For once, police in Los Angeles didn’t wait to ask for our help.
According to a tweet/X post from the LAPD, the department is asking for the public’s help in finding a hit-and-run driver who killed a man riding a bicycle Koreatown Thursday afternoon.
The victim, identified only as a man in his late 60s, was riding south on Harvard Boulevard when he was run down from behind as he approached 11th Street around 12:30 pm.
He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver kept going without stopping, and was last seen driving south on Harvard. Police described the suspect vehicle as a dark green Chevy Silverado pickup truck, no model year given.
Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD West Traffic Division detectives at 213/473-0234. As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the driver in any fatal hit-and-run in Los Angeles.
This is at least the 45th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 15th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; this was also the eighth we’ve learned about in the City of LA.
Drivers have fled the scene in 15 of those fatal bicycling crashes in Southern California since the first of the year, a pace of one out of every three fleeing the scene.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
Day 269 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Please forgive yesterday’s unexcused absence.
I had the birthday from hell on Wednesday, highlighted by a broken refrigerator, and losing my wallet on a Metro bus.
And learning that for some inexplicable reason, while drivers can request a replacement license online and get it a few days later, anyone who doesn’t drive has make an appointment to go to the DMV in person to request a new ID, then wait weeks for it to arrive in the mail.
Just one more way non-drivers are treated like second class citizens in the state, however you get around.
Which is exactly the opposite of how it should be, since it’s the people in the big dangerous machines who pose a risk to everyone around them.
NPR offers eight biking and walking safety tips they say might save your life. Most of which seem reasonable, although they think you need to turn off your earbuds at every intersection. Even though no one ever tells drivers to turn off their eight speaker surround sound systems in their soundproof, hermetically sealed motor vehicles, at intersections or anywhere else.
A grieving family filed a lawsuit against the city of Everett, Washington, four months after a 13-year old boy was killed when he rode his ebike into a dangerous cable that should have been removed; it was only taken down after the Mexican Consulate intervened, warning that other kids could get hurt.
A group of Atlanta residents came together to build their own $10,000 DIY bike lane — but instead of ordering its removal, city officials encouraged it as part of the city’s tactical urbanism program. Something Los Angeles officials have clearly never heard of, since they immediately remove any DIY safety improvements.
International
An Edmonton, Alberta TV station shares a moving tribute to a local physician who “gained thousands of followers on Twitter by sharing his real-time insights on ICU struggles, physician burnout, and public health policy” after he was killed in a mountain biking crash. Thanks to Megan for the link.
A man was killed when he was run down from behind while riding a bicycle in Oxnard Thursday morning.
According to the Ventura County Star, the victim was riding north Vineyard Ave when he was struck by northbound semi-truck driver. The paper places the collision in the city’s Del Rio neighborhood, just north of Simon Way on Vineyard shortly after 10 am.
There’s no identity for the victim or the driver at this time. There’s also no word on why the driver apparently didn’t see someone riding a bicycle directly in front of him in broad daylight.
The victim was taken to the Ventura County Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.
The driver remained at the scene and assisted the fallen bike rider.
Anyone with information is urged to call Oxnard Police Corporal Manuel Perez at 805/385-7750, or email manuel.perez@oxnardpd.org.
This is at least the 44th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in Ventura County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
A San Diego County road improvement project including bike lanes “appears to reduce lane capacity and a road diet that is hostile to motor vehicles,” a US Department of Transportation official wrote, rescinding a $1.2 million grant it awarded nearly a year ago.
In Fairfield, Ala., converting street lanes to trail space on Vinesville Road was also deemed “hostile” to cars, and “counter to DOT’s priority of preserving or increasing roadway capacity for motor vehicles.”
Officials in Boston got a similar explanation, as the Trump administration pulled back a previously awarded grant to improve walking, biking and transit in the city’s Mattapan Square neighborhood in a way that would change the “current auto-centric configuration.” Another grant to improve safety at intersections in the city was terminated, the DOT said, because it could “impede vehicle capacity and speed.”
In other words, anything that might slightly inconvenience anyone in the big, dangerous machines, or somehow inhibit their ability to go “zoom, zoom” to their heart’s content is now on the chopping block, regardless of how much it might reduce congestion or how many lives it could save.
Never mind that some of Trump’s own supporters ride bicycle, and demand for better bike and pedestrian safety and active transportation networks is rising in both red and blue states.
And despite the desire of government officials to return to a more petroleum-driven past, canceling projects like this will do nothing to reduce congestion or improve safety, while likely having the opposite effects.
The world is rapidly urbanizing, and experts predict that up to 80 percent of the population will live in cities by 2050. To accommodate that growth while ensuring quality of life for all residents, cities are increasingly turning to technology. From apps that make it easier for citizens to pitch in on civic improvement projects to comprehensive plans for smarter streets and neighborhoods, new tools and approaches are taking root across the United States and around the world. In this thoughtful, inquisitive collection of City Tech columns—originally published in Land Lines magazine and updated with new reflections and resources for the book—Rob Walker investigates the technologies that have emerged over the past few years and their implications for planners, policy makers, residents, and the virtual and literal landscapes of the cities we call home.
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People For Mobility Justice is co-hosting a bike tour of Eastside toxic sites next weekend.
Canada’s new Vancouver Crossing Loop offers a 314-mile gravel route that begins and ends in Victoria, British Columbia; the trail is designed for ebikes and beginners, as well as seasoned bicyclists. However, what they’re seasoned with remains to be determined, although they are known to be somewhat salty.
A Scottish van driver was sentenced to six years behind bars for killing a 32-year old father who was riding his bike to work, while he was busy reading paperwork instead of watching the road — and he was somehow still working as a commercial driver, despite nine previous traffic violations and a history of illegal drug use.
Day 266 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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No surprise here.
It turns out that Xavier Omar Rigby, the 22-year old Florida man accused of killing a 38-year old woman riding an ebike — then driving eight blocks with her body lodged in his windshield before falling off — is a repeat offender.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, he admitted to drinking alcohol and smoking weed after he was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road two years ago. Although the Daily Mail reports prosecutors plea bargained the charged down to just reckless driving last year.
The Daily Mail also says this wasn’t even Rigby’s first hit-and-run, since he was involved in another hit-and-run in 2022 — three years before killing the bike-riding Florida mother last week.
Oh, and when police arrested Rigby this time, they found him at a liquor store about a mile from the crash scene.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
That’s more like it. A pair of British men have been sentenced to life behind bars on murder charges for deliberately driving their pickup into a couple of young men riding ebikes, after chasing them on the wrong side of the road when they mistook them for burglars; the driver will have to spend at least 34 years in prison before he can be considered for parole, while his passenger was sentenced a minimum of 29 years.
Authorities in the UK have arrested six men and one woman for attempted murder after intentionally crashing into an 18-year old bike rider; five of the suspects have already been released on bail. Must have been a very crowded clown car.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Colorado magazine recommends eight fall bike rides in and around Denver. Which was always my favorite time to ride when I lived in the city, after the tourists were gone and the students in class, the air was crisp and cool, and the leaves turned vibrant colors.
Life is cheap in Colorado, where a 46-year old man walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a bike rider; he received just one year of probation and a lousy 20 hours of community service as part of a very lenient plea bargain.
A Montreal PhD candidate crunches the numbers, and finds that despite the bikelash, bike lanes only take up 2.3% of the city’s roadways, with infrastructure for the big, dangerous machines claiming the other 97.7%.
The victim, identified as 53-year old Chino Hills resident Micah Pan, was riding on the 5200 block of Eucalyptus Ave around 6:35 pm when he was struck by the motorist, who drove away leaving him lying in the street.
Pan was taken to a local hospital, where he died.
Police arrested 28-year old Chino resident Jazmine Carreto on suspicion of hit-and-run causing injury, which is likely to be increased to hit-and-run causing death when she is arraigned.
There’s no word at this time on how the crash happened, or how police identified Carreto as the suspect.
Anyone with information is urged to call Chino police investigators at 909/334-3116.
This is at least the 43rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.
Pan is also the 14th bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver in Southern California since the first of the year, meaning one out of every three drivers who kill bike riders in SoCal flee the scene.
His patients remember him as a family man dedicated to his wife and children who was kind, professional and had a positive impact on those around him.
The driver, Jazmine Carreto, was arrested in Upland about five hours after the crash, and released on bail Sunday evening; no court date has been scheduled yet.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Micah Pan and his loved ones.
Day 265 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with some people?
The debate at West Hollywood City Hall that resulted in approval of the Complete Streets makeover of Fountain Ave last Monday was acrimonious.
To say the least.
And in any such debate, some people will inevitably be upset by the result. But why take that anger out on a memorial for a victim of traffic violence?
It was two months ago, nearly to the day, when Blake Ackerman’s ghost bike was installed, as his friends and loved ones, many of whom had flown in for his funeral, carefully attached photos and inscribed messages on the bike.
In the two months since, it has been carefully maintained, as someone — whether family members or friends — kept it clean and replaced the flowers before they could whither.
Then sometime after that contentious vote, some vindictive vandal destroyed all that.
According to the WeHo Times, the heartless destruction occurred sometime overnight, with the vandal ripping up photos and signs, dumping flowers and shattering vases. But at least they left the bike itself alone.
A photo taken the next morning showed shards from broken vase next to the sparse white bike.
It broke my heart to pass by in the days since, knowing the love and grief that had been poured into it.
So I resolved to buy a bunch of flowers to put on his bike, just to show that someone cared, and that hate and rage can’t be allowed to win.
But before I got there on Sunday, someone had beaten me to it, placing a small bunch of flowers in the basket, and adorning it with artificial white roses.
Maybe others in the community will be inspired to add to it, showing that we care, and sending a message that love is stronger than hate.
They swerved around him, with one boy letting out a scream as them continued down the path.
But instead of leaving him behind, the man chased the kids, and knocked the victim off his bike when he caught up to him. Within seconds, the man was on top of him, repeatedly punching the kid with one hand while holding a knife in the other, shouting that he was going to kill him.
The boys then recorded the man stomping of the victim’s ebike, cutting the cables and slashing the tires as they cried out for help.
The attack only ended when a Good Samaritan stopped his car and got out to help, and the attacker slunk away into the night.
The boy, whose name has been withheld, was lucky to escape without serious injuries.
Sheriff’s deputies are looking for a muscular white man with a mustache in his 30s or 40s, who was riding an orange bicycle.
If you think you know this jerk, call the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at 661/260-4000
Riding a bike is associated with a 19% lower risk of all-cause dementia and a 22% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, compared with taking nonactive travel modes such as a car, bus or train, found the study that assessed nearly 480,000 participants from Great Britain and published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Physical activity has long been associated with lower dementia risk in multiple studies, so much so that the 2024 Lancet Commissionidentified it as one of 14 factors responsible for preventing or delaying approximately 45% of dementia cases. More than 55 million people worldwide have dementia, a number expected to nearly triple by 2050.
An enterprising — or maybe desperate — Santa Fe, New Mexico bike rider started a fire to signal police, after he was the victim of a hit-and-run driver fleeing the cops after allegedly choking a family member; police arrested the 24-year old man on DUI and hit-and-run charges, as well as domestic violence and false imprisonment. Yet he was somehow still on the road despite three previous DUI convictions.
The Road Cycling World Championships are under way in Rwanda, with Remco Evenepoel winning his third consecutive time trial; Jay Vine finished second and Ilan van Wilder third, while Tadej Pogačar just missed the podium in fourth.
One victim died at the scene, while the other was hospitalized.
There’s no word on exactly where on the trail around Lake Murray that the crash occurred, but people who know the trail say there are a number of blind curves where you wouldn’t see someone coming from the opposite direction.
There’s also no information yet on the identity of either victim, or the condition of the survivor.
This is at least the 42nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
Authorities say he was not wearing a helmet, but while the medical examiner’s report says he died of blunt force trauma, it does not indicate whether he suffered a head injury.
The other victim was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for David Engler and his loved one.
And best wishes for a full and fast recovery for the surviving victim.
Day 262 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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This is who we share the road with.
A San Diego driver is under investigation for a fatal Long Beach crash that appears have been the result of road rage.
The Times of San Diego reports that two drivers were weaving through traffic on eastbound Seventh Street at high speeds when one of the drivers, in a 2023 Tesla Model 3, crashed into the rear of a box truck carry hazardous materials, killing the driver and injuring two passengers. The driver of the Tesla was also taken to a local hospital with undisclosed injuries.
Fortunately, none of the hazardous material was released.
The other driver, in a dark-colored Subaru, apparently fled the scene.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Collision Investigation Detail Detective Ashley Van Holland of the Long Beach Police Department at 562/570-7355, or anonymously at 800/222-TIPS (8477).
Not that we weren’t told they had been 86’d long before now, while still managing to manage the latest round of incentives, where they finally got it right.
Although it certainly makes you wonder what the hell took them so long.
Sad news from Atwater, near Merced, where someone riding a bicycle was killed by a driver near the local high school. Although the story didn’t even mention that the car had a driver until the last sentence.
Alameda is joining “Week without Driving,” a national campaign sponsored by American Walks and Disability Rights Washington to get people to leave their cars at home for the week of Sept. 29 to Oct. 5. Or at it’s known here in Los Angeles, just another week to clog the roads and run over anyone in your way.
The Washington Postdigs into the story of French ultra-endurance bicyclist Sofiane Sehili, who was arrested for illegally crossing into Russia from China while trying to set a record for the fastest crossing of Eurasia by bicycle, despite having a valid visa to enter the country.
Day 261 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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They get it.
Well, some of them, anyway.
As we mentioned on Tuesday, the Complete Streets makeover of Fountain Ave in West Hollywood will go forward, after a seemingly endless multi-year process.
One that saw far too many avoidable deaths and injuries along the way, along with countless dollars in property damage.
Sam Mulick, a reporter for the Beverly Press & Park LaBrea News, reported on Monday’s West Hollywood City Council, where the first phase of the Fountain Ave redesign was approved on a 3-2 vote.
Councilmembers John Heilman and Lauren Meister cast the no votes, while Mayor Chelsea Byers, and Councilmen John Erickson and Danny Hang voted yes.
I’ll let you read Mulick’s story if you want Heilman’s and Meister’s reasoning for opposing the project.
But at least Meister asked the right questions, even if it seemed like she could benefit from sitting down with someone who could correct a few misperceptions on traffic safety.
Heilman, however, seemed to be a lost cause.
But let’s take a moment to examine why the other three supported the project, which could have a dramatic effect on traffic safety, while significantly improving livability on the corridor.
“It’s our responsibility to create options for a diverse community,” (Byers) said. “That is something that’s really important to me especially in this extremely dense area of our community. Kids, especially, have been locked inside of their homes … it is because cars and collisions and the violence they experience interacting with them is the No. 1 contributor to kids’ deaths. And that is a horrific reality that we can transform without having to send families to suburbs.”
Then there were these heartrending comments from Erickson and Hang, both of whom seemed to fully grasp the cost of keeping the street in its current deadly, car-choked form.
“This is my backyard and the sheer fact that I walk by Blake Ackerman’s ghost bike every single day to walk my dog is truly one of the most haunting experiences I have ever had to experience,” (Erickson) said. “This process that we have been going through for five years is killing people. It’s just that simple.”
Councilman Danny Hang said that the redesign will help lower income residents who travel without cars and help the city meet climate goals by reducing emissions. Hang added that the redesign is personal to him because his partner was the victim of a vehicle collision on Fountain Avenue and was hospitalized as a result.
“Fountain Avenue has long been one of the most dangerous corridors in our city,” he said. “Just over a decade we have seen dozens of severe crashes and five lives lost. Those aren’t just numbers. Those are our neighbors and friends and family members and for me, the most important measure of success is simple – fewer people getting hurt and more people getting home safely.”
However, the war isn’t over.
The project will come back before the council again next year, when they will have to approve a construction contract for the first phase. Any change in the makeup of the council could adversely affect that vote.
But for now, at least, we’re finally on our way to a safer Fountain Ave. Even if it comes too late for Ackerman, and too many others.
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Local
Metro approved $85.5 million in grants for 16 projects throughout Los Angeles County, primarily for first mile/last mile connections and improving mobility for the Olympics; among the projects are new protected bike lanes on Overland Ave in Culver City, and closing another gap in the LA River bike path through the San Fernando Valley.
State
Huntington Beach is considering extending restrictions on ebike-riding kids, requiring them to ride on city streets or bike lanes near places like schools and churches. Never mind that bike lanes are, by definition, on streets, or that once again, there appears to be no distinction between ped-assist ebikes and illegal dirt bikes and electric motorcycles.
San Francisco voters recalled Supervisor Joel Engardio by a nearly two-thirds margin over his support for turning a two-mile stretch of the Great Highway into a linear park; now recall proponents will try to force its return to a smog- and traffic-choked coastal highway.
Vancouver, British Columbia is reversing course once again on bike lanes in the city’s 1,000-acre Stanley Park, after the Park Board approved a new mobility plan containing separated bike lanes, just two years after ripping out previously installed bike lanes through the park.
Sports Illustrated says the stampede to join the ever-expanding Team Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team continues, as 23-year old Italian “superstar” Davide Piganzoli signed a three-year “mega deal” with the team. Although that seems like a very generous use of the term “superstar” for someone who just graduated from the U23 ranks.
