Still waiting to get my laptop back with a new and improved hard drive so we can get back to work. With luck, we’ll be back tomorrow. Hopefully.
In the meantime, be sure to include this in your weekend plans.
Still nothing to see here; Mar Vista motions threaten Venice Great Streets
Still no Morning Links due to continued computer problems. Hopefully we’ll get everything sorted out tomorrow.
One important note in the meantime, however.
The Mar Vista Comunity Council will consider two motions to reverse the Venice Blvd Great Streets project at tonight’s meeting.
Click to access 34485419-9138.pdf
It’s imperative that everyone who supports the safer street and protected bike lanes voice their support, either at the meeting or by email.
The meeting will begin at 7 pm at the Mar Vista Recreation Center Auditorium, 11430 Woodbine St.
Or email board@marvista.org, and cc: councilmember.bonin@lacity.org.
This is the direct result of reversing the lane reductions on Vista del Mar, which has emboldened opponents of Vision Zero and the Great Streets program.
And if it fails in Bonin’s district, we’re unlikely to see many more councilmember’s with the courage to prioritize safety and livability over driver convenience.
Category: Advocacy & Politics /
Move along, nothing to see here
My apologies. Due to an unexpected hard drive fail, we won’t have the Weekend Links or bike events updates I promised.
With luck, we should be back online by Tuesday.
So get out and ride your bike. And we’ll see you next week.
Category: General /
Bike rider killed in collision in LA’s Miracle Mile; no details available
Sad news from LA’s Miracle Mile district, where a bicyclist was killed in a collision Wednesday night.
Unfortunately, there’s almost no information about the crash.
According to the City News Service, the wreck occurred in the area of Olympic Blvd and Ridgeley Drive; another site places the time of the crash around 11 pm.
The victim died at the scene.
Raw news video from the scene shows what appears to be a mangled mountain bike resting next to a pair of shoes in the street, and identifies the victim as male.
The driver remained at the scene; news footage shows a sedan with a broken windshield. However, that site places the crash a few blocks further east on the 5500 block of Olympic.
No other details about the victim or the crash are available at this time.
This is the 41st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 20th in Los Angeles County. It’s also the seventh in the City of Los Angeles.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: bicycling fatality, County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Miracle Mile, Olympic Blvd
Update: Van Nuys bike rider killed in double hit-and-run Wednesday night
Heartbreaking news from Van Nuys, where a woman was left to die by a pair of heartless cowards Wednesday night.
According to multiple sources, the victim was struck by a speeding driver around 11:23 pm at the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard and Stagg Street, and thrown nearly 120 feet by the force of the impact.
The driver, later identified as 24-year old Van Nuys resident Erik Limon, fled the scene, leaving his victim lying unprotected in the street.
Another driver ran over her as she was lying in the street; that driver also fled without stopping.
The victim, who has been identified only as a woman in her 50s, died at the scene.
Police suspect her bicycle was stuck under Limon’s car as he fled, and disposed of later; as of this writing, it has still not been found.
His car was recovered, and he was arrested at his home around 3:15 Thursday afternoon.
The second driver, reportedly a woman in an older gold Camry, is still at large.
KABC-7 reports the victim was in a crosswalk when she was struck by Limon’s car. However, according to KCBS-2, she may have been riding against traffic.
Anyone who finds a damaged bicycle in the area, or who has other information about the crash, is urged to call the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division at 818/644-8000.
There is an automatic $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver, or in this case, drivers, in any fatal hit-and-run in the City of LA.
This is the 40th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 19th in Los Angeles County. It’s also the sixth in the City of Los Angeles.
Fourteen of those SoCal deaths have been the result of hit-and-runs, half of those in LA County.
Update: Surveillance video on KNBC-4 shows the victim riding northbound in the southbound lane, where she was struck by the Limon’s car as he turned right. Despite earlier reports, he does not appear to be speeding at the time of the crash.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and her loved ones.
Category: Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: bicycling fatality, hit-and-run, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Morning Links: The unholy battle over road diets in City of Angels, free range kids on bikes, and JuJu is one of us
LA’s bruising street fight is starting to get international attention, as World Magazine looks at the battle over road diets in Los Angeles. And has the good taste to quote yours truly.
Meanwhile, the battle to undo those road diets has spread east, where a petition calls for removing the bike lanes and bollards on deadly Foothill Blvd, as well as Sunland Blvd.
As of this writing, it had garnered over a thousand signatures. Not to mention a lively, if somewhat misinformed and frightening, debate on the local Next Door.
And someone should tell them those bollards are flexible, and can be driven over in case of an emergency.
Thanks to Doug Moore for the heads-up. Road diet photos from the USDOT Federal Highway Administration website.
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Speaking of debates, David Wolfberg forwards one from the Free Range Kids site asking if kids are learning to ride their bikes at an older age. Or maybe not at all.
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Former USC and current Pittsburgh Steelers star JuJu Smith-Schuster is one of us.
https://twitter.com/TeamJuJu/status/904857339827597313
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Don’t try this at home. A hi-viz clad Aussie salmon cyclist decides to make a sudden U-turn across, and through, three lanes of oncoming traffic.
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The lead stays the same, if a little less so, following a brutal climb in the Vuelta. Cycling Weekly offers five talking points from the stage.
More carnage from the Tour of Britain, where several riders crashed into the back of a car parked on the race course. Meanwhile, two cyclists have been disqualified for riding on the sidewalk to attack the peloton.
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Local
In the latest settlement due to LA’s crappy roads, the city council voted to pay a Sherman Oaks bike rider $6.5 million for injuries suffered when he hit a pothole on Valley Vista Blvd. Money that could have been much better spent trying to prevent crashes like this in the first place.
Bono tells KROQ that Brandon Flowers of The Killers is one of us, after he wiped out on his bike like the U2 front man did awhile back.
CiclaValley questions whether the planned East Valley Transit Corridor will underwhelm cyclists and the Valley alike.
Not only will Santa Monica’s Cynergy Cycles measure your butt to find the perfect saddle, they’ll also keep a digital record of your nether regions stored for future reference. At least when someone builds a statue of me after I’m gone, they’ll have a perfect record of my ass.
State
The San Diego Union-Tribune offers an in-depth look at the removal of 15 beachfront bikeshare stations.
A Calabasas letter writer says the purpose of a planned bike lane is solely for safety, not recreational riding.
Caught on video: The local paper offers a thrilling — and bouncy — firsthand view of mountain biking down the highest peak in San Luis Obispo County. Meanwhile, a local man goes on an epic 3,500 word rant accusing San Luis Obispo of “ramming a bicycle freeway” through an unwilling neighborhood, destroying residents’ quality of life and apparently ending life as we know it.
A Ceres man leaves a note thanking the cop who arrested him, saying he needs help after he was busted for meth while riding a stolen bicycle.
Santa Clara County’s $6 billion transportation project is on hold, thanks to a single woman who is suing to stop the whole thing to protect an ancient aquifer under a planned BART station. As opposed to all those modern aquifers, evidently.
You’ve got to be kidding. A Portola driver won’t be charged, despite being found at fault for plowing head-on into a group of cyclists last month, injuring six people.
National
When an Albuquerque street turned out to be narrower than expected, planners naturally responded by narrowing the bike lane while leaving the spacious traffic lanes intact.
An admitted Massachusetts gang member accuses police officers of harassment after he was stopped for riding without a helmet, which isn’t illegal, and riding salmon, which is.
Next time you’re in New York, take a 38-mile bike tour around Manhattan.
A Jersey Shore bike rider won a $1.58 million judgment after she was struck by the driver of a city-owned vehicle.
International
Residents of a Canadian town complain that bicyclists continue to ride abreast in the traffic lane, instead of single file in the new, apparently substandard bike lane. Just a thought: If you want bicyclists to actually use it, don’t build a crappy, poorly marked gutter bike lane in the first place.
Let’s see if I’ve got this one right. After she’s released from prison two years early for the drunken death of a bike rider, an English woman gets drunk at a concert, and proceeds to punch a stranger who told her boyfriend to stop peeing on the woman sitting in front of him.
Britain’s prime minister says the country may consider new laws to target dangerous cycling, after a woman was killed by an out-of-control fixie rider. Meanwhile, no charges are expected after a British bike rider was killed when a “reckless” pedestrian stepped in front of him; in fact, there’s currently no law against wanton walking. And unlike the bike case, no plans to create one, either.
A cyclist in the UK says horses don’t belong on modern roads, sounding just like the drivers who say the same thing about bicyclists.
The mayor of Paris plans to make it the world’s most bikeable city.
Riding the boardwalk on the Israeli coast from Tel Aviv to Jaffa.
An Aussie writer calls for relaxing the country’s strict bike helmet law, because he says we need more cyclists.
Caught on video too: Seriously, don’t run a red light right next to a Kiwi motorcycle cop. Or better yet, just don’t run red lights, period.
Finally…
Enjoy your Yellowstone ride, but keep your distance from the bears and wolves — and the bison. Nothing like having your bike crash recorded for posterity on Google street view.
And it’s probably more credible to claim you’re not a violent man if you don’t get caught on video threatening to follow a cyclist and fuck his life.
I’m just saying.
Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, car vs. bike, Foothill Blvd, JuJu Smith-Schuster, kids on bikes, lane reductions, Los Angeles, road diets, Sunland Blvd
