Last night, we watched as the edge of the devilish smoke plume from the Holy Fire slowly approached our apartment.
And as the evening wore on, we began to smell a hint of smoke in the Hollywood air.
Which for us, just means dealing with my allergies and my wife’s asthma. And slipping the Corgi a benadryl to stop her sneezing.
But if you live or ride closer to the fire, smelling smoke should serve as a warning to stay off your bike for awhile. Or at the very least, wearing a protective mask so you don’t suck in ash and other particles carried on the smoke.
Smoke from wildfires can cause a host of health problems, short term and long, especially if you have underlying health conditions.
During one of the Malibu fires a few years back, I thought it was far enough away that I could get in a quick ride. And paid the price with breathing problems that lasted long after the smoke cleared.
So learn from my mistake, and if you can smell smoke, just take a few days off.
Chances are, the roads will still be there when the fire is out.
Eureka votes to conduct a pair of road diets to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. Maybe councilmembers have more courage up there than they do here in Los Angeles. Or maybe they just care more.
They take a long time to get there, but an Idaho TV station finally says yes, bicyclists are allowed to ride two abreast. And they can use the Idaho stop, because they’re, like, in Idaho.
Another new study looks at the effects of bike lanes next to parallel parking, saying that dooring is underreported. And recommends sharrows instead of bike lanes to get riders out of the door zone. Although it’s my belief that the arrows in sharrows are only there to help angry drivers improve their aim.
No bias here, either. The Irish Times says it will take a massive change in attitude to cut the country’s record bicycling fatalities — no, by the people on two wheels. Oh, and people need to stop drinking and driving, too.
Life is cheap in Australia, where a driver may avoid jail for fleeing the scene after leaving a 13-year old bike rider with life-threatening injuries, telling the court she just panicked and has realized the error of her ways. But what the hell is with expecting a 13-year kid to act like an experienced rider?
August 8, 2018 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Bay Area bike advocate busted for Biking While Black, and LADOT officer blocks a DTLA bike lane
Was a Richmond bike rider busted in Oakland for Biking While Black?
Najari Smith, the founder and executive director of non-profit group Rich City Rides, was handcuffed and taken into custody on Friday for the crime of playing amplified music while leading a group of kids on a celebratory ride, and forced to spend the weekend in jail.
Like LA’s East Side Riders, Rich City Rides operates as a bike shop/co-op dedicated to building a better community by getting the people of the economically depressed area onto two wheels. And Smith is respected, if not beloved, as the peacemaking leader of that group.
According to Streetsblog, Oakland police issued a statement saying Smith was taken into custody for repeatedly refusing to provide identification after officers approached him for blocking an intersection. Even though that’s not what was written in the citation.
However, police in the East Bay area have a history of cracking down on groups of young black bike riders.
And a Stanford University study showed Oakland police ticketed black riders at six times the rate of white bicyclists, in a city that’s less than one-third black.
Photo shows Najari Smith with the trailer and sound system he was using when he was arrested.
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What does it mean when the people responsible for keeping drivers from blocking bike lanes are the ones blocking them?
In more ways than one.
A bike rider who prefers to remain anonymous forwarded this video of a confrontation with an LADOT Traffic Officer who not only stopped in a DTLA bike lane in heavy traffic, but passive aggressively stood next to her car refusing to move an inch so the rider could get by.
Maybe she was under no obligation to move until she was damn good and ready.
But is it too much to expect a little common courtesy from a city employee, when stepping aside for a few seconds wouldn’t have affected her job performance in the slightest?
Apparently so.
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Once again, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office plea bargains a serious crime down to a mere caress on the wrist, as a French citizen was sentenced to time served — a lousy 18 days — for ramming his SUV into a group of people in DTLA.
That’s despite facing up to eight years on the original five counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Seriously, how can we expect drivers to take traffic crime seriously if the DA doesn’t?
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Awhile back, we linked to a story about a rapidly growing petition from an Australian anti-bike group that was calling for bicyclists to be required to ride single file.
And their surprising discovery that it may be a well-known cyclist who turned against the local cycling community, after most of the local group rides had turned against him.
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Local
Seriously? Public TV station KCET offers ten basic bike tips for a satisfying ride. And the first one is “Wear a helmet.” As I’ve noted before, I never ride without one. But bike helmets should be seen as the last line of defense when all else fails, never the first. Better advice would be telling people to ride defensively.
You’re invited to re-imagine Downtown Ontario tonight with pop-up buffered bike lanes on Euclid Avenue, as well as extended sidewalks and parklets, followed by a free concert in the town square.
A San Jose sidewalk rider asks everyone to just chill out, because he says it’s not that bad, and the streets can be dangerous. Never mind that sidewalk riding is illegal in downtown San Jose, and riding on the sidewalk actually increases your risk of a collision.
A San Diego native plans to ride an electric wheelchair across the Cascade Mountains through Washington State to call attention to improving accessibility to the outdoors; he was paralyzed when he crashed his bike into a tree ten years ago while he was a student at UC Santa Cruz.
A Colorado town pats itself on the back for improving safety for bike riders — by banning them from riding on sidewalks in the central business district.
Witness the Ofo graveyard, where yellow Dallas dockless bikeshares go to die. You’d think they could donate some of those bikes to homeless or underprivileged people. But evidently, you’d be wrong.
A bike rider in British Columbia suffers potentially life-threatening injuries when he’s hit by a driver. But all the local paper seems to care about is the road that was closed as a result.
Calgary bicyclists complain after the city botched several bike path detours, forcing riders onto dangerous streets. Sort of like the repeated closures of the LA River bike path around Griffith Park, part of which remains closed through next year.
The New York Times offers a moving look at Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan, the American bike tourists murdered by ISIS terrorists in Tajikistan. Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.
The bad news is, it may be hidden behind their paywall, but at least here’s some of it if you can’t access the full story.
Either way, it sounds like LeBron is looking forward to joining us.
James said he’s fired up about the cycling in his new home base of Los Angeles, where he will be joining the Lakers this season. (This was in the news, you can look it up.) L.A. sometimes gets a bad rap as a cycling city, but there’s a lot of good riding in town, and tons of high-level cyclists.
“I’ve seen a few bike paths around Los Angeles,” James said. “I know Santa Monica has a great bike path down there on the beach…I’m looking forward to that.”
Would he consider riding to home games at Staples Center? “Oh my goodness,” James said. “That would be a hump. I would be able to avoid the highway traffic, though.”
So keep your eyes peeled for someone who looks a lot like LeBron James riding on the beachfront bike path.
Because it just might be.
And the offer still stands to put together a ride with kids from his new hometown in the City of Angels to see him safely through that hump to work.
Almost as upsetting as the statistics is the Los Angeles Police Department’s response. If you’re a walker rather than a driver, you know this is true: LAPD officers target pedestrians for tickets but rarely react when motorists violate traffic laws right in front of them. This selective enforcement seems so blatant that I suspect it’s by design. The LAPD is intentionally putting the responsibility for street safety on pedestrians, even though motorists control the cars that kill.
Writer Scott Schultz goes on to explain that he requested data from the LAPD on the number of jaywalking tickets their officers issued, as well as tickets to drivers for failing to yield.
It took two years to get the data, and just five divisions responded — Central, Hollenbeck, Hollywood, Van Nuys and Northeast. Of 68,072 total citations, 55,392 went to pedestrians. In other words, 81% of tickets issued for crosswalk infractions went to pedestrians.
Central Division, which includes downtown, Chinatown and skid row, was particularly aggressive toward pedestrians. Of their 43,326 combined citations, only 11.25% (4,876) were issued to drivers. During the six years covered by the data, there were more jaywalking tickets issued in just the Central Division than there were failure-to-yield tickets in the five divisions combined. Meanwhile, 20 pedestrians were killed by cars in the Central Division in 2017 alone.
You don’t have to spend much time walking or riding a bicycle in Los Angeles to realize, as LeBron James undoubtedly will, that too many drivers feel entitled to do whatever they want, without fear of getting stopped by police.
Even when the violation happens right in front of them.
Vision Zero is about improving streets and infrastructure so human mistakes don’t become fatal, not increasing enforcement.
But until the former happens — which seems pretty unlikely these days — we’ll need to count on the police to protect us by doing the latter.
Which clearly isn’t happening right now.
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Bikingly forwards news of a Glendale hit-and-run involving a bicyclist, with the notice posted on old school social media.
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Who says you can’t go for a ride with your dogs, even on a folding bike? David Drexler captured this photo on on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach on Sunday.
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Local
The LA Bicycle Advisory Committee meets tonight in Hollywood; you can read the agenda here. The BAC is the only official voice for bicyclists in the city, even if most of the city’s councilmembers never meet with, let alone listen to, the district representatives they appointed.
This is who we share the roads with. A Delaware truck driver allegedly blared his horn at a bicyclist for hugging the white line, then nearly ran him off the road before getting out and beating him with a wire cable. The authorities showed how seriously they don’t take violence against bicyclists by releasing him on a paltry $3,000 unsecured bond.
The New York Post breathlessly complains that dockless bikeshare bikes are clogging sidewalks since their recent arrival in the city. Because it’s just so hard to pick up a bike and move it if it’s in the way.
A Brit driver is outraged when he films bicyclists riding side-by-side on a quiet, narrow street, where there wouldn’t be room to pass safely even if they weren’t. And as the paper notes, it’s perfectly legal to ride abreast in the UK, though it might be polite to move over.
Tajikistan is worried that the terrorist attack that resulted in the death of four bike tourists, including Americans, will have an adverse affect on tourism. No shit.
August 6, 2018 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Santa Monica Blvd green lane, bicyclist survives fatal PCH crash, and keep your hands to yourself
Green bike lanes are finally making an appearance on the south side of Santa Monica Blvd in the former Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills.
Given how unlikely it was just a few years ago, this is a huge step forward, even if the lane does seem very cramped, offering just enough space for a single rider, with no room to pass without swerving out into traffic.
And the narrow bike lane means unless you hug the gutter, all those buses on Santa Monica Blvd will buzz by your elbow at far less than the required three foot passing distance.
I’m not sure this will bring many more riders out, but the green paint may make those who already ride Santa Monica Blvd feel more comfortable.
The driver of a minivan jumped the center divider on PCH near Trancas Canyon Road and struck a pickup head-on, demolishing both vehicles.
Sadly, both drivers were killed; a passenger in one of the vehicles was slightly injured.
The bicyclist, who was not seriously injured, was struck by a wheel that flew off in the violent crash as he rode in the painted bike lane.
Needless to say, authorities suspect speed and alcohol were factors in the crash.
Another reminder that the deadly road most be tamed. And we’re all at risk until it us.
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Former pro and current author, fondo meister and YouTube star Phil Gaimon kicked over a hornet’s nest with this tweet over the weekend.
Twitter post
While most women agreed with him, some argued that they appreciate the help, especially from someone they know. And many men argued that they were just trying to help. Or something.
So instead of mansplaining, we get manpushing.
But there’s an easy solution to the problem. Just ask first. If a woman — or a man, for that matter — wants your help they’ll tell you.
And if they don’t, just nod politely and go on your way.
The same thing goes for offering advice.
Always ask for permission before you start spouting cycling tips; the other person may not want them, or may be following another program.
Although personally, I prefer to be a well, not a fountain. Most people will usually ask advice if they really want it.
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A New York bike rider shows what it’s like to ride in Gotham bike lanes. Which many LA bicyclists can relate to, as well.
The note read, “Hi! Please enjoy this small, random act of kindness in honor of my father-in-law, Jeff-an avid cyclist, a lover of the outdoors, and an all-around awesome dude. The only thing that I ask is that you always wear a helmet when riding your bike, and that you send any spare good vibes and healing thoughts out his way to the Pacific Northwest.”
The woman who found it said she felt like it was meant for her, since she’d just started bicycling again after several years.
Let’s hope this sort of thing catches on.
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Local
LADOT has released a summary of the recent open house to discuss closing the ridiculous Northvale Gap in the Expo Line Bike Path, which resulted when local Cheviot Hills residents successfully fought the bike path when the Expo Line was built.
Southern California athletes are gearing up for the 10th Annual Gay Games, which started in Paris on Saturday, with events ranging from cycling and track and field, to dance sports and table tennis.
A Boulder CO newspaper profiles Spencer Powlison, the 34-year old mountain biker who plans to compete in the Leadville 100 on 1983 Stumpjumper that’s older than he is.
A colorful Des Moines IA lane reduction and parking protected bike lanes have reduced collisions by 2%, while dropping injury collisions a whopping 58%. And contradicting claims by anti-road diet forces everywhere, it has shaved 30 seconds off response times by the fire department.
This is why you don’t confront bike thieves yourself. A Cleveland man is in critical condition, and a woman injured, after they were both shot when they confronted two teens they accused of stealing their children’s bicycles. If you think you’ve found your stolen bike, call the police and let them deal with it; no bike is worth your life.
No bias here, either. An Ottawa, Canada columnist says that instead of building bikeways, the city should crack down on bike riders and require riders be licensed, carry insurance and have license plates, to name a few on his long list of demands that he says would make bicyclists disappear. Which he thinks would be a good thing.
Popular young Team Sky cyclist Egan Bernal suffered serious facial injuries in a crash with several other riders in Spain’s Clasica San Sebastian; he was later diagnosed with a nasal fracture and maxillary injury. Movistar’s Mikel Landa went to the hospital with a back injury as a result of the same crash.
If you want to see the pope, leave your car at home — but take your bike. We have to worry about crashing into cars parked in bike lanes; Colorado bike riders try to avoid crashing into mountain goats.
A man has been killed riding a road bike in an unincorporated area east of San Diego.
According to the Union-Tribune, the victim was riding south in the bike lane on Avocado Blvd just above Nabal Drive in the Casa del Oro neighborhood of San Diego County around 8 am. He reportedly swerved into the traffic lane, and was struck by a car driven by a 63-year old woman.
As always, the question is whether there were any witnesses other than the driver.
It’s possible that he may have swerved out of the bike lane to avoid an obstruction, or moved left to turn onto Nabal Drive without checking for traffic.
However, it’s also possible that the driver may have been speeding, or drifted into the bike lane and only assumed the he swerved in front her. The lack of physical evidence in bike crashes can make it difficult, if not impossible, to identify the exact point of impact.
Crashes like that are so common they are often referred to sarcastically as an SWSS, or Single Witness Suicide Swerves.
Hopefully we’ll get more information soon.
This is at least the 29th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 6th that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
And yes, he was wearing a helmet. In this case, it was not enough to help.
Meanwhile, Frank Lehnerz forwards a Google image showing what might have made Lusteg swerve.
What hasn’t been mentioned is that if he swerved around this or any other object, it would suggest that the driver didn’t give a three-foot passing distance as required by law.
Otherwise, anything less than a swerve into the left turn lane shouldn’t have been enough to cause a collision.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Daniel Lusteg and his loved ones.
Thanks to Jeff Kucharski, Charles Schenck and Frank Lehnerz for the heads-up.
