Archive for Advocacy & Politics

Morning Links: PVE locals attack 12-year old girl online, spoiler-free Rio bike news, and interstate police bike chase

August 10, 2016 / / One comment

Proving that some people have no shame, Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson writes that some Palos Verdes Estates residents are attacking a 12-year old girl online.

Because she had the audacity to speak up in front of the city council to support bicycle safety.

Not unlike the truly offensive bikelash that rose up in the Silver Lake area when 11-year old Matlock Grossman dared to say he didn’t want to get run over when he rides his bike.

As Davidson puts it,

We teach our kids that sometimes the right thing is the hard thing, but maybe we’ve lied to them a little bit: The right thing is always the hard thing. The right thing is the Gandhi thing, the MLK thing, the Lincoln thing. It’s the path everyone wants to take until they note it’s overgrown with weeds, and each blade of grass is the serrated edge of a knife.

It shouldn’t be that way.

Whether or not you agree with them, kids should earn our respect just because they have the courage to get up there and say something.

They deserve to be listened to simply because they have something to say.

And if the haters of the world would just pause long enough to hear them, they might actually learn something.

………

Bicycling says the US women’s pursuit team is poised to win gold in Rio.

ESPN profiles Kristin Armstrong, who goes for her third straight Olympic gold in the time trial today, just one day shy of her 43rd birthday.

The Economist calls last weekend’s Rio road races the most dangerous in recent history, while the New York Post calls these games “the Olympics of terrifying, body-maiming bike crashes.”

This whole fourth place in Olympic road cycling events is getting old for Team USA.

Mark Cavendish says he doesn’t believe Britain’s Lizzie Armistead doped, but she’s responsible for creating suspicion by missing three drug tests prior to the Olympic Games.

………

Local

Now that Robertson Blvd is no longer trendy, LA Magazine suggests four streets that could take its place, and considers the bike and transit options for each.

West Hollywood officially unveils the first four stations for its new WeHo Pedals bikeshare. Which, if it follows the pattern of other bikeshare systems, will cost taxpayers little or nothing.

CiclaValley considers the difference in attitudes towards bicycling between LA and Orange County. Or maybe just the difference between those who ride and those who don’t.

The second Asian American bike tour rolls this Saturday through El Monte and the San Gabriel Valley.

Just Ride LA is hosting a post-CicLAvia Happy Hour Shindig at the DTLA Plan Check this Sunday from 2 to 6 pm.

 

State

If you’re missing a bike on the Central Coast, check with the Santa Rosa police, who recovered 16 hot bikes when they busted a bike thief; at least 34 other bikes had been stripped beyond recognition.

A Hanford man was arrested on meth charges when police searched his backpack after stopping him for an undisclosed bicycle violation.

 

National

City Lab says a collapsible paper bike helmet could revolutionize safety for bikeshare users. On the other hand, only one person has ever been killed while using bikeshare in the US, and she was already wearing a helmet. So just what problem are they trying to solve?

A writer for Bicycling makes the case for ebikes after her mother falls in love with riding one.

An ABC reporter rides his bike 500 miles between the Republican and Democratic conventions, talking to voters along the way.

Not surprisingly, people are questioning the wisdom of having motor vehicles travel side-by-side with bicycling competitors in the Boulder CO Ironman, where a woman was killed in a collision with a truck when she reportedly veered into the traffic lane.

El Paso TX approves a new bike plan that could eventually create a comprehensive network of bikeways resulting in up to 1,100 miles of bicycling infrastructure.

It’s not always the driver who’s drunk; an Ohio cyclist is the victim of a solo crash after allegedly imbibing. And there’s the difference: Drunk bike riders pose the greatest danger to themselves, while drunk drivers pose a danger to everyone around them.

Hoboken NJ police bust a 12-man bike theft ring.

Caught on video: A New York bike rider captures the harrowing conditions of riding across the overly crowded Brooklyn Bridge on her bike cam — including a head-on crash with another cyclist. Evidently, pedestrians don’t like it much, either.

 

International

We’re winning, comrades. Ebikes are outselling electric cars by seventy to one worldwide.

A Calgary columnist says mounting evidence shows just how pointless extending bike helmet laws to adults really is. Meanwhile, a caller to a radio show calls the city’s separated bike lanes a moral outrage. No, seriously; protected bike lanes are as bad as, say, racism, or attacking a 12-year old girl online, or any other morally reprehensible thing you might come up with.

Only 19 drivers have been charged under Ontario, Canada’s equivalent to the three-foot passing law. Which is 19 more than most places.

Montreal will reopen a bridge after two years of reconstruction, with a shiny new bike path that disappears halfway across.

The rich get richer. The Dutch city of Utrecht expands its traffic information network to direct cyclists to open bike parking spaces throughout the city.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to flee after trying to steal a bike, try not to leave your shoes behind. Don’t lead police on a six-mile bicycle chase across state lines on an Interstate highway — and fall down when they tase you, dammit.

And, no, really. We should all feel sorry for those poor drivers who are forced to kill scofflaw cyclists through no fault of their own.

 

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

Morning Links: The perils of cable locks, Rose City cycle track meeting, and how to greet a fellow bicyclist

August 9, 2016 / / One comment

David Drexler strikes a cautionary note in warning about the dangers of even the best cable locks. Even when firmly attached to your car in public spaces.

They almost had my bike yesterday.

Parked in the In-N-Out Burger on Beach Blvd in Huntington Beach for 30 min.  Parked right in front in a high traffic area at the entrance .

My hybrid bike was on the hitch rack with the tires and the downtube clamped in.  For added security I wrapped the pictured thickest Kryptonite cable through the tires and the rack frame.

DD Bike Cable

Hanging by a thread

In the time I was in the store, thieves unlatched the two tire clamps and cut the cable pictured, in one more minute they could have had the bike but something scared them off?

Brazen for them to be working in such a high profile visible location.

He added this in a follow-up email.

Sunday was a real wake up call—I let my guard down and left my hybrid bike on a rack unattended twice for more than 30 minutes each time with just a cable lock on it.  I would never do that if it was not on a car rack. I felt comfortable in Huntington Beach in a high profile parking space and cable locked. I did not believe that someone would approach my car with tools and attempt to take a bike in a busy parking lot with me close by inside.  The rack is new—just got it three weeks ago and I will adjust my security accordingly.  The bike will be both cable locked and u-locked on the rack if I need to leave the bike unattended–same as I do when locking it up around LA and the OC to go in stores.

Bike chained to car rack

Bike chained to car rack

What the thieves were after

What the thieves were after

 

It seems like overkill sometimes, but I try to keep my bike with me whenever I can.

If not, I field strip my bike, removing anything that can be easily stolen. Then take off my front wheel, and lock it to my rear wheel with a heavy U-lock through the frame, then wrap the whole thing with a cable lock.

And never, ever leave it unattended on a car.

It’s a pain in the ass, but it’s worked so far.

Knock on wood.

And don’t forget to register your bike, just in case.

………

Wesley Reutimann forwards word of an informational meeting to discuss the proposed Union Street Cycle Track in Pasadena next week.

Want to weigh in on the Union Ave Cycle Track project?  The City of Pasadena will be hosting two meetings on the same day Tuesday August 16th (one AM, one PM), following a request by the Pasadena Playhouse District Association.

Union Street Cycle Track Informational Meeting

Pasadena’s newly-adopted Bicycle Transportation Action Plan identifies a two-way cycle track along Union Street between Hill and Arroyo Parkway. Learn about project design, implementation, potential impacts, and funding at meetings hosted by the City of Pasadena.

  1. WHERE: Pasadena Presbyterian Church, Gamble Lounge, 585 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91101
  2. WHEN: Tuesday, August 16, 2016
  3. TIMES: 8:30 – 9:30 am or 5 pm – 6 pm

If you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to participate in the process, please contact Rich Dilluvio, Pasadena Department of Transportation, at (626) 744-7254 or rdilluvio@cityofpasadena.net.

………

Thanks to Dave R for forwarding this video offering six ways to greet a fellow cyclist, which garnered nearly 60,000 views in its first day online. And is sure to bring a smile to even the most curmudgeonly rider.

I’m a master of the quick nod and handlebar hand raise, myself.

………

The head of UCI, bike racing’s governing body, says don’t blame us for the dangerous road course in Rio, blame all those injured bike riders for screwing up, although others may beg to differ. Then again, safe courses reduce the risk of rider error. Not to mention it couldn’t hurt to allow a few practice runs on the course without having to share the roads with vehicular traffic.

Good news from one of those injured cyclists, as Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten says she’ll be fine, despite suffering a concussion and three fractured vertebrae. Thank goodness she has some random guy on Twitter to tell her how to ride a bike properly.

Cycling Weekly questions whether Peter Sagan did the right thing in dropping out of Saturday’s road race. Greg Van Avermaet’s victory says no, while the injuries to van Vleuten, Geraint Thomas and Vincenzo Nibali, et al, say yes.

Meanwhile, an Aussie track cyclist was hospitalized after her pursuit team crashed while training.

NBC previews tomorrow’s men’s time trial. Lets hope they do a better job covering the women’s time trial, also on Wednesday, than they did the women’s road race.

New York Magazine says doping is only going to get harder to detect, especially when gene splicing becomes a thing in the very near future. Although that sounds a lot better than dosing with whiskey, egg whites, and strychnine.

………

Local

CiclaValley takes a look at what cyclists lost in the recent Sand Fire.

Arizona’s Kimberly Lucie won the women’s pro race at the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix on Sunday, while LA’s Justin Williams took the men’s title.

The San Diego Reader suggests biking along the beachfront bike path to visit Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, which it calls LA’s last real beach towns.

Long Beach officially cuts the ribbon on the first segment of what will eventually be two miles of parking-protected bike lanes on the city’s North Side.

 

State

Orange County puts its money where its mouth is, approving nearly $20 million to fund 13 bicycle corridor projects in the county and six OC cities; an additional bicycle boulevard in Huntington Beach could be funded if they can keep the cost of the project below $488,000.

Anaheim’s draft bike plan calls for 120 miles of additional bikeways. Of course, as we’ve repeatedly seen in LA, any plan is only as good as the city’s commitment to it.

San Diego’s Bike the Bay rolls at the end of this month, allowing 3,500 participants a once-a-year opportunity to ride over the sweeping Coronado Bay Bridge. And arrive in the city where bike lanes make people dizzy.

A proposal would give Stockton Street in downtown San Francisco a bike and people friendly makeover, converting it “from yet another auto sewer into a car-free pedestrian-transit-bicycle mall.”

The Department of DIY strikes in the Bay Area, as San Francisco bicyclists take safety improvements into their own hands.

Forget making America great again. The new director of the UC Davis Bicycle Program wants to make riding a bike fun again. They also offer a smart program to store students’ bicycles for the summer, safe from thieves and out of the elements, for just $20.

 

National

Co-Exist says protected bike lanes and bikeshare systems are the key to making cities safer.

Bike riders on Hawaii’s Big Island are turning to bike cams for protection, in a story that reads like a press release for the Fly6 and Fly12 cams, which it probably is. Seriously, they could have at least mentioned any of the other numerous bike and helmet mountable action cams on the market. GoPro, anyone?

The Colorado State Patrol blames the victim in Sunday’s fatal Ironman crash, saying she swerved out of a lane blocked off for competitors and hit a truck in the next lane.

I want to be like her when I grow up. A 77-year old Minnesota woman rides 660 miles to attend her 60th high school reunion in Cheyenne WY. Except I have no interest in attending a high school reunion. Or living in Minnesota.

A federal appeals court rules against a Michigan woman who sued Target for selling her a bike with defective brakes after she fell off and hurt her shoulder; the court said she’s entitled to a fair jury, but “not one that believes whatever she says.”

New York considers a proposal to add wider bike and pedestrian lanes to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Drivers using bike lanes as de facto passing lanes seems to be a universal problem, even in Greensboro NC.

No bias here. A Miami bike rider gets the blame for colliding with a police cruiser, even though the cops were making a U-turn in the middle of a causeway.

 

International

OMG! The Brit press freaks out when One Direction’s Harry Styles is caught riding without a bike helmet, which is perfectly legal in the country. And perfectly safe, as long as you manage to stay upright.

It’s better not to hit a bike rider than to try and save his life afterwards. Just a suggestion.

The UK’s Radio X lists the greatest songs about bicycling. Mark Ronson’s The Bike Song apparently didn’t make the cut.

A Dublin woman calls on the city to make immediate safety improvements after too many near-death experiences riding her bike to work. The photo illustrating the story of a rider squeezing between city buses is truly terrifying.

After carrying them nearly 25,000 miles around the world, an English couple’s bikes go missing at Ireland’s Shannon Airport, along with the rest of their belongings.

Bicycling offers nine lessons learned from riding in the Swiss Alps. Or you could take the road less travelled and explore the Tatra Mountains between Slovakia and Poland.

Caught on video: Copenhagen somehow manages to keep a bikeway open next to a construction site, despite a road crew lifting hundreds of pounds of dirt over riders’ heads. Maybe they could teach us something about being a less litigious society, as well as being more welcoming to bike riders. Because something like that would never fly here.

 

Finally…

Don’t Pokémon GO on the go in Taiwan. The Rio road course may have been dangerous, but at least there weren’t any wallabies.

And please, can we just give the whole “Be a Roll Model” thing a rest, already?

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links, Stolen Bikes and Bike Crime, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Insurance owes squat if a hit-and-run driver misses, more on SB 986, and more kindhearted cops

August 8, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Insurance owes squat if a hit-and-run driver misses, more on SB 986, and more kindhearted cops

Bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Josh Cohen uncovers an insurance loophole that victimizes hit-and-run victims a second time.

In a piece he penned for a law journal, Cohen points out that insurance companies aren’t required to pay for hit-and-run crashes caused by drivers if the car doesn’t actually make contact with the victim.

He illustrates it with the story of a bike rider who was forced into a stopped car by an inattentive driver.

The client pulled into the number two lane behind the last car stopped. He intended to pass the bus and vehicles stopped behind it in the number one lane once the traffic light turned green. The light turned green. Suddenly the client heard a car accelerate toward him from behind. The driver behind him did not notice him and was bearing down on him. The driver’s car came within inches of the client. The client took his last clear chance and veered back into the lane to his right. He got injured when he crashed into the stopped car to his right.

The driver of the car that caused the crash recognized he was at fault. He pulled over, took out his driver’s license and insurance card, and waited. An ambulance came and took the client away. The police never came. The offending driver left the scene, rendering the case a hit and run. But not exactly: there was no hit. It was a near-miss and run.

The victim’s insurance company denied his claim under the uninsured motored coverage on his policy, which requires actual physical contact — despite the state’s three-foot passing law.

Cohen says the easy and obvious solution is to remove the physical contact clause from the state’s uninsured motorist statute, saying it places an undue burden on vulnerable users.

Sounds right to me.

………

While we’re on the subject of bad laws, a lawyer writing for the prestigious National Law Review warns that careless wording in California’s proposed SB 986 could put pedestrians at risk if drivers are allowed to legally roll through red lights to make right turns. CiclaValley takes up the subject, as well.

………

More kindhearted cops.

LA County sheriff’s deputies team up to replace a bike stolen from a 41-year old San Dimas man with Down’s Syndrome. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

Minneapolis police arrange for a new bike for a ten-year old boy whose bicycle was stolen by an older kid who punched him in the face.

………

Spoiler alert: We’re going to talk about the men’s and women’s road races from the Rio Olympics. So if you still have them on your DVR or waiting to download, skip down to the next section.

Broken-hearted American Mara Abbott just missed a medal as she was caught by three riders within sight of the finish line, as Holland’s Anna van der Breggen took gold.

Abbott had been riding with Annemiek van Vleuten when the Dutch rider suffered a horrific crash; as of Sunday night, van Vleuten was in intensive care with a fractured spine, though Dutch officials said she was okay and conscious.

Belgian cyclist Greg van Avermaet took the gold in the men’s race after leaders Vincenzo Nibali and Sergio Henao hit the pavement less than seven and a half miles from the finish line on the road course’s crappy pavement.

Australian Ritchie Porte is out of the time trial after breaking his shoulder in Saturday’s race, while Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali will have surgery for a broken collarbone. Rwandan team captain Adrien Niyonshuti failed to finish, blaming his bike for the early exit.

Meanwhile, American Andrew Talansky entered the final stage of the Tour of Utah with the lead, but ended up losing the race to Aussie Lachlan Morton.

As Deadspin says, cycling is cruel.

………

Local

After years of promises, Wilshire Blvd finally gets new pavement and buffered bike lanes through the Condo Canyon area formerly known as “the gauntlet” for its speeding cars and bad pavement, connecting with the existing one whole block of bike lanes east of Beverly Glen. Odd that we’re told that Westwood Blvd has too much traffic and too many buses for bike lanes, while Wilshire gets bike lanes despite having far more of both.

Fallen cyclist and music teacher Rod Bennett lives on in his music at Santa Clarita’s LA SummerFest, even if no one showed up to listen.

Long Beach plans for greater density, sidewalks and bike lanes along an industrial stretch of PCH.

An 18-year old Long Beach man could be 26 before he rides a bike again after using his in a string of cellphone thefts.

 

State

A Redlands couple are halfway through a 10,000 mile tandem ride around the US.

After a 21-year old Chico woman was killed riding her bike, her parents find a bucket list in her bedroom and decide to live it out for her.

 

National

Bicycling talks with President Obama’s bike commuting chief of staff.

Missed this one last week, as CNN says distracted driving goes way beyond mere texting. Thanks to Victor Bank for the link.

A competitor in the Boulder CO Ironman was killed when she was struck by a car during the bicycling portion of the race. The course was not closed to motor vehicles, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look up and see there’s a damn race going on. Thanks to Penny Sputh for the tip.

A Denver bike cop credits his helmet with saving his life when he was run down by a driver who was having a seizure nearly two years ago; the driver got six years in a halfway house for failing to disclose his condition when applying for a driver’s license.

One of the benefits of putting cops on bikes is their ability to respond quickly, as demonstrated by the El Paso bike cops who arrested a bank robber while he was still at the teller window.

Cyclists ride outside the White House to “bike around the bomb” on the 71st anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing; they were joined by people riding around the Sepulveda basin here in LA.

 

International

An Edmonton, Canada bike rider accepts an apology from the driver who got out of his car to hurl a racial slur. Somehow, we’re all expected to believe the man was deeply remorseful, and not just trying to prove to the world he’s not really a racist after the video went viral. Not to mention avoid prosecution.

Caught on video: A London cyclist somehow manages to ignore the driver hurling obscenity-laced abuse at him.

Caught on video too: Another London bike rider learns the hard way not to splash water in the face of a driver he was arguing with, when the driver swerves into him and forces him into oncoming traffic. Similar to my greatest lesson, which was never flip off the driver behind you. For reasons which should be painfully obvious, and for which I still have the scars.

One Direction’s Harry Styles is one of us, as he takes to the streets of London on a classic Raleigh tri bike.

An Indian writer says bike commuting hasn’t caught on because owning a car is a symbol of moving from poverty into the middle class in the developing country.

An Israeli reporter asks the US State Department if Israel should pay a Palestinian girl $100 for the bicycle that border guards took from her and tossed into the bushes. Seriously, is this even a question? Just buy the girl a new bike, already.

Aussie motorcyclists are beating traffic by illegally using suburban bike paths, putting bicyclists and pedestrians at risk.

An Australian paper says new studies suggest being visible is less important than whether drivers are actively looking for people on bikes, giving more support to the safety in numbers theory.

Once again, police crack down on the victims, as Hong Kong police respond to recent bicycling deaths by chasing down law breaking bike riders.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to get high and shitfaced drunk, try not to stop your bicycle in the middle of a traffic lane in front of a school bus. Pro cyclists may not have better legs than you do, just better brains.

And no, you can’t actually live tweet an Olympic road race while you’re competing in it.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: State may legalize California stop; bike rider shot by Santa Ana PD; free Cycling Savvy class in OC

August 2, 2016 / / 6 comments

The California legislature could be taking your life in its hands.

Brenda Miller, founder of the PEDal advocacy group, writes that a new bill currently flying under the radar would legalize the California stop at red lights. According to her, SB 986 jeopardizes the safety of cyclists and pedestrians by eliminating the requirement that drivers remain stopped until they check for traffic before making a right turn on the red.

The result, she says, is that most drivers will simply roll through the intersection without stopping. Or looking.

You can read more of her comments on the bill here.

………

An apparently homeless bike rider was shot and killed by Santa Ana police Monday morning after struggling with officers.

Let’s hope the altercation didn’t start just because he was riding on the sidewalk in violation of local law. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.

………

The Orange County Wheelmen is hosting a free class this Thursday to discuss your rights and responsibilities to help keep you safe on the road.

………

Two common themes in today’s news, starting with still more kindhearted people.

An Ohio man’s co-workers pitch in to buy him a new bike after his was stolen while he was working.

In a nice gesture, Schwinn will donate 100 bicycles to Louisville KY kids.

A Connecticut cop gives a 15-year old boy his own bicycle after the teen’s bike was stolen.

The owner of a New Jersey bike shop is giving back to the community by purchasing 41 bicycles that will be given to underprivileged kids in the city’s toughest neighborhoods.

Sheriff’s deputies give a bike to a 16-year old boy so he wouldn’t have to walk four miles to the library in the Florida heat to study.

………

And the opposite, as road raging drivers form a far too common theme.

A Spokane driver faces a first-degree murder charge for deliberately chasing down a rider and smashing into him following a dispute.

Caught on video: An Atlantic City woman is under arrest for smashing her car into several parked cars in a deliberate attempt to run down a bike rider, who is shown throwing his bike at her car multiple times; police are looking for another suspect, presumably the man on the bike. The driver should be charged with attempted murder; the bike rider with bicycle abuse, if nothing else.

A Florida cyclist’s cross-county dream came to an abrupt end in Alabama when a road raging driver first threatened him with a knife, then ran over ran over his bicycle; the driver faces charges of reckless endangerment and second-degree criminal mischief.

Caught on video too: An Aussie truck driver is now under investigation after he posted video of himself deliberately drenching a group of riders with water, while cackling that he wishes he could run them over instead. It’s bad enough to pull crap like this, but what kind of idiot posts video online of himself doing it?

………

Peter Sagan confirms that he will be moving to current second-tier team Bora-Hansgrohe for next season when it moves up to WorldTour status, while Nicholas Roche jumps to BMC.

Bicycling offers seven reasons to get excited about the Tour of Utah, going on now in, that’s right, Utah.

A transgendered Canadian cyclist wins a key human rights complaint over what she considers a humiliating sex-verification process, as well as being denied needed hormones because they’re banned under anti-doping rules.

………

Local

KPCC notes that Los Angeles is currently holding focus groups to fine-tune its Vision Zero plan, with public meetings to come later.

DTLA’s Metro Bike bikeshare system, which remains in desperate need of a good nickname, is now open to walk-up users at a reduced rate of $1.75 per half hour through September. Meanwhile, Next City asks if bikeshare should cost the same as a bus.

CiclaValley rides Critical Mass.

Santa Monica’s California Incline, including new bike lanes, is finally set to open one month from today.

A UCLA doctor on the final leg of a seven-day charity ride saves the life of another rider who was suffering a heart attack in Malibu. Thanks to Evan G for the link.

 

State

The dozens of bicycles in a Santa Barbara couple’s garage testify to their lifelong love of bike riding.

San Bruno approves its first comprehensive walk and bike plan.

A San Francisco man is charged with murder in the hit-and-run death of a bicyclist in June while driving a stolen car.

 

National

Surprisingly, using Uber has done nothing to cut the rate of drunk driving deaths.

Portland police track down a Vietnam vet’s custom hand-bike after the double-amputee’s bicycle was stolen.

Once again, a bike rider has been killed while inexplicably riding in the fast lane of a freeway, this time in Portland.

The parents of the first, and so far only, cyclist killed while riding a bikeshare bike have filed a wrongful death suit against the truck driver who hit her and his employer.

Brooklyn bike riders get a new parking-protected bike lane, replacing the existing unprotected lane. Which is a natural progression that can and should be followed on many, if not most, LA bike lanes.

A man rides off with a $5,500 bicycle from a Florida bike shop after giving them the keys to a non-existent car as collateral for a test ride.

 

International

Ottawa, Canada cyclists and residents opposed to ghost bikes have been battling it out at the scene of a cyclist’s death; after the city removed her ghost bike, bike advocates and the victim’s family would draw one on the wall, then someone else would come and wash it off at night. Now, someone has upped the ante by illegally painting it on the wall where she died.

A Toronto columnist says why not build Pokemon Go lanes, since he’s convinced there are more Pokemon Go players than there are bike riders.

A London father uses security camera footage and Facebook to track down the teenage thieves who stole his daughter’s bicycle.

 

Finally…

Throw away your sports drinks; soon you’ll be quaffing nasty-tasting ketones, while you ride a $3,000 entry-level bike. Singing while you ride is one thing, playing a cello is another.

And parking in a bike lane is bad enough without using it as a staging area to climb a tower on the Bay Bridge.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Three-foot passing law sign bikelash in PVE, train bike racks in Seattle, and more kindhearted people

August 1, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Three-foot passing law sign bikelash in PVE, train bike racks in Seattle, and more kindhearted people

That didn’t take long.

Over the weekend we shared a photo forwarded by Jim Lyle showing the new signs promoting the three-foot passing law that went up in formerly bike-unwelcoming Palos Verdes Estates last week, replacing bike-unfriendly signs warning that bike laws are fully enforced in the city.

Now local residents have already taken to social media to bemoan the “ugly” signs besmirching their streets. And of course, complaining that bike riders never stop for stop signs.

Which, apparently, makes it okay to pass at less than three feet and run them off the road. Or worse.

However, since the complaining is being done on a website exclusively for residents of the exclusive Rolling Hills Estates, Lyle was kind enough to forward a sample of the comments.

image

PVE 2

PVE 3

PVE 4

Meanwhile, Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson posts multiple pages of the same anti-bike and anti-bike-friendly-signs vitriol, while reminding readers that the small victory represented by the signs only resulted from bike riders willing to turn out in force to ask for change.

………

Hap Dougherty forwards photos of Seattle’s train system, where bikes actually have racks, rather than just an empty space at the back of the car.

Seattle bike racks 1

Seattle bike racks 2

With something like this, the relatively petite cars on the Expo Line could easily hold four bikes, rather than fitting two at best in the space currently available.

Or just one if the rider insists on standing with his or her bike.

………

More kindhearted people.

After a 10-year old boy’s bicycle was stolen during a bike rodeo at a local school, Clovis police replace it for him.

After a 11-year old Canadian girl’s bike was stolen, the investigating officer slipped her mother some money for a new bike, and a family friend left a new bike on their doorstep.

………

Local

CiclaValley says there’s an important meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers to discuss future flood control measures on the LA River, which hopefully won’t result in more closures of the bike path.

A bike rider was shot to death in broad daylight on a Bell bike path Saturday afternoon.

 

State

The Orange County Register paints bikeshare as just a “hip idea to central planners,” and a trendy and “most unnecessary boondoggle” that shouldn’t be the recipient of public subsidies. Unlike driving, which is only possible with massive public subsidies; apparently, the paper feels a desperate need to reaffirm their shaky conservative credentials after a change in ownership.

The Big Bear Cycling Festival began over the weekend, and continues with events all week.

The Lompoc Valley Bicycle Club has been meeting weekly for over 25 years to ride to Buellton for breakfast.

A Chico bike rider says he lost his sense of community after he went over his handlebars on a busy street, as people continued to drive by without stopping to help as he lay there unable to move with a broken arm, and his bike on top of him.

 

National

Portland police ride a 21-mile trail surrounded with homeless encampments searching for stolen bikes. And not surprisingly, find them.

New York police are looking for a bike rider who returned fire when a man in a Jeep shot at him. So why aren’t they looking for the driver of the Jeep?

North Carolina ups the bike-friendly ante with a shiny new four-foot passing law; motorists who force riders off the road, make them crash or even just make bicyclists change lanes will now face increased fines.

Funds that had been raised for a homeless Georgia college student who rode his bike six hours to register for class have been put on hold, as the woman who started the gofundme account has concerns about his story.

 

International

So much for that famed Canadian politeness. A bike rider is the subject of racial slurs after a driver and his passengers get out of their car and tell him to get off the street; however, he reports an outpouring of support after the story went public .

A London columnist claims she came close to being killed by a bike rider when she stepped out of a building on a narrow street without looking. But instead of deciding she should be more careful next time, blames the bike rider who managed to avoid her — and by extension, everyone who likes to ride fast.

Over 26,000 cyclists turn out for the 100-mile RideLondon, though the event had to be cut short after two riders were injured.

A British medical professor says think twice about that acupuncture for cyclists.

British trucking companies are told to remove signs warning bicyclists to stay back.

The widow of a Maltese hit-and-run victim asks drivers to think of the person’s relatives every time they speed past a cyclist.

A Kiwi cyclist says riders are treated like second-class citizens in New Zealand.

Perth, Australia releases ambitious plans to create a Dutch-style bicycle network suitable for eight to eighty-year olds.

A Philippine woman writes an open letter to a road raging driver who fatally shot a bike rider following an argument; the shooter claims he was provoked by the “arrogant” cyclist.

A Taiwanese taxi driver had a blood alcohol level over five times the legal limit when he slammed into two bicyclists; police found four empty beer cans inside the taxi, suggesting he’d been drinking behind the wheel.

 

Finally…

Apparently, the key to remaining royally attractive in your 50s is to ride a bicycle. What do NASCAR drivers do on their days off? Ride bikes, of course.

And now you, too, can have your own Nobel Laureate parking space. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Weekend Links: Koretz faces serious challenge, 3-foot signs in PVE, and sabotage targeting cyclists continues

July 30, 2016 / / One comment

It looks like LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz is facing a serious challenger after all.

The LA Times is reporting that Westside attorney Jesse Creed has raised nearly $113,000 in just six weeks since announcing his candidacy, which is a remarkable amount for a first-time candidate. Meanwhile Koretz, a career politician who moved to LA’s 5th Council District to run for city council after being termed out in the state legislature, has reportedly raised $190,000.

The Times quotes Koretz’ campaign consultant as saying the councilmember is very popular, and he hasn’t talked to any leader of a community organization who supports Creed.

Maybe he’s just not talking to the right people.

Thanks to Robert Peppey for the heads-up.

………

Jim Lyle forwards word that the first three-foot passing signs have already been installed in Palos Verdes Estates, thanks to calls from cyclists following the recent deaths of bike riders on the peninsula.

PVE 3-foot passing sign

………

There’s been a rash of sabotage attempts targeting bike riders lately.

And it shows no sign of letting up.

The latest case comes from Marin, where mountain bikers found a rubber strip embedded with over 30 screws hidden in the dirt. Someone had also posted a sign saying bikes were prohibited from using a trail open to cyclists.

Meanwhile, Colorado police made an arrest in a case where hundreds of thumbtacks were strewn along the shoulder of a roadway popular with bicyclists, after a reporter spotted packaging for the tacks discarded along the side of the road. Police were able to trace it back to the store where it was purchased, where surveillance video showed the suspect buying the tacks.

It wasn’t the first time he’d gotten in trouble for attacking cyclists; seven years ago, his mother grounded him for two weeks after he deliberately ran a woman off the road as she was biking to work. She may have to ground him a lot longer this time.

Another suspect has also been identified, and will be issued a summons in the next few days.

………

With all the bad news out there, it’s important to remember there’s a lot of good in the world, and a lot of good people.

Like the kindhearted Minnesota truck driver who offered to buy a 10-year old girl a new bike after spotting posters she made when hers was stolen.

………

I want to be like them when I grow up.

An 89-year old woman is about to finish her second ride across Iowa.

A 91-year old Maine man still rides almost every day.

And an 84-year old Virginia man has had to cut back on his daily bike rides; he’s now down to just 40 miles a day.

………

The head of international cycling says incremental growth is the key to building women’s bike racing.

US Olympic cyclist Lea Davidson has overcome two hip surgeries to compete in Rio.

………

Local

The LA Times’ Jonathan Gold is the latest to review Culver City’s meat centric, bike-themed restaurant and butcher shop The Cannibal.

Richard Risemberg says it’s not hard to be cool and comfortable at work after riding in LA’s blazing hot sun.

Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare continues to draw new users, but remains about $54,000 in the red each month.

 

State

Coronado, where bike lanes make residents dizzy, considers building a bike and pedestrian tunnel as the final stage of plan to remake the entrance to the city.

La Jolla says yes to expensive classic cars, but no to bikeshare.

Salinas receives over $10 million in grants to make streets and sidewalks safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers, including $7 million for Safe Routes to Schools.

Caught on video: A San Francisco cyclist waves at a driver, and tries to open her car door — then pulls out a knife and stabs her tire. Which makes you wonder what he would have done if that door hadn’t been locked.

San Francisco will invest in more petite fire trucks to better navigate the city’s narrower streets.

 

National

USA Today lists ten great rail-to-trail conversions across the US.

The Department of DIY brings Prince and Bowie back to life on Portland bike lanes.

Denver will install a two-way cycle track on a major street for three months on a trial basis, before deciding whether to keep it for another year. Los Angeles could overcome a lot of community resistance if they’d take the same approach of trying temporary bikeways before making them permanent; people who currently oppose the projects might find they actually like them.

PolitiFact rejects a claim by an Austin TX advocacy group that bike lanes and sidewalks reduce crashes 38%; instead, they find road diets, including bike lanes, reduced the rate of crashes an average of 29%. Which is still pretty damn good.

In a horrifying case from Wisconsin, a 14-year old girl rode her bike over to the home of her brother’s 15-year old girlfriend, then slit the girl’s throat with a broken bowl before asking if she wanted to be killed on the spot, or left to bleed out; fortunately, the victim survived and was able to identify her attacker to police.

The alleged Ohio scumbag accused of murdering a bike-riding college student also chased a couple of young boys as they rode their bikes in 2014.

A new report suggests the news media report tends to scapegoat New York’s largely immigrant bicycle delivery riders, without talking to them to gain their perspective.

A Miami Critical Mass rider collided with a man in his 70s when he evidently didn’t cross the road fast enough. Which is a good reminder to slow the hell down and ride carefully around pedestrians.

 

International

Yesterday marked the third anniversary of the still-unsolved murder of a Canadian bike rider who was deliberately run down by a truck driver, apparently for pretending to take a photo of a little girl.

The mayor of Edmonton, Canada says his inability to get new bike lanes built has been the greatest disappointment of his first three years in office.

Toronto’s Bad Girls Bike Club helps young women overcome their fears of riding in the city.

Britain’s governing body for cycling says it’s time to turn the country into a great cycling nation.

Caught on video: A British delivery cyclist is forcibly arrested for the crime of spooking police officer’s horses.

A Canadian couple traveling around the world swap artwork for new bikes at a UK bike co-op and training center.

An English city plans to hit cyclists with a draconian £1,000 fine — the equivalent of $1322 — for riding through the town center.

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with some people? A bike rider in the Netherlands threatened a handicapped man in a wheelchair and kicked his dog. Then came back a few days later and threatened him again for posting the incident on Facebook.

The mayor of Manila promises to look into installing bike lanes in the Philippine city following a deadly road rage incident.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to deny you stole a bike, maybe you should hide the key you locked it up with. A Berlin reporter samples US pickup trucks, and decides he likes his bicycle better.

And caught on video, too: It’s always the second deer that nearly gets you.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Actor doors bike rider, PCH cyclist seriously injured in Malibu crash, and the science of bicycling

July 21, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Actor doors bike rider, PCH cyclist seriously injured in Malibu crash, and the science of bicycling

Did an actor get special treatment from the LAPD?

In a story that seems to have made news everywhere — except right here in Los Angeles — actor Jeremy Piven allegedly doored a bike rider when he flung his car door open without looking after parking his Cadillac near the Grove.

Yet despite the rider suffering a serious chest injury, Piven escaped without so much as a ticket because the police didn’t see it happen.

Even though CVC 22517 makes it clear that it is the driver’s responsibility to open a door only when it is safe to do so.

No person shall open the door of a vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless it is reasonably safe to do so and can be done without interfering with the movement of such traffic, nor shall any person leave a door open on the side of a vehicle available to moving traffic for a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers.

Which means that if the rider was hit by the door, the driver was at fault.

Whether or not anyone saw it.

………

A bicyclist suffered major injuries in a crash on PCH in West Malibu Wednesday afternoon; the rider reportedly lost control and swerved into the path of a pickup in the northbound traffic lane. Thanks to James Johnson for the heads-up.

………

Great piece from Scientific American relates the story of the researcher who finally unlocked the secrets of why a bicycle remains upright and able to balance itself even without a rider; next on his agenda is trying to solve the terrifying speed wobble.

Meanwhile, physics suggests that stopping and starting with both feet on the pedals is more efficient than pushing off with your foot.

………

A Chinese bike rider somehow miraculously dodges a barrel-rolling van.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wORIyjHJYc8

………

Twenty-four-year old Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe is making an impact at the Tour de France, while Nairo Quintana is unexpectedly struggling. Five riders could still make the podium in Paris, but no matter what happens behind him, Froome seems to keep his hold on the yellow jersey.

America’s only remaining Tour de France winner says claims that Froome’s Team Sky is dominating the race thanks to marginal gains is “bollocks.”

Peter Sagan will be the world’s best paid pro cyclist after jumping teams next year; he’s reportedly earn $6.6 million. He’s worth it in movie take-off videos alone.

………

Local

Investing in Place calls Metro’s upcoming transportation ballot measure a huge leap for walking and biking in Los Angeles County, while recapping just what advocates were able to win in negotiations over the measure.

Streetsblog interviews CicLAvia Executive Director Romel Pascual.

KPCC examines whether it’s better to ride a bike or drive in polluted air.

CiclaValley reminds us that the annual Tour de Laemmle rolls this Sunday.

An employee with the LADOT Bikeways Program describes her multimodal commute to work.

LA cyclist Nick Brandt-Sorenson, aka Strava’s Thorfinn-Sassquatch, was due to be sentenced Wednesday to up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for peddling performance-enhancing drugs, just days after receiving a lifetime ban from US cycling’s governing body.

The Daily News says you’re a step closer to being able to ride your bike from Canoga Park to Griffith Park. Only one of which actually is one.

 

State

Bikeshare and ebikes factor into California’s aggressive zero emissions goals.

New bike lanes are planned for West Newport Beach, along with improvements to sidewalks and landscaping to encourage people to walk and bike.

Garden Grove’s draft Active Transportation Plan envisions a city where cars, bikes and pedestrians can move in harmony.

Authorities say 25-year old Zachariah Doll was wearing dark clothing, had no lights or reflectors on his bike and was riding salmon when he was killed in an early morning collision in the Riverside County town of Winchester last week.

A San Francisco survey shows most drivers want protected bike lanes, too.

Calbike is hiring a Communications Director to work in their Oakland office.

Pleasanton cyclists call on the city to improve a dangerous intersection where a 72-year old woman was killed recently while riding in the crosswalk.

Redding police arrest a junkie bank robber who tried to make his escape by BMX bike.

 

National

A new report from NACTO says that as cities build bike infrastructure, the rate of bicycling goes up while the risk to riders goes down.

If you build it, they will come. A real estate website says the belief that Millennials are eschewing suburbs ain’t necessarily so — as long as those suburbs have good sidewalks and bike lanes.

An 81-year old Denver driver who kept driving after fatally striking a 14-year old boy standing in a bike lane was still allowed to behind the wheel despite a previous hit-and-run last year — even though family members promised she wouldn’t drive anymore. It’s up to family members to keep older drivers off the road when they can no longer drive safely, since the government is unable, or unwilling, to do it.

Apparently, a Dallas bank was robbed by a bike-riding pirate.

Apparently taking a cue from Donald Trump, Skokie IL will allow residents to build fences up to ten feet high along a new bike path. No word on whether Mexico will pay for it, however.

Atlantic City police arrested an alleged serial hit-and-run driver for DUI after he crashed into a street sign, followed by a cyclist, followed by a car, before finally coming to rest after striking a toll booth. Fortunately, the bike rider only suffered bruises; no word on whether the sign, car and toll booth survived.

A New York driver faces 136 years behind bars for killing one man and injuring two others when he smashed into a business at 50 mph while high on meth; a bike rider was also injured by flying debris.

When Charleston SC approves a controversial bike lane over a local bridge, the local paper approves of their approval.

Bighearted Alabama cops buy a new bicycle for a child after he unintentionally bought a stolen bike with his $7 allowance.

Only 850 miles of the planned 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway are currently ready to ride; plans are for 95% of the off-road bike path to be completed by 2030.

 

International

Bikes are enjoying a renaissance and bridging class barriers in Santiago, Chile.

Vancouver finally rolls out a delayed and truncated bikeshare system, with just 260 of the promised 1,500 bikes currently ready to ride.

Like bikes that pass in the night, a single speed cyclist seeks a fixie rider she met under the Thames.

More anti-bike sabotage in the UK, as someone strung fishing wire neck high over a popular Belfast bike trail.

An Indian computer professor was forced to abandon a long-distance bike tour across the country due to illness after riding 2,200 miles in 23 days.

Singapore becomes the next city to embrace bikeshare with a 1,000-bike system using 100 docking stations.

 

Finally…

Call it Fifty Shades of Bicycles. Don’t ride your bike off a cliff into the ocean, bro.

And if you’re carrying stolen credit cards and a meth pipe on your bike, ride your damn bike on the right side of the road.

Seriously.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Car vs Bike, Injuries and Fatalities, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: LA River Greenway to expand through the Valley, Louisiana lawmaker says don’t play in the street

July 20, 2016 / / One comment

Good news on the LA River front.

A design firm has been selected to build a bike and pedestrian path along a 12-mile segment of the Los Angeles River in the San Fernando Valley, from Vanalden in the West Valley to Forest Lawn and Zoo Drives in Griffith Park.

Which means, if the seemingly endless series of closures and construction projects finally wrap up, you’ll be able to ride uninterrupted from the West Valley through Elysian Park.

Unfortunately, I haven’t heard any word on when we can expect an extension of the bike path through DTLA and points south, to connect with the pathway leading up from Long Beach.

Meanwhile, you’ll soon be able to combine bikes, bagels and beer on the newly re-opened segment of the LA River bike path in Frogtown.

………

This is the sort of attitude we have to deal with.

A Louisiana state legislator actually said “If you don’t want to overdose, don’t do drugs. If you don’t want to get hit by a car, don’t play in the street,” in quashing the state’s proposed vulnerable user law, out of fear his constituents could go to jail for “accidently” killing someone.

‘Cause you know, these things just happen, right?

Then again, this is the same public servant who tried to pass a law prohibiting strippers from being too fat or too old, then claimed it was just a joke.

Apparently, so is he.

………

Mark Cavendish has pulled out of the Tour de France in order to focus on the Rio Olympics.

Two-time Tour runner-up Nairo Quintana faces his last chance to overtake leader Chris Froome as the race enters the Alps, while second-place Nairo Quintana has been in this position before.

If you can’t shave any more weight off the bike, shave a few seconds off your time with a 3D-printed skinsuit.

And women’s cycling is taking a big step forward with the creation of the first all-black African women’s cycling team.

………

Local

The Source’s Steve Hyman demonstrates remarkable restraint when an impatient driver tells him to get on the sidewalk as he rides on Cordova Street — while riding in a bike lane, no less.

Downtown News says DTLA’s new Metro Bike bikeshare system is better late than never; over 1,600 people bought passes by the end of the first week.

KPCC wants to know what traffic laws should be enforced more vigorously, including violations by those darn scofflaw cyclists. Remarkably, they include cars driving below the speed limit, which isn’t against the law, but fail to include speeding, which is.

 

State

Eighty-five year old Apple Valley cyclist and community advocate Chuck Hanson passed away from cancer over the weekend; he had ridden nearly half a million miles over his lifetime.

Apparently, the San Francisco DA takes traffic crime seriously. A 19-year old man has been charged with murder in the hit-and run death of a bike rider while driving a stolen car last month. He faces additional charges of vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run and auto burglary, and is being held on $1 million bail.

A new bike shop, café and social club is due to open in downtown Oakland, serving beer and advocacy without the pressures of a “jerk bike shop.”

A Redding man was able to hold onto his bike when he was attacked by two teenagers while riding on a bike path.

 

National

Portland joins the bikeshare revolution, unveiling a new system with 1,000 smart bikes at 100 stations.

Great idea. A Wichita KS program will donate bikes recovered by the police to provide homeless people with a form of transportation.

Life is cheap in Nebraska, where a careless driver gets a whopping 30 days in jail and a $100 fine for killing a bike rider.

Cleveland is using bike cops to keep the peace at this week’s Republican National Convention.

A Wisconsin writer learns the hard way that no one is impervious to injury, as he describes firsthand what it’s like to break your collarbone falling off your bike.

A Minnesota family finally finds closure as the hit-and-run driver who killed a 24-year old woman as she rode a bike has been sentenced to 39 months in prison.

Michigan proposes a five-foot passing law in the wake of the Kalamazoo massacre.

Massachusetts considers a bill that would make it illegal to park in bike lanes statewide.

Philadelphia police are looking for a mountain bike-riding man who has violently attacked three prostitutes, killing one.

 

International

A sports psychologist explains how to tell if you’re addicted to cycling.

A new Brazilian study says 72 hours may not be long enough for your body to recover from an 80-mile race. And yet professional cyclists are expect to compete on much longer routes every day, with no recovery time.

A Vancouver planning consultant says the way to reign in those annoying scofflaw cyclists is to make bike couriers ride three-speed upright bikes. No, really.

Also in Vancouver, a writer says it doesn’t look right when a Nigerian-Canadian bike rider is detained by six police officers for over an hour, apparently for the crime of riding on the sidewalk while black.

A ten-year old British hit-and-run victim asks how anyone could just leave him lying in the street.

Caught on video: A London cyclist suffers the equivalent of a left cross, hit-and-run crash the first time he used his new GoPro.

A proposed five and a half mile protected bike lane would run under a bridge to connect East and West Berlin.

Now that’s more like it. An Aussie telecom company is offering employees $1,000 to buy the bicycle of their choice and ride it to work. Thanks to David Wolfberg for the heads-up.

The General-Secretary of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who also serves as chair of the Japan Cycling Association, was injured while riding his bicycle on Saturday; official reports are he was just slightly injured, but other sources say his injuries may be serious.

 

Finally…

The way to improve safety is to tame motor vehicle traffic, not helmets that turn bicyclists into hi-viz mini-cars. The Tron-inspired spokeless bicycle has met its Kickstarter goal, but no, it is not the future of bicycling.

And it’s one thing to promote veganism by riding your bike, another to break all the rules doing it. Seriously, Strava only encourages you to ride like a jackass; it’s your fault if you actually do.

 

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

Morning Links: Anti-bike PVE strikes back, from freeway to bikeway, and ridiculously road raging Ramona driver

July 12, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Anti-bike PVE strikes back, from freeway to bikeway, and ridiculously road raging Ramona driver

Just days after the Palos Verdes Estates Traffic Safety Committee voted to improve bike safety signage, local residents rose up with their metaphorical pitchforks and torches to demand that bikes be banned from some public roads in the seaside community.

Never mind that it would be illegal.

Under state law, bicycles are allowed on any public street where motor vehicles are allowed, with the exception of some limited access freeways.

So they’re welcome to have bicycles banned.

As long as they’re willing to ban their own cars, trucks and SUVs while they’re at it.

Meanwhile, Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson notes that it’s surely just a coincidence that days after the cyclists’ victory at the committee meeting, a PVE police officer lurked on a side street waiting for a popular group ride to blow a stop sign. Then drove his squad car directly into the middle of the riders to stop them — needlessly risking their safety when he could have just as easily pulled them over with a red light and siren.

Maybe someone should tell him civilians can be charged with assault with a deadly weapon for doing the virtually the same thing (see road raging Ramona driver, below).

Davidson urges everyone who can make it to attend this evening’s Palos Verdes Estates city council meeting to show your support for bike safety and the improved signage. Because the anti-bike forces have already made it known they will come out in farce.

Excuse me, force.

………

A Harvard landscape architecture professor takes the LA Time’s Christopher Hawthorne up on his challenge to envision a new use for the currently useless mile-long spur of the 5 Freeway that ends in Silver Lake and Echo Park.

The plan would include features to clean the air and replenish groundwater, while providing parks, elevated bike paths and pedestrian walkways.

New Zealand took a similar approach in converting an unused offramp into an award-winning, Pepto Bismol pink bikeway.

………

This is who we share the roads with.

A Ramona SUV driver faces charges of felony assault with a deadly weapon, and misdemeanor battery and vandalism for a bizarre confrontation filmed by a professional photographer.

Even though they were doing a photo shoot on quiet, pubic road in San Diego’s sparsely populated East County, the man claimed they were on a private road and blocking his non-existent driveway, and repeatedly tried to run them over.

He ordered them to leave in an expletive-filled tirade, culminating in the driver knocking the photographer’s phone out of his hand to stop him from filming the confrontation.

When the photographer demanded $200 for his broken phone, the man dropped his pants and said “Suck the $200 out of my d**k.”

Real classy.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

………

Not only does the US have the highest rate of traffic fatalities compared to other high-income countries — whether measured per capita or by vehicle ownership — it has also shown the slowest rate of improvement over the last 13 years, as much of the world has gotten significantly safer.

………

Chris Froome grabbed the leader’s jersey at the Tour de France on Saturday with an awkward, high-speed decent that looked he was humping his handlebar stem, just one day after he was fined for punching an overly aggressive fan who probably deserved it. Bicycling questions the tactics of Froome’s Team Sky, but no one seems to question bike art made entirely of tractors.

Alberto Contador blamed a virus for pulling out of the race, while Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez announced his retirement from pro cycling at the end of this season.

American Megan Guarnier edged teammate Evelyn Stevens to claim the biggest win of her career at Italy’s Giro Rosa; the two women dominated the race, along with fellow American Mara Abbott. Meanwhile, Stevens describes her journey from investment broker to the Rio Olympics.

A group of German cyclists call for safety improvements in pro cycling, such as replacing motorcycles with mopeds and banning them from overtaking riders.

And Los Angeles cyclist Nick Brandt-Sorenson, aka Thorfinn-Sassquatch, owner of many of the area’s Strava KOMs — as well as a now defunct performance-enhancing dope dealing website — accepts a lifetime cycling ban.

………

Local

Flying Pigeon owner and LA city council candidate Josef Bray-Ali explains how he got his stolen bakfiets back.

CiclaValley displays his not-insignificant bicycling photography skills.

Santa Clarita offers a complimentary bike valet service at the city’s summer Concert in the Park program.

Santa Monica lowers rates for pass holders for its Breeze bikeshare program, while raising pay-as-you-go rates to $7 to match fees for the Beverly Hills, WeHo, UCLA and Long Beach bikeshares.

Bike-friendly Long Beach Councilmember and Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal is stepping down after ten years; she was a driving force in making the city a leader in SoCal bicycling.

 

State

Streetsblog talks with Cantrans’ new Chief of Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, who says the organization needs a shift in thinking. The state DOT has committed to tripling bicycling levels and doubling pedestrian and transit trips by 2020, while calling for an underwhelming 10% decrease in fatalities. Think small and you get small results; think big and you might actually accomplish something.

A San Bernardino woman was badly mauled by an unleashed German shepherd accompanying a woman on a bicycle; authorities are presumably looking for the bike-riding dog owner, despite failing to respond when the victim was bitten.

A Redlands couple reach Minnesota on the first leg of a 10,000-mile tandem journey around the US.

A Palm Springs writer says residents will come to appreciate the 50-mile CV Link bikeway circling the Coachella Valley if they just let them build it.

Needless to say, auto-centric Atascadero residents question the need and advisability for a Complete Streets makeover along a busy highway.

When San Francisco police learned the bike a man relied on for work had been stolen, they immediately took up a collection to buy him a new one. Then took him to Target, where the store managers gave it to him, allowing the cops to spend their money on a lock and helmet.

A two-year experiment will convert half of San Francisco’s Twin Peaks Boulevard to bikes and pedestrians only, while leaving the other half for cars.

A Sonoma paper says the county’s roads have something for every kind of bike rider.

The law enforcement exemption from California’s distracted driving law has claimed yet another life, as a CHP officer failed to notice the cars ahead had slowed while he looked down at his computer screen, killing a 15-year old boy. Thanks to Colin Bogart for the link.

 

National

A new project on Kickstarter will allow you to convert your bike to a Dutch-style cargo bike in just minutes. And for just $725 if you order now.

Tom Hanks is one of us, as he celebrates his 60th birthday with an offroad ride. Life is like a mountain bike; you never know where it’s going to take you.

My hometown continues to make the streets I used to ride safer decades after I left.

Sad news from Colorado, as a Good Samaritan who stopped to help a motorist retrieve a bicycle that fell off his car was killed when his own car was rear-ended.

Montana public radio talks with the editor of a new book about the cross-country TransAmerica Bicycle Trail.

Davide Martello, the piano-towing bike rider who performed in Paris following the terrorist attacks, plays Imagine outside the Dallas police headquarters.

Indiana police officers will join others in riding 1000 miles around the state over the next 13 days to honor fallen officers and raise funds for their families.

A Boston bicyclist tells the story of the road rage assault that left him with serious facial injuries, and probably could have been avoided if the street had a protected bike lane instead of a painted lane.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. New York is considering safety improvements to an intersection where a woman was killed riding on a bike path.

Relax, New Yorkers. Hordes of bike riders will not be invading Queens cemeteries.

 

International

Toronto will consider a Vision Zero plan, after initially proposing to reduce causalities just 20%. Which was already double what Caltrans is aiming for.

The Toronto paper gets it, saying it’s time to kill the pointless idea of bike licenses once and for all.

It’s against the law to ride your bike on the sidewalk in one Ontario city. Unless you can pass the small-wheeled bicycle exemption.

Bike-riding London paramedics rush in to save local residents from minor emergencies.

If you build it, they will come. A new Cambridge study attributes 85% of the increase in bicycling to the use of new infrastructure.

The Telegraph asks if Andorra is cycling’s best kept secret.

A Singapore ebike rider gets five weeks in jail for running down a woman while illegally riding on the sidewalk.

 

Finally…

Please don’t urinate on historical landmarks. Bikes may take the full lane, so keep your horn to yourself.

And if you’re going to carry a gun on your bike, put the damn safety on.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Road Rage, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , ,

Weekend Links: Killer drunk driver cops a plea, PVE gets a little bike-friendlier, and your road share is pocket change

July 9, 2016 / / 6 comments

That was fast.

Just eleven weeks after Tomas Brewer was killed by a drunk driver, the man who killed him has pled no contest to vehicular manslaughter.

Twenty-three-year old Cruz Tzoc was driving at an estimated 60 mph on Burlington Ave in LA’s Rampart District on April 23rd when he struck a parked car and spun around, sliding into Brewer as he rode on Temple Street, before slamming into a tree.

Tzoc was arrested at the scene with an alcohol level over two times the legal limit. A police sergeant had spotted Tzoc’s speeding car prior to the crash, but was unable to stop him before it was too late.

He had faced up to ten years in state prison, but was sentenced to just six years after pleading to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

He’s likely to get out in half that time.

But his decision to get behind the wheel after drinking ended the life of a budding screenwriter, and sentenced Brewer’s loved ones to a lifetime without him.

………

Formerly bike-unfriendly Palos Verdes Estates continues its surprising turnaround, as the city’s Traffic Safety Committee voted to replace the hated signs reading “Bike Laws Strictly Enforced” with “Bicycles May Use Full Lane” and signs promoting the three-foot passing law.

Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson describes the meeting in his own inimitable style.

Meanwhile, a Tustin councilmember explains four reasons why bicycles may use the full lane. But forgets the primary reason — bike riders are allowed to take the lane anytime the lane itself is too narrow to be safely shared with a motor vehicle.

………

Today’s common theme is bikeshare, in LA and elsewhere.

Downtown News explains everything you need to know about LA’s new bikeshare program, while CiclaValley crashes the launch party. And the LACBC, which was instrumental in bringing bikeshare to LA, celebrates with photos.

San Diego’s bikeshare system is struggling, as the city’s transit officials refuse to cooperate.

Palo Alto plans to replace its failing bikeshare system with a new smart bike program. But it will still likely fail if they don’t install more than five docking stations.

And Portland informs bike owners that those handy little docks at convenient locations around town are not bike racks.

………

Drivers often argue that cyclists don’t pay for the roads, but if road users were charged for the damage they actually cause, we could pay our share with pocket change.

………

London Bridge is falling down, and so is the inflatable arch cyclists are supposed to ride under, not into, at the Tour de France.

Belgian race leader Greg Van Avermaet holds a nearly six minute lead in the race, but will probably fall back in the standings when they reach the mountain stages. British riders dominated the first week of the Tour, while Mark Cavendish says Africa will produce a TdF contender in ten years.

Specialized says you don’t know Jacques about the Tour de France. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.

Bicycling takes a look at how the race takes a toll on even the fittest riders.

And the peloton came up clean in the Tour’s first unannounced thermal imaging scan for hidden motors; former Lance whistleblower Frankie Andreu says cycling has come a long way, but the sport may never be fully clean.

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Local

Marina del Rey’s stinky Oxford Basin gets a much needed makeover, including a new bikeway connecting to the beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail.

CiclaValley looks at the movement to fix LA’s crumbling Forest Lawn Drive, which we mentioned here — and misspelled as Forrest Lawn — the other day.

A moving company wants tips on how to avoid LA traffic. Everyone who says “use a bicycle” please raise your hand.

 

State

Huntington Beach police are asking for the public’s help to identify a bike and barbeque thief.

As expected, the parents of a 12-year old Oceanside boy killed while riding his bicycle to school last October have filed suit against the driver, as well as two businesses alleged to have contributed to the crash; a lawsuit is expected against the city, as well.

Sixty-six cyclists from the University of Texas rode across the Golden Gate Bridge on their way to Anchorage AK to raise funds for the fight against cancer.

San Francisco’s new bicycling state Assembly member keeps a bike at home by the Bay, and another in Sacramento.

 

National

Not surprisingly, the US is falling behind other countries when it comes to traffic safety.

Bicycling says you’ve been pumping your tires all wrong. Wait. You mean I have to take that little cap off first?

Vogue lists five surprising ways bicycling is good for your mind and body.

A Portland bike rider is suing after being clotheslined by a Comcast cable that was strung over a roadway.

Hats off to my alma mater, which became the nation’s first high school to be honored as a Bike-Friendly Business.

That former Illinois congressman who tweeted what sounded like a threat to the president and the Black Lives Matter movement after the Dallas shootings is one of us; he successfully campaigned for his only term in office by riding his bicycle.

In a widely watched case, a Michigan driver faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to fleeing the scene after plowing into a cyclist on an organized group ride.

A bike-riding writer for the Columbus Dispatch offers a well-reasoned analysis of the SUV driver in last week’s Doo Dah Parade who, in effect, threatened to kill cyclists unless they obey the law; he says what concerns him most is the public’s lack of concern.

A Massachusetts boy was impaled with a branch after veering off a trail and slamming into a tree; fortunately, he appeared to be in stable condition at a local hospital.

Bicycling under the influence is legal in Massachusetts, though not always the best idea. I know some may argue, but I’d still much rather see a drunk on a bike than behind the wheel. Although the best choice is neither.

New York police find the murder weapon used to intentionally run down a bike rider.

 

International

A Toronto paper offers advice on how to get over your fears and bike to work.

A Canadian Steely Dan fan nearly missed their Detroit show after paying the toll, then illegally riding through a tunnel across the border; US custom agents were amused, but searched and detained him for two hours anyway.

A mentally ill driver who fatally stabbed a popular British bike advocate following a minor traffic collision has been sentenced to ten years to life in a medium security mental hospital.

Friends and family remember a 75-year old London time-trialing legend who passed away following a May bicycling collision.

Caught on video: A jerk cyclist clips a London bike rider with a far too-close pass, nearly sending him under the wheels of a large truck. Pass another rider at the same distance you’d expect from a motor vehicle, or at arms-length at the very least; if that’s not possible, slow down and announce your presence before passing. Or you could just wait until it is safe.

An Irish business executive pleaded guilty to knocking a cyclist off his bike, then beating and strangling him, for the heinous crime of riding on the sidewalk.

Hiding under your jacket after stealing a pair of bikes will not make you invisible to Chinese police.

 

Finally…

Suddenly, your bike shorts are fashionable — assuming you’re a woman; guys, not so much. Why walk on water when you can pedal?

And you can thank a mountain pine beetle for your next wall-mounted bike rack.

………

As an added bonus to get your weekend started off right, David Wolfberg forwards the latest video from Colombian superstars Shakira and Carlos Vives, for their new song La Bicicleta (Or The Bicycle, for the Spanish-challenged, like me).

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Bikeshare, Car vs Bike, Legal Cases, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,
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