Archive for Morning Links

NM kids face murder in death of bike-riding scientist; killer Playa street claims fresh victim; Metro threatens suit to prevent safer streets

March 20, 2025 / / No comments

This is getting old.

Nearly two weeks in, I’m still struggling with Covid, and need a few more days before I get back to our usual updates. Just another of the many joys of diabetes, which can make Covid hit harder and last longer than it might otherwise.

Hopefully, we’ll be back on Monday to catch up on what we missed.

But there are a few stories this week that can’t really wait, so let’s do a quick update in the meantime.

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It’s happened again.

Or rather, it happened last year, and the authorities are just now catching up.

According to multiple sources, three Albuquerque teenagers face charges for stealing a car, and intentionally crashing it into a man riding a bicycle while they recorded themselves laughing.

And if that sounds familiar, it should. And more than once.

The victim, a beloved physicist at the nearby Sandia National Laboratory, was killed when the kids “bumped” him with the car.

The 13-year old driver and the 16-year old egging them on from the back seat both face murder charges — as could the 11-year old waving a gun and laughing from the passenger seat.

Yes, I said eleven. With a rap sheep of violent crimes that makes John Gotti seem like an extra from Westside Story.

Apparently, New Mexico law allows them to be publicly named, and charged as adults.

Police became aware of the video shortly after the May 29, 2024, murder of 63-year old Scott Habermehl, but it apparently took until now to uncover the identities of his teen and preteen killers.

Habermehl was a dedicated bike commuter who was said to have ridden more than a quarter million miles over the last 30 years, and did absolutely nothing to cause his death.

The older teens each face felony charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun.

The younger boy is likely to join them.

Thanks to Joel Falter for the heads up. 

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It’s happened again, again.

Because once again, an innocent person has been killed on Vista del Mar in Playa del Rey, eight years after then Councilmember Mike Bonin tried to fix the deadly street, only to have then Mayor Eric Garcetti rip it out after caving to angry pass-through drivers.

According to the Los Angeles Times, two cars — excuse me, drivers — collided in the 8200 block of southbound Vista del Mar, near Dockweiler Beach, with one car spilling over the embankment and killing a woman walking below.

Twentynine-year old Cecilia Milbourne died at the scene. A 70-something man also suffered minor injuries.

The crash occurred exactly where a road diet had been installed by Bonin after the city paid $9.5 million to the family of 16-year old Naomi Larson, who was killed by a cab driver as she was crossing the street in 2015.

That road diet was removed, along with other nearby bike lanes and other safety improvements, when Garcetti pulled the rug out from under Bonin, ordering them to be ripped out to appease drivers who were apparently willing to sacrifice a life or two if it meant they could have a little faster commute.

And reverting the road to a four lane speedway.

It only took a few years after that before the deadly roadway claimed another life. And two more after that.

Now, after another woman has been killed — at least the fifth in just ten years — that blood is on Garcetti’s hands, and everyone who demanded the removal of the safety improvements just so they could continue to go “zoom! zoom!”, innocent victims be damned.

Not to mention whoever designed the damn thing.

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Metro has bizarrely come out against bus lanes and safer streets.

According to a post from Streets For All, the ostensibly safety-oriented county transportation agency is threatening to sue if they are forced to comply with Measure HLA when they make changes to the streets.

Even though the law clearly applies to any significant street projects, regardless of who is responsible for them.

Which is kind of like Metro arguing that speed limits and traffic signals don’t apply to them, either.

Here’s how Streetsblog’s Joe Linton responded to Metro’s threat.

So, Metro will fight the city in order not to install bus lanes, bike lanes, crosswalks, curb ramps, all approved a decade ago.

Metro is blocking routine upgrades to all the ways their riders get to bus stops and rail stations, plus blocking bus lane facilities that would improve Metro bus speeds.

Really.

Really, indeed.

It’s worth noting that Metro’s board is made up of elected officials and appointees from cities throughout LA County, and led by board chair and County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

So you know where to direct your anger.

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Finally, Glendale is hosting their own CicLAvia-style open streets event May 31st on South Glendale Ave, in conjunction with Metro and Community Arts Resources (CARS).

Here’s how the press release describes it:

GLENDALE, Calif. (March 18, 2025) — Southern California’s newest open streets event, Let’s Go Glendale, will transform a portion of S Glendale Ave into a car-free space on Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The community is invited to explore the area on foot, bike, scooter, wheelchair or any other way that moves you.

The City of Glendale’s Open Streets Event, Let’s Go Glendale, is presented by Metro and produced by Community Arts Resources (CARS). This free day features a full schedule of carefully curated performances and activities along a meaningful vehicle-free route through the city’s south. People of all ages are invited to discover local businesses, enjoy delicious food, listen to live music and connect with the city’s vibrant cultures in the open streets. It’s an opportunity to walk, roll, shop and stroll through Glendale with a whole new perspective! A full schedule of event locations, activations and a detailed route map will be announced in April.

WHEN: Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

WHERE: City streets along S Glendale Ave will be closed to car traffic and opened to pedestrians. Full route details will be released soon.

ADMISSION: This event is free to attend and open to the public.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information visit, letsgoglendale.com

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The air you breathe sucks, congestion pricing creates a biketopia, and flushing money down induced-demand toilet

March 12, 2025 / / No comments
Day 71 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

You can blame my internet provider for going down around midnight.

Or you can blame a virus so nice I caught it twice, which made me hope it didn’t come back so I could go back to bed. 

Good times. 

Photo by Khunkorn Laowisit from Pexels. 

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No surprise here.

A new study says most of the world’s population breathes dirty air, with just 17% of the world’s cities meeting pollution guidelines.

Although studies have been split on whether bicyclists breathe cleaner air than people stuck in cars, or whether we suck in more smog than drivers do.

And no, it’s not comforting to learn just how bad the air in cars really is, whether or not ours is better.

………

They get it.

Wired says New York’s congestion pricing shows that if you want build a biketopia, just make it harder to drive, as fewer cars make it easier to ride a bicycle.

“Even in this unusually cold winter, we’re seeing more people biking since congestion pricing took effect,” says Ken Podziba, president and CEO of the advocacy nonprofit Bike New York. “But the real excitement will come with warmer weather, as we witness a dramatic shift—fewer cars and more bikes filling the city streets.”

To Podziba’s point, what might happen when the temperature ticks up? Will Manhattan suddenly look like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, or Oslo, the latter two of which recently joined the trend of centering bicycle transport in their urban design? And if ridership skyrockets, will the city take the lead from its legion of bike riders and implement more and safer means for people to traverse the city via bike?

Let’s hope so.

And let’s hope Los Angeles is paying attention.

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Caltrans continues to flush money down the induced-demand toilet, with a $779 million construction project to “reduce traffic congestion while speeding up travel times” on the 91 Freeway.

But as we’ve seen with other highway projects, like the failed $1 billion project to reconfigure the 405 Freeway over the Sepulveda Pass that only resulted in more congestion, it’s more likely to have the opposite effect while making the deadly highway even deadlier.

Yet they continue to fund projects like this, despite requirements for Complete Streets and aligning highway projects with the state’s clean air goals.

Did I mention it will also make air quality even worse?

But at least this one will include sidewalk improvements and bike lanes. Although they could have just skipped the whole highway thing and spent the money on bike lanes and sidewalks throughout Orange County instead.

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LADOT wants your input this evening on a plan to extend the LA River bike path about a mile west through Griffith Park.

I mean, what’s not to like?

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I don’t know if this is a commentary on the sad state of the bike business, or the sad state of American health insurance.

Or both.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

The bikelash is spreading, as the formerly bike-friendly mayor of Boston says she’s going to review and rip out some of the city’s bus and bike lanes.

No surprise here. A Toronto advocacy group has filed a lawsuit to keep Ontario’s anti-bike leaders from ripping out that city’s bike lanes.

No bias here. An Edinburgh, Scotland newspaper mistook a TikTok video of a bicyclist as the real thing, with the audio overlaid with British comedian Dom Joly’s Angry Cyclist routine, yelling about people in bike lanes. And elephants.

No bias here, either. After an Irish bike rider reported a punishment pass, a cop told him he was breaking the law by not riding in the bike lane, even though that is only required on a small number of streets.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A news site lists the rules of the road for riding in France — and what it will cost you if you break them.

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Local  

The rich get richer, as bike-friendly Santa Monica unveiled new curb-protected bike lanes and crosswalks on 26th Street leading to and from the Expo, uh, E Line’s Bergamot Station.

South El Monte celebrated the opening of the San Gabriel Valley’s first curb-level protected bike lane.

 

State

Circulate San Diego submitted letters in support of grant applications for a trio of bike and infrastructure projects.

Palo Alto’s city council voted unanimously to make two “popular but polarizing” carfree streets that way permanently.

San Francisco Streetsblog says a new protected intersection is a great project with a big flaw, since bicyclists will no longer be able to ride directly across the street.

Santa Rosa released the city’s draft active transportation plan, calling for buffered and protected bike lanes, new sidewalks and better crosswalks. But as we’ve learned the hard way, plans like that mean nothing without funding and political support.

 

National

National Geographic takes a look at the cross-country Great American Rail-Trail, and says start with the “epic sections” already open in Washington State.

The trial of teen driver Jesus Ayala for the thrill-kill murder of retired Bell, California police chief Andreas “Andy” Probst as he rode a bike in Las Vegas has been delayed until September.

This is who we share the road with. A Vermont cop, who really should have known better, was watching YouTube when he killed a man riding a bicycle while driving his patrol car, then kept going before apparently thinking better of it and turning around. Maybe he just wanted to finish the video first. Thanks to Todd Munson for the heads-up. 

Cambridge, Massachusetts is opening a lottery system for vouchers giving low-income residents up to $3,000 for a standard bicycle, ebike or cargo bike.

That’s more like it. A Philadelphia woman was sentenced to up to 15 years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 32-year old “avid cyclist,” and her boyfriend sentenced to one-to-two years for helping her cover it up.

 

International

Find your passport and start packing for next month’s London Tweed Ride, which Momentum calls “the quirkiest bicycle tour on the planet.”

Seriously? The head of the British Mansfield Town soccer team says he really doesn’t care about the backlash to forward Lucas Akins starting a match just hours after pleading guilty to killing a man riding a bicycle.

Talk about doing it the hard way. A father of four in the UK says he’s going to ride 280 miles while fasting during the month of Ramadan to raise money for charity.

Britain’s governing body for bicycling announced a “bold” plan to get more people riding bikes and cement the country’s status as a bicycling nation, while safety experts complained about the plan’s failure to address the dangers faced by people on bicycles.

A Conservative MP in the UK calls for mandatory bike bells on every bicycle. Even though your voice works much better, and doesn’t require taking your hands off your drops. Assuming you have them, of course.  

A German website says Bremen has become one of the country’s best cities for bicycling.

A South African website lists five of the world’s most beautiful bike rides. And for once, PCH from San Francisco south deservedly makes the list. 

 

Finally….

Los Angeles bike riders may have to deal with bad roads, but we hardly ever have to contend freezing and thawing conditions. Part Congressional campaign worker, part accused bike thief.

And how one person learned to stop worrying and love flat tires.

No, really.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

$2000 e-cargo bike voucher for San Gabriel Valley residents, and San Diego man seriously injured in hit-and-run

March 10, 2025 / / No comments
Day 69 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Forget California’s semi-moribund, scandal-plagued ebike rebate program.

At least if you live in the San Gabriel Valley, anyway, where you can apply now for a $2,000 voucher to buy an e-cargo bike.

But hurry, because applications have already been received for half of the 300 available vouchers.

Photo by Kaboompics.com from Pexels. 

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Police in San Diego are looking for the asshole hit-and-run driver left a man riding a bicycle lying in the street with serious injuries.

The 46-year old victim was hospitalized with spine, collarbone and rib fractures following the Friday night crash in the city’s Clairemont Mesa West neighborhood.

Police are looking for a red 2015 to 2017 Volkswagen Jetta, with damage to the front bumper. Anyone with information is urged to call Traffic Division of the San Diego Police Department at 858/495- 7823 or call CrimeStoppers anonymously at 888/580-8477; there’s $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

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This is who we share the road with.

A disgruntled customer drove his cars into a Carmax showroom in Inglewood, injuring at least eight people.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Seriously? Santa Clarita residents lit up the phones at the sheriff’s station to report “a caravan” of juveniles riding a mix of bicycles, ebikes and dirt bikes, despite a complete lack of reports indicating the kids were doing anything wrong.

An Italian pro cyclist suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs in a pair of back-to-back attacks when he was threatened, pushed off his bike, punched in face and hit with rock in what appeared to be completely unprovoked assaults by motorbike riders, as he finished a training ride with his brother.

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Local  

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton digs into the numbers, and finds that highway widening conducted by Metro and Caltrans in Los Angeles County were responsible for 96% of California’s home demolitions for freeway expansions in recent years.

 

State

Irvine’s second annual CicloIrvine open streets event will roll on May 3rd.

A San Diego nonprofit is encouraging homeless people to ride a bike, and will give them a refurbished bicycle, along with a helmet, lock, lights, saddlebag and some maintenance items after they’ve completed 100 miles on a bike; 76 people have completed the program to earn one in the last five years.

In a Santa Barbara op-ed, a man makes the case for changing the city’s ordinance prohibiting sidewalk riding, arguing that bike riders shouldn’t have to contend with high-speed traffic on the streets. Bicyclists should have the option, even though studies have shown the apparent safety of sidewalks in an illusion, as reduced sight lines actually increase the danger for people riding on the sidewalk.

The question isn’t why Cupertino’s city council voted to approve new protected bike lanes on one of the city’s most dangerous corridors, but why two of the five council members voted against it.

A want to be like him when I grow up. A Turlock paper remember a former octogenarian fitness role model, who didn’t let diabetes and neuropathy interfere with his love of bicycling; Ray Houlihan was 93 when he died following a brief illness.

 

National

Escape Collective drops their usual paywall to discuss why most bikemakers are hiding a key indicator of how their bikes handle.

In a story only for their subscribers, Bicycling makes the case that high-end bicycling gear probably isn’t worth the cost. So much for their high-end ad accounts. 

Seattle could be on the road to Vision Zero, as preliminary data shows the city cut pedestrian deaths in half last year — and had no bicycling deaths. Which shows what can happen when city leaders actually give a damn and do something. 

Speaking of Seattle, the city opened a new two-mile bike path along the waterfront as part of an $805 million project to revamp the Puget Sound shoreline, starting with removal of a highway that used to block access to the coast.

Life is cheap in Colorado, where a teacher got one lousy year behind bars for killing a ten-year old boy riding a bicycle while driving distracted, just minutes from my bike-friendly hometown; the boy’s parents are fighting for tougher penalties for killer drivers. And if you ever wonder why people keep dying on our streets, this is a good place to start.

A man in San Antonio, Texas was sentenced to 50 years behind bars for whacking a man with a beer bottle to steal his bicycle, leaving the victim blind. Which is 12.5 times more than you’d get for killing someone with a car in California. 

Boston Magazine explores the fallout from the Boston bikelash, as surprisingly fierce opposition has risen to the city’s new bike lanes, with one pizza shop owner asking who would ever take a pizza home on a bicycle. Funny he should ask.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has told DC Mayor Muriel Bowser that the city’s street murals are dangerous, and gave them 30 days to identify “roadway noncompliance” and develop a plan to deal with them — even though they’ve caused zero crashes, and studies show street art makes roads safer. A Republican lawmaker also threatened the city’s transportation funding if they didn’t paint over a “Black Lives Matter” mural.

 

International

Bike Radar ranks the best British islands to add to your bike bucket list.

A pro mountain biker, bike journalist and a mountain bike coach discuss gender equality in mountain biking for International Women’s Day.

Life is cheap in Canada, where a dump truck driver got a lousy $1,000 fine for killing a woman riding a bicycle in a right hook.

Life is almost as cheap in the UK, where a woman will spend a lousy one-year behind bars for killing a 57-year old father as he was riding a bicycle, while she was texting and reading Facebook behind the wheel, in what prosecutors termed a “prolonged episode of bad driving.”

After 484 days in Hamas captivity, an Israeli ex-hostage says riding his bike feels like freedom. Which is probably something we all can relate to.

 

Competitive Cycling

Three-time Tours de France, Giro and World’s champ Tadej Pogačar showed he’s human by crashing at Strade Bianchi, saying he “actually showed I’m pretty shit” — then made the case for why he’s not by coming back to win, turning his previous seven one-day Monuments to eight.

Britain’s Tom Pidcock said it was bittersweet finishing second to Pogačar, after waiting for Pog to recover from his crash, then being unable to hold his wheel at the finish.

The eight-stage Paris-Nice got off to a tense start, with Belgium’s Tim Merlier taking the first stage in an all-out sprint; meanwhile, Jonas Vingegaard started the race with his very own personalized helmet.

An 18-year old Aussie man won a spot on the Canyon–SRAM zondacrypto development team by taking first place in the Zwift Academy’s virtual competition, calling the opportunity “life-changing.”

Despite a well-earned reputation for bullying people when he was competing, America’s only seven-time ex-Tour de France has been there for British eight-time Olympic medalist Bradley Wiggins since he retired nearly a decade ago, helping him recover from a drug problem and deep debt.

 

Finally….

Fixing a bike for the toddler WorldTour development squad. And we may have to deal with LA’s feral drivers, but at least we don’t have to ride between wild bobcats.

@lookitsblackdynamite

#bobcat #lynx #fyp #animals #nature #foryou #cat #explore #trending #viral

♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Hit-and-run driver plows through Boyle Heights bike riders aiding immigrants, and new bill would launch CA bike highways

March 7, 2025 / / No comments
Day 66 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A hit-and-run driver may have used her car as a weapon in Boyle Heights last month.

Or maybe she was just a seriously distracted driver.

According to KTLA-5, a group of about 15 people were riding their bikes near Mariachi Plaza shortly before 8 pm on Tuesday, February 25th, to hand out “red cards” informing immigrants of their legal rights.

The victims report they were were riding safely, obeying traffic laws, some even wearing orange vests, when a woman in a blue Kia plowed through the group from behind, while appearing to look at her phone.

And yes, the whole thing was caught on a security cam.

At least four of the riders were struck with the woman’s car, with one victim tossed onto the windshield of the car.

The woman continued driving through the group, even as people threw their bicycles at her car to get her to stop. One victim was hospitalized with head trauma, while others suffered injuries to their legs and arms.

The driver was described only as a white woman with a bald head, while the car is described as a 2016 four-door Kia sedan with the license plate number 8GAN606.

And yes, a photo shows a bike rack on the back.

Naturally.

Although it’s unclear why the police have been unable to find the driver when they have her license plate.

It’s also unclear whether this was a hate crime because the victims were helping immigrants, a road-raging driver attacking bike riders, or just a distracted driver too busy staring at her phone to look up.

Or maybe something else entirely.

Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD at 1-877/527-3247, or anonymously at 1-800/222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.

Let’s just hope they catch this one.

My apologies if the above tweet doesn’t show up properly. Embedding Twitter/X posts has been very buggy on here since Elon has been busy screwing the site up. 

Top image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

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A new bill would launch a bike highway pilot program in California.

Introduced by Ventura Assemblymember Steve Bennett, and sponsored by Calbike, AB 954 instructs Caltrans to develop a bike highway program, defined as accommodating “high volumes of people traveling longer distance on bicycles (more than 3 miles) by connecting users to major destinations, employment centers, and transit hubs,” while providing full separation from motor vehicles.

According to Calbike,

Bike highways offer an important alternative to residents seeking relief from rising gas prices, and those working to lower their carbon footprint. In June 2022, Caltrans released a Bay Area Bike Highway Study that identifies feasible opportunities to add these corridors and incorporates best practices most suitable for the region. With the U.S. importing an estimated 2.4 million e-bikes between 2020-2023, commuting longer distances by bike is becoming more feasible for the average consumer. California prioritizes bicycling as a key part of its larger decarbonization goals, and is among 19 states offering assistance to purchase an e-bike with the launch of the California E-Bike Incentive Program in late 2024. The State of California was recognized as the 4th most Bicycle Friendly State in the Country by the League of American Bicyclists in December 2024.

Although the question is where these would go, when and if the bill passes and gets signed by the governor.

Which is anything but guaranteed with our current leader.

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This should be a good one.

Streets For All’s next virtual happy hour will feature my new representative, the very bike and street safety-friendly Congresswoman Laura Friedman on March 19th.

Click here to RSVP.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Yet another British bike path has been repeatedly sabotaged by anti-bike terrorists who placed tree branches across a popular cycle track on the Isle of Wight in an apparent attempt to injure bicyclists, then immediately replaced them after bike riders moved them off. As well as hooded, cider-quaffing men who shouted insults and threats at passing riders. Although how do they know it was cider, and not just an English ale?

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

No bias here. A website for New York’s wealthy Upper East Side says bicyclists are happy with the area’s new bike lanes, but many riders ignore the rules of the road and run red lights, questioning whether their behavior will now get worse. But have they even seen the city’s drivers?

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Local  

Chinatown’s Firecracker Lunar New Year runs, dog walk and bike rides roll this weekend, after they were rescheduled due to the January firestorms.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, thefts of electric scooters are skyrocketing in Los Angeles, as thieves find the locks easy picking. Literally.

Work is starting on the La Crescenta Rehabilitation Project on Glendale’s Montrose and La Crescenta avenues; the project includes lane reductions in both directions and buffered and protected bike lanes, as well other improvements.

 

State

Calbike offers an update on their priorities for the current legislative session.

He gets it. A writer for the nonprofit Voice of OC says ebikes aren’t the problem, unsafe riders are. Although to be honest, a lot of ebikes out there are vastly overpowered for the age of the people on them.

A San Francisco woman shares her favorite bike ride through the city’s Golden Gate Park.

A Nevada County event proves that bike riders and equestrians really can get along. A lesson the LA horse and bike communities have clearly yet to learn.

 

National

Momentum highlights the country’s best rail trails, none of which is found in California.

Detroit is retraining its police officers, after a cop was filmed ticketing a man for riding his bicycle legally in the street, as he had every right to do.

Houston reopened a key two-way bike lane after it was “prematurely closed” by construction workers with no notice.

About time. New York is finally dealing with the inevitable conflicts and collisions in Central Park by redesigning the roadway through the park, providing separate lanes for runners, walkers, slow bike riders and faster bicyclists and ebike riders. Which should reduce the risk of collisions, as long as everyone stays in their lane.

New York State won’t charge the Syracuse cop who killed a man riding an ebike in an on-duty crash, concluding there was no evidence the cop was speeding, driving recklessly, or under the influence at the time of the crash, even though no one bothered to test him for drugs or alcohol use. Although someone should tell whoever wrote the headline that it was a person who was killed in the fatal crash, not an ebike.

Philadelphia approved a series of new bike lanes through the center city area.

Los Angeles isn’t the only major city where traffic deaths rise to the level of homicides, as a new Atlanta report shows 2023 bicyclist and pedestrian deaths were nearly equal to murders in the three-county metropolitan area. Although in LA, overall traffic deaths have exceeded murders for two years in a row.

The Southern political magazine Scalawag recounts last month’s 51-mile-long route from Selma to Montgomery bike ride, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the historic civil rights march.

A bighearted Florida girl showed kindness instead of anger when someone stole the new bike she got for Christmas, then returned it the next day; assuming the thief was homeless, she “put food, a drink, and a snack” in the basket, along with a note saying “Please don’t steal my bike again” — which someone promptly did.

 

International

Road.cc weighs the pros and cons of using a gravel bike as your only bicycle.

Seriously? Homeowners in Dorset, England are “furious” over two-foot tall car-tickler bendy-posts protecting a new bike lane, which they say keep them from parking in their own driveways — despite the obvious gaps permitting access — while emergency vehicles are somehow forced to park in the traffic lane, because they can’t manage to drive their bigass trucks over those flexible little plastic posts.

The New York Times talks with Jill Warren, who walked away from a 20-year legal career to head the Brussels, Belgium-based European Cyclists’ Federation, an NGO dedicated to promoting bicycling to help lower carbon emissions.

The BBC continues our recent Japanese travelogue, with a “spectacular” bike ride through six of the country’s remote islands.

 

Competitive Cycling

Last year’s Tour de France, Giro and world champ Tadej Pogačar is one of five nominees for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award, after what’s being called the most remarkable year in the history of cycling; Olympic and world champion mountain biker Tom Pidcock is nominated for Sportsman of the Year.

Meanwhile, Pogačar says he prefers to think of himself as a classics rider who wins Grand Tours, rather than the other way around. Or maybe he’s just someone who wins everything.

 

Finally….

Who among us hasn’t dreamed of riding a bicycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles, living on nothing but Chipotle burritos?

And this video is no less cringy for knowing the guy walked away from it.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Why don’t Angelenos with a “passion” for transit and bikes just move, and AZ man busted for threatening 3-day bike tour

March 6, 2025 / / No comments
Day 65 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Seriously?

A writer asks why people who are “extremely passionate about improving public transit and making the city more bike-friendly,” don’t just leave Los Angeles, when it’s too often the exact opposite.

And especially when it seems like things will never change, thanks to our risk-averse and overly car-friendly leadership.

So I’m genuinely curious—why do people who are really passionate about transit and biking stay in LA instead of moving somewhere that already supports that lifestyle? Cities like NYC, SF, Portland, or even international places like Amsterdam or Tokyo offer great transit and biking infrastructure without needing massive overhauls.

Is it optimism that LA will change? Other factors like work, family, or weather? What makes the fight worth it?

Um, maybe because we live here?

I get that it’s frustrating.

I feel like Don Quixote tilting at windmills most of the time. And Sisyphus the rest.

But Los Angeles can change. This used to be the most transit-rich city in the country, thanks to the Red and Yellow Lines. And it can be again.

The overwhelming support for Measure HLA a year ago shows the demand for safer streets that serve us all, with two-thirds of voters supporting the ballot measure.

So the problem isn’t with the city, or the people who live here.

It’s with the people in charge who refuse to listen, and only hear the angriest voices who fight progress, rather than the ones demanding it.

We don’t need to move. We just need to do something to move them.

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If you see something, say something.

An Arizona man faces charges for threatening to run over bicyclists participating in the three-day El Tour de Zona, after a city worker saw his comment on the city’s Facebook page.

Clearly, they’re taking it seriously in the wake of the Show Low massacre, when a pickup driver intentionally slammed into people participating in a master’s race — then made a U-turn and threatened to do it again, before police shot him and took him into custody.

And taking it seriously exactly what they should do.

………

Mark your calendar for this November, when the cities of El Monte and South El Monte will host the five-mile Corazon Del Valle active streets event, courtesy of ActiveSGV, Metro and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Boston’s mayor is engaged in an active policy of revanchism, reviewing — and possibly ripping out — bike lanes and protective barriers installed during her more bike-friendly first term, as drivers demand their right to reclaim the few feet of street space they may have lost.

Momentum looks at the Toronto business owners who are shooting themselves in the foot by suing to rip out one of the city’s most popular bike lanes, assuming that most of their customers arrive by car. Never mind that bike lanes have been repeatedly shown to create the kind of bike and pedestrian friendly neighborhoods that benefit local businesses. 

………

Local  

Streets For All offers their Neighborhood Council endorsements for Region 11, including North Westwood, Mar Vista and Venice.

Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman considers the legacy of redlining, saying the late Nipsey Hussle “understood cities better than you, so why didn’t you know who he was?” Personally, I knew of him as a community activist and business owner for some time before his murder, but had never actually heard his music.

A Culver City writer says they’re obsessed with bike commuting, and the five-to-six mile ride is the perfect way to end a working day. Except the city has already ripped out some of the bike lanes that makes it so enjoyable.

 

State

Congratulations to Caltrans on averaging more than one home or business demolition per mile of new freeways over a five-year period. Because really, who needs a home or a job if it stands in the way of the God-given right to sit idly in induced demand-induced congestion?

Santa Paula is using a $1.5 million county grant to build two-and-a-half mile of bike and pedestrian paths.

Calbike catches up with the ongoing fight to save the bike/ped lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Which is under threat by those poor, put-upon drivers who only want 100% of it.

San Francisco’s transportation agency unanimously approved a new bike plan designed to connect all the city’s bike lanes and put everyone in the city within a quarter mile of one. Then again, that’s what LA’s unbuilt bike plan was supposed to do after it was also unanimously approved by the city council.

Napa is reducing lanes on one of the city’s major east-west corridors to make space for buffered bike lanes and better pedestrian safety.

Sacramento’s bicycle-friendly side streets help bike riders navigate through the city.

 

National

Streetsblog questions why there’s so little research on the “unspoken” travel needs of the women and caregivers when it comes to mobility hubs.

Seattle ripped out a highway that blocked views of, and access to, Puget Sound, and replaced with a new fully separated bike path along the waterfront, which officially opens this weekend.

Even the state college in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown is bike-friendly, as Colorado State University is honored as one of the nation’s first Accredited Transportation Demand Management Organizations, in recognition of their “commitment to innovation, efficiency and providing advanced mobility solutions.”

Houston advocates complain that no one told them a two-way bike lane was going to be completely closed for construction. Evidently, it was on a need to know basis, and someone clearly concluded they didn’t.

Cincinnati has a new interactive bike map that shows all of the city’s bicycle infrastructure, completed and planned, including bike lanes, shared-use bike paths and protected bike lanes. Which is exactly what LA bike riders were promised years ago. And never got.

A new documentary from the Ann Arbor, Michigan public library captures the semi-official, semi-bandit mountain bike trails that make up the city’s Loop of Pain. Yes, the public library.

An Indiana newspaper solves the mystery of a missing ghost bike, which was apparently mangled by a snow plow and taken to a recycling center. On the other hand, it’s nice that people cared enough to want to know what happened to it. 

Good Samaritans came to the rescue of a four-year old boy who was found riding his bike unsupervised in near-freezing temperatures, providing him with a juice box and a fur coat until police arrived. Because every kid should be wrapped in mink for a winter bike ride, right?

A 73-year old Memphis woman faces charges for a drunken hit-and-run, after she allegedly crashed into a firefighter who was just riding a bike around the firehouse.

The rich get richer, as New York defies Trump’s demand to rip out the city’s bike lanes, and widens five of them, instead — including one on 6th Avenue.

 

International

Oxford, England is extending a program to provide local businesses with next-day deliveries by electric cargo bike.

British bike riders complain about a new $20 million bike/ped “bridge to nowhere,” which leads to a dangerous road on one side, and a muddy quagmire on the other.

An Italian website mourns the passing of an 87-year old “giant of journalism” famous for riding his bicycle everywhere — including the time he revived a driver who doored him, then fainted after he realized who he whacked.

An Aussie writer falls in love with biking in Japan.

More young people are biking to work in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. Young evidently being a relative term, since the story features mostly 30-something bike commuters.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist previews next week’s very nice Paris-Nice stage race.

 

Finally….

The feeling when you’re hooked on Strava, and don’t care who knows it. Did Kevin Bacon and Lawrence Fishburne really star in the worst bicycle movie of all time?

And this is who we share the road with.

 

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

New bill requires quick-build bikeways on CA highways, turns out swearing is damn good for you, and mind the bridge gap

March 5, 2025 / / No comments
Day 64 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Maybe there’s hope for Caltrans yet.

That’s because a new bill introduced by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, who represents a sprawling district stretching from Santa Monica to Glendale, would require the agency to develop quick-build bike lane and intersection projects on state highways.

Streetsblog defines a quick build project as a “temporary, easily adjustable infrastructure improvement that can be installed rapidly using readily available materials,” installed as a pilot project to gauge community feedback, or as a temporary placeholder for a larger, more permanent project.

The point of the bill, AB 891, is to get something on the street quickly while reducing planning and engineering costs, rather than waiting years to go through the usual process that moves with the speed of a snail stuck in molasses.

According to Streetsblog,

Santa Monica has made use of quick-build projects on local streets in recent years. Some examples: the plastic-bollard parking protected bike lane on Broadway in 2023,  a series of Safe Routes to School’s Projects also in 2023, and the city is planning to use quick build for the East Pico Safety Project.

One example of a state highway that would benefit from this legislation is the Pacific Coast Highway, State Route 1. Following a high-profile fatal crash in 2023, the City of Malibu has worked with the state to change the character of the highway which currently features high speed limits, beautiful views of the ocean and mountains and high volumes of bicycle traffic.

We can only hope.

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Good news for all of us who struggle to control our language after getting cut off by a driver, or yet another too-close pass.

And by us, I mean me.

Because new research shows that swearing can increase hypoalgesia, aka improve your tolerance for pain.

Foul language has also been shown to improve physical strength, improve memory, bolster social bonds, and ease the pain of rejection.

So go the hell ahead and swear up a mother-effing blue streak.

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Finish The Ride is going back to the beach to finish the job they started.

………

Clear your schedule this Sunday for the first ever Cargopalooza.

Weather looking good. Bring the family along the LA River Bike Path Sunday for our first Cargopalooza!@bikinginla.bsky.social @streetsforall.org @streetsblogla.bsky.social gravelbikecalifornia.com/cargopalooza…

— CiclaValley (@ciclavalley.bsky.social) 2025-03-05T00:08:44.173Z

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Yeah, this British ad kinda gets the point across.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Bloomington, Indiana wants bike riders to stop not stopping, as the city council votes to re-install stop signs along a protected bike path, after they were removed because bicyclists complained about losing their momentum having to repeatedly stop while riding up and down hills. And because there was no reason to have them there in the first place, let alone the second place. Thanks to Ben Fulton for the heads-up. 

An Irish bike advocacy group highlights the anti-bike lies, exaggerations, misinformation and disinformation that local leaders take all too seriously.

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Local  

Pasadena explains California’s new Daylighting Law that prevents parking within 20 feet of an intersection, but doesn’t say when the city will begin enforcement.

Pasadena’s iconic Colorado Street Bridge will close to cars for a one-night party on July 19th, but you’ll need a ticket to take part.

 

State

San Diego will take advantage of a 2022 state law addressing “speed creep” due to the deadly 85th Percentile Law by reducing speed limits on 17 road segments.

 

National

A writer for Bicycling says modern bike computers can tell you everything but what time it is. This time you can read it on MSN if the magazine blocks you.

US bikemakers say if you want a bargain on a new bicycle, buy it now before Trump’s tariffs take hold.

Your next bicycling sunglasses could have a built-in dashcam and AI-powered heads-up display.

A Nebraska man traveled 400 miles to testify in support of a bill to stiffen penalties for drivers who kill bicyclists, after the drunk driver who killed his 76-year old father got off with a lousy year behind bars and a thousand dollar fine.

Georgia legislators apparently put more value on the wallets of drivers than the lives of school kids, as they push to ban speed cameras in school zones.

 

International

Canada’s National Observer say ebike sales are booming, and the country’s cities and laws need to catch up or squander the opportunity.

A new report says one out of every ten Lime bikes on London streets has bad brakes, which could be just a tad inconvenient.

A professional football, uh, soccer player for England’s third tier Mansfield Town appeared in court to plead guilty to killing a 33-year old man riding a bicycle by “careless or inconsiderate driving,” which has a maximum five-year sentence, then started a match for his team team just hours later.

Women now make up a quarter of the membership of Cycling UK, the country’s national bicycling nonprofit.

Residents of the Netherlands bought 858,000 new bicycles last year, a drop of 7% over the year before, while nearly half were ebikes.

A European environmental website profiles Olso, Norway’s cargo bicyclist, who traded his delivery truck for a box cargo bike.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website says you need a mountain bike to improve your riding skills.

 

Finally….

Your next e-foldie could fit in a suitcase. Who wouldn’t want purple bike brakes — or a Grateful Dead ebike, for that matter?

And that’s one way to open a gate.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Gap closure on LA River path through Griffith Park inches closer, and why LA drivers get fatter in slow traffic

March 4, 2025 / / No comments
Day 63 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Please forgive me for a belated Ramadan Mubarak!

And happy Mardi Gras to all who celebrate. 

Today’s graphic is a rendering from the LA City environmental report for the propose LA River path gap closure. 

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We could be getting a little closer to closing another gap in the LA River bike path.

Urbanize reports Los Angeles has published an environmental report for a new segment of the bike path, closing a 4,600-foot gap through Griffith Park between Riverside Drive and the Mariposa Bridge.

The plans call for a 12-foot wide paved path, with one lane in each direction and shoulders on either side, next to a 10-foot wide equestrian trail.

But don’t plan on riding it anytime soon.

Los Angeles has punted on previous promises to complete the full LA River path in time for the 2028 Olympics, which is why this one little segment isn’t scheduled for completion until over a year later.

And God only knows when the long missing segment through DTLA and points south will finally get built, with anticipated federal funding now up in the air.

………

A study looks at the relationship between slow traffic and fast food.

The study published in the Journal of Urban Economics shows that Los Angeles drivers who are stuck in traffic are more likely to stop for unhealthy fast food than drivers with less congested commutes.

A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, published in the Journal of Urban Economics, examined weekday traffic data from Los Angeles County highways between 2017 and 2019 and compared it with cellphone GPS data tracking customer visits to fast food restaurants in the same county during the same years. They found that when traffic was worse due to unexpected slowdowns, visits to fast food restaurants went up. This effect was especially strong if the traffic delays occurred around evening mealtimes, when drivers were leaving work and probably starting to feel some predinner hunger pangs.

In fact, for every additional 30 seconds delayed in traffic per mile traveled, there was a 1% increase in visits to fast food restaurants.

Just more proof that driving is bad for your health. And your diet.

On the other hand, bike riders are more likely to stop for tacos, based on a nonscientific study of yours truly.

Or maybe donuts.

………

Streetsblog calls out a couple of bike-related public meetings this week.

First up is a virtual update on new bus lanes on Vermont Ave at 6 pm this Thursday; work is starting now, even though the project doesn’t include any accommodation for bicycles, as required under Measure HLA.

Metro will hold the final two community meetings of the current round to discuss the Segment B of the Rail-to-Rail/River Active Transportation Corridor Project, focusing on active transportation improvements on Randolph Street through Bell, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park and Maywood; a virtual meeting will be held Thursday at noon, and a real world meeting in Bell at 10 am Saturday.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A new British bill intended to crack down on “anti-social cycling” would allow on-the-spot fines equivalent to more than $600 for riding a bike in a pedestrian zone. Although I always thought anti-social cycling was wanting to ride your bike alone. 

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

After a 65-year old salmon cyclist got right hooked by a driver, the victim got a trip to the hospital and a traffic ticket — but oddly, for failing to obey a traffic control device, rather than riding against traffic.

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Local  

The Palisades resident famous for attempting to escape the January firestorm on his bicycle while carrying two large original paintings, before leaving them with a news reporter, explains why he “unconsciously” grabbed the artwork on his rush out the door.

This time, the rich only got a little richer, as bike-friendly Santa Monica installed a little less than four miles of new and upgraded bike lanes last year, along with 39 new curb extensions, two new crosswalks and 222 repainted ones and new stop signs at key intersections.

 

State

The Kern County coroner identified the 68-year old man killed when a pickup driver slammed into his bicycle Friday evening.

A writer for the Cal Poly student newspaper says San Luis Obispo is doing bike safety right — if students stay there long enough to benefit from it.

More proof that bike lanes aren’t divisive after all, despite the loud angry voices screaming on talk radio and at public meetings, as a Berkeley poll shows that 73% of city residents support expanding bike infrastructure — including 57% who don’t bike and don’t want to.

A San Francisco website says why wait for speed cams, when they can just install more speed bumps?

Bike-riding volunteers are helping to keep people safe on the city’s bike paths, while they enjoy the scenery themselves.

 

National

I want to be like them when I grow up. Bicycling talks with people over 80 about how riding a bicycle helps them think and feel years younger. Although you’ll need a subscription if the magazine blocks you this time.

Nevada could become the next state to adopt a Stop As Yield Law, aka the Idaho Stop Law, to improve safety for people on bicycles. Meanwhile, the California legislature has passed it twice, only to see the bills die on Governor Newsom’s desk. 

Arizona bicyclists held a memorial ride to remember the two people killed and 16 injured in the 2023 Goodyear, Arizona, massacre, led by one of the survivors; driver Pedro Quintana Lujan faces just 12 misdemeanor charges, despite falsely claiming his steering locked up.

The owner of an Albuquerque, New Mexico bike shop received a $50,000 settlement from the city after she sued for wrongful arrest; she got a summons for battery when she attempted to block a combative customer from entering the store after he’d already been thrown out twice.

Sad news from Wisconsin, where a bike-riding couple in their late 50s were killed when they were run down by a 20-year old SUV driver on a rural road not far from their home.

Momentum chats with New York’s Cargo Bike Momma, whose kid-toting SUV has just two wheels.

 

International

A six-year old Scottish boy has successfully made the leap from a balance bike to shredding mountain bike trails better than most adults.

British environmentalists are going to the High Court — equivalent to a US Superior Court — to fight plans for a Coventry bike lane that would require chopping down 26 trees.

An Aussie advocacy group is fighting bad bollards on bike paths.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Pasadena Triathlon returns to the Rose Bowl this Saturday, with a format designed to encourage first-timers.

 

Finally….

Now you, too, can enjoy riding in the rain, just in time for the return of what passes for winter here in LA. Enjoy mountain biking above the Arctic Circle.

And jumping from the saddle to Slovak dancing stardom.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

People really did get ebike vouchers in state’s botched rollout, and OC mom turns car into weapon to run down kids

March 3, 2025 / / One comment
Day 62 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Look, I don’t want say today’s news is earthshaking, but we did have a 3.9 while I was writing this.

Just saying.

Today’s picture is the window over 98,000 Californians saw when they tried to claim one of the measly 1,500 ebike vouchers in the state’s deliberately botched rollout. 

………

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton says yes, there are real people who got one of the 1,500 magic ebike vouchers from the state, out of the more than 100,000 people who tried.

And even some of those didn’t have an easy time of it.

Streetsblog did hear from two people that navigated the gauntlet and received their vouchers from CARB and have purchased their e-bikes.

After successfully managing to create an account and submit information, something that many prospective applicants were unable to do, the pair still ran into issues right off the bat…

CARB, the California Air Resources Board, intentionally throttled the first round of funding, releasing just 10% of the 15,000 available vouchers, or just $3 million of the $31 million approved by the state.

Making the chances of actually getting a voucher — let alone an ebike — akin to finding one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets.

That’s after the state selected San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead to mismanage the program, then booted them after both the company and its founder came under multiple investigations, criminal and otherwise.

Let’s just hope CARB can somehow manage to get their shit together, and right this sinking ship before it goes under completely.

………

This is who we share the road with.

An Irvine mom is accused of using her car as a weapon to intentionally run down a group of teenagers, including two girls riding tandem on an ebike, after her daughter was allegedly beaten up.

And with her daughter, who had to be hospitalized following the fight, in the car when she did it.

The unnamed woman faces four counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, four counts of felony child abuse and endangerment, and a single felony count of hit-and-run.

………

Calbike posted slides from their recent webinar on alternative sources for active transportation funding, in response to anticipated cutbacks in state and federal funds.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps going on.

No bias here. Calling it a “cycle of insanity,” the bike-hating New York Post blames “car-hating bureaucrats” for a plan to eliminate a traffic lane on 6th Avenue to make more room for one of the city’s most popular bike lane, arguing that it will make traffic worse. Apparently forgetting that people on bicycles are traffic, too. And every person on a bicycle is one person who’s not causing congestion. 

Canadian researchers make the case for why bike lanes should remain on the streets of Toronto, despite Ontario Premier Doug ford’s plan to tip them out, citing research that bike lanes improve safety for all road users, while making the streets more inclusive and benefitting local businesses.

Meanwhile, a Toronto physician rides one of the bike lanes Ford plans to rip out, quoting a food delivery rider to say the future of bicycling in the city is “Not good, not good, very bad!”

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A British writer says despite testing ebikes for more than a decade, he’s had it with “vaping, portable speaker wielding” beginning e-mountain bikers who are tearing up the trails.

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Local  

Streets Are For Everyone is looking for a new director of advocacy for Los Angeles County.

A short self-guided bike ride explores the women’s history of DowntownLos Angeles to mark International Women’s Day; another ride with leave from the Incycle Pasadena bike shop on Saturday for a 25-mile, conversationally paced, no-drop ride through Elysian Park.

 

State

Doctors at Children’s Hospital of Orange County say ebike injuries are no longer just a coastal problem, saying they are now seeing kids hurt from inland cities, too.

Bizarre story from Bueno Park, where a man riding a bicycle somehow managed to jump into a fire paramedic unit and lock the doors; three firefighters suffered minor injuries struggling to get him out, including one with a bite mark.

A cop in Huntington Beach sent an ebike rider to the hospital after crashing into him at Beach Blvd and Heil Ave Wednesday night; no other details are available.

Sad news from Bakersfield, where someone riding a bicycle was killed in a collision Friday evening.

Forbes talks with Mike Sinyard, the founder and former CEO of Morgan Hill-based Specialized, as he marks 50 years of building bikes.

Santa Rosa is finally moving forward with a long-planned bike and pedestrian bridge that’s been in the works since the ’90s.

Seriously? A 30-year old San Pablo man faces up to four years behind bars after admitting to stealing a series of ebikes — exactly the same amount of time he’d face for killing someone in a hit-and-run.

 

National

American fashion designer and TV personality Rachel Zoe says it should be a “hard no” for any parent whose kid begs for an ebike, after her 13-year old son suffered a badly lacerated kidney crashing his.

A Nevada court found the 19-year old driver accused of murder for killing a bike-riding former cop competent to stand trial; Jesus Ayala was just 17 when he and another boy recorded themselves intentionally run down retired Bell, California police chief Andreas “Andy” Probst.

The late, great Gene Hackman was one of us, riding his ebike around his Santa Fe, New Mexico home.

An op-ed from a Boulder, Colorado bicyclist calls on the city to stop building bikeways, because two deaths occurred on bikeways last year, and just one on a roadway outside of the city, arguing that traffic laws don’t apply to the city’s 300 miles of multi-use paths, bike lanes and bike routes. Even though both of those bikeway crashes could have happened anywhere, and traffic laws apply to all bike lanes and bike routes, and should apply on pathways, as well. 

University of Texas researchers want you to use an AI app to measure real world road conditions that make for stressful riding.

An Ohio bike shop is out of business for the foreseeable future after the historic 132-year old building burned to the ground.

New York transit officials say the city’s modest $9 congestion pricing charge is working, despite Trump’s vow to get rid of it, providing a near billion dollar boost to the city’s economy in just the first month.

Jersey City NJ could lose out on a $670,000 state grant for a protected bike lane, falling one vote short after sitting on the money for the past two years.

Momentum offers a biking guide to the Big Easy, just in time for tomorrow’s Mardi Gras. And yes, I do know what it means to miss New Orleans.

A kindhearted Mississippi cop got a new bike for a young man whose bike was destroyed in a collision, after learning he needed it to get to and from work.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Sixty-three-year old hip-hop and R&B star Angie Stone was killed when her car overturned on a freeway near Montgomery Alabama, after performing at a Mardi Gras ball; members of her band who were also in the car were injured, but no details were available.

 

International

The Danish ambassador to Colombia says his country will soon have to look to Bogotá as an example of sustainable mobility, rather than the other way around.

Cuba’s government held an “anti-imperialist bike ride” for young people to show support for the Revolution on Saturday, possibly to distract from criticism of their economic crisis.

A short video shows a Canadian woman’s recovery from devastating injuries when she was hit by a truck driver while riding her bike home from work, to her remarkable return to Hungarian folk dancing.

The parish council of an English church will discuss local traffic safety, after a 60-something man riding a bicycle was killed in a hit-and-run. Which is exactly the problem, because these conversations always seem to come only after it’s too late. 

A former star of the British version of The Apprentice is defending herself after she was shown on video commandeering a man’s “fucking…little bike” outside her $9 million mansion, accusing him of shoving her and invading her privacy with his drone.

Thanks to Mike Burk for sharing a Threads post depicting the amazing bicycle infrastructure in Utrecht, Denmark.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 77-year old Kiwi man is preparing for a nearly 1,000-mile gravel ride through New Zealand’s rugged South Islands, climbing the equivalent of one-and-a-half Everests. Although there’s a big difference between planning a ride and actually doing it. 

Bicycling Australia highlights some of the best bike scenes from the silver screen, from Kermit and Miss Piggy to a curly-haired, redheaded Nicole Kidman making her film debut. Although they left out bothPee Wee Herman and Mary Poppins riding on two wheels. 

An Aussie writer says maybe we’re being too hard on kids riding legal, low-speed ebikes and scooters, and while illicit high-speed ebikes can be a problem, we were all young once and maybe it’s time to cut the kids a little slack.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-seven-year old Canadian cyclist Derek Gee won Spain’s O Gran Camino stage race, after his victory in Sunday’s individual time trial.

It’s happened once again, as the leaders of the French Faun-Ardèche Classic took a wrong turn near the finish yesterday, mistakenly following a race moto as it left the course.

Belgian duathlete, nurse and reality star Lotte Claes won the women’s Omloop, aka Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, in a race-long breakaway, edging Poland’s Aurela Nerlo in a sprint to the finish, while finishing nearly three-and-a-half minutes ahead of the peloton.

Velo examines how pro cyclists manage to bounce back from a broken collarbone so much faster than most of us. And not just because they have better drugs. 

 

Finally….

Knit your own socks by riding a bike without going anywhere. If you get stopped for not having lights on your bike, try not to accidentally show the cop the baggie full of illegal narcotics in your pocket.

And nothing like putting a bike safety sign right in the bike lane, right where everyone will see it, and everyone on bike go around it.

What the fuck is this!?
byu/itsTyrion inmildlyinfuriating

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Hollywood meets Koreatown CicLAvia, help provide bikes for fire victims, and 2 boys arrested in mob driver beatdown

February 28, 2025 / / No comments
Day 59 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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CicLAvia returns to Koreatown and Hollywood on the first Sunday in April, with a semi-new route traversing Wilshire, Western, Santa Monica and Highland.

Which makes it one of the easiest CicLAvia’s to get to, with Metro subway stops at either end.

Not to mention the semi-protected bike lanes on Hollywood Blvd, although they dump you off three blocks from the Hollywood and Vine Hub, leaving you to deal with the Amoeba Records and Funko traffic on your own.

https://twitter.com/CicLAvia/status/1895172175625097495

………

The Los Angeles Times’ outdoor newsletter The Wild calls out a pair of bike events this weekend we touched on earlier this week, both helping to provide bicycles to people and families affected by the recent firestorms in the LA area.

1. Walk and bike for a good cause in Culver City
Walk ‘n Rollers will host its annual Walk More Bike More Festival from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Ivy Station in Culver City. The event raises money for Walk ‘n Rollers’ adopt-a-bike program, which has refurbished and donated more than 350 bikes to families in need. This year, bikes will be primarily donated to families affected by recent wildfires. At the festival, guests can participate in free bike repairs, a scavenger hunt and a prize raffle. There will also be e-bike and skateboard demos. The event is free, but registration is requested, with the option to donate. Register at walkmorebikemore.org…

3. Build bikes in Mar Vista to help Eaton fire survivors
Bikerowave Co-op needs volunteers with bike wrenching experience to prep bikes that will be donated to people affected by the Eaton fire. The repair event will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday at its shop (12255 Venice Blvd.). The shop has several bikes to repair but welcomes donations. All bikes will be checked by a head mechanic before they’re distributed. Learn more at the shop’s Instagram page.

You can sign up for the email newsletter here.

………

Two arrests have been made in Saturday’s violent mob attack on a driver at San Vicente Blvd and McCarthy Vista by a group of teens riding bicycles.

Both boys have been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, but aren’t likely to be publicly identified unless they are tried as adults. Although it’s questionable what the deadly weapons may have been, unless the DA is counting the shoes they kicked him with.

Hopefully, these two can help identify some of the other kids, who deserve to be grounded until they’re 30, at the very least.

………

Local  

Jalopnik looks at that violent mob attack, and apparently concludes there’s a gang of teens riding around the city just randomly attacking drivers. Which unfortunately may not be that far off the mark.

 

State

Mountain View will attempt to tame one of the city’s “diciest” bicycling routes with new protected bike lanes.

Life is cheap in Fremont, where a 31-year old man was sentenced to a lousy year of home vacation detention — and will likely do less than half of that —  for the 2019 hit-and-run that killed a man riding a bicycle, after swerving to strike the victim for no apparent reason while doing 25 mph over the posted speed limit.

A new study shows San Francisco’s Slow Streets program has been successful in improving safety for all road users, and could be a key tool to reduce traffic deaths.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The 47-year old Vallejo man killed this week while riding his bike on a deadly Napa County highway has been identified as a beloved nurse and humanitarian, as well as a Tahitian dancer.

 

National

Women’s online magazine Redbook recommends the 17 best ebikes on the market. Which probably aren’t, but still.

Portlanders will join bicyclists in 74 other cities in a Tesla Takedown ride this weekend to protest Elon Musk in absentia. And yes, there are several rides planned for the LA and Orange County areas.

A writer for the University of Arizona student newspaper says the school needs better bike safety on campus. Just like pretty much every other university campus in the US. 

Bike riders in Boise, Idaho fear a new bill in the state legislature to add two new members to a county commission is intended to stack the board with opponents of bike safety projects.

An Arkansas cycling startup accelerator has selected its first ten participants, in an effort to help bicycle companies from Bentonville and around the world get a jumpstart in the industry.

A 57-year old New York man was killed by the driver of a city bus in the Bronx, which was being used as a replacement shuttle for an out-of-service subway; the crash occurred on a “killer corridor” known for traffic deaths.

Atlanta’s “massively successful” ebike rebate could see another round of funding, after already helping 800 city residents get a new ebike, many of whom might not have been able to afford one otherwise. Which is exactly what California’s designed to fail program should be doing.

A 78-year old hit-and-run driver critically injured a 78-year old Florida bike rider while fleeing from an earlier hit-and-run crash, while on his way to yet another crash before finally stopping. Once again raising the eternal question of how old is too old to drive, and why the hell we can’t get people off the road before this kind of crap happens. 

Police in Buena Vista, Florida arrested a fake “homeland security officer” for impersonating an officer, after he tucked a loaded gun inside his jacket and rode his bicycle to an apartment complex to look for “Mexicans” in the country illegally — and handing the cops a blue ID card, which was actually his application to become a licensed security officer.

 

International

Momentum recommends the best solutions to store your bikes.

If you’re planning to escape head to Canada anytime soon, don’t walk or ride in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, which has been the deadliest city north of the border for both over the last ten years, on a per capita basis; then again, Toronto isn’t much better.

A pair of hammer-armed bikejackers on a motorbike forced a man off his bike in London’s Regent Park, stealing his $5,200 bicycle in a crime captured on security cam.

Life is cheap in Scotland, where a woman walked without a single day behind bars for killing a “legendary” Glasgow bicyclist, despite falsely telling investigators that her vision was impaired.

Distracted drivers killed 32 people in Japan last year, while causing 164 serious crashes; that compares to one person killed by a distracted bike rider, despite the massive new penalty for using a cellphone while biking.

You may be freezing your ass off this winter, but Down Under they’re spontaneously stripping off their clothes and joining a naked bike ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

It’s going to cost you more to watch cycling on the Max streaming service after they discontinued bike racing on the ad-supported level.

 

Finally….

There’s just nothing like riding a dilapidated bike surrounded by ghosts and ancient cycling spirits. If you’re riding your bike with a gun, illegal drugs and an explosive-filled backpack, put a damn light on it, already.

And watch the Bob Ross off mountain biking shredding on a hundred buck bike.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Will Chalamet #biketheOscars Sunday?, LADOT ignores HLA on Hyperion Ave, and beach bike path bridge totally collapses

February 27, 2025 / / No comments
Day 58 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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There’s one question that’s on everyone’s lips in advance of Sunday’s Oscar ceremony.

Will Timothée Chalamet bike the Oscars?

Back in the heady pre-pandemic days, there was an active campaign to get someone, anyone, to arrive at the Oscar red carpet on a bicycle.

As I recall, the only star to take us up on it was actor and environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr.

Unless you want to confer stardom on Laemmle Theaters owner Greg Laemmle, who rode to the ceremony with his wife Tish and a small entourage as recently as last year.

But there may be hope, since Best Actor nominee Chalamet rode this bike to the London premier of the Oscar nominated Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, famously getting a ticket for illegally parking his bikeshare bike.

So if you know Mr. Chalamet, or know anyone who knows him — or even if you’re just within the proverbial five degrees of separation — encourage him to leave the gas-guzzling limo at home.

And hop on a bike, even if it’s just for the final few blocks.

Today’s photo shows Tish and Greg Laemmle preparing to #biketheOscars last year.

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My city councilmember took to Twitter/X yesterday to give LADOT a little pat on the head for improving safety on Hyperion Avenue, which has long been a virtual freeway for speeding drivers.

But as Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports, the work on Hyperion should have triggered Measure HLA, requiring the city to build out the already-approved mobility plan.

Mobility Plan 2035, so called because it provided what has been a largely-ignored roadmap to transportation improvements through that year, calls for bike lanes on the decidedly bike-unfriendly street, as well as handicap curb cuts and crosswalks.

Instead, Linton says the work has made the street even less safe and inviting for people on bicycles, while doing little for pedestrians other than slowing drivers.

Which, as I understand the provision of HLA, means you or anyone else are now free to sue the city to force compliance, on their dime.

So what are you waiting for, already?

This also gives provides an opportunity to remind you what a great resource Streetsblog LA is for this city, and for all of us who care about traffic safety, and how we get from here to there. 

So show them a little love, if you haven’t already. Or if you have, show ’em a little more for me. 

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It’s enough to make you cry.

According to Westside Current, a $6 million bike bridge on the Marvin Braude bike path through Will Rogers State Beach has collapsed.

Again.

Just a year after heavy rains washed out the bridge, causing a partial collapse, last week’s atmospheric river finished the job.

Which might be more of a problem, if much of the pathway wasn’t already virtually impassable in places due to sand obscuring the pavement — despite nearly $5 million in City and County funds allocated for bike path repairs and maintenance for the current fiscal year.

Even though this site called attention to that very problem 15 years ago, eventually touring the bike path with the former LA County Bikeway Coordinator and the late, great advocate George Wolfberg.

At that time, the county was very responsive, sending out crews with miniature bulldozers — and some not so miniature — to clear it off, while committing to keeping it clear.

So much for that.

Now the internationally recognized crown jewel of LA bikeways lies in ruins, collapsed and buried. A sad metaphor, perhaps, for what has happened to so much of the city and county we call home.

But one that doesn’t need to be. And shouldn’t.

Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

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Thanks to Todd Edelman for reminding us that while the media was obsessing over Tuesday’s near-miss between a Southwest Airlines plane and a private jet at Chicago’s Midway Airport, countless people riding bicycles throughout the US had their own near misses with people in the big, dangerous machines.

And more than a few probably didn’t. Miss, that is.

But there were no breathless news reports. No endless analysis of what might have gone wrong.

Just a lot of bike riding people thanking whatever power they may favor for making it home in one piece, even as the person driving probably forgot the whole thing seconds later.

If they even noticed at all.

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As we discussed last week, Pasadena-based nonprofit Day One is collecting bicycles that can be refurbished and donated to victims of the Eaton Fire in Altadena.

And now there are a lot more places where you can drop them off.

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Sounds like fun.

Gravel Bike California will host a “Cargopalooza” bike picnic and family meetup in Griffith Park next weekend.

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This is what rush hour in looks like in Copenhagen, in the middle of winter, with hardly a car in sight.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. Cycling Utah calls out a group pushing a bill in the state legislature by using falsehoods — aka lies — claiming that traffic calming is somehow bad for local neighborhoods.

And yes, there’s more, so click through for the full thread.

No bias here, either. A group of Toronto business owners filed a $10 million lawsuit over the city’s popular Bloor Street bike lanes, asking a judge to order their removal and return the street to its previous car-centric configuration. Meanwhile, Canadian advocate Lloyd Alter calls for tossing pro car, anti-bike lane Ontario Premier Doug Ford out of office “before he kills us all.”

Or here. Advocates justifiably accused The London Times of hypocrisy over the paper’s call for car-free streets where children can play, after persistently opposing Low Traffic Neighborhoods, the equivalent of our Slow Streets. Never mind the column they just published from a writer who praised violent masked bikejackers for doing the city a favor.

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Local  

No news is good news, right? 

 

State

Costa Mesa-based ebike maker Electric Bike Company has merged with Integral Electrics, a bikemaker specializing in ebikes for women and other short statured riders.

A 36-year old man suffered a broken arm and leg when he allegedly rode his bicycle through a red light and into the path of an SUV in San Diego’s Midway District Tuesday night; fortunately, his injuries weren’t considered life-threatening.

Bad news from Modesto, where a man was killed when he was hit by a driver while riding his bike through an intersection Tuesday evening.

More bad news, this time from Fremont, where a 73-year old man died a week after he hit a curb while riding in a bike, striking his head.

 

National

Streetsblog examines what little we know in this country about drivers who kill.

Bicycling looks at five of the fastest, most interesting and unique — and dare they say, coolest — bicycles that aren’t raced on the WorldTour. But you’ll need a subscription if you want to read it. 

 

International

Momentum considers ten “amazing examples” of bicycling solutions from cities around the world. None of which are Los Angeles, of course.

A writer for Bicycling Australia calls Canada’s Quebec province a stunning “bicycling heaven.”

Beloved British bike brand Nukeproof could be back from the dead, after it was bought out of bankruptcy by Belgian Cycling Factory, the parent company of Ridley.

A groundbreaking report from the UK shows that the bicycling gender gap starts early, with twice as many boys as girls considering themselves frequent bike riders, even though there’s just a 5% difference between boys and girls in perceived bicycle safety in their neighborhoods.

Be careful on your next trip to Japan, where using a cellphone while riding can cost you the equivalent of up to $1,340 or a year behind bars, and bicycling under the influence will get you a fine up to $3,350.

 

Competitive Cycling

A new video details the remarkable comeback of teenage mountain biker Robbie Seaman, who returned to competition just one year after losing his right arm in an ATV crash; then again, he was back playing lacrosse with his high school team just four months later.

The World Economic Forum calls out the courage and resilience of Olympic cyclist Masomah Ali Zada, who escaped Afghanistan to compete on the Refugee Olympic Team at last summer’s Paris Olympics.

 

Finally….

Someone apparently thought it was a good idea to have a busy bike lane stop without warning in the middle of a busy sidewalk.

And anyone can ride a bike with no hands. But try cooking a hands-free three-course meal on one.

@andrew_the_park_rat

⚠️I’m a professional don’t try this at home! #mtb #mtblife #fyp #CapCut

♬ original sound – Andrew Atnip

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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