Day 94 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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She was drinking before the fatal crash.
Or maybe she wasn’t.
Yeva Smilianska testified on the witness stand Thursday that she was busy working, and so wan’t drinking, the night before she admittedly killed 17-year old US National Team cyclist Magnus White outside Boulder, Colorado.
Her former friend and coworker, Nereida “Neddy” Cooper, testified that Smilianska actually had the night off, and was drinking at the bar they both worked at until it closed. Then they went to her home and shared an open bottle of whiskey until they both went to bed around 6:30 am.
Less than six hours later, Smilianska was standing on the side of the road where White lay dying next to his mangled bicycle.
Her lawyer claims Smilianska isn’t responsible for White’s death because she fell asleep behind the wheel before drifting onto the shoulder. Smilianska told the court she was sleepy but sober at the time of the crash, and police at the scene said she didn’t appear to be intoxicated.
She also says she was unemotional at the scene because she “completely turned off” after seeing White lying behind her.
But prosecutors introduced a pair of text messages Smilianska sent hours after the crash, which she said she didn’t remember.
I don’t think so but we have to remember I was drunk as well. To be honest, when you guys were gone I continued to drink and honestly I don’t even remember how I drove myself home. That’s fucked up.
But anyway the drinks you just told me sound like enough to get drunk…
Nah I’m fine. I’m just scared of myself cos I drove SO drunk I don’t even remember it. My whole way home. I was mad and I really fucked up…
Which kinda makes it seem like she was drinking to me, but I’m not on the jury.
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The Los Angeles Street Standards Committee approved the proposed minimum standards for street projects impacted by Measure HLA, which requires that the city build out the previously approved mobility plan when streets are resurfaced.
Which matters because the minimum is probably all we can count on from the city these days.
Advocates questioned the use of shared bus/bike lanes where separate bus lanes and painted bike lanes are called for, as well as the city’s failure to define crosswalks for Pedestrian Enhanced Districts.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times offers a good recap of the debate over whether Measure HLA applies to the Vermont Transit Corridor, explaining both the scope of the Metro project, and the arguments for why HLA does and doesn’t apply to Metro.
Transit advocates argue that the exclusion from the Vermont Avenue project ignores voters’ mandate to follow the mobility plan, which calls for improved bike lanes on that street; Metro and city officials have countered that the measure applied only to the city of Los Angeles — not to the countywide transit agency.
“We don’t think it’s legal,” said Michael Schneider, who heads Streets for All, the advocacy group behind the ballot measure. “HLA is a city measure, and Metro is a county agency, but Vermont is owned by the City of Los Angeles, and the city is working with Metro. They’re permitting it, they’re providing technical expertise, they’re spending staff time and money. This falls under Measure HLA, which requires a bike lane on Vermont.”
However, Metro has threatened to sue if the county agency is required to comply with the city ordinance, arguing that adding bike lanes to the project would delay it five years and require them to acquire additional properties along the route.
Move LA Executive Director Eli Lipmen summed up the whole debate as succinctly as anyone.
Lipmen said that more people will be hurt if Metro does not allow for new protected bike lanes in its plans and hopes there is still time for conversation
“Vermont needs to happen and needs to happen as soon as possible. We cannot delay this project another second,” Lipmen said.
He’s right.
On both counts.
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A crowdfunding campaign for a Bakersfield mother killed by a pickup driver while riding her bike last month has raised a paltry $700 of the relatively modest $5,000 goal.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps going on.
No bias here. The Sausalito city council turned down a half-million dollar grant to install bike lanes on the most ridden road in Marin County, even though it’s on the city’s High Injury Network and in alignment with city policies, deeming the project “too controversial” thanks to the torches and pitchforks of the “change nothing” crowd.
No bias here, either. The governor of Idaho signed a pair of bills redefining roads as “for the primary benefit of motor vehicles,” while restricting where standalone bike and pedestrian projects can be built, and prohibiting projects that would narrow roadways.
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Local
Claremont conditionally approved an ordinance to allow ebikes on the city’s Claremont Hills Wilderness Park trail; it will come back up for a second, final vote on April 22nd.
State
San Diego County Crime Stoppers is pulling out all the stops in the hunt for the driver, and the car, who killed an ebike rider in a Clairemont hit-and-run last weekend. Which is exactly how it should be, and exactly what Los Angeles doesn’t do.
She gets it. The head of the Mineta Transportation Institute asks if the convenience of turning right on red is really worth the risk to bike riders and pedestrians.
San Francisco approved plans for a parking-protected bike lane on Oak Street leading to Golden Gate Park, but will divert riders into a park to make room for turning cars.
National
People For Bikes considers the effects of Trump’s tariffs on the bike industry — not to mention what you’ll pay for your next bike and parts — with import taxes as high as 46% on Asian nations, where most bicycles are made. Best advice is to buy what you can now, before prices go up and availability goes down.
International
Momentum lists the six most bike-friendly North American airports, none of which are LAX. Or any other California airport south of San Francisco.
London’s bicycling and walking commissioner says it would be “extremely unpleasant” to have thousands of bicyclists riding through a newly pedestrianized Oxford Street, but bike riders complain about the “weak and wiggly” alternatives provided for bikes. Although the real news is that London has a bicycling and walking commissioner, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name.
British custom framebuilder Feather Cycles is the latest bike brand to bike the dust, as the owner says he could make more money as a food delivery rider.
Stars and Stripes recommends resources for long-distance bicycling through Europe, most of which apply to us non-service members, too.
Around 80 university students are riding nearly 800 miles to Strasbourg, France to call for European Union support for a Serbian anti-graft project to halt corruption in the Balkan nation, as it seeks membership in the 27-nation bloc.
Competitive Cycling
The teams competing for this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift were announced Thursday, including all 15 WorldTour teams, along with seven teams from the ProTour.
Two-time world and Olympic champ Remco Evenepoel is expected to return to racing at Switzerland’s Tour de Romandie at the end of this month, after suffering multiple fractures, dislocated collarbone and bruised lungs when he was doored by a Belgian postal van driver in December.
You know the Lotto cycling team missed the mark when their new team kit is best described as “an explosion in a paint factory.”
Velo will live stream all the races in the USA CRITS series this spring. Which may the only way you’ll see them, since most of the races are in Georgia, and all are in the South other than a single race in Nebraska.
Finally….
Seriously, who knows the best bikes better than Brit GQ? You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you just take a coffee break.
And that feeling when they raised the speed limit, but you could still get ticket for going too fast.
In a bike race.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
