New bill requires speed governors on new California cars, LAPD Chief blames traffic victims, and LA bike deaths jump 41%

January 25, 2024 / / Comments Off on New bill requires speed governors on new California cars, LAPD Chief blames traffic victims, and LA bike deaths jump 41%
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to hear the dangers we face just walking and biking on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

………

San Francisco state Senator Scott Weiner introduced two bills to improve traffic safety, including requiring speed governors on all new cars, and side guards on trucks.

Here’s how Calbike, which sponsored the bills, explains them.

Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced the Speeding and Fatality Emergency Reduction on California Streets (SAFER California Streets) Package, Senate Bills 960 & 961, a first-in-the-nation effort to make California roads safe and accessible to all users. Senate Bill 961 requires changes to vehicles directly, including a first-in-the-nation requirement that all new vehicles sold in California install speed governors, smart devices that automatically limit the vehicle’s speed to 10 miles above the legal limit. SB 961 also requires side underride guards on trucks, to reduce the risk of cars and bikes being pulled underneath the truck during a crash.

Senate Bill 960 requires that Caltrans, the state transportation agency, make physical improvements like new crosswalks and curb extensions on state-owned surface streets to better accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, the disability community, and transit users.

These changes are a head-on attempt to tackle vehicle fatalities, which are surging across the U.S.—and especially in California—amid a rise in reckless driving since the onset of the pandemic. A recent report from TRIP, a national transportation research group, found that traffic fatalities in California have increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022, compared to 19% for the U.S. overall. In 2022, 4,400 Californians died in car crashes.

The speed governing requirement is probably unlikely to pass in its present form, as it will undoubted face stiff opposition from organizations defending California drivers’ God-given right to speed.

But it could be one of the biggest steps the state could take to ensure drivers follow speed laws, and save lives.

Sort of, anyway. Since it would still let them speed by the same 10 mph over the limit that most California drivers do now, anyway.

………

Outgoing LAPD Chief Michael Moore caused an uproar by blaming the victims for the city’s climbing traffic deaths, placing responsibility on pedestrians for crossing streets outside of crosswalks, and bicyclists for riding on streets without bike lanes and not wearing reflective gear.

Not on, say, drivers for speeding or driving distracted or under the influence, or just generally not managing to avoid hitting other people. Or on his own officers for failing to enforce traffic laws.

Schmuck.

His misguided criticisms hardly explain LA’s rapid jump in bicycling deaths, since bike riders seem no less likely to use bike lanes or wear hi-viz and reflective gear than they were just three years ago.

………

Meanwhile, Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, is looking for volunteers to promote Saturday’s die-in at LA City Hall at tomorrow’s Critical Mass Ride.

SAFE is holding a Protest for safe streets on Saturday, January 27th, on the steps of City Hall in order to demand LA City leaders do something effective about safety in our roads. Our goal is to have at least 330 people in attendance to represent each life lost to traffic violence in 2023.

We will be at the LA Critical Mass ride on Friday, January 26th, to let the cycling community know about the protest and enlist their help. We need volunteers to join us and make our protest as big and loud as possible!

………

Metro wants your input on how to reduce traffic.

Traffic Reduction Study (TRS) Survey closes Jan 31, 2024 
TRS is looking at how we can manage demand to reduce traffic through congestion pricing, and make it easier for everyone to travel, regardless of how they choose to travel. Following the conclusion of the survey, Metro staff will take the time necessary to assess and evaluate the feedback received countywide to include in the study’s technical analysis. We appreciate your assistance in helping us understand what your priorities and concerns are about traffic. Please take the survey here.

………

I hope you weren’t planning to ride Orange County’s Mariposa Bridge anytime soon.

………

That’s more like it.

An Arizona tow truck driver got 17 years behind bars for plowing into a group bike ride, killing one woman and injuring five other people, despite playing the universal Get Out Of Jail Free card by claiming the sun was in his eyes. Although part of that sentence is for the kiddie porn cops found on his phone.

A 19-year old New Mexico man got a little more than seven years for the drunken hit-and-run that killed a 63-year old man riding a bicycle, after prosecutors dropped an additional seven years from his sentence in a plea deal.

And the Florida drawbridge operator who walked with seven years probation for failing to check if anyone was on the bridge before opening it, killing a woman walking her bike across it at the time, could be headed for nine years behind bars after failing a urine test required as a condition of her probation.

………

More proof that brilliant writers ride bikes.

I mean, besides me.

………

It took me about two seconds to find the bike with no rider, for whatever that’s worth.

………

It’s now 35 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law, and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A British bicycling organization says the country’s addiction to ever bigger cars is driving bike riders off the roads, as car widths increase an average of one centimeter a year — a little less than half an inch.

A London bike rider filmed a motorist driving blissfully the wrong way down a bike lane, as bicyclists dodged out of his way.

 

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

New York’s self-appointed sidewalk vigilante has made over 5,000 documented reports to the city’s 311 systems, thanks to a personally-programmed camera aimed to capture people illegally riding bikes on the sidewalk.

………

Local 

The Los Angeles Times suggests 13 out-of-the-mainstream bike shops to help discover the city’s thriving bicycle culture. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the link, who says his go-to shop Safety Cycle should have made the list, too.

Hollywood Progressive profiles Leon Comerre’s breathtaking 1903 painting Cycling at Vesinet.

 

State

A writer for Streetsblog says the California Transportation Commission needs to hit pause on highway projects to address the state’s massive budget shortfall, arguing that putting a potentially problematic $200 million highway expansion on hold was a step in the right direction.

Sad news from Livermore, where a 58-year old man died when he went over his handlebars after apparently suffering a mechanical problem with his bike.

San Francisco celebrity chef, restaurateur and philanthropist Chris Cosentino is one of us, riding his bike to help manage his mental health.

The City by the Bay is proposing a $9 million settlement after an infamous roadway bump resulting from a botched water pipe repair left a bike rider with life altering injuries; four other people have sued for under a million each for injuries suffered hitting the bump with their bikes. Which raises the obvious question of why not just fix the damn thing after the first person got hurt?

 

National

Oregon truckers are complaining that road diets and buffered bike lanes are making traffic lanes too narrow for their bigass trucks. Which is a better argument for making the trucks smaller than reducing bike lane buffers.

Separated bike lanes in Austin, Texas are paved with terra-cotta, making them more resistant to wear, and red instead of the usual green.

Streetsblog criticizes New York Mayor Eric Adams for once again failing to even mention bus or bike lanes in his annual State of the City address, in contrast to his vocal support as a candidate. But he does feel the need to regulate ebikes, proposing a new Department of Sustainable Delivery to regulate micro-mobility.

A DC website offers a step-by-step playbook for starting your own family biking group.

A Richmond, Virginia bike shop reopened after an unexplained closure left customers without the bikes they had ordered or had repaired, resulting in at least one customer lawsuit, as well as a suit filed by Giant Bicycles over an unpaid $144,000 tab.

 

International

A tech site says Europe’s bike industry is hitting bumps as the bicycling craze cools. Although other recent reports have suggested the opposite.

In a bizarre case, a British woman took her own life after learning her estranged husband had been riding a bicycle with another woman. Which hardly counts as infidelity, unless maybe they were sharing the same bike seat.

Travel site Lonely Planet explains how to plan a family bike trip around France’s Lake Annecy.

A 41-year old Sydney, Australia man says people make fun of him because he never learned to drive, but he’s better off riding a bike and taking transit when necessary. And so’s the planet.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mathieu van der Poel’s remarkable ten race unbeaten streak to start the ‘cross season finally came to an end, with a fifth-place finish in the Benidorm World Cup.

Canadian Cycling Magazine takes a deep dive into the relatively recent history of motor doping, including an unconfirmed accusation against American Sepp Kuss.

 

Finally…

Don’t look so surprised if you get popped for biking under the influence. The Bike Share Batman fights evildoers by stealing back stolen bikeshare bikes.

And why would you need more than one wheel to check out of a hotel, anyway?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

LA 3rd worst for bike deaths as percentage of bike commuters, and Metro considers slashing open streets budget

January 24, 2024 / / Comments Off on LA 3rd worst for bike deaths as percentage of bike commuters, and Metro considers slashing open streets budget
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to hear the dangers we face just walking and biking on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

Photo by Darren Graves.

………

Let’s start with today with yet another measure of how deadly streets are in the City of Angels, as Los Angeles ranks 3rd among large American cities in the number of bike riders killed as a proportion of bike commuters.

Although that measure fails to consider that many, if not most, LA victims may be riding for other reasons.

But still.

And it’s yet another good reason to sign the petition above, before that figure gets any higher.

Thanks to Dr. Michael Cahn, aka Velocipedus, for the head’s up.

………

The Metro board is considering a staff recommendation to cut funding for open streets events, including CicLAvia, 626 Golden Streets and Beach Streets, just as they are expanding in frequency throughout LA County, and needed more than ever.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1749880786491527404

………

The 46th Annual LA Chinatown Firecracker festival is set to take place on February 24th and 25th, marking one of the largest and oldest Lunar New Year celebrations in the US.

But it’s the bike rides taking place on Saturday the 24th that’s of most interest here.

This is how organizers describe them.

20/50-Mile LA Chinatown Firecracker Bike Ride Highlights 

Participants receive:

  • Commemorative short sleeve t-shirt
  • Goodie Bag
  • Finisher Medal
  • Post-Event Carbo Load Dish and 1 Beer (21+)
20-MILE FUN RIDE

CHINATOWN, LOS ANGELES RIVER PATH

The short route takes advantage of the recently renovated LA River Bike Trail that is protected from vehicular traffic. It also starts in Chinatown and enters the restored Los Angeles River that has been transformed into a sanctuary for a wide variety of birds and other wildlife. View the architectural bridges, cafes and even a bike shop that has sprouted up along the river. This is an easy and relaxed route that is perfect for beginners and intermediate riders. There are multiple restrooms along the route and a large staffed and stocked rest stop with a picnic area will be waiting for you at the halfway point.

Check out the route map here.

50 MILE HALF-CENTURY – NEW FOR 2024

EAST SIDE & SAN GABRIEL VALLEY NEIGHBORHOODS

We collected feedback from riders of past events and designed a better route with improved rest stops that are more cyclist friendly. The new route goes through Downtown LA, The LA River, Glendale, Eagle Rock, Pasadena, Altadena, San Marino, South Pasadena, El Sereno and Lincoln Heights. We start in historic Chinatown with a backdrop of City Hall, ride past Los Angeles State Historic Park, Autry Museum, LA Zoo, Travel Town, LA Equestrian Center, Bette Davis Park, Verdugo Mountains, JPL/NASA, Christmas Tree Lane, Eaton Canyon and much more. This is a fantastic way to experience the sights, smells and diversity of Los Angeles County on two wheels with fellow cyclists, route signage, SAG support and 2 stocked/staffed rest stops. This is a mix of bike paths, bike lanes and urban streets. *2,200 ft climb

Check out the route map here.

………

It’s now 34 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law, and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. Rose City driver activist group Keep Pasadena Moving criticizes efforts to urge the city to use NACTO’s All Ages & Abilities design standards for upcoming greenways, describing the respected National Association of City Transportation Officials as a New York special interest group.

Two men riding bikes were seriously injured when they were run down by what appears to be the same driver in stolen car in Melbourne, Australia. No word on whether the attacks were deliberate, but it sounds a lot like similar attacks in Las Vegas and Huntington Beach, which may have stemmed from a TikTok challenge.

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

A 77-year old San Leandro, California woman was killed when she was struck by a 12-year old boy riding a bicycle as she stepped out of a store earlier this month; the boy put his foot down, but was unable to stop in time.

………

Local 

Velo says it might not be a good idea to give Lyft an exclusive contract to operate the Metro Bike bikeshare system for the next 11 years, after the troubled bikeshare operator put itself up for sale; the proposal has been delayed after objections from LA bikeshare users and union members.

A February 4th bike ride will roll through the streets of Alhambra to call for a safe bike network in the city, as it prepares to roll out a new bike and pedestrian plan.

 

State

Calbike announced this year’s California Bicycle Summit will be held at the Wyndham San Diego Bayside on April 18-19.

A Bakersfield judge has postponed the preliminary hearing of a man charged with murder in the alleged drunken hit-and-run that killed a 30-year old woman riding a bike last year; 25-year old Caleb Nathaniel Rodriguez was already driving on a suspended license following a previous DUI conviction.

Nice Guy. The 24-year old driver who escaped charges for killing former NFL coach Greg Knapp as he rode his bike in San Ramon two years ago was arrested for assaulting his own father over the weekend.

Streetsblog examines new raised bike lanes on Oakland’s Frutivale Ave.

A 70-year old Modesto woman is lucky she wasn’t one of the 23 people killed walking or riding bicycles in Stanislaus County last year, after surviving a crash by a pickup driver.

Sad news from Stockton, where a 14-year old boy was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle.

 

National

The co-founder of the All Bodies on Bikes movement explains the techniques she used to make peace with hills, despite being a fat bicyclist. Her description, not mine. 

Here’s your chance to work in the bicycle industry, as Pink Bike lists 13 jobs that are open right now.

Thrillist says you’ll need a guide, a bicycle and cash to find the best tacos in Tucson, Arizona.

A Colorado bike law attorney examines plans for an offroad bike path replacing the deadly section of roadway between Boulder and Longmont where 17-year old US junior ‘cross champ Magnus White was killed last year.

A local TV station says Baltimore is slowly becoming safer for people walking and on bicycles.

A Miami bike rider wants to know whatever happened to Critical Mass. He’s welcome to come to Los Angeles this Friday, and the last Friday of every month to find out.

 

International

The European Cyclists Federation says markings on pavement are more than just paint, as bicycling infrastructure plays “an essential role in safer cycling by mitigating risks, enhancing visibility and overall enforcing a sense of safety for cyclists.” Although that last part can be problematic, considering it is just paint.

Velo considers the world’s five best bicycling hotels for your next two-wheeled vacation.

Road.cc rates the year’s ten best road bikes.

Oasis singer and songwriter Noel Gallagher is one of us, as he lost the equivalent of $25 million in his divorce settlement, but at least he got to keep his bicycle.

A London family was torn apart when a young mother was the victim of a speeding hit-and-run driver doing over twice the posted speed limit as she rode her bike home from work.

A Scottish columnist says it’s time for Edinburgh to take bicycle safety seriously.

