There’s no information about the victim, or how the crash occurred. And the U–T story doesn’t even mention what kind of vehicle was involved, let alone whether it had a driver.
In fact, there’s no mention of a driver at all.
Hopefully, we’ll learn more later.
This is at least the 28th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year; however, it’s the seventh that I’m aware of in San Diego County already this year.
Update: The victim has been identified as a man, but no name or age was given. The driver was ID’d as a 39-year old woman in a GMC Yukon SUV.
According to the latest reports, the victim, who was riding a Motiv ebike, was headed south Monterey Crest Drive when he allegedly entered the intersection directly in front of the westbound SUV.
Given the size, flat front and high-clearance of the SUV, there’s little chance of survival if the truck was traveling at speed.
As always, however, the question is whether there were any witnesses other than the driver, particularly given the rural intersection at dusk.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
Yin died at the scene after hitting his head on the sidewalk.
Initial reports indicated that both Skene and the woman sharing the scooter with him suffered minor injuries; it’s illegal for two people to share a scooter under California law.
Skene was arrested on a DUI charge.
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Yet another clickbait study professes to rank America’s best bike cities.
The report, from lawn care company LawnStarter, rated the 200 largest cities based on criteria ranging from bike lanes per square mile to fatalities and air quality.
For instance, LA’s crappy roads were unsurprisingly in the bottom 25% in terms of road quality, checking in at 163 nationally, while San Francisco came in two ranks lower.
Yet despite that, San Francisco just edged out Portland for number one, while my Colorado hometown checked in at number three.
Los Angeles came in at a deservedly low, low 145 overall, just beating out Bakersfield.
Yes, Bakersfield.
SoCal cities making the top 100 were
Orange 37
San Diego 48
Pasadena 51
Ontario 53
Long Beach 57
Irvine 58
Huntington Beach 59
Garden Grove 64
Torrance 66
Santa Ana 77
San Bernardino 89
Escondido 96
Rancho Cucamonga 98
Santa Monica is evidently too small to make the list, while all the other SoCal cities on the list joined Los Angeles in the bottom half loser’s bracket.
Outsidesays 2021 is the year of the bike, and gathers stories from the past year to give you all the information you need to get going or take your riding to the next level.
A moving piece from a Canadian writer, who celebrates the open streets and low traffic of pandemic era Toronto — despite the death of his own father, who was killed by a driver while riding his bike less than 20 minutes from his Nova Scotia home.
Scottish cops will don plain clothes and get on their bikes to enforce the country’s safe passing laws this summer, as researchers suggest everyone who regularly rides a bike in the UK will experience a pass so close it can frighten them off their bikes. It’s no different over here, except police are more likely to insist that three-foot passing laws are unenforceable. And yes, I’m looking at you, LAPD. And LA Sheriff’s Department. And CHP. Thanks to John McBrearty for the heads-up.
Thanks once again to Matthew R for his monthly donation help keep this site coming your way every day; donations of any size are always appreciated, no matter how large or small, whether recurring or otherwise.
June 1, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on “Elderly” Venice man killed by drunken e-scooter user, white woman orders Black prof off “her” road, and ebike bias in CO
Tragic news from Venice, where an “elderly” man was killed when he was struck by an e-scooter user.
Make that an allegedly drunk scooter user.
The crash occurred around 9:45 pm Saturday on Lincoln Blvd at East Marco Court.
According to a report for KABC-7, the scooter rider was allegedly 1) illegally riding on the sidewalk, while 2) illegally carrying a woman passenger on the back, and while 3) wasted.
The victim, who was described only as elderly, or by other accounts, older — which could mean just about anything — died at the scene after hitting his head on the sidewalk.
Both people on the scooter suffered minor injuries, while the man operating it was arrested at the scene for DUI.
It’s unclear whether he can be charged under the state law prohibiting driving under the influence, or the statute prohibiting biking under the influence, which carries a much lower penalty.
This serves as yet another tragic reminder that sidewalks are intended for pedestrians.
While it’s legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in some California cities, you’re required to operated it safely, without posing an undue risk to people on foot. And basic human decency demands that you give as much space as possible and warn people before passing.
