My apologies.
I ran out of time to write a new Morning Links for today, after spending my time last night writing about yet another tragic bicycling death instead.
And frankly, after writing about the needless loss of a loving 18-year old kid with a bright future, I just don’t have the heart for it.
We’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, to catch up on anything we missed the past couple days.
Nothing like blaming the victim.
A Long Beach boy was killed riding his bike in Signal Hill last week, and the local police were quick to blame him for his own death.
Maybe too quick.
According to the Long Beach Post, 18-year old Raider Magallanes was training with a couple friends around 7:35 pm on Tuesday, June 18th when he “collided into a moving vehicle” at Cherry Ave and Skyline Drive.
There’s no word on whether Magallanes died at the scene, or after being taken to a hospital after the crash.
And yes, the driver stuck around afterwards, as required by law and basic human decency.
Signal Hill police determined that the recent high school graduate ran the red light after descending a steep hill while headed west on Skyline Drive, apparently based on a security cam from a nearby grocery store.
However, according to Velina Velasquez, the boy’s aunt and legal guardian, numerous witnesses have come forward to say Magallanes — not the driver — had the green light. And that the traffic lights couldn’t be seen in the video that captured the crash.
Which raises the question of whether there were any independent witnesses who told police Magallanes ran the red light. Or if they just took the driver’s word for it.
Magallanes had graduated with honors from Long Beach Polytechnic High School just five days before the crash, and was training with friends in anticipation of joining the Marines in August.
His aunt adopted Magallanes and his two brothers when he was eight years old, and raised him as her own.
Velasquez has stayed near the intersection for the past week, talking with anyone who may have seen the crash. During that time, she’s witnessed several near-misses, along with a hit-and-run, and says more needs to be done to improve safety.
“There needs to be a camera here, there should have been a camera here,” Velasquez said.
A crowdfunding campaign has raised less than $7,000 of the $30,000 goal.
This is at least the 26th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
Magallanes’ death came just four days after another fatal bicycling collision less than four miles away in Long Beach.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Raider Magallanes and all his loved ones.
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In probably the worst take ever, the CEO the Caribbean-based Euro Exim Bank called bicycling a disaster for the traditional economy.
That’s because bicyclists don’t buy cars, make loan payments, or pay for car repairs. And never mind the reduced healthcare costs because people who ride bikes tend to be healthier than people who drive.
Even though reduced healthcare costs and a healthier population are a net benefit to society, and people who ride bicycles still buy stuff — and have more money left over to do it with.
And if bicycling is such a threat to the traditional economy, maybe it’s the traditional economy that needs to change.
Then again, the billionaire owner of discount Euro airline Ryan Air wasn’t much better, tweeting his discontent over environmentalists and bicyclists with the hashtag #AirTravelOverBicycleRide.
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WTF is wrong with some people?
Police in New York are looking for a bike-riding middle-aged white man bigot who yelled “Fuck you, Jew,” then tossed a bag of dog poop through a driver’s open window before riding off on his bicycle.
Which raises the obvious question of who the hell rides a bike carrying a bag of dog poop?
Never mind that it remains unclear whether or not his intended victim actually was Jewish.
It’s also unclear whether this had anything to do with the current tensions over Gaza, or if it was just some asshole taking advantage of the current tensions.
But regardless of any possible political motives, there’s just no excuse for antisemitism or bigotry of any kind, no matter how you get around. Ever.
Period.
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People For Bikes is out with their seventh annual City Ratings, showing things appear to be getting better for bicycling in the US.
Los Angeles scored a pretty pitiful 25 out of a possible 100, though they cited the passage of the Measure HLA Complete Streets mandate as reason for hope. But at least that’s a little better than last year’s even more pitiful 19.
Meanwhile. Michigan’s carfree Mackinac Island was rated the country’s top city for bicycling, which is a lot easier to do when you don’t have drivers and their big, dangerous machines to contend with.
Outside the US, London leads the UK in bikeability, but the UK continues to trail the rest of Europe.
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There’s another bouncing baby bike lane on the bike-friendly UCLA campus.
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Mark your calendar for a friendly Orange County bike ride at the end of the week. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the tip.
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It’s now 186 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
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A new study shows that despite the wailing of local businesses, San Francisco’s centerline Valencia Street bike lane didn’t actually hurt their sales.
