Archive for bikinginla

Morning Links: 4th Annual Resolution Ride this Saturday, local advocates nominated for Streetsblog awards

January 4, 2017 / / One comment

Update: The Resolution Ride has been cancelled for this weekend: 

The Resolution Ride has been postponed due to inclement weather! But don’t worry, you’ll still get a chance to continue your resolutions on our rescheduled date of February 12th! Same time, same place – and with the added bonus of happening alongside our annual Expo! This means more chances to win, more fun, more resolutions, and even more reason to come out and ride with us.
If you can’t attend the rescheduled date and would like a refund, please contact Gonzalo Garcia (gogarcia@aidslifecycle.org) to do so. Keep those resolutions going in the new year and come ride with us February 12th!

I’m a sucker for a good cause.

This Saturday, AIDS/LifeCycle is hosting their 4th Annual Resolution Ride in Griffith Park to raise funds the HIV/AIDS treatment programs of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

With rides of 15 and 35 miles, the very reasonable $30 pre-registration fee — $35 for day-of registration — is even more reasonable when you consider it includes lunch and music.

If the name sounds familiar, AIDS/LifeCycle hosts the hugely popular 600-mile San Francisco to Los Angeles ride each year, benefitting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center.

Here’s what they have to say about the day’s events.

WHAT:  4th Annual Resolution Ride

Join AIDS/LifeCycle for a fun bike ride to keep your New Year’s fitness resolutions going! Roll into the new year with two fully-supported bike rides (15-mile or 35-mile) and festival in beautiful Griffith Park. This annual event is for riders of all skill and fitness levels. The day includes a bike skills and safety clinic for new riders, a fitness festival with local businesses, nutritious food, and great music! Participants will have a chance to win a new bike from Just Ride LA.

Register at resolutionride.org.

The 4th Annual Resolution Ride is produced by AIDS/LifeCycle and benefits the HIV/AIDS treatment programs of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

WHEN:  Saturday, January 7, 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.                             

WHERE:  Griffith Park – Crystal Springs Picnic Area, 4730 Crystal Springs Dr.

COST:  $30 Registration Fee until January 6. (Registration fee increases to $35 on-site on January 7.)

Lunch is included.


Each rider is required to bring a bicycle, identification, and a Consumer Produced Safety Commission-approved helmet.

A limited number of loaner bikes will be available on a first-come, first-served basis courtesy of Just Ride LA. To reserve a bike, email chris.v@justridela.com.

For more information, visit resolutionride.org.

………

Congratulations to CiclaValley’s Zachary Rynew on his nomination for Streetsblog’s 2016 Journalist/Writer of the Year; as of this writing, he’s leading with over half the vote.

You’ll also see familiar faces among the candidates for Advocate of the Year, including Bike the Vote LA’s Michael MacDonald and CicLAvia’s Romel Pascual, and Advocacy Group of the Year, where Bike SGV leads Investing in Place with LACBC.

Voting ends at noon tomorrow.

………

Thirty-one-year old Belgian pro Gianni Meersman is forced to retire after discovering he has a heart condition, blocking his transfer to a new team.

Newly retired Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins attempts to follow in the tracks of Britain’s Eddie the Eagle by competing in ski jumping TV show.

American Olympic cyclist Missy Erickson talks about being sexually abused by someone close to her when she was 17.

I want to be like him when I grow up. France’s Robert Marchand will attempt to break the world senior hour record he set five years ago when he was just a wee lad of 100 years old.

………

Local

The LACBC’s Colin Bogart is raising funds to go on this year’s Climate Ride, asking 200 people to donate $20.17 apiece.

Boyonabike looks back at year’s developments in car-free transportation in the San Gabriel Valley.

Time is running out to tell Metro where to put their bikeshare stations in Pasadena and Venice. Although we desperately need to come with a good nickname for them.

Ride smart in Hawthorne today, where police are conducting a bike and pedestrian safety operation, focusing on violations by drivers, cyclists and people on foot that can lead to crashes.

Chris Brown is one of us, even if he’s just riding past his fleet of luxury sports cars at his Tarzana home.

Caught on Video: Long Beach expats and famed bike travelers the Path Less Pedaled return to SoCal for a ride to the Tree of Life in the Verdugo Mountains.

 

State

A writer for San Francisco Streetsblog gets a horn-blaring punishment pass from an Uber and Lyft driver while riding in San Diego, for the crime of riding a bicycle — legally — on the street.

A suspected drunk driver faces charges after crashing into a Concord bike rider on New Years Eve.

Sad news from Elk Grove, where a bike rider was killed when he was rear-ended by one driver, then struck by another; and yes, he was riding with lights and a helmet.

 

National

Men’s Journal offers their annual bike buyers guide, with bikes ranging from $950 to $10,000.

That’s one way to get a ride home on New Year’s Eve. Oregon state police drop a bike rider off at his home after citing him for bicycling under the influence.

A Washington drunk driver will spend more than three years behind bars for killing a lightless, intoxicated bike rider.

China’s massive LeEco electronics conglomerate unveils two new smart bikes at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas; both have a built-in four-inch screen with an Android operating system.

Wichita KS will spend $1.6 million to expand three bike paths this year.

Missouri police shoot and kill an armed bike rider who they suspect of being mentally ill.

A popular Indianapolis charity ride loses its booty.

A New York TV station looks at the perennial complaints about NYPD officers jeopardizing the safety of bicyclists by parking in the city’s bike lanes. So naturally, they focus on the people who think cyclists should just get over it.

Even though Savannah GA leads the state in bike commuting, the city has just two bike lanes to serve over 150,000 residents.

 

International

How to be a weight weenie.

Montreal residents are fighting a bike path behind their back yards as a symbol of densification and the direction the city is headed.

A London politician calls on the city to put plain clothes bike cops on the street to watch for bad drivers who put cyclists at risk.

Caught on video too: A Brit driver’s phone magically drops his phone from his hand when he realizes his texting is being filmed by a cyclist.

Northern Ireland’s police service says bike theft is the new car theft.

A German collector is selling his entire collection of 75 steel road bikes and frames on eBay for $35,000.

An Aussie rider describes what he saw on a 2,800 mile ride along the South Australian coast.

Another app-based Chinese bikeshare company hits the streets, putting 70,000 bicycles to work in just one month; unlike the dock-based American bikeshares, the Chinese systems use GPS to locate a nearby bike, allowing bikes to be picked up and left anywhere.

 

Finally…

We may have to deal with LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about e-rickshaws. You can see a lot of things on a bike — like an alligator engaging in a death match with a Burmese Python.

And just stick it in your ear, already.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bike Events, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Petaluma punishment pass caught on video, and red light-running stupid driver tricks

January 3, 2017 / / One comment

Welcome back. Please accept my belated wishes for a healthy, happy and prosperous new year. And one filled with friends, family and bikes.

Lets hope this coming year is a safe and joyful one for all of us.

………

This is who we share the roads with.

First a Petaluma pickup driver hauling a horse trailer makes what appears to be a punishment pass directed at a couple of bicyclists hugging the white line. Or possibly just a dangerous attempt to cut back in time following an ill-advised pass.

Then stops to have a profanity-laced chat with the riders, telling them to get off the road and onto a non-existent bike path.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH4S2pKX9jw&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL290Pi9FkU&feature=youtu.be

Thanks to murphstahoe for the links.

………

And here you thought only bike riders run red lights, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z52L6jGdSkY&feature=youtu.be

Thanks to Patrick Pascal for the heads-up.

………

Sad news, as 1950 Tour de France champ Ferdy Kuebler passed away at a Zurich hospital Thursday; Kuebler won the Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege classics on successive days in 1951 and 1952, as well as a 356-mile, single-day Bordeaux-to-Paris race in ’53.

More sad news, as rising Canadian pro cyclist Ellen Watters was killed in a collision on a training ride; New Brunswick riders are making a new push for a three-foot passing law in the wake of her death, and appear to be gaining support.

Brit Tour de France champ Bradley Wiggins calls it a career at age 36, amid allegations of drug use masked by special medical exemptions.

American pro Andrew Talansky’s Grand Tour plans may have suffered a setback when he broke his thumb after hitting black ice on a Christmas Eve training ride.

………

Local

The LAPD made an arrest in the Hyde Park hit-and-run that left a motorized bike rider seriously injured.

Joe Linton says a recent hit-and-run that left a pedestrian injured shows the need to make NELA’s Fletcher Drive safe.

Debbie Reynolds was one of us, and rode her bike to her first screen test on the Warner Brothers lot from her home in Burbank when she was just 16.

CiclaValley recaps his best articles of the past year.

Pasadena’s Complete Streets Coalition will hold their January meeting next Monday.

Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson justifiably calls out cyclists on an annual New Years Day ride, where hundreds of bicyclists reportedly blew through red lights on their high-speed tour down the coast, resulting in a crash that injured a pedestrian and a bike rider. And says some riders actually blocked paramedics from getting to them in their attempt to catch up to the peloton. Correction: I’ve heard from someone who was on that ride, who reports that as much of a mess as it was, the rider who collided with the pedestrian was on a different, earlier ride, and said the wreck happened when a pedestrian stepped off the curb while the sun was in his eyes.

 

State

Be careful when you order bikes and parts online. California’s Specialized is suing a number of internet-based bike dealers for selling counterfeit frames and accessories.

California motorists are now prohibited from even holding a mobile phone for any reason while they drive. Of course, it’s already illegal to text or use a handheld phone in the state, and we’ve seen how that worked out.

We may have to deal with bullheaded LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about crashing into Bay Area bulls.

San Francisco’s Vision Zero Coalition calls on the city to study its own traffic safety data.

Sad news from Stockton, where a bike rider was killed New Years Eve after allegedly riding through a red light.

 

National

States may have the traffic data the public needs to demand safer streets, but apparently, they’re under no obligation to share it, thanks to a little-known clause in federal law.

Two years ago there were no protected intersections in the US; now there are 12.

Now you can lock your bike up to a birth control device the next time you ride to Oregon’s Planned Parenthood headquarters.

A San Antonio driver hits a bike rider, takes her to a nearby bar, puts her damaged bike on her car, then drives away without identifying himself.

Great story. A homeless Escondido man rides a beach cruiser 1,640 miles to Wichita KS to build planes, because he says God told him to.

Life is cheap in Iowa, where a driver without insurance gets a whole two days for paralyzing a cyclist. Two. Effing. Days.

