And so it begins.
California 77th District Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, a Democrat from Encinitas, has responded to the Northern San Diego County city’s ebike state of emergency by calling for requiring a license to ride one.
Not for kids.
Not for specific classes of ebikes, like the high-powered, throttle-control ebikes that are really low-powered motorcycles disguised as electric bicycles.
But for everyone.
No matter how experienced you are on a bicycle, evidently. Or whether you’re already a licensed driver, or even hold a motorcycle license.
Let’s hope this was just a badly worded announcement. But this appears to be nothing more than an electrified version of the long-standing, and long debunked, demand that bike riders should be required have a license if we’re going to “share the road.”
You know, just like those grown-up, highly trained and law abiding people in the big, deadly machines.
And it would likely be the first step in a very slippery slope to requiring licenses for everyone on two wheels.
Not to mention it doesn’t do a damn thing to address the ever-increasing size of massive motor vehicles literally designed to do maximum harm to anyone outside of them. Or the people who buy and drive them, too often under the influence, frequently while distracted, and usually while speeding.
But sure, let’s blame kids riding their ebikes to school or the beach, because they’re an easy target. Especially when drivers see them rolling through stop signs they shouldn’t be required to stop for in the first place.
There’s a legitimate argument for providing ebike training, especially for teen riders too young for a drivers license.
And for taking another look at over-powered ebikes that are sold with “wink wink” speed limitation software that is easily hacked to exceed state ebike class restrictions. Or banning the use of pedal-less, throttle-controlled ebikes.
But throwing up a road block to the growth of ebikes is exactly the wrong move when our streets are slowly grinding to a halt due to too many cars in our cities, and our state is literally on fire as a result of extreme conditions fueled by climate change.
We need to do everything we can to get more cars off the roads, and more bikes on them, electric and otherwise.
Not put up legal roadblocks to stop it.
Thanks to BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette for the tip.
Photo by Maxfoot from Pixabay.
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Speaking of ebikes, Bloomberg’s CityLab examines the untapped power of ebike rebates.
You know, like the untapped power of California’s long-gestating and underfunded ebike rebate program.
Their story is pretty well summed-up by this subhead:
Voucher programs can speed uptake of less-polluting electric bicycles and get more people out of cars. Why are states and cities limiting their effectiveness?
Why, indeed, Assemblymember Boerner?
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There may be hope yet.
A Twitter conversation over the weekend — yes, Twitter is still a thing, despite the best efforts of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk — raised the question of whether the plan to remake Hollywood Boulevard is still on track.
The proposal would reduce traffic lanes and parking, while installing wider, walkable sidewalks, bollard-protected bike lanes and outdoor dining areas appears to be moving forward, based on nothing more than the fact that its website is still live.
A lot depends on the council district’s current king, uh, councilmember, Hugo Soto-Martinez, though.
The project was developed by his predecessor Mitch O’Farrell, who used it as an argument for his re-election.
At the time, Soto-Martinez voiced his support for the project. But if he’s done so after his election, I haven’t heard it. And it doesn’t appear to be mentioned on his council website, which is odd for such a significant project.
Given the outsized power Los Angeles councilmembers have to approve, kill or modify any project within their council district, for any reason, his support will be mandatory before any work can begin on the street.
And don’t get me started on the long-standing need for a Times Square-style pedestrian plaza at Hollywood and Highland.
Thanks to Andrew Rudick for the heads-up.
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Here’s your chance to get in a good bike ride, while you advocate for improvements to South Los Angeles streets.
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The Los Angeles Times finally printed their story about gravel biking in yesterday’s paper, over a month after it appeared online.
Meanwhile, Cycling Weekly offers tips on how to turn your roadie into a gravel bike.
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I like it.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
An English motorist faces charges after he was recorded on video using a separated bike lane as his own personal traffic bypass.
A road-raging Scottish cab driver screamed and swore at a bike rider for not using a bike lane that’s less than three feet wide and stops abruptly, before cutting him off and hitting him.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Yet another reminder to remain at the scene of a bike crash, as a Toronto bicyclist was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries following a collision with a hit-and-run bike rider. Seriously, you have the same obligation to stay after a crash as drivers do, even if too many of them don’t take it seriously.
No, smashing the doors of a British grocery store in an attempted armed robbery is not a recommended use for a bicycle.
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Local
She gets it. LA Times media columnist Carolina A. Miranda reviews a pair of new books discussing how America’s wasteful parking obsession results in needlessly high housing prices.
Los Angeles is considering mobility improvements in Central LA in advance of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, including new bus lanes, bike lanes and mobility hubs.
CD2 Councilmember Paul Krekorian officially reopened the new and improved intersection at San Fernando Road and Arvilla Ave as part of the final phase of the nine-mile San Fernando Bike Path project.
Walk Bike Glendale begins their Summertime Series of bike rides, starting with a community ride featuring Glendale Mayor Dan Brotman on July 22nd.
State
Fountain Valley police are looking for the hit-and-run driver who critically injured a 20-year old Huntington Beach man when he was rear ended while riding in a bike lane in the Orange County city on the 4th of July.
Loma Linda University Medical Center reports a teenager’s life was saved when surgeons discovered a non-cancerous tumor on his spine after he was seriously injured in a collision while riding his bike.
San Francisco bicyclists say there’s no salvaging the centerline protected bike lanes on Valencia Street.
National
CBS This Morning takes an in-depth look at America’s unsafe streets and rising pedestrian death rates, and the reasons behind them.
WaPo examines how car brakes and tires are spewing increasing amounts of particulates into the air we breathe, even as tailpipe emissions continue to decrease.
TechCrunch recommends the best ebikes for every type of rider.
A new Utah study shows that only 7.3 percent of suspected serious bike crashes and just 6 percent of fatal bike crashes occurred in or near a bike lane, while a third of bicycling deaths occur at intersections bike riders can’t find a safe way to cross.
This is the cost of traffic violence. The director of the Fargo Marathon was killed when he was struck by a pickup driver towing a boat trailer while he was riding a bike in the North Dakota city; he was described as an avid runner and cyclist, and the general manager of the local ski area.
A couple men in their 60s are recreating their bike ride to the Canadian border, 50 years after they first did it as Wisconsin teenagers.
A Cleveland bike advocacy group took the rare step of advising bike riders not to use a new green bike lane over a local bridge, warning that it ends abruptly after a short distance, dropping bicyclists into a busy shared lane.
Kindhearted Utica, New York cops gave a six-year old girl a new bicycle, after a group of teenagers “borrowed” the bike she got for her birthday just four days earlier, and never returned it.
A New York program is distributing donated bicycles to migrants recently arrived in the city.
International
Cycling Weekly considers whether baking soda can make your bicycling performance rise like it does cakes.
An architecture site examines ten cities embracing bicycles as part of their urban planning. None of which is Los Angeles. And only one of which is even in North America.
Thieves in Montreal cut down a small tree to steal a bicycle locked to it, a reminder not to lock your bike to living things. Like people. Or dogs.
What Toronto’s new bike-friendly mayor could mean for the city’s bike lanes.
A Welsh father is committed to developing a popular bike park in memory of his son, who died in a mountain bike crash on a trail he built himself.
Police in the UK are facing well-deserved criticism for fining a young mother for “cycling-related anti-social behavior” for riding her bicycle on the sidewalk, rather than risk a dangerously busy street.
British bike advocates are criticizing Northern Ireland’s “shameful” failure to reduce bicycling deaths, as the rate of bicycling fatalities has remained the same over the past decade. Meanwhile, American bike riders would be happy if our rate of bike deaths was anywhere close to ten years ago.
What to pack for your next Irish bikepacking trip.
An Indian teenager amazingly avoided getting crushed when he was struck by a school bus and run over, after his brakes failed riding downhill on a wet street.
A 12-year-old Palestinian boy miraculously walked out of a Jerusalem hospital, after surgeons reattached his head to his neck when he suffered an internal decapitation in a collision while riding his bike.
Competitive Cycling
Very disappointing news, as Mark Cavendish’ attempt at breaking the legendary Eddy Merckx’ record for Tour de France stage wins came crashing to a halt when he crashed out of the race with an apparent broken collarbone in stage eight. Cav needed just one win to make the mark his own, in what was to be his final Tour — or is it? And does anyone really care what Lance has to say on the subject?
As the Tour reaches its first rest day, two-time winner Tadej Pogačar continues to make incremental gains, cutting his deficit in the race to just 17 seconds behind leader Jonas Vingegaard on the Puy de Dome, while Canada’s Michael Woods scored the biggest stage win of his career.
Once again, fan interference has caused a crash in the Tour de France, knocking podium contender Simon Yates down in the standings, and sending Steff Kras to the hospital by ambulance, and out of the race.
Velo reports the Dutch Alpecin Deceuninckteam is raking it in with Tour de France primes, while the once-mighty Soudal Quick-Step team languishes at the bottom.
L39ION of Los Angeles continues to dominate the American Crit Cup, as Skylar Schneider and Ty Magner won the elite women’s and men’s races at the Bailey & Glasser LLP Twilight race in Boise, Idaho.
Finally…
Who need bass strings when you can use bicycle brake cables? Who needs a horse and buggy when you’ve got an ebike?
And your next bicycle could be made of LEGOs.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
