BikinginLA

Just 98 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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The LAPD is on the lookout for a killer hit-and-run driver.

But in this case, she was driving an e-scooter.

The victim was walking down a Koreatown sidewalk with his wife around 4:50 this past Thursday when the woman came barreling down the sidewalk, along with a man on a second scooter, knocking him down.

Sixty-five-year old Donny Kim fell backwards, striking his head. He refused treatment, but his condition worsened after going home; two days later, he was dead.

After stopping briefly, the woman rode off on her scooter, despite the efforts of Kim’s wife to get her to stay.

And yes, it’s illegal to ride an electric scooter on the sidewalk in Los Angeles — just like the sticker on every e-scooter in the city says.

And e-scooter riders are legally required to stick around and exchange personal information following a crash, just like bike riders, drivers or anyone else.

Thanks to Christian for the heads-up. 

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The LAPD is also on the lookout for the hit-and-run driver who left a 63-year old man lying in the street suffering from severe injuries, after crashing into his bike in LA’s Vermont Knolls neighborhood.

And speaking of the LAPD, the cops are trying to identify a group of around 50 teenagers who swarmed a West LA 7-11, looting the store within minutes.

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While we were gone, West Hollywood narrowly reaffirmed plans for a lane reduction and protected bike lanes on busy Fountain Ave, accepting an $8.2 million grant from the California Air Resources Board to remake the roadway by a 3-to-2 vote in a contentious city council meeting.

On a related note, WeHo Online recaps the recent Streets For All mobility forum for the candidates running for WeHo city council — not all of whom approve of the decision.

And the city could lower the speed limit on a number of streets, while WeHo Online whines it could make driving in the city even slower. Which someone should tell them is actually a good thing.

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North OC Bikes will host their monthly family friendly bike ride in Fullerton this Friday.

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Now you, too, can own one of the vintage Colnago road bikes belonging to Steve Tesich, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Breaking Away, who died in 1996.

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It’s now 278 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 39 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, San Gabriel Valley residents will soon be eligible for vouchers for up to $3,000 off on the purchase of a ped-assist ebike or cargo bikes, courtesy of ActiveSGV and the SGV Council of Governments.

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

They’re onto us, comrades. A Washington state letter writer argues that the area’s new bike lanes are nothing more than a commie plot. “Bicycles are tools of commies and socialists. These paths and lanes are for only one thing: to usher in their left wing, ‘green energy,’ fossil fuel-hating, automobile-loathing, bird-killing wind farm, solar power loving agenda.”

No bias here. A Colorado woman confronted a pair of hungry bike riders who made the mistake of stopping for a snack while riding on a path near her home in Summit County, eventually shoving one of their bikes to the ground; she later told police she doesn’t like tourists.

Business owners in an industrial section of Queens complain that gentrification is going too far, with plans for a new bike lane that they insist will put the people who use it at risk, along with their truckers.

A Gloucestershire, England police official is deservedly under fire after arguing that a lot of people who ride bikes “don’t realize that…a close pass itself isn’t an offense,” despite reminding drivers that they’re required to give bicyclists at least a 1.5 meter passing distance, the equivalent of nearly five feet.

Authorities in Edinburg, Scotland are on the hunt for a man who was caught on security cam getting out of a car and throttling a bike rider who was arguing with the woman driving the car, throwing him to the ground.

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

A 30-year old Hoboken NJ man could face charges after he was arrested for deliberately ramming a goose with his ebike at a waterfront park; no word on the condition of the goose.

The NYPD is on the hunt for a bikeshare rider who maced a 17-year old boy for reasons known only to him after their bikes collided in Central Park.

No bias here, either. A 24-year old man in Northern Ireland walked with the equivalent of a lousy $465 fine for riding a bike at twice the legal alcohol limit, while carrying coke and failing to stop until the cops knocked him off his bike; meanwhile, his defense attorney joked that riding a bicycle or wearing Lycra while overweight should be a crime.

A woman in Singapore will spend the next four weeks behind bars for riding a bicycle she knew had faulty brakes, after killing a 63-year old woman when she crashed into her.

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Local  

NBC Los Angeles talks with the esteemed Jimmy Lizama, the founder of LA’s Bicycle Kitchen.

Streetsblog visits the new extension to Santa Monica’s MANGo bikeway, as well as bike lanes being installed on Reseda Boulevard, Mason Ave, Avenue 51 and Townsend Ave. And yes, that’s Avenue 51, not Area 51. 

Caltrans is looking for input on a proposed reconfiguration of busy Rosemead Blvd between Rosemead and Temple City.

About damn time. Caltrans also proposed plans to improve safety on PCH through Malibu include bike lanes and wider sidewalks, with 90% of commenters calling for better protecting bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as landscaping the center median, and adding more parking on the beach side of the highway so people won’t have to cross it.

Manhattan Beach approved plans to give the city’s Sand Dune Park a $3.5 million makeover, but removed a planned bike path at the urging of local residents.

Long Beach received a $25 million federal grant for protected bike lanes along Pacific Ave.

 

State

Fountain Valley followed the lead of other Orange County cities by tightening regulations for ebike riders; however, it’s questionable whether any changes that conflict with the California vehicle code will withstand judicial review.

A college student in Orange used an AirTag to get her stolen bike back, as cops  tracked down and arrested the suspected thief.

Police in San Marcos have yet to arrest the hit-and-run driver who left a teenaged boy riding an ebike in critical condition suffering from major injuries, after impounding the driver’s massive GMC pickup, which showed signs of an attempted coverup.

Sad news from Newark, where a 60-year old man was killed by a driver in a left-cross crash while riding in a painted bike lane. Another reminder that pain’t ain’t protection. 

More sad news, this time from Ukiah, where a man was killed after crashing his ebike at an “extremely high-rate of speed” on a local trail.

 

National

Portland bicyclists rode naked through the city to protest Big Oil, months after the city’s “official” World Naked Bike Ride was cancelled.

A bighearted little girl in Colorado will forward the new bicycle a cop gave her to another kid in need, after police recovered her stolen bike.

Austin Monthly questions whether the capital city of auto-centric Texas can truly become a bicycling utopia by investing millions in new infrastructure.

What do you do after shattering the old record for riding around the world? Go for a family bike ride near your Chicago home, of course.

New York bicyclists raced across the city’s Williamsburg Bridge for a $1,000 prize — on bikeshare bikes.

After a DC driver was sentenced to eight years behind bars for killing a 45-year old man riding a bicycle, his survivors complain that his sentence was just a slap on the wrist. Just wait until they learn what most drivers get for killing one of us. 

Now even the weather is out to get us. A Florida teenager was killed when he was apparently struck by lightening while riding his bike; local residents pointed to a hole in the pavement that wasn’t there before he was hit.

 

International

A Road.cc reader is on a campaign to design a new type of road cycling cleat, so bike riders no longer have to “walk like ducks.”

Momentum highlights ten “stunning and unique bike routes” around the world they say you have to see to believe — but the only one in North America is the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route through the US and Canada.

Speaking of Momentum, the magazine argues that Ontario, Canada is playing petty politics, as the provincial premier calls for banning any new bike lane that would replace a traffic lane.

No real surprise here, as a study from a London college shows that price has no bearing on bike helmet protection.

British bike advocates warn that plans for remaking an “incredibly popular” multi-use path are too narrow and will lead to safety issues, with bats — yes, bats — given twice as much space as bicycles.

A “heartless hit-and-run driver” will spend the next six years behind bars, on his return to the UK after fleeing the country for four years.

A Brussels, Belgium newspaper examines what’s holding bicycling back in the city, arguing that it isn’t productive to frame it as just bikes versus cars.

A carfree man finds himself called the “Bicycle-Karen” upon moving back to Iceland after years in more bike-friendly European cities, because of his complaints about the way bike riders are treated in the country.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgian cycling star Wout van Aert signed sport’s first-ever lifetime contract, committing to ride for Team Visma – Lease a Bike until he quits professional cycling.

 

Finally…

Who needs a lawnmower when you have a bicycle? Your next ebike could come from the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.

And maybe bike shops could stop shaming people with poorly maintained bikes.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin