Search results for bikes have rights

Get out and Bike the Vote today, bike groups demand action at COP27, and more on LACBC rebranding as Bike LA

November 8, 2022 / / Comments Off on Get out and Bike the Vote today, bike groups demand action at COP27, and more on LACBC rebranding as Bike LA
If you haven’t cast your ballot yet, Streets For All offers their endorsements for many of the races in Los Angeles County.

Meanwhile, the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition posts the responses to their candidate surveys. Or at least the candidates who bothered to respond.

Which should give you a pretty good suggestion of who to vote for. And who not to.

And ActiveSGV provides their choices on many of the state and local ballot proposals; as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, they can take a stand on initiatives, but are prohibited from endorsing or opposing individual candidates.

Metro buses, trains and bikeshare are all free today, along with a number of other local transit systems, to help you get to the polls.

So get out and bike the vote, already.

I mean, you are going to vote.

Right?

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels.

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The Partnership for Active Travel and Health, aka PATH, wants organizations to sign on to their letter to the COP27 climate conference going on now in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Here’s just a sample.

With COP27 being hosted in Africa, it is worth noting that across the continent walking is already the primary mode of transport for the majority of people. Up to 78% walk every day – often because they have no other choice. And they put their lives at risk the moment they step out of their homes due to roads dominated by speeding cars, missing sidewalks, makeshift crossings and high-polluting vehicles. By 2050, low and middle income countries will own over two-thirds of the world’s cars. With that comes an increasing urgency for even greater investment in safe walking and cycling infrastructure.

For all of these reasons, the Partnership for Active Travel and Health, together with the undersigned organisations, strongly appeal to national and city governments to commit to prioritising and investing in walking and cycling, through Nationally Determined Contributions and integrated and coherent strategies, including plans, funding and concrete actions for:

  • Infrastructure – to make walking and cycling safe, accessible and easy to do.
  • Campaigns – to support a shift in people’s mobility habits.
  • Land use planning – to ensure proximity and quality of access to everyday services on foot and by bike.
  • Integration with public transport – to underpin sustainable mobility for longer trips.
  • Capacity building – to enable the successful delivery of effective walking and cycling strategies that have measurable impact.

Organizations including UCI, Rails-to-Trails and World Bicycle Relief have already signed on.

It’s also been endorsed by yours truly, even though this organization is just me and a corgi.

Thanks to Colin Bogart for the heads-up.

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Streetsblog talks with Eli Akira Kaufman, Executive Director of the newly renamed Bike LA, formerly LACBC, about the bike coalition’s rebranding.

Our staff and board of directors felt that the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) really did not capture who we are and our mission to support more Angelenos to Bike LA. Basically, the thinking is that LACBC sounds too much like the government agencies we work with (LADOT, LAUSD, LADWP) when we’re actually a community-based nonprofit organization committed to advocating for the rights of cyclists. It had become clear that we needed a name change that made it easier for bike-minded people to find and support our advocacy work much like our sister bike nonprofits Bike East Bay, Bike New York, Bike Austin, Bike Cleveland, Bike Portland, Bike Houston to name a few.

Bike LA is both more accessible and a call to action. We thank everyone for supporting LACBC for the past quarter century and for remaining committed to Bike LA for a Better LA!

Kaufman goes on to address some of the other issues facing the organization — and the rest of us — including the lack of safe infrastructure, seven years after the city adopted the mobility plan that was supposed to transform the way we get around the city.

Although as we’ve learned the hard way, a mobility plan doesn’t do a damn bit of good unless someone actually builds it.

It’s worth investing a few minutes to read the whole thing, because this is one of the leading groups representing you in the fight for safer and more equitable streets in Los Angeles.

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Speaking of Bike LA, we featured this one when it first appeared online last year.

But it’s worth posting again, since filmmaker Yolanda Davis-Overstreet was one of the people honored by the group at Saturday’s Bike Fest.

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This is who we share the road with.

https://twitter.com/WUTangKids/status/1589689500594077696

Thanks to HowTheWestWS for the tip.

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A reminder to mark your calendar for the annual World Day of Remembrance for the victims of traffic violence later this month.

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

No bias here. A writer for London’s Telegraph lists ten ways MAMILS — Middle Aged Men in Lycra — have just totally ruined bicycling vacations, like replacing lazy lunches of red wine and thick slabs of focaccia with energy gels and protein shakes. As if you can’t just enjoy your holiday and let other people enjoy theirs.

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

An Indian man stabbed his own brother to death in a bizarre dispute over bicycle parking, after the victim left his brother’s bike outside his house.

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Local

Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman took a deep dive into that racist and otherwise offensive recording of three Hispanic Los Angeles councilmembers, focusing on the “seething anti-Blackness” of CD14 Councilmember Kevin de León; while former Council President Nury Martinez has resigned, de León and CD1 Councilmember “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo still refuse to do the right thing.

South Pasadena’s bike bus was scheduled to return today with trips to two elementary schools, although today’s rain will likely throw a wrench in those plans.

 

State 

Sad news from Visalia, where a 25-year old man riding a bicycle was killed in a hit-and-run; police are looking for a 31-year old woman who fled on foot when they knocked on her door.

You can find a lot of things when you ride a bike. Like the body a bike rider discovered while riding past a Tulare County orchard; sheriff’s deputies called the death “suspicious.”

 

National

Bicycling shares a four minute short film about a blind bike mechanic; Bike Shop: Reza the Blind Bicycle Mechanic premiered at this year’s Bicycle Film Festival in New York City and Amsterdam. As usual, you can watch it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

A design magazine remembers the late designer and engineer Mike Burrows as the world’s greatest bicycle designer and the godfather of modern bicycle aerodynamics.

The oldest son of Little People, Big World stars Zach and Tori Roloff is now one of us, after his grandfather gave the diminutive five-year old a special bike small enough for him to ride.

A travel writer offers tips on how to ride a bike to Jenny Lake in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, which offers some of North America’s most spectacular scenery.

A Cleveland bike shop owner says he’s fed up with reckless drivers and dangerous streets after surviving a hit-and-run.

Now you, too, can win the mountain bike that stars in the new feature film 8600FT, which successfully climbed all 8,600 feet of Moab, Utah’s Whole Enchilada trail. Although the rider may have had something to do with it, too.

The New Yorker takes a deep dive into the murder of gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas, contending the killing has exposed a lot of dirt in the sport.

Nice piece from NPR telling the tale of a New Jersey man who lost his pharmaceutical marketing job during the pandemic, but saw it as an opportunity to open a bike shop that quickly became a community hub.

 

International

Trek is partnering with World Bicycle Relief to raise $2.5 million to provide much-needed bicycles for people in Africa over the holiday season.

Cyclist considers the environmental impact of metal bike frames, concluding that steel beats other materials for protecting the planet.

A new book reports Britain’s King Charles nearly didn’t live long enough to ascend to the throne after he was hit by a bus while riding his bike in the 1960s.

Tragic news from the UK, where a 53-year old man apparently took his own life in a national park, nearly a year after suffering a head injury in a solo bicycling crash that changed his personality.

A British man got tired of getting fired, so he started his own business doing odd jobs using a tandem bike.

French bikemakers are jumping into the ebike field, challenging the dominance of Asian manufacturers.

This is what you can do when streets are safe. Over 1,200 kids participate in Barcelona’s Bicibús — or bicycle bus — program, taking more than 90 routes to ride their bikes to over 70 schools.

A New Zealand couple with two preschool kids takes part in an ebike trial program, and finds living without a car is a game-changer. In a good way.

An Italian ultra-cyclist aims to be the first person to ride a bike coast to coast across Antarctica, using a fat bike to cover over 1,200 miles in 60 days.

An Indian columnist says bicycles are the future of mobility.

A scandal is growing over Victoria, Australia Premier Dan Andrews 2013 crash that left a 15-year old bike rider seriously injured as his wife was driving the car; they blame the kid for T-boning their car with his bike, though damage to the car suggests otherwise.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cyclist and 2017 Giro champ Tom Dumoulin is finally relaxing after his retirement, revealing he hated cycling during a challenging 2020 season, despite a seventh place finish in the Tour de France.

Slovenia’s Matej Mohorič walks readers through his victory in this year’s Milan-San Remo, which Cycling Tips suggests may have been the biggest win of the year.

 

Finally…

Riding thousands of miles across Europe to draw a giant GPS bicycle across the continent. Presenting the transportation circle of life; thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up.

And we may have to deal with getting chased by angry dogs, but at least we hardly ever have to outrun a wolf.

Cyclist surprised by wolf in the Netherlands
byu/harwyseys inDamnthatsinteresting

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

The cost of Hollywood traffic violence, protected bike lanes lower CO2 emissions, and Pasadena presents bike action plan

October 25, 2022 / / 2 comments

It’s a strange feeling when someone famous gets killed in your own neighborhood.

News broke late yesterday morning that diminutive comic actor and gay icon Leslie Jordan was killed in a single car crash into a building, just walking distance from my Hollywood home.

Okay, a long walk.

The 67-year old Will & Grace and American Horror Story star was reportedly on his way to film scenes for Call Me Kat on the Warner Brothers lot when he lost control of his BMW, and slammed into a building at Cahuenga and Romaine around 9:30 am Monday.

There is speculation that he may have suffered a medical emergency behind the wheel, although it’s also possible that he may have swerved into the building attempting to avoid someone or something in the roadway.

Either way, we’ve lost yet another shining light to the high cost of traffic violence.

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We already know protected bike lanes improve safety for all road users.

Now a new study of middle-income cities around the world offers the “first empirical evidence directly linking bicycle infrastructure to cutting carbon in middle-income cities.”

The report, from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, shows protected bike lane networks “reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower transport costs, and prevent premature fatalities in a highly cost-effective way.”

One highlight of the report is the conclusion that Bogota’s 368-mile protected bike lane network eliminates roughly 22,000 metric tons of CO2 every year, equivalent to the carbon capture potential of planting 300,000 to 400,000 new trees.

