Bass slash-and-burn budget threatens street safety & CicLAvia, and how to apply for CA ebike vouchers Tuesday

April 25, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 115 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Evidently, I’ve not the only one concerned about the effect of the draconian budget cuts and layoffs proposed by Mayor Karen Bass.

Streets For All sent out the following email yesterday making many of the same points.

This week, Mayor Bass released her proposed budget for 2025-2026. This budget plans to slash most departments’ funding, as well as eliminate 1,650 city positions and 1,074 vacancies. It also proposes deferring capital projects, like planned road and infrastructure improvements.

This budget is a disaster for road safety and even basic services.You can read our detailed analysis here. This budget will result significantly more broken streets and sidewalks. New pedestrian and bike projects, including many Olympics projects, will be delayed. All streetlight repairs will be paused until 2027. Billions in grant funded street safety and mobility projects may be lost. And there may be no staffing to support open streets events like CicLAvia.

There are only TWO opportunities to comment on the Mayor’s proposed budget, and they are both in person:

APRIL 25, 2025 at 1pm
Van Nuys City Hall
14410 Sylvian Street
Van Nuys, CA 91401

APRIL 28, 2025 at 4pm
City Hall Council Chamber, Room 340
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Budget Chair Katy Yaroslavsky will be hosting a session in person:
APRIL 26, 2025 at 11am
Westwood
RSVP for address

Tell the Mayor that cutting funding for our streets will lead to more crashes, costing the City even more in liability payouts – part of why the city is in such financial distress to begin with. This budget would also lead to a near pause of any new projects, and delay existing ones – freezing our infrastructure during a time period when we are about to host the World Cup and Olympics.

While showing up in person is most effective, if you cannot attend you may comment on the council file.

Thank you for fighting for a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for Los Angeles and beyond!

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Streetsblog’s Damien Newton takes an in-depth look at the second round of the California ebike voucher program, including how to apply.

The Air Resources Board’s long–delayed and controversial e-bike voucher program will be opening its application portal for a second time at 6:00 p.m. on April 29th. This time instead of a first-come, first-serve approach that left out tens of thousands of hopeful applicants, the system will randomly choose 1,000 people who join their virtual waiting room between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.

To join the waiting room, go to ebikeincentives.org and select the ‘APPLY’ button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

He also notes that you are encouraged to arrive early to the portal to file your application.

But don’t bother if you don’t meet the financial qualifications, and aren’t willing to jump through their hoops to document your income — and watch a couple of pretty meaningless videos.

The program is only offering 1,000 vouchers this time, which represents less than 1% of the people who tried to apply for the first round of vouchers.

The 1,000 lucky people will be selected through a form of lottery. You’re encourage to stick around through the full process, until you receive a notification that you either were or weren’t selected to apply.

Surprisingly, it looks like I may actually qualify this time.

But whether I’ll actually bother, given the massive shitshow mess they made of the first round, remains to be determined.

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Evidently, life is cheap in the UK.

Mansfield Town striker Lucas Akins was sentenced to 14 months behind bars for carelessly killing a 33-year old man riding a bicycle, in a crash caught on the victim’s bike cam.

Yet Akins seemed to demonstrate just how little it bothered him by playing in a League One soccer match the same day he entered his not guilty plea in court.

The team issued a statement expressing their condolences to the family, and said they’re “considering its position with regards to” Akins.

Especially since he won’t be on the pitch for the better part of the next few seasons.

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PinkBike takes a look at the creation of Bradley Bike Park in San Marcos, calling it “a rideable masterpiece built against all odds on near-flat ground,” and “artistry etched in dirt.”

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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.   

A British couple were threatened and spat on by a pair of men who were riding their bikes next to the couple’s car, after they brought the car to a stop, for no apparent reason. Although I would guess thee may be another side to the story, and that maybe the driver did something to tick ’em off. But regardless of what it may have been, nothing justifies violence.

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Local 

Metro still hasn’t done anything with the long-delayed second phase of the Metro Mobility Wallet, which is supposed to provide participants with $1,800 to spend on any form of transportation, from bus passes and rideshare to bikeshare, or even buying a bicycle. But the program is worthless if the agency doesn’t follow through by actually funding their debit cards.

Speaking of Metro, CEO Stephanie Wiggins will continue to lead the agency for another four — or maybe five — years, after the Metro board voted unanimously to extend her contract, at whopping half a million dollars a year, a 20% increase over her previous contract. Which means they’ll give everyone else who works for Metro a similar pay bump, right?

Redondo Beach says ebike riders are behaving better now.

SoCal’s killer highway claimed another victim, as Torrance residents called for improved safety after a 38-year old man was hit and killed by multiple drivers as he crossed the street Saturday night — including the heartless coward who hit him first, and fled the scene without stopping. Although I wonder whether Killer PCH or deadly Vista del Mar, aka Deadly del Mar, actually kills more people on a per-mile basis. Thanks to How The West Was Saved for the heads-up. 

 

State

Rancho Mirage does Bike Month, or Bike Safety Month, the right way by introducing plan for three bike safety projects, including widened bike lanes, improved signage, and designated bike paths, to be completed by the end of summer.

Los Gatos opened a long-anticipated bike and pedestrian bridge linking Highway 9 to the Los Gatos Creek Trailhead.

 

National

The Seattle Times visits the forested Washington State segment of the 5,000-mile mountain bike trail along West Coast.

A 32-year old man from the US faces charges for crossing into the country from Mexico on a bicycle stuffed with fentanyl and meth.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell kicked off the NFL Draft in Green Bay with a wobbly bike ride onto the stage, in a nod to the Packers tradition of riding borrowed bicycles to the first day of camp. But it wasn’t enough to silence the boos from fans.

Surprisingly, the New York Times picks the Dahon Mariner D8 as the best foldie over Tern’s Link D8, with the famed Brompton taking third.

New York Streetsblog says beyond treating bicyclists like an afterthought, the New York Parks Department has been downright unfriendly to people on bicycles, even though it controls some of the city’s most important carfree infrastructure.

Finishing our New York trifecta, the city announced a whopping 127 Open Streets events to take place this spring and summer, including a belated Earth Day celebration featuring 54 carfree streets and plazas throughout the five boroughs.

Passaic New Jersey opened a small bikeshare system that will be free to local residents.

People in Louisiana just seem to have more fun than the rest of us, even on a five-day fundraising ride through Cajun country.

 

International

Even in the Cayman Islands, bicyclists are demanding safer streets, in the wake of a hit-and-run that killed a bike rider on Easter Monday.

Here’s a few more for your bike bucket list, as Momentum recommends Europe’s best rail trails for a unique bicycling vacation. I’ll take the one that follows the Danube, thank you. Or maybe the one that runs through Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. 

Evidently, congestion pricing and better bikeways work, since London’s Square Mile, aka the sparely populated financial district that employs a half-million people each day — now averages nearly twice as many bicycles as cars, following a 57% jump in bicycling rates in just two years.

London bicyclists are now expected to adhere to a code of conduct in the city’s parks, as a new survey shows 86% Londoners think the parks’ 20 mph speed limit should apply to bicycles, too.

A new survey shows that most British drivers still don’t understand how to share the road with bicyclists, three years after the rules of the road were changed to improve bike safety. The same survey in the US would probably show similar results, even though most of our rules haven’t changed in decades. 

In an unusual move, Irish police, aka Gardaí, reached out to bike clubs to see if any were riding in the area where a 56-year old farmer went missing last month, in hopes that maybe someone saw him. Something they should do more often, since we have a lot more eyes on the streets than they do.

Now you, too, can fix your own light when your ebike maker goes belly-up, like the Netherlands’ VanMoof.

Mind your biking behavior in Japan next April, when police will start fining bicyclists for “minor” violations like using a cellphone while riding, and running red lights.

 

Finally…

Why buy a custom-made bicycle when you can just make your own damn bike? Your next tire pump could look like a tiny little robot.

And why just go for a bike ride, when you could earn crypto with every ride.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Arrest in South LA hit-and-run of 15-year old bike rider, and bike-riding teens swarm market and assault gay couple in car

April 24, 2025 / / One comment
Day 114 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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They got one, for once.

The CHP announced an arrest in the hit-and-run crash that injured a 15-year old boy as he rode his bicycle on a South LA sidewalk.

The driver, identified only as Krunal Jigneshbhai Dhanani, faces felony hit-and-run charges for driving up on the sidewalk and hitting the kid, in what appeared to be an intentional act.

But police evidently didn’t think so, because it wasn’t charged that way.

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It’s happened again.

A mob of around 30 bike-riding teens swarmed a grocery store near USC, before assaulting a gay couple and hurling homophobic slurs.

The teenaged boys, who looked to be middle school-aged, rode up to the Ralphs market on South Vermont Ave around 4:30 Saturday afternoon, running out with bottled cocktails, Gatorade and other items.

At least one of the boys was pepper sprayed by a security guard, after the kids threw things at store employees.

They then swarmed the gay couple as they tried to enter their car and drive off, honking their horn to clear the way, as the kids shouted slurs.

After one of the boys slammed himself on the side of their car, the couple got out holding pepper spray and a stun gun, chasing the group off before they approached once again, hitting the car window with a rock as they drove off.

This follows numerous other similar robberies where kids would ride up to a store on their bikes before swarming the aisles, overwhelming the staff and emptying shelves.

There have also been at least three instances of teen bike riders swarming cars and attacking the vehicles and their drivers.

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The LAPD has identified the suspect accused of riding his bicycle through DTLA while chopping down trees with an electric chainsaw.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 45-year old Samuel Patrick Groft was taken into custody about 90 minutes after police released a flyer with pictures of the then-unknown suspect.

Groft stands accused of felony vandalism for chopping down at least 13 trees in less than ten days in downtown Los Angeles, as well Glassell Park and Westlake.

Eight of the those trees were estimated to be worth $347,000.

Groft has an extensive record, including DUI, assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism and a hit-and-run. He has been living on a streets for several years, and was found with the chainsaw in his possession.

In California, felony vandalism carries a penalty of up three years behind bars and a fine of up to $50,000 if the damage exceeds $10,000.

Which means if the DA charges each tree as a separate crime, Groft could be looking at more than three decades behind bars, and $650,000 in fines.

Good luck collecting that.

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Hats off to the The San Fernando Sun, which appears to be the only Los Angeles news source that bothered to report on the Griffith Park protest marking the third anniversary of the fatal, high-speed hit-and-run that killed 77-year-old cyclist Andrew Jelmert

The paper also noted the protesters’ complaints over red tape needlessly holding up the fully funded and shovel-ready safety improvements promised for the park.

Which are two more reasons — the lack of progress and news coverage — explaining why people continue to die on our streets.

And the latter has a lot to do with the former.

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Streets Are For Everyone, which held that Griffith Park protest, celebrates ten years of fighting for safer streets on July 12th.

https://twitter.com/StreetsR4Every1/status/1915137601587249361

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.   

It’s happened again, part two. A British ebike rider lost consciousness and suffered serious facial and eye injuries when he struck a rope that was deliberately strung across the trail he was riding on; police blamed a “group of youths” for the “deliberate and highly dangerous act” that could have led to “even more catastrophic” injuries.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.   

A British man has been banned from bicycling for ten years and sentenced to 19 months behind bars, after failing to convince the court that riding his bike up behind women and grabbing their butts was a harmless prank, as opposed to serious sexual assault. Schmuck.

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Local 

Streetsblog explores a half-mile of new parking protected bike lanes on San Vicente in the Mid-City area.

Burbank invites you on a walking or biking tour to gather input for the Burbank Rancho Neighborhood Specific Plan on May 10th. Although it sounds like you’d be welcomed on horseback, too.

 

State

The Los Angeles Times examines the new process to apply for a California ebike incentive voucher this Tuesday.

Bingo. San Diego’s KGTV-10 says the city’s spending patterns shows its mobility priorities, spending three times more on repaving streets than it does on making them safer.

This is who we share the road with. A Fresno judge dismissed all the charges against a hit-and-run driver who ran down and killed a homeless woman, and dragged her body eight miles under his car — then ended up with permanent brain damage after jumping out of a top floor window trying to escape the police, leading the judge to rule he would never be competent to stand trial.

Alameda residents turned out to explore a pair of greenway popups slated for completion next year.

 

National

Um, sure, let’s go with that. Police arrested a Colorado man for attempting, and failing, to kidnap a 12-year old girl as she was bicycling with a friend, telling police he tried to stop the girl’s bike from falling, and she just happened to fall into his arms.

A Minnesota magazine considers the best biking apps and online communities, although the later has a distinctly Minnesota focus.

Streets Minnesota recommends this year’s “must-do” bike rides for the state.

If you’re missing a vintage bicycle from your childhood, you’ll have one last chance to buy it before a man who’s been restoring and selling them for the last 30 years holds his final bike auction. But you’ll have to go to, yes, Minnesota to buy one. 

Tennessee is putting old tires to use as armadillos marking a protected bike lane.

One of my pet peeves remains lazy headline writers, like the one who says a North Carolina man rode his bicycle 4,000 miles coast-to-coast “for” breast cancer, rather than to fight the disease. And yes, I acknowledge that peeves make lousy pets. 

 

International

Momentum recommends the best upright commuter bikes to sit up and enjoy the ride this spring, most of which clock in at under $600.

Bike Radar says no, gravel bikes will not replace endurance bikes.

A writer for the CNU Journal looks at the power of bicycles, especially ebikes, to transform 21st Century cities.

Velo takes you on a tour of Belgium’s bike-friendly culture, “exploring pathways, cafés, beer halls, and cycling museums” by city bike.

Clean Technica says a new “virtually bulletproof” ebike has the power to transform transportation in Africa.

Bicycling Australia marks Anzac Day, — an Aussie holiday commemorating the tragic WWI battle of Gallipoli — by considering the role of the “humble” bicycle in the war to end all wars, which didn’t.

 

Competitive Cycling

Say it ain’t so, Joe. Colombian cycling great and 1987 Spanish Vuelta champ Luis Alberto “Lucho” Herrera denied allegations that he was involved in the 2002 killing of four farmers who lived near him, allegedly hiring two ex-paramilitary men to kill the farmers because they wouldn’t sell their land to him.

No surprise here, as Slovenian cycling star Tadej Pogačar captured his second Flèche Wallonne by attacking on a steep climb, finishing 10 seconds ahead of France’s Kévin Vauquelin, with British rider Tom Pidcock in third; Dutch cyclist Puck Pieterse won the women’s Flèche, beating countrywoman Demi Vollering by two seconds, while Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini came in third.

Cyclist looks forward to Sunday’s men’s and women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Motherhood is no longer a barrier to a successful cycling career.

 

Finally…

Forget bike lanes, now people are driving in underground bicycle parking garages. That feeling when you get a punishment pass from a fellow bicyclist in an empty bike lane

And your next bike could have big red balls instead of wheels, and go in any direction.

But if it’s a bicycle, why doesn’t it have any pedals?

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Earth Day bust for bike-riding DTLA tree-chopper, Culver City named eco-friendly city, & how to apply for CA ebike voucher

April 23, 2025 / / Comments Off on Earth Day bust for bike-riding DTLA tree-chopper, Culver City named eco-friendly city, & how to apply for CA ebike voucher
Day 113 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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They got him.

Just in time to celebrate Earth Day, the LAPD busted the bike-riding creep who allegedly used an electric chainsaw to fell at least five trees lining the streets of Downtown Los Angeles.

The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, was taken into custody sometime before 6:30 pm yesterday.

Hopefully we’ll learn more today.

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Congratulations to Culver City, which came in at number 14 on a list of the nation’s top eco-friendly cities for car-free travel.

Although I’m guessing that measure was taken before the city ripped out the protected bike lanes in the MOVE Culver City project.

The survey from Realtor.com and LocalLogic listed Hoboken, New Jersey number one; that city has now gone seven consecutive years without a traffic death, proving that Vision Zero can actually succeed with buy-in and funding from city officials.

Bay Area cities Berkeley, San Francisco and Emeryville also made the list.

Los Angeles didn’t, for obvious reasons.