Talk about the road trip from hell. A man attempting to ride from Scotland to India was killed when he fell off a cliff after eating a poisonous wild mushroom in Italy, following the theft of his bicycle and money in a robbery while riding through France.

Britain’s Brompton is now offering a 12-speed foldie.

Momentum says the Dutch are inspiring the world once again with their fancy solar bike paths.

 

Competitive Cycling

Pez Cycling News examines the health, or lack thereof, of pro cycling in North America.

Popular American pro Joe Dombrowski calls it a career after 11 years on the WorldTour.

The organizers of Belgium’s E3 Saxo Classic apologized for posting a cartoon widely seen as homophobic, which showed Wout van Aert finishing the the Cyclocross World Cup in Spain after losing his bike seat, with the caption “Wout van Aert crosses the finish line without a saddle. LGBTQ community blazing.”

 

Finally…

Your next car could be a “terrifying three-wheeled EV” with bike pedals. If you’re riding salmon, without lights or reflectors, with an active warrant and carrying meth on your bike, maybe leave the folding table on your handlebars at home.

And that feeling when Tadej drops you like freshman English.

https://twitter.com/lucasaganronald/status/1749486661140873688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1749486661140873688%7Ctwgr%5E847c2fd58e7f772d3c4c71647f0e3a343d0c8f42%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-23-january-2024-306339

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Move along, nothing to see here — migraine edition

January 23, 2024 / / One comment

I’m down for the count with a killer migraine. We’ll be back tomorrow, if my head doesn’t explode.

Category: General /

Die-in on the steps of LA City Hall Saturday to mark 337 traffic deaths in Los Angeles last year — including 24 bicyclists

January 22, 2024 / / Comments Off on Die-in on the steps of LA City Hall Saturday to mark 337 traffic deaths in Los Angeles last year — including 24 bicyclists
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to hear the dangers we face just walking and biking on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

Note: I’ve lost track of who created the image up there on the left, along with the Spanish-language version below. So if anyone knows, hit me up.

………

Let’s start with Saturday’s die-in at Los Angeles City Hall to protest our ever-rising rates of traffic violence.

As I mentioned last week, I have another commitment that morning I can’t get out of, so I won’t be able to make it this year. But if you have the morning free, I urge you to attend, and add your voice and body to demand safer streets in the City of Angeles.

I’ll let Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, take it from here. And give it a close read, because there’s a lot of vital information there about just how bad things are on our streets.

Dying-In LA 2024:
Advocates Needed For A Die-In At City Hall, January 27th, 9 am.

Sign up here https://mobilize.us/s/0JnZmq to join Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All, Street Racing Kills, Santa Monica Spoke, and many more to demand that our elected officials prioritize safer streets in 2024. Why? 2023 was a grim year for traffic fatalities, and we need to let City Hall know we have the political will to continue fighting for safe streets. That means starting the year strong by building our movement through community organizing. 

2023 was a rough year for Los Angeles. 330 victims died from traffic violence in the city, marking a 9% increase over 2022 and a 14% increase since 2021. This is the highest number of traffic fatalities in over 20 years. In addition to that disheartening number, there were increases in injuries and fatalities across multiple categories, including:

  • 176 pedestrians killed in 2023 – a 15% increase since 2022 and a 35% increase since 2021.
  • 24 cyclists killed in 2023 – a 20% increase since 2022 and a 41% increase since 2021.
  • 29 people killed in DUI-related car crashes in 2023 – a 32% increase since 2022 and a 38% increase since 2021. 
  • 105 people killed in hit-and-run crashes in 2023 – a 30% increase since 2022 and a 38% increase since 2021.

The surge in these statistics can be attributed to various factors, including:

  • Faster, quieter, and larger vehicles are killing more pedestrians. 
  • There is a sharp increase in the use of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs (both legal and illegal) while driving. 
  • Distracted driving in various forms – cell phones being one of the largest sources but also an increase in the prevalence of smart “infotainment” systems in cars. (Instead of using tactile touch for basic functions like adjusting the radio station or temperature, drivers often fiddle with screens, diverting their attention from the road.)
  • A decrease in the enforcement of driving laws for various reasons (worth its own article) results in more people driving recklessly, knowing they are less likely to get caught.

While there is no single solution to all these issues, the fact remains that too many of our elected officials continue to ignore this worsening public health crisis.  

Join us for a crucial call to action as we unite in this collective effort. Real change only occurs when we amplify our voices and make them resoundingly heard.

  • Date: Saturday, 27 Jan 2024
  • Location: Steps of Los Angeles City Hall, 232 N. Spring Street
  • Set-up Time: 9:30 AM (Coffee will be provided)
  • Press Conference: 10 AM to 10:45 AM

Volunteers needed: 330 people are required for part of the die-in visual – one for each person who lost their life in 2023. Please feel free to bring bicycles and skateboards. Volunteers are also needed to stand behind the speakers, holding handmade protest signs demanding safer streets.

Parking: You should ride, walk, or take Metro Line B (exit Civic Center/Grand Park Station) to City Hall as parking is limited.  

………

Unfortunately, as bad as those numbers are, they don’t tell the whole story.

According to Crosstown, the actual number of deaths due to traffic violence in Los Angeles last year was 337, as fatalities rose for the third year in a row, climbing 7.3% over 2022.

And the 24 bicyclists killed in the city last year is one more than I was aware of.

It’s also a reminder that Los Angeles is the hit-and-run capital of California, which is the hit-and-run capital of the US.

So maybe reconsider signing that petition, if you haven’t already.

………

The latest episode of Bike Talk is now available online.

………

I’ve always believed in leaving this world better than you find it. But cleaning the bike lane behind you takes that to a whole new level.

https://twitter.com/CLTBikeCommuter/status/1747671313525739610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1747671313525739610%7Ctwgr%5Ef4d4e02ab3a3d9eb07ec1c2021930b94533986cc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmomentummag.com%2Fportable-bike-lane-sweeper%2F

………

Nothing like watching someone jerk off a bicycle, in a clear case of taking things just a tad too far in the name of creativity.

………

32 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law, and counting.

Anyone want to bet on whether they’ll make it to the three year mark?

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Residents of Coventry, England express concerns that a new bike lane will make bicyclists sitting ducks when drivers back into their driveways in front of bikes doing 30 mph — vastly overestimating the speed of most bike riders, while underestimating drivers ability to check their damn mirrors. Unless maybe their real objection is just having a bike lane on “their” street. 

Don’t bother riding your bike to the ‘cross World Cup in Costa Blanca, Spain, but feel free to drive there.

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

A group of male bicyclists were roundly criticized for hogging space with their bikes on a Malaysian women-only train car.

………

Local 

A British woman believes riding a bicycle can change the direction of young people’s lives, after her husband, BAFTA-winning film director and Cat 1 racer Jonathan Gales, was killed by an alleged wrong-way drunk driver while crossing the street on a work trip in Los Angeles in 2022.

 

State

If you only found a front wheel when you went to unlock your lime green Diamondback recently, Irvine cops could have your bike.

Thanks to Robert Leone for forwarding the latest construction update on San Diego’s Pershing Bikeway project, which appears to be nearing completion.

A 46-year-old Simi Valley woman was arrested for the hit-and-run that seriously injured a second Simi Valley woman as she walked her bike across a street on January 4th of this year.

A 20-year old Bakersfield man walked with just eight hours of community service after pleading no contest to resisting arrest during a during a bike takeover involving hundreds of bicyclists.

Sad news from Visalia, where a 17-year old girl was killed by a driver while riding salmon on a local street.

A Fresno columnist warns bike riders and pedestrians that your life is only worth a slap on the wrist if a driver runs you down. Which is sadly the same wherever you are in California. 

 

National

Even CNN is asking whether it’s time to get rid of right-on-red.

A writer for Medium celebrates the history and diversity of bicycles. But apparently has no idea what they look like, since all the photos illustrating the story are of motorcycles. 

New York tells bike riders to “Slow your roll, respect the stroll,” in a public service campaign to respect the safety of pedestrians. And here I thought that referred to rolling your eyes at the campaign. Seriously, they couldn’t have given any of the city’s 1,200 ad agencies a crack at it first?

Gothamist looks back on the tenth anniversary of New York’s Vision Zero, and says “the program was indisputably a success — at least in areas where it won the support of elected officials.”

A Wyoming man climbs atop a bicycle mounted on top of an endangered grain elevator, sending a message to “ride the day like a bull.”

 

International

Black Grape singer Shaun Ryder is one of us, telling The Guardian that he’d “be out on my bike right now” if he wasn’t busy talking to them. And no, I’ve never heard of him, either.

Clip-on ebike drive-maker Skarper claims they’ve “condensed an entire ebike into the palm of your hand.” Assuming you have a really, really big hand, anyway.

Road.cc offers “all the tips you need” to keep riding in your 60s and beyond.

New government stats show that seven out of ten people in England never ride a bicycle, as safer roads are seen as key to growing participation, not more bike lanes.

A British coroner says a 41-year old driver was “selfish beyond comprehension” when he killed a 15-year old boy riding a bike, while rushing to meet a woman from a dating app after downing three beers and two glasses of wine.

An Irish cop is finally back on the job, after he was suspended for three years for giving an unclaimed bicycle to an isolated elderly man early in the pandemic. For which he should have gotten a commendation, instead.

A half-dozen bikeable bakeries for your next visit to Shanghai.

A “keen” Kiwi/Aussie bicyclist offers advice on winter bike riding in frigid South Korea. Which probably translates to wherever you ride outside of Southern California this winter. And I’ll take “keen” over “avid” any day. 

A New Zealand landowner donated a section of his property to build a rest area for bike riders traveling the country’s Tasman’s Great Taste Cycle Trail, complete with wifi, ice cream, drinks, coffee, fresh water, sunscreen and bug spray.

 

Competitive Cycling

Welshman Stevie Williams won the general classification title at the Tour Down Under, clinching the final stage in decided fashion by winning a five-rider sprint.

Sad news from the UK, where “cycling legend” Mick Ives has died after a series of heart attacks; the former Moulton draftsman won 81 British Championship Titles and 8 World Masters Cycling Titles, including the World Cup Time Trial Champion at age 65; he was 84.

The Sun looks at the salaries of the highest paid cyclists in the pro peloton. Never mind that the average riders don’t make nearly that much.

 

Finally…

If the bike won’t fit in the cab, just leave it sticking out the open door. Nothing like a little python hunting on your ebike.

And while I’m not a fan of this kind of humor, there is some major schadenfreude to be had from watching someone pull the string on bike thieves.

Literally.

https://twitter.com/PicturesFoIder/status/1748581253119365260

Thanks to Mike Burk for the heads-up. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

LA Times endorses Healthy Streets LA initiative in March vote, and SCAG to study turning highways into boulevards

January 19, 2024 / / Comments Off on LA Times endorses Healthy Streets LA initiative in March vote, and SCAG to study turning highways into boulevards
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to hear the dangers we face just walking and biking on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

………

Big news for the coming March election, as the Los Angeles Times has joined a broad range of community groups to endorse the Healthy Streets LA initiative.

Frustrated by the lack of political will and bureaucracy, street safety advocates collected enough signatures to put Healthy Streets LA, or Measure HLA, on the March ballot. The initiative would force the city to carry out the improvements in the Mobility Plan. Any time city departments repave at least one-eighth of a mile of street, they would have to add the improvements outlined in the plan, whether bike lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian enhancements or fixes to ease vehicle traffic.

This makes sense. When city crews have to repaint the lines when repaving a street, why not restripe the roads according to the Mobility Plan at the same time? Yet in a city as large as Los Angeles, making this a smooth process is not always easy. The multiple departments responsible for street paving, engineering and transportation safety struggle to coordinate and have missed opportunities to install Mobility Plan projects. The mandate of Measure HLA would, ideally, prompt City Hall to better organize street work programs and make Mobility Plan improvements a part of routine road maintenance.

The paper concludes their editorial this way.

Measure HLA has broad support among neighborhood councils, environmental, labor and business groups. Their members understand that Los Angeles needs to evolve into a city that is safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users and, yes, even motorists. The plan recognizes that Angelenos will still drive — it includes 80 miles of streets that are prioritized for vehicle travel and projects that help drivers maintain safe, consistent speeds and reliable travel times.

The rising number of traffic deaths is a preventable tragedy. Voters have the power to make Los Angeles’ streets safer. Vote yes on Measure HLA.

I couldn’t agree more.

………

The Southern California Association of Governments, aka SCAG, has received a federal grant to study the possibility of removing some SoCal highways, and possibly converting them to boulevards.

They could start with the proposal to remove the purposeless 90 Freeway stub, and converting it to housing and a Marina Central Park.

………

29 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law, and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

San Diego police arrested 32-year old Alvaro Jovani Lopez for torching the Mission Valley memorial for fallen bicyclist and father Matt Keenan, destroying a banner and Keenan’s ghost bike; they found Lopez already behind bars for a parole violation. No reason was given for his dastardly deed.

Life is cheap in Wisconsin, where a Madison man who strung wire across a bike bridge, nearly decapitating a bike rider, walked with a gentle caress on the wrist when the judge sentenced him to a lousy four years probation.

No bias here. Underground hip-hop artist Gorilla Nems, aka Travis Doyle, took out his anger on New York’s Complete Street transformation over the past decade or so, telling a podcast host “Fuck bike lanes…this ain’t Copenhagen,” while instructing his followers to ignore walk signals and just cross the street anytime they want, after looking both ways.

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

A 59-year old New York woman has emerged from a months-long coma after she was struck by a bikeshare rider as she was crossing the street; a 62-year old man was ticketed for riding salmon and running a red light.

………

Local 

The Metro board delayed a vote to award Metro Bike management to Lyft, after ride hail drivers and delivery riders teamed with bikeshare workers to protest the proposed contract. But you’ll have to subscribe the Daily News or find a way around the paper’s draconian paywall if you want to read about it.

Glendale residents complained they were left out of the decision making process for the city’s new bike plan, even though they say they’ll be directly affected by a proposed bike path.

 

State

Police in Huntington Beach are using bait bikes to bust bike thieves. Something the LAPD still won’t do over fears they’ll be accused of entrapment.

They get it, sort of. A Simi Valley paper says safety is a two-way street, but drivers shoulder most of the responsibility to look out for vulnerable bike riders. Although they should go to cliche jail for trotting out the tired two-way street metaphor.

Oakland got a clear message to fix their crumbling roads, when the city agreed to a $6.5 million settlement with a woman who was paralyzed when her bike hit a pothole.

Six Santa Rosa teenagers were arrested for stabbing a 41-year old man to steal his bicycle last week.

 

National

The 18-year old Las Vegas man accused of deliberately killing former Bell police chief Andreas Probst in a hit-and-run last year is now facing an attempted murder charge in a separate case for the gang stabbing of a Las Vegas man.

Life is cheap in Indiana, where a woman faces just a year behind bars after confessing to a hit-and-run that left a bike-riding man with multiple broken bones.

That’s more like it. Instead of fighting bike infrastructure, residents of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park neighborhood are actually calling on the mayor to finish a new bike boulevard.

An “avid” New York bicyclist tells tourists the best routes for exploring the city by bicycle.

They get it, sort of, too. New York officials unveiled a new campaign encouraging bike riders to be more courteous and look out for pedestrians, while admitting that drivers pose the real danger to people walking.

Bike advocates say New York has a new “Boulevard of Death,” marking the failure of the city’s Vision Zero program after ten years.

A former Maryland Director of Planning and Zoning was indicted for the alleged drunken hit-and-run that killed a bike-riding man.

A North Carolina paper examines how bike riders and pedestrians are coping with the added danger as more drivers take to local roads.

 

International

Road.cc asks bike experts if the switch to internal cables has been worth it. Meanwhile, Cycling Weekly takes up the burning topic of whether bike bells really have a useful reason to exist.

The violin belonging to a British musician was somehow reconstructed, despite being broken into over 100 pieces when he was hit by a bus while riding a bicycle; unfortunately, he wasn’t as lucky, losing a leg as a result of the crash.

A new Danish study examines how the country encouraged greater bike helmet usage without mandating them.

A new United Arab Emirates bike ride took bicyclists through all seven emirates in seven days.

Adding insult to literal injury, an American tourist was fined for illegally stepping into the path of an ebike rider — while he was in a coma as a result of the collision; the ticket was withdrawn after he hired a lawyer to fight it.

 

Competitive Cycling

The future of the Tour of Britain, the Women’s Tour and other British races could be in doubt because the organizer of the races entered liquidation proceedings, after losing their license to conduct the races over an unpaid fee totaling the equivalent of over $884,000.

Australian pro Luke Plapp was left with a shredded kit and some truly ugly road rash after a nasty fall on a descent in the Tour Down Under.

Aussie sprinter Sam Welsford celebrated his 28th birthday by winning his third stage at the Tour Down Under on Friday. Today’s race was conducted yesterday, because they live in the future down there. 

 

Finally…

It’s hard to use a bike lane that’s blocked by a shitload of sugar beets. Stealing bikeshare bikes back from the thieves who stole them. A micro musette for mademoiselle et monsieur. 

And we may have to deal with rubbernecking drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about nuzzling giraffes.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

58-year old man struck and killed by two drivers on Crenshaw Blvd in South LA; one driver fled the scene

January 19, 2024 / / Comments Off on 58-year old man struck and killed by two drivers on Crenshaw Blvd in South LA; one driver fled the scene

Now they’re ganging up on us.

A man was killed trying to cross Crenshaw Blvd on his bicycle Wednesday night when he was struck by two drivers in rapid succession — one of whom fled the scene.

According to KTLA-5, the victim was attempting to cross Crenshaw from west to east, just south of Stocker Street, when he was struck by a driver traveling north on Crenshaw around 7:30 pm.

He was flung into the air, and was struck by a speeding driver, also heading north on Crenshaw, after hitting the pavement.

The first driver had the basic human decency to remain at the scene and attempt to aid the victim.

The second one didn’t.

The victim, identified only as a 59-year old man, died at the scene.

The story notes that he was crossing outside of a marked crosswalk, even though there is no requirement, or even an expectation, for people on bicycles to use one.

Police are looking for the driver of what witnesses described only as a sedan, which would likely have some front end damage. That doesn’t exactly give them a lot to go on.

As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD South Traffic Detective Ryan Moreno at 323/421-2500, or the South Traffic Watch Commander at 323/421-2577 or 1-877/527-3247.

This is at least the third bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the first in the City of Los Angeles.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

77-year old man critical after Burbank hit-and-run, scooter injuries triple in just 5 years, and making NYC more car-friendly

January 18, 2024 / / Comments Off on 77-year old man critical after Burbank hit-and-run, scooter injuries triple in just 5 years, and making NYC more car-friendly
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to hear the dangers we face just walking and biking on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

………

Bad news from Burbank, where a 77-year old man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle.

KCAL News reports the crash occurred around 7:20 Tuesday morning near Clybourn Avenue and Oxnard Street.

He was reportedly riding south on the east sidewalk, on the northbound side of Clybourn, and was struck by the driver of an eastbound black sedan as he attempted to cross Oxnard.

As we’ve pointed out before, sidewalks are bidirectional, and there is no right direction on a sidewalk or crosswalk, painted or otherwise.

Anyone with further information is urged to contact Burbank Police investigators at 818/238-3103.

Let’s hope he makes a full and fast recovery.

………

A UCLA report indicates scooter injuries saw a huge jump over a recent five-year period, along with a similar increase in severe injuries, according to Santa Monica Daily Press.

With the rise in riding comes a tangential, and substantial, increase in scooter injuries. According to new UCLA-led research, scooter injuries nearly tripled across the United States from 2016 to 2020, along with a similar increase in severe injuries requiring orthopedic and plastic surgery over the same period. The study, published January 9 in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American College of Surgeons, compared national trends in scooter and bicycle industries as well as the implications of these injuries on the healthcare industry…

Scooter-related injuries led to major operative interventions 56% of the time, compared to 48% for bike-related injuries. Scooter riders were also shown to have higher odds of experiencing long bone fractures and paralysis than bicycle-related injuries. Both groups were similarly likely to suffer traumatic brain injuries.

However, the study did not differentiate between e-scooters and regular scooters.

It also doesn’t appear to take into account the rapid growth in e-scooter usage over that same period, which could easily equal or exceed the rise in injury rates.

………

A writer for The New Yorker offers an extremely tongue-in-cheek essay on how to make the city more car-friendly, including these notations —

⬩ Every year, thousands of pedestrians (drivers on the way to their cars) are injured or killed at crosswalks. We must remove all crosswalks before anyone else gets hurt.

⬩ Take out the two bad traffic lights under the green one.

⬩ Why do bicycles (slow cars with no windows) have entire lanes dedicated to them? What’s next? Lanes for skipping rope? Hopscotch lanes? Lanes dedicated to pugs with GoPros riding skateboards? Sounds a little silly to me.

It’s well worth the few minutes it takes to read the whole thing, although some items are very Gotham-centric.

Until you realize that it’s not that different than what you hear from some of the entirely serious motoring groups.

………

28 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law, and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

After a Canadian woman was injured by a speeding driver while on a charity ride around Lake Ontario, her insurance company filed suit — not against the driver, who was convicted of killing another victim in the crash, but against the group organizing the ride and her own father, who founded it.

………

Local 

The Malibu Times reports that PCH isn’t the only deadly roadway in and around the coastal city, as the area’s popular canyon roadways cause increasing concern. As anyone who has ever encountered a speeding driver taking a wide turn on a canyon road can attest.

Congratulations to Pasadena, as PeopleForBikes ranked the city’s Union Street Complete Streets project as the 6th best new bike lane in the US; Santa Monica’s 17th Street project was rated 16th. Needless to say, Los Angeles didn’t make the list.

A 20-something Kiwi tourist raves that Los Angeles is all it’s cracked up to be, including a bicycle tour around Hollywood and Melrose, which she calls her favorite LA experience.

 

State

After criticizing cuts to the state Alternative Transportation Program budget, Calbike crafts their own alternative People-First Mobility Budget, a transportation spending plan “that gives residents more mobility options, improves health, increases equity, and helps us meet our state climate goals.”

The Press Democrat says the area where a San Jose woman was killed crashing into a fallen tree after failing to negotiate a curve on her bike is known for deadly crashes.

More bad news from Northern California, after a Sacramento driver was arrested for the hit-and-run death of a 55-year-old woman, who died a day after she was run down as she rode her bike.

 

National

Despite receiving just 1.5 inches of snow, New York bike riders faced treacherous commutes after officials failed to clear snow and ice from the city’s bridges. Which also puts a lie to the common myths that no one will ride a bike in the winter, or in bad weather.

She gets it. Former New York transportation chief Janette Sadik-Khan told a local public radio station that “Death and injury on our streets aren’t just unconscionable. They’re avoidable.”

A DC letter writer says the city must step up to prevent more traffic deaths, in the face of the mayor’s “indifference to tackling the carnage on our streets.”

 

International

Shockingly, those little car-tickler plastic bendy posts aren’t enough to keep cars out of a London bicycle superhighway, or keep it from being the city’s most dangerous intersection for bike riders.

More on the nearly eight in ten women who say they experience verbal, physical and sexual harassment and intimidation at least once a month while riding their bikes in London, as more that one in five report giving up bicycling as a result of the abuse.

The hit-and-run epidemic has reached London, climbing to a record high 7,708 incidents in 2021, up 14% from the year before.

The UK bike market is bouncing back from its recent slump, with new bicycle sales predicted to climb 12% this year to 2.1 million bikes, with total sales reaching the equivalent of nearly $1.27 billion.

A new Swedish study says it will take more than better bike lanes to get people on their bikes, as too many of today’s bikeways are geared towards people who already ride, instead of encouraging new riders.

Latvian bike riders younger than 16, and e-scooter riders under 17, will now be required to wear bike helmets.

An African website talks with pro cyclist Kenneth Karaya, the first Kenyon to podium in an ultra-distance race.

Pro cyclist Rohan Dennis was directed to enter his late wife’s funeral through the back door, after he was arrested for fatally running Olympic gold medalist track cyclist Melissa Hoskins as she clung to the hood pf his pickup.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-year old rising Mexican cycling star Isaac Del Toro made a “brilliant” solo attack in the last mile to win stage two of the Tour Down Under.

Twenty-two-year old US national road champ Quinn Simmons is using the Tour Down Under as a springboard to the spring cycling classics, including the Strade Bianche.

The head of the CPA pro cyclists union says they don’t have the resources to defend every cyclist accused of doping, so they won’t help anyone. So you’re on your own if you get busted for putting a little something extra in your water bottle. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when the phrase crappy bike path becomes all too literal. Or when no one knows what the hell those bike lane markings mean.

And how to ride to work without becoming a cyclist.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Campaign launch for Healthy Streets LA, funding sought for Ballona extension, and double murder trial for speeding socialite

January 17, 2024 / / 4 comments
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to hear the dangers we face just walking and biking on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

………

The campaign for the Healthy Streets LA ballot initiative kicked off this week

The measure on the March ballot would require the city to build out the already approved Mobility Plan whenever a street gets repaved.

Here’s how California Local effectively framed the issue.

In 2022, a year in which 312 people died in Los Angeles traffic—more than half, 159, pedestrians—the city council in California’s largest city took up a measure that would have required the city to put new traffic safety features in place whenever it repaved a street.

The 15-member council rejected it.

Perhaps not surprisingly, 2022’s traffic fatality numbers, the worst in 20 years, only got even worse in 2023. That year, 330 human beings lost their lives in L.A. traffic, according to police statistics (the numbers did not yet include the final week of 2023). Now, in 2024, the measure, known as “Healthy Streets L.A.,” will get another chance, and this time the verdict will be up to Los Angeles voters.

The city approved the innovative Mobility Plan in 2015 to improve safety while providing safe and efficient alternatives to driving.

Then promptly put it on the shelf and forgot all about it; only a tiny fraction of the plan has been built out in the more than eight years since.

In that time, traffic congestion has only gotten worse in Los Angeles, and our streets even deadlier.

But now you can force the city to do what the city council didn’t have sufficient courage and political will to do, simply by casting your vote for Healthy Streets LA in the March 5th election.

And help make our streets safer and more inviting for all of us.

https://twitter.com/bikinginla/status/1747516957098934559

………

Extending the popular Ballona Creek bike path took a small step towards becoming reality, as CD 10 Councilmember Heather Hutt introduced a motion directing Los Angeles officials to seek funding from the state Active Transportation Program.

The motion — council file 2023-0616 — will be heard at today’s meeting of the LA City Council Transportation Committee.

However, the proposal could be complicated by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new budget, which borrows $200 million from future ATP spending to help close a budget gap that may or may not exist.

………

Jury selection began Tuesday for 60-year old Hidden Hills socialite and philanthropist Rebecca Grossman, who stands accused of murder in the death of two young boys as she raced through Westlake Village at speeds up to 81 mph.

Grossman, the co-founder of the Grossman Burn Center, is accused of killing 8-year old Jacob Iskander, and his 11-year old brother Mark as they crossed the street more than three years ago.

The married woman was allegedly having an affair with former Dodger Scott Erickson, and was zig-zagging Erickson’s car as they raced to a nearby home after drinking in a local restaurant.

Neither car stopped after Grossman allegedly slammed into the two boys as they crossed the street with their family, while riding a scooter and skateboard.

According to the Los Angeles Times,

“The speed was insane,” (Nancy Iskander) said of the two SUVs. “They were zigzagging with each other as if they were playing or racing.

“They didn’t stop before the intersection. They didn’t stop at the intersection. They didn’t stop when an 11-year-old was on the hood of the car. … Nobody stopped,” Iskander testified.

In fact, Grossman continued nearly half mile after the collision that killed the boys.

The details of the crash are horrific, justifying the charges.

Grossman, 60, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death in connection with the fatal Sept. 29, 2020 collision. The murder counts are somewhat unprecedented as Grossman was not charged with driving under the influence, which is typically used to prove gross negligence in vehicular fatalities…

Jurors will probably hear from former L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Apodaca, who specializes in traffic crashes. During the preliminary hearing, he testified that he calculated Grossman was driving 71.7 mph when she struck the boys and that the car computer showed 73 mph. Under cross-examination, he said the older child, Mark, was struck by the vehicle and thrown 254 feet, the farthest he has known a human to be tossed in a crash.

Another deputy, Rafael Mejia, testified he had found Grossman a third of a mile away from the crash, stopped at the curb and saying she didn’t know why her airbag had been triggered.

Everyone is presumed innocent until they’re convicted, even overly entitled accused killers.

Let’s just hope her money doesn’t buy an undeserved acquittal.

………

27 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law, and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. A columnist for the London Times wrote about a new study showing bike commuters enjoy better mental health, before devolving into a nearly deranged anti-bicyclist rant about “a mass of angry, intolerant, semi-psychotic Strava men.”

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Former Caltrans deputy director for planning and modal programs Jeanie Ward-Waller is back working with Calbike as a consultant; Ward-Waller worked for the bike advocacy group prior to being hired by Caltrans, before she was fired by the agency after blowing the whistle on a Sacramento highway project.

California’s daylighting law is now in effect, prohibiting drivers from parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk, whether marked or otherwise; California law presumes there is a crosswalk at every intersection even if it’s not painted, unless there’s signage indicating otherwise.

Encinitas approved $1.1 million in bicycle safety improvements, a year after declaring a state of emergency following the death of a 15-year old Brodee Braxton Champlain-Kingman as he rode an ebike in the city.

Santa Barbara is the latest California city to approve a Vision Zero plan; the city intends to focus on bike riders and pedestrians in an effort to eliminate traffic deaths by 2030. But as we’ve learned from painful experience, any Vision Zero is only as good as the commitment of city officials to actually implement it. 

A Clovis man pled not guilty to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter for crashing his $170,000 sports car head-on into a 51-year old Fresno college instructor and mother of five as she rode her bicycle, after he allegedly failed to negotiate a curve and crossed onto the wrong side of the road while speeding.

Sad news from Merced, where a 49-year old man was killed in a collision while riding his bicycle; police blamed the victim for wearing dark clothing and not having a light on his bike.

More sad news, this time from Sonoma County, where a woman was killed when she took a a curve at high speed on her bicycle and went off the roadway, crashing into a tree that had fallen near the shoulder.

 

National

Momentum rates the best American cities to live in for bicyclists. None of which is Los Angeles, of course.

A new short film streaming on Apple TV+, Amazon Prime and Google Play documents filmmaker Daniel Troia’s seven-month ride from New York City to San Francisco without food or money, relying on the kindness of strangers as a hidden camera captures the best and worst of humanity.

 

International

He gets it. Quebec’s coroner responded to the death of a bike-riding father killed by a speeding driver with a suspended license by calling for increased penalties for reckless drivers. There should also be jail time for anyone who drives on a suspended or revoked license.

Glasgow, Scotland is giving low-income residents free bikeshare memberships.

The London Cycling Campaign released a new report titled “What Stops Women Cycling in London?,” which reveals a “shocking” level of abuse directed towards women bike riders, with nine out of ten saying they’ve been subjected to abuse just for riding a bicycle. Although that probably only comes as a shock to most men. 

Ireland’s Minister of State accuses the country’s drivers of developing a culture of recklessness. Sort of like drivers in Los Angeles. And probably everywhere else.

A new Spanish study of eight cities around the world reveals that humble bike buses are a route to bicycle activism.

A 26-year old Indian man is riding from that country to Australia to promote environmental awareness.

Where to ride with family and friends on your next trip to the Unites Arab Emirates.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as Cambodia has opened a new bike bridge to make it easier to visit the legendary Angkor Takeo Temple by bicycle.

Kiwi bicyclists gave scathing reviews to new “bland, ugly” barriers installed on a bike path to slow riders, while local officials insisted the barriers are working to prevent crashes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Thirty-two-year old Olympic gold medalist track cyclist Melissa Hoskins was remembered by family, friends and teammates at her funeral in her hometown of Perth, Australia yesterday; her husband, pro cyclist Rohan Dennis, faces charges for allegedly running over her after she fell from the hood of his pickup as she tried to open the door.

The Washington Post discovers the many joys of mucking through the mud that is Belgian cyclocross.

The fledgling National Cycling League announced the teams competing for this year’s cup, as nine of the teams who took part last year will return in 2024. Unfortunately, none are based in Los Angeles.

A bike transport company has finally released 186 bikes held hostage in a contract dispute following the Triathlon World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain last fall; however, the owners will have to retrieve them from a Los Angeles warehouse.

 

Finally…

There could be less shrinkage in Wisconsin, as the state senate voted to ban naked bike rides. Impress your family and friends with a doctorate in cargo bike urbanism.

And maximizing torque through weird bike engineering.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Riding a bike to cure Blue Monday, results from LA’s Universal Basic Mobility pilot, and we’re #1 in hit-and-run

January 16, 2024 / / Comments Off on Riding a bike to cure Blue Monday, results from LA’s Universal Basic Mobility pilot, and we’re #1 in hit-and-run
If you haven’t already, stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to listen to the dangers we face just walking and biking on the streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

………

Today is officially Blue Monday, a term coined by a British shrink to mark the “convergence of post-holiday blues, cold weather, and the realization that New Year’s resolutions might be more challenging than anticipated,” that accumulate around the third Monday in January.

But Momentum argues that riding a bicycle is the perfect way to beat the blues.

And forget the Prozac. A new study from the University of Edinburgh found that commuting by bicycle can improve mental health, and that people who bike to work are less likely to be prescribed antidepressants.

Photo by Burst from Pexels.

………

Next City reports the results are in from the nation’s largest Universal Basic Mobility experiment.

LADOT and LA Metro teamed to give a “mobility wallet” to 1,000 lower-income South Los Angeles residents — a reloadable debit card providing $150 per month to spend on almost any form of transportation.

The key word is “almost.”

The catch? Funds can be used to take the bus, ride the train, rent a shared e-scooter, take micro-transit, rent a car-share, take an Uber or Lyft, or even purchase an e-bike — but they can’t be spent on the cost of owning or operating a car.

After the first six months of the one-year program, which ends in April, the biggest surprise has been the reliance on ride-hailing services.

According to data from the first six months of the program, the majority of estimated trips taken have been on public transportation (40,087 trips out of 67,379). The majority of the funds (about $500,000) have gone to ride-hailing or taxi services like Uber and Lyft, for about 26,000 trips at an average cost of $20.

You could buy a pretty nice bicycle for $1,800 for the full year.

But then you’d have to find a safe place to ride it, which isn’t always easy in Los Angeles. Especially in South LA.

………

We’re number one!

Which should make us all feel like number two.

According to a study by Personal Injury Law Firm Suzuki Law Offices, California leads the nation for the rate of hit-and-run collisions in the state, with drivers fleeing in nearly 10.5% of crashes, compared to a national average of 6.3%.

Although seems low, given that other sources say nearly half of all crashes here in Los Angeles are hit-and-runs.

Either way, it’s too damn high. And long past time state officials actally did something about it.

………

LA traffic safety organizations Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All, Street Racing Kills and Santa Monica Spoke are teaming up for another die-in on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall on Saturday, January 27th to protest the ever-rising rate of traffic deaths in the City of Angels.

I won’t be able to make it this time due to yet another medical appointment, as my doctors work to keep my own body from trying to kill me.

So make plans to be there in my place, and demand that city officials hear us and actually do something to halt traffic violence, instead of the usual endless talks and studies.

Or just ignoring the problem, which is what they do best.

Along with the die-in, supporting the Healthy Streets LA ballot initiative in the March 5th election is a good place to start.

………

I want to be like him when I grow up.

A short documentary from a professional filmmaker looks at his 90-year old grandfather, who still finds joy in riding a bicycle.

Then again, what’s not to love?

………

26 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law, and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Men’s Journal blamed ebike battery fires for being a leading cause of death in New York City. They only missed the mark by a factor of 1,000.

A road raging London driver was taken away in handcuffs following an escalating dispute that ended with him knocking another man off his bicycle, throwing his bike away, and running over a passing bike rider who stopped to help.

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

Miami’s annual Wheels Up, Guns Down bike ride once again took over the streets of the city, but what originally began as a ride to end gun violence once again devolved into a two-wheeled street takeover, with teenaged bicyclists, as well as dirt bike and ATV riders, performing stunts in traffic and raiding convenience stores; police made over 100 arrests.

Four English bike riders were fined after police in Surrey stopped a group ride for running a red light, and posted video of it online.

A British teenager faces charges of causing grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon — the ebike he was riding when he crashed into a cop, seriously injuring the officer.

………

Local 

The Los Angeles Times says don’t bet on AI reducing traffic congestion on California roads, despite Caltrans request for Artificial Intelligence companies to pitch AI products to cut congestion and improve safety, noting that nothing short of a global pandemic has had an effect on our traffic. So maybe the solution is providing safe and efficient alternatives to driving, instead.

Streetsblog looks at Safe Routes to School improvements in Koreatown.

 

State

No bias here. A new state report shows California cops stop Black drivers a whopping 132% more than expected, based on a comparison of stop data and residential population.

A writer for the Orange County Register says the climate was the big loser in Gavin Newsom’s new state budget.

Bad news from Ukiah, where a 75-year old man died after falling off his bicycle.

 

National

Velo argues both sides of the issue when it comes to vehicle warning lights to prevent doorings, suggesting they’re useful, but encouraging drivers to use the Dutch Reach by opening doors with their right hand is better.

Momentum talks with the founder of Black Girls Do Bike about the organization’s remarkable growth.

A new anti-theft light uses Apple’s Find My tech to locate your bike anywhere in the world. Which is great if a thief can’t simply remove it from your handlebars.

Seattle Transit Blog says building bike lanes is a good idea, but not if they’ll prevent future bus lanes.

While we continue to wait for California’s moribund ebike voucher program to launch, the small southwestern Colorado town of Durango is tripling the funding for its ebike voucher program, with $150,000 earmarked for the town of less than 20,000 people.

A DC food delivery rider keeps smiling, despite working 17 hour days with his foot in a surgical boot after he was struck by a car in September.

 

International

A new device from Red Bull can turn your bike into an ebike in mere seconds — the second time you use it, anyway.

Talk about bike riders behaving badly. A 43-year old man executed in front of his wife and toddler son as they returned home from a Brazilian bike ride turned out to be a notorious Serbian hit man who’s been on the run from Interpol for the last decade. Thanks to Steven Hallett for the link.

A new study suggests that Toronto police data captures only a small fraction of bicycling injuries, with police reports registering only eight percent of bicycling injuries compared to hospital and ER records over a five year period. The same would probably hold true for any large city, Los Angeles included.

I want to ne like her when I grow up, too. A Toronto woman is still riding at 77, after 56 years on a bike; despite the toll of age and a recent injury, she still feels more comfortable riding a bicycle in rush hour traffic than walking or driving.

Canadians are ditching their cars for bicycles, even in the cold of winter. Yet we’re somehow supposed to believe that Angelenos won’t bike to work in our much balmier climate.

A Scottish BBC presenter says he’s not afraid of dying, after doctors discovered an incurable brain tumor following a fall off his bicycle.

Serious bicycling injuries and deaths have jumped by a third in London over the past five years, far outpacing the 14% growth in bicycling rates over the same period, despite the city’s investment in protected bikeways and slow streets.

A writer for London’s Guardian asks whether tech giant Lime’s ubiquitous dockless bikeshare bikes and e-scooters are a “convenient and sustainable form of transport or a menace clogging up pavements.”

Speaking of Lime bikes, a defender for London’s Fulham soccer team was spotted riding one home following a loss to Chelsea, forgoing the usual luxury car.

An estimated 500 people biked through the streets of London to mark the 100th day since the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, including one man whose son died in the attack. Meanwhile, an Australian ride was marred by genocide graffiti sprayed on the wall of a Jewish community center. We’ll have photos from the Santa Monica ride later this week.

The Guardian remembers London’s Lycra lads circa 1987, bike messengers who “were fast, brightly dressed, sometimes earned decent money and rarely obeyed the Highway Code.”

That feeling when Pinarello’s “Fast and Furious new colorways,” aren’t.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website looks forward to eight women’s only bicycling events.

A 22-year old man in India built his own DIY solar powered ebike that seats up to seven people, for the equivalent of just $100.

A new study in the prestigious British Medical Journal shows Australian bicycling deaths have declined an average of 1.1% annually over the past 30 years — except for people over 60, who now make up 50% of all bicycling deaths. The authors suggest greater fragility among older riders, though the answer could be as simple as more older bike riders on the roads. 

 

Competitive Cycling

L39ION of Los Angeles unveiled its new team roster for the coming season, as co-founder Cory Williams and several team veterans move to Florida to compete for the Miami Blazers cycling team.

 

Finally…

Who needs a mere bicycle when you can pedal your very own velomobile? That feeling when you can’t tell if it’s a bike path or a slalom course.

And your next ebike could tell you where to go.

And how to get there.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

40-year old bike rider Alex Zavala died two months after October hit-and-run; 20th fatal SoCal bike hit-and-run last year

January 15, 2024 / / Comments Off on 40-year old bike rider Alex Zavala died two months after October hit-and-run; 20th fatal SoCal bike hit-and-run last year

This may be one of the saddest stories I’ve seen.

Late last month a crowdfunding campaign was posted online to help pay the funeral expenses for 40-year old Vladimir Zavala, who went by the name of Alex.

The page said Alex Zavala had died weeks after he was the victim of a hit-and-run while riding his bicycle.

But there were no details. No date for the crash, no location, no word on whether there was an arrest in the case.

It turns out that was because his family has no idea what happened or where.

According to a story from La Opinion, Zavala worked at a bicycle warehouse — likely meaning a bike co-op — and rode his bike everywhere, even spurning the car his mom bought for him.

But when Zavala didn’t come home one October night, his family searched for him everywhere, before eventually finding him lying in a coma in the intensive care unit of Los Angeles General Medical Center, suffering from head injuries, a broken his hip and missing his left eye.

His brother had to identify him, because he had come to the hospital with no identification.

It took a month for Alex Zavala to regain consciousness after the crash — then was somehow discharged despite bizarre ranting and speaking incoherently.

Then his mother came home from work one day in late December to find Zavala convulsing and bleeding from the ear; he died from a brain hemorrhage on December 20th.

If that was the end of it, that would be bad enough.

But the tragedy has been compounded because his family can’t conduct a funeral or bury Alex Zavala because they haven’t been able to get a death certificate, because the Medical Examiner’s office says they’re too backed up.

But I’m sure they’ll get around to it eventually.

To make matters even worse, the crowdfunding account was hacked, leaving Alex Zavala’s mother $25,000 in debt for his funeral expenses and burial plot.

A new crowdfunding campaign currently stands at a little more than $7,000 of the modest $8,500 goal. If you have a few extra bucks lying around, I can’t think of a better cause.

This was at least the 74th bicycling fatality in Southern California last year, and the 34th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it may or may not have occurred in the City of Los Angeles.

At least 20 of those SoCal deaths have been at the hands of hit-and-run drivers.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Alex Zavala and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Dr. Nina Harawa for the heads-up.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee