Like the death of a bike rider in Laguna Niguel on Thursday.
Thursday evening, OC bike lawyer Edward Rubinstein forwarded a post from Nextdoor, which said Alicia Parkway was closed after a bike rider had been struck by a driver.
That was followed by an unconfirmed response stating the victim didn’t make it.
Sadly, that was followed by the tweet below, confirming a man in his late 60s was killed.
The tweet places the site of the crash at Alicia Parkway and Awma Road, at the entrance to Alisa Woods Canyon Park.
A response from Jim Martin suggests the crash may have been in the northbound lane.
Looks like Northbound, Lane 3/Left turn pocket. Lots of bikes cross there. No light, though a ped crossing light ~100 yards South that cars often blow at 60+ mph.
Unfortunately, no time is given. However, the email from Rubinstein came around 8 pm Thursday night, while the first Nextdoor post came nine hours earlier, placing the crash sometime before 11 am Thursday.
There’s no description of how the collision occurred.
A street view shows a six lane speedway, with just a stop sign on Awma. According to Rubinstein, the painted bike lane on Alicia was removed in a recent repaving and hasn’t been restriped yet, leaving riders at the mercy of drivers who frequently exceed the 50 mph speed limit.
The placement of the victim’s bike next to the center divider suggests he may have been trying cross the roadway and didn’t make it. But it’s also possible it was knocked there by the force of the impact.
There probably won’t be any bikes involved this time, even though the foster corgi’s owner is one of us, too.
It’s a beautiful story.
And if I know Nita, she’ll tell it beautifully.
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OC bike lawyer Edward Rubinstein has forwarded a Nextdoor post saying a bike rider was seriously injured in a collision on Alicia Parkway in Laguna Niguel on Thursday, along with an unconfirmed report that the victim didn’t make it.
There normally is a painted bike lane on Alicia, but it was removed in a recent repaving and hasn’t been restriped yet, leaving riders at the mercy of drivers who frequently exceed the 50 mph speed limit.
Update: Sadly, we have confirmation a man in his 60s was killed.
Thanks to everyone who helped confirm this year’s ride. There are far too many to thank here individually, but I really do appreciate the help from all.
Speaking of Denver bike lanes, a new survey shows 80% of Denver residents support bike lanes, even at the expense of parking or travel lanes. It’s long past time someone did a survey of Los Angeles voters, which might surprise some of LA’s less than bike-friendly councilmembers.
Unbelievable. A Michigan appellate court rules a bike rider was at fault for a crash after he got high the night before and might have been looking at his speedometer, even though he was left-crossed while he had the right-of-way by a driver who wasn’t looking. And the driver allegedly admitted fault.
C/netloves GM’s new ebike foldie, which is designed to solve the first mile/last mile problem. And says it’s a shame it’s only available in three European countries right now.
The study found that parking noncompliance rates across the five cities were far higher for motor vehicles (24.7% of 2,631 motor vehicles observed) than for micromobility vehicles (0.8% of 865 scooter and bike observations).
Food delivery and ride-hailing vehicles accounted for a disproportionate number of improper parking incidents impeding access or mobility for other travelers, Klein said. Most of these violations occurred while dropping off or picking up people or food, including double parking, occupying “No Parking” or restricted areas and blocking driveways.
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It looks like the COVID-19 coronavirus may be affecting the bike world for awhile.
That classic ’70s steel racing bike you’ve been dreaming of can be yours if you’ve got a mere nine grand lying around somewhere.
Your wait for a 1977 Eddy Merckx Kessels Reynolds 531 Bicycle with 1st generation Campy Record in Fiat Team colors is over. 56cm. The bike apparently was found in the bowels of the Gent velodrome. It's yours for $8,965.https://t.co/SKLBH0sbb2pic.twitter.com/lDZU0gxCjF
A city councilor in Regina, Saskatchewan wants to force all bike riders to wear helmets, whether children or adults. Which simply forces the burden of safety onto the people on bikes, rather than building safer streets so helmets aren’t needed, or making drivers put down their phones and pay attention.
No surprise here, either. An Irish study finds that four out of every five bicycling injuries occur on city streets, and nine out of ten injured riders were hit by cars. Maybe because that’s where the most bike riders and drivers are. And because cars pose a risk to anyone who’s not in them.
Mark you calendar for the track nationals in Carson this summer.
Mark your calendars: The 2020 @usacycling Elite/Jr Track Cycling National Championships are coming to the VSC, July 20-26, and it’s going to be something. #TrackNatspic.twitter.com/rqhWIeXIgc
The Monday night crash in Garden Grove left a man in critical condition with major head trauma.
And yes, the victim reportedly had the right-of-way.
Not that it mattered.
Garden Grove resident Victor Medina was arrested a quarter-mile away when police found his Chevy Suburban with major front-end damage, while Medina showed signs of intoxication.
Anyone with information is urged to call Garden Grove Traffic Investigator Paul Ashby at 714/741-5823.
Let’s hope the victim makes a full and fast recovery.
In other words, what some of us do every day, anyway. Virus or not.
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A quick reminder that CicLAvia isn’t the only open streets game in town.
March Madness is upon us! Come on down to Beach Streets University where we have entertainment for the entire family. From the trackless train, art installations, rock climbing, live music, BMX demo, and FREE youth skate lessons. March 21st is just around the corner. pic.twitter.com/DkLNE7FsgJ
A new interactive map shows the most dangerous places for bike riders in Santa Clara County. Although Robert Leone questions whether defense lawyers will use it to argue that bicyclists should have known better than to ride there. Or that their clients can’t be guilty, because officials should have fixed the problems right away. Which they should, but still.
Residents of a Las Vegas neighborhood want a new bike lane removed because they didn’t see a lot of bike riders riding there before it went in. Which is kind of like saying they didn’t see a lot of cars crossing the desert before the roads were built, either.
Life is cheap in Iowa, where a retired cop walked with a shameful two years probation for the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle. If you ever wonder why people keep dying on our streets, the failure of our court system to hold drivers accountable for killing people — let alone fleeing the scene afterwards — is Exhibit A.
No bias here. A Staten Island op-ed argues that speed cameras placed near schools are just a money grab, because if officials really wanted drivers to slow down, they’d say where the cameras are. That way drivers could slow down for half a block to avoid a ticket, then speed up and resume putting the lives of little kids at risk.
March 3, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Metro proposal would remake Westwood for bikes and pedestrians, and first world digital bike conference this month
Metro recently sent out a letter looking for input on a draft first mile/last mile plan for the upcoming Westwood/UCLA Purple Line Station.
Although the deadline for comments is today, unfortunately.
Westwood/UCLA Community Members:
As you aware, Metro is developing a First/Last Mile (FLM) Plan for the Westwood/UCLA Station Purple Line Station. At this time, we invite your feedback on recommended plan improvements prior to Board consideration this Spring.
The Plan is intended improve this “first last mile” experience for users of the future station by identifying projects for efficient access and safety. Projects identified in the Plan are then positioned for further study as part of a preliminary design phase through early 2021.
The conceptual plans included with this email are a product of over a year of field research, consultations, and community engagement.
Please carefully read the instructions and returned your completed comment form to me (liebj@metro.net) byTuesday March 3, 2020.
The comment form can’t be attached on here, so send your comments to the email address above.
There’s a lot to like here.
Especially the promise protected bike lanes on Ohio, as well as Westwood Blvd through Westwood Village — despite CD5 Councilmember Paul Koretz’ pinky swear promise to Village business owners that he’d never allow bike lanes on Westwood Blvd.
Let alone protected ones.
It also includes plans several bike boulevards throughout the Westwood area, otherwise known euphemistically by the City of Los Angeles as bicycle friendly streets. Which raises the question of whether any of this has been run by the city’s transportation department before being released.
And whether it has the support of LADOT and city leaders, or if it’s just the planning equivalent of vapor ware, waiting for Koretz or someone else to shoot it down.
The San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, is hosting the 30th annual San Diego Bike to Work Day on May 14th, and wants your help to pick the color of their official T-shirt. I’d vote for purple, especially if they feel like sending me one. Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.
Nearly 200 bike riders took part in a Chico charity ride to raise funds for bicycle safety and advocacy; the annual Tour de Ed Bike Ride began in 2008 after a local bike advocate was paralyzed in a bicycling crash.
When you’re making plans for the upcoming weekend, clear some time for the Tour de Murrieta,; rather than road races, it’s actually two days of crits, which are more fun to watch anyway. Thanks to Robert Leone for the link.
Thanks once again to Matthew Robertson for his monthly donation to support this site, which comes just in time to pay my email service fee every month.
March 2, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Killer drunk driver walks free after 23 days, racist bike-hater gets probation, and 1/2 mile extension for Chandler Bikeway
My thanks to everyone who sent me links over the weekend.
Because of today’s overstuffed post, and the need to sleep sometime tonight, I’ll try to catch up on the rest tomorrow.
Which wouldn’t exist if Metro and the city hadn’t caved to a handful of NIMBY homeowners who were afraid thieves would ride bikes up to their homes to steal their flatscreen TVs.
No, really.
Because apparently, criminals don’t drive. And couldn’t accomplish the same thing by just driving up to their front doors.
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Why is it that bike safety goes out the window whenever someone wants to make a movie in Los Angeles?
A British driver complains that a mountain biker plowed into his car as he was stopped at a red light, then brutally attacked him when he got out to see if the bike rider was okay, while a young boy begged the attacker to stop. Although something tells me there might be another side to the story in which the driver is not wholly innocent.
Some people just don’t get it. A St. Paul letter writer says no one can commute or carry groceries on a bike, and people will stop riding when they get older. All of which is refuted by people who do it every day.
A new report from the International Transport Forum concludes that 80% of bicycling and e-scooters fatalities involve motor vehicles and the people who drive them. And traffic safety will improve if car, truck and motorcycle trips are replaced by scooters and bikes.
London is dropping speed limits to 20 mph in areas of the city used most by pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists. Which compares to speeds of 45 mph or more on some LA streets.
My blood sugar crashed suddenly as I was working on today’s post, and took me down like a shot. Within a matter of minutes, I went from feeling okay, to sick as a dog and down for the count.
Which is just one more reason why I miss the Corgi, who used to warn me about my blood sugar before it got that bad.
In addition to calling for a 30% improvement in bus speeds, it calls for the development of active transportation corridors for walking, bicycling and micromobility, with “at least one major regional project and one neighborhood-oriented network per year.”
It now goes before the full council, and if approved, will require LADOT to respond with an implementation plan this July.
So what we basically have is a motion for a plan.
And as we’ve learned the hard way, Los Angeles is very good at coming up with plans, but not so good at actually putting them on the pavement.
Like the 2010 bike plan. Or the more recent halfhearted non-embrace of Vision Zero.
Perhaps sensing the growing frustration, Transportation Chair Mike Bonin had this to say.
If we want a real #GreenNewDeal in LA, we need more bus lanes, better active transportation, EV charging infrastructure, and more — and we need to implement, not just promise. That’s what I’m pushing as chair of Transportation Cmte. https://t.co/5u9cJAMyy9
But only 35 percent of bike riders and 28 percent of people who walk to work concurred. Which tells you that the overwhelming majority of people who walk or bike to work actually like it.
As opposed to the overwhelming majority of people stuck in traffic who don’t.
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Once again, science confirms what most of us have already figured out.
More on the near-fatal crash that sent renowned LA chef Walter Manzke of Republique fame to the ER with several broken bones; he was getting out of his car near his upcoming new bistro Bicyclette when he was run down by the driver, who stopped, for a change.
A San Diego man is suing the city, claiming its new pump track is too dangerous because it allows bike riders and skateboarders to use it at the same time — even though the injuries he’s claiming came in a “brutal attack” by a boarder, rather than a crash.
No bias here. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, if you’re not white, male and earn $250,000, the city’s bike lanes aren’t for you. Except, of course, for the 75% of regular bike lane users who earn less than that, and the 33% that are female. Or who don’t otherwise fit with their highly skewed premise, based on notoriously unreliable census data.
Mumbai is working to become bike-friendlier with bike mayors for each of the city’s 24 districts, along with two junior bike mayors. Which is about 26 more than you’ll find in Los Angeles.
If you’re riding your bike with a stolen handgun, a sock full of meth, ten fake or stolen IDs, a criminal record and an outstanding warrant, maybe try riding a little closer to the curb. Ramming your bike into a police car is not likely to hurt it — or help you get away.
If you have the patience to click through all 51 pages, you’ll see we’re in good company here in the late, great Golden State, with San Francisco checking in at #3, followed by San Jose at #4.
Also in America’s top — or maybe bottom 50, you’ll find San Diego at #12, Riverside at #16, Sacramento at #18, Fresno #27, and Bakersfield at #31.
Yes, Bakersfield.
The good news, though, is that Los Angeles has only the 31st worst traffic worldwide. So it could be worse.
And probably will be if we keep adding more and more cars to the streets, without providing safe alternatives to driving.
Although Southern California is well represented by San Bernardino (#3), Chula Vista (#6) and Bakersfield (#11).
Yes, bucolic, fog-shrouded Bakersfield is the only SoCal city to make both unlucky lists. If you want to stretch the definition of Southern California a little.
However, the point of the second list is to show how many of those people killed in each city were wearing helmets at the time of the crash. Bakersfield checks in with a big, fat zero, as does Chula Vista; San Bernardino does a little better with 14% helmet use.
As always, though, there’s no breakdown on how many of those people died as a result of head injuries, or whether their injuries might have been survivable even with a helmet.
So take it with a grain of salt. If not an entire bag.
But you might want to be careful riding in Bakersfield.
Naturally, the driver played the universal Get Out of Jail Free card, claiming he never saw the victim until he was on his hood.
But about a month later, the guy on the bike was sued in small claims court for $900 in damages to the car that hit him.
Somehow, though, the location of the crash described in the suit moved from a surface street to an Interstate highway. And instead of rear-ending the victim, the driver claimed the guy on the bike hit him while pedaling at 60 mph.
Or maybe 80.
When a reporter asked him about the bike’s remarkably high speed, the pizza man claimed it was doable if the victim was riding an expensive bike.
So maybe those $12,000 or more bikes are worth it, after all.
Despite telling officers he’d had just one beer four hours earlier, his BAC measured 0.17 — over twice the legal limit, or “super drunk” under Michigan law.
But he will get eight days credit for time served.
Just to be clear, alcoholism is a disease.
But deciding to get behind the wheel after drinking — or on the saddle of a motorized bike — is just plain, old fashioned stupidity.
That’s exactly the kind of truck that killed nine-year old Nicholas Vela in Anaheim in 2009, because the driver couldn’t see a little kid riding his bike in the crosswalk directly in front of him after he stopped for a stop sign.
I’ve never forgotten the sheer, effing needlessness of Vela’s death, all because a driver somehow felt the need to jack up his pickup to the maximum level allowed by law.
Something tells me he never will, either.
Maybe someday someone can tell me why machines like this are even allowed on the streets.
Calbike is hosting their annual California Dream Ride down the Left Coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles in October. And not only are ebikes allowed, they’ll let you borrow one if needed.
It may not be the carfree street that’s been discussed, but San Francisco’s Valencia Street will be getting protected bike lanes, complete with protected intersections.
February 25, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Bike registration and green transportation at LA council this week, new CicLAvia to the sea, and selective enforcement in NYC
Mea culpa.
Once again, I accidentally hit the wrong damn button and posted this piece before it’s ready.
Except I can almost guarantee someone — Koretz, perhaps, maybe Cedillo — will argue that it should be mandatory, taking us back to the bad old days when police used missing registration stickers as a pretext to stop bike riders, particularly when their skin tone was something other than white.
The police are proposing a partnership with a still-unnamed nonprofit bike registration program, allowing easy online bicycle registration and reporting of stolen bikes.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s exactly what you’ll find with the links to Bike Index at the top of this page — with the exception that reporting with them doesn’t currently link to an online theft report with the LAPD, though that would be easy enough to fix.
However, it’s also what you can find with their only major US competitor, Project 529, formerly known as the National Bike Registry.
At this point, it’s not clear whether they will announce their choice at today’s meeting, or if they’re only looking for authorization to set up a program with a company to be named later.
A New York bike rider complains about getting a ticket for not having a bell on her bike when she stopped to take pictures of three cops ticketing a bicyclist for not using the bike lane.
And ignoring scofflaw drivers in the process.
Meanwhile, there are double parked cars everywhere and cars stopped in the crosswalk as pedestrians are trying to cross. I asked the officer why they’re not ticketing them also and he said, “I’m using my discretion” pic.twitter.com/PrSiLsvcCD
Not only did an ebike rider soundly defeat a driver in a race through LA traffic, he even beat the camera crew — despite giving them a half hour head start.
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Best argument for universal single-payer healthcare, as former pro Phil Gaimon gets shafted stuck with a quarter million dollar hospital bill following a crash, despite being insured.
I'm insured, I was brought to an ER unconscious, and I owe $250,000. https://t.co/yhkF2KtAwo
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.
An English bike rider barely escapes a close call when a driver pulls out directly in front of him. Note to bike riders: Edit down your bike cam videos. No one needs to see a full minute or more of peaceful riding before some idiot in a car does something stupid.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Streetsblogoffers an open thread on Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make this one, because I being interviewed, along with a couple other people, for a story about the foster corgi; hopefully that one will appear in print and online in the next week or two.
Bicycling calls the new $2,200 Batch E-Commuter ped-assist ebike an affordable and efficient solution for bike commuting and other daily outings. Evidently they have a different definition of affordable than the one I use.
Someone stabbed a Chicago man after knocking him off his bicycle as he rode on a bike path, for no apparent reason, in an apparently random attack before running off and leaving him there. Special thanks to Block Club Chicago for that lovely photo of the victim’s blood pooled on the ground inside the crime scene tape. Really nice.
No bias here. A Long Island NY town is preparing to crack down on “objectively moronic” teenagers who pop wheelies while impeding motor vehicle traffic, by impounding their bicycles. If they think that’s bad, just wait until they hear what drivers do.
This is who we share the road with. A Florida man spent the day drinking at a bar, accidentally ran over his girlfriend after leaving the bar, then went back to the bar to keep drinking; remarkably, investigators waited several hours to administer a blood test, by which time he had sobered up. He had also gotten arrested a year ago for attacking a bike rider after nearly crashing into him.
A group of Australian bicyclists will ride sans skid lids to protest the country’s mandatory helmet laws while promoting the benefits of bike riding. Just keep on depressing bicycling rates by fining people hundreds of dollars for riding without a helmet. It’s not like the country is literally burning or anything.
Competitive Cycling
Bicycling asks the burning question of whether road bikes are already as good as they can get, or if there are still better ideas being stifled by bike racing’s governing body. I’d put my money on the latter, but what the hell do I know.
