Just 284 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.
We’re up to 1,022 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
And that’s my copy of Flax’s new book up there.
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It’s now 93 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 group of merchants in the UK claim a new bike lane has killed their businesses, even though the project actually added 80 parking spaces.
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Local
Over 80 kids and adults took part in South Pas Active Streets’ Park-to-Park family bike ride in South Pasadena last Saturday, sponsored by seven local groups.
State
Police in Orange busted a bike thief who stole a bicycle from a 14-year old boy while he was playing with friends.
Sad news from Watsonville, where a 58-year old bike rider died in the hospital, a week after being injured in a collision; police investigators said the victim was following the law when he or she was struck by the 31-year old driver.
A Berkeley father calls for safe streets after he and his son survived a collision when a driver hit the cargo bike they were riding.
A Gold Country cycling columnist says don’t let bad behavior define bicyclists, and it’s never appropriate to flip off a driver. No matter how much they might deserve it.
National
Marketplace says cargo bikes offer a solution to package delivery trucks clogging city streets.
Forbes offers a “complete and comprehensive” guide to the year’s best bike brands.
A 24-year old Colorado woman was arrested for a fatal hit-and-run, two months after she knocked a 43-year old man off his bicycle and left him to die on an embankment on the side of the road; the victim wasn’t found for more than two days after the crash. Drivers like that should face a murder charge for making the conscious decision to let their victims die rather than stop and call for help.
Kindhearted Idaho cops gave new bikes to a pair of cousins, after the five and four-year old boys survived getting hit by an intoxicated driver.
They get it. A Kentucky radio station says motorists need to watch out for bicyclists. True, in every sense.
Hoboken, New Jersey will now require ebike delivery riders to be tested, licensed, and wear a high-vis vest with a registration number; the city has gone seven years without a single traffic death.
DC shows how to launch an ebike rebate program similar to the highly successful Denver ebike voucher plan, just six months after it was unanimously approved by the city council. Not three years or more, like bumbling and incompetent California’s moribund plan.
International
A 32-year old Austin, Texas man became the first openly gay man to ride a bike around the world, traveling 27,461 miles across 37 different countries in 280 days, and raising nearly $19,000 for for LGBTQ+ suicide prevention nonprofit The Trevor Project.
Momentum takes a look at the bike bus movement, and why kids love it so much. Short answer, because it’s fun. Longer answer, because it’s a lot of fun.
Thanks to the Church of Scotland, bike riders will have a new 1.6-mile path between two small villages, after the church donated a parcel of land for the project.
Life is cheap in Scotland, where 69 year old man walked without a day behind bars for killing a 22-year old French-American bike rider while driving with an obscured windshield, and dragging her more than half the length of a football field; the lawyer representing her family writes that drivers hold the key to keeping bicyclists safe, and mere sentencing won’t cut it.
The Daily Mail joins “London’s patron saint of cycling” on a ride through the city’s streets to see if it really is a death trap, while a former British news host calls out the aforementioned saint, BBC host Jeremy Vine, after he was nearly hit by bicyclists blowing through a red light. Because as we all know, every bike rider is responsible for the actions of every other misbehaving bicyclist.
Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website recommends the five best bicycling festivals to visit this year.
Competitive Cycling
Sad news from Australia, where a 62-year old man was killed while competing in the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, seven years after popular ultra-endurance rider Mike Hall was killed in the first edition of the race; another competitor was injured in a separate incident.
Arkansas’ Joe Martin Stage Race has been cancelled for this year; one of just four remaining UCI sanctioned races in the US, and the longest-held stage race in America — assuming it returns next year, as promised.
The popular Belgian Waffle Ride, aka BWR, will return to North City in San Marcos on April 27-28.
Finally…
That feeling when you can’t find a place to do handstands and splits on your handlebars. And hell hath no fury like a bicyclist with a GoPro.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
