According to KTLA-5, 19-year old Bryan Hernandez was riding his bike home from work when he was killed early Tuesday morning. His body was found around 2:50 am at the intersection of Eastern Avenue and Peachtree Street in Commerce.
The Tour de France will offer fans more data than ever before, including the ability to track any rider in real time. And not wanting to give the wrong impression, a German shampoo maker will drop its “Doping for hair” slogan just for the Tour.
And speaking of doping, Tour favorite and ex-Tour de France winner Alberto Contador continues to build on his legacy, despite a previous two-year ban for doping.
Thanks in part to support from cyclists, the proposed hit-and-run alert bill sailed through committee in the state legislature by a unanimous vote on Tuesday.
Three Sacramento-area cyclists were injured, one critically, when they were struck by a hit-and-run driver; police were later able to subdue a suspect using a police dog. No offence, but I hope that dog bit the crap out of him.
That Florida cyclist seriously injured after skidding on an alligator carcass faces a long and painful recovery; he suffered a fractured face, broken ribs and clavicle and a collapsed lung when his riding partners ran over him after he hit the pavement.
Toni Adkins joins former LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Senator Robert Hertzberg and Speaker Emeritus John A. Pérez in endorsing Bradford.
And me, too.
Bradford is a bicyclist himself, and has worked in the legislature to improve safety for cyclists. Including sponsoring the first two attempts at passing a stronger version of the new three-foot passing law, which cleared the legislature before being vetoed by Gov. Brown.
It’s early in the game. But Steven Bradford has my unqualified support, having already proven himself to be an effective legislator.
And writer for ESPN says women’s sports are boring and not worth watching; not surprisingly, women’s cyclists disagree. As does anyone who has watched women’s cycling for more than five minutes, or plans to watch the US take on Germany in today’s Women’s World Cup match.
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Local
Ding dong, LaBonge is gone. LA’s most outgoing cheerleader led summer bike rides, but blocked planned bikeways on Lankershim Blvd, as well as 4th and 6th Streets, and was a driving force behind the unsafe and pedestrian-unfriendly design recently adopted for the new Glendale-Hyperion Bridge.
A writer for the Daily Bruin calls for a Westwood bikeshare hub to give students greater access to LA. Although they will still need safe places to ride.
CiclaValley looks at Sunday’s successful LA River Ride. I had planned to be there myself, but my health issues knocked me on my ass all day.
Streetsblog’s Damien Newton talks with Richard McKinnon of Safe Streets Santa Monica about bringing data to street safety discussions. His group mapped 9,600 collisions over a 10-year period, and discovered less than fifty caused by cyclists.
Police bust a bike riding burglar perusing potentially purloin-able property in a subterranean SaMo garage.
State
A San Diego bike rider suffered minor injuries after he’s accused of running a red light in an early morning crash. The question is whether anyone other than the driver who hit him actually saw the victim go through the light. Because no driver would have an incentive to twist the facts, or anything.
A Santa Cruz cyclist really goes the extra mile — or more like a marathon — by riding back and getting his car to drive an injured bike-riding stranger to his home. Then replacing the man’s fluorescent lights and fixing his faucet and electric switches, as well as buying and mounting a new tire for his bike.
A San Francisco cyclist is on a one-woman mission to stop drivers from double parking in bike lanes. Maybe she could come down here next.
Bagdad by the Bay has become Bicyclists by the Bay, to the detriment of those poor, put upon drivers according one SF writer.
Streetsblog asks if a new bike lane in Orinda is the worst bike lane in the world; the lane directs bike riders to go straight between two right turn lanes, almost guaranteeing a high-speed right hook.
Remarkably, two mountain bikers are relatively okay after plunging 150 feet off a Marin County trail in separate incidents nearly seven hours apart, yet somehow landing in the same spot.
A new bill in Congress would require the DOT to research new technology to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Las Vegas is fighting an epidemic of bicycling fatalities, with seven deaths this year compared to just one last year; four of those have been hit-and-runs. The story advises bicyclists to stay safe by walking across crosswalks, but has anyone ever done a study to determine if that really reduces risk?
Nice piece from Wichita KN, as cyclists surprise a riding buddy who suffered a massive stroke with a custom-made three-wheel ‘bent to get him back on the road. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
A Connecticut driver faces a negligent homicide charge after left crossing a cyclist, even though the driver said he never saw him. Although the cops suspect the cyclist may have been speeding, based on nothing but speculation.
A new Delaware bill would encourage transit-friendly, walkable and bikeable economic development.
New Orleans plans to narrow the massive neutral ground — aka median, to everyone else — on the city’s Napoleon Ave to make room for a walking path and bike lanes.
International
Two cyclists are competing against themselves and each other, riding a combined 150,000 miles in an attempt to break the year record.
An Ottawa writer gets it, saying there’s so much more to bike safety than just wearing a helmet. Note to Metro News: When you show a photo of a bike helmet, a caption saying it’s a bike helmet really isn’t necessary.
Burundi’s president may be controversial, but at least he bikes the vote. Even if his wife, soldiers and bodyguards had to walk behind him.
Injuries and fatalities blamed on Japanese bike riders have fallen dramatically, but authorities are cracking down on riders because the ratio of fatalities blamed on bicyclists has gone up. So it’s now illegal to hold an umbrella while you ride.
Instead of trying to make a car with two wheels, why not just build a better Korean e-bike?
As we noted last week, today is the last day to voice your support for the proposed California hit-and-run alert system before Tuesday’s vote in the state senate.
Boyonabike says the death of a bike rider in Friday’s Highland Park hit-and-run is another outrage. As was the cancellation of the road diet that might have saved him; Richard Risemberg blames city council overreach for keeping our streets dangerous.
Meanwhile, Councilmember Gil Cedillo, who was single-handedly responsible for that cancellation, says he shares the outrage over this tragedy, and suggests we have to make better choices.
Thankfully, the Danish cyclist critically injured in a collision while competing in the Race Across America is showing some improvement. Something is seriously wrong when someone can’t come to this country to compete without an American driver putting his life in jeopardy.
And UCI, cycling’s governing body, is seriously out of control as they fine an amateur racer for tweeting his objections about a lack of water and neutral support at the amateur national championships, where several cyclists succumbed to heat stroke.
Maybe someone should fine UCI for risking the safety of their riders.
Hats off to a team of Houston cops riding to New York to raise awareness for leukemia and lymphoma, who stopped along the way to save the life of an Alabama driver after he’d gone off the road.
Vermont’s transportation secretary says the recent deaths of three bike riders should be a catalyst to further safety in order to meet the state’s goal of zero traffic fatalities.
Boston gets a new bike counter. Not that we’re going to get one, but where would we put it if we did?
A Connecticut teen steals a $3,000 bike because he got tired of walking. On the other hand, what kind of idiot who leaves a bike like that unlocked on the porch at two in the morning?
A Bethlehem NY boy gets a new bike as a reward for quick thinking after his is destroyed in a collision where he could have been collateral damage.
International
A new Canadian study says those scary reports that bike riding can cause prostate cancer are probably wrong.
A Canadian recreational cyclist offers tips on bicycling etiquette — including advice to ride in the door zone.
Good article from London’s Telegraph, asking why serious bicycling injuries are increasing while fatalities are going down — and at a rate greater than the rise in ridership.
Someone stole a $100 bike 20 minutes after it was donated to a British charity store. They seem to define racing bike a little oddly, though.
The Times of London looks at Dublin’s plans to ban cars from the city center and convert traffic lanes to segregated bike paths. Riots would break out if anyone suggested that here.
A New Zealand paper says if the country’s planned bikeways do what they’re supposed to, everyone wins.
Had LADOT been allowed to carry out it’s plans, the street would have undergone a road diet. Not just to install bike lanes, but to calm dangerous high-speed traffic.
Now a bike rider is dead, the victim of a speeding hit-and-run driver.
At that speed, there is virtually no chance of survival. Especially since the victim was dragged several hundred feet underneath the car as it sped away.
The second rider wasn’t struck. No word on whether they were riding or walking in the crosswalk.
The victim has not been publicly identified; he is described only as a man in his 20s.
The car’s bumper was left lying in the road, which should make the car easy to identify if it can be found. Police are looking for a small black sedan, possibly a Nissan Altima.
There should be an automatic $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver, based on the hit-and-run reward program recently passed by the city council.
Despite overwhelming support in public meetings, plans for a road diet to improve safety on North Figueroa were halted by Councilmember Gil Cedillo.
Cedillo claimed he was canceling the plans for safety reasons, an argument this morning’s wreck has proven wrong.
Now he has to answer to the victim’s family. And the rest of us.
This is the 34th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 15th in LA County; it’s also the eighth in the City of Los Angeles.
Update: An arrest has been made in the case.
According to KTLA-5, a witness tipped police to the location of the abandoned vehicle, which had biological matter from the victim on it.
That led them to 21-year old Alexis Virto, who was found asleep in bed with his girlfriend at 7:15 am, roughly four hours after the collision.
Virto was still drunk when he was taken into custody. He insisted that he wasn’t the driver; however, he had injuries consistent with a crash, and windshield debris clinging to his hair.
He was booked on suspicion of second-degree murder and felony drunk driving with great bodily injury.
The LA Times reports the victim is a 33-year old man, whose identity is being withheld pending notification of his family.
The Times also says there were 68 collisions that resulted in severe injuries to bicyclists on that stretch of North Figueroa between 2002 and 2012; there were also nine pedestrians killed in that time period.
Why was this person on the street at 3am? Usually only meth-head criminals looking for something to steal are riding around on bikes at that hour.
Update 2: The LA District Attorney’s office has finally identified the victim as Jose Luna, also known as Bizzy.
According to the press release, his alleged killer, Alexis Virto, has been charged with one count each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage causing injury, driving with a .08% blood alcohol content causing injury and hit and run driving resulting in death or serious injury to another person. Not surprisingly, he entered a plea of not guilty to each count.
Virto reported drove the length of two football fields with Luna on the hood of his car.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jose “Bizzy” Luna and his family.
Thanks to everyone who tipped me off to this story. And thanks to fig4all and Terri Moore for their help in IDing the victim.
June 25, 2015 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Metro commits to DTLA bikeshare, US pros swear they’re clean, and $50K reward for fatal hit-and-run
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton says we should let the disparate systems thrive. I wish I could share his optimism; my fear is that multiple, incompatible bikeshare systems will doom them to failure.
And British pro Lizzie Armistead has recovered from her recent collision with finish line photographers, and will be racing in the country’s national championships this weekend.
CiclaValley pens an ode to the 300 volunteers helping to put on Sunday’s LA River Ride. I’m planning to be there, so stop by the main LACBC booth and say hi after your ride.
Malibu’s city council approved the new PCH safety study by a vote of four to zero; as the story notes, the problems will come when it’s time to implement the recommendations over the likely objections of local residents.
Some Redondo Beach residents are declaring the city’s new separated bike lanes, sharrows and reverse-angle parking a failure a whole week after they were officially unveiled.
For reasons that probably only make sense to them, the CHP opposes a statewide hit-and-run alert system; you’re urged to voice your support for the bill before Monday.
The bike rider who was deliberately run down by the UC Santa Barbara shooter has filed a lawsuit against the shooter’s parents, as well as the university, the county and the sheriff’s department.
Now that’s more like it. A Florida man gets 20 years — yes, 20 — for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider.
International
A bike thief with a conscience returns the BMX bike he stole and rebuilt, and offers a heartfelt apology to the parents of the bike’s 11-year old Calgary owner eight months after he died in an accident — and exact one year after he first brought the bike home.
Speaking of Calgary, the local police get it, saying of you’re too drunk to drive, you’re too drunk to ride. But if they had to choose, they’d rather see you drunk on two wheels than behind one.
London mayoral candidates says the priority given to motor vehicles in the city has to end. Any chance we could get them to move here?
A salmon cyclist reportedly yelled at a UK pedestrian to get out of the way before slamming into her and riding off, breaking her leg in five places.
A Portland Baptist church isn’t really calling for a cover-up of the city’s World Naked Bike Ride. Your next e-bike foldie could provide turn-by-turn navigation and warn you about potholes. But not, evidently, naked bike riders. Or Baptists.
The problem with sharrows is that they put you right in the path of drivers.
Impatient, road-raging and brake-checking drivers, at times, as cyclist Michael Schinderling learned out the hard way while riding on Fountain Ave in Los Angeles.
The driver first honks, then repeatedly slams on his brakes in front of him. Even though Schinderling was riding exactly where the sharrows indicate he should be.
The big problem with LA’s cyclist anti-harassment ordinance is that it’s so hard to get proof that a driver deliberately antagonized a rider.
But this looks like an open-and-shut case.
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Caught on video: Those new Redondo Beach separated bike lanes seem to be working well. Except for curb-jumping drivers who can’t seem to figure out why the traffic lane is green and there are so many bikes in it.
Meanwhile, former pro team leader Bjarne Riis chose to ignore doping by his riders. Or more likely, tacitly encouraged it, if not openly.
Cycling Weekly looks at the best bike tans in the peloton. Dutch police evidently feel the best way to get a new collective bargaining agreement is to delay riders in the Tour de France, thus ensuring it won’t besmirch their country again.
The LA-area’s Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) wants your input on a new regional transportation plan.
State Assemblymember Richard Bloom and two Westside councilmembers say Metro is going the wrong way with plans for a bike share system that will be incompatible with systems opening soon in Long Beach and Santa Monica, and as well as systems planned for West Hollywood, UCLA and yes, the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills.
The second Tour de Laemmle will roll on July 19th, as Greg Laemmle invites you to ride with him on all or part of a 125+ mile tour of all the Laemmle Theaters.
State
Santa Ana conducts a reverse road diet, forcing long-time residents out of their homes to make room for an added lane and bike lanes on Warner Ave, as the OC Register says evicted residents will have to be made whole.
A bike rider suffered major injuries in a collision with a pickup in Anaheim on Tuesday; a comment on Bike Forums suggests the victim was riding in the crosswalk over the onramp to the 57. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the link.
Big oops from the Bay, as San Francisco retracts a report that a new bikeway saw a 651% jump in bike traffic; the actual figures ranged from a 12% to 62% increase depending on time of day. You’d think someone would have noticed that those numbers seemed just a tad high before sending out the press release.
Oakland is planning to trade traffic lanes for bike lanes, with twelve road diets proposed for the next three years; needless to say, bike riders are thrilled while motorists are worried. Maybe Oakland could explain how the process works to Santa Ana.
The Marin tech exec who viciously beat a driver who clipped him with his mirror has been found guilty of felony battery and misdemeanor assault; he faces up to four years in prison. Seriously, never resort to violence. Period.
Evidently, the penalty in Texas for riding a bike without lights is to get Tased, then beaten after falling off your bike. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.
Needless to say, Chicago business owners are worried about the loss of parking with the city’s first curb-protected bike lane; Chicagoist asks if it will be good for business. Bikes are usually good for business. And there’s something seriously wrong if your customers won’t walk a few extra feet to do business with you.
A Maine driver is accused of intentionally running down a 10-year old boy on a bike over a dispute with the kid’s mother; unbelievably, the man was released on just $1,000 bail — despite using his car as a weapon to attack a child.
Caught on video: The UK’s “vigilante cyclist” catches a woman texting behind the wheel with two kids in her car. I see something similar almost every time I ride. Like a woman who was steering with her knees as she texted with her kids in the back seat.
Switzerland is telling e-bike riders to slow down, following a rise in single-vehicle bike wrecks due to riders misjudging their speed and stopping times.
India gets its first cycling café in the “Detroit of India” even though the city doesn’t have a single bike lane.
Australian bike riders may soon be allowed to ride on sidewalks in the state of Victoria, but could face on-the-spot fines for using a handheld phone. So what happens if they can’t pay? Are they arrested on the spot?
It takes a bold thief to ride off with a bike cop’s bike as she stood just a few feet away. Caught on video: an Ohio bird defends his territory against a cyclist. Or maybe he just doesn’t like they guy’s taste in bike helmets.
And a new study from the University of Duh confirms that marijuana use impairs driving. Next up, a study confirming that it gives people the munchies, too.
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I need to find a better name for the Morning Links, since I seem to be temporally challenged these days. Chain Links is too cutsie, while Bike News seems a little dull.
