Tag Archive for angry drivers

SaMo approves bicycle anti-harassment ordinance, Brit press demonizes bicyclists, and Wilmington CicLAmini Sunday

May 17, 2024 / / One comment
Just 228 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve made it up to 1,134 signatures, so don’t stop now! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she agrees to meet with us! 

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It took awhile, but LA’s bicyclist anti-harassment ordinance is finally starting to spread elsewhere in Los Angeles County.

The Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting harassment of bicyclists, while providing a private right of action for violations in civil court.

They also clarified that the law applies to both human-powered and ped-assist ebikes — but evidently, not throttle-controlled ebikes.

According to Santa Monica City Attorney Doug Sloan,

“Defining activities would prohibit physically assaulting or attempting to physically assault bicyclists because of their status of a bicyclist, threatening to physically injure a cyclist, threatening to physically injure, including by road, cyclists because of being a cyclist. intentionally distracting or attempting to distract a cyclist, intentionally forcing or attempting to enforce a bicyclist off the street or bike lane,” Sloan said.

“It’s important to note that these are purely civil remedies,” he said before clarifying that this does not require city resources to enforce this — it is not criminal. So an aggrieved individual can bring a civil action against the perpetrator. It can include if they’re liable for damages for three times heir actual damage for each violation or $1,000, whichever is greater. Moreover, they can recover attorney fees and potentially punitive damages.

“It expressly says it does not constitute a misdemeanor or infraction. And that’s essentially it,” he said.

That last part is important, because it means a cop doesn’t need to witness the violation, or ticket the driver or file charges.

However, the same problems that have limited the Los Angeles ordinance would likely limit this one, as well.

Unless you record the violation on a bike cam or cellphone, it’s difficult to gather witnesses or other evidence to offer proof of what happened.

And even with the provision for legal fees, it’s hard to find a lawyer who will take a case without the possibility of substantial damages, because the amount of work required doesn’t usually make it worth their time.

Still, it’s a move towards holding dangerous, aggressive and road-raging drivers accountable.

Let’s just hope it spreads to the other 86 cities in LA County.

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No bias here.

The British press continued its demonization of “killer bicyclists” in the wake of a new law imposing a sentence of up to 14 years for killing someone by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate bicycling.

Which is seven years more than motorists face for a similar crime.

The London Telegraph lifted their paywall to breathlessly share a story about “reckless” bicyclists chasing Strava coms — including one person reportedly riding 52 mph in a 20 mph zone, which would be a world record speed.

A columnist for Express says it’s about time London’s “Lycra-clad maniacs” were forced to abide by the rules of the road, including such “trivialities” as traffic lights and crosswalks. Never mind that British bike riders are already subject to most of the same rules drivers are.

However, former Olympic gold medalist, Hour Record holder, and current National Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman puts it in perspective.

https://twitter.com/Boenau/status/1791191381446148550

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Don’t miss Sunday’s CicLAmini open streets event in Wilmington this Sunday. The weather should be cool, dry and partly cloudy, so it should be comfortable whether you’re riding, skating or walking.

https://twitter.com/CaltransDist7/status/1791227045793481121

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GCN considers whether Classified’s new Powershift hub could spell the end of front derailleurs, after it was used by the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team during the Giro’s individual time trial.

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It’s now 149 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

Once again, a British bike rider has been pushed off his bike by some jackass in a passing car when the passenger in a BMW leaned out the window and knocked a man in his 40s off his bicycle, and suffered a broken shoulder, cuts and bruises.

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

A bike rider in Singapore was fined the equivalent of $163 for running a red light while a mother was in the crosswalk pushing her child in a stroller.

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Local 

A new Caltrans plan to rebuild and widen Lincoln Boulevard — otherwise known as PCH — where it crosses Ballona Creek will include new sidewalks and protected bike lanes, along with lighting, landscaping and signage.

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition and city Arts and Culture staffers will host a Pasadena Public Art Bike Ride tomorrow morning.

 

State

He gets it. A writer for the Thousand Oaks Acorn says “Bicycling instead of driving is a great way to reduce traffic, cut pollution, and save energy while contributing to California’s climate goals.”

The Big Bear bike parks will be opening in the next few weeks, with Snow Valley Bike Park opening weekends beginning May 24th, and Summit Bike Park opening daily on June 7th.

Pleasanton seniors discuss bike safety, amid concerns that a lack of safe infrastructure will keep older people from biking.

Mission Local shares photos from San Francisco’s Ride of Silence.

San Francisco Mayor Breed promises protected bike lanes in front of City Hall, even if “some supervisors have to give up their parking spaces.”

No bias here, either. A pair of writers for El Tecolote complain about the San Francisco MTA’s approval a $1.5 million contract with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to provide bicycle education for the next five years — which works out to just $300,000 a year — saying it “frees the Bicycle Coalition to hire a phalanx of lobbyists to influence city policy with Supervisors, commissioners, and city staff in all departments.”

Sonoma County is being sued by a woman who suffered a broken neck when she hit a pothole on her bike, on the same street where another woman was seriously injured hitting another pothole ten years earlier.

 

National

If you missed yesterday’s Bike to Work/Bike to Wherever Day, you may still have time to catch it today in New York or Seattle.

Seriously? ABC network officials are reportedly mad that Good Morning America 3 host DeMarco Morgan posted an Instagram photo wearing “skin-tight bike shorts” that “doesn’t leave much to the imagination.” Except he’s actually wearing a very normal bike jersey and padded bike shorts that leave about as much to the imagination as any other spandex-clad bicyclist. 

A self-described “car guy” swapped his four wheeler for an e-cargo bike for a week, and ended up rethinking what cars are really for.

Boise, Idaho intends to become the next bicycle capital of America. Although they may have to get in line behind all the other cities with the same aspirations. 

Idaho bicyclists got donuts and French pastries for Bike to School and Work Day. Meanwhile, LA bike riders got squat.

If you build it, they will come. After going a bike lane building binge in recent years, Chicago has doubled the number of bike trips over the past five years, with the greatest increase on the city’s South Side.

 

International

Hundreds of people turned out for a two-wheeled rave through the streets of Victoria, British Columbia.

Tragic news from the UK, where a “fit and active” 80-year old man died after falling from his bike following an “incident” with a van, after he was forced to ride close to the roadway when debris in the bike path narrowed it to just two feet wide; an inspector looked at the path just weeks before his death, and said it looked just hunky dory.

An Irish advocacy group rightfully complains that less than 350 drivers were fined for parking in bike lanes throughout the entire country in one recent year.

Mobility Outlook talks with the Head of Brand for India’s Hero Cycles, which it says is helping reshape the evolving bicycling culture in India with their ebikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time former world champ Julian Alaphilippe won the 12th stage of the Giro on Thursday in a solo breakaway; leader Tadej Pogačar finished in the main pack to hold on to the pink jersey.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could pay tribute to Vincent van Van Gogh — cutting off your ear is optional. Your next super-ebike mountain bike could be a McLaren, yes, that McLaren.

And there’s a new AI sheriff in town to keep you from cheating on your KOMs.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

No Steve, it’s not a bike lane to nowhere; drivers yell at LA bike rider; and big Transportation Comm meeting tomorrow

October 31, 2022 / / 2 comments

No bias here.

The LA Times’ Steve Lopez writes about a $2 million bike lane to nowhere that the Los Angeles LGBT Center was forced to build by the city’s dysfunctional rules.

Except the short curb cut isn’t a bike lane, and probably never will be.

A short half-block long, it took about 18 months to complete and cost roughly $2 million, and yet it is not marked as a bike lane and does not connect to one.

“It’s a bike lane to nowhere,” said Stephen Burn, general manager of building services at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which was required to complete and pay for the project as a condition of approval.

Burn apologized for calling it a stupid waste of time and money that delayed the opening of badly needed supportive housing and social services, but no apology was necessary. He said he honestly wanted to pull his hair out at times when dealing with various government agencies, and after he shared the details, I wanted to pull my hair out.

And needless to say, the story is already being used by bike lane opponents.

But longtime advocate Alissa Walker clarifies that, regardless of what Burn was told, the added space was created for cars as the result of a longstanding city policy.

So yes, as Lopez points out, it’s a perfect example of LA’s dysfunctional government in action. But seriously, it’s not our fault this time.

If only Lopez had looked at the lack of safe bike lanes leading up to the new 6th Street Bridge, instead.

Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

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A Redditor complains about the dangers of riding on LA streets. And the anger they experience every time they ride.

I’ve been biking more to get out of the house, exercise, and just enjoy the city. But literally each time I’ve gone into the street a driver has yelled at me!

I try to avoid riding in the streets, but the bike lanes are few and far in between and aren’t that much better. You often have trash cans in the bike lanes, people leaving their car doors open, random debris, and when you don’t have to deal with that you still have cars speeding past you with the closest thing protecting you being a thin line of paint that couldn’t even stop an ant from crossing it! I don’t even have to get into how bumpy and packed the sidewalks can be.

So when I do get in the streets it’s because that is unfortunately the best route. Yet no matter how much I ride on the shoulder, check behind, in front, on the sides, above me, etc… I always have a driver either honking or yelling at me for going too slow.

I’m worried that someone might get really angry with me one day and try and run me off the road…

I’m just frustrated and wish biking in this city was safer. We have the perfect weather to bike in. Why isn’t L.A a bikeable city?

Why, indeed?

Thanks to HowTheWestWS for the heads-up.

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Streets For All is asking you to support for several proposals at Tuesday’s meeting of the LA City Council Transportation Committee.

  • Sunset4All’s efforts to build a 2-way protected bike lane on Sunset Blvd;
  • A protected bike lane on Riverside Drive and Stadium Way;
  • Encouraging the newly-legal installation of cameras on Metro buses;
  • Expanding LADOT’s budget and staffing for the Slow Streets program.

Sunset4All explains how to participate in the meeting.

The Sunset4All item is back on the transportation agenda for this Tuesday (11/1) at 3 PM. If you haven’t voiced your support please write in and or attend the virtual meeting.

Item #3 (22-1072) – Sunset4All To call dial 669-254-5252, meeting code 161 750 5079, #, #, and then hit *9 to raise your hand. Here are Talking Points. If you’re not able to call in, then use the links below to make public comment on the council file in advance at the buttons below.

Make Public Comment on the Council File

Send an Email to CD 13 to Support the Motion

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the tip.

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When you cast your vote in CD5, maybe consider who actually cares enough to show up.

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Horrible news from Ohio, where a popular local bicyclist lost a leg when she was mauled by dogs.

A reminder that you could end up with more than just a simple bite on the leg from that dog that chases you whenever you ride by.

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A new amphibious ebike claims to be the future. Although I’m not sure how much latent demand there is for a combination ebike, boat and built-in camper.

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

Someone sabotaged a Seattle bike path by spreading screws across it. Although someone else came up with a brilliant way to clean up the mess.

A writer for Daily Kos complains “dumbasses working in public health and espousing concern for future generations fired me over bringing a bicycle into their national meeting” at a Tacoma, Washington convention center.

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

A rideout of up to a couple hundred teens on bikes took over the streets of Boston, before allegedly stealing $350 of merchandise from a 7-11.

Toronto police are looking for a bike-riding suspect who followed a young woman and sexually assaulted her twice after she got off a bus.

If you’re going to rudely shove a wheelie-popping bike rider out of your way, try not to follow the move with a faceplant.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkLzV2EO60z/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=c9cbdc5e-dc53-4d6f-afa9-07fb1097f1e9

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Local

Save this one for future reference. Streets For All founder Michael Schneider lists the common complaints we’ve all heard from people opposed to bike lanes, and details effective arguments to overcome them.

Patch reports a bike rider was rushed to a trauma center after they were struck by the driver of an RV at PCH and Coastline Drive in Malibu Sunday afternoon.

This is who we share the courtrooms with. A woman received a more than $4 million judgement after she was struck by a driver while walking in a Santa Monica crosswalk four years ago, suffering permanent injuries; the defense shamefully argued she threw herself in front of the car in a suicide attempt — which might have been more credible if the driver was doing more than 25 mph. Thanks to Andrew Goldstein for the link.

 

State 

Carlsbad is focusing on schools and collision hotspots to improve safety for standard bicycle and ebike riders after declaring a local emergency.

This is who we share the road with. A 68-year old woman is fighting for her life after she was run down by a hit-and-run driver while pushing her three-year old grandson in a San Jose crosswalk; the boy is recovering from his injuries. Thanks again to Victor Bale.

Sentencing was postponed for a Fairfield man who was convicted of second-degree murder and hit-and-run in the death of a 52-year-old man riding a bicycle last October; he faces 15 to life on the murder count, and two to four years for fleeing the scene.

Sonoma County is investing half a million in climate resilience funds in building new bikes.

Sad news from Sacramento County, where a woman riding a bike was killed in a collision in North Highlands early Sunday afternoon.

 

National

NBC News reports on the spreading use of speed cams, and the rise of road raging drivers who don’t like getting caught breaking the law.

A diabetic journalist says he lost 40 pounds and brought his blood sugar down to a sub-diabetic level within eight months after taking up bicycling — and has kept it off and under control for the four years since. If only it was that easy for all of us.

A Portland woman says stop telling her to be safe when she rides a bike, and learn how to drive safely around bike riders, instead.

A 68-year old Utah woman could face multiple charges after she ignored a flagger and crashed into two people competing in the cycling portion of the St. George Ironman triathlon, resulting in serious injuries to both; she failed a roadside drug test, and admitted using marijuana before the crash.

The new advisory bike lanes are now open in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown.

Sounds familiar. Oklahoma bike and walking advocates say the city isn’t doing enough to improve safety. Sort of like a certain megalopolis we could name.

A nine-year old Michigan boy is raising the alarm and warning his neighbors after his dream bike was stolen.

That’s more like it. A 65-year old Ohio man was sentenced to a mandatory 14 years behind bars, with the possibility of another four years, for the hit-and-run death of a 13-year old boy; he claimed the damage to his truck was from hitting a mailbox, and that he only ran over the boy’s bike after someone else knocked the kid off it.

NPR looks at the rising rate of ebike battery fires in New York, blaming the problem on the use of refurbished batteries and mismatched chargers.

Philly bike riders turned out for a Día de los Muertos, while calling for safer streets.

HuffPost says Pennsylvania Republicans are taking a bill to permit safer bike lanes hostage in an effort to strip Philadelphia’s progressive DA of his powers.

A Birmingham, Alabama man faces multiple charges for a one-man crime spree that included a fatal shooting, carjacking and a hit-and-run that killed someone on a bicycle — all in just one hour.

 

International

The bike boom isn’t over, even if it’s lost a little steam, as Shimano says demand is still above pre-pandemic levels despite signs things are cooling down.

Vancouver bike riders are calling on the city to reverse plans to remove a bike lane from a park and return the roadway to pass-through commuters, although a planned protest ride was called off due to an atmospheric river.

A London man was somehow able to get his bike back after it was stolen by three muggers in a London park, despite suffering head and face injuries in the attack.

A British cop who co-founded a program to place undercover cops on bikes to catch careless drivers who pass people on bikes too closely now rides to relieve arthritis pain that threatened his career.

A UK safety expect calls it “a bit daft” for bicyclists to ride in the middle of the traffic lane, despite recently changes to the country’s Highway Code allowing them to do just that, when there’s a perfectly good bike lane they could be using. Of course, the problem is that the “perfectly good” bike lane usually isn’t.

Paris may be making great strides in becoming a biking city, but someone should tell the local cops, who are stopping bike riders and insisting they should wear reflective clothing in anticipation of the fall time change.

Writing for Travel + Leisure, a woman suggests that biking through Sicily is the best way to discover small towns, delicious food and local culture.

The rise of bicycle taxis in eastern Zambia is creating business opportunities for young people, while allowing passengers to ride for a fraction of the cost of a regular taxi.

There’s a special place in hell for a Philippine man who faces a charge of “frustrated homicide,” after repeatedly stabbing a neighbor using a knife disguised as a ballpoint pen in a dispute that began with a bicycle blocking his path.

Melbourne, Australia bike riders were left feeling deflated when the local government passed a one-year pause on building bike lanes; The Guardian asks if it’s a bikelash, or just plain old NIMBYism.

 

Competitive Cycling

Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard won his second Tour de France of the year, outsprinting his competitors to win the Tour de France Singapore Criterium on Sunday, after winning the three-week Grand Tour earlier this year.

French magazine Vélo lists the finalists for the prestigious 2022 Vélo d’Or award, including, for the first time, a separate category for women cyclists. And no Americans made the short list, of course.

Former Paris-Roubaix champ Sonny Colbrelli is reluctantly calling it a career after he collapsed with a heart attack moments after finishing the opening stage of March’s Volta a Catalunya.

Cycling Tips looks back on the legacy of Brian Robinson, whose Tour de France stage wins set the stage for decades of British cycling success.

Dan Martin, the only Irish cyclist to win a stage in all three of Grand Tours, reflects on “crashing for a living, doping, retirement and writing a book through 100 hours of Whatsapp voicenotes.”

 

Finally…

Your next bike could have ABS brakes, for the low, low price of just eleven grand. When witches ride bikes instead of brooms.

And I think I’ve found my next bike.

Or at least the bikemaker, anyway.

Thanks to Norm Bradwell for the tip. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Morning Links: Killer road-raging SoCal drivers, and parolee charged in Escondido death of fallen cyclist Kevin Lentz

January 22, 2020 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Killer road-raging SoCal drivers, and parolee charged in Escondido death of fallen cyclist Kevin Lentz

They drive among us.

A couple of bizarre non-bike road rage incidents illustrate just who we share the roads with.

In a truly strange, tragic and confusing case in my own neighborhood, a 26-year old mother is dead after rear-ending a motorcyclist, then getting run over by her own passenger after she got out to argue with the man on the motorbike when he followed them home.

The passenger ran away after killing her friend. Literally.

And there’s a special place in hell for the road raging Corona resident who inexplicably went ballistic over the age-old Ding Dong Ditch prank, jumping into his car and ramming a car filled with six teenage boys as they tried to escape him.

Anurang Chandra could face multiple counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon after three of the boys were killed when their car went off the road and slammed into a tree.

Seriously, people, just chill already.

Motor vehicles bring out the worst in far too many people. Myself included.

One of the many reasons I quit driving was that I may be Bruce Banner on my bike or in a bus, but you wouldn’t like me behind the wheel.

And I didn’t, either.

Photo by Wendy Corniquet from Pixabay.

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A prison parolee will stand trial for the drunk and stoned crash that killed mountain biker Kevin Lentz in Escondido last November.

Jamison Connor faces ten charges, including vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run and driving under the influence, as well as drug and weapons violations.

He also faces a single count of child endangerment for allowing his four-year old son to sit unrestrained in the car as he fled the scene after — allegedly — killing Lentz.

Never mind the meth and loaded semi-automatic police found in his pickup when they busted him.

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Unlike Los Angeles under current international Climate Mayor Eric Garcetti, the former Climate Mayor is making great strides in reimagining the streets of Paris and the city as a whole.

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Call it Peloton’s revenge for the bikelash over the now-infamous Peloton Wife commercial.

So maybe FedEx is just trying to keep up.

Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the first link.

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Your next DIY ebike could be solar powered. As long as you don’t mind hauling a bigass bike trailer everywhere you go.

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

Florida police are looking for a bike-riding robber who holds-up people parking their cars in a Tampa parking garage, then makes his getaway on his bike.

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Local

New advocacy group Streets for All will meet this Tuesday to discuss a campaign for a Venice Blvd Complete Street.

A ghost bike will be placed in Arleta this Thursday in honor of fallen bike rider Jesus “Gallo” Urbina, who was killed while using his bike to deliver water to some homeless friends.

 

State

San Diego is still struggling to cut pedestrian deaths, despite a Vision Zero pledge to end all traffic-related deaths in the next five years. Judging by recent news, they’re not doing so good on the bike front, either.

A new poll shows San Diegans overwhelmingly oppose installing bike lanes at the expense of parking spaces, and want to keep e-scooters, but impose stricter regulations on them.

An Embarcadero restaurant is endangering San Francisco bike riders by continuing to place its valet stand directly in the bike lane, while a protected bike lane currently being built stops just short of the restaurant.

 

National

In a story that could be a ripped from the headlines look at LA’s own mayor, Fast Company says there’s a “big disconnect between what mayors want in terms of street design and what they’re actually willing to support to make it happen.” Except virtually no one in LA is writing headlines about the mayor’s failure to support his own Great Streets, Complete Streets and Vision Zero programs. Except yours truly, of course.

Terrano is offering a 25% discount on their cycling communications and bluetooth system, for hands-free communications with other riders on the road.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a Portland man’s bicycle on the one-year anniversary of his kayaking death on the Hood River. Then again, it takes a major schmuck to steal a bike, period.

A New York congressman swears he supports bike lanes, despite a racially charged King Day speech accusing them of causing gentrification. So he says bike lanes cause gentrification, and he supports bike lanes. Which would seem to suggest he supports gentrification, too.

Los Angeles Laker LeBron James announced he was teaming with Lyft to give free bikeshare memberships to kids at the Harlem YMCA; he also called for a better bike lane network in the Big Apple. Let’s hope someday he’ll address the lack of safe bike lanes in his new hometown, too.

Apparently, getting a driver’s license suspended in Florida is the end of life as we know it. While most of us can empathize with someone who can’t afford to pay a traffic fine, there are valid alternatives to driving that lots of people actually use in real life.

 

International

A 26-year old woman who campaigned to halt violence against women in Juarez, Mexico became the latest victim, when she was shot in the back of the head while riding her bike home in Downtown Juarez; nearly 180 women were murdered in the city last year.

A writer for the Daily Mail complains about the sexual harassment women like her face riding London’s Tube, and says women on bicycles don’t have it any better. Seriously guys, just knock it the fuck off, and start treating women like human beings for a change.

The bighearted English man who reunited a stolen bike with its original owner after buying it for the equivalent of around a hundred bucks has become an internet hero, earning a shoutout from rapper Stormzy.

If you’re looking for bike-friendly cities in the UK, skip Manchester and head straight to Lancaster.

Girls riding bikes isn’t news. Unless you’re in Karachi, Pakistan, where it’s discouraged, if not actually prohibited. But some brave girls are doing it anyway.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Tips wants to know if gravel racing can maintain its renegade status, even as it moves to the mainstream.

Speaking of gravel, America’s Colin Strickland decides he’d rather keep racing — and winning — the Kansas Dirty Kanza than compete on the WorldTour and race Paris-Roubaix.

Next month’s Tour of Oman has been cancelled, after a year of mourning was declared following the death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said.

Australian Rohan Dennis says he walked away from last year’s Tour de France to save his marriage, afraid his deteriorating mental state due to conflicts within the Bahrain-Merida (now Bahrain McLaren) team would drive his wife away.

Congratulations to Guam’s first professional cycling team.

Former pro Phil Gaimon pens an understanding letter to a lower-level pro busted for doping, suggesting he skip the post-suspension hostility and just move on with his life.

 

Finally…

Police have better things to do than deal with fake theft report from a bike rider. Dockless bikeshare — the new getaway choice of bank robbers.

And it only takes three comments to blame bicycles for a crash that didn’t involve any.

 

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

Morning Links: No, road rage is not your fault, braving sexual violence to ride a bike, and filming Tesla porn on autopilot

May 10, 2019 / / One comment

Evidently, road rage is your fault.

A British triathlete living in Mallorca, Spain, has put together a “guide to safe (and courteous) riding” to avoid pissing off drivers.

Despite being the victim of road rage herself — and holding herself blameless for the driver’s actions — she believes the rudeness of her fellow riders results in the anger too often directed our way.

Which is, to put it politely, bullshit.

Yes, we all have an obligation to safely share the road. As well as to show courtesy to our fellow human beings whenever practical, regardless of how they — or we — travel.

But to blame the victims of road rage for stirring up anger in motorists is no different than telling victims of domestic violence that they had it coming.

Nothing a woman — or a man, for that matter — does justifies violence from their romantic partner.

Period.

It’s up to each of us to control our anger, and never strike another human being, let alone those we profess to love.

If you can’t manage that, the problem is yours, and yours alone.

The same goes for road rage.

Yes, drivers may become angry because of the actions of those of us on two wheels. Justifiably or not.

But failing to control that anger, and taking it out on someone else, isn’t the fault of those it’s directed at any more than the black eye sported by a domestic violence victim is their fault.

So ride safely, and show a little courtesy.

But it’s up to all of us to keep our fucking tempers under control.

Especially the people in the big, dangerous machines that can too easily be turned into weapons.

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Beautiful piece from a Mexican woman, who braves sexual violence and harassment to ride her bike through the Sonoran desert and learn from the indigenous peoples.

And at the same time, learn about herself.

In Mexico it’s hard, as a woman, to travel by bike; it’s a country engaged in constant violence against women. It’s hard for us not to imagine being one of the women for which the rest of us claim justice. It’s hard for us not to imagine being the one who’s photograph is next to a Ni Una Menos (Not One [Woman] Less) banner. And this feeling is reinforced by how people ask, “Are you traveling alone?” “Aren’t you afraid?” “How do you dare to do it?” and by the expressions “What a relief to know you have company!” “How brave you are!”

What we want is not to be brave — but to be free. We know these comments and questions are not directed at men who travel by bike. Men in Mexico have liberties and privileges that the patriarchal system has granted to them.

Even so, Mexican women have dared to travel by bike and use it as a tool of autonomy.

 

She ends the piece with this thought. But it’s what’s in between that makes it worth reading.

And learning from.

So, when asked constantly whether I’m afraid of traveling by bike, the answer is yes, but the things you learn, the natural and cultural history, the social relationships that result because of it; the self-discovery of the body and mind of the resisting women, make it worth it. Traveling by bike is a political act and of resistance in Mexico and the world.

Meanwhile, the Orange County Register’s David Whiting rides along with the fabled 50-mile Rosarito-Ensenada ride on it’s 40th anniversary edition.

And credits the “friendship ride” with breaking down border barriers as families from both sides find common values.

We could all use a little of that these days.

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This is who we share the roads with.

A porn star shot her latest film while riding in a Tesla on autopilot with no one holding the wheel.

Or evidently, paying attention to anything outside it.

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Local

Riding Metro trains and buses will be free on Bike to Work Day for anyone with a bicycle or helmet this Thursday.

Speaking of Bike to Work Day, there will be a discussion and walkthrough of the photo exhibit Los Angeles Bike Rebels: The Sequel at the Caltrans museum in DTLA on Thursday. Thanks to Velocipedus for the tip.

Apparently, it’s bad luck to try to steal a bike from a Skid Row loading dock when the workers are watching. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

This is who we share the roads with too. Pasadena police wrote 639 tickets for distracted driving last month, with over half of those for texting behind the wheel. If they’d just crack down like that the other 11 months of the year, our streets might actually get a little safer.

LAist looks forward to the return of 626 Golden Streets: Mission to Mission open streets event on Sunday the 19th.

Santa Monica will celebrate Bike Week with a pair of bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement days on Monday and Thursday. Meanwhile, Santa Barbara will have one tomorrow. In both cases, police will ticket traffic infractions that put bicyclists or pedestrians at risk, regardless of who commits them. So standard protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit lines so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

A columnist for the Santa Monica Mirror accuses officials in California of having an anti-car agenda, and says drivers won’t willingly give up on their cars. Never mind that many of us already have. Or that he takes pride in promoting an unproven, snake oil cancer “cure” while accusing the government of trying to squelch it.

Long Beach gets the okay to move some palm trees lining Marina Drive to make way for a Complete Streets makeover.

 

State

A 72-year old Huntington Beach woman accuses the DMV of discrimination against older people for making drivers over 70 take a written test and eye exam every five years, saying that should be required of anyone who has a crash or gets a ticket. Sounds like a plan to me. But let’s keep testing older drivers, too.

A survey from Lime shows that San Diego residents are taking scooters instead of driving.

San Jose’s mayor shows he’s fully recovered from the injuries he suffered in a New Year’s Day bike crash by riding to work on Thursday.

The rich get richer. San Francisco’s mayor used that city’s Bike to Work Day to announce plans to add 20 miles of protected bike lanes, and start ticketing drivers who park in bike lanes. Anyone think LA’s mayor will make a similar announcement at our Bike to Work Day next week? Me neither.

They get it. A San Francisco TV station says traffic congestion is worse than ever, in part because of double-parked ride hailing-drivers, and because the city’s dangerous streets are chasing bike riders off them.

A new study shows that Uber and Lyft are responsible for two-thirds of of the increase in San Francisco traffic over the last two years. So now maybe drivers can stop blaming bike lanes, already.

A group of Google employees bike 40 miles to work on a regular basis, riding from San Francisco to Google’s office in Mountain View. Then again, you almost have to work for Google or another tech company just to afford to live in the City by the Bay.

Good question. A writer for the San Francisco Chronicle wants to know why “a man who’s minding his own business, riding his bicycle, end(s) up dead at the hands of a police officer” who says he wanted to educate him about bike safety.

A new obelisk sculpture was installed in bike-friendly Davis; naturally, it’s made of bicycle parts and children’s bikes.

Sacramento wants to copy Los Angeles, and get their paramedics on bicycles to improve response times during large events.

 

National

By the time you read this, you’ll have to pay 25% more for your bike parts. And maybe your next bike, as well.

Streetsblog says the coast-to-coat Great American Rail-Trail is really happening, providing a 3,700 mile bike route from Washington coast to Washington DC.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker visits Seattle for the first time, and calls out glaring gaps in the city’s bike network. And says if you really want to get people out of their cars, you need to make it difficult to drive.

Nice move from the family behind Walmart, as the Walton clan decides to open up their private Colorado ranch to mountain bikers.

El Paso, Texas bike riders are complaining that a bike lane is too narrow. Which isn’t too surprising since it’s half in the gutter, and so narrow the bike lane symbol barely fits without going up on the sidewalk.

A writer for Popular Mechanics was called a cheater for riding New York’s iconic Five Boro Bike Tour on an ebike.

Once again, Atlanta Complete Streets advocates will risk road rage and the enmity of everyone else on the road by slow rolling a dangerous street during the morning rush hour.

Yes, hit-and-runs have reached epidemic proportions. But somehow, shooting a Georgia driver in the stomach to keep him from fleeing seems like a bit of an overreach.

A Florida dentist says he’s always loved his bicycle.

 

International

Fast Company says ebikes are helping to keep older people young, while alleviating Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s symptoms.

Great idea. For the seventh year, Canada will host a nationwide series of Ride Don’t Hide bike rides next month to raise funds and promote mental health.

Speaking of The Guardian’s Peter Walker, he explores whether bike riders think we’re above the law — and whether it even matters. Hopefully you can get the video to play, because I couldn’t despite repeated attempts.

A British school has found the ultimate solution to bike theft on campus — just ban bikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Ireland, where a man was killed during a bike race when he ran into a motorcycle parked along the course.

Cycling News offers a preview of next week’s Amgen Tour of California.

The Bay Area woman who fought for, and won, equal prize money for women surfers is now alleging a civil rights violation against the Tour of California for giving women just three stages and 177 miles of racing routes, compared to seven stages and 777 miles for the men.

In a surprise move, German pro Marcel Kittel walked away from the Katusha-Alpecin team after he was left off the roster for the Tour of California, following a dispute with team officials last month.

 

Finally…

Forget avocado toast; stick one on your bike instead. One day you’re a 10-year old in elementary school, the next you’re on tour as a BMX champ.

And your next tire pump could stick to your bike like magic.

Unless your bike is aluminum.

Or carbon fiber.

Or titanium.

 

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

Morning Links: Mad as hell drivers and they’re not going to take it anymore, and BOLO Alert for CA bike thief

February 6, 2019 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Mad as hell drivers and they’re not going to take it anymore, and BOLO Alert for CA bike thief

Talk about not getting it.

A self-described “avid cyclist” — and, ahem, president and CEO of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association — just doesn’t get why the automobile has become a public enemy, arguing that a fundamentally American freedom is under attack.

You know, the freedom for drivers to spew smog into the air with your gas guzzling SUV, which is right up there with freedom of speech or religion.

Except virtually every argument he makes for why the state shouldn’t adopt California’s clean air standard works against him.

Maybe he’s never tried to breath Denver’s air during one of the city’s frequent winter temperature inversions. Let alone heard of climate change.

Then there’s this tired old myth.

Meanwhile, some cities have put their drivers on forced road diets. They are reducing lanes available to drivers on key arterial streets.

Part of the motivation is to increase bicycle and bus lanes. But again, this gift comes at a cost to drivers. The goal is to discourage driving by intentionally reducing capacity and creating traffic congestion by design. Backers say it’s more “people friendly” — at least for people who don’t need to drive.

The bottom line is they want to force more residents to use alternative transportation by making driving as unpleasant as possible.

Because those road diets couldn’t possibly be about slowing traffic and keeping those people in cars alive long enough to get back home.

Or reducing congestion so that people who need to drive, or simply choose to, can actually get where they’re going in a timely manner.

But maybe that’s what happens when you only see the world through the perspective of your own windshield while driving your bike hundreds of miles to that distant trailhead.

Not to mention when your own bank account depends on convincing other people to buy those bigass trucks and SUVs.

But hey, no bias there.

Right?

………

Then again, he’s not the only one.

A writer for a motorists’ website devoted to maintaining automobiles über alles says recreational roadies are okay, but those urban bike advocates are just Vision Zero zealots dedicated to forcing poor, innocent drivers like himself off the roads. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

And credit Peter Flax with uncovering gem from a guy who’s not going to let the sick tyranny of a small minority of anti-car extremists push him onto disease-filled public transit.

No, really.

………

Bike thief BOLO alert.

Fresno police are urging you to be on the lookout for 32-year old alleged bike thief Marlon Markham, who is wanted for buying bicycles with fraudulent credit cards under a variety of names throughout California.

He then reportedly sells the bikes online.

In addition to the Central Valley, he’s struck in the Bay Area, and in Burbank and Huntington Beach in SoCal.

Photo from Bicycle Retailer

………

Local

Metro Bike begins what so far is a very limited expansion into Koreatown.

State

Friends and family members gathered at the ghost bike for fallen Aliso Viejo bike rider Michael David Tomlinson for a candlelight vigil and to remember him, nearly a week after he was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Over 40 military veterans took part in the annual Soldier Ride in Del Mar over the weekend, sponsored by the Wounded Warrior Project.

Berkeley plans a Complete Streets makeover of a popular bicycling route to support and grow the city’s 8.5% bike rate. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

Streetsblog notes that Oakland has finally gotten it right on protecting bike riders in a construction zone. On one block, anyway.

A Richmond paper examines how the city’s Rich City Rides co-op helps transform lives one bike at a time — exemplified by a 15-year old homeless boy who searches the city for kids without bikes to help them earn one.

Once again, an independent student newspaper at UC Davis mistakenly thinks that violence against bike riders is funny, publishing what they believe passes for satire about someone kicking bikeshare riders off their ebikes.

A Davis judge rules that a bike seat can be a deadly weapon, after a father and son were attacked by a man who threw his bike at them after removing the seat, then used the seat as weapon.

National

Singletracks offers tips on how to reduce your risk of injuries from mountain bike crashes. The most effective way is just don’t ride mountain bikes, but that kind of defeats the purpose.

City Lab says the micromobility gold rush is just beginning.

In a move that really shouldn’t surprise anyone, Utah’s legislature hit the brakes on a proposal to legalize the Idaho Stop in the state.

In yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, an allegedly drunk San Antonio hit-and-run driver had a prior arrest for driving while intoxicated, but with no record of a trial or guilty plea; her victim was a local surgeon. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the tip.

A 72-year old Wisconsin driver faces a vehicular homicide charge for the death of a bike-riding pediatrician, claiming he couldn’t brake in time to prevent the crash — even though he rear-ended the victim while driving half off the road.

Someone should tell Bowling Green, Ohio that sharrows aren’t Complete Streets.

Two years later, Pittsburgh bike riders and pedestrians still feel safer sharing the road with self-driving vehicles than with human drivers, whether or not they’ve actually encountered one.

Bikeshare continues its spread across the US, as Portland — no, the one in Maine — moves towards establishing their own system.

DC moves to protect pedestrians and bicyclists by banning right turns on red lights at 100 intersections.

A University of Florida study shows that Strava really can be used to help city planners design better bikeways.

International

Cycling Weekly offers advice on how to avoid back and shoulder pain caused by riding a bike.

Seriously? A Canadian judge acquits a truck driver, saying sure, he had to have seen the bike rider he killed before he right hooked her, but that doesn’t mean he actually, you know, noticed her. Oh, and that failure to signal or wait for the green turn arrow? No biggie.

Calgary’s winter bicyclists get new bike racks that are part bike parking, part public art. I’ll settle for anything that actually keeps my bike safe. Like maybe a fully operational tank.

A Hamilton, Ontario columnist misses the point, saying you can’t redesign roads to get rid of reflexive carelessness or stupidity. Even though that’s exactly the idea behind Vision Zero, to engineer roads so careless mistakes don’t lead to needless tragedies.

Life is cheap in Canada, where a careless driver who killed one bike rider and injured two others walks with a lousy $1,800 fine.

A British 14-time Paralympic gold medallist gets it, saying build bike lanes that are fit for everyone, and not just the brave.

The family of a fallen UK bike rider complain about the six-year sentence given to the driver who killed her while “extremely drunk” and high on coke.

An Irish driver will face charges for plowing into a club ride in 2017, killing one rider and critically injuring another.

Kiwi bicyclists complained about over 100 close passes by bus drivers last year. Although it’s not so easy to complain about getting knocked over when you can’t find out what bus company did it.

The Philippine legislature is considering the equivalent of a nearly five-foot passing law, with penalties starting at $95 for the first offense, and increasing with each additional violation.

Speaking of the Philippines, is anyone really in the mood to bike the full route of the infamous Bataan Death March? Didn’t think so.

Competitive Cycling

VeloNews offers their thoughts on the upcoming Amgen Tour of California, saying the men’s side will come down to Peter Sagan versus Fernando Gaviria, while the women will face their first hors categorie climb with the Mt. Baldy finish.

Former world champion mountain biker Hans Rey has helped provide more than 11,000 free bicycles to people in 30 countries through his Wheels4Life charity.

Finally…

Try taking your bike off the roof rack before going through a drive-thru next time. Sure, he may be an armed robber — and a Chargers fan — but anyone who makes his getaway by bike can’t be all bad.

And the SaMo PD posse was in full pursuit of a stolen car.

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

Morning Links: Killer SUVs blamed for rise in traffic deaths, and road raging Brit driver blames victim for crash

July 2, 2018 / / One comment

So much for the myth of the texting pedestrian.

The Detroit Free Press says it’s not people walking while distracted that’s responsible for the 46% jump in pedestrian fatalities in recent years.

Or even the huge increase in distracted driving.

It’s the popularity of SUVs.

Or more precisely, the design of the popular vehicles, which have higher, flatter grills than cars that knock people forward and down to the pavement, rather than onto the hood of a car.

And making it more likely that the victim will be run over by the driver who hit them, or other vehicles on the road.

To make matters worse, federal safety regulators have known about the danger for years, but buried the news while people continued to die.

The same undoubtedly holds true for collisions with people on bicycles, which could help explain the rise in bike deaths, as well.

………

Or it could be due to people like this.

After a British driver hits a bike rider with his wing mirror, he and his passenger get out to scream at the victim, blaming him for hitting their van.

Which would be pretty much impossible, since the driver was passing him and clearly failed to give a safe passing distance.

Although I suppose it is possible that the victim might have suddenly started riding in reverse, and swerved out of his lane to hit the van. Though you’d think that might have show up on the video.

But still.

No driver would lie about something like that.

Right?

………

Local

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton questions how Metro’s Bus and Bike Only Lanes can be improved, especially on Sunset Blvd leading to Dodger Stadium, where Michael MacDonald was ordered out of the lane by an LAPD officer despite signs saying bikes are permitted.

CiclaValley goes riding in the new South Figueroa bike lane, and finds parked cabs and other cars.

The LA Lakers signed a pretty good bike rider to a four year contract. Someone should tell LeBron he needs to start reading BikinginLA now that he’s one of us.

This is what the lower LA River could look like if and when restoration efforts are completed.

They get it. A South Pasadena paper explains what sharrows are, and notes that bike riders have the same rights on any street, with or without those funny markings on the street.

 

State

No shit. The first-ever joint meeting between the California Air Resources Board and the California Transportation Commission ends with an agreement that people in the state have to drive less. But not, unfortunately, on how to make that happen.

Bicyclists say a stalled bike lane on San Francisco’s Embarcadero could have prevented a collision that left a pedicab driver critically injured.

A father falls in with his young daughter to ride with NFL star Marshawn Lynch and his cousin Josh Johnson as they bring the joy of riding bikes to over a thousand kids in Oakland, with professional BMX riders acting as ride marshals.

 

National

Bloomberg says e-scooters are changing the landscape of urban transport.

Las Vegas has earned a Silver level Bicycle Friendly Community status, in part because of road diets that have created space for bike lanes. Yet oddly, you don’t hear of Vegas residents rising up to fight them, right wing shock jocks railing against them, or city councilmembers cancelling them in fear of angry drivers.

A local writer discusses the joys of riding a bicycle around Las Cruces, New Mexico. All of which apply virtually anywhere, including here in Los Angeles.

The brother of a hit-and-run driver who killed a Texas bike rider was busted for aiding in the coverup afterwards, even though police have been unable to find the driver or his car. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the heads-up.

Yes, Black Girls Do Bike, even in Milwaukee.

A bike rider was injured in a collision with a garbage truck in New York’s Central Park, even though cars were banned from it two days earlier.

Challenged by city leaders to show why it needs a minimum width requirement for streets that has been blocking protected bike lanes, Baltimore’s fire department responds by making a video with one of their largest trucks showing it doesn’t fit in the lane. Not that it would ever actually be sent to a narrow street like that, according to a city councilmember.

Tragic news from Baton Rouge LA, where a city councilmember and long-time community advocate was killed when he and his riding partner were run down from behind by a 21-year old SUV driver, who was arrested on several charges, including negligent homicide; the other rider was hospitalized in serious condition. Bicyclists gathered last night for a ride of silence to honor the victim.

A Georgia driver ran down a pair of bicyclists from behind, injuring a mother and killing her 18-year old daughter.

 

International

Road.cc considers the whys and wheres of buying a bespoke bicycle.

Great idea. A network of six hundred bike owners have banded together to fight bike theft in Edmonton, Canada.

Sounding like bike riders in Los Angeles — and most other places — bicyclists in Winnipeg complain about gaps and odd designs in the city’s bike network; 75% of city residents say separated bike lanes are a good thing.

Toronto has seen a 1,500% increase in bicycling in the city’s urban core after bike lanes were installed in 2013, jumping from a few hundred to over 6,000 a day.

Good question. An Oxford, England columnist wants to know why bicyclists are always seen as the bad guys.

You’ve got to be kidding. A road raging Scottish driver was fined the equivalent of less than $1,000 for deliberately forcing a bike rider off the road after he was stuck behind a group of riders; he also lost his driver’s license for two years.

Cute piece from a writer in the UK, who wants to know why bicyclists aren’t accepted as normal people, as he wakes up “at the crack of dawn to slide into (his) tight-fitting lycra mankini.”

Over half of British drivers are unaware of the country’s safe passing distance. The government has announced the equivalent of $1.32 million to crack down on unsafe passing, though the Guardian says the country needs to significantly boost funding to reap the benefits of the current bike boom.

Nice gesture. America’s only remaining Tour de France winner joins with two Holocaust survivors and a few hundred other people to bike 55 miles from Auschwitz-Birkenau to a Jewish cultural center in Poland.

A Philippine writer goes bicycling and beer drinking in Berlin.

A Moroccan man is making his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca by bicycle, traveling over 18,000 miles and through every city in Morocco to promote peace.

Seventy Saudi bicyclists will join the 500-mile Global Biking Initiative, riding from Gutenberg, Sweden to Hamburg, Germany to raise funds for charity.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Guardian talks with Fabian Cancellara, who says he wants to inspire people to get on their bikes.

Four time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has been disinvited from this year’s race, though a final decision won’t be known until later this week. Which may not matter, since he was just cleared of doping charges, despite a failed drug test.

Former women’s road cyclist Allison Tetrick tells the story of how she rebounded from a serious traumatic brain injury to winning this year’s Dirty Kanza 200-mile gravel race.

 

Finally…

The grudge race of the century — or maybe just the week — ends with a drop and a cookie. When you need an all-terrain vehicle to tow your surfboard, but still want to ride a bike.

And she’s still bringing home cycling medals at age 77.

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

Morning Links: Forsyth Cup this Saturday, SGR Trail closure, and road raging driver assaults CO cyclist

April 10, 2018 / / One comment

Cancel your plans for the weekend.

BikinginLA sponsor Thomas Forsyth is hosting Wolfpack Hustle: The 2018 Forsyth Cup at the Encino Velodrome this Saturday, offering a full day of intense track cycling under the sun.

………

The San Gabriel River Bike Trail will be closing for two weeks in Seal Beach later this month.

The pathway will be closed from 2nd Street to Marina Drive between 9 am to 3 pm, Monday through Friday, from April 23rd to May 4th. So plan to take another route for a few days.

Thanks to Michelle Mowery for the heads-up.

………

As we’ve noted before, the war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real.

The latest example comes from Colorado, where a road raging SUV driver yelled at a pair of bicyclists after they made a safe and legal lane change, including signaling, to position themselves for a left turn.

Then circles back and physically assaults one of the riders for the imagined crime of flipping him off, which both riders denied doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O34xeuTgEq4&feature=youtu.be

Granted, things may be different in Colorado.

But LAPD officers have told me that a road raging driver can be charged with assault the moment he or she leaves a vehicle to confront someone, whether or not they actually become violent.

Something to remember the next time it happens to you.

And yet another reminder of why having some sort of cam on your bike isn’t optional anymore.

Thanks to Frank Lehnerz for the heads-up.

………

 

Local

KPCC looks at what ten years and $20 million dollars will buy on South Figueroa, where construction on the long delayed My Figueroa complete streets project is expected to wrap up later this month.

CiclaValley offers his thoughts on the tragic death of 15-year old cyclist Sebastian Montero Easter Sunday.

A Halifax, Nova Scotia musician left Los Angeles by bike on the first leg of a tour across the US in support of his new EP, and to raise funds for a Canadian mental health organization.

A website says the most dangerous time to drive a car in Los Angeles is around 4 pm on Friday. Which likely correlates to the most dangerous time to walk or ride a bike, as well.

Robertson Blvd is the most dangerous street in West Hollywood for car crashes when adjusted for traffic volume. Which likely makes it one of the most dangerous streets for bike riders and pedestrians, as well.

Santa Monica is hosting a free lunch tomorrow to discuss plans for Bike to Work Month.

 

State

San Diego orders a DIY kids pump track closed due to liability issues.

Apparently, Los Angeles isn’t the only city where angry drivers complain about road diets and insist no public outreach was done, as a San Jose columnist points out the significant public outreach before one was installed last year.

Uber has purchased dockless e-bikeshare provider Jump, as it moves to become an urban mobility company, rather than just a taxi substitute; the purchase is not expected to affect San Francisco’s pilot program.

A Marin judge has blocked plans to allow bicycles on a singletrack trail, after ruling that the county failed to conduct a full environmental impact study.

 

National

Bicycling says don’t throw your hi-viz away yet, despite recent studies that say it may not do any good.

Oregon is considering allowing ebikes on some state park and coastal trails.

Coast Guard officials in Seattle remind people not to leave their bicycles on the ferry; not surprisingly, some are bikeshare bikes, but most belong to the people who apparently forget they rode a bike that day, too often leading to a man-overboard search.

Seattle bicyclists take one last ride across the Alaskan Way Viaduct before it’s torn down to improve views of the coast, and replaced by a new underground tunnel.

A seven-lane Detroit boulevard is going to lose two lanes to make room for improved sidewalks and protected bike lanes. Let’s hope motorists in the Motor City have more sense than those in Los Angeles, who rose up in arms over a similar project on Venice Blvd.

Jersey City becomes just the latest American city to adopt a Vision Zero plan. But as we’ve seen in Los Angeles, adopting a plan is the easy part; actually making the hard choices necessary to save lives take political courage that is too often missing.

No irony here. A Pennsylvania motorcyclist notes the differences between how bicycles and motorcycles are treated under the law, without apparently recognizing the primary differences between the two.

 

International

Researchers from the University of Duh conclude that bad weather can get people to change their travel plans, especially those on foot and bikes; plans are underway for heated and cooled bike lanes to address those problems in some cities.

A Winnipeg woman is looking for a bike-riding caregiver for her Parkinson’s afflicted husband as they prepare to take a bicycle tour across the US and Canada.

After apparently running out of children to order off his lawn, a British academic says dockless bikeshare is a menace.

An English man proves the benefits of ebikes, as an 88-year old stroke survivor stuns his doctors with his recovery after borrowing his neighbor’s ped-assist bike.

Tragic case from the UK, where a 27-year old man died after a slow-speed collision with a bike rider; for once, no one appears to be blaming the man on the bike.

A Saudi woman now enjoys riding her bicycle in public, which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. And looks forward to driving a car, which will soon be legal for women there for the first time.

A new study suggests that the mandatory bike helmet law in Australia’s New South Wales state wasn’t responsible for the drop in bicycling deaths usually attributed to it.

Seoul, Korea opens a new red-colored, one-way bike lane on the city’s most prominent street, complete with solar-powered lane markers, and posts at intersections to prevent right hooks.

 

Competitive Cycling

An investigation has been opened into the death of Belgian cyclist Michael Goolaerts during Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix classic. He reportedly crashed after riding off the road at high speed, but it’s unknown whether he suffered a heart attack before or after the crash.

Lost in Sunday’s sad news was the race run by cycling scion Taylor Phinney, who finished a surprising eighth in what may be the world’s toughest single day bike race.

 

Finally…

When the ticket for speeding on your ebike reads 62 mph. The poetry of cyclocross — no, literally.

And when your ride has a message. And the message is f*ck cars.

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

Morning Links: Flax calls out road diet bullies, PCH bike/ped safety grant, and ‘tis the season for bike giveaways

November 30, 2017 / / 4 comments

Yes, we were bullied.

An Op-Ed by Peter Flax offers a good look at what he describes as the histrionics and fake news that have corrupted the road diet debate in the wake of the Playa del Rey debacle.

He describes the one-sided videos and unsupported accusations that the lane reductions were harming businesses in Playa and Mar Vista. And that it was Mayor Garcetti who pulled the plug in Playa del Rey.

One unpublicized meeting spelled the end of the task force and the Playa del Rey road diet. In league with outside forces, lower Playa business owners — among them prominent members of the LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce, already applying public pressure — demanded an audience with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti. People familiar with the proceedings tell me the group confronted Garcetti with a narrative that the road diet was destroying local businesses and made explicit threats to undermine the mayor’s political ambitions. These strong arm tactics set off a chain of events that led to the near-complete reversal of traffic-calming measures on Culver, Jefferson and Pershing…

This was a savvy move: Everyone cares about the health of small businesses in the community. As an advocate for pedestrian and cyclist safety, I will admit that I’m comfortable if peoples’ commutes get a few minutes longer if it makes our streets less dangerous, but I don’t want local merchants to suffer. Nobody does, and a perception that road diets harm local businesses could shift public opinion in a major way. Dozens of studies conducted in major U.S. cities have concluded that traffic calming efforts ultimately boost business, but that certainly hasn’t stopped opponents from arguing that these dynamics don’t apply in L.A.

He also points the finger where it belongs — at the mayor and city departments that have failed to lead and to stand up in support of their own programs.

The absence of facts is a defining problem in the public conversation about our roads. This cannot simply be blamed on one side of this dispute. Part of the problem is how poorly our politicians and transportation officials as well as the city’s dominant news outlets have communicated incontestable facts to people who live and drive in L.A. The mayor has been painfully silent.

This has created a void that allows a free-for-all on Facebook and Nextdoor, where people on both sides can essentially make up their own facts — about travel times, accident rates, business impacts, the laws governing speeding and jaywalking, the scientific underpinning of Vision Zero, and so on. Rather than form opinions about what to do on Venice Boulevard based on substantiated traffic or accident data, published studies on road diets, or an unbiased analysis of business impacts, the public has wound up getting informed and misinformed by social media, where people who are angry about traffic freely dismiss INRIX and LADOT data as #fakenews and then create memes with data they prefer.

It’s worth reading the full piece. Because this is the fight we’re all in if we want safer streets in the City of Angels, whether we like it or not.

And yes, I’ve felt a lot of that bullying myself, usually after something I’ve written has been mentioned on Nextdoor, a site I avoid like the plague.

Although nowhere near as much as Flax, who has been subject to more abuse and attempts at character assignation than anyone should have to tolerate.

All for the sake of safer and more livable streets, and a more vibrant community.

There is a sickness within our society right now, where what should be civil, fact-based debates too often degenerate into name calling and outright lies.

Not to mention the death threats I reported to the police earlier this year.

This is our city and these are our streets. They don’t belong to cars or the people in them.

They belong to all of us.

And we all have a right to live — and survive — on them.

………

A $15,000 state grant will be used to improve bike and pedestrian safety along PCH through Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades and Malibu, including better enforcement and education on bike laws.

Although they should start by educating the sheriff’s department, which frequently misinterprets CVC 21202 to ticket people for riding abreast or in the traffic lane, both of which are legal in most cases.

………

‘Tis the season.

The parents of a fallen soldier have purchased 70 bicycles for kids at Missouri’s Fort Leonard Wood.

A Virginia Walmart has stepped in to supply 460 of the 600 bicycles needed for a kids’ bike giveaway, after the original order was screwed up.

One thousand volunteers turned out in Tampa FL to build 800 bicycles to give to needy children.

………

This is day seven of the 3rd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Your support helps keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

You can donate with just a few clicks by using PayPal. Or by using the Zelle app that is probably already in the banking app on your smartphone; send your contribution to ted @ bikinginla dot com (remove the spaces and format as a standard email address).

As always, any donation, in any amount, is truly and deeply appreciated.

And thanks to J Patrick L, Michael Y, Jeffrey F, Mark J, Joel S, Ellen S and Evan B for their generous donations to help support this site. And a belated thanks to Robs M for being the first to donate using Zelle, which apparently doesn’t let me know when someone uses it.

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Local

Spin is the latest dockless bikeshare company to invade LA, setting up office with a pilot program in Koreatown; Streetsblog asks if privately owned dockless bikeshare will prove to be a blessing or curse.

The LA Daily News looks at Metro’s plans to address the eight-mile gap in the LA River bike path through Downtown LA — although construction won’t start for at least another five years. Good thing they weren’t planning to use it for the road cycling course in the 2028 Olympics.

UCLA’s student newspaper say’s Elon Musk’s tunnels won’t solve LA’s traffic problems, and represents the same old thinking that got Angelenos stuck in this mess. Although the point of the tunnels isn’t to solve traffic problems, but just to let wealthy drivers avoid them.

A Monrovia letter writer can’t seem to grasp the concept that sharrows mean that’s where bikes are supposed to be, bike riders don’t have to get the way out of impatient drivers, and drivers are supposed to change lanes to pass people on bicycles.

 

State

Southern California officials say cuts in the proposed GOP tax bill could result in an increase in traffic, including the loss of a $20 benefit for people who bike to work.

The OC Sheriff’s Department is looking for the owners of the 1,000 presumably stolen bicycles that were recovered near a homeless camp along the Santa Ana River; if you think your bike might be one of them, send a description of the bike and the serial and police report numbers to lostbike@ocsd.org.

A 19-year old Watsonville man will face a vehicular homicide charge in the September death of a bike rider after police concluded he was speeding. And even though the victim ran a red light.

A new short documentary profiles a bike-riding, tai chi-practicing, tennis-playing San Franciscan octogenarian artist.

Once again, opponents attempt to use California’s CEQA anti-pollution laws to stop construction of bike and pedestrian paths in San Francisco, which is exactly what the revised rules are supposed to prevent. Update: J. Patrick Lynch forwards word that the San Francisco Supervisors shot that attempt down. 

You’ll soon need a reservation to visit the popular Muir Woods National Monument near Sausalito, unless you’re riding a bicycle or entering on foot.

A Sacramento cyclist is using a new form of inhaled insulin to control his Type 1 diabetes.

 

National

A new bike trailer can carry as much as a minivan while doubling as a fork lift — although you might need an ebike to pull the full 400 pound load.

Phoenix parents hop in their car and chase down a thief who stole their son’s bike.

A Colorado letter writer addresses the hatred expressed by some people towards the people on bikes who have the audacity to slow them down for a few seconds. Proving that it’s not just a SoCal phenomenon after all.

Caught on video: A pair of mountain bikers make the first-ever bike descent of a famed black diamond ski run at Jackson Hole WY.

Once again, authorities managed to keep a dangerous driver on the road until he killed someone. A Houston woman calls for changes in DUI laws after her bike-riding husband was killed by an alleged drunk driver who was already facing a previous drunk driving charge. Anyone arrested for DUI should automatically have their license suspended and the car they were driving impounded until the case is resolved.

A Texas TV station steps in after a bike rider gets the runaround when his bike was damaged by an uninsured Lyft driver.

Heartbreaking story from Minnesota, where a restaurant worker was the victim of two crashes in three weeks while riding his bike. And may not survive the second one, after the driver fled the scene.

Kindhearted Michigan police buy a new bike for a five-year old boy after he got caught in his and had to be cut out.

The Department of DIY strikes in Boston, where someone spray painted a bike lane on a bridge.

Once again, the tone deaf NYPD responds to the death of bike rider killed by a speeding driver by ticketing people riding bikes.

No surprise here, as the man accused of killing eight people in the New York bike path attack on Halloween has pled not guilty.

Hundreds of Philadelphians form a human-protected bike lane to protest the death of a bike rider killed by the driver of a trash truck while riding in a faded bike lane.

A road raging Pennsylvania man was sentenced to between one to 23 months in prison for attempting to run a bike rider off the road and threatening to kill him; he blamed the victim, as well as medications he was taking for paranoia and bipolar disorders.

A Florida bike rider became the latest victim of a police officer responding to an alarm without lights and sirens.

 

International

Local politicians say more has to be done to protect bicyclists and pedestrians in Victoria, British Columbia. And pretty much everywhere else.

Toronto is considering adopting a bike registration and theft reporting app that has resulted in a 30% drop in bike thefts in Vancouver over the last two years. Can we get that here? Pretty please?

London’s protected cycle superhighways move people five times more efficiently than regular traffic lanes. Meanwhile, the city will ban construction of new parking spaces in large segments of the city to reduce pollution. Which is probably better than LA’s approach of ripping out bike lanes.

A British magazine talks with adventurer Mark Beaumont about his record-setting ride around the world in less than 80 days.

Kashmir bicyclists pedal for democracy to call attention to the upcoming election process.

Caught on video too: After an Aussie driver nearly sideswiped a man riding in a bike lane, the driver accused him of riding outside the lane, which he clearly didn’t.

 

Competitive Cycling

Israel may be paying Chris Froome two million euros — the equivalent of $2.37 million — just to participate in next year’s Giro d’Italia, which is scheduled to start in the country.

A federal judge rules that Lance can use the “everybody else was doing it” defense in the $100 million lawsuit brought against him for allegedly defrauding his government sponsors through systematic doping.

Seven Columbian cyclists and one Bolivian rider failed drug tests at August’s Tour of Columbia, testing positive for a form of EPO. But let’s all pretend the doping era ended when Lance got busted, okay?

 

Finally…

You may able to drink your next Surly. You could be able to ride on, not in, your next Rapha.

And probably not the best idea to interrupt your 25-year ride around the world by getting drunk and assaulting cops just hours after entering a new country.

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Thank you all for the kind words about my wife. It looks like she may be doing a little better, and may be able to avoid additional surgery for now. 

Fingers crossed.

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

Morning Links: Upcoming Ballona Creek closure, LA fixed on Sports Center, and a descending nun

July 24, 2017 / / 2 comments

Culver City has announced that a section of the Ballona Creek Bike Path will be closing down for maintenance work next month.

Upcoming Ballona Creek Bike Path Closures

On August 7 to August 11, the Culver City Public Works Department will be performing maintenance on the Ballona Creek Bike Path between Duquesne and National. Work will include pavement repairs, graffiti abatement, and vegetation trimming.

During this work, the bike path will be closed upstream of Duquesne from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM each day. Consider using Lucerne or Jefferson as alternatives during the closure.

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ESPN’s Sports Center takes a look at the SoCal Fixed Series fixie racing competition.

Unfortunately, I can’t remember who sent me this link, but thank you, anyway.

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The only reason I’m linking to this story about an abandoned Scottish hotel is the amazingly cool photo of an ancient bike leaning next to a window.

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Of course, the only thing better than that would be a nun in full habit descending a hill on her bike.

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The war on bikes goes on.

A Canadian driver faces charges after being recorded beating the crap out of a 74-year old man with a club, as the victim’s bike lay in the roadway in front of his truck.

The attack only stopped when a woman intervened, telling the driver she was recording it.

The driver’s only response was “I tried to walk away.”

Which was meaningless since he had to get out of his truck to confront the other man. Then walk back to his truck to get the club before returning to attack him.

Not exactly walking away. Or driving, for that matter.

Let’s hope he gets the time he deserves.

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If you don’t know who won this year’s Tour de France, you haven’t been paying attention. Although the real winner may have been French rider Cyril Gautier, who proposed to his girlfriend during the final stage.

Taylor Phinney survived his long-delayed debut Tour. Alberto Contador points next month’s Vuelta after a disappointing Tour.

Cycling Tips provides a photographic wrap-up of the just finished race.

Irish sportswriter and former cyclist Paul Kimmage, who helped bring down Lance Armstrong, says cycling’s omerta still rules the peloton, 50 years after Tom Simpson died near the summit of Mont Ventoux during the ’67 Tour de France.

The Guardian looks at how Irishman Stephen Roche ruled cycling for one year in 1987.

A sports website examines why Americans have disappeared from the podium at the Tour; Bicycling says there’s a new crop of Yanks waiting to step up.

The head of cycling’s governing organization pinkie swears the organization is working towards equal payouts for women and men.

The UK’s version of GQ asks if British cycling is sexist. Seriously, if you have to ask the question, you already know the answer. And not just British cycling.

Great article from Quartz on Eritrea’s love of cycling, and the rising success of the country’s young cyclists.

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Local

LA’s neighborhood councils were born during a bike ride.

Streetsblog says, despite Metro’s comments, Vision Zero traffic calming is not the cause of their declining bus speeds.

The LA Weekly ranks bike lanes #4 on the list of things that drive NIMBYs crazy in the City of Angels.

The Pomona Fairplex is trying out on employee bikeshare workers can use to ride to distant areas on the site. Although that description sounds more like the bikes are employee vehicles than an actual bikeshare.

A quadriplegic man completed a 1,200-mile ride from Oregon to the Santa Monica pier with his family to raise money for people who need wheelchairs.

 

State

A new California/Dutch study says don’t waste time trying to talk people into bicycling; make it safe and convenient, and they’ll figure it out for themselves.

Maybe the DMV should read their own statutes before tweeting. Their advice to ride as near to the right edge of the roadway as possible directly contradicts CVC 21202, while riding on the sidewalk is legal in many cities, if not advisable. Thanks to Brent for the heads-up.

A 33-year old woman was injured in a hit-and-run while riding her bike in Camarillo.

The host of the Bay Area’s People Behaving Badly segment says bike lanes are not for parking, even for a little while.

Pleasanton police are looking for a thief who took an $8,400 bicycle out for a test ride from a local shop and never came back.

A local paper approves of the new LimeBike dockless bikeshare at Lake Tahoe. Let’s hope they have a better experience than some other places.

Sad news from Chico, where a bike rider was killed in a collision Friday evening.

 

National

Merriam-Webster lists ten words every true cyclist should know.

Bike Snob discusses his love of genuine, brick and mortar bike shops.

Your next ebike could look like the skeletal version of a 1920’s racing motorcycle.

A Seattle website questions whether the city’s DOT is trying to kill bikeshare again by limiting the two new dockless bikeshare suppliers to just 500 bicycles in the entire city.

Park City UT has launched the nation’s first e-bikeshare system. Unfortunately, the bikes don’t look like 1920’s racing motorcycles, though.

No bias here. After a pair of bike riders were hit by cars, Fargo ND authorities offer several safety tips for bicyclists, including to wear a helmet. But their only advice to drivers is to give bicyclists a three feet passing distance.

No victim blaming here. A San Antonio driver won’t face charges for a head-on collision with a teenage bike rider because victim wasn’t wearing a helmet.

The Department of DIY comes to Dallas, where a protected bike lane made from two-by-fours and PVC pipes lasted three days before the authorities took it down.

Minneapolis authorities have found the bike rider who apparently witnessed, and may have filmed, the police shooting of an unarmed Australian woman.

A Detroit bike rider was the innocent victim of a car-to-car shootout.

Former All-Star catcher and Cleveland 1st base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. is one of us, riding in a charity ride before heading to the ballpark on Sunday.

 

International

Road.cc offers a one-word analysis of whether homeopathic remedies will make you a fitter, faster, healthier cyclist.

Canadian pickup drivers come to the rescue of a touring cyclist about to be a bear’s lunch.

A Canadian woman says she’s ashamed to be a “cycling enthusiast” after watching a bike rider run a stop sign. She must really be ashamed to be a driver, then.

Riding salmon in a bike lane is illegal in Canada, too. But some people do it anyway.

Not surprisingly, the Calgary man who claimed he’d been clotheslined by barbed wire while mountain biking has been arrested on fraud charges.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A British man is celebrating his 70th birthday by riding 70 kilometers a day for 70 days — the equivalent of 43 miles a day, or 3,045 miles total.

Heartbreaking news from the UK, where a 91-year old cyclist was killed in a collision while trying to set a new age-group speed record; he was just two miles from the finish when he was hit by a van.

The Irish Times visits Groningen in the Netherlands, where bikeways are heated and no cars are allowed in the city center.

A former child bride in Malawi credits a bicycle she received from charity group with helping her graduate from high school after leaving her husband.

Australian cycling great Phil Anderson was hospitalized following a solo crash while riding, saying it could have been caused by a pothole. Or a wallaby.

 

Finally…

Why just be a fan of Pee Wee Herman, when you can build his bike from scratch? Evidently, cycling really is the new golf — literally.

And I’m a little weak on my theology, but I’m pretty sure when a bike gets stolen while the owner is at mass, it’s soul goes straight to heaven.

Or does the thief’s go the other way?

 

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

Morning Links: Bonin addresses traffic in Playa del Rey, bike boulevard coming to East LA, and upcoming bike events

July 7, 2017 / / 8 comments

Playa del Rey’s angry drivers are claiming victory today for bending Councilmember Mike Bonin to their will.

Even though Bonin did exactly what he said he would all along.

Bonin announced Thursday that he’s instructing LADOT to add a second eastbound lane on Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey to alleviate the morning traffic backups, while keeping the new bike lanes in place.

I committed to you that I would listen to what you had to say, seek out the data to inform us about what we could do to improve the situation, and continue to ask for your input on what needed to be done. I heard from thousands of neighbors who called, emailed or completed the online survey we created to gather input, and your feedback has been informative and enormously helpful.

Based on your input and the feedback of other neighbors in Playa del Rey, and on the recommendation of our traffic engineers who have vetted and analyzed the traffic data, LADOT is making an immediate change to the project that will address two of the biggest problems you have reported to us: gridlock on eastbound Culver Boulevard during the morning commute; and the abrupt and difficult transition from Nicholson Street onto Culver, which is causing additional congestion on Pershing Drive.

In order to address those issues, LADOT will restore a second eastbound lane on Culver Boulevard between Nicholson Street and Jefferson Boulevard, while keeping the new bike/walk lanes that run along the road. The additional lane will ease the morning commute, which is far more concentrated than the evening commute, and will make it easier and smoother to merge from Nicholson onto Culver. LADOT crews will restripe the lanes, and add bollards to both sides of the street to separate the driving lanes from the bike/walk lanes.

Bonin has said all along that the projects would be evaluated at regular periods, and adjustments would be made as needed to improve safety and keep traffic flowing. Something that seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

Which is why advocates have been urging outraged drivers to take a deep breath, and give things time to settle in, rather than demanding that the desperately needed safety improvements be ripped out at the first sign of problems.

Then there’s this from LA Curbed’s Allissa Walker, which sums up the situation in Playa del Rey better than any other explanation I’ve seen. Or written, for that matter.

A group now known as Open Streets PDR is being promoted by several prominent members of the tech community who want to eliminate the changes, many of whom are passing through Playa del Rey from their homes in Manhattan Beach to jobs in Playa Vista, Venice, and Santa Monica. The supporters are proposing plenty of tech-based solutions—streaming cameras, social media campaigns, data studies—but not to make streets safer, to help them move more quickly through them.

A high-profile crowdfunding effort for Open Streets PDR that has been shared by many tech leaders on social media has now raised over $18,000 to “fight LA gridlock.”

But until the people sitting alone in their cars tapping away at their apps realize that they are the gridlock, nothing will change.

Because the only way these tech leaders could truly solve LA’s traffic problems—including reducing LA’s traffic deaths, and tackling climate change—is by helping as many people as possible take public transit. Or feel safer riding bikes. Or, on a larger scale, live closer to work.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Damien Newton offers a follow-up on last night’s Venice Neighborhood Council meeting. He calls for civil discourse in the debate over the Venice Blvd Great Streets project, noting that he has never seen so much anger in his time on the Mar Vista Community Council. Yeah, good luck with that. Hell hath no fury like a driver scorned.

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Lost in all the back-and-forth over the Mar Vista and Playa del Rey safety this week has been news that long-ignored East LA is getting a bike boulevard.

Aurelio Jose Barrera forwards news that LA County is installing the bikeway on Hubbard Street, along with a bike route on 6th Street as part of the county’s Safe Routes to Schools program.

Which begs the question, if the county can do it, why can’t Los Angeles seem to be able to build any of the euphemistically named Bicycle Friendly Streets contained in the city’s mobility plan?

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Santa Monica will host a Kidical Mass Ride tomorrow, followed by a ride with the city’s mayor the following weekend.

A public meeting will be held on Monday to discuss plans to Re-Imagine Ventura Blvd in Woodland Hills.

You can voice your support for the Venice Blvd Great Streets project, including parking-protected bike lanes through Mar Vista, at the Mar Vista Community Council meeting on Tuesday.

The South Bay Bicycle Coalition is hosting the Guided Sunset Strand History Tour in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach on Wednesday, July 12th.

Helen’s Cycles has a number of rides on tap for the next two weeks, including a women’s only mountain bike ride on the 15th.

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The big excitement in Thursday’s stage 6 of the Tour de France came from a wayward umbrella.

No surprise here. Peter Sagan’s appeal of his DQ from the Tour has been officially denied by the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Ella Cycling Tips reports on stage 7 of the Giro Rosa, with four stages left to go. However, 21-year old Italian cyclist Claudia Cretti was seriously injured after hitting her head on a guard rail at around 56 mph (scroll up).

More reviews of HBO’s cycling and doping sendup Tour de Pharmacy from Outside Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter and VeloNews.

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Local

Metro celebrates the first anniversary of the Metro Bike bikeshare as it prepares to launch in Pasadena; the system has logged 182,482 trips covering 452,840 miles.

Temporary plans are unveiled for the former Taylor Yards Union-Pacific Railroad site, which will eventually be the crown jewel in LA’s plans to restore the LA River, including plans for elevated walkways, trails and bike paths.

 

State

San Diego police are looking for a BMX bike-riding serial butt slapper after a college student was assaulted Thursday, the second such attack in the last two days.

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a 64-year old man has died after falling off his bike in front of a garbage truck.

A Fresno hit-and-run driver was sentenced to three years probation and 400 hours of community service for critically injuring a local doctor as he rode his bike, after the victim urged leniency and restorative justice.

A homeless Fresno man has been sentenced to 11 years behind bars for killing a bike-riding man with a single punch following an argument.

A Morgan Hill Honda dealer joined with a local advocacy group to give 35 bicycles and helmets to needy children.

A Napa County grand jury says the county’s current plans, including new bike lanes, are inadequate to alleviate traffic congestion.

The 16-year old son of a Napa cop is leaving today on a 1,000-mile long bike ride along the left coast to raise funds for the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation.

 

National

Alaska’s biggest bike race could be losing popularity.

A South Korean man’s dream of bicycling from Canada to Argentina was cut short when someone stole his bike and touring gear in Portland, just 35 days into his journey. However, the local community is raising funds and donating equipment to get him back on his way.

Oregon has become the first state to impose a tax on new bicycle sales; children’s bikes are exempt from the $15 fee, as are bikes costing less than $200. The token fee isn’t high enough to discourage anyone from buying a bike, but it won’t raise a significant amount for bike and pedestrian projects, either.

Who says Trump supporters don’t ride bikes? A Connecticut man was caught on security cam vandalizing a local playground with anti-Trump threats in an attempt to embarrass liberals; he agreed it was really stupid once he saw his face on the news. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

New York bike advocates call on the city to pick up the pace of installing protected bike lanes after four people were killed riding their bikes in recent weeks.

A New York professor is recruiting bicyclists to measure smog in an attempt to determine the point at which the effects of bad air outweigh the benefits of bike riding; unsurprisingly, people riding in parking-protected bike lanes breathe in a lot less pollution than people in door zone bike lanes.

A kindhearted Florida cop bought two new tires for a man after seeing him ride his bike with just one functioning tire.

 

International

More news from the frontlines of the war on bikes, as someone booby trapped a British mountain bike trail with coiled barbed wire; fortunately, the rusted wire wrapped around a rider’s wheel instead of his legs.

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a stripped-down performance Brompton designed by former Scottish pro cyclist David Millar, here’s your chance.

Speaking of former Scottish cyclists named Millar, ’80s cycling star Robert Millar is now Phillipa York, after the retired cyclist came out as a woman. Correction: I originally confused Robert and David Millar, who are clearly not the same person, as dodojojo pointed out. My apologies for the error.

Tune up your bike. France has announced plans to ban all gas-powered vehicles by 2040.

A German court sends a case back for resentencing after two street-racing drivers received suspended sentences for killing a young woman riding in a bike lane. Too bad we can’t appeal similar sentences here in the US.

A German aristocrat with a family pedigree dating back to the middle ages faces a charge of riding an unregistered motorized bicycle at over three times the legal alcohol limit.

Auckland, New Zealand’s Te Ara I Whiti Lightpath bikeway has been honored at the 47th Annual Los Angeles Architectural Awards hosted by the Los Angeles Business Council. Which goes to show what can be done when you care enough to do it right.

 

Finally…

Who needs an elevator when you can pedal your way up a building? Your next riding glasses could have a quad core processor and 32 gigs of storage.

And who needs a mountain bike course when you’ve got an indoor shopping mall?

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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