
Day 157 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Life is cheap in New Zealand.
A road raging driver got just two lousy months of community detention — think curfews and electronic monitoring — and a year of probation for brake-checking two-time paracycling world champ Eltje Malzbender as she was training with a friend on a three-wheeled bike in 2020.
Brian David Mills pled guilty to cutting them off with his van and jamming on the brakes, after yelling “get off the road you fucking bastards,” then fleeing without stopping.
Malzbender took the brunt of the impact on her head, but was lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries.
The judge imposed the lenient sentence, despite what was described as Mills’ “sporadic history of careless driving and violence offenses” stretching back to the late 1980s.
Mazbender recovered in time to compete in the Tokyo Paralympics a year later.
She used paracycling to recover after she was left for dead on the side of the road by another hit-and-run driver in 2016, suffering a traumatic brain injury that left her with lasting injuries including loss of short term memory, co-ordination and the ability to speak.
There’s a special place in hell for anyone who would deliberately injure any disabled person, regardless of what a judge says.
Or should be, anyway.
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Sad news from Italy, where Enzo Staiola, who played the soulful-eyed son in the 1948 Italian cinematic masterpiece Bicycle Thieves, died in a Roman hospital.
The 85-year old Staiola was just eight-years old and had never acted before when the director literally plucked him off the street to star in the film.
He retired from acting just seven years and a dozen films later, performing with stars like Gina Lollobrigida and Marcello Mastroianni, as well as in the iconic Barefoot Contessa with Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner.
Staiola’s death was attributed to complications from a fall.
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You’ve got to be kidding.
The parents of a seven-year old North Carolina boy have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, after he was killed by a driver while walking home from a nearby grocery store with his ten-year old brother.
Just because they let the kids walk a whole two blocks without adult supervision — for the first time.
But the 76-year old driver gets a walk, because police said it was just an “oopsie.”
“In such cases, adults must be held accountable for their responsibilities to ensure a safe environment for their children,” police said in a statement.
As long as the adult in question isn’t operating a motor vehicle, apparently. Or responsible for designing a dangerous roadway.
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Gravel Bike California explores the bike culture at the Cub House LA Invitational Bike and Car Show + Swap Meet.
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Metro Bike reminds you about their free half-hour bikeshare rides this weekend.
https://twitter.com/BikeMetro/status/1930656190490427703
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Mercedes-Benz unveils their new ebike.
No, literally.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Ab Oklahoma City man was apparently murdered by a road raging driver, after the 37-year old driver was found dead in the street with a gunshot wound, as police concluded he was killed after a confrontation while riding his bicycle.
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Local
Long Beach may have a speed limit on the city’s popular beach bike path, but there’s no record of police actually enforcing it for the past five years.
State
The Bike East Bay advocacy group installed a popup safety project to reimagine safer streets in Berkeley.
A pair of San Francisco petitions are calling for protecting transit funding from Newsom’s budget cuts, and keeping the currently car-free Market Street from reverting into a “traffic-choked car-sewer” after the mayor allows driverless Waymo vehicles in.
Sacramento is proposing a lane reduction for a street on the city’s High Injury Network, removing two lanes to slow traffic while adding a center turn lane and bike lanes; the city is also planning a two-mile bike and pedestrian project along another street.
National
Wired recommends the best bike lights.
A Detroit children’s charity is partnering with Target to give away 180 bicycles to kids in need.
Good for them. A couple of Michigan men are planning to ride 3,400 miles from Grand Rapids to Los Angeles, hoping to raise $50,000 to benefit LA firefighters.
Kentucky bike shops are already getting hit with Trump’s tariffs, with prices climbing 10% to 30% in recent days.
A “modern-day Paul Revere” plans to ride his bike to every Boston Dunkin’ today, eating a Dunkin’ Munchkin at all 92 locations, and covering 80 miles while consuming 5,000 calories to mark National Donut Day.
Lyft will install speedometers on New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare in response to the mayor’s “emergency” order imposing a 15 mph speed limit for ebikes, but will leave it up to riders to actually obey it. Meanwhile, a letter writer says the crackdown was needed, because you can’t expect New Yorkers to look both ways before crossing a street.
It takes a real schmuck to steal the bike a Florida teenager inherited from his dead father.
International
Sixty-four-year-old former pro cyclist Luis “Lucho” Herrera voluntarily appeared before Colombian prosecutors yesterday to answer allegations from two former paramilitary members that he paid them about $9,700 to kill four of his neighbors 2002, because the four men refused to sell him their farmland; Herrera won the 1987 Vuelta, and was the first Colombian to win a stage in the Tour de France.
A group of British conservation volunteers are accused of leaving a forest a mess, while sending a message that bikes and kids aren’t welcome, after digging up an unauthorized mountain bike track in a Sheffield nature preserve.
The milk of human kindness must be running low in Singapore, where Facebook users were quick to blame a bike-riding victim after she was struck by a left-turning driver, whose view was obscured by a stopped delivery van.
Competitive Cycling
Cycling News offers a streaming guide to watch pro cycling in the US this month.
Canadian cyclist Derek Gee celebrated his 4th place finish in the Giro by spending the next three days in bed, but with the added confidence of knowing he can now ride with the best.
Finally…
That feeling when you have to pay 50 bucks for your free bike storage — okay, make it five. Or when a bike lane becomes a garbage lane.
And tell the jury they can come in late, because there’s a bike ride going on.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
Cheating alleged in Lyft’s Metro Bike bid, questioning rescue of Georgia bikepacker, and PCH study comments extended
Day 143 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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My apologies to everyone who found an unfinished — or unstarted, for that matter — draft of today’s post in your inbox.
And yes, spellcheck, unstarted is a real word.
But’s that’s what happens when have too many windows open on your screen, and inadvertently hit the “publish” button when you try to click on one.
Not for the first time, I might add.
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Now that we have that out of the way —
Today is the unofficial start of the three-day holiday weekend. Which means lots of people leaving work early, and not paying attention to anything but where they wish they already were right now.
Like bikes, for instance.
And long weekends mean parties and barbecues — and a lot of drinking and other forms of imbibing.
So ride defensively all weekend, and assume every driver you see is under the influence of something. Because more than a few probably will be.
I just want to see you back here safe and sound on Tuesday.
And try to take a few moments to remember what this holiday is all about, anyway.
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Raise your hand if you’d be shocked to learn there may have been cheating in awarding the new Metro Bike contract.
Hello? Anyone?
Is this thing on?
Streetsblog reports Metro directors delayed what was expected to be a pro forma vote to award Lyft the contract to operate the city’s docked bikeshare program yesterday — despite a unanimous vote by the Metro Operations Committee to advance the contract.
And after two previous botched attempts at awarding the contract.
But according to LA Public Press, the vote was pulled after allegations were raised that Lyft had inside information giving them an unfair advantage, in violation of Los Angeles ethics rules.
And yes, we have ethics rules, as hard as it is to believe at times.
LA Public Press also reports that Metro was on the cusp of making the change despite limited cost savings that amount to a rounding error in the massive Metro budget.
It’s possible — likely, in fact — that the allegations are an effort by current program operator BTS and unionized Metro Bike mechanics to derail the shift in management.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not true.
And even if it’s not, is it worth risking the bikeshare program as the city prepares to host the World Cup and ’28 Olympics by shifting to a company which has had a spotty record in other cities?
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It’s been a little more than a week since the “miraculous” rescue of Georgia bikepacker Tiffany Slaton after she got lost in the mountains above Fresno, surviving three weeks on wild leeks and melted snow.
But apparently, not everyone believe her story.
According to the Los Angeles Times,
On the other hand, a Redditor had this to say.
Even the experts had questions. Experienced Sierra mountain guide Howie Schwartz didn’t doubt Slaton was lost.
But,
Never mind the Redditors who said she was probably crazy, embellished her story, or looking for a book deal or crowdfunding cash.
Which probably explains why her parents shut their crowdfunding page down. But not until it had raised over $23,000.
Then again, those same doubts also popped up in my own Twitter/X feed.
So what’s the answer? Don’t ask me.
Her story does seem kind of incredible. But the best stories usually are.
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Caltrans uses a lot more words than necessary to say they’re giving you more time to comment on the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study.
Maybe they had to use them all before the weekend.
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Streets For All shares video of their virtual happy hour with LA City Attorney candidate Marissa Roy.
I never know how much to tip my virtual bartender. Or a Waymo driver, for that matter.
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Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, posts video of the recent die-in on the steps of City Hall.
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Active SGV hosts free two-hour ebike rentals this weekend.
https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1925644608425410632
Here’s the link if Elon is still screwing up proper embedding of Twitter/X posts.
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Of course a bicyclist who used to be a driver would have no idea what a traffic light is. Especially when it comes to right turns.
Or left.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Tres shock! New York’s police commissioner says her cops are only targeting reckless ebike riders for six offenses along 14 key corridors; Streetsblog says it ain’t necessarily so.
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Local
Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman reports on the celebratory grand opening of the “transformative” Rail-to-Rail bike/walk path in South LA.
Long Beach is launching a 12-month pilot program allowing both private and shared e-scooters along the shoreline bike and pedestrian path.
State
Palm Springs bike riders demanded action on safety improvements while honoring fallen bicyclists at Wednesday’s Ride of Silence.
The Santa Barbara Independent says the city’s bicycling rates are inching up while bicycling injuries climb, making both bike and Vision Zero goals “distant.”
National
A magazine for lawyers examines the legal challenges facing bike riders injured by distracted and/or reckless drivers. Best advice, document everything and find a good lawyer to walk through your options. Like one of those guys over there on the right.
The Independent lists eight American cities that are surprising great for bicycling. Seven of which actually are. And yes, I’m looking at you, Houston.
The Today Show highlights a dad going viral for his daily bike rides with his seven-year old daughter.
Nice. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed the nation’s first law permitting shared streets, with a 10 mph speed limit and strict rules requiring people on bicycles to yield to pedestrians, and drivers to yield to bike riders. Which is how it should be, anyway.
Salt Lake City is pulling the plug on its ebike incentive program after funding nearly 300 vouchers last year, citing a flat budget for the coming year. But wouldn’t a flat budget mean they could fund everything they did the previous year?
An Idaho dancer says ballet is just like riding a bike. And he should know, since he rides a bike to stay in shape for ballet, mentally and physically.
Damn. A Texas jury gave the parents of an eight-year old bike-riding boy killed by a young man driving a family business truck just at tad more than the $1.1 million they were asking for, awarding them a whopping $80 million. Let’s hope that’s a very valuable family business they’ve got there.
Your next bike parts could come from a Topeka vending machine. Which wouldn’t be the first thing I’ve bought from a vending machine in Topeka.
International
Seriously? London emergency rooms are supposedly buckling because of a surge in demand due to “Lime bike leg,” caused by people trapped by the weight of collapsing ebikes that are “around four times heavier than regular cycles,” while a surgeon warns of “life-threatening injuries.” Call it the modern equivalent of bicycle face.
We know a guy on a bike can beat a someone in a car, but can a London bike rider beat another guy riding the Tube across one of the world’s busiest cities? Would I be writing this if he couldn’t?
A 2,000-mile circular relay ride will connect all 42 Anglican cathedrals in the UK. Or as they call them over there, cathedrals.
A British bike club is proving that age is no barrier to learning how to ride a bike.
Competitive Cycling
Your new US national time trial champs are Emily Ehrlich and Artem Schmidt.
Mexico’s Isaac del Torro continues to lead the Giro, as Olav Kooij of the Netherlands won a mass sprint Thursday with a leadout from Wout van Aert. Meanwhile, a reader named Steven points out that del Torro’s name translates to “laughter of the bull,” which seems oddly appropriate.
A Utah newspaper profiles 23-year old Utah native Natalie Quinn as she fights to rise in women’s cycling — without getting paid, after joining American team Cynisca Cycling midseason when the British team she was on folded. Which pretty much sums up the problems with the current state of women’s cycling.
Kenyan cycling coach Evan Wangai discusses his journey from boda boda driver to pro cyclist.
Finally…
Why line the bike lane with ugly yellow posts when you can have recycled red plastic tulips? Always use a bicycle as a getaway vehicle for your baby gator heists.
And who needs lube when you’ve got…sand.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
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