Every night is a battle to do my work while managing my diabetes, and fighting off the combined effect of the multiple medications required to control both it and my neuropathy.
And which most nights requires copious quantities of coffee just to function sufficiently to update this site.
And even that doesn’t always help.
Last night I lost that battle, passing out in mid-sentence with my laptop still on my lap.
So please forgive me once again.
I’m working with my doctors to adjust my medications to keep this from happening. Or at least, happening so often.
As usual, I’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on anything we’ve missed.
The increase in bicycle deaths came despite what police officials said at the meeting was an across-the-board drop in serious traffic collisions in the city so far this year — fatal collisions and crashes resulting in serious injuries were down 10 percent, Moore said. Fatal vehicle-on-pedestrian crashes were also down significantly, falling 25 percent.
There were 18 cyclists killed in Los Angeles for all of 2017, and police officials said after the fatal collisions in April, the city appeared to be on track to match that total again…
Los Angeles statistics collected as part of the city’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths showed that while all deaths from traffic collisions over the last three years, cyclist deaths continued to rise. In the San Fernando Valley, there were just three cyclist deaths in 2015, while last year there were eight.
In case you’re wondering, this is why I’m going to City Hall on the 18th, to demand our elected leaders have the courage to do the right thing.
It’s time to call the city council on their inaction on Vision Zero, and their repeated capitulations to traffic safety deniers in shelving vital lane reductions and other street safety projects.
And doing little more than talking about doing something to halt hit-and-run, while bicyclists and pedestrians — and even motorists — continue to suffer the consequences of their inaction.
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Speaking of which, if you can’t join me on the 18th — or even if you can — feel free to send a letter demanding for safer streets for you, me and everyone else. Just email your letter to me by Wednesday, May 16th to ted at bikinginla dot com.
I’ll print them out and include them with the packages we’re giving each councilmember and the mayor, containing copies of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing.
A couple quick tips if you plan to write a letter.
If you can, try to work in the theme of our protest by asking them to have the courage to do the right thing.
Mention what council districts you live, work or ride in.
Stress that safer streets benefit everyone, whether on bikes, on foot or in cars.
Feel free to (politely) express whatever anger or fear you may be feeling
Demand they take immediate action to protect us all
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A new study from the LA County Department of Health concludes that if Los Angeles actually built out the city’s Mobility Plan 2035 — which seems highly unlikely at this point — it could prevent up to 4,600 cases of cardiovascular disease each year, while saving over $160 million per year in health costs.
Which is just one more reason city leaders need to do the right thing. And one less reason to wonder what that is.
The South Pasadena Police Department will be conducting stepped-up bike and pedestrian safety operations throughout this month. You know the drill — ride to the letter of the law until you’re outside their jurisdiction. You don’t want to celebrate Bike Month with a traffic ticket.
President Trump once again criticized former Secretary of State John Kerry for breaking his leg while riding his bike, saying you don’t enter a bike race at 73, and you’d never see him (Trump) in a bike race. Except Kerry was only 71 at the time of the crash, he was just out for a bike ride with full security during a break in tense negotiations, not competing in a race, and more than a few people older than that still race. And at least Kerry can ride a bike.
There’s a special place in hell for the red light-running driver who struck an Illinois bike rider with her car, then got out to pick up her license plate before driving off and leaving him bleeding in the street.
A London man was hospitalized in critical condition after a collision with a man riding a bike near a busy tube station. A reminder to always use caution around pedestrians, because they’re the only ones more vulnerable than we are. And they don’t always use caution around us.
Paris is demanding emergency action after a disastrous change in management companies for the city’s famed Vélib’ bikeshare system has left much of it inoperable.
A 20-year old student at Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia is now a double U.S. Collegiate Cycling champ, after winning the road championship to go with the mountain biking title she won last fall.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A 70-year old Kiwi cyclist keeps a deathbed promise to his friend to compete in race around a New Zealand mountain and finishes second, despite saying he’s not a racer; his friend had won the same race over 60 years earlier.
Once again, a pro cyclist has been injured in a crash with a race moto, as British hill climb champ Joscelin Lowden suffered a broken clavicle after crashing with a security bike. Maybe someday, race organizers will finally figure out that motor vehicles don’t belong in the damn peloton.
We’ve met our fundraising goals to send a message to LA’s elected leaders, raising $400 in less than 48 hours to give them each a copy of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing.
I’ll be headed to city council meeting on the morning of Friday, May 18th to storm City Hall, and personally deliver them to demand safer streets.
Santa Monica came in a surprising seventh, with San Diego, which has made huge strides in recent years, just two steps lower.
Do I really need to mention that Fort Collins and San Diego only became bike friendly after I left them? Maybe I should move away from Los Angeles, so it can finally become the bike paradise it can and should — or at least somewhat less auto-focused — be once I’m gone.
Speaking of which, you’ll find the City of Angels on the second page, at what would be number 33 if they were numbered, which I suspect is a lot higher than most bike riders would rank it.
And no city ranked higher than 3.5 on the organization’s five point scale, which means there’s a lot of room for improvement, even in the best cities.
Also this Saturday, the Wolfpack Hustle Forsyth Cup takes place at the Encino Velodrome, sponsored by BikinginLA sponsor Thomas Forsyth; fans can feast on free hot dogs, tacos and water as long as they last.
May 14-18: Bike to Work Week – National bike to work week encourages people to switch up their morning commutes by riding their bikes to work.
May 16: Ride of Silence – The Ride of Silence honors those who have lost their lives or have been seriously injured while bicycling. Groups will depart at dusk, around 7 p.m., from locations in Fullerton, Irvine and Orange.
May 17: OCTA Bike Rally – The sixth annual event and ride is planned from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. starting at the Orange Metrolink Station, 194 N. Atchison St. and ending at the OCTA Headquarters, 550 S. Main St. in Orange.
May 18: Bike to Work Day – National bike to work day is recognized throughout the U.S. and gives people the opportunity to try a different way to commute.
CiclaValley escapes to Camp 9, one of the most accessible rides from the San Fernando Valley.
A letter writer chooses parking over a two-way bike lane on Pasadena’s Union Street, but can’t seem to distinguish between Santa Monica parking garages and on-street parking.
A 79-year old Laguna Beach man is planning for his next 5k, despite a collision with a truck that coast him a leg, and a head-on crash with a bike rider that left him with a broken neck and mostly paralyzed from the neck down. Seriously, slow the hell down and ride carefully around pedestrians; they’re the only ones more vulnerable on the streets than we are.
Tres shock! A Seattle study shows that dockless bikeshare is a success in the city, with an average of nearly one rider per bike per day. But ridership goes down in bad weather — just like it does anywhere else, for any kind of bike riding.
This is the cost of traffic violence. Friends and family remember a Purdue University student who died after a collision with a pickup, allegedly caused when he ran a red light.
The driver who fled the scene after running down a cyclist on Tennessee’s Natchez Trace Parkway last year — perhaps intentionally — will plead guilty in a plea deal.
A new study from Penn State University reveals that most people overestimate the time it would take to ride a bike somewhere. Which means that bicycling is a more viable option than most people think.
Too true. A Pittsburgh bike commuter says “There is no amount of bad behavior by cyclists that can remotely compare with the callous disregard for life displayed by these motorists.”
Baltimore’s repeat drunk driving Episcopal bishop asks if she can spend the rest of her sentence for killing a bike rider in a drunken 2014 hit-and-run in the comfort of her own home. The victim’s sister reasonably calls the request “unconscionable,” which pretty well sums up the whole damn thing.
May 3, 2018 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Raising funds to storm city hall, great new DIY bike PSA, and getting dropped by an ebike
Just a quick update.
As of this writing, we’ve raised $310 — just $90 short of our $400 goal — to give copies of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing to the Mayor of Los Angeles and every member of the city council.
All to give them a not so subtle hint to show a little courage and do the right thing to protect the lives of everyone who walks, bikes or drives on the streets of Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, we have to change the original date, since the council won’t be in session on Bike to Work Day.
Instead, we’re in the process of selecting a new date, the morning of either Wednesday, May 16th before the Ride of Silence, or — more likely — Friday, May 18th before Bike Night at Union Station.
If this doesn’t put a smile on your face this morning, nothing will. Just in time for Bike Month, a new DIY PSA cobbled together from movie footage artfully makes the case for riding bikes instead of driving.
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It’s one thing to get dropped. It’s another to get passed by a ebike rider like you’re not even moving.
The family of a fallen Texas cyclist has filed suit against the driver that killed him, as well as a passenger in the car, after the driver walked with time served, without spending a day in prison, despite a two-year sentence for manslaughter. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the heads-up.
May 2, 2018 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Storm City Hall for safer streets on May 18th, and killer Kalamazoo driver convicted of murder
As the great prophet Howard Beale once said, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
And I’m willing to march on City Hall by myself if that’s what it takes.
I’ve spent the last several weeks trying, and failing, to get support from LA advocacy groups for a plan for bike riders and pedestrians to storm city hall on Bike to Work Day this month to demand safer streets.
While I understand their need for campaigns and strategic planning, too many people are dying right now. And too many city councilmembers are backing away from the promises we were made.
So if this isn’t the right time for action, when is?
As I struggled with my own anger over the recent rash of bicycling fatalities and fatal hit-and-runs, I kept coming back to the questions of if not me, then who? And if not now, when?
Do we wait until someone else dies? Or twenty more people?
Do we wait until the next road diet is cancelled by councilmembers caving to angry drivers and traffic safety deniers?
And when is the right time to demand demand safer streets? As the Chinese proverb famously says, the best time would have been 20 years ago.
The second best time is now.
It’s my intention to give the mayor and every member of the council a copy of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing, and see if they get the message. If we can raise just $400 in the next week to cover the costs, I’ll do it.
Besides, we only need another $375, thanks to a donation from Douglas M to get things started.
But either way, I’m going to be there on May 18th, even if that means standing alone before the city council.
Because something needs to be done now.
I hope you’ll join me. And help spread the word, so we can get as many people as possible to show up that day.
And I hope you’ll consider making a contribution to help send a message to the council that it’s time to show a little courage and do the right thing.
Update: I’ve been reminded that the LA City Council doesn’t meet on Thursdays, so doing this on Bike to Work Day won’t work.
The question is whether it’s better do storm city hall on Tuesday, May 15th after the Blessing of the Bicycles, Wednesday the 16th before the Ride of Silence, or Friday the 18th before Bike Night at Union Station.
So what works better for you? Let me know in the comments below.
Update 2: It looks like Friday, May 18th works for more people. So that’s the day we’re storming City Hall.
Boston magazine offers an in-depth examination of the events leading up to the death of a brilliant surgeon when she was right hooked by a truck driver while riding to work. And the police investigation that went out of its way to blame the victim.
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Local
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined with other mayors around the world to issue a Commitment to Green and Healthy Streets, envisioning “a future where walking, cycling, and shared transport are how the majority of citizens move around our cities.” However, as Streetsblog points out, it takes more than lip service to be a climate mayor. It will be very hard for LA to live up to that commitment as long as city councilmembers are free to cancel safety and Complete Streets projects to appease angry drivers.
NACTO presents a nationwide study of bikeshare in the US; while docked bikes outnumber dockless bikes 56% to 44%, only 4% of the actual trips are taken by dockless bikeshare. Something that’s likely to change as dockless bikeshare matures in this country.
A Spokane WA bike commuter compares bicyclists to the NRA, and says some bike riders in the city are just jerks. Bicyclists are human, some humans are jerks. Therefore, some bicyclists will inevitably be jerks. Just like some drivers and pedestrians.