A Georgia cop helps a DUI driver turn his life around by buying him a bike to ride to work and AA meetings.

New York City now has a nine-mile long protected bike lane crossing the city.

The New York Times reports on a prominent evangelical preacher who lost his faith following a 40 mph solo fall on his bike.

A Miami rider offers a full year of stupid driver tricks caught on bike cam video.

A Florida man has a new bike thanks to a kindhearted EMS supervisor, who bought him one after his was totaled in a crash.

 

International

A new Canadian study says you may end up in the ICU, but at least you don’t have to stop cycling. Meanwhile, A new Chinese study shows riding a bicycle can reduce depression in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Cycling Weekly offers essential commuting clothes for riding to work, not much of which actually is.

I want to be like him when I grow up. Eighty-seven year old English rider sets three world age group records.

1970’s glam rockers Slade will be cancelling their shows for the next few months after lead guitarist and founding member Dave Hill broke his elbow in a collision with a bike rider.

Dublin votes to cut speed limits to the equivalent of 18 mph throughout the city to improve safety. So when will California realize lives are more important than speed, and allow cities to set safer limits?

An Irish study says boys are ten times more likely to ride their bikes to school than girls.

An Indian tycoon plans to revitalize Great Britain’s declining bike-making industry.

A bicyclist rides 4,600 miles through nine Indian states on a solar-powered ebike.

A New Zealand man gets on his bike for the first time in five years. And gets knocked off by a road-raging driver who drove onto the sidewalk to deliberately ram into him.

A Tokyo pedestrian was killed by a lightless, distracted bike rider on a narrow, sloping passageway where bicyclists aren’t even supposed to ride.

Singapore is installing bikeways in neighborhoods around the island and encouraging the use of personal mobility devices in an attempt to go car-lite.

 

Finally…

This is why you hire an American PR firm to handle your US launch. Busted for driving under the influence of caffeine.

And Ricky Gervais is one of us. Even if he can’t figure out how to use a Presta valve.

………

Thanks to George Wolfberg, Karen Karabell, Eric Lewis, Glen Schmuetz and Stephen Katz, and to everyone who gave to last month’s BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. The kindness and generosity of shown by the readers of this site has moved me more than I could possibly express.

I’d like to thank you all individually, but PayPal now keeps the email addresses of donors hidden. Which is probably a good thing, even if it means I have to thank you here, instead.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bike Cam Video, Car vs Bike, Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Update: Hit-and-run driver critically injures Hyde Park bike rider; LAPD fails to send hit-and-run alert or mention reward

December 28, 2016 / / Comments Off on Update: Hit-and-run driver critically injures Hyde Park bike rider; LAPD fails to send hit-and-run alert or mention reward

Once again, a heartless coward has left a South LA bike rider bleeding in the street.

According to press release from the LAPD, a 35-year old man was riding some sort of motorized bicycle on 48th Street at Ninth Ave in the Hype Park neighborhood around 3:40 Monday afternoon when he was struck by a car driven by an unidentified driver.

The driver had been parked at the eastbound curb when he suddenly pulled out, turning left across the traffic lanes and into the path of the westbound bike rider, in a crash captured by a security cam.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

There are bike lanes in both direction on 48th, though it appears he was traveling in the through lane at or near the speed of traffic.

Police are looking for a burgundy or red late 1990s Oldsmobile Cutlass four door sedan. The department reports the two people in the car had just left Kenny’s Liquor, where they were captured on security footage.

The driver is described as a male Hispanic, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall, between 180 and 200 pounds with dark hair. He was seen wearing a gray baseball cap, a gray jacket, white t-shirt, and blue jeans.

The passenger is described as a male Hispanic, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall, with black hair and a mustache. He was seen wearing a red long sleeve shirt, black pants, and brown shoes.

Anyone with information urged to call LAPD South Traffic Division at 323/421-2500.

Oddly, the press release does not mention the city’s standing reward program providing up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of hit-and-run drivers; in this case, it provides an automatic $25,000 reward for a collision resulting in a severe injury.

It’s also strange that the LAPD did not use LA’s hit-and-run alert system that was approved by the city council early last year alerting the public to be on the lookout for suspect vehicles. For some reason, the department seems reluctant to use the program, even though it was created for cases exactly like this.

There is also a statewide program that was signed into law last year allowing hit-and-run alerts on state highway signs.

Maybe someday the LAPD will actually use some of the tools available to them to enlist the public’s help to catch people like this.

We can dream, right?

Update: Police have made an arrest in the case.

Update 2: In an LAPD press conference, South LA detectives identified the victim as 36-year old Los Angeles resident Gabrail Hasan, the father of nine kids under 15. 

The tattoo artist and vice president of the LA DTM (Doing the Most) Motorized Bike Club remains in critical condition in the ICU following emergency surgery for a crushed aorta.

Category: Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities, Update / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

December 24, 2016 / / 4 comments

Category: General /

Seventeen year old student killed in Norwalk collision on Thursday

December 24, 2016 / / 2 comments

This is not the news anyone wanted on the eve of Christmas and Chanukah.

According to the Whittier Daily News, a 17-year old boy was killed riding his bicycle home from a friend’s home on Thursday.

Unfortunately, not many details are available at this time. The paper reports Chandler Ray was struck by a car sometime in the evening at the intersection of Studebaker Road and Firestone Boulevard in Norwalk.

