Sometimes, a crash can cause a heart to stop. And sometimes, a heart stopping can cause a crash.
This time, it looks like it may have been the latter case.
The Ventura County Star is reporting that a man died after suffering cardiac arrest following an ebike in Point Mugu State Park on Saturday, although the story is hidden behind a paywall.
The victim, identified only as a 68-year old man, was riding with a group of people in Sycamore Canyon when he crashed near Big Sycamore Canyon and Ranch Center roads sometime before 1 pm on April 11th.
His fellow riders tried to resuscitate him before county fire personnel and state park rangers arrived and took over; unfortunately, he died at the scene.
Sheriff’s investigators concluded he probably crashed because of a medical problem, although the exact cause will likely be determined by the Ventura County medical examiner.
A street view appears to show the location is a pair of fire roads in hilly terrain. Even on an ebike, the exertion could have brought on something that caused his heart to stop.
This the 25th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the third in Ventura County.
This tragedy once again raised the inevitable question of how old is too old to drive. And how can were identify drivers who can no longer operate their vehicles safely before something like this happens, rather than responding after it’s too late.
Streets Are For Everyone will host a Ghost Tire Memorial, similar to a ghost bike, but for other victims of traffic violence, at the site of the crash tomorrow to commemorate the people who were killed.
SAFE will be hosting a Press Conference and Ghost Tire Memorial on April 11, 2026 to honor the victims of the mass traffic fatality at 99 Ranch Market and call on our local government to take immediate action to prevent tragedies like this…
The Ghost Tire Memorial uses white-painted tires placed at fatal crash sites to honor victims of traffic violence and raise awareness about road safety.
Event Details:
Ghost Tire Memorial & Press Conference
Date: April 11th, 2026
Time: 10:00 am to 11:20 am
Location: 1360 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Event Timeline
10:00 am – Event begins
10:05 am – Ghost tires decorated
10:20 am – Carry ghost tires to the location
10:21 am – Moment of silence
10:22 am – SAFE founder Damian Kevitt introduces family members of victims
10:25 am – Family members of victims Speak
10:45 am – Family members of victims Conclude Speaking
10:46 am – Damian speaks, drops open letter & introduces coalition partners
Forget trying to find parking at the beach this summer.
Let alone high gas prices.
Metro Bike has opened a new bikeshare dock right on the sand in Venice Beach. So all you have to do is check out a bike somewhere, ride it to the beach, then just dock it and walk away.
Something tells me this is going to be the busiest bikeshare dock in the city. Never mind the opportunity to admire all the native art.
Sad news from Vermont, where longtime bike journalist, and former International Mountain Bicycling Association and BikesBelong/PeopleForBikes chief executive Tim Blumenthal has passed away after a two-year battle with cancer; he was 70 years old. I was flattered when Blumenthal reached out to me personally shortly after PeopleForBikes founded, that the head of the nation’s largest bike advocacy organization would even think a small-time bike blogger like me was worth his time.
Once again, a bike theft victim spotted his bicycle for sale on Facebook, this time in a Florida city, where the thief was met by cops when he arranged a meeting with what he thought was a potential buyer for the $1,200 ebike. That’s the right way to handle it, even though the cops aren’t always so willing to get involved.
Forget doping. New Zealand cyclist Kiaan Watts accepted a 25-day ban for punching another rider in the head during last month’s one-day Salverda Bouw Ster van Zwolle in the Netherlands; he was also fined the equivalent of $253 and had 25 UCI points deducted. Which means he’ll have to work that much harder to get enough points for a free Jumbo Jack.
Hyperion Avenue – As part of installing speed tables, LADOT reconfigured striping making Hyperion Avenue. This moved cars a couple feet further to the right, where cyclists ride, making the street even less safe for bicycling. I content that this reconfiguration triggers bike lanes and accessibility improvements approved in the city’s 2015 Mobility Plan. The city contends [staff report] that the reconfiguration was “restriping without other improvements” and therefore did not trigger HLA.
Vernon Avenue – As part of a peak-hour lane removal project (my reporting on similar projects), the city added more than a mile of new parking on Vernon Avenue. I contend that this project triggered HLA bus/walk/access upgrades. The city contends [staff report] the reconfiguration was “restriping without other improvements” and therefore did not trigger HLA.
