May 5, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Man killed riding bicycle near center divider on the Pomona Freeway in South El Monte; 7th LA County death this year
Once again, someone has been killed riding a bicycle in the traffic lanes of a major SoCal freeway.
And once again, it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense.
Not surprisingly, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A collision with one vehicle at highway speeds is not likely to be survivable, let alone multiple vehicles.
As in the other cases where bike riders have been killed while riding on a freeway, no explanation was given for what the hell he was doing there.
Just to be clear, while it is legal to ride a bicycle on some limited access highways where there is no alternative bicycle route, there are few, if any, places in the Los Angeles area where it is allowed.
And it is never smart to ride a bike to the left of the fog line, or right limit line, on any urban freeway.
This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
May 4, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on This is who we share the road with, the world’s coolest book bike, and Braves pitchers brave DC streets on bicycles
This is who we share the road with.
Inglewood faces a more than $300,000 lawsuit from the City of Los Angeles for a crash allegedly caused by the city’s mayor that left an LAPD motorcycle officer with an undisclosed permanent disability — even though LA rejected the officer’s injury claim.
More details on the Chicago man charged with attempted murder for intentionally driving his car over a median to attack a group of people enjoying a birthday picnic, after allegedly becoming enraged over “yuppies on the boulevard” and their dogs, then brandished a knife until he was disarmed by a passing grandmother. Yes, you read that right.
New York police continue to waffle on the crash that killed a delivery rider, before the driver went on to slam into a pair of parked cars and an outdoor dining area, alternating between calling it road rage and writing it off as a medical episode. Or maybe they think irrational anger behind the wheel is just a medical condition.
Berkeley bike cops busted an armed felony suspect who led police on a chase after allegedly ramming his car into another vehicle. Although calling the city’s bike cops the Bike Force makes them sound like Trump’s Space Force on two wheels.
He gets it, sort of. A Staten Island writer says everyone breaks the law, whether in cars, on bikes or on foot, scooters or mopeds. And says the solution is to just obey the rules and be safer out there. Although a much better solution is to design roads so breaking the rules doesn’t result in broken bodies. Which is the whole premise behind Vision Zero.
Here’s another one to add to your bike bucket list, with a 150-mile bike trail that loops around Britain’s Cornwall Coast opening this fall, taking you past “spectacular coastal scenery,” old industrial works and bronze age monuments. Not to mention the westernmost and southernmost points of mainland Britain, and the home turf of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.
May 3, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Happy LA Bike Month, Los Angeles Vision Zero fail, and Damian Kevitt calls for support for school zone speed cam bill
My apologies for Friday’s unexcused absence.
Just another of the many and varied joys of diabetes, a cruel disease that can take you from feeling okay to passing out in a matter of minutes, for no apparent reason.
And yet another reminder to get yourself checked if you’re at risk, and do whatever it takes to avoid getting it. Because you don’t want this shit.
Despite — or maybe because of — an up to 70% drop in traffic fatalities, roadway deaths declined just 3% in Los Angeles last year, thanks at least in part to a dramatic jump in speeding as empty streets encouraged drivers to use a heavy right foot.
Based on preliminary data reported by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, 238 people died in collisions last year, compared to 246 in 2019 — a decrease of about 3%.
That slight dip pales in comparison to how sharply car travel fell in greater L.A. and beyond in the early months of the pandemic. Schools closed, many workers stopped commuting to their offices, and local and state stay-at-home orders drastically limited the places and activities we could drive to in our cars.
In mid-to-late March 2020, daily vehicle traffic fell as much as 70%. Last April saw traffic volumes decrease by 30% to 50% compared to the start of the year. Daily driving has been increasing since that historic plummet, but still remain below typical levels, according to city traffic data.
And despite a drop last year, bike and pedestrian deaths are still up over the five years since LA adopted Vision Zero in 2015.
Which isn’t the way it’s supposed to work.
The basic philosophy behind Vision Zero is that humans will make mistakes on the road and crashes will happen, but by redesigning streets to reduce speeding and better protect vulnerable road users, those crashes don’t have to cause severe injuries and deaths. But as the data has shown in recent years, L.A.’s current approach is not working…
While fewer people were killed and seriously injured in crashes overall last year, not all L.A. communities experienced less traffic violence. According to preliminary data compiled by LADOT:
The number of pedestrians killed by drivers fell about 12% overall, but increased in some neighborhoods
Slightly fewer cyclists were killed last year (15, compared to 19 in 2019)
The number of motorcyclists killed in crashes jumped about 45%
Motor vehicle occupant deaths were nearly unchanged
Pandemic or not, it’s clear that LADOT’s piecemeal approach to reducing traffic deaths isn’t working.
And it isn’t Vision Zero, by any definition.
The basic philosophy behind Vision Zero is that humans will make mistakes on the road and crashes will happen, but by redesigning streets to reduce speeding and better protect vulnerable road users, those crashes don’t have to cause severe injuries and deaths. But as the data has shown in recent years, L.A.’s current approach is not working.
It’s long past time Los Angeles stopped talking about Vision Zero, and got off its collective ass and did something about it.
Because I’m every bit as tired of writing about fallen bicyclists as you are reading about it. And don’t get me started on all the other people needlessly killed on our streets.
For any doubters out there, yes, ending traffic deaths is possible. If — and only if — we have the political will to make it happen.
Speaking of LAist, just like their parent public radio station KPCC, they survive on public donations.
SAFE founder and Executive Director Damian Kevitt, who lost a leg — and nearly his life — to a hit-and-run driver who was never caught, makes a heartfelt plea to fight for SB 733, which would allow automated speed cams in school zones.
Sadly, California is one of the only nine states that expressly forbids speed safety cameras in school zones. This tool has been available since 1987 and is unquestionably effective. Data in cities across the country, such as New York, Seattle, and Chicago, show that speed safety cameras reduce traffic injuries and fatalities and change driver behavior. More importantly, there are already thousands of schools across the country that currently use speed safety cameras to protect kids, teachers, and parents.
The common sense bill, which would only impact people breaking the law and endangering innocent kids and adults, has been severely watered down by Senate Transportation Committee Chair Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat misrepresenting Long Beach, at least in this case.
As currently written after it was butchered in committee, the law would only allow a pilot project in four schools out of more that 20,000 in the state.
As Kevitt writes,
This is an insult to victims of traffic violence and the coalition of support, especially given the immediate problem and widespread, documented effective use of speed safety cameras across the country.
One of the harder things I have had to do is tell victims of traffic violence — who were emotionally prepared to testify in committee — that this lifesaving bill wouldn’t make it through committee due to political forces that are hard to explain. Why would police unions work to fill a bill that so obviously would help save lives? It is heartbreaking.
But we will pick ourselves up and gain strength. The voices of traffic violence will not be silenced. Safety advocates will not accept that denial of the science. Equity groups will demand accountability. And, in the end, we will save lives.
He urges you, and all of us, to call or email Gonzalez’s office to express your outrage, and demand this life-saving tool to protect innocent lives.
I’m planning to do it later today. I hope you’ll join me
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I’ve been remiss in not mentioning the LACBC’s virtual LA Rivers Challenge, which replaces their popular LA River Ride, as the world still struggles to shake off the pandemic.
Join us the entire month of June for a virtual challenge in place of the LA River Ride. 2020 was supposed to mark 20 years of River Ride, but we had to put our beloved event on hold due to the pandemic. We’re making up for it in 2021 by inviting you to 30 days of riding, walking and running the historic waterways of Los Angeles!
The LA Rivers challenge is all about doing the mileage goal that is best for you. Select the goal that excites you, tests your abilities, or that you can do with your family. There is a distance for everyone to ride, walk or run.
Opening March 15th, registration is just $40, but follow up on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for exclusive discounts. You also have the opportunity to support healthy, sustainable and equitable streets by choosing to fundraise for LACBC while meeting your mileage goals. You can earn great prizes at key fundraising milestones and will qualify for The 2021 LA Rivers Challenge Drawing to win one of our grand prizes TBA! Whatever your contribution, you will be supporting the work of LACBC, as we try to make Los Angeles a safer and more inclusive place to ride, walk and run.
A woman was released from the hospital late last night after a motorist — angered by "yuppies with dogs" along Logan Boulevard — jumped a curb and rammed her at a birthday picnic after allegedly yelling an anti-Asian comment at her friend, witnesses say https://t.co/Lv0y5dOwNV
It’s no surprise that we can’t manage to do anything about man shootings, when we still can’t even do anything about stopping people from using their car as a multi-ton weapon of mass destruction.
We need to change the law here in California, where police are currently prohibited from ticketing drivers or charging them with misdemeanors unless they actually witness the infraction.
And no, witnessing it on video doesn’t count, for some strange reason.
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GCN offers advice on how to find good riding routes when you’re new to the area.
And GCN considers one of bicycling’s most vital questions, and one of the last remaining forms of legal doping.
And thanks to Vyki Englert for spotting the LAFD logo on their panniers.
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Nothing sexier than someone on a bike.
Okay, maybe the right someone.
It's hard to think of a long-forgotten actor who has a better catalog of bike riding shots than Yvette Mimieux. I wish I knew how to bare-foot smolder on a bike. pic.twitter.com/71viaQrzg2
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real.
Someone sabotaged a beginners bike trail in Scotland with obstacles including tree branches, and fence posts with rusted razor wire, which could seriously injure an unsuspecting rider. Or worse.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A British man was lucky to walk with a suspended sentence after he was busted with the equivalent of over $2,700 worth of amphetamines when police stopped him as he rode his bicycle with a bloody face; no word on how his face got that way.
New York mayoral hopeful Eric Adams pledges to build another 300 miles of protected bike lanes in the city during his first four years, if he’s elected, an annual rate nearly three times the 28 miles installed last year. Let’s get the candidates for mayor in next year’s LA election to make a similar pledge. And hold them to it.
Former Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams is one of us, as she goes for a London bike ride in a see-through top while filming a new six-part bio-series based on a memoir from Sex Pistols bassist Steve Jones. Sorry guys, they blurred that part out.
Cycling Newsalso examines the omertà in women’s pro cycling, where virtually no one is talking about the shameful poverty wages — or no wages at all — paid to riders below the WorldTour level.
According to the paper, Swantek was riding on Glendora Mountain Road when he lost consciousness due to an undetermined medical problem just before noon Friday.
A passing Good Samaritan began CPR, and continued until paramedics took over. However, Swantek was declared dead less than half an hour later.
Anyone with information is urged to call the CHP’s Baldwin Park office at 626/338-1164.
Sadly, it’s yet another reminder that cars aren’t the only danger we face on the roads.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Stanley Swantek and all his family and loved ones.
Thanks to John McBrearty, ActiveSGV and LB Acct Action Grp for the heads-up.
April 29, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Former NTSB official says no deaths should be the only goal, legalize crossing the street, and building the 15 minute city
Sometimes I arrived at the scene of a business jet or helicopter crash, other times it was a train derailment, once it was a cargo ship lost in a hurricane — always, it involved a tragic loss of life. But despite the terrible toll of motor vehicle deaths on our nation, I never launched to the scene of a traffic crash. Why? Perhaps because the NTSB only has the capacity to investigate a handful of vehicle crashes each year. Perhaps because there weren’t any crashes classified as major disasters when I was on duty. But in 2019, more than 36,000 deaths were recorded on U.S. roads, so an average of nearly 700 traffic deaths occurred every week I was on duty.
Yet our nation doesn’t think of a traffic crash as a disaster, since deaths typically occur one or two at a time. Many of us don’t believe that every road death is preventable. As a nation, we haven’t yet decided that we can protect everyone, including the most vulnerable among us who use our streets and highways — people who are younger or older, people who are walking or biking, people with disabilities. We accept tens of thousands of deaths on our roads every year as simply unavoidable “accidents,” even though we have proven solutions to prevent them.
It’s worth a few minutes to read.
Because she’s right. There’s no acceptable number of traffic deaths.
And it’s long past time we did something about it.
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Los Angeles Walks is joining with partners across the state on Monday for a national discussion about jaywalking and efforts to decriminalize it.
Like their sponsorship of AB 1238, aka the Freedom to Walk Act, which would get rid of California’s jaywalking law, which is too often used to target people of color.
Tonight's @LADOTofficial meeting presentation photo usage complainer. This LADOT slide features 4 photos – the first three, I @JoeLinton took, and the 4th photo I didn't take, but it is a photo of me! (DOT can use SBLA photos free w credit, but never credit.) pic.twitter.com/4AAZWd7kPY
Bay Area transportation officials marked the beginning of Bike Month by announcing nine Bike Champion of the Year winners, honoring one person from each county in the Bay region for their commitment to bicycling.
They get it. A new survey shows Pittsburgh residents overwhelmingly support bike lanes, walking routes and reduced speed limits. And think traffic injuries are a major problem. Maybe someday someone will finally get around to asking Angelenos those same questions, so our elected leaders might finally see that the car-first crowd is just a very loud minority.
