Just 63 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
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Good news for San Fernando Valley bike riders.
US Representative Tony Cárdenas presented Los Angeles officials with a ceremonial check for $650,000 to help close a 2.7-mile gap between the Chandler Bike Path and Orange Line Bike Path.
The federal grant will help create a continuous 20-mile-long combination of protected, separated and offroad bikeways between Chatsworth and Burbank.
Thanks to Lionel Mares for the heads-up.
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Yes, please.
An alliance of the five largest providers in the UK’s cycle to work program has issued a manifesto to advance the country’s bicycle community.
The Manifesto for Cycle Commuting outlines a series of strategic proposals based on exclusive data commissioned through YouGov, including:
- Enhanced safety measures: Urging the Department for Transport to include the needs of cyclists in its new Road Safety Review.
- Improved infrastructure: Advocating for long-term funding to build safe and accessible cycling routes.
- Expanded scheme access: Encouraging policy changes to include low-income earners and the self-employed in the Cycle to Work Scheme.
- Support for e-bikes: Promoting the use of e-bikes as a key solution for older and long-distance commuters, while countering misconceptions about their safety.
Maybe we need to do the same thing over here.
Okay, no maybe about it.
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Last week, we mentioned a a ten-year old Irvine boy who was reportedly bitten by a coyote while riding his bicycle on the way to school.
Now comes word that no coyote DNA was found on his clothing, suggesting that he was probably bitten by your basic, garden variety stray dog.
Thanks to Don Sanders for the heads-up.
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We keep saying it. Bikes are good for business.
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So that’s where “war on cars” came from.
Figures.
Meanwhile, a Canadian news site suggests the Ontario premier’s attack on bike lanes could be a smokescreen for more highway building.
A Toronto writer accuses Premier Ford of making life more dangerous for the city’s delivery riders.
And a writer for Canada’s conservative — small C — National Post says the left is losing the battle over bike lanes, “as it should,” because traffic flow is what matters most. Bicycling is neither liberal or conservative, but should be a viable option for anyone, regardless of political leanings.
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Evidently, killing one of us just once isn’t enough for some drivers.
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It was man against machine Saturday, as Mathieu van der Poel defeated multiple world rally champion Sébastien Loeb in a head-to-head matchup.
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It’s now 313 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
While we can’t manage to get such a simple program off the ground, the UK’s Cycle to Work Program has helped over 2 million people buy bicycles to commute to their jobs, with much more to come.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Talk about not taking a crime seriously. Three Portland men face charges of charges of fourth-degree assault and reckless endangering for boobytrapping a bike path by stringing a spiderweb of wires across it, injuring a woman who unknowingly rode her bike into it. Maybe someday, someone, somewhere will actually prosecute people like that on terrorism charges for deliberately attempting to harm innocent people simply because they don’t like bikes.
No bias here. A conservative — again, small C — New York councilmember instructs everyone to be civil at a public meeting to to discuss a proposed bike lane, before nearly igniting a brawl by standing on a chair and shouting that opponents of the greenway should pick up and leave because their opinions wouldn’t be counted, before storming out.
No bias here, either. A Conservative — capital C — English councilor was criticized for a “reprehensible” rant arguing that “Lycra louts” who ride in the roadway instead bike lanes, which are often blocked or somehow substandard, deserve to suffer the consequences.
It’s a well-deserved three years and eight months behind bars for “very enraged” British motorist who deliberately rammed a 67-year old man off his bicycle, resulting in “serious, severe and long-lasting” injuries; he will also be banned from driving for nine years. Let’s hope drivers take license suspensions more seriously over there than they are here.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Vietnamese website asks whether the problem of people bicycling on prohibited roads can ever be solved, arguing that “people disregard the law and ride bicycles on prohibited roads is considered an act that poses a risk of serious traffic accidents.”
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Local
This is who we share the road with. A boy riding a minibike was killed in a hit-and-run after laying down his motorbike in a Koreatown intersection and getting struck by a driver, who fled the scene.
State
Calbike celebrates their 30th anniversary, while acknowledging that their work for safety isn’t finished.
Sad news from Berkeley, where an unconfirmed comment reports a bike rider was killed in a solo crash. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
An Amazon delivery driver was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run crash that left a 14-year old Castro Valley boy with minor injuries, and “demolished” the front wheel of the boy’s bike. However, the CHP didn’t seem very interested.
San Francisco unveiled a one-block long protected bike lane directly in front of city hall, while leaving the rest of the street what Streetsblog’s Roger Ruddick calls a “shit show.” Which is pretty much the definition of putting lipstick on a pig. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, of course.
More sad news, as a 20-year old man was killed when he was run down by the driver of a semi while riding his bicycle in a Sacramento industrial neighborhood.
Megan Lynch also points to a Davis sidewalk to demonstrate how badly some sidewalk dining areas are done, leaving almost no room to get by — let alone walk a bike.
National
Turning old mountain bikes into new cargo bikes.
A writer for Cycling Savvy demonstrates how to tigger a vehicle detector embedded in the roadway. Which can be pretty damn complicated sometimes.
Bicycling offers the health benefits of riding an ebike. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
In yet another Arizona bicycling mass casualty event, a 21-year old Tempe was busted for crashing into a group of bicyclists, sending three people to the hospital. Although the three misdemeanor counts will likely result in a slap on the wrist, if that.
A couple of Arizona universities are collaborating on creating a virtual dashcam for bicycles, replacing the handlebar plugs with a camera and sensors to detect any vehicle passing within three feet, offering an audio/visual warning for the rider, as well as recording a video to capture the license plate of the vehicle, with a time and location stamp.
Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, the pistol-packing former bar owner kicked out of a “Beetlejuice” musical for getting too frisky with her date, is now taking aim at bicycling, inserting a provision in a GOP bill to remove the bicycling benefit for Dept. of the Interior staffers who bike to work.
A New York state judge put the brakes on a planned bike lane through an NYC industrial zone, after businesses along the route accused the city of bypassing a required environmental review.
International
Couldn’t have said it better myself. “If you design a city just for cars, you fail everyone, including the drivers.”
Oops. Evidently, the exact movements of world leaders — including Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris — can be tracked by the Strava apps of their bodyguards.
Momentum argues that bicycling delivers the freedom that cars can only promise.
Tragic news from Scotland, where a former rugby star died of a heart attack, just one day after completing a 1,000 mile fundraising ride; Ken MacAulay raised the equivalent of more than $18,000 for four different charities. He was 66.
She gets it. An Irish public health physician says we have to “wean ourselves off our love of large, fossil fuel-burning cars” if we’re going to meet climate and traffic safety goals.
Momentum says the Paris Olympics bicycle revolution offers lessons for Los Angeles, as well as other cities around the globe.
Even in the Netherlands, two out of five people are bothered by blinding bike lights. Which is why I angle mine down so they don’t shine in people’s eyes.
A star-struck Chinese man rode his bicycle over 8,000 miles from China to Saudi Arabia to meet soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for all of one minute.
Competitive Cycling
Tragic news from British Columbia, where 41-year old two-time provincial cyclocross and national track champ Lindsay Burgess was killed in a collision with a pickup driver, who apparently strayed onto a poorly marked cycling race course.
A new documentary shows the reaction in the peloton when Mark Cavendish broke the record for most Tour de France stage wins.
Radio France questions the dominance of Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, implying something fishy is going on, since neither was outstanding as a junior cyclist.
A writer for Cycling Weekly questions where the country’s next generation of cyclists will come from if the Tour de France is no longer broadcast on free TV. Probably the same place they do on this side of the pond.
Velo offers the “ultimate” guide to this year’s gravel racing season.
Velo also says at 6’7″, NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller is breaking the cycling mold, which only motivates him to try harder.
Finally…
If you’re going to steal a bicycle in broad daylight, always wear a bike helmet so people will think it could be yours. Now you, too, can be replaced by AI — even on your bicycle.
And no, there’s nothing new about road rage or fighting over bikeways.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
