But as last week’s twin bicycling deaths just five miles apart in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert make clear, the area’s streets remain dangerous for anyone on two wheels.
Too many streets are too wide, with speed limits too high, and offer too little protection for people riding bicycles. Or on foot.
Then again, they aren’t all that safe for people cars, either.
While the CV Link could provide a safer route for recreational riders, it won’t do anything to protect people traveling to and from the pathway, or for bike commuters who have to travel to and through areas unserved by the route.
Meanwhile, faster riders will undoubtedly face complaints from others on the path, and likely spur speed restrictions before long — if it doesn’t already have them — spurring many road riders to return to the streets.
So while the CV Link may offer a pleasant off-road alternative for some riders, it will do nothing to improve safety and reduce traffic violence on the valley’s deadly streets.
And people who walk, run or ride a bike will continue to pay the price.
After years of lawsuits and dithering by public officials, the city instituted a $9 charge for people driving into the heart of Manhattan, which will gradually rise in future years.
Despite complaints from motorists, the idea is not to punish drivers, but to reduce traffic congestion while raising millions of dollars for public transportation.
It’s something that has already proven successful in London and throughout Europe, which will inevitably give rise to the usual complaints of this is not (insert city here).
But it’s definitely worth trying.
And Day One reportedly went off without a hitch.
Yet while other major cities move forward with congestion pricing, Los Angeles is slow-walking its own Metro proposal, doing what our leaders do best — studying the idea, in hopes it will just go away.
Even that isn’t scheduled to begin until 2028, though, when a study focusing on central Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and the westside will finally launch.
Although they could probably save time by launching a study right now to see if they can find any elected officials willing to stand up to complaints from angry drivers.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
It’s official. The negligent homicide charge has been dropped against a DEA agent who blew through a stop sign, and killed a Salem, Oregon woman riding a bicycle, after a judge ruled he was entitled to federal immunity because he was on the job. Almost as if he was elected president or something.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
In both cases the driver remained at the scene. And just like the earlier case, there’s no word on how the crash that killed Petre occurred, or who was at fault.
Hopefully we’ll learn more soon.
Petre is the second bicyclist killed in Southern California this year, and the second in Riverside County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Patrick Petre and his loved ones.
January 3, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Bike-riding man suffers life-threatening injuries in Encinitas crash, and die-in next week to mark LA’s Vision Zero fail
Investigators say drugs or alcohol weren’t factors in the crash. But the age of the driver once again raises the question of how old is too old to drive safely.
Or at all, for that matter.
Anyone with information or video of the crash is urged to call San Diego County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeremy Collis at 760/966-3555, or email jeremy.collis@SDSheriff.org.
………
Meanwhile, it’s Day 3 of the Vision Zero failure here in Los Angeles.
That’s why a coalition of nonprofits and road safety advocates will once again host a die-in on the steps of LA City Hall next weekend to raise awareness of the need for safe streets.
As of this writing, traffic fatalities in the City of Los Angeles are expected to once again be above 300 for the third year in a row.
And yet, 2025 will be the 10th anniversary of the start of the Vision Zero program, a program aimed at reducing traffic fatalities to zero by 2025.
However, the core components of this program were watered down, removed, or underfunded within a few years of its start. The result is that in the last 10 years, there has been an 80% increase in traffic fatalities, primarily affecting pedestrians in underserved communities.
*A die-in is “a protest or demonstration in which a group of people gather and lie down as if dead.” (Oxford Dictionary) In our case, to represent the lives lost to traffic violence and protest the lack of effective action by our City and state leaders, as demonstrated by rising fatalities.
We aim to have 300 people in attendance, representing each life lost. Help us make this happen!
Date: Saturday, January 11th 2024
Location: Steps of Los Angeles City Hall 232 N Spring Street
Set-up Time: 8:30-10 AM
Press Conference & Die-In protest: 10 AM to 11 AM
Breakdown Time: 11 AM to 12 PM
Volunteers and Activists needed:
10 volunteers are needed for setup and breakdown.
300+ volunteer activists are needed to lay on the steps of City Hall during the press conference. White roses will be laid on top of those participating in the die-in to represent the over 300 lives lost in 2024.
What to Bring: We will have signs and poster boards to make signs. However, we also encourage you to bring signs emphasizing the importance of road safety, responsible driving, and the need for change.
