April 7, 2016 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: It’s a video Thursday, with a scofflaw LA BMX tour, rotating jazz bike and a knockout kick
Let’s make this a video Thursday.
Watch BMX rider Nigel Sylvester ride salmon on Broadway, nearly run people off the sidewalk and litter on Skid Row in a fast-paced tour of the City of Angels. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.
New stats from the US Department of Transportation show over 86% of bikeshare stations in the US extend the reach of transit systems by connecting to another form of transit.
Co.Exist says cities keep installing sharrows because they’re fast and cheap, even if they don’t improve safety.
In the latest marketing gaff from Specialized, the company apologizes for putting up posters saying “Better bikes come from better bike shops” on a boarded-up non-Specialized dealer, after it was closed following a gas explosion. And offers $1,000 to make up for it.
Legislation under consideration in Vermont would require drivers to give cyclists a four-foot passing distance, and yield to cyclists before turning. But it would also require riders to stick to the edge of the pavement, allowing them to move towards the center of the lane only when the shoulder is unsafe.
A Rhode Island bike advocacy group is building a Bike Barn on a vacant lot to house their offices and a bike co-op.
The New York City council finally puts its money where its mouth is, considering a significant increase in funding for Vision Zero projects. Let’s hope LA follows their example.
In today’s alliterative news, a Baltimore man got a bullet in the butt thanks to a bike rider.
As if dodging dangerous drivers wasn’t bad enough, a British delivery driver was felled by a window pane falling from 21-stories up.
A Brit anti-doping scientist claims he would have caught Lance a lot sooner. Only if his test could somehow uncover collusion with cycling officials to hide the results.
Seville, Spain cuts car use 27% in just ten years, as bike modal share rises to nine percent. Tell that to the next person who says increasing bike use in LA won’t improve traffic congestion.
An Australian website says most Queensland drivers are giving bicyclists the required 1 meter passing distance, which rises to 1.5 meters when the speed limit is above 37 mph; the law will be made permanent following a successful two-year trial.
February 24, 2016 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Cyclist nearly rammed by Laguna Cyn driver; man buys bike with bad traveler’s checks in OC
An Orange County rider asks if he should report a horn-blaring driver who apparently tried to ram him while he was riding on Laguna Canyon Sunday afternoon.
What he caught on video is a case of assault with a deadly weapon, no different than if the road raging driver had threatened him with a gun.
But even if the authorities refuse to prosecute, it can lay the groundwork for future action against the driver if he or she does it again. It was the prior police reports of Dr. Christopher Thompson’s threatening behavior towards other riders that helped ensure a conviction and a four year prison sentence in the Mandeville Canyon case.
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Costa Mesa police are asking for the public’s help in finding a man who bought a $1,700 bike with fake traveler’s checks; anyone with information is urged to call 714/754-4873.
And wet your appetite for LA-based pro cyclist Phil Gaimon’s inaugural Malibu Gran Cookie Dough this November, combining “great bike riding” through the Malibu hills with the “classy fun of cookies” from celebrity chef Jeff Mahin.
It’s one thing for a rider to be attacked by one dog; surrounded by 25 or so is another matter.
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Local
Streetsblog reports Caltrans’ plans for a new toll flyover exit ramp off the 110 Freeway would dump freeway traffic onto South Figueroa, jeopardizing the long-planned MyFigueroa Complete Streets makeover, as well as a historic church. You have until March 21st to tell them where (else) they can stick it.
Metro is negotiating with Lyft to collect data on first mile/last mile trips that begin and end at transit stations, while looking forward to bikeshare to help solve some of that problem.
An LA model and former 30-mile a day cyclist returns to the runway after losing a leg, and nearly her life, due to toxic shock syndrome. Let’s hope she’s back on her bike, as well.
A Seattle TV station examines how bike lanes are paid for, explaining that the view from city hall is taxing bicyclists for bike lanes makes no more sense than taxing pedestrians to pay for sidewalks.
The widow of a Colorado cyclist killed by a distracted truck driver has channeled her grief into a heartbreaking public service announcement begging drivers to pay attention.
Northern Iowa cyclists say proposed legislation that goes way beyond a three-foot law by requiring drivers to change lanes to pass a cyclists is much needed, following too many close calls.
Great story from Texas, as a three cyclists out for a ride through the country rescue 22 abandoned puppies; all of the pups were quickly adopted. And a good idea, as one of the women carries dog food on her bike just in case she sees a stray. That’s just one more advantage of riding a bike; anyone in a car would have likely driven by without ever seeing the dogs. Or maybe run over them.
Now that Houston has a new 709-mile bike plan, they need to come up with the money to pay for it. Sort of like pretty much every city everywhere trying to re-envision their streets for people instead of cars.
A story posted on the London School of Economics website examines the rapid rise of bicycling in Memphis, while asking whether new bikeways simply reinforce existing racial inequality and spur racialized gentrification.
Angry Tennesseans rise up to fight a proposal to prohibit funds from gas taxes from being used for bicycling and pedestrian projects.
Randonneurs from around the world are concerned about Saturday’s North Carolina crash that took out four of their fellow riders, injuring two critically; one of the critically injured riders is the webmaster for bikelaw.com. Police say alcohol wasn’t a factor, but don’t say anything about other intoxicants; the driver who hit them was on probation for felony drug charges.
A London cyclist suspects bike thieves are targeting certain bicycles to order after two men on a scooter attempted to push her off her Brompton.
WaPo looks at a Danish city so bike friendly, even five-year olds are encouraged to bike to school.
The next time someone tells you (insert city here) isn’t Amsterdam, remind them that Amsterdam wasn’t always like that, either. Gizmodo traces the transformation of the city through a compelling series of before and after photos. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson and joninsocal for the heads-up.
A Basque women’s race issues a new poster designed by a woman rider after the previous one was withdrawn following charges it was sexist. Seriously, is it that hard to simply promote women’s racing as a competitive event?
The author of a petition to ban bikes entirely from roads through an Aussie mountain range swears it’s not anti-cycling; so far, it’s only gathered 30 similarly non-anti-bike signatures.
No anger issues here. An Aussie man is charged with deliberately chasing and running down a young bike-riding boy after he and his friends accidently knocked over the man’s garbage can.
A new study from the University of Duh shows real time weather information affects Singapore cyclists’ riding decisions. As does looking out the window and seeing it’s raining.
This one’s hard to watch, but sends a hard-hitting message.
A bike rider left his bike cam running as a driver drifted into him, from the actual crash all the way through to the emergency room, which has now been turned into a public service announcement by Sasquatch Films.
You can see the car start to drift into his lane while the rider is distracted by the car on his right; watching his fingers twitch as he lies on pavement post crash is one of the most haunting images I’ve seen.
A rider who goes by the Twitter handle of Cloud Rider writes that he and his 5-year old son were denied service on a Santa Monica Big Blue Bus during Saturday’s rain storm.
According to his complaint, the driver wouldn’t let him put the boy’s bike with a 16” wheel on the front rack, even though it fit. And wouldn’t let them bring the bike on board the bus, either, leaving them stranded in the rain.
Metro drivers are allowed to use their discretion on whether to allow bikes onboard if the racks are full and there’s room on the bus. If Santa Monica drivers don’t have that authority, they should.
And anyone who would leave a five-year old standing in the rain, regulations or not, doesn’t belong behind the wheel of a public bus.
Florida’s legendary Jack the Bike Man gave out around a thousand bikes and helmets in a single day this weekend.
But the gold medal goes to the widow of North Carolina’s Bicycle Man, who carried on his work two years after his death by giving away 1,300 bikes.
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Local
Burbank compromises on a proposed ban on riding bikes on a bridge over the LA River used by equestrians, allowing bicyclists to walk their bicycles over the dirt covered span.
Mark your calendar for next April, when you can join former pros Jens Voigt and Freddie Rodriguez in riding the course for the third stage of the Amgen Tour of California at the L’Etape California.
National
A bike-riding Colorado busboy returns an envelope with $3,000 in cash that someone left behind; he got a $300 reward for his honesty.
The judge declares a mistrial in the case of a Missouri mayor accused of intentionally running down a bike rider in a dispute; witnesses said they saw the mayor turn his wheel into the rider.
Blue Bloods star Bridget Moynahan is one of us, riding her bike around the Big Apple to stay fit and spend time with her son.
An Atlanta columnist gets his knickers in a twist when bike riders object to his road raging anger directed at a cyclist he somehow concluded was riding slowly just to antagonize driver. Evidently, like many angry drivers, he thinks he has the ability to read minds to determine why people on bikes do what they do, usually incorrectly.
A local paper urges Savannah GA officials to go slow in contemplating a ban on bikes in a popular park, which is a key link in a major bike route.
International
A new study shows eating just one and a half ounces of dark chocolate every day can improve your cycling performance. Now they just need to prove beer makes you a better rider, too.
Over 80% of bike thefts in one English town go unsolved.
A British bike rider was seriously injured when someone shoved him from behind into a tree; it wasn’t clear whether his assailant was in a car or on foot.
A Welsh stunt cyclist who was paralyzed in a failed trick tried to sell his bike to raise funds to make his home more accessible; fans pitched in to raise four times the £7,000 — over $10,000 — he had asked for, in just 24 hours.
An Indian Paralympics cycling champion rides 900 miles with just one leg to support wounded vets, and says losing his leg was a blessing in disguise.
Water keeps posing a risk to cyclists, and El Niño hasn’t even started yet.
Wes High wants to know why a Sparkletts truck has to park in a Santa Monica bike lane to make a delivery, when there’s plenty of parking just a couple spaces up the road.
Why indeed?
Then again, that’s nothing new in Santa Monica.
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Caught on video: When the third place rider in a Spanish race suffered a flat shortly before the finish, he picked up his bike and ran for the finish line. A competitor followed closely behind, refusing to pass even though it would have meant a podium finish.
Unfortunately, not all of the day’s bike racing news showed sportsmanship, as Olympic track cyclist and US national champ Bobby Lea gets a 16 month ban for doping; he claims it was an accident. Then again, so does everyone else who gets caught these days.
And the official pro cycling team of India’s Uttar Pradesh state gets to share just one bicycle between all 21 cyclists on the team. On the other hand, the state government has distributed 4,500 bikes to the poor, though you’d think they could spare a few for their racing team.
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‘Tis the season.
The San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department donated 167 bicycles to children in need, while another 33 bikes went unclaimed.
Two hundred children in Pacheco, CA got new toys and bikes through Toys for Tots, thanks to the generosity of one woman.
An anonymous donor gave a St. Helena, CA girl a new trek mountain bike to replace one she lost in a fire; her two-year old sister got a new tricycle, too.
And a Maui car dealer gave away 250 bikes to kids from the local Boys and Girls Club.
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Just in case you have any spare change left after your holiday shopping…
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Local
The LA Planning Commission approves minor amendments to the Mobility Plan, which had been stripped from the approved plan a few weeks ago to address a lawsuit filed by the non-profit group Fix the City; more serious amendments to remove streets from the plan will be considered after the first of the year.
Speaking of Fix the City, they re-filed their lawsuit to address the city council’s action to address their initial lawsuit. Odd that a group named Fix the City is fighting LA’s efforts to do exactly that, attempting to use the courts to undo six years of public process.
Bicycling profiles Boyle Heights’ Ovarian Psychos Cycles, sponsors of monthly Luna Rides and the annual Clitoral Mass.
CiclaValley offers advice on what to wear for those cold LA winter bike rides. Relatively speaking, of course.
State
San Diego attempts to fix a dangerously congested intersection by increasing capacity and changing signal light timing; the redesign will also include much needed bike lanes and sidewalks.
Santa Ana approves a citywide bike safety program, including workshops to teach bike safety skills, light and helmet distribution, and certifying new cycling instructors.
The San Jose paper discusses how drivers can politely toot on the horn to warn cyclists they’re approaching. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing; as one person notes, even a light tap can startle a rider and cause a dangerous fall.
San Francisco’s Market Street bike counter records its one millionth rider. Meanwhile, the city completed a road diet and added cycle tracks to improve safety on a dangerous street after two boys were hit by a drunk driver. People get hit by cars in LA all the time, but it seldom results in a significant safety improvement to the street where it happened.
Lifehacker offers a practical guide to urban bicycling. Which actually offers some pretty decent advice, for a change; thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.
People for Bikes looks at America’s 10 best new bike lanes. You don’t need any fingers to count how many are in Los Angeles, but the new Harbor Drive cycle tracks in Redondo Beach check in at number nine.
Bicycling looks at what eight top bicycling cities have done to promote safer cycling. CicLAvia draws as more people in one day than Minneapolis drew all year with their eight Open Streets events.
The DC-area AAA objects to an increase in fines targeting dangerous drivers, complaining that they don’t address law-breaking cyclists and pedestrians. Maybe because people on bikes and foot don’t pose the same risk to others that speeding and distracted drivers do.
December 7, 2015 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Weekend Links: Deplorable Gold Line bike locker, distracted beach biking, and a 17-mile non-CicLAvia ciclovía
What good is a bike room if it’s not clean, not maintained and not secure?
Sean B forwards these photos of the bike locker at the Pasadena Del Mar Metro Station, noting that the floor is filthy, half the racks are broken and one appears to have been sawed through to steal the bike that was presumably in it.
I’m told this isn’t actually part of Metro’s bike locker program, but rather, just a set of racks with walls and a roof, where a sign tells riders to lock up there at your own risk.
Seriously?
If Metro really wants to encourage people to use their own bikes to solve the first mile/last mile problem, they’ve got to do a lot better than this.
Deplorable conditions like this only serve to encourage bike thieves, making it clear that no one is paying attention and they aren’t likely to be interrupted.
Sean also notes that he’s tried contacting Metro about these conditions on numerous occasions, with no luck.
Let’s hope someone there sees this and makes fixing this room a priority. Or better yet, does whatever it takes to replace it with a secure bike locker.
Because bike riders deserve a hell of a lot better than this.
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Clearly, distracted drivers aren’t the only ones we have to worry about.
Thanks to David Wolfberg and Tony K. for the heads-up.
Pro cyclist Peter Sagan and wife light up the holidays in this Euro commercial, no translation necessary.
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Local
Richard Risemberg says the new bus and bike only lanes on Wilshire Blvd seem to have increased ridership, though dangerous gaps remain on the Westside thanks to wealthy, short-sighted residents.
A Honolulu man faces up to 15 years for killing a bike rider while high on meth.
Caught on video: A Portland thief shows how easy it is to snatch a bike off the front of a bus. Always lock or disable your bike in some way before you put it on a bus rack to discourage potential thieves.
A bighearted Washington cop buys a stolen tandem from a homeless man, and fixes it up before returning it to its owners, who met while riding bikes 66 years earlier.
A Denver driver gets six years in a halfway house for seriously injuring a bike cop after lying about having a seizure-inducing medical condition. Although you have to wonder how long that sentence would be if his victim hadn’t been a cop.
Austin TX considers removing a bike lane to provide more parking, while local residents fight to keep it. Meanwhile, police in Austin bust a bike thief responsible for stealing 97 bikes, valued up to $12,000.
After an Ohio cyclist is rear-ended, he gets yelled at by the driver and lectured by a cop for riding in the traffic lane. Until he points out the sharrows he was riding on.
A Maine writer offers seven ways to improve bicycling in the state, most of which would make sense anywhere. Let’s face it, there are very few politicians I’d want to see naked, on a bike or otherwise. Even if the idea of voting for someone who has nothing to hide is appealing.
Turns out it’s legal for a woman to ride a bike topless in Philadelphia, even if it is a challenge to get the local police on board.
A Toronto woman has started a petition to require cyclists to be licensed, even though the city has rejected that four times in the last 30 years. Although riders may not have to worry too much; the petition had just 15 supporters so far.
Brit pro cyclist Bradley Wiggins was bullied growing up and called a gay slur for having the audacity to wear spandex in public.
If your headphones are so loud you can’t even hear a London train coming, maybe you should turn them down a little. And don’t ride around the damn crossing barriers.
London police are treating an apparent road rage hit-and-run as attempted murder; the same driver who ran down a cyclist may have tried to crash into a cop who responded to the incident.
A Glasgow taxi driver suffered a broken nose and cheekbone when he was punched by a bike rider, after the rider had fought with the cab’s passenger. Violence is never the answer, no matter how angry you are or how much you think they deserve it. It only makes a bad situation worse.
A trio of British cyclists riding a single bike made for three survive a collision on US Route 66 when the sun gets in a driver’s eye; needless to say, he wasn’t charged.
A pair of apparent German tourists came to the aid of a Kiwi bike rider when she was assaulted by a man who punched her several times before throwing her to the ground.
Finally…
Help keep the Corgi in kibble this holiday season.
Thanks to Erik Griswold for contributing to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
An ancient Norse tradition I just made up says giving to an underfunded bike website ensures the wind will always be at your back in the coming year, and your tires will be impervious to thorns.
That’s the sentence given to Teresa Owens in San Diego on Thursday, for the meth-fueled wrong way collision that injured a dozen cyclists on Fiesta Island last year, leaving one paralyzed from the chest down.
Owens, 50, was at Fiesta Island to try to catch her boyfriend cheating on her. She admitted doing “a small line of methamphetamine” 12 hours beforehand. She was also driving on a suspended license, and she was fresh off a previous DUI arrest.
She drove the wrong way on the one-way road around the island and slammed into a group of cyclists on a training ride coming around a corner. Several flew onto her car or smashed into her windshield.
While making a legal left turn on the yellow, bike rider Wes High was nearly hit by a Santa Monica driver who swerved into the bike lane to get around a stopped car and blow through the light long after it had turned red.
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A new study is quick to blame the victims after 40% of teenagers report being hit or nearly hit by cars while walking. Never mind that careless or distracted drivers may have had something to do with it. And no, walking after dark is not an unsafe habit; that’s what human beings have done since we first stood upright.
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Nice project from CicLAvia, as they want to give back to the community — as if they don’t already give enough — by donating 30 new bikes, helmets and lights to LA County kids who can’t afford them. They want your help to nominate a kid who deserves one; nominations close on December 2nd.
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We’ve got a long list of bike events coming up in the next few weeks.
Today: Walk Bike Burbank will offer free bike valet at the annual Holiday in the Park festival sponsored by the Magnolia Park Merchants Association.
Saturday: The LACBC will participate in Path Hack at the Spoke Café on the Elysian Valley Pedestrian and Bike Path, a series of free art workshops designed to create a slow zone on the pathway.
Saturday: Join CICLE and Equitas Academy for a family friendly Bikes and Batidos Ride around the MacArthur Park neighborhood, sponsored by Metro’s Safe Routes to Schools Pilot Program.
Saturday & Sunday: Professional cyclocross comes to El Dorado Park in Long Beach this Saturday and Sunday with the UCI CXLA Weekend.
Sunday: Celebrate the UCI CXLA cyclocross race by joining the Palms to Pines Ride along the San Gabriel River Trail, or take a shorter ride along the beach; proceeds benefit the LACBC and Bike SGV.
Some of the biggest names in international, national, and local cyclocross racing are coming to Long Beach’s El Dorado Park on November 21st and 22nd. As part of this weekend of racing, SoCalCross is offering a Palms to Pines community ride (Ride with GPS route is can be found here.) The ride, along the San Gabriel River Trail, will take riders from the palm trees and sand in Seal Beach all the way north to the pine trees at Azusa River Wilderness Park at the start of the San Gabriel Mountains, before returning to El Dorado Park in plenty of time to watch an afternoon of exciting racing action, enjoy food and beverages at the races, and visit the event’s sponsor Expo. The ride is 77 miles long, but you can ride as much or as little as you like. A shorter Ocean Breeze ride goes to the beach and back. Both are 100 percent on protected bike paths with no car traffic (only 3 street crossings). Registration is $45 ($55 day-of), less for the short ride, and includes an event t-shirt, lunch, pit stops, and a donation to LACBC and other local bicycle advocacy groups.
For more information and to register, go to SoCalCross.com
December 3rd: The LACBC hosts their annual open house, with drinks from Angel City Brewery; admission is free for LACBC members, so consider joining at the door.
December 3rd: Stan’s Bike Shop invites you to dress up in a holiday theme and join them as they ride in the Monrovia Christmas Parade.
December 3rd – 15th: Metro will be holding a second round of workshops to discuss their Active Transportation Strategic Plan, starting with North Hollywood and ending in Santa Clarita.
December 4th: The highly praised documentary Bikes vs Cars opens at the Laemmle NoHo 7.
December 5th: Ride your bike down to Long Beach for the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade, featuring hundreds of festively dressed marching Corgis.
December 12th: Calbike is hosting a special Bikeways to Everywhere donor party in Los Angeles.
December 27th: Finish the Ride comes to the San Fernando Valley for the first time to combat hit-and-run and help create safer streets for everyone.
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Local
A USC student marketing group conducts guerilla marketing campaigns to promote bike safety and security, along with alcohol awareness and combating sexual assault.
The Eastsider reports a one-mile stretch of the LA River bike path along Griffith Park has temporarily reopened after being closed for three days in advance of a projected year-long closure; Zoo Drive and Western Heritage Way are reportedly being “enhanced” in anticipation of the detour.
A Saratoga driver is being sought by police for intentionally swerving into a bike lane in an attempt to hit a bicyclist. Somehow, that doesn’t merit more than a couple lines in the police blotter, though.
Menlo Park plans to add buffers to an existing bike lane, along with pedestrian-activated crossing lights, to improve safety along a preferred school route.
Napa police arrest a man claiming to be a wolf who speaks 13 languages for stealing a bike at knifepoint. No word on whether one of the languages is Lupine.
There’s a special place in hell for someone who would steal a custom–made bike from a Texas girl with cerebral palsy; fortunately, a kindhearted stranger has offered to replace it.
The Guardian looks at how Oklahoma City has overturned car culture and what can happen when cities kick the car habit.
A South Dakota business owner and bike advocate says forcing everyone into cars isn’t the solution to bike safety.
A New York radio station explores six things they’ve learned about biking in the city by studying over 3,000 photos of blocked bike lanes.
Forget all those cars, evidently the greatest danger New york bicyclists face comes from other riders. Seriously, that’s what she said; you can stop laughing now.
Not only is Pennsylvania’s Genesis Bicycles planning to close for Black Friday, the shop’s employees will donate that day’s salaries to a local charity.
Evidently, it’s legal to kill a cyclist in your sleep in Maryland, as a dozing Bethesda driver got off with just $690 in fines for negligent driving.
Caught on video: London’s mayor Boris is greeted with angry words and gestures as he opens the city’s first segregated cycle superhighway. The best part is his friendly wave in response to a one-fingered salute from a bike rider. Thanks to Sam Kurutz for the tip.
A London exhibition will display nine of the Cannibal’s racing jerseys; the jerseys, worn by five-time Tour de France winner and multiple world champion Eddy Merckx, are worth an estimated $304,000.
A coldhearted Brit writer says he only feels sympathy for the “poor car driver who will have the death of the blithering idiot on their conscience” if a ninja cyclist is killed.
Caught on video: A British bike rider stands his ground while demanding that a driver who violated his right-of-way back up instead of going around him.
A new UK company has developed a circular bike parking garage that stores bikes vertically, above or below ground. Can we have a few of those here? Or maybe a few dozen?
Emirates and Dubai royalty join in the mourning the death of a champion cyclist and triathlete just a week before his wedding.
Islamic State, the group behind last week’s Paris terrorist attacks, has claimed responsibility for shooting a bike-riding Italian priest in Bangladesh.
An Aussie driver with a provisional license apologizes on social media after the cyclist she nearly killed leaves a very polite note saying she looks too nice for prison.
And caught on video: Chinese cyclists crash head-on at the end of a Gran Fondo when the lead group somehow takes a wrong turn and sprints to the finish from the wrong direction.
Nothing like getting buzzed by an impatient jerk to ruin a ride on a beautiful day.
Richard Bidmead forwards video of what happens when a bike lane ends, and riders are forced to take to the traffic lane. Especially when you’re being followed by someone in a Corvette who knows how to use his horn, but can’t figure out how to change lanes to go around.
Instead, My News LA reports Reynaga will serve just one year in county jail, thanks to a very generous judge.
Even though a witness saw him get out of his semi after hitting Rodriguez, look at the victim lying in the roadway, then drive off, leaving him unprotected in the darkness, only to be hit by another car a few moments later.
No one will ever know if Rodriguez might have been saved if Reynaga hadn’t shown such a callous indifference to human life.
Despite that, the judge indicated that he will sentence Reynaga to just two years, and put off sentencing until next January to allow him to serve his time in county lockup. And he’ll end up doing just one year behind bars.
One lousy year for intentionally leaving a man to die in the street.
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Apparently, life isn’t worth any more in Alameda County, as a San Francisco attorney could serve just 30 days behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a Chinese tourist.
Bo Hu was walking his bike when a car driven by Spencer Freeman Smith slammed into him from behind, and fled the scene without ever applying the brakes. Prosecutors were prevented from introducing evidence that he had been drinking that night.
Once again, despite a callous indifference to human life, Smith was sentenced to just five years probation and one year in county jail; he can apply to finish his sentence in home detention after serving just one month.
Talk about hard time.
Let’s just hope he’s not scarred for life by being forced to watch the Giants and 49s on his flat screen from the comfort of his own den.
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Yet another bighearted cop replaces a stolen bike, this time for an Indiana girl whose bike was apparently taken by neighborhood bullies just one day after she got it for her eighth birthday.
Evidently, cops aren’t the only ones in Indiana with big hearts. A tattoo artist raised $1,800 to buy a new bike for an Indiana boy who was hit by a car outside his shop.
And a stranger bought a new bike for a Tampa Bay girl after she collided with a car driven by an elderly woman; the driver asked if she was okay, gave her $20 and drove away.
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Looks like the US is building a women’s cycling dynasty, as Chloe Dygert and Emma White take first and second in the under-23 road race; they finished in the same order in the U23 time trial earlier this week.
They must have made a good impression. A British pro cycling team signs three riders off the New Zealand U23 team from the world championships.
Africa’s first and only pro cycling team to compete in the Tour de France will now be known as Team Dimension Data.
And the head of pro cycling’s governing body says they’ve made great strides to restore credibility in the post-Armstrong era, despite the continuing drumbeat of cyclists banned for doping.
Bike friendly UCLA gets even friendlier with a new traffic light and a bike lane on the uphill side of Charles E. Young Drive North.
Boyonabike looks at transit developments and bike parking in the San Gabriel Valley, and finds the bike racks at the Monrovia Metro station both artsy and impractical.
Long Beach gets $23 million in grants for bike, pedestrian and transit improvements, including a bikeway over the LA River connecting with the bike path on the coming replacement for the Desmond Thomas Bridge.
There will be a press conference at 11 am Monday at City Hall to support AB8, aka the Hit-and-Run Yellow Alert Bill, currently awaiting Governor Brown’s signature after he vetoed a similar bill last year.
State
No bias here. The auto-centric CHP concludes that bicyclists are at fault in 61% of collisions, and drivers only at fault in 20%. Which says more about the department’s lack of training in bike law and a bias towards those on four wheels than it does about bike riders. As does the lack of enforcement of the state’s three-foot passing law.
Things were calmer in Bagdad by the Bay this month, as riders in the San Francisco Critical Mass were on their best behavior, and no one beat on cars with U-locks.
Las Vegas decides maybe it’s time to start enforcing Nevada’s three-foot passing law, including putting plain clothes cops on bikes to catch drivers passing too close.
An Iowa judge rules it’s okay to buzz bike riders and roll coal in their faces from a diesel pickup.
The bikeway network in Dallas TX grows to 39 miles, a big improvement over the eight miles of on-street bike lanes just three years ago. Although 32 miles of that are sharrows.
A new Minnesota parking lot opens near a bike trail, allowing people to remove bikes from their cars without fear of getting hit by passing cars; the project fulfills the dream of a former Eagle Scout who was later killed in action in Afghanistan.
Sad news from Ohio, as a second bike rider has died as a result of a collision when an apparently driverless truck left crossed a group of five riders; thankfully, the other three have been released from the hospital. Update: The victim was identified as Jim Lambert, an alternate on the US cycling team for the ’84 Los Angeles Olympics.
An Arkansas rider is on track to beat the 76-year old record for riding the most miles in a single year; two other riders, one in England and the other in Australia, are also attempting the same thing this year.
A Philadelphia woman faces a host of charges, including vehicular homicide, for running down a high school football player as he was riding his bike, then removing her plates and hiding in her SUV in a failed attempt to avoid arrest.
A Canadian bike rider faces charges after reaching into the car that hit him, grabbing the keys, and dropping them into a storm drain. Maybe we should take up a collection to pay his fines.
An Irish charity gives a recumbent hand-bike to a wheelchair-bound teenage boy suffering from a degenerative neuromuscular disease, to provide him with more independence.
Belfast will transform into a bicycle paradise for a whole three hours and 45 minutes when they hold their first ciclovía next weekend.
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.
Looking at it another way, the rate of injuries per 100,000 people has increased 28%, with the biggest increase coming among riders over 45, which jumped to 42% of reported injuries.
On the other hand, the number of people riding bikes has increased dramatically, rising as much as 32% in LA in a recent three year period, and 174% in Minneapolis in just five years, according to stats from People for Bikes.
So it’s only natural to expect that both the rate and number of bicycling injuries would go up. It’s just as likely that the injury rate among cyclists, rather than the general population, may have gone down or stayed the same.
More troubling is the news that the most serious types of injuries have increased. According to the study, the rate of hospitalization due to bicycling injuries more than doubled, while the proportion of head injuries increased 60% over that period, and torso injuries jumped 21%.
That would imply that more bike riders are getting hit by cars, perhaps due to more people riding in an urban environment, as the author of the study suggests.
Which means the solution is not urging greater caution among older riders, or frightening them off their bikes, but improving safety for all cyclists in our cities.
But until someone takes the extra step of placing bike injuries in context with solid ridership stats, studies like this are interesting, but ultimately, meaningless.
Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.
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This one’s worth checking out, as a bike riding comedian Mario Joyner captures his rants on GoPro while riding the streets of LA.
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Aussie rider Michael Rogers will get the Olympic bronze medal he didn’t win in Athens in 2004, after gold medalist Tyler Hamilton was stripped of his medal for doping three years ago.
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Local
Who says LA wasn’t a bike city? As this photo shows, they were the perfect way to get to a 1940s cowboy matinee. Looks like bike corrals are nothing new, either.
The mayors of seven California cities, including LA and Lon Beach, call on the state to act now to fix our crumbling roads and bridges, including the need for comprehensive bike networks. Let’s not forget bad roads pose a greater risk to the safety of bicyclists than they do to motorists.
To no one’s surprise, Coronado’s NIMBYs have succeeded in killing a proposed bike path along the beach. The way residents reacted, you would have thought someone had suggested rerouting the 5 Freeway through their bucolic burgh.
Maybe bike collisions wouldn’t be rising so fast in Hanford if police would stop blaming the victims and focus on the people in the big, dangerous machines.
The LA Times provides more details on the San Francisco U-lock attack, in which a salmon cyclist breaking the rules of Critical Mass whacked a car with his lock after the driver bumped his bike.
A writer for the Sacramento Bee says a beautiful network of bike lanes will mean nothing if people are afraid to park their bikes out of fear of bike thieves. She’s right; LA’s efforts to encourage more people to ride instead of driving will be doomed if their bikes are gone when it’s time to ride back home.
National
Bicycling’s Joe Lindsey says our bike-riding president has done a lot to aid bicycling, but your voice is needed to ensure further progress. Meanwhile, the Feds tell risk averse traffic engineers to get off their ass and stop using them as an excuse.
People for Bikes says protected bike lanes are seven times more likely to encourage people to ride.
Now that’s more like it. A Portland man apologizes for an ill-advised tweet, and says he doesn’t really believe anyone should run over people on bikes.
The cast of Breaking Away will reunite at Interbike in Las Vegas this month, including Dennis Christopher, Jackie Earle Haley, Paul Dooley and Dennis Quaid. If they can get Robyn Douglass to show up, I’m in.
This is so wrong in so many ways. A Boston writer, who has evidently never met a bike rider, says bikes don’t belong on urban roads. Note to Jeff Jacoby: Like most bicyclists, I have a drivers license. And we pay the same taxes you do.
Washington DC will teach all second grade students how to ride a bike, which used to be standard practice for schools around the country. Growing up in Colorado, every kid received bike education in elementary school, ensuring that they all grew up knowing the rules of the road.
A South Carolina website gets it, saying motorists must respect the right of bicyclists to use the road on equal terms, but bike riders should assume most drivers don’t know that.
Alabama’s Tuskegee University has partnered with a local bank to give students a free bikeshare program.
A Birmingham AL grand jury will be convened to investigate the death of a prominent African American businessman killed when the driver of a pickup plowed into three riders with the Black People Run Bike and Swim group; the other two were airlifted to a local hospital. Traffic crimes don’t normally go to a grand jury; so the question is whether the DA is just covering his ass, or if there’s something they’re not telling us.
And you know you suck as a driver when even a car enthusiast website says you should lose your license for doing a massive burnout after an argument with a cyclist.
August 11, 2015 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: It’s Video Tuesday, LA Mobility Plan back before city council, and one more CicLAvia wrap-up
Let’s make this a video Tuesday.
First up, bike rider Richard Bidmead barely makes it across an intersection thanks to someone with highly questionable driving skills.
Frequent contributor danger d gives us a hyperspeed timelapse ride through Sunday’s CicLAvia (more on that subject below).
He also questions whether a man who parked in the middle of the Balboa Park bike path to take a nap on a picnic table is tired or drunk. I vote for the latter, myself.
A great Brit video explains how to pass bike riders, and how not to. Too bad we can’t just flip the video and run it here.
And filmmakers are looking for funding for a documentary on enforcing three-foot and reckless driving laws; so far, they’ve raised just $530 of the $25,000 goal.
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The LA Times casts a mostly unfavorable eye on LA’s new Mobility Plan, explaining at the end that maybe it won’t be as bad as they first make it look. Not surprisingly, Breitbart takes an even more conservative slant on the story.
The plan comes up before the full city council at 10 am today. The LACBC urges you to attend to support a safer transportation system in Los Angeles; if not, email your councilmember to express your support.
However, if the council follows its previous pattern, City Council President Herb Wesson may allow CMs Koretz and Cedillo will voice their support for the plan while urging the council to gut key parts of it in their districts.
Then the council will vote unanimously to adopt it, with little or no public comment, and reserving the more contentious issues for another date, since Wesson doesn’t seem to tolerate dissention in his house.
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An LAPD spokesperson estimates over 20,000 people attended Sunday’s Culver City to Venice CicLAvia. Before 10 am, maybe; funny how the crowd estimates keep getting smaller as the events get more popular.
The women are racing in France once again, following their token appearance at the Tour de France. Meanwhile, the USA Pro Challenge announces the women’s teams competing in this year’s race, just 10 days before the tour starts. No point in giving them adequate time to prepare or anything.
A Santa Monica bike shop owner spots someone riding the bike that was just stolen from his store while he’s driving to meet with police to discuss the break in. And follows the bike rustler until LAPD can make the bust.
If you didn’t get bitten by a rattlesnake on the Ballona or Marvin Bruade bike paths on the 31st, thank the Marina sheriff’s deputies and county animal control.
A Texas man rolls through Redondo Beach after riding 9,000 miles across the US with his dog to promote awareness for animal shelters.
After the cops give Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson a $350 ticket for blowing a stop sign at 40 mph, they come to his rescue when he’s harassed and threatened by a car full of punks.
San Francisco accepts an F-grade level of service on redesigned Cesar Chavez Street to improve safety on the street, resulting in a 400% increase in bike traffic.
A 14-year old Stockton boy suffers non-life threatening injuries when his bike is hit by a pickup. Why is it that reckless bike riders always seem to dart out in front of perfectly conscientious motorists?
Planetizen says building a better city requires breaking down silos between disciplines and departments. Something that has proven difficult so far in the City of Angels.
An advocacy group from my hometown explains the rules for crossing a double yellow line to pass bike riders. That would have been legal here if it wasn’t for Jerry Brown’s hyperactive veto pen.
A Wyoming bike group asks the state legislature to invest in bikeways, while lawmakers would rather just study the issue.
A teenage British bike rider helps rescue a woman from her overturned car. But bikes are the problem, right?
When you’re waiting for your girlfriend to join you on an around-the-world ride, it’s probably not the best idea to climb a mountain in India; an Israeli adventurer is severely injured in an avalanche doing just that.
