Every night is a battle to do my work while managing my diabetes, and fighting off the combined effect of the multiple medications required to control both it and my neuropathy.
And which most nights requires copious quantities of coffee just to function sufficiently to update this site.
And even that doesn’t always help.
Last night I lost that battle, passing out in mid-sentence with my laptop still on my lap.
So please forgive me once again.
I’m working with my doctors to adjust my medications to keep this from happening. Or at least, happening so often.
As usual, I’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on anything we’ve missed.
The increase in bicycle deaths came despite what police officials said at the meeting was an across-the-board drop in serious traffic collisions in the city so far this year — fatal collisions and crashes resulting in serious injuries were down 10 percent, Moore said. Fatal vehicle-on-pedestrian crashes were also down significantly, falling 25 percent.
There were 18 cyclists killed in Los Angeles for all of 2017, and police officials said after the fatal collisions in April, the city appeared to be on track to match that total again…
Los Angeles statistics collected as part of the city’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths showed that while all deaths from traffic collisions over the last three years, cyclist deaths continued to rise. In the San Fernando Valley, there were just three cyclist deaths in 2015, while last year there were eight.
In case you’re wondering, this is why I’m going to City Hall on the 18th, to demand our elected leaders have the courage to do the right thing.
It’s time to call the city council on their inaction on Vision Zero, and their repeated capitulations to traffic safety deniers in shelving vital lane reductions and other street safety projects.
And doing little more than talking about doing something to halt hit-and-run, while bicyclists and pedestrians — and even motorists — continue to suffer the consequences of their inaction.
………
Speaking of which, if you can’t join me on the 18th — or even if you can — feel free to send a letter demanding for safer streets for you, me and everyone else. Just email your letter to me by Wednesday, May 16th to ted at bikinginla dot com.
I’ll print them out and include them with the packages we’re giving each councilmember and the mayor, containing copies of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing.
A couple quick tips if you plan to write a letter.
If you can, try to work in the theme of our protest by asking them to have the courage to do the right thing.
Mention what council districts you live, work or ride in.
Stress that safer streets benefit everyone, whether on bikes, on foot or in cars.
Feel free to (politely) express whatever anger or fear you may be feeling
Demand they take immediate action to protect us all
………
A new study from the LA County Department of Health concludes that if Los Angeles actually built out the city’s Mobility Plan 2035 — which seems highly unlikely at this point — it could prevent up to 4,600 cases of cardiovascular disease each year, while saving over $160 million per year in health costs.
Which is just one more reason city leaders need to do the right thing. And one less reason to wonder what that is.
The South Pasadena Police Department will be conducting stepped-up bike and pedestrian safety operations throughout this month. You know the drill — ride to the letter of the law until you’re outside their jurisdiction. You don’t want to celebrate Bike Month with a traffic ticket.
President Trump once again criticized former Secretary of State John Kerry for breaking his leg while riding his bike, saying you don’t enter a bike race at 73, and you’d never see him (Trump) in a bike race. Except Kerry was only 71 at the time of the crash, he was just out for a bike ride with full security during a break in tense negotiations, not competing in a race, and more than a few people older than that still race. And at least Kerry can ride a bike.
There’s a special place in hell for the red light-running driver who struck an Illinois bike rider with her car, then got out to pick up her license plate before driving off and leaving him bleeding in the street.
A London man was hospitalized in critical condition after a collision with a man riding a bike near a busy tube station. A reminder to always use caution around pedestrians, because they’re the only ones more vulnerable than we are. And they don’t always use caution around us.
Paris is demanding emergency action after a disastrous change in management companies for the city’s famed Vélib’ bikeshare system has left much of it inoperable.
A 20-year old student at Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia is now a double U.S. Collegiate Cycling champ, after winning the road championship to go with the mountain biking title she won last fall.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A 70-year old Kiwi cyclist keeps a deathbed promise to his friend to compete in race around a New Zealand mountain and finishes second, despite saying he’s not a racer; his friend had won the same race over 60 years earlier.
Once again, a pro cyclist has been injured in a crash with a race moto, as British hill climb champ Joscelin Lowden suffered a broken clavicle after crashing with a security bike. Maybe someday, race organizers will finally figure out that motor vehicles don’t belong in the damn peloton.
We’ve met our fundraising goals to send a message to LA’s elected leaders, raising $400 in less than 48 hours to give them each a copy of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing.
I’ll be headed to city council meeting on the morning of Friday, May 18th to storm City Hall, and personally deliver them to demand safer streets.
Santa Monica came in a surprising seventh, with San Diego, which has made huge strides in recent years, just two steps lower.
Do I really need to mention that Fort Collins and San Diego only became bike friendly after I left them? Maybe I should move away from Los Angeles, so it can finally become the bike paradise it can and should — or at least somewhat less auto-focused — be once I’m gone.
Speaking of which, you’ll find the City of Angels on the second page, at what would be number 33 if they were numbered, which I suspect is a lot higher than most bike riders would rank it.
And no city ranked higher than 3.5 on the organization’s five point scale, which means there’s a lot of room for improvement, even in the best cities.
Also this Saturday, the Wolfpack Hustle Forsyth Cup takes place at the Encino Velodrome, sponsored by BikinginLA sponsor Thomas Forsyth; fans can feast on free hot dogs, tacos and water as long as they last.
May 14-18: Bike to Work Week – National bike to work week encourages people to switch up their morning commutes by riding their bikes to work.
May 16: Ride of Silence – The Ride of Silence honors those who have lost their lives or have been seriously injured while bicycling. Groups will depart at dusk, around 7 p.m., from locations in Fullerton, Irvine and Orange.
May 17: OCTA Bike Rally – The sixth annual event and ride is planned from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. starting at the Orange Metrolink Station, 194 N. Atchison St. and ending at the OCTA Headquarters, 550 S. Main St. in Orange.
May 18: Bike to Work Day – National bike to work day is recognized throughout the U.S. and gives people the opportunity to try a different way to commute.
CiclaValley escapes to Camp 9, one of the most accessible rides from the San Fernando Valley.
A letter writer chooses parking over a two-way bike lane on Pasadena’s Union Street, but can’t seem to distinguish between Santa Monica parking garages and on-street parking.
A 79-year old Laguna Beach man is planning for his next 5k, despite a collision with a truck that coast him a leg, and a head-on crash with a bike rider that left him with a broken neck and mostly paralyzed from the neck down. Seriously, slow the hell down and ride carefully around pedestrians; they’re the only ones more vulnerable on the streets than we are.
Tres shock! A Seattle study shows that dockless bikeshare is a success in the city, with an average of nearly one rider per bike per day. But ridership goes down in bad weather — just like it does anywhere else, for any kind of bike riding.
This is the cost of traffic violence. Friends and family remember a Purdue University student who died after a collision with a pickup, allegedly caused when he ran a red light.
The driver who fled the scene after running down a cyclist on Tennessee’s Natchez Trace Parkway last year — perhaps intentionally — will plead guilty in a plea deal.
A new study from Penn State University reveals that most people overestimate the time it would take to ride a bike somewhere. Which means that bicycling is a more viable option than most people think.
Too true. A Pittsburgh bike commuter says “There is no amount of bad behavior by cyclists that can remotely compare with the callous disregard for life displayed by these motorists.”
Baltimore’s repeat drunk driving Episcopal bishop asks if she can spend the rest of her sentence for killing a bike rider in a drunken 2014 hit-and-run in the comfort of her own home. The victim’s sister reasonably calls the request “unconscionable,” which pretty well sums up the whole damn thing.
May 3, 2018 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Raising funds to storm city hall, great new DIY bike PSA, and getting dropped by an ebike
Just a quick update.
As of this writing, we’ve raised $310 — just $90 short of our $400 goal — to give copies of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing to the Mayor of Los Angeles and every member of the city council.
All to give them a not so subtle hint to show a little courage and do the right thing to protect the lives of everyone who walks, bikes or drives on the streets of Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, we have to change the original date, since the council won’t be in session on Bike to Work Day.
Instead, we’re in the process of selecting a new date, the morning of either Wednesday, May 16th before the Ride of Silence, or — more likely — Friday, May 18th before Bike Night at Union Station.
If this doesn’t put a smile on your face this morning, nothing will. Just in time for Bike Month, a new DIY PSA cobbled together from movie footage artfully makes the case for riding bikes instead of driving.
………
It’s one thing to get dropped. It’s another to get passed by a ebike rider like you’re not even moving.
The family of a fallen Texas cyclist has filed suit against the driver that killed him, as well as a passenger in the car, after the driver walked with time served, without spending a day in prison, despite a two-year sentence for manslaughter. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the heads-up.
May 2, 2018 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Storm City Hall for safer streets on May 18th, and killer Kalamazoo driver convicted of murder
As the great prophet Howard Beale once said, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
And I’m willing to march on City Hall by myself if that’s what it takes.
