Just 67 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Photo from the World Bollard Association Twitter/X account.
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About damn time.
The Los Angeles City Council took the first of many steps that will be needed to fulfill the promise of a carfree 2028 Olympics, advancing a proposal to fast-track applications for bollards to protect us from motor vehicles.
Or maybe not.
According to My News LA,
“Vehicle ramming attacks, where a perpetrator deliberately rams a vehicle into pedestrians or buildings, have been increasing around the world in recent years,” the motion reads. “With the city hosting major international events in the next few years … the city should look at ways to safeguard residents and visitors from these types of attacks.”
So, the plan is actually to protect buildings and pedestrians from vehicular terrorists, rather than the more pedestrian form of terrorism we face from the people in the big, deadly machines on a daily basis.
But wait, there’s more.
In addition to safety at events like the 2028 Olympic Games, bollards could also enhance protection for bike lanes across the city.
At least we’re an afterthought, anyway.
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As if loose dogs aren’t a big enough danger to people on bicycles, a ten-year old kid was bitten by a coyote while riding his bike in Irvine Tuesday morning.
Fortunately, the boy wasn’t seriously injured.
But there’s always a danger of rabies or other canine diseases with a bite like that from a wild animal, so let’s hope he’s okay.
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A Calbike guest post from the executive director of dblTilde CORE, Inc discusses the results of the 50+ Cycling survey they conducted in partnership with the Mineta Transportation Institute.
Not surprisingly, it pretty much shows what you might expect.
Mobility habits naturally evolve with age. These habits can be described as a bell curve that follows childhood to adulthood to the third stage of life, going from dependent mobility to independent mobility and back. Many older adults eventually stop driving due to physical or cognitive changes. In fact, AARP data indicates that while 80% of people over 65 are still driving, this number drops sharply to 35% by age 80.
The 50+ Cycling Survey shows that cycling remains an attractive option for those looking to stay active and independently mobile. For many older adults, cycling can be a key mode of transportation for independent mobility, so they don’t have to rely on others or public transportation.
You can take this year’s survey here.
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Sounds like you won’t want to miss this week’s Bike Talk.
What do The Power Broker and Gravel biking in Yosemite have in common? They are both on at https://t.co/p2bbGtAvqj this week… Or wherever you listen to stuff. pic.twitter.com/PrdQ9iEV0Z
— Taylor Nichols (@Taylor_Nichols7) October 24, 2024
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And you definitely won’t want to miss North OC Bikes monthly family friendly bike ride tomorrow night.
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It’s now 309 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Hundreds of Toronto bike riders turned out to protest proposed legislation that would give the conservative provincial government veto power over all new bike lanes, allowing their installation “only where it makes sense.”
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Local
The Los Angeles Times recommends riding a bicycle to Dodger Stadium and locking up at one of the stadiums numerous bike racks for tomorrow’s first game of the World Series, as part of their five ways to avoid parking and traffic headaches — as long as you’re willing to ride up some hills.
Streets For All calls on the National Cemetery Administration to reopen Constitution Ave through Westwood’s Los Angeles National Cemetery, which has been closed since the 9/11 attacks — apparently out of the well-founded fear of walking or bicycling terrorists attacking the thousands of dead service people buried there. You have until next Monday to get your comments in.
This is who we share the road with. After a homeless man was killed by an alleged drunk driver near the Santa Monica Pier last week, the Santa Monica Daily Press says it reflects the growing trend of traffic violence in the LA Area.
State
Coronado is moving forward with their own ebike regulations, including barring kids under 12 from riding them.
A Carpenteria letter writer says organizers of the “the Ride Santa Barbara bike race” — note the key word “ride,” not race — left an “insane” amount of colored stickers and spray-painted arrows on the street near his house, wondering why that’s not vandalism. Um, maybe because they had a permit, and it should eventually go away with weather and wear.
National
A Ukrainian couple went from a happy life in Kyiv to living with their kids and running a bike shop in Boulder, Colorado after the Russians invaded.
No surprise here, either. A new study from Cambridge, Massachusetts shows bicycling use soars after the installation of a physically separated bike lane.
Police in New York are on the lookout for burglary suspects who killed a woman riding a bicycle while fleeing from cops who tried to pull them over; the three suspects fled on foot after slamming into the woman, who was described as an avid cyclist. Yet one more example of the dangers of police chases to innocent people.
New York officials finalized plans for a $2 million ebike trade-in program to get dangerous lithium-ion ebike batteries off the streets.
Nice program from Louisiana’s Iberia Parish, where officials are calling for bicycle donations for victims of domestic violence, in a city with no public transportation options.
International
Momentum highlights seven “stunning” national bike trails, ranging from Europe to Asia and the Middle East, with a stop in the US for the Great American Rail-Trail.
Researchers from the University of Toronto are using machine learning to optimize the placement of bike lanes, discovering that optimizing for equity results in a more spread out map, with less concentration in the downtown area.
Scottish bicyclists are calling for improvements to a narrow, “unsafe, unacceptable” shared-use path — which is nothing more than a striped highway shoulder — over fears strong winds could blow riders into high speed traffic.
Finally…
That feeling when your brand new pro bike ends up 50 feet down a cliff. And always wear a hoodie emblazoned with “Crooks” when you steal an ebike, so cops have an easier time identifying you afterward.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
