San Diego TV station almost gets why no one’s using bike lane, and man turns himself in for San Marcos hit-and-run

September 25, 2024 / / Comments Off on San Diego TV station almost gets why no one’s using bike lane, and man turns himself in for San Marcos hit-and-run
Just 96 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Let me get this straight.

San Diego’s CBS-8 revisited the city’s new “protected” bike lanes on busy Convoy Street to see how they’re fairing, several weeks after they were opened.

What they found were white car-tickler plastic posts that were already broken and bent, commercial trucks parked in the bike lanes, and shopping carts and other debris blocking them.

Then they wondered why they only saw five people using them in the two midday, mid-week hours they happened to be watching.

Of course, they also heard the usual complaints from drivers who couldn’t figure out the new streetscape, or where they could possibly park if they can’t store their cars on the street directly in front of their destination.

Never mind that the bike lanes were built in anticipation of new apartment buildings currently under construction, which will add hundreds of housing units and the people who will live in them, and who will have to get around somehow.

Preferably not by driving.

Hence the bike lanes.

But it’s true that few people will bother to use them if they’re not safe, or safely rideable. Which is pretty much what the station saw.

Now maybe they can come back at rush hour or on the weekend, after they’re cleaned up and the trucks are gone.

Then they could do a far better story about why flimsy plastic bollards don’t protect anyone.

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A 23-year old San Marcos man was arrested after turning himself into sheriff’s deputies for last week’s hit-and-run that left a teenage boy with serious injuries.

Never mind that deputies had already found his massive 2021 GMC Sierra pickup, which matched the debris found following the crash — and showed signs he had attempted to conceal the damage.

Not to mention that the nearly one-week delay in turning himself in gave him plenty of time to sober up after hitting the boy’s ebike.

If he’d been under the influence at the time of the crash, of course.

The driver, Alan Edmundo Reyes, is being held on $80,000 bond on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and reckless driving resulting in injury.

He’s likely looking at a maximum of 30 months behind bars for the two counts, though that will probably be bargained down to a slap on the wrist if he accepts a plea.

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Unlike the foot-dragging we’ve seen from the City of Los Angeles, LA County passed a new Measure HLA-type law to speed up building the county bike plan as streets get resurfaced.

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If you think you’re being squeezed out on the streets, you’re probably right.

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Just in case you still wonder why traffic deaths for people outside of motor vehicles keep going up.

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“Chim, chimney, chim, chimney, chim, chim, cher-ee…”

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1838643621609804108

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It’s now 280 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.

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

A Conservative member of the British Parliament proposes re-introducing legislation to let bicyclists know they’re not above the law, and let the “small minority” of dangerous bike riders know there are responsibilities they can be prosecuted for. At least he recognizes that it’s just a few people who need to be held accountable.

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Local  

The candidates for West Hollywood City Council sound off about e-scooters and protected bike lanes, particularly the proposal for a lane reduction and removing parking on Fountain to install them. And not everyone is in favor.

Santa Monica’s MANGo bikeway is now officially open.

 

State

A California Streetsblog board member pledges to go a week without driving, and tell us all about it. Just wait until she learns some people do that every day. 

We’re still waiting for Gavin Newsom to sign SB 961, which would require all passenger vehicles to give an audible warning if the drivers go more than 10 mph over the speed limit. Or not.

Calbike is celebrating its 30th birthday, and inviting you to become a dues paying member.

A 28-year old Chula Vista woman has made a miraculous recovery from a near fatal blood clot, suffered days after she got stitches when she crashed her ebike.

San Francisco unveils a plan for a new curbside bike lane on Valencia Street, replacing the current contentious centerline bike lane, although the new parking protected bike lane has to swerve around existing parklets.

The Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition says the city’s new Biking and Rolling Plan must apply to the entire city, and not carve out Chinatown for exemptions.

 

National

A Tucson, Arizona TV station says the return of the annual El Tour De Tucson means big business for local bike shops. Then again, bike events usually mean big business for just about everyone. 

