Just 25 short days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
But not one LA city leader seems to give a damn about it.
Or if they do, they’re not saying anything.
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It’s Day 8 of the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Thanks to Ken S, Bonnie W, Mark J, Kent S and Mari L for their generous donations to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy your way every day.
So don’t wait. Take just a moment, and donate now!
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According to Streetsblog, not one of the six California cities allowed to use speed cams as part of a pilot program to reduce speeding — or seven, counting late addition Malibu — have actually installed any nearly a full year later.
San Jose, San Francisco, Glendale, and Oakland have publicly announced which locations they are considering for the cameras, while the ‘Bu has begun developing a policy and impact report, as required by law.
But is anyone really surprised that Los Angeles doesn’t appear to have done a damn thing so far?
And stop smirking, Long Beach, because you’re in the same sinking boat with us.
Making matters worse, the proposal for the program originated right here in LA as part of our Vision Zero program. You know, back when we actually had a Vision Zero program.
Maybe someday, our current elected leaders with actually give a damn about protecting human lives, at least as much as our previous leaders.
You know, the ones who were great at announcing new programs, without ever actually implementing them.
At least they’ve that last part down.
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No surprise here, as a new English study has confirmed that bike lanes improve property values, with home prices in Manchester increasing up to 8% after its bikeways went in.
And the closer homes were to a bike lane, the greater the increase, as people were willing to pay more to live close to a bicycle network.
Which could be the best argument yet to overcome the built-in resistance of homeowners to any changes to the local streets in their neighborhood — or to the loss of trees or parking spaces.
As in, “Yes, ma’am, you may have to start using your driveway for its intended purpose, but your home will probably be worth more.”
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An Oregon man expressed his displeasure after a judge dismissed charges against the DEA agent who killed his wife of 27 years as she rode her bicycle — while wearing a hi-viz vest, and with multiple flashers on her bike — accusing the agent of “playing Russian roulette with his vehicle pointed at the public.”
His comments came in response to the judge’s bizarre conclusion that the agent “reasonably” believed he could safely run a stop sign while pursuing a suspect at 12 mph over the posted speed limit, without lights and siren.
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
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‘Tis the season.
Cycling Weekly offers this year’s Cycling Christmas Gift Guide for the bike rider in your life. And yes, it’s perfectly acceptable to give yourself the perfect gift this year.
Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website offers “reasonable” Christmas gifts for bicyclists, because unreasonable gifts are just so passé.
One hundred and twelve Raleigh, North Carolina 3rd graders were surprised with new bicycles and helmets for the holidays, after being told they were just going to an assembly.
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It’s now 351 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 42 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
Meanwhile, no bias here, as the New Santa Ana website calls the vouchers bad news for public safety, suggesting they’ll be used by “crazy and sometimes criminal juveniles on e-bikes” to further terrorize California residents.
Just wait until they learn about rebates for all those electric cars and Tesla trucks.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
After posting letters in support of a recent badly misguided and misleading opinion piece attacking DC bike lanes, the Washington Post kept their promise to post letters supporting bike lanes and our basic right to survive on the streets. Although they seem to have ignored my suggestion to just link to my piece dismantling the writer’s arguments.
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Local
Start the New Year right, or at least the Lunar New Year, with the 47th Annual L.A. Chinatown Firecracker, offering a wide range of runs, bike rides and other assorted activities to ring in the Year of the Snake.
State
The popular Cathedral Oaks Road bike path in western Goleta now has a shiny new surface, complete with smoother pavement and clearer markings for bicyclists and pedestrians alike.
Streetsblog takes The San Francisco Standard to task for suggesting that Vision Zero is some sort of unachievable utopian fantasy, arguing that other places have reduced traffic deaths to zero, even if San Francisco hasn’t done enough to get there. Actually, Vision Zero is a utopian fantasy as long as cities adopt it without implementing it, somehow expecting traffic deaths to magically go down. And yes, I’m looking at you, Los Angeles.
National
Bicycling explains how the wrong bike fit setup could be what’s making your hands go numb when you ride. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
Sheriff’s deputies in Houston, Texas arrested a 22-year old hit-and-run suspect as she was trying to board a plane to leave the state, just hours after she allegedly killed a man riding a bicycle, then abandoned her car a mile away.
Streetsblog Chicago offers a virtual ride down the city’s new protected bike lane, which was build in a converted parking lane.
International
Cycling Weekly explains the differences between the various flavors of gravel riders, even if the lines differentiating them are a little blurry.
Eleven inspirational stories of people who took transformative journeys on their bike. Or maybe twelve, counting the author, who sold her belongings and took a year-long global bike tour.
Momentum introduces the Toronto artist who developed a virtually unwinnable bicycling video game to demonstrate the need for safe bike lanes. And yes, spellcheck, unwinnable is a word, so stop changing the damn thing.
Recently retired Italian cycling champ Domenico Pozzovivo was fined the equivalent of slightly less than 20 bucks for riding side-by-side with another rider while training at Lake Como, which is against the law in the country — but said that after getting hit several times by drivers, “As long as I ride a bike, I will always ride in double file. I prefer to pay a fine than risk my life.”
Competitive Cycling
Snopes tracks down the truth about an apocryphal story of a 66-year old Swedish man who earned the nickname “Grandpa Steel” when he won an 1,100-mile bike race, despite being denied entry because he missed 40-year old age limit by a mere 26 years. And finds that yes, an elderly man actually was given the nickname “Stålfarfar,” — or “Steel Grandfather” in English — after finishing first in the 1951 Sverigeloppet race, despite being told he couldn’t compete because of his age. But he was 65, not 66, and wasn’t actually the winner, because you can’t win a race you haven’t entered.
Cycling Up To Date questions whether anything can be done to prevent collisions on training rides, after Remco Evenepoel joined the rapidly growing club of pro cyclists who’ve suffered nasty crashes. I mean, aside from building safer streets, requiring automotive warning and active braking systems, and getting drivers to put down their phones and pay attention to the road in front of them, that is.
Finally…
Avoid the festive faux pas of giving the wrong bike stuff this holiday season. Now you, too, can build your own e-cargo bike using a discarded bike frame.
And seriously, anyone can cross a bridge the easy way.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
