Massachusetts kicks 85th Percentile Law to the curb, new LA protected bike lane, and underground Tesla traffic jams

January 7, 2022 / / 2 comments

That’s more like it.

Massachusetts becomes the first state to completely reject the 85th Percentile Law — and base new speed limits on what’s safe for the most vulnerable road users.

California has been nibbling at the edges of the deadly law, which requires cities to set speed limits at the 85% percentile of driver speeds. And allows drivers to boost speed limits on any given street merely by stepping on the gas.

Instead of repealing the rule, a new law sponsored by Burbank Assemblywoman Laura Friedman allows cities and counties to lower speed limits by 5 mph on high injury streets, as well as streets with a high number of bike riders and pedestrians.

It doesn’t begin to compare with what Massachusetts is doing.

But it’s a start.

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Ted Faber discovers new-to-him protected bike lanes on Airport Blvd near LAX.

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Correction: I initially misplaced this bike lane as being on Airport Ave in Santa Monica, but it’s actually the new protected bike lanes on LA’s Airport Blvd, which were installed last year. Thanks to LADOT’s Tim Fremaux for the correction. 

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Evidently, Elon’s Musk’s vision for the future of urban transportation includes underground traffic jams.

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And it looks like some things won’t change when our self-driving overlords take over.

https://twitter.com/pedaltowheels/status/1479174018280288260

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Country star Dierks Bentley is one of us, proclaiming it perfect whether for a bike ride as he pedals through Nashville’e freshly fallen snow.

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

The Orange County Register once again raises a panic over a “dramatic” rise in ebike injuries, suggesting that ebikes are somehow more dangerous than other kinds of bikes, without noting what should be an obvious corresponding increase in ebike use.  (Hint: Stop the page from loading before the subscription popup loads.) 

Life really is cheap in the UK, where a road raging driver walked with a suspended sentence for intentionally running down a bike rider who’d slapped his car following a dangerously close pass. And kept his drivers license because the judge didn’t want him to lose his job.

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

A Florida man was shot in the neck by his girlfriend as he tried to pedal away on his bike with her belongings; she insists that she only meant to scare him.

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Local

This is who we share the road with. A pair of scofflaw diners used their car as a weapon to intentionally run down a Redondo Beach restaurant manager who confronted them for walking out on their check.

 

State

The allegedly stoned San Diego driver who killed a noted architect has been ordered to stand trial in the death of Laura Shinn; Adam David Milavetz was allegedly high on meth and fentanyl when he ran down Shinn’s bike, then tossed a bag of meth over a fence before police arrived.

The recent heavy rains in Northern California have had an unexpected benefit for bike riders by delaying plans for an emergency water pipeline that would have blocked bike access to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

 

National

The American Business History Center offers a fascinating short history of the American bicycle industry, from the first bikes through Trek and Specialized, even if they’re not made in the US anymore.

He gets it. A writer for Slate says stop idealizing Dutch and Danish bikeways, and start explaining how and why something like that could work here.

Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Denver-area driver who skipped a court date for the allegedly drunken crash where he dragged a boy and his bike under his SUV for a significant distance before bystanders flagged him down; they had to lift the SUV off the boy to get him out.

You’ve got to be kidding. South Dakota’s supreme court rules against a woman who was paralyzed when her bike wheel went through a poorly designed storm grate, even though the city was aware of the problem and failed to correct it.

A DC website says traffic may not be moving on the freeway, but yes, people really do ride their bikes in the winter.

A Florida distracted driver was focused on his phone for as much as 50 seconds before slamming into a bike rider and killing him; police say he is remorseful and fled the scene because “he got really scared.” Just imagine how the person he killed must have felt.

 

International

We Love Cycling magazine recommends the ten don’ts of e-mountain biking.

The Bicycle Film Festival has once again gone virtual, with over 40 short films available online for as little as $10.

SRAM’s CEO examines the supply chain disruptions that have created an imbalance between supply and demand in the bicycle industry, but says there really is light at the end of the tunnel.

Nice gesture from a group of English bike riders, who plan to escort the coffin of a man who died of a heart attack while on a group ride.

A British bike theft victim was victimized a second time when he found the bike being sold online and make arrangements with the men who mugged him to buy it, but the cops blew him off after promising to meet him to make the arrest and reclaim his bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

Slovakian cycling star Peter Sagan will miss the official unveiling of his new team and bike, after testing positive for Covid.

San Diego’s popular Belgian Waffle Ride will feature at least $30,000 in prize money when it rolls in April, with another $20,000 on the line for the four race series.

 

Finally…

Maybe someone should tell them it’s not a GoPro unless it’s a GoPro. When your Share the Road message is only slightly sillier than the competition you’re in.

And I’m not saying I’m old, but I remember this one from the first time around.

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

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Pregnant woman killed in Tuesday’s Chatsworth hit-and run, bike riders save gridlock costs, and e-cargo biking the kids

January 6, 2022 / / Comments Off on Pregnant woman killed in Tuesday’s Chatsworth hit-and run, bike riders save gridlock costs, and e-cargo biking the kids

Let’s start with a quick update on Tuesday’s Chatsworth hit-and-run that took the lives of two people riding bicycles.

An initial report that the victims may have been transients appears to be wrong, as KNBC-4 reports the man who was killed was a 58-year old, longtime resident of Canoga Park.

The station also confirmed rumors that the woman riding with him was pregnant at the time of her death, making this horrible, needless tragedy just that much worse.

The driver, who has not been publicly identified, was arrest on what appears to be a well-deserved murder charge.

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One more benefit of riding a bike.

LA Magazine reports that a new study shows gridlock costs Angelenos an average of $1,816 a year in lost time and productivity.

That figure easily leads the rest of the nation. Yet bike commuters can afford to laugh at it, as we glide silently past long lines of backed-up traffic.

But don’t look so smug, Riverside. You clock in at number nine in the US, with an average annual cost of $1,280.

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Streets For All founder Michael Schneider loads the kids up in the e-cargo bike, and heads off to Griffith Park. Even if bikes are banned from too many trails in the park.

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Rabi Abonour offers a long thread pointing out the needless danger LA’s lack of infrastructure poses to bikeshare riders.

It’s worth the click to read the whole thing.

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Unfortunately, the story is hidden behind a paywall, so this may be all the information we get about the $25 million jury award in the death of a bike-riding triathlete.

However, I can’t see it really changing anyone’s behavior on the streets, since most people are unlikely to ever hear about it.

And even those who do will likely write it off as an extreme example that would never happen to them.

Compensation is good for the victims survivors, and helps to make them whole after the loss of a loved one, even when the result isn’t so eye popping.

Financially, anyway.

At most, it offers a reminder to drive carefully around people on bicycles and on foot. But it doesn’t really send a message to anyone.

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

In yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, a New Hampshire man faces charges for the suspected distracted driving death of a man riding a bicycle; he was still driving, despite seven previous speeding tickets and two distracted driving charges. To make matters worse, he had known the victim, who used to live under his mother-in-law’s apartment, for years.

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

Albuquerque police busted a pair of men who fatally shot a suspect bike thief who they suspected was riding a bicycle that had been stolen from one of the men; police found the bike inside the gunman’s apartment after the shooting. As tempting as it might be sometimes, no bicycle is worth taking a life.

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Local

Venice-based Linus Bikes will be supplying a half-dozen bicycles for a Palm Beach, Florida hotel, with four regular bikes and two ebikes.

 

State

The man credited with saving California’s citrus crop from an invasive parasite in the 1880s was one of us, dying in an 1895 bicycle crash, just one year after he retired from the Department of Agriculture.

Encinitas launched the first bikeshare system on the north coast of San Diego County.

The San Diego Bike Coalition and Free Bikes 4 Kidz are teaming with San Diego Trek bike shops to hold a bike collection drive this Saturday, asking everyone to donate gently used bikes that can be reconditioned and given to children from at-risk communities.

Sad news from San Jose, where a bike rider was killed in a hit-and-run. It was the city’s second traffic death this year; both were victims of hit-and-run drivers.

Emeryville sacrifices pedestrian safety by removing a crosswalk in a “quiet zone” street makeover, but plans to replace a bike lane also being removed with a protected bike lane at a later date.

 

National

The Mobility Fund released eight grants worth nearly $400,000 for equitable bike, walking and transit projects around the US; Move LA received $50,000 to help restore and expand Metro bus service that benefit low-income and communities of color; Bike East Bay was the only other California recipient, also getting 50 grand for equitable Slow Streets projects in Oakland.

An Arizona woman wanted by the FBI for the hit-and-run that killed a bike-riding woman on tribal land turned herself in on Tuesday, nine days after the fatal crash; the feds are still looking for the silver and black Hyundai Tucson SUV she was driving. Does that mean she gets the $5,000 reward?

Denver’s Vision Zero program is going the wrong way, with a possible record 84 people killed in traffic collisions last year, exactly twice as many as in 2010.

After surviving the wind-driven pre-New Years inferno that destroyed much of the Colorado communities of Louisville and Superior, the owner and staff of a 42-year old Louisville bike shop immediately began collecting bicycles for victims of the fire.

Sad news from my Colorado hometown, where the 54-year old former manager and buyer for the 59-year old bike shop where I bought my first adult bicycle was killed in a backcountry avalanche; Ralph Eberspacher also worked for mountain bike maker Niner Bikes.

The get it. A Lincoln, Nebraska newspaper says the area’s bike trails add to the richness of the city.

Police at Georgia’s Valdosta State University are teaming with a local bike center and the Salvation Army to recycle bicycles abandoned on campus, and get them to people in need.

 

International

The Guardian profiles a London man who has reported more than 1,000 scofflaw drivers captured on his GoPro, 80% of whom have been prosecuted. Unfortunately, that won’t work in most of the US, including California, where video evidence can’t be accepted as proof of a traffic violation or misdemeanor. Which is something that has to change, given the ubiquity of smartphones and action cams.

A UK paper offers tips on teaching your kids how to ride a bike.

Heartbreaking story from the Netherlands, where authorities are looking for a 14-year old girl’s missing ebike, after she was found dead in a park after not coming home the night before; a 32-year old man who knew the girl was arrested on suspicion of murder or manslaughter and sexual contact with a minor.

Even Azerbaijan is getting sort of bike friendly, with a 4.6-mile bike path under construction in the capital city.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your naked group bike ride gets uploaded to a porn site. Or when your son gets a $2,000 bill for failing to pay registration fees on a nonexistent car, starting when he was nine years old.

And that feeling when all your worst-case scenarios come true, and turns your bike trip through Cuba into the worst vacation of your life.

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

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Update: 7-year old boy riding bicycle killed by driver of massive pickup in San Jacinto collision Wednesday morning

January 5, 2022 / / 2 comments

The recent carnage on Southern California streets continued with the death of a bike-riding boy in San Jacinto late Wednesday morning.

According to KCBS-2, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was struck by the driver of a massive pickup around 11:30 am in the 400 block of Bryce Canyon Way.

The boy died at the scene before first responders could arrive.

The driver of the westbound Dodge Ram 3500 heavy duty pickup, which was hauling a utility trailer, remained at the scene. He was not suspected of being under the influence.

The design of truck, with its high clearance and flat grill — let alone sheer size — almost ensure any crash will be unsurvivable for a child. It’s entirely possible the driver couldn’t even see the boy over the hood of the truck.

A street view shows Bryce Canyon is a quiet residential cul-de-sac, where it should have been safe for a kid to ride a bicycle.

But wasn’t.

Anyone with information is urged to call the sheriff’s San Jacinto station at 951/654-2702.

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

He is also the eighth SoCal bike rider killed in the past three weeks, and the third in the past two days.

Update: The victim has been identified as seven-year old Johan Orozco. However, there’s still no word on how and why the crash happened. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers forJohan Orozco and all his friends and family. 

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

Conservative writer says pry his truck out of his cold dead hands, and crowdfunding for new Encino Velodrome lights

January 5, 2022 / / One comment
Um, okay.

A writer for a conservative website accuses car-hating liberals of wanting to take everyone’s cars away because they hate freedom.

No, really.

If there is one thing liberals hate more than guns, it’s automobiles, and not because of the climate; our vehicles are scorned by the Left because they free the individual to go anywhere he or she chooses.

In a word, privately owned cars and trucks equal F-R-E-E-D-O-M.

That’s why, in the same spirit as Charlton Heston once warned the gun grabbers, I now notify today’s successors to what Car & Driver‘s Brock Yates famously called the Anti-Destination League that they will have to pry my cold, dead hands off the steering wheel before they get me out of my pickup.

Never mind that the ongoing burden of car payments, gas, insurance and maintenance represents the exact opposite of freedom, as far too many Americans have to work just to keep a shiny hunk of metal and glass parked in their driveways.

