Anyone want to guess how much I want to write about bikes right now, after writing about at least the seventh person killed riding one in Southern California in the past two weeks?
Anyone?
I didn’t think so.
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In a bizarre story from Mississippi, a man awaiting trial on murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run charges for intentionally running down two bike riders dropped dead in his jail cell.
Fifty-seven-year old Shannon Thomas reportedly died of a heart attack last month, after he allegedly chased down and killed a 21-year old woman and attempted to kill the 36-year old man she was riding with in March.
To make things even stranger, Thomas was dating the mother of the woman he killed, and ran the couple down after an argument with the other man.
Which you’d have to think would adversely affect his relationship with the victim’s mom.
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Yawn.
It’s Prime Day again, the two-day national holiday devoted to buying things you don’t need, just because the marked up price has been marked down to make it seem like an irresistible bargain.
Which isn’t to say you can’t actually get some good deals, but caveat emptor.
Ebike maker Gazelle is recalling roughly 1,032 of its Urban Arrow cargo bikes because the front bolt in the seat post clamp can break and make the seat come loose. Which is an oddly specific number to follow the word “roughly.”
He gets it. A Milwaukee County supervisor has put a stop to a planned 15 mph speed limit for bike trails, arguing it doesn’t make sense to impact legal trail users when the real problem is “unauthorized high-speed e-motos that should not be operating on these trails in the first place.” Maybe he could have a talk with some of our SoCal city leaders. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.
In the most heartwarming story you’ll read today, a 96-year old great-grandfather was reunited with the bicycle he rode for decades, after his 67-year old daughter had it restored and delivered to the Cambridge, England care home where he now lives by members of his cycling club; he met his wife of 73-years when they both were riding back in 1947.
London office developers are strongly backing proposals to weaken the city’s bicycle parking requirements, after a new analysis showed that the vast majority of indoor bike spaces sit empty every day. Which I can understand, because I always insisted on taking mine into my office, rather than risking getting it stolen from an unsecured parking garage.
Damn. A 48-year old European commercial bond trader at JPMorgan’s London office declared “I’m not a cyclist” before taking part in a 500-mile fundraising ride, then proceeded to drop dead on the first day.
Eight years and 1 million crossings after Dutch engineers replaced the asphalt surface of a bike path with hollow panels made from recycled plastic, the trail has resulted in 50–70% lower carbon emissions, while rain storage reached 48% of capacity.
The fun thing about health problems is the learning never stops.
For instance, I learned Wednesday that I can cope with low blood sugar, and I can cope with low blood pressure. What I can’t cope with is low blood sugar and low blood pressure.
My night was like an endless version of an Elvis Costello song.
And can someone please tell me if Lake America is anywhere near the Gulf of America? I get so confused.
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They got him.
Finally.
Police made an arrest for the intentional hit-and-run crash that killed 16-year old Jonathan “Junior” Flores, after chasing him into the parking lot at BMO Stadium two years ago.
Flores was taking part in an afternoon ride with around 40 other teens when an altercation took place between the driver of a BMW and some of the kids as they rode on Figueroa Street.
When the kids tried to escape through a gap in the fencing around the parking lot, the driver of a second car, who police allege was Rodriguez, broke through the gate and chased the teens into the parking lot, slamming into Flores before backing out and fleeing the scene.
To make matters worse, Flores was an innocent victim who had nothing to do with the original altercation, in which someone allegedly broke one of the cars’ mirrors.
Flores had been wanted on $2 million bond after police tracked both cars to his home.
He was taken into custody at LAX when police negotiated his surrender after tracking him to El Salvador.
Let’s hope the negotiations that led to his surrender didn’t include reducing the charges or possible sentencing, even though that seems likely.
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It only took five years, but we’ve finally seen justice for 16-year old Pedro Valdez.
That comes four months after a jury convicted Rocha of four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and two counts of battery, along with the special allegation of causing great bodily injury in the commission of a felony.
Rocha ran down the kids, who were just out enjoying a bike ride, eleven minutes after he had battered a man and a woman at a laundromat, and intentionally stuck an employee with his car as he was leaving the parking lot.
Rocha remains in custody without bail, and faces 27 to life when he is sentenced on October 27th.
I just hope he gets enough time that he’s not back out on the streets in a few years, thanks to the revolving door on ur state prison system.
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Another mass casualty crash, this time in Australia, as a “vehicle” — evidently the 40-year old driver was not in control of it — plowed into five members of a Canberra bike club, resulting a scene a senior cop described as “beyond comprehension”.
Three riders were injured; one, a 32-year old woman, died at the scene, while a 39-year old man remains in critical and unstable condition. The other victim, a 34-year old man, was treated and released.
The victims were in the left lane of a four lane divided highway — the equivalent of our right lane — when they were struck by a driver traveling in the same direction, for some unknown reason.
Yet the driver still has not been charged or cited, for reasons known only to the local police.
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I’m including the information from this email I got yesterday.
We’re launching Bike Streets in LA County! Log every ride with Bike Streets and help us build the Low-Stress Bike Map. Ride and help us reach our first weekly goal of 20 riders. bikestreets.com/join
Here’s the web link to the map: bikestreets.com/ca/los-angeles As we add Low-Stress routes, a network of dark blue lines will start to take shape. (See Denver’s as an example.)
Nope, nothing to see here. Half of drivers in the UK say they honk at bike riders at least once a week, and half of bike riders have experienced drivers shouting or swearing at them in the last year. Which is either an indictment of the country’s crappy bicyclists, or its impatient drivers. Or both.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro weighs in on LA’s mayoral race, saying Councilmember and mayoral challenger Nithya Raman was ridiculed for celebrating a new crosswalk in her district, even as the pavement beneath it remained cracked. So Shapiro evidently thinks the councilmember somehow controls the Bureau of Street Services, which is under the mayor’s purview. And that she was the one responsible for bankrupting the city, which halted street repair work.
That about sums it up. The Los Angeles Times says Orange County DA Todd Spitzer’s buyback program for illegal e-motos and hacked ebikes means the country is treating ebikes like guns. I don’t know if that means they are taking ebikes too seriously, or not taking guns seriously enough.
A 38-year old man in was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree homicide, along with a host of other charges, for the hit-and-run death of Savannah, Georgia’s “Flag Man,” who was known for riding around the city with a giant American flag attached to his bicycle; the charges suggest police believe the driver acted intentionally when he veered off the roadway to strike the victim on the center median.
British TV hosts were left flabbergasted when a man known as Britain’s “most hated cyclist” for his helmet cam videos of lawbreaking drivers, said the new 20 mph speed limits in Birmingham don’t apply to bicyclists, arguing that speed limits are for motorized vehicles. He may be right, depending on exactly how the law is written. Or not.
Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar continue to dominate the Vuelta, padding his lead on a day when he barely survived a near-crash on a descent. Unless disaster strikes, the race is now a question of who else will be on the podium with him, rather than who will win.
May 8, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Arrest in knife attack on WeHo bike rider, cemeteries still fighting Forest Lawn Drive project, and maybe there’s hope for LA yet
Damn.
West Hollywood Sheriff’s detectives finally made an arrest in an attack on a bicyclist last August.
According to the Canyon News, a man was riding a bicycle near Westmount Drive and Rosewood Ave when someone threw a knife at him from a passing car, hitting him in the neck.
There’s no word on whether the rider was injured by the knife or how the suspect was located, nor is there any mention of possible charges.
But the suspect should be charged with attempted murder, because the knife assault could have been fatal if the attacker had better aim.
Evidently, a group opposed to red light cameras has a lot more sway with local leaders than we do.
And oddly, they seem to be on our side.
According to the Jewish Journal, Mt. Sinai and Forest Lawn cemeteries are once again complaining about plans to improve safety on Forest Lawn Drive.
After talking with Mayor Karen Bass and CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman, they thought the project had been put on hold, only to see it revived in response to pressure from Safer Streets LA.
Which, according to their website, exists to “Stop red light camera rip-offs,” and “Stop the plan to impose speed cameras on California.”
Nowhere on their site can I find any support for bike lanes or lane reductions on Forest Lawn. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
Yet, written in black and white on the walls of cyberspace.
Two years ago, in 2024, (Mount Sinai General Manager Randy) Schwab met with Councilmember Nithya Raman to explain the potential impact on the two cemeteries and the traffic congestion the plan could create. “At the time she promised not to do it, but then I think Safer Streets LA got in touch with her and convinced her that it should be brought back.”
So we apparently owe them our thanks for their hard work and dedication to improve safety for us all, even as they try to make the streets more dangerous.
In fact, the plan has long been in the works due to the inherent dangers of the street, as anyone who has tried to use the painted lanes could testify.
The Journal contacted Councilmember Raman’s office and received the following response: “Forest Lawn Drive provides Angelenos access to key destinations, like Griffith Park and the LA Zoo, and is used by people driving, biking and running. About half of all drivers on Forest Lawn are speeding above the 45 mph legal limit, and at those speeds, a pedestrian or bicyclist struck by a car has a 50% chance of being killed. That is not acceptable, and we have been working to change it.”
Her office said the Forest Lawn Drive Safety & Mobility Project is intended to address these safety concerns by reducing vehicle speeds, adding physical protection for cyclists, and improving conditions for all users of the corridor. It also said the plan includes improved turns for both cemeteries and the Junior Achievement Center. A Raman spokesperson said issues raised by cemetery representatives were taken into account during the design process, and LADOT’s proposal includes expanded turn lanes.
Let that first paragraph sink in.
On a roadway commonly used by bike riders, as well as mourners on their way to visit or say farewell to loved ones, more than half of all drivers exceed the already too high 45 mph speed limit, turning the curving street in their own personal speedway.
Yet the cemeteries continue to fight changes that would benefit their own visitors, in what can only be seen as an apparent attempt to drive up business.
“I think it’s taken a long time, but I think the politics have really caught up with the people,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, the transportation commissioner under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Not so long ago, a lot of these ideas seemed like they were crazy, and today, a mayor who rides a bike for fun and for transportation is just another part of New York.”
THREE GHOST TIRES TO BE PLACED BY THE COMMUNITY
HONORING VICTIMS OF 99 RANCH MARKET MASS TRAFFIC FATALITY EVENT,
CALLS FOR STATE OF EMERGENCY
LOS ANGELES, CA – On Saturday, May 9th, Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), People’s Vision Zero, family members of those lost, and community members will be holding a press conference and placing three Ghost Tires to honor the three lives lost and six people seriously injured in the mass traffic fatality event outside 99 Ranch Market on February 5th, 2026. They will also be addressing a second mass traffic fatality near Vista Del Mar on May 3rd, 2026, which killed two more people, including a one-year-old child, and left two others seriously injured. Speakers will call on the LA Mayor and City Council to declare a state of emergency due to traffic violence in Los Angeles.
Ghost tires will be decorated and placed at the site as a memorial to those killed. Victim family members and their legal representatives will address the press, followed by advocates and community leaders.
WHAT: Ghost Tire Memorial and Press Conference honoring victims of the 99 Ranch Market mass traffic fatality and calling for emergency action on traffic violence in Los Angeles.
WHEN: Saturday, May 9, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 11:20 AM
WHERE: 1360 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024
WHO:
Family members of those lost
Damian Kevitt, Founder and Executive Director of SAFE
Jonny Hale, People’s Vision Zero
Phoebe Kiekhofer, SAFE Families
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As long as we’re doing press releases, the Orange County Transportation Authority, aka OCTA, is holding a Bike Month Ride Along next week. And yes, I could write about it instead of just reposting the press release, but I’m getting lazy and fond of sleep in my old age.
OCTA Rolls out Bike Month 2026, Ride Along May 13
Annual Bike Rally features a 4-mile ride and prize opportunities, and pledge to bike during May for a chance to win an e-bike while staying active
ORANGE – OCTA is celebrating Bike Month this May by encouraging people across Orange County to get out and ride, whether for commuting, recreation or short everyday trips. The monthlong campaign highlights the benefits of biking as a convenient, healthy and sustainable way to travel.
As part of the celebration, OCTA will host its annual Bike Rally at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 13, featuring a 4-mile group ride from the Orange Metrolink Station to OCTA headquarters in Orange.
The rally serves as a signature Bike Month event, bringing riders together for a shared experience on city streets while showcasing how easy and accessible biking can be throughout the county. Participants will be entered for a chance to win an Aventon Pace 4 Step-Through e-bike, valued at $1,799, along with other prizes. Riders will also receive free Bike Month T-shirts and light snacks while supplies last.
Those who pledge to ride a bike during May will be entered for a chance to win an Aventon Soltera 2.5 e-bike, valued at $1,199, courtesy of Bike Month sponsors Aventon E-bikes and Spectrumotion.
Beyond Bike Month, OCTA continues to invest in active transportation infrastructure and programs that make it safer and more convenient for people to walk and bike throughout Orange County. Working in partnership with local cities and the county, OCTA helps fund and deliver projects such as protected bike lanes, regional trail connections and first- and last-mile improvements that link neighborhoods to transit.
These efforts are designed to reduce reliance on cars, improve air quality and support healthier, more active communities.
OCTA is also encouraging riders to make safety a priority. An e-bike safety video is available with tips for riding responsibly, and those who watch can be entered for a chance to win a $100 gift card.
Together, these efforts are designed to inspire more people to consider biking as an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way to get around.
For more information about Bike Month and to participate in the Bike Rally, visit www.octa.net/bikemonth.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers tips to keep bike riders safe on the roadways by offering advice for…bike riders. People in the big, dangerous machines, carry on.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Singapore woman was criticized as “irresponsible and brainless” for riding her bike through a busy intersection with her Shiba Inu dog running behind on a leash, despite the hot pavement. I’ve never been a fan of riding with your dog on a leash, which poses too many opportunities for something to go drastically wrong, even if it is an easy way to exercise your dog. Or may over exercise it, because a dog will run itself to death to please you.
A Seal Beach cop responds to a question about ebikes on the sidewalk, reminding readers that ebikes are banned from walkways under city ordinances, and that not everything called an ebike actually is one under California law. Although I’m not sure some of the state ebike requirements he mentions have actually passed the legislature yet, let alone been signed into law.
Another longtime bike shop is closing its doors, this time in St. Paul, Minnesota; Grand Performance owner and former USA Cycling National Team member Dan Casebeer has owned the shop since setting the US hour record in 1983.
Singer Amy Grant is one of us once again, riding a bicycle for the first time in four years after suffering a severe traumatic brain injury when she hit a pothole while riding her bike in Nashville in 2022. And yes, she was wearing a helmet when she fell.
A Boston bike lawyer and blogger says overall, the city is getting safer for bicyclists, even if dooring remains deadly. While dooring is one of the most common types of bicycling collisions, it’s rarely deadly, amounting to roughly one to 3 percent of bicycling deaths each year. Although one is still one too many.
Police in Bay Ridge, New York are looking for the man who pushed a 13-year old boy off his ebike, apparently for the crime of riding on the sidewalk; fortunately, the kid escaped with just minor lacerations. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with some people?
A father and son duo from the UK set three world records with their 400-day, 18,600-mile ride around the world — and avoided arrest in a forbidden China county when one of the cops recognized them from their social media posts, sending them on their way after posing for selfies.
Submitted without comment. Much of the planned Lotto-Intermarché risked missing the Giro, including Belgian sprinter Arnaud De Lie, after they fell ill from a cow dung infection — yes, cow dung — during the rain-soaked Famenne Ardenne Classic.
Dutch cyclist Jan-Willem van Schip says he feels unwelcome in road cycling, after he was booted from a race for the second time in eight months, and the fourth time in five years, for an unusual and, by UCI standards, illegal handlebar setup and seat position.
Thanks to someone who prefers not to be named for her very generous annual donation to help support this site, and keep our spokescorgi in kibble. Donations are always welcome and appreciated, for whatever reason might move you.
And yes, spellcheck, “spokescorgi” is a real word that I made up.
While we’re at it, let’s all thank Steve for making this site so much more attractive and work a lot better, especially if you’re viewing it on a phone.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
March 13, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Racism rears ugly head in bike community, road-raging man uses bike as weapon, and killer driver on trial for murder
The fourth-year student headed back to his dorm from the Black Student Union when he was approached by four teenaged boys and a girl on their ebikes.
After he asked to be left alone and tried to walk away, they started to chase him.
According to KNBC-4,
“They were close enough that they were spitting on me, trying to grab at me, trying to do all sorts of heinous things,” he said. “I’m being called ‘monkey,’ ‘blackie,’ completely out of my name. Obviously, this is stuff I never expected to hear.”
During the attack, the victim said he was also called the N-word and was struck on the back of his ankle by an assailant who accelerated their e-bike toward him.
“It was the worst pain I had felt in a very long time,” the victim said.
The campus police offered a description of just two of the five kids.
According to UC Irvine police, one of the assailants was described as a 16 to 17-year-old boy who was about 5-feet-8-inches tall and weighed about 160 to 170 pounds. He had a white T-shirt, black pants, a black helmet and was traveling on a black e-bike at the time of the attack.
A second attacker was described as a 14-year-old boy who was 5-feet-5-inches tall and about 190 pounds. He wore a black shirt, denim gray pants, white Air Force 1 Nike shoes, a black helmet, a blue backpack and was also traveling on a black e-bike, police said.
We can assume the kids are white, but that’s not guaranteed. Because for some bizarre reason, there’s no mention of the teens’ race in their descriptions, which just might help identify them.
There’s also no word on what kind of ebikes the kids were on. But we can probably guess.
Anyone with information is urged to call UC Irvine Police at 949/824-5223.
“I just want to go home,” her daughter says in the video while kids yell racial slurs and other expletives. After about two-and-a-half minutes of tension, she rolled her bike backwards, away from the group. A young boy pulled her bike back in and then 30 seconds later, someone slapped the girl in the face before she got off the bike and fought back.
“She stood her ground,” Amor said. “I told my daughter, you don’t start fights, but you better finish them. And I’m proud. I’m proud of how she conducted herself.”
Amor said she was removing her daughter from the school district, and will be homeschooling her now.
Rocha also faces four counts of attempted murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of battery for a series of assaults, including intentionally plowing his car into a group of seven fixie riders.
Allegedly.
Rocha was reportedly still angry following a series of altercations a few minutes earlier when he encountered the group that included Valdez.
Just 10 minutes before the crash, Rocha is seen on camera at Queen Wash in Oxnard, confronting and then hitting a man and his wife in the laundromat. When another man follows Rocha outside to take a photo of his license plate, Rocha is seen driving his car into the man and knocking him over.
To make matters worse, he seemed proud of it.
Later in the evening, in a video from the back of a police car, Rocha rants about how he didn’t have a house to sleep in, while rich kids pretended to be poor. He said he didn’t care if he went to prison.
“I’m happy I ran over those fools today, dawg,” Rocha said, prompting tears from Pedro’s parents in the audience.
In a recorded police interview, an officer asks him if he took his anger from the laundromat fight out on the bicyclists and intentionally hit them, and Rocha replies, “Yeah.” He said he accelerated toward the bikes and didn’t stop after the impact.
The trial was delayed after Rocha was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial, which seems to be his defense.
Because according to his lawyer, Rocha didn’t mean to slam his Lexus into the kids riding bikes; he just didn’t see them because he was so deeply psychotic and intoxicated.
The paper reports he’s being held without bail while the trial continues, which is expected to take four weeks.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Apparently lacking anything new to stir up outrage against bicyclists, British tabloids dig up an old survey that they twist to suggest half of bike riders “think they’re ‘too cool’ to wear a helmet.” Even though 31% actually said it’s not practical or needed because they’re only riding a short distance, and 13% don’t want to mess up their hair — which still only adds up to 44%. And while I wasn’t a math major, that seems like less than half. But what do I know?
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
The family of fallen San Diego bicyclist Andres Gallardo want answers, after the 43-year old man was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding in the city’s Clairemont neighborhood March 1st; a crowdfunding campaign to defray funeral expenses and send his ashes to his parents has raised the equivalent of just $144. And no, it doesn’t look like I knew about this one yet; I’ll try to get to it later today.
San Diego is on the verge of becoming the largest California city to crack down on ebikes, including a ban on kids under 12. Although like virtually every other attempt to rein in ebike riders, they continue to conflate ped-assist ebikes with higher speed and more powerful electric motorbikes and dirt bikes.
Santa Clara has adopted a Vision Zero plan, after 51 people were killed in traffic collisions over a five-year period in the city of just 120,000.
The parents of a four-year old boy are suing the city of Burlingame, as well as 19-year-old driver, her parents, and the parents of an 11-year old boy riding an ebike, after the four-year old was killed as his family exited a restaurant, collateral damage following a collision between the 19-year old driver and the boy on the ebike.
Uh, probably not. After a teenaged Utah girl miraculously survived a traumatic brain injury, her mother said “it would have made the hugest difference” and “she would have had such less trauma” is she had only worn a bike helmet when she crashed her ebike into a retaining wall at 40 mph, then landed head-first after falling 25 feet off a cliff. Even though bike helmets are only designed to protect against impacts up to 12.5 mph. And don’t even get me started on her grammar.
A Netflix doc about the life and murder of gravel champ Moriah “Mo” Wilson premiered at the SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas on Thursday, the city where she was fatally shot by a jealous Kaitlin Armstrong, who thought she was involved with her erstwhile boyfriend, pro cyclist Colin Strickland, in 2022.
October 13, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on MA driver faces charges for using car as a weapon to kill bike rider, and we need an LA mayor who bikes the talk (sorry, Karen)
Day 286 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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It’s happened again.
Police in Lowell, Massachusetts filed charges against a local man for deliberately using his SUV as a weapon to kill another man riding an ebike.
He was allegedly captured on surveillance video swerving his SUV into the 42-year old victim’s bike at a high rate of speed, with no sign of braking. He then drove off, abandoning his vehicle about three minutes later.
Police say he knew the victim, who had texted a woman living with the suspect just minutes before the fatal crash; she also had a bloodied bag the victim was reportedly carrying at the time of the crash.
Adding another twist to the case, a witness reported seeing a gun lying on the ground after the crash, but the weapon was gone when the police arrived.
Just one more reminder that no one needs a gun when you’ve got a motor vehicle. And every driver is at the wheel of multi-ton potential weapon of mass destruction. Fortunately, most people never use their cars that way.
But in the wrong hands, or under the wrong circumstances, they can be.
The mayor of Salisbury, England was joined by his wife and several members of the city council for a ride through the city center, highlighting their efforts to promote sustainable and active travel in and around the city.
Our current mayor, Karen Bass, campaigned insisting that she was one of us, and enjoyed riding a bike, though she preferred sticking to paths and trails over fighting it out with drivers on the streets.
But if she still does, I don’t know anyone who has seen her on one since becoming mayor.
That was when he was knocked off his bicycle by a cab driver back in 2010, despite being surrounded by police and security personnel, while learning to ride a bike so he could ride with his girlfriend.
All of which peaked with former Mayor Eric Garcetti dragging his bigass desk out to Boyle Heights to sign his Vision Zero proclamation. Which, like most of his other visionary proclamations, was never followed up on, as risk-averse city officials watered it all down until the whole damn thing went down the drain.
So maybe if Mayor Bass would ride with us once or twice — or maybe even hold her own bike summit — she might fight a little harder for her self-proclaimed fellow bike riders, rather than just ignoring us.
If not actively fighting against us, as with her ongoing efforts to avoid implementing Measure HLA.
We could hope.
She might even have a shot at regaining our support before next year’s mayoral race, which threatens to turn into a runoff between Rick Caruso and Austin Beutner.
Okay, maybe just a small shot.
But still.
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Thanks to Norm for forwarding a pair of videos
The first punctures the myth of the “Arrogant Cyclist” — the idea that cyclists are selfish, reckless, and entitled — to reveal who’s really acting entitled on our roads.
And it ain’t us.
The second examines a new Dutch-style protected intersection in Montreal, which some local drivers have labelled an “anti-car labyrinth.”
Although, to be honest, I’d be totally down with that.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. Bodycam footage shows a Portland cop blaming the victim of a road rage attack — who happened to be a Licensed Cycling Instructor familiar with the law — for the crime of riding legally in the traffic lane, which apparently enraged a motorist to the point of, yes, using his car as a weapon. Then again, that cop would probably blame a shooting victim for standing in front of the bullet.
It was a rough weekend for bike riders in Northern California, with bicyclists suffering serious injuries when they were struck by drivers in Martinez, Fresno and Sacramento County.
Sacramento police have arrested three men on murder charges, three months after a man was reported missing when family members found his bicycle abandoned near a creek trail, not far from from blood stains and spent bullet casings, as officers termed his disappearance “suspicious in nature.” Gee, ya think?
Tadej Pogačar capped his dominance of the cycling world by winning Il Lombardia for the fifth time in a row, tying the legendary Fausto Coppi’s record wins for the year’s final Monument, while becoming the first man since Eddy Merckx a full 50 years ago to win three Monuments, the Tour de France and a world title in a single season.
October 8, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on A look at South LA’s hit-and-run epidemic, Andreas Probst killer plead guilty in Vegas, and Victorville supports injured teen
Day 281 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Call it a mental health day.
I couldn’t get my head straight after writing about Sunday’s fatal bicycling crash in Lemon Grove, and just didn’t have it in me to write anymore about bikes yesterday. Or anything else, for that matter.
All these years of writing about fallen bike riders is really weighing on my heart, and I honestly don’t know how long I can keep it up.
Although you could have fooled me on that last part.
And only an infinitesimal amount of LA’s hit-and-runs ever results in an arrest.
Here’s an idea of how rare that is. There were more than 7,000 known hit-and-run accidents in Los Angeles from 2022 to 2024. While only a small percent of the hit and runs resulted in death, the troubling, eye popping statistic was that an infinitesimal number of hit-and-run drivers were ever arrested. How infinitesimal? Exactly 1%.
It gets even worse. The number of hit and runs, according to Los Angeles Police Department figures, have dropped in the last year. But not in South Los Angeles, where a disproportionate number of the hit and runs occur. And as the figures show, the likelihood of an arrest is slim to almost none.
He also goes on to explain the most common reasons drivers flee.
A driver who strikes another vehicle or — worse a pedestrian — often panics. They fear arrest, jailing and potentially a conviction and imprisonment.
There are many circumstances that cause hit-and-run accidents. The most common are drug and alcohol impairment, speeding, driver distraction, cell phone use and sleep deprivation drowsiness.
Drivers that hit and run flee because they have been involved in a crime, lack a valid driver’s license and/or insurance, are intoxicated or on drugs. At the very least, a driver involved in a hit and run fears not just prosecution but loss of a driver’s license.
These days, you can add immigration status to that, as people fear they could be deported by ICE if they get arrested, let alone convicted, of a traffic crime.
Hutchinson goes on to add that even LA’s standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of killer hit-and-run drivers isn’t enough to get witnesses to come forward, who too often fear getting involved.
The solution, according to Hutchinson, is a proposal to create special multi-agency law enforcement hit-and-run task force, followed by tough prosecution of the drivers.
All I can say is about damn time.
And good luck with that.
Because California’s lenient hit-and-run laws actually provide an incentive to flee, since the penalty for hit-and-run is often lower than for DUI or other crimes. And LA prosecutors usually bargain away serious penalties to get a guilty plea, rather than go to trial.
But even if a driver is sentenced to jail time, California’s overcrowded penal system means it’s too often a revolving door that results in an unwarranted released after serving just a fraction of their term.
If you’ve been reading this site for awhile, you know what I propose to address, if not solve, the problem.
But one way or another, we have to do something.
Because failing to make an arrest, let alone get a conviction, not only means the driver won’t be held accountable.
It means the victims have to bear to full cost of recovering from their injuries.
And more California drivers will just continue to flee.
Today’s photo may be from Long Beach’s popular Beach Streets open streets event, but it’s a gentle reminder for drivers after a crash, too.
The crash was recorded by Probst’s killers, and shared with their fellow high school students. And quickly became one of the highest profile crashes in a nationwide rash of deliberate vehicular assaults on bike riders by teens in stolen cars, and recorded for social media.
According to Las Vegas News 3, the driver, Jesus Ayala, faces a sentence of 20 years to life after pleading guilty to felony counts of robbery, battery with the use of a deadly weapon, and second-degree murder.
The deadly weapon being a car, in this case.
Jzamir Keys, the passenger who filmed the attack and laughed afterward, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea on Tuesday of next week.
Probst’s wife and children have filed a lawsuit against Ayala and Keys, as well as Hyundai Motor Company, alleging that a defect in Hyundai Elantras enabled them to steal the car they used to murder him.
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The Victorville community is rallying to support a 13-year old boy who was severely injured by a DUI driver while riding his bike last week, according to the Victorville Daily Press.
A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $5,000 for the victim, identified as Manuel Sanchez.
According to his uncle, he’s hospitalized on a breathing tube, with injuries including a broken leg, broken arm, lacerated liver and kidney, internal bleeding in his stomach, as well as bruised lungs and injuries to his small intestine and spleen.
Thirty-six-year old Victorville resident Rosalie Marie Morales was released on $250,000 bond, after she was booked on suspicion of DUI involving both alcohol and drugs causing severe bodily injury.
Although LA drivers probably still wouldn’t know how to navigate one.
Twitter post
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Dr. Grace Peng rightfully complains that bicyclists are not allowed to use the “beautiful newly widened underpass where PCH crosses the old Pacific Electric Railway in Manhattan Beach.”
Police in the UK complain about “inaccurate” news reports that they won’t investigate bike thefts from train stations if the bikes have been parked for more than two hours, before confirming that it is, in fact, true.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A San Diego TV station says a new road diet and parking-protected bike lanes on the city’s Claremont Drive draws a mixed reaction from drivers and bicyclists — while apparently talking to exactly two people. And for the woman worried about evacuating in a fire, in the event of an emergency, feel free to use the center turn lane and wide bike lane buffer, which probably mean there’s actually more room for cars to escape, not less.
The organizers of Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride have set this Sunday as the date for their “emergency ride” in response to President Trump’s efforts to deploy the National Guard in the city. Which gives you plenty of time to get up there and join in, no suitcase necessary.
Cycling Weeklyasks if bike paths are doomed, as Donald Trump declares war on bicycles, and cities in the UK just don’t use available funding to build them.
A Canadian radio program discusses a world-traveling adventure cyclist, who returned home to ride from one end of Edmonton, Alberta to the other, and posted the video to YouTube. Although it’s kinda hard to see the video on the radio broadcast. Thanks again to Megan for the heads-up.
An op-ed writer says if anyone is truly outraged that the country spent €100,000 — the equivalent of $116,000 — to build secure bike parking at an Irish hospital, they should see what car parking costs, let alone the country’s “investment in congestion, pollution and the continuation of car-first planning.” Yes, credit Megan for that link, too.
A Senegalese bicyclist is using social media to bring calm to the roads and end the transportation culture wars, arguing that “We’re not the enemy, and drivers aren’t either.” Which is true, except only the drivers are operating multi-ton weapons of mass destruction.
Yet another young cyclist is throwing in the towel, as 23-year old Alexandre Vinokurov announced his retirement from the XDS-Astana cycling team, saying he’s “been riding in fear and pain” since a devastating crash in March when he was struck by a driver while training in Greece.
October 2, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Attempted murder of OC bike rider, murder counts for intentional NJ hit-and-run, and kiss LA River path gap closure goodbye
Day 275 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
He also faces a count of assault with a deadly weapon for using his car to attack the victim, as well as additional enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury, personal use of a deadly weapon and gang activity.
Prosecutors allege he contacted the 39-year old victim before the intentional vehicular assault, then crashed into a parked car as he fled the scene; police arrested him after finding his damaged car half-a-mile away.
Speaking of murder and using a motor vehicle as a weapon, the news broke today that the two 17-year old New Jersey girls killed in a hit-and-run while riding an ebike were the intentional victims of a stalker.
Neighbors alleged the boy had stalked one of the girls for several months, parking outside her house, as well as stalking her online and at school. A local TV station reported that school officials had known about the stalking for months.
Although it’s still unknown what led him to kill them.
Again, allegedly.
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Streetsblog’s Joe Linton says funding is partly in place to close the eight-mile gap in the LA River bike path through DTLA and Boyle Heights.
As SBLA noted earlier, the delays are mainly caused by the lack of a public agency that will be responsible for path operations and maintenance.
When Metro expands freeways, the state (Caltrans) maintains them. When Metro expands rail or bus facilities, Metro maintains them. When Metro expands bicycle and pedestrian transportation… it depends…
But Metro representatives state that Metro will not maintain the L.A. River path because Metro doesn’t own the right-of-way it will be built on.
The project was originally part of former Mayor Garcetti’s Twenty-Eight by ’28 program, one of the 28 green transportation projects originally intended to be finished in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
But as we noted yesterday, the project list has been repeatedly watered down, with one project after another replaced by something easier, cheaper and/or faster.
And this was one of the first to go.
Linton also notes that construction costs have risen in the half-dozen years while Metro has dithered waiting for someone, anyone, to step up to act as the maintenance agency.
Which means that the previous funding isn’t enough to cover the current estimates of roughly $1 billion.
If and when it ever gets built.
Here’s Linton again.
It is unclear how this project gets built any time soon. For years, Metro staff have been unsuccessful in arranging for someone else to pay for facility maintenance in perpetuity. It will likely take leadership from L.A. City and L.A. County elected officials (all facing their own budget issues) to get this project out of the limbo it has been trapped in for the last half-decade.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
Once again, business owners try to shoot themselves in the foot, after a judge paused construction of a new Pittsburgh bike lane when business owners and a local business association requested an injunction against it. Maybe the judge could politely point out that bike lanes are actually good for business, making the area around it more walkable and livable, while boosting retail sales.
Um, okay. A Philadelphia city council member held off authorizing a vote to build new bike lanes around city hall, releasing a statement saying he needs to see them in action first. Although maybe he can explain how exactly he proposes to see them in action without building the damn things.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Family members are still waiting for justice, a year after a London woman was severely injured by a 19-year old hit-and-run ebike rider, and seven months after she died in the hospital.
San Diego opened its first Climate Week on Wednesday, with more than 100 community-led events planned around the county — starting, naturally enough, with yesterday’s bike ride.
This is why people keep dying on our streets. An ex-con faces a murder charge for the 2022 hit-and-run that killed a man riding a bicycle in Fairfield, as well as hit-and-run and weapons charges, thanks to his three — yes, three — previous DUIs; however, the trial was rescheduled for November because the prosecutor asked for a delay. Just another example of lenient prosecutors, judges and policies keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.
My former Iditarod mushing and cross-country bicycling brother’s new home of Port Angeles, Washington is planning construction of a new downtown bike network, complete with buffered bike lanes and two-way protected bike lanes in the sub-20,000 population town.
Authorities believe a missing 53-year old woman may be traveling on a teal-colored ebike, after finding her car partially submerged in a canal. Although if she tried to drown the car, it suggests that she doesn’t want to be found. Or if she didn’t, she’s probably not riding a bike.
An Aussie writer says the country needs to remove five million internal combustion vehicles from the roads over the next ten years to meet its climate goals. And he has a two-wheeled suggestion — e- and otherwise — on how to do it. At least they’re trying, unlike a certain backsliding North American superpower we could name.
June 17, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Angry security guard rams car into kid on bike, burnout driver slams into Inglewood crowd, and crowdfunding for Marvin Cortez
Day 168 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
The story of his death is also beginning to change, as witnesses claim the driver was out of control, and rumble strips in the center of the roadway make it unlikely that Cortez would have been riding on the wrong side of the road, as initial reports claimed.
A London council is accused of installing “prohibitive, discriminatory” barriers on a steep ramp at the exit of a park in order to stop possibly nonexistent speeding bicyclists, forcing people with disabilities and families in cargo bikes onto a busy road with no bike lane, while ignoring a January compromise agreement.
A motor vehicle once again became a weapon of mass destruction when the 87-year old driver of a motorhome slammed into a group of four Swiss bicyclists in Cher, France, killing two people in their 60s and critically injuring a third. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive — especially a vehicle that can weigh seven tons or more.
April 21, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Man riding bicycle fatally stabbed in Canoga Park, and road-raging driver deliberately hits Utah bike rider
Day 111 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Tragic news from Canoga Park, where a man was fatally stabbed while riding a bike Thursday night.
According to KNBC-4, the victim, publicly identified only as a man in his 30s, was riding near on International Ave near Canoga Ave when he was stabbed by an unknown assailant around 9:30 pm, while riding with a backpack and carrying food.
He collapsed against a car, where he died, despite the efforts of local residents and paramedics.
There was no known motive for the attack, and it’s not clear at this time whether the victim was targeted because he was riding a bicycle, or for some other reason.
Security cam video shows Loren Russell failing to stop for the victim, who was riding his bike on the sidewalk. The bike rider responded by slapping Russell’s truck before riding away.
Russell responded by accelerating and turning his truck into the the victim’s bike, leaving the victim with a broken ankle.
After the police found his truck, Russell tried to claim the bike rider hit his truck, which made him feel so threatened that he sped away, unaware he hit anyone.
Fortunately, the cops didn’t buy it, busting Russell on charges including felony aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury, failing to remain at the scene of an accident, and failure to yield the right of way.
Or rather, how to apply for the lottery which will determine whether you even get to apply for one of the roughly 1,000 vouchers.
That’s because they are only releasing $2 million for this 2nd round of incentives, despite sitting on around $29 million in remaining funding, which could fund nearly 15,000 ebike vouchers.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles will mark Bike Week from May 12-18, with Bike Day also on May 15th, as part of their observation of Bike Month throughout May, but there’s no word yet on how they plan to observe it.
No bias here. Streetsblog discovers that New York cops write 15% of red light tickets to people on bicycles, despite bicyclists making up just two percent of street traffic, observing “the NYPD is intent on writing red-light tickets to the lightest, slowest-moving vehicles instead of doubling-down on enforcement against 3,000-pound-plus killing machines.”
About damn time. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, has issued new regulations requiring states to include “strategic core performance measures” to reduce the “number of bicyclist and other cyclist fatalities” in their three-year highway safety plans.
Sad news from Savannah, Georgia, where a local man affectionately known as the “Flag Man” for the large American flag he carried on his bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver; police have images of the driver’s truck, but apparently haven’t identified a suspect yet.
Evidently, the nut doesn’t fall far from the cycling tree, as 16-year old Enzo Hincapie — yes, the son of George — picked up his bike and ran to the finish line when his bicycle broke just over a mile from the finish of the Paris-Roubaix Juniors, his first race as a member of the US team.
February 28, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Hollywood meets Koreatown CicLAvia, help provide bikes for fire victims, and 2 boys arrested in mob driver beatdown
Day 59 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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CicLAvia returns to Koreatown and Hollywood on the first Sunday in April, with a semi-new route traversing Wilshire, Western, Santa Monica and Highland.
Which makes it one of the easiest CicLAvia’s to get to, with Metro subway stops at either end.
Not to mention the semi-protected bike lanes on Hollywood Blvd, although they dump you off three blocks from the Hollywood and Vine Hub, leaving you to deal with the Amoeba Records and Funko traffic on your own.
The Los Angeles Times’outdoor newsletter The Wild calls out a pair of bike events this weekend we touched on earlier this week, both helping to provide bicycles to people and families affected by the recent firestorms in the LA area.
1. Walk and bike for a good cause in Culver City
Walk ‘n Rollers will host its annual Walk More Bike More Festival from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Ivy Station in Culver City. The event raises money for Walk ‘n Rollers’ adopt-a-bike program, which has refurbished and donated more than 350 bikes to families in need. This year, bikes will be primarily donated to families affected by recent wildfires. At the festival, guests can participate in free bike repairs, a scavenger hunt and a prize raffle. There will also be e-bike and skateboard demos. The event is free, but registration is requested, with the option to donate. Register at walkmorebikemore.org…
3. Build bikes in Mar Vista to help Eaton fire survivors
Bikerowave Co-op needs volunteers with bike wrenching experience to prep bikes that will be donated to people affected by the Eaton fire. The repair event will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday at its shop (12255 Venice Blvd.). The shop has several bikes to repair but welcomes donations. All bikes will be checked by a head mechanic before they’re distributed. Learn more at the shop’s Instagram page.
Both boys have been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, but aren’t likely to be publicly identified unless they are tried as adults. Although it’s questionable what the deadly weapons may have been, unless the DA is counting the shoes they kicked him with.
Hopefully, these two can help identify some of the other kids, who deserve to be grounded until they’re 30, at the very least.
Life is cheap in Fremont, where a 31-year old man was sentenced to a lousy year of home vacation detention — and will likely do less than half of that — for the 2019 hit-and-run that killed a man riding a bicycle, after swerving to strike the victim for no apparent reason while doing 25 mph over the posted speed limit.
This is the cost of traffic violence. The 47-year old Vallejo man killed this week while riding his bike on a deadly Napa County highway has been identified as a beloved nurse and humanitarian, as well as a Tahitian dancer.
A 78-year old hit-and-run driver critically injured a 78-year old Florida bike rider while fleeing from an earlier hit-and-run crash, while on his way to yet another crash before finally stopping. Once again raising the eternal question of how old is too old to drive, and why the hell we can’t get people off the road before this kind of crap happens.
Police in Buena Vista, Florida arrested a fake “homeland security officer” for impersonating an officer, after he tucked a loaded gun inside his jacket and rode his bicycle to an apartment complex to look for “Mexicans” in the country illegally — and handing the cops a blue ID card, which was actually his application to become a licensed security officer.
We’re launching Bike Streets in LA County! Log every ride with Bike Streets and help us build the Low-Stress Bike Map. Ride and help us reach our first weekly goal of 20 riders. 