Chicago bike advocates are questioning whether city workers really removed a ghost bike by mistake, or if it was taken down in preparation for next month’s NASCAR race in the city.
While Cambridge, Massachusetts drivers fight to halt expansion of bike lanes, a second person has been killed riding a bicycle in the Ivy League town in less than a month, just as PeopleForBikes proclaims it as a top city for bicycling. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
American professional skateboarder Tyshawn Jones was kicked off his bicycle by another bike rider while riding in Paris last week, for no apparent reason.
https://twitter.com/TMZ/status/1804186264834576843
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Good question. The LA Times asks why you should need a driver’s license for a job that doesn’t involve driving?
Police in Los Angeles are looking for a man riding a “distinctive” pink bicycle, who’s accused of fatally stabbing another man before riding off late Saturday afternoon.
A San Francisco news outlet asks candidates in a city council race if they support the proposed quick-build Frida Kahlo protected bike lane project.
Sad news from Oakland, where a bike rider was killed in a hit-and-run early Friday morning. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.
A writer for Tom’s Guide says Trek’s $200 CarBack Radar Rear Bike Light is like having eyes in the back of your head, pairing with your smartphone to give you a view of cars approaching from behind.
A columnist for Cycling Weekly bemoans his favorite-ever bike ride, as the effort to repeat it turns from a cherished memory to a nagging reminder of subsequent inadequacy.
A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that childhood bicycling deaths have dropped significantly since 1975. Although that probably reflects a drop in childhood bicycling rates more than any safety improvements.
The 17 Cherokee bicyclists who took part in the annual Remember the Removal bike ride returned to when it started in Oklahoma, following the nearly 1,000-mile ride that traced the route of the historic Trail of Tears.
Wisconsin conservatives continued to freak out over the Madison edition of the World Naked Bike Ride, after last year’s complaints, with one official insisting they need to protect the children from seeing naked and nearly naked adult bodies on bicycles, and that the participants “desperately need Jesus.” Then again, the need to protect children from the effects of climate change is exactly the point the bike riders were trying to make.
Pittsburgh is providing adaptive bicycles through the city’s bikeshare program.
When a 12-year old Buffalo NY boy started a lemonade stand to raise money for a new bicycle after his was stolen, a generous stranger gave him a brand new BMX bike, instead.
Iconic artist Edward Hopper was one of us, as New York’s Whitney Museum scheduled a 60-mile bike ride to celebrate the “avid” bicyclist’s 142nd birthday. But he doesn’t look a day over 131.
Electrek calls the Key Biscayne, Florida ebike ban the “Footloose for ebikes.”
Is Manchester, England really the booming European Capital of Cycling, or is it just a vague tagline on a t-shirt?
An Irish writer says after doing the math, spending the equivalent of $6,400 for an e-cargo bike didn’t seem outrageous compared to buying a second car.
She gets it. Even in the Netherlands, the same debate goes on, as a spokeswoman for a victim’s support charity says fixing the causes of bicycling crashes should be a higher priority than getting people to wear bike helmets.
The BBC celebrates the “endless dunes, romantic windmills, historic Hanseatic towns and abandoned forts” of Poland’s “glorious” Velo Baltica cycling route along the Baltic Coast.
One of the greatest ever women’s cyclists is making an unexpected comeback, after the Netherlands’ Anna van der Breggen announced her return to competition three years after her last race.
Magnus Sheffield and Matteo Jorgenson will join Brandon McNulty on the US cycling team for the Paris Olympics, as the USA attempts to end a 40-year men’s medal drought; Chloe Dygert and Taylor Knibb will take the two women’s spots.
Toronto was transfixed by the city’s long-standing Dunlop Trophy Road Race back in 1894.
Twenty-three-year old Italian cyclist Andrea Piccolo was fired from the US-based EF Education-EasyPost cycling team after he was arrested for carrying human growth hormone into the country.
That feeling when your ebike conversion kit bursts into flames while you’re riding it. And Sisyphus may have been condemned to push a rock up a hillside for all eternity, but some bicyclists ride up the same hill every time because they want to.
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Thanks to David Erickson for his unexpected donation to help support this site, and keep bringing you all the best bike news everyday, from around the world and around the corner. Donations of any amount, for any reason, are always welcome and appreciated.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
Too often these days, the news leaves us with more questions than answers.
The was the case on Friday, when news broke that a man from Alaska was killed riding a bicycle in an early morning collision in Westminster.
According to KCAL News, the victim was riding in the traffic lanes near 20th Street and Beach Boulevard around 5 am Friday, when he was struck by the driver of a Lincoln Town Car.
The driver stopped and called 911 after the crash, and police did not suspect he was under the influence.
The victim, identified only as a 54-year old Alaska resident, died at the scene.
However, there’s no explanation of whether he was visiting Orange County, or was living here now.
There’s also no word on what was meant by “riding in the traffic lanes.” He would have been in the traffic lanes if he was crossing Beach Blvd. Or if he was riding on Beach, there’s no other place he could have been, since there are no bike or parking lanes.
And there’s no word on how fast the driver was going, or whether the victim had lights on his bike in the pre-dawn darkness.
Hopefully, we’ll get more answers soon. But I wouldn’t count on it.
Anyone with information is urged to call Westminster Police Department Traffic Division Investigator Stewart DeJong at 714/548-3787.
This is at least the 25th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Orange County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
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Don’t forget Sunday’s CicLAvia on Western Ave in South LA, where you’ll find the good folks from Bike Talk and KPFK hosting a booth at the Western/Florence Hub.
Or if CicLAvia seems a little too formal for your last, the Los Angeles edition of the World Naked Bike Ride rolls tomorrow. Tip: Bring lots of sunscreen. And a few disinfectant wipes if you’re using a bikeshare bike.
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Evidently, some people just don’t like separated bike lanes.
Or what Los Angeles insists on calling “protected,” even though the usual flimsy plastic car-ticklers wouldn’t stop a Yugo, if you could even get one running.
That was driven home in a new post by Cycling Savvy’s Keri Caffrey.
She explains how she was never a fan of bike lanes. Until moving to California, that is, when she got to experience her first wide buffered bike lane.
But some people insist on ruining those “good enough” buffered lanes by adding little white plastic bendy posts and other assorted permeable and semi-permeable barriers.
In her opinion, anyway.
Imagine my horror at seeing a movement to convert these bike lanes to “separated” bikeways by adding barriers such as flex posts, bollards, curbs, and a host of other innovations.
I get the desire to feel protected from cars, but at what cost? First of all, “feel protected” is all you get. Posts and curbs will not stop a moving car. They will, however, cause a bicyclist to crash. This is a known hazard which causes actual casualties, including serious injuries. Yet, these crashes don’t show up in national crash data, because it counts bicycle crashes only if they involve a moving motor vehicle.
She also takes issue with the stat up there on the right from the Federal Highway Administration.
The research behind the FHWA’s claim didn’t include junctions, only mid-block segments.
The only relevant crash type is a mid-block overtaking crash, around 5% of total crashes for all roads, including ones with no bike lane. The majority of overtaking crashes are actually sideswipes in narrow lanes (the motorist misjudges the space). We have a robust dataset from Mighk Wilson’s crash analysis in Orlando. In it, overtaking crashes on streets with bike lanes were 1.5% of crashes. The majority of bike lanes in the area are narrow and non-buffered. Paul Schimek’s study in Boston came to a similar conclusion.
I get what Caffrey is saying. And it’s worth reading to get a different perspective from what we usually share here.
My personal take is that separated bike lanes aren’t for confident bike riders like her who are comfortable riding nearly anywhere. They’re for the people who would like to ride, or ride more, but are afraid to mix it up with the people in the big dangerous machines.
Although calling them protected does a disservice to everyone by overpromising on safety.
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Any kind of separation or buffer might have helped those Texas bicyclists who were run down by a drunk driver in a crash caught on bike cam earlier this week.
The driver who was allegedly three sheets to the wind at more than three times the legal blood alcohol limit has been identified as an American Airlines cargo worker.
Which could explain why your bags always seem to get lost or crushed beyond all recognition.
Thirty-one-year old Benjamin Hylander has been booked on two counts of intoxication assault with a vehicle causing serious bodily injury, accident involving injury, and driving while intoxicated with a BAC greater than 0.15.
Meanwhile, the victim shown getting run over by Hylander’s SUV after the initial impact, retired physician Tom Geppert, credits his bicycle with saving his life. And allowing him to walk away — if that’s the word for it — with “just” a concussion, injured left hamstring, a fractured rib and a severe laceration.
The other victim, Deborah Eads, suffered a severe laceration as well.
We can only be grateful it wasn’t much worse.
Maybe someday, carmakers will be required to use already-existing technology to ensure intoxicated people can’t get behind the wheel.
And can’t go anywhere if they do.
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It’s now 182 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
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An English town has waived fines for bicyclists targeted by “cowboy” traffic wardens who wrote them up for breaking a nonexistent ban on biking through the city center.
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Streetsblog’s Joe Linton takes a look at the new $11.2 million 1.4-mile Pacoima Wash multi-use path, expected to open this fall.
Santa Clarita has begun work on the new Bouquet Canyon shared-use pathway.
LAist offers a reminder that Caltrans needs your input on a proposed protected bike lane on PCH through Long Beach.
Long Beach hosts the city’s 12th Annual Kiddical Mass bike ride this Sunday.
No news is good news, right?
Yes, you can go bikepacking on an ebike.
Congress is considering the Domestic Bicycle Production Act, which would use a combination of tariffs and incentives to reshore American bike manufacturing.
Streetsblog says there’s a pedestrian death and injury crisis in New York City this year. Unlike Los Angeles, where there’s always a pedestrian death and injury crisis.
Tragic news from Michigan, where an 83-year old Florida man on a cross-country bike ride was killed when he was rear-ended by driver, who was allegedly distracted for some undisclosed reason.
Cycling Electric makes the case for why ebikes are the best vehicles for the environment.
Road.cc offers tips on how to avoid getting scammed buying a used bike on Facebook Marketplace.
Momentum recommends a new bike route that “glides along rainforests and epic beaches” on the west coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island.
A community group in Glasgow, Scotland has launched bikeshare service using refurbished bicycles, allowing anyone to rent a bike for free, or purchase one for whatever they can afford.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A Scottish man is marking his 90th birthday by taking part in a 460-mile fundraising ride.
Not all the news from Scotland is good, however, as a 17-year old boy faces a murder charge for killing another 17-year old boy as he rode an ebike.
Country star Blake Shelton is one of us, as he posts a picture of himself biking back to his hotel in Italy after drinking too much for his birthday.
An Aussie architecture site asks if ebikes and e-scooters could be the answer to the country’s affordable housing crisis, since removing a single car from a household could cover the full cost of a $300,000 mortgage.
Road.cc takes a look at what all the best teams will be riding in the Tour de France this year.
The Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team unveiled their line-up for next month’s Tour de France, headlined by two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard and former points winner and three-time world champ Wout van Aert.
British two-time Olympic track champ Katie Archibald is out of next month’s Paris Games, after breaking her leg in two places tripping on a garden step.
A Palestinian paracycling team is working to keep the dream of competing in the Paris Paralympics alive for cyclists in Gaza.
That feeling when a drivers prefer a genuine horse’s ass to a butt on a bike seat. And when your new e-foldie comes with a name that reminds you size doesn’t matter, except when it does.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels.
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No one ever accused Rancho Palos Verdes of displaying common sense.
As we mentioned last month, the wealthy enclave felt a need to address dangerous road conditions on Palos Verdes Drive South, caused by shifting of the bluff underlying it.
So naturally, they responded to the slick, cracking and crumbling roadway by banning all two-wheeled vehicles, primarily bicycles and motorcycles.
Never mind that it’s the people in the bigass cars, pickups and SUVs who cause the most damage. Or that’s it’s in direct violation with state law, which allows bicycles and motorcycles on any public roadway where motor vehicles are allowed, with the single exception of banning bicycles from some limited access highways that have alternate routes.
Oops.
While a bicycle can get its tires caught in cracks in the roadway, bike riders also have a greater ability to avoid obstacles than people in motor vehicles, which are much harder to stop or turn.
And it’s not the people on bicycles who risk causing further damage through their sheer weight.
Unfortunately, however, the only way to beat the new rule is to break it, get a ticket and fight it in court, which is a long, complicated and expensive process. And would probably require a good lawyer to make your case for you.
Let’s just hope the sheriff’s department, which is charged with policing the Palos Verdes Peninsula, has enough sense not to enforce it.
But based on previous experience with the LA County Sheriff’s limited grounding in bike law, I wouldn’t count on it.
