None of which really proves anything, other than a) too many people die from traffic violence on California streets, b) we need more and better bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and c) law firm marketers think bikewashing is the best way to improve their search rankings.
And they’re probably right.
Which is why I linked to stories about their studies, rather than the actual studies. You can click through if you really want to.
There’s no description of the driver or the suspect vehicle at this time. Although as always, there’s a standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver.
Even when it’s on purpose.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Adding insult to literal injury, a Louisiana bicyclist was ticketed for being at fault after the bike rider was struck by a state trooper in an unmarked car. Because somehow, cops never seem to be at fault when they hit someone on a bicycle, especially when they’re doing the investigating.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Minnesota Governor and erstwhile vice presidential candidate Tim Walz made a visit to Angry Catfish Bicycle in Minneapolis, which sponsored the nationwide Unity Rides honoring fallen mountain biker and VA nurse Alex Pretti, murdered by ICE agents in January.
January 14, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Reforming DUI law to make it kinda less lax, Venice NC rethinks the bike plan, and throwing a bike at a hit-and-run driver
Apparently, CalMatters is getting results for calling out California’s lax DUI laws.
Or repeatedly getting busted while too drunk or stoned to drive.
And how those overly lenient laws adds to the state’s ever increasing body count due to traffic violence caused by people who shouldn’t have been behind the wheel in the first place.
Now they’re reporting that a number of bills are being proposed in the state legislature to tackle the problem, including one directly addressing DUI.
(Assemblyman Nick) Schultz, a Democrat from Burbank, is the chair of the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee and a former DUI prosecutor. He unveiled a new billlast week – which he called “the tip of the spear” – that would crack down on repeat drunk drivers. The bill would:
Let prosecutors charge a felony for a third DUI — a “paradigm shift” for sentencing, he said, that would bring California more in line with states like Oregon, where Schultz worked. Right now, in California, a driver generally can’t be charged with a felony until their fourth DUI in 10 years.
Require any driver who gets a fifth DUI conviction within 10 years to have their license revoked for five years, and to install an in-car breathalyzer for four years. As we’ve reported, California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the nation, and these measures touch on two reasons why.
Look, I’m glad to finally see some action to address DUI. Any action.
But waiting for a fifth DUI in just ten years to get serious about taking away someone’s driving privileges is like giving someone his gun back because his first few shots missed.
A driver’s first DUI should result in an automatic six-month loss of license, and a requirement to use an interlock device for at least two years.
A second DUI should result in automatic jail time, or at least home vacation confinement. And a third should mean serious prison time, and a permanent loss of license.
That’s three in a lifetime, not 10 years. Or 20.
We should also impound the cars of any drivers who have their license suspended, for whatever reason. Because as we’ve seen, too many people continue to drive even after their license has been taken away.
Does that sound harsh?
So is having to arrange a funeral for a loved one.
The simple fact is, no one has a right to drive. It is a privilege granted by the state, only after passing a test demonstrating a basic knowledge of traffic laws, and the ability to drive safely.
Which means that everyone should know it’s illegal to drive after drinking or getting high. Other than speeding or distracted driving, nothing a person does behind the wheel is more likely to result in the death of another human being.
And don’t get me started on how lenient our speeding and distracted driving laws are.
Right now, we enforce DUI with a wink and a nod, accepting a driver’s promise to never, ever do it again. Until they do, when we usually just do the same thing.
And keep doing it until they kill someone.
It’s long past time we put a stop to it, once and for all. And incremental steps, however well intentioned, won’t get us there.
Never mind that there’s already a Los Angeles bike plan, part of the city mobility plan, that maps that out in detail.
But whatever.
The Venice NC Parking & Transportation Committee met Monday to discuss the creation and distribution of a Bikeway Network for Venice in time for the ’28 Olympics.
According to YoVenice,
The purpose of the survey is to include community input, advice, and suggestions before the final product is distributed to the general public. Should they receive board approval, several methods of distribution will be used for maximum participation and input.
The creation of a Venice Bikeway Network would be the ultimate goal and objective.
It’s not that they shouldn’t take another look at it.
Obviously, things have changed in the decade and a half since the bike plan was unanimously approved by the city council. They should consider how it can be improved, particularly in a neighborhood where residents are five times more likely to ride a bicycle than most Angelenos.
But start with the work that’s already in place, without trying to reinvent the (bicycle) wheel.
He bizarrely told investigators that he knew he had been in a crash, but kept going because he thought someone had just thrown a bicycle at his truck, and had no idea there might possibly be someone riding it.
If he actually believes that, prosecutors should add a DUI charge to his indictment, because he’d have to be whacked out of his mind to have that thought even pop into his head.
He should also have been charged with murder, because it took half an hour to find the victim after he was run down, at which point it was too late to help him.
And to top things off, the driver was out on pre-trial release for a separate domestic battery case.
Nice guy.
………
This is the future we could have.
Although as someone else pointed out in the comments, we already have a few Metro Bike Hubs, but nowhere near enough. And you have to have a membership, rather than just using it on demand whenever you need it.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. Conservative politicians in England’s Merseyside region are attacking a “ridiculous” new bike lane network as “crackpot stuff,” even as the local government calls for people to ditch their cars for some shorter journeys, insisting it will make area “healthier and safer.”
Apparently, a random video of bicycling through LA’s Skid Row is proof that California is “a third world hellscape,” where the “streets look like Mogadishu.” In other words, sort of like a few streets in any other major city.
A Eureka woman was arrested nearly a year after she used her SUV as a weapon by allegedly speeding up to intentionally strike a bicycle being ridden by someone she knew, while driving on the wrong side of the road, then backing up to run over the victim’s bicycle, and crashing into another car after running a red light as she tried to make her escape; fortunately, the victim didn’t appear to be seriously injured, although the driver of the car she hit was hospitalized afterwards.
She gets it. An Irish coroner looking into the death of a 58-year old bike rider blames the lack of a comprehensive bike path network, while a bike advocacy group says the street where he was killed by a truck driver “is not safe for people walking or cycling.”
Two-time Tour de France and defending Vuelta champ Jonas Vingegaard will race the Giro this year, as he tries to claim the only Grand Tour he hasn’t won. Yet. Note to newspapers — does it really make sense to paywall an AP story that’s readily available on the internet?
Australia’s Royal Automobile Association, the country’s equivalent to AAA, is urging drivers and bicyclists to be patient and courteous, and obey the law, during the upcoming Santos Tour Down Under. Although it’s not the scofflaw bike riders whose impatience and lack of courtesy puts everyone else at risk.
December 12, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on How California keeps people dying on our streets, Industry goes bike-friendly, and Torrance keeps over-regulating ebikes
The DMV has wide latitude to take dangerous drivers off the road. But it routinely allows drivers with extreme histories of dangerous driving to continue to operate on our roadways, where many go on to kill.
Speeding is one of the biggest causes of fatal crashes. For two years in a row, bills that would have required the use of speed-limiting technology on vehicles have failed. Newsom vetoed one of them.
California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the nation. Here, DUI-related deaths have been rising more than twice as fast as the rest of the country. But this fall, a state bill to strengthen DUI penalties was gutted at the last minute.
Because despite Vision Zero laws throughout the state, things have only gotten worse. And they will continue to, until we finally see some long overdue major action.
………
Tiny City of Industry, which true to its name is home to far more business and warehouses than its 264 residents, is building an ambitious ten-mile long bike path spanning the entire city.
The project will begin with a 1.5-mile bike path located between bike and pedestrian unfriendly Valley Blvd and the adjacent railroad tracks, a kind of project termed “rail-with-trail.”
Burbank Bike Angels held their annual display at Burbank City Hall to show off dozens of newly refurbished bicycles that will be donated to local nonprofits to distribute to children in need in time for the holidays; the project has donated more than 3,200 bicycles since it’s 2008 founding.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. The UK’s Ministry of Defense is defending itself against accusations of pettiness for fencing off a lousy 50-foot section of pathway in Fife, Scotland, blocking completion of new path for kids walking and biking to school. After all, you never know when one of those seven-year olds could be spying for the reds.
According to the report, Florida is the most dangerous state in the US, with a whopping 234 people killed riding bicycles in 2024, up from 222 in 2023. California ranks second with 145, which would be a significant drop from 177 the year before.
Although they note that the 2024 figures are based on their own analysis, since official states aren’t yet available.
However, the report seems to misplace the Golden State, however, calling California “a close neighbor of Florida,” as if it had somehow switched places with Alabama or Cuba. It only makes sense in the context of the state’s ranking one and two, even though Florida had 89 more deaths, which doesn’t seem close at all.
The rankings are also based on sheer number of deaths, without taking population into account. On a per capita basis, California had roughly one bicycling fatality per 274,000 people, while Florida had one death per 98,000.
So which of these is not like the other?
Then there is this bizarre chart, which bears no correlation to the actual rankings, placing California 4th, and Florida 8th.
The report also showed that cyclist fatalities have increased significantly since 2015, starting at just over 20,000 a decade ago and now amounting to roughly 28,000 in 2024.
Which is about 25 times the estimated total of 1,109 bike deaths in the US last year, and 24 times the total for 2015.
At least that appears to stem from some staffer incapable of reading a badly drawn chart from the lawyers group report that conflates total US traffic death with bicycling fatalities.
But at least The US Sun ends their story about bicycling deaths with these helpful safety tips.
No, really.
………
More details are starting to come out about the Bay Area bike rider who was stabbed by a Tesla driver near Sausalito, in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Velo reports the incident appears to be the result of a road rage dispute that began on a narrow road with poor sight-lines, and a history of being unsafe for cyclists. The stabbing itself appears to have occurred just as the roadway widens to make room for a dedicated bike lane.
Both parties were taken into custody once police arrived, with the bike rider taken to a hospital where he is reportedly in stable condition.
There’s no word on who started the dispute, or who was the aggressor. But there’s no question who was the victim.
………
BikeLA, formerly known as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is hosting their happy hour fundraiser this Saturday, rain or otherwise.
Rain or shine — BikeFest 2025 is on!
We’re celebrating this Saturday, November 15, from 12–3 p.m. at Highland Park Brewery – just a hop, skip, and roll from the Chinatown Metro Station. A little light rain might join the fun, so come prepared with a jacket and your best bike spirit.
Join us for this Pedal-Powered Party and enjoy:
Free bike valet
One beer or non-alcoholic drink
A commemorative BikeLA bandana
️ Our largest-ever bike-themed silent auction, featuring gear from Spurcycle, Patagonia, Yakima, Tern, Road Runner Bags, ABUS, Kryptonite, and more – the auction is live now, so you can start bidding today!
Come celebrate with us and help support BikeLA’s mission to make L.A. a safer, more connected place to ride.
Holiday gift guides for your favorite bike rider are starting to roll out, with new guides from Bike Rumorand Cyclist. Even if your favorite bike rider is you.
Sad news from Tulare County, where someone riding a bicycle was killed in a collision with the driver of a milk truck; the victim was reportedly riding on the centerline when the milk truck approached from behind, and the driver veered off the road to avoid a crash, just as the bike rider inexplicably veered right, and struck the truck. No, it doesn’t make any sense to me, either. As always, the question is whether there were any witnesses who survived the crash, other than the driver.
A 46-year old Illinois man was critically injured when a nine-year old boy darted out from between two cars, and into the path of the man’s ebike; fortunately, the kid escaped with just minor injuries.
A New Jersey judge ruled that prosecutors can use a statement from Sean Higgins, the driver accused of the drunken killing of the hockey-playing Gaudreau brothers as they rode their bicycles last year, admitting that he tossed the empty beer cans he’d been drinking from into a cornfield before investigators arrived.
They get it. Fox News reports that a 15-year old Florida boy faces felony charges after leading police on a dangerous chase while riding an electric dirt bike, weaving through traffic at speeds up to 70 mph. But at least they made clear it was not a ped-assist ebike.
A 24-year old British cyclist says it hasn’t sunk in yet that he’s a world champion, after winning the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And no, I didn’t know that was a thing, either.
Choose Life Over Delay — tell the Planning Commission to Approve the Plan
On Monday, November 3, the Malibu Planning Commission will hold its final hearing to decide whether to approve the Caltrans PCH Safety Project — a $55 million once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild and make PCH safer for everyone. Based on the last meeting, they are not likely to approve the plans unless people express strong support for the plans.
You can view that meeting here. The presentation, public comment, and debate start at 38:10 and continue for a couple of hours.
This plan would repave and reconstruct the western end of PCH from Cross Creek Rd to the Ventura County line while adding long-overdue safety improvements like:
15 miles of new or upgraded bike lanes
6,956 linear feet of new sidewalks in high pedestrian zones, including in front of Pepperdine University
42 new dark-sky compliant light poles
The installation of 19 new guardrails
22 new or upgraded curb ramps
Three new retaining walls
Two realigned intersections
A vehicle pull-out for law enforcement use
Median reconstruction at various locations
Associated roadway improvements along Pacific Coast Highway within the Public Right-of-Way between the Ventura County line and Serra Road
There are additional safety improvements that can and should be made after this. They will require additional funding and much more work to secure approval from agencies like the California Coastal Commission. The items above are changes that can be easily implemented with the funds immediately available.
If the Planning Commission fails to approve the project, the funding will vanish. The road will not be repaved, the safety upgrades will not happen, and Malibu will lose its only realistic chance to prevent more deaths on the western end of PCH for years or even decades.
This is not just another meeting — it’s a moral choice between action and inaction. Every year of delay means more preventable crashes, more empty chairs at dinner tables, and more families devastated by the same road we all depend on.
What We’re Asking You to Do:
Email the Malibu Planning Commission today and tell them to approve the Caltrans PCH Safety Plan. Ask them to prioritize lives over delays — to say YES to rebuilding PCH safely, responsibly, and collaboratively. We can continue to refine the details, but we cannot afford to lose the funding and start from zero.
Please also show up to the Planning Commission Meeting on Monday, 3 Nov, starting at 6:30 at Malibu City Hall. This is the link to the agenda.
This is Malibu’s last real chance to fix the western end of PCH.
Not mentioned is that failure to approve the plan means the money will be reallocated to other projects, somewhere else in the state. Which will set back desperately needed safety improvements on SoCal’s killer highway years, if not decades.
The Malibu Planning Commission doesn’t want to hear from me, since I haven’t set foot or wheel on PCH or in Malibu for years.
California’s DUI enforcement system is broken. The toll can be counted in bodies.
Alcohol-related roadway deaths in California have shot up by more than 50% in the past decade — an increase more than twice as steep as the rest of the country, federal estimates show. More than 1,300 people die each year statewide in drunken collisions. Thousands more are injured. Again and again, repeat DUI offenders cause the crashes…
We found that California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the country, allowing repeat drunk and drugged drivers to stay on the road with little punishment. Here, drivers generally can’t be charged with a felony until their fourth DUI within 10 years, unless they injure someone. In some states, a second DUI can be a felony…
California also gives repeat drunk drivers their licenses back faster than other states. Here, you typically lose your license for three years after your third DUI, compared to eight years in New Jersey, 15 years in Nebraska and a permanent revocation in Connecticut. We found drivers with as many as six DUIs who were able to get a license in California.
Many drivers stay on the road for years even when the state does take their license — racking up tickets and even additional DUIs — with few consequences until they eventually kill.
Seriously, read it now. We’ll wait for you.
Back already?
Maybe you caught the part where they said “drunk vehicular manslaughter isn’t considered a “violent felony,” but DUI causing “great bodily injury” is. So breaking someone’s leg while driving under the influence can result in more jail time than killing someone.
Go figure.
Or that some California drivers have somehow remained on the road with up to 16 DUIs, until some innocent person pays the price. Or far too often, more than one.
And that arrests have dropped in half over the past 20 years, even as loosened cannabis laws and ready access to pharmaceuticals — legal and otherwise — mean more people than ever are likely driving under the influence of something.
This isn’t just theoretical for me.
One of my best childhood friends was killed by a drunk driver our senior year of high school. He was a state tennis champ deciding between a college scholarship and going pro when a woman somehow jumped a 50-foot median with guard rails on either side, and hit his car head-on, killing him and a passenger.
She walked away without a scratch. Or any jail time.
The same with my cousin, a rodeo queen killed when her father made a sudden turn, throwing her out of the back seat, then ran over her when he went back to get her.
So yeah, it’s personal.
And don’t even get me started on all the many victims of drunk and drugged drivers I’ve had to write about here over the last two decades.
Yes, this state just approved a law extending the ability of judges to order DUI drivers to install an interlock device. But that won’t do a damn thing to stop someone from getting behind the wheel stoned out of their mind.
It’s long past time California got serious about drunk and drugged drivers, even if that means taking their cars away and not just their licenses. Or building a new effing prison to hold them all if we have to.
I’ll be happy to chip in to help pay for it, if it means a few more people will make it back home at the end of every day.
………
More on yesterday’s story about the California Air Resources Board stabbing the bicycle community in the back by quietly stabbing the California Ebike Incentive Program in the front when no one was looking.
Despite demand for e-bike vouchers being so high that it crashed the website each time the state opened the lottery, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted at their last meeting to end the statewide program it oversaw, rolling the remaining $17 million of the original $30 million allocated by the legislature into its “Clean Cars 4 All” Program.
The concept of California E-Bike Incentive Project began had so much promise but was plagued with scandal and incompetence to such a level that one prospective applicant told Streetsblog last April, “If they were actively trying to sabotage the program, what would they do differently than this?”
Regardless of the intent, the effect is the same. The April application portal was the last time the program gave out certificates.
He adds that the most surprising thing is how quietly the program slunk out — or was tossed out — the back door, with no official announcement, no press release, and no mention on the program’s website.
There’s more. A lot more, in fact.
It’s all worth a read.
But what occurred to me yesterday is that this could leave CARB exposed to a lawsuit for age discrimination and violating the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Because by transferring the funds to a green car program, they are favoring people capable of driving over those who can no longer drive due to age and/or illness, and needed an ebike to provide greater mobility.
Could it win?
I have no idea. I’m not a lawyer, and have no expertise in ADA or age discrimination law.
But if someone needs a plaintiff, I know where they can look.
We’re planning upgrades for Ohio: Proposals include a 1.3-mile protected bikeway, signal improvements and safer crossings! Your feedback will help shape the final design. Take the survey and share your thoughts: https://t.co/bHod2PFwdUpic.twitter.com/Fqux8I7xyo
That’s more like it. A 27-year old Bakersfield man was sentenced to 12 years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run crash that killed a 30-year old woman riding a bicycle in 2022, despite turning himself in a few days later after sobering up. As lax as California’s DUI laws are, the state-s hit-and-run statutes are even worse, providing an incentive for drivers to flee if they’ve had a few.
A Florida op-ed writer argues that greater enforcement against bike riders and pedestrians is exactly what’s needed to improve traffic safety. Because we’re the real danger, apparently, not the people in the big, dangerous machines.
June 26, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on LAPD slowly doles out more details on fatal South LA hit-and-run, and California leads nation in bicycle thefts
Day 177 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
Investigators now believe the driver may have been involved in one of several street takeovers that occurred in the area in the hours before the June 1st collision. One of which was broken up by police less than a mile from where Villalobos was killed at Century Blvd and San Pedro Street.
Surveillance video shows Villalobos being struck by a silver two-door Chevrolet Camaro with black racing stripes as he approached San Pedro on Century. The driver fled the scene, still dragging the bicycle beneath their vehicle as the car headed towards the 110 Freeway.
Police believe the driver was the same man who stopped at a nearby liquor store before the fatal crash.
So naturally, police used the press conference to deliver an important safety message, reminding drivers that street takeovers are illegal and that they are legally required to stop after a crash.
Right?
Guess again. According to LAPD Det. Ryan Moreno,
“Whether you’re a pedestrian, on a bicycle, on a scooter, skateboard, whatever it is, you have to also take your safety in your own hands. Don’t assume people see you. Don’t assume the public sees you. And if they do see you, don’t assume they’re going to stop,” he said.
Which may be good advice. But it’s the wrong message, delivered to the wrong people, when they should have been talking to the ones in the big, dangerous machines who have a bad habit of killing other people.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
That leads Texas on the first count, and Colorado on the second.
In fact, Colorado had an average value of nearly $2,000 per purloined bike, nearly a third more than California, at just under $1,500. And roughly two-and-a-half times the average value of Texas bike thefts.
Not surprisingly, Alaska had the least number of bicycles stolen.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A British town councilor complains about the “bullying and intimidation” from the “unelected” bike lobby over approval of a new pump track. Even though the only pressure a bike group can actually apply stems from their public support. And isn’t responding to the public what elected officials are supposed to do?
………
Local
A California man is suing Amazon and Los Angeles-based ebike maker Actbest Technology Inc, alleging he suffered catastrophic injuries when he was thrown to the ground after the handlebars on his foldable ebike gave out. Then again, what would you expect from $369 electric foldie?
Sad news from Marin, where Mountain Bike Hall of Fame member and co-director Don Cook died from a heart attack while riding his mountain bike on Tuesday; the 66-year old Cook was inducted into the hall in 1989, in just the second class, and co-directed the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame with his wife, Kay Peterson Cook, who was inducted into the hall six years after her husband.
An Anchorage, Alaska woman learns the hard way that it takes more than a thousand bucks to bribe a cop into letting you go home from the drunken crash that killed a bike rider as he was on the phone with his mom in Baja California. And yes, we mentioned this one earlier in the week. But still.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that bikes have a right to the road and don’t have to automatically pull over to make room for motor vehicles; instead, road conditions should determine whether a bike rider needs to make way for faster vehicles in order not to impede traffic.
A man from the UK was sentenced to 12-years behind bars for hacking a 75-year old man to death with an axe after visiting Finland on a fundraising bike tour, telling police he had killed the man as he slept in his bed the morning after spending the night with him because the victim had drugged and raped him — even though police found “no evidence of illicit substances or materials that the elderly victim could use to restrain the young and physically fit aggressor.”
A new German documentary quotes an anonymous pro cyclist as saying it’s a joke to believe “nothing illegal has been taken at the Tour de France since 2015” — and not only is doping still going on, but as many as 14 people alleged to have been involved in a previous doping scandal are still involved in pro cycling.
CalBike and other advocates had a modest ask from California’s nearly $20 billion 2025 transportation budget: give back $400 million stripped from the Active Transportation Program (ATP) in 2024, as the legislature promised to do in last year’s budget. Yet the legislature’s version, released today, includes no additional funding for the ATP.
Last year’s cutbacks limited the program to funding just 13 projects for safe biking and walking infrastructure across the state. The missing funds could immediately jumpstart 30 local infrastructure projects that applied for funding and are ready to break ground.
That $400 million works out to just two percent of the massive transportation budget.
Two. percent.
Also known as a rounding error in the whopping $321.9 billion state budget. But the state would rather go against its own climate goals to keep funding highways, at a time when the state is literally burning.
So if you don’t feel comfortable on California streets, you can rest easy knowing that drivers will still be able to go zoom zoom, thanks to the money that didn’t go to improve your safety.
At least until induced demand catches up with them.
Although you can probably guess how many Class IV bike lanes Caltrans built between 2018 and 2023, after the legislature approved them in 2015.
Yep. Just this side of zero.
………
Streets For All asks you to support three bike-related issues at Wednesday’s joint meeting of the Los Angeles City Council Transportation and Public Works committees, in person or by commenting in advance.
Item #5 looks at using cameras to better enforce bike lanes, item #14 would assign the maintenance of bike paths and lanes to Public Works, and item 15 is the long awaited HLA implementation ordinance.
The Studebaker Road Complete Streets Project brings corridor-wide infrastructure improvements to Studebaker Road, spanning nearly five miles from 2nd Street to Carson Avenue. This initiative aims to enhance mobility, safety, and efficiency for residents and visitors who travel along the corridor.
By building a safer, more accessible active transportation network, the project will transform an area currently dominated by car travel. The corridor connects key destinations, including Long Beach City College, CSULB, McBride High School, Sato Academy, Tincher Prep, El Dorado Park and Library, Alamitos Bay, and the 2nd and PCH retail center. These improvements will benefit pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers alike, fostering a safer, healthier, and more inclusive Long Beach.
This project is part of the Elevate ’28 Infrastructure Investment Plan, a historic initiative dedicated to enhancing Long Beach parks, community facilities, mobility access, and streets. Learn more at lbelevate28.com.
Join the Culver City Pride Ride on June 28th to roll loud and proud as we celebrate inclusion and diversity in our amazing community! All wheels are welcome, including bikes, e-bikes, scooters, skateboards, rollerblades, roller skates, unicycles, and tricycles. RSVP required. pic.twitter.com/FAmkLDr217
An innocent person once again paid the price for a police chase, after a 68-year old Philadelphia man was injured when a cop chasing a driver crashed into his bicycle, as well as the suspect vehicle, after following the driver into a bike lane; fortunately, the victim was hospitalized in stable condition.
May 21, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on CA legislature making bike-unfriendly sausage, and bike riders deserve more than bare minimum — but usually get it
Day 141 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
The California legislature continues to make the sausage this year.
Ventura Assemblymember Steve Bennett’s AB 954 would create a Caltrans pilot program in two parts of the state, instructing the agency to connect existing bikeways into bicycle highways.
Santa Monica Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur’s AB 891 instructs Caltrans to develop quick-build bike lane and intersection projects on state roadways to improve safety for people walking and on bicycles.
If it’s passed into law, Zbur’s bill would require that Caltrans speed up its glacial planning process, which can easily take years from inception to construction, no matter how desperately it’s needed.
Hats off to New York Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who is doing her best to keep the streets of Brooklyn deadly by personally blocking new bike lanes in the borough, despite the high rate of bicyclists killed or seriously injured in the district.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
New protected bike lanes in Vista are just the latest to cause controversy in San Diego County, where the media seems to search high and low for people hating on any new bicycling improvements.
Both a sidewalk memorial and a crowdfunding page are growing for the Santa Barbara man killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding his ebike home from work Sunday night; 29-year old Joel Gonzalez leaves behind a nine-year old daughter.
Sad news from Sacramento, where a 76-year old man died in the hospital, eight days after he was struck by a heartless, cowardly hit-and-run driver while riding his bike; a 29-year old suspect was booked and released following the crash.
US Senate Republicans are prepared to ignore the chamber’s parliamentarian to overturn waivers granted to California by the EPA, which enable the state to regulate emissions and fuel efficiency for gas-powered cars, and could cause chaos for carmakers if they were cancelled.
Mexico’s Isaac del Toro spent a second day in the pink Giro leader’s jersey, as Dutch cyclist Daan Hoole upset overwhelming favorite Josh Tarling to win the stage 10 time trial. Something tells me I’ll smile just as big every other day del Toro leads the race, too.
May 20, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Missing bikepacker found safe, guilty verdict in meth-fueled death of 12-year old OC boy, and letter demands action on HLA
Day 140 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
My apologies for the extended absence.
The problems I was having with low blood pressure last week cascaded into a crisis over the weekend I was lucky to weather without ending up in the ER.
Although I probably should have, according to my wife, anyway.
I have no problem accepting my mortality, given that, as a diabetic in my late 60s, I have a life expectancy somewhere between a fruit fly and a green banana.
And I accept that I may never ride my road bike again. Or maybe any bike, for that matter.
But I worry about what happens to this site when the day finally comes that I can’t do it anymore.
In the meantime, I’ll do my best to keep things going on a regular basis. Or often as my aging body lets me, anyway.
The boy’s father was forced to watch the crash that killed his son, screaming for Lavalle to stop his pickup before crushing Noel’s bicycle, and catapulting the boy roughly 120 feet through the air.
Police founds drugs in Lavalle’s truck, and he was unable to stand on one foot for a field sobriety test following the crash; a blood test found meth in his blood hours after the crash.
Although his wife, who was riding in the passenger seat, tried to claim the drugs were hers.
Lavalle had previously been convicted driving under the influence in San Diego County, which allowed prosecutors to upgrade the charge from manslaughter to murder.
………
No surprise here.
Streets For All, the original sponsor of Measure HLA, took a look at the the status of HLA projects that the city reports on the official HLA website, and find it, well, lacking.
Tres shock!
They responded with a letter calling the city out for its failure, and urging it to work with them going forward.
At 4,210 acres, Griffith outshines other extraordinary city parks of the US, such as San Francisco’s Golden Gate, which barely tops 1,000 acres, and New York’s Central Park, a mere 843 acres. Griffith’s peaks tower above those flat competitors too, with nearly 1,500 feet in elevation gain, making it practically vertical in orientation. And LA’s crown jewel of a park is still largely uncut, much of it remaining a wilderness area preserved more than 100 years ago, and barely developed, unlike the pre-planned “wild” designs of Golden Gate and Central Park.
Add its history, views, recreation opportunities, unique and hidden spaces, a free Art Deco observatory and museum, the most famous sign in America and the park’s overall star-power, and you have a compelling case that Griffith is not just epic in scope but the greatest city park in the nation.
There’s something for everyone there: a zoo, playgrounds and an old-timey trainyard for the kids; challenging and steep trails for hikers; dirt paths for equestrians; paved roads for bikers; diverse flora and fauna for nature enthusiasts; and museums for the science and history learners.
Take that, New York.
……….
Gravel Bike California makes a run for the border by riding the Taco Bell Century with Grizzly Cycles.
………
Cate Blanchett is one of us.
Seriously. What could beat Blanchett on a bike?
Cate Blanchett having the time of her life, as captured by photographer Annie Leibovitz.#BicycleBirthday Cate BlanchettBorn May 14, 1969
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A British paper says the only surprising thing about a London pedestrian being killed by an ebike rider earlier this year is that there aren’t more cases like it. Which is a pretty good indication that it’s not as big a problem as they’re trying to make it out to be.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
The notoriously anti-bike New York Post writes that the city must stop treating bicyclists like a special class, for everyone’s safety. Because it’s not treating bike riders like a special class at all when the cops give scofflaw bicyclists criminal summonses that drivers aren’t subject to, apparently (see National news below).
No bias here, either. After the La Mesa council voted to build eight bike lane and sidewalk projects near the city’s schools, a San Diego TV station can only manage frame the story through the lens of the single councilmember who voted against it — then somehow says the city is divided.
A reporter for NPR says bike riding helps with long-term knee and health problems, even if like life, it doesn’t always make sense. True enough. Riding a bike helped keep my failing knee going for a couple decades after a surgeon told me it needed to be replaced. And hid my diabetes for at least that long.
Colorado authorities are asking for the public’s help finding a hit-and-run driver who killed a 41-year old man riding a bicycle in Boulder County on Sunday. Note that they asked for help right away, rather than waiting until the trail has run cold and people have forgotten key details, like the LAPD does.
You’ve got to be kidding. A British coroner ruled that the crash that killed a bicyclist was “unavoidable,” following testimony from the driver that the dark-clad victim “suddenly” appeared in front of her car after she “momentarily” looked down at her gear shift. Because a) bike riders don’t “suddenly” appear out of nowhere, and b) no crash is “unavoidable.”
Horrible news from Japan, where a 70-year old Osaka man jumped or fell from a high-rise condo, and landed on a man riding a bicycle in the street below; the victim was believed to be a 59-year old man from a city over 300 miles away.
Good question. A Colorado public radio station asks why bike racing has struggled to succeed in the state when it has such a strong bicycling culture. Although it’s not just Colorado; pro cycling has struggled everywhere in the US, as former fans of the Tour of California can attest.
Day 83 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
It’s even worse than we realized.
Last week, I mentioned that at least five people have been killed on Vista del Mar since former Mayor Eric Garcetti ripped out the road diet that was installed in 2017, after Los Angeles shelled out nearly $10 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of a 16-year old girl crossing over to the beach.
That’s 19 lives needlessly lost in less than 23 years on the short, four-mile roadway, thanks a wide four-lane design that makes the seemingly bucolic beachfront street a virtual speedway for anyone with a heavy foot.
Yes, an average of nearly one death a year.
So maybe the three-county PCH isn’t SoCal’s killer highway after all, at least on a per-mile basis.
AB 2984, named for the three-year old son of Gibson’s wife, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver 36 years ago, was signed by Gov. Gaven Newsom and is now law.
Which means the driver, who was never caught, could now be prosecuted if they ever find them.
Along with all the other heartless cowards who think they’ve gotten away with it, in a state where the overwhelming majority of hit-and-run drivers are never caught, let alone tried.
Gipson also sponsoring a bill in the current session that would require that drivers convicted of reckless driving install intelligent speed limitation systems in their cars, similar to how a breathalyzer can be required for drunk drivers.
Which is also about damn time.
………
This is exactly what I’ve been warning about.
Whatever your politics, cuts to funding for active transportation puts your safety, and everyone else’s, at risk.
Federal funding for bike lanes and other transportation projects may be frozen soon. If funding is frozen, many approved projects may never break ground, and those in progress may never start back up. Tell the USDOT not to freeze these critical funds: https://t.co/4gybzHppbq
Streetsblog’sJoe Linton reviews the documents, and says it will probably be up to a judge to determine whether Measure HLA, which requires that the city build out the mobility plan whenever streets get resurfaced, applies to Metro.
San Francisco becomes the first California city to install speed cams under a pilot program allowing a limited number in three Northern California and three South California cities, as well as on PCH in Malibu. Meanwhile, Los Angeles continues to sit on its ass and do nothing, as usual, as speed-related deaths continue to mount.
Maine’s highest court has sided with a 62-year old man who was ticketed for not riding single file as he was out with a friend, ruling that the state’s requirement to ride as far to the right as practicable is so vague it’s unenforceable, since only the person riding can decide how far to the right is safe to ride.
Life is cheap in Ireland, where a 29-year old mother of three will spend just four years behind bars for the hit-and-run death a 68-year old man riding a bicycle, while driving at not one, not two, not even three times the legal alcohol limit, but a full nine times over the line — yes, nine — after downing a dozen martinis before getting behind the wheel.
Famed painter Henri Matisse’s brother-in-law was one of us, as the struggling artist tried to borrow 150 francs to buy a Van Gogh in 1899, only to learn the other man had blown 500 francs on a new bicycle.
