Tag Archive for bicycling deaths

Newsom keeps Forest Lawn Drive deadly, Kings County judge gets lousy misdemeanor, and Metro find $1 million under cushions for open streets

September 21, 2026 / / No comments

May you have an easy fast for all marking the Day of Atonement today. 

And Jewish or not, we all have something to atone for. 

……….

Good news and bad from Sacramento.

On the good side, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ AB 2168.

The bill, which was sponsored by Calbike, is designed to strengthens California’s Active Transportation Program by improving how bicycle and pedestrian projects are chosen and funded, to deliver more connected, accessible walking and biking networks

The bad news is that Newsom also signed SB 194, a last-minute, apparently lobbyist-written bill enabling the state to interfere on behalf of a couple of wealthy cemeteries to keep Forest Lawn Drive deadly. The new law in designed to make it much harder to implement a shovel-ready Complete Streets plan that was supposed to start earlier this year.

Newsom should have had the integrity to veto the law, which was so narrowly written that Forest Lawn Drive is the only street in the entire state it applies to.

Then there’s this response to Street For All’s original tweet. Which tells you a lot about the kind of people we’re dealing with here.

Twitter post

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Life is cheap in Kings County, where County Superior Court Judge Kendra Weber was charged with a lousy misdemeanor, without gross negligence, for killing a 63-year old man riding a bicycle last year.

Weber allegedly hit him from behind after failing to give a safe passing distance.

Yet somehow, the California Attorney General’s office doesn’t even have the decency to mention the victim’s name. But I suppose we should probably just be grateful a judge was charge at all.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

………

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton visits new protected bike lanes in Griffith Park, Hollywood and Arcadia. And writes that Metro has identified $1 million in unspent funds that can be devoted to funding open streets next year.

Metro had zeroed out any funding for open streets events that were not directly tied to this year’s World Cup and the ’28 Los Angeles Olympics, but Supervisor Lindsey Horvath insisted they find some money for next year, later joined by LA Mayor Karen Bass as she struggles for re-election.

Although that amount of funding will cover just two to three events. But that’s better than nothing. Hopefully other sponsors will step up to host more events.

Speaking of which, CicLAvia will return to the popular Heart of LA event in DTLA, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, Echo Park and the Arts District on October 11th. And the Santa Barbara website that brought it up even has the good taste to illustrate the story with a photo of a corgi.

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WeHo Online talks with the attorney representing the family of fallen bicyclist Blake Ackerman in their lawsuit against the city.

And it’s definitely worth taking a few minutes to read the lengthy piece. Take this brief segment, as the city takes the classic defense tactic of blaming the city, and/or claiming Ackerman’s death was an act of God.

The lawsuit isn’t claiming West Hollywood should have somehow predicted the event. It argues the City knew Fountain was dangerous, said so repeatedly and still did not make the changes it had been considering for years.

“They’ve become local experts since losing their son,” Gammill said of the family. “When things feel avoidable, preventable, it’s harder to swallow.”

“If lightning strikes, that’s just a fact of life. But when it’s not so much a lightning strike and it feels more like somebody left a live electrical cord laying out, that’s just harder to swallow.”

In other words, it may not be their fault that a hit-and-run driver plowed into Ackerman’s bicycle at Fountain and Gardner. But it is their fault that they’ve known for years, if not decades, how dangerous the street is and did nothing to make it safer.

That’s the unforgivable part.

And I will go to my grave blaming myself for not fighting harder to hold the city to account, before it was too late.

………

Speaking of the need for atonement, there’s not a pit in hell deep enough for the 23-year old Irvine man who struck a man in a wheelchair in Long Beach, and left him there in the crosswalk to die.

Allegedly.

Ethan Chung was booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter. He was apparently arrest later the same day, following the crash at 12:35 am Friday.

………

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

No bias here. A driver gets angry with a bike rider for not using an expensive new bike lane — even though the work isn’t finished and it’s not even obvious what it is yet.

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

A Singapore teenager has been charged with a rash act causing death after the 16-year old boy crashed his bike into a 74-year pedestrian, killing the man.

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Local 

Pasadena’s new biking and walking plan is now open for comments, with a goal of achieving zero traffic deaths. In other words, Vision Zero by any other name.

The Crescenta Valley Weekly looks at last week’s call for Los Angeles to declare a traffic violence state of emergency, which seems to have fallen on the usual deaf ears at the city council and mayor’s office. After all, you don’t want to piss off driving voters in an election year just to save a few hundred lives. 

 

State

A 20-year old Orange County man was the first in line to return his ebike at the OC DA’s recent ebike buyback event, after spending months on life support following a crash.

A Helendale man was arrested in Irvine with a stolen bike and an outstanding felony warrant from Riverside County, but faces only 6 months in county and a $1,000 fine unless the bike turns out to have a value over $950.

The San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, is building seven bikeway projects totaling 21 miles, annoying at least some drivers in the process. On the other hand, SANDAG followed LA’s lead in returning $17.1 million in unspent Active Transportation funds for four projects after they couldn’t meet state deadlines. Except Los Angeles had to give back over $100 million.

A large group of San Diego bicyclists turned out on Saturday riding everything from pedal bikes and mountain bikes to dirt bikes to honor 14-year old Owen Harris after the boy was killed by a driver while riding his ebike in Pacific Beach last weekend.

A bike rider in Ventura suffered “significant” injuries when they were struck by a driver on Telegraph Road Friday. But the local paper doesn’t want you to know about it, hiding the story behind a paywall, even though it’s likely based on a public report from the city police.

Palo Alto will be moving forward with a pair of long-delayed bicycle projects.

A paywalled story from the San Francisco Standard looks at the city’s alt-cycling movement, described as “an anti-optimized ethos” emerging “from ‘broke people riding old mountain bikes’,” exemplified by a ‘zine called Calling In Sick. Or as it’s called anywhere else, just normal people riding cheap bikes.

 

National

Life is cheap in Tucson, Arizona, where a driver faces another lousy misdemeanor for killing a bike rider in a left-cross collision.

He — or maybe she — gets it. A Salt Lake City letter writer says whether acting as a bicyclist, pedestrian or diver, their safety depends on whether the road itself is poorly planned, or others on the road are acting unsafely.

Great idea. An Oklahoma bike tour took riders through some of the state’s historic Black communities over the weekend.

In a touching story, a group of bicyclists in College Station, Texas rode Saturday to remember Kerry Snow-Alley, a 47-year old woman who refused to let her stage 4 breast cancer define her, describing her as “a beast” on her bike but adding “Off the bike, she was generous, relentlessly positive, and the kind of person who quietly showed up for the people around her;” she died from the disease September 10th.

Two residents of a Wisconsin religious mission rode through rain, chilly temperatures and steep hills yesterday on a 101-mile bike ride to “celebrate their sobriety, express their faith and raise awareness for the program that helped them turn their lives around.”

It only took 30 years, but Minnesota finally finished a 165-mile bike path, one of the longest paved bike trails in the US.

A kindhearted Indiana cop dug into his own pocket to buy a kid a new bike, after the boy got stiffed for a grass cutting job.

Tragic news from New York’s East Village, where a 15-year old girl was killed by the driver of a garbage truck while sharing a bikeshare bike with a 16-year old companion; she appeared to be riding in the handlebar basket when the 57-year old driver hit them both while they were riding in a crosswalk.

Gothamist offers a look at plans for New York’s re-imagined Park Avenue, which will finally be more of one.

A Georgia man ‘fessed up to shooting another man in an argument over the victim’s bicycle, but there’s no word on why they were fighting about it. Regardless, there is no bicycle on Earth that’s worth a human life. Just let it go, already. 

 

International

A Canadian woman became an advocate for safer streets after her husband was killed riding his bicycle; 20 years later, she’s still honoring his legacy by working to keep us all safer. The sad thing is that she still has to do, because 20 years later things still haven’t improved.

An English woman was knocked off her bicycle by a legally blind driver, suffering a broken leg, heel and several toes, as well as lacerations and a fractured elbow, because the man “forgot” to put on his glasses before getting behind the wheel.

The co-chair of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh’s air pollution working group is now advising Scottish bicyclists to wear close-fitting masks when they ride, arguing that bike riders “hugely increased” their intake of such pollutants compared to drivers and walkers by breathing more heavily. Although another study showed that drivers breathe in much more pollutants than bicyclists, because the smog gets trapped inside their cars.

The co-founder of British fashion brand Mint Velvet remembers how she “just crumbled” when she learned her son wouldn’t survive after being struck by a driver while riding his bike ten years ago.

Four out of five Dutch bicyclists say they feel less safe now sharing bikeways with fat bikes and ebikes.

Now we know what killed 36-year old German ultracyclist Max Riese, who crashed into a deer on a high-speed descent near his home in Salzburg, Austria. 

Our old friends Melissa and Chris Bruntlett, now Dutch-based authors and mobility experts, visit Estonia and observe both the progress, and lack thereof, in the country’s two largest cities.

Istanbul’s Visa Maximiles Black L’Etape Türkiye by Tour de France 2026 gave riders the rare opportunity to through two continents on a single 20 to 60 mile route. Although it probably takes longer to say the name than it would to ride the short course. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser threw herself a party for her 36th birthday by winning a second-consecutive women’s elite time trial world title on Sunday. Meanwhile, Remco Evenepoel doubled Reusser’s record, making it four in a row by taking the men’s world time trial title, also on Sunday.

 

Finally…

Now you can own the only three-wheeled e-car prototype built before ebike maker SONDORS gave up on the project. Lime is now willing to rat you out to the cops if you misbehave.

And no, there’s no hypocrisy at all in demanding that bike riders pay a tax for using roads, when owing the government $20 million in unpaid taxes and fees.

Why do you ask?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Ebike rider killed in Arleta crash, and demand a State of Emergency on Traffic Violence at LA council tomorrow

September 14, 2026 / / No comments

Okay, where were we?

I should have known I was tempting fate by going on a rant over traffic deaths. But why the hell did fate take it out on a young kid?

And you can find the t-shirt in today’s photo, and a few other ghost bike tees, by clicking on the Swag button on the upper right. I’d really like to stop posting them if drivers would just stop killing us. 

………

Speaking of ebike deaths, which I was really trying not to do, someone was killed riding an ebike in Arleta early Sunday.

According to KTLA-5, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was stuck by the driver of a white SUV in the 13000 block of Osborne Street, as if the color of the vehicle had some sort of magical effect on the outcome.

Actually, KTLA says the victim was killed after being struck by the SUV, as if a) the victim was beaten or strangled after being stuck by the vehicle, and b) the driver of the SUV somehow had nothing to do with it.

You can do better, KTLA.

As usual, there’s no word on what kind of ebike it was, whether the victim was riding a legal ped-assist bike or an illegal e-moto or dirt bike, since neither the cops nor the press can seem to distinguish between them.

At least Hoodline managed to add that section of Osborne Street is on Los Angeles’s Vision Zero High Injury Network — suggesting that the city still cares about such things — with 20 total vehicle fatalities and 16 pedestrian or bicyclist collisions from 2010 to 2020.

And why does it take The Korea Daily to report on LA traffic deaths and injuries? The Los Angeles-based paper reports that,

According to traffic collision statistics released by the Los Angeles Police Department on Aug. 27, a total of 187 people were killed in traffic crashes in Los Angeles between Jan. 1 and Aug. 15 this year. That represents a 5% increase from 178 deaths during the same period last year.

Injury crashes also increased by about 7%, from 971 to 1,043, while bicycle-related injury crashes surged 37% to 144.

The only real surprise that bicycle-related injury crashes surged more than a third is that anyone is still tracking the number, since no one bothers to tell us anymore.

……….

A reminder that Streets Are For Everyone is urging you to show up for tomorrow’s LA City Council Meeting, where they will demand that the city declare a State of Emergency on Traffic Violence.

The time has come to demand a State of Emergency on Traffic Violence from our local leaders.

SAFE will join our coalition partners at Los Angeles City Council on September 15th to drop our open letterdemanding that the Mayor and the Los Angeles City Council immediately declare a State of Emergency on Traffic Violence and address this public health crisis.

Thank you for signing on and joining this movement. Your signature helped us reach more than 1,250 signatures on this campaign, showing our local leaders that Angelenos want streets that are safe to use.

The next step is here, and we need you with us as we deliver that message directly to City Hall.

Please join SAFE on September 15th at 9:30 am in City Hall to help us deliver our open letter and make our voices heard. We are asking everyone who has signed this letter to attend the City Council meeting and give public comment.

Our goal is to have at least 50 people give public comment, making it clear to our local leaders that traffic violence is an urgent public safety crisis that deserves their attention.

Event Details

  • Date: Tuesday, September 15th, 2026
  • Time: Meet at 9:30 a.m.
  • Council Meeting Begins at 10:00 a.m.
  • Press Conference following Public Comment
  • Location: 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 (Entrance on Main St.)

Instructions and Talking Points for Public Comment.

After public comment concludes, advocates will leave the Council Chamber and regroup outside on the steps of City Hall for a Press Conference.

Thank you again for adding your name to this campaign and standing with us. We have built the movement. Now it is time to bring it directly to our local leaders.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me via email (aaron@streetsareforeveryone.org) or by calling my cell (818.697.2621)

We hope to see you at City Hall on September 15th.

Unfortunately, I won’t be there, as much as I’d like to be.

The meds I take to keep from acting out my dreams, and possibly inadvertently killing my wife in my sleep, means I will likely be unconscious at that hour. And even if I tried to shake off the effects of the drug and show up, I’d be too sick from it to even make it there.

So please, if you can, go in my stead and be my witness before the council to demand they take urgent action to stop people from killing us.

God knows, we’ve got enough ghost bikes in this damn city.

……….

LA mayoral challenger Nithya Raman announced her plan to make LA cooler and more livable before the ’28 Olympics.

Twitter post

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He gets it.

A writer for The Guardian, who confesses the “humiliating” fact that he can’t ride a bike because his parents were too busy arguing or falling asleep to teach him, has this to say about the Trump administration’s attack on “DEI” bike lanes.

Rhetorically, the administration’s charge of bike lanes being some form of diversity, equity, and inclusion makes no sense. If riding a bike is so easy, then how can we classify it as unique enough to be diverse? Children ride bikes. It’s far less exotic than, say, operating a motorcycle, which takes a special license in every state. Maybe if we had a dedicated lane for a penny-farthing, I’d buy this explanation. If I were tooling around on one of those, I’d never get where I was going, because scores of beautiful women would be stopping me every few feet.

Conservative disapproval for bike lanes stems from a blinkered, irrational view of culture, and more accurately, masculinity. Trumpists have teased Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg for riding bikes. But I’ve been teased for not being able to ride a bike. Shouldn’t I be lauded for my commitment to machismo? My belief in the petrol-powered conveyance deserves commendation. My parents’ inattention to my development actually made me cooler, right?

If anything, I’m the diversity in this scenario. I can’t use a bike lane. I’ve been excluded from significant parts of the road. I can’t even walk in the bike lane. I should be furious, writing pointed, profane letters to my city councilperson, begging them to release me from my shackles. Or better yet, I should demand the city taxpayers pay for me to take bike lessons, so I can be accommodated. I’m the weirdo here. The one who has to explain my predicament, to feel excluded from the general population. Except, I’m not going to complain.

………

American cars are getting fatter, along with our citizenry.

Twitter post

Twitter post

Twitter post

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

No bias here. A 30-year San Diego bike rider says the sharrows on Mira Mesa may be a death trap, but the solution can’t be to make Mira Mesa more congested, suggesting bike riders should be directed to quieter streets. As I recall from nearly 40 years ago, nothing could make Mira Mesa more congested. Although the San Diego Union-Tribune evidently doesn’t want you to know about it, since it’s hidden behind its draconian paywall. 

………

Local 

Good on them. LA street safety vigilante Jonathan Hale led People’s Vision Zero in painting a new crosswalk at Sycamore and Lexington, after the city refused to so anything.

Los Angeles Mayor Bass took credit for breaking ground on the long-planned Spring-Alameda Safety and Mobility Project, which far-predated her administration.

 

State

A 12-year old Laguna Nigel boy has been appearing before Orange County city councils to call for stricter ebike rules for kids his age, arguing that too many ride too fast, ignore rules and take risks.

Speaking of the San Diego U-T’s draconian paywall, an engineering study has found the Coast Highway bridge in Encinitas is in poor condition. But they apparently don’t want you to learn about it until the bridge collapses under you. 

The deaths of Kellie Standish and William Colby Tucker on PCH in Ventura earlier this year have renewed calls for improving safety on the deadly highway.

Two major safety projects are underway to bridge coastal gaps and improve bicycle and pedestrian safety between Montecito and Summerland.

Sad news from Santa Cruz County, where a driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI after killing a bike rider near Soquel.

 

National

This is the cost of traffic violence. An associate vice president of Brigham Young University, and the director of BYU’s nationally recognized David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies was killed while riding his bike last week; Vincent Stanley Benfell III was 63.

In a bizarre case, an Ohio mom was found dead on top of a train car, 130 miles from where she disappeared while riding her bicycle.

Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, New York are accelerating investments in bike lanes and safer streets, building out the networks necessary to making bicycling a practical means of transportation.

Around 30 riders in Birmingham, Alabama honored two forgotten victims of the fight for civil rights, 53 years after 13-year old Virgil Ware was shot and killed by white teens while riding on the handlebars of his brother’s bike, and 16-year old Johnny Robinson fatally shot by a cop, the same morning as the infamous bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church killed four young girls. Do I really need to mention that both young men were Black? I didn’t think so. 

A 76-year old disabled US Air Force vet started a five-day ride across Florida’s 28th Congressional District, leading a group to support the campaign of retired Navy Commander and Democratic candidate Phil Ehr.

 

International

Momentum asks the burning question why do cities insist on using sharrows when they don’t make bicyclists any safer, and often leave us less safer? That’s easy — they can be installed for pennies on the dollar without removing parking or a traffic lane, so they don’t inconvenience anyone by risking our lives. 

A Canadian writer goes riding with the last remaining bicycle couriers in Vancouver, as digital copies replace the death-defying thrill of zooming papers across the city on two wheels.

Dozens of Toronto bike advocates took to the streets to protest Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s move to rip out popular bike lanes and move them to quieter, less direct streets. Although “dozens” of protesters aren’t likely to get his, or anyone else’s, attention.

A British bike nonprofit has found that ebike bikeshares encourage people to try bicycling who might not otherwise.

 

Competitive Cycling

To the surprise of no one who’s been paying attention for the past two weeks, Spain’s Enric Mas won the Vuelta for the first time, after three previous second place finishes; Mas finished two minutes and 15 seconds ahead of Primož Roglič, and another half minute over Austrian Felix Gall. 

Congratulations to American Sepp Kuss on his fifth place finish, 8:45 back and one place behind Richard Carapaz.

Bummer. Irishman Eddie Dunbar crashed out on the penultimate state of the Vuelta, breaking his collarbone one day after an emotional comeback win on Peñas Blancas.

Mexico’s Isaac del Toro overcame Frenchman Paul Seixas to win a dramatic uphill sprint to the finish of the GP de Montreal, announcing themselves heirs apparent to Tadej Pogačar for the world championships.

Slovenian Urška Žigart broke her jaw for the second time in three months, prematurely ending her season with a crash on stage 3 of the Faun Tour Femmes.

 

Finally…

No, bike lanes are not just extra pavement that can be used by drivers whenever it’s convenient — and that includes protected bike lanes along Seattle freeways.

And that feeling when you get brake checked by a delivery robot, so you throw it into the bushes.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Today’s post, in which I go on a fucking rant over traffic violence and the abject failure of our basic system of transportation

September 11, 2026 / / 4 comments

I’m done.

I’m fucking done with traffic violence, and the way it rips innocent people out of our world and out of our lives, and the lives of their loved ones.

I’m done with people getting killed and maimed because they chose to ride a bicycle or walk across the street. I’m done with lives torn apart because someone made an innocent mistake, or pushed their luck a little too far.

I’m done with people dying or surviving with lifelong physical and/or emotional injuries because they unknowingly shared to road with the wrong person at the wrong time operating a multi-ton steel and glass weapon of mass destruction.

I am so done with all of it.

I just wish I could say I was done writing about it. Because there was another one last week, and another on Tuesday; a grandfather and a brother.

And there will be another one tomorrow, or next week, or the week after that.

And the bodies will keep piling up, one upon another upon another upon another, until we all yell “Enough!”

¡Basta!

Our most basic form of transportation is an abject fucking failure. Because what else cab you call a system that demands 38,000, 39,000, 40,000 or more human lives every year as tribute, just to get us all from here to there.

Enough already!

It doesn’t matter whether you do everything right, or everything wrong. Fuck up badly enough in the right place, at the right time, and you can walk away. Do everything right, follow every law, dress up like a neon clown and light up your bike and person like a Christmas tree, and you can still lose your life to a drunk, a stoner, a distracted driver texting with their thumbs while they try to grip the wheel.

Wear a helmet, or don’t. It might protect your skull if you fall off your bike. But it doesn’t do a damn thing to protect your midsection or keep your limbs attached.

Drivers seem to think it’s some sort of magic talisman to ward off injury and evil sprits, equivalent to a seat belt or an airbag, encased in a steel frame. Yet it’s only designed to protect against impacts at a whopping 12.5 mph.

But that’s more protection than pedestrians get. They get a couple of parallel white stripes drivers are supposed to stop for, but usually don’t. Or a curb that’s somehow supposed to halt a four-wheeled ballistic missile from slamming into an outdoor diner or a daycare.

Forty-fucking-thousand people every year, give or take. That’s a small city. And that’s just in the US.

Add in all the other people killed in traffic violence in all the other countries in the world, and you’re up to nearly 1.2 million lives lost. That’s like a WMD somehow wiped Dallas, Texas off the face of the earth.

Between 20 million and 50 million more people survive their injuries every years. Some recover in a few days, or a few weeks. Some never do.

Is this really the best we can do?

I’m done.

I’m done with all of it, all the deaths, all the injuries, all the shattered lives and families. All the traffic violence.

I want to scream it from the rooftops, shout it from the middle of Wilshire Blvd. I want to stop every fucking car until we fix this system of death and destruction.

I was in a jury pool several years back, and the defense lawyer asked who among the 20 or so people had been in a crash. Every hand went up. Then he asked how many people in the jury pool had lost a friend or loved one in a collision. Every hand but one stayed up.

I’ve been lucky. I’ve only lost two people close to me.

And somehow managed not to lose my own life through decades of walking, biking and driving. How, I don’t know, because I’ve come so close to disaster so many times, but always manage to walk away relatively unscathed, whether through luck or providence.

I used to say skill, but I don’t believe in that anymore. Because I read, and yes, write, about so many highly skilled people who didn’t.

I’m not done. But I’m done.

I want to keep screaming, keep yelling, keep ranting and raving enough! No more, forever!

But for one of the few times in my life, I have literally run out of words.

Which, I suppose, leads to my next subject. Because in a similar fit of anger and depression and inspiration the other day, I designed a few new t-shirts like the one above, and those below.

Buy one, or don’t.

I hope you’re as angry as I am, and want to yell it to the world. But that’s not the point.

The point is, I had to get it off — and in this case, literally on — my chest.

But more importantly, just fucking stay safe out there.

………

On a related subject, it’s time to storm City Hall on Tuesday, and join Streets Are For Everyone in demanding that the city declare a State of Emergency on Traffic Violence.

Below is an email I received from SAFE yesterday.

The time has come to demand a State of Emergency on Traffic Violence from our local leaders.

SAFE will join our coalition partners at Los Angeles City Council on September 15th to drop our open letter demanding that the Mayor and the Los Angeles City Council immediately declare a State of Emergency on Traffic Violence and address this public health crisis.

Thank you for signing on and joining this movement. Your signature helped us reach more than 1,250 signatures on this campaign, showing our local leaders that Angelenos want streets that are safe to use.

The next step is here, and we need you with us as we deliver that message directly to City Hall.

Please join SAFE on September 15th at 9:30 am in City Hall to help us deliver our open letter and make our voices heard. We are asking everyone who has signed this letter to attend the City Council meeting and give public comment.

Our goal is to have at least 50 people give public comment, making it clear to our local leaders that traffic violence is an urgent public safety crisis that deserves their attention.

Event Details

  • Date: Tuesday, September 15th, 2026
  • Time: Meet at 9:30 a.m.
  • Council Meeting Begins at 10:00 a.m.
  • Press Conference following Public Comment
  • Location: 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 (Entrance on Main St.)

Instructions and Talking Points for Public Comment.

After public comment concludes, advocates will leave the Council Chamber and regroup outside on the steps of City Hall for a Press Conference.

Thank you again for adding your name to this campaign and standing with us. We have built the movement. Now it is time to bring it directly to our local leaders.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me via email (aaron@streetsareforeveryone.org) or by calling my cell (818.697.2621)

We hope to see you at City Hall on September 15th.

There’s still time to sign the petition if you haven’t yet.

………

If you’re still with me — and I don’t know why you would be after all that — l’shanah tovah, and may we never forget the lives lost on the 25th anniversary of this day.

I’ll see you on Monday. And hopefully I’ll have my shit together by then.

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

86-year old Carlsbad ebike rider killed by apparent driverless car, PCH driver tries to punch bicyclist, and doctor applies medical test to bike radar

August 24, 2026 / / No comments

After living with topical chemo for a few weeks, I now have a gaping, pulpy hole in my right cheek, and virtually no skin left on the top half of my left ear; we’ll learn in a few weeks if that got rid of the skin cancer, or if I will still need surgery. 

Seriously, wear sunscreen when you ride. Your future face will thank you. 

………

An 86-year old man was injured in a collision after allegedly riding an ebike through a red light in Carlsbad on July 31st, and died later at the hospital.

But once again, the story fails to mention whether he was riding a legal Class 1, 2 or 3 ped-assist e-bicycle, or an electric motorbike.

It also fails to mention whether the vehicle that hit him had a driver, which would seem to be an important detail.

………

No bias here.

A road-raging Laguna beach driver got out of his car to confront a bike rider on PCH on Saturday, attempting to punch the bicyclist as the other man backed away.

Needless to say, many people sided with the driver, blaming bicyclists for simply riding on the busy highway, despite having no idea what had spurred the incident.

Never mind that the driver committed assault simply by getting out of his car to confront the rider, and again by trying to punch him.

Funny how people get upset about bicyclists riding the coastal highway on weekends, but have no problem with people clogging it with their cars, taking up far more space less efficiently.

Instagram post

………

Interesting insight, as a physician says his 36 year of medical training convinces him not to use a rear-facing radar to detect oncoming motorists, because it would not hold up to a randomized clinical trial.

The problem, according to Dr. James H. Stein, is that an unbiased funder would look at the premise, and immediately concluded that it is unlikely to hold up to scrutiny.

At its limit of roughly 450 feet, for a vehicle driving 55 mph, the device provides about 5-6 seconds of warning (less if they are driving faster). That is enough time to register an alert, but I do not think it meaningfully changes the decisions available to a cyclist. The options remain the same as seeing a vehicle in your rear view mirror or hearing it approach: hold your line, move right (even if that means moving off the road), or signal your presence by waving your arms. Those decisions are made as the car approaches, not from that far away. Earlier detection, in this context, adds information without adding options.

A radar also tells you nothing about a driver’s trajectory, or whether it will hit you or go around you. It only notifies you of the vehicle’s presence.

The problem is that the constant notifications may lead to divided attention and notification fatigue, as  the rider’s focus is repeatedly diverted from the roadway to the screen and back again.

Furthermore, most of what can hurt a cyclist is in front of them: potholes, gravel, debris, pedestrians, other cyclists, and cars either parked or entering the roadway. Even before radar, I have seen cyclists become so absorbed in their cycling computer that they rode off the road, and others have hit parked cars in front of them because they were not paying close enough attention. And I can’t count the number of times riders I know forgot to charge their light (the one with safety evidence) but did remember to charge their radar device.

Stein says looking at the marketing materials is where his research training kicks in, telling “There are no data showing that radar, or even early detection, reduces crashes or injuries,” and “Showing that an intervention changes something we can measure is not the same as showing that it improves the outcome we actually care about.”

It’s worth taking a few moments to read the whole thing, and giving it some thought. And even learning something about supplemental oxygen and treating anemia in hospitalized patients, while you’re at it.

Because he brings up a perspective that you may have never considered.

I know I hadn’t.

………

Today’s common theme follows the pattern in recent weeks of ebikes of all stripes and the people who hate them.

Additional ebike-related news, good and bad, includes —

………

BikeLA announces the return of their annual Bike Fest fundraiser this November.

………

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

Literally war, in this case, as Russia’s 3rd Army posted video of a drone attack on an unarmed Ukrainian civilian riding a bicycle, before removing the online video, perhaps after realizing they had just posted evidence of a war crime.

Speaking of bias, the Adelaide, Australia Advertiser says forget toll roads, and make bicyclists pay a toll to pay for the $12 million the city is investing in bikeways. But then they kindly hide the story behind one of the country’s typical draconian paywalls to avoid the disservice of making us actually read that dreck.

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

A British writer confesses to riding through red lights, but says the solution to scofflaw bicyclists is fewer laws governing bicyclists, not more.

………

Local 

South Pasadena will host a pair of community meetings next week to discuss Metro-funded makeovers of the Fremont Avenue corridor from Columbia Street to Alhambra Road, and the Huntington Drive corridor from Alhambra Road to Garfield Ave.

A Cal Poly student describes riding his bicycle back to school from the San Fernando Valley to San Luis Obispo via Topanga Canyon Boulevard and PCH. Not once, but twice.

 

State

LAist says a $10.7 million bike lane project is coming to a long-overdue ten-mile stretch of PCH in Huntington Beach.

 

National

Two Navy vets in their 50s reunited for the first time in 30 years for a cross-country bike ride from California to New York to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

A Portland writer describes the law, or lack thereof, behind the trail crossing sign that has been used nationwide since 2000 under the MUTCD, showing a yellow warning square with a pedestrian and a bicycle; yellow signs are considered advisory, and not legally binding.

Good idea. Three Chattanooga, Tennessee microbreweries host weekly bike nights. Although if anyone tried that here, you’d probably have cops lined up outside waiting for anyone biking under the influence.

A 38-year old Raleigh, North Carolina woman was under the influence, driving with a suspended license and had her six kids under ten years old in her car when she hit and killed a 69-year old man out for a midnight bike ride.

A North Carolina cyclist is calling for safety changes in the state, after two young men he knew were killed in the Milligan University massacre, saying he raced with or against every victim of the crash.

 

International

A writer for Cycling Weekly says riding a fixed-gear bike is the best way to demonstrate your superiority over riders on carbon superbikes. Although the name of the magazine describes by own riding style these days, of cycling weakly. 

Speaking of good ideas, Calgary, Alberta, hosted a women’s-only Gran Fondo, with 180 women lining up for timed rides of 25 and 44 miles.

Two English men, ages 31 and 24, face murder charges for killing a 27-year old man riding a bicycle by punching him in an unprovoked attack.

A bike route crosses four European countries, crossing from the Netherlands through Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg on the Vennbahn, and ending with a soak in Aachen, Germany’s historic thermal baths.

Momentum says Japan’s newest national bike route draws a 101-mile circle around Mount Fuji, combining bicycling with mountain scenery, cultural attractions and “some very good reasons to stop for ice cream.”

Australia’s Bicycle Networks says a new bike and pedestrian bridge marks another step forward for Sydney as a bicycling city.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mauritian cyclist Kim Le Court-Pienaar won the women’s Tour of Britain by a 24-second margin, after claiming the leader’s jersey with an uphill solo attack on stage three; Lorena Wiebes finished second by claiming four of the five stages, just not the one that counted. 

Twenty-one-year old British rider Matthew Brennan won the second stage of the Vuelta, the longest stage the race’s 21 stages, as Tadej Pogačar held on to the leader’s red jersey; as it now stands, Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan are second and third.

Julian Alaphilippe says he’s done with pro cycling, and is calling it a career “with immediate effect” at age 34.

 

Finally…

If you’re underage and riding an illegal e-moto, try not to crash directly in front of the cop shop. If at REI you don’t spend, your car’s not welcome here in Bend.

And yes, a bright kit will make you more visible to everyone. Thanks to Norm for the link.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

State senate committee votes to keep drunks on road, driver didn’t brake in Milligan massacre, and LA sued for Pershing Drive death

August 21, 2026 / / One comment

Evidently, Sacramento legislators support drunk drivers.

Or at least one does, anyway.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, approved a hostile amendment that gutted a bill that would have required interlock devices for drivers convicted of DUI.

The bill, which has widespread support, would simply have brought the state in line with most other states, which already require the devices.

According to CalMatters,

Cervantes, you might remember, was arrested for a DUI in Sacramento last year, but prosecutors chose not to press charges after a blood test found she had “no measurable amount of drugs or alcohol in her system.” (She later sued the Sacramento Police Department, arguing the arrest was discriminatory and in retaliation for her legislation restricting police data collection.)

Her sister, Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, has two DUI convictions.

So anyone whose loved ones are killed by any drunk drivers with a previous DUI can send the thank you card directly to Cervantes office.

And hey, let’s have another one for the road.

Thanks to Joel for the heads-up.

………

More fallout from the crash that killed two members of the Milligan University cycling team, and injured seven others — nine casualties out of the eleven member team.

The crash occurred when the car ahead of driver John Alexander Benfield moved from the right lane to the left lane. But rather than follow the first driver to the other lane to avoid the team, Benfield smashed into them, with investigators alleging he didn’t brake or take any other evasive action to avoid them.

It’s’s not even clear if Benfield ever saw the cycling team before plowing into them.

A county deputy helping to secure the scene allegedly detected the odor of marijuana coming from Benfield’s car.

You know, just a little wake and bake behind the wheel.

Allegedly.

Milligan University sophomores Haylan Engdahl and Brayden Rogers, both 19, died at the scene.

I said yesterday that Engdahl was from Kenosha, Illinois, but he was actually from Kenosha, Wisconsin; the other victim, Brayden Rogers, was a native of Huntsville, Alabama.

At last report, four of the surviving victims remained in critical condition in the ICU; three required surgery from the orthopedic trauma team, and one will require additional surgery.

Meanwhile, Benfield remained in custody after his bail was doubled to $300,000.

………

No surprise here, as the husband of fallen bicyclist Regan Cole-Graham announced plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles.

Matthew Graham alleges that his wife’s death, along with that of his unborn daughter Ophelia, resulted from the removal of bike lanes from Pershing Drive, endangering bicyclists and ultimately leading to the deadly crash.

The 87-year old driver hasn’t been charged, supporting the argument that the crash was caused by poor road design.

I have argued since the bike lanes were installed in 2017, then ripped out months later to appease angry pass-through motorists, that the city would ultimately be responsible for any future deaths that occurred there.

Now Los Angeles taxpayers will be on the hook for yet another costly settlement — one that could easily reach into eight figures, because the city knowingly created a situation that was less safe than it had been when the bike lanes were installed.

But there’s no amount that could make these needless deaths right.

………

This has nothing to do bikes, or anything else this site normally discusses.

But I literally laughed out loud when I stumbled on outraged articles about Australia’s national debt topping $1 trillion dollars, the same week the US national debt topped $40 trillion — a difference of a mere $39,000,000,000,000.

Never mind that $1 trillion Australian dollars equals just over $700 billion USD.

………

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

A London bike rider says we have met the enemy, and he is us, arguing that cars aren’t the problem, and bike riders have to look to their own ranks to improve safety.

In a typical over-response to ebikes, bicycles of all types will now be banned from the historic city center of Como, Italy, after Mayor Alessandro Rapinese was struck by an ebike rider in June; bike riders will now be forced to dismount and walk their bikes.

………

Local 

Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman debated in Sherman Oaks on Wednesday, with questioners seemingly dedicated to protecting established businesses and homeowners, and opposing increased housing allowed under SB 79. My main takes were 1) Bass doesn’t seem to know she’s been mayor for three years, when she could have gotten a lot done, but didn’t, and 2) LAist probably didn’t need to talk over Bass and Raman with a station ID every ten minutes, as if we all had no idea who or what we were listening to.

More on CicLAvia returning to Pasadena this November after a ten-year absence.

Santa Monica drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians are urged to slow down and stay alert as the new school year begins. Good advice, but do they really want people to walk slower near schools? 

 

State

Orange County DA Todd Spitzer is hosting what may be the country’s first ebike buyback event, providing up to $1,000 in an effort to get illegal e-motos and hacked ebikes off the road; the first 75 people will also get two Angels baseball tickets. There’s probably no truth to the rumor that the next 75 people will have to take four Angels tickets. Thanks to Edward for the tip.

San Diego is one of the largest US cities without a bikeshare system, something local bicyclists want to change, seven years after the city’s DecoBike system went down the drain. But you’ll have to get past the Union-Tribune’s draconian paywall if you want to read it. 

San Diego’s Bike the Bay rolls for the 19th year on Sunday, giving local riders their only opportunity to pedal across the city’s iconic San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge. Although to be honest, the ferry is more fun, anyway. 

 

National

You know bikes are taking over when a new bike park opens in windswept Laramie, Wyoming, in the middle of cowboy country.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an ebike from a Derby, Kansas father who was declared legally blind earlier this year, taking away his only form of transportation and forcing him to miss work.

Tragic news from New York, where a 51-year old father called his wife to say he was just minutes from their home; moments later a hit-and-run driver doing an estimated 100 mph ran a red light and slammed into him on his bicycle, no doubt killing him instantly. Have I mentioned lately that hit-and-run drivers one the lowest forms of human scum occupying the earth? I didn’t think so. And don’t get me started on excessive speeding. 

 

International

Bike Radar presents their short list for Bike of the Year.

The Guardian goes riding up Norway’s Mjølkevegen, as bicyclists are discover “the road’s breathtaking panoramas of peaks and lakes, dotted with cozy inns.” Although you shouldn’t be allowed to ride it unless you can pronounce it. 

An Australian researcher says yes, ebike subsidies and safer infrastructure matters, but what will really encourage more people to ride bikes is having sufficient skills, confidence and support to ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-two-year old Welsh cyclist Josh Tarling will line up for the start of the Vuelta a España for his Netcompany-Ineos team, just one week after his 19-year old brother Finlay was killed when a van driver got onto the course at the Volta a Portugal last Friday.

Calls to improve safety in professional cycling have only gotten louder in the week since Tarling’s death.

The same thing that happened to Tarling nearly happened to Aussie cyclist Maeve Plouffe at the women’s Tour of Britain as she was trying to catch up to the peloton after a puncture, and was almost struck head-on by a driver in a roundabout when traffic was allowed back on the course before all the riders had cleared.

It happened again on the race’s second stage, when the stage was neutralized for an hour due to a traffic collision ahead of the riders, as UCI seems incapable of keeping a race course clear long enough to run a race; Dutch superstar Lorena Wiebes has won both stages so far.

The BBC says the Tour of Britain is inspiring more Muslim women to ride bikes; then again, they said the same thing about the Tour de France Femmes. And once again, you’ll have to get past their paywall if you want to read it.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a runaway pig evades an ebike rider, and ends up living with Grammy-winning Hollywood celeb. Or when using cracked pavement as a bike stand becomes an internet bicycle meme.

And this is what you call a scary effing close call.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

CicLAvia returns to Pasadena, 19-year old Welsh cyclist killed in Portugal race when driver enters the course, and why Trump hates bike lanes

August 17, 2026 / / One comment

The Little Old Lady from Pasadena can leave her bright red Super Stock Dodge in the garage this November.

CicLAvia made the surprise announcement last week that the popular open streets event is returning to Pasadena for the first time since 2015.

It will run down a section of Colorado Boulevard on Sunday, Nov. 15, with the exact route and hours to be announced.

The event appears to be so last minute that it’s not even on the CicLAvia website yet.

Photo of the iconic, 113-year old Colorado Street Bridge by mcbruin from Pixabay; Photo of the memorial to Jackie and Mack Robinson by Mike from Pixabay.

………

Tragic news from Portugal, where 19-year old Welsh cyclist Finlay Tarling was killed during Friday’s 8th stage of the Volta a Portugal; a rider with the NSN Development Team, Tarling was reportedly struck head-on by a van driver who prematurely entered the course after the majority of the peloton had passed.

The stage was neutralized after Darling’s death, and the NSN Development Team pulled its five remaining riders out of the race.

According to IDL Pro Cycling,

At the time of the accident, Finlay Tarling was riding alone, at the back of the pack as a chaser. On a descent, he was going so fast that a GNR support car couldn’t keep up with him. At that moment, there was one other support car—the last car in the race indicating that the peloton had passed (the broom wagon)—and two motorcycles following behind the race.

In principle, all three riders—who had fallen behind at that point—could have had a lead bike, but Tarling was going too fast on a descent. As he took the inside line in a fast left-hand turn, the car suddenly appeared there, driving in its own lane—but of course, it should never have been on the course at that moment.

The driver reportedly had waited for the racers to pass, and when he didn’t see anyone else coming, he asked if the race was over and it was okay to enter the course. After waiting a little, he pulled onto the course, with tragic results.

The driver tested negative for drugs or alcohol, and isn’t expected to face charges.

Cycling News reports Finlay was the brother of Josh Tarling, a cyclist on the Netcompany-Ineos team, and expected develop a successful career.

Needless to say, the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA), the union for pro cyclists, was angry over what was described as a “catastrophic” lack of security. 

We are speechless and filled with anger after the news of Finlay Tarling’s death at the Tour of Portugal,” the CPA posted. “It is not right that a young athlete’s life should end this way, and we are furious that even today it is still not possible to prevent such serious accidents.”

The president of NSN Cycling called for better helmets in the wake of Tarling’s death.

“One thing we have to look at is helmets. They need a major upgrade. Bike helmets only need to meet standard testing like all helmets, EU standard CE EN 1078 is only rated for 19.5km/h (12.11 mph) and I do not believe this is enough for road racing.”

(Actually, that’s not enough for anything other than falling off a beach cruiser after too many fruity cocktails; I’ve long complained about the lack of protection offered by bicycle helmets.)

Darling’s parents released a statement, asking you to think of him the next time you clip into your pedals.

………

The Skepchick podcast considers why Donald Trump hates bike lanes.

My guess is he just didn’t get enough fawning admiration from cyclists when he briefly ran the Tour de Trump.

………

A Denver news report says a raging Colorado wildfire threatens the population Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race, and all the financial benefits it brings to the struggling mountain town.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

………

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

A 71-year old Upstate New York man faces charges for a road rage attack on a bike rider, swerving his car at the bicyclist and cutting the rider off, then pepper-spraying and kicking the victim in the face; he faces counts for assault in the third degree, reckless endangerment in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford won the lawsuit attempting to stop him from ripping out Toronto’s bike lanes, as the Ontario Court of Appeal, the province’s highest court, ruled in his favor, but a Toronto website reminds readers its an election year there, too, and they can voice their displeasure at the ballot box.

………

Local 

Courthouse News considers the struggle to close the eight-mile gap in the Los Angeles River bike path through DTLA, Vernon and Maywood. Maybe because the process has been such a trial up to this point. 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton checks out the new concrete curb-protected bike lane on Clark Ave in Long Beach.

 

State

Police in Irvine used a “specialized K9 officer and cutting-edge drone technology” to recover a high school student’s stolen ebike from an ex-con in a homeless encampment. That’s one very specialized dog if it knows how to pilot a drone. 

LAist celebrates the newfound freedom to bike, skate or walk over the 5 Freeway in Irvine, thanks to a new bike/ped bridge over the busy highway.

Cops in Huntington Beach busted two men for using a fraudulent credit card to order five ebikes valued at more than $8,000 from the Jax Bicycle Center; employees became suspicious due to the size of the purchase.

Writing for the Voice of OC, a 12-year old Laguna Niguel middle school student says Orange County needs ebike safety reform immediately. Although they could have done better than illustrating it with a kid jumping a non-electrified mountain bike. 

The California Coastal Commission finally approved a long-gestating plan to transform much of the northeastern corner of San Diego’s Mission Bay into marshland and recreation space — but not so much for bicycles, after ruling that a planned bike and pedestrian path has to be moved so it doesn’t pass through any wetlands. Although you’ll have to find a way around the Union-Tribune’s paywall if you want to read about it. 

Tragic news from Sacramento, where two ebike riding teens were killed when then were both hit by a truck driver.

 

National

A new national survey shows strong support for sustainable transportation, local energy policies, and green infrastructure investments, though responses varied between urban and rural areas.

He gets it, the hard way. A Nevada bike rider questions why a hit-and-run driver left him lying bleeding in the roadway, saying “I can think of a lot of reasons why someone would hit me, but I can’t think of one good reason why someone would just leave the scene and leave me there.”

A 20-year old Arizona woman was lucky to survive when she was washed off a flooded bridge while trying to cross on her bicycle, then sucked through a flood tunnel; a woman who jumped in to rescue her had to be pulled out, too.

Utah endurance bicyclist Matthew Lefthand set a new world record for averaging 30 mph over 200 miles on a standard upright bicycle.

A Colorado woman says not only did becoming a one-car household reduce her family’s carbon footprint, it also made her life better.

Police in Chicago are looking for a reckless hit-and-run dirt bike rider who left a 45-year old woman riding a bicycle along the lakefront pathway with “catastrophic injuries.”

Tragic news from Indiana, where a 31-year old man drowned after apparently riding his bicycle around warning barricades, and falling into a gap where the road had been washed out.

A Boston suburb proves that Vision Zero works, as Somerville, Massachusetts — population 85,000 — goes four years without a traffic death.

A 63-year old New Jersey man raised $8,836 for a Newark homeless charity by competing in the 3,300-mile cross-country Trans Am Bike Nonstop Race.

A Biloxi, Mississippi couple celebrated their 50th anniversary with a 50-mile bike ride. My wife and I used to celebrate our anniversaries with a bike ride, too — I’d take the bike ride, and she’d celebrate when I made it back in one piece. 

Horrible story from Birmingham, Alabama, where a 39-year old man was killed after he was struck by multiple drivers over an eight-minute period while riding his bike shortly before 4 am, including a sheriff’s deputy in a patrol car.

 

International

Forbes examines the more than 70 World Naked Bike Rides from around the globe, calling it a protest against “indecent exposure to cars.”

Cyclist’s Undercover Mechanic blames a “feast of information but a famine of knowledge” for why bicyclists are so bad at buying bicycles.

A writer for Road.cc says the collapse of Raleigh bikes is a British cultural tragedy, which feels personal to him and other riders of his generation.

An Irish woman rode 374 miles across the island alone to support two friends who had developed lymphoma, raising the equivalent of nearly $9,500 to fight the disease.

Multiple bicyclists have been arrested for violating the Isle of Man’s annual ban on riding the Mountain Road during the summer motorcycle racing season, even if it is the home of Sir Mark Cavendish. Then again, it’s also my ancestral home, which seems to count for nothing. 

The Kazakh Embassy organized a Brussels bike ride to mark the 34th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Belgium.

A 66-year old Israeli man on a solo cycling trip in Finland has been found dead by the side of a road a week after his family lost contact with him; police believe he was the victim of a hit-and-run driver.

Momentum talks with a woman in St. Petersburg, Russia about her bike life, who describes her riding style as agile, unpredictable and fast, even if she rides a heavy retro bike people have called a “circus bike.”

Former South Korean Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yoo In-chon is on a seven-day, six-night pilgrimage to bike to 15 Catholic shrines in the country to mark the first anniversary of his younger brother Bishop Timothy Yoo Kyung-chon’s death.

Great idea. A Sydney, Australia bike scavenger hunt is designed to help riders discover the city, sending them to 15 locations where they have to find a stamp to mark their passport, with locations divided into Parks, Cycleways and Destinations.

 

Competitive Cycling

Wout van Aert demonstrates that he’s not invincible on gravel, as his training parter beats him to the finish at the Belgian Gravel Championships.

Former Argentine one-day classics specialist Juan Antonio Flecha may have retired from the sport, but he hasn’t given up bicycling, telling a writer “a cyclist is someone who lives life with a bicycle, not just someone who does sports,” as he drops his two daughters off at school on his bike.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says the recent Tour de France Femmes has has a major influence on women, who have taken up everyday bicycling as a result of the race.

 

Finally…

Riding naked with a group of other nude and partially clad bicyclists, good; riding pantless by yourself, not so much. Now you, too, can build your very own tandem unicycle.

And this is what you call a major phone fail. Thanks to Steven for the photo.

 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Huntington Beach ebike rider killed, San Diego candidate calls for part-time bike lanes, and sycophantic LADOT credits Bass for crosswalks

July 28, 2026 / / Comments Off on Huntington Beach ebike rider killed, San Diego candidate calls for part-time bike lanes, and sycophantic LADOT credits Bass for crosswalks

Once again, someone has been killed riding an ebike.

And once again, we have no idea what kind of ebike they’re talking about.

Multiple sources are reporting that a 21-year old man, identified as Westminster resident Jeffrey James Marlow, died five days after losing control of his ebike and crashing into a curb at Warner Avenue and Plaza Lane in Huntington Beach, around 12:30 pm last Tuesday.

But nothing in any of the articles clarifies whether Marlow was on a Class 1, 2 or 3 electric bicycle, or an illegal e-moto or electric motorcycle.

I honestly have no idea how to handle stories like this. Do I write about it like any other fallen bicycle rider? Or do I assume he was on an electric motorbike, which seems likely, and just mention it in passing, like I did here.

Any thoughts?

………

No bias here.

A candidate for San Diego city council trots out the usual arguments against bike lanes, saying he absolutely supports recreational bicycling, but the city was built around and for cars, and San Diegan won’t just switch to bikes for transportation.

Families juggle work, school, sports, shopping and appointments that often require driving across several neighborhoods in a single day. That reality is unlikely to change simply because more bike lanes are painted on our streets.

At the same time, San Diego’s population is aging. Seniors are one of the fastest-growing segments of our community, and many depend on convenient vehicle access and nearby parking. Local businesses also depend on customers who can easily park and walk into their stores. When parking is removed to make room for bike lanes that see limited use, businesses and residents understandably question whether the tradeoff makes sense.

Maybe someone should tell him that older people make up the fastest growing segment of American bicyclists. And providing a safer bicycling network is the best way to encourage more of those people to ride, offering significant health benefits to an aging population.

Or that about half of all urban trips are under three miles, which most people can do without much difficulty, particularly in the age of ebikes.

Then there’s this.

One practical compromise would be to allow on-street parking in designated bike lanes after 5 p.m. on commercial corridors such as Convoy Street, where approximately 300 parking spaces were removed to install a barely used bike lane. Bike lane usage is almost completely not existent during evening hours or at night.

So apparently, no one who commutes by bicycle gets off work at five or later, like people who have the good sense to drive. And anyone foolish enough to try is on their own, as far as he’s concerned.

And if no one rides at night, then why do most traffic deaths occur after dark? Are drivers actively seeking out the few people foolish enough to risk it?

I don’t know how many people ride bikes on Convoy Street, before or after 5 pm. But something tells me he doesn’t, either.

He finishes like this.

The goal should be to give San Diegans safe, practical and realistic transportation options while protecting neighborhood quality of life and supporting our local businesses. That’s not anti-bike. It’s simply common sense.

So maybe he can explain how removing bike lanes gives San Diegans “safe, practical and realistic transportation options,” when they can already drive anywhere they want, anytime of the day or night.

Don’t people who want the option to ride a bike deserve that, too?

Apparently not. At least if he gets elected.

………

Nope.

No inappropriate campaigning here, as a city department states it’s installing new crosswalks at the insistence of Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for re-election against CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman.

So are we to assume she didn’t offer that direction in the first three-and-a-half years she was in office? Or they just didn’t think it was worth mentioning until she was campaigning for re-election?

Twitter post

If she’s responsible for getting those crosswalks painted, does that mean Mayor Bass gets the blame for removing 5.6 lane-miles of partially protected bike lanes on Van Nuys Blvd, and replacing it with just 4.8 lane-miles of unprotected bike lanes on Terra Bella Street, roughly eight blocks away?

After all, no one who rides a bike needs to go anywhere on or near Van Nuys, right?

………

Despite threats from Donald Trump to keep the completed bridge closed, the new Gordie Howe International Bridge is now open between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, including a bike path allowing people to ride their bikes from the US to Canada.

Whether you can claim refugee status on the other side remains to be determined.

Twitter post

………

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

Even in Louisiana, you’re not allowed to ride a bicycle while waiving a machete and shouting threats at people. Who knew?

………

Local 

Despite the common claims that no one rides public transit in Los Angeles — besides me, I mean — high gas prices appear to be behind record ridership surges across LA Metro, Metrolink and Metro Bike Share.

Upcoming phases to improve safety in Griffith Park include a road diet on Crystal Springs Drive, narrowing lanes and adding bike lanes on Griffith Park Blvd, and giving one half of Western Heritage Way and Zoo Drive over to bike riders, pedestrians and equestrians; Zoo Drive is where Finish the Ride and Streets Are For Everyone founder Damian Kevitt was struck by a hit-and-run driver in 2013.

If you had hoped that plans to “Reimagine Ventura Blvd” would somehow involve bike lanes, don’t hold your breath.

A self-identified cyclist and resident of South Pasadena’s Fremont Street says she strongly opposes plans for a bike lane on the street, arguing that the street is too narrow and the loss of parking is more important than the lives of people like her.

My New LA reports a “pickup truck collided with a bicycle” in the San Gabriel Valley Sunday afternoon, because apparently no humans were involved with either vehicle.

A bike rider suffered a major leg injury when they were struck by the driver of an SUV in Rowland Heights Sunday night.

If you missed last night’s public meeting to discuss Pasadena neighborhood greenways project, the city will host another one on Wednesday.

Monrovia and ActiveSGV will host a community bike ride and movie in the park this Saturday.

 

State

Seriously? Riverside County sheriff’s deputies are looking for a hit-and-run driver who left a Coachella bike rider with minor injuries, and urging bicyclists struck by hit-and-run drivers to get as much information as possible about the fleeing driver. Which is real easy to do when a driver is assisting you in doing a faceplant on the pavement. 

Bakersfield bike riders discuss how to stay safe, as Kern County ranks among the top ten California County’s for bicycling deaths.

Unlike a certain megalopolis to the south, Oakland continues to expand its bikeway network, nearing completion on a new curb-protected bike lane on Franklin Street.

 

National

Trek recognizes the risks of the ebike power race, and voluntarily limits the speed of its e-mountain bikes, while calling on other bikemakers to do the same. But why limit it to mountain bikes?

Electrek says schools banning ebikes highlights the debate over safety versus freedom. Because kids deserve the freedom to ride illegal e-motos posing as ebikes to school every day, evidently.

Inc. looks at the implosion of Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes, which was once the dominant American ebike maker, with a $1.65 billion market cap.

A bike rider was found lying dead on the side of the road in Aurora, Colorado yesterday morning, the victim of an apparent hit-and-run; however, there was no word on how long they may have been lying there before being discovered, or wether they might have survived their injuries if the driver had stopped and called for help.

The FBI seized over half a million dollars worth of property, including a $250,000 Lamborghini Huracan, as well as $115,000 in cash, from an ebike dealer who was accused of scamming Colorado ebike voucher recipients, taking their vouchers and deposits, but never delivering the promised bikes.

A popular influencer family documenting their mountain bike trip between Canada and Mexico only made it as far as Montana before a driver clipped one of their eight kids, causing a multi-bike crash that took down the entire family; fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

The family of a Wisconsin woman can’t understand why the driver who killed their 27-year old daughter hasn’t been charged, two months after the 61-year old man ran a stop sign and slammed into her as she rode a borrowed bicycle for the first time in over a decade; a crowdfunding campaign calling for justice has raised nearly $9,000 of the $11,000 goal.

Nashville is installing concrete Toronto barriers to protect several bike lanes in the downtown area, while Los Angeles is busy removing them.

A tragic reminder that crashes with pedestrians are as dangerous for people on bikes as they are for the people they hit, after a Kentucky ebike rider was killed when he collided with someone walking.

A Boston man rode his bike 2,600 miles from Key West to Maine, raising $50,000 to fight colorectal cancer, in honor of a friend who died from the disease.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wants to eliminate funding for green projects, including bike lanes, eliminate New York’s congestion pricing system and keep any other city from tolling anything but specific roadways.

The always sensationalist New York Post quotes the mother who gave a bicycle to the 12-year old boy killed by a stay bullet fired by a “possible” gang member as he was riding his bike ripping New York Mayor Mamdani for not clearing up the “gang-infested” neighborhood in the six months he’s been in office.

Tragic news from Alabama, where a 30-year-old Slovakian man was killed while attempting to bicycle from San Diego to Savannah, Georgia; he was struck by the driver of a delivery van around 4 am yesterday. There’s something very wrong with this country when people fly over here to ride their bikes, and we send them back home in a box.

A North Carolina man was pepper sprayed and stabbed repeatedly when he confronted a man he had loaned a bicycle to, but which was never returned; fortunately, he was expected to survive. Yet another reminder to let the cops handle it, because no bicycle is worth your life.

 

International

Bicyclists in Halifax, Nova Scotia, say a recent dooring death points to the need for safer road systems and upgraded infrastructure to prevent fatal collisions.

Two men riding across Canada to raise funds for a men’s mental health campaign are resuming their ride after their bikes were stolen in Winnipeg last week, thanks to a fundraising campaign by the local community.

The coach of the third-place England team in the World Cup is one of us, taking advantage of a Lime bike for a morning coffee run. And I’m sure the choking gesture captured by the paparazzi had nothing to do with his team’s collapsed against Argentina in the semis.

Evidently, Ireland is seeing the same confusion over legal and illegal ebikes as we are over here, as local officials call on the police to make a clear distinction between “lawful pedal-assisted bicycles and illegal motorized vehicles.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo offers a recap of the just-finished Tour de France, as Tadej Pogačar confirmed his dominance over the World Tour peloton.

Every member of Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG team will get a special commemorative yellow Colnago Y1R to mark his win, except for Isaac del Toro, who will get a white one to celebrate his white jersey as the best young rider.

Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme offers his thoughts on what was his 20th Tour, arguing that cheaters exist everywhere, not just in pro cycling, and American Quinn Simmons is “magnificent.”

Finally…

That feeling when you discover that the bear does indeed shit in the woods. Or when Lycra is enough to end a political career.

And when the cops pony up almost nine grand for an ebike “oopsie.”

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Ebike rider killed in solo Camarillo crash, Texas driver weaponizes car to kill female boxer, and driver charged in surfing scion’s skitching death

July 20, 2026 / / 2 comments

Let’s start with a report of man killed in an ebike crash in Camarillo around 2 am Saturday morning.

According to a paywalled story in the Ventura County Star, the victim appeared to have struck a tree, while riding without a helmet. However, there’s no word on whether the victim was riding a legal ped-assist bicycle, an electric motorcycle, or an illegal e-motorbike or dirt bike.

Any of which is equally tragic, but only the first would concern us here.

I’m hoping we’ll learn more today, so we may have more later.

Unfortunately, though, this will continue to be a problem until we can get law enforcement to stop lumping every two-wheeled device with an electric engine under the term ebike.

……….

Just call it murder.

The feds have become fond of the term “weaponization,” lately. As in “The suspect weaponized their vehicle” by driving at or near an agent.

However, a road raging Texas driver provided a textbook example by accelerating his vehicle in reverse to murder boxer Hannah Rapp as she was riding her bicycle in Brazos County Saturday morning.

According to Facebook post from the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office (below),

On Saturday, July 18, 2026, just before 10:00 a.m., deputies with the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the 23000 block of FM 159 in reference to a major crash involving a vehicle and a bicyclist.

Initial reports indicated that a vehicle had struck a bicyclist, leaving an adult female lying in the roadway. First responders arrived on scene and provided emergency medical care before the victim was transported to a local hospital. Despite lifesaving efforts, she later passed away at the hospital.

The victim has been identified as 26-year-old Hannah Rapp.

During the course of the investigation, investigators learned that the driver of the vehicle, identified as 31-year-old Charles Medina, had passed two bicyclists traveling along FM 159. After passing the bicyclists, Mr. Medina stopped his vehicle, reversed, and struck one of the cyclists.

At this time, investigators believe this was an isolated incident. The investigation remains active and ongoing as detectives continue to gather evidence and review all available information.

Charles Medina was arrested and charged with Manslaughter. He was transported to the Brazos County Detention Center without incident.

The Brazos County Sheriff’s Office extends its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Hannah Rapp during this difficult time.

According to NBC News,

Rapp’s boyfriend “threw his arms up and hollered towards the defendant,” Deputy Sheriff Mike Stumpf said in the statement. “The defendant slammed on his brakes and skidded to a stop before putting his vehicle into reverse.”

Medina then “rapidly accelerated in reverse and struck Rapp with his vehicle, knocking her backwards into the roadway,” Stumpf said.

Rapp’s boyfriend told an investigator that Medina had driven at a high rate of speed within about a foot of them, prompting him to throw his hands up and yell.

He said Rapp’s head struck the car’s rear window when Medina backed into her.

So Medina allegedly passed the two bicyclists at high speed, slammed on his brakes in front of them, then deliberately reverse into Rapp — again at high speed — killing her. And the best they can do is manslaughter, which carries a penalty of just 2 to 20 years? If he had stopped his car, got out with a gun and shot Rapp to death, it could be first degree murder; if he had fired from a moving vehicle, it would likely be second degree murder.

The former carries a penalty of 5 years to life, with the possibility of the death penalty, while the latter is also 2 to 20.

But either way, it would be murder, not manslaughter.

Maybe someone can make that make sense, because I sure as hell can’t.

On the other hand, Medina told investigators he just thought the bike riders were trying to flag him down, and the brakes on his Honda just happened to lock as he skidded to a stop. And he was only doing a mere 15 mph when he bumped into Rapp.

Uh, sure. Let’s go with that.

Never mind that the rear of his car showed significant damage, and there were skid marks from both where he stopped and burned rubber going backwards.

Rapp fought for the WBC women’s featherweight title just last month, losing to Tiara Brown in a unanimous decision. She was living in College Station, Texas, after moving there two years ago to begin her boxing career while working at Texas A&M University.

She was just 26.

According to a fundraising campaign to help pay funeral and medical expenses, she had been riding with her boyfriend and partner Will when she was murdered.

This is how Rapp’s family described her.

Hannah was resilient. She was brave and insightful, always pushing others to do their best. She loved her family so incredibly much, and moving from Indiana to Texas meant distance for her friends and family. Hannah was an inspiration. Even on her hardest days, she continued to bring love, laughter, and light into the lives of others.
Thank you for helping us honor Hannah’s beautiful life. She will be deeply missed, forever loved, and never forgotten. As Hannah would say, “commit to the bit”, and sweet friend, we are committed to fighting for you.
As of this writing, the fundraiser has raised over $16,000 of the $22,000 goal.

 

………

It looks like the driver who was towing surfing scion Kolby Kekoa Aipa when Aipa was killed last year will face charges, after all.

The 20-year old grandson of legendary surfboard shaper Ben Aipa of Aipa Surfboards, Kolby Aipa was skitching on his ebike, holding on to a truck driven by 21-year old Brandon Scott Soleau at speeds up to 50 mph last August when he fell off his bike on PCH in Huntington Beach, and was killed.

Soleau has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, which carries a penalty of up to six years behind bars.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.

………

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

An alleged Albuquerque  DUI driver reportedly revved his engine and swerved across the roadway between two bike riders before slamming into the front rider, and gunning his engine to finish rolling over the victim, like he was “four-wheeling on top of him,” according to the other rider.

No bias here. Alberta, Canada has created a Bike Lane Portal asks residents to report any bike lanes that cause congestion, slow emergency responses, hurt a business, inconvenience a senior, or raise a safety concern, promising to put Albertans first. Which sounds very much like a promise from a certain American leader. And it’s not as is any Albertans ride bikes, or care if they get home safely. 

A road-raging English driver was convicted in absentia for assaulting a bike rider, but has so-far gotten away with it because the cops can’t find him for sentencing.

Irish cycling legend Joe Barr, who just made headlines for completing a record-setting ride along the legendary Route 66, was assaulted while riding alone in his home country when someone dumped a bucket of water on him from a passing car.

……….

Local 

CicLAvia held its 67th open streets event in Hollywood and West Hollywood yesterday after the route was shortened due to last week’s water main break on Sunset Blvd; we’ll have more on that tomorrow.

A Palos Verdes man is alive today thanks to a nearby neighbor and several police officers who performed CPR for several minutes after he had a heart attack, before paramedics arrived, and he was taken to the hospital.

 

State

Waymo says their driverless cars are safer, but San Francisco bicyclists just want them out of the bike lanes.

 

National

A new double-looped bike lock is designed to secure your entire bike at once.

Trump’s executive order to reduce Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments to about a tenth of their previous size could affect riders using a pair of popular trails, although it’s not clear if the president has legal authority to reduce National Monuments, and opponents say it runs afoul of the Property Clause of the The Constitution (Article IV, Section 3), which grants Congress, not the president, exclusive power to dispose of or reduce federal property.

A group of about 100 Wisconsin “nutters” meet annually to ride antique three-speed bikes along the Mississippi, with the only rule being no lycra in your clothes, no derailleurs on your bike. Although they appear to get there in much more modern automobiles. 

Chicago Streetsblog says the bike crash deaths of transportation planners Riley O’Neil in Chicago and Louisa Gag in Boston should be a turning point for Safe Streets. “Should” being the operative term.

Two men now face charges in the Ohio hit-and-run that killed a man riding a bicycle last month; the 24-year old driver has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular manslaughter and failure to stop after an accident, while the 22-year old passenger in the truck has been charged with failing to report the crime.

A North Carolina cop is free on $2,500 bond after he was arrested for simple assault for pushing a bike rider off a moving bicycle on Friday, leaving the victim with minor injuries, including abrasions.

 

International

A 23-year old English man has completed a 39-day, 3,100-mile fundraising ride from Estadio Azteca in Mexico City to the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, completing the journey between the first kick of the World Cup and the final whistle of the championship game, raising money for a suicide prevention nonprofit en route.

An Irish advocacy group says there’s no need for performative lawmaking, when existing laws can deal with the problem of illegal ebike and e-scooter use.

Some of the UK’s greatest rugby players are riding 750 miles from Scotland to Dublin in four days to raise funds for motor neurone disease (MND) research. Although let’s hope they’ve got waterproof chain lube for the last leg. 

Bike helmets are becoming more common in the Netherlands, where they had been virtually unheard of, driven by older riders and ebike users.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar’s road to winning this year’s Tour de France got a lot easier Sunday after two-time champ Jonas Vingegaard, his main competitor for the title, crashed out of the race with a broken collarbone. It will also make my job easier, as I’ll now only have to worry about spelling “Evenepoel” correctly. 

Remco Evenepoel outsprinted race leader Tadej Pogačar to win a mountainous stage 15 at the top of Plateau de Solaison on Sunday; Pogačar now holds a five-minute lead over Evenepoel, with Mexico’s Isaac Del Toro nearly a minute back in third.

Pogačar may hail from Slovenia, but his wheels come from Utah.

Bike Radar names the top ten all-time Tour de France champs without even naming America’s seven-time ex-Tour de France champ. Because as we all know, He Who Must Not Be Named never officially existed. And apparently, neither did Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. 

More tragic news, as Japanese former Olympic silver medalist Toshiaki Fushimi was killed Saturday while racing in a keirin tournament in Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, when he crashed into a safety barrier trying to avoid a crash ahead of him, suffering skull and neck fractures; the two-time KEIRIN Grand Prix champ was 50 years old.

An Indian website traces the rise of Harshveer Singh Sekhon from competing on borrowed bicycle to becoming India’s highest-ranked track cyclist, with ambitions for LA28.

That feeling when your Chicago stage race is delayed by the smoke from a distant fire. Or rather, a hundred or so fires.

L39ION of Los Angeles cyclist Jim Brown won the 90 minute Men’s Pro race in the recent Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, while Chloe Patrick won the 55-minute Women’s Pro riding for Caldera Medical.Aurea; the victories also came with titles as this year’s California State Criterium Champions.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you set a new world record for the most ebikes in a single ride. When you’re a convicted felon riding a Class 3 ebike with a loaded .357 Magnum revolver, live ammunition in a speed-loader, suspected fentanyl, and unprescribed Xanax pills, put a damn helmet on, already.

And barefoot-shaped pedals for riding, uh, barefoot.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Fatal bike and ped hit-and-run rates rise, 45 years in random fatal beating of Florida bike rider, and a look at SoCal’s killer highway

July 14, 2026 / / One comment

Happy Bastille Day to all who celebrate! Although how happy will be determined by today’s le Mondial, mais non?

We’re going to do something a little different today. Too many important stories have involved too much work on my part, leaving no time for the links that usually follow. At least not if I want to get any sleep at all tonight. 

So we’ll discuss the big stuff today, and circle back to the more extraneous links tomorrow, if that works for you. 

Besides, my internet connection is starting to feel like molasses, so I want to get this up before it goes down. 

………

It’s not your imagination. Or mine, in this case.

According to a press release from a bicycle legal group, bicyclists and pedestrians are far more likely than drivers to be the victims of a hit-and-run.

Cyclists are increasingly being struck by drivers who flee the scene, according to a 2026 analysis of federal crash data released today by Bicycle Accident Lawyers Group (BALG). In 2023, 1 in 5 U.S. cyclists injured in traffic was hit by a driver who left the scene, and more than 70% of everyone killed in a hit-and-run that year was a pedestrian or cyclist. Hit-and-runs reached an all-time high that year, and many injured cyclists have no identified at-fault driver to hold liable, according to the firm’s review of AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

The trend is moving against cyclists even as U.S. roads overall grow safer. Fatal bicycle hit-and-runs rose 63% between 2017 and 2023, from 168 to 274 deaths, outpacing the 45% increase in overall cycling fatalities, the BALG analysis found. After 2020, total traffic deaths began to fall while bicyclist hit-and-run deaths kept climbing, a sign that safety gains reached drivers inside vehicles first.

The scale is significant. More than 919,000 hit-and-run crashes were reported in 2023, about 15% of all collisions. Cyclists are among the most exposed: nearly 1 in 4 cyclists killed in traffic that year died in a hit-and-run, up from 1 in 5 in 2017.

That corresponds with what I’ve found writing about bicycling deaths, consistently finding that somewhere between a quarter and a third of all fatal bicycling crashes each year involve a hit-and-run driver.

It’s clear that drivers are far more likely to flee in a collision after hitting something soft, like a human being, than they are after hitting something hard, like another motor vehicle. If only because their car or truck is more likely to be disabled after striking another motor vehicle.

Which could explain why there is so little urgency around the issue, and why so little is being done about it. Because if it’s not a problem affecting the great mass of people in their big, dangerous machines, then it’s not really a problem at all.

At least not for the people who could do something about it.

Then there’s this little bit of information.

Accountability remains rare even in fatal cases. A large share of hit-and-run drivers are never identified, and in New York City police solved just 324 of 6,652 nonfatal hit-and-run cases in 2020, about 1 in 20, according to NYPD figures.

That’s some damned impressive detective work, at least compared to Los Angeles, where the rate of drivers identified and convicted of nonfatal hit-and-run crimes is reportedly somewhere south of 1%.

………

Talk about gut-wrenching.

A 21-year old Florida man was sentenced to a well-deserved 45-years behind bars for a random crime spree that included beating a bike rider to death with a tire iron when he was just 17-years old.

Savonne Morrison was convicted of manslaughter, rather than first-degree murder, for driving the getaway car in a 2022 crime spree that started when his nextdoor neighbor recruited his help to beat up the new boyfriend of the neighbor’s ex-girlfriend.

But she wasn’t home, so his neighbor, Jermaine Bennett, started drinking and using coke, then set off on a vandalism spree by smashing random cars with a tire iron.

That continued until they spotted an 82-year old man walking alone in front of a St. Petersburg carpet store. Bennett got out of the car on a pretext of asking the man for directions, then repeatedly hit him with the tire iron, knocking him out with the first blow. Fortunately, he survived the attack.

That can’t be said for their next victim. Forty-nine-year old Jeffrey Chapman was riding his bike when Bennett again jumped out of the car and knocked Chapman on his bike with the tire iron. They then took turns beating Chapman to death, before driving off with his wallet.

Bennett eventually pled guilty to murder, and was sentenced to life in prison.

For whatever reason, the jury didn’t convict Morrison on a 1st degree murder charge, instead convicting him of manslaughter.

However, Morrison was on probation at the time of the attack for a violent carjacking when he was just 15 years old, when he and a group of friend used a girl they were both dating to lure another boy to come meet her. But when he arrived, Morrison and the others pistol-whipped the boy, forcing him out of the car, then driving over him as they took off in his car.

As a result, the judge gave Morrison the maximum of 15 years for manslaughter, and another 30 for violating his parole on the carjacking charge, to be served consecutively.

Florida law requires serving a minimum of 85% of a prison sentence in most cases, meaning Morrison will be at least 59-years old when he gets out.

Somehow, that doesn’t seem like enough.

………

She gets it.

Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian took a look at the Malibu section of Southern California’s killer highway on Sunday.

The stretch of Pacific Coast Highway that spans the length of Malibu is one of the most storied roads in the world and also, tragically, one of the bloodiest. As someone who frequently drives PCH between Santa Monica and Trancas, I often hold my breath for fear that some spacey tourist or distracted teenager will wander off the beach and into my path. Or that a car will back out of a driveway right into me. Or that a driver ahead of me will spot an open space on the shoulder and slam on the brakes to back into the spot. I am in awe of the brave cyclists willing to risk their lives for the sake of a beautiful ride.

Me too, sadly.

She goes on to discuss the 2023 documentary 21 Miles in Malibu made by Hollywood producer Michael Shane, whose 13-year old daughter Emily was killed in 2010 “by a reckless, suicidal motorist” as she walked to meet him after a sleepover.

Three years ago, Shane, a film producer best known for “Catch Me if You Can” and “I, Robot” made “21 Miles”  to shine a light on the extraordinary dangers of having a five-lane state highway running through what is essentially a residential neighborhood. The hour-long documentary, which won several film festival awards, aired Thursday on PBS SoCal and will be available on the PBS app and website.

“Being on this roadway,” says Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Det. David Huelsen in the film, “is probably the single most dangerous thing you’re gonna do on your vacation.”

Or any other time, for that matter.

After years — okay, decades — of work by safety advocates of all stripes, Caltrans is finally making improvements to the deadly highway, retiming traffic lights and adding roundabouts to deter speeding. And ten automated speed cams will come online this fall, part of a pilot program authorizing them in Malibu, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Glendale, as well as three cities in Northern California.

But as Abcarian points out, the fines are way too low.

Shane thinks the fines are ludicrously low, and I agree.

“If you got a $1,500 ticket instead of a $200 ticket, you might think twice about going fast, because it’s going to cost you,” he said.

………

As long as we’re discussing the LA Times, I saw one opinion piece that went the news equivalent of viral, as former Times opinion editor Paul Thornton’s smartly thought-out column from the Golden State newsletter was picked up by news sites across the country, including CalMatters.

Thornton argues that making ebikes safer is smart. But smothering them isn’t.

Electric bikes are powering an urban transportation revolution. They flatten hills, haul cargo and people, and offer an alternative to driving that doesn’t involve breaking much of a sweat or waiting for a bus.

I’ve experienced these wonders firsthand. For the last three years, I have used an e-bike — an electric-motor assisted bicycle — to do everything from commuting 23 miles across Los Angeles for work to meeting up with friends at places where finding a parking spot takes longer than the drive over. In a city choked by traffic and pollution, calling these machines liberating isn’t an overstatement…

Lawmakers in Sacramento have introduced at least eight bills this year targeting e-bike safety. One would have added licensing and registration requirements for most e-bikes; anotherwould have rewritten the state’s classification system, making most e-bikes already rolling on California streets illegal.

Thankfully, those bills died, and with them a level of regulation that could throttle an efficient, clean and fun transportation option in California, and hamper a technology that is already driving the majority of revenue growth in the bicycle industry.

He goes on to make the case that Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s Senate Bill 1167 hits the the right notes, with the right restrictions to improve safety without killing the golden e-goose.

Done intelligently, safety regulations do not have to curtail e-bike adoption and all the upsides these joyous devices bring to cities clogged by traffic. Policies crafted using data instead of panic might actually lure more people out of their cars and onto two wheels.

It’s more than worth taking the time to read it. Because he’s right.

………

They get it.

In an extensive letter to the editor that’s really more of an op-ed, a pair of Edmonton, Alberta physicians make the case for maintaining a connected bike network, in the face of rumored provincial legislation that would restrict current and future urban bike lanes.

They argue that bike lanes make the city healthier for everyone, not just the people who choose to ride.

I won’t get into all their arguments here, though it is worth a few minutes to read the entire letter.

But they close with this.

As with public policy in any area, the devil is in the details of implementation: Any change could have negative impacts for some citizens. This reality underscores the critical importance of local involvement in decision-making that balances the pros and cons of any specific policy proposal, in order to arrive at the best possible solution for the people who are most impacted. Neighbourhood and municipal policies imposed by higher levels of government do not make sense.

As physicians, we advocate strongly for the development and maintenance of infrastructure to support and encourage active transport by bicycle, including a connected network of protected bike lanes. We support the right of Edmontonians to make the decisions that best meet our needs.

………

I learned a long time ago not to trust social media. So does anyone know how accurate this video is?

Twitter post

According to the Daily Dot website, commenters go on to criticize California for having the nation’s highest tax rate, which is true. Although the overall tax burden places it lower, somewhere in the top ten states.

One even calls the pathway a death trap. But as unsightly as it is, graffiti does not a death trap make. For that, you usually need motor vehicles

Which are absent from this video, anyway.

………

Calbike says a Lathrop woman made a simple request for the city to hold a free community bike and traffic safety education event at City Hall during National Bicycle Safety Month. It was her attempt to be proactive before something bad happened, after her family had too many close calls while riding their bikes.

Which then became a reality when the driver of a city vehicle cut off her seven-year old daughter as she was riding her bike in a crosswalk, forcing her to crash into the side of the vehicle.

Camryn was not seriously hurt, which is fortunate. But that does not mean the incident should be brushed aside. A child should not have to be badly injured before a city takes repeated warnings seriously. For Cortez, the crash was terrifying and enraging because it felt like the very scenario she had been trying to prevent. For months, she had been telling officials that children biking and walking in Lathrop were at risk.

What followed, Cortez says, has been its own kind of burden. She wants to know what happened. She wants records preserved. She wants clarity about whether the driver was working at the time. But more than anything, she wants the city to stop treating a preventable safety failure like an isolated incident.

“I can sue them all I want,” she told CalBike, “but then I would just be a rich person in an unsafe neighborhood.”

………

Speaking of Calbike, the statewide bicycle advocacy group made a statement yesterday opposing Proposition 45 on the November ballot, even though at first blush it would seem to benefit bikes.

The measure would accelerate review for a broad category of projects, including transportation. It would impose stricter deadlines, limit the alternatives agencies must consider, and restrict judicial review. But the same reduced friction available to a bikeway or transit project would also be available to a highway expansion, and in a state that often seems more eager to widen a doomed highway than expand transit, it is not hard to imagine this will result in more sprawling freeways than verdant bikeways. That is why CalBike opposes Proposition 45…

The initiative’s central mistake is treating transportation as a single public good. A bus lane, a protected bikeway, and a freeway widening can all be described as infrastructure, but they do not produce the same future. Yet, Proposition 45 would place both in the same expedited category, blind to induced demand or driving alternatives. Reduced friction does not operate in a vacuum. California’s highway-building institutions already have money, plans, political allies, and decades of momentum. Open the gates equally and the results will not be as lopsided as they have always been.

As much as we need new bikeways, and would benefit from a faster review process, the last thing we need is more and bigger highways.

And as Calbike points out, it’s the people who build highways who have all the money and lobbyists.

………

I was halfway through a story from a Michigan public radio station about a Los Angeles actor who rode his bike 3,500 miles to his hometown of Lansing, Michigan, to deliver a letter from his daughter to his 101-year old father, before I realized I knew him.

“I was looking for a way to kind of connect my family,” Nichols said. “My two daughters, I was such a part of their upbringing, and with my dad…he was so involved with my upbringing, and I sort of wanted to connect them.”

Nichols started his journey on May 15, where he rode across the Golden Gate Bridge through a path that took him through Oregon. His weeks have been spent travelling bike trails through Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

On Monday, he arrived in Michigan through the SS Badger, where he will be biking from Ludington to the finish line, East Lansing. He said he plans to be back to his dad on Monday.

The original plan was to go through the Upper Peninsula and over the Mackinac Bridge, but his trip was interrupted.

“I did have to take a short break in the middle to go home to Los Angeles to shoot a movie, and then I flew right back and got back on the bike, and kept going,” Nichols said.

I admit, I didn’t pay any attention to the guy’s name until I got further down, and read this.

Nichols settled in Los Angeles years later after starting his acting career in New York.

But outside of his acting career, Nichols cohosts BikeTalk, a radio show advocating for safer spaces for people to travel on bikes. Nichols has documented his entire journey through the show.

“Our audience is following Taylor’s journey after maybe having listened to Taylor as a co-host on Bike Talk for several years, now he’s up and moving around the country,” Nick Richert, BikeTalk co-host, said. “He’s embodying everything that we’ve been talking about on the show.”

It was only then that I realized they were talking about our own BikeTalk’s Taylor Nichols, someone I’ve traded emails with for years about various bike stories. And I’ve spoken with Taylor and Nick on BikeTalk many times over the years, until my health problems and the assorted meds I take for them made me stop doing live interviews.

Because I can control and edit what I say on here, so I don’t usually make too much of a fool out of myself. But live, I’m prone to memory losses and misspeaking, making TV and radio too much of a minefield for me.

I also confess it’s been awhile since I’ve listened to the program, even though I remain a fan, and host a free public service ad for them over there on the right.

So I wasn’t aware of Taylor’s journey. And confess to being gobsmacked when I realized who they were talking about. Which is a word I don’t use often.

Or ever, even.

But I’ll let Taylor have today’s last words.

“I decided that I would just do it as a way of showing that the bicycle is not just a toy, but is an actual tool of transportation,” he said. “And that if we can create safe places for people to bike, we can break our dependency on oil and automobiles and things like that.”

