Open letter to SaMo City Council — Ensure fairness before approving Selective Traffic Enforcement funds today

November 12, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 48 days until LA fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

We have a time-sensitive matter to discuss.

The Santa Monica City Council is going to address a motion to accept a $300,000 grant from the Office of Traffic Safety as part of their pro forma consent calendar at today’s meeting.

The purpose of the grant is to fund more Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operations by the Santa Monica Police Department, in which officers ticket anyone who commits a violation on the road that could endanger vulnerable road users.

But as you’ll see below, that isn’t always enforced equally, fairly or equitably.

Longtime Santa Monica bike advocate and former LACBC Board Member Dr. Michael Cahn wrote the following open letter to the council, calling attention to the windshield bias and other problems inherent in these operations.

So I’m going to step aside, and let Dr. Cahn do the talking today.

You can do some talking of your own by contacting the Santa Monica City Councilmembers prior to today’s 5:30 pm meeting, to call for fairer police enforcement in bike/ped safety operations before approving Item 5D — particularly if you live, work or ride in Santa Monica.

And if you’re one of those unfortunate bike riders who was ticketed in one of the previous operations, they especially need to hear from you.

We’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, to catch up on anything we missed today.

……….

Dear Council Members,

Before you give a green light to the OTS Grant for 300.000 $ for Selective Traffic Enforcement, let me give you some feedback, from the handlebars and from the sidewalk, looking back at how these grants have worked in the past.

They used to be awarded for Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, and they were always conducted “through the windshield”. The motto was: Drivers are driving, now let’s keep the pedestrians and cyclists out of harm’s way. To do that we must ticket them when they ride their bikes on the sidewalk, we must educate them to cross at the intersection.

There is a big monster in town, it is called vehicle traffic, and it will snap a pedestrian, a cyclist here and there. The main job of SMPD Traffic Division is to keep the monster rolling through town, and keep those who use the streets without a license plate out of the path of this dangerous beast. Not exactly the best way to address the source of the danger, methinks.

It does not look good when an SMPD Sergeant is parked at the intersection and ignores how this Prius endangers the pedestrian in the crosswalk (Montana):

All photos by Dr. Michael Cahn

But the cyclist on the sidewalk is quickly found and stopped and “enforced”:

Sometimes crossing the intersection without a green light is safer for the cyclist, but the officer only cares about the rules:

SMPD knows that riding bicycles on Lincoln Blvd is hairy, so they do it on the sidewalk:

But the black kid is being hassled for doing the same — riding his bicycle on the sidewalk on Lincoln:

We all sometimes think cars can not be avoided. Our police force, too, is fully subscribed to this attitude. We once had a transportation management division in this city, but how do you manage the king of the American road? The car is in charge, but CicLAvias and other open streets events come and go.

And yet, we must manage and challenge all this driving. We must do less of it, and we must do it less often. And the SMPD, too, must project this goal of less driving. One way to do this is to contradict the idea that driving is always necessary (it is not), that we all drive (we do not). Imagine the citywide moment of education and insight that would happen if our own police department challenged the poison of motonormativity. Encourage the SMPD to challenge the notion that driving is the default. Let’s see these officers on their bicycles enforcing the law on Wilshire, for a change.

Yes, they do ride their bicycles on the beach path, but are they big and strong enough to do it in town? In town the bicycles are transported on the back of a car.

Chicken anybody?

SMPD avoiding ride bicycles on city streets (“we are not crazy”):

Every time the SMPD is not riding a bicycle in traffic, it gives us cyclists the sense that we are just a crazy suicidal minority. And it gives all the drivers out there the same message: Crazy cyclists. What we need from them is to share the road with us on a bicycle, and to bring their authority and their uniforms and their tickets to the bike lane, and to deal with the drivers parking on the bike lane, turning without indicating, overtaking dangerously, ignoring crosswalks, opening doors without looking.  This should be part of the 300K grant from OTS!

You want safer streets in Santa Monica? Put your officers on bicycles and let them ride up and down Wilshire, up and down Lincoln. That is where the education and the enforcement needs to happen. Enforcement of our drivers, the single most dangerous road participants

You know you want to do it, just see how you imagined the SMPD as an all terrain mountain cyclists force. No road chickens here.

