Tag Archive for bicycling fatalities

Fallen Redlands bicyclist identified as teen visiting from Mexico, and some Streets For All PAC donations now deductible

December 13, 2022 / / One comment

Just 12 days left in the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

You know how fast time flies this time of year. Turn around, and it will be Boxing Day already, and it will all be over for another year.

Okay, who just applauded?

Let’s all take a moment to thank Terese E for a generous donation to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

And yes, she was the only one who donated yesterday.

So don’t wait. Donate today via PayPal or Zelle. Then relax and enjoy the holidays, knowing you’ve done your part to help keep this site up and running, and free for all.

And help keep a hungry spokesdog and chief fundraiser in kibble. 

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Tragic news from Redlands, where the victim of Thursday’s fatal bicycling collision was identified as a 16-year old boy from Mexico who was just vacationing in the city.

A crowdfunding campaign to send Juan Pablo Carrillo-Salazar’s body back to his family Zacatecas for burial has raised just $135 of the modest $6,000 goal so far.

If money’s tight this year, go ahead and skip the fund drive this year, and donate to this worthy cause, instead.

We’ll be back again next year for the 9th edition of our fund drive.

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You can now make a tax deductible donation to LA transportation PAC Streets For All for use on nonpolitical activities, thanks to the requirements of nonprofit tax law.

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Apparently, an abandoned bike helmet is pretty exciting stuff when you’re a toddler.

https://www.tiktok.com/@thearmfarklife/video/7165660871459491118?_r=1&_t=8XNUB3jeXiF&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7165660871459491118

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Why ride when you can fly?

https://twitter.com/jamshed_mohamed/status/1601661754911510529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1601661754911510529%7Ctwgr%5E1923e3778c05579f6e02b5604a6eb0566bc4f5aa%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-37917973493830349893.ampproject.net%2F2211250451000%2Fframe.html

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Take a two and a half minute downhill break with Kiwi freestyle pro Vero Sandler. And her dog.

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‘Tis the season.

In a comment from yesterday, Center Line Rules author Michael Wagner reminds us about a couple of local bike builds he too part in recently, to ensure that 80 Fontana area kids will have new bikes under the tree this year,  as well as building more bikes with the Claremont Senior Bike Group, the Claremont Rotary Club, students from El Roble Middle School, Claremont High School and the Webb Schools.

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

Once again, a UK pedestrian has been killed by a bike rider, after an elderly woman walking on a pathway died two weeks after she was knocked down by a speeding hybrid bike — which apparently didn’t have a rider, judging by the story.

A South African cyclist learns the hard way that you can get banned from real racing for cheating at the virtual kind.

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Local 

A letter writer takes now-former Mayor Eric Garcetti — and implicitly, the Los Angeles Times — to task for the rising rate of traffic deaths in the city, and failure of his Vision Zero plan. And concludes that Garcetti’s pledge wqs indicative of his “’promise now, do nothing later’ approach to any difficult choice he had to make. That toothless, spineless approach will forever be his legacy.” Harsh, but sadly accurate.

Green Car Congress specifies the six Los Angeles active transportation projects funded by the California Transportation Commission, as part of nearly $1 billion in active transportation funding throughout the state.

A Long Beach man was the victim of a bike-by shooting; the same bike rider may have carjacked a woman a few minutes later, and crashed her SUV a few minutes after that.

 

State 

Encinitas will shut down the Coast Highway next month, opening it up to pedestrians and bike riders on January 8th.

 

National

Electrek suggest stocking stuffers for the ebike rider or regular bicyclist in your life, while Road.cc helps you avoid a festive faux pas by suggesting what not to get.

Road Bike Rider considers the difference between a touring bike and a roadie.

Christian singing star Amy Grant now says the bike crash that knocked her unconscious and put her latest tour on hold was a blessing that forced her to refocus on what she loved about performing to begin with.

Unbelievable. An Iowa man walked out of prison a free man this week, despite being sentenced to ten years for the drunken death of a 69-year old woman riding a bike, after the judge somehow decided the original sentence was too harsh and resentenced him to probation. Just in case you were wondering why people keep dying on our streets, or anything. 

An Arkansas man will serve a well-deserved ten years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a bike-riding man who had just gotten married two months earlier.

Rail service was shut down in Pittsburgh on Sunday after a mountain biker fell 25-feet off a cliff, landing on the railroad tracks.

He gets it. A 75-year old Baltimore man says forget the myth that Baby Boomers have no use for bike lanes.

Sad news from Maryland, where a longtime bike shop owner was killed when an early morning fire broke out in the shop, where he was living with his dog, who was also overcome with smoke.

Once again, authorities somehow managed to keep a dangerous driver on the streets until it’s too late, as a North Carolina man faced charges for crashing into a bike rider while high on weed and heroin, a week after appearing in court for causing a freeway crash; he was still on the road despite 40 previous convictions and multiple DUIs.

The worldwide epidemic of bike shop closures continues, with the closure of a 62-year old Florida bike shop.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The owner of a Michigan bike shop was killed in a Florida traffic collision while delivering free bikes for kids displaced by Hurricane Ian.

 

International

Bicycling offers an overview of what year-end Strava data tells us, including that bike commuting is nearly back up to pre-pandemic levels, and you’re more likely to ride further with a friend when it’s cold out. Of course, it also only tells you about people who use Strava. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Bike Radar recommends their picks for the best ebikes for every type of rider. And adds an explanation of motor position, and why it matters. Meanwhile, Bloomberg offers their ebike picks, too.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling takes a detailed look at the tragic life of Moriah “Mo” Wilson, whose star burned brightly over the world of ‘cross for a few short years, before she was allegedly murdered by the jealous girlfriend of pro cyclist Colin Strickland. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you. 

Belgian world champion Remco Evenepoel announced plans to compete in next year’s Giro.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be a naked Mercedes-Benz. Now you, too, can pedal a bike to power Rome’s Christmas tree.

And this pretty well sums up the whole sad situation.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Hunt is on for road-raging Carlsbad bicyclist, and stoned Michigan driver to face charges in Make-A-Wish crash

November 11, 2022 / / Comments Off on Hunt is on for road-raging Carlsbad bicyclist, and stoned Michigan driver to face charges in Make-A-Wish crash
Happy Veteran’s Day to all those who have served our country! 

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Before we get going, it’s time to start digging under your sofa cushions to save up for the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive later this month. 

The fund drive page is now live, which wasn’t hard to do since I never got around to taking down last year’s page, in case anyone feels an urgent need to contribute before we officially get going on the 25th. 

And I’m open to suggestions if you can recommend a good payment app, since there are always people who ask for an alternative to PayPal or Zelle each year.

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We now have a photo of the road-raging Carlsbad bicyclist who attacked a car driven by a pair of teens.

The man reportedly responded to being yelled at by one of the kids by trying to open their car door and punching a window, before smashing their windshield. He then rode off, but allegedly lay in wait for them down the road.

As we have repeatedly said, there is never any excuse for violence, no matter how justified it may seem at the time.

Now instead of being the victim of an angry driver, a bike rider finds himself a wanted criminal who could face serious charges and be subject to damages once he’s found.

And he will be found.

Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up. 

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A Michigan woman has been ordered to stand trial later this month in the drugged driving crash that killed two people participating in a Make-A-Wish fundraising ride.

Forty-two-year old Mandy Marie Benn was reportedly visibly impaired on a cocktail of drugs including Vicodin, Suboxone, and Lorazepam. She was also participating in a Facebook group chat while she drove, saying moments before the crash that she wanted to die.

Instead, she took two innocent lives.

She faces up to 15 years each on two felony counts of operating a vehicle while under the influence of a controlled substance causing death.

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If you’re feeling more crowded on the roads, it’s because you are.

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

A Vancouver woman was seriously injured when she was pushed off her bike by a bystander acting on the orders of a fake cop, for the crime of riding too close to a man who claimed to be an off-duty police officer.

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

Authorities in Florida discovered “concerning manifestos” in the home of a bike-riding man who was seen shooting bullets into the ocean, then seen four hours later riding his bike near where a man was found shot to death under an overpass.

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Local

Streetsblog offers updates on new bike lanes in DTLA, as well as plans for a quick-build bike lane on Anaheim Street in Wilmington.

Metro is hosting a community meeting on Wednesday, as well as a bike rodeo next month, to gather input on first mile/last mile connections for the Sepulveda G LIne, nee Orange Line, station.

Glendora is working with Active SGV to finalize plans for a new greenway trail along the San Dimas Wash.

Speaking of Streetsblog, the transportation news site is honoring LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell with their Streetsie Award for 2022 Elected Official of the Year at Mercado La Paloma on December 1st.

 

State 

The Contra Costa County district attorney has decided not to prosecute officers involved in a fatal shooting, who was killed by police after a passing bike rider noticed the victim dumping a woman’s body off the side of the road.

A woman suspected in a Tulare County hit-and-run has turned herself in, four days after the crash that killed a man walking his bicycle.

 

National

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg discusses new infrastructure projects designed to make cities safer for bike riders and pedestrians, saying there are places where cars wouldn’t make any sense if you were starting from scratch.

Bicycling offers advice on how to ride with your dog. My best tip is to get a tandem with an usually low stoker position, and let the dog do its own damn pedaling. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Seattle-based Rad Power is recalling 30,000 RadWagon 4 Electric Cargo Bikes due to a defective wheel strip that can allow tires and tubes to become damaged while in use.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a ghost bike for a 13-year old Washington boy who was killed by a driver who went through the crosswalk he was riding in; fortunately, the bike was returned when someone at a scrap yard recognized it and returned it to his family.

The news keeps getting worse from Las Vegas, where it turns out the two mountain bikers killed by an alleged drunk driver during a serial hit-and-run were a couple who had been dating for ten years.

Nevada state police officials are reporting a startling increase in bicycling deaths this year, with eleven people killed riding bikes so far this year — double the number this time last year.

A local group is giving away 500 bicycles, helmets, locks and a t-shirt to kids in need before Sunday’s El Tour de Tucson.

Utah has banned offroad ebike use in protected wildlife areas.

Boise, Idaho is redrawing plans for a protected bike lane after complaints that it would interfere with parents picking up their children from a Catholic school, apparently thinking the ability to drive up to the door is more important than allowing their kids to safely bike there.

That’s more like it. A 22-year old Michigan man will spend 20 to 40 years behind bars after he was sentenced for the hit-and-run death of a five year old boy who was riding his bike in a crosswalk with the rest of his family; his two younger siblings remain traumatized after witnessing the crash.

A Cambridge, Massachusetts judge expressed skepticism over new bendy post-protected bike lanes, saying in response to a lawsuit intended to stop them that the streets appear to be too narrow for them. Which isn’t a decision a judge with no traffic planning experience should be making.

The Boston Globe says a tandem is the perfect way to double your pleasure on the road.

A 12-year old Erie, Pennsylvania boy was severely beaten by two unknown attackers as he was riding his bike somewhere in the city; police were having trouble locating the site because the boy doesn’t speak English and was relying on a translator. No word on whether he was attacked for his bike, or for some other reason.

 

International

Amazon is being criticized for selling tuning kits that can override ebike speed restrictions, allowing the riders to exceed European limitations.

Bike commuters in Manchester, England complain that road signs blocking a bike lane and construction work on the roadway have turned the street into a “lethal mess.”

The death of a Berlin bike rider after climate protestors blocked a roadway, delaying the arrival of first responders, is provoking debate over the tactic even though a doctor insists his death wasn’t caused by the delay.

A delegate to the COP27 climate conference from the Côte d’Ivoire, aka Ivory Coast, has gained a reputation as Africa’s cycling ambassador as he attends every session wearing his hi-viz bike helmet.

A South African construction worker was found dead on the road after he was knocked off his bicycle by someone swinging a piece of wood, then stabbed in the neck; he was killed after winning a large sum of money at a local bar.

A New Zealand woman blames a moment’s inattention by a driver for the crash that left her with a badly broken arm. But at least the driver hit her bike just outside the emergency room at a local hospital.

 

Competitive Cycling

Slovenian cyclist and former ski jumper Primož Roglič will be out of commission for another month following shoulder surgery, after dislocating it in a high-speed crash during stage 5 of the Tour de France.

 

Finally…

Why take the blame for losing an MMA title fight when you can blame it on a “vicious” bike crash?

And that feeling when you’re chasing a bear, rather than the other way around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTmczvXG13c

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Repeat DUI driver busted in fatal Newport Beach hit-and-run, and stoned distracted driver charged in killing of KC father of ten

September 15, 2022 / / One comment

Before we get started, our old friend Walt Arrrrr discovered a ghost bike installed in Baldwin Park.

After tracking it down, he discovered the victim was killed in a collision that barely made the news last month.

I’ll have more information later today.

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The driver who killed 44-year old Costa Mesa resident Randon Cintron as he rode his bike on Jamboree Road in Newport Beach was arrested shortly after the crash.

Thirty-six-year old Anaheim resident Adriana Rivera Bernal was taken into custody a couple miles from the crash site.

Bernal was reportedly high on an undisclosed drug at the time of the crash, and held on $1 million bond on suspicion of murder and hit-and-run.

She reportedly has a long history of drug abuse, petty theft, ID theft and auto theft, as well as multiple DUIs, which explains the murder charge.

A crowdfunding campaign to pay Cintron’s funeral expenses has raised over $29,000, easily topping the $20,000 goal.

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For anyone who, like me, has been following the case of the Kansas City teacher and father of ten children who was killed by an allegedly stoned hit-and-run driver, a crowdfunding campaign has raised over $204,000 of the $250,000 goal.

Meanwhile, the 27-year old driver has been charged with felony counts of hit-and-run resulting in death, and tampering with a motor vehicle; she reportedly admitted to police she was texting and high on Percocet when she ran the victim down, and allegedly set fire to her car afterward to coverup the crime.

She was also uninsured and driving on a suspended license.

More proof that taking a driver’s license away doesn’t necessarily stop anyone from driving. Officials have to impound the car, too.

Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

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Sometimes, you just have to save drivers from themselves.

Even if they don’t thank you for it.

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1570134505763278848

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No car, no wilderness for you.

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People for Mobility Justice is hosting a ride to examine bike and pedestrian safety improvements in Wilmington .

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Any LCIs want to help out in Menifee this Saturday?

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Walk ‘n Rollers is heading to Culver City to celebrate my birthday host a Walk & Roll Festival on the 24th.

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Mark your calendar for next month.

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Here’s another one to mark your calendar for.

https://twitter.com/NYC_SafeStreets/status/1570101221150846977

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There’s just something about this one that draws you in.

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Sure, go to Australia to train for the Worlds.

But watch out for flying ‘roos.

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That feeling when one little missing letter changes the whole meaning of the headline.

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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 candidate for West Hollywood city council comes out in favor of keeping Fountain Ave dangerous, as John Duran says he’s running to “kill Council’s dumb ideas,” like replacing traffic lanes with bike lanes — even though the city estimates it will reduce crashes 35% to 40%.

A New Orleans public radio station examines a proposal to remove protected bike lanes from the usually neglected Algiers neighborhood, because some local residents find the bollards the “most intrusive, visually unappealing design available.” Because evidently, aesthetics matter more than saving human lives. 

A British transportation planner argues against taking the lane, suggesting that it just pisses drivers off.

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

A 56-year old Long Beach man faces charges for stabbing a couple outside a gay bar following a dispute, killing one man and seriously injuring another, before fleeing on his bicycle. A crowdfunding campaign to help pay the victims’ funeral costs and medical expenses has raised $37,000 of the $50,000 goal.

Multiple cars were hit with rocks thrown by a Portland man riding a bicycle and pulling a bike trailer; police cited the homeless bike rider for criminal mischief, adding to the 42 other citations he’s received recently.

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Local

A man riding his bicycle in South LA was struck twice with bullets after hearing multiple gunshots, but was apparently unaware of where the shots came from.

That’s more like it. A 136-unit apartment building planned for LA’s Sawtelle neighborhood will feature 103 bicycle parking spaces, and just 93 spaces for cars.

Pasadena approves a list of 19 priority transportation projects using money Metro saved by not building an overpass on Colorado Blvd; half of the projects involve multimodal uses. Demonstrating that funds can actually be put to good use — a lot of good uses, in fact — instead of wasted on expensive, demand-inducing highway projects. 

Santa Monica made the list of eight small cities with bike friendly cultures, joining more established locations like Wisconsin’s Mad City, Boulder, CO and my Colorado hometown.

Long Beach’s Beach Streets carfree open streets event returns this Saturday, after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus.

 

State 

Streetsblog is urging Gov. Newsom to veto AB 371, which would make bikeshare and e-scooter providers solely responsible for the negligent or reckless behavior of riders.

Electrek is teaming with Irvine-based e-bikemaker Super73 for a ride through Orange County Saturday evening. Even though the website uses a very expansive definition of Los Angeles.

