Thanks to Anna Tang for forwarding news that the Bike League’s March Bike Advocacy Workshop will go on as planned, despite last week’s wildfires, which hopefully will be out by then.
You can register by clicking here, since I can’t embed her BlueSky post with the link, and had to settle for a screenshot.
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Another lesson from Paris that seems lost on Los Angeles.
As Paris has worked to build a 15-minute city and provide effective alternatives to driving, it has seen a corresponding improvement in air quality.
Sad news from Sacramento, where a woman in her 50’s was killed when she was right-hooked by the driver of a semi-truck — although though the CHP immediately blamed the victim for attempting to pass the truck as it was turning. And judging from the article, the truck was apparently was operating on its own while the driver just sat there.
Consumer Reports suggests that buying a bike helmet online could be dangerous, due to a proliferation of third-party sellers of helmets that don’t meet federal safety standards. One more reason you’re better off buying from your favorite local bike shop.
In 1923, six men from India set out to ride their bikes around the world to prove that Indians were capable of greatness, in contrast to the colonial image of them as subjugated and incapable; three completed the journey four-and-a-half year later, traveling more than 40,000 miles across 27 countries, while meeting Pope Pius XI and Benito Mussolini along the way.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’re still stuck on 1,131 signatures, so don’t stop now! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she meets with us!
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Advocates from Circulate San Diego, Families for Safe Streets San Diego and the San Diego Bicycle Coalition held a press conference yesterday calling for simple, inexpensive fixes to the city’s “Fatal 15” intersections.
Their suggestions are nothing new. They’ve been calling for the same solutions to the city’s deadliest intersections for the past year, but they were left out of the mayor’s budget for the coming year.
However, the mayor is scheduled to release an updated budget today, and they’re asking for the fixes — which would cost $100,000 per intersection, or just $1.5 million total — to be included in the revised budget.
“This is a high-return, low-cost budget item,” said Will Moore, Policy Counsel for Circulate San Diego. “We understand that it is difficult to run a city. There are a lot of hard decisions – so it is even more important to get the easy ones right.”
Even though the city of San Diego “committed to” Vision Zero almost ten years ago, pedestrian deaths remain high; nearly fifty pedestrians and cyclists lose their lives in traffic crashes in San Diego every year.
Katie Gordon’s husband Jason was killed at one of the “Fatal 15″ intersections. Now a member of Families for Safe Streets San Diego, she spoke of her husband and their twin daughters at today’s gathering, and urged the city to budget for these fixes. “Small improvements make a big impact,” she said. “Please don’t let the ‘Fatal 15’ take another life.”
But if it comes down to a question of money, maybe someone could remind the mayor it would cost the city a hell of a lot more than that just to settle with the survivors of the next one.
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LAisttalks with Carlos Moreno, originator of the 15-minute city, about his simple plan to reduce traffic and improve the livability of cities by increasing density and placing everything you need for daily life within 15 minutes of your home.
…Picture living in a bustling neighborhood where all your friends, basic needs, and even your job are reachable by a quick walk or bike or bus ride. (Something many people experience, possibly for the first and last time, on college campuses.) In such a city, parking areas may have been reclaimed as urban greenways, chance encounters with neighbors might be more common, and small local businesses would proliferate and thrive.
This vision is sometimes referred to as “the 15-minute city,” a concept pioneered by Franco-Colombian scientist and mathematician Carlos Moreno. It means basically what it sounds like: Instead of expecting residents to get in their cars and drive long distances to work, run errands, and take part in social activities, cities should instead be designed to provide those kinds of opportunities in close proximity to where people live, reducing overdependence on cars and increasing local social cohesion.
Even if you’re familiar with the concept, it’s worth reading to get a full grasp of the plan, which conspiracy theorists are somehow twisting into unrecognizably bizarre abstractions.
The DA’s office removed the prosecutors who got a conviction against wealthy socialist Rebecca Grossman for the high-speed crash that killed two little kids just crossing the street with their family from the case, over a perceived conflict of interest that really isn’t, which could affect the case as she appeals her conviction. And understandably outraging the victim’s parents.
Caltrans explains how to be a Complete Streets ambassador to help get the legislature to pass SB 960, aka the Complete Streets Bill, which will require Caltrans to add infrastructure for people who bike, walk and take transit whenever it repaves a state roadway.
Cincinnati is relaunching the city’s docked bikeshare program, despite shutting it down due to funding issues earlier in the year, after several organizations contributed nearly half a million dollars to fund it through the end of this year.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
As of this writing, we’re up to 1,013 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!
LA checks in all the way down at 64th, behind several other SoCal cities, including Long Beach, San Diego and Irvine. But at least we’re ahead of Riverside.
Barely, anyway.
So just imagine how happy we’d all be if everyone felt safe riding a bike.
Prosecutors dropped the case because they couldn’t prove he was under the influence at the time of the crash, making it just another oopsie. And proving once again that killing other people while driving recklessly and illegally is just no big thing.
He now faces a lousy $264 traffic ticket for running the red light, which he has naturally pled not guilty to.
Because as another Florida man has made clear, accountability is for suckers.
Thanks for the story Ted. Wim Wenders came over as we were leaving the event. He commented that his DP has the same bike (a Brompton) that Tish was riding. I thanked him for all the biking scenes in PERFECT DAYS, and he let us know that he uses his bike to get around when he is home in Berlin. One day, maybe LA will be as safe a place to bike as Berlin, Tokyo and others. But I’ll keep riding in the meantime anyway.
From his mouth to God’s ear.
As it turns out, I have something in common with Wenders. We’ve both won Golden Bear awards from the Berlin International Film Festival.
Although mine was for writing an ad campaign for a bank that doesn’t even exist anymore.
Speaking of Pasadena, the city’s police will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation on Friday, ticketing anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it; Santa Monica cops will also hold one on Thursday and Friday. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined.
Streetsblogtalks with South Bay-based writer Peter Flax, whose new book, Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle, offers a broad look at bike riding, with a common theme that bicyclists have to work together because strength comes from unity. And yes, I’ve ordered my copy.
State
This is who we share the road with. An unlicensed driver with four previous DUIs over the past decade hit and killed a pedestrian in Orange Tuesday morning, and was arrested after fleeing the scene and leading police on a short chase. And yes, he showed signs of intoxication as he was taken into custody. Which is what happens when authorities take someone’s license away, but let them keep their keys.
Momentum offers 33 reasons to start bike commuting this spring, ranging from reducing your carbon footprint to getting some alone time while connecting to your community. Although they forgot to mention that it’s a lot more fun than driving, too.
Police in Australia are revisiting the seven-year old cold case shooting of a 72-year old man, who was shot multiple times in the head and chest by a man who got out of a parked car to fire at him as he rode his motorized bicycle on a rail trail; he somehow survived, but even a half-million dollar reward hasn’t been enough to solve the case.
A writer for the Catholic Herald — a publication which, unto now, I have been blissfully unaware, despite a conservative Catholic upbringing — professes to make “the Catholic argument against 15-minute cities.”
Never mind that Jesus was a pedestrian who likely lived in one.
The thesis of a 15-minute city is that everything you need for daily life should be found within a 15-minutes walk, bike or transit ride of your home.
That’s it.
And as much as I strain my memory, I can’t recall any teachings of Jesus or the disciples that so much as mention it, let alone condemn it.
But that doesn’t stop the author, who will remain unnamed here to protect the guilty.
At face value, the idea seems desirable and has much to commend it. But I can’t help smell a rat, especially following Covid lockdowns and the increasingly “nudgy” and authoritarian-lite sheen to public policies these days. I suspect the great Catholic writer Hilaire Belloc would have agreed, given what he had to say about the intractable struggle between Catholicism and socialism.
“The Catholic Church, acutely conscious as she is of the abominations of the modern industrial and capitalistic system…refuses to cure it at the expense of denying a fundamental principle of morality, the principle of private ownership, which applies quite as much to the means of production as to any other class of material objects,” Belloc wrote in his 1908 essay The Church and Socialism.
Currently the “material object” most in the crosshairs that bureaucrats and activists are obsessing over – in terms of reducing your use of it or simply taking it away altogether- is your car.
Huh?
I don’t know of any version of the 15-minute city philosophy that involves taking away anyone’s car.
Nor is there a damn thing socialistic about the concept. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
If anything, the 15-minute city is about enabling personal freedom to move about as you choose, without forcing you into a motor vehicle just to get groceries, get to work or get healthcare.
Or even get to church, temple, mosque or wherever you choose to worship, or not.
You can walk. You can bike. You can take a bus or train. Or — tres shock! — you can even drive, if you so choose.
But wait, as they say in informercials, there’s more.
The “fundamental thesis of Socialism”, as Belloc highlights, is “that man would be better and happier were the means of production in human society, that is, land and machinery and all transport [my italics], controlled by government rather than by private persons or corporations.”
I’ve experienced transport being excessively controlled by the Taliban, and I can assure you it sucks. Their IED campaign in Afghanistan’s Helmand province was so deadly effective that the British Army lost its freedom of movement. Admittedly the use of IEDs is an extreme form of traffic fines—but the principle is the same: someone else interdicting your movement. It changes everything.
Can you say, “non sequitur?”
Sure you can.
Again, socialism has nothing to do with the 15-minute city. If anything, it enables capitalism in its purest and simplest sense, since it enables you to do business with local merchants, right where you live.
But it does nothing to prevent you from doing business across town, across the country or across the globe.
And no, it has nothing to do with IEDs or any other kind of explosives.
Yet he goes on.
Of course he does.
Thanks to the vagaries of freelancing, I’ve also experienced various prolonged periods of not owning a car and I can confirm that it is tedious, limiting and exhausting, as you set off, once again, peddling like a maniac to make it on time. Not having a car is even harder if you are coordinating a family (once again, public policy seems set on disincentivising the family unit, while punishing those who have children).
Somehow, he turns that into an argument against being able to live without a car.
Go figure.
Where, pray tell, is freedom represented in forcing people to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars every month to own and use motor vehicles, just to access the things and services they need?
And just where is the love and forgiveness of God in his supposed Catholic essay?
Because there is absolutely nothing Catholic about his arguments. Rather, what he penned was an essay about the dangers of socialism, under the mistaken belief it has anything to do with the 15-minute city, and tried to shoehorn Catholicism in.
Not faith. Not religion. Not even Christianity, because what he writes has nothing to do with it in any shape or form.
It is ironic that his essay appeared on Palm Sunday, which marks the pre-Passover entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem on the back of a lowly donkey.
Because, as we noted earlier, there is no reason to believe that the biblical city was anything other than a 15-minute city, because even though it held over half a million people, most local residents were unlikely to walk outside of their own neighborhoods to meet most of their needs.
Because most would likely have to walk, especially the poor.
It was the Romans and the wealthy who used horses, chariots and wagons, the motor vehicles of their day, to go beyond their own communities.
Which means there’s a far greater Catholic argument for a 15-minute city than against it.
Photo of the inside of the Vatican by Photo by Luis Núñez from Pexels.
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A Chicago letter writer alleges that bike riders don’t belong in traffic, and that the city is in the throes of an overly powerful bike lobby that gets everything it wants.
Am I the only one who has noticed that building bike lanes to make cycling in city traffic safe is a lot like putting filter tips on cigarettes to make smoking tobacco safe? A cosmetic change isn’t going to change the fact that for traffic, the bicycle is a fatally flawed product from the start…
Instead of spending the taxpayers’ money to force more bike lanes down the public’s throats, perhaps the politicians could learn to ask us first if this is what we want, rather than just giving an overly powerful lobby everything they want.
Funny how only people who don’t ride bikes think there’s a powerful bicycle lobby. And those of us who ride bikes think we can’t get anyone to actually listen to us.
Never mind that the best way to get bikes out of city traffic is to build bike lanes, which most surveys tend to show are overwhelmingly popular.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
San Luis Obispo’s curmudgeonly anti-bike columnist blames bike lanes for destroying the livability of the city’s neighborhoods, even though most people would likely say they do just the opposite. And he objects to rising bike path construction costs, somehow forgetting that construction costs are going up virtually everywhere, for everything.
Bike and safety advocates press the case that San Diego isn’r doing enough to protect bicyclists and pedestrians, demanding increased funding for Vision Zero. Based on the 29 people killed in the county over the past two years, they’re right. Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up.
A writer for the Wall Street Journalmakes a very Shoup-ian case for why the US has too much parking, in a story that for some reason isn’t hidden behind their draconian paywall, at least for now. Unless you’re talking secure bike parking, of course, in which case there isn’t nearly enough.
Last week we mentioned the shameful theft of a three-year old Maine kid’s Spider-Man bicycle while he was shopping with his mom. But there’s good news this time, after an anonymous Good Samaritan — in keeping with today’s Biblical theme — gave him a new one, plus matching helmet and bike lock.
There’s a special place in hell for the man who attacked a Florida boy who was riding his bike to school, and stole his bicycle; fortunately, kindhearted Clearwater cops bought the 5th grader a new bike so he could ride home the same night.
Tragic news from Brazil, where a 43-year old man died after he swallowed a bee while riding his bike, and went into anaphylactic shock when it stung the inside of his throat. I once swallowed something winged and fuzzy, which was when I learned to ride with my mouth closed.
Thanks again to Matthew Robertson for his generous monthly donation to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. As always, donations are always welcome and truly appreciated, whether repeating or otherwise.
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Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Another bike shop owner said a recently retired friend and customer had already undergone two surgeries to stabilize his cerebral spine, with more in his future.
No word yet on whether Quintana-Lujan was distracted or under the influence. Or why he was apparently unable to see a couple dozen people on bicycles directly ahead of his truck.
Thanks to Victor Bale and Phillip Young for the heads-up.
Even one of California’s newly elected state senators was among the people enjoying the carfree street.
A fun @CicLAvia ride down Sherman Way through #CanogaPark, #Winnetka & #Reseda! Growing up, I would ride my bike to school and the park, but it wasn’t always safe. Thank you, colleagues + organizations who are also working to increase mobility and safety on our streets in SD 20. pic.twitter.com/vJ8y7YLwQP
And for one day, at least, the San Fernando Valley looked a lot like Paris and Guadalajara.
Open Streets are for everyone.
Images of Guadalajara, could be your city, any city, all you need are streets and people. ActiveTO + OpenStreetsTO = One_TO; let's do it every Sunday, 10-4, June, July, August. We are most diverse city, let's be the most fun, a #City4Everyone. https://t.co/2lxN5YChEhpic.twitter.com/cX2bI4wJaa
Option 2 is the best option for people walking, biking, taking transit, AND driving! But if you want to push for something even better, as a reminder you can shoot us a DM (after casting your vote for Option 2)! https://t.co/XS7nIztqUa
The bizarre 15-minute city conspiracy theory continues to gain ground, as proponents argue that the benign urban planning philosophy is somehow “a plot by ‘tyrannical bureaucrats’ to take our cars and control our lives, which could lead to a real-life Hunger Games scenario.”
As we’ve discussed before, nothing in the 15-minute city concept prevents motorists from leaving their own neighborhoods, or driving through the city. It merely means that everything you need for daily life should be found within 15 minutes of your home.
According to CNN, the conspiracy theory originally gained traction among Q-Anon theorists and climate change deniers. And Fox News and other conservative media were only happy to fan the flames.
Which led to this —
In December, Canadian clinical psychologist and climate skeptic Jordan Peterson posted a tweet attacking 15-minute cities: “The idea that neighborhoods should be walkable is lovely. The idea that idiot tyrannical bureaucrats can decide by fiat where you’re ‘allowed’ to drive is perhaps the worst imaginable perversion of that idea.”
In early February, UK politician Nick Fletcher raised the conspiracy in Parliament, calling 15-minute cities an “international socialist concept” and claimed they “will cost us our personal freedom.”
And last weekend, online theories spilled into real life protests, as thousands of people, many from outside the area, took to the streets of Oxford to protest the traffic filtering and 15-minute city proposals.
Let’s hope the world regains its sanity. Because walkable, bikeable 15-minute cities are the solution.
Not the problem.
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Legendary jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon was one of us.
Born on this day, February 27: Elizabeth Taylor, actress (1932-2011), shown here at age 12 riding her bike through Beverly Hills. Happy #BicycleBirthday, Elizabeth!#BOTDpic.twitter.com/23TwNjTA2i
A backwards Penny Farthing was apparently the BMX of its day.
The Danny MacAskills of their day: Will Robertson riding down the steps of the United States Capitol in 1885, and John Stout on similarly daunting steps. What did they have in common? The American Star bicycle, invented in 1880, with the rider mounted on the large rear wheel. pic.twitter.com/6kl5pObULA
He gets it. Paul Thornton, the Letters Editor for the Los Angeles Times, asks if LA drivers have suddenly become more okay with endangering lives, arguing that “sitting behind a steering wheel can turn a reasonable person into a borderline psychopath, willing to threaten the life of anyone in the way.” Which was one of the many reasons I quit driving, because I didn’t like who I became behind the wheel.
Costa Mesa quietly revoked its bike licensing requirement last week, after similar licensing laws were banned as part of last year’s Omnibus Bike Bill passed by the state legislature; two Costa Mesa safe streets advocates were instrumental in getting the ban included in the bill, after discovering the city’s licensing requirement had been used primarily to target the homeless and people of color.
That’s more like it. A 35-year old man was sentenced to 16 years and 4 months to life behind bars for the drunken Palm Springs motor vehicle crash that killed a 56-year old man. Although as Victor Bale suggested in forwarding this, if the victim had been on a bicycle, he probably would have gotten a slap on the wrist, too.
Berkeley is inviting low-income residents to apply for a lottery to get an ebike for long-term use as part of a city-funded program. Although they define low-income a lot differently than I do, with incomes up to $74,000 for an individual, or $106,000 for a family of four.
The president of a Colorado trucking association calls on Denver to rethink its Vision Zero program, arguing that deaths will continue to soar without an increased emphasis on enforcement of traffic laws.
Life is cheap in New York, where a US Postal Service driver faces just one month behind bars and a lousy $250 fine after being convicted of misdemeanor failure to yield for killing a 71-year old man riding a bicycle in a right hook crash; his attorney tried to blame the victim for his own death, insisting he could have braked to avoid the impact. Spoken like someone who has never been right hooked on a bike. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.
A day after we mentioned a British woman on trial for pushing a 77-year old woman off her bike, she was convicted of manslaughter, and will be sentenced on Thursday; she claimed she was just gesturing wildly as she complained about the woman riding on the sidewalk, and may have inadvertently hit her. The jury clearly didn’t believe her, either.
Stockholm, Sweden is getting its first bicycle street, where bicycles will receive priority over other forms of traffic. Which has no known equivalent in Southern California, let alone Los Angeles.
Bicycling Australiachooses their gear of the year, noting the bicycling products that captured their attention. Many, if not most, of which should be available here in the US.
A nice three day weekend with my wife was, if not ruined, at least darkened by a road raging woman who nearly ran us down making a left turn as we crossed the street, less than a block from our home.
She somehow took offense when I objected to the way my wife, dog and I nearly became roadkill, screaming that it was our fault because we hadn’t been paying attention.
Which was true for the dog, anyway.
Never mind that a) we had the right-of-way, b) she started her turn after we were already crossing the street, and c) she neglected to use her turn signal, which might have tipped us off.
But in her mind, we were 100% at fault.
Just another reminder that cars can turn people into monsters.
And that we’ll never have safe streets until our elected leaders have the courage and political will to actually do something about it.
To qualify, participants can make no more than 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL).
The base incentive will be $1,000.
Participants can get an additional $750 toward the purchase of a cargo bike or adaptive bike.
People whose income is below 225% of FPL or who live in a disadvantaged community can qualify for an additional $250, so the maximum incentive amount is $2,000.
Incentives can be applied toward sales tax, as well as the purchase price.
Incentives will be applied at the point of sale.
All three classes of e-bikes can qualify for incentives.
Used bikes will not be eligible.
Incentives can be used to buy e-bikes from local bike shops or online retailers with a business location in California.
Adaptive bikes can include tricycles. CARB plans to keep the definition of adaptive e-bikes as broad as possible.
Keenan was riding his bike to the movies in Mission Valley when the driver, who hasn’t been publicly named, let alone shamed, rounded a corner on the wrong side of the road and hit him head-on.
His confessed killer is copping a plea to misdemeanor Vehicular Manslaughter with Gross Negligence, with a three-year license suspension and not one day behind bars.
Let me repeat.
A lousy license suspension — not even revocation — and no jail time at all. For needlessly killing another human being, while likely driving distracted.
According to the organization, Keenan’s wife Laura has become one of the leading voices for safer streets in the nearly year and a half since his death, and deserves the support of the entire bicycling community in calling for the judge to add additional penalties, like community service and probation, at the sentencing hearing.
According to the BBC, the protestors based their LTN complaints on the difficulties they could pose for motorists who could be unable to drive directly through the city. Not to mention some major climate change denial, as well as baseless claims that it would result in a “climate lockdown,” with residents required to stay at home to protect the environment.
Meanwhile, 15-minute city proposals were bizarrely accused of being a front for a dystopian concentration camp-like lockdown, with gates locking residents inside their zone, allowed to leave just 100 days a year. Along with the creation of an Orwellian surveillance state to enforce climate goals.
Consider, for instance, this speech by a 12-year old anti-Greta Thuneburg, which has been circulating in rightwing circles for the past few days. Even if it, like the rest of the opposition, is based almost entirely on baseless conspiracy theories.
And none of which actually have a damn thing to do with it, of course.
A 15-minute city simply means that everything you need for daily life should be located within 15 minutes of your home — preferably by walking, biking or taking transit.
Meanwhile, LTNs are simply designed to discourage driving through a neighborhood, to increase the safety and livability of the community.
Neither one is intended to force anyone out of their cars. And they certainly have nothing to do with a dystopian surveillance state.
Here’s how British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid debunks the conspiracies in under a minute.
Unfortunately for us monolingual types, though, it’s in French.
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The legendary Nina Simone was one of us.
Born on this day, February 21: Nina Simone, musician (1933-2003), seen here riding with producer Mike Hurst near Buckingham Palace in 1965. Happy #BicycleBirthday, Nina!#BOTDpic.twitter.com/jeTSWJ4kPI
No bias here, either. A Florida letter writer says bicyclists are a danger to themselves and others on the road because it’s a fact that we can’t keep up with traffic flow, and it’s our fault drivers get mad about it because we shouldn’t be there into first place. Then again, it’s also a fact that people on bikes are often faster than congested traffic. And we’re not responsible for how drivers, or anyone else, reacts.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
SoCal Cycling discusses how to get back into bicycling after a long layoff. Kind of like the one I’ve gone through with one diabetes-related health problem after another, which has resulted in a bike that’s virtually unrideable at this point. And a rider who can’t either.
Unbelievable. Metro’s board Planning and Programming Committee rejected calls for pedestrian crosswalk improvements in Pasadena, as part of a package of multimodal projects using leftover funds from the cancelled 710 Freeway extension; advocates hope the full board will overturn the decision this week. Apparently they’ve forgotten the urgent need to improve walkability and bikeability in the face of a climate emergency.
CNN highlights ten of the world’s best cities to explore by bicycle; unfortunately, San Francisco is the only US city on the list. And needless to say, Los Angeles isn’t. Thanks to Steve Fujinaka for the tip.
April 29, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Former NTSB official says no deaths should be the only goal, legalize crossing the street, and building the 15 minute city
Sometimes I arrived at the scene of a business jet or helicopter crash, other times it was a train derailment, once it was a cargo ship lost in a hurricane — always, it involved a tragic loss of life. But despite the terrible toll of motor vehicle deaths on our nation, I never launched to the scene of a traffic crash. Why? Perhaps because the NTSB only has the capacity to investigate a handful of vehicle crashes each year. Perhaps because there weren’t any crashes classified as major disasters when I was on duty. But in 2019, more than 36,000 deaths were recorded on U.S. roads, so an average of nearly 700 traffic deaths occurred every week I was on duty.
Yet our nation doesn’t think of a traffic crash as a disaster, since deaths typically occur one or two at a time. Many of us don’t believe that every road death is preventable. As a nation, we haven’t yet decided that we can protect everyone, including the most vulnerable among us who use our streets and highways — people who are younger or older, people who are walking or biking, people with disabilities. We accept tens of thousands of deaths on our roads every year as simply unavoidable “accidents,” even though we have proven solutions to prevent them.
It’s worth a few minutes to read.
Because she’s right. There’s no acceptable number of traffic deaths.
And it’s long past time we did something about it.
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Los Angeles Walks is joining with partners across the state on Monday for a national discussion about jaywalking and efforts to decriminalize it.
Like their sponsorship of AB 1238, aka the Freedom to Walk Act, which would get rid of California’s jaywalking law, which is too often used to target people of color.
Tonight's @LADOTofficial meeting presentation photo usage complainer. This LADOT slide features 4 photos – the first three, I @JoeLinton took, and the 4th photo I didn't take, but it is a photo of me! (DOT can use SBLA photos free w credit, but never credit.) pic.twitter.com/4AAZWd7kPY
Bay Area transportation officials marked the beginning of Bike Month by announcing nine Bike Champion of the Year winners, honoring one person from each county in the Bay region for their commitment to bicycling.
They get it. A new survey shows Pittsburgh residents overwhelmingly support bike lanes, walking routes and reduced speed limits. And think traffic injuries are a major problem. Maybe someday someone will finally get around to asking Angelenos those same questions, so our elected leaders might finally see that the car-first crowd is just a very loud minority.
This is who we share the road with. A newlywed English teenager gets a well-deserved year behind bars for stealing a crate of eggs, then driving his car while friends threw the eggs out the window at passing people and cars, permanently blinding a motorcycle rider in his right eye with a direct hit. He took the fall for his friends, refusing to name who actually tossed the eggs.
There were apparently no witnesses to the crash; a passerby reported finding the wreckage sometime later. Just a couple more sacrifices to the motor vehicle gods.
And he leaves this world without ever seeing justice for his friend and fellow rider. After a retracted confession and countless delays, Mariah Candice Banks, the woman accused of killing Woon in her high-end SUV, has yet to set foot in a courtroom for anything other than her arraignment.
Her long-delayed prelim is now scheduled for November 4th.
Sims won’t be there; let’s hope he and Woon are riding together somewhere. But maybe some of us can take his place.
This summer, a group of L.A. City Council members filed a motion calling on the city’s Department of Transportation and legislative officials to work with community members and report back on alternative methods of traffic enforcement, collision investigations and other traffic safety duties currently handled by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Some potential changes that will be explored: replacing LAPD officers with a “transit ambassador program” staffed by unarmed LADOT personnel and/or automated technology to monitor and cite drivers for speeding, illegal turns and other moving violations.
“Such a move would virtually eliminate the LAPD’s role in traffic stops, one of the leading forms of interaction between police and the public,” states the motion, which was filed by L.A. City Councilmembers Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Mike Bonin, Curren Price and Herb Wesson.Breonna
It’s a challenging and thought-provoking read, well worth a few minutes of your time.
Because the current system really isn’t working for anyone.
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The C40 Cities — a group of 96 cities dedicated to taking action to fight climate change — says the concept of a 15-minute city is rapidly spreading around the world.
The concept of a “15-minute city” is picking up speed globally, and for good reason. In a “15-minute city” residents can meet all of their needs within a short walk or bike ride, making life in our cities more accessible & more sustainable.@CateSarfattihttps://t.co/rUXgquBcUk
WATCH: A car ripped through a crowd of Trump supporters at a BLM counterprotest in Yorba Linda. It was clearly deliberate and the driver did not stop even as the Trump crowd gathered to tend to the wounded. Trump supporters did NOT attack the driver. pic.twitter.com/f9nu6L0WBu
Seriously? A woman who was injured riding a Jump scooter in San Francisco has filed a class action suit against several e-scooter companies, including Uber and Segway, because…wait for it…no one warned consumers that scooters don’t have turn signals. No one tell her about bicycles.
An 11-year old English girl rode a tandem 70 miles with her dad to visit all 12 cricket clubs in the North Staffordshire area, raising more than four times her original goal of £500 for cardiac risk assessments for young people; she’s raised the equivalent of over $2,800.
Once again, a bike rider is a hero. An Indian family is alive today because an anonymous bike rider was in the right place at the right time, leaping into action to pull them to safety after their car went off the road and into a natural drain before simply riding away afterwards; sadly, though, he wasn’t able to save the family’s three-year old girl.
Last week we mentioned defending champ Chloe Dygert was injured after wiping out during the women’s time trial world championships. Turns out that injury was more gruesome than any of us probably imagined.
I remember thinking what if I can get my bike can I still win? The first thing I remember was asking @JimMiller_time if I was done.. Then I looked down and saw my leg.
The climate group, currently led by LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, encourages the model as a response to municipal budgets ravaged by Covid-19.
Which makes it worth noting that the “world’s climate mayor” is doing nothing of the sort in his own city, except for encouraging greater density.
Which is problematic in itself, after a number of current and former city officials have been implicated in a bribery scheme to approve building projects.
As we’ve noted before, cities around the world have taken advantage of the lighter traffic brought on by the pandemic to make temporary, and sometimes permanent, changes to encourage more biking and walking.
Los Angeles, on the other hand, has done absolutely nothing outside of the Downtown area, where Councilmember Jose Huizar has been a driving force behind a move to Complete Streets.
He is also charged with being the ringleader behind the bribery scheme.
Which pretty much sums up the current state of the city.
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A bike thief was caught on video ransacking an Anaheim building’s bike room. Which is exactly why I don’t recommend using them.
Bike rooms give the illusion of security while providing an enticing target for thieves. Better to find space in your home to keep your bikes inside.
Seriously? A moonlighting Arizona cop says he felt his life was threatened by a mountain biker who ignored no trespassing signs at a golf course while looking for a formerly accessible trailhead — so he tackled the rider off his bike and pulled a loaded gun on him during the scuffle, while insisting the victim somehow lunged off his bike at him.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
LA-area streets are being reimagined as outdoor dining spaces; the question is whether it will last post-pandemic. Actually, the real question is why we can find street space for restaurant patrons, but we can’t manage to find any for bike lanes.
Yreka’s Leslie Burley-Cobb has been nominated for the BMX Hall of Fame; she was one of the first women in the sport in the late ’70s, collecting 268 trophies before she retired in 1985. Raise your hand if you knew there even was a BMX Hall of Fame. And yes, mine are firmly in my pockets.
After a London cabbie posted photos of Dutch parents riding their kids to school on cargo bikes, sarcastically asking if that’s really the kind of morning school run people want to see, the public responded with a resounding “Yes.”