Please make approval of item 5D contingent on consideration of the following items

  1. Highly visible bicycle patrols on heavily trafficked streets: Film it, Share it: Show us and show the community that cars are not always necessary.
  2. Conduct Crosswalk Sting Operations on Montana, Wilshire and Santa Monica Blvd etc. Film it, Share it.
  3. Enforcement of drivers who stop or park on bike lanes.
  4. Enforcement of illegal parking and waiting around schools: Lincoln Middle School has crossing guards. Their good work is made impossible by parents defiantly waiting in their cars on bike lanes and in alleys in the vicinity. Saint Monica School proudly displays long lines of illegal parking and waiting on California Ave over multiple blocks.
  5. Revisit the sidewalk riding ordinance.

Thank you !

— Dr Michael Cahn

………

It’s now 328 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Guest Columns / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Rancho Palos Verdes tries to ban ebikes, ebike looting follows Mountain Fire, and protected bike lanes south of the border

November 11, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 49 days until LA fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Happy Veterans Day to everyone who has served our country at home and abroad!

Get out for a good ride today to celebrate. And thank you.

Photo from Lime Micromobility.

………

Rancho Palos Verdes extends its usual unwelcome mat for bicyclists to e-bike riders, with new restrictions and fines to make you feel as unwanted as possible.

Of course, the Daily Breeze feels compelled to hide the story behind their paywall for subscribers only, so they evidently don’t want you to know about it.

However, this excerpt from the article suggests that they intend to ban ebikes entirely from city streets and sidewalks; the last part is legal, the first not so much.

Expanded e-bike restrictions

The city council recently expanded the ordinance to ban e-bikes on city streets and sidewalks, while allowing them on bicycle paths.

California state law allows bicycles on any street where cars are allowed, and ebikes are allowed under state law. So unless they’re planning to ban cars from city streets, they can’t ban ebikes, either.

But it could mean going to court to fight a ticket and convince a judge if you want to challenge it.

Thanks to Jim Lyle for the heads-up.

………

A worker on a Camarillo landscaping crew was arrested for looting an ebike Friday in the wake of the Mountain Fire.

After a homeowner parked his ebike in his driveway to check on his property, he returned to find the bike missing. He confronted a landscaping crew working in the area, and one of the men admitted to taking the bike, and gave it back to him.

The homeowner reported the incident to the police the next day, resulting in Ramon Avila Pacheco being booked on suspicion of looting in an evacuation order area.

Apparently, returning the ebike had no effect on the charge.

………

Streets For All founder Michael Schneider visits Mexico City, and discovers what Los Angeles could do with a little more political will.

Okay, a lot more.

Twitter post

………

MSNBC political commentator Chris Hayes is one of us, too. Thanks to Glenn with 2 Ns for the heads-up. 

Bluesky post

………

It’s now 327 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Seriously? The Marin County Supervisors are backing what the local newspaper calls a “bike-lane experiment,” which amounts to ripping out the bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge four days a week, on a trial basis. Although it’s questionable whether they could do it without a CEQA review on anything but a trial basis. 

That’s more like it. Thousands of people on bicycles jammed the streets to protest the removal of Toronto bike lanes, which were ordered taken out by the anti-bike provincial government. Maybe someday, we’ll be able to get a turnout like that here in Los Angeles. Click through if the video below appears truncated on your screen, like it is on mine.

Reddit post

………

Local  

Streetsblog looks at new bike lanes and safety improvements around the city, stretching from DTLA to Leimert Park and the San Fernando Valley.

Metro Bike wants to know what you think; complete the survey and you could win a raffle prize.

An op-ed writer in the Los Angeles Times says he thought he had his bike commute down, until a bike-riding German man pointed out the obvious flaw in his route, which needlessly bypassed the beachfront bike path.

Sally Struthers is one of us, as the 77-year old former All in the Family star went for a casual bike ride in Los Angeles last week; a London paper uncharitably calls her “unrecognizable,” yet somehow the paparazzi managed to spot her.

 

State

Calbike says budget cuts have left California’s Active Transportation Program in dire straits, leaving just $100 million on hand, enough to fund just 4% of the $2.5 billion in requests.

Just days after a Victorville man was killed by a driver while riding his bike, another person riding a bicycle was critically injured by a pickup driver Friday evening; unfortunately, there’s no information about the victim at this time.

Good news from the Bay Area, where Prop K is leading with 54% of the vote, although it’s still too early to call; the ballot measure would permanently close San Francisco’s Upper Great Highway to motor vehicles and turn it into a linear park, bikeway and walkway.

 

National

No surprise here, as a new buffered bike lane in Bellingham, Washington is popular with bicyclists, and hated by motorists; ridership increased a third, while motor vehicle use on the street dropped by 14%. Which sounds like a win-win to me. 

Tragic news from Utah, where a county employee was killed when he rode his ebike off the side of the road during the ceremonial opening of a paved bike trail.

Former President Bush — that’s W, not his late dad — held his annual mountain bike ride for veterans on his sprawling Texas ranch.

 

International

Momentum offers the complete guide to cargo bikes, calling them the next big thing.

Momentum also highlights eight of the leading bike advocacy groups on both sides of the border; the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Santa Barbara’s Bici Centro make the cut, but none of the Los Angeles-based organizations did.

More proof that bicycles make the best emergency vehicles, as two men share a bike to get through floodwaters left behind by Hurricane Rafael in western Cuba.

Bike-friendly Canadian cities to consider if you’re already packing your bags to leave the US after last week’s election.

A London writer said she’s swearing off the Tube, aka the city’s subway system, after ebiking to work for a month, and pledges to never go back.

A golfer took an epic 47-day, 1,700-mile bike ride around Ireland to play golf and raise the equivalent of nearly $8,000 for a cancer charity.

Dutch ebike maker Stella is just the latest casualty in the bike industry.

Cycling Weekly explores how a bike trail along the former border between East and West Germany helped rewrite the history of the Berlin Wall.

A South African bicycle mayor is evangelizing bike riders in a Cape Town township, and throughout the city.

Hong Kong discovers that cracking down on illegal ebikes could spark a crisis for the city’s food delivery services.

Speaking of stories hidden behind paywalls, Kaifeng, China learned to be careful what they wish for when they encouraged night-time bike riding, and the streets became gridlocked with bicycles. Seriously, if the photo is legit, we’re talking wall-to-wall bikes. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Record-holding sprinter Mark Cavendish called it a career with a win in Singapore’s Tour de France Criterium; Cav raced wearing bib number 35, the record-setting number of Tour de France stage wins he set this year.

 

Finally…

No, fleeing police on a bicycle is not “driving away.” Your next ebike could have a sidecar.

And it could be a throwback to the original bicycles made by the Dodge brothers, before they got into the car biz.

Instagram post

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

California rated 2nd safest state for bicyclists, Louisiana worst; and Complete Streets help boost Metro boardings

November 8, 2024 / / One comment
Just 53 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Shockingly, California was rated as the second-safest state to ride a bike in, behind only Massachusetts.

That’s despite having the country’s second-highest number of bicycling deaths, after Florida. But as Sports Illustrated notes, we also have the nation’s largest population, and the most drivers.

At the other end of the scale, Louisiana ranked as the most dangerous state for bicyclists, followed by Florida, Arizona and Mississippi.

So maybe you might want to route that dream ride across the US a tad further north, just to be safe

………

Streetsblog says ambitious Complete Streets projects along Reseda and Ventura Blvds have helped Metro reach over 1 million daily bus and train boardings.

However, the picture is more complicated for the 217 bus line on La Cienega Ave, and Hollywood and Los Feliz Blvds, where the quick-build Hollywood Blvd bike lane amounts to just two miles of the expanded 15.5-mile route.

………

It’s now 323 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Police in Ann Arbor, Michigan are investigating a driver who allegedly responded to getting yelled at for nearly hitting a bicyclist by pointing a gun at the bike rider and threatening him, but they insist it was just an isolated incident and there’s no threat to the public. Although someone who threatens random people with a gun over minor traffic incidents seems like kind of a big public threat to me. But what the hell do I know?

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

A Columbian extreme cyclist and bicycling influencer was killed, along with a 13-year old girl riding on the back of his bike, when he crashed his brakeless gravity bike head-on into motorcyclist while trying to pass a car on the wrong side of the roadway. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

Local  

The annual cleanup of Ballona Creek, home to the popular Ballona Creek bike path, will take place tomorrow (scroll down).

Streets For All is joining AARP for a Mobility popup in Westwood a week from Sunday.

 

State

Calbike continues its call for safer vehicles, starting with side guards for large trucks.

