Day 148 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
Calbike and California Walks called on cities yesterday to implement the state’s daylighting rules.
A 2023 bill passed and signed into law sought to improve safety by prohibiting drivers from parking near intersections, providing better sightlines for drivers approaching them, as well as bike riders and pedestrians.
And better enabling those last two to be seen by the former.
The bill provided a built-in one-year grace period before full implementation. But as of the first of this year, cities were allowed — but apparently not required — to ticket drivers who parked within 20 feet of a crosswalk.
And in California, every intersection is presumed to have a crosswalk, whether or not it’s painted, unless crossing is specifically prohibited.
Yet few, if any, cities in the state have begun issuing tickets. Meanwhile others, such as San Francisco, have watered down the requirement by painting red curbs extending 10 feet from the crosswalk, instead of 20. Something cities are allowed to do if they pass an ordinance justifying the need for the change — which San Francisco hasn’t done.
According to a press release from the groups,
CalBike and California Walks urge municipal leaders and public works departments to:
- Educate parking enforcement officers and empower them to write citations for parking within daylighting zones. No signage or curb paint is required to take this step.
- Educate residents about the need to leave sightlines clear near crosswalks as an act of community care.
- Install signage and red curb paint marking the 20-foot no-parking space wherever feasible.
- Harden daylighting zones as much as possible by adding bike parking corrals, bike or scooter share docks, benches, planters boxes, bioswales, or other community amenities.
- Use planned road maintenance projects as opportunities to demarcate and harden daylighting zones.
They’ve got a point.
We can pass all the safety measures in the world. But they won’t save a single life if no one uses them.
Photo by Labskiii from Pexels.
………
California Senator Adam Schiff will be the first sitting US senator to take part in the annual AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.
Make that the final AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.
Which is kind of sad, on both counts.
Schiff was the first member of Congress to take part in the annual ride in 2014 — and will be the last, even if he only completes the final leg into Los Angeles due to votes in the senate.
The ride has raised over $300 million over its all-too-brief 31-year history to support the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
Meanwhile, a writer for Daily Kos expresses his sadness that this year’s AIDS/LifeCycle Ride marks the end of his own 26-year history with it.
………
CARB, aka the California Air Resources Board, is back with another attempt at a second round of ebike incentive vouchers, after totally screwing the pooch the last time around.
So what’s the over/under on whether they somehow manage to screw it up again, given their pathetic track record and intentionally throttled funding?
Asking for about 150,000 friends.
………
Metro will hold a series of community meetings this week to release the latest plans and cost estimates for a new rail line along the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, traveling under and/or over the Sepulveda Pass.
Although any plan that doesn’t provide a direct connection to UCLA will be an abject failure out of the gate.
- Wednesday, May 28: 5:30–7:30 p.m., Presentation will begin at 6 p.m., Veterans Memorial Building Rotunda Room, 4117 Overland Avenue, Culver City, CA 90230.
- Thursday, May 29: 5:30–7:30 p.m., Presentation will begin at 6 p.m., Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
- Saturday, May 31: 3-5 p.m., Presentation will begin at 3:30 p.m., Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center, 5056 Van Nuys Boulevard, Building B, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. In a prime example of a grand jury run amok, a Bakersfield grand jury questions whether the city’s green bike lanes are more of a nuisance than a benefit, and says Bakersfield shouldn’t install any more unless they cost less than $15,000 a mile. Which is about what it costs to stripe a two-lane street, without any bike lanes.
Life is cheap in North Carolina, where a man walked without a single day behind bars when a judge imposed a lousy 45 day suspended sentence for intentionally crashing an ATV into 56-year old man riding on a bike path, leaving the victim with serious injuries.
A British jury saw a doorbell cam video capturing the events leading up to the allegedly intentional crash that killed a 25-year old mother riding an ebike with another person; prosecutors allege the 23-year old driver finally succeeded in ramming the bike on his fifth attempt.
………
Local
USC Annenberg Media examines the opening of the first 5.5-mile segment of the Rail-to-Rail Active Transportation Corridor, a rail-to-trail conversion connecting Metro rail lines in South LA.
The Glendale City Council got an update on the city’s “slow and methodical approach” to its Vision Zero Action Plan.
Pasadena, Day One and the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition are wrapping up Bike Month by hosting the family-friendly Pie & Ice Cream Are Friends Ride this Saturday, for anyone with a sweet tooth and a bicycle.
Active SGV will host a community bike ride this Sunday leading to and from a public meeting to learn more about the Rio Hondo Ecosystem Reclamation Project to create multi-use bike and walking paths, along with other environmental benefits.
Long Beach will mark the end of Bike Month with the official unveiling of the Great Artesia Boulevard Project on Saturday, complete with a bike rodeo and free bicycle tune-ups.
State
The San Diego Union-Tribune says bike lanes proposed by SANDAG, aka the San Diego Association of Governments, are still hamstrung by delays, as they finally green lighted a $27 million project on University Ave that began planning in 2013.
No bias here. According to the New York Times, the anger over converting San Francisco’s Great Highway into a park remains, with the transformation into a pedestrian promenade setting off a clash over the city’s anti-car culture. Or maybe, just maybe, they could have talked to the many people who love the new linear park, a large percentage of whom undoubtedly drove to get there and have nothing against cars, but recognized that the former highway was no longer needed.
A lawsuit filed by the California Native Plant Society, Marin Audubon Society, and Marin Conservation League that was settled last year is blocking ebikes from using a trail on Mount Tamalpais, regarded as the birthplace of mountain biking.
National
A Tulsa, Oklahoma man will take part in the 1,645-mile Black Wall Street to Wall Street Ride for Equity, connecting Tulsa’s Black Greenwood District destroyed in a 1921 race riot with the nation’s financial center; the ride is organized by Black Leaders Detroit to “amplify national conversations about racial wealth gaps, Black entrepreneurship and community resilience.”
Security cam video captured the moment a three-year old girl darted into the path of a man riding an ebike in a New York bike lane, giving the man no time to avoid a crash after she ran out from between two parked cars; fortunately, she only suffered minor injuries.
The Transportation Committee of a West Side Manhattan community board — equivalent to LA’s neighborhood councils, but with more power — voted unanimously to oppose giving criminal summons to scofflaw bike riders, arguing that more enforcement of lawbreaking bicyclists may be needed, but the NYPD policy is too extreme.
Speaking of New York, the city’s DOT, police and community organizations have been collecting bicycles to donate to people in underserved communities, with 253 bikes collected so far this year.
Atlanta was selected as the first city to get Lime’s new LimeBike ebikes, which the company says is geared towards women, older riders and commuters who need extra room for storing stuff when they ride.
International
A writer for Tom’s Guide explains what to consider when buying a bike helmet. All of which you could probably have figured out for yourself.
No surprise here. A French travel writer says a bike is the best way to find the secluded beaches on St. Mary’s Island, off the coast of Cornwall, England.
The Irish taoiseach, or prime minister, apologized before the country’s parliament, along with his chief deputy and the country’s justice minister, for the failures that allowed a driver with 40 previous convictions to remain on the road 14 years ago for the hit-and-run crash that killed a 23-year old man riding a bicycle, despite a court order that should have kept him behind bars. And if you wonder why people keep dying on our streets, that’s a good place to start.
A newspaper in the Czech Republic city of Brno — apparently founded during a Middle Ages vowel shortage — takes stock of the city’s bike infrastructure, or the lack thereof, arguing that the city should be a haven for bicyclists due to its short distances, but isn’t. Sort of like Los Angeles should, thanks to our mostly flat terrain and ideal weather. But isn’t.
Competitive Cycling
It was a brutal day in the Alps for most of the Giro peloton on Tuesday, following an attack by Richard Carapaz that helped the Ecuadorian cyclist leap up the GC standings, leaving 21-year old Mexican phenom Isaac del Torro still leading, but just 26 seconds ahead of Brit Simon Yates, with Carapaz another five seconds behind in third.
Carpaz vows to fight all the way to Rome after emerging as the race’s biggest disrupter. Unless you count del Torro, who already disrupted the race a week earlier.
Pre-race favorite Primoz Roglic abandoned Giro Tuesday, after being caught in yet another crash.
Italian cyclist Alessio Martinelli was conscious and in stable condition following a frightening 50-foot fall down a ravine, after he slid off his bike crashing on a rain-slicked curve during Tuesday’s stage of the Giro.
Joe Goettl and Flavia Oliveira Parks won the men’s and women’s editions of Utah’s Belgian Waffle Ride, with Carter Anderson and Courtney Sullivan finishing second.
Finally…
Great moments in bad headline: No, a man isn’t riding 480 miles for pancreatic cancer, he’s riding to fight it.
And that feeling when you feel compelled to prove your street cred by hating on bicycles.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
Cheating alleged in Lyft’s Metro Bike bid, questioning rescue of Georgia bikepacker, and PCH study comments extended
Day 143 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
My apologies to everyone who found an unfinished — or unstarted, for that matter — draft of today’s post in your inbox.
And yes, spellcheck, unstarted is a real word.
But’s that’s what happens when have too many windows open on your screen, and inadvertently hit the “publish” button when you try to click on one.
Not for the first time, I might add.
………
Now that we have that out of the way —
Today is the unofficial start of the three-day holiday weekend. Which means lots of people leaving work early, and not paying attention to anything but where they wish they already were right now.
Like bikes, for instance.
And long weekends mean parties and barbecues — and a lot of drinking and other forms of imbibing.
So ride defensively all weekend, and assume every driver you see is under the influence of something. Because more than a few probably will be.
I just want to see you back here safe and sound on Tuesday.
And try to take a few moments to remember what this holiday is all about, anyway.
………
Raise your hand if you’d be shocked to learn there may have been cheating in awarding the new Metro Bike contract.
Hello? Anyone?
Is this thing on?
Streetsblog reports Metro directors delayed what was expected to be a pro forma vote to award Lyft the contract to operate the city’s docked bikeshare program yesterday — despite a unanimous vote by the Metro Operations Committee to advance the contract.
And after two previous botched attempts at awarding the contract.
But according to LA Public Press, the vote was pulled after allegations were raised that Lyft had inside information giving them an unfair advantage, in violation of Los Angeles ethics rules.
And yes, we have ethics rules, as hard as it is to believe at times.
LA Public Press also reports that Metro was on the cusp of making the change despite limited cost savings that amount to a rounding error in the massive Metro budget.
It’s possible — likely, in fact — that the allegations are an effort by current program operator BTS and unionized Metro Bike mechanics to derail the shift in management.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not true.
And even if it’s not, is it worth risking the bikeshare program as the city prepares to host the World Cup and ’28 Olympics by shifting to a company which has had a spotty record in other cities?
……….
It’s been a little more than a week since the “miraculous” rescue of Georgia bikepacker Tiffany Slaton after she got lost in the mountains above Fresno, surviving three weeks on wild leeks and melted snow.
But apparently, not everyone believe her story.
According to the Los Angeles Times,
On the other hand, a Redditor had this to say.
Even the experts had questions. Experienced Sierra mountain guide Howie Schwartz didn’t doubt Slaton was lost.
But,
Never mind the Redditors who said she was probably crazy, embellished her story, or looking for a book deal or crowdfunding cash.
Which probably explains why her parents shut their crowdfunding page down. But not until it had raised over $23,000.
Then again, those same doubts also popped up in my own Twitter/X feed.
So what’s the answer? Don’t ask me.
Her story does seem kind of incredible. But the best stories usually are.
………
Caltrans uses a lot more words than necessary to say they’re giving you more time to comment on the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study.
Maybe they had to use them all before the weekend.
………
Streets For All shares video of their virtual happy hour with LA City Attorney candidate Marissa Roy.
I never know how much to tip my virtual bartender. Or a Waymo driver, for that matter.
………
Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, posts video of the recent die-in on the steps of City Hall.
………
Active SGV hosts free two-hour ebike rentals this weekend.
https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1925644608425410632
Here’s the link if Elon is still screwing up proper embedding of Twitter/X posts.
………
Of course a bicyclist who used to be a driver would have no idea what a traffic light is. Especially when it comes to right turns.
Or left.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Tres shock! New York’s police commissioner says her cops are only targeting reckless ebike riders for six offenses along 14 key corridors; Streetsblog says it ain’t necessarily so.
………
Local
Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman reports on the celebratory grand opening of the “transformative” Rail-to-Rail bike/walk path in South LA.
Long Beach is launching a 12-month pilot program allowing both private and shared e-scooters along the shoreline bike and pedestrian path.
State
Palm Springs bike riders demanded action on safety improvements while honoring fallen bicyclists at Wednesday’s Ride of Silence.
The Santa Barbara Independent says the city’s bicycling rates are inching up while bicycling injuries climb, making both bike and Vision Zero goals “distant.”
National
A magazine for lawyers examines the legal challenges facing bike riders injured by distracted and/or reckless drivers. Best advice, document everything and find a good lawyer to walk through your options. Like one of those guys over there on the right.
The Independent lists eight American cities that are surprising great for bicycling. Seven of which actually are. And yes, I’m looking at you, Houston.
The Today Show highlights a dad going viral for his daily bike rides with his seven-year old daughter.
Nice. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed the nation’s first law permitting shared streets, with a 10 mph speed limit and strict rules requiring people on bicycles to yield to pedestrians, and drivers to yield to bike riders. Which is how it should be, anyway.
Salt Lake City is pulling the plug on its ebike incentive program after funding nearly 300 vouchers last year, citing a flat budget for the coming year. But wouldn’t a flat budget mean they could fund everything they did the previous year?
An Idaho dancer says ballet is just like riding a bike. And he should know, since he rides a bike to stay in shape for ballet, mentally and physically.
Damn. A Texas jury gave the parents of an eight-year old bike-riding boy killed by a young man driving a family business truck just at tad more than the $1.1 million they were asking for, awarding them a whopping $80 million. Let’s hope that’s a very valuable family business they’ve got there.
Your next bike parts could come from a Topeka vending machine. Which wouldn’t be the first thing I’ve bought from a vending machine in Topeka.
International
Seriously? London emergency rooms are supposedly buckling because of a surge in demand due to “Lime bike leg,” caused by people trapped by the weight of collapsing ebikes that are “around four times heavier than regular cycles,” while a surgeon warns of “life-threatening injuries.” Call it the modern equivalent of bicycle face.
We know a guy on a bike can beat a someone in a car, but can a London bike rider beat another guy riding the Tube across one of the world’s busiest cities? Would I be writing this if he couldn’t?
A 2,000-mile circular relay ride will connect all 42 Anglican cathedrals in the UK. Or as they call them over there, cathedrals.
A British bike club is proving that age is no barrier to learning how to ride a bike.
Competitive Cycling
Your new US national time trial champs are Emily Ehrlich and Artem Schmidt.
Mexico’s Isaac del Torro continues to lead the Giro, as Olav Kooij of the Netherlands won a mass sprint Thursday with a leadout from Wout van Aert. Meanwhile, a reader named Steven points out that del Torro’s name translates to “laughter of the bull,” which seems oddly appropriate.
A Utah newspaper profiles 23-year old Utah native Natalie Quinn as she fights to rise in women’s cycling — without getting paid, after joining American team Cynisca Cycling midseason when the British team she was on folded. Which pretty much sums up the problems with the current state of women’s cycling.
Kenyan cycling coach Evan Wangai discusses his journey from boda boda driver to pro cyclist.
Finally…
Why line the bike lane with ugly yellow posts when you can have recycled red plastic tulips? Always use a bicycle as a getaway vehicle for your baby gator heists.
And who needs lube when you’ve got…sand.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
Share this:
Like this: