Day 66 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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A hit-and-run driver may have used her car as a weapon in Boyle Heights last month.
Or maybe she was just a seriously distracted driver.
According to KTLA-5, a group of about 15 people were riding their bikes near Mariachi Plaza shortly before 8 pm on Tuesday, February 25th, to hand out “red cards” informing immigrants of their legal rights.
The victims report they were were riding safely, obeying traffic laws, some even wearing orange vests, when a woman in a blue Kia plowed through the group from behind, while appearing to look at her phone.
And yes, the whole thing was caught on a security cam.
At least four of the riders were struck with the woman’s car, with one victim tossed onto the windshield of the car.
The woman continued driving through the group, even as people threw their bicycles at her car to get her to stop. One victim was hospitalized with head trauma, while others suffered injuries to their legs and arms.
The driver was described only as a white woman with a bald head, while the car is described as a 2016 four-door Kia sedan with the license plate number 8GAN606.
And yes, a photo shows a bike rack on the back.
Naturally.
Although it’s unclear why the police have been unable to find the driver when they have her license plate.
It’s also unclear whether this was a hate crime because the victims were helping immigrants, a road-raging driver attacking bike riders, or just a distracted driver too busy staring at her phone to look up.
Or maybe something else entirely.
Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD at 1-877/527-3247, or anonymously at 1-800/222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.
Let’s just hope they catch this one.
A hit-and-run driver remains at large after ramming into a group of bicyclists in Boyle Heights who were handing out "red cards" to help immigrants.
Details: https://t.co/EXsGsxbf0b pic.twitter.com/RenmUU41DV— KTLA (@KTLA) March 7, 2025
My apologies if the above tweet doesn’t show up properly. Embedding Twitter/X posts has been very buggy on here since Elon has been busy screwing the site up.
Top image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.
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A new bill would launch a bike highway pilot program in California.
Introduced by Ventura Assemblymember Steve Bennett, and sponsored by Calbike, AB 954 instructs Caltrans to develop a bike highway program, defined as accommodating “high volumes of people traveling longer distance on bicycles (more than 3 miles) by connecting users to major destinations, employment centers, and transit hubs,” while providing full separation from motor vehicles.
According to Calbike,
Bike highways offer an important alternative to residents seeking relief from rising gas prices, and those working to lower their carbon footprint. In June 2022, Caltrans released a Bay Area Bike Highway Study that identifies feasible opportunities to add these corridors and incorporates best practices most suitable for the region. With the U.S. importing an estimated 2.4 million e-bikes between 2020-2023, commuting longer distances by bike is becoming more feasible for the average consumer. California prioritizes bicycling as a key part of its larger decarbonization goals, and is among 19 states offering assistance to purchase an e-bike with the launch of the California E-Bike Incentive Program in late 2024. The State of California was recognized as the 4th most Bicycle Friendly State in the Country by the League of American Bicyclists in December 2024.
Although the question is where these would go, when and if the bill passes and gets signed by the governor.
Which is anything but guaranteed with our current leader.
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This should be a good one.
Streets For All’s next virtual happy hour will feature my new representative, the very bike and street safety-friendly Congresswoman Laura Friedman on March 19th.
Click here to RSVP.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Yet another British bike path has been repeatedly sabotaged by anti-bike terrorists who placed tree branches across a popular cycle track on the Isle of Wight in an apparent attempt to injure bicyclists, then immediately replaced them after bike riders moved them off. As well as hooded, cider-quaffing men who shouted insults and threats at passing riders. Although how do they know it was cider, and not just an English ale?
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
No bias here. A website for New York’s wealthy Upper East Side says bicyclists are happy with the area’s new bike lanes, but many riders ignore the rules of the road and run red lights, questioning whether their behavior will now get worse. But have they even seen the city’s drivers?
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Local
Chinatown’s Firecracker Lunar New Year runs, dog walk and bike rides roll this weekend, after they were rescheduled due to the January firestorms.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, thefts of electric scooters are skyrocketing in Los Angeles, as thieves find the locks easy picking. Literally.
Work is starting on the La Crescenta Rehabilitation Project on Glendale’s Montrose and La Crescenta avenues; the project includes lane reductions in both directions and buffered and protected bike lanes, as well other improvements.
State
Calbike offers an update on their priorities for the current legislative session.
He gets it. A writer for the nonprofit Voice of OC says ebikes aren’t the problem, unsafe riders are. Although to be honest, a lot of ebikes out there are vastly overpowered for the age of the people on them.
A San Francisco woman shares her favorite bike ride through the city’s Golden Gate Park.
A Nevada County event proves that bike riders and equestrians really can get along. A lesson the LA horse and bike communities have clearly yet to learn.
National
Momentum highlights the country’s best rail trails, none of which is found in California.
Detroit is retraining its police officers, after a cop was filmed ticketing a man for riding his bicycle legally in the street, as he had every right to do.
Houston reopened a key two-way bike lane after it was “prematurely closed” by construction workers with no notice.
About time. New York is finally dealing with the inevitable conflicts and collisions in Central Park by redesigning the roadway through the park, providing separate lanes for runners, walkers, slow bike riders and faster bicyclists and ebike riders. Which should reduce the risk of collisions, as long as everyone stays in their lane.
New York State won’t charge the Syracuse cop who killed a man riding an ebike in an on-duty crash, concluding there was no evidence the cop was speeding, driving recklessly, or under the influence at the time of the crash, even though no one bothered to test him for drugs or alcohol use. Although someone should tell whoever wrote the headline that it was a person who was killed in the fatal crash, not an ebike.
Philadelphia approved a series of new bike lanes through the center city area.
Los Angeles isn’t the only major city where traffic deaths rise to the level of homicides, as a new Atlanta report shows 2023 bicyclist and pedestrian deaths were nearly equal to murders in the three-county metropolitan area. Although in LA, overall traffic deaths have exceeded murders for two years in a row.
The Southern political magazine Scalawag recounts last month’s 51-mile-long route from Selma to Montgomery bike ride, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the historic civil rights march.
A bighearted Florida girl showed kindness instead of anger when someone stole the new bike she got for Christmas, then returned it the next day; assuming the thief was homeless, she “put food, a drink, and a snack” in the basket, along with a note saying “Please don’t steal my bike again” — which someone promptly did.
International
Road.cc weighs the pros and cons of using a gravel bike as your only bicycle.
Seriously? Homeowners in Dorset, England are “furious” over two-foot tall car-tickler bendy-posts protecting a new bike lane, which they say keep them from parking in their own driveways — despite the obvious gaps permitting access — while emergency vehicles are somehow forced to park in the traffic lane, because they can’t manage to drive their bigass trucks over those flexible little plastic posts.
The New York Times talks with Jill Warren, who walked away from a 20-year legal career to head the Brussels, Belgium-based European Cyclists’ Federation, an NGO dedicated to promoting bicycling to help lower carbon emissions.
The BBC continues our recent Japanese travelogue, with a “spectacular” bike ride through six of the country’s remote islands.
Competitive Cycling
Last year’s Tour de France, Giro and world champ Tadej Pogačar is one of five nominees for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award, after what’s being called the most remarkable year in the history of cycling; Olympic and world champion mountain biker Tom Pidcock is nominated for Sportsman of the Year.
Meanwhile, Pogačar says he prefers to think of himself as a classics rider who wins Grand Tours, rather than the other way around. Or maybe he’s just someone who wins everything.
Finally….
Who among us hasn’t dreamed of riding a bicycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles, living on nothing but Chipotle burritos?
And this video is no less cringy for knowing the guy walked away from it.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
