BikinginLA

Day 343 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It’s Day 12 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Brian, Kathleen, Steven and Lisa for their generous support for SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy!

So what are you waiting for? It only takes a few clicks to donate via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo, and guarantee our spokescorgi will find a little kibble in her stocking this year.

And yes, that’s the same photo of our official spokescorgi that we used yesterday, because it’s after 4 in the damn morning and I want to go to sleep, already. 

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Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, is also conducting a year-end fund drive, and more than deserving of a few bucks.

Or maybe more than a few.

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Speaking of SAFE, the organization takes Glendale, Los Angeles and Long Beach to task, along with Oakland and San Jose, for failing to implement the state’s speed cam pilot program, over two years after it was signed into law.

Only San Francisco has actually placed speed cams on the streets, getting a 100% A+ grade in SAFE’s scoring system, while seeing a dramatic decrease in speeding where the cameras have been installed.

Los Angeles, on the other hand, gets a D grade, with Long Beach only slightly better at D+.

Although, while I can’t speak to Long Beach, that’s probably being undeservedly kind towards LA.

Malibu, which was added to the plan a year later as residents clamored for speed cams on deadly PCH, has done much better at implementing the program, already achieving a B+ in SAFE’s scoring.

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Thanks to Luc for forwarding a response from LA County on how to request safety signage or other improvements on country roads.

Report a Problem: Bike Path:
Hi – Not a problem but a proactive measure to enforce safety for all. Now that the Rockstore section on Mulholland is finally open to all traffic:
Who do I ask for a sign to be placed showing to “share the road with cyclists”?
Thank you!

Answer:
Thank you for contacting the website for Los Angeles County Public Works. We provide services to the unincorporated areas of L.A. County. Your concerns have been forwarded to the Traffic Investigator for the subject location, who should be contacting you shortly. You may also contact them at 626-300-4848.

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LADOT wants your feedback on the South Broadway Mobility Project, as well as input to help shape their upcoming Mobility Action Plan.

And no, “more protected bike lanes everywhere” is probably not quite what they’re looking for.

But still.

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Gravel Bike California discovers some some hidden trails and camps in the Verdugo Mountains in the inaugural Tour de Dugo.

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

Once again, business owners try to shoot themselves in the foot, protesting new curb-protected bike lanes in Chicago while alleging they were losing business after just 45 days, even though studies show protected bike lanes usually result in increased sales if they just give it a little time.

New York Streetsblog examines everything that’s wrong with a judge’s order to rip out a Queens bike lane, accusing her of overstepping her jurisdiction.

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Local 

LAist offers more details on the $10.5 million Complete Streets makeover of Huntington Drive, which adds bus lanes, curb-protected bike lane, wide sidewalks and a narrow median, while removing a traffic lane in each direction.

Bikeshare is booming at UCLA, where students and staff took roughly 15,000 Metro Bike trips last year, including nearly 6,500 trips on campus.

Burbank Bike Angels will hold their annual celebration tomorrow at Burbank City Hall to display hundreds of new and restored bicycles that will be donated to local children.

 

State

Carlsbad became the second city in San Diego’s North County area to crack down on ebikes, including restrictions on where they can be ridden.

A Fresno driver was on the wrong side of the roadway when he struck and killed a 51-year old anthropology professor three years ago as she was riding with three other bicyclists, according to a woman riding with her; the 50-year old driver faces a vehicular manslaughter charge, as well as a couple misdemeanors for her death.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Yesterday we mentioned that someone riding a bicycle was killed by a driver on the famed Pebble Beach 17 Mile Drive; today we learned the victim was a 66-year old former professor from CSU Monterey Bay, who founded the school’s Service Learning Institute and led it for 25 years.

A 24-year old man pled not guilty to DUI and hit-and-run charges in San Mateo County, after he allegedly hit a 15-year old boy riding an ebike in a bike lane, and dragged the kid several blocks before crashing into a couple parked cars; police found half gram of meth and 14 empty beer cans in his car after the crash. No word on how the boy is doing, but he can’t be good after that.

 

National

Momentum recommends the best rail trails in the US for “cycling bliss.” None of which are anywhere near Los Angeles, of course. 

San Antonio, Texas is proposing a $67 million plan to remove a lane in each direction from a seven-lane roadway, while adding wider sidewalks and a bike path.

An Illinois bill would create a 15 mph speed limit on all bike paths in the state for all bicycles, as well as low-speed ebikes, low-speed gas bicycles, motor-driven cycles and mopeds.

The New Jersey legislature advanced a bill that would reclassify all ebikes, including ped-assist bikes, as motorized bicycles, and require a drivers license for anyone over 17 to operate one, or a motorized bicycle license for anyone 15 to 16. A perfect example of how lumping all forms of electric bikes, including motorbikes and dirt bike, together as ebikes can result in a crackdown that harms everyone.

High school students in Tampa, Florida worked with a local legislator to file a bill requiring bike helmets for all ebike riders under the age of 18. Although bike helmets aren’t designed to protect against the speeds many e-motorbikes and dirt bikes are capable of achieving. 

 

International

Speaking of Momentum, the magazine updates their list of the world’s worst bike lanes. Oddly, Los Angeles doesn’t make the list, but San Diego does. Twice. 

‘Tis the season. Volunteers in Winnipeg, Manitoba reclaimed and refurbished 350 bicycles headed for the landfill to donate to local children in need.

No surprise here, as officials say a new $26 million bike path connecting a Northamptonshire, England railway station to the town center will offer “enormous benefits,” as well as “a safer and greener environment for everyone.”

They know us so well. The UK’s CyclingElectric offers their list of the best Christmas gifts for ebike riders and bicyclists, including a local craft beer. Sign me up, Santa. 

Amsterdam considers a ban on fat-tired ebikes, hoping that restrictions on tire widths will substitute for a ban based on engine power or potential speeds.

A South African appeals court called for a new inquest into the 2016 death of a woman who fell off a cliff while mountain biking with her husband, after a magistrate had ruled that her husband was implicated in her death “on the face of it,” without hearing any testimony; she supposedly fell when he turned his back after stopping to take a photo.

Chinese authorities took nearly $1.6 million worth of fake Specialized bike parts off the market, while tracing the counterfeits back to the factories that made them.

An “everyday athlete” from Australia rode his bike over 2,600 miles across the continent. Or rather, two bikes, after his original bike was stolen as he slept in his one-man tent.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly examines the disturbing trend of young cyclists giving up on the sport.

 

Finally…

Now even the gods are out to get us. It may not be such a long way to Tipperary soon.

And apparently, you’re not the only one who tosses your valve caps.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.