Tag Archive for bicycling deaths

Bike rider killed in South LA hit-and-run, Calbike calls for LA River path completion, and bizarre Pedal Ahead apologia

November 13, 2025 / / No comments
Day 317 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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KNBC-4 reported late last night that someone riding a bicycle was killed by a motorcyclist in a South LA hit-and-run.

According to the station, the crash happened around 7:30 pm at Vernon and Stanford.

Unfortunately, the story hasn’t been posted online, and that’s all we know right now. Hopefully we’ll learn more soon.

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About damn time.

Calbike says there’s no time to waste to reach out to your Los Angeles County Supervisor, and demand completion of the LA River Bike Path by 2028.

Don’t let Metro miss our last chance to finish the LA River bike path by 2028.

LA Metro has approximately $400 million to complete the LA River bike path through central Los Angeles. Approved by voters in 2016 as part of Measure M, the funding is more than enough to build an in-channel path in the entire 8-mile gap from Arroyo Seco to Vernon. If completed by 2028 as predicted in Metro’s original schedule, the LA River bike path will connect Olympic venues as part of the Festival Trail and provide safe and affordable transportation to the residents who need it most. It will be transformative.

Unfortunately, LA Metro has only considered “above channel” versions of the path that cost $1.1 billion, $700 million more than is available. They have not identified additional funding and have said in public meetings they will not deliver the path by the summer of 2028.

You can change that by helping to get Metro to approve the following two decisions.

Adopt the in-channel design that can be built with available funds. Except for a few weeks each year in the rainy season, it would give Angelenos an amazing river-level experience and a transportation facility that is especially valuable to low-income residents.

Create a Joint Powers Authority dedicated solely to delivering the project by 2028. Independent agencies focused exclusively on specific projects with the power to build and maintain the infrastructure are proven nationwide to expedite construction.

The Metro Board has only one more meeting in 2025. There is no time to waste. Right now, contact your Los Angeles County Supervisor, in their capacity as an LA Metro Board member, and ask them to support the change to an in-channel design and create a Joint Powers Authority.

That project was originally part of the vaunted Twenty-Eight by ’28 list of transportation projects to be completed before the world comes to Los Angeles for the ’28 Olympics.

That is, until Metro decided it was just too hard to get done in that timeline, and replaced it, along with a number of other projects.

Just one more example of the agency’s lack of commitment and follow-through when it comes to bikes and transportation.

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For once, I don’t even know what to say.

Malcomb forwards an absolutely bizarre Twitter/X post from San Diego’s Pedal Ahead defending their role in the now-defunct California Ebike Incentive Program.

Let’s blow that up a little more so you can read it.

 

Not mentioned is that some of those “multiple audits, financial review,” et al, were due to alleged misconduct and reputed state and criminal investigations.

Or that the founder of Pedal Ahead was allegedly forced out as operator of the ebike program.

The San Diego nonprofit may be proud of the job they did, but most observers considered the program deeply flawed, if not a total disaster.

I believe the term I used after enduring the failed first round was “shitshow.”

Which makes their post, in the words of the Bard, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

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We mentioned this one earlier, but it’s worth repeating as the story is circulating again.

The Associated Press wrote last week that California isn’t strongly punishing DUIs, even as alcohol-related traffic deaths increased.

The AP kindly listed exactly the reasons for that, in bite-sized, easy to digest chunks.

  • California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the country, allowing repeat drunk and drugged drivers to stay on the road with little punishment.
  • The state gives repeat drunk drivers their licenses back faster than other states.
  • Even when the state does take their license, many drivers stay on the road for years — racking up more tickets or new DUIs — with few consequences until they eventually kill.
  • Courts and lawmakers don’t treat DUI deaths as violent crimes.
  • California has fallen behind on a simple solution embraced by many other states: in-car breathalyzers.
  • Despite the mounting death toll, state leaders have shown little willingness to address the issue.

Which goes a long way towards explaining why people keep dying on our streets.

And why every Vision Zero program enacted in the state has failed.

Thanks to Steven for the heads-up. 

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A YouTuber examines the disconnected Ohio Ave bike lanes to nowhere, while urging you to take the survey to help improve them.

Meanwhile, the UCLA Bicycle Academy weighs in on long overdue plans to improve safety on Ohio and Westwood Blvd.

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Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette reminds us about the need to maximize your uninsured motorist coverage on your car insurance, to ensure you’re protected if you’re injured by a driver with the minimal coverage mandated by the state.

Ted, Im so tired of seeing the bicyclist victims going uncompensated in bad crashes.

I now have a couple of said cases. I also reviewed another case, after a hit & run. Low insurance limits again. It’s just not that much more money if you’re bicycling the mean streets to buy big limits of UM/UIM coverage. But I know money is tight for many I get it. But a while ago, I read an article in the WSJ that said 4.9 Million Motorists are either Uninsured or Underinsured in CA.

Duquette more fully addressed the matter in an earlier blog post, which is more than worth reading again.

You know, in case you meet one of those 4.9 million uninsured or underinsured motorists on the road.

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

Members of the Arlington, Virginia Bicycle Advisory Committee are in open revolt against the county manger, complaining that the committee no longer serves a clear purpose after the county cut back on its responsibilities.

No bias here. Berlin, Germany has been backpedaling on bicycling since a conservative government took over two years ago, cutting back on bike-friendly policies and infrastructure, and turning back the clock to a more car-focused time.

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Local 

She gets it. The founder of H.A.R.D., aka Hit-And-Run Deaths, explains why Sunday’s World Day of Remembrance for the victims of traffic violence matters, eight years after her 15-year old grandson was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike in Natomas.

The Eastsider says plans are starting to come into focus for a $10.5 million Complete Streets remake of Huntington Drive through El Sereno, including dedicated bus lanes and protected bike lanes, with two traffic lanes in each direction, a thin median, and wider sidewalks.

 

State

A writer on the San Francisco Peninsula makes the case for why ebike bans are unenforceable, from federal regulations to the fact that there’s nothing to prevent anyone from claiming their ebike is a mobility device.

 

National

American bicyclists are urged to take action, as a new federal transportation bill threatens to zero out all bicycle funding as it shovels federal money into highways.

A 29-year old man is suing Salt Lake City and a local cop, accusing the officer of a blindside tackle during a popular bike ride, resulting in torn ligaments in both knees; the cop accused him of fleeing after he told a group of riders he was going to cite them for traffic violations, but the plaintiff says he didn’t think the officer was talking to him, and simply rode off when the light changed.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Texas man rode his bike 75 miles to celebrate his 75th birthday.

Wisconsin is finally getting around to officially recognizing its part of the 3,000-mile Mississippi River Trail, which follows the river from Minnesota through Louisiana, about a quarter century after the other states did.

Once again, Chicago bike riders rolled through the city’s Hispanic neighborhoods buying out the stock of street vendors, so they could go home and be safe from ICE. Thanks to Megan for the link.

A 64-year old Massachusetts man discusses what it was like to ride 4,800 miles across the US, including “about 40 flat tires.”

Livability recommends three regions to explore if you ever ride in Virginia.

Sad news from Florida, where an 82-year old man was killed by a left-turning driver while riding salmon on an ebike.

 

International

Momentum explains just what cities lose when they fail to build or remove bike lanes, from declining local business revenue to rising collision rates and danger to pedestrians.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says he just felt lost after misplacing his bike computer.

After spending a week in Copenhagen, aka the world’s happiest city, a writer for Business Insider provides five lessons for the US, starting with the positive effect an emphasis on biking and walking can have.

If you build it, they will come. Bicycling rates in Paris have doubled in just the last year, thanks to the city’s commitment to building new bicycling infrastructure, and is continuing to trend upward.

A German couple rode their bikes nearly 5,000 miles to Busan, South Korea, discovering along the way how connected everything is.Which is good, because if it wasn’t connected they might have fallen off. 

A native of the Netherlands questions whether she will ever ride a bike again after getting hit by drivers twice since moving to Australia five years ago.

 

Competitive Cycling

A writer for Cycling News discusses what it’s like to cover Tadej Pogačar, from “his quirks to his brutal honesty.”

The Athletic drops their paywall for an interview with Wout van Aert, as he discusses what it’s like to drop Pogačar, and what pro cycling can learn from the NBA.

You can forget adding ‘cross to the 2030 Winter Olympics.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a car maker can’t tell the difference between a cargo bike and a horse and buggy. Or when you’re accused of wearing a condom coat.

And you can now add this helmet-holding turtle to your holiday wish list.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Report on bike deaths appears prepared by trained monkeys, and more details on road rage stabbing of Sausalito bike rider

November 11, 2025 / / One comment
Day 315 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Maybe someone can make sense of this.

Because I sure as hell can’t.

A new report on bicycling deaths from a legal group professes to list the safest and most dangerous states for people riding bicycles.

According to the report, Florida is the most dangerous state in the US, with a whopping 234 people killed riding bicycles in 2024, up from 222 in 2023. California ranks second with 145, which would be a significant drop from 177 the year before.

Although they note that the 2024 figures are based on their own analysis, since official states aren’t yet available.

However, the report seems to misplace the Golden State, however, calling California “a close neighbor of Florida,” as if it had somehow switched places with Alabama or Cuba. It only makes sense in the context of the state’s ranking one and two, even though Florida had 89 more deaths, which doesn’t seem close at all.

The rankings are also based on sheer number of deaths, without taking population into account. On a per capita basis, California had roughly one bicycling fatality per 274,000 people, while Florida had one death per 98,000.

So which of these is not like the other?

Then there is this bizarre chart, which bears no correlation to the actual rankings, placing California 4th, and Florida 8th.

 

It also lists Washington State “1th,” Massachusetts “2th.” and Oregon “3th.” And no, that’s not a typo.

Or at least, not mine.

Apparently, that what you get when you let AI do the work for you. Or farm it out to the lowest bidder in some non-English speaking country.

Or maybe just leave all the work to a bunch of trained monkeys.

But at least that’s better than the report on that report published by The US Sun, which offered this mind-boggling set of stats.

The report also showed that cyclist fatalities have increased significantly since 2015, starting at just over 20,000 a decade ago and now amounting to roughly 28,000 in 2024.

Which is about 25 times the estimated total of 1,109 bike deaths in the US last year, and 24 times the total for 2015.

At least that appears to stem from some staffer incapable of reading a badly drawn chart from the lawyers group report that conflates total US traffic death with bicycling fatalities.

But at least The US Sun ends their story about bicycling deaths with these helpful safety tips.

No, really.

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More details are starting to come out about the Bay Area bike rider who was stabbed by a Tesla driver near Sausalito, in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Velo reports the incident appears to be the result of a road rage dispute that began on a narrow road with poor sight-lines, and a history of being unsafe for cyclists. The stabbing itself appears to have occurred just as the roadway widens to make room for a dedicated bike lane.

Both parties were taken into custody once police arrived, with the bike rider taken to a hospital where he is reportedly in stable condition.

There’s no word on who started the dispute, or who was the aggressor. But there’s no question who was the victim.

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BikeLA, formerly known as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is hosting their happy hour fundraiser this Saturday, rain or otherwise.

Rain or shine — BikeFest 2025 is on!

We’re celebrating this Saturday, November 15, from 12–3 p.m. at Highland Park Brewery – just a hop, skip, and roll from the Chinatown Metro Station. A little light rain might join the fun, so come prepared with a jacket and your best bike spirit.

Join us for this Pedal-Powered Party and enjoy:
  • Free bike valet
  • One beer or non-alcoholic drink
  • A commemorative BikeLA bandana
  • ️ Our largest-ever bike-themed silent auction, featuring gear from Spurcycle, Patagonia, Yakima, Tern, Road Runner Bags, ABUS, Kryptonite, and more – the auction is live now, so you can start bidding today!

Come celebrate with us and help support BikeLA’s mission to make L.A. a safer, more connected place to ride.

Get Your Tickets Here

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Streets For All is hosting a mobility debate for Los Angeles Council District 1 next month, including incumbent Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez.

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Holiday gift guides for your favorite bike rider are starting to roll out, with new guides from Bike Rumor and Cyclist. Even if your favorite bike rider is you.

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Local 

Damn good question. A San Francisco website examines how the planned completion of LA River bike path through DTLA ended up in bureaucratic hell.

 

State

Once again, an AirTag hidden in an ebike led to the arrest of an Orange County bike thief, after Huntington Beach cops tracked a surfer’s missing bike to Anaheim.

Sad news from Tulare County, where someone riding a bicycle was killed in a collision with the driver of a milk truck; the victim was reportedly riding on the centerline when the milk truck approached from behind, and the driver veered off the road to avoid a crash, just as the bike rider inexplicably veered right, and struck the truck. No, it doesn’t make any sense to me, either. As always, the question is whether there were any witnesses who survived the crash, other than the driver. 

Over 60 people rode their bikes across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge on Sunday to celebrate the sixth anniversary of bikes being allowed on the bridge, though the mood was darkened by the recent loss of the bike lane across the bridge on weekdays.

 

National

Bike Magazine provides a tutorial on how Trump’s tariffs are affecting mountain biking, and what it all means for bikes, frames and parts.

The New York Times examines how the Sierra Club entered a doom spiral by embracing social justice at the expense of its core environmental mission, leaving it in a weakened position to combat changes under Trump.

Once again, bike riders were heroes, as a Seattle search and rescue team rode ped-assist ebikes to save a hiker in distress on a local peak as night fell and temperatures dropped.

Popular Seattle ebike maker Rad Power Bikes is reportedly circling the drain, as the company battles “significant financial challenges,” and could shut down operations within the next two to three months.

A sightless man rode in the 43rd-annual LoToJa bike race, completing the 200 mile race from Logan to Jackson Hole, Wyoming riding a tandem.

A 46-year old Illinois man was critically injured when a nine-year old boy darted out from between two cars, and into the path of the man’s ebike; fortunately, the kid escaped with just minor injuries.

Kindhearted Ohio cops gave a new bicycle to a ten-year old boy after the one he had worked all summer to buy was stolen.

A New Jersey judge ruled that prosecutors can use a statement from Sean Higgins, the driver accused of the drunken killing of the hockey-playing Gaudreau brothers as they rode their bicycles last year, admitting that he tossed the empty beer cans he’d been drinking from into a cornfield before investigators arrived.

A kindhearted Louisiana lawyer is planning to give away 600 bicycles and helmets to kids across the state before the holidays, in his 10th annual bicycle donation program.

They get it. Fox News reports that a 15-year old Florida boy faces felony charges after leading police on a dangerous chase while riding an electric dirt bike, weaving through traffic at speeds up to 70 mph. But at least they made clear it was not a ped-assist ebike.

 

International

Momentum recommends seven cities around the world where biking is the “coolest” way to explore them. None of which are Los Angeles, of course. Or even in the US. 

Cleveland police vetoed plans for a new bike path through a field, arguing that it would exacerbate a problem with drug runners who cut through while riding off-road motorbikes. No, the one in England.

An Aussie writer explores the “five countries” of the British Isles by bicycle. Even though Northern Ireland isn’t technically a country.

An Irish newspaper remembers a doctor who dedicated his life to caring for the Tarauacan people of Brazil while riding a folding bicycle he brought with him from Ireland; he was 89.

A Spanish website says Malaga, Spain may seem like a bicyclist’s paradise to tourists biking along the sun-drenched coast, but a lack of safe bike lanes make riding impractical for many residents.

 

Competitive Cycling

A 24-year old British cyclist says it hasn’t sunk in yet that he’s a world champion, after winning the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And no, I didn’t know that was a thing, either.

Speaking of UCI, bike racing’s governing body is actively monitoring suspicious betting activity across gambling platforms in an effort to prevent corruption or race fixing, which has recently affected basketball and baseball.

 

Finally…

Your purloined bicycle could be stripped and turned into a makeshift shotgun. When you’re illegally packing a pistol on your ebike, don’t ride on the damn sidewalk (although you’ll have to find a way around the paper’s paywall to read it).

And don’t ride your electric motorbike through a Rancho Cucamonga mall.

Or any mall, for that matter.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Fight to save another endangered Encino pedestrian bridge, and Beverly Hills attorney killed in Aspen ebike crash

September 4, 2025 / / One comment
Day 247 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Maybe we should put Encino pedestrian bridges on the endangered species list.

Less than three years after Encino residents lost the fight to save the Encino Ave pedestrian bridge over the 101 Freeway, another nearby pedestrian bridge is on the chopping block, this time on Amestoy Ave.

That battle started so long ago, I had forgotten all about it until someone reached out to alert me to an upcoming virtual meeting of the Encino Neighborhood Council’s Traffic and Transportation Committee on September 15th to consider the matter.

An online petition describes the problem, and the solution, better than I could. And yes, you’ll find my signature on it; I was just the third person to sign, so let’s make sure I’m not the last.

The Issue

Encino residents, the Amestoy Avenue pedestrian bridge is facing potential demolition. This bridge serves not only as a safe passage for pedestrians but also as a symbol of unity and convenience connecting Encino residents, North and South of the 101 freeway.

The Amestoy Avenue pedestrian bridge is structurally sound and provides a car-free route to/from Ventura Blvd, Balboa Park, and Encino Charter Elementary School for countless residents, including children, seniors, and cyclists.  It’s the only pedestrian-only bridge left in Encino.   The bridge is a significant pathway that encourages walking and reduces vehicular traffic, not to mention demolitionalone would cost taxpayers over $6.1M.

CalTrans agrees that the Amestoy Avenue pedestrian bridge should be saved and renovated and is seeking resident feedback.  The proposal would cost $7.8M to renovate the Amestoy Avenue pedestrian bridge and the Louise Avenue car bridge.

BUT, there is a vocal group who would like to see the Amestoy Avenue pedestrian bridge demolished.  According to Caltrans the cost to demolish the Amestory Avenue pedestrian bridge and renovate the Louise Avenue bridge would be $8.4M.   That’s right, demolishing the bridge will cost more than renovation!

To ensure that our voices are heard, we must act now!

  • Sign the petition
  • Contact local officials from CD4 and Encino Neighborhood Council to express your support for preserving the bridge.
  • Participate in the Caltrans survey below

Caltrans Survey

Your involvement is crucial. By speaking up, we can demonstrate to decision-makers our commitment to maintaining this essential piece of infrastructure. Let’s preserve our community’s character and quality of life by standing together in solidarity. Sign the petition now and make an impactful change for the better.

Now that you’ve signed the petition and completed the survey — you have, haven’t you? — just click on the links below to email the Encino Neighborhood Council and CD5 City Councilmember Nithya Raman to share your concerns.

I’m including a sample letter that was forwarded to me below. Feel free to put it in your own words, or write your own message.

But send it before the September 15 meeting. And mark your calendar to participate.

Traffic & Transportation Committee
  • 4:45 pm September 15th
  • The zoom link and meeting agenda should be posted soon.

ATTENTION ENCINO RESIDENTS: 

The Amestoy Avenue pedestrian bridge is in jeopardy of demolition!!!!!!  If you want to preserve and renovate the structurally sound bridge and not spend $6.1M ++ to demolish it…. 

  • Please reach out to the following officials, using the letter template below if you support keeping the bridge
  • Attend the Traffic & Transportation Committee Zoom on 9/15 @ 4:45PM
  • Don’t forget to take the Caltrans survey 
  • Every email counts, make sure your voice is heard! 
Subject: Please Do Not Demolish the Amestoy Avenue Pedestrian Bridge in Encino

Dear [Elected Official/Agency Representative],

I am writing to urge you not to support demolishing the Amestoy Avenue Pedestrian Bridge (Ann Stewart Pedestrian Bridge) in Encino.

This bridge, built in 1954, remains an essential pedestrian connection for Encino. It provides a safe route for residents north of the 101 freeway to access Ventura Boulevard without driving, and it allows families south of the freeway to reach Balboa park and other neighborhood resources including the Metro Bus Line. It also sits within the same district as Encino Charter Elementary School—without the bridge, many families would be forced to drive, increasing congestion and traffic in our community.

Currently the Amestoy Pedestrian Bridge is the only passageway for “pedestrians only” within the Encino community. This is a safer option in general for pedestrians. 

The bridge is not obsolete. It is used regularly by me and many others, and even more people could benefit from it if properly rehabilitated and publicized. Destroying it would be a step backward for walkability, safety, and climate-conscious infrastructure in Los Angeles.

Cost & Scope Considerations
  • Demolishing the Encino Ave bridge cost $6.1 million.
  • The current proposal estimates:
    • $8.4 million to rehabilitate the Louise Ave bridge and demolish the Amestoy Ave bridge.
    • $7.8 million to rehabilitate both the Louise Ave and Amestoy Ave bridges.
  • Rehabilitation of Amestoy Ave alone would save taxpayer dollars while preserving critical infrastructure.

Importantly, the bridge inspection reports confirm the Amestoy structure is structurally sufficient. Rehabilitation—including replacing the railings, improving security, and enhancing the surroundings—would maximize the benefit of infrastructure spending.

Additional Considerations
  • Traffic safety: In California, the maximum legal vehicle height is 14 feet. The Amestoy bridge already provides adequate clearance at 15’-3” northbound and 15’-0” southbound.
  • Repairs: While Caltrans has repaired the chain link fencing twice in the past year, this hardly qualifies as “constant.” In fact, there were far more graffiti removal work orders than fence repairs, suggesting maintenance is manageable.
  • Use of funds: When the Encino Ave bridge was demolished, unused funds were not redirected toward local pedestrian or bike improvements; they simply reverted back to the state program. We should not repeat this mistake,
Conclusion

The Amestoy Avenue Pedestrian Bridge is a vital community link that should be rehabilitated, not demolished. Rehabilitating the bridge is both the fiscally responsible and environmentally responsible option along with offering a much safer option for pedestrians walking in Encino. Please prioritize keeping this bridge intact for the sake of students, families, and the entire Encino community.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Your Address or Neighborhood]

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Tragic news from Aspen, Colorado, where Beverly Hills attorney Michelle Mulrooney Jackoway was killed Monday when she lost control of her ebike and crashed into an embankment.

She was 64.

Law firm Wilkie Farr & Gallagher identifies her as a partner and founding member of their Los Angeles office, specializing in estate planning for high-net-worth individuals.

According to the firm,

Aside from her many impressive legal accomplishments, Michele was deeply committed to giving back to others, including through her work as a mentor and advocate for women. Early in her career, she worked part-time because she had young children. When she went back to full-time and eventually became a partner, she ensured that her firm kept women active in law by giving them the opportunity to work a reduced schedule to balance family and career without sacrificing one for the other. Michele also had a strong passion for philanthropy and derived great satisfaction from helping her clients realize their philanthropic goals and giving back to institutions that were meaningful to her, including those supporting education, women’s rights and equal opportunity for all.

She was an active leader in the LA legal community. Through her role as a Board Member of the USC Gould School of Law, her alma mater, and her longstanding support of other community initiatives, Michele was deeply respected for her integrity, compassion and generous spirit. She also served as Co-chair of the Building Committee for Gould, and as a member of the UCLA Health System Board.

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

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan ripped out a ten-year old bike lane that was unpopular with motorists, even though it was favored by downtown bike riders after a nearby bike lane was removed a year ago.

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

Sad news from San Jose, where a woman has died a little over a week after she was struck by struck by an allegedly stoned bike rider while jogging on a local trail; the rider was arrested on suspicion of DUI on a bicycle causing injury and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

The schmuck who dragged a dog to its death behind his ebike on a South Korean bike path, reportedly because it was overweight, was released pending trial, after police had requested that he be jailed. With any luck, that will be the last taste of freedom he has for a long time.

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Local 

The Eastsider profiles Gloria Hwang and Thousand, the Boyle Height bike helmet company she founded a decade ago, featuring helmets designed to “look like if you found an old motorcycle helmet in your grandparents’ basement.”

 

State

Fixed-gear street racing league Formula Fixed is bringing “three days of racing, parties, and creator-driven content” to San Francisco and Oakland beginning Saturday, September 13th; winners will qualify for the pro league.

 

National

Cycling News says there’s no such thing as a grountain bike, so get over it.

A Washington traffic safety commissioner explains why you shouldn’t ride salmon. Besides the fact it’s illegal, that is.

A Reno, Nevada nonprofit is already getting ready for next year’s Burning Man, even though this year’s just ended, collecting donations of used bicycles as well as bike abandoned by Burning Man revelers.

Now even the deer are out to get us, as a North Carolina man riding an ebike was killed when a hit-and-run deer darted out into the roadway ahead of him; the deer survived the crash but fled the scene before police arrived.

 

International

A staff member working for the Indonesian embassy in Lima, Peru was assassinated by a gunman as he rode his bicycle home from work Monday evening, in what authorities believe was a contract killing outside his apartment in the Lince neighborhood.

British folding bike maker Brompton celebrated its 50th anniversary with a limited edition 1975 foldie.

Momentum offers four great bicycling routes to explore Paris this fall. And no, not the one in Texas. 

You can see a lot of things from a bike, including a rare mama lynx and her kittens along a bike path in Maardu, Estonia.

Add Morocco to your bike bucket list, as Drift Travel highlights the country’s top five bike rides and bicycling routes.

 

Competitive Cycling

No one won yesterday’s Stage 11 of the Vuelta after organizers halted the race three kilometers — around 1.8 miles — from the finish in Balboa, Spain after pro-Palestinian protesters spilled onto the course, disrupting the peloton.

Italian cyclist Simone Petilli crashed after protesters ran out onto the road and police were unable to hold them back, later writing on Twitter/X “Please, we are just Cyclists and we are doing our Job, but if it will continue like this our safety is not guaranteed anymore, and we feel in danger!”

American pro Neilson Powless hopes a new pavé section is hard enough to result in some separation at this weekend’s one-day Maryland Cycling Classic.

USA Cycling is following the lead of the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee by banning trans athletes from all female categories at sanctioned competitions starting September 15th, following Trump’s executive order prohibiting trans women from competing in women’s sports.

A humanitarian organization profiles Rwandan cyclist Olivia Maniragena, who rose from a single mother in the impoverished country to finding success and empowerment on a women’s cycling team, in advance of the country hosting the road world championships.

 

Finally…

Apparently, “Lime bike leg” is the modern equivalent of “bicycle face.” That feeling when a pedestrian was in the road because a bicyclist was on the sidewalk because a car was parked in the bike lane.

And why just carve a few trails, when you can carve your own bike, too.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

San Diego killer hit-and-run drivers — plural — turn themselves in, and Perris hit-and-run driver out on bail

July 3, 2025 / / Comments Off on San Diego killer hit-and-run drivers — plural — turn themselves in, and Perris hit-and-run driver out on bail
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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Witness blames driver, not victim, for recent Stunt Road crash; and OC DA goes easy on LAPD Sgt. in fatal DUI hit-and-run

June 23, 2025 / / One comment
Day 174 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

My apologies for Friday’s unexcused absence. 

Having diabetes means dealing good days and bad days. That was one of the bad ones. 

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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. 

………

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.

………

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.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

US bike deaths climb as traffic deaths drop, falling down a water bike rabbit hole, and a summer solstice bike ride Friday

June 18, 2025 / / Comments Off on US bike deaths climb as traffic deaths drop, falling down a water bike rabbit hole, and a summer solstice bike ride Friday
Day 169 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Talk about a blast from the past.

Cycling West reports that the federal government released their latest stats on traffic violence in the US.

For 2023.

It’s always taken the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, the better part of a year to compile and release the nationwide statistics on traffic deaths and injuries, but nearly a year and a half seems a tad extreme.

Although even that may look good next year, after DOGE cuts decimated the agency.

The good news is that overall traffic deaths dropped 4.3% compared to the previous year.

The bad, bicycling deaths went the opposite direction, going up 4.4%, while bicycling injuries jumped even more, increasing by 8.2% over the year before.

And yes, that includes ebikes as well as traditional bicycles, as well as any other pedal-powered vehicle; presumably, that also includes the faster and more powerful electric motorbikes that at usually lumped in with ebikes.

It’s very disturbing that bicycling deaths continue to climb, as motor vehicles get safer inside and more dangerous outside. Never mind the people operating them.

Equally troubling is that 23% of the 1,166 bicycling deaths in the US two years ago involved hit-and-run drivers, which means there’s a one-in-four chance a driver won’t stick around after a crash, no matter where you live.

………

Amphibious cars are making a comeback, but amphibious bikes have been here all along, with a history going back 160 years.

Thanks to Steven for the heads-up, whose discovery of the term Cyclomer led him down a water bike rabbit hole.

………

Bike Culver City is hosting a Summer Solstice Ride this Friday to celebrate the longest day of the year.

https://twitter.com/BikeCulverCity/status/1935029132808831394

………

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

This is why people keep dying in our streets. A Portland, Oregon bike rider describes what happened when he alleges a road-raging driver intentionally crashed into him as he rode with another person on the popular Pedalpalooza ride; a poorly trained cop blamed him for riding in the “car lane,” before refusing to file charges against the driver because of “conflicting stories.”

………

Local 

Pasadena rejected all bids for a planned North Raymond Ave traffic-calming project aimed at slowing speeding drivers after all the bids exceeded estimates.

 

State

Los Gatos has received funding for a $14.7 million highway widening project intended to relieve summer gridlock from people headed to the beach — although it’s more likely to just make things worse due to induced demand. But at least it includes funds for safer sidewalks and bike lanes.

 

National

Good idea. Oregon legislators are adding an ebike rebate and bike path funding back into the new transportation bill, while increasing the sales tax on luxury cars to fund them. Taxing luxury cars in California could probably fund every bike path in the state. 

A Dallas photographer famed for riding his bike through the city to take “perfect” photos of the city’s skyline is out of commission for awhile, after someone broke in and stole his bicycle — then days later, he confronted another would-be thief inside his apartment.

An Illinois man will have to stay behind bars pending trial for killing a 12-year old boy on a bicycle while driving at more than twice the legal alcohol limit.

The family of a fallen bicyclist has sued the police department in Indianapolis, after the 34-year old father of two was killed when a cop responding to a home invasion drove onto the sidewalk to avoid another driver, and hit his bike head-on.

Some people never learn. A 27-year old Indiana man faces a raft of charges and sentencing enhancements after he was arrested for drunk driving with a blood alcohol level at least twice the legal limit, ten years after he killed a 22-year old woman biking with her cousin while driving with a B.A.C. over three times the legal limit; he served just 4.5 years of a six-year sentence for that one.

Good for him. A 12-year old boy filed suit after New York’s mayor cancelled plans to protect a Williamsburg bike lane, which is currently full of parked cars whose drivers are undeterred by the painted bike lane.

A New Jersey woman is fantasizing about taking a baseball bat to the headlights of the next driver who comes too close to someone she loves, after repeatedly being endangered by entitled drivers during a vigil for a bike-riding child killed by a driver.

Over 55 local, state and national organizations are calling for bike and pedestrian lanes on Maryland’s new Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which will replace the bridge knocked down last year by an out-of-control freighter.

 

International

Your next e-cargo bike could be a four-wheeled, pedal-powered Honda delivery van.

A 75-year old English man became the first person in the country to get a 3D-printed face, after suffering severe burns when he was trapped under a vehicle driven by a drunk and distracted driver while bicycling with two friends, who were also injured.

A record number of British bicyclists sent videos of dangerous drivers to the police for potential prosecution, as 58% of the country’s drivers had no idea how close they could legally pass someone on the bicycle. The law in the UK allows for video evidence of traffic violations, unlike most, if not all of the US, which is still operating in the pre-video — let alone digital — age.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 22-year old man was sentenced to just 15 months behind bars — of which he’ll be required to serve only 2/5 — for destroying evidence of the hit-and-run that killed a 19-year old man riding a bicycle, as well as two other counts of dangerous driving police found on his phone (see above); however, he wasn’t charged for killing the victim due to a lack evidence.

Japanese bike riders will face fines for minor traffic violations beginning April 1st, including the equivalent of $84 for distracted bicycling. And no, that’s not a premature April Fools joke. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-year old British cyclist Ben Wiggins is following in the footsteps, uh, pedal strokes, of his more famous, knighted, Tour de France-winning dad.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your bike-riding barber makes house calls. When you’re out riding with friends, maybe try not to ride through a military live-fire exercise.

And why wait until the bikes leave the shop before crashing into them?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

13-year old gets max for thrill-killing bike riding man, and brokering peace between fire departments and safety advocates

April 18, 2025 / / Comments Off on 13-year old gets max for thrill-killing bike riding man, and brokering peace between fire departments and safety advocates
Day 108 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

A 13-year old Albuquerque boy will spend the next eight years behind bars, after he was sentenced to the maximum penalty for second-degree murder.

The boy pled guilty yesterday for the thrill-kill death of a 63-year old engineer at Sandia National Laboratories last May as the victim was riding his bike to work.

Johnathan Overbay admitted he was driving a stolen car with two other boys, ages 11 and 16, when they intentionally crashed it into the victim while recording it on video, apparently just for the hell of it.

As a minor, the most he could be sentenced to was being imprisoned until he turns 21.

But since he was tried as an adult, his record is unlikely to be sealed, and will follow him for the rest of his life.

He was just 12 at the time of the killing.

Photo from Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels.

………

Calbike writes that there’s no reason for firefighters and street safety advocates to be at odds, since we both want the same thing.

There is a growing body of evidence showing how bike lanes and other street design changes can save the lives of cyclists and pedestrians, but there isn’t a lot of data on the impact of bikeways on emergency response times; what little there is appears to show not much difference before and after. (Former Berkeley firefighter, paramedic and EMT Mike) Wilson sees a long-term upside to safer infrastructure for people biking and walking: “If you build the infrastructure in ways that are safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, that infrastructure will get used.” He cited a survey of Berkeley residents that found 27% regularly bike or walk for daily needs, and another 27% would bike or walk if it were safer. To feel safer, 86% of respondents reported wanting concrete-protected bike lanes, and 74% wanted parking-protected bike lanes.

That mode shift would reduce vehicle congestion, which is the biggest access issue for fire and EMS response. “The problem of cars blocking access by fire and EMS equipment, that’s the big impediment when it comes to getting your equipment through,” Wilson said.

Wilson thinks he can get firefighters to talk with, and presumably cooperate with, Calbike and other active transportation advocates about AB 612, which would give fire departments veto power over traffic safety improvements.

………

Sacramento claims to be the first US city to use AI-powered cameras on buses to enforce illegal parking in bike lanes .

Which is technically true, since LA’s bus-mounted AI cams, which came first, enforce illegally parked cars in bus lanes, rather than bike lanes. Even though bike riders are allowed to use them.

………

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

No bias here. A San Diego letter writer says the city can balance its books by charging bike owners for a bicycle license. Although with $258 million in red ink,  those licenses would have to be pretty damned expensive.

………

Local 

Don’t forget tomorrow’s Streets Are For Everyone bike ride and protest to mark the 3rd anniversary of Andrew Jelmert’s death at the hands of a speeding hit-and-run driver on Griffith Park’s dangerous Crystal Springs Drive — and demand the safety improvements Los Angeles has promised, but failed to deliver.

 

State

Mountain bike legend Gary Fisher’s new startup is ready to introduce a new ultra-lightweight bicycle that can recharge in just 15-minutes using a standard electrical outlet. Although ultra-lightweight in the world of ebikes means it still weighs 30 pounds.

A ten-year old San Bernardino girl is set to graduate from Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa with two associate degrees, saying that for her, learning is “almost as fun as playing outside or riding a bike or whatever.”

Former New York transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan wrote that people typically fight improvements, then fight to keep them. That seems to be what’s happening in San Francisco, where people who fought plans to make the city’s Great Highway its newest car-free park are among its most frequent users.

A 55-year old woman suffered major injuries in Tuolumne County, in what police initially thought was a hit-and-run, but it turned out she lost control on a curve while riding with a group of competitive cyclists.

 

National

Good for her. A 34-year old mom learned to ride a bike for the first time so she could ride with her six-year old daughter.

Utah’s Zion National Park has a 15 mph radar unenforced speed limit, and you have to pull to the side and stop completely to allow shuttle buses to pass.

Carbondale, Colorado-based Revel Bikes is the latest bikemaker to go belly up, notifying dealers they are shutting down operations, as financial pressures force them to relinquish ownership to their bank despite just launching three new models. It happens, unfortunately. I wrote advertising for Alesis, which was forced into bankruptcy just days after successfully launching nine new models at the music industry’s NAMM trade show, when their bank cut off funding.

Missouri State University proves it can be done, reducing bike thefts to just five last semester thanks to a new security system. Of course, they only has 13 bikes stolen the previous semester, but still. 

Apparently, it’s perfectly legal for a cop to slash bicycle and trailer tires if they belong to homeless people, after a San Antonio, Texas police officer walked with a lousy 30-day suspension for doing exactly that, despite the dastardly deed being captured on his body-worn camera.

Still more tariff news, as Wisconsin-based Trek has informed retailers they will be raising their prices immediately due to the increase in import taxes.

A new photo essay reveals what it’s like to ride a bicycle in Minneapolis.

A Bronx website recommends the New York borough’s most beautiful bike lanes, for your next trip to the Big Apple.

Sad news from Florida, where Arnold “Arni” Nashbar, the founder of mail-order bicycle parts retailer Bike Nashbar, died at his Florida home earlier this week; he was 83.

 

International

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vision to “unleash a nation of cyclists” seems to have hit a plateau, with bicycling rates failing to match those heady pre-pandemic days, despite the country’s investment in bikeways.

Here’s one for your bike bucket list, as Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website recommends riding the Wild Atlantic Way along Ireland’s west coast, from the rugged cliffs of Donegal to the pristine beaches of Kerry. Seriously, you had me at “Ireland.”

Here’s one more for your bike bucket list, as Italy has just finished a short rail trail from Monte Mario to the shadow of Rome’s Vatican Dome — or maybe between Circus Maximus and the Colosseum, if you prefer.

The New York Times examines the new campaign to get people in the Netherlands to wear bike helmets, saying the Dutch love their bicycles, but helmets, not so much.

Speaking of the Netherlands, the country’s traffic safety efforts seem to be working, with traffic deaths down 42% since 2000.

Bollywood star Salmon Khan walked a group of children into a sporting goods store, and bought new bicycles for them as someone recorded it on video, allowing the kids to pick out the bikes they wanted.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from the UK, where a 55-year old man was killed competing in an East London velodrome when he collided with another cyclist, and went over his handlebars.

Olympic road race champ Kristen Faulkner gets her gold, courtesy of Cannondale.

 

Finally…

Why run down bike riders with a car when you can just electrocute them? Your next bike lock could work like a bear trap, but hopefully less painful.

And your next bike kit could represent your favorite football, uh, soccer team.

As long as your favorite side is Liverpool.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Prosecutor contradicts Magnus White killer’s claim she hadn’t been drinking, and LA approves minimal HLA minimums

April 4, 2025 / / Comments Off on Prosecutor contradicts Magnus White killer’s claim she hadn’t been drinking, and LA approves minimal HLA minimums
Day 94 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

She was drinking before the fatal crash.

Or maybe she wasn’t.

Yeva Smilianska testified on the witness stand Thursday that she was busy working, and so wan’t drinking, the night before she admittedly killed 17-year old US National Team cyclist Magnus White outside Boulder, Colorado.

Her former friend and coworker, Nereida “Neddy” Cooper, testified that Smilianska actually had the night off, and was drinking at the bar they both worked at until it closed. Then they went to her home and shared an open bottle of whiskey until they both went to bed around 6:30 am.

Less than six hours later, Smilianska was standing on the side of the road where White lay dying next to his mangled bicycle.

Her lawyer claims Smilianska isn’t responsible for White’s death because she fell asleep behind the wheel before drifting onto the shoulder. Smilianska told the court she was sleepy but sober at the time of the crash, and police at the scene said she didn’t appear to be intoxicated.

She also says she was unemotional at the scene because she “completely turned off” after seeing White lying behind her.

But prosecutors introduced a pair of text messages Smilianska sent hours after the crash, which she said she didn’t remember.

I don’t think so but we have to remember I was drunk as well. To be honest, when you guys were gone I continued to drink and honestly I don’t even remember how I drove myself home. That’s fucked up.

But anyway the drinks you just told me sound like enough to get drunk…

Nah I’m fine. I’m just scared of myself cos I drove SO drunk I don’t even remember it. My whole way home. I was mad and I really fucked up…

Which kinda makes it seem like she was drinking to me, but I’m not on the jury.

………

The Los Angeles Street Standards Committee approved the proposed minimum standards for street projects impacted by Measure HLA, which requires that the city build out the previously approved mobility plan when streets are resurfaced.

Which matters because the minimum is probably all we can count on from the city these days.

Advocates questioned the use of shared bus/bike lanes where separate bus lanes and painted bike lanes are called for, as well as the city’s failure to define crosswalks for Pedestrian Enhanced Districts.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times offers a good recap of the debate over whether Measure HLA applies to the Vermont Transit Corridor, explaining both the scope of the Metro project, and the arguments for why HLA does and doesn’t apply to Metro.

Transit advocates argue that the exclusion from the Vermont Avenue project ignores voters’ mandate to follow the mobility plan, which calls for improved bike lanes on that street; Metro and city officials have countered that the measure applied only to the city of Los Angeles — not to the countywide transit agency.

“We don’t think it’s legal,” said Michael Schneider, who heads Streets for All, the advocacy group behind the ballot measure. “HLA is a city measure, and Metro is a county agency, but Vermont is owned by the City of Los Angeles, and the city is working with Metro. They’re permitting it, they’re providing technical expertise, they’re spending staff time and money. This falls under Measure HLA, which requires a bike lane on Vermont.”

However, Metro has threatened to sue if the county agency is required to comply with the city ordinance, arguing that adding bike lanes to the project would delay it five years and require them to acquire additional properties along the route.

Move LA Executive Director Eli Lipmen summed up the whole debate as succinctly as anyone.

Lipmen said that more people will be hurt if Metro does not allow for new protected bike lanes in its plans and hopes there is still time for conversation

“Vermont needs to happen and needs to happen as soon as possible. We cannot delay this project another second,” Lipmen said.

He’s right.

On both counts.

………

A crowdfunding campaign for a Bakersfield mother killed by a pickup driver while riding her bike last month has raised a paltry $700 of the relatively modest $5,000 goal.

……….

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

No bias here. The Sausalito city council turned down a half-million dollar grant to install bike lanes on the most ridden road in Marin County, even though it’s on the city’s High Injury Network and in alignment with city policies, deeming the project “too controversial” thanks to the torches and pitchforks of the “change nothing” crowd.

No bias here, either. The governor of Idaho signed a pair of bills redefining roads as “for the primary benefit of motor vehicles,” while restricting where standalone bike and pedestrian projects can be built, and prohibiting projects that would narrow roadways.

………

Local 

Claremont conditionally approved an ordinance to allow ebikes on the city’s Claremont Hills Wilderness Park trail; it will come back up for a second, final vote on April 22nd.

 

State

San Diego County Crime Stoppers is pulling out all the stops in the hunt for the driver, and the car, who killed an ebike rider in a Clairemont hit-and-run last weekend. Which is exactly how it should be, and exactly what Los Angeles doesn’t do.

She gets it. The head of the Mineta Transportation Institute asks if the convenience of turning right on red is really worth the risk to bike riders and pedestrians.

San Francisco approved plans for a parking-protected bike lane on Oak Street leading to Golden Gate Park, but will divert riders into a park to make room for turning cars.

 

National

People For Bikes considers the effects of Trump’s tariffs on the bike industry — not to mention what you’ll pay for your next bike and parts — with import taxes as high as 46% on Asian nations, where most bicycles are made. Best advice is to buy what you can now, before prices go up and availability goes down.

 

International

Momentum lists the six most bike-friendly North American airports, none of which are LAX. Or any other California airport south of San Francisco.

London’s bicycling and walking commissioner says it would be “extremely unpleasant” to have thousands of bicyclists riding through a newly pedestrianized Oxford Street, but bike riders complain about the “weak and wiggly” alternatives provided for bikes. Although the real news is that London has a bicycling and walking commissioner, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name. 

British custom framebuilder Feather Cycles is the latest bike brand to bike the dust, as the owner says he could make more money as a food delivery rider.

Stars and Stripes recommends resources for long-distance bicycling through Europe, most of which apply to us non-service members, too.

Around 80 university students are riding nearly 800 miles to Strasbourg, France to call for European Union support for a Serbian anti-graft project to halt corruption in the Balkan nation, as it seeks membership in the 27-nation bloc.

 

Competitive Cycling

The teams competing for this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift were announced Thursday, including all 15 WorldTour teams, along with seven teams from the ProTour.

Two-time world and Olympic champ Remco Evenepoel is expected to return to racing at Switzerland’s Tour de Romandie at the end of this month, after suffering multiple fractures, dislocated collarbone and bruised lungs when he was doored by a Belgian postal van driver in December.

You know the Lotto cycling team missed the mark when their new team kit is best described as “an explosion in a paint factory.”

Velo will live stream all the races in the USA CRITS series this spring. Which may the only way you’ll see them, since most of the races are in Georgia, and all are in the South other than a single race in Nebraska.

 

Finally….

Seriously, who knows the best bikes better than Brit GQ?  You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you just take a coffee break.

And that feeling when they raised the speed limit, but you could still get ticket for going too fast.

In a bike race.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Metro pulls plug on Sepulveda Corridor meetings, and killer of 17-year old US Cycling Team’s Magnus White on trial

April 2, 2025 / / One comment
Day 92 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Cancel that.

Metro has pulled the plug on this week’s meetings to consider rail proposals for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor.

So if you were planning to attend on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, make other plans.

However, the agency insists this project remains a high priority, and the meetings will be rescheduled soon.

Image from Metro’s Sepulveda Transit Corridor website. 

………

A Denver TV station reports on the testimony from day two of trial over the death of 17-year old National Team member Magnus White.

The defense admits she killed him, but argues she isn’t guilty of the reckless driving charge because she was asleep at the wheel at the time of the crash.

Although it seems kinda reckless to drive when she was too tired to stay awake in the first place.

Several of the witnesses report that 25-year old Ukrainian immigrant Yeva Smilianska didn’t seem disturbed following the crash, acting unnaturally calm until she finally saw White laying behind her gasping for breath.

One officer said she didn’t seem to understand what had happened, while another investigator said she told him the “steering wheel stopped listening to me.”

Prosecutors also showed photos of White’s badly mangled bike, which the station included in their story.

But make sure you really want to see it, or read what the witnesses testified to before you click on the link.

Because I felt kind of sick after reading it. And not because of Covid.

………

In news that shouldn’t surprise anyone, new Caltrans data made available by a 2023 law showed the state transportation agency focused on highways, and paint over protection for bicycles, in recent years.

That’s despite the agency’s ostensible commitment to Complete Streets.

According to Calbike,

Caltrans built 554 new highway miles over the period covered by this data, at a time when California needs to reduce, not increase, vehicle miles traveled. At the same time, the agency built just 160 miles of bikeways, more than half of which were Class 3 lanes where bike riders share the lane with motor vehicle traffic.

While the SB 695 data doesn’t provide enough detail to fully understand Complete Streets projects on state routes, this first release of data shows that Caltrans isn’t doing enough to meet California’s goals to increase biking and walking.

Well, duh.

Anyone who’s tried to ride a bike on state roadways could tell you that.

………

It’s happened again.

According to a Sparks, Nevada TV station, a road-raging Reno resident faces an attempted murder charge for using his car as a weapon to deliberately ram a man on a bicycle, leaving the 35-year old victim with life threatening injuries.

Security video shows the driver intentionally target the victim at a high rate of speed, apparently angered by a “minor altercation” that came after he nearly hit the victim a few minutes earlier.

Another reminder that every angry driver is already armed with a deadly weapon, if they decide to use it.

……….

Seriously?

A sheriff’s deputy in Florida’s Broward County isn’t facing an investigation, despite bike cam video showing him using his patrol car as a weapon to knock a teenaged boy off his bicycle before tacking the kid,

The deputy was responding to a report of juveniles “riding bicycles recklessly and engaging in unlawful activity,” neither of which would justify the use of deadly force when the boy wasn’t threatening anyone’s safety.

……….

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

The home of the Idaho Stop could take a big step backward, with two bills on the governor’s desk that would restrict bicycle and pedestrian improvements to a secondary role in highway projects, as well as banning any projects that would result in a narrower roadway.

Welsh bike advocates warn that the country could risk missing the opportunity to get more people on bicycles, as the government shifts its focus to prioritizing walking over biking.

………

Local  

The Los Angeles Street Standards Committee will vote Thursday to approve the minimum standards to implement Measure HLA. Which is probably exactly what the city will implement, the bare minimum. And raise your hand if you didn’t know the city even had a Street Standards Committee.

 

State

Calbike reports they’ve joined the Clean RIDES Network, a seven state coalition working to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

San Diego’s ABC10 reports that 21 people were killed in traffic collisions in the San Diego area last month, adding to the 39 killed in January and February. In other words, they did exactly what every local news outlet should do by reporting the dangers we all face on the streets, regardless of how we get around. 

 

National

The husband of the Oregon woman killed by a DEA agent while she was riding her bike has filed suit against the Oregon State Police and state Department of Justice, alleging lapses in training, supervision and policy led to her death.

Washington State is working on connecting existing trails into a network of bicycle highways; meanwhile, Calbike is supporting a bill to bring the first bicycle highways to California.

Thirteen states have now adopted some form of the Idaho Stop Law, aka Stop As Yield, after New Mexico passed a law allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields, and red lights as stop signs when it’s safe to do so.

The University of Iowa student newspaper profiles the organizations working to make the local community safer for people on bicycles.

Streetsblog talks with Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin about the bi-partisan Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Act to allow full federal funding of active transportation safety projects, arguing that “the carnage is intolerable.” Which seems a little strange considering how long our government has already tolerated it.

 

International

Your next Mercedes AMG F1-inspired ebike could have a speedometer that tops out at 60 mph, even though the bike itself is legally required to top out at 20.

The 24-year old Moroccan man who rode his bike to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup is now riding from the tip of Argentina to Alaska, with plans to stop in Mexico, the US and Canada for next year’s World Cup along the way.

UK disability advocates Wheels For Wellbeing calls for the country to reconsider the recent ban on non-folding ebikes on trains, since they can be used as mobility devices. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

The Dutch ambassador rode his bike more than 100 miles to the heart of Bangladesh tiger country to highlight the need to save the endangered animals.

Velo offers highlights from the Taipei Cycle Show, including a nifty little electric tire pump, arguing that some of the tech there could rival the bike industry’s best.

A pair of Aussie researchers consider the problem of drivers who look, but fail to see people on bicycles, and what can be done to keep us safe.

 

Competitive Cycling

Read all about it, in excruciating detail, as a new medical paper details Egan Bernal’s “remarkable recovery” from the training crash that nearly killed him, or could have left him paralyzed. But didn’t.

 

Finally….

It’s almost plausible that Paris is confining cars to protected lanes and turning traffic lanes over to bikes. Or that Ontario’s anti-bike premier is jogging in the bike lanes he wants to rip out.

And apparently, bikes can use the full LAN.

You know, in case you need to print something when you’re riding.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Parking expert Donald Shoup died, council committees consider HLA ordinance, and killing couple riding bikes just no big deal

February 10, 2025 / / Comments Off on Parking expert Donald Shoup died, council committees consider HLA ordinance, and killing couple riding bikes just no big deal
Day 41 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Let’s get the worst news out of the way first.

Beloved UCLA Distinguished Urban Planning Research Professor Donald Shoup has passed away.

Known to friends and fans as Shoup Dogg, Donald Should gained fame among urbanists, traffic planners and advocates with his 2005 book The High Cost of Free Parking, which established him as one of the world’s leading experts on parking, and the hidden costs it imposes on builders and cities.

https://bsky.app/profile/mnolangray.bsky.social/post/3lhnbxzgt7s2c

Here’s how Shoup was described in his bio by the university.

Donald Shoup is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. His research has focused on transportation, public finance, and land economics.

In his 2005 book, The High Cost of Free Parking, Shoup recommended that cities should (1) charge fair market prices for on-street parking, (2) spend the revenue to benefit the metered areas, and (3) remove off-street parking requirements. In his 2018 edited book, Parking and the City, Shoup and 45 other academic and practicing planners examined the results in cities that have adopted these three reforms. The successful outcomes show that parking reforms can improve cities, the economy, and the environment.

Shoup is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and an Honorary Professor at the Beijing Transportation Research Center. He has received the American Planning Association’s National Excellence Award for a Planning Pioneer and the American Collegiate Schools of Planning’s Distinguished Educator Award.

But that doesn’t begin to do him justice, starting with the love his former students and associates held for him, along with virtually anyone else he came in contact with.

Myself included.

I always found Shoup engaging and helpful, whether in person or on social media. Whenever I reached out to him, he responded immediately, offering me a Cliff Notes education in urban planning, while challenging me to do my own research.

Much of what I know today today about parking and urban planning I learned from him.

But more than that, Shoup has done more than anyone else to get cities to reform their parking policies, including eliminating parking minimums, here in the US and around the world.

The world will be poorer place without Shoup, but far better off because of him.

He was 86.

………

No surprise here.

Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto has come back with a proposed ordinance setting minimum standards for Measure HLA.

And advocates have found it, well, lacking.

The city has been slow walking the legally required implementation of HLA — which requires the city to build out the ten-year old mobility plan whenever a street gets resurfaced — since its passage by an overwhelming margin nearly a year ago.

Streetsblog reports the ordinance will come up before a joint session of the Transportation and Public Works Committees at City Hall, starting at 8:30 this Wednesday morning.

According to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton,

Item 4 (council file 24-0173) includes the City Attorney’s draft implementation ordinance, a new law essentially designed to specify how the city will comply with Measure HLA. Some advocates anticipate that the ordinance will be helpful to remove some city department excuses currently blocking HLA upgrades. But the ordinance also attempts to water down some parts of HLA, including introducing a few loopholes where the city could opt out of some improvements required under Measure HLA. It also sets up a cumbersome extra appeal process that would likely mean serious delays before the city improves streets. The item also looks to codify current relatively driver-centric outreach standards for HLA upgrades that “may result in closures or disruption of access to the public right-of-way.” That “access” is not the everyday dangers/barriers faced by people walking, in wheelchairs, or bicycling – it’s a euphemism meaning repurposing space currently for driving or parking cars. Safe streets advocates face Hobson’s choice on this one: push for modifications hoping for a somewhat stronger ordinance (changes could mean sending it back to the City Attorney for months further delaying delayed safety upgrades) or get a weak city processes approved that could facilitate some improvements.

The committees will also consider a requesting preliminary budget for implementing HLA on the next item.

Meanwhile, Streets For All called out specific problems with another separate, but related, proposed HLA implementation document that specifies facility minimums.

While most of the minimums make sense, there are some that either violate HLA or have the potential to violate it. Specifically, the city should:

1. Not include shared bike/bus lanes as acceptable for the Bicycle Lane Network. Bus lanes are bus infrastructure that brave cyclists can also use; they are not a substitute for actual bike lanes.

2. State how they will accomplish speed, volume, and crossing control on the Bicycle Enhanced Network (neighborhood streets); right now, the draft just says they will implement it, but not it should specific treatments such as speed humps, traffic circles, chicanes, etc.

3. Include basic improvements for the “moderate” tier on the Transit Enhanced Network; currently, they have state “none” are required. Improved bus stops, better signage, and transit signal priority are basic things that should be included.

4. Bus lanes should be implemented as envisioned in the Mobility Plan 2035. Currently, City Planning suggests the City can forgo the implementation of a bus lane on a TEN street if the bus lane “would not support a transit operator’s planned or existing service pattern.”

Streets For All asks you to attend City Planning’s virtual meeting at 6 pm this Thursday, basing your comments on the points above, as well as emailing your comments to City Planning.

If any of that seems confusing, it was for me, too. Thanks to Joe Linton for helping me clarify what I had originally written. 

………

Life is cheap in Napa County, where the driver who killed an Oregon couple as they rode their bikes on vacation got less than one lousy year behind bars.

Nike executive Christian Deaton, 52, and 48-year old Nike designer Michelle Deaton were riding on Silverado Trail in October of 2023 when they were struck by unsecured lumber in the back of a truck driven by 57-year old Porfirio Sanchez.

Sanchez had faced up to four years behind bars, but was sentenced to just 364 days in jail after pleading to two counts of vehicular manslaughter; prosecutors dismissed charges of felony hit-and-run, providing police with false information and altering evidence as part of a plea deal.

He will have to serve just over half of his overly lenient sentence before being released.

Proving once again that killing two innocent people is just no big deal, as long as they’re riding bicycles.

………

No surprise here, either.

Singletracks reports a number of Los Angeles-area mountain bike and gravel trails were destroyed in the recent Palisades, Eaton and Hughes fires.

According to the magazine, the Mount Wilson, Mount Lowe, Middle Sam Merrill and Sunset Ridge trails above Altadena were burned, along with the Backbone, Rogers Road and Sullivan Canyon trails near the Palisades.

Others, such as the famed El Prieto trail, were also damaged.

While some may re-open as early as May, it will take years to fully recover from the damage.

………

Traffic violence hits a little too close to home for the folks at Bike Talk this week, and Walk ‘n Rollers steps up to help kids affected by last month’s LA Fires.

biketalk.org/2025/02/bike…@bikinginla.bsky.social @pedalingpast60.bsky.social @nyc.streetsblog.org

— Bike Talk (@biketalk.bsky.social) 2025-02-10T00:33:19.454Z

………

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

Miami Beach becomes the latest city to rip out bike lanes, removing the bike lanes from one-way, pedestrian-friendly Ocean Drive, and returning it to a pedestrian unfriendly two-way street. Because cars.

Nice guy. The UK’s Health Minister was fired after it was revealed that he had sent racist, sexist and otherwise offensive messages on WhatsApp — including his sincere wish that a constituent named Nick would get run over by a garbage truck while riding on a local bikeway.

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

Nice guy, part two. A 31-year old British man will spend a lousy four months behind bars for ramming his bicycle into the legs of his former girlfriend, knocking her to the ground and calling her obscene names while standing over her.

………

Local  

Seriously? Confused Claremont drivers can’t figure out how green bike lanes and bike boxes work.

 

State

SlashGear follows up on what happened after the noseless, gel-padded VSEAT bike seat lured two of the Sharks on Shark Tank to invest two hundred grand for a 25% equity, saying the company founded by a California woman and her trainer is still around, selling the unique seats online while promising to alleviate crotch pain for $119.

A San Diego letter writer says if you really want to keep bike riders safe, enforce the damn traffic laws, already.

An 18-year old Fresno man was hospitalized in critical condition with a head injury after he was struck by a driver when he allegedly rode his bike through a red light.

Once again, a police chase has led to another mass casualty crash, after six people were hospitalized, two critically, when a driver fleeing from the cops crashed into a San Francisco restaurant’s outdoor seating area while people were watching the Super Bowl.

 

National

The US Bicycle Route System has added another 3,568 miles to its cross-country network, bringing the total to over 23,000 miles, nearly halfway to its goal of 50,000 miles.

Seattle Bike Blog writer Tom Fucoloro, author of Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from Behind the Handlebars, says if the city wants to challenge the dominance of motor vehicles, it “needs support from the people pulling every lever of power.”

A writer for Streets Minnesota says ebikes can mean greater freedom for people with limited vision, for whom driving can be a challenge, if they can do it at all. Thanks to BikeLA Executive Director Eli Akira Kaufman for the heads-up.

America’s leading anti-urbanist has come down strongly against congestion pricing, as President Trump announced plans to kill the program in New York City, even though it has already proven successful in reducing congestion and improving safety. Which doesn’t bode well for implementing it in Los Angeles for the next four years.

A Maryland tourist has filed a $1.6 million lawsuit after she suffered “significant” injuries when a Virginia Beach, Virginia cop doored her without looking as she rode her bike in a bike lane.

 

International

The Velo podcast talks with a British Columbia bike shop owner about the trials and travails of just trying to earn a profit and stay in business these days.

That’s more like it. A 31-year old British woman will spend the next six years and eight months behind bars for killing a 71-year old man riding a bicycle while she was driving distracted and “persistently” surfing Instagram, Facebook and SnapChat behind the wheel, as well as texting.

A writer in the UK thought a ride with a 66-year old grandmother would be relaxing, until the world class masters cyclist dropped him like a sack of spuds.

More proof that bicycling is good for you, as a new Finnish study shows people who bike to work tend to take fewer sick days off from work, along with a reduced risk of long-term absences due to illness.

Bicyclists in Budapest, Hungary will now enjoy a connected, protected bicycle highway on the city’s Grand Blvd.

A Nigerian evangelical minister braved nine days of bad roads, crashes and bigass snakes to ride his bike nearly 400 miles across the country to wish the General Overseer of the Church a happy 83rd birthday.

A new Chinese study shows a one-size-fits-all approach to bicycle and motorcycle thefts won’t work, because bicycle and motorcycle thefts are clustered in different areas, under different circumstances; surprisingly, it also showed that the proportion of low-income residents in a given area led to more motorcycle thefts, but fewer bicycle thefts. Although it would be interesting to see if those results would hold over here. 

 

Competitive Cycling

The peloton put on the brakes and called a halt to the third stage of France’s Étoile de Bessèges in protest after several cars and trucks made their way onto the course, compressing riders into a single lane on the roadway.

Belgium’s Soudal-Quick Step development team has pulled out of the upcoming Tour of Rwanda over fears the armed conflict in neighboring Congo will spread.

Sixty-one-year old Vietnamese cyclist Hoang Hai Nam won that country’s first gold medal at the 2025 Asian Road Cycling Championships in the over-60 men’s individual time trial while riding a borrowed bike, after the Vietnamese team’s bicycles and gear were burned in a truck fire.

Bystanders came to the rescue of a New Zealander competing in the country’s annual coast-to-coast run, kayak and bike race after he crashed his bike just three miles into the 34-mile bicycle stage, loaning him a foldie from their camper when his derailleur snapped completely several miles later.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to crash your speeding ebike into a cop. Your new smart handlebars could have been funded through OnlyFans photos — yes, that OnlyFans.

And who needs spandex when you’ve got chain mail?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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