Due to this morning’s breaking news, Mr. CiclaValley’s interview with pro cyclist Phil Gaimon about next weekend’s inaugural Malibu Gran Cookie Fondo has been postponed.
It will appear on this site by noon tomorrow. My apologies for the delay.
Bike rider killed in Pacoima collision Wednesday night
The LAPD is reporting that a bike rider was killed in a collision in Pacoima late last night.
According to the press release, the victim was crossing Foothill Blvd mid-block between Van Nuys Blvd and Carl Street around 11:10 pm when a driver headed south on Foothill struck the back of his bike.
The rider, who has not been publicly identified, was thrown a considerable distance by the force of the impact, coming to rest in the center of the roadway. He was taken to Holy Cross Hospital with injuries to his head and upper torso, where he was pronounced dead at 11:36.
The Daily News reports police estimate he was 39 years old.
The driver remained at the scene and was cooperating with investigators. The force of the impact would suggest the driver may have been traveling faster than the posted 35 mph speed limit.
There’s no word on whether the victim had lights and reflectors on his bicycle, which should have made him visible as he crossed the street.
Anyone with information is urged to call Valley Traffic Division Office Martinez at 818/644-8032 or Det. III Bustos at 818/644-8021.
This is the 65th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, the 26th in LA County and the eighth in the City of Los Angeles. He also the third bicyclist killed on Foothill Blvd in the last three years, which suggests a need for significant safety improvements.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: bicycling fatality, County of Los Angeles, Foothill Blvd, Los Angeles, Pacoima, Vision Zero
Morning Links: Road rage assault in San Diego County, and LAPD looking for shooter of Echo Park bike rider
Come back later today when we’ll have a guest post from Mr. CiclaValley himself as he talks with Toluca Lake resident and pro cyclist Phil Gaimon about next weekend’s inaugural Malibu Gran Cookie Fondo.
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This is who we share the roads with.
San Diego’s 10News reports a road raging driver intentionally knocked a local radio host off his bicycle as he was escorting a disabled cyclist on the Coast Highway in Carlsbad, just a few miles from the end of the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s 620-mile Million Dollar Challenge.
As the rider worked to make it up a small hill, an impatient driver began honking his horn, despite a support van warning cyclists were ahead. So KOGO host Bob “Sully” Sullivan rode back to explain that his riding partner was a paraplegic using a handcycle to get up the hill.
“‘We’ve gone 590 miles, give me 90 seconds, I’ll have him up and over this grade, you can be on your way,'” Sullivan said he told the man. “Completely agitated, he says to me, ‘I don’t care if it’s f-ing God up there. Get out of the f-ing road.'”
Sullivan said that’s when he stopped talking to the man and got back on his bike. The truck’s driver accelerated and hit Sullivan’s bike, causing him to fall to the roadway.
Yet despite the presence of an off-duty Carlsbad cop riding in the opposite direction, no charges have been filed.
“I think he needs to be arrested,” Sullivan said. “Somebody who purposely hits somebody on a bicycle using his car is either assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, at the very least shouldn’t be driving a car right now.”
Seriously.
Thanks to Todd Munson for the heads-up.
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The LAPD is asking for the public’s help in finding the person who shot and killed a bike rider in Echo Park last week; 37-year old William Perea was hit with gunfire as he rode at Mohawk and Montana the night of October 17th.
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LADOT says safety remains the top priority on the LA River bike path, as they remind both walkers and bike riders about the statutes governing the pathway and the need to share it safely, in the wake of a collision with a bicyclist that sent an elderly woman to the hospital.
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Equity is the common theme of the day.
Momentum Magazine looks at the nationwide movement to build greater equity in bicycling.
People for Bikes says the massive racial wealth gap is a major barrier to bicycle use, noting that a bike can’t save you money if you don’t have enough to buy one.
And Curbed looks at the speech given by the LACBC’s Tamika Butler that brought down the house at last month’s NACTO conference.
The LACBC deserves a lot of credit for starting this conversation, even before Butler came on board, with its outreach to lower income immigrant communities in the last decade. Along with notable presentations at the National Bike Summit that marked the bike coalition as a national leader on the subject.
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Don’t forget to vote for LA Bike Trains and SAFE (Streets Are For Everyone) for this year’s LA2050 challenge grants; voting ends tomorrow.
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Local
KCET discovers the delicious marriage of bicycling and desserts that is Sweet Ride USA, with new episodes appearing online every Wednesday through November 16th.
KPCC discusses solutions to the first mile/last mile problem for transit users.
The Westwood Village Improvement Association discusses how to improve business and better serve the surrounding community. Oddly, making it safer to walk and bike there doesn’t seem to be an option, even though both would benefit the Village’s long suffering businesses.
Pasadena’s bikeshare system is expected to open next July as the Metro Bike system expands northward; the system is expected to have 400 bikes at 34 docking stations around the city.
The new and improved Agoura Road, complete with shiny new bike lanes, opens in Agoura Hills after a year of construction.
Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson recounts Tuesday’s civil obedience protest ride and lengthy council session in Palos Verdes Estates in his own inimitable style.
State
Hats off to OC’s Special Spokes and the San Clemente Rotary for providing special-needs kids with adaptive bicycles. With all the negativity this election year, it’s nice to see people working to make a real difference in kids lives.
A Clovis driver faces up to a year in jail for fatally rear-ending a bike rider last April.
An unidentified man was shot and killed as he rode his bike in Fresno Tuesday night; police are unsure if the shooting was gang-related.
National
There’s a special place in hell for someone who would steal a bicycle on loan to a vet from Ride 2 Recovery so he could ride across the US with his dog, who’s suffering from terminal cancer. And in my hometown, no less.
Bike lawyer Bob Mionske writes about a new Close Call Database allowing bike riders to report punishment passes from angry motorists to establish a paper trail in case the driver does it again. Or worse.
A Texas rider says learn to ride safely and obey the law, or don’t ride at all.
A Maine newspaper says the technology for today’s carbon fiber bicycles got its start in the state with Aegis Bicycle, but the company couldn’t hold out against increasing competition and the demand for ever lighter frames.
New York tells cyclists and pedestrians to make themselves more visible, and drivers to pay more attention, in advance of the end of daylight savings time next month. Meanwhile, a new proposal would allow bike riders to get a head start at traffic signals by going with the walk signal for the leading pedestrian interval.
Who was that masked man? A Bronx bike rider is a hero after retrieving a woman’s stolen purse, then riding off before she could thank him. No word on whether he left a silver bike chainlink behind.
Philadelphia police arrested a 17-year old boy in the shooting of a Good Samaritan who got off his bicycle to try to stop an armed robbery; he faces charges including attempted murder and aggravated assault.
Bikes and dogs are now officially banned from Arlington National Cemetery.
A Charleston writer says the city deserves the distinction of being called America’s worst city for bicycling.
International
You know Calgary has a lot of bike riders when the city’s bike counter gets maxed out with 68 days still left in the year.
Ella Cycling Tips offers advice on how to recover mentally from a bicycling crash.
Life is cheap in Belize, where champion cyclist Marlon Castillo is fined just $13,000 for the careless driving collision that killed his friend.
Ottawa police release a new PSA campaign explaining how to use and drive around the city’s new bike box and bi-directional bike lanes.
Caught on video: A British cabbie clips a cyclist with his mirror, then launches into a foul-mouthed temper tantrum claiming the rider somehow hit him. And yet some actually question who was in the right.
Tom Cruise is one of us, as he reportedly rides through the English countryside with his new girlfriend.
A Brit cyclist born with just one arm is raising funds to buy a prosthetic arm so he can compete in the Paralympic Games; a Go Fund Me account has raised a little more than half of the £7,500 goal, the equivalent of $9157.
A nine-year old cyclist may be a better climber than most of us, topping Italy’s famed Mt. Ventoux and Stelvio climbs in under 48 hours.
An Aussie writer says Sydney needs to focus less on fining bike riders and more on building some decent infrastructure for them.
A German cyclist survives a night in the snake and crocodile-infested Australian wilds after taking a header over his handlebars and dislocating is shoulder.
Finally…
If you’re going to use a bicycle to make your getaway after stealing a bag-full of booze, try not to ride into a lamppost. Why settle for a mere sag wagon when you can have your very own bike butler?
And in LA we have police chases; in London, it’s investment bankers biking away from bobbies.
Morning Links: Hit-and-run runs rampant throughout CA; video shows plans for Puente Hills Landfill park
If you think the hit-and-run epidemic is getting worse, you’re right.
Stats wonk Ed Ryder does a great job of mining the CHP’s SWITRS database; in the past, he’s created detailed charts to help us understand traffic collisions on PCH, as well as in LA and Orange Counties, and around the state.
So when I met with a state legislator to discuss the problem of hit-and-runs recently, I asked Ryder if he could delve into the database once again to show just how big a problem it really is.
And big is putting it mildly.
As his report shows, it’s goes way beyond bad, and it’s only getting worse. Not just here in LA, but nearly everywhere in California.
In fact, from 2004 to now, a driver fled the scene in nearly 20% of all crashes in the state.
After dropping to a low of 17.4% of all collisions in 2011, hit-and-run has made a big comeback, climbing to 19.5% in 2015, and 20% to date in 2016.
Note: It should be noted that the more recent figures are preliminary, since there’s a significant lag time in reporting statistics to SWITRS. And these stats only include death and serious injuries; adding property damage would boost the percentages significantly.
The sheer numbers are staggering, with nearly 300 deaths due to hit-and-run collisions in recent years, and over 20,000 injuries.
As the following chart shows, the costs are huge, not just in terms of human suffering, but in the economic loss to society, as well.
Not surprisingly, Los Angeles County is the state’s overwhelming leader in hit-and-run deaths, with San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties fighting it out for 2nd place.
Injuries paint an even more dramatic picture, with LA County accounting for over half of all hit-and-runs resulting in injuries.
However, that is partly a function of LA’s sheer size. When you look at hit-and-run collisions as a percentage of population, a much different picture appears.
While LA still leads in injury collisions, it drops to ninth in fatalities.
It’s possible that may be due to better access to emergency care compared to less urban counties like Kern and Tulare, where it could take significantly longer to get to a trauma center following a crash. As well as slower speeds resulting from traffic congestion and lower speed limits in urban areas.
Regardless, it’s clear that hit-and-run is a problem that affects the entire state.
And it’s not going to go away until we do something about it.
You can download Ed Ryder’s full report here.
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A new video explains the plan for the Puente Hills Landfill park, which was approved by the county supervisors yesterday.
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The route has been announced for next year’s 100th edition of the Giro d’Italia, once again with a focus on climbing.
A 46-year old British amateur cyclist has received a four year ban for using EPO, just months after being banned for using another substance. But cycling doesn’t have a cheating problem anymore. Right?
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Local
Today is the last day to weigh in on the proposed Rail-to-River bikeway connecting the Crenshaw Line to the LA River through the southeast cities.
New signs are being installed on the LA River bike path telling riders to slow down in areas where more people walk. CiclaValley prefers to look on the bright side, noting that part of the bike path closure is due to improvements, even though we may not see them for the foreseeable future.
Pasadena will discuss plans for the coming Metro Bike bikeshare system at a public meeting this Thursday.
Long Beach police receive a $400,000 grant to improve traffic safety, including DUI, distracted driving, and bike and pedestrian safety enforcement.
State
A San Diego cyclist is asking for help remembering what the hell happened to him; he found himself standing bloodied and confused in a Target parking lot two miles away with a cracked skull and multiple facial fractures after going for a bike ride, with no idea how he got there.
San Diego offers proposals to discourage driving without increasing density, including counting on autonomous vehicles to reduce the need for parking and room for bike lanes.
While we’re on the subject of our neighbor to the South, San Diego’s CicloSDias ciclovía is looking for volunteers for this Sunday’s 4th annual open streets event.
San Francisco will get its first parking protected, elevated bike lane in the Mission District, but only for one block.
The San Francisco Chronicle looks at the “pack of vigilantes” altering the city’s streets to improve safety for bicyclists; a new video shows how it’s done.
National
Streetsblog looks at how American cities can protect cyclists from deadly trucks. It shouldn’t be left to individual cities or states; the federal government should mandate new trucking standards to improve safety for everyone.
Evanston IL city leaders propose removing a new bike lane from one side of the street to improve safety for motorists. Yes, you read that right; they want to sacrifice the safety of people on bicycles to protect the ones surrounded by a few tons of glass and steel.
A Massachusetts blogger and mountain biker offers real world advice on bike commuting.
A 28-year old New York woman writes in Vogue about learning how to ride a bike as an adult to prepare for a trip to Copenhagen. Yes, Vogue. Evidently, we’ve become stylish.
Bike ridership continues to climb in New York, though lower income communities are being left behind as most protected lanes go into more affluent areas.
A 67-year old Virginia cyclist may be the oldest woman ride solo across the US.
ABC News reports on the South Carolina teacher who is raising funds to buy a bicycle for every student at her disadvantaged school.
International
Relatives of people killed on Toronto streets have formed their own traffic safety group to call for an end to road violence.
An Ottawa bike rider was hit by a car while riding in a new bike lane, just hours after it was officially opened. Which is a pretty good sign that a little paint may not be sufficient.
A Canadian city is being sued over an allegedly unsafe bike lane following a collision. Not by the rider who was paralyzed in the crash, but by the driver convicted of causing it by making an unsafe turn.
A UK website goes back 40 years to explain how Edinburgh became a bike-friendly city.
The creepy clown phenomenon continues to spread around the world, as a 15-year old New Zealand boy was frightened by a clown that threatened to kill him as he rode his bike. Although maybe it’s the clowns who should be scared.
Shanghai is offering ebike users a free electronic chip to track their bicycles if they’re stolen.
Finally…
Who needs carbon or Ti when you can have wood? It’s one thing to steal a boy’s bicycle; another to apparently steal the boy with it.
And it’s time to make bicycling great again, as a Trump supporter with a megaphone goes on an unexpected bike safety monologue.
Thanks to Cyclelicious for the link.
Category: Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, California, Ed Ryder, hit-and-run, Los Angeles, traffic fatalities, traffic injuries
Morning Links: MyFig finally breaks ground, and another LA2050 bike proposal
Los Angeles city officials finally broke ground on the long-delayed MyFigueroa project on South Figueroa Street.
The three-mile long project connecting USC with Downtown LA will be the city’s first true Complete Street when it’s — hopefully — finished next summer.
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LA Bike Trains has a project competing for a grant from LA2050 to map out safe riding routes and provide wayfinding signs; we mentioned the proposal from SAFE (Streets Are For Everyone) yesterday.
Meanwhile, voting has been extended until Friday.
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Local
Vision Zero LA is asking community groups to apply $25,000 grants to help spread the message on ten of the city’s most dangerous transportation corridors. Or as most people would call them, streets.
A writer for the LA Times says the response of LA voters to Measure M will determine whether Angelenos are still an automotive people.
A USC student writes about her trip down the central California coast with a friend following their high school graduation.
State
Stanton hit-and-run victim Deborah Gresham was remembered with a dedication at the end of Sunday’s Walking Dead season premier, as well as on the fan show Talking Dead; Gresham had founded and ran a 21,000-member Facebook page dedicated to the show.
A pair of middle-school cyclists from the Corona del Mar High School Mountain Bike Team gave up their Saturday morning to rebuild a trail in the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.
A San Diego writer urges a no vote on the county’s Measure A transportation tax, saying it doesn’t do enough for low-income communities reliant on bikes and walking, or to bring the transportation system into the 21st Century.
A 67-year old Sunnyvale woman is in critical condition following a hit-and-run while she was riding her bike.
San Francisco’s Department of DIY strikes again, building their own separated bike lane with $800 worth of safe-hit traffic bollards in an early morning raid.
National
A singletrack website lists the best beginner mountain bike trails in all 50 states; California’s is at Fort Ord.
A robotics engineer tells a Portland radio host that self-driving cars will make mass transit obsolete. Apparently forgetting that self-driving cars take up as much space on the roadways and do as much harm to the environment as any other cars.
In a rare burst of rationality, Tucson decides to lower speed limits on bike boulevards to 20 mph.
A Utah cyclist tells drivers a three-foot passing distance should be considered the bare minimum.
There’s a special place in hell for the bike-riding thief who snatched an 89-year old Oklahoma war vet’s wallet out of his pants.
International
A review of 14 international studies show lower socioeconomic status, rural locations and riding mostly on sidewalks are the most common factors leading to bicycling injuries among children.
A New Brunswick landlord is sentenced to seven years for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider; he also faces charges for allegedly beating a young man to death, and the alleged beating of one of his tenants.
The UK’s Daily Mail stages a race between bike riders and motorists to show how bike lanes are causing congestion, but only manages to prove once again that bikes are the faster option to get around a city.
Scottish police are looking for a road raging bike rider with a black dog and a prosthetic leg accused of shouting racial abuse at a driver. For better or worse, language like that is protected under the 1st Amendment in the US, not so much in many other countries.
An Irish writer complains that cycling may be the new golf, but golfers don’t get in her way on weekends like cyclists do when they should be having sex with their wives or mistresses. Never mind her reference to “the latent homosexuality that pervades all male activity.” No, really.
A 17-year old Kiwi cyclist looks forward to riding with his idol, a four-time champ twice his age.
Finally…
No, you wouldn’t want to smash a carbon bike by stamping a license number on it. Evidently, bike-riding zombies are a thing.
And not even brick and mortar business are safe on our streets.
Category: Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: bicycling, civil obedience, LA2050, Los Angeles, MyFigueroa, Palos Verdes Estates
62-year old bike rider killed in early morning Perris hit-and-run
Yet another bike rider has been murdered by a careless and cowardly driver.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise is reporting that 62-year old Steven Marsh was killed by a hit-and-run driver at Navajo Road and Highway 74 in Perris at 3:30 Monday morning.
According to the paper, Marsh attempting to make a left turn from Navajo onto Highway 74 when a westbound car went through the red light and struck his bicycle; he died at the scene.
The driver sped off without stopping. The suspect vehicle is described only as a dark sedan with possible front-end damage to passenger side and windshield.
Navajo Road ends at Highway 74 with a double left turn lane controlled by a red light, while Highway 74 has two lanes in each direction with a painted center divider. The road has a 45 mph speed limit, but its straight-open design could encourage higher speeds, especially at that hour.
This is the 64th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth in Riverside County; that compares with ten in the county for all of last year. Marsh is also the fifth bike rider to be killed in Perris in just the last three years.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Steven Marsh and all his loved ones.
Category: Bicycle Safety, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: bicycling fatality, hit-and-run, Perris, Riverside County, Steven Marsh