Unfortunately, there’s no word on how or when the crash occurred. His mother was informed by police around 10 am on the morning of the crash.
His family gathered around Edgar’s bed on Wednesday to celebrate his birthday — a day after he was rushed into surgery, and one day before he was declared brain dead.
They gathered again yesterday to celebrate Edgar’s high school graduation, before his body was wheeled into an operating room to donate his organs.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’ve inched up to 1,151 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, after getting tied up with health issues this week. So urge everyone you know to sign it now!
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Beverly Hills is backsliding on their new found commitment to bike safety and Complete Streets.
The gilded city will rip out its only protected bike lane, on South Roxbury Drive next to Roxbury Park, because some drivers found the new parking configuration confusing and thought it reduced visibility when backing out of parking spaces.
Even though the city doesn’t seem to have done any actual studies to see whether it improved safety during the three years it was in place with no documented safety issues.
The planter-protected bike lane will be replaced with sharrows — even though protected bike lanes have been proven to improve safety for all road users, while sharrows have been shown to make things worse.
And never mind that the arrow in the sharrows symbol is just there to help drivers improve their aim.
However, that could put the city in conflict with state law unless cars are also banned from the street, since since state law requires bicycles to be permitted anywhere motor vehicles are allowed, with the exception of limited access highways in urban areas.
On the other hand, the suggestion to voluntarily avoid the area is probably a good idea until the ground stops literally shifting beneath your wheels.
Dear Bike Community,
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes would like to inform the Bike Community that the City will be considering prohibiting bicycles and motorcycles on Palos Verdes Drive South (PVDS) and an agenda item is planned to go before the RPV City Council on June 18, 2024.
City staff and consultants are seeing rapid and substantial rates of movement (6 to 9 inches per week, depending on location) in and around the vicinity of the landslide area along Palos Verdes Drive South.
Despite the warning signs in place, we are seeing injuries.
Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking the City Council to consider prohibiting bicycles and motorcycles on PVDS.
We are requesting the Bike Community to voluntarily consider alternate routes.
Please let us know if you have comments and questions regarding the above bicycle and motorcycle prohibition proposal.
The man poses as a prospective buyer for expensive ebikes advertised on on Facebook Marketplace and other online platforms, and shows up with cash in hand for a test ride.
But only after leaving with the bike do the victims discover the envelope full of money he left behind as a deposit is just counterfeit prop money for intended for film shoots, and marked “For motion picture purposes only” in small fine print.
In this case, the Huntington Beach victim was scammed out of $4,200.
There’s no word on how many other people have been conned, or the value to the bikes he’s stolen. However, after reporting the crime, the victim heard from several other people claiming they had also been victimized in similar scams, including in Redondo Beach and Escondido.
So watch out if you’re selling an ebike — or any other high-end bike — through an online marketplace.
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This protected bike lane on 7th Street in DTLA was agreed to as part of the approval process for the Wilshire Grand Center.
During the Memorial Day weekend, the CHP conducted a Maximum Enforcement Period (MEP) to ensure the safety of all Californians. The results of the MEP are below. The primary mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security. pic.twitter.com/bFuX8sEzpf
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. El Paso police blame the victim, saying a 76-year old man died ten days after striking a car on his bike when the 22-year old driver pulled out in front of him while exiting a parking lot; needless to say, there’s no mention of a charges or even a ticket for carelessly killing an elderly man.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Streetsblog reports protected bike lanes — or what passes for them in Los Angeles — are finally coming to Hollywood Blvd this summer. However, they won’t offer any protection for tourists strolling along the crowded boulevard, other than a few flimsy plastic bollards and whatever cars may be parked alongside it.
The Los Angeles Times highlights six “must-see stops” along the beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail. Never mind that the bike path would extend to Malibu by now, instead of stopping at Will Rogers State Beach, except for a misguided campaign to halt the extension over the optics of spending millions to build it.
As we noted yesterday, the California legislature has rejected Governor Newsom’s call to gut the state’s Active Transportation Program; Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry explains just how awful the cuts would be. Not to mention the draconian cuts also shows the lack of actual climate bona fides for our ostensibly “climate champion” governor.
A woman in San Mateo County was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges for the drunken crash that killed a 60-year old bicyclist in 2022; 33-year old Samantha Mei Hartwell qualified for the murder count thanks to her previous DUI convictions.
An op-ed in a Boulder, Colorado paper suggests that instead of conducting a road diet to improve safety, bike riders should just ride on quieter neighborhood streets. Never mind that the purpose of a road diet is to tame a dangerous roadway, and the bike lanes are usually a tool to do that. And no one would suggest that drivers should be forced to take a slower, circuitous route filled with stop signs just to get where they’re going.
May 30, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Taking Newsom to task for climate arson Active Transportation cuts, and bike bills still active in state legislature
Just 215 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’ve inched up to 1,151 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll forward the petition to the mayor’s office later this week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now!
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My apologies, once again.
Yesterday’s unexcused absence was the result of too many demands on too little time, resulting in my blood sugar circling the drain.
I’m just trying to get through one day at a time, while devoting myself full-time to caring for my injured wife, our uninjured dog and our ultra-messy apartment, while still trying to squeeze in enough time to write about bikes and do the work I love.
Because I really don’t know how I’m going to make it through the next several weeks until she finally gets back on her feet.
Schneider takes California Governor Gavin Newsom to task for his ill-advised budget cuts to the state’s Active Transportation Program, in the face of the ongoing climate emergency.
California has ambitious climate goals: By 2045, the state wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 85%, drop gas consumption 94% and cut air pollution 71%. The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in California is the transportation sector, with passenger vehicles making up the largest portion of that.
Curbing pollution from passenger vehicles won’t be easy. And if the state invests in the wrong infrastructure, those goals could become impossible. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal would be a big swerve in the wrong direction.
The $600 million Newsom calls for cutting from the ATP, at a rate of $200 million a year, won’t begin to make a dent in the state’s massive budget shortfall — let alone California’s bloated $18 billion highway fund.
Yes, that’s $18 billion, with a B.
Yet Newsom seems to think shifting the money from the already underfunded Active Transportation budget to filling potholes and widening highways will somehow send a message.
About what, I don’t know. Because it barely adds up to more than a rounding error in the state transportation budget.
Newsom might as well pile the money in the middle of the 5 Freeway and torch it, for all the difference it would make for the state’s highways. Which would probably cause a lot less harm to the environment than what he has in mind.
Yet that $200 million missing from the state’s Active Transportation budget could fund up to 200 miles of separated, mixed-use pathways. Or 2,000 miles of the kind of separated bike lanes that Los Angeles transportation officials like to pretend are protected.
Or even adequately fund California’s moribund joke of an ebike rebate program.
Any of which could actually get people out of their cars and benefit the environment, rather than continuing to do harm.
We can only hope the state legislature rejects Newsom’s proposed budget cuts.
Actually, we can do more than that. A lot more.
Like reach out to our elected representatives and demand — okay, politely request in the strongest possible terms — that we stop flushing massive amounts of money on wasteful highway spending, and put it to far more climate-friendly use.
Here’s what Schneider has to say.
…This month, the commission approved the controversial expansion of Interstate 80 between Davis and Sacramento, which will also cost hundreds of millions of dollars — equivalent to all funded active transportation projects in 2023. Why would we pump more money into projects that work against our climate goals?
The Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, under climate champion and Chair Sen. Scott Wiener, would most likely be amenable to rejecting the proposed cuts to active transportation. If so, it’s critical that L.A.-area Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Budget, gets on board as well. It would take both the Senate and the Assembly to override the governor’s proposal.
As we noted before, the bold initiative to require speed limiting devices on all new cars has been modified to instead require easily ignored warnings for speeding drivers. It was also changed to accommodate the trucking industry’s reluctance to require life-saving sideguards, in an apparent attempt to keep their trucks as deadly as possible. .
The legislature also voted to keep bike riders in bike lanes at risk of right hooks by drivers. Although they probably wouldn’t phrase it quite like that.
And Oceanside Assemblymember Tasha Boerner’s bill to require a separate ebike license for anyone without a driver’s license has thankfully been amended to allow a local pilot of ebike age restrictions and an education diversion program for bicycling tickets, which is already allowed under state law.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
No bias here. A Washington resident blames speeding bicyclists after his doorbell cam captures video of a woman stepping onto a trail in front of a bike rider, who rings his bell in warning, before she gets hit by another bike rider coming the opposite way. Which sounds a lot more like someone crossing the trail without paying attention.
The somewhat less-than-urbanist San Diego Reader says the bike lanes in Serra Mesa are out of control, road diets don’t always work, and the people of San Diego never voted for bike lanes. Except they did, when they elected officials who openly supported bike lanes. And just a hint — it’s not the bikes or bike lanes that make traffic back up, it’s too damn many cars.
The UC Davis student newspaper looks at the history of biking culture in the bike-friendly city. Although as frequent contributor and UC grad student Megan Lynch likes to point out, both the campus and the city could be a lot friendlier.
The Guardianreviews Matthew Modine’s Hard Miles, the fact-based movie where he leads a group of troubled Colorado teens on a grueling 700-mile, two-wheeled journey of discovery.
A North Carolina woman offers bike safety tips, seven months after she was sideswiped by a reckless truck driver while riding her bike, resulting in a long journey to recovery.
Parents in Manchester, England are up in arms over a bike path “plonked” in the middle of a playground, forcing kids to cross it to use various equipment. As much as I hate to admit it, I wish I could say all bike riders are conscientious, polite and safety-conscious, but human nature dictates some will always be otherwise.
An “independent” study commissioned by Lime says London could reduce rental bicycle clutter on the city’s streets by simplifying ebike rules and creating more dockless bikeshare parking.
More proof bikes mean life in disasters, manmade and otherwise. According to Cycling Weekly, “A Palestinian paracycling team based in war-torn Gaza now uses its bikes to transport food and supplies to local neighborhoods while keeping the Paralympic dream alive.” Seriously, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Now you, too, can have your name and logo on the Visma-Lease a Bike team jerseys for the Tour de France. I’d buy space for a BikinginLA patch, but somehow I don’t think an annual income in the high five figures would cover the cost.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’ve inched up to 1,151 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll forward the petition to the mayor’s office later this week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now!
Known as “Sam, Sam the bicycle ma’am,” Guyan co-founded the Whittier Wheelman with her husband Bob, and wrote a bicycling column for the Whittier Daily News.
She leaves behind four children, seven grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces and nephews
While California’s seemingly moribund program stuck on endless delay, a study of an ebike rebate program in Saanich, British Columbia shows that up to 76% of recipients were first time ebike buyers, depending on the amount of the rebate. And after a full year, they were using their new ebikes three to four days a week, and driving an average of 30 miles a week less than they did before.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Demonstrating the same sense of entitlement they often accuse us of, London drivers threaten to go to court to force the city to reopen a roadway to an exclusive millionaires playground, after it was closed to cars to improve safety for people on bicycles. Although chances are the real reason has a lot more to do with keeping people out of the rich people’s neighborhood than it does with bike safety.
A British man will spend a well-deserved 12 years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run that killed a 44-year old man and a 16-year old boy as they rode their bikes, and will be banned from driving for another 13 years; he got out of his car to look at the victims before driving off and crashing into another car, injuring a woman and her children.
Belgian star Wout van Aert bounced back from a devastating high-speed crash in March’s Dwars door Vlaanderen with a podium finish in the Tour of Norway, positioning him to return to the Tour de France.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’ve inched up to 1,147 signatures, so don’t stop now! I plan to forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now!
Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev posted before and after photos showing her on an electric off-road motorcycle, and in a hospital bed wearing neck and knee braces, saying it’s going to be a long road to recovery.
By conflating all two-wheeled electric bikes as ebikes, they add to the misperception that ebikes are dangerous, as Malcomb Watson points out below.
Here you go, roundup this one! Media goes with "e-Bike" description, yet this e-monstrosity is clearly an e-Moto, but by doing so media adds to the whole "e-Bikes are dangerous" narrative. https://t.co/7CJJvh3o4d
Part of the problem comes from the ebike classifications that began in California, and have been adopted by states across the US.
But there’s a big difference between a ped-assist ebike with a top speed of 20 mph, and a throttle-controlled moped that can do 30 mph.
Let alone a motor scooter or electric motorcycle.
Yet to most of the media — and much of the public — they’re all ebikes. So if you wonder what the ebike panic is all about, that’s a good place to start.
Chart by Orange County Bicycle Coalition
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A bike bill moving on to the state Assembly would ban sharrows from streets with speeds over 30 mph.
Now we just have to ban them from all the other streets, too.
✅ Passed the Senate Floor SB 1216, our bill by @SenBlakespear prohibits the use of sharrows and class 3 bike lanes on streets above 30mph pic.twitter.com/5UMF05W9R5
A writer for the Harvard student paper says the contentious new bike lanes currently being built on the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts represent a bitter division in the city’s politics, leaving may residents at a loss for how it can be bridged.
This is who we share the road with, part two. After finishing a 40 month sentence for killing a 15-year old bike rider in a 2021 hit-and-run, a British man led the cops on a chase at speeds up to 100 mph, despite a three year driving ban that began the day he got out.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’ve made it up to 1,145 signatures, so don’t stop now! I plan to forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now!
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Today’s photo comes from La Cienega Blvd across from the Beverly Center yesterday afternoon, when the non-existent bike lane was somehow closed for construction work.
Maybe they’re just getting ready in case there ever is one.
“Continuing to divert state highway account funds could negatively impact the key work that Caltrans does to maintain the state highway system,” budget analyst Benjamin Pollack told lawmakers last week.
Marty Greenstein, a spokesperson for the California State Transportation Agency, said in an email that $650 million has already been pulled from the highway account to support various programs, and more shifts could hurt clean transportation efforts, “including complete streets, climate adaptation and other multimodal projects.”
Which seems strange, since the ATP funds active transportation programs like — wait for it — complete streets, climate adaption and other multimodal projects.
And maybe I’m unclear on the concept, but it seems like maintenance funds are more likely to be used to patch potholes and restripe highways than re-engineer roadways to make them more welcoming to people who aren’t safely encased in motor vehicles.
Hopefully by then, the demonization of bike riders by the British press will have subsided, and cooler heads will toss the bill into the dustbin of history, where it belongs.
Meanwhile, The London Telegraph buried a correction to its bizarre claim that Strava data showed bicyclists riding through the streets of London at an impossible 52 mph by placing it at the end of the online version of the story, nearly a week after blaring the claim in huge type above the masthead on the paper’s front page.
And a writer for The Telegraph says the solution to dangerous bicyclists is the utterly impractical idea of requiring bike riders to carry numbered license plates, which would have to be large enough to read at a distance, making them too big for a big.
Unless they want to make us wear them on our backs, like a bicycling scarlet letter shaming us before all those good, honest and law-abiding people in cars.
Because evidently, bike riders are somehow supposed to go out of their way to ride on dangerous high-speed streets just to get to a lousy 900-foot bike lane completely disconnected from any other bike infrastructure.
Someone needs to tell officials in the former Biking Black Hole that even the best bike lanes are worthless unless and until they’re integrated into an actual bike network, with safe routes to get to and from them.
And that goes for 85 of the other 87 cities in LA County, with the limited exceptions of Long Beach and Santa Monica.
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Assuming this passes the Assembly — and gets the governor’s signature, which is not guaranteed — Caltrans will be required to implement complete streets measures whenever they do major work on state-owned roadways.
✅ PASSED THE SENATE FLOOR: SB 960 – the complete streets bill – will ensure better conditions for transit riders, cyclists & pedestrians on @Caltrans streets.
While we continue to wait for California’s new moribund ebike voucher program to finally get off the ground — if it ever does — Contra Costa County will provide up to $300 in cash rebates for any ebike purchased within the last six months.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A San Diego writer says the ghost bike installed for 16-year old fallen bicyclist Brodee Champlain Kingman says everything you need to know about ebikes, including throttle-controlled Class 3 ebikes capable of up to 28 mph. Except, to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever said what kind of ebike Kingman was riding, and he was hit by a driver while apparently making a legal lane change, and doing nothing else wrong.
Metro Bike is teaming with the California African American Museum to host a three-mile community ride this Saturday celebrating the opening of the Paula Wilson: Toward the Sky’s Back Door exhibit.
The state Senate has passed SB 961 and is sending it on to the Assembly; the watered down bill would just require new cars to give an audible warning when they exceed the posted speed limit, rather than require governors to prevent drivers from speeding more than 10 mph over the limit.
Sad news from Grover Beach, where a 74-year old man faces a misdemeanor charge when a woman died 12 days after she was struck by the driver while riding her bike; prosecutors did the defense lawyer’s work for them, blaming glare from the sun and the time of day for contributing to the crash.
An Arizona man faces up to 33 years behind bars for an allegedly stoned hit-and-run, even though his bike-riding victim only suffered a little road rash on elbows; the 31-year old driver was booked on charges of hit and run, aggravated assault, aggravated DUI, drug DUI, driving with a revoked license and injuring someone in a crash. Even I think that’s just a tad extreme, given the limited extent of the victim’s injuries.
Britain’s pandemic bike boom appears to be going bust, as the latest stats show driving rates climbed 3% while traffic miles by buses, coaches and bicycles declined, with bicycling rates dropping a drastic 7.3%.
May 22, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on No surprise as LA fails first HLA test, and CTC praises Active Transportation Program targeted for Newsom budget cuts
Just 223 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’ve made it up to 1,143 signatures, so don’t stop now! I plan to forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already signed it to sign now!
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Is anyone really surprised Los Angeles isn’t living up to Measure HLA yet?
And even though he could easily maintain funding at current levels, or let alone increase it, just by making modest cuts to the state’s massive $19 billion — yes, with a b — highway fund.
Just like his appearance at a fancy political dinner after calling for Californians to quarantine during the early days of the pandemic, Newsom’s budget cuts show an extreme level of auto-centric hypocrisy.
But evidently, they were just fine with all the other accusations of sexual and physical violence, and possible sex trafficking, that weren’t caught on video.
Now we just need the do the other 650 or so miles.
Caltrans is considering PROTECTED bike lanes on PCH from the traffic circle to the river! This would be a massive improvement to Long Beach's bike network since PCH is so dangerous now.
The North Westwood Neighborhood Council — you know, the one that’s not dominated by Westwood NIMBYs — is holding a virtual meeting of their Transportation and Safety Committee this evening.
Just in case you care about bike and pedestrian safety in and around Westwood Village, and getting the long-delayed bike lanes on Westwood Blvd.
Have a say in the future of transportation in Westwood and Los Angeles! The Transportation and Safety Committee is meeting Wednesday, 5/22 at 7:00 P.M. virtually: https://t.co/eeuVDl2wdipic.twitter.com/5x7jw2uM7x
— North Westwood Neighborhood Council (@OfficialNWWNC) May 22, 2024
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There may be hope for Vision Zero yet. Even if LA never does get its shit together.
The Senate just passed our first-in-the-nation legislation (SB 961) to require new vehicles to be equipped with passive speed governors — alerting drivers when they exceed 10 MPH over the speed limit.
Studies show that this technology gets people to slow down. It saves lives.
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) May 21, 2024
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Kriss Kyle and Danny Macaskill go head-to-head in a game of B.I.K.E.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. The San Diego Reader misses the point entirely, complaining that local drivers are intimidated by Critical Mass splinter groups tying up traffic while participating in ride outs. Never mind that Critical Mass is a protest against the dominance and dangers of our current automotive hegemony.
This is who we share the road with, part two. A 17-year old girl was busted for suspicion of DUI and hit-and-run after driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing into a Newbury Park home, then walking away; her 17-year old passenger was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication and resisting or delaying an investigation.
Huh? A Bay Area website considers the past, present and future of bicycling, saying it transformed from a “niche hobby” to one of the city’s major infrastructure efforts. Something tells me the people who’ve been biking up there for a decades might disagree with that ridiculous description.
A new study from the National Institutes of Health shows people who ride bikes regularly are significantly less likely to suffer from knee pain and osteoarthritis by age 65, compared to people who don’t bike. And may even live longer.
Austin, Texas installed a lane reduction and separated bike lanes — aka a road diet — on a street plagued by speeding drivers, and saw a 64.2% drop in drivers going over 40 mph, with zero traffic deaths or serious injuries.
Two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar continued to ride circles around the peloton by winning his fifth stage of the Giro on Tuesday, extending his lead to a whopping 7 minutes and 18 seconds; the stage was delayed for three hours and significantly shortened after riders revolted over being forced to ride through a snow storm.
After caring for my wife, taking care of the dog, running errands, meeting with a radio producer, making dinner and doing dishes, along with tending to my own duties and injuries, I’ve got nothing left to give tonight.
So please excuse today’s absence. We’ll be back as usual tomorrow to catch up on everything we missed today.
May 20, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Many drivers blind to how badly drivers drive, British press demonizes bike riders, and building greater inclusion in bicycling
Just 225 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’ve made it up to 1,135 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll be forwarding the petition to the mayor’s office this week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already signed the petition to sign it now!
Passing at high speed without signalling verbally or with a bell. Passing at high speed without signalling on a blind curve. Passing someone else who’s passing at high speed on a blind curve. Passing within a hair’s breadth of a pedestrian at 40 km/h with no warning. Plunging through a pack of pedestrians, dogs and small children on the Selkirk Trestle at full speed.
Of course, vehicle drivers don’t typically behave this way because we have a robust system of vehicle licensing to ensure they know the rules of the road, and a somewhat less robust system of enforcement (less all the time, given the number of red-light runners observed of late.)
Yes, there is a sizable segment of bicyclists who ride in an aggressive manner, with little or no regard for how that affects others. Or how that makes people see us.
Yet it’s remarkable that so many people are blind to how motorists actually behave, as if bicyclists are the only ones who do dangerous and aggressive things out there — as if the people on two wheels somehow posed a greater risk to others than the ones in the big, dangerous machines.
Yes, scofflaw bike riders can be extremely annoying. I’ve been tempted more than once to clock some asshole who zoomed by on a narrow sidewalk, nearly hitting my wife or I, let alone our dog.
But the fact remains that even the worst bike riders pose the greatest risk to themselves, while aggressive drivers are a risk to everyone else on — or off — the roadway.
The number of people killed in collisions with bicyclists in the US each year can usually be counted on one hand, while you’d need more than 4,000 hands to count the people killed with motor vehicles, using every finger and thumb.
Especially that one.
The simple fact is, human nature dictates that some people will always be jackasses, regardless of how they choose to travel.
The only difference is which ones actually pose the real peril.
And a writer for The Spectator says a crackdown on bad bicyclists can’t come soon enough, as she dreams of the day when police can immobilize ebikes and electric scooters by zapping them with pulses fired from special backpack under development from a government defense lab.
Forbes talks with the founder of the Jafe Cycling Foundation, a group dedicated to exposing middle and high school students to the sport of cycling in order to increase Black ridership, at a time when Black cyclists make up less than 1% of the pro peloton.
Speaking of which, the WeHo Bicycle Coalition is hosting a group ride next month to kick off Pride Month, riding from Hollywood and Highland to the West Hollywood Pride Fest.
Bicyclists slammed a proposed city ordinance in Zaragoza, Spain, which would impose a mandatory insurance requirement for everyone on a bicycle — including children — while urging motorists to dangerously overtake bike riders on the roads.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police in New York are looking for a sidewalk-raging teenaged bike rider, who attacked and pummeled two young Jewish kids for blocking his way as he rode on the sidewalk; the cops are investigating the assault as a hate crime.
This is who we share the road with. A former Riverside craft brewer was sentenced to 20 years behind bars after accepting a plea deal for the drunken, high-speed hit-and-run that killed another motorist in Ontario, after prosecutors dropped a 2nd degree murder charge; Ryan Cavender Wicks earned the heavy sentence because of a previous DUI conviction.
Bike shops nationwide are struggling in the face of excess inventory, as demand plummeted after manufacturers overbuilt, and bike shops overstocked, while overcompensating for the bike shortages of the pandemic.
Architecture Dailyexamines bike-riding urbanism pioneer Jane Jacobs, at a time when American car culture “has produced and normalized new forms of sociopathy,” and carmakers have adopted an angry-looking, “murdered-out” esthetic.
French bikemaker and sports retail giant Decathlon urged politicians to implement the European Union’s Cycling Declaration ahead of the European Parliament elections to make it easier for people to bike, while focusing on infrastructure and bike theft, and calling for more sustainable bicycle manufacturing.
They also clarified that the law applies to both human-powered and ped-assist ebikes — but evidently, not throttle-controlled ebikes.
According to Santa Monica City Attorney Doug Sloan,
“Defining activities would prohibit physically assaulting or attempting to physically assault bicyclists because of their status of a bicyclist, threatening to physically injure a cyclist, threatening to physically injure, including by road, cyclists because of being a cyclist. intentionally distracting or attempting to distract a cyclist, intentionally forcing or attempting to enforce a bicyclist off the street or bike lane,” Sloan said.
“It’s important to note that these are purely civil remedies,” he said before clarifying that this does not require city resources to enforce this — it is not criminal. So an aggrieved individual can bring a civil action against the perpetrator. It can include if they’re liable for damages for three times heir actual damage for each violation or $1,000, whichever is greater. Moreover, they can recover attorney fees and potentially punitive damages.
“It expressly says it does not constitute a misdemeanor or infraction. And that’s essentially it,” he said.
That last part is important, because it means a cop doesn’t need to witness the violation, or ticket the driver or file charges.
However, the same problems that have limited the Los Angeles ordinance would likely limit this one, as well.
Unless you record the violation on a bike cam or cellphone, it’s difficult to gather witnesses or other evidence to offer proof of what happened.
And even with the provision for legal fees, it’s hard to find a lawyer who will take a case without the possibility of substantial damages, because the amount of work required doesn’t usually make it worth their time.
Still, it’s a move towards holding dangerous, aggressive and road-raging drivers accountable.
Let’s just hope it spreads to the other 86 cities in LA County.
Don’t miss Sunday’s CicLAmini open streets event in Wilmington this Sunday. The weather should be cool, dry and partly cloudy, so it should be comfortable whether you’re riding, skating or walking.
He gets it. A writer for the Thousand Oaks Acorn says “Bicycling instead of driving is a great way to reduce traffic, cut pollution, and save energy while contributing to California’s climate goals.”
No bias here, either. A pair of writers for El Tecolote complain about the San Francisco MTA’s approval a $1.5 million contract with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to provide bicycle education for the next five years — which works out to just $300,000 a year — saying it “frees the Bicycle Coalition to hire a phalanx of lobbyists to influence city policy with Supervisors, commissioners, and city staff in all departments.”
Tragic news from the UK, where a “fit and active” 80-year old man died after falling from his bike following an “incident” with a van, after he was forced to ride close to the roadway when debris in the bike path narrowed it to just two feet wide; an inspector looked at the path just weeks before his death, and said it looked just hunky dory.