I’ve spent the last several weeks trying, and failing, to get support from LA advocacy groups for a plan for bike riders and pedestrians to storm city hall on Bike to Work Day this month to demand safer streets.
While I understand their need for campaigns and strategic planning, too many people are dying right now. And too many city councilmembers are backing away from the promises we were made.
So if this isn’t the right time for action, when is?
As I struggled with my own anger over the recent rash of bicycling fatalities and fatal hit-and-runs, I kept coming back to the questions of if not me, then who? And if not now, when?
Do we wait until someone else dies? Or twenty more people?
Do we wait until the next road diet is cancelled by councilmembers caving to angry drivers and traffic safety deniers?
And when is the right time to demand demand safer streets? As the Chinese proverb famously says, the best time would have been 20 years ago.
The second best time is now.
It’s my intention to give the mayor and every member of the council a copy of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing, and see if they get the message. If we can raise just $400 in the next week to cover the costs, I’ll do it.
Besides, we only need another $375, thanks to a donation from Douglas M to get things started.
But either way, I’m going to be there on May 18th, even if that means standing alone before the city council.
Because something needs to be done now.
I hope you’ll join me. And help spread the word, so we can get as many people as possible to show up that day.
And I hope you’ll consider making a contribution to help send a message to the council that it’s time to show a little courage and do the right thing.
Update: I’ve been reminded that the LA City Council doesn’t meet on Thursdays, so doing this on Bike to Work Day won’t work.
The question is whether it’s better do storm city hall on Tuesday, May 15th after the Blessing of the Bicycles, Wednesday the 16th before the Ride of Silence, or Friday the 18th before Bike Night at Union Station.
So what works better for you? Let me know in the comments below.
Update 2: It looks like Friday, May 18th works for more people. So that’s the day we’re storming City Hall.
Boston magazine offers an in-depth examination of the events leading up to the death of a brilliant surgeon when she was right hooked by a truck driver while riding to work. And the police investigation that went out of its way to blame the victim.
………
Local
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined with other mayors around the world to issue a Commitment to Green and Healthy Streets, envisioning “a future where walking, cycling, and shared transport are how the majority of citizens move around our cities.” However, as Streetsblog points out, it takes more than lip service to be a climate mayor. It will be very hard for LA to live up to that commitment as long as city councilmembers are free to cancel safety and Complete Streets projects to appease angry drivers.
NACTO presents a nationwide study of bikeshare in the US; while docked bikes outnumber dockless bikes 56% to 44%, only 4% of the actual trips are taken by dockless bikeshare. Something that’s likely to change as dockless bikeshare matures in this country.
A Spokane WA bike commuter compares bicyclists to the NRA, and says some bike riders in the city are just jerks. Bicyclists are human, some humans are jerks. Therefore, some bicyclists will inevitably be jerks. Just like some drivers and pedestrians.
Houston residents are calling for changes after two people are killed in the same spot while riding bikes in the last two years; a crowdfunding campaign raised $15,000 to send the latest victim’s body back to India.
Around 50 Brisbane, Australia bicyclists stage a die-in to call for better bike safety, tying up traffic during the morning rush hour. While the technique can be effective, we don’t win any friends by inconveniencing people just trying to get to work.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and I own a business in Los Angeles that designs and distributes commuter and urban bicycles with a mission to “get more people on bikes.” I am embarrassed to live in a city that is called the “hit and run capital of the nation,” and that doesn’t make it a priority to keep our streets safe. I am embarrassed that I can’t even ride my bike to work without being called irresponsible by my wife and my parents, and who ask me if I want my one-year-old daughter to grow up without her dad. I am embarrassed that I advertise the benefits of bike riding to my customers and urge them to try to replace car rides with bike rides, even though my friends and family refuse to ride due to safety concerns. I can’t even explain the disappointment that I feel over the safety issues that bike riders and walkers have in Los Angeles, and it is clear that something must change immediately….
Over three years ago you signed an ambitious and exciting plan called the Vision Zero Initiative and declared that you were determined to bring the number of people killed while walking and biking to zero. Since then, we’ve lost over 500 Los Angelenos to the dangerous conditions of our city’s streets. I am asking you to stand up and recommit to Vision Zero, and request that City Council do the same.
We need you to lead and support our City Councilmembers in prioritizing the safety of their constituents. Please stand up for safe streets so that we can have in your words, “a well-run city… A prosperous city… A safe city… A city of opportunity.”
Seriously, take a few minutes to read it, then pass it on to everyone you know.
And demand an answer from the mayor.
Photo: Pure Cycle’s new head badge, taken from their Twitter account.
………
The LAPD is looking for the public’s help in solving the murder of 39-year old Jamal Lewis, who was fatally shot while riding is bike on West 11th Street last month.
Brea is officially opening final segment of a four-mile bike and pedestrian trail; five other segments have been in use for months. The trail will also link with 66-mile OC Loop bikeway circling Orange County, which is about 66 miles longer than its LA County counterpart.
Contra Costa County has identified the victim of a bicycle collision who was killed last week, allegedly after inexplicably swerving into the side of an SUV. After all, it couldn’t possibly have been the result of an unsafe and illegally close pass.
Fox News looks at National Bike Month, which starts today, including various bike tours across the US, along with LA’s own Bike to Work Day on the 17th. Although I want to hold out for that Elvis Pilgrimage ride traveling between Tupelo, Memphis and Nashville.
An Oregon driver has had his license permanently revoked for being an idiot, when a 76-year old Corvette driver challenged two other motorists to a street race; after they refused, he sped off and killed a man on a bike while doing 80 mph. He also got a well deserved two years in jail.
A Houston letter writer notes the risks posed by drivers and a lack of bike infrastructure in the city, then complains about people who ride their bikes on the sidewalk or filter to the front of the line at an intersection. Apparently failing to realize that the latter could be how bicyclists attempt to deal with the former.
Life is cheap in New Hampshire, where a hit-and-run bike rider walked with a lousy $100 fine for riding on the sidewalk, after he fell into a 91-year old woman who died a day later after she was found lying on the sidewalk. Seriously, there’s no more excuse for a bike rider who leaves the scene after crashing into someone than there is for a driver — especially if someone dies as a result.
A Toronto-based writer says it’s time to make protected bike lanes and sidewalks a part of every road design to protect against dangerous drivers, as well as motor vehicle attacks like the recent murderous assault in the city. As we’ve noted before, despite automotive terrorist attacks around the world, Los Angeles still hasn’t done anything to protect people on Hollywood Blvd, perhaps the city’s most vulnerable tourist site.
Philippa York, who gained fame as former pro cyclist Robert Millar, says bicycling’s macho culture prevents riders and support staff from coming out as gay. Tell that to all those drivers who assume anyone in spandex must be.
My favorite event, the annual Blessing of the Bicycles will take place at Good Samaritan Hospital near DTLA on May 15th.
And you can ride the Metro Bike bike share for just one dollar for the month of May when you sign up using the code BIKEMONTH2018; after the first one, it will cost $20 for each additional month.
As seems to happen in any public discussion of bicycles, at least one person insisted “When bikes start paying the registration fees that fund our streets, then they can start sharing our lanes.”
Which demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of both who the streets are for and how local streets are paid for.
So let’s be very clear. Neither gas taxes or registration fees pay for more than a small portion of the building and maintenance of local streets; the overwhelming portion comes from local taxes, which we all pay.
Although that may change to some degree with the state’s recent gas tax increase — if it survives an attempt to have it repealed this fall.
And our streets have never been the property of fee-paying motorists; streets are for the movement of people and goods, some of whom will be on foot, some on bikes, some using transit, and some in motor vehicles. Usually alone.
Funny how so many LA drivers seem to feel they have a God-given right to the road.
And aren’t willing to concede a single inch of it to anyone else.
………
The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is back in the market for a new Executive Director.
Erik is leaving the organization after two years of working with LACBC, first as its Development Director, then as its Deputy Executive Director of Advancement, and finally as its Executive Director. A father of two, Erik will be moving with his family to Australia, where his wife accepted a position as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney…
As LACBC enters its 20th year and begins a strategic planning process to outline the next five years, staff remains committed, more than ever, to making streets safer for those biking and walking in Los Angeles County. It is an exciting time for the organization, and the team is looking for an Executive Director to lead the team, LACBC members, and bicycle advocates across the county, to create safer streets in Los Angeles County. If you have an amazing candidate in mind, please send us an email.
The next time some NIMBY tries to tell you handicapped people can’t ride bikes, tell them about Jenn Ramsey, who’s ridden the eight-day, 575-mile California Coast Classic a dozen times, even though her crippling arthritis prevents her from standing for more than 30 minutes.
An Op-Ed from San Luis Obispo, where NIMBYs have risen up to fight a proposed bikeway, insists that bike riders aren’t the enemy.
A writer for the SF Gatecalls out what he calls Car Blindness, the double standard in which people easily see the relatively minor problems caused by bikes, scooters and pedestrians, but can’t see the major problems caused by motor vehicles.
Redding officials consider closing a roadway entirely to allow for a safe crossing for a new bike and pedestrian trail. Meanwhile, Los Angeles officials won’t even remove a single traffic lane to improve safety for everyone.
There is something terribly wrong with any society where anyone feels the need to give advice on how to properly survive getting hit by a car.Never mind that most cars actually have drivers, which the article fails to mention. Thanks to Steven Messer and J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.
After a reader complains to a Michigan paper, saying someone needs to teach bicyclists the rules of the road, a columnist responds “Whoever does the training, I’m hoping they do a better job than they did with the car and pickup drivers.”
After Columbus OH opened a new two-way cycle track, bike collisions nearly tripled; authorities blamed a jump in ridership, combined with a break-in period for people to get used to the new lanes.
If you build it, they will come. Bicycling rates jump in Victoria, British Columbia, after the opening of a new, safer bridge with bike lanes in each direction.
A writer for the Financial Times says London cyclists are abominable, and she knows because she’s one of them — and she’ll continue to break the law until streets are made with bikes in mind.
An English letter writer says she doesn’t ride a bike in her home town, but would like to if she felt safer. Surveys consistently show that roughly two-thirds of the people in the US feel the same way — including here in Los Angeles.
This is who we share the roads with. A man in the UK learns the hard way that if you’re going to put your Tesla on autopilot, at least stay in the driver’s seat.
According to a post by “radical Islam” writer Daniel Greenfield, urban bicycling poses a danger to cars and pedestrians, as well as bicyclists.
Bicycles are unpredictable vehicles. They crash much more easily. They’re driven erratically. Drivers have trouble spotting them and correcting. So do pedestrians. And bicyclists have to maneuver on roads that are built for large wheeled vehicles or for walking people. No amount of bike lanes will change that.
The urban cycling movement has gotten more people on bikes. But that comes with a false sense of familiarity. Riding a bike as an adult in urban traffic is very different than riding a bike down a suburban street as a kid. The risks are different and so are the reflexes.
Although about the only risk bike riders pose to cars is that we might scratch a fender. Or get blood all over the hood when the driver smashes into us.
But what’s really killing people are the careless, aggressive and/or distracted drivers in deadly 2,000 pound machines.
Bikes aren’t dangerous.
The people and vehicles we share the roads with are.
………
Don’t hold your breath waiting for changes on Pasadena’s Orange Grove Blvd.
Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed grassroots opposition group patterned after KeepLAMoving — and at least partially run by a founder of that group, giving lie to its supposed Pasadena roots — claims that it’s continuing to gain members.
Although someone might want to tell them that Facebook friends and supporters tend to fade away in real life.
………
Local
Ace of Cakes star Duff Goldman is one of us, losing nearly 30 pounds since the West LA resident participated in the first California Chefs Cycle in 2015.
Nice piece from a Berkeley resident, who says his bicycle allows him to explore the diversity and complexities of the Bay Area, just as bicycles did for other residents over a hundred years earlier.
An Idaho Stop bill allowing local jurisdictions to decide whether cyclists can treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stops has passed the Colorado legislature; the governor is expected to sign it.
A Texas man faces DUI, DUI assault and hit-and-run charges for killing two bike riders and seriously injuring another when he drifted off the road and ran them down from behind as they rode on the shoulder of a highway. Note to MRT.com: When a truck runs down three bicyclists at highway speeds, it really doesn’t matter if they were wearing helmets.
Iceland is quadrupling fines for bicycle violations, from running a red light — which was not previously illegal — to putting a sidecar on the wrong side of a bicycle.
Fabian Cancellara fights back against motor doping charges by offering to let people examine his bike. Even though there’s no way of knowing whether it was the actual bike he was riding when he was accused of using an illegal motor, since it’s not unusual to use multiple bikes during a race.
A writer for SBNation says Lance took al the fun out of it when he settled his lawsuit with the US government for $5 million.
A new study from AAA shows that hit-and-run crashes are at an all-time high in the US. Something that is born out by simple observation these days.
It should also come as no surprise that the overwhelming majority of fatal hit-and-run victims — nearly two-thirds — were bicyclists or pedestrians.
And 20% of all pedestrian deaths are the result of hit-and-run drivers.
The only surprise is California was not one of the worst states for the crime, which was led by New Mexico, Louisiana and Florida.
Then the report dips into absurdity by offering drivers advice on how not to flee the scene following a crash.
AAA said drivers can avoid hit-and-run crashes by being aware of their surroundings, yielding to crossing pedestrians even if they’re not in designated crosswalks and giving cyclists “plenty” of space when passing them on the road. Should drivers get involved in a crash with a pedestrian or cyclist, AAA State Relations Director Jennifer Ryan said they should stay on the scene because the penalties for fleeing are “significantly” more severe, regardless of who is at fault for the crash.
Actually, the way drivers can avoid being involved in a hit-and-run is to just take their foot off the gas and stop their damn car.
Seriously, is that so hard?
But the problem is, while the penalties for fleeing may be more severe than the drivers might otherwise face, they may be less severe than other factors, such as driving under the influence or without a valid license or insurance. Which can actually give a driver an incentive to flee.
And some drivers just assume that they’ll never get caught — and in most cases, they’re right.
Of course, while AAA did a great job of highlighting the problem, they were silent on any real solutions.
Apparently there’s not much reasoning going on at Reason these days, as the conservative website says don’t blame WAZE for shifting traffic onto neighborhood streets, blame local officials for not building more freeways and traffic lanes. In other words, keep doubling down on the auto-centric planning and induced demand that got us into this mess.
An Aussie state scraps a proposal for presumed liability after police stats show bicyclists were at fault in 41% of traffic collisions involving bikes. Which has little to do with it, of course; presumed liability simply assumes the driver of the more dangerous vehicle has a greater responsibility to avoid crashes, and should be held at fault unless it can be shown that the other party was responsible. But that last part usually gets ignored in the resulting uproar anytime someone proposes it.
Former Dutch pro cyclist Karsten Kroon admitted to doping during his career, which ended four years ago. At this point it probably makes more sense to do breaking news stories on the riders who didn’t dope. If they can find any.
Evidently, shorts-clad bike cops chasing miscreants is comedy gold. When you have no idea what the hell you’re doing, the easiest solution is just to ban something — like ebikes, for instance.
April 25, 2018 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Getting facts straight on Venice, fight for safer streets in South LA, and Forsyth Cup returns
Nothing, he points out, could be further from the truth.
Ultimately, the data is clear: the Venice Road Diets did not result in an increase in injuries along that stretch of road. At worst, injuries have remained flat from 2016 in 2017 during the same time period. The Great Streets project isn’t some unsafe wasteland — it’s alternative infrastructure that works just as well as it did before.
When coupling this with LADOT data on commute times remaining largely unchanged (at worst, the average commute increased by half a minute), there is ultimately no real argument to be made from collision data for the removal of the road diet. The folks behind KeepLAMoving (who seem to be content hiding their identities) are, at best, misrepresenting the data, and at worst, deliberately misleading the Venice community for some ulterior motive.
………
It looks like bike riders in South LA are trying to turn their anger over the recent hit-and-runs and the deaths of their friends into positive action.
Jane Voodikon forwarded news of a community meeting tomorrow night to address the issue.
Just wanted to let you know that Edin of Chief Lunes Ride has organized a Bicycle Community Meeting this Thursday at 7 p.m. at Sole Bicycles, USC Village location (835 W. Jefferson) to discuss what concerned cyclists can do in the face of recent hit and runs, and the general lack of infrastructure for cycling in South LA. All are welcome to attend, and if you can help spread the word, we’d appreciate it!
Let’s hope a big crowd turns out and demands real change for a change.
………
The recently postponed Wolfpack Hustle: The Forsyth Cup 2018 series of track races at the Encino Velodrome have been rescheduled for five Saturdays in the coming months.
And The Guardian asks if the ride-share electric scooters that have taken over the streets of Santa Monica are the future of urban transport.
………
Local
CD15 Councilmember Joe Buscaino testified before the LA city council Transportation Committee to make the case for a proposed cycle track connecting parks and business districts in the port area. Let’s hope this gets the backing it deserves.
Pasadena will hold another public meeting to discuss the proposed complete streets makeover of Union Street on May 9th. Don’t miss the cool mouse-over demo of what the street could look like if NIMBYs and traffic safety deniers don’t get their way.
A British triathlete’s efforts to complete a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile overnight ride to London to compete in the London Marathon were derailed by a pothole in the road.
Thanks to Danila O for her generous contribution to the unofficial BikinginLA Dead Laptop Replacement Fund. As always, any donation in any amount is deeply appreciated.
