Just 277 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 now up to 1,029 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.
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A 29-year old Palm Springs man was convicted on nearly a dozen charges for a bizarre series of attacks against other motorists and a bike rider.
Including forcing a man to jump off his bicycle to avoid getting run over when the seemingly maniacal driver suddenly hit the gas and jumped the median, aiming directly at victim at an estimated 60 mph.
Juaquin Mercer Moraga was found guilty of three counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, two counts each of misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor vandalism, and one count each of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery, after less than a day of deliberation.
The defense argued that Moraga was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the attacks, as a result of “major depressive disorder,” “cannabis use disorder” and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Which the jury clearly didn’t buy.
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So much for that.
Streetsblog’s Chris Greenspon reports that South Pasadena’s six-month experiment with safer streets is coming to an end, after local residents voted with their bumpers, as well as their voices.
Apparently, drivers there insist on running over something. And if they can’t run down bicyclist and pedestrians, they’re going to kill the bits of plastic and paint installed to protect them.
According to Greenspon,
At this point, it’s been more than six months, and residents have formed opinions. On March 20th city council voted to do away with most of the bike lanes and all of the delineators, under pressure from locals who didn’t want them in their neighborhoods. Some neighbors allegedly even ran materials over.
Transportation Commissioner Diego Zavala told the council he’s been maintaining the project since August 2023.
“I’ve had at least three instances – seemingly intentional – of damaging; such as swerving into the cones to run them over while I was working on the streets.” Zavala said. “This is an indication that more permanent solutions will erase any opportunity for erratic drivers to harm pedestrians in these areas.”
Why such resentment towards pieces of plastic?
Why, indeed?
Especially when the safety measures did virtually nothing to slow or inconvenience people in the big, dangerous machines.
Naturally, as with any other street installation that residents insist went in “overnight,” commenters at the South Pas city council meeting complained about non-existent outreach, insisting that they had no warning the project was going in until they woke up and saw it on the street.
Earlier in the meeting, South Pasadena’s Transportation Program Manager David Peña had gone over the outreach background for the quick-build project. He said a subconsultant had done door to door canvassing in 2021 and dropped off fliers in July 2023, about a month before the project was installed.
Must have been a very deep sleep.
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That loud bang you heard yesterday wasn’t the St. Louis Cardinals falling to the Dodgers in their home opener yesterday; the Cards went quietly, with more of a whimper than a bang.
Instead it was CicLAvia dropping route maps for two more events, for Western Ave in South LA this June, and August’s return to Hollywood and WeHo.
Those follow next month’s CicLAvia in Venice on the 21st, and May’s CicLAmini in Wilmington.
The year will round out with October’s return to the ever-popular Heart of LA, and a first-ever visit to Ventura Blvd in the Valley in December, along with another CicLAmini in Lincoln Heights this September.
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Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette forwards news of another massive legal judgement, after an 84-year old Santa Barbara man was awarded $3.8 million from Caltrans and the driver who hit him.
According to the Santa Barbara Independent, Ronald Wilmot was run down from behind while riding with a small group of friends on the Arroyo Quemada Bridge on Highway 101.
Whenever the retired elementary school principal and his friends would cross the narrow stretch of Highway 101 on their regular bike rides between Santa Barbara and Gaviota, he said, “we would look in our mirrors to make sure an 18-wheeler wasn’t coming, wave our left arms, and ride like hell.”
On January 3, 2021, Wilmot ― the last in a line of four cyclists ― was hit from behind by a motorist who said she felt squeezed by another car and veered into their bike lane, which merges into the slow lane of traffic on the bridge and shrinks to a 12-inch shoulder. The driver said she never even saw the group…
Most significantly, the jury found that the 400-foot bridge ― part of the state’s official Pacific Coast Bike Route ― constituted “a dangerous condition of public property,” and that Caltrans had failed to properly warn motorists of this “concealed trap.” While Caltrans has installed a “clutter” of signage around the bridge, the jury also said, none of it notifies drivers that bicyclists may occupy the slow lane.
Adding insult to literal injury — Wilmont suffered a “serious compound break of his left leg above the ankle, seven busted ribs, a punctured lung, and compression fracture to his spin” — he was also forced to give up bicycling, a major part of his life since he was 19.
I’d want a hell of a lot more than that if I had to give up something that’s been the main focus of my life since I was 24.
Maybe I could sue my own damn body for keeping me off my bike.
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Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, is teaming with tonight’s Critical Mass for a vigil to honore the victims of traffic violence at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park.
VIGIL IN GRIFFITH PARK FOR THE 966 BICYCLISTS KILLED BY MOTOR-VEHICLE TRAFFIC CRASHES
Over 1000 bicyclists gather to remember bicyclist Andrew Jelmert and advocate for safer streets.
LOS ANGELES – On Friday, March 29, Streets Are For Everyone and LA Critical Mass are joining together in a vigil at The Autry Museum in Griffith Park at around 9:00 pm. Participants will remember and honor the life of bicyclist Andrew Jelmert who was killed while riding in Griffith Park in 2022 and to bring attention to the staggering number of bicyclists killed in motor-vehicle traffic crashes in Los Angeles and across the nation. Jelmert was struck from behind in the early afternoon of April 16 by a driver who was intoxicated while speeding through the park at 80+ MPH.
Over 1000 Bicyclists will arrive at Autry Museum for the vigil having started the ride with LA Critical Mass at Western and Wilshire. 966 bicyclists were killed in motor-vehicle traffic crashes across the United States in 2021 – each attendee at the vigil represents a lost bicyclist. The event will also include speakers who have been directly impacted by traffic violence.
WHAT: Thousands attend Vigil within Griffith Park at Autry Museum to honor fallen cyclists and Andrew Jelmert who lost his life 2 years ago in Griffith Park.
WHEN: Friday, March 29, 2024, from 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM (Interviews available from 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM; Cyclists will arrive between 9:15 and 9:30)
WHERE: Autry Museum
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027
SPEAKERS:
- Damian Kevitt, Executive Director of Streets Are For Everyone, victim of a crash in Griffith Park in 2013 that resulted in the loss of his leg
- Andre Goeritz, husband of deceased bicyclist Andrew Jelmert
- Representative from Councilmember Nithya Raman’s Office
VISUALS:
- More than 1000 bicyclists arriving to the vigil
- Speakers at the vigil calling for safer roads
- Background of Griffith Park and the location of Andre’s fatality
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A monthly friendly and casual Fullerton bike ride is set to roll tonight from the city’s Downtown Plaza.
Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.
It’s now 100 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.
Austin, Texas claims it’s cracking down on people illegally parking in bike lanes. Although it’s hard to call it a crackdown when they’ve cited an average of less than two people a day.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
London’s Daily Mail reports on “amazing videos” depicting “exploding” rider-on-ride road rage. Which amounts to a motorcyclist gently criticizing bicyclists for riding through a red light, and a trailing bicyclist berating another bike rider for not undertaking a large truck.
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Local
Los Angeles Public Press has more on Metro’s decision to give ride-hailing service Lyft the heave-ho, and keep the Metro Bike bikeshare program’s union-managed operating system in place, at least for now.
The LAFD used a hoist to airlift a 19-year old man out of a remote area in Tujunga Tuesday, after he suffered an arm injury while mountain biking.
Los Angeles County will hold a virtual public meeting April 16th to discuss the county’s Bicycle Master Plan.
State
Following the death of her friend on a Berkeley street last month, a writer for Cal Matters calls for safer streets through the passage of a pair of Senate bills, which would force Caltrans to adhere to its own Complete Streets policies, and require speed governors to limit the ability of drivers to exceed the posted speed limit by more than 10 mph.
San Francisco marked ten years of the city’s failed Vision Zero program, as the city doubles down despite rising rates of traffic deaths, and city officials pinky swear to do better.
Oakland is down to the last five days for public input on proposals to redesign one of the city’s most dangerous streets by reconfiguring traffic lanes and auditing bike paths. Just please, please, please don’t put the bike paths in the middle of the damn roadway. No, seriously.
National
CBS News reports traffic deaths are spiking in the US, despite billions spent on improving safety. Except the $2.4 billion they’re talking about doesn’t go very far when spread among all the cities and states in the US, and doesn’t do a damn thing to reduce the size of SUVs, or get drivers to put down their phones and stop speeding.
E! Online rates the best bikes and kick scooters for your little kids. Or grandkids. Or whatever.
Good Housekeeping recommends gifts for mountain bikers, triathletes and casual bike riders to put in your Easter, Passover or Ramadan basket this year.
A 76-year old Oregon man says goodbye to his trusted and rusted J.C. Higgins bike, which was originally purchased from Sears three years before he was born.
Oregon’s bicycle tax, the only statewide bike tax in the US, reflects a significant bike boom in 2022, followed by a moderate bust back to pre-pandemic levels for 2023.
Rounding out today’s Oregon trifecta, federal funds from the 2020 Great American Outdoor Act will pay for new dirt on a “stomach-churning” singletrack trail along a cliff in the Columbia River Gorge.
Colorado’s $450 ebike rebate program kicks off on Tuesday, even though only 24 bike shops in the entire state are participating, after being told they could wait over a year to be reimbursed. Although something tells me the odds are somewhere north of 100% that California’s $750 ebike voucher plan will take even longer — if it ever launches.
Telugu actor Naveen Polishetty is one of us, after breaking his arm recently while riding in Dallas.
An Indiana city repealed its bike licensing law, a registration requirement so old, hardly anyone knew it existed.
Streetsblog considers the disaster on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, questioning why we treat major transportation tragedies with so much urgency, while ignoring “our collective car crash epidemic” with over ten times the number of victims on the bridge dying as a result of traffic violence in the US every day.
A South Carolina traffic engineer says he’s not ready to tell his peers he represents one of the safest biking towns in the US, when the city’s new bike lanes are just a thin painted strip in the middle of the roadway.
International
Gaza’s paracycling team has turned to delivering more then $70,000 in aid, after their dreams of competing in Paris were shattered by the war with Israel.
Velo visits a Giant factory in Taiwan to see how normal-sized carbon fiber bikes are made.
Competitive Cycling
Olympic favorite Wout Van Aert faces an uncertain schedule to return to the peloton after surgery to repair multiple fractures, following his high speed crash in the Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday; he could miss May’s Giro d’Italia, as well as the spring classics.
Velo offers the “ultimate guide” to the upcoming gravel racing season.
Finally…
Iron Man’s ebike is a Porsche. Many drivers may act childish, but not many actually are one.
And someone’s taking vehicular cycling just a tad too far.
Can someone please explain? pic.twitter.com/yTX1Q6tCZP
— 🚘 (@motorisms) March 29, 2024
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
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