Archive for Morning Links

Open Streets season opens, alleged drunk driver with suspended license kills teen fire refugee, and key bike bills in suspense

May 6, 2025 / / 3 comments
Day 126 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It’s open streets season again.

The City of Bell kicked things off on Saturday with a one-mile carfree event on Gage Ave; as usual, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers photos capturing the day.

Long Beach is hosting its next Beach Streets event from 10 am and 5 pm this Saturday.

According to a press release from the city,

This year’s event route will feature Willow Street and Santa Fe Avenue. Entertainment hubs along the route will feature live music, a kid zone, food trucks and more. More information regarding this year’s event, including a more detailed event route, entertainment, activities and other highlights, will be provided by the City at a later date.

That will be followed by the year’s first CicLAmini the following Saturday, a CicLAvia-style event with a shorter route to encourage people to walk rather than ride their bikes.

Here’s how their press release describes it.

Come enjoy a more pedestrian-oriented, car-free experience at CicLAvia’s 60th Open Streets event, CicLAmini—Pico Union, taking place on Sunday, May 18, between 10 a.m.–3 p.m. The public is invited to enjoy this compact neighborhood route for the day to explore Pico Union along Pico Blvd between Normandie and Union Aves. For all ages and abilities, CicLAmini—Pico Union offers walkers, joggers, bikers, skaters, and those who simply want to play with one’s favorite people-powered way to enjoy this 1.4-mile unique “pop-up park.” Always free, CicLAvia participants just show up anywhere along the route at any time to enjoy the open streets and to take the time to explore one of the most historic neighborhoods in all of Los Angeles…

“CicLAmini—Pico Union includes two hubs, where you’ll find the essentials, community partners, resource booths, photo ops, and more, plus activities for all ages sprinkled throughout the route. CicLAvia encourages participants to jog, walk, ride, skate, and bike along the open space. Free pedicab rides are also available next to each information booth to ensure that everyone, regardless of age or ability, is able to enjoy open streets. Please visit the CicLAvia website for updates regarding local gems, additional activities, and specials offered by local businesses along the route.

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Sadly, no surprise here.

Word broke yesterday that the woman who killed a popular Loyola high school senior just a month before graduation was driving on a suspended license due to a 2023 DUI.

And yes, she was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence once again after the early morning collision on Sunday, as Levi Braun was walking with a friend along Sepulveda Blvd in Manhattan Beach.

Which means 33-year old Jenia Belt could face a murder charge, assuming she signed the required Watson notice informing her she could be charged with murder if she killed someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.

She’s currently being held without bail in Manhattan Beach.

Compounding the tragedy, the 18-year old Levi, a three-year captain of his high school tennis team and four year league tennis champ, was living in Manhattan Beach because his family’s home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire.

This is yet another tragic example of the many people who continue to drive — and yes, drive under the influence — after their licenses are suspended.

We will never know just how many of those we share the road with are driving without a license, because only a handful ever get caught. But even one is one too many.

It’s not enough to take away a driver’s license. We also need to impound or immobilize the driver’s car until they get their license back.

It’s clear that nothing else will stop a percentage of suspended drivers — perhaps a sizable percentage — from getting back behind the wheel anyway.

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Streetsblog offers a disappointing legislative update, with most of the bills benefiting bike riders placed in the suspension file.

Which means they could be revived, but it’s usually just a way to kill a bill without leaving fingerprints, so no one can be blamed for it.

To make matters worse, AB 697, which would allow SR 37 to be widened between Vallejo and SR 121 in Sonoma County moved forward, even though the project would run through protected habitats and wetlands, while endangering protected species.

Widening the highway also runs against California’s climate policies. Although it does make me wonder if we could get bicyclists and pedestrians added to California’s endangered species list.

And whether that would make any difference, given this misguided bill.

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A group of cops and their loved ones are riding over 800 miles through the heart of California to honor fallen officers.

According to the Santa Clarita Signal, the group stopped in the city to hold a ceremony at the SCV Sheriff’s Station to honor of officers who died in the line of duty.

Law Enforcement United is a group of federal, state and local officers, along with survivors who pedal their bikes to remember the surviving families, according to Rich Gallo, long-ride division director of Law Enforcement United.

“We started in San Francisco on April 30; we’ll end in San Diego on May 7. That’s 851 miles since we went via Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, Bakersfield to Tehachapi and now into Santa Clarita. Tomorrow, we’ll do the circuit through and around Los Angeles and then down into Camp Pendleton into San Diego,” Gallo said.

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Thanks to John Cinatl for forwarding this item from Safe Routes to School announcing their annual summit this fall.

Get ready to connect, collaborate, and chart a path forward at the 2025 Safe Routes to School Virtual Summit! The 2025 Summit is completely virtual, and early bird tickets are now on sale for just $99!

We’re planning three days of engaging presentations, hands-on trainings, and educational conversations focused on topics that matter most to Safe Routes practitioners, including:

  • Quick win projects
  • Rural Safe Routes programs
  • E-bike safety and education
  • Walking school buses and bike trains
  • Creative partnerships
  • …and so much more!

Speakers are currently being confirmed, but you can expect useful tools, inspiring stories, and a community working to make walking and rolling safer and more accessible for communities throughout the country!

Early bird ticketing closes July 4, 2025!
Don’t miss this deal: register now!

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Yep. That about sums it up.

Thanks to someone who wishes to remain anonymous for the forward.

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

No surprise here. A British road safety expert says a new law that imposing life in prison for bike riders who kill pedestrians is unlikely to significantly improve safety, especially when the biggest threat comes from speeding drivers.

But sometimes its the people on two wheels behaving badly.   

Police in Dorsett, England are already spaying scofflaw riders of ebikes, quad bikes and motorbikes with fluorescent paint in order to identify and ticket them later, as part of a pilot project.

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. A man in his 70s somehow drove through the security gate at the home of Friends and The Morning Show star Jennifer Anniston, and was held at gunpoint by security guards until police arrived; at last report, there was still no word on whether the act was intentional.

Culver City issued a proclamation in support of Bike Month. Which unfortunately didn’t include restoring the MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes they ripped out, which is probably the only proclamation most of us want to hear from them.

ActiveSGV hosts a three-hour Bikes and Boats Tour this Saturday; the ride will explore the San Gabriel River Bike Path, the Whittier Narrows Recreational Area and the Merced Ave Greenway project, as well as including a free 30-minute paddle boat ride at Legg Lake. Although we all remember what happened with the last three-hour tour. Right, Gilligan?

 

State

Police in Westminster will hold a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation today, ticketing anyone who commits a violation that could endanger either group. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits so you’re not the one who gets written up. 

Redding says forget the state’s failed ebike voucher program, and get one of that city’s $1000 ebike vouchers instead.

 

National

Pee Wee Herman’s iconic cruiser bike from 1985’s Pee Wee’s Big Adventure was sold to a private collector for $125,000. Which was over twice the estimated price, and a hell of a lot less than I thought it was worth.

Popular ebike maker E-Cells was the latest bikemaker to bite the dust, bringing the company’s all-wheel-drive, extremely high performance fat tire ebikes to a grinding halt, in part because of Trump’s 170% tariffs on Chinese-made bikes.

A judge in Queens, New York dismissed a lawsuit from a group of Long Island business owners, clearing the way for a protected bike lane through an industrial area that will probably improve safety for their drivers, as well as people on bicycles.

 

International

An Ontario, Canada website reminisces about those halcyon days of North America’s first bicycle craze.

Speaking of Ontario, a small town is celebrating its new crossrides, as opposed to crosswalks, allowing bicyclists to cross the intersection without dismounting. Or, go with me on this, they could just allow bicycles to use the already existing crosswalks.

Bicyclists in Northern Ireland decry the country’s dramatic and dangerous jump in drivers illegally parking in bike lanes.

A Welsh website recommends the rugged, jaw-dropping hiking and biking trails around the UK’s tallest dam that you’ve probably never heard of.

Stars & Stripes warns US service members about Japan’s new restrictions on bicyclists, making it illegal to ride salmon, ride abreast or ride using a smartphone. So much for using your phone’s GPS.

Three thousand people turned out for a race/fondo on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with elite teams competing for the win, and leisurely bicyclists just out for the ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sports Illustrated celebrates Colorado’s three-day Durango to Silverton Iron Horse Classic, calling the festival founded in 1971 America’s second-oldest bicycling event. Although it’s kind of sad that the second oldest bike event is only 54-years old, which says a lot about this country’s inability to sustain bike races and other bike events. 

My home state scored big in the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, as Colorado Mesa University and the University of Colorado Boulder won the team omnium titles.

 

Finally…

That feeling when an AI written story wants to give California’s $2,000 ebike vouchers to motorists. Or when just riding your bike without a satnav is somehow a big deal.

And your next bike seat could rock and roll each of your buns separately.

No, really.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Officials stonewall on ebike voucher fiasco, and CA Supreme Court rules cities are obligated to maintain safe streets

May 5, 2025 / / No comments
Day 125 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Once again, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff McDonald is on the story of the massive California Ebike Voucher Program fiasco.

And he sounds as frustrated with all the stonewalling as we are.

State officials have not explained why the enrollment program keeps crashing. Instead, a department spokesperson acknowledged the errors and said the board is committed to figuring out what went wrong and doing a more effective job going forward…

A San Diego charity called Pedal Ahead won the state e-bike contract in 2022. The entity was founded by former political consultant and FBI informant Edward Clancy, who also set up a for-profit company with the same name.

No one from Pedal Ahead responded to requests for comment…

Clancy, who left Pedal Ahead last year, has not replied to multiple requests for comment since the civil and criminal investigations were disclosed. His successor, Scott Anderson, also has not responded to requests.

Aside from all the “no comment” comments, McDonald’s story is probably the best insight we’re going to get into what the hell is going on with this clown show, at least for now.

And there’s no word on when — or honestly, if — we’ll get a redo on the 2nd application window, which suddenly slammed shut on everyone who had somehow managed to get through the crashed website into the application waiting room.

As I said last week, at least part of the problem was opening the window for just one hour, then encouraging everyone to apply early — virtually ensuring they would overwhelm the apparently meager servers and crash the system.

And yes, McDonald had the excellent good taste to quote yours truly.

But you’ll have to read the story to get my take.

Thank you to CARB and Pedal Ahead for allowing me to dig out my favorite fail photo one more time.

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In a big win for bike riders, the California Supreme Court found that cities have a legal responsibility to maintain safe streets, ruling that they can’t rely on liability waivers to avoid responsibility for dangerous road conditions.

The case involved cyclist Ty Whitehead, who suffered a traumatic brain injury during a charity training ride after hitting a large, obscured pothole on Skyline Boulevard in Oakland. Although Whitehead had signed a release form as part of the event, the Court ruled that such waivers cannot excuse a city from its statutory duty to maintain safe public roads. The Court unanimously found that exempting cities from liability in these cases violates California Civil Code section 1668, which prohibits contracts that waive responsibility for a violation of the law…

The ruling clarifies that municipal liability cannot be sidestepped through fine print and reaffirms that cyclists are entitled to the same legal protections as any other road user. It is especially significant at a time when more Californians are choosing bicycles for health, transportation, and environmental reasons.

That means that if you hit a pothole or crack in the road, or if safety markings are worn or missing, the city could be legally responsible for any injuries, even with a liability waiver.

And I know some damn good lawyers if you ever need one.

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Speaking of potholes, Streets For All urges you to take action to fight the Mayor’s disaster of a budget.

And don’t get me started on the pitted and cracked hellscape that is Fairfax Ave.

Meanwhile, the street safety PAC applauds CD5 Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky for supporting the ongoing call to reopen the gate blocking bicycle access to the Los Angeles National Cemetery, which would allow bike riders to safely avoid deadly Wilshire Blvd near the 405.

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This site has long supported Bike Talk and their work to give a voice to bike riders here in Los Angeles, and throughout the US.

Here’s your chance to support them, too — and get a great bonus in return.

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

New York bicyclists will now risk a criminal summons requiring them to appear in court for minor offenses like running a stop light or stop sign, as the city naturally responds to the jump in traffic violence by blaming the victims. Thanks to Robert Karwasky for the heads-up. 

No surprise here, as British commenters blame the victim for not riding in the bike lane, after a van driver honked his horn and clipped the man with his wing mirror in a brutal punishment pass.

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Local 

Crosstown says walking in Los Angeles is becoming increasingly deadlier, with 39 pedestrians killed on the streets and sidewalks of LA through April 12th of this year, up 50% from a decade ago — and they point the finger, as so many others have, at the city’s failure to fully implement Vision Zero.

Last year was also the deadliest on record for animals in the City of Angels, according to Crosstown.

The Sierra Club says the bicycling community — and Los Angeles-based ex-pro cyclist Phil Gaimon in particular — is becoming some of the most passionate protectors of our public lands; Gaimon is also the host of the Worst Retirement Ever YouTube series and the annual Phil’s Cookie Fondo in the Santa Monica Mountains.

 

State

San Diego residents are encouraged to ride somewhere, anywhere on May 15th for Bike Anywhere Day.

A San Diego security cam captured a man and woman stealing a pair of bicycles worth a combined $27,000 from a well-known figure in the city’s bicycling community. Although I can think of a lot better things to do on a date.

Sad news from Visalia, where a 53-year old man was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

More tariff news, as a Visalia couple started a custom ebike business with bikes from Australia, but made with parts from China — which subjects them to a whopping 170% tariff that went into effect after they placed their order.

A San Francisco website introduces the city’s “anti-profit” community bike shop.

 

National

Momentum lists the top ten bicycling cities in the US, according to figures from Strava. And despite everything, Los Angeles actually made the list at #9, with an average commute of 9.5 miles. So much for all those people who say no one would ever bike more than three miles to work, if at all.

National Public Radio looks at Portland’s monthly bike commuting tradition of breakfast on the bridges.

Portland bicyclists came out for a ride to celebrate Star Wars Day, aka May the 4th, many dressed in the appropriate costumes.

Over 1,100 people were left disappointed when the annual L’Etape Las Vegas by Tour de France was cancelled due to heavy rain and unsafe road conditions.

The attorney for a 13-year-old New Mexico boy convicted in the thrill-kill death of a bike-riding man while driving a stolen car says he hopes the boy will be reformed during his time behind bars; the boy received the maximum penalty for a juvenile, sentenced to remain behind bars unto he turns 21.

Colorado-based mountain bikemaker Revel Bikes could soon rise from the dead, following hints of new ownership less than a month after they went belly-up.

Local Queens residents turned out to protest plans to ban bikes from the boardwalk in New York’s Rockaway Beach.

A New York newsletter examines what’s being done to protect bike riders and pedestrians, after a recent rash of traffic deaths.

A whopping 30,000 people took over the streets of New York for New York’s 47th annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour, possibly the world’s largest charity ride.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The popular and influential synthwave artist known as “Starcadian” was killed in a dooring in New York; 44-year old George Smaragdis slammed into the door of a Mercedes when the driver flung it open, then fell under a delivery box truck. And no, I don’t know what synthwave is, either.

Now the trees are out to get us, too, as a Pennsylvania bike rider learned the hard way.

Sad news from North Carolina, where an 18-year-old Mormon missionary was killed, and another rider injured, when they were struck by a driver who literally ran away from the crash.

 

International

Road.cc reviews a $332 anti-axel grinder bike lock, but somehow doesn’t bother to test whether it actually resists one.

Awful news from Wales, where a woman was somehow entrapped by and impaled on her bicycle after falling on a coastal bike path.

Speaking of Wales, a 35-year old man completed a ride halfway around the world, covering over 14 months, 26 countries and 16,250 miles from Cardiff to Australia’s New South Wales.

An English mayor is riding 300 miles from St. Neots in Cambridgeshire, England to St. Neot in Cornwall, Wales, in hopes of repairing a 1,000-year old rift between the two identically named towns that began with the theft of the saint’s bones from the Welsh church.

Inmates at a London prison are being schooled as bicycle mechanics, giving a new hope for the future for “bikes and blokes with a past.”

A Parisian woman finds her place amid the bicycling ghosts from the past. Meanwhile, National Geographic explains how to tour the City of Lights from a bicycle seat like a local. But it will cost you your email to read it.

Sad news from Northern Italy, where a 31-year old top level amateur cyclist died after losing control on a descent and crashing into a wall during the Granfondo di Bergamo.

A writer for Travel + Leisure claims to have found Europe’s most peaceful summer adventure by riding 160 miles through the 20,000 islands of the Finland archipelago.

A European website examines the things you can and can’t do while riding in Spain, where the rain falls mostly on the plain. Or so I’ve heard.

A newspaper in Malta says flimsy painted bike lanes are the wrong way to protect bike riders, but protected and/or elevated bike lanes are the right way.

That feeling when you ride 560 miles across a Kazakh lake without setting foot on dry land. Or wheels, for that matter.

 

Competitive Cycling

The women’s Vuelta a España, aka La Vuelta Femenina, kicked off Sunday with a team time trial through the streets of Barcelona. But it nearly didn’t, amid the chaos caused by a delayed UCI inspection, when the Movistar Team showed up late and only one of the two judges was available, forcing two Visma-Lease a Bike riders to miss the start.

Road.cc makes the argument for why UCI should allow F1-style bicycles designed just for pro cyclists, and not built for or sold to the general public.

One of the best things about bicycling is when you pick you a stray bike rider along the way — alike falling in with Jonas Vingegaard on a training ride.

A new book tells the story of the legendary French cyclist Jacques Anquetil, aka “Monsieur Chrono,” the first man to win all three Grand Tours and the first five-time winner of the Tour de France.

American cycling legend Bobby Julich says your local crit is what draws new cycling fans into the sport.

 

Finally…

Why cats land on their feet, and your bike doesn’t fall over when you ride. We may have to watch out for LA drivers who dart out of side streets, but at least we don’t have to worry t-boning a darting deer.

And that feeling when your dog sticks the landing, too.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Waymo claims autonomous cabs protect peds and bike riders, and tariffs endanger threatened American bike industry

May 2, 2025 / / No comments
Day 122 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Waymo says that after five years in use, their autonomous taxis are up to 25 times safer for bike riders and pedestrians than the vehicles with people behind the wheel.

The company’s cars have completed 56.7 million miles in operation, resulting in a total of 96 crashes with just four serious injuries.

That compares with an average of roughly 78 serious injury crashes over the same distance for human drivers.

I took my first ride in a Waymo  yesterday, and while appreciated the way it braked when necessary due to cars pulling out in front of it, I ended up getting carsick due to the frequent turns to avoid major streets.

No stars, would not recommend.

Photo from Waymo website. 

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More bad tariff news, as an open letter from People For Bikes warns that Trump’s tariffs will have “devastating impacts” on the already endangered bicycle industry if they aren’t adjusted in the short term.

And went on to point out that companies already assembling bikes in the US are struggling to survive.

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

A Washington State bike rider reported being shot with a BB gun by someone in a passing car, suffering injuries on his thigh and stomach. Which police should take just as seriously as any other drive-by shooting, considering the possibility of permanent injuries or a deadly crash.

No bias here. The BBC staged an “us versus them” debate on the hostility faced by bike riders, asking listeners “Is public sympathy for cyclists wearing thin?”

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Local 

Lime is planning to add 2,000 dockless ebikes across the Los Angeles area, adding to the company’s thousands of e-scooters, calling it the start of a new green era in preparation for the 2028 Olympics. Although the way things are going in Los Angeles, it may be the about only green transportation for the Olympics.

Metro Bike Share is hosting a Westwood to the Waves community bike ride on Sunday, and a Stronger Tides, Stronger Community ride from Mar Vista to Venice on Saturday, May 10th.

Pasadena police will conduct a bicycle safety operation on Friday, May 16th, focusing on behaviors and violations by drivers that put people on bicycles at risk — although once again, it’s illegal to target any one particular group, rather than all road users.

 

State

The owner of specialty fire-glass manufacturer SAFTI FIRST donated 50 new mountain bikes to UC Merced, which will be distributed to several campus organizations including the bike club and the campus bicycle loaner program.

The San Mateo Daily Journal examines the reasons behind an increase in bicycling crashes in urban areas. And for once, the people on two wheels don’t get the blame. 

A pair of San Francisco LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS organizations will host competing fundraising stage rides to Sonoma County next year, in the wake of the demise of the annual AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Novato-based Santa Cruz Bicycles is recalling the batteries for their Heckler 9 Ebikes due to a risk of fires.

 

National

Oregon Republicans want to eliminate funding for all transit, rail and bicycle programs, requiring the state transportation department to focus on its “core mission” to support car and truck drivers. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up. 

Colorado is implementing a two-year, $167 million to fix the deadly nine-mile Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont, where 17-year old US National Cycling Team member Magnus White was killed by a sleep-deprived, possibly intoxicated driver two years ago.

As the Arkansas Global Cycling Accelerator nears the end of its first session, an Ozarks public radio station talks with one of its first beneficiaries as he works to bring the world’s lightest bike lock to market.

If you build it, they will come. New York built or upgraded a record 110 miles of protected bike lanes, resulting in a record level of ridership, with an estimated 226 million bicycling trips each year across the city. Meanwhile, Los Angeles built less than 107 miles of bike lanes of any type over the last three fiscal years. And has no idea how many bike trips are taken in the city each year. 

 

International

Momentum recommends the best North American rail trails to ride this summer, one of which is actually in (Northern) California.

Road.cc highlights a handful of innovative bike security solutions. I’ll take than underground bike parking vault, please.

Speaking of Lime, a writer for Road.cc says it’s time to stop whining about the dockless ebikes blighting neighborhoods and crowding out regular bike riders, because they’re “currently the jewel in Britain’s diminutive active travel crown.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist talks with Spanish ultra-endurance cyclist and runner Juan Dual, who has competed in some of the world’s toughest races, despite having his large intestine, rectum, stomach and gall bladder removed due to a genetic condition causing cancer of the digestive system.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you drop four grand on a Canyon bike on Amazon, and can’t even get next day delivery. Listen my children and you shall hear, of a bunch of people on bicycles re-enacting the midnight ride of Paul Revere.

And that feeling when you somehow manage to sideswipe a parked bus on your ebike.

https://twitter.com/UB1UB2/status/1917566094618829148?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1917566094618829148%7Ctwgr%5Ef063c8238e5fccdd64da3b6ea46151197f8f3f95%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.standard.co.uk%2Fnews%2Ftransport%2Fcyclist-injury-lime-bike-shoreditch-tfl-london-bus-b1225450.html

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

This town ain’t big enough for anti-bike lane columnists, welcome to Bike Month, and the annual Pasadena Ride of Silence

May 1, 2025 / / No comments
Day 121 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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No bias here.

A columnist for the Los Angeles News Group says the situation on LA streets is best described as a Western, spaghetti or otherwise.

It wouldn’t be about cowboys versus Indians. It wouldn’t be about ranchers versus homesteaders. It wouldn’t be about gold miners versus general store operators.

It would be about drivers versus bicyclists.

“Mister, this road ain’t big enough for both of us” could replace “Eureka” as the official motto of California.

According to writer Susan Shelly, it would pit all those good townsfolk who drive cars, delivery vans, ambulances “and other motor vehicles relied upon for timely transportation,” against a group that “apparently is not in a hurry to get anywhere.”

And the group that is not in a hurry — aka the people on bicycles, joined by transit users — have somehow made it their mission to slow down traffic, something the people who have “to be somewhere quickly” don’t appreciate.

So guess who the bad guys are in this scenario?

Never mind that slowing down traffic improves safety and saves lives for everyone. And it’s not the people on two wheels who are out there killing people like a drunken gunslinger shooting up the town saloon.

She goes on to examine the Measure HLA lawsuit filed by Streetsblog editor Joe Linton over the lack of bike lanes in Metro’s semi-Complete Streets makeover of the Vermont Ave corridor, while misrepresenting the debate over the adoption of the city’s mobility plan in 2015.

There was resistance from some council members to adopting a plan that aimed to slow city traffic on major arteries. But advocates said it was simply “a vision statement” and “an aspirational document.” Bonin said it would “help us get active transportation funds from the state.” Council President Herb Wesson reassuringly told reluctant colleagues, “This is a concept. If you choose to vote on this today, it will not be put in place tomorrow.”

It was actually an LADOT official blindsiding advocates when she described the 2010 Bike Plan — which was subsumed into the mobility plan — as merely “aspirational,” just days after a successful fight to get it approved by the city council, who passed it with unanimous support.

And Wesson’s comment was a reference to the plan’s 20-year timeline, which meant that it would not have to be put in place right away. But that never meant it wouldn’t be put in place at all.

Shelley ends with a return to the lawsuit over the city’s failure to enforce the requirements of Measure HLA on Vermont, after describing the measure as something put on the ballot by “fuming-mad bicyclists.”

And never mentioning that it passed with overwhelming support from a broad spectrum of voters.

The city disputes that it is obligated to make these changes, but meanwhile, Metro, a countywide agency, is removing a traffic lane on Vermont Avenue to build a dedicated bus lane, enraging the bike-lane people and causing the movie to have an exciting but complicated subplot.

In the final scene, everyone realizes there’s no money for any of it, and the drivers win.

It’s not the bus lanes “enraging the bike-lane people,” as Shelley says. The “bike-lane people” I know are all in favor of a dedicated bus lane.

Instead, it’s the fact that Metro isn’t also building the bike lane that’s called for in the mobility plan, and so required by law under the terms of HLA.

It’s also not true that the money isn’t there.

In fact, the Vermont Ave project is budgeted at a whopping $425 million. And it will cost a lot less to install bike lanes now while the whole street is under construction, rather that going back and installing them after this project is finished.

But why let a couple inconvenient facts like that ruin a good metaphorical screed?

Never mind that the drivers are already winning.

But then, the cowboys in the black hats usually do win until just before the hero saves the town and rides off into the sunset, to beat her metaphor like the dead horse it is.

Photo by Ahmet Çığşar from Pexels. Think of it as a metaphorical columnist suffering from windshield bias driving ever more car traffic.

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Welcome to National Bike Month.

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Bike Month also means it’s time for the annual Pasadena Ride of Silence at the Rose Bowl on May 21st to honor fallen bicyclists.

PASADENA, CA, April 28, 2025 – The cycling community of Pasadena invites the public to join in for the annual Ride of Silence on Wednesday, May 21st, at 6 p.m. This solemn event, now in its 23rd year, honors cyclists who have been injured or killed on public roadways and raises awareness about sharing the road safely.

  The Pasadena Ride of Silence will begin at the Rose Bowl in the north end of Lot I, with registration and check-ins beginning at 6:15 p.m., announcements at 6:30 p.m., and white doves from White Dove Release will be sent off individually to honor the cyclists lost during the last year at 6:50 p.m. At 7 p.m., a police escort will lead cyclists en masse on a slow and silent 7-mile route to Pasadena City Hall, where attendees will observe a moment of silence to honor friends and family lost to traffic violence. The ride will finish at the Rose Bowl with free tacos for all registered participants. 

 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 1,105 cyclists were killed by drivers of motor vehicles in 2022, the highest number ever recorded since the federal government started collecting data in 1975. Experts believe the increase in fatalities is due to several factors: inadequate street designs to include safe lanes for cycling, larger vehicles such as pickups and SUVs, which are deadlier in size and shape, higher horsepower in vehicles, and distracted driving. 

The NHTSA has finalized a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard to make automatic emergency braking (AEB), including pedestrian AEB, standard on all passenger cars and light trucks by September 2029. Making this safety feature standard (previously, it was bundled with expensive tech packages) is part of the Department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy to address the crisis of deaths on the roads and hopes to make U.S. roads dramatically safer for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike.

“We ride in silence to honor those we’ve lost, to raise awareness for the safety of all cyclists, and to remind the world that we belong on the road too,” said Thomas Cassidy, Pasadena Ride of Silence organizer. 

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Yep.

That pretty well sums it up.

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

A town in Illinois voted to make things more dangerous by requiring anyone on any type of bicycle to ride single file, reducing visibility of bike riders and encouraging unsafe passing, in a misguided effort to reign in teens on ebikes.

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Local 

NPR picks up the story of DTLA’s bike-riding, chainsaw-wielding tree assassin, and the effect his crimes had on the local community.

 

State

Calbike says bills creating a quick-build bike lane program and creating a bike highways are likely to end up in the Appropriations Committee’s Suspense File, which could lead to an eventual floor vote, or could just provide a way for opponents to quietly kill them.

Streetsblog argues that the California Ebike Incentive Program needed a win after endless delays and the total disaster of the first round of vouchers, and instead ended up with more egg on their face when the website crashed during yesterday’s second round of voucher applications, leading them to cancel the application window.

A new report analyzing state-by-state bike theft data shows California has the nation’s highest rate of stolen bicycles, almost double that of number two Texas.

Irvine is hosting the Orange County city’s second annual CicloIrvine open streets event this Saturday.

New stats have reignited the debate over the curb protected bike lanes on Coast Highway 101 through Cardiff, as a member of the Encinitas Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission reports the 42 crashes since 2020 represent a 400% increase compared to the 14 years prior; however, the chair of BikeWalk Encinitas says there’s no way to know how many lives may have been saved by the barriers.

Life is cheap in San Diego County, where a woman who killed a 71-year old man riding a bicycle while she was fleeing from the Border Patrol with a car full of undocumented immigrants, and driving at twice the speed limit on the wrong side of the road, was sentenced to just three years and five months behind bars — even though she had faced up to 20 years behind bars.

A new volunteer Bakersfield bike patrol trained by the National Ski Patrol will provide security and help to people in need on the Kern River Bike Path.

A Sacramento letter writer says yes, cops should ticket all those dangerous scofflaw bike riders. Never mind that people in cars, trucks and SUVs pose a much greater risk to everyone.

 

National

A new study published in the journal PLOS One demonstrated that both seniors riding ebikes and regular bikes showed improved cognitive function compared to a non-bicycling control group, while the ebike group had more confidence in completing the assigned rides.

Seattle bike riders protested a dangerous bikeway design where a protected bike lane ends suddenly and dumps riders into dangerous traffic, prompting the city to install temporary barriers to protect riders.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Residents of Pleasant Grove, Utah are remembering a nine-year old boy was killed by a hit-and-run driver as he was just trying to cross the street on his bicycle; police later took a man in his 80s in for questioning.

Women behind bars in Idaho are being trained to repair bicycles to donate to people on the outside, and will get a bicycle upon their release.

Sad news from my ostensibly bike-friendly Colorado hometown, where a longtime local bike advocate and the leader of a weekly no-drop ride was killed when he was struck head-on by a motorcyclist who made an ill-advised pass of another motorbike rider close to a curve.

Indianapolis just opened a new bridge with two-thirds of the surface devoted to bicyclists and pedestrians, and just one lane in each direction for cars.

Maine’s Acadia National Park offers 45 miles of forested scenic gravel roads that are closed to cars.

A Boston TV station examines the city’s “simmering debate” over bike lanes, after the mayor ripped out protective barriers on a number of bike lanes because angry drivers found them inconvenient.

 

International

No surprise here. A new study shows that pedestrians and bicyclists are far more likely to be killed by today’s massive, flat-grilled pickups and SUVs, with a 44% higher fatality risk overall, and 82% higher for children.

Road.cc examines the pros and cons of hiding an AirTag or other electronic trackers on your bike to help find it if it gets stolen.

A slideshow features bizarre bicycle designs the writers didn’t think were possible. Thanks to an anonymous source for the link.

Canada’s Banff National Park is extending a spring and fall ban on cars on a section of the Bow Valley Parkway through the park, after a successful three-year pilot program.

A writer for The Guardian says it’s no wonder BBC broadcaster Jeremy Vine has stopped posting bike cam videos, because the rage directed towards bike riders is off the scale — and comments from politicians deliberately stirring up anger to troll for votes don’t help.

A Scottish website recommends eight of the best bike paths in Glasgow, for your next trip to the land of Bobby Burns.

A Greek travel website recommends riding your bike around the Aegean island of Spetses.

Great idea. Our German correspondent Ralph Durham reports seeing traffic lights with the poles illuminated by LED lights on a visit to Izmir, Turkiye, turning the poles red, yellow and green to match the traffic signal.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as Momentum offers everything you need to know about Japan’s Shimanami Kaidō bike route, calling it a paradise for bicyclists.

 

Competitive Cycling

America’s only remaining Tour de France winner confirmed that he’s running for president of UCI, the umbrella organization in charge of bike racing around the world.

Cyclist recounts the complete history of the Pinarello Dogma, calling it the most dominant race bike in modern cycling history.

 

Finally…

Evidently, a sidewalk-level bike lane without noticeable markings is just a sidewalk. Beating your 75-year old neighbor because of where he put his garbage is not an approved use of an ebike wheel.

And now even shopping cart drivers are out to get us.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Another failure as CA ebike voucher website crashes, don’t DOGE LA protest tonight, and bringing HLA to LAC

April 30, 2025 / / No comments
Day 120 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

You’ve got to be kidding.

The California E-Bike Incentive Program had more than four months to work out all the bugs after their disastrous, deliberately throttled first round.

And they screwed the pooch again.

There’s just no good way to put it. Yesterday’s second round of voucher applications was yet another demonstration of the sheer incompetence of the people running this program.

I signed onto the program’s application window on at exactly 5 pm yesterday. Or rather, I tried to. And apparently, so did everyone else.

What I got when I clicked on the “Apply” button was…nothing. So I tried again. And again. And I kept trying, and kept getting the same result — the very definition of insanity,

Until I finally got this.

Judging by the responses when I posted about it on Twitter/X and Bluesky, so did nearly everyone else. A few, very few, people managed to get in.

Eventually, so did I, entering the portal for the voucher lottery with exactly five minutes left in the application window.

Then two minutes later, I was kicked out. And so was everyone else.

The program administrators knew the volume they could and should expect, after more than 100,000 people tried, and mostly failed, to apply for vouchers in the first round.

Yet they somehow still gave just one hour for all those people to apply. Then remarkably — and foolishly — recommended that everyone the enter the room as early as possible, virtually guarantying they would all hit the “Apply” button exactly at the same time.

And bringing the website crashing down, taking the voucher window down with it.

Going forward, they should provide at least a 12-hour window to apply, if not a week, so it doesn’t crash the system. Then inform the winners by email, giving them another 24 hours to get their applications in.

And don’t throttle the damn applications.

Just release all the remaining funding at once, so people at least have a reasonable chance of getting a voucher. Unlike the current round, where the 1,000 available vouchers represented less than 1% of the anticipated demand.

Once program proves successful — and there’s no reason why it wouldn’t — go back to the legislature to request another round of funding.

Then fire troubled San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, which was contracted to administer the program, and consider moving oversight of this program out of CARB, because they have clearly shown they can’t handle it.

No other ebike rebate program anywhere in the US has had as much difficulty launching, and needed as much time, as California. We were the first to approve an ebike voucher program, and the last to get it up and running right

This whole damn thing should be investigated by the state, because it’s hard to believe anyone could be so fucking incompetent by accident.

They also need to figure out what the hell they’re trying to accomplish, because they have two glaringly conflicting goals.

When you visit the California Ebike Incentive Program website, and watch the required video on climate change, the message is about getting people onto ebikes and out of their cars.

But by limiting applications to lower income residents, and favoring people with the lowest incomes, the clear intent is to provide those people with reliable transportation, whether or not they even own a car.

Which is something they should have figured out in those first three and a half years.

But somehow, didn’t.

………

Don’t forget tonight’s die-in on the steps of City Hall to protest the mayor’s draconian budget cuts and layoffs, which could set safer and more livable streets — and Measure HLA — back for years.

Even the General Manager of LADOT thinks it’s a lousy idea.

Dying-In Los Angeles – A Protest for Safer Streets: Don’t “DOGE” LA Safety

A coalition of non-profits and road safety advocates will be hosting a protest on the steps of LA City Hall to raise awareness of LA’s dystopian-level budget cuts.

If these cuts go through, there will be no funding for new safety improvements next year — no speed reduction measures, no protected bike lanes, no pedestrian upgrades. Nothing.

Join us at 6pm, April 30th – LA City Hall.

And don’t forget to sign the petition telling Mayor Bass not to DOGE LA safety.

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Streets For All wants your support today for a Measure HLA-style ordinance for LA County.

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Bike Culver City want you to celebrate the cars of the past, while demonstrating that bikes are the future.

We’ve grown up surrounded by cars powered by fossil fuel-burning engines. Many of our fondest memories occurred in a car: our first kiss, riding to a beach party, feeling independent for the first time, experiencing pride of ownership, and cherishing and caring for a beautiful machine. Today, these modes of transport have become cherished relics—too precious to drive, costly to operate and maintain, and plagued by traffic congestion, rude drivers, and their contribution to poor air quality.

Displaying cars as cherished relics is appropriate, given their immense sentimental value. Bike Culver City welcomes over 500 exhibitors to our city on Saturday, May 10th, from 9 am to 3 pm, https://www.culvercitycarshow.com. Please bring your bike to commemorate this event during National Bike Month and send a photo of yourself and your bike in front of your favorite relic to aardus@yahoo.com. We will post the image as part of the Bike to the Future II display at https://www.facebook.com/groups/bikecc. Please patronize our local businesses as you always do.

The Car Show street closures provide thousands of walkers and strollers with the opportunity to enjoy downtown Culver City safely on foot, free from the dangers of traffic, as well as air and noise pollution. Imagine the paradise if downtown street closures were not just a once-a-year event. Join us!

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

After a driver in Baton Rouge, Louisiana struck a man riding a bicycle, he pulled a gun on the victim, ordering him “not to get (his) mf’n license plate” — yet the police somehow responded by telling bike riders to be aware of their surroundings, rather than, say, watch out of angry armed nut jobs.

No bias here. Residents of a DC neighborhood are calling for new protected bike and bus lanes to be removed because delivery drivers are now parking in the one remaining traffic lane, instead of, say, calling for increased enforcement to stop illegal parking.

Japanese bike riders say the country should be focused on building better bike infrastructure, instead of cracking down on bad behavior by bicyclists.

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

An Australian columnist says she’s not opposed to ebikes, but the dangerous bad behavior of ebike riders has got to stop. Although maybe someone can explain why the newspaper chose to illustrate ebikes donated to emergency departments with a picture of ebike-riding young women in tiny bikinis.

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Local 

Culver City announced a 15-week beautification and maintenance program on the Ballona Creek Bike Path, leading to periodic disruptions on Thursdays between 6:30 am and 4 pm.

A Burbank writer for the Sierra Club says trade your car for a bike, and you’ll discover beauty and nature even in the heart of the city.

Pasadena is planning a jam-packed calendar of events to celebrate Bike Month next month, including National Ride a Bike Day, and Bike to School and Bike to Work Days.

Sad news from Castaic, where a man riding a bicycle died after going into cardiac arrest; the victim has not been publicly identified.

 

State

About damn time. A bill moving through the California legislature would require drunk drivers to install breathalyzers in their cars after their first offense.

They get it. The usually conservative Los Angeles Daily News says the California DMV is working to keep dangerous drivers on the road, instead of getting them off.

San Francisco Streetsblog looks at the new curbside protected bike lanes on the city’s Valencia Street, which replace the much maligned centerline bike lanes.

Novato rejected plans for a new bike lane, with the city council voting 4-1 to preserve a lousy 27 parking spaces over saving lives.

 

National

Mountain bike legend Tom Ritchey is crowdfunding his new autobiography, promising to add extra pages if he can get the total up to $75,000 by May 15th.

Trek has launched a new technical support hotline, with help available for any brand of bike through their new AI-free Trek Ride Club app.

That’s more like it. A Portland, Oregon man was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and an additional 7-½ years for attempted murder for running over and killing a pedestrian, then driving up on the sidewalk and attempting to run down a man riding a bicycle who had yelled at him.

It takes a major jerk to vandalize and destroy a San Antonio, Texas ghost bike.

That’s more like it, part two. An Illinois man will spend the next ten years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 64-year old man riding a bicycle, after he veered onto the wrong side of the road while driving at nearly three times the legal alcohol limit.

That’s more like it, part three. A repeat drunk driver was sentenced to at least nine years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a 30-year old bike-riding Ohio man, and had his driver’s license suspended for life.

New York’s congestion pricing plan cut traffic and raised $159 million in just the first three months, but Trump wants to kill it anyway.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Louisiana man is still bikepacking at 78.

 

International

Momentum recommends the best cities to fall in love with your bicycle all over again this summer. None of which is Los Angeles.

An estimated 1,000 Critical Mass riders rode through a newly opened tunnel under the Thames River, where bicycles are prohibited.

Sad news from Scotland, where a 49-year old man was killed by a driver during the Etape Loch Ness, a 66-mile timed ride around the famed home of the Loch Ness Monster, aka Nessie; the ride was on a closed course, but the crash occurred on a road used by riders to return to the start, which wasn’t closed to cars.

A woman plans to ride her bike 1,200 miles across the UK to talk to farm women for her Ph.D, saying the country’s extensive network of bike paths will make it possible.

British TV host and dedicated bike rider Jeremy Vine has sworn off posting his videos depicting bad behavior by drivers and the dangers on the streets due to the abusive comments he gets, including explicit tweets about his wife. Although a British bike racing broadcaster says Vine’s videos made bicyclists look militant and unhinged.

Forbes says Germany offers a “robust cycling network of more than 320 routes, covering some 62,000 miles through country landscapes and storied cities.”

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a truck driver walked without a day behind bars, and can keep driving, after the judge blamed the lack of a bike lane for the death of a 28-year old woman riding a bicycle, and not the man who ran over her in the Kiwi equivalent of a right hook.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly says the American bike racing calendar in sabotaging itself when gravel, mountain bike and road events all occur at the same time.

America’s other ex-Tour de France champ is finally back on his bike, taking part in last weekend’s Belgian Waffle Ride, while saying it took gravel to get him riding again.

Red Bull looks forward to next month’s Giro d’Italia, which will pay homage to the late Pope Francis with a route passing through the Vatican gardens behind St. Peter’s Basilica, and in front of the Santa Marta hotel where Francis lived.

 

Finally…

That feeling when mountain bikes break your bones, but horses are what scare you. Anyone can ride around in a circle; try one of these bike races if you want a real challenge.

And your next very expensive Swiss watch can honor everyone’s favorite Italian cycling legends.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Stand up to LA Mayor’s draconian DOGE-style budget cuts, and cars weapons of mass destruction in the wrong hands

April 28, 2025 / / No comments
Day 118 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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By the time you read this, I should be home recovering from an early morning outpatient surgery. 

It’s nothing serious. But I’ve been told to expect a lot of pain for the first 24 hours, and will probably be pretty out of it for awhile. 

I wanted to try and write something for tomorrow. But I think I need to take the night off and give myself time to recover. 

So I’m going to let my pain meds wrap me in the arms of Morpheus, and see you again on Wednesday, instead.

And no, I’m not worried. Scared shitless, maybe, but not nervous. But at least writing this should help keep my mind off it for a few hours. 

Meanwhile, the surgery will be performed robotically. So I plan to take a good look at that machine when they wheel me in. 

And if it says Waymo anywhere, I’m going to run like hell.

………

Last week, I commented on the mayor’s slash and burn budget for the coming fiscal year, which comes after years of warnings that the city’s spending and pay raises were unsustainable.

Not to mention a seemingly endless series of legal settlements for everything from sexual harassment to injuries and deaths caused by poorly designed and maintained streets, resulting in half a billion in payments in just the last two years.

Most of which could have been avoided if the city spent the money fixing the problems, instead of paying later for not fixing them.

Now Mayor Bass has responded by pulling an Elon Musk-style DOGE act, calling for laying off 1,600 city staffers, something that could have a devastating effect on already understaffed departments responsible for street safety, like LADOT and Street Services.

And that’s in addition to proposing a delay in capital expenditures, like bike lanes and other safety improvements.

Now, I’m the first to admit I’m no financial wizard, and have no idea how to best balance the city’s books.

But I do know we shouldn’t be making cuts that will cost lives and lead to millions more in legal settlements.

If you’re as mad as I am, you can comment on the mayor’s proposed budget at City Hall this afternoon.

APRIL 28, 2025 at 4pm
City Hall Council Chamber, Room 340
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Then turn out on Wednesday evening, preferably wearing red, for a die-in on the steps of City Hall.

Dying-In Los Angeles – A Protest for Safer Streets: Don’t “DOGE” LA Safety

A coalition of non-profits and road safety advocates will be hosting a protest on the steps of LA City Hall to raise awareness of LA’s dystopian-level budget cuts.

If these cuts go through, there will be no funding for new safety improvements next year — no speed reduction measures, no protected bike lanes, no pedestrian upgrades. Nothing.

Join us at 6pm, April 30th – LA City Hall.

I won’t be able to make it because of my surgery, which will lay me up for a couple weeks. But I hope you’ll go and demand safer streets for me.

And maybe do a little yelling.

Because I sure as hell would.

Meanwhile, Damian Kevitt, the founder of Streets Are For Everyone and Finish The Ride — and the bike rider who barely survived being dragged onto the 5 Freeway by a fleeing hit-and-run driver, who was never caught — has started a petition to tell the Mayor not to DOGE LA safety.

Yes, I’ve signed it myself. And I hope you will, and share it with everyone you know.

………

Another day, another mass casualty crash on North American roads.

By now, you’ve probably heard that at least 11 people were killed, and dozens more injured, when a man slammed his SUV into the crowd of people celebrating a Philippine holiday in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The driver was taken into custody after being stopped by people attending the festival.

However, police concluded that this was not a terrorist attack, as it first appeared, but rather, the driver was someone well known to police with a history of mental health issues.

Which raises the obvious question of why someone with a history of mental health problems was still allowed to pilot a multi-ton potential weapon of mass destruction.

As Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), put it, a driver’s license is too easy to get, and too hard to lose. 

Driving is treated as if it’s a right, rather than a privilege. And until we change that, horrific disasters like this will keep happening, intentionally or otherwise.

Even the conservative Los Angeles Daily News agrees, calling for removing the license of drivers who have proven they don’t belong on the road.

Yet the state continues to ignore the most obvious way to improve road safety: remove the licenses of those drivers who have a history of driving dangerously. A shocking investigative report by CalMatters called “License to Kill” highlighted California’s inexplicable willingness to allow the deadliest drivers to keep driving.

It’s unfathomable—and appalling that the Department of Motor Vehicles had little to say for itself. The DMV “routinely allows drivers … with horrifying histories of dangerous driving, including DUIs, crashes and numerous tickets … to continue to operate on our roadways,” per the report. Too often they go on to kill. Many keep driving even after they kill. Some go on to kill again.”

Clearly, we have to add mental illness to that list.

And as we’ve noted before, simply suspending a driver’s license offers no guarantee they won’t continue to drive anyway. We need to remove the driver’s access to a motor vehicle, whether that means impounding it, or somehow disabling it until they get their license back.

Thanks to someone who prefers to be anonymous for forwarding the Daily News link. 

………

Okay, so they’re not gone yet.

The logo for San Diego’s Pedal Ahead is still on the website for the California E-bike Incentive Project, as they gear up for tomorrow’s second round of deliberately throttled ebike vouchers.

It turns out the nonprofit agency is only semi-fired, and continuing to work with the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB, as they look for a replacement.

Which doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence things will go better this time, after the disastrous first round.

Thanks to Malcomb Watson for pointing that out.

………

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

No bias here. A San Diego letter writer says if the city has to make budget cuts, it should start with the bike lanes.

Horrible news from Chicago, where a 55-year old bike advocate was attacked with a crowbar by a road raging car passenger after he called out the driver for parking in the bike lane, as he was riding home from Friday’s Critical Mass.

No bias here, either. The Mayor of Melbourne, Australia’s inner city called out the “white privilege” of “managerial class people,” saying they’re the only supporters of a bike lane he wants to narrow to restore 69 parking spaces removed to build it.

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

Um, okay. Police in England are trying out a new forensic spray for tagging anti-social bicyclists and motorcyclists, marking their clothes and bikes with a yellow stain that shows up under ultraviolet light, allowing police to identify the miscreants later.

Legislation was re-introduced in the British Parliament to “close a loophole” in the law to allow bicyclists who kill pedestrians to be sentenced to life in prison, just like killer drivers can be, but usually aren’t; meanwhile, The Spectator says “We don’t need a crackdown on killer cyclists;” but you’ll need to subscribe or register if you want to read it.

………

Local 

UCLA hosted the annual bicycle-powered Coastalong Music and Sustainability Festival on campus this year, because the usual off-campus venue is under construction.

Santa Clarita has removed the white “paddles,” aka bollards, lining the protected bike lane on Orchard Village Road, because people found them aesthetically displeasing.

 

State

Orange County’s first paved pump track opened in San Clemente on Saturday.

A new 6.7-mile, $31 million bikeway will open this summer, running parallel to the trolley in Imperial Beach to connect the San Ysidro border crossing with the Bayshore Bikeway.

Sad news from Fresno, where a man riding a bicycle was killed by a driver near a freeway onramp; the driver was reportedly cooperating with investigators, even though it sounds like they left the scene.

An op-ed from the communications manager for the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates questions whether spending state traffic safety grant money to ticket bicyclists and pedestrians will make the city safer. It’s also illegal selective enforcement, because police can’t legally enforce the law against one group without equal enforcement against anyone else who commits the same violations. 

Sacramento’s ABC10 offers five things to know about tomorrow’s second round of California ebike incentives.

 

National

Planetizen provides US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy with a data-based explainer on why bike lanes are good, after said there’s no evidence that bike lanes have benefits.

Author Colum McCann responded to a request from the New York Times to explore a significant moment in his religious or spiritual life by submitting an essay about biking across the US in his early 20s questioning his faith, and finding God in the people he met along the way.

Oregon bikemaker Co-Motion Cycles invited the public in over the weekend to see how tandem bikes are made, as the tandem bike industry is reportedly booming. Which would make it one of the few bright spots in the bike industry these days.

An urgent search is underway to find British Paralympian Sam Ruddock after the paracyclist disappeared on a visit to Las Vegas two weeks ago.

The truck driver who plowed into a group ride in Goodyear, Arizona, killing two people and injuring 17 others, lost his bid to get the charges against him dismissed; investigators concluded driver fatigue was the cause of the crash, despite the driver’s claim his steering locked up. Never mind that he had gotten high the night before and still had THC in his system hours after the crash.

In an argument reminiscent of Bill Clinton’s questioning what the meaning of “is” is, voters in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown may have to return to the ballot box to determine the meaning of “recreation,” as opponents of a proposed bike park argue that rules limiting the area to recreational uses mean it can’t be used for a bike park, because riding a bicycle in a bike park somehow isn’t recreation.

Kiwi pop star Lorde is one of us, as the video for her latest song shows her riding a vintage bike through the carfree streets of New York City, grinning from ear to ear. Because who wouldn’t smile if there wasn’t a car in sight on your next ride?

Orlando, Florida turned bikeways into a year-long outdoor art gallery.

 

International

PinkBike offers random highlights from Europe’s largest handmade bike show, ranging from an antique bike horn to a frame-mounted liquor flask.

A new London bicycling festival promises to bring bike markets, BMX events, obstacle courses, live music and a bicycle ballet performance, along with over 30 family-friendly bike rides through nearly half of the city’s 32 boroughs.

A website from the UK introduces readers to a 56-year old woman they call the Iron Empress, who went directly from finishing the London marathon to the British Black Unty Bike Ride through South Africa.

A British man is taking one last bike ride to raise funds for four charities before he has both legs amputated due to a rare genetic condition.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a woman walked without a day behind bars for running a stop sign, crashing into another car and killing a 79-year old man riding a bicycle as collateral damage; she had just gotten the news that her father was dying while using her handsfree phone, and instead of pulling over to deal with her shock and grief, just kept driving until she killed someone.

Sad news from Spain, where a 39-year-old British man died in a fall during the grueling Mallorca 312 amateur bike race, as tributes poured in for the popular rider.

You can now find new bike lanes on the Dvořák Embankment in front of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Prague, Czech Republic.

China’s Xinhua offers photos from Saturday’s I Bike Budapest ride, as hundreds of people turned out to demonstrate the importance of bicycles as daily transportation in the city.

 

Competitive Cycling

An Indiana University student newspaper posted photos and results from the university’s iconic Little 500, including one of the gnarliest crash photos I’ve ever seen; Kappa Alpha Theta sorority won the women’s race, while Black Key Bulls won the men’s race for the second year in a row.

World Champ Tadej Pogacar continued his dominance of the early racing season with a solo breakaway win at Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday, his third win at the 133-year old Monument.

Mauritian cyclist Kim Le Court became the first African rider to win a Monument, out-sprinting Demi Vollering, Puck Pieterse and Cédrine Kerbaol at the finish.

In the latest incident of race fans behaving badly, a spectator was called an “absolute moron” for riding his bike on the Liège-Bastogne-Liège course as the women’s race was ongoing, then latching on to the back wheel of race leader Pauliena Rooijakkers before eventually being ejected by a race marshal.

The Uno-X Mobility cycling team brought back the “unmistakable” green, red and white jerseys of the legendary 7-Eleven team in a homage at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Road.cc examines the most obscure and peculiar sponsors of the pro peloton.

It was repeat news at the California edition of the popular Belgian Waffle Ride, with both the men’s and women’s races won by defending champs Matt Beers and Sofia Gomez Villafañe.

Cycling News looks at the huge crowds, party atmosphere and tough competition of the 45-year old Athens, Georgia Twilight Criterium.

 

Finally…

Everyone has fair-weather friends, so invite them to join you on a fair-weather ride. The late Pope Francis probably had more and better bikes than you have.

And your next bike ride could put you in the spotlight.

Or your legs, anyway.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Bass slash-and-burn budget threatens street safety & CicLAvia, and how to apply for CA ebike vouchers Tuesday

April 25, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 115 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Evidently, I’ve not the only one concerned about the effect of the draconian budget cuts and layoffs proposed by Mayor Karen Bass.

Streets For All sent out the following email yesterday making many of the same points.

This week, Mayor Bass released her proposed budget for 2025-2026. This budget plans to slash most departments’ funding, as well as eliminate 1,650 city positions and 1,074 vacancies. It also proposes deferring capital projects, like planned road and infrastructure improvements.

This budget is a disaster for road safety and even basic services.You can read our detailed analysis here. This budget will result significantly more broken streets and sidewalks. New pedestrian and bike projects, including many Olympics projects, will be delayed. All streetlight repairs will be paused until 2027. Billions in grant funded street safety and mobility projects may be lost. And there may be no staffing to support open streets events like CicLAvia.

There are only TWO opportunities to comment on the Mayor’s proposed budget, and they are both in person:

APRIL 25, 2025 at 1pm
Van Nuys City Hall
14410 Sylvian Street
Van Nuys, CA 91401

APRIL 28, 2025 at 4pm
City Hall Council Chamber, Room 340
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Budget Chair Katy Yaroslavsky will be hosting a session in person:
APRIL 26, 2025 at 11am
Westwood
RSVP for address

Tell the Mayor that cutting funding for our streets will lead to more crashes, costing the City even more in liability payouts – part of why the city is in such financial distress to begin with. This budget would also lead to a near pause of any new projects, and delay existing ones – freezing our infrastructure during a time period when we are about to host the World Cup and Olympics.

While showing up in person is most effective, if you cannot attend you may comment on the council file.

Thank you for fighting for a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for Los Angeles and beyond!

………

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton takes an in-depth look at the second round of the California ebike voucher program, including how to apply.

The Air Resources Board’s long–delayed and controversial e-bike voucher program will be opening its application portal for a second time at 6:00 p.m. on April 29th. This time instead of a first-come, first-serve approach that left out tens of thousands of hopeful applicants, the system will randomly choose 1,000 people who join their virtual waiting room between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.

To join the waiting room, go to ebikeincentives.org and select the ‘APPLY’ button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

He also notes that you are encouraged to arrive early to the portal to file your application.

But don’t bother if you don’t meet the financial qualifications, and aren’t willing to jump through their hoops to document your income — and watch a couple of pretty meaningless videos.

The program is only offering 1,000 vouchers this time, which represents less than 1% of the people who tried to apply for the first round of vouchers.

The 1,000 lucky people will be selected through a form of lottery. You’re encourage to stick around through the full process, until you receive a notification that you either were or weren’t selected to apply.

Surprisingly, it looks like I may actually qualify this time.

But whether I’ll actually bother, given the massive shitshow mess they made of the first round, remains to be determined.

………

Evidently, life is cheap in the UK.

Mansfield Town striker Lucas Akins was sentenced to 14 months behind bars for carelessly killing a 33-year old man riding a bicycle, in a crash caught on the victim’s bike cam.

Yet Akins seemed to demonstrate just how little it bothered him by playing in a League One soccer match the same day he entered his not guilty plea in court.

The team issued a statement expressing their condolences to the family, and said they’re “considering its position with regards to” Akins.

Especially since he won’t be on the pitch for the better part of the next few seasons.

………

PinkBike takes a look at the creation of Bradley Bike Park in San Marcos, calling it “a rideable masterpiece built against all odds on near-flat ground,” and “artistry etched in dirt.”

………

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

A British couple were threatened and spat on by a pair of men who were riding their bikes next to the couple’s car, after they brought the car to a stop, for no apparent reason. Although I would guess thee may be another side to the story, and that maybe the driver did something to tick ’em off. But regardless of what it may have been, nothing justifies violence.

………

Local 

Metro still hasn’t done anything with the long-delayed second phase of the Metro Mobility Wallet, which is supposed to provide participants with $1,800 to spend on any form of transportation, from bus passes and rideshare to bikeshare, or even buying a bicycle. But the program is worthless if the agency doesn’t follow through by actually funding their debit cards.

Speaking of Metro, CEO Stephanie Wiggins will continue to lead the agency for another four — or maybe five — years, after the Metro board voted unanimously to extend her contract, at whopping half a million dollars a year, a 20% increase over her previous contract. Which means they’ll give everyone else who works for Metro a similar pay bump, right?

Redondo Beach says ebike riders are behaving better now.

SoCal’s killer highway claimed another victim, as Torrance residents called for improved safety after a 38-year old man was hit and killed by multiple drivers as he crossed the street Saturday night — including the heartless coward who hit him first, and fled the scene without stopping. Although I wonder whether Killer PCH or deadly Vista del Mar, aka Deadly del Mar, actually kills more people on a per-mile basis. Thanks to How The West Was Saved for the heads-up. 

 

State

Rancho Mirage does Bike Month, or Bike Safety Month, the right way by introducing plan for three bike safety projects, including widened bike lanes, improved signage, and designated bike paths, to be completed by the end of summer.

Los Gatos opened a long-anticipated bike and pedestrian bridge linking Highway 9 to the Los Gatos Creek Trailhead.

 

National

The Seattle Times visits the forested Washington State segment of the 5,000-mile mountain bike trail along West Coast.

A 32-year old man from the US faces charges for crossing into the country from Mexico on a bicycle stuffed with fentanyl and meth.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell kicked off the NFL Draft in Green Bay with a wobbly bike ride onto the stage, in a nod to the Packers tradition of riding borrowed bicycles to the first day of camp. But it wasn’t enough to silence the boos from fans.

Surprisingly, the New York Times picks the Dahon Mariner D8 as the best foldie over Tern’s Link D8, with the famed Brompton taking third.

New York Streetsblog says beyond treating bicyclists like an afterthought, the New York Parks Department has been downright unfriendly to people on bicycles, even though it controls some of the city’s most important carfree infrastructure.

Finishing our New York trifecta, the city announced a whopping 127 Open Streets events to take place this spring and summer, including a belated Earth Day celebration featuring 54 carfree streets and plazas throughout the five boroughs.

Passaic New Jersey opened a small bikeshare system that will be free to local residents.

People in Louisiana just seem to have more fun than the rest of us, even on a five-day fundraising ride through Cajun country.

 

International

Even in the Cayman Islands, bicyclists are demanding safer streets, in the wake of a hit-and-run that killed a bike rider on Easter Monday.

Here’s a few more for your bike bucket list, as Momentum recommends Europe’s best rail trails for a unique bicycling vacation. I’ll take the one that follows the Danube, thank you. Or maybe the one that runs through Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. 

Evidently, congestion pricing and better bikeways work, since London’s Square Mile, aka the sparely populated financial district that employs a half-million people each day — now averages nearly twice as many bicycles as cars, following a 57% jump in bicycling rates in just two years.

London bicyclists are now expected to adhere to a code of conduct in the city’s parks, as a new survey shows 86% Londoners think the parks’ 20 mph speed limit should apply to bicycles, too.

A new survey shows that most British drivers still don’t understand how to share the road with bicyclists, three years after the rules of the road were changed to improve bike safety. The same survey in the US would probably show similar results, even though most of our rules haven’t changed in decades. 

In an unusual move, Irish police, aka Gardaí, reached out to bike clubs to see if any were riding in the area where a 56-year old farmer went missing last month, in hopes that maybe someone saw him. Something they should do more often, since we have a lot more eyes on the streets than they do.

Now you, too, can fix your own light when your ebike maker goes belly-up, like the Netherlands’ VanMoof.

Mind your biking behavior in Japan next April, when police will start fining bicyclists for “minor” violations like using a cellphone while riding, and running red lights.

 

Finally…

Why buy a custom-made bicycle when you can just make your own damn bike? Your next tire pump could look like a tiny little robot.

And why just go for a bike ride, when you could earn crypto with every ride.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Arrest in South LA hit-and-run of 15-year old bike rider, and bike-riding teens swarm market and assault gay couple in car

April 24, 2025 / / One comment
Day 114 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

They got one, for once.

The CHP announced an arrest in the hit-and-run crash that injured a 15-year old boy as he rode his bicycle on a South LA sidewalk.

The driver, identified only as Krunal Jigneshbhai Dhanani, faces felony hit-and-run charges for driving up on the sidewalk and hitting the kid, in what appeared to be an intentional act.

But police evidently didn’t think so, because it wasn’t charged that way.

………

It’s happened again.

A mob of around 30 bike-riding teens swarmed a grocery store near USC, before assaulting a gay couple and hurling homophobic slurs.

The teenaged boys, who looked to be middle school-aged, rode up to the Ralphs market on South Vermont Ave around 4:30 Saturday afternoon, running out with bottled cocktails, Gatorade and other items.

At least one of the boys was pepper sprayed by a security guard, after the kids threw things at store employees.

They then swarmed the gay couple as they tried to enter their car and drive off, honking their horn to clear the way, as the kids shouted slurs.

After one of the boys slammed himself on the side of their car, the couple got out holding pepper spray and a stun gun, chasing the group off before they approached once again, hitting the car window with a rock as they drove off.

This follows numerous other similar robberies where kids would ride up to a store on their bikes before swarming the aisles, overwhelming the staff and emptying shelves.

There have also been at least three instances of teen bike riders swarming cars and attacking the vehicles and their drivers.

………

The LAPD has identified the suspect accused of riding his bicycle through DTLA while chopping down trees with an electric chainsaw.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 45-year old Samuel Patrick Groft was taken into custody about 90 minutes after police released a flyer with pictures of the then-unknown suspect.

Groft stands accused of felony vandalism for chopping down at least 13 trees in less than ten days in downtown Los Angeles, as well Glassell Park and Westlake.

Eight of the those trees were estimated to be worth $347,000.

Groft has an extensive record, including DUI, assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism and a hit-and-run. He has been living on a streets for several years, and was found with the chainsaw in his possession.

In California, felony vandalism carries a penalty of up three years behind bars and a fine of up to $50,000 if the damage exceeds $10,000.

Which means if the DA charges each tree as a separate crime, Groft could be looking at more than three decades behind bars, and $650,000 in fines.

Good luck collecting that.

………

Hats off to the The San Fernando Sun, which appears to be the only Los Angeles news source that bothered to report on the Griffith Park protest marking the third anniversary of the fatal, high-speed hit-and-run that killed 77-year-old cyclist Andrew Jelmert

The paper also noted the protesters’ complaints over red tape needlessly holding up the fully funded and shovel-ready safety improvements promised for the park.

Which are two more reasons — the lack of progress and news coverage — explaining why people continue to die on our streets.

And the latter has a lot to do with the former.

………

Streets Are For Everyone, which held that Griffith Park protest, celebrates ten years of fighting for safer streets on July 12th.

https://twitter.com/StreetsR4Every1/status/1915137601587249361

………

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

It’s happened again, part two. A British ebike rider lost consciousness and suffered serious facial and eye injuries when he struck a rope that was deliberately strung across the trail he was riding on; police blamed a “group of youths” for the “deliberate and highly dangerous act” that could have led to “even more catastrophic” injuries.

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

A British man has been banned from bicycling for ten years and sentenced to 19 months behind bars, after failing to convince the court that riding his bike up behind women and grabbing their butts was a harmless prank, as opposed to serious sexual assault. Schmuck.

………

Local 

Streetsblog explores a half-mile of new parking protected bike lanes on San Vicente in the Mid-City area.

Burbank invites you on a walking or biking tour to gather input for the Burbank Rancho Neighborhood Specific Plan on May 10th. Although it sounds like you’d be welcomed on horseback, too.

 

State

The Los Angeles Times examines the new process to apply for a California ebike incentive voucher this Tuesday.

Bingo. San Diego’s KGTV-10 says the city’s spending patterns shows its mobility priorities, spending three times more on repaving streets than it does on making them safer.

This is who we share the road with. A Fresno judge dismissed all the charges against a hit-and-run driver who ran down and killed a homeless woman, and dragged her body eight miles under his car — then ended up with permanent brain damage after jumping out of a top floor window trying to escape the police, leading the judge to rule he would never be competent to stand trial.

Alameda residents turned out to explore a pair of greenway popups slated for completion next year.

 

National

Um, sure, let’s go with that. Police arrested a Colorado man for attempting, and failing, to kidnap a 12-year old girl as she was bicycling with a friend, telling police he tried to stop the girl’s bike from falling, and she just happened to fall into his arms.

A Minnesota magazine considers the best biking apps and online communities, although the later has a distinctly Minnesota focus.

Streets Minnesota recommends this year’s “must-do” bike rides for the state.

If you’re missing a vintage bicycle from your childhood, you’ll have one last chance to buy it before a man who’s been restoring and selling them for the last 30 years holds his final bike auction. But you’ll have to go to, yes, Minnesota to buy one. 

Tennessee is putting old tires to use as armadillos marking a protected bike lane.

One of my pet peeves remains lazy headline writers, like the one who says a North Carolina man rode his bicycle 4,000 miles coast-to-coast “for” breast cancer, rather than to fight the disease. And yes, I acknowledge that peeves make lousy pets. 

 

International

Momentum recommends the best upright commuter bikes to sit up and enjoy the ride this spring, most of which clock in at under $600.

Bike Radar says no, gravel bikes will not replace endurance bikes.

A writer for the CNU Journal looks at the power of bicycles, especially ebikes, to transform 21st Century cities.

Velo takes you on a tour of Belgium’s bike-friendly culture, “exploring pathways, cafés, beer halls, and cycling museums” by city bike.

Clean Technica says a new “virtually bulletproof” ebike has the power to transform transportation in Africa.

Bicycling Australia marks Anzac Day, — an Aussie holiday commemorating the tragic WWI battle of Gallipoli — by considering the role of the “humble” bicycle in the war to end all wars, which didn’t.

 

Competitive Cycling

Say it ain’t so, Joe. Colombian cycling great and 1987 Spanish Vuelta champ Luis Alberto “Lucho” Herrera denied allegations that he was involved in the 2002 killing of four farmers who lived near him, allegedly hiring two ex-paramilitary men to kill the farmers because they wouldn’t sell their land to him.

No surprise here, as Slovenian cycling star Tadej Pogačar captured his second Flèche Wallonne by attacking on a steep climb, finishing 10 seconds ahead of France’s Kévin Vauquelin, with British rider Tom Pidcock in third; Dutch cyclist Puck Pieterse won the women’s Flèche, beating countrywoman Demi Vollering by two seconds, while Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini came in third.

Cyclist looks forward to Sunday’s men’s and women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Motherhood is no longer a barrier to a successful cycling career.

 

Finally…

Forget bike lanes, now people are driving in underground bicycle parking garages. That feeling when you get a punishment pass from a fellow bicyclist in an empty bike lane

And your next bike could have big red balls instead of wheels, and go in any direction.

But if it’s a bicycle, why doesn’t it have any pedals?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Earth Day bust for bike-riding DTLA tree-chopper, Culver City named eco-friendly city, & how to apply for CA ebike voucher

April 23, 2025 / / No comments
Day 113 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

They got him.

Just in time to celebrate Earth Day, the LAPD busted the bike-riding creep who allegedly used an electric chainsaw to fell at least five trees lining the streets of Downtown Los Angeles.

The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, was taken into custody sometime before 6:30 pm yesterday.

Hopefully we’ll learn more today.

………

Congratulations to Culver City, which came in at number 14 on a list of the nation’s top eco-friendly cities for car-free travel.

Although I’m guessing that measure was taken before the city ripped out the protected bike lanes in the MOVE Culver City project.

The survey from Realtor.com and LocalLogic listed Hoboken, New Jersey number one; that city has now gone seven consecutive years without a traffic death, proving that Vision Zero can actually succeed with buy-in and funding from city officials.

Bay Area cities Berkeley, San Francisco and Emeryville also made the list.

Los Angeles didn’t, for obvious reasons.

………

The California Ebike Incentive Project explained the rules for the second round of deliberately throttled ebike incentives planned for next week, including what documentation you’ll need and how to get it.

………

A pair of bills sponsored by Streets For All moved forward in the state legislature, including one requiring speed limiters for repeat speeding drivers, and another streamlining the permit process for transit projects.

………

A hard-hitting Bluesky thread from Dr. Grace Peng demonstrates why her South Bay commute is only for the brave; click through for the rest of the posts.

The short bike ride between my allergy shots and Bafang Dumplings is only for the bravest

— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T19:55:33.841Z

It starts without a bike lane, so I take the full right lane. If you look carefully, you'll see a bike stencil in that gutter bike lane too narrow to fit the stencil. I kept taking the lane rather than risk close passes by SUVs in the gutter lane@bikinginla.bsky.social @streetsblogla.bsky.social

— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T20:01:34.887Z

………

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

That feeling when the mere sight of the dotted white lines indicating a coming British bikeshare station replacing a handful of parking spaces is enough to send the local residents into apoplexy with shouts of the “war oscars.”

………

Local 

A 14-year old boy was hospitalized after he was stuck by the driver of a minivan while riding a bicycle in Canyon Country Tuesday night.

Long Beach’s popular Beach Streets open streets event will shut down large parts of Willow Street and Santa Fe Ave to cars on Saturday, May 10th.

 

State

San Diego approved a sweeping master mobility plan designed to improve traffic safety and make the city less dependent on private cars and SUVs; according to one councilmember, the goal isn’t to mandate people out of their cars, but “incentivize it and plan for it through smart land-use decisions.”

The Palm Springs Historical Society wants to take you on a bike tour of the area’s Midcentury Modern neighborhoods, with four opportunities this week, for the low, low price of just $95 to (gulp) $950.

Speaking of Berkeley, the Bike East Bay advocacy group set up $6,000 worth of temporary pop-up bike lanes and other traffic calming measures to show how much nicer the city’s 9th Street could be without cut-through car traffic.

Sad news from the Bay Area, where a 44-year old East Oakland security guard was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle home from work, after getting off a BART train.

A teenage girl from Concord has been chosen to take part in the 1,000-mile Remember the Removal bicycle ride for members of the Cherokee nation, following that path of the horrific and shameful Trail of Tears.

More sad news, this time from Sacramento County, where a 63-year old man was killed in a collision while riding his bicycle.

 

National

Smithsonian considers what can be done to make ride hailing, bikeshare and other transportation options accessible to everyone.

Prospects are dimming for a long-promised bikeway connecting Albany and Corvallis, Oregon, with key sections of the 10-mile long bike path still unplanned and unfunded, eleven years after the project was first introduced.

Trump’s tariffs aren’t the only thing hurting the bike industry these days; bike burglars and hijackers are also leaving their mark, like whoever stole an entire truckload of bikes from Ari Bicycles on their way from Los Angeles to the company’s Utah warehouse.

A Colorado bikepacking bag maker still had to lay off workers because of Trump’s tariffs, despite sourcing almost all their materials from the US, because their suppliers had to get their materials from overseas.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 92-year old South Dakota man started ebiking two years ago, and has clocked more than 2,000 miles.

Chicago bike and pedestrian advocates took advantage of a street construction project to turn the blocked street into a pedestrian plaza.

 

International

Momentum lists the top seven environmental benefits of bicycling for every day, including Earth Day.

An Ontario, Canada judge says “not so fast” to Premier Doug Ford’s plan to rip out some key Toronto bike lanes, ordering a temporary pause while he considers the evidence in the case.

London’s 138-year old cast iron Hammersmith Bridge is now open to bicycles and pedestrians following a near $4 million refurbishment project, though when or if the bridge will ever be open to cars again remains to be determined. Let’s hope not.

Good question. A physician in Cork, Ireland asks when will we take our heads out of the sand and realize that bicycles are the future of urban mobility.

A man from Spain’s Basque Country was killed, and his 14-year old son suffered a broken leg, when an allegedly stoned driver plowed a group ride near Calpe in southeastern Spain on Easter Sunday.

In another mass casualty crash, a Taiwanese driver plowed into a group of bicycling students, injuring seven bike riders, one seriously, while driving on the wrong side of the road.

Christchurch, New Zealand is cracking down on bike theft by focusing on the city’s most prolific bike thieves, including one man accused of stealing seven bikes in four days.

 

Competitive Cycling

Only one American man had as many Giro pink jerseys as the Pope did, and only two American men had as many rainbow jerseys; then again, along with his Catholic dogmas, he also had more Pinarello Dogmas than most of us, too.

If you read this early enough, you may still be able to catch the men’s La Flèche Wallonne on the Peacock streaming service starting at 3:45 am PDT, or the women’s race at 7:55 am.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a $150 bike intended for Indiana University’s  Little 500 from a student just days before the iconic race.

 

Finally…

Oh, nothing. Just a fine English chap riding a Penny Farthing through the South to honor another fine English chap on a Penny Farthing. That feeling when your heart goes pitter patter while trying to dock a bikeshare bike.

And hats off to the Irish triathlete busted for speeding on a bicycle in a 31 mph zone.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Bass risks bike safety with massive layoffs, Trump admin puts science-free brakes on road diets, and tariffs threaten bike world

April 22, 2025 / / One comment
Day 112 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

LA Mayor Karen Bass plans to fill the city’s massive budget hole with layoff notices.

She proposed kicking 1,647 city workers to the curb in her budget for the coming fiscal year, including nearly 100 cops, dropping the department to its lowest level in years.

However, the fire department will be spared in the wake of the massive Palisades fire with a 12.7% budget increase, including 277 new positions, as well as more paramedics, mechanics and fast response vehicles.

There are also plans to combine a handful of city departments, though not the needlessly siloed transportation and street services departments, which should work together to improve our streets, but usually don’t.

The shortfall was largely caused by years of ever-growing legal settlements, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention to local news.

The budget originally called for twice as many layoffs, but the number was reduced in part by delaying capital improvement projects. Which could lead to even more of those legal settlements, depending on just what they decide to cut.

It’s also likely that at least some of those cuts will come from LADOT and Streets Services, which are already underfunded and understaffed — resulting in years-long delays in safety improvements that risk more lives, and even more of those legal settlements.

And which helped lead to the passage of Measure HLA last year, which aims to force the city to implement the safety improvements in the city’s mobility plan when streets are resurfaced.

Which will now need to be done over a longer period, with less money and fewer people.

Photo of Mayor Karen Bass from website for Mayor of Los Angeles.

………

You’ve got to be kidding.

After years of research-backed recommendations that road diets improve traffic safety, the Trump administration is putting a heavy foot on the gas, somehow claiming they make the streets more dangerous, instead of safer.

But as usual, they offer no science to back it up.

According to the Associated Press,

Federal transportation officials once heralded road diets for cutting crashes by 19% to 47%, but criteria for an upcoming round of road safety grants say projects aimed at “reducing lane capacity” should be considered “less favorably,” the administration said.

Forcing travelers into more constrained spaces “can lead to crashes, erratic maneuvers, and a false sense of security that puts everyone at risk,” the U.S. Department of Transportation said in an email statement to The Associated Press. “The update reflects the Department’s concerns about the safety hazards associated with congestion.”

Again — and I can’t stress this enough — there is no research offered to back up that claim.

The AP goes on to add this.

Numerous other cities have credited road diets with improving safety.

Philadelphia cited a 19% drop in injury crashes. Portland, Oregon, saw a more than 70% decline in vehicles traveling at least 10 mph (16 kph) over the speed limit. The average speed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, fell by 5 mph (8 kph) on some roads within months.

So rather than Making America Great Again, the administration’s plan appears to be more about keeping our streets dangerous, and dangerously auto-centric.

Meanwhile, taking a cue from Idaho, which just passed and signed a similar bill, a proposed Texas law would ban narrowing roadways to install bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

Or as one Idaho website so aptly put it, “New Idaho law treats cyclists and pedestrians like pests.”

All so drivers can continue to go zoom, zoom on every inch of road they currently enjoy.

Safety be damned.

………

Still more tariff news.

Trek, State and Specialized responded to Trump’s tariffs by raising bike prices, while other brands are limiting US releases.

Colorado’s small outdoor manufacturers are “wilting” in the face of Trump’s trade wars, closing shop and laying off long-time workers.

An Aussie website says the entire bicycle industry is being “chilled” by Trump’s tariffs.

………

Streetsblog spotted new bike lanes in the Arts District in DTLA.

New bike lanes being installed in #DTLA Arts District – on Mateo and on Santa Fe – including some parking-protected sections on Santa Fe. Connections to 6th St Bridge (& via Santa Fe to Union Station)

— Streetsblog L.A. (@streetsblogla.bsky.social) 2025-04-20T16:07:02.308Z

………

The first pedestrian-oriented CicLAmini of the year comes to Pico Blvd in Pico-Union on the 18th of next month.

………

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

In yet another case of anti-bike terrorism, someone deliberately placed large logs behind blind corners on Eugene, Oregon’s sole mountain bike-only trail, which appears to be an intentional attempt to injure trail riders. Or worse.

Once again, bike riders get the blame, as police in Boynton Beach, Florida offer safety advice for the people on two wheels in the face of a more than 50% increase in collisions involving bicyclists, while just giving drivers vague advice to “be more responsible.”

It’s anarchy in the UK, as a road-raging driver walked without a day behind bars for getting out of his van and punching a man on a bicycle in the face for the crime of riding in the roadway, as he shouted “There’s a fucking bike path over there;” he was sentenced to the equivalent of community service, and about about 180 bucks restitution for damage to the victim’s bike.

………

Local 

Bike tour company Another Side of Los Angeles Tours has now suffered two break-ins in just the last month, with thieves using a brick to break a window and walk out with three ebikes worth up to a grand apiece.

Saturday is the last day to offer input on the SGV Greenway Network, which would place bike/walk paths on the upper shoulders of flood control channels in the San Gabriel Valley.

 

State

California drivers will now face stricter penalties for driving without insurance or under-insured, including fines topping $500, loss of driver’s license and impounding the vehicle. The last one is likely to have more impact, because $500 is a fraction of the annual cost of car insurance, and people drive without a license every day. But no one drives without a car.

Fresno is starting work on improving bike safety on three key corridors.

The wife of an 81-year old Palo Alto man has filed suit against the city, claiming he died after falling off his bicycle when he hit an unmarked open construction ditch on a roadway that was supposed to have been closed.

 

National

Now you can turn your old bike into a new ebike for as little as a hundred bucks.

A group of Washington bicyclists is riding ebikes from Seattle to the state capitol in Olympia to protest a new 10% surcharge on all ebike sales.

Bittersweet news from Las Vegas, where a 71-year old man who has dedicated more than a decade of his life to giving refurbished bikes to hundred of kids in need held one last giveaway, before closing up shop as he battles stage 4 prostate cancer.

No surprise here, as bicyclists in Tallahassee, Florida say they increasingly feel left behind and vulnerable. In other words, like bike riders in nearly every other American cities. Especially here in LA.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers who, or what, wins the battle of the best do-it-all all-surface bikes.

About damn time. London has finally banned trucks that don’t offer clear sightlines to vulnerable road users. Now if only all the world’s other cities would follow suit — starting with this one.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as a British writer recommends a multi-day gravel ride through Cornwall on the extreme southwestern tip of England, with its “sublime coastal gravel tracks, old mine ruins perched on the clifftops, gorgeous villages and ancient history,” all easily accessible from Penzance. No pirates, however. Unfortunately.

The parents of a fallen Dutch bicyclist are calling for stricter enforcement of the country’s bike paths, after their 12-year old daughter was killed by the driver of a Birò microcar while riding to dance class with two friends. Which is how I learned they even are a thing.  

Everything you always wanted to know about riding a bike in Luxembourg, but were afraid to ask.

About damn time, part two. Subaru is introducing the world’s first external airbags designed to protect bike riders in a crash; it works to keep bicyclists from smashing into the windshield by modifying a pedestrian-safety airbag that’s been available in the country since 2016, but oddly hasn’t even been offered an option in this country. Although it wouldn’t do a lot of good on American trucks and SUVs, with their grills too high to provide any protection.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Tour of the Alps paused for a moment of silence, along with all other Italian sporting events, to mark the death of Pope Francis, the first pope I’m aware of who rode a bicycle.

Pro cyclists have been shocked! shocked! by how quickly Remco Evenepoel has returned to form following major injuries from a December dooring, nearly winning Sunday’s Amstel Gold, before settling for third.

An Indiana website offers everything you need to know about Indiana University’s iconic Little 500 bike race.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can turn your non-biking friends into your new riding companions. Why ride with one mirror on your helmet, when you can have two?

And when you’re carrying meth, coke, brass knuckles and a switchblade on your bike at night, put a damn taillight on it, already.

The bike, that is. Not the meth. Or the switchblade.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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