Archive for bikinginla

Morning Links: How the economy and bike lanes affect bike wrecks, and fight the bikelash over Rowena road diet

September 14, 2015 / / 3 comments

Maybe the economy is the reason you might get hit by a car.

And more bike lanes could be the reason you don’t.

An interesting piece in Saturday’s LA Times suggests that traffic collisions surged in the first six months of this year, reversing a long-term drop, because an improved economy and lower gas prices — except in California, of course — has resulted in more people on the roads.

In fact, American’s drove a record 1.54 trillion miles in the first half of the year, beating the previous high water mark set eight years ago.

The story notes that the increase in miles driven doesn’t totally explain the jump in collisions here in California, suggesting that distracted driving also plays a significant role.

Interestingly, Dennis Hindman recently came to a similar conclusion, digging into SWITRS data submitted by the LAPD to conclude that pedestrian-involved collisions dropped when the economy tanked, while bike collisions jumped.

And that bike wrecks started to fall when more bike lanes were installed in Los Angeles.

The first chart below was created using California Highway Patrol SWITRS data of motor vehicle involved collisions reported by the LAPD within the city of Los Angeles.

Notice how the amount of pedestrian involved collisions with motor vehicles started to drop in 2009 when the economy went into a recession. Then the pedestrian involved motor vehicle collisions began to increase as the economy started to recover.

The motor vehicle involved collisions with bicycles rose in 2008 when a sharp increase in the price of gasoline very likely contributed to a large increase in the amount of bicycle commuters. The bicycle involved collisions kept increasing in the recession from 2009 through 2011, unlike the pedestrian involved collisions with motor vehicles.

The LADOT started to greatly increase the miles of bike lanes installed per calendar year beginning with 20.94 miles in 2011. Then 62.42 miles of bike lanes were installed in 2012, 96.6 miles in 2013 and 23.3 miles in 2014.

The motor vehicle involved collisions with bicycles had a much lower amount of increase in 2013 of about 1% compared to a 7% increase in 2012 and then declined by about 6% in 2014. This occurred even though there was likely a large increase in the amount of people bicycling due to the miles of bicycle lanes installed.

The percentage of the total motor vehicle collisions that involved bicycles has gone from 3% in 2007 to 6% in 2014.

Chart one

The second chart below, created from SWITRS data, shows a decline in the motor vehicle involved collisions involving other motor vehicles reported by the LAPD during the recession. Unlike the pedestrian involved collisions, these motor vehicle collisions have not increased to the pre-recession level in 2008 as the economy recovered. A contributing factor in this could be the increased level of safety for occupants of cars that car manufacturers are required to install. This may not have lowered the amount of collisions involving motor vehicles, but it could have reduced the number of LAPD collision reports due to a lower incidence of injuries to motor vehicle occupants.

Chart 2

Comparison of motor vehicle involved fatalities from collisions with other motor vehicles or pedestrians.

Chart 3

Of course, before someone else points it out, we should note that correlation is not causation. But the data does suggest it’s worth considering.

Thanks to Dennis Hindman for his analysis. Not many people have the skill, or the patience, to wade through complex data like that, and actually make sense of it.

………

Writing for Flying Pigeon, Richard Risemberg offers a warning about the bikelash rearing its ugly head at tonight’s town hall meeting to discuss the successful Rowena road diet, which has cut injury collisions by half.

Ivanhoe Elementary School Auditorium
2828 Herkimer St, Los Angeles, CA 90039
6:30 – 8:30pm

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Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson gets a big markdown on a citation for blowing a stop on a group ride, but wonders if the ticket will count against his license.

Which serves as a reminder to always make sure any traffic ticket you get while riding clearly indicates you were on a bike. Bicycling infractions should never count as points against your driver’s license, since no license is required to ride a bike.

But if it’s not marked, the DMV may assume you were in a car, and wrongly assign points against your license for the infraction.

………

People say cyclists dress funny. I’ll take sausage-casing spandex festooned with logos over fashionista haute couture any day.

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The Vuelta was won — and lost — on Saturday’s final mountain stage as race leader Tom Dumoulin cracked, losing nearly four minutes to fall out of contention for the podium, and allowing Fabio Aru to secure the overall victory.

Dumoulin’s performance over the first 19 stages has the Dutch dreaming of Tour de France glory. And a Madrid thief earned himself a striped jersey when police spotted a $13,600 bike stolen from the Orica Greenedge team for sale in a second hand store for one-tenth its value.

Meanwhile, American Shelley Olds sprinted to victory in the first Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta, a token 54-mile circuit race on the final day of the men’s tour.

Germany’s Andre Greipel took the seventh stage of the Tour of Britain in a photo finish, then was stripped of his victory the next day.

Forty-two-year old American Molly Shaffer Van Houweling set a new women’s hour record in Mexico City, breaking the old mark that had stood for a dozen years.

And Bicycling magazine finally catches up with the No Podium Girls movement, and agrees that offering up hot women as the spoils of victory send the wrong message to women, as well as men.

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Local

LADOT released their annual report for the last fiscal year, saying safety is their priority. Which is a welcome change from the old LADOT that focused strictly on moving as many cars as quickly as they could, safety be damned.

A Santa Monica High School student is working to promote bike helmet use with a new website, along with a 20% discount on helmets at Helen’s Cycles if you mention the site.

Bad news from Pasadena, as bike rider described only as an Asian man in his 20s is in critical condition after somehow colliding with a parked car with enough force to shatter the rear windshield; he suffered severe head and neck injuries despite wearing a helmet.

Next month’s Richard Selje Ride4Recovery in Pasadena will raise funds to make treatment more affordable for men who want to get clean, with rides of 25, 62 and 100 miles.

The Daily Breeze looks at the Redondo Beach man building custom bikes with steering wheels instead of handlebars; so far he’s only raised just $10 of a requested $10,000 with a month to go. Call me crazy, but I’d think a steering wheel would make the handling awfully twitchy.

CLR Effect’s Michael Wagner goes for a dirty ride, and looks forward to the coming SoCal Cross season.

 

State

A new poll says most Californians think local politics are pointless. And that’s how we get stuck with people like Gil Cedillo, when only a handful of people turn out to vote.

The Orange County Bicycle Coalition reports the Santa Ana River Trail is open again, after riders were detoured for construction work.

A writer for the San Diego Free Press says the city’s North Park neighborhood should be bike friendly, but isn’t.

San Diego’s Bike SD will benefit from this weekend’s 35-mile Bike to the Border.

Scofflaw Santa Cruz cyclists attend bike traffic school, just like their counterparts on four wheels. A bill to allow similar bicycle traffic diversion schools statewide passed the legislature last month and awaits the governor’s signature.

Caught on video: A plant-killing San Francisco bike messenger was apparently doing other cyclists and the native environment a favor by stomping out fennel.

 

National

Two Special Forces vets are riding cross-country to raise money to help the families of special ops soldiers, while 10 cyclists are setting out from San Diego today on a ride across the US to raise awareness of mental illness.

Portland opens a new bridge for trains, buses, bikes and pedestrians, but motor vehicles need not apply; the lights on the bridge change according to the river flow and temperature.

A dozen blind Iowans team with sighted cyclists for a tandem bike ride.

Just days after complaining to the local press about the danger of motorists driving in a dedicated bus and bike only lane, an Ohio cyclist was injured in a fall when a driver blared on his horn while hugging his back wheel. Although the driver, who claims he didn’t know about the lane restriction, says he just “beeped at the gentleman and he fell off his bike.” Right.

Nearly 500 cyclists ride from Ground Zero to Boston to remember victims of 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombings, raising half a million dollars for the families of police officers.

A Boston area livable streets group wants to connect the area’s existing pathways to create a 200 mile bike and pedestrian network.

 

International

British police are looking for a driver who got out of his car and punched a bike rider in the face, breaking his cheekbone in an unprovoked attack.

A Brit bike rider uses his to deliver blood, breast milk and meningitis fluid to hospitals.

The new leader of the UK’s Labour Party isn’t just unabashedly liberal, he’s also car-free and rides a bike; in fact, he owns two.

One-hundred-fifty Indian med students ride their bikes to promote bicycling and other forms exercise to prevent heart attacks.

Bicycles are helping young Bangladeshi women eradicate gender disparity by providing the opportunity to get an education.

A New Zealand study said MAMILs — Middle Aged Men In Lycra, for the uninitiated — were keeping people from riding bikes, as just the thought of wearing skintight togs was enough to scare some people off. Spandex serves a purpose, especially if you plan on long, fast rides. But bicycling isn’t a fashion show; wear whatever the hell you feel comfortable riding in.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei takes his impressive bicycle art sculpture to Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria. I can’t help thinking that those 1,500 bikes would be even more impressive on the streets with people riding them, though. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to ride your bike to rob a bank, at least do it right; a New York man tried to rob six New York banks in just two days, but only managed to ride off with a lousy thousand bucks. Evidently, pointlessly sexist ads for children’s bike are out of fashion these days.

And no. Just… no.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Car vs Bike, Guest Columns, Injuries and Fatalities, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Update: Two dead in Moorpark collision as driver rear-ends Emmy-winning cyclist, then swerves into motorcyclist

September 13, 2015 / / 11 comments

Tragic news from Moorpark, as two people are dead in a chain-reaction collision that took the life of a bicyclist and a motorcycle rider.

News initially broke last with a CHP report of a cyclist killed in a collision at the intersection of Moorpark and Tierra Rejada Roads around 5:21 pm.

However, the initial news report from the Ventura County Star, which is no longer available online, suggested that there were two dead at the scene in a collision between car and a motorcycle.

The confusion was cleared up this morning with news reports from the VC Star and Ventura radio station KTVA.*

A Saturn Ion driven by woman, who has not been publicly identified, was traveling south on Moorpark south of Tierra Rejada at 55 mph when she slammed into a cyclist riding on the shoulder, then overcorrected to hit the motorcyclist head-on on the opposite side of the road.

Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

The road narrows to a single lane south of Tierra Rejada, but has a wide, well-marked shoulder where the first victim was riding.

He was identified this morning as 53-year old Emmy Award-winning sound editor Maciek Malish. KTVA reports he won two Emmys for his work on the X-Files, as well as receiving numerous Emmy nominations. IMDb lists a number of credits dating back to 1987; he was currently working as dialogue editor on the new Westworld TV series.

The other victim was identified 42-year old Fillmore resident Jesse Cushman.

No reason is given for why the driver drifted onto the shoulder at such a high speed, although the description of the wreck suggests some form of distraction, However, it’s still under investigation by the CHP.

This is the 48th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first in Ventura County.

Update: The Star confirms that investigators suspect that distraction appears to have played a role in the crash.

A CHP spokesman said the driver was apparently looking for something in the car when she swerved off the roadway, but it’s too early in the investigation to determine if the 26-year old woman will be charged.

The paper also notes that both victims were wearing helmets. However, a collision at 55 mph was unlikely to be survivable, with or without one.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Maciek Malish and Jesse Cushman, and all their loved ones.

Thanks to Lester Walters for the heads-up.

*Because of the Star’s paywall, and KTLA not allowing linkage to a single news story, these stories may be unavailable later.

 

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

Weekend Links: Bike rider killed in Compton, a Canadian slap on the wrist, and it’s a triple-video weekend

September 12, 2015 / / 4 comments

Somehow, I missed this one earlier in the week.

Yet another young man has been shot and killed while riding his bike, this time Monday night in Compton.

The Sheriff’s Department says the 27-year old victim was targeted by the shooters, while a woman standing nearby was injured, apparently as collateral damage.

Thanks to Jaime Kate for the heads-up.

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In case you need a reminder how much fun it is to ride a bike, this girl’s reaction should do the trick.

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Caught on video: My friends at the West Seattle Blog post a first hand view of what it’s like to get right hooked by a massive semi-truck. Remarkably, both the rider and his bike survived almost unharmed.

As they note, you may want to hit the mute button if innocent ears are around, since they finally found someone who swears at drivers more than I do. And with good reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9RvUpdBJiU

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Un-effing-believable.

A Canadian driver went to play the slots after hitting a cyclist, leaving him to die alone in a ditch. Common sense suggests she’d face a murder charge for her callous indifference to human life, and sped the next several years behind bars.

Instead, she was fined a whopping $2,000, sentenced to community service, and lost her license for a whole month.

Clearly, life is cheap north of the border. At least if the victim is riding a bike.

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If you don’t read any other link today, take a few moments for this fascinating obituary of the sword swallowing, prize fighting, blood drinking Irish cycling legend Mike “Iron Man” Murphy, who slept in hay to prepare for races, and rode 40 miles afterwards just to cool down.

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Just eight days till the first world championships on US soil since ’86.

The reining world champ explains why he’s not the favorite, and says the hilly course means anything can happen. The San Diego Union Tribune handicaps the favorites, precious few whom are Americans. But if you happen to find yourself in Charlottesville VA next week, you can hang out with the US team.

Alexis Gougeard won Friday’s stage of the Vuelta in a solo breakaway, setting up Saturday’s penultimate leg in the mountains around Madrid. After crashing early in the stage, second place Fabio Aru lost three seconds to leader Tom Dumoulin, doubling the margin between them to just six seconds; however, he may lose more time if he’s penalized for an assist.

Mark Cavendish crashes out of the Tour of Britain — yes, there’s another race going on — with a shoulder injury.

And Marina del Rey women’s cyclist Lauren Mulwitz accepted a six-month ban for failing a drug test at June’s Manhattan Beach Gran Prix after she tested positive for marijuana. Yes, she was banned for pot, which has never been known to enhance anyone’s performance.

Seriously, why should anyone care if she or any other athlete takes a toke? Especially in California, where’s it’s just this side of legal.

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Local

Writing in the Daily News, a former Republican candidate for state assembly says the new mobility plan is all about whining about cars, and declares the new Reseda Blvd Great Streets protected bike lanes a failure. Somehow, they’re accused of making traffic worse even though no traffic lanes were removed; although admittedly, they do force drivers to actually look before jumping out of a car for a change.

The LA Times looks at what it’s like to ride the seven-day AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to LA. Including being surrounded by men on bikes in red dresses.

A Glendale rider describes getting hit by a car that didn’t leave any passing room, let alone the three feet required by law.

Thousand Oaks will host their own two-mile ciclovía on Halloween.

 

State

Don’t try this at home. A San Diego man tackles the man selling his stolen bike after tracking it down on Craigslist. There are too many similar stories that went dangerously wrong; just call the police and let them handle it.

San Francisco’s SF Gate asks if it’s time to charge bike riders a road use fee. Actually, if you’re going to be fair about it, they owe us a refund.

A California appeals court rules that the environmental assessment for a new Danville housing development should have considered bike safety.

 

National

The trailer has dropped for The Program, the movie about Lance the Doper, staring Ben Foster, the doper.

Bicycling talks with the founder of Advocate Cycles, which will donate 100% of their profits to bike advocacy groups.

Honolulu busts bicyclists who illegally ride the sidewalk for a whole 100 feet between a bike lane and a multi-use path.

A Colorado cyclist is riding 12,000 miles to raise awareness about sex trafficking, while a Virginia man is riding cross country to raise money for the homeless.

Boston makes changes to a street where a bicyclist was killed in a right hook by a semi while she was riding in a bike lane. Every city, everywhere, should study the cause of any fatal collision, then fix the problem to keep it from happening again.

Hugh Jackman, aka Wolverine, is one of us, as he rides the streets of New York on his Scott mountain bike. Why is it that the press criticizes anyone who doesn’t wear a helmet, but makes fun of anyone who does?

 

International

An Ontario, Canada website says investing in bicycling is the smart thing to do, saying the province doesn’t have a traffic problem, it has a health problem.

If you build it, they will come. Bicycling is booming in Vancouver BC, as the city invests $4 million a year in bikeways and greenways. Although it doesn’t help when even the mayor of nearby Victoria is a victim of thieves who stripped her bike during a meeting to approve bike parking in a new development.

A Brit woman charges a cyclist the equivalent of nearly $5 to refill his water bottle — from a garden hose, no less — then dumps it out when he can’t pay.

A Copenhagen firm wants to be the Uber of bikes for hire. Although they couldn’t have picked a much worse name than AirDonkey; maybe it sounds better in Danish.

Speaking of Copenhagen, maybe someday the anti-bike forces here will say LA isn’t Jakarta, instead.

 

Finally…

A South African cyclist swears he had a suitcase full of syringes to lance the boils on his butt, while an official says they were for filling bike tires with sealant. Sure, let’s go with that. It’s such a no brainer to use the term no brainer when talking about bike helmets that anyone who uses the phrase no brainer to talk about bike helmets is just showing their own need for an effing copy editor.

And nothing like a little sex shaming to sell boy’s bikes.

 

Category: General, Morning Links, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: More bizarre Fix the City allegations, and even the LA Weekly supports the Mobility Plan

September 11, 2015 / / 2 comments

You didn’t really think we were done with the needless controversy over the new Mobility Plan, did you?

KPCC offers an exceptionally even-handed report on the lawsuit filed by the ironically named Fix the City, which includes this bizarre statement from their attorney:

Palmer also said that the L.A. city charter requires that any amendments to the mobility plan leading up to its August approval needed to go through the mayor’s office and the city planning commission — which didn’t happen, as the Council approved the plan outright.

Bizarre, since the Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the plan last May. And the only amendments approved by the council were one to include equity in the implementation of the plan, and another to consider safety and community input before any paint hits the streets.

Neither of which changed the plan itself in any way.

It’s also interesting to note the suit is based on the assertion that removing traffic lanes will reduce Level of Service — that is, how many vehicles can travel through an intersection in a given amount of time — and lead to greater congestion, resulting in increased greenhouse gas emissions.

But the state legislature addressed exactly those sort of specious challenges last year, following the fiasco in San Francisco, in which a single aggrieved litigant held expansion of the city’s planned bikeways at bay for several years by arguing that they would result in increased air pollution, until a judge finally tossed out the lawsuit.

Just like Fix the City is arguing.

And hopefully, with the same result.

AB 743, which was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, instructs the state’s Office of Planning & Research to draw up new regulations expressly prohibiting the consideration of traffic congestion and Level of Service in determining environmental impact.

Unfortunately, I’m told those rules have not been drawn up yet, so it’s questionable whether the law would apply to this suit. Although a good lawyer would certainly argue that the intent of the legislation was to prohibit lawsuits just like this.

And LA City Attorney Mike Feuer, who will most likely defend the suit, gives every indication of knowing what the hell he’s doing.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Damien Newton and Joe Linton argue, as I have, that LA Mayor Eric Garcetti needs to stand up and be counted if he truly believes in safer streets and improving mobility. While he’s done a great job setting policies, like the city’s adoption of Vision Zero, he’s been noticeably absent from the street-level fights required to implement those plans.

LA Times readers react to the debate over the new Mobility Plan; one gets it, one doesn’t. Especially considering that businesses benefit by slowing traffic, which encourages drivers to stop at the shops and restaurants they pass.

And the biggest surprise may be that the LA Weekly’s notoriously bike-baiting Dennis Romero, who complained vociferously about the non-existent traffic jams caused by the 7th Street road diet, thinks the plan offers much needed vision for the city.

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Nicholas Roche claims Thursday’s stage of the Vuelta, while Joaquim Rodríguez is running out of time to reclaim the leader’s jersey. Good news, as critically injured Belgian rider Kris Boeckmans is finally out of the medically induced coma he’d been in since crashing in stage eight.

Thirty-one-year old former skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender aims to win a spot on the US Cycling Team riding a 1991 Cannondale, with just four months racing experience.

Good news for ‘cross racers, who can now take a swig without getting disqualified.

And talk about Method acting. In order to portray disgraced doper Lance Armstrong in an upcoming movie, Ben Foster actually tried doping. Although if he really wanted to step into Lance’s cleats, he should have ruined someone’s career trying to cover it up.

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Local

The Eastsider looks at Monday’s town hall meeting to discuss the Rowena Ave road diet.

CiclaValley roams far from home to report on the grand opening of the East Side Riders bike co-op in South LA.

The Source explores Chicago’s bikeshare system, with an eye towards the coming Metro bikeshare in DTLA.

 

State

Laguna Beach opts for safety over cars in rebuilding Laguna Canyon Road, selecting plans to add bike lanes and pedestrian walkways over widening the road for more traffic lanes.

Police say a San Leandro boy did everything right, but was still hit by an SUV driven by an unlicensed driver while walking his bike across the street on his way to school. After watching paramedics cut off the boy’s clothes, police chipped in to buy him a new outfit. Seriously, though, a kid shouldn’t need a helmet just to walk in a damn crosswalk.

Like drivers everywhere, motorists in Redwood City are incensed that a road diet has added a few minutes to their commute, and want it ripped out before it’s even finished.

Up to 400 San Francisco 49er fans can ride to the stadium and leave their bicycles with a bike valet; the Denver Broncos will also offer a bike valet and hold your bikeshare bike for free during the game. No word yet on whether either of the planned LA area stadiums will even have safe bike access, let alone anywhere to park a bike.

A Sonoma Coast cyclist needed an air rescue after he rode off an embankment and dropped as much as 50 feet down to a creek.

A driver will face a charge of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the death of a Danville cyclist earlier this year.

The $10 million makeover of the highway through Donner Pass will include bike lanes and wider shoulders. Hopefully, that will keep bicyclists from getting trapped and having to eat their traveling companions.

 

National

House Democrats work to save bike and fed funding in the US transportation bill.

Everybody loves a great rack.

The owner of an IndyCar and NASCAR racing team is one of us; team owner Chip Ganassi broke his collarbone in a bicycling fall over the weekend.

A writer for Bicycling describes the harassment women receive just for having the audacity to ride a bike in public.

In a stroke of uncommon common sense, a Portland company now rides a bike instead of using a truck to remove graffiti on bike paths.

A Seattle radio host complains that temporarily closing 46 blocks for four whole hours for an open streets event is excessive and poorly thought out. And worries where all the cars will park.

A Las Vegas paper says drivers and cyclists need to share the burden of making roads safer, then places that burden squarely on the latter. Hey, Las Vegas Review-Journal — how many of those seven cyclists killed while not wearing a helmet actually suffered a fatal head injury? And how many of those wrecks could have been survivable, with or without a helmet?

The Brits aren’t the only ones with bike superhighways. Texas is building a 64-mile pathway connecting Dallas and Fort Worth. On the other hand, we can’t even manage a bike lane connecting WeHo with Century City.

An Austin TX woman commutes by bike with her two dogs, one in a backpack and the other on her rack.

A St. Louis Animal Cruelty Task Force patrols by bike to rescue animals in distress.

Minnesota drivers can’t seem to grasp the concept behind a new parking-protected bike lane.

Most people are happy to have some coffee after a ride. A New York firm wants to brew coffee while they ride.

A star NFL running back would rather ride his bike to work in Washington DC, and he even has his own private parking space. No bias from Fox Sports, though; they think he ditched his car for something worse.

A Virginia driver who killed a cyclist over the weekend had received numerous moving violations in the past few years, was facing charges for a previous hit-and-run, and being sued for a third wreck. Just the latest example of the authorities working together to keep dangerous drivers on the road until they kill someone.

 

International

A Canadian cyclist’s bike has been ridden every day for the last 5,000 days, even if he needed a stand-in for a few months.

Former Pro David Millar plans to bring London’s Saville Row styling to bikewear.

Once again, a Brit driver faces charges for intentionally driving up on the sidewalk to hit a cyclist, this time in a dispute over an allegedly stolen bike.

Bad enough when some jerk steals a bike; worse when it’s a 1920s Pashley Butcher’s Bike pilfered from a UK oysterman.

Denmark’s Princess Mary doesn’t look or act like one as she pedals her kids around in a cargo bike.

A new Honda concept car was specially designed to carry bikes.

 

Finally…

If you’re driving drunk and wanted in LA for a 26-year old point blank gangland execution of a bike-riding rival gang member, make sure both of your headlights work. British police put out brightly colored bikes to let thieves know they’re watching, but evidently, not closely enough.

And a tiny Japanese robot may be able to ride a miniature bike, but can he carve a perfect corner with his knee nearly scraping the pavement?

I didn’t think so.

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Thanks to Joseph Rozier and John Montgomery for their generous donations to support this site. I can’t begin to express my gratitude to the people who opened their hearts and wallets this week to help keep BikinginLA coming to you every day.

And thank you for reading.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , ,

Update: Early morning crash kills cyclist on PCH in Huntington Beach

September 10, 2015 / / 9 comments

More bad news.

Less than two hours after a disabled bike rider was killed in Arleta, a woman was killed riding her bike in Huntington Beach.

The Orange County Register reports that the cyclist, who has not been publicly identified, was riding north on PCH just south of Seapoint Drive when she was rear-ended by a car around 4:40 am.

She was hit with enough force to knock her into the southbound lanes, and was taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, where she died.

The driver stayed at the scene and called police; police said he did not appear to be under the influence, and was not arrested.

A satellite view shows a four lane divided highway with a wide marked shoulder where the victim likely would have been riding, although she could have been forced into the traffic lane by parked cars or some other obstruction.

No word on whether she had lights on her bike nearly two hours before sunrise.

This is the 47th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 10th in Orange County. It’s also the 13th bicycling fatality in Huntington Beach since December, 2010.

Update: The victim has been identified as 31-year old Long Beach resident Nadia Silva. 

Update 2: According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Silva was crossing the southbound lanes of PCH from the center median when she was hit, and places the location as between Seapoint and Goldenwest Streets. 

Police say speed doesn’t appear to be a factor. Which leaves the question of why Silva and the driver did not seem to see each other on the straight, unobstructed roadway.

My deepest sympathy for Nadia Silva and all her loved ones.

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

Update: Arleta bike rider killed by suspected wrong-way DUI hit-and-run driver

September 10, 2015 / / 2 comments

Sometimes there’s nothing a bike rider can do to avoid a wreck as a car come hurtling towards him.

And sometimes, the details of a wreck just make you want to scream.

According to multiple sources, a disabled 51-year old man was riding his bike west on Van Nuys Blvd just below Beachy Avenue in Arleta around 2 am Wednesday, when he somehow became involved in a multi-car crash caused by a suspected stoned driver on the wrong side of the road.

Police suspect the 22-year old driver was under the influence of marijuana when he crossed onto the wrong side of the road and apparently hit the victim head-on as he rode in a bike lane, either before or after smashing into as many as four parked cars.

KABC-7 reports he was hit with enough force to shatter his bike into multiple pieces; a photo from the scene shows the handlebars broken off his bike with a single shoe resting nearby.

He came to rest in front of Arleta High School, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver briefly remained at the scene before running off on foot. KABC-7 reports he was arrested around 4 am when police found him hiding in a back property near his home about a mile away after someone reported a prowler.

He was not identified by authorities; however KABC-7 reported that family members at the scene identified him as Eric Garcia. They said he rode his bike at night to support himself by collecting cans.

To compound the tragedy, he became disabled after being hit by a car when he was in junior high school.

School officials closed the main entrance to the school and directed students away from the crash scene to shield them from the tragedy.

This is the 46th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 21st in LA County.

Update: In an update that is not yet online, KNBC-4 reports that the victim may have been hit by one or more of the parked cars as they spun out into the street following the impact, and that the driver had both marijuana and alcohol in his car.

My deepest prayers and sympathy for Eric Garcia and all his family.

Thanks to Ed Ryder and Richard Risemberg for the heads-up.

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

Morning Links: Fix the City sues to keep it broken, Seleta Reynolds talks Vision Zero, and still more kind people

September 10, 2015 / / 2 comments

As promised — or maybe threatened — the ironically named Fix the City has filed suit against the City of Los Angeles to keep it from doing exactly that.

The NIMBY non-profit is fighting the newly adopted Mobility Plan, which was created to improve safety and traffic flow by providing Angelenos with alternatives to using their cars.

Yet the group’s actions promise to keep the city’s streets just as dangerous and congested as they are now; apparently, making the city more bikeable, walkable and livable city isn’t their idea of fixing it if drivers can’t continue to careen carelessly through LA’s already congested streets.

According to the LA Times, the suit alleges the plan will increase tailpipe emissions as drivers spend more time idling in traffic due to reduced road capacity, a supposition based on the outdated worst-case projections contained in the plan.

And which the plan clearly identifies as such, despite the repeated failure of the press to press the group on their repeated misrepresentation of those projections.

The assumptions contained within the Mobility Plan make it clear that the predicted doubling of congested intersections will only occur if no one switches to alternative forms of transportation. Yet it also predicts that once the plan is built out in 2035, we’ll see a 170% increase in bicycling, a 38% increase in walking and a 56% boost in transit use, with a corresponding decrease in motor vehicles on the road.

Again, those are very conservative estimates; more likely, those numbers will be significantly higher as safer streets, more trains serving more areas, and faster bus routes induce more people to leave their cars at home.

The group also claims that safety will be sacrificed as emergency responders find themselves stuck in traffic. Even though the city’s commitment to Vision Zero, which is contained within the plan, means they should have significantly fewer emergencies to respond to.

It’s ironic that a spokeswoman for the group says that if this plan were put to a vote, the people of LA would toss it out in a New York second. Particularly since New York has already begun a similar transformation of their streets, and the sky has yet to fall.

In fact, an overwhelming majority of New Yorkers approve of the changes to the city’s streets, even though some groups had fought them tooth-and-nail, just as Fix the City is trying to do.

The best way to look at this suit is as the last desperate gasp of LA’s auto-centric past, pursued by people unable to envision a future in which cars no longer hold hegemony over the earth.

Hopefully, the courts will see it for what it is, and toss it in the dustbin of history along with the car culture that has so damaged so much of our city.

And give LA back to the people who live here, and not the cars they drive.

………

Sad news from Santa Monica, as a homeless man was found dead, apparently from natural causes, after riding his bike off the bike path and into the sand, before collapsing near Shutters on the Beach.

………

LADOT General Manger Seleta Reynolds and Leah Shahum of the Vision Zero Network will discuss what Vision Zero means for Los Angeles from 7 pm to 8:30 pm on September 24th in the City Council chambers at LA City Hall.

………

Still more news about kindhearted people this week, as a stranger donates a new bike to a Dallas girl, after her mother had put up a handwritten poster shaming the thief who stole hers.

And an Indiana woman saves the life of a young boy who got snagged on a moving train after he tried to go under it with his bike while the train was stopped.

………

Dutch cyclist Tom Dumoulin stormed through Wednesday’s time trial to move into the lead in the Vuelta, while American rider Larry Warbasse feels pretty f—ed entering the race’s final week.

A 28-year old Brooklyn preschool teacher could be the first African American woman to go pro, after just two years of racing.

………

Local

Don’t hold your breath for that long-promised continuous bikeway along the newly extended Expo Line. BAC member Jonathon Weiss points the finger at understaffed city departments and old-fashioned CYA for delaying it, along with equally long-promised wayfinding signage and a Westwood Greenway on the Expo corridor.

Streetsblog puts last weekend’s opening of the East Side Riders Bike Club’s new bike co-op into perspective, as bicycling continues to flourish in long neglected parts of the city.

The Hollywood Reporter talks with Stephen Frears prior to the premier of his Lance Armstrong film The Program, which premiers in Toronto later this month.

The Daily News looks at the return of CicLAvia to the San Fernando Valley, as we mentioned earlier this week. Apparently CiclaValley likes the idea, though he may be surprised to learn he’s now a community organization.

Bike Walk Glendale offers a free bike-safety and skills workshop for kids this Saturday.

Northeast Los Angeles will host a Kidical Mass on the 19th, as part of a worldwide Kidical MASSive celebration of kids and bikes.

 

State

When I was a kid, I was happy to ride my bike around the neighborhood. Three brothers ranging from just nine to eleven years old will ride 100 miles from Irvine to San Diego in Saturday’s Amtrak Century, sponsored by the Orange County Wheelmen. Note to the OC Register: It’s a ride, not a race.

A San Diego cyclist was seriously injured Tuesday night when he apparently made a left turn in front of an oncoming car near Balboa Park.

Maybe Fix the City could change their name to Fix the State, and sue to undo the successful makeover of an Encinitas street.

A Thousand Oaks bike rider was injured when he was broadsided by a truck after reportedly running a red light. Police say alcohol played a part, but this time, it wasn’t the driver who was drunk. As the story points out, bicycling under the influence is a misdemeanor in California, with a fine up to $250.

A San Jose cyclist is suing city police for allegedly holding him at gunpoint and beating him senseless for no apparent reason after they stopped him for riding without a headlight. Something tells me there may be another side to this story.

The road-raging Marin County cyclist who beat up a driver after allegedly being clipped by his mirror gets off easy, with a sentence of just 90 days in county lockup along with another 90 days of possible home detention.

 

National

The popular Fly6 rear-facing bike cam and taillight combo is about to be joined by the Fly12 headlight and bike cam; at $349 it’s priced in the midrange of bike cameras that come sans lights.

Bikeshare is coming to Portland after a four year delay. Meanwhile, Baltimore cyclists hope the third time is the charm, as the city takes it’s third stab at a bikeshare system.

Police say a well-known Minnesota cyclist was doing nothing wrong when he was killed by a little old lady from Pasadena who veered onto the shoulder of the roadway.

There’s a special place in hell for someone who would steal a three-wheeled bike from a 16-year old Minnesota kid with hydrocephalus and epilepsy; he only got to ride the bike twice before it was stolen. Update: police recovered the bike on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the jerk who stole it is still out there.

Completing our Minnesota triptych is a nice story of a successful bike shop born of a man’s attempt to keep busy while recovering from an addiction to painkillers.

A Michigan man faces up to 15 years for the hit-and-run death of a nurse who was participating in a group ride across the state.

An Ohio driver was over the legal alcohol limit when he killed a cyclist three years ago; then again, so was his victim.

Here’s your chance to hear that anti-bike Boston columnist explain in his own words why bikes don’t belong on the city’s streets.

Someone has been booby trapping a Maryland trail with spike boards and fishing line strung across the trail since 2013; this week a mountain biker found razor blades sticking out of boards buried in the trail. Acts like this should be considered domestic terrorism cases, since it’s a deliberate attempt to cause harm and incite fear in order to run cyclists off the trail.

The Department of DIY strikes in Boston, as a cyclist used planters and orange cones to convert a buffered bike lane into a long-promised protected bike lane.

A Virginia driver wasn’t wearing his much-needed glasses when he rammed a cyclist from behind; he was already scheduled for arraignment on a previous hit-and-run next month.

A Florida weekly says the state is a cyclist’s worst nightmare.

 

International

Buses and bikes could save billions worldwide.

An Oregon man spent eight years traversing the world on a solo tandem ride; he met his wife when she hopped on the back in Argentina and never got off.

A British woman is charged with deliberately driving up on the sidewalk to ram a bike rider, apparently because she objected to a sign asking drivers to slow down. But bikes are the problem, right?

An Irish cyclist leaves a large dent in the back of a car when he slammed into it after the car stopped in front of him. Apparently, the driver wasn’t too concerned; then again, he didn’t get out to see the dent.

Four Philippine scouts plan to ride over 600 miles to distribute flashlights and promote disaster awareness.

 

Finally…

Caught on video: A cyclist takes a vertigo-inducing ride straight down the face of a 200-foot dam, complete with splashdown at the end. A Czech woman performs a beautiful bike ballet on a brakeless fixie.

And a Portland woman makes the unlikely journey from bike mechanic to Jewish songstress.

………

I hope you’ll join me in thanking Mike Wilkinson, Christopher Meszler, Erik Griswold, Lois Rubin, and David Aretsky for the kindness and generosity they’ve shown in donating to support BikinginLA. It’s people like them who help make this site possible.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bikes & the Law, Legal Cases, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: New website seeks to undo Rowena road diet, and more news about kindhearted people

September 9, 2015 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: New website seeks to undo Rowena road diet, and more news about kindhearted people

The new Safe Streets for Silver Lake website calls for removal of the Rowena road diet. Even though it has cut injury collisions by half since it was installed, and brought average speeds down to the speed limit.

Which, sadly, is a rarity in Los Angeles.

The site blames the road diet for creating cut-through traffic in the surrounding neighborhood, However, that same video could have been shot on virtually any other street in LA, especially now that Waze directs drivers onto backstreets they might never have discovered otherwise, let alone driven.

And while cyclists have a reputation for blowing through stop signs, deserved or otherwise, most drivers do little more than genuflect in their general direction.

If that.

The solution isn’t to rip out proven safety measures. The answer is better traffic calming to slow drivers down and make it less convenient to cut through neighborhoods, along with better enforcement.

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council is hosting town hall meeting to discuss the matter next Monday at the Ivanhoe Elementary School auditorium.

There will be plenty of voices calling for an end to the road diet. Let hope there are others to urge a more rational approach.

………

More good news about kindhearted people this week.

After someone stole the therapy bike an autistic Long Beach boy used to ride with his parents, a Huntington Beach volleyball team pitched in to buy him a new one.

And an Idaho boy with cerebral palsy gave away the $4,300 bike he’d outgrown to a special needs girl who couldn’t afford one. And he donated his hair to Locks of Love. Just a reminder that no matter what problems you face in your own life, there’s always someone who could use your help.

………

Cycling officials check bikes for signs of motor doping at the Vuelta, in response to a video showing a Movistar mechanic trying to hide a broken bike.

Tour de France winner Chris Froome will miss the worlds with a broken foot suffered in the Vuelta.

………

Local

Great analysis of why there are so many dangerous intersections around USC, and what can be done to improve the situation. Thanks to Ikawe for the heads-up.

WeHoVille profiles the city’s young feminist mayor, who worked to improve bicycling in her first term on the city council.

The Santa Monica Bike Center is looking for a part-time wrench.

A Redondo Beach man is building custom beach bikes complete with a steering wheel instead of handlebars.

The monthly Spoke(n) Art ride rolls this Saturday. Which just happens to be the eighth anniversary of the infamous beachfront bee incident.

 

State

The Orange County Transportation Authority is holding a roundtable meeting on Thursday on how to improve bicycling in the County’s foothill communities.

Specialized apologizes for the lack of road etiquette displayed by their employees on their lunch ride through Morgan Hill.

There’s something seriously wrong when fire officials would rather keep a street dangerous than improve safety, as they’re doing in Menlo Park.

The East Bay Express says Oakland is still stuck in the 20th Century when it comes to the city’s longstanding love affair with cars.

Just Another Cyclist says the supposedly non-violent bike rider arrested for bashing a car with his U-lock is the perfect stereotype for the Critical Mass cyclist gone amuck.

Sacramento officials debate where sidewalk cycling should be banned.

A Yuba City driver basically confesses to not paying attention after running down a bike rider he’d spotted some distance away.

 

National

A new taillight from Garmin detects the presence of cars coming from behind and flashes faster as they get closer; an optional head unit warns you of relative risk as cars approach. Although its $200 – $300 price tag will put it out of the reach of many riders.

The US Department of Transportation studies how to improve safety for cyclists in Seattle’s seaport area, concluding bikes and pedestrians should be separated from traffic whenever possible, and that signage and infrastructure should be improved to increase predictability.

An Ohio woman plans to bike to Corpus Christi TX to see her four-year old daughter. Maybe she should sign up for Ohio Valley AAA bicycle service before she goes. Ignore the damn zip code window and scroll down to the benefits; thanks to Steve Herbert for the link.

Someone finally said it. A Texas writer says there’s nothing cute about a college student driving a toy Barbie car to class after she was busted for DUI. Drunk driving is no accident, and it’s not a laughing matter. Period.

A Louisiana driver gets three years for the DUI death of a bike rider; the victim’s wife has forgiven him, saying her husband was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although that might not have mattered if the driver had been sober.

A Memphis bicyclist is in critical condition after he was right hooked, but not hit, by a driver. Just because the car didn’t actually make contact doesn’t mean the driver didn’t cause his injuries.

Four cyclists have died on Vermont roads in the last six months; before this April, no bike rider had killed in the state since 2010.

A New York bike messenger faces a manslaughter charge after fighting with a building tenant; he rode off even though the man was clutching his chest and died of a heart attack.

Now that’s more like it. The Baltimore Episcopal bishop who fled the scene after a drunken collision that killed a bike rider accepts a plea bargain that will keep her behind bars for the next 10 years.

 

International

The mayor of car-crazed Caracas, Venezuela is attempting to carve out a little space for cyclists. Although the first attempt is just a short, three mile bike path that bypasses areas where most people live, and crosses a park that closes at 5 pm.

A new separated bike lane in Calgary is getting rave reviews from cyclists.

Britain’s Near Miss Project shows that bicycling must get safer, since commuter cyclists in the country have up to 60 “very scary” incidents a year. Especially since British cities of the future will be teeming with bicycles.

Someone sabotaged a Scottish bike ride by scattering nails and tacks on the roadway; at least 50 riders suffered flats. That sort of thing is not just a prank, and could result in serious injuries if riders lost control when their tires went flat.

A Swiss driver faces a voluntary homicide charge for the death of a cyclist, in addition to being charged with DUI and hit-and-run.

Sadly, the bicycle a Turkish soldier sent home to his son arrived the same day his family learned he’d been killed in a bombing.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to get busted for a series of burglaries, try not to get caught riding a bike belonging to the judge scheduled to arraign you. It’s a sure sign you don’t ride enough when nature tries to reclaim your bike.

And screw the health benefits; a Rhode Island doctor says older men shouldn’t ride their bikes fast because they’re annoying.

………

Speaking of kindhearted people, let me offer a special thanks to James Lyle, Robs Muir, Harvey Woien, Bryan Jones, Margaret W, Glen Schmuetz, and Mark Jones for opening their hearts and wallets to help support this site. Your generosity is truly appreciated.

And I’ll repeat what I said yesterday. If everyone who visits here today donated just $10, it would fund the operation of this site for a full year.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: NY Times fumbles LA’s Mobility Plan, anti-Rowena road diet petition, and a CicLAvia sneak peek

September 8, 2015 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: NY Times fumbles LA’s Mobility Plan, anti-Rowena road diet petition, and a CicLAvia sneak peek

Elitist my ass.

In a piece of journalism unbefitting a great newspaper, the New York Times looks at the new LA Mobility Plan.

But instead of focusing on the city’s efforts to reduce reliance on cars and build a 21st Century mobility network, it directs its gaze on the largely unfounded fears of gridlock expressed by a handful of opponents.

Starting with Fix the City, the unofficial voice of LA NIMBYs everywhere.

The group, which has threatened to sue to stop the plan, has also tried to stop the new Academy of Motion Pictures museum next to LACMA. And they are one of the groups that successfully sued to halt the construction of a half-finished shopping center at Sunset and Western — blocking much needed jobs in a largely impoverished area, while increasing blight in an already blighted neighborhood. Something that the center would have helped to alleviate by bringing life to a long neglected corner of Hollywood.

But evidently, the NYT doesn’t have access to Google, which would have allowed them to research the background of the group in less than five minutes.

Instead, they simply took them at face value, quoting one of the group’s founders.

“What they’re trying to do is make congestion so bad, you’ll have to get out of your car,” said James O’Sullivan, a founder of Fix the City, a group that is planning a lawsuit to stop the plan. “But what are you going to do, take two hours on a bus? They haven’t given us other options.”

Never mind that the purpose of the plan is to cut transit times and provide Angelenos with viable transportation options other than the city’s unsustainable, and no longer desired, reliance on the automobile.

The paper also repeats, without examination, the fallacy that the plan would double the number of congested intersections in the city.

Yes, that’s in the plan. But if they’d bothered to do their due diligence, they would have discovered that it’s a worst case projection, based on the assumption that no one will choose to walk, bike or take transit, despite the alternatives presented by the plan.

Which is highly unlikely.

The paper only has to look outside their own windows to see that if you build it, they do, in fact, come. New York has seen a substantial growth in ridership in recent years, as the city has more than doubled the space devoted to bike lanes.

Never mind the dramatic growth shown in other cities around the country, as they install protected bike lanes like the ones called for in the plan. Or even Santa Monica’s 356% jump in ridership over the last 12 years, as the city has become one of the most bike-friendly towns in Southern California.

And it ignores the probability that more people will choose to use transit as train lines expand and offer greater connectivity, and bus only lanes offer more direct routes with shorter trip times. Or that people are more likely to walk as the streets become safer and more inviting.

Even the city’s planned bikeshare system could offer some relief from traffic, as a new study shows DC’s bikeshare system reduced traffic congestion 2% – 3% in neighborhoods surrounding the bikeshare hubs.

Then there’s everyone’s favorite LA councilmember, “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo, who states his preference for maintaining the current hegemony of the motor vehicle, and goes unchallenged as he calls bike lanes elitist, in a turn of Doublespeak that would make Orwell proud.

“The reality is that Southern California is built around the automobile,” said Gil Cedillo, one of two Council members to vote against the plan. “We’re going to make more traffic and create even greater congestion. I don’t know how anybody votes for that.”

He said few of the constituents in his lower-income district would use the bike lanes, while everyone would suffer as traffic worsened.

“It’s a very elitist policy,” he said.

Evidently, Cedillo has never met anyone who rides a bike. Or noticed the many low income and immigrant riders in his own district as he drives to the office — many of whom can’t afford a car, any car, and rely on bicycles as their only form of transportation.

How he would describe them elitist is beyond comprehension. Let alone how the NY Times would let him get away with it.

There is an important story to be written about LA’s shift to a multi-modal future.

But this isn’t it.

………

A petition has been started to undo the Rowena road diet, even though it has reduced injury collisions over 50%; it currently stands at 200 supporters. If we can’t manage keep a successful road diet in place, it doesn’t bode well for Vision Zero or the Mobility Plan.

Thanks to Northeast L.A. Bikes for the heads-up.

………

Make you plans now for next year’s CicLAvias.

Dennis Hindman sends word that the LA City Council Transportation Committee will discuss plans for three of the popular open streets events scheduled for the next fiscal year at Wednesday’s meeting.

You already know about next month’s CicLAvia in DTLA; others are planned for Van Nuys and Pacoima in March, and Southeast Cities, including Huntington Park and Watts, in May.

There will likely be at least one other LA event later next year, as well as some CicLAvias wholly outside the City of LA.

………

A 60-year old Memphis cyclist was shot by someone in a car Saturday night following an argument after the rider was almost hit by their car. Fortunately, the victim survived in what is described as “non-critical” condition.

Let that be a reminder to all hot tempered riders — myself included — that you never know who or what is in that car that nearly ran you off the road.

It’s usually better to just let it go.

Thanks to Bob Young for the link.

………

With all the bad news out there these days, it’s nice to see some real kindness directed towards bike riders.

Boulder CO police convince Walmart to donate a bike to replace one stolen from a local kid, and dig into their own pockets to buy him a helmet and lock.

Meanwhile, a North Dakota man buys a new bike for a neighbor boy when his was stolen. And friends of a visually impaired Marine vet pitch in to replace his $1,800 motorized bike after it was stolen.

………

Purito takes the leader’s jersey in the Vuelta after 16 stages, though he may not hold it very long. American Joe Dombrowsky gets the go ahead to go for stage victories, while the motor doping rumors refuse to go away, despite a lack of evidence.

Teejay van Garderen says he’s motivated for the worlds after a bad year on the bike.

Caught on video: A French race fan runs out onto the course to retrieve a bike after a rider falls, preventing a massive crash as the peloton approaches. But who wins if you cross the finish line going the wrong way?

Italian prosecutors conclude the late great Marco Pantini wasn’t murdered, but died of a cocaine overdose, as originally thought.

And sad news from Virginia, as a cyclist competing in the Shenandoah Mountain 100 Backcountry Mountain Bike Race died following a severe crash during the race.

………

Local

The Ballona Creek bike path will be closed for maintenance between Overland Ave and National Blvd from 6 am to 5 pm this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

For once, the cyclist gets the TV celebrity girl, while paparazzi even chase bike riding actresses in Ghana.

Burbank installs electric vehicle charging stations, but the owner of Bicycle John’s bemoans the loss of two parking spaces near his business. Dude, your customers ride bikes; they won’t mind walking a little further to get there.

The planned redevelopment of the Redondo Beach waterfront includes a 30 to 40 foot wide bike and pedestrian pathway along the ocean for the full length of the project.

 

State

The Times says Governor Brown’s compromise proposal is the best bet to fix California’s broken roads; the plan includes investing $500 million in cap-and-trade funds in transit and making streets more bike and pedestrian friendly. Of course, the question is how much of that would trickle down to fund bike and pedestrian projects.

San Diego’s Union-Tribune charts bike theft hotspots in the city. Not surprisingly, it turns out they’re the areas where more people ride bikes.

Evidently, bike theft is a worldwide problem, from California’s Central Coast to the shores of Borneo.

San Francisco police have arrested a man who allegedly was the jerk who bashed a car with his U-lock during last month’s Critical Mass, causing two grand in damages.

Yet another California bike rider has died at the hands of a drunk driver, this time in Brentwood.

A Napa writer repeats the tired and impractical call to require bike riders to be licensed, registered and insured. As if we pose as much risk to the public as the people in the big, dangerous machines that kill 30,000+/- Americans every year.

This is why you should always inspect and maintain your bike. A Folsom-area bike rider was badly injured in what everyone assumed was a hit-and-run, but a witness said he actually fell when his bike snapped in two.

 

National

A new study shows speed cameras save lives, and encourage drivers to slow the f*** down.

Five hundred Nevada bike riders rally to remember a fallen cyclist killed while riding on the Las Vegas Strip, while officials promise to crackdown on drivers who violate riders right-of-way; a similar number honored a fallen rider in Birmingham AL.

If you’re going to steal a bike off an Illinois porch, have the decency to wait until they take it out of the shipping box.

You can now ride a genuine work of art inspired by works in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Well no, actually, you can’t.

That’s convenient, anyway. After a New Jersey cyclist is hit by an ambulance, they load him in the back and take him to the nearest hospital.

A Virginia bike path jumps from one side of the road to the other at the city limit, with no apparent way to cross to the other side. But an official swears riders won’t be inconvenienced. Uh, right.

A Florida county bans bike riders from a local road in apparent violation of state law. And it can’t be enforced, anyway.

 

International

A 69-year old cyclist will spend his next birthday bicycling from Toronto to Mexico to raise money for a charity founded by his late wife to aid people in San Miguel de Allende and the state of Guanajuato.

Caught on video: A bike-riding hit-and-run Brit jerk claims he doesn’t have a name after plowing into a woman from behind; you can see him reach out to push her away — or maybe push her down — as she walks out in front of him

A bike path-roaming Welsh barista has been put on hold because they can’t find a place to park his three-wheeled cappuccino-brewing bike.

A Finnish advocate says the focus should be on safer roads, not helmets; most bike wrecks in the city are caused by slippery conditions or drunkenness.

Bike riders rally in 100 cities across India to promote bicycling, and encourage daily riding.

Australia’s Cycle Space says it’s not a war between drivers and cyclists, it’s an attack on city dwellers by people in the suburbs.

Despite a favorable sounding headline, a writer for Australia’s Financial Review devotes nearly a thousand words to saying Sydney isn’t Copenhagen, and complaining how bike lanes make her commute worse.

No, it is not a freak accident when a distracted support van driver runs over a member of the Malaysian national cycling team because he was stretching his leg; fortunately, she’s in stable condition and has regained consciousness after surgery.

 

Finally…

Submitted without comment: A six-year old Ukrainian boy was riding his bike when a horse attacked and bit off his penis; the good news is, the horse must have spit it out, and surgeons were able to reattach it. If you’re carrying marijuana on your bike and wanted on two outstanding warrants, don’t ride without reflectors in the middle of the street.

And apparently, not even kite surfers are safe from cars.

………

One last note.

Operating BikinginLA is a more than full-time job that pays less than the minimum wage. But if everyone who visits here today donated just $10, it would fund this site and meet my expenses for a full year.

And please join me in thanking our sponsors Jim Pocrass of Pocrass & De Los Reyes, and Los Angeles Bicycle Attorney Josh Cohen. Without their support, this site wouldn’t be possible.

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

Bicyclist murdered in Winnetka early Saturday in apparent random attack

September 5, 2015 / / One comment

A bike rider was stabbed to death in Winnetka early Saturday morning.

The man, described only as 20 to 30 years old, was riding on Sherman Way near Lurline Ave around 12:30 am when he was dragged off his bike by three attackers. The victim was beaten before one of the attackers pulled out a knife and repeatedly stabbed him in the chest.

He was rushed to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:40 am.

According to My News LA, police suspect the attack could be related to a robbery in the 7600 block of Mason Ave 15 minutes earlier, while KABC-7 says it’s unknown whether it was gang related.

Frighteningly, KTLA-5 suggests it may have been a random attack, quoting a police spokesman as saying the victim had no ties to the first crime, and may have just been in the wrong area at the wrong time.

The suspects were last seen fleeing in a dark, mid-sized SUV. Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD’s Topanga Detective Division at 818/756-4820.

Whatever the reason, be careful riding in the area since the suspects are still on the loose. And if someone tries to jack your bike, let them have it. No bike is worth your life.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.

Thanks to danger d for the heads-up.

Category: Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , ,
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