BikinginLA

Day 191 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

In news that should surprise absolutely no one, a new report from San Francisco shows just how many motorists drive at dangerous speeds.

As California’s first city to install speed cams, San Francisco issued almost 132,000 warnings to people caught on camera driving 11 mph or more over the posted speed limit since the cams were installed in March; actual speeding tickets will start being issued next month.

That’s just four months, and in just 50 locations throughout the entire city of over 800,000 people.

Which suggests that there are a hell of a lot of people who didn’t get caught —  or maybe didn’t get caught yet — simply because they did their speeding in some other location.

But that’s still about 132,000 more warnings than Los Angeles has issued, since the City of Angels continues to drag its feet on installing speed cams.

After all, we don’t want to interfere with anyone’s God-given right to use a heavy right foot on an open stretch of roadway.

Or one that’s not, for that matter.

………

Congratulations to Greg LeMond, as America’s last remaining Tour de France winner finally received a long overdue honor by becoming the first cyclist to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

He’s also just the tenth athlete honored with the Congressional medal, joining such sporting notables as Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Billie Jean King and Jack Nicklaus.

LeMond became the first American to win the Tour in 1986, then came back to win twice more in 1989 and 1990, after overcoming a near-fatal shotgun blast to the gut.

Conspicuously not honored were ex-Tour de France winners and notorious dopers Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis, the latter of whom has largely been forgiven after owning up to his actions, and the former who just refuses to go away.

………

Amazon Prime Days continue to dominate the news, as numerous sites urge you to buy more bike stuff to help pay off Jeff Bezos wedding and buy his new wife another new yacht or two

• Cycling News highlighted the best savings for bicyclists yesterday on day two of the sale, as well as Prime Day deals in both the US and the UK;
• Road.cc offered a live blog of all the best deals on the UK’s version of the site, which may or may not be available here;
• A tech writer for Cycling Weekly says he can’t recommend one particular bike light enough, don’t ship your bike without an Apple AirTag, and highlights a deal on his favorite tyre, uh, tire.

………

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

A New York judge has ruled that the city’s mayor is free to rip out a protected bike lane in Brooklyn, lifting a previous injunction preventing the removal.

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

An Ontario, Canada teenager was charged with reckless driver and violating the province’s bike helmet law, after the 17-year old was struck by a driver while riding salmon and without a skid lid, which is required for any bike rider under 18.

………

Local 

Listeners to public radio station LAist’s AirTalk program share their joyous memories of riding a bicycle through the streets of Los Angeles while growing up, and question whether those days are gone forever.

 

State

The former owner of one of the nation’s first ebike stores describes how she went from Orange County bike shop owner to founding the Bellemont Project to promote ebike safety.

Fullerton caves to the Hallmark-ization of America, hosting its 3rd Annual Christmas in July Bike Ride on Friday, July 26th.

Chula Vista becomes the latest city to crack down on ebike riders, adopting what leaders say is the strictest ebike regulations in San Diego County.

Seriously? A beauty salon owner in San Diego’s Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood called for the removal of a new bike lane, saying the loss of curbside parking will put her customers in needless danger by making them walk cross the street. Never mind that the bike lanes are there to improve safety for everyone. Or that if it’s not even safe to cross the damn street, the problem isn’t the bike lanes. 

Sacramento is building an entire new bridge to replace a never-opened bike and pedestrian bridge connecting two major pathways, after the city’s engineer of record refused to sign off on the construction because the bridge wasn’t built to contract specifications.

 

National

Streetsblog examines the GOP’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” and finds what it calls five of the ugliest transportation policies, including the unceremonious death of the bike commuting benefit, along with just about every a number of other green policies.

People For Bikes credits itself with halting dozens of harmful bike bills in “a critical year for bicycle legislation,” including anti-bike bills in New York, Illinois and yes, California.

Tragic news from Arizona, where a 75-year old man died from his injuries, over a year after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike, with the cops blaming him for allegedly turning in front of the driver.

The US version of The Sun says “certain road users” in a “major US state” no longer have to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. Except they’re actually talking about bike riders in the “major state” of New Mexico, which ranks all the way down at 36th in population. And it’s not like many motorists come to a full stop, anyway. Or any, for that matter.

A Denver TV station warns its viewers after a retiree was scammed out of $2,000 using Zelle while trying to sell an old bicycle on Facebook.

A new report from a Denver attorney group revealed that most of the city’s bicycling collisions occurred between 8 am and 9 am, and 4 pm and 5 pm, and on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

A Colorado attorney and cycling safety educator tries to clear up confusion over that state’s Stop As Yield Law, which allows bike riders to treat stop signs as yields and red lights like stop signs, as long as it’s safe to proceed. Count me among the confused, since I didn’t think Colorado had adopted the red light portion of the law.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Birmingham, Alabama man is facing reckless manslaughter charges for killing two people in separate collisions, first crashing his car into an ATV ridden by a 13-year old boy, followed by fatally running down a 30-year old woman riding a bicycle just five months later.

 

International

A new London campaign is urging elected officials to make bicycling more accessible and inclusive, under the banner Dare to Dream: A Bike for Every Londoner, even as the city has some of the UK’s most dangerous streets for bike riders.

The family of a 71-year old London man called for the “immediate deployment of speed and road traffic cameras” at the “notorious” intersection where he was struck by a driver while riding his bike, dying five days later, adding “no one should suffer this heartbreak.”

Over one hundred people are preparing for an “epic” 290-mile ride from Cleckheaton to London to remember the late Member of Parliament Jo Cox, who was assassinated in 2016, as well as marking the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the UK.

 

Competitive Cycling

Defending champ Tadej Pogačar won the day on Wednesday by finishing second in the time trial, 16 seconds behind winner Remco Evenepoel; the second-place finish was enough to put Pogačar in the yellow jersey with a 42-second lead over Evenepoel, with Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin third in the GC standings, 59 seconds behind.

Two-time champ Jonas Vingegaard had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, dropping more than a minute off the pace and saying afterwards he just didn’t have the legs and had no excuse for his performance.

Canadian cyclist Michael Woods says it’s crazy that officials haven’t mandated protective gear and other safety policies for cyclists; he calls for protecting riders by lowering speeds, decreasing peloton size, reducing distraction, and rethinking the relegation system — or they may have to race in hockey gear.

Velo examines what’s changed with racing bikes over the past decade, comparing Chris Froome’s Pinarello F8 with Pogačar’s Colnago V5Rs.

A Florida man says he finished the Race Across America, aka RAAM, to keep a pledge with his father that if he didn’t quit the race, his dad would stick with his treatment for stage 4 prostate cancer.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can become the official Bike Path Mayor — or maybe your cat can, anyway.

And you can put your tush on a weird-looking saddle for the low, low price of over $360.

But only if you live in Europe.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.