Day 184 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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I’m dealing with a sick migraine as I finish this, so please excuse any mistakes this time since I’m not up to proofing it.
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Look, I don’t have to tell you that tomorrow is the 4th of July. Or that there’s no better way to get to or from the fireworks than riding your bike.
Unless you live in my neighborhood, where it already sounds like a war zone from all the illegal fireworks.
Just remember that drivers are more likely to be focused on their kids or finding a parking spot than they are to be looking for you on a bicycle.
And three-day weekends tend to bring out the worst in drivers, including making a beer or hot dog run after drinking all day. Or imbibing some other substance, legal or otherwise.
So whenever wherever you ride, do it defensively. Assume every driver you encounter is under the influence or otherwise distracted, and prepare in advance.
Because chances are, you won’t be far off.
Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels.
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Better late than never.
According to San Diego’s Fox 5, a pair of hit-and-run drivers were arrested after belatedly turning themselves in for killing a Claremont ebike rider all the way back on March 29th.
Twenty-seven-year old Kamille Agustin and 23-year old Anthony Phan turned themselves in to traffic investigators at the San Diego Police Department on Wednesday, accused of fleeing after they both struck the 31-year old victim in separate vehicles.
The victim still has not been publicly identified.
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Forty-one-year old Perris resident Kenneth Orlando Juarez Vega was already out on $75,000 bail yesterday, released Monday following his arrest the same day for fleeing the scene after seriously injuring a bike rider while driving under the influence.
Although maybe I was too hasty in criticizing the LAPD for the bizarrely cryptic story about a fatal South LA hit-and-run story posted by My News LA yesterday.
They may have replaced their human writers with AI, after their version of this said “Driver Accused of Pedro’s DUI Hit-and-Run Out on Bail,” rather than Perris.
Oops.
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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A new survey shows half of London bike riders admit to running red lights — although they are ten times more likely than drivers to get fined for it. Funny how The Times seems to drop its paywall for stories bashing bicyclists, though.
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Local
Streetsblog explores the new bike lanes on Avenues 64 and 63 in Highland Park.
State
The annual Huntington Beach Fourth of July Bicycle Cruise returns for a sixth year on Saturday.
Hats off to eight-year old third grader Will Benzer, who became the youngest rider to ever complete Folsom’s 40-mile Motherlode Epic mountain bike race.
National
She’s got a point. A Denver writer questions whether ebikes must be allowed everywhere more traditional bicycles are, arguing that anything that can do 20 mph uphill without pedal is an electric motorcycle, not a bicycle.
It was a bad day in Houston, where three bike riders were killed in just 24 hours.
A New Hampshire public radio station offers tips on how bike riders can stay say on the road. Which mostly make sense as far as they go, although it’s hard to make eye contact with a speeding distracted driver.
A former DOT official under the previous administration warns New York Mayor Adams’s “counterproductive” ebike speed limit will reduce bicycling rates and safety.
Unlike most American cities — including Los Angeles — New York is making progress under Vision Zero, with traffic deaths for the first six months of this year at their lowest level in recorded history. Then again, it’s hard to make progress when you don’t fund the program, and fight it at every turn.
International
EV Magazine lists the world’s top ten electric bikemakers, from Britain’s Brompton to Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings.
That’s more like it. A 37-year old British man was sentenced to 13 years behind bars for the hit-and-run death that killed a 48-year old man riding a bicycle while driving nearly 100 mph, then setting his car on fire to destroy the evidence.
Competitive Cycling
Cycling Weekly explains everything you need to know about the third and final season of Netflix’ Tour de France: Unchained.
Finally…
That feeling when the family 116-year old bike shop is just this side of a museum — unless it becomes a dance studio. Your next racing bike could be an abstract expressionist canvas.
And that feeling when a young man’s effort to bike from Nigeria to the US breaks the internet.
Okay, not really.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