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The seemingly road-raging Texas driver who was caught on video plowing into two bicyclists from behind on Monday, apparently on purpose, was captured when he was chased down by witnesses.
Thirty-one-year old Benjamin Hylander taken into custody on multiple charges including driving while intoxicated and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
He had a roadside BAC, or blood alcohol content, of .25 — over three times the legal limit.
Hylander reportedly insisted he had to talk to the victims to apologize after he was stopped. But he can be clearly seen driving over one of the victims to get away, as the man lay face down in the roadway following the initial impact.
Which doesn’t exactly bespeak regret for his actions.
Remarkably, neither victim was seriously injured.
Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
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This is great news for anyone who doesn’t drive, for whatever reason, in a state where driving is considered the default mode.
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Here’s your chance to do good as you eat good, as the Morrison on Los Feliz Blvd will donate $1 from the sale of each of their new Finish The Ride burger to Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, for the next three months.
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It’s now 181 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
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No bias here. A Thai website relates how a 71-year old amputee fatally stabbed a drunken 45-year old man who had repeatedly harassed him while the older man played chess with friends — yet they described the murder as a case of “cycling rage” just because of how the killer got back home afterwards.
A bike-riding vandal is accused of deliberately smashing the driver’s side mirrors on a dozen cars in Torrance as he rode by Monday night, for no apparent reason.
Fox News offers video of a crazed, road-raging New York man who threw his bikeshare bike in front of an SUV after arguing with the driver, before the other person drove over the bike’s front wheel and apparently went on with his day; the bicyclist calmly rode off after giving the SUV driver and other honking motorists the bird. Although there’s no mention of what the poor, tormented driver may have done to induce such anger — or that merely driving over the bicycle is a crime.
A British bike rider has been fined the equivalent of $280 for blowing through a red light while a mother was pushing her child in a stroller, forcing them them to stop mid-step to avoid a crash — rising to a well-deserved $500 including court costs and fees. Seriously, it’s one thing to go through a light when there’s no one around. But don’t be an ass when others have the right-of-way.
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Santa Monic bike riders rode throughout the beachfront town to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday, in a ride sponsored by the Santa Monica Black Empowerment Association.
Add e-scooters to the list of things you’ll have to dodge on the beachfront bike path in Long Beach.
Add Costa Mesa to the ever-growing list of Orange County communities trying to crack down on ebikes.
No surprise here. After Palm Springs bicyclist Bond Shields penned a “Bicycling Manifesto” for the city — composed of common sense safety reforms — he passed it on to the city manager and a councilmember; only the latter promised to do anything, passing it on to the city’s Sustainability Commission, where it apparently died a quick, quiet death.
San Francisco’s transportation authority has voted to remove the contentious Valencia Street centerline bike lane, although work won’t begin on a curbside replacement until next year; some of the newly empowered local merchants don’t like the new bike lane plan, either.
Skip lengthy ebike recharging times by getting a hydrogen-powered bicycle that can refill in seconds.
Streetsblog talks with Wes Marshall, author of Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System, about the real reason traffic engineers design so many deadly roads.
Speaking of deadly roads, a bicyclist says he’s been failed by prosecutors in Goodyear, Arizona, after they declined to prosecute the truck driver who may have been Snapchatting when he slammed into a group ride last year, killing two people and injuring eleven others; a new video emerged showing the driver videochatting immediately after the crash, rather than calling 911.
Great idea. Now you can help support bicycling on the Navajo Nation by wearing — okay, buying — a new bike jersey sponsored by a nonprofit Gallup, New Mexico coffee shop, with over half of each sale helping to create cycling teams, bicycle classes and events for the Dine people.
Your next bike helmet could fold up like a paper fan.
A British man has completed his third bike ride around the world — or his 11th if you count motorcycles. Which makes you wonder how he’s had time for anything else.
The nonprofit European Cyclists’ Federation honored the European Union; Ghent, Belgium; Bologna, Italy; Lyon, France; and Quelimane, Mozambique; for their efforts to support and encourage bicycling at their annual Velo-City conference.
More than 1,800 bicycles have been delivered to war-torn Ukrainian communities through the #BikesForUkraine initiative.
That feeling when a weekly group ride makes Thursday the happiest night of the week. Or when you feel the need to paint the town red, in the shape of Wisconsin.
And someone has been watching me.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin