BikinginLA

Day 267 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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More on the president’s move to make American more car-centric again.

The Trump administration has cut grants for biking and walking safety programs all over the country, after they were somehow deemed “hostile” to motor vehicles and the people in them.

According to Governing,

A San Diego County road improvement project including bike lanes “appears to reduce lane capacity and a road diet that is hostile to motor vehicles,” a US Department of Transportation official wrote, rescinding a $1.2 million grant it awarded nearly a year ago.

In Fairfield, Ala., converting street lanes to trail space on Vinesville Road was also deemed “hostile” to cars, and “counter to DOT’s priority of preserving or increasing roadway capacity for motor vehicles.”

Officials in Boston got a similar explanation, as the Trump administration pulled back a previously awarded grant to improve walking, biking and transit in the city’s Mattapan Square neighborhood in a way that would change the “current auto-centric configuration.” Another grant to improve safety at intersections in the city was terminated, the DOT said, because it could “impede vehicle capacity and speed.”

In other words, anything that might slightly inconvenience anyone in the big, dangerous machines, or somehow inhibit their ability to go “zoom, zoom” to their heart’s content is now on the chopping block, regardless of how much it might reduce congestion or how many lives it could save.

Never mind that some of Trump’s own supporters ride bicycle, and demand for better bike and pedestrian safety and active transportation networks is rising in both red and blue states.

And despite the desire of government officials to return to a more petroleum-driven past, canceling projects like this will do nothing to reduce congestion or improve safety, while likely having the opposite effects.

Photo by Aayush Srivastava from Pexels.

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The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s new book City Tech: 20 Apps, Ideas, and Innovators Changing the Urban Landscape is now available in both paperback and e-reader formats.

According to the publisher,

The world is rapidly urbanizing, and experts predict that up to 80 percent of the population will live in cities by 2050. To accommodate that growth while ensuring quality of life for all residents, cities are increasingly turning to technology. From apps that make it easier for citizens to pitch in on civic improvement projects to comprehensive plans for smarter streets and neighborhoods, new tools and approaches are taking root across the United States and around the world. In this thoughtful, inquisitive collection of City Tech columns—originally published in Land Lines magazine and updated with new reflections and resources for the book—Rob Walker investigates the technologies that have emerged over the past few years and their implications for planners, policy makers, residents, and the virtual and literal landscapes of the cities we call home.

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People For Mobility Justice is co-hosting a bike tour of Eastside toxic sites next weekend.

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

No bias here. A British reporter confronted London bike riders about whether they were going to stop and/or for red lights — including at least one who stopped and waited through the full red light cycle — while ignoring whatever the hell the people in the big dangerous machines were doing, and admitting that he jumps red lights when he rides a bike, too.

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Local 

Long Beach is starting construction on a five-mile, $65 million Complete Streets makeover of Studebaker Road, which cuts through several of the city’s easternmost neighborhoods.

State

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann sat down with a San Diego TV station to discuss the city’s new ebike restrictions. Although what’s still missing is a clear distinction between electric dirt bikes and electric motorbikes, and ped-assist ebikes.

The local newspaper goes behind the scenes of the Santa Rosa Cycling Club’s warehouse, complete with everything needed to stage a large bike fundraiser or bicycling event.

Fresno cops apparently took their recent bicycle and pedestrian safety operation seriously, citing 132 drivers for violations such as failing to yield, speeding, distracted driving and running red lights, along with 54 tickets for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Berkeley residents can now apply for a monthly lottery for an ebike voucher to get up to $1,500 off the price of a new ebike.

National

Colorado’s fiscal problems will result in reducing the state’s ebike tax rebate in half next year, cutting the popular program from $450 to $225.

This is who we share the road with. A 20-year old Ohio man faces a trio of charges for the drunken hit-and-run crash that killed a 51-year old woman riding a bicycle, while driving a mere 55 mph over the speed limit.

The less than bike-friendly New York Post insists that the recent makeover of a “notoriously dangerous Central Park thoroughfare” has made it even more treacherous for pedestrians and joggers, while clearly suggesting the people on two wheels are to blame for the increased risk.

International

Canada’s new Vancouver Crossing Loop offers a 314-mile gravel route that begins and ends in Victoria, British Columbia; the trail is designed for ebikes and beginners, as well as seasoned bicyclists. However, what they’re seasoned with remains to be determined, although they are known to be somewhat salty. 

A Scottish van driver was sentenced to six years behind bars for killing a 32-year old father who was riding his bike to work, while he was busy reading paperwork instead of watching the road — and he was somehow still working as a commercial driver, despite nine previous traffic violations and a history of illegal drug use.

English police are investigating after thieves broke into four houses on the same street in a single night to steal high-end bicycles.

Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City will start construction next month on its first dedicated bikeway, a nearly four-mile fully separated corridor along a major roadway.

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly says the fans turning out to watch the World Road Cycling Championships in Rwanda don’t look like the typical cycling fans, and that’s a good thing.

Cycling Weekly also introduces the world to 17-year old American Ashlin Barry, who took silver in the junior world time trial championships this week, missing out on the rainbow jersey by a mere seven seconds.

The Israeli national cycling team will compete in next month’s European Championships, despite recent race disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters.

Finally…

Why wait for bikes to hit the streets to run them down, when you can just hit the bike shop with a rock? And if you want a careless driving ticket dismissed, just give your bike riding victim a lift to the hospital.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.