Tag Archive for Complete Streets

Stop as yield passes Assembly committee, MOVE Culver City debate goes late, and bike-riding teens shot in Florence drive-by

April 25, 2023 / / Comments Off on Stop as yield passes Assembly committee, MOVE Culver City debate goes late, and bike-riding teens shot in Florence drive-by

The state Assembly’s Transportation Committee has once again passed a version of the Idaho Stop Law.

San Diego Assemblymember Tasha Boerner tweets that AB 73 would allow bike riders 18 and over to treat stop signs as yields, but only when it’s safe to do so.

She also notes that “9 other states already allow policies like these because the data shows it’s safer for cyclists & other drivers.”

Whether that will be enough to get Governor Gavin Newsom to yield veto pen — after he rejected two previous drafts — remains to be seen.

Photo by ALTEREDSNAPS for Pexels.

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Things aren’t looking great in Culver City.

The city council meeting discussing a proposal to rip out the successful MOVE Culver City mobility project is still ongoing as I write this; delaying discussion of controversial issues like this is a time-tested method of waiting out the opposition in hopes they’ll leave before the proposal comes up.

However, as the following tweet suggests, opposition to the project is firmly entrenched, wrong though it may be.

Bike Culver City is doing a great job of live-tweeting the debate, as comments go back and forth between members of the council.

Meanwhile, the list of elected officials coming out in favor of the project continues to grow.

Finally, it’s hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like a good turnout for the protest ride in favor of retaining the project.

https://twitter.com/possumlives/status/1650683058746699777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1650683058746699777%7Ctwgr%5E24c54dac64f9ece62c388d1a78fc9becbccc449b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbikinginla.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D52349action%3Dedit

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Seriously, why the hell isn’t this bigger news when a pair of teenagers get shot riding a bike in LA’s Florence neighborhood?

According to the Daily Breeze, a 16-year-old boy and 18-year-old girl apparently sharing a bicycle when they were critically injured in a drive-by shooting.

So is the problem that we just take shootings for granted now? Or just shootings “down there”?

Or do bike riders — or communities of color — just not matter anymore?

Or maybe all of the above.

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Tragic news from Newport Beach, where bike shop owner Don Feuer was struck by a driver while riding a scooter.

Feuer, owner of Victory Ebikes, was just one block from his store when he was critically injured in the crash on Saturday, April 16th.

According to a crowdfunding page set up to help pay his medical expenses and benefit his family, the crash left Feuer with a damaged spinal cord after breaking his C1 & C2 vertebrae, leaving his prognosis uncertain, at best.

The page has raised just over $8,600 of the $50,000 goal in five days, though word of his injuries is just getting out.

Given the extent of his injuries, however, even the full $50,000 is likely to be just a drop in the bucket for his future medical expenses.

Thanks to Psmith for the heads-up.

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Guerrilla DIY infrastructure group Crosswalk Collective demonstrates LA’s firm commitment to whatever is the opposite of Vision Zero, in which the death of a pedestrian results in a memorial sign and the removal of the group’s DIY crosswalks.

And shamefully, no other action in the seven years since.

Thanks to Tim Rutt for the tip.

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Gravel Bike California takes in the superbloom while riding the century old Ridge Route through the Angeles National Forest.

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

No bias here. A Kentucky law firm asks if bike riders can ever be liable for traffic collisions, before responding, in effect, “Let us count the ways…”

No bias here, either. A Minnesota letter writer says it’s time to stop giving carte blanche to bike path developers, accusing proponents of being divided between absolutists and “rational people.” As if developers of any bike path, anywhere, have ever been given carte blanche.

A Boston-area group opposed to bike lanes conducted their own study, and unsurprisingly concluded that some bike lanes are bad.

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

Police in Durham, North Carolina are looking for a bike-riding groper who’s assaulted six women, including three in the last month.

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Local 

A Los Angeles Times podcast considers whether anything can stop distracted driving. Short of a federal law requiring cellphones to shut off when cars are in motion, probably not.

As long as we’re talking podcasts, former LA Councilmember Mike Bonin’s What’s Next, Los Angeles podcast talks with Streets For All founder Michael Schneider.

Speaking of Schneider, he’s back with another op-ed in the LA Times, arguing that you’re not imagining it, Los Angeles traffic signals really do favor cars, not people.

UCLA’s Daily Bruin looks at the new Westwood Connected campaign to improve walking and biking in the area surrounding the campus.

 

State

You have just one week left to order Calbike’s 2023 bikewear collection.

Sad news from San Luis Obispo, where a Cal Poly student has died after being disconnected from life support, after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike last week.

Momentum Magazine examines the controversy over San Francisco’s planned center-lane pseudo-protected bike lane on Valencia Street; the city has already begun construction before more people can complain.

 

National

Lifewire says Velotric’s new ebike with a built-in Apple “Find My” feature is total genius.

Bicycling considers four Black bicycling clubs working to diversify the roads and trails, including All Clubs LA, which was founded by Kenneth Vinson and legendary cyclists LA cyclists Rahsaan Bahati, Justin Williams and Charon Smith. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Seattle builds a two-way, concrete-protected bikeway stretching a little more than half a mile in the southwest part of the city.

It wasn’t a good weekend for a bike rider in Orange, Texas, either.

A Kansas City TV station says ebikes from the city’s bikeshare system are the best way to get around during this week’s NFL draft.

An Indiana man was sentenced to up to forty years behind bars — or as little as three — for the hit-and-run crash that killed a man riding a bicycle four years ago; he also got a whole eight-day sentence for driving without a license — suspended, of course.

New York announced plans for another ten miles of hardened bike lanes, featuring the sort of concrete barriers most of us would actually consider protection, rather than the usual flimsy plastic car-tickler bendy posts.

New York bicyclists call on the city to keep those bikeway improvements coming, as bicycling deaths continue to climb.

Finishing our New York trifecta, the city considers a proposal to eliminate red tape when it comes to expanding bike lanes and create a real-time map of current bikeway conditions, while a New York councilmember accuses the NYPD of being part of the problem.

DC is reassessing plans for downtown bus and bike lanes in the wake of an organized bikelash.

 

International

An English county counselor was left bloodied and bruised after he was the victim of a hit-and-run driver who left the road and jumped a berm to hit him as he was riding on a fully separated bike path.

A new study from the UK says autonomous vehicles will need to understand the secret language of bicyclists to better understand their intentions, and vice versa.

The police escort for Britain’s prime minister now includes multiple bike cops, the better to force people off the roads.

A new German survey suggests the country isn’t a bicycling country yet, as a national bike club rates it “sufficient.”

That’s more like it. An Israeli driver will spend the next ten years behind bars for the drunken Yom Kippur death of a 12-year old boy riding his bike in Jerusalem two years ago, as well as being banned from driving for 20 years.

An African writer says bicycles present the solution to safe, healthy and inclusive cities on the continent, which continue to choke under air pollution, vehicular traffic and and traffic fatalities.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar suffered a setback on his way to steamrolling the competition this spring, breaking multiple bones in his wrist; he’ll be out four to six weeks following successful surgery. The Slovenian cycling star says he’s was lucky that was all he broke, concluding “Shit happens.”

 

Finally…

How to pick the right seat for your tush. Your next gravel bike could be a Lamborghini — unless you’d rather have a new motorcycle-ish ebike inspired by a Land Rover.

And is it really a winning strategy to market your fat tire bike primarily to fat people?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Bike rider seriously injured in Point Loma hit-and-run, support for MOVE Culver City, and Biking While Black in Anaheim

April 24, 2023 / / One comment

Let’s start with news of yet another bike rider injured by a heartless hit-and-run driver.

Steve Messer forwards news that a friend of his was the victim of a hit-and-run while riding in San Diego’s Point Loma neighborhood.

It’s hard to read the small type, but the victim, a former cop and board member with the high school mountain biking league, was riding on Catalina Blvd when he was run down by the driver around 4:50 pm.

The suspect, described as a white male 35-45 years old, wearing a lighter colored baseball cap, was driving a smaller white pickup truck with a regular cab and non-tinted windows.

If you live or ride in San Diego, try to get the word out to get more eyes out on the street looking for the suspect. And if you know anyone who works in the news media, give them a push to cover this story.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

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The drumbeats in support of the MOVE Culver City project are getting louder, starting with an editorial in the Los Angeles Times.

The paper notes the results of the study we mentioned on Friday demonstrating the overwhelming success of the project.

A review of the project after a year found an 18% increase in people walking and 32% more people biking through the area. At the intersection of Culver Boulevard and Main Street, the number of bikes counted nearly doubled. Bus travel became faster and ridership increased more on the corridor compared with citywide.People said they were biking, walking and taking transit more often in the area, according to the review. They felt safer, more comfortable and noticed fewer speeding cars.

As for traffic? It moved faster in the morning hours, and in the evening it took drivers about two minutes longer to pass through the area. Two minutes. That’s a minor inconvenience. It certainly seems like a fair trade-off to make the corridor safer and more convenient for alternative modes of transportation — which was the purpose of the project.

Yet remarkably, but perhaps unsurprisingly, MOVE Culver City is in danger of being unceremoniously ripped out by the new conservative majority on the council in response to the windshield bias of some motorists, many of whom may only pass through the city without stopping, on their way to somewhere else.

Yet somehow demand that the city cater to their needs, rather than that of people walking shopping, dining and biking in the downtown area, as well as those riding buses.

According to the paper,

Yet even the modest encroachment of Move Culver City may be too much for opponents of the project, who seem particularly offended by the bus lane. There is a proposal to add back a car lane and make buses and bicyclists share a lane, which would dissuade all but the most confident cyclists and slow the buses, thus making alternative modes of transportation a lot less appealing. And for what? So some drivers can get to their destination two minutes faster…

Like most communities across California, Culver City has plenty of plans detailing its commitment to bike lanes, public transit and sustainable city design as strategies to reduce greenhouse gases from vehicle pollution to help fight climate change. But those plans are meaningless if elected leaders don’t have the political backbone to see them through.

As the paper’s editorial bard makes clear, we will never have safe streets and more livable communities if elected leaders lack the backbone to stand up to opposition from motorists, which is virtually inevitable with any project.

Meanwhile, local elected leaders, both current and former, are adding their voices in support of the project.

Bike riders are encouraged to meet at 6 pm tonight at Syd Kronenthal Park to ride to tonight’s city council meeting to demand preservation of the project.

Bike Culver City has put together talking points to help you speak or email in favor of the project.

If you go, give ’em hell for me.

https://twitter.com/BikeCulverCity/status/1648361017196548100?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1648361017196548100%7Ctwgr%5E79609ed03f750156af9e99ae4bf13a2ce93020d5%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbikinginla.com%2F

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An Anaheim couple captured video of a man stopped by police for Biking While Black, as the well-informed rider cites case law in refusing to be patted down for weapons, and demanding to have a supervisor show up.

He was eventually released with a traffic ticket, which will probably get dismissed.

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Pasadena could be the first city in the LA area to offer a rebate for ebike buyers.

Which is the best argument I’ve seen to live there.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1649850297991458816

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Streets For All is asking you to call for more funding for LADOT at tomorrow’s LA City Council Budget Committee, and support bike and walk-friendly motions  at Wednesday’s Transportation Committee.

Budget Committee (6:00pm, Tuesday 4/25)
The committee will take up the Mayor’s proposed budget for next fiscal year. We are asking you to:
– Advocate for 18 more positions for LADOT’s activate transportation team which is sorely under resourced and stymying our efforts
– Advocate for 4 litigation support positions for LADOT so they can focus on getting bus and bike lanes in the ground and not on lawsuits
– Public comment can be made virtually in real time or in advance
Transportation Committee (2pm, Wednesday 4/26)
– Advocate that the committee approve LADOT’s plan to revisit peak hour lanes
– Support new protected bike lanes on Lincoln over Ballona Creek
– Support a new dedicated speed hump program around schools
– Public comment can be made in advance or in person (no virtual option)We’ve put together a toolkit to help you make public comment in the easiest way possible:

The LA transportation and street safety PAC has put together a toolkit to assist you in making comments.

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This is how you design a hospital for people, not cars.

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A new documentary explores how to use bicycles to change lives and build a better future.

Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up.

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

A “frequent cyclist” complains about “woke” members of a British Columbia city council forcing their ideology on the general public by placing a bike lane on a roadway where he says no one wants it.

No bias here. A British pseudo traffic safety group called for bike riders to pull over and let drivers pass if there’s not room to safely share the lane. Advice that is given by virtually no one else, anywhere.

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

Scottish drivers were infuriated when a man on a bicycle chose to ride in the edge of the traffic lane, rather than the “protected” bike lane next to him, never considering that there might be a reason for that even if they didn’t know what that might be.

British police used deadly force to bust a fleeing ebike rider, intentionally hitting the suspect head-on to end a “high-speed” chase before swarming him as he lay writhing in pain; he was charged with possessing a fake weapon and a “bladed article,” as well as weed. Although it’s questionable how high speed the chase could have been on an ebike.

Police in Sydney, Australia are looking for a hit-and-run ebike rider who crashed into a pregnant woman while riding a bikeshare bike with another person on the handlebars, leaving the woman hospitalized for over seven weeks; fortunately, her baby was okay.

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Local 

The LA Times talks with people who are running and bicycling to call attention to global water issues.

A letter writer in the Times fondly remembers former LA Mayor Richard Riordan’s regular mass bike rides through the city; Riordan died last week at 92.

Another letter writer calls out Culver City drivers for complaining about the traffic congestion they cause, saying he’ll just take the whole lane if MOVE Culver City is removed, while a second argues that not everyone can ride a bike. Apparently forgetting that not everyone can drive, either. 

 

State

A California appeals court concluded that drivers don’t have a first amendment right to honk their horns, ruling that the law “prohibits all driver-initiated horn use except when such use is ‘reasonably necessary to [e]nsure safe operation’ of the vehicle.” Now if we can just find someone to enforce that.

The Orange County Tribune says new bike corridors are coming to Garden Grove.

Bike Radar looks at new mountain bikes on display at Monterey’s Sea Otter Classic, while a writer for Pink Bike visits the Sea Otter Classic but focuses more on coffee than bikes.

In a Menlo Park op-ed, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition board member Andrew Hsu calls for lowering the deadly 50 mph speed limit on one of the most dangerous roads in San Mateo County, where an experienced club rider was killed recently while reportedly doing everything right.

A Bay Area website talks with the longtime owner of San Francisco’s Valencia Cyclery.

A San Francisco ER physician calls for greater protections for bike riders, saying he’s seen — and felt — the damage cars can do to the human body. Although you’ll have to navigate past the paper’s paywall to read it.

 

National

Men’s Health rates the year’s best hybrid bikes.

A motoring website explains ghost bikes, saying the white bicycles on the side of the road have a “more touching meaning” than many drivers might think.

Even the Amish are discovering ebikes, as several Amish churches have decided that the benefits of ebikes outweigh the cost, spiritual or otherwise.

Forbes considers the top mid-size American cities for bicycling, with People For Bikes ranking Berkeley CA tops, and the Bike League going with Anchorage, Alaska.

An Idaho paper highlights the joys of bicycling through a near-empty Yellowstone National Park before it’s opened to cars.

Accused killer Kaitlin Armstrong appeared in an Austin, Texas courtroom, charged with the murder of gravel cycling star Moriah “Mo” Wilson, as the press focused on her new face after undergoing plastic surgery in a failed effort to hide her identity before her arrest.

An African bamboo bikemaker is expanding to North America with a new HQ in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The kindhearted coworkers of an Illinois man with cognitive differences chipped in to buy him a new bicycle after his was stolen.

Surprisingly, a sizable majority of New Yorkers want the city to make streets safer for kids to bike and walk, even if it means removing parking or making it harder to drive; a new poll shows two-thirds of New Yorkers think the city should prioritize pedestrian safety over driver convenience, while nearly six in 10 support doing it even if it means removing parking, adding to traffic congestion or closing down streets.

Vice President Kamala Harris welcomed the annual Soldier Ride to the White House; the ride is part of the Wounded Warrior Project, intended to help get more veterans on bicycles. Read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

 

International

We Love Cycling considers how to upgrade your bike on a budget.

Toronto Blue Jay outfielder Kevin Kiermaier is one of us, riding his ebike a little less than five miles from his home to the stadium to bypass city traffic.

English e-bikemaker Quella introduced a beautiful, retro-style cafe racer that doesn’t look a bit like an ebike.

A London bike giveaway program has gone fro 50 bikes a year to 500 in less than ten years.

Thousands of Scottish bike riders took part in the annual Pedal on Parliament protest to demand safer streets, including a small group that rode the 46 miles from Glasgow to Edinburgh to honor a fallen bicyclist. Imagine if we could get thousands of bike riders, if not tens of thousands, to descend on the Capitol in Washington DC at the same time.

Amsterdam plans to demolish a historic bike parking garage that’s been replaced by a new underwater garage.

A travel magazine recommends touring Venice, Italy by boat and bicycle.

Xinhau offers photos of a massive bike parade in Budapest, Hungary.

A deep dive into crash data shows the actual rate of bicycling injuries in Auckland, New Zealand is as much as seven times higher than official figures.

Chris Hemsworth is one of us, as he takes his kids mountain bike riding in Tasmania.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling offers highlights and results from Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering won the women’s race as her SD Worx team offered a lesson in team strategy, while Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel won the men’s race. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Slovenian Tadej Pogačar was forced to withdraw from the race after failing with a little over 52 miles to go.

Belgian cycling star Wout van Aert used a break in the spring classics to go on a 186-mile bikepacking trip with his friends.

A Bloomington, Indiana website offers photos from the men’s Little 500 at Indiana University, which was won by the Cutters of Breaking Away fame; Team Melanzana’s Grace Washburn won the women’s race, giving the team back-to-back titles.

Road.cc considers the challenges of keeping the Rás Tailteann, Ireland’s most historic and celebrated bicycle race, alive through its 68th edition next month.

 

Finally…

At last, a bike frame for people who can’t decide what color to get. Now you can own your very own San Francisco home and bike rental business for a mere $10.9 million.

And when you’re craving fish and chips, it’s usually better to park your bike and walk through the door than smash through the window on it.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Bike to fix LA’s crappy air, bikeway on new Gateway Bridge opens next month, and final MOVE Culver City report released

April 21, 2023 / / 2 comments

No surprise here.

Once again, Los Angeles leads the country in crappy air quality.

If only there was some sort of sustainable, non-polluting form of transportation that could improve the health of the planet, as well as those who use it.

Better yet, something that had been successfully proven to work for more than a century.

And was safe and simple enough it could even kids could use it. Or nearly anyone else, for that matter.

Oh well, everyone back in your SUVs.

Photo by Ryan Millier for Pexels.

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It’s finally happening.

The long-awaited Mark Bixby Memorial Bike-Pedestrian lane over the new International Gateway Bridge will open on May 20th, in conjunction with Long Beach’s Pride-themed Beach Streets open streets event.

The new bikeway will finally provide a seamless connection from San Pedro to Downtown Long Beach, while offering sweeping views of the harbor from both the Gateway and Vincent Thomas bridges.

Correction: While the article promises a seamless connection, commenters below clarify that there is no safe bikeway over the Vincent Thomas bridge, and not likely to be anytime soon. 

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Culver City has released the final report on the MOVE Culver City project, showing the overwhelming success of the Complete Street project, which is at risk of being ripped out by the city’s newly conservative majority.

As the tweet below notes, it will come up before the city council on Monday, as Planetizen joins calls to save the project..

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Eco-Village is talking with the Southern California Association of Governments, aka SCAG, tonight about their plans to improve transportation and livability in the region.

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Thanks to to free registration from Bike Index, another victimized bike owner got their stolen bike back.

So what are you waiting for?

https://twitter.com/BRAT_Seattle/status/1649239276822081537

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Berm Peak calls the Penny Farthing the sketchiest bicycle ever made.

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

A New Jersey radio station calls on the state’s drivers to just take a breath and chill out, as conflicts — including physical fights — increase between bike riders and drivers unaware of the state’s four-foot passing law.

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

Orange County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for six ebike-riding suspects who stabbed a Ladera Heights teenager Wednesday night, then chased him on their bikes as he ran for his life.

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Local 

CicLAvia is looking for volunteers.

Bike Walk Glendale invites you to visit their Earth Day booth and buy a T-shirt, and take a survey for the proposed Glendale Bicycle Master Plan.

The Argonaut profiles Santa Monica’s Thömus USA, the only location outside of Switzerland to sell the ebike brand, which is built by hand on site at the Santa Monica location.

 

State

Spectrum News 1 names Southern California’s five best bike trails, including the Long Beach Shoreline Bicycle Path and the San Gabriel River Trail.

The stolen ghost bike honoring fallen Palm Springs bicyclist Nelson Esteban has been replaced, thanks to a generous donor. Let’s hope this one stays around a little longer. 

A Monterey weekly looks forward to this weekend’s Sea Otter Classic, calling it a temple of bicycling for all kinds of bicyclists.

Bay Area bike riders call for improving safety on the Peninsula below San Francisco after a relatively recent convert to bicycling was killed earlier this month.

 

National

Men’s Journal picks the year’s best mountain bikes, while CNN is a fan of REI’s Co-op Cycles Generation e1.1, calling it a near-perfect entry level e-utility bike.

Swedish e-mobility company Vässla has launched a subscription model for their entry to the US, with the “highly acclaimed” Vässla Pedal available for purchase, or a $109 monthly subscription.

A Washington town was required to include bike lanes when they overhauled a local highway, thanks to a state law requiring Complete Streets for any highway project costing over half a million dollars. Which is why the California legislature needs to codify Caltrans Complete Streets policy, which has far too many loopholes.

Phoenix held its Bike to Work Day yesterday, as hundreds of people turned out for a brief ride, followed by breakfast at city hall.

Good news from Maine, where a community organization is working to house a homeless woman living out her car, after she spent the last of her money to buy a new bike and helmet for a three-year old boy when his bike was stolen; meanwhile, community members have raised over $9,000 to pay off the loan on her car.

A Westside New York paper waves a warning flag over increased non-motorized traffic in the city’s Central Park, as ebikes and scooters prepare to join joggers, walkers, bicyclists, unicyclists, scooters, skaters, skateboarders, pedicabs, horse carriages and park maintenance vehicles.

Inspiring story from Bicycling, as a 66-year old man prepares to ride New York’s Five Boro Bike Ride next month, more than five decades and three transplants after he was told at 11-years old that he had only two years to live due to cystic fibrosis. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

New York court workers have thrown in the towel and agreed to observe parking restrictions for the new protected bike lane in front of the courthouse.

A North Carolina writer considers the role of vehicular cycling and taking the lane in the absence of safe bicycling infrastructure.

 

International

The CBC explains the differences between road and track bikes.

She gets it. A Canadian writer says we all want roads that are safe, efficient and pleasant, but no one wants to change for that to happen.

A stoned, wrong way driver will spend the next six years behind bars for the head-on crash that killed a man riding a bicycle, and will be prohibited from driving for 12 years; he had five drugs in his system at the time of the crash, including morphine and “street valium,” as well as several previous traffic convictions, including two for drugged driving. Just one more example of officials keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.

Adventure Journal remembers Walter Greaves, a one-armed, vegetarian British bicyclist who set a new world record for riding 62,657 miles in 1937 — despite spending 18 days off his bike after getting hit by a driver.

A British refugee support group has provided 175 bicycles to Ukrainian refugees.

CityLab examines how the Dutch mastered bike parking at train stations. Then again, they’ve mastered just about everything else related to bicycles, too.

A Chinese man has ridden his bike 63,000 miles across the country over the last ten years, despite having just one leg.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling journalist Caley Fretz remembers reporter Chris Baldwin, the former press officer for all-diabetic cycling team Team Type 1, followed by a stint with Astana before returning to Team Type 1 successor Novo Nordisk; Baldwin passed away in his sleep from a heart attack last week. He was just 52.

Here’s your chance to own Miguel Induráin’s Tour de France-winning Pinarello for the low, low price of around 82 grand.

Bicycling considers what comes next after the cancelation of the UK’s Women’s Tour, as organizers promise it will be back next year. Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.

 

Finally…

If you’re riding your bike while under the influence on your island vacation, put a damn light on it, already. Now you, too, can own your very own Taco Bell bike.

And where the hell did they get my picture?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Nearly killed by careless driver, fighting to keep MOVE Culver City, and $500 fine for failing to dismount in Redondo Beach

April 20, 2023 / / 2 comments

I came within inches of getting run down by a driver last night.

I was walking the dog across the street, at a red light, in a crosswalk, with the crossing light, and had waited until all the cars were stopped before walking into the street.

Then just as we stepped into the turn lane, an overly aggressive driver sped through the red light to make a left turn, barely missing us.

Seriously, I don’t know we’re supposed to keep people safe on our streets if none of that works to keep drivers from killing people.

On the other hand, at least he wasn’t driving like this.

Today’s image is the cover of the recent MOVE Culver City project, featuring a photo of op-ed author Yotala Oszkay Febres-Cordero, below.

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She gets it.

In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, an economic and political sociologist, researcher and mom argues against a proposal to rip out the MOVE Culver City Complete Streets project.

The project is endangered by the newly conservative and seemingly auto-centric majority on the city council, despite being an overwhelming success.

As a Culver City resident, mom, cyclist and enthusiastic supporter of public transit in my private and professional life, my position on the mobility project is not detached. I’m one of the many people enjoying the benefits highlighted in Move Culver City’s mid-pilot report (literally — that’s me on the cover, the mom on the cargo bike with my daughter, her friend and their stuffed animal friend Marley).

Drivers complain that the bus and bike lanes slow down traffic on the street. But the lanes don’t do so by much: According to the report, during peak afternoon traffic, travel time in a car has increased by a maximum of two minutes compared with a 2019 baseline. Meanwhile, overall traffic on the corridor has diversified and increased, with marked gains in bus ridership, cycling and pedestrian activity. Also important, the bus and bike lanes protect bikers, pedestrians and even other drivers from traffic violence that occurs with increased speeds.

She goes on to argue that the project’s perceived flaws aren’t reasons to remove it, but make it better, instead.

A common argument coming from some council members and opponents of the project is that because bus service is currently inadequate, prioritizing buses over cars with a dedicated lane does not maximize use of the road. They argue the infrastructure lacks support and utilization because of our car-centric culture and low ridership.

Those are not reasons to remove bus and bike infrastructure — those are reasons to double down. Council members are the decision makers. If bus service is not up to par to maximize the protected lane, then it is on them to make it better. If the project lacks support, then they need to invest in the service frequency, reliability and connectivity to strengthen the ridership and thus the buy-in.

Take a few minutes to read the full thing.

Then do something about it. Because if they can remove this, no street improvements will ever be safe from reactionary motorheads.

https://twitter.com/BikeCulverCity/status/1648361017196548100?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1648361017196548100%7Ctwgr%5Edf6b72bdb698acb88e950199c25eeb15bcd9ea59%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbikinginla.com%2F2023%2F04%2F19%2Ffighting-bike-dismount-law-at-redondo-pier-active-transportation-lost-in-la-budget-and-free-earth-day-metro-bikes%2F

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Seamus Garrity tweeted that ticket is actually nearly $500 — about what it costs if a driver gets caught running a red light, which poses far more risk for everyone else around them.

Having ridden that path hundreds of times myself, I can attest that riding through there poses virtually no risk to anyone crossing from the parking lot to the pier, as long as you slow down and show a little basic courtesy to others.

I could possibly see a $50 fine, though I’d still object to getting one. But $485 is far out of proportion for the risk posed by such a minor violation.

https://twitter.com/seamusgarrity/status/1648748178584530944

 

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

The author of URBAN CYCLING: How to Get to Work, Save Money, and Use Your Bike for City Living was the victim of a drive-by shooting, for no other reason than she was riding her bike.

No bias here. An Aussie city councilor gleefully confesses to wanting to run over school kids, rather than protecting them.

https://twitter.com/BicycleNSW/status/1648211351108730880

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

Singaporean bicyclists cite a need for speed and lack of etiquette for crashes with other riders and pedestrians, after an ebike rider was seriously injured in a collision with a hit-and-run group ride.

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Local 

Sad news today as former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan died last night at 92-years old; the bike-riding owner of The Pantry in DTLA was the city’s last Republican mayor. And probably will be for the foreseeable future.

