Tag Archive for Broadway bike lanes

Las Vegas teen filmed vehicular murder of former Bell police chief, and “car-owning” WeHo bicyclist decries Fountain plans

September 18, 2023 / / One comment

Now we know why it’s murder.

It took about two weeks after the crash for Las Vegas police to determine that the killing of retired Bell, California police chief Andreas Probst in an August hit-and-run was intentional.

The reason became evident this weekend when horrifying video of the collision surfaced and quickly went viral.

In the video, which was AirDropped to students at a local high school at the end of last month, the teenage driver and his passenger(s) can be seen cursing at passing cars, before spotting Probst riding his mountain bike in a bike lane.

This is how TMZ described the lead-up to the crash.

The 17-year-old driver and his passenger were cruising down a street in Las Vegas on August 14, coming up behind Andreas Probst as he rode his cycle in the bike lane. Filming with his cell phone, the passenger was chuckling with the driver as they plotted to run over Probst. You can hear them say, “Ready?” and “Yeah, hit his ass.”

So much for any question of intent.

According to The Daily Mirror,

The vehicle is seen in the footage coming up behind a red-clad man riding a bicycle alongside the road. The motorist pulls into the bike lane behind him, honks his horn, and purposefully strikes the cyclist’s back tire, sending him flying with the encouragement of his buddies.

The passenger records Andreas lying helplessly on the side of the road behind the vehicle. “Damn that n* got knocked out!” the passenger says as the driver can be heard stepping on the gas.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal says, despite attacks from rightwing sources including Elon Musk, James Woods and Fox News commentator Greg Gutfeld, not only were they aware of the video within hours of the crash, they were instrumental in getting it to the police.

The Review-Journal’s coverage of the incident was also heavily criticized by readers who posted screenshots of a news obituary that ran in the Review-Journal on Aug. 18 — more than a week before the video surfaced — with a headline describing the incident as a “bike crash” and not an intentional killing.

In fact, a source had contacted the Review-Journal about the existence of the video more than two weeks ago, and a reporter had instructed the caller on how to forward the video to Metropolitan Police Department detectives investigating the case. Nine hours later, police announced that the incident had been deemed a homicide.

The Review-Journal also reports the passenger has not been charged, which seems inexplicable unless they were captured on the video screaming in horror at the deliberate carnage.

Hint: they weren’t.

At the very least, such a heinous crime would seem to call for a felony conspiracy charge, since both the driver and the passenger appear to have been planning the fatal assault.

It also calls into question whether the teenaged driver arrested for last week’s vehicular rampage in Huntington Beach that killed one man riding a bicycle and injured two others was a copycat attack.

It’s possible he may have seen video of the Las Vegas murder, or one of the other similar video circulating online, and attempted to copy them.

Or he may have simply lashed out on his own, for reasons known only to him.

………

No bias here.

Writing for WeHoVille, a “car-owning bicyclist” rides his bike down the sidewalk along Fountain Ave, to demonstrate that few people currently ride bicycles along the deadly thoroughfare, and insist that two years of construction to install a protected bike lane will devastate the businesses along the half block that actually has them.

Never mind that his own decision to ride on the sidewalk, rather than risk riding in the street, makes the case for building the bike lanes.

Let’s be clear: While WeHo talks a big game about “uplifting” marginalized people and “amplifying” their voices, the city’s pedestrians — those blue-collar, minimum-wage earning people the city claims to care so much about — are silently struggling just to get from Point A to Point B every day, as they’ve done for decades.

But fixing sidewalks isn’t glamorous, and that’s why WeHo hasn’t given a fuck thus far.

Even now, the impetus for reconstructing Fountain Avenue wasn’t to benefit pedestrians or disabled people. They were an afterthought.

Installing bike lanes, the cause celebre of every young politician and hip urban planner, was the point of this project.

Never mind that many of the “blue-collar, minimum-wage earning people the city claims to care so much about” are forced to ride their bikes to work along busy, dangerous corridors choked with traffic.

And not many use the sidewalks, because they can’t afford to live there.

………

When is a bike lane not a bike lane?

When it’s a parking lot.

………

Streetsblog celebrates yesterday’s NoHo CicLAmini.