The ITDP will host a free webinar tomorrow morning to discuss the results.

Unfortunately, though, it’s at 6 am here in Los Angeles.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

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The update to Pasadena’s 2015 Bicycle Transportation Action Plan is scheduled to go before the city council’s Municipal Services Committee today.

However, it’s just a presentation at this point, with no action expected by the committee during the virtual meeting.

According to Pasadena Now,

As outlined in 2015, the Bicycle Transportation Action Plan includes the designation of nine dedicated bicycle facilities along with several Roseways, which is a network of low-speed, low-traffic neighborhood streets that are ideal for comfortable bicycling.

The plan includes a pair of projects that are currently underway, the Union Street Cycletrack from Hill Ave to Arroyo Parkway, slated for completion in late spring, and the Cordova Street Enhancements, expected to begin construction  winter of 2023.

Proposed dedicated bicycle facilities and Roseways are:

  • Roadway reconfiguration and Class II bike lanes on Cordova Street from Arroyo Parkway to Hill Street
  • Roadway reconfiguration and Class II buffered bike lanes on Colorado Blvd East from Holliston Ave to the east city limit
  • Roadway reconfiguration and Class II bike lanes on Orange Grove Blvd
  • A two-way cycle track on Union Street from Arroyo Parkway to Hill Street
  • Bike boulevards with traffic calming enhancements on:
    • Wilson Ave Greenway
    • El Molino Ave Greenway
    • Craig Ave Greenway
    • Sierra Bonita Ave Greenway
    • Villa Street Greenway
  • Roseways are planned for:
    • Howard Street
    • Mountain Street
    • Villa Street
    • San Pasqual Street
    • Bellefontaine Street
    • Fillmore Street
    • Arden Road
    • Lombardy Road
    • Arroyo Blvd
    • Raymond Ave

However, just like in Los Angeles, where we quickly learned the unanimously approved bike plan was merely “aspirational,” inclusion in the plan doesn’t mean any planning or design has been done, or that anything will actually get built.

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Culver City continues to show Los Angeles how its done by eliminating parking minimums everywhere in the city.

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In not so breaking news, disgraced Los Angeles Councilmember Kevin de León is still insisting he won’t step down, despite rising opposition.

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Love this one.

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

The owner of a Berkeley organic deli says the city has declared war on “cars, street parking and small businesses” by planning for a two-way barrier and parking protected bike lane on the street in front of the business, apparently unaware that such projects usually result in higher retail sales. Or maybe they just prefer parking spaces to money.

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

Denver is reminding ebike riders that they can get a ticket for exceeding the 15 mph speed limit in city parks. Although it’s not that hard to do on a regular bike, either. 

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Local

The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Cal State Northridge held its inaugural BikeFest on Sunday, bookended by a pair of bike rides; no word on turnout for the free event.

Santa Monica students biked, walked and bused to school last week, as part of a district-wide Bike it! Walk it! Bus it! day.

 

State 

Construction starts this month on the new Santa Ana Gardens Channel Bikeway Extension Project. Which was apparently named after local officials learned there was no additional charge for extra words.

Sounds like fun. San Diego’s Rouleur Brewing North Park taproom is hosting its 2nd Annual Halloween Costume Bike Ride this Thursday. And no, your usual riding kit isn’t a costume.

The San Diego company behind the crowdfunded Babymaker ebike is back with a new carbon framed, ped-assist mountain bike.

A San Francisco park ranger ran a group of bike mechanics out of Golden Gate Park because they didn’t have a permit to offer free bike repairas a fundraiser for abortion rights, though he didn’t seem concerned about other groups in the park; the leader of the group was ticketed for refusing to show his ID, though it’s questionable whether park rangers actually have the authority to do that.

 

National

A new kind of non-flammable, graphene-based lithium-ion batteries promises to eliminate the risk of ebike battery fires.

VeloNews suggests a handful of tools to make working on your bike easier, while Men’s Health recommends the best early Black Friday bike sales.

Next City examines the rise of bicycle libraries in the US, reducing the barriers to begin bicycling or explore other types of riding.

A Portland volunteer group calling themselves the Sith Lord Vader Squadron Timberwolves are taking the search and recovery of stolen bikes into their own hands. The story says there’s a Los Angeles chapter; I’d like to hear from them if anyone wants to reach out to me.

A Tucson, Arizona group is giving out free first bikes to a racially diverse group of 500 underserved kids.

An Oklahoma man credits a worker at the local Carls Jr. with saving his life after the bikeshare bike he was riding apparently hit a curb a few blocks away.

Manhattan’s Borough president suggests parking online delivery trucks in garages or on piers, and making last-mile deliveries by e-cargo bikes.

An Alabama assistant DA is recovering after suffering life-threatening injuries when he was run down by a semi driver while participating in a fundraising ride — even though the intersection where he was hit was crawling with cops directing traffic.

Life is cheap in Florida, where loved ones of a Missouri doctor and National Guard captain decry the lack of justice, after the speeding driver who killed him as he took part in a bike race walks with a lousy traffic ticket.

An estimated 6,500 costumed people turned out for Key West’s annual zombie bike ride over the weekend.

 

International

A Toronto bike shop lost three bikes worth over $28,000 in a weekend burglary caught on security cam.

Two people were detained after the discovery of a possible bicycle bomb at a Toronto airport; the good news is the police detonated the suspected explosive device, but were apparently able to save the bike.

A second bike rider has been killed after a bollards were removed from a protected bike lane in Bolton, England for an Ironman race last year, and never replaced. No word on whether the driver was charged, but the officials responsible should be.

Apparently unable to learn from the above example, another British city recently ripped out a “substandard” bike lane, rather than fix it, enabling drivers to start parking on the sidewalk.

A kindhearted English man asked the court not to punish a homeless man for stealing his bicycle.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a killer hit-and-run driver walked without a day behind bars for leaving an innocent bike rider to die on the side of the road — on Christmas Day, no less — after playing the universal Get Out of Jail Free card by saying he just didn’t see the victim.

Three months after bike-riding Boris Johnson was forced out of office, new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak inside without going anywhere, so he can eat more cookies.

Stokholm, Sweden is pioneering a low-cost ebike-based bikeshare service that charges the equivalent of just 98¢ a day — and doing it without public subsidies.

A United Methodist church in Florida donated 50 new bikes and bibles to help local ministers spread the word in Congo’s Tunda District.

 

Competitive Cycling

Britain was the top winner in last week’s world paracycling track championship.

It was a cyclist’s worst nightmare, as a Canadian track cyclist got back from the recent world championships in Paris to discover that the airline had completely trashed her bike on the flight home.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to run across the finish line because your tire keeps falling off. A bikeshare app promises to help you fall in love with more than bikes.

And a ten-year old cargo bike passenger’s take on the new Taylor Swift album.

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May your celebrations be filled with peace and light.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Video highlights LA Vision Zero fail, missing OK bike riders murdered, and Times endorses Soto-Martínez in DC13

October 18, 2022 / / One comment

It’s been seven years since Eric Garcetti signed the Vision Zero declaration, which committed Los Angeles to ending traffic deaths by 2025.

Okay, you can stop laughing now.

It wasn’t long before the city realized just how hard that would be, and how much change it would require, before quickly shoving it far back on the shelf where they hoped no one would notice.

Funny thing is, though, we told them that. The city held a series of public meetings and solicited comments from the public — without bothering to enlist the advocates who had fought for it.

But we showed up anyway.

One of the biggest things people stressed in these meetings was that it would require wholesale changes in how we get around. Something that somehow didn’t make it into the final Vision Zero Action Plan, which instead proposed a policy of nibbling at the edges of the city’s most dangerous corridors, in hopes the combined incremental changes might somehow make a difference.

You can see how well that worked out.

Another thing we stressed was the need for a change in attitude among LA drivers, assuring the city the program would fail unless there was a large scale reeducation campaign informing motorists that they don’t, in fact, own the road, and that even the best drivers are capable of killing and maiming innocent people unless they learned to drive carefully around vulnerable road users.

And to use the long-abused and misused term, to share the road with people on bikes and on foot, making room and giving them a wide berth, rather than running them off the road.

That, too, was ignored.

I mention this because of this video posted by father and Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, as a driver on what should have been a quiet side street threatened to call the police because Schneider had the audacity to ride a cargo bike in the street with his four-year old kid.

I share it, not because it’s uncommon, but because this sort of crap is all too common.

There are few of us brave enough to mix it up with motor vehicles that haven’t run into drivers like this at one time or another. Sometime literally.

The attitude persists among too many drivers that streets are for cars, and too dangerous for people walking or on bicycles, without grasping the irony that they are the very people who keep that way.

Until that changes — or rather, until our elected leaders care enough about saving human lives to actually do something to make it change — Vision Zero will continue to fail.

And people will keep dying needlessly on our streets.

Photo from LA Streetsblog. 

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Speaking of Vision Zero, a pair of NACTO executives argue that cities urgently need to fix dangerous arterial streets, which make up just 15 percent of all roads but are responsible for a whopping 67 percent of pedestrian deaths.

And Streets For All is urging you to support a proposal for a pedestrian plaza on deadly Sawtelle Blvd at tonight’s Zoom meeting of the West LA Sawtelle Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee.

Because clearly, it’s up to us to keep pushing for a safer, more livable city for all Angelenos.

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It never seemed like the story of the missing Okmulgee, Oklahoma bike riders was going to end well.

But the real story is so much worse than anything we imagined.

The four friends inexplicably disappeared after setting out for a bike ride Sunday evening. A massive search turned up nothing, until their bodies were found Friday — shot, dismembered and dumped in a local river.

To complicate matters, it turns out the men were killed while committing, or at least planning, a crime. Although just what that crime might have been is unknown at this time.

Cellphone records show they traveled to a pair of salvage yards, five and eleven miles from where their bodies were found. One of which showed “evidence of a violent event” nearby.

Police are looking for a person of interest in the case, who also disappeared Sunday night, and reportedly may be suicidal.

