Paying people to ride a bike works, LA Natural History Museum talks Biking While Black, and where avid cyclists drive

February 7, 2025 / / Comments Off on Paying people to ride a bike works, LA Natural History Museum talks Biking While Black, and where avid cyclists drive
Day 38 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.

Whether it’s diabetes, a migraine, my meds, all of the above or something else, I’ve been so dizzy past two days I can’t keep my eyes open without feeling sick.

Good times.

But thanks to the wonders of modern pharmaceuticals, I should be okay to work now, as long as I keep my laptop at arm’s length and don’t mind a little double vision. Okay, a lot of double vision. 

So let’s give this a shot, and see if I make it through.

Photo by Kaboompics.com from Pexels. 

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Paying people to bike works.

Denver, Colorado conducted “a fascinating psychological experiment” by paying people to ride a bicycle instead of driving.

Not only did they ride more, they kept riding after the experiment ended, offering hope for reducing traffic congestion and fighting climate change.

And demand for the program far exceeded availability, with 1,400 people applying for just 101 slots, demonstrating significant room for growth going forward.

The city invested $442,000 in incentives, paid for through a Climate Protection Fund sales tax approved by voters, while breaking participants into three groups:

  • The first group was paid $1 for every mile they rode, as tracked by an app
  • The second group received subsidies to buy a bike or accessories, plus training and coaching
  • The third group was paid $1 per mile, along with receiving training

According to the Denverite website,

Of the three groups, those paid $1 per mile ended up biking the most number of miles. Those who received both training and $1 per mile experienced the most long-term changes in commuting behavior. The program ran from April through June.

The question is how that compares to the cost of subsidizing motor vehicle use, and the benefit to society and public health of getting people out of their cars.

At the very least, it’s worth trying on a larger and longer basis.

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The Los Angeles Natural History Museum talks with Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, founder of Biking While Black, as part of their online series L.A. on Wheels, “celebrating the diversity of Los Angeles and its people through the lens of creative modes of transportation.”

Thanks to BikeLA Executive Director Eli Akira Kaufman for the heads-up.

………

Apparently, when you’re an avid cyclist, you even drive in the bike lane.

Bluesky post

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

San Mateo is planning to spend as much as two million dollars to rip out the city’s longest bike lanes to restore parking spaces, prioritizing the convenience of drivers over the safety of people riding bicycles — but they promise to replace them with a bicycle boulevard on a nearby street, which one person said amounts to nothing more than a couple signs and bike symbols painted on the pavement.

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

A London writer wants to know how this became the new normal, after he stepped out of a soccer stadium and was hit by a speeding, if apologetic, ebike rider.

No bias here. The BBC reports that a man in his 50s was killed when a car and a bike “hit each other” — even though police arrested three people on suspicion of dangerous driving. Which would kinda suggest the driver hit the bike rider, instead.

You’ve got to be kidding. A British cop testified that he made “light,” “tactical contact” with an ebike shared by two people while driving at 30 mph, “because of the risk they posed to themselves and the public,” resulting in significant injuries to one of the victims. As if it’s possible to make light contact with someone at that speed. Or with a moving car, period. 

An Aussie woman is no closer to getting compensation, two years after she suffered multiple broken bones when she was struck by someone on a Lime bike while she was three months pregnant.

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Local  

CicLAvia made international news, as Momentum says LA’s “open streets party” has huge plans for this year, starting with West Adams meets University Park in two weeks.

 

State

Calbike’s next virtual summit session will discuss “Creative Approaches to Funding Active Transportation Infrastructure” on Thursday, February 20th.

A 27-year old San Diego man suffered a broken leg and pelvis when he reportedly rode his ebike off a sidewalk, and into the path of a truck driver in Otay Mesa.

A local TV station offers tips on bike safety ahead of this weekend’s Tour de Palm Springs.

A Palm Springs bike tour takes you through the city’s celebrity and midcentury neighborhoods, including the Frank Sinatra estate and Elvis Presley’s Honeymoon Hideaway.

Palo Alto is looking for comments on a new 173-page plan calling for safer streets for all road users, starting with slowing down drivers for the benefit of everyone.

After a 50-year career in high tech sales and marketing, a San Jose man started a second act by founding a nonprofit offering life-changing work for people in need of a second chance, refurbishing and donating over 2,000 bicycles and repairing thousands more at its free mobile clinics.

A San Francisco bike shop owner says he’s just trying to keep up with the price increases caused by Trump’s tariffs on Chinese-made bicycles.

 

National

Cycling Weekly considers the eternal question of how, or whether, to warn the others on a group ride about an oncoming car.

A writer for progressive news site the Daily Kos revisits the story of the bike-riding Buffalo Soldiers who demonstrated the viability of bicycles by riding 800 miles from Missouri to Yellowstone and back in 1892.

Ann Arbor, Michigan is using AI-equipped cams mounted on the seat posts of bike commuters to map where bike lanes are needed.

When a pair of Missouri towns refused to build mountain bike trails, a couple bought the land and built the trails themselves.

Police in Richmond, Virginia are trying to identify a mask-wearing man on bicycle who they say has crucial evidence in a cold case murder.

That’s more like it. A Georgia man will spend the next 20 years behind bars after he was sentenced for a road rage attack on a bike rider; he deliberately rammed the victim with his pickup after they had exchanged words, then stood over him yelling and flipping the bird — and even chest bumped a bystander who came over to help.

This is what a hit-and-run that left an Orlando, Florida bike rider with significant injuries looks like. Just be sure it’s something you want to see, because you can’t unsee it afterwards.

 

International

An Ottawa man launched a nonprofit group intended to help people understand invisible brain injuries, 15 years after he was nearly killed when a sleeping driver ran him down, along with four other people riding in a marked bike lane.

A group of bicyclists will be riding the London’s most dangerous streets to protest a new report showing many of the city’s bicycling routes aren’t safe for women to ride after dark.

Violent bikejackings are creating a climate of fear around London’s Regent Park, with many people now avoiding the popular riding spot.

Former Spanish world champ Óscar Freire has been found safe after he went missing for two days following a fight with family members.

A desperate search is underway for an American competitive cyclist working for Yeti Cycles, who disappeared in Spain’s Andalusia region two weeks ago; his empty van was found, suggesting he was riding his ebike when he went missing.

An Italian ultra-cyclist and former Continental level pro plans to ride more than 1,800 miles through the Himalayas, complete with over 31 miles of elevation gain, to call attention to the role that bicycling can play in reducing global warming.

Travel + Leisure says the “blazing fall colors and picturesque villages” of the Japanese island of Kyushu makes it a perfect spot for touring by bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Introducing the new and improved Paris-Roubaix, aka the Hell of the North, now with even more cobbles.

An oblivious driver somehow found themselves on a side road leading directly into an oncoming pro peloton during France’s Étoile de Bessège, causing a crash that made Belgium’s Maxim van Gils abandon the race.

The Vietnamese national cycling team will have to use bicycles loaned to them by Thailand when they compete in the Asian Road Cycling Championships after all their bikes and equipment were destroyed when their truck went up in flames.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can have a genuine 1970s Evel Knievel spec’d bike, even if you can’t jump 14 Greyhound buses with it. Your next ebike could come from the same people who made your childhood little red wagon.

And just another Heisman Trophy-winning NFL quarterback pedaling a pedicab while singing like a Venice gondolier.

https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1887565994920493416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1887565994920493416%7Ctwgr%5E9155e1ff83aa43330994081f4cf75710dca7b3d8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F247sports.com%2Farticle%2Fwatch-jameis-winston-is-giving-fans-a-ride-in-new-orleans-on-a-bike-cab-and-singing-to-them-245341828%2F

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Los Angeles belatedly rolls out draft HLA standards, mountain biking ode to LA, and environmentally unfriendly burn scar ride

February 5, 2025 / / Comments Off on Los Angeles belatedly rolls out draft HLA standards, mountain biking ode to LA, and environmentally unfriendly burn scar ride
Day 36 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Um, okay.

Streetsblog reports that after nine months of slow walking the legally required implementation of Measure HLA — which requires building out the mobility plan when streets get resurfaced — the Los Angeles City Planning Department has finally released its draft HLA Standard Elements Table.

The HLA SET sets out the minimum standards for each tier in the plan, from the Transit Enhanced Network and Pedestrian Enhanced Network, to three tiers of bikeway networks.

Which makes sense, since the bare minimum is all they’ve done so far.

You’ll have your chance to weigh in when the Planning Department hosts a virtual information session on its proposed HLA Standard Elements Table a week from tomorrow, from 6-7 pm.

Click here to register for the session.

Graphic for Healthy Streets LA, as Measure HLA was originally known, from Streets for All website.

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Mountain biker Eliot Jackson celebrates the City of Angels with his Ode To LA, shredding on his bike and guitar.

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Freeride mountain biker Dylan Stark is joined by “freeride legend” Josh Bender as they carve up the burn scar from 2024 Macy Fire near Lake Elsinore.

Never mind the environmental damage to nascent vegetation and animal life as the hillside struggles to recover from the fire damage.

Schmucks.

 

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

A Philadelphia woman tried to get out of paying after her car was towed for parking in a parking protected bike lane by claiming the four-year old bike lane didn’t exist, because the signs and symbols normally denoting a bike lane were missing due to construction. Never mind that it looks pretty damn obvious even without them. 

No bias here. Drivers in Oxford, England complain about Schrödinger’s bike lanes, of which there are simultaneously too many blocking the roads and causing congestion,  and too few, forcing drivers to somehow cope with people legally riding in the traffic lanes.

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

Only in Florida. A 67-year old Lake City man kidnapped a woman at knifepoint after she struck him with her car as he rode his bike in a crosswalk, demanding that she drive him home — then called police and her employer to report the crash when she didn’t return with a promised payment, and refused to have a relationship with him.

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Local  

Once again, an LAPD officer has been arrested for a fatal hit-and-run. Sgt. Carlos Gonzalo Coronel is charged with killing a 19-year old man in Tustin early Saturday morning; he’s currently accused of violating probation for a 2011 DUI conviction after he failed to complete his court ordered community service.

Oops. KCBS-2 says former US National Crit champ Rahsaan Bahati partnered with “Costa Mesa nonprofit” Walk ‘n Rollers after someone stole the trailer with all their gear. Except the group dedicated to teaching kids how to ride their bikes safely is based about 45 miles north in Culver City.

 

State

Calbike is working to get the California MUTCD, aka Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, updated to reflect a new law banning sharrows on streets with speed limits above 30 mph.

San Diego is looking for your input on the draft of its revised Street Design Manual outlining how roads and walkways should be designed to accommodate  all users.

Now you, too, can be a star. Or at least make a cool grand demonstrating your bike skills for a healthcare ad shooting in the Bay Area (scroll down).

A San Francisco website says the city’s new bike plan is full of ideas and goals, but short on details, a departure from the its usual approach of ambitious plans that never get built.

 

National

A clickbait slideshow highlights the top ten US bike towns every bicyclist should visit. None of which is Los Angeles, of course. 

A new Utah bill could eliminate mountain bike and gravel racing in the state by imposing a 20 mph speed limit on all trails and pathways, while also revising the definitions of electric motorcycles, e-scooters, mini-bikes and ebikes, and requiring helmets for anyone under 21.

People riding bikes in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown on the Winter Bike to Work Day will enjoy coffee, food, drinks and giveaways, both morning and afternoon. Which compares favorably to LA’s most recent Bike to Work Day, when bike commuters got squat. 

In today’s best story, a family of Ukrainian refugees are living proof of the power bicycles to change lives, assuming ownership of a Boulder, Colorado bike shop from the people who became their substitute parents and benefactors when they arrived here with nothing, despite never riding a bicycle before the war started.

Once again, someone on a bicycle has been killed by a cop, as a 68-year old Norwalk, Connecticut man riding in a crosswalk was hit and killed by an on-duty police detective in an unmarked car.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would finally legalize parking protected bike lanes, sending it on to the state senate for consideration.

This is why people hate defense lawyers. Attorneys for the man accused of killing the hockey-playing Gaudreau brothers the night before their sister’s New Jersey wedding allege they were both over the legal alcohol limit as they rode their bikes, as if that had anything to do with the driver running them down from behind while passing a slower car on the shoulder of the highway.

 

International

Momentum offers 33 reasons to start bike commuting now. Which isn’t quite as catchy as “I got 99 problems but…”, but it will have to do.

A Nova Scotia city councilmember says the city needs a 2,000 percent increase in bicycling rates if they want to have any hope of meeting their climate goals. On the other hand, at least they have climate goals, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis I could name, which tossed the last mayor’s Green New Deal out the window before the new mayor even came in. 

Not Just Bikes says the reason Canadians can’t bike in the winter and Finns can has nothing to do with weather, and everything to do with safe bicycle infrastructure. Then proceeds to refute their own argument by showing Canadians bicycling in, yes, winter, albeit less comfortably than their Finnish counterparts.

Seriously? A 32-year old British man is facing ten years behind bars for killing a 75-year old Finnish man with an axe as he lay in his bed, bizarrely claiming it was self-defense after the older man tied him down and raped him — yet the press somehow insists on identifying him as a “cyclist” because he arrived in Finland on a bike tour.

Evidently, the wheels of justice turn slowly in India, where a man was acquitted eight years after his arrest for stealing a bike.

An Aussie website says Bangkok is better for bicycling than they expected. Which doesn’t exactly sound like high praise. 

A Melbourne, Australia woman is called a Karen after she lost her temper during a rideout in the Central Business District, getting out of her car to repeatedly point her finger in the faces of the teen bicyclists stopping traffic with their two-wheeled antics.

 

Competitive Cycling

Wout van Aert says it was just meant to be, after failing to overtake Mathieu van der Poel for the ‘cross world championship.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website examines the post pro racing careers of a handful of cycling legends, ranging from The Cannibal to Contador.

Thanks to indoor cycling gear supplied by Zwift and Wahoo, a Congolese cyclist says he’s still able to train, even as armed conflict rages outside, making it too dangerous to ride a bicycle.

 

Finally…

Ethan Hunt has apparently gone rogue and is now raiding Brit bike shops. Your next bike could have two chains — and no, not the rapper. Who says you need to stop pedaling to play the drums?

And surfing, like bicycling, evidently leaves little to the imagination as to the outline of your, um, male appendage.

Assuming you have one, of course.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Civil rights complaint filed against administrator of CA ebike incentive; loophole closed on Chinese imports

February 4, 2025 / / Comments Off on Civil rights complaint filed against administrator of CA ebike incentive; loophole closed on Chinese imports
Day 35 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Nope. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas abruptly resigned, despite winning re-election to a second term in November, citing fears for her personal safety over her support for a sanctuary city.

Or maybe it had something to do with a civil rights complaint filed with the EPA citing close ties to Ed Clancy, head of the San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, which administers the California ebike incentive program.

The complaint alleges the ebike voucher program discriminates against Black people, making their vouchers harder to redeem and charging additional fees, along with a number of other allegations.

Just one more example of the total shitshow this program has devolved into.

The only question here is whether the DOJ investigation Reichert mentions is the state investigation we already knew about, or whether a federal investigation has been launched as well.

Twitter post

Thanks to Malcolm Watson for the heads-up.

………

Despite lifting the new tariffs on Mexico and Canada yesterday, at least temporarily, Trump allowed the additional 10% punitive tariff on goods imported from to go into effect, as we discussed yesterday.

Adding insult to financial injury, he is also reportedly closing the de minimis loophole, which allows goods from China valued below $800 to be shipped directly to the consumer, bypassing import duties and regulatory scrutiny.

That’s what allows Chinese websites such as Shein and Temu to offer such low prices.

It’s also what has allowed low-end Chinese ebikes sold through Amazon and Walmart to flood the market.

So it may not necessarily be a bad thing. Even if it means you could pay more for components.

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

San Mateo, California is taking a page from Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s playbook, with a vote last night to consider ripping out the two-year old Humboldt Street bike lanes because drivers are whining about a loss of parking.

No bias here. An English town is benevolently lifting a ban on bicycles on the city’s main shopping street after four years — but only permitting bicycles restricted to the same hours as delivery trucks, rather than allowing the access other shoppers and employees enjoy.

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Local  

Long Beach will hold a public town hall meeting to discus the city’s Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway Project a week from Thursday.

 

State

Calbike asks, not unreasonably, why there’s still no new bill in the state legislature to legalize Stop As Yield, aka the California Safety Stop, aka the Idaho Stop Law, after two new studies showed it works, improving safety for bicyclists while reducing conflicts at intersections.

The award-winning Arthritis Foundation California Coast Classic Bike Tour is returning for the 25th consecutive year this September.

San Diego continues to fall short of its Vision Zero goals, with 19 people killed by traffic violence in the county last month — including one riding a bicycle that we weren’t previously aware of.

 

National

My bike-friendly Colorado hometown will join other cities across the state in celebrating Valentines Day with a Winter Bike to Work Day, allowing bike riders to spend the day with their one true love — their bicycles. Yet somehow, no one marks the day to encourage people here in Southern California to bike to work in winter, despite having nearly ideal weather for it. Then again, the summer Bike to Work Day has been nearly moribund here post-pandemic, so why should a winter one be any different?

A Florida couple are now both facing charges after investigators concluded the husband lied about being behind the wheel in a deadly hit-and-run that killed an eight-year old girl as she was riding a bicycle, after they discovered he was at work at the time of the crash, and it was the wife who was actually driving.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers the burning question of when should you replace your bicycle.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An Irish parliament member is calling for a public inquiry into the death of a 23-year old man riding a bicycle, after it was revealed the driver of the car had 42 previous convictions, including convictions for traffic violations, theft and possession of heroin, and was was on bail at the time of the crash.

Bicyclists in Melbourne, Australia are complaining about new bike lanes that they say is make things more dangerous, because the concrete dividers do nothing to keep drivers from pulling out into the bike lane, keep taxis stopping in them or prevent pedestrians from using them as sidewalks.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mountain Bike Action says Tom Pidcock And Mathieu Van Der Poel could give Switzerland’s Nino Schurter a run for his money as the world’s top cross-country mountain bike racer. 

Pez Cycling News considers the most shocking moments in cycling history, starting with Lance the doper. And Landis the Mennonite doper, too.

A San Luis Obispo website says a secretive, underground, unsanctioned and arguably illegal bike race known as the SLO Little 500 “puts the fun in dysfunction.”

 

Finally…

Celebrate Black History Month by riding brakeless. That feeling when you race through the muck and mud with a $300,000 Swiss watch on your wrist.

And now you, too, can have a built-in handlebar dashboard on your bike. Because there just aren’t enough ways to suck the fun out of bicycling already.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

New tariffs could mean higher prices on bikes and parts, and accused road-raging Fresno driver runs down 3 bike riders

February 3, 2025 / / Comments Off on New tariffs could mean higher prices on bikes and parts, and accused road-raging Fresno driver runs down 3 bike riders
Day 34 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

If you were thinking about buying a bicycle, ebike or parts for your bike, you should do it now, before Trump’s new tariffs kick in.

Or be prepared to fork over more money for it.

The overwhelming majority of bicycles, ebikes and components come from China, which will now be subject to a new 10% tariff, in addition to the previous tariffs.

Those previous tariffs already amount to 36%, according to Bicycle Retailer, with the 25% punitive tariff imposed by Trump in his first term, and continued by Biden, added to the previously existing 11% protective tariff approved by Congress.

Which means that with the new 10% punitive tariff Trump imposed over the weekend, the rate will be 46% added to the cost of anything coming in from China.

And despite Trump’s repeated insistence that it will be a tax on and paid for by China, the added costs cost are likely to passed on to the consumer, amounting to a nearly 50% tax on bikes and components that will have to be paid by someone.

In other words, you.

It could also result in shortages if importers balk at the higher taxes, after bike shop are just getting back to full inventory after the pandemic-fueled shortages.

So don’t wait.

Peddle yourself down to your favorite local bike shop now. Or you could be the one who pays the higher prices, or find yourself unable to buy anything at all.

Photo by Kaboompics.com via Pexels.

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A 23-year old Fresno man faces three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, accused of intentionally running down two teenaged bike riders, as well as another man on a bicycle.

The incident started when the driver got out of his SUV to fight with a group of bike riders on the side of the road, after they had argued on the street.

But following the brawl, the man allegedly drove onto the sidewalk to purposely hit the two teenagers as they tried to ride away.

He then backed off the sidewalk and continued down the street, before swerving into a bike lane to deliberately ram the older man, who does not appear to have any connection to the other group.

Not surprisingly, the driver was assaulted by a group of bike riders following his vehicular attacks. And no, that doesn’t mean it was justified, just understandable given the circumstances.

He was hospitalized with minor injuries, apparently stemming from the assault following the crashes

All three victims were taken to a local hospital, but there’s no word on their condition.

The article from the Fresno Bee appears to be hidden by a paywall, but I was able to click through to read it. 

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The Transit Guy is on this week’s Bike Talk, along with LA bike lawyer and BikinginLA title sponsor Jim Pocrass.

Bluesky post

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Streets For All will host their monthly virtual happy hour next Wednesday, featuring newly elected Culver City Councilmember Bubba Fish.

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Gravel Bike California returns with a ride across the rolling foothills of Bakersfield with Grizzly Cycles.

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

No bias here. Citing insufficient evidence, Florida prosecutors refused to charge a road raging 76-year old woman for attempting to run down a man riding a bicycle, after the two argued when she cut him off in a roundabout — even though the whole thing was captured on the victim’s bike cam, as well as two security cams. Which makes you wonder just what they would consider sufficient.

He gets it. The CEO of Lime Bikes chides Londoners for complaining about a single dockless bikeshare bike parked on the sidewalk, when there are hundreds of parked cars cluttering the streets.

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Local  

Friends and fellow cops held a 37-mile memorial ride for LAPD officer Paul Jordan, who was killed in an off-duty crash on the 118 Freeway while driving home from work last week; Jordan was a frequent road cyclist who reportedly loved bicycling.

West Hollywood may be jumping the gun just a tad, as the city is planning first and last mile connections to the K Line subway, which could be decades away since it hasn’t yet been approved, let alone funded; it also may never even reach the city, with three routes remaining under consideration, two of which would bypass WeHo all or in part. But I do applaud the effort. 

South El Monte decided not to decide between two options for a 1.4-mile bike and pedestrian project on Tyler Ave/Santa Anita Ave, tabling the motion for two months after councilmembers balked at the loss of 99 parking spaces. Once again prioritizing the convenience of motorists over the safety of people on bicycles.

 

State

Calbike will host a webinar on February 20th to discuss creative approaches to funding active transportation funding. Which is even more important now, in light of the freezing of federal funding. 

Now you, too, can see Santa Barbara by bike through the eyes of a longtime local.

 

National

Sigh. A writer for Streetsblog says Trump is putting safety last and politics first by freezing the federally funded “Road to Zero” program, in an apparent attempt to undo anything approved by the Biden administration, even though the funds were intended to improve traffic safety in both red and blue states.

An automotive website says there is no truth to the rumor that Tesla is building an ebike, revealing it was dreamed up by a freelance industrial designer and the internet ran with it. But would you really want an electric bicycle made by the manufacturer of the “the polarizing and fault-ridden Cybertruck,” anyway?

Once again, an innocent bike rider was collateral damage for a driver fleeing from the cops, this time in Las Vegas, where police were chasing a juvenile and allegedly unlicensed DUI driver accused of sideswiping an SUV at a high rate of speed, then crashing into another SUV before both vehicles spun onto the sidewalk, killing a 41-year old man riding a bicycle; a St. Louis bike rider was also injured by a driver fleeing from the cops.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A middle school teacher in my Colorado hometown was convicted of misdemeanor careless driving for killing a bike-riding 10-year-old boy while driving distracted, after previously pleading guilty to another lousy misdemeanor for deleting texts and tampering with physical evidence. Because evidently, killing a little boy and trying to hide the evidence just isn’t a big enough deal to warrant a single felony count. Or at least that’s the message drivers will take from this kind of chronic undercharging. 

A Cary, Illinois man is suing the local village after he was right hooked by an on-duty cop while riding in the crosswalk with the light.

The kindness and generosity of the bicycle community is on display once again, as West Springfield, Massachusetts’ Bob “The Bike Man” worked with local boy and girl scout troops to package gear to get the city’s homeless people through the worst of the winter; he’s best known for refurbishing bicycles to give to people in need.

Charlottesville, Virginia is the latest city to offer ebike vouchers, distributing $100,000 to 100 residents this year in the form of $1,000 “mini-grants” intended to encourage ebike use; the grants are available to any resident over the age of 18.

A Tampa, Florida woman marked her 50th birthday by riding 50 three-mile laps around a local island in honor of her father, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, while raising funds  fight to Parkinson’s through Team Fox and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

 

International

An Ontario bike rider responds to the provincial plan to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes by saying “I don’t want to be in this province anymore.” Which is a feeling a lot of us can relate to when government actions — or inaction — threaten our safety.

A new Toronto study shows that a full ten percent of the city’s bicycle traffic consists of delivery riders delivering food.

Cycling Weekly takes up the burning question of why bike lanes in the US and Great Britain end abruptly without connecting to other bikeways . Which pretty much describes most of the bike lanes in the LA area. 

The Guardian’s Laura Laker recommends the best panniers and handlebar bags.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a delivery driver was fined the equivalent of a lousy $1,200 and banned from driving for an equally lousy 12 months, after leaving a woman with a broken neck when he cut across the bike the victim was riding in

Bicyclists in Chennai, India — formerly known as Madras — call for more bike lanes and better infrastructure, and government action to “sensitize” drivers of heavy vehicles to traffic safety. Showing once again that we all face the same issues, regardless of where you ride.

Le Monde Diplomatique reports that Taiwan’s bicycle industry relies on migrant labour and “dodgy employment practices.” But you’ll have to find a way around their paywall if you want to read more than the first few paragraphs.

 

Competitive Cycling

Once again, a promising young cyclist has been killed, this time in the UK, where 18-year old national junior champ Aidan Worden was struck by a driver while on a training ride in Lancashire, England.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says maybe we need more unpredictability in pro cycling, and really don’t want the top riders to compete against each other more often.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you need new-age bike accessories, apparently so you can burn sandalwood incense while you meditate while riding. Evidently, French bike riders can fly over the heads of horses and pedestrians.

And please dismount before breaking your neck riding down the stairs to the Bike Hub at the bottom.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Driver kills ebike rider in La Habra crash, 2nd victim critically injured; victims may be current & former La Habra High students

February 1, 2025 / / 9 comments

KCBS-2 reported Monday that a pedestrian was killed by a driver in La Habra, with another person critically injured.

It took until Saturday night to discover that the victims were apparently sharing an ebike.

According to On Scene TV, the victims, identified only as a former high school student and a current student at La Habra High School, were struck near Hacienda Blvd & Russell Street sometime before 8:46 pm. Although from the minimal description, it’s unclear whether they had both had attended La Habra High.

The site reports they were riding north on Hacienda when they were hit from behind by the driver, with enough force to throw both victims into the windshield. It also left the ped-assist ebike embedded deeply in the sedan’s grill, as shown in raw video from the scene, which suggests the driver may have been traveling at a high rate of speed.

The former student died at the scene, while the other victim was rushed to a trauma center in critical condition.

The driver remained at the scene, if only because the car appears to be underivable; it’s unknown if drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.

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

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

CicLAvia unveils 2025 schedule, starting next month; Waymo says it’s safer than human drivers, which isn’t saying much

January 31, 2025 / / Comments Off on CicLAvia unveils 2025 schedule, starting next month; Waymo says it’s safer than human drivers, which isn’t saying much
Day 31 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 
……..

CicLAvia announced the dates for eight open streets events for the coming year, starting with the West Adams meets University Park route on February 23rd.

Highlights include Koreatown meets Hollywood in April, Historic South Central meets Watts in June, a return to the popular Culver City meets Venice route in August, and a comeback to last year’s Melrose CicLAvia in December.

We’ll also see CicLAminis — shorter routes better suited to walking than bicycling — in Pico Union and San Pedro in May and September, respectively.

Along with the annual return of the ever-popular Heart of LA in October, just in time for another Dodgers playoff run.

Just saying.

………

Maybe it’s no surprise that driverless vehicles are safer than the kind with an actual human behind the wheel.

But that doesn’t mean you should let down your guard around them.

According to the Los Angeles Times,

Based on data collected by Waymo, their driverless vehicles had 81% fewer airbag deployment crashes, 78% fewer injury-causing crashes and 62% fewer police-reported crashes than traditional vehicles driving the same distance. Waymo vehicles rely on cameras, sensors and a type of laser radar called lidar to operate autonomously…

A Waymo taxi collided with a cyclist in San Francisco last year and another vehicle crashed into a pole in Phoenix in May. Customers have reported various glitches on social media, including one Reddit user who posted a video of a Waymo driving the wrong direction into oncoming traffic.

And that’s not counting the guy who filmed himself locked inside a Waymo cab as it drove in circles for five minutes, before it finally straightened out and took him to his destination. Let alone the well-documented problems with Tesla and Cruise.

So maybe, just maybe you might be safer sharing the road with a motor vehicle if there’s no one behind the wheel.

But don’t count on it just yet.

………

Local  

Nonprofit organization All Kids Bike is helping build the next generation of bicyclists by teaching Long Beach kindergarten students how to ride a bike.

 

State

She gets it. A San Diego high school student says she’s learned how dangerous bicycling can be, despite growing up riding bikes with her adventure cycling father, and as an ambassador with the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, she’s working to ensure her fellow students stay safe on their ebikes.

Bay Area mountain bikers finally got the okay to ride 6.6 miles of trails on 2,579-foot Mount Tamalpais overlooking San Francisco after six years of community outreach and lobbying, only to be stopped in their singletracks by a court order.

 

National

Forbes examines the Bike League’s latest list of Bicycle Friendly Communities.

Police in Boulder, Colorado have finally arrested a suspect in the death of a 19-year old woman, 200 days after her body was found stuffed into a bike trailer and left on the street in the hot summer sun, delaying identification of the victim.

Strong Towns podcast The Bottom-Up Revolution talks with a San Antonio, Texas mom and bike advocate about her path to advocacy and her work improving the city’s bike infrastructure; the city unanimously approved a 25-year bike plan yesterday that could cost up to $8 billion to completely build out. But as we’ve learned the hard way in LA, it’s one thing to approve an ambitious bike plan, but another to actually fund it and approve the work.

A Minneapolis bicyclist explains what you can to keep your bike from being stolen. And yes, he recommends registering your bike.

An Indianapolis paper offers a photo essay of the city’s bike messengers at work despite the frigid temperatures.

This is the cost of doing nothing. An Ohio mayor brings back the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee after it was left unstaffed for several years, in response to the death of a nine-year old boy killed by a driver while riding his bicycle. Although just maybe the kid might still be here if they hadn’t disbanded the damn thing for so long. 

New York got a reminder of the dangers of substandard ebike batteries when the impound yard where they’ve been storing seized and returned ebikes caught fire, covering parts of Red Hook and Brooklyn with toxic smoke; it was the third ebike battery fire at the compound in as many years.

Jamie Foxx is one of us, as the 57-year old actor flashed a smile at the paparazzi as he rode an ebike in Miami.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers how to cope with seemingly inevitable headwinds. Especially on those days when it seems like there’s a headwind in every direction. 

I want to be like her when I grow up. A Toronto paper examines the stouthearted bike riders who brave the city’s frozen streets on two wheels, including a 78-year old retired school teacher and Viking biker.

This is the cost of traffic violence. An English bike shop owner and advocate was honored as a bicycling organization’s regional campaigner of the year — nine months after he was killed by a driver while riding his bike.

The UK cancels plans to allow bikemakers to double the power of ebikes, after an understandable pushback from the public.

Het gets it, too. Ireland’s former Green Party leader and Transport Minister says there’s “compelling” evidence that building more bike lanes will make the country’s roads less dangerous — especially in the cities, where most of the serious injuries occur.

A Kiwi man confronted a retired, uninsured driver at her home to demand payment for over twelve grand in repair costs to his custom-made bicycle, after she pulled into his path during a group ride, flipping him 180 degrees through the air — and posted video of the confrontation online.

Singletracks highlights five “stunning” gravel trails around Queensland, New Zealand for your next trip Down Under-adjacent.

 

Competitive Cycling

Danish pro cyclist Johan Price-Pejtersen got his national time trial title back, seven months after the country’s governing body stripped it for the crime of riding on a bike path next to the roadway.

Qatar announced a new “groundbreaking” initiative to transform women’s cycling in the Persian Gulf country, with a goal of fast-tracking the next generation of women cyclists to success at the 2030 Asian Games.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the new record for endurance cycling is still 52,000 miles short of the actual record. Your next foldie could be a fashion-forward designer Brompton.

And seriously, just stop saying this, uh, stuff, already.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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