Just a brief update today, since last night was lost in IRS hell getting my wife’s taxes ready in time for today’s final extension deadline.
On the other hand, mine were easy; it doesn’t take long when you don’t make any money.
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Let’s start with a new LACBC video prepared for last week’s New Urbanism Film Festival, as Executive Director Tamika Butler discusses her journey to bike advocacy and the coalition’s vision for the future of Los Angeles.
We’ve had a few updates recently from danger d regarding the unannounced closure of the Orange Line bike path in the San Fernando Valley. Yesterday he went straight to the source to find out what’s going on.
At least it’s good news from the Orange Line bike path construction. Workers on site say they expect the fenced off section to be closed for 6 weeks, so they can build a new path on the other side of the trees in order to build the new flyaway bus stop and comply with ADA standards. The detour is set up but there is room to walk around the fencing on Victory and get back to the path. Workers say this is the only section that will be fenced off.
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Our anonymous Orange County correspondent offers a brief update from the murder trial of Neal Storm Stephany, who was allegedly high on heroin and anti-addiction meds when he ran cyclist Shaun Eagleson down from behind on the coast highway in Newport Beach last year.
Today, Eagleson’s widow held it together as long as she could, but when the prosecution brought out photos from the crime scene again after lunch recess, she whimpered at the images of the gouges left in the asphalt by her husband’s bike, and then broke down so completely at the photo of Shaun’s shredded clothing that her family (& the extraordinary victim services specialist) escorted her out of the courtroom.
She didn’t return.
Court recessed early, and will continue next Tuesday.
Despite the heat, I wanted to go down to PCH. The gouges are still there. And despite the repeated use of the term “bike lane” by NBPD Sgt. Little on the stand and the prosecution, no designated bike lane exists at that location.
No word on whether the jury has gotten a glimpse of Stephany’s reputed “fuck the police” and swastika tatts under his new haircut.
She also adds a few thoughts about the Santa Ana courthouse, where the trial is being held.
I think Civic Center Drive (on the north side of the Santa Ana courthouse there) has preliminary markings for a buffered bike lane. (Or maybe upcoming sewer work, dunno.) New sensors were installed very recently, including a bike sensor, but it’s not marked yet.
Joel Epstein looks at transit envy and other thoughts on making LA the city it can be, including the need to embrace the mobility plan and bike infrastructure the way other cities have.
Streetsblog offers highlights from Wednesday’s meeting of the City Council Transportation Committee, which encouraged LADOT and the LAPD to find ways to reduce speeding in support of Vision Zero, and maybe even legalize the practice of locking your bike to a parking meter, which is currently banned in LA.
A Chicago cyclist knocked on the window of a car that drifted into the bike lane he was riding in, and ended up under arrest when the driver turned out to be an off-duty cop.
A DC church is fighting a planned bike lane because they claim it would infringe on their constitutional rights of religious freedom. No, seriously.
Georgia police apologize after one of their officers is caught on video buzzing a group of cyclists, and nearly hitting one.
A Florida driver won’t face charges for the hit-and-run collision that killed a cyclist because — get this — prosecutors say there’s no proof he knew he killed a human being, after the driver claimed he thought he’d hit a wild hog. That’s basically a Get Out of Jail Free card for every hit-and-run driver, everywhere.
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Let’s catch up on a few events of immediate interest.
First up, the Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee is meeting at 7 pm tonight in the LAPD Hollywood Division Community Room, 6501 Fountain Ave.
This month’s agenda includes discussion of the role of the committee in the city’s Vision Zero plan, and why we’re not going to see the planned Northvale Bike Path that was supposed to run parallel to the new Expo Line extension.
And yes, it matters.
The BAC is the only official voice bike riders have in city government. And in theory, at least, its members should have the ear of the councilmembers who appointed them.
The good folks retroactively fighting the Rowena road diet, along with those who want to Fix the City by keeping our streets dangerous, will undoubtedly be there. It might not hurt to have a few rational bike-friendly voices in attendance to balance the scales.
Thanks to BAC VP Glenn Bailey for the heads-up.
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It’s Rideshare Week, when Metro encourages you to carpool, ride bikes, take public transit, walk and vanpool to your destination.
And how do they love you? Let them count the ways…
First among these new initiatives, Metro has launched a new Rideshare campaign to encourage Angelenos to bring a friend along for the ride as opposed to driving alone. Statistics show that in California 37.3% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions come from transportation, 71% of those emissions are from passenger vehicles, and 72% of commuters are driving alone. If every commuter were to involve one other person in their commute mode, then traffic would disappear and GHG emissions would greatly reduce. New campaign ads, titled “Friends don’t let friends drive alone” will appear online and on giveaway items available at events.
Second, Metro has collaborated with 3 community organizations to co-host creative ridesharing events:
Innovate LA with the Karaoke Rickshaw — Movable Parts, an artist collective of college professors, engineers, city employees and creatives, will construct and deploy a Karaoke Rickshaw. The bicycle powered machine will tour through various LA neighborhoods amplifying street sounds, interviews, and multi-lingual pop hits. The finale performance will take place at LA Innovation Week’s Innovate Pershing Square event on October 9.
Share the Ride to Ambulante Film Festival — Empact Communities, a grassroots bicycle advocacy group, has partnered with Metro to facilitate ridesharing to Ambulante Film Festival. Group bike rides led by Empact partners will bring attendants to several film screenings. All Ambulante events will be registered in www.Ridematch.info, a database website that facilitates carpooling with more than 300,000 users.
¡Mobilizaté! Eastside Commuter Interviews — Multicultural Communities for Mobility (MCM) will convene along popular transit lines in East LA and Boyle Heights to engage ridesharers to share their street stories through a photo or short video. All stories will be captured through Twitter and Facebook and tracked by tagging @mcmhandles, @metrolosangeles and #SharetheRide.
Third, Metro is giving away prizes to commuters who register their rideshare trip using www.ridematch.info. Prizes include handbags from Brighton Collectables, Metro 7-Day TAP Passes, Barnes and Noble gift cards, Macy’s gift cards, gas cards, and more. Special thanks to Macy’s, Burbank TMO, AAA, VRide, Brighton Collectibles, and Enterprise Rideshare for the donations!
VeloNews asks if pro cycling’s WorldTour points championship really means anything. Be honest, did you even know there was a points championship, let alone that Alejandro Valverde won it? I didn’t think so.
Two-time Giro winner Ivan Basso retires at age 37, after successful treatment for testicular cancer. Sad to see Basso go out like that. In his prime, he made Lance work for every now-discredited victory.
Councilmember David Ryu’s office is amassing a database of broken sidewalks and cracked streets, and vise versa, that need repairs in the 4th council district. Thanks to David Wolfberg for the tip.
USC is now requiring all students, faculty and staff to register their bikes before parking them on campus, ostensibly to combat bike theft. However, mandatory bike registration programs can easily be used as an excuse to stop and search bike riders in the absence of probable cause, which is why LA’s registration program was repealed in 2009.
The anti-bike lane madness continues in San Diego-adjacent Coronado, where apparently any bikeway inspired, designed, assisted or implemented by anyone who doesn’t live on the island must be some sort of plot. And that goes for traffic lights, too. That town may be in more desperate need of a civic colonic than anywhere else on earth right now.
A former volleyball player who won a gold medal with the US team at the 1984 LA Olympics was seriously injured when he was hit by a pickup in Santa Barbara, after he reportedly ran a stop sign on his bike and rode on the wrong side of the street.
The San Francisco Chronicle looks at the Idaho stop law, which has become a political hot potato in the City by the Bay; a 2010 study shows it reduced bike collisions by about 30% without causing any known problems. But as everyone likes to say, San Francisco isn’t Idaho, and LA is Copenhagen. Which is just an excuse not to try something that has been proven effective somewhere else.
A former star of the long-running soap opera The Young and the Restless was just two riders back when a rider in Sunday’s Levi’s GranFondo tragically rode off the roadway.
Still more bad news from NorCal, as a Dixon driver is under arrest for felony charges of DUI and voluntary manslaughter after fatally rear-ending a bike rider on Sunday.
National
Garmin has released a new rear-facing radar that tells you when cars are coming from behind; the unit also includes a taillight that dims to save battery life when there’s no one behind you, and brightens to save yours when there is.
Boulder CO begins undoing the right-sizing of a city street. Which would seem to be wrong-sizing, mais non?
A moving story from Kansas, as 32 cyclists from a four state area come together to help a five-year old boy suffering from life-threatening aneurisms go for his first bike ride.
An Illinois man gets 55 months in jail for killing a cyclist while driving aggressively under the influence.
A new under-two-minute film looks at a 49-year old Minnesota firefighter who is also a champion track cyclist.
An Albany NY writer says it’s time to stop the debate over a proposed road diet and just do it.
A New York city councilman wants to remove 400,000 cars from the city streets by 2030, in part by subsidizing the city’s bikeshare system. Think an LA councilmember would ever have the courage to call for removing nearly a third of the cars from our streets? Me neither.
Alec Baldwin goes for a rainy bike ride in the Big Apple. Riding with earbuds and sans helmet does not, however, make him a “two-wheeled terror.”
A bike advocacy group on Canada’s Prince Edward Island calls for mandatory use of flashing daytime bike lights to stop an apparently non-existent rash of bike wrecks; a police source says the island experiences a whopping seven to fourteen bike-involved collisions each year. The same group wants to take over a program to enforce helmet use, as well. Maybe they define bike advocacy a little differently up there in the Great White North. Thanks to Lester Walters for the link.
In a tale that will sound familiar to anyone who’s followed the debate over bikeways in New York, London or right here in LA — or just about anywhere else – residents and business owners in a British town are up in arms over plans to make the city center more walkable and bikeable, even though studies show they would actually benefit from plans to de-emphasize cars.
Irish police ticket 244 bicyclists after new rules went into effect allowing on-the-spot fines.
Only 18% of bike-riding Amsterdam club goers use both front and back bike lights. On the other hand, if you’re going to go lightless, that’s probably the place to do it.
The Coronado anti-bike lane madness is now officially the butt of jokes.
In a brilliant monologue, CBS Late Late Show host James Corden rips the rich old white ladies, as he calls them, who claim to get vertigo from the tattoo and graffiti-like white stripes besmirching their streets.
Seriously, watch it.
It could be the best four minutes and thirty-six seconds of your day not spent on a bike.
Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.
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Meanwhile, the San Diego Bicycle Coalition responds to the madness in Coronado, asking city leaders to reconsider the decision to cancel the planned bike lanes.
Maybe there’s something in the water down there by the border.
A new report finds a disconnect between the transportation plan developed by the San Diego Association of Government and the City of San Diego’s Climate Action Plan; San Diego calls for 50% of trips to be made by foot, bike or transit, while SANDAG settles for just 15%.
SI Live argues that the evangelical zeal of bicyclists has transformed into an influential political movement that has found ardent acolytes at city hall, in the absence of “anything approaching broad, let alone overwhelming, public support.”
They also question the “dubious claim” that a road diet to add bike lanes serves to calm traffic, never mind that it can actually improve traffic flow.
Sure. As long as you consider a 19% to 47% reduction in overall crashes dubious. And think the Federal Highway Administration is a questionable source for those stats.
And both the FHWA and NACTO also say that bike and pedestrian use tends to soar following a road diet, which is something else the SI Live editorial dismisses.
But why let the facts get in the way of a good uninformed rant?
Of course, there are those who will say the mad rantings of an NYC website don’t matter here on the Left Coast.
Except this is the same sort of misguided and barely informed thinking we see at work in Coronado, Beverly Hills, Silver Lake and on North Figueroa.
It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that newspaper column with such an auto-centric name would get a question about bicycling wrong.
The Honk column in the Orange County Register was asked whether it was legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk. And turned to an OC Sheriff’s traffic deputy for the answer.
Bad idea.
The officer responded that under state law, bicycles were forbidden to ride along a sidewalk. Which just goes to show, once again, a cop is the last person you should ask about bike law.
The result is a crazy patchwork of bike laws, where someone can legally ride on the sidewalk in LA, and be ticketed for exactly the same thing after crossing the street into Beverly Hills. And usually with no posted warnings, and often no indication you’ve gone from one city to another.
Down in OC, bikes are allowed on the sidewalk in Laguna Hills, and banned in Laguna Beach. And allowed everywhere but the central business district in Laguna Woods and Laguna Nigel.
So the real answer to the question is, it depends on where you happen to be at the moment.
As for why someone would ride on the sidewalk when there’s a perfectly good bike lane on the street right next to it, there can be a lot of reasons.
Especially in Orange County, where bike lanes are routinely found on streets with speed limits of 50 mph or more.
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Applications are now open for the bike industry’s 2016 Women’s Bike Mechanic Scholarships; 16 scholarships will be offered for the first all-female class in professional repair and shop operation.
A new study reveals that disadvantaged people are more likely to die in traffic collisions than people who are well-off. And despite a declining rate of traffic fatalities nationwide, death rates are going up for people over 25 without a high school diploma.
Ebony magazine looks at Slow Roll Chicago, described as a community-based organization that uses bicycling to connect with underserved and unappreciated communities.
Not even bike cops are safe from the epidemic of hit-and-run drivers, as an LAPD officer’s bike was hit by a driver who sped away after the officer tried to flag him down; he was hospitalized in stable condition.
Bicycling should get a little easier in the Mid-City area, thanks to a Metro grant for a pair of bicycle friendly streets. As long as we manage to wait until 2020, that is, when they’re finally scheduled to be finished.
Better Bike’s Mark Elliot points out the rising rate of bicycling injuries in the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills. And things are only going to get worse thanks to a decision to not include bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd — let alone any kind of accommodation for bikes during the construction phase.
Nice piece from a 45+ year old mountain biker, who discusses the women who inspire her to ride. And it’s not the pretty young things with an insatiable Instagram account.
According to Gizmodo, science says driving is the most stressful way to get to work, while commuting by bicycling or walking makes you healthier and happier.
A Kickstarter campaign is raising funds for a bike lock built into the pedal. The makers promise an alarm will sound if a thief tries to cut what looks like an easily defeated cable. Then again, no one even pays attention to car alarms any more.
Oh please. A Seattle radio personality says the city’s volunteer bike count has already been decided before it even happens, because the local bike club anticipates asking for more funding based on the results. If she really wants to ensure an honest count, maybe she should sign up to help out herself. Or get the city and state to pay for something they should be doing anyway, instead of leaving it to a volunteer advocacy group.
A cyclist leads horse mounted state troopers on a wild west wrong way chase through the streets of Austin TX after running a stop sign.
Despite a broken collarbone, a quick thinking Chicago cyclist snapped a photo of the license plate belonging to the driver who fled after running him down, and got a sizable settlement as a result.
A Boston petition calls on the city to “improve safety” by removing all bike lanes and sharrows; it had received 33 signatures as of Tuesday, while a competing petition calling on the city to keep them had over five times as many.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A Florida man is planning to ride 80 miles to celebrate his 80th birthday on Saturday.
International
Mass-produce hydrogen cars are still a long way off. But the first hydrogen-powered e-bike is already here.
Now that she’s on top of the cycling world, 24-year old British World Cup and world road racing champ Lizzie Armistead is thinking about retiring after next year’s Rio Olympics.
So much for helping those in need. Norway says Syrian refugees who used a legal loophole to bike across the border from Russia will now be sent back. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.
Caught on video: A rampaging magpie swoops down at an Aussie cyclist mutiple times, leaving him with a bloodied ear.
And if you’re going to burglarize a couple of homes, make sure the homeowner doesn’t walk in on you. And don’t wear an easily recognizable shirt as you make your getaway by BMX bike.
Governor Brown surprised nearly everyone by signing AB 8 Monday afternoon. The new law creates a Yellow Alert system to place notices of serious hit-and-runs on digital freeway and street signs in the area surrounding a collision.
The bill, sponsored by Glendale Assembly Member Mike Gatto, is patterned after a successful Colorado hit-and-run alert system. Brown signed it just hours after a press conference urging him to approve it, despite his veto of a similar bill just last year.
Maybe it’s no coincidence that the signing came the same day an Orange County driver was convicted of second degree murder in the drunken hit-and-run death of a grandmother as she walked in a San Clemente bike lane with her grandson.
The driver, Kelly Michele Wolfe, had a BAC over three times the legal limit when police arrested her at her home, shards of windshield glass still twinkling in her hair. Prosecutors estimate that she had downed as many as 15 drinks at a local bar before getting behind the wheel.
Wolfe had been warned when she got her California license that a second DUI could result in a murder charge, following her previous conviction for drunk driving in Nevada in 1994.
She now faces a well-deserved 18 years in state prison.
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The Southern California Council of Governments has launched a new campaign encouraging people to Go Human to promote bike and pedestrian safety.
Nice to see the bike ad promotes the full use of the traffic lane.
Although I’d rather see the pedestrian ad point out that there’s a crosswalk at every corner, painted or not, rather than just urging people to cross at the corner or crosswalk.
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There will be a meeting tomorrow night at the Hacienda Heights Community Center to discuss plans for the Puente Hills Landfill Park, including the possibility for LA County’s first true bike park.
The meeting runs from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, 1234 Valencia Ave in Hacienda Heights.
Attendance for the worlds topped expectations, with over 645,000 spectators over the ten days of racing. Evidently, support for bike racing is alive and well in the USA.
That’s one way to ruin a good ride. Bicyclists and pedestrians were herded off the Ballona Creek bike path after a body was found resting along the jetty Sunday evening.
LA Times readers react to the recent column by George Skelton calling for a registration fee for bike riders; for a change, they all get it right. The first letter, by El Cajon’s Barry Carlton, nails it.
The Times talks with Matty Grossman, the 11-year old voice of reason in the debate over the Rowena road diet and the needless and never-ending battle betwixt people on bikes and those in cars. And he’s not the only kid to face aggression from angry motorists. Seriously, it takes the lowest form of human scum to yell at little kids out riding their bikes, let alone drive aggressively around them. There’s no excuse. Ever. Period.
LA takes a big step towards revitalizing the LA River with a $25 million grant to buy a key parcel of land. That should also help with plans to extend the bike path the full length of the river by 2020.
Actress and amateur triathlete Teri Hatcher had her Specialized bike stolen from an LA bike shop. But despite what TMZ says, $1,000 is not “super expensive” for a bike, racing or otherwise.
CiclaValley is joining with Wolfpack Hustle’s Don Ward to lead a feeder ride to see the documentary Bikes vs. Cars at Ambulante Park this Sunday. There are a number of other feeder rides planned; I’ll catch up with them later in the week.
State
Opposition is rising to a long-planned bike path through Orange County’s Peters Canyon Regional Park; the bikeway would complete the gap in a bike trail that runs from Irvine Regional Park to Newport Bay.
Someone is sabotaging a popular road for cyclists and motorcycle riders in San Mateo County by affixing tacks to the roadway point up to guarantee they cause flats. Local police and CHP are aware of the problem, which has reportedly gone on for years; a local resident is raising a $10,000 reward. The schmuck should face an attempted murder charge, since a flat tire at high speeds could have deadly consequences.
A Modesto letter writer complains that safety improvements on a major street will make it less safe, and insists it’s not worth $2 million for a few lousy bike riders.
National
Momentum Magazine explains why biking is better than Tinder. And you never have to come up with a cover story for how you met your bike.
Boulder CO caves in the face of the entirely predictable opposition to “right-sizing” a handful of roadways, and will vote today on ripping out the protected bike lanes on the only one that has been completed so far — even though the results have been successful.
An Iowa driver wasn’t even ticketed, let alone arrested, for the death of a cyclist despite crossing onto the wrong side of the road to hit the rider head-on as he rode on the shoulder.
An Ohio driver faces charges of vehicular homicide and wanton disregard for safety in the left cross collision that took the lives of two cyclists and injured three others.
A British woman faces charges after her then 9-year old son missed too many days of school because he was grieving over the bicycling death of his father.
A British woman is joining the three men attempting to set a new year record; the women’s mark of 29,603 miles was set nearly eight decades ago.
An Aussie report finds some types of lane dividers don’t keep drivers out of separated bike lanes and could pose a risk to riders.
Finally…
If someone yells at you to be careful after a near collision as he exits a bus, don’t respond by chasing him down and trying to steal his watch. If you’re carrying burglary tools and a ski mask at 1:40 am on a hot high desert night, put some damn lights on your bikes.
And at seven years old, most kids are happy to bike around the block; this Chula Vista kid is already a professional BMX champ.
Abraham Lincoln had a habit of writing angry letters to let off steam, then placing them in his desk, unsigned and unsent.
Maybe LA Times Capitol Journal columnist George Skelton should take the hint.
In his Thursday column, Skelton reported that his planned trip to Lake Tahoe with his daughter over the weekend was derailed when they ran into a road closure to accommodate an Ironman triathlon — not a bicycle race, despite how he characterized it. And was so incensed he responded by calling for a tax on all bike riders.
Which is like demanding that joggers and pedestrians pay for the sidewalks and crosswalks they use just because the LA Marathon keeps you from crossing the street, as Keith Pluymers pointed out.
Except they already do.
In fact, we all do. Just as we all pay for the roads Skelton seems to think are exclusively financed by motorists.
Even gas taxes and auto registration fees, which he seems to think bike riders don’t pay — even though the overwhelmingly majority of people who ride bikes also own and drive cars — only cover a fraction of the cost of building and maintaining our streets and highways.
The rest comes out of the same income and sales taxes we all pay, whether we travel on two wheels or four.
Or none.
He also seems to forget about those similarly freeloading electric car drivers, who don’t pay a penny more in gas taxes than bike riders do. And hybrid owners, whose relatively high mileage means they pay a fraction of the taxes other drivers pay when they fill up.
Then there’s the simple matter of why drivers are expected to pay for those roads.
It’s not for the privilege of driving on them, as Skelton seems to presume. It’s because those multi-ton vehicles cause exponential wear and tear on the roadways every time they’re driven on them.
Bicycles don’t. Period.
Even at the peak of my out-of-shape weight following my father-in-law’s stroke, when I packed 220 pounds onto a 15 pound bike, my impact on the road was infinitesimal compared to even the lightest motor vehicles. Never mind the massive SUVs so common in California they should replace the grizzly on the California flag.
It’s true that bike lanes aren’t free.
But striping lanes costs just pennies on the dollar compared to the cost of building a roadway to accommodate cars and trucks. Let alone the more than $1 billion — that’s billion, with a b — it cost to put HOV lanes on the 405 through the Sepulveda pass.
And as anyone who’s driven there lately can attest, that’s barely made a dent in the infamous 405 traffic congestion. If that.
Skelton doesn’t address the question of who would have to register their bikes with the state. Does the toddler on her trike have to pay the same fee as the roadie slicing curves on Mulholland?
What about the immigrant worker who can’t afford a car or public transportation? Do we slap him in leg irons if he rides an unregistered bike on the streets of our fair state?
Finally, there’s the question of who would administer the fees he calls for.
The DMV has already said they don’t want the job. The sort of small fees he suggests — such as the $3 licensing fee charged in Long Beach — wouldn’t begin to cover the millions required to administer and enforce a program to register every single bicycle in the late, great Golden State.
And any fee high enough to cover the costs would only serve as yet another barrier to bicycling, at time when we should be lowering those barriers to encourage more people to bike to improve their health, and the health of the cities they live in.
Let alone removing a few more cars from our overly congested streets.
In fact, a recent study showed that every mile traveled by bike results in a net economic gain of 42 cents to society, while every mile traveled by car results in a net loss of 20 cents.
Which means we should be getting a rebate, not charged extra taxes on top of those we already pay.
Skelton should have known better.
And probably would have if he’d just taken long enough to cool off; even a few minutes with Google could have corrected his misassumptions before they ever got into print.
Instead, a respected reporter who usually offers valuable insights into the inner workings of our state government apparently let his anger get the better of him.
And instead of taking it out on the Ironman sponsors, Caltrans or the local governments who permitted the race, he chose to take it out on you and me.
This is one column that should have been placed in his desk drawer. And left there.
Just in case you needed a reminder — which is highly unlikely if you ride LA streets — this is what a too-close pass looks like, courtesy of On My Bike in LA.
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LA area cyclists are about to lose one of the few safe places we have to ride thanks to the never-ending drive to increase capacity for cars.
A one-mile section of the La River bike path will be closed for two full years between Riverside Drive and the 134 Freeway.
Yes, two years.
All because Caltrans is adding carpool lanes to a section of the 5 Freeway. The construction will impact a section of the bike path that runs nearby, and the closure is for our own safety, according to the notice.
Thanks for looking out for us. No, really.
Bike riders will be diverted onto Zoo Drive and Western Heritage Way, near where Finish the Ride founder Damien Kevitt was struck by a hit-and-run driver who dragged him onto the 5, nearly taking his life.
So if anyone happens to get hit by a car while bypassing the construction zone for the next two years, I’d suggest getting a good lawyer who can reach into the deep pockets at Caltrans.
And yes, I can recommend a few.
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Mike Wilkinson forwards advice on what to do if you’re the first on the scene following an injury collision. It’s written from a motorcyclist’s perspective, but the advice holds true for non-motorized riders.
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Welcome to the US. An unidentified cyclist training for the world championships was hit by a car that was somehow allowed to cross the course; fortunately, the victim was not seriously hurt.
Bicycling talks with U23 silver medalist Emma White; the 18-year old is the first American woman to podium in the world junior time trial since 2007.
The latest podcast from Streetsblog’s Damien Newton is a talk with new CicLAvia Executive Director Romel Pascual.
A man is under arrest for murder after shooting another man near West 6th and Lafayette Park, then stealing a bicycle at gunpoint before being captured by police.
Los Angeles Magazine offers five tools to make shopping by bike easier. Although they somehow forgot messenger bags, which were developed by bike messengers for a reason.
State
An anonymous tip has led San Diego police to the car used in a hit-and-run that seriously injured a woman riding her bike last week; it was found at a repair shop, apparently getting fixed to hide the damage. Although the local NBC station seems to think the car was acting on its own.
Trial began on Thursday for the wrong-way, allegedly high driver who slammed into 10 riders on San Diego’s Fiesta Island, leaving one permanently disabled.
The San Diego Union-Tribune puts the Coronado anti-bike hysteria in context, saying it’s part of a backlash against increased tourism on the penisula. Maybe tourists should respond by taking their money somewhere else.
Bittersweet story from Camarillo, as a woman is spending her final days touring California by bike with her boyfriend; she was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer shortly after kicking a two decade addiction to meth. Camarillo’s US Bike Company gave them new bicycles after theirs were stolen in Big Sur.
Caught on video: The San Francisco police captain who ordered a crackdown on scofflaw cyclists rolls a stop himself while on his bike. Maybe he was just trying to fit in.
Evidently, San Francisco cyclists will be on the Critical Mass to Hell this weekend.
Sad news from Shingletown, near Redding, as a bike rider was killed Thursday evening when a 17-year old driver drifted onto the shoulder where she was riding.
National
The National Bike Challenge hit 35 million miles 10 days before the scheduled end of the program, a whopping 50% increase over last year.
You can now ping your bell to tell you where you parked your bike. Although if you can’t find where you parked your bike, it’s usually a sign it may not be there anymore.
The standard controversy erupts over a road diet in my hometown, with drivers complaining about traffic backups and unused buffered bike lanes, which riders avoid because they don’t connect to anything and dump them back into traffic with no warning.
Denver tries on a protected bike lane for size; for a change, local merchants joined safety advocates in pushing for changes on the busy street.
That’s one way to steal a bike. A woman walked into an Ohio Wal-Mart, set a rack of pajamas on fire, and walked out with a new bike.
Some schmuck stole a 1980 Schwinn 12-speed from a 92-year old WWII vet in Troy NY; he only rode it twice before hanging it up in his garage.
Now those are some serious choppers. A New York bike thief imitates the city’s infamous rats and uses his teeth to gnaw through a bike lock. Yes, his teeth.
That Delaware DuPont exec on trial for killing a man on a bicycle in a hit-and-run last year claimed he thought he hit some tree branches. And yet his young sons saw the bike spinning away and asked if he’d just killed a cyclist. Schmuck.
By his account, a 70-year old Georgia driver was doing everything right when those crazy bike riders started yelling at him, and he accidently ran into one trying to get away. Sure, that sounds credible.
FL police blame a teenage bike rider for not riding in the crosswalk after he’s injured in a collision. Of course, if he had been in the crosswalk, they would have blamed him for that.
No bias here. The CBC apparently thinks the value of a victim’s bike has something to do with why a left turning driver ran him down in the bike lane and fled the scene.
Serious injuries among British bike riders are going up three times faster than the increase in miles ridden.
Evidently, the key to success as a champion lumberjack is riding a bike. Regardless of what the Standard thinks, a combination breathalyzer/bike lock is not a blow to bike-riding boozers as long as its use remains voluntary.
And this gnome-lookalike perv should be locked away until he’s 87. But you’ve got to admire his bike handling skills.
The mainstream — or in this case, mainland — media has discovered the mass anti-bike insanity that has gripped the Coronado peninsula for the past several weeks.
You are covering Coronado with paint stripe pollution,” said resident Gerry Lounsbury.
“The graffiti on the streets does not help our property values,” declared Aileen Oya.The lanes “bring to mind a visual cacophony that if you look there long enough it will induce a dizzying type of vertigo,” said Carolyn Rogerson.
Gerry MacCartee asked if the community couldn’t think of a better option than “these black streets with these brilliant white lines everywhere because believe me, it takes away from your home, from your outlook on life.”
And Darby Monger crafted an analogy to describe the addition of bike lanes to her beloved city.
“It’s very similar to personally taking all three of my daughters to a tattoo parlor and having them completely body tattooed,” she said.
As for causing vertigo, a trip to the optometrist would seem to be in order.
Or maybe a psychiatrist.
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Placentia police stop a one-man crime wave that began when the suspect rode off with a bike after knocking a woman off it.
He then caused a disturbance at an IHOP — directly across from a police station, no less — before fleeing on the bike. And ended his day, and most likely his freedom, trying to carjack a vehicle after he crashed the bike in front of it.
Good to know Davis Phinney, former pro, Olympic medalist and father of Taylor, still rides a bike to fight the effects of Parkinson’s. Great news, as pro cyclist Ivan Basso gets the all-clear after treatment for testicular cancer.
The Amgen Tour of California may or may not be coming to South Pasadena, as the city wants to know more about costs to host the event and the potential impact on local businesses. It’s like the old saying, if you’ve got to ask, you can’t afford it.
Rancho Mirage throws the latest wrench into plans for a 50-mile bikeway circling the Coachella Valley, saying they’ll pull out if an environmental impact statement includes roads where they don’t want it to go.
Streetsblog says San Francisco’s police chief misses the point of the city’s attempt to allow cyclists to roll stops as long as they observe the right-of-way. Meanwhile, the local press isn’t above a little fear mongering.
A Lake Tahoe couple turn their passion for bicycling into the region’s only non-profit bike park.
National
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials begins discussion of adding protected bike lanes, aka cycle tracks, to the next edition of their very conservative AASHTO bike guide, due to be published no earlier than 2018.
Portland signs off on a new bikeshare system to roll out next summer. So LA may actually beat one city in the race for bikeshare if everything goes as planned.
San Antonio TX is launching a campaign to remind drivers to pass cyclists and pedestrians safely; a city ordinance requires drivers to give a three-foot passing distance, with a six-foot distance required for trucks.
Drivers often complain that cyclists don’t get traffic tickets; they do in Chicago, as riders get tickets at about the same rate motorists do.
In a rare case of New York police and prosecutors actually taking traffic crimes seriously, a driver will face felony manslaughter and hit-and-run charges in the death of a cyclist earlier this month.
The head of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition offers a detailed rebuttal to opposition to bike lanes in the city. Maybe someone should share the link with the good people of Coronado.
Caught on video: A Russian cyclist just gets back up after being knocked down by a semi.
CNN talks with the South African fan who spent two years riding to the Rugby World Cup about what he learned while riding through 44 African countries.
Once again, an overly simplistic misinterpretation threatens LA’s new mobility plan.
The Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council is scheduled to discuss the plan tonight at their 6:30 pm meeting in the auditorium of the Sherman Oaks, 14750 Dickens Street.
Maybe someone could remind them, as we keep repeating, that those estimates are a worst-case scenario, assuming no one takes advantage opportunity created by the new bus and bike ways and safer sidewalks created by the plan to leave their cars at home.
And that by providing people with viable alternatives, we could actually see a reduction in motor vehicle traffic, resulting in less, not more, congestion.
Of course, all that is clearly explained in the plan itself.
But why bother with the facts — or actually reading the damn thing — when it’s so much fun to fly off in a doomsday panic over a plan designed to ease LA’s traffic choked future?
After all, the city is already gridlocked to a large extent. And continuing on the same auto-centric course only guarantees things will continue to get worse.
Because it’s cars that have killed the vitality of our city.
And it’s long past time we took it back.
Thanks to Glenn Bailey for the heads-up.
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Bailey also forwards a notice about bike thefts from the Brentwood Community Council.
If you follow BikinginLA on Twitter, you’ve no doubt noticed the daily drumbeat of stolen bikes; sometimes several a day. And those are just the ones reported to the Bike Index stolen bike database, which is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to bikes taken in the LA area.
So like the notice says, keep your bike inside if at all possible. If not, lock it securely to something solid and immovable.
And make sure you register it now to ensure you have all the information you’ll need if anything does happens to it.
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Taylor Phinney continues his amazing comeback from the potentially crippling injury he suffered in a collision with a race moto at last year’s nationals, as his BMC team won the team time trial at the world championships; Velocio-SRAM took the women’s title. Not bad for someone who was told he’d be lucky to walk, let alone ride a bike again.
Richard Risemberg recaps PARKing Day in LA, which demonstrates that curbside parking spaces can be put to better use.
Santa Monica police bust a bike thief found in an alley with numerous bikes, bike parts and burglary tools. If you’ve lost a bike on the Westside recently, you might want to check with them.
State
A 33-year old Anaheim bike rider was critically injured in a hit-and-run collision Sunday morning; a 17-year old driver has been arrested on felony DUI and hit-and-run charges. Yes, the driver is four years below the legal drinking age, although DUI doesn’t always imply alcohol use. And as others have pointed out, the legal blood alcohol level for minors is zero.
More good news on the purloined bike front, as the man riding across the US with his rescue dog to promote animal adoptions got his stolen Yuba Mundo bike back. No word on whether police recovered his GoPro, GPS, dog toys and other gear.
A bicyclist was killed riding in the traffic lane on a Minneapolis freeway, while three other cyclists have received warnings for riding on local freeways since June. It’s illegal to ride on most freeways there, just as it is here.
The Cleveland traffic engineer behind the bike lanes — yes, more than one — with the buffer on the wrong side swears the design is the best practice to prevent right hooks, even though it runs counter to recommendations from the Federal Highway Administration and the NACTO design guide.
A Philadelphia writer calls out dangerous cyclists on local pathways, while acknowledging that most riders are sensible and bicycling benefits the community. On the other hand, seven mph is a ridiculously low speed limit, and assumes every bicyclist knows how fast he’s going. Or slow, in this case.
After police amazingly concluded a bike riding, cross-dressing British spy died when he somehow zipped himself into a duffel bag and padlocked it from the inside as part of a sex game, a forensic investigator more logically deduces that he was murdered, and that he dressed as a woman as part of his spycraft.
Britain’s Transport Committee will look into police bias against cyclists. Intentional or not, police bias against bike riders is a problem virtually everywhere, and can adversely affect ticketing and investigations of wrecks involving bicyclists.
More proof cyclists are tough. A Brit bicyclist is putting off potentially life-saving surgery to compete in next year’s Rio Olympics; only eight millimeters of his spinal cord remain unaffected by a cancer tumor.
Now that’s a fixie. The Guardian talks with cyclist who rode the full length of the UK on a Penny Farthing in just 15 days.
Caught on video: This is what it looks like to pull a major endo after hitting a pothole. Seriously, if you don’t bother to lock up your bike, don’t blame the police when it’s gone.
And if you’re hiding a stolen car at your home after assaulting the owner to steal it, try not to get liquored up and shoot at a group of cyclists.
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Thanks to Eric Lewis for his generous donation to support BikinginLA.
Just $10 a year from everyone who visits here today would fund this site for a full year.
It’s kind of sad that the voice of reason at Monday’s town hall meeting to discuss the Rowena road diet came from an eleven-year old boy.
Let alone the hate it inspired in some quarters.
Matty Grossman has become the perhaps unwilling star of LA bike advocacy, with an interview on KCBS-2 and a profile in the LA Times that features the following video, recorded by Sean Meredith.
It’s a little hard to hear — after all, he is just eleven — but it’s worth cranking up the volume as far as it goes to catch every word
Especially this segment excerpted from the Times’ story.
“I have lost track of the number of cars who have purposely violated my legal right to three feet of safety or shouted obscenities at me,” Matty said at Monday’s town hall. “Can you imagine the kind of monster who yells ‘F you’ to a child?”
And Matty, a sixth-grader, is over it.
“It’s whiny, entitled behavior you wouldn’t tolerate from a kid,” he told the room. “Why should I tolerate it from adults?”
Why should any of us?
Maybe it was being shamed by a kid that caused one rabidly anti-bike commenter to lash out in protest over a kid interrupting the conversation on “adult issues” like bike lanes and transportation policy.
But that’s exactly the point.
Because if some drivers will treat a little kid like that, imagine how they treat a grown-up on a bike.
According to the press reports, Matty wants to grow up to be mayor of Los Angeles. Or an astrophysicist.
He’s got my vote.
But if that doesn’t work out, I think we can get him a job with the LACBC.
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Speaking of Rowena, and by extension, the new mobility plan, Times’ architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne offers an insightful explanation of just why it’s so desperately needed, despite rumblings from some quarters.
Sometimes we tell ourselves it has been this way for all time. Recently a reader sent me an email that included this line: “Driving by car is how it’s done here.” (The word “son” at the end of the sentence was implied.)
But that’s not really true — not if you take a broad view of Los Angeles history. Look at a photograph of, say, Broadway in downtown L.A. in the late 1920s. It is full of people walking. But it is also full of people in cars, on bikes and on streetcars.
It looks vital. And guess what? It also looks very congested. In the decades that followed, in our tireless efforts to stamp out the congestion — something we became truly expert at — we wound up stamping out the vitality too.
Seriously, take a few minutes and read it all the way through.
Excuse my language, but just when are we going to stop this fucking waste of life? The right to keep on living is the most basic of all human rights.
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There’s a new world record for a human-powered vehicle, set by a bullet-shaped bike ridden by Canadian Todd Reichart and the AeroVelo team at the annual World Human Powered Speed Challenge. It was clocked at 85.71 mph, beating the old record by 2.58 mph.
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That didn’t take long. The world championships haven’t even started yet, and a bike thief already made off with a $10,000 Specialized S-Works belonging to the Dutch team. And no offense to The Verge, but I’ve done a lot faster than 30 mph.
Bicycling isn’t a luxury in South LA, where a bike count shows people who can’t afford cars riding to or from work and school. And people there have more to fear than dangerous streets and drivers.
He doesn’t mention bikes, but 3rd District Councilmember Bob Blumenfield writes about revitalizing Reseda through the Great Streets program on Sherman Way. Let’s just remind him to include some decent bike lanes while he’s at it. And slow the damn traffic down.
After winning joint custody, Chris Brown wants to treat his daughter Royalty royally by teaching her to ride a bike.
State
An off-duty CHP officer spotted a man sleeping in an Oceanside bike lane; when he stopped to investigate, he discovered the man was the victim of a hit-and-run. He was in critical condition as of Friday morning.
After riding over 9,300 miles through 31 states with his rescue dog to promote pet adoption, an animal activist had his bike, iPod, GoPro and dog toys stolen in San Diego. At least he managed to hold onto the dog.
Prospects for the Coachella Valley’s proposed 50-mile CV Link bikeway aren’t looking good, as Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage both vote to block the proposed route.
Sad news from Lompoc. A bike rider was killed when he was rear-ended by an SUV, as the driver apparently tried — and failed — to pass. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
A San Ramon attorney will be sentenced next week for the hit-and-run death of a Chinese tourist three years ago. Sentencing is at the judge’s discretion; he could actually get probation for killing another person and running away to cover-up his crime.
Thanks to Google, we may one day hear the anti-bike brigades say LA isn’t Silicon Valley instead of comparing us to Copenhagen.
Streetsblog is looking for someone to run the San Francisco site and cover transportation issues in the Bay Area. I’d consider it, but it would mean becoming a Giants fan. And some lines a man just can’t cross.
National
This Tuesday is Worldwide Car-Free Day. Which is not the same as free car day, unfortunately.
The level of bike commuting in Portland has reached an unheard of — in the US, at least — 7.2%; it was only at 2.8% in 2004.
Fifty-two soldiers complete a two day, 167-mile ride from Fort Knox KY to Fort Campbell.
When some Michigan hikers looked at pictures they’d just taken off a cliff, they discovered legs and a bicycle in the photos; when rescuers arrived, they found a the body of a man in his 30s at the base of the cliff.
Now this is a great idea. Over 70 businesses and many homes in Ashland VA have bike gardens — bicycles with planters or arranged like sculptures. Love to see something that spread around the LA area.
Very strange case from upstate New York as a cyclist has been unresponsive since he was found lying in the road, suffering from a double skull fracture and a broken orbital socket and clavicle. Yet his bike and helmet were undamaged and there was no sign of a collision.
A Charlotte NC writer says both cyclists and motorists have control over whether they get out of control. However, bicycling is not particularly dangerous, as he suggests; people in motor vehicles aren’t immune from collisions and serous injuries, or worse.
International
A Saskatoon city counselor says new bike racks are a waste of money, since cyclists can “tie up” their bikes to loading zone signs. Sounds like he’s more used to hitching posts.
You’re kidding, right? Toronto proposes producing a paltry 2.5 miles of new bike lanes a year for the next 10 years. No word on whether those are centerline miles or lane miles; the latter would mean bike lanes on just 1.25 miles of roadway per year.
A Singapore court cuts the sentence of a hit-and-run cyclist to three weeks; he’d originally been sentenced to eight weeks behind bars for fleeing after injuring a 69-year old woman while riding on the sidewalk.
And maybe it’s better to quaff that ale post ride rather than pre. Although after reading the effects booze has on a bike rider’s body, you may need a drink.
By all reports, Monday’s town hall meeting to discuss the Rowena road diet was calm and productive, for a change. And without the usual anti-bike hysteria.
While there was some very vocal opposition to the road diet — with one couple calling it a living nightmare — support ran about two-thirds in favor, according to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton.
Most people were more concerned with improving safety and reducing cut-through traffic than giving the street back to speeding motorists. And many of the comments focused on the need for increased traffic enforcement to stop drivers from blowing through stop signs.
Yes, they do it, too. And pose a lot more risk to others than when people on bicycles do.
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Looks like good news for LA area bike and pedestrian projects.
The projects, totaling nearly $73 million in state funding, range from an LAUSD middle school bike safety program and Safe Routes to Schools to various bikeway and walkway improvements and the planned Alameda Esplanade at Union Station.
The report cautions that final approval is still needed. But we could be seeing some big improvements in the not-too-distant future.
The next to last column on the right reflects the total cost of the project, in thousands, while the right-hand column is the amount requested.
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Today’s common news theme: bikeshare.
The Baltimore Sun says the city’s new bikeshare program needs to get a lot bigger and cover more territory where reliable transit is needed most.
Amsterdam’s Yellow Backie, created by cycle hire company Yellow Bike, encourages locals to give tourists a lift on the bike’s luggage rack.
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Local law enforcement is ready for this weekend’s road cycling world championships in Richmond VA. The bike race season isn’t really over after the worlds; it just moves to Abu Dhabi next month.
Outside magazine looks at Utah’s Red Bull Rampage, calling it the most dangerous bike competition on Earth.
And an Italian-American website gushingly anoints the great Fausto Coppi “the finest, most elegant cyclist in the history of the sport.” Although fans of the Cannibal, among others, may beg to differ; Lance Armstrong fans need not apply.
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Local
A Santa Monica lawyer tries out the local VeloFix franchise offering mobile bike repair services. Although seriously, if you’re going to ride a bike, learn how to fix a flat.
Nine cyclists set off from San Diego on a ride across the US to promote awareness of mental illness.
A bike-riding racist gets 13 years for beating an elderly Sikh man in Fresno, after apparently being unable to distinguish a Sikh from a Muslim. Either way, this is one bicyclist who won’t be missed.
Great article from former Bicycling Editor in Chief Peter Flax, as he talks with the bike-riding stars of Breaking Away in advance of their appearance at Interbike.
A Colorado writer who never takes his bike out of the garage somehow opposes a plan that would encourage others to take their bikes out of the garage; he fears slowing traffic and improving safety will kill the downtown area that drivers currently speed through.
A bike racer is banged up after smashing into a truck that pulled onto the closed course for the Arkansas State Criterium Championship. Bystanders told the driver he couldn’t go around the barricades; he apparently proved them wrong.
A Chicago father pens an open letter to the My Little Pony bike he can’t seem to assemble for his daughter. One more reason to buy from your local bike shop; they’ll out it together for you.
Note to Vermont officials: It’s not really a complete street if you just narrow the traffic lanes to give bikes and pedestrians a whopping three feet of shared space on the side of the road.
A Georgia writer insists that drivers are the real victims of those heartless, dangerous bike riders who force them to take their lives.
The prestigious Columbia Journalism Review looks at the efforts of the Fort Meyers News-Press to promote bike safety in the nation’s most dangerous state for bicyclists.
An English court upholds the one-year sentence for a BMX rider who killed a 73-year old woman while weaving his bike through pedestrians on a closed street.
Britain’s leading bike cam-wearing cyclist gets another driver fined, this time for using his phone while driving a bus; his videos have lead to the convictions of 70 motorists for traffic offenses.
A Welsh website offers tips on how to teach your kid to ride a bike in 10 easy steps. And no, wiping away tears and bandaging boo boos aren’t among them.
Forget helmets, soon motorists will yell at you to wear your air bag-equipped flak jacket. Who needs hi-viz when you can have lights printed directly onto your clothes.
And smart glasses are coming to cycling. Wearing them, however, probably won’t make anyone a smarter rider.
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Thanks to Vincent Busam for his generous donation to help support this site. Donations of any amount are always appreciated.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