Parking: Parking is limited and pricey around LA City Hall. It is recommended that you ride, walk, or take Metro Line B (exit Civic Center/Grand Park Station) to City Hall.
As both cyclist and driver, I don’t think we should pit ourselves against each other. Maybe try to share, rather than compete, for the space… and a little patience and tolerance would go a long way – especially to the @Ocado guy delivering people’s turkeys.
Streetsblog says the short bike lane extension on Reseda Blvd is the first LA project clearly forced by Measure HLA, adding a little more than the length of a football field to the existing bike lanes after the street was resurfaced.
That’s more like it. A 23-year old Las Vegas woman will spend the next 11 years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 32-year old man who was riding a bicycle; she was sentenced to 15 years for vehicular homicide with four years suspended, along with a concurrent term of three years for tampering with evidence, and 90 days for driving under the influence.
January 2, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Hardening Hollywood Blvd against New Orleans-style vehicular terror, and anti-ebike voucher editorial gets it all wrong
As expected, Los Angeles has now officially failed to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, as they committed to under the Vision Zeroprogram.
And still not one city official has commented on the failure.
Thanks to Ralph D, Johannes H, Brian N, John M, Glen S, Kevin B, Rob K and Greg M for their generous contributions to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!
And thank you to everyone who donated this year. I can’t begin to tell you how much your support means to me.
Meanwhile, I’ve had a full week to recover, and I’m tanned, rested and ready to rock and roll.
And my apologies to anyone who forwarded news this past week, because it’s after 3 am and I’m too damn tired to dig through my emails to credit everyone.
But I do appreciate the links, and thank you for your help.
………
Speaking of non-action by our elected leaders, yesterday’s vehicular terrorist attack in New Orleans is yet another reminder that there is absolutely nothing in place or planned to protect tourists and shoppers from a similar attack on Hollywood Blvd.
While there are plans for parking-protected bike lanes on the boulevard, that won’t offer any protection if cars aren’t present, and does nothing to keep drivers from accessing the sidewalk.
We need barrier-protected bike lanes and steel bollards along the full length go the Walk of Fame, and a secure pedestrian plaza at Hollywood & Highland, where the largest crowds congregate.
Because it’s virtually inevitable that we’ll see more attacks like this across the US in the years to come. And sooner or later, it’s bound to happen here.
The first complaint in the op-ed is that the total number of vouchers provided in the first round was relatively small compared to the large size of the California e-bike market. However, instead of suggesting that the budget be increased to help more Californians achieve transportation independence, as we called for recently, the editorial takes the opposite position of suggesting that the program simply be canceled.
Never mind that the rollout was deliberately throttled by program managers, who released just a small fraction of the available funds, despite knowing demand would far exceed supply.
And it did.
But somehow, the authors of the SCNG editorial saw limited rollout as a reason to kill the whole damn thing. Makes perfect sense. If your goal is to force everyone back into their cars.
That “gimmick” will have “imperceptible impact on environmental outcomes,” according to the senior transportation policy analyst at the conservative Reason Foundation, who argues it “confers private benefits on recipients, but will fall a social cost-benefit test.”
Maybe someone should tell him about the massive subsidies we all pay for motor vehicles, which confer private benefits on car owners at the expense of everyone else while killing our planet — along with tens of thousands of Americans every year — if he really wants to talk cost-benefit tests.
The authors somehow conclude that the roughly 1,500 vouchers released in the initial round would “goose” sales of ebikes in California just 0.78%, out of a guesstimated 192,000 annual sales. Which is a far better argument for releasing the full $38 million budget than for killing the program.
Let alone increasing it to a level equivalent to the state’s electric vehicle incentives, where it could have a far greater impact on our congested streets, air quality and warming planet.
Then, of course, they have to trot out the spurious argument that ebike injuries are soaring, as if they would somehow remain at an artificially low level while ebike sales and usage skyrocket.
Or that the voucher recipients might bring in devices from other states that could enable ebikes to exceed California’s 28 mph maximum. Maybe they could show the same concern for illegal devices that allow drivers to skirt other California regulations.
Or gun owners, for that matter.
Finally, they assume that “kids obviously will be driving many of the subsidized ebikes,” even though the program is limited to legal adults.
Not to mention the obvious windshield bias reflected in the term “driving,” which is what you do with a car, as opposed to riding a bicycle.
But that’s what happens when the authors shoot from the lip, without bothering to do even the most basic research to understand what the hell they’re talking about.
Ebikes are neither liberal nor conservative. And even the relatively paltry $38 million approved for full funding of the ebike voucher program amounts to nothing more than a rounding error on the state’s $291 billion budget.
So if the SCNG editorial board is feeling grouchy and in the mood to pinch pennies, maybe they should look somewhere else.
………
On a related subject, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Edward Clancy, the founder of San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, is no longer associated with the state’s Ebike Incentive Program, following multiple investigations into the organization.
However, a lot of questions remain about both Clancy and Pedal Ahead, including what role he still plays with the organization, and let alone what the legal name of the group is.
Which raises evstillen more questions of why the CARB is continue to work with a group that is so clearly in over their head, at best.
Because we should only use state funds to subsidize driving, evidently.
And Los Angeles Times readers warn we should brace ourselves for more collisions with ebike-riding teens along the beach. As if 1,500 vouchers given to low-income adults in need of transportation will somehow translate to countless more teens recklessly riding illegal electric motorbikes.
………
A new YouTube short explains why the owners of Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai cemeteries are wrong to keep fighting improved bike lanes along deadly Forest Lawn Drive.
………
A New York driver is caught on video illegally using the bike lane, squeezing by people on bicycles to bypass backed up traffic, until they get stuck waiting on a turning car.
I know you're super super important, but keep your cars out of the bike lanes. pic.twitter.com/vkatJ7Y1IY
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A writer for the National Review says Trump must end the non-existent war on cars, and somehow sees the transition to electric vehicles as part of a nefarious plot to “radically reduce the number of cars in circulation.” Which wouldn’t be a bad idea, even if he’s wildly off base. But you’ll have to find a way around the magazine’s paywall if you want to read it.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
No bias here, either. The Sacramento Bee reports that local police busted a 14-year old boy after he led them on a one-hour chase on an electric bicycle, at speeds up to 60 mph. Except anything that goes that fast is actually an electric motorcycle, since ebike speeds are capped at 28 mph, and even then only if they can hit that speed under pedal power.
The BBC asks if bike lanes can reshape “car-crazy Los Angeles” in time for the 2028 LA Olympics, by way of former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Twenty-eight by 28” transport plan; current Mayor Karen Bass says “As a bike rider, I certainly hope so.” Which appears to be the first time she’s uttered the word “bike” since becoming mayor.
Streetsblog editor Joe Linton does a little prognosticating and makes his predictions for the coming year, including the opening of South LA’s Rail to Rail walking and biking path, and the first lawsuit against Los Angeles for failing to live up to its commitment to implement the city mobility plan under Measure HLA.
That’s more like it. A 26-year old San Antonio, Texas woman can look forward to spending the next 12 years behind bars, after she pleaded no contest to killing an 18-year old man while under the influence of alcohol, cocaine and Xanax — not to mention failing her court-ordered breathalyzer tests six separate times in the lead-up to her trial.
Bittersweet news, as the wife of fallen bicyclist and NHL star Matthew Gaudreau gave birth to their son Tripp Matthew Gaudreau, four months after he and his brother Johnny were killed by an alleged drunk and overly aggressive driver while riding their bikes in New Jersey the night before their sister’s wedding.
The Grinch struck in Florida in the days before Christmas, as someone stole a “good amount” of cash from nonprofit bike-donation program Jack the Bike Man.
International
Momentum lists a dozen bicycling resolutions for the new year, from mastering the art of bicycle maintenance to becoming a bike advocate. My only resolution every year is not to make any resolutions. If you want to make a change in your life, just do it when and where you are, without waiting for some arbitrary date on the calendar.
January 1, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: Man riding a bicycle killed in New Year’s Day Rancho Mirage crash; first SoCal bicycling death this year
Well, that didn’t take long.
Just over ten hours into the new year, we’ve already seen the first person killed riding a bicycle in Southern California this year.
According to the press release, the driver of the SUV cooperated with investigators, and there was no indication that drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas of the Palm Desert Sheriff’s Station at 760/836–1600.
He was described as a world-famous golf photographer, known for “capturing and showcasing the beauty and subtleties of landscapes and golf courses worldwide.”
December 24, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Vision Zero fail 8 days away, 2x CicLAvia donations now, and cop threatens 13-year old for riding on sidewalk with no lights
Just 8 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, a decade of failure in which deaths have continued to climb.
Yet no city official has mentioned the impending deadline, or the city’s failure to meet it.
Thanks to William C, Steven F, Lorena C, Justin C and Joel F for their generous support to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!
This will be my last regularly scheduled news update this year, as I prepare to embark on my annual post-Christmas mental, physical and emotional breakdown, if I can just make it through tomorrow.
We’ll be back bright and early on January 2nd to catch up on anything important we may have missed over the next week.
And I’ll be around in case any breaking news needs your attention.
So please accept my best wishes for the holidays, however and whatever you celebrate. And may you and yours have a very healthy, happy and prosperous year to come.
Just remember to be careful out there, whether you’re riding, driving or walking. Because I don’t want to write about you or anyone else, unless maybe you interrupt your ride to rescue kittens from a burning building or something.
And a special thank you to everyone who has donated to this year’s fund drive. I can’t begin to tell you just how grateful I am.
Let’s just hope next year isn’t quite as challenging as this one has been.
Then he tackled the boy when he got off his bike, telling him to put his hands behind his back. And ended up threatening to tase the kid after he got scared and ran into his garage, while his brother called for their mom.
Yet the local police department insists the cop didn’t do anything wrong, although they did decide they need to rewrite the policy to require officers to identify themselves at the beginning of an encounter.
Gee, ya think?
And maybe teach their cops how not to escalate a situation that begins with a very minor traffic infraction committed by a little kid.
LA Metro will offer free rides all day today and New Years Eve on a buses and trains; the Metro Bike bikeshare will also be free from today through January 1st by using the code 010125.
State
Calbike considers the best and worst of 2024, from legislative wins to removal of the MOVE Culver City bike lanes. Although they criticized the short rollout time for the state ebike voucher program, without mentioning the botched launch itself.
Palo Alto is the latest California city to adopt Vision Zero, committing to eliminating traffic deaths within ten years. Let’s just hope they have better luck than some other CA cities I could name — and by “luck” I mean commit the money and resources necessary to actually improve safety, rather than just shove the plan on a shelf and forget about it.
Even though the local paper felt the need to note that he was riding brakeless, and wasn’t wearing a helmet, even though there’s no indication either had anything to do with it.
However, there’s still no word on how the crash occurred, or who may have been at fault. The driver stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators; he hasn’t been ticketed or charged, though the crash remains under investigation.
And yes, the paper still felt the need to comment, without context, that Rodriguez didn’t have brakes or a helmet.
Whether his bike had brakes only matters if he was somehow unable to stop before riding out in front of the driver or crashing into him. And Rodriguez’ lack of a bike helmet shouldn’t make any difference unless he suffered a head injury, or his other injuries may have been survivable if he had one.
Anyone with information is urged to call Oxnard Police Officer Ivan Sanchez at 805/385-7749, or email ivan.sanchez@oxnardpd.org.
This is at least the 55th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Ventura County.
December 23, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Fundraiser for Long Beach woman injured in hit-and-run, more on CA ebike voucher fail, and undercharging killer drivers
Just 9 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, a decade of failure in which deaths have continued to climb.
Yet no city official has mentioned the impending deadline, or the city’s failure to meet it.
Thanks to Jame S, Paul F, Patti A, David A, Penny S, SAFE, Patrick M and San M for they generous donations to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!
We usually never hear about bike riders injured by drivers unless someone gets killed.
If then.
That was the case once again in Long Beach this past October, when a staff member with the Long Beach Beer Lab suffered a spinal injury when she was struck by a cowardly hit-and-run driver while riding her bike to work.
A crowdfunding campaign has raised over $8,500 of the relatively modest $10,000 goal, which will likely cover only a small fraction of Julie’s medical expenses.
So it’s okay if you skip donating to the BikinginLA Fund Drive this year, as long as the money goes to help her out, instead.
“E-bikes help address two pressing problems in the state: pollution from transportation sources and the need to increase mobility options for people who need the boost the most,” said Lisa Macumber, Branch Chief of CARB’s Equitable Mobility Incentives Branch. “The program is a reflection of California’s innovation in finding air quality solutions and its commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind in a zero emissions future.”
And by targeting the program to lower-income people who need it the most — presumably meaning those without other means of transportation — they appear to be aiming it at people who would otherwise use relatively clean mass transit, as opposed to those who drive dirty gas-burning private vehicles.
