November 26, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on It’s the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Donate today!
Donate now via PayPal, or with Zelle to ted @ bikinginla.com.
It’s that time of year again.
No, not the holiday season, which seems to start around Halloween these days.
It’s that wonderful time of year when, just like that guy with the red kettle front of the market, we shamelessly, beg, plead and/or cajole you for your hard-earned cash.
But without all the bells.
I could give you a sob story about how tough this past year has been with my wife and I both out of work. Or what a challenge it’s been to keep this site up on a daily basis as my own body seems determined to kill me.
But hey, we’ve all got problems.
Instead, I’ll ask you one simple question.
Do you enjoy getting all the best bike news on your favorite screen every morning? Or almost every morning, anyway.
And if so, how much?
Okay, so that’s two questions.
The simple fact is, it takes hours every day to scour the internet for news sites, from around the corner and around the world, to find all the latest news from the wild, wonderful and sometimes wacky world of bicycles.
And hours more to present it to you as clearly and succinctly as possible, to help keep you on top of everything you need to know in just a few minutes each day.
Well, almost everything.
Trust me, there are some things you just don’t want to know.
So what’s that worth to you?
I count on your donations to get through the usual dry spell before our sponsors start to renew each spring, assuming they do. Not to mention keep our spokesdog in kibble until things turn around.
But if you can’t afford to give, don’t worry about it. Everyone is welcome here, no questions asked.
Or if you can only afford to give a little, believe me, any amount is deeply appreciated, no matter how large or small. I know how hard it can be when you’re struggling to get by.
Or I may have to start ringing that damn bell on here.
And trust me, I have one.
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Special thanks to Robert L, Eric L, David V, Mitchell G and Olivia K for their generous donations to the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive, even before we officially kicked things off this morning!
Just take a few minutes to practice an attitude of gratitude, and find something to give thanks for. Even if it’s just making it through another year in these trying times.
And if you can take a break from stuffing yourself with stuffing, find some time to get out for a bike ride. Take it from me, there are few better days to ride, as long as you make it back before all those drivers high on tryptophan start crawling back home.
Then come back on Friday, when we’ll officially kick off the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive, and I shamelessly beg for your hard-earned money to help keep this site coming your way every day.
We’ll be back on Monday with more Morning Links to catch up on anything we missed. And of course, we’ll be here over the weekend if there’s any breaking news.
And yes, that’s the royal “we,” unless you count our intern and spokesdog up there on the left.
Now stay safe, and enjoy the ride. I want to see you back here next week.
And that’s on top of the usual benefits like reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality.
Investment in cycleways was one of the best ways of creating jobs through infrastructure spend, more than any other infrastructure project aside from energy efficiency in buildings, reported the TUC’s 2020 study. Thirty-three jobs are created for every $1.4 million invested in walking or cycling infrastructure over a two-year period, found the TUC.
The Bicycle Association’s 32-page report claims that increasing cycling’s modal share to 14% is “realizable” because net-zero ambitions will require a shift from private motor car use to other means, including cycling.
There’s absolutely no reason to believe the same wouldn’t hold true in Los Angeles, or most other major cities. And it should be easier to realize that kind of increase in Los Angeles, with its temperate climate and mostly flat terrain.
All that’s missing is the political will and financial investment to make it happen.
So what the hell are we waiting for?
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This is the cost of traffic violence.
If it’s true about that which does not kill you, one LA bicyclist is going to be pretty damn strong once she gets back on her feet.
Then again, it sounds like she already is.
A reader named Mitchell reached out to me yesterday to ask if I’d heard about Peta Takai, a master’s road and gravel cyclist who was critically injured in a collision while riding on PCH last September.
Apparently, she was riding near La Costa Beach in Malibu when a kid driving the family Range Rover made an illegal U-turn and slammed into her.
As she notes, she has a very long road ahead of her to get her life back, let alone get back on her bike some day.
A crowdfunding page has raised $28,100, easily topping the low $20,000 goal. But given the extent of her injuries, and the months, if not years, of rehab that will be required, that’s likely just a fraction of what she’s going to need.
So if you’ve got a few extra bucks, send them her way. And tell your friends to do the same.
And maybe remember her on Giving Tuesday next week.
Thanks to Mitchell for the heads-up, and hats off to Giant Santa Monica, which I’m told helped raise funds for her.
And you can make that crowdfunding total $28,120 now.
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Maybe we’ll see some decent bike parking at the Arboretum soon.
Fingers crossed.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge is about to get a 15 mph speed limit for bike riders, with fines ranging from $238 to $490 for anyone caught speeding. The question is whether the limit will be enforceable against riders without a cycling computer or speedometer, who would have no way of knowing they’re exceeding it — especially since there is no statutory requirement to have one on your bike.
Smaller communities are getting creative to promote ebike use, including Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley, which uses a pair of freestanding solar-powered bikeshare docks to recharge the bikes. They also have a pretty damn good trout stream, too.
November 23, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Likely 60% boost to CA Active Trans funding, a call for universal free ebikes, and Wisconsin attack ruled intentional
According to Streetsblog, that includes a 60% boost in the Active Transportation Program, which provides most of the funding for bike and pedestrian projects in the state.
It also contains $1 billion to mitigate the damage caused to communities affected by the too-often racist legacy of freeway building. Although that’s 300 times less than the funding in the bill to build freeways.
And while the it contains language requiring planners to “consider the needs of all road users” in designing new projects, California’s existing Complete Streets policies already carry a similar requirement.
So he says give everyone a free ebike, instead. Along with safe streets to ride them on.
According to Jay Caspian Kang,
City governments should purchase an electronic bicycle for every resident over the age of 15 who wants one. They should also shut down a significant number of streets to be used only by bicycles and a small number of speed-regulated, municipal electric vehicles.
The Biden administration’s Build Back Better Act includes a $4.1 billion tax break for e-bike purchases. It would let you save 30 percent via a refundable tax credit capped at $900. That may help with some e-bike adoption, but tax credits can feel a bit abstract, and even with the discount, e-bikes, which typically run between $1,500 and $4,500, will still be out of the budgets of most Americans.
He’s not totally giving up on cars, though.
By the way, I am not envisioning a world without cars. People will still need to go on longer trips, disabled people will still need to get around, and goods will still need to be delivered. Cars will be channeled through a few routes in each city. In keeping with Schimmelpennink’s vision, transportation within the bicycles-only areas will be handled by a fleet of electronic taxis that will travel at speeds below 25 miles per hour. As for deliveries, many package deliveries in the United States can be handled by cargo e-bikes, which can transport hundreds of pounds at a time.
Shutting down some streets for bikes is key not only for safety, but also because the more inconvenient driving becomes, the more people will start to consider other options. Available to them is a free-of-charge mode of transportation that will often be faster than sitting in traffic and having to find a parking spot.
The only place he misses the mark is when it comes to people with disabilities, failing to recognize that for many, an ebike can be an effective mobility device, giving them more freedom to get around than they can by other means.
As he points out, however, the biggest obstacle to implementing a plan like that is the political pushback leaders would face from people who can’t even imagine a world with fewer cars.
Thirty-nine-year old Milwaukee resident Darrell E. Brooks was reportedly involved in a domestic violence incident just minutes before the attack on a parade filled with innocent victims.
He is also accused of jumping bail for a previous incident.
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Seriously, our institutions have got to do better.
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Ted Faber offers a very brief tweet essay on bicycling.
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Tons of bikes. Yet nary a bear from deepest, darkest Peru in sight.
As I write this, there’s no word on whether this was a terrorist attack, some other intentional act of vengeance, or just another everyday traffic “oopsie.”
Because, even under the best of circumstance, with the best of intentions, people operating cars can turn deadly in an instant.
36,096 dead in 2019, the last year on record. An average of 99 people a day.
Every day, without end.
Graphic by tomexploresla
What happened in Waukesha was unusually horrific. And will undoubtedly become even more heartrending when we learn more about the victims, dead and alive.
So far, all we know for sure is that a Catholic priest was one of the victims, along with some Catholic school kids who were apparently watching the parade.
Both before and after the news broke, I scoured Google and Twitter for any remarks from any Los Angeles official, city or county, commemorating the World Day of Remembrance, without luck.
I can’t say no one said anything. But if they did, I couldn’t find it.
Which says as much as anything else about the sad state of LA streets, and LA government. As well as elected officials who promised change when they needed our votes, but turned their backs on the people of Los Angeles once they got into office.
Because traffic violence effects all of us.
Sadly, things like this will continue, here in Los Angeles and throughout the country. Whether it takes the form of mass casualty events like Waukesha yesterday or the San Monica farmer’s market nearly 20 years ago.
As to why things like this don’t happen in Los Angeles, our risk-averse department of transportation would first have to study the proposed project for months, and continue to water it down until they’re sure they’re not taking any chances and won’t run the risk of offending anyone.
Then the city would hold a series of meetings where the usual assortment of NIMBY homeowners and angry drivers would scream about how it would inconvenience them a little, after which our elected officials would promise to change everything they screamed about.
Then the plan would make its way into the circular file, while the city makes a few minor safety improvements, and declare the problem solved.
But other than that, there’s no reason why it can’t happen here.
This Harley ebike video made me laugh more than I did the rest of the day. Or maybe the entire weekend.
Seriously, this might just be the best 8 minutes and 39 seconds of your day.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Sentencing was delayed in the case of the Las Vegas minivan driver whose passenger fell to his death after leaning out the window to push a woman off her bicycle, killing her as well, because someone in the detention center forgot to bring him to the courtroom to be sentenced.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A special thanks to frequent contributor Robert L for his generous donation to kick off this year’s 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive four days early! So save your nickels and dimes, because the corgi’s getting ready for her closeup, and we’ll be begging for them to keep her in kibble later this week.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
November 19, 2021 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Study shows bicycling got safer last year, new Beverly Hills protected bike lane, and cops bust Mar Vista bike chop shop
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until statistics for 2020 come out next year to know what really happened in the last one; right now, 2019 is the most recent year available.
And it remains to be seen whether things have reverted to previous levels as more traditional traffic patterns have resumed as businesses reopened this year.
But I’d put my money on things being worse, not better.
Graphic by tomexploresla.
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For any of us who remember the bad old days of the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills before it unexpectedly got bike friendly, hell has officially frozen over.
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After entirely justified criticism for failing to investigate a bike chop shop being openly operated on a Mar Vista Street, the LAPD discovers it can, in fact, do something about it.
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Once again a bike rider is a hero to man and beast.
The U.S. Departments of the Interior and Transportation announced a plan to draw on funds in the new infrastructure bill to refocus transportation in National Parks on greener options, including expanded bike trails and shared micromobility programs.
Seriously? Virginia considers a wrong-headed plan to ban bikes from in front of the state capitol, forcing crosstown riders to dismount and walk for several blocks, all because a state official has “occasionally seen near-collisions” between people walking and riding bikes in the area. It’s like every collision or near miss inevitably gets blamed on the people on bicycles, as if pedestrians never step out without looking.
London’s mayor warns of major transportation cuts, including cutting back on bike lanes and pausing the city’s Vision Zero program, as the city’s transportation department faces a budget hole equivalent to $1.7 billion.
A board motion submitted LA Councilmember Paul Krekorian, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, County Supervisor Shiela Kuehl and Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval proposes a number of changes to the Metro Bike system, in part to address theft of the bikes.
Currently, Metro only has 38% of the total original fleet remaining in operation. Metro Bikes have been targets of theft, and rates of fleet loss ebb and flow as new methods of theft are discovered and addressed. The Metro Bike Share team has increased efforts to recover lost and stolen bicycles but this is not sustaining the fleet and the program does not have an established fleet replenishment strategy. As a result, fewer Metro Bikes are available for use, which degrades the quality of service available to the public.
Although I’d think having nearly 40 percent of the original bikes still in operation after five years is pretty damn good.
Regardless, the five are requesting that the Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins report back in 90 days on a number of proposed changes, most of which have nothing to do with addressing bike theft.
A. An action plan to stabilize the current fleet size including actions for how to identify, prioritize, and address new mechanisms of theft as they arise.
B. An action plan to address equitable access in the current program and in any future form of the program. This plan shall include recommendations on issues such as serving people who may be unbanked, addressing the digital divide, and keeping fare cost low.
C. A plan to provide uninterrupted service as the next iteration of the program is determined and executed.
D. A plan to convene an industry forum (as was performed for Metro Micro) to bring together academics, cities with existing bike share programs, community stakeholders, and industry experts to provide recommendations on advancing Metro Bike Share beyond the current contract in one of several forms including but not limited to
Continuing Metro Bike Share as a contracted service,
Operating the program In-house with Metro employees,
A private-sector model with financial subsidy provided by Metro.
E. Performing a market survey to identify best practices and business models among existing bike-share systems in the US, and comparable global systems (e.g., Paris, London, Barcelona, Madrid, and Mexico City), and to develop comparative data on subsidy cost per ride, total ridership, size of fleet, vehicle technology, theft and damage loss and prevention, and alternative financing sources like sponsorship and advertising.
F. Recommendations for continuing and evolving the Metro Bike Share program to meet the goals of the agency, with countywide stakeholder engagement and consideration of cost-sharing, with the goal of expanding service area and local participation to all subregions in the County. These recommendations should include eligible local, state, and federal funding sources for capital and operations budgets, as well as legislative opportunities to expand such funding eligibility.
All of these should be positives, if they’re carried out with a clear intention to maintain the bikeshare system and improve service.
Especially finding better ways to equitably serve low income communities.
As it stands right now, there doesn’t appear to be reason for concern. The question will be what form the response takes when Wiggins reports back in February.
That’s when we’ll want to give her recommendations a close look. And make sure the program is moving forward, not back.
But we haven’t even gotten to the suckiest part yet. These days sharrows are deployed as a bad-faith alternative to actually making roads safer for bike riders. In recent years, sharrows have become increasingly popular as cities try to balance calls from safety advocates to install quality bike lanes — you know, so folks feel more encouraged to ride and get killed a little less often — and grumpy motorists who don’t want to relinquish driving lanes or parking spaces for bike infrastructure. To the politicians and engineers stuck in the middle, sharrows seem like a devilishly perfect compromise — a way to placate the pro-car populists while still being able to claim you did something.
In short, they are perfect for city officials who care enough about safety to do the very least. There’s only one problem: Sharrows are make believe safety infrastructure.
By now, you probably already know my take.
That sharrows are nothing more than an attempt by transportation agencies to thin the herd, with little arrows painted on the pavement to help drivers improve their aim.
The best you can say is they offer a placemaking guide for people on bicycles, while showing riders where they should position themselves to control the lane.
If they’re placed correctly, that is.
And if riders feel comfortable in the middle of the lane in front of too often impatient and angry drivers.
Instead, you usually see people riding next to them on the right, increasing the risk of unsafe passes. If you see them at all, since many riders seem to prefer other routes that place them in less risk of getting run over.
Which is probably smart. Because as Flax notes, a 2018 study found that sharrows are actually worse than nothing when it comes to safety.
It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing.
That was followed by this tweet from McSweeney himself, justifying the piece.
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It’s a sure sign you missed the mark when you have to tell people something is funny.
Or when you have to say, no, really, we ride bikes, too.
Because it ain’t satire if it’s not funny.
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When is a protected bike lane not a bike lane?
When it’s a parking lot for government cops.
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Recently retired pro Tejay van Garderen had his own bikes stolen recently while moving to Denver.
So if you’re in the Denver area, keep an eye out for them. And it wouldn’t hurt to watch out wherever you are, because high-end bikes like these could turn up anywhere.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWOhWQDF4Ka/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWZGGY5F22B/
According to Jonathan Vaughters, that second bike is the one that put van Garderen in the white jersey signifying the best young rider in the 2012 Tour de France.
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Love this photo that’s the very definition of fin de siècle style and cool.
Here’s what the tweet says, for those of us who are Español challenged.
Bicycles have remained remarkably the same for over 100 years, elegant in their efficiency and simplicity; the look of the cyclists has not changed much either.
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Another reminder of the exceptional efficiency of bike lanes.
A 22-year old hit-and-run driver will now face a murder charge after a preliminary investigation showed he was speeding on his way to work, and high on weed, when he slammed into a six-year old Detroit boy just riding his bike across the street.
Smart move. Montreal is setting up an online reporting system just for pedestrian and bicycle crashes in the downtown area, where most such crashes occur. Something we could use here, where police too often don’t even want to take a report unless someone is seriously injured.
She was speeding on the 25 mph roadway, after turning the wrong way on the narrow, one-lane road, when she rounded a blind corner and smashed into the group of riders.
Six of the victims were seriously injured, with Juan Carlos Vinolo ending up paralyzed from the chest down, as well as suffering a long list of other injuries.
They held the city responsible for 27% of the damages, while state law required the city to pay 100% of Vinolo’s past and future medical bills and lost earnings.
The Times found that the overwhelming majority of bicycle traffic stops conducted by deputies were in areas where people of color make up the majority of the population, and with limited bike infrastructure.
Seven out of ten of those stops involved Latino riders, and 85 percent of the riders stopped were searched by deputies — even though those searches only turned up illegal items eight percent of the time.
Just imagine the outcry if drivers were routinely placed in the back of a squad car while police searched their belongings following a simple traffic stop.
Developing a diversion program allowing bike traffic school in lieu of fines for traffic tickets, which was approved by the state a few years ago, and
Drafting a change to county code to legalize riding a bicycle on the sidewalk in unincorporated areas, although only on non-residential streets without bike lanes.
In addition, the supervisors ordered a review of biased policing of bike riders by the sheriff’s department.
Not surprisingly, though, the sheriff’s department, which has attempted to stonewall virtually every other effort at oversight, had no response.
Granted, these are just proposal to develop new rules, so far. But it’s a big step in the right direction.
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Newly bike-friendly Culver City officially kicks off Move Culver City this Saturday, featuring three new quick-build bus-bike lanes in the downtown area.
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Quite a change from the not-too-distant past when Culver City cops would meet group rides at the city limits, and ticket riders for every real and imagined violation they could find, while they escorted them out of town.
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Streets For All has posted video of last night’s mobility debate between the candidates for LA’s CD13, currently held by two-term incumbent Mitch O’Farrell.
This is who we share the road with. A London woman mistakenly stepped on the gas instead of the brakes, jumped the curb and killed a man walking on the sidewalk, then lied to investigators by saying the man stepped out into the street in front of her. So naturally, the court let her walk without a day behind bars, and took her license away for a whole year.
A member of the UK Parliament says the country’s lax hit-and-run laws give drivers an incentive to flee the scene rather than stick around and get tested for DUI. We have exactly the same problem in California, where lax penalties and minimal enforcement encourage drivers to flee, knowing they’re unlikely to ever get caught, or seriously punished if they are.
Recall supporters have submitted nearly 12,000 more signatures for validation than the required 27,317 to qualify for the ballot.
Which means he could be recalled from office in May, then returned to office the next month, when the larger turnout in the previously scheduled primary election is likely to be more favorable to him than a single-issue recall ballot.
WeHoVille looks at the proposal to install peak hour bus lanes on La Brea Ave, including the brief three-block segment that runs through West Hollywood. Bike riders are allowed to use bus lanes in Los Angeles, though I’m not sure if the same rules would apply in WeHo.
State
CityLab reports several American cities, including Oakland and Bakersfield, are experimenting with universal basic mobility programs that subsidize transit, bikeshare and scooters; Los Angeles may follow with a pilot program in South LA.
Some Texas bike riders have reportedly taken to carrying guns on their bikes for protection from “entitled, enraged” drivers. I had a friend in Louisiana who strapped a .22 to his handlebars for exactly the same reason, and reported drivers showed him a lot more courtesy on the roads afterwards.
New York State changed the law two years ago to allow people on bikes to use leading pedestrian intervals to get a safe head start on traffic, but someone apparently neglected to tell one NYPD traffic cop, who continues to illegally ticket riders obeying the law.
More British companies are using cargo bikes to make deliveries to avoid traffic congestion and parking problems, including a London flower shop that replaced its delivery vans with Dutch-made ebikes capable of carrying up to 45 boxes of flowers at a time.
A Welsh man will spend the next six years behind bars after leaving a party “severely drunk” and plowing into a young father riding his bike, while driving over twice the speed limit; the man fled the scene, but returned an hour later pretending to be a friend of the victim, before turning himself in the next day after he sobered up.
An Aussie driver was speeding, driving erratically, and high on crystal meth, amphetamines and cannabis when he ran down a bicycling grandmother last year, then abandoned his car and screaming passengers to flee the scene on foot. But swears he doesn’t remember it because he was sleeping at the time of the crash, and only fled because he panicked.
Instead of finding support for their carbon-free travel, cyclists in some communities face unsafe and unjust conditions. In East Los Angeles, only 1% of streets have bike lanes, meaning cyclists are expected to navigate crowded and often poorly maintained streets. Of course people are going to ride on the sidewalk, even if it’s prohibited, because it’s safer.
Yet that rational decision makes cyclists a target for law enforcement. Nearly a quarter of bike stops in East L.A. were for sidewalk violations, The Times reported. In Lynwood, where there are no bike lanes at all, sidewalk violations account for 16% of stops. In West Hollywood, which is predominantly white, more streets have bike lanes and the city allows bicyclists to ride on the sidewalk in areas with no bike lanes. Less than 1% of bike stops were initiated because of sidewalk violations.
And somehow managed, against all odds, to get them all back.
Never mind that the LAPD told her they don’t bother to look for stolen bikes.
Or the Catch-22 clownshow below when he tried to report the theft to the cops.
Weitz had tried to file a police report online. Because his garage was broken into, he was told, he would have to file in person. But his local LAPD outpost in West Los Angeles is not allowing walk-ins because of COVID-19. So he went to the Pacific Division station on Culver Boulevard but was told he had to file it in West L.A.
“My local lead officer said he would get in touch after I file my police report,” said Weitz, “but I can’t file my police report, so he can’t call.”
The well-connected son of prominent local sheep and goat breeders faces six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, after initially being allowed to walk free when mommy and daddy reportedly showed up at the crash site.
Meanwhile, the Santa Rosa woman injured in the other recent Texas crash, where a pickup driver ran down three people on a cross-country bike tour and killed a Massachusetts man, is still waiting to fly home.
Metro announced the top-scoring picks for open streets events throughout the county over the next two years, including likely funding for CicLAvia and 626 Golden Streets.
One more reason to love the East Side Riders, as they continue to support, and feed, the Compton community.
And to contribute if you can, financially or otherwise.
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If you’re reading this early enough, you may still have time to join a Twitter town hall calling for zero traffic deaths, in advance of this Sunday’s World Day of Remembrance.
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Meanwhile, Finish the Ride will host a march for safer roads on Saturday, in an early observance of the World Day of Remembrance.
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More proof that bike lanes are more efficient than regular traffic lanes. Regardless of drivers who claim no one ever uses them.
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Taking a tiny approach to urban density in Denver.
And yes, there’s an itty bitty bike involved.
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It’s a pity everyone seemed to forget the hard-earned lessons learned in the first major gas crisis back in the ’70s.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Apparently, even winning the Tour de France isn’t enough to protect against bike thieves, as Geraint Thomas learned the hard way when he popped into a coffee shop while training on the French Riviera.
The paper found that out of 44,000 bicycle stops conducted by LA County sheriff’s deputies, seven out of ten people stopped were Latino, and 85% of bike riders stopped were searched.
According to the paper, they found illegal items in just 8% of the searches — less than one half of one percent.
Never mind the highly questionable legality of those searches.
This is how a sheriff’s spokesperson explained it.
Riding a bike allows criminals “to traverse a neighborhood unnoticed, faster and safer than on foot, and additionally makes it easier to avoid police contact. We are not conducting traffic stops of persons obviously engaged in the use of a bicycle for exercise or amusement,” department spokeswoman Lt. Lorena Rodriguez said in September.
Apparently, no one wearing spandex has ever been up to no good.
Not to mention that bicycles allow perfectly law-abiding people to get to work, school and the market.
And for many, it’s the only form of transportation they have. But apparently, just riding a bike somehow makes people of color suspicious in the eyes of sheriff’s deputies.
Thankfully, LA County officials pushed back on Monday, with two county supervisors — Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis — calling for the legalization of sidewalk riding in unincorporated areas, which was used as a pretext for traffic stops in eight percent of the cases.
At the same time, members of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission asked the department’s inspector general to conduct an investigation into the report, and racial disparities in traffic stops in general. And to look into whether the agency should be conducting traffic stops to begin with.
All of which sounds good.
However, County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is notorious for ignoring efforts by members of the Board of Supervisors, the Oversight Commission and the Inspector General to look into his activities, or that of the department he leads, since his upset election three years ago — to the point of refusing to comply with legitimate subpoenas for information and testimony.
And so far, they’ve been unable, or unwilling, to force him to comply.
The excuse Villanueva has given is that he isn’t subject to their authority, having been elected directly by the people. Even though both county and state law allows for an oversight commission with direct authority over the sheriff.
So don’t hold your breath.
An investigation is definitely called for. But whether it will go anywhere remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, remember that you are under no obligation to let police or sheriff’s deputies search your belongings without a warrant. And they’re not likely to get one based on a simple traffic stop.
They have the right to ask you for identification, although there’s nothing in the law that says you need a driver’s license just to ride a bike.
But whether or not you consent to a search of your bike, pockets, bags or backpack is entirely up to you.
The 16-year old driver, who has not been publicly named, is expected to face six counts of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon — one count for each victim, four of whom were hospitalized.
The charge carries a penalty of anywhere from two to 20 years for each count in Texas. However, as a juvenile, he is likely to face far less, unless he is tried as an adult.
Waller police came under intense criticism for failing to initially arrest, or at least ticket, the driver; as the investigation moved forward, it became clear the boy’s parents were influential in the community.
More on the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is currently awaiting Biden’s signature, as we continue to learn just what’s in it.
Bicycling Retailer reports that, in addition to the $11 billion in federal transportation safety funding we previously mentioned, the bill includes additional benefits for people who ride bikes, including Complete Streets and a big boost in the funding pool for bike projects.
The infrastructure bill includes:
An increase in funding for the Transportation Alternatives Program by 60%, with subsequent annual increases. The program is the largest source of federal dollars for bike projects like protected bike lanes, trails, and multi-use paths. The funding is currently limited to $850 million annually, and the bill would increase the program to $1.38 billion in 2022 and up to $1.48 billion in 2026.
A requirement for all states to develop standards for Complete Streets, a policy and design approach to ensure users of all ages and abilities have safe and convenient access.
A vulnerable road user assessment to determine how dangerous roads are for people outside of cars.
Inclusion of the model three-class e-bike definitions.
A new competitive grant program that will provide another $200 million a year to connect active transportation infrastructure to plug gaps in existing networks sand improve access to essential destinations
Another $200 million a year for the new Safe Streets for All program, which will fund Vision Zero projects throughout the U.S.
A further $200 million a year for the Reconnecting Communities pilot program, which will address the damages caused to BIPOC and low-income communities by the interstate highway system in a number of ways, including projects that promote active modes like pedestrian bridges and highway removals
A new requirement for states to devote 15 percent of their Highway Safety Improvement Program dollars to saving vulnerable road users’ lives if vulnerable road users make up 15 percent of their roadway deaths or more — a move that will impact nearly all coastal communities and a handful of upper midwestern states, too
A revision of federal crash reporting standards to better capture the causes of the pedestrian death crisis, including new provisions to better incorporate hospital data into federal stats, rather than just police data
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San Diego County’s annual Udo Heinz Memorial Ride will roll out from Carlsbad on November 20th — a week from this coming Saturday.
This year’s ride will honor all fallen bicyclists, which the county has seen far too many of this year.
This photo by David Drexler, of a homeless encampment at Venice and Grandview in Mar Vista, shows why it may matter, although it’s not clear from the photo whether that’s on a property belonging to the city.
If your bike disappeared in the area recently, you may be able to find it there.
Or part of it, anyway.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
You’ve got to be kidding.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Cheviot Hills website looks back to the earliest days of bicycling in West Los Angeles over a century ago, as the first generation of two wheelers gave way to more familiar names to Angeleno bicyclists, including local legends Alex Baum and Raymond Fouquet. Thanks to David Huntsman for the heads-up.
This is the cost of traffic violence. A 13-year old Hemet boy went missing after he ran away from home on his bike two days before Halloween; he was eventually found as a John Doe in a local hospital, after he was struck by a driver just half an hour after leaving home.
Interesting idea. A new light developed by a London designer shines a buffer grid onto the street around you, and automatically sends your location to a crowdsourced stress map when drivers get too close anyway.
A 42-year old mother in the UK will spend the next five years behind bars for fleeing the scene following a drunk and stoned crash that killed a 61-year old man riding a bike; she told police the damage to her car was from hitting a fox. Although there may be a slight difference in size between a little fox and a grown man on a bicycle.
The simple fact is, it takes hours every day to scour the internet for news sites, from around the corner and around the world, to find all the latest news from the wild, wonderful and sometimes wacky world of bicycles.
But please give what you can, if you can.
