BikinginLA

Day 169 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Talk about a blast from the past.

Cycling West reports that the federal government released their latest stats on traffic violence in the US.

For 2023.

It’s always taken the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, the better part of a year to compile and release the nationwide statistics on traffic deaths and injuries, but nearly a year and a half seems a tad extreme.

Although even that may look good next year, after DOGE cuts decimated the agency.

The good news is that overall traffic deaths dropped 4.3% compared to the previous year.

The bad, bicycling deaths went the opposite direction, going up 4.4%, while bicycling injuries jumped even more, increasing by 8.2% over the year before.

And yes, that includes ebikes as well as traditional bicycles, as well as any other pedal-powered vehicle; presumably, that also includes the faster and more powerful electric motorbikes that at usually lumped in with ebikes.

It’s very disturbing that bicycling deaths continue to climb, as motor vehicles get safer inside and more dangerous outside. Never mind the people operating them.

Equally troubling is that 23% of the 1,166 bicycling deaths in the US two years ago involved hit-and-run drivers, which means there’s only a one-in-four chance a driver will stick around after a crash, no matter where you live.

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Amphibious cars are making a comeback, but amphibious bikes have been here all along, with a history going back 160 years.

Thanks to Steven for the heads-up, whose discovery of the term Cyclomer led him down a water bike rabbit hole.

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Bike Culver City is hosting a Summer Solstice Ride this Friday to celebrate the longest day of the year.

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

This is why people keep dying in our streets. A Portland, Oregon bike rider describes what happened when he alleges a road-raging driver intentionally crashed into him as he rode with another person on the popular Pedalpalooza ride; a poorly trained cop blamed him for riding in the “car lane,” before refusing to file charges against the driver because of “conflicting stories.”

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Local 

Pasadena rejected all bids for a planned North Raymond Ave traffic-calming project aimed at slowing speeding drivers after all the bids exceeded estimates.

 

State

Los Gatos has received funding for a $14.7 million highway widening project intended to relieve summer gridlock from people headed to the beach — although it’s more likely to just make things worse due to induced demand. But at least it includes funds for safer sidewalks and bike lanes.

 

National

Good idea. Oregon legislators are adding an ebike rebate and bike path funding back into the new transportation bill, while increasing the sales tax on luxury cars to fund them. Taxing luxury cars in California could probably fund every bike path in the state. 

A Dallas photographer famed for riding his bike through the city to take “perfect” photos of the city’s skyline is out of commission for awhile, after someone broke in and stole his bicycle — then days later, he confronted another would-be thief inside his apartment.

An Illinois man will have to stay behind bars pending trial for killing a 12-year old boy on a bicycle while driving at more than twice the legal alcohol limit.

The family of a fallen bicyclist has sued the police department in Indianapolis, after the 34-year old father of two was killed when a cop responding to a home invasion drove onto the sidewalk to avoid another driver, and hit his bike head-on.

Some people never learn. A 27-year old Indiana man faces a raft of charges and sentencing enhancements after he was arrested for drunk driving with a blood alcohol level at least twice the legal limit, ten years after he killed a 22-year old woman biking with her cousin while driving with a B.A.C. over three times the legal limit; he served just 4.5 years of a six-year sentence for that one.

Good for him. A 12-year old boy filed suit after New York’s mayor cancelled plans to protect a Williamsburg bike lane, which is currently full of parked cars whose drivers are undeterred by the painted bike lane.

A New Jersey woman is fantasizing about taking a baseball bat to the headlights of the next driver who comes too close to someone she loves, after repeatedly being endangered by entitled drivers during a vigil for a bike-riding child killed by a driver.

Over 55 local, state and national organizations are calling for bike and pedestrian lanes on Maryland’s new Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which will replace the bridge knocked down last year by an out-of-control freighter.

 

International

Your next e-cargo bike could be a four-wheeled, pedal-powered Honda delivery van.

A 75-year old English man became the first person in the country to get a 3D-printed face, after suffering severe burns when he was trapped under a vehicle driven by a drunk and distracted driver while bicycling with two friends, who were also injured.

A record number of British bicyclists sent videos of dangerous drivers to the police for potential prosecution, as 58% of the country’s drivers had no idea how close they could legally pass someone on the bicycle. The law in the UK allows for video evidence of traffic violations, unlike most, if not all of the US, which is still operating in the pre-video — let alone digital — age.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 22-year old man was sentenced to just 15 months behind bars — of which he’ll be required to serve only 2/5 — for destroying evidence of the hit-and-run that killed a 19-year old man riding a bicycle, as well as two other counts of dangerous driving police found on his phone (see above); however, he wasn’t charged for killing the victim due to a lack evidence.

Japanese bike riders will face fines for minor traffic violations beginning April 1st, including the equivalent of $84 for distracted bicycling. And no, that’s not a premature April Fools joke. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-year old British cyclist Ben Wiggins is following in the footsteps, uh, pedal strokes, of his more famous, knighted, Tour de France-winning dad.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your bike-riding barber makes house calls. When you’re out riding with friends, maybe try not to ride through a military live-fire exercise.

And why wait until the bikes leave the shop before crashing into them?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.