Tag Archive for bicycling

Morning Links: Former pro Steve Tilford seriously injured, Mercedes decides who to save, and retracing a rare bike

October 17, 2016 / / One comment

Hopefully we’ve finally got the problem with email notifications fixed. Let me know if you’re still not getting them.

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Former pro cyclist Steve Tilford, one of the first wave of American cyclists to enter the top levels of the sport, suffered a severe head injury in a fall last week.

Tilford was participating in a regular group ride when his bike struck a dog that had run into the street and he went over his handlebars, striking his head on the pavement; he was not wearing a helmet.

While the prognosis is positive, he is expected to take a year of intensive therapy to make a full recovery.

Another rider who crashed into him suffered a collapsed lung and four broken ribs.

And no, there’s no word on the dog.

For Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson, it brings up the debate over whether or not to wear a helmet.

Meanwhile, BMX pro Scotty Cranmer is in critical condition in a Las Vegas hospital after falling face-first when his front wheel got stuck in a hole; as of Sunday night, a crowdfunding site had raised over $25,000 for his medical expenses.

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In the ongoing debate over self-driving cars, Mercedes Benz decides the lives of its occupants are more important than the lives of others.

After all, they’re the ones paying for it, right?

Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.

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Nice piece from Peter Flax about tracking down the history of a rare Richard Sachs racing bike that won the collegiate cyclocross championship for Adam Myerson in 1997, after it found its way back to its original owner.

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Twenty-year old Dutch rider Amalie Dideriksen outsprints the favorites to take the women’s world championship. Meanwhile Peter Sagan repeats as the men’s champ and Mark Cavendish settles for second, while John Degenkolb gives another rider a squirt.

The head of UCI praises Qatar for developing a cycling culture, while saying with a straight face that there hasn’t been any cases of heat exhaustion in the extreme desert temperatures, despite the many riders who collapsed along the course.

Aussie cycling champ Anna Meares calls it a career after winning six Olympic medals.

The cycling community wants to ban the narcotic painkiller Tramadol, which is popular in the pro peloton to help riders bounce back from the pain of racing. Meanwhile, former world champ David Millar explains how the therapeutic use exemption allows riders to get away with doping; thanks to Ralph Durham and George Wolfberg for the link.

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Local

A homeless Santa Monica man was found with bike parts and a nine-inch bolt cutter, admitted to being a meth addict, and told investigators how to bust a U-lock by twisting the bike frame. And was let go with a citation, along with his companion, for medical reasons. Homeless people need help, not jail. But writing a damn ticket to a confessed bike thief isn’t going to stop anyone.

Santa Monica will host a Kiddical Mass Halloween costume ride on the 29th.

Santa Clarita is the site of a Gran Fondo next Saturday to benefit the fight against Parkinson’s disease.

Long Beach is looking for volunteers for their annual bike count this Thursday.

There’s a special place in hell for anyone who’d steal a bike from a Long Beach man who had passed out from a diabetic incident.

 

State

A 15-mile stretch of bike path along the Santa Ana River due to be completed by 2019 would bring long-standing plans for a continuous 100-mile bike and equestrian trail reaching from the San Bernardino Mountains to Huntington Beach one step closer to completion.

A San Diego bicyclist was injured Sunday when her bike hit a steel plate in the road covering repair work. Which is a reminder that raised plates can knock you off your bike, while the plates themselves can provide little or no traction, especially if there’s moisture present.

A Santa Cruz letter writer says it’s your own damn fault if you get hit by a car if you don’t come to a complete, foot-on-the-ground stop at stop signs. Actually, there’s no requirement that bike riders have to put a foot down when coming to a stop. And it can actually increase the risk, while being guaranteed to piss off the drivers around you if you insist on putting a foot down at every stop.

 

National

The Feds have finally concluded that bike boxes really do reduce conflicts between bike riders and motorists at intersections.

A writer looks at why cyclists and drivers don’t get along, explaining that insurance is a better option than trying to get even with someone. Although it’s a false premise; the overwhelming majority bicyclists and drivers do get along; it’s the exceptions that are the problem.

A former Hawaii police officer has been indicted for negligent homicide, tampering with evidence and filing a false report in the hit-and-run death of a vacationing bike rider; he was fired from the force as a result of his actions.

Life is cheap in Illinois, where the death of a mother of five who was riding in a crosswalk marked with flashers merits a lousy $150 fine. Although it will result in a change in the state’s driver’s manual requiring motorists to stop for a crosswalk warning signal until pedestrians and bicyclists have safely crossed the road. Because evidently common sense is not a requirement for a license, there or anywhere else.

A Chattanooga writer says bike riders shouldn’t be licensed and aren’t the real problem, but bike lanes don’t belong on busy streets. But what the hell is a “California-type politician”?

A 15-year old Pennsylvania boy was sentenced to spend the next 35 years behind bars for shooting another teenager while attempting to steal his bicycle.

Most drunk drivers get off with a slap on the wrist. A Delaware bicyclist busted for biking under the influence following a crash got 32 days in county jail, plus 90 days house arrest, a $1,500 fine and lost her driver’s license for 18 months. In California, that would merit just a $250 fine, with no points on your license.

NPR takes a look at sidewalk cycling in DC, making the point that, legal or not, you’re usually safer on the street — which is exactly where pedestrians want you. Thanks to Joni Yung for the tip.

 

International

Bike Radar offers 11 ways to be a greener cyclist. Like don’t drop your damn trash on the side of the road — and that includes gel packs and CO2 cartridges.

Canadian cyclists are outraged at Orange Theory Fitness for co-opting ghost bikes for their marketing campaign. Apparently, the chain gets enough benefit from the publicity that they don’t care about offending bike riders, since they keep doing it, despite the complaints.

A front page editorial in the Times of London blames segregated bike lanes for helping to increase traffic congestion, but hides most of the story behind a pay wall. Bike Biz points out just .02% of London roads even have them, never mind that the real cause of increased congestion is the millions of additional cars on the road.

Once again, bike riders are heroes, as a group of passing bicyclists save the life of a British woman who drove into a lake.

An Irish writer complains about the moral ambiguity of inviting Lance Armstrong to speak at a public event in Dublin, while imagining him being wheeled out in a mask like Hannibal Lector.

Two Indian cyclists rode 2,700 miles to raise awareness of the need for girls’ education.

A group of 30 cyclists plowed into a 95-year old Aussie man, then just left him lying on the side of the road. Although, despite what the article initially says, one rider identifying himself as a doctor did stop briefly to check the victim out before rejoining the other riders. Regardless, there’s simply no excuse to leave an injured person like that, young or old.

 

Finally…

No, you can’t peddle ice cream while pedaling in Victoria, BC. If you’re going to ride your bike over the roof of a car, make sure it’s your car.

And it’s no surprise that drivers who accidently run down cyclists just get a slap on the wrist when doing it on purpose only gets a year in jail.

 

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

Morning Links: Slow start for Metro Bike Share, and a call for banning bikes from LA River Bike Path

October 14, 2016 / / One comment

My apologies for the continued lack of email notifications for subscribers. Painfully slow response times from the service techs doesn’t help.

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According to the LA Times, bikeshare is off to a slow start in Los Angeles.

The paper reports that the Metro Bike system, currently limited to DTLA, averaged 73 trips per bicycle in the first three months of operation, less than one-sixth that of New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare.

However, it’s doing better than Santa Monica’s Breeze, which averaged just 58 trips per bike in its first three months.

The paper also reports that Metro Bike plans to expand to Pasadena, Venice and the Port of Los Angeles next year, continuing its policy of developing isolated systems, rather than building an interconnected network throughout the city.

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As we noted earlier this week, it’s tragic that an Elysian Valley woman was struck from behind by cyclist while walking on the LA River Bike Path.

But it’s irresponsible to assume the rider was at fault without knowing any details of how it happened, or even if he or she stopped afterwards. And even more irresponsible to call for banning all bikes from the bike path as a result, as members of the Elysian Valley Neighborhood Watch are demanding.

