45-year old bike rider Marcos Perez Domingo died two days after Encinitas collision on New Years Day

February 15, 2025 / / Comments Off on 45-year old bike rider Marcos Perez Domingo died two days after Encinitas collision on New Years Day

As long as we’re doing this tonight, we can add another name to the list.

About a few days ago, I learned that a man had died after he was hit by a driver while riding a bicycle in Encinitas.

According to The Coast News, 45-year old Encinitas resident Marcos Perez Domingo was struck while riding at Encinitas Blvd and Valley Park Way around 6 pm on January 1st.

That address doesn’t seem to exist, however, they may mean Encinitas Blvd and Village Park Way.

Domingo died two days later after being taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to learn any more the crash. And no, I don’t know why the news of Domingo’s death didn’t surface earlier.

This was at least the sixth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in San Diego County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Marcos Perez Domingo and all his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

33-year old man riding bicycle killed by motorist in Valentines Day Santa Ana collision.

February 15, 2025 / / 3 comments

It was a not-so-romantic Valentines Day in Santa Ana, where a 33-year old man was killed riding his bicycle Friday evening.

Which means it’s not likely to be romantic for his loved ones going forward, either.

According to an Instagram post from the Santa Ana Police Department, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding on south on Raitt Street near Myrtle Street when he was struck by a driver around 6:18 pm.

Despite the efforts of Orange County firefighters, he died after being taken to a local hospital.

The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.

Unfortunately, there’s no word on how the crash occurred or who may have been at fault. Or more importantly, how it could have been avoided.

The crash is still under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to call Santa Ana Police Detective K. Briley at 714/245-8215, or the Department’s Traffic Division at 714/245-8200.

This was at least the fifth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Orange County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones. 

Instagram post

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

Highlighting the dangers of fat cars, riding a bike to fight heart disease, and Streets For All hosts Culver City’s Bubba Fish

February 14, 2025 / / One comment
Day 45 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Happy Valentines Day!

Or as they call it back in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown, Winter Bike to Work Day.

So show a little tenderness to the one you love. And when you’re done with your bike, do the same for that special person, too.

Even if that special person is you.

………

Clean Cities introduced a new campaign highlighting the dangers of “carspreading,” as motor vehicles continue to grow wider each year, arguing that bigger cars are making our cities smaller and putting lives at risk.

Images from Clean Cities website.

………

Cycling Weekly says riding a bicycle saved the life of a Black man.

Or maybe two.

Donnie Seals Sr had suffered a heart attack and had three heart surgeries, before he was 50, including a quintuple bypass.

When he saw his son headed down the same path, they set a goal of riding 350 miles from St. Louis to Chicago along the legendary Route 66.

Then did it, when Seals was 69-year old, and his son 35

The story is particularly important since Black people face a higher rate of heart disease and stroke than their white counterparts.

Even Texas agrees, with the Texas Department of Transportation calling for more walking and biking to benefit heart health.

Which means bicycling is a great activity for Black History Month, to help keep you from becoming history yourself.

………

Streets For All posted video of Wednesdays virtual happy hour, featuring new Culver City Councilmember Bubba Fish.

………

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

London city employees faced such relentless hostility and anger from people opposed to “bulldozing” a community to build a Low Traffic Neighborhood, aka Slow Street on this side of the pond, they were given a wellbeing day off for their mental health.

………

Local  

An Altadena man thanks the Red Cross volunteer assisting him, after he barely escaped the Eaton Fire with the gear he needs to train for a 2,700-mile bike touring race from Canada to New Mexico. Which sounds like the annual Tour Divide. 

Longbeachize looks forward to the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway, calling it Long Beach’s largest bicycle infrastructure project.

Catalina is just the latest SoCal city where residents are calling for stricter enforcement for speeding ebike riders. Although once again, the question is whether the problem is people on ped-assist bicycles, or electric motorbikes.

 

State

They get it. A San Luis Obispo weekly says they understand that the city’s road diets and protected bike lanes infuriate some people, but studies show bike lanes improve safety, so maybe they can tolerate them.

That’s more like it. A San Jose website says Sunnyvale residents are frustrated by the lack of protected bike lanes.

A San Francisco writer calls for kicking ebikes out of the city’s bike lanes, saying most are just electric motorcycles, anyway.

 

National

The American Planning Association says Bluesky is the new “it” space for urbanists. Which could be why you’ll find me there, although you can still find me on Twitter, as well. Or whatever the hell Musk is calling it this week.

They get it, too. The Austin, Texas city council voted unanimously to ban parking in bike lanes, saying people on bicycles have been hit by cars because of it. Although those cars probably had drivers. 

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A bike rider was killed at an Indianapolis intersection, after advocates had posted a sign last year saying it already had four nonfatal crashes, along with two more afterwards. Yet the city’s Vision Zero task force just met for the first time in seven months. Yes, seven. Thanks to Ben Fulton for the heads-up. 

 

International

The Guardian rates the best bike lights to see and be seen after dark. Although good lights can help you be seen in the daylight, too. 

Tragic news from Chile, where a 36-year old Indian man was killed by a minibus driver, while trying to beat the world record for the fastest crossing of South America on a standard bicycle.

This is why people keep dying on our streets, part two. Nearly half of police forces in the UK have clocked drivers doing three times the posted 30 mph speed limit.

This is why people keep dying on our streets, part three. A British father and son were lucky to escape with minor injuries when a driver slammed into their bicycle at an intersection where a local resident had mounted a camera because it had so many crashes. And yes, the “dreadful” crash was caught on video.

Life is cheap in Ireland, where a driver was sentenced to a lousy two years for killing an eight-year old boy riding a bicycle, after speeding through a red light, while the kid’s parents justifiably complained about “undue leniency.”

If you build it, they will come. A new report from the Netherlands shows that an extra 350,000 people are bike commuting, thanks to the country’s new bike paths.

Just in time for Valentines Day, a Philippine couple say riding their bikes together makes every bike ride a date.

Residents had raised fears a full seven years earlier about the New Zealand road where an English tourist was killed when a driver plowed into the four-seat bike they were riding, with the crash leaving locals “horrifically sad.”

 

Competitive Cycling

The oldest qualifier for the Race Across America, aka RAAM, returns to California when The 508 marks its 50th anniversary this September.

An automotive website remembers José Meiffret, the first person to reach 127 mph on a bicycle paced by a motor vehicle, all the way back in 1962.

American cycling legend Bobby Julich fondly remembers the racing bikes he held onto following his groundbreaking racing career.

Netflix show Tour de France Unchained will hang up its cleats after this season.

Finally…

Wear something sparkling when you ride, like maybe a diamond or glitter. And just because California is under an atmospheric river, that doesn’t mean a dog can’t enjoy a decent bike ride.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Councilmembers decide not to decide on HLA, public opinion eventually favors bike lanes, and better bike network algorithms

February 13, 2025 / / One comment
Day 44 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

So much for that.

City councilmembers pulled the plug on considering how to implement Measure HLA at Wednesday’s joint session of the Transportation and Public Work committees, after a “fiery” discussion on another matter took up their allotted time.

But they announced proposed amendments to the draft implementation plan, including making projects subject to review and input from the fire and police departments, which is fine as long as they don’t get a veto.

Their input could be useful, as long as the process is how to make projects work, rather than how to water them down. Or kill them.

And let’s not forget that other city’s have invested in compact emergency vehicles to negate the complaint that bike lanes restrict emergency responses. Or that’s LA’s preferred plastic cat-tickler bendie-posts are very easy to drive over with cars, let along bigass firetrucks.

Two other proposed amendments could be more helpful.

First, the draft requires an appeals process for anyone who alleges the city is out of compliance with HLA, but the amendment would make that process optional.

The second would allow the city to expand the scope of grant-funded projects to comply with HLA, as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the funding.

So mark your calendar for February 26th, when the committees are scheduled for their next joint meeting. And hopefully, they’ll actually get around to discussing it this time.

Meanwhile, the city planning department will host a virtual information session on its proposed Standard Elements Table at 6 pm tonight to clarify the minimum features for the differing networks included the city’s Mobility Plan, which are now required under Measure HLA.

………

No surprise here.

A new Irish study shows that public opinion usually shifts in favor of bicycling infrastructure once the benefits become evident, despite initial skepticism and the natural bias towards maintaining the status quo.

And acceptance grows once the bikeways are in place, when people can enjoy the tangible benefits they provide.

The study stresses the importance of highlighting the benefits of active travel initiatives, such as reduced emissions, better air quality and public health, and improving safety for vulnerable road users.

However, it also warns against a paternal attitude in explaining the benefits, which risk alienating some people.

………

Another new study, this time from Switzerland, uses an algorithm to show where to place bike lanes to design an ebike-friendly city, with minimal impact on other travel modes.

The study concludes the best methods design street networks that present the best trade-off between car accessibility and bikeability, providing both lower travel times for motorists and lower perceived bicycle travel times.

………

CicLAvia offers high points along Sunday’s West Adams meets University Park open streets event, including the spcaLA Pet Adoption Center.

Which gives me an excuse to explain that donations made to the national ASPCA — you know, the one with the ostensibly heart-tugging ads showing all those suffering animals — can go anywhere in the country.

So if you want to help dogs, cats and other animals here in Los Angeles — including pets displaced by the recent Palisades, Eaton and Hughes fires — make your donation directly to the spcaLA so your money stays here.

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Local  

Seriously? The Signal reports someone riding an ebike was injured when they were struck by a vehicle in Canyon Country. Except the article doesn’t even mention whether the vehicle even had a driver, while the headline positions it as an ebike collision, as if the rider hit another ebike, or maybe a tree, rather than getting run down by a motorist. 

 

State

More than a billion dollars in climate funds earmarked for California has been blocked, and could be imperiled by Trump’s executive orders.

A student at Point Loma Nazarene University aspires to be a pro cyclist in Europe, but lost a couple years due to PTSD after suffering a fractured pelvis when he was struck by a driver, while another student is aiming to be a professional triathlete.

Officials in the Coachella Valley are discussing how to improve safety on deadly Highway 74, aka the Ortega Highway, after a man was killed in a big rig crash, including the possibility of banning bicycles in certain areas. Which could be illegal, since California law says bikes can only be prohibited on limited access highways when there is an alternate route available — which doesn’t seem to be the case here. 

San Francisco Streetsblog takes a look at an expanded, fully separated and curb-protected two-way bike lane in Alameda.

Our old friend Megan Lynch forwards news that a local Davis bike subscription service is apparently unsubscribing from the college town, after 500 of their bikes showed up for sale on Craigslist.

 

National

The family of a bike-riding Oregon woman killed by a DEA agent, who allegedly ran a stop sign while on a surveillance operation, has filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against the agent and the DEA, after the courts ruled he couldn’t be charged because he was working for the feds. Because sometimes a lawsuit is the only hope for justice when the court system fails the victims.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A Sedona, Arizona nationally known artist and photographer was killed by a driver when he tried to pass a slow moving car on his bicycle, while allegedly riding without lights.

A suburban Chicago writer sings the praises of wintertime fat tire bicycling, describing a “magical experience” riding through the snow.

A Maryland legislator has dropped a demand for a title and registration for ebike riders, but his proposed bill still calls for licensing and insuring e-bicyclists; needless to say, the Bike League says nay.

 

International

Momentum clearly hopes you get the Seinfeld reference, saying “these bicycle campers are real and they are magnificent.”

A writer for Cycling Weekly pens a breakup letter to his dirty bike after giving up on cleaning it himself.

Cycling Weekly also rates the best and most portable bike locks, including their top choice that “literally turns angle grinder-cutting discs to dust,” while weighing just 2.8 pounds.

The British government is providing the equivalent of $364 million in new funding to build 300 miles of new bike lanes and walkways throughout England; however, Cycling Weekly says it’s not new, and it’s not enough.

An Aussie writer travels through history on a pioneering gravel ride into the depths of Cappadocia.

A Canadian writer says Taiwan may be one the world’s best places for a bicycling holiday.

A tourist visiting from the UK was killed, and three others seriously injured, when a driver in New Zealand crashed into a four-person bicycle they had rented less than an hour earlier to tour a winemaking region.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel announced plans to skip this year’s road worlds to focus on winning the mountain bike world title.

Cyclist takes a look behind the curtain at a hi-tech Spanish factory where the new kits for the WorldTour’s Ineos Grenadiers are made.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could come with a detachable bucket. When you’re carrying meth, fentanyl and a wad of funny money on your bike, maybe just don’t.

And why pin down your clickbait slideshow, when you can just recommend riding along “rivers,” “mountain ridges” and “coastal pathways?”

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Parking in LA bus lanes will get driver $300 fines starting Monday, and ride to free verse and iambic pentameter Saturday

February 12, 2025 / / Comments Off on Parking in LA bus lanes will get driver $300 fines starting Monday, and ride to free verse and iambic pentameter Saturday
Day 43 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Start spreading the news.

Streetsblog reports that drivers will now face $293 fines for parking in bus lanes when automated enforcement begins on Monday.

Metro and LADOT have been issuing warnings to drivers for violations captured by bus-mounted cameras for the past three-and-a-half months.

But the free pass is over.

Which will not only speed bus traffic during peak hours, but also improve safety for bike riders, who are allowed to share the bus lanes.

Along as you’re willing to ride with a bus running up on your ass.

Twitter post

………

I knew a man, his brain was so smallHe couldn’t think of nothing at allNot the same as you and meHe doesn’t dig poetryHe’s so unhip, when you say DylanHe thinks you’re talkin’ about Dylan ThomasWhoever he was…

— Paul Simon, A Simple Desultory Philippic

Get ready to ride accompanied by free verse and iambic pentameter when LA River Arts, El BiciCrófono, and Los Angeles Poet Society host a poetry-themed fundraising ride along the LA River bike path this Saturday.

Ride alongside poets from throughout Southern California to heal from the trauma of the Palisades and Eaton fires “through poetry, music, and shared space,” while raising funds for the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy, whose newly acquired LandBack property was damaged in the fires.

………

Local  

Nice. Donate $20 or more to benefit victims of the devastating LA or Altadena wildfires before February 23rd, and you could win a new bicycle from Larkin Cycles.

ActiveSGV will host a bike rodeo in South El Monte this Saturday. Speaking of which, I still want to be a bike rodeo clown, when and if I ever grow up. 

 

State

The eight-day, 525-mile Arthritis Foundation California Coast Classic Bike Tour will mark the 25th year of the San Francisco to Los Angeles ride this September, while also expanding to a second ride in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

A Sunnyvale councilmember is calling for safety improvements along a deadly traffic corridor through the city, where 11 people have been killed by drivers while walking or biking since 2019.

 

National

Travel + Leisure makes their picks for the eight best ebikes, whether you’re using them for travel, or yes, leisure. And they pick the best bike helmets, most of which are currently on sale.

Streetsblog says light electric vehicles, including pedicabs and ped-assist cargo bikes, are the missing ingredient in America’s “minimobility” revolution.

A former Oregon church has become a vibrant way station for bike tourists.

A bill in the Washington legislature would allow cities to convert existing streets to shared streets that give priority to bike riders and pedestrians, while limiting drivers to just 10 mph. Although they’ll need to do more than just post speed limit signs, or drivers could push that 10 mph to 20 or more.

Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico have issued an arrest warrant for a 24-year old man accused of being the hit-and-run driver who killed a longtime local bike advocate last month.

A Colorado woman faces a well-deserved sentence of more than 10 years behind bars for striking a man riding a bicycle, then leaving him to die in the street while she took her five-year old kid to McDonalds.

You’ve got to be kidding. Charges were dropped against an alleged hit-and-run driver who was arrested at the Houston, Texas airport as she was about to board a flight out of state, due to insufficient evidence — even though video of the crash appeared to show her speeding up to hit the victim without braking.

Listen my children and you shall hear, of the non-midnight Massachusetts bike ride to honor Paul Revere on 250th anniversary of his famed ride to warn the redcoats were coming.

A 43-year old DC man will spend the next two-and-a-half years behind bars for chasing down another man and stabbing him in the back, after the victim merely touched the handlebars of the other man’s bikeshare bike; no word on charges for the woman who handed him the knife he used to stab the victim.

A Maryland man has ridden his bicycle every day for nearly 3,000 consecutive days — that’s over eight years without missing a day.

That’s more like it. Plans to replace Richmond, Virginia’s 112-year old Mayo Bridge call for reducing the four lane bridge to just one lane in each direction, with protected bike lanes and wide sidewalks on each side, as well as a 14-foot wide shared use path.

 

International

Momentum says bicycling builds better mental health five ways. Kinda like Wonder Bread, but for strong minds, instead. 

Northern Irish bicycle advocates are calling for an end to a pilot program that allows cab drivers to use bus lanes, which are also used by people on bicycles.

A new Scottish study shows women downhill mountain bikers are twice as likely to be injured as male riders, possibly due to average difference in neck strength and less bone density than men.

That’s more like it, part 2. A change to the UK’s Highway Code could result in drivers being fined the equivalent of more than $6,200 for passing bike riders too closely.

Bratislava, Slovakia is resisting pressure from the country’s transportation ministry to remove curbs from a protected bike path along the Danube River.

Melbourne, Australia bicyclists say it’s long past time for the city to open new bike bridges that were finished months ago, but remain fenced off, despite the dangers they face on the roadways.

 

Competitive Cycling

About damn time. A movie is in the works about two-time Tour de France champ Gino Bartali, who won the race ten years apart — in between, risking his own life to save the lives of countless Jews from the Nazis during WWII by smuggling documents in the frame of his bike.

Peter Sagan’s long-time domestique says Sagan was a natural leader with rockstar charisma, but tempered with a fiery temper.

Former Tour de France champ Egan Bernal capped his comeback from a near-fatal crash by winning both the road and time trial Colombian national championships, three years after he crashed into the back of a stopped bus at full speed on a training ride.

 

Finally…

No, it’s probably not the best idea to kidnap the boy you suspect of stealing your ebike and holding him for ransom.

And California bike riders could someday pledge allegiance to the state of New Denmark.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

American expat with TX & CO ties missing after mountain biking in Spain, and focus on drivers to improve elderly bike safety

February 11, 2025 / / Comments Off on American expat with TX & CO ties missing after mountain biking in Spain, and focus on drivers to improve elderly bike safety
Day 42 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

We mentioned last week that a man from the UK had gone missing while mountain biking in Spain, prompting an all-out search.

Now it turns out that the victim is 50-year old US expat Matt Opperman, who has lived in Spain off-and-and on for several years, after serving as head mechanic for the Australian mountain bike team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Police concluded that Opperman, who worked for Yeti Cycles, set out on his electric mountain bike two weeks ago yesterday, after finding his black van parked in Segura de la Sierra, west of Alicante, Spain.

Family members say the father of two had planned to stay at a cabin and explore local trails, but hasn’t been seen since.

Opperman is a former resident of both Houston, Texas and Longmont, Colorado.

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels.

………

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office held a bike safety seminar for older riders at a Palm Desert senior center, after two men in their 70s were killed while riding their bikes to start the year.

World-renowned golf photographer John Henebry, Jr., 76, was killed by a driver in Rancho Mirage on New Years Day, while 72-year old Patrick Petre died after he was fatally struck by a motorist in Palm Desert just one day later.

Which suggests that if the sheriff’s department really wants to improve safety for older bike riders, maybe they should start with a seminar on how to drive safely around people on bicycles, older or otherwise.

Because it’s not the people riding bikes who are killing people.

………

Streets For All’s latest virtual happy hour will take place tomorrow, featuring newly-elected Culver City Councilmember Bubba Fish.

………

NACTO says there’s a lot of new and revised rules in the latest edition of the organization’s Urban Bikeway Design Guide (click to make graphic mo’ bigger).

You know, in case you need a little light reading.

………

Local  

Transportation For America says the opening of the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station will be a key step in preparing Los Angeles to host a carfree 2028 Olympic Games, along with a planned 28-mile-long — or maybe 22-mile — zero-emissions, non-vehicular “Festive Trail” linking the major venues currently proposed for the 2028 Games.

 

State

Escondido cops wrote 68 traffic tickets in that city’s latest crackdown on violations that can endanger bicyclists and pedestrians, but didn’t break down how many of those tickets went to bike riders, walkers or motorists.

 

National

A writer for conservative The Federalist says New Urbanism is just a left-wing assault on property rights and personal mobility, and the future of America isn’t a “high-density…nightmare,” but “spacious, family-friendly suburbs where liberty thrives.” Sure, let’s go with that.

In a scenario many Los Angeles bike riders can relate to, a Honolulu bike path has “bumps (that) make bike rides feel more like bull rides” due to ridges and cracks in the pavement caused by tree roots.

Seattle is adding a protected bike lane and pedestrian improvements to a short, two-block street segment connecting a pair of waterfront parks, although stopping short of fully pedestrianizing the street.

Even 5th graders get it. An elementary student in the tiny mountain town of Eagle, Colorado — not far from the famed Vail ski resort — calls for a bike path to replace a popular, but dangerous riding route on a local roadway to improve safety and reduce injuries.

Anti-urbanist President Trump is reportedly in talks with New York’s governor to not only get rid of New York City’s successful congestion pricing program, but also rip out the city’s bike lanes, which have improved safety for everyone. Although it’s questionable what authority he has to force their removal on state and local roadways, but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone these days. 

New York takes another dramatic step to slow traffic by installing a “green wave” on a 36-block stretch of Third Ave, where traffic signals that had been timed for vehicles traveling 25 mph have been reset for a 15 mph, allowing bicyclists — not drivers — to travel without stopping.

Even motor-centric Daytona Beach, Florida is getting buffered bike lanes on the state’s coastal highway, as part of a $10 million resurfacing project.

A writer for the University of South Florida takes a look at the bike scene in St. Petersburg.

 

International

Momentum offers a Valentines Day list of “10 enticing ideas to ignite your passion for both cycling and romance.”

Life is cheap in Ireland, where a 62-year old man, who had faced up to ten years behind bars for running a red light and killing an eight-year old boy riding a bicycle, was sentenced to just three years in jail, with one suspended, after the judge considered mitigating factors; the boy’s father says he will never get over the “violence of the impact.”

A new Dutch study shows that promoting bicycling can help create more compact cities, while eliminating bicycle infrastructure increases commuting times and distances and exacerbates traffic congestion, while resulting in a significant reduction in worker welfare.

India’s Supreme Court ruled that cities can’t be required to build protected bike lanes, when the government has trouble providing even basic amenities like housing and hospitals.

 

Competitive Cycling

World road champ Tadej Pogačar may be ready to take on the famed cobbles of the Hell of the North, after he was filmed on a Paris-Roubaix-themed training ride.

 

Finally…

Even bank branches are victims of hit-and-run drivers. Lead a tank into battle on a bicycle, and somehow you’re a laughing stock instead of a hero.

And your next bike could have self-charging shifting and solar-powered brakes.

Okay, maybe not the next one. Or the one after that, even.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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