Nice gesture, as Orange County residents contributed over 200 bouquets to continue the charitable work of eight-year old Bradley Rofer, who was killed riding his bike in Coto de Caza earlier this month; he donated the money he raised selling bouquets to support young cancer patients.

San Diego’s Blind Stoker’s Club is in the mix for a grant of up to $15,000.

Goleta will host a public meeting on September 20th to consider the San Jose Creek Bike Path Project, following the completion of the environmental review.

The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition is hosting their Bike to the Future annual fundraising ride on Sunday.

Oakland police still haven’t made an arrest in the hit-and-run involving an impatient driver during the monthly East Bay Bike Party, even though the department was presented with eyewitness accounts and the driver’s license plate number.

 

National

Writing for Outside, bike scribe Joe Lindsey makes the case for why you should buy an ebike instead of an EV.

The National Law Review examines the high cost of bicycle crashes, and the obvious cost-effectiveness of avoiding crashes in the first place.

A British boy features in a typical Facebook scam, as photos keep popping up saying he was struck by a driver September 4th in several different US towns; the boy was actually hit by a car in Grimsby, England three months earlier, while an accompanying photo of a bicycle comes from a 2021 crash in Santa Rosa.

How Google Maps could tweak their algorithms to make bicycling safer and more appealing.

Tomorrow’s Dateline NBC season premier will examine the murder of gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas, and the arrest of her accused love triangle killer Kaitlin Armstrong.

A former St. Louis drug dealer turned his life around by designing and building custom lowrider bicycles.

A Kentucky bike ride will take participants past several distilleries. Which seems like one hell of a wasted opportunity.

Sharing a bike lane with ebikes and scooters is one thing; sharing a New York bike lane with motorized lawn chairs is another.

A new study shows Philadelphia bikeshare use crossed geographic and socio-economic lines during the pandemic.

Drivers continue to blow through a DC stop sign, a year after a five-year old girl was killed while riding her bike in the crosswalk.

 

International

World Car-Free Day is one week from today. So how do you plan to celebrate?

Now you, too, can start your own bike brand.

Treehugger’s Lloyd Alter says America’s ebike revolution is in trouble, because too many supposed ebikes aren’t.

No surprise here, as a new study from Chile finds that income inequalities affect the presence and quality of bicycling infrastructure.

A Vancouver researcher uses her bike as a scientific tool to map the area’s bats.

More proof that government officials are the same almost everywhere, as Northern Ireland’s new infrastructure minister reneges on his pledge to introduce legislation to support safer bicycling.

British Cycling has removed a restriction on not riding bicycles during the queen’s funeral, in response to a significant backlash. Although they still would prefer your didn’t.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a man was sentenced to 30 months behind bars for the drunken, wrong way crash that nearly killed a 13-year old boy; he was so wasted the pub he was at cut him off, so he was driving to another to keep drinking when he hit the kid head-on while on the wrong side of the road.

Seriously? A London writer says you’re better off dealing with the city’s traffic than trying to ride a bike in Amsterdam.

Cycling Tips explains how East Africa’s Team Amani became the unlikely stars of Meta’s new ad campaign.

Tragic news from Thailand, where a British couple riding their bikes around the world were killed Wednesday when they were run down by a pickup driver outside of Bangkok.

 

Competitive Cycling

USA Cycling has added six riders to the US team for the Worlds, after fatigue, injuries and the fight for WorldTour teams to avoid relegation have taken a toll of the previous roster.

Cycling Tips debates whether cycling team relegation is a good idea. I’m all for it, myself. 

Our friend Peter Flax travels to Idaho to discover the myriad joys of gravel racing.

As you can see below, not all competitions involve spandex. Or two wheels, for that matter. (“Triporteur” translates to tricycle.)

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to train a replacement after your bike-riding parrot dies. When you steal a tow truck, maybe don’t return to the scene of the crime to reclaim your bike.

And bike-riding cats are nothing new. But not many have their own helmet.

https://www.tiktok.com/@heyitsgingerandpepper/video/7142957087075749122?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7142957087075749122&refer=embed&referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2F&referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fcat-helmet-bike-ride-viral-tiktok-video-1742860&referer_video_id=7142957087075749122

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Weak justice for fallen Big Orange cyclist, riding in memory of Kenyan cyclist, and more Griffith Park safety improvements

September 7, 2022 / / Comments Off on Weak justice for fallen Big Orange cyclist, riding in memory of Kenyan cyclist, and more Griffith Park safety improvements

Life is cheap in Arizona.

And justice is slow.

According to a Facebook post, Annaleah Dominguez is just now facing sentencing for the stoned-driving death of former Big Orange Cycling club member Rob Dollar outside Phoenix AZ in 2017.

Yes, it’s taken five long years for the Orange County expat to see justice. Dollar had just moved to Gilbert in the weeks prior to the crash, and was in the process of forming an Arizona chapter of the bike club.

He was riding down South Mountain south of the city on October 29th when he was run down by then-19-year old Dominguez, who was reportedly passing another rider on the uphill side as she rounded a curve, and hit Dollar head-on.

He died at the scene. He was just 36.

Police investigators found cannabis outside the car, which Dominguez and her passengers had allegedly discarded after the crash. She reportedly admitted to drinking and smoking weed prior to the Sunday morning collision.

She now faces just one year to three and a half years for negligent homicide in an apparent plea bargain, since there’s no record online of a conviction or guilty plea.

She deserves to serve the max.

Eric Arentsen
13h
ROB DOLLAR

Big Orange member, Rob Dollar, was killed almost five years ago. An impaired driver crossed a double yellow line and took Rob’s life in a head-on accident as he was riding his bike. We encourage those that knew Rob to send a note to the Probation Officer encouraging the stiffest sentence possible. The driver is facing 1 to 3 ½ years in jail for negligent homicide. We hope you will make your voices heard at the sentencing by sending a note today.

Send your email to Diane.Knuepfer@jbazmc.maricopa.gov by September 28 with your thoughts about the sentence and how Rob’s death has impacted your life. Here are some bullet points to get you thinking:

  • How has Rob’s death impacted you? Please build on what Rob meant to you and the community.
  • How has the crime (guilty of negligent homicide) affected your life? If you are a cyclist, have you changed where you ride or how you ride?
  • What are your thoughts regarding the sentence the court should impose on the defendant?

Deadline is Sept 28.

As Jon suggests below, three and a half years doesn’t begin to address the severity of the crime, or the enormity of the loss to Dollar’s friends and family.

Even if it is all she can get in this case.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

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Aussie pro Lachlan Morton is riding the 530-mile Colorado Trail in memory of his friend, Kenyan cyclist Suleiman “Sule” Kangangi.

As you’ll recall, Kangangi was killed in a tragic fall ago during Vermont Overland gravel race just ten days ago.

Morton has already raised an additional $7,000 for Kangangi’s wife and children over the $70,000 raised by the crowdfunding campaign before he started his ride Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, Kenyan Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed credits a conversation with Kangangi for her own keen interest in bicycling, and the country’s potential to develop into a cycling powerhouse.

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Planning efforts are still ongoing to improve safety in Griffith Park, in addition to the recent closure of Griffith Park Drive.

https://twitter.com/cd4losangeles/status/1567232493417537536

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Not only is NBA star Kevin Love one of us, he appears to be riding the ebike/sidecar combo we mentioned yesterday, with his dog safely in the passenger seat.

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

Virginia Beach VA is ripping out a pilot bike lane after a single year, even though it was the most popular part of the city’s popup safety project.

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

A Manchester, England bike rider is on trial for killing a 56-year old pedestrian, who died eight days after the rider allegedly ran a red light while wearing headphones.

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Local

At last, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is giving us enough notice of a planned bike and pedestrian safety operation to make a difference, with the crackdown scheduled for September 15th in West Hollywood. The usual protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed. Or just avoid WeHo altogether that day. 

 

State 

Smart Cities Dive offers more details on California’s new $1,000 tax credit for carless low income households.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands is visiting San Francisco to put a spotlight on bicycling, among other issues; she’ll travel to Texas later in the week.

 

National

A writer for Adventure Journal compares ebikes to snowboards, arguing that any controversy seems to stem from a fear of change, combined with a little arrogance and jealousy.

Cycling Weekly insists ebikes are the future of transportation, despite their  current status as an oddity in the land of the automobile.

Cycling News offers tips on how to increase the resale value of your bike.

A veteran bikepacker is attempting to be the first person to ride the entire 5,900-mile Eastern Divide Trail, billed as the world’s longest offroad trail. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

Um, no. A Las Vegas paper bizarrely reports that “police suspect (a bike rider) was hit by a car” Tuesday morning, critically injuring the victim. Except there’s no suspicion about it. They the driver was operating the car that hit the victim — even though they fail to mention that the car even had one.

Baphomet Bicycles framebuilder Dillen Maurer lost a foot in a collision with an ATV rider while riding his bicycle near his Taos, New Mexico home over the long weekend; his left foot was somehow severed a few inches over the ankle.

A Denver columnist asks if people can live with ebikes on Colorado bike trails.

As usual, low-income neighborhoods populated by people of color get ignored by city officials, as residents of Chicago’s Far South Side complain about a lack of any bike infrastructure, let alone the protected bike lanes they want and need.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced a major expansion of the city’s bike lane network, with a goal of putting half of Boston’s population within in three-minute walk of a protected bike lane in just three years — although the initial expansion calls for just 9.4 miles of new bike lanes in the next year.

A Virginia letter writer questions the need for a local bike lane, saying he just returned from Paris where he saw hundreds of bicyclists, but very few bike lanes. Evidently, he also missed the news about the major expansion of separated bike lanes in the City of Lights, with plans to make the entire city 100% rideable.

 

International

A contentious London bikeway is exceeding expectations with ridership up 37% over 2019, despite the dire predictions of an anti-bike lane counselor. Meanwhile, London will make a trio of separated, pandemic popup bike lanes permanent.

A new study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that regular exercise can help keep you from getting infected with Covid, and reduce the severity if you do get it. Once again, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

Bicycling continues to grow more popular in Belgium’s Flanders region, though the increase in ridership is also accompanied by a jump in bicycling injuries.

A Welsh cycling club discovered the high cost of Brexit when they arrived in Spain for a 600-mile fundraising ride to battle prostate cancer, and were hit with over $8,400 in customs tariffs for their bikes.

King Oyo of Tooro is one of us. King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, the reigning Omukama of the Bantu kingdom of Tooro in Uganda, rode a section of the kingdom’s bike race with the peloton to start the competition.

A Kiwi longtail bike commuter complains about the abuse she faces from drivers on a daily basis.

 

Competitive Cycling

Defending Vuelta champ Primož Roglič’s bold effort to reclaim the red leader’s jersey suffered a setback when he fell hard just 300 yards from the finish, as Mads Pedersen took the win in Tuesday’s stage 16; Although Roglič somehow gained eight seconds anyway, and now trails leader Remco Evenepoel by one minute 26 seconds.

Giro winner Jai Hindley nears the end of the Vuelta in tenth place, despite never seriously contending for the red jersey.

Cycling Weekly considers five things they learned from Tuesday’s Vuelta stage, including that Roglič is down, but he may not be out. Although the first test is whether he can even make Wednesday’s start.

That feeling when Piglet, Eeyore and Pooh come out to cheer on the peloton, along with some random monkey.

https://twitter.com/lavuelta/status/1567157430898786306?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1567157430898786306%7Ctwgr%5E652e8f2f59e395df93482e8159d57e3919e9007f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-6-september-2022-295735

 

Finally…

Getting down with bike disco. That feeling when your Strava data reveals the location of top secret military bases.

And when you bust out of jail, and refuse to go back unless they let you ride a bike.

https://twitter.com/MarkRid89403375/status/1566909708195303424

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

49-year old man killed in front of his son in Rancho Cucamonga collision; DUI driver booked for vehicular manslaughter

August 20, 2022 / / Comments Off on 49-year old man killed in front of his son in Rancho Cucamonga collision; DUI driver booked for vehicular manslaughter

There aren’t many things worse than killing someone riding a bicycle while driving drunk.

But doing it in front of the victim’s own son is one them.

According to the Fontana Herald News, a man was killed when he was struck by a driver while he was riding with a small group in Rancho Cucamonga early Saturday morning.

The victim, identified only as a 49-year old Rancho Cucamonga man, was riding west on the shoulder of Arrow Route at Haven Ave with 11 other people, when he was run from behind at around 1:58 am.

He died at the scene, in front of own juvenile son.

The driver, identified as Gerald Willis, was allegedly driving under the influence; he was arrested at the scene for gross vehicular manslaughter.

Hopefully, the victim’s son got to see that, too.

Now a man is dead, and a boy will have to deal with a lifetime of emotional trauma, just because some jerk had to get behind the wheel after drinking.

Allegedly.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Rancho Cucamonga Sheriff Station at 909/477-2800.

This is at least the 60th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in San Bernardo County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his family and loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

More high-speed carnage on dangerous LA streets, Streets For All tallies LA traffic violence, and Rivendell reparations fail

August 8, 2022 / / 4 comments

This is the cost of traffic violence, as the carnage continues on Los Angeles streets.

Just one day after a driver traveling at an estimated 80 to 100 miles per hour ran a red light and plowed into cars crossing the busy intersection of La Brea and Slauson, killing six innocent people, a well-known actress apparently copied the act.

Except Anne Heche plowed into a home in a fiery Mar Vista crash.

According to TMZ, Heche had apparently crashed into a pair of apartment building garages in the area, doing relatively minor damage to each, and may have been fleeing paparazzi and people trying to halt her as she sped up Walgrove Ave.

Security video shows her traveling at an extreme rate of speed.

Any bike rider or pedestrian unfortunate enough to be in her way would have been killed instantly.

Instead, she apparently lost control and slammed into a home less than a block from an elementary school, narrowly missing the homeowner inside.

The home and its contents were a total loss.

Heche herself somehow survived, despite suffering critical burns; as in the Windsor Hills crash, she was reportedly too badly injured and treated with too many medications to conduct a valid test for drug or alcohol use.

Although a sharp-eyed person points out what appears to be an open pint of alcohol next to the gear shift in one of the TMZ photos.

Heche reportedly faces a long and painful recovery from her injuries.

We’re only lucky that she didn’t take anyone else with her.

And once again, the crash points out the abject failure of LA’s chronically underfunded — and under-cared about — Vision Zero program, as well as the failure of the city to carry through with the transportation reforms promised in the mobility plan, in the seven years since either was approved.

Simply put, speeds like those in either crash should not be possible on surface streets. And the city should make every effort to ensure things like this can’t happen.

Let alone don’t.

Clearly, though, not everyone agrees. Take this comment in response to Friday’s post about the Windsor Hills crash.

Please.

Wow, this is one of the worst articles on this subject ever written. The ideas are without merit and the ignorance is almost frightening. I’d recommend not quitting your day job.

Never mind that this is my day job. But that, too, is who we share the road with.

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

………

There’s no question that LA Times columnist Steve Lopez gets it, as he examines the horrifying carnage on our streets.

“People have their necks broken, they burn to death and suffer unrecoverable injuries. The onus for care drops into the laps of firefighters and paramedics … and even those guys, with all their equipment and training, can’t do anything,” (UCLA ER physician Dr. Mark) Morocco said…

It’s terrifyingly common in Los Angeles, and getting behind the wheel, or going for a walk or a bike ride, is a game of roulette.

Meanwhile, letter writers to the Times say the crash shows the city is desperate for safer streets.

………

Important Twitter thread from Streets For All examining the full cost of traffic violence throughout Los Angeles, and in each individual council district, since Vision Zero and the mobility plan were adopted in 2015.

The charts also include the amount of mobility plan implementation, miles of bus and bike lanes, and how many people in the district signed the Healthy Streets LA petition to require implementation of the mobility plan when streets are resurfaced, which the organization accurately describes as massive citywide support.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1556068900584173573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1556068900584173573%7Ctwgr%5Ee095348799edebb4e575fd8dded0c55af291669a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbikinginla.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D50133action%3Dedit

You can find a downloadable pdf of the full report for each council district here.

Take a moment to check out your own district, then look at some of the others, like the 55 bike riders and pedestrians killed in Mitch O’Farrell’s CD13 in Hollywood, the 82 killed in Curren Price’s CD9, or the horrifying 105 dead in Marqueece Harris-Dawson’s CD8 in South LA.

Never mind that just one traffic death is one too many.

………

Great piece from Outside, about custom bikemaker Rivendell Bicycle Works’ well intentioned, but ultimately doomed, effort to offer a 45% discount to Black customers as a form of reparations for the long history of racism in a the bike industry.

“The American bicycle industry has been racist, often overtly racist, since 1878,” the company wrote in the release. “Rivendell has been obliviously—not ‘obviously’—racist most of the time since 1994. We say this not to scold the industry, not to be publicly humble, not to scold other bicycle businesses, and not to be uncharacteristically on trend. It’s just true.”