No word on how or when it happened, whether the driver remained at the scene or if he or she was detained by police. And no information on whether Ray died at the scene or was taken to a local hospital.

A street view shows what appears to be a busy intersection with four through lanes in each direction controlled by a traffic light, and left and right turn lanes on Firestone. As usual, there are no bike lanes in any direction.

The paper describes Chandler Ray as a popular and outspoken member of the Sante Fe High School football team.

A Go Fund Me account established in his name has already raised over $11,000 more than the $10,000 goal. It’s heartbreaking to think his family will never observe another holiday season without sadness.

This is the 72nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 32nd in Los Angeles County. He is also the third bike rider to die in Norwalk since 2014.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Chandler Ray and all his family and loved ones.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: The tragic story of a ghost bike, and pre-holiday coffee and carb loading in the South Bay

December 23, 2016 / / 3 comments

It’s the final day of the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Give now to keep Southern California’s best source for bike news coming your way every morning!

One quick note before we start.

Unless there’s breaking news, this will be the last new post until after the New Year, as we take the next week off for a little well-deserved rest and the opportunity to make some behind-the-scenes improvements.

So please accept my best wishes for joyful holiday, whatever and however you celebrate. And for a very healthful, happy and prosperous year to come.

May we all have peace, if not on the Earth, at least in our hearts.

Ride safely, and we’ll see you back here bright and early on January 3rd.

………

In a truly heartbreaking story, Hollywood Reporter editor — and former Bicycling editor-in-chief — Peter Flax follows a ghost bike from being stripped down and painted, to installation as a memorial to fallen bike rider Deborah Gresham.

As you may recall, Gresham was the victim of a drunken hit-and-run just seconds from her Stanton home this past October; she’s recalled as the giving, generous and caring founder of a popular Walking Dead fan site.

Flax traces the history of the ghost bike movement from its beginnings in San Francisco and St. Louis, and talks with local ghost bike organizer Danny Gamboa.

It’s a moving long read that reminds us of the horrible, needless waste on our streets, and the unbearable loss suffered over and over throughout the country on a daily basis.

And one that brought tears to my eyes before he was done.

………

Delia Park forwards news of a good excuse to load up on coffee and sweets tomorrow for a Christmas Eve and pre-Chanukah celebration.

Join for some post Donut Ride carb loading!

WHERE: St. Honore Bakery in Lunada Bay, Palos Verdes Estates.

WHEN: This Saturday, December 24th from 10am to 12pm. Come anytime- we will be there!

WHY: Seth Davidson Bike Injury Lawyer and Cyclists For PV and So Cal Bike Safety will be picking up the tab for coffee and sugary bakery items in order to support local businesses.

………

‘Tis the season.

Kindhearted employees of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office pitch in to buy a tandem bike for an El Rio man after thieves stole the money he’d been saving for two years so his medically challenged son could ride with him. Bad enough if thieves steal your bike; worse if they take your money before you can even buy it.

Food Network celebrity chef Guy Fieri rounded up bikes, helmets and other fun gifts for distribution to various NorCal children’s organizations.

Sacramento police give out bikes, helmets and toys to children. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office donated over 100 refurbished bicycles as part of its 17th annual Christmas Bike Giveaway.

An Ohio non-profit donates eleven new bicycles for children with a history of abuse, neglect and abandonment; since 2008, they’ve given new bicycles to nearly 6,500 children in foster care.

British cycling legend Brian Robinson dresses like Santa to give away 50 refurbished bikes for a UK charity.

………

Local

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton talks with Bike SGV advocates David Diaz and Wes Reutimann, as well as South Pasadena Mayor Mike Cacciotti and Transit Coalition executive director Bart Reed about the years biggest stories, and what we can look forward to in 2017. Meanwhile, Joe Linton calls on readers to support the non-profit news organization.

West Hollywood’s Community Development Department says the lamely named WeHo Pedals bikeshare is off to a strong start, with 545 people completing 3,919 trips since it was launched at the end of August.

One Santa Monica paper says it’s been a great year for bikeshare in the city, while another looks at Santa Monica’s new bike counter.

Long Beach bike and pedestrian deaths are increasing, which reflects the larger national trend.

 

State

The family of fallen San Luis Obispo triathlete Bridget Dawson files a lawsuit alleging that the driver was on the phone with her employer at the time of the crash. Meanwhile, a pair of SLO bike advocates says it’s possible to halt the increase in bicycling fatalities in the county.

Richmond votes to conduct a road diet to create a four-mile Complete Street, including bike lanes.

A Marin County writer says the world isn’t going to come to an end when an existing trail is opened to mountain bikers, and that concerns over safety are just an excuse to try blocking bike access.

After an accused drunken, underage hit-and-run driver killed a bike rider in a Fairfield collision, he came back to ask a bystander what happened.

Redding police recover a 7-year old girl’s stolen lime green BMX after a month-long investigation.

 

National

Finally, a use for your hi-viz. Other that trying to not get run over, that is.

Streetsblog looks at how states are standing in the way of cities’ efforts to lower speed limits. California’s deadly and outdated 85th Percentile Law is to blame for our state’s constant increase in speed limits and the inability to reign them in.

No, seriously. As much as some of us would like to bring back hanging for bike rustling, it’s really not worth having a shootout with Tucson AZ police to escape after stealing a child’s bicycle.

An Austin TX bike rider settles with the city for $3,000, two years after he was hit by a police detective in an unmarked car who was unfamiliar with the rider’s right to the road.

The hit-and-run epidemic is really getting bad when even the cops are doing it. A Massachusetts police officer was charged with leaving the scene of an off-duty collision with a bike rider, as well as negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

An Alexandria VA writer discusses what his bicycle has taught him about local politics, noting “it remains socially acceptable to stereotype people riding bicycles as ‘scofflaws’, while people driving cars are given a pass on speeding.”

 

International

After a Calgary man tried to sell his bicycle to raise money for Christmas presents, he ended up in the back of a patrol car suspected of bike theft — even though he still had the original receipt.

Things are looking up for people-powered transportation in Winnipeg.

New Delhi drivers may soon have to prove they have a place to park it before they’re allowed to register a motor vehicle.

A letter writer says Rwanda must leverage its success in cycling, like other African nations have in marathons and soccer. And apparently, domestique translates to house-helper.

A 26-year old Eritrean man has been named African Cyclist of the Year.

Fifty Malaysian civil servants have been given foldies and instructions to bike to work.

A Singapore writer asks if tougher sentencing would reduce collisions — not accidents, please — before concluding that dangerous drivers need to be stopped before they kill.

 

Finally…

Now you can stick Peter Sagan on your next envelope. It’s one thing to take the lane on a busy highway, another to ride with no hands so you can give a cop the double bird.

And if you’re riding after dark with four grams of coke on your bike, put a damn light on it and stay off the sidewalk.

………

Thanks to Samuel Kurutz for his generous support of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. And to everyone who contributed their hard-earned money to keep this site coming your way every day.

I can’t begin to tell you how much your support means to me.

And if you have given yet, there’s still time.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Update: Bike rider killed in South LA hit-and-run Monday night; one-third of all LA bike fatalities have been hit-and-runs

December 22, 2016 / / Comments Off on Update: Bike rider killed in South LA hit-and-run Monday night; one-third of all LA bike fatalities have been hit-and-runs

Yet another heartless coward has left his victim to die on LA streets.

This time in South LA, on one of the city’s most dangerous streets.

According to a press release from the LAPD, the victim was riding east on 33rd Street when he attempted to cross the intersection at Central Ave around 7pm Monday. He was struck by the driver of a dark passenger vehicle headed south in the left lane on Central.

The driver immediately fled the scene, leaving the victim bleeding in the street; he was taken to USC Medical Center where he died of his injuries.

He is identified only as a Hispanic man in his late 40s or early 50s. There’s no word on whether he had lights on his bike, how fast the driver was going or why he couldn’t stop in time to avoid the collision.

A street view shows a four lane street on Central Ave, with an offset intersection controlled only by stop signs on 33rd.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Central Traffic Division Detectives at 213/833-3713.

This comes just 12 days after another rider was killed in a hit-and-run less than a mile away at Central Ave and Washington Blvd; that driver was arrested in Glendale later that day as he tried to hide the damage to his car. And it’s the third fatal bicycling collision on Central Ave in the last three years, each of which involved a driver who fled the scene.

This is the 71st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 31st in Los Angeles County. It’s also the 12th in the City of Los Angeles; a full third of those have been hit-and-runs.

Update: Community members have released video showing the actual collision, but be forewarned, it’s very difficult to watch. The driver does not appear to have even slowed down following the crash. 

Update 2: The victim has been identified as Jorge Alvarez.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jorge Alvarez and all his loved ones.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities, Update / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Last minute gift ideas, one last(?) bike giveaway, and mountain bike dog shredding

December 22, 2016 / / 4 comments

Just two days left in the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Give today to keep Southern California’s best source for bike news coming your way today, and every day.

My apologies for whatever mistakes you may have found in yesterday’s post. And I’m sure there were many.

A sudden wave of illness meant publishing yesterday’s post without proof reading, for the first time since starting this site over eight years ago.

Hopefully we’ll do a little better today.

………

CiclaValley offers gift suggestions for the bike rider in your life. And yes, it is perfectly acceptable to put yourself on your holiday gift list.

H&S Bicycles offers their own list of must have accessories for your new bike.

Cycling Weekly offers five of the year’s most weird and wonderful products, which may or may not be suitable for giving.

Here’s a list of eleven books for the budding urban planner, two and a half of which I’ve read. I can strongly recommend Gabe Klein’s Start-Up City and Samuel Schwartz’ Street Smart, which has the best explanation of why density matters I’ve yet seen; I’m currently working on Janette Sadik-Khan’s Streetfight.

………

‘Tis the season.

The New Orleans Saints team up with Toys for Tots and the US Marines to give children bicycles and other toys.

………

Great nighttime video of mountain bike tom Wragg shredding the trails with his dog Ruby.

………

Today marks three years since Australian tourist James Rapley was tragically killed early on a Sunday morning as he made his way home for the holidays. He was run down by a stoned driver on Temescal Canyon Road as he took advantage of an extended layover at LAX to get out for a bike ride along the beach.

Plans are in the works for a parking protected bike lane on the uphill side of the dangerous roadway, where speeding drivers often drift into the bike lane, in hopes of keeping something like this from happening again.

Yet those plans are languishing, in part due to insufficient staffing at LADOT, and partly due to the usual local opposition to any changes they fear might inconvenience them or add a few minutes to their commute, even if it does save lives.

Lets hope the city can finally work it out before another anniversary passes.

Or before someone else gets killed.

………

A memorial to British cyclist Tommy Simpson has been restored to mark 50 years after he collapsed and died climbing Mt. Ventoux after taking amphetamines during the 1967 Tour de France. A sportswriter asks if his death was in vain, as suspicions of doping and drug use continue to taint professional cycling.

A former coach accuses Britain’s governing body for cycling of having a culture of lies, bullying and harassment.

………

Local

LA Magazine’s Neal Broverman says the planned South LA Rail-to-River bike and pedestrian pathway will be a great amenity in a park-poor area, but a lost opportunity to build an actual rail line through the community.

If you’re looking for a fun pre-Christmas ride, you could do a lot worse than Saturday’s Street Librarian’s Last Ride of the Year to restock those little street lending library boxes in Silver Lake.

 

State

San Clemente hires a contactor for a complete makeover of deadly PCH, including a road diet and curb extensions, bike lanes in both directions, and a separate two-way cycle track along the southbound side, with an additional pedestrian walkway running alongside. Let’s hope other OC cities follow their example.

Next year should be a good one for San Diego bike riders, with four new bike projects opening and several others on the way.

Lake Elsinore is beginning to develop a citywide bicycle path and trails master plan.

A Templeton man faces a felony manslaughter charge in the death of a bicyclist earlier this month; the driver was attempting to pass another vehicle by illegally crossing the double yellow lines when he hit the rider head-on.

San Francisco’s 9th and Division is the latest Bay Area intersection to get the protected treatment.

 

National

The war on bicyclists continues, as someone has once again sabotaged a popular Seattle bike trail.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a customized bike belonging to a 15-year old Washington quadriplegic; fortunately, police recovered the bike and expect to make an arrest.

A scathing city audit calls Kansas City’s bike plan nothing more than lines on a map that don’t connect with popular destinations, and have gone largely unbuilt. If we ask nice, do you think they’d be willing to audit Los Angeles next? They could probably just change a few locations and repurpose the same report.

The rich get richer. Missouri, which is already home to the 240-mile Katy Trail paralleling the Missouri River, gets ownership of a 144-mile abandoned rail line that will be converted into a bike trail along the northern edge of the Ozarks.

Friends remember a Minnesota cyclist for his fondness for AIDS rides and red high heels after he passed away from cancer; he reportedly wore those heels on his final days as a mail carrier. As the son of a mailman, I can’t help but smile at that.

Kalamazoo approves a new plan to keep bicyclists safe in response to last summer’s massacre. While it’s good news, it shouldn’t take a tragedy like that to do the right thing.

New York commits to improving bike safety around the city’s many bridges and parks in the year to come. Meanwhile, the city opens a new two-way protected bike lane through Chinatown.

 

International

Ontario police are trying to identify a homeless man who was traveling nearly 1,900 miles across Canada by bike and canoe after his body washed up, just 60 miles from his stated destination.

A British bicycling group calls for a retraction after a columnist for London’s Sunday Times calls the dooring of a bike rider by the country’s transport minister a “beautifully timed maneuver,” and suggests he should keep it up to make “London a safer place for normal humans.” The original story is hidden behind a paywall where no one can see it. And should stay that way.

The head of a London university says the dangers bicyclists face on the city’s streets discourage foreign students from attending.

London will host a Ride with Bowie bike ride next month on the first anniversary of his death.

A bighearted 89-year old English woman has taken it upon herself to pass out free hi-viz vests to bike riders to make them more visible to drivers and pedestrians. Although it would be nice if someone could make drivers actually pay attention instead of making everyone else dress up like clowns.

Police in the UK are looking for a bike thief caught on security cameras struggling to carry one bicycle while riding another.

A Brit driver faces six years behind bars for careening into a bike rider while speeding and “driving like an idiot” with his daughter in the car.

Unbelievable. A driver in the UK walks after allegedly killing a 15-year old bike rider, despite a) not having a license, b) driving 80 yards with his victim stuck in the windshield, and c) getting out of the car and running away from the scene; the judge cites a lack of evidence in dismissing the case.

Bollywood star Ali Fazal is one of us, after he took up riding to the set while filming in London.

Horrific story from Melbourne, Australia as a woman bike rider was robbed, stabbed and slashed in an apparent random attack; she’s in stable condition after seven hours of surgery.

Life is cheap in West Australia, where a driver walks with a measly $500 fine — the equivalent of just $360 in US dollars — for killing a bike rider; a British cyclist was fined more than that for riding in a pedestrian plaza.

 

Finally…

Caught on video: Now that’s what I call a close call.

And you can stop holding your breath waiting for that combination smart watch and bike computer you’ve always wanted.

No, really.

………

Thanks to Theodore Faber, Fred Davis Design and David Drexler for their generous support of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.

It’s hard to ask for money for this site, because there are so many other more deserving causes, and so many other obligations this time of year. So I deeply appreciate everyone who has opened their hearts and wallets to support this site, now and throughout the year.

Thank you.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: The bike giveaway beat goes on, SaMo PD joins Bike Index, and standing up to a bully driver

December 21, 2016 / / 2 comments

It’s the last three days of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Give today to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news coming your way every day!

‘Tis the season.

A Santa Clarita landfill company donates 70 bicycles to local non-profits for distribution to children.

A SoCal-based charity gives 80 San Jose elementary school students new bikes; the Bikes For Kids Foundation has given away 40,000 bicycles over the last 14 years.

Firefighters team with members of a Mill Valley church to distribute 100 bicycles and 1,000 toys to local children.

Teachers in the appropriately named Hollidaysbugh PA use a $2,000 grant to buy a specially adapted bicycle for a girl with cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy.

An anonymous Shreveport LA donor provided 100 bicycles to be distributed to underprivileged students.

………

Local

The LA Times mentions Josef Bray-Ali’s record of bike advocacy in Northeast LA as he takes on incumbent Councilmember Gil Cedillo in CD1.

CiclaValley takes his bike in to have the carbon frame repaired.

The LACBC offers advice on choosing a bike so your family can ride together.

The Santa Monica Police Department has joined the LAPD in recommending free bicycle registration with Bike Index, and checking the database to recover stolen bikes. You can register your bike with Bike Index right here, as well as report a stolen bike to add it to the database and automatically tweet a BOLO alert.

Next time you’re in SaMo, swing by city hall on Main Street so you can be counted on their new real-time bike counter.

 

State

A Victorville bike rider complained of back and leg pain after he was rear-ended by a driver who had just made a right turn; the woman behind the wheel played the universal Get Out of Jail Free card by claiming she just didn’t see him.

A San Luis Obispo letter writer suggests imposing a 2% surcharge on all bicycles, parts, accessories and service to fund more and better bikeways. Evidently, because bike riders don’t already pay sales, income, property and or any other assorted taxes, like normal people do.

Berkeley saves money and improves safety by improving existing infrastructure to create a protected intersection.

More sad news from Northern California, as yet another bike rider has been killed in a hit-and-run in Sacramento County.

 

National

Adventure cyclists now have a voice on the US Travel and Tourism Committee, which will try to get Mr. Trump’s ear on travel matters — if the incoming administration doesn’t disband it.

Bike lawyer Bob Mionske examines what happens when bike riders and drivers are blinded by the sun, saying if you can’t see or have the sun to your back, drivers probably can’t see you.

People for Bikes offers a Best Of recap of their 2016 tales.

Red Kite Prayer is giving away three “dream” road bikes to help raise funds for World Bicycle Relief.

Apropos the time of year, Bicycling offers a primer on how to gift wrap a bicycle.

Seattle will pay an injured bike rider $1.6 million after his lawyer successfully argues that a truck driver’s vision was blocked by bridge support columns

A St. Louis bike rider was stabbed by a homeless man who claimed he thought he was going to be attacked.

A writer in New York’s Newsday calls for a “draconian” prohibition on using mobile devices while driving. However, he tosses out the stat that about 54% of bike riders killed in crashed in 2015 weren’t wearing helmets, without considering how many of those suffered head injuries or if their injuries were survivable, with or without one.

 

International

Volvo’s reflective spray-on LifePaint is back, and available online for the first time. Because you just can’t expect drivers to actually see you if you only have lights, reflectors, and hi-viz.

Bike Radar offers five reasons roadies should get adventurous and get offroad.

Calgary votes to make a downtown network of protected bike lanes permanent, even winning over two councilors who voted against the original pilot project; the network’s unlikely success could offer lessons for other cities.

Caught on video: A Montreal snow-clearing driver faces a fine for crushing a bicycle that had been locked to a parking sign on the sidewalk.

London’s mayor taps a Nike executive as the city’s first walking and cycling commissioner.

Caught on video too: Manchester, England bike thieves ram through a steel bike shop gate to steal $21,000 worth of bicycles.

British ministers order mobile phone makers to develop and install software to keep drivers from using their phones behind the wheel. The question is how to keep drivers from using their phones without blocking their passengers, as well.

A Glasgow nonprofit has taught 7,000 children how to ride a bicycle before they start school.

A New Zealand cyclist hopes to set a new record by riding across the country in four days to raise money for charity. Meanwhile, three women riding across New Zealand to raise funds for a three-year old boy suffering from cerebral palsy meet him for the first time.

Australian police are still trying to identify a man who was found dead next to a pink bicycle in a Melbourne park 55 years ago. If there’s even been a better argument for always carrying ID when you ride, I don’t know what it would be.

Caught on video: A road raging Aussie driver threatens to run over a bicyclist, then grabs his bike cam and throws it across the road — bravely running away when the rider stands up to him, and offering to pay for any damages on the spot. Note to Daily Mail: It’s not a dashcam without a dashboard.

 

Finally…

Have a Clif Bar while you ride, Clif wine when you’re done. Making bike thieves do the walk of shame.

And no, widening the 405 wasn’t worth it.

………

Thanks to David Rindlaub for his generous support of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive to help bring the area’s best bike news your way every morning.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Morning Links: More bike giveaways, running a cyclist over for $15, and virtually ride your way to the pros

December 20, 2016 / / One comment

It’s the last four days of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Give today to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news coming your way every day!

Unlike yesterday, there’s no shortage of local news today.

Or anywhere else, for that matter.

………

‘Tis the season.

Kindhearted neighbors of a 90-year old retired doctor in Ocean Beach team up to buy him a new bike after the three-wheeler he’d ridden every day for the past ten years was stolen from his yard.

Fontana police donate a total of 100 bicycles to local kids.

A Petaluma bike mechanic is refurbishing 50 adult and children’s bicycles to donate to a local homeless charity for their private bikeshare program.

A Pennsylvania auto dealer invites 60 kids for milk and cookies and a new bicycle.

Bighearted North Carolina kids pitch in to buy a new adult tricycle for an 82-year old woman after getting to know her during last fall’s Hurricane Matthew.

A New Zealand program to help get people on bicycles who couldn’t otherwise afford them has refurbished 75 out of 200 donated bikes, with 48 ready to give away.

………

After weeks of speculation about a mysterious package delivered to Bradley Wiggins’ Team Sky in 2011, they tell Parliament that it was an innocent shipment of flu medication. Which seems like a perfectly reasonably explanation now that it’s five years too late to verify.

Good news from the UK, as track cyclist Victoria Williamson is back to training after suffering a broken neck while racing in Rotterdam.

Former pro cyclist Chris Stockburger, now an orthopedic surgeon, is conducting a research study of injuries and safety problems common to competitive cyclists.

Two thousand Kiwi cyclists turn out to ride with Lance Armstrong, yet the first word of the story is still “Disgraced.” On the other hand, a former New Zealand cycling great says don’t scapegoat Lance for making the best of a rotten system and era.

Two competitors in the Tour of Costa Rica get the boot after one gave the other a boot following a high-speed crash.

………

Local

Metro wants to know where you’d put bikeshare docks in Venice and Pasadena.

NELA’s Fletcher Drive gets new pavement, a road diet and nearly one mile of bike lanes. Funny how much progress is being made building bike lanes just outside, but not in, Gil Cedillo’s 1st Council District.

LA Curbed takes a look at the new protected bike lane on one side of Van Nuys Blvd in Pacoima, part of the mayor’s Great Streets program.

Three Santa Monica elementary schools are among the most dangerous in the state for kids getting to and from school, whether by car, bike or on foot.

Good piece from SoCal Bicyclist reporting on last week’s die-in in Palos Verdes Estates, and the less-than-friendly reception the protesters got from city hall.

 

State

BikeSD asks if San Diego is ready to make the switch from auto-centric Level of Service to the multi-modal Vehicle Miles Traveled. And answers probably not.

Santa Barbara teens form a bike co-op at the local high school.

Hollister receives a $1 million grant to improve bike and pedestrian access. The city was made famous by the 1947 motorcycle riot depicted by Marlon Brando in The Wild One.

Uber admits its self-driving cars have a nasty habit of right-hooking bicyclists riding in San Francisco bike lanes, and promise to fix it.

 

National

People for Bikes reports on the nation’s best new bike lanes. Exactly none of which are in Los Angeles. Or anywhere else in Southern California, for that matter.

Bicycling suggests rad-itizing your bike with custom paint.

The Seattle Times asks if the city’s mandatory bike helmet law will kill its $5 million attempt to reboot its bikeshare program. Short answer, probably.

A Wisconsin town is allowing fat bikes on skate trails on a trial basis.

An Ohio man faces charges for knocking a man off his bike, then getting back in his car and deliberately running over him in a dispute over a lousy $15. Imagine what he would have done for $20.

The debate over Philadelphia bike lanes is targeted by fake news, as NIMBY opponents create excuses with no bearing in fact. Which sounds like every public bike lane meeting I’ve ever attended.

A Baltimore bike advocate discusses how bike infrastructure can address inequality in the city, where most of the existing bike lanes have gone into wealthy, white neighborhoods.

This is why you always carry identification. North Carolina authorities are trying to identify a man who died after falling off his bicycle. If you or someone you know rides without ID, do something about it now.

 

International

An Alberta, Canada writer says he’s riding for hope after losing his wife to cancer.

Police in the UK are looking for the bike-riding jerk who responded to a crash with a 72-year man on a shared pathway by pushing him up against a fence and spitting in the man’s face. I always try to see the other side of the story. But in this case, let’s hope the stocks are still legal over there.

The war on cars may be mythical, but the war on bikes is real. A Brit cyclist was lucky to avoid a tripwire strung across a promenade by a group of kids.

An Edinburgh columnist concedes that drivers who kill deserve punishment, but those darn cyclists need to need to obey the law, too. So why doesn’t anyone ever complain about all those scofflaw drivers who put far more people at risk?

Celebrate the 200th birthday of the bicycle with a special German 20 Euro coin.

A bike advocacy group in The Netherlands calls a proposed ban on smartphone use while riding senseless and unenforceable.

A pair of Indian cyclists are riding across the subcontinent to call attention to organ donation.

This is the cost of traffic violence, as a promising young doctor was killed riding her bike before she could start her new job with an Australian hospital.

 

Finally…

Keep sweating in that virtual cycling class, and maybe you too can win a spot on a pro team. Run a red light on your bike in Switzerland, and lose your driver’s license, which you may or may not have.

And something is seriously wrong when a five-year old girl isn’t safe riding in the cul-de-sac in front of her house.

………

Thanks to Bryan Jones and Todd Munson for their generous support of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive to help bring the area’s best bike news your way every morning.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,
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