Houston residents are calling for changes after two people are killed in the same spot while riding bikes in the last two years; a crowdfunding campaign raised $15,000 to send the latest victim’s body back to India.
Around 50 Brisbane, Australia bicyclists stage a die-in to call for better bike safety, tying up traffic during the morning rush hour. While the technique can be effective, we don’t win any friends by inconveniencing people just trying to get to work.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and I own a business in Los Angeles that designs and distributes commuter and urban bicycles with a mission to “get more people on bikes.” I am embarrassed to live in a city that is called the “hit and run capital of the nation,” and that doesn’t make it a priority to keep our streets safe. I am embarrassed that I can’t even ride my bike to work without being called irresponsible by my wife and my parents, and who ask me if I want my one-year-old daughter to grow up without her dad. I am embarrassed that I advertise the benefits of bike riding to my customers and urge them to try to replace car rides with bike rides, even though my friends and family refuse to ride due to safety concerns. I can’t even explain the disappointment that I feel over the safety issues that bike riders and walkers have in Los Angeles, and it is clear that something must change immediately….
Over three years ago you signed an ambitious and exciting plan called the Vision Zero Initiative and declared that you were determined to bring the number of people killed while walking and biking to zero. Since then, we’ve lost over 500 Los Angelenos to the dangerous conditions of our city’s streets. I am asking you to stand up and recommit to Vision Zero, and request that City Council do the same.
We need you to lead and support our City Councilmembers in prioritizing the safety of their constituents. Please stand up for safe streets so that we can have in your words, “a well-run city… A prosperous city… A safe city… A city of opportunity.”
Seriously, take a few minutes to read it, then pass it on to everyone you know.
And demand an answer from the mayor.
Photo: Pure Cycle’s new head badge, taken from their Twitter account.
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The LAPD is looking for the public’s help in solving the murder of 39-year old Jamal Lewis, who was fatally shot while riding is bike on West 11th Street last month.
Brea is officially opening final segment of a four-mile bike and pedestrian trail; five other segments have been in use for months. The trail will also link with 66-mile OC Loop bikeway circling Orange County, which is about 66 miles longer than its LA County counterpart.
Contra Costa County has identified the victim of a bicycle collision who was killed last week, allegedly after inexplicably swerving into the side of an SUV. After all, it couldn’t possibly have been the result of an unsafe and illegally close pass.
Fox News looks at National Bike Month, which starts today, including various bike tours across the US, along with LA’s own Bike to Work Day on the 17th. Although I want to hold out for that Elvis Pilgrimage ride traveling between Tupelo, Memphis and Nashville.
An Oregon driver has had his license permanently revoked for being an idiot, when a 76-year old Corvette driver challenged two other motorists to a street race; after they refused, he sped off and killed a man on a bike while doing 80 mph. He also got a well deserved two years in jail.
A Houston letter writer notes the risks posed by drivers and a lack of bike infrastructure in the city, then complains about people who ride their bikes on the sidewalk or filter to the front of the line at an intersection. Apparently failing to realize that the latter could be how bicyclists attempt to deal with the former.
Life is cheap in New Hampshire, where a hit-and-run bike rider walked with a lousy $100 fine for riding on the sidewalk, after he fell into a 91-year old woman who died a day later after she was found lying on the sidewalk. Seriously, there’s no more excuse for a bike rider who leaves the scene after crashing into someone than there is for a driver — especially if someone dies as a result.
A Toronto-based writer says it’s time to make protected bike lanes and sidewalks a part of every road design to protect against dangerous drivers, as well as motor vehicle attacks like the recent murderous assault in the city. As we’ve noted before, despite automotive terrorist attacks around the world, Los Angeles still hasn’t done anything to protect people on Hollywood Blvd, perhaps the city’s most vulnerable tourist site.
Philippa York, who gained fame as former pro cyclist Robert Millar, says bicycling’s macho culture prevents riders and support staff from coming out as gay. Tell that to all those drivers who assume anyone in spandex must be.
