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.
March 8, 2024 /
bikinginla / 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.
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.
Just where LA voted for Measure HLA for Safe Streets Based on current counts as of 3.6.2024
My office, @theworksla, is busy working through the data making maps!
Let us know if you need services developing preliminary maps with the primary so far! pic.twitter.com/61snA9NHLI
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.
March 8, 2024 /
bikinginla / 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.
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!
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 Timesapplauded 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.
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.
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.”
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
March 5, 2024 /
bikinginla / 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.
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!
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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.
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.
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
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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.
“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.
“You got nothing better to do than film people? You’re a bike Nazi! I bet you got beat up in high school. That’s why you’re out here. I’m glad you got beat up in high school!”- unhinged older guy in a pickup to me at NE 72nd drive just now, before he peeled out. pic.twitter.com/vYfRFVHLWf
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.
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.
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.
March 2, 2024 /
bikinginla / 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And highlights the absurdity of their argument that HLA will slow response times for the crashes it’s designed to prevent.
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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.
@LADOTofficial e-newsletter says the new Parthenia Place bikeway has been completed. The new two-way parking-protected bikeway is along Parthenia Place between Sepulveda Blvd and Burnet Ave in North Hills. pic.twitter.com/6dwZqqPdDm
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.
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.
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.
February 29, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Elderly driver plows into 7 mountain bikers, and NTSB says AZ driver’s steering worked in crash that killed 2 and injured 17
Just 306 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
As of this writing, we’re still at 1,005 signatures, so let’s keep it going, and urge your friends, family and coworkers to keep signing the petition until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
The victims were allegedly riding on the wrong side of the road when an 85-year-old woman coming from the opposite direction crashed into them. Although other reports indicate the driver veered across the roadway to hit them head on.
Four of the group were injured, two critically, with another in moderate condition.
At this time, there’s no word on why they might have been riding against traffic, or if they were in the traffic lane or on the shoulder of the roadway.
The crash once again raises the question of how old is too old to drive, and how to take away the keys from drivers who shouldn’t have them.
The driver — identified as Pedro Quintana-Lujan — had claimed that the steering on his pickup had locked, causing him to plow through the mass of bicyclists riding in a bike lane alongside the highway, sparing just one of the 20 riders.
Quintana-Lujan was originally booked on suspicion of two counts of manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault, 18 counts of endangerment and two counts of causing serious injury or death by a moving violation.
But the bicycling community was outraged when the Maricopa County DA released Quintana-Lujan without charges, kicking the case down to the city prosecutor for possible misdemeanor charges.
Just another, you know, “oopsie.”
There’s no word on whether the DA will reconsider filing felony charges now that Quintana-Lujan’s excuse been disproven.
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No surprise here, as a new study shows that drivers tend to be blamed for crashes with pedestrians in pedestrianized areas, like urban downtowns. And pedestrians tend to get the blame when they’re struck by drivers in areas built to facilitate drivers zooming down the road.
“What we’re seeing in this research is that the built environment is a key factor. People make errors in judgment, but no one deserves to die or get injured for such errors. And they would be less likely to make these choices if there were more pedestrian infrastructure.”
Roads that are designed for driving put pedestrians at an added risk. Not only are they more likely to be hit but they are more likely to take the blame for it. This puts an added burden on those without vehicles or the ability to drive.
When New York City proposed installing a protected bike lane on Skillman Avenue in Queens in 2017, the impact it would have on local businesses was certain — at least according to the plan’s critics.
A devastating loss of customers. Revenue falling by 20 percent. Beloved shops forced to close their doors for good.
Those predictions were wrong.
Data obtained by Streetsblog through a Freedom of Information request shows the economy of Skillman Avenue grew after the city built the new lane in the fall of 2018, with revenue increasing and new businesses setting up shop.
Sales in the stores, bars and restaurants on Skillman’s main seven-block commercial stretch collectively rose by 12 percent after the lane went in, according to the data, which was provided by the city Department of Finance. There was also a net increase of three new businesses on the strip, a jump of 10 percent.
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More on LA’s Measure HLA on next week’s primary ballot, which would require the city to build out the already-approved Mobility Plan 2035 whenever a street in the plan is resurfaced.
Letter writers to the Times call for passing HLA, arguing that CicLAvia is proof Angelenos are hungry for alternatives to driving, and that we need safer streets, and not just added law enforcement.
Bike Culver City is hosting a Leap Year, craft beer, Handlebar Happy Hour tonight.
Leap Year Gathering! Join us at the Los Angeles Ale Works in Ivy station tomorrow Thursday, February 29th for our latest Handlebar Happy Hour. See you soon! pic.twitter.com/YM3EB6w8GA
A Santa Monica letter writer complains about a new affordable housing development on Santa Monica Blvd, because it has 146 bicycle parking spots, and none for cars. Never mind that at an average cost of $10,000 per vehicle parking spot, the builder reduced costs by $1.46 million.
New York commissioners unanimously passed a pair of bills aimed at reigning in the city’s rising death tolls from lithium-ion battery fires, including one restricting sales of non-UL certified batteries.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We made it!
As of this writing, we’re at 1,005 signatures! So let’s keep it going, and urge your friends, family and coworkers to sign the petition until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
The company plans to remain in operation for the next few months as it sells off existing inventory, but won’t place any further orders with suppliers.
There is some small hope, however, with swrve’s owners putting it on the market in hopes of attracting a new buyer.
Fingers crossed.
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A new video dissects the recent ebike ban in Key Biscayne, Florida, that followed the death of an elderly woman riding a bicycle who collided with a teenaged ebike rider.
The new version narrows the definition of a bicycle to being equipped with pedals, to prevent throttle-controlled bikes from being classified as ebikes.
Which could be a reasonable compromise to Encinitas Assembly Member Tasha Boerner’s bill to ban ebike use for kids under 12, and require online training to buy or ride an ebike for anyone without a driver’s license.
Defining an ebike as having operable pedals would continue to permit ped-assist ebikes, while reclassifying throttle-controlled bikes as subject added regulation.
However, they also single out the programs for promoting health, equity and cleaner air. Not to mention improving traffic congestion by reducing the number of vehicles on the road.
Something that California’s dramatically underfunded ebike voucher program could have been doing for the past two years — if the state had gotten its shit together and actually launched the damn thing.
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If you ever thought there was a lot going on in the LA area bicycling community, you’re right.
When I am assigned a special detail for bike lane enforcement. It is ZERO tolerance. Doesnt matter if you’re “only stopped for 2 mins” “but i have a pickup” “but i have a delivery” but,but,but …..no excuse. Park legally. These parking offences are zero tolerance and more restrictive for a reason. Bike lanes keep cyclist safe. This happened to be an area where there is no protection curb as its a driveway to a PARKING gargage. And a driver still shanelessly pulls in, turns their hazards. Guess whats the hazard? THE CAR. $150 tag to be served in the mail and other served to windshield #fyp#toronto#bikeTO#cycleto#cycletoronto#bikelanes#parkingticket#cyclist#parkingenforcement#parkingofficer#torontopolice#cars#biketok#downtown#parkingticket
Santa Monica police will conduct yet another Bike & Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operation today, ticketing any traffic violation that could endanger bike riders or pedestrians, regardless of who commits it. So once again, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line today, so you’re not the one who gets fined.
Laguna Nigel became the latest Orange County city to tighten ebike regulations, banning handheld cellphone use while riding a bike, prohibiting wheelies by ebike riders, and requiring a helmet for any ebike riders under 18. Even though state law already requires bike helmets for anyone under 18, and the other provisions are of questionable legality, since only the state has the authority to regulate bicycle use on public roads.
Seriously? Over 1,000 bicyclists are expected for Saturday’s annual Solvang Century Bike Ride, even if the local paper describes it as a “non-competitive race,” which is a complete contradiction of terms. Apparently, they don’t know any other words to describe multiple people on bicycles riding at the same time.
Sad news from Fresno, where a 53-year old homeless woman was killed when she allegedly made an abrupt left turn on her bike in front of an SUV; meanwhile, the driver was arrested on the spot for DUI.
A lawsuit has been filed over another Fresno bicycling death, alleging a popular university lecturer was killed last October when at least five drivers of high-powered sports cars were racing one another, before one hit her head-on after rounding a curve on the wrong side of the road.
In a story that shouldn’t surprise anyone, the Chicago Tribune reports that serious crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians seldom lead to charges, or even tickets, which advocates say is a sign they aren’t taken seriously enough. That same story could be written for virtually any American city, as traffic violence is usually just considered an “oopsie,” even when there’s clear evidence of reckless behavior.
In another sign that New York’s Vision Zero still has a long way to go, a 64-year old man riding a bikeshare bike was killed when he was doored while riding on a street which has been identified as a Vision Zero corridor, but where nothing has been done.
swrThe 16-year old boy accused of intentionally running down two Melbourne, Australia bike riders with a stolen car will have to stay behind bars until his trial, after the judge denied bail in the case; the victims continue to suffer from brain and spinal injuries.
