Tag Archive for bicycling fatalities

WaPo writer complains about “e-bike menace,” Micah Pan funeral today in Chino, and NJ stalker story gets worse

October 3, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 276 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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He almost gets it.

A columnist for the Washington Post writes about the onslaught of teens on e-motos, almost — but not quite — distinguishing the “e-bike menace” of non-street legal electric motorbikes and dirt bikes from standard ped-assist ebikes.

I was in Hermosa Beach, California, the sweetest little beach town your toes can dig into, when I pressed the crosswalk button. The flashing lights came on, meaning: let’s go. I was one step into the street when a kid about 13 on a bike nearly sent me to my obituary.

But not just any bike. This was one of those e-motorbikes. Have you seen these things? They look like Suzuki dirt bikes, only cooler, quicker and deadlier, since you don’t hear them coming…

But this kid wasn’t just riding his. He was pulling a wheelie on the thing while doing about 40 mph. His front wheel was up so high, it nearly took my face off. Which means he wasn’t looking at any stupid flashing crosswalk lights.

Never mind that under California law, and most states who’ve copied it, ebikes are limited to a max of 28 mph, making anything that can go anywhere near as fast as he said the kid was doing illegal.

But then, he seems to have considered that.

There are tons of e-bike rules and regs, but somehow it’s legal in many states to ride an e-moto on streets as long as it has pedals and can’t go over 28 mph. Kids just go on YouTube and learn how to defeat the speed limiter.

All of which points out the need to clarify the distinction between ped-assist ebikes and e-motorbikes, which Calbike pushed the state legislature to consider this year.

And which they rejected.

Which leaves us with the same problem we’ve faced for the past few years. People who want — or need — a ped-assist ebike to exercise, run errands, replace the family car, or use as a mobility device, are getting lumped in with kids riding overpowered e-motos, and using poor judgement.

Sort of like kids have always done. But with a lot more speed and power at their disposal.

Which means we all get tarred with the same brush.

And the same backlash.

Meanwhile, Seal Beach police claimed a successful crackdown on illegal ebike riding.

A success that consisted of exactly one misdemeanor arrest, three illegal e-motorcycles seized, 22 stops for various traffic violations, and just eight tickets.

Which would suggest that maybe the problem isn’t as big as advertised.

And maybe they would have been better off cracking down on the people in the big, dangerous machines, rather than the little annoying ones.

Today’s photo from Metro Bike Share, showing typical non-teen on non-e-moto.  

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I received word yesterday that the funeral for Micah Pan will be held at 4 pm today at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, 4201 Eucalyptus Ave in Chino.

A passionate member of the local bicycling community, Pan was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Chino two weeks ago.

The funeral is open to everyone.

I know it’s short notice, but it would be great to see some members of that same bicycling community show up to support his family.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign to help his family get back on their feet has raised over $30,000 of the $35,000 goal.

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It just keeps getting worse.

Because the 17-year boy charged with intentionally running down two 17-year old New Jersey girls riding an ebike turns out to be a relative of the local police chief.

Okay, a distant relative.

But still.

Complicating matters even further, Westfield, New Jersey Police Chief Christopher Battiloro is a close family friend and neighbor of one of the victims.

Must be a small town.

One of the girls had filed a restraining order against her accused killer, while family members said he had been stalking her for months, calling him a “coward of a man.”

The same could presumably be said of the local school district and yes, the police department headed by his “distant” relative, who apparently did nothing to stop him.

A crowdfunding campaign for the two families has raised over $142,000 of the $160,000 goal.

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

No bias here. A British driver attacks those “dangerous cyclists” for doing exactly nothing wrong, other than existing on that part of the planet he somehow claims as his own.

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Local 

A Jesuit priest finished a three-month, 3,800-mile bike ride across the US at the Santa Monica Pier Wednesday to raise funds for Catholic schools in Belize, where he had lived for over a decade.

Nick Patsaouras, a former Metro board member and president of the late Southern California Rapid Transit District, says he was proud to build the kind of bike paths and greenways now deemed “hostile” to cars by the Trump administration. And yes, that’s the same Patsaouras as in the Patsaouras Bus Plaza in DTLA. 

A new analysis reveals Long Beach’s most dangerous corridors for pedestrians, as the city averages nearly one pedestrian crash every day.

 

State

Riverside’s Light Parade has gone from a casual, lowkey ride to a monthly event drawing around 600 people, prompting a fundraiser to pay for city permits and a police escort.

Oakland’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission dreams of transforming the city’s car-centric roads into a tree-lined paradise, calling for an “all-encompassing” citywide greenway. Sort of like bike riders everywhere — including here in Los Angeles.

 

National

Momentum consider’s DoorDash’s plans to send thousands of cute little robots crashing into bike lanes. Which might be good for them, but it ain’t good for those of us on bikes, and of questionable legality. 

A 26-year old Tucson man is being held on $1 million bail after he was charged with second-degree murder for fatally stabbing a man riding on a bike path; the 44-year old victim had gotten off his bike to confront the suspect for throwing things at members of a group ride, and had started riding away before realizing he’d been stabbed.

Apple AirTags even work in Missoula, Montana, where a man got his stolen ebike back thanks to one he had hidden on his bike.

Wisconsin lawmakers are considering changes to the driver’s license renewal process for elderly drivers, in response to the death of a 12-year old boy killed by an 85-year-old driver while riding his bike.

New York police are once again blaming the victims by ticketing bike riders, rather than drivers, at a Williamsburg intersection where a motorist killed someone riding a bicycle just days earlier.

 

International

A couple in Winnipeg, Manitoba are calling for safety improvements after they were both injured while riding bicycles at the same intersection just two days apart.

Candidates for mayor of Montreal insist they don’t oppose bicycling, but some don’t support expanding the city’s bike network, even though the limited loss of parking has generally been offset by an increase in retail sales and livability.

Cycling Weekly says bike theft is effectively being legalized in Britain, thanks to a new policy preventing police from investigating thefts of bikes parked at transit stations for more than two hours. Unlike here, where it’s just not worth the cops time to investigate if the bike is worth less than $1,000, which is only a catch and release misdemeanor under California law.

Cambridge, England is getting the country’s first “official cycle street,” giving bicyclists priority over people in cars.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life really is cheap in the UK, where a 32-year old man walked without a day behind bars for killing a 54-year old woman participating in a bicycling time trial, despite admitting he never saw the victim because he was way too busy looking at his phone. But at least he was banned from driving for a whole year. So if you want to know why people keep dying on the streets, overly lenient sentences like this are a damn good place to start. 

An 18-year old Dutch woman was randomly attacked while riding her bike in The Hague, when a man in his mid to late teens stabbed her in the leg as she rode past a hotel.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Italy, where former pro Stefano Casagranda died following a long battle against cancer; Casagranda raced for eight years, highlighted by winning a snowy Paris-Nice stage in a 62-mile solo breakaway. He was 52.

Mathieu van der Poel marked the end of his cycling season with a nice, relaxing ride with fans in Los Angeles, checking out the city in advance of the ’28 Olympic Games.

UCI cracks down hard on suspected doping by suspending an entire Portuguese cycling team for <checks notes> a whole 20 days. Because apparently there were no wet noodles left to slap them with.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to ride your mo-ped after drinking, try not to crash into a stopped LAPD patrol car. That feeling when you lock up your bike, and come back to find it’s being used for a stunt jump.

Or when your rocket-powered bicycle can’t even beat an ebike.

Or maybe an e-moto.

……… 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Stockton sucks more than LA for bike riders but so does Long Beach, and victim’s dog rescued after South LA crash

September 5, 2025 / / No comments
Day 248 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Drumroll, please.

A new report list the top five most dangerous cities in the US for bike riders as,

  1. Stockton, California
  2. New Orleans, Louisiana
  3. Tampa, Florida
  4. Sacramento, California
  5. Tucson, Arizona

Surprisingly, the report from Consumer Affairs ranked Los Angeles all the way down as the 64th most dangerous American city for bicyclists, although we fared a lot worse for people on foot, coming in at 31st.

Long Beach was 38th and 41st, respectively.

Maybe Los Angeles ranks so low because we’ve already scared most people off their bikes, unlike the other cities.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

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There’s always more to the story.

When I write about a fallen bike rider, I can only write what I know at the time. Which is usually what’s been reported in the media that day, or the next.

We seldom learn much about the victim, and little or nothing about what the deaths leave in their wake.

That was the case with a homeless man killed in an early morning crash in South LA last month while riding his bike with his dog, and pulling a trailer to collect recyclables.

We still don’t know his name.

But we now know what happened to the dog that refused to leave his side for hours after his death, thanks to a heartwarming report from KNBC-4.

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This is who we share the road with.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that following a crash in Reseda, an ambulance was struck by another driver while transporting a victim of the first crash.

Then when a battalion chief arrived to investigate that crash, the truck was struck by yet another driver at the same intersection as the ambulance.

That makes three separate crashes stemming from the same incident.

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Speaking of the Times, the paper’s outdoor newsletter The Wild includes Saturday’s Emerald Necklace Ride among their 3 things to do.

2. Bike along rivers in the San Gabriel Valley
ActiveSGV and Amigos de los Rios will co-host a 12-mile bike ride from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday starting at the Jeff Seymour Family Center (10900 Mulhall St., El Monte). The ride will take city streets and bike paths as cyclists explore the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River. Register at eventbrite.com.

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

No bias here. London tabloids are up in arms over a new study showing one-fifth of all ebike riders, e-scooter riders and bicyclists in the city routinely jump red lights. Which, by my extensive calculations, means that an overwhelming 80% don’t. And how do they know people “routinely” jump red lights, which would require a) following individual riders to identify their behavior at multiple red lights, or b) identifying individual riders to witness their behavior at the same red light over multiple days.

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Local 

Los Angeles is looking for comments about a new study on the sad state of LA Parks. Tell them parks are for people, not cars, and cars don’t belong in parks. Any parks. Period. And yes, I’m looking at you, Griffith Park. 

The American Bicycle Association’s ABA Ethos subsidiary will oversee the design, construction and event coordination for the mountain bike course for the ’28 Los Angeles Olympic Games, to be held in international mountain bike mecca the City of Industry.

Streetsblog says Monterey Park is looking for your input on a full redesign of Garvey Ave, with plans for “new bike lanes, safer intersections, upgraded sidewalks, improved transit service/bus stops, and better lighting.” And speaking of Streetsblog, if you’ve got a little extra cash lying around — or stocks, apparently — toss a little their way to support their invaluable work keeping us informed about the latest transportation and transit news.

Santa Monica cops are conducting another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation from 5 am to 8 pm today, so ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits.

 

State

Chula Vista is the latest city to crackdown on ebike riders, but will focus on education and warnings for the next three months before issuing citations. Once again, the real problem is with people riding dirt bikes and high-speed throttle-controlled electric motorbikes, rather than people on ped-assist ebikes. 

Oops. Vallejo police jumped the gun in announcing a man had died after being hit by driver while riding his bicycle Sunday morning; the victim is still fighting for his life, although it doesn’t look good.

 

National

Here’s your chance to ride your bike in and around Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park.

Life is cheap in Arizona, where the truck driver who plowed into a group bike ride in Goodyear, Arizona, killing two people and injuring nearly two dozen more, was sentenced to one lousy year behind bars and will lose his license for a whole 180 days, after the district attorney refused to file felony charges. If you wonder why people keep dying on our streets, lenient sentences like this are a good place to start. 

Three men rode their bikes 200 miles across Iowa to honor a friend lost to suicide, offering hugs and someone to talk with to strangers along the way.

Life is cheap in Vermont, where a cop walked without a day behind bars for killing a man walking a bicycle, despite speeding and allegedly watching a YouTube video on his onboard computer at the time of the crash.

A new trio of 20 minute plays tell the story of pioneering Black bicyclist Kittie Knox, performed by actors riding bikes along the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts, her home town.

A former Massachusetts bike shop owner pled guilty to larceny charges for defrauding several customers by taking their money and failing to deliver the bikes and parts they ordered.

Police in New York are looking for the arsonist who torched a Manhattan bikeshare dock.

New Orleans advocates are calling for bike safety improvements on St. Claude Ave, following two bicycling deaths on the dangerous corridor in a single month.

 

International

Edinburgh, Scotland finally protected a number of bike lanes around the city following months of delays and deferrals, making the lanes permanent, after they had been installed on a temporary basis and scheduled for removal next month.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. An Irish judge threw out the charges against a driver accused of careless driving for nearly hitting a group of bike riding cops — even though he had already pled guilty.

India is the new manufacturing source for mass-market US bike brands in the face of Trump’s tariffs on China — or it would have been, if Trump hadn’t jacked up tariffs on that country, too.

Lonely Planet offers advice on how to plan a New Zealand bicycling vacation. Get used to riding on the wrong side of the road, to start, because the left side is the right side down there.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time Olympic mountain biking gold medalist Tom Pidcock moved up to third in the Vuelta General Classification, confirming his decision to bypass this year’s mountain bike worlds, as Spain’s Juan Ayuso won Thursday’s stage in a sprint.

Cycling Weekly offers a preview of tomorrow’s Maryland Cycling Classic.

 

Finally…

If it’s made by Kawasaki, it’s an electric motorcycle, not an electric bike — even if a country star crashes it. That feeling when your new Canyon bike turns out to be a Canyo.

And probably not the best idea to threaten to kill a cop and his family if you get busted for stealing a bike from the local high school.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

13-year old Michael Smith killed by speeding hit-and-run driver in South LA last month; ghost bike installed tomorrow

August 20, 2025 / / 3 comments

This is what keeps me up at night. And what really pisses me off.

Because not only did the police, city and news media fail to inform us about yet another fatal hit-and-run, but the victim was a kid just out for a bike ride.

Here’s what we know so far about the needless death of Michael Smith, courtesy of a press release from Streets Are For Everyone.

The loved ones of Michael Kejuan Ramaun James Smith, Streets Are For Everyone, community members, and members of SAFE Families will host a Ghost Bike Memorial event to honor and remember Michael Smith, who was struck and killed by a speeding driver on July 22nd, 2025.

Michael was riding his bicycle on 83rd Street, headed toward Main Street to pick up a friend for a bike ride. He was struck and instantly killed by a speeding driver who was allegedly traveling at 75 MPH on a residential street. The driver fled the scene but was later arrested and has since been released on bail.

Michael, who would have celebrated his 13th birthday on September 16, was a radiant and compassionate child who loved riding bikes. He was also an entrepreneur, running his own ice cream truck since the age of seven, with dreams of growing his business and future.

The intersection is controlled with a traffic light, but are no bike lanes on either street.

This is at least the 36th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 14th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; this was also the seventh we’ve learned about in the City of LA.

Six of those seven Los Angeles victims lost their lives riding in South LA.

Michael Smith was the 12th SoCal bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver since the first of the year — fully one third of everyone killed riding a bicycle in Southern California this year.

But at least this time, they — allegedly — caught the heartless coward who left Michel to die in the street.

If you want to attend the ghost bike installation tomorrow, here is the information from the press release. If you do, ask Councilmember Price why we continue to all this to happen in South LA.

And why no one is telling us about it.

Ghost Bike Memorial Details

Date: Thursday, August 21, 2025

Time: 4:30 PM

Location: Intersection of 83rd Street & Main Street, South Los Angeles

Who:

Ellen Atwater, Michael’s Mother, and other family members
Councilmember Curren D Price Jr.
Damian Kevitt, Executive Director of Streets Are For Everyone
Pastor Patricia Strong-Fargas, Co-Chair, Faith for SAFEr Streets
John Jones III, Founder of East Side Riders
Members of SAFE Families
Friends and community members

In addition to the ghost bike, 13 white doves will be released in honor of Michael, who would have turned 13 years old next month.

Update: My News LA reports the crash occurred around 2:55 pm. Michael died after being taken to a hospital. 

Photo courtesy of SAFE

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , ,

Anger boils after deadly WeHo hit-and-run on Fountain Ave, and 79-year old San Diego man injured in crash with bike rider

July 14, 2025 / / Comments Off on Anger boils after deadly WeHo hit-and-run on Fountain Ave, and 79-year old San Diego man injured in crash with bike rider
Day 195 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A handful of protesters turned out on Friday evening to demand safety improvements on Fountain Ave, following the Thursday night hit-and-run that killed 26-year old Blake Ackerman.

According to WeHo Times,

Local cyclist and advocate Nicholas Renteria organized a grassroots demonstration at the intersection of Fountain Avenue and Gardner Street, where the deadly collision occurred on Thursday, July 10, around 9:47 p.m. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the victim, Blake Ackerman, 26, was riding westbound on Fountain when he was hit by an older-model BMW sedan, which fled the scene. The victim was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.

Anger has built following Ackerman’s death because individuals and advocacy groups have demanded action on the deadly corridor for more than a decade.

Plans have finally begun moving forward over the past few years, but are hung up by the usual demands to persevere parking at the expense of human lives.

As calls for accountability grow louder, local leaders have pointed to upcoming initiatives like the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project, which aims to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety with measures such as protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks. A community meeting about the project is scheduled for August 19 at Plummer Park.

Renteria hopes awareness leads to action before another life is lost. “This isn’t a fight between drivers and cyclists,” he said. “It’s a fight between people and a government that’s not being responsive.”

In addition to the community meeting next month, plans are underway for a ghost bike to be installed in the coming days.

You’ll know more when I do.

Photo: Streets For All and Measure HLA stickers on a bicycle parked at Lowes Home Improvement in Mid-City LA Sunday afternoon.

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A 79-year old man was seriously injured when he was struck by a bike rider while walking in a bike lane in San Diego’s Clairemont neighborhood.

The victim was hospitalized with a skull fracture and a brain bleed.

No word yet on what he was doing in the bike lane, or why the bicyclist was unable to avoid him.

………

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

Another Canadian province appears to be going the wrong way, as the provincial government of Alberta is “actively reviewing” bike lanes that have raised the ire of some residents, with the government questioning both current and planned bike lanes that “reduce road capacity.”

Police in Australia are looking for six men who brutally beat a man riding a bicycle in an apparent road rage attack; the occupants of two vehicles chased a pair of bike riders following an argument, before jumping the curb and beating one of the bike riders with baseball bats. The other rider somehow got away.

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

A New York teenager riding an ebike was killed a hit-and-run driver while he was being pursued by police who suspected him of a knifepoint robbery; a 28-year old driver was arrested for the hit-and-run shortly later.

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Local 

Streets For All offered their July newsletter, including news that a total of $7 million has been approved to move forward with necessary technical and environmental clearance work on the proposed extension of the Ballona Creek bike path.

 

State

Police in Huntington Beach busted a bike thief who stole a bait bike valued at over $2,000, enough to qualify for felony charges. Yet the LAPD still won’t use bait bikes, following outdated advice from the City Attorney’s office that it could be considered entrapment

 

National

Bike Magazine recommends a selection of the year’s best bike locks, depending on your needs.

Outside highlights seven of the best bikepacking trip across the US. None of which are in California.

A hit-and-run driver left an Oregon woman lying in a ditch all night after they crashed into her bike sometime Saturday night; she was found by a passerby after 7 Sunday morning suffering from serious leg, facial, and other injuries. The driver should be charged with attempted murder when they find them for making the conscious decision to risk the victim’s life by leaving her there to die. 

Sad news from Nevada, where the founder of Bob’s Bikes died following a battle with prostate cancer; retired mechanic Bob Crane had repaired and given away more than one thousand bicycles for needy kids.

A Wyoming website recommends putting a bell on your mountain bike, as well as shouting and carrying bear spray, to reduce the risk of deadly bear encounters. Mountain lions seem to pose a bigger risk on SoCal trails; I can’t recall a mountain biker mauled by a bear down here, even though we have a lot of ’em. 

Now even the trees are out to get us. Someone riding a bicycle was killed in Urbandale, Iowa when a tree fell on them as they were riding on a trail.

Forget the Tour de France. America’s only Penny Farthing bike race rolled for the 11th time over the weekend, with 50 competitors from the US and around the world competing on “wheels are bigger than most 5th graders.”

 

International

A Vancouver Grand Fondo resulted in yet another mass casualty event, as one person was killed and two others injured when a driver somehow plowed into a group of bicyclists.

Police in an Ontario city put bicyclists on a stationary bicycle so they could get a feel for what it’s like to be passed by a driver at the legally mandated one-meter distance (approximately three feet); most felt shaken after the experience, with several wanting the mandatory passing distance increased to two meters. Although it would have done a lot more good to put motorists on that stationary bike, so they would understand just how it feels.

That’s more like it. A drunk and stoned British driver was sentenced to nine years and three months behind bars for killing a 70-year old woman as she walked her bike across the street; his license was already suspended at the time of the crash for a previous DUI, among other offenses.

Cargo bikes dominated the recent Eurobike show, resulting in plans for a separate cargo bike-only show.

Irascible TV celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey completed his first triathlon in over a year in Luxembourg on Sunday, after he was seriously injured crashing his bicycle in June of last year.

The Malay­sian Natio­nal Cycling Federation calls out the lack of sharing on the country’s roads, where bicyclists have the right to ride but “tolerance between cyclists and motor vehicle drivers is declining.”

Bicycling rates are up in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, New Zealand, rising 40% since 2017. But like most American cities, there’s room for even more growth by tapping demand from people who don’t own bikes, or lack confidence to ride them.

 

Competitive Cycling

European road champ Tim Merlier sprinted to victory in Sunday’s ninth stage of the Tour de France to secure his second win of this year’s Tour, after the peloton reeled in Mathieu van der Poel following a day-long breakaway; van der Poel dropped to sixth in the GC standings despite Sunday’s long solo ride, while race leader Tadej Pogačar held onto the yellow jersey.

Pogačar’s chances of wearing yellow in Paris took a hit on Sunday, however, as key domestique João Almeida was forced to abandon, two days after breaking his ribs in a fall.

Tensions are starting to build in the Tour peloton, with Pogačar objecting to feed zone tactics from the Visma-Lease a Bike team that seemed intended to force him to defend the yellow jersey before he wanted; Pogačar was also caught on camera pushing Visma’s Matteo Jorgenson when Jorgenson got in his way, preventing both from getting their bidons.

Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini repeated as Giro champion after winning last year, securing a slim 18-second margin of victory on the final day, as Germany’s Liane Lippert won the stage in late breakaway.

Australian Sarah Gigante was thrilled just to make the Giro podium after a long and challenging comeback from iliac artery endofibrosis surgery.

Baja California’s Isaac del Toro proved he’s too legit to quit, showing his second-place finish at the Giro was no fluke by winning the 75th Tour of Austria.

 

Finally…

How to stop worrying and love the bicycle. How to play AirTag with a bike thief.

And that feeling when bike riders get buzzed by a cop traveling at twice the speed limit, yet commenters blame the people on the bikes, anyway.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Angry security guard rams car into kid on bike, burnout driver slams into Inglewood crowd, and crowdfunding for Marvin Cortez

June 17, 2025 / / Comments Off on Angry security guard rams car into kid on bike, burnout driver slams into Inglewood crowd, and crowdfunding for Marvin Cortez
Day 168 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A security guard for a San Raphael shopping mall faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse for allegedly using his patrol vehicle as a weapon.

The 66-year old guard is accused of running over a kid riding a bicycle after he became angry when a group of children took down the caution tape blocking off part of a two-story parking garage.

He drove away after the crash, but returned later to turn himself in.

The young victim was hospitalized with injuries that were described as non-life threatening.

But you have to wonder what the charges would have been if he had used a gun instead of a motor vehicle.

The only difference is the size of the weapon.

………

This is who we share the road with.

At least six people were injured when a driver doing burnouts “to get attention” lost control and plowed into a crowd of people standing on an Inglewood sidewalk protesting ICE immigration raids.

KTLA-5 reports the victims included 14 and 16 year old kids.

Fortunately — and surprisingly — the victims’ injuries were not believed to be serious.

………

A crowdfunding campaign is raising funds for a memorial for Marvin Cortez, the 37-year old man killed by a driver while riding his bike on Stunt Road in Calabasas on Saturday.

The story of his death is also beginning to change, as witnesses claim the driver was out of control, and rumble strips in the center of the roadway make it unlikely that Cortez would have been riding on the wrong side of the road, as initial reports claimed.

………

South Pasadena, Alhambra and San Gabriel will host a five-mile open streets event from 3 pm to 8 pm this Sunday.

Which means you could double up, and do the Historic South Central meets Watts CicLAvia and the Active Streets: Mission at Twilight the same day.

………

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

Denver, Colorado spent $200,000 to make a downtown street more dangerous, removing flex posts from a protected bike lane because people complained about visual clutter, choosing prettier slight lines over human lives.

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Local 

The Santa Monica city council approved a pilot program allowing bicyclists to ride in select bus lanes in the city.

 

State

The YMCA in San Diego’s Mission Valley opened its own $300,000 skate and bike park, creating what could become a training facility for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

A Santa Ana bike thief was busted on a local bike trail after police located him thanks to an AirTag hidden on the bike.

The University of California’s Berkeley Library marks the retirement of a librarian who rode the San Francisco to LA AIDS/LifeCycle Ride six times, stating that librarianship and bicycling are both “powered by compassion, care, and a sense of community.” I would have said the latter was powered by strong legs and a good crank, but what the hell do I know?

A British woman rode her bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles — or most of the way, anyway — in search of “real American cuisine,” from Berkeley’s Chez Panisse to The Apple Pan on Pico Blvd in LA, and on to the original McDonalds in Downey.

 

National

Hit-and-run alerts help, but they’re not perfect. Authorities in Colorado sounded the alarm after a man was found dead next to his bicycle, urging any witnesses to the hit-and-run to come forward, but the coroner later determined there were no traumatic injuries that could have led to his death, and the cause of death remains undetermined.

Even tiny Basalt, Colorado gets it, issuing ebike rebates for the second year in a row to get residents out of their cars.

Police in Pittsburgh PA are looking for a pair of hit-and-run drivers who critically injured a man riding a bicycle in what appeared to be a street race; the drivers were caught on a security cam traveling side-by-side at a high rate of speed before slamming into the victim.

Vermont will now allow bike riders to cross a street on the pedestrian signal, legalizing something many riders already do — although the law won’t take effect for another year.

 

International

A London council is accused of installing “prohibitive, discriminatory” barriers on a steep ramp at the exit of a park in order to stop possibly nonexistent speeding bicyclists, forcing people with disabilities and families in cargo bikes onto a busy road with no bike lane, while ignoring a January compromise agreement.

A motor vehicle once again became a weapon of mass destruction when the 87-year old driver of a motorhome slammed into a group of four Swiss bicyclists in Cher, France, killing two people in their 60s and critically injuring a third. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive — especially a vehicle that can weigh seven tons or more.

Malaysian roads are under increased scrutiny after a man riding a bike was killed due to cracked pavement, just a week after 15 students were killed in a bus crash, as statistics show one person is killed every two hours in the country due to traffic violence.

 

Competitive Cycling

USA Cycling offers an insiders guide to mountain biking in Bentonville, Arkansas, revealing what they claim makes it the perfect training ground for the USA Cycling National Mountain Bike Team.

Aussie sprinter Michael Matthews was forced to drop out of next month’s Tour de France when doctors diagnosed him with a pulmonary embolism.

You might not win Wisconsin’s Tour of America’s Dairyland, but your mutt could be selected as the Dog of the Day.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be a car, sort of. Your next e-cargo bike could come with a detachable rickshaw-style rear seat for your family, or maybe the in-laws.

And that feeling when a century ride to select the ultimate road bike ends up in the ER.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Walk ‘n Rollers hosts bicycle safety workshop and pizza party, and “powerful force” for N.M. bike community killed

January 23, 2025 / / Comments Off on Walk ‘n Rollers hosts bicycle safety workshop and pizza party, and “powerful force” for N.M. bike community killed
Day 23 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

It’s our third light bike news day in a row, as some guy in Washington seems to be sucking up all the news space. Which just means I can get to bed that much earlier. 

Although it’s questionable how much sleep I’ll get, as smoke from yet another not-too-distant LA fire infiltrates our apartment once again. 

Today’s photo: apropos of nothing, a bike hanging on a wall of a defunct coffee shop. 

………

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

No bias here. British drivers complain about bikeshare bikes, calling them a “blight” on the sidewalks, but parking cars on said sidewalks appears to be just fine.

A road-raging UK driver will spend the next 18 months behind bars after being convicted for using his car as a weapon by deliberately ramming a bike rider following a punishment pass, then getting out of his car and yelling at the victim as he lay helpless on the street.

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

A 73-yer old Dublin, Ireland woman died of a head injury after she was struck by a man riding a bicycle, while she was putting up political campaign posters last year.

………

Local  

Walk ‘n Rollers is teaming with the YMCA and Culver City to host a free bicycle safety workshop and pizza party this Sunday to “help keep commuters and recreational cyclists safe.”

 

State

Calbike considers a number of policy changes to protect vulnerable road users.

Orange County’s most bike-friendly city just got its first protected bike lane, with a new 1.25-mile curb protected lane to go with Irvine’s 300 miles of painted bike lanes and 100 miles of off-street bikeways.

The Imperial County DA’s office says they’ll be cracking down on riders of ebikes and electric motorcycles for unspecified violations. Which seems like illegal selective enforcement, unless they crack down on violations by other road users to the same degree.

Bad news from Bakersfield, where a 14-year old boy was critically injured by a driver while riding his bicycle against traffic.

A 44-year old Oregon woman pled not guilty to charges including vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run and DUI for allegedly just driving off after hitting two men riding bicycles in San Luis Obispo, killing an 87-year old Avila Beach man and injuring his 74-year old companion.

Sad news from Walnut Creek, where a woman was killed by a driver while riding her bike Wednesday morning — or rather, by a vehicle, since the story doesn’t even mention that it had a driver until the last paragraph.

A suspect has been arrested in Amarillo, Texas for a deadly hit-and-run that took the life of a 49-year old Tulare County man riding a bicycle last August.

 

National

This is the cost of traffic violence. A man describe as a “powerful pedaling force” for the Albuquerque, New Mexico bicycling community was killed by a driver while riding his bike home after spending the day refurbishing bicycles for children in need; 64-year old Chuck Malagodi, who led bike tours around the world before moving to the city, was just a mile from his home when he was killed, after he had refused a ride from a friend.

I want to be like them when I grow up. Three men in their 70s from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, along with a fourth man in his late 60s, completed a bike-touring trip down the 3,000 mile East Coast Greenway trail.

 

International

Vancouver, British Columbia is shutting down some popular DIY bike trails, arguing that they pose a risk to bike riders and the environment.

A Toronto woman thanks the “stranger angel” who came to her aid after she was seriously injured when one of her tires got stuck in a streetcar track. Although what makes one angel stranger than another is beyond me. 

A London bikeshare provider will now offer ebikes with a basket in front and a child seat in the back — or maybe another adult seat.

A writer for Cycling Weekly celebrates the joys of cafe stops after a long ride — in her case “stinking up” British tea rooms.

The BBC insists that a TV show attacking ebikes and lumping low-speed ped-assist ebikes together illegally modified electric motorbikes was “fair and impartial and clearly not an attack on the e-bike industry,” despite complaints by viewers and a trade association that it was exactly that.

 

Competitive Cycling

Canada is trying to level the playing field by banning time trial bikes in junior cycling events.

Wind tunnel simulations suggest your water bottle may be in the wrong place — as long as you don’t actually use a bicycle, since they didn’t use one in the tests.

 

Finally…

Your next electric scooter could come disguised as a telecom utility box that magically transforms into an ebike. Your old brake levers could be reborn as door handles.

And that feeling when the real sprinters aren’t even in the peloton

https://twitter.com/NBCSCycling/status/1881882165828346210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1881882165828346210%7Ctwgr%5E2517ed17769547aae86b204e10ffde7b36f76ccc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-22-january-2025-312235

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

High wind warnings and fire danger return to LA, man dies riding Simi Valley trail, and denouement to bizarre Scottish hit-and-run

January 20, 2025 / / Comments Off on High wind warnings and fire danger return to LA, man dies riding Simi Valley trail, and denouement to bizarre Scottish hit-and-run
Day 20 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

Well, this ain’t good.

The National Weather Service is calling for a return of Santa Ana winds up to 100 mph starting this afternoon — the same conditions that fueled the deadly wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena exactly two weeks ago.

So beware of dangerous wind gusts that can rise suddenly, keep an eye out for any sign of fire or smoke, and keep your phone handy for any wind or evacuation alerts.

After last time, we’ve all seen what could happen. So if you smell smoke, wear a mask. And if there’s a fire anywhere around you, get the hell out.

Please.

Let’s hope we don’t see the return of orange skies, like this shot from Cole Keister for Pexels.

………

Sad news from Simi Valley, where a man believed to be in his 50’s collapsed and died while riding his bike with a companion.

The incident occurred shortly before 1:30 pm Saturday, along Albertson Fire Road in the hills south of Simi, and east of Thousand Oaks.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the efforts of first responders.

This was at least the third bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in Ventura County.

………

Call it the denouement to a shocking case we’ve been following for several years.

The family of a 63-year old man killed by a drunken hit-and-run driver while on Scottish fundraising ride has received an undisclosed six-figure settlement from the driver’s insurance company.

Tony Parsons died after the driver drove away, leaving him propped against a fence overnight. The driver came back with his brother the next day and buried Parsons in an unmarked grave in the woods, along with his bike and belongings, where his body wasn’t found for another three years.

Alexander “Sandy” McKellar was sentenced to 12 years behind bars, while his twin brother Robert got five years and three months.

They probably would have gotten away with it if Sandy McKeller hadn’t taken his girlfriend to the burial site in 2020, and confessed the whole crime to her.

She promptly reported it to the police. Yet it wasn’t until the next year that the grave was finally discovered and the McKellers arrested.

………

This is who we share the road with.

https://twitter.com/motorisms/status/1881011234092503154

………

It’s questionable whether most drivers will ever grasp the concept that riding abreast and controlling the lane makes us safer, while making it easier for them. It just requires a little patience.

………

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

A man attacked a 74-year old man riding a bicycle in East Harlem, New York, first pushing to victim off his bicycle, then picking it up and beating him with it, for no apparent reason.

Police in Spartanburg, South Carolina are on the lookout for two suspects, after the passenger in a car threw a drink cup at a man riding a bicycle; the cops were able to find the cup, so it’s conceivable they may be able to lift prints. That happened to me so often riding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that I could have opened my own convenience store. Although it must not have been illegal there, because I eventually gave up on trying to get a cop to take a report.

Complaints are flooding in against the BBC for a recent report attacking ebikes, as one bike shop owner says “Finding a wolf in sheep’s clothing should not be a reason to attack sheep.” Which may just be my new favorite expression.

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

A 31-year old Scottish man faces sentencing for intentionally riding his bicycle into his girlfriend, knocking her to the ground. No word on whether the woman was injured. Although if she’s still his girlfriend after that, she may have suffered serious brain damage. 

………

Local  

KNBC-4 offers more details on the fire that destroyed Altadena’s Steve’s Bike Shop and most of the city two weeks ago, while owner Steve Salinas was fighting to save his brother’s home.

 

State

A 40-year old Riverside man was killed while riding an electric scooter against traffic when he was hit head-on by a driver turning out of a school parking lot.

Don’t plan on riding a new, fully funded bike lane connecting Downtown San Francisco with Golden Gate Park anytime soon.

An alleged burglar was busted for stealing several bicycles with an estimated value of $28,000 from a San Francisco home; he was arrested after the victim spotted one of the bikes for sale online and notified the police.

Sacramento is urged to consider addressing the city’s climate goals and the high rate of bicyclist and pedestrian deaths by making a new bridge across the American River car-free.

 

National

Bicycling offers the key to a successful Everesting attempt, which research shows comes down to selecting the right gradient for your fitness level. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Bicycling also considers how to recognize the signs of exercise addiction in bike riders. But you may have to find a way around their paywall if the magazine blocks you, since this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else.

One last bike-friendly federal bill before the new administration takes over, with the signing of the Biking On Long Distance Trails (BOLT) Act, which will require the feds to build at least 10 long-distance bicycle routes throughout the US, and identify potential routes 10 more using existing roads and trails.

An ebike impact calculator launched last year now includes data from over 500 US cities, allowing users to assess the environmental and economic impact of shifting short vehicle trips to ebikes.

Bicycling deaths continue to climb in ostensibly bike-friendly Portland, Oregon. Probably due to the same problems with distracted drivers and massively oversized vehicles plaguing every other American city. 

A Seattle components maker takes a look back, and discovers that bicycling has come full circle.

Washington state launched a $5 million dollar ebike rebate program, which expects to fund about 7,000 more vouchers than the botched first round of California’s intentionally throttled program.

Cycling West shares photo of an Ogden, Utah bronze statue of a kid riding a bicycle, with a dog running alongside.

A new 9.3-mile multi-use trail for art aficionados in the Berkshires will connect three Massachusetts art museums, as well as a theater, multiple art galleries and other cultural and historic destinations.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. Heartbreaking news from Florida, where a 53-year old man without a license was busted for his third DUI — but not until he ran a stop sign and killed six-year old kid riding a bike. Just one more example of why it’s not enough to suspend the driver’s license after a second DUI. The driver’s car should have been impounded for the full term of his license suspension. 

 

International

British Columbia’s Rocky Mountain Bikes is now under bankruptcy protection, with parent company RAD Industries Inc. in dire financial straits.

Bicyclists in Lahore, Pakistan now have their on lane on some of the city’s busiest roadways, but they’ll have to share them with motorbikes.

Bike counters captured a record number of bike riders in Christchurch, New Zealand last year, as the city topped 4 million bike trips, up from 3.6 million in 2023.

A senior political journalist writes in defense of bike lanes in New Zealand’s capital, both as a bicyclist and a driver.

A pair of Aussie bicyclists were seriously injured, and their bikes significantly damaged, when they were run down from behind by a hit-and-run driver. Raising the obvious question of how anyone fails to see not one, but two grown men on bicycles directly in front of them.

No surprise here. A new Australian study shows that wearing bike helmets or bright, reflective clothing is dehumanizing, with bicyclists in the helmeted, hi-vis camp seen as less human that bike riders in more casual attire.

 

Competitive Cycling

A woman watching the Tour Down Under was hospitalized when several competitors lost control and slammed into the fencing in a “chaotic” crash on a tight corner, at speeds topping 30 mph.

Visma – Lease a Bike, the flagship cycling team of the Netherlands, will go into the year’s Tour de France without any Dutch riders on the team, though it will have American Sepp Kuss.

Sad news, as former American pro Doug Shapiro died following a California climbing accident; the 65-year old New Yorker raced for the legendary 7-Eleven team, as well as the forerunner to Visma-Lease a Bike, while winning the 1984 edition of Colorado’s Coors Classic.

Thirty-year old Ryan Collins now owns 12 ultra-cycling world records, despite being told he’d never ride a bike again after a head-on collision in his early 20s.

Two-time Tour de France camp Jonas Vingegaard calls for an immediate end to carbon monoxide doping, the latest not-yet-illegal fad among the pro racing crowd. Which raises the question of whether LA cyclists would fail a CO test simply for breathing the air around here these days.

The former sports director for Belgian women’s cycling team Proximus-Cyclis, now Team Velopro–Alphamotorhomes, was banned for five years on Friday after being accused of inappropriate psychological and sexual harassment; the team manager was banned for 18 months and fined the equivalent of $5,500 for failing to report it. Is there really such a thing as appropriate psychological and/or sexual harassment?

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own a $7,500 carbon frame racing bike spec’d entirely of Chinese parts, from a company you probably never heard of. How can you call yourself a real bike rider if you don’t know the difference between a Bicicletta and a Bicycle Thief?

And if you’re planning to snatch a $15,000 racing bike while the owner is having lunch with his friends, maybe make sure they’re not elite cyclists first.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Cars — plural — seized in road rage murder of teen bike rider, and 21 bicyclists dead in LA this year as hit-and-runs rise

November 26, 2024 / / Comments Off on Cars — plural — seized in road rage murder of teen bike rider, and 21 bicyclists dead in LA this year as hit-and-runs rise
Just 34 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 
But so far, no LA city leader has even mentioned the impending deadline. Let alone done anything about it. 

………

Let’s start with an update on yesterday’s lead story.

The CHP has identified, but not publicly named, a 28-year old Hispanic man as a person of interest (scroll down) in the intentional hit-and-run death of 16-year old Jonathan Flores in LA’s Exposition Park Friday night.

Investigators also seized two cars after serving a search warrant at a home in Los Angeles.

According to witnesses, a group of around forty teenage bike riders got into a verbal dispute with the driver of a blue BMW while riding south on Figueroa Street.

They rode into the parking lot at BMO Stadium to get away, but were followed by the driver of a second car, described as a Honda sedan. That driver plowed into Flores, who wasn’t involved in the initial confrontation, before fleeing the parking lot.

Flores died at the scene.

The cars seized by the CHP were a blue BMW, and a Honda Accord, corresponding with the witnesses description.

However, no arrest has been made, as the CHP is urging the person of interest to turn himself in.

………

It should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following this site that hit-and-run deaths in Los Angeles continue at near record levels, accounting for nearly a third of all traffic deaths in the city.

According to Crosstown LA, 345 people were killed as a result of traffic violence in Los Angeles last year, including 108 who died as a result of hit-and-run collisions.

And things aren’t not much better this year, with just five fewer people dying in hit-and-runs through the end of October, compared to last year.

Also not surprising, people in DTLA and South LA bore the brunt of the problem, without a single neighborhood in the wealthy Westside showing up on a list of the 13 worst neighborhoods for hit-and-run this year.

Then there’s this.

Also increasingly at risk are bicyclists. According to LAPD data, nine cyclists have died in hit-and-runs so far this year; the recent annual high for bicycle hit-and-run deaths was nine in 2019 and again in 2023.

Altogether this year, 21 bicyclists have been killed in collisions, according to Traffic Division Compstat data. Another 130 people suffered serious injuries.

Michael Schneider, founder and director of transportation-focused advocacy group Streets For All, said bicyclists are “being pushed to the margins” of the roads. With streets in the city being designed like freeways, with wide lanes and synchronized traffic lights, the result, he said, is more speeding, which endangers cyclists and pedestrians.

That’s a whopping 14 more than the seven bicycling deaths I’ve counted in the City of Fallen Angels so far this year — exactly three times as many bicyclists actually killed as have been mentioned by the local media.

Never mind that a total of 151 people have been killed or seriously injured riding a bicycle in LA this year.

And you wonder why I’ve been warning that my totals were probably an undercount.

I’ve long called for taking the crime more seriously, including revoking, not suspending, the license of any driver who flees the scene of a collision, regardless of severity.

Along with impounding their cars as evidence until their case is settled, then selling them upon conviction, with any proceeds going to the victims.

………

Failure continues to stalk the bike industry, with three more bike-related companies going belly up or suspending sales.

British bike distributor The Martlet Group, owner of i-ride and its bike brand Orro, went into receivership — the equivalent of bankruptcy — earlier this year, due to heavy discounting of overstock merchandise.

French sportswear maker Le Coq Sportif also went into receivership; the firm made all the yellow jerseys for the Tour de France for more than four decades, noncontiguous though those decades may have been.

And Swiss bikemaker Stromer is immediately suspending sales of its Stromer and Desiknio bike brands in the US and Canada, after it was unable to find a North American distributor willing to take it over. Thanks to Ellectrek for the heads-up. 

………

Black Friday is once again rearing its ugly head. Although now it’s a week, if not a month, instead of a single day, making it much harder to ignore.

Bike Rumor is first out of the gate with a roundup of the best Black Friday bike deals, while Momentum makes their picks for the best Black Friday deals on bikes, cargo bikes and ebikes.

………

It’s now 342 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

More than 30 Evanston, Illinois business owners decided to shoot themselves in the foot by urging city officials to drop plans to expand a protected bike lane, apparently not wanting the increase in foot and bike traffic, and higher retail sales and property values, that usually come with such projects.

No surprise here, as Ontario, Canada passed controversial legislation allowing the province to go over the heads of city officials to remove local bike lanes; making matters worse, the legislation also allows construction of a highway through First Nations lands without consulting Indigenous leaders. Schmucks.

Momentum explains just what cities give up by giving in to car culture — starting with an increase in traffic congestion and a decline in business revenue — aptly calling the Ontario bike lane dispute “hogwash.”

………

Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Coronado is hosting a family friendly bike ride on Sunday, December 8th.

Hundreds of San Jose residents turned out for a bike-only ride through an annual holiday light display usually reserved for motorists.

Velo examines why San Francisco is ripping out the city’s most controversial bike lane, as the centerline Valencia Street bike lane is being replace with a more conventional curbside lane.

More bad news from Northern California, after someone riding a bicycle was killed by the driver of a massive Yukon SUV in Concord on Sunday. Although a collision with a vehicle that big is unlikely to be survivable, anyway. Which is why drivers of large vehicles should have a greater responsibility to drive safely, but unfortunately don’t. 

 

National

Hawaii celebrated the opening of a new bike lane through Central Oahu that was decades in the making. Which demonstrates the needless and ridiculous delays we face nearly everywhere in the US in getting much needed safety improvements on the streets.

Our former president isn’t the only one skating on criminal charges, after an Oregon judge granted a DEI agent immunity from prosecution on charges of blowing through a stop sign and killing a woman riding a bicycle in Salem last year. Although you’ll have to figure out a way around the Oregonian’s paywall if you want to read about it. 

A New Mexico researcher is looking into why the number of pedestrians and bicyclists killed on American roads has nearly doubled in just the past 12 years. Hint: Tell him to look at the rise in distracted driving, and the massive bloat in motor vehicle size.

The legacy of the Fayetteville, Arkansas “Bicycle Man” lives on despite his passing in 2013, as the program prepares to give away more than 1,000 bikes to kids in need next month — although that’s just a fraction of the actual need, since they receive over 3,000 requests each year.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A friend gave a Knoxville, Tennessee Korean War vet a new bicycle to replace his worn out bike, so the 86-year old man can continue his daily 22-mile bike rides.

New York responded to complaints of double parked drivers and blocked bike and bus lanes by opening more than 500 new loading zones throughout the city. Although if New York drivers are anything like their SoCal counterparts, they’ll continue to block the bike lanes, rather than drive another 30 or so feet to get to an open loading zone.

My hero. A Huntsville, Alabama radio host is staying up on a 40-foot outdoor tower, exposed to the elements, until a local campaign receives enough bicycles to give every foster kid in the city a new bike for the holidays.

 

International

An English driver proves there are still good people in the world, giving stranded bike riders a lift across flood waters in his 4 x 4 pickup.

No bias here. A British man complains that police are “completely unwilling to prosecute drivers” who hit bicyclists, after getting knocked off his bike a couple weeks ago..

A Philadelphia op-ed writer says bicyclists are treated like traffic in Northern Europe, making it safer for everyone, unlike here in the US where bicycles are considered obstructions for drivers to squeeze by.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australia has banned 25-year old track cyclist Matt Richardson for life, after he switched teams and won three Olympic medals at the Paris Olympics competing for Great Britain. But he won’t be banned from international competition for his new team.

 

Finally…

Kick ass on a BMX bike, and maybe one day, you too can get your very own line of “Bike Air” Jordans. And if wanting to ban SUVs makes you a communist, just call me a pinko.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Los Angeles promises bike lanes but delivers traffic lanes in San Pedro, and an unexplained bike death explained

October 15, 2024 / / One comment
Just 76 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Western was supposed to get bike lanes, until it wasn’t, apparently.

Which could be a Measure HLA violation.

Or not.

Ken Shima forwards news that Western Avenue and 1st Street in San Pedro recently got a makeover, adding a central turn lane — while removing space for a long-promised bike lane.

LA’s Mobility Plan 2035, which subsumed the city’s 2010 bike plan, includes bike lanes on Western. That means they have been planned for at least 14 years; according to Ken, they were finally scheduled to be installed in 2027.

But the new center turn lane recently installed by the city removed curbside parking, moving the right traffic lane right up to the gutter.

And in the process, removed any possible space for the promised bike lane.

Which means that unless the city is planning a road diet, they are no longer planning on the promised bike lanes.

Yet Measure HLA, which passed with an overwhelming majority earlier this year, requires the implementation of any street safety measures contained in the mobility plan anytime an eighth-mile or more of street gets resurfaced.

And that looks like more than an eighth-mile to me.

But maybe they’re trying to get around HLA by restriping the street without resurfacing.

Ken tells me he’s reached out to Councilmember Tim McOsker’s office, which represents the district, for clarification.

It will be interesting to see how they respond.

If they do.

All photos by Ken Shima

Western Ave prior to restriping

………

Over the weekend, I wrote about the unexplained death of a bike rider in Del Mar Saturday morning.

All we knew at the time was that he fall after somehow losing control of his bike on the 1900 block of Jimmy Durante Blvd.

I speculated about various possible causes, but without more information, all I could do was guess.

However, there’s no word on why he may have lost control. It’s possible he could have struck a pothole or some sort of obstacle while riding at speed, lost a tire, or been the victim of a too-close pass — which would make it hit-and-run.

There’s also no word on whether he had a cycling computer or Strava account that could shed some light on what happened. So unless investigators find a witness or video of the crash, we may never know the cause.

Now longtime San Diego bike advocate Serge Issakov visits the scene to fill in the blanks.

Issakov reports the site is at the bottom of a descent with a typical 4% grade, where road cyclists typically reach speeds of 26 to 30 mph, while a KOM could be somewhere in the 40 mph range.

The typical car-ticker plastic bollards show clear signs of being run over more than once, and would likely have been virtually invisible under the typical Del Mar marine layer — let alone if there was any coastal fog or haze in the morning hour.

But even without hitting the post, the cracks visible in the pavement could have easily destabilized the victim, which could have been enough to send him into the curb or the grate in the gutter, and onto the sidewalk.

And at those speeds, it might not have mattered whether he was wearing a helmet.

All I can say, after watching Issakov’s video, is I hope the victim’s family has a good lawyer.

If not, I can sure as hell recommend one.

………

Talk about misreading the data.

The former Streets Officer for London TravelWatch says ebike crashes are pushing up bicycling death rates in the Netherlands, while the bicycling death rate is declining in the UK.

So why, he asks, is Britain still trying to emulate the Dutch?

Even though the Netherlands has a far greater rate of bicycling, a higher ebike adoption rate, and a much lower per capita rate of bike deaths.

And even though the major reason deaths are declining in the UK has been the adoption of Dutch traffic designs.

But other than that, he seems to have nailed it.

………

It’s now an even 300 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

She gets it. Dame Sarah Storey, Britain’s most successful paracyclist and the Active Travel Commissioner for Manchester, England, says don’t believe what business owners will tell you, because businesses closing after a new bike lane goes in is a “coincidence, not an unexpected consequence.”

British bicyclists were properly horrified by a recent column in the conservative Telegraph newspaper that called for driving dangerous bike riders off the road, as Tory MPs ignored bike safety in calling for a crackdown. I wanted to link to the original Telegraph piece yesterday, but it disappeared behind the paper’s paywall before I could. 

………

Local  

Is anyone really surprised that Los Angeles has already exceeded its $87 million budget for liability claims by a whopping $10 million, just three months into the fiscal year?

Bike Culver City held a vigil last night to mark the city’s latest pedestrian death, after a man was killed on particularly dangerous stretch of National Blvd near Turning Point School last month.

 

State

Smart Cities Dive examines the nine bike-friendly bills signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, along with the two he didn’t.

Tragic news from Orange County, where a man was fatally shot while riding his bicycle in unincorporated Anaheim Sunday night.

This year’s MS 150 Bay to Bay Bike Tour down the coast of Orange and San Diego counties will be dedicated to the late KTLA-5 entertainment anchor and longtime bicyclist Sam Rubin.

Santa Barbara plans a crackdown on wheelie-popping teens and scofflaw ebike riders.

A 73-year old Humboldt Bay woman celebrates the jolting joys of riding an ebike, after a lifetime of riding more traditional bikes.

 

National

Red Bull offers a potentially life-changing beginner’s guide to bicycling.

A new study by Harvard researchers suggest you never forget how to ride a bike because it’s stored deep in your cerebellum.

The Bureau of Land Management wants to know whether you want to see ebikes on the world-class trails of Moab, Utah.

Kansas will invest over $31 million to enhance walkable and bikeable routes throughout the state.

No surprise here, as New York’s predominantly Latino and Black West Harlem still doesn’t have a single bike lane, ten years after the city adopted Vision Zero.

 

International

A new European study shows people who don’t wear bike helmets usually skip it for comfort and convenience, but free helmets, education and nagging might help.

The ancestral home of Pembroke Welsh corgis was forced to cut back the availability of their e-bikeshare system because too many of the ebikes needed repair work, raising fears of vandalism.

Over 8,000 bicyclists turned up with wool jerseys and vintage bicycles for this year’s Tuscan L’Eroica in Siena, Italy.

A German truck driver will spend the next four years in an Italian jail after he was sentenced for the hit-and-run death of former Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin; Rebellin, a three-time winner of Fleche Wallonne, as well as winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Amstel Gold Race, was run down while he was on a training ride.

A new Australian study released in advance of tomorrow’s National Ride to Work Day shows a whopping 40% of commuters currently bike to work, a number that could rise to 72% if they could work closer to home.

 

Competitive Cycling

Champion triathlete Kristian Blummenfelt says he’s putting his dreams of competing in the Tour de France on hold, because he’d take too big a financial hit jumping from his role as the world’s top triathlete to the WorldTour.

There’s something very fishy about this podium prize for Japan’s Tour de Kyushu.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can bike an extended century in your bloomers. Your next cycling shoe could be a sock.

And pissing off bicyclists since, well, now.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

A $7 million SD safety fail, U-T sharrows fail, and taking a pass on what passes for record CA traffic safety investment

October 3, 2024 / / Comments Off on A $7 million SD safety fail, U-T sharrows fail, and taking a pass on what passes for record CA traffic safety investment
Just 88 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

L’Shana Tova to everyone celebrating the new year today!

And apropos of nothing, I’m happy to report I wrote today’s entire post wearing a T-shirt with a bear riding a bicycle, as bears are wont to do. 

Just saying.

………

Call it a $7 million fail — one that ultimately cost the life of a San Diego bike rider.

That’s the amount the city paid out to the family of Marc Woolf, who died 17 months after he was struck by a pair of drivers and paralyzed from the next down, dying of sepsis 17 months later.

Woolf was on his way home from his job at the San Diego zoo in May, 2021 when a driver coming out of a blind driveway backed into him, knocking him onto the other side of the street, where he was hit again by second driver.

But instead of blaming the drivers, Woolf’s legal team accused the city of creating and maintaining poor road conditions.

According to San Diego CBS8, those conditions included —

  • Restricted site lines and distances caused by physical conditions
  • Insufficient red curb prohibiting parked cars
  • Overgrown vegetation
  • Confusing and misleading shared lane striping
  • An improperly maintained light fixture which was not functioning on the night of the incident

The station reports the city finally extended the red curb to improve sightlines along the corridor in response to the crash.

As usual, only acting after it was too late.

Now Wolff’s family is $7 million richer, and the city’s taxpayers are $7 million poorer.

But as his daughter notes, no amount of money can bring Wolff back, or ease the pain the new grandfather suffered for so many months.

Meanwhile, the Union-Tribune blamed sharrows in general for the crash.

The case highlights the potential dangers of “sharrows,” marked bike routes that require cars and bicycles to share portions of roadway instead of giving cyclists areas reserved only for them.

I’m no fan of sharrows, which studies have shown to be worse than nothing when it comes to protecting the safety of bike riders.

But that’s a discussion for another day.

The paper was clearly mistaken, at best, in blaming any and all sharrows for this particular crash, rather than the poorly designed and implemented sharrows on this one particular street.

I’ve heard that some San Diego bicyclists have called on the paper for a retraction.

And they may have a point this time.

………

California is making a record investment in traffic safety and enforcement as traffic deaths continue to rise, according to the Governor’s office.

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) is awarding a record $149 million in federal funding for 497 grants that expand safe biking and walking options and provide critical education and enforcement programs that will make roads safer throughout the state. This is the third consecutive year of historic funding, exceeding last year’s amount by $21 million.

Yet that record spending to “expand safe biking and walking options” includes just $13 million for bicycle and pedestrian safety programs, up a modest 12% from the previous grant cycle.

Even though bicyclists and pedestrians account for most, if not all, of the recent increase in traffic deaths.

Meanwhile, a whopping $51 million will go to law enforcement agencies to conduct what’s described as “equitable enforcement targeting the most dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding, distracted and impaired driving, as well as support education programs focused on bicycle and pedestrian safety.”

In other words, more daylong — or usually, just a few hours — enforcement actions targeting violations that could put bicyclists and pedestrians at risk, regardless of who commits them.

Which, to the best of my knowledge, hasn’t been proven to do a damn bit of good reducing deaths or serious injuries among either group.

So if that’s what passes for a record investment, I’ll pass.

………

Streets For All politely reminds Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass that Measure HLA applies to Metro projects in the City of Los Angeles, too.

Never mind that the city’s barely competent and very conservative City Attorney’s Office continues to drag its feet on crafting guidance for city departments regarding the measure, nearly seven months after it went into effect after passing overwhelmingly.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that new bike lane mileage in Los Angeles fell to a five-year low for the most recent fiscal year, adding up to a massively underwhelming 22.5 lane-miles of new and improved bike facilities.

And remember, lane-miles means they count each side of the road separately, so we’re only talking a measly 11.25 miles of actual street.

Then there’s this.

While there is some year-to-year variation, and some lag time between project planning getting underway and on the ground upgrades, the first full fiscal year does not look like a promising start for Mayor Karen Bass. Bass has prioritized critical housing issues and not paid much attention to safer multimodal streets – at least not yet. FY2024 did see Mayor Karen Bass appoint Laura Rubio-Cornejo to head the city Transportation Department (LADOT). Rubio-Cornejo replaced interim GM Connie Llanos last September.

No shit.

If anyone has heard Bass even mention safer and/or multimodal streets, let me know. Because I sure as hell haven’t heard it.

Then again, the city’s freeze on resurfacing projects to avoid implementing HLA hasn’t helped.

And neither has Bass’ continued failure to meet with us.

………

Momentum wants to see your pics of bike lane fails, of which we should have more than a few.

https://twitter.com/MomentumMag/status/1841505396596342989

………

Presenting the cutest BMX balance bike stunt video you’ll see all day.

………

It’s now 288 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And an even 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, apparently tired of waiting, San Francisco will consider a proposal for their own yet-to-be defined ebike rebate program.

That deafening silence you hear is Los Angeles not considering one.

………

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

Apparently, elected office provides no protection from dangerous drivers, as an Ottawa, Canada city counselor captures a way-too-close punishment pass on his bike cam while riding past several parked cars.

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

Maybe something was lost in translation, as an Ottawa letter writer complains about the incivility of local bicyclists who “love listening to the music of the folk group With No Headphones,” while riding their bikes without a “ten dollar doorbell.”

………

Local  

Looks like they slipped one past us this time, as a planned two-day closure last week for repairs on the Ballona Creek Bike Path only took one day, with the path reopening before some of us (i.e. me) knew it wasn’t.

Start times for the Long Beach Marathon have been moved up due to a high heat warning, with the bike tour now scheduled to start the same time as the runners at 5:30 am.

Speaking of Streets For All, the Los Angeles-area transportation PAC is hosting a fundraiser in Franklin Hills this Sunday afternoon.

 

State

The CHP has received a $1.55 million federal grant for year-long initiative focusing on “educating the public and enforcing traffic safety laws for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.” Maybe they could spend some of the money on educating their patrol officers a little better on bike law and how to investigate collisions involving bicyclists. 

San Diego was dubbed the greenest city in the US for the third year in a row; needless to say, Los Angeles wasn’t, coming in 18th.

San Diego pediatrician Dr. Mike Nelson dropped by a Claremont Mesa fire station to thank the first responders who saved his life when he crashed his bicycle on the way to an appointment a couple months back.

A San Francisco neighborhood is tearing itself apart fighting over a proposal to permanently close a highway to motor vehicles, even though it’s eroding into the ocean anyway.

 

National

Momentum offers ten “amazing coastal cities” in the US for bicycling; Santa Barbara is #9 on the list, while Huntington Beach is #2 — even though three people lost their lives riding in the city in just the last 12 months.

Bicyclists in the Pacific Northwest are challenging online marketplaces like OfferUp to do more to fight the reselling of stolen bikes on their platforms.

An editorial from a local Boston paper says bicycling isn’t safe in the city. Then again, the same could be said in virtually any city in the US. Los Angeles included. 

A proposed Pennsylvania law could authorize parking-protected bicycle lanes for the first time in the state.

Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport is encouraging travelers to skip the taxi and ride their bikes to the airport. Maybe LAX should be taking notes.

More proof bikes make the best emergency vehicles, as a North Carolina family grabbed their chainsaws and hopped on their bicycles to rescue the family’s 87-year old matriarch when they couldn’t contact her after Hurricane Helene.

 

International

Bike Radar considers why mixed-terrain ultra-distance cycling events are rising in popularity.

Residents of a British Columbia city aren’t sold on plans for a new bike path if it means chopping down a tree.

London bicyclists will soon be shuttled through a new motor vehicle-only tunnel under the Thames on special double-decker buses.

The rich get richer, as London bicyclists will soon get a £4 million — $5.3 million — bike route through the heart of the city.

There won’t be any more changes to the UK’s infamous “optical illusion” bike lane, even though it’s led to more than 100 trip and fall injuries. Sounds like they need better injury attorneys over there. 

 

Competitive Cycling

That’s Sir Mark Cavendish to you, as the Manx Missile gets knighted at Windsor Castle. Unless you’d rather call him the new High Performance Ambassador for Aston Martin.

Cyclinguptodate compares UCI to the Mafia for the way they managed the recent Zurich world championships, arguing that the organization implements rules, then neither complies with or implements them.

Rouleur considers the recent rise of WorldTour mega-contracts.

 

Finally…

Maybe your new wireless shifters can be hack-proof, after all. Now you, too, can trade your ten gallon hat for a helmet and bike through LBJ’s Texas ranch.

And maybe you were a bicycling British soldier in a past life, bad teeth be damned.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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