BikinginLA

Just 40 days until LA fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Not that LA leaders actually care, or anything. 

………

Monday evening I updated our report on the hit-and-run collision that took the life of bike rider Oscar Guardado in South LA last month, after the LAPD finally got around to asking for the public’s help.

Which is one reason I wasn’t able to post anything here yesterday.

Guardado was killed when he was struck by the driver of a black four-door sedan at Normandie Ave and W 23rd Street around 9:55 pm on October 27th; the driver fled the scene, apparently without stopping.

LAPD detectives urged any witnesses to the crash to come forward, after security video showed there were other people who could have seen the crash in the area at the time of the collision.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Sgt. Garbiel Nily of the South Traffic Division at 323/421-2500, or call the South Traffic Division Watch Commander after business hours at 323/421-2577.

As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.

However, the city also has a hit-and-run alert system which was approved a decade ago to get the public’s assistance in the hours immediately after a driver flees a collision, when they are most likely to remember key details that could help the cops find a suspect.

It was based on the highly successful program used in Denver to track down hit-and-run drivers, and was quickly followed by a similar California program.

Yet to the best of my knowledge, the LAPD has never used either one, apparently preferring to wait until the trail has gone cold before asking for our assistance.

Which could explain their miserable success rate of identifying a suspect in just one in five hit-and-runs reported to the department, and resulting in charges in less than half of those.

Although that’s better than the eight percent success rate they claimed in 2018.

If we had an effective city government, our elected leaders would demand to know why so little effort apparently goes into solving a crime that affects so many people. And demand to know why the tool the created to get the public’s help in solving it continues to go unused.

Or why they can’t at least inform the public within a few days of a serious crash.

But they don’t.

And we don’t.

So we can continue to count on the LAPD letting us know about serious and sometimes fatal crashes, when and if they get around to it.

Because why change a system that clearly isn’t working for anyone.

Meanwhile, the crowdfunding page to help pay for Oscar Guardado’s funeral expenses has raised just $1,625 of the modest $12,500 goal.

So if you have any extra cash lying around that you don’t need, they could use the help.

Photo of Oscar Guardado from crowdfunding page.

………

About damn time.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, has finally finalized changes to their 5-Star Safety Ratings program by incorporating new driver assistance tech, as well as measuring the degree of a vehicle’s pedestrian protection.

According to the NHTSA,

Notable changes to the program provided by this update include:

• The addition of four advanced driver assistance technologies that will enhance crash-avoidance safety: pedestrian automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assist, blind spot warning and blind spot intervention.
• Updated and strengthened testing procedures and performance criteria for advanced driver assistance technologies that are already included in NCAP, such as automatic emergency braking.
• The addition of a crashworthiness pedestrian protection program to evaluate the ability of a vehicle’s front end to mitigate pedestrian injuries and fatalities in vehicle-to-pedestrian impacts.
• Midterm and long-term roadmaps to accommodate future updates amid ongoing research and technological advancements in vehicle safety, including crash avoidance and crashworthiness improvements to protect bicyclists and motorcyclists and an updated rating system.

The protections for people outside the vehicle don’t go nearly as far as, or offer the rigid requirements of, the vehicle standards in the European Union.

But it’s a start.

………

We already knew the late, great Robin Williams was one of us.

Now it turns out that after Conan O’Brien was fired from the Tonight Show when Jay Leno decided he wasn’t ready to step down after all, Williams called him out of the blue and told him to hit the road, too.

But in this case, the bike-riding comedian told Conan he had rented a Colnago for him at a Santa Monica bike shop, instructing them to paint it in “crazy” Irish colors. And told him to bike around the city to clear his head.

It must have worked, because Conan will host the Oscars next February, after hosting his own late-night show for 11 years.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A 33-year old travel influencer faces 15 year to life for the crash that killed an 83-year old woman on deadly Fountain Ave in West Hollywood.

If he survives, that is.

Garrett Bruno suffered only minor injuries in the October 10th crash that killed Esther Abouab and seriously injured her husband, while allegedly speeding in his SUV.

But he broke his jaw falling off a scooter less than a week later. Then he allegedly fell off his scooter again days later on October 25th, this time suffering a fractured skull. And just two days before sheriff’s deputies raided his home in an attempt to arrest him, unaware that he was reportedly hospitalized in grave condition in a coma.

Assuming he recovers, prosecutors are expected to file felony counts of second-degree murder and reckless driving against him.

Let’s hope he’s not allowed to drive again. And has enough sense to stay off scooters going forward.

………

BikeLA hosts its’ 3rd Annual LA Bike Fest Fundraiser Happy Hour this Saturday from noon to 3 pm at the Highland Park Brewery in, yes, Highland Park.

………

Caltrans is hosting a meeting to discuss proposed changes to Foothill Blvd in La Verne.

See you next week, La Verne! @CaltransDist7 will be hosting a community meeting on Wednesday, 11/20 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to discuss an upcoming multimodal project on Foothill Blvd (SR- 66). Take an online survey here: https://t.co/uOmlVz0mut or scan the QR below. pic.twitter.com/sfJp7zvg7i

— Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) November 13, 2024

………

Good question.

https://twitter.com/HowTheWestWS/status/1858698580829368799

………

It’s now 336 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.   

No bias here. Republican California State Senator Republican Kelly Seyarto complains, among many other things, that the policies of California’s Democratic leadership “prioritize curbing the construction of roads and highways in favor of bike lanes and high-speed rail projects.” Considering the cuts California’s Active Transportation Program took in the governor’s budget, before being restored by the legislature, they don’t seem to prioritize that, either. 

Residents of a London neighborhood got fed up with Lime bikes abandoned in a parking lot, and took an axel grinder to them.

London’s anti-bike Telegraph publishes a “dossier of collision data” involving “rogue cyclists” in the city’s parks. And illustrates it by manipulating photos of people bicycling safely and legally to make it look like they’re speeding.

A Northern Irish newspaper gets its Irish up over a nearly $3.3 million investment in a new bike lane, without noting that is the cost to rebuild the entire roadways.

………

Local  

While Los Angeles does nothing, as usual, Glendale is moving ahead with plans for implementing the speed cam pilot program approved by the state earlier this year.

Streetsblog tours the Puente Hills Landfill that is intended to become the future “Griffith Park of the San Gabriel Valley” when it opens in 2027. Let’s just hope it turns out to be safer than the “Griffith Park of the Los Angeles Basin.”

They get it. A coalition of South Pasadena safe streets organizations complain about the city’s wide open, high speed streets, and call on local residents to support the vision for city streets presented by Toole Design Group.

 

State

It’s been a rough few days for Victorville bicyclists, including a bike rider who was hospitalized after being struck by a pickup driver yesterday.

No surprise here. After hitting a young man riding a bicycle last weekend, a Santa Barbara driver got out of his car and disappeared, while the passenger started to exchange information with a witness, before taking off in a dead run after being asked if the driver had been drinking. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

A crowdfunding campaign for a 13-year old Bakersfield boy killed in a collision while riding his bike has raised nearly $9,000 of the $15,000 goal.

Sad news from San Carlos, where a Palo Alto woman was killed in a collision while riding her bike.

San Francisco presents the final design for moving the much-maligned Valencia Street centerline bike lane, which got the unanimous blessing of the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency’s board of directors.

 

National

Cycling Weekly says the fatality rate for bicycling is disproportionately high, but it beats the hell out of the health risks of letting your car do all the work.

US bikemaker Woom is recalling 2,500 children’s bikes that may be afflicted by damaged cranks, which could break during use, and have resulted in at least one injury.

A Seattle Redditor posts video of the city’s obstructed bike lanes.

Colorado’s governor calls for doubling the state’s rate of bicycling, walking and transit use by 2035. Let’s hope they do better than Los Angeles, which has missed nearly every date it has set for the last decade.

North Dakota’s governor celebrates a $1.5 million grant that will allow the state to bring the All Kids Bike program to 233 elementary schools, teaching the kids how to ride a bike safely.

Apparently bike polo is still a thing, as a Texas public radio station talks with a San Marcos bike polo player who says it’s his thing.

Indianapolis bike riders offer advice on how drivers can help keep them safe on the roads, reminding them that the person on the bicycle is “somebody’s mother, sister, brother, father.”

Sports Illustrated profiles Dartmouth College student Bond Almand, who shattered the Pan-American Highway Bike Race record for riding from Alaska to Argentina.

A Georgia Tech research engineer tracks the evolution of bike helmets, from plant rinds to high-tech materials.

 

International

The Guardian picks the best gifts for bicyclists, from a neck snood to geranium and orange bath oil. Even if you have to buy them for yourself.

Cycling Weekly celebrates the benefits and freedom of taking your time on your next ride.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website turns the usual “best cities for bicycling” routine on its head, listing the five European cities where you absolutely shouldn’t ride a bike, including Lisbon and Dubrovnik. But not including Venice, where it is literally impossible.

Momentum considers family friendly adventure cycling routes around the world, including America’s Great Allegheny Passage.

A new map tells you what intersections to avoid on your bicycle on your next trip to London.

No surprise here, as an 18-year old British man finds himself reluctant to get back on his bike after getting hit by drivers for the third time.

The student newspaper for Dublin’s Trinity College examines the “perilous history” of bicycling in the city.

Bicycling Dutch says “Good cycling infrastructure is where small mistakes do not have severe consequences.” They got that right. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Testimony at an official inquest reveals 24-year old New Zealand cyclist Olivia Podmore was bullied by her coaches in the days before her suicide, apparently in response to being left off the squad for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

U-23 cyclist Tom Schellekens is walking away from his team’s road cycling squad to focus on mountain biking in Los Angeles in 2028.

 

Finally…

Forget ebikes, just plant more trees. If you’re riding your bike carrying meth and drug paraphernalia, with eight — count ’em, eight — active arrest warrants, maybe just don’t.

And nothing like finding a biohazard container or a llama in the bike lane — but that beats the hell out of a moving car on a bike path.

Or bigass Christmas tree.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin