Search results for bikes have rights

Your environmentally friendly, low-carbon footprint Earth Day links

April 22, 2010 / / Comments Off on Your environmentally friendly, low-carbon footprint Earth Day links

Despite last night’s LACBC board meeting, about 10,000 emails that demanded my attention, and what feels like an oncoming cold, those bike links keep piling up. So make yourself a hot drink and settle down for a few minutes of clicking on a cold and semi-damp L.A. day.

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First up, for those who may have missed it, a driver can run down a cyclist and leave the scene with no charges until we raise a ruckus. But if a celebrity drives off after crashing into a no parking sign, she gets arrested.

Thanks to Todd Mumford for the heads-up.

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The LACBC, Midnight Ridazz and graphic designer Geoff McFetridge begin a competition to develop a new bike safety campaign in cooperation with the City of Los Angeles and the LAPD; deadline for entries is May 5th.

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The University of Arizona puts cyclists at risk in the name of bicycle safety during a construction project, while DC detours bikes and pedestrians. On the other hand, Portland takes away a traffic lane to help keep cyclists safe under similar circumstances.

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The LACBC reviews Tuesday’s council committee hearing on the 10% Measure R set-aside for bicycle and pedestrian projects; Damien takes Council Member Smith to task for vastly underestimating the funding cyclists deserve based on usage alone.  The Venice Neighborhood Council unanimously approves the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights. Will Campbell plans a group ride for every Saturday in May. Danceralamode credits a bike thief for changing her life. L.A.’s first bike corral could be on its way, while bike-friendly Long Beach approves more cycle-friendly projects. California District Attorneys help kill increased penalties for dangerous drivers. A separated bike path in rural Utah. Orlando police receive training on bike law. Husband of Arizona cycling victim: Anyone paying even a little attention would have known she was there. Cyclists and drivers need to keep a sharp eye on each other; joggers and pedestrians, too. Toronto may have bike sharing a year from now. Biking in Berlin is a dream, due in part to Allied bombing. Here’s your chance to ride a Formula 1 track if you can get to England by the end of the month. Bad patch jobs can be as much of a problem as the potholes they fix. Mexico City bets on bicycles.

Finally, it may have been a volcano that grounded the jets, but it was also one that lead to the invention of the bicycle; meanwhile, DuPont says your current derailleur may be your last.

Category: General / Tags: , ,

A little this, a little that — Mionske on Kornheiser, a culture change at LADOT

April 15, 2010 / / Comments Off on A little this, a little that — Mionske on Kornheiser, a culture change at LADOT

It’s a Bicycling Bob Mionske Tax Day double-header.

First up, the Bike Lawyer explains how — and more importantly, where — you can legally ride side-by-side; turns out it’s only illegal in three states. And California isn’t one of them.

As an aside, the new LAPD bike training module that went online at the end of last month specifies that L.A. cyclists are allowed to ride two-abreast. So if a cop tells you otherwise, either he or she hasn’t finished the training — due to be competed by the end of this month — or wasn’t paying attention. But I wouldn’t recommend arguing the point. They have full discretion to handcuff you if they think it’s warranted or feel threatened; according to the Department, that isn’t going to change.

Next up, he takes up the recent Kornheiser dust up, in which the ESPN radio host suggested that drivers rough up riders just because, well, we deserve it. You know, because we wear Spandex and run red lights and stuff.

Yeah, that’s a good reason to assault and potentially injure or kill someone. Although I’ve never heard anyone call the countless short, fat and/or middle-aged guys in Lakers jerseys you see all over L.A. Kobe Bryant wannabes.

As usual, though, Mionske gets it right.

But what if the character’s wrath is directed at a group that has historically been the target of violence? Suppose, for example, that the character expresses his dislike of women by telling listeners to go home and beat their wives? Or to go out and find a stranger to rape? Is his act still funny? Or suppose he goes on a rant about how much he dislikes gays, and tells his listeners to go out cruising with some friends looking for gay men to bash—is it still humorous? What if the rant is urging listeners to burn down a synagogue? Or suppose the target of his wrath is African-Americans, and the radio personality is urging a lynching? Is anybody still laughing? 
Of course not (or at least I certainly hope not). Nobody would consider those to be jokes or satire or entertainment, because the subject matter of the alleged entertainment is indistinguishable from real acts of violence, historical and contemporary, threatened and actual…

Daily, cyclists have drinks lobbed at them, have doors maliciously opened by passing motorists, are run off the road, and even run down, simply because they are on a bike. Sometimes, they’re even “just tapped,” as ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser recently urged. Perhaps the most common threat of violence against cyclists is one we’re all too familiar with—the buzz, where the driver passes within inches of us at high speed. Occasionally, a driver may truly have miscalculated the distance, or just plain didn’t see the cyclist. More often, I believe, the driver is intentionally threatening the cyclist. You can be sure it’s intentional when the driver checks his rear-view mirror for your reaction. In fact, I’m convinced that some “accidents” are buzzes gone awry—the driver intended to scare the cyclist, but didn’t expect that the close pass would result in a collision. And New Zealand police say that drivers are intentionally targeting cyclists. I’m convinced that’s a problem that’s not just limited to New Zealand . It happens here too.

Personally, I think Lance let Tony off way too easy.

But as Mionske points out, unless the FCC suddenly starts taking action against out-of-control self-described comedians who incite violence — or station owners suddenly grow a pair and hold their employees accountable for what they say on the air, despite the profits they bring in — nothing is going to change.

That is, until one of their listeners actually follows through on this kind of talk. And that’s when a good lawyer — hello, Bob — will go after the misguided purveyors of this kind of crap.

And maybe then we’ll put an end to it once and for all.

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The latest email from the LACBC has some important notes.

(Speaking of notes, maybe the Bike Coalition could try putting a copy of these emails on the website, so people like me can link to them.)

First, the LACBC has posted a petition online telling Mayor Villaraigosa it’s time for a culture change at LADOT — or whatever agency replaces and/or absorbs LADOT, given the current budget issues.

As the petition points out, the agency has a long history of favoring vehicular traffic at the expense of other road users. And it’s long past time for a new approach that puts the city and its people ahead of the countless cars that are destroying it.

I urge you to sign it.

You’ll find my signature right there at #71. And no, you don’t have to make a donation, despite what the petition host implies.

Next, the state Assembly Transportation Committee is scheduled to hear Assembly Bill 1951, which would toughen penalties for careless drivers who injure other people.  There’s still time to fax a letter in support of the measure today to committee chairperson Bonnie Lowenthal at 916/319-2154; click the link for a sample letter.

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The driver who hit Louis “Birdman” Deliz last December and left him laying injured in the street goes on trial in Beverly Hills on the 23rd. Damien asks if street cleaning will be LADOT’s excuse to endlessly delay bike corrals. The Anonymous Cyclist offers a reminder about Good Sam’s Blessing of the Bicycles. The second annual Bike Day LA comes up on May 2nd. More on the TranspoComm’s approval of what could be the city’s first bike corral. Changing minds via the comment section in San Diego. A detailed look at why women bike, and why they don’t. Zeke encounters a jerk on his rear wheel; I’m envious of any road where you see just three cars in five miles. An Ohio congressman blames his recent anti-bike outburst on LaTourrette syndrome. A DC video shows how not to cut off a bike, while a nearby county replaces a crappy non-standard bike lane with crappy non-standard sharrows. The DC cyclist killed by an 11,000 pound National Guard truck during the recent Nuclear Summit was ruled collateral damage. A Virginia cyclist is killed after running a red light. The University of Colorado says don’t be a DIRC — Dangerous, Irresponsible Rider on Campus. After Arizona cyclists complain about a dusty detour, they get banned from the road. A Toronto mayoral candidate calls for a $20 to $30 annual registration fee for bikes. A first-hand report from a London cyclist on a deliberate attack by a road raging driver; the result was 6 months in jail and two-year ban on driving. Make your plans now for a two-month, 4,100 mile circumnavigation of the British coastline.

Finally, a writer in the Baltimore Sun says instead of a three-foot passing rule, bikes should be banned from some roadways; yeah, no point in requiring motorists to drive safely when you can blame their victims instead.

And I don’t need a mirror to know I’ve got two-plus tons of hulking, smog-belching steel behind me, thank you.

Category: General / Tags: , , , ,

Is it time for a cyclists’ legal defense fund?

March 23, 2010 / / 7 comments

A few months back, someone contacted me looking for a lawyer to represent a cyclist who’d been injured in yet another of the city’s steady stream of hit-and-runs.

I wrote back asking for a little more information before I reached out to my contacts; meanwhile, they found someone to take the case. But it started me thinking that L.A. should have a referral service for cyclists who need legal assistance.

In fact, one of the ideas I intend to address with the LACBC is the possibility of creating just such a service, where cyclists could find a lawyer knowledgeable about cycling issues and with experience in bicycle law. And who would agree to accept an occasional pro bono case or offer legal advice now and then in exchange for referrals on potentially more lucrative cases.

Take my own case when I was a victim of a road rage assault.

I spent a couple of days calling one attorney after another looking for help, only to be repeatedly turned down because a) I’d given the driver the finger before she hit me, and b) my case simply wasn’t worth enough to compensate a lawyer for the time he or she would have to put in.

Although how any word or gesture justifies an assault with a deadly weapon is beyond me.

That last part I understood, though, as frustrating as it was; lawyers need to make a living like anyone else. I finally got help through one of my in-laws; but if he had charged a normal rate for the legal services he provided, I would have owed him far more than the meager amount the insurance company finally settled for.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m very grateful for the help I received, and appreciate that my attorney’s fee barely covered his expenses.

But a referral service could have put me in touch with someone who specialized in bike cases, and had a better understanding of how bikes work and how the rights we’re supposed to enjoy on the road are frequently infringed by dangerous and uncaring drivers.

Then there are cases where legal rights, rather than a monetary award, are the issue. And where a lawyer’s assistance is every bit as necessary.

Like defending cyclists ticketed for imagined violations that aren’t actually against the law.

Or take the recent case in Flagstaff AZ, where a rider was brushed by a city bus. Yet amazingly, the local authorities concluded the driver didn’t violate that state’s three-foot law because he was in a bike lane — even though the right side of that lane was blocked by snow, forcing him to ride near the traffic lane on the left.

Then there’s the case of a Massachusetts LAB-certified cycling instructor stopped repeatedly and arrested for the crime of riding in the roadway on a state highway, rather than on the shoulder. Or the Texas rider who has been cited, arrested and convicted for impeding traffic even though drivers could easily pass using the other lane, and now faces trial in another jurisdiction for the crime of riding on the roadway.

A New Mexico writer makes an intriguing suggestion that could offer a solution for cases like this.

His idea is for a legal defense fund that would be operated by the League of American Bicyclists, supported by the deep pockets of the bike industry.

As he envisions it, this would operate as sort of a legal strike force, evaluating cases for merit and importance, and providing assistance where warranted anywhere in the U.S.

The benefit for cyclists should be obvious.

As is the benefit to the bicycle industry, which would profit from the expansion in ridership that would undoubtedly follow the expansion and protection of riders’ rights.

It’s certainly worth considering.

Because our right to the road is only as good as the willingness of the police and courts to enforce it.

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Drivers often say bikes should be registered to pay for their place on the road; places that do it say it just doesn’t pay.

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More on last weekend’s StreetSummit.

Damien covers the plenary speakers (if, like me, you had no idea what plenary means, click here), and covers the Bike Plan workshop, including BAC Chair Glenn Bailey’s comments that the revised plan looks better, but still needs work.  And Gary says the time is now, let’s kick some ass.

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Metro’s Orange Line bike study kicks off this week; there’s still time to volunteer. Danceralamode says ladies, learn to fix your own bike like she now does. Congratulations to Ted’s Manhattan Cycles in Manhattan Beach, celebrating its 50th Anniversary. A British perspective on the South Bay — aka Marvin Braude — bike path. Santa Barbara curb extensions are credited with making a key street safer for cyclists and pedestrians. A DC councilman says we’re being too easy on drivers who kill. A rider on motorized bike is hit by a car, then run over and killed by an SUV as people tried to help. U of Maryland cyclists are allowed full use of the lane, and encouraged to stay off the sidewalk. As the Witch on a Bicycle astutely points out, how can a group of cyclists impede traffic when they are traffic? It’s time to stop peddling road rage over the airwaves; maybe it’s time to ban the term avid cyclist, too. And come to think of it, bikes aren’t alternative transportation, either. Yellowstone’s snowmobile season is over, so it’s time to break out the bikes and bear spray; just don’t ride into Canada loaded for bear. You don’t have to stink after riding your bike to work. It’s time to pull on your woolies and ride. Despite the rash of cycling deaths, London’s new 20 mph speed zones are saving lives. A London cyclist is charged with involuntary manslaughter after a fatal collision with a pedestrian at a busy intersection. Brits question why bike cops need 10 hours of training before they hit the streets. Two Kiwi cyclists credit their helmets with saving their lives over the weekend. Is a person on a bike worth less than one in a car? French President Sarkozy doesn’t have to ride those darn French bikes anymore. Now that’s what I call bike parking.

Finally, Albuquerque unveils a new bike safety campaign with the theme Easy to Miss, because we are with just a little effort; an L.A. version of their 10 Things Drivers Should Know should be mandatory reading for local drivers.

Category: General / Tags: , , , ,

Big news on blocked bike lanes, Complete Streets and drivers manuals

March 14, 2010 / / 25 comments

Turns out, this really is illegal after all. Photo of Venice Blvd bike lane courtesy of Todd Munford.

It took awhile.

But we’ve finally got an answer on whether blocking bike lanes with anything other that a parked motor vehicle is legal.

And it turns out, it’s not.

The other day, along a handful of other local cycling activists, I got an advance look at the new officer training materials currently being prepared by the LAPD. It’s still a work in progress, but promises to be a huge step forward in repairing relations between the city’s police and cyclists.

And ensuring that our rights — and yes, responsibilities — will be respected and enforced.

One thing stood out, though, especially in light of the above photo. So I turned to the LAPD Commander next to me to ask for a little clarification.

A bike lane, he explained, is a lane of traffic. And it is against the law to block any traffic lane without a permit.

Which means that those trash cans and recycling bins blocking the bike lane in the picture up above are violating the law. As are the countless tree limbs, advertising signs, double-parked cars and other assorted hazards we frequently find blocking our way on the few strips of asphalt dedicated to our exclusive use.

Of course, it’s one thing to confirm it’s illegal. It’s another entirely to get someone to enforce it.

As Stephen Box has pointed out, LADOT’s Parking Enforcement Division hasn’t been in a hurry to write tickets for bike lane violations. And while the police can write tickets, it’s not exactly their highest priority, for obvious reasons.

So the next time you find a bike lane blocked, call and complain.

Call LADOT. Call the police (but don’t call 911 — a blocked lane may be a pain in the ass, but it’s not an emergency). Call your local councilmember.

And keep calling until someone actually does something.

Because it turns out, it really is illegal.

Meanwhile, Cyclelicious broke the news last week that big changes are taking place on the state level.

On March 9th, Caltrans Director Randell Iwasaki announced the state’s new Complete Streets Implementation Action Plan that’s intended, along with other measures, “to meet the needs of all users.”

Iwasaki instructs state transportation agency employees to “view all transportation improvements as opportunities to improve safety, access, and mobility for all travelers in California and recognizes bicycle, pedestrian, and transit modes as integral elements of the transportation system.”

In other words, bikes and pedestrians will now — in theory, at least — be taken in account in all future state roadway work.

Which won’t mean immediate changes. But it has the potential to eventually transform every city and county throughout the entire state.

On the other hand, the new 2010 California Drivers Handbook could have a more immediate effect, clearly stating that cyclists have the same right to the road as any other road users:

Bicyclists on public streets have the same rights and responsibilities as automobile and motorcycle drivers. Respect the right-of-way of bicyclists because they are entitled to share the road with other drivers. Here are some critical points for drivers and bicyclists to remember:

Motor vehicle drivers must:

• Pass a bicyclist as they would a slow moving-vehicle. Pass with caution, and only when safe.

• Look carefully for bicyclists before opening doors next to moving traffic or before turning.

• Safely merge toward the curb or into the bike lane.

• Not overtake a bicyclist just before making a turn. Merge first, then turn.

• Be careful when approaching or passing a bicyclist on a freeway.

As Cyclelicious shows, it goes on to clearly spell out the responsibilities of cyclists to obey all traffic signals and stop signs, to ride with the flow of traffic — including riding on the left on one-way streets — and to “signal their intentions to motorists and bicyclists near them,” among other points.

It’s not perfect.

But if drivers — and cyclists — actually pay attention to what it says, our streets could start getting a lot safer.

Fast.

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In yet another case of a UK cyclist dying in a collision with a large truck, emerging British musician and fashion designer Shivon Watson — who recorded under the name Shiv Lizzy — was struck and killed in the London borough of Hackney on Wednesday. Closer to home, no cause of death has been determined for L.A. resident Kevin Brent Cohn, whose body was discovered in the bike path in Ballona Creek on Saturday.

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Santa Monica-area cyclists may want to make plans to attend an important Monday night meeting on street improvements to 20th Street and Cloverfield Blvd. L.A.’s second Tweed Ride rolls on Saturday the 27th. Over four thousand cyclists take part in Saturday’s Solvang Century. The Redland’s Classic bike race kicks off on the 25th. Long Beach’s biking expats roll through West Texas on their way to Austin. Why are hipster fixie riders the most pretentious jerks in San Francisco? Also in the Bay Area, you can have your bike stolen — and get it back 30 minutes later. If you’re visiting New York City, you might want to bring your bike with you — or maybe you’d prefer pedaling through Transylvania. A popular Ohio cyclist and bike store owner is found dead on the side of the road; authorities suspect natural causes. More highlights from last week’s National Bike Summit. This year’s Paris – Nice race goes to the same guy who won last year’s Le Tour, for the second time. An Ottawa paper visits America’s most bike-friendly brewery. Calgary has to do more to support cyclists, including getting non-cyclists to pay more attention on bike paths; yeah, that would be nice here, too. Toronto’s leading candidate for mayor says let’s put the bike plan on hold. The 50 best bikes, from a Brit perspective. A South African writer mistakenly believes he’s being clever when he says bicycles are for children and circus bears, and describes cyclists as “pointy headed people wearing disturbingly tight Lycra and gay shoes; evidently, he didn’t read about the three cyclists killed there earlier this week.

Finally, a retired L.A. police officer paralyzed by a robber’s bullet is training to ride in this year’s Race Across America to raise money and awareness for Operation Awareness, an LAPD-based program that has sent 35 young people from gang-infested neighborhoods to college over the last 10 years.

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , ,

Empowering L.A.’s invisible cyclists

March 5, 2010 / / Comments Off on Empowering L.A.’s invisible cyclists

There was a time when I described myself as a “serious” cyclist.

In my pedal-addled mind, that distinguished me as a spandex-clad, 50 mile a day rider who lived and breathed bikes. As opposed to someone who might pull the clunker out of the garage on the weekend for a leisurely roll through the park or along the beach, for instance.

Or someone who would ride in sneakers and street clothes.

It wasn’t that I looked down on the spandex-challenged. It’s just that, as I saw it at the time, they didn’t have the skills and commitment of a serious rider such as myself.

And clearly, I wasn’t the only one.

As another spandexed rider I know jokingly put it, “I don’t trust cyclists who don’t shave their legs.”

But slowly over the years, it penetrated my thick helmet-covered skull that other kinds of riders might be just as devoted to riding as I was, but just do it a little differently. And that there were equally valid reasons to ride that had nothing to do with improving speed, skills or fitness.

Maybe it was the first time a blue jean clad fixie rider dropped me, much to my shame. Or maybe when the bike lanes appeared on Santa Monica Boulevard, and I started seeing countless commuters roll past my home every day.

It could have been a growing awareness that all those women on Dutch bikes and beach cruisers were actually going places, even if they weren’t going as fast — or sweating as much — as spandex speedsters such as myself.

Then there was the humbling realization that there were people who rode, not because they chose to, or to stay in shape or because it was hip or fashionable. But because it was their most viable — or perhaps only — form of transportation.

And that the needs and safety of those riders were just as legitimate as mine.

Fortunately, not everyone is as slow on the uptake as I am. The local bike co-ops — Bicycle Kitchen, Bike Oven, Bikerowave and Valley Bikery — have long helped riders of all types repair their own bikes at little cost.

The LACBC has gone a step further, forming the City of Lights program to reach out to cyclists in the immigrant community; primarily — but not exclusively — Spanish speaking immigrants.

As relatively recent arrivals in the country, many of these cyclists may not know how and where to ride safely, or how to map out a route that can get them to and from various parts of the city. Or have the money to invest in the lights and reflectors that could help keep them safe on the streets of L.A.

So a small program to pass out lights, maps and safety information didn’t seem like a bad idea.

What few anticipated, however, was that it would grow to become a significant outreach to the immigrant community.

That initial free light program was followed by a study of how to increase bike parking facilities in low income areas, resulting in the city’s first ever guide to surmounting the countless technical and regulatory requirements to placing racks on the streets, available for download in English and Spanish.

Soon the program will be releasing a Spanish language resource guide — including information on safe riding techniques and equipment, basic maintenance, and advocacy and legal rights — which will be distributed for free and made available online.

In addition, I recently sat in on a report from the LACBC’s Allison Manos, in which she discussed a new program to train immigrants in bike repair, whether to maintain their own bikes or to give them the skills to find work in bicycle repair shops. And several program members have responded by becoming bike safety advocates themselves.

So in just a few short years, what started as a small safety outreach has turned into a program that empowers people to make changes in their own lives, and in their community.

You can’t ask for any more than that.

The Times’ Hector Tobar writes about it today — though he somehow neglects to mention City of Lights by name — focusing on one of the program’s participants, Jose Guzman, as well as Ramon Martinez of the LACBC and Bike Oven.

“In L.A. we have thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people on bikes that mainstream cyclists never see,” Martinez told me. He called them “invisible cyclists” but then corrected himself because really, if you pay attention, you’ll almost always see them on the streets.

I’ve seen the cyclists in the garment district, Koreatown and Pasadena, often in the uniforms of cooks or kitchen workers. They don’t wear spandex and they don’t bike to lower their cholesterol or to reduce their “carbon footprint.”

They don’t bike because it’s a cool lifestyle choice. Mostly they bike out of necessity.

“My bike is my salvation,” Guzman told me.

“I see it as part of me. It’s my vehicle. I carry bags, backpacks, groceries on it. Everything.”

It’s a good story. And a great program — one definitely worth supporting.

Maybe it will help keep a few more riders safe, change a few lives and make this city a better place for riders of all types.

And help make those invisible riders just a little easier to see.

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Austin’s Yellow Bike Project, in which abandoned bikes are fixed-up, painted yellow and donated to the needy, has spread east to Augusta, Georgia; evidently, Portland has a similar program. Maybe it’s time the project moved a little northwest.

It could be a great complement to the work being done by City of Lights.

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The schmuck Swedish Rapper who beat a Hollywood pedestrian senseless, then ran over him as an off-duty police officer begged him to stop — and had the audacity to claim self-defense — is sentenced to 15 years to life for 2nd degree murder.

Personally, I vote for the latter.

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I’ve got more links — too many, actually. So come back later tonight or over the weekend after you’ve had a chance to limber up your link-clicking finger.

Category: General / Tags: , , , , ,

An encounter with a red light-running Frogger-playing Ninja cyclist and other assorted items

March 4, 2010 / / 5 comments

I received this email yesterday from a rider who related his encounter with a lycra-clad, lightless red light-running roadie with an attitude.

Funny story from yesterday.

I was riding home from work along Venice Blvd. about 7:30pm.  As I was sitting at the stoplight at Sawtelle another cyclist pulled up on a road bike decked out in his race gear.  After pausing and looking around, he then goes through the red light just as the opposing side got the green arrow.  I immediately realized this was the same idiot I saw a few weeks ago run every ride light on Venice, including playing frogger as he crossed La Cienega on a red – I was absolutely sure he was going to be a hood ornament.

Now, some background on the last time I saw him is necessary.  Because I was getting so annoyed that he kept running red lights, in addition to wearing all black and I don’t think he had any lights (or maybe a tiny blinker in the back), I thought it was worthwhile to pass him on my mountain back as that always pisses the roadies off.  I clearly could have made a comment about it maybe not being smart to run all of those lights, but he probably already knew that.  So, I blew past him in my highest gear, pushing my heavy beast as fast it would go and I immediately hear him clicking away at his gears and he comes past me huffing and puffing with his head down.  I was topped out so he got ahead of me and disappeared as he continued to run red lights, including the aforementioned light at La Cienega.

Now, back to last night.  I caught up to him again a couple of blocks down, drafted off him for a second, he realized I was behind him and moved over.  We came to a red light and stopped.  He paused, looked around and took off, to which I yelled “yeah buddy, run it!”  He immediately slammed on his brakes, did a 180 skid and rode back through the red light toward me and said, “I wiped your ass last time I saw you out here and I’ll do it again smack mouth!”  I laughed at him, because he just said something about wiping my ass and he pulled off again.  I yelled “Awww, that’s not fair, you’re getting a head start…!”  He made some baby talking noises and rode off into the dark, running red lights the whole way.

I may not obey every law on the road (namely stop signs when there is no cross traffic), but I draw the line at running red lights at busy intersections, especially when there are cars everywhere, because it just gives drivers more ammo when they complain about how cyclists ride; and it’s really dangerous.  I bet good money, this guy is the same dip shit no matter what.  I guess the bottom line is, it doesn’t matter what your mode of transportation is, if you’re gonna be dumb, you’re gonna be dumb.  Although, I was slightly flattered he remembered me.

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Will Coley of Aquifermedia offers video look at a day in the life of Bicycle Kitchen volunteer and LACBC staffer Ramon Martinez.

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Interesting essay by a cyclist and urban planner on how to promote cycling and design cities to encourage biking and walking.

However, I disagree with his suggestion to downplay helmet use. He suggests that safety in numbers will do more to improve bicycle safety than helmet use, but that will only reduce the number of collisions with cars — for which helmets offer only minimal protection.

According to the Mortiz study, only 11% of cycling accidents involve moving motor vehicles, while 59% result from falls — exactly the sort of accident in which helmets are most effective in preventing injury.

Surely we can encourage people to ride while still promoting the only protective device cyclists have — and one that can actually save lives, as it did mine.

……….

Here’s your chance to help turn the Backbone Bikeway Network into a workable plan this Saturday. Paris Hilton gets busted for driving in a WeHo bike lane; thanks to George Wolfberg for the heads up.  Stephen Box offers another take on last week’s TranspoComm meeting with LAPD Chief Beck, and suggests that LA’s new sharrows pilot program has gone of track before it even starts. The Santa Monica Daily Press reports on efforts to re-open Westwood’s Los Angeles National Cemetery to bike access, including a quote from yours truly. According to USC’s student newspaper, students can now ride on campus sidewalks and crosswalks, as long as it’s done safely. Pasadena’s proposed bike master plan may do a lot, but LACBC says it could do more. Long Beach’s cycling expats sum up their visit to West Texas in their typically beautiful photos. Biking for a better booty? Colorado’s cycling governor, still in the hospital after Tuesday’s riding accident, endorses a mandatory helmet law for anyone under 18. The hit-and-run epidemic spreads north; this time, the driver of a SF Muni bus takes off as passengers beg him to stop. San Francisco’s Critical Mass could be in critical condition. Bike activists are concerned that the state’s new distracted driving bill includes cyclists; really, is it that hard to stop riding long enough to finish your call? Glass in a Portland bike lane takes out several tires, and raises questions about maintenance of the city’s vaunted bikeways. Evidently, LA isn’t the only regional city to host a ciclovía; Tucson is holding one, too. A two-year doping ban for former Rabobank and Silence-Lotto pro rider Thomas Dekker. British Waterways offers £1.7 to help ease conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians on canal towpaths. A Brit cyclist fined for injuring a child while riding on the sidewalk says the street was too dangerous. Evidently, it’s open season on Melbourne cyclists, as 11 — no, make that 14 — riders are injured in a single day. A UK cyclist replaces her stolen bike in what’s become an annual tradition, while another refuses to go to the Lycra Dark Side. Saskatoon cyclists criticize a revised licensing plan. Aussie police in Israel to investigate a reputed spy hit are involved in a cycling hit-and-run.

Finally, a British rider amazingly survives a hit-and-run collision in which he’s dragged over 3,000 feet — and left trapped underneath when the occupants abandon the vehicle.

Category: General / Tags: , , ,

A few choice comments, a hit-and-run update and a whole lotta links

February 26, 2010 / / 3 comments

But first, breaking news as I post this:

Condolences to our friends at the LAPD, who lost one of their own in an off-duty traffic accident tonight. My deepest sympathies to the officer’s family and loved ones, and the entire department.

Seriously guys, we may have our issues from time to time. But this city and its cyclists couldn’t exist without the men and women in blue.

You do an impossible job, and you do it well.

………

Some interesting comments posted online today.

First up is our own frequent commenter Danceralamode, responding to another comment on the Times story about Chief Beck’s appearance at yesterday’s Transportation Committee meeting:

With rights come responsibilities. Before the LAPD starts worrying about bicyclists’ rights I’d like to see some enforcement of the many traffic laws that MOST bicyclists break every time they take to the streets.

Posted by: James Sullivan | February 25, 2010 at 07:49 AM

Her response:

James Sullivan,

If that philosophy were used to determine the rights of every road user, there would be NOT ONE car on the road. Motorists make traffic violations more often than cyclists do and with more serious results, since a bike weighs 20lbs and a car weighs 4000lbs. If a drunk driver slammed into you then fled the scene while you were in your car, but you had rolled through a stop sign a few miles back, would you want the LAPD to say, well, since we have you rolling a right turn a few miles back, we’re not going to look for the person who almost killed you.

Also, you cannot group all cyclists together in this “they all break the law” discrimination. You have never seen me commute to work. How can you know if I violate any traffic codes? That’s the equivalent of me saying that all motorists are drunk drivers and should have their licenses revoked, just because a few people drive drunk.

Get a clue, Sullivan. You have to share the road; it’s the law. And you have to do it regardless of whether or not you like how the people around you use the road. Seeing a cyclist roll through a stop sign is no justification for passing them so quickly that you hit them and seriously injure them or for trying to run them down or for throwing objects out your window at them. And the LAPD do hand out citations to cyclists who break the law, but they have to see it to do so.

Before LAPD starts investigating any car on car DUIs or accidents, I want to see them fully enforce the cell phone ban. So no justice for you either, Sullivan, how do you like that?

Posted by: danceralamode | February 25, 2010 at 08:43 AM

That girl really should have her own blog. Oh wait, she already does.

Then there was this insightful comment from a cyclist named Jeff:

Anonymously posting information that generalizes bike riders with a broad swath is exactly why it takes the Chief of Police to address the issue personally. Everyone knows at least one incident of bicycle riders ignoring the “rules of the road”, but to paint all riders with the brush shows ignorance. Claiming that bicycle riders need insurance and registration before they use the roads shows the same ignorance. Take your bike to work just once and see what commuting riders put up with daily. The problem is not in the occasional roll-through, the problem is that automobile drivers have the mistaken belief that bicycles are not vehicles.

They are, and they are afforded the same rights as any other vehicle on the road. It’s about time.

Posted by: Jeff | February 25, 2010 at 08:55 AM

Finally, there was this comment from an Australian visitor, in response to Damien’s story about the same meeting on Streetsblog:

As an Australian visiing the United States and California who chose to use my bicycle as my prefered mode of transport for my short stay rather than use a car. I have several times questioned my decision after numerous near misses. Incidents that were totally avoidable. And I don’t mean by me not riding on the road. It is every cyclists right to ride on the road. What I mean is motorists blatant actions to threaten and attack me on the road with their car. Cement truck drivers, moms in unnecessarily large black pick ups, Metro Rapid bus drivers etc…. motorists who have chosen to be agressive toward me as a cyclist on the road.

Take just the case of the woman in the pick up. She drove past me, so she must have seen me on the shoulder of the road as she pulled around me to apparently over take me, only to make an immediate right hand turn at the lights as she is still paralell with me on the road. This was clearly more than accidental. This was aggressive driving intended to be an attack on me as a cyclist. At the speed I was riding at, she could have simply backed off the gas for just a matter of seconds, I would have continued straight ahead though the intersection ahead of her, and she could have turned right just behind me. Perfectly safe, and would have had no impact on the time of her journey.

As a visitor to Los Angeles and this country, I’ll be returning home and advising all that i know, to never consider using cycling as a viable mode of transport in LA. Sad indeed, considering that we are the ones who are doing the right thing by everyone else in this town and on the planet by reducing our carbon footprint. Sad indeed.

It’s bad enough that we have to deal with the riding conditions in L.A. on a daily basis. It’s a shame that this is the image visitors to our city will take home with them.

……….

A break in the investigation of last week’s Riverside hit-and-run death of Thomas Joseph Meeks, and the critical injury of his 15-year old stepbrother, reveals a possible motive for the driver’s failure to stop.

Motorcycle officers scouring the area found a white 1991 Camry that fit witness descriptions, with signs of recent repair work in the areas that would have been damaged in the hit-and-run collision. According to police, the same car may have been involved in a burglary in the parking lot of a Stater Bros. market just minutes before the impact.

Meek’s stepbrother remains in critical condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center; condolences and best wishes to him and his family.

……….

Thanks to the LACBC’s Dr. Michael Cahn for pointing us towards what maybe be the most sardonic cycling jerseys on the streets. Share the Damn Road, indeed.

……….

Make you plans for an urban cyclocross through the streets and stairways of Silverlake and Echo Park next month. The LAPD releases the full report on bike-involved collisions in 2008. Streetsblog discovers encouraging signs in Long Beach. The Long Beach Press-Telegram’s 77-year old Outdoor Columnist — and cyclist — urges drivers to share the road. USC’s Neon Tommy blog writes about the cycling community’s new relationship with Chief Beck. The Source covers the opening of the new bike stations in Claremont and Covina. Thanks to Curbed LA — one of my daily reads — Luckman Plaza now has bike parking. C.I.C.L.E.’s Joe Linton examines the new county bike plan, with a list of upcoming input meetings. Safety improvements on a busy San Francisco bike lane put the squeeze on cyclists. Rumors of its death evidently premature, the Idaho Stop law passes the Utah House. Evidently, the two drunk drivers who hit a Portland cyclist last year weren’t the ones who killed him. The 2012 Giro d’Italia kicks off in the sleepy little Italian village of… Washington DC? Car-Free Sundays, aka Via RecreActiva, aka Cyclovia, comes to Guadalajara. Swiss cycling deaths double in 2009. Complaining about cycle-pathic riders in Galway, Ireland, while contra-flow lanes may be coming to Dublin. The appropriately named 90-year old wife of a Bank of Scotland executive is allowed to keep driving, despite smashing into a high-vis clad cyclist. A Worcester UK cyclist and two pedestrians are shot with air rifles. How do you identify hit-and-run cyclists in Singapore?

Finally, in case you’ve fallen behind on your urology journals, the latest research clearly shows a connection between cycling and erectile disfunction in men, and related sexual disfunction in women.

But not (ahem) every cyclist.

Category: General / Tags: , , ,

Yesterday, I offered my heart to a stranger

February 24, 2010 / / 2 comments

Please don’t bury me in that cold cold ground; I’d rather have them cut me up and pass me all around. — John Prine, Please Don’t Bury Me

The other day I found myself at my bank, transferring a couple of accounts I never bothered to move from my old bank in San Diego, despite over 20 years of living in L.A.

Much to my surprise, when I handed them my drivers license to prove I really am who I say I am — yeah, like a lot of people want to pass themselves off as moderately broke, semi-self-unemployed bike writers these days — they handed it back.

“Do you have a valid ID instead?” the banker asked. And sure enough, when I looked at my license, it had expired.

Five months ago.

For some reason, I never received the automatic renewal form a clean driving record should have merited. And since I’m long past the age when bartenders ask for ID, and I seldom write checks, I’d never noticed the deadline had passed.

So yesterday I took the bus down to the DMV, and after a $31 check and a two-hour wait, I had my new temporary license in hand.

And I was, for the first time, a registered organ donor.

I don’t know why I never did it before. Partly squeamishness, partly a desire to meet my maker in as close to original condition as possible, I suppose.

But I’d been thinking about it ever since GT pointed me to the story of a local cyclist killed without warning in a freak accident.

Jeff Bayly’s death was such a heart-rending tragedy that it reminded me that anything can happen, anytime. And if it should ever happen to me, I want some good to come out of it.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that cycling is inherently dangerous. I probably face more risk slipping in the shower than I do even on the worst streets of L.A. And I’d certainly face a far greater health risk if I spent my time on the couch instead of in the saddle.

But things happen.

So while I plan to live a good, long life and annoy my loving wife for as long as possible, I want to make sure someone, somewhere, benefits in case I don’t.

Because even at the advanced age of 53, I still have a few good parts left.

………

Notice for anyone planning to attend today’s TranspoComm meeting with special guest star LAPD Chief Beck — the session has been moved from its usual site in Room 1010 to the City Council Chambers on the third floor.

………

Arnold joins the husband of the current Secretary of State for a Health, Nutrition and Obesity summit right here in Los Angeles; I wonder how many local cycling groups/advocates were invited to participate?

………

Hey, HuffPo backs CicLAvia, just like me (more on that next week). Does a split between founding members threaten the new South Bay Bicycle Coalition? Cyclists confront bike-unfriendly Beverly Hills, and see a possible shift in attitude. Long Beach’s cycling expats explore Marfa, Texas. Cycling lawyer Bob Mionske cuts through the posturing to put Portland’s new 2030 in context — including Long Beach and yes, Los Angeles. Alta Design’s attempt to build a more bike-friendly Southern California spreads to San Diego. A San Diego area bike path poses a hazard to cyclists; so what else is new? Beautiful views of the Chicago skyline captured in the puddles left by melting snow. DC area governments respond to budget cuts by slashing bike plan funding. Despite numerous calls to ban them, one city explicitly allows fixed-gear bikes. Not surprisingly, NYC’s new law mandating bike access results in high bike parking charges. A cycling J.R.R. Tolkien of Lord of the Rings fame compared auto infrastructure in Oxford to the destructions of Saruman and the Dark Lord. The BBC offers a biased bashing of Brit cyclists. Two-time Formula 1 champ Fernando Alonzo considers forming a cycling team with buddy and two-time Tour de France champ Alberto Contador. Twenty-one months in jail for the driver who killed an army major taking part in a Cambridgeshire time trial last year. UK Grocery giant Tesco offers bike skills classes and considers adding bike departments to its stores — think bikes next to buns at your local Vons.

Finally, you don’t have to speak Hungarian to understand this great bike-to-work ad campaign. And if the last one doesn’t make you want to hop on a bike — if not your significant other — nothing will.

Category: Best of, General, Health / Tags: , ,

How would you do Europe on two wheels?

February 22, 2010 / / 4 comments

I heard from a good friend of mine from Chicago the other day, who was looking for a little advice.

It seems he’s getting ready to enter law school, while a friend of his will be getting married in the fall. So they’re thinking about one last great adventure while they’re still in their 20s, before they buckle down to serious business of life.

And what they settled on was biking through Europe.

Smart guy. And not just because he already has an advanced degree under his belt.

Needless to say, I told him to go. And only begged and pleaded a little to go with him before reality and responsibility — along with an empty bank account — reared their ugly heads.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t be much help. While I’ve got a few European stamps in my passport, I didn’t make it much further than London and Paris — and most of that on foot and rail, since I was accompanied by my non-biking wife.

So most of my answers to his questions were nothing more than semi-informed guesses. Like suggesting that he buy a bike once he lands, rather than shipping one over. And making sure at least part of his trip included Copenhagen — a city so devoted to biking it even seems to have influenced our own city’s mayor.

On the other hand, I know I have some readers who’ve spent time on the Continent — and on two wheels, no less — and may be able to offer more, and better, advice on the subject than I ever could.

So if you don’t mind, take a look at the questions he sent me in a follow-up email.

As we talked about before, my friend and I are trying to find out the logistics for planning a biking tour in Europe. Some of our main questions are:

1. Which bike to buy in a $800-1200 price range

2. Is it better to buy your bike in the states or upon arrival in Europe?

3. If you buy your bike in the U.S., what’s the best way to get it to and back from Europe?

We’d also be interested in any other advice people have to offer, like suggested routes and previous tips that have worked well for others. We have about 2 months to spend and it would be in April-May, possibly early June.

So what do you think?

What advice would you give a couple not-so-serious cyclists planning their first two-wheeled Euro tour?

……….

Thanks to Fred Camino of The Source — your online resource for all things Metro — who listed Biking In LA as one of the city’s 10 essential transportation blogs, along with Streetsblog, the LACBC, and SoapBox LA, home to leading bike and neighborhood activist Stephan Box, just to name a few.

……….

KPCC continues to take the lead on cycling issues, as Patt Morrison talks about cyclists’ rights and peaceful roadway coexistence with LADOT Bike Coordinator Michelle Mowery; Claire Bowin of the L.A. Department of Planning; Alex Tompson of the Bike Working Group; 1st District Councilmember Ed Reyes; Doug Falling, Executive Director of Highway Programs & Interim Chief Planning Officer at L.A. Metro; and Aurisha Smolarski, Campaign and Communications Director for LACBC.

……….

Turns out the FedEx driver who killed an Oklahoma cyclist — and now faces a whopping $100 – $1000 fine — was high at the time of the collision; so was the driver who killed a New Jersey cyclist forced to ride in the lane by plowed snow (thanks to Jim Lyle for the heads-up). Nevada drivers need to get used to cyclists, despite the comments of a few idiots. Alabama cyclists wrap themselves in bandages to make a point about safety. Idaho considers three-foot passing and anti-harassment measures. According to a Virginia state legislator, a bicycle is not a transportation device. Riding your bike for Lent doesn’t mean you have to give up anything. Remembering America’s first great cyclist — and the man who broke the color barrier a half century before Jackie Robinson. According to a report from the Insurance Institute for High Safety, cycling is getting safer. British schoolchildren receive Bikeability training. Sheffield, UK commuters can get free training and a loaner bike if they agree to ride to work at least 50% of the time. Crayfish get better protection than new Zealand cyclists; although Christchurch cyclists and pedestrians may soon get preference. 40% of Queensland residents ride regularly. South African drivers are urged to be more tolerant of cyclists, and cyclists to obey the law. New anti-bike theft registration program in Taiwan.

Finally, welcome back to the cycling cyber world to Texas bike blogger Opus the Poet, whose site is a must read for anyone concerned about making the world safer for cyclists. And he builds a mean custom bike, too.

Category: General / Tags: ,

A quantum leap in L.A.’s cycling culture

February 6, 2010 / / 10 comments

Because something is happening here but you don’t know what it is. Do you Mr. Jones? — Bob Dylan, Ballad Of A Thin Man


It can be challenging growing up with a physicist for an older brother.

Oddly, it doesn't look any different.

By the time I was in 7th grade, I had a better understanding of physics than most of the people who tried to teach me. Like the time I found myself trying to explain Schrödinger’s Cat to one of my science teachers, who couldn’t grasp the concept that a kitty could be both alive and dead at the same time. Or what it was doing in the damn box in the first place.

Or trying to explain that quantum leap doesn’t mean a sudden dramatic change, as most people assume. But rather, it’s an infinitesimally small shift at the subatomic level; yet one that can result in a dramatic change over time.

Sort of like what’s happened over the last year in with bicycling in Los Angeles.*

Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out just when things started to change around here. Maybe it was the Mandeville Canyon case that finally made cyclists mad enough to coalesce around a cause. Maybe it was the LAPD’s tepid response to the infamous Hummer Incident that caused riders to storm City Hall.

Or maybe it was when a group of cyclists got together to metaphorically nail their 12 theses on City Hall’s Wittenberg Door.

I really don’t know.

All I know is that something has changed. And for once, it seems to be for the better.

Take City Hall, for instance.

A year ago, there was minimal support for cyclists in local government. At best, a council member might host a bike ride or two, or stage a two-wheeled press event on Bike to Work day. Current TranspoComm chair Bill Rosendahl seemed to be one of the first to take cycling issues seriously when he tried to host a community meeting to discuss the Mandeville case. And failed, due to the overwhelming anger on both sides.

And no one could seem to recall Mayor Villaraigosa even mentioning bikes, let alone favorably.

Things look a little different today.

Somehow, that quantum leap — or series of leaps — has resulted in a dramatically changed environment for cyclists in this city, especially in the last month or two.

The City Council has responded to the concerns of cyclists by proposing an anti-harassment ordinance, pushing for sharrows and a bike-sharing program, and demanding a real response from the city’s police department. Council President Eric Garcetti went so far as to offer his personal assurance that he’ll keep the anti-harassment ordinance moving forward.

Even the mayor has recently expressed support for the planned CycLAvia. And just this week, he tweeted about his concern for making the streets safer for cyclists.

When Antonio Villaraigosa notices cycling — and actually supports it, no less — you know there’s something serious going on.

For the first time I’m aware of, LADOT General Manager Rita Robinson also offered public support for bike safety and educating drivers about cycling. And Bikeways Coordinator Michelle Mowery assured listeners yesterday that much of the proposed Backbone Bikeway Network is already being incorporated into the revised bike plan, based on feedback from cyclists.

We’ll see.

Meanwhile, the recent appointment of new LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has apparently resulted in a sea change in the department’s attitude towards bicyclists.

In recent weeks, the department has established a task force to address cyclists concerns, and has begun tracking bicycling collisions — revealing that a full 23% of reported bicycle collisions are hit and runs. In addition, they’ve issued a call for cyclists to report dangerous intersections so they can step up enforcement and recommend changes to city planners, and started to crack down on bike theft.

And they’re working on a program to educate officers on the rights of cyclists, and ways to educate drivers and cyclists on how to share the road safely.

Next up, Chief Beck is scheduled to address a special bike-focused meeting of the Council’s Transportation Committee meeting on the 24th. And hopefully he’ll listen to cyclists, as well.

The real test, though, will come when — and if — this change in attitude filters down to the street level.

Then there’s the LACBC.

When I started this blog a couple years back, like a lot of other local cyclists, I didn’t have a lot of use for the County Bike Coalition.

As far as I was concerned, they were wasting their time on relatively trivial matters, and unwilling to take on the serious challenges that face cyclists in Los Angeles. Maybe I was wrong; maybe they were working on things that went under the radar. Or my radar, anyway.

Or maybe they’ve just seriously stepped up their game in the last year or so.

Either way, the LACBC has been actively involved in the changes currently taking place in Los Angeles, from pushing for sharrows, bike-sharing and the anti-harassment ordinance to fighting for the 4th Street Bike Boulevard, a better bike plan and reforming the way the LAPD deals with cyclists.

They’ve also learned to hold their own with aggressive and sometimes unfriendly council members, without backing down. And yes, I’ve been impressed.

So much, in fact, that I’m seriously thinking about joining myself. Which is not something I would have considered a couple years ago. Or last year, even.

And the news media have taken notice, as the L.A. Times, KPCC’s Patt Morrison and Larry Mantle, and others have begun covering cycling on a regular basis.

Things are changing.

It’s up to us to keep up the pressure — on the Council, the Mayor, LADOT, LAPD, and yes, the LACBC. Because it’s up to us keep things moving forward.

And make sure this is just the beginning.

*Admit it, you were wondering where the hell I was going with this.

………

Riding outside the box and keeping yourself — and the city — moving in a more positive direction. Learning from San Louis Obispo’s bike boulevards. Can the Backbone Bikeway Network make North Fig bike friendly? Planning to keep cyclists and pedestrians safe on the Rose Bowl loop. Two new Bike Stations in Claremont and Covina. San Antonio becomes the latest city to approve a three-foot passing distance, while Portland delays a vote on their 20-year bike plan. The Bicycle Leadership Conference wants your input, including a separate survey for female cyclists. Better signage for better bikeways. Encourage cycling through a positive focus, or discourage it through a negative focus on safety? Slap your car with a Bicycle Safe Vehicle sticker, assuming you have one, of course. Busting the myth about taking the lane on a high-speed highway. A missionary’s son bikes from Alaska to Argentina. Cyclists will ride further for long distance trains with fewer stops; maybe cyclists should just park their bikes at the train station and stop complaining. The Bicycling Baronet rides to the rescue of Parliament. Will the Vancouver games result in more than a short-term uptick in cycling? Drivers target cyclists along the Australian coast, and Tasmanian drivers consider cyclists hazards; one in four reports a collision or near miss with a rider. A British cyclist is killed on her way to visit her Alzheimer’s-afflicted husband in a nursing home. Finally, yet another cycling collision in Orange County — but this time, it’s cyclists vs. raccoon. And at least it’s a reason for running late.

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , , ,
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