BikeLA releases report on LA County bike deaths, more on Bay Area dooring attacks, and no more roadbuilding in Wales

February 15, 2023 / / Comments Off on BikeLA releases report on LA County bike deaths, more on Bay Area dooring attacks, and no more roadbuilding in Wales

Let’s start with a couple of well-deserved thank yous.

First up, thanks to Kurt G for his generous donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day. Donations of any amount are always welcome and deeply appreciated.

Next, let’s all give Pocrass & De Los Reyes a round of thanks for renewing their title sponsorship of this site for another year.

The Century City law firm was our first sponsor, and  their support for the past ten years has made this site possible.

Photo of deadly East Anaheim Street from advocacy group BikeLA; the Long Beach street is one of several cited by the group as areas of concern in the report on LA County bicycling deaths below.

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Maybe LA area safety organizations are finally getting serious about fighting the effects of traffic violence.

Just weeks after the die-in at Los Angeles City Hall, and the release of a report from Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, detailing LA’s record rate of traffic deaths in 2022, BikeLA released their own report on the 26 bicyclists killed on LA County streets last year.

A press release from the group, formerly known as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, or LACBC, describes the findings of the report this way.

Most notably, the report identifies four factors that were prevalent in the vast majority of collisions. These design elements include high speed limits, excessive travel lanes, missing bike lane infrastructure, and poor street lighting. With 81% of collisions involving two or more of these factors, it suggests that infrastructure deficiencies are the main culprit behind the dangerous conditions on the county’s roads. 

The report also considers the geographic distribution of each collision and found that 61% of last year’s bicycle fatalities took place in heavily concentrated low-income, Black and Latinx neighborhoods. Tragically, many crashes were also concentrated along heavily-traveled corridors without quality bike infrastructure including Anaheim Street in Long Beach and Figueroa Street in Los Angeles.

As an organization committed to creating safe, enjoyable, and vibrant communities for cyclists, BikeLA recommends several solutions including reducing speed limits, embracing road diets, and expanding cyclist education programs. Taken together, these solutions can help governments across the county recommit to their vision for zero traffic fatalities.

A chart complied by the group demonstrates the distribution of traffic deaths in LA County; Los Angeles is responsible for over half of the deaths, despite having less than half of the county’s population.

It’s also worth noting the report’s conclusion that 85% of LA County’s bicycling deaths occurred where there are no bike lanes or other bicycling infrastructure.

Although that could have a lot to do with LA’s failure to build out the bike plan, and the slow pace of bike lane construction everywhere but Long Beach and Santa Monica.

It’s worth investing the time to take a deep dive into the report, to gain an understanding of how and why people continue to die on our streets.

You can learn more about each of the bicycling deaths in LA County, and the rest of Southern California, by clicking here.

Full disclosure: I was a board member of what was then the LACBC for over five years, and continue to be a member of the organization. 

Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up.

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Bay Area media coverage of the spate of dooring attacks is snowballing.

A Berkeley site says at least two people riding bicycles were targeted in the the city in recent days, as the count rises to 20 attempts to intentionally door victims in three Bay Area cities, with nine victims struck.

According to the East Bay Bike Party, the assailants used four different cars, including one that was confirmed to have been stolen.

“In several attacks,” the group said in a statement, “a driver sped alongside people riding bikes and a passenger on the right side of the car opened their door to hit the bike riders at speed. In at least two incidents the driver also drove directly into a bike rider rather than using the side door.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl0EdZtnY1M

An Oakland website adds more to the story, citing work by a team of volunteers to scour social media looking for more information on the attacks.

First, the group says that the four cars the suspects were driving were likely either Hyundai or Kia models, which have been recently targeted for theft due to a security loophole that has gone viral on TikTok. The EB Bike Party found that Ta’Liyah Hands, an Oakland resident, had her 2018 Silver Hyundai Elantra stolen in the Laurel Districtaround noon Friday. The car, confirmed by its license plate, was seen later that day in a video attempting to collide with bicyclists headed to the Bike East Bay Party. Several witnesses told the Oaklandside the cars the drivers used to attack them matched these models.

The group was also able to determine that the suspects were young, possibly teenagers. Several of the victims the Oaklandside spoke to for this story agreed, saying they heard laughter from the car’s occupants as they swerved at bicyclists. Most or all of the suspects were also male.

Meanwhile, the Oakland police department was unable to comment due to an ongoing cyber attack that prevented officials from accessing police files, and kept bicyclists from filing police reports.

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That’s more like it.

The Welsh government has canceled all roadbuilding projects over environmental and safety concerns.

Any future road projects must pass strict criteria requiring that they don’t increase carbon emissions, can’t increase the number of cars on the road or lead to higher speeds and emissions, and can’t have a negative impact on the environment.

Which pretty much means no new roads will be built in the country.

Period.

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No surprise here.

The accused killer of Dr. Michael Mammone in Dana Point two weeks ago had the criminal proceedings against him temporarily suspended Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Daily News is reporting that the case against Vanroy Evan Smith will be delayed until he has a competency hearing next week.

Smith told a reporter for the Orange County Register that he was both God and Jesus Christ. Which somehow seems unlikely, raising doubts about his competency to stand trial.

He could be committed to a psychiatric facility for treatment until he is competent to face trial, which could come in a few months, or may never happen.

Meanwhile, a memorial for Dr. Mammone will be held at the Festival of Arts grounds tomorrow at 11 am; mourners were asked to make donations to Wounded Warrior Project, the Laguna Beach Food Pantry or The LA Mission in lieu of flowers.

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The candidates in the special election to replace former LA City Councilmember Nury Martinez in CD6 will take part in a candidate forum tonight.

Twitter post

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British broadcast personality Jeremy Vine demonstrates a driver performing a left hook across a bikeway, the UK’s equivalent of our right hook.

Twitter post

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

A Virginia public radio station asks if bicycles should be required to stop at intersections. Which is not the same as asking whether bike riders should be allowed to treat stop signs as yields, as new bill in the state legislature proposes.

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Local 

LA city officials broke ground on two new mini-parks along the existing Chandler walk/bike path in North Hollywood, as well as adding new trees and lighting along the pathway, and improving two access points.

LAist offers a primer on how LA’s neighborhood councils work, and how you can join one.

BikeLA, formerly the Los Angeles County Bicycle County Bicycle Coalition, will host its first bike ride of the year in Griffith Park on Saturday, February 25th. Thanks to Ravener for the link.

 

State

A new bill in the state legislature would direct the state’s Mineta Transportation Institute to study ebikes, although it’s unclear just what information legislators are looking for.

 

National

It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that American motor vehicles are getting too big for their parking spaces.

Yahoo asks if ebikes are the unsung secret to curbing climate change. Short answer, probably.

Outside considers what kind of mountain bike you should buy this year. Which somehow assumes that you can, should, and want to buy one at all.

A new Utah state legislator is proposing a bill that would require drivers to change lanes to pass a bike rider, if there’s room to do so; the bill is personal for him, after he lost his own father when he was run down by a careless teenage driver while riding his bike. The bill is similar to a new California law that took effect this year.

Sad news from my Colorado hometown, where the county coroner’s office has identified the first of two bike riders killed there this week as an 81-year old man; police investigators are blaming him for running a stop sign, which seems unlikely at his age.

The Adventure Cycling Association calls out a five-mile section of US Highway 93 directly west of Whitefish, Montana as a particular area of safety concern due to crumbling shoulders and heavy traffic moving at high speeds.

Advocacy group BikeTexas is angling for a stop as yelled bill in the state legislature, as well as allowing ebikes in state parks.

A Streetsblog op-ed says the new and improved bike and pedestrian pathways on New York’s George Washington Bridge still aren’t good enough; a 1933 design called for cantilevered, 15-foot wide paths on both sides of the bridge.

The New York Times says bicycle delivery workers bore the brunt of Monday’s vehicular attack on Brooklyn sidewalks; a Chinese immigrant delivering food by bike was killed, and another man is lingering in a medically induced coma.  Meanwhile, the New York Post says the accused killer suffered a mental health crisis set off by “seeing” an invisible objet coming directly at him.

No surprise here, as a majority of residents in Charlottesville, Virginia say they’d like to walk, bike or take transit more often, if they just felt safe on the roads. Which is pretty much what the residents of virtually every American city would say.

A New Orleans bike club uses a fleet of eight tandem bikes to allow blind bike riders to experience the city in a new way.

The man accused of stabbing a bicycle-riding Florida couple to death during last year’s Daytona Bike Week has been found incompetent to stand trial; Jean Macean will be committed to a state facility until he understands the legal process and the case against him.

 

International

Porsche appears to be diving head-first into the ebike market by acquiring all of e-bikemaker Greyp, a subsidiary of Croatian supercar maker Rimac.

Mirroring the Aussie case we mentioned yesterday, an Ottawa, Canada man is on trial for killing his neighbor in a dispute over an alleged stolen bicycle. As we’ve said many times before, no bike is worth taking a life, let alone sacrificing your own. 

A Montreal driver was caught on video traveling an entire block in a protected bike lane.

The CEO of foldie maker Brompton blames Brexit for the problem besetting British bikemakers.

The rich get richer. Paris plans to build another 30 miles of bike lanes connecting the city center to Olympic venues in time for next year’s Summer Olympics.

A Philippine community is delaying plans to convert a protected bike lane into sharrows, in response to a massive protest by bike riders.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly profiles 22-year old British cyclist Harrison Wood, who’s set to make his WorldTour debut for French team Cofidis, after overcoming a brain bleed and broken collarbone suffered in a crash at the Course de la Paix.

Sad news from the UK, where record-setting bicyclist Eileen Sheridan has died at the age of 99. She rode the full nearly 900-mile length of Britain in less than two and a half days, a record that stood for 36 years.

Cyclist remembers how Fausto Coppi became the first rider to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year, in his rookie year of 1949.

 

Finally…

Your next car could be an e-trike. Now you, too, can move your entire household by bike.

And that feeling when your new bike parking looks artistic, but pretty damn useless.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Update: Man riding bicycle killed by hit-and-run semi driver in Long Beach Tuesday am; police blame victim, absolve driver

February 14, 2023 / / 2 comments

No bias here.

A man riding a bicycle on Southern California’s killer highway in Long Beach was killed by the driver of a semi-truck, who kept going after the crash.

So naturally, police blamed the victim, and absolved the driver for failing to stop.

The member-supported Long Beach Post is reporting that the victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was riding his bike east on PCH at Harbor Drive when police say he “collided” with a semi traveling in the same direction around 9:18 this morning.

He died at the scene.

The LBPD’s description of the crash is based on security cam video that apparently depicted the impact, although they don’t clarify whether the victim rear-ended the truck or somehow backed into it.

Or maybe, just maybe, the driver passed too closely, in violation of California’s three-foot passing law, as well as the new requirement to change lanes when possible to pass a bike rider, and somehow sideswiped the victim, or cause him to fall under it.

We may never know.

The cops were also quick to absolve the driver of any responsibility to stop after the crash, saying he or she may not have known it happened.

Because apparently, drivers aren’t required to be aware of what happens with their massive vehicles, or any damage or deaths they may cause.

Let’s hope they clarify things at some point.

A street view shows a four lane highway with center turn lane, and right turn lanes in each direction.

This is at least the eighth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Three of those deaths appear to be hit-and-runs.

Update: Long Beach police have clarified that the victim apparently fell off his bike and was struck by the truck driver. 

Which doesn’t explain why the driver passed close enough to hit him if he fell beside the truck, or why the driver wouldn’t be aware he’d hit someone.

It’s also possible that a too-close pass could have been what caused the victim to fall. 

Anyone with information is urged to call LBPD Collision Investigation Detail Detectives Kevin Johansen or Joseph Johnson 562/570-7355.

Update 2: The victim was identified as 59-year-old homeless Long Beach resident Kevin Evans, who was on his way to volunteer with the nonprofit Care Closet Long Beach when he was killed.

The Long Beach Post describes him as someone who was always willing to help others, despite his own situation.

More than 20 years ago, Evans grew tired of the stresses of having to pay a mortgage and utilities, so he decided to leave that behind to pursue a “camping” lifestyle, his friends said.

Eventually, with the support of Care Closet Long Beach, Evans was able to use his experiences to help others, especially homeless residents, going through tough situations, Given said.

He died just three days short of his 60th birthday.

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

Thanks to Psmith for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , ,

Man in rental truck mows down eight people on Brooklyn sidewalk, killing one; Dr. Mammone’s wife discusses her loss

February 14, 2023 / / Comments Off on Man in rental truck mows down eight people on Brooklyn sidewalk, killing one; Dr. Mammone’s wife discusses her loss

Happy Valentines Day!

Remember to give your two-wheeled loved one a little extra care and affection today, too. 

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Once again, someone in a rental truck has mowed down pedestrians and bike riders in New York.

This time, police chased a fleeing driver in a U-Haul truck as he drove down a Brooklyn sidewalks and bike lanes through six intersections, killing one person and injuring seven others; three of the victims were on bicycles.

And like the killer of Dr. Michael Mammone in Dana Point, the driver suffers from mental illness, with a history of going off his medications, according to his son.

Which sadly seems to be no barrier to operating a motor vehicle.

Police aren’t sure yet if the attacks were deliberate, though it’s hard to imagine otherwise. However, they are confident this was not a terrorist attack.

Just someone once again using a motor vehicle as a weapon, apparently.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in the other case of a driver in a rental truck mowing down innocent people in the Big Apple say confessed terrorist Sayfullo Saipov has to die by lethal injection for the Halloween, 2017 attack on a Manhattan bike path, because he’s too dangerous to keep in prison.

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After blaring accusations that Vanroy Evan Smith made comments about white privilege when he stabbed Dr. Michael Mammone to death, the New York Post discusses his interview with the Orange County Register. And can only manage to mention Smith’s denial of racial comments in passing near the end of the story.

Which isn’t exactly a correction. Let alone a retraction.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mammone’s wife talks with KCAL News about the loss of her husband; a celebration of his life will be held Thursday at the Festival of the Arts.

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A former Bay Area resident visiting from Houston took a tour of rain damage in the Santa Cruz mountains from the January storms, and posted video of it as a short film he calls the Tour de Disaster.

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

Vancouver’s parks board voted to rip out a popular popup bike lane through a public park, because it wasn’t popular with drivers who used the road as a cut-through route.

But sometimes, its the people on two wheels behaving badly.

No bias here. A Santa Barbara letter writer says it’s not true that the State Street Promenade is safer now that cars have been banned, complaining about the risk to pedestrians posed by irresponsible bike riders, and that “No amount of new bike paths will improve public safety if cyclists ride irresponsibly.” While she has a point about irresponsible people, regardless of how they travel, she’s apparently confused about the relative risks posed by bicycles and motor vehicles. 

No bias here, either. A Republican councilwoman in Queens responds to a park bike crash by saying bike riders should be required to be licensed and carry insurance, after a “bike racer named Kevin” bailed without providing his contact information when he hit a woman on a bikeshare bike. A reminder that hit-and-run is hit-and-run, whether you’re on a bike or in a car. Although that whole registration and insurance thing hasn’t worked that well to rein in bad driver behavior, either. 

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Local 

The Washington Post says the death of 12-year-old Molly Steinsapir in Pacific Palisades as she rode with a friend on a borrowed Rad Power ebike calls attention to the safety of ebikes, and ebike brakes in particular, and “whether the wildly popular bicycles are safe for young people to ride.”

 

State

A Santa Ana news site recommends registering your bicycle for free with Bike Index, after Irvine cops bust a bike thief — and have to let him go with a ticket because the bike was worth less than the $950 threshold for grand theft.

