Tag Archive for CalMatters

New LA bike lanes sprouting with the spring, and CA DMV fights to keep killer driver on the road and record secret

March 11, 2026 / / No comments

Maybe we’re making progress after all.

Suddenly, there’s news of bike lanes sprouting all across the Los Angeles area, albeit to the apparent chagrin of some.

 

But evidently drivers are up in arms over at least some of the changes, as opposition grows from “some residents and local officials who say the plans could worsen traffic congestion, eliminate parking, and create confusing road designs.”

And even the death of a pregnant mom isn’t enough to get protected bike lanes on Pershing Drive.

After the death of a pregnant mom riding a bike with her family, Traci Park all of a sudden cares about bike lanes.But the bike lanes they’re proposing aren’t safe! They’re door zone bike lanes.Even after a tragic death, protected bike lanes aren’t being considered.

— Michael Schneider (@michaelschneider.com) 2026-03-07T19:01:26.881Z

………

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

Cal Matters reports that the California DMV not only kept a driver on the road, despite at least 16 previous moving violations and four crashes, they fought to keep his driving record a secret.

Even from persecutors after he was charged with vehicular manslaughter for killing a two-year old boy.

And adding insult to grievous injury, the DMV renewed his license just a year later, while the manslaughter charge was still pending.

Surely, the DMV did some sort of review before deciding it was safe to let (Kostas) Linardos stay on the road.

Right?

The DMV spent close to a year fighting to keep the answer to that a secret, refusing to release information on Linardos without a court order and then urging a judge not to issue such a decree. The agency’s lawyer argued in a filing that prosecutors wanted records “for the improper purpose of smearing the DMV for alleged and unfounded wrongdoing.”

Prosecutors said they wanted the DMV records to help show Linardos knew the risks of driving recklessly, which is something they needed to prove to make a felony vehicular manslaughter charge stick.

When the issue finally made it to court this year, the attorney representing the agency made a shocking admission: The DMV had no records of any investigation into a longtime reckless driver who killed a 23-month-old boy. The agency didn’t even appear to have held a hearing before deciding it was fine to let Linardos stay on the road.

Un-effing-believable.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up. 

………

A new study from San Diego’s Rady Children’s Hospital shows a more than 300% increase in ebike injuries in just the last four years.

Although once again, there’s no attempt to differentiate between ped-assist ebikes and electric motorbikes.

According to the study, the hospital recorded 262 ebike-related trauma cases last year, with most of the victims 11 and 14 years old, with a noticeable spike among 13‑year‑olds.

While that likely corresponds to the increase in ebike use, the hospital also reported ebike injuries were likely to be more severe than those caused by regular bicycles.

It’s also questionable how many of those ebikes were actually street legal, or could legally be ridden by children that young, who are limited to Class 1 and 2 bikes with a maximum speed of 20 mph.

Let alone on the freeway.

https://twitter.com/Sandiegohumor/status/2030712819264737671

Thanks to Ellectrek for the link.

Meanwhile, Newport Beach is considering banning ebikes from all schools except for high school students, and 7th graders if they have written parental permission. And once again, without differentiating between ped-assist bikes and e-motos.

………

San Francisco Streetsblog’s Roger Rudick doesn’t pull his punches after Caltrans ripped out a painted Oakland bike lane, replacing them with, yes, sharrows.

And as studies have shown, sharrows are worse than nothing when it comes to preventing injuries to bicyclists, and shouldn’t be used on streets with speeds above 35 mph.

Actions speak louder than words, Lucy pulls the football away again; whatever aphorism or metaphor one wants to use, Caltrans proves once again that it’s run by bad actors who betray the public in their relentless pursuit of auto-über alles policies.

Then there’s this.

With the removal of the painted bike lanes, which were woefully inadequate on a multi-lane street such as Oak Street to start with, Caltrans now expects cyclists to share a lane with traffic. Keep in mind that this is also a major route to I-880 and is plagued with non-stop speeding traffic and red-light running. The removed bike lanes are on a major bike commuter routes that connect the Oakland ferry terminal, Lake Merritt BART, and thousands of residential units…

Nobody, really, should be surprised. Caltrans, Alameda County, and the consultants who work for them have acted in bad faith throughout this project.

Never mind that Caltran’s ostensible Complete Streets policy requires the state transportation agency to “provide comfortable, convenient, and connected complete streets facilities on all projects and in all project phases, including construction and maintenance,” according to Jeanie Ward-Waller, Director of Transportation Advocacy at Fearless.

She should know, since Ward-Waller was the whistleblower who was “reassigned” from her position as Deputy Director of Planning and Multimodal Programs at Caltrans after warning that a Sacramento highway project violated that same policy.

Just one more reminder, if we needed it, that the agency’s Complete Streets requirement needs to be codified into law, since they only seem to follow it when it’s convenient for them or the public demands it.

………

I had the time to rip into this piece from a rightwing Irish site, as a writer complains about the “fetishization” and “relentless promotion” of the government’s “obsession” with bicycling.

Instead, we’ll have to let Road.cc handle this one.

According to Vincent, from the “perception of the average person”, the number of cyclists in Dublin using the city’s bike lanes “is so small that it is set completely off balance with the amount of space they take up”.

“Hardly anyone uses these lanes, and yet we are forced to swallow it when an entire lane from a road is sacrificed – often with the result of creating an infuriating one-way system in the area – to make space for more bikes; the same bikes that seem never to fill the lanes they are currently provided with,” he continues, failing to grasp the point of cycling infrastructure entirely.

Never mind that those “empty” bike lanes have resulted in a 50% increase in bicycle trips.

But that inconvenient fact probably wouldn’t fit his narrative.

………

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

No bias here. Residents in Devon, England are getting out the torches and pitchforks over construction work for a new protected bikeway, which will force a three-mile detour that will add “minutes” to their commute.

No bias here, either. After a woman in Singapore was struck by a driver while riding her bicycle in a crosswalk connecting two sides of a bike path, commenters online wrongly assumed she was required to get off her bike and walk it across the street.

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

The LAPD is looking for a suspect in a bike-by shooting in Historic South Central Los Angeles, after a 36-year old man was shot by someone on a bicycle while sitting in his car at Washington Blvd and Santee Street.

The French bike rider who was caught on video shoving a five-year old girl out of his way on a snowy bike path says he didn’t do anything wrong, and the whole thing was blown out of proportion.

………

Local 

If you left your bicycle, cellphone, blowtorch or prosthetic leg on a Metro bus or train, they may be holding it for you to reclaim. Although it makes sense that someone would leave their bike behind after losing their leg on the bus, which would make it kinda hard to pedal. 

Momentum hails Santa Monica resident Caro Vilain, aka mobilityforwho on Instagram, for her “viral videos steering a fun-fueled cycling revolution.” I would have embedded some of her videos, but Insta was being uncooperative tonight. 

 

State

Streetsblog offers a first look at transportation bills advancing in the state legislature.

Streets For All is out with their annual California Mobility Report Card grading individual legislators for their support of mobility legislation, or the lack thereof.

Evidently, complaining works. The Bay Area’s Caltrain is backing off new restrictions on taking cargo bikes, panniers or child seats onto their bike cars.

Police in Redwood City used license plate readers to snare a pair of bikewear thieves, who somehow walked out of a bike store with more than four grand worth of bicycle clothing.

That’s more like it. Palo Alto is using an app to reward people for riding a bicycle, ebike, e-scooter or electric skateboard, providing them with money that can be spent at local businesses.

A 27-year old man was found safe when he was reported missing after setting out for Big Sur from Monterey on his bicycle.

Say what? Sad news from Sacramento, where a man died in the hospital after he was struck by a driver while riding a bicycle — yet the police bizarrely said they suspected the death was a suicide, without offering any explanation.

 

National

Um, okay. Ebike imports to the US either a) set a new record last year, or b) declined significantly from 2024 levels, and c) may have exceeded the total value of regular bicycles for the first time. Or not.

On the other hand, bicycling contributed $3.67 billion to the American economy last year, an increase of 3.4% over the previous year.

Clean Technica recommends escaping the “Trump pump” on a ebike.

That’s more like it, too. The governor of New Mexico has signed a bill requiring driving students to take at least three hours of training on how to operate their vehicles around vulnerable road users, including bicyclists, pedestrians and emergency service workers.

Bicyclists in Omaha, Nebraska are calling for safety changes after a bike rider was killed by the driver of a semi-truck, following the removal of one of the city’s most-used bicycling routes for a streetcar project.

Heartbreaking news from Pennsylvania, where a 15-year old girl was killed while on a brief bike ride with her twin sister, at an intersection that had received more that 100 complaints from local residents.

A North Carolina newspaper offers an in-depth report on last month’s 950-mile Remember the Removal bike ride to help members of the Cherokee Nation reconnect with their heritage, while retracing the northern route of the horrific Trail of Tears; an estimated quarter of the 16,000 tribal members died along the way when the Cherokee people were forced to walk to Oklahoma from their Southern Appalachian homelands.

Florida lawmakers unanimously approved a draconian new ebike law that requires ebike riders to slow down to 10 mph within 50 feet of pedestrians on sidewalks or shared pathways.

 

International

What took so long? A man in the Isle of Wight faces charges seven months after he pushed a woman in her 60s off a seawall, resulting in injuries to her head, legs and face.

Custom lowrider bikes crafted by a Los Cruces, New Mexico artist made an appearance at the Paris Fashion Week.

Police in Soweto, South Africa have yet to make an arrest in an apparent hit-and-run that killed a popular security guard as he rode his bike to work in January, though they have brought in a suspect vehicle for testing.

 

Competitive Cycling

California’s Luke Lamperti claimed his first win on the season, sprinting to victory in stage 1 of Paris-Nice on Sunday.

Velo says the 2026 road cycling world championships in Montréal “will be an old-school rainbow jersey brawl.”

Twenty-two-year old Belgian pro Leander Van Hautegem was the subject of a “miracle rescue” when a passing forest ranger found him lying in a ditch with a severe concussion, collapsed lung, and broken rib after he crashed on a training ride.

Indiana University is expecting a record crowd for next month’s 75th annual running of the school’s iconic Little 500, made famous in Breaking Away. Which remains the all-time best bike movie, in my not-so-humble opinion.

A DC area public radio station reports on the annual Garage Racing National Championships, which was held last month in a multilevel Virginia parking garage.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a major consumer magazine suggests that a 14 buck ebike cover will somehow protect it from thieves. Now drivers aren’t even waiting for real bicycles to crash into.

And throwing your bicycle at the cops to make an escape is not one of the many recommended uses for it. And if they your bike, just hand over your backpack full of illegal weed.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Hit-and-run victim left in Boyle Heights, Westchester/Playa NC talks Pershing Drive safety, and CA legislature talks DUI

March 3, 2026 / / No comments

Not again.

For the second time in just over a month, someone has been found down next to a bicycle in a Boyle Heights intersection after an apparent hit-and-run.

But this time, the victim was still alive, though severely injured.

According to KTLA-5, the victim was discovered at Cesar Chavez Ave and Fickett Street around 11:18 Sunday night, just two miles from where a man was found dead at 7th Street and Boyle Ave on January 29th.

There’s no information at this time on the identity of the victim, or any description of the suspect vehicle or the driver.

A photo from the scene shows a dark colored bicycle with flat handlebars, with a plastic shopping bag hanging from the left handgrip.

Let’s hope the victim makes a full and fast recovery.

And that police find the heartless coward who left them there.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

The Westchester Playa del Rey Neighborhood Council is hosting a special meeting tonight to discuss traffic safety improvements around Pershing and Manchester.

Apparently, it only took the death of a 36-year old mother and her unborn baby to spur them into action, and consider re-reversing the Complete Streets improvements that were installed in 2017, then ripped out later that same year to appease angry motorists.

Not to mention business owners who somehow thought they’d get more sales from drivers zooming past, usually without stopping, than from people who could safely walk or bike to their establishments.

But hey, if I sound disgusted, it’s only because I am.

So if you live, work, walk or bike in the area, or know anyone who does, you owe it to yourself to be there tonight. Or at the very least, take the survey from CD11’s Traci Park.

………

We’ve recently featured Calmatters‘ excellent License to Kill series discussing California’s lax DUI laws, and how the state seemingly goes out of its way to keep dangerous drivers on the streets.

So I thought I’d share a legislative update I received yesterday from CalMatters Investigative Editor Andrew Donohue.

 

Really quick:

The Legislature has planned a number of hearings in the coming days that I thought you might want to know about.

Tomorrow (March 3): The Assembly Public Safety Committee will take up discussion on a bill to tighten punishments for repeat drunk drivers and another bill to close a diversion loophole that allows people charged with vehicular manslaughter to avoid having the case on their driving record.

The meeting starts at 9 a.m. You can attend in person (room 126 of the State Capitol) or remotely. The bills are two of many issues on the agenda.

The bills address two issues we’ve covered in our investigation: the state’s weak DUI laws and how the diversion program means you can face more consequences for a speeding ticket than a deadly crash.

(The committee is also slated to tackle two more related bills the following week.)

March 10: The Senate Transportation Committee will hold an informational hearing titled “Examining California’s DUI and Traffic Safety Laws.” It’s the first such hearing in well over a decade.

We don’t yet know who will be speaking, but it will begin at 1:30 pm at 1021 O Street, Room 1200. You can also stream the live video or audio.

If you can’t make these hearings but would love to watch or read what happened after, we’ll also have access to recordings and a transcript. If you’d like me to send those to you when they become available, reply to this email and let me know.

………

Streetsblog reports LADOT will host a couple meetings to discuss the long overdue safety changes to Westwood Blvd.

Starting Thursday 3/5 – The L.A. City Transportation Department (LADOT) will host two Westwood Boulevard Safety and Mobility Project public input meetings. The in-person meeting will be Thursday 3/5 from 6-8 p.m. at Westwood’s Village Square at 1109 Westwood Boulevard. The virtual meeting will take place on Thursday 3/19 from 6-8 p.m. via Zoom. Details at LADOT newsletter.

………

Ask, and ye shall be answered.

https://twitter.com/BikeLanesLA/status/2028576525478732036

………

Is Ed Sheeran one of us, or is it just AI?

………

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

The decision to reverse an Encinitas CA Complete Streets project means the city will rip out a protected bike lane in front of a public high school with more than two thousand students.

Middlesbrough, England is removing what’s been called the UK’s “most hated” bike lane, after it was criticized for causing injuries and offering a “clear getaway” for shoplifters and drug dealers — never mind that it will cost over a million dollars more to remove the four-year old bikeway than it cost to put in.

Someone in the UK seems to be responsible for an epic screwup, after a 13-year old girl was injured falling off a scooter on a new bike lane, where the red grit surface somehow wasn’t bonded to the roadway.

………

Local 

Culver City is creating a weekly bike bus starting at 8 am today, and continuing every Tuesday going forward.

West Hollywood is responding to a rash of residential burglaries by putting sheriff’s deputies on bicycles, which gives them the ability to respond quickly, go where patrol cars can’t, and roll up silently on suspects and crime scenes.

Burbank will post a table on the Chandler Bikeway from 9 am to 12:30 pm this Saturday to answer questions and solicit input about planned bicycle infrastructure in the city, focusing on the upcoming extension of the Chandler Bikeway; you’ll find them at the east end of the bike path at Chandler Blvd and Mariposa Street.

 

State

Sad news from bike-friendly Davis, where a woman riding a bicycle was killed in a collision with a teen ebike rider on a popular bike path.

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Mountain Bike Action pens an open letter to the bike industry, saying we need to stop calling anything with an electric motor an ebike, and create clear distinctions between electric bicycles, electric mopeds and electric motorcycles.

A surprising new mural in the Downtown Las Vegas Arts District celebrates the Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition’s “Let’s Get There Together” safety campaign. I mean, who knew Las Vegas even had an arts district?

They get it, too. Police in St. George, Utah cited a driver for hitting a bike-riding boy in a right-hook crash, leaving the kid with minor injuries; she was cited even though a cop said utility boxes and the position of the sun could have obscured her view of the boy, adding “Regardless, you still have to yield the right of way, especially when you’re at stop signs.” Can we hire that guy to be our LAPD police chief? Pretty please?

A Sioux Falls software engineer has ridden his bicycle to work every day for the past ten years, continuing a streak that began in 2016. Which isn’t easy to do through a single South Dakota winter, let alone ten.

That’s more like it. A 69-year old Louisiana man was sentenced to 9 years behind bars for the hit-and-run that killed a 67-year old man riding a bicycle, along with six months for driving while intoxicated, to be served consecutively. Or concurrently. Or maybe both.

A 30-year old Greensboro, North Carolina man has pled guilty to scamming bicycle companies out of tens of thousands of dollars worth of high-end bikes by posing as a North Carolina-based bicyclist and YouTuber with nearly 4 million followers on his two channels.

Nope, no bias here. A Florida county discusses “essential safety protocols and the legal responsibilities shared by all road users” with a huge graphic listing a dozen safety accessories for people on bicycles, along with advice to use that safety equipment, wear a properly fitting bike helmet and replace it after a crash, and follow the same laws as drivers and use hand signals — then tells drivers to just remain vigilant and give bike riders at least three feet passing distance.

 

International

Momentum says London’s annual Tweed Run could be the quirkiest bike ride on the planet, as participants dress in their finest early 20th Century attire.

Dubliners make over half a million journeys by bike and foot every day, after investing the equivalent of nearly $700 million in active transportation over just the past five years, in a metro area with a population of less than 1.4 million.

South African seniors are taking advantage of the coastal climate and the health benefits of bicycling by taking up gravel riding.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cyclist Rick Pluimers proves hockey players aren’t the only ones who sacrifice teeth for their sport, after landing face first on the cobbles of Omloop Nieuwsblad. I sacrificed mine to diabetes, so same thing, right?

 

Finally…

That feeling when you finish first in a race after a nearly 40-mile solo breakaway, then get DQ’d for illegal brakes that were legal when you started. Or when your wheel blows up because you didn’t fix a damn flat.

And nothing like a purported eco website apparently using AI to say bike lanes make traffic worse — without apparently knowing there’s a difference between New York City and New York State.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

New slate of bills stiffen CA DUI laws, completely incomplete killer pathway, and raising funds for LB hit-and-run victim

February 18, 2026 / / No comments

With all of yesterday’s holiday greetings, I forgot all about Mardi Gras for the first time since I lived in Louisiana with the Pirate Lafitte . 

But just like a flat inevitably follows a forgotten spare tube and patch kit, so Ash Wednesday must follow on the heels of Mardi Gras. 

So I hope you’ve gotten the partying out of your system at least for a day or two, and have a good Ash Wednesday if you’re so inclined.

Personally, I’m giving up flipping off dangerous drivers for Lent. 

I give it about three or four days. 

………

About damn time.

CalMatters continues their exceptional series on the ongoing epidemic of traffic violence in California with reporting on a slate of new bills in the state legislature that would finally get tough on drunk, stoned and killer drivers.

I’ll let them fill in the details, but these are the topline highlights.

  • Make vehicular manslaughter a violent felony and increase DUI penalties (SB 907)
  • Close the DMV point loophole for drivers who get diversion after a deadly crash (AB 1662)
  • Ensure deadly drivers don’t get their licenses back as soon as they get out of prison (TBD)
  • Increase DMV points for fatal crashes (AB 1685)
  • Allow prosecutors to charge DUIs as a felony on second offense (AB 1686)
  • Allow prosecutors to charge DUIs as a felony after third offense, increase repeat DUI penalties (AB 1546)
  • Revoke the licenses of repeat DUI offenders for longer (AB 1687)
  • Bar people convicted of serious or repeat DUIs from purchasing alcohol (AB 1605)
  • Mandate in-car breathalyzers for all DUI offenders (AB 1830)
  • Expand law enforcement DUI training (AB 1814)

Now if they’d just do the same thing for hit-and-run drivers.

………

No shit.

The Marin County Bicycle Coalition has a few questions after a 75-year old man was killed riding his bicycle on a “complete” section of the county’s SMART Pathway.

Like why wasn’t the driver charged for running the victim down from behind with a massive SUV, when only some form of carelessness or distract could reasonably explain why the driver couldn’t avoid someone on a bicycle directly in front of him.

It should have at least been a prima facie violation of the state’s three-foot passing law, since the driver trier to go through rather than around him

Then there’s the obvious question of why this section of the pathway is considered complete, when it’s just nine miles of narrow country road with no bike infrastructure or paved shoulder of any kind.

As in zero.

Never mind on a two lane farm road with a 55 mph speed limit.

It’s worth giving the full piece a read, because they raise a lot of the same problems we face down here, despite the more rural setting.

Like how the hell people are supposed to stay active as they age, when doing it puts them in the crosshairs of dangerous drivers.

………

I want to share a press release I received yesterday promoting a crowdfunding campaign to help pay funeral expenses for Lori Ann Carreon.

The beloved 54-year old occupational therapist was killed by a speeding hit-and-run driver while riding her bike just a block from her Long Beach home earlier this month.

The driver turned himself in four days later.

GOFUNDME CREATED FOR LONG BEACH CYCLIST KILLED BY HIT-AND-RUN-DRIVER

Long Beach, CA – Friends and family of Lori Ann Carreon, the bicyclist killed by a hit-and-run driver on Saturday, February 7th, have set up a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral and memorial expenses.

Carreon was killed while riding her bike just blocks from her apartment in the Bluff Park neighborhood of Long Beach. Carreon, a long-time Long Beach resident and occupational therapist, was a beloved member of the community.

She was hit by a driver going in excess of 60 miles an hour on Second Street while crossing the intersection of Redondo Avenue and East Second Street. The driver fled the scene and turned himself in to the police on February 11th.

The intersection of Redondo Avenue and East Second Street has been the scene of numerous accidents over the years, and residents have urged Councilmember Cindy Allen and Mayor Rex Richardson to take action to make it safer, either by adding speed bumps or a traffic light, but their pleas have so far been ignored.

Long Beach Police have increased patrols at the intersection following the accident and have issued dozens of tickets, underscoring the need for more substantive efforts.

People interested in making a donation can go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-lori-ann-carreon-beautiful-life-and-legacy.

As of this writing, the page has raised $17,500 of the $25,000 goal.

………

This weekend marks the return of Chinatown’s Annual Firecracker run, walk, bike, whatever, for the 48th year.

Below, the sponsors offer a schedule of the busy two day event, or rather, a series of events, including bike rides up to a half century, along with how to register and get more information.

WHEN:
February 28-March 1, 2026

  • Sat, Feb 28: 50-mile Bike Ride; 8 a.m. – via Chinatown, LA River Bike Trail, Griffith Park, Burbank, Glendale, Tujunga, La Crescenta, Montrose, La Canada Flintridge, Pasadena, Alta Dena, South Pasadena, El Sereno and Lincoln Heights
    • Sat, Feb 28: 20-mile Bike Ride; 8:15 a.m. – via Chinatown, LA River Bike Trail, Griffith Park
    • Sat, Feb 28: 2K PAW’er Dog Walk; 9 a.m.
    • Sat, Feb 28: 3rd Annual Lantern Paw Festival; Blossom Plaza, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.; A dog-centered Lunar New Year Celebration from https://www.instagram.com/pawsitivemgmt
    • Sat, Feb 28: Free Festival until 4 p.m.
    • Sun, March 1: 5K Run/Walk; 8:00 a.m.
    • Sun, March 1: 10K Run/Walk; 8:40 a.m.
    • Sun, March 1: 1K Kiddie Run: 9:45 a.m.; includes Kiddie Fun Zone (Carnival Games, Airbrush Tattoos, Pony Rides, Arts & Crafts, Rock Climbing Wall, Activities with the LA Zoo and LA Public Library, Freebies and Giveaways, and much more)
    • Sun, March 1: Free Festival until 1 p.m.

WHERE:
Los Angeles Chinatown Central Plaza
943 N Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles 90012

RUN/WALK, KIDDIE RUN, PAW’er DOG WALK & BIKE RIDE REGISTRATIONS:  $35 – $75

HOW TO REGISTER AND MORE INFORMATION:
• Firecracker L.A. Website: https://firecracker10k.org/
• Registration: https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/LosAngeles/LAChinatownFirecracker
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefirecracker10k
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firecracker10k/
• Twitter: https://x.com/firecracker10k
• Email: info@firecracker10k.org or Call 818-925-8434
• #firecrackerLA; #48years
• L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Trailer/Broll: Chinatown Firecracker 2025 3 minute 06.mov; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXnjkQtweFc

………

Be careful riding river pathways in this weather, for obvious reasons.

Ballona Creek bike path this afternoon. Impassable. Stay out. #StreetPhotography #SawtelleBlvd #BallonaCreekBikePath

— Ted Faber (@snorerot13.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T02:38:50.242Z

………

Joe Linton’s lawsuit over Metro’s failure to implement Measure HLA on the Vermont corridor is kinda headed to court today.

My lawsuit against LACity over #MeasureHLA will be in court next week: Wed Feb 18. But it won't be the big part of my case. There are 3 things I am contesting. Next week is a smaller wonky administrative chunk: asking the judge to nix the city's HLA ordinance. labikas.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/m…

— Joe Linton (@lintonjoe.bsky.social) 2026-02-14T17:46:51.870Z

………

Los Angeles is shamefully giving back millions in hard-won California Active Transportation Program funding, because city budget cutbacks mean we don’t have enough staffing to implement the projects.

And that’s because Mayor Bass and the city council approved massive, unfunded pay increases for police and other city workers.

The City of LA is about to give back millions of dollars of previously won money for active transportation projects because it can’t build things in any reasonable amount of time.

— Streets For All (@streetsforall.org) 2026-02-14T18:21:01.126Z

………

Apparently, LADOT is making up for their lack of staffing by conducting an endless series of surveys, including this one on improvements to Marmion Way.

………

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

This is a perfect example of dangerously impatient driver behavior. On the other hand, this wouldn’t have been a problem if the bicyclists had stuck to a single lane, leaving room to pass safely.

https://twitter.com/Roadman_Podcast/status/2023774901488763167

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton updates LA’s bizarre new policy of conducting “Large Asphalt Repairs” instead of resurfacing streets, which amounts to almost the same thing, without triggering Americans With Disabilities Act and Measure HLA requirements.

A Culver City paper is concerned that a proposal to divert funds that voters approved to fix deteriorating school facilities will be used to “force a connection in between through our quiet residential neighborhood.” Never mind that the purpose is to provide a safe alternative to the usual parent drop-off so kids can walk or bike to school. But what’s the safety of a few kids compared to keeping the riffraff and rugrats out of the ‘hood?

South Pasadena wants your input on improvements to the Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue Corridor, including the possibility of new bikeways.

Baldwin Park has officially opened the 2.3-mile Baldwin Park Greenway, which is slated to expand to five miles in the coming years, allowing people to bypass the area’s busiest streets.

 

State

A Silicon Valley organization changes lives by rebuilding bicycles that are then donated to local charities to distribute to people in need.

 

National

The Velo podcast considers, among other things, the controversial ethics of hi-viz, and getting stalked by Bigfoot while riding through the woods.

No surprise here. The police chief of Greeley, Colorado, crashed into a 15-year old boy on a bicycle while driving his personal SUV, and the cops immediately blamed the kid on the bike for riding out in front of him. Which is entirely possible. But it’s a little strange that the cops never seem to be responsible for a crash, when even they will tell you they’re the worst drivers on the road.

Chicago Streetsblog accuses a candidate for alderman, aka councilmember, of being a Trump-aligned NIMBY who wants to rip out “obstructive bike lanes,” even though the traffic congestion is actually caused by utility construction.

A proposal in the New York State legislature would allow residents to set aside pre-tax funds for transportation, including transit and bike share.

 

International

London bike thieves stole around 40,000 bicycles last year, while the cops recovered a lousy 2%, or about 800 bikes.

After a British writer wrecks a high-end wheel hitting a massive pothole, he’s just happy it wasn’t worse.

Yesterday we mentioned that a man was killed in the UK when he allegedly fell off his ebike and crashed into a stopped police van when the cops attempted a traffic stop; now it turns out he was restrained by the cops as he lay dying — and bizarrely, had a “package” in his mouth that was removed by paramedics at the scene.

Cycling Weekly details a stunning handbuilt Italian Simoncini bicycle frame, saying it epitomizes the aero thinking of the 1980s.

A Finnish couple spent 20 months riding 13,000 miles from Finland to Singapore, passing through a mere 24 countries on a DIY tandem.

Only 30 or so people turned out in Seoul, South Korea, for a chilly Critical Mass, just the 14th in the city. Although it takes courage just to ride on Seoul’s crowded streets.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Visma‑Lease a Bike cycling team is looking for a new title sponsor, even though both firms remain firmly on board, as the costs of remaining competitive on the WorldTour continue to climb.

Mexican wunderkind Isaac del Toro continued his winning ways from his rookie season, winning stage 1 of the UAE Tour in stunning fashion.

The iconic Paris-Roubaix is now officially changing its name to the somewhat more cumbersome Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France, a moniker assured to be used by virtually no one who’s not required to.

 

Finally…

Nothing like putting a planter or two in the middle of a bike lane. And your next really expensive bike frame could be a rolling canvas.

But only if you put wheels and stuff on it.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

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

January 14, 2026 / / 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.

The nonpartisan nonprofit news organization has run a series of hard-hitting stories pointing out how the state allows dangerous and deadly drivers to remain on the roads, even after taking a life.

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 bill last 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.

……….

The Venice Neighborhood Council wants to know where you think a safe Venice bike network should go.

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.

………

Seriously?

A 31-year old Indiana man faces charges for the hit-and-run death of a 69-year old Indianapolis man riding a bicycle, after police tracked him down two months later.

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.”

No bias here, either. Irish bicyclists and advocacy group attacked the remarks of a judge who imposed his own views as a driver to slash an award to an injured bike rider by 80%, saying bicyclists “have become a nightmare in Dublin;” one group argued it showed “language that risks normalizing hostility towards people who choose to travel by bike.” Never mind that the judge once refused to take a breathalyzer test when he was suspected of drunk driving.

………

Local 

Just months after Pee-wee Herman’s classic red and white bicycle was donated to the Alamo, and a second went to Kourtney Kardashian as a Christmas present, another of the 14 duplicate bikes used to film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure was donated to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures at Wilshire and Fairfax.

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.

LA’s killer highway nearly claimed another victim, as a man in his 50s was seriously injured when he was run down by a driver while riding an ebike in Hermosa Beach. Although photos from the scene make it clear that he was riding an electric motorbike, rather than a ped-assist ebike.

 

State

The City of La Mesa is teaming with the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition for an hour long virtual information session for new bicycle owners tomorrow evening.

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.

 

National

There’s a special place in hell for anyone who flees the scene of a crash, leaving a little kid lying in the street — like the driver who hit a child’s bike as he was riding in a Bend, Oregon crosswalk. Fortunately, the boy wasn’t seriously injured.

Bike Portland struggles to make sense of what caused an experienced bicyclist to lose control of his bike and go over his handlebars, after a witness said initial reports that he hit a large pothole were wrong.

Oregon letter writers argue that improving bike infrastructure helps reduce oil dependence.

A 23-year old Salt Lake City man has been arrested for fatally shooting a bike thief in the back, as the alleged thief was riding off on his bicycle. We’ve said too many times already that no bicycle is worth a human life. Just let it go, and let the cops deal with it. That’s what they’re paid to do.

A tri-state planning association for the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut region calls on New Jersey to reject a legislative crackdown on ebikes that would be the most restrictive ebike law in the US.

You’ve got to be kidding. A bike-riding kid in South Carolina got the blame for crashing into the side of a passing pickup, even though it’s far more likely the driver sideswiped the kid. Never mind that even if the kid did crash into the pickup, the driver was clearly violating the state’s three-foot passing law.

 

International

Momentum recommends a dozen “hidden gem” bicycling routes for your bike bucket list, only one of which is in the US.

An English writer says a bike rider was killed by a hit-and-run driver in his town, leaving the bicycling community scared — and serving as a reminder that safer roads aren’t a ridiculous request, but a need. Trust me, I know the feeling. But I’d add heartsick to those feels, too. 

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.”

Speaking of bike bucket lists, a French website recommends the Parc naturel régional du Luberon in the heart of Provence, saying it might as well have been “designed for exploring on two wheels.”

 

Competitive 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.

 

Finally…

Turning a simple bicycle jersey into a work of art. Nothing like spending your Christmas riding laps around a Mickey D’s drive-thru.

And accusing an oil-sponsored bike race of “pedalling climate bullshit.”

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

How California keeps people dying on our streets, Industry goes bike-friendly, and Torrance keeps over-regulating ebikes

December 12, 2025 / / Comments Off on How California keeps people dying on our streets, Industry goes bike-friendly, and Torrance keeps over-regulating ebikes
It’s Day 15 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

It was a busy day here at BikinginLA World Headquarters yesterday.

Thanks to Miriam, Paul, Kurt, Samer, Andre and SAFE for their generous support to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day! 

So what are you waiting for? There’s just 12 days left to donate, whether through PayPal, Zelle or Venmo. 

Don’t wait. Help keep the corgi in kibble, and give now!

Our spokescorgi capture how we all probably feel after finally making it to the end of this week. 

And if you find any weird uncorrected mistakes today, it’s because I kept falling asleep writing this. 

………

Cal Matters concludes their four-part deep dive into why people keep dying on our streets, with 40,000 deaths from traffic violence in California over the last decade alone, including:

  • 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.

It’s more than worth taking the time to read, and going back over the previous installments.

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.

According to Streetsblog, the east-west pathway is being supported by the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments and Active SGV, with a relatively small $1.5 million grant to get things started.

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.”

And yes, that term is a new one on me.

………

Grace sends word that Torrance will consider tightening its overregulation of ebikes at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, once again lumping ped-assist bicycles together with illegal electric motorbikes as it cracks down on anything with a battery.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times letter writer says Hermosa Beach’s ebike culture has gone off the rails, and parents need to be held accountable.

………

‘Tis the season.

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.

Lancaster gave away ten new bicycles and helmets to kids as part of its tree lighting ceremony.

The Sheriff of San Luis Obispo County thanked everyone involved in the country bicycle distribution program, which accepts used bicycles to be refurbished by inmates at the Sheriff’s Honor Farm and given to kids in need; last year, the program gave away more than 300 bikes.

Inmates at California’s Folsom State Prison’s donated 150 refurbished bikes for children and others in need through their annual bicycle refurbishing program.

Over 400 Philadelphia bike riders turned out for the city’s 13th annual Holiday Lights Ride.

Students in a South Carolina school district donated 233 bicycles to be given to kids in need, a 45% increase over the previous year.

A Louisiana lawyer hosted his annual bike giveaway in the state capital of Baton Rouge, with LSU football players on hand to help give away over 100 bicycles.

………

BikeLA invites you to join them for the Echo Park Community Parade tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/heybikela/status/1998521205780001183

………

………

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.

………

Local 

LAist offers everything you need to know about the two-day CicLAvia-style open streets event in Camino City Terrace this weekend.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton considers what’s so awful about the city’s attempt to weasel out of its obligations to build bike lanes under measure HLA and the Americans with Disabilities act by renaming repaving projects “Large Asphalt Repair.”

 

State

Yes, I’m still peeved — to put it mildly — that the state just announced $1.1 billion in new funding for zero-emission transportation and infrastructure, yet somehow can’t manage to come up with one dime to revive the CA Ebike Incentive Program murdered by CARB.

Like Los Angeles, San Diego pledged ten years ago to end traffic deaths, only to see them increase.

Santa Barbara County pedestrians and bicyclists are being asked to identify traffic calming measures to help train artificial intelligence for the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments AI Bike Map Project.

Calbike shares four strategies that helped pass buffered bike lanes on Hollenbeck Ave in Sunnyvale.

Thanks to Megan for sending news that the Davis Halloween Zombie Bike Parade raised $10,000 to help buy adaptive bikes for kids with special needs.

 

National

Happy birthday to Adventure Cycling, which is celebrating its 50th year of helping bike tourists get out on the road.

Trek is recalling all their 2026 Domane+ ALR 5, Domane+ ALR 6 AXS, Checkpoint+ SL 6 and Checkpoint+ SL 7 ebikes because the bolts securing the chainring could come loose, which could cause it to fall off while you’re riding. That sounds bad. Is that bad? It sounds bad.

A local website recounts the early history of bicycling in Portland’s Montavilla neighborhood, proof that the city has always been popular with the two-wheel crowd.

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that doctors can be held liable for prescribing  medication to a patient who abused drugs, and killed a woman riding a bicycle while driving under the influence.

A 68-year old Wisconsin bike rider was killed by the driver of a snowplow attached to privately owned pickup truck; authorities wasted little time blaming the victim for riding on a dark street, in dark clothes, with “minimal reflective equipment” on his bike.

A jury in Flint, Michigan awarded a $3.7 million judgement to a man who was hit by a cop doing 79 mph without lights and siren, but found the victim 49% liable for riding drunk, with a BAC nearly three times the legal limit.

This is the cost of traffic violence. New York philanthropist Geoffrey Radbill was killed when a minivan driver rear-ended the bicycle he was riding; Radbill, who had donated to a new center at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University and raised funds to combat multiple sclerosis, was 78.

 

International

Cycling Electric recommends the best ebike accessories of the past year, for that ebike rider on your secret Santa list. Assuming the gear is sold here, that is. 

A Canadian website talks with a St. John’s, Newfoundland transportation advocate about what it would mean to build a city that was actually safe for kids, instead of one built around cars and the people in them.

No surprise here. A new survey of Londoners reveals that the one thing that would get more people to ride a is safer drivers. That would probably get more Angelenos on bikes, too. 

British Olympic hero Sir Chris Hoy suffered a broken leg in a mountain biking crash, in what he termed the worst crash he’d ever been involved in; the 47-year old retired cyclist is already dealing with a terminal prostate cancer diagnosis.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 100-year old man in Seongnam, South Korea still rides his bike 25 to 30 miles a day every weekend, after not taking up riding until his 80s. And judging by the photo accompanying the story, he looks younger than I do.

 

Competitive Cycling

Italian race bikemaker Factor says long stems and slammed saddles could be causing the uptick in crashes. Speaking which, they claim their aggressive new  Factor One is the world’s fastest UCI-legal road bike.

 

Finally…

That feeling when Mary and Joseph kneel at the manger, while baby Jesus escapes the movies in a bike-riding kid’s backpack.

And nope. That’s it. That’s all I’ve got this time.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Urgent Malibu PCH action alert, CA among weakest US DUI states, and more on CARB’s murder of ebike incentives

October 31, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 304 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Happy Halloween!

If you’re still looking for a costume that will truly terrify your neighbors, consider going as a bike lane.

………

If you live, work, commute or bike on or anywhere near PCH in western Malibu, take urgent action now to keep a vital safety project moving forward, which is currently in jeopardy before the Malibu Planning Commission.

Consider this alert from Streets Are For Everyone that went out yesterday; you’ll find a ready-made email response form on that link.

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.

You can also join and provide public comment on this virtually using this link.

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.

They want, and need, to hear from you.

Photo from Caltrans. 

………

In what should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, CalMatters finds that California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the country.

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.

Take this case in point. Or this one.

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.

According to Streetsblog’s Damien Newton,

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.

………

LADOT reminds us they’re looking for feedback to finally fix dangerous Ohio Ave west of Westwood Blvd.

………

Gravel Bike California explores the Breckenridge Mountain Loop, just a two-hour drive from Los Angeles.

Although the only Breckenridge I’ve ever ridden is just a tad further away.

………

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

No bias here. The local paper says adding a movable barrier to the bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge is a good idea, allowing the state to close the bike lane on weekdays to make more room for cars. Because evidently, the convenience of drivers outweighs the convenience and safety of everyone else. 

An English politician complains that a few feet of pavement for new bikeway is changing the character of the city by covering over historic cobbled paving stones. But the city just says hold on, we’re not done yet.

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

A British man was surprised to learn a bikeshare company has no legal liability for the ebike rider who crashed into his bicycle, leaving him “hours from death.”

………

Local 

Streets For All says the $2 billion — yes, with a B — LAX ATMP Roadway Improvement Project will only have the opposite effect, tearing up streets just before the Olympics, while making things more dangerous for pedestrians and people on bikes.

A Culver City paper offers more information on the official opening of the new Robertson Blvd Bus/Bike Lane Project.

Somehow, we missed this year’s Phil’s Cookie Fondo, hosted by former pro cyclist and Worst Retirement Ever host Phil Gaimon, to raise fund for the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club — but you can still donate to the fundraiser.

 

State

Around 1,600 people are expected to turn out for Saturday’s Bike the Coast in San Diego County, with distances ranging from seven miles to a century.

The annual two-day, 31-mile Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride is currently underway in San Diego.

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.

Marin County bike riders were expected to turn out last night for the annual Pumpkin Head Ride, which requires participants to wear a lit pumpkin on their helmets, if not their heads.

Sacramento’s Bike Lab works to empower local people through a variety of community services, including free bike repairs for anyone who needs it.

 

National

Knog is recalling its Blinder 900 and Blinder 1300 Front Bicycle Lights because the lithium-ion batteries could catch fire, but they promise they’ll replace it for you.

No point in waiting, I guess. Bike Magazine is the first out of the gate with a holiday gift guide. For all your Halloween giving, evidently. 

Somehow, I’ve never heard anyone say they’d start riding if only ebikes had a bigger interactive touch screen.

Of all the crashes that are unsurvivable, getting run down by a cement truck driver ranks pretty high on the list.

A Utah woman got a custom postpartum bike fit to help her get back on her bike, addressing the unique physiological changes affecting women after having a baby.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Albuquerque, New Mexico is building a new HAWK signal at a bike trail crossing where a bike rider was killed three months ago. Except why do they always have to wait until it’s too late? And someone should tell that TV station that the victim probably had a name. Just saying. 

The leaders of a Kansas hospital chain got together to build 25 new bicycles to donate to children and families across the Kansas City area.

An Ohio city opened a new connector project, including a new bike and pedestrian bridge, stitching together multiple miles of bike trails.

Great idea. A Baltimore-area bike shop teamed with a bike builder and custom painter to build a tricked-out, one-of-a-kind bicycle, raising over nine grand for a local homeless outreach group.

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.

 

International

A Canadian writer got his custom built, carbon frame Frankenbike back, courtesy of a small town marketplace, a year-and-a-half after it was stolen from the teenager he passed it down to.

Somehow, Brompton goes electric doesn’t quite have the same feel as Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival, but still.

Europe’s most influential bicycle trade show is in jeopardy, after two leading German bike groups pulled out of Eurobike.

The UK now has a “boozy bike trail” through vineyards just 90-miles from London. Because if there’s one thing dank and drizzly England is known for, it’s wine. 

That’s more like it. Lime is deploying 500 dockless ebikes with child seats installed on the back to the streets of Paris.

A travel writer takes his family on a first-of-its-kind Botswana safari to track lions and elephants by bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Grand Junction, Colorado newspaper celebrates a 77-year old local man’s second-place age-group finish on the world master’s cycling stage.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your new artistic bike rack becomes a sock library. Or when you invent the first aero bike by using balsa wood and mummy tape.

And evidently, you’re not supposed to hurl Lime bikes out the back of a van.

Who knew?

……… 

Thanks to Ted F for his very generous donation to support this site, and help me stay in the fight for a few more rounds.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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