Santa Monica Lookout offers more information on the upcoming Vision Zero improvements to Wilshire Blvd in the city. Although if 89 percent of severe injuries to bicyclists and pedestrians happen at unsignalized intersections, and approximately one out of five collisions at those intersections occurs when drivers make a left turn or continue straight, that means 80% of crashes come from cross traffic or drivers turning right. So shouldn’t they be working on that?

 

State

Nearly 800 Oakland residents signed a petition calling for the city to take $20 million from the police budget to build safer streets.

A writer for the Cal Davis student newspaper argues for removing the rusting bones of abandoned bikes littering the campus. Especially since they can be fixed up and given to students and staff members who can’t afford one.

 

National

We already know SUVs are more dangerous to people on bicycles — and pedestrians; Axios examines why.

Government Technology examines whether bike registration programs really work, particularly in partnership with police departments. The LAPD is partnering with Bike Index for free lifetime bike registration.

Doug Gordon, co-founder of the popular War On Cars podcast, argues that parents should drive less to protect kids.

The Las Vegas Raiders are set to announce new bike paths and expanded bike parking at their nearly two-billion dollar new stadium.

Low-income residents of my bike-friendly Colorado hometown can apply to receive their choice of a free ebike or a three-year bikeshare pass. Hint: Take the ebike.

Michigan residents celebrate the local parks commission’s rejection of plans for a gravel bike path in a nature park, arguing that allowing people on bicycles would somehow destroy its integrity.

Minnesota lawmakers added ebike tax credits up to $1,500 to the proposed state budget, modeling the plan after Denver’s highly successful program.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music may have “whimsical” bike racks designed by famed former Talking Heads lead singer and folding bike rider David Byrne, but it’s still fighting plans for a nearby protected bike lane, citing vague concerns over safety. Apparently deciding it’s safer to leave the people who already use the busy bike lane unprotected, because something.

Residents of an Erie PA neighborhood are fighting plans for a bike path, preferring their God-given right to park their cars in front of their homes so they can have a chili cook off and fix their driveways. No, really.

DC has paused plans to install a protected bike lane on a major six-lane boulevard after pushback from local businesses and residents, who somehow prefer a car sewer and storage to quiet, non-polluting people on bikes who might actually stop at those businesses instead of just driving by.

A New Orleans bike advocacy group is challenging the city’s residents to get out of their cars and onto their bikes this month.

 

International

Police in an English city ticketed several motorists for passing too close to a cop riding a bicycle, in violation the country’s safe-passing law. Something the LAPD has never done, over extremely misguided fears of entrapment. 

A machete-wielding teenaged robber will spend the next six months behind bars, and another six months on probation for a series of violent bikejackings, including using a moped to knock British pro Alexandar Richardson off his bike and drag him the length of a football field before making off with his bike.

A devastating tree-killing disease forced the closure of a world-famous UK mountain bike park.

Fast Company talks with VanMoof e-bike developer Marjolein Deun about fighting climate change through his efforts with the Dutch e-bikemaker.

A science website celebrates the 80th anniversary of Bicycle Day, which marks the date Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann sampled the new drug he had developed before setting off for home on his bike — and experiencing the world’s first psychedelic LSD trip on the way.

 

Competitive Cycling

A new documentary about Greg LeMond’s comeback from a near fatal shotgun shooting to win the Tour de France will open in theaters this June. LeMond remains the only American to win the race, if you ignore the other two people who won it a combined eight times. 

Bicycling looks at the pro cyclists they’re most excited about watching this year, including Neilson Powless, Sepp Kuss and Garden Grove’s own Coryn Labecki. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Slovenian pro Tadej Pogačar continues his domination of the early spring classics; he’s won half of the races he’s started, from Amstel Gold and La Flèche Wallonne to Paris-Nice and the Tour of Flanders.

 

Finally…

Your next bike helmet could have a built-in two-way electronic communications. Why bicycle groupo names doesn’t make any sense.

And maybe this was you 50 years ago.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1648772867025149960

Here’s the full 12-minute video.

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Eid Mubarak!

……….

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

O’Farrell moves forward with Sunset4All, Los Alamitos Councilmember dies riding bike, and bike lanes coming to 3rd Street

September 16, 2022 / / 2 comments

That sudden chill you feel is hell freezing over.

Surprisingly, CD13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell has taken up support for the Sunset4All Complete Streets makeover of Sunset Boulevard through Echo Park, Silver Lake and East Hollywood.

According to Urbanize Los Angeles,

In a motion introduced on September 14, 13th District Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell requests a report back from the Department of Transportation, the Bureau of Engineering, the Bureau of Street Services, and the City Administrative Officer on recommendations for implementing the scope of improvements proposed in the Sunset4All plan, including a budget, funding opportunities, and a timeline for delivery.

The proposed concept, according to O’Farrell’s motion, would serve an area that is home to more than 100,000 residents, and impact corridors which have been recognized as part of the City’s High Injury Network. The overall project area includes the stretch of Sunset between Fountain Avenue and Dodger Stadium, as well as Santa Monica Boulevard between the Vermont/Santa Monica subway station and Sunset Junction. The Sunset4All plan proposes to restripe the existing right-of-way, adding up to:

  • 3.2 miles of protected bike lanes;
  • enhanced crosswalks and bus stops;
  • new safe routes to schools; and
  • several pocket parks.

Although the strength of O’Farrell’s support is up for debate.

It’s possible that his sudden support stems from his uphill battle for re-election against challenger Hugo Soto-Martinez, who had a nine point lead over O’Farrell in the primary election.

Let’s hope he’s had a late career Damascus moment, and now realizes the error of his ways after cancelling the shovel-ready Temple Street road diet five years ago, as well as other bike projects in the district.

And that his support will last past the November election.

Assuming he wins, of course, which is questionable at this point.

Today’s image is a rendering of the Sunset4All project through the Sunset Junction district.

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Longtime Los Alamitos City Council member Ronald R. “Ron” Bates died unexpectedly of an apparent medical emergency on September 6th while on a bike ride with friends.

Bates was 76-years old, and survived by his wife, two daughters and two grandchildren.

………

A half mile of parking protected bike lanes are coming to 3rd Street in DTLA.

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Before we go any further, let’s pause for a moment to thank Oceanside bike attorney Richard Duquette for renewing his sponsorship of this site for another year.

His support, and that of our other sponsors over there on the right, help keep this site going.

But more importantly, I can personally vouch for Duquette, and our other sponsors, if you ever need someone to fight for you after a crash or some other incident.

I would trust any one of them to handle my own case if someone ran me down on the streets. Which is the best reference I can give.

………

Speaking of Duquette, he’s offering a sponsorship for next year for people and nonprofits engaged in bicycling and triathlons.

Here’s what he had to say.

Only a few more days to apply 2023 sponsorship. My law firm will sponsor the best partners, and the best people who come together to support and encourage bicycling & triathlon around the U.S.

If you are considering racing in 2023, like fun in these sports, then we encourage you to apply. Applications close on October 1st 2022. Tell us how YOU or your NON PROFIT 501(C)(3)(4) genuinely plan to improve the world (ESPECIALLY SAN DIEGO & SO CAL) by or through the sports of Bicycling & Triathlon. Send us your contact information!

If you are a nonprofit in good standing we want to help you! Below is a link to one of 3 links (with podcasts) that discuss “Corporate culture: Law & Ethics of Non Profits” in CA.(Subjects include conflicts of interest, self dealing, fiduciary duties of directors/officers and more.)

https://www.911law.com/blog/2017/may/corporate-culture-and-bicyclists-part-2-of-3-non/

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CNBC examines the seemingly endless size creep in motor vehicles, as they continue to get more dangerous to anyone unfortunate enough to be outside one.

………

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

New Orleans City Council voted unanimously to rip out protected bike lanes in the underserved Algiers neighborhood, after residents complained about the removal of traffic lanes and parking spaces. Once again choosing convenience over human lives and equity. And making the city fully liable for anyone who gets hurt there afterwards. 

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

Horrifying story from the UK, where a 29-year old man was sentenced to 16 months behind bars for physically attacking a disabled driver, who had the temerity to honk at him as he rode his bicycle; he ripped out the driver’s tracheotomy tube after the driver got out of his car, then knocked off his glasses and hearing aid, kicking the latter down the road. He also jumped on the car’s hood and stomped the windshield when the driver got back in his car and drove at him. Yes, the driver was in the wrong, too. But seriously, there’s no excuse for physical violence, especially against someone with an obvious disability. 

………

Local

Streets For All founder Michael Schneider says switching to electric cars isn’t enough; it’s time to think bigger by encouraging more ebike use.

LA Laker’s legend Kobe Bryant was one of us, taking Team USA on early morning 40-mile bike rides through the desert to motivate them, before returning to the gym to practice at 7:30 am.

The LAPD is hosting the 2nd Annual Val Martinez Memorial Bike Ride on September 24th; the 25-mile ride will raise funds for the Martinez’ twin sons, who were born after he died of Covid.

Pasadena adopted a Roadside Memorial Sign Program to honor the victims of traffic violence.

Palmdale introduced four street projects, including pedestrian and bicycle improvements intended to revitalize the downtown civic center area.

 

State 

Only In Your State recommends riding or walking the Old Sea World Drive Bay Trail in San Diego to get from the bay to the beach and back.

San Diego is jumpstarting the ebike revolution with a $10 million loan-to-own ebike program for people making below $49,000 a year.

 

National

A traffic tech site makes the case for why jaywalking laws should be abolished. Someone send the article to Governor Newsom, who has a nasty habit of vetoing traffic reforms that make sense, like this one.

Proponents are still fighting for an ebike rebate in the halls of Congress, after a proposed rebate ended up on the cutting room floor when the Inflation Reduction Act was passed.

CNN talks with bicycling activist Marley Blonsky, the Seattle-based co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes and a trailblazer of the body-size inclusion movement.

New Mexico sheriff’s officials consider bringing fraud charges against framebuilder Dillen Maurer, who raised $18,000 through a crowdfunding page after saying he lost a foot in a collision with an ATV rider while riding his bike near his Taos home; investigators claim he cut his own foot off in a chainsaw accident.

No excuse. A Denver man was seriously injured when he was run down by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike, just one month and a few miles away from where his friend was killed by another driver, who also fled the scene.

A Kansas City woman practices radical forgiveness for the alleged stoned and distracted hit-and-run driver who killed her husband, a teacher and father of ten children, as he rode his bike.

Once again, transportation officials wait until someone dies to make needed safety improvements, as Kentucky officials approve plans for protected bike lanes on the oddly named Licking Valley Girl Scout Bridge, where a woman was killed in a collision while riding her bike earlier this month.

Country singer Vince Gill says his wife, Christian singer Amy Grant, is doing great, despite being confined to their Tennessee home after falling off her bike in July.

 

International

In news that shouldn’t surprise anyone, ebike riders tend to go further, and rid more often, than other bike riders.

Interesting Engineering picks the seven-best ebike conversion kits, while Cycling Weekly reviews the new and improved Swytch ebike conversion.

This Saturday is World Cleanup Day, which is a perfect opportunity to do some good on your bike.

The annual Fancy Women Bike Ride rolls this Sunday; the women-only ride was born in Turkey in 2013, and quickly spread around the world. Surprisingly, however, there don’t appear to be any fancy women planning rides anywhere in Southern California.

New Zealand’s Stuff website examines what’s stopping Christchurch residents from riding their bikes. Which is the same problems we face in Los Angeles, and just about everywhere else.

 

Competitive Cycling

Julian Alaphilippe is back from the injuries he suffered during April’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege, as well as a bout of Covid, and ready to defend his two-time World Championship in Australia.

British pro Alex Dowsett is staring down retirement in his last few months as a pro cyclist

 

Finally…

To be honest, we’ve all been there. Now you, too, can have a 3D-printed bike helmet custom tailored to the contours of your own head.

And forget helicabs. Now you can have your very own flying hoverbike, for the low, low price of just $777,000.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

LA considers Complete Streets makeover of Valley Blvd, US House hearing on traffic deaths, and Ballona Creek path closed

June 9, 2022 / / Comments Off on LA considers Complete Streets makeover of Valley Blvd, US House hearing on traffic deaths, and Ballona Creek path closed

Los Angeles is taking the first tentative steps towards a Complete Streets makeover of Valley Blvd, from Mission Road to Soto Street

Proposals for the four-mile stretch of Valley Blvd include bus lanes and a possible sidewalk level, two-way cycle track, while sinking railroad tracks to reduce crossings and improve safety.

But don’t hold your breath.

Actual construction is at least five to ten years off. And what gets built will depend on a series of public meetings, which gives the usual NIMBYs a chance to derail everything.

Photo courtesy of the City of Los Angeles, via The Eastsider.

……….

About damn time.

The US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee held a hearing yesterday to consider the country’s rising rate of traffic deaths, especially among pedestrians and bike riders.

Then again, it’s one thing to conduct a hearing. It’s another to actually do something about it.

Which hasn’t exactly been Congress’ strong suit in recent years.

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A section of the Ballona Creek bike path between National Blvd and Duquesne Ave in Culver City will be closed through this month.

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Sunset For All hosts another coffee walk to spread the word about plans for a more human-focused boulevard.

https://twitter.com/SunsetForAll/status/1534319644634497025

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

An Idaho man faces up to 15 years behind bars after accepting a plea bargain for driving through a public park trying to run down a boy riding a bicycle; fortunately, the kid was able to jump off before the man ran over his bike.

Police in the UK are looking for the passenger of a pickup who shouted out the window and squirted an “unknown liquid” in the face of pair of bicyclists as the truck passed them. Far from a harmless prank, something like that can startle the victim and cause a dangerous fail — regardless of whether the substance itself was actually harmful.

………

Local

A Long Beach bike rider is in stable condition after he suffered injuries to his upper body when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver in the California Heights neighborhood.

 

State 

Victorville will close a portion of Green Tree Blvd for three months as part of a street makeover, including adding bike lanes along the roadway to create a seven-mile bike loop.

Zebra sightings continue in Santa Barbara, including one that chased a bike rider on Sunday; locals suggest it could be a free-roaming domesticated animal who has gone on several previous walkabouts.

San Jose’s Mr. Roadshow says he’s surprised the Bike League rated California as the country’s fourth most bicycle-friendly state, even as bike and pedestrian deaths continue to rise. He should see how surprised the rest of us are.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a therapy bike belonging to an 11-year old Sacramento boy with cerebral palsy; fortunately, kindhearted community members have raised more than $3,000 to replace it.

 

National

Outdoor offers their favorite outdoor love stories shared by the magazine’s readers, including a California couple’s mountain biking meetup that sparked their relationship.

Consumer Reports warns against buying or using the Tony Hawk Silver Signature Series helmet after it failed a safety test; the manufacturer had offered the helmet as a replacement for the recalled Dimensions Bluetooth Speaker multipurpose helmet, which also failed the magazine’s safety tests.

Bicycling recommends their picks for the best saddle bags. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Dallas is the latest major city to adopt a Vision Zero program, agreeing to halt traffic deaths by 2030. Let’s hope they show more commitment than Los Angeles and other cities have, where it’s failing for lack of effort and investment.

A Chicago public radio station considers what the city can do to improve safety for bicyclists, after three riders have died on city streets this year. Meanwhile, Los Angeles has suffered over twice as many deaths, and no one has even batted an eye. 

Prosecutors charged an Indianapolis man with murder for the fatal hit-and-run that killed his ex-girlfriend as she was riding her bike; she identified her killer by giving police his license number before she died.

A writer from Streetsblog says New York can have nice things, but only after they get rid of cars — like blocking vehicles from the iconic Brooklyn Bridge.

That’s more like it. DC is considering a plan to charge owners of large trucks and SUVs more to register their vehicles in an attempt to improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians, with an extra $175 for vehicles weighing between 3,500 and 6,000 pounds, and $500 for anything over that.

 

International

Digital Journal suggests smart helmets could be the future of bicycle safety.

British police are relying on bike cam and dashcam video to enforce traffic laws, after cutbacks in traffic cops. Unfortunately, that’s illegal in most, if not all, US states, where traffic infraction have to actually be witnessed by a cop.

A 49-year old father of three from the UK shares how bicycling helped him recover from a brain tumor, calling it as important to his recovery as his medications.

Your next custom-fitted Italian steel bike frame could come complete with gold-plated lugs and stays.

A 42-year old Dutch woman has been charged with attempted manslaughter for grabbing the arm of the country’s former legal protection minister as he rode his bike at a high rate of speed, causing him to fall heavily and break several ribs, as well as his pelvis and collarbone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former world ‘cross champ Thalita de Jong is finally back in the women’s WorldTour, five years after a knee injury knocked the Belgian cyclist out of the sport’s top levels.

The Sportsman says seven-time Grand Tour winner Chris Froome is in the toughest fight of his career as he fights just to make the Israel–Premier Tech team for the Tour de France.

The coach of India’s international cycling team has been accused of sexual harassment and trying to force himself on one of the country’s top women’s cyclists.

The Spanish cycling community mourned the death of 87-year old Julio Jiménez, one of international cycling’s best climbers of the ’60s, after he was killed when the driver of the car he was in crashed into a wall.

 

Finally…

Nothing like a little 65 mph bike ride through the California desert. Your next bike could be the self-proclaimed Ferrari of ebikes, for the low, low price of just 18 grand.

And that feeling when jousting on bicycles with boat oars ends up pretty much the way you’d expect.

Jousting with oars on bicycles
byu/purple-circle inWinStupidPrizes

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Metro forgets Complete Streets promises, help put the buena back in Buena Park, and Newsom to bike riders: drop dead

March 24, 2022 / / 2 comments

Once again, Metro gets it wrong.

In its zeal to keep building highway projects in the midst of a climate emergency, the LA County transit agency is starting work on a new $26 million interchange where the 605 and Beverly Blvd meet.

But despite the agency’s professed commitment to Complete Streets, they’re not including bike lanes, even though the roadway will be wide enough to accommodate them at some distant, unspecified date.

Because evidently, they just can’t find a few extra bucks in that $26 million budget for a couple more cans of white paint.

………

Speaking of Metro, Streets For All takes the agency to task for their ever-expanding freeway spending.

As if they didn’t learn anything about induced demand from their failed $1 billion project to add express lanes to the 405 through Sepulveda Pass.

Which they probably didn’t.

This is was the email the group sent out yesterday.

Did you know Metro is planning on increasing their freeway budget by $142 million next year?

Metro’s 2023 draft budget will increase Freeway spending by 30%. This comes after last year’s 80% increase in freeway spending, and at the same time as transit expansion funding is being decreased in 2023.

Freeways continue to cause massive health and climate impacts among LA’s most vulnerable populations while making traffic worse.

Tell the metro board not to increase freeway spending by calling in to the Metro Board meeting tomorrow at 10am (most impactful) or emailing public comment before 5pm TODAY.

Unfortunately, it’s too late to send an email. But you may still have time to call in your comment this morning.

Meanwhile, Metro will consider a pair of bikeway projects at today’s meeting that would connect the LA River bike path with Union Station in DTLA.

………

Help put the buena back in Buena Park. The OC city wants your input on a new Complete Streets project.

https://twitter.com/mikeocbike/status/1506818810682085377

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California Governor Gavin Newsom is once again throwing money around prior to an election.

But this time, it goes out to everyone but us.

At stake is the governor’s proposal for a $400 per car rebate for drivers, in lieu of freezing the gas tax as a sop to people complaining about rising gas taxes.

The money would go out to everyone with a car registered in California, for up to two vehicles, no matter how wealthy the owner, or how environmentally destructive the vehicle is.

Or if it even uses gas.

Meanwhile, transit riders would get a three month fare reprieve. And a relatively paltry $500 million would go towards active transportation projects in the state.

https://twitter.com/urbanistcole/status/1506792515982217219

In other words, Newsom is doing everything in his power to maintain the automotive hegemony on our streets, regardless of the environmental damage, rather than use the crisis as an opportunity to make a sea change in how people get around in our state.

And not one penny to the people who did the right thing, and made the sometimes difficult, but environmentally sound, decision to give up their cars.

Instead of rebates to car owners who don’t need them — and in many cases, should have purchased a less wasteful and destructive vehicle to begin with — Newsom should make all transit systems within the state free.

Not just for three months, but permanently.

He should also pay people a monthly stipend to walk or bike to work instead of driving — enough to actually get people out of their cars. Then use the remaining funds to build the infrastructure necessary to support it.

Instead, we’re just doubling down on the same problems that got us here in the first place.

And learning absolutely nothing from the last gas crisis, while just setting us up for the next one.

………

Unbelievable. A young Indian boy miraculously survives when his bike was crushed by a city bus after he darted out across the roadway on his bicycle and broadsided a motorcyclist, then skidded across the roadway just inches in front of the moving bus.

………

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

No bias here. A Santa Barbara letter writer and former “frequent bicyclist” complains about the “bike lobby” that has “gained outsized power in the city government,” while conflating off-street bike paths with on-street bike lanes, and complaining that few people who ride the bike paths are riding to work. And that people in cars, who are apparently far more important than bike riders, really, really need their parking spaces. Although someone should ask him why he stopped riding, and if it had anything to do with a lack of safe bikeways.

A Scottish city is being justifiably criticized for leaving a huge lamppost in the middle of a new bike lane, evidently preferring to risk the safety of people using the lane than pay to move it.

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

An anonymous Portland writer complains about “asshole bicyclists” who ignore No Bikes Allowed On Trails signs to ride on walking trails in environmentally sensitive areas. Aside from making it clear he or she is as much of an a-hole as the people they’re complaining about, the writer has a point. Never ride where you could cause real harm to fragile landscapes.

Police in Ohio are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who slammed into the side of an SUV after running a stop sign, and took off on foot when the driver called the police.

………

Local

Metro Bike returns to North Hollywood with new and improved bikeshare docking stations designed to accommodate any Metro Bike from anywhere in the city.

Culver City Patch reports on the 10th anniversary celebration of children’s bike advocacy group Walk ‘N Rollers.

 

State 

That feeling when your new Ducati bicycle isn’t made by Ducati, but comes as a tribute to the Italian motorbike brand from an Irvine-based ebike maker.

Danville is looking for volunteers to serve on the city’s six-person Bicycle Advisory Commission.

A Sebastopol winemaker faces up to 12 years and eight months behind bars after pleading guilty to the drunken crash that took the life of a bike-riding man, and cost the leg of a 12-year old boy who just happened to be riding near him; or he could walk with just time served. Ulises Valdez Jr. was nearly twice the legal blood alcohol limit following the collision.

 

National

Forbes offers their picks for the best bikes to ride anywhere, from the mountains to the bodega.

Bicycling offers a clickbait slideshow with their recommendations for the ten best women’s bike helmets for any kind of rider. Because why let someone just scroll to the one that suits them when you can get a few extra clicks? As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

This is the cost of traffic violence. A speeding San Antonio, Texas mom lost control and rolled her car, killing an innocent 18-year old bike rider, while injuring herself and her baby. Anyone who drives like that with a baby in the car should have either the car or the baby taken away.

Houston police were quick to blame the victim after a bike rider was killed by a  dump truck driver in a pre-dawn crash, accusing him of darting in front of the truck in what appears to be a single witness crash. Which seems somewhat unlikely, since most bike riders try to stay the hell away from massive trucks.

Completing our Texas trifecta, a Seguin, Texas man was extradited from Mexico for the fatal 2018 shooting of a man riding a bicycle; no explanation was given for why he allegedly murdered the victim, who was described as a good man who helped his neighbors.

A Kansas City public radio station profiles the city’s Black-led Major Taylor Cycling Club, saying they may not be the fastest, but make everyone feel welcome.

She gets it. A Cambridge, Massachusetts letter writer says you can support both small businesses and bike lanes, and that the two actually complement and benefit one another.

A New York morning newspaper says a two-way, barrier-protected bike lane brought a belated bike boom to the Brooklyn Bridge. Either they have an editor who loves alteration almost as much as I do, or they had an over-abundance of Bs they had to use before they went bad.

A Pittsburgh PA bike shop also hosts the world’s largest bicycle museum, with over 4,000 bicycles of every description.

Speaking of Pittsburgh, five of the eight cops involved have been fired for the fatal tasing of a man accused of riding a bicycle without permission; the victim was shocked repeatedly in a short period of time for the crime of taking the unattended bike for a test ride around the block.

To the surprise of no one, an arrest warrant has been issued for the woman who led a bike cop on a slow speed chase through a Florida airport while riding a self-propelled suitcase after she failed to appear for a court hearing.

 

International

They get it. A Halifax, Nova Scotia newspaper says SUVs are driving us to climate calamity, adding it will never be environmentally sound to use two tons of material to move roughly 200 pounds of human.

A self-described bicycling virgin shares their thoughts on riding in Manchester, England.

London’s mayor says the reputation of the city’s transportation department is at stake if bicyclists keep dying at a busy intersection.

A former British mayor and councilor accused bike riders ignoring a ban on bikes on a popular climb of being “an organized gang…who are up to no good.”

Luxembourg — the city, not the country, although the city is in the country — announced plans for seven new bike boulevards, joining three successful bike boulevards opened last year. Although someone should tell them that bikes and cobbles like the ones in the photo aren’t the best combination.

A new Italian bike light puts out a massive 5,000 lumens, yet weighs less than two ounces; it can be yours via Kickstarter starting around $138.

The women who founded Turkey’s annual Fancy Women Bike Ride have been honored with a special UN recognition for promoting bicycling; the ride has now spread around the world.

The US has finally removed the onerous 25% tariff on many Chinese bicycles, including kid’s bikes, ebikes and accessories.

That tariff change comes just in time for a Chinese company introducing a new wireless ebike charging system, which works like a charging pad for your cellphone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Canadian Cycling Magazine looks at the surprisingly long list of active pro cyclists who died of heart attacks.

 

Finally…

Your toddler may get a magnesium-framed Bentley before you do, if you do. Your dog may get a Burley before your kid does.

And we may have to deal with angry LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about rampaging ostrich escapees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY0qIIzIFn8

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

US bicycling deaths up over 9% in 2020, Feds commit to Complete Streets, and remembering a fallen bike rider

March 4, 2022 / / Comments Off on US bicycling deaths up over 9% in 2020, Feds commit to Complete Streets, and remembering a fallen bike rider

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released the final traffic fatality stats for 2020.

And the news was as bad as we expected.

A whopping 38,824 people were killed on American roads, the worst since 2007, and a nearly 7% jump over 2019.

That also represents a 21% increase over the previous year in deaths per vehicle miles traveled (VMT). So it’s not just due to more people on the roads; in fact, 2020 was marked by a dramatic decrease in driving due to the pandemic.

The one bit of good news is that traffic injuries dropped 17% in 2020, while crashes declined 22%.

So we’re talking fewer, but far more deadly, crashes, with pedestrians and bicyclists accounting for one in five of those killed.

Like the overall trends, it was a mixed bag for bike riders, with 938 people killed while riding their bikes in 2020, a 9.2% increase over the year before, while injuries dropped 21%, to 10,171.

Meanwhile, we’re off to a horrible start to this year, with 22 people killed riding their bikes in Southern California in just the first two months of 2022 — a rate of one person killed less than every three days.

Which has got to stop.

Now.

………

Meanwhile, the Federal Highway Administration submitted their first report to Congress detailing their “commitment to advance widespread implementation” of Complete Streets, as required by last year’s infrastructure bill.

Which they define like this.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law defines Complete Streets standards or policies as those which “ensure the safe and adequate accommodation of all users of the transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation users, children, older individuals, individuals with disabilities, motorists, and freight vehicles.”

The law requires that a relatively paltry 2.5% of planning funding has to go towards Complete Streets, or bicycling, walking or transit projects.

Then again, that’s 2.5% more than was required before.

Although their idea of a Complete Street may leave something to be desired.

The infrastructure bill also contains a provision that will prevent states from setting traffic safety goals that allow an increase in traffic deaths each year.

And they’ll have to take steps to protect the safety of bike riders and pedestrians in order to keep receiving federal funds.

………

Nice piece from a longtime reporter with the Daily Bulletin, who remembers former five-term Upland Councilmember Tom Thomas, who died Saturday after he was struck by a motorcyclist while riding his bike in Montclair.

David Allen recalls him as a friend, as well as a local leader, along with his three-decade love of bicycling. He talks about Thomas as being too nice for today’s rough-and-tumble civic politics.

A few paragraphs stand out, though. Like this from when Thomas was first elected to the city council in 1990.

Riding defensively is his approach and expecting the worst his philosophy when biking on city streets. Clueless motorists frequently make turns across the path of bike riders or nearly knock them over when zooming by.

Then there’s this, as Allen spoke with Thomas’ wife after his death.

I ask her about Tom’s bike riding. He’d head out Tuesday, Thursday and either Saturday or Sunday for 20 to 35 miles at a time. The 6-foot-1 senior was, enviably, at his college weight of 210. And he took every precaution on the road.

“This man was the safest cyclist you could have,” Ann says. “He wore the neon yellow windbreaker. If it was even dusk, he would turn on his lights, front and back. He always wore a helmet. He would curse people who didn’t wear one. He broke three helmets over the years” — starting with that 1990 accident.

Sadly, it wasn’t enough to keep him safe.

Another reminder that you can do everything right. Yet your safety still depends on those we share the road with.

We have no choice but to trust them with our lives, in the most literal sense.

Even if they don’t deserve it.

………

REI is now offering members a 20% discount on bike repairs, as well as free flat fixing. Which should more than pay for your lifetime membership fee the first time you use it.

………

Now this is a bike ad.

………

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

A Bowling Green, Kentucky bike rider was threatened by a pair of men in separate pickups, after the first driver bumped his bike, and the second stopped behind him and threw his bike off the roadway.

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

A man riding on a Placer County, CA bike path struck a woman with his bike, apologized, then pulled a knife and robbed her as he helped her up.

Houston, Texas police are looking for an armed robber who rode up to couple as they were getting into their car outside a shopping mall, pointed a gun at them and demanded their wallets and cellphone.

………

Local

CD2 Councilmember Paul Krekorian wisely cancelled the ill-advised proposal to widen Burbank Blvd in North Hollywood, opting to widen sidewalks and improve safety for pedestrians instead.

A writer for City Watch questions whether CD5 Councilmember Paul Koretz has the integrity to serve as city controller, after violating city ethics rules by attending a fundraiser at the home of a DWP commissioner, while suggesting Koretz should know better after 55 long years in politics.

USC’s Annenberg Media discusses the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal, which would require Los Angeles to build out the mobility plan when streets get repaved.

A new e-scooter company has taken root in Santa Monica, with Chicago-based micromobility company Veo expecting to hire 300 people to staff its West Coast HQ.

 

State 

Costa Mesa will rename a segment of the 55 Freeway for fire captain and fallen bike rider Mike Kreza, who was killed by a stoned driver while riding in Mission Viejo in 2018; Stephen Taylor Scarpa was sentenced to 15 to life after his conviction for killing Kreza last year.

Bikemaker Yuba Bicycles used their own cargo bikes to move their headquarters from San Juan Capistrano to new offices in Lake Forest.

The San Diego Bike Coalition highlights the city’s new @SDCrashBot to track collisions involving bike riders and pedestrians, based on Streets For All’s Vision Zero Alerts, which has provided a similar service for the LA area for a little over a year. Thanks to Phillip Young for the link.

Oakland’s 14th Street is due to get a Complete Streets makeover, with a 4-to-2 lane reduction, shortened crosswalks and curb-protected bike lanes on both sides.

No bias here. After an SUV slammed into an Anderson, California preschool, sending 14 little kids to the hospital, the LA Times doesn’t even mention that it had a driver until story’s penultimate paragraph. But at least they didn’t call it an accident.

 

National

If you’ve always dreamed of working in the glamorous field of bicycle journalism, Bikerumor is looking for freelance writers for remote work.

Houston will install a popup bike lane this Sunday to allow fans to ride safely to the rodeo.

An autistic Michigan man spreads joy through his community by riding his bike while wearing extravagant holiday-themed suits, showing how special people with autism can be.

A new documentary from a Boston bike advocate highlights several women who enjoy riding their bikes after dark.

 

International

The Guardian profiles Twitter user @cybergibbons, who polices the social media site to confront anti-bike trolls. I’ve been known to do the same thing, but with about 30,000 fewer followers. Thanks to Jon for the heads-up.

Road.cc offers tips on how to keep your bike from being a pain in the butt. Or anywhere else.

A Toronto bicyclist films himself unexpectedly, and painfully, wiping out on the city’s streetcar tracks.

Welsh math teacher during the week, record-setting cyclist on weekends.

The truck driver who killed an English woman as she rode her bike through a deadly intersection faces charges of driving while stoned and without a license; she was the eighth bike rider killed there in recent years.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a former Oxfordshire mayor walked with a suspended sentence for killing a 75-year old man riding a bicycle.

A new study from London’s Hackney neighborhood shows the British equivalent of Slow Streets encouraged 30% of residents to drive less, and ride their bikes more.

Two additional men have been charged in the violent home-invasion robbery of pro cyclist Mark Cavendish; a third man is already awaiting trial.

Irish academics say a focus on driver safety has made roads less safe for bike riders and pedestrians, and driven human interactions off the streets.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Australia, where three-time world champ Alex Woods died from cancer at just 55-years old; he also won championships as a junior, as well as winning gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals.

More sad news, as Ukrainian national cycling coach Alexander Kulyk was killed in a Russian attack while trying to help people evacuate from Kyiv; his son, former pro cyclist Andriy Kulyk demands that UCI ban Russian and Belarusian cyclists.

Russian cyclist Aleksandr Vlasov says he feels sorry for everyone who is suffering because of his country’s invasion of Ukraine, and says he just wants peace like most Russians.

Russian ex-cycling team boss Oleg Tinkov, the former owner of the Tinkoff-Saxo team, also came out against the war, calling it “unthinkable and unacceptable.”

VeloNews looks forward to Saturday’s Paris-Nice race, saying the eight-stage race has the strongest field so far this season. Meanwhile, the magazine asks if anyone can beat Tadej Pogačar in the one-day Strade Bianche, which also runs tomorrow.

A 21-year old British trans woman says she just wants to be competitive again, after previously setting national records as a junior male; Emily Bridges will compete as a woman for the first time this year, after lowering her testosterone levels since publicly transitioning in 2020.

How to cut corners by cutting corners to cheat in bike racing.

 

Finally…

That feeling when winning a time trial scores you a box of sex toys. Your next bike could be all wheels and chain, with no frame.

And that feeling when your toddler needs a $1,200 titanium balance bike.

………

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

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

Best and worst of California biking, confusing Metro 710 bike mess, and you don’t have to bike inside after all

January 21, 2022 / / One comment

Today’s must read belatedly came to my attention, after a week lost in my spam folder.

Calbike took a look back at best and worst of California biking last year, from Glendora’s low-cost quick-build Complete Streets demo, to proof that traffic jams improve safety, as bike and pedestrian deaths went up even as traffic levels decreased during the pandemic.

A few other highlights —

  • A pair of San Diego area bikeway prove persistence pays off
  • The Eastside’s Roadkill Gil gets a nod for worst abuse of political power
  • The failed anti0bike recall of Nithya Raman
  • Calbike’s big win on California’s new ebike subsidy program
  • The LA Times investigation of biased bike stops by sheriff’s deputies

Take a few minutes to read the whole thing. It may the most entertaining and informative thing you’ll read all day.

Aside from what you’re reading now, anyway.

Photo by Taryn Elliott from Pexels.

………

Sometimes I don’t know what the hell to make of something.

Especially when it involves widening a freeway in a soon-to-be-failed attempt at relieving traffic congestion, as if induced demand isn’t even a thing.

Not to mention make a complete mess of things when it comes to bicycling.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that’s the case with Metro’s recent presentation on the proposed widening of the 710 Freeway — excuse me, the multimodal transformation of the 710 corridor.

The $6 billion project was put on pause after decades of community complaints, cancellation by the EPA, pausing by Caltrans and suspension by the Metro board.

Which is one hell of a losing streak, if you ask me.

Now the project is once again rearing its ugly head, this time accompanied with references to rail and NextGen bus service.

And bike lanes. Well, sort of.

Or maybe not.

We’ll let Linton take it from here.

Metro’s video states that there is a “protected bike lane” along the L.A. River, when the river facility is actually a bike path. The presentation emphasizes that there is “a lack of designated bike routes,” though cyclists know that bike routes are typically meaningless. Metro’s “Bike Routes [sic]” map labels many bike paths as protected bikeways, and maps numerous protected bikeways in lots of places where they don’t exist: East L.A., Vernon, Carson, etc. (Hint for Metro’s intern: the only protected bikeways in the study area are in the city of Long Beach.)

I hesitated writing about this for over a week, thinking my feeble diabetes and drug addled brain just couldn’t make sense of it.

Then I finally realized it didn’t make sense to me because it just doesn’t make sense.

Like Metro somehow not knowing the difference between an imaginary protected bike lane and an actual riverfront bike path, albeit one with an eight-mile gap through DTLA.

Or that they would somehow invent a network of nonexistent protected bike lanes that would make vaporware look good.

I’d suggest Metro needs to get their shit together, but it looks like they already put their #2 staffer on it.

Pun intended.

………

Let’s all shed a tear for Peloton’s CEO, who is no longer a billionaire after the company’s stock has dropped 85% since its pandemic peak.

Meanwhile, Alissa Walker reminds us that you don’t have to settle for riding a bike indoors.

………

We may have to worry about aggressive LA drivers. But at least we don’t have to dodge angry wild turkeys just to get a ride in.

https://twitter.com/ABC7/status/1483627774459842561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1483627774459842561%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Freal923la.iheart.com%2Fcontent%2F2022-01-20-bicyclist-gets-harassed-by-wild-turkeys%2F

Frequent contributor Megan Lynch can give thanks she had a much milder encounter with some skinnier and less aggressive toms.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1484392497711247363

………

What could possibly go wrong with this?

Unless maybe you’re the bike rider waiting patiently for a little old lady to make it all the way to the other side, while an impatient driver runs up on your ass, horn blaring.

https://twitter.com/NYPD19Pct/status/1484180393498718208

………

No wonder they called it the Great War.

Sure, they may have had to fight on an unforgiving front in a brutal war, but at least they got to ride bikes.

https://twitter.com/davidguenel/status/1484242618204753930

………

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

No bias here. English police don’t bother to do anything about a driver’s dangerously close pass on a blind curve, but give a warning for the bike rider’s bad language in response.

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

A Brit man on a mountain bike more than lived up to this section’s theme by punching a delivery driver in the eye after claiming he cut him off.

………

Local

This is who we share the road with. The LAPD is looking for a trio of hit-and-run drivers who injured one pedestrian and a person riding an e-scooter, and killed another pedestrian in three separate crashes the Jefferson Park neighborhood this month.

Riders on the LA River bike path may eventually have something besides a concrete river channel to look at when the path is finally extended from Elysian Park through DTLA to Maywood; the new infrastructure bill contains $28 million to restore 11 miles of the river to some semblance of a more natural state from Glendale to Downtown Los Angeles.

Get ready to rumble in Palmdale, where Caltrans is proposing removing street parking along a section of State Route 138 to make room for bike lanes, as well as pedestrian improvements to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is sure to rile up the local citizenry and businesses.

 

State

Sad news from San Jose, where a man who had survived getting struck by a driver while riding a motorized bike last October died due to complications stemming from his injuries.

 

National

Bike Hacks offers a clickbait-friendly seven reasons why every college student should have a bicycle.

The driver who killed the wife of one of Tesla’s co-founders as she rode a bike outside of Reno is facing six years after pleading guilty to felony reckless driving.

Streetsblog considers whether Chicago speed cams are racist because they disproportionately ticket people of color, or if the real problem is racist road design in low-income neighborhoods that encourage people to speed.

The trial of a Black Illinois bike rider accused of fatally shooting a car passenger who he says called him a racial slur was nearly derailed when a witness said a defense paralegal had posed as a police officer to interrogate him at work.

Seriously? A Massachusetts letter writer complains that a new bike lane is dangerous and will get someone killed because drivers have to cross it to make a right turn, and have to watch out for people on bikes when leaving a parking space. You know, pretty much like virtually every other bike lane on the face of the earth, aside from Denmark and the Netherlands, of course.

A pair of Brown University students have created what they describe as “Waze for bikes” to help overcome the woes we usually face.

 

International

Brompton is introducing its first Ti frame, sub-17 pound foldie.

Britain’s biggest bicycle retailer is offering commuters free use of an ebike if their train is cancelled due to the ongoing disruptions caused by the Omicron variant.

Speaking of Denmark, it’s the bike-friendly country’s Year of the Bike, with the Tour de France scheduled to start in Copenhagen, and a commitment to spend $64 million on bike lanes this year — part of a whopping $458 million bicycling infrastructure plan. Then again, every year is the year of the bike for Danish residents.

Dutch bikemaker Van Moof introduces a twin engine “hyperbike” ebike — even though its 31 mph top speed makes it illegal in Europe and much of the US, including California.

Jerusalem residents are demanding bike lanes on congested Hebron Road, and getting the cold shoulder from city hall.

An Aussie urban designer explains how the country could become a world leader in bicycle friendly cities, starting with prioritizing bikes and pedestrians over cars. Which should be the starting point for all traffic laws everywhere. Especially right here in Los Angeles.

 

Competitive Cycling

A Colorado hedge fund is taking a new approach to pro cycling’s failing business model by earmarking a percentage of their management proceeds to support USA Cycling and other cycling organizations.

 

Finally…

Remember to unplug your ebike before it explodes. Now you, too can look like your heroes from L39ion of Los Angeles.

And “If you’re in a four wheel drive, you can f**k off.”

Now that’s a lyric we can all relate to.

………

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

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

Caltrans commits to Complete Streets — no, really, Raman wants your street requests, and Dierks does it again

December 23, 2021 / / Comments Off on Caltrans commits to Complete Streets — no, really, Raman wants your street requests, and Dierks does it again

It’s the penultimate day of the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Just two more days to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy!

Thanks to Sarah S and Castell C for their generous donations to help keep all the best, brightest and freshest bike news coming to your way every day.

So don’t wait. Stop what you’re doing and give now via PayPal, or with Zelle to ted @ bikinginla.com.

Any amount, no matter how large or small, is truly and deeply appreciated, more than I could begin to say.

………

Maybe they’re finally done making excuses.

Streetsblog reports Caltrans has finally and formally embraced Complete Streets, supplanting an earlier policy that was seen as weak-kneed and too easy to weasel out of, which they usually did.

This time, it seems to have teeth.

The policy, signed by director Toks Omishakin on December 7, states that “Caltrans recognizes that streets are not only used for transportation but are also valuable community spaces. Accordingly, in locations with current and/or future pedestrian, bicycle, or transit needs, all transportation projects funded or overseen by Caltrans will provide comfortable, convenient, and connected complete streets facilities for people walking, biking, and taking transit or passenger rail unless an exception is documented and approved. When decisions are made not to include complete streets elements in capital and maintenance projects, the justification will be documented with final approval by the responsible District Director.”

It says all the right things.

We’ll see if they actually live up to it.

………

If, like me, you still live in LA’s 4th Council District, which lost 2/3 of its previous residents in redistricting, it looks like Councilmember Nithya Raman is actually asking for help identifying needed changes on the streets.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1473777941440049157

………

Country start Dierks Bentley, who was apparently born during a vowel surplus, learns a lesson about filming while fat biking in the snow. But at least he didn’t break a hip this time.

………

………

Local

No surprise here. LAist says how long it takes to make safety improvements to a street depends on who represents your neighborhood on the city council. Or as we’ve learned the hard way, whether it gets done at all.

Speaking of which, South LA’s deadly Adams Blvd is finally getting a makeover under the city’s Vision Zero program, despite not currently having a representative on the city council after Mark Ridley-Thomas stepped back in the wake of bribery charges; the street saw nine traffic deaths in just three years, including a bike rider who remains officially unnamed two years later.

US Representative Judy Chu met with Glendora officials and Active SGV Executive Director David Diaz to tour the city’s Greenway Network, and tout the benefits of the new federal bipartisan infrastructure law.

 

State

Streets For All is joining Calbike in calling on the state to commit $2 billion of the record $31 billion budget surplus to active transportation projects; the money would fund 80 shovel-ready biking and walking projects throughout the state, including 17 in Los Angeles County.

 

National

Forbes recommends seven bike storage options to help get your whips squared away.

NBA all-star Kevin Love is one of us, telling a reporter the hardest workout he’s ever done was his annual ride up Utah’s 8.250-foot Mount Timpanogos.

Denver is reducing speed limits in residential neighborhoods to 20 mph. Which would be a good idea for Los Angeles, except the current 25 mph speed limit is already universally ignored by drivers.

A Michigan man can credit a wrong turn with saving his life, after an off-duty nurse spotted him writhing in a bike lane after she turned on the the wrong street on a freezing morning; without her help, the man could have bled out or frozen to death after apparently crashing his bike — or maybe getting knocked off it.

There’s a special place in hell for the man who stole a kids bike to make his escape as he fled a collision where he had just killed a woman while driving a stolen truck.

Nice. New York’s newly appointed transportation commissioner commits to replacing half of the car-tickler plastic bendy posts that pass for protection on too many of the city’s 198 miles of protected bike lanes, with something more solid and actually protective in his first 100 days in office.

New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare was knocked offline at the height of rush hour yesterday when Amazon’s internet servers went down again.

A 21-year old Florida man faces multiple charges for the alleged drunken and stoned crash that killed a father out for his daily bike ride. But his lawyer thinks he should get credit for sticking around and trying to help the man, who wouldn’t have needed it if he hadn’t been driving.

 

International

Momentum questions whether ebikes are suited for cold North American winters, noting that they don’t perform well in temperatures below 0° Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile, Jalopnik examines the problem of lithium mines needed to fuel the world’s conversion to electric cars — a problem shared by ebikes, albeit to a lesser degree.

Speaking of a special place in hell, whoever stole a Vancouver man’s mountain bike as he lay in the hospital recovering from a ruptured spleen certainly deserves it; remarkably, police recovered the man’s bike days later after spotting it during a walkthrough of an SRO hotel.

An 85-year old Frenchman got back the bike his father built from spare parts in 1946 when he was ten years old, after it was recovered by a junk dealer in good, rideable condition.

An Aussie man got his stolen $15,000 Cervelo back after spotting an ad on Facebook selling just the wheels for $1,000; police charged a woman with possessing stolen property.

 

Competitive Cycling

Will the last bike race to leave the US please turn off the lights? The Tour of Utah became just the latest in a long list of major bike races to bite the dust, joining the Tour of California and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, and too many others, in going out of business.

PEZ Cycling News considers history’s best comebacks in the pro peloton, including the problematic Mr. Armstrong.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to set a playground on fire, don’t leave your bike there afterwards — and don’t try to tell the police someone stole it. That feeling when the cops apparently stole a bike corral, because parking.

And celebrate the holidays with a mountain biker’s entertaining take on the season’s most interminable carol.

………

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

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