An Aspen, Colorado writer takes obvious pride in not falling for the ebike “hype,” saying there’s nothing cool about them and comparing ebikes to…wait for it…pickleball.

A Colorado woman wonders about a strange “very short” mile-long bike lane. Even if that’s a lot longer than a lot of the bike lanes here in Los Angeles, and just as disconnected.

Police in Oklahoma City busted two men for a twenty grand bike heist, and are looking for another man who’s still on the lam.

The New York Times talks with the city’s Blue Angels who found a way to game the bikeshare system to score thousands of dollars a month.

 

International

It turns out that Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Jackman, Pink, Sheryl Crow, Reggie Miller, Rush drummer Neil Peart, Zac Efron, J-Lo and Arnold are all one of us, too.

The co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes and co-host of the All Bodies on Bikes podcast shares her non-racing bike heroes, including a Paralympian physical therapist and the founder of Black Girl Joy Ride.

Momentum examines Canada’s top new cities for urban bicycling, starting with the top urban cycling city on the prairie.

The CBC fact checks Ontario Premier Doug Ford recent comments opposing bike lanes, including the common myth that they slow emergency vehicles. Yes, he’s the brother of notorious crack-smoking, bike-hating former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.

London is seizing ebikes illegally modified to exceed speed limitations, with most belonging to delivery riders who use them for their work.

Unsurprisingly, Sheffield, England’s new Dutch-style bikeways and roundabouts are drawing mixed reviews, largely depending on whether the reviewer bikes or drives.

A new study from Lyon, France shows that allowing bike riders to travel through red lights could improve traffic efficiency.

A Manilla bicycling brigade is fighting to cut the Philippine city’s endless traffic and pollution.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo looks forward to this weekend’s men’s road world championships, framing it as Tadej Pogačar versus the world, while Cyclist looks at the favorites for the women’s road worlds.

Velo also recaps last weekend’s men’s and women’s time trial worlds.

Thrice Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar admits he used to shit his pants after every race, the result of too many energy gels and drinks.

 

Finally…

You can’t sail a modern America’s Cup boat anymore without us. Now you, too, can bike in the glowing footsteps of Oppenheimer and Teller.

And it’s not every day you see a pedaling cow.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

CA Governor Newsom signs bills to speed coastal bike lanes, and ban requiring road widening with new construction

September 24, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 97 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Photo of protected bike lane in Redondo Beach by Ted Faber.

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Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will make building bike lanes near the coast faster and easier by removing a requirement for a Coastal Commission study.

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The state also stepped in where Los Angeles tried and failed, as Newsom signed a bill banning cities from requiring automatic road widening with new building projects.

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The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is launching a new campaign to “demand a visionary Biking and Rolling Plan from our city officials, that helps us achieve our transportation, climate, and congestion goals — and makes our streets safer and more joyful. ”

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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Demi Moore is one of us — or was, anyway — riding her bike 60 miles roundtrip from her Malibu home to the Hollywood studio where she was filming Indecent Proposal back in the ’90s, to lose weight after the birth of her second child. Then again, the Boss was one of us back in the day, too.

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Add this one to the pantheon bad headlines.

Because of course it was the woman on the bicycle who hit the car, and not the other way around. And yes, there might have been a driver involved, too.

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It’s now 279 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.

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

An English bike rider narrowly avoided serious injury when copper thieves failed to replace a manhole cover on a narrow bike path, leaving a large, gaping hole.

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

A group of bike-riding Stockton, California teens caused a couple thousand dollars damage by throwing terracotta pots at passing cars. Although it’s questionable what their bicycles had to do with it.

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Local  

There will be a public meeting in El Monte tomorrow evening to discuss dedicated bus lanes and class IV physically separated bike lanes on Rosemead Blvd in South El Monte.

Streets For All endorsed Santa Monica’s Measure K increasing the city’s Parking Facility Tax to improve traffic safety and safe routes to schools, while rejecting Measure PSK to divert half of that new revenue to the cops and other public safety departments.

 

State

Residents of San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood are just the latest to complain about teenaged kids recklessly riding ebikes, although the ones shown are better classified as low-powered electric motorcycles.

Police in Santa Barbara busted a trio of suspected knife-wielding bike thieves after tracking them with an AirTag.

Ouch. A Fresno bicyclist was rushed to surgery with multiple stab wounds after his bike was stolen by a man armed with a garden rake.

Speaking of Fresno, the local cops wrote 206 citations during the city’s latest bicycle and pedestrian safety operation on Saturday, including 41 bicyclists and pedestrians.

 

National

Bicycling offers budget-friendly upgrades to improve your bike rides. But reading the article isn’t one of them, because you’ll need a subscription to do it. 

NPR’s Code Switch podcast considers the question of whether bike lanes cause gentrification, as UCLA researcher Adonia Lugo says says that’s the kind of question you have to ask to be part of the mobility justice movement.

Now you, too, can ride you bike to the 14,115-foot summit of Colorado’s iconic Pikes Peak — home to the iconic Pikes Peak Hill Climb auto race — covering 19 miles and more than 6,500 feet of vertical gain.

Houston’s Metro transportation agency pulled the plug on the city’s $10.5 million bikeshare program.

The Illinois State University student newspaper asks if bicycling is a form of civic engagement. Short answer, yes. Longer answer is the same.

Sad news from Massachusetts, where Parlee Cycles founder Bob Parlee died at age 70 after a four-year battle with cancer; Cycling Weekly credits Parlee with “revolutionizing the handmade bicycle industry with his expertise in composite materials.”

A handful of New York bicyclists found a way to game the Citi Bike bikeshare algorithm, earning thousands of dollars a month by bike flipping — moving bikes from one station to another, then moving them back 15 minutes late. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

BMX pro Nigel Sylvester introduced a new version of his Nike Bike Air shoes at the Sneaker Con convention in New York, but no word on whether they will be released to the public.

A Baltimore program teaches kids how to fix their own bicycles, repairing their perspectives in the process.

 

International

A strategist for a London ad agency says bicycle brands need to reduce the cost of bikes before they lose the next generation of bicyclists.

A Chinese website looks back to consider how Shanghai became the country’s city of bicycles, producing China’s first bicycle in the 19th Century, before becoming home to the Phoenix and Forever brands after the communist revolution.

 

Competitive Cycling

L39ion of Los Angeles crit specialist Skylar Schneider is making her way back to the WorldTour, rejoining the SD Worx-Protime team three years after leaving to race in the US.

The African cycling movement continues to grow, as Tanzanian cyclist Richard Laizer became the first rider from the country to compete in the worlds.

Belgian pro Thomas De Gendt called it a career after 16 years with the pro tour, including stage wins in Tour de France, Giro and Vuelta.

 

Finally…

No, your ebike isn’t supposed to go 70 mph — especially on city streets. Your new ebike could be just one letter from a real schmuck.

And it’s never too early for a skeletal pedicab driver.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

LAPD looks for killer Koreatown hit-and-run scooter rider, and Vermont Knolls hit-and-run driver who injured bike rider

September 23, 2024 / / 3 comments
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

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

70-year old man riding bicycle killed by 92-year old driver in San Diego collision, 10th San Diego County bike death this year

September 21, 2024 / / Comments Off on 70-year old man riding bicycle killed by 92-year old driver in San Diego collision, 10th San Diego County bike death this year

Enough, already.

For the third time in just the last five days, someone has been killed riding a bicycle in Southern California.

And this time, it’s clear there was nothing victim could have done to avoid it.

San Diego’s Fox 5 is reporting that a 70-year old man was killed when he was left-crossed by a 92-year old driver in the city’s Roseville/Fleet Ridge neighborhood Saturday afternoon.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding east on Evergreen Street at Cañon Street around 2:38 pm, when the woman turned left into his path. He hit her right rear door, and died after being taken to a local hospital.

The driver remained at the scene and was not injured.

A crash like this should raise the issue of how old is too old to drive. But sadly, it probably won’t.

Anyone with more information is urged to call the San Diego Police Department at 888/580-8477.

This is at least the 39th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the tenth that I’m aware of in San Diego County.

That’s more than one every month.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

93-year old man killed riding his bike in Westminster; ninth Orange County bike death in nine months

September 21, 2024 / / 2 comments

More bad news while I was out of commission this week.

Multiple sources are reporting that a 93-year old man was killed by a driver while riding his bike in Westminster.

Or maybe he was 92, and from Fountain Valley.

The victim was struck around 4:15 pm while riding at Newland Street and Bolsa Ave.

The man, who has not been publicly identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the efforts of paramedics.

For once, the driver stuck around afterwards. Westminster police said drugs or alcohol didn’t appear to play a role in the crash.

There’s no word on how the crash occurred, or who may have been at fault. Except that anyone who can still ride a bicycle at that age deserved better.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Westminster Police watch commander at 714/548-3767.

This is at least the 38th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and ninth that I’m aware of in Orange County — a rate of one every month.

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

Thanks to Arthur W. Bauer for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

Update: Man riding bicycle killed by two hit-and-run drivers in Northridge; nearly 40% of all 2024 SoCal bike deaths hit-and-runs

September 21, 2024 / / 12 comments

Once again, a heartless coward left a helpless bike rider lying injured in the street for someone else to kill.

And someone did.

And that one fled the scene, too.

Multiple sources are reporting that a person on a bicycle, publicly identified only as a man in his early 50s, was struck from behind by the driver of a gray Honda around 9:15 pm Thursday on Lindley Ave near Napa Street in LA’s Northridge neighborhood.

He was thrown into the street, landing back in the right lane, where he was hit again by the driver of a gray pickup.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Both drivers fled the scene without stopping to render aid or identify themselves, as required by law.

Witnesses reported that several vehicles had struck the victim, but video from the scene showed only two drivers actually hit him, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division at 818/644-8025 or 818/644-8117, or call 877/527-3247 after hours or on the weekend.

As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles, which presumably would apply to information leading to the conviction of either of these drivers.

This is at least the 37th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 11th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the sixth that we know about in the City of Los Angeles.

Fourteen of those SoCal deaths — over 38% — have now come at the hands of heartless cowards who didn’t have the basic human decency to stick around afterward.

According to the Los Angeles Times, nearly one third of all traffic deaths in Los Angeles last year were hit-and-runs; no word on how many of those drivers were eventually arrested and charged, let alone convicted.

Update: The following was posted to Nextdoor in Northridge Village on Friday. 

Did anyone last night after 9 pm possibly see a man on a bike get killed by a hit and run driver near Lindley at Parthenia? That was my friend Dan. They didn’t stop. He was coming back from the Dollar store. He was a father and son and a good friend. He was on his bike. Please if anyone saw anything or knows anything. At least he deserves some justice. Just to hit him and leave him to die is too much.

Update 2: The victim has been identified as Danny Oerlemans. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Danny Oerlemans and his loved ones.

Thanks to Glenn Bailey for the heads-up. 

 

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

Move along, nothing to see here — giving up on the week edition

September 18, 2024 / / 4 comments

I give up.

After waking up the morning after my fall with extra added pain and stiffness, and a barely functional right arm, I’m giving up and shutting things down for the rest of the week.

Hopefully things will improve and I’ll be back next week.

Category: General /

Move along, nothing to see here — Emergency Room edition

September 17, 2024 / / 4 comments

No new post today.

I took a bad fall while walking yesterday, landing on my surgically repaired shoulder and banging my head against a concrete wall.

All of which led to a six hour stint in the emergency room from hell.

They tell me I’m okay, but I’m in a lot of pain and not up to working tonight. Hopefully I’ll feel better after a good night’s sleep, and we’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on what we missed.

And yes, I’m getting damn tired of this.

Category: General /

“Silent majority” claimed to oppose WeHo’s planned Fountain Ave bike lanes, and San Diego makes street safety top priority

September 17, 2024 / / One comment
Just 105 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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No bias here.

WeHo Online’s Steve Martin — no, not the comedian — continues his campaign against the planned safety improvements on Fountain Ave through West Hollywood, insisting there is a “silent majority” rising up in opposition to the plan, despite an informal online survey showing it was supported by two-thirds of respondents.

Then again, he complains that people from outside the city were allowed to respond to it, as if only people who live on Fountain Ave ever use the street.

He also takes issue with a perceive lack of outreach, even though those of us who were paying attention were aware of the plan to remove traffic lanes and street parking to widen sidewalks and add protected bike lanes at least two years ago. As were all those people who took the time to respond to that online survey he disparages.

But they don’t count, evidently.

Then there’s his complaint that Bike LA, formerly the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, will assist with outreach to prepare residents for the changes, calling them “hardly an unbiased party.” And adding that the group will work in conjunction with Streets For All, and “will be able to skewer whatever conversations take place.”

As if merely explaining a project that has already been approved by the city council requires any actual “skewering.”

The city council was scheduled to vote last night to accept a $5 million grant from the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB — and yes, he even gets that name wrong in his sputtering anger — to help pay for the life-saving changes on Fountain.

Let’s hope they had the sense to say yes. And that the approval will finally put an end to this nonsense.

But I wouldn’t count on it.

Graphic for a virtual workshop to discuss plans for Fountain Ave from October, 2022.

 

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That’s more like it.

The San Diego City Council passed a resolution making street safety the city’s highest transportation priority. Which means it will finally outweigh other considerations, such as street parking and level of service.

Or should, anyway.

Which would no doubt cause apoplexy to the afore-mentioned “silent majority” in West Hollywood. Not to mention in here Los Angeles, where the ability to go “zoom zoom” to your heart’s content is taken as a God-given right, consequences be damned.

Except for all those people who voted for Measure HLA by a similar — wait for it — two-thirds margin, suggesting that maybe, just maybe, that online survey wasn’t so wrong after all.

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Los Angeles opened a nearly five-mile segment of a bike path paralleling San Fernando Road in the east San Fernando Valley.

The new segment combines with an existing pathway to provide nearly ten miles of continuous off-street riding from the Burbank Airport to Sylmar.

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It’s now 271 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.

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Local  

Streetsblog offers an open thread and photos from Sunday’s Lincoln Heights CicLAmini.

Los Angeles Magazine says Venice’s “Bike Whisperer” is just one of the many Los Angeles street vendors benefitting from the city’s new rules.

 

State

Congratulations to Streetsblog California on their 10th anniversary.

A pilot project will allow bikes on seven miles of trails on Marin’s Mount Tamalpais, regarded as the birthplace of mountain biking, after being banned for four decades.

The steady drumbeat of sad news from Northern California continues, where a 53-year old Ukiah man was killed when he hit something on the trail he was riding and was thrown from his ebike, striking his head; police say he was wearing a helmet, but didn’t have it secured properly.

 

National

Good question. Velo says that good bike parking is inexpensive, easy to implement and encourages more bicycling, so why is it so hard to find?

Rivendell Bicycle Works founder and bicycle designer Grant Petersen celebrates the joys of riding slowly and leaving your spandex at home.

It’s been seven years since someone shot Colorado mountain biker Tim Watkins, leaving his body next to the trail he was riding near the town of Monument, and police still haven’t found his killer or figured out why he was shot.

Safety efforts in Chicago are paying off, as the city has seen just one bicycling death this year — which advocates correctly note is still one too many.

Vermont opened a new 39-mile adaptive trail offering 6,000 feet of vertical gain and loss, the first leg of a planned 485-mile mountain bike trail stretching from Massachusetts to the Canadian border.

New York’s Washington Bridge will get a new bus lane and two-way protected bike lane connecting Upper Manhattan to the Bronx over the Harlem River.

Miami motorcyclist Kadel Piedrahita was found guilty of shooting and killing Alex Palencia in 2019 as Palencia rode in a peloton with several other bicyclists; prosecutors argued that the shooting stemmed from a feud that had developed days earlier.

 

International

British active transportation nonprofit Sustrans called for an end to bicycling inequality, after a recent report found that 38 percent of low income or unemployed UK residents want to ride bikes, but are priced out by high costs and a lack of discount offers. Even though you can buy a decent used bike for around a hundred bucks on ether side of the Atlantic.

The London Evening Standard recommends the best pedal systems for roadies.

British bicyclists raised the equivalent of more than $264,000 with a 390-mile ride from Paris to Suffolk in honor of the 18 members of an English rugby team killed in a plane crash outside Paris 50 years ago.

 

Competitive Cycling

The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will conflict with the final week of the Tour de France, forcing the world’s premier stage race to move from its traditional July date, or making the sport’s top riders choose between the two.

 

Finally…

If you were planning to ride London’s biggest annual charity bile ride next year, your 2025 calendar just opened up. When you’re carrying a baggie of coke on your bike, put a damn light on it, already.

And that feeling when you catch bicycle while magnet fishing.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

City Council unanimously orders report on cleaning protected bike lanes, and killer of Gaudreau brothers had .087 BAC

September 16, 2024 / / Comments Off on City Council unanimously orders report on cleaning protected bike lanes, and killer of Gaudreau brothers had .087 BAC
Just 106 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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I neglected to thank Erik G and Robert L last week for their generous donations to help out with my shoulder issues, and keep this site coming your way now that I’m back to work. 

Donations of any amount are always welcome, whatever the reason. 

And thank you both.

Photo by Richard Rosenthal; no word on whether the city will clear this type of debris. 

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The Los Angeles City Council did what it does best, ordering LADOT and the city administrative officer to report back on what it would take to sweep protected bike lanes on a regular basis.

Which doesn’t mean they’ll ever actually do it, of course.

The motion, which was passed unanimously, requires them to report on both the equipment and staffing required to sweep the city’s protected bike lanes every other week. The agencies were also ordered to report on the best practices to maintain protected bike lanes, and what the city does now.

Which clearly ain’t much.

In fact, the city has just two street sweepers designed for protected bike lanes, and only uses them on a quarterly basis — as anyone who rides them regularly can probably tell.

If that sounds cynical, it’s because we’ve been here before. The city has a habit of ordering reports that never come back, and never get acted on if they do.

In fact, we’re still waiting for the city’s “much better” version of Measure HLA, which was supposed to come back to the council long before HLA was overwhelmingly passed by the voters.

So it’s a positive step forward — but only if we stay on top of them and make sure the city follows through on it.

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The driver who killed the hockey playing Gaudreau brothers as they rode their bikes on a rural New Jersey highway was legally drunk after the crash. But not as drunk as he made it sound.

Despite telling cops he had five or six beers before getting behind the wheel, and had an open container in his car, 43-year old Sean M. Higgins had a blood alcohol level of .087, just above the .08 legal limit.

And even though his attorney described Higgins as an “empathetic individual” and “a loving father of two daughters” who just made a horrible decision that night, prosecutors said he had history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.

Higgins is being held without bail, charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle.

He faces up to 20 years if he’s convicted, and would have to serve at least 85% of his sentence.

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Megan Lynch forwards a crowdfunding campaign for an Australian father who’s at risk of losing his leg after he was hit by a red light-running driver while riding an ebike.

Yet the original article inexplicably ends with a section on the rising rate of ebike injuries — even though his injuries had nothing to do with the kind of bicycle he was riding.

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It’s now 270 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, Pasadena is back with its second round of ebike vouchers, offering city residents up to $1,000 to buy an ebike from local dealers.

And that deafening silence you hear is Los Angeles not even considering a similar program.

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

A man in Rochester NY was critically injured when he was intentionally run down by a driver while riding his bike, after he argued with the driver.

A proposal in the British House of Lords would require visible license numbers for all bike riders and take points off their driver’s licenses for any moving violations, while others compared bicyclists to a plague of mosquitos, and want to chip riders — or at least their bikes — like their cats.

A British man was pushed off his bicycle while riding to work by a “yob” who leaned out of a passing van to attack him, suffering facial injuries, bruised arms and legs, and a swollen knee.

An Aussie parliamentarian wants to make wearing hi-viz mandatory for all bicyclists and scooter riders, rather than just requiring drivers to put their damn phones down and pay attention. And there’s no similar requirement to make drivers dress up like clowns

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Local  

Streets Are Fore Everyone, aka SAFE, reports Glendale narrowly approved major traffic lane configuration and bicycle infrastructure improvements to La Crescenta Ave.

The co-captain of the WeHo East Neighborhood Watch Association is denying that a letter purporting to come from his organization, which was used to obtain more than $8 million in funding to fix sidewalks and install protected bike lanes on Fountain Ave from the California Air Resources Board, was actually written by the group and represented their wishes.

WeHo Online complains that no one who actually lives on Fountain is on the bike lane steering committee.

 

State

A 1.8-mile section of the Ventura River Trail between Ventura and Ojai got a $5 million makeover, including a spiffy new frog mural.

Sad news from Visalia, where a man riding a mountain bike was killed when he was rear-ended by a hit-and-run driver.

More sad news comes from Fresno, where a 41-year old man was killed in a collision while riding salmon on Highway 41.

And still more sad news, this time from Sacramento, where a woman riding a bicycle died in the hospital after she was found lying in the roadway; police don’t know yet if she fell or was the victim of a hit-and-run.

About damn time. Sacramento is considering declaring a road safety state of emergency to free up more resources to confront the rise in pedestrian and bike rider deaths. Meanwhile, here in Los Angeles, we had a record level of pedestrian and bicycling deaths last year, and no one in city government seems to give a damn.

 

National

That 1970’s era drop bar bicycle in John Deere green could actually be one.

Gear Patrol considers whether the new bespoke, 3D-printed titanium bike now taking orders from No. 22 Bicycle Company is the future of bicycling.

Kindhearted Colorado cops surprised a girl with a new bicycle for her seventh birthday, after officers tried and failed to fix her old one.

 

International

Momentum offers a guide to buying your first foldie, and says cargo bikes are better than minivans for the perfect family vehicle.

The leader of a London borough council is tired of abandoned dockless ebikes littering the streets and teenagers zooming along the sidewalks, and wants to have all Lime bikes crushed. Just wait until he learns about all the cars blocking sidewalks and bike lanes, and drivers zooming down the streets.

The owner of a bespoke London bike shop complained about brazen bike thieves targeting the shop with four “Mission Impossible-style” burglary attempts in just the last seven months.

The overwhelming majority of Londoners support the city’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods, but also believe it should be mandatory to use a bike lane if one is available.

Bicyclists in Scotland are complaining that the “birthplace of the bicycle” isn’t exactly bicycle friendly. Then again, there’s also some question whether it’s really their birthplace.

A Welsh woman will spend a well-deserved 45 months behind bars for fleeing the scene after running a bike-riding man down from behind, and selling her car days later to cover up the crime; the victim had to have his leg amputated due to his injuries. And yes, that sentence should have been a hell of a lot longer.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker describes the “five pedaling perils” every UK bicyclist has to watch out for. Which pretty much apply to every bike rider, almost everywhere.

A quartet of British and Dutch marines rode their bikes 360 miles from England to the Netherlands to celebrate the 360th anniversary of the Royal Marines.

More proof that bike riders deal with the same problems everywhere, as bicyclists in Baku, Azerbaijan are complaining about the “incomprehensible” design of the city’s bike lanes, arguing that they weren’t professionally installed.

In a truly heartrending story, someone stole a New Zealand man bike after he rode it the length of the country to raise money for charity; now he’s dying of cancer, and just wants to find it again so he can ride it one more time before he dies.

 

Competitive Cycling

Three-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar prepared for next week’s road world championships by winning the 13th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal with a dominant solo breakaway.

Samoa named its first-ever national cycling team, with a goal of competing in the 2027 Pacific Games in Tahiti; the country’s new riders range in age from 17 to 53. Yes, 53.

 

Finally…

We may have to deal with swerving LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about dive-bombing birds. Who needs spandex to ride a tandem — or any clothes at all, for that matter?

And why just ride a moving train when you can jump your bike over it?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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