Archive for Bikes & the Law

Morning Links: Life is cheap in Ventura County, Kuehl’s cartoon bike goes Expo, and happy Bike to Work Day

May 19, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Life is cheap in Ventura County, Kuehl’s cartoon bike goes Expo, and happy Bike to Work Day

We’re still at 17 new or renewing members of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition in the first-ever May BikinginLA LACBC Membership Drive.

Let’s get this up to one per day by getting just two more people to sign up now or renew your membership today to make it 19 on the 19th. It’s worth the low cost of membership just for the great LACBC gear you’ll get. Never mind helping to make this a more bikeable, livable and equitable city and county.

………

They should be ashamed.

The Ventura County DA’s office gave an unwarranted gift to a killer driver on Tuesday, by charging a Camarillo woman with two misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter in the distracted driving death of two people in Moorpark last year.

Even though the CHP had recommended felony charges.

Twenty-six-year old Rachel Hill was allegedly distracted by a “portable electronic device” when she slammed into 53-year old cyclist Maciek Malish at 55 mph, then overcorrected after killing him and smashed head-on into 43-year old motorcyclist Jesse Cushman as he rode in the opposite direction.

Thanks to the inexplicable generosity of the DA’s office — which evidently doesn’t take either traffic crime or human life seriously — Hill faces a maximum of one year in county jail for each count, rather than the six years in state prison per count the CHP and common sense suggests is warranted.

Now two men are dead and two families shattered, while a deadly driver is guaranteed of receiving nothing more than a gentle slap on the wrist.

It’s heartbreaking to realize the lives of those on two wheels are worth so little in Ventura County — even when one is an Emmy winning sound editor.

Let’s hope voters in the county remember this when the next election rolls around.

………

LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl has a little fun riding the new Expo Line with an animated bike, surfboard and service dog.


………

Happy Bike to Work Day.

If you’re reading this early enough, you’ll find pit stops all over the LA area.

If not, don’t fret; both the Santa Monica Spoke and the LACBC are hosting handlebar happy hours for your ride home.

KPCC observes Bike to Work Day while noting that local bike commuting rates are still too low; Pasadena leads LA area cities with a 2.2% share.

………

Italian cyclist Diego Ulissi came out on top in a three-way sprint in Wednesday’s stage of the Giro d’Italia, as Bob Jungels keeps the leader’s pink jersey. Former leader Tom Dumoulin dropped out due to a sore butt.

The fourth stage of the Amgen Tour of California ends with a sprint finish at Laguna Seca; thousands turned out for the start at Morro Bay. Peter Sagan captured his record 15th stage victory in the race, while Julian Alaphilippe leads American Peter Stetina by 22 seconds in the general classification.

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Local

LA’s Fox-11 concludes it is in fact possible to go carfree in SoCal.

HuffPo’s Joel Epstein complains about LA’s trashy streets.

The president of the Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association says the possible removal of Westwood Blvd from the bike plan is a victory for residents, insisting Gayley Ave is better suited for a bike lane. Because God forbid we should get in the way of their precious Mercedes, Range Rovers and Teslas.

Glassell Park will consider improvements to Verdugo Road, including a road diet and possible bike lanes.

LA Magazine says the Biking Black Hole’s new bikeshare system is encouraging people to ride bikes “on streets that are hostile, if not downright dangerous, to two wheels.” Sort of like Westwood/Holmby Hills residents.

 

State

The 2016 Tour de OC rolls this Saturday to help send foster kids to camp for a mentorship program.

San Diego traffic delays have doubled over the last three years, as too few people opt for transit or riding to work. Yet the city’s mayor says separated bike lanes work, and getting 22% of commuters on bikes is doable.

Bike friendly Redlands is looking for state funding to install a new bike lane connecting with the Santa Ana River Trail.

Fresno is looking to improve the health of its residents by making it safer to ride and bike in the largely Latino and African American south part of town.

A San Francisco cyclist was critically injured when he was run over by a cab driver while riding in a crosswalk.

San Francisco’s Tenderloin district is about to get its first bike lane.

The Sacramento Bee wades into the great helmet debate with a surprisingly even-handed report.

 

National

A police website discusses the new GPS-enabled bait bikes to bust bike thieves.

NPR joins in on a Portland house move by bicycle.

A Spokane bike shop is helping the homeless and underemployed get back on their feet and out on the road.

Caught on video: An Arizona bike rider catches a foul-mouthed road raging driver on his bike cam screaming at him to get on the sidewalk because he was using the left turn lane.

A year later, there are no leads in the apparently random shooting of a bike rider from a passing car near my hometown.

Someone has apparently set out to deliberately injure or kill Colorado mountain bikers by planting three-inch nails embedded in concrete on a new singletrack trail; it’s the second such incident in the area in the past year. Whoever did this should face an attempted murder charge when they’re caught, at the bare minimum.

A North Dakota letter writer applauds attempts to say no to those damn liberal bike lanes.

A bike-riding Massachusetts minister asks motorists to watch out for bicyclists, and not judge the majority of well-mannered riders by the actions of a few idiots. His words, not mine. But still.

Once again, New Yorkers rise up against bike lanes, this time in Brooklyn. Somehow, they seem to think older and handicapped people fair better dealing with speeding cars than bicycles.

An 11-year old bike rider never even left his driveway, yet he’s in the hospital now because a driver couldn’t be bothered to pull over before reaching into the backseat to get something. Too bad it’s not against the law to be an effing jackass.

 

International

A UK shire re-enacts the 97-year old unsolved murder of a young woman as she rode her bike from her uncle’s house.

Nothing like taking a beating from a road-raging 77-year old Brit driver.

A Scottish adventure cyclist has circled the world twice — once setting a world record — and ridden from Alaska to Argentina and the full length of Africa, all before his 34th birthday.

Despite the panicking headline, only eleven Belfast cyclists have been cited for biking under the influence in the past five years.

It’s urban drivers who benefit most from cycling, though that’s not always obvious to motorists, according to a Dublin letter writer.

Barcelona considers building superblocks to reclaim 60% of the city’s streets from cars.

An Aussie pro cyclist says she’s encouraged to see more riders Down Under, yet utterly afraid because of their lack of skills and bad behavior.

An Australian politician says all new road and rail projects in the country should include walking and cycle tracks. Actually, that should be the policy everywhere.

 

Finally…

Think of it as fly paper for bicyclists. Maybe you don’t want to wear that yellow jersey after all.

And it’s pedals, dammit, not peddles.

Seriously.

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Legal Cases, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Cops behaving badly, Amgen Tour of California kicks off, and sign up for the LACBC today

May 16, 2016 / / 10 comments

We’re sill stuck on 14 new or renewing members of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition in the first-ever May BikinginLA LACBC Membership Drive.

If we can’t get 100 new members this month, let’s at least get one a day for the rest of the month, starting today. So if you’re not a member yet, take a few minutes to sign up now. Or if you’re already a member, use this opportunity to renew your membership today.

It’s worth it just to get some new LACBC gear. And make a real difference on our streets.

………

Today’s theme is cops behaving badly.

When a Merced cop stops a young black man for riding on the sidewalk, it somehow escalates into a violent takedown by the police — including tackling the man filming it, in violation of his First Amendment rights.

Although needless to say, the police see it differently; thanks to Henry Fung for the link.

Next up, a careless San Francisco cop pulls out from the curb, apparently without checking his blind spot, and nails a bicyclist riding in the very obvious bike lane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eacBcZKSh7Q

And an off-duty Charleston SC cop grabs a man’s backpack, throws him off his bike and tries to punch him following a wrong-way collision; the officer is now on well-deserved administrative leave without pay pending an internal investigation.

