Morning Links: More on Sunday’s CicLAvia, Santa Fe Springs bike rider shot, Dubai site doesn’t get Bono joke

December 9, 2014 / / 6 comments

More on Sunday’s successful South LA CicLAvia.

Across LA offers photos from the day, calling it one of his favorite CicLAvia’s ever. Streetsblog says it was a great day for South LA.

And TJ Knight forwards KCBS-2’s report on the day, featuring his astute and too cute for words daughter around the 1-minute-plus mark.

I’m told turnout may have been a little lighter than previous events, due perhaps to the demands of the holiday season or distance from transit stations. The latter should be improved when the planned Leimert Park station opens on the upcoming Crenshaw Line in a few years.

……..

Local

The Daily News looks at Sunday’s memorial ride for Milt Olin, just one of many fallen riders who should still be with us.

Clear your schedule for Sunday’s Santa Cross at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

The Santa Monica Lookout looks at the local PD’s crackdown on bad roadway behavior that could endanger cyclists and pedestrians.

A 52-year old bike rider is shot to death in Santa Fe Springs.

 

State

Anaheim opens a new state-of-the-art, bike friendly transportation center. Now if they can just provide bike riders with safe, bike friendly routes to get there.

Santa Cruz County considers guidelines to protect cyclists, pedestrians and disabled travelers during road construction projects, something that seems to be universally ignored here in LA, both city and county.

 

National

The National Journal examines the bicycling gender gap, while City Lab says local bike shops could serve women a lot better.

Peloton says if you want to go faster, switch to an oval chain ring.

Santa Fe’s mayor proposes making the city a safer place to ride a bike.

Now here’s a unique argument. Bike cops at Colorado State University are accused of violating the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable search and seizure by stopping cyclists riding without lights or through dismount zones. Although it would seem both are readily apparent without conducting an illegal search.

My Colorado hometown hosts a Winter Bike to Work Day on Wednesday. Seriously, is there any reason we shouldn’t do that right here in sunny LA?

 

International

A British man suffers a serious injury falling from his bike. So naturally, local officials suggest banning bikes from the town center. I wonder that they’d do if someone tripped.

A Brit bike rider is convicted of dangerous cycling for walking his dog while he rode. The cop, who apparently doesn’t get out much, claims he’d never seen anything like it.

France prepares to crack down on rogue bike riders.

Copenhagenize offers daily updates on Viking Biking, proving that it really is possible to ride all winter, even in less tropic climes. Thanks to my bike riding and formerly Iditarod sled dog racing brother Eric for the heads-up.

Evidently, life is cheap Down Under, where fatally dooring an e-bike rider is only worth a lousy $1,200 fine — just under $1000 US.

 

Finally…

Apparently, Norwegian cyclists wear top hats instead of helmets. A Dubai website doesn’t get the joke that Bono was dressed in Hassidic attire when he had his Central Park bike accident, blaming the clothes he wasn’t actually wearing for actually causing the wreck.

And screw the drones, Amazon tries out Gotham bike messengers for one-hour delivery.

……..

Check back a little later today for a guest post featuring some amazing bike collision stats courtesy of longtime LA bike wonk and advocate Dennis Hindman. 

 

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Morning Links: LASD to bar deputy distracted driving before they kill again; successful South LA CicLAvia

December 8, 2014 / / 3 comments

About damn time.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department finally proposes cutting back on onboard computer use by their deputies, which would be illegal for anyone other than emergency workers. And for damn good reason.

Unfortunately, it comes too late for Milt Olin, killed by a deputy who was using his to text with another officer when he drifted into the bike lane Olin was riding in one year ago.

Not too surprisingly, the department’s union agues for the need for deputies to keep using their computers while they drive, rather than rely on the radios police officers have used with relative safety for decades.

Evidently, Olin’s death doesn’t mean any more to them than it did the DA’s office.

……..

South LA merchants wonder if CicLAvia would ruin business for the day; experience shows that businesses that reach out to participants thrive, while those who don’t, don’t.

An anonymous donor contributes $400,000 for future events.

Unfortunately, the Times gets it wrong; CicLAvia is not a bike festival, as they suggest, but an open streets event that welcomes anyone without a motor. On the other hand, KABC-7 gets it right, and has the video to prove it.

……..

Local

Glendale will hold a workshop on Thursday to discuss where to put a bridge connecting Griffith Park and the LA River bike path with the east side of the river.

A bike rider is critically injured in a fall while riding with a group of cyclists on a mountain road above Altadena; he was airlifted to Pasadena for treatment.

CICLE’s next adult bicycling class is scheduled for Sunday, January 18th; that might make the perfect holiday gift for the bike-curious person on your list.

 

State

Two San Francisco cops are convicted of stealing $30,000 from a drug dealer. But it’s okay, one of them planned to use his share to buy a bike.

A San Francisco writer says the new three-foot passing law hasn’t really changed anything.

 

National

Honolulu gets its first cycle track, while residents worry what effect it will have on pedestrians. Maybe they should read this report from People for Bikes.

A Seattle red light camera catches a car and a bike running the light, but only the driver gets a ticket.

The mother of a Boise girl killed while riding her bike in a crosswalk files suit against the local police department for blaming the victim, rather than the operator of the big dangerous machine.

Nice. A new Colorado bike path runs along a reconstructed highway, allowing cyclists to ride 18 miles car-free from Boulder to the Denver area.

A sleepy Iowa town gets rediscovered thanks to a shiny new bridge and bike trail.

A female ex-con New Hampshire bike rider is under arrest for stabbing two women in a road rage incident.

Vermont proposes a statewide bike plan; long past time Caltrans did more than consider it.

Bono wasn’t dressed as a Hassidic Jew when he had his New York bike accident after all; turns out band mate The Edge was just pulling our collective leg.

 

International

Lance says he and his teammates had to cheat if they wanted to compete with other doping teams. Problem is, given the pervasiveness of cheating during the doping era, he’s probably right. And we all believe it’s over, right?

Irish cyclists talk about the problems they face on the road. Sounds like nothing is really different over there than it is here.

The mayor of Paris proposes spending the equivalent of $122 million on bike lanes. And making the city center nearly car-free.

A round-the-world cyclist says Australia is the world’s worst place for bike riders. I’m sure we could nominate a few spots that might compete.

 

Finally…

A Florida man flees by bike after stuffing his pants with stolen meat; I really don’t want to go to his house for dinner. See what it looks like to ride a World Cup cyclocross from a first-person perspective.

And in case you’ve forgotten, this is what it feels like to ride a bike for the first time.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Law Enforcement, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Weekend Links: CicLAvia comes to South LA Sunday; new LAPD video says don’t get killed running a stop sign

December 6, 2014 / / 5 comments

It doesn’t look like I’m going to make Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia, even though it’s shaping up as possibly the best CicLAvia ever.

So go in my place. Have fun.

And say hello to LA’s historic undiscovered country south of the Santa Monica Freeway.

……..

CicLAvia leads KNBC’s list of things to do this weekend. The South LA community looks forward to their big day on LA’s center stage, while Streetsblog looks at what’s on tap all along the route.

The Militant Angeleno offers his must read guide to the South LA CicLAvia route; seriously, no one knows LA’s history and significant cultural sites better. No, really, click on the damn link, already.

And the new Silverlake Shinola hosts a neighborhood block party to celebrate its Grand Opening just as CicLAvia comes to a close; Angel City Brewery will be there to aid your post ride recovery.

……..

If CicLAvia isn’t in your plans, you can show your respect for a fallen rider killed by an LA sheriff’s deputy — who escaped without even the usual slap on the wrist — with Sunday’s Ceremonial Spin with the family of Milt Olin.

……..

The LAPD introduces a new traffic safety campaign.

Do I really need to mention that the first ad blames bike riders for getting themselves killed — even though none of the 11 cyclists killed in the city this year died as a result of running a stop sign?

……..

Local

The response from drivers to the LA Times’ recent story about bike-involved hit-and-runs is to blame the damn cyclists for getting hit. So evidently, they think running away after running down a cyclist is justified? Now that’s scary.

LA’s new bike lanes are just a step in the right direction towards improving traffic congestion and air quality.

Two LA city councilmembers introduce motions to fix those bad roadway patches that can make a bike ride miserable or take a rider down.

 

State

Calbike comes up with an aggressive agenda for next year, including requiring insurance companies to pay for collisions drivers cause, even if they aren’t directly involved.

The OC Weekly misinterprets the Newport Beach safety crackdown as targeting bad bicyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists, even though the plan is to target all violations that endanger vulnerable users, whoever commits them.

 

National

GoPro is trying to, uh, go pro.

The Women’s Road World Cup will come back to the US next year.

People for Bikes reaches one million riders; you’ll find my name somewhere around the first thousand or so.

Tucson cyclists now enjoy over 1,000 miles of bicycling infrastructure. Although I’m not sure bike routes should count.

St. Paul hopes to catch up with its bike friendly twin city with a comprehensive new bike plan.

Tension still exists between cyclists and drivers in bike friendly Chattanooga. Just like everywhere else.

Orlando cyclists illegally stick to the sidewalk because they’re afraid to ride in the street.

 

International

The BBC says Bolivia’s Death Road has become the hot new route for risk-taking mountain bikers; the photos alone are worth the click.

We’re winning, at least overseas. Bikes are creating more jobs in Europe than carmakers in the US.

Even getting filmed kicking another London rider off his bike into rush hour traffic isn’t good enough for more than a warning.

Sometimes expensive mechanical problems aren’t.

At least we only have to worry about LA drivers. Rome’s bike-riding mayor may have to start taking a limo to the office after his life is threatened by mobsters.

A Helsinki study shows what I’ve always suspected — slower speed limits move traffic more efficiently.

An auto-centric Aussie coroner responds to the death of a cyclist by saying bikes should be banned from the motorway he was riding on, rather than suggesting motorists could conceivably drive more safely.

 

Finally…

At 1,500 an hour, the best way to burn off those holiday calories could be fat biking. Bring your Christmas tree home by bike. Ride inside this winter with your own DIY rollers for just $32.

And in case you were wondering, the AP says Kris Kringle should be spelled with a double S, and Chanukah without the C; meanwhile MAMIL makes the Oxford English Dictionary, along with carne asada and Secret Santa.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bike Events, Bikes & the Law, Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: LACBC Open House tonight, Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia, and KPCC talks ghost bikes

December 4, 2014 / / 2 comments

Don’t miss tonight’s LACBC Open House in Downtown LA.

From the LACBC’s email:

LACBC Open House
Thursday, December 4, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
LACBC Headquarters, 1st & Mezzanine floors – 634 S. Spring St., DTLA
FREE for LACBC Members, $10 General Admission
RSVP here

Please join us tomorrow evening to celebrate 2014 and look forward to 2015! You’ll have the opportunity to:

  • learn more about our programs, campaigns, and local chapters,
  • bid adieu to our fearless leader and executive director Jennifer Klausner,
  • honor some special folks who have made a difference in the local bike community,
  • dance to the funky sounds of DJ Starskee Suave,
  • capture the night’s merriment (and shenanigans) in our photo booth,
  • enjoy libations from Angel City Brewery,
  • feast on modern Mexican Cuisine from the Border Grill,
  • marvel at and then eat cake from Sweet Lady Jane,
  • and find out what the new year has in store for you from prognosticator Madame Pamita!

And yes, you’ll see me there, as I say goodbye to a good friend.

……..

Excitement is building for Sunday’s CicLAvia.

USC’s Daily Trojan looks at the first ever South LA CicLAvia. Flying Pigeon will host a feeder ride from Northeast LA. And the Los Angeles Post-Examiner offers a preview of can’t miss sites along the way.

You are going, right?

……..

KPCC’s Sharon McNary offers a great first person look at Danny Gamboa and the Ghost Bike Foundation, responsible for memorializing fallen riders throughout Southern California.

But should we be offended when a company pimps ghost bikes to promote its product?

Uh, yes.

……..

Local

The LACBC reports the discussion over bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd in the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills has been continued to the January 6th city council meeting; Ryan Snyder Associates offers an idea of what the street could look like if local officials get their shit together.

Day One reports Monterey Park is the fourth city to officially adopt the San Gabriel Valley bike plan.

Metro wants your help to determine where bike share stations should go in LA County.

 

State

Calbike offers their monthly round-up of what the state’s leading bike advocacy group is up to.

Newport Beach police are starting a new safety campaign in areas frequented by bike riders, pedestrians and motorcyclists; the department will direct education and enforcement efforts at all road users.

A San Jose writer says the city was right to ban bikes on some downtown sidewalks, even if it is a token gesture.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has hired Noah Budnick, Deputy Director and Chief Policy Officer of New York’s Transportation Alternatives as their new Executive Director. Meanwhile, the LACBC is currently interviewing candidates for their opening, and expects to announce their choice before the month is over.

A San Ramon business park opens its own bike share program for employees.

 

National

Momentum Magazine offers an infographic illustrating five reasons why riding a bike is safe.

Now you can show allegiance to your favorite baseball team while riding your roadie to the stadium. Although that might give supporters of opposing teams one more reason to run you off the road.

A Reno man is finally headed home after circling the globe by bike five times from five directions.

A Denver bike cop monitoring a protest march is in critical condition after he was hit by a car; three other officers were injured.

No bias here. A Minneapolis paper credits the bike lobby with pressuring city officials; after all, it couldn’t just be bike riding city residents contacting the people elected to represent them.

A Boston bike startup plans to unveil a $500 weather- and theft-proof bike next year.

 

International

A new Kickstarter smart bike project promises to add over 100 intelligent features to your bike for just $159.

Subliminal messages in your videos can make you train harder without knowing it.

Bono is recovering in Dublin after going over his handlebars in Central Park last month; U2 band mate The Edge says no one recognized him following the wreck because he was dressed like a Hassidic Jew.

Not surprising. An American expat working in the Netherlands admits to impatience riding her bike behind slow moving tourists.

 

Finally…

Now that’s more like it, as a bike riding California high school football player not only survived a head-on collision, he totaled the car. If you’re riding your bike with a BAC over twice the legal limit, don’t crash into a road construction sign.

And a Spanish man sets a new record by riding 1,739 miles in six days. Without going anywhere.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bike Events, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: The Times says every driver should ride a bike, and cops throw the book at a Hawthorne rider

December 3, 2014 / / One comment
 
Local

Amen, brother. An LA Times Opinion piece says too many police officers see the world from a windshield perspective. And that all cops should spend time on a bike — and all drivers, for that matter.

Now that’s progress. Even though Santa Monica bike ridership is through the roof, bike collisions are down below 2011 levels.

Very busy Bike Walk Glendale offers their December newsletter.

Monterey Park considers the proposed San Gabriel Valley regional bike plan Wednesday night.

A Hawthorne rider must have done something to royally piss off the local cops, as they throw the book at him — including citations for riding too far from the curb, public intoxication, resisting a peace officer and not having a light on his bike. At 11:30 am.

 

State

Pedal Love’s Melissa Balmer asks what gives you the courage to be the change you want to see?

Glendale Assembly Member Mike Gatto reintroduces a bill to create Amber Alert-style notices for serious hit-and-runs, despite Governor Brown’s veto of the same bill this year.

It’s clearly not just an LA problem, as a Bakersfield rider is killed in a hit-and-run.

San Jose bans bikes from downtown sidewalks. Sort of.

Yes, you can hunt by bicycle. Just don’t fall off and shoot yourself. Or someone else.

 

National

Evidently, it takes a real rocket scientist to stop drivers from texting.

Forty-three-year old Chris Horner continues his career, stepping down a level to the US-based Airgas-Safeway team.

Phoenix is just the latest city to get a bike share program before Los Angeles does, following the failure of a previous non-membership-based attempt.

 

International

Cycling Weekly looks at some of the more unusual Kickstarter bike projects.

Vancouver shows how to build a controversial bikeway after a near 20 year effort.

Someone in the UK is deliberately scattering pins on a bike path to cause flat tires and possibly injure riders.

Slate belatedly discovers that Norwegian bike escalator.

A Zambian bike rider is sentenced to six months hard labor for recklessly causing the death of another bicyclist in a head-on bike-on-bike collision. But since when is 53-years old an advanced age?

 

Finally…

You’ve got to be pretty damn drunk to drive your car onto the bike and pedestrian pathway on the Golden Gate Bridge, let alone get it wedged there. Wait, you mean I’m not the only one who gets stuffed up — or worse — when riding a bike?

And that frightening video of a bear chasing a cyclist is probably fake, since the off-road rider in question would have to be doing around 40 mph on level ground to outrun it.

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Thanks to Wesley Reutimann for his generous donation to help support this site.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , ,

Morning Links: The last gasp for Santa Monica Blvd bike lanes; is Gil Cedillo sandbagging his own safety meetings?

December 2, 2014 / / 4 comments

It may be the last gasp for much-needed bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd in the Biking Black Hole.

The LACBC calls on everyone to attend today’s Beverly Hill’s City Council study session on the proposed bike lanes, or if you can’t make it, email councilmembers in support of the bike lanes largely unsupported by the council.

As usual, Better Bike provides an in-depth analysis of both the roadway and city politics, saying it looks like the fix is in. And not in a good way.

I wonder if the city can be sued for failing to consider the needs of all road users as required by Federal law and the state’s requirement for Complete Streets (pdf). Especially if state and/or Federal funds will be used in the planned reconstruction of the streets.

Now that’s one Kickstarter I’d pitch in for.

………

Local

A 27-year old bike rider was shot to death in South Los Angeles early Monday morning. Do we even need to mention what an incredible waste of human life that is?

A writer for City Watch says a less car-dependent Los Angeles is a fantasy. Then again, he’s probably right if we ignore alternatives and focus strictly on driving, even if the cars are driverless.

CD 1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo appears to sandbag his own street design public meetings for Northeast LA by failing to give sufficient public notice for anyone to actually attend.

 

State

A passer-by — or driver-by in this case — comes upon a Cypress bike collision, and is told the rider survived only because he or she wore a helmet — without noting what injuries the victim did or didn’t suffer, and whether a helmet could have actually made a difference. And never mind the inappropriate photo of a happy, helmet-clad kid.

Bicyclists ask for more space on Caltrain cars.

A Modesto letter writer says drivers have an obligation to stick around if they hit someone — although the driver who admitted hitting him on purpose actually did.

 

National

A new book looks at the history of Bicycles in American Highway Planning from 1969 to 1991, when an emphasis on motor vehicles marginalized bike infrastructure and set bicycling back 40 years.

The much loved Urban Velo succumbs to the times and ceases publication.

Bike friendly Portland encourages people to ride to the airport; if that was a viable option here, maybe we wouldn’t have such disastrous traffic tie-ups every holiday. We can dream, can’t we?

Nice. A non-profit organization founded by a Seattle man has given over 2,000 bicycles to survivors of human trafficking around the world.

Cherokee Schill, the Kentucky cyclist arrested for riding her bike in the traffic lane, has filed to run for Lt. Governor of the seemingly bicycling-challenged state.

 

International

We have met the enemy, and he is us. Brit bike scribe Carlton Reid illustrates how our paved roads — and yes, the cars on them — were begot by bicyclists.

Must have thin skinned police in Italy, as the cops who conducted the possibly flawed investigation into the death of cycling legend Marco Pantani threaten to sue the press for besmirching their reputations.

A new emphasis on cycling has helped change Rwanda’s international image.

Now that’s more like it. Singapore commits to becoming a bicycling nation by 2030, but a former official says it can be done in just six years.

 

Finally…

The perfect gift for your ultra-competitive toddler. A Korean company says it’s developed the first truly functional flat-proof bike tire.

And as if drivers didn’t have enough trouble seeing us, Russia’s Tinkoff-Saxo pro team unveils new camo training uniforms.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , ,
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