Designed to kill — modern high-profile, blunt-front cars 25% deadlier; and ghost tires installed on LA’s killer highway

November 15, 2023 / / One comment

It’s not just pickups and SUVs.

While the risk of high-profile vehicles is well documented, a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows even flat-front, medium–height vehicles present a higher risk of pedestrian fatalities compared with similarly-sized cars with low or sloped front ends.

And guess what the current automotive style trend is.

According to the study, vehicles measuring just 30 to 40 inches from the street to the top of the hood posed a 25% greater risk of pedestrian deaths. And presumably, the same or greater risk to people on bicycles.

According to Streetsblog,

Of course, advocates have long known that high and mighty SUVs and pickup trucks are a significant factor in the 80-percent increase in pedestrian deaths on U.S. roads over the last 14 years. High front ends are associated with higher risk of deadly head and thorax injuries, and studies show vulnerable road users are more likely to be thrown under the wheels of an SUV and sustain even more extensive injuries, rather than being being pushed onto the hood or the roof.

The new study reveals, though, that even cars that Americans think of as “medium sized” aren’t necessarily safe, either. Nearly 35 percent of U.S. vehicles are now designed with a blunt — and significantly more deadly — front end, the study authors said, citing a recent re-design of the Ford Mustang…

“Over the past 30 years, the average U.S. passenger vehicle has gotten about four inches wider, 10 inches longer, eight inches taller and 1,000 pounds heavier,” the Insurance Institute added. “Many vehicles are more than 40 inches tall at the leading edge of the hood.”

And they wonder why traffic deaths have been going up every year.

As long as federal regulations continue to allow the seemingly endless motor vehicle size creep — and allow car makers to literally design their vehicles to kill anyone not safely ensconced in a couple tons of glass and steel — that’s not going to change.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

Sometimes, though, traffic violence has less to do with the size and shape of the vehicle than the design of the roadway.

And the actions of the driver.

Like on PCH in Malibu, where a driver traveling in excess of 100 mph killed four Pepperdine University students just standing on the side of the roadway, as they made their way to a fraternity party.

Yesterday afternoon, traffic safety nonprofit Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, installed four white ghost tires where they lost their lives.

Or rather, where they were brutally murdered.

The memorials are similar to ghost bikes, to remember those who have been killed by speeding drivers.

But sharing responsibility with their alleged killer are the officials who have done little or nothing to correct the single deadliest surface street in LA County.

Here’s how SAFE put it in their press release.

Any single loss of a loved one and community member due to a preventable traffic collision is tragic. The loss of four in one incident is horrific, but these preventable collisions are made worse by the fact that the short stretch of PCH that travels through residential and business areas of Malibu has been known for decades as a dangerous road with vehicles regularly doing 60-80 MPH and sometimes well over 100.

Since 2010 there have been 58 fatalities (including the four young women just killed) and about 2500 individuals injured. The single largest factor in these crashes is reckless speeding. (Source LA County Sheriff’s Dept and TIMS) For decades the community of Malibu, including various family members of those who have been killed and city officials, has asked Caltrans (the government agency responsible for PCH) to slow down PCH and re-engineer it. Little has been done.

In 2015 the California Office of Traffic Safety commissioned a study of PCH through Pacific Palisades and Malibu called the PCH Pedestrian Safety Project. In that report, there were 130 improvements recommended for the section of PCH in Malibu, including reducing the speed limit of PCH through the most densely populated areas. In the eight years since that report, Caltrans has implemented 6 of the recommendations (the City of Malibu has implemented additional recommendations with Caltrans approval) and none of the most effective recommendations have been accomplished. There is still a 45 MPH speed limit – too fast for the road conditions through Malibu. Drivers still often drive 60+ MPH through this built-up, high-pedestrian area, because there are few stop lights, and traffic calming measures are lacking.

“It’s been eight years since the 2015 safety recommendations were issued. Caltrans has done virtually nothing since then to reduce unsafe driving on PCH in Malibu. EIGHT YEARS! What else has Caltrans been doing over that time that is more important than stopping people being killed at this rate on such a short stretch of road?” – Barry Stewart (Father of Peyton Stewart, killed along with her three friends by a speeding driver on PCH.)

The question is how many more people will have to die before someone, anyone, finally does something to fix the problem.

Because the modest tinkering around the edges that passes for safety improvements on LA’s killer highway clearly haven’t done anything to save lives.

And if the deaths of four innocent young women isn’t enough to convince state, county and local officials to do something, I don’t know what will.

………

Speaking of which, the annual World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is this Sunday.

Maybe someday, carmakers will finally try to design their vehicles to make fewer victims to remember, and traffic engineers and elected officials will build roads that don’t contribute to the problem.

Which is what Vision Zero is all about.

……..

‘Tis the season.

