Tag Archive for East Side Riders

Morning Links: Golden age of bike ads, LA Times endorses bike-friendly Lundquist in CD12, and the war on bikes goes on

July 22, 2019 / / One comment

Ad Age celebrates a classic ad for a 1970 Sears banana-seated chopper bike.

Unfortunately, while the type’s too small to read, the photo at the bottom shows the days of “pink it and shrink it” started early.

And throw in a handlebar basket while you’re at it.

Because girls, unlike boys, actually want to carry stuff, evidently.

Photo from Ad Age story; unfortunately, that it’s full size.

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The LA Times has endorsed university professor and climate activist Loraine Lundquist in the special election for LA’s 12th Council District in the San Fernando Valley.

She won the endorsement of Bike the Vote LA, as well. Which is good enough for me.

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Cycling in the South Bay spends a day celebrating with South LA’s East Side Riders, and discovers just how diverse the LA bicycling community is.

After almost forty years of competitive cycling, it’s eye-opening to start understanding how diverse and complex the fabric of our cycling community is, so far beyond the “race around in your underwear” scene. It’s easy to fixate on your own backyard and the Big Group Ride, but hanging out with people who are using bikes as a way to change lives is pretty danged rewarding.

Thanks to David Huntsman for the heads-up.

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At least she pulled over, anyway.

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CiclaValley finds a unique way to see LA.

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Most cyclists wait until after the race to sign autographs.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.

Even when the riders are naked.

Evidently aroused to anger by the sight of human flesh, someone whipped out a paintball gun and started shooting at participants in the St. Louis edition of the World Naked Bike Ride.

Two young Ohio men face misdemeanor assault charges for throwing a water bottle at a bike rider, after the attack was caught on a truck driver’s dashcam video; one of the men admitted to the assault, saying they were just being stupid.

State police in Cambridge MA didn’t get the memo on that city’s naked ride, turning a peaceful afterparty into a near riot that resulted in the arrest of one person.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever shot a 13-year old New Orleans boy in the leg in a drive-by as he was riding his bike.

A British man got two years behind bars for brake checking, then deliberately driving into a man on a bike, for the crime of shaking his head at the motorist’s crappy driving.

But sometimes it’s the people on bikes behaving badly.

A bike-raging London man used his bicycle as a weapon to attack a London cab driver and the car’s occupants.

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Local

An op-ed in the LA Times says e-scooters could just be an attempt by big tech to colonize our public spaces.

A survivor of the 2003 Santa Monica farmer’s market crash that killed 10 people and injured 63 others says cars will always be weapons, but we can and should make open spaces safer.

Jeff Goldblum is one of us, too. Maybe.

 

State

Rancho Mirage unveils its plans to improve bike and pedestrian safety.

The bizarrely contentious CV Link bikeway circling the Coachella Valley is expected to grow by another 15 miles next year.

It took Ventura firefighters 40 minutes to bring a brush fire under control after it was started by sparks from a motorized bike.

A sharp-eyed Sacramento pawn shop employee gets the credit for recovering an adaptive tandem stolen from a nonverbal special needs man.

 

National

Will ebikes save the bike industry?

Bicycling readers offer tips on surviving summer’s hottest bike rides, including bringing along a nylon stocking to fill with ice to cool off. Which would also come in handy if you decide to rob a bank on the way home.

Delta Airlines drops its $150 flat fee to fly with your bike. Sort of.

Tucson AZ tries flexible plastic delineators to keep drivers out of bike lanes. Which don’t do a lot of good when people can just drive over them.

Campus police at the University of Utah accidentally run down a woman accused of stealing a bicycle.

Arkansas’ Walton brothers, heirs to the massive Walmart fortune, want to turn Bentonville into a ski town for bicycles.

In a story that should have run over a month ago, a writer for the Daily Beast explores the area around Indianapolis and the irony of riding a bike to the Indy 500.

‘Tis the season. No, really. An Akron, Ohio group celebrates Christmas in July by giving away bicycles to kids in need.

Instead of just preaching about fire and brimstone, a Rochester NY pastor rode his bicycle over police cars and through a wall of flame. Although it helps when your previous job was with the circus.

A seven-year old Bronx girl just got a new bicycle. And a new arm to ride it with, after losing her’s to a misdiagnosed flesh eating bacteria.

A Staten Island columnist says New York Council Speaker Corey Johnson won’t get his vote for mayor as long as he keeps talking about reducing car culture and bike and pedestrian deaths, when some of those dead people might have done something to contribute to it.

Brooklyn readers are happy to blame the victims for New York’s rising bicycle death rates, accusing the city’s “entitled snobs” of having a vendetta against cars and trucks.

Critics accuse New York Mayor and presidential candidate Bill de Blasio of being afraid of the street fights that keep the city from achieving its Vision Zero goals.

New York bike deaths are soaring, while police are writing fewer tickets for blocking bike lanes.

A New York writer plays pinball with cars as a cab-dodging, tip-chasing Postmates delivery rider. Thanks to Tim Rutt for the link.

Good piece from Gothamist detailing how to win the fight to get bike lanes in your neighborhood.

A Florida woman faces a DUI manslaughter charge for jumping the curb and killing a 17-month old girl as her parents rode their bikes on the sidewalk after police found cocaine, fentanyl and other drugs in her system; the child’s father remains in critical condition.

 

International

Forbes talks with an aerodynamicist who builds fatter, but faster and more aero wheels, while Wired examines the “incredible” technology behind this year’s Tour de France bikes.

A Costa Rican hit-and-run driver has been released from jail on a staycation house arrest as he appeals a seven-year sentence for killing four bike riders in a single crash.

A Toronto paper says Vancouver’s recent success shows that if you want to increase bicycling rates, you need an actual network of protected bike lanes — and the political leadership to do it. Which is where Los Angeles invariably fails.

A Toronto columnist says the city is just spinning its wheels on its bike plan, arguing that if it really is a cycling city, it’s a dysfunctional and bumpy one.

More proof evil often only stands out in retrospect, as English bicycling groups cozied up to Germany’s Hitler Youth in the years leading up to WWII.

Um, no. UK police give a DIY motorized bike rider a stern warning after discovering his gas tank was held on to the crossbar with string.

A British parliament member suffers minor injuries when she’s struck by a driver while riding her bike outside parliament.

Brussels, Belgium, described as one of the most car-choked, polluted and bike hostile cities in Europe, is putting the brakes on cars and lowering speed limits to encourage greener transportation options.

Just like Amsterdam wasn’t always Amsterdam, Dutch city Delft wasn’t always the bike-friendly city you see today. On the other hand, Los Angeles is still Los Angeles. Which isn’t necessary a good thing. 

A Philippine aboriginal tribe makes ornate, hand-carved gravity-powered wooden bicycles.

 

Competitive Cycling

It’s looking like Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe will be wearing yellow in Paris next weekend, after finishing second on the legendary Tourmalet climb that many observers expected him to crack on.

Rapidly riding Dutch cyclist Wout van Aert will be out for the next two months after suffering a deep cut crashing during the in the Tour de France time trial; he’s hoping to be back on his bike in time for ‘cross season.

Cycling Weekly wonders why the yellow jersey is one of the most iconic symbols in sports on its one hundredth anniversary.

Outside says ex-Tour de France winner Floyd Landis still has a lot to say. The question is, given his track record, can we believe any of it?

The first American to win the Tour de France wasn’t LeMond, Lance or Landis. Or a man, for that matter.

The Los Angeles Daily News offers photos from this weekend’s 58th annual Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, won by Cory Williams on the men’s side and Coryn Rivera on the women’s.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to landscape your new bike park with poison ivy. Furnish your home in recycled bikeshare bikes.

And if you’re riding your bike with an outstanding warrant and a long, long list of priors, put a damn light on it.

Seriously.

 

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

Morning Links: New East Side Riders bike book, LA raising speed limits again, and begging to cross on MyFig

November 30, 2018 / / One comment

Let’s start with a new book from six young members of South LA’s East Side Riders Bike Club.

Bikes Need Love Too is a collection of personification essays covering family, loyalty, abandonment, fun, and friendship from six amazing young authors who reside in Watts, CA, and who are members of the East Side Riders Bike Club (ESRBC) organization under the leadership of John Jones III. For seven weeks, the authors participated in a rigorous writing workshop which was facilitated by Publishing Hope and Branding A+ Behavior better known by its acronym, the PHABB 5 program. In these eye-opening and heartwarming essays, the student authors of ESRBC take readers on a fun, powerfully motivating ride. Bikes Need Love Too is engaging, sincere, and a brilliant approach to help encourage young readers to discover their voices.

It’s less than a month from Christmas, and only days from Chanukah. Which makes this the perfect gift for anyone who loves bikes.

Even if you give it to yourself.

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Once again, Los Angeles is planning to raise speed limits beyond already dangerous levels on over 100 miles of streets, further endangering bicyclists and pedestrians.

The increase is required to comply with California’s deadly 85th Percentile Rule, which allows drivers to set speed limits with their heavy right foot.

Sort of like putting bank robbers in charge of security.

Without the increases, the LAPD will be prohibited from using radar, LIDAR and other speed guns to enforce speed limits, as they have been for years on most LA streets.

Which explains why virtually no one in LA obeys them.

But increasing speed limits, even to improve enforcement, is the exact opposite of Vision Zero, making our streets more dangerous for everyone on them.

Instead of voting to endanger even more lives, city officials should be camped out at the state capital to demand an immediate repeal of the law.

And the ability to set speeds at safer, common sense levels.

Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

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In more WTF news from the City of Angels, the universally despised beg buttons are back on the MyFigueroa bike lanes.

https://twitter.com/topomodesto/status/1068260808814026752

After countless complaints from bike riders when the MyFigueroa project first opened, LADOT adjusted the signals to give people walking and on bikes automatic green lights.

But evidently, it was just a show for the people attending the recent NACTO national convention in DTLA.

Now that the convention is over, anyone not in a car once again has to beg just to cross the damn street.

And good luck with that.

https://twitter.com/topomodesto/status/1068261111772770304

Just another auto-centric fail on what’s supposed to be LA’s showcase Complete Street. Let alone another Vision Zero fail.

And they wonder why we’re pissed off.

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The Bike League — aka the League of American Bicyclist — released their list of the most Bicycle Friendly Universities.

Congratulation to Santa Monica College, which moved up to a Silver rating on their fourth year on the list.

Among other SoCal schools, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara held their Gold rankings, while CSU Long Beach and UCLA are Silver.

Cal Poly SLO, CSU Bakersfield, Loyola Marymount and Pomona College ranked Bronze.

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This is who we share the roads with.

LA-based comedian Bill Burr thinks Share the Road means we’re all supposed to get the fuck out of his way.

No, really.

Here’s that quote, in case you missed it.

…Oh and people who ride bikes in LA are morons, morons, they fucking dress up like they’re in a bike race and then they just drive out in the road. And they always yell ‘share the road’, it’s like well ’yeah, yeah you too, move over’ I allowed enough time to get there in a car, not follow you on your fucking bicycle Lance. I’m not saying it’s not a bad thing when they die, but it’s not shocking. *laughs*

In other words, just another indignorant, overly aggressive LA driver who thinks he does, in fact, own the road.

And that it’s somehow funny when someone gets killed.

Thanks to Steve S for the video.

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How to build a DIY wooden bike.

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A new video intended for motorcyclists explains how drivers can look right at you and never see you. Which applies to anyone on two wheels, with or without an engine.

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It’s Day 8 of the 4th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.

Your generosity helps keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day, from around the corner and around the world.

Anything you can give helps. And is truly and deeply appreciated.

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Local

A new proposal from architecture firm Woods Bagot calls for repurposing LA’s surface parking lots into housing, retail and open space; their More LA plan could reclaim enough space to house an additional three million people.

Bike SGV’s annual Noche de las Luminarias awards event takes place tomorrow night; as of Thursday, some tickets were still available.

The final CicLAvia of 2018 rolls, walks, skates and scoots through the streets of DTLA and Boyle Heights this Sunday; be sure to note the earlier 3 pm ending time.

 

State

The LA Times says California talks a good game on climate change, but fails to follow through on promises for building more walkable, bike-able, transit-friendly communities.

Encinitas’ Leucadia Cyclery is closing it’s doors after 30 years. Which makes me feel old, since it was new when I lived down there.

Sad news from San Jose, where a man was killed after walking his bike down a highway embankment, then attempting to ride across a freeway; he was hit by a car almost immediately.

San Francisco is moving forward with a pair of bike lanes to provide alternatives to deadly bike lanes on the Embarcadero, which aren’t due to be fixed until 2022.

Bay Area public radio station KQED discusses ten things to know about bike theft in San Francisco — all of which apply in Los Angeles, including the advice to register your bike. Except for the part about bike theft going down; the opposite is true in the City of Angels.

 

National

‘Tis the season. Momentum Magazine offers their 2018 gift holiday guide for city cyclists.

Lyft is now the owner of the biggest docked bikeshare provider in the US.

Ebike prices are slowly starting to come down, as Bicycling reviews a $1,649 foldie.

A Boise, Idaho bike co-op is training prison inmates to rebuild bicycles for Syrian refugees.

Colorado Springs CO residents debate bike lanes in the local newspaper’s letters column while trotting out just about every anti-bike trope, discredited and otherwise. But while they argue about whether drivers should have to give up a few feet to improve safety, the city is suffering its deadliest year ever on the streets.

The Chicago Tribune looks at those crazy people who bike in blizzards and surf Lake Michigan.

The widow of a fallen Chicago cyclist has filed suit against the parents of the 15-year old hit-and-run driver who took his life, alleging they should have kept their unlicensed, underage son from getting behind the wheel. Let alone driving on the sidewalk, where the victim may have been standing.

The one thing Michigan bike riders, pedestrians and roller skiers — yes, it’s a thing — have in common is disrespectful, dangerous drivers.

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.  And spreads to the Big Apple, where someone sabotaged a popular parking protected bike lane in Queens with dozens thumb tacks; a city councilmember gets it right, calling it an criminal act of vigilantism.

An Op-Ed by the former head of the National Highway Safety Administration says if DC is serious about being a green city, it needs to encourage dockless scooters.

A Mississippi bike site says bicyclists deserve equal protection on the roads.

Florida police track down a woman who had been missing since Monday in a Fort Meyers hospital; she had been admitted as a Jane Doe following a crash while bicycling. Yet another reminder to always carry some form of ID when you ride.

 

International

Zwift is about to get some indoor cycling competition. Which should please Strava fans, where virtual group rides are more popular than the real thing.

An Ontario, Canada popup museum celebrates the area’s bicycling history.

Bike thieves force a British bike shop out of business, following the third break-in in just seven weeks.

Police bust an Edinburgh bike thief charged with stealing over 60 bicycles worth nearly $39,000.

A British writer recommends a trip to the Scottish Borders, saying the region has been transformed with some of the best bicycling trails and infrastructure in the country.

Malta proposes a new strategy to replace bike lanes with safer, bike-friendly streets and an app that directs riders to the safest route.

A Nepalese traffic engineer calls for making Kathmandu bike friendly, saying every government agency should see bicycles as a major mode of transportation.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as a writer explores Korea’s mostly flat, sea-to-sea Four Rivers Route, one of the world’s longest paved bike paths.

A former Miss Malaysia goes bikepacking from Cambodia’s 600-year old New City to Thailand’s festival of lights.

Life is cheap in Malaysia, where a dump truck driver received just four weeks behind bars for killing a 78-year old bike rider. He also lost his license for four years, which will cost him his job.

 

Competitive Cycling

Peter Flax tells the tale of a long-time domestique who finally came in first in his final race.

Cyclist profiles cycling scion and renaissance man Taylor Phinney.

Indiana’s Marian University has awarded what may be the first cycling team mechanic scholarship in the US.

 

Finally…

Try not to photobomb a couple’s surprise engagement, even if they are blocking the bridge. Presenting pro cycling’s Last Supper.

And now you, too, can own the coolest bike in the neighborhood, even if you missed it the first time around.

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

Morning Links: Help East Side Riders buy a Buddy Bike, LA proposes 12 mph scooter limit, and drivers aren’t looking

August 10, 2018 / / 4 comments

As we mentioned earlier, the East Side Riders Bike Club is working with adaptive bikemaker Buddy Bike to buy one of their bikes for special needs kids.

The company is offering a tandem Buddy Bike, which normally sells for around $1,700, to the East Side Riders for just $900.

As they describe it,

The Buddy Bike allows riders with disabilities to experience the thrill of riding a bicycle with the whole family – or in this case their community. A Buddy Bike would be helpful for any riders in the club with special needs or for some of the new riders who aren’t comfortable riding on their own yet. The Buddy Bike can help riders of all ages to learn cycling skills while keeping up with the crew.

You can contribute by calling Buddy Bike’s Shelley Patterson at 786/489.2453 or emailing 199851@email4pr.com.

You can also contribute through the ESRBC GoFundMe page by specifying that funds are for the Buddy Bike, since the club is also raising funds for their BEAST bike safety classes.

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Apparently, the real problem on our streets are that scooters are too damn fast.

In an apparent effort to keep the city’s fastest growing form of alternative transportation from spreading, Los Angeles councilmembers seem to be attempting to regulate dockless e-scooters to death.

Including a proposal to shave a whole three miles an hour off their top speed, limiting the scooters to just 12 mph.

As if that 3 mph will make much of a difference when riding in traffic on 25 mph streets, where scooter users are currently required to ride unless the street has a bike lane.

Other that to put them at greater risk from speeding drivers, that is.

There may be some limited benefit to lowering speeds, particularly when users illegally ride on sidewalks.

But the current panic over scooters is like worrying about squirrels stealing your nuts, when there are tigers roaming the streets.

Until the city does something about LA’s notoriously dangerous streets — like slowing traffic, fully implementing Vision Zero and providing the bike lanes we were promised — slowing down scooters isn’t going to make a hell of a lot of difference.

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A new study confirms exactly what you always suspected.

According to the study from the University of Toronto, over half of all drivers failed to look for biked riders and pedestrians before making a right turn.

Which explains why bike rider have to dodge right hooks, and pedestrians have to dart out of the way of cars, even in a crosswalk.

Confirming once again that you have to watch out for turning drivers, because they sure as hell aren’t watching for us.

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The penultimate edition of Wolfpack Hustle: The Forsyth Cup 2018 rolls tomorrow at the Encino Velodrome, complete with free hamburgers and hot dogs courtesy of BikinginLA sponsor Thomas Forsyth.

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Members of my old college fraternity are nearing the end of a 3,000-mile ride across the US; by the time they reach DC, they will have raised over $600,000 for people with disabilities.

However, that’s trumped in miles, if not dollars, by a group of riders from the University of Illinois, who’ve raised $110,000 on a 4,750-mile ride from San Francisco to New York.

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Local

A Playa Vista developer decides to go carfree on the area’s new main shopping street.

A pair of off-duty Malibu lifeguards are being hailed as heroes after saving the life of a 76-year old man who suffered a heart attack while riding on PCH.

Los Angeles bikebuilder Montenegro Manufacturing celebrates its fifth anniversary by throwing LA County’s first Handmade Bike Show this Sunday.

 

State

Readers of the San Bernardino Sun complain that the paper, now part of the parent company behind the OC Register and LA Daily News, ignored the Redlands Bicycle Classic in favor of covering more distant beach volleyball.

The Daily Bulletin reports on Ontario’s Re-Imagine Downtown event, part of SCAG’s Go Human campaign to show what a bike and pedestrian-friendly Euclid Ave could be.

San Rafael is building a $3.3 million bike and pedestrian bridge that will connect the bisected city while improving safety for students at the local high school.

 

National

Bike Snob reviews a custom bike built four years after WWII.

City Lab looks at the history and meaning of ghost bikes.

Grist looks at the success of Lime’s Seattle ebike bikeshare system, even if they have to fish them out of the bay. Yes, it still exists, even if kids no longer have to go door-to-door selling subscriptions.

No bias here. A columnist for a Seattle talk radio station accuses a city councilman of collusion with supporters of bike lanes — no, really — saying the councilmember feels a “moral imperative to kill parking.” Even though he actually said “We have a moral imperative to decrease our carbon emissions that are causing climate change.”

A Wisconsin woman is taking on the fight for safer streets as the investigation into the collision that killed her bike-riding husband drags on.

Something is seriously wrong in Chicago, where four bike riders have been killed in right hooks by dump truck drivers in less than two years.

Indianapolis unveils a two and a half mile long protected cycle track.

A DC letter writer responds to a WaPo Op-Ed where a driver said so what if she blocks a bike lane, saying if the city wants to improve safety, they need to keep self-centered drivers like her out of the bike lanes — and off the roads.

Baton Rouge LA bike advocates plan to tear down the institutional barriers that keep the city’s streets dangerous. Chances are, nothing has changed from when I lived their decades ago, when most major streets had high speeds, and no sidewalks or shoulders. And drivers weren’t willing to give an inch.

Atlanta finds a home for orphaned and abandoned Ofo dockless bikeshare bikes after the company pulled up stakes in the city.

A Florida newspaper questions how to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians in the most dangerous state for people on foot.

 

International

A newsmagazine says bikepacking, like life, is about the journey, not the destination.

Cycling Weekly looks at what doesn’t work in the rain, including white kits that turn see-through when wet.

A contributor to Bike Biz pushes bike shops to be more inclusive for customers with disabilities.

Bike riders were the victims of strong arm robberies on an English bike path for the second time in less than a week.

For once, a touch of justice from the UK, where a drunk driver gets six years for killing an 82-year old woman as she was riding her bike; he was over three times the legal alcohol limit after downing a full liter of vodka before getting behind the wheel.

Welsh police are riding bikes in plainclothes to bust drivers who don’t give riders a safe passing distance.

Chinese dockless bikeshare companies are rushing to fill the void as the wheels fall off the Paris Vélib dock share system.

Coming soon to a street near you — 30 mph moped-share, already in successful use in Spain. Unless the LA city council gets involved, of course.

Take your next bike tour through Italy and the home country of America’s first lady.

 

Competitive Cycling

Austrian cyclist Bernhard Eisel reflects on missing most of the 2018 racing season after he suffered a life-threatening subdural hematoma in a March race.

Bicycling calls back-to-back US amateur crit and road race champ Justin Williams the most important cyclist you don’t know, as the African American rider fights for more inclusion in the sport.

A Welsh website offers photos from Geraint Thomas’ wild welcome home from his victorious Tour de France campaign.

 

Finally…

An Aspen bike trail did to Lance what a number of cycling fans probably wished they could. A bike-riding rescue dog becomes an international superstar.

And when you wheelie want people to clear out of your way.

 

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

Morning Links: Besmirched in bikes, welcoming King James, and raising funds for kids and bikes in Watts

July 11, 2018 / / 3 comments

Now this is what a bicycling city looks like.

Patrick Pascal forwards today’s photo from Dublin, Ireland, noting the city is besmirched with bikes these days.

But in a good way.

Although women apparently don’t feel safe bicycling there, despite the safety in numbers.

Pretty much like every other major city, Los Angeles included.

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Here’s a good suggestion from someone who prefers to remain anonymous.

Now that LeBron James is officially a Laker, the Los Angeles bike community should welcome him by riding with him from his Brentwood home to Staples Center for his first home game.

That would give a lot of LA kids a chance to ride a bike with the man known universally as King James. Something he clearly cares deeply about.

It would also give us the chance to call attention to the lack of safe infrastructure and the dismal state of LA streets.

And make sure he gets there in one piece.

So if anyone out there knows LeBron, just have him get in touch with me and we’ll put something together.

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I’ve long been a fan of the East Side Riders Bike Club, and their mission to use bikes to change lives and improve the Watts community.

Now they’re asking for your help to raise $20,000 to support that vital work.

Here’s what their crowdfunding page has to say.

The East Side Riders Bike Club (ESR) is an all-volunteer, grassroots bicycle club working to prevent youth from joining gangs and/or taking drugs, but also engage youth to enrich the community through recreational activities, Our kids are introduced to bike safety, healthy eating and active living, the importance of giving back to the community, and are able to participate in community riding events hosted by ESR.

ESR seeks to positively impact the following community needs: Inadequate Organized Recreational Outlets for local youth in the Watts area, a community that is rife with high rates of child obesity, asthma and other respiratory challenges amongst youth; lack of Safe Passage and Travel Routes: while Watts is a very small community, there are clear gang-related boundaries and territories that limit the movement of local youth based on where they reside; Lack of Resources- families lack the resources to purchase bikes, safety gear, and/or other necessary equipment.

In turn, these kids feed the homeless, clean up neighborhood parks, and are learning to solve community problems by working together!

East Side Riders is raising money to help support our Organization, the BEAST Class and our overall continued support of ESRBC. Since 2008 ESR has provided sack lunches to the hungry, fixed kids bikes for free and provided meals for Thanksgiving, toys and food for Christmas including bikes and helmets for kids that really need them.

With your donation you would be helping our yearly budget that is partially paid for through grants. You can also donate you time to ESR by volunteering with our organization and spreading the word about our work.

If you’ve got a few extra bucks lying around, it would be hard to find a better cause to support.

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Local

Yes, LA Councilmembers Mike Bonin and Bob Blumenfield are considering bringing back mandatory, or possibly voluntary, bicycle licensing, though they swear it won’t be used to harass riders, unlike the city’s previous, unlamented program. You can get all the benefits of bike registration right here for free, without waiting for the city to make up its mind.

LA County is proposing an ambitious plan to make over a long-overlooked area near Harbor-UCLA Medical Center into a bike and pedestrian friendly neighborhood.

Curbed considers Pasadena’s plans to bail on its money-losing Metro Bike program.

Maybe you can be a paid brand ambassador for bike friendly New Belgium Brewing at Long Beach State, or one of 13 other campuses around the US.

 

State

An Escondido woman bought a new ebike for a man she calls her guardian angel, who meets her every day to protect her from harassment on a bike path.

Victorville wants your input on a grant application for new bike lanes.

Sad news from San Francisco, where a pedicab driver has died two weeks after he was run down by a hit-and-run driver; Bay Area bicyclists are angry over the crash on the Embarcadero, which was supposed to get a protected bike lane.

 

National

Bicycling offers more of their click-through clickbait, with six roads throughout the US you “gotta” ride. For once, a local road made the list, with Yerba Buena Road through LA and Ventura Counties.

Red Bull offers a beginner’s plan to take you from your couch to riding a 30 miler in just eight weeks.

Now that’s a group ride. Up to 10,000 bike riders are expected to turn out for the annual two-day Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic.

Denver bike and pedestrian advocates tell the mayor to put the city’s money where his mouth is, and back his ambitious infrastructure plans with enough money to build it.

He gets it. In a very tongue-in-cheek letter, a Colorado man calls on the local paper to stop covering up the thousands of motorist deaths caused by reckless pedestrians and cyclists, some of whom must be members of MS-13.

A well-known Iowa oncologist is recovering from multiple broken bones after touching wheels with another rider in a paceline.

Police in Grand Rapids, Michigan are testing a new ultrasonic radar device that measures the distance between a bike rider and a passing car to look for violations of the three-foot passing law.

I like this guy already. A Massachusetts columnist complains about the roadway caste system that puts drivers above bike riders, and suggests that people should park and watch other drivers before they complain about people on bicycles.

In the wake of a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, city councilman’s death while riding in a nearby parish, local leaders form a victim-blaming committee that may try to restrict riders rather than improving safety.

 

International

Great book excerpt from the authors of the Modacity website, who discuss how ebikes can provide mobility for everyone — and not just for “the laziest demographic in history.”

The City Fix says more bike riders corresponds to a happier city, but does not guarantee you’ll be happy if you ride a bike.

It’s the battle of the Parisian bikeshares, as the city’s vaunted Vélib‘ bikeshare has fallen on hard times, and several dockless systems struggle to survive. 

Every Muslim who can is expected to perform the Hajj at least one in their life, but nothing says you can’t do it by bicycle; two Albanian men will be riding six weeks across five countries to make their pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

 

Competitive Cycling

Yesterday’s fourth stage of the Tour de France ended in a three-way photo finish..

Bicycling looks at new gear at the Tour. So is anyone other Peter Sagan or Chris Froome wearing their eponymous glasses and helmet?

Yes, Americans can still compete in the top levels of pro cycling. Just not the men, apparently.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can relive the 1970s cult classic The Warriors, but on two wheels. When it comes to pro cycling, stupidity is in the pain of the beholder.

And this is what it looks like when a thief steals your bike in broad daylight.

Not to mention how fast it happens.

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

Morning Links: More Venice Blvd disinformation, study says road diets save lives, and East Side Riders video

May 22, 2018 / / One comment

Sometimes I don’t even know where to start.

In his latest column, the Mar Vista Community Council’s self-appointed traffic planner/dermatologist Kenneth Alpern says it’s time to stop all the lies and abuse on Venice Blvd.

Which I assume means he won’t be writing anymore.

Especially since he doesn’t seem to have a problem co-opting the #TimesUp movement for something that has nothing to do with sexual harassment.

Never mind that he’s the one who’s been dishing out abuse towards anyone who disagrees with him, particularly Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Mike Bonin.

Then again, that comes with their jobs.

But it doesn’t — or at least shouldn’t — be part of the job description for LADOT Principal Project Coordinator Nat Gale, who has been subjected to repeated accusations and character assassination at Alpern’s hands.

Simply because, like the other traffic safety deniers who’ve been fighting the Mar Vista Great Streets project for the past year, Alpern chooses not to accept the established science behind road diets and protected bike lanes.

They also reject out-of-hand any stats that come from LADOT. Not because they have any credible evidence to refute them, but simply because the facts don’t align with their pre-established biases.

So let’s look at just a few of the inaccuracies in his latest screed.

Because it would be rude to call them lies, even though that’s what they are.

So …TIME’S UP! Enough of listening to the hundreds of taxpaying citizens, and overwhelming majority of the community, have their good will and patience and collective voice snuffed out because of a few activists who believe in crushing the voices, safety, and quality of life of that overwhelming majority (which includes the overwhelming number of bicyclists who do NOT support this project).

Seriously, show me one survey that supports his argument that the overwhelming majority of the community opposes the road diet on Venice Blvd. Especially since public opinion at his own community council meetings has been evenly split on the subject.

And never mind that he has absolutely zero basis to claim that most bicyclists, let alone an overwhelming majority, don’t support the project. I’ve personally heard from a few bike riders who oppose the project, compared to dozens who support it.

TIME’S UP! Enough of the false LIE that half of the community wants the Venice Blvd. Road Diet, when at best only 10-20% want it and everyone else hates it, and wants it reversed NOW.

To the best of my knowledge, there has been no survey of the general public to determine how many support or oppose the project. If he has any valid stats to back up his claim, let him produce it.

TIME’S UP! Enough of the constant and daily accidents and near-accidents that endanger motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists, including and especially children!

Again, if he has valid stats to back up his claim, let’s see them. Otherwise, let’s wait until LADOT releases the actual, factual stats at the end of the full year of the pilot project, which concludes this week.

And I have to wonder just how many people have been killed or injured as a result of those constant near-accidents.

TIME’S UP! Enough of a reconfiguration that was not done in compliance with ADA/disability community laws and legal requirements!

If any of that is true, the city would be required to make any necessary changes to bring the project into compliance. And probably subject to numerous lawsuits already.

TIME’S UP! Enough of a reconfiguration that shredded over a decade of community input for what was supposed to be a beautification effort on Mar Vista, and which was (despite the LIES to the contrary) imposed in the dead of night without ANY true input or debate!

We’ll let Streetsblog’s Damien Newton refute that.

Bonin and a band of neighborhood and business advocates have used the Great Streets Plan for Venice Boulevard in Mar Vista (roughly between the 405 and Lincoln Boulevard) as a sort of Livable Streets master class to educate people about what a street can be if it is reimagined as something new. The presentation of the image boards showing the various Great Street options at both the “usual suspect” locations (Farmers’ Markets, the Mar Vista Community Council, and Mar Vista Chamber of Commerce) and high schools, libraries, coffee shops, and markets allowed a wider range of stakeholders to weigh in on the proposed changes.

That was written nearly three years ago. And a full 21 months before the road diet was installed.

You would think that a community council member like Alpern would know what’s going on in his own community. But evidently, you’d be wrong.

Then again, you’d also think Alpern would know what the hell is going on with his own community council, since LADOT lists 12 community events where the project was discussed prior to installation — including two years of attending the Mar Vista Community Council’s Great Streets Ad Hoc Committee meetings.

TIME’S UP! The number of bicyclists using the “protected” (but with lots of blind intersections) bike lane is very small, while both commuters and bicyclists avoiding Venice Blvd. in Downtown Mar Vista is very high, and stop pretending it’s otherwise!

So show us the bike counts. Or any other factual basis for this claim.

Then again, if commuters are avoiding the street, why do traffic safety deniers continue to claim it suffers from soul crushing congestion?

As Yogi Berra famously said, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.”

Of course, the question is why Alpern and Restore Venice Blvd’s Selena Inouye are using such false and unsupported claims to demand the removal of the road diet before the official stats for the project have even been released.

For some reason, they seem to be unable to wait a few more weeks for the stats to be compiled.

Possibly because they suspect the real statistics won’t support their claims. And want to poison the waters before LADOT can tell us what’s really going on.

So let me be clear.

If the facts back them up, and the road diet has actually made the street less safe for bicyclists and pedestrians, I will be the first to demand changes.

Even if that means acceding to their wishes, and restoring the boulevard to its original dangerous and destructive configuration.

But I suspect they won’t.

And I suspect they suspect that, too.

………

A new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety examines the rapid increase in pedestrian deaths in the US, which have gone up 40% more than other traffic deaths in recent years.

However, it’s unlikely that Ken Alpern or the rest of the Restore Venice Blvd/Keep LA Moving crowd will like their conclusions.

Pedestrian fatalities have increased precipitously since reaching their lowest point in 2009. To have the largest effect in halting the escalation in pedestrian fatalities, countermeasures should be implemented where the rise in fatalities has been greatest. Specifically, transportation agencies can concentrate efforts on improving urban arterials, which represented nearly two thirds of the increase in fatalities during 2009–2016 and on which about half of pedestrian fatalities occurred in 2016.

And…

Transportation agencies can improve urban arterials by investing in proven countermeasures, such as road diets, median crossing islands, pedestrian hybrid beacons, and automated speed enforcement. Better road lighting and vehicle headlights could improve pedestrian visibility at night.

Of course, that will only work if our council members have the courage to ignore the traffic safety deniers to make those changes.

And automated speed enforcement, aka speed cameras, are currently illegal in California. Which is something that has to change.

Thanks to Peter Flax for the heads-up.

………

Great new video about how South LA’s East Side Riders Bike Club is using bikes to make a positive difference in the community, and maybe even break the color barrier in Olympic and pro cycling.

And about founder John Jones III, who pays most of the expenses out of his own pocket.

Seriously, take a few minutes to watch it. It may be the best four minutes of your day.

………

CiclaValley informs us that the new 7th Street semi-protected bike lanes are proving popular as parking spots for Uber drivers.

………

This is who we share the roads with.

Parody Twitter account @realJohnBoehner forwards video of a British woman calmly removing a barricade, then driving through hundreds of runners taking part in a half marathon.

………

Local

A Hispanic man in his 20s was shot and killed while riding his bike in South LA early yesterday morning; police said there was no initial indication the killing was gang related.

CicLAvia is hosting a community meeting in Panorama City tomorrow to discuss plans for the June 24th open streets event in the north San Fernando Valley.

Pasadena police will be cracking down on traffic violations that endanger bicyclists and pedestrians this Friday and Saturday, even if they only endanger themselves. You know the drill, ride to the letter of the law until you’re outside their jurisdiction. Thanks to Megan Lynch and The Preven Report for the tip.

Bike friendly Santa Monica continues to show Los Angeles how it’s done, as the city planning commission approves plans for a protected bike lane on 17th Street; their only complaint was that federal funding requirements mean it won’t be completed until 2021.

Now the Santa Clarita Cycling Bear sculpture makes a little more sense, as the local paper explains more about it. Although I’m very disappointed that the bear isn’t actually riding a bike.

 

State

San Diego is attempting to put a permanent stop to a DIY pump track in Ocean Beach by building housing on property that was originally deeded as a park for the children of San Diego.

San Luis Obispo County bicyclists celebrate the completion of a road safety project that began in 1974.

There’s a special place in hell for the driver who crashed into a four-year old girl as she rode her bicycle in Stockton last week, then drove off and left her bleeding in the street.

A Redding driver complains about closing a little-used street to improve safety for a bike path because it will inconvenience him personally, and because he seldom sees a bike rider using it. Remarkable how many drivers take the time to perform bike counts while they zoom by. And how rarely bike riders happen to go by at that exact moment.

 

National

Marketplace discusses whether Uber is disrupting itself by moving into bikeshare.

A governing website explains why Seattle paid $3.8 million to build a one-mile bike lane, while the city’s protected bike lanes will cost $12 million per mile — four times the national average. And it ain’t because they paid too much for paint.

Meanwhile, a Seattle website says the war on pedestrians is already underway, because ebikes are now allowed on sidewalks. Maybe they could cite the number of pedestrians killed by bicycles, electric or otherwise, and contrast that with the number killed by motor vehicles each year, and determine which one really poses a problem.

Streetsblog Denver wonders why the local alternative weekly is pedaling anti-bike propaganda.

A Houston sports writer offers ten tips for bicyclists and motorists on how to share the roads with each other, and pathways with pedestrians. Bizarrely, it’s apparently legal to park on a dedicated bike path in the Texas city.

A Texas writer says safer streets will result in more people on bikes.

Work on Detroit’s rapidly expanding bike lane network could go on hold as bike riders complain about poor design and a lack of maintenance on the city’s first protected bike lane.

