though drivers do it all the time leaving parking lots and spaces; a better question is why the hell didn’t the cop see a kid on a bicycle directly in front of the patrol car.
Bike-riding BBC broadcaster Jeremy Vine had a scary incident when a truck driver traveling in the opposite direction made an illegal turn, then started to reverse while he was behind it, forcing him to bang on the back for the driver to stop.
Belgian cyclist Nathan Van Hooydonck is awake and remarkably, without serious injuries, just one day after he was resuscitated by paramedics and placed in a medically induced coma after falling ill and accelerating into traffic at a busy junction while driving with his pregnant wife.
L39ion of Los Angeles co-founder Justin Williams will be forced to serve his 60 day suspension for causing a crash in a Colorado crit from April 13th through June 13th, causing him to miss a number of important races.
Gutierrez allegedly flipped Solanga off as Solanga walked his bike with another person, then made a U-turn to come back to slam into Solanga, killing him.
Prosecutors have not said if the men knew each other, or why he attacked Solanga with his truck.
A Culver City councilmember says kids are much better off riding on circuitous side streets than in the direct, protected bike lane he wants to rip out.
Culver City Councilmember scolds parents for allowing their kids to bike in a PROTECTED bike lane:
"My god, parents! You should not have your kids there! I should never ever have my kids bike on those streets… you really shouldn't encourage your young to bike" pic.twitter.com/ld0aMDZTZC
Meanwhile, a new crowdfunding campaign has been established to fight the council’s blatantly illegal decision to replace the bike lane with another lane for motor vehicles, bizarrely claiming it would have no environmental impact and doesn’t require a CEQA review.
As of this writing, it’s raised nearly half of the modest $10,000 goal in less than 24 hours.
The California state legislature has approved the bill to establish a limited speed cam pilot program in Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach, as well as three NorCal cities — as long as they meet a number of preconditions.
Michigan Avenue Update! It's only been a month since the lane changes, but so far we've seen a 33% decrease in crashes! And the average trip time between Westnedge and Walbridge has only increased slightly by about 26 seconds. pic.twitter.com/5FeEcsF0Mt
In this capacity, your role will revolve around being a planner and fostering partnerships. This will involve the facilitation of high-level trail planning initiatives, requiring close coordination with various stakeholders, including state and local agencies, tribal governments, trail advocacy groups, and trail user constituencies. You will also be tasked with the development of comprehensive processes to manage all stages of trail project delivery effectively. Building internal and external partnerships will be key to ensuring the efficiency and success of these processes and systems, all while prioritizing the department’s Mission in your decision-making.
Thanks to Alan Thompson for the heads-up.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Heartbreaking story about the death of Colorado endurance bicyclist Greg Bachman, who was killed by a Kansas driver the night before last years Unbound Gravel race; his widow calls out anti-bike bias from Kanas Highway Patrol, which destroyed evidence, failed to examine the driver’s phone or the victim’s GPS, and went out of their way to incorrectly blame the victim.
A columnist for a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan newspaper says the road to safer bicycling in the city is sadly “paved with blood,” suggesting that despite deaths and injuries, the debate about safe bicycling always seems to come down to cost. Sadly, it seems to be the case everywhere that nothing happens until it’s too late.
Pro cyclist Lachlan Morton overcame “trench foot, freezing rain, wildfire detours, mental demons and a busted derailleur” to record the fastest ever time on the Tour Divide bikepacking route, completing 2,670 miles and 192,000 feet of climbing in 12 days, 12 hours, and 21 minutes. But his time won’t go down as a new record, because the camera crew that accompanied him isn’t allowed under official rules.
