Update: Man killed riding bike in Redlands collision this morning; no details available

December 8, 2022 / / 7 comments

It takes a lot of effort to steel myself to write about yet another bike rider killed on our streets, sometimes.

I tell myself I’m just waiting for more information. But in reality, I’m working up the strength to confront another needless tragedy.

Especially when it’s the third time in three days.

That was the case today, when I received an email forwarding a report from the Redlands Police Department, which announced the death of a man riding a bicycle near 5th Ave and Marion Road, shortly before 9 this morning.

A response to the post indicated that seven people, including two doctors, struggled to save the victim’s life before paramedics arrived. He died at the scene, despite their efforts.

A street view shows a separated bike lane in both directions on 5th.

Unfortunately, that’s all the information we have right now.

This is at least the 78th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eleventh that I’m aware of in Riverside County.

 

Update: I received the following comment from Amanda Frye in response to this crash, which I asked if I could share here — including the first indication that the victim may have been a 18-year old kid. 

Never mind that the crash still hasn’t seen a single word in the local press.

On the same day that the Redlands City Council voted to raise speed limits all over the city, Long Beach City Council voted to lower speed limits throughout their city to reduce accidents and save lives.

Two days later in Redlands, a 16 year old boy riding a bicycle near Moore Middle School was struck and killed.  The Redlands City Council justification for raising speed limits were based on an obviously flawed Engineering and Traffic Survey (ETS) conducted by a company from out of town.  The Engineering report contains obvious omissions including schools in the vicinity or residential area with bicyclists and pedestrians.  These engineering road condition omissions would have provided justification for lower speed limits in the vicinity where  the 16 year old was killed, Fifth Avenue was listed as 45 mph with no notation in the survey for a school in the vicinity.  Redlands’ Moore Middle School borders Fifth Avenue.  It appears that Redlands staff just rubber stamped the study with little to no review or oversight.  Other Redlands schools on streets included in the ETS were not noted either resulting in raised speed limits in residential neighborhoods with the public pointing out these omissions. Near my house the engineer missed the large bicycle symbols on the road as this is a popular bicycle route and failed to note a residential area with pedestrians and bicyclists or an open drainage channel.  How could these items be missed?

While residents were asking for lowering speed limits to make our roads safer for everyone, Redlands city council voted to raise the speed limit claiming the police said they had to raise speed limits in order to enforce them. The action and rationale lacked logic especially given the flawed Engineering and Traffic Survey. The California Vehicle Code provides the local authority the ability to lower speed limits to make our streets safer for all.

Update 2: The victim was identified by relatives as 16-year old Juan Pablo Carrillo-Salazar, who was just visiting Redlands from his home in Mexico when he was killed. 

A crowdfunding campaign to send Carrillo-Salazar’s body back to Zacatecas for burial has raised just $135 of the modest $6,000 goal. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Juan Pablo Carrillo-Salazar and his loved ones. 

Thanks to Kate Condon, Amanda Frye and Helen Salazar for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

LA is America’s 2nd most deadly city for peds, Valley legislators earn top mobility grades, and a fond goodbye to Mike Bonin

December 8, 2022 / / 4 comments

It’s Day 15 of the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive — which means we’re halfway through this year’s fundraising campaign!

Nearly 50 very kind and generous people have donated over the past two weeks. Which means that roughly 2,950 of the people who will visit this site today haven’t.

And chances are, you may be one of them. 

Which is not meant to guilt you into giving. Well, not much, anyway. 

It’s no problem if you can’t afford to give. Although we’ve gotten donations as small as five dollars from people who’ve struggled to give anything. 

And no problem if you just don’t want to. Everyone is welcome here, whether or not you support this site, because our goal is to share this information as widely as possible, with as many people as we can. 

But consider this. 

Those generous people, combined with the likewise generous sponsors over there on the right, are all that allows me to keep bringing you the latest bike news from around the corner, and around the world, on a daily basis. Starting with this post right here, and every one to come. 

So please join me in thanking Kathryn R, Austin B and Brer M for their support to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

And as for you, don’t wait. Donate now via PayPal or Zelle.

………

Is anyone really surprised that the mean streets of Los Angeles claimed the nation’s second highest number of pedestrian lives over the past decade, second only to New York?

Which makes sense in a way, since Los Angeles also has the second largest population, behind only to New York.

The correlation ends there, though, as Phoenix comes in third, followed by Houston, Dallas and San Antonio; Chicago, the third largest city, ranks all the way down at 7th, which suggests they must be doing something right.

Although even one traffic death is one too many.

That information comes courtesy of online auto insurance firm Jerry, which correlated the rankings based on a decade’s worth of NHTSA data.

Other relevant facts include —

  • Pedestrian deaths increased every year over the past decade in the US, rising 65% from 2011 through 2021.
  • 2021 deaths were up 13% over the previous year.
  • People of color accounted for 2/3 of pedestrian deaths, despite being just 24% of the overall population.
  • Four out of five pedestrian deaths occurred in urban areas, which makes sense since that’s where the most people are. And the most cars.
  • People in cars continue to cause twice as many pedestrian deaths as those in SUVs, though the number of people killed by SUV drivers grew twice as fast over the past decade.
  • Largely rural New Mexico had the highest level of pedestrian deaths per capita, followed by Florida, which traditionally leads the nation in pedestrian and bicycling deaths; despite LA’s high ranking, California as a whole is only the ninth most deadly state on a per capita basis.
  • Nearly a third of pedestrians killed had a blood alcohol level of .08, while a quarter had a BAC of .15 — nearly twice the legal limit for motorists.

However, that last tidbit is meaningless without knowing whether a) they were responsible for the crash that killed them, and b) whether their intoxication contributed to their actions in some way.

It important to remember that it’s a hell of a lot easier to walk after drinking or using drugs than it is to operate a big, deadly machine that’s dangerous even under the best conditions.

………

Streets For All has adopted a tactic used by countless organizations on the national level, from the NRA to Planned Parenthood, by grading the mobility record of each member of the state legislature over the past year.

To no one’s surprise, Burbank’s Transportation Committee Chair Laura Friedman tops the rankings in the state Assembly, followed by San Mateo County’s Phillip Ting.

Sadly, no Republican appears in the rankings until Jordan Cunningham all the way down at 65; all 19 Republicans reside at that bottom of the chart, accompanied by just two Democrats.

An indication that the car-centric party has a long way to go to embrace the state’s desperately needed shift to transit, active transportation and Complete Streets.

The same holds true in the other chamber, where every Democrat grades out at a C or higher, led by the San Gabriel Valley’s Anthony Portantino and San Francisco’s Scott Weiner.

Meanwhile, every single Senate Republican gets an F.

Which, admittedly, could reflect the political biases of the group doing the grading. But more likely accurately reflects the failure of their votes on mobility issues.

If the GOP has any hope of regaining any kind of stature with state voters, they have to stop saying no to everything.

And start working with Democrats to make this a better state for all of us.

Meanwhile, NPR reports that Advocates for Highway and Traffic Safety has released its 20th Annual Roadmap to Safety report, detailing the deadly state of American roads and the need for better laws, as traffic deaths rose to a 16-year high last year.

………

LA’s Livable Communities Initiative was unanimously approved by the city council on Tuesday, enabling the development of lowrise, “gentle density” neighborhoods and walkable Complete Streets near transit hubs.

Twitter post

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A new video looks at the legacy of outgoing CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin, who leaves the council on his own terms after just two terms in office, to protect his own mental health and spend more time with his family.

Bonin was long the lone progressive voice on the council.

And the best friend the Los Angeles bike community had for most of his time in office, responsible for many, if not most, of the wins we’ve seen over the last nine years.

Just call him the anti-Koretz.

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A new video from Grist considers the benefits of trading your car for an ebike.

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

A Portland bike rider says an encounter with a road raging driver has left her understandably shaken to the core, after the jerk behind the wheel threatened to shoot her. Although what’s missing from the story is any mention that this is a crime, and the police should have been called.

An Ohio man stabbed his neighbor in the arm with a butcher’s knife in a dispute over where she parked her bike.

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

Life is cheap in Illinois, where a 27-year old man will spend a whole 60 days behind bars, followed by two years probation and community service, after a judge suspended 120 days of his original sentence for the hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a man on a bicycle.

Police in Ontario, Canada are looking for a killer who rode a mountain bike to a Mississauga gas station, and murdered the 21-year old woman working there.

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Local 

Streetsblog samples the new bike lanes on First Street in DTLA’s Little Tokyo/Arts District and Boyle Heights, and on Avenue 19 in Lincoln Heights and Cypress Park, which had been blocked by now former Councilmember “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo.

The man accused of using his car as a weapon to intentionally run down and kill a former co-worker at Mt. San Antonio College had engaged in a year-long tirade against the victim, accusing him of leading a campaign of microaggressions.

A homeless man was arrested after a brief bike chase following the robbery of a pair of Santa Monica sex shops.

 

State 

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Orange County will fast track the installation of a new traffic signal at the intersection where eight-year old Bradley Rofer was killed while riding a bike in a crosswalk at Oso Parkway and Coto de Caza Drive.

Irvine has opened the Venta Spur Bicycle-Pedestrian Bridge over the 133 Freeway, fixing a missing link in the existing three-mile plus Venta Spur Trail.

San Jose is now the largest American city to eliminate parking minimums.

As we mentioned yesterday, San Francisco’s transportation agency voted to make the city’s slow streets permanent.

Safe streets advocates called for narrower streets in Oakland, while the city fire department was opposed; fortunately, the city sided with the advocates.

 

National

Streetsblog says the US could learn a thing or two from the global initiative to increase access to bicycles.

Bike Portland says it’s better to prepare to prevent bike theft than despair after your bike is gone.

New bike lanes get the blame for an increase in traffic congestion in Bellingham, Washington, as a key corridor transforms from a “vehicle-friendly thoroughfare to an urban village where pedestrians and bicyclists take priority.” Even though the root cause of traffic congestion is just too damn many cars. And it usually goes away after drivers adjust to the new conditions.

A local public media site says a Houston councilmember’s change of heart on a long-planned bike lane is unlikely to halt the project, since most of the funding is coming from the county.

Detroit-based ebike maker Vela is reshoring its manufacturing from China to Michigan bicycle manufacturer Detroit Bikes. But Bicycle Retailer says don’t get too excited, because there’s a natural limit to reshoring as long as components still have to be imported from outside North America.

Um, okay. An Illinois radio station somehow proclaims tiny Sparta, Michigan as the Bicycle Capital of America due to its many mountain bike trails. Just what America’s Bicycle Capital is probably debatable. But this sure as hell ain’t it.

DC has done what Metro apparently won’t, eliminating bus fares for everyone throughout the city.

Axios reports Atlanta is the latest city to consider offering ebike rebates.

A nearly 100-year old Tampa, Florida bike shop is closing after the owner’s wife decided to shutter it following his death last year.

A Florida driver says he fled the scene after hitting a bike rider because he was scared, turning himself in two days later. Which would have given him plenty of time to sober up. And chances are, the bike rider he hit was a hell of a lot more scared.

 

International

A zig-zagging Edinburgh bike lane gets the blame after a retired bike rider was injured hitting a low curb.

An English driver is one of us now, after he was banned from driving following a drunken hit-and-run that seriously injured a bike rider.

Cyclist remembers England’s now defunct Bicycle Academy, which recently closed after teaching framebuilding to hundreds of students over the last decade.

If you’re shivering in LA’s 60° weather, try Oulu, Finland, which bills itself as the “capital of winter cycling” despite its -13° temperatures.

 

Competitive Cycling                                  

A jury has awarded a whopping $353 million in the death of elite masters cyclist Gwen Inglis last year. The stoned and drunk driver who killed her was sentenced to eight years behind bars; he had two previous DUIs at the time of the crash. Just one more example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

It’s not every bike race poster that features a wide, flat brimmed hat — and a pig.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can build your own DIY six-passenger, throttle controlled ebike for just $150. Your next bike could look like a rocket.

And your next SUV could be an e-cargo bike.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

CyclingTips founder mourns its demise, CicLAvia expands to 8 events, and LA considers car-light communities today

December 7, 2022 / / 3 comments

It’s lucky Day 13 of the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! 

So open your wallet, and give from the heart to support this site, and keep all the latest and greatest bike news coming to your favorite screen every morning. 

Even if it isn’t always the news we want. 

Please join me in thanking Steve F, Grace P and Bernard B for their generous donations to help keep BikinginLA SoCal’s favorite source for bike news and advocacy.

Don’t wait. Stop what you’re doing and donate today via PayPal or Zelle.

Even if all you’re doing is, you know, reading this. 

………

Yesterday I received a heartbreaking email from CyclingTips founder Wade Wallace, expressing his disappointment at what’s happened to the once great publication since it was acquired by Outside.

Like everyone else, I watched in awe from afar seeing person after person resign from CT after the lay-offs. To my knowledge, there are only a couple of employees left in the business now.

It pains me to see what has become of CyclingTips. The team we so carefully and thoughtfully put together is just a shadow of itself now and the new owners have never understood (nor have they asked) what CT’s mission was, what made us different, and why we all get out of bed each morning. On one hand I’m proud of how I deeply embedded those values are into CT’s culture, but when so many key people are taken out at once I have very little reason to believe it will continue.

All that said, there are still hundreds of good and talented people working at Pinkbike, Velonews, Outside Online, etc who I want to see succeed and I wish them all the best.

He goes on to recommend a podcast, temporarily named The Placeholder, from ex-colleagues Caley Fretz, Dave Rome and Dane Cash, available now on Apple and Spotify.

It’s worth a quick click to read Wallace’s whole letter, which he posted on Substack.

It’s sad to see what’s become of a site I’ve long relied on and enjoyed, though. Let’s hope the other ex-staffers take him up on his suggestion to create something new and beautiful out of the ashes.

………

CicLAvia will double the number of its open streets events next year, before going monthly in 2024.

https://twitter.com/CicLAvia/status/1599992051524947968

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The Los Angeles City Council will consider a proposal to allow mid-rise development near transit centers at today’s meeting.

Twitter post

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Nice to know Caltrans refuses to change their destructive climate destroying ways, while the world is literally on fire.

Twitter post

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San Francisco votes to make its Slow Streets program permanent, as NPR says some pandemic-era Slow Streets across the US will stay that way. Unlike a certain megalopolis to the south. 

Twitter post

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This is who we share the road with.

A Columbian bike rider and a couple motorcyclists were lucky to escape serious injury when a speeding motorcyclist cut onto the shoulder to pass a large truck and slammed into the bicyclist, before careening into another motorcycle rider.

Twitter post

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A new campaign is raising funds to send used bikes to Ukrainian residents affected by Russia’s brutal invasion.

Twitter post

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

Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus refutes a one-sided, fear-mongering story we mentioned here yesterday, in which a hotel manager blamed a bike lane for problems caused by his customers.

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

Six ebike-riding men calling themselves the E-Bike Crew from Oxnard were busted as part of a wildlife poaching ring that operated for several years, with the cooperation of a local market.

Jacksonville, Florida sheriff’s deputies are looking for an armed man who robbed a local business before making his escape on a BMX bike. No word on whether he performed stunts as he made his getaway.

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Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers a number of actionable transportation ideas for incoming CD5 City Councilmember-elect Katy Young Yaroslavsky, who represents a dramatic bike-friendly shift from outgoing pseudo-environmentalist Paul Koretz.

 

State 

The San Diego Union-Tribune frames the question wrong, asking if electric cars will replace the need for public transit, when the real question is whether transit and bikes can replace the need for electric cars. And that answer is yes.

San Diego is looking for people willing to take part in an ebike pilot program; participants will receive a new ebike in exchange for committing to ride it a minimum of 100 miles a month, with priority given people over 18 with an annual income of $50,000 or less.

Finishing our San Diego trifecta, the city approved plans to makeover the car-centric Mira Mesa neighborhood north of the Miramar Marine air base, including lane reductions and bike lanes, as well as pedestrian bridges over busy roadways. I assume nothing’s gotten better since I lived there a few decades ago, when it was a car-choked hellhole.

Make that four. San Diego approved six legal settlements totaling $2.8 million, half of which will go to a man injured when his bike hit a “significant asphalt defect” near the downtown harbor.

There’s a special place in hell for anyone who could run down an 11-year old boy in an Indio crosswalk and flee the scene, leaving him bruised and bleeding in the street. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

A San Jose man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was shot on a local bike trail; no word on whether he was riding a bike or why he was shot.

An unnamed San Diego bike designer lost all of his belongings when his U-Haul truck was stolen in Oakland while he was moving to Portland; the loss includes a pair of handmade bikes worth $17,000 each.

Speaking of a special place in hell, a 15-year old Sacramento boy’s bike was stolen by a man who threatened him with what appeared to be a hidden weapon.

 

National

Walkable City author and planner Jeff Speck offers instructions on how to tame the multilane arterials known as “stroads,” which he describes as the most dangerous roadways in America.

Seattle-based Rad Power’s newest bike is an e-utility trike.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Las Vegas woman faces her fourth DUI charge in 15 years after running down two people on a bicycle, sending both to the hospital — yet she hasn’t spend a day behind bars, despite three previous convictions. Just one more example of our criminal justice system and state officials keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late. 

An Oklahoma man has been formally charged with brutally killing and dismembering four men who disappeared after setting out on a bike ride, then dumping their body parts in a local river, allegedly because they stole from him.

New York bike riders are urging the governor to sign the state’s new Safe Streets Act.

They get it. Hoboken, New Jersey is raising the fine for parking in a bike lane to $150. Now they just have to get someone to actually enforce it.

DC is facing a lawsuit alleging that the city’s bike lanes violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Even though the lack of bike lanes puts disabled bike riders, and wheelchair and mobility device users, at greater risk, forcing the courts to choose between the differing needs of disabled people.

 

International

Two of London’s most famous — and dangerous — streets have been transformed through the city’s pedestrianization program.

He gets, too. The UK’s transport minister responds to a question from a Member of Parliament by insisting that forcing bike riders to wear helmets would crush bicycle usage. Now if he’d just tell New Jersey that.

A Facebook post asking for help identifying a young British girl injured in a hit-and-run while riding her bike is fake, just one of thousands of nearly identical posts in the UK and US that use photos from two separate incidents in Australia to drum up sympathy.

France will require shared housing complexes, such as apartment buildings, to provide secure bike parking starting with the new year. Although exemptions might render the law moot.

 

Competitive Cycling                                  

Two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar insists he won’t be out for revenge next year, despite finishing second to Jonas Vingegaard this year.

A writer for Cyclist calls UCI’s new WorldTour relegation system a death sentence. On the other hand, it would breathe new life into lower tier teams brought forward to the top level.

Four-time Tour de France champ Chris Froome is concerned about the lingering long-term heart and health effects of Covid, which forced him to drop out of this year’s race.

That feeling when a five-time Tour de France stage winner loses a cyclocross race to a 15-year old kid.

LA-based L39ion of Los Angeles announced their 2023 roster, featuring eleven men and seven women, while adding two national champions and one veteran cyclist.

 

Finally…

You next bike could be truly Kafkaesque. Your next Lamborghini could have two wheels — and pedals.

And that feeling when the stage for your East LA cumbia band is a bike.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

31-year old Margarito Castro killed riding bike in high speed San Jacinto hit-and-run; driver arrested for voluntary manslaughter

December 7, 2022 / / Comments Off on 31-year old Margarito Castro killed riding bike in high speed San Jacinto hit-and-run; driver arrested for voluntary manslaughter

Evidently, Sunday was a bad night for bike riders in the Inland Empire.

Less than two and a half hours before an unidentified man was killed in a Chino Hills hit-and-run, another man lost his life in San Jacinto.

And that driver also fled the scene.

According to My News LA, 31-year-old San Jacinto resident Margarito Castro was in the center lane waiting to cross State Street at Dillon Ave around 8:21 pm when he was struck by 21-year-old motorist Savaughn Jojuan Colon Barnes of Hemet.

Barnes was traveling south on State “at a high rate of speed” when he crossed into the center lane, striking Castro before speeding away.

Castro died at the scene.

Barnes was taken into custody at an apartment building four miles away on the 1900 block of Acacia Ave in Hemet, after a witness to the crash gave police the license plate number of his car.

He’s being held on $100,000 bail, after being arrested on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter and hit-and-run resulting in death.

Anyone with information is urged call the San Jacinto Sheriff’s Station at 951/654-2702, or dispatch at 951/776-1099.

This is at least the 77th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth that I’m aware of in Riverside County.

Castro is also the 26th SoCal bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver since the first of the year.

Update: I just got this response from Castro’s older sister.

Twitter post

Castro’s family is raising funds to pay for his funeral. So far, they’ve raised $3,000 of the $15,000 goal.

Twitter post

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Margarito Castro and all his loved ones.

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

Protected bike lanes around Silver Lake, feedback needed for Redondo Beach Blvd, and Gaimon switches to Sierra Club

December 6, 2022 / / Comments Off on Protected bike lanes around Silver Lake, feedback needed for Redondo Beach Blvd, and Gaimon switches to Sierra Club

It’s Day 12 of the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! 

Let’s all give a sincere thanks to Elizabeth T, Andrew F, Gold Leaf Films, Terence H, Thuan V and Steve F for their generous support to keep all the best bike news coming your way today, and every day. 

So don’t wait. Just take a moment right now to donate via PayPal or Zelle.

It’s okay. We’ll wait.

………

Interesting idea.

Streets For All says we could have protected bike lanes all around Silver Lake Reservoir.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1599980036731322368

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If you live or ride in the South Bay, take a few minutes to share your thoughts on remaking this key corridor.

Twitter post

Twitter post

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We’re not the only ones raising funds during the holidays, if you have any extra cash lying around.

Twitter post

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Wait, you can do that?

Has anyone told officials here in LA?

Twitter post

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After raising over half a million dollars for Chefs Cycle/No Kid Hungry, LA-based former pro Phil Gaimon switches his attention to raising funds for the Sierra Club, even as he deals with his own crushing medical debt stemming from a semi-insured bike crash.

………

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

No bias here. A far right DC publication complains about the US being  eliminated from the World Cup by a “second-rate bicycle country,” describing it as a “meaningless soccer tournament,” while terming the sport “a fundamentally evil and anti-American enterprise.” Well, okay then.

A British driver decides she’d rather run a red light than have an unpleasant conversation with the bike rider she nearly hit.

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

A Florida man faces a well-deserved ten years to life after riding his bike three hours to have sex with what he thought was a 14-year old girl, but was actually an undercover cop.

Tragic news from the UK, where an elderly British woman died two weeks after she struck by a bike rider while walking on a pathway in Oxford. Yet another reminder to always slow down and ride carefully around pedestrians, who can be unpredictable, and are the only people more vulnerable than we are out there. 

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Local 

Streetsblog offers photos from Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia as part of an open thread.

Metro is working with LADOT to build bus priority lanes throughout the city, which can also be used by people on bicycles.

 

State 

A pair of 12 and 13-year old boys suffered life-threatening injuries when they were struck by a driver in San Diego’s Nestor neighborhood Sunday evening; no word on their current condition.

Temecula bike riders are invited to light up their bikes to tour the holiday lights at the city’s lakefront Harveston neighborhood.

A San Francisco professor explains why the city’s Safe Streets program is a critical link in revitalizing tourism, as the city considers whether to continue it.

San Francisco-based Strava has joined the current round of tech industry layoffs, letting go of around 40 employees, or 15% of its staff.

Longtime Bike East Bay advocacy director Dave Campbell is stepping down after 24-years of fighting for safer streets.

Sacramento votes to extend a trio of protected bike lanes, while adding others to the city’s protected bike lane network.

 

National

A Utah advocacy group makes the case for why Salt Lake City needs to adopt Vision Zero.

An Arizona man is on trial for killing two women back in the ’90s, including a 22-year old woman who was found beheaded a day after leaving for a bike ride.

Colorado is looking to extend its ebike program into low-income communities, and offering organizations nearly a million dollars in grants for plans to provide ebikes to income-qualified workers.

Massachusetts Streetsblog offers advice on how to bike through a Boston winter. Which is just a tad different from our SoCal winters.

Vox tells the story of a mother who refuses to let the world forget her four-year old daughter, who was killed by a van driver as she rode her bike with her father in a DC crosswalk. And through her, the story behind the rising rate of traffic violence. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

A Maryland county is undertaking 27 separate bike projects under its Vision Zero program, as deaths continue to rise.

A Florida bike rider was arrested hiding in a tree with a meth pipe after fleeing from a traffic stop.

 

International

Your next backpack could hide an inflatable airbag designed to protect your head, spine and chest in the event of a crash — as long as you don’t mind wearing something the size of a parachute.

Life is cheap in Toronto, where an inattentive cement truck driver walked without a day behind bars for fatally right-hooking an experienced bike rider.

A British bicyclist has introduced a fully functional water bottle that doubles as a glowing light to illuminate your legs as you pedal after dark; it’s currently available on Kickstarter for the equivalent of around $32, although it’s not clear if it will ship to the US.

After getting clipped by a trailer when a driver pulled back too soon after a passing, a Dutch writer considers what it took to overcome his anxiety and feel comfortable on a bike again.

Streetsblog says the fact that driver’s licenses are so hard to get is just one reason roads are safer in the Netherlands.

A woman in New Zealand was the victim of a strong arm robbery when a bike thief grabbed her around the neck and threw her violently to the ground before riding off on her bike, then abandoning it when the chain came off. Note to self: Loosen your bike chain to help prevent theft.

 

Finally…

Seriously, who doesn’t need a $2,000 24-karat gold-plated Campy corkscrew? That feeling when you ride your ebike on the notorious Wall of Death.

And when regular bikes just aren’t weird enough.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Man riding road bike killed in possible Chino Hills hit-and-run Sunday night; no details available

December 6, 2022 / / 2 comments

A Chino Hills newspaper is reporting that a man riding a bicycle was killed in the city Sunday night.

Unfortunately, that’s all we know right now.

According to the Champion Newspapers, the victim was struck by a driver on Grand Avenue west of the 71 Freeway around 10:48 pm.

There’s no information about the victim or how the crash occurred.

However, raw video from the scene shows a body covered with a sheet, suggesting he died at the scene. It also shows a mangled road bike crumpled in the street.

There’s no mention in the story of whether or not the driver remained at the scene after the crash. But the video shows the driver of a BMW who crashed into a power pole support wire about a mile way, with the windshield shattered, reporting that it was the same car involved in the earlier crash.

It also shows what appears to be a young woman still behind the wheel.

Hopefully we’ll learn more soon.

Anyone with information is urged to call Chino Hills Police at 909/364-2000.

This is at least the 76th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.

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

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,
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