Day 174 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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My apologies for Friday’s unexcused absence.
Having diabetes means dealing good days and bad days. That was one of the bad ones.
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Let’s start with an update to the recent fatal bicycling crash in Calabasas.
Friday afternoon, I spoke with a witness to the crash that killed 37-year old Marvin Cortez as he was riding on Stunt Road on Saturday, June 14th.
What she told me changed our entire understanding of what happened. And more importantly, who was likely responsible.
Initial reports said that Cortez was on the wrong side of the road when he was struck head-on by the driver. But she said the motorist was driving recklessly, with the sound of his engine “reverberating through the canyon” even before he came into sight, roaring around a corner “like he was on a racetrack.
The moments later, she and her friends hear a loud pop, and saw debris flying through the air.
I won’t go into all the details; you can read it yourself if you want to know more.
Suffice it to say that I didn’t question the brief initial news report, which now seems to have been based solely on the driver’s perspective.
And I should have.
Photo from Pexels.
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This is who we share the road with.
A 40-year old LAPD sergeant is getting off easy for the drunken, off-duty hit-and-run that killed a 24-year old man walking in an Orange County street.
LAPD Sgt. Carlos Gonzalo Coronel faces charges for felony DUI and hit-and-run, along with a felony enhancement for allegedly causing great bodily injury.
Yet Coronel could have been charged with second-degree murder after previously admitting to driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs in 2011.
He likely would have been required to sign a Watson advisement, which states that he could be charged with murder if he ever killed someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.
And he did — allegedly.
Yet he wasn’t.
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About damn time.
A Colorado grand jury has returned an indictment against Barry Morphew, once again charging him with the murder of his wife, Suzanne Morphew.
Suzanne Morphew disappeared while going for Mother’s Day bike ride five years ago. Her body was finally found three years later when investigators were searching in an unrelated case, long after her abandoned bike and helmet were discovered in separate locations near her home.
An autopsy revealed she had been dosed with an animal tranquilizer, which Morphew reportedly had access to.
Barry Morphew was arrested for her presumed murder in 2021, but charges were dropped in April 2022, just before he was supposed to go on trial.
Maybe this time they can make the charges stick.
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That’s more like it.
A French public broadcaster reports that cars are no longer welcome in the country’s third largest city.
Thanks to Megan for forwarding the video.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A road-raging 59-year old Utah man faces charges for intentionally swerving his SUV into a 24-year old man riding an ebike, resulting in a serious head injury, after the ebike rider allegedly cut him off; it was the second time he had confronted the victim in just a matter of days.
No bias here. A local newspaper in exclusive Palm Beach, Florida says there’s just no room for packs of bicyclists on the state’s coastal highway, complaining about plans for sharrows that might encourage people to ride bikes where and how they are legally entitled to ride, because it could inconvenience car-driving local residents.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A 43-year old New York man paid the ultimate price after crashing his ebike into a pedestrian walking in a Central Park crosswalk. A reminder to always give the right-of-way to someone in a crosswalk. And colliding with a pedestrian is just as dangerous for the person on the bike as it is for the person walking.
Police in West Yorkshire, England are looking for a hit-and-run ebike rider who stopped briefly, the fled the scene, after crashing into man in his 60s and sending the victim to the hospital with serious injuries.
British Dame Joan Collins — yes, that Joan Collins — lashed out on Instagram at “loutish” Lime Bike users on the sidewalk.
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Local
Sheriffs officials in Calabasas are on the lookout for a high-end mountain bike thief, described as a white man between 30 and 35 years old, wearing a black hat, light-colored pants, a black long-sleeve sweatshirt, and black and white tennis shoes. Unless maybe he changed clothes, of course.
State
Officials in Carlsbad are removing a pair of traffic circles in response to complaints. Although the metric they should consider is whether the circles improved safety, rather than how many people complained. It’s also worth considering that people who don’t object usually don’t say anything. Thanks to Phillip for the link.
A San Francisco grand jury report blames the city’s Vision Zero failure on a lack of police enforcement, as drivers just ignore the many “No right on red” signs going up downtown with no fear of consequences.
National
A writer for People For Bikes says great rides begin at home, with biking adventures waiting just outside your front door. Which is exactly where (almost) every ride I ever took began. Unless you count the back door, too.
A former candidate for mayor of Portland, Oregon was killed when he was struck by a train after reportedly riding his bike around the crossing barriers. Seriously, don’t do that. Ever. Period.
An Arizona writer says the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area near Tucson is an incredible place for bicycling, and her favorite park in the state.
They get it. Police in St. George, Utah say they’re done playing games with people riding illegal e-motorbikes, which are too often lumped in with ped-assist ebikes to unfairly tar all ebike riders. Thanks to Ellectrek for the heads-up.
The 16-year old Albuquerque boy charged with killing Scott Habermehl, while riding with three other boys joyriding in a stolen car, as the Sandia Laboratory scientist was bicycling to work, is now charged as an adult and facing a murder charge.
Life is cheap in Wisconsin, where a 45-year old woman walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run that left an ebike rider with “multiple visible injuries.” As long as courts refuse to take hit-and-runs seriously, drivers will continue to trying to get away with it.
Something is terribly wrong when someone who is still riding a bicycle at 85 becomes a victim of traffic violence, like the elderly Illinois man who was killed by a driver, just days after a 90-year old man was killed by a driver while riding a three-wheeled bike in Indiana. But at least that story mentioned there was someone behind the wheel, unlike the first one.
Time to cash in the crypto, after Massachusetts-based Parlee Cycles created a money-is-no-object, limited-edition bike build to honor late company founder Bob Parlee; the 25 bikes are based on their new Z-Zero GT, which already retails for $22,990.
New York City counselors are complaining that current mayor Eric Adams — who is likely on this way to becoming ex-mayor after next week’s Democratic primary — is reneging on promises to install 500 secure bike parking pods throughout the city’s five boroughs.
Ebikes provided by New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare are now limited to a maximum of 15 mph; meanwhile, a three-week bike mechanic program has a 100% success rate in placing formerly incarcerated New Yorkers with the bikeshare system.
This is who we share the road with, too. A 32-year old Virginia man has been arrested for the hit-and-run death of 40-year old Sara Burack, after the luxury real estate agent and star of Netflix’s Million Dollar Beach House was found dead on the side of a Long Island roadway.
Dozens of people took to their bikes in Reading, Pennsylvania to call for peace on the streets and an end to youth gun violence.
Bike riders in Richmond, Virginia are being placed in needless danger by construction crews who have carelessly destroyed bike lane markers and bollards, while forcing riders into traffic to go around their equipment.
Florida could get a 120-mile bike trail through the central part of the state.
International
A Vancouver district counselor calls for making bike bells mandatory, arguing they’ “a simple yet effective solution to address a range of issues related to safety, visibility and courteous riding practices.” Although the next step would likely be requiring bicyclists to use them — and holding them accountable if someone claims they didn’t.
A new Canadian study shines a light on the dangers bike riders face in the country, but doesn’t offer any solutions.
Simon Cowell is back on his bicycle, albeit raising eyebrows by riding through a London borough wearing a puffer coat in 93°F weather.
Life is cheap in the UK, where a 62-year old truck driver walked without a day behind bars for killing a 56-year old mother riding a bicycle, in their equivalent of a right hook.
A British drug dealer will spend the next 70 months behind bars for shooting a bike theft victim who had tracked him down, and confronted him with a pickax handle. Another reminder to just let the police handle it. And don’t bring a pickax handle to a gun fight.
The Guardian visits a southwest London neighborhood that is the most dangerous place in Great Britain to ride a bike.
Sweden’s Hövding is back from the dead after being rescued from bankruptcy — but don’t call it an inflatable helmet anymore, because the new owners say it’s really an airbag.
NPR talks with a travel writer who took an off-road bicycle tour of Morocco.
Germany’s Marek Kaufman has reportedly been under state arrest in Iran for the past year, the Jewish bike tourist accused of espionage for making social media posts while near a heavy-water reactor in Markazi Province as he was riding through the country on a tourist visa.
World Bicycle Relief is distributing their Buffalo Bikes to Ugandans in need of reliable transportation, in hopes that the tougher, reinforced bicycle will stand up to the country’s rugged roads.
Competitive Cycling
Portuguese cyclist João Almeida dominated a mountain time trial on the final stage to claim overall victory in the Tour de Suisse, with Kévin Vauquelin second and Oscar Onley rounding out the podium.
A new German documentary says doping is still going on in pro cycling, they’re just using different drugs — like a cancer medication that’s also used to fight cardiovascular disease.
The team manager of French cycling team Groupama-FDJ repeated his call to ban race radios, power meters and GPS bike computers from competition, in an effort to slow the evolution of pro cycling and make the sport safer.
UCI is investigating Belgian cyclist Dries de Bondt and an unnamed EF Education-EasyPost director, after de Bondt allegedly helped the rival team’s Richard Carapaz over the Colle delle Finestre during last month’s Giro, with de Bondt saying later “it never hurts to market yourself.”
An Aussie ultracyclist will attempt to ride the entire 1,500-mile route of the original Tour de France in just six days, using a two-speed bike with the same gear ratio as the original riders.
Cyclist looks at the climbs that will decide this year’s Tour de France.
Benin’s women’s cycling team made history at the Maryland Cycling Classic, becoming the first women’s African national team to compete in a major American road race.
Finally…
That feeling when you rescue the kitten you just rescued after finding it hanging from a bicycle. Or when cycling celebrity makes you the stars of a Slovenian children’s book.
And now you, too, can ride your mountain bike in the name of science.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