Rivendell’s nine staff members were on board to launch the Black Reparations Pricing, or BRP. The company would not increase prices on other frames and would dedicate 10 percent of its inventory to BRP for customers who identified as Black. “We’re committed to it, and will not cave at the first heat,” said the company statement. “As for how it’ll affect business, we’ll just see. If we go broke because those who use the flag or God as an invisibility cloak for their white nationalism stop patronizing us we’ll…move on…”

The inequality started in the first bike boom of the 1890s, when cycling lessons and clubs were only available to white people, and bikes were priced out of reach for all but the most elite. The exclusion continued through the next century in ways that had a chilling effect on who rides and where—like a 1971 law in Washington, DC, that required costly bike licenses, which stopped many impoverished Black people from riding as commuters, or a 1987 bike ban in Midtown Manhattan, through which Wall Street executives sought to bar mostly Black and brown bike messengers from their lobbies and avenues, even while those same executives flocked to the mountain bike trails around their summer cabins upstate. A recent Los Angeles Times investigation reviewed 44,000 bike stops by police and found that they disproportionately targeted poorer communities with large nonwhite populations.

Unfortunately, the backlash was swift and severe.

Once Rivendell’s program hit the national media, Petersen began to receive threats by phone and email. Worried about his safety, he installed video cameras around the store. The company’s phones rang repeatedly with calls from alt-right podcasters, and their Yelp, Google, and social media sites were flooded with negative comments and one-star reviews. “Quit the political commentary BS & focus on bikes,” wrote one commenter on Instagram. “Those people, the majority of them, had never bought anything from us. They probably don’t even ride bikes,” says Will Keating, Rivendell’s general manager. “It’s like they just saw something that infuriated them on the internet and had to take the next step.” The program was shut down on the advice of Rivendell’s lawyers. “The whole thing—it was a grand plan that fizzled out,” says Petersen. “We were afraid for our physical well-being. It was really ugly around here. We were all miserable.”

“From a strictly legal perspective, we’ve been handcuffed,” Petersen wrote in a blog announcing the end of the reparations program.

It’s a good piece, and well worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing.

Because it clearly demonstrates the difficulty in trying to do the right thing, in a country so sharply divided along political and racial lines.

And it raises questions of how much more we could and should be doing to right historical wrongs that continue to manifest in the present.

………

A rally will take place at Los Angeles City Hall this morning to protest the new ordinance criminalizing open air bike chop shops.

………

Turns out that one of the most common aggressive maneuvers practiced by California drivers is against the law.

………

On a happier note, it looks like Charlize Theron is one of us.

………

Of course Marge Simpson is one of us.

………

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

A Pennsylvania man faces charges for getting out of his pickup to beat and strangle a man riding a bicycle, after crashing into the victim and knocking him into a pole.

Sometimes you turn to the cops for help after a road rage attack, only to discover it was a cop who did it; meanwhile, another Toronto cop crashed into a bike rider in a bike lane, later claiming the sun was in his eyes.

Police in the UK initially refused to take action after a woman deliberately drove her Range Rover into a bike rider, who called their response “victim-blaming twaddle.”

No bias here. A London writer proclaims the war on cars is a war on women. Which it wouldn’t be, even if it was real.

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

Great Britain’s transport minister is proposing a bill to reign in a “selfish minority of bike riders” by creating a bicycling equivalent to the country’s death by dangerous driving law, with a penalty up to life in prison.

A man on a bicycle is blamed for stealing a New Zealand statue of Ernest Rutherford, known as the father of nuclear physics, by rocking the statue back and forth for half an hour until it snapped off its base.

………

Local

The LA Times reports on the parents of a 12-year old Pacific Palisades girl who are suing Rad Power Bikes alleging a defective design caused their daughter’s death.

The LACBC is giving donated bikes away to people in need through its Bike Match program.

 

State 

Streetsblog reports on a recent webinar explaining how to fight for bike lanes where you live.

Seriously? A Coronado newspaper says ebikes may be the future, but questions whether they’re a hazard on the island’s roadways.

Camarillo letter writers say the city needs to make itself bike-friendly now, not five years from now when a new bike path is scheduled to open.

A pair of 14-year old Camarillo boys were injured, one seriously, when they were run down on their bikes by a 68-year old driver at the Camarillo outlet mall.

The LA Times says the best SoCal bike trail is the Ojai Valley Trail, describing it as an “incredibly scenic path (running) 15 miles from the Ventura shoreline to the charming town of Ojai.”

Kindhearted cops in Arroyo Grande got a new bike for a 15-year old boy after the one he rode to his summer job was stolen.

A 23-year old man was arrested for robbing a Palo Alto bike shop near Stanford University, after the shop’s workers refused to buy an ebike he’d brought in.

A rideout took over the eastbound lanes of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge on Saturday, as the CHP did their best to herd them onto a bike path.

A San Francisco bike hater belatedly becomes the Bike Guy after rediscovering riding in middle age.

 

National

A new study explains why most people never forget how to ride a bike, no matter how long it has been.

Bikeshare can play a role in helping older Americans age in place.

US Weekly considers the best ebikes for women of any height.

Still more traffic violence in New Mexico, where an alleged drunk driver without a valid license barreled through a Gallup parade celebrating Native American culture, injuring at least 15 people, including two cops who tried to stop him.

He gets it. A columnist for the Minnesota Post explains why driving is bad for America, saying other than extending our ability to move at high speed, it comes at the cost of almost every other kind of action.

More mass carnage, as five Minnesota bike riders were injured when they were run down from behind by a driver, who plowed into the group of seven bike-riding kids led by one adult; fortunately, none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

Sad news from Ohio, where an Ohio State University student died of a “heart-related medical issue” just two miles from the end of a 102-mile fundraising ride.

Good news from Nashville, where Gospel singer Amy Grant is reportedly improving every day, after she was knocked unconscious for over ten minutes in a fall off her bicycle.

A New York ebike rider was the victim of a strong-arm robbery when he was punched in the head by a stranger who stole his bike in Central Park Saturday afternoon.

New York Magazine reports on their picks for the best bike helmets, while the New York Times picks the best handlebar bags.

The Washington Post examines the inevitable ebike bikelash, saying everyone loves ebikes, except for some who share the road, or the bike lane, or the sidewalk, with them.

Over 100 South Florida kids rode their bikes to call for an end to gun violence.

Life is cheap in Florida, where a man walked without a single day behind bars — or even being charged with a crime — for killing a bike-riding man when he somehow veered off the road last year.

 

International

We Love Cycling offers tips on how to go the beach with your bike.

A Calgary, Alberta man is back to gravel racing, ‘cross and mountain biking, using an adaptive bike he built himself, 20 years after he broke his back snowboarding.

An Ottawa, Canada organization is giving mom’s a taste of freedom by teaching women to ride a bike. 

Life is cheap in the UK, where a speeding, stoned and distracted driver gets less than two years for killing a newly married man riding a bicycle.

After he was pulled off his bicycle and beaten by men shouting anti-gay slurs, an Amsterdam man is angered by the lack of resource to mount a police response.

A writer learns the hard way not to joke about unhinged bicyclists in Amsterdam, especially if you weren’t born in the Netherlands.

Ukraine’s elderly bicyclists defy the military violence surrounding them, refusing to flee or give in to the chaos.

 

Competitive Cycling

Shades of a two-wheeled Eddie the Eagle. A 48-year old man representing Ghana in the Commonwealth Games finished 47th out of 54 competitors in the time trial, which was won by Australia’s Rohan Dennis; Chris Symonds keeps in shape by riding a hybrid bike to his job as a doorkeeper at Britain’s Houses of Parliament, where he keeps his bike safe by parking it at the House of Lords. Thanks to Jon for the heads-up.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your bike tire turns invisible. Or when the road symbols suggest it’s a bike lane for dogs.

And maybe it’s just me, but it looks like he could use a larger frame.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Killer Michigan drugged driver allegedly a repeat offender, and California to get $631 million for climate resilient infrastructure

August 2, 2022 / / One comment

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

The 43-year old woman who killed two men and critically injured three others participating in a 300-mile Michigan fundraising ride for the Make-A-Wish program faces her second arrest for driving under the influence of prescription drugs.

Mandy Marie Benn reportedly had been prescribed Aderall and Suboxone, and had prescription bottles for Benzodiazepine in her car at the time of the crash.

Suboxone is used to treat opioid addiction.

The prosecuting attorney in her case described her as so stoned that she “had slow and slurred speech, lack of balance and couldn’t follow instructions,” and told police the jumble of mangled bikes and bodies “almost looks real.”

She had previously been arrested on a charge of operating a vehicle while visibly impaired back five years earlier.

However, there’s no word on a conviction. Which suggests the charge was dropped or bargained away, allowing her to keep driving until she killed someone.

And she did.

Allegedly.

Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.

Benn is charged with two counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death, as well as a couple misdemeanors charges.

She’s being held on a million dollars bail, and faces a maximum of 31 years behind bars.

Which pales in comparison to the cost paid by the victims and their families.

Meanwhile, the victims were identified as a 57-year old man and a 48-year old man, both from Michigan.

Two of the men who were injured have been released, while the third remains hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

And the Make-A-Wish foundation reports they’re “heartbroken” over the needless deaths and injuries.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla announced that California will receive over $631 million for “climate resilient transportation infrastructure” over the next five years through the federal infrastructure bill pass last year.

The bill includes provisions for transit, bicycling and pedestrian projects designed to combat extreme weather conditions.

Meanwhile, Calbike looks at how pandemic bike riding led to the birth of SB 932, the Plan for the Future Bill.

The bill from California Senator Anthony Portantino, and sponsored by Streets for All and Calbike, requires local governments to include provisions to make streets safer for people biking, walking, using scooters and taking public transit in the circulation elements of their general plans.

And it includes deadlines for starting and finishing construction of the new facilities, so cities have to actually build them.

………

Seriously?

A writer for City Watch says residents of Eagle Rock deserve better than a remake of Colorado Blvd to make it safer and more livable for everyone, accusing Metro of jamming plans for a bus rapid transit down down their throats.

Evidently, keeping it a deadly, traffic-inducing car sewer is somehow better for them, in some inexplicable way.

………

Yes, you can do stunts on a commuter ebike.

………

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

Police in New Orleans are looking for a bike-riding man who fired a single shot at a group of people walking down the street.

………

Local

A Los Angeles couple has filed suit against Seattle ebike maker Rad Power Bikes, blaming a flawed design that makes it difficult slow down and stop while going downhill for the death of their 12-year old daughter from head trauma last year.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton examines the newly renovated Culver Blvd bike path in Culver City, noting that the project improved pedestrian and rainwater facilities, but didn’t make major changes to the bikeway itself.

Helicopter and paramedic crews with the Los Angeles Fire Department rescued an injured mountain biker from a trail in in Shadow Hills on Saturday.

West Hollywood is now home to the next generation of Lime ebikes, with new ebikes from Bird coming later this month.

Santa Monica is planning another bike and pedestrian safety operation for today, ticketing any traffic violations that could put bike riders or pedestrians at risk, regardless of who commits them. Which means the standard protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

 

State 

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a 40-year old man was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike through an alley Monday morning.

Sad news from Grover Beach, too, where a 29-year old man on an ebike was killed when he reportedly crossed in front of an oncoming fire truck.

A 69-year old driver crashed into a Berkeley bike rider participating in a group ride Sunday afternoon, before slamming into three parked cars and flipping over; both the driver and the 29-year old man on the bike were taken to a local hospital with injuries that didn’t appear to be life-threatening.

SFist questions whether San Francisco’s mayor is trying to kill off the city’s popular Slow Streets program.

 

National

Ebike and e-scooter provider Bolt Mobility, founded by Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, has ceased operations in several cities virtually overnight, abandoning its vehicles on the streets.

Bike Portland talks with a disabled Portland woman and new bike rider who gained greater mobility on her adaptive bicycle. Proving once again that bikes are for everyone, not just for the healthy and strong.

A 16-year old Las Vegas boy has been missing since he left for his new job on Friday; his phone is turned off and his bike was found in a dumpster ten miles from his home.

Operators of Colorado’s Palisade Plunge mountain bike trail are urging everyone to beware of the scorching heat and bring extra water, after the heart-related death of one man.

Houston patients with pre or existing diabetes or hypertension can now get a prescription for rental bike use.

A Minnesota advocacy group offers a 45-minute recorded discussion on tips for utilitarian bicycling, complete with a print transcript in case you’d rather read it.

Bike lanes in a Boston neighborhood has become the latest battlefront in the battle over gentrification, as Black and Latino residents complain they’re neither needed or wanted by the residents in danger of being pushed out. Even though Black and Latino people ride bikes, too.

The New Yorker ponders what a 9,000 pound electric vehicle should sound like, since silent cars and trucks pose a significant danger to bike riders and pedestrians who rely on vehicle noise for their safety.

That’s a good problem to have. The Manhattan Borough president is suggesting that the city convert a traffic lane on the West Side Highway to a separated bike path to relieve bike traffic congestion on the popular Hudson River Greenway.

NPR talks with the Director of Transportation for Hoboken about how the New Jersey city has eliminated traffic deaths for the past four years through a series of incremental safety changes.

Another reminder to always carry ID when you ride a bike, as authorities in Baton Rouge, Louisiana struggle to identify a man killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding a bike.

 

International

After a British teacher flipped over his handlebars and broke his collarbone, he credited the what3words app with pinpointing his rural location for the paramedics.

Here are 18 bicycling routes throughout the island nation for your next trip to Singapore.

 

Competitive Cycling

Another day, another major crash in track cycling at the Commonwealth Games; Australia is leading a push for better safety measures.

Veteran Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten says she’s “super proud” to have won the first women’s Tour de France in 33 years, despite nearly quitting due to stomach issues early in the week.

The Astana Qazaqstan cycling team reinstated Colombian rider Miguel Ángel López after he was questioned, and apparently cleared, in the investigation into the alleged activities of a Spanish doctor suspected of drug trafficking.

 

Finally…

Celebrate a Tour de France finish on your next bike ride, complete with cheering fans. Your next ebike could have a built-in boombox to annoy everyone as you ride by.

And Aquaman is one of us.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Alleged DUI Michigan driver kills 2 fundraising riders and injures 3 others, and Culver City remakes Culver Blvd bike path

August 1, 2022 / / Comments Off on Alleged DUI Michigan driver kills 2 fundraising riders and injures 3 others, and Culver City remakes Culver Blvd bike path

Once again, a motor vehicle in the wrong hands has become a weapon of mass destruction.

Two people were killed, and three critically injured, when an alleged DUI driver plowed into a group of bicyclists participating in a Michigan Make-A-Wish fundraising ride.

The driver reportedly crossed the center line in an ill-advised effort to pass a slower driver, hitting the victims head-on.

Meanwhile, a Canton, Michigan family went out on their own as a tribute to the victims, after the third and final day of the ride was cancelled in the wake of the crash.

This comes just six years and less than 70 miles from the infamous Kalamazoo massacre, where a stoned driver killed five people and injured several others taking part in a weekly ride.

That driver was sentenced to a well-deserved 40 years behind bars.

Let’s hope this one sees the same sort of justice.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

The knock on the Culver Blvd bike path has always been the increased risk bike riders face at intersections.

Hopefully they’ve improved the signaling to improve safety.

https://twitter.com/schneider/status/1552803279628685313

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If you’ve been reading this site over the last decade or so, you’ll know I’m a big fan of the Militant Angeleno’s CicLAvia guides, and even co-hosted a epic guided ride with the notoriously shy masked man during the CicLAvia celebrating the LA Symphony’s 100th anniversary.

He’s never asked us for anything in return.

Until now.

Now, for the first time, the Militant is asking you to send a little much-deserved love his way, in the form of a PayPal donation.

So I hope you’ll join me in opening your heart and wallet to support one of the city’s most loved personalities.

………

This, too, is the cost of traffic violence.

………

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

They clearly don’t get it. A Staten Island website complains about plans for a road diet and removing parking spaces, saying bike lanes aren’t the answer to speeding drivers. Except that’s exactly what road diets are for, and bike lanes are just a tool to narrow traffic lanes and force drivers to slow down.

You’ve got to be kidding. A New Jersey columnist sides with a Jersey City councilmember who fled the scene after crashing into a bike rider, saying the crash shows bicyclists think they’re above the law. I’d say hit-and-run is just a tad more serious than mistakenly thinking you’ve got the green light, as the rider claimed. But that’s just me.

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

New York police are looking for a bike-riding snatch-and-grab thief who is targeting women to steal their cellphones.

Um, no.  A British bike courier faces charges after going on a rampage when his bike was stolen, smashing the windows on twelve businesses with his U-lock, then attacking the cops who tried to stop him. Seriously, don’t do that.

Life is cheap in Ireland, where a bike-riding man walked with an 18-month suspended sentence for plowing into a pedestrian, leaving the man with a serious brain injury.

………

Local

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal to decriminalize riding a bike on a sidewalk tomorrow, in response to an LA Times investigative report that showed sheriff’s deputies used the sidewalk ban to disproportionately target people of color.

NBA great LeBron James puts his money where his passion lies, investing $30 million dollars in Germany-based, direct-to-consumer Canyon Bicycles.

 

State 

No surprise here. The family of a 34-year-old man who was killed riding an e-scooter in a bike lane on San Diego’s Pershing Drive is suing the city; John Sepulveda was killed just two months and a few blocks from where noted architect Laura Shinn was killed by an allegedly stoned driver while riding her bike.

This is who we share the road with, too. A Riverside man is being hailed as a hero after he ran into busy freeway traffic to save the life of a motorcyclist caught up in a multi-car crash.

Hats off to Simi Valley Eagle Scout Chad Agruso, who installed a bike repair station on the Arroyo Simi Greenway Bike Trail.

Camarillo and Ventura County are considering a proposal to extend the Calleguas Creek bike path from Pleasant Valley Road to California State University Channel Islands, and possibly beyond.

Life is cheap in Bakersfield, where a woman walked with a lousy two-years probation for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider. And then we wonder why drivers don’t take hit-and-run seriously. Or killing someone, for that matter.

Sad news from Fresno, where a 23-year veteran of the police department was killed in a collision while riding a bicycle on Saturday; he was taking part in the annual Tour De Lakes put on by the Fresno Cycling Club.

Caltrans has begun taking comments on building a comprehensive multimodal corridor plan for the I-5 corridor through Sacramento County, which will analyze impacts to all modes of transportation, including bicycling and walking.

 

National

REI is holding a bike sale through August 8th.

Streetsblog examines what’s in the new Senate climate bill for sustainable transportation — and what isn’t. Hint: Ebike rebates.

Google Maps will soon offer information on bike lanes, hills and turn-by-turn directions specifically for people on bicycles.

Bike Portland offers a photo essay from this weekend’s edition of the World Naked Bike Ride, easily one of the nation’s largest.

Portland celebrated the opening of a long-awaited new bike and pedestrian bridge named for bike-riding Congressman Earl Blumenauer.

Seattle’s Critical Mass ride turned into a memorial for a fallen bicyclist killed in a hit-and-run earlier this month, as the victim’s widow insisted “We should all be safe.” Thanks to Pops for the heads-up. 

A kindhearted Choctaw Nation Tribal cop bought a new bike for a 13-year old girl on the Oklahoma reservation, after hers was stolen.

Two Minnesota bike riders were collateral damage when a driver’s SUV rolled over following a collision, and crashed into them as they waited at an intersection; both victims were hospitalized with serious injuries.

Christian singer Amy Grant is reportedly resting comfortably at home in Nashville after she was released from the hospital following a fall off her bike, postponing all her concerts planned for this month.

They get it. A Buffalo NY editorial board says rising bike and pedestrian deaths demand better road designs.

They get it, too. DC is considering allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields, and banning right turn on red for drivers.

 

International

Road.cc offers helpful advice on what to do if an airline loses your bike. Hint: Don’t go ballistic and trash all their planes, tempting though it may be.

Vancouver responds to a recent bicycling death by making sideguards mandatory for city-owned heavy trucks.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a custom adaptive bike from a ten-year old Calgary girl with cerebral palsy.

A Toronto paper says making a right turn on a bike is harder than you think, offering tips on the right way to do it — including taking the whole right lane.

Welsh leaders back off plans to improve safety for everyone by reducing speeds to 20 mph after drivers complained, and will now raise speed limits back to 30 mph on some roads.

Dangerous drivers aren’t the only risk Ukrainian bike riders face, as a woman was lucky to escape harm by riding away just seconds before a Russian rocket struck.

Bicyclists in Malta are complaining that the island’s bike lanes must be designed by someone who has never ridden a bike. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

China is once again the bicycle kingdom, as the coronavirus and rising fuel prices bring bikes back in vogue.

 

Competitive Cycling

Maybe it’s the Rouleur jinx. Just one day after the European cycling magazine asked if the great Marianne Vos could continue to dominate the Tour de France Femmes, the answer was no.

Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten made that an emphatic “no,” burying the field with a solo attack on Saturday’s penultimate stage, and winning by a whopping three minutes and 26 seconds.

The 39-year old Dutch cyclist somehow survived six bike changes due to a mechanical issue early in Sunday’s eighth and final stage to win the Tour with a final margin of 3 minutes and 48 seconds; van Vleuten’s win comes six years after her horrific crash in the Rio Olympics.

Twenty-seven-year old Veronica Ewers was the top American finisher in 7th place.

CNN calls the inaugural race an “absolutely beautiful moment” that can change women’s cycling.

Sunday’s morning track cycling session at the Commonwealth Games was cancelled due to a mass crash in which England’s Matt Walls and Canada’s Derek Gee went over the wall into the crowd; Walls was treated for over 40 minutes before leaving in an ambulance.

American mountain bikers made history, as Christopher Blevins and Gwendalyn Gibson topped the men’s and women’s podiums at the UCI mountain bike World Cup in Snowshoe, West Virginia, the first time Americans have won both races.

The second edition of L39ION of Los Angeles founder Justin Williams’s Into the Lion’s Den crit has been postponed until next year.

 

Finally…

When you’re riding your bike with a joint and a couple stolen social security cards, put a damn light on it. Or when you’ve got an open beer, meth and three ounces of weed on your bike, maybe try riding with traffic, instead.

And that feeling when you enjoy a romantic tandem ride with 330 million of your closest friends.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Updating traffic violence news, Healthy Streets LA turns in 120,000 signatures, and OC applies for bikeway grant

June 21, 2022 / / Comments Off on Updating traffic violence news, Healthy Streets LA turns in 120,000 signatures, and OC applies for bikeway grant

Happy first day of summer! And belated Juneteenth and Father’s Day greetings! 

Maybe one of these days I’ll actually catch up to the calendar. 

………

Let’s start by updating a pair of tragedies we mentioned yesterday.

First is an Illinois county judge who was killed when he was rear-ended by a 73-year old driver. Today brought news that he had been riding with his wife on a roadway rated by the state as unfriendly for bikes, yet which was inexplicably recommended by Google Maps; he was also a board member for a statewide bike advocacy group.

We had also mentioned that a Buffalo, NY woman was killed when a driver plowed into a group of three bike-riding women; today we learned the victim was popular singer-songwriter in the area. Police believe the crash occurred when the driver suffered some sort of medical emergency.

………

This is just a fraction of the 120,000 signatures they’re ready to turn in for the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposition.

Don’t forget tomorrow’s 2:15 pm special public meeting of the LA City Council’s Public Works and Transportation Committees to discuss a proposal to adopt the wording of the ballot proposition before it goes to a public vote this November.

………

This could be a big plus for OC bike riders.

https://twitter.com/mikeocbike/status/1539032871440027648

………

The estimable Will Campbell struck out in an effort to bike to the new Sandy Koufax statue at Dodger Stadium.

https://twitter.com/wildbell/status/1539032190868000768

………

Lionel Mares forwards photos from Saturday’s ride along the LA River with LACBC and California Sate Senator Maria Elena Durazo and LACBC Executive Director Eli Akira Kaufman.

Speaking of the LACBC, any donations to the bike advocacy group will be matched dollar for dollar by Warner Bros. Discovery for the next month, up to a total of $25,000.

………

An inspiring new video demonstrates how an adaptive athlete helped Jackson Hole, Wyoming’s “deepest, darkest” mountain bike trail welcome adaptive bike riders.

………

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

Denver area sheriff’s deputies are looking for a man with a long criminal record who allegedly swerved his pickup onto the shoulder of a highway to attack a group of bicyclists Sunday morning, critically injuring one woman; deputies found his abandoned truck that night, after he had stopped briefly to dislodge a bicycle stuck underneath it.

………

Local

Former LACBC board member and Laemmle Theaters owner Greg Laemmle is hosting his popular Tour de Laemmle this Sunday, welcoming anyone who wants to join him in riding to the recently sold Laemmle Playhouse 7 one last time.

The star of the documentary Q Ball was released from prison after 24 long years; he had been sentenced to life behind bars for his third strike conviction after Long Beach police found him in possession of a gun when they stopped him for riding his bike without a light. Otherwise known as a pretext stop, giving cops an excuse to stop and search someone.

 

State 

Food giant Mondelēz International got the munchies, and gobbled up Emeryville-based maker of Clif Bars for a whopping $2.9 billion. Yes, that’s billions with a B.

 

National

File this one under bad ideas. President Biden is considering a temporary pause in the already too low federal gas tax, which hasn’t been raised in 29 years. There are better ways to address the pain of high gas taxes than cutting funds that support transportation spending. Like tax rebates funded by a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

No, that wasn’t former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki making fun of Donald Trump after Biden fell off his bike.

Bike Hacks offers tips on how to feel safe and confident on the road while riding at night.

A Portland man has filed suit against the city, alleging he was injured by a flashbang grenade and beaten by police during the 2020 racial justice protests, and unable to reclaim his bicycle after it was seized by officers.

A new entry-level, retro-style cruiser ebike from Seattle bikemaker E-Velo is specifically designed for riders under 5’10” tall. Although I would hardly call $3,500 “entry-level.”

Pittsburgh has installed the city’s first advisory bike lane, which channels drivers into a shared center lane, while allowing them to briefly move into the bike and pedestrian lanes on either side — just like the one that was unceremoniously ripped out in San Diego.

This is who we share the road with. Six people were injured, three critically, when a New York cabbie hit a bike rider after rounding a corner, then jumped the curb, slamming into several pedestrians and pinning two women against a wall; once again, police suspect the driver may have suffered some sort of medical episode.

Police in Tupelo, Mississippi struggled to identify a man who was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike Friday, before members of the public came up with his name several hours later. One more reminder to always carry ID with you when you ride — preferably something that won’t get stolen if you’re incapacitated.

 

International

A new Colombian law named for a 13-year old victim of traffic violence killed riding his bike commits the country to improving traffic safety through the safe systems approach, while reducing speed limits and adopting UN regulations for vehicle standards and licensing.

Canadian musician DJ JaBig is entering the final leg of a 10,000-mile ride through the US to raise funds for World Bicycle Relief; he’s less than $1,000 short of his $16,500 goal.

Bath, England decides to trade up, replacing two golf courses with a new bike park.

Angry bike riders complain about ice cream trucks illegally parked in the protected bike lanes on London’s Westminster Bridge.

Israeli approved plans to crack down on bike and e-scooter riders for crimes like riding distracted and not wearing a helmet.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly talks with Alexey Vermeulen, who bailed on a brief road cycling career to earn six figures as a gravel privateer.

Win a bike race, celebrate with a dip in the pool in full kit.

And avoid that awkward sprint to the finish with a spirited round of Rochambeau.

https://twitter.com/eurosport/status/1538145608309084160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1538145608309084160%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cyclingweekly.com%2Fnews%2Ftweets-of-the-week-rock-paper-scissors-at-a-bike-race-the-other-geraint-thomas-and-quinten-hermans-makes-a-splash

 

Finally…

Why wait for bikes to hit the road when you can run them down in the shop? That feeling when a stray bike wheel shuts down the entire subway.

And once again, a bike rider is a hero. If only to our feathered friends.

But wait, there’s more!

Thanks to TEOTWAWKI, aka TRutt, for the heads-up.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

6 years for hit-and-run death of Colton boy, LA votes on bike chop shop ban today, and demand Griffith Park bike safety

June 14, 2022 / / Comments Off on 6 years for hit-and-run death of Colton boy, LA votes on bike chop shop ban today, and demand Griffith Park bike safety

The hit-and-run driver who killed 15-year old bike rider Javier Gonzalez in Riverside has been formally sentenced to six years behind bars.

Thirty-seven-year old Riverside resident Rosendo Morales Caldera pled guilty earlier this month to hit-and-run resulting in death, with a sentence enhancement of fleeing the scene of a crime, after prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor count of driving without a license.

Caldera might not have faced any jail time if he’d just stopped his damn truck, since Colton resident Gonzalez and his friends were riding on the wrong side of the street.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

………

The Los Angeles City Council will vote on a proposed ordinance today to ban outdoor bike repairs and sales on public property, in an effort to halt open air bike chop shops.

However, it will exempt “people in possession of a single bike being repaired with the express purpose of allowing them to ride it again.” Which means you shouldn’t be subject to the law just for fixing your bike in public.

Key word, shouldn’t.

Although whether it will actually have an effect on bike theft remains to be seen.

………

A Reddit post reminds us about the Griffith Park Advisory Board, which meets twice a month to discuss matters concerning the park.

Like how to keep bike riders safe from all the cars and drivers they let in to what should be a safe place for people.

The next virtual meeting takes place on the 27th of this month.

Improving Safety within Griffith Park: Griffith Park Advisory Board
byu/Kirbacho inBikeLA

……….

Inspiring story of a Tampa, Florida bike mechanic who rides his fixie with just one leg, after losing his left leg in a motorcycle crash.

Even on the track.

https://twitter.com/BicyclingMag/status/1536408064332484609

………

GCN offers advice on how to perform basic maintenance for beginning bike riders.

………

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

This is why we can’t have nice things. A San Francisco disability advocate, backed by an art museum, is filing a ballot measure to force the return of cars to newly carfree John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park.

Disgruntled motorists have been sabotaging London’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods by repeatedly tipping over planters intended to limit traffic flow.

………

Local

Spectrum News 1 profiles the Watts-based East Side Riders and co-founder John Jones III as they work to support the community and push for change.

Pacoima is launching the San Fernando Valley’s first ebike-based bikeshare system, which will be free to use for the next nine months.

He gets it. An op-ed from former Santa Monica City Manager and Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Rick Cole says stop spending billions on freeways. That money could be better spent on transit, biking and pedestrian projects to reduce the need to drive, instead of fueling it.

 

State 

Guardian Bikes, a children’s bikemaker financially backed by Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban, is pulling up stakes in Irvine and moving to Seymour, Indiana, which should result in a ten-times increase in production.

A handful of residents and business owners turned out to protest as San Diego began work to remove two traffic lanes and install protected bike lanes on Park Blvd in University Heights, at a cost of just 88 parking spaces — most of which will be replaced nearby.

A Palm Springs man started an organization to provide bicycles to homeless people, to support them with much-needed transportation.

Oakland residents protested to call for safer streets in the wake of two deadly collisions involving a man on a bicycle and an elderly pedestrian.

Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson is one of us, explaining he rides his bicycle to home games to cut his carbon footprint.

 

National

ABC News reports that racial disparities in American traffic fatalities are even worse than previously thought, especially for pedestrians and bike riders, with Black pedestrians and cyclists 2.2 times and 4.5 times more like to killed on a per-mile basis, respectively; the trend is similar for Hispanic Americans.

Bicycle Retailer says increases in US bike ridership reached the highest levels in decades during the pandemic, but the bike boom may already be over.

A Santa Fe, New Mexico letter writer asks why the city can’t keep bike lanes clean and free of debris. Something most of us would like to know, wherever we live.

Kansas drivers are reminded to watch out for bike riders this month, as the Trans Am Bike Race and the Race Across America, aka RAAM, roll through the state, along with the annual Biking Across Kansas; three riders have been killed in the last five years.

The Chicago Sun-Times calls on the city to raise the fine for drivers who block bike lanes, after a three-year old girl was killed when her mother rode her bike around a utility truck parked in one.

A 43-year old Toledo man faces charges for viciously beating a 70-year old man riding his bicycle on a bike trail; the suspect bizarrely claims he was just trying to wake the victim up because he didn’t look well.

Writing from the perspective of a “non-avid cyclist,” a DC woman calls for better bike infrastructure for people like her, rather than the self-proclaimed “avid cyclists” who always seem to show up to oppose it.

A Virginia writer remembers riding his $5 junkyard bike all over town as a boy, while lamenting that kids don’t ride bikes anymore.

 

International

Riders stripped down to participate in the World Naked Bike Ride in Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico to call for greater visibility of people on bicycles; dozens of riders joined the fun in Toronto, too.

A Calgary man was sentenced to three years and three months behind bars for the drunken crash that killed a bike-riding man as the driver was leaving a golf course; the judge rejected a defense plea for a lenient sentence, saying it wouldn’t deter other people from drinking and driving.

An Ottawa, Canada woman has been holding weekly bike giveaways for the past three months to help Ukrainian refugees settle into the city.

Hanoi, Vietnam is opening a new 200-station bikeshare network.

An outdated law limiting handlebar widths means that most mountain bikers in Western Australia risk fines for breaking the law.

 

Competitive Cycling

Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini won the Women’s Tour of Britain by just one second over Australian Grace Brown, thanks to a four-second bonus for a third place finish in the final stage.

Sprinter Mark Cavendish probably won’t have a chance to break his tie with Eddy Merckx for the most stage wins in the Tour de France, since he’s unlikely to make the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team roster for the race.

 

Finally…

What’s a bike race without a little booze? Before you submit video of a scofflaw bicyclist, make sure you’re not the one breaking the law.

And before you celebrate your win, make sure you really did.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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