More bike-centric holiday gift guides, from Bike Rumor, Road.cc and Velo.

Meanwhile, the US Army’s South Korean base Camp Humphreys distributed 80 refurbished bicycles for Veterans Day, ensuring that junior-enlisted soldiers had first choice.

……..

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

Nope, no bias here. A former Baltimore city council president decried a recent road diet and bike lanes, saying “There are elitist, fanatical people who believe they want to improve the world by getting rid of cars and the way they do it is by narrowing every street that they can, even if it has a negative effect on the city.” Never mind that lane reductions and bike lanes have been repeatedly shown to improve safety for everyone, and often improve traffic flow while increasing sales for local businesses. But sure, just keep hating on people working to make positive changes on our streets. Schmuck. 

No bias here, either. After police ignored a sideswipe hit-and-run by a motor scooter rider that knocked a London man famed for bicycling with his cat off his bike, telling him only that he should wear a helmet, the victim has received thousands of abusive messages on social media — going so far as telling him to kill himself — and been reported to the SPCA for animal abuse.

………

Local 

Yes, please. CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky talked with UCLA’s Daily Bruin student newspaper about her goals for Westwood, including more bus and bike lanes to build more livable communities.

Alhambra’s newly revealed active transportation plan calls for more than 50 miles of new bike lanes, as well as several new pedestrian priority zones. Let’s just hope they follow through. Because, as we’ve learned the hard way here in Los Angeles, a mobility plan is only as good as the city’s commitment to it. 

Santa Monica cops will be conducting another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation today, ticketing anyone committing a traffic violation that could put bike riders or pedestrians at risk. So if you haven’t left for your ride yet, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed. 

 

State

Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry examines the new Calbike survey showing most respondents are afraid to walk or bike on roadways controlled by Caltrans, four years after Governor Newsom vetoed a bill that would have mandated Complete Streets because, in his words, “Caltrans was already doing that.” Apparently not.

The new owner of the 50-year old Leucadia Cyclery is fighting to stay in business, after the owners of the building refused to extend the lease due to “water leaks, electrical problems and its overall vulnerability as high-risk unreinforced masonry.”

It’s been a rough few days in Kern County, where a man riding a bicycle was killed by a driver in Bakersfield yesterday afternoon, while a 21-year old woman was arrested for the hit-and-run that killed a bike-riding woman in Wasco on Sunday.

In better Kern County news, a new bike lane is slated to open in Tehachapi this month.

San Francisco state Assemblymember Phil Ting writes about securing more than $2 million for bicycling programs in the city, including $1.2 million for safety improvements to Arguello Blvd between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, where champion cyclist Ethan Boyes was killed earlier this year. Maybe someday, a Los Angeles-area legislator will secure funding to fix the site where someone, anyone, was killed on our streets.

 

National

Seattle is nearing completion on a $40 million curb-protected bike lane connecting the Capitol Hill neighborhood with downtown, although design compromises — like rerouting it onto a sidewalk and around light post to avoid inconveniencing drivers — could reduce its effectiveness.

Advocates in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown are working to turn the site of the former college football stadium where I used to smuggle rum inside my tuba on game days into a massive 60 to 80 acre world class bike park. I mean, the statute of limitations for that is over, right?

About damn time. A new Chicago ordinance requires the city to study any fatal crashes to determine the cause, and report all fatal crashes to the public. Now let’s get them to do something like that here. Thanks to Bike Lane Uprising® for the heads-up. 

No bias here. After a 16-year old Chicago boy was killed in a collision while riding his bike, the only mention that the truck that hit him even had a driver was a brief note that the driver was uninjured.

That’s more like it. A 27-year old Michigan man will spend between 3.6 and 15 years behind bars, less four days for time served, for the drunken hit-and-run that killed a 30-year old man riding a bicycle; he was nearly three times the legal alcohol limit when he fled the scene, dragging the victim nearly a mile and a half under his van.

Officials in New York called on retailers and food delivery companies to do more to halt the proliferation of dangerous ebike and e-scooter batteries, after three people were killed in a fire blamed on a lithium ion scooter battery.

A coalition of safe streets and immigrant rights advocates are pushing back against a New York City proposal that would require registration and licensing for ebikes, arguing that it would be dangerous and expensive, and wouldn’t make the streets any safer.

An Emmy-winning Irish filmmaker and photographer’s bike was found at a beach in Queens, after he vanished without a trace last week,

There’s a special place in hell for the New Jersey man accused of robbing a group of kids at gunpoint when they met him to buy a bicycle he’d posted online.

Sad news from Philadelphia, where the local bicycle coalition remembers a former staffer who was killed by a driver while leading a long-distance LGBTQ + BIPOC bikepacking trip.

 

International

Momentum offers a guide to securely storing your cargo bike or ebike.

