The victim, identified only as a 72-year old El Monte resident, was apparently pronounced dead at the scene.
The 20-year old driver remained at the scene; police don’t suspect intoxication at that early hour. There’s no word on how or why he struck the victim, or which direction the victim was riding.
Unfortunately, that’s all the information we have right now.
This is at least the 41st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 12th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
Cycling has a carbon footprint of about 21g of CO2 per kilometre. That’s less than walking or getting the bus and less than a tenth the emissions of driving
About three-quarters of cycling’s greenhouse gas emissions occur when producing the extra food required to “fuel” cycling, while the rest comes from manufacturing the bicycle
Electric bikes have an even lower carbon footprint than conventional bikes because fewer calories are burned per kilometre, despite the emissions from battery manufacturing and electricity use
If cycling’s popularity in Britain increased six-fold (equivalent to returning to 1940s levels) and all this pedalling replaced driving, this could make a net reduction of 7.7-million tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to 6% of the UK’s transport emissions
That’s a big drop. But as they admit, going back to that rate of riding, from a time when many post-war Brits couldn’t afford a car or the gas to drive it, is a big lift.
More achievable would be replacing cars with bicycles and ebikes for half of all trips of five miles or less, which would result in a much lower but still significant reduction in greenhouse gasses.
By these calculations, cycling has the lowest carbon footprint of any mode of personal transport, even when compared to walking.
From a climate perspective, it makes sense for as many journeys as possible to be made by bike.
On an individual level, cycling instead of driving (or any other method of travelling) can make a positive impact on your carbon footprint.
But on a national scale, cycling has a limited role in addressing climate change. Because cycling is restricted to short journeys for most people, it can only replace a small fraction of the kilometres covered by cars.
Even if half of all sub-5-mile car journeys were replaced with cycling (a deliberately optimistic scenario) this would save around 7.7-million tons CO2e in the UK, equivalent to 2 per cent of UK domestic emissions in 2016. Not to be sniffed at, but not a silver bullet.
If that same 2% figure were applied to the US, it would save 102 million tons of CO2, based on 2017 figures.
That’s nothing to be sniffed at, either.
But it will take a better analytical mind than mine to calculate whether replacing half of all trips of less than five miles with bicycles, electric and otherwise, would be more or less than the UK’s 2%,
But even that would be a challenge in a country where cars are king, and even adequate bike networks are few and far between.
It’s not an insurmountable problem. But it’s not likely to change without leaders with the political will and courage to make it happen.
And right now, that’s the problem.
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Then again, bikes are pretty efficient, too.
Guess which ways of getting around are the most energy efficient per passenger KM travelled?
And General Motors put the lie to their promises of great quality and service, by saying it will be another six weeks before it can be repaired.
Which would mean they’d be starting back out on their trip two weeks after they were supposed to get there.
Hopefully GM will decide to avoid the bad publicity and figure out a way to do something sooner.
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Streets For All has been kind enough to post video of Wednesday’s virtual happy hour with California Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Laura Friedman, for those of us who missed it.
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Great to see the Cutters are still together after all those years after Breaking Away first hit the screens.
But they’re not going to get very far without any rubber on that bike.
A Texas driver faces a pair of manslaughter charges for an alleged drunken two-part crash in which he first killed a man riding a bike, then crossed onto the wrong side of the road a few miles later and killed a man driving a pickup.
August 12, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Keeping dangerous drivers driving until it’s too late, Metro neighborhood bike guides, and Brompton guests on Ted Lasso
Once again, authorities have managed to keep a dangerous driver on the road and behind the wheel until it’s too late.
Shockingly, the crash came just three years after the then 84-year old man hit another bike rider on the same damn road.
Which is exactly when he should have been forced to give up his keys.
Permanently.
Admittedly, it’s difficult to know when an older person can no longer drive safely. And I know from experience just how hard it is to take the keys from a loved one.
But it’s the state’s job to do exactly that. And before they kill someone.
Which makes the DMV, police, and any prosecutors and judges who may have been involved in the earlier case just as responsible for this doctor’s death as the man who actually killed him.
And who shouldn’t have been allowed to drive in the first place.
CicLAvia wants to remind you that Metro has lots of recommendations of where to ride in transit-accessible neighborhoods throughout the city.
Our friends at @BikeMetro created neighborhood ride guides (including the Chandler Bike Path, Venice & Abbott Kinney, the Ballona Creek Bike Path, and downtown LA) to help you find cycling routes and sites to visit across Los Angeles County: https://t.co/m3Mc86ue7t
Which makes this a great one to try if you want to walk or skate the route instead of riding.
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SCAG’s award-winning Go Human campaign is hosting an online conversation next Wednesday to discuss what works for advocacy work.
Join us on Wednesday, August 18 at 12pm for a #TwitterChat with incredible partners, safety champions, community ambassadors and local community engagement leaders across the region to share successful engagement strategies. See you there! pic.twitter.com/9JdLYfyL7p
Say it ain’t so, Joe. The legendary Katie F’n Compton was banned for four years after testing positive for an undisclosed anabolic agent in an out-of-competition drug test last fall; the 42-year old, 15-time national ‘cross champ won’t be eligible to compete again until late 2024, after her suspension was backdated to the date of the failed test. But the doping era is over, right? I mean, that’s what they keep telling us.
August 11, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Infrastructure bill could cut drunk driving, but keeps US on unsustainable path; and road raging driver hits man on 3rd try
Debate continues over the pros and cons of the new infrastructure bill, which passed the US Senate on Monday with rare bipartisan support.
The bill directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to initiate a rulemaking process and set the final standard within three years for impaired driving safety equipment on all new vehicles. NHTSA will evaluate technologies that may include:
Driving performance monitoring systems that monitor the vehicle movement with systems like lane departure warning and attention assist;
Driver monitoring systems that monitor the driver’s head and eyes, typically using a camera or other sensors;
Alcohol detection systems that use sensors to determine whether a driver is drunk and then prevent the vehicle from moving.
Automakers are then given two to three years to implement the safety standard. New cars equipped with the NHTSA-directed technology could start rolling off the assembly line in 2026-2027.
So now that Congress has proven they can actually work together, maybe they can do something about distracted driving, too.
Even as the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that our planet is heading toward an increasingly uninhabitable future, the infrastructure bill passed today by the Senate keeps our nation on an unsafe and unsustainable path. It continues to prioritize building the infrastructure that most contributes to the U.S.’s worst-in-class safety record and extraordinarily high climate emissions: new highways. With transportation as the largest source of U.S. climate emissions, and 80% of those coming from driving, the Senate’s bill goes in the wrong direction, giving a whopping $200 billion in virtually unrestricted funding to this unsustainable mode.
With the bill moving to the House for consideration, there is still a narrow opportunity to rectify the worst aspects of this enormous legislation, reshaping it to address the looming threat of climate change and stem the unconscionable level of death and injuries on American roads, which are the least-safe of all industrialized countries. We urgeHouse leaders to meet this moment and use their leverage to fix what’s painfully wrong with the bill to meet the scale of the climate emergency the world is facing today.
They recommend a series of simple fixes first proposed in the bill that passed the House earlier this year, including a requirement to fix existing roadways before building new ones, and investing more in transit.
Maybe they could also include more funding for non-motorized transportation while they’re at it.
Apparently, it’s not just people on bicycles at risk from hot tempered drivers, as a road-raging Oakland driver tried three times to run down another man who had the audacity to ask him to slow down.
A witness tells KTVU the driver made two previous attempts to mow down the victim, but missed. (see video). On his third try, he made contact with the victim. The victim survived the incident and is OK.
Once again, the East Side Riders prove they’re much more than a bike club, providing 30 underprivileged kids in the Compton area with $100 for back-to-school shopping, along with a grocery shopping spree, laptop and a haircut. If anyone wants to know my choice to succeed Joe Buscaino in LA CD15, the list starts and ends with East Side Riders founder John Jones III. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the link.
A Bakersfield man suffered major injuries when he allegedly rode his bike through a red light, and was struck by a driver. As always, a lot depends on whether there were any independent witnesses other than the driver who saw him go through the light.
San Francisco Streetsblogargues that it’s lobbyists and elected officials marring the public process rather than bike and pedestrian activists, accusing representatives of the de Young museum of engaging in gaslighting in an attempt to “turn J.F.K. back into a de facto freeway through Golden Gate Park.”
Once again, bike riders are heroes, after mountain bikers were credited with reporting and attempting to extinguish last month’s Cascade Fire, helping to restrict the blaze to a few hundred acres; a former lecturer at Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University is suspected of setting a number of fires in the area, including the massive Dixie Fire. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
A Kansas woman faces a second-degree murder count for the hit-and-run death of a bike-riding 16-year old girl over the weekend; she’s also charged with DUI, hit-and-run and tampering with evidence.
An Edmonton, Alberta cop is on trial for assaulting a member of the Cree First Nation by needlessly driving his knee into the man’s back while he was already restrained by another officer, in what began as a simple traffic stop for not having a bike bell. One more argument for eliminating bike bell laws and other similar requirements, which are too often used as an excuse to target people of color.
You’ve got to be kidding. After BBC broadcaster Jeremy Vine posted a video of bicyclists riding side-by-side to argue that it’s safer and less inconvenient to drivers if bicyclists ride abreast, the founder of a motorist rights group called him a “cycling zealot” and accused Vine of breaking the Beeb’s rules by “politicizing” the roadways. Then again, “motorist rights group” pretty much tells you everything you need to know about him.
And seriously, don’t tempt fate by parking in a bike lane.
Warning to all drivers… Your vehicle may spontaneously combust if you park in a bike lane. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Just another reason to not park in a bike lane. pic.twitter.com/3qlhU317nA
August 10, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Streets For All shares virtual drinks with Friedman, CicLAvia returns on Sunday, and Brits battle over riding abreast
Britain’s Jeremy Vine takes the contrarian view to all those drivers who insist people on bikes should ride single file all the time.
People who cycle in the country should be encouraged to ride 2, 3 and 4 abreast like this. For the following reasons:
1. It calms the traffic behind them 2. It makes it less easy for bad drivers to attempt dangerous passes 3. It is more pleasant and sociable for them. pic.twitter.com/vqi4dsuUSs
I am a cyclist. Simple rule – we are smaller than cars – so be polite, ride single file when holding up cars. Understand people are busy etc Do not go thru red lights/ pedestrian crossings. But also do ask drivers to be careful when passing? Please. https://t.co/bAP3mfVDYZ
Norm Bradwell forwards the best pro bike helmet commercial of all time.
Yes, you may have seen it before, but it’s more than worth seeing again. Or for the first time, if you haven’t.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. San Diego letter writers insist no one uses bike lanes because they don’t see them filled with bikes at the exact moment they happen to pass by, and that bike riders have to obey the law. Never mind that studies show safe infrastructure improves adherence to the law, and that bike riders break the law at about the same rate as people in the big, dangerous machines, but for much better reasons. Hint: Drivers cheat for convenience, bike riders to stay safe.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
For the second time in a week, a Santa Barbara driver has been busted for running down a teenage bike rider, as a driver is being held on $100,000 bond on DUI and hit-and-run charges after rear-ending a 14-year old boy on a bicycle; the victim was hospitalized with moderate injuries.
August 9, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Who we share the road with: Alleged road raging DUI driver kills pregnant woman; and help keep Culver Blvd partially carfree
The driver was allegedly chasing another driver through several blocks in Long Beach when he lost control of his truck, and crashed into a number of other vehicles.
One more tragic reminds that getting behind the wheel brings out the worst in far too many people.
And that some people just shouldn’t drive.
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This is who we share the road with, part two.
And speaking of people who just shouldn’t drive. Or maybe shouldn’t be allowed to drive ever again.
I was getting ready to order breakfast when I heard a driver coming down Magnolia at 70mph. He didn't notice the dip at Whitest and flew 50 feet before flipping and hitting two people on coming. One idiot has just mangled two other people's lives. @StreetsblogLA@streetsforallpic.twitter.com/yAwGRADBrP
Meanwhile, my old friend and longtime LA bike advocate Kent Strumpell forwards a reminder about tonight’s webinar to explain upcoming changes to restore the Ballona Wetlands, which will impact the popular Ballona Creek Bike Trail.
Reminder: WEBINAR: RE-ENVISIONING THE BALLONA CREEK TRAIL IN THE WETLANDS
An online presentation hosted by the Friends of Ballona Wetlands including a Q&A by CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, the project planners.
But it’s a good reminder of what we’ve been saying here for some time. Bike helmets are designed to protect you from a fall off your bike. Not protect your skull — or anything else — from a motor vehicle.
The people who need to read this will never read this and / or cannot read. Including / especially elected people. https://t.co/kOLLtHLPUx
Tragic news from San Jose, where a young girl was killed when she struck a raised curb while riding her bike downhill and hit her head on a concrete retaining wall. And no, she wasn’t wearing a helmet, despite a California law requiring one for anyone under 18.
Wired offers a rudimentary how-to guide for getting into BMX for anyone inspired by the events in the Tokyo Olympics. But no, it’s not everyone’s favorite event, regardless of what the magazine says.
This one’s easily the story of the day. A New Zealand woman wants to thank the young man who loaned her his own “expensive” bicycle so she could make a followup exam with her cardiologist on time, after her bike suffered a flat he couldn’t fix. He then walked her bike to the office to exchange it for his, before riding off without a word.
Heartbreaking news from Huntington Beach, where a man was killed and his elderly wife seriously injured when a driver slammed into their tandem bike Sunday morning.
The Orange County Tribune reports both people were taken to a local hospital, where the 74-year old man died from his injuries; his 82-year old wife was hospitalized, but is expected to survive.
According to investigators, they were apparently riding north on Magnolia when they were struck by a 30-year old woman driving her SUV west on Hamilton.
She remained at the scene, and police did not suspect drug or alcohol use.
Anyone with information is urged to call Huntington Beach Police Traffic Investigators D. Demetre at 714/536-5670, or V. Rattanchandani at 714/536-5231.
This is at least the 40th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in Orange County.
August 6, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on First-ever CicLAvia could be coming to Beverly Hills next year, and bizarre Santa Monica bar rage vehicular murder
We may be burning in California, but hell has officially frozen over.
The proposal would reprise the 2019 route that ran along Hollywood Blvd to Highland Ave, and south to Santa Monica Blvd. If Beverly Hills can work out the details, it would then extend west to Beverly Drive.
Even more surprising, Beverly Hills is the driving force behind this effort, rather than the other way around.
And no, I never would have imagined it when we were butting heads with less enlightened city officials back in the day.
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This is who we share the road with.
A Culver City man faces charges for intentionally running down a man standing outside a Santa Monica restaurant on Monday.
According to SMPD, Sloan was asked by restaurant staff to leave Busby’s on Santa Monica Blvd. before the incident. Sloan, angered by this demand, exited the establishment, and retrieved his vehicle. He then drove through the parking lot in an aggressive manner before attempting to intentionally hit a customer standing in front of the business. However, Sloan only ran over the foot of his intended target and instead struck the victim.
Oops.
To make matters worse, he knew the guy he actually killed, and had been drinking with him before he went berserk behind the wheel.
The driver, Nicholas Ralph Sloan, was arrested 15 miles away in the San Fernando Valley when the CHP stopped his Porsche Panamera for speeding.
He was booked on suspicion of murder, assault with a deadly weapon and DUI.
If you’ve been waiting for the long promised bike lanes on the North Spring Street Bridge, you can keep holding your breath. Streetsblog reports work still hasn’t begun on the the bike lanes, which were expected to be completed three years ago; local advocate point the finger at CD1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo, who has fought bike lanes and other safety projects in the district since taking office.
A Portland lawyer is suing aerosol makers and companies that sell them in an effort to halt “driving zombies,” after woman was killed while riding in a bike lane, by a driver who was caught on security cam huffing a computer keyboard dusting spray outside a Home Depot. Interesting approach, but good luck with that.
New York’s popular TD Five Boro Bike Tour returns this Sunday; the 40-mile ride through the city’s five boroughs, which Forbes calls America’s biggest bike ride, expects to draw a pandemic-restricted 20,000 riders instead of the usual 32,000. Although CicLAvia usually draws more than that on a bad day.
Thanks to Mark J for his generous donation — and kind words — to help keep this site going; as always, any donation, no matter how large or small, truly helps and is deeply appreciated.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Home deliveries have soared in recent years, spurred by online shopping and the coronavirus pandemic. Vans can travel along clear stretches of road at higher speeds than cargo bikes but are slowed by congestion and the search for parking. Cargo bikes bypass traffic jams, take shortcuts through streets closed to through traffic and ride to the customers door.
“Recent estimates from Europe suggest that up to 51% of all freight journeys in cities could be replaced by cargo bike,” said Ersilia Verlinghieri at the Active Travel Academy at the University of Westminster and lead author of the report. “So it’s remarkable to see that, if even just a portion of this shift were to happen in London, it would be accompanied by not only dramatic reduction of CO2 emissions, but also contribute to a considerable reduction of risks from air pollution and road traffic collisions, whilst ensuring an efficient, fast and reliable urban freight system.”
In other words, cargo bikes for the win.
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Speaking of which, our German correspondent Ralph Durham forwards photos of the the wide variety of work bikes he found on a recent visit to Strasbourg, France.
Starting with a food delivery bike for a Japanese restaurant…
A postal bike…
And what appears to be a bakery bike.
Finally, he sends this photo of an electric flatbed bike towing a trailer, which was picking up food waste from a restaurant for treatment offsite.
But as drivers and NIMBYs keep reminding us, you can’t carry things on a bicycle, let alone make deliveries.
This is who we share the road with. Three innocent people were killed in a violent Burbank collision when a speeding driver slammed into their car on a quiet surface street; the killer driver may have been racing with the driver of another car, who also crashed.
Sad news from San Jose, where a man died a day after he was struck by a driver when he allegedly ran a red light on his bike. As usual, the question is whether anyone saw him run the light, other than the driver who hit him.
Good news from Tokyo, where BMX cyclist Connor Fields was released from the hospital just five days after a horrific crash during a preliminary heat put him in the ICU with a brain hemorrhage, collapsed lung and broken ribs.
August 4, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Hit-and-run epidemic hits LA and San Diego, volunteers wanted for carfree K-town fest, and best bike traffic sign ever
My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.
Monday was a rough day.
It was supposed to be my wife’s first day at her new job, after the company she’d been with for 20 years shut down in the first days of the pandemic. But it lasted just three hours before her new bosses decided they needed someone familiar with their systems, rather than training her as they had promised.
So now we’re both back where we’ve been for the last 18 months, with her extended unemployment benefits expiring next month, just as the Delta variant is exploding.
$50,000 REWARD: @LAPDHQ says a 91 year old woman is killed by a hit and run driver that stopped for 3 mins to view victim before driving off. pic.twitter.com/hlUVcBNg2N
And if that doesn’t demand a murder charge once he’s caught, I don’t know what does. As always, there’s a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in Los Angeles.
Streets For All is looking for volunteers to help host a two block, four hour, carfree block party in Koreatown a week from Saturday.
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This is who we share the road with.
During a road rage dispute between two North Carolina drivers, they each pulled out a gun and shot at each other, injuring a 4-year-old girl. Both drivers are claiming self-defense. One of the shooters is the grandson of a former county sheriff. #ncpolhttps://t.co/rL9PLaVHcY
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
After a New York state senator nearly ran down someone riding a bike with his car, he naturally responded by introducing legislation to crack down on people on bicycles; Streetsblog responds that the danger on our streets doesn’t come from bike riders, but from the people in the big, dangerous machines.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
T.I. was busted when Amsterdam cops politely invited him into the backseat of their patrol car after the rapper rode his bike through an intersection — apparently against the light — and broke the mirror on the police car.
San Luis Obispo’s popular Bread Bike is moving into a brick and mortar storefront after years of delivering their baked good by bicycle; no word on whether the two-wheeled deliveries will continue when customers can just pop in for a loaf.
National
What apparently won’t be included in the new bipartisan federal infrastructure bill is money dedicated to removing highways from urban areas; the intent was to restore damage from many existing freeways that destroyed what were then thriving Black neighborhoods.
It’s the end of an era, as Tejay van Garderen, one of the few American cyclists to make a mark in WorldTour in the post-Lance era, calls it a career after 12 years.
Thanks to James B and Elizabeth T for their generous donations to help keep this site coming your way every day; any donation, no matter how large or small, helps and is deeply appreciated.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
