Day 254 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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WeHo Times offers a reminder that plans to remake Fountain Ave will come before the West Hollywood City Council at 6 pm Tuesday.
The project is designed to slow traffic on the deadly corridor by removing one lane in each direction, widening sidewalks and installing curb-protected bike lanes.
Although it comes too late for Blake Ackerman, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver at Fountain and Gardner while riding his bike home from work, and far too many others.
Local residents and pass-through drivers have been fighting this project, and will undoubtedly turn out in force to object to it because it will remove curbside parking on the street, and eliminate what for decades has been a faster alternative to busier boulevards nearby.
Which means we have to respond in kind to demand better safety and a more livable street for everyone.
The paper reports residents who can’t attend the meeting in person can watch live on WeHoTV via Spectrum Channel 10 or YouTube; although I’m not sure if that works for non-residents, as well.
However, public comments can submitted online from September 10th to the 15th.
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Bad news from Orange, where a 19-year old man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding an ebike on Tuesday morning.
The crash occurred at Lewis Street and El Prado Ave; the driver remained at the scene, and police don’t suspect they were under the influence.
The story notes that the victim wasn’t wearing a helmet, which is not required for anyone over 18, and only matters if he suffered a serious head injury, which isn’t mentioned in the article.
Let’s just hope and pray he makes a full and fast recovery.
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Just in time for Halloween, iconic Los Angeles-based bikewear brand swrve is rising from the dead, reopening under new ownership nearly a year after the company, which invented the first bicycling-specific jeans, shut down operations.
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Santa Monica Spoke reports more curb protected bike lanes are going in on Stewart Street.
And doing it quickly, unlike a certain nearby megalopolis we could mention.
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Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette forwards an article about the difficulty of demonstrating brain injuries, and how he worked with legal graphics firm Focus Graphcs to work up illustrations that helped result in a six-figure settlement for a triathlete on the eve of trial.
They’d sure as hell convince me. And evidently, had the same effect on the driver’s insurance company.
Illustrations by Focus Graphics
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We’ve often mentioned that the East Side Riders are far more than just a bike club.
The nonprofit group operates a Watts bicycle co-op, host weekly bike rides, provide a safe, gang-free hangout for local kids, and works as community organizers to help strengthen the community and feed and clothe those in need.
Now they’ve made it even easier for you to throw a few bucks their way. Money that will do more good than most things you could do with it.
So what are you waiting for?
“The happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
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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. A Bend, Oregon driver is somehow considering claiming self-defense after getting out of his work truck, and walking back to assault a 16-year old kid — a boy with a cumulative 4.326 grade point average, no less — for the crime of riding two abreast with a friend, which is legal in the state, leaving the kid with $11,000 in medical bills and over $3,700 in damage to his bike; the attack ended after the driver’s young daughter yelled from the truck “Daddy, stop. Don’t do it.” LAPD officers have told me that in California, drivers are considered to have committed assault the moment they get out of their cars to confront someone.
No bias here. A London magazine says the bicyclist may be a “kindly spirit in the countryside,” but in in the city, “this peaceable phantom has become a bloodthirsty wraith, terrorizing unsuspecting pedestrians, and refusing to follow the laws of man or motorcar.” Just wait until someone tells him about cars, and the careless and aggressively bloodthirsty people who drive them.
An Aussie hit-and-run driver denied deliberately injuring a bike rider, even though dashcam video from a trailing car showed her braking until the victim passed her, then turning her car to crash into him — something her lawyer said was somehow proof she tried to avoid him; meanwhile, she’s awaiting sentencing for intentionally injuring someone else.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Sad news from Massachusetts, where a 64-year old man died over a month after he was struck by a rider on a ped-assist ebike in Boston’s Copley Square.
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Local
Streets For All reminds you to take LADOT’s survey about the new concrete “Toronto barriers” installed on a trial basis on 3rd Street in DTLA.
The LA County Sheriff’s Department is conducting another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation from 5 am to 3 pm on Friday; a press release says they’re focusing on dangerous driver behavior, however, they are legally obligated to enforce the law equally whether you’re on foot, on a bike or in a car. So once again, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits. Thanks to David for the heads-up.
Police in Hermosa Beach used a drone to find a bike theft suspect accused of stealing a bicycle outside a cafe. Thanks to Jim for the link.
State
State Senator Scot Wiener’s SB 71 passed both houses of the legislature with just one no vote and moves on to the governor’s desk for his signature; the bill extends provisions of a 2020 bill to streamline the CEQA permitting process for public transit, and bike and pedestrian infrastructure projects to 2040.
Calbike talks with a representative of Upway about what the California Ebike Incentive program got right, and what it got wrong. Although they could have spoken with at least a couple local bike shops participating in the program. Or even a few who didn’t, and ask them what it got wrong. Thanks to Ellectrek for the article.
Over 200 people are riding 525 miles down the coast of California from San Francisco to Los Angeles for the 25th Arthritis Foundation’s California Coast Classic Bike Tour.
A writer for San Diego’s KPBS considers whether ebikes can make kids more mobile and still keep them safe, and whether the streets are ready for them. Although a lot depends on whether they’re using ped-assist bicycles, or non-street legal electric dirt bikes.
For once, justice delayed is not justice denied, as a 28-year old San Francisco man was sentenced to 15 years to life for the hit-and-run death of a woman riding a bicycle, with nine years — yes, 9 years — credited for time served as he awaited trial for the 2016 crash; he reportedly brought both sides of the courtroom to tears by taking responsibility for taking the victim’s life.
San Francisco looks at what comes next after the city’s failed Vision Zero program.
National
Bicycling lists 12 mistakes to avoid when shopping for a used bike. But you’ll have to subscribe to read it, since it’s only available to people who pay, and it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else.
Good Morning America recommends the “best” bikes for every member of the family. None of which actually are, of course, even if some aren’t bad.
For the thousandth time, no, bicycling does not affect fertility for most men.
Oops. Hawaii’s governor vetoed a bill intended to rein in high-speed electric bikes, after concluding that its prohibition against “high-speed electric devices” could apply to electric motor vehicles, as well.
As many as 2,000 people who participated in, or attended, an Utah high school bike race may have been exposed to measles, and at least four have contracted the disease. Which seems like a good time to mention that vaccination offers near full protection from the disease, which was nearly eradicated until the anti-vax movement took hold.
A Denver TV station examines why local bike shops won’t service bicycles purchased online, with shops citing safety, parts and liability.
Chicago bike riders are making like Paul Revere to warn the public about ICE agents and inform immigrants of their legal rights.
Boston bicyclists say new speed bumps installed in a local state park are increasing danger on the roadway, rather than lessening it, as unsuspecting bike riders risk getting knocked cold. Apparently, Massachusetts has never heard of cutting channels into speed bumps to give people on bicycles a safe path to ride through, while still slowing motor vehicles.
Where to stay when you’re in need of dog, beer and bike friendly lodgings in Delaware.
A Philadelphia public radio station examines whether the city is still safe for traditional bicyclists and pedestrians, and what can be done to make it safer.
International
Life is cheap in London, where a distracted truck driver walked without a day behind bars for killing a woman on a bicycle, after the judge ruled that the victim had contributed to her own death by attempting to pass the truck on the inside — even though the driver forgot to check his mirror because he was distracted by his truck’s center console and was on a hands-free call.
London bikeshare use is spiking as commuters turn to rental ebikes to cope with a subway strike, although the weather isn’t exactly cooperating and some riders say it’s turning bike lanes into mosh pits on wheels.
A writer for The Spectator takes the contrary view to the common complaints against bikeshare ebikes, calling them “unquestionably, the best thing that has happened to London in my lifetime;” and adding that if you think they’re dangerous, cars are worse.
Here’s a warning from an English nurse and father of three, who thought his persistent back pain was due to bicycling, until he finally saw a doctor and discovered he was suffering from stage 4 prostate cancer.
Two 26-year old men rode their bikes over 4,500 miles from their home in Ireland to Singapore, to help one of them cope with the death of his father from a brain tumor; not only were they inexperienced, but one of the men didn’t even own a bike before they set off.
Competitive Cycling
Once again, Tuesday’s stage 16 of the Vuelta was shortened when pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted the race with 3 km, or 1.8 miles, to go; Spain will take “extraordinary measures” to prevent further protest disruptions on the final two stages in the Madrid region.
Wednesday’s stage 17 went off without disruptions, as Jonas Vingegaard maintained a 50-second lead over second place João Almeida.
Dutch cyclist Puck Pieterse says bike racing may be serious business, but you can still have fun, as Cycling Weekly calls her the sport’s “most exciting multi-discipline talent.”
Finally…
Your next non-folding e-foldie could fold anyway. The Mounties always get their man — even if he’s just riding without a helmet.
And nothing like riding the length of the UK on a homemade wooden bike as a protest “against a world made of plastic and steel.”
And yes, that includes DIY wooden wheels.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
