Just 294 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
As of this writing, we’re up to 1,011 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
Photo from Caltrans tweet, below.
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As we mentioned yesterday, hats off to Tish and Greg Laemmle, owners of the Laemmle Theater chain, for once again leading a group bike ride from West LA to Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, as the following photos attest.
I can imagine few things more badass or sending a stronger message than walking the red carpet holding a bike helmet.
Tish and Greg Laemmle preparing to ride to the Oscars
The assembled entourage posing in front of the Laemmle on Santa Monica Blvd
And in a reminder that there’s always a troll around, a participant on the ride responds to a commenter’s faux concern about scofflaw riders.
How many were violating traffic laws?
— just nobody (@SPSSoCal) March 11, 2024
we obeyed traffic lights. if part of the group had to stop for a red, the group ahead of them pulled over and waited. we rode in bike lanes and only took the lane if there was no bike lane; usually the road was marked with sharrows markings which told cars to share the road.
— joni (@ayogist) March 12, 2024
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The East Side Riders Bike Club will now be hosting Bicycle Safety and Education Classes, aka BEAST, as Keller Park every Saturday; participants will get a free bike helmet.
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It’s now 83 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
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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 Cincinnati public radio station says bicyclists wonder if a Covington KY road diet, and new bike lanes on a bridge things, will make things better or worse, but can only seem to find people who think it will get better. But they do find the city’s mayor, arguing that the city’s streets are too narrow for bike lanes, and you just can’t take people’s parking away, because cars matter more than people’s safety, evidently.
There’s a special place in hell for the two men who stopped to “help” a seriously injured mountain biker in York, England, and made off with his bike, instead.
The metro Manilla area in the Philippines is banning ebikes from all major roadways starting next month, for reasons that must make sense to someone.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Brooklyn police are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who may have killed a 67-year old man riding an ebike in an apparent bike-on-bike collision, although a close pass by an oncoming van driver may have played a role.
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Local
After conducting a nationwide search, Pasadena found their new DOT head in their own backyard, promoting 20-year Pasadena Department of Transportation veteran Joaquin Siques to lead the agency.
Santa Monica police will conduct yet another Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Operation this Thursday and Friday, targeting anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined.
State
June will officially be mountain bike month in California.
San Luis Obispo has received $4 million in federal funding to build a 1.25-mile extension of the existing Edna Valley Trail next to Highway 227.
The chair of the San Mateo County Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee reminds everyone that bicyclists pay taxes, too, and deserve safe streets.
Sad news from San Jose, where a woman died a week after she was struck by a motorcyclist while riding her bicycle across the street. The story notes that she was riding “outside of any marked crosswalks,” even though there’s no requirement for bicyclists to ride in one.
More sad news from Sacramento County, where police are looking for witnesses to an apparent solo bicycling fall last December, when a 62-year old man died after being found in the roadway next to his bicycle. Although it’s also possible that a close pass or bump by a driver could have caused his fall. Read the second link on Yahoo if the newspaper blocks you.
National
No surprise here, as the streets of Milwaukee are even deadlier for people of color, especially when walking or riding a bicycle.
A West Warwick, Rhode Island driver somehow managed to jump an island at a “horrible” intersection, and crash into not one, not two, but three kids riding their bikes; fortunately, none of the tween kids were seriously injured.
A speeding Brooklyn driver faces charges for the “wild” drunken crash that injured a bike rider, and put a pedestrian into a coma.
This could be your best smile of the day, as a South Carolina boy teaches his little sister how to use a backyard bike ramp.
Residents of Valdosta, Georgia are understandably horrified when the driver of a city-owned semi was caught on security cam right-hooking a 56-year old man riding a bicycle, who had pulled up next to the truck at a red light just as the light was changing; the victim remains in stable but critical condition. Naturally, one commenter said “Bicyclists should know traffic laws,” even though the victim didn’t appear to break any.
International
An orthopedic surgeon writes in the prestigious British Medical Journal that active transportation is the “best buy” for improving people’s health, and the UK should make more cycling and walking journeys a priority in the United Kingdom, while calling for more 20 mph speed limits.
Mumbai bike riders raise the alarm over wheel-trapping roadway grates on a new highway flyover. Even though most cities around the world got rid of these hazards years ago.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A 91-year old South African man gets back on his ebike and finishes the country’s largest fondo, despite a nasty fall that left him momentarily motionless. Although I could do without the nasty fall. And the bandages.
Luxury Travel Magazine recommends three bicycling routes you need to travel to explore Vietnam by bike, including the Mekong Delta and the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Which are bound to bring up warm memories for any Vietnam vet.
A columnist argues that New Zealand’s war on bicyclists can’t continue, as the country’s Transport Minister proposes slashing bike funding in half, even though other departments only face a 6% cut.
Competitive Cycling
Bicycling says wet cobbles couldn’t slow Lorena Wiebes down at the Ronde van Drenthe. Although this one doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else yet, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
Finally…
That feeling when Amsterdam has the ability to remotely slow ebike riders, but speeding drivers are apparently A-OK. Or when drivers owe a bike rider their thanks for sucking up flat-causing nails and screws by towing a bigass magnet behind his bike.
And your next cruiser ebike could be built by the same people who made the little red wagon you probably had as a kid.
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Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today.
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
Thanks for the story Ted. Wim Wenders came over as we were leaving the event. He commented that his DP has the same bike (a Brompton) that Tish was riding. I thanked him for all the biking scenes in PERFECT DAYS, and he let us know that he uses his bike to get around when he is home in Berlin. One day, maybe LA will be as safe a place to bike as Berlin, Tokyo and others. But I’ll keep riding in the meantime anyway.
Thank you and Tish for keeping up the fight, and showing us all that bikes are practical transportation, regardless of the destination.