………

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

A St. Louis moonlight bike ride was cancelled at the last minute as people were gathering at the start line, because drivers had moved the barricades blocking roadways along the route, and a third-party company hadn’t secured it.

An English bike rider is left waiting in vain for the police to do something after he catches a punishment pass on his bike cam, as the driver yells at him to “Get off the fucking road.”

No bias here. A Singapore website accuses an ebike rider and a motorist of road rage for engaging in a heated dispute in the middle of the roadway. Never mind that the bike rider was minding his own business until the impatient driver started honking at him for no apparent reason.

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

Tragic news from New York, where police are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who killed a 69-year old woman as she was crossing a “chaotic” intersection. Since the bicyclist was on a bikeshare bike, police should be able to access user and GPS data to determine who was using a bike at that time and location. Which raises the question of why they apparently haven’t yet.

An ebike-riding man is recovering from injuries and faces sexual assault charges, after a Virginia woman flagged down a passing car when the man groped her on a bike path, then smiled as he rode away; she was able to catch up with him and apparently kicked his ass, knocking him off his bike and placing him in a chokehold until police arrived.

A Toronto cop was hospitalized, and a bike rider faces charges, after the cop was hit by someone who was allegedly riding his bicycle erratically and weaving between pedestrians in the city’s Entertainment District.

………

Local 

Metro’s new rush hour bus and bike lanes on La Brea Blvd are officially open for business. But that hasn’t stopped anyone from using them — and loving them — already.

Streetsblog says Metro has installed new plastic bollards to protect the First Street bike lanes, which could be the first step in meeting their commitment to on bike/walk connections the promised for Metro’s new subway stations. However, it’s worth noting that the new bollards are spaced too far apart to keep motorists from driving or parking in the bike lanes, and won’t actually protect anyone from anything.

West Hollywood will consider a program to implement a bicycle repair station pilot program at tonight’s city council meeting.

Culver City is moving forward with plans for both painted and protected bike lanes along the southern section of Overland Blvd, at the same time the city is trying to rip out the MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes through downtown.

Santa Monica’s ebike voucher program for low-income residents is set to begin next year; qualified people could receive up to $2,000 to purchase an ebike and accessories.

 

State

Huntington Beach will consider new ebike regulations at tomorrow’s city council meeting; the proposed ordinance would create different classes of electric bikes — which the state has already done — while providing for criminal or civil citations, and adding a section for unsafe riding. However, all of that may be moot and illegal, since regulating ebikes falls under the authority of the state, along will all other traffic regulations. 

A La Jolla father calls for action on traffic safety measures after his 14-year old son suffered broken bones in his hand and foot when he was struck by a driver in a left cross crash, as he rode his ebike in a marked bike lane; the driver was waved through the intersection by another motorist, and failed to see the kid on his bike.

San Diego faces concerns about meeting the city’s climate goals, after a crackdown on e-scooter providers dropped ridership 80%.

The days of having The Snake to yourself could be coming to an end, with plans in place to reopen the curvy, 2.4-mile stretch of steep canyon road in the Santa Monica Mountains to motor vehicles next year.

A San Jose councilmember denies striking a bike-riding man with his car, despite three witnesses who say he gave the man money after running him down; he claims it was a near miss, and he only gave money to help the victim, who appeared to be homeless.

San Francisco Streetsblog says bicyclists are furious that protected bike lanes are no longer on the table for Arguello in the Presidio, when champion cyclist Ethan Boyes was killed earlier this year.

 

National

The Manual says don’t bother buying an e-mountain bike because government regulations limit where you can ride it. However, a travel website disagrees, listing ten of the best trails around the US where ebikes are welcome.

A Park City, Utah columnist says “Bike thieves suck” after her ebike and foldie are stolen from her building’s garage, apparently because she locked them together rather than to a fixed object. Although even that wouldn’t stop a determined thief with enough time. 

The local community came through for a five-year old Texas boy after his bike was stolen; within minutes of his father posting news of the theft online, he had offers for two bikes.

An 80-year old New York man was murdered by a black-clad man on a bicycle who circled the area apparently waiting for the victim to return home from a party, then rode up and shot him two times point blank in front of the victim’s horrified wife, in a killing caught on video; using a bike allowed the killer to approach his victim quickly and silently, without drawing undue attention.

A reminder that Hugh Jackman is one of us, after he’s spotted riding bikeshare bike through New York’s Tribeca neighborhood a day after announcing his separation from his wife of 27 years.

More proof bike riders are tough, as a man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana walked himself to the hospital, despite three stab wounds in his back, after three people stabbed him and stole his bike and wallet, then left him bleeding on the sidewalk.

 

International

Residents of a Toronto neighborhood jeered the borough mayor when he said a new bike path had nothing to do with the traffic death of a woman as she walked along the newly narrowed roadway.

Montreal’s mayor is demonstrating the political courage to close a popular park roadway to motor vehicles, and reclaim Mount Royal Park for bike riders and pedestrians. In other words, the kind of courage we seldom see in Southern California. Let alone Los Angeles.

The murder bug has apparently spread across the pond, as two men face attempted murder charges for deliberately running down a bike rider on the streets of Glasgow.

Nineties pop icon Jason Orange is one of us, as the tabloids say the Take That star is virtually unrecognizable riding a bikeshare bike through the streets of London. Even though all of them seem to have spotted him.

A radio station remembers the day 65 nude women rode bicycles around London’s Wembley Stadium to film the video for Queen’s iconic hit Bicycle Races. 

Wales has become the first country in the UK to drop speed limits from 30 mph to 20 mph. Because 20 is plenty in urban areas.

After courts awarded her the equivalent of over $620,000 for the death of her husband, a British woman decried the “inhuman” response of city leaders, who blamed him 100% for his own death after he was killed by a garbage truck driver as he rode his bike.

A French consortium pans to build a nearly 3,000 foot, 900 kilowatt solar panel bike path along the Rhône River capable of powering over 700 homes. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link. 

A Belgian bicyclist shown on video kneeing a five-year old girl in a viral video from Christmas Day 2020 has now won a defamation suit against the girl’s father, after a court fined the bike rider the equivalent of a dollar, concluding he didn’t intend to hurt her.

Heartbreaking story from India, where a 17-year old girl was killed when someone on a passing motorbike grabbed the traditional stole she was wearing as she biked home from school with a friend, causing her to fall into the path of another motorbike rider; two suspects were shot by police after they attempted to escape following their arrest, stealing a rifle and firing on the cops as they fled.

Once again, a bike rider is a hero, as a Singaporean bicyclist jumped off his bike to save someone who had fallen into a canal, along with members of the country’s civil defense force.

Helmet use has tripled among Japanese bike riders in the wake of a new law requiring them, although the lack of punishment for violating the law means it’s still only up to 13.5%.

An Aussie man warns bike riders to beware of swooping magpies, after he nearly lost an eye when one attacked him two year ago.

 

Competitive Cycling

It’s official. Twentynine-year old Colorado resident Sepp Kuss won the Vuelta on Sunday, days after his own teammates attacked in an apparent attempt to wrest the red leader’s jersey from his shoulders.

Kuss is the first American to win a grand tour since Chris Horner won the Vuelta in 2013, and just the second person to win one grand tour after riding in all three.

Guyana’s junior cycling team was left standing at the airport, instead of flying to the Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships, because someone apparently forgot to check the airline’s strict no baggage policy, which includes racing bikes.

 

Finally…

A mountain biker demonstrates why actual wheels usually work best. Yes, you can get a DUI while riding a horse in California.

And there may be bicycle-riding ghosts out there, but this probably ain’t one of ’em.

Especially since that video seems awfully familiar.

………

A special thanks to Steve Fujinaka for a very unexpected and generous donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way that lifted my spirits over the weekend. 

Donations are always welcome and appreciated, whatever the reason.  

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

New Broadway protected bike lane could be final Santa Monica bike project; DTLA 7th ST protected bike lane moves forward

May 4, 2020 / / One comment

A special thanks to Los Angeles Bicycle Attorneys Josh and Paul Cohen of Cohen Law Partners for renewing their sponsorship for the coming year. 

They join title sponsors Pocrass & De Los Reyes in renewing their support, despite these troubling economic times. 

It’s their sponsorship that allows me to do what I do, and bring you the latest and best bike news on a daily basis. 

Without their support — and yes, yours — this site would not be possible, at least in its present form. 

Now saddle up, because we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.

……..

Let’s start in Santa Monica, where good things are happening.

And not so good.

On the plus side, David Drexler sends word that the city has taken advantage of the slow traffic during the coronavirus shutdown to install parking protected bike lanes on a short section of Broadway.

Look at this, a gift to cyclists from Santa Monica. They took advantage of the low corona traffic to redo Broadway thus far from 20th Street west a few blocks. They moved the parking away from the curb and replaced it with a very protected bike lane on both sides. These photos were a taken at 19th and Broadway. Not sure how far they will extend it. It goes from 20th to the Santa Monica food coop right now, then the old green lane picks up there.

The picture of the G on the ground is probably where they will pain green.

It makes cycling much safer in those lanes than the ones next to traffic, I feel. Hope they do more.

On the other side of the ledger, Santa Monica is planning to make drastic cuts to city funding in response to the loss of sales tax revenue due to the lockdown.

Advocacy group Santa Monica Spoke joins with other organizations to warn that excessive cuts to the transportation department could imperil the safety of vulnerable road users, as well as any post-pandemic economic recovery.

Santa Monica’s economy depends on a functioning transportation network that safely moves people, goods and services. Current proposed budget cuts will be destructive to transportation work, will disable basic functions, and slow our safe recovery from this pandemic. Transportation staff, infrastructure and services are classified as essential government functions* and perform vital functions that literally keep our community running safely. These cuts will damage safety and the very fabric of services and programs that we depend on living in Santa Monica…

These essential life saving functions are under threat with extreme plans to cut over half of the City Transportation and Mobility Division compared to 20-40% across other departments. While we can only imagine the stress and burden of decisions weighing on City Council, this level of cuts would severely impact basic public safety and infrastructure operation functions, wounding our city’s ability to rebound fiscally from the COVID-19 crisis. It is imperative to be strategic. We must consider the holistic dynamic relationships, dependencies and functions that contribute to safety, economic stability and regrowth. While the City suffers catastrophic shortfalls, we should not use a sledgehammer where a scalpel is needed to balance new budgets. Council needs to take time to cut costs strategically, while maintaining essential staff that would facilitate a safe and secure path to economic recovery and resilience.

As part of the cutbacks, Santa Monica plans to cut all bike, pedestrian and Vision Zero funding for the next year.

Which means those Broadway protected bike lanes may be the last we’ll see for awhile.

The Santa Monica City Council will hold a virtual council meeting tomorrow to discuss the proposed budget cuts.

Santa Monica Spoke urges you to contact the councilmembers to demand continued funding of the Transportation Department, and ongoing support for bicycle, pedestrian and Vision Zero projects.

Because lives depend on it.

And the proposed cuts are more than just a scratch.

………

Evidently, Vision Zero isn’t completely dead in the City of Angels.

Just badly wounded.

The program is rising from a premature grave, as LADOT invites you to attend a free public workshop to discuss plans to fix 7th Street in DTLA.

And about damn time, since the existing bike lane is largely unrideable much of the time, and usually serves as nothing more than free parking in front of the Bloc shopping mall.

And the only rule governing traffic on 7th seems to be to aim for the soft, squishy people instead of the cold, hard cars.

You can learn more about the project here.

Thanks to Kent Strumpell for the heads-up.

………

Meanwhile, Streets For All offers a glimpse of what could be if LA actually remembers it has an already-approved Mobility Plan.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1256351201462870017

You can see a larger, interactive version of the above map here.

And here’s the link to the petition, since the link in the tweet is broken.

………

Bike Angeles examines some unexpected improvements along a two-mile stretch of Vineland Ave in North Hollywood.

………

This is why we can’t have nice things.

………

When a bike rider hits a pedestrian, it usually end badly for both parties.

Which is exactly what happened in Berkeley on Saturday, where a 55-year old man on a bike crashed into a 60-year old woman, leaving both victims in critical condition.

Although it’s not clear how it happened, since police say he was riding in the street and she was standing on the sidewalk; a witness says the man on the bike must have had “mental issues.”

The same thing happened in Minneapolis, where a pedestrian is in critical condition and a bicyclist seriously injured following a crash.

Anyone who’s ridden for awhile can tell you it’s not always the bike rider’s fault in a situation like that; people are unpredictable, and can step out into the street without looking for someone on a bicycle.

But it’s always our obligation to ride carefully around pedestrians, because they’re the only ones more vulnerable than we are. And be prepared to stop or swerve to avoid crashing into someone.

Especially if you’re riding on a sidewalk.

………

This working from home thing might just catch on after all.

https://twitter.com/cycling_woman/status/1255909638907846659

Thanks to W Corylus for the link.

………

Maybe it’s not the best idea to draft a dump truck in heavy traffic.

………

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

Nashville police are looking for a goateed, bike-riding miscreant who smashed a jewelry store window with a cinderblock and made off with over 200 rings. Although as someone who spent a decade in the jewelry business, I’d question why the window wasn’t shatterproof glass, and the rings in a safe after hours.

A Scottish thief made off on his bike after taking over 100 wedding rings worth more that $124,000 in a grab and run.

………

Local

Streetsblog examines the massive failure of LA city officials in cancelling a Slow Streets social distancing program in the Del Rey neighborhood, just hours after it was announced.

The LA Times says city officials think closing streets for social distancing just too risky, even though other cities throughout North America are doing exactly that. Evidently, they think we’re calling for CicLAvia-style street closures that would draw people from across the city, rather than closing a few streets in every neighborhood to allow people to get outside without risking their health and safety.

Dylan McDermott is one of us, as the Hollywood star went for a bike ride through Pacific Palisades with his family.

Santa Monica residents join the chorus of voices demanding safe space on the streets for social distancing.

 

State

A Chula Vista bike rider suffered a leg injury when he or she was was right hooked while riding in a crosswalk by a truck driver, who never bothered to look the direction he was turning.

Britney Spears is one of us, posting a photo showing her riding her bike with her boyfriend near her Thousand Oaks home in happier, pre-pandemic days.

A Santa Barbara bike rider is in critical condition after he was run down by what must have been a self-driving car, since the story does’t even mention a driver.

Bay Area bike shops can’t keep up with the demand as business booms during the coronavirus pandemic.

It takes a major schmuck to steal bikes and tools from a nonprofit San Jose bike co-op as they were preparing to reopen next week.

This is why you shouldn’t try to reclaim a stolen bike by yourself. A Santa Rosa man is recovering from stab wounds to his hand after he approached a man who was riding his stolen bike.

Sacramento will block or limit motor vehicle traffic on some streets to make more room for social distancing. On the other hand, San Jose says don’t hold your breath.

 

National

Yes, May is Bike Month, even if everything has been cancelled and too many cities won’t give an inch on the streets during the coronavirus pandemic. Including Los Angeles.

Zwift wants you to ride or walk in place to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders.

Bike Snob says road cycling isn’t dead after all, even if gravel is all the rage.

An eight-year old Honolulu boy got his stolen bike back after conservation officers spotted it outside a state park.

You don’t mess with an angry dog — or a grandfather. Reality TV star Dog the Bounty Hunter is offering a $1,000 reward for the “scum” who stole his granddaughter’s bike from the family garage in Hawaii.

A New York nurse continues to bike to work, even after she was hit by a driver.

We already know NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is one of us. But apparently supporters of his new team are just figuring it out, as fans are shocked by his “absurd” 74-mile Florida ride.

 

International

People around the world are being encouraged to see bikes as a post coronavirus commuting option — when they’re not getting stopped by the cops for doing exactly that.

Bike historian Carlton Reid offers a warning from history despite the boom in bicycling during the Covid-19 lockdown. Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.

Bike Radar explains what muscles are used to ride a bike, and offers advice on what to wear when you ride one. Never mind that you can ride in anything from T-shirt and shorts to a three-piece suit. But the right clothes can make it a hell of a lot more comfortable.

Road.cc says you’re not a pro, so you don’t have to ride like one.

A nine-year old Ontario boy has set out on a 621-mile bike ride to raise funds for a local health foundation, riding roughly six miles a day.

When a Nova Scotia nursing home worker went to pick up her bike after having it repaired, the shop surprised her with a new bicycle to thank her for her work on the frontlines of the Covid-19 battle.

Speaking of rising from a near grave, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns from his extended absence due to Covid-19, and calls on the country’s mayors to take action to encourage bicycling and walking, and keep cars out of city centers.

Noel Gallagher is one of us, as the former Oasis singer and guitarist rode his bike near his English home, despite the country’s lockdown.

British band Glass Animals talks about the 2018 bicycling crash that nearly took the life of the band’s drummer and left him unable to walk, talk, eat, read or write for a time.

Members of a Scottish cycling club honored one of their own, lining the street with their bikes and club kits to show respect for a member who died of Covid-19.

A Catholic priest in the UK had to deliver his daily podcast and evening prayers as he walked home, after going out for a bike ride and suffering successive flats.

Just call it Strassenverkehrsordnungnovelle. Germany announced a raft of changes to traffic laws, including banning parking in bike lanes, allowing people to ride two abreast, and prohibiting drivers from passing bike riders or motorcycles in narrow areas.

Over 3,500 Slovenians rode their bikes in defiance of the lockdown to protest a ban on bike riding, as well as government interference in procuring protective gear and ventilators.

Tragic news from India, where a couple were killed in a collision along with two other people, after a kindhearted truck driver offered them a lift after riding 250 miles because they couldn’t find any other form of transportation.

An Indian op-ed calls for more space on the roads for people walking or biking, arguing that the biggest hurdle in making making it more popular in the country is a lack of necessary infrastructure.

Tokyo commuters are taking to their bikes to avoid the risk of infection on the city’s packed trains.

 

Competitive Cycling

A UK paper looks back at what they call the toughest bike race ever ridden, a snowy seven-stage, 1,300-mile race through the battlefields of the just-ended Great War, as well as in the middle of the Spanish Flu pandemic.

Apparently assuming Covid-19 will blow over by then, officials tell pro cyclists to be ready for an August 29th start for the Tour de France.

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome says the race can work without spectators, but isn’t sure organizers can keep them away.

June’s mountain bike worlds was just the latest race to fall victim to the coronavirus, while September’s European road championships were put off until next year.

A British man raised the equivalent of $16,000 by riding the length of the Tour de France without ever leaving his apartment.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be a seatless Penny Farthing. Or long enough to let you maintain social distance from your tandem partner.

And when you’re drunk, riding salmon, and carrying an open container, at least put some damn lights on your bike.

And don’t fight with the cops that try to stop you.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

Pissed off about bike lanes on your street? Get over it already.

March 17, 2011 / / 4 comments

There are nearly 21,000 miles of non-freeway roads in Los Angeles County. How many of those do you think were built to accommodate motor vehicles?

All of them.

So why do some people get so pissed off when a few lousy feet are finally set aside for the benefit of someone else?

Take Tuesday night, when cyclists made a last stand before the joint Porter Ranch and Northridge West Neighborhood Councils in an attempt to preserve the Wilbur Avenue road diet and bike lanes.

While no one can argue that motorists, or anyone else, received sufficient notice of the road work, people who live in the immediate area seem to like it. And there’s no real argument that something had to be done to improve safety on a residential street that had turned into a high-speed throughway in recent years, as drivers used it as a secret bypass to more congested roadways.

Yet inconvenienced drivers are up in arms about the loss of their speedway. Even if their arguments don’t always hold water.

After all, it’s far too hard to simply slow down and observe the speed limit, protecting the safety of other people on and along the street.

Or find a route that utilizes one of the overwhelming majority of streets that don’t have bike lanes or road diets, where you can drive with all the wild abandon L.A. traffic will allow.

Surprisingly, the Wilbur Avenue road diet survived this vote, despite overwhelming opposition from the 450 people in attendance — who, according to Streetsblog, went so far as to boo calls for road safety.

Why should you care if a few people are killed or injured if it means you can get where you’re going a few minutes faster?

Then there’s Doug Krikorian of the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

A respected sportswriter and columnist, he seems to have taken it upon himself to return Long Beach to its previous state of bike unfriendliness.

Why?

Because it inconveniences him.

After all, he recently found himself stuck in traffic on Broadway. And didn’t see a single cyclist using the city’s newly installed bike lanes the entire time he sat there gnashing his teeth.

It may have been a situation that left him speechless, but unfortunately, not typeless. And led him to the inescapable conclusion that no one bikes in Long Beach, despite evidence to the contrary.

Which is odd, because I’ve often found myself riding on streets without a car in sight.

Yet it never occurred to me to become angry over the wasted space devoted to motor vehicles that could have been converted to more productive uses. I just assumed that the cars would undoubtedly be along sooner or later, for better or worse.

And never mind that those bike lanes he’s complaining about aren’t even officially open yet.

But evidently, when Krikorian gazes out his window and doesn’t see a bike, that means the bikeway — in fact, the city’s entire commitment to bike-friendliness — is a failure.

Not that he has any statistics to back that up, of course.

It’s not like there’s anyone at the Press-Telegram could do a little research, after all. Or that he could call Long Beach Mobility Coordinator Charlie Gandy and ask if anyone actually rides in the city.

Although to be fair, more people might ride if their bikes didn’t get stolen.

Of course, the real problem wasn’t the bike lanes beside him, it was all the cars and trucks ahead of him. And that if more people used those bike lanes, he might not be stuck be stuck in traffic next time.

Then again, it’s not just a problem here in the L.A. area.

Anti-bike NIMBYism runs rampant just about everywhere. Even in the biking capital of North America.

Take Fresno County, where local farmers are all for cycling, but don’t want bike paths near their farmland. Not because they would be inconvenienced by all those two-wheelers silently whizzing by, of course. But because cyclists would be exposed to all those pesticides and industrial chemicals they put on our food.

As if we’re not exposed to them already when we eat it.

It’s not like cyclists aren’t riding those country roads anyway. The proposed bike paths would just make it a little safer by getting bikes out of the way of all the combines and farm trucks they currently have to dodge.

On the other extreme, there’s New York City, where Prospect Park West is Ground Zero in the bike lane wars — even though 70% of local residents support the bike lanes that were recently installed there.

The seemingly endless debate goes on, even migrating to economists, who can and will debate anything, seemingly endlessly. And again, don’t always get it right.

Yet the massive congestion claimed by opponents has failed to materialize, adding just 7 seconds to the average commute through the park. And pretty much all of dangers opponents project can be mitigated by looking both ways.

Evidently, that’s something New York mothers don’t teach their children to do, unlike virtually every other mother on the face of the planet.

Yet that doesn’t stop the opposition from offering less effective alternatives. And it keeps other bike projects from moving forward.

What they all fail to consider is that the entire total of bike lanes — whether here in L.A. or anywhere else this side of Amsterdam or Copenhagen — represents just a minute fraction of roadways otherwise devoted almost exclusively to motor vehicles.

And even then, it amounts to no more than 10 or 12 feet of space out of the entire road surface.

So let’s face it.

It’s not the bike lanes — or the bikes, or lack of bikes, on them — that’s making anyone’s commute a living hell.

It’s all the other cars and trucks on the street, most of which usually contain just one person behind the wheel, often on his or her cell phone, texting or web surfing.

Which means the bikeways they bitch aren’t the problem, but rather, just a small part of the solution.

And if the biggest problem you or anyone else has today is a cyclist or bike lane slowing your commute, your must be having a damn good day.

So just get over it already.

.………

Alta Planning’s Mia Birk offers tips and strategies on how to avoid the backlash, suggesting that fighting the battle upfront can help avoid Wilbur Avenue or PPW-type battles after the fact.

Although something tells me you can do all the outreach in the world, and it still won’t satisfy the people who choose not to participate until they suddenly discover a bike lane on their favorite high-speed short-cut.

Not that I’m feeling the least bit cynical today or anything.

.………

More on the death of Long Beach bike activist Mark Bixby and four other prominent people from the Long Beach area, from the L.A. Times, Long Beach Press-Telegram and the Daily Breeze, as well as a Santa Barbara perspective on the tragedy.

For those of us who didn’t have the privilege of knowing him, you can get a feel for who Bixby was — and how important cycling was to him — through his blog and his all-too-brief Twitter feed.

.………

A cyclist suffered significant injuries in a solo fall in Palos Verdes Tuesday morning. According to the Daily Breeze, the rider was one of five who were descending a steep hill on Via Del Monte around 7 am when he lost control and crashed on the 500 block near Via Ramon.

Jim Lyle writes to say that the street has an 8% grade, making speeds over 30 mph possible. Speed bumps were installed recently to slow vehicle traffic, but there’s space between them for emergency vehicles, making it unlikely that they were the cause.

Meanwhile, an Orange County rider required a helicopter rescue after going over the handlebars in rough terrain around 10:13 Wednesday morning. And an Altadena cyclist was injured in a right-hook-and-run.

.………

Anyone in the job market — and these days, that seems to be just about everyone — may want to check out this Craigslist listing.

Trainer/Instructor needed for outdoor bike safety program at schools and events. Physical ability needed to handle equipment and props; includes setting up student training course plus instructing students on pedestrian and bicycle safety. Will train. Background in sports or outdoor activities desired. Works well with children. Must have flexible schedule as hours vary. Weekend availability a definite plus. Pay rate based on experience. Please email resume.

Thanks to Stephanie for the heads-up.

.………

Yesterday’s breaking news left me with a long backlog of links. I’ll try to catch up over the next few days, starting with the ones I’d planned to post yesterday, but which seemed inappropriate given the day’s news. Look for more late tonight or tomorrow morning.

L.A. County’s new model streets manual was unveiled Tuesday night, including a requirement to design streets for all users, including bikes. LACBC announces Sunday Funday #4, exploring crosstown routes on Sunday, April 3rd. The new Bike Wrangler space across from Good Sam finally has a name. L.A. bike cops in 1904. Ride the closed-off L.A. Marathon course before the race starts. Covina is the latest SoCal city to ask for your help in developing a new bike plan, with three workshops scheduled before the end of the month. Claremont will serve as the launching point for Stage 7 of this year’s Amgen TofC. Last weekend’s Tour de Murietta honored pro cyclist Jorge Alvarado, who was killed by street racers near San Bernardino last spring. A California cyclist uses echolocation to navigate despite a lack of eyesight. Links to bike computer manuals for everyone who forgot how to spring forward.

Fifteen women who don’t exactly rule the biking world, but close. Which is worse — angry terriers or argumentative drivers? Before engineers are allowed to work on bike projects, maybe they should be required to actually ride a bike. A Colorado driver and his passenger are ticketed in a road rage case after being captured on the rider’s front and rear video cams. Ten teams are now confirmed for Colorado’s Quizno’s Pro Challenge, with some of the top pro teams participating, including Cancellara and the Schleck brothers. The Idaho house bars the use of eminent domain for building bikeways. An Iowa cyclist overcomes a broken arm and leg to win the 350 mile Iditarod bike race. Chicago considers adding a cycle track. When a cyclist has to compete for a driver’s attention, the cyclist always loses. Wednesday was Texas’ first Cyclists in Suits day. New Orleans prepares to break ground on the Lafitte Corridor, a three mile stretch of bike paths, greenways and public gardens. A New York police commander tries, and evidently fails, to defend the city’s selective enforcement crackdown on cyclists; key stat — 35 million Central Park visitors in 2010, yet just 42 incidents involving cyclists and pedestrians. A Florida truck driver swerves to hit and kill a cyclist, then keeps on driving; remarkably, the reporter refrains from calling it an accident. Miami Beach kicks off a bike share program; Toronto launches its own May 3rd.

UK employees get more than a Bike to Work Week to encourage them to ride. Evidently, dragging a cyclist 150 meters beneath a large truck is just an accident. The Cycle Opera moves forward, based on the life of British steelworker and Olympic cyclist Lal White. A Brit blogger has eight bikes stolen, and somehow gets them all back. Follow the tweets of top pros on a single Twitter list. Welcome to New Zealand, where life if cheap — at least for cyclists — although they do seem to take dooring seriously.

Finally, Copenhagenize looks at biking in post-earthquake Japan — and provides a historical perspective when some people take offense.

And anyone planning to ride through Beverly Hills today is urged to avoid the Wilshire Blvd geyser.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , , , ,
 
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee
%d bloggers like this: