Day 351 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
Just 7 days left in the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Thanks to Beverly, Michael and another Michael for their generous donations to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy!
But time’s quickly running out! Just seven days — one short week — left to give.
So stop what you’re doing, and take a moment right now to donate through PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.
Just relax, already, and give now!
………
No surprise here.
The Torrance City Council voted 6 to 1 to approve the proposal cracking down on ebikes. And managed to once again conflate electric motorbikes with ped-assist ebikes.
To wit, according to the Daily Breeze,
Earlier this month, for example, a 22-year-old individual was arrested for riding their e-bike inside the Del Amo Fashion Center — and nearly hitting a mall security officer who got in their path.
“When contacted by mall security personnel,” Torrance Police Department Lt. Charles Fisher said following the arrest, “the rider allegedly attempted to strike a security officer with the minibike, constituting an assault with a deadly weapon.”
While the individual was charged with a felony, the Police Department has limited enforcement ability otherwise, Fisher said.
Note that the police lieutenant clearly identified it as a minibike. But because of incidents like that, which have nothing whatsoever to do with kids riding Class 1 ebikes to school, or commuters riding their e-cargo bike to work, they somehow have to crack down on everyone.
Again, according the the Daily Breeze — which embargoed the story behind their paywall while I was in the middle of writing about it —
The code was amended to include class three e-bikes – a bike that offers pedal assistance up to 28 mph – under the definition of a bicycle, meaning they must follow all applicable traffic laws when it comes to where and when a bicyclist can ride.
The ordinance also prohibits class three e-bikes from being ridden on any sidewalks, or in city parks and recreational facilities. Regular bicycles are also not allowed on sidewalks in business districts or adjacent to schools, churches, recreation centers and playgrounds. And any stunt riding, including wheelies and other “acrobatic maneuvers,” and the use of handheld devices while operating a bicycle are prohibited for any bicyclist, under the ordinance.
So a kid riding an ebike to school will be forced to ride in the street, mixing it up with drivers doing 45 mph, rather than being allowed on the far-safer sidewalks.
And this in a town without a single protected bikeway. Because that would require removing parking spaces, and might somehow make someone somewhere just a tad inconvenienced.
So allowing people free storage for their big, dangerous machines right next to the curb is more important than the lives of little kids, as far as Torrance is concerned.
Noted.
As others have said, when someone shows you who they are, believe them.
And they certainly did.
………
About damn time.
CD11 Councilmember Traci Park is calling for a barrier protected bike lane along Jefferson Blvd between Culver and Lincoln boulevards, creating a safe route connecting “Playa Vista to Playa del Rey while respecting the restored Ballona Wetlands trail,” according to Park.
The proposal call for allocating $175,000 from the Coastal Transportation Corridor Trust Fund to install K-rail barriers along the shoulder of the roadway for a quick-build solution to improve safety.
Which offers Park the added benefit preventing the return of a large RV encampment that was recently cleared.
There’s no word on when her motion will be heard by the city council, but it’s worth considering. Although a lot depends on the condition of the pavement on that shoulder she wants to repurpose.
………
‘Tis the season.
A Catholic nonprofit is teaming with a San Jose bike shop to distribute 100 bikes to kids in the local area.
A Scranton, PA state senator’s annual bike giveaway program distributed 2,000 new, mostly identical, bicycles to local kids, double the total from last year.
A South Carolina program is distributing four refurbished bicycles to randomly selected people in the local area.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A British lord is once again calling for a crackdown on bicyclists, insisting that London is the “Wild West” for bike riders, urging mandatory bike registration, penalty points linked to driving licenses and stricter speed limits on ebikes. Never mind that both the Conservatives and Labour parties have batted down similar proposals a number of times recently.
………
………
Local
Here’s a great idea. If you rent a Lime bike in LA, you can now round up your total rental price, with the extra money going to fund BikeLA, aka the former Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.
State
San Francisco public television station KQED remembered a 21-year old Stanford student who was killed while riding his bike on campus last spring; the Pakistani student, who was born in the US and raised in Lahore, was mourned by people in both countries.
National
Velo picks the year’s best road bikes.
As we mentioned the other day, Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes lived down to expectations by filing bankruptcy, declaring debts of a whopping $73 million.
A Japanese man is crediting luck and the kindness of strangers for allowing him to continue his journey from New York to Los Angeles, after his bicycle was stolen in Albuquerque, New Mexico; local residents provided donations, and he spotted someone riding his bike a few days later, paying the man the $40 to get his bike back and get back on the road to LA.
A 70-year old man from the next town over from my Colorado hometown was blown away by yesterday’s winds. No, literally.
A homeless man from Boulder, Colorado was sentenced to 96 years behind bars after police found the body of a 19-year old woman wrapped in plastic in his abandoned bike trailer; she had apparently been there for several days, after her boyfriend had traded her to her killer for drugs.
Once again, someone riding a bicycle has paid the ultimate price for a police chase, as a 31-year old Nashville bicyclist was collateral damage, killed by a hit-and-run driver fleeing from the cops, who the escaped into the woods after the crash while leaving his female passenger behind.
If you build it, they will come. Boston’s Better Bike Lanes project to install protected bike lanes throughout the metro area has resulted in a substantial increase in bicycle trips, along with a modest decrease in motor vehicle traffic.
That’s more like it. An op-ed on a Queens, New York website agrees with the recent court ruling halting a new bike lane on 31st Street — but only because the bike lane didn’t got far enough to improve safety.
International
The Toronto city council unanimously approved dozens of bike lanes in the city’s inner suburbs, which carefully skirt the new provincial ban on removing traffic lanes.
No bias here. Readers of a Bristol, England website are up in arms over new bike lanes, alleging that the construction is complicating their lives and making traffic worse, instead of better. As if every road construction project doesn’t the same problems.
Five men in Yorkshire, England were convicted of murdering a 28-year old man by breaking into his home and slashing his neck, in a dispute over a stolen ebike.
No justice in the UK, where a truck driver was acquitted for killing a 52-year old wife and mother as she was riding her bike, after playing the universal Get Out Of Jail Free card by claiming he just didn’t see her because the sun was in his eyes.
British broadcaster and bicycle advocate Jeremy Vine received the equivalent of over $800,000 after filing a defamation suit against a former soccer player who called him a “bike nonce” on Twitter/X; nonce is British slang for a pedophile.
Bicyclists in South Africa were outraged after a 27-year old man was released on the equivalent of less than $900 bail despite being accused of killing a 41-year old husband and father riding a bicycle, while speeding and driving under the influence.
Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — okay, mine — with a bicyclist’s guide to New Zealand’s breathtaking “remote and spectacular” Timber Trail through dense virgin forestland.
Competitive Cycling
It’s the winter fashion season, and the Ineos Grenadiers opt for bold orange and white, guaranteed to stand out on the runway or in the peloton, although not everyone is a fan — which appears to be an understatement.
Bike Radar names Britain’s Archie Atkinson as their newcomer of the year, while the 21-year old Paris silver medalist aims to become the first paracyclist on the WorldTour.
Reuters is capping the 2025 cycling season by arguing that Tadej Pogačar is nearing GOAT territory, comparing him to the great Eddy Merkx.
USA Cycling unveiled its 2026 national championship schedule for 21 various cycling disciplines.
Finally…
That feeling when you ride your bike to your cousin the king’s royal Christmas lunch. Your next gravel bike could be ebike seconds later.
And no, speed limits don’t deter “considerate cyclists.” Just like they don’t deter considerate drivers.
Or inconsiderate ones, for that matter.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
