Tag Archive for e-scooters

Four Pepperdine students dead thanks to official inaction on deadly PCH, and more context-free San Diego ebike panic

October 19, 2023 / / 5 comments

This is who we share the road with.

Tuesday night, four young Pepperdine University students were killed by an alleged speeding driver on Southern California’s killer highway.

The four 20-year old college seniors were standing on the side of the road in an area locals call Dead Man’s Curve when the 22-year old driver slammed into three parked cars, knocking them into the women.

And making them all collateral damage on a roadway designed and build to accommodate, if not encourage, high speeds.

The driver, Fraser Michael Bohm, was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, which will likely be upgraded to four counts once he’s arraigned.

It’s only a pity that the people who have gone out of their way to keep this killer highway dangerous and deadly won’t face charges with him.

It was nearly a decade ago that I began representing the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, now BikeLA, on the PCH Task Force.

The task force was created by the state legislators who then represented the Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica and Ventura County areas to address safety and other concerns on the highway, with input from the various stakeholders.

The LACBC took an interest because PCH is such a popular route for bicyclists of all kinds. And claimed so many as victims.

In fact, it is the single most deadly roadway for bike riders in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The LACBC joined with other representatives to demand safety improvements to the highway, ranging from road diets and protected bike lanes, to eliminating roadside parking and reducing speed limits.

In almost every case, we were told what we were asking for was impossible. We were told the road, Malibu’s 22-mile long main street, was necessary to funnel commuters from Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley in and out of the LA area.

The overly wide traffic lanes, high speed limits that were nearly universally exceeded, slip lane right turns and roadside parking were all necessary to prevent excessive traffic congestion, or so we were told.

Never mind they also encouraged speeding drivers weaving in and out of slower traffic 22 hours a day. And put bike riders at needless risk of right hooks and dooring.

Caltrans, which has responsibility for the roadway, could have taken steps to dramatically improve safety years ago.

They didn’t.

Malibu, Los Angeles and Santa Monica could have demanded changes that would have saved lives.

They didn’t.

Sure, minor changes were made. A painted bike lane here, widening the shoulder there. But the killer highway remained, and remains, a deadly speedway for most of the day and night.

Now four young women, who did nothing to put their lives in danger, are dead — victims of an alleged speeding driver, and the officials, engineers and bureaucrats who enabled him.

The young man behind the wheel is likely to be middle-aged before he gets out of prison, unless an overly lenient judge takes pity on him.

It’s just a pity that the others who have worked so hard to keep PCH so deadly won’t be there with him.

What a fucking waste.

A 2013 publication highlights the joys of biking sans helmets on SoCal’s deadliest highway.

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San Diego media sources were whipped into a tizzy by “startling new statistics” from the city’s Rady Children’s Hospital, which shows increasing rates of ebike and e-scooter injuries, especially among children.

Yet once again, they fail to put any of it in context.

Injuries can be expected to rise with increasing rates of any activity. If more people started playing Frisbee golf, we’d see rising rates of arm and impact injuries as a result.

What matters is whether those injuries are rising faster than the increase in ridership, or becoming more serious than a baseline of bicycling injuries.

Unless and until we have that context, reports like this are nothing more than a concerning, but anecdotal, data point.

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Frequent contributor Megan Lynch forwards news that UC Davis journalism students, not the professional press, are digging into what’s been done since a student was killed by a university employee while riding her bike.

I was lucky enough to be logged on to Mastodon at the time the MuckRock bot sent this through. Otherwise I’d never have known someone was finally making a CPRA request on this. Sadly, it was not made by UC Davis student journalists, but students in a journalism class at University of Nevada, Reno.

You may remember that (19-year old sophomore) Tris Yasay was killed by a yet-unnamed UC Davis employee driving a UC Davis sanitation truck on May 25, 2022. First responders were all UC Davis employees as well (UCDPD and UCDFD). Local press didn’t ask many questions and the few that the Davis Enterprise followed up on was because I got after the reporter about it. It still wasn’t what was needed.  UC Davis was successful in burying the questions.

Months later, its PR flacks linked the “accident” and the grant they applied for re “cyclist and pedestrian safety” that simply targets pedestrians and cyclists for re-education, not its own drivers.

So far as I know, UC Davis has not done any campaign to re-train its own drivers or at least it has not publicized one. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that the claim was that the driver could not see the cyclist in the side view mirror. In which case, the position and efficacy of these mirrors needs to be examined. Because cyclists are a regular feature of the UC Davis campus and if the side view does not accurately reflect what’s going on, drivers should be trained to crane their heads around and look for themselves BEFORE turning. “Blind” spots should be minimized on the vehicle.

But haven’t read about any of that happening.

I’m interested to see what the student journalist finds and if the MuckRock interface will let everyone see it when UC Davis responds. They also requested the City of Davis Bicycle Action Plan.

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Our Deutschland correspondent Ralph Durham forwards a newsletter from the ADFC, aka General German Bicycle Club, on the subject of licensing bicycles, and why that’s a bad idea.

Here is a link to the ADFC newsletter on the subject of bike license plates. And their list of reasons not to have them. A huge one is the cost because of bureaucracy. Something Germans know a little about.

However, you’ll either need to read German, or dump the story into a translation service like Google Translate.

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I used to ride this same route almost daily to get to Lake Hollywood when I first moved to Los Angeles about a hundred years ago.

It didn’t feel safe then, and it feels a lot less safe now.

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Bike Talk posts their latest episode, starting with questioning the effectiveness of Vision Zero on both coasts.

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LA County wants your input on proposed bike paths in the county.

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Local 

West Hollywood’s city council voted to end the city’s e-scooter trial phase and extend their contracts with Lime and Bird, although by a narrow 3 to 2 margin; the increasingly conservative WeHoVille site predictably did not approve.

 

State

Calbike claims a number of “big” legislative victories that survived the governor’s desk, along with concerns about bills creating an ebike safety study and a Caltrans bike czar.

The Kern County coroner’s office has finally identified the 39-year-old woman killed by a driver while riding her bike in Bakersfield last month; the CHP continues to blame her for crossing in front of the driver’s car.

The two people killed by shifting lumber form a passing Freightliner truck while riding their bikes on Napa County’s Silverado Trail were identified as a married couple from Portland, Oregon; no word on why they were riding in Napa. It’s questionable whether the driver gave them the required three-foot passing distance, which might have spared them from the impact. 

No one seems to like San Francisco’s new Valencia Street centerline protected bike lane, as advocates call it dangerous and counterintuitive, while merchants along the street say it’s killing their business.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is looking for a new executive director once again, as current ED Jannelle Wong is stepping down after just 18 months on the job.

 

National

NPR reports on the recent study that shows regular bike riding can improve mental health for middle school students. Which is one more reason for Safe Routes to Schools. 

Bicycling offers a requiem and post-mortem for the popular Surly Cross Check, which has been discontinued by the bikemaker. This one doesn’t seem to be available from other sources, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you. 

Friends of 32-year old BMX champ Nathan “Nate” Miller want to know why the Las Vegas driver who killed him hasn’t been charged for the September crash, after security cam video surfaced showing the speeding driver jerking between lanes before crashing into Miller’s bike, then crashing into a fence and a parked vehicle.

The wife and daughter of fallen former Bell, California police chief Andreas “Andy” Probst first realized he was injured when they got an alert of a fall from his Apple Watch, then heard police sirens and helicopters just blocks from their Las Vegas home; two teens face murder charges for intentionally running down Probst in a stolen car, apparently just for the hell of it.

A 62-year old Florida woman has been identified as the hit-and-run driver captured in a viral video crashing into an 11-year-old girl riding her bike in a school parking lot, and pushing her at least 60 feet with the car; instead of helping the girl, she just got out of her car, asked if the victim was okay, and told her to just go home and take a shower.

Once again, a cop has killed someone riding a bicycle, this time in Marion County, Florida, where a 22-year old sheriff’s deputy ran down a 63-year old man early Wednesday; investigators quickly blamed the victim for riding on a dark roadway without a helmet or reflective clothing, or using lights on his bike. Because apparently, patrol cars in Florida don’t have headlights that could have illuminated someone riding a bike.

 

International

Momentum offers 13 helpful tips for a worry-free first-time bike commuting experience.

Inside EVs says the new European Declaration on Cycling offers 36 principles aimed at advancing bicycling in the European Union, laying the groundwork for future legislation to unlock the full potential of bicycles.

An Australian woman has been seriously injured riding her bike, less than a week after warning a Victoria state parliamentary inquiry into road safety about the extreme risks bicyclists face on the country’s roads.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Arizona, where longtime bike racer John Timbers, a previous winner of the Iron Horse Classic and the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, and founder of Arizona’s Vuelta de Bisbee stage race nearly five decades ago, was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike in Tucson early Tuesday morning; he was 78.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a trio of random tweets tells a story about traffic violence and automotive hegemony. Nothing like suffering a daily aerial assault on your bike commute.

And who says you can’t do stunts on a heavy-ass bikeshare bike?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bolo Alert for Mid-Wilshire hit-and-run, NTSB ebike and e-scooter report a bust, and LAPD impaired driving holiday PSA

December 21, 2022 / / Comments Off on Bolo Alert for Mid-Wilshire hit-and-run, NTSB ebike and e-scooter report a bust, and LAPD impaired driving holiday PSA

It’s the last four days of the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Just 96 short hours to show your love for this site, and help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

Or even less, depending on when you read this. Never mind when I finally get it posted online. 

So let’s all thank James S, Brian N and Robert L for doing their part to ensure this site is here for you today, and every day!

Don’t waste another minute. Let alone another hour. 

Take a moment to donate right now via PayPal or Zelle. Then pat yourself on the back for doing a good thing. 

Because every contribution, no matter how large or small, is truly and deeply appreciated. And needed. 

And seriously, I mean it. Our spokesdog and chief fundraiser is going to keep staring until you give in and give something.

Trust me, you don’t want that.

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The LAPD is looking for a hit-and-run driver who seriously injured a bike rider in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood earlier this month.

The victim was struck by the driver of a 2012 to 2017 Toyota Camry at the intersection of Venice and Hauser around 9 am December 7th.

No information has been given about the victim, who suffered serious, but thankfully, non-life threatening injuries.

As always, there is a standing $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injuries in the City of Los Angeles. Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD detectives at 213/473-0234, or 877/527-3247 after hours.

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The first NTSB report on ebike and e-scooter crashes is a bust, as the agency concludes they just don’t have the data they need to reach any conclusions, after finding just 117 deaths on electric micromobility devices over a four-year period.

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A new holiday PSA from the LAPD’s Central Traffic Division sends a pretty clear message about the dangers of impaired driving.

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

Japan will become the fifth country to mandate bike helmets for adults, after Argentina, Cyprus, Australia, and New Zealand, in an apparent attempt to reduce ridership right when we need it most; however, there’s no penalty for failing to comply.

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

There’s a special place in hell for the Florida man who tried to use his bicycle to abduct a 14-year old girl who was walking with her friends. And hopefully, behind bars, soon. 

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Local 

California Senator Alex Padilla announced $80 million in funding for projects in the Los Angeles area; the list includes $5 million for Glendora’s ten-mile active transportation People Movement project, $4 million for Metro’s Rail to River Active Transportation Corridor, and $3 million for El Monte’s Merced Avenue Greenway. His office also announced $69 million in funding for the Bay Area, and $48 million for the Sacramento area.

 

State

Orange County cities are struggling to regulate e-bikes, with restrictions — such as a 10 mph speed limit on public streets in Lake Forest — that may be illegal under state law.

Fifty San Jose kids could win free bicycles and helmets if they pledge to reduce waste and be more environmentally aware.

A Michelin-starred San Francisco chef examines the parallels between riding a bike and running a restaurant. Although no one ever got a Michelin star for riding a bike, though some of us do use Michelin tires.

 

National

VeloNews talks pinch flats and how to fight them, while Road Bike Action wants to know why bike events are so damn long.

PinkBike considers whether elite bicyclists are at higher risk of heart problems and premature death, concluding there’s a slightly elevated risk, but it’s still significantly less than not riding at all.

The NYT’s Wirecutter recommends the best gifts for bike riders, ranging from olive soap to an otter-shaped water bottle and cage, as well as summer weight women’s jerseys from LA-based Machines for Freedom.

Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus asks if officials really care about record traffic deaths when they don’t do anything to solve the problem.

Kindhearted Seattle residents have raised over $1,600 to buy a new e-cargo bike for a young girl after someone stole the bike she used to ride with her father on Sundays.

Utah is suffering through a record number of bike and pedestrian deaths; bicycling fatalities are at least 50% higher than any year since record keeping began in 1994.

A bike path along a Nantucket roadway is wanted by virtually everyone except the homeowners who live alongside it, who call it a bike path to nowhere and fear bike riders “wandering around private property.” They also suspect people won’t be able to control their bladders after a modest ten-mile bike ride.

Some Cambridge, Massachusetts city councillors want to rip out a new lane reduction and separated bike lanes, rather than give it time for traffic patterns to settle in.

A New York man says riding outside is still better than riding in his basement, even after getting hit by an elderly driver, and that surviving the crash made him feel invincible. Oddly, getting hit by a road raging driver had the opposite effect on me. 

The Washington Post offers advice on how to stay safe while biking through the dark winter months. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have their usual option to share it, so your ability to read it may vary.

A 91-year old Florida woman will spend what could be the last years of her life behind bars after running down a couple riding their bikes, then getting out to look at them, and just getting back in her car despite their serious injuries, and driving away to have it repaired at the local dealership; one of the victims called her “a heartless monster who only thinks of herself.”

 

International

Great idea. An English market district is using ebike-riding volunteers to make Christmas deliveries.

Cyclist talks with the British couple who just set a new world’s record for riding around the world on a tandem.

Ikea is experimenting with three-wheeled, solar powered e-cargo bikes to make deliveries in the Netherlands.

You could go for a Christmas bike ride through the streets of Cyprus tonight. Except it will probably be over by the time you read this, thanks to a ten-hour time differential between Cyprus and Los Angeles.  

Autoevolution considers a vaporware slap bike lock developed by a Korean inventor, designed to be easy to use and carry, but which currently exists only as trademark renderings.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling’s governing body will expand the Mountain Bike World Cup even further next year, with the introduction of enduro and E-enduro racing, which comes on the heels of adding cross-country marathon racing to the Cup.

No surprise here, as VeloNews names Annemiek van Vleuten their female cyclist of the year.

 

Finally…

Nothing like turning your e-cargo bike into a heavy duty snowplow. That feeling when your kid’s new Christmas bike was built by prison labor.

And don’t lie to your mom about wearing a helmet.

Seriously.

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Happy Chanukah to everyone celebrating today.

Chag Urim Sameach!

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

New CA law threatens to kill bikeshare, new protected bike lane in South LA, and little protection on 6th Street Bridge

October 27, 2022 / / Comments Off on New CA law threatens to kill bikeshare, new protected bike lane in South LA, and little protection on 6th Street Bridge

Somehow, we missed this story.

Lost in the recent flurry of bill signings by California Governor Gavin Newsom was AB 371, known by advocates as the Kill Bikeshare Bill.

The new law imposes a draconian requirement on providers of shared micromobility devices — like bikes, ebikes and e-scooters — to provide liability insurance covering the behavior of their users.

The requirement could force existing providers like Bird and Lyft to shut down their operations in the state. Or at the very least, raise their rates to unaffordable levels to cover the added insurance costs.

Exactly the opposite of what’s needed right now to shift people to cleaner forms of transportation in order to confront the rising climate emergency.

Let alone get people out of their cars to reduce crushing traffic congestion.

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Nice to see LADOT continuing to build new bike lanes in South LA.

Although as this photo shows, parking protected bike lanes aren’t very protected when no one is parking there.

Because those plastic posts aren’t going to stop anyone.

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A reminder that Los Angeles officials didn’t think it was worth protecting bike riders on the new 6th Street Bridge, choosing to protect pedestrians with a concrete barrier while leaving bike riders at risk.

We’ll leave it up to you to decide whether you could have survived this crash riding in the bike lane.

Because those plastic bollards and low rubber curbs clearly didn’t prevent it.

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Clear your schedule for December 3rd, when Walk ‘n Rollers will host a fundraising Donut Ride to mark my sister’s birthday.

What do you mean that’s not why they’re doing it?

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

No bias here. Ottawa, Canada’s new mayor rode to victory by opposing plans for bike lanes in the downtown area, successfully painting the popular incumbent as out of touch with the larger community because of them.

Three “thrill-seeking” children face charges for intentionally dooring a woman using a stolen car, one of at least three similar incidents targeting bike riders this week; the attacks called attention to the need for more protected bike lanes.

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

A 28-year old man was convicted of manslaughter for riding off on his bicycle after stabbing another man to death outside the Boston Medical Center following a dispute.

A 34-year old woman was critically injured when she was hit from behind by a man on a bicycle in New York’s Central Park. However, despite what the comments say, the bike rider isn’t necessarily at fault, though we all have an obligation to ride safely around pedestrians.

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Local

The LA Times invites you to mark Día de Muertos by making a digital ofrenda to remember loved ones — or bicyclists — who have passed away.

Pasadena Now complains that the bikeways included in the city’s 2015 Bicycle Transportation Action Plan still haven’t been built. Kind of like a nearby megalopolis we could name.

Metro funding has been approved for a 5.3 mile on-street bikeway through Rosemead, unincorporated South San Gabriel, Montebello and Monterey Park, although at least some of it will be just a class 3 bike route. In other words, sharrows. 

LA Taco recommends 13 haunted hikes to cheap you out in Los Angeles and Orange counties, many of which you should be able to do on a bike.

 

State 

The green bike lane markings on Santa Barbara’s State Street Promenade have been consigned to the dustbin of history; the city now hopes bike riders and pedestrians can somehow share the street, after walkers refused to stay out of the bikeway.

The sheriff’s department in San Luis Obispo County is asking for donations of new bicycles, new helmets, or money for replacement parts for their annual bike giveaway for kids in need.

San Francisco Streetsblog’s Roger Ruddick says it’s important to remember how far the city has come in terms of bike access and street safety, as residents prepare to vote on whether to keep JFK Drive closed to motor vehicles.

The Sonoma County coroner has confirmed the cause of death for a popular chef who died from hitting a bollard in the middle of a bike path while riding with friends.

Sad news from Humboldt County, where a 51-year old man riding a bicycle was killed in a collision with a pickup driver.

 

National

The New York Times Wirecutter recommends some surprisingly affordable gear for bike commuting. Although something tells me REI sells that Chrome rolltop backpack for just a tad more than $5. Or would if it was still available, anyway.

Bicycling profiles former pro cyclist turned professional chef Jess Cerra, whose homegrown gravel ride raises money to fund scholarships to provide post-secondary education for young women in her native Whitefish, Montana. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

New York bicyclists can now legally ride across the Cross Bay and Henry Hudson bridges, in response to a new law requiring bicycle access on all of the city’s seven bridges.

The New York Times examines California’s new Freedom to Walk act decriminalizing jaywalking, which follows the lead of similar laws in Nevada, Virginia and Kansas City.

Great idea. A New Orleans organization is hosting a “Bike N Vote” initiative, providing free bikes to help get young people of color to the polls for early voting.

 

International

Riding your bike could help protect you from the coronavirus this winter. But get your shot anyway, since a study shows regular exercise helps improve the vaccine’s effectiveness.

With shorter days and the upcoming time change, effective lighting becomes even more important. Road.cc recommends eight bike lights to fit the four most common rider requirements.

An Irish writer sings the praise of cargo bikes, but argues that we need to end the love affair between men and their cars if they’re going to catch on. I broke up with my car a couple years back after a nearly 20 year relationship. But like most relationships, it went on long after the love was gone.

Irish authorities still haven’t explained why a hit-and-run driver was behind the wheel when he killed a 23-year old bike rider 11 years ago; the man was was supposed to be behind bars serving three concurrent prison sentences, yet was never taken into custody.

Sadly, shootings, fatal and otherwise, occur on American bike paths so often I don’t even link to them in most cases; in Sweden, not so much, where a 16-year old boy died after he was shot on a bike path in the town of Sandviken. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

Finnish F1 star Valtteri Bottas is one of us, racing on a gravel bike when he’s not in the cockpit of a high-powered race car.

Australian Geographic lists the top three bike rides in each of the country’s states and territories for your next trip Down Under.

 

Competitive Cycling

Current Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard says nothing is set in stone yet, but he’s looking forward to defending his title in 2023.

Cycling Weekly examines whether you’re better off competing on a team or on your own in gravel racing.

Like our own L39ion of Los Angeles, a Miami cycling team is out to cultivate a new generation of cyclists while calling attention to issues plaguing Black and brown communities, even though team members are more interested in getting podiums.

Sad news from the UK, where the first British cyclist to win a stage in the Tour de France has died; 91-year old Brian Robinson won stages in ’58 and ’59.

 

Finally…

When you’re a parolee carrying meth on your bike — and probably selling it — follow the damn traffic laws, already. Seriously, don’t do donuts in a graveyard on your ebike.

And that feeling when you’re accused of cheating in chess, and maybe weren’t the cycling prodigy you claim, either.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Fed ebike credit dies with Build Back Better plan, and Lime CEO says it’s the cars littering out streets, not the scooters

December 21, 2021 / / Comments Off on Fed ebike credit dies with Build Back Better plan, and Lime CEO says it’s the cars littering out streets, not the scooters

Just four days left in the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Richard N and Kent S for their generous donations to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

So don’t wait. Time is running out!

Give now via PayPal, or with Zelle to ted @ bikinginla.com.

Any amount, no matter how large or small, is truly and deeply appreciated.

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It looks like there won’t be a federal ebike tax credit in your stocking this year, after opposition from West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin doomed Biden’s Build Back Better bill for this year.

If not permanently.

At least California residents can look forward to a $10 million ebike tax incentive program going into effect sometime this coming year.

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He gets it.

The CEO of Lime tells Time it’s not ebikes and scooters that are littering our streets, it’s all the cars.

Thanks to Chris Giza for the heads-up.

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

A Houston councilmember tries to have it both ways, walking back criticism of bike lanes as being too in tune with the needs of bicyclists, to the detriment of drivers, then saying his complaints about bike lanes still stand.

Welsh dirt and pedal bike riders were warned to be careful, after a man suffered horrific neck injuries when someone sabotaged a bike trail by stringing barbed wire over it at neck level. As we’ve said before, anyone who does something like this should face terrorism charges, because there is a clear intent to injure others to frighten people off their bikes.

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Local

ActiveSGV celebrated the season with a test ride of the new ebikes coming to the San Gabriel Valley’s bikeshare system next year, along with a ride to observe a 100-year old Christmas light tradition.

 

State

A 57-year old dialysis patient rolled into San Diego to finish the final 1,800 miles of the New Hampshire to California recumbent ride her son was on when he was killed by a Mississippi driver three years ago.

Congratulations to Santa Barbara for their newfound status as a Silver level Bicycle Friendly Community.

San Francisco advocates say they’ve been patient long enough, and want the protected bike lanes and intersections they were promised before Covid shut everything down.

 

National

Nice move from Yuma, Arizona, which has installed a public sculpture honoring a local Special Olympian along a local bike path; the bicycle used by 49-year old Charles E. Cheatham will stand as a memorial to the athlete, who passed away earlier this year.

Police in Glendale, Arizona ask for the public’s to catch a hit-and-run driver who killed a bike rider, just one day after the fatal crash; meanwhile, police in Amarillo, Texas just waited until the weekend was over. Unlike the police in a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name, who prefer to wait until the trail grows cold, for reasons known only to them.

Chicago advocates’ warnings of increased danger for people walking or riding bikes if a new Amazon warehouse was approved have come to pass, after a bike lane was erased to make room for a turn lane for the convenience of their drivers, dumping bike riders into traffic without warning.

New York’s mayor elect has selected the longtime chair of the city council’s transportation committee as the new head of the Department of Transportation. He gets high marks from the city’s bike advocates. 

Gothamist says outgoing New York Mayor De Blasio gets praise for starting Vision Zero, while critics complain he didn’t go far enough. Sort of like another big city mayor and future ambassador to India we could name.

New Orleans plans to focus on improving safety for bike riders and others on the streets next year, after the worst year for traffic deaths in the Crescent City since 2014.

 

International

Bike Hacks considers why bike jerseys are so expensive these days.

British police have made a trio of arrests in the home invasion robbery that terrified pro sprinter Mark Cavendish and his family last month, charging a 30-year old man and two 27-year olds for the break-in; no word on whether any of the items stolen were recovered.

Good news about former Italian F1 driver and Paralympic gold medalist Alex Zanardi, who is finally home from the hospital, 18 months after he suffered severe head injuries when he was hit by a truck driver while training on his handcycle.

Over 200 people in Santa suits turned out for an annual bike ride in the Bosnia-Herzegovina city of Mostar yesterday; the four-mile ride was open to anyone with a bicycle and a Santa hat.

 

Competitive Cycling

The three kings of ‘cross will be going head-to-head-to-head four times in the week between Boxing Day and the day after New Years, which really needs a better moniker.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to whip out a gun while stealing a bike from Walmart, at least steal a better bike. Now you can ride gravel without ever taking your bike off the rollers. Or going outside, for that matter (scroll down).

And that feeling when you get your stolen bike back before you even know someone took it.

Which is another good reminder to register your bike.

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

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

Driver flees on foot after hitting salmon scooter rider in DTLA, and Long Beach teen rideout marred by shoplifting

October 28, 2021 / / Comments Off on Driver flees on foot after hitting salmon scooter rider in DTLA, and Long Beach teen rideout marred by shoplifting

LA’s hit-and-run plague just keeps on going.

The LAPD is looking for a shirtless driver who ran off on foot after crashing into a woman riding an e-scooter in DTLA.

The victim was riding against traffic when she was struck, which means the driver probably wouldn’t have faced any consequences if he’d just stuck around.

Instead, he abandoned his car and fled on the sidewalk, for reasons known only to him at this point. It could be that he was drunk or stoned, the car was stolen, or possibly he was in the country illegally and feared deportation.

Or any one of a number of other possible explanations.

Meanwhile, the victim was hospitalized with a head wound, which means there is an automatic $25,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the suspect.

https://twitter.com/LAPDCTD24/status/1453466605518614530

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Police ordered a group of 200 to 300 mostly teenage bike riders to disperse Sunday afternoon after they were accused of stealing $300 to $400 worth of alcohol and other items from a Signal Hill Food 4 Less.

The teens were taking part in an organized rideout captured in a pair of videos.

Unfortunately, I’m unable to embed them for some reason, so you’ll have to click through to YouTube to see them. 

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Maybe this will finally get the message across.

Of course, first you need a decent protected bike lane to print it on.

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A writer for Pink Bike attempts to ride every mountain bike trail at British Columbia’s Sun Peaks Bike Park in a single weekend.

Although the bike park may have some competition from a new one in Arkansas next year.

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

An English woman is questioning whether it’s worth it to keep riding her bike after a passenger in a passing car attempted to push her off her bicycle.

A Singapore driver was fined the equivalent of over $2,000 for punching a woman riding a bicycle with her three-year old son, after she slapped his car when he nearly ran them over by forcing his way into the lane she was in.

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

A Louisiana man was busted after he robbed a business at gunpoint, then made a failed attempt at a bicycle getaway.

Police in Mad City, Wisconsin are investigating after a woman on a group ride was punched in the face by an angry man on a bike, who was apparently enraged to find the group on the trail, even though they politely moved right to give him room to pass.

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Local

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers suggestions on how to improve the new Hollywood Metro Bike bikeshare, including more safe spaces to ride them and stop hiding the docks in unobtrusive locations.

The worldwide plague of armed bike theft reared its ugly head in Culver City, where a man on a bicycle accused another man of riding a bike that belonged to his friend, then threatened to shoot him if he didn’t give up his bike and walk away.

A man in his 30s was fatally shot while either riding or walking his bicycle in Long Beach, in what police suspect was a gang shooting.

Artist Sandra de la Loza will lead an art workshop and Dias de Los Muertos bike caravan on Saturday, November 6th (scroll down).

Floyd Mayweather is one of us, as the 44-year old boxing great took to his bicycle on the Venice bike path Tuesday evening.

 

State

San Diego announced a $2.5 million program to fix streets in the Rancho Bernardo neighborhood that were damaged by 2007’s Witch Creek Fire, where rutted pavement and potholes posed a particular danger to bike riders and pedestrians.

Now that’s more like it. Santa Cruz is offering rebates up to $400 and zero-interest loans for downtown workers who buy ebikes, as part of a program to encourage alternative modes of transportation to the area.

The director of Berkeley’s transportation department was lucky to escape with a sprained wrist when he was struck head-on by an SUV driver; Farid Javandel was stopped at a stop sign on his bike when the left-turning driver cut the corner and crashed into him.

 

National

Forbes picks their favorite bicycle child seats.

Somehow we missed this one last week, as a new induced demand calculator will help determine just how much traffic will increase when roadways are expanded.

Portland, Oregon is installing painted bicycle crossings at non-signalized intersections, backed by a university study showing the crosswalk-style crossing encourage more drivers to yield to bikes.

An Arizona driver who ran a red light and slammed into a Flagstaff bike parade last March, killing one woman and injuring several other people, now faces multiple felony charges for kiddie porn after police discovered thousands of images on his phone when they got a search warrant to determine whether he was distracted at the time of the crash.

The Waller County, Texas DA promises he’ll make a decision by November 8th whether to charge the coal-rolling teenage driver who ran down six bicyclists who were training for a triathlon last month.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A Minnesota man whose license had been revoked faces a charge of criminal vehicular homicide after killing a 73-year old Catholic priest who was riding his bike on the shoulder of a highway; the 26-year old driver has 10 previous convictions for driving with a revoked license in just the last three and a half years. Just one more example of keeping a dangerous driver on the roads until it’s too late. He should have been jailed and his car confiscated after the second offense. 

More proof that bike lanes work, as the latest round of data from New York’s Department of Transportation shows painted bike lanes reduce the risk of injury to bike riders by nearly a third, while increasing ridership an average of 50%; protected bike lanes reduced injuries as much as 60%.

Talk about a rough year. A celebrity chef has filed suit against the NYPD alleging he was brutally beaten for violating a curfew when he attempted to deliver a pizza for a bicycle delivery service, after losing his restaurant when he caught Covid-19.

A suspect has been taken into custody after a body was discovered in the New Jersey headquarters of Jamis Bikes; no word yet on who was killed or how it happened.

No bias here. After a Louisiana bike rider was injured in a collision, police bent over backward to blame the victim, while the story fails to mention that the pickup that hit him even had a driver.

 

International

No surprise here, as data from around the world shows that bikeshare usage goes up with warmer temperatures until it gets too hot, and wet weather discourages people from riding. In other news, water is wet, the pope is Catholic, and bears defecate in wooded areas.

Vancouver cops are looking for a brazen bike thief who raided an apartment building bike locker by using suction cups to remove the glass door, then used bolt cutters to make off with several high-end bikes.

A 16-year old climate activist is riding a cargo bike 570 miles from her English home to Glasgow for the COP26 conference, to call attention to the climate emergency.

A Welsh man complains about the overly lenient sentence given the driver who killed his bike-riding father, saying she belongs in jail, rather than walking with a suspended sentence after she played the universal Get Out Of Jail Free card by claiming the sun was in her eyes.

A new Tokyo study proposes an algorithm to rebalance bikeshare docks more efficiently, preventing the problem of too many bikes at some docks and not enough at others.

 

Competitive Cycling

American cyclist Marianne Martin will be formally inducted into the US Bicycling Hall of Fame next week, 37 years after she won the inaugural, short lived women’s Tour de France; the race will return next year in an abbreviated eight stage format.

Cyclist profiles German ultra cyclist Ulrich ‘Uba’ Bartholmoes, who won the first two ultra cycling races he entered two years ago, and has kept winning ever since.

VeloNews talks with the owner of the Israel Start-Up Nation cycling team about the daring cloak-and-dagger rescue operation he set in motion to help Afghan cyclists escape the country.

 

Finally…

Maybe antagonizing bike riders isn’t the best way to get their business. If you think you’ve may have an outstanding warrant and could be carrying weed on your bike, put a damn light on it — and try not to crash into a briar patch.

And it’s probably not the best idea to install a bikeshare station where bikes are banned.

………

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

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

Hit-and-run driver severely injures e-scooter rider, support Eagle Rock One Lane plan, and Nobel laureate on a bike

October 15, 2021 / / One comment

The LAPD is looking for a hit-and-run driver who left-crossed a man on an e-scooter in Huntington Park, then fled the scene dragging the dangling rear bumper of her car behind her.

As always, there is a $25,000 standing reward in the City of Los Angeles for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injury.

But be warned before you click on the video.

It clearly shows the crash from multiple angles, and could be very hard to watch.

And you can’t unsee it if you do.

Handcuff photo by Kindel Media from Pexels. Let’s help fit this driver for a pair. 

………

Eagle Rock Forward needs your help to make one last push to get Metro to adopt the livable, Complete Streets option for bus rapid transit on Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock.

Metro’s “One Lane” option is an evolution of the Beautiful Boulevard plan. It is the ONLY option that:

  • Provides a green street by preserving & enhance existing landscaped medians
  • Supports local businesses by maintaining on-street parking & space for Al Fresco dining
  • Protects school kids by providing additional & safer crosswalks
  • Makes a safer street by reducing speeding on Colorado Boulevard
  • Reduces cut-through driving on residential streets by maintaining space on Colorado for pick-up & drop-off zones
  • Upgrades existing bike lanes to be family-friendly protected bike lanes
  • Provides transit service for Eagle Rock that is attractive and dependable to support existing bus riders and attract new transit riders

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If I found out a Nobel laureate read this site, I’d probably promote the hell out of it, too.

………

GCN considers how it’s possible for every new bike to be the lightest, stiffest, fastest or most aero.

Or not.

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

No bias here. A proposal before the Massachusetts legislature would “improve” bike safety by fining bike riders as much as motorists for traffic violations, even though bicycles pose a fraction of the risk to others.

No bias here, either. DC’s conservative newspaper suggests the bike lobby is running the city, and forcing anti-car tactics on the unsuspecting driving public by reducing speed limits and improving safety on high risk corridors. And insists some crashes are caused by medical emergencies rather than reckless drivers, and sometimes bike riders might even be at fault. But unlike drivers, reckless bike riders hardly ever kill anyone.

A road-raging farmer in the UK was convicted of attacking a bike rider who followed him home to confront him after a punishment pass, because the man on the bike was riding in the roadway instead of on a separated bike path next to it; he was fined the equivalent of a whopping $146. I know as well as anyone how tempting it is to follow a driver who threatens your safety. But seriously, don’t. Just let it go and get on with your life.

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

London bike riders are caught on dashcam video “recklessly” jumping a red light, even though there wasn’t any cross street, and after waiting for pedestrians to cross.

………

Local

LA Times columnist George Skelton’s windshield bias is showing, as he says Gov. Newsom was right to veto bills that would have legalized jaywalking and stop as yield, calling them nutty bills that would allow people to harass drivers. Nothing like demonstrating you don’t understand the problem before criticizing the solution.

 

State

Santa Maria unveiled a new $900,000 road diet project with protected bike lanes, complete with curbs and car tickler plastic bendie posts.

Bike theft continues to be a major problem at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where students have lost faith in relying on the police for help.

Tragic news from Santa Rosa, where a 47-year old man faces a slim chance of survival after he was hit head-on by an allegedly stoned driver while riding his bicycle outside town; he was already considered disabled from a previous collision 25 year earlier.

Campus police at Chico State University caught a bike thief in action and busted him as he tried to ride away, then returned the purloined bicycle to its owner. Meanwhile, a “super bike cop officer” with the Chico Police Department is on a mission to recover stolen bikes.

 

National

Great idea. An Albuquerque microbrewery is collecting bike parts for a local community bike shop by offering a discount for each part you bring in — or a free draft for a complete bike.

Several bike companies in New Mexico have joined forces to create a one-of-a-kind bicycle that will be raffled off to benefit an organization that supports transgender rights.

A Colorado bike rider describes a driver making an unsafe pass on the wrong side of the road, nearly hitting him head-on, and well within the state’s three-foot passing distance. And tells the driver to never do that again, because “We don’t need more Ghost Bikes…”

The current owner of a San Antonio, Texas bike shop once owned by a fallen bicyclist struggles to accept the slap on the wrist given the drunk driver who killed him. Cases like this send a clear message that driving drunk and killing another human being is really no big deal. And the lives of people on bicycles don’t matter.

A Dallas writer tries out an Italian robotic bike fit machine, and concludes that a real human can do a much better job.

The New York Daily News takes the outgoing mayor to task for the carnage on the streets and the failure of the city’s Vision Zero, as traffic deaths have risen to the highest level since the program was adopted in 2014.

Frank Ocean is one of us, proudly riding his Van Moof ebike through the streets of New York.

A alleged Pittsburgh bike thief died after police tased him at least five times because he kept getting up to plead that he didn’t do anything. There’s no excuse for stealing a bike. But it shouldn’t call for the death penalty.

A kindhearted Florida cop gave a 13-year old boy his first bicycle, after learning the kid had to walk miles every day to get to and from school. And his mother walked twice as far after walking each way with him, and returning home on her own.

 

International

Cycling News explains the different types of bikes, and offers advice on how to pick the right one for you.

An English man was the victim of a violent bike theft when a group of young thieves attacked him with a metal pipe as he rode along a towpath, stealing his $4,800 Trek mountain bike and leaving him with multiple injuries to his arm, wrist and back.

You’ve got to be kidding. A court in the UK absolved a driver with a long history of speeding tickets of her latest speeding charge, after accepting her claim that she had no choice but to speed to pass a nearly invisible bike rider, whose helmet was the only thing she could see. Because evidently, slowing down until it was safe to pass just wasn’t an option. Never mind waiting until you can actually see who you’re trying to pass. 

A 60-year old British man pled guilty to killing two men riding their bikes when he plowed into them on a straight road with a 60 mph speed limit; the victims owned a company that put on sportives and charity rides.

A writer in Brussels takes advantage of the pandemic to overcome his fears and start riding a bike after 20 years in the city.

 

Competitive Cycling

Prosecutors call for a slap in the wrist for the woman who allegedly caused a mass crash by holding up a sign in the first stage of the Tour de France, asking the court for just a four month suspended sentence.

Podium Cafe looks back to when legendary chanteuse Josephine Baker “sprinkled her stardust” on the pre-war Tour de France. Baker also acted as an Allied spy during the Nazi occupation of France.

Thirty-year old Katie Keough unexpectedly called it a career after more than a dozen years as a pro ‘cross cyclist, most recently competing as a guest rider for LA-based L39ION of Los Angeles.

The first-ever edition of L39ION of Los Angeles founder Justin Williams’ new Into the Lion’s Den cycling race, scheduled for Sacramento at the end of this month, will feature a new format with teams competing for their home cities.

 

Finally…

Nothing like helping a stranger fix his handlebars, only to realize it’s your own stolen bike. How to make your own DIY airless bike tires.

And that feeling when you get in over your head — almost literally — and lose your bike in the process.

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

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

Blaming micromobility victims in New York, accusations of bias in Texas coal-roll crash, and School Streets kicks off in LA

October 12, 2021 / / Comments Off on Blaming micromobility victims in New York, accusations of bias in Texas coal-roll crash, and School Streets kicks off in LA

Before we start, I hope you’ll join me in welcoming noted San Diego bike lawyer Richard Duquette as our newest sponsor. 

I’ve known Duquette for some time, after connecting over some particularly egregious bike cases from San Diego and Orange Counties, as well as Riverside and Imperial Counties. Along with the advice he’s shared on topics from staying safe on the road, to how to find a good lawyer if you don’t.

I’m happy to have him join our roster of Los Angeles-area sponsors, all of whom I have personally vetted, to provide access to effective legal counsel throughout the SoCal region.

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The New York Times clutches its pearls over the rise in micromobility, noting that ridership surged 130 percent to 88.5 million in 2019, from just 38.5 million the year before.

But instead of celebrating the relative safety and convenience of e-scooters and other electric mobility devices, they choose to focus on people acting like, well, people.

Along with the human cost.

Still, the e-mobility boom has brought significant safety challenges to New York’s already congested streets. At least 17 people have been killed while riding electric mobility vehicles this year, according to city officials. Revel, which operates an electric moped share program in the city, voluntarily shut it down for a month last year after three riders were killed.

E-mobility crashes have also killed three pedestrians this year, including the actress Lisa Banes, who was knocked down by a hit-and-run scooter rider on the Upper West Side.

Many pedestrians and cyclists complain about e-bike and e-scooter riders who speed, ride on sidewalks and run red lights and go the wrong way on streets.

Although if they think e-scooters pose a risk to pedestrians, just wait until they hear about cars.

But let’s be honest.

It doesn’t take a lot of observation to realize that people do stupid things, whether they are driving cars, riding bikes, walking or piloting scooters.

And while all of those can pose a risk to others, it’s the people in cars who do the most damage.

Yes, reckless riding on a scooter is stupid, and dangerous — to the rider and those around them.

But it’s far from the biggest danger on the streets.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog responded by accusing the paper of victim blaming and trying to push people back into cars.

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No surprise here.

The law firm representing six bicyclists injured by a coal-rolling teenager in Waller County, Texas while training for a triathlon says the entire investigation of the crash has been “riddled with anti-bike bias.”

Then again, that was obvious the moment police allowed the 16-year old driver to go home with his parents instead of pressing charges.

Or even issuing a damn ticket.

Meanwhile, the local DA made it clear he doesn’t want to take the heat.

“This case was not handled appropriately by the investigating agency. PERIOD,” Mathis wrote in a Facebook post. “Despite being encouraged by the Texas Department of Public Safety to treat the scene as a crime scene and to contact the D.A.‘s Office for advice on how to proceed, the investigating agency chose not to do so.”

Then there’s this, providing the first public clue as to why the kid appears to have been handled with kid gloves.

The attorneys say the 16-year-old was “coal rolling” the cyclists shortly before plowing into them, and said the teen’s connections to Waller County officials were the reason he was allowed to leave the scene after being questioned.

On Monday, Mathis acknowledged these connections, but added that investigators have yet to “see evidence of a city official directing the officer on the scene as to how to handle this particular situation.”

Although chances are, in a small county like that, no one had to tell the cops on the scene who the kid was.

Especially after mom and dad showed up.

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Now that’s more like it.

Los Angeles is closing a section of Westmoreland Ave to cars as part of the School Streets pilot program.

https://twitter.com/_KennyUong_/status/1447703817630322689

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Everyone knows there’s no point in reinventing the wheel.

Which may be why automakers keep insisting on reinventing the bicycle, instead.

https://twitter.com/dorfman_baruch/status/1447790128882200576

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

No bias here. A Virginia letter writer complains that the area needs more more roads for cars, not bike lanes. But he can’t seem to decide if bike riders are lawbreaking, uninsured and unlicensed scofflaws, or children pedaling on toys around their own neighborhoods.

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

An Oregon man faces an attempted murder charge for stabbing a car passenger in an apparent road rage incident, which began when he started throwing rocks at the victim’s car.

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Local

Coffee, pastries, gravel, ocean views, bbq and beer. What’s not to like?

Spectrum News 1 checks in on Sunday’s return of CicLAvia to DTLA.

Pasadena now has an extra $462,900 to spend on DUI checkpoints, distracted driving enforcement, and bike and pedestrian safety operations, courtesy of a state grant. What, they couldn’t round up and make in an even $463,000 for some reason? Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey is one of us, taking his roadie for a ride through the ‘Bu on Sunday.

 

State

California Congressman Jimmy Panetta says it’s disappointing that the proposed federal ebike tax credit was cut in half in a House committee, but it’s still a start. Disappointing doesn’t begin to describe it, especially when e-car buyers get ten times the $750 tax credit they’re planning to offer ebike buyers. 

An eight-year old Santa Maria girl was hospitalized after a truck driver crashed into her bicycle with enough force to break it in half; no word on her condition.

The New York Times’ California Today newsletter looks at San Francisco’s Clement Street commercial district as a local example of the 15-minute city, where everything you need on a daily basis is just 15 minutes away, without setting foot in a car.

 

National

Specialized is recalling all of their Tarmac SL7 road bikes due to the risk of steerer tube failure. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

A writer for Outside finds joy again on her ebike, after getting a life-changing medical diagnosis.

When you’re tired of fixing flats, just build your own airless bike tires.

Portland should have a new 475-foot bike and pedestrian bridge over I-84 next summer, named for the city’s bike-friendly Congressman Earl Blumenauer. It’s an odd choice for a name since he isn’t dead or retired, which is usually the primary requirement to get something named after you.

A member of Colorado’s Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe wants you to acknowledge the land you’re riding on, and the ancestors who were there first. Once again, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

Topeka, Kansas is doing the right thing, giving away over 700 decommissioned bikes from the city’s former bikeshare program, rather than tossing them on the scrapheap, as too often happens.

Evidently, bike thieves have a heart in New Hampshire, where a woman got her stolen bike back after she posted a note asking for its return.

Tragic news from New York, where an ebike rider was killed by a wrong way driver while riding in a bike lane that had recently been downgraded from a protected lane, because drivers couldn’t resist driving over all the little car-tickler plastic bendie posts.

Hundreds of New Orleans residents Ride for their Lives to demand better safety for people on bicycles.

A Florida Good Samaritan replaced a disabled woman’s stolen adaptive trike for her birthday.

 

International

The New York Times memorializes Iohan Gueorguiev, famed as the Bike Wanderer for his six-year bikepacking quest traveling from the Arctic to Patagonia, which he documented on his YouTube channel; Gueorguiev committed suicide in August while riding out the pandemic at a friend’s home in British Columbia.

Riders on high-end bikes are being targeted in London’s Richmond Park, with at least three bike-jackings in the last six days, including pro cyclist Alexandar Richardson, who was relieved of his $13,600 bicycle.

Scotland is introducing a new campaign to promote hostels and bike tourism, inspired by the discovery of an 85-year old diary from a then 17-year old girl who toured the Highlands by bike with her two sisters.

A British man got a well-deserved year behind bars for pushing another man off his ebike after claiming it was really his, and making off with it while the victim lay unconscious in the street. Although a year seems a little light, considering he already had a 62-count rap sheet over the past 15 years.

Forbes promotes five new hosted European bike tours, starting at $3,199 for an ebike tour from Croatia to Montenegro. Or spend over five grand, and see where Slovenian cyclists Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič got their start.

French police are investigating the murder of a Spanish bikepacker, who was found in the roadway with several facial injuries, close to a popular cross-country bicycling route just south of Lyon on a trip that had started in the Netherlands.

He gets it. Volkswagen’s CEO says “Biking is fun, healthy and good for the environment” and a vital part of the urban mobility mix.

Good news from Afghanistan, where 38 people associated with the country’s women’s cycling team have reached asylum in Switzerland, with help from international cycling’s governing body.

Japan belatedly decides that sensor-operated automatic braking systems on cars should avoid killing bike riders, too. But gives carmakers three years to keep doing it.

Malaysian prosecutors aren’t giving up, filing yet another appeal to a higher court after charges were dismissed against a woman for killing eight teenage kids riding modified basikal lajak bicycles.

 

Competitive Cycling

Prior to this year, only three cyclists had ever won Il Lombardia and the Tour de France in the same season — Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault. Now you can make that four, after 23-year old Tadej Pogačar accomplished the rare feat last weekend.

Hats off to 22-year old triathlete Chris Nikic, who became the first athlete with Down syndrome to complete an Ironman competition.

Colorado authorities belatedly identified the mountain biker who died during this year’s Leadville Trail 100, reporting he was killed by blunt force trauma to his chest, supporting the theory that he crashed at high speed.

 

Finally…

A business writer says it’s always the right time to get on your bike and think — or dictate your column while on a 426-mile fundraising ride. That feeling when you overstate the amount of your bike and pedestrian grant by a mere ten times.

And apparently, bicyclists don’t pay road tax. Or boat tax, either.

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

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

$10 million ebike rebate added to CA budget, onerous bikeshare insurance bill, and Beverly Hills gives up on bikeshare

July 8, 2021 / / 3 comments

This is beginning to look like a watershed year for bicycle bills in Sacramento.

Calbike writes that a proposed $10 million program to help Californians buy ebikes has made it into the latest draft of next year’s state budget.

SACRAMENTO – CalBike is thrilled to announce that legislators approved a $10 million e-bike incentive program in next year’s state budget. Funded as part of the state’s campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, the program will help thousands of Californians get access to e-bikes to replace car trips. Bikes eligible will include bikes “designed for people with disabilities; utility bicycles for carrying equipment or passengers, including children; and folding bicycles.”

It joins bills to decriminalize jaywalking (AB 1238) and allow bike riders to treat stop signs as yields (AB122), which both pass out of committee in the state senate last week.

………

Calbike and the LACBC are also stepping up efforts to oppose AB371, which would force bikeshare and e-scooter providers to extend insurance coverage to their customers, which could have a chilling effect on micromobility.

This is why we are frightened by a bill in the state Senate that could kill shared bike and scooter systems. It would require nonprofits, government agencies, and private companies that operate shared bike and scooter systems to extend their liability coverage to the sole negligence or reckless behavior of a rider, setting a legal precedent that no other industry is subject to. Just like a rental car company cannot be held liable for the reckless actions of their drivers (Graves Amendment), neither should shared bike and scooter operators Further, the proposed form of insurance would be highly susceptible to fraud due to the low cost and ease of staging accidents, with minimal burden of proof.

The bill would even apply to the nonprofits and government agencies that just got funded to operate bike share systems with some of the $20 million in Clean Mobility Options grants. The Air Resources Board clearly understands the potential of these systems; the legislature should also, and abandon this attempt to impose a fatally impractical requirement.

Let’s hope they get it.

While more probably can and should be done to protect bikeshare and scooter users, and those around them, this is not the time to make them financially untenable and drive micromobility users back into their cars.

………

You can kiss Beverly Hills Bike Share goodbye.

The tony city is joining a growing list of SoCal cities in pulling up stakes on its docked bikeshare system at the end of this month.

I wouldn’t hold your breath on those new shared mobility options, though.

At least not as far as bikes or scooters are concerned.

Thanks to David Drexler for the forward.

………

Cable news outlet Spectrum News 1 highlighted Walk ‘n Rollers bike repair hub and free bicycle distribution program.

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

No bias here. The mayor of an Iowa town is begging for lawsuits, let alone funerals, after posting a large sign telling drivers not to stop for bike riders where a popular bike trail crosses a two lane highway. Even though he insists he rides a bike himself, and only wants to improve safety by encouraging people in cars to kill people on bikes just keep going. Sure, let’s go with that.

A London school is using traffic cones to block a new bikeway, claiming bicyclist are endangering the students — never mind that they’re endangering their own students and parents who ride bikes to school.

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

An English ebike rider with defective brakes walked without a day behind bars after he was sentenced for recklessly weaving in and out of traffic before running a red light and crashing into a car; he suffered serious head injuries in the crash.

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Local

Los Angeles was ranked as the nation’s 14th most future-focused city, based in part on LA’s bike score. No, really.

KCRW considers what a post-pandemic Los Angeles will look like, as UCLA architecture and urban design professor Dana Cuff points to CicLAvia as a sign of hope.

LA Taco offers a photographic look at the annual Chief Lunes Fireworks Party Ride through DTLA and Glendale on the 3rd.

Pasadena is looking for input on the city’s proposed pedestrian plan.

KNBC4 sounds its “bulbous bike horn” over the return of CicLAvia in Wilmington next month.

 

State

There’s justice for a fallen San Diego bike rider, after Abbas Karama Shariff copped a plea in the hit-and-run death of 35-year-old Daryl Treadwell in May of last year; he’ll be sentenced to the maximum penalty of four years behind bars.

A new study from San Diego’s Juiced Bikes confirms that riding a ped-assist bike over challenging terrain burns as many calories as a game of basketball. Playing, that is, not watching.

Streetsblog San Francisco calls Oakland’s decision to keep the protected bike lanes on Telegraph Ave a “resounding win for safety.”

Bike riders in Los Altos are calling a new freeway expansion project a death zone, with riders on the Foothill Expressway now expected to cross left over double right turn lanes in order to keep going straight.

Sad news from Chico, after it turned out the bikepacker killed by a grizzly bear while camping in Montana earlier this week was a 65-year old woman from the NorCal city.

 

National

Bicycling says yes, there’s a shortage of bicycles and parts due to the pandemic bike boom, but you don’t have to be a jerk about it. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Outdoor Life rates trunk-mounted bike racks.

A pair of Nebraska nonprofits formed the state’s first all-girl mountain bike team to encourage young women to get out and ride.

There’s a special place in hell for the owner of a historic St. Louis building, who is threatening to evict a bike charity by Monday after the bicycles they’d planned to donate to disadvantaged kids were damaged in a partial building collapse last summer — even though the owner was renting them space in a building that had been condemned in 2013. They estimate it will take another $40,000 to clean and repair the bikes so they can be safely ridden.

A Houston rabbi is recovering from multiple broken bones after the bike path he was riding on ended without warning, and he crashed into some large traffic barrels that were lining the roadway.

A Virginia bike shop owner calls the state’s new law requiring drivers to change lanes to pass someone on a bicycle “a blessing,” saying most people didn’t know how to judge the previous three-foot passing requirement.

Good for them. Inspired by a five-year old amputee, a group of Lafayette, Louisiana high school students are hoping to take a product they developed for a robotics competition to market; the adaptation kit they created can be added to any bicycle in minutes to assist people with missing or compromised legs to ride a bike.

 

International

A group of young Bolivians are battling pollution by forming the first bicycle messenger and delivery service in the smog-choked city of Cochabamba.

This is the cost of traffic violence. An eleven-month old baby is dead and his father hospitalized after they were collateral damage in a collision between the drivers of a supercar and an SUV in Vancouver, when one of the vehicles slammed into a group of pedestrians.

I want to be like them when I grow up. Canada’s Royal Academy of Octogenarian Cyclists Facebook group is for people over 80 who still love to ride a bike.

When my wife and I visited London several years ago, we quickly learned walking around Parliament and Westminster Abbey meant taking your life in your hands. Now plans are in place to cut Westminster speed limits to just 20 mph to improve safety and encourage more people to walk and bike.

Call it a royal tandem, as the queen’s daughter-in-law Sophie, Countess of Wessex, took to two wheels to support a “new initiative to tackle rising unemployment among people who are blind or partially sighted,” with the program’s appeal manager as stoker.

A British motorcycle rider got three years behind bars for fleeing the scene after slamming into a bicycle rider when he clipped the wheel of another bicycle and sliding across the roadway. He was arrested after he returned to the site of the crash on a borrowed bicycle, and was chased down by a cop who had to borrow another bike to catch him.

A new Austrian study confirms what most of us already suspected — suburban living is the worst for carbon emissions.

Victoria, Australia will give new See.Sense smart lights that collect roadway data to 1,000 bike riders in an effort improve safety for bicyclists.

 

Competitive Cycling

Yesterday’s Tour de France winner claimed his fourth career stage win, on the most prestigious stage of the world’s most prestigious bike race. Meanwhile, no change in the yellow jersey, even if it did crack a bit.

Germany cyclist Tony Martin was forced to abandon the Tour after crashing into a ditch.

Sadly, we don’t have to worry about spoilers in women’s cycling. Twenty-one-year old Dane Emma Norsgaard won her first stage in the Giro Donne by just edging out SoCal’s Coryn Rivera on a course that circled Lake Como. No word on whether they waved to George and Amal Clooney as they went by.

Pink Bike examines how technology pioneered in mountain bikes is making its way into pro cycling.

Flo Bikes looks forward to this weekend’s Mountain Bike Nationals. They’re being held at the Colorado resort where I learned to ski, back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

A 29-year old Poway man with cerebral palsy is on his way to Tokyo to compete on the US cycling team in the Paralympic Games.

 

Finally…

Police seldom have much of a sense of humor when you blow through the barricades and nearly run over a bunch of bike cops. Los Angeles bike riders have to watch out for LA drivers; bike riders in Maine have to beware of itchy caterpillars.

And this is what the latest installment in the Fast & Furious franchise looks like to a traffic safety advocate.

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

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

More details on 91-year old man killed by drunken e-scooter rider; LA barely avoids bottom in ranking of American bike cities

June 2, 2021 / / 2 comments

More information on the elderly man killed by a Venice e-scooter rider we mentioned yesterday.

According to CBS2/KCAL9, 29-year old James Cody Skene was riding on the sidewalk Saturday night at Lincoln Blvd and Marco Court when he slammed into 91-year old Yin Wu.

Yin died at the scene after hitting his head on the sidewalk.

Initial reports indicated that both Skene and the woman sharing the scooter with him suffered minor injuries; it’s illegal for two people to share a scooter under California law.

Skene was arrested on a DUI charge.

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Yet another clickbait study professes to rank America’s best bike cities.

The report, from lawn care company LawnStarter, rated the 200 largest cities based on criteria ranging from bike lanes per square mile to fatalities and air quality.

For instance, LA’s crappy roads were unsurprisingly in the bottom 25% in terms of road quality, checking in at 163 nationally, while San Francisco came in two ranks lower.

Yet despite that, San Francisco just edged out Portland for number one, while my Colorado hometown checked in at number three.

Los Angeles came in at a deservedly low, low 145 overall, just beating out Bakersfield.

Yes, Bakersfield.

SoCal cities making the top 100 were

  • Orange 37
  • San Diego 48
  • Pasadena 51
  • Ontario 53
  • Long Beach 57
  • Irvine 58
  • Huntington Beach 59
  • Garden Grove 64
  • Torrance 66
  • Santa Ana 77
  • San Bernardino 89
  • Escondido 96
  • Rancho Cucamonga 98

Santa Monica is evidently too small to make the list, while all the other SoCal cities on the list joined Los Angeles in the bottom half loser’s bracket.

But at least we rank higher in their listing of America’s horniest cities.

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Writer Richard Fox, author of enCYCLEpedia Southern California: The Best Easy Scenic Bike Rides, forwards this Bike Month interview with a Palm Springs TV station discussing bike safety and where to ride in the Coachella Valley.

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Despite what the anti-bike lane crowd will tell you, bikes increase accessibility for people who might not otherwise be able to walk or drive.

But they need our support, too.

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GCN pits an ebike against a car in a commuter challenge to see who can make it through urban traffic the fastest.

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

You’ve got to be kidding. The California tow truck driver who slammed into a group of bicyclists after running a red light, killing a 29-year old woman and injuring several others, has been released on a single lousy misdemeanor count. Although police say more charges could be filed pending further investigation.

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

An ebike rider threatened a group of NYPD traffic cops, saying he would kill them if he was armed, before punching their van’s side mirror. Which kind of makes you wonder what they did to piss him off

Never a great idea to try skitching behind a trailer on an Aussie highway. Or anywhere else.

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Local

New e-scooters from Spin and Bird may soon be able to detect when they’re being illegally ridden on sidewalks, and issue audible and written notifications. Although a better solution would be to simply shut them down and make scofflaw sidewalk riders walk the rest of the way.

 

State

Calbike calls on everyone to sign a petition to support AB 1401, which aims to increase affordable housing by eliminating parking requirements near transit.

Construction will start next year on a bike path connecting Santa Claus Lane south of Santa Barbara to Carpinteria, closing a gap in the California Coastal Trail and providing better beach access for people on bicycles.

A driver somehow ended up on a Sacramento bike path after a crash.

A Yuba County man faces a DUI charge after running down a 56-year old woman riding her bike, leaving her with severe injuries. But at least he drove her to the hospital after the crash.

 

National

Wired examines the debate over changes to the 862-page Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices, better known as the MUTCD, calling it an arcane manual that could pave the way to more human-friendly cities.

Outside says 2021 is the year of the bike, and gathers stories from the past year to give you all the information you need to get going or take your riding to the next level.

Speaking of Outside, they consider the problem larger riders have finding a bike, saying most bicycles aren’t made for plus-size bodies. And help you find some that are.

Men’s Health offers their choices for the best bike helmets for every type of rider, with prices starting at just under $30.

The FBI is joining the search for a missing 11-year old Iowa boy who disappeared after going out for a bike ride.

Nice. A new I-74 bridge connecting Iowa and Illinois over the Mississippi River will get a 14-foot wide, fully ADA compliant protected bike and pedestrian path.

Chicago active transportation advocates renew their call for an actual protected bike lane network in the city.

Adventures in bad headlines: A Connecticut paper writes that a driver was not at fault in a collision with a bicycle. Never mind that the bike came complete with a 13-year old boy attached to it.

Tragic news from New York, where a 54-year old woman was killed in a collision with an ebike rider in Queens.

The nation’s largest annual charity cycling event will return this year, when the 32,000-rider Five Boro Bike Tour returns to the streets of New York this August.

A 61-year old New York pastor plans to hop on his bike and ride 3,000 miles across the US to raise $25,000 for the Bowery Mission, repeating a ride he first took 43 years earlier.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 80-year old Reading, Pennsylvania man is still going strong on his bike.

An eight-mile Memorial Day bike ride in Tuskegee, Alabama honored the historic Tuskegee Airmen, who successfully fought the Nazis over Europe and racism in the US, both with honor.

 

International

Feel free to leave your clothes at home when the first post-Covid edition of the World Naked Bike Ride returns to Vancouver next week.

A moving piece from a Canadian writer, who celebrates the open streets and low traffic of pandemic era Toronto — despite the death of his own father, who was killed by a driver while riding his bike less than 20 minutes from his Nova Scotia home.

Heartbreaking photo from London, showing an abandoned bicycle lying in the roadway where an 18-year old boy was stabbed to death.

An English man was lucky to escape with a shattered cheekbone, courtesy of a suicidal squirrel that crossed his path while he was riding at speed on a steep descent; sadly, the squirrel did not fare as well.

Scottish cops will don plain clothes and get on their bikes to enforce the country’s safe passing laws this summer, as researchers suggest everyone who regularly rides a bike in the UK will experience a pass so close it can frighten them off their bikes. It’s no different over here, except police are more likely to insist that three-foot passing laws are unenforceable. And yes, I’m looking at you, LAPD. And LA Sheriff’s Department. And CHP. Thanks to John McBrearty for the heads-up. 

Tragic news from the UK, where a motorcyclist collided with a bicyclist, killing both riders.

A bike ride to protest the lack of bicycle infrastructure in Luxembourg will take place as planned, despite an official denial of their permit request for the ride.

No surprise here, as the Swedish ambassador to Vietnam is making a point of exploring Hanoi by bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Colnago is unveiling the first-ever official bicycle of the Tour de France; the black and yellow limited edition bike will set you back a mere $16,999.

 

Finally…

The perfect bicycle when you can’t decide whether you want pedals, an ebike or a gas engine — and want it to look like a bespoke early motorcycle. A little inspiration when you want to permanently ink your love of bikes.

And if you’re willing to ride 20 miles through a bike-unfriendly town just to see your girlfriend, you either really love her, or love riding your bike.

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Thanks once again to Matthew R for his monthly donation help keep this site coming your way every day; donations of any size are always appreciated, no matter how large or small, whether recurring or otherwise.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

And get vaccinated, already.

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

“Elderly” Venice man killed by drunken e-scooter user, white woman orders Black prof off “her” road, and ebike bias in CO

June 1, 2021 / / Comments Off on “Elderly” Venice man killed by drunken e-scooter user, white woman orders Black prof off “her” road, and ebike bias in CO

Tragic news from Venice, where an “elderly” man was killed when he was struck by an e-scooter user.

Make that an allegedly drunk scooter user.

The crash occurred around 9:45 pm Saturday on Lincoln Blvd at East Marco Court.

According to a report for KABC-7, the scooter rider was allegedly 1) illegally riding on the sidewalk, while 2) illegally carrying a woman passenger on the back, and while 3) wasted.

The victim, who was described only as elderly, or by other accounts, older — which could mean just about anything — died at the scene after hitting his head on the sidewalk.

Both people on the scooter suffered minor injuries, while the man operating it was arrested at the scene for DUI.

It’s unclear whether he can be charged under the state law prohibiting driving under the influence, or the statute prohibiting biking under the influence, which carries a much lower penalty.

This serves as yet another tragic reminder that sidewalks are intended for pedestrians.

While it’s legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in some California cities, you’re required to operated it safely, without posing an undue risk to people on foot. And basic human decency demands that you give as much space as possible and warn people before passing.

On the other hand, it is always illegal to ride an electric scooter on the sidewalk, or with a passenger.

And never while drunk or stoned.

Although I’d much rather see someone ride a bike or scooter while under the influence of anything than get behind the wheel of a car, which posses a much greater risk to everyone on the road.

But as this crash tragically shows, you can still pose a needless — and potentially fatal — risk to others.

Photo by Martin Péchy from Pexels.

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Racism, or just NIMBYism taken to the extreme?

Or more likely, both.

Black University of Washington med school professor Edwin Lindo went out for a bike ride while on vacation, and ran into a white woman — aka a “Becky” — who literally told him he couldn’t ride his bicycle on the road she paid for with her property taxes.

No, really.

https://twitter.com/EdwinLindo/status/1398870887630139397

Seriously, there is no effing excuse for that crap.

Ever.

Period.

Fortunately, Lindo didn’t let a little racism chase him off his bike.

https://twitter.com/EdwinLindo/status/1399194189531807746

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

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No bias here.

A story from the Denver Post tries to offer advice for ebike riders, particularly of the novice persuasion.

And they mostly kinda get it right.

Although this comment from an Aspen mountain bike instructor totally misses the mark.

“This is a framework of why it’s so important for e-bikers to have etiquette because they are now powered up with a weapon, really, that goes 20 miles an hour,” he said. “I say ‘weapon’ because now they can hurt themselves and others pretty easily.”

Never mind that it’s pretty easy to do 20 mph on a road bike, without a motor. And not that unusual on a mountain bike.

And while there’s no shortage of rude and/or inexperienced bike riders, no bicycle is a weapon, unless someone — like a cop, for instance — picks it up and uses it that way.

There’s there’s this bit of advice, which they apparently think is so important that it was repeated verbatim in a caption.

Though you may be tempted to ride side-by-side with your friends or family members so you can chat on your e-bikes, always ride single file and as far to the right as possible, unless you’re passing. This gives other cyclists and cars an opportunity to pass you safely.

Where do we even start?

This is sort-of decent advice for trail riders, but horrible for those riding on the road.

Yes, try to keep to the right on trails so faster riders can pass you. Unless you’re the faster rider, in which case you should pass politely.

And try not to ride abreast if it means clogging up the trail so others can’t enjoy it.

But on the road, riding like a gutter bunny puts you a greater risk of unsafe passes.

Most authorities, like the League of American Bicyclists and Cycling Savvy — and even Caltrans, for those of us in California — tell you to ride in the center of the lane, unless there’s a shoulder wide enough and clean enough to ride safely.

Riding two or more abreast in a single traffic lane can also increase your visibility and help hold the lane by forcing drivers to move into the next lane to pass you.

It’s also legal to ride abreast in many states, but check the law where you ride before trying it.

Like here in California, where police sometimes misapply the requirement ti right to the right to ticket people who ride abreast, even though there’s not one word prohibiting it under California law.

And they may not get it right where you are, either.

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Meet what may be LA County’s first protected bike lane.

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Cars don’t belong in parks. Even police cars.

That’s what bike cops are for.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1398844138775212036

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The LACBC has put together a number of training rides for this month’s LA Rivers Challenge.

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Megan Lynch forwards this video profiling the last of Ireland’s cycling posties, from 1975.

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This is what rush hour could look like in Los Angeles.

But probably won’t until we get new leadership.

https://twitter.com/NLinSF/status/1398374190101630976

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That feeling when you have a stowaway on your bike.

https://twitter.com/KathrynBertine/status/1398274331885522948

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

In what may be an act of sabotage, someone left industrial razor blades in the bike lane on Santa Monica Blvd. Even if it was just an accidental spill, the blades could cause a deadly crash by slicing through a rider’s tire, spilling them into heavy high-speed traffic.

Then there’s this from the UK.

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

Police in New York are looking for an ebike-riding gunman who killed another man who was sitting in a parked car in broad daylight.

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Local

Streetsblog examines the outdated plan to widen Burbank Blvd in North Hollywood to add a third traffic lane in each direction, and make it meet “Major Highway Standards.” Which would violate the intent, if not the letter, of LA’s Vision Zero plan and the transportation portion of Mayor’s Green New Deal.

They get it. The LA Times comes out against plans to widen the 710 Freeway, calling it “a zombie project from another era.”

 

State

While the state and feds debate providing ebike rebates, ebike buyers in San Mateo County could get an $800 rebate from the local clean energy company.

Speaking of which, an op-ed from a Bay Area professor calls on the state to pass a bill providing ebike rebates for up to 10,000 buyers.

A Marin paper says a new countywide ebike bikeshare could offer a first mile/last mile solution for public transportation. However, that depends on whether they’re willing to provide safe places to ride them.

A Placer County columnist says we all accept a little risk when we ride a bike, but don’t be stupid about it.

 

National

This is what a salt and barnacle encrusted Lime bike looks like after it’s pulled out of a Seattle sound.

A new Washington transit user takes understandable pride in figuring out how to use the bike rack on the bus.

Horrible news from Tucson, Arizona, where a tow truck driver ran a red light and slammed into a group of bicyclists, killing a 29-year old woman and sending four other people to the emergency room; a sixth rider was struck, but didn’t suffer serious injuries. Meanwhile, the community is rallying to support the victims. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

Former NBA star Mark Eaten died after going out for a bike ride Friday night; the two-time defensive player of the year with the Utah Jazz was found unconscious on the side of the road, and died at a local hospital; authorities said there was no reason to believe a car was involved. Even though drivers can easily force riders off their bikes without ever making contact. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the link.

Kindhearted people in a tiny town in eastern Colorado raised funds to donate 150 bicycles, scooters and skateboards for local kids.

A Pittsburgh neighborhood gets tired of speeding drivers, so they ordered their own speed bump through Amazon.

In another multiple victim crash, a Pennsylvania woman suffered life-threatening injuries and another woman suffered minor injuries when they were both run down by a hit-and-run driver in Virginia, despite wearing reflective vests, with headlights and flashers on their bikes.

A group of Black women rode from Harlem to DC, covering 250 miles in 65 hours to replicate a ride taken by another group of Black women 93 years earlier, while raising funds to provide good used bikes to people in need.

Great idea. The Black Chamber of Commerce in New Orleans is installing free bike racks in front of Black-owned businesses to “help encourage safe and equitable transportation” to get there.

New Orleans NIMBYs repeat the same complaints you’ll hear anywhere bike lanes go in, arguing that bollards for the city’s first protected bike lanes are ugly, and that replacing traffic lanes with bike lanes increases congestion. At least they didn’t say the markings on the street make them dizzy, like Coronado residents did a few years ago.

 

International

Experts weigh in on what comes next for the pandemic-driven bike boom.

The kindhearted members of the Medicine Hat, Alberta Rotary Club refurbished 79 bicycles to give to people in need.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 90-year old Alberta, Canada man rides a little more than six miles around town every day, sometimes twice a day, after his grown children gave him a bike for his birthday.

A Welsh Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist tells drivers to be patient, after she was knocked off her bike by a hit-and-run driver.

A speeding, coked-up English driver got a well-deserved three years behind bars for slamming into a six-year old boy on a bicycle, leaving the kid with a dangerous brain bleed; fortunately, the boy is expected to make a full recovery. And yes, he probably deserved a hell of a lot more than that.

You’ve got to be kidding. An Irish driver walked when he was acquitted of dangerous driving for slamming into a group of bicyclists, and killing a 34-year old woman — despite coming around a blind curve at high speed on the wrong side of road — in part because the victim may have fallen off her bike before the impact. Never mind that she was probably just trying to get the hell out of his way to avoid getting killed.

Up to 10,000 bike riders turned out for Critical Mass in Zurich, Switzerland to call attention to dangers posed by motorists.

Bike riders in eleven German towns rode to protest the American blockade of Cuba.

The Spanish paracycling championships were called off after a volunteer was killed by an ambulance during the competition.

Belarus was deservedly stripped of hosting duties for next month’s European track cycling championships, after the country faked a bomb threat to hijack a plane so they could arrest a dissident journalist who had fled the country.

Sad news from India, where the father of the Bicycle Girl has died, possibly from Covid-19; she gained international fame by pedaling across the country to carry her ill father home during the country’s first lockdown.

Disgusting story from Israel, where a small child was detained at gunpoint for the crime of flying a Palestinian flag from his bicycle. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

Great idea. Dubai has installed bike counters on a 20-mile long bike path, providing users with a realtime bike count, as well as weather conditions, announcements and warnings.

The pandemic bike boom set a record for bicycle imports to Australia, coupled with a 50% increase in bike sales.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tour de France champ Egan Bernal clinched his first victory in the Giro by wearing the pink leader’s jersey into Milan’s Piazza Duomo as his Colombian countrymen celebrated.

Italy’s Damiano Caruso called himself “the happiest man in the world” after an unplanned victory in the Giro’s penultimate stage, which clinched an unexpected second-place finish for the three-week stage race.

Cycling Tips offers a behind the scenes Giro photo essay capturing the views you couldn’t get on TV. Or at all, for most of us in the US.

And this pretty well puts Bernal’s win in perspective.

It turns out the blue front tires used by the Jumbo-Visma team in this week’s Critérium du Dauphiné are just a marketing promotion for a European bicycle subscription service.

Keep an eye on 19-year old cyclist Riley Amos, who won the 2021 edition of Colorado’s Iron Horse Bicycle Classic; the road race was the launching pad for another young rider named Sepp Kuss recently. The women’s race was won by pro mountain biker and once and future Olympian Erin Huck.

The Belgian Waffle Ride offers a beginner’s clinic for California riders interested in taking part in the popular gravel race.

 

Finally…

Your new ebike could look like a very skinny Vespa. Your next cargo bike could (clumsily) charge itself.

And evidently, indoor trainers are nothing new.

Thanks to Ted Faber for the link.

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Happy Pride Month to everyone in the LGBTQ+ community, and all their supporters. And yes, you can proudly include me in that last group. 

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

And get vaccinated, already.

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