Amen to that.

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

Traffic deaths dropped last year — except for bikes, Trump declares war on “DEI” bike lanes, and Pico businesses fret loss of parking

July 13, 2026 / / Comments Off on Traffic deaths dropped last year — except for bikes, Trump declares war on “DEI” bike lanes, and Pico businesses fret loss of parking

Well, at least it wasn’t my fault this time. 

It turns out Friday’s downtime was the result of a recent WordPress upgrade that left my site vulnerable to an attack by a swarm of 19,000 feed-crawlers. 

And no, I never heard of a feed-crawler before Friday. Let alone 19,000 of the little bastards. 

Anyway, they’ve all been gathered up and shoved back in their little feed-crawler cages, so we should be good now. 

Today’s photo is a new T-shirt design that’s probably my favorite so far. But if you’re more in the mood for corgi designs, check out my other T-shirt site. 

………

In news that shouldn’t surprise anyone, overall traffic deaths continued to decline last year.

Except, of course, for those of us on two wheels.

According to the latest statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, full-year traffic fatalities dropped last year to their lowest level since 2019, while the annual death rate of 1.10 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled was the second-lowest ever recorded.

That trend continues into the first quarter of 2026.

According to Carscoops.com,

According to new preliminary estimates from the NHTSA, approximately 7,770 people died in traffic crashes during the first quarter of 2026, down 4.3 percent from the same period a year earlier. The fatality rate also dropped to 0.99 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, the lowest first-quarter figure since 2014 and just shy of the all-time quarterly record of 0.98…

Despite the positive overall trend, one category continues to move in the opposite direction. Bicyclist fatalities rose 4 percent in 2025 to 1,148 deaths, remaining near the highest levels seen in more than four decades…

According to the NHTSA, the first quarter of this year represents the 16th consecutive quarterly decline in overall traffic deaths.

If only the news was as good for people riding bicycles.

In fact, traffic deaths decreased in every category last year, compared to 2024, with the single exception of people on bicycles.

  • Total estimated driver fatalities decreased 5 percent.
  • Total estimated passenger fatalities decreased 12 percent.
  • Total estimated PV occupant fatalities decreased 10 percent.
  • Total estimated motorcyclist fatalities decreased 8 percent.
  • Total estimated pedestrian fatalities decreased 8 percent.
  • Total estimated pedalcyclist fatalities increased 4 percent.
  • Total estimated fatalities in crashes involving at least one large truck decreased 7 percent.
  • Total estimated nonoccupant fatalities decreased 5 percent.

However, unlike 2024, when bicycling deaths increased every month compared to the previous year, bicycling fatalities decreased in five months in 2025, while increasing in seven.

So that’s something, anyway.

What’s not clear, however, is the effect that ebikes have had on these stats, since the NHTSA stopped listing motorized bicycles as motor vehicles in 2022, and now includes them as pedalcyclists, aka bicycles, if the rider is killed in a collision with the driver of a motor vehicle — and not at all if it involves a single vehicle crash.

There’s no explanation, however, of whether than only applies to ped-assist bicycles, or if it also includes electric and gas-powered motorbikes that fall into the gray area between ebikes and motorcycles.

So at least part of the rise could be due to the increase in electric bikes, legal and/or otherwise.

Hopefully someone, somewhere, will eventually break out those numbers so we can actually know what’s going on out there.

………

No bias here.

In a paywalled story, The Times of London says the Trump administration has declared war on bike lanes.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the move after decrying the “DEI” focus on bicycling over cars as he shifts $1.7 billion in funding to roads and bridges, jeopardizing safety projects around the country.

And raising the obvious question of what the hell is a DEI bike lane.

Then again, if Trump handles his war on bikes as well as he has the war with Iran, we’ll probably end up with more and better bike lanes than we would have otherwise.

Or maybe he’ll just give us control over the roadways after declaring they’re open.

………

LAist reports that small business owners on Pico Blvd recognize the street has a speeding problem and can be dangerous for pedestrians, but worry about the loss of 228 parking spaces after LADOT gives the street a Complete Streets makeover.

According to the website,

LADOT will overhaul 3.5 miles of Pico Boulevard between Crenshaw Boulevard and Figueroa Street to reduce speeding and unsafe turns and lane changes. The agency said the project is intended to improve safety by adding a center turn lane for left turns and emergency vehicles, protected bike lanes and new TOUCAN traffic signals at Manhattan Place and New Hampshire Avenue. LADOT will also repair sidewalks and curb ramps.

To make room, the city will remove parking on the north side of the street and reduce travel lanes from two to one in each direction. Construction is set to begin by the end of the year.

In other words, just like business owners everywhere else where protected bike lanes have gone in.

And just like business owners everywhere else, chances are they’ll see increased foot and bike traffic that will more than make up for the loss of parking spaces — and likely more sales, as studies have repeatedly shown that sales and tax receipts usually go up after a project like this goes in.

Something you’d think LAist could have mentioned somewhere in their story.

Never mind that over a ten-year period ending in 2023, there were 75 crashes resulting in severe injury or death on that stretch of Pico, with nearly three-quarters involving people walking or riding bicycles, and all 11 of the people killed on the corridor were pedestrians.

Which is especially important to consider in the largely Jewish neighborhood, where large numbers of people walk to temple every Saturday.

………

According to the WeHo Times, a small group of West Hollywood community members met at Blake Ackerman’s ghost bike on Thursday evening to remember the 27-year old man killed by a hit-and-run driver a year ago while riding his bike home from work.

West Hollywood Councilmember and State Senate candidate John Erickson, who lives nearby on Fountain Avenue, called on WeHo Mayor John Heilman and Council Member Lauren Meister to support plans to remake the corridor to improve safety.

“It’s been a year since the community lost Blake,” Erickson said. “If we just updated a street for street safety for pedestrians, bikers and cars, it would make the most sense. And that is what we are doing.”

Erickson said his own parked vehicle was nearly struck about a week and a half ago, calling it another example of dangerous driving along the corridor.

“I can’t replace my life, and clearly we can’t replace other people’s lives,” he said.

I stopped by the ghost bike the next day, and was please to see several people had left flowers on the bike, in a sign that he has not been forgotten. And hopefully, Ackerman’s will be the last ghost bike we’ll need on the deadly corridor.

Meanwhile, the case against accused 73-year old driver Douglas Morton Adams remains pending, with no trial date currently set.

………

Thanks to Megan for forwarding a story about a hero teenager who rescued an Arizona woman with dementia who was wandering the streets in triple-digit heat, even if he was likely riding an illegal e-moto instead of a bicycle.

………

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

Grand Junction, Colorado goes the wrong way with a proposal to reduce the amount and type of bicycle parking required in the city, allowing developers to make their own decisions on whether to invest in them — even though bike parking is just a fraction of the cost of a single motor vehicle parking space.

No bias here. Bicyclists in a Liverpool, England neighborhood are complaining about a plan to “temporally” decommission a less than two-year old road diet and protected bike lanes, to make more room for cars when they start work on repairing a nearby bridge.

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

Thanks again to Megan for forwarding news about to two Vermont men fined $35,000 for cutting down over 300 trees to build an illegal mountain bike trail.

………

Local 

BikeLA, the organization formerly known as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, led a bike ride to MacArthur Park for a World Cup watching party on Saturday. Although as far as I could tell, both matches won by VAR.

Santa Monica will host its State of the City 2026 as a free, open street celebration on Main Street from 4 to 7 pm on Thursday, July 23, between Hollister Ave and Ocean Park Blvd; Santa Monica Spoke will host a bike valet on Norman Place.

Internet tabloids had a meltdown over the weekend after the paparazzi caught sight of bike-riding, 83-year old Harrison Ford’s physique when he stripped down to his bib shorts after an LA ride.

 

State

Authorities are looking for 32-year old David Creech, who was last seen riding his bike away from his home in the Spring Valley Lake area of San Bernardino County just before 9 am on Wednesday, July 1st.

More on Santa Barbara’s call for residents to provide feedback on an AI-generated map to create a low-stress bike network.

 

National

PeopleForBikes says bicycling to school matters more than you think, “creating opportunities for independence, physical activity, and lifelong riding habits. In many ways, it is investing in the future of bicycling itself.”

Around 6,000 people took part in the annual two-day, Seattle to Portland STP Bicycle Classic over the weekend.

A Kansas columnist says even as he closes in on 70, it’s never too late to start bicycling again.

A Minneapolis-St. Paul website had a good idea, asking a road cycling grandfather to test a high-end e-cargo bike by transporting his own grandkids, which he described as feeling like “you’re balancing a tray of kettlebells as you walk through a cosplay convention.”

More than 125 Penny Farthing riders converged on Dayton, Ohio to celebrate the Wright Brothers roots as bicycle mechanics before the brothers went on to invent some sort of flying contraption.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A 36-year old Boston woman was killed when her bicycle was struck by a truck driver; Louisa Gag was a city transportation planner and prominent bicycle safety advocate who worked to make Boston’s streets safer for everyone.

DC bicyclists won the fight to preserve a three-quarter-mile bikeway known as America’s Bike Lane from a last-minute effort by the Trump administration to have it ripped out to make room for an an exclusive, high-end golf course.

A new Virginia Historical Marker recognizes Botetourt County’s place on the legendary TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, on the 50th anniversary of the Bikecentennial ’76 cross-country bike ride.

This is who we share the road with. A road-raging Florida driver rammed a 15-year old boy riding an “ebike” off the road, then slapped the kid, when a group of teens had tried to get the driver to stop after swerving at them; naturally, the police responded by impounding several of the teens’ bikes for not being street legal, rather than busting the driver.

 

International

Momentum calls out 30 bike lanes around the world that should have never been built, from blocked bike lanes to lanes that start and stop in the middle of high-traffic areas. I particularly like the ones that go over traffic islands, because cutting through them would have been just too much work, apparently.

Momentum also offers a guide to Quebec’s 3,100 mile bicycle network.

Residents of a Montreal neighborhood have a reasonable complaint after the city removed parking spaces on one side of the street, including disability spaces, for a protected bike lane, arguing that the city wouldn’t even install a crosswalk so one older woman could reach the spaces across the street.

A British Member of Parliament had her new e-cargo bike stolen the first time she tried riding it to town in Oxford.

Residents of a north London neighborhood take a different approach to installing a ghost bike, first towing it on a bike trailer through an intersection where too many people biking and walking have been killed, then putting it on display the local museum’s “50 Years of Cycle Islington” exhibition.

London’s department of transportation failed to install a single mile of bike lane in the city last year, relying on local council’s to do all the building. There’s probably no truth to the rumor that the head of Transport for London has been hired to run LADOT on that basis. 

Irish towns as small as 5,000 to 10,000 people see up to a 50% increase in a ridership when bike lanes go in, according to the country’s transportation minister, despite the fears of local councilors.

Congratulations to Świdnica, Poland, which won a competition to be named the country’s bicycling capital by riding the most miles.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two Tour de France riders, including Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay, were warned by jurors after apparently turning the race into a contact sport during the final sprint on Saturday.

Mathieu van der Poel won the third Tour de France stage of his career on Sunday in a stage reminiscent of the one-day classics he thrives on; race leader Tadej Pogačar finished safely six seconds back.

Former race leader Torstein Træen’s surprising turn in the yellow jersey didn’t last long, crashing out of the race by clipping a teammate’s wheel two days after he gained a remarkable seven-minute advantage on the race favorites.

The rise of the Hincapie brothers’ Modern Adventure Pro Cycling Team saved the cycling career of 30-year old Whitefish, Montana resident Sam Boardman, who signed with the team “just before he hung up his helmet and dove into a ‘real job.’”

The Manhattan Beach Grand Prix returned to the beach city on Sunday for its 63rd running; no results have been posted yet.

 

Finally…

With all the hi-tech innovations in bicycling, no one has yet invented a mosquito-proof face mask. And that feeling when your new bicycle is part folding bike, part Erector Set.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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