A writer for Bike Magazine takes a five day bikepacking trip through the Alps, discussing all the gear they brought, as well as the gear they didn’t need.

E-bikesharing services are quickly replacing the popular e-scooters on the streets of Seoul, South Korea.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo remembers the best moments of the 2023 cycling season.

The Tour de France will stay home in 2025, with the Grand Départ set for Lille in northern France.

$70,000 worth of bicycles belonging to competitors in September’s triathlon World Championship race in Pontevedra, Spain are being held hostage by a subcontractor for the shipping company, which insists they are owed $300,000 in unpaid invoices. However, the roughly 180 people whose bikes they’re holding aren’t the ones who allegedly stiffed them.

 

Finally…

When you’re carrying $6,600 worth of hot electronic gear on your bike, put a damn light on it, already. And at last, a bicycle with a glove box.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

22 people killed on bikes in LA this year, city on record pace for traffic deaths; no one feels safe on Caltrans highways

November 14, 2023 / / 2 comments

Color me livid.

For some time, I’ve been concerned that we’re not learning about people killed riding their bikes in the City of Los Angeles.

Now know they’ve been keeping the truth from us.

That worry stemmed from this year’s surprisingly low number of bicycling deaths that have been reported in the media, as well as the LAPD’s belated announcements of fatal hit-and-runs that come weeks, if not months, after the fact.

Never mind that they’re asking for our help long after the trail has gone cold, and any potential witnesses have likely forgotten key details.

So much for the city’s highly touted hit-and-run alert system.

Yesterday, Crosstown confirmed that they just aren’t telling us what we need to know to stay safe, and identify the problems on our streets — let alone fix them.

Following the death of Los Angeles resident Samuel Tessier in an apparent fall at the entrance to Universal Studios last week, I had counted nine people who had been publicly confirmed to have been killed while riding their bikes on the mean streets of the City of Angels.

But according to LAPD figures reported by Crosstown, the actual number is more than twice that high. In fact, of the more than 260 traffic deaths in the city through October 28th, 19 were people on two wheels.

It’s actually worse than that, however, because three more people have been killed riding bikes in Los Angeles since then, including Mr. Tessier, for a current total of 22.

Yes, 22.

Although that figure pales compared to the 138 pedestrians slaughtered on our streets, as the city is on track for more than 300 traffic deaths for the second year in a row.

And once again likely to top the highest number of traffic fatalities in more than a decade, topping last year’s total of 314 — or nearly one person killed on our streets every day of the year.

So much for Vision Zero.

We were promised that the city would pull out all the stops and do whatever was necessary to eliminate traffic deaths by — wait for it — 2025.

Which means they have a hell of lot of work to do to if they’re going to meet that goal in the next 13 and a half months.

Especially since they can’t even be bothered to tell us about the over half the bike-riding victims of traffic violence in the city.

Let alone the other 243 people killed in traffic collisions this year.

And if that doesn’t piss you off, I don’t know what will.

Photo by Wendy Corniquet from Pixabay.

……..

Then again, it’s not just Los Angeles.

According to a new survey conducted by Calbike, a whopping 83% of respondents would feel uncomfortable walking or biking on California highways controlled by Caltrans.

And 99% would be uncomfortable walking or biking those highways with a child.

But let’s just round up, and say all of us.

Then again, there’s pretty damn good reason for that.

……..

Evidently, LA officials are keeping us in the dark literally, as well as figuratively.

https://twitter.com/im_walkin_here/status/1724333507554718133

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Bike-riding state senator and congressional candidate Anthony Portantino landed a key endorsement in his campaign to replace outgoing Congressmember Adam Schiff, in what appears to be shaping up as a battle with equally bike-friendly Assembly Transportation Committee head Laura Friedman.

Twitter post

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‘Tis the season.

The bicycling holiday gift guides are coming in fast and furious now, with new editions from Bike World News, Popular Science and Engadget.

Meanwhile, Bicycling gets into the spirit by recommending six bicycling-related charities that could use your holiday donations. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Just remember to save a few bucks for the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive, which officially kicks off after Thanksgiving.

………

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

Massachusetts Streetsblog reports hating on bike lanes was not a winning strategy for the state’s politicians in the recent election.

A London man got knocked off his bike by a hit-and-run mo-ped rider while biking with his cat, and all the cops care about is his lack of a helmet. And presumably the cat’s, too.

Twitter post

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Local 

Pasadena just got a federal grant for just over three-quarters of a million dollars to boost active transportation in the Rose City.

Long Beach is starting design work on an 8.3-mile, north-south curb-protected Backbone Bikeway on Orange Ave to compliment several east-west bikeways currently under development, as well as a 5-mile bikeway on Atlantic Ave currently in its earliest phase.

 

State

Solano Beach is considering adding signs along the city’s Coastal Rail Trail to encourage courtesy and slower speeds when approaching pedestrians, whether someone is riding an ebike or a regular bicycle.

Ebike riders are calling on San Diego to lift the city’s four-year old ban on riding on its boardwalks.

Seriously? A Blythe man walked out of court already on parole after pleading guilty to shooting a man riding a bicycle after the two men had quarreled over a dice game; 27-year old Deveon Keyshawn Smith was sentenced to four years time served for the crime, after being held behind bars since the 2018 shooting.

Bay Area bike riders turned out in force to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the bike lane on the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge, with an estimated 1,000 bicyclists riding to demand its retention in the face of a relentless campaign for its removal.

 

National

CNN tests 17 ebikes and one conversion kit and comes up with some surprising recommendations, as well as the usual suspects.

Singletracks talks with an attorney to understand why frame warranties for mountain bike frames are written to prevent replacement or repairs.

Pertinent advice from Road Bike Rider on how to keep your bicycling duds from stinking up the room.

That’s more like it. Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss offers five bike safety tips that are more important than wearing a helmet. Which is not to say that you shouldn’t wear one, just that it should always be seen as the last line of defense when all else fails, not the first. 

Bike Magazine considers the drive for ebike incentives across the US. Which serves as yet another reminder that California’s seemingly moribund ebike voucher program still hasn’t launched, over two years after it was approved and funded by the state legislature. 

Oregon Rep. Earl Blumaneuer continues his exit interview tour, as the co-founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus talks with Streetsblog about the state of bicycling, traffic safety and bi-partisanship in the US.

It takes major huevos — or maybe a distinct lack of common sense — to steal ten police bikes from a San Antonio police storage room.

Police in Missouri discovered a body in a local park after someone found an abandoned bike along a bike path, several months after a local person went missing.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 83-year old Ohio woman wakes up with a smile every morning by looking forward to riding her bike each day, after overcoming polio as a child.

Horrible news from Alabama, where a 63-year old woman was apparently killed by dogs while riding her bike, after she was found unresponsive on the side of the road. A tragic reminder that unleashed dogs can be more than just an annoyance. 

 

International

GCN explains how to fit clip-on mud guards to almost any bike. Which could come in handy with the atmospheric river projected to hit California later this week. 

Nice guy. A Welsh man switched seats with his wife and let her take the blame after blowing through a red light and slamming into a bike-riding teenager, leaving the boy with life-changing injuries.

A British bike rider was suitably horrified as he filmed a swarm of rats along a local bike path.

The bereaved romantic partner of rising Irish cyclist Gabriele Glodenyte warns that the county’s roads are like a war zone, after the 24-year old rider was killed by a driver while the pair were on a training ride in May.

An Irish mother of two faces charges for an alleged drunken and stoned hit-and-run, accused of leaving an off-duty police inspector for dead in a ditch after slamming into his bicycle; she refused a friend’s offer of a ride, despite smoking a joint and downing at least ten drinks.

Two Cypriot bicyclists were hospitalized after they were both run down by a hit-and-run driver.

Eight bicyclist crisscrossed Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, during the night on bicycles outfitted to monitor air quality and pollution from Diwali fireworks.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan recalls riding his bike 155 miles from Delhi to Chandigarh after graduating high school, because he wasn’t having any luck getting into colleges in his hometown.

Seoul, Korea is proposing a 12 mph speed limit for bicyclists riding in bike lanes along the Han River to rein in speeding riders.

Borrow a bicycle for a free two-hour ride on your next layover at the Singapore airport.

A Melbourne, Australia man riding his bike with an Israeli flag was attacked by a woman and knocked off his bike, in an assault fueled by escalating Israel-Palestine tensions.

 

Competitive Cycling

Grand Tour veteran Geraint Thomas is apparently spending the off-season drowning in booze, admitting to being drunk 12 nights out of the previous two weeks.

The next time someone suggests cyclists aren’t tough, remind them of the time Dutch ‘cross rider Lars Van der Haar causally popped his own dislocated shoulder back in using his own bike. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you.

https://twitter.com/kwoodzie14/status/1723352124828876978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1723352124828876978%7Ctwgr%5E0ab0d0cb5a4b64820e9398ac0345d32bf7b9d086%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aol.com%2Flifestyle%2Fwatch-moment-lars-van-der-160100396.html

 

Finally…

Donate a bike, get a free burger and fries. You know you’re in a small town when failing to signal your lane change tops the local news.

And why your new carbon fiber, high-performance bicycle could be made by a Red Sox fan.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Why killer drivers seldom get charged, and SaMo considers speeding needed traffic safety improvements tomorrow

November 13, 2023 / / 2 comments

My apologies for another unexcused absence on Friday. 

One of the many insidious effects of diabetes is a dramatic decline in stamina; busing to a couple of medical appointments was enough to knock me out all night, and most of the next morning. 

On the plus side, at least I’m starting the week well rested. 

………

Ryan Fonseca of the Los Angeles Times takes a look at why killer drivers are so rarely charged with murder in California.

Which is something we’ve probably all asked at one time or another.

Although to be fair, it’s not just here. From what I’ve seen, most drivers walk with just a slap on the wrist, no matter where it happens.

If they get charged at all.

Here’s how he explains it.

First off, killing someone with a vehicle is simply viewed differently under the law. That difference is codified in California’s criminal law, where manslaughter — “the unlawful killing of a human being without malice” — is divided into three kinds: Voluntary, involuntary and vehicular.

The key difference between murder and manslaughter is intention. There’s also the idea of implied malice, or what’s sometimes called a depraved heart — when someone should have reasonably known that an act was potentially deadly, but they did it anyway.

Like driving 104 mph in a 45 mile zone, for instance. Or weaving in and out of traffic at speeds up to 100 mph with a suspended license while stoned .

Or dragging someone under your car for nearly a mile while trying to flee the scene; police are still looking for the heartless coward in that one.

Let alone the rash of recent cases where crashes appeared to be intentional.

But perhaps the chief limiting factor, according to former prosecutors, is what a jury made up of 12 people who drive is willing to convict on, combined with prosecutors well-founded fear of losing.

Which is why you see so many killer drivers plead out for a misdemeanor instead of a felony. Or a lousy traffic ticket, for that matter.

And that means drivers get away with things they wouldn’t if they killed someone using any other means.

Damian Kevitt, executive director of the advocacy nonprofit Streets Are For Everyone, often meets with families who have lost a loved one to traffic violence. He told me the focus on a driver’s intent in a fatal crash creates a level of protection that doesn’t exist outside their cars.

“Instead of assuming that you have a responsibility and you have an obligation to drive safely, it’s more… ‘we’re going to assume that you have the best of intentions,’” he said. “That’s not right — not when you’re [operating] a two-ton vehicle that has just as much ability to kill someone as a gun.”

It’s worth reading the whole thing.

Because public pressure, or the lack thereof, can be the deciding factor on how serious the charges are that a driver could face.

And how much time they might end up serving.

……..

Santa Monica will consider a motion to speed up traffic safety improvements at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Twitter post

According to an email from Streets For All,

This item will direct the city manager to expedite requests for stop signs, update the city’s guidelines to upgrade unsignalized intersections, update the process through which residents can report dangerous intersections, improve communication between SMPD and the Department of Transportation, update the Take The Friendly Road campaign, develop a proposal to allocate funding towards infrastructure in daylighting zones to address dangerous illegal parking, and more.

It can’t come fast enough.

Because a man riding a bicycle was lucky to escape with minor injuries when he was struck by a driver, at the exact intersection where Tania Mooser was killed in a collision while riding her bike just two weeks earlier.

And where local residents have spent years demanding safety improvements, with no one at SaMo City Hall seeming to give a damn.

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Don’t forget to voice your opinion on the LA County bike plan.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1719817893846614346

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1722818649856069795

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Nice to see a good turnout for the ghost bike ceremony honoring fallen Hollywood producer Bob George.

Maybe someday, things like this won’t be necessary anymore.

Twitter post

………

Because of course he was one of us.

Twitter post

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GCN considers the true cost of bicycling, including buying all the gear.

Never mind that you can get a used bike for a couple hundred bucks, and just start riding.

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

No bias here. Writing for the Orange County Register, the western director of a conservative think tank says sorry, but bicycling isn’t going to change the world, and only bicyclists demand “the world be rebuilt to cater to (their) somewhat-dangerous hobby.” He also compares bike lanes to social engineering, and insists, without evidence, that closing streets to cars destroys cities. Just wait until someone tells him about the social engineering that forces everyone into cars.

No bias here, either. A Marin paper says everyone has to accept that few people want to ride their bikes on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge compared to the 80,000 daily drivers. But fails to mention that drivers have connecting roadways leading to and from the bridge, while bike riders are still waiting for safe connections to get on and off. The paper’s editorial cartoonist weighs in, as well.

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

A Florida man is back behind bars for running down a pedestrian on his ebike while stinking of booze, after previously serving ten years for a DUI manslaughter.

A Scottish bike rider confesses to being one of those demon cyclists who jump red lights and ride on the sidewalk, sometimes putting his own life over the “the irritation of motorists and occasionally pedestrians.”

………

Local 

Streetsblog reports the LA City Council has taken the first steps to implement an automated speed cam program, and officially committed to using “crash,” “collision” or “incident,” rather than “accident” to describe two drivers trying to defy the laws of physics by occupying the same space at the same time. Although I’m more impressed that the LA Times is now using the term “traffic violence.”

 

State

Readers of the San Diego Reader compiled a list of the city’s most dangerous spots for bike riders, including Friars Road, Nimitz Blvd and University Ave. Which shows some things haven’t changed since I lived down there over 30 year ago. 

A bike-riding Santa Barbara boy suffered minor injuries when he was struck by a driver, although he apparently broke his guitar — unless the website meant a broken fender, not Fender. The story also suggests the driver may have been blinded by the sunset, which seems somewhat unlikely at three in the afternoon. 

A Santa Cruz website considers the ripple effects of one free bicycle given to a kid nearly two decades ago.

Who was that masked man? An unidentified San Francisco bike rider saved the day when burglars tried to break into a van belonging to Minneapolis-based indie band Yam Haus, apparently smacking one of the thieves to disrupt the break-in before riding off into the sunset.

Sad news from Oakland, where someone riding a bicycle was killed in a collision Friday night; the driver either did or didn’t remain at the scene.

A couple of men were busted after a man tracked his stolen bike to their car, then they drove into him when he tried to get it back; police tracked the suspects to their home, and arrested them on a raft of theft and drug charges.

Lake Tahoe’s Incline Village is banning scofflaw ebike riders from city sidewalks, adding ebikes to a current prohibition on sidewalk riding, although a spokesperson for the sheriff swears it’s only enforced when people ride recklessly.

 

National

Electrek explains why drivers should love seeing more people on ebikes — or any other bicycles, for that matter — from more bikes means less traffic and more parking, to better roads and more money in your pocket. Maybe someone should tell that guy from the Orange County Register.

Clean Technica looks at the “slow, painful process” of eliminating the sale of dangerous ebike batteries.

Bicycling reports the annual Cranksgiving food-drive ride is back after a three-year Covid hiatus, with over 100 rides currently scheduled in 35 states, although the nearest one to Los Angeles/Orange County appears to be in Redlands. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you; however, the second link works, regardless.

An Oregon state legislator responded to the death of a 16-year old boy riding an ebike by introducing legislation to ban throttle-controlled ebikes for anyone under 16, limiting younger riders to ped-assist ebikes.

NPR conducts an exit interview with Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who has been bicycling’s biggest champion in Congress in recent years.

A Washington bike rider urges drivers to please respect the city’s new purple bike lanes. Apparently painted in an effort to make Barney feel at home.

Apparently, killing a 13-year old Denver-area boy as he rode his bike to school last month is just a minor traffic violation, after the driver who killed him got a lousy ticket for careless driving resulting in death.

Former President George W. Bush hosted his annual Warrior Ride for America’s veterans at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, expressing his gratitude and support for vets.

New York’s Transportation Commissioner considers how to safely integrate ebikes into the city’s traffic system.

Life is cheap in Pennsylvania, where intentionally trying to back over a bike rider while threatening to “smoke” the victim will get you two months of home vacation, followed by just two lousy days behind bars each week for 15 whole weeks.

Birds are bad enough. A South Carolina bike rider was startled when a deer literally jumped over him as he took part in a club ride.

 

International

Momentum readers nominate the world’s worst bike lanes.

Bike Radar suggests five areas of training that will make you a better roadie. None of which are better roadway courtesy or yielding to pedestrians, however.

Police in Ontario — no, the one in Canada — are searching a cornfield for a missing 34-year old man after his ebike was found in the middle of the field with a flat tire, and the wires leading to the battery dangling down.

This is who we share the road with. A London bike rider’s helmet cam captured video of a security van driver watching porn on his phone and masturbating while he was driving. Wanker.

That’s more like it. A British truck driver got eight-and-a-half years behind bars for killing a 53-year old woman riding a bike, and seriously injuring her 19-year old son, while using a social media app on his phone.

Finland addressed a smattering of people illegally crossing from Russia on bicycles by banning anyone from riding a bike across the border, months after a similar ban on people arriving in motor vehicles.

Over 35,000 people turned out for the fourth annual Dubai Ride, the region’s largest bike ride.

Don’t obscure your license plate with your trunk-mounted bike rack in Abu Dhabi.

 

Competitive Cycling

There may not be a 38th edition of Japan’s Tour de Hokkaido next year, after a cyclist was killed in a head-on collision that resulted in the immediate cancellation of this year’s event.

Up to 15 riders were injured in a mass pile-up in the final stage of Australia’s Tour of Tasmania.

One of the four climate activists on trial for disrupting the road Worlds by gluing their hands to the roadway claims the cycling community is complicit in the climate crisis through ignorance of the “oil and gas companies sponsoring their races.” Trust me, they know.

 

Finally…

Your next titanium road bike could be worth its weight in gold — or painted with it, anyway. Who needs 29 inch wheels when you can ride 36ers?

And Red Bull says it gives you wings, but maybe they should hand you floaties, instead.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

November 12, 2023 / / One comment

My apologies for another unexcused absence on Friday. 

One of the many insidious effects of diabetes is a dramatic decline in stamina; a handful of errands by bus was enough to knock me out all night, and most of the next morning. 

On the plus side, at least I’m starting the week well rested. 

………

Ryan Fonseca of the Los Angeles Times takes a look at why killer drivers are so rarely charged with murder in California.

Although to be fair, it’s not just here.

From what I’ve seen, most drivers walk with just a slap on the wrist, no matter where it happens. If they get charged at all.

Here’s how he explains it.

First off, killing someone with a vehicle is simply viewed differently under the law. That difference is codified in California’s criminal law, where manslaughter — “the unlawful killing of a human being without malice” — is divided into three kinds: Voluntary, involuntary and vehicular.

The key difference between murder and manslaughter is intention. There’s also the idea of implied malice, or what’s sometimes called a depraved heart — when someone should have reasonably known that an act was potentially deadly, but they did it anyway.

Like driving 104 mph in a 45 mile zone, for instance.

……..

Santa Monica will consider a motion to speed up traffic safety improvements at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Twitter post

According to an email from Streets For All,

This item will direct the city manager to expedite requests for stop signs, update the city’s guidelines to upgrade unsignalized intersections, update the process through which residents can report dangerous intersections, improve communication between SMPD and the Department of Transportation, update the Take The Friendly Road campaign, develop a proposal to allocate funding towards infrastructure in daylighting zones to address dangerous illegal parking, and more.

It can’t come fast enough.

……..

Don’t forget to voice your opinion on the LA County bike plan.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1719817893846614346

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1722818649856069795

………

Nice to see a good turnout for this. And maybe someday, things like this won’t be necessary anymore.

Twitter post

………

Of course he was one of us.

Twitter post

………

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

No bias here.

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

That feeling when the cops chase

………

Local 

Streetsblog reports the LA City Council has taken the first steps to implement an automated speed cam program, and officially committed to using “crash,” “collision” or “incident,” rather than “accident” to describe two drivers trying to occupy the same space at the same time. Although I’m more impressed that the LA Times now uses “traffic violence.”

 

State

KPBS

 

National

That’s more like it.

 

International

Police in London

 

Competitive Cycling

Three climate activists

 

Finally…

Heavy bikes need

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Westside bikeways virtual meeting & Bob George ghost bike installation tonight, and PA Senator Fetterman gets it

November 9, 2023 / / One comment

It’s another light news day for some reason.

And this time, I actually managed to manage my diabetes well enough to stay awake to work. 

So let’s get right to it. 

And apropos of nothing, here’s an AI image of a corgi riding a tricycle.

………

A couple quick reminders of events taking place today.

LADOT is hosting a virtual workshop to discuss building bikeways connecting neighborhoods on the Westside, which they could find in the city’s decade-old mobility plan, if they bothered to dust it off.

However, judging by their tweet/post, the actual time is on a need to know basis. But since you may need to know, it starts at 5:30 pm.

Twitter post

The other event takes on a sadder tone, as street safety nonprofit SAFE — aka Streets Are For Everyone — will place a ghost bike for fallen Hollywood producer Bob George, who was killed in a dooring in East Hollywood last month.

Twitter post

……..

He gets it.

Twitter post

………

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

No bias here. After a dump truck driver struck and killed a Louisiana bike rider, state troopers and the local media were quick to remove any agency from the killer driver, while blaming the victim for “colliding” with the truck.

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

That feeling when the cops chase a bike-riding known felon through the streets of Red Bluff CA, where the local press apparently doesn’t know the difference between road and rode. Never mind that the police need probable cause to stop someone, let alone chase them, and “known felon” isn’t enough. 

A Texas man faces charges for repeatedly stabbing another man in a dispute over a bicycle, after he had taken the victim’s bike earlier in the day and returned without it.

………

Local 

Discover Los Angeles looks forward to next month’s CicLAvia – South LA on December 3rd, the final CicLAvia of the year. Just my luck they had to schedule it on my sister’s birthday, when I will be otherwise engaged. 

 

State

KPBS talks with former Caltrans executive Jeanie Ward-Waller, who was fired for blowing the whistle on a possibly illegal freeway project in Sacramento after watching the agency repeatedly skirt the rules.

Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry takes Caltrans to task after Director Tony Tavares tweeted that safety is the agency’s top priority, arguing that if it is, it certainly doesn’t show. Maybe he can explain how wasting billions to widen freeways makes anyone any safer.

Calbike announced plans for its next biennial California Bicycle Summit, to be held in San Diego on April 18th and 19th.

A long-awaited bikeway connecting Santa Barbara County’s iconic Santa Claus Lane with nearby Carpenteria has finally opened.

A San Luis Obispo bike rider was lucky to escape injury after being struck by a 15-year old boy driving a stolen car; the driver and his passenger fled on foot, but cops were able to track down the boy behind the wheel.

Sad news from Modesto, where a bike rider was killed by a hit-and-run driver in a Kia Soul as he was just trying to ride across the street.

A report on the contentious bike lane pilot program on the Bay Area’s Richmond-San Rafael Bridge confirms that it’s not the cause of traffic congestion on the bridge, along with the resulting smog, while opponents play the race card in a full-page ad trying to get it removed.

 

National

CleanTechnica explains how ebikes can make using a bike for transportation practical, or even pleasurable. To which Californians still waiting for the state’s long-delayed ebike rebate program responded, “We wouldn’t know.”

A new organization co-founded by a Portland phys-ed teacher is dedicated to helping kids and parents form bike buses throughout the US.

That’s more like it. An Iowa woman was sentenced to 20 years behind bars for the drunken crash that killed two men and injured another when she somehow mistook a bike path for a freeway onramp; she’ll have to spend at least 17 years behind bars before she’s eligible for parole. Which should give her plenty of time to sober up. 

That’s more like it. Several members of the Dallas, Texas city council rode their bikes to work as the city works on its first new bike plan in a decade; one council member said he only felt safe on about half of his ride. Which is probably more than many of the city’s bike riders could say. 

The Kaitlin Armstrong murder trial continued in Austin, Texas, with testimony from two of her friends who heard her threaten to kill gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson, in a jealous rage over a perceived love triangle with pro cyclist Colin Strickland; a former prosecutor warns the case is built on circumstantial evidence.

Streetsblog introduces real New Yorkers who rely on ebikes, in an effort to get politicians to stop demonizing them; meanwhile, Curbed says licensing New York ebikes won’t make the sidewalks any safer.

Bicycles could be restricted, if not banned, under new rules proposed for the iconic Blue Ridge Parkway stretching through Virginia and North Carolina.

A student advocacy group at North Carolina’s Duke University took matters into their own hands, and striped their own DIY bike lanes using duct tape and temporary paint.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is really cheap in Georgia, where a 28-year old man walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that left a 60-year old man riding a bicycle with life-threatening injuries; he jumped a raised median with his car, striking the victim from behind and kept going despite literally running the man over. If you wonder why people keep dying on our streets, this is Exhibit A. 

 

International

Momentum suggests a dozen ways a bicycle could supercharge your life in the city.

Police in London say halting a rash of bike muggings is “among” their priorities, as a number of bike riders report being attacked for their bicycles. Not that they want to get carried away and stick their necks out or anything.

The sister of a fallen Welsh bike rider and two of his friends have refurbished the historic village pub where he used to hang out, and are re-opening it in his honor. Although someone should tell the Welsh news site about this nifty new invention called paragraphs, which would make stories like this much easier to read.

A new patent show Shimano may be trying to cut the weight on e-bike motor systems for gravel bikes and roadies.

A new ebike radar system developed by a 75-year old Japanese company uses an AI algorithm to worn of vehicles approaching from the rear that could pose a risk, as well as a multi-stage brake light for enhanced visibility.

 

Competitive Cycling

Three climate activists who halted this year’s Men’s Elite Road Race at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland by gluing their hands to the narrow roadway got off with a firm admonishment from the local sheriff, while the fourth was fined the equivalent of $307.19.

 

Finally…

Heavy bikes need a heavy duty bike stand and lift system. That feeling when low-cost Costco techwear is almost, sort of, but not quite as good as the name brand mountain bike stuff.

And your new ebike could have a motor developed for a Mars lander, for the low, low price of just 25 grand.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

75-year old Camarillo man dies after falling off his ebike on Friday

November 9, 2023 / / Comments Off on 75-year old Camarillo man dies after falling off his ebike on Friday

It’s not getting any better out there.

But at least this time, there wasn’t a driver involved.

According to Santa Barbara TV station KEYT, an elderly man died after crashing his ebike in Camarillo last Friday.

The victim, identified only as a 75-year old Camarillo resident, was riding north on Crestview Ave, just south of Avenida de Aprisa, just before 9 am when he reportedly lost control of his bicycle and fell into the street, suffering life-threatening injuries.

He was taken to a local hospital, where he died sometime later.

The Camarillo Police Department reports he was wearing a helmet. However, they didn’t say whether he suffered a head injury, which is the only reason that would be relevant.

Anyone with information is urged to call Camarillo Police Traffic Investigator Anthony Zacarias at 805/388-5126.

This is at least the 52nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and just the second that I’m aware of in Ventura County.

He’s also the second SoCal bike rider to die in a solo fall in the last week.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,
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