A man on a bicycle was murdered when he was assaulted in Downtown Los Angeles early this morning.
According to My News LA, the victim was riding near the intersection of Seventh and Flower in DTLA when he was pulled off his bike by an unknown assailant, striking his head on the pavement.
He died at the scene.
There’s no word on whether his bicycle or anything else was taken, or if there was some other reason for the attack. Or any reason at all.
Anyone with information is urged to call 877/527-3247.
This is at least the 36th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 13th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. It’s also the eighth in the City of Los Angeles.
The BEST Bike Share 101: Bike Safety Basics class, presented by Metro, Metro Bike Share, and LA County Bicycle Coalition, is a 1.5-hour in-person class where you will learn how to navigate the Metro Bike Share system and improve your safety while riding Metro Bike Share on campus. RSVP REQUIRED.
Ride Metro Bike Share to work on Bike to Work Day! Stop by our booth in Union Station East for free coffee, pastries, and passes for FREE 30-minute rides.
Are you a bike commuter? Do you work from home and want to get out for a bike ride? The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and Metro Bike Share invite you to celebrate National Bike to Work Day with a short, fun-filled lunch hour bike ride sponsored by Metro’s Bicycle Education Safety Training (BEST) Program. Join us at Union Station, where we’ll ride along to Chinatown and the LA State Historic Park to enjoy a tasty fresh lunch.
Or here. Scottish bike riders criticize an Edinburgh website for posting a video purporting to show a bike rider racing through a roundabout, which has obviously been speeded up to make it appear far more dangerous than it was. While ignoring the real problem of the person on the soundtrack singing about how he’d like to run the rider down with his truck.
Streetsblog’s SGV Connect podcast talks with bike-riding state Senator Anthony Portantino, who has sponsored legislation requiring communities to make progress on bicycle and pedestrian planning, as well as talking with the leaders of the very active Active SGV.
Once again, an elderly driver has taken the life of an innocent victim, as an 85-year old Oklahoma woman ran down a popular dentist from behind as he was riding his bike; investigators described it as “unfortunate,” while saying it’s unclear why she didn’t see him. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive.
LA’s Bahati Foundation, founded by Compton’s multiple US crit champ Rahsaan Bahati, is sponsoring five young people of color in this summer’s SBT GRVL race in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to “help broaden their cycling experience and bring diversity to gravel’s starting line.” Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available on Yahoo, so you’re on your own if Bicycling blocks you.
May 16, 2022 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Welcome to Bike Week, top LA mayoral candidates support bikes and transit, and women’s gravel racer murdered in Texas
The transit agency is also offering a one-year Bike Hub membership for just $1 on Thursday’s Bike to Work Day with promo code: BIKEMONTH22, as well as free Metro Bike bikeshare rides on Bike to Work Day.
Pro tip: You don’t have to only ride to work just because they’re calling it Bike to Work Day, you can actually ride anywhere for any reason. Or no reason at all.
While it focuses on transit, some of the candidates also staked out a position on bicycling and safe, livable streets.
Of the top candidates, Karen Bass seems to take the strongest stand in favor of bikes and livability.
Here’s how Streetsblog’s Joe Linton and Sahra Sulaiman summed up her responses.
As she had done in previous forums, frontrunner Karen Bass described herself as a bicyclist while also explaining she preferred beach paths over city streets “because we have not created the infrastructure to make biking convenient and safe.” She pledged to transform all major corridors to be “walkable, bikeable, green, and safe,” including expanding dedicated bus lanes, protected bike lanes, and first- and last-mile access to transit. Bass stressed the importance of prioritizing “accessibility for the most vulnerable members of our community” and ensuring that their voices – often not heard during traditional community engagement efforts – were part of the conversation….
And she spoke to the importance of building coalitions to create more dedicated spaces for buses, bicyclists, and pedestrians while also weighing the impacts on local neighbors and businesses – a position that some will read as potentially giving in to NIMBY sentiments but which is likely meant to speak to the way in which wealthier newcomers’ demands for amenities in gentrifying communities, like in her home base in South L.A., often steamroll the long-standing demands, aspirations, needs, and concerns of the stakeholders of color.
Mike Feuer and Kevin de León also called for more protected bike lanes and alternatives to driving.
However, in all likelihood, the race will come down to a contest between Bass and self-financed billionaire Rick Caruso.
While Caruso focused on his call to significantly increase police staffing — although I haven’t hear him explain how he’ll pay for it yet — he also had some good things to say about active transportation and transit.
I believe the potential for Los Angeles to create the same type of walkability and community is untapped and limitless and with the right planning and determination, we can make the city known for sprawl and the automobile, a truly community driven city where owning a car will no longer be a prerequisite for getting around. I also believe that we must elevate biking and transit options to the same level and truly ensure that all forms of transportation are viable, safe, efficient, and accessible…
If we are truly going to get Angelenos out of their cars and onto mass transit and active transportation we have to build a better, more reliable system that touches every inch of this city.
You can download PDFs of all the candidate responses here, including statements by Craig Greiwe, Gina Viola and Mel Wilson, as well as Joe Buscaino, who dropped out of the race last week while throwing his support to Caruso.
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Heartbreaking news from Austin, Texas, where 25-year old cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson was shot and killed while visiting a friend.
She had won a number of races already this year, including San Diego’s recent Belgian Waffle Ride, and had recently quit her job with Specialized to race full time.
Boston area police conclude an ebike rider simply lost control of his bike, rather than being the victim of a hit-and-run, as originally thought — although it’s clear they haven’t bothered to talk with the victim. Never mind that it’s entirely possible that a driver can cause a crash, without actually hitting someone.
Tragic news from Miami, where a man and woman were killed by a hit-and-run driver on the Rickenbacker Causeway between the city and key Biscayne; witnesses said they were riding a pair of “mom and pop” bikes when they were run down in the green bike lane.
Former German pro Danilo Hondo got less than a slap on the wrist for his involvement in the Operation Aderlass blood doping ring, with a backdated two and a half year ban that’s already expired, and another five and a half year ban suspended because of his confession and cooperation with authorities. But that means the era of doping is really over now, right?
New York currently has 19,000 lane miles dedicated to motor vehicle use, and three million free on-street parking spaces — more than 1.5 for every vehicle in the city.
Unfortunately, none of the five major candidates for mayor — make that four, after Joe Buscaino dropped out — have signed on yet, though a handful of others have, including progressive candidate Gina Viola.
Which would seem to make it a valuable point of distinction for anyone who does.
Meanwhile, three of the five candidates for city controller have endorsed the plan; not surprisingly, pseudo-environmentalist Paul Koretz is a holdout, along with Paul Wilcox. And four of the five candidates for city attorney are onboard.
Only Curren Price has backed it among sitting city council candidates. Bob Blumenfield is a no, while Monica Rodriguez and Mitch O’Farrell have failed to respond, along with “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo, though several of their challengers have endorsed it.
Combined with the Healthy Streets LA ballot measure, which requires the city to build out the already-approved mobility plan as streets are repaved, it could radically reform the city into a human-centered space it hasn’t seen for most of the past century.
And New Yorkers could envy us for a change.
Photo shows kids enjoying a pre-pandemic CicLAvia.
Not surprisingly, the political action committee recommend returning Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Laura Friedman to office, along with Hilda Solis at the county level.
They also recommend WeHo Mayor Lindsey Horvath for the county board.
Click the link above for their endorsements in other state legislature races.
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The East Side Riders invite you to join them on a family friendly ride this Sunday.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
This is the problem with drivers parking in bike lanes. A road raging San Francisco driver subjected a bike-riding man to a punishment pass, then threw something at him while screaming to “stay in the God damn bike lane!”, after the victim had been forced to leave it several times to get around illegally parked cars. Which is not to suggest that the jerk behind the wheel had a point.
Police in Kalamazoo, Michigan are using a laser measuring device mounted to an officer’s bicycle to catch drivers violating the city’s five-foot passing law. Something we tried, and failed, to get the LAPD to do here when they complained there was no way to enforce California’s three-foot passing law.
Seriously? A Virginia legal group suggests five of the state’s bike laws that could save your life — including wearing a helmet, which isn’t required under state law. But the only tip they have for drivers is to obey the three-foot passing law. Because evidently, if you get killed by a driver it’s your own damn fault.
Great idea. Cycling UK, Britain’s official bicycling agency, is now offering free three-month ebike loans to encourage people to stop driving and start riding.
The rich get richer. London bicyclists now have yet another bicycle superhighway, providing a safe route for riders on the city’s east side. Which compares favorably with LA’s none.
The victim, identified as Leo Steven Beveridge, was struck by a train at the Metrolink crossing on Central Ave at 8:53 am, and pronounced dead at the scene nearly 40 minutes later.
It’s not clear from the limited information whether Beveridge was struck by a Metrolink train, or if other lines might use that same track.
There’s also no word on whether there was a working railroad crossing at the site, or why he would have been unaware of an oncoming train.
However, it’s a tragic reminder to never cross under or around crossing gates, or assume it’s safe to cross after one train passes, because there’s often another coming from the opposite direction.
This is at least the 35th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Leo Steven Beveridge and his loved ones.
He reportedly was ordered to shoot the man as a group of Russian soldiers were fleeing a Ukrainian counterattack in a commandeered car during the first days of the war, so the victim couldn’t report their location to Ukrainian forces.
The prosecutor’s office said that Ukrainian investigators collected evidence of the soldier’s involvement, finding him “in violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder,” and that the crime can carry a penalty of 10 to 15 years or life in prison. The statement did not provide details on the nature of the evidence or how the Russian soldier ended up in Ukrainian custody.
He is the first Russian soldier to be charged with a war crime while in Ukrainian custody, though ten soldiers were charged in absentia last month for the torture and mutilation of civilians in Bucha.
Ukraine reports evidence of more than 10,000 alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces, with 5,000 open investigations.
On a related subject, our anonymous courtroom correspondent writes in with a few observations, including turning heads with her two-wheeled support of the country under attack by Russian forces.
I’ve been flying a little (12″x18″) Ukrainian flag on my rear bike basket for a couple months now but constantly reconsider because whoo boy does it attract the honking.
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Remember Santa Barbara’s intention to designate In-N-Out a nuisance due to the traffic it attracts? Santa Ana just plans it into the street. Those pesky cyclists are never in the way of hungry drivers turning, or just waiting on the roadway to turn!
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In the latest edition of Motorists Behaving Badly:
Last week at the Pasadena DMV, a driver hit a DMV examiner, and then (sigh) backed up into a parked vehicle. This was an already licensed motorist, btw. Somehow.
Meanwhile, in Orange County the same night, a speeding driver smashed into a house on Newport Blvd…and then caught fire. The road road here has the CMUTC’s minimum-width bike lanes, and a (maximum) speed limit of 50mph. County officials remain confused as to how a collision possibly could’ve happened.
Cycling Weekly profiles the young women who will ride this year’s 950-mile Remember the Removal Bike Ride, retracing the route taken by their Cherokee ancestors during the infamous Trail of Tears; over a quarter of the 16,000 members of the Cherokee Nation ordered out of their ancestral lands by the US government died of starvation, disease or exposure during the forced march.
One more example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late. A Davenport, Iowa man was sentenced to a whopping 55 years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle, after driving aggressively and running multiple red lights; it was his third DUI offense. Although even I think that sentence might be just a tad extreme.
Kingston, Ontario voted to eliminate parking minimums, replacing them with maximum limits on parking spaces for commercial and residential buildings, as well as requiring parking for bicycles, e-scooters and shared vehicles.
A former Antigua national cycling champ is fighting for his life after a driver claims he was at the wheel when he ran down four bicyclists training for a weekend race, which was cancelled in the wake of the crash; another victim says the collision has left him mentally struggling.
