Day 248 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Drumroll, please.
A new report list the top five most dangerous cities in the US for bike riders as,
- Stockton, California
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Tampa, Florida
- Sacramento, California
- Tucson, Arizona
Surprisingly, the report from Consumer Affairs ranked Los Angeles all the way down as the 64th most dangerous American city for bicyclists, although we fared a lot worse for people on foot, coming in at 31st.
Long Beach was 38th and 41st, respectively.
Maybe Los Angeles ranks so low because we’ve already scared most people off their bikes, unlike the other cities.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.
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There’s always more to the story.
When I write about a fallen bike rider, I can only write what I know at the time. Which is usually what’s been reported in the media that day, or the next.
We seldom learn much about the victim, and little or nothing about what the deaths leave in their wake.
That was the case with a homeless man killed in an early morning crash in South LA last month while riding his bike with his dog, and pulling a trailer to collect recyclables.
We still don’t know his name.
But we now know what happened to the dog that refused to leave his side for hours after his death, thanks to a heartwarming report from KNBC-4.
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This is who we share the road with.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that following a crash in Reseda, an ambulance was struck by another driver while transporting a victim of the first crash.
Then when a battalion chief arrived to investigate that crash, the truck was struck by yet another driver at the same intersection as the ambulance.
That makes three separate crashes stemming from the same incident.
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Speaking of the Times, the paper’s outdoor newsletter The Wild includes Saturday’s Emerald Necklace Ride among their 3 things to do.
2. Bike along rivers in the San Gabriel Valley
ActiveSGV and Amigos de los Rios will co-host a 12-mile bike ride from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday starting at the Jeff Seymour Family Center (10900 Mulhall St., El Monte). The ride will take city streets and bike paths as cyclists explore the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River. Register at eventbrite.com.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. London tabloids are up in arms over a new study showing one-fifth of all ebike riders, e-scooter riders and bicyclists in the city routinely jump red lights. Which, by my extensive calculations, means that an overwhelming 80% don’t. And how do they know people “routinely” jump red lights, which would require a) following individual riders to identify their behavior at multiple red lights, or b) identifying individual riders to witness their behavior at the same red light over multiple days.
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Local
Los Angeles is looking for comments about a new study on the sad state of LA Parks. Tell them parks are for people, not cars, and cars don’t belong in parks. Any parks. Period. And yes, I’m looking at you, Griffith Park.
The American Bicycle Association’s ABA Ethos subsidiary will oversee the design, construction and event coordination for the mountain bike course for the ’28 Los Angeles Olympic Games, to be held in international mountain bike mecca the City of Industry.
Streetsblog says Monterey Park is looking for your input on a full redesign of Garvey Ave, with plans for “new bike lanes, safer intersections, upgraded sidewalks, improved transit service/bus stops, and better lighting.” And speaking of Streetsblog, if you’ve got a little extra cash lying around — or stocks, apparently — toss a little their way to support their invaluable work keeping us informed about the latest transportation and transit news.
Santa Monica cops are conducting another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation from 5 am to 8 pm today, so ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits.
State
Chula Vista is the latest city to crackdown on ebike riders, but will focus on education and warnings for the next three months before issuing citations. Once again, the real problem is with people riding dirt bikes and high-speed throttle-controlled electric motorbikes, rather than people on ped-assist ebikes.
Oops. Vallejo police jumped the gun in announcing a man had died after being hit by driver while riding his bicycle Sunday morning; the victim is still fighting for his life, although it doesn’t look good.
National
Here’s your chance to ride your bike in and around Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park.
Life is cheap in Arizona, where the truck driver who plowed into a group bike ride in Goodyear, Arizona, killing two people and injuring nearly two dozen more, was sentenced to one lousy year behind bars and will lose his license for a whole 180 days, after the district attorney refused to file felony charges. If you wonder why people keep dying on our streets, lenient sentences like this are a good place to start.
Three men rode their bikes 200 miles across Iowa to honor a friend lost to suicide, offering hugs and someone to talk with to strangers along the way.
Life is cheap in Vermont, where a cop walked without a day behind bars for killing a man walking a bicycle, despite speeding and allegedly watching a YouTube video on his onboard computer at the time of the crash.
A new trio of 20 minute plays tell the story of pioneering Black bicyclist Kittie Knox, performed by actors riding bikes along the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts, her home town.
A former Massachusetts bike shop owner pled guilty to larceny charges for defrauding several customers by taking their money and failing to deliver the bikes and parts they ordered.
Police in New York are looking for the arsonist who torched a Manhattan bikeshare dock.
New Orleans advocates are calling for bike safety improvements on St. Claude Ave, following two bicycling deaths on the dangerous corridor in a single month.
International
Edinburgh, Scotland finally protected a number of bike lanes around the city following months of delays and deferrals, making the lanes permanent, after they had been installed on a temporary basis and scheduled for removal next month.
This is why people keep dying on the streets. An Irish judge threw out the charges against a driver accused of careless driving for nearly hitting a group of bike riding cops — even though he had already pled guilty.
India is the new manufacturing source for mass-market US bike brands in the face of Trump’s tariffs on China — or it would have been, if Trump hadn’t jacked up tariffs on that country, too.
Lonely Planet offers advice on how to plan a New Zealand bicycling vacation. Get used to riding on the wrong side of the road, to start, because the left side is the right side down there.
Competitive Cycling
Two-time Olympic mountain biking gold medalist Tom Pidcock moved up to third in the Vuelta General Classification, confirming his decision to bypass this year’s mountain bike worlds, as Spain’s Juan Ayuso won Thursday’s stage in a sprint.
Cycling Weekly offers a preview of tomorrow’s Maryland Cycling Classic.
Finally…
If it’s made by Kawasaki, it’s an electric motorcycle, not an electric bike — even if a country star crashes it. That feeling when your new Canyon bike turns out to be a Canyo.
And probably not the best idea to threaten to kill a cop and his family if you get busted for stealing a bike from the local high school.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