This is who we share the road with. A newlywed English teenager gets a well-deserved year behind bars for stealing a crate of eggs, then driving his car while friends threw the eggs out the window at passing people and cars, permanently blinding a motorcycle rider in his right eye with a direct hit. He took the fall for his friends, refusing to name who actually tossed the eggs.
Go ahead and leave you mask at home on your next bike ride.
If you’ve had your shots.
California and LA County are going along with new directives from the CDC, which conclude that masks are no longer necessary for people who’ve received both shots when you’re outside and away from crowds.
And they specifically call out bicycling as safe to do without a mask.
So feel free to breathe freely.
But maybe keep one handy in case you decide to go inside somewhere, or find yourself around people who may not have had their shots yet.
A modern British remake of Vittorio De Sica’s classic Bicycle Thieves will premier on streaming platforms next week.
The Guardian likes it, but says it could be better.
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This is who we share the road with.
In a rant that will sound familiar to most bike riders, a road raging British driver complains that horses don’t belong on the roads, and uses his car as a weapon to attack a woman on a horse.
Although hardly anyone complains about bike riders pooping on the streets.
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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A pair of Canadian burglars demonstrate that you can carry anything with a bike. Even a stolen safe.
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Local
Cities Todaycelebrates LA’s pre-pandemic 22% jump in bike ridership, which is likely to be even larger when the post-pandemic numbers finally come in. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait another two years to get a snapshot of current ridership, like we did last time.
Portland has waived an $11 million fine against the US government for blocking one of the nation’s busiest bike lanes for the better part of a year with a fence surrounding the federal courthouse, to protect it from protesters.
Thieves take their time cleaning out the bike storage room at a Denver apartment complex, easily walking out with six bicycles. Another reminder that most storage rooms just offer bike thieves a more convenient place to shop for your bike.
The container ship Ever Given may have been freed from the Suez Canal, but your new bike may still be stuck in Egypt because the ship and its cargo are being held as ransom until the company forks over $900 million in damages.
Yes, a bike helmet can cut your risk of a head injury if you come off your bike, though studies disagree on just how much.
But what helmet advocates seem to forget is that bike helmets are designed to protect against relatively slow speed falls. Not high speed collisions with a couple tons of semi-ballistic steel and glass.
They should always be seen as the last line of defense when all else fails, not the first; the key to bike safety is to ride defensively so you don’t get hit in the first place.
And telling people not to ride after dark makes no more sense than telling them not to walk or leave their house.
The college settled with the family of the victim for $115,000 as a result of the 2018 case, when the cop briefly chased him in his patrol car, then bizarrely pulled his gun on him, despite a total lack of probable cause.
The university alleges the officer, Troy Phillips, lied about what happened, and hid the existence of video and audio recordings of the incident, accusing Phillips of unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution and fabricating evidence.
And says he should be on the hook for the settlement, rather than the school.
In a tragic coda to the story, the victim, 40-year old Eliborio Rodrigues Jr. was shot and killed by a cop the following year, after refusing to show his ID and asking for a sergeant when he was stopped for taking a plastic bottle out of a recycling bin.
Yes, he was killed over a lousy piece of trash.
The shooting was inexplicably ruled justified, despite the flimsy probable cause, when the cop claimed Rodrigues reached for his taser.
Bensalem Township Police have created a portal to upload photographs and/or videos of bicycle riders causing traffic issues in the township. Follow the link below for more information or this link to directly upload to Bensalem Police: https://t.co/21RZXWgPsRpic.twitter.com/VnID8zUIuV
So, if a heavy bollard can’t keep a car out of a building, how are those little plastic bendy posts LA uses to demarcate “protected” bike lanes supposed to do the job?
Improperly Installed Bollard Fails To Keep Shitty Driver From Crashing Into Local Bank.https://t.co/j4kvUzRt1m
LA Magazine says Hollywood’s newly trendy Sycamore Ave, home to SiriusXM and the offices of Jay Z and Beyoncé, are due to get bike lanes soon. Even though they really belong one block west on busy La Brea Blvd.
An Arkansas bike rider learned the hard way that drivers aren’t the only risk we face on the roads when he was attacked by a pack of angry dogs that came charging out of a couple’s yard; he was rushed to the hospital with a tourniquet on his leg. Never mind that the dogs should have been secured so they couldn’t rush out into the street like that, for their own safety, as well as others.
A new poll conducted by PeopleForBikes shows Pittsburgh residents don’t hate bike lanes after all, with three-quarters agreeing that additional bike and pedestrian infrastructure would more it a more desirable place to live.
It was a bad day for scofflaw Manchester drivers, as a cop in Manchester, England commandeered a bicycle from a passing rider to catch a car thief before he could flee on foot after crashing. And a pair of bike cops in a French district by the same name chased down and busted a Porsche driver for driving recklessly.
April 26, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Murder charge for intentionally killing Port Hueneme teen, San Diego hit-and-run victim ID’d, and bike riders behaving badly
An Arkansas man got five years for a pair of drug cases, as well as riding his old bike into a Walmart and riding out with a new one while claiming it was okay because he was a police officer. He isn’t, and it wasn’t.
In news that would have been unbelievable just a few years ago, the former Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills adopts Complete Streets as a “high-level concept,” though just what that will mean on the streets will need to be fleshed out. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the link.
Road Bike Action lists nine essential skills every bike rider needs to master. Actually, some of these only apply to roadies, and only if you plan to ride in a group. Unless maybe you plan to bump cruiser bike riders on the beach bike path.
After initially cancelling their annual Christmas bike giveaway, Fayetteville, Arkansas’ Bicycle Man organization donated 1,000 bikes to local kids; the group has given away over 27,000 bicycles since starting in a couple’s backyard 31 years ago.
This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Kentucky man faces a DUI charge in Wisconsin after he was found sleeping in his car with the engine running; this is his fifth DUI in four different states. The law has to be changed to make drunk and drugged driving offenses follow drivers from state to state, so they can’t escape prosecution for multiple violations.
Bikes can take you anywhere. Even to the cemetery of a 920-year old Northumbrian church, where the father of the UK’s National Health Service rests, along with a leading WWII-era British Nazi and, briefly, half of his best-selling author son.
Even Nairobi is outstripping Los Angeles, with plans to invest 1.47 billion Kenyan shillings in new bikeways and walkways outside of the city center, although that converts to just $13.5 million. But as Stormin’ Norman points out in forwarding the story, the average Kenyan consumes just 2% of the resources of the average American, so that figure is a lot higher in context.
Thanks to John H and Megan L for their generous, and unexpected, donations to help support this site, and keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way every day.
While my hand is doing better today, it seems to be asking a little too much of it to write this post, along with the earlier piece about a fatal bike collision in San Diego’s Balboa Park.
I’ll try to catch up on Monday if we missed anything important.
The driver stopped briefly after striking the man as he rode his bike on the north sidewalk of Olympic Boulevard just east of Boyle Avenue, but didn’t identify himself or stick around.
So much for the usual truck driver excuse that they didn’t know they hit anyone.
The 30-year old victim spent several days in the ICU with multiple fractures and internal injuries.
The truck is described as possibly being a white 2015 Freightliner Columbia 120, with what looks like a sleeper cab, while the driver is described only as a man in his 30’s who could be Latino.
Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Officer Garcia at 213/833-3713 or email 39759@lapd.online.
The local chief of police defended his officers, insisting they acted appropriately — even though about the only way they matched the suspect description was they’re both men.
Listen 10-12 minutes in. @AirTalk host @LarryMantle responds to a parent whose kids want bike lanes that bike lanes are really controversial, but in 2035, all the cars will be electric, so kids can drive instead.
Metro announce that Bike Month will be back this year, with a Bike Anywhere Day on Friday the 21st replacing the usual Thursday Bike to Work Day; Bike Week will take place from May 17th to the 23rd. Maybe I’ll be recovered enough by then to ride somewhere on Bike Anywhere Day.
Um, no. The CEO of bicycle subscription company Buzzbike says urban private bicycle ownership will be dead within the coming decade. Meanwhile, Twitter user Steven Mandrapa responded by writing “We also predict people will no longer own their own pants and will prefer to rent pants anytime they go outside.” Touché, Steven.
Life is cheap in Ohio, where a motorcyclist will spend a lousy nine months behind bars for killing a 15-year old kid riding a bicycle, despite riding with a suspended license. At least they’re suspending his license for five years, even though that didn’t seem to stop him the last time.
Apparently, it’s the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Opponents of London’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods — the equivalent of Slow Streets on this side of the Atlantic — claim they impede emergency vehicles, with little or no facts to support it. And yes, Low Traffic Neighborhoods is a much better name than Slow Streets.
Apparently the only thing that will allow someone else to win the women’s Flèche Wallonne will be Anna van der Breggen’s impending retirement, after she won her seventh consecutive title.
