July 1, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Person killed by cement truck driver in Ontario crash; a bicycle likely belonging to the victim seen underneath the truck
And there’s a strong likelihood that the victim was riding a bicycle.
According to KTLA-5, the victim was apparently in the crosswalk on Archibald Ave at the onramp to the eastbound 60 Freeway in Ontario when he or she was struck by the driver of a cement truck turning onto the ramp around 8:35 am Friday.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, died at the scene.
The driver told CHP investigators he believed the person was in the crosswalk at the time of the crash; an aerial view showed a tarp a few feet from the crosswalk.
When the driver pulled over a short distance later, there was a bicycle visibly lodged under the truck.
While it hasn’t been publicly confirmed that the victim was riding a bike, it seems pretty farfetched to conclude that the driver coincidentally ran over a bicycle and a pedestrian in separate incidents at nearly the same time.
If this is confirmed, it will be at least the 23rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all their loved ones.
June 30, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on 74-year old road bicyclist killed in apparent solo fall near Ojai; first Ventura County bicycling death this year
This is now how we wanted to start the holiday weekend.
According to the Ventura County Star, an older man was killed in an apparent solo fall while riding a road bike near Ojai Friday morning.
The victim, identified as 74-year old Ojai resident Michael A. Chambliss, was riding east on Rancho Drive west of Del Norte Road, just west of the Ojai city limits, shortly before 10:45 am when he somehow lost control of his Bianchi Infinito, and fell to the street.
He was taken to an Ojai hospital after paramedics attempted to revive him, where he died sometime later.
June 30, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Pasadena ebike rebates start tomorrow, Americans know wider highways won’t fix traffic, and LADOT wants your input
Today marks the start of a four-day holiday weekend for many people, myself included.
Which means the drinking and driving is likely to start early today, and continue through Tuesday.
While riding a bike remains the best way to get to the fireworks and other festivities, you’ll want to watch out for distracted and drunk drivers, because chances are, they won’t be looking for you.
So ride defensively, stay safe, and come back here bright and early on Wednesday to catch up on anything we may have missed over the weekend. I’ll be around if there’s any breaking news in the meantime, so make sure you’ve signed up for email alerts near the end of that long, long blue column on the right if you haven’t already.
And have a great 4th of July!
As for the photo up above, it’s a sad day when even clowns aren’t safe on the streets, judging by the residue by the curb near my apartment.
Even if government officials and transportation agencies — like Metro — don’t seem to get it.
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Good question.
The Highland Ave survey considers the section from Franklin to Santa Monica, so it doesn’t go up to the Hollywood Bowl, or down to the subway on Wilshire.
The survey for Culver Blvd covers the street from Berryman Ave to Centinela west of the 405.
Gravel Bike California’s latest epic takes you riding on Mendenhall Ridge in the Angeles National Forest, by way of Metrolink.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
A New Orleans advocacy group is teaming with the local bikeshare to give away bike helmets to promote bike safety in the city with the country’s highest per capita bicycling death rate. Except that’s just more victim blaming in the guise of safety, because it doesn’t do a damn thing to get the people in the big dangerous machines to sober up or pay attention to the road and people ahead of them.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
BikeLA, nee Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is looking for auction items for their upcoming LA Bike Fest, in case you or your company has anything of value you can donate. Maybe I can give them an autographed copy of this blog.
A new movie tells the story of a 12-year old bike thief who is none too happy when her estranged dad re-enters the picture. Although it might be pushing it to expect the bike community to have sympathy for a bicycle rustling waif.
Heartbreaking story from Detroit, where a man was found not guilty after his three dogs attacked and killed a nine-year old girl as she rode her bike, then began eating her leg; the law requires a person to know their dogs were dangerous before they can be held responsible. Maybe he didn’t know they were dangerous, but he may have starved them.
An artist in Lansing, Michigan has designed a series of artistic leaf-shaped bike racks. Which aren’t likely to be used, because a) they don’t look like bike racks, and b) they appear to be just bolted to the sidewalks, meaning they could be unbolted, too.
The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay calls Belgium’s Wout Van Aert the Bo Jackson of the Tour de France, but the paper insists on hiding the story behind its draconian paywall. Am I the only one who is less likely to subscribe to any publication after being confronted by their paywall?
June 29, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Encinitas declares bicycling emergency, support for Pacific Beach Slow Street, and car death cult piece misses mark
However, the planned state of emergency action items reported by San Diego’s NBC-7 seem a little lacking.
The local emergency allows the city quicker access to resources necessary for education and enforcement, if needed. Some actions that the city council hopes to accomplish include the rental of 10 messages boards that will be placed in high-visibility areas reminding both riders and drivers to share the road, 300 yard signs urging safety, additional work with schools to educate students on-campus and a bike safety video made in unison with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department that can be played at assemblies and meetings.
The declaration places the most of the onus for safety on the potential victims riding on two wheels, rather than the people in the big, dangerous machines.
Because yard signs and message boards aren’t likely to slow drivers down, and won’t do a damn thing for the distracted drivers who don’t even see them.
Thanks to Phillip Young and Marcello Calicchio for the heads-up.
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These days, every street project that might possibly inconvenience someone is contentious.
Usually, needlessly so.
That’s certainly the case with the Slow Street project on Diamond Street in San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood, where all of four — yes, four — people rose up at a recent Town Council meeting to complain about it.
Did I mention that it was just four people who complained?
Fortunately, the local representative for the City Council Mobility Board, who was also the researcher who evaluated the project, wrote to the San Diego Union-Tribune to support the project.
…The benefits are staggering. The project led to an increase in walking and biking mode share, and children and older adults using the street. Driving mode share decreased by nearly 60 percent with a smaller impact on traffic on adjacent streets.
People reported a greater sense of community and well-being. Most were using the street for transportation and half planned to visit a business during their trip. Most importantly, there was overwhelming support for making the project permanent.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but “overwhelming support” is probably more than four.
A lot more.
She goes on to say that making Diamond a permanent slow street shouldn’t even be up for debate, since it gets San Diego that much closer to meeting its Climate Action Plan and Vision Zero goals.
Let’s hope the city council is listening.
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Progressive magazine The American Prospect missed the mark.
But he goes off track at the end in blaming neoliberalism of the 1980s and ’90s for the American failure, which he argues resulted in less government oversight, drawing a straight line leading to today’s massively oversized vehicles, overly wide roads and high traffic death rates.
There’s no arguing that traffic deaths are too high, and getting higher, and that poor road design and the ever-increasing size of motor vehicles are at least partly to blame, along with a dramatic increase in distracted driving.
But fondly remembering the good old days when traffic death rates were even worse doesn’t help.
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I have somehow miraculously recovered the ability to embed tweets.
— People Powered Media (@pplpoweredmedia) June 28, 2023
here's the TL;DR for what we are asking of LADOT / officials. three things:
1. The Venice Bike Lanes needs regular sweeping/cleaning, especially given their gutter nature. There’s lots of trash and broken glass. pic.twitter.com/QFZppGLKWL
— People Powered Media (@pplpoweredmedia) June 28, 2023
— People Powered Media (@pplpoweredmedia) June 28, 2023
To be clear, we don’t begrudge city officials and activists for celebrating the Venice realignment as a big win. The project took years of work from electeds and stakeholders.
We just ask that the job be finished.
— People Powered Media (@pplpoweredmedia) June 28, 2023
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I’m not sure if we shared this short film from Nimesh in Los Angeles when it came out last December.
So we’ll correct that possible oversight today.
In it, he argues that LA’s flat terrain and year-round Mediterranean climate should make it the bicycle capital of the world. But it isn’t, because Los Angeles makes biking in paradise a nightmare.
Thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up.
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Robert Leone forwards news that the Marines will apparently be blowing things up on Camp Pendleton again.
Which means that the popular bike path through the base will be closed from July 31st to August 4th.
So if you’re planning to ride south from Orange County, or north from San Diego County, you’ll have to use the shoulder of the freeway from the Las Pulgas Gate north to the tunnel under I-5.
Like he says, Google Translate is your friend. But I don’t make friends easily, so I’ll let him give you the shorthand.
I got a newsletter from the German Cycling Federation ADFC, and in this issue it shows a proposal to do a street makeover for a major arterial into the center of town. Next step is through the city council.
The numbers for users from 2011 to 2022 are amazing. The north end of the project runs into a nasty intersection that has been undergoing total renovation for the last 4 years. The existing situation shows 9,300 users on bikes daily. There are a couple of pictures of the existing bike lane. Unreal usage, but it is a main route direct into the city center.
It would be great if it gets through the city council.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
This is who we share the world with. Even the bike-riding mayor of Emeryville has to deal with wannabe killer drivers. Unfortunately, though, this doesn’t cross the legal threshold for a threat, since it lacks a statement of intent — “I would” vs “I will.”
At a business mixer tonight an attendee heard I had biked to the event and said “I hate bicyclists so much. I would absolutely run you over and kill you if we left here at the same time. You don’t belong on the road.”
Two hours later and I’m still processing all of it.
Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus says we’re having the wrong conversation about ebikes, as people predictably point fingers at kids on bikes while calling for mandatory licensing after the death of a teenage bike rider.
The family of a 14-year-old boy pinned to the ground by an off-duty Chicago cop who mistakenly accused him of stealing a bike is suing the city and the police officer; Michael A. Vitellaro was acquitted of official misconduct and aggravated battery in the incident earlier this month.
And needless to say, Southern California has a long, long way to go.
The national bike advocacy group rates cities according to the quality of each city’s bike network, assigning a Bicycle Network Analysis score, or BNA, on a scale of 0 to 100.
The good news, if you can call it that, is that no US city scored lower than a 2.
Provincetown, Massachusetts and Crested Butte, Colorado ranked #1 and #2 overall, respectively, with BNA scores of 88 and 87.
Although I’m sure many LA residents think riding here is #2. And sadly, PeopleForBikes seems to agree.
Which puts us in a class with such bicycling nirvanas as Santa Ana, Las Vegas, Laguna Niguel, Raleigh NC, and Krugerville, Texas.
Which probably wasn’t named after Freddy, even if it should be.
Bike-friendly Sacramento suburb Davis ranked #1 among medium-sized cities with a BNA score of 77, while Minneapolis, Minnesota ranked atop the large city listings with a score of 68.
Outside+ is on sale for $1.99 a month for the next year, including the Outside digital network and the new Velo site. No guarantee what happens to your rate after that, however.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
New stories from Urbanize and Streetsblog examine Monday’s opening of the Venice Blvd Safety and Mobility Project, which upgrades 2.5 miles of existing bike lanes and adds 2.1 miles of dedicated busways, while leaving a few notable gaps. Correction: Originally I had written that the project added four miles of protected bike lanes, and 2.5 miles of bus lanes, which was a misstatement. Thanks to Joe Linton for the correction.
Bicycling examines plans to build an advisory lane in Kalamazoo, Michigan, referring to it as an edge lane, which creates a single traffic lane in the center of the street while allowing drivers to move into the bike lanes on either side to pass another vehicle. Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.
New York has cleared the final federal hurdle preventing congestion pricing; the city is now expected to begin charging drivers to enter midtown Manhattan sometime next year. Which should clear the way for Los Angeles to institute its much discussed congestion pricing plan, as well.
A new Australian report lists 50 distinct contributory factors leading to bike riders being struck by drivers, along with another 50 leading to near misses; the leading factors are drivers pulling out in front of bicyclists, driver non-compliance with road rules, and drivers failing to give way. Note the key word with all of those is “drivers,” not bicyclists.
My apologies to anyone who got a premature version of today’s post, after I inadvertently hit the Publish button before it was ready.
Which makes me the poster child for premature publication.
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I’ve struggled with feelings of failure for several years now, the result of the the city’s failure to follow through on its promises to improve the safety and livability of our streets.
I started this site 15 years ago today, in part because I realized I can’t change the world. But I could help make Los Angeles a safer place to ride a bike.
And that, in turn, could change the world.
But as I’ve gotten older, and watched the backsliding and lack of commitment from our elected and appointed leaders, I’ve had to accept that the livable Los Angeles I’ve long envisioned is not likely to happen in my lifetime.
So I’ve continued to get more depressed fighting for bikeways, safe streets and livable communities, while working to build a community I may never see.
Something else that has happened over this decade and a half, however. I’ve watched as other people have picked up the torch, first a relative handful inspired by myself and others to fight to improve their own communities, then the others they have inspired, building exponentially on one another.
I now realize that whatever success I have in this life will be measured, not by the changes I’ve achieved, but the spark I’ve helped spread to so many others.
Like Moses, I see the promised land of what this city can and should be, but know we’re not likely to get there in whatever time I have left in this life.
Yet I’m confident that the change will one day come, and generations to come will enjoy a city that is livable and welcoming for all, whoever you are and however you travel, because of those who may just now be joining the fight.
So I promise to keep it up.
And if anything I say or do inspires you to join in or keep up that fight, then my work here will not be in vain.
Now let’s get off this damn soapbox, and onto the news.
According to Nhan Tran, head of Safety and Mobility for WHO,
“We must urgently move from an old model of drab, dirty and dangerous streets built for cars, to safe, green and vibrant spaces designed and built for people. Mobility underpins so many other aspects of public health and development. By making walking and cycling safe, we can reduce air pollution and fight climate change,” Tran said at the Vision Zero Conference on Road Safety here in the Swedish capital.
“By prioritizing the safety of vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists, we can reduce poverty and tackle inequalities, including access to jobs, schools as well as gender equality,” said Tran.
Meanwhile, People Powered Media offers a Twitter thread covering the event — and some of the challenges still confronting bike riders on the boulevard, while calling for safer streets for a very personal reason.
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Finally, social media confirms that Angelenos really did strip to save the planet on Saturday.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A group of middle-aged bike riders are accused of peeing all over a pretty Cornwall, England beer garden after complaining about the food, then riding away without paying their tab. And forcing pedestrians and a person in a wheelchair out of their way as they rode off.
A bike-riding London man got fed up with a group blocking a roadway to protest oil use, pushing them out of the way while shouting at them to “fucking move” and “go and protest properly” so people in cars could use the street.
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Local
Santa Monica police will conduct another bike and pedestrian safety enforcement operation this Friday, with an emphasis on “primary collision factors involving motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.” The standard protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.
Business Insider picks up the story about bike riders in helmets and hi-vis being seen by drivers as less human, adding to the debate over mandating helmets when helmet laws have been shown to drive down ridership, while unfairly targeting the poor and people of color. Thanks to Marcello Calicchio for the heads-up.
Cheyenne, Wyoming will host its annual Bike to Work or WhereverDay tomorrow, described by some as “the best holiday ever, all on two wheels.” Something that would have been unthinkable in the former cowboy town when I grew up less than an hour south of it.
In a nice change, Evanston, Illinois is planning to build a protected bike lane on a busy street that carries 12,000 cars a day, along with “an unknown number of cyclists.” Recognizing, as others have said, that you can’t measure how many people will use a bridge by counting the people who currently swim across the river.
“Shocking” video captures a drunk UK driver high on coke speeding along the wrong side of the road, moments before slamming into a bike rider; the driver got seven well-deserved years for killing the victim. Even if it looks like he’s on the right side of the road to those of us on this side of the Atlantic.
Injuries from crashes involving supersized cars increased in New York City by 91 percent and fatalities are up 75 percent between 2016 and 2019, according to a new report that highlights not only the rising road violence, but also the damage to roadways caused by America’s ongoing obsession with exceptionally large cars and trucks.
They go on to report that, even before electrification added hundred of pounds of vehicle weight, the average weight of passenger vehicles has shot up a half ton in the last 40 years, while the average weight of pickups has increased 24%.
Something you can see with your own eyes, just by looking at the changes in a Ford F150 pickup over the past 20 years. Never mind the ever-increasing Ford F250 and F350 pickups, with their high, flat grills virtually designed to kill.
Then there’s this.
Studies show that for every 1,000-pound increase in vehicle weight, there is a 46-percent increase in motorist fatalities. That gruesome statistic is borne out by the latest report on roadway fatalities: In 2022, as Streetsblog reported, more pedestrians were killed than in any year in more than four decades. And since 2010, there has been a stunning 77-percent increase in pedestrian deaths, rising at a rate more than three times faster than the rest of the traveling public, for whom fatalities increased 25 percent over the same period.
Because these days, whether you survive a crash — walking, biking or driving — could depend more than ever on just what vehicle hits you.
Which is why America Walks wants you to tell the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, that dangerous vehicles shouldn’t receive top safety ratings, whether that danger stems from excessive vehicle size, poor visibility or unrestrained speed capability.
Meanwhile, California Assembly Bill 251 would require the California Transportation Commission to establish a task force to examine the relationship between vehicle weight and injuries to vulnerable road users like bike riders and pedestrians, as well as the damage they do to the roadways.
The bill would also require the task force to study the costs and benefits of charging a weight fee for passenger vehicles. Let’s hope they include pickups that aren’t actively used as work trucks, too.
The Los Angeles Times reviews The Last Rider, which chronicles the career of America’s only remaining Tour de France winner, while focusing on his dramatic come-from-behind win in the ’89 Tour.
And frequent contributor David Drexler says it’s inspirational, after seeing it over the weekend.
He adds ore than just a bicycle movie, it’s a real motivational movie for everyone, showing how someone can rise back up from adversity and serious medical problems to become a world champion with focus, discipline and determination.
And an incredibly supportive spouse.
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The World Naked Bike Ride rolled through several US city’s over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles hosted two separate versions of the World Naked Bike Ride, and no one seems to have noticed, with both rides going off without a peep in the local media.
And if they were mentioned on social media, I must have missed it.
Which says a lot about the shock value, or lack thereof, of seeing naked people on bicycles in this city.
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Congratulations to the team at Streetsblog on another well-deserved LA Press Club Award.
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Call it effective marketing.
And while I appreciate the artwork, I don’t think I’d actually want this one on my wall.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
The Wall Street Journal offers what should be a really helpful article on how to keep your bike from getting stolen. Or at least it would be, if they didn’t hide everything but the first sentence behind the paper’s draconian paywall.
The Los Angeles Timessays mark your calendar for October’s ArroyoFest, which will close down six miles of the 110 Freeway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena for the first time in 20 years, and open it up for 7 hours to anyone who wants to walk, bike, skate, scoot, roll or run.
Seven-time ex-Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong, who knows a thing or two about cheating, wonders whether it’s possible to be supportive of the transgender community while questioning the fairness of trans athletes competing in women’s sports, without being labeled a transphobe or a bigot, insisting he’s not afraid to be cancelled. On the other hand, I just want to know if it’s possible to not cancel Lance, while still wishing he’d just go away.
June 25, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: 15-year old boy dies days after collision while riding ebike in Encinitas; 2nd bike death in San Diego County this year
A teenage boy has died, no more than two days after he was struck by a driver while riding an ebike in Encinitas.
Champlain-Kingman was hospitalized at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla with major injuries; family members confirmed his death two days later, on Saturday.
The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. Police don’t believe he was under the influence.
However, there’s no word on whether any other witnesses saw the crash, or observed Champlain-Kingman change lanes.
Anyone with information is urged to call the North Coastal Sheriff’s Station Traffic Division at 760/966-3500.
The paper reports a candlelight vigil is scheduled for 7 pm Tuesday at San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas.
Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign to pay Champlain-Kingman’s medical and funeral expenses has raised over $21,000 of the $50,000 goal in just one day.
The crowdfunding page describes the teenager this way,
Brodee Braxton Champlain-Kingman was brought into this world on November 2nd 2007. During his 15 1/2 years, he touched many lives with his grace, compassion, determination and kindness. Anyone that knew Brodee could feel his authentic, heart-forward energy. Brodee was fiercely steadfast in his desire to excel academically, thrive socially and grind for those gains in the gym. Nothing was more striking than Brodee’s natural ability to connect with others and his sincere desire to reflectively grow in his relationships and life pursuits. He lived with grounded humility – always learning, always evolving.
And horrifyingly, that is with only 49 states checking in.
According to new estimates from the Governors Highway Safety Association, “at least” 7,508 people on foot were killed by drivers on U.S. roads last year — an estimate, that notably, excludes the entire state of Oklahoma, which failed to deliver its preliminary totals this year due to technical difficulties but has averaged 92 pedestrian deaths in recent years.
If that estimate sticks, U.S. walkers will have experienced a stunning 77-percent increase in deaths since 2010, rising at a rate more than three times faster than the rest of the traveling public, for whom fatalities increased 25 percent over the same period.
While the total doesn’t include bicycling fatalities, a rise in one usually corresponds with rise in the other.
The GHSA report suggested that common factors in pedestrians deaths include large arterials designed to prioritize vehicle speed, the ever-increasing size of motor vehicles, and dark road conditions.
You can add to that a lack of safe sidewalks and crosswalks, and all the multiple and varied forms of driver distraction — including distracting video and touchscreen systems installed directly into the dashboard.
The GHSA reports that “in the absence of urgent action to address those systemic factors, safety officials are begging drivers themselves to be more careful.”
Sure, that’ll happen.
Notably, pedestrian deaths are estimated to have dropped 20% in California, tied by South Carolina, and exceeded only by New Jersey’s 27% decrease.
Meanwhile, according to a report from Pro Publica, the US Department of Transportation allowed trucking lobbyists to review an unpublished report recommending sideguards on all large trucks.
The goal of the report was to save lives by preventing bike riders and pedestrians from getting trapped underneath turning trucks, or from overly close passes.
Needless to say, trucking firms rejected the modest cost of sideguards, which are already required in the European Union, apparently preferring to pay higher insurance fees and the occasional legal settlement when they actually kill someone.
And making it clear that the USDOT exists to maintain corporate profits, rather than save human lives.
Orange County bike advocate Mike Wilkinson sends word of an important active transportation survey in Buena Park.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! Buena Park is developing its first Active Transportation Plan. This is a rare opportunity for people who bike or walk to tell the city what they need.
There are two surveys. One is near the top of the page linked here, and it asks for basic information about biking and walking in the city. Scroll down further, and there is an interactive map that allows you to click on streets or intersections that need to be improved. It’s a little complicated, but please take your time to figure out how to use it, and then let the city know what needs to be done!
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Wealthy NIMBYs in San Diego’s Pacific Beach used their cars to protest permanent safety installations on Diamond Street, claiming they will somehow cause more traffic emissions.
And missing the irony entirely.
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Rhodes scholar, country singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson is one of us, or at least he was in his college days at Oxford.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
Bike-riding Encinitas Assemblymember Tasha Boerner is making her third consecutive attempt to pass a California Safety Stop, aka Stop as Yield, aka Idaho Stop law, after Governor Newsom vetoed the bill two years ago; last year she pulled the legislation after it passed both houses of the legislature to avoid another threatened veto.
If you’re going to tour Roswell, New Mexico, do it from the seat of a bike. That way, there will be some evidence left behind after the aliens grab you.
He gets it. The Aussie academic behind the recent study showing drivers see bike riders wearing helmets and hi-vis as less than human says “If you have a safe and normal cycling culture, how could you see people as anything but human?”
I’m still having problems with extreme, sudden-onset illness, either due a bad reaction to one of my diabetes meds, or yet another physical problem resulting from diabetes that recently came to light.
Or maybe both.
Which serves as yet another reminder to get yourself tested if you’re at risk, watch out for symptoms of diabetes, and do whatever you need to do to avoid it.
Because you really don’t want this crap. God knows I don’t.
No one needs any preaching from me about the need to maintain a healthy weight, or to get out and exercise.
Even though that’s one of the best ways to avoid diabetes, despite not working in my case.
But what we do need is safe bike and walking infrastructure that would allow people of any age to travel under their own power, instead of forcing kids into the back of their parent’s SUVs.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
New York disability advocates are calling for restrictions on ebikes, citing NYC stats showing more than 1,200 incidents of ebike, motorbike and bicycle crashes in the past year. Even though there’s no way to credibly lump motorcycles in with bicycles, either in the number or severity of crashes.
You’ve got to be kidding. A road-raging driver in the UK walked without a single day behind bars, despite physically attacking a man riding a bicycle, threatening to shoot him, and attempting to run him over with his car. But at least he lost his license for a whole three years — even though it should have been a lifetime ban.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies busted a man following a high speed chase through the San Gabriel Valley, after he abandoned his car and somehow commandeered a bicycle, calmly riding through the neighborhood until he was taken into custody.
Sadly, no surprise here, as witnesses contradict the official police statements about the death of a Vancouver, Washington man riding his bike with his young son; the state police say he fell over in front of a passing pickup, while a witness says the truck never moved over and ran him down from behind, while questioning why cops would protect the driver.
Life is cheap in England, where an 88-year old woman walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that knocked a 46-year old mother off her bike, where she was killed by another driver as she attempted to get up; the driver said she felt a thud, but had no idea she hit someone. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive.
Unbelievable. A British paramedic will be allowed to keep his medical license, despite being sentenced to five years behind bars for the drunken, distracted off-duty crash that killed a man riding a bicycle; he had ten pints of beer before getting behind the wheel, and was looking at his phone when he veered onto the wrong side of the road.
No surprise here, either, as a Spanish study from three months in the future confirms that commuting by motor vehicle is bad for your mental health. And not great for your financial health, either.
Outside’s Velo looks at who’s coming to the Tour de France, including Caleb Ewing, while Primož Roglič confirms he’s sitting this one out, along with the worlds.
