New report spells out LA’s Vision Zero fail, and bike riders injured by drivers in South LA and Huntington Beach hit-and-runs

April 16, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 106 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

No surprise here.

In a report that really shouldn’t surprise anyone, a new city audit has shown that LA’s Vision Zero program has failed miserably in ending traffic deaths by this year.

A detailed report conducted by consulting company KPMG, along with a separate LADOT analysis from Fehr & Peers, concludes that “the level of enthusiasm at City Hall” for Vision Zero has decreased since the program was launched, according to public radio station and website LAist.

In fact, half of the program’s 56 “actions and strategies” that were supposed to have been completed five years were still unfinished at the start of last year.

And probably still are.

According to LAist,

“Some of the reasons cited include the pandemic, conflicts of personality, lack of total buy-in for implementation, disagreements over how the program should be administered and scaling issues,” the audit said.

Never mind the city council’s failure to adequately fund the program, as well as efforts by councilmembers to block needed projects in their own districts.

Without political support and lack of communication from council members about the program, Vision Zero becomes less effective, the audit said…

The audit also pointed out that the city overly focused on infrastructure and engineering, to the detriment of public education and regular monitoring of the program’s progress.

To put it mildly.

In fact, traffic fatalities jumped 26% in 2024 compared to when then-Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the program sitting outdoors behind his bigass desk.

According to UC Berkeley transportation safety researcher Matthew Raifman, traffic fatalities in Los Angeles have gone up faster than the national average, with more bike and pedestrian deaths than the other four most populated US cities.

And yes, that includes New York, which has over twice the population.

All of which is exactly what we warned about since the inception of Vision Zero in Los Angeles, when the city conducted an extensive round of public meetings to gather input — and proceeded to ignore the findings, coming up with a plan that left nearly all of it out.

Then addressed the program with the previously mentioned lack of funding and a failure of political will, compounded by a lack of buy-in from, and coordination between, the city’s many siloed departments and agencies.

The report calls for a recommitment to Vision Zero in Los Angeles, while offering a long, long list of recommendations to halt injuries and deaths from traffic violence.

But recommitment isn’t necessary. What is necessary is actually committing to it for the first time, because city leaders never did.

The LADOT report from Fehr & Peers includes an updated listing of the city’s High Injury Network, which is now called Priority Intersections and Corridors, for some unknown reason.

At least we know this report was sent directly to Mayor Karen Bass.

Although whether she’ll actually read it and act on it — or whether it will get buried under countless other priorities, from rebuilding after the Palisades Fire to the city’s massive budget shortfall — remains to be determined.

I wouldn’t hold your breath.

But as they say, hope springs eternal.

………

The LAPD is looking for a hit-and-run driver who crashed into a 15-year old boy as he rode his bike to school on a South LA sidewalk last week, in a collision caught on video.

Sebastian Carrillo was riding along Nadeau Street near Croesus Ave when the driver made a right turn directly into him, either turning short into a driveway or intentionally hitting him, as his father says it looks like attempted murder to him.

Carrillo was lucky to escape with a concussion, as well as cuts, bumps and bruises that required stitches. And no, he doesn’t appear to have been wearing a helmet, even though that’s required for anyone under 18.

The suspect vehicle is described as a newer black BMW, possibly a 2025, with front end damage from the crash.

The City of Los Angeles offers a standing $5,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting injuries.

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Huntington Beach police are looking for their own felony hit-and-run driver, after a man in a minivan left someone riding a bicycle lying in the roadway with “significant” injuries last month.

The victim was reportedly struck by a Hispanic man between 20 and 30 years old, while riding near Arnett Drive and Irby Lane around 11 pm on Saturday, March 29th.

The suspect vehicle is described as a possible Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey, metallic gray, silver or blue, with likely damage to the bumper, hood and windshield.

The license plate may have the characters 7, T, A and E, though not necessarily in that order.

Anyone was information was urged to call Huntington Beach Traffic Investigator V. Rattanchandani at 714/536-5231, or anonymously to OC Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

But unlike Los Angeles, Huntington Beach doesn’t offer a standing reward for hit-and-run drivers.

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Today marks the 3rd Anniversary of the hit and run that killed Andrew Jelmert in Griffith Park as he trained for the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.

Yet three years later, Los Angeles has still not started a series of fully funded and shovel-ready safety improvements in the park, including a massive traffic calming project on Crystal Springs Drive where Jelmert was killed by a speeding driver, even though that construction was supposed to start last summer.

Streets Are For Everyone will be hosting a remembrance event, advocacy ride and protest this Saturday to call attention to the dangers on the road, as well as the needless red tape holding up the desperately needed work.

As we’ve said before, cars don’t belong in parks. And we certainly don’t need a roadway used by drivers traveling at highway speeds to bypass traffic on the nearby freeway.

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Good for him.

A New Jersey judge tossed out a defense argument that the blood alcohol content of the hockey-playing Gaudreau brothers contributed to their own deaths.

The judge agreed the issue was moot under New Jersey criminal law, and upheld all of the charges against “allegedly drunken and enraged driver” Sean Higgins, including two counts each of manslaughter and vehicular homicide.

Witnesses to the crash told police that the brothers were riding their bikes single file on the side of the road when Higgins allegedly passed two other vehicles on the right, with two wheels on the grass verge, and slammed into their bikes from behind, killing them both.

Higgins faces a up to 70 years behind bars if he’s convicted on all counts; his lawyers have already rejected a plea of 35 years.

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

Authorities in Windsor, Ontario threw the book at a road-raging bike rider, filing a ten-count indictment against the 41-year old man for allegedly following a car full of people after an argument, damaging three vehicles belonging to them, then threatening them with a weapon when they confronted him.

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Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton spots a new bike lane on Bonnie Brae Street in Westlake, as well as partially-protected bike lanes being installed on Mission Road in Boyle Heights.

 

State

Encinitas bicyclists may be breathing a sigh of relief, after the city’s traffic commissioner proposed replacing the concrete barriers protecting a bike lane on the Coast Highway with a wider, painted bike lane, after 19 recorded bicycle crashes from running into the barriers, including one death.

Police in San Diego are asking for the public’s help in identifying the drivers of two cars who struck a man riding an ebike, and left him in the street to die; they’re looking for a white car, possibly a 2015 to 2023 Dodge Charger with black-and-yellow license plates, and another car that could have been a Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan with a black or tinted glass-topped roof.

Forty Ontario kids got new bikes and helmets courtesy of Los Angeles Kings affiliate hockey team The Ontario Reign, as well as other local businesses and organizations.

Riverside County has jumped on the anti-ebike bandwagon, giving preliminary approval to an ordinance restricting where they can be ridden.

Velo looks at all the new and unreleased gravel bikes from last week’s Sea Otter Classic.

San Raphael is beginning the process of developing a new bike and pedestrian plan to cover the next five to ten years. Let’s just hope they don’t have to go to the voters to force the city to implement it, like a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name. 

 

National

Police in Oregon arrested a third suspect in the death of a Hood River man who was run down trying to stop the suspects from stealing his bicycle.

Life is cheap in Idaho, where a gravel truck driver was sentenced to just 150 days behind bars after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter, for killing a 14-year old boy as he was standing next to his bicycle on the shoulder of the roadway.

A Wisconsin man is riding his bike from Los Angeles to Denver to promote organ donations, as well as meet the two-and-a-half year old girl who received part of his own liver.

The driver who killed a Philadelphia pediatrician as she rode her bike to work at a children’s hospital pled guilty to vehicular homicide, DUI and involuntary manslaughter, among other charges; he swerved into the bike lane she was riding in while driving at twice the legal alcohol limit.

A Georgia state legislator pled guilty to reduced charges after prosecutors dropped multiple DUI charges for hitting a person riding in a bike lane;  he was originally charged with driving under the influence of both alcohol and multiple drugs.

 

International

Momentum explains what a road diet is, and why cities should embrace it — starting with improving safety for all road users.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a careless driver walked without a day behind bars for breaking a woman’s leg in two places as she rode her bike, after the judge sentenced him to community service and took away his license for a whole year.

Students at a Serbian university formed a bicycle inside a heart using their own bodies to show support for Serbian students who rode their bikes to Strasbourg, France to plead for support from European Union leaders for greater freedom in their country,

 

Competitive Cycling

Double Olympic champ Remco Evenepoel is returning to racing this Friday at Belgium’s Brabantse Pijl, after he suffered serious injuries when he was doored by a postal worker while on a December training ride.

Cyclist considers which men’s WorldTour teams are in danger of relegation when the current UCI points cycle comes to a close in a few months.

The spectator who hit Mathieu van der Poel with a water bottle during last week’s Paris-Roubaix said he had too much to drink, he’s really sorry and ashamed, and will take full legal responsibility.

 

Finally…

There may be hope for people who hate presta valves. If at first you do succeed in stealing an ebike from a department store, don’t try, try again.

And if your ex has a new boyfriend, don’t ride your bike over to shoot him. Or maybe don’t shoot him at all, regardless of how you get there.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Support protected bike lanes on PCH, bikemakers spinning from Trump’s tariffs, and two men murdered over stolen bikes

April 15, 2025 / / Comments Off on Support protected bike lanes on PCH, bikemakers spinning from Trump’s tariffs, and two men murdered over stolen bikes
Day 105 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Streets For All is urging you to voice your support for protected bike lanes on Pacific Coast Highway at tonight’s virtual community workshop. Or at least email your support.

Tell Caltrans:
We Need Protected Bike Lanes On PCH!

Caltrans is releasing a draft of the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Studyfor a 60-day public review period. They are hosting two virtual community workshops and will be taking comment via email.

While the current plan includes some protected bike lanes, there will be a gap between Rambla Pacifico Street and Carbon Canyon Road. Tell Caltrans that ALL bike lanes on PCH need to be protected, for the safety of drivers, bikers, and pedestrians.

Virtual Community Work Shops

Wednesday, April 16, from 6 – 8 PM Join here

Monday, May 12, from 1 – 3 PM Join here

Can’t make it to either meeting? Use the button below to send an email comment to Caltrans!

EMAIL PUBLIC COMMENT HERE [BE SURE TO EDIT THE BOTTOM!]

Photo from Caltrans press release.

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Once again, Trump’s tariffs on bicycles, and the industry’s response to them, are the common theme in today’s news.

The Liberty Justice Center, described as a libertarian public-interest firm, has filed the first suit over Trump’s tariffs, arguing he overstepped his authority as president in imposing them.

Indiana’s Guardian Bikes is responding to the new tariffs with $39 million in new financing to re-shore their manufacturing by building the country’s first large-scale framebuilding operation. Although they could be in trouble if our mercurial president cancels them.

Britain’s Starling Cycles is offering a worldwide 5% discount on their handmade steel mountain bikes to partially offset Trump’s 10% tariff on British imports.

Taiwanese bikemaking giant Giant Manufacturing suffered a decline in sales last month after a massive 31% boost in February, as the market appeared to be responding to the threat of tariffs.

………

It’s happened again. And again.

Disputes over stolen bikes sadly turned deadly, taking the lives of two men on opposite sides of the country.

Two Portland men are in custody on murder and theft charges, and police are looking for another person of interest, after a man was killed confronting the suspects as they allegedly tried to steal a bicycle from his car; the victim was described as one of the town’s “sweetest souls.”

And a New York man was fatally stabbed in the stomach, the allegedly stolen bike left lying in the street as he died; a suspect was taken into custody afterwards, however, there’s no word on whether he was the thief or the victim of the theft.

As we’ve said too many times before, no bicycle is worth your life. We all love our bikes, but seriously, just let it go and live to ride another day.

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This one bears repeating if you missed it yesterday.

Air quality in Paris, France improved dramatically as the city shifted from car-choked streets to a bicycle and pedestrian friendly 15-minute city, with nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter dropping by 50% and 55%, respectively, over just the last 20 years.

Which is exactly what can and should happen in Los Angeles, if our elected leaders would stop fighting efforts to improve safety and shift to greener streets.

Unfortunately, that seems to be a very big if.

………

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

No surprise here. Bicyclists taking part in Sunday’s 18th annual Tour de Houston soundly booed the city’s mayor, after he ordered protected bike lanes ripped out and replaced by sharrows.

No bias here. Cornwall, England city leaders reversed course and decided bike riders are welcome at the city’s recycling centers, after one man was told he couldn’t ride his bike up to one, and needed to arrive in a car or truck if he wanted to recycle his trash instead of sending it to the dump.

A Dublin, Ireland city counselor elevated the “I’m a cyclist, but…” cliche to a whole new level, continuing his efforts to block a planned new bike lane after an appeals court overturned a previous ruling blocking it — despite claiming that he rides his bike to work every day, and supports bike lanes “where appropriate in the right areas.” Here’s a clue for him: Bike lanes are appropriate anywhere and everywhere cars are allowed on the streets, if only because they’re not needed anywhere else. 

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Local 

Speaking of PCH, you may be able to resume riding on the highway this summer, as Governor Newsom promises it will reopen by the end of May, after closing in January due to the Palisades Fire.

 

State

About damn time. A bill in the California legislature would create a new class of electric bikes, reclassifying throttle-controlled bikes without pedals as “eMotos,” while clarifying they are intended as offroad vehicles, rather than bicycles.

Gear Junkie offers highlights from last week’s Sea Otter Classic, including a new 3D-printed honeycomb bike helmet.

 

National

Authorities are looking for a missing 16-year old Kansas girl with mental health issues who disappeared after going out for a bike ride.

Massachusetts is ready to launch their ebike rebate program, offering 3,000 vouchers for up to $1,200 off the purchase of an ebike. That’s three times as many vouchers as California will release at the end of this month, in a state with less than one-fifth the population. 

 

International

Momentum recommend’s 30 of the world’s most beautiful bicycle routes, including a handful right here in the good ol’ USA.

An American woman who grew up in the Netherlands is working on her Ph.D by riding her bike 1,200 miles across England to talk to female farmers about the future of food production.

Germany’s Avnson is introducing a folding stretch e-cargo bike, which seems to fold into a very awkward shape reminiscent of Picasso’s cubist period.

Bike tourism is booming on the island of Mallorca off the coast of Spain, up 30% compared to this time last year.

The three young Black men known as the Gauta BMX completed their thousand-mile bike ride from Limpopo to Cape Town, South Africa, on a mission to inspire young people across the country while raising awareness about gender-based violence

The family of late Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins complained that her husband, former Olympic and world champ Rohan Dennis, has shown no remorse for her death, and sees himself as the victim despite accidentally killing her when she fell off his SUV, although Hoskins’ mother said she didn’t think Dennis would intentionally harm her.

 

Competitive Cycling

The great Alberto Contador says he was forced to ride a prettier, but slower bicycle in the Tour de France one year, despite complaining it wasn’t as fast as the previous year’s model.

The Cycling Federation of Belize is attempting to recruit more women cyclists, with only ten female bike racers currently registered in the entire country.

 

Finally…

Your dog — living or stuffed, apparently — can now ride your bike like ET. And forget the bike cam, just get a new drone to follow everywhere you ride.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Ex-cop cops a plea to killing 3 at 150 mph, a consideration of car brain, and 2nd round of CA ebike vouchers if anyone still cares

April 14, 2025 / / Comments Off on Ex-cop cops a plea to killing 3 at 150 mph, a consideration of car brain, and 2nd round of CA ebike vouchers if anyone still cares
Day 104 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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This is who we share the road with.

A former LAPD cop pled guilty to three counts of murder on Friday for a drunken freeway crash that killed three people.

At 150 mph.

Yes, you read that right.

Thirty-four-year old ex-cop Edgar Verduzco copped a plea to killing three people while driving his Chevy Camaro at a whopping 150 miles per hour on the 605 Freeway in Whittier, causing a horrific crash that killed a 19-year old college student and his parents.

He continued on after rear-ending the victims’ car, crashing into a second car and injuring a mother and her infant child.

And yes, he was still an active duty cop at the time of the crash, losing his job sometime after the crash, although personnel regulations prevent the department from explaining why he was fired.

Although we could probably guess.

Verduzco also pled to charges driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving with a 0.08% blood-alcohol content causing injury for the crash, which came just hours after he posted a video with the hashtag #dontdrinkanddrive.

He faces three well-deserved terms of 15 years to life behind bars, along with a separate term of three years; however all four terms will be served concurrently.

Which means he could walk out after just 15 years for taking three innocent lives while driving drunk at 150 mph.

That doesn’t exactly sound like justice to me.

But what the hell do I know?

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

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Just call it Car Brain.

Dr. Grace Peng took a deep dive into the concept of Motonormativity, aka Car Brain, for the LA Voter Newsletter, the concept that cars are so accepted as the norm that the unconscious bias towards them, and the problems they cause, become invisible to most people.

…Indirectly, through air pollution and involuntary inactivity by making active transportation (walking, cycling) dangerous, cars may be the top killer of people in the developed world of all ages. 

Transportation, mainly private automobile use, is the largest contributor of CO2 emissions in Los Angeles County and the largest source of PM2.5 pollution (except in the occasional years when particulates from wildfire smoke affects populated areas of LACO.)

Yet, all this is invisible to most people and especially law and policy makers. In California, it is legal to kill with a car as long as you were not intoxicated, were not speeding, and stayed at the scene of the death. This applies even if a driver kills a cyclist in a crosswalk. 

Peng goes on to note that riding the subway is 30 times safer than driving, while taking the bus is 66 times safer. Transit is so safe, in fact, that a 1% increase in transit use would result in a 2.75% reduction in road deaths.

Yet cars remain the unchallenged default mode of our elected leaders, as well the general public, as anyone who has ever tried to criticize car use on social media can tell you.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing. Because this is mentality driving our entire society these days.

Pun intended.

………

It’s time for another round of California’s deliberately throttled ebike incentive applications.

The California E-Bike Incentive Project in releasing funding for approximately 1,000 vouchers, which represents roughly one percent of the people who tried to apply for the first round of vouchers — most of whom never even got the chance.

And just 0.01% of Californian’s who are financially qualified to apply for the program.

Anyone see the problem there?

Evidently, the California Air Resources Board, which is running things themselves now after shitcanning San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, does. Because now they’re promising that everyone who queues up will get a chance to be entered into a lottery to apply.

Yes, you’ll have to queue up once agin, this time just to have a chance to win a chance to apply for a voucher.

Anyway, it’s all scheduled for April 29th, if anyone who still has the patience to deal with this mess.

Lord knows, I don’t, as much as I could use one.

………

Streets Are For Everyone makes the case for SB 720, a proposal in the state Senate that would authorize automated red light cameras.

The law change red light tickets from a traffic violation to a civil violation, similar to a parking ticket, while also decreasing fines to just $100, with no impact to a driver’s record or insurance rates.

In addition, the bill would eliminate the requirement to clearly identify the operator of the vehicle, instead sending the ticket directly to the registered owner.

Let’s just hope these tickets aren’t as easy to ignore as parking tickets.

Personally, I’m not sold on the idea that the tickets wouldn’t affect a driver’s record, which only enables bad drivers to stay on the roads.

But if it gets more cities to install red light cams, and more drivers to actually obey red lights, it might be worth it.

On the other hand, I’d like to see more being done to keep people from using plexiglass covers over their car’s license plates, which is nothing more than a blatant attempt to avoid responsibility for tolls and traffic violations.

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Speaking of SAFE, they’re asking you to vote for walkable, bikeable streets in the latest round of the LA2050 Grants Challenge.

https://twitter.com/StreetsR4Every1/status/1911197388049682585

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A new petition calls for installing protected bike lanes on Prospect Ave in Redondo Beach.

Bluesky post

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

A Salina, Kansas man faces multiple charges for allegedly using his pickup as a weapon, crossing the centerline to swerve at a bike rider traveling in the opposite direction. Although one of the charges is for violation a restraining order, so he may have known and targeted the victim.

Seriously? A Redditor “sparked outrage” by posting a picture of a driver parked in an ostensibly protected Chicago bike lane. Which is a photo you could replicate in virtually any city in this country with protected bike lanes.

There may be hope for Toronto’s threatened bike lanes after all, after the provincial government says it may be open to compromise in the face of a massive backlash from angry bike riders.

No bias here. A road-raging British driver honked at a man riding his bike with his child on the back, as her passenger yelled at him to “get out of the way and move your fucking bike,” insisting they were rushing to the hospital because the passenger was “bleeding to death” — even though the hospital was less than a mile back in the opposite direction.

Oops. A French driver deliberately slammed his car into what he thought was a bike thief riding his bicycle, only to learn the man on the bike was actually the cop who had just busted the thief, and was riding it back to the owner.

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

Tragic news from Long Island, where a 68-year old Long Beach man died hours after he was struck by a man riding an ebike as he was crossing the street; the rider remained at the scene after the crash.

British tabloids are suitably appalled after Britpop star Harry Styles was spotted momentarily looking down at his phone while riding an ebike sans helmet. Because apparently, everyone should carry a bike helmet everywhere just in case they happen to spontaneously decided to use a dockless bike.

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Local 

UCLA Transportation announced new bike lanes and speed cushions on Westholme Blvd, as they continue to make the bike-friendly campus safer for everyone.

 

State

Encinitas pulled the plug on a proposed uphill bike lane on Birmingham Drive in the face of opposition from local residents, who claimed the street is too dangerous for bikes. Which is oddly the best argument for building it.

Cycling Weekly offers a first look at the latest tech from the Sea Otter Classic.

 

National

People For Bikes reports more people rode bicycles in the US last year than ever before, as 112 million Americans — 35% of the population over the age of three — rode a bike at least once in 2024; juvenile bicycling rates also rose from 49% to 56%.

Anywhere from 500 to 2,000 people were expected to turn out for an eight-year old Portland bike race featuring a 500-lap relay ride around a local traffic circle, with no one keeping track of laps or time, let alone who’s winning; for the first time, organizers got permits to block off neighboring streets.

Singletracks highlights the five best mountain bike trail in Utah, ranging from dry, rocky deserts to high alpine ridges.

A pair of bills in the Texas legislature would allow cities to lower speed limits to 20 mph without conducting expensive traffic studies, and require a three-foot distance to pass someone on a bicycle, or six feet if they’re driving a commercial vehicle.

A Texas bikemaker complains to Fox News that Trump’s tariffs are affecting his ability to source needed parts from China and keep production moving.

The New York Times takes a look at how little Bentonville, Arkansas, with a population just a shade over 41,600, became an epicenter for bicycling, with an assist from the family behind Walmart.

A Michigan man turns his own lifelong passion for bicycling into a campus-wide  movement at Michigan State University.

Travel + Leisure says come to Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park for the waterfalls, and stay for the local wine — and the 87-mile Towpath Trail bikeway along the former Ohio and Erie Canal.

AutoEvolution suggests the people who got screwed out of their purchase of the world’s first hubless ebike may have been the lucky ones; the website says the roughly 150 people who received the $3,349 Reevo ebike from Delaware — or maybe Seattle — based Beno Technologies got “a deathtrap at worst and the worst e-bike in the world at best.”

 

International

Momentum considers ways ebikes can boost your mental and physical health.

European bicyclists made their annual pilgrimage to Dursley, England, home of 19th Century bikemaker Mikael Pedersen, inventor of the unique diamond-frame Pedersen Bike.

A retiring British toy shop owner takes a ride down memory lane with a 97-year old bike catalog, featuring one of the country’s first drop bar racing bikes.

Paris is transforming more than just the streets, as the changes the city has made to encourage walking, transit and bicycling over the past two decades has cut air pollution levels in half.

Three young Black men are nearing the end of their nearly 1,000-mile journey by bike from Limpopo to Cape Town, South Africa, which has inspired the country while calling attention to gender-based violence.

Taiwan safety authorities called for mandatory bike helmet laws to reduce the number of fatal head injuries. Even though studies have shown that any reduction in head injuries from helmet laws likely results more from a reduction in ridership. 

An Aussie researcher discovers that most bike lanes in inner Melbourne have less than 40% tree cover, and getting worse. Although that’s probably better than here in sunny Los Angeles.

Speaking of motonormativity, Brisbane, Australia offers a prime example, after a bridge pathway relied on by bike commuters was shut down without notice, forcing people either into a long detour or back into their cars.

 

Competitive Cycling

French star Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won the Paris-Roubaix Femmes in a solo breakaway on Saturday, while 37-year old Dutch legend Marianne Vos countered world champion Lotte Kopecky to take third.

Mathieu van der Poel won his third consecutive Paris-Roubaix after rival Tadej Pogačar crashed with about 28 miles to go during their dual breakaway.

Despite the victory, van der Poel was furious after he was struck in the face by a water bottle that appeared to have been deliberately thrown from the crowd of spectators about 20 miles from the finish.

Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay survived the cobbles on his first Paris-Roubaix with a strong ride to finish 15th.

British reigning world champ Evie Richards is now the most decorated female short-track cross-country rider in history after back-to-back wins in Brazil.

 

Finally…

Your next tires could inflate themselves. Your next road bike could have a double top tube and cantilevered seat post.

And we may have to deal with feral LA drivers, but we hardly ever get stalked by wild cougars when we ride.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

First shot fired in Vermont Ave HLA battle, NYT argues for sprawl, and lack of interest in LA Neighborhood Council elections

April 11, 2025 / / Comments Off on First shot fired in Vermont Ave HLA battle, NYT argues for sprawl, and lack of interest in LA Neighborhood Council elections
Day 101 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

And so it begins.

After speculating yesterday that officials were virtually daring someone to file suit alleging Metro’s Vermont Avenue bus rapid transit project is violating Measure HLA, someone did.

Longtime bike advocate and Streetsblog Los Angeles editor Joe Linton filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles alleging that the city failed to implement the safety improvements included in the mobility plan, as required by the Healthy Streets LA ordinance passed overwhelmingly by voters last year.

According to a statement Linton provided to Streetsblog,

I live very close to Vermont Avenue, where my family and I walk, bike, and/or take transit nearly every day. Since 2014, I have attended meetings focused on Vermont transit improvements, where I and many other advocates have pressed for complete streets, including bike lanes that have long been part of the city’s plans for Vermont. I was, and still am, excited that L.A. City voters approved Measure HLA, which requires the city to gradually implement its plan for a more transit-friendly, more walkable, and more bikeable Vermont.

In researching my Streetsblog coverage of Measure HLA and the Vermont Transit Corridor project, I became frustrated encountering repeated instances where the city continues to ignore its own plans for a safe and truly multimodal Vermont.

Linton goes on to say he’s not looking for any personal gain, other than recouping his attorney fees.

Rather, he hopes the lawsuit will result in a settlement that will deliver long-delayed safety improvements that will “save lives, foster public health, stem climate-harming emissions, and improve the quality of life for Vermont Avenue’s pedestrians, bus riders, and bicyclists.”

Linton is represented by a pair of attorneys who should be well-known in the Los Angeles area, former state Assemblymember Mike Gatto and longtime Bicycle Advisory Committee member Jonathan Weiss.

Which suggest LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto will have her hands full trying to defend Los Angeles in this matter.

Lord knows I wouldn’t want to go up against either one of them. Let alone both.

You can read the full text of the lawsuit here.

Something tells me it won’t be the last.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

………

A writer for the New York Times Magazine makes the case for more sprawl as the answer to America’s crippling housing shortage.

No, seriously.

According to Conor Dougherty, author of Golden Gates: The Housing Crisis and a Reckoning for the American Dream,

The solution is to build more. That’s not controversial — housing is one of the few remaining areas of bipartisan agreement. The rub, as always, is where and how to get it done. Over the past decade, dozens of cities and states have tried to spur construction by passing laws that aim to make neighborhoods denser: removing single-family zoning rules, reducing permitting times and exempting housing in established neighborhoods from environmental rules.

That shift is important, especially in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles that have little chance of lowering housing costs or reducing their homeless populations without building up. But cities are difficult and expensive places to build because they lack open land. Adding density to already-bustling places is crucial for keeping up with demand and preventing the housing crisis from getting worse. It will not, however, add the millions of new units America needs. The only way to do that is to move out — in other words, to sprawl.

He goes on to examine what has limited growth over the last several decades, from anti-sprawl legislation and stringent zoning requirements, to the pervasive effects of NIMBYism.

Even if all the regulatory restraints were removed tomorrow, developers couldn’t find enough land to satisfy America’s housing needs inside established areas. Consequently, much of the nation’s housing growth has moved to states in the South and Southwest, where a surplus of open land and willingness to sprawl has turned the Sun Belt into a kind of national sponge that sops up housing demand from higher-cost cities. The largest metro areas there have about 20 percent of the nation’s population, but over the past five years they have built 42 percent of the nation’s new single-family homes, according to a recent report by Cullum Clark, an economist at the George W. Bush Institute, a research center in Dallas.

Admittedly, Dougherty makes a strong case.

But what he fails to consider is the concomitant problems of endless sprawl, as we in SoCal know so well, from crushing traffic congestion and smog to declining inner cities and the ever-rising casualties from traffic violence.

Not to mention living, not miles, but hours from the services you rely on, such as healthcare and courts, and continuing to mandate car dependency while killing walkability and bikeability.

Yes, we desperately need more housing. A lot more.

But we need to build it in places and ways that don’t exacerbate all the other problems that destroy our quality of life at the same time.

………

No surprise here.

According to LAist, elections for LA’s Neighborhood Councils are seeing their lowest voter turnout in years.

Part of the problem, aside from the difficulty of casting a ballot, is an almost total lack of local news coverage in today’s Los Angeles, resulting in a large segment of the population who have no idea what Neighborhood Council district they’re in, or that they even exist in the first place.

The other problem is that for every NC like Mid-City West or North Westwood council that’s responsive to and representative of the local community, you have too many overly dominated by one or two strong personalities, or NIMBYs who just say no to everything.

They should be a place we can go to address city problems on a micro, rather than macro, level, and trust those concerns will be heard and acted on. Especially in a city with far too few council districts, where every councilmember represents more than a quarter million people.

Mayor Bass is reportedly considering ways to reform, reinvigorate or replace the Neighborhood Council system.

But while change is needed, I’m not sure she’s earned the trust to lead this process anymore.

………

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

No bias here. A London tabloid says “fuming Brits” have initiated a petition demanding numbered license plates and liability insurance for all bike riders. Even though the last petition demanding the same thing died for lack of interest.

………

Local 

West Hollywood approved a proposal to study the feasibility of installing Class IV protected bike lanes on Beverly Blvd, although without any changes to the current lane design, which would seemingly hamstring the project.

 

State

Calbike examines the 14 ebike bills currently under consideration in the state legislature, including efforts to redefine some ebikes to clean up the blurred lines between electric bicycles and e-motorbikes, which we’ve been calling for here.

The California Coastal Commission approved plans for a bike path connecting Cayucos and Morro Bay along Highway 1 in San Luis Obispo County, filling a gap in the 1,200-mile California Coastal Trail.

Yesterday marked the first day of the four-day Sea Otter Classic, as more than a thousand bike industry brands showed off their wares at the Laguna Seca racetrack

Palo Alto is in the process of updating its 2012 bike plan, including opening up more of the city’s major roadways by installing protected bike lanes.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is understandably protesting plans to allow driverless Waymo autonomous cars on the city’s currently carfree and pedestrianized Market Street. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

 

National

Forbes offers advice on how to stay safe on your next ebiking vacation.

A Grand Junction, Colorado writer examines the push for better bike and pedestrian infrastructure, after voters elected a full slate of city council candidates opposed to a new protected bike lane.

Is nothing sacred? Someone stole a $450 bicycle from a Kroger Coca-Cola display promoting Indiana University’s iconic Little 500.

Madonna is one of us, bundling up for a cold-weather ride through New York’s Central Park.

South Carolina bicyclists protested plans for a new luxury hotel in an area they say is “just a heaven for cycling,” fearing it could harm their safety on the road.

Urbanize questions whether Atlanta is worthy of the new Atlamsterdam moniker, saying it’s not as bike-friendly as the city in the Netherlands, but getting closer. On the other hand, as a nickname, it kinda sucks.

 

International

Momentum offers ten ways bicycles deliver the freedom cars only promise. Although I would swear we’ve seen this one before.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says he’s already lost over four pounds and his head feels clearer just a month into exploring sober curiosity. I’m a week into involuntary sobriety myself, thanks to a new medication that’s incompatible with my occasional beer. 

The Surfrider Foundation is protesting plans to build a two-mile paved bike path along the Puerto Rican coast, arguing it’s being built too close to the shore and fails to adopt a nature-based approach, fearing it could both destroy and be destroyed by the waves.

An English rugby player is biking 220 miles from his home stadium in Batley to London to raise funds to upgrade the stadium’s floodlights, after he was banned for eight matches for his role in a mass brawl. But isn’t mass brawling the whole point of rugby? 

Yet another study, this time from Finland, shows that bike commuting is still the smartest and healthiest way to get to work.

Three young men captured the attention of South Africans by riding their bikes the 1,100 miles from Limpopo to Cape Town.

A new Australian study warns of the dangers of hidden bike flaws that can lead to catastrophic failure of frames or key parts, suggesting changes need to be made at an industry-wide level.

 

Competitive Cycling

Look, I like American cyclist Sepp Kuss as much as anyone outside his own circle of family and friends, but is taking part in an early Basque Country breakaway that ultimately fizzled out really something to celebrate?

On the other hand, Portuguese cyclist João Almeida’s solo breakaway win in the same race is something to celebrate.

 

Finally….

The next time you ride your bike across the border, maybe leave the half-pound of meth and fentanyl hidden in the frame at home. Your next bike could double as a sex toy.

And your next golden raincoat could be made four of waterproof copper.

Yes, there’s a golden opportunity for a sex joke there. And no, I’m not going to make it.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

14-year old boy killed in apparent solo ebike crash in Chino Hills, another teen sharing bike suffered minor injuries

April 10, 2025 / / Comments Off on 14-year old boy killed in apparent solo ebike crash in Chino Hills, another teen sharing bike suffered minor injuries

A teenaged boy was killed in what appears to be a solo ebike crash in Chino Hills Saturday evening, while another suffered minor injuries.

According to a Nixle alert from the San Bernardino Sheriff-Coroner, the kids, who have not been publicly identified, apparently crashed the electric bicycle they were sharing around 5:25 pm at Rock Springs Drive and Oakland Way.

The crash scene appears to be just past a curve at the base of a hill, on a residential street with bike lanes on either side.

A 14-year old boy died after being taken to Pomona Valley Medical Center. The other person, identified only as a juvenile, was treated at the scene and released.

The brief report says neither kid was wearing a bike helmet, even though that’s required for anyone under 18 riding a bicycle in California, electric or otherwise. However, there’s no suggestion that either teen suffered a head injury.

And yes, the report clearly states they were on a bicycle, rather than some other type of ebike.

This was at least the 12th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.

At least four of those victims were riding ebikes.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

LADOT beats HLA deadline but claims everything is exempt, and Metro/LADOT Universal Basic Mobility months late

April 10, 2025 / / Comments Off on LADOT beats HLA deadline but claims everything is exempt, and Metro/LADOT Universal Basic Mobility months late
Day 100 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

The only surprise is they did it.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that LADOT made their Wednesday deadline to post a website listing their progress on Measure HLA, as required by the ordinance passed by the voters a year ago with two-thirds support.

But of all the resurfacing projects on all the streets in LA — which sounds like a line from Casablanca — they only managed to list seven lousy projects.

And surprise, surprise, claim they are all exempt from the measure.

Every last one.

According to Linton,

The website lists just seven projects, all of which LADOT claims do not trigger Measure HLA.

The seven projects are:

The website includes no status, no dates for these seven projects. Most are pending; it appears that just one (Roscoe) has been completed.

What’s not on the map? In late 2024, LADOT claimed that three projects had been triggered by HLA: Hollywood, plus Reseda Boulevard and Manchester Boulevard. Reseda and Manchester are absent. The ballot language states that the website shall include completed projects. It’s not clear why they have been omitted.

It seems clear from the obvious foot-dragging, obfuscation and needless delays that LADOT and city leadership have no intention of complying with Measure HLA, and are looking for any excuse they can find to avoid living up to it.

That includes Metro’s Vermont Ave project, where the official consensus seems to “So sue us, already.”

Let’s hope someone takes them up on it.

………

No surprise here, either.

After a successful Phase 1, Phase 2 of Metro and LADOT’s universal basic mobility program has been beset by seemingly endless and unexplained delays.

The second phase of the Metro Mobility Wallet was supposed to launch last year, providing 2,000 low-income residents with $1,800, divided into two equal payments.

The money is intended to be used for any transportation expenses, from paying for bus passes or rideshare, to buying a bicycle. But more than four months later, no one has been able to access a dime on the preloaded debit cards.

It’s possible that the problems lie with the card provider, who is reportedly having problems with another client, as well.

But even if that’s the case, it raises questions of why — like the California Air Resources Board and a seemingly moribund ebike voucher program — they chose a provider who is unable to service the program, raising obvious questions of judgement.

And if not, the questions becomes just who or what the problem is.

………

The defense attorney for Sean Higgins, the driver accused of killing the hockey-playing Gaudreau brothers as they rode their bikes the night before their sister’s New Jersey wedding, wants to have the charges against his client tossed.

Which is pretty much what every defense attorney everywhere wants.

However, his reasoning is that the grand jury wasn’t told the brothers had been drinking before getting on their bikes, and were legally drunk at the time of the crash.

Even though, unlike driving, biking under the influence is perfectly legal in New Jersey.

And even though their drinking had nothing to do with why Higgins was attempting to pass two other drivers on the right, while speeding and over the legal alcohol limit, with two wheels on the shoulder and two on the grass verge when he slammed into the Gaudreau’s bikes.

But other than that, sure.

………

Caltrans is looking for input on a draft plan to remake LA’s killer highway, to make it a little less, uh, murdery.

RELEASE OF PCH MASTER PLAN FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT AND UPCOMING MEETINGS

Today, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is pleased to announce the release of the draft of the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study for a 60-day public review period ending on June 09, 2025. The draft Study can be viewed online at bit.ly/3YhpEnP

Caltrans invites members of the public, stakeholders, and any interested individuals to review the Draft Study and leave your thoughts in the comment box provided here or via email to 07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com. When providing comments via email, please include the relevant section title, page number, figure, or table number when applicable to help us accurately locate the part of the document you’re commenting on.

The draft document will be formally unveiled for public comment at a meeting at Malibu City Hall today, Wednesday, April 9, from 5:30 – 8:00 PM. The meeting will also cover two PCH pavement rehabilitation projects in the cities of Santa Monica, Los Angeles and Malibu, which aim to extend the pavement service life and improve ride quality for motorists on PCH from Santa Monica to the Los Angeles/Ventura County line. For those who cannot attend the April 9 meeting in person, two virtual meetings are also planned to discuss the two pavement rehabilitation projects and Draft PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study. Community members are invited to participate in these workshops to learn about the latest updates and provide input.

For more information, please visit the project website or email 
07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com 

………

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

The bikelash is real. A protected bike lane appeared to be the decisive issue in the Grand Junction, Colorado city council race, with all the winning candidates campaigning against it, with the exception of one woman who ran unopposed.

Houston’s mayor backtracked on his anti-bike lane agenda in the face of withering opposition from bike riders, promising to install a dedicated, but non-protected bike lane to replace the protected lane he ripped out, rather than the previously threatened promised sharrows.

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

A 65-year old British woman faces charges for the hit-and-run crash that left a two-year old kid with a permanent scar on his head, after crashing into him as he walked with his mother, while she was illegally riding her ebike on a walking path.

………

Local 

Secret Los Angeles considers the ten most scenic bike trails and routes to explore around the city. Not all of which are all that, you know, scenic.

Streets For All urges support for extending the bus lanes on Lincoln Blvd south from the Santa Monica border to near LAX; the transportation PAC also says a proposal to extend the Ballona Creek Bike Path to the creek’s headwaters is getting closer to reality.

It looks like WeHo bike lanes could be getting a touch of Pantone 349C, aka Hollywood Green, after the city council moved a proposal to paint the city’s bike lanes to the consent calendar to likely be approved at a coming meeting.

 

State

Heartbreaking news, as authorities identified the 13-year old boy killed by a driver while riding his bike in Clovis yesterday, after leaving home without permission and without his helmet.

Mountain Bike Action considers the history and legacy of the Sea Otter Classic, calling it America’s greatest mountain bike event. Although fans of the Iron House Classic and Leadville Trail 100 might beg to differ.

Bay Area businesses, including a local bike shop, complain about the “pain and trauma” inflicted by Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs; meanwhile, a Minneapolis bike shop owner is in “panic mode” over the tariff uncertainty.

 

National

People For Bikes says they’re endorsing the Children’s Bill of Rights in Sport because every kid deserves a safe place to ride.

Portland is adding signage and infrastructure improvements to help support the city’s growing bike bus movement.

Washington State is launching a lottery for the state’s $4 million ebike rebate program, with winners getting a $300 voucher towards the purchase of an ebike, and income-eligible households receiving up to $1,200.

A Minnesota bicycle advocacy group is testing an ebike-to-work pilot program, providing five Duluth businesses with ebikes for seven months for their employees to use.

A Loyola of Chicago student recommends bicycling through the city this spring, saying it turned a 45-minute walk into a pleasant 10-minute ride.

 

International

No bias here. That feeling when a far-right British pol complains about spending for bike lanes no one is using, that everyone is using, while a former Top Gear host says he’s not worried about a dangerous roundabout because he has a car, not a child’s toy.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Redlands Bicycle Classic opened with a time trial at Lake Perris yesterday, followed by a road race today, and a circuit race tomorrow, ending with a downtown crit on Sunday.

 

Finally….

Seriously, I’ve got nothing.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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