BikinginLA

Day 142 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Funny how that works.

Just one day after the Colorado Highway Patrol asked for the public’s help finding the hit-and-run driver who killed a man riding a bicycle outside Boulder, a suspect was arrested.

Imagine that.

Denver, Colorado developed the hit-and-run alert system, later adopted by the state, that the ones in Los Angeles and California are patterned on.

The difference is, they actually use them. We don’t.

Which might be why the CHP solves nearly two-thirds of felony hit-and-run cases in the state. No, the other CHP, in Colorado.

In California, that number is about 20%, while in Los Angeles, it’s less than 10%.

But here’s a crazy idea.

Maybe those numbers would go up if they didn’t wait weeks, or months — or never — to even let the public know there was a hit-and-run, let alone ask for our help solving it. Never mind actually use the hit-and-run alert systems we fought so hard to give them.

The City of Los Angeles also offers an automatic $50,000 reward for information that helps the cops solve a fatal hit-and-run, with rewards ranging up to $25,000 for less severe crashes. But no one stands a chance of collecting if we don’t even know about it.

And maybe that’s the idea, trying to save the severely over-strapped city a few bucks so the cops can buy more helicopters.

They should be ashamed.

Or maybe sued.

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay.

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The California Air Resources Board promises that the state’s ebike voucher program is really, honest-to-gosh ready for the anticipated demand this time, after two mostly failed attempts.

Pinky swear.

Then again, they’ve only had two attempts. And you know what they say about the third time.

The first distributed somewhere around 1,500 vouchers, but deliberately throttling the applications left more than 100,000 frustrated and angry Californians waiting at the gates, blocked from even getting a chance to apply.

The second attempt was even worse, when the system crashed as soon as it opened as potential applicants once again exceeded the system’s limited capacity, and the whole damn thing was shut down with just minutes remaining in the application window, frustrating the lucky few who had somehow managed to get in.

Myself included.

The Los Angeles Times quotes CARB spokesperson Lisa Macumber defending the total clown show, citing the heavy demand.

“As a result, automatic security measures were activated and the website operated and controlled by California Air Resources Board’s third party administrator Pedal Ahead was temporarily unavailable,” said Lisa Macumber, spokesperson for the state agency.

The technology is never 100% certain and it could have happened under any administrator running a program like this, Macumber said.

Sure it could.

But here’s a thought. If each teeny, tiny application window has more than 150,000 presumably qualified people desperately trying to somehow squeeze themselves in, maybe offer more than a few thousand measly vouchers at a time, and give us a much larger window to get those applications in.

And if that many people are willing to suffer this much indignation just for a chance to get a voucher, maybe go back to the state and ask for enough money to actually meet the damn demand.

But have no fear.

Macumber promises they’ll be ready this time.

No, really.

“It’s like getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, it can be really hard to get through the technology, and then at the end of the day, find out whether or not you’re successful,” she said. “So we really understand the frustration.”

The agency has rescheduled the second application window for May 29 and says this time it’s ready for droves of prospective applicants.

To ensure they don’t have the same problems this time, they’ve hired the same people who failed so badly last time to do it again, hoping for different results.

And you know what they call that.

So get your documents ready. Mark your calendar for 6 pm on May 29th.

And keep your fingers crossed.

No, all of them.

You can read the Times story on Yahoo if the paper’s paywall shuts you out.

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About damn time.

CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez introduced a motion to explore using cameras to catch drivers who block bike lanes, starting with a pilot on Hollywood Blvd.

This follows a successful test in Santa Monica, where automated cams captured 1,700 violations in six weeks.

Which, based on my own observations, suggests they weren’t trying very hard.

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Thanks to our old friend Megan Lynch for forwarding this TV news story highlighting a San Francisco bike center as a “pillar of the community” for fixing bikes for free to get people riding.

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

A San Diego letter writer complains about the new traffic configuration at the city’s Balboa Park, warning that one lane for buses, a lane for bicycles, and a single lane for cars causes traffic to back up on busy weekends, calling it “another problem dreamed up by the city traffic engineers.” Apparently, it’s never occurred to him to use one of those other lanes by taking the bus. Or maybe even riding a bike. Because it’s a damn park, already. 

No bias here. London’s Telegraph says new safety data shows that bike advocates are wrong about cars being a bigger problem in the city’s parks, even though the data actually highlights the dangers of serious injuries caused by cars and the people in them.

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

London is now filing criminal charges and imposing fines equivalent to more than $500 for bicycling violations like running red lights and blowing through crosswalks.

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Local 

Luxury Travel Magazine examines why Los Angeles is the best last-minute summer vacation spot. Because all the other cities were already booked?

Beverly Hills police will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation today, targeting violations that could put either group at risk, regardless of who commits them. So once again, ride to the letter of the law until you pass the city limits sign today, so you don’t celebrate bike month by getting a ticket. 

 

State

Out Sports talks with openly gay pro skier and Olympic medalist Gus Kenworthy about why he’s taking part in the final San Francisco to LA AIDS/LifeCycle Ride next month.

Huntington Beach police and the OC Sheriff’s Department will host a free ebike training session at a Huntington Beach middle school on the last day of the month.

Sad news from Tulare County, where a man was killed when a driver rear-ended the bicycle he was riding; unsurprisingly, the driver was uninjured.

San Francisco “activists” called on the city to recommit to Vision Zero, after six pedestrians have been killed there already this year. Los Angeles officials can’t recommit to Vision Zero, because they never committed to it in the first place. And maybe those “activists” are just people who don’t want to get killed crossing the street.

 

National

Former Calbike chief Dave Snyder assures bike advocates we’re doing the right thing, saying local bike advocacy is good resistance. So make like Andor, and join the rebellion, already. 

No surprise here. In a survey of how 75,000 Seattle commuters actually feel about how they get to work, bike commuting came out on top by a wide margin.

Police in Greeley, Colorado are looking for the ebike-riding asshole who shot a dog last month. But at least the dog survived, even if the person’s last remaining shred of human decency didn’t.

BLM — no, the Bureau of Land Management — will determine whether ebikes are allowed on federal trails in western Colorado, after 64% expressed an interest in using them in a recent survey.

Bicycling crashes in Wisconsin were up nearly 25% over a five-year average last year. It would be nice if someone, anyone, could tell us how many there were in California last year. But keeping actual running stats on traffic deaths would just be too much work, apparently. 

 

International

The leaders of many of the top bikeshare providers called on cities to “move beyond pilot thinking and treat shared bicycles as a permanent, integrated part of the public transport system,” arguing that it’s not an optional add-on or a “climate gadget.”

Once again, a man was killed after a fight over a bicycle. A 34-year old man in Middlesborough, England was convicted of murder for fatally stabbing a man who had borrowed his bike to ride to a pub for a drink. Yet another reminder that no bicycle is worth a human life. Seriously, just let it go.

The “best sommelier in Catalonia, Spain” recommends her favorite route for a meditative bike ride through the region’s Llémena Valley.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly examines the journeys of five champion paracyclists, from initial injury or disability to victory.

 

Finally…

If you find a small snake lying in the bike path, just leave him the hell alone, already. That feeling when that cute little Norwegian e-pedalcar company goes belly-up before you even get a chance to buy one.

And that feeling when you can finally get the 12-foot high banana seat bike of your childhood dreams.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.