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KABC-7 reports on Sunday’s Southeast Cities CicLAvia. Although they can’t seem to tell the difference between bikes that move and those that don’t.

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Italian rider Gianluca Brambilla takes the leaders pink jersey off Tom Dumoulin’s back in the Giro d’Italia.

Edward Rubenstein offers a preview of the Amgen Tour of California, which kicked off Sunday in San Diego as Peter Sagan wins the first stage.

Team Novo Nordisk is less about winning and more about proving diabetes doesn’t have to stop you from riding. Nor, evidently, does hamburgers, soda and ding dongs. Although sprinters won’t have much of a chance to show their skills on this year’s vertical course.

Santa Clarita cycling fans gather to watch the opening stage of the ToC in anticipation of today’s finish of Stage 2, which starts in South Pasadena.

And motor doping once again rears its ugly head as three riders are disqualified in Indonesia’s Tour de Banyuwangi Ijen.

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Local

As expected, the LA City Council voted 11 – 1 to send plans to provide separate but unequal alternatives to bike lanes on Westwood Blvd and Central Ave back to the Planning Commission. The best way to ensure the failure of any bikeway is to insist on putting it someplace where bicyclists don’t want to go.

The LACBC and Bike SGV get LA City Councilmember Mitch Englander on the record for some very bike-friendly positions as a candidate for LA County Supervisor in District 5. And speaking of Bike SGV, Damien Newton talks with Executive Director Wes Reutimann.

The Army Corps of Engineers is removing flood control barriers that closed a large portion of the LA River bike path; once the barriers are removed from each section, LADOT has to evaluate the condition of the path before it can be reopened.

A project to improve traffic flow onto the 110 Freeway in San Pedro is finished, including new bike lanes and sidewalks on John S. Gibson Blvd.

A man in his 20s was shot and killed while riding his bike in Compton Saturday evening.

Burbank is planning three pit stops for Bike to Work Day on Thursday.

Sixty-four La Puente kids have new bikes as a reward for academic achievement and perfect attendance, thanks to the Golden State Foods Foundation.

 

State

Laguna Beach holds a Bike Rodeo and Safety Expo as part of their ongoing efforts to improve safety for bicyclists.

Downtown San Diego bike riders are being victimized by bike thieves breaking into so-called secure bike rooms and parking garages.

Ebikes could be the answer the answer to bike commuting in San Bernardino’s hilly climate.

The 52nd annual Great Western Bicycle Rally comes to Paso Robles May 26th through 30th.

A Sunnyvale actor faces felony charges for allegedly running down a bike rider in Berkeley in February. If they can find him, that is.

Napa draws over 1,400 cyclists of all ages to its fifth annual Bike Fest.

 

National

The Federal Highway Administration finally gets around to throwing out eleven rules that prevented cities from building bikeable, walkable streets.

A moving piece on Facebook, as an Arizona cyclist comes face-to-face with the driver who nearly killed him two and a half years earlier. And surprises himself by forgiving him.

Another way bikes are good for business. Bike sales may be down nationwide, but not in my bike-friendly hometown. Evidently, making the city safe and inviting for bike riders actually encourages people to buy more bicycles.

Leonardo DiCaprio goes for a bikeshare ride through Gotham with his new girlfriend.

An anti-bike Philly columnist gloats over an apparent decline in bike commuting, that could simply be due to bad weather during the latest bike count.

Someone is attacking New Orleans bike riders with paintball guns.

 

International

There are lots of reason to take off on a bike tour. Like becoming the fastest woman to ride around the world because your boyfriend was killed by a crocodile. On the other hand, having a baby 12 weeks early is a good reason to stop one.

Plan your next European bike vacation. I’ll take the ride to Bruges, thank you.

A Calgary woman has built a business teaching immigrant women how to ride a bike.

A London hospital fights plans for a proposed floating bus stop next to a bike lane, fearing patients will get run down by bike riders. Better to let the cyclists get run down by cars, thus creating more business for the hospital.

A Croatian bike ride takes cyclists from sea level to the top of the highest peak in Dalmatia, gaining over one mile of elevation in just 20 miles.

Someone is booby trapping bikeways around Brisbane, Australia; a 17-year old bike rider was seriously injured when he was garroted by a rope strung across a bike path.

Over 5,000 yellow-clad Thai cyclists ride to mark the 70th anniversary of the king assuming the throne.

 

Finally…

Call it a case of he said/he said as both types of cyclists accuse one another of road rage. Who needs Bike to Work Day when you can have a full week of biking from work to craft breweries?

And seriously, if someone says bicycling is the new golf one more time, I’m going to start yelling “fore” every time I ride down the street.

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Law Enforcement, Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Morning Links: LAPD looks for fatal shooters in January fight over bicycle, and ‘roos get the blame Down Under

May 8, 2016 / / One comment

We’re now up to 11 new or renewing members of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition who’ve signed up as part of the May BikinginLA LACBC Membership Drive. But we still have a long way to go to reach our goal of 100 new members before the end of this month.

So take a moment to sign up now to add your voice to Southern California’s leading bicycle advocacy organization, dedicated to making LA County a safer and more inviting place to ride a bike, whoever you are and however you ride.

And thanks to a special arrangement with the LACBC, you’ll get free bike swag when you sign up at any level. Which is just the beginning of the many benefits to you and your community.

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Somehow this didn’t make the news at the time.

Police are looking for the men who killed 24-year old Fabian Garcia at 62nd and Grand in Los Angeles last January following a dispute over the bicycle he was riding.

He fought with two men who claimed the bike was stolen; as he rode away after the fight, the men came back and shot him, leaving the bike with his body.

There’s a $50,000 reward in the case. Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Newton Division Detectives at 323/846-6556.

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Marcel Kittel wears the pink leader’s jersey in the Giro d’Italia after dominating the opening weekend.

Yet another pro cyclist is injured by motorcycle on the course, this time at the Four Days of Dunkirk race in France.

Peter Sagan is back to defend his title in the Amgen Tour of California starting on Sunday.

And Wolfpack Hustle offers results from Saturday’s Short Line Crit in Long Beach.

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Local

The Daily News lists the six most deadly intersections for pedestrians in the San Fernando Valley; chances are, they’re not going to be all that great for bike riders, either.

The UCLA Bicycle Academy says physicians and healthcare systems should embrace bicycling for its health and environmental benefits.

Richard Risemberg says cool, rainy weather like we had over the weekend is perfect riding weather.

KPCC talks with Edward Humes, author of Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation, who says crashes — not accidents, please — don’t have to kill 100 people a day in the US. And notes that in any collision involving a bicyclist or pedestrian, we’re the ones who inevitably get the blame.

KPCC also talks with a former Long Beach resident who prefers riding his bike with just one leg rather than driving; he says the key is to avoid hills and just keep moving.

 

State

Palm Desert uses funds from the Go Human campaign for a pop-up demonstration of what San Pablo Ave could look like as a Complete Street, including bike lanes and more walkable sidewalks.

Work is set to begin on a project to widen the 5 Freeway in North San Diego County, including bike and pedestrian bridges and trails.

A San Bernardino man will ride across the US to give hugs and high fives in cities affected by gun violence.

Santa Barbara planners vote to move a planned bikeway from a busy commercial street to a side street, shifting riders away from the business they might otherwise frequent.

A Clovis man apparently made his getaway on a stolen mountain bike after murdering his estranged wife and her mother.

