Day 241 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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This, too, is the cost of traffic violence.
A hit-and-run driver severely damaged a popular Hollywood sculpture Monday evening, literally decapitating a statue of early film icon Anna May Wong, widely considered to be the first Chinese American film star.
The statue is, or rather, was, part of the Four Ladies of Hollywood Gazebo at Hollywood Blvd and La Brea Ave, a popular photo site for tourists, even if it has been without the small statue of Marilyn Monroe that used to top it until an influencer stole it as a prank and broke it.
According to Beverly Press & Park LaBrea News, the unknown driver fled the scene after crashing into it around 5:50 pm Monday. He’s described only as a male in a full-size, older model, white work van.
Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD’s Hollywood Division at 213/972-2971.
Let’s hope they find the coward and force ’em to pay for repairs.
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Good idea.
CD10 Councilmember Heather Hutt wants to close a section of 6th Street in Koreatown on weekends to create a four-block pedestrian plaza.
Or rather, she wants to close it to cars so we can open it up for everyone else.
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Researchers are discovering that automated traffic cams are more popular than you think, for one good reason.
They work.
According to Bloomberg,
But writ large, the track record of automatic enforcement is overwhelmingly positive. In surveys most Americans understand and value the upsides that traffic cameras offer. A 2022 study found that a majority of American adults back automatic traffic enforcement, and that presenting it as a tool to advance racial justice can make it even more popular. Earlier research identified consistently strong support. A 2012 study of people living across 14 US cities found that two-thirds of them supported red light cameras. Papers published in 2014 and 2016 found that 76% of residents in the District of Columbia and 62% of those in suburban Montgomery County, Maryland, respectively, supported speed cameras.
Public support can transcend party lines and geography. Sarah Seo, a law professor now at New York University, found in a 2020 reportthat a majority of likely voters across the US supported “moving most traffic enforcement to traffic cameras and non-police agencies” (such as a transportation department, as Berkeley, California, has explored), including almost two-thirds of Democrats, a plurality of independents, and 42% of Republicans.
So what the hell is Los Angeles waiting for, already?
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LADOT wants to know how to make the stretch of Pico Blvd west of DTLA safer.
So tell ’em, already.
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Gravel Bike California rides Tour de Big Bear.
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Before there was a Polls-Royce, Rolls rolled.
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Oops.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Just an oopsie, as a British town removed a barrier mistakenly placed in the middle of a bike path.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
An 85-year old San Francisco man ended up with multiple injuries when something knocked his cane out from under him and sent him flying as he walked in a bike lane — although he has no idea if it was someone on a bicycle, someone getting out of an Uber, or something or someone else.
More on the road-raging British bicyclist who allegedly threw his bike at a car in a fit of rage after the driver “bumped” into him, causing over $1,300 in damages, even through the driver pinky swears he was only going 2 mph at the time of the crash. Which kinda stretches credibility, because most cars can idle faster than that if left in gear.
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Local
Santa Clarita’s forthcoming Haskell Canyon Bike Park is making news in San Francisco, as the SF Gate examines the city’s effort to become a mountain biking destination.
State
In an op-ed for the nonprofit Voice of OC, a Huntington Beach man who identifies himself as an “automobile driver, a cyclist, and an e-bike rider” says enough with passing performative ebike laws on a city-by-city basis, since state law already covers it — including defining any two-wheeled electric device without pedals as a motorbike.
Around 50 people will set out today on the 5th annual Suicide Awareness Ride, covering 250 miles from San Diego to Santa Barbara over the next three days.
Carlsbad will consider adopting a minimum age requirement for ebike riders.
National
If your toddler wears a FunFix bike helmet, the feds want you to throw it away.
At least a Washington hit-and-run driver had the courtesy to wait until kids weren’t around to crash into a school bike rack.
When is a bike lane not a bike lane? When a high-end Denver steakhouse has a city permit to use it for valet service.
A Guinness World Record-holding adventure cyclist rode 430 miles north to south from one end of Wisconsin to the other, ending with a dip in Lake Superior.
State police in Michigan called for better road safety awareness as bicycling collisions jumped 20% in the first half of this year.
Gainesville, Florida seems to stretch the meaning of “traffic control device,” which is what they call bike lanes.
Commissioners in Florida’s Seminole County are hesitating to install new green bike lanes, after receiving a letter from the state ordering them to remove green crosswalks.
International
Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website says Ireland’s “rugged and remote” Donegal coast belongs on everyone’s bike bucket list, especially this time of year.
More proof that bicycling is good for you, as new Italian study shows that riding your bike as little as 2.5 miles to work four to five times a week is enough to boost your heart health as much as 30%.
Competitive Cycling
Four time Tour de France winner Chris Froome had to be airlifted to a hospital following a training crash that left him with a fractured vertebra, multiple broken ribs and a collapsed lung; he’s reportedly in stable condition after being rushed into surgery.
It’s happened again, as thieves broke into the TotalEnergies cycling team truck at France’s Tour de Poitou-Charente, stealing 20 bikes made by the American ENVE brand.
Finally…
Aways remember to steal your getaway bike from Walmart before you rob a bank, not after. When you’re carrying synthetic drugs and meth on your bike, stop for the damn stop signs, already.
And if you don’t want to censor the maps, maybe don’t start your bike race in Three Cocks.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
