BikinginLA

Day 38 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.

Whether it’s diabetes, a migraine, my meds, all of the above or something else, I’ve been so dizzy past two days I can’t keep my eyes open without feeling sick.

Good times.

But thanks to the wonders of modern pharmaceuticals, I should be okay to work now, as long as I keep my laptop at arm’s length and don’t mind a little double vision. Okay, a lot of double vision. 

So let’s give this a shot, and see if I make it through.

Photo by Kaboompics.com from Pexels. 

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Paying people to bike works.

Denver, Colorado conducted “a fascinating psychological experiment” by paying people to ride a bicycle instead of driving.

Not only did they ride more, they kept riding after the experiment ended, offering hope for reducing traffic congestion and fighting climate change.

And demand for the program far exceeded availability, with 1,400 people applying for just 101 slots, demonstrating significant room for growth going forward.

The city invested $442,000 in incentives, paid for through a Climate Protection Fund sales tax approved by voters, while breaking participants into three groups:

• The first group was paid $1 for every mile they rode, as tracked by an app
• The second group received subsidies to buy a bike or accessories, plus training and coaching
• The third group was paid $1 per mile, along with receiving training

According to the Denverite website,

Of the three groups, those paid $1 per mile ended up biking the most number of miles. Those who received both training and $1 per mile experienced the most long-term changes in commuting behavior. The program ran from April through June.

The question is how that compares to the cost of subsidizing motor vehicle use, and the benefit to society and public health of getting people out of their cars.

At the very least, it’s worth trying on a larger and longer basis.

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The Los Angeles Natural History Museum talks with Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, founder of Biking While Black, as part of their online series L.A. on Wheels, “celebrating the diversity of Los Angeles and its people through the lens of creative modes of transportation.”

Thanks to BikeLA Executive Director Eli Akira Kaufman for the heads-up.

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Apparently, when you’re an avid cyclist, you even drive in the bike lane.

Avid cyclist @carsnbikelane.bsky.social

— CrosswalkCrusader (@crosswalkcrusader.bsky.social) 2025-02-04T15:01:06.451Z

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

San Mateo is planning to spend as much as two million dollars to rip out the city’s longest bike lanes to restore parking spaces, prioritizing the convenience of drivers over the safety of people riding bicycles — but they promise to replace them with a bicycle boulevard on a nearby street, which one person said amounts to nothing more than a couple signs and bike symbols painted on the pavement.

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

A London writer wants to know how this became the new normal, after he stepped out of a soccer stadium and was hit by a speeding, if apologetic, ebike rider.

No bias here. The BBC reports that a man in his 50s was killed when a car and a bike “hit each other” — even though police arrested three people on suspicion of dangerous driving. Which would kinda suggest the driver hit the bike rider, instead.

You’ve got to be kidding. A British cop testified that he made “light,” “tactical contact” with an ebike shared by two people while driving at 30 mph, “because of the risk they posed to themselves and the public,” resulting in significant injuries to one of the victims. As if it’s possible to make light contact with someone at that speed. Or with a moving car, period. 

An Aussie woman is no closer to getting compensation, two years after she suffered multiple broken bones when she was struck by someone on a Lime bike while she was three months pregnant.

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Local  

CicLAvia made international news, as Momentum says LA’s “open streets party” has huge plans for this year, starting with West Adams meets University Park in two weeks.

 

State

Calbike’s next virtual summit session will discuss “Creative Approaches to Funding Active Transportation Infrastructure” on Thursday, February 20th.

A 27-year old San Diego man suffered a broken leg and pelvis when he reportedly rode his ebike off a sidewalk, and into the path of a truck driver in Otay Mesa.

A local TV station offers tips on bike safety ahead of this weekend’s Tour de Palm Springs.

A Palm Springs bike tour takes you through the city’s celebrity and midcentury neighborhoods, including the Frank Sinatra estate and Elvis Presley’s Honeymoon Hideaway.

Palo Alto is looking for comments on a new 173-page plan calling for safer streets for all road users, starting with slowing down drivers for the benefit of everyone.

After a 50-year career in high tech sales and marketing, a San Jose man started a second act by founding a nonprofit offering life-changing work for people in need of a second chance, refurbishing and donating over 2,000 bicycles and repairing thousands more at its free mobile clinics.

A San Francisco bike shop owner says he’s just trying to keep up with the price increases caused by Trump’s tariffs on Chinese-made bicycles.

 

National

Cycling Weekly considers the eternal question of how, or whether, to warn the others on a group ride about an oncoming car.

A writer for progressive news site the Daily Kos revisits the story of the bike-riding Buffalo Soldiers who demonstrated the viability of bicycles by riding 800 miles from Missouri to Yellowstone and back in 1892.

Ann Arbor, Michigan is using AI-equipped cams mounted on the seat posts of bike commuters to map where bike lanes are needed.

When a pair of Missouri towns refused to build mountain bike trails, a couple bought the land and built the trails themselves.

Police in Richmond, Virginia are trying to identify a mask-wearing man on bicycle who they say has crucial evidence in a cold case murder.

That’s more like it. A Georgia man will spend the next 20 years behind bars after he was sentenced for a road rage attack on a bike rider; he deliberately rammed the victim with his pickup after they had exchanged words, then stood over him yelling and flipping the bird — and even chest bumped a bystander who came over to help.

This is what a hit-and-run that left an Orlando, Florida bike rider with significant injuries looks like. Just be sure it’s something you want to see, because you can’t unsee it afterwards.

 

International

An Ottawa man launched a nonprofit group intended to help people understand invisible brain injuries, 15 years after he was nearly killed when a sleeping driver ran him down, along with four other people riding in a marked bike lane.

A group of bicyclists will be riding the London’s most dangerous streets to protest a new report showing many of the city’s bicycling routes aren’t safe for women to ride after dark.

Violent bikejackings are creating a climate of fear around London’s Regent Park, with many people now avoiding the popular riding spot.

Former Spanish world champ Óscar Freire has been found safe after he went missing for two days following a fight with family members.

A desperate search is underway for an American competitive cyclist working for Yeti Cycles, who disappeared in Spain’s Andalusia region two weeks ago; his empty van was found, suggesting he was riding his ebike when he went missing.

An Italian ultra-cyclist and former Continental level pro plans to ride more than 1,800 miles through the Himalayas, complete with over 31 miles of elevation gain, to call attention to the role that bicycling can play in reducing global warming.

Travel + Leisure says the “blazing fall colors and picturesque villages” of the Japanese island of Kyushu makes it a perfect spot for touring by bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Introducing the new and improved Paris-Roubaix, aka the Hell of the North, now with even more cobbles.

An oblivious driver somehow found themselves on a side road leading directly into an oncoming pro peloton during France’s Étoile de Bessège, causing a crash that made Belgium’s Maxim van Gils abandon the race.

The Vietnamese national cycling team will have to use bicycles loaned to them by Thailand when they compete in the Asian Road Cycling Championships after all their bikes and equipment were destroyed when their truck went up in flames.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can have a genuine 1970s Evel Knievel spec’d bike, even if you can’t jump 14 Greyhound buses with it. Your next ebike could come from the same people who made your childhood little red wagon.

And just another Heisman Trophy-winning NFL quarterback pedaling a pedicab while singing like a Venice gondolier.

https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1887565994920493416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1887565994920493416%7Ctwgr%5E9155e1ff83aa43330994081f4cf75710dca7b3d8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F247sports.com%2Farticle%2Fwatch-jameis-winston-is-giving-fans-a-ride-in-new-orleans-on-a-bike-cab-and-singing-to-them-245341828%2F

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.