The bikeway to Treasure Island on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge is now scheduled to be finished by September, two years late and $1.4 million over budget.

 

National

NPR looks at how cities are using data from runners and cyclists, including Strava, to help build safer streets. The question is whether they’re measuring where average people on bikes really ride.

Utah mountain bikers take a breathless ride at the edge of a cliff.

An Illinois woman is in serious condition after she was hit by a bicyclist who was riding on the sidewalk.

A former Michigan lawmaker is riding 2,900 miles across the US just two years after a near-fatal bicycling collision.

A New Hampshire man publishes his first book of poetry, six years after surviving a serious bicycling collision.

Boston is investing $9.3 million to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians on four deadly corridors as part of their Vision Zero program.

Call it confirmation bias. Two Boston Globe reporters piss off other drivers by setting out to see if people in the city will tolerate a 20 mph speed limit, by driving 20 mph in a 30 mph zone. Which doesn’t mean everyone would be as angry if that was the speed limit.

Great idea. Over 1,000 New Yorkers take a bike tour of Brooklyn Public Library branches; one rider made it to 51 library branches.

A handful of Cherokee Indians will ride from Georgia to Oklahoma next month to remember the Trail of Tears, when the Cherokee were brutally forced from their lands in the 1830s.

A New Orleans author looks at the bicycle as a tool for women’s empowerment.

 

International

Bike advocates say London’s outgoing mayor was good for bikes, but new mayor Sadik Khan will be even better.

Once again, a bike rider is a hero, as a man in the UK pulls a woman to safety after her car catches on fire.

A Zimbabwe man is riding, swimming and running in a non-stop, 4,300 mile triathlon around the entire coast of Great Britain.

Paris shuts down the famed Champs-Élysées for the first of a series of open streets events.

Chinese-made ebikes appear to be taking North Korea by storm.

A Cambodian man got out of prison, got drunk with a friend, then beat him to death with a brick because he tried to steal the man’s bicycle once. Then again, that’s no worse than shooting your own brother in a dispute over a hamburger.

 

Finally…

No, seriously. Don’t slap Uber passengers, bro. If you’re going to steal over $250,000 from ID theft victims, at least spend more than $800 of it on a bike.

And kangaroos only cause the most crashes in one Aussie state if you ignore all the crashes caused by humans.

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Morning Links, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , ,

Morning Links: Another killer driver gets a sore wrist, and the Flying Scotsman compares himself to Pluto

May 7, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Another killer driver gets a sore wrist, and the Flying Scotsman compares himself to Pluto

A special thank you to the ten new or renewing members of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition who’ve signed up as part of the May BikinginLA LACBC Membership drive. That means we just have 90 to go to reach our goal of 100 new members before I step down from the LACBC board next month.

So take a moment to sign up now to add your voice to one of the nation’s leading bicycle advocacy organizations. And tell all your bike riding friends, family, coworkers to join up, too.

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Add one more driver getting off with a tiny slap on the wrist for fatally running down a bike rider.

After discussing two similar cases yesterday, one more was added to the list after 25-year old Luis Aranda Llamas was convicted of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence for the death of Matthew Carp as he rode in a Menifee bike lane.

Llamas received just three years probation, along with 90 days work release for the 2014 collision.

Prosecutors somehow concluded there was no gross negligence that would have warranted a felony charge, even though Llamas was speeding when ran Carp down from behind, and barely missed Carp’s riding companion.

Evidently, killing someone while driving in a bike lane at a speed well above the posted limit is just one of those things.

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Patrick Lynch forwards news of a horrifying crash that nearly took the life of a Chicago man as he was riding home with his two sons earlier this week.

An SUV driver struck Scott Jacobson after making a U-turn, dragging him hundreds of feet before witnesses and firemen from a nearby fire station managed to stop the driver.

Yet even though the driver was clearly trying to flee the scene, not to mention driving with a revoked license and no insurance, he was not charged with hit-and-run. And isn’t facing a single felony count.

As Lynch puts it,

While Matt Willens from the Streetsblog article is right when he says “In general, society — including legislators, judges, and jurors — is quick to identify with a driver who injures a cyclist, rather than with the injured cyclist. People feel bad about punishing someone they can relate to.”

I don’t think a jury will have a hard time convicting an uninsured, unlicensed motorist who dragged a man 300 feet trying to flee. Let’s hope I’m not wrong.

A gofundme account in Jacobson’s name has raised over $27,500 out of the $50,000 goal in a single day.

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Multiple record holder Graeme Obree, aka the Flying Scotsman, feels ignored by the racing world these days, saying his relationship to cycling is like Pluto’s relationship to Earth.

And they’re off on the Giro, with Dutch favorite Tom Dumoulin taking the early lead, while Aussie cyclist Adam Hansen is attempting to finish his 14th Grand Tour in a row, dating back to 2011.

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Local

Caught on video: A friend of CiclaValley is nearly taken out by a speeding driver who used a bike lane to pass a car on the right while he was riding in it.

If you hurry, you may still be able to make the LACBC’s free bike commuter workshop this morning. Meanwhile, they profile Pitzer College cyclist Cade Maldonado, who grew up in the Pico Union neighborhood.

Car crashes are up in Long Beach, as low gas prices encourage more driving — along with more distracted driving.

The third annual Long Beach Bike Festival takes place today, with bicycle themed events throughout the Downtown area.

 

State

Laguna Beach police will hold a bike rodeo and road safety expo on the 15th.

Community leaders are calling for the reopening of a bike crossing between the US and Mexico that was closed after 9/11.

Over 200 mountain bikers kicked off bike month with a 44-mile dirt trail ride across San Diego County to raise funds for the San Diego Mountain Biking Association.

A 91-year old Santa Barbara man turned himself in for the hit-and-run that injured a 14-year old boy riding his bike. Seriously, anyone who doesn’t know you have to stick around after a crash shouldn’t be driving.

Great story from Sports Illustrated about a Salinas teenager who competes for his high school mountain bike team on one leg, after losing his right leg to cancer in junior high.

A San Francisco cyclist remembers the terrifying assault he somehow survived a year ago when a road raging driver repeatedly attempted to run him down. The driver confessed to his actions, bizarrely thinking the police would agree he did the right thing; he was eventually convicted of misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon.

Prince was one of us; so apparently is the Marin rehab specialist who was supposed to save him from his addiction to painkillers.

 

National

The Feds make it easier to narrow wide traffic lanes and put protected bike lanes on street projects funded with government money.

Bicycling says it’s never too late to learn how to ride a bike, while a business website says folding bicycles are taking over the commuting world.

An Arizona newspaper congratulates the Department of Transportation for reconsidering plans to remove roadside memorials, such as ghost bikes.

An Iowa driver faces 25 years for killing a cyclist while under the influence — and with a suspended license after a previous DUI conviction; the victim’s parents justifiably decry the “catch-and-release” system that puts dangerous drivers back on the streets.

Chicago Magazine offers a nervous cyclist’s guide to riding more.

It takes a real schmuck to steal a customized tricycle from a special needs kid; hats off to Rockland MA police for getting it back.

A New York man wonders if he did anything wrong when he doored a scofflaw cyclist; the short answer is yes.

New York residential buildings are getting bike friendly, with bike parking, storage and repair rooms and high-end loaner bikes; one building is even giving away $450 bikes to the first 25 buyers. Although with prices starting at over half a million, I’d expect a Cervelo, at least.

A New Orleans man gets 25 years for fatally shooting a man who was stealing his bicycle.

 

International

KCRW’s Madeline Brand talks with the author of The Coyote’s Bicycle, about a Mexican man who used bicycles to smuggle immigrants across the border to avoid detection by sophisticated American ground sensors.

Outgoing London Mayor Boris Johnson leaves a legacy of a bicycling city, even if one rider calls him a prick on his last day in office. Meanwhile, newly elected mayor Sadiq Khan promises to make the city a byword for cycling around the world — which only makes sense since his sister-in-law is former New York DOT maven Janette Sadik-Khan.

A British man got 200 hours of community service for running down his bike-riding FedEx coworker just minutes after they both got off work.

There once was a bike-riding, body armored, shotgun toting man from Limerick, who rode through the streets shooting people at random, and got five and a half years for his crimes. No, it doesn’t rhyme, has no meter and it’s not funny, either.

An Irish cycling group warns young riders not to take caffeine supplements after two teenage cyclists fall ill.

Norway will spend nearly $1 billion in bicycling infrastructure as it aims for zero growth in car use by 2030.

Indian studies show bicycling really is better for you than walking.

A pair of South African women blame a cyclist for causing their car to skid across a freeway and summersault into a ditch in their attempt to avoid them. But if they were really driving slowly enough for a bike rider to pass them, as they claim, how is it they were going fast enough to have a crash like that?

 

Finally…

How could anyone oppose a freaking sidewalk? When Woody hates on bike lanes, New Yorkers fall out of love with Woody.

And I may not be able to read Chinese, but I know a beautiful and utterly amazing kite when I see one. Link courtesy of Richard Masoner of Cyclelicious.

Category: Bikes & the Law, Legal Cases, Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Morning Links: Life is cheap, as killer Palm Desert and Paso Roble drivers get off with gently slapped wrists

May 6, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Life is cheap, as killer Palm Desert and Paso Roble drivers get off with gently slapped wrists

The May BikinginLA LACBC Membership drive is up to nine new members of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. But we really need to pick up the pace if we’re going to reach 100 new or renewing members before the end of this month. So sign up now and let’s get this into double figures today.

Even if you’re already a member, you can renew to extend your membership to support biking in the City of Angeles, and get some great bike swag courtesy of the LACBC.

And a huge thank you to everyone who’s joined so far.

………

Once again, the universal Get Out of Jail Free Card worked its magic, as an 81-year old Palm Desert woman walked after admitting to killing a 73-year old handcyclist last year.

Judy Mae Purcell pled guilty plea to a single misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence in the January, 2015 death of Rose Peters, just as her trial was set to begin.

And as usual, she got off on probation by claiming she just didn’t see Peters before she left-crossed her, even though Peters, who was in a bike lane, was riding with the right-of-way.

Purcell received three years probation, and may lose her driver’s license; she also says it’s had a big impact on her life.

Purcell elected to speak at her sentencing, tearfully telling Lee and Peters (Peter’s daughters), “There’s nothing I can really say, I’m just so sorry.” She said the crash was “truly an accident. I just didn’t see her. I’ve lost a lot of friends over this,” Purcell told them. “I relive that minute every day of my life. Every night, you’re in my prayers.”

At least she’s been held accountable in other ways. Oceanside lawyer Richard Duquette, a cyclist himself, forwards word that Peters’ family has reached a substantial, but undisclosed, settlement in the case.

………

A 20-year old Paso Robles driver got off almost as easy, as he’s sentenced to just 75 days in jail and 50 hours of community service for killing an LA cyclist and severely injuring a second rider in a 2014 collision.

That’s despite a long history of traffic violations, and being on probation for a speeding conviction at the time of the crash.

Joseph Mondo was driving a massive GMC Yukon when his phone slipped off his lap, where it shouldn’t have been to begin with. When he looked down to retrieve it, he nearly struck a vehicle stopped to make a left turn, barely avoiding it by swerving onto the right shoulder at 60 mph.

Then, in an astounding display of carelessness and stupidity, he once again took his eyes off the road to find his phone, this time killing 62-year old Los Angeles resident Lee Hekyung Craig, as well as leaving her riding companion, 59-year old Newport Beach surgeon Lawrence Chong, with life-changing injuries.

As Chong said,

“What hurts the most is that I lost (Craig) because of the negligence on the part of someone else,” Chong said, according to the report. “All he had to do was pull over after he nearly rear-ended a car while reaching for his phone. If he had done so, my life would still be good and I would still have Lee. Instead my life is now a mess.”

Granted, Mondo seems to get it.

When he was interviewed by a probation officer following his no-contest pleas, Mondo reportedly said: “What happened has happened. If I could change places, I would. It has changed my life. Someone’s life was lost. I do not need to argue my innocence. I am guilty. I want to move on with my life. I will deal with the repercussions as they come.”

Then again, Craig will never get to move on with her life and Chong may never regain the life he had, while Mondo may have a sore wrist for a few days from the slap the judge gave it.

This is what happens when traffic crimes and prior tickets aren’t taken seriously.

………

Grand Rapids MI unveils a new $600,000 bike safety campaign, urging motorists and bicyclists to obey the law and look out for one another.

Although the TV spot does look kind of familiar.

………

Local

A 0.8-mile stretch of Van Nuys Blvd in Pacoima will get a road diet, with a buffered bike lane on one side and a parking-protected lane on the other, connecting to the San Fernando Road rail-with-trail bike path on the north end. Part of the city’s Great Streets Initiative, the Complete Streets makeover is intended to reduce speeding and improve safety on one of the city’s most dangerous streets.

LA City Councilmember Joe Buscaino argues that part of the Metro R2 transportation funds should be used to repair LA’s crumbing streets since they form the foundation for all other elements of the transportation system, including bicycles. One of the city’s most bike friendly elected officials, Buscaino will be honored with the Golden Spoke Award at this year’s Blessing of the Bicycles at Good Samaritan Hospital.

Speaking of Good Samaritan, Downtown News profiles Good Sam CEO and dedicated bike commuter Andy Leeka. And a pretty nice guy too, if I say so myself; thanks to Richard Risemberg for the link.

The LA Weekly lists Sunday’s semi-inaugural Los Angeles Bicycle Festival at Grand Park as one of their 21 things to do this week. Although it’s not on Metro’s list of Bike Month events.

Bicycling recommends the annual 30-mile Stan’s Bike Shop/Eastside Bike Club’s Tour de Tacos as one of the 27 best places to find tacos in the US. But they somehow failed to include the Trump Towers taco bowl.

Ride with Metro and Bike SGV to the Huntington Library and Gardens this afternoon.

Wolfpack Hustle’s annual Shortline Crit rolls tomorrow in Long Beach.

Also on Saturday, Finish the Ride and Velo Studio will host a free Tour de Griffith Park: An Introduction to Safe and Fun Riding.

Team LACBC will host a training ride for this year’s Climate Ride tomorrow, heading up Glendora Mountain Road before visiting The Donut Man on the return leg.

 

State

Laguna Beach mountain bikers get to ride with their heroes.

Fortunately, an Apple Valley bike rider was sitting upright and talking after being hit by a pickup Wednesday night.

As if dodging dangerous drivers isn’t bad enough, Turlock police are looking for a man who stabbed a bike rider in the chest in an apparently random and unprovoked attack.

The Menlo Park city council votes to keep El Camino Real dangerous by sending plans for bike lanes back for further study until neighboring cities agree on a common design. “Sending plans back for further studies” usually means they don’t want to piss off motorists by approving it, but don’t want to piss off bike riders by saying no, either.

Sacramento police are looking for the owners of 60 stolen bikes that were recovered when a bike thief was busted.

 

National

Bike riders may be the only ones enjoying the closure of a Seattle viaduct. Meanwhile, you know Seattle’s bikeshare program is in trouble when the people responsible for running it aren’t even members, despite a discount for city employees.

After a cyclist competing in New Mexico’s Tour of Gila broke his bike crashing into a pile of riders who collided with a dog, he traded bikes with a fan and finished the race on an ‘80s era Specialized stump jumper. No word on how the dog made out, though.

Des Moines IA police are looking for two men who attacked a 65-year old bike rider for no apparent reason.

A new report says bicycling is booming in New York City, up a whopping 320% since 1990, even though advocates say the city isn’t doing enough to protect cyclists and keep up with demand. Which just goes to show what can happen when you build an actual bicycling network rather than a few nice lanes here and there.

Count Woody Allen, who used to be funny, among those who think New York has done too much to accommodate bike riders and that bike lanes don’t belong anywhere in his upscale Upper East Side neighborhood. But he’s likely to get them whether he likes it or not.

A Pennsylvania bike rider is charged with stabbing a man who he claims stole his bike.

 

International

A new international study confirms that the health benefits of bicycling and walking far outweigh the risks from pollution. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.

A British man gets seven years for the drunken hit-and-run death of a cyclist; he initially told police his car had been stolen and someone else was driving it, leading to the false arrest of an innocent man.

If you build it, they will come. This tweet really says it all about a new London bikeway in the shadow of Big Ben.

Researchers hope da Vinci’s DNA can explain his genius, which included sketching out a bicycle centuries before they were invented.

Bikes are the star of a planned Oslo office building.

An Indian man got a bizarre 10-petaled flower-shaped cataract in one eye following a helmetless collision with a car.

A Taiwan proposal would classify ebikes as scooters, requiring riders to have a helmet and a license.

 

Finally…

Nothing like a $341 40-mile ride in the rain. I don’t care what they say, it’s not a bike friendly town if kids are barred from riding bikes to school.

And luxury hotels may be fascinating, but you’re better off watching the road.

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Legal Cases, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: LA County pays $1.3 million in death of bike rider, and SD sailor faces hit-and-run charges

May 4, 2016 / / 2 comments

We’re now up to six new members of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition after day three of the BikinginLA LACBC Membership drive, with just 94 more to go to reach our goal by the end of this month.

So tell your friends, family and fellow riders to sign up now to give bike riders a greater voice in our local communities, and help make LA County a better place to ride a bike for all of us.

And get some great bike swag, too.

………

LA County approves a $1.3 million settlement in the death of Alfonso Cerda, who was run down on his bike by overzealous sheriff’s deputies who mistakenly thought he might have a gun.

As Cerda’s son put it, “If he was on his bike he had a flashlight, his wallet, and that’s it — and his happiness.”

Note: The original story from KNBC-4 said the settlement was for $1.7 million, but later revised it to show the amount as $1.3 million. I have revised this piece to reflect that. Thanks to Opus the Poet for the correction.

………

A Camp Pendleton sailor will face trial on felony hit-and-run and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges in the 2014 death of bike rider Philip White.

………

Bike lawyer Bob Mionske says most cops are motorists and many see the world from a windshield perspective, which is why they often get the law wrong and blame the bicycling victims.

In a similar vein, New York bike advocates justifiably demand the NYPD stop automatically blaming the person on two wheels.

………

Local

Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman rides along with last Sunday’s third annual Unity Ride from Little Tokyo to Watts.

The publisher of the Jewish Journal says ebikes could be the best way to beat LA traffic.

The West Hollywood city council says no go to WeHoGo as the name for the city’s coming bikeshare system.

Alex de Cordoba shares photographic proof that people really are riding bikes in LA. Although someone appears to left their child locked to a Trader Joe’s bike rack.

Seriously, how stupidly car addicted do you have to be to drive away from a Van Nuys probation hearing about your double DUI license suspension?

 

State

The OC Register offers truncated results from Sunday’s Dana Point Gran Prix.

An Oceanside teenager was injured when he crashed into a truck while riding down a steep hill on a bike he’d just gotten hours earlier.

CiclaValley shares details of a recent ride through San Luis Obispo.

 

National

It’s National Bike to School Day. Bicycling Magazine offers advice on how to get your kid’s bike ready for the ride.

Portland’s Oregonian offers a beginner’s guide on how to ride to work. Thanks to Pedal Love for the link.

There’s something seriously wrong when a Seattle bike rider isn’t even safe on the sidewalk from man driving while high. Or maybe low, since he says he was on a depressant.

An Iowa driver faces up to 25 years in prison for running down a cyclist while driving at three times the legal alcohol limit.

Ohio AAA now offers road service for bike riders. So when will SoCal AAA get around to realizing that a lot of their customers ride bikes, too?

Is a possible $500 fine enough to stop Connecticut drivers from carelessly crashing into bicyclists and pedestrians? I didn’t think so.

What are New York bike lanes for? Evidently not bicycles.

A DC writer describes the life-changing magic of riding your bike to work. It’s worth the click just for the amazing illustration that accompanies the story.

A New Orleans man faces life in prison for shooting two teenage brothers after they allegedly pushed him off his bicycle; he called a friend to deliver the murder weapon he used in the shooting.

 

International

The Guardian gives tips on how to fix a flat, even if you don’t have tire levers. Or a spare tube. Or a patch kit.

An Amsterdam man invented bikeshare in the 1960s, even though it took decades to catch on, and his own city never embraced it.

Apparently not having injured enough cyclists, the disk brake trial may return to the pro peloton next month.

Add daydreaming to the list of motorists’ Get Out of Jail Free cards, as an Aussie driver walks after killing a cyclist because she just wasn’t paying attention.

China appears to have a love-hate relationship with ebikes.

 

Finally…

Nothing like coming wheelie close to a moving bus. If you can’t jack a bike, might as well steal a car instead.

And seriously, don’t head-butt the cop if you get stopped for reckless riding.

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Legal Cases, Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Morning Links: CHP says oops about I-15 ticket but not cuffs, and Hollywood once again used to fight bike lanes

April 23, 2016 / / One comment

Oops.

It was exactly a month ago that we discussed the case of Jerry Counts, the 75-year old man who was handcuffed and ticketed for riding his bike on I-15 north of San Bernardino.

Even though that’s one of the sections of freeway where bikes are legally allowed.

And even though few, if any, motorists are ever pulled from their cars and cuffed for a simple traffic violation.

Now Richard Masoner of Cyclelicious forwards word from Caltrans that the CHP has agreed to rescind the ticket. Though apparently, not the indignity of being handcuffed on the side of the road in full view of hundreds, if not thousands, of passing motorists.

They also offer a map showing where you are legally allowed to ride on a freeway in Caltrans District 8, along with a list of freeways in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties where bike riding is prohibited (see below).

That list was sent to the CHP to distribute to all of their officers in the area in hopes of avoiding another fiasco like the Counts case.

Still, if you plan to ride in the area, you might want to print it out and take it with you to avoid riding where you shouldn’t.

And to show any officers who try to stop you where you can.

District-08--Prohibiting-Bicycles-on-Freeway---2-Counties

………

Once again, Hollywood is being used as an excuse to fight bike lanes.

In a case reminiscent of LA’s first green bike lanes on Spring Street in DTLA, London city barristers have complained that planned bike lanes will make it impossible to film movies in a section of the city that has played host to productions like Harry Potter, Mission Impossible and Silk.

Never mind that New York’s protected bike lanes and Citi Bike bikeshare docks seem to pop up in movies and TV shows with ever increasing frequency, without hurting filming in the city one bit.

In the LA case, Hollywood production companies successfully argued, over the objections of bicycling community, that the bright green paint initially used for the bike lanes on Spring would be impossible to remove in post production, and would forever ruin the street as a filming venue.

Even though it took a film editor all of 20 seconds to do it.

But in a city that places a higher value on pimping itself out as a movie set than on livability and the safety of its citizens, city leaders kowtowed to the studios and agreed to strip the paint off. A darker and less visible shade of green was then used to repaint it in sections, rather than the entire lane.

Not satisfied with their victory, filmmakers complained that even that would be a problem and argued for the complete removal of the bike lanes, more because it interfered with parking their trucks than the actual effect it had on the filmmaking process.

But as anyone who has ridden a bike in Downtown LA can attest, the bike lanes haven’t seemed to limit movie shoots in the slightest.

And haven’t kept studio trucks from parking in them, either.

………

Colorado pro cyclist Lauren De Crescenzo has lost her memory, as well as suffering numerous broken bones, following a major crash in the final sprint of the San Dimas Stage Race here in California.

According to her father, she barely remembers being a cyclist, let alone what she had for lunch.

A gofundme account to help with her medical expenses has raised nearly $40,000 of the $75,000 goal.

………

Local

LA considers traffic calming measures, including bike lanes and safer crosswalks, on Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey.

CiclaValley and family experience a week of bad drivers. In other words, pretty much like any other week here in the big city.

LA Independent examines West Hollywood’s coming bikeshare system, which will be incompatible with the Metro system planned for DTLA, and eventually, next door in Hollywood.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton questions the value of this weekend’s mini-open streets events in Lawndale and Burbank. Both seem designed to provide the least possible inconvenience to anyone in a motor vehicle, without any significant benefit to the community.

A Santa Clarita cyclist thanks the man who witnessed someone steal his bike, then chased down the thief and got it back undamaged.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune looks at BikeSGV and their monthly family friendly bike trains through the valley, including Sunday’s Love Mother Nature Ride.

The Samaritan Center is hosting the 4th annual Ride for the Homeless in Simi Valley this Sunday, with rides ranging from five to 100 miles. Thanks to Project Hero Ventura for the heads-up.

 

State

A San Diego teacher and triathlete was surprised with a new beach cruiser as promotion for next month’s Amgen Tour of California.

Six hundred cyclists will ride into Santa Barbara Sunday on the final leg of the L’Etape California, following the 106-mile course planned for Stage 3 of the Tour of California.

A Stanford publication asks if the birthplace of mountain biking will become the worst place for mountain biking as Marin County continues to restrict offroad riding.

Bike and pedestrian projects would likely be included in a proposed $3.6 billion Sacramento transportation tax measure, though as much as 75% of the funds would be spent on road projects.

 

National

Men’s Journal says smarter bikeshare programs, including bike libraries and pedal-assist bikes, are coming to a town near you.

Unbelievable. A New York truck driver gets five summonses for various technical violations, but nothing for killing a cyclist earlier this week.

The country’s oldest bike race started in 1939 in New Jersey because the son of a local bike shop owner wanted to sleep in his own bed before a race.

A South New Jersey paper offers advice on how to teach a reluctant child to ride a bike.

Former San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds rides his bike to work at his new job as batting coach for the Florida Marlins, and takes it with him when the team goes on the road.

 

International

Not surprisingly, anger is growing in Brazil over the Rio bikeway collapse that killed three people, as ties between the contractor and city officials emerged.

A British man is riding the entire length of South America unsupported to raise funds for people in Nepal; however, halfway through he’s raised just $425.

A UK writer wonders why more of his countrymen aren’t captivated by watching men in Lycra battle it out on the barely paved roads of Europe.

A bike-riding Brit serial groper gets a well-deserved four years in prison.

Liverpool, England will use thermal imagery to detect bicyclists at intersections to give the riders an advanced green light ahead of other traffic.

Yet another hero cyclist, as a bike rider in the UK wrestled down a man armed with a machete who was attacking a pregnant woman, and had threatened other people.

My favorite Scottish blogger and bike advocate measures the cycling support of the country’s political parties.

The Philadelphia Sun says Flanders is considered the cycling capital of Europe. Which may came as a surprise to the Dutch.

A 70-year old Aussie bike rider was stabbed by a young woman when he refused to let her use his phone.

 

Finally…

Everything you need to know about motor doping, except how to do it yourself. Evidently, cyclists need to be aware of their surroundings so they don’t follow a bikeway into a lamp post.

And who would have thought a column by a self-described bike-hating dyke would be the funniest thing I read today?

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Law Enforcement, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Police shoot at a K-Town bike rider, Prince was one of us, and bicycle heroes in the news

April 22, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Police shoot at a K-Town bike rider, Prince was one of us, and bicycle heroes in the news

Now the police are shooting at bike riders.

In a somewhat bizarre story, the Eastsider reports LAPD officers opened fire after stopping a man riding a bicycle in Historic Filipinotown Wednesday night.

The website says it’s not clear why police attempted to detain the man, who fled on foot after the shooting, and no reason is given for why the police tried to shoot him.

Then again, if cops were shooting at me, I’d run like hell, too.

The man was taken into custody a few hours later after police cordoned off the area; as of Thursday morning he had not been booked, and there was no information on what charges he might face, if any.

Thanks to Danny Gamboa for the heads-up.

………

As everyone most likely knows by now, Prince was found dead in his Minneapolis home yesterday, just days after he got on his bicycle to show the world he was okay after a brief hospitalization for flu-like symptoms last week.

He also rode his bike to leave the stage between songs during his March solo concert in Oakland — not San Francisco, as I wrote earlier.

………

Today’s news features a few hero bicyclists.

After two Polish women steal another woman’s purse, a cyclist chases them down and crashes into them to recover it, while catching the pursuit on his bike cam.

Closer to home, an OC rider uses his bicycle to take down a thief who had just emptied the cash drawer in a Huntington Beach restaurant.

And a different kind of hero, thanks to the efforts of a USC student, 37 high school students in need will receive bicycles impounded by the university; she got the idea after her own bike was stolen. Thanks to Patrick Pascal for the link.

………

Episode 1Momentum Magazine says those overly graphic Phoenix bike safety graphic novels are gruesome and straight up appalling, while noting that the tone deaf AZ Department of Transportation inexplicably considers them a success.

If you can call frightening little kids off their bikes for life a success, that is; Streetsblog simply calls the brochures insane.

Meanwhile, prinzrob points out they’re not the first to use the scary graphic novel approach, as a 1972 comic book tells the tale of kid and his bicycle from hell — literally.

Although it does have a happy ending, since he learns to ride safely and grows up to be a hipster.

03

………

Local

LA City Councilmember Jose Huizar is working to create a more walkable, bikeable and livable Downtown. Contrast that with LA’s Westside and Northeast LA, where councilmembers have actively blocked any significant improvements in their districts.

CiclaValley takes a slide through Topanga State Park.

A person of interest in a rash of bike thefts at Cal State Long Beach has been temporarily banned from campus after police spotted him casing bike racks; he’s subject to arrest for trespassing if he’s even seen on campus before Monday.

Culver City Walk & Rollers hosts a seven-mile Family Sweet Streets Ride to visit bakeries and ice cream and sweets shops in the city.

 

State

The Dana Point Gran Prix returns to the city’s Lantern District at the end of this month, with two days of family bike activities before the pros hit the streets.

Competitive bike polo comes to Fresno.

In a brilliant display of police work, Clovis police fail to conduct a sobriety test after a driver fatally runs down a cyclist from behind, in a bike lane and without braking; police initially said the driver “accidently bumped into” the victim. Kind of makes you wonder how well they know the driver, doesn’t it?

A free training class for League Certified Cycling Instructors in Monterey County will likely be postponed for lack of interest.

Chico police are planning to install cameras on a dangerous bike path near the local university; so far, only $4,000 of the required $20,000 has been raised so far. Even in a small town like that, $20,000 should be little more than a rounding error in the city budget.

 

National

A new NACTO guide on siting bikeshare stations says they should be accessible and convenient, and located within a three to five minute walking distance of one another. Let’s hope LA Metro picks up a copy.

Bicycling Magazine offers safety pointers for urban bicyclists, as well as tips on how to prepare for your first bike ride; meanwhile the Oregonian suggests ways to get ready to bike to work.

Ohio pediatricians are teaming with the state DOT to distribute 10,000 free bike helmets to children. Hopefully they won’t include the Arizona bike safety brochures along with them.

Once again, the NYPD seems to be bending over backwards to exonerate a truck driver in the death of a bike rider; first they said the victim was hanging onto the truck, which was not supposed to be on the narrow residential street, then suggest that the non-existent “wind force” of the slow moving truck sucked the rider underneath.

The New York Daily News says the NYPD, and Chief Bill Bratton — former head of the LAPD — needs to get onboard with the mayor’s Vision Zero plan. As the above story shows, the department’s extreme windshield bias means drivers are seldom held accountable for collisions with cyclists and pedestrians, continuing to put both at needless risk.

Somehow I missed this story from the New York Times, which examines the problem of motor doping in the pro peloton; thanks to George Wolfberg for finding it.

A pair of New Orleans men fight bike theft one Facebook post at a time.

There’s a special place in hell for someone who’d steal a specialty handbike from a handicapped Tampa man.

 

International

Two people were killed when an elevated bike path built in advance of the Rio Olympics collapsed when it was it by a strong wave; a third person is missing while two others were rescued. ABC News says shoddy construction due to graft is an ongoing problem in the country, which could affect this summer’s games.

Montreal is working to improve safety for bike riders on 57 dangerous underpasses in the city, while Toronto’s war between cyclists and drivers seems to have ended.

A writer for the Telegraph says the UK could wipe out its national debt if they fined every driver who stopped in London’s bike boxes.

London cabbies team with cyclists to campaign for cleaner air.

Scotland expects a record turnout for the fifth Pedal on Parliament; last year’s ride drew 4,000 people calling for bike safety.

Caught on video: A London cop is enraged that a bicyclist chose to ride in the traffic lane rather than a crowded bike lane.

A new system in the Netherlands is designed to warn drivers that a bicyclist is approaching an intersection in order to help riders cross safely.

A writer for the Guardian looks at the war on bike riders in Australia’s New South Wales.

 

Finally…

Apparently, Americans aren’t too concerned about global warming because we like it. Is the shape of a bike-riding BBC presenter’s ass really more important than the ride she’s promoting to battle cancer?

And what if Chrissie Hynde was one of us, just a stranger on a bus?

………

Thanks to Josh Cohen, aka Los Angeles Bicycle Attorney, for renewing his sponsorship for another year. Without the support of our sponsors, this site couldn’t exist in its present form.

And to all who observe Passover, Chag Sameach!

Category: Bikes & the Law, Law Enforcement, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Cyclist threatened by Metro driver, SD DUI hearing, and Phoenix scares kids off their bikes

April 21, 2016 / / 2 comments

Did a Metro employee try to run down a cyclist while on duty?

That’s what carfree bike rider Randall Fleming says happened to him last week as he rode on South Hope Street in Downtown LA.

He tells his story in the following press release.

Metro-Van-Attempts-to-Run-Down-Bicyclist-Page-1

As noted in the release, Fleming did forward photos of the driver and the van, however, I’ve chosen not to publish them at this time pending further action in this case.

………

In a preliminary hearing for Jonathan Domingo Garcia, witnesses report the 23-year old man drove past popular San Diego neighborhood activist Maruta Gardner twice without stopping as she lay dying in the street after he allegedly ran her down while she was cleaning off graffiti.

According to her husband, she had just taken a photo and was putting her Kindle back in the basket of her adult tricycle when Garcia’s car slammed into her.

He faces charges including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run driving after he admitting to drinking and smoking dope before getting into his car.

………

Episode 1Let’s give credit to Phoenix AZ, for producing what may be the single most distasteful and off-putting series of bike safety graphic novels ever.

They may actually prove effective in improving safety, however, by scaring kids and their parents off their bikes forever.

………

Local

A writer for the New York Times discovers you can actually visit LA without a car, and even participate in CicLAvia while you’re at it. Just don’t pick the watercress downstream from a horse crossing.

Richard Risemberg says LA doesn’t need a test cycle track near the government offices on Los Angeles Street.

Santa Monica is preparing for the arrival of the Expo Line by improving bike and pedestrian facilities in hopes of getting people out of their cars.

A Valencia bike trail was shut down Wednesday, along with two lanes of traffic, when someone left a leaky canister near the curb; about a gallon of the unknown substance leaked into the gutter. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up; she also sends word of Indonesia’s bicycle rickshaw karaoke pedicabs.

Long Beach is looking for public input to refine the city’s 15-year old bike plan; current efforts include a bike/ped bridge over the San Gabriel River, connecting the Atherton Street bikeway to the San Gabriel Bike Trail.

CiclaValley talks with members of Walk Bike Burbank about the city’s first open streets event this Saturday. But don’t oversleep or you’ll miss the hour-long ciclovía from 8:30 to 9:30 am.

Santa Monica Spoke invites you to participate in the local edition of the worldwide Brompton Urban Challenge scavenger hunt on April 30th; they have a limited number of folding bikes you can borrow for the event.

Team LACBC will host a training ride for next month’s Climate Ride on La Tuna Canyon Road this Saturday; everyone is invited to join in, whether or not you’re participating in Climate Ride yourself.

The May edition of the LACBC’s Sunday Funday ride will visit local landmarks in an 18-mile journey through Northeast LA on Sunday, May 1st.

 

State

Police at UC Irvine use a bait bike to bust a pair of bike thieves; one of the men was already on probation for a previous bike theft. Prison overcrowding and an increase in the threshold for felony theft means few bike thieves ever face serious consequences, even if they do get arrested.

Cal Poly SLO won a national challenge to develop a pedal-less fluid-drive bicycle, thanks to a unique clutch design that enabled the bike to coast more efficiently.

An 85-year old Burlingame recumbent rider was injured in a collision with a garbage truck; fortunately, he’s expected to survive. The news wasn’t as good in Clovis, as a 40-something man was killed when he was hit by a car while riding in a bike lane.

Cars have been banned from one of two roadways up San Francisco’s Twin Peaks for a two-year trial period; only bikes and pedestrians will be allowed on the western loop offering the best views of the city.

San Francisco will host the city’s third annual Walk & Bike to Worship Week next month.

Oakland’s famed Telegraph Avenue is getting a green separated bike lane.

 

National

A writer for Popsugar says biking is the best, despite the silly clothes. Seriously, can we get over this whole thing about the ugly cycling attire? You don’t need spandex to ride a bike. And it can actually look pretty damn good on some people.

Assuming it’s stolen, a Salt Lake City man buys a $5,000 bike from a guy at a 7-11 for $300 in hopes of returning it to its owner.

Apparently, a Kansas State University research and extension agent assumes bicycle helmets are the only thing needed for bike safety. Helmets are a last resort for when all else fails; it’s far better to prevent any need for them by avoiding collisions and falls through safer infrastructure, teaching and obeying bike laws and riding defensively.

Over 15,000 bicycles have been stolen in Chicago since 2010. And only 62 recovered.

The Wall Street Journal says ex-UCLA basketball star and famed Dead Head Bill Walton is all about the bicycle these days.

What may be the oldest continuously operated bike shop in the country is still going strong in Queens NY after 98 years.

 

International

A Canadian sous chef chased down a bike thief and recovered a bike stolen from his restaurant after spotting something suspicious; the owner got her bike back after he a note left on the street.

Yesterday we mentioned a story about British thugs stealing a boy’s bike the day before his bar mitzvah in a strong arm robbery; today’s news is better, as kindhearted strangers raise £1,000 to replace it in less than 24 hours.

Bicycling is up 46% over the last decade, though the country’s notorious weather is keeping many off their bikes. Although someone should tell the writer the phrase is “put a damper on,” not “put a dampener on” it. Even if that seems appropriate for the soggy climate.

 

Finally…

Bike corrals can’t stop speeding drivers from running stop signs. Your next BMW could be a $1,590 Long Beach Blue bicycle.

And a new study from the UK shows that eating just 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate boosts endurance as much as beet juice.

And tastes a lot better.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Car vs Bike, Legal Cases, Morning Links, Road Rage / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Hit-and-run in Harvard Heights, protected bike lane coming to 1st St, and 10-Freeway victim ID’d

April 15, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Hit-and-run in Harvard Heights, protected bike lane coming to 1st St, and 10-Freeway victim ID’d

Police are looking for the cowardly schmuck who took off after running down a bike rider in LA’s Harvard Heights on Wednesday.

The collision occurred around 3 pm at the corner of Venice and Hobart Blvds as the cyclist reported he was blindsided by the collision. Fortunately, he suffered just cuts and bruises, along with a head wound that required six staples.

The driver was caught on a security camera stopping several blocks away to remove the mangled bike from underneath his minivan before getting back in and driving away.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the LAPD’s West Traffic Division at 213/473-0222.

………

Good news for LA bike riders.

LADOT reports construction has begun on a protected bike lane on Los Angeles Street from First Street to Union Station in DTLA — including LA’s first bicycle-specific traffic signals.

Hopefully, this will finally stop LAPD officers from parking in the bike lane. Though I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Maybe they can have it ready for an official unveiling during next month’s Bike Week.

………

The victim in Sunday’s inexplicable bicycling fatality on the 10 Freeway in Alhambra has been identified as a 40-year old transient named Eduardo Castillo.

………

If you hurry, you may still have time to make it up to the Sea Otter Classic in time to race your Brompton this evening. Coat and tie or dresses are required, although nothing says your attire must be gender appropriate.

Meanwhile, Bicycle Retailer says ebikes abound at this year’s event. And Richard Masoner of Cyclelicious offers his always great photographs of the Classic.

………

Just months after approving them for racing, pro cycling’s governing body has suspended the use of disk brakes following a couple of serious cuts caused by the sharp blades.

Russian cyclist Eduard Vorganov can unretire now that doping officials say he gets a do-over. On the other hand, Italian rider Luca Paolini got an 18 month ban for doing coke during last year’s Tour de France, apparently mistaking the French countryside for Studio 54 in the ’80s.

An Aussie writer says organized teams of weekend warrior MAMILS are ruining amateur bike racing.

A Malay cyclist says there’s more to bike racing than the prize money.

………

Local

Richard Risemberg employs his best WTF! in an attempt to comprehend why the Second Street bike lanes simply stop at Beverly Blvd, dumping riders into a complicated intersection with unforgiving traffic. Not unlike, say, most bike lanes in LA’s disconnected and discombobulated non-network.

LA considers returning a portion of parking revenue to the neighborhoods where it was collected, and where it could be used to fix sidewalks or stripe bike lanes.

CiclaValley takes a ride up upper Los Virgenes Canyon.

How does wehogo sound for the name of West Hollywood’s new bikeshare system?

Two of Bike the Vote LA’s top ranked candidates win in Culver City, with endorsee Meghan Sahli-Wells coming in first by a wide margin.

The LA Sheriff’s Department has made an arrest in the hit-and-run that injured a woman in her 70s riding her bike in Agoura Hills last month; the detective said the juvenile driver was sorry, but he screwed up. Gee, you think?

 

State

Oceanside will study a proposal for a road diet on the Coast Highway, narrowing the roadway from four lanes to two while adding buffered bike lanes.

A Sacramento woman helps recover her own stolen bike after spotting it on Craigslist.

 

National

People for Bikes explains how to raise a bike rider.

A Montana paper looks back on 133 years of bicycling in Yellowstone National Park; the first riders to visit the park were three men from Laramie whose sag wagon actually was one.

The Houston Chronicle says the city’s dangerous road design is killing people.

Caught on video: An Omaha driver claims she was the victim of bike rage, as a man on a bike goes off on her for blocking a bike path.

A Wisconsin woman faces a homicide charge with up to 10 years behind bars for running down a bike rider while texting; she allegedly deleted her texts in an attempt to cover-up her crime.

Good news from Tennessee, as the controversial bill that would have barred the use of gas taxes for parks and bike lanes has been pulled by it sponsor.

Rather than develop compatible systems, Jersey City votes to limit commercial bikes from using city bike racks for more than two hours to keep Hoboken bikeshare users from hogging them. This could offer a hint to LA’s future, as Metro’s coming system won’t compatible with Santa Monica’s or systems planned for Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Westwood.

Security video proves NY cops hit a cyclist as he rode in a bike lane, after which they accused him of riding on the sidewalk, then lied on the accident report to shift the blame to him. Thanks to Michael Byerts for the heads-up.

New York considers a bill that would allow cops to use a device to scan drivers’ cell phones after a crash, and automatically suspend their licenses if they refuse. Checking cell phone use should be standard practice after any injury collision, anywhere.

Bike trails have unexpectedly become Philadelphia’s must-have real estate amenity, as developers are opting for bike paths instead of parking lots.

President Obama uses an air horn to kick off this year’s Wounded Warrior Ride to raise awareness of military vets suffering from physical and psychological disabilities as a result of their service.

Now that’s more like it. Washington DC lowers the cost of an annual membership for their bikeshare program to just $5 for low income residents.

 

International

A Canadian paper offers advice from bike messengers on how to keep yours from being stolen; a teenage Brit bike thief says get a better lock.

The Guardian considers who’s the best bike-friendly candidate for London mayor.

British director and Madonna ex Guy Ritchie is one of us.

A deaf London bicyclist says he grew up with cycling in his veins, and prefers the tranquility of riding without sound.

A British study shows 85% of the growth in bike use over a four year period was due to improved infrastructure.

Caught on video 2: A Brit driver stops and lashes out at a cyclist for flipping him off after an apparent punishment pass.

 

Finally…

When does it stop being a step-through frame and become a step-on? Evidently, Kiwis don’t like bumps and bulges at breakfast; thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

And a motorcycle rider takes exception to the elderly man he spotted riding a Penny Farthing through a red light.

Apparently he’s never considered what happens when you stop one of those things.

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , ,
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