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No, it’s not.

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This effectively makes the case for why slower speeds save lives, showing the difference between roughly 50 mph and 20 mph.

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Inspiring video demonstrating that bikes aren’t just for the able-bodied, as British pro mountain biker James Anderson competes despite suffering from Monoplegia, an acute form of Cerebral Palsy.

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

Police in New York are looking for the bike-riding man accused of two sexual assaults in the East Side and West Village neighborhoods. There’s not a pit in hell deep enough. 

A British mother of four claims she was forced to sell drugs after failing in debt to a drug gang, after she was busted for peddling heroin and coke by bike.

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Local

The Los Angeles Times makes a surprising endorsement, picking challenger Hugo Soto-Martínez over incumbent CD13 Councilmember and acting council president Mitch O’Farrell.

Councilmembers Kevin de León and “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo have been stripped of their committee assignments, as pressure mounts for them to resign in the wake of a racist taped conversation that was leaked last week.

People for Mobility Justice is teaming with Metro to host a free bike tour of East LA taco vendors and bike infrastructure this evening, starting at Mariachi Plaza.

WeHoVille gets the candidates for West Hollywood City Council — or most of them, anyway — on the record for their support, or the lack thereof, for proposed protected bike lanes on deadly Fountain Ave. Too many of whom insist on seeing it from a windshield perspective, preferring to protect parking and high-speed traffic over human lives. 

Metro is hosting a webinar meeting tonight to discuss bike and pedestrian improvements near the planned Sepulveda Blvd G Line — aka Orange Line — station.

Metro has released an interactive map of its Draft Prioritized Active Transportation Network, showing where in LA County the agency thinks it should make multimodal improvements

 

State 

No surprise here, as pedestrians made up 25% of all traffic traffic fatalities in California in 2020, with pedestrian deaths climbing 4% over the previous year.

Carlsbad’s Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream is hosting a fundraiser today for a local firefighter and his 16-month old daughter, after their wife and mother were killed by a driver while riding her ebike with the girl in August.

Sad news from Kern County, where a Bakersfield man was killed riding a bicycle in the city early Saturday morning.

San Francisco is headed for its worst year for traffic deaths and injuries in 15 years, making its goal of zero traffic deaths by 2024 increasingly unlikely; researchers blame inadequate and misdirected police enforcement.

More sad news, as the CHP is searching for the hit-and-run driver who killed a man who was riding a bike in Sacramento just after midnight Sunday; the victim wasn’t carrying ID and hasn’t been identified. Meanwhile, a CHP officer is in critical condition after he was struck by a drunk driver while investigating the crash.

 

National

He gets it. CNN’s Chris Cillizza uses Black Panther’s African utopia of Wakanda as a model to illustrate why it’s time to move our cities beyond the failed and destructive age of car culture.

A mom of twins offers a rave review of her first thousand miles on an e-cargo bike.

Cycling Weekly shares some of the best custom and yet-to-be-released handmade bikes from Portland’s seventh annual Chris King Open House, while Cycling News highlights five bikes from London’s recent Bespoked custom bike show.

The Las Vegas Raiders are adding additional bike racks and planning to stripe bike lanes outside their stadium, in response to demand from fans riding bikes to the games.

Horrible story from Michigan, where a bike rider was killed when he was dragged several blocks underneath a car by a hit-and-run driver.

The New York Civil Liberties Union is arguing a case before the state Supreme Court, demanding that cops and courts treat search and seizure of people on bicycles the same as they do people in cars.

 

International

A new international study shows a bike rider in New York is 25 times more likely to be killed than a similar rider in Vancouver, and faces roughly the same risk as a bicyclist in Auckland or Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, Los Angeles wasn’t included in the study.

This is who we share the road with. A Welsh driver was allegedly using Facebook and Instagram behind the wheel, moments before killing an off-duty police sergeant as she was riding a bicycle; he claims it was his 13-month old son using his phone at the time of the crash.  Sure, let’s go with that.

 

Competitive Cycling

An Irish columnist marks the 10th anniversary of Lance Armstrong’s downfall by arguing that his punishment was “draconian and probably excessive,” but caused by the same “bloody-mindedness” that led to his seven Tour de France wins.

Former Italian great Mario Cipollini was sentenced to three years and a fine of 85,000 euros — the equivalent of nearly $83,750 — after being convicted of domestic abuse and threats against his ex-wife and her current partner.

US national road race champ Kyle Murphy has signed with L39ion of Los Angeles, as the LA-based cycling team apparently looks to compete as a Continental team next year, after dominating the American crit scene.

Zwift is sponsoring the first physical location for the LA Bicycle Academy, a cycling team founded and led by people of color to help young people from underserved communities enter the sport.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the internet has misses the point entirely. Or when your only race fan is a monkey. No, a real one.

And apparently, bicycling fashion has changed just a tad over the years.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1582184306453061633

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

CA doubles driver insurance requirements, state legalizes jaywalking, and Sunset4All goes to council committee Thursday

October 3, 2022 / / One comment

Let’s start by catching up with a few items sent into us by Oceanside bike lawyer and newly renewed BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette.

While we away last week, Governor Newsom signed Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s Bicycle Omnibus Bill, which addresses four separate bike safety and bike law issues:

  • Requires drivers to change lanes to change lanes to pass someone on a bicycle whenever possible;
  • Improves access for ebikes by clarifying where they can and can’t be prohibited;
  • Clarifies that bikes are allowed to use leading pedestrian intervals and other walk signals;
  • Bans mandatory bike licensing laws, though voluntary bike licensing programs are still allowed

Duquette also sends word that Newsom signed SB 1107, which raises the minimum coverage for auto insurance policies once it takes effect in 2025.

  • $30,000 injury or death to one person, up from $15,000
  • $60,000 injury or death to more than one person, up from $30,000
  • $15,000 property damage, up from $5,000

Those amounts increase to $50,000 / $100,000 / $25,000 in 2035

Finally, he sends word that applications to fill Calbike’s vacant Executive Director position are due before midnight on Sunday, October 16th. So if you know someone who would be a good fit, tell ’em to get on it, already.

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A couple more bill signings of note.

Thanks to Gavin Newsom’s signature, it will now be legal to cross the street, after the new law goes into effect on January 1st.

And active transportation and transit projects will continue to be exempt from environmental review requirements for the foreseeable future.

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The Sunset For All compete streets plan is finally getting a hearing at City Hall this Thursday, if only because CD13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell is feeling his opponent breathing down his neck in the lead-up to next month’s general election.

But whatever the reason for his Road to Damascus turn to support the much-needed plan, we’ll take it.

This is what Sunset For All had to say in a recent email.

Great News:

Sunset4All is up for consideration at the City Council Transportation Committee thisThursday at Noon!  WE NEED YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR SUPPORT TO THE COUNCIL FILE TODAY!

By clicking on the buttons below you will send a message to the city council that Sunset4All should be one of their top priorities.  This is an essential step to achieving a Sunset4All!  Don’t wait!  Send in your public comment TODAY!

Make Public Comment on the Council File

Send an Email to CD 13 to Support the Motion

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Megan Lynch did a little research, and came up with the date and location for this race, too.

Which just happens to be exactly 129 years ago today.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1576802524111073280

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Seriously? No, I can’t.

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That about sums it up.

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Don’t mind me.

I’m just going to sit here and stare at this for awhile.

Click on the image if it doesn’t fully load.

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

A British nurse was lucky to escape serious injury when she was knocked off her bicycle in a drive-by egging, which she suspects was a social media prank.

Someone in France has definitely had enough of drivers parking in bike lanes.

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

A Studio City man suffered a shattered scapula, collapsed lung and three broken ribs when he was attacked with a pipe by a homeless man who was riding a Door Dash bicycle.

An Illinois State University administrator died four days after he was struck by a bicyclist riding on the sidewalk.

………

Local

Baldwin Park has broken ground on a new 2.3-mile bike/walk path along Big Dalton Wash and the San Gabriel River.

Not only was Jason Bateman one of us as a kid, he almost ran over Michael Jackson while riding his bike around Universal Studios.

A man is in stable condition after he was shot in the chest while riding his bike on the Los Angeles River bike path near Long Beach Blvd in Long Beach.

 

State 

The Encinitas Advocate looks at the numbers behind Carlsbad’s bicycling state of emergency, with nearly 250 bicycle-involved crashes since 2019, half involving motorists.

Sad news from Fresno County, where a woman in her 50s was killed when the driver of an Acura supercar veered onto the wrong side of the road on a curve, and hit her bicycle head-on.

A San Francisco website looks back on 30 years of Critical Mass, noting that it has never been anti-car, but rather, pro-bicycle.

The UC Davis student newspaper offers advice on how to ride a bike around campus, noting that you’re better off with a secondhand bike because it’s less likely to get stolen.

 

National

Streetsblog takes a deep dive into roundabouts, explaining that they’re not all the same when it comes to bike safety, with some designs actually increasing the risk to riders.

Forbes talks to “industry experts” to pick the best bicycles for everyone from beginners to pros.

More proof bikes are good for business. Despite fears from business owners that it would kill their businesses, a new protected bike lane on Queens’ Skillman Ave actually resulted in a 12% increase in sales, and a 10% jump in new businesses.

 

International

Over 100 people lit up downtown Toronto with phones, fairy lights and bike lights to demand better rights and safety for people on bicycles.

Forget corking. Scotland allows leaders of bike buses to control red lights using a military-grade encrypted signal until the last riders have passed.

Three-quarters of Brits don’t expect police to even investigate a stolen bicycle. The sad news is, they’re probably right.

Actor Jared Leto is one of us, taking a purple-haired Parisian bikeshare ride with a woman friend.

A German expat explains how the United Arab Emirates got the bicycling bug, 20 years after he opened a bike shop in Dubai.

A full 44% of Swiss bike riders don’t wear bike helmets, which the country only requires for users of fast ebikes.

The Jerusalem Post says riding a bike with friends or through the desert is the perfect way to contemplate self-improvement in the days leading up to Yom Kippur. It’s also one of the best times to ride a bike in Israel, thanks to nearly empty streets on the holiday.

A Malaysian website offers seven ways bicycling is good for your mental health, including as meditation. I’ve used riding as a moving meditation for years, usually until some jerk in a car pulls me out of it.

Over a thousand Philippine bicyclists turned out in matching purple jerseys to call for a switch to renewable energy.

 

Competitive Cycling

Spain’s Enric Mas topped Tadej Pogačar to win the Giro dell’Emilia, in a tuneup for the year’s final Monument.

 

Finally…

Who needs a boat when you can just ride a gigantic water unicycle (thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up). Someone tell them you don’t need a massive  flatbed tow truck for a single e-scooter.

And we may have to deal with drivers in massive SUVs, but at least we don’t have to cope with mountain goats on steroids.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

California tax credit for carless low-income residents, more on Venice Blvd protected bike lanes, and new Fullerton bike park

September 2, 2022 / / Comments Off on California tax credit for carless low-income residents, more on Venice Blvd protected bike lanes, and new Fullerton bike park

California wants to pay you not to own a car.

Maybe. And sort of.

SB 457 started out as a proposal to refund $2,500 to adult taxpayers who owned fewer cars than they had eligible drivers, rising to $5,000 for a carless couple.

But it was significantly pared back during negotiations in the state legislature, with the final bill giving just a $1,000 tax credit for single-filers earning up to $40,000, and joint-filers making up to $60,000, who live without personal cars.

By tying it to income, and requiring the entire household to be carfree, the legislature significantly weakened the bill, while dramatically reducing the number of eligible households.

Which was probably the point.

In effect, they changed it from a bill to encourage car owners to go carfree, to subsidizing transit use for people who already are; the $1,000 tax credit would nearly cover a full year of unlimited LA Metro passes.

And in this case, the restrictions hit close to home.

While my wife and I would qualify under the income restrictions, her car would keep us from receiving anything, even though I no longer drive.

Under the original bill, I would have qualified by not owning a car, while she wouldn’t have, netting us $2,500 that we won’t be seeing now.

Still, it’s a step in the right direction.

And maybe one day the state will actually incentivize going carfree, and encourage people to take their cars and trucks off our crowded streets, and adopting more healthful forms of transportation.

Both for the person using it, and our society as a whole.

………

Streetsblog offers more details on planned improvements to Venice Blvd on LA’s Westside.

The project will create a continuous 5.1 mile protected bike lane extending east and west from the existing protected bike lanes in Mar Vista, along with a new 2.5 mile bus lane.

Work is projected to begin this November, after public comments and final design work.

………

Orange County has received a $1.175 million grant to develop a new bike park at Craig Regional Park in Fullerton.

https://twitter.com/mikeocbike/status/1565443476342288384

………

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

You’ve got to be kidding. Family members may never know what really happed to a fallen bicyclist, after Denver police detectives didn’t bother to investigate or visit the crash site for five weeks after he was killed. Someone should be fired for that one. Although police unions are very good at keeping bad cops on the payroll these days.

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

The Hollywood Reporter questions whether a former writer/producer for Scrubs and Californication is Hollywood’s most prolific sexual predator, at times using his bicycle to stalk young women; Eric Weinberg is free on $3.25 million bail as he awaits trial on 20 charges of sexual assault, including rape. Seriously, there’s not a pit deep enough.

………

Local

Bicycling catches up with Koreatown bike mechanic Jimmy Lizama, one of the founders of LA’s modern bicycling community. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies are conducting a bike and pedestrian safety operation from 8 am to 10 pm today, cracking down on anyone who commits a violation that could endanger people on foot or two wheels, regardless of who commits it. The usual protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you leave the city, so you’re not the one who gets caught.

The East Side Riders continue their exemplary social service this Saturday, providing a free bike repair, helmet distribution and safety class.

 

State 

An eight-year old boy was hospitalized with serious injuries when he was run down by the driver of a pickup as he was riding his bike in Coto de Caza.

San Onofre surfer, artist and board shaper Tyler Warren is starting a petition to ban ebikes from California state parks, somehow assuming that their riders are responsible for littering, while complaining about the “recreational integrity of surfing” being “hopeless degraded” by ebike-riding “kooks and their endless gear fetishes.” Maybe he needs to wear a helmet when he surfs.

 

National

Adventure Cycling is rolling out a dozen two to five day bike routes, each starting in metro areas and with GPS as your guide, for anyone who doesn’t have the time or inclination to tackle a major cross-country ride.

A writer for Slate says carmakers are rolling out electric pickups and SUVs that are just as deadly as their gas-powered counterparts, but there’s still time to change course — presumably before we all get killed.

Tourism site Lonely Planet recommends Seattle’s ten best bike trails, for your next trip to the Emerald City.

Washington state will now have to incorporate Complete Streets principles, and consider the needs of all road users — including pedestrians, bike riders and public transportation users — in any state roadway projects. Let’s hope that works better for them than a similar requirement here in California has so far. 

A Denver magazine offers a tongue-in-cheek beginner’s guide to joining the local bike community, for all the new ebike buyers taking advantage of the city’s rebate program.

A Denver man tracked his AirTag to locate his stolen ebike, and got it back when he interrupted an apparent negotiation over its sale.

A Wyoming woman celebrates road cycling, “where all the senses come into play.”

Bighearted staffers at a Missouri high school dug into their own pockets to buy a new bicycle for a sophomore boy who only made it three days into the school year before his bike was stolen.

That’s more like it. A Cincinnati TV station tells drivers to keep out of bike lanes, and always yield to people on bicycles because of the danger their vehicles pose to more vulnerable road users. I’ll even give them a pass on not bothering to invest the ten seconds it took to find out if their state has a three-foot passing law. Hint: it does.

New York is considering a ban on ebikes and scooters in city public housing projects, in response to a rash of fires from poorly made ebike batteries; Streetsblog says the city could establish a battery swap program to keep residents from charging batteries at home overnight.

You’ve got to be kidding. A New Jersey man had his 19-year conviction overturned for stealing a bicycle from a special needs man and vandalizing it, then swinging a hammer at the victim, because he was apparently too drunk to understand his Miranda rights.

 

International

Cycling Weekly recommends five simple upgrades to get that new bike feeling from a cheap secondhand bike.

We may have entered the post-bike boom period, as English bike ridership has dropped to its lowest level since the country started tracking it seven years ago, with just 2% making all their trips by bike; meanwhile, readers of The Guardian share how safety concerns have driven them off their bikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Spanish pro Enric Mas says Remco Evenepoel shows no sign of cracking, despite crashing on Thursday’s 12th stage of the Vuelta.

Evenepoel continues to hold a lead of 2 minutes and 41 seconds over 2nd place Primož Roglič, with Mas in 3rd, after Thursday’s 12th stage.

Baltimore is hosting the one-day Maryland Cycling Classic this Sunday, complete with several WorldTour riders and teams.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a mountain bike crash provides creative inspiration for your new commercial project. Or when a one-block bike lane is enough to force a local recall election.

And that feeling when neighborhood NIMBYs somehow feel the need to call for the removal of a temporary bike lane.

Did I mention that it’s just temporary?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Getting a jump on LA mobility plan, seriously injured Mtn biker rescued, and anti-semitic banner on Davis bike bridge

August 29, 2022 / / One comment

Good piece from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider.

He makes the case for the city council to get a head start on their promises to implement the Los Angeles mobility plan, rather than waiting for the inevitable drawn-out process to draft and approve an alternative to the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal.

Schneider recommends ten streets currently scheduled for resurfacing work that they can start work on restriping right now.

Unless the councilmembers were just saying what they think we wanted to hear, with no intention of actually following through.

Naw, they wouldn’t do that to us.

Again.

………

The Los Angeles Fire Department rescued a seriously injured mountain biker in Brentwood, hoisting the 56-year old victim to safety by helicopter after he suffered several traumatic injuries Saturday morning.

………

There’s a special place in hell for the group of people who hung a racist, anti-semitic banner from a bicycle overpass on the UC Davis Campus, for the second weekend in a row.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the tip.

………

Caltrans forwards a notice that Camp Pendleton will close the bike path through the base for five days next month, so mark your calendar. And make plans to use the shoulder of the 5 Freeway through the base if you need to ride then.

Another notification to pass: Bike path from Pulgas Gate to south entrance to the San Onofre State Park will be closed for military operations from 15 to 19 September from 6:00 AM to 6 PM daily.

Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.

………

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

No bias here. A Chico letter writer complains about a new bike bridge, saying it will just give bike thieves a faster route to escape after stealing one.

No bias here, either. The New York Post calls Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine an anti-car extremist for pushing a “pie-in-the-sky bike lane plan for the West Side Highway,” despite his record of 41 traffic violations in the past decade. Although bad driving ability is a pretty damn good reason to switch to bikes.

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

There’s not a pit deep enough for the bike-riding thieves who stole a cellphone and the equivalent of over $2,000 from a homeless woman in Hong Kong. Although why she was sleeping on the street with that much cash is beyond me.

………

Local

Metro recommitted to using Randolph Street for the eastern segment of the Rail-to-River bike/walk path, after Union Pacific refused to relinquish its right-of-way for an abandoned rail line.

Congratulations, Los Angeles. We now beat the Bay Area in transit use, especially buses. The story wasn’t paywalled for me, for some reason; your results may vary.

Streets For All calls on the city to cancel plans to expand parking at the Los Angeles Zoo in the middle of a climate emergency.

LA Times readers sound off about what streets they’d like to see closed, after the city banned cars from Griffith Park Drive in the park. My first choice would be to close Hollywood Blvd to install a pedestrian plaza at Hollywood & Highland, followed by closing Broadway in DTLA, and Wilshire Blvd from Downtown to the coast.

About damn time. Los Angeles blacktop may not be black for long, as the city works to cover one million square feet of Pacoima streets and other paved surfaces with cooling reflective paint, which can lower surface temperatures up to 12° Fahrenheit. Of course, that’s just a small fraction of LA’s heat-sink paved surfaces. And something tells me they’re not building out the mobility plan when they do it. Thanks again to Robert Leone for the link. 

This is who we share the road with. Despite initial denials, the LAPD was chasing a stolen car when it crashed into multiple vehicles August 19th at Manchester Ave and Broadway, killing a couple in a hit-and-run.

This is who we share the road with, too. One person is dead and two injured, after a pair of road raging drivers traded gunfire in Long Beach, before one of the drivers crashed into a truck and home.

 

State 

A Huntington Beach cop killed a pedestrian in a predawn crash while responding to an emergency call Saturday.

San Diego bicyclists Biked the Bay, riding across the Coronado Bridge in the San Diego County Bike Coalition’s biggest fundraiser of the year.

A San Diego County man credits his Apple Watch with saving his life after a mountain biking crash that left him a quadriplegic; he was able to tell Siri to call a friend for help.

The rich get richer. Santa Barbara County is beginning work on the new Santa Claus Lane bikeway, which will create a new Class I bikeway and multipurpose path connecting the California Coastal Trail to bike lanes on Carpinteria Ave.

 

National

Former New York City transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan applauds the rise of car-free cities to combat climate change.

Cities around the US are debating whether to keep pandemic-era road changes, as drivers, pedestrians, bike riders and diners debate who the streets are for. Although you know it’s not a serious report when they quote a spokesperson for the tiny drivers rights extremist group the National Motorists Association.

A Eugene OR newspaper seems surprised to discover that bicycles can move things “just like cars,” as a group of cargo bike owners carry a live band performance along the city’s streets.

A 19-year old Durango, Colorado man faces DUI and vehicular homicide charges for the hit-and-run death of a bike-riding local fire captain; he abandoned his car, with the victim’s bike sill under the front fender, and the victim embedded in his windshield. At his age, the legal alcohol level is zero.

Colorado residents debate allowing ebike access on offroad trails, even though the bikes can provide outdoor access to people who couldn’t otherwise ride them.

Horrible news from Texas, where a Houston-area man in his 30s was apparently mauled to death by dogs while riding his bike.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A Kansas City teacher and father of ten children was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike.

Good idea. A Michigan writer describes how he carries pruning shears on his bike to trim bushes and trees encroaching on the bike path.

Cleveland announces a Vision Zero plan, committing to ending traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2032. Let’s hope they commit to it better than Los Angeles, which still hasn’t adequately funded the program after seven years.

Christian singer Amy Grant made her first public statement since she was seriously injured in a fall off her bike, saying she’s taking it easy at her Nashville home this fall on the advice of her doctors.

A Tennessee newspaper lists “12 perfect gifts” for bike enthusiasts. And for a change, they actually offer some pretty good suggestions. Although I’d add a gift certificate for a cleaning and overhaul at your local bike shop.

No surprise here, as Boston bike ridership jumps nearly 50% after a major train line was shut down for renovations.

Madonna is one of us, sticking her tongue out at the paparazzi as she goes for a bike ride in the Big Apple. And deservedly so.

NPR examines how Hoboken, New Jersey achieved zero traffic deaths in just four years, using quick, high-impact techniques. Thanks again to Robert Leone.

This, too, is the cost of traffic violence. A 42-year old State Department employee was killed when she was run down by a flatbed truck driver while riding her bike in Bethesda, Maryland; the diplomat had most recently served as head of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Section at the US Embassy in Kyiv.

Virginia drivers complain about the width of a new bike lane, apparently unable to figure out how to drive between the lines.

 

International

No surprise here. A new study charts bicycle ownership in various countries worldwide, concluding that high bike ownership does not necessarily correlate to high ridership. Sorry, America.

Cops in Surrey, England have added a Brompton to their crime fighting fleet, catching over 20 scofflaw motorists in the first few days.

Olympic gold medalist track cyclist Katie Archibald talks about her struggles in the week since her boyfriend, Scottish champion mountain biker Rab Wardel died of a heart attack at their Glasgow home.

Road.cc asks if anyplace requires numbered license plates for bicycles, aside from North Korea; Britain’s transport minister says they won’t be required, regardless of what he said before.

A pair of British men have been sentenced to 21 years each behind bars for using a car to deliberately murder a bike-riding father of four in a drug dispute.

A website says no, ebike batteries don’t attract lightening, in the wake of an Italian ebike rider killed by a lightening strike.

After the Russian invasion, a Ukrainian mayor rode her bike to patrol her small town and resist the occupation.

A New Zealand bike rider received a frightening punishment pass from a delivery truck driver; fortunately he was stopped for a pedestrian in the crosswalk, or it could have been worse. Never mind that he stopped, and the truck driver didn’t.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgian pro Remco Evenepoel continued to hold onto to the red leader’s jersey in the Vuelta with a gap of 1:12 over Spain’s Enric Was; three-time defending champ Primož Roglič remains in striking distance at 1:53 back. All the American cyclists have dropped out of contention, with Lawson Craddock now the top US rider in 59th place, over 45 minutes back.

Pez Cycling News looks back at 1945 Vuelta winner Delio Rodríguez, who holds the record for stage wins in the Grand Tour at 39.

The LUX/CTS U19 cycling team, one of the most successful junior development teams, is shutting down at the end of this season, a victim of cycling’s failed sponsorship model.

Tragic news from Vermont, where 33-year old Kenyan cyclist Sule Kangangi was killed in a high speed fall while competing the Vermont Overland gravel race Saturday.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to try to escape through a flooded river, no matter what kind of bike you just stole. It’s hard enough riding the grueling Iron Horse Classic on two wheels; now try it on one.

And at least one NBA star is excited about cycling’s rising stars. Then again, he does hold a French passport.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

LA Council rejects adopting Healthy Streets, protest street racing in Angelino Heights, and Santa Ana gets it all wrong

August 25, 2022 / / 3 comments

Why do I get the feeling the city council is Lucy.

And we’re Charlie Brown.

And they really think we’re going to fall for that damn football trick one more time.

Yesterday, the city council had the chance to adopt the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal.

Instead, they pulled the football away one more time, voting to develop their own plan, which will be based on the Healthy Streets LA plan, but with a greater focus on equity.

And voted to place Healthy Streets LA on the 2024 ballot.

In other words, they’re kicking the can down the road once again. Which seems to be the city’s favorite sport.

It really was typical Los Angeles.

A number of council members spoke, seemingly with their hair on fire, about how dangerous LA streets are, how little the city has done, and how they need to be forced to keep their commitments.

Then they voted unanimously not to.

Shamefully, they also chose to ignore the large turnout in support of the measure, with Council President Nury Martinez cutting off comments while over 30 supporters were still waiting to speak.

Although they somehow had time to listen to those opposed to the measure, for some reason.

If you’re wondering why I sound angry, it’s because we’ve been here before.

In 2010, then-Councilmember Bill Rosendahl famously declared “Car culture ends today!” 

In a powerful statement before the full council, Rosendahl said “The culture of the car is going to end now!” He reminded his fellow council members about the harassment cyclists face on the road, as well as the lack of support riders have received from the LAPD in the past. “We’re going to give cyclists the support they should have been getting.”

“This is my pledge to the cycling community.”

That pledge lasted until Rosendahl left the council to battle a recurrence of the cancer that took his life.

Under Rosendahl’s guidance, the city preliminarily adopted the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights, written a group of bike bloggers known as the Bike Writer’s Collective, sending it to the City Council for review and inclusion in the 2010 bike plan.

Except it never made it into the plan. In fact, it was never heard from again.

Rosendahl also shepherded approval of the innovative 2010 bike plan, with its three levels of bikeways forming a unified network designed to channel bike riders through their neighborhood, and throughout the city.

That was subsumed into 2015’s Mobility Plan 2035. And once again, never heard from again.

In fact, we were soon told the plan was merely “aspirational,” which probably explains why only 3% of the plan has been built out in the seven years since.

Charlie Brown, meet football.

Then there’s the city’s Vision Zero plan, also adopted in 2015, which pledged to eliminate traffic deaths in the City of Angels by 2025.

Hint: we ain’t gonna make it.

In fact, traffic deaths have continued to climb virtually every year since, jumping 19% in 2019, and 21% in 2020.

There goes that football again.

That was followed by the mayor’s Green New Deal, which promised to phase out gas-driven cars while providing safe and efficient alternatives to driving.

You can probably guess what comes next.

Now the city council expects us to trust them while they tee-up the ball yet again, pledging that the new ordinance they’re going to write will be even bigger and better than Healthy Streets LA.

Except (soto voce, crossed fingers hidden behind their backs) any ordinance they write they can also change at any time, for any reason. Unlike the Healthy Streets LA proposal, which could only be changed by a vote of the people had they adopted it yesterday.

So if a councilmember doesn’t want a particular project in his or her district, or LA’s notorious NIMBYs rise up in opposition, they can reject it in part, or in toto.

Or when a new council comes in, they can overturn it, again in whole or in part.

So much for forcing them to keep their commitments.

I’ve worked hard for 14 years now to kick over SoCal rocks, and shine a light on all the ugliness underneath, at serious harm to my own mental, physical, emotional and financial health.

But days like this, combined with the ongoing carnage on our streets, make me wonder if it’s all worthwhile.

And I know I’m not alone in feeling that way. Especially now.

But let’s give credit to Michael Schneider and Streets For All for all their hard work in getting us this far. And to everyone who turned out yesterday to speak to the council, whether or not they bothered to listen, and everyone who emailed and called their councilmembers fighting for a better result than the one we got.

You deserve better. We all do.

Instead we have to wait another two years for an expensive, uncertain electoral battle against the full force of LA’s NIMBYs.

Meanwhile, we need to hold the council’s feet to the fire to ensure they keep their promises, and come up with a workable alternative.

And stick to the damn thing this time.

Because I can’t speak for you. But I’m done falling for the same damn trick again.

Peanuts drawing from ClipArtMax. 

………

It looks like Hollywood has worn out its welcome in LA’s Victorian Angelino Heights neighborhood — especially the seemingly endless series of Fast & Furious sequels.

A protest is planned for tomorrow to halt filming, in an effort to reduce the number of boneheaded copycats attempting to duplicate the stunts there.

Thanks to Dr. Michael Cahn for the heads-up.

………

Santa Ana cops are on the lookout for a bike rider who kicked a motorist after crashing into his car, then possibly threatened the driver with a knife.

Although there’s so much wrong here, I don’t even know where to start.

Reading between the lines, the driver apparently right hooked the bike rider, while illegally turning across the bike lane instead of safely merging in to make his turn, as required by California law.

And while the bike rider was clearly in the wrong to kick and threaten the driver, LAPD officers have made it clear to me in the past that a driver commits assault simply by getting out of his vehicle.

In other words, the bike rider was the victim of the crash, and could have been acting in self-defense when he threatened the driver, since leaving the car could have been seen as a threatening act.

A good lawyer could have a field day with this one if they find the guy.

………

The LAPD is looking for a hit-and-run driver who left a Vespa-style moped rider with severe injuries at 3rd and Flower in DTLA earlier this month.

Los Angeles has a standing reward of $25,000 for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injuries.

………

Yeah, I’d probably use it.

Although as someone noted, the weak spot is still the cable.

Thanks to Megan Lynch and Jon for forwarding the tweet.

………

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

There’s a special place in hell for the British man who appeared to come to the aid of an injured mountain biker who fell off his bike, only to steal his nearly $2,800 bicycle while he was laid out on the ground.

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

A Connecticut man faces charges for groping two women while riding his BMX bike.

………

Local

LA Progressive endorses a slate of candidates throughout the LA area, including Alex Fisch and Freddy Puza in Culver City, who it says face a well-funded NIMBY backlash from “homeowners who want to keep apartments, bike lanes and non-rich people out of their neighborhoods.”

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council is pushing for safety improvements at the extremely complicated disjunction junction of Glendale Blvd, Fletcher Drive and Silver Ridge Ave, citing a lack of bike lanes and sidewalks, as well as potholes and frequent gridlock.

Tony Palos Verdes Estates is pulling the plug on plans for a roundabout at Palos Verdes Drive West and Via Corta in Malaga Cove, after local residents got out the torches and pitchforks because they fear what they don’t understand.

 

State 

California is banning the sale of gas-powered vehicles starting in 2035.

Newport Beach considers what to do about speeding ebike riders, from restricting ebikes from certain trails to a blatantly illegal scheme to license ebikes, while limiting the licenses to local residents, the banning unlicensed bikes from the streets.

A 68-year old San Diego man was lucky to escape serious injury when he was right-hooked by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike near Sunset Cliffs in the Point Loma neighborhood.

Pismo Beach has received $14.7 million for new curb cuts, bike lanes and wider road shoulders to comply with Complete Streets requirements and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

 

National

Streetsblog considers three common bike laws that are overdue for a change, including requiring safety equipment instead of safe streets.

Good question. GearJunkie asks whether the great pandemic bicycle shortage is ending, or if it’s really just getting started.

Writing for Bicycling, a woman says she fell in love with bicycling — lower case — by delivering weed on two wheels. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Bicycling also highlights the best early Labor Day sales on bike gear, in an article that doesn’t appear to be paywalled.

Autoevolution reviews Jeep’s new ped-assist ebike, calling it $7,600 of awesomeness. For that price, it damn well better be.

New nonprofit City Thread worked with five American cities — Austin, Denver, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Providence — to build out 335 miles of bike lanes in just two years, a full 25 years earlier than otherwise expected. Someone please give LADOT their phone number. Pretty please. 

A Eugene, Oregon paper says ebikes and high gas prices are making this bicycling’s golden hour in the city.

Tacoma, Washington takes advantage of an eroding bluff to ban cars from a 2.5-mile loop in the city’s Point Defiance Park, opening up the roadway to walkers, bike riders and skateboarders.

The Austin, Texas judge in the homicide case against Kaitlin Armstrong for the death of pro gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson says the case will likely be delayed to give her time to consider motions.

Texas-based Volcon just quietly rolled out the company’s first moped-style, ped-assist ebike, which is designed to look like a motorcycle.

Tragic news from Indiana, where a 67-year old South Bend parish priest was killed by a hit-and-run driver as he was riding his bike.

The Bike League’s policy director helps the New York Post pick the best bike helmets for different types of riders.

A New York bike rider was the victim of a hit-and-run salmon bicyclist who plowed into him head-on while riding in a bike lane; a photographer just happened to be there to immortalize the aftermath.

 

International

Bicycling Retailer says the late Lotus Bike designer Mike Burrows was much more than just a legendary bike designer; Burrows succumbed to lung cancer last week at 79.

Canadian Cycling Magazine calls a Toronto parking cop the greatest of all time for ticketing drivers parked in bike lanes.

Scottish mountain bike champ Rab Wardell apparently died of a heart attack in his sleep, as his girlfriend, Olympic track cyclist Katie Archibald, fought to save his life.

A British writer says the proposal to require numbered license plates on bicycles is so bad it could result in the dissolution of the United Kingdom.

More proof that drivers aren’t the only threat we face. A pair of French bicyclists are in critical condition after they were each stung nearly 50 times by European hornets, while a third rider was stung 15 times.

F1 star Valtteri Bottas is one of us, as Cycling Weekly goes gravel biking with the Finnish race car driver, while falling in love with the country’s trails. Thanks to Pops for the link.

Add this one to your bike bucket list, as The Guardian takes a bike ride through the “vast panoramas and the gleaming Adriatic” of west Slovenia.

A 23-year-old New Zealand woman pled guilty to careless driving for dooring a 19-year old bike rider, who was killed when he was knocked into the path of another car; she’ll be sentenced in November.

 

Competitive Cycling

Talk about a good problem to have. Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard is reportedly having a very hard time adjusting to life after winning the Tour de France.

American Lawson Craddock gambled on a breakaway on the next-to-last climb during Wednesday’s fifth stage of the Vuelta, but had to settle for fifth when he was reeled in by stage winner Marc Soler.

Slovenia’s Primož Roglič had to peel off his newly won red leader’s jersey, giving it up to Frenchman Rudy Molard after stage five.

Britain’s Fred Wright stands 2nd in the Vuelta GC, while Craddock moved up to 4th; previous leaders Roglič and American Sepp Kuss slipped to 5th and 6th, respectively.

 

Finally…

If you’re carrying crystal meth on your bike and riding erratically, put a damn light on it, already. That feeling when your new bike lanes look like they were striped by a drunk.

And this is one of the best bike ads I’ve seen recently. Maybe we can get them to do an American version.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Ban cars to rewild urban streets, 6th Street Viaduct bike lane barriers made for cars, and Buena Park considers new bike lanes

July 12, 2022 / / Comments Off on Ban cars to rewild urban streets, 6th Street Viaduct bike lane barriers made for cars, and Buena Park considers new bike lanes

An op-ed in The Guardian questions whether cars should be banned from city streets.

The aim, in the authors’ view, is to enable form of “urban rewilding” to return streets to a their former state as a complex social ecosystem.

But just as swathes of our countryside were repurposed for farming, over the past century our city streets have been optimised for one goal: to move people around as quickly as possible, unhindered by anyone using public space for other purposes. This has its benefits – who wouldn’t argue that it is useful to be able to get from one side of a city to another quickly and efficiently – but they have come at a cost. Our shared urban environment, which used to be for everyone, is by and large dominated by moving and parked cars…

Is there another way? Well, some cities are starting to “rewild”. Barcelona is democratising its public space to include urban patios and parks, reclaiming its streets from traffic. Cars will still be allowed, but they will constitute just one use of public space, not the main reason for its existence.

In the same spirit, Groningen, in the Netherlands, known for its progressive steps to reclaim streets for bikes, recently adopted a set of guidelines that state that moving about is just one thing that a street should facilitate, as well as, for example, better health, an awareness of cultural history, or the city’s ability to adapt to the climate emergency. Paris, meanwhile, has a 15-minute city plan that aims to create self-sufficient communities where everything you need is within a 15-minute walk or cycle.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing.

Although my take is they’re asking the wrong question. Transit, walking and biking should be so robust that there’s no benefit to having a car.

And driving should be deprioritized to the point that other forms of transport will be more efficient and convenient.

………

Evidently, those weak-ass barriers on the new 6th Street Viaduct were purposely designed to allow cars to travel over them.

You know, so cars can block the lanes bike riders rely on instead of the ones that would inconvenience drivers.

………

Buena Park will consider adding new bike lanes at this evening’s council meeting.

https://twitter.com/mikeocbike/status/1546629608321081344

………

When I visited Paris a couple decades back, this was a busy, loud and smelly highway despoiling the Seine.

This is better.

https://twitter.com/fietsprofessor/status/1546562719859576840

………

Gear Junkie offers a seven minute tutorial on how to jump your mountain bike.

Okay, make that how to jump using your mountain bike, not over it.

………

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

Once again, officials offer bike safety advice that begins and ends with wearing a helmet, although Spokane’s health department also suggests wearing sunscreen and drinking lots of water. Neither of which is likely to protect you from an inattentive driver. Then again, the helmet may not do a lot of good, either.

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

A 20-year old New York man faces a murder charge for allegedly jumping off a bikeshare bike to run up and punch a jeep passenger, then fatally shoot him as the driver ran for her life, in an attack caught on security cam.

English police are looking for a masked bike rider who rode up from behind and stabbed a woman in the back for no apparent reason.

………

Local

Streetsblog offers photos and highlights from Sunday’s CicLAvia.

Termed-out councilmember and pseudo-environmentalist Paul Koretz took a step in the right direction by following the lead of a number of Bay Area cities with a proposal to ban new gas stations in Los Angeles. Although he could have done more to clean our air by approving more bike and bus lanes, instead of blocking them for more than a dozen years. 

A Redditor says there’s a bike parking app for Android users, which needs more reports on bicycle parking spots from LA riders.

 

State 

Streetsblog offers an update on transportation bills still alive in the state legislature, with most scheduled for consideration in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations committees next month.

A new cargo bike from Chino’s KBO Bikes promises to carry up to 400 pounds, while priced at just $1,600.

Sad news from Fresno County, where a man was killed when his bike was rear-ended by a semi driver at 3:45 am.

San Francisco celebrated its own open streets event Sunday, while raising questions of what happened to promised protected bike lanes on Valencia Street.

 

National

A new accessory allows you to hide an Apple AirTag under your water bottle cage; meanwhile, a new 85-decibel bike alarm promises to work with Apple’s Find My app.

Denver’s renewed ebike rebate program drew so much interest it overwhelmed the website shortly after opening; 2,000 rebate vouchers are available ranging from $400 to $1,200, with half reserved for low-income buyers.

Chicago plans to give out 5,000 free single-speed commuter bicycles, locks and helmets over the next four years, though this year will likely be limited to around 500 bikes for participants in a youth jobs programs.

A group of Indiana cops are riding nearly 1,000 miles in 13 days to honor officers who died last year.

Sad news from Indiana, where the managing editor of a TV newsroom died of a heart attack while riding his bike on a local trail; he was just 51.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. New York’s vehicular homicide laws are specifically written to shield killer drivers from criminal charges unless they’re under the influence. (Hint: Stop the page from loading before the paywall popup blocks it. And no, you didn’t see that here.)

New York’s housing authority is banning ebikes in public housing after 25 battery fires, three years after they were warned about the problem; however, food delivery workers are protesting the proposed ban.

 

International

London traffic deaths dropped 22% to a record low last year, even though serious injuries increased; pedestrians were nearly half of the deaths, while bicyclists and motorcyclists made up most of the rest.

Twenty is plenty in Wales, where the British country is lowering speed limits from 30 mph to to 20 mph, over the objections of drivers.

He gets it. An Irish bike rider was awarded the equivalent of just over $30,000 following a dooring, after the judge said “People are not entitled to suddenly open doors without first checking that all is clear.”

Swedish sports equipment maker POC is teaming with an automotive safety company to develop a bike helmet with a built-in airbag.

Seriously? A Philippine senator has introduced a bill outlining the rights and responsibilities of bike riders — although it only mentions a single right, with eight responsibilities.

BTS band leader RM is the proud new owner of a limited edition, $17,000 Tod’s branded Colnago.

 

Competitive Cycling

In a modest surprise, mandatory Covid tests administered on yesterday’s rest day for the Tour de France all turned up negative. Which means the race and its riders can all go on.

On the 30th anniversary of Andy Hampsten’s solo win atop Alpe d’Huez, a new book examines what made him one of the Tour’s best climbers.

A writer for Cycling Tips says maybe it’s time to stop fetishizing the pain of pro cyclists who push “their bodies and minds beyond imaginable limits.”

 

Finally…

If you’re already out on bail for stealing a dozen bicycles, maybe wait awhile before going out and stealing 13 more. Cross-country ride training should always include stops at nearly a dozen pubs on the final day.

And apparently, the Tour de France runs through Springfield this year.

https://twitter.com/TamauPogi/status/1546218919169589248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1546218919169589248%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-11-july-2022-294297

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Healthy Streets LA submits signatures, moves forward in city council; and Moriah “Mo” Wilson killer busted in Costa Rica

July 5, 2022 / / One comment

So, did I miss anything last week?

Thankfully, my head and stomach finally returned to their standard state late last week, after doing my best to sleep it off all week. 

Now we’re back, with a lot to catch up on.

And no, that fool photo up there refers to the following story, not me. Although the resemblance is uncanny. 

Photo by 1195798 from Pixabay.

………

As a former president famously said, “Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice…won’t get fooled again.”

Let’s hope we don’t.

It was more than a decade ago when a group of LA bicyclists calling themselves the Bike Writers Collective developed the Cyclists Bill of Rights, calling for common sense entitlements for people who ride bikes.

(Full disclosure, I was briefly a member of the group after this Bill of Rights was written.)

Like the right to “travel safely and free from fear”, the “full support of the judicial system,” and the “right to routine accommodations in all roadway projects and improvements.”

It made so much sense, it was provisionally adopted by the Los Angeles City Council in 2008.

Which is apparently what they do when they want to make something go away.

The proposal was sent to the city attorney’s office for review, before being routed to various city agencies and council committees, with an ultimate goal of writing it into city code and including it in the upcoming 2010 bike plan.

And that was the last anyone ever heard of it.

Which should serve as fair warning as the city considers preemptively adopting the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal.

This past week, Streets For All submitted over 102,000 signatures in support of the proposal, which would require the city to implement the long-forgotten mobility plan whenever a street mentioned in it is resurfaced.

Assuming enough signatures are validated, it would go before city voters, possibly as early as this fall.

But that’s where it gets interesting.

Because before the public has a chance to vote on it, it will go before the city council, who will have the option of adopting it outright.

If they do, it will immediately become law, and require a vote of the public before it can be modified or repealed.

Meanwhile, the city has also voted to move forward with their own version of the plan, based on the Healthy Streets initiative.

The motion, which passed unanimously — although safe streets opponents Paul Koretz and the recently defeated “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo were absent, along with former mayoral candidate Joe Buscaino — sends it back to the city attorney’s office to draft it into an ordinance.

Sound familiar?

The council will have the option of adopting the Healthy Streets plan, their own plan, or approving both. Or neither., for that matter

According to Streetsblog, Streets For All founder Michael Schneider says the best approach would be for the city to adopt them both.

“There are things in the ordinance, good things, that aren’t in the initiative,” explained Schneider after delivering the signatures earlier today. His advice to the Council? “Adopt ours, and then adopt yours as the implementation mechanism.”

The worst option would be for the city to approve a watered down, toothless version of the ordinance that would allow them to back out of implementing the plan whenever a councilmember decides it would be inconvenient to someone — whether motorists, police or the fire department.

Which could be altered or revoked by future council action at any time.

And which is pretty much what we have right now, resulting in less than 3% of the mobility plan being striped, seven years after it was adopted. And just 13 years before it’s supposed to be completely built-out.

Which means, if the city does adopt a weak-ass version, it will be up to the voters to correct their mistake.

So it’s great that the city is moving forward with their own version of the Healthy Streets LA proposal.

But it’s up to us to stay on top of them, and at the same time, keeping moving forward on the ballot initiative, to ensure we don’t get fooled again.

Or as another former president put it, “Trust, but verify.”

………

While we were gone, Kaitlin Marie Armstrong was busted in Costa Rica, after 43 days on the run for the May killing of top gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas.

The 34-year old fugitive was captured at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in Provincia de Puntarenas.

Armstrong was reportedly traveling on a borrowed passport under an assumed name. She was returned to the US to face murder charges.

Wilson was repeatedly shot, apparently in a fit of jealousy for the crime of briefly dating Armstrong’s boyfriend, 35-year old cyclist Colin Strickland, and maintaining their friendship.

US Marshalls tracked Armstrong down by following her obsession with yoga classes, despite dying her hair in an effort to hide her identity.

………

The LACBC has taken a stand against the recently passed ordinance criminalizing bike chop shops, urging the mayor to veto it.

………

Enough said.

………

This is how fast a tragedy can happen. And how it can be avoided by a matter of inches, and sheer luck.

https://twitter.com/adamatic521/status/1540765682689658884

………

Women cyclists competing in the road race at the US Road Cycling National Championships took a knee to protest the recent overturning of Roe vs Wade.

………

This is what it looks like when a whole country bikes instead of driving.

https://twitter.com/annaholligan/status/1542205441069010946

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the link. 

………

They get it. A British police department explains why drivers don’t really want people on bikes to ride single file, regardless of what they might think.

………

We haven’t had much success getting Hollywood to #biketheOscars.

Maybe we’re just asking the wrong country.

………

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

No bias here. After six-year old boy was knocked down on a San Diego bike path by a pair of kids on ebikes, a surf website says ebikes are “piloted exclusively by the lazy and selfish and/or young and spoiled, (who) fly down bike paths, sidewalks, anywhere pedestrians amble at full speed cloaked in the gauze of “environmentalism.” Um, sure.

No bias here, either. A chain of UK coffee shops says they don’t serve people on bicycles in their drive-throughs because “they’re not road legal, taxed or insured.” 

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

A 17-year old English boy faces a dangerous driving charge for fleeing the scene after running down an 80-year old pedestrian with his ebike. Yet another reminder to always slow down and ride safely around pedestrians. And stop if you hit someone, dammit. 

Also in the UK, a 29-year old man faces a charge of “wanton or furious driving while being in charge of a bicycle” for killing a 29-year old woman as she was crossing the street.

………

Local

Cars are now officially banned from a roughly one-mile section of Griffith Park Drive in Griffith Park, at least for now. More on that tomorrow.

Once again, bad police training has raised its ugly head, after an LAPD spokesperson tells Spanish speakers it’s illegal to ride a bike on a sidewalk in Los Angeles, even though it’s perfectly legal as long as you respect others on the sidewalk.

A man was in stable condition after he was shot while riding a bicycle in central Long Beach early yesterday morning; police have not identified a suspect or motive.

CicLAvia is back, taking over the streets of South LA this Sunday. Or a street, anyway.

Speaking of Streets For All, the transportation PAC is hosting a another virtual happy hour on July 13th, this time featuring LA County District 1 Supervisor Hilda Solis.

 

State 

Several thousand bike riders turned out for a patriotic bike ride through Huntington Beach, in just the ride’s third year.

A kindhearted Castro Valley man fixes up donated bikes, and gives them to people who can’t afford one.

 

National

He gets it. Former President Barack Obama called on cities to fight sprawl and create “livable density…that allows us to take mass transit and take bicycles.”

Writing for Jalopnik, the co-host of The War on Cars podcast says “ban cars” is an inaccurate and incomplete summary of a complex issue, but he means it anyway.

A writer for Slate calls out Joe Biden’s “misguided” plan to suspend the federal gas tax.

A British man is riding across the US to call attention to testicular cancer, under the hashtag #BikingForBalls. No, really.

The Chicago Police Department has opened an internal investigation after a man claiming to be an off-duty cop was filmed pinning a 14-year old boy to the ground, and accusing him of stealing his son’s bike; the boy’s mother accused the cop of racial bias, saying when the boy simply tried to move it because it was blocking the sidewalk.

Police in the Bronx are looking for a hit-and-run driver in a stolen Jeep who killed a bike rider in a high speed crash, then removed a baby from the back of the Jeep, and made off in another SUV.

The carnage continues on American roads, when a DC driver crashed into a man on a bicycle before slamming into a fireworks stand; both the bike rider and a worker at the stand were killed. The driver apparently lost control due to a medical event.

 

International

Amazon is replacing its London delivery vans with a fleet of mini delivery van-style e-cargo bikes.

A British bicycling website says abuse on the roads keeps many women from riding, who might otherwise take to their bikes. The same story could be written for any American city or state.

Copenhagen’s bicycling chef is combining bikes and cuisine to give customers a ride to remember.

A new German study puts ebikes ahead of electric cars as the most popular and attractive form of electric vehicle.

Horrible news from Kolkata, India, where a 25-year old man was electrocuted when he tried to remove fallen electrical wires that got tangled with his bicycle wheels.

A 57-year old Kiwi man has ridden his bike everywhere for more than 40 years, without ever owning a car.

 

Competitive Cycling

Swiss cyclist Stefan Küng learned the hard way that you’re not supposed to grab another competitor’s helmet, grasping Ruben Guerreiro’s skid lid during Saturday’s stage two of the Tour de France.

Danish rider Magnus Cort was a hero to the hometown crowds during Sunday’s stage three, cementing his hold on the polka dot climber’s jersey with an 81-mile breakaway.

There always seems to be a mass crash during the early stages, and Sunday’s stage three was no exception, with several of the leading contenders losing time they’ll have to make up in the coming weeks.

Dutch pro Annemiek van Vleuten cemented her lead in Italy’s Giro Donne with a win in stage four.

LA-based L39ION of Los Angeles swept the podium for the women’s national crit championship, as Kendall Ryan took a bunch sprint ahead of teammates Skyler Schneider and her own sister, Alexis Ryan; 19-year old Sebastopol CA resident Luke Lamperti successfully defended his title on the men’s side.

Kyle Murphy and Emma Langley won the men’s and women’s road cycling Nats.

Veteran cyclist Alejandro Valverde suffered minor injuries when he and a teammate were struck by a driver while training in Spain on Saturday.

Team Novo Nordisk, the pro team composed entirely of cyclists with type 1 diabetes, is out with a new documentary; you can see it here.

 

Finally…

Chances are, you’ve never ridden a bicycle at 169 mph, with or without a tow. Now you, too, can ride your bike on half a wheel.

And I seriously need this one on my wall.

https://twitter.com/davidguenel/status/1541360691742916608

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Russian soldier faces war crimes trial for killing bike rider, drivers behaving badly, and Metro releases draft 405 corridor plan

May 12, 2022 / / 2 comments

Ukraine announced plans to try a 21-year old Russian soldier for war crimes, for killing a 62-year old civilian walking his bicycle just feet from his home.

He reportedly was ordered to shoot the man as a group of Russian soldiers were fleeing a Ukrainian counterattack in a commandeered car during the first days of the war, so the victim couldn’t report their location to Ukrainian forces.

According to The Washington Post,

The prosecutor’s office said that Ukrainian investigators collected evidence of the soldier’s involvement, finding him “in violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder,” and that the crime can carry a penalty of 10 to 15 years or life in prison. The statement did not provide details on the nature of the evidence or how the Russian soldier ended up in Ukrainian custody.

He is the first Russian soldier to be charged with a war crime while in Ukrainian custody, though ten soldiers were charged in absentia last month for the torture and mutilation of civilians in Bucha.

Ukraine reports evidence of more than 10,000 alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces, with 5,000 open investigations.

He faces 10 to 15 years if he’s convicted.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

Photo by Matti from Pexels. 

………

On a related subject, our anonymous courtroom correspondent writes in with a few observations, including turning heads with her two-wheeled support of the country under attack by Russian forces.

I’ve been flying a little (12″x18″) Ukrainian flag on my rear bike basket for a couple months now but constantly reconsider because whoo boy does it attract the honking.

………

Remember Santa Barbara’s intention to designate In-N-Out a nuisance due to the traffic it attracts? Santa Ana just plans it into the street. Those pesky cyclists are never in the way of hungry drivers turning, or just waiting on the roadway to turn!

………

In the latest edition of Motorists Behaving Badly:

Last week at the Pasadena DMV, a driver hit a DMV examiner, and then (sigh) backed up into a parked vehicle. This was an already licensed motorist, btw. Somehow.

Meanwhile, in Orange County the same night, a speeding driver smashed into a house on Newport Blvd…and then caught fire. The road road here has the CMUTC’s minimum-width bike lanes, and a (maximum) speed limit of 50mph. County officials remain confused as to how a collision possibly could’ve happened.

………

Metro is looking for public comments on their draft comprehensive multimodal corridor plan for LA County’s I-405 Corridor.  

Meanwhile, Streets For All is calling for everyone to tell Metro to stop wasting billions on freeway widening projects that only create more induced demand.

The agency’s new draft budget increases freeway spending 33%, on top of last years massive 80% boost.

………

Michael Wagner, author of CLR Effect, corrects yesterday’s item saying there’s no Ride of Silence planned for Los Angeles County this Wednesday.

He notes that The Cycling Connection in Rancho Cucamonga will host a Ride of Silence as part of the international movement to honor fallen bike riders and other victims of traffic violent.

There will also be a daytime Ride of Silence on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

………

As former New York DOT Commissioner Janet Sadik-Khan wrote, first they’ll fight it, then they’ll fight to keep it.

………

Grist offers an explainer on the deadly 85th Percentile Law, using LA’s deadly Zelzah Ave as a case in point.

………

No argument here.

Although we may never know how that feels.

………

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

No bias here. Britain’s Express newspaper asked its readers if “cyclists should own the road or should drivers have priority?” And got exactly the responses you’d expect by wording it that way.

………

Local

The Los Angeles Times continued their string of endorsements of progressive candidates for city council, recommending civil rights attorney Erin Darling to replace outgoing Mike Bonin in the Westside’s CD11. Darling also earned my endorsement a few weeks ago for his support of safe, livable streets.

LAist offers a detailed voters guide to the upcoming June primary election.

Join a family friendly ride with Walk Bike Glendale and Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian this Saturday.

 

State 

Berkeley approves a new mile-long protected bike lane on Hopkins Street, despite the usual panic over removing parking spaces.

San Francisco moves to ban racially biased pretext traffic stops, preventing police from stopping people for minor traffic infractions such as broken tail lights, jaywalking, or tinted windows.

Streetsblog talks with the new executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

 

National

Cycling Weekly profiles the young women who will ride this year’s 950-mile Remember the Removal Bike Ride, retracing the route taken by their Cherokee ancestors during the infamous Trail of Tears; over a quarter of the 16,000 members of the Cherokee Nation ordered out of their ancestral lands by the US government died of starvation, disease or exposure during the forced march.

L’Étape by Tour de France promises to bring the full Tour experience to Las Vegas next year, with a new 25 mile, 50 mile and 75 mile fondo through Sin City. But will there be someone dressed as the devil to chase you?

Hats off to Salt Lake City, where the city council voted unanimously that 20 is plenty, reducing speeds on 70% of the city’s streets to 20 mph. Meanwhile, the city is forming a task force to fight road rage, and boosting spending on traffic safety to combat a jump in pedestrian deaths.

Aspen, Colorado is moving towards requiring ebike renters to watch a bike safety video before they’re allowed on local trails.

One more example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late. A Davenport, Iowa man was sentenced to a whopping 55 years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle, after driving aggressively and running multiple red lights; it was his third DUI offense. Although even I think that sentence might be just a tad extreme.

A Rhode Island op-ed says it’s both the best and worst of times for the state’s bicyclists, as they mark Bike Month while a hostile DOT has stalled any progress.

Authorities in New Jersey’s Hudson County are standing in the way of the area’s first bike lane, preferring parking over the safety of people on bicycles.

 

International

Cyclist explains the mechanics that make an ebike tick. Meanwhile, a writer for the magazine says she crashed her bike for the first time in years, and learned…nothing.

Kingston, Ontario voted to eliminate parking minimums, replacing them with maximum limits on parking spaces for commercial and residential buildings, as well as requiring parking for bicycles, e-scooters and shared vehicles.

A Toronto website offers tips on how to maximize your speed crossing the city on two wheels.

A former Antigua national cycling champ is fighting for his life after a driver claims he was at the wheel when he ran down four bicyclists training for a weekend race, which was cancelled in the wake of the crash; another victim says the collision has left him mentally struggling.

Evidently they know something we don’t. As American road deaths climb to levels rivaling the bad old days, European traffic fatalities continue to drop, declining 17% in 2020 to continue a nearly 20-year trend.

 

Competitive Cycling

Frenchman Arnaud Démare won a mass sprint for the finish line in Wednesday’s 5th stage of the Giro, while 2nd place finisher Fernando Gaviria risked a sponsorship blowup by blaming his “shit” bike for the loss.

 

Finally…

We might have to deal with angry LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to confront rogue bulls on the loose. Now you, too, can own a home just off the Marvin Braude bike trail in Santa Monica for a mere 13 million bucks.

And let’s finish today with a peppy ode to new bike day. Which may be my new favorite song for the summer.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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