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The California Ebike Incentive Project explained the rules for the second round of deliberately throttled ebike incentives planned for next week, including what documentation you’ll need and how to get it.

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A pair of bills sponsored by Streets For All moved forward in the state legislature, including one requiring speed limiters for repeat speeding drivers, and another streamlining the permit process for transit projects.

Twitter post

Twitter post

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A hard-hitting Bluesky thread from Dr. Grace Peng demonstrates why her South Bay commute is only for the brave; click through for the rest of the posts.

Bluesky post

Bluesky post

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.   

That feeling when the mere sight of the dotted white lines indicating a coming British bikeshare station replacing a handful of parking spaces is enough to send the local residents into apoplexy with shouts of the “war oscars.”

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Local 

A 14-year old boy was hospitalized after he was stuck by the driver of a minivan while riding a bicycle in Canyon Country Tuesday night.

Long Beach’s popular Beach Streets open streets event will shut down large parts of Willow Street and Santa Fe Ave to cars on Saturday, May 10th.

 

State

San Diego approved a sweeping master mobility plan designed to improve traffic safety and make the city less dependent on private cars and SUVs; according to one councilmember, the goal isn’t to mandate people out of their cars, but “incentivize it and plan for it through smart land-use decisions.”

The Palm Springs Historical Society wants to take you on a bike tour of the area’s Midcentury Modern neighborhoods, with four opportunities this week, for the low, low price of just $95 to (gulp) $950.

Speaking of Berkeley, the Bike East Bay advocacy group set up $6,000 worth of temporary pop-up bike lanes and other traffic calming measures to show how much nicer the city’s 9th Street could be without cut-through car traffic.

Sad news from the Bay Area, where a 44-year old East Oakland security guard was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle home from work, after getting off a BART train.

A teenage girl from Concord has been chosen to take part in the 1,000-mile Remember the Removal bicycle ride for members of the Cherokee nation, following that path of the horrific and shameful Trail of Tears.

More sad news, this time from Sacramento County, where a 63-year old man was killed in a collision while riding his bicycle.

 

National

Smithsonian considers what can be done to make ride hailing, bikeshare and other transportation options accessible to everyone.

Prospects are dimming for a long-promised bikeway connecting Albany and Corvallis, Oregon, with key sections of the 10-mile long bike path still unplanned and unfunded, eleven years after the project was first introduced.

Trump’s tariffs aren’t the only thing hurting the bike industry these days; bike burglars and hijackers are also leaving their mark, like whoever stole an entire truckload of bikes from Ari Bicycles on their way from Los Angeles to the company’s Utah warehouse.

A Colorado bikepacking bag maker still had to lay off workers because of Trump’s tariffs, despite sourcing almost all their materials from the US, because their suppliers had to get their materials from overseas.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 92-year old South Dakota man started ebiking two years ago, and has clocked more than 2,000 miles.

Chicago bike and pedestrian advocates took advantage of a street construction project to turn the blocked street into a pedestrian plaza.

 

International

Momentum lists the top seven environmental benefits of bicycling for every day, including Earth Day.

An Ontario, Canada judge says “not so fast” to Premier Doug Ford’s plan to rip out some key Toronto bike lanes, ordering a temporary pause while he considers the evidence in the case.

London’s 138-year old cast iron Hammersmith Bridge is now open to bicycles and pedestrians following a near $4 million refurbishment project, though when or if the bridge will ever be open to cars again remains to be determined. Let’s hope not.

Good question. A physician in Cork, Ireland asks when will we take our heads out of the sand and realize that bicycles are the future of urban mobility.

A man from Spain’s Basque Country was killed, and his 14-year old son suffered a broken leg, when an allegedly stoned driver plowed a group ride near Calpe in southeastern Spain on Easter Sunday.

In another mass casualty crash, a Taiwanese driver plowed into a group of bicycling students, injuring seven bike riders, one seriously, while driving on the wrong side of the road.

Christchurch, New Zealand is cracking down on bike theft by focusing on the city’s most prolific bike thieves, including one man accused of stealing seven bikes in four days.

 

Competitive Cycling

Only one American man had as many Giro pink jerseys as the Pope did, and only two American men had as many rainbow jerseys; then again, along with his Catholic dogmas, he also had more Pinarello Dogmas than most of us, too.

If you read this early enough, you may still be able to catch the men’s La Flèche Wallonne on the Peacock streaming service starting at 3:45 am PDT, or the women’s race at 7:55 am.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a $150 bike intended for Indiana University’s  Little 500 from a student just days before the iconic race.

 

Finally…

Oh, nothing. Just a fine English chap riding a Penny Farthing through the South to honor another fine English chap on a Penny Farthing. That feeling when your heart goes pitter patter while trying to dock a bikeshare bike.

And hats off to the Irish triathlete busted for speeding on a bicycle in a 31 mph zone.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Bass risks bike safety with massive layoffs, Trump admin puts science-free brakes on road diets, and tariffs threaten bike world

April 22, 2025 / / One comment
Day 112 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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LA Mayor Karen Bass plans to fill the city’s massive budget hole with layoff notices.

She proposed kicking 1,647 city workers to the curb in her budget for the coming fiscal year, including nearly 100 cops, dropping the department to its lowest level in years.

However, the fire department will be spared in the wake of the massive Palisades fire with a 12.7% budget increase, including 277 new positions, as well as more paramedics, mechanics and fast response vehicles.

There are also plans to combine a handful of city departments, though not the needlessly siloed transportation and street services departments, which should work together to improve our streets, but usually don’t.

The shortfall was largely caused by years of ever-growing legal settlements, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention to local news.

The budget originally called for twice as many layoffs, but the number was reduced in part by delaying capital improvement projects. Which could lead to even more of those legal settlements, depending on just what they decide to cut.

It’s also likely that at least some of those cuts will come from LADOT and Streets Services, which are already underfunded and understaffed — resulting in years-long delays in safety improvements that risk more lives, and even more of those legal settlements.

And which helped lead to the passage of Measure HLA last year, which aims to force the city to implement the safety improvements in the city’s mobility plan when streets are resurfaced.

Which will now need to be done over a longer period, with less money and fewer people.

Photo of Mayor Karen Bass from website for Mayor of Los Angeles.

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You’ve got to be kidding.

After years of research-backed recommendations that road diets improve traffic safety, the Trump administration is putting a heavy foot on the gas, somehow claiming they make the streets more dangerous, instead of safer.

But as usual, they offer no science to back it up.

According to the Associated Press,

Federal transportation officials once heralded road diets for cutting crashes by 19% to 47%, but criteria for an upcoming round of road safety grants say projects aimed at “reducing lane capacity” should be considered “less favorably,” the administration said.

Forcing travelers into more constrained spaces “can lead to crashes, erratic maneuvers, and a false sense of security that puts everyone at risk,” the U.S. Department of Transportation said in an email statement to The Associated Press. “The update reflects the Department’s concerns about the safety hazards associated with congestion.”

Again — and I can’t stress this enough — there is no research offered to back up that claim.

The AP goes on to add this.

Numerous other cities have credited road diets with improving safety.

Philadelphia cited a 19% drop in injury crashes. Portland, Oregon, saw a more than 70% decline in vehicles traveling at least 10 mph (16 kph) over the speed limit. The average speed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, fell by 5 mph (8 kph) on some roads within months.

So rather than Making America Great Again, the administration’s plan appears to be more about keeping our streets dangerous, and dangerously auto-centric.

Meanwhile, taking a cue from Idaho, which just passed and signed a similar bill, a proposed Texas law would ban narrowing roadways to install bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

Or as one Idaho website so aptly put it, “New Idaho law treats cyclists and pedestrians like pests.”

All so drivers can continue to go zoom, zoom on every inch of road they currently enjoy.

Safety be damned.

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Still more tariff news.

Trek, State and Specialized responded to Trump’s tariffs by raising bike prices, while other brands are limiting US releases.

Colorado’s small outdoor manufacturers are “wilting” in the face of Trump’s trade wars, closing shop and laying off long-time workers.

An Aussie website says the entire bicycle industry is being “chilled” by Trump’s tariffs.

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Streetsblog spotted new bike lanes in the Arts District in DTLA.

Bluesky post

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The first pedestrian-oriented CicLAmini of the year comes to Pico Blvd in Pico-Union on the 18th of next month.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.   

In yet another case of anti-bike terrorism, someone deliberately placed large logs behind blind corners on Eugene, Oregon’s sole mountain bike-only trail, which appears to be an intentional attempt to injure trail riders. Or worse.

Once again, bike riders get the blame, as police in Boynton Beach, Florida offer safety advice for the people on two wheels in the face of a more than 50% increase in collisions involving bicyclists, while just giving drivers vague advice to “be more responsible.”

It’s anarchy in the UK, as a road-raging driver walked without a day behind bars for getting out of his van and punching a man on a bicycle in the face for the crime of riding in the roadway, as he shouted “There’s a fucking bike path over there;” he was sentenced to the equivalent of community service, and about about 180 bucks restitution for damage to the victim’s bike.

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Local 

Bike tour company Another Side of Los Angeles Tours has now suffered two break-ins in just the last month, with thieves using a brick to break a window and walk out with three ebikes worth up to a grand apiece.

Saturday is the last day to offer input on the SGV Greenway Network, which would place bike/walk paths on the upper shoulders of flood control channels in the San Gabriel Valley.

 

State

California drivers will now face stricter penalties for driving without insurance or under-insured, including fines topping $500, loss of driver’s license and impounding the vehicle. The last one is likely to have more impact, because $500 is a fraction of the annual cost of car insurance, and people drive without a license every day. But no one drives without a car.

Fresno is starting work on improving bike safety on three key corridors.

The wife of an 81-year old Palo Alto man has filed suit against the city, claiming he died after falling off his bicycle when he hit an unmarked open construction ditch on a roadway that was supposed to have been closed.

 

National

Now you can turn your old bike into a new ebike for as little as a hundred bucks.

A group of Washington bicyclists is riding ebikes from Seattle to the state capitol in Olympia to protest a new 10% surcharge on all ebike sales.

Bittersweet news from Las Vegas, where a 71-year old man who has dedicated more than a decade of his life to giving refurbished bikes to hundred of kids in need held one last giveaway, before closing up shop as he battles stage 4 prostate cancer.

No surprise here, as bicyclists in Tallahassee, Florida say they increasingly feel left behind and vulnerable. In other words, like bike riders in nearly every other American cities. Especially here in LA.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers who, or what, wins the battle of the best do-it-all all-surface bikes.

About damn time. London has finally banned trucks that don’t offer clear sightlines to vulnerable road users. Now if only all the world’s other cities would follow suit — starting with this one.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as a British writer recommends a multi-day gravel ride through Cornwall on the extreme southwestern tip of England, with its “sublime coastal gravel tracks, old mine ruins perched on the clifftops, gorgeous villages and ancient history,” all easily accessible from Penzance. No pirates, however. Unfortunately.

The parents of a fallen Dutch bicyclist are calling for stricter enforcement of the country’s bike paths, after their 12-year old daughter was killed by the driver of a Birò microcar while riding to dance class with two friends. Which is how I learned they even are a thing.  

Everything you always wanted to know about riding a bike in Luxembourg, but were afraid to ask.

About damn time, part two. Subaru is introducing the world’s first external airbags designed to protect bike riders in a crash; it works to keep bicyclists from smashing into the windshield by modifying a pedestrian-safety airbag that’s been available in the country since 2016, but oddly hasn’t even been offered an option in this country. Although it wouldn’t do a lot of good on American trucks and SUVs, with their grills too high to provide any protection.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Tour of the Alps paused for a moment of silence, along with all other Italian sporting events, to mark the death of Pope Francis, the first pope I’m aware of who rode a bicycle.

Pro cyclists have been shocked! shocked! by how quickly Remco Evenepoel has returned to form following major injuries from a December dooring, nearly winning Sunday’s Amstel Gold, before settling for third.

An Indiana website offers everything you need to know about Indiana University’s iconic Little 500 bike race.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can turn your non-biking friends into your new riding companions. Why ride with one mirror on your helmet, when you can have two?

And when you’re carrying meth, coke, brass knuckles and a switchblade on your bike at night, put a damn taillight on it, already.

The bike, that is. Not the meth. Or the switchblade.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Man riding bicycle fatally stabbed in Canoga Park, and road-raging driver deliberately hits Utah bike rider

April 21, 2025 / / Comments Off on Man riding bicycle fatally stabbed in Canoga Park, and road-raging driver deliberately hits Utah bike rider
Day 111 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Tragic news from Canoga Park, where a man was fatally stabbed while riding a bike Thursday night.

According to KNBC-4, the victim, publicly identified only as a man in his 30s, was riding near on International Ave near Canoga Ave when he was stabbed by an unknown assailant around 9:30 pm, while riding with a backpack and carrying food.

He collapsed against a car, where he died, despite the efforts of local residents and paramedics.

There was no known motive for the attack, and it’s not clear at this time whether the victim was targeted because he was riding a bicycle, or for some other reason.

………

It’s happened again.

A 43-year old Utah man faces a raft of charges for — allegedly — intentionally crashing his truck into a man riding a bicycle in Heber City before driving away.

Security cam video shows Loren Russell failing to stop for the victim, who was riding his bike on the sidewalk. The bike rider responded by slapping Russell’s truck before riding away.

Russell responded by accelerating and turning his truck into the the victim’s bike, leaving the victim with a broken ankle.

After the police found his truck, Russell tried to claim the bike rider hit his truck, which made him feel so threatened that he sped away, unaware he hit anyone.

Fortunately, the cops didn’t buy it, busting Russell on charges including felony aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury, failing to remain at the scene of an accident, and failure to yield the right of way.

………

The California E-bike Incentive Project offers more details on how to apply for a voucher for the next highly limited round of incentives, as they continue to deliberately throttle overwhelming demand.

Or rather, how to apply for the lottery which will determine whether you even get to apply for one of the roughly 1,000 vouchers.

That’s because they are only releasing $2 million for this 2nd round of incentives, despite sitting on around $29 million in remaining funding, which could fund nearly 15,000 ebike vouchers.

………

The San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, announced the location of planned pit stops for the city’s annual Bike Anywhere Day on Thursday, May 15.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles will mark Bike Week from May 12-18, with Bike Day also on May 15th, as part of their observation of Bike Month throughout May, but there’s no word yet on how they plan to observe it.

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Somehow we missed this one back in December, as someone who prefers to be anonymous forwarded this listing of the ten weirdest bicycles you never knew existed.

And for the most part, they’re right.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.   

Austin, Texas will spend $80,000 to rip out bike lanes that were installed just six month ago, choosing the convenience and complaints of motorists over the safety of the little kids who used it to bike to school.

No bias here. Streetsblog discovers that New York cops write 15% of red light tickets to people on bicycles, despite bicyclists making up just two percent of street traffic, observing “the NYPD is intent on writing red-light tickets to the lightest, slowest-moving vehicles instead of doubling-down on enforcement against 3,000-pound-plus killing machines.”

Someone is sabotaging Florida bikeways, tossing tire spikes on the bike path that have punctured two tires so far, while posing the risk of far more serious injuries. Which is probably the point.

It’s happened again, again. A road-raging British driver jumped out of his van and punched a man riding a bicycle in the face, for the crime of riding his bicycle in the roadway rather than using a nearby bike path, shocking the victim who struggled to comprehend the bizarre degree of the driver’s hatred for bicyclists.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.   

Police in Los Angeles are looking for a chainsaw-wielding bike rider who chopped down at least five trees at different locations throughout DTLA for reasons known only to him; no word on whether he got off his bike to chopped them down, or felled the trees as he rode by.

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Local 

You could have been the owner of the iconic bicycle from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure for the low, low price of around $146 grand.

A Claremont writer and ebike rider considers whether ebikes should be allowed in the city’s Wilderness Park.

 

State

A Santa Barbara website maps out the city’s five most dangerous intersections for bicyclists.

Sad news from Tulare County, where a 58-year old man was killed by a driver while riding a bicycle; the driver stuck around after the crash and cooperated with investigators.

More sad news, this time from Oakland, where a 44-year old man riding a bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver; no description was given for the driver or the suspect vehicle.

 

National

About damn time. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, has issued new regulations requiring states to include “strategic core performance measures” to reduce the “number of bicyclist and other cyclist fatalities” in their three-year highway safety plans.

A Christian website considers the burning question of whether Amish people can ride bicycles.

He gets it. A Colorado bike lawyer says it’s time the state got serious about traffic violence. Something that could have been written about any of the 49 other states, too. 

A survivalist describes four ways a 39-year old college professor could have disappeared without a trace while mountain biking in Wyoming last July. He went missing in areas I used to know like the back of my hand growing up nearby in Colorado. 

A pair of Kalamazoo, Michigan state legislators have reintroduced a bill to increase the penalty for injuring vulnerable road users.

Hats off to the kindhearted folks at one Brooklyn bike shop, who have repaired and given away around $42,000 worth of refurbished bicycles and parts to migrants and low-income people.

A New York man was killed when he reportedly rode his bike into the side of a fire truck on an emergency call and fell under its wheels, despite the truck’s lights and sirens — although it sounds like the driver of the firetruck may have turned across the victim’s path.

Apparently desperate for clicks, the New York Post reposted a viral video of a stuntman riding with a refrigerator balanced on his head, claiming the video surfaced this week despite originally running it nearly two years ago.

Sad news from Savannah, Georgia, where a local man affectionately known as the “Flag Man” for the large American flag he carried on his bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver; police have images of the driver’s truck, but apparently haven’t identified a suspect yet.

Three men are behind bars in Miami, Florida because they stole a bike from the wrong woman, who fought to get it back.

A Florida cop had to be hospitalized after she was assaulted and dragged by a handcuffed bike theft suspect.

 

International

Getty Images offers a slideshow capturing bicycling culture around the world.

Road.cc looks at which brands give you the best bikes for your money.

That’s more like it. City leaders in Bedfordshire, England are demanding more, not fewer, bike lanes, insisting that the city’s bicycle network should connect the town center with new housing developments.

Someone apparently forgot to tell a Lycra-clad roadie from the UK that riding his ebike isn’t cheating.

The boss of iconic British bike brand Brompton suggests the wheels are coming off Trump’s trade war, saying his aggressive attempt to boost production in the US is “naive.”

An Italian writer says she’s frightened by the sun-drenched Amalfi Coast’s terrifying traffic, but escaped it all by traveling by bicycle.

Thousands of people throughout India turned out on Sunday to ride their bikes as part of the nationwide FIT India Sundays on Cycle movement; Bollywood actor Rahul Bose joined over 600 other people working out and biking in New Delhi.

A Vietnamese man treasures his more than one-hundred-year old brass bicycle, which he still rides into the city to see friends; nearly every part is carved from brass, other than the saddle, tires and a headlamp powered by carbide gas.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-four-year old former European champ Mischa Bredewold made the biggest move of her career, as the Dutch cyclist dropped the other four riders in breakaway with a little under five miles to go to win the women’s Amstel Gold.

Another 24-year old won the men’s Amstel, as Danish rider Mattias Skjelmose won a sprint to the finish, beating Tadej Pogačar by less than half a wheel’s length.

The great Marianne Vos will be tied to the Visma-Lease a Bike WorldTour team for the rest of her career, or maybe the rest of her life, after signing the team’s second lifetime contract following a similar deal with Wout van Aert.

Evidently, the nut doesn’t fall far from the cycling tree, as 16-year old Enzo Hincapie — yes, the son of George — picked up his bike and ran to the finish line when his bicycle broke just over a mile from the finish of the Paris-Roubaix Juniors, his first race as a member of the US team.

Cycling News makes the case for why Eddy Merckx, aka The Cannibal, was the greatest cyclist of all time.

Cycling Weekly examines whether it’s possible to make a living as a part-time professional American domestic road racer.

Sad news from the UK, where British cycling legend Barry Hoban has died at 85 years old; Hoban won eight stages in the Tour De France and once topped The Cannibal at Gent-Wevelgem during his 19 years as a pro cyclist.

 

Finally…

Tune in, turn on and ride your bike. Now you, too, can have your very own heads-up display, and pretend your bike is an F/A-18 Super Hornet from Top Gun Maverick.

And your next ebike could look like something designed by Elon Musk.

Which ain’t necessarily a good thing.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

13-year old gets max for thrill-killing bike riding man, and brokering peace between fire departments and safety advocates

April 18, 2025 / / Comments Off on 13-year old gets max for thrill-killing bike riding man, and brokering peace between fire departments and safety advocates
Day 108 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A 13-year old Albuquerque boy will spend the next eight years behind bars, after he was sentenced to the maximum penalty for second-degree murder.

The boy pled guilty yesterday for the thrill-kill death of a 63-year old engineer at Sandia National Laboratories last May as the victim was riding his bike to work.

Johnathan Overbay admitted he was driving a stolen car with two other boys, ages 11 and 16, when they intentionally crashed it into the victim while recording it on video, apparently just for the hell of it.

As a minor, the most he could be sentenced to was being imprisoned until he turns 21.

But since he was tried as an adult, his record is unlikely to be sealed, and will follow him for the rest of his life.

He was just 12 at the time of the killing.

Photo from Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels.

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Calbike writes that there’s no reason for firefighters and street safety advocates to be at odds, since we both want the same thing.

There is a growing body of evidence showing how bike lanes and other street design changes can save the lives of cyclists and pedestrians, but there isn’t a lot of data on the impact of bikeways on emergency response times; what little there is appears to show not much difference before and after. (Former Berkeley firefighter, paramedic and EMT Mike) Wilson sees a long-term upside to safer infrastructure for people biking and walking: “If you build the infrastructure in ways that are safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, that infrastructure will get used.” He cited a survey of Berkeley residents that found 27% regularly bike or walk for daily needs, and another 27% would bike or walk if it were safer. To feel safer, 86% of respondents reported wanting concrete-protected bike lanes, and 74% wanted parking-protected bike lanes.

That mode shift would reduce vehicle congestion, which is the biggest access issue for fire and EMS response. “The problem of cars blocking access by fire and EMS equipment, that’s the big impediment when it comes to getting your equipment through,” Wilson said.

Wilson thinks he can get firefighters to talk with, and presumably cooperate with, Calbike and other active transportation advocates about AB 612, which would give fire departments veto power over traffic safety improvements.

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Sacramento claims to be the first US city to use AI-powered cameras on buses to enforce illegal parking in bike lanes .

Which is technically true, since LA’s bus-mounted AI cams, which came first, enforce illegally parked cars in bus lanes, rather than bike lanes. Even though bike riders are allowed to use them.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.   

No bias here. A San Diego letter writer says the city can balance its books by charging bike owners for a bicycle license. Although with $258 million in red ink,  those licenses would have to be pretty damned expensive.

………

Local 

Don’t forget tomorrow’s Streets Are For Everyone bike ride and protest to mark the 3rd anniversary of Andrew Jelmert’s death at the hands of a speeding hit-and-run driver on Griffith Park’s dangerous Crystal Springs Drive — and demand the safety improvements Los Angeles has promised, but failed to deliver.

 

State

Mountain bike legend Gary Fisher’s new startup is ready to introduce a new ultra-lightweight bicycle that can recharge in just 15-minutes using a standard electrical outlet. Although ultra-lightweight in the world of ebikes means it still weighs 30 pounds.

A ten-year old San Bernardino girl is set to graduate from Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa with two associate degrees, saying that for her, learning is “almost as fun as playing outside or riding a bike or whatever.”

Former New York transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan wrote that people typically fight improvements, then fight to keep them. That seems to be what’s happening in San Francisco, where people who fought plans to make the city’s Great Highway its newest car-free park are among its most frequent users.

A 55-year old woman suffered major injuries in Tuolumne County, in what police initially thought was a hit-and-run, but it turned out she lost control on a curve while riding with a group of competitive cyclists.

 

National

Good for her. A 34-year old mom learned to ride a bike for the first time so she could ride with her six-year old daughter.

Utah’s Zion National Park has a 15 mph radar unenforced speed limit, and you have to pull to the side and stop completely to allow shuttle buses to pass.

Carbondale, Colorado-based Revel Bikes is the latest bikemaker to go belly up, notifying dealers they are shutting down operations, as financial pressures force them to relinquish ownership to their bank despite just launching three new models. It happens, unfortunately. I wrote advertising for Alesis, which was forced into bankruptcy just days after successfully launching nine new models at the music industry’s NAMM trade show, when their bank cut off funding.

Missouri State University proves it can be done, reducing bike thefts to just five last semester thanks to a new security system. Of course, they only has 13 bikes stolen the previous semester, but still. 

Apparently, it’s perfectly legal for a cop to slash bicycle and trailer tires if they belong to homeless people, after a San Antonio, Texas police officer walked with a lousy 30-day suspension for doing exactly that, despite the dastardly deed being captured on his body-worn camera.

Still more tariff news, as Wisconsin-based Trek has informed retailers they will be raising their prices immediately due to the increase in import taxes.

A new photo essay reveals what it’s like to ride a bicycle in Minneapolis.

A Bronx website recommends the New York borough’s most beautiful bike lanes, for your next trip to the Big Apple.

Sad news from Florida, where Arnold “Arni” Nashbar, the founder of mail-order bicycle parts retailer Bike Nashbar, died at his Florida home earlier this week; he was 83.

 

International

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vision to “unleash a nation of cyclists” seems to have hit a plateau, with bicycling rates failing to match those heady pre-pandemic days, despite the country’s investment in bikeways.

Here’s one for your bike bucket list, as Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website recommends riding the Wild Atlantic Way along Ireland’s west coast, from the rugged cliffs of Donegal to the pristine beaches of Kerry. Seriously, you had me at “Ireland.”

Here’s one more for your bike bucket list, as Italy has just finished a short rail trail from Monte Mario to the shadow of Rome’s Vatican Dome — or maybe between Circus Maximus and the Colosseum, if you prefer.

The New York Times examines the new campaign to get people in the Netherlands to wear bike helmets, saying the Dutch love their bicycles, but helmets, not so much.

Speaking of the Netherlands, the country’s traffic safety efforts seem to be working, with traffic deaths down 42% since 2000.

Bollywood star Salmon Khan walked a group of children into a sporting goods store, and bought new bicycles for them as someone recorded it on video, allowing the kids to pick out the bikes they wanted.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from the UK, where a 55-year old man was killed competing in an East London velodrome when he collided with another cyclist, and went over his handlebars.

Olympic road race champ Kristen Faulkner gets her gold, courtesy of Cannondale.

 

Finally…

Why run down bike riders with a car when you can just electrocute them? Your next bike lock could work like a bear trap, but hopefully less painful.

And your next bike kit could represent your favorite football, uh, soccer team.

As long as your favorite side is Liverpool.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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