Encinitas appears to be getting serious about improving bike and pedestrian safety, approving an implementation plan for the city’s active transportation plan; roughly three-quarters of the 86 miles of bikeways contained in the active transportation plan remain to be built.

Police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who ran down a 71-year old man from behind as he stood in a South San Francisco bike lane after getting off his bike.

SFist reports on the brazen dooring attacks on Friday’s East Bay Bike Party that left two people seriously injured, as well as other attacks in Bay Area cities on Thursday and Saturday; Streetsblog calls the attackers sociopaths, not incorrectly.

A Sonoma paper wants to honor whoever is “adorning” a local bike path with seasonal displays.

 

National

Giro is recalling bike helmets made before this year because the straps may “disengage” during use. Which sounds like a bad thing.

For the second day in a row, someone riding a bicycle has been killed in a collision in my platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Colorado hometown. And once again, police blame the victim for allegedly blowing through a traffic signal.

Life is cheap in Texas, where an Austin municipal bus driver walked with seven years probation for killing a former TV station employee as he rode his bicycle on the University of Texas campus, while she was allegedly stoned on prescription drugs.

The official explanation for a bike crash involving an Illinois college student doesn’t pass the smell test, as the local MTD insists the bike rider somehow swerved into the side of a bus as it passed him safely outside the bike lane he was riding in.

There’s a special place in hell for the Michigan hit-and-run driver who fled on foot after killing a six-year old boy riding his bicycle.

New York advocates complain the city has failed to live up to promises to upgrade bicycling infrastructure in high-risk areas of Brooklyn.

The Washington Post says those darn Gen Zs just don’t want to drive.

 

International

Momentum Magazine suggests ten ways to go on a Valentine’s Day bike date.

He gets it. A British letter writer says if it’s true we live in an anti-car world, he’d hate to see a pro-car one.

UFC star Connor McGregor says he’s still traumatized after being knocked off his bike by a driver in Ireland last month.

A Dutch man has spent the last nine months riding his bike 8,700 miles from the Netherlands to Nepal to observe the effects of climate change.

An Australian man is on trial for murder after allegedly stabbing his rooming house neighbor to death, in a dispute that began when the other man called him a “poof” and moved his bicycle; he says he killed the victim in self-defense as the man was trying to steal his bike.

 

Finally…

Win a $1 million bike race without ever leaving the comfort of your own home. Your next Trek could be tie-dyed.

And watch out for those sneaky bicyclists with their damn cams out to catch those poor, unfortunate drivers breaking the law.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Vanroy Evan Smith admits random killing of bike-riding doctor, claims to be God; San Fernando Bike Path takes shape

February 13, 2023 / / One comment

The reason behind Dr. Michael Mammone’s murder may have been the worst one on all.

Because apparently, there was no reason.

The Orange County Register conducted a jailhouse interview with the accused killer of the respected Laguna Beach ER doctor, who was run down from behind in a violent collision as he waited at a PCH red light in Dana Point on February 1st, then repeatedly stabbed by the driver after he exited the car.

The paper talked Friday with Vanroy Evan Smith, who’s being held on $1 million bond after being charged with murder in Mammone’s death.

Smith confessed to the killing in the chilling interview, relating that he apparently picked Mammone at random as he drove around looking for a victim, after buying the machete allegedly used in the attack at a gun shop earlier that day.

Yet he expects to be set free, because he is “entitled to commit murder because he is both God and Jesus Christ.”

Oh. Okay then.

In a rambling, hourlong interview with a Southern California News Group reporter, Vanroy Evan Smith cited end-of-world scriptures from the Bible’s Book of Revelation and said that if the public knew he was the Messiah and the “king of kings,” they would think differently about him and his crime.

“I have killed,” Smith, 39, said during the interview at Orange County’s Intake Release Center in Santa Ana. “If they knew who I was, they would let me walk out of here. They would fulfill all my desires.”

Nope. Nothing crazy there.

Yet Smith, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder following a 2020 episode, denied being mentally ill.

And despite his diagnosis, he was allowed to continue driving a multi-ton vehicle that can be weaponized on a whim, even through he wouldn’t be allowed to purchase or carry a gun.

Smith also denied using racial slurs or uttering comments about white privilege, despite sometimes racist reports that continue to circulate on conservative media sites.

He chose Mammone as his victim, in part, because he would not kill a woman.

According to the paper, Smith awoke that day fully expecting to kill someone before the day was over, “adding that he has long been plagued by troubling ‘communications’ from others and conflict because of his mixed-race heritage.”

After purchasing the knife, Smith recounted that he began driving around and felt compelled to run over Mammone and stab him. “It was my right,” he said, rubbing his hand against his eyes while adding that he feels no remorse for the killing. “He was in the crosswalk and presented himself.”

Smith cited the story of the Last Supper in Gospel of Luke as justification for purchasing the knife.

35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”“Nothing,” they answered.

36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’ ; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

He also said he had a BB gun he intended as a distraction, confirming some reports that he had a gun, though not that he used it.

Smith told the Register he had no regrets about the killing.

Smith, meanwhile, said he has found peace after 10 days in jail, placing at bay some of his demons typically exacerbated by heavy drinking, marijuana use and consorting with prostitutes.

He said he hopes to eventually meet with Mammone’s family. “I didn’t want to cause anyone pain,” he said.

