Day 183 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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We’ve got a lot of ground to cover after yesterday’s unexcused absence.
But before we get started, a crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help pay funeral and memorial expenses for fallen bicyclist Virgo Datu.
Datu passed away unexpectedly after crashing when he caught a wheel on Saturday’s Montrose Ride.
The campaign has already raised over $10,000, more than double the initial $5,000 goal.
Photo of Virgo Datu from crowdfunding page.
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I’m always a sucker for a good cause, especially when it comes to giving kids bicycles.
Which brings us to the 4th Annual Bikes for Kids giveaway sponsored by Burbank native and personal injury attorney Adrianos Facchetti.
According to a press release for the event,
Facchetti, who helps families recover after car accidents and injuries, says the giveaway is one of the most meaningful things his team does all year. “After seeing the struggles many of our clients go through, we wanted to create something that spreads joy.”
The event has grown steadily since its launch in 2021. Past winners included kids who helped care for siblings, stayed strong through medical challenges, or simply showed up every day with kindness. The firm invites the ten selected children to its Burbank office, where they receive their new bikes, helmets, and a round of applause…
“This community raised me,” Facchetti added. “This is one small way we can give back.”
Nominations are open for any child aged 6 to 17 who lives within ten miles of The Law Offices of Adrianos Facchetti at 4444 W. Riverside Drive, Suite 308, in Burbank. Submissions should explain how the child has gone “above and beyond” to help someone else, or positively impacted their siblings, classmates or community.
Nominations are open from July 5th through July 26th; just click here to submit yours.
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Metro will hold a series of important public meetings this month to discuss the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit Project, and the Sepulveda Transit Corridor.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Seriously? An English town defends fining people the equivalent of nearly $1,400 just for riding a bike through the town center, claiming residents have been “scarred for life” by “anti-social” bicyclists.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
If you’re trying to flee from San Bernardino Sheriff’s deputies while carrying several baggies of meth, try not to crash your ebike into one of their cars.
No bias here. A Santa Barbara grand jury examined complaints about bad behavior and near accidents involving young people on ebikes, concluding that better eduction and stricter enforcement were needed to rein them in — although the local paper doesn’t put it that nicely. And yes, some kids are out of control, with far too many e-motorbikes passed off as ebikes. But just wait until the jurors learn what drivers do out on the streets, as well the relative risk ebike riders pose compared to people in the big, dangerous machines.
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Local
A 31-year old man was in stable condition after being shot while riding his bike in DTLA Sunday night, telling police he didn’t see the shooter. Or presumably, know why.
The LA Country Sheriff’s Department will conduct another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation in West Hollywood on Thursday, ticketing anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it. So as usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line to make sure you’re not the one who gets written up. Thanks to David for the heads-up.
Santa Clarita officially broke ground on the new Haskell Canyon Bike Park on Tuesday.
State
California cities are now using drones to catch people riding illegal ebikes, aka out-of-class, not street legal or illegally modified.
Oceanside will dedicate a segment of the San Luis Rey River Trail in the city to Jensen Taylor Hughes, a young woman who was killed while riding on the trail in September, 2023. I don’t seem to have a record of her death, and can’t find any news reports.
An Oceanside man is working to transform the community through a lowrider bicycle project.
Family and friends of a 12-year old girl killed this April in an Encinitas crosswalk call out a proposal to widen deadly Encinitas Blvd to add a third traffic lane in each direction, calling for bicycle and pedestrian improvements instead.
A 41-year old man was busted for an allegedly drunken hit-and-run after rear-ending a bike rider in Perris; the victim was hospitalized in stable condition despite suffering serious injuries.
Ventura nonprofit Bike 4 A Cause will launch a free program to teach kids to ride bicycles this Saturday.
Hats off to Oakland’s Bay Area Bicycle Rescue, which collects unloved bikes from community members and repairs them to redistribute to people who need them, saving over 1,200 bikes from the landfill last year alone.
Singletracks talks with the Calirado Kid, a Sacramento-based mountain bike content creator “known for posting hilarious bike-related videos on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube,” while working with a science group to encourage riders to help document biodiversity in California.
National
Good damn question. A movie site questions whatever happened to all those great cycling movies like we had in the ’80s.
Buyer beware. Electrek considers what you really get when you order that $500 ebike online.
He gets it. A writer for Cycling Weekly argues that bicycling is a political act, and the battle for public lands is a reminder that cyclists can’t afford to stay on the sidelines of politics.
No bias here, either. A writer for a sustainable journalism newsletter examines the slow progress American cities are making in becoming bike friendly — but positions it by misleadingly asking if that progress is a good thing. But at least they have the good taste to include a photo of a Boston corgi in a cargo bike.
The Atlantic bemoans the decline of a classic childhood pastime, as fewer kids are riding bikes. But you’ll have to sign up for a free trial if you want to read more than the first few paragraphs.
He gets it, too. Alaska writer Craig Medred complains that the public is usually kept in the dark about traffic violence, at a time when even AAA says only 35% of American drivers can be classified as “good,” and “only luck and the capabilities of modern medicine” keep the carnage from being worse.
As of yesterday, bike riders in New Mexico now enjoy the full benefits of the Idaho Stop Law, which lets bicyclists treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stop signs, although in both cases they’re required to observe the right-of-way and proceed only when safe.
Livability says diverse terrain, beautiful views and a lack crowds make Idaho’s Palouse region a bicycling paradise.
A new Denver bike app helps bicyclists find “low-stress” bike routes, while rewarding them for stopping at local businesses along the way.
A New York judge calls time out, ruling that a restraining order protecting an endangered bike lane will stay in place for now, until he rules on a case trying to stop the city from ripping it out.
More proof that bikes are good for business, after the US Pro Road National Championships generated a $6.9 million impact on Charleston, West Virginia — a whopping 50% jump over last year.
A new report says bike-unfriendly Alabama has the nation’s strictest bicycle laws.
International
Momentum recommends Canada’s best bike cities, for anyone looking to flee for snowier pastures.
More on the Toronto bike lane that Ontario officials want to rip out “because no one uses it” — even though it carries more rush hour traffic than the traffic lanes next to it. Maybe they should rip out one of the lanes drivers use to make more room for bikes, instead.
After selling his eponymous bikewear brand, former Canadian Olympian Louis Garneau has started a new company focused on making more affordable kids bikes.
Shimano wants to know why Europe has a “critical” shortage of bike mechanics, saying it risks creating barriers to bicycling.
Police in Wales will stop accepting video evidence of overly close passes — or doing anything about them, anyway — even though video is been accepted as proof of traffic violations throughout the UK.
They get it. An Irish bike advocacy group says we try to rationalize traffic violence as freak accidents, when the roads are “still engineered, policed and legislated for in ways that accept, and sometimes even enable, lethal outcomes.”
Here’s your chance to own a new limited edition Swiss watch honoring cycling great Fabian Cancellara, for the low, low price of nearly $6,400. Although the only nod to Cancellara is a few touches of yellow, so it could honor anyone of your choice who has ever worn yellow, if Sparticus doesn’t do it for you.
Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a judge acquitted a semi driver for killing a longtime bike commuter in their equivalent of a right hook, blaming poor road markings for making it unclear who had the right-of-way, even though the driver admitted to never even seeing the victim.
Competitive Cycling
Cyclist calls out the favorites for this year’s Tour de France, which they swear goes beyond Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, and digs deep to examine who stands to get a cut of the race’s $2,714,901.48 in prize money (at Tuesday’s exchange rate).
Velo identifies “all the bikes, components and gear” used by the 23 teams rolling out for the Tour this Saturday.
Finally…
Now you, too, can own your very own established bike brand. Your next handlebars could be reminiscent of America’s military HQ, but with less brass.
And call it the next best thing to biking naked.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
