I’m having some sort of major allergic reaction on my forearms. So if you see this post, it means I didn’t scratch all the skin off ’em.
Most, maybe. But not all.
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If Sacramento has seemed peaceful lately, it’s because the legislature has been on summer vacation, which ends on Monday.
According to California Streetsblog, included among the bills still alive in this session,
Assembly Bill 1421 would continue a study of whether a road usage charge could eventually replace the gas tax, which would stop EV users from getting a free pass. I’m good with it as long as the charge is based on vehicle weight, so users of massive vehicles pay more for the harm they cause to the streets, and the human bodies they hit.
Assembly Bill 1546 would increase the penalties for DUI to bring them more in line with other states. Now do the same for hit-and-run, where drivers in other states can get significantly more time for leaving people to die in the streets.
Assembly Bill 1662 would change the law so that drivers who avoid fines as a result of a court-ordered diversion program would still get points on their driving record.
Assembly Bill 1837 would make camera enforcement of drivers who block transit lanes and bus stops permanent statewide. Now do bike lanes, too.
Assembly Bill 2015 stops navigation apps from routing traffic onto neighborhood streets designed for local access, walking, and biking.
Assembly Bill 2168 would, among other things, prioritize leveraging of more state transportation funding to the Active Transportation Program. Yes, please.
Senate Bill 569 would make it harder for local governments to remove or weaken existing bicycle infrastructure, prohibiting the removal of a Class I, II, III, or IV bikeway, or reducing the physical protection of a bikeway, unless they replace it with infrastructure providing equal or greater levels of safety and connectivity. I’m looking at you, Encinitas.
Senate Bill 1167 clarifies the differences between ebikes and e-motorbikes or electric motorcycles, and prohibit false marketing of vehicles that don’t meet the requirements and limitations of ebikes.
Senate Bill 1423 requires the Active Transportation Program to steer half of State Transportation Improvement Program funding to projects that make streets safer for people walking, biking, and taking transit, while also making the state’s top safe streets grant program easier for cities to access.
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US Rep. Mike Thompson discussed the America Bikes Act in an appearance in his home district in Davis yesterday.
According to Sacramento’s ABC10,
He said the legislation would expand federal support for safer bicycling infrastructure and bicycle safety education. Local leaders and advocates said safer and better-connected bike routes could also help save lives.
The bill would remove tariffs on imported bicycle components when they are used to assemble bicycles in the United States…
Other provisions would expand local access to federal funding to improve roadway safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.
What he did not explain was how he expects to get the bill through the Republican-controlled legislature, where it still hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing, let alone a vote.
The bill comes at a time when the US Secretary of Transportation is inexplicably attacking “DEI bike lanes,” and removing any reference to road diets, protected bike lanes or speed cams from government websites.
And no, no one else seems to know what a DEI bike lane is, either.
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He gets it.
Santa Barbara columnist Nick Welsh wonders why the “angry old coots” are getting so worked up over ebikes, while ignoring the real problem.
It’s the height of stupidity to tell other people how they should feel about anything. I, however, have never stopped trying. I figure, sooner or later, I’ll get it right.
Here goes. For the past couple of years, Santa Barbara has been held captive by a cabal of angry old coots who are addicted to being in the state of perpetual apoplexy. They call this disorder apoplexy nervosa for which, sadly, not even Jerry Lewis has found a cure. They have endlessly hijacked public meetings about the future of State Street, using these public forums as the megaphone through which to rail endlessly about the scourge and menace of e-bikes. (And yes, God will strike me dead with an e-bike.)…
If you need to be apoplectic about something, why not light your hair on fire about the “surge” in pedestrian deaths because Detroit insists on building bigger and higher trucks and SUVs and we — as premeditatedly stupid accomplices in our own undoing — happily and stupidly buy these trucks and SUVs.
Since 2009, we’ve seen hood heights “surge” from 30 inches to 40 to 50. This reduces drivers’ sightlines. Pedestrians go unseen. Whammo. With the lower hood heights of yore, their knees might have taken the brunt of the blow. But today, it’s their internal organs. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the United States averages 7,080 pedestrian deaths a year. Of those, the institute estimates 700 are due to the higher hood heights. By contrast, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports there are 30-to-45 e-bike deaths
a year.
Go ahead and read the whole thing. It’s more than worth your time.
We’ll wait for you.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Good grief. Bicyclists aren’t even safe on bike paths now, after a bike rider was run down by a hit-and-run driver on the CV Link multiuse path in Coachella over the weekend, leaving him with scrapes, a swollen leg and knee, and damage to his bicycle; according to News Channel 3, people driving on the pathway seems to be a common problem.
Bike hubs and indoor bicycle parking facilities were temporarily shut down in Middlesbrough, Stockton, and Hartlepool, England, as a local Member of Parliament warned that bicycling and walking should not be “treated as an afterthought.” If only.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Kenyons were suitably outraged after a large group of young bicyclists took over a Nairobi roadway popping wheelies and other “high-risk bicycle stunts” in an undated video.
