Tag Archive for bicycle friendly business districts

Vote now for Bicycle Friendly Business Districts; new bike study shows what we already know

I was just about to put this when the news broke about the bombings in Boston.

Somehow, posting it then just didn’t seem right. But maybe, by now, you need a break from the fast flying rumors.

Lord knows I do.

And while I’m tempted to just wait until tomorrow, these links aren’t getting any fresher. And this piece is certainly long enough as it is.

So here’s today’s post, just as it was it going to be earlier today. I haven’t changed anything, so if something comes off wrong in retrospect, I apologize.

Just remember, in regards to what happened today, much, if not most, of what you’ve read and heard today will later turn out to be wrong.

So let’s wait to point the finger.

And take the news with a grain, if not a bag, of salt. The truth will come out soon enough. 

And in the meantime, I hope you’ll join me in offering a prayer, or whatever you’re comfortable with, for all those killed or injured in the bombings. No one should ever die or suffer a life-changing injury just because they ran, or watched, a race.

Just as no one should ever die just because they rode a bike.

………

Only two more days to vote for a proposal to create Bicycle Friendly Business Districts throughout the Los Angeles area. If you haven’t voted yet, take a moment and do it now.

Or if you need another good cause, CicLAvia is in the running for some money, as well.

………

Minneapolis conducts a study of bicycling collisions, and concludes that the safety in numbers effect is real and quantifiable.

They also discover that most bike crashes are a result of drivers not seeing or yielding to bicyclists, and bicyclists not riding in a predictable matter.

In other equally startling results, they found that the sun usually does rise in the east, and the bear does, in fact, poop in the woods.

As it turns out, spandex-clad scofflaws are actually more law abiding than the general driving public. But you knew that, right?

And US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood calls for zero tolerance for drivers who don’t respect the rights of bicyclists on the road. No further word on LaHood’s impending retirement; personally, I move we make him DOT chief for life.

Meanwhile, a new study says thinking may be the most dangerous thing a driver can do behind the wheel.

Which suggests that many motorists may have nothing to worry about.

………

Always carry a spare when you’re riding on the bike path.

………

Still no suspects in the gruesome hit-and-run that dragged cyclist Damian Kevitt onto the 5 Freeway. The LAPD points out, correctly, that while a traffic collision may not be a crime, driving away from one is. The eighth edition of L.A.’s toughest hill climb event takes place on the last Sunday of this month. The search continues for the killer of bike-riding artist Sam Michel in Koreatown last year. Would Brentwood residents be willing to give up part of their front yards to make Bundy Drive safer for cyclists? KCET Departures examines fixed-gear trick riding. The Times looks at four new bike helmets. Pedicabs could soon go into business in Santa Monica. It seems cities with progressive bike infrastructure have us surrounded. Injured mountain biker rescued in Altadena. Cal Poly Pomona will host a pair of traffic safety forums this Thursday, followed by an online forum later that evening. Patients from Miller Children’s Hospital kick off the month leading up to May’s Tour of Long Beach. Long Beach-based Women on Bikes offers a new column from a professional triathlete.

Turns out you can live without a car, even in Orange County. Newport Beach extends the deadline to apply for the city’s Bicycle Master Plan Oversight Committee to April 26th. For once, drivers weren’t complaining it was bikes that slowed traffic on PCH in Corona del Mar. In a sparse report, a bike rider is injured on PCH in Huntington Beach; I’m starting to realize that when a newspaper says more details to come, it’s code for we’ll never report on this story again. San Diego-area cyclist Gordy Shields owns master’s criterium records in three separate age categories, and probably set another one as the only competitor in the 95+ age group Sunday. If you’re going to rob a man at knifepoint, you might choose a faster getaway vehicle than a beach cruiser. Temecula residents ride bikes to replace tykes’ stolen trikes. Riverside residents will have a chance to debate a planned road diet, while a Ukiah letter writer predicts disaster if a road diet there goes through. A Santa Maria run will honor a 19-year old cyclist killed by a distracted driver in 2009. Caltrans’ botched resurfacing of Highway 1 north of Cambria will keep most cyclists off the popular riding route through fall of this year. A 79-year old San Raphael man is killed after falling under a passing vehicle, which may or may not have hit him; either way, if he hadn’t been Jerry Browned by the car it wouldn’t have run over him.  A 15-year old San Lorenzo boy is killed playing chicken with a moving train. Damning with faint praise, a San Francisco paper says bike and pedestrian enhancements don’t necessarily hurt businesses, when actually the study they cite shows the results are overwhelmingly positive; thanks to Ralph Durham for the heads-up. Durham also sends word that a newly completed bike path will allow cyclists to ride from Downtown San Jose to Palo Alto using almost no surface streets. And he forwards this story of a San Jose man sentenced to a well-deserved 41 years for the road rage murder of two elderly men.

Andy Schleck plans to come back from last year’s season ending injury at this year’s Amgen Tour of California; on the other hand, his doping-suspended brother won’t. Cannondale’s Peter Sagan will be here, too. If you can get to a National Park this week, your admission is free; and if you get run over, the FBI could investigate, as the death of a rider on the Natchez Trace Parkway demonstrates. A automotive website asks if this is the world’s most beautiful e-bike. The Oregonian says streets are for unoccupied car storage, dammit. A Utah woman receives a piddling 210 days in jail for killing a bike rider because she couldn’t be bothered to scrape her windshield or stop for an oncoming train. A pair of Utah writers debate bicycling progress in SLC. A long-time Nebraska bike cop is sued for colliding with a 63-year old pedestrian. Minneapolis police arrest two children in the case of a cyclist attacked with a Molotov cocktail; would a good spanking followed by being grounded until the age of 47 be considered cruel and unusual punishment? A bicyclist leads police on a slow speed chase in Austin TX. A Long Island mother turned herself in, but denies guilt, for a September hit-and-run that dragged a cyclist under her car for 500 feet — with her five-year old in the car next to her. A New York cyclist offers an introduction to urban cycling. An NYC bike tour may not have to pay for police protection after all; thanks to George Wolfberg for the link. Signups begin today for Gotham’s new CitiBike bike share program. A Newark cyclist is dragged 30 feet following a collision, but survives with minor injuries. Baton Rouge, capital of the other LA, demonstrates that cities can demonstrate the effects of a road diet before making it permanent; note to Hollywood location scouts — evidently, they even have green lanes in the deep south these days. Florida cyclists ride to the state capital to call attention to bike safety. Moving the needle downward on bicyclist and pedestrian deaths.

A Toronto hit-and-run driver blows through a red light escaping a collision, killing a cyclist, before causing a five car collision. Toronto debates whether ebikes belong in the bike lane; the same debate is soon to come to a city near you, if it hasn’t already. One of the world’s leading experts on global warming is killed by a truck while riding in London. A writer for the London Guardian says the anti-bike lobby has run out of plausible arguments. Vandals target a UK cycling event, scattering tacks on the route and removing direction signs; let’s call this what it really is — domestic terrorism targeted at bike riders. If Oxford University can create its own bike brand, can USC and UCLA bikes be far behind? The Cycling Embassy of Great Britain offers their typically extensive round-up of links that puts my humble efforts to shame. Scot cyclists call for strict liability legislation. Cyclodeo wants to be a cycle-centric take on Google Street View. A Chinese bike rider has her cell phone stolen by a pickpocket using chopsticks.

Finally, yet another house is the victim of a drunken driver; if only they’d all use lights and wear hi-viz. A UK toddler is saved by his helmet, but not the way you might think. And the Detroit Free Press talks to a bike, or rather trike, riding Winnie the Pooh.

Congratulations to Chris of the Westwood Helen’s, who has been promoted to a buyer at the Santa Monica location. Couldn’t be more deserved, or happen to a nicer guy.