No, he just wanted to kill someone. Because in his mind, he was God, and apparently, that’s what gods do.

I can think of nothing more chilling than a driver who decides to deliberately kill another human being, for no more reason than the person was there, exposed and vulnerable.

And he just, you know, felt like it.

Nothing personal.

Photo of ghost bike for Dr. Michael Mammones by Walt Arrrrr.

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Vanroy Smith wasn’t the only one who decided to use his car as a weapon recently.

Twitter post

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It looks like the city is making real progress on the San Fernando Road Bike Path.

Proving, as the following tweets make clear, that advocacy works.

https://twitter.com/Ravener85/status/1624862238749372416

Twitter post

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This is the future I want to see.

Twitter post

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

A group of drivers attempted to terrorize Oakland bike riders by deliberately dooring 14 people riding their bikes, hitting eight and seriously injuring two people; at least four separate vehicles were involved over a three-day period.

No bias here. A letter writer in Victoria, British Columbia complains that bike lanes and a car-hating mayor are responsible for all the traffic congestion in the city of 92,000 people.

But sometimes, its the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Advocates for the blind complained about riders on a London bikeway repeatedly ignoring pedestrians in a crosswalk. Even though none of the people crossing appeared to be visually impaired.

Seven years after a woman in the UK was killed by a man riding an illegal bicycle, a British government minister suggested more people would have to die before the country would do anything making the laws tougher.

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Local 

West Hollywood’s city council voted 3-2 to convert the existing painted bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd to protected bike lanes, while extending the lanes east from the current terminus at Kings Road; the city will also consider how to connect them to planned bike lanes on Fountain Ave, and the existing sharrows on Willoughby.

LAist looks at LA’s renegade Crosswalk Collective, whose outlaw DIY crosswalks are forcing the city to improve its pedestrian infrastructure.

Streets For All is calling for everyone to complete Metro’s survey to support a heavy rail line through the Sepulveda Pass, with a station on the UCLA campus.

 

State

No bias here, either. Opinion was evenly split for and against a planned Carlsbad roundabout at a recent public meeting, but the San Diego Union-Tribune makes it sound like residents are against the “drastic change.”

An op-ed from the leaders of San Diego’s BikeSD says the city can end its over-reliance on cars with bike, mass transit and pedestrian infrastructure.

Sad news from San Luis Obispo, where a 23-year old man riding a bicycle was killed when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver, then hit by a second motorist as he lay in the street; police arrested the 19-year old driver on charged of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter.

A San Jose op-ed asks whether America’s 10th largest and “most forgettable” city is building a national model for the metropolis of the future.

Sad news from Half Moon Bay, too, where a 75-year old man was killed when he was struck by an 18-year old driver while riding his bicycle.

 

National

Retailers says bloated inventories and a dip in demand will make this a year of bike bargains.

A man riding a bicycle was killed in my platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Colorado hometown, after allegedly running a stop sign, just two days after the city’s Winter Bike to Work Day. Although the location where he was struck didn’t even exist when I lived there. 

The growing population of San Antonio, Texas is making the streets more dangerous for people on bicycles.

A nonprofit group has donated a mobility trike to an eight-year old boy paralyzed in last year’s mass shooting at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

An Arkansas youth center worker uses his mountain bike to deliver much-needed supplies to homeless people in his community.

Jurors will consider whether convicted Manhattan bike path terrorist Sayfullo Saipo will receive the death penalty for killing eight people as they walked or rode their bikes.

Life is cheap in Pennsylvania, where a hit-and-run driver got just under one to two years for killing a local homeless advocate as he rode his bike in 2020.

The Idaho Stop, allowing bike riders to treat stops as yields, could come to Virginia before it does California, where it has been vetoed twice. Or was it three times?

Once again, a bike rider was a hero, as someone riding by on a bicycle managed to wrestle a gun away from a would-be robber, who was sticking up a couple on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street.

Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is one of us, as she takes her kids on a Tom Brady-less bike ride through the streets of Miami.

 

International

Momentum Magazine says Valentines Day is the perfect excuse to get a tandem.

A London commuter copes with the rail strike by trying a bikeshare ebike, totally transforming his commute.

Cycling Tips considers why pioneering London bike shop Look Mum No Hands! was more than just a café and workshop.

Having apparently learned his lesson about electric motorbikes, America’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell rides his ebike through the streets of Manchester, England, in his $1,500 Armani cargo pants.

A kindhearted seven-year old Scottish boy raised the equivalent of over $880 for charity by riding his bike a total of 20 miles this month, and plans to keep it going for the rest of the month.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 90-year old man in the Netherlands rides his bike ten and a half miles a day to see his wife of 63 years, who now lives in a hospice facility. Except for that part about the dying wife, of course.

Berlin plans to ban all parking in the city’s Gräfekiez neighborhood for three months this summer, as a test for plans to make the city center carfree within a few years.

The Tehran Times recommends the ten best bike rides for your next visit to the Islamic Republic.

Tragic news, as two members of the Qatar Cycling Federation were killed when they were run down by a texting driver.

Hundreds of bicycle and e-scooter riders turned out to protest plans to remove protected bike lanes in a Philippine city, which bizarrely concluded that the need for the lanes would decrease as commuters increased.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Spain, where rising 19-year old cyclist Estela Dominguez was killed by a hit-and-run driver as she was on the verge of her professional career, while on a training ride in Salamanca.

VeloNews says the rigors of junior cycling set reigning world and Vuelta champ Remco Evenepoel on the path to stardom.

Los Angeles-based L39ION of Los Angeles says its a hard pass on participating in the National Cycling League’s new four-race crit series.

Six people were injured when 15 bicyclists competing in a monthly bike race collided in Sydney, Australia.

 

Finally…

When you’re carrying a couple meth-filled baggies on your bike, stop for the damn stop sign, already. Don’t ride your bike through an intermediate school without permission.

And a comedian celebrates the need to drive.

Not.

Twitter post

Thanks to GlennC1 for the link.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Accused Dana Point killer mentally ill; LAPD’s version of Van Nuys bike rider shooting, and CicLAvia unveils April route

February 10, 2023 / / 2 comments

Now it makes a little more sense.

As if anything so random and violent could ever make sense.

The Daily Pilot is reporting that Vanroy Evan Smith was diagnosed with a mental disorder over two years before he allegedly murdered Dr. Michael Mammone — attacking first with his car, then finishing the job with a knife.

According to a child custody petition filed by Smith’s ex-wife, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder following a meltdown in December, 2020.

Yet Smith was allowed to retain his driver’s license despite his illness.

Dr. Mammone apparently paid the price for that when Smith ran down his bike from behind, in what looks to be a deliberate, high-speed crash on PCH in Dana Point. He then got out of his car and repeatedly stabbed Mammone, who died hours later in the same emergency room where he sometimes worked.

Federal law would have prevented Smith from owning a gun with his illness. Yet he was somehow allowed to own and operate a motor vehicle, which became a deadly weapon in his hands.

Now the question is whether he will be found competent to stand trial, which will likely determine whether he gets treatment for his illness. Or spends the rest of his life in jail.

Or, hopefully, both.

………

Not surprisingly, the LAPD paints a different picture from what we got yesterday about the police shooting of a man riding a bicycle in LA’s Van Nuys neighborhood.

According to a press release from the department, the victim was wanted on an outstanding warrant for murder, and was also a suspect in an assault with a deadly weapon, when officers spotted him riding his bike Tuesday afternoon.

The officers drove alongside the victim, ordering him to stop, when he somehow “made contact with the patrol car’s passenger side mirror,” which caused him to get off his bicycle and flee on foot.

In other words, he fled after they hit him with the car’s mirror.

One of the officers pursued him on foot, at which point the man allegedly pulled a ghost gun out of his pants and pointed it at the officer, who fired, striking him.

He was treated at a hospital, and released into police custody, suggesting his wounds were not serious.

That’s the official version, anyway.

Whether we ever learn more depends on whether the patrol car and bodycam video is released.

………

We have a veritable feast of open streets events coming up in the next few months.

The years first CicLAvia is just over two weeks away now, as SoCal’s most popular open streets event visits The Valley on February 26th.

That’s followed less than two months later by the just announced Mid-City to Pico Union route, with 626 Golden Streets coming to the San Gabriel Valley just a week later.

Twitter post

………

StreetsLA broke ground on the new Chandler Bicycle & Recreation Area.

Although that’s not a project I’m familiar with, and one that doesn’t seem to be posted online yet.

Twitter post

Thanks to Ravener for the heads-up.

………

Streets For All posted video of Wednesday’s virtual happy hour featuring LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.

………

Sometimes, its the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Police in New York are looking for a man who hit a bike rider in the face with a U-lock following a public argument, then fled the scene on the victim’s ebike.

………

Local 

The Claremont Courier asks if the east LA County college town is safe to walk or ride a bike in, as the state ranks it in the bottom 20% of similarly sized cities for traffic deaths and injuries; meanwhile, a new advocacy group is working to change that.

Billions actress Malin Akerman is one of us, as she gave her son a ride to school on her fat tire ebike.

 

State

Streetsblog says don’t hold your breath on California’s long-delayed ebike rebate program, which has been put off until at least April.

This is the story we all need right now. Momentum lists five sunny, bike-friendly cities for a winter bicycling vacation, including Santa Barbara and San Diego.

 

National

Cycling Savvy offers advice on how to stay safe when you ride fast, even if you didn’t mean to.

Sales for MIPS helmets dropped 46% in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the previous year, reflecting a 50% decline in bike helmet sales.

A new study shows the benefits of bicycling are more than physical, enhancing the brain’s cognitive abilities, and could benefit kids with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

The third generation Fly6 rear-facing bike cam and taillight is on sale now, which allows you to record the drivers coming up behind you. You know, just in case. Although I’m surprised to see it get a middling 2.8 review score on a five-point scale.

Vox considers how to go carfree in Middle America. Or car-light, anyway.

Salt Lake City officials issued an arrest warrant for a hit-and-run driver who hasn’t been seen since he ran down two boys riding an ebike, seriously injuring one boy; the victims weren’t found for 18 minutes following the crash.

CityLab says Denver’s highly successful ebike rebate program will improve safety by creating an army of bike lane advocates.

Speaking of Denver, a pro-labor candidate for mayor plans to visit all 78 of the city’s neighborhoods by bike in just five days. So when was the last time a candidate for mayor of LA even got on a bike? Not in my 30+ years here, anyway. 

The Minnesota legislature is honoring a longtime transportation advocate who lost his battle with cancer last year with a bill to improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians, with an emphasis on Safe Routes to Schools, funding sidewalks and bike lanes, and a stop as yield law for bikes.

Maine is getting on the ebike bandwagon with a proposal to add ebikes to the state’s EV rebate program.

Massachusetts custom carbon framemaker Parlee Cycles went belly up, filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Seriously? Attorneys for confessed vehicular terrorist Sayfullo Saipov say the decision to seek the death penalty was based on possible ethnic or religious discrimination, not murdering eight people on a Manhattan bike path.

Good news from Atlanta, where the autistic man we mentioned yesterday who had his bike stolen now has a new one, thanks to a kindhearted lawyer whose firm replaced the man’s bike with the same carbon-fiber Trek he had before. Along with a much better lock. A reminder that no matter how bleak the world seems at times, there are a lot of kindhearted people out there.

 

International

Toronto voted to make a pair of popup bike lanes permanent, despite claims by residents that they resulted in increased gridlock.

A British member of Parliament says she was lucky to walk, or maybe limp, away from a crash while riding her bike home to her London neighborhood, after a driver made an illegal left turn.

France has extended their rebate on bicycle purchases for another year, while raising the financial threshold to qualify.

 

Competitive Cycling

Scotland’s Stirling Castle is lit up in the colors of cycling’s governing body to mark the six-month countdown to the world championships in the country.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you ditch your bike for a stolen tow truck, then crash it into an auto parts store. Your next purchase from electric truck maker Rivian could be an ebike.

And that feeling when getting hit by a driver may have saved your life.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Armed bike rider shot fleeing from LAPD, mucho macho e-trucks and SUVs, and deadly PCH scheduled for makeover

February 9, 2023 / / Comments Off on Armed bike rider shot fleeing from LAPD, mucho macho e-trucks and SUVs, and deadly PCH scheduled for makeover

Patch is reporting that a man in his 40s was shot by LAPD officers near Victory Blvd and Tyrone Ave in Van Nuys Tuesday afternoon, after they attempted to arrest him while he was riding his bike.

The victim, termed a “known suspect” by police, was shot after officers spotted a gun as he attempted to flee on foot. However, there’s no word on whether he fired or even brandished the weapon.

He’s reportedly hospitalized in stable condition. A gun was found at the scene after the shooting.

Only the release of bodycam video will tell us whether the shooting was justified.

This follows the highly questionable shooting of Dijon Kizzee by sheriff’s deputies, after Kizzee fled a traffic stop for riding salmon in 2020.

As usual, neither of the deputies who shot Kizzee 16 times ever faced charges.

………

Curbed’s Alissa Walker considers the danger America’s every-increasingly “macho” electric trucks and SUVs pose to everyone else around them.

Walker fittingly describes them as “dangerously powerful trucks driven by people who can’t see what’s in front of them, barreling through neighborhoods that were not designed for vehicles of this size.”

But the tame routes traveled by these vehicles don’t make them safe. Tracking of news reports and federal data by the advocacy group Kids and Car Safety shows that child “frontover” deaths — meaning cars driving forward over kids, not backing over them — have dramatically increased over the past decade, nearly doubling from 2009 to 2019 compared to the ten-year period before. During the same period, the average American pickup truck’s front hood grew 11 percent taller and vehicle weight increased by 24 percent, according to Consumer Reports. And in addition to their size, Macho EVs also have increased torque. In fact, only two trucks can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds, and they’re both electric: the Hummer EV and the Rivian R1T. But being able to accelerate so quickly in such a large vehicle creates an extremely dangerous combination. That extra power — the Hummer EV labels it, appropriately, “WTF” — has Hummer EV drivers posting videos where they’re struggling to control the vehicle. “I forgot how heavy this car is,” one driver says. “It did not want to slow down.”

Take a few minutes to read the whole thing.

Because this is definitely not the future we want.

………

A writer for The Malibu Times says a planned redesign of a 7.5 mile section of SoCal’s killer highway north of Malibu in Ventura County can’t happen soon enough.

The paper reports the section is currently the deadliest part of PCH, with 21% of the total crashes on the highway through Los Angeles and Ventura Counties occurring there.

After analyzing data, the engineer (Ashley Haire of Alta Planning and Design) stated, “There are a variety of different types of bicyclists. We have some long-haul tourists that are going through this area. We also have some folks who are good at riding in constrained spaces and are comfortable mixing somewhat with higher-speed vehicles. But overall this is a pretty scary section of road to ride a bike on. It’s not comfortable. Nobody’s out there taking their kids for rides.”

She goes on to explain that federal guidelines call for a separated bikeway when average speeds exceed 35 mph, which this section does.

“There’s really not a section of this project where people are only driving 35mph,” Haire stated. “We really think it would be important to have a separated facility out here, one that separates bicyclists and pedestrians from vehicular traffic, provides a safe barrier between those uses, and really gets folks out of harm’s way.”

Let’s hope they find the room for a fully protected bike lane. Or make it, if need be.

You can send comments on the project to Stella.Yip@arup.com through tomorrow.

………

The Eastside Riders will hold their annual Ride4Love this Saturday, with rental bikes available for anyone who needs one courtesy of People for Mobility Justice.

Unfortunately, though, the link to the $15 T-shirt for the event just leads to the group’s donation page.

Hopefully, they’ll get that fixed. Because I definitely want to buy one.

………

Sometimes, its the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A group of Kiwi bike riders hit the pavement when one cyclist on a group ride went down and the others crashed into him, resulting seven people hurt, with three seriously injured.

………

Local 

This is the cost of traffic violence. The Los Angeles Times says something has to be done to save the lives of California’s mountain lions, with over 500 killed by drivers in the last eight years; star Griffith Park puma P-22 was put down by animal control officers after he, too, was struck by a motorist.

Good idea. BikeLA, formerly the LACBC, is working with Wilmington business owners to clear the air in the largely Latino industrial community, one ebike at a time. Using a nearly half million dollar grant from the City of Los Angeles, the group is loaning 42 ebikes to local residents for six month, then giving them a chance to buy the bikes at a reduced rate.

Rapha invites you to sign up for their inaugural Yomp Rally, a 375-mile gravel ride from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, starting on May 5th.

 

State

The rails-to-trails movement is finally making its way to Orange County, where the Orange County Transportation Authority, aka OCTA, plans to convert abandoned rail tracks into bike paths paralleling the new streetcar. Thanks to Lois for the heads-up. 

San Diego Magazine spends a weekend on a non-epic bike ride to Julian.

Consumer Reports addresses the public panic over ebike batteries, with tips like sticking with OEM batteries, never charging your ebike overnight, and unplug your bike if the battery starts hissing. But check for snakes if it keeps hissing after your unplug it.

A Visalia bike shop is asking for the public’s help identifying a teenager who walked off with a bike while the shop’s workers were distracted.

A Berkeley op-ed says police enforcement should be a last resort in Vision Zero, used only after engineering and education efforts have failed.

Richmond has adopted a new Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan identifying 181 potential bicycle projects and 111 potential pedestrian projects. Of course, the key word there is “potential;” as we’ve learned the hard way in Los Angeles, even the most aggressive plan is meaningless without the political will to implement it. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the tip. 

They get it. The Marin Independent says fixing a dangerously confusing San Raphael intersection controlled by five traffic lights to make it safer for motorists, pedestrians and bike riders will provide benefits for the entire county.

 

National

In what may be the most vital bike commuting article you’ll read this year, Momentum examines the best ways to carry coffee on a bicycle.

A new study published in Nature recommends a data-driven approach to Everesting, calling for elite cyclists to select a hill with gradient  over 12%, while amateur and recreational cyclists should choose a hill with gradient less than 10%.

An MSNBC podcast talks with Rad Power Bikes founder Mike Radenbaugh, who explains why ebikes are here to stay.

Oregon’s proposed ebike rebate bill sailed through its first committee hearing in the state legislature; as the bill is currently written, it would offer up to $1,700 back on the purchase of an ebike. It would be a shame if Oregon got their program up and running before California’s long-delayed ebike rebate program finally rolls out. 

Cycling Utah offers tips on bike commuting in advance of tomorrow’s National Winter Bike to Work Day. Yet somehow, no city in Southern California appears to celebrate it, even though we have near ideal weather for bike commuting all year. Then again, if last year was any example, we barely mark the regular Bike to Work Day anymore, either.

A Boulder, Colorado man will spend the next 16 years behind bars for punching a woman in the face when she confronted him for stealing her bike.

Denver’s ebike rebate program continues to prove popular, with the latest round of vouchers exhausted in just 20 minutes.

Virginia Tech’s latest bike helmet ratings are out, with the $300 Giro Aries Spherical placing first, and the $120 Specialized Tactic 4 coming in second.

Some kindhearted Alabama cops dug into their own pockets to buy a new bike for a local man, after the bike he used as his primary form of transportation was stolen when he turned his back to get his tire pump.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a bicycle belonging to a young Atlanta man living with autism, disrupting his entire life.

 

International

Continuing a theme, an editor for Bike Radar highlights six commuter bike accessories he can’t live without. Although I think the story should have said “corgi carrying” instead of “cargo carrying.”

Singletracks offers three reasons you should mountain bike in Oaxaca, Mexico. I only need one — mole.

London’s 12-year old iconic bike café and workshop Look Mum No Hands! has closed, a victim of the pandemic and rising costs. That name alone should have been enough to guarantee their success.

Cycling Weekly looks at the alarming increase in bicycling deaths on rural French roads once renowned for safe and courteous driving; a new French road safety campaign targets risky, macho behavior by male drivers.

A new study from Lisbon shows the positive influence bicycling coalitions can have on shaping urban policy. Thanks to BikeLA for the link.

Good question. An Indian magazine asks why urban planners ignore bicycles, when millions of Indians commute by bicycle every day.

A Sydney, Australia company is saving thousands of bikes abandoned by Chinese dockless bikeshare provider Mobike, refurbishing them to provide transportation for underprivileged kids.

A Kiwi writer says you never forget your first ebike ride, and he definitely didn’t.

 

Competitive Cycling

Pro road and gravel cyclist Lauren De Crescenzo reflects on her first attempt at mountain bike racing, at The Gobbler 6/3 outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

 

Finally…

Your next camper van could be a cargo ebike camper. Your next steel bike bottle could benefit an environmental nonprofit.

And your next purchase from German car audio maker Blaupunkt could be an e-foldie.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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