BikinginLA

We’re now 16 days into LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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The NYPD is changing its policy for high speed police chases.

The department is no restricting them to only the most serious and violent crimes, rather than traffic infractions, violations and nonviolent misdemeanors.

This comes after more than a quarter of the 2,200 police chases in New York City last year resulted in crashes, property damage or physical injuries. Or worse — including the October death of a woman riding a bicycle.

This announcement came the same day a Las Vegas driver killed someone riding a bicycle, while fleeing from a traffic stop just half a mile away. Another person was hospitalized when the driver, who was taken into custody, crashed into another car.

Now someone just needs to send LA area cops the memo, where crashes like that happen far too often.

Today’s image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay.

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Hats off to Santa Monica’s Pedal Mafia bike shop, which is supporting the area’s tight knit bicycling community by distributing new bikewear to people who lost theirs in last week’s fires.

Although something tells me they’re not the only members of the bicycling community helping victims of the wildfires.

So if you know any groups, shops or individuals who deserve a shoutout for helping people affected by the fires, let me know.

And if you know someone in our extended bicycling family who needs help, let me know that, too.

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Lost in last week’s calamity was the announcement of the year’s first CicLAvia, West Adams meets University Park, on Sunday, February 23rd.

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Streets For All moved the date for their latest virtual Happy Hour to next Wednesday, featuring newly-elected LA City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.

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Damian Kevitt, founder of Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, invites you to join various Los Angeles groups to help clean up LA.

We’ve teamed up with local groups to organize 100% volunteer fueled clean-ups that tackle the mess left behind from recent windstorms and help restore neighborhoods we all love.

We invite you to join an existing clean-up or rally your own group.

Here’s what’s currently scheduled:

•  Ride into action with Bicycle Transit Systems in Lincoln Heights.
• Take strides to shine with LA Walks in Wilmington.
• Trash-tackle with style alongside the BMX Goonies in Balboa Park.

More are being added. If you can’t join one of these clean-ups, you can organize your own – even with just a few people. We can list it at LetsCleanLA.org to encourage others to join you!

Take photos and share your grime-fighting activities with #LetsCleanLA and #LAStrong to encourage other Angelenos all over the county to get out and do the same.

Let’s turn this challenge into an opportunity to show what LA is made of—resilience, community, and a whole lot of heart.

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No surprise here, as the annual Los Angeles Firecracker run, walk and bike ride has been indefinitely postponed due to last week’s wildfires, with a new date to be announced.

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Like the images that followed the atomic blast at Hiroshima, this is what it looks like when a kid’s bike was simply vaporized by the intense firestorm in the Palisades. 

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

The recently anti-bike London Times blames the new Parisian bike lanes for driving passengers from the city’s buses, arguing that narrowed streets have slowed bus trips, yet no one ever seems to blame congestion on the people in cars who actually cause it; it’s a far cry from the paper’s award-winning campaign supporting safe bicycling infrastructure just 12 years earlier.

Australian authorities have arrested an 18-year old man for stringing fence wire across a pair of bike paths near Adelaide, injuring two riders and severely damaging four bikes; he has been charged with four counts of endangering life, which carries a sentence of up to 25 years per count. Which means he could leave prison as a dapper 118-year old ex-con.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly. 

Welsh police are urging a hit-and-run bike rider to come forward because a woman who had been walking her dog with her husband died five weeks after she was struck by a man riding a bicycle, whose identity was hidden by a face covering.

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Local  

Momentum says Paris’ Olympic bicycle revolution offers lessons for Los Angeles and other global cities, ranging from prioritizing safety to committing to a long-term vision. Although whether Los Angeles will actually learn anything from Paris — let alone do anything — is highly debatable.

Los Angeles has just four years to rebuild planned Olympic venues destroyed by last week’s fires; fortunately, the velodrome in Carson was unaffected, though road races may need to be rerouted.

A Los Angeles man rode an ebike more than 20 miles to discover the Pacific Palisades townhouse he shares with his family was still standing, but the home he grew up in that his mother had just moved out of, not so much.

Another man rode a Metro Bike to try to rescue the dogs left behind when the Palisades Fire erupted as he was working in DTLA; when he couldn’t get through the barricades, a firefighter knocked down his door to save the pets.

 

State

Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry is stepping away from the nonprofit transportation news site, which will be a big loss for all of us who have long admired her dogged determination to dig out the facts; former Streetsblog Los Angeles editor Damian Newton will now step into the role.

San Clemente considers barring kids under 16 and requiring a driver’s license to carry a passenger on an ebike, as well as requiring a passenger seat attached to the bike. Although whether they actually have that authority under state law is debatable.

Plans for a protected bike lane along a deadly section of University Ave in eastern San Diego suffered a setback when inflation pushed all the contractor bids above $23.4 million expected price tag. At least we’ll blame inflation, because simple greed couldn’t have anything to do with it, right?

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission is holding a public workshop today to consider the proposal to remove the multiuse path from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on a trial basis, giving the space back to motor vehicles on weekdays, and only allowing bikes and pedestrians on weekends; a shuttle bus would transport bike riders when the path is closed. The Marin County Bicycle Coalition is calling for people to speak out at the 1 pm meeting.

 

National

The National Bicycle Network now extends over 2,300 miles across the US with the addition of four newly expanded routes.

An Oregon bill would ban high-speed ped-assist ebikes from bike lanes and sidewalks. Although a better option would be to simply reclassify them as mo-peds, rather than ebikes, which are already required to use the street. 

Another new Oregon bill would limit the state’s $1,200 ebike vouchers to people on government assistance. Which is great if your goal is to provide efficient transportation to those most in need, but not so much if the goal is to get people out of their cars. 

Washington will launch its first ebike rebate program in April with a budget of $5 million. Which is twice the amount available in California’s first round, even though California has five times the population of the Evergreen State.

Montana legislators wisely pulled a bill that would have required all bicyclists to ride against traffic, unless they are led and followed by a flagged vehicle, and regardless of whether they’re riding on the shoulder or in a traffic lane. Apparently, just another attempt to thin the herd.

Now you, too, can own your very own bikeshare system, as Austin, Texas puts their whole damn thing on the auction block. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link. 

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A longtime Grand Rapids, Michigan stage hand was killed by an alleged drunk driver who reportedly “flew” off a highway exit ramp and blew through a red light, striking the man as he rode his bike to work because he couldn’t afford parking on a stage hand’s wages; it was the driver’s second DUI arrest in just over a year. That’s what happens when judges and prosecutors bargain away felony DUIs because they don’t want to inconvenience first time offenders. Or second. Or third.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed reclassifying the fastest and heaviest ebikes as mo-peds, requiring a license and registration. Although Streetsblog says very few ebikes actually exceed the governor’s 100-pound limit.

New Jersey became the first state to write into law an administrative body tasked with steering the state to zero traffic deaths, although they couldn’t bring themselves to call it Vision Zero, terming it Target Zero, instead.

A Florida bike rider says the rumble strips in the bike lanes on A1A, the state’s coastal highway, are going to kill someone, after he ended up with a broken collarbone when he inadvertently rode over them.

 

International

Cyclist recommends the year’s best bicycling documentaries.

Momentum suggests seven “stunning” national bike routes around the globe, including the Great American Rail-Trail in this country.

Cycling Weekly examines why men outnumber women riders on the road, but women cyclists vastly outnumber men in the gym.

He gets it. A British Columbia writer says when we discuss crashes, we need to emphasize the people involved, not just cars — and not “cyclists,” which automatically “others” the person on the bicycle.

Buried in a Guardian story about the “conflict” between bikeshare ebike riders and regular bicyclists is the fact that accident data shows no difference in the rate of crashes between ebike and non-electrified bicycle riders, suggesting that the common perception that ebike riders are more aggressive is a myth.

An English man is marking the fifth anniversary of his mother’s death from cancer by riding 300 miles in her memory; a crowdfunding campaign has already raised the equivalent of nearly $1,000 for cancer research charity.

A British writer says he’s tired of being blinded by bicycle strobe lights, calling flashing bike lights a menace on the roads and sidewalks. You’ll my flashers when you pry them out of my cold, dead hands, because they do far too much to improve safety when you ride. But I angle them down so they don’t shine in people’s eyes. 

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website shares inspiring stories from women riders.

A new Spanish law requires drivers to slow down by the equivalent of 12.5 mph below the posted speed limit before passing people on bicycles, while still requiring motorists to give a 4.5-foot passing distance.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Giro goes to Albania, as the classic Italian stage race announced its 2025 route.

Spain’s Costa Blanca coast is becoming overpopulated with pro cycling teams taking advantage of the region’s ideal weather for winter training camps, as well as their fans, resulting in the inevitable traffic jams of the two and four wheeled variety.

British pro Tom Pidcock says he’s happy to step off cycling’s biggest stage, passing on the Tour de France to compete in the Giro and Vuelta for his new team.

Former two-time US national champ, three-time Tour of California and one-time Tour de Suisse champ Levi Leipheimer says he wants to reinvigorate US road racing by offering $156,000 in prize money for his annual Sonoma County gran fondo, billing it as the country’s richest and toughest road race.

The annual Tour de Big Bear will be bigger and uh, bear-ier than ever, with road, gravel and mountain bike races, as well as a festival, bike demos and beer, if not bears.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you ride a bikeshare bike to the British premier of your acclaimed Bob Dylan biopic, only to get a ticket for improper parking. Or when you decide to ride across Europe, and your mom invites herself along.

And that feeling when you go on a 3,700-mile ride across New Zealand, Australia and French Polynesia, and can’t get a sitter for your kids.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.