March 5, 2016 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on 100-plus mph, underage drunk driver gets four years for 2014 death of bicyclist Haytham Gamal
Four years.
Four years behind bars for driving at speeds over 100 mph in a 35 mph zone, with a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit.
And taking the life of an innocent man as he rode his bike home from work on Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point, after losing control on a slight curve and skidding 200 feet before striking the victim from behind. Then dragging him another 500 feet before flipping over after hitting the curb.
Needless to say, the victim, 39-year-old Haitham Gamal, was pronounced dead at the scene.
All because he had the misfortune of sharing the road with then 19-year old Dominic Devin Carratt that tragic April night in 2014.
Carratt pleaded guilty last month to A) one count of felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated, B) one count of felony driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, and C) one count of felony driving with a blood alcohol of .08 percent or more causing bodily injury, along with a sentencing enhancement for great bodily injury.
I’m told he imposed a sentence of four years in state prison for the first count, another two years for the second count, to be served concurrently, and stayed an additional two years for the third count.
Carratt will also be required to pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a later date, and his driver’s license will be suspended for three years after his release.
Though why he would ever be allowed to drive again is beyond me.
A woman in the courtroom for the sentencing noted that Carratt’s mother gave him a long, tearful embrace as he walked to the front of the courtroom.
It may be a long time before she gets another chance.
A woman has died after a collision in Santee in San Diego County.
According to the Union-Tribune, the victim, who has not been identified, was riding along the northbound curb on Cuyamaca Street near River Park Drive when she allegedly veered across two lanes of traffic. She was hit by a car, whose driver unsuccessfully swerved to avoid her.
The woman was conscious following the collision, but died after being taken to Sharps Memorial Hospital.
The time of the collision is in doubt, however; the U-T says it was just before noon, while San Diego’s KNSD-7 places it at 4:30 pm.
Police say the driver does not appear to be at fault.
This is the 23rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth in San Diego County.
Update: The victim has been identified as 67-year old Margo Symmonds-Lavanway, who appears to have been homeless.
March 4, 2016 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: LACBC & SaMo Spoke up for national honors, CHP looks for driver in East LA bike hit-and-run
Congratulations are in order for the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition and Santa Monica Spoke.
The LACBC and its local chapter Santa Monica Spoke received national recognition as they dominated the nominations for next week’s Alliance for Biking & Walking’s annual Advocacy Awards.
The nominations include:
LACBC for Advocacy Organization of the Year
LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler for Advocate of the Year
LACBC Planning & Policy Director Eric Bruins for Advocate of the Year
Santa Monica Spoke’s Cynthia Rose for the Susie Stephens Joyful Enthusiasm Award
LACBC work on LA’s Mobility Plan 2035 for Winning Campaign of the Year
No other organization received more than two nominations. The winners will be announced at the National Bike Summit in Washington DC.
The victim was hit by a white pickup just before 10 p.m. near the intersection of West Whittier Blvd and South Eastern Ave; no other description of the suspect vehicle or the driver is available.
No word on the condition of the victim, who was taken to a nearby hospital.
UCLA’s Daily Bruin calls for a free shuttle along Westwood Blvd connecting the campus with the new Expo Line station, since bicycling is unlikely to be a safe option. That’s thanks to Councilmember Paul Koretz unreasonable and unconscionable blocking of a long-planned bike lane along the Blvd.
A bike rider just barely avoids being run down during a police chase that started in Boyle Heights and ended in a Pasadena HoneyBaked Ham store.
Streetsblog looks at Calbike’s legislative agenda for the coming session; one bill under consideration would require traffic lights to be timed to create a green wave, ensuring that riders traveling at 12 – 15 mph would see nothing but green lights.
The inevitable bikelash has begun. Shortly after San Diego announces plans to make the city core safer for cyclists and pedestrians, business leaders in the city’s Little Italy district say they’d rather have parking than bike-borne customers.
Candidates for mayor of Sacramento promise to make the city friendlier for bicyclists and pedestrians, while making it a vibrant place people can navigate without a car.
National
Good cyclists steer with their bodies, bad cyclists steer with their handlebars. And in other news, water is wet. No, really.
Two cyclists were killed, and two injured, after an allegedly drunk driverplowed into a group of ten riders while they were stopped at a red light in Tucson AZ; they were all waiting in the bike lane when they were struck. If you’ve ever wondered why some bike riders go through red lights, this is it; while I don’t condone it, many bicyclists believe they are safer going through a light than waiting patiently and risking something like this.
A bighearted New Mexico man searched for two weeks to find a homeless man whose bicycle was falling apart just to give him a new one. It’s people like that who make this world a better place.
A Boulder CO program uses adult-sized balance bikes to help teens and adults with disabilities gain confidence and discover what they’re capable of achieving.
Minnesota’s StarTribune offers a look at the innovations in the bike world on display at this year’s Frostbike, saying there’s great stuff, but nothing revolutionary.
A Massachusetts man is ruled a danger to society after deliberately mowing down a boy as he rode his bike on the sidewalk; the driver was allegedly enraged that the victim had talked trash about his sister.
International
Vancouver tripled bike rack installations last year, and is still scrambling to keep up with demand. That’s a great problem to have, evidence that the city’s recent completion of a protected bikeway network is boosting ridership.
A Canadian mountain bike trail was sabotaged with wooden stakes and a wire strung at neck height in an apparent attempt to injure, or possibly kill, bike riders. Let’s hope the charges reflect that when they find whoever is responsible.
Caught on video: It’s not always bike riders who are the scofflaws. A London cycling hits the pavement trying to avoid pedestrians crossing against the light.
More on that UK survey that shows the overwhelming majority of Brits support bikeways; nearly 80% support bike lanes if they don’t significantly affect their commute, while more than half said they’d still support bike lanes even if it made their commutes five minutes longer.
The head of Britain’s equivalent of the AAA gets it. He says bike lanes that start and stop are one of the worst things for both bike riders and drivers, lulling both into a false sense of security.
You might as well give up on riding the LA River bike path anytime soon.
LADOT reports the Army Corps of Engineers plans to keep the flood control closure in place through the Griffith Park, Silverlake and Atwater Village areas at least through Memorial Day. And possibly longer if El Niño persists.
The Alliance for Biking & Walking says both are on the increase.
According to Bicycle Retailer, the organization’s nearly 200-page 2016 biannual report says bicycling is up 71% in large cities since 2007, and 50% overall, even though men continue to outnumber women riders, who make up just 29% of all bicyclists.
The report also shows protected bike lanes encourage bicycling, increasing riding levels anywhere from 21% to 171%.
And eight out of the ten Complete Streets projects studied resulted in increased property values for the surrounding area. Which means that when home and business owners argue against bikeways, they’re fighting against their own financial self-interest.
Although surprisingly, Los Angeles leads the nation in miles of bikeways. Too bad so few of them connect into a useful network, or those commuting levels might be higher.
The Valley’s Vineland Ave bike lanes get a coat of green paint in conflict areas in an attempt to keep cars out, since nothing else has seemed to work.
Caught on video: Michael Eisenberg forwards news of a stuck-and-run driver who somehow managed to travel more than 300 feet along a separated bike path on an Oregon bridge before getting wedged in, then simply went home for the night. leaving her truck where it was. Police let her off, saying totaling her truck was punishment enough.
Caught on video 2: A road raging Chicago driver chases down and beats the crap out of a bicyclist, all because the rider softly said “You’re in the bike lane bro” as he rode past the man’s car.
New DC bike ramps will make it easier to bike near the White House.
A member of the Manitoba Hell’s Angels faces assault charges for pummeling a 14-year old boy for riding his bicycle past the biker’s yard.
A London bike loan program is helping to get underrepresented groups out on bikes; people get a bike, lock and helmet for a month, along with bicycle training, for the equivalent of just $14. Something like that could be very effective in increasing ridership in underserved areas right here in LA.
Despite vocal opposition, London’s network of segregated cycle tracks enjoys exceptionally strong support, with 71% of Londoners saying they’d like to see protected bike lanes on main roads in their own neighborhoods.
Okay, so maybe 3 pm on a Friday isn’t the best time to pull a 200-yard wheelie in front of a cop on a busy British street.
More stupid criminal tricks, as a New Zealand man left his bike helmet and lock behind after gunning down two people; DNA from the helmet identified him as the suspect.
Speaking in Taipei, Trek’s CEO challenges bike makers to do more to support bike advocacy. Which shouldn’t be hard, since they currently do almost nothing.
Finally…
When you have a $1.2 million bet on the line for your first bike ride in 18 years, clearly, the first thing to do is shave your legs; although a bicycle powered by 4,500 PSI of compressed air might help, too. If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a hundred times — if you’re going to ride with meth and drug paraphernalia on your bike, put a damn light on it. Thanks to Bryan Dotson for the heads-up.
CiclaValley offers part one of his CicLAvia preview, including a mural for the Day the Music Died, commemorating the day when Pacoima’s favorite son Ritchie Valens went down in a plane crash that also took the life of Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. If you don’t know who they are, you’re missing a big chunk of music history.
And CD 7 Councilmember Felipe Fuentes offers a video preview of Sunday’s event.
………
As we mentioned last week, Bike SGV will be bringing the Cycling Without Age program to the El Monte Senior Center on the 15th to let older people enjoy the thrill of bicycling once more on specially modified rickshaws — often for the first time in years.
And talk about a bad fall. A German pro cyclist survives a 39-foot fall off a bridge into a frozen lake; he swam to safety despite suffering a broken hip.
………
Gizmag calls Calfree Design’s new bamboo e-bike a real car killer, which only seems appropriate, since that’s the name of the bike. Or maybe you’d rather build your own bamboo bike, minus the “e”.
And this non-bamboo yet decidedly bizarre looking bike is built to adjust to your exact fit.
………
Local
The LA Times looks at the morning-long conversation they hosted Monday about the future of transportation in LA, where the word bicycle apparently went unmentioned.
LA Magazine says LADOT traffic maven Seleta Reynolds is tackling the dangers of traffic safety, quoting her as saying we have to “bust myths about who a street’s for.”
New traffic lights in Downtown LA give pedestrians a head start on motorized traffic to improve safety. But why not include bike riders, as well?
Nice piece from the LACBC talks with local cyclist Victor Boyce, whose mother was one of the original students who broke the color barrier in 1956.
Take a look at the Facebook rantings of the group dedicated to keeping Temple City’s Las Tunas Drive ugly, dangerous and bike-free. Thanks to Vesley Reutimann for the tip.
Mark your calendar for April 10th, when you can ride through Northeast LA with the LAPD’s senior lead officers for the area.
State
Calbike lists their legislative goals for this year, primarily preserving active transportation funding and clarifying cyclists right to ride side-by-side.
A Berkeley bike rider makes an urgent call for better bikeways for him and his family, in a city that was once a leader in bicycling infrastructure. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
A Sacramento bar takes security a step further by installing cameras above the bike racks outside. Meanwhile, residents of South Sacramento are concerned that the SPD’s bait bike program could turn the neighborhood’s young people into criminals. Um, only if they try to steal one.
Treehugger explores whether cars are the most socialized form of transportation. Despite what many drivers would say about freeloading cyclists who don’t pay gas/road taxes, the answer is a resounding yes.
An Anchorage cyclist rides a fat bike 350 miles in just under two days along Alaska’s famed dog sled trail to win the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350.
The LA Times recommends an easy, traffic-free five-day rail-to-trail bike tour through the Cascades in Washington state. Although you could do it yourself a lot cheaper.
Denver’s leading bike advocacy group is looking for a new executive director to lead the fight for a bikeable Mile High City.
A thoughtful driver in my hometown evidently stopped to move a cyclist’s bike and backpack to the curb before fleeing the scene, while leaving the rider he hit lying injured in the street.
Oklahoma considers legislation allowing cyclists to treat stop signs as yields, and ride through red lights that don’t change.
A bill under consideration in Tennessee could make it difficult to build bike and pedestrian projects by prohibiting the use of gas taxes to fund them.
The Wall Street Journal reviews Janette Sadik-Khan’s new bookStreetfight. And the Journal’s bike-riding Jason Gay looks at Evelyn Steven’s hour record, Tim Johnson’s fat bike winter ride up New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington, and wonders if Peter Sagan will get around to shaving his legs.
Vancouver’s Chris and Melissa Bruntlett argue it’s hard to claim no one uses the city’s bike lanes when you have a bike counter with six zeros staring back at you.
Auto-centric Milan proposes paying people to leave their cars at home and ride to work. Which is something LA should take a serious look at if we’re serious about getting cars off the roads.
CNN looks at how men with monster thighs seduced Germany with the Berlin Six Day track event.
Despite public fears, Australian police haven’t seen a jump in Lycra-wearing cyclists speeding down sidewalks at 25 mph after riders were allowed on sidewalks in Adelaide last year.
No bias here. An Aussie paper reports a cyclist smashed through the back window of a taxi, whose driver apparently did absolutely nothing to contribute to the crash.
First responders found a mangled bike next to the SUV, with the victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, still on the hood of the car; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The story says he was a pedestrian; however, while he may have been walking his bike, it’s not uncommon for police dispatches to refer to bicyclists as pedestrians.
A street view shows what appears to be a three lane road with two lanes eastbound and one headed west, with a center left turn lane. The photo included with the story appears to place the wreck in the westbound lane, next to the freeway.
No other details are available at this time.
This is the 22nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth in San Bernardino County; that compares with just three in the county for all of last year.
This has been the deadliest first two months of the year for at least the last six years. In fact, last year it took until until May 27th to reach that level in the seven county SoCal region.
Update: The victim has been identified as 16-year old Victorville resident Cesar Machuca Jr. Anyone with information urged to call San Bernardino Sheriff’s Deputies Sahagun or Haynes at 760/552-6800.
Update 2: The Victor Valley News reports the high school junior, who they identify as a Hesperia resident, was on his way home from his girlfriend’s house when he was rear-ended by the SUV’s driver.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Cesar Machuca Jr. and his loved ones.
February 29, 2016 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: New women’s hour record, Ed Begley Jr. bikes the Oscars, and no more $10k tech bikes
She did it.
American cyclist Evelyn Stevens not only broke the hour record, she shattered it, beating the women’s record set just last month by nearly seven-tenths of a mile.
LAist asks what could possibly go wrong by renting bikeshare bikes to tourists in the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills without adding bike lanes on major streets. The good news is, Cedars-Sinai is just a few minutes away.
The Glendale News-Press offers a good look at LACBC local chapter Walk Bike Glendale’s efforts to hand out free bike lights to lightless riders as part of the coalition’s Operation Firefly.
Whittier rallies around the Tricycle Man, after the well-known local man’s adult trike is destroyed in a left cross collision; over $12,000 has been raised for a new bike, far surpassing the original $1,000 goal. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.
California approves $133 million for 59 trail projects and separated bikeways in the new budget.
A San Marcos flood-control project intended to revitalize the city’s downtown area will include a bike and pedestrian pathway on the levee above San Marcos Creek, along with bike lanes across two new bridges.
Sacramento cyclists flock to examine the bikes and gear at the 12th annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Lucky bastards. We either need to find a way to get the show down here, or get me up there.
More proof bicycling is good for you. A Nebraska man lost 136 pounds over three years by walking and biking, making a planned lap-band surgery unnecessary.
Members of a Texas cycling team were lucky to walk away after eight of the twelve riders were hit, and three injured, when they were left-crossed by a van driver. Thanks to Steve Katz for the heads-up.
After a Texas rider complained about a close pass by another rider on a bike path, the second cyclist responded by pulling a gun on him.
Great idea. A Wisconsin after-school program teaches bike maintenance to middle school students. I’m told Orange County’s Bicycle Tree offers a similar program; thanks to Calvin Design for the tip.
A Vermont OpEd bizarrely insists a road diet will make cyclists more vulnerable because no one have been killed on that particular street yet, while suggesting bike riders are safer on pathways and sidewalks, even if that means paving the latter over.
A New Jersey paper provides a very auto-centric guest column from a Hoboken minister who seems to forget that God loves those who don’t drive, too.
More outrage from the UK, as a man takes up six train seats for himself and his bike. I think we can all agree it’s boorish behavior. But I wonder if anyone politely asked him to move his bike so they could sit?
A Parisian family revives a line of hand-made, high-end bicycles that once counted Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, Edith Piaf and Josephine Baker as customers; the standard model will set you back $12,000, while an e-bike runs $17,000. Thus pricing beyond the reach of most tech startups.
An Australian writer evidently thinks their equivalent of a three-foot passing law means bicyclists have to stay that far from cars, as well. And that if you give cyclists a meter, they’ll take a kilometer.
As we mentioned earlier, the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills is looking for people to test out their coming bikeshare system starting this week. Volunteers can check out the bikes and ride for free for up to one hour.
The abbreviated two-station pilot program, based on the same CycleHop system as Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare, is starting with stations at Beverly Hills City Hall and next to the Wells Fargo bank at Camden Dr. and Santa Monica Blvd.
The latter is where these photos were taken, proving that one of the least bike friendly cities in the LA area really is moving forward with bikeshare. And plans to have the full 10 station system up and running this April, even before Downtown LA’s long-promised bikeshare moves beyond the vaporware stage.
Of course, the question is what happens when up to 50 bike riders at a time, many of them most likely tourists with little or no knowledge of the area, hit the city’s overly crowded, auto-centric streets with their near-complete lack of bike lanes or any other bicycling infrastructure.
Santa Monica, Long Beach, and to a lesser extent DTLA, are ready for bikeshare.
Beverly Hills, not so much.
Meanwhile, Long Beach’s long delayed bikeshare system may finally be up and running this spring; it will be based on the same system as SaMo and the BBHBH.
The owners of the Sherman Oaks Vespa shop raise more than $4,000 to buy a new bike for a Burbank boy with cerebral palsy after his was stolen by a homeless man; his old bike was recovered after the new bike had been ordered, and will be fixed up and donated to charity.
A Redwood City man uses Tile to recover his stolen $2,400 bike in San Francisco; whoever stole it apparently put some serious miles, with an extra 300 miles on the odometer in just three days.
The judge who bent over backwards to give a San Ramon lawyer a slap on the wrist for the drunken hit-and-run death of a cyclist now threatens to give him a tougher sentence for lying about his wife’s health to delay sentencing in the case. Never mind that he already violated his probation by failing a drug test.
Only 18% of the residents in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district own cars, yet the streets are designed to funnel motor vehicles, with no plans for bike lanes.
In the latest study from the University of Duh, Michigan researchers figure out that skilled cyclists are better at controlling their bodies when they ride, and have to make fewer large corrective moves than less experienced riders.
A new report looks at protected bike lanes in New York City. Which will likely induce envy in bike riders most everywhere else.
The Bike Law website gets it. After their webmaster was critically injured in a North Carolina collision, they vow to never call crashes “accidents” again. Period.
International
The rate of bicycling has tripled in London over the last 15 years, while driving has dropped 50%, even though the city continues to lag behind other European cities in encouraging cycling.
Brit bicyclists are warned about bike thieves sawing through bike racks, then covering it up with gaffer’s tape. That’s a common bike theft technique here as well, with cuts often covered by bicycling stickers; always check the integrity of a rack before locking up if you see any stickers or tape on it.
The Guardian aptly observes that the draconian new bike laws in Australia’s New South Wales seem designed more to deter bicycling than protect riders from motor vehicles.
A bike rider has been killed in Montclair Friday night.
InlandNews reports Montclair police are investigating a fatal hit-and-run involving a bike, and shows a photo of a damaged bicycle lying in the street.
They add that the suspect vehicle is a dark blue truck.
No other details are available at this time. However, KNBC-4 has confirmed the death in a story that is not yet online.
This is the 21st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third in San Bernardino County. That compares with eight in SoCal this time last year, and none in the county.
Update: The Daily Bulletin has identified the victim as 66-year old Montclair resident Dieu Van Nguyen.
According to the paper, Nguyen was struck by a pickup shortly before 6:30 pm on the 4600 block of Kingsley Street. Police responding to the scene found him laying on the sidewalk; he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Authorities are looking for a full-sized, dark colored four-door pick-up with lights on the roof over the windshield. Anyone with information is urged to call the Montclair Police Department at 909/621-4771.
Update 2: Nguyen was on his way to visit a friend when he found fatally injured less than one mile from his home. The Vietnamese immigrant, who recently retired, leaves behind a wife, three children and two step-children.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Dieu Van Nguyen and his loved ones.
