Bike bills advance in CA legislature, DIY zebra crosswalks in East Hollywood, and CD11 candidates discuss transportation

March 30, 2022 / / One comment

A handful of bike and pedestrian bills moved forward in a four hour hearing at the California capital Tuesday.

Streetsblog reports the bills all passed in the bike-friendly Assembly Transportation Committee, most by large margins.

The measures include:

  • AB 1713 reprises last year’s Stop As Yield bill vetoed by Gavin Newsom
  • AB 2147 would legalize jaywalking under most circumstances, also vetoed by Newton last year
  • AB 2264 requires pedestrian lead intervals when traffic lights are replaced
  • AB 2336 would authorize a limited test of speed cams in six California cities
  • AB 1909, the Omnibus Bike Bill, makes several tweaks to state law, including requiring drivers to change lanes to pass a bike rider, when possible.

The bills now move on to other committees, where they are likely to find a less friendly reception.

Meanwhile, San Jose’s mayor was one of the primary speakers pushing for the speed cam bill.

Photo from Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels.

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The Department of DIY has struck again, this time painting some very professional looking crosswalks in East Hollywood when the city wouldn’t.

Now if we can just get them to do a few bike lanes.

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Streets For All posted video of Tuesday’s virtual forum for the candidates running to replace Mike Bonin in Westside’s CD11.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog posted an illuminating recap of their answers to whether they would re-install the safety improvements in Vista Del Mar that were ripped out after pass-through drivers got out their pitchforks and torches.

And I know who I’d be voting for if I lived in the district.

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Metro is hosting a pair of virtual public meetings this week.

First up is this evening’s Community Meeting for LA Metro’s Active Transportation Strategic Plan (ATSP) Update, which Streetsblog’s Joe Linton notes they periodically update before putting it back on the shelf to gather dust.

Next is Friday’s meeting to discuss the agency’s proposed Street Safety Policy, which appears to follow the recent trend of not using the term Vision Zero to describe Vision Zero plans.

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

No bias here. Get hit by a lawbreaking driver, and get a bill from the insurance company.

https://twitter.com/benbolliger/status/1508954714540425217

 

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

A Charlotte NC couple complain they were attacked by a gang of teenage bike riders after the driver “just kind of beeped the horn,” and were further traumatized when the cops said there was no point in pressing charges because it happens all the time.

A hearing impaired Singapore woman says a bike rider slapped and verbally abused her when she failed to give way when he rang his bike bell. Contrary to popular opinion in some quarters, a bike bell or “on your left” are both polite warnings, not commands meaning “get the eff out of my way.”

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Local

The LACBC is teaming with Metro to offer an in-person class in bicycling street skills in Commerce City tomorrow.

She gets it. CD 5 council candidate Katy Yaroslavsky, daughter-in-law of longtime LA politician Zev Yarolslavsky, says LA should be one of “the greatest bike cities in the world,” but isn’t because people don’t feel safe on the streets.

An LA mom uses her bike to bounce back from a sudden, tragic loss.

 

State 

Streetsblog offers some alternatives to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposal to give gas tax rebates to wealthy drivers who don’t need them, which would only encourage them to keep wasting gas.

The Press-Enterprise provides a primer on the use of ebikes and e-scooters, for anyone who hasn’t been paying attention up to this point.

More on Carlsbad’s crackdown on ebikes in the beachfront city, after collisions involving ebikes jumped from 39 in 2020 to 63 last year. Which likely corresponds with the jump in ebike usage over the last year. And just wait until someone tells them about cars.

 

National

A Chinese man is biking across the US to call attention to the fight for democracy in Hong Kong.

CleanTechnica says the US should offer ebike rebates to help starve Putin out of Ukraine.

Cycling Tips says put some foam inserts in the tires on your gravel bike.

Iowa City, Iowa reminds drivers not to park in bike lanes. Which shouldn’t need a reminder, but evidently does.

Country star Dierks Bentley is one of us, riding a mountain bike century through the Tennessee hills in a relatively balmy 40 degrees.

A Staten Island teen will spend the next four years behind bars after stealing a car, crashing into a bike rider, and leading police on a wild chase; the man on the bike suffered a broken nose and several other injuries, but wasn’t seriously hurt.

A recommendation for bicycle and e-scooter parking and ebike charging stations on the ground floor of a coming Coral Gables, Florida mobility station ran into opposition from the mayor, who is insisting on ground floor retail to offset some of the construction costs.

 

International

Bike Radar offers the “ultimate” beginners guide to buying a bicycle this year.

Rouleur provides a masterclass in the “structural, neurological and psychological repercussions” of bicycling injuries.

A British man credits his survival from a heart attack while riding to a pair of quick-thinking friends and a nearby defibrillator.

I want to be like her when I grow up. A Bollywood star’s 83-year old mother gets back on her bike after 25 years. Although maybe without the two and a half decade layoff.

Singapore actress Jaime Teo is one of us, breaking her collarbone trying to pass a large group of bicyclists on her bike when she bumped another rider.

 

Competitive Cycling

British bike hero and former Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins says keep using time trial bikes on the road, but get rid of all the distractions.

 

Finally…

The Mounties not only got their man, they crashed into him. That feeling when you get run over by a Key West tourist trolley.

And don’t brag about your bike skills until you can ride no hands while balancing a bundle of banana leaves on your head.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cbj-wl9AcgV/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=c9ffcf18-bbbb-4418-b12c-c666aec61815

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Metro EIR blesses Eagle Rock Beautiful Blvd plan, and Taylor Yard bike bridge bountifully blessed with corgis

March 29, 2022 / / One comment

A quick note before we start. 

I’ve received a guest post from frequent Munich correspondent Ralph Durham for when I’m out next week following my hand surgery. 

If anyone else wants to share your thoughts next week, just send it to the email address on the About BikinginLA page above. 

Write about anything you want, as long as it’s bike related. The only restrictions are to avoid personal attacks or being needlessly offensive. 

Which means it’s okay to be necessarily offensive, evidently.

And no, this is not an invitation for SEO marketing or Native Advertising. Sorry. 

………

It looks like Metro is finally onboard with Eagle Rock’s resident-driven Beautiful Boulevard plan.

An email from the Beautiful Boulevard Coalition reports that Metro’s final Environmental Impact Report for the NoHo to Pasadena bus rapid transit project adopts most elements of the plan, including dedicated bus lanes on Colorado Boulevard, and new family-friendly protected bike lanes.

It also includes a lane reduction to improve safety in downtown Eagle Rock, with a single traffic lane in both directions, along with bus and bike lanes.

The next steps include working with CD12 Councilmember and mayoral candidate Kevin de León to make adjustments to the plan, such as enabling al fresco dining and keeping cut-through traffic from disrupting residential neighborhoods.

And getting de León to sign off on the plan, after he’s done significant waffling on the project since taking office.

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Nice surprise from my friend Jonathan Weiss, who forwards photos from a recent ride to check out the new Taylor Yard Bridge.

And stumbled across an apparent corgi meetup.

Better yet, my wife instantly recognized the blue merle corgi staring off into the distance as one she knows from meetups with her corgi Instagram group.

Face it. It’s a corgi world, and we just live in it.

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Nothing like jamming on the brakes to avoid getting hit head-on by a wrong-way driver.

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

No bias here. Miami city commissioners voted to require developers to include more parking in their projects, with one saying “This is not a pedestrian and bicycle city.” And with that attitude, it never will be.

No bias here, either. A Twitter account claims bicyclists “injury and maim” (sic) thousands of people in the UK every year. Which comes as a surprise, since there were only a little more than 600 collisions reported between bikes and pedestrians in 2020.

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

Police in El Cajon are looking for a Hispanic man who rode off on a beach cruiser after stabbing another man in the abdomen at a Del Taco drive-thru.

Similar story in Edinburgh, Scotland, where police are looking for a pair of bike-riding men who assaulted and robbed a man walking along a bike path late at night.

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Local

The Archinect News site says LA’s new bike and pedestrian-friendly 6th Street Viaduct is about to change common perspectives on public urban space. Although you’ll have to earn the bike crossing with a steep climb to get there.

Streetsblog is looking for a part-time journalist and podcaster to cover the San Gabriel Valley beat.

 

State 

Armed only with a baseball bat, a San Diego man stole back the bike that was stolen from him the day he bought it. Although he was successful, you’re always better off getting the police involved if you can; taking back a stolen bike can be very dangerous.

A 61-year old San Diego man was seriously injured when he was run down by an alleged drunk driver on Mountain View Drive in the city’s Adams North neighborhood on Sunday; fortunately, his injuries are not considered life-threatening.

Berkeley bicyclists are backing a plan for protected bike lanes and pedestrian improvements on deadly Hopkins Street, while preserving most curbside parking in front of local businesses.

Sad news from Yuba County, where a 21-year old woman was arrested for the allegedly drunken rear-end crash that killed a 36-year old man riding a bicycle; she faces charges of DUI and 2nd degree murder, which suggests this isn’t her first DUI.

 

National

A writer for CleanTechnica offers advice on how to defend yourself from criminal attackers out to get your ebike. Even though she’s a firearms instructor who rides with a gun, she agrees with me that no bike is worth risking your life, or taking another.

Mountain Bike Action considers the pros and cons of buying an e-mountain bike.

Kindhearted Ohio cops gave a new bicycle to a man whose bike was destroyed by a hit-and-run driver; he escaped with a few minor scrapes, but the bike he used as his only form of transportation wasn’t so lucky.

 

International

Bike Biz considers the month’s hottest new bike products, including new urban cross ebikes and a new Cannondale Synapse roadie with an intelligent light and radar system.

The CEO of international insurance giant Lloyd’s of London is one of us. Although he might want to make sure he’s covered, after he was injured in a bike crash over the weekend.

Tragic story from Wales, where a factory worker was killed riding his bike home from work when he grabbed hold of a coworker’s car to talk as the other man drove alongside his bike, then was thrown from his bike after his handlebars hit the side of the car.

Drivers and motorcyclists are up in arms over a new 40 mph speed limit intended to save lives on a deadly Welsh pass, amid fears they’ll just go somewhere else where higher speeds are allowed. But bicyclists are entitled, right?

 

Competitive Cycling

Former Tour de France champ and Olympic cycling star Bradley Wiggins says the best way for Britain’s Ineos team to win the Tour is to buy the contract of two-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar, and send him to the Giro, instead.

Belgium’s Alpecin-Fenix team blamed their failure at the one-day Gent-Wevelgem race on other teams not doing their part to chase down the lead group. Seriously, if your strategy relies on other teams to help you win, you’ve already lost.

 

Finally…

Build your own ebike with whatever scraps you happen to have lying around. You may never win an Olympic cycling medal, but now you can buy one.

And a rock god with a whole lotta love for riding a bike.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Young siblings victims of traffic violence in Sylmar crash, LA traffic violence spikes, and modest bike gains in Beverly Hills

March 28, 2022 / / Comments Off on Young siblings victims of traffic violence in Sylmar crash, LA traffic violence spikes, and modest bike gains in Beverly Hills

Sadly, traffic violence continues to climb on Los Angeles streets.

The latest news comes as a young brother and sister were run down as they shared a bike in LA’s Sylmar neighborhood.

At last report, the 12-year old boy and his 8-year old sister were both hospitalized in stable condition with serious injuries.

The driver remained at the scene, and as usual, was not charged.

There is something seriously wrong when children can’t ride safely on what should be a quiet neighborhood street.

Just another example of the unhealthy hegemony of cars in the City of Angels.

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In news that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, traffic injuries and fatalities spiked on Los Angeles streets in the first two months of the year, after climbing last year.

The jump comes nearly seven years after Mayor Eric Garcetti sat at a massive desk plopped down in a Boyle Heights street to sign a proclamation declaring Vision Zero in Los Angeles.

And just three years from the date he promised to end LA traffic deaths once and for all.

Maybe someone should have warned him that it would require actually taking bold action and making the tough decisions to tame traffic and reduce motor vehicle use.

Oh wait, we did.

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It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Mark Elliot of Better Bike Beverly Hills, who almost single-handedly led a shockingly successful fight to transform the former Biking Black Hole into something far friendlier to people on two wheels. Although there’s still a long way to go. .

Here he offers an update on what he terms modest wins in the city.

Despite the evident disinterest among our City Council majority (3-2) for multimodal mobility, the city has nevertheless notched a couple of modest wins for safer streets in Beverly Hills.

New leadership at the Transportation Division marks a new era. Mobility planning in Beverly Hills effectively cleared two kidney stones with the retirements of Aaron Kunz and Susan Healey Keene last year. Subsequently the mobility function was moved to Public Works from Community Development. Each change represented a big step forward. Daren Grilley and Jessie Holzer now are in charge of the transportation division and each understands the importance of safe streets. They walk the walk too, so to speak, as they both ride.

New commissioners have revitalized the Traffic & Parking Commission. For too long this commission sat idly by as crash injuries increased year-after-year. Commissioners for too long didn’t even ask why traffic enforcement in Beverly Hills took a ten-year holiday. But starting a few years ago, new appointments to the commission changed the dynamic. Now we have a safety-minded commission and a new chair: Sharon Ignarro. She really walks the walk. But hold on, we are hardly out of the woods yet: one of our councilmembers seems intent on defanging this commission. We beat-back that effort last month.

Elliot also calls on the biking and walking communities to support bike-friendly Mayor Robert Wunderlich and Councilmember John Mirisch in their campaigns for re-election to the Beverly Hills City Council.

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Hats off to the Laguna Woods bike rider who joined a couple of elderly men to confront a woman walking through the area wearing a Nazi armband, which is home to a number of Jewish retirees.

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One of our most frequent contributors, Megan Lynch will be a panelist discussing bicycling and accessibility at next month’s CalBike Summit.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1507483753014185989

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

Before you try to intimidate a woman riding a bicycle by revving your engine and honking your horn during a close pass, maybe make sure she’s not a plainclothes cop, first.

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

A British bike rider was threatened with arrest for attempting to jump a closed rail crossing barrier with his bike before finally be turned away, while another greeted cops with a “vigorous hand gesture.”

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Local

Caltrans is looking for your input on the agency’s draft Active Transportation Plan for Los Angeles and Ventura counties by April 5th.

LA Times readers aren’t fans of Governor Newsom’s plan to give rich and poor drivers alike a $400 gas tax rebate, even if they drive an e-car, while screwing anyone who doesn’t own a car. Meanwhile, the plan is criticized for undermining the governors own climate goals. But what’s a little climate emergency when there’s an election to be won by handing out piles of cash to people who don’t need it?

 

State 

Carlsbad imposes a draconian crackdown on ebikes and e-scooters, banning them from “public sidewalks, drainage ditches, culverts, channels, athletic courts or gyms,” as well as requiring riders to walk their bikes within 50 feet of a pedestrian on any trail less than five-feet wide; the city blames bike riders for 70% of all bike collisions, which defies logic.

A San Jose bike rider was lucky to avoid becoming collateral damage in a collision between two drivers, in one of the closest close calls you’re likely to see.

The Bay Area web series Comedians on Bicycles marked their season finale with a slow-motion bicycle race and a donut-eating contest.

A Marin paper says it makes sense to earmark $2.5 million to build bike and pedestrian paths along the SMART commuter rail corridors.

A Chico man learns the hard way thy shall not steal thy neighbor’s bike.

 

National

Rolling Stone gets on the ebike bandwagon, telling readers to fight high gas prices by ditching their cars and getting an ebike.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole the wheel out from under Portland’s Unipiper unicycle-riding flame-throwing bagpiper.

Proving it can be done, Seattle is taking steps to remake a major state highway that cuts through the city, with a $50 million plan to revive the corridor dying from cut-through traffic, and make the seven lane roadway welcoming to people on riding bikes and on foot. Maybe Malibu can take note before LA’s killer highway claims another innocent victim.

An Arizona woman is suing Costco and Phantom bikes for an illegal design using the right brake to stop the front wheel on their ebikes, allegedly losing an eye and suffering other injuries when the brake setup caused her to go over her handlebars.

An Idaho cop says no, you don’t have to yield to bike riders in a crosswalk, but it beats the hell out of hitting them.

Nice way to bury the lede. A Hudson Valley newspaper reports a 69-year old man was charged with wearing earbuds while riding a bike, and failing to signal his turn. Neither of which would have likely come to the attention of the police if he hadn’t been hit by a driver, first.

The New York press is quick to paint bike riders as outrageous scofflaws endangering pedestrians, but it’s just as likely the rider will suffer serious injuries in any collision with someone on foot. The latest case in point is a Harlem ebike rider who was gravely injured when he struck someone crossing the street and flew over his handlebars.

In a major safety improvement, the new protected bike lane on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge has slowed motor vehicle traffic 28%, reducing average speeds just below 20 mph. Although chances are, the drivers using the bridge won’t see that as a win.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette demands an apology from the city police department for the fatal tasing of a Black man who took a bike for a test ride around the block without permission; the victim died after officers tased him multiple times in a matter of minutes.

The Washington Post talks with the Australia native who gained social media acclaim as the Bike Man who singlehandedly slowed a DC truckers convoy protest.

No bias here. Wackadoodle rightwing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene told a crowd that ”Pete Buttigieg can take his electric vehicles and his bicycle, and he and his husband can stay out of our girls bathrooms. Yup.” Not that they were planning to take their electric cars and bicycles into one.

 

International

Brompton is recalling their new ebike foldies because the mudguard can get caught in the tire.

Travel and Leisure examines the intersection of bike tours and Michelin-starred food.

Treehugger says anecdotal evidence shows high gas prices are leading to booming ebike sales.

Canadian Cycling Magazine celebrates the Oscars with their picks for the best and worst bicycling movies. Although nothing matches the action of an open-handed Will Smith slap delivered to the face of a stunned Chris Rock.

London is facing a bikelash from Conservative councilmembers, who have taken steps to remove popup bike lanes and pedestrianized areas before they had a chance to change transportation behavior; the city’s transportation agency has responded by cutting funding to their districts.

British Olympic cycling hero Sir Chris Hoy says he’s experienced fewer close passes since the county’s new Highway Code went into effect. Although we saw the same thing in California when the three-foot passing law went into effect, but it didn’t last.

Dutch ebike maker Cowboy continues to bring in $81 million in new funding, despite record pandemic and supply chain-related losses.

Great idea. An Indian petrochemical company gave each of its 142 employees an identical new bicycle, and is encouraging them to bike to work at least once a week.

Abu Dhabi says ditch the passenger and wear a helmet if you’re riding a bike, ebike or e-scooter in an emirates bike lane.

 

Competitive Cycling

We may have glimpsed the future of pro cycling, as 21-year old Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay just missed the podium with a fifth place finish in the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, in his first full year on the pro tour — then followed it up with first place in Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem, a significant breakthrough for Black African riders. Meanwhile, Wout van Aert came in first in the E3.

https://twitter.com/eurosport/status/1508113176864468992

It says something when the great Marianne Vos says she just wasn’t fast enough to catch 24-year old Italian Elisa Balsamo in the women’s Gent-Wevelgem.

Twenty-three-year old Sergio Higuita captured the Volta a Catalunya after climbing into the lead on Saturday, fending off multiple attacks on Sunday’s final stage.

British pro Lizzy Banks is finally back in the peloton, after losing most of last season to a traumatic brain injury and a major bout with Covid.

Great news from Colombia, where former Tour de France and defending Giro winner Egan Bernal is back on a bike, just two months after a nearly fatal training crash when he slammed into the back of a poorly parked bus.

Kazakhstan pro Alexey Lutsenko will be sidelined for the foreseeable future after breaking his shoulder and collar bone while training in Tenerife.

We’re less than one week away from the world’s biggest little bike race, as men’s and women’s teams were announced for Indiana University’s famed Little 500, made famous in Breaking Away.

 

Finally…

Your next e-cargo bike could fold and glow in the dark. It doesn’t pay to play doctor if you ain’t one.

And don’t ride naked through the woods sporting wood of your own.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

74-year old Hemet man killed in San Jacinto collision, victim allegedly swerved into passing car

March 27, 2022 / / 3 comments

I don’t think so.

News broke last night that a man suffered major injuries when he somehow swerved into a car while riding in San Jacinto Saturday evening.

It seemed unlikely then.

It seems more unlikely now, after learning the victim has died.

According to My News LA, 74-year old Hemet resident Pedro Garcia was fatally injured he as he was riding in the right lane on southbound Lake Park Drive, below Soboba Road, in San Jacinto around 6:30 pm Saturday.

Riverside County Sheriff’s investigators allege Garcia somehow swerved left for no apparent reason and crashed into the side of a passing car, falling into the roadway.

He was taken to Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where he died at 11:13 pm.

The driver remained at the scene and called for help.

It’s possible that Garcia may have moved to his left without looking, or hearing the car coming up beside him.

However, it seems more likely that the driver may have been passing too close, or swerved to his right and sideswiped Garcia’s bike.

Particularly if there were no independent witnesses who observed the crash. Which seems likely, given the remote location on a weekend evening.

It’s also extremely difficult to pinpoint the exact position of a bicycling collision, due to the lack of skid marks or other forensic evidence.

Unfortunately, Garcia isn’t around to give his side of the story, which leaves the driver’s statement as the only evidence for deputies to base their investigation on. And drivers have a vested interest in seeing their own actions in the best possible light, regardless of the circumstances.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call Deputy Ray Cortez of the San Jacinto Sheriff’s Station at 951/654-2702, or the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at 951/776-1099.

This is at least the 27th bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Riverside County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Pedro Garcia and his loved ones.

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

Hit-and-run driver busted in death of 15-year old Riverside boy, and Metro active transportation virtual meeting next week

March 25, 2022 / / Comments Off on Hit-and-run driver busted in death of 15-year old Riverside boy, and Metro active transportation virtual meeting next week

Maybe there will be justice for Javier Gonzales after all.

Police in Riverside arrested 37-year old Rosendo Morales Caldera for the hit-and-run death of the 15-year old bike rider, who was killed on the first of this month.

Gonzales was riding salmon with a group of friends when he was run down by by the driver of a large black pickup, who kept going without slowing or stopping.

Caldera is currently being held behind bars in lieu of bail.

Police impounded his black Chevy truck as evidence, which should happen in every alleged hit-and-run.

But too often doesn’t.

………

Here’s your chance to tell Metro what you need to be safer in your commute and community.

And maybe mention it’s time to stop wasting money on highway projects in the middle of a climate emergency.

https://twitter.com/MaverickMPA/status/1507238721891889153

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SoCal’s killer highway continues to claim new victims.

I’m told the victim works at the Getty Villa, which leaves no viable option to commute by bike other than PCH, which continues to operate as a cut-through highway when it should be Malibu’s Main Street.

https://twitter.com/KendallCaroline/status/1507034282799161360

Thanks to Todd Munson for the heads-up. 

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Slow roll Adams Blvd on Sunday to check out LADOT’s safety improvements on the formerly dangerous corridor.

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LACBC invites you to attend their first-ever Bike Salon on Thursday, which will actually be held in person, rather than virtually.

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OC bike advocate Mike Wilkinson is parting ways with his lovingly used tandem.

https://twitter.com/mikeocbike/status/1507128123044687873

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Apparently, even a five-year old can beat rush hour traffic on his way to school Britain. Even without decent bikeways.

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

In a prime example of too little, if not too late, Las Vegas area cops clamped down on drivers who endanger bike riders, enforcing traffic laws and educating motorists on how to share the road — for a whole four hours. Now they just need to do something the other 8,756 hours in the year.

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

Police busted a man who robbed a Kansas gas station, then made his getaway by bicycle. Maybe he was really just an anti-car freedom fighter raising funds for the rebellion. It could happen. 

………

Local

No bias here. The Hancock Park Homeowners Association hosted a candidate forum for the people running to replace Paul Koretz in CD5 — but notably excluded former Mid City West Neighborhood Council chair Scott Epstein, a longtime supporter of a bike-friendly street on 4th Street opposed by the wealthy neighborhood.

 

State 

A 58-year old Rancho Bernardo man is planning to ride 3,400 miles across the US to raise funds for diabetic research, inspired by his 25-year old daughter, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was just eight months old.

A 32-year old Fresno man was stabbed when he tried to defend himself from a group of men who demanded his bike; fortunately, he’s expected to make a full recovery.

Sad news from Eureka, where someone on a bicycle was killed when they were run down by the driver of a pickup.

 

National

PeopleForBikes celebrates the removal of Trump’s 25% tariffs on Chinese-made bicycles and parts.

USA Today says you need an ebike to cope with rising gas prices. Meanwhile, CleanTechnica provides a primer on the proper care and feeding of your ebike.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission issued a recall for Ninebot Children’s Bicycle Helmets for failing to meet minimum federal safety standards.

Black and brown Colorado bike riders say the state’s proposed Stop As Yield law, aka the stop sign part of the Idaho Stop Law, would keep them safer from both cars and cops, reducing the risk of Biking While Black or Brown stops that target people of color, as well as reducing potentially dangerous interactions with police. Maybe that argument that would finally get a California bill past Newsom’s veto pen.

Hurry up to Yellowstone, where you can enjoy 49 miles of blissfully carfree roads for the next three weeks, before the national park is opened to motor vehicles. Although you still need to keep an eye peeled for bears and bison, among other potentially unfriendly fauna.

Even in Iowa, people are biking to work instead of driving, while a writer for the University of Iowa student newspaper says now is the perfect time to start bicycling.

A Memphis man is turning old car and truck tires into decorative barriers to protect people on bicycles.

Boston bike advocates point out the benefits of bicycling while calling for safer conditions on the streets.

A Louisiana driver who killed a bike rider last month tested positive for narcotics following the crash, though there’s no mention of what he was allegedly on.

A Florida man was convicted — again — of killing a teenaged boy over a stolen bicycle when he was just 15 years old. The victim had purchased the boy’s stolen bicycle, not knowing it was hot, then offered to sell it back to him for just $10; he returned with a gun after riding the bike home because he felt disrespected. The original conviction had been overturned because police had questioned him after he requested a lawyer. We’ve said it before — no bike is worth taking or sacrificing a life. Period.

 

International

Bike Radar offers a buyers guide to bike trailers, while confessing that yes, they do change how you have to ride and the way your bike feels

Bizarre case from Wales, where a woman played doctor — literally — by treating the victim of an ebike crash, despite having no medical background. Yet she somehow walked with the equivalent of a lousy $790 fine.

Oops. Scofflaw drivers who parked in an English shared bus and bike lane will get their fines refunded, after the city discovered the authorization for the lane had expired and they hadn’t bothered to renew it.

Life is cheap in Jersey, where a 67-year old driver walked with the equivalent of a $6,500 fine for the right-cross crash — the equivalent of a left-cross in the US — that likely left a bike-riding woman with lifelong pain from a broken back, fractured rib and collapsed lung.

A new study from a UC Berkeley researcher looks at the remarkably rapid Parisian bike boom, as the city transformed itself during the Covid pandemic.

Add this one to your bike bucket list. British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid rides the 75-mile car-free Vennbahn rail-trail through Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg, which remains a 30-foot wide swath of Belgium even as it passes through the other countries.

 

Competitive Cycling

Milan-San Remo winner Matej Mohorič says it wasn’t just the dropper post that delivered his victory, he also used oversized disc rotors and new, secret wheel bearings.

 

Finally…

Maybe God is out to get us, too. People are more likely to bike commute when slower drivers are less likely to kill them.

And that feeling when you try to break an iPhone by riding your bike off a phone booth.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

26-year old man on bicycle killed by ice cream truck driver in San Marcos crash; victim reportedly under the influence

March 24, 2022 / / Comments Off on 26-year old man on bicycle killed by ice cream truck driver in San Marcos crash; victim reportedly under the influence

At least the driver stuck around this time.

Several nearly identical sources are reporting a man riding a bike was killed by the driver of an ice cream truck in San Marcos Wednesday night.

The collision occurred at the intersection of Pico Ave and West Mission Road a little after 8 pm.

According to witnesses, the victim, identified only as a 26-year old man, was riding southwest across the intersection against a red light, when he was struck by the driver turning west onto Mission.

The only way that makes sense is if he was riding south on Pico, and was struck in a left cross when the driver turned with the left arrow, which would mean the driver had a red light.

He died at the scene.

San Diego sheriff’s deputies were quick to blame the victim, suggesting that he may have been under the influence, and said he wasn’t wearing a helmet.

There’s no word on why they suspect he was drunk, however. And as we’ve noted before, whether or not he had a helmet only matters if he died of a head injury, or if the collision might have been survivable with one.

That’s questionable, given that video from the scene shows it was a full-size food truck, rather than a smaller van, that hit him.

Use caution viewing the video, though, since it shows a blurred shot of the covered victim lying in the street next to his bike.

This is at least the 26th bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the second that I’m aware of in San Diego County.

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

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

Metro forgets Complete Streets promises, help put the buena back in Buena Park, and Newsom to bike riders: drop dead

March 24, 2022 / / 2 comments

Once again, Metro gets it wrong.

In its zeal to keep building highway projects in the midst of a climate emergency, the LA County transit agency is starting work on a new $26 million interchange where the 605 and Beverly Blvd meet.

But despite the agency’s professed commitment to Complete Streets, they’re not including bike lanes, even though the roadway will be wide enough to accommodate them at some distant, unspecified date.

Because evidently, they just can’t find a few extra bucks in that $26 million budget for a couple more cans of white paint.

………

Speaking of Metro, Streets For All takes the agency to task for their ever-expanding freeway spending.

As if they didn’t learn anything about induced demand from their failed $1 billion project to add express lanes to the 405 through Sepulveda Pass.

Which they probably didn’t.

This is was the email the group sent out yesterday.

Did you know Metro is planning on increasing their freeway budget by $142 million next year?

Metro’s 2023 draft budget will increase Freeway spending by 30%. This comes after last year’s 80% increase in freeway spending, and at the same time as transit expansion funding is being decreased in 2023.

Freeways continue to cause massive health and climate impacts among LA’s most vulnerable populations while making traffic worse.

Tell the metro board not to increase freeway spending by calling in to the Metro Board meeting tomorrow at 10am (most impactful) or emailing public comment before 5pm TODAY.

Unfortunately, it’s too late to send an email. But you may still have time to call in your comment this morning.

Meanwhile, Metro will consider a pair of bikeway projects at today’s meeting that would connect the LA River bike path with Union Station in DTLA.

………

Help put the buena back in Buena Park. The OC city wants your input on a new Complete Streets project.

https://twitter.com/mikeocbike/status/1506818810682085377

………

California Governor Gavin Newsom is once again throwing money around prior to an election.

But this time, it goes out to everyone but us.

At stake is the governor’s proposal for a $400 per car rebate for drivers, in lieu of freezing the gas tax as a sop to people complaining about rising gas taxes.

The money would go out to everyone with a car registered in California, for up to two vehicles, no matter how wealthy the owner, or how environmentally destructive the vehicle is.

Or if it even uses gas.

Meanwhile, transit riders would get a three month fare reprieve. And a relatively paltry $500 million would go towards active transportation projects in the state.

https://twitter.com/urbanistcole/status/1506792515982217219

In other words, Newsom is doing everything in his power to maintain the automotive hegemony on our streets, regardless of the environmental damage, rather than use the crisis as an opportunity to make a sea change in how people get around in our state.

And not one penny to the people who did the right thing, and made the sometimes difficult, but environmentally sound, decision to give up their cars.

Instead of rebates to car owners who don’t need them — and in many cases, should have purchased a less wasteful and destructive vehicle to begin with — Newsom should make all transit systems within the state free.

Not just for three months, but permanently.

He should also pay people a monthly stipend to walk or bike to work instead of driving — enough to actually get people out of their cars. Then use the remaining funds to build the infrastructure necessary to support it.

Instead, we’re just doubling down on the same problems that got us here in the first place.

And learning absolutely nothing from the last gas crisis, while just setting us up for the next one.

………

Unbelievable. A young Indian boy miraculously survives when his bike was crushed by a city bus after he darted out across the roadway on his bicycle and broadsided a motorcyclist, then skidded across the roadway just inches in front of the moving bus.

………

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

No bias here. A Santa Barbara letter writer and former “frequent bicyclist” complains about the “bike lobby” that has “gained outsized power in the city government,” while conflating off-street bike paths with on-street bike lanes, and complaining that few people who ride the bike paths are riding to work. And that people in cars, who are apparently far more important than bike riders, really, really need their parking spaces. Although someone should ask him why he stopped riding, and if it had anything to do with a lack of safe bikeways.

A Scottish city is being justifiably criticized for leaving a huge lamppost in the middle of a new bike lane, evidently preferring to risk the safety of people using the lane than pay to move it.

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

An anonymous Portland writer complains about “asshole bicyclists” who ignore No Bikes Allowed On Trails signs to ride on walking trails in environmentally sensitive areas. Aside from making it clear he or she is as much of an a-hole as the people they’re complaining about, the writer has a point. Never ride where you could cause real harm to fragile landscapes.

Police in Ohio are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who slammed into the side of an SUV after running a stop sign, and took off on foot when the driver called the police.

………

Local

Metro Bike returns to North Hollywood with new and improved bikeshare docking stations designed to accommodate any Metro Bike from anywhere in the city.

Culver City Patch reports on the 10th anniversary celebration of children’s bike advocacy group Walk ‘N Rollers.

 

State 

That feeling when your new Ducati bicycle isn’t made by Ducati, but comes as a tribute to the Italian motorbike brand from an Irvine-based ebike maker.

Danville is looking for volunteers to serve on the city’s six-person Bicycle Advisory Commission.

A Sebastopol winemaker faces up to 12 years and eight months behind bars after pleading guilty to the drunken crash that took the life of a bike-riding man, and cost the leg of a 12-year old boy who just happened to be riding near him; or he could walk with just time served. Ulises Valdez Jr. was nearly twice the legal blood alcohol limit following the collision.

 

National

Forbes offers their picks for the best bikes to ride anywhere, from the mountains to the bodega.

Bicycling offers a clickbait slideshow with their recommendations for the ten best women’s bike helmets for any kind of rider. Because why let someone just scroll to the one that suits them when you can get a few extra clicks? As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

This is the cost of traffic violence. A speeding San Antonio, Texas mom lost control and rolled her car, killing an innocent 18-year old bike rider, while injuring herself and her baby. Anyone who drives like that with a baby in the car should have either the car or the baby taken away.

Houston police were quick to blame the victim after a bike rider was killed by a  dump truck driver in a pre-dawn crash, accusing him of darting in front of the truck in what appears to be a single witness crash. Which seems somewhat unlikely, since most bike riders try to stay the hell away from massive trucks.

Completing our Texas trifecta, a Seguin, Texas man was extradited from Mexico for the fatal 2018 shooting of a man riding a bicycle; no explanation was given for why he allegedly murdered the victim, who was described as a good man who helped his neighbors.

A Kansas City public radio station profiles the city’s Black-led Major Taylor Cycling Club, saying they may not be the fastest, but make everyone feel welcome.

She gets it. A Cambridge, Massachusetts letter writer says you can support both small businesses and bike lanes, and that the two actually complement and benefit one another.

A New York morning newspaper says a two-way, barrier-protected bike lane brought a belated bike boom to the Brooklyn Bridge. Either they have an editor who loves alteration almost as much as I do, or they had an over-abundance of Bs they had to use before they went bad.

A Pittsburgh PA bike shop also hosts the world’s largest bicycle museum, with over 4,000 bicycles of every description.

Speaking of Pittsburgh, five of the eight cops involved have been fired for the fatal tasing of a man accused of riding a bicycle without permission; the victim was shocked repeatedly in a short period of time for the crime of taking the unattended bike for a test ride around the block.

To the surprise of no one, an arrest warrant has been issued for the woman who led a bike cop on a slow speed chase through a Florida airport while riding a self-propelled suitcase after she failed to appear for a court hearing.

 

International

They get it. A Halifax, Nova Scotia newspaper says SUVs are driving us to climate calamity, adding it will never be environmentally sound to use two tons of material to move roughly 200 pounds of human.

A self-described bicycling virgin shares their thoughts on riding in Manchester, England.

London’s mayor says the reputation of the city’s transportation department is at stake if bicyclists keep dying at a busy intersection.

A former British mayor and councilor accused bike riders ignoring a ban on bikes on a popular climb of being “an organized gang…who are up to no good.”

Luxembourg — the city, not the country, although the city is in the country — announced plans for seven new bike boulevards, joining three successful bike boulevards opened last year. Although someone should tell them that bikes and cobbles like the ones in the photo aren’t the best combination.

A new Italian bike light puts out a massive 5,000 lumens, yet weighs less than two ounces; it can be yours via Kickstarter starting around $138.

The women who founded Turkey’s annual Fancy Women Bike Ride have been honored with a special UN recognition for promoting bicycling; the ride has now spread around the world.

The US has finally removed the onerous 25% tariff on many Chinese bicycles, including kid’s bikes, ebikes and accessories.

That tariff change comes just in time for a Chinese company introducing a new wireless ebike charging system, which works like a charging pad for your cellphone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Canadian Cycling Magazine looks at the surprisingly long list of active pro cyclists who died of heart attacks.

 

Finally…

Your toddler may get a magnesium-framed Bentley before you do, if you do. Your dog may get a Burley before your kid does.

And we may have to deal with angry LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about rampaging ostrich escapees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY0qIIzIFn8

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Bike-riding man killed in El Monte hit-and-run; fourth fatal SoCal bike hit-and-run in three weeks

March 23, 2022 / / 4 comments

Another day, another bike rider murdered by a hit-and-run driver.

According to My News LA, El Monte police are searching for a driver who didn’t have the basic human decency to stick around after running down a man riding a bicycle.

The victim, identified as 59-year old El Monte resident Ruben Vicario, was struck at Lower Azusa Road and El Monte Ave around 9 pm Tuesday.

He died at the scene.

The suspect vehicle was described as a red or burgundy 2019-2021 Toyota sedan; no description was given for the driver.

There’s no word on how the collision occurred.

Anyone with information is urged to call the El Monte Police Department at 626/580-2100.

This is at least the 25th bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Ten of those SoCal deaths have been hit-and-runs, including the last four in a row.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Ruben Vicario and his loved ones. 

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

SoCal bike riders suffer critical injuries, Roadkill Gil shows his windshield bias, and shiny new Riverside Drive bike lanes

March 23, 2022 / / One comment

It’s been a rough few days for SoCal bike riders.

In addition to a man killed by a hit-and-run driver in LA’s Cypress Park, Citizen reports a bike rider suffered “grievous” injuries when they were struck by a driver in the Pico-Union neighborhood Tuesday evening.

And a 13-year old boy suffered life-threatening injuries when he was run down by a cargo van driver as he was riding his bike in Beaumont Monday morning; needless to say, the 19-year old driver was not ticketed or charged. Although Patch says the victim was a girl.

………

Anti-bike CD1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo demonstrates his windshield bias, while showing he has no great love for pedestrians, either.

Thanks to John Lloyd for the heads-up. 

………

LADOT shows off the freshly painted — and soon to be bollard protected — bike lanes on Riverside Drive.

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If someone loaned you a bike pump during Sunday’s Marathon Crash Ride, LA Bike Dad would like it back, please.

………

It’s no surprise when AAA gets bike safety wrong.

Or when Peter Flax calls them on it.

Speaking of which, a Tucson, Arizona driver who apparently lacked the ability to change lanes somehow felt the need to blare their horn at a parent protectively riding with a small child on an otherwise quiet side street.

……….

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

Welsh police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who intentionally ran down a man riding an ebike, sending the victim to the hospital with serious injuries.

No bias here. An Aussie columnist responds to a vicious road rage attack on a bike rider by calling for safer roads and better protection for bicyclists. But something seemingly got lost on the way to the headline.

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

A man and woman will spend the rest of their lives behind bars for the murder of a Fremont CA executive chef to cash in on his life insurance policies; a neighbor saw the man ride his bike away from the victim’s home after hearing gunshots.

………

Local

No surprise here, as Los Angeles continues to lead the nation with country’s most polluted air — and some of the highest gas prices —  as the city has failed to provide any safe and effective alternatives to driving, despite the mayor’s Green New Deal and a groundbreaking mobility plan that continues to gather dust. Although there may be hope.

