We’ve got a lot of ground to cover today, so grab your coffee and settle in.
And don’t forget, just three more days to nominate someone to win a new bicycle in our first-ever bike giveaway. So take a moment to tell us who you think deserves to win a free bike from Beachbikes.net today!
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For once, the punishment fits the crime.
And not surprisingly, it comes from Orange County, where the DA and courts take traffic crime seriously, especially when it involves the loss of an innocent life.
Neil Storm Stephany, who killed 30-year old Fountain Valley cyclist Shaun Eagleson in a heroin-fueled 2014 Newport Beach hit-and-run, was sentenced Friday to 15-years to life behind bars.
Yes, life.
Despite signing a statement following a 2011 DUI conviction that he could face a murder charge if he killed someone while driving under the influence, Eagleson shot up with heroin before getting behind the wheel with two additional drugs in his system that may have amplified the effects of the illegal narcotic.
Witnesses reported seeing him weaving dangerously along PCH. But before police could respond, he plowed into Eagleson’s bike, leaving him to die in the street as he drove on; Stephany’s lawyer claimed he was too high to comprehend what had happened.
He also says the self-described substance abuse counselor had planned to enter rehab the next day, too late for everyone concerned.
Stephany’s actions, piled atop a long string of priors, left Eagleson’s wife without a husband, and dashed their plans to have a child together after she had long been told she would never be able to. And left his mother grieving a son taken away too soon, and hoping his killer never again sees the light of day.
As the judge put it in handing out his sentence,
Shooting heroin and getting into a car after being through several rehabs and after being warned of the consequences is mind blowing,” the judge said.
“Yes, Mr. Stephany (you) did not set out to kill again that day, but when you act with such disregard for the safety of others, this can happen.
The sad fact is that two lives were ended that day, and two families shattered. One life lost on the side of the road, through no fault of his own, and the other lost behind bars through his own actions, his parents left to grieve a son lost to drugs.
Despite the possible life term, it’s likely that Stephany will get out of prison one day. Whether he will come out a better man is highly debatable.
Thanks to Louis, Edward M. Rubinstein and our anonymous OC source for the heads-up.
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Streetsblog’s Joe Linton provides a full report on Wednesday’s meeting on closing the Northvale Gap in the new Expo Line bike path.
In a case of major irony, two of the proposals would run on Northvale Road, directly in front of the homeowners who fought to keep the bike path from running behind their homes. Although the street has a steep hill that could cause many riders to seek an alternate route.
It’s also ironic that the price tag to complete the .7 mile gap runs between $13 million and $52 million.
It was only six years ago that some cyclists rose up to oppose a $30 million plan to extend the beachfront bike path two miles from Will Rogers State Beach nearly to Malibu, bypassing the narrow section of PCH where riders are currently forced to take the lane in front of often speeding traffic.
At $15 million per mile, it would actually have been cheaper than the least expensive option for closing the Northvale Gap.
The obvious choice, given the hill on Northvale, is to place the bike path next to the train line, precisely where the small group of homeowners fought to prevent it.
But where the $52 million to pay for it will come from is a very good question.
As is whether building the most expensive sub-one-mile of bikeway in the city is the best use for funds that could build many more miles somewhere else.
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Let’s help a guy out. And possibly help ourselves in the process.
Former San Francisco Bicycle Coalition staffer and current Bike the Vote LA volunteer Marc Caswell is conducting a study of the many Peak Hour Lanes throughout the City of Los Angeles to determine if they affect safety.
For my Masters in Urban Planning, I’m trying to determine if LA’s Peak Hour Tow Away Zones (PHTAZ) have an impact on street safety.
We know that the city has implemented these policies with no attention to safety — but simply to move cars. And they automatically preclude a street from the ability to have a bike lane (since the curb lane becomes traffic) — or from having pedestrian bulb-outs. So, they are inherently prohibiting safety improvements.
But — I want to know if these unexpected, temporary, and erratic parking restrictions are creating driver confusion and/or increasing the rates of crashes — for all modes.
When I chose this project, I planned to map the crashes to the streets and assumed that the LADOT would have a map of all these zones — but they don’t. They don’t even have a list. I’ve had to use Google Street View and my own knowledge to find the 211 miles I’ve found so far…
But, now I need to open it up to the rest of the region and crowdsource the information. So, I’ve published the map — and am calling on the public to help me identify the blocks I may have missed.
I have a public Google map here — with all the details and instructions.
Take a look. And if you see one missing, add it to the map.
The results could make a real difference in how our streets look in the future.
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Recently, we featured a guest post from Harv describing his ride through the streets of NELA for some pre-Christmas shopping.
Today he offers his first attempt at a bike-building video, capturing what he calls a typical (for him) project, taking a vintage lugged steel road bike frame and making it into an urban bike to navigate the busy streets of LA.
And here’s the finished product.
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In the USA Network’s new show Colony, the people of Los Angeles travel by bicycle following an occupation by invading aliens. Except for the bad guys, who travel in massive SUVs.
Sounds about right.
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Local
The LACBC’s Eric Bruins explains why Metro needs to dedicate 10% of a possible Measure R sequel to funding active transportation.
The bike-themed Wheelhouse coffee shop is now open in Downtown’s Arts District.
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton will talk parking, CicLAvia, Vision Zero, rail construction, bike lanes, bike-share, speed, safety, trade-offs and more on Sunday morning when he’s interviewed on classic rock station The Sound at 100.3 FM.
A podcast from Streetsblog USA offers a tourist guide on how to visit Los Angeles without a car and where to go if you do.
Calbike VP and former Long Beach bike guru Charlie Gandy discusses the power of asking.
State
Anaheim cyclists are invited to participate in a series of workshops for the city’s draft bicycle master plan starting this Tuesday.
An Oxnard bike rider was wacked in the back with a stick by two men, knocking her off her bike so they could steal her backpack.
California restores funding for a bike and pedestrian path needed to get Castroville students over a dangerous set of train tracks.
Horrible news from San Jose, as a bike rider was killed by a hit-and-run driver who hit him, then backed over him again in what police describe as an intentional act. That should result in at least a second degree murder charge once they find the bastard.
National
It’s six years behind bars for a Seattle man in the drunken death of a bicyclist; the driver admitted to downing four beers and an Adderall before driving. Meanwhile, a Delaware driver gets eight years for the drunken hit-and-run death of a bike rider — with his three kids in the car, no less — after downing as many as seven drinks before getting behind the wheel.
LA will soon get its first pro football team in decades. But how many of them will ride their bikes and drive beat up cars like the pro players in DC?
Savannah GA cyclists turn out to fight a proposed ban on bikes in a park used as a popular riding route.
International
The good news is, bicycling isn’t the world’s dirtiest sport; the bad news is, it seems like almost every sport has a drug problem. Even curling.
A cyclist travels Bolivia’s Death Road and lives to tell the tale.
Life is cheap in Toronto, where the death of a bike rider barely merits a weak caress on the wrist.
Bike commuting rates appear to be dropping in most English cities, with a handful of notable exceptions.
The crowdfunding campaign to buy Britain’s bike-riding Labour Party leader a new bike is now up to £5,745 — the equivalent of nearly $8200 — which is just a tad over the £475 goal. Cycling Weekly looks at five bikes he could buy with that.
A British Good Samaritan ran to help a cyclist who was hit from behind by a van, only to discover he was colleague from her work at a local hospital.
Fat bikes come to the Swiss Alps.
An Arizona man takes his first bike ride in 30 years, a three-day, 87-mile trip through the Champagne region of France just 16 weeks after surgery for prostate cancer.
A new Berlin-based bike registry offers near-impossible to remove titanium micro-tags to identify your bike if it’s stolen.
Great piece from a British woman who left her London flat last July to bike to, and through, the Middle East in order to better understand it. One key point in our refugee-fearing times — she says she hasn’t met a single Muslim with the slightest sympathy for ISIS on her travels.
Finally…
Seriously, don’t body check a security guard just because he asks you to rack your bike. Climb hills and drop your friends the easy way, while still passing your urine test.
And did someone lose a giant plastic orange?