On the other hand, it is always illegal to ride an electric scooter on the sidewalk, or with a passenger.
And never while drunk or stoned.
Although I’d much rather see someone ride a bike or scooter while under the influence of anything than get behind the wheel of a car, which posses a much greater risk to everyone on the road.
But as this crash tragically shows, you can still pose a needless — and potentially fatal — risk to others.
Black University of Washington med school professor Edwin Lindo went out for a bike ride while on vacation, and ran into a white woman — aka a “Becky” — who literally told him he couldn’t ride his bicycle on the road she paid for with her property taxes.
Although this comment from an Aspen mountain bike instructor totally misses the mark.
“This is a framework of why it’s so important for e-bikers to have etiquette because they are now powered up with a weapon, really, that goes 20 miles an hour,” he said. “I say ‘weapon’ because now they can hurt themselves and others pretty easily.”
Never mind that it’s pretty easy to do 20 mph on a road bike, without a motor. And not that unusual on a mountain bike.
And while there’s no shortage of rude and/or inexperienced bike riders, no bicycle is a weapon, unless someone — like a cop, for instance — picks it up and uses it that way.
There’s there’s this bit of advice, which they apparently think is so important that it was repeated verbatim in a caption.
Though you may be tempted to ride side-by-side with your friends or family members so you can chat on your e-bikes, always ride single file and as far to the right as possible, unless you’re passing. This gives other cyclists and cars an opportunity to pass you safely.
Where do we even start?
This is sort-of decent advice for trail riders, but horrible for those riding on the road.
Yes, try to keep to the right on trails so faster riders can pass you. Unless you’re the faster rider, in which case you should pass politely.
And try not to ride abreast if it means clogging up the trail so others can’t enjoy it.
But on the road, riding like a gutter bunny puts you a greater risk of unsafe passes.
Most authorities, like the League of American Bicyclists and Cycling Savvy — and even Caltrans, for those of us in California — tell you to ride in the center of the lane, unless there’s a shoulder wide enough and clean enough to ride safely.
Riding two or more abreast in a single traffic lane can also increase your visibility and help hold the lane by forcing drivers to move into the next lane to pass you.
It’s also legal to ride abreast in many states, but check the law where you ride before trying it.
Like here in California, where police sometimes misapply the requirement ti right to the right to ticket people who ride abreast, even though there’s not one word prohibiting it under California law.
And they may not get it right where you are, either.
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Meet what may be LA County’s first protected bike lane.
A group of Black women rode from Harlem to DC, covering 250 miles in 65 hours to replicate a ride taken by another group of Black women 93 years earlier, while raising funds to provide good used bikes to people in need.
You’ve got to be kidding. An Irish driver walked when he was acquitted of dangerous driving for slamming into a group of bicyclists, and killing a 34-year old woman — despite coming around a blind curve at high speed on the wrong side of road — in part because the victim may have fallen off her bike before the impact. Never mind that she was probably just trying to get the hell out of his way to avoid getting killed.
We’re taking a little different format today, after dealing with last night’s breaking news left too little time for the usual links.
But with far too much news to ignore.
Meanwhile, Friday means we’re finally on the cusp of the summer’s first three-day weekend.
So assuming you’re still here reading this, remember that holidays typically mean more drunks on the road, as people barrel into their cars after outdoor gatherings, or to make another drunken beer run.
So get out and enjoy the great weather. And by all means, ride your bike.
Just ride defensively, and assume ever driver you see after noon today has had a few. Or more than a few.
Chances are, you won’t be too far off.
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Call it much ado about nothing.
Or how to look like you’re doing something to improve bike and micromobility safety, while actually doing as little as possible.
As we’ve pointed out before, sharrows serve little or no actual purpose, failing to grant riders a single right or inch of pavement to which they weren’t already entitled.
People on bicycles are already legally allowed to ride in the full lane in any substandard lane. Which means any that isn’t wide enough for a bike rider to safely share the lane with a motor vehicle, while remaining outside the door zone.
A definition that applies to most right lanes in Southern California.
At best, sharrows remind riders to position themselves in the center of the lane, while providing wayfinding and directing riders to presumably safer streets.
At worst — which is usually how they work — they merely position unsuspecting people directly in the path of angry drivers who fail to comprehend what the strange chevron-shaped symbols are for, while the little arrows simply serve to help them improve their aim.
In this case, the sharrows appear to be an attempt to shunt bike riders and micromobility users onto quieter side streets, and get them out of the way of entitled motorists on larger arterials, while providing more space for parking.
Yes, they want us out of the way so they can store more of the cars they aren’t using.
South Bay COG even pats themselves on the back, saying the network is likely to win an award of innovation.
Apparently forgetting that sharrows ain’t infrastructure, and don’t improve safety.
But the already weak network was weakened even further when representatives from Torrance and other cities were assured that participation in the plan was strictly voluntary.
Seriously, it’s nice that they are trying to do something, even if their motives are highly questionable.
But in this case, it seems like it really is the least they could do.
Illustration from South Bay COG.
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Speaking of Linton, he forwards news that long-suffering users of the LA River bike path will have to keep on suffering.
After years of closures due to flood control measures by the Army Corps of Engineers — and the damage they caused — as well as multiple bridge construction projects, the pathway north of the LA Zoo is closed once again.
The section from Victory to Zoo Drive will be shut down until future notice to repair damage and deterioration to the path.
Which is apparently engineer speak for “don’t hold your breath.”
According to an email from LADOT, the agency must first find funding for the project before a timeline can be announced.
Let’s just hope the work can be finished before next winter’s rains cause further damage, or put a halt to construction work.
Assuming we get any rain, which is far from guaranteed.
In the meantime, LADOT will once again be putting up signs to mark yet another detour.
Finley was on his way to join the Ride For Black Lives on January 16th of this year, when he became the victim of a horrific careening crash as a speeding carjacker tried to make his escape through DTLA.
Following the collision, the thief simply walked away, bizarrely carrying the truck’s steering wheel, as the popular father of two lay dying in the street.
Now LAPD investigators have used DNA evidence to identify 36-year old Ronald Earl Kenebrew Jr. as the suspect, charging him with murder for Finley’s death.
They didn’t have to look far to find Kenebrew once they got a hit on DNA collected from the truck; he’s been in the custody of the Sheriff’s Department since February on suspicion of robbery.
He was also identified from security videos of the suspect as he walked away.
Normally, I say something like let’s hope they lock him up for a long time.
Thirty-six-year old Virginia Christine Lewis Brown was arrested after speeding through a through a vaccine tent in a mall parking lot, yelling “No vaccine!” as workers dove out of her way.
Witnesses described her as driving at a high rate of speed, while she somehow claimed she was only doing a sedate 5 mph.
If convicted on all counts and sentenced to the max — which is unlikely — she could face up to 105 years behind bars.
Which somehow seems slightly worse than getting a little jab in the arm.
Although he told police he was just “varmint hunting.” Which is an odd way to describe your daughter’s husband.
He faces charges of “simple assault, making terroristic threats and possession of drug paraphernalia, as well as with the summary offenses of public drunkenness, harassment, criminal mischief and hunting without a license.”
I think we all know what he was hunting.
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Bike racing fan Peter Flax recommends Indiana University’s iconic Little 500 — the race made famous in Breaking Away — if you just can get enough.
If you are thirsty for more bike racing, I heartily recommend watching the men's race of the Little 500. The last 20 laps are highly entertaining. https://t.co/4nAXnJkKgopic.twitter.com/8lvk2taASB
The Orange County Register identifies him as Huntington Beach resident John Crouch, while placing the time at 1:38.
Investigators allege Crouch was attempting to cross the six lane highway against the red light when he was run down by a 23-year old Bloomington man, who has not been publicly identified.
Crouch was unresponsive before being taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver stayed at the scene, and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence; no word was given on whether he was suspected of being drunk or stoned
There’s also no word on whether there were any independent witnesses who saw Crouch run the light; however, the intersection was likely to be busy at that hour, which raises the possibility that it was seen by multiple people.
This is at least the 27th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year; however, it’s just the third that I’m aware of in Orange County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for John Crouch and his loved ones.
The 32-year old musician was just 12 years old when he costarred with Jack Black and Joan Cusack in the hit movie, despite a lack of acting experience.
He had just formed a new band that performed live for the first time over the weekend.
Clark was riding a bicycle early Wednesday when he was struck and killed at a notoriously dangerous intersection on the Northwest Side. He was hit by a Hyundai Sonata around 1:20 a.m. in the 2600 block of North Western Avenue, Chicago police said.
Paramedics found him on Logan Boulevard and took him to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:04 a.m., according to the Chicago Fire Department and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 20-year-old woman, was issued several citations, police said.
Maybe someday, we’ll decide that too many people have died because of motor vehicles and the people who drive them, and actually do something about it.
But like gun violence, we seem to just talk about it, and look the other way.
The bill would provide purchase incentives to increase the affordability of ebikes by through subsidies for up to 10,000 people, similar to the $7,000 subsidies the state provides to buyers of electric cars.
Combined with a proposed federal tax rebate for ebike buyers, it could dramatically cut the cost of ebikes to replace motor vehicle use.
Maybe a jump in ebikes would finally push more California cities to provide safe spaces to ride them.
Rose Creek bikeway – 2 miles of a barrier protected bike path – is officially open! This is another section of the 44 mile Coastal Rail Trail that runs from Oceanside to San Diego near the railroad tracks. Thrilled to represent as the Chair of @SANDAG! pic.twitter.com/LoHnnF8mxS
— Catherine Blakespear (@Cblakespear) May 26, 2021
I definitely could have used that when I lived down there years ago.
Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up.
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A new video from Streets For All examines the true cost of LA’s freeway obsession.
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This is who we share the road with.
A road raging Maserati driver in DC got out of his car and opened fire on a woman with her two kids in the car, then apparently turned and shot at witnesses in another car.
A gunman in DC driving a Maserati opened fire on a mother just for cutting him off. She had her 2 kids in the car and was shot in the shoulder. There's a $10,000 reward for anyone who can help identify him. pic.twitter.com/AtplXaON2h
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) May 26, 2021
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A bike rider was injured during a New York bicycle protest to mark the first anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police, after he jumped on the hood of a Volkswagen as the driver tried to push through the crowd of protesters.
Meanwhile, a second bike rider was injured by the driver as they tried to speed away.
A Mad City woman was busted for throwing a bicycle at another person during a large disturbance. No word on whether she was actually riding it or if she just grabbed the nearest thing she could throw.
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Local
The Sourceoffers a preview of today’s Metro Board meeting, which would finalize the route for the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit line along Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock, as well as consider highway funding and free bus and train fares for students and low income people.
Nice story from Redding, where the community got together to raise funds to buy a new ebike for a school security guard and coach who suffers from a hereditary form of neuropathy; after the fundraiser surpassed the $2,500 goal, a local organization said they would pay for the bike, and use the funds to customize it for his disability.
An associate professor at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University will ride across the US this summer to raise funds for public education; Dr. Chris Willis will take the Adventure Cyclists Association’s northern tier route, passing through 51 school districts he hopes to help fund at the end of the trip. You can donate to his trip here. Thanks again to Tim Rutt.
May 26, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Able-bodied mtn biker confronts disabled ebike rider, Metrolink helps promote bikes, and redesigning LA’s worst intersections
A video from last fall has popped up again, causing fresh outrage online.
Justifiable outrage, for a change.
David Wolfberg forwards a story from Boing Boing that picks up a video we posted last September, showing an able-bodied mountain biker complaining about a disabled rider’s adaptive ebike, and demanding to see the rule allowing him to use it on the Indiana trail.
Maybe you’ll remember it.
Lord knows I do.
The story doesn’t end there, though, as reprehensible as this uncomprehending attack on a disabled man is.
Morris…has since said he has been in touch with Terry Coleman, the deputy director of Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR), who told him that his bike was perfectly legal to ride on trails.
Morris said: “What I’m on is not an e-bike, it’s an adaptive piece of equipment. And adaptive equipment is allowed on all of the trails throughout all of Indiana. So if you’ve got this equipment, get out and use it, use it in the state parks, use it on these trails.”
Morris also said Coleman told him that the DNR had actually just bought 12 “off-roading wheelchairs”, to give disabled people in the state more access to trails and paths for leisure activities.
So the next time you find tempted to criticize someone else for some infraction, real or imagined, think twice.
Then don’t.
There may be some reason why they’re doing what they’re doing. And it doesn’t really matter whether you understand or agree with it.
Because it’s not your job to enforce the rules, any more than driveway vigilante drivers have the right to enforce their interpretations — or misinterpretations, more often — of bike laws on you.
Try a little empathy and understanding instead.
And maybe make this world a little better for all of us in the process.
Image by Michael Gaida from Pixabay.
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Remember this tweet the next time someone insists Los Angeles isn’t (insert more progressive city here).
Metrolink is teaming with the LACBC to promote bicycling as Bike Month sinks slowly in the west.
We've teamed up with the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition (@lacbc) to promote the many benefits of cycling as an alternative transportation choice that improves our health and our environment in Southern California. Head to our blog to learn how: https://t.co/8pmx74pNN7pic.twitter.com/hTpO3xYTt6
And particularly now that it’s getting safer to get back on a train.
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Great thread from 18-year old housing and transportation enthusiast Zennon Ulyate-Crow, who is doing the work LADOT should be doing to reimagine some of LA’s most problematic intersections.
Inspired by this tweet, I’ve started a new art project where I’ll be slowly redesigning all the intersections people listed in this thread, alongside other dangerous streets, to make them safer for all. https://t.co/K4uJQ4gtxH
Here’s his latest project, which turns an East Hollywood mess into something we could all live with.
My next intersection is Hollywood/Virgil/Sunset/Hillhurst on the border of #CD13 and #CD4. I removed the car connection to Sunset Dr. and changed Virgil St. to a three lane configuration, continuing the already existing road diet from Santa Monica. pic.twitter.com/CoRaXeK6ly
Let’s hope LADOT is already keeping an eye on him, with the promise of a job once he gets his degree.
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Speaking of LADOT, it seems the ostensibly progressive department ostensibly focused on Compete Streets still hasn’t gotten the message of the mayor’s Green New Deal — that we have to reimagine our streets and how we get around if we’re going to meet the city’s climate change goals, let alone survive.
Or maybe they still have old school engineers on staff who retain their focus on automotive throughput, as an obsolete plan to widen Burbank Blvd rises from the dead.
With auto-centric crap like this is still being pushed by Metro and LADOT, maybe we can’t afford to wait, and need to get Ulyate-Crow working there now.
Or better yet, running it.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to instruct you in how to wear a bike helmet.
#DidYouKnow: When it comes to a bicycle helmet, one size doesn’t fit all. It may take time to ensure a proper helmet fit, but your life is worth it. Learn more about proper helmet fit today: https://t.co/Kp40W736xYpic.twitter.com/LW4RYvRXc7
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. San Carlos has installed a bicycle dismount zone where people are supposed to get off their bikes and walk them across an intersection to “minimize conflicts between vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists.” Even though bike riders have every right to just ride across the damn street.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Streets For All introduces Destruction for Nada, a much-needed campaign to stop all highway widening in LA County, as Metro considers an induced-demand boosting jump in highway spending at Thursday’s board meeting, along with a proposal to kill the wasteful and destructive $8 billion plan to widen the 710 Freeway. It’s long past time all of Metro’s funding was shifted to transit and Complete Streets.
The post-pandemic reopening is raising a debate over the streets of San Francisco, as advocates call for keeping closed-off streets carfree, while drivers insist they need the roads open to get around. That’s a debate that should be happening in Los Angeles, as well, as the city faces an urgent need to reimagine how people get around in order to meet climate goals, and confront the ever-increasing congestion on our streets. But isn’t.
San Francisco installs the city’s first advisory lane, where bike riders use bike lanes on either side of the street, while drivers in both directions share a single center lane.
Sad news from Northern California, where a man riding a bike in Cottonwood was killed by a hit-and-run driver who just left him on the side of the road to die. As we’ve said before, in cases like that, the driver should face a murder charge once they’re caught for making the conscious decision to let their victim die.
A Chicago man took an “epic” bike ride across Indiana just to dine at the nearest Waffle House. Although the real story is how he was able to make almost the entire trip on offroad bike paths.
Island Pressintroduces Bike Easy, which has played a significant role in the remarkable transformation of New Orleans into a bike friendly — or at least, friendlier — city.
A Canadian girl got a new BMX bike for being honest enough to return a bike a stranger had given her, after learning it had been stolen. Although the question is why did a stranger give her a stolen bike to begin with.
International politics once again reaches into the sports world, as Germany responds to the hijacking and apparent torture of an opposition journalist in Belarus by pulling out of next month’s Elite Track European Championships in the country. And yes, that’s the right move; hopefully other countries will follow their lead.
Bike helmets are designed to protect you against a traumatic brain injury (TBI), yet testing them in a way that mimics real-world falls and collisions has been lacking, a new study suggests.
Current manufacturer methods tend to test helmets with falls from right angles, which is how you’d land if the bike was stationary.
The research describes a new method of helmet testing where crash test dummies hit the ground at an angle as they were moving—basically, the way you’d actually fall off a bike.
However, previous research indicates helmets still significantly reduce the risk of skull fractures and other TBIs, so it’s important to wear one while riding.
That last point is important.
I probably wouldn’t be here now if I hadn’t been wearing mine during the infamous beachfront bee incident — which is exactly the kind of relatively slow speed fall bike helmets are designed to protect against.
Not the high speed collisions most drivers seem to think.
But even with one, I still spent a night in intensive care, and the better part of a week in the hospital.
That’s also the only time I’ve needed one in four decades of riding.
Studies have previously shown that the flat grills, high hoods and high road clearance of today’s trucks and SUVS — let alone their ever-increasing size — are a key factor in the rising rate of traffic deaths in the US.
And while it might be helpful to know which vehicles pose the greatest risk, it’s pretty meaningless if that’s as far as it goes.
There needs to be additional action to force improvements for the lowest rated vehicles, such as fines that increase with each drop in safety ratings.
Or better yet, force the SUVs and trucks with the worst safety rating off the road. Then give the next lowest tier five years to improve their safety before removing that one from the road, too.
And keep going until every truck and SUV qualifies for the highest safety rating — which, chances are, none do now.
Yes, safety ratings are a good idea.
But ratings without action will just mean more needless deaths on our streets.
The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition is hosting a webinar tonight to discuss how to live your life carfree.
Tomorrow! Yeah, we can haul, groceries, and kids, and large objects, and packages with our bikes. And live without a car. And you can ask how we do it. It's the GREATEST CAR-FREE ZOOM SHOW ON EARTH! Tues., May 25 at 5:30pm.https://t.co/LhXGTVOPu9pic.twitter.com/ozrE3lyPFY
— MOVE Santa Barbara County (@SB_BIKE) May 24, 2021
Then again, all you really need is three simple steps.
Step 1: Sell your car.
Step 2: Buy a bike.
Step 3: Ride it. Everywhere.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Once again, someone has sabotaged a bike trail in the UK, planting upright spikes on a Scottish mountain bike path where they were most likely to trap, and possibly seriously injure, unsuspecting riders. And once again, this should be treated as the serious crime it is, not just a mere prank.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Micromobility providers are ready to roll out again as America reawakens from its coronavirus slumber, including Santa Monica-based Bird and West Hollywood’s Wheels.
A 64-year old San Diego man suffered serious injuries when he was cut off by a driver pulling out an alley in the North Park neighborhood, and slammed his ebike into the side of the car; the victim suffered a broken ankle, in addition to other non-life threatening injuries.
The Santa Rosa bicyclist who died last week after he and another bike rider were hit by an alleged drunk driver was a skilled winemaker with the Gary Farrell Winery in Healdsburg; the 12-year old boy who was also injured was not related to him, and just happened to be riding in the same area.
In case you need a refresher, the Southern Nevada Bike Coalition explains how to correctly wear a bike helmet. First step, make sure it’s not on backward, which I’ve somehow seen too many times.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee is reintroducing The Human-Powered Travel in Wilderness Areas Act, which would allow local managers to decide whether and how to allow bicycles in wilderness areas; the original bill expired in the previous congressional session before any action was taken.
A street-racing Liverpool man was sentenced to two years behind bars and banned for driving for four years for slamming into a man on a bicycle, leaving the victim with lasting brain damage after languishing in a coma for a full month; the 28-year old future inmate recently suffered a stroke, which he describes as “karma.” The other driver was sentenced to 13 months.
A London police commissioner called for a ban on e-scooters before their wide rollout in the city next month, warning that more people will be hurt. So wouldn’t it make sense to ban cars instead, since they hurt far more people, more seriously?
May 24, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Record setting 109-year old French bicyclist Robert Marchand dies, and Stupid Driver Tricks on the bike paths
We can’t be too sad for someone who leaves this world after an exceptionally long, eventful — and record setting — life.
The former truck driver, lumberjack and firefighter didn’t take up bicycling until he was 68, never realizing that he would ride for another 40 years. And set a number of age group records along the way.
(Marchand) cycled from Paris to Moscow in 1992 and set the 100-kilometer (62.14-mile) record for cyclists past the age of 100.
In January 2017, he set a world record in the 105-plus age category — created especially for him — by riding 22.54 kilometers (14 miles) in one hour on the boards of the Vélodrome National near Paris.
I’m now waiting for a rival,” he said at the time.
Three years earlier, Mr. Marchand had covered 26.92 kilometers (16.73 miles) in one hour to better his own world record in the over-100s category.
After a life like that, we should mourn, not for him, but for those of us who are left behind, and will miss Marchand dearly.
— Darwin BondGraham (@DarwinBondGraha) May 23, 2021
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Everyone knows bikes and brews naturally go together. Especially now, when tipping one back can help support the LACBC.
Each month @highlandparkbrewery donates the proceeds of a special food item to help support nonprofit organizations, and for the month of May, we are grateful to be featured! Highland Park Brewery focuses on good people, adventure, and fun with a strong community of cyclists! pic.twitter.com/VNrwaI77bX
CD5 Councilmember Paul Koretz and LADOT presented plans to close the infamous Northvale Gap in the Expo Line bike path, with construction scheduled to be completed by 2025 — 13 years after the Expo Line opened. More evidence that Koretz supports bikes — as long as they don’t inconvenience drivers in any way.
Over 25,000 people commented on the proposed update to the MUTCD — the bible of traffic engineering. Four hundred of those came from NACTO, including calls to end the deadly 85th percentile law, and make ending traffic deaths a guiding principle of the document.
The former leader of Britain’s Labour Party is one of us, despite not learning to ride a bike until he was 50. And he calls for a much-needed two wheeled revolution in the country’s transportation system.
Life is cheap in Spain, where a 32-year old woman is expected to spend less than four years behind bars after pleading guilty to the drunk driving deaths of three triathletes on a training ride, and critically injuring two others; with time served, she’ll likely be released in just six months — despite a failed drug test and a BAC nearly four times the legal limit.
A New Zealand court denies a driver’s effort to get out of her sentence for the meth and weed-fueled crash that killed a man riding a bike, despite already having her sentence cut from nearly two years behind bars to a cushy 10 months of home detention. And despite the fact that another man is in prison the drunken crash that killed her own son.
Police respondeding to the crash found a man lying unresponsive on the north side of the road.
Witnesses reported the driver was headed west on Oceanside when he or she slammed into the victim, who has not been publicly identified. That was corroborated by physical evidence.
There’s no word on which direction the victim was traveling or where he was positioned on the roadway. However, there is a bike lane in both directions on Oceanside, with the intersection controlled with a traffic signal.
There’s also no word on whether he had lights on his bike at that hour.
The driver was arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence, with police also seizing their car.
Anyone with information is urged to call Oceanside Police Collision Investigator Clint Bussey at 760/435-4412.
This is at least the 26th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