A Sacramento TV station examines how the city is using bicycle infrastructure to create safer streets for everyone.

Burglars have hit a Sacramento-area bike shop three times in just ten days, making off with around 100 ebikes worth $120,000.

The Bay Area bucked national trends by electing several safe streets advocates, including Emeryville’s “Bicycle Mayor” John Bauters, who is on the verge of moving on to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

 

National

NBC News profiles a Chinese man making his way across the US by bicycle to demonstrate the heart of humanity.

A fraternity at the University of Colorado is riding a stationary bike for nearly six days straight to raise $100,000 to protect bicyclists and pedestrians from distracted drivers.

A Denver bicyclist created a new interactive map showing just how far you can get in the city by bicycle in 15 minutes, to demonstrate the practicality of the 15-minute city.

Bike riders say the nation’s oldest bike path, Brooklyn’s 1894 Ocean Parkway Greenway, is in desperate need of a facelift.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia reminds us that this year’s World Day of Remembrance for the victims of traffic violence will take place on Sunday, November 17th.

 

International

Momentum considers 12 cities with “drop dead gorgeous” waterfront bikeways. San Diego’s Mission Bay makes the list, but evidently LA County’s beachfront Marvin Braude trail just ain’t pretty enough.

The CBC looks at how Montreal became a bicycle-centric city.

Shockingly, the British woman sentenced to over six years for the drug-fueled hit-and-run death of a bike riding man was five times over the legal limit for cocaine. No, what’s shocking is that Britain even has a legal limit for coke.

Smithsonian examines how the infamous Berlin Wall became a 100-mile long bike and pedestrian trail along the former border between the erstwhile East and West Germanys.

Evidently, there’s something funny about watching Aussie cops fall off their bikes riding up a steep, grassy hill.

 

Competitive Cycling

France’s Vélo d’Or, aka Golden Bicycle, will honor fallen Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder with a new award in his name for athletes supporting charitable or societal causes; Mäder was killed in a high speed crash while descending at last year’s Tour de Suisse.

Cyclist ranks the top 50 women’s road cyclists of the 2020s; you know it’s a tough list when the legendary Marianne Vos only comes in at number 6.

Cycling Up To Date ranks the top five male Belgian cyclists of this century; again, it’s a tough list when Remco Evenepoel can only hit number 3.

 

Finally…

Your next bike helmet could call for help if you actually put it to use. Your next cargo ebike could be a funky reverse tricycle.

And when you’re riding on Friar Truck Road with meth on your bike, put some damn lights and reflectors on it.

The bike, I mean, not the road. Or the meth.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Update: 42-year old Oscar Guardado killed riding bicycle in South LA hit-and-run; 17th SoCal bicycling hit-and-run death this year

November 7, 2024 / / Comments Off on Update: 42-year old Oscar Guardado killed riding bicycle in South LA hit-and-run; 17th SoCal bicycling hit-and-run death this year

Sometimes it seems like they just don’t want us to know how deadly our streets really are.

Far too often, when people riding bicycles in Los Angeles are killed or seriously injured in traffic violence, it never makes the news.

Or even a lousy LAPD press release.

Not even for a hit-and-run, where notifying the public could help identify and capture the suspect — which is why we have hit-and-run alert systems on both the local and state level that somehow never get used.

Yet that was the case yet again last month, when 42-year old Oscar Guardado was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike in LA’s West Adams neighborhood.

According to a fundraising page posted by his daughter, Guardado died on October 27th when he was struck by a drunk driver, who fled the scene afterwards; unfortunately, it’s only raised $825 of the modest $7,000 goal for funeral expenses.

Guardado’s death was confirmed by the County Medical Examiner’s office.

An attorney’s promotional page places the crash on the 2200 block of South Normandie Ave, at 10:12 pm, but does not say how they came by the information.

Unfortunately, that’s all we know right now.

There’s no word on how the crash occurred, whether an arrest has been made, or how they know the driver was under the influence.

There’s also no word on how many other cases like this could be out there that we’ve never heard about, either.

This is at least the 47th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 14th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Seventeen of those SoCal deaths we know about have been hit-and-runs.

Update: The LAPD has finally gotten around to letting us know about this crash. 

At a press conference on Monday, November 17th — a full 20 days after the fatal hit-and-run — detectives confirmed that Oscar Ernesto Guardado was stuck by a driver at Normandie Ave and W 23rd Street at 9:55 pm on the night of October 27th.

The suspect vehicle is described as a black four-door sedan, but there’s no description of the driver at this time. Security video shows there may be other witnesses to the crash who have not yet come forward. 

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Sgt. Garbiel Nily of the South Traffic Division at 323/421-2500, or call the South Traffic Division Watch Commander after business hours at 323/421-2577.

As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.

Although the odds of finding the suspect would have been much higher had the department made this announcement in the hours after the crash, rather than weeks later. 

Meanwhile, the crowdfunding page to help pay for Guardado’s funeral expenses has still raised only $1,400. If you have any extra money lying around, maybe you can give them hand.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Oscar Guardado and all his family and loved ones.

Thanks to someone who prefers to remain anonymous for the heads-up, and for putting the information together. 

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

Local news better than national for active transportation; and $1 billion LA River gap could be closed in our lifetimes, maybe

November 7, 2024 / / Comments Off on Local news better than national for active transportation; and $1 billion LA River gap could be closed in our lifetimes, maybe
Just 54 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

I hope you’ll forgive yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

After writing about the man killed riding his bicycle in Victorville, I just wasn’t in a good space, mentally or emotionally.

And I’m still not. 

To be honest, this week’s election feels like a repudiation of everything I have believed and work for my entire life. While I understand you may think differently, that’s just where I am right now, until I get a chance to work through it. 

Which could take a little time. 

Photo by Element5 Digital from Pexels.

………

One reason for my disappointment is that the election of Donald Trump and a GOP majority in the Senate does not bode well for active transportation, which has frequently been targeted for cuts by Republicans.

But as bad as the national news is for some of us, Streets For All founder Michael Schneider says the news locally was much better.

Twitter post

I’m also pleased to report that former Assembly Transportation Chair Laura Friedman will be my new representative in Congress, replacing newly elected California Senator Adam Schiff.

Twitter post

Although Schiff was named as one of those “enemies within” that Trump has promised to go after, so things could get rocky going forward.

………

Don’t plan on riding the full LA River bike path anytime soon.

Closing the eight-mile long gap through DTLA is now expected to cost a hefty $1 billion, with an anticipated completion date of sometime in your lifetime.

Or maybe the next.

Twitter post

………

The Partnership For Active Travel and Health released an open letter calling on governments around the world to include walking and biking in their next round of climate commitments.

And they invite you to sign on.

The Partnership for Active Travel and Health (PATH) calls on national governments to commit to walking and cycling in the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reach climate goals and improve people’s health and lives.

Enabling more people to walk and cycle safely and to access public transport by foot and by bicycle can help cut transport emissions in half by 2030 and is a fast-track way to achieve progress on urgent climate goals and the Paris Agreement. Yet PATH’s groundbreaking research shows that walking and cycling are significantly undervalued in countries’ NDCs. Despite two-thirds of nations having active travel policies in place, there remains a pressing need for increased ambition, action, and investment in their climate commitments to fully unlock the benefits of walking and cycling.

PATH has launched a new set of knowledge tools and guidance to support national policymakers to compare and benchmark existing policies, build capacity, and adopt walking and cycling as part of their country’s climate commitments.

  • The PATH’s Active Travel NDC Template offers a step-by-step guide with 20 actions to create effective policies, including interventions to create safe and accessible places to walk and cycle, public campaigns to shift mobility habits and embed walking and cycling into policy processes.
  • The PATH Dashboard visualises data from PATH’s 2023 report National Policies for Walking and Cycling in all 197 UNFCCC countries. It offers an overview of the progress made by countries in integrating walking and cycling strategies into their policy frameworks and NDCs. It also facilitates direct comparisons between countries and pinpoints areas requiring additional investment and ambition.
  • The PATH Walking and Cycling Regional Fact Sheets feature a comprehensive set of infographics analysing NDCs and walking and cycling policies across the six WHO- defined regions, detailing their objectives, actions, investments, and evaluations.

We urge countries to take full advantage of these tools to build walking and cycling into their climate commitments through the next round of NDCs submissions between November 2024 to February 2025, ahead of COP30 in Brazil.

PATH and its over 400 supporters stand ready to support national governments in this process.

………

Apparently, ‘cross ain’t as new as we thought.

Twitter post

 

………

It’s now 322 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

An English writer says he set a personal best on a recent gravel ride — despite getting punched by a motorbike rider — but says the real lesson is why aggression shouldn’t be countered.

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

A Washington woman has filed a $10 million lawsuit against a bike rider who collided with her while doing the trail’s 15 mph speed limit.

………

Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Calbike explains how to fight the ebike bikelash, while Kendra Ramsey explains why she’s a bike advocate. I could have answered that question last week; now I’m not so sure. 

Santa Barbara reached an agreement to build a 4,000-foot bike lane to complete a missing link in the city’s bike network; the plan will trade land for an easement, while sparing over half the trees originally planned for removal.

Santa Cruz shares the county’s best bike trails, for your next trip up at that way.

Seriously, who hasn’t gone bike surfing down a steep San Francisco street? Besides me, I mean. 

 

National

Bicycling says the jury is still out on whether biking will affect your sperm count. But they apparently don’t want you to know about it, since this one’s not available elsewhere if the magazine blocks you.

Momentum explains what makes a great bicycling city, while an unrelated slideshow rates the country’s best bike cities, with Portland predictably #1, followed by Washington DC and Philadelphia; San Diego rates 12th, while Los Angeles comes in at a very respectable 17th. Which is how you know it’s bs.

Next City says new research shows bike lanes save lives by slowing drivers at intersections.

An ambulance took an injured 71-year old Oregon man to the hospital — after the driver right-hooked him — then stuck him with an $1,862 bill for the ride; now he’s suing them for a cool million bucks.

More proof Americans want safer streets, as Seattle is on the verge of approving a transportation levy to provide nearly a half-billion dollars for Vision Zero, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements, by the same two-thirds margin that LA’s Measure HLA passed with.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 80-year old Massachusetts woman says she’s not ready to give up bicycling 80 miles a week, despite her doctor’s advice following a fall.

Influencer Matt Choi has been banned for life from the New York Marathon, after finishing the course in under three hours while flanked by two riders on ebikes recording his run; they were accused of blocking other people competing in the race.

 

International

Bike Magazine lists the top ten North American cities for mountain biking.

A London writer goes from budding bike theft reporter to tracking down his own stolen bike, thanks to an Air Tag.

An editor for Cycling Weekly says banning bicycles from city centers, like Birmingham, England is doing, won’t stop illegal ebike use, but it will make it harder for everyone else.

Finally a reasonable sentence from the UK, where a stoned hit-and-run driver who killed a 59-year old man riding a bicycle was sentenced to a well-deserved six years and eight months behind bars.

Britain’s National Health Service will review its guidelines for prostate cancer testing, after Olympic cycling champ Sir Chris Hoy said younger men should be tested to prevent cases like his terminal cancer diagnosis.

A couple reporters for NPR visit Beijing from a seat of their bicycles.

Australia’s National Territory wants to tell you about five great bike rides in Canberra, for your next visit Down Under.

 

Competitive Cycling

Forty-year old four-time Tour de France champ Chris Froome says he’s coming back next year to give it one more try.

 

Finally…

If you’re carrying meth and drug paraphernalia on your bike, put a damn light on it — the bike, not the meth. Now you, too, can build your own pointlessly long mountain bike requiring rope reins to ride.

And nothing like a bridge designed to “enable sustainable transport and reduce car use,” which bans bicycles anyway.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

45-year old Victorville resident killed by pickup driver while riding bicycle in the city Saturday evening

November 5, 2024 / / Comments Off on 45-year old Victorville resident killed by pickup driver while riding bicycle in the city Saturday evening

For the second time last week, someone riding a bicycle was killed in San Bernardino County.

The victim, identified as 45-year old Victorville resident Manuel Rivera, died after he was run down by the driver of a pickup truck in Victorville Saturday night.

Rivera was struck around 6:23 pm Saturday while riding on Mojave Drive, near Village Drive. He was declared dead after being taken to a local hospital.

The driver stuck around after the crash, and reportedly cooperated with the investigators.

As usual, there’s no word on how the crash occurred, or who may have been at fault. There’s also no word on whether the driver was ticketed or arrested.

Anyone with information is urged to call Deputy J. Stroik of the Victorville Police Department at 760/241-2911.

This is at least the 46th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in San Bernardino County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Manuel Rivera and his loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee