PCH near-closure due to Malibu rockslide, Tish & Greg’s Excellent Oscar Adventure, and East Side Riders BEAST classes

March 12, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 294 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,011 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

Photo from Caltrans tweet, below. 

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As we mentioned yesterday, hats off to Tish and Greg Laemmle, owners of the Laemmle Theater chain, for once again leading a group bike ride from West LA to Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, as the following photos attest.

I can imagine few things more badass or sending a stronger message than walking the red carpet holding a bike helmet.

Tish and Greg Laemmle preparing to ride to the Oscars

The assembled entourage posing in front of the Laemmle on Santa Monica Blvd

And in a reminder that there’s always a troll around, a participant on the ride responds to a commenter’s faux concern about scofflaw riders.

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The East Side Riders Bike Club will now be hosting Bicycle Safety and Education Classes, aka BEAST, as Keller Park every Saturday; participants will get a free bike helmet.

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It’s now 83 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

No bias here. A Cincinnati public radio station says bicyclists wonder if a Covington KY road diet, and new bike lanes on a bridge things, will make things better or worse, but can only seem to find people who think it will get better. But they do find the city’s mayor, arguing that the city’s streets are too narrow for bike lanes, and you just can’t take people’s parking away, because cars matter more than people’s safety, evidently.

There’s a special place in hell for the two men who stopped to “help” a seriously injured mountain biker in York, England, and made off with his bike, instead.

The metro Manilla area in the Philippines is banning ebikes from all major roadways starting next month, for reasons that must make sense to someone.

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

Brooklyn police are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who may have killed a 67-year old man riding an ebike in an apparent bike-on-bike collision, although a close pass by an oncoming van driver may have played a role.

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Local 

After conducting a nationwide search, Pasadena found their new DOT head in their own backyard, promoting 20-year Pasadena Department of Transportation veteran Joaquin Siques to lead the agency.

Santa Monica police will conduct yet another Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Operation this Thursday and Friday, targeting anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined. 

 

State

June will officially be mountain bike month in California.

San Luis Obispo has received $4 million in federal funding to build a 1.25-mile extension of the existing Edna Valley Trail next to Highway 227.

The chair of the San Mateo County Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee reminds everyone that bicyclists pay taxes, too, and deserve safe streets.

Sad news from San Jose, where a woman died a week after she was struck by a motorcyclist while riding her bicycle across the street. The story notes that she was riding “outside of any marked crosswalks,” even though there’s no requirement for bicyclists to ride in one. 

More sad news from Sacramento County, where police are looking for witnesses to an apparent solo bicycling fall last December, when a 62-year old man died after being found in the roadway next to his bicycle. Although it’s also possible that a close pass or bump by a driver could have caused his fall. Read the second link on Yahoo if the newspaper blocks you. 

 

National

No surprise here, as the streets of Milwaukee are even deadlier for people of color, especially when walking or riding a bicycle.

A West Warwick, Rhode Island driver somehow managed to jump an island at a “horrible” intersection, and crash into not one, not two, but three kids riding their bikes; fortunately, none of the tween kids were seriously injured.

A speeding Brooklyn driver faces charges for the “wild” drunken crash that injured a bike rider, and put a pedestrian into a coma.

This could be your best smile of the day, as a South Carolina boy teaches his little sister how to use a backyard bike ramp.

Residents of Valdosta, Georgia are understandably horrified when the driver of a city-owned semi was caught on security cam right-hooking a 56-year old man riding a bicycle, who had pulled up next to the truck at a red light just as the light was changing; the victim remains in stable but critical condition. Naturally, one commenter said “Bicyclists should know traffic laws,” even though the victim didn’t appear to break any. 

 

International

An orthopedic surgeon writes in the prestigious British Medical Journal that active transportation is the “best buy” for improving people’s health, and the UK should make more cycling and walking journeys a priority in the United Kingdom, while calling for more 20 mph speed limits.

Mumbai bike riders raise the alarm over wheel-trapping roadway grates on a new highway flyover. Even though most cities around the world got rid of these hazards years ago. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 91-year old South African man gets back on his ebike and finishes the country’s largest fondo, despite a nasty fall that left him momentarily motionless. Although I could do without the nasty fall. And the bandages. 

Luxury Travel Magazine recommends three bicycling routes you need to travel to explore Vietnam by bike, including the Mekong Delta and the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Which are bound to bring up warm memories for any Vietnam vet.

A columnist argues that New Zealand’s war on bicyclists can’t continue, as the country’s Transport Minister proposes slashing bike funding in half, even though other departments only face a 6% cut.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling says wet cobbles couldn’t slow Lorena Wiebes down at the Ronde van Drenthe. Although this one doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else yet, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.

 

Finally…

That feeling when Amsterdam has the ability to remotely slow ebike riders, but speeding drivers are apparently A-OK. Or when drivers owe a bike rider their thanks for sucking up flat-causing nails and screws by towing a bigass magnet behind his bike.

And your next cruiser ebike could be built by the same people who made the little red wagon you probably had as a kid.

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Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

EVs present danger to all road users, how Measure HLA ballot measure changed the city, and Laemmle’s bike the Oscars

March 11, 2024 / / Comments Off on EVs present danger to all road users, how Measure HLA ballot measure changed the city, and Laemmle’s bike the Oscars
Just 295 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,010 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

………

A new study shows even a total worldwide switch to EVs would perpetuate what the authors call “car harm,” such as death, injury, disease and other miseries, because the current system “prioritizes speed over safety.”

 

The report concludes:

  • In 2019, 43% of people killed by motor vehicles were walking, using a wheelchair or riding a bike.
  • Motor vehicles kill more than 700 children a day. Traffic deaths occur at the highest rates in Africa and Southeast Asia, and, in the US and Brazil, crashes disproportionately kill Black and Indigenous people.
  • SUVs, which make up nearly half of car sales globally, are eight times more likely than traditional cars to kill children.
  • Traffic-related air pollution is linked to circulatory and heart disease, lung cancer, asthma and, according to a cited study, “acute lower respiratory infections in children.”
  • Other car harms include drunk driving, drive-by shootings, carbon monoxide poisoning and, in the US, traffic stops that “are a setting for police violence against Black, Latine/x, and Indigenous people,” they write.
  • Access to oil has played a role in a quarter to half of wars between countries since 1973.
  • The electric car, a juggernaut of the energy transition, “fails to address a majority of the harms,” they write, including crashes, sedentary travel, inequality and cities designed more for cars than people.

 

Greg and Tish Laemmle, owners of the Laemmle Theater chain and descendant of early Hollywood royalty, led a group biking to the Oscars yesterday.

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GCN tests whether an experienced amateur can descend at the same hair-raising speeds as a pro cyclist.

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It’s now 82 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

No bias here. A writer for Streetsblog complains that an NYPD precinct is responding to complaints about ebike riders by targeting riders of traditional human-powered bikes, because they’re easier to catch.

A Scottish mountain biker was lucky to escape without serious injuries after someone booby trapped a trail with buried spike strips they had welded together to cause maximum damage.

A British woman learns the hard way what happens when you hug the edge of the road, as several drivers pass her bike way too close — including a large truck.

No bias here, either. The UK traffic lawyer who calls himself Mr. Loophole for getting scofflaw drivers off the hook continues his campaign to force bike riders to carry ID and have numbered license plates on their bicycles. Apparently forgetting that it’s the dangerous drivers he represents who are the real problem. 

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Local 

A letter from a former LA resident argues that the passage of Measure HLA is proof that NIMBYs aren’t the majority, no matter how loudly they scream.

Arnold is apparently in the clear, after the woman suing the former governator for crashing into her bike with his massive SUV dropped her lawsuit.

A 40-year old man was airlifted from the Haines Canyon Mountainway in the Sunland/Tujunga area after injuring his back in a mountain bike fall Sunday morning.

Culver City is asking the state for a $4 million grant to replace existing bike lanes with protected lanes on a 1.75-mile stretch of Overland Avenue between Washington and Sawtelle Boulevards.

 

State

An op-ed from the leaders of Hispanic rights organization LULAC and the California Alliance for Jobs calls for an “all of the above” approach to transportation infrastructure to keep people working. But what they really mean is keep spending billions on highways — even though bike and pedestrian projects create more jobs.  

San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood received a $3.3 million state grant for enhanced bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

A Simi Valley letter writer calls out the “dismal condition” of the city’s major streets and bike lanes, thanks to a “multitude of ruts, cracks, potholes.”

San Francisco bike shop owner fear the city’s new ban on dangerous lithium-ion ebike batteries, along with a requirement for any store that sells them to install sprinklers, could put them out of business. Meanwhile, a British member of Parliament calls the batteries “unexploded bombs.”

 

National

A travel website recommends 20 American cities to visit without a car.

Jalopnik says bike lanes are good for business, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. So there.

Electrek says riding an ebike instead of driving can really impact your wallet — in a good way.

Bicycling drama Hard Miles is set for a nationwide April 19 premier date; the fact-based film tells the story bicycling team made up of inmates from a Colorado correctional school as they ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon.

Give your kid an early start on the biking bug with a new book large-format picture book for kids ages 3 to 6 that follows a mom and her son on a bicycling adventure.

This is who we share the road with. Life is cheap in Vermont, as the driver who killed motorcycle-riding actor Treat Williams walked without a day behind barsl, despite pleading guilty to negligent driving.

A writer for Forbes offers advice on how to stay safe riding a bicycle in New York traffic. Or any other traffic, for that matter.

The mayor of Baltimore’s security team parked in a bike lane for over an hour while he attended a candidate forum, despite the city’s recent crackdown on bike lane violators.

 

International

An Irish man just returned home for bicycling across Afghanistan, Iran, India and Pakistan as part of a multi-stage ride around the world, while attempting to meet as many people as possible along the way.

A conservative Irish counselor claims she was never told that a Limerick road project included segregated bike lanes — even though she posted on Facebook four years ago how delighted she was with them.

Velo looks at the best bike tech from small brands only Belgians have access to.

A bicycling organization hosting a series of of bicycling“camps in spectacular destinations throughout Türkiye, formerly known as Turkey in the English-speaking world.

Rappler rides a 120 kilometer — 75 mile — bike route through central Manila to rate the roadway quality, and concludes not so much.

David Seymour, leading of New Zealand’s rightwing Act Party, wasn’t injured when he went over his ebike handlebars to avoid a driver, then suffered verbal abuse from a bystander who complained about what he was doing to the Māori, even though he is one.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-four-year old American Matteo Jorgenson won the Paris-Nice stage race on Sunday, capping the biggest victory of his young career, as Cycling News offers a blow-by-blow recount of the final stage; Bobby Julich in 2005, and ex-Tour de France champ Floyd Landis in 2006, are the only other Americans to win the iconic Race to the Sun.

Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard claimed a dominating victory in the seven-day Tirreno-Adriatico stage race, as the Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team took both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico in the same year for the first time.

Ghana’s national cycling team blamed substandard equipment for their poor showing in the ongoing Africa Games, competing on their own aluminum-frame bikes and using the same gear they train on.

This year’s 38th annual Redlands Bicycle Classic will take place on April 10th through this 14th.

 

Finally…

If you’re carrying illegal narcotics on your bike, put a damn light on it and don’t ride on the sidewalk. Your next ebike could have four wheels and look more like a dorky little car. Or maybe be made of recycled plastic.

And an NFL cheerleader turns gravel racer, while a track cyclist turns astronaut.

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Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bicyclist struck and killed by two drivers in Vista collision, one driver fled the scene

March 9, 2024 / / Comments Off on Bicyclist struck and killed by two drivers in Vista collision, one driver fled the scene

Two drivers combined to strike and kill someone riding a bicycle in Vista Thursday night.

But only one had the basic human decency to stick around afterwards.

Multiple sources are reporting that the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was “bumped” by a driver on South Melrose Drive at Buena Vista Drive around 10:28 pm Thursday.

He was then struck by a second driver.

The first one stuck around and cooperated investigators. The second didn’t, reportedly fleeing north on Melrose; investigators are looking for a white SUV or crossover, which may have front-end damage.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

There’s no information on how the crash occurred. However, it sounds like the initial impact may have been minor, and could have been survivable if the second driver had stopped in time.

There’s also no word on whether either driver may have been speeding, driving distracted or under the influence.

There appears to be a buffered bike lane on Melrose, which has a 45 mph speed limit. That speed could have contributed to both the force of the impact, as well as the inability of the second driver to avoid the victim.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 888/580-8477. There’s a $1,000 reward for any details that lead to an arrest.

This is at least the eighth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in San Diego County.

Three of those fatal crashes have been hit-and-runs.

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

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

Support for Measure HLA shows near-identical overlap to LA’s High Injury Network, and making art out of bike chains

March 8, 2024 / / Comments Off on Support for Measure HLA shows near-identical overlap to LA’s High Injury Network, and making art out of bike chains
Just 298 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,008 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

Streetsblog photo of former LA Mayor, and current Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti declaring Vision Zero from behind his big open-air desk, which led to the development of LA’s largely ignored High Injury Network.

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Now this is interesting.

A comparison of LA’s Vision Zero High Injury Network with a map of support for Measure HLA created by The Works LA, which passed with overwhelming support on Tuesday, shows nearly identical results.

Which explains a lot about who supported it, and why.

It’s also worth noting that the areas with the fewest deaths and serious injuries, and the least support for HLA, include some of the wealthiest and most conservative parts of the city.

Slide the center divider to compare the images below.

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A “visionary” South Korean sculptor makes breathtaking art using bicycle chains.

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A British bike rider was lucky to avoid serious injury when a maniacal speeding driver decided pass several vehicles on the grass verge at the side of the road.

To make matters worse, the driver was only fined the equivalent of $436, and lost his license for a lousy year.

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It’s now 79 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

Good question. Business Insider examines why so many business and restaurant owners oppose bike lanes, when study after study shows they’re good for business.

No bias here. A Key Biscayne letter writer demands a total and permanent ban on ebikes because young kids ride them on the sidewalk. Instead of, say, regulating their use by children, and building safe infrastructure so they don’t have to ride them on sidewalks. 

No bias here, either. A Dublin, Ireland city councilor for the Sinn Féin political party argued that bike lanes “are for a ‘privileged minority,’ negatively impact ‘ordinary people,’ and are making the roads more dangerous.” By which he no doubt means the privileged minority who can’t afford or don’t want cars, inconveniencing ordinary people driving alone in their massive, high-end SUVs. 

But sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Police in Irvine, California are looking for the bike-riding man who repeatedly broke wildfire-detection equipment.

London’s Daily Mail complains about the “shocking” images of a “selfish” bike rider going through a crosswalk when five people were using it, including three kids. Yes, the guy was a selfish jerk. But just wait until they learn that drivers do that on a daily basis.

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Local 

Hats off to South LA’s Major Taylor Cycling Club for raising funds for the track team at Dorsey High School.

Police in Redondo Beach held a community meeting last night to gather input on ebike use in the city. Which at least makes more sense than the knee-jerk restrictions we’ve seen in other coastal cities.

 

State

The California Air Resources Board announced grants totaling $33 million for planning and implementing clean transportation projects across the state, while they continue to slow walk the state’s moribund ebike voucher program.

An “overly sedentary” Chico letter writer says he gets in the steps his health app demands by walking his ebike until he gets tired, and sees a lot that way. Which kinda seems to defeat the purpose, but still.

 

National

A new report by equity expert and former LACBC head Tamika Butler offers a guide to equity principles for state DOTs and community collaboration.

Trek announced plans to cut staffing, inventory and bike lineups to achieve a 10% overall cost reduction.

Forbes says the new Hollywood movie Hard Miles could give bicycling the same boost Breaking Away did back in the late 70s.

Speaking of movies, a reminder about the new documentary that highlights mountain biking on the Navajo Nation.

An Albuquerque, New Mexico man was sentenced to life behind bars for killing a man he thought had taken his bicycle. Which is a reminder that no bike is worth a human life. Or two, in this case. 

Police in Madison, Wisconsin recovered the adaptive bicycle stolen from a kid with special needs. No word on the schmuck who took it, though.

The New York Times examines why last year was the deadliest year for New York bicyclists since 1999, noting that most deaths occurred on streets without bicycle infrastructure, and a third of deaths involved solo falls.

New York officials are dragging their feet on plans to expand a bikeway on the Queensboro Bridge, despite data showing bike riders keep crashing on the narrow bike lane.

Baltimore residents get out the torches and pitchforks over the city’s Complete Streets plan, citing a lack of community engagement in affected areas. Although if they’re anything like LA residents, “lack of community engagement” just means they’ve ignored repeated attempts to engage them. 

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is really cheap in Florida, where a sheriff’s deputy walked with a lousy traffic ticket for killing a 63-year old bike rider, while doing 98 miles an hour in a 50 mile zone, and not responding to a call. Which should be Exhibit A for why people keep dying on our streets.

 

International

The United Nations Regional Information Center for Western Europe considers how to address the gender gap in bicycling, while the European Union just wants more people on bicycles, period.

The rich get richer, as London gets yet another massive new bicycle superhighway, in a city where the bike network has quadrupled in size in just eight years.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website says there’s never been a better time to chase the Northern Lights by bicycle.

Momentum visits Bologna, Italy’s three-day Cycle Tourism Show, inspiring bike riders for their next two-wheeled adventure.

 

Competitive Cycling

SoCal Cycling offers a photo gallery from the recent Taylor Elizabeth Clifford Memorial Grand Prix in Costa Mesa.

Seriously? If the era of doping is over in pro cycling, why did 130 out of 187 cyclists entered in a recent amateur race in Valencia, Spain suddenly abandon after drug testers showed up?

Say what? AOL somehow picked up a story from Bicycling reporting that Philippe Gilbert was forced to withdraw from the Tour de France after a grisly crash — in 2018.

 

Finally…

Even fashionable ladies rode bikes over 100 years ago. Who needs gears when you can have your very own 100-tooth chainring?

And mountain biking without the mountain in DTLA.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

18-year old boy killed by driver while riding in Huntington Beach bike lane

March 8, 2024 / / Comments Off on 18-year old boy killed by driver while riding in Huntington Beach bike lane

A thin stripe of white paint apparently wasn’t enough to protect an Orange County teenager Thursday morning.

According to the Daily Pilot, 18-year old Huntington Beach resident David Mario Garcia Olmos was riding his bike in the westbound bike lane on Talbert Ave, just west of Bell Circle, around 6:15 am when he was struck by a driver traveling in the same direction

He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died later Thursday morning.

The driver, identified only as a 25-year old Fullerton man, remained at the scene. Investigators say he did not appear to be under the influence.

There’s no word at this time whether Olmos was struck from behind, or right hooked as the driver turned into the nearby parking lot. Either way, the limited protection offered by the painted bike lane failed to keep him safe.

Anyone with information is urged to call Huntington Beach Police Traffic Investigator C. Houlston at 714/536-5670.

This is at least the seventh bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in Orange County.

It’s also the second fatal bike crash in Orange County in less than a week.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for David Mario Garcia Olmos and all his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

LA Times declares overwhelming victory for Measure HLA, and yet another meeting for California ebike voucher program

March 7, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 299 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,007 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

………

Okay, now we can celebrate.

Because yesterday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times joined KNBC-4 in declaring Measure HLA has passed.

Backers of a citizen-sponsored ballot initiative that forces Los Angeles to add hundreds of miles of bike and bus lanes — to make streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists — declared victory on Wednesday.

Measure HLA was leading by a wide margin, according to semifinal results released by the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk on Wednesday.

“This says people in Los Angeles want change, they want safer streets, and they want the city to follow through on their promises,” said Michael Schneider, who has led the HLA campaign and is executive director of the advocacy group Streets for All, which conceived the measure.

The measure, otherwise known as the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal, requires the city to build out the Mobility Plan 2035, which was overwhelmingly approved by the city council in 2015 — then promptly put on the self and forgotten.

In fact, you could count the percentage of the plan that has been installed in the nearly decade since on your hands, and still have plenty of fingers left to tell the city how you feel about their decided inaction.

HLA, which goes into effect next month, will require the city to built out the mobility plan any time a one-eighth mile, or 660 feet, segment of street contained in the plan is improved or resurfaced.

The city will be required to track their progress online. And if they don’t fulfill their obligation, residents can sue to force compliance.

Backers overcame opposition from a handful of city council members, along with pro-motorist pressure group KeepLAMoving, and the city’s chief financial officer, who loaded the cost estimate with over $2 billion in barely related expenses that the city would have been required to spend anyway.

The measure was also opposed by the Los Angeles firefighters union, which took a bizarre stance against improving traffic safety while expressing fears it would somehow slow their response times — even though road diets, bus lanes and bike lanes have been shown to improve emergency responses by allowing vehicles to bypass traffic.

The Times applauded the passage of HLA, noting that it will finally spur action from City Hall to increase alternatives to driving.

People are frustrated with congestion but they don’t have great alternatives to driving. Buses get stuck in the same traffic. There aren’t enough protected bike lanes. And too many neighborhoods lack smooth sidewalks, crosswalks, shade trees, street lights and other basic amenities that make it easier for people to walk.

Measure HLA will ensure those alternatives finally get built, after too many delays by City Hall…

Opponents tried to argue that L.A. is a city of cars and nobody wants to use bike lanes or bus lanes or pedestrian amenities. But they missed the point of Measure HLA — which is that the streets today are bad for everyone, motorists included. If the Mobility Plan isn’t implemented and people don’t have safe alternatives to driving, then traffic congestion and, most likely, the number of traffic fatalities will only get worse.

Fortunately, the passage of Measure HLA means the Mobility Plan is no longer a choice for city leaders. It’s a mandate.

But not everyone was in agreement.

The conservative Southern California New Group somehow considered HLA “controversial,” despite the support of nearly two-thirds of voters in the primary election.

And cited a notorious pro-driving activist to back up that contention.

Jay Beeber, executive director for policy for the National Motorists Association and executive director for Safer Streets L.A., said the measure sounded good but would lead to “a whole host of problems for the city.”

Beeber said voters just created “a massive congestion problem in the city, and they are going to live with that decision for a long time. Most people who read the measure are expecting that it’s just simply roadway improvements and not that it’s going to be taking away car lanes, not that it’s going to be creating congestion, not that it’s going to push traffic into their neighborhoods, not that it’s going to increase (emergency) response times.”

The question now is whether opposition groups will file suit in an attempt to block the measure. And whether city leaders will seek ways to slow walk its implementation, or attempt to bypass it completely.

Which seems likely, given the city’s extensive track record of broken promises.

It seems a very long time ago that the corgi and I met Streets For All founder Michael Schneider in Pan Pacific Park to sign the Healthy Streets LA ballot petition.

………

It’s now 78 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Despite a promised launch this spring, the California Air Resources Board will hold yet another online work group next Thursday to gather input for implementing the ebike incentive program.

Because evidently, nearly three years just wasn’t enough time to work it all out.

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

London police apologized after dropping the charges against a bike rider who filmed a distracted driver using a handheld phone, just one day before he was set to go on trial for allegedly riding “without due care and attention.”

No bias here. A Dublin, Ireland city councillor strongly denies being anti-bicyclist, despite calling for mandatory registration and insurance for bike riders, which is currently required only by the North Korean dictatorship.

………

Local 

The Pacific Palisades Community Council will discuss plans for a pedestrian and bike bridge crossing PCH at tonight’s public meeting; the bridge will connect Will Rogers State Beach to George Wolfberg Park, named for the longtime community and bicycle advocate.

Santa Monica police will conduct more bike and pedestrian safety operations today and tomorrow, ticketing any violation that endangers anyone in the two groups, regardless of who commits it. So as usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined. 

 

State

State Senator Scott Wiener explained his latest bill in the state legislature in an online preview of the upcoming Calbike summit; SB 960 would require Caltrans to fully implement its own Complete Streets policies, similar to Measure HLA.

Bicyclists question a Caltrans Complete Streets plan for El Camino Real in Palo Alto, arguing that the bike lanes planned for the street are intended for roadways with speeds up to 35 mph, while speeding drivers often exceed that.

Heartbreaking news from Dublin, California, where a 10-year old boy suffered “significant injuries” when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike. But at least the driver stuck around after the crash.

The Director of Mobility for the Oakland mayor’s office says he dreams of a day when he can just stick to bicycling, and not have to worry about being stopped for Biking While Black. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you.

 

National

A travel website lists 12 beautiful rail trails across the US, along with the upcoming 3,700-mile Great American Rail Trail that’s currently under construction.

Seattle-based ebike maker Rad Power has introduced four new models featuring a heat-absorbing resin coating the battery to prevent corrosion and “thermal events,” like unexpectedly exploding or bursting into flames.

You now have to be at least 18 years old to ride an ebike in Phoenix, which means that ebike-riding school students are breaking the law.

A bill in the Illinois legislature would require cities specify the safety features and degree of separations between motorists and bicyclists in any maps showing bike lanes.

 

International

London has quadrupled the city’s bike lane mileage since the current mayor took office eight years ago.

A website for the “world’s urban leaders” examines how the Parisian e-scooter ban has affected the city’s mobility, as well as the booming bike use in the French capital.

After a Brisbane, Australia ghost bike was removed by city officials and reinstalled by bicyclists a half-dozen times, advocates put it on a trailer legally parked in a bike lane, instead.

The Australian Bicycle Network examines the safety in numbers effect, noting studies that show more bikes on the streets improves safety for everyone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Iran, where rising track and road cyclist Ariana Valinejad died a week after she was injured when a gas leak in her home exploded; she was just 20 years old.

Colombian pro Santiago Buitrago soloed to a mountaintop win on stage 4 of Paris-Nice, passing Australia’s Luke Plapp to take the leader’s jersey. And no, I never heard of them, either. 

CNN says Team Visma-Lease a Bike’s “outlandish” new Giro bike helmets are under review by pro cycling’s governing body. The helmets include a full face shield, apparently to hide the embarrassment of the people wearing them. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when new bike racks nearly kill your business by preventing drivers from illegally parking in front of it. Who needs a marching band when you can pedal, instead?

And let’s hope they at least read the poor bike its rights. Thanks to Steven Hallett for the photo. 

Photo by Steven Hallett

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Measure HLA leads in early voting, NY Vision Zero goes wrong, and possible driver shenanigans on Reseda Blvd

March 6, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 300 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,007 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

………

It’s very early, and returns are still coming in. But so far, things are looking good for safer streets in the City of Angels.

https://twitter.com/schneider/status/1765265605329064090

Then again, why bother counting the ballots, when you can just follow KNBC-4’s lead and declare the winner when the first votes come in?

………

New York’s Vision Zero is clearly going the wrong way.

According to figures released by the city, bicycling deaths in New York reached a record high last year, with 30 people killed riding bikes in 2023. Another 395 bike riders suffered severe injuries.

Over three-quarters of those killed were riding ebikes, while 80% of people suffering severe injuries were on traditional pedal bikes.

Which seems significant, but probably isn’t.

Then again, at least New York released their Vision Zero figures, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name.

………

LADOT and CicLAvia will officially unveil the new Reseda Blvd Complete Streets corridor on Sunday, March 17th — aka St. Patrick’s Day — from 1 pm to 5 pm.

However, unlike most CicLAvia events, this will not be an open streets event, so you may still have to deal with some driver shenanigans.

………

It’s now 77 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. A British man was fined the equivalent of $635 just for riding his bicycle through a town center in violation of a bicycling ban, which is more than many killer drivers a fined; an 82-year old man told city leaders to “stick it up your arse” after being fined the equivalent of $127 for the same offense in 2022.

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

Scofflaw Japanese bicyclists will now be able to pay traffic fines up to the equivalent of $80, rather than face criminal prosecution for most traffic violations, although “malicious violations” including drunk biking and obstructing traffic will still be subject to criminal punishment.

………

Local 

Authorities have identified a 44-year old homeless woman who was found dead on a Long Beach bike path near El Dorado Park Friday morning, saying her death is being investigated as a possible homicide.

 

State

San Diego Magazine recommends the best backcountry mountain bike route to the “surging watefalls (sic) and bubbling creeks” of Mildred Falls.

If you’re missing a bicycle, look north to Santa Cruz County, where sheriff’s deputies recovered dozens of apparently stolen bicycles while serving a warrant in Watsonville.

Petaluma residents broke out the torches and pitchforks over a proposal for a quick-build bike lane to replace a worn and aging one, over concerns about losing — you guessed it — parking spaces, albeit on just one side of the street. Because as we all know, a free place to store your car is far more important than human lives.

 

National

A US engineer living in the Netherlands argues that the root problem with American DOTs lies with the education and licensing of engineers, who are taught to build deadly infrastructure.

A writer for CNET offers his favorite bicycling gadgets, accessories, apparel and services for the coming year, while NBC News recommends the top rated bike helmets of 2024.

A Portland man was allegedly run down by a rampaging driver while standing with his bicycle, after the driver became enraged because he couldn’t score any fentanyl from a homeless encampment.

The widow of a Seattle bike rider is urging prosecutors to reconsider a decision to let the 53-year old driver who killed him with a slap on the wrist, despite striking him in a left cross crash while driving with a suspended license; police also failed to test the driver for drug or alcohol use.

A Denver private school chef won’t be cooking for the kids anytime soon, after fracturing his hand, ribs and sternum when he was struck by a driver while biking to work; a crowdfunding campaign to help pay his medical expenses has nearly met the modest $2,500 goal.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an adaptive tricycle custom-made for a disabled little boy in Mad City, Wisconsin.

If you build it, they will come. A new protected bike lane in Philadelphia has resulted in a 181% increase in ridership rates, while also leading to an 81% jump in drivers parking on the sidewalk.

Five years after the New Orleans mass casualty crash that killed two people and injured seven others riding their bikes near a Mardi Gras parade, a survivor of the crash is calling on the city to do more to protect bike riders, following a recent report that it has the highest rate of fatal bicyclist crashes per capita among major U.S. metro areas.

A bill that would have given Florida cities more power to restrict ebikes and e-scooters has failed in the state legislature, though the sponsor says it will be reintroduced next year.

 

International

Women make up just 23% of the bicyclists in the English city of Milton Keynes, although a greater concern might be that they counted just 163 people riding bicycles on the city’s shared mobility lanes over a ten-day period in January.

You have less than two months to dig out your finest Scottish woolens and vintage bicycle for London’s annual Tweed Ride next month.

You’re welcome. People walking and biking account for over 680,00 fewer cars and trucks on the streets of Ireland’s five largest cities.

As if dangerous drivers weren’t enough to worry about, a 60-year old Singapore man died of organ failure after he was repeatedly stung by a swarm of angry hornets as he rode his bike.

Former two-time world time trial champ Rohan Dennis will face a judge next week over charges he drove in a “culpably negligent manner” causing the death of his wife, Australian Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins, who reportedly fell from the hood of his SUV while attempting to open the passenger door. Maybe after the hearing we’ll finally learn why she was on the hood to begin with.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team is defending their use of their new Giro Aerohead II helmets that make the riders look like weir yellow mushrooms, despite a belief that UCI will ban their use in the near future; GCN says they should just hurry up and do it, already.

Good question. Pez Cycling News examines what can be done to promote better mental health among pro cyclists.

More than 400 cyclists competed in Costa Mesa’s Taylor Elizabeth Clifford Memorial Grand Prix, named in honor of a Huntington Beach teenager who died from an overdose in 2005.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to wait for the end of a belated Mardi Gras parade to start building a bikeway. Who says you need a front wheel to bike to Kashmir, anyway?

And evidently, they’re called Waymo because they’re way mo’ dangerous than non-autonomous vehicles.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bike the Vote today, DUI death of Master’s champ Boyes worth one lousy year, and LA approves $13m Mobility Hub contract

March 5, 2024 / / Comments Off on Bike the Vote today, DUI death of Master’s champ Boyes worth one lousy year, and LA approves $13m Mobility Hub contract
Just 301 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,006 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

………

It was a busy weekend in the bike world, so we’ve got a lot to catch up on.

But before we start, if you haven’t done it yet, find the ballot you got in the mail, fill it out, and drop it off at your nearest drop box. Or hop on your bike, and ride to the nearest vote center to cast your vote in person.

You can also get fare-free rides on Metro trains, buses and Metro Bike bikeshare today.

And if you live in the City of Angels, don’t forget to vote yes on Measure HLA, which will require the city to build out the Mobility Plan they already agreed to, before letting it gather dust on the shelf.

Lives literally depend on it.

If you need a little more guidance, you can find voter guides here from Streets For All, the Los Angeles Times and LAist’s Guide to the Voter Guides.

It’s okay, we’ll wait.

………

While we’re waiting for everyone to get back, my brother Eric is headed east from San Dimas on Adventure Cycling’s Bicycle Route 66 today on his way to Las Vegas, and eventually on to Savannah, Georgia, after starting from Santa Monica on Sunday.

Let me give a shoutout to the folks at Trek Bicycle Beverly Hills, the former I. Martin on Beverly Blvd, for giving him an emergency valve repair Saturday to help get him on the road — and not charging a cent.

And no, they didn’t know who I am before doing it.

Then again, who does?

And if you’re hankering to follow my brother’s lead, National Geographic highlights five “stress-free and sustainable” US bike trails to ease you into bike camping.

Eric thanking Camden at Trek Bicycle Beverly Hills for fixing his tire

Loading the bigass touring bike his daughter had custom built for him

A very sad corgi watching her new favorite human disappear up the sidewalk

………

An “incredulous” federal judge questioned a proposed plea deal in the death of US Masters Champ Ethan Boyes.

Prosecutors said they were nearing a deal on a one-year misdemeanor sentence for the drunken crash that killed Boyes in San Francisco’s Presidio Park, reducing the charges to one count of unlawfully killing a human being without malice and without gross negligence.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle,

“Isn’t being intoxicated gross negligence in itself?” the judge said, incredulous.

That question, (Assistant U.S. Attorney George) Hageman said, was “up for interpretation.”

The judge replied that interpreting the severity of the alleged crime was Hageman’s job as federal prosecutor…

Eighty-one-year old Arnold Kinman Low is currently facing one count of vehicular manslaughter and one count of driving under the influence of alcohol in the fatal crash.

Felony vehicular manslaughter and felony DUI causing death could result in a maximum sentence of 16 years behind bars, while dropping the DUI count could reduce it to just 12 months.

For killing someone while too drunk to drive in a straight line.

Allegedly.

………

Los Angeles officials approved a five-year, $10 million contract with transit firm Tranzito to provide a series of integrated mobility hubs,

The firm will establish 13 of the centers throughout DTLA, Hollywood and Long Beach to provide “bike sharing, car sharing, secure bike parking and on-demand microtransit services” for first mile/last mile transportation from Metro  stations.

………

This is who we share the road with.

This is who we share the road with, part two.

Missouri Governor Mike Parsons sent a clear message that driving drunk and severely injuring a little kid is just no big deal, celebrating the Kansas City Chief’s Super Bowl win by commuting the DUI sentence of former Kansas City Chiefs Assistant Coach Britt Reid, son of head coach Andy Reid.

So if you ever wonder why people keep dying on our streets, that’s Exhibit A.

………

It’s now 76 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Pasadena is already launching its own ebike rebate, offering residents up to $750 for an e-cargo bike, or $1,000 for income-qualified residents.

So why is it taking California so damn long?

………

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

Momentum argues that anti-cycling zealots in Toronto would like to run over bicyclists just to save a little commuting time.

No bias here. An anonymous London school kid bemoans the “plagues of two-wheeled vermin” making them late for music lessons, but suggests the bright side to global warming is the torrential rains that free the road up for drivers.

And no bias here, either.

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

When you’re riding your bike in Capitola, California with an outstanding warrant while carrying meth and fentanyl, put some damn lights on it — and don’t try to pass yourself off as your sister.

A Madison, Wisconsin man was arrested for riding a stolen bicycle while on his way to the courthouse to be sentenced for a series of other burglaries — after he had already been banned from riding a bike.

When you’re carrying coke and a crack pipe on your bike in Kentucky, put some damn lights on it, already — and don’t jump off a roof to escape the cops.

An English town dealt with “anti-social cyclists,” as police responded to complaints from the public for such horrendous activities as riding without lights. Which isn’t exactly what I would describe as antisocial, but still. 

A clinically blind bicyclist in the UK was fined the equivalent of $253 for riding on a highway while “extremely” drunk, less than a year after he crashed into a passing car while riding under the influence. And giving a whole new meaning to being blind drunk.

………

Local 

A homeless man in DTLA learns the hard way it ain’t easy to steal a robocab.

Ride On! Bike Shop/Co-Op founder Adé Neff describes how he was repeatedly stopped for Riding While Black in Beverly Hills because he “fit” a description of someone who had committed a crime. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you.

The rich get richer, as Santa Monica pledges to improve its Vision Zero and Bike Action plans.

South Pasadena residents learn the hard way what happens when only seven people out of 104 bother to return a resident survey — and all of those ask for bike lanes on Grand Ave. And the city is apparently all out of temporary street paint. Thanks to Wesley for the heads-up.

Hermosa Beach is considering a proposal to geofence ebike rentals to prevent speeding on The Strand, as well as a proposal to ban ebikes entirely from the popular oceanfront walkway.

Long Beach plans to unveil a $60 million overhaul of Studebaker Road in East Long Beach to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and, yes, drivers.

 

State

Caltrans is teaming with the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) to offer a new tool to address the inequitable distribution of transportation benefits and burdens, including mapping out crash rates.

Calbike promotes their upcoming Bicycle Summit Plenary in San Diego next month, saying it will promote the city’s bike cultures.

A California man rode 625 miles around Taiwan in twelve days, despite never riding for more than half an hour before his trip.

 

National

Road & Track offers the year’s best ebikes, as rated by Bicycling and reposted by AOL. Raising the question of why the hell does Bicycling even have a paywall?

Discover says ebikes may be expensive, but worth it for their health, equity and clean air benefits.

The case against a Salem, Oregon DEA agent for killing a woman on a bicycle after running a stop sign remains in legal limbo, pending an appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court over a decision to transfer the case to federal court, which would likely result in dropping the case.

Actor Matthew Modine leads a “ragtag” bicycle krewe to the Grand Canyon in the new fact-based dramedy movie Hard Miles.

A Colorado woman switched gears after a serious mountain biking crash, leaving her marketing job to become a nomadic artist.

Hoboken NJ credits removing parking spaces as one key factor for the city’s remarkable lack of traffic deaths for the last seven years.

Now you, too, can have a new limited edition DC-only Cherry Blossom Brompton.

Meet Charlotte NC bike lane sweeper Sweepy McSweepface.

A Georgia man was charged with hit-and-run for driving away after driving onto a sidewalk and leaving a 78-year old man riding a bicycle with life-threatening injuries, apparently while driving distracted.

 

International

London’s Evening Standard rates the best road bikes below £2,000 — the equivalent of $2,500.

Over 800 bicyclists took to the streets of London to call for safer infrastructure and streets for women bike riders.

Completing our London trifecta, a London business site questions whether the UK’s bike riders are really any safer after bike-friendly changes to the country’s Highway Code.

A campaign by disabled bicyclists in the UK tackles Shedgate, arguing that disabled riders should be allowed to build a bike shed in their front garden if they don’t have a back one, after several people were fined or ordered to remove them.

Over 35 percent the residents of Dutch cities Groningen and Amsterdam, and Copenhagen, Denmark ride a bicycle on a daily basis, compared to just 5% of Rome residents. Yet most American cities would be overjoyed by even the latter rate. 

Mumbai bicyclists plan a mid-March silent protest to demand safer streets for bicyclists, runners and pedestrians, in response to the bicycling death of former Intel India chief Avtar Saini, who is credited with the development of the Pentium processor; meanwhile, an Indian columnist calls for making the bicycling safe, for everyone’s sake.

An Aussie bicyclist credits his Apple Watch’s fall detection feature for saving his life after crashing with a ‘roo.

 

Competitive Cycling

Paris-Nice is already upon us, with American Matteo Jorgenson in 4th place, behind Laurence Pithie, Mads Petersen and Olav Kooij after three stages; Dutch cyclist Arvid de Kleijn got his first WorldTour win Monday, as his Tudor Pro Cycling team “broke their duck for 2024.” Which has to be one of the strangest terms I’ve heard in pro cycling, or anywhere else.

Evidently, the cycling world forgot the 2022 Strade Bianche, because history repeated itself with winners Lotte Kopecky and Tadej Pogačar once again winning the event two years later.

Giro and Dutch Team Visma/Lease a Bike have teamed for what has to be the weirdest looking, bizarrely futuristic aero bike helmet, which looks more like an AI rendering error.

NBA legend Reggie Miller may, in fact, be better on a mountain bike than you are, winning his first two races of the year this past weekend.

 

Finally…

Just because you’re legally required to wear a bike helmet doesn’t mean it can’t look like a dorky hat. That feeling when your bicycle looks like a bigass custom motorcycle.

And that feeling when it’s just a tad windy out there.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Woman killed riding ebike in Westminster collision, no details on the cause

March 2, 2024 / / Comments Off on Woman killed riding ebike in Westminster collision, no details on the cause

You knew it wouldn’t last.

We made it nearly two weeks since we’ve had had a bicycling death in Southern California.

Key word being “nearly.”

That ended on Thursday evening in Westminster, when a woman riding an ebike was killed in a collision.

According to the Orange County Tribune, the victim, identified only as an Asian woman in her 60s, was riding on Bolsa Ave just west of Brookhurst Street when she was struck by a driver around 5:59 pm.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver remained after the crash, and reportedly cooperated with investigators.

Unfortunately, that’s all we know at this time.

Anyone with information is urged to call the watch commander of the Westminster Police Department at 714/548-3767.

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

Although there have probably been others we haven’t learned about.

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

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

Hero bike rider battles brush fire, LA falsely blames HLA for sidewalk costs, and Parthenon Place gutter bike lane opens

March 1, 2024 / / 4 comments
Just 305 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re stuck at 1,005 signatures, so keep it going, and urge your friends, family and coworkers to keep signing the petition until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

And we can use some video endorsements, if anyone wants to post a video to the petition page explaining why you signed. 

Photo by Adonyi Gábor for Pexels. 

………

I’ll be taking Monday off, because my adventure cycling, formerly Iditarod mushing, brother will be town this weekend, before setting out on the first leg of a planned ride across the US. 

As usual, I’ll see you on Tuesday to catch up on anything we missed.

So stay safe out there, because I don’t have to write about you. Unless maybe you jumped off your bike to beat back a brush fire, or something.

You know, like the guy below. 

………

Once again, a bike rider is a hero.

Literally.

Los Angeles news radio station KNX honored Benjamin Levy as their Hero of the Week for halting a ride with his wife on the Westside to battle a brush fire near some railroad tracks.

Levy flagged down an oncoming train to request the engineer’s fire extinguisher, then used it to knock down the flames until firefighters arrived, preventing the fire from spreading.

………

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offered a fact check on the city’s absurd $2 billion price tag for sidewalk work under Measure HLA.

The city estimated that if the measure passes, Los Angeles would be on the hook for $200 million a year for ten years to fix its crumbling, buckling and non-ADA compliant sidewalks.

Except the city is committed to spending that anyway, regardless of whether HLA passes.

According to Linton,

So, right now L.A. City street resurfacing is apparently triggering ADA work – whether HLA passes or not.

If HLA passes, street resurfacing will trigger that very same ADA work, plus bus lanes and bike lanes.

The CAO is saying $200 million worth of annual ADA work is “included in the cost” of Measure HLA. But if right now the city is already on the hook for all that ADA work anyway, none of it should be included as HLA costs.

It appears that city leaders are making HLA into a scapegoat. The CAO is exaggerating estimates, pitting bus/bike against walk/wheelchair, all of which the city has neglected for decades. If HLA passes, city leaders can blame HLA (instead of decades of city neglect) for increased budgets for ADA compliance.

Nothing like our city leaders putting their thumb on the scale.

Or maybe putting their whole ass into it.

Meanwhile, USC’s Daily Trojan student newspaper endorsed Measure HLA, arguing it will force the city to follow through on its Mobility Plan, while easily dismissing the usual arguments against it.

In fact, improving systems of non-automobile transportation would take more cars off the street as drivers switch to carless transportation, decreasing traffic in high-congestion areas. More efficient and safer streets benefit people without cars and drivers alike.

Additionally, gridlock delays affect emergency vehicles: If there’s bumper-to-bumper traffic, ambulances and firetrucks can’t move through. But, on roads with bus lanes, emergency vehicles are allowed to use these lanes to respond in an emergency. Separate lanes that can only be used by buses and emergency vehicles would improve response times, not delay them.

And Westside public radio station KCRW frames the debate from a driver’s perspective, saying Measure HLA promises safer, but slower, streets.

Which is kind of the point, yes.

Improving safety requires slowing LA”s speeding drivers by designing roadways to discourage, if not prevent, excess speeds.

The station also quotes the president of the firefighters union as saying “If we pass HLA, we’re going to see chaos all over this city.”

Um, no.

Chaos is what we already have, as traffic congestion builds and drivers slam into one another — and bike riders and pedestrians — with ever increasing, and ever deadlier, frequency.

The whole point of the Mobility Plan 2035 — and Measure HLA, which would force the city to implement it — is to bring order to that chaos by improving traffic safety and providing safe and efficient alternatives to driving.

Finally, the California Planning & Development Report examines why the Los Angeles firefighters union opposes Measure HLA.

And highlights the absurdity of their argument that HLA will slow response times for the crashes it’s designed to prevent.

………

LADOT says it’s finished work on the new Parthenia Place bikeway.

Although the first thing I notice is that half of the curb side runs through the gutter, which will force people to ride close to the center divider, and needlessly increase the risk of head-on bike-on-bike collisions.

………

The Partnership for Active Travel and Health sent out a save the date notice for their second annual online symposium in September.

………

We shared this one last year, but it’s worth repeating, as an interventional radiologist at Loma Linda University Heath shares how the hospital saved his life twice — figuratively and literally — following a horrible bicycling collision.

Thanks to Eric Lewis for the heads-up.

………

It’s now 72 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 32 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

The ironically named Cambridge Streets for All lost a second “frivolous” lawsuit fighting a local law requiring construction of a 25-mile separated bike lane network in the Boston suburb. And making it clear that their definition of “Streets for All” just means all of the people in cars.

A Glasgow city councilor threatened to impose licensing and insurance requirements on all bicyclists unless bike delivery riders start observing the UK’s traffic regulations, warning it could have a detrimental impact on bicycling

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

When you’re carrying eight grams of meth on your ebike, stop for the damn stop signs, already.

………

Local 

Metro explains what’s in their Draft Long Beach – East Los Angeles Corridor Mobility Investment Plan, including $90 million in active transportation seed money, and $188 million for arterial roadways and Complete Streets. Although something tells me more of the $188 million will go to the former than the latter.

The East Side Riders Bike Club wants your feedback on an incredibly short survey.

The Los Angeles Times recommends three scenic paved trails to avoid riding in a muddy mess after the current round of rains.

 

State

Calbike is hosting an online preview session for the annual California Bike Summit next week, discussing state Senator Scott Wiener’s bill to require Complete Streets on Caltrans roadways.

 

National

Apparently, Utah drivers can’t figure out how to drive next to a bike lane, and find the green paint very confusing.

New York finally opened the first of the city’s long-promised ebike charging station for delivery riders, in an attempt to reduce the risk of lithium-ion battery fires.

Atlanta’s Magnet Man has given himself the under-appreciated task of riding his bike around the city towing a powerful magnet to attract roadway detritus that could pose a risk to the tires of motorists.

 

International

Momentum writes in praise of bike commuting on a humble beater bike.

Winter bicycling is on the rise in the frigid Canadian cities of Whitehorse, Saskatoon and Montreal, driven by a “robust camaraderie…and the delight of navigating winter landscapes on two wheels.” Yet people insist no one will ever ride a bike in LA’s mild winters. Even though countless people do it every day.

Hamilton, Ontario is making a $60 million commitment to building 74 miles of bike lanes by 2028. That compares favorably with LA’s commitment to not make a commitment to building bike lanes.

“Terrified” London bicyclists are reportedly ditching their Bromptons and other high-end bikes to avoid attracting violent, moped-riding bike theft gangs.

A Conservative Member of Parliament says pedicabs have turned parts of London into the Wild West. Because we all remember those classic westerns where the outlaws lay in wait to rob the pedicab as it rode through a blind gulch.

The UK’s Conservative government has proposed doubling the power allowed for ebikes under the previous European Union regulations, and removing the prohibition against throttle-controlled bikes; London’s walking and bicycling commissioner called the plan “madness.”

The European Union wants to get more people on bicycles.

Australia’s leading bicycling safety, awareness and advocacy organization is shutting down after two decades, due to a lack of government funding.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Spain, where yet another a young cyclist has been killed in a training ride. Although there’s no word yet whether 18-year old Spanish cyclist Juan Pujalte, a member of the Valverde U-23 cycling team, was killed in a fall or a collision.

Velo wraps up Black History Month with a profile of Butch Martin, the first Black American Olympic cyclist to compete in both track and road cycling.

Dutch police want to have a little chat with the bike racing “fan” who threw their drink on the legendary Marianne Vos as she rode to victory at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

 

Finally…

Trading in your old bike on a new model is a thing now. That feeling when the bicycling Pied Piper is a drum and bass DJ.

And that feeling when an impatient driver honks at you to get out of his way — while cruising down a protected bike lane.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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