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Local
The nonprofit LA Local says the death last week of a 60-year old homeless man at 7th and Vermont is a reminder that Los Angeles, and Koreatown in particular, remain too damn dangerous for pedestrians.
Streetsblog says Spectrum News 1 offers another “windshield perspective” view of the Pico Blvd Safety Project, which would remove parking to make room for protected bike lanes, among other things.
Vanity Fair interviews Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who is pictured wearing the classic P-22 CicLAvia T-shirt. And if that alone isn’t reason to vote for her, I don’t know what is.
Thanks to KABC-7 for making it clear that a man was killed and a woman critically injured in a Burbank collision involving an e-motorcycle, rather than just calling it an ebike. Although that doesn’t make it any less tragic.
State
Police in Laguna Beach cracked down on motorcycles and out-of-class ebikes, issuing 136 tickets, while failing to note that the problem stems from e-motos and illegally modified ebikes.
Bicyclists and residents of Woodside — as if the bike riders somehow aren’t “residents — packed a city council meeting Tuesday night to urge local leaders to push for stronger safety measures after a speeding driver killed a bicyclist earlier this month.
A 60-year old Los Gatos man suffered head injuries after his “bike was hit by a vehicle” Sunday morning; the story doesn’t mention that the vehicle had a driver until the final five words.
A San Jose bike rider is in critical condition after they were struck by a driver yesterday afternoon. Although judging by the headline, the victim was somehow injured after the crash, not during it. But at least the story mentioned the driver this time.
A San Francisco forum this evening will discuss how to build a bike lane. If you leave now, you could just make it.
National
The Cherokee Nation is now accepting applications for next year’s Remember the Removal bike tour, commemorating the infamous Trail of Tears.
The far-right Daily Wire discusses, among other things, “blowing up bike lanes,” which I assume does not refer to inflatable protective barriers. And no, I have not watched it.
Seriously? USA Today considers what’s driving the increase in ebike injuries in kids and teens, without considering even the possibility of e-motos, illegal dirt bikes and illegally modified ebikes.
Gadget Review recommends 15 smart bike gadgets that actually make bicycling better. But as they used to say in those golden early years of the internet, your mileage may vary.
A Boise, Idaho man who says he’s been riding for 50 years apparently can’t grasp the purpose of the city’s first protected intersection, criticizing the raised islands for posing a hazard for “group rides that can include 10 to 20 cyclists traveling close to 20 mph.”
For the 81st year, the Green Bay Packers started training camp with the players riding borrowed kids bikes to the first session, while children lined up outside for the honor of having one ride their bike.
International
Author Phil Cavell’s new book examines why bicycling appeals to so many neurodiverse people, with one cyclist claiming ADHD offers an advantage at. the starting line.
A Montreal runner and bike rider asks “Why can’t we all — motorists, cyclists, pedestrians — just get along?” Which is one of the best questions I’ve seen or heard all month.
A 51-year old English man is riding from North Wales to the southernmost point of Spain on a 36-year old bike to encourage men to open up and talk about their mental health, five years after he narrowly avoided taking his own life.
Who says bicyclists aren’t tough? A British man plans to ride 100 miles this month to raise money and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK, which is more than he’s ridden in the last three years — despite riding with a broken shoulder.
No surprise here, as almost three-quarters of UK bicyclists say distracted drivers put them at risk at least once a month.
In a story that reads like it was written by AI, a Kenyon website bizarrely identifies the victim of a bicycling fatality in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, but brings it home at the end by saying the death reflects a “global global urban planning deficit that prioritizes vehicular throughput over human life,” offering a grim parallel to the challenges faces by East African urban planners.
Unbelievable. An Indian circus performer known for his “daring bicycle stunts, including riding without looking ahead, balancing on the handlebars and standing upright while the bicycle was in motion,” was killed in a burial stunt, in which he was supposed to be buried underground for 24 hours, but was left there for 36 hours because the organizers refused to dig him up until the crowd donated the equivalent of $74; needless to say, he died of suffocation.
Competitive Cycling
Dutch cycling star Demi Vollering feels like she’s the only pro cyclist talking about the problem of racing during her period, and wishes more women’s riders would speak out.
Velo offers 21 hot takes from the recently concluded Tour de France.
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Finally…
That feeling when the cops decide it would “inappropriate” to release a video that led to a bike rider getting a ticket, after it had already gone viral when they released it the first time.
And an 11-year old San Clemente girl found her new best friend hiding in the bushes while she was riding her bike to Target, rescuing a small kitty she named S’mores.
Something that would have never happened if she’d been in her mom’s car.
@alaynanovini7 My sweet Madison found a kitten in need today on her bike ride. She is so scared. We took her to the vet and she is severely under weight and dehydrated. 16 weeks old and only 1.6 lbs. we gave her fluids and a dewormer. Next week will vaccinate her. Welcome home S’mores 🫶🏼😭🩷 #kittyrescue #kitten
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
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