Streetsblog explores Huntington Park’s new 10-block, half-mile long linear Veterans Park, complete with a paved biking and walking trail.

 

State 

California Streetsblog offers a compendium of bike and pedestrian bills in the state legislature. Although the question is less what they can pass as what can get past Gavin Newsom’s veto pen, who appears to be trying to out Jerry Brown Jerry Brown.

Time to take those baseball cards out of your spokes. The California Senate Transportation Committee has approved a bill that would allow six cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, to use automated noise monitors to ticket loud cars and motorcycles, similar to red light cams.

San Diego continues its bikeway expansion, with plans to install a protected bike lane on a one-mile section of Park Blvd in the University Heights neighborhood.

Palo Alto sacrificed a more than $900,000 federal grant to build separated bike paths and traffic-calming measures in the south part of the city, after failing to get their shit together for the past five years.

San Francisco continues their successful quick-build program, approving plans for a buffered and parking-protected bike lane on Evans Ave, despite a lack of protection in some areas. To which Los Angeles responds, “Wait. How can you build something without years of public meetings to water it down until it doesn’t offend or protect anyone?”

They get it. Davis police blame an inattentive driver for pulling out of a parking lot without looking, cutting off a seven-year old girl riding her bike with her grandmother and siblings, and dragging her under the wheel well; fortunately, she’s expected to recover after surgery to repair a broken leg.

 

National

To paraphrase a popular poster from the ’60s, free parking is not healthy for children and other living things.

Bicycling wants to tell you how to choose the best bike lights. But only if you subscribe, since this one doesn’t seem to be available on Yahoo.

More on the Fox News meltdown over Joe Biden’s bike ride on the beach, as Eric Trump questions what message it sends the world when the president is riding a beach cruiser in the middle of a weekend day. Maybe that it’s not time to panic, and it’s okay to take a breath before diving back in to save the world.

This is what we need in Los Angeles. Eight Seattle bike riders are suing the city over injuries they received while struggling to ride through an unfinished section of a popular bikeway. If every LA bike rider who was injured on one of the many unbuilt bikeways contained in the mobility plan sued the city over it, we might actually force them to build out the damn thing.

Las Vegas announced plans for a 17-acre bike park, which will finally give visitors to the city something to do after they lose all their money.

Colorado corrected a well-intentioned mistake by legalizing Stop As Yield, aka the Idaho Stop, throughout the state. A previous version of the law allowed individual jurisdictions to approve it, resulting in a patchwork where a bike rider could legally roll a stop in one city, and get ticketed for it in the next.

This is who we share the bike path with. A Montana driver was busted for his 4th DUI in 12 years when he was stopped for driving on a Kalispell biking and walking path. Just one more example of authorities keeping dangerous drivers on the road. Probably not the best idea to threaten the cop, either. 

Sad news from the DC area, where a beloved bike advocate and bike race organizer was killed when he was run down from behind by a van driver while riding in Maryland; 51-year old Shawn Blumenfeld rose from a bike courier to a respected leader in the bicycling community.

A DC driver kept apologizing after blowing through a stop sign, and hitting a father with his two-year old daughter on the back of his bike; the little girl suffered a small skull fracture, despite her father positioning his bike so he took the brunt of the impact. Maybe instead of apologizing, just don’t run stop signs and try not to crash into people on bicycles.

 

International

Apparently, recording scofflaw drivers and reporting them to the police makes you a snitch, at least in the eyes of a London columnist. I’d gladly accept that mantle if they’d just legalize video-based infraction and misdemeanor prosecutions on this side of the Atlantic. 

Bicyclists in the French city of Lyon have started a competition to find the worst parking jobs by drivers — or as they put it, “Garé comme une merde,” which loosely translates to “parked like crap.”

 

Competitive Cycling

WaPo spends a day with pro cyclist Ayesha McGowan, the first Black rider in the women’s pro peloton, as part of their series on the daily lives of working women.

Sad news from Colombia, where former pro and six-time Tour de France cyclist Samuel Cabrera was killed in a lightening strike while working on his farm; he was 61.

Italian cyclist Sonny Colbrelli was reportedly conscious and feeling okay, a day after collapsing at the finish line of Monday’s stage of the Volta a Catalunya.

Scary/funny moment in Spain’s Volta a Catalunya, where Mattias Skjelmose Jensen went over the side of the road. And rose up from the deep drop demanding a new bike before heading off to a top ten finish.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have so many stolen bikes they’re visible on Google Earth.

And everyone knows you can’t go grocery shopping on a bicycle, right?

Right?

https://twitter.com/gspeng/status/1506497277866643456

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Bike-riding man left to die by hit-and-run driver in Cypress Park; 9th fatal SoCal bicycling hit-and-run this year

March 22, 2022 / / Comments Off on Bike-riding man left to die by hit-and-run driver in Cypress Park; 9th fatal SoCal bicycling hit-and-run this year

Yet another bike rider has been murdered by a hit-and-run driver.

The Eastsider is reporting that a man was killed riding his bike in LA’s Cypress Park neighborhood Saturday evening.

According to the LAPD, the victim was riding east on San Fernando Road near Pepper Street when he was rear-ended by an unknown driver around 7:15 pm.

The victim was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was described only as a man in his 50s or older, which suggests that he has still not been identified three days after his death.

Police investigators have been unable to find any witnesses to the crash, but are attempting to identify the suspect vehicle from debris left at the scene.

The crash occurred somewhere near the park. It happened just minutes after sunset, so victim should have still been visible, with or without lights.

Anyone with information is urged to contact LAPD Detective Berdin at 213/833-3713 or email 31958@lapd.online.

This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California already this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. It’s also the fourth that has been publicly reported in the City of Los Angeles.

Nine of those SoCal deaths have been hit-and-runs.

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

Thanks to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton for the heads-up. 

 

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