Terra Bella Street – As part of a Metro-L.A. City light rail project, the city is working with Metro to remove Van Nuys Boulevard bike lanes and add partial bike lanes on Terra Bella Street as a replacement. The city plans omit the block of bike lanes closest to the new light rail station. I contend that the Terra Bella bike lanes trigger HLA, and that the city should proceed with the full planned extent, not dropping the bike lanes next to the station. The city contends [staff report] that the Terra Bella bike lanes do not trigger HLA because the city plans to slurry seal the street before making modifications.
The denial of the appeals means Linton can, at his discretion, file a lawsuit to force the city to comply.
He has already filed one lawsuit against Metro for failing to include the bike lanes required by HLA in the Vermont Avenue Bus Lane project; HLA requires the city to build out projects included in the city’s mobility plan whenever significant road work takes place.
And reworking the entire Vermont corridor would seem to be significant.
This time he’s going after the city for using numerous loopholes to avoid complying with the requirements of HLA — including LA Street Services ridiculous invention of the term “Large Asphalt Repair.”
That’s the city’s term for avoiding repaving projects that would trigger HLA, as well as requiring the installation of curb cuts to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
To the best of my knowledge, no other city in the world uses the term Large Asphalt Repair. Or would have the temerity to.
The new lawsuit alleges a number of violations, including, according to Linton,
Cesar Chavez Avenue/Sunset Boulevard (Figueroa Street to Alameda Street): Announced city project would follow a community plan updated after HLA cut-off; the announced version includes unprotected bike lanes, but the project triggers protected bike lanes.
Eagle Rock Boulevard (Avenue 32 to York Boulevard) – Late 2025 “large asphalt repair” projects over 660 feet long trigger protected bike lanes and pedestrian enhancements.
The fact that city leaders are going so far out of its way just to avoid building the mobility plan they already approved demonstrates why we need new leadership, in my relatively humble opinion.
Mayor Bass, and the majority of the city council, seem to be doing anything and everything they can not to make the streets of this city any safer, or any more welcoming to anyone not encased in a couple tons of steel and glass.
Bass frequently ties herself in knots patting herself on the back for how much crime has dropped, while failing to mention that crime has dropped nationwide, in cities she’s never been to, let alone led.
But it has not gotten any safer on city streets for bike riders and pedestrians, who continue to die at record rates.
In fact, the city has gone out of its way to hide the effects of traffic violence, no longer updating Vision Zero maps or releasing information about traffic deaths and injuries.
I don’t know who would make a better mayor for this city at this point.
Streets For All has endorsed Nithya Raman. And while I trust their judgement, I want her to show commitment to safer streets, and finding the funding to implement them.
But in the meantime, count me in the Anyone But Bass camp. And Linton’s lawsuits just scratch the surface of why I’m pitching my tent there.
Apropos of nothing, today’s photo is a corgi celebrating her 6th birthday by barely fitting into a Metro Bike basket.
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Speaking of Joe Linton, while his lawsuits and appeals have been filed in his personal capacity, here he takes a tour of the coming curb-protected bike lane on Colorado and Broadway in Santa Monica in his role as editor of Streetsblog LA.
And frankly, I had no idea he could ride that fast.
When someone is killed in a collision, the death certificate typically lists cause of death as “accident.” But SB 1071 would allow the cause of death to be amended to “homicide” if the driver is convicted of felony DUI, hit-and-run, or other felony charges.
However, in this case, homicide isn’t synonymous with murder. It simply means that the death was directly caused by the actions of another person, without implying intent.
But it does make clear that a death resulting from a traffic crime isn’t an accident.
And that after he was already stopped by police while driving her car two other times. The only reason she wasn’t charged with manslaughter prosecutors couldn’t prove she knew the boy was under the influence.
Although you’d think authorities might have done something the first time the kid was stopped by the cops, instead of waiting until he actually killed someone.
That was originally part of former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Twenty-eight by ’28 list of transportation projects that were to be finished before the Games, until Los Angeles and Metro moved the goalposts by taking out the projects that were just too hard.
Because evidently, trying harder to accomplish the hard things just isn’t in our playbook.
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They’ve got a point.
Those little white car-tickler plastic bendy posts just ain’t gonna protect anyone from anything.
Twitter post
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Local
Public radio’s Marketplace visits LA’s Bike Oven co-op, calling it bike repair shop dedicated to giving you everything you need to learn how to fix your bike yourself.
A bill from Encinitas State Senator Catherine Blakespear to redefine ebikes and create a new class of electric motorbikes unanimously passed the Senate Transportation Committee; SB 1167 would require that ebikes have operable pedals and a maximum engine output of 750 watts or less, the same limit required under European Union rules.
Huntsville, Alabama is preparing to host its 17th annual Mayor’s Bike Ride, led by the city’s sitting mayor. Los Angeles hasn’t had a bike ride led by the mayor since Richard Riordan was mayor back in the ’90s. Which is also the last time a Republican held the office.
Ultra cyclist Justyna Jarczok somehow got her stolen bike back, albeit looking somewhat worse for wear, days after it was stolen with all of her belongings from a British gas station; her other things were found later in a nearby park.
An addendum to yesterday’s mention of the new DuoBell bike bell from Czech carmaker Škoda, which is actually just vaporware at the moment; designed to defeat noise cancelling headphones, the bell is a prototype, and may or may not make it into actual production.
Sixteen years in, about two-thirds of Hoboken’s intersections are now furnished with physical deterrents, and the city has hundreds of high-visibility crosswalks and dozens of curb extensions.
After especially extensive road upgrades in 2022, Hoboken saw 18% fewer injury crashes and a 62% reduction in serious injuries from 2022 to 2023.
The key, according to outgoing Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who oversaw the project for the past eight years,
Bhalla successfully rallied support from within and outside of government, launching Hoboken’s Vision Zero Task Force in 2019. Public engagement, Francese says, was and is core to this. Community surveys and meetings allowed leaders to hear from multiple voices, “not just the loudest,” he says, and piloting changes at one or two intersections first allowed people time to test and assess new infrastructure before commitments were made on a larger scale…
Not only did community members come to better understand the reasons for certain changes, but many also got on board once they saw the changes in action. Community members now play a role themselves, flagging when infrastructure needs fixing and asking for specific upgrades at intersections that don’t have them. Public reporting of “near-miss” data also supplements close calls caught by city cameras that are being piloted around the city.
No one said it’s easy, or cheap.
Vision Zero failed in Los Angeles because the city failed to adequately fund it. And the first time there was significant pushback, city officials ran scared, cancelling fully funded and shovel ready projects in multiple council districts, including dangerous and deadly streets like North Figueroa and Temple Street.
Now there’s a campaign urging Mayor Bass and the City Council to declare a state of emergency regarding traffic violence — although that may fall to her successor, whoever that may be, after June’s election.
You’ll find my name on the petition calling for it.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A San Diego writer says recent news that ridership on the city’s 30th Street bike lanes has risen to record levels is absurd, because she and her friends hardly ever see someone using it from their comfy seats at a local cafe, bike counters be damned. And the bike lanes aren’t accepted by the local community, and never will be. So there.
San Francisco police staged a ticket crackdown blitz on bicyclists and other micromobility users at the intersection of Powell and Market, following the release of the city’s latest High Injury Network map. Never mind that the real danger comes from motorists, it’s also illegal selective enforcement to focus on one group of road users at the exclusion of another. So unless they also ticketed drivers during that enforcement operation, all of those tickets can and should be dismissed.
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Local
A Los Angeles woman tallies up the cost of giving up her previous carfree lifestyle nine months ago. But you’ll have to find a way around Business Insider’s paywall, or sign up for a free trial that will automatically renew at 13 bucks a month unless you cancel it.
Honolulu’s bikeshare system is given only a 50/50 chance of survival after a series of setbacks left it with just half the number of bikes it needs to operate sustainably. Funny how many cities refuse to adequately subsidize bikeshare, active transportation and transit, but have no problem pumping hundreds of millions into subsiding the motor vehicle network.
A couple students from a Parisian political science institute learn the hard way that just because Manilla, Philippines is considered an “emerging cycling city” that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a smooth ride.
Competitive Cycling
Peoplepicks up the tragic story of Masters cyclist Colin “Creepy” Wilson, whose wife Tricia Jeffers was watching live online when he swerved to avoid a fallen cyclist during a race in Trinidad and Tobago, and severed his neck on the fence circling the course; his final words as he left for the race were “Tricia I going, I going to put us on the map.” Which he did, though not in the way either expected.
She argues that the opposition campaign is “both amazing and shocking. Also, laughable.”
The slogans on these signs are not just false, they are complete reversals of truth. That is organized disinformation.
So, first of all, there is no plan to remove all the parking from Overland Ave. Making this the top slogan shows that the people leading this campaign are consciously using a bait-and-switch approach to getting your attention.
She goes on to make the case that the project has been thoroughly vetted, and if people didn’t know about it, it’s only because they weren’t paying attention.
Actual, verifiable facts: The Better Overland project has been in process since May of 2024, and has been approved twice by the Culver City Council. Twice.
City staff held eight public meetings for the community, in addition to multiple private meetings with smaller organizations that were stakeholders in the process.
There were QR codes posted along the entire length of Overland Avenue so that everyone using the street could post their thoughts and ideas regarding Overland directly to the project portal. They received more than a thousand public comments, the vast majority in favor of the project.
It’s typical whenever a project like this goes in that some people will somehow insist there wasn’t enough public outreach, no matter how many times they were given an opportunity to provide their input.
Or that they were never informed, despite repeated efforts to do just that.
That was what happened in Playa del Rey, when opponents said they were never informed about the road diets to Vista del Mar, Pershing Drive and Manchester Ave, or given a chance to voice their objections.
Even though the project was designed by local residents, part of a multi-year public process that included several meetings at a local school, as well as outreach efforts to contact local residents.
So if anyone didn’t know about it, it was because they had their heads firmly buried in the sand at Dockweiler Beach.
Never mind that any increased congestion usually goes away as motorists find other routes, or other ways to get around, like walking or riding a bicycle.
Then there’s the ultimate trump card for the driving public, which seems to be in play with Better Overland, that officials are coming for your parking spaces.
Even though most homes have driveways, and the curb space along the street belongs to the city, not local homeowners. And any actual loss of parking is usually mitigated nearby.
It’s inevitable that no matter what a city does to prepare residents for road changes, some people will always complain. It’s human nature to resist change.
But as former New York DOT director Janette Sadik-Khan put it, people always fight to prevent changes. Then once they get used to it, they’ll fight to keep it.
LADOT is looking for input on creating a low-stress bikeway along Marmion Way and Monte Vista Street, rather than implementing the road diet long planned for the deadly, high-speed North Figueroa corridor.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Sad news from Tulare County, where the CHP was quick to blame the victim when someone riding a bicycle was killed after allegedly veering left in front of an SUV driver — which a local paper TV station reported by saying “it” veered in front of the SUV. Talk about a great job of dehumanizing someone. Never mind that what actually happened depends entirely on whether there were any independent witnesses, or if the CHP relied entirely on the driver’s perspective.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Portland, Oregon is launching a $20 million ebike rebate program to help pay for more than 6,000 ebikes over the next three years. Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, which has invested exactly $0 in ebike rebates to help improve traffic congestion and air quality by getting cars off the road.
Washington State is rolling out another round of ebike rebates up to $1200 for a Class 1, 2 or 3 bike, with recipients chosen by lottery. That compares favorably to California’s ebike rebate program, which now only pays for electric cars after the funding was stolen by the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.
You’ve got to be kidding. A 52-year old Arizona man died in police custody after he was repeatedly struck and tased by cops for fleeing a traffic stop — because he didn’t have a damn headlight on his bicycle.
There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole the bike and belongings of Polish endurance cyclist Justyna Jarczok, which she described as everything she owns, including her house keys, when she stopped at a gas station after winning one of the UK’s toughest bikepacking events; her belongings were found at a local park, but her rare Kona mountain bike is still missing.
