Maybe that painted bike lane is safer than you think.
In a new study from a Canadian university, researchers rode bicycles equipped with sensors and a handlebar-mounted camera to measure how close drivers pass people on bicycles.
The results show that on two lane roads without bike lanes, motorists passed people on bicycles too closely 12% of the time, based on the equivalent of a three-foot passing distance.
But on roads with bike lanes, that dropped to just 0.2%.
On four lane streets, incidents of close passing dropped from 6% to just 0.5%.
The university plans to use that data to develop tools to determine where bike lanes would do the most good.
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Bike thieves walked out of the Chino Incycle Bicycles with a $10,000 mountain bike, then ran over the manager when she tried to stop them.
Bike mechanic Raul Ureno chased the thieves in his car and managed to get the bike back, though he was unable to stop them.
The manager, who wasn’t named, suffered a broken pelvis, crushed ribs and fractured skull.
There’s a $10,000 reward for the suspects. Let’s hope someone takes them up on it.
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A Rancho Mirage-area Strava user posted a photo of a powerful billboard featuring fallen cyclist Will Campbell.
Too bad we don’t have the money to put these up everywhere, one for every rider who loses their lives on the streets.
Maybe then drivers would start to pay attention.
Thanks to Steve S for the heads-up.
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In yet another example of LA leaders’ rhetoric exceeding their actions, bike-friendly Councilmembers Mike Bonin and Nury Martinez were joined by the decidedly unfriendly Paul Koretz in calling for a Green New Deal for the City of Los Angeles.
Never mind that Koretz has consistently blocked much-needed bike lanes in his Westside district, forcing residents to rely on carbon fuel-driven motor vehicles. And gone out of his way to fight the density that would cut trips for work, school and shopping.
Koretz has long positioned himself as LA’s most ecologically minded councilmember.
But until his actions catch up with his words, they’ll remain just that.
Words.
Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.
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Mountain biker Brandon Semenuk tells the full story behind the most viewed mountain bike video of all time.
If you’ve got four minutes to spare, it’s worth taking a brief break in your day to watch the original video. Which is a lot shorter than the 24-minute explanation.
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Local
Good news, Los Angeles. You no longer have the worst traffic in the US. In fact, we’re not even in the top five.
CiclaValley offers a video essay on the best route from the San Fernando Valley to the Westside, suggesting Fryman Canyon to Franklin Canyon, with a surprisingly low 442 feet of climbing. I’m going to save that one for my next trip over the Hollywood Hills.
State
A San Diego site says it’s time to reign in e-scooters, as the city’s mayor proposes to do just that.
More sad news, this time from Bakersfield, where a man was killed when he allegedly rode his bike out in front of an oncoming car at an intersection.
Redding prepares to open a new bike path connecting downtown to the Sacramento River, replacing what residents call a harrowing one-mile journey.
Work crews with the California Conservation Corp destroyed three popular, but unsanctioned, bike trails in the forests around Arcata, which a local news site called “the lifeblood of the community forest for generations of bike riders.”
National
Bicycling offers nine tips on how to get a stolen bike back, including recommending Bike Index as your best bet to register your bike after the theft. You can report your stolen bike with Bike Index right here on this site. Then again, why wait until it’s too late?
You can kiss the last remaining Performance Bicycle locations goodbye; if you don’t make it in before March 2nd, it will be too late. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the tip.
If you can get past the Wall Street Journal’s paywall, you can read about a Hawaii man who took a five-day ride around the coast of the Big Island once the Kilauea volcano settled down.
The rich get richer. Portland is attempting to reclaim its title as America’s leading bike city by building 16.5 miles of protected bike lanes. And getting rid of 1,000 parking spaces in the process.
Crosscut profiles the active transportation director for the Washington State Department of Transportation, asking if she can save bicycling in the state.
Caught on video: Police in Mesa AZ are looking for three people who attempted to run over a group of bike cops, crushing their bikes as they jumped out of the way.
Utah’s legislature is moving forward with a bill that would allow bike riders to go through red lights if they don’t change after stopping for 90 seconds, over the objections of law enforcement.
Um, sure. An allegedly drunken San Antonio driver who killed a bike riding surgeon says she fled the scene because she got frightened after thinking she ran over something. Meanwhile, his accused killer is out on $50,000 bond. Sure. Doesn’t everyone get terrified when they drive over a stick or a speed bump or something? Thanks to Stephen Katz for the tip.
Lime is pulling the plug on it’s bikeshare service in Hartford CT, leaving the city scrambling for a replacement.
While Los Angeles bike riders wait for the DA’s office to finally file charges against the hit-and-run driver who killed Frederick “Woon” Frazier, the NYPD has failed to make arrests in four recent hit-and-runs involving people on bicycles, including two where they know the identity of the driver. Which begs the question, why should drivers take hit-and-run seriously when police and prosecutors apparently don’t?
About damn time. A well-funded global alliance launched in the nation’s capital with the goal of finally putting people before cars on our streets.
After that Greenville SC boy jumped on his bike to get help for his unconscious father, bighearted local firefighters surprised him with a new bicycle.
International
Vancouver police help a group of college engineering students recover their custom-designed, hand-built, one-of-a-kind racing ebike after it was stolen.
London is responding to the death of a bike rider by banning cars entirely from three roads leading into a busy junction in the city’s financial district.
Caught on video too: A London bike rider discovers an air horn can move mountains. Or at least pedestrians blocking bike lanes. Be sure to stay to the end for the totally unsurprising response; thanks again to Steve S.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is one of us, riding a bicycle into the English Premier League team’s Spain training camp, as they take a break from the title chase.
Amsterdam has a nine-year old junior bike mayor. Which is exactly one more than Los Angeles has, junior or otherwise.
Bari, Italy is now the first Italian city to pay residents to bike to work, up to the equivalent of $28 a month.
They get it. Melbourne’s leading motoring organization is recommending that bicycle superhighways move to the top of the state government’s infrastructure plans to fight traffic congestion in the city.
An Aussie writer calls for a little sympathy and tolerance after reading the disturbing comments following the death of a bike rider.
A Singapore man has been spotted again riding a bicycle while towing a strange ladder-like metal extension. Unless it actually is a ladder, in which case it’s not strange at all.
Competitive Cycling
Lawson Craddock, the pro cyclist who finished dead last in his first Tour de France after riding the entire race with a broken collarbone, is working his way back to this year’s race with a new attitude as a new father.
Fifty-eight-year old former Tour de France stage winner Sean Yates has turned to an ebike to keep riding after suffering a heat defect that limits his pulse rate to just 90 beats a minute.
Rouleur talks with 1960s six-day race superstar Patrick Sercu.
Finally…
Apparently it’s against the law to ride a moped while carrying a bicycle in some places. Climbing the legendary Mont Ventoux without a seat.
And it may be about to get wet out there, but at least this is one problem we don’t have in LA.