Particularly if this is just the second such collision in three years, as the story suggests. Which would be an enviable record for any shared path.

Shared pathways inevitably pose risks to both bike riders and walkers. Yes, those of us on two wheels have a greater responsibility to watch out for others, since we pose the greater risk.

But we can be the victims of careless pedestrians, just as they can be the victims of careless bicyclists.

And some of us have the scars to prove it.

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Don’t forget Sunday’s CicLAvia, which returns to the traditional Heart of Downtown course; you’ll find feeder rides from all over town.

Although my feeder ride is likely to be the Red Line.

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The Guardian looks at the 110th edition of the season-ending Giro Di Lombardia.

The inventor of hidden motors in racing bicycles accuses UCI, bike racing’s governing body, of blocking tests for motor doping at this year’s Tour de France.

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Local

CiclaValley asks if saving a few seconds behind the wheel really matters.

People often quit cycling because of a wreck with a car; a 76-year old Santa Monica man got into bicycling because of one; he took up master’s bike racing after he was hit by a car while walking, ending his career as a power lifter.

Malibu is asking for public input on what to do with Trancas Field above PCH, including a possible skate park and bike pump track.

 

State

Newport Beach police are looking for the owners of eight stolen bicycles recovered in a recent raid, along with a shitload of drugs.

The Wall Street Journal highlights some of the 87 bicycles from the collection of the late Marin County resident Robin Williams that are being auctioned this week; VeloNews lists their five favorite bikes from the collection. I’ll take the Soviet team bike, thank you; thanks to George Wolfberg for the heads-up.

Soap opera star Bryan Craig will star in Ride, a new movie about BMX racing to be filmed around Napa and Petaluma.

How to plan a weekend getaway pedaling Napa’s wine country bike trail.

 

National

Bicycling Magazine continues its newfound commitment to clickbait, offering 12 ways bikes make American cities more awesome.

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is leading a 70 mile bike ride from Taos to Santa Fe NM to promote health and fitness. And no doubt, to prove he has the “stamina” for the job.

Every summer thousands of cyclists spend a week pedaling across Iowa; each fall, a handful of riders do it in a single day.

The best museum in Pittsburgh may be a five year old bike shop with a collection of 3,500 vintage and modern bikes.

A Florida driver got four to seven years for the hit-and-run death of a 10-year old girl who paused to talk with a friend as she rode her bike.

 

International

A new study says male bike riders are less likely to be involved in conflicts with vehicles at intersections than women. Which could be another reason why women are less likely to ride than men.

An Ontario letter writer blames those darn bike lanes for making bike riders lazy and drivers dangerous. Because it was paradise on the roads before they were striped, evidently.

Tragic news from Toronto, where an 84-year old woman was killed in a collision with a cyclist as she was crossing the street; police are looking for the hit-and-run rider who left the scene before officers arrived. For anyone unclear on the concept, you have an obligation to stop, render aid and exchange ID and insurance information following a collision, just like any driver.

One in three Toronto bicyclists are female, but a lack of safe infrastructure keeps more women from riding.

London business leaders say the solution to managing traffic is to rip out the bike lanes, drop the congestion charge, and let motor vehicles run amok. In other words, continue the same outdated policies that got them into this mess.

A San Francisco man rides 400-miles through Israel with wounded Israeli vets.

A group of Muslim women in Australia ride each week to overcome fear caused by “negative Islamic rhetoric” and show that they’re the same as any other women.

Bloomberg says China’s bikesharing programs could lead the world back to the bicycle.

 

Finally…

It takes a special kind of jerk to cut off a little girl on a bicycle, then swear at her because she scratched your car trying to avoid a wreck. No, it’s not the “left turn of death” if no one has been killed there and hardly anyone injured. But nice try.

And who needs a car when you can skitch?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWrgt5RZvkY

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikeshare, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Woman injured by cyclist in Elysian Valley, and sidewalk cyclist injured in WeHo right hook

October 12, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Woman injured by cyclist in Elysian Valley, and sidewalk cyclist injured in WeHo right hook

My apologies for the continued lack of email notifications for subscribers. We’re still working on it.

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This is why you always have to ride carefully around pedestrians.

According to the Elysian Valley Neighborhood Watch, a woman was critically injured in a collision with a cyclist this past weekend.

This past Saturday, a senior citizen, a mother, grandmother, active member of the Jardin del Rio Community Garden and a beautiful EV neighbor sustained life threatening injuries while on her morning exercise walk on the Elysian Valley Pedestrian/Bike path. She is said to have been struck from behind by a speeding cyclist at or around 8:00 AM, near the Riverdale Ave. street access to the path. Minutes ago, I visited her at the USC Medical Center with her son, where she is in ICU (intensive care unit) with head injuries that have her intubated and with a “no bone flap on right side” of her skull.

The Elysian Valley Neighborhood watch has called for safety on the path and necessary City correction from the inception of the bike path, a flawed design that neglected area historical pedestrian use and that today has a beloved neighbor battling for her life. The decision by City officials to favor the cycling community and to respond to area calls for safety improvements with bandaid approaches makes the city complicit in this injuries and grossly negligent.

Unfortunately, there’s no word on whether the rider stopped following the collision, or just fast he or she was actually traveling.

It’s always possible the victim may have stepped into the path of the rider without looking, something familiar to many of us who have used shared pathways.

But regardless, it’s up to all of us to ride in a safe and careful manner around pedestrians, to slow down and give them as much passing room as we’d expect from a motor vehicle. And give some kind of audible warning before passing to avoid tragedies like this, whether it’s “passing on your left” or a cheerful “good morning.”

Because this is what can happen if we don’t.

However, the writer goes on to call for immediately closing the bike path to cyclists until improvements are made — even though no one would ever demand all cars be banned from a street if a driver hit someone.

Let’s hope this woman pulls through, and makes a full and fast recovery.

And that the local community will work with bicyclists to find solutions that will benefit everyone.

Thanks to Patrick Pascal and Colin Bogart for the heads-up.

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A woman was injured in an apparent right hook collision with a big rig truck while riding her bike in a West Hollywood crosswalk yesterday morning; unfortunately, there’s no word on her condition.

This should be a reminder to always use extreme caution when entering an intersection if you’re riding on the sidewalk. Or better yet, ride in the street; statistics show you’re actually safer on the roadway where you’re more visible to everyone.

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You’d think for $12,000, the wheels would stay on.

Specialized is recalling 1,000 of their high-end Venge bicycles because the rear wheel can come out of the dropouts, fracturing the rear triangle and causing the rider to lose control and fall.

Which is a bad thing.

Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the tip.

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Stunt rider Danny MacAskill is out with his latest video; Red Bull discusses the making of a Wee Day Out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCmXzq-iWNc

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Local

A new “cycling lifestyle” shop is scheduled to open in Echo Park this Saturday; Banker Supply Co. is the second outlet of a Pittsburgh store designed to appeal to a wide range of non-spandex clad riders, including women.

The leader of rising band Warpaint goes for a bikeshare ride through DTLA.

DTLA’s Metro Bike Share will expand to Pasadena next summer with at least 400 bikes in 34 stations; however, most of those stations will be south of the 210 Freeway, potentially underserving the poorer communities to the north.

The Daily Breeze reports on Palos Verdes Estates’ decision to overrule the PVE Traffic Safety Committee and not place “Bikes May Use Full Lane” signs on the city’s streets, saying it would cause confusion since they aren’t posted in other cities on the peninsula. Even though those signs only clarify to drivers what bicyclists are already allowed to do under state law.

A Long Beach student paper says it pays to bike to work, as an Aussie study shows bike commuters saved an average of nearly $7.70 per day compared to motorists.

 

State

San Francisco cyclists get nifty new wayfinding signs.

Construction has been completed on the fully separated bike path on the east span of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, although it won’t open for another few weeks. And even though it only goes halfway across the bay.

Santa Rosa nears the opening of a new pump track bike park, thanks to the unrelenting efforts of a local cyclist.

 

National

Keep your cool out there. A new study from the American Heart Association says exercising while angry triples your risk of a heart attack.

Colorado authorities file hate crime charges against a pair of men caught on video attacking another man, allegedly because he was gay, as he tried to ride away on his bicycle.

Texas police and fire departments surprise a Wataburger employee with a new bicycle after hers was stolen from behind the shop on Monday.

A Chicago fire lieutenant is the latest rider to lose his life in the Windy City; the city has already exceeded its average yearly total for bicycling fatalities.

The Minneapolis Bike Coalition questions whether bicyclists are being stopped for biking while black, after stats show nearly half of the tickets written to cyclists went to black riders in the overwhelming white city.

Once again, a Michigan driver has killed multiple cyclists, as a 76-year old man drifted across the fog line and rear-ended two women riding on the shoulder; that comes just four months after five riders were killed in the drug fueled Kalamazoo massacre.

 

International

Unbelievable. Police blame a Canadian cyclist after he’s hit by a city road patching truck, even though he was walking his bike in a crosswalk after suffering a double flat.

Caught on video: A London cyclist directs a driver out of a protected bike lane.

An Irish writer says she nearly killed three cyclists in just the last week because they were dressed in black and riding dark bikes, insisting it’s a disgrace that helmets and reflective vests aren’t mandatory. She’s got a point about riding with lights, although if she’s had that many close calls in a single week, the problem may not be with the people on the bicycles.

The head of Ireland’s no-frills Ryanair goes off on cyclists once again, ranting that Dublin’s city council had destroyed the city center through “nonsensical pandering to bloody cyclists;” it was only five months ago he said cyclists should be shot.

Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge visits an American-style bike co-op in the Netherlands, helping kids work on a bike wheel despite her haute couture outfit.

As bicycling booms in cities around the world, bikes are being crowded off the streets of Vietnam, where bike riders are seen as poor or low class.

 

Finally…

Evidently, doping is one thing, motor doping another — especially if it hadn’t been invented yet. It looks like sabotaging bikeways is nothing new.

And when the water’s over your wheels, maybe you should find an alternate route.

I’m just saying.

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Thanks to Samuel Kuruts for his generous donation to support this site. If everyone who visits this site today donated just $10, it would fund BikinginLA for a full year.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities, Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Bike collection stolen in burglary, Bike the Vote LA endorses, and new AZ bike safety PSAs

October 11, 2016 / / One comment

My continued apologies for the lack of email notifications for subscribers. None of the suggested fixes have solved the problem yet.

Which may be why I once again failed to win the Nobel Prize for bike blogging.

Maybe next year.

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Keep your eyes peeled for a collection of Cicli Devotion team kits and bikes, parts tools and other gear stolen from a Calabasas storage unit, along with a number of other personal items.

stolen-bikes-gear

Which should serve as yet another reminder to register your bikes for free with Bike Index before anything like this happens to you.

Thanks to Bryan Hance for the heads-up.

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Bike the Vote LA has been busy in the weeks leading up to the November election, including an endorsement of US Representative Janice Hahn for LA County Supervisor in the 4th District.

They also voice their support for LA County Measure A to build and rehabilitate parks, beaches, natural areas, and multi-use trails used by bike riders. As well as Metro’s Measure M sales tax increase to build out the county’s transit system, and provide funding for bicycling and walking projects.

bike-the-vote

Thanks to Michael MacDonald for the tip.

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Tucson-based Look Save A Life — founded by a cyclist and former firefighter who was nearly killed by a distracted driver — has introduced a series of public safety videos made in conjunction with local law enforcement.

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Sadly, the bike rider who died of a heart attack during the Long Beach Marathon on Sunday was a well-known member of the South Bay cycling community, and a board member of Lightening Velo.

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Pro cyclist Tom Dumoulin is no dummy, but his stand-in is.

Irish cyclist Daniel Stewart talks about stepping away from international cycling to battle his depression.

A new Israeli cycling team becomes the first to compete in the World Championships, let alone in an Arab country; meanwhile, an Iranian woman becomes the first from her country to finish the Kona Ironman Triathlon.

The New York Times dives into the world of bike messengers and last weekend’s North American Cycle Courier Championship.

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Local

CiclaValley discusses the conflict between bicyclists needing a safe place to ride on Forest Lawn Drive and people parking in the bike lane near the Mount Sinai cemetery for the High Holidays.

A German filmmaker offers a documentary about the battle over the Burbank Mariposa bridge and the ongoing efforts of equestrians to keep bike riders the hell off it. Thanks to Doug Weiskopf for the link.

BikeSGV reports the Pasadena city council will vote on the Union Ave protected bikeway at their 4pm meeting today. So if you live, work or ride in the area, be sure to attend the meeting to support safer bikeways.

Speaking of BikeSGV, mark your calendar for their annual Noche de las Luminarias awards night on Thursday, November 10th.

Cycling in the South Bay reports the Palos Verdes Estates city council bizarrely voted not to install Bikes May Use Full Lane signs. Even though that remains the law, with or without the signs.

 

State

KPCC asks if California’s roads are ready for recreational marijuana, which appears likely to be approved by California voters next month. There shouldn’t be any major issues beyond what we already face; afterall, anyone who wants dope can get it now by claiming some sort of physical problem. Like nausea caused by the presidential campaign, for instance.

A Santa Maria credit union uses their Columbus Day holiday to build 200 bicycles to donate to abused and neglected children.

With LA’s CicLAvia coming this Sunday, Salinas hosts a 1.5 mile ciclovía of their own.

Sad news from Sacramento, as a man was killed in a collision with a bus while he was riding his bike.

 

National

You can find a lot of things when you ride, including some you really don’t want to. Like a human body in a Washington retaining pond.

Seattle opts to replace their failing bikeshare system with a city-wide fleet of ebikes.

Nice gesture from the Oklahoma State University marching band, as they pay tribute to a member of the Baylor marching band who was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike last week.

A Missouri columnist writes about the dangers of right hooks and dooring, suggesting cyclists should always ride in the traffic lane. Whether or not PVR posts signs saying you can.

Country singer Luke Bryan explains his solo bike crash at the end of a 28-mile ride last week; he had surgery to repair a broken clavicle over the weekend.

A Rochester NY pastor could soon be jumping through flames again; his prayers were answered when someone returned the 80 pound, custom-made bicycle he lost when it fell off his rack as he drove home from an August performance. On the other hand, riding through flames without divine intervention probably isn’t the best idea.

A man riding a Citi Bike bikeshare bicycle was beaten and robbed by five teens in New York’s Central Park.

Philadelphia police are looking for a bike-riding man suspected of attacking two prostitutes in recent days; he is believed to be the same man who killed one woman and attacked another earlier this year.

Kindhearted Philly police buy a new bike for a kid riding a beat-up borrowed chopper during the city’s Peace Ride.

 

International

Despite the efforts of Toronto’s former mayor to rip out the city’s bike lanes, it’s now a bicycling role model for other cities.

Caught on camera: A London bus driver clips a bike rider, apparently intentionally, for the crime of not getting the hell out of his way.

A Brit bicyclist is crowdfunding a motion-sensor theft alarm that emits an ear-piercing shriek as loud as a jumbo jet focused directly at anyone on the bike.

The creepy clown phenomenon has spread to the UK, as a bike rider gets harassed by masked occupants of a car.

A little windshield bias from Romania, where cyclists are blamed for causing 630 collisions since the first of the year. However, they fail to mention what percentage of bike crashes that represents, implying that the people on two wheels caused all of them, which is highly unlikely.

IKEA unveils their new belt-drive, car-replacement bicycle Down Under.

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a truck driver gets community service and a curfew — yes, a curfew — while losing his license for a whole year for killing a bike-riding Chinese tourist.

 

Finally…

Why use an expensive parking lot to store cars for your dealership when you can just park them in the bike lane? You can thank a cyclist for every Ford that runs you off the road.

And this time of year, everyone needs to know what beer to pair with Halloween candy after a long ride.

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Thanks to Vincent Malgren and John P. Lynch for their generous donations to support this site. If everyone who visits this site today donated just $10, it would fund BikinginLA for a full year.

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On a personal note, thanks to everyone who expressed concern for the Corgi; she’s doing a little better, and seems to be on the road to recovery after a full weekend on the extreme weight loss plan.

Although she is in mourning right now.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for that last link.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Morning Links, Stolen Bikes and Bike Crime / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Bike/ped deaths up in US, LA area bike events, and four-year dope ban for fan favorite Danielson

October 7, 2016 / / One comment

Still working on fixing the problem with email notifications for subscribers to this site. My sincere apologies to everyone who may be inconvenienced.

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It’s getting rough out there, especially if you’re not protected by a couple tons of glass and steel.

Capital Weekly reports overall traffic fatalities were up 7.2% last year. However, bicycling fatalities spiked 12.2%, while pedestrian deaths climbed 9.5%; advocates blame a perfect storm of distracted drivers and inadequate infrastructure.

On the other hand, SoCal bike deaths are defying the national trend by running just slightly ahead of last year at this time, which ended with a total of 73 bicycling fatalities, down significantly from 89 deaths in 2014.

A Philadelphia writer says people are giving up on bicycling as the city’s streets are becoming more congested.

Meanwhile, London is taking a step in the right direction by rating trucks on a five point scale for the danger they pose to vulnerable road users; low scoring trucks will be banned from the city’s roads.

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Let’s catch up with some upcoming events.

Celebrate the second anniversary of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument tomorrow.

The Pomona Valley Bike Coalition hosts the Pomona Pumpkin Patch Pedal on Saturday, and teams with Women on Wheels to present the Mamas and Me Pumpkin Patch Ride this Sunday.

Go bike camping with Milestone Rides from Ventura to Santa Paula and Ojai this weekend.

Combine bikes and beer when you tour some of Torrance’s newer breweries with a casual ride on Saturday the 15th.

The LACBC is offering a Basic Bike Skills Class on Tuesday the 18th.

The next LACBC Sunday Funday Ride explores NELA and DTLA, with a stop at The Wheelhouse for coffee on November 6th.

And of course, CicLAvia returns to the Heart of Downtown, with a spur to Mariachi Plaza, a week from Sunday, on October 15th.

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Popular 38-year old US pro Tom Danielson accepts a four-year ban for doping after claiming he inadvertently ingested DHEA from a supplement containing Maca root. The two-time Tour of Utah champ could have faced a lifetime ban for a second offense, although a four-year ban effectively ends his career.

A 14-time British Paralympic champ says she won’t risk her life racing on open roads.

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Local

Metro wants to know about your experience sharing the road with buses. In my case, I’d say surprisingly good with a few glaring exceptions.

You only have until the end of this month to order the colorful new LACBC team kit.

Santa Monica is encouraging everyone to go carfree today and walk, bike, skate or use transit.

SoCal Cycling interviews LA-based pro cyclist Phil Gaimon about his upcoming Malibu Gran Cookie Dough, which combines a challenging Gran Fondo along the coast with his penchant for cookies.

 

State

A Laguna Beach writer envisions a Coast Highway where parking has been removed, lanes reduced, and people walk and bike along a newly pleasant street.

Pedal-assist ebikes bring an Irvine couple back together on the way to better health.

A homeless man rides his bike through Orange County cleaning up streets, bridges and railroad tracks on a volunteer basis.

That Canadian ebike rider finally made it to Indio for the Desert Trip music festival, 2,000 miles later — not the 1,500 he expected — and 20 pounds lighter.

A San Francisco man wisely decides discretion is the better part of valor when a woman armed with a hammer exits a car and demands his bicycle.

DIY San Francisco cyclists get tired of waiting for the city to do something, and install their own bollards to create a separated bike lane.

A San Francisco man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was chased and stabbed by a bike-riding assailant.

 

National

A globetrotting Spokane cyclist would never have discovered a rail-to-trail conversion in his figurative backyard without a traffic-shy rescue dog.

Bighearted Indiana firefighters buy a new bicycle for a boy after his was stolen off his porch last month.

A Cincinnati bike rider was hit by a car during a rally urging drivers to slow down and watch out for pedestrians; he was rear-ended four weeks after his friend was killed on the same street.

Country star Luke Bryan is one of us, as he suffers a broken clavicle in a solo fall while riding to his concert, but performs anyway.

As New York faces the shutdown of a subway line, the mayor suggests closing a major street to all traffic except buses and bicycles.

Long Island police arrest a bike-riding purse snatcher.

Vibe talks to a black bike messenger about this weekend’s North American Cycle Courier Championship in New York City.

 

International

A Montreal bicyclist learns that video of a dangerously close pass isn’t enough to issue a ticket if the driver can’t be identified on the recording. Which is exactly the problem we have using bike cam video as evidence down here.

A Quebec cop will face manslaughter charges after allegedly running down a salmon cyclist at high speed, then backing over him.

A London cop goes undercover as a bike commuter to catch drivers passing too closely.

Talk about blaming the victim. British police threaten to prosecute a bike rider for swearing after showing them video of a driver nearly knocking him off his bike in a close pass.

A Scottish city will spend the equivalent of $118,000 to rip out a cycle track that angered residents, even though it didn’t reduce any traffic capacity, after a man rowed in the lane in protest.

Hold on to this list of the city’s best bike shops for your next trip to Dubai.

South Africa’s Democratic Alliance is against bike lanes in Johannesburg, but for them in Cape Town.

A Kiwi website talks with the national cycling director about plans to convert New Zealand into a bicycling nation

 

Finally…

If your “acquaintance” tries to kill you with a tree stake and steals your bike, maybe you need better friends. Now you can get a $4,000 ebike to match your extravagantly high-end BMW e-car.

And what do you do after stealing $10 million in jewels from a reality TV celebrity? Make your getaway by bicycle, of course.

………

Thanks to John Hall for his generous donation to support this site.

If everyone who visits this site today donated just $10, it would fund BikinginLA for a full year.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bike Events, Car vs Bike, Injuries and Fatalities, Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: USDOT announces national Vision Zero, London bike lane hate, and bike lanes & gentrification

October 6, 2016 / / 2 comments

Still working on fixing the problem with email notifications for subscribers to this site. My sincere apologies to everyone who may be inconvenienced.

………

Now we’re getting somewhere.

The US Department of Transportation has announced their own Vision Zero plan to end traffic fatalities on the nation’s roads.

Although unlike most similar plans — including LA’s — with ambitious, if unrealistic deadlines, the USDOT proposes to eliminate deaths on our streets within 30 years. By which time enough changes may have occurred in our transportation system to make it possible, if not probable.

Even in the face of the apparent massive 10% jump in traffic deaths in the first six months of this year.

As usual, however, the feds are approaching it cautiously, budgeting just $1 million per year for the next three years to fund grant programs to explore the idea.

And even that could go out the window next year, depending on who wins the election.

Thanks to Michael of Racers Who Ride for the heads-up.

………

London’s Daily Mail goes off on an anti-bike tangent, calling the construction of bike lanes in the UK — including the city’s popular cycle superhighways — lunacy, while pointing out that they may be busy at peak hours, but are often empty at other times.

Sort of like roads, in other words.

Which are flooded with cars at rush hour, but encourage speeding and aggressive driving with their overbuilt capacity most of the day, and especially at night.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker takes exception, calling the Daily Mail story the latest example of the internet’s propensity for example-free, anecdote-driven, fringe activist memes migrating into the mainstream media.

And noting that London’s bike lanes, which take up just 3% of the city’s streets, have contributed to a 60% increase in bicycling rates, with bikes making up a whopping 70% of rush hour traffic on one busy street.

So if something is bringing London’s traffic to a halt, as the Daily Mail claims, maybe it’s just all those cars.

………

Speaking of the Guardian, which seems to be today’s voice of reason, they offer a good examination of whether bike lanes cause gentrification.

………

Local

The LA Times warns that Los Angeles County voters defeated a transportation tax measure in 2012, and they could do it again with Measure M, which needs a two-thirds vote to pass.

KPCC’s Take Two takes a look at what to wear when you’re riding a bike and spandex just won’t do, including LA’s own swrve.

Joe Linton previews this weekend’s New Urbanism Film Festival.

An overly modest CiclaValley offers some great bicycling photos.

West Hollywood has experienced a jump in bike thefts over the past few months; the sheriff’s department is still looking for the owners of five bikes recovered from an abandoned property last month.

Bike the Vote LA urges a no vote on Santa Monica’s anti-growth measure LV.

 

State

Huntington Beach police are looking for a bike thief caught on camera lurking under the pier before riding off with a locked bike. What’s shocking about this story isn’t the theft, it’s that Patch is somehow still in business.

San Diego is about to fail its first test for the city’s Climate Action Plan, as the first neighborhoods to prepare plans that fail to meet minimal standards for shifting commuters to biking, walking and transit.

Palo Alto police conclude that a 73-year old bike rider who was killed in an August collision blew through a stop sign before he was hit by a car. As usual, however, there’s no word on whether there were any witnesses other than the driver who killed him.

A Hayward bike rider was found dead next to a freeway onramp, at least five hours after he was the victim of a hit-and-run.

 

National

Bicycling Magazine anoints Charleston, SC as the nation’s worst city for bicycling, a sharp fall from grace after making the top 30 in 2010; they also rank this year’s bicycling hall of shame.

Alternet ranks the 20 things most likely to kill you; as usual, the only advice on how to stay safe on a bicycle is to wear your helmet. Never mind that avoiding collisions through better infrastructure and learning to ride safely is far more likely to protect you than any helmet. Or that you’re over ten times more likely to die in a car.

Vogue likes the looks of a new collapsible bike helmet that just launched on Kickstarter.

Oregon farmers are fighting plans for a rail-to-trail conversion of an abandoned railway, fearing the presence of bikers and walkers could result in higher crime and complicate pesticide spaying. Which sounds like a great reason to switch to more sustainable farming methods.

Seattle looks into the dangers streetcar tracks pose to cyclists in the downtown area.

Horrifying story from Texas, as a 10-year old special needs boy was set on fire by another child while he was out for a bike ride; he’s currently on life support with first and second degree burns, as well as a lung infection.

An Illinois mayoral candidate says he never wanted to get rid of the requirement for bike lights, even though he proposed an ordinance to do exactly that.

Not surprisingly, the mother of a Chicago woman killed by a flatbed truck while riding her bike last week has filed a lawsuit; the only surprise is that it’s for just $100,000. Thanks to David Wolfberg for the link.

A Boston bike commuter tells motorists I don’t want to die, and you don’t want to kill me.

 

International

Clearly, hit-and-run isn’t just an LA problem, as drivers fled in 13% of Ottawa, Canada collisions.

A new survey shows the overwhelming majority of Toronto residents approve of bike lanes. Although a Toronto website says local bike shops need an attitude adjustment so getting a bike serviced isn’t an unpleasant ordeal for women.

Adweek picks up on the controversy over a British ad campaign that puts the onus for avoiding collisions on the people on two wheels, rather than the ones operating the big dangerous machines. Meanwhile, 87% of people on the street in a very non-scientific London survey say cyclists should have to pass a test before being allowed on the roads. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the tip.

A British researcher is riding across the UK to find out why Brits voted to leave the European Union.

An English writer says every driver should have to spend an hour on a bicycle to qualify for a driver’s license.

Local governments are derailing Scotland’s plans to become more bike friendly and increase bicycling rates.

An Irish writer insists that bike riders need to pay their share for the roads if they want to be taken seriously. Except they already do, of course. And should be anyway, just like anyone else.

Google is employing a virtually army of bike riding women to help get women in rural Indian villages online for the first time. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

A South African business site says developing a culture of bicycling would counteract congestion in Cape Town, as the city begins work on developing a cycling strategy.

An Aussie lawyer bizarrely argues that a drugged-out hit-and-run driver should be spared jail because it would cause irreparable harm to her 15-month old son. Never mind the irreparable harm she caused the bike-riding mother of three she killed, along with her family.

Singapore has ticketed over 700 bicyclists, ebike riders and personal mobility device operators for reckless behavior since May.

 

Finally…

Chances are, bike riding isn’t doing permanent damage to your lady parts, assuming you have them. And Poland unveils a new bike lane apparently made of luminescent Smurfs.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure, Vision Zero / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Ten years for drunken Santa Clarita hit-and-run, and LA County approves Vision Zero Initiative

October 5, 2016 / / One comment

Still working on fixing the problem with email notifications for subscribers to this site. My sincere apologies to everyone who may be inconvenienced.

………

Ten years.

That’s how long a sentence Lucas James Guidroz is expected to receive after pleading no contest in the drunken hit-and-run death of Rod Bennett in Santa Clarita earlier this year.

The popular math teacher, musician and band director was riding on Placerita Canyon Road on May 25th when Guidroz plowed his Lexus into Bennett’s bicycle from behind, then fled the scene as Bennett lay dying where he fell.

He turned himself in shortly after police found his car two days later.

The 28-year old Guidroz is expected to be sentenced on November 7th on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run driving resulting in death.

Although the Santa Clarita Signal still can’t be bothered to get the name of the victim right.

………

LA County votes to implement a Vision Zero Initiative, without apparently understanding what that means.

Despite the press release from County Supervisor Hilda Solis’ office, Vision Zero is about improving safety with a goal of eliminating traffic fatalities — not encouraging environmentally friendly alternatives to driving, as admirable as that may be.

And as always, the unanswered question is whether county leaders have to courage to make the tough choices required to save lives.

………

Maybe it takes awhile for news to make it past the Orange Curtain.

A full week after the Orange County Register reported on the drunken hit-and-run that may have left a bike rider with a broken leg, and a young woman facing charges just hours after posing with her new car, the broadcast media has finally caught up with the story.

LA’s KABC-7 offered a brief report on the arrest of 22-year old Laguna Beach resident Aya Ibish, while Sacramento’s Fox-40 went into more detail.

Maybe they picked up the story from the OC Weekly, which posted it on Monday.

Then again, if they can’t be bothered to read the Register, they could have learned about it right here days earlier.

Or they could have found out about it on YouTube, after the story got the Taiwanese TomoNews animation treatment, which is always good for a laugh or two.

Thanks to David Huntsman for the last link.

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UCLA students discuss whether Westwood Blvd is safe for cyclists, in the wake of the much-needed Westwood bike lanes being removed from the LA Mobility Plan without a valid reason, other than some local homeowners and business owners apparently just didn’t want them.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

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Local

Writing for City Watch, Tim Deegan says it’s time to embrace New Urbanism, and suggests the New Urbanism Film Festival, which runs tomorrow through Sunday, as the perfect place to start.

The aptly-named Alissa Walker writes about why she’s trying to raise her daughter carfree in Los Angeles.

Richard Risemberg says the Expo Line bike path could have been a contender, but was done in by inadequate street crossings.

Thankfully, the victim of Monday’s Long Beach hit-and-run escaped with just a broken leg; the driver admitted to police he was fleeing a previous crash when he ran into the rider.

 

State

The Desert Sun urges Indian Wells voters to turn down a resolution that could halt construction of the planned CV Link bikeway through the city.

The Berkeley alumni association talks with law professor Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, a five-time amateur world champ in time trials and road racing who set the women’s hour record last year at age 43.

 

National

Streetsblog writes about the four biggest sins reporters commit when covering pedestrian deaths, all of which apply to bicycling, as well.

It’s time to apply for the fourth annual QBP Women’s Bike Mechanic Scholarship Program, to prepare for a career as a wrench.

A Tucson AZ veteran made enough money selling bicycle chain art to pay for surgery for his therapy dog.

Good news, as Robert Choi, the founder of Utah-based Volagi Cycles, is showing some improvement after suffering a head injury when he was rear-ended by a driver last week; he was found unconscious in his office after initially refusing medical treatment. Always get checked out by a doctor anytime your head hits the pavement, regardless of whether you’re wearing a helmet; even a small brain injury can have serious consequences.

A volunteer bike repair center is fixing up bikes to give to the homeless in my hometown.

Once again, a visitor to this country is unable to survive America’s mean streets, as an Australian man was killed when his bike was rear-ended while riding in Kansas.

Chicago readers offer their advice on how to make bicycling safer, from licensing and ticketing cyclists to making bicyclists ride salmon.

A New York court rules the city’s bike lanes can stay, after rejecting a lawsuit claiming they caused environmental harm by creating traffic congestion.

Common sense finally comes into play in Maryland, where a 15-year old girl who was slammed into a wall and pepper sprayed for refusing medical treatment following a bicycling collision won’t face charges after apologizing to the police.

 

International

A Canadian writer, who says he’s a bike rider himself, calls plans for a national bicycling strategy an ill-conceived boondoggle. Meanwhile, a Newfoundland counselor calls for turning his city’s bike lanes into parking spots.

London’s mayor calls for completion of a new bike and pedestrian bridge over the Thames by 2020.

Selfies kill. A British woman died after hitting her head in a solo fall, just moments after taking a selfie as she rode from her mother’s birthday dinner; her husband called for a mandatory helmet law as a result, saying she’d still be alive if she’d worn one.

The BBC talks with pro cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten about the Olympic crash that horrified the world; she argues that Britain’s Lizzie Armitstead shouldn’t have been allowed to compete after missing three drug tests.

 

Finally…

Evidently, blocking bikeways is nothing new. Bikes are great for transporting anything, including the loot you just stole from a home.

And you can see a lot of things when you ride hopefully a wild panther won’t be one of them.

Category: Bikes & the Law, Hit-and-Run, Legal Cases, Morning Links, Vision Zero / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Fanning the fires of bike hate, LB hit-and-run suspect busted, and bike smash seen round the world

October 4, 2016 / / 2 comments

My apologies for the continued problems with email notifications for subscriber to this site. We’re still working on getting it fixed.

………

It doesn’t take much to bring out the bike hate.

Especially when people are allowed to post their comments anonymously.

Yesterday’s LA Times featured a well-reasoned Op-Ed from Tom Babin, author of “Frostbike: The Joy, Pain and Numbness of Winter Cycling,” and the bike blog Shifter.

In it, Babin argued that the laws governing traffic weren’t written with bicycles in mind, and don’t always work effectively for people on two wheels.

It’s true that Los Angeles is finally taking its first serious steps toward making the city more bike-friendly. But the focus is on building bike-dedicated infrastructure, which can be slow and expensive to build.

The Idaho stop law shows there are other ways for municipalities to encourage cycling while their infrastructure catches up. Cities around the world are demonstrating that simply changing the rules in favor of cyclists can make roads more welcoming.

He continues,

Yet streets are already governed by different rules for different users, such as laws that require slower speed limits for big trucks, or that mandate school buses to stop at uncontrolled railway crossings. Rather than demonize cyclists for their inability to conform to rules designed for cars, laws should recognize that riding a bike is different than driving.

All in all, a reasonable request to simply acknowledge that bikes are different that cars, yet bicyclists are forced to act like motor vehicles, regardless of whether it makes sense.

Yet based on some of the comments, you’d think he declared war on anyone who doesn’t ride a bike.

Like this from OptimisticOrgan, for instance. (Unfortunately, the Times makes it impossible to link to any one comment.)

Stop sign being a yield is fine by me. Cycling culture needs to change, though. Too many jerks are going 15 in a 45 in the middle of the lane. Then they act like yr the bad guy for being annoyed by the fact they’re impeding traffic flow. It’s like “I’m sorry brother, trying to stay far enough behind you,” but the cyclist is still pissed that your car is faster than his bike and projects ill will toward you.

Many commenters went great pains to point out that Los Angeles isn’t Idaho, with many times the population, in case we had somehow missed that point. Apparently failing to notice where he pointed out that the Idaho Stop Law is now in effect in auto-clogged Paris, with it’s 2.24 million population, and a reputation for roadway rudeness that makes our streets seem downright polite.

Other, such as feaco11, apparently couldn’t grasp Babin’s key point that bikes and cars are different.

Better yet, let’s change the law so that motorists can treat a stop sign as a yield sign. Just think of the gas that will be saved if our cars do not have to lose momentum going through an intersection. Maybe the same could be applied to red lights. It would certainly free up the court system because there would be less tickets written.

Then there’s this confession to illegal harassment from boneme8978.

i would not consider riding a bike on a suburban street . but i love the people that do . keeps me laughing all the time . you should see them jump when i blast them with my train horn ! the 300 i spent at ‘summit racing ‘ to buy that bad boy was worth every penny !

And it goes on and on, ad nauseum, just like on any other pro bike piece that appears online, filled with constant reminders of that one time a bike rider broke the law, which somehow projects onto every person on a bicycle who ever lived.

Damnable scofflaws, all.

It’s a reminder of who we share the road with. As well as the Internet.

Protected by layers of glass and steel on one, anonymous pseudonyms on the other.

Spelling and punctuation challenged though they might be.

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Long Beach police arrested a hit-and-run suspect at gunpoint after he was found hiding under a car. Witnesses said the speeding driver hit a bike rider after running a red light, then drove erratically, running red lights and nearly striking pedestrians as he attempted to escape.

Both the victim and the driver were transported to a local hospital; no word on their conditions.

………

Turns out the bicycle smashed in two by an angry rider in Milan’s Red Hook Crit wasn’t even his.

Deadspin calls it the pinnacle of human rage, though anyone who has dealt with a road raging motorist — or an angry online commenter — would probably disagree.

Meanwhile, VeloNews puts it in the context of other great bike throws in recent years.

………

Local

Bicycling finally gets around to posting last year’s profile of LACBC executive director Tamika Butler online.

LAist calls the coming My Figueroa project the city’s first truly protected bike lane.

Bike the Vote LA offers a guide to the candidates in November’s Santa Monica city council election.

In the latest round of anti-developmentism, Redondo Beach residents could vote on whether to cancel ambitious plans to redevelop the city’s aging waterfront, including plans for an improved bike path through the area.

 

State

New tests from Stanford conclude the unnamed Hövding airbag helmet actually works. And reduces impact up to six times over conventional bike helmets.

A Chico couple propose to replace their daughter’s ghost bike with a sign memorializing her, along with the phrases “How to save a life? Don’t Drink and Drive” and “Share the Road, Drive with Care,” pending approval from Caltrans. Which is not likely, unfortunately.

 

National

A Portland Op-Ed writer complains about car-hating social engineering, while completely missing the point of Vision Zero.

After being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a Nebraska man takes up bicycling and a better diet, and loses 75 pounds while bringing his illness under control.

An Arkansas paper takes a look at bikepacking.

A road raging DC driver gets offended when a cyclist slapped the back of his car after he deliberately tried to run her off the road, then gets out and repeatedly slaps her before stealing her phone when she tried to call 911.

 

International

A body found near a Halifax trail could be a missing mountain biker who disappeared without a trace two years earlier.

A Scottish parliament member says even a small increase in bicycling could lead to an improvement in air quality, while calling for a decrease in speed limits around schools and residential areas.

At least it’s a creative protest. A Scottish man shows his objection to a new separated bike lane by rowing in it.

Any writer who uses the tired cliché that bike safety is a two-way street should receive a six-month sentence in journalist jail.

A San Francisco rider joins 400 other cyclists in the Haute Route timed cycling event in the Pyrenees; a US event is planned for the Rocky Mountains next year.

Glamour admires the glamorous Iranian women defying the religious edict against bicycling in public.

A South African provincial transport minister says bicycling must be seen as a form of mobility, disputing plans by the mayor of Johannesburg to halt bike lane construction in the city.

 

Finally…

You can’t compete in your first pro race if you’re stuck in traffic. If you’re fleeing police on your bike, you really just need two legs.

And your next helmet could give a whole new meaning to helmet hair.

Or you could let your kid steer you like a bike.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Jonathan Weiss on LA and BMX, the LABAC meets tomorrow, and the improper use of a bicycle

October 3, 2016 / / One comment

My apologies for the continued problems with email notifications for subscriber to this site. We’re still working on getting it fixed.

………

Jonathan Weiss, longtime LA Bicycle Advisory Committee, has discussed the history of BMX racing with us before, including the birth of the sport right here in Los Angeles. So when I received the following email from him over the weekend, I wanted to share his thoughts with you.

I have a local history addiction.  I’m into bicycling.  And I hopped off curbs on my Schwinn as a kid in suburban Detroit.  So, when I learned that Palms Park in the nearby Palms district of West Los Angeles was the birthplace of BMX, I had to do something about it.  I could imagine and identify with some these local kids (and others they attracted) racing up, down, and around some hills on their modified Schwinn Stingrays like motocross racers and with races sanctioned (entrance fees, awards and even insurance) by Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department.  This nearby park was the Elysian Fields, the first field of dreams, the epicenter of the first X-Games sport.

So, I put together some of the story, I set up a Facebook page, and I got in touch with some of those who started BMX racing.  That’s the fun part of history.  The tougher part is when some of the participants and eye-witnesses to history, those who I’ve been lucky enough to get to know, start to go.  On October 1st, another left us – Rick Twomey.

From me, and from fans from around the world, thanks for sharing your memories with me and on the Facebook page, Rick.  And thanks for what you’ve left behind.

If we’re lucky enough to have the 2024 Olympics in Los Angeles – with BMX competition in Long Beach – I know I’ll be thinking of you, innovator, sponsor, and author Rick Twomey, and of Rec and Parks’ Ronald Mackler, who left us in 2010, and of Scot Breithaupt, who left us last year.

Note: I failed to mention that Weiss left the BAC earlier this year. We all owe him a round of thanks for his years of service to LA’s bicycling community.

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Speaking of the BAC, the next bi-monthly meeting of LA’s only official voice for bicyclists is tomorrow night in Hollywood.

bicycle-advisory-committee-agenda-2016-10-04

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If you missed it, bicyclists sadly lost their lives in both Palm Springs and Yorba Linda over the weekend.

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Local

The Los Angeles County Bicycling Coalition’s Tamika Butler spoke about Planning While Black at the NACTO Designing Cities Conference last week, with a presentation that reportedly brought down the house.

CiclaValley complains about serious city inaction on clearing the dirt hazard in the Forest Lawn bike lane.

Mickey Rourke is one of us, as he takes his dog for a ride in WeHo.

Santa Monica police arrest a man for attempting to steal a number of bicycles from the Bike Center after employees wrestled him down.

Plans are in the works for a single, integrated bikeshare system that would include Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Long Beach and UCLA, with possible expansion to Culver City and the South Bay.

Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes and Palos Verdes Estates make plans to work together to address traffic and safety issues across city borders on the peninsula, as South Bay bicyclists push for greater safety on the roads.

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition is holding their October meeting tonight.

Bike the Vote LA is hosting a ballot party in DTLA tonight to discuss choices for next month’s phone book-sized ballot.

 

State

Get your pizza delivered poolside by bicycle in Palm Springs.

The San Luis Obispo District Attorney proves it is in fact possible to charge a driver who wasn’t texting or under the influence with vehicular homicide for killing a cyclist — in this case, a champion triathlete and the wife of a Cal Poly dean.

The story of Benicia cops buying a new bicycle for a teenager who was walking four hours a day to get to and from work has gone around the world.

Napa County tries rumble dots, rather than rumble strips, to keep drivers from drifting off the road, and protect bike riders on the shoulder.

Sad news from Modesto, where a bike rider was killed in a collision Friday night.

A horrifying story from Redding, as a man believes he was attacked while riding his bike to the drug store, but can’t remember what happened after suffering a broken arm and eye socket, along with multiple skull fractures.

 

National

A government website says sharrows don’t make bicycling in urban areas any safer.

Yes Magazine says women are being left behind even in the most bike friendly states, and offers suggestions on how to change that.

A sports website looks back on the Tour de Trump, the American bike race sponsored by the GOP’s current presidential candidate for a two whole years back in the ‘80s.

Colorado Springs CO residents can’t seem to grasp the concept of a road diet, let alone give time for traffic to adjust.

A Polish bike rider sets a new record for bunny hopping 3,461 steps up the former Sears Tower in Chicago.

A Chicago letter writer says bikes should be banned from the city’s busiest streets, insisting that bicyclists somehow make traffic worse by never obeying the law on streets he claims are paid for with gas taxes. Never mind that public taxes pay for city streets, traffic is caused by all those cars, and most drivers aren’t all that law abiding, either.

A Connecticut man returns home after a 12,124 mile ride around the perimeter of the US to help ensure veterans have enough to eat.

A new study finds that every $1,300 spent on New York bike lanes adds another year of life to the overall population of the city.

A New Orleans bike rider plans to keep riding even after she was the victim of a hit-and-run.

A Florida man faces criminal charges for putting a milk crate on his bike.

 

International

The next bus driver who honks at you may not be one.

Stunt cyclist Danny MacAskill offers advice on how to fall off your bike, while Bike Radar tells you how to hose it down.

Caught on video: A London pedestrian berates a bicyclist for riding through a crosswalk when people are using it.

A former Premier League soccer player plans to run and ride 1,000 miles linking 44 UK soccer stadiums.

A one-legged Irish cyclist sets the world’s first Paralympic hour record.

Here’s your chance to cross the Rubicon and take a month-long European bike tour in the steps of Julius Caesar.

A Dutch study concludes bike riders will usually choose the most comfortable route rather than the most direct.

California’s former Governator is busted for biking in the Munich rail station.

Bicycling continues to grow around the world, as Iranian cities Isfahan and Neishabur work to accommodate bicyclists, though Tehran lags behind.

New Zealand bicyclists push for a repeal of the country’s mandatory helmet law, even though the country’s leaders appear to have no intention of doing so.

 

Finally…

Who was that meth-carrying masked man on the lightless bike? It’s one thing to carry a joint when you ride; another to carry the entire plant with you.

And this is not the proper use of a bicycle, no matter how pissed off you are.

………

L’shanah tovah to everyone nursing a Rosh Hashanah hangover this morning.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Disappointment on 6th Street road diet, and new bikeways drop under new LADOT leadership

September 30, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Disappointment on 6th Street road diet, and new bikeways drop under new LADOT leadership

Hopefully, we’ve got the problem fixed, and subscribers received an email notification of this post. If not, we’ll take another shot at it tomorrow.

………

This is why Vision Zero will fail in Los Angeles.

It’s no secret that LA’s 6th Street between Fairfax and La Brea is one of the most dangerous streets in Los Angeles.

And not just for bike riders, but for pedestrians, drivers and even residents of the street, given the number of drivers who lose control and smash into the buildings alongside it.

In fact, according to the Beverly Press, collision data shows it’s three times as dangerous as the average street in Los Angeles.

Yet even though there’s a shovel-ready plan to fix it, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

LADOT has proposed a road diet for the one-mile stretch of street, reducing it to one lane in each direction with a center turn lane, and much-needed bike lanes on either side. It’s a plan that’s won significant community support, including the backing of the Mid City West Community Council that represents the area.

And it’s a proven solution. According to the Federal Highway Administration, road diets have been shown to reduce collisions as much as 47%, while retuning road space back to the community.

The resulting benefits include a crash reduction of 19 to 47 percent, reduced vehicle speed differential, improved mobility and access by all road users, and integration of the roadway into surrounding uses that results in an enhanced quality of life. A key feature of a Road Diet is that it allows reclaimed space to be allocated for other uses, such as turn lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, bike lanes, sidewalks, bus shelters, parking or landscaping.

Although at every community meeting where the results of any study are mentioned, someone will inevitably ask if it was conducted in Los Angeles. As if there is something magically different about this city that makes water run uphill and two plus two equal five.

But this time, the answer is yes.

Because the latest research shows that the needlessly contentious Rowena road diet accomplished exactly what it was supposed to do.

Since the road diet was installed more than three years ago, LADOT has been collecting data on traffic patterns. An analysis of that data makes it clear that the project has worked as intended: Average speeds dropped from 39 mph to 35 mph, and safety has significantly increased on Rowena, with no effect on overall traffic volume.

Let’s repeat that.

Despite the claims of local residents that cut through drivers have run roughshod over their neighborhoods, Rowena post-road diet carries the same number of vehicles as it did before. But far more safely.

But that’s where the good news ends.

Because the Beverly Press reports CD4 Councilmember David Ryu, who represents the area, questions the benefits of the road diet, preferring incremental changes to improve safety.

Like bollards, for instance.

And he’s concerned about how a road diet would affect other local development projects, such as a joint Metro/Los Angeles project to encourage transit ridership, new jobs and development along the transit corridor formed by the planned La Brea, Fairfax and La Cienega subway stations, which won’t open until 2023.

So instead of trusting the people the city pays to design safer streets, he prefers to overrule their judgement, and that of the local community, and drag his feet for months, if not years to come.

So a lot of people could be needlessly injured or killed on the street in the next seven years.

And that’s the problem.

Just as we’ve seen with Westwood Blvd, Central Ave, Lankershim and North Figueroa, a single LA councilmember has the power to stop much needed safety projects, sometimes based on nothing more than their own personal whims.

Which means that safety can improve dramatically in one council district, and grind to a halt in the next.

Vision Zero will be impossible to achieve if individual councilmembers are allowed to carve their districts out, and keep the streets dangerous at the behest of constituents fearful of any change to what they consider their streets.

Even if it’s change for the better.

And even though the streets belong to all of us.

We had high hopes for Ryu, who professed to support Vision Zero, as well as encouraging bicycling and walking when he ran for office.

But based on this decision, as well as his votes in support of removing Westwood and Central from the Mobility Plan, we may be disappointed.

………

If you thought bikeway construction had slowed down dramatically under Seleta Reynold’s stewardship at LADOT, you’re right.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton took at deep dive into the department’s recently released annual report, and found that the city installed only 17.1 miles of bikeways in the 2015-2016 fiscal year. And that’s using the new lane mile metric, which counts each direction of travel separately.

So that 17 miles of bikeways represents just 6.5 miles of roads and pathways.

That compares to 38 lane miles in Mayor Garcetti’s first year in office, when Reynolds was appointed several months into the year.

And 120 lane miles in Mayor Villaraigosa’s final year in office, far exceeding his commitment to build 40 miles of bike lanes — 80 lane miles — a year.

As Linton points out, LADOT has a number of projects in the works for the coming year.

If all goes according to plans, FY2016-17 looks like it should be better. LADOT is poised to implement plenty of quality bikeway mileage during the current fiscal year, with protected bike lanes anticipated on Figueroa Street (MyFig), Venice Boulevard, Spring Street, Main Street, Van Nuys Boulevard and (newly announced in the report) Highland Avenue.

But he adds,

LADOT has recent accomplishments to be proud of, but, given Reynolds, a committed walk and bike champion at the helm, it is falling short of expectations. Cyclists, communities and advocacy groups will need to continue to press LADOT and L.A. electeds to ensure that progress continues.

Let alone if we ever hope to see even a fraction of the hard-fought gains reflected in the 2010 Bike Plan, now part of the Mobility Plan 2035, on our streets.

Minus Westwood Blvd and Central Ave, of course.

………

Today’s common theme is ebikes.

An Escondido father tours Catalina Island on an ebike with his young daughter.

A British Columbia man takes a 1,553 mile ebike ride to next month’s Desert Trip classic rock festival in Indio.

Financial Review calls a new e-cargo bike the equivalent of a muscle car.

And if you like your ebikes to look like 1920’s motorcycles, this one’s for you. Then again, as Cyclelicious points out, America has a long history of making pseudo-motorcycle bicycles.

………

The head of the Tour de France says cycling is shedding its image as the black sheep of the sports world as it cleans up its act, while other sports are rocked with doping scandals.

Although Deadspin says trusting anyone in cycling is a loser’s game.

………

Local

The LA Times endorses Measure M to provide alternatives to LA’s soul-crushing traffic. However, a representative of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association urges a no vote, saying the plan isn’t perfect yet — in part because it doesn’t include a plan for parking. Which kind of misses the point of getting people out of their cars.

UCLA has established the area’s first online bike traffic school, allowing students to improve their knowledge of bicycle traffic regulations instead of having to pay a traffic ticket. Meanwhile, thirty years ago you could have ridden a pedicab through Westwood Village.

CiclaValley offers a video breakdown of the popular Nichols Ride.

Better Bike’s Mark Elliot points out that the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills set a new record for injury collisions involving bicyclists or pedestrians in August, with six and ten respectively — over four times the average number of bicycling injuries for the previous seven months.

Cycling in the South Bay goes back to third grade dealing with anti-bike Palos Verdes NIMBYs at a pair of city safety meetings, while including his notes of the various NIMBY uninformed comments.

 

State

Governor Brown signed a bill requiring ignition interlock devices for anyone convicted of drunk driving, to keep them from operating their cars while under the influence. Not as good as impounding their vehicles until they get their licenses back, but it’s a start.

A bike path becomes a contentious issue in the Encinitas council election. Yes, a bike path.

Palm Springs uses bait bikes to bust two bike thieves.

A crowdfunding account has been established for the 88-year old grandfather who was killed riding his bike in Goleta last week.

A Monterey bicyclist jumps head-first into the great helmet debate, saying even hard-headed people should wear helmets while biking. Meanwhile, your next helmet could be made from a honeycomb of hollow neon green tubes.

 

National

A stoned Oregon driver gets six years and three months for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider while he was high on marijuana, which is legal in the state. However, driving under the influence isn’t.

There’s a special place in hell for anyone who would try to sell a Chicago ghost bike on Facebook.

Kindhearted North Chicago police buy a new bicycle for a seven-year old boy after his was destroyed in a collision.

A Minnesota writer reviews a new book that says Bike Lanes Are White Lanes, as bike advocacy too often leaves communities of color behind.

New York passes three laws guaranteeing bicycle access to commercial and residential buildings.

It takes a special kind of road raging jackass to pull a gun on anyone, let alone former pro and Lance lieutenant George Hincapie and his eight-year old son as they rode near their South Carolina home.

 

International

Momentum Magazine looks at three grassroots bicycle organizations shaking things up in cities around the world, including our own East Side Riders Bike Club.

Canada is creating a national task force to reduce injuries and fatalities to cyclists and pedestrians. That sound you hear is the silence of the US doing nothing.

Bicyclists in Edmonton, Canada already treat stop signs as yields, even without an Idaho Stop Law. As opposed to LA, where too many riders simply ignore them.

It’s official. The Right Bank of the Seine River through the heart of Paris will be taken back from cars and returned to the people.

Southern Germany features over 120 bike routes with 5,000 miles of dedicated pathways.

A Formula 1 driver wiped out while rounding a corner at nearly 30 mph on his bicycle when he ran over a Thai chicken.

 

Finally…

It’s not a bomb, it’s an inflatable bike helmet. The perfect bike for when you want to ride in a semi-Superman position, cape optional.

And your next bike tour could be led by a pair of porn stars.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure, Vision Zero / Tags: , , , , , , ,
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