A San Diego County road improvement project including bike lanes “appears to reduce lane capacity and a road diet that is hostile to motor vehicles,” a US Department of Transportation official wrote, rescinding a $1.2 million grant it awarded nearly a year ago.
In Fairfield, Ala., converting street lanes to trail space on Vinesville Road was also deemed “hostile” to cars, and “counter to DOT’s priority of preserving or increasing roadway capacity for motor vehicles.”
Officials in Boston got a similar explanation, as the Trump administration pulled back a previously awarded grant to improve walking, biking and transit in the city’s Mattapan Square neighborhood in a way that would change the “current auto-centric configuration.” Another grant to improve safety at intersections in the city was terminated, the DOT said, because it could “impede vehicle capacity and speed.”
In other words, anything that might slightly inconvenience anyone in the big, dangerous machines, or somehow inhibit their ability to go “zoom, zoom” to their heart’s content is now on the chopping block, regardless of how much it might reduce congestion or how many lives it could save.
Never mind that some of Trump’s own supporters ride bicycle, and demand for better bike and pedestrian safety and active transportation networks is rising in both red and blue states.
And despite the desire of government officials to return to a more petroleum-driven past, canceling projects like this will do nothing to reduce congestion or improve safety, while likely having the opposite effects.
The world is rapidly urbanizing, and experts predict that up to 80 percent of the population will live in cities by 2050. To accommodate that growth while ensuring quality of life for all residents, cities are increasingly turning to technology. From apps that make it easier for citizens to pitch in on civic improvement projects to comprehensive plans for smarter streets and neighborhoods, new tools and approaches are taking root across the United States and around the world. In this thoughtful, inquisitive collection of City Tech columns—originally published in Land Lines magazine and updated with new reflections and resources for the book—Rob Walker investigates the technologies that have emerged over the past few years and their implications for planners, policy makers, residents, and the virtual and literal landscapes of the cities we call home.
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People For Mobility Justice is co-hosting a bike tour of Eastside toxic sites next weekend.
Canada’s new Vancouver Crossing Loop offers a 314-mile gravel route that begins and ends in Victoria, British Columbia; the trail is designed for ebikes and beginners, as well as seasoned bicyclists. However, what they’re seasoned with remains to be determined, although they are known to be somewhat salty.
A Scottish van driver was sentenced to six years behind bars for killing a 32-year old father who was riding his bike to work, while he was busy reading paperwork instead of watching the road — and he was somehow still working as a commercial driver, despite nine previous traffic violations and a history of illegal drug use.
June 30, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on CTC approves $5 billion for transportation but pittance for bikes & peds, and we’re not even safe at open streets events
Day 181 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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When is $5 billion not $5 billion?
When it comes from the California Transportation Commission.
Although that amount drops a lot before they get to the “cleaner transportation” part. And even more before they get to the active kind of clean.
Nearly half of that 5 billion bucks is allocated for crumbling roadways, with another $1.45 billion to improve low-emission freight networks, while nearly $810 million goes to streamline freight movement to reduce truck idling and cut pollution.
You have to get all the way down to the bottom before bikes and pedestrians get a mention. Even then, it’s in the context of $483 million for passenger rail extensions, bike lanes and rapid transit bus systems, along with another $202 million for local rail, transit and pedestrian upgrades.
Which includes things $63 million to add a bridge and wildlife crossing for Riverside County’s Ramona Expressway — along with some bike lanes to help greenwash the project — as well $49 million for EV charging, and $28 million for ultra-fast vehicle chargers.
Oh, and there’s also a relatively minuscule $18 million to improve traffic safety near five Los Angeles schools, most of which will undoubtedly be spent to undo the damage caused by cars, rather than proactively improving biking and walking.
Even though that’s what kids do.
At least the ones who don’t get dropped off in big honking SUVs, pun intended.
She made a U-turn as bystanders yelled at her, before running down a second woman who heroically tried to use her bike to stop her.
Sheriff’s deputies working safety at the event finally brought the rampage to a halt, but had to bust out the car window to drag her out as she struggled and “became verbally abusive,” yelling racist statements at the cops.
No reason was given for the incident, and there’s no word on whether it was intentional.
But it sure as hell sounds like it.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Speaking of videos, an Edinburgh bike rider posted video of a run-in with a pedestrian that begins with the bicyclist running a red light, and ends with him repeatedly telling the other man to fuck off — then is surprised when commenters criticize him instead of the other guy.
Authorities in Montana are on the hunt for a killer grizzly bear who fatally mauled a 38-year old mountain biker on a trail trail just outside Glacier National Park after startling the bear, while his riding companion went for help.
A pair of New York women were both sentenced to six years behind bars for killing a 22-year old man riding a bicycle in New Jersey, even though only one woman actually hit him; both were driving separate cars up to 90 mph in a 50 mph zone, while passing other drivers on the shoulder of the roadway leading up to the crash.
A new survey shows half of Dutch bike riders have ridden after drinking, while half of those admit to riding drunk. Which may pose its own risks, but I still say it’s better than driving under the influence of anything.
Twenty-seven-year old French cyclist Eddy Finé was forced to give up the sport after the Cofidis team revealed he has an “abnormality in the iliac artery, a problem that is incompatible with top-level sport,” and had struggled to return despite three operations in six years with the team.
Day 83 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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It’s even worse than we realized.
Last week, I mentioned that at least five people have been killed on Vista del Mar since former Mayor Eric Garcetti ripped out the road diet that was installed in 2017, after Los Angeles shelled out nearly $10 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of a 16-year old girl crossing over to the beach.
That’s 19 lives needlessly lost in less than 23 years on the short, four-mile roadway, thanks a wide four-lane design that makes the seemingly bucolic beachfront street a virtual speedway for anyone with a heavy foot.
Yes, an average of nearly one death a year.
So maybe the three-county PCH isn’t SoCal’s killer highway after all, at least on a per-mile basis.
AB 2984, named for the three-year old son of Gibson’s wife, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver 36 years ago, was signed by Gov. Gaven Newsom and is now law.
Which means the driver, who was never caught, could now be prosecuted if they ever find them.
Along with all the other heartless cowards who think they’ve gotten away with it, in a state where the overwhelming majority of hit-and-run drivers are never caught, let alone tried.
Gipson also sponsoring a bill in the current session that would require that drivers convicted of reckless driving install intelligent speed limitation systems in their cars, similar to how a breathalyzer can be required for drunk drivers.
Which is also about damn time.
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This is exactly what I’ve been warning about.
Whatever your politics, cuts to funding for active transportation puts your safety, and everyone else’s, at risk.
Federal funding for bike lanes and other transportation projects may be frozen soon. If funding is frozen, many approved projects may never break ground, and those in progress may never start back up. Tell the USDOT not to freeze these critical funds: https://t.co/4gybzHppbq
Streetsblog’sJoe Linton reviews the documents, and says it will probably be up to a judge to determine whether Measure HLA, which requires that the city build out the mobility plan whenever streets get resurfaced, applies to Metro.
San Francisco becomes the first California city to install speed cams under a pilot program allowing a limited number in three Northern California and three South California cities, as well as on PCH in Malibu. Meanwhile, Los Angeles continues to sit on its ass and do nothing, as usual, as speed-related deaths continue to mount.
Maine’s highest court has sided with a 62-year old man who was ticketed for not riding single file as he was out with a friend, ruling that the state’s requirement to ride as far to the right as practicable is so vague it’s unenforceable, since only the person riding can decide how far to the right is safe to ride.
Life is cheap in Ireland, where a 29-year old mother of three will spend just four years behind bars for the hit-and-run death a 68-year old man riding a bicycle, while driving at not one, not two, not even three times the legal alcohol limit, but a full nine times over the line — yes, nine — after downing a dozen martinis before getting behind the wheel.
Famed painter Henri Matisse’s brother-in-law was one of us, as the struggling artist tried to borrow 150 francs to buy a Van Gogh in 1899, only to learn the other man had blown 500 francs on a new bicycle.
March 13, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Freezing federal bike lane funding to Make America Drive Again, and bipartisan active transportation safety bill introduced
Day 72 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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The good news is, it turns out I don’t have the same virus I had before, after all.
The bad news is, I’ve got Covid instead, after carefully avoiding it for the first five years of the pandemic.
Those efforts were a centerpiece of previous DOT secretary Buttigieg’s strategy to implement the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, from which he allocated billions of dollars in discretionary grants to sustainable and equitable modes — but now that Duffy and Trump are holding the reins, they’ve signaled that they’ll use the same programs to vastly expand America’s consumption of fossil fuels instead.
Because really, what could be the downside to Making America Drive Again?
I mean, aside from more traffic deaths and serious injuries, more congestion, worse smog, and the utter destruction of our planet.
The Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act would expand federal funding for local governments to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.
This legislation is named in honor of Sarah Debbink Langenkamp, the American diplomat and mother who was killed while riding her bicycle in Maryland, just two weeks after being evacuated from Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
But as much as I appreciate the gesture, the bill’s chances in the current political climate make a snowball in hell look pretty good.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Oh, okay then. Boston’s mayor says she removed the plastic posts “protecting” some of the city’s bike lanes because they kept getting run over by drivers and looked awful. And yes, drivers seemed to take that as an open invitation to drive in the bike lanes.
This is why people keep dying on our streets. An Oregon pickup driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a woman riding a bike with her son; he originally faced 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000, but an overly lenient DA and judge gave him a Get Out of Jail Free card, despite his long history of speeding.
“Dozens” of New Yorkers, led by a state Assembly member, demonstrated in support of a law that would require ebikes to carry license plates and be registered with the DMV. Although you’d think a legislator could get more people to turn out if they actually cared about it. And unless there were more people than you can see in the photo, that ain’t dozens.
March 22, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on New Flax bike book out now, Hollywood Complete Street plan announced, and Senate bill promises local bike/ped funding
Just 284 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Men’s Journal offers an excerpt from the book, describing it as a celebration of “just how far and wide those two wheels can transport us.”
Here’s a brief excerpt from their excerpt:
Of course, a road bike can at times feel like an imperfect instrument for immersing yourself in nature. A beautiful and quiet paved road can disappear beneath your tires, leaving you open to embrace all the gifts that surround you, but too often there is traffic or development or angry drivers. Most cyclists diligently try to find the prettiest and safest routes in their area, but for a growing number of riders, it has gotten tougher to roll a bike out the front door or out of the garage and find peace.
This discouraging trend informs a number of seismic shifts within bike culture—the popularity of gravel riding, bikepacking, cyclocross, adventure riding, mixed-surface touring, electric mountain biking, and indoor riding. Other than that last trend—the Zwift and SoulCycle phenomena—the rest are all activities and equipment that help people have meaningful outdoor experiences without the chaos of cars or the elbows-out personality of road racing. The purity of the experience can be distilled in a beautiful way.
Many of these emerging subcultures highly value self-sufficiency and community. These are styles of riding where your smartphone is not your most important tool. These are communities where sharing an experience with people carries more weight than beating them. Activities in which you still need strength and fitness but are likely more focused on exploration or tenacity than on traditional endurance. You are out in a wild place, in tune with your surroundings, looking to test yourself against natural conditions.
It’s more than worth spending a few enjoyable minutes to read the piece. Or however long it will take you to buy and read the whole thing.
Then follow his lead, and get out and ride your bike for the sheet joy of it, wherever, however and whatever you ride.
The overall project consists of two abutting Hollywood Boulevard stretches being improved collaboratively by two different city departments.
LADOT’s Hollywood Boulevard Safety and Mobility Project will extend 2.3 miles from Fountain Avenue to Gower Street
The city Department of Public Works Bureau of Engineering (BOE) “Access to Hollywood” project will include quick-build upgrades on 1.1 miles from Gower Street to Orange Drive – the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. BOE is the lead agency for this stretch, where it is collaborating with LADOT, Bureau of Street Services (StreetsLA), and Metro.
But it’s a long-needed project, which will provide the first protected bike lanes in Soto-Martinez’ district, as well as the first east-west bike lane through Hollywood.
Although it stands little or no chance of passing the dysfunctional Republican-controlled House and becoming law this year, even if it does get approved by the Senate.
A Gold Country cycling columnist says don’t let bad behavior define bicyclists, and it’s never appropriate to flip off a driver. No matter how much they might deserve it.
A 24-year old Colorado woman was arrested for a fatal hit-and-run, two months after she knocked a 43-year old man off his bicycle and left him to die on an embankment on the side of the road; the victim wasn’t found for more than two days after the crash. Drivers like that should face a murder charge for making the conscious decision to let their victims die rather than stop and call for help.
September 5, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Why Vision Zero is failing in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and why you can’t get there from here in Playa Vista
Vision Zero is now nine years old in California, yet people keep dying on our streets.
The Los Angeles Times looks at why, examining the failure of Vision Zero in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the latter just two years away from the deadline by which it’s supposed to end traffic fatalities once and for all.
Not that anyone in city leadership seems to notice.
Or care.
But San Francisco, like Los Angeles, has spent the better part of a decade making such changes as part of an ambitious pledge to reduce traffic-related deaths to zero. Neither city is close to achieving that goal…
“It’s been an abject failure,” said John Yi, the executive director of Los Angeles Walks, a nonprofit that works with immigrants and communities of color to build safer pedestrian infrastructure in their neighborhoods.
Last year, 312 people were killed in car crashes and 1,517 were seriously injured, according to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Bicyclists and pedestrians represented 57% of deaths and 41% of severe injuries, though most people in Los Angeles travel by car.
The paper correctly points the finger at deadly speeds, noting efforts at the state level to lower speed limits and legalize speed cams.
But lowering speed limits will only do so much good in a state where they are universally ignored, and drivers routinely travel 10 to 15 miles above whatever limit in nominally posted.
And get angry if they’re stopped for doing so, apparently believing it’s their God-given right as Californians to travel above the speed limit.
Graphic by tomexploresla
Meanwhile, so much has been given away to appease the windshield-addled crowd that California’s proposed bill to legalize speed cams will be limited to a limited effect, in a limited number of cities.
Including a built-in 10 mph cushion above the limit, as state lawmakers seem willing to sacrifice human lives rather than force drivers to take their damn feet off the gas.
The simple fact is, our traffic engineers and planners know what it will take to end traffic deaths, but city and state officials are simply unwilling to do it.
Let alone fund it.
They lack the political will to make the wholesale changes necessary to channel and slow motor vehicles, and the heavy-footed, mistake prone people in them.
Let alone reimagine our transportation system for the 21st Century, abandoning the failed model that’s driven deaths, congestion and climate change for the past century, and moving towards a cleaner, healthier and more efficient model focused on transit and active transportation.
Which is not to say private motor vehicles must go away. But they must be deprioritized, no longer the first choice to transport individuals and goods, but the last.
So instead, we’ve found ourselves nibbling at the edges, adding crosswalks and beacons that work until they don’t. And counting on drivers to pay attention and obey the law, rather than reimagining roadways to force them to.
In the end, the problem causing Vision Zero to fail isn’t speed.
It’s money. And political leadership, or the lack thereof.
Neither of which our elected officials have been willing to invest.
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Evidently, you can’t get there from here.
Joni Yung comes up with a complicated workaround to get to and through Playa Vista.
The soils in the area of the slip out are not stable and adding to the danger, there is a redwood tree along the cutslope (hill) that is encroaching in the travel lane. From the edge of the tree to the edge of the erosion, there is approx. 8-ft, 10-inches of road width remaining. The downhill side is an approximately 12-ft drop into a creek. This is very narrow for any vehicle, car or truck. This reduced width could potentially be a concern for a motorist unfamiliar with the area.
However, despite the name, this isn’t Highway 1 along the coast, but a smaller inland roadway.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. After a bike rider was seriously inured when he was left-crossed by a driver who violated his right-of-way, a Kansas City TV station was quick to blame the victim for hitting the back of the driver’s car. Even though they’d be unlikely to blame a driver who hit another car in the same situation.
An English driver was charged with the equivalent of reckless driving and DUI for the head-on crash that seriously injured a bike rider, after he apparently got tired of waiting at a red light, and went around another car onto the wrong side of the road. The crash was caught on video, but be warned it’s hard to watch.
Colorado’s Sepp Kuss took the leaders jersey in the Vuelta on Friday and retained it through the weekend, becoming the first American to lead a Grand Tour in a decade. However, Remco Evenepoel called him an outsider, downplaying Kuss’ chances and saying he “kicked a hornet’s nest full of majestic eagles!” Um, okay.
September 1, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Trial starts for alleged Riverside road rage murder, ghost tire memorial in South LA, and new Metro Active Transportation Plan
Welcome to your last pre-Thanksgiving three-day weekend — not to mention the opening weekend for college football.
Which means you can count on a higher than usual percentage of drunks and otherwise intoxicated people on the roads.
So the usual protocol applies.
Ride defensively. And if you’re riding anytime after noon today, assume every driver you see has had a few.
Chances are, you won’t be far off.
I expect to see you back here bright and early Tuesday morning. And I don’t want to have to write about you, unless maybe you pull a pack of puppies out of a burning building or something.
Sergio Reynaldo Gutierrez reportedly made a U-turn to reverse direction and run down 46-year old Benedicto Solanga from behind following an apparent traffic-related dispute between the two men.
Gutierrez was arrested three weeks after the July, 2021 vehicular assault, and continues to be held on $1 million bond.
The victims, including two sisters, were riding in the back seat of the Uber when 31-year old Gregory Black slammed into them while racing through red lights at up to 100 mph.
Black, described as a known gang member with an extensive rap sheet, was charged with three counts of vehicular manslaughter, and held on $4 million bond.
So much for the myth that bail is based strictly on the suspect’s ability to pay. And not a reflection of how seriously prosecutors take the crime.
Black was already serving a five-year probation following his release from prison for attempted murder.
According to Southern California Newsgroup’s Steve Scauzillo, the plan will “create a chain of paths, regional bikeways and pedestrian crossings to connect passengers who are walking, rolling or bicycling to and from the transit agency’s train lines, bus stops and depots.”
Metro, during a virtual public meeting Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 29, outlined three areas for improvement, identifying 602 “first and last mile” areas located near transit, 81 pedestrian districts and 1,433 miles of regional bikeways.
Just completing the list of regional bikeways, which would connect to existing ones, would cost about $36 billion, which is four times the entire LA Metro annual budget.
The plan has a focus on equity, improving service and safety first in areas where fewer people own cars, including including mostly Black and Latino neighborhoods.
But as we’ve seen with the City of Los Angeles, it’s one thing to make a plan, and another to implement it, as ActiveSGV’s special programs director Wesley Reutimann pointed out.
He said Metro should redirect budget dollars from highways toward completing bikeways and walkways. But getting the OK from cities and landowners can gum up the works. Metro is also asking cities to help fund the projects or apply for grant dollars. This can delay or nix projects altogether, he said.
“Long story short: Metro did a plan (in 2016) and most of it was never implemented. It just feels like this plan update is window dressing,” Reutimann said.
Even a fraction of what the agency wastes on highway engorgements could go a long way towards actually implementing this plan.
Let’s hope someone over there figures out how to do that.
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This will be great if it actually happens.
And that’s a big if.
A pair of Los Angeles City Council motions call for streamlining operations between LADOT, LA Street Services, the Bureau of Engineering, and the Bureau of Street Lighting, as well as developing a five-year infrastructure spending plan for the city.
Correction, they both call for a pair of studies on how to do it.
Which is what the Los Angeles city government does best — study problems, rather than actually solve them.
A Denver TV station provides more information on the crash that severely injured professional ultra endurance bicyclist Jay Petervary as he was attempting to set a new record for the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
Investigators concluded Petervary was riding on a mountain highway in central Colorado when he was rear-ended by a 16-year old driver, who may have been speeding, while attempting to pass on a “straight on a wide, open road with no trees or obstructions.”
Petervary says he landed about 20 yards from his bike, skidding face first on the roadway.
He is now focusing on his recovery while his wife organizes his transport back home to Idaho, his future care and the legal repercussions. Donations are still being accepted for the Be Good Foundation. As of Thursday morning, he had raised about $9,500 of the $20,000 goal.
Petervary has a lengthy history with long-distance racing. The sponsored athlete has competed for 25 years, exploring new routes and races. But he also loves providing experiences and opportunities for others, he wrote on his website. He has adopted the mantra “Ride Forward” in not only his athletic endeavors, but in his business, relationships, friendships and more.
“It also meant to not have regrets or get bogged down in the past but also reflect and learn to move forward more fluidly,” he wrote online.
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While we’re catching up on crashes, an Arizona TV station talks with the Flagstaff bicyclist who was sideswiped by the driver of a passing RV, taking out around a dozen riders on a group ride like so many bowling pins.
Saturday, Wallace was biking on Lake Mary Road with a local cycling group, “Team Pay and Take” when he was hit in the head by an RV’s side mirror. His helmet came off, and he then crashed into multiple cyclists behind him, causing a pileup. “I mean, these people are like family,” Wallace said. “You know you ride with them every week. My partner was on the ride as well and she crashed right behind me. So your first thought is just like is everyone OK?”
Wallace said the person driving the RV stopped and cooperated with police, but this is an important reminder to share the road as it’s state law to give cyclists at least 3 feet of space. “I think it’s just a sad point that when we get behind the wheel of a car, we don’t see our fellow humans out there as someone who has someone to go home to after the ride,” Wallace said.
No word yet on whether the driver will faces charges; at last report, he was only ticketed for an unsafe pass.
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Good question.
The Militant tried this in 2021 when @JackBox dine-in was still closed during the Pandemic.
Canada’s prime minister is one of us. And so are his kids.
Hopped on our bikes this morning for Didi’s first day back at school. Ella’s also heading back to school today… and I know others across the country are, too. Hope everyone has a great year – you’ve got this! pic.twitter.com/uqbY45RYlj
No surprise here, as a new Belgian study shows you’re twice as likely to be killed in a collision with a bigass pickup or SUV than with a typical passenger car.
BREAKING: New large-scale Belgian study shows shocking impact of vehicle weight increases on road death and injury.
e.g. When a cyclist or pedestrian is hit by a pick-up, the risk of serious injury increases by 90% compared to a car. The risk of death increases by 200%.
No bias here, either. Residents of León, Guanajuato, Mexico protested plans for a new bike lane, arguing that “about 8 cyclists pass the whole morning,” while official stats say over 65 times that many people ride it every day. Never mind that many more would probably ride there if they felt safer.
San Francisco Streetsblog’s Roger Ruddick calls on the city’s transportation agency to tow drivers who park in bike lanes, after talking the staff at a bagel shop into refusing to serve a driver who parked in a protected bike lane in front of the shop. Note to traffic engineers and planners — if someone can park in it, it’s not protected.
Outside says you should spend at least $250 on bike bibs, arguing that high-end bibs will literally save your ass. I’ll reserve comment, since I’ve never spent more than a fraction of that, and my ass is still firmly attached.
Boulder, Colorado threatens to beat California to the ebike rebate punch with the city’s second round of ebike vouchers, before California gets around to issuing its first.
That’s more like it. A Louisiana semi-truck driver is facing a negligent homicide charge for killing a man riding a bicycle by sideswiping the victim while attempting to pass his bike on a curve; the charge is an upgrade from an initial ticket for violating the state’s three-foot passing law.
An Indian woman is calling for a fresh approach to urban planning, saying the country needs a greater emphasis on bicycling to boost the enrollment of girls in both urban and rural schools, increase productivity for individuals, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
American super-domestique Sepp Kuss soloed to victory in the sixth stage of the Vuelta, high-fiving fans the final 50 yards; meanwhile, Remco Evenepoel lost time to key rivals Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard, as he handed the leader’s jersey to France’s Lenny Martinez.
They’ve also competed Safe Travels Education Program, aka STEP, safe walking and biking safety campaigns in at least 25 public elementary schools, and worked with a social media influencer to develop an ebike safety tutorial that’s received over 1 million views on Instagram.
Glendale officials rallied in support of AB 645, which would create a speed cam pilot program in three SoCal cities — Glendale, Long Beach and Los Angeles — along with three cities in Northern California.
State
Police in Irvine busted a pair of alleged bike thieves who’d were arrested while ghost riding four stolen bicycles; the also had outstanding warrants, and were carrying burglary tools and drug paraphernalia.
New York bicyclists are marking next week’s 141st birthday of legendary artist Edward Hopper with a bike ride from The Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan to his birthplace of Nyack NY and back — entirely which is appropriate since he was one of us.
DC could become the latest city to offer ebike rebates, with up to $2,000 off the price of an e-cargo bike, and $300 to replace crappy, fire-prone lithium-ion batteries. Meanwhile, Los Angeles responds with <crickets>.
Momentum Magazine offers advice on how to deal with the inevitable bikelash, including advice to stay calm and respectful in confrontations. Which can seem almost impossible in the heat of the moment.
A British coroner concluded that all it might have taken to save the life of a 52-year old woman who died in a solo fall off her bike was a sign warning about the badly degraded roadway. Or maybe they could have just fixed the damn road in the first place.
July 7, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Still no word on launch of CA ebike rebate program, and active transportation bills face Tuesday state senate committee vote
The program has already spent a quarter of the allotted $10 million for administration and overhead, leaving just $7.5 million available for ebike vouchers.
It’s being administered by San Diego’s Pedal Ahead, which operates an ebike loan-to-own program for San Diego residents.
Meanwhile, Calbike offers a slightly different version, saying the program was scheduled to have a soft opening in four undisclosed regions last month, before opening statewide in a few months.
They cite a $13 million budget, anticipating it will fund between 4,000 and 7,000 ebike vouchers.
So if the soft openings do happen and exceed anticipated demand, it’s possible there might not be anything left by the time it gets to you.
The bills include another attempt to get the Stop as Yield bill past Governor Newsom’s veto pen, as well as bills mandating daylighting at intersections, requiring climate-first transportation planning, and legalizing sidewalk bike riding statewide.
The fifth bill would establish a pilot program for free youth transit.
The link above includes a form to contact your state legislature to voice your support for any or all of the bills.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. After a little kid was struck by a driver in Wales, Britain’s Sky News reports the ten-year old “cyclist” suffered life-changing injuries. I believe the word they were looking for there was child.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
No bias here, either. New Jersey letter writers say a bike rider who is suing a councilmember for the hit-and-run crash that reportedly left him with serious injuries doesn’t deserve a red cent because he ran the red light, regardless of whether the councilwoman fled the scene. And, uh, because he was wearing flip flops.
Bike riders in Barrie, Ontario were fined $180 each for running a stop sign in a community safety zone, as officials stressed “Stop signs are for everyone, including cyclists.” While bike riders should observe the law, they have a much better view of the road and pose significantly less danger to others around them, which should be reflected in any fine, but usually isn’t. Thanks to How The West Was Saved for the heads-up.
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Local
Metro has received over half of the $80 million in grants distributed across six SoCal counties by the Southern California Association of Governments Regional Council, aka SCAG; the funding represents the first local distribution of a $237 million state Regional Early Action Planning, or REAP, grant for transportation and housing efforts.
A Colorado man is recovering after two weeks in the hospital with a broken collarbone, shoulder and damaged skull, as well as “really bad road rash all over his body” after falling off his bike during a fundraising ride to fight human trafficking.
Disappointing ruling from a Minnesota appeals court, which dismissed a lawsuit from the father of a 13-year old boy who was killed by a driver while riding his bike to school, ruling that the city, county and school district can’t be held accountable for dangerous conditions on the roadway.
Columbus, Ohio is the latest city to offer residents ebike rebates, with up to 150 vouchers ranging from $500 to $1,200, depending on household income. Meanwhile, Californians continue to wait for what was the nation’s first ebike rebate program when it was originally approved 19 months ago.
And horrifyingly, that is with only 49 states checking in.
According to new estimates from the Governors Highway Safety Association, “at least” 7,508 people on foot were killed by drivers on U.S. roads last year — an estimate, that notably, excludes the entire state of Oklahoma, which failed to deliver its preliminary totals this year due to technical difficulties but has averaged 92 pedestrian deaths in recent years.
If that estimate sticks, U.S. walkers will have experienced a stunning 77-percent increase in deaths since 2010, rising at a rate more than three times faster than the rest of the traveling public, for whom fatalities increased 25 percent over the same period.
While the total doesn’t include bicycling fatalities, a rise in one usually corresponds with rise in the other.
The GHSA report suggested that common factors in pedestrians deaths include large arterials designed to prioritize vehicle speed, the ever-increasing size of motor vehicles, and dark road conditions.
You can add to that a lack of safe sidewalks and crosswalks, and all the multiple and varied forms of driver distraction — including distracting video and touchscreen systems installed directly into the dashboard.
The GHSA reports that “in the absence of urgent action to address those systemic factors, safety officials are begging drivers themselves to be more careful.”
Sure, that’ll happen.
Notably, pedestrian deaths are estimated to have dropped 20% in California, tied by South Carolina, and exceeded only by New Jersey’s 27% decrease.
Meanwhile, according to a report from Pro Publica, the US Department of Transportation allowed trucking lobbyists to review an unpublished report recommending sideguards on all large trucks.
The goal of the report was to save lives by preventing bike riders and pedestrians from getting trapped underneath turning trucks, or from overly close passes.
Needless to say, trucking firms rejected the modest cost of sideguards, which are already required in the European Union, apparently preferring to pay higher insurance fees and the occasional legal settlement when they actually kill someone.
And making it clear that the USDOT exists to maintain corporate profits, rather than save human lives.
Orange County bike advocate Mike Wilkinson sends word of an important active transportation survey in Buena Park.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! Buena Park is developing its first Active Transportation Plan. This is a rare opportunity for people who bike or walk to tell the city what they need.
There are two surveys. One is near the top of the page linked here, and it asks for basic information about biking and walking in the city. Scroll down further, and there is an interactive map that allows you to click on streets or intersections that need to be improved. It’s a little complicated, but please take your time to figure out how to use it, and then let the city know what needs to be done!
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Wealthy NIMBYs in San Diego’s Pacific Beach used their cars to protest permanent safety installations on Diamond Street, claiming they will somehow cause more traffic emissions.
And missing the irony entirely.
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Rhodes scholar, country singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson is one of us, or at least he was in his college days at Oxford.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
Bike-riding Encinitas Assemblymember Tasha Boerner is making her third consecutive attempt to pass a California Safety Stop, aka Stop as Yield, aka Idaho Stop law, after Governor Newsom vetoed the bill two years ago; last year she pulled the legislation after it passed both houses of the legislature to avoid another threatened veto.
If you’re going to tour Roswell, New Mexico, do it from the seat of a bike. That way, there will be some evidence left behind after the aliens grab you.
He gets it. The Aussie academic behind the recent study showing drivers see bike riders wearing helmets and hi-vis as less than human says “If you have a safe and normal cycling culture, how could you see people as anything but human?”