The purpose of encouraging alternative forms of transportation isn’t to force anyone out of their cars — let alone take them away.

It’s to provide people with viable alternatives to driving, so they have the freedom to to travel however they choose, rather than forcing them into the tyranny of car ownership as the cost of getting from here to there.

Which you’d think any real conservative would understand.

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The sadly neglected Encino Velodrome, a 50-year old open-air treasure nestled in Balboa Park, is raising funds for a much-needed upgrade to the current dilapidated lighting system.

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The facility, which has seen bigger and better days — and was nearly home to the track cycling events in the ’84 LA Olympics — has raised just $1,498 of the modest $20,000 goal.

We could easily get them over the top in the next few days with a little support from the city’s bicycling community.

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That’s more like it.

California may call surfing the official state sport, and three states claim rodeo.

But only Delaware names bicycling as the state’s official sport. Which raises the inevitable question of why the hell don’t we all live there?

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Streets For All is hosting my state senator for their next virtual happy hour one week from today.

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Cincinnati’s newly elected mayor one-ups New York’s new mayor, who took a bikeshare bike to his second day at work, by riding the city’s bikeshare to his inauguration.

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Now this is art.

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Local

CicLAvia recaps last month’s South LA event, calling it a view to LA’s open streets future.

 

State

Sad news from California’s San Joaquin Valley, where a Bakersfield man was killed when a driver crashed into his bike yesterday. And a 69-year old man was killed in a Fresno hit-and-run when a truck driver swerved onto the shoulder where the man was riding, and left him there to die alone in the street.

On a happier note, a San Francisco dad is taking advantage of the city’s carfree and slow streets to form a bike bus to get kids riding to school, with pent-up demand quickly swelling it to several dozen bike-riding children.

 

National

Forbes recommends cold weather gear to help keep you riding throughout the winter. Just in case you live somewhere where the weather actually gets, you know, cold.

JBL’s new handlebar-mounted speakers are perfect for your next bike party, or when you just want to annoy everyone else around you.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 81-year old man relates his own history with ebikes, while walking you through everything you need to know to keep up with him on one of your own.

The founder of Bike Index details his investigation that helped uncover a Colorado bike theft ring that funneled hot high-end bicycles to a bike shop in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, for resale at slightly less than their actual value. Yet another reminder to sign up for free lifetime registration with Bike Index today.

Sad news from Iowa, where a longtime mainstay of the annual RAGBRAI mass ride across the state has passed away at 94; she participated in the ride for nearly 30 years, starting when she was 65 and continuing into her 90s.

After watching it deteriorate for a couple years, a Brooklyn writer rescues a rare 1998 Litespeed softail titanium mountain bike that was in the process of slowly being stolen, one piece at a time.

North Carolina has given away over 30,000 kids bike helmets over the past five years, funded by the state’s Share the Road specialty license plates.

 

International

This is why people keep dying on the streets. A British driver has been busted for distracted driving nine times over the past four years, but was still allowed to keep driving. Just one more example of authorities going out of their way to keep a dangerous driver on the road.

Travel site Lonely Planet explains how to tour Edinburgh on two wheels, calling the city surprisingly easy to bike despite its ancient streets and undulating topography.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a van driver was fined the equivalent of less than $750 for knocking a man off his bicycle, fracturing bones throughout his body and leaving him unable to move for two months.

A new study from Zurich, Switzerland shows that shared ebikes and scooters may not be as eco-friendly as we were led to believe.

Commercial cargo bikes are changing the look of German streets.

A Cypriot woman was arrested for injuring a bike-riding woman while driving at six times the legal alcohol limit — before 9 am.

Bike riders in Hyderabad, India are calling for major safety improvements to make the city bike friendly after a man was run down by a drunk driver while riding with three companions.

A new Chinese bike cam system combines a front headlight, rear taillight with brake light, and an action cam into a single unit.

 

Competitive Cycling

Argentina’s early season Vuelta a San Juan has been cancelled for the second year in a row, courtesy of our old buddy Covid-19.

Admittedly, I’m no expert when it comes to ‘cross. But I don’t think this is supposed to happen.

https://twitter.com/cyclocross24/status/1478370522606059522?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1478370522606059522%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-4-january-2022-289239

 

Finally…

Zwift’s virtual Tron Bike could soon be coming to a real world near you. Your next ebike could be powered by hydrogen. And pedals, of course.

And you’ll now have to put a headlight on your ass to ride it in the roadway after dark.

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

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

Update — man and woman killed riding bikes in Chatsworth hit-and-run, first SoCal bike deaths this year

January 4, 2022 / / Comments Off on Update — man and woman killed riding bikes in Chatsworth hit-and-run, first SoCal bike deaths this year

News is just coming in that two people on bicycles have been killed by a hit-and-run driver earlier this evening.

According to KCBS-2, the victims were riding on the 9500 block of North Lurline Ave in Chatsworth when they were struck by the driver of a Toyota Tacoma pickup around 7:15 Tuesday night.

Both victims died at the scene.

Neither has been identified at this time, though the station says they’re believed to be transients. Which should not lessen the tragedy in any way.

The truck was found nearby, and the driver taken into police custody.

Unfortunately, no additional information is available at this time.

This appears to be the first two bicycling fatalities in Southern California this year, as well as the first in Los Angeles County.

Update: KABC-7 reports the victims are a man and a woman, while placing the location at Independence Ave & Knapp Street in Los Angeles, which is nearly a mile away from the original site. 

However, it’s possible that they may be referring to where the driver crashed into a wall while attempting to get away, after striking several other vehicles. 

According to the LA Times, the driver came to a halt at the corner of De Soto Ave and Knapp Street, which is less than a quarter mile from the location cited by KABC.

KABC also reports the driver may face a murder charge, which would suggest he — or she — may have been under the influence, and possibly a repeat offender.

Update 2: KNBC-4 reports the male victim was identified by his son as 58-year-old Canoga Park resident Matthew Zink; he was riding with a female friend, who was pregnant. 

Which means that three lives were needless snuffed out in a single moment. 

Update 3: KCBS-2 has identified the second victim as 37-year old Ana Hernandez.

Meanwhile, the driver has been identified as 58-year old Nelson Rodriguez. He is currently being held on $4 million bond, with arraignment scheduled for next Tuesday on two counts of felony murder, and a single misdemeanor charge of hit-and-run resulting in property damage. 

There’s no word on why he’s not being charged with felony hit-and-run for fleeing the scene after the murders. Or why he is being charged with murder, which usually requires an intentional act or driving under the influence after a previous DUI conviction. 

A pair of ghost bikes were installed for Hernandez and Zink Thursday night. 

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My deepest sympathy and prayers for Ana Hernandez and Matthew Zink, and all their loved ones.

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

France tells carmakers to promote biking and walking in their ads, and Argentine driver runs down 5 riders on bike path

January 4, 2022 / / Comments Off on France tells carmakers to promote biking and walking in their ads, and Argentine driver runs down 5 riders on bike path
That’s more like it.

France is promoting alternative transportation by requiring all automotive ads to include a brief mention of alternatives to driving.

Options include “Consider carpooling,” “For day-to-day use, take public transportation,” or “For short trips, opt for walking or cycling,” along with the hashtag #SeDeplacerMoinsPolluer, or “Move and Pollute Less.”

That requirement applies to all TV, print, radio and internet advertising; failure to include one of the three options could result in a fine of up to fine of up to 50,000 euros, or $56,444 at current exchange rates.

Maybe we could see that on this side of the Atlantic some day.

We can dream, right?

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Horrifying story from Argentina, where a stoned driver doing 74 mph rammed five people riding on a bike path, before fleeing the scene with the help of four people waiting in a nearby truck.

Sadly, one of the victims died on the operating table.

Police arrested later arrested the driver, along with his accomplices. However, there’s no word on whether he lost control of his car and just caught a ride with people nearby, or if this was intentional and preplanned.

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Turns out some bike riders aren’t fans of red light-running scofflaw bicyclists who cut them off, either.

https://twitter.com/wildbell/status/1478125812691849216

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I want to see this sign posted along every street in California.

https://twitter.com/VisionZeroCA/status/1478114003754774528

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

Clearly, not everyone is a fan of the Bay Area’s Slow Streets. But not everyone threatens to come back with a Freightliner semi-truck and run over a woman to express their displeasure.

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A Singapore truck driver was caught on video blowing through a red light while honking his horn at the woman legally crossing the street on her bike to get the hell out of his way.

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

The LAPD is looking for a man who stole a bicycle to make his getaway, after he murdered a homeless man in Panorama City in an unprovoked shooting.

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Local

Urbanize LA readers chose Streets For All’s proposal to extend the Ballona Creek bike path as the city’s best transportation project of the past year.

Newly freed Britney Spears is one of us, taking a spin on a high-performance ebike that looks more like a dirt bike with pedals, with a top speed of around 28 mph.

 

State

The San Diego Union-Tribune looks forward to Sunday’s annual Encinitas Cyclovia, combining open streets, live music, safety clinics and a bike rodeo for the kids.

An op-ed from the wife of a fallen San Diego bike rider killed by a wrong way driver, along with the advocacy manager for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, takes the Union-Tribune to task for an editorial cartoon showing a business owner run over by bike riders, while saying the city needs to do far more to improve safety for people on bicycles and prevent more needless deaths.

A mountain biker was airlifted to a Riverside hospital with moderate injuries after he rode off an embankment on a Jurupa Valley trail, just north of the Pomona Freeway.

 

National

The National Complete Streets Coalition has put together a handy dandy little tool to help you calculate the benefits of any Complete Streets project, including safety, health, the environment and the economy.

A Colorado letter writer complains about the sentence given the speeding driver who killed pro mountain biker Benjamin Sonntag, calling the three-year sentence “pitiful,” especially since he could get out in just 18 months.

A Wisconsin man was able to get his stolen bike back after spotting it for sale online; police arrested the thieves when the man set up a meeting, and recovered several other purloined bicycles, as well.

That’s more like it, part two. New York-based grocery delivery service Buyk is expanding into Chicago with a commitment to deliver purchases within 15 minutes, without delivery fees, while paying their delivery riders a competitive wage starting at $17 per hour. Maybe we can talk them into coming to Los Angeles next.

Santa Monica based-Lime destroyed around 1,000 bicycles when they pulled out of South Bend, Indiana before the pandemic, despite donating 100 bikes to the city as the basis of a new community bikeshare system, and sending 200 bikes to Africa for people in need.

Unbelievable. The Allegheny County medical examiner ruled that the death of a Pittsburgh man was accidental, even after he was tased by police eight to ten times for the crime of taking an apparently abandoned bicycle around the block for a test ride. Which makes you wonder what the hell the cops would have to do to call it a homicide.

New York Streetsblog highlights five dangerous neighborhoods new Mayor Eric Adams needs to address to get the city’s failing Vision Zero back on track. There’s no way to get LA’s Vision Zero back on track, because it never was on track to begin with.

 

International

Bike Radar offers a complete guide to immersive chain waxing, calling it the gold standard for lubricating your bike chain.

A university in the Netherlands is testing out an 82-foot section of a smart bike path, complete with embedded with sensors, 3D cameras, wifi, radar and bluetooth, which can tell researchers how many people are using it, how fast they’re going and when; smart paths could ultimately be used to keep bike riders from waiting at red lights in bad weather, or direct riders to a faster route if it gets too busy.

The BBC shines a well-deserved spotlight on a 17-year old Ghanan boy who builds handmade wooden e-motorbikes to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. Even if the report is written in pidgin English. Seriously, I’ve known a number of people from Ghana, most of whom speak English at least as well I do, if not better.

Aussie researchers are looking at the worldwide trend of nonprofit bicycle kitchens that provide tools, second hand parts and bikes, and help with repairs, as well as offering a hub for community building. That’s true for several LA bike co-ops, including the Bicycle Kitchen, Bikerowave, The Bike Oven and the Ride On! Bike Shop in Leimert Park.

A Kenyon man spent three months riding the 2,700 miles from Malinda, Kenya to Durbin, South Africa to raise funds for orphans, while suffering three crashes along the way.

A Philippine website remembers a 74-year old endurance athlete and medal-winning triathlete who died recently from a stroke, competing for decades after losing his leg in a 1978 bombing that killed his 16-year old brother.

 

Competitive Cycling

Irish cyclist Dan Martin calls it a career after becoming just one of three Irish riders to win a stage in each of the Grand Tours, living up to his promise that he would walk away when he stopped enjoying it.

 

Finally…

Your next bike helmet could look like a turtle and unfold with the pull of a string. Arnold has to tell his ebike “I’ll be back” after being spotted with a plastic boot on his leg.

And apparently, blue is for boys and pink is for girls — even when it comes to pro cycling kits.

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

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