A heartless hit-and-run driver left a man riding a bicycle lying in the roadway on North Cahuenga Blvd just north of the Hollywood Bowl early yesterday.
The victim was reportedly hospitalized in serious but stable condition after he was spotted in the street by a Metro bus driver.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.
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The Los Angeles Times applauds the recent boom in LA bus lane building, but neglects to mention that bike riders can legally use them, too.
Drivers, not so much. But they do, anyway.
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Bicycling reports the Consumer Product Safety Commission may soon jump in to regulate lithium-ion ebike batteries to prevent fires.
Meanwhile, bike industry officials question whether regulations are needed distinguishing between ped-assist and throttle-controlled ebikes.
Which is exactly what I’ve been calling for lately, as the rising ebike panic fails to distinguish between ped-assist bikes that give the rider a boost, and high speed throttle-controlled ebikes that are virtual mini-motorcycles, too often in the hands of kids too young to safely ride them.
As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.
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Nope. Nothing to see here.
3 hospitalized after car crashes into children's dental office in South LA https://t.co/oHOmSlCFeM
— KCAL News (@kcalnews) October 20, 2023
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Mountain biker Andreu Lacondeguy decided to skip the Red Bull Rampage this year, in favor of taking his act to Chile and finding the best freeride spots from the Atacama desert to the Araucaria forests in Patagonia
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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 New York ambulance driver argues that bicyclists are responsible for their own safety, complaining about “two-wheeled demons…running red lights and stop signs, going the wrong way, riding at night with no lights or reflective equipment…” She might have a better argument if she seemed to care a little more about those “demons.”
You’ve got to be kidding. A road-raging Charlottesville, Virginia driver walked without a day behind bars for running an a bicyclist off the road and damaging his ebike, after agreeing to a restorative justice program so super secret program officials couldn’t even tell the judge about it.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Life is cheap in New York, where the e-bikeshare rider who killed a beloved 69-year old preschool teacher as she crossed the street last month walked without a day behind bars, escaping with a lousy ticket for running a red light.
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Local
Long Beach officials plan to spend over half a million dollars to improve safety on Orange Ave with the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway and Complete Street project connecting North Long Beach with downtown.
State
The Portland husband and wide killed when shifting lumber on a passing truck struck them as they rode their bikes in Napa County were described as “Humble, generous, thoughtful, loving and hardworking,” and “the most inspirational couple we knew;” the couple both worked for Nike, and had been married 20 years.
National
Speaking of Bicycling, senior test editor Matt Phillips picks his favorite road, gravel and maintain bike gear of the year. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available from other sources, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
Seattle is finishing work on a pair of bike lanes leading to and from the famed Pike Place Fish Market.
Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus explores Manhattan by bicycle, and likes it.
A New York man faces charges after crashing a stolen moped into a bike rider. leaving the victim with head injuries, then dumping a gun as he fled from the scene.
A former US Capitol Police officer faces up to ten years behind bars after pleading guilty to attempting to cover up his involvement in a reckless, unauthorized pursuit of two people riding motorized bicycles, along with the crash that left one of the riders with minor injuries — and a $5 million lawsuit.
A Louisiana man built his own DIY dog carrier on the front of his bicycle, using bungie cords and a kid’s toy truck.
Mobile, Alabama is finally moving forward with a 6.5-mile bike path along Three Mile Creek from West Mobile to downtown that has been in the works for 35 years.
Police in Alabama are looking for the “vehicle” that fled the scene after hitting and killing a bike rider, as if the person behind the wheel didn’t have anything to do with it.
International
Financial site Barrons recommends a handful of ebikes, including one that’s a relative bargain at just under a grand.
British Columbia officials demolished an unsanctioned, DIY mountain bike park after the group that built the rogue park violated an agreement not to expand it and to secure liability insurance.
Over one hundred people turned out for a protest ride to demand safer streets in the London borough of Hackney, where three people have been killed riding bicycles in the past six weeks.
London’s Metropolitan Police admitted knocking a 13-year old boy off his bicycle, surrounding him with submachine guns and handcuffing the boy, after somehow being unable to distinguish his blue water pistol from a real gun.
Evidently, people who ride bikes are good for the community. A new German study shows that bicycling, rather than driving, was the only “significant positive predictor for all facets of orientation towards the common good.” Thanks to Todd Munson for the heads-up.
Competitive Cycling
USA Cycling has seriously complicated the question of trans cyclists competing in women’s races, requiring trans women competing in non-UCI sanctioned events in the Elite, Cat 1 and Cat 2 levels to complete an “elite athlete fairness evaluation application” proving they’ve maintained low testosterone levels, while both trans men and women competing in the Cat 3, 4, 5 and novice levels must have a self-identity verification request reviewed by the USA Cycling Technical Director. Got that? I didn’t think so.
Finally…
Now you, too, can have your very own reversible Rapha/L39ION of Los Angeles jersey, with one side for racing and one for training. Traveling from Germany to ride down the left coast from Seattle to Argentina is one thing, trying a Taco Bell burrito for the first time is another.
And that feeling when the pedestrian who apparently wasn’t involved in the crash is more seriously injured than the bike rider who was.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
What do you think the solution is for Class II throttle bikes? My personal daydream is to stuff the genie back in the bottle and scrap piecemeal State legislation for a single Federal rule eliminating Class II and III bikes. No one needs a throttle and no one needs to 28mph. I would probably limit motors to 500w.
Ebikes should be bikes and require some effort by the rider. A single federal law getting rid of throttles would make enforcement easier (realizing there’s never going to be much enforcement).
Oceanside Rep. Tasha Boerner has introduced a bill that would ban ebikes for anyone under 14, which would help, and would require some form of license to ride one above that age. I’d like to see that amended to reclassify throttle-controlled ebikes as motorbikes, rather than bicycles.
That would work, too. Throttles are bad, especially when there are so many bikes with them that are easily unlockable to exceed 20mph or illegally go faster than that out the box.