Day 69 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Forget California’s semi-moribund, scandal-plagued ebike rebate program.
At least if you live in the San Gabriel Valley, anyway, where you can apply now for a $2,000 voucher to buy an e-cargo bike.
But hurry, because applications have already been received for half of the 300 available vouchers.
Photo by Kaboompics.com from Pexels.
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Police in San Diego are looking for the asshole hit-and-run driver left a man riding a bicycle lying in the street with serious injuries.
The 46-year old victim was hospitalized with spine, collarbone and rib fractures following the Friday night crash in the city’s Clairemont Mesa West neighborhood.
Police are looking for a red 2015 to 2017 Volkswagen Jetta, with damage to the front bumper. Anyone with information is urged to call Traffic Division of the San Diego Police Department at 858/495- 7823 or call CrimeStoppers anonymously at 888/580-8477; there’s $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
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This is who we share the road with.
A disgruntled customer drove his cars into a Carmax showroom in Inglewood, injuring at least eight people.
Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.
Guy drove into a CarMax at 8611 S La Cienega in Inglewood today. pic.twitter.com/Nl3e5FaReX
— Los Angeles Scanner (@LosAngeles_Scan) March 9, 2025
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Seriously? Santa Clarita residents lit up the phones at the sheriff’s station to report “a caravan” of juveniles riding a mix of bicycles, ebikes and dirt bikes, despite a complete lack of reports indicating the kids were doing anything wrong.
An Italian pro cyclist suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs in a pair of back-to-back attacks when he was threatened, pushed off his bike, punched in face and hit with rock in what appeared to be completely unprovoked assaults by motorbike riders, as he finished a training ride with his brother.
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Local
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton digs into the numbers, and finds that highway widening conducted by Metro and Caltrans in Los Angeles County were responsible for 96% of California’s home demolitions for freeway expansions in recent years.
State
Irvine’s second annual CicloIrvine open streets event will roll on May 3rd.
A San Diego nonprofit is encouraging homeless people to ride a bike, and will give them a refurbished bicycle, along with a helmet, lock, lights, saddlebag and some maintenance items after they’ve completed 100 miles on a bike; 76 people have completed the program to earn one in the last five years.
In a Santa Barbara op-ed, a man makes the case for changing the city’s ordinance prohibiting sidewalk riding, arguing that bike riders shouldn’t have to contend with high-speed traffic on the streets. Bicyclists should have the option, even though studies have shown the apparent safety of sidewalks in an illusion, as reduced sight lines actually increase the danger for people riding on the sidewalk.
The question isn’t why Cupertino’s city council voted to approve new protected bike lanes on one of the city’s most dangerous corridors, but why two of the five council members voted against it.
A want to be like him when I grow up. A Turlock paper remember a former octogenarian fitness role model, who didn’t let diabetes and neuropathy interfere with his love of bicycling; Ray Houlihan was 93 when he died following a brief illness.
National
Escape Collective drops their usual paywall to discuss why most bikemakers are hiding a key indicator of how their bikes handle.
In a story only for their subscribers, Bicycling makes the case that high-end bicycling gear probably isn’t worth the cost. So much for their high-end ad accounts.
Seattle could be on the road to Vision Zero, as preliminary data shows the city cut pedestrian deaths in half last year — and had no bicycling deaths. Which shows what can happen when city leaders actually give a damn and do something.
Speaking of Seattle, the city opened a new two-mile bike path along the waterfront as part of an $805 million project to revamp the Puget Sound shoreline, starting with removal of a highway that used to block access to the coast.
Life is cheap in Colorado, where a teacher got one lousy year behind bars for killing a ten-year old boy riding a bicycle while driving distracted, just minutes from my bike-friendly hometown; the boy’s parents are fighting for tougher penalties for killer drivers. And if you ever wonder why people keep dying on our streets, this is a good place to start.
A man in San Antonio, Texas was sentenced to 50 years behind bars for whacking a man with a beer bottle to steal his bicycle, leaving the victim blind. Which is 12.5 times more than you’d get for killing someone with a car in California.
Boston Magazine explores the fallout from the Boston bikelash, as surprisingly fierce opposition has risen to the city’s new bike lanes, with one pizza shop owner asking who would ever take a pizza home on a bicycle. Funny he should ask.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has told DC Mayor Muriel Bowser that the city’s street murals are dangerous, and gave them 30 days to identify “roadway noncompliance” and develop a plan to deal with them — even though they’ve caused zero crashes, and studies show street art makes roads safer. A Republican lawmaker also threatened the city’s transportation funding if they didn’t paint over a “Black Lives Matter” mural.
International
Bike Radar ranks the best British islands to add to your bike bucket list.
A pro mountain biker, bike journalist and a mountain bike coach discuss gender equality in mountain biking for International Women’s Day.
Life is cheap in Canada, where a dump truck driver got a lousy $1,000 fine for killing a woman riding a bicycle in a right hook.
Life is almost as cheap in the UK, where a woman will spend a lousy one-year behind bars for killing a 57-year old father as he was riding a bicycle, while she was texting and reading Facebook behind the wheel, in what prosecutors termed a “prolonged episode of bad driving.”
After 484 days in Hamas captivity, an Israeli ex-hostage says riding his bike feels like freedom. Which is probably something we all can relate to.
Competitive Cycling
Three-time Tours de France, Giro and World’s champ Tadej Pogačar showed he’s human by crashing at Strade Bianchi, saying he “actually showed I’m pretty shit” — then made the case for why he’s not by coming back to win, turning his previous seven one-day Monuments to eight.
Britain’s Tom Pidcock said it was bittersweet finishing second to Pogačar, after waiting for Pog to recover from his crash, then being unable to hold his wheel at the finish.
The eight-stage Paris-Nice got off to a tense start, with Belgium’s Tim Merlier taking the first stage in an all-out sprint; meanwhile, Jonas Vingegaard started the race with his very own personalized helmet.
An 18-year old Aussie man won a spot on the Canyon–SRAM zondacrypto development team by taking first place in the Zwift Academy’s virtual competition, calling the opportunity “life-changing.”
Despite a well-earned reputation for bullying people when he was competing, America’s only seven-time ex-Tour de France has been there for British eight-time Olympic medalist Bradley Wiggins since he retired nearly a decade ago, helping him recover from a drug problem and deep debt.
Finally….
Fixing a bike for the toddler WorldTour development squad. And we may have to deal with LA’s feral drivers, but at least we don’t have to ride between wild bobcats.
@lookitsblackdynamite #bobcat #lynx #fyp #animals #nature #foryou #cat #explore #trending #viral
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