Which would have exactly the opposite effect of addressing pollution from transportation source.
Just two more example of how badly this program has been planned and rolled out.
Yet she was only charged and convicted on a misdemeanor for killing the little boy, along with a second misdemeanor count she previously admitted to for deleting texts from her phone — including one sent just 11 seconds before the crash.
Kindhearted cops in Gilbert, Arizona gave a new bike to a six-year old girl, after hers was stolen during a recent trip to the park, when officers saw a post from the girl’s mom on Nextdoor.
San Francisco cops fatally shot a security guard as he worked outside the Dior store in Union Square, after a bizarre chain of events that began when an ebike rider allegedly scratched his SUV; he then hit two girls coming out of a Chipotle when he jumped a curb while chasing the bike rider with his car.
The Los Angeles Times considers the furor over the planned closure of San Francisco’s beachfront Great Highway, which will be transformed into a walking and biking path, as auto-centric residents launch a recall attempt against a local councilmember who backed the plan — apparently forgetting that the proposal was approved by city voters in not one, but two recent elections. Never mind that part of the highway is already falling into the sea.
Construction began on a “controversial” protected bike lane in Denver, after the city scaled it back to preserve parking spaces; a driver crashed into a home on the street Thursday night, which could have been prevented if the bike lane had already been in place.
Organizers of Cleveland’s St. Paddy’s Day parade claim they’re being pushed off their preferred street by a new bike lane, which the city’s mayor termed a “$25 million…once-in-a-generation infrastructure investment to improve traffic safety, provide equitable transportation options, and beautify the street.” Seriously, how much room do a bunch of drunk people need to stumble down the street, anyway?
Yet another study has confirmed that people who bike to work tend to live longer — this time an 18-year study involving more than 82,000 Scottish adults, which showed that bike commuting “significantly lowers the risk of early death, hospitalizations, and a range of chronic illnesses.”
A Thai social media influencer learns that hard way that if you’re going to film a video on the train tracks to promote bicycling to your followers, maybe do it after all the trains have passed.
Mathieu van der Poel is considering skipping next year’s Tour de France to concentrate on winning a world title in mountain biking, after underwhelming performances since making his debut in 2021.
That feeling when local officials ban parking in a bike lane, only to realize it was a typo. We may have to deal with flighty LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about getting chased by an ostrich; thanks to David Wolfberg for the heads-up.
Just 11 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, a decade of failure in which deaths have continued to climb.
Yet no city official has mentioned the impending deadline, or the city’s failure to meet it.
Thanks to Samer S for a generous donation to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming to your favorite screen every morning.
This year’s fund drive has seen 54 people give anything from $5 to $500. And trust me, I appreciate every dime, because I know how hard it can be to donate when money is tight.
Quite a few cyclists use Forest Lawn to get to car-free roads inside Griffith Park. It’s one of the flattest routes from the East San Fernando Valley to central parts of Los Angeles. Some cyclists avoid Forest Lawn because of speeding car traffic there.
Many drivers use Forest Lawn Drive to cut through the park to get on and off the 134 Freeway. Though the posted speed limits are 40-45 mph, drivers often exceed 50 mph on a road with limited visibility due to curves. Predictably, this situation results in crashes, injuries, and deaths.
According to the city Transportation Department (LADOT), from 2013 to 2023 Forest Lawn Drive saw 83 crashes, including three deaths/serious injuries. In December 2022, a driver was crushed to death (and another hospitalized) in a two-car crash in front of Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Yet for the cemeteries and their supporters, that’s no big deal. I guess when you have thousands of bodies already, what’s a few more?
Never mind all the close calls people have experienced that haven’t resulted in actual collisions. Which is why I stopped using the street, regardless of whether I was driving or riding.
According to Linton, commenters at a pair of recent public meetings, including a representative of the cemeteries, voiced concerns about a lack a lack of data from the city, and creating a permanent traffic disaster.
Even though the city had gone back to the drawing board after the initial designs were presented, conducting more traffic studies and watering down the project.
And even though the city had just presented their data, which showed that the project, which would reduce the current two lanes in each direction with one lane each way, along with bike lanes and a center turn lane, would have no noticeable effect on traffic times.
You can guess what the reaction was, often prefaced with “no one is against biking,” or the evergreen “I’m a cyclist myself.”
As Linton relates,
(Forest Lawn Memorial Parks CEO Darin) Drabing termed the city’s safety improvements “unbelievable,” “unfathomable,” “unnecessary,” and “punishing.” “I just find it unfathomable that we would have to take away fifty percent of the traffic flow in order to… make [bike lanes] more prominent and more secure.” (Note the LADOT does not anticipate taking away any of the traffic flow, but expects that reducing four lanes to three will easily accommodate existing and anticipated traffic.)
Mount Sinai’s Randy Schwab noted that he was in “total agreement” with Drabing. He spoke of “traffic accidents” occurring there “on a blind curve” but then reiterated his opposition to planned safety measures. “Bicycle activity is relatively low” on Forest Lawn Drive and, according to Schwab, “to reduce the traffic by cars by fifty percent” would be “catastrophic” and result in “back up throughout the area.”
Maybe someone could explain to them that a) the project is intended to improve safety for all road users, not just add bike lanes; and b) maybe the reason that “bicycle activity is relatively low” is that people just don’t feel safe riding there.
At the end of one of the meetings, Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council voted 14-3 to oppose the project.
Which isn’t saying much, of you’ve ever attended one of their meetings.
I have, and vowed never to go back after the rude reception I received, particularly from the head of the NC, who runs it like her own fiefdom.
Fortunately, the Neighborhood Council is merely an advisory board, and the final decision rests with CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman, who generally supports bikeways.
But money talks. And in Los Angeles, it too often screams, especially when huge corporations like Forest Lawn get involved.
So if you ride, drive or walk along Forest Lawn Drive — or would like to, if the damn thing felt any safer — take a few minutes to read Linton’s full article, and voice your support for the project on LADOT’s survey form.
Because we’re all going to end up someplace like Forest Lawn or Mount Sinai eventually.
But most of us would like to put that off as long as possible.
That’s true whether you were one of the estimated 100,000 people left frustrated when they tried to apply, or what’s probably an even larger group who decided in advance that it just wasn’t worth the effort, expecting the launch to go pretty much the way it did.
Count me in the latter group.
The only real surprise is that the demand didn’t crash the website, which I would have bet on.
The sad part is we can’t expect them to make any changes, because the launch went off as designed.
So they will continue to dribble out the remaining $35 million in funding just a few million at a time, throttling applications because the group hired to manage the vouchers apparently can’t handle the demand.
To call this a failure is being kind.
But it’s also a success, because this is exactly what they intended.
As long as you keep a clean driving record in California, you won’t have to take another driver’s test for decades, if ever.
Which means many, if not most, drivers on our streets have never been tested on recent law changes, and may not be familiar with them or modern street treatments.
So drivers end up confused by something that is only new to them. And too often, local officials respond by reversing the changes, rather than educating the drivers.
Keeping the roadway, and the people on it, just as dangerous as ever.
………
Gravel Bike California rockets around the hills of Whittier.
And if you might even get to see a recruitment ad for the CIA first, like I did.
A local men’s service organization in Navasota, Texas is hosting its third annual Bike and Electric Scooter giveaway this weekend, with plans to distribute over 1,000 bikes and scooters to kids. And no, I never heard of Navasota, either.
Police in San Luis Obispo arrested a 44-year old Bend, Oregon woman for the the July 23rd hit-and-run that killed an 87-year old man riding a bicycle, and injured a 74-year old rider; she had previously been arrested for a second crash that occurred minutes later, while driving at over four times the legal alcohol limit.
Fuming British residents slam “eco-vandalism” after ten trees were removed for a new bike lane, “all for the odd cyclist.” I freely admit to being more than a little odd, but…oh, they meant it the other way. Never mind.
Just 12 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, a decade of failure in which deaths have continued to climb.
Yet no city official has mentioned the impending deadline, or the city’s failure to meet it.
Thanks to Stephen C and Todd T for their generous donations to bring you all the best bike news and advocacy from around the corner, and around the world.
The California Ebike Incentive Program actually launched yesterday, so we can finally stop our failure to launch countdown, after nearly a full year since it’s previously promised launch date, and three-and-a-half years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law.
Now if they could just a) get their collective shit together, and b) at least make some effort to meet the demand.
I’m told this was the typical experience for people attempting to apply for an ebike voucher.
1) Attempt to login at exactly 6 pm
2) When that fails, attempt to login again, and again
3) Keep trying to login until you finally get in
4) Get a message saying you are in a very long line to apply
This message was received by someone attempting to apply at exactly 6:30 pm and 23 seconds.
That was followed by,
5. Attempt to login again an hour later
6. Get the following message when they finally let you in
So far, everyone I’ve heard from has had a similar experience. And I’ve yet to hear from, or even about, anyone who actually got a voucher.
Though I’m sure there has to be someone, somewhere.
Seriously, though we’ve been predicting this for months, if not years.
The initial funding of a paltry $3 million is ridiculously low for a state of 38 million people, even when limiting applications to lower-income residents, ensuring that demand would far exceed the available funds.
And outside administrator Queue-it appeared to throttle the application process, ensuring that only a handful of people fortunate to get in on the first or second try would even get a chance to apply.
I’m told the problem may have stemmed from Queue-it launching the program a few minutes early, so that people who attempted to log in at 6 pm had already been blocked by those fortunate few who coincidentally tried to login ahead of time.
Unless, of course, those people somehow knew the window would open before 6 pm. But that would be cheating, right?
At lease the website didn’t crash, as has happened in other states.
Let’s be honest, though.
This program, as now established, is just an underfunded joke.
Not around 1,500, which is how many ebike incentives were predicted to be funded in the first round.
And without the interminable three-month between application windows faced by ebike buyers.
While those EVs are much cleaner than gas-powered cars, they are still cars. They take up just as much space, and pose just as much risk to others as any other car, while contributing the same amount of particulate pollution from brake, tire and roadway wear.
Ebikes don’t.
Ebikes can easily replace car trips of up to ten miles – which represents the overwhelming majority of motor vehicle trips — while removing nearly one car for every ebike pressed into service.
Ebikes are also much cleaner than even zero-emission vehicles, requiring significantly less energy to operate, and contributing almost no wear and tear to the road surface.
And ped-assist ebikes work to improve the health of the user, unlike motor vehicles, which reduce life expectancies with every mile driven.
Never mind that limiting ebike rebates to lower-income residents is counterproductive in a state with more cars than people. Or that Pedal Ahead, the group administering the program for the California Air Resources Board, is currently the subject of a criminal investigation by the state DOJ.
Other cities and states have tied vouchers to a commitment to replace or reduce motor vehicle usage, making them more efficient at replacing motor vehicles than California’s misguided approach of only funding ebikes for people who may not be able to afford a car in the first place.
But at least the launch wasn’t a total shitshow.
So there’s that.
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Early indications are that the lane reduction and protected bike lanes on east Hollywood Boulevard are improving safety, according to councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez.
But as usual, that’s not good enough for local business owners, who complain that their apparently nearsighted customers can’t see their stores, since they now have to park a few feet from the curb.
Sure, that makes sense.
They also complain that drivers have to wait while other cars park, and that fewer lanes cause traffic to slow down.
Which is kinda the point, yes.
Although that would seem to benefit local businesses by making their businesses more apparent to drivers who would otherwise speed past, just like they did before.
Ghost bikes make drivers uncomfortable, which is exactly the point, reminding them to drive safely because the cost could be another human life.
And they make city officials uncomfortable, because they offer a stark reminder of their failure to build streets that protect the lives of their residents.
So while they may offer some silly excuse like ghost bikes are unsightly, or get in the way — as if officially sanctioned objects like homeowner trashcans don’t — the real real reason can be found in their red faces, sweaty brows and tight collars.
This is who we share the road with. A police chase has once again taken the life of an innocent victim, this time in Fullerton, where a driver fleeing from the cops caused a multi-vehicle pileup, killing a woman in her 60s; this was the suspect’s second crash of the chase, which really should have convinced pursuing cops to break it off and track him by other means just a tad less risky to the public.
It’s back behind bars for a former Florida bridgetender convicted of failing to look before opening a drawbridge while a woman was walking across it, causing her to fall to her death; she will now serve ten years for violating her probation for the original conviction by smoking cannabis to help her sleep. Then again, I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I caused that, either.
A Toronto collision sent two pedestrians and a man riding a bicycle to the hospital with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries, after they were collateral damage in a multi-vehicle crash. Once again pointing out the danger motor vehicles and the people who drive them pose to everyone around them.
Then again, they aren’t all that safe for people cars, either.
