This is who we share the road with.
An alleged speeding and drunk driver killed two people in North Hollywood who had just gotten out of a parked car around 2:25 am Sunday, then careened down the street before striking multiple parked cars and slamming through the wall of a house blocks away.
The victims were identified only as a man in his 30s, and a woman in her 50s. Three people who remained in the car suffered minor injuries.
Thirty-two-year old Pacoima resident Vidal Cruz Jr. was booked on two counts of murder, and being held on $4 million bond.
The murder charges suggest that Cruz may have received a Watson advisement after a previous DUI.
Yet he was still behind the wheel and on the streets until he managed to kill someone.
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Here’s the ebike problem in a nutshell.
Police in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado got in hot water when they spotted a group riding dirt bikes, e-motos and four-wheelers popping wheelies, weaving through traffic, and ignoring traffic signals before fleeing from the cops.
They only managed to capture a single 30-year old rider, as all the others slipped away.
The problem came when they talked about it on social media and described the vehicles as ebikes, even though none would have met the definition of an ebike under Colorado law.
Or most other states, including California.
Yet the cops, the media and most of the public somehow lump all forms of two and three-wheeled electric vehicles together as ebikes.
Never mind how powerful or fast they are, whether they have functional pedals, or have been illegally modified to exceed legal speed limitations.
As far as they’re concerned, they’re all ebikes, whether you’re talking about a ped-assist road bike with a barely noticeable battery, or something that looks, rides and feels like a motorcycle.
And so we end up with laws like the one recently passed in New Jersey that requires a license and registration for any bike with an electric motor, without distinguishing one from another.
Or in California beach towns, which restrict where and how fast ebikes can be ridden, banning ped-assist bikes from bike trails along with electric motorbikes.
Meanwhile, Fortune looks at a new bike that’s technically a Class 2 ebike — except it rides like a moped, has barely functional pedals, and weighs 176 pounds.
And looks like a damn Cybertruck.
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He gets it.
In a column that seemingly has little to do with bicycles, the LA Times’ Steve Lopez takes a walking tour of the blight surrounding City Hall, from an abandoned memorial out front to the largely derelict Los Angeles Mall across the street.
And has this to say.
Nobody wants to hear about budget constraints from people who helped create them, or that’s it’s someone else’s responsibility, or that making improvements is complicated.
It’s really that simple.
Whether you’re talking about the blight at City Hall, or potholes in the streets, bike lane “barriers” in need of replacement, or a mobility plan that never seems to get built.
The leaders of this city have put us on the brink of bankruptcy, and then complain about a lack of funding to get anything done.
Either fix the damn city, or get the hell out of the way and let someone else do it.
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The early bird may not get the worm.
But you could get the tickets, in this case.
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This appears to be the 4th Street Bridge over the 101 Freeway in DTLA.
Even most alien abductions seem to take place in the Valley.
https://bsky.app/profile/coolbikeart1.bsky.social/post/3mj62qzh6uk2n
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Local
I’m not sure if it’s a benefit for the Los Angeles budget or a reflection of just how bad our drivers are, but Streetsblog reports camera citations for bus lane violations in the city generated nearly $20 million last year. Although I kinda prefer the Toronto approach.
Streets For All follows their endorsement of Nithya Raman for LA Mayor with a list of mostly expected endorsements for other city offices.
Not only is RJ Decker star Scott Speedman one of us, he can also ride with both hands on his helmetless head.
State
A San Diego woman learns to ride a bike at 65.
Sad news from Calistoga, where a bike rider was killed after being rear-ended by a driver when they allegedly crossed in front of the oncoming car. As always, the question is whether there were any independent witnesses, since the driver has an inherent interest in seeing their own action in the best possible light.
National
Popular Science digs into the eternal question of why you never forget how to ride a bike, because the brain stores skills differently than facts, making them easier to remember.
A writer for Business Insider started letting her kids bike around the neighborhood with friends when they were eight years old, and says, despite her worries, it’s taught them responsibility and independence.
Self-driving cars Waymo and Waze are teaming up to map America’s potholes so they can be fixed.
A new report from the Transportation Research Board urges airports to make room for travelers and employees to bike to the airport, and park their bikes once they get there.
A 66-year old grandfather’s life changed when he ignored a diagnosis of aortic stenosis and continued to ride — until the day he fainted on his bike and woke up in the emergency room.
A woman learns by doing that 57 is not too old to ride a tandem across the US with her new husband. Then again, 75 isn’t too old, either.
Hundreds of Salt Lake City bike riders turned out for the city’s weekly 999 Thursday night rides, which seem to be officially tolerated, if not sanctioned.
Speaking of Aurora, Colorado, a local bike shop fights to stay in business after being burglarized nine times in just three years.
A Denver attorney shares the story of ripping her leg open in a harrowing mountain bike crash in the Colorado backcountry, and relying on the satellite feature on her iPhone to call for help.
A team of people with Parkinson’s will marked the centenary of America’s iconic Route 66 by riding the 1,600 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles, in part to show how physical activity can fight off the effects of the disease.
Declining bike sales haven’t place a damper on Detroit bicycling groups.
International
A British Columbia writer says he gave up his road bike and took up gravel riding because he wants to keep riding as he gets older.
Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher is one of us, too, riding his bike through the British countryside up to four times a week — yet a British tabloid still tries to draw him into the wrong side of a battle over a bike lane in wealthy St. John’s Wood.
Dozens of bicyclists turned out in Donegal, Ireland to call for more respect on the roads after four bike riders were injured when they were struck by a driver.
A 59-year old Irish naval officer is now in a coma, one of the four bicyclists seriously injured when they were struck by a driver shortly after arriving on the coast of Spain.
A British expat makes the case for why she loves the long distance bike paths of France.
An Indian man risked death more than once to photograph the country, while riding his bicycle nearly 12,000 miles across all 28 Indian states.
Competitive Cycling
Wout van Aert edged out Tadej Pogačar to win Paris-Roubaix and claim his first cobbled Monument victory; Mathieu van der Poel was dropped when he tried to swap bikes with a teammate after a double puncture, and couldn’t clip in because of incompatible pedals, while Tadej Pogačar lost time because suffered a flat and had to accept a neutral wheel from a race moto.
On the women’s side, Germany’s Franziska Koch outsprinted Marianne Vos to win just the sixth Paris-Roubaix Femmes, as Escape Collective explains how the Visma-Lease a Bike team could ride a perfect race and still lose on the cobbles.
Just stop pilfering the Paris-Roubaix cobbles, already.
Forget the airbag bike helmet. French bike brand Van Rysel is launching a full-body airbag skinsuit for the pro tour that can deploy is 60 milliseconds in the event of a crash.
San Diego’s velodrome is now hosting USA Cycling sanctioned bike races that exclude trans women.
Finally…
That feeling when the first rule of the festive century relay is don’t be a dick. If there’s no snow, build mountain bike trails — and make ’em adaptive from Day 1.
And nothing like having a furry stoker upfront.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
