Just 183 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
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Happy anniversary to me. I neglected to note that last week marked the 16th anniversary of this site, which began back in 2008, when I didn’t have a clue what it would eventually become.
So here’s to another 16 years.
Unless Los Angeles suddenly and unexpectedly becomes a safe and enjoyable place to ride a bike. In which case you’ll find me corralling corgis and quaffing craft beer and reposados into my dotage.
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Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports implementation of Measure HLA — Healthy Streets Los Angeles — remains on hold as the city council continues to dick around wait for a draft ordinance that isn’t due until August.
Though advocates had been awaiting yesterday’s committee approvals as the next clarifying step for HLA, the brief meeting yielded very little new information. The Public Works Committee approved the HLA items, but put off further departmental reports and council HLA decisions until an August 7 meeting of the Transportation Committee.
Prior to the March election, the City Administrative Officer had warned that the council would need to “make funding decisions immediately” if Measure HLA were to pass. It did pass, and became law on April 9. Now, “immediately” has slipped to “have a rough draft ready to discuss in August, four months after HLA passage.”
Although reading between the lines, what really seems to be happening is that city leaders are looking for ways to water down or sidestep the measure, daring advocates to go to court to force them to comply.
Meanwhile, bike riders and pedestrians continue to be victimized by deadly LA streets, and the people in the big, dangerous machines.
And city leaders don’t appear to give a damn about it. Or us.
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The Los Angeles Times offers a brief profile of Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, as part of their series on changemakers who are disrupting LA society as we’ve known it.
Schneider, 43, heads Streets for All — the advocacy group behind the successful March ballot measure that aims to level the paved playing field somewhat in the David and Goliath story that is bike riding on the streets in car-loving Los Angeles.
The ballot measure dubbed Healthy Streets L.A. compels the city to implement its own plans to rework some of its most storied boulevards and streets to make space for bicyclists and pedestrians, who die at a rate of about one every three days.
It’s worth a quick read.
Because Schneider has arguably done more in his brief time in bike advocacy with the passage of Healthy Streets LA than many of the rest of us have accomplished in decades.
Myself included.
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Under the heading of unfortunate headline of the day, comes one about the “impact” collisions have on the behavior of bicyclists.
Ouch.
The story, from Cycling West, is about the findings of a new study from the University of California.
Researchers interviewed eight experts from different fields to get their perspectives, choosing not to discuss the subject with victims or witnesses because they didn’t feel they could question them reliably enough.
But the findings are certainly worth discussing, if unsurprising, as Cycling West summarizes.
A collision or those caregiving for collision victims could led to changing modes of transportation, taking a new route, or riding on the sidewalk instead of the street. But the results indicated that few people gave up cycling permanently though some did for a while. The main reason for giving up cycling completely seemed to be the need to recover from injuries rather than newfound fear. Near misses didn’t seem to scare bikers from continuing.
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It’s now 193 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full 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.
An advocacy group in Hamilton, Ontario alerted the local police to a dangerous hit-and-run driver who clipped a bike rider with his trailer during an illegal pass, after repeatedly harassing bicyclists and running stop signs.
Once again, a bike rider in the UK has been seriously injured after being pushed off their bike by a car passenger, leaving the 29-year old victim with serious facial injuries including a fractured jaw, broken teeth, and lacerations, as well as a concussion. Just to be clear, however, this isn’t a prank, harmless or otherwise. It’s a criminal assault, and could justifiably be considered an act of terrorism since its purpose is to force a segment of society off the roads.
A bicyclist in Scotland suffered a similar assault when he was attacked by a group of youths on motorbikes, who followed him on a pathway until they kicked his front tire and knocked him into the bushes before riding off laughing; fortunately, he was able to escape with cuts and bruising to his ribs and knees, and called for closed-circuit security cams on bike paths to prevent similar attacks in the future.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels who are behaving badly.
A London man faces murder charges for allegedly stabbing a driver through the window of his car after he drove over the killer’s mountain bike and dragged it along the roadway. Yet another reminder than no bicycle is worth a human life — let alone two, if you count the killer who will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.
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Local
Bloomberg examines the coming Complete Streets makeover of Hollywood Blvd that “aims to put the walkability in the Walk of Fame.” And bikeability, too.
The Culver City PD’s Special Enforcement Team took to their bikes on Thursday to bust an alleged stalker, an assault suspect and someone riding a stolen bicycle.
State
The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved new regulations for ebike riders in unincorporated areas of the county, including speed limits, helmet rules and age requirements. None of which can legally exceed state law, which has jurisdiction over traffic regulations.
A San Francisco bicyclist escaped with non-life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a U-turning driver while riding on San Francisco’s not-so-protected Valencia Street centerline bike lanes. Then again, just because someone’s injuries aren’t life-threatening doesn’t mean they’re not incapacitating or painful.
National
Gear Junkie rates the year’s best bike shoes for roadies.
Writing for Gear Patrol, a fixie rider celebrates the joys of going brakeless.
A writer for Inverse makes the case for why electric pickup and SUV maker Rivian’s next EV should be an ebike.
That’s more like it. A San Antonio, Texas woman got eight years behind bars for killing a bike rider while driving under the influence.
Damn good question. Volunteers in Austin, Texas want to know why ghost bikes honoring fallen bicyclists have been disappearing in the city.
Cleveland launched a memorial sign program to honor bike riders and pedestrians killed by motorists through traffic violence. Memorial signs are great, but fixing the streets so they’re no longer needed is a hell of a lot better.
North Carolina rapper J. Cole is one of us, riding his bike fearlessly “like a normie through the gritty streets of New York City.” Well, okay then.
International
A columnist for Cycling Weekly says if bicycle designers made the same progress the marketing departments are making, bikes would be able to fly by now. Actually, as some of us have learned the hard way, bikes can fly. It’s just the landings that are a little rough.
A new report tells the bike industry to hold on for one more year, since overstock issues should be resolved by 2025.
Actor Owen Wilson is one of us, giving kids in Vancouver, British Columbia a friendly “Ka-Chow!” as he rode by on his foldie, quoting his character Lightning McQueen from Cars.
A Calgary, Alberta woman on a solo cross-continental bike tour says she discovered that trail angels are real, and a source of incredible kindness.
Life is cheap in Yorkshire, England, where a woman who killed a 58-year old man riding a bicycle walked without a day behind bars after her two-year sentence was suspended; she apparently failed to notice him on the roadway because her nose was buried in her sat-nav system. Proving once again that any form of electronic device can distract a driver, with catastrophic results for others.
Competitive Cycling
Two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar outsprinted archrival Jonas Vingegaard to don the yellow jersey after stage two of the Tour de France, as Kévin Vauquelin took the stage win.
French cyclist Romain Bardet briefly wore yellow for the first time, in his final tour, after winning stage one of the Tour on Saturday.
CNN offers a photo essay on the grueling world of professional cycling by Kristof Ramon, whose upcoming book The Art of Suffering:
Mark Cavendish’s quest to set the all-time record for stage wins at the Tour nearly ended before it began, when he blew chunks and nearly missed the cut struggling in the extreme heat.
This year’s Tour started in Florence, Italy, home to the legendary two-time Tour de France winner Gino Bartali, honored for using his bike to save hundreds of Jews during World War II.
The first crash of the Tour came before the race even started, when Soudal Quick-Step cyclist Jan Hirt was knocked off his bike by a fan’s backpack as he rode to the start line after signing the starting sheet.
An unidentified cyclist with the EF Education-EasyPost was lucky to escape a serious crash when he struck a cellphone held by a fan recording the peloton as it passed.
https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/1807385967864561684?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1807385967864561684%7Ctwgr%5E38103d848eeb98ee480066e99ada90d04efe38e5%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Ftour-de-france-rider-hit-fan-filming-race-mobile-phone-309153
Finally…
That feeling when a story about the best bike shorts is actually about shorts for riding bikes, for a change, not the other kind. When you’re riding with outstanding warrants and illegal drugs on your bike, stay off the sidewalk if it’s against the damn law.
And that feeling when they want you to put your life in the hands of tech that draws people with three legs and insists there were Black Nazi soldiers.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
Gear Junkie.
Another article about shoes made for people with small feet. I’ll keep my Sidi shoes that fit since the new oferings appear to be 2-6 sizes too small.
Also the Joys of riding brakeless with a fixie. The man is an idiot. No brakes on track bikes where the traffic is all cyclists, all going the same way with teh same intent. Sorry but you can’t stop as fast as a bike with legal brakes by skidding your rear wheel. The streets have many things going on that impact your riding.
I’ve ridden fixed gear bikes for years. With brakes. Yes they are simpler. The cost to drop the relatively simple brakes over maintenance issues verus the risk is not worth it. Yes I liked just riding without complication but NO to no brakes.