The road raging driver caught on video deliberately running down a cyclist on Tennessee’s Natchez Trace Parkway has copped a plea to significantly reduced charges that will result in just 10 months behind bars and three years probation. The conviction is credited to the crash being caught on bike cam, which put the lie to the driver’s ever-changing excuses. Thanks to Victor Bale for the tip.

Delaware bike riders complain about a lack of safety, even on back roads.

A Miami commissioner holds a “Dead Serious” meeting to reduce bicycling deaths.

 

International

Toronto residents are still waiting after a newspaper declared it the Year of the Bicycle. In 1975.

A study of 13 European cities reveals London is next to last in air quality, behind only Moscow, and is one of the most dangerous cities to walk or bike. The former may have a lot to do with the latter.

Sad news from the UK, where a bike rider who was killed in a collision with a truck was still setting records at 86 years old, and belonged to the same bike club he founded just after after WWII.

Horrifying story from Australia, where one of the country’s top masters racers died of ovarian cancer after falling under the influence of a self-described healer, who claimed to have cured cancer in hundreds of others.

Caught on video: A Kiwi bicyclist captures a bus driver, who didn’t know the law, nearly merging into him. Followed by another doing the same thing.

In a story that could have been written nearly anywhere, an Aussie writer bemoans the rise of the entitled motorist.

 

Competitive Cycling

It’s split results for Britain’s Yates brothers, as Adam Yates missed the Amgen Tour of California podium by two seconds, while his twin brother Simon continues to lead the Giro. And no, that’s not a spoiler, since the Giro had a rest day on Monday.

Bicycling looks at a day in the life of a bike mechanic.

Outside profiles the incredible Marianne Vos, calling her the greatest cyclist you’ve never heard of. Unless of course you have, in which case she may just be a greatest cyclist, period.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could cost less than 2,000 rupees, which works out to around 30 bucks. Co-existance on the roads is easier when bicyclists follow the rules they’d follow as drivers, if only drivers actually followed them.

And this is why dogs should always wear helmets when they mountain bike.

Thanks to LA bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Cohen Law Partners for the link.

 

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

Morning Links: Bike lanes get blame in West Hills, East Side Riders profiled, and Bev Hills goes auto autonomous

April 13, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Bike lanes get blame in West Hills, East Side Riders profiled, and Bev Hills goes auto autonomous

Somehow bikes always seem to get the blame.

Even when they’re nowhere around.

In yet another horrible sacrifice to LA’s car culture, a woman and her adult daughter were killed, along with their dog, while attempting to cross Roscoe Blvd in West Hills Monday night.

Yet instead of blaming the dangerous drivers who residents say speed through the intersection, the Daily News points the finger at a recent road diet, saying westbound Roscoe was narrowed to provide a buffer for cyclists.

Except it wasn’t.

That road diet, like every other road diet, was done to slow those speeding drivers and improve safety for everyone. Bike lanes are just a tool to accomplish that; providing a buffer for people on bikes is just an added benefit.

Which means the problem isn’t the bike lanes.

It’s the culture that says it’s okay to drive 10 miles, or 20, or even 30, above the 40 mph speed limit, then cut over at the last second when the roadway narrows.

Police say the driver wasn’t intoxicated, and wasn’t talking on his cell phone. So the question is how fast was he going, why didn’t he see the two women and their Labrador retriever in a zebra crosswalk, and why he couldn’t stop in time.

And why in God’s name is a 40 mph speed limit allowed in a residential neighborhood to begin with.

There may be a lot of factors that led up to this tragedy.

But bike lanes isn’t one of them.

Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.

………

Bicycling Magazine offers a great interview with John Jones III, founder of the East Side Riders bike club, who is using bikes to change Watts for the better.

We have this thing we implemented with the police, the sheriff’s office, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, and the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, called Life Lanes. Basically, it means gang members know not to bother folks on bikes around Watts. We went out and talked to gang members and told them, “You’re gonna see people who don’t look like us riding through here, people from different ethnic groups—don’t mess with them.” And we told law enforcement, “You’re gonna see people from outside the community riding through here—protect them.” And everybody listened! …

Now we ride through some of the projects, and folks don’t bother us. Some of the people in our club are in gangs, but when we’re on bikes, they get a pass from other gangs because they know we’re doing something good for the community.

Nice to see one of LA’s unsung bike heroes get the attention he deserves.

………

Beverly Hills, which fought the Purple Line subway extension tooth-and-nail, is now planning an autonomous vehicle program to solve the first mile/last mile problem with a fleet of self-driving cars once it opens in 2026.

Never mind that they could solve a lot of that by just putting bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd.

Thanks to John Dammon for the link.

………

Cannondale pro cycling team leader Jonathan Vaughters discusses the future of pro cycling in the US.

CNN offers an extensive profile of Lance Armstrong and the movie The Program, calling him a tragic hero.

And see the grueling Paris-Roubaix from the cyclists’ perspective.

………

Local

Streetsblog says Metro bikeshare really is coming to DTLA. Meanwhile, West Hollywood wants to know where you’d put stations for their coming system.

Downtown News looks at plans for protected bike lanes on Spring and Main in Downtown LA.

Pretty Little Liars star Shay Mitchell is one of us, as she tweets about how she loves riding her bike along the beach.

St. Vincent Meals on Wheels is hosting their 21st annual Walk/Bike-A-Thon on Sunday the 24th, including a 10 mile ride along the beach to raise funds for Meals for Wheels. Maybe you’ll see Shay Mitchell there. Or maybe not.

 

State

Concern for equity reaches the state level, as bills in the state legislature would shift priority for transportation funding to disadvantaged communities to ensure everyone has access to safe walking, biking and transit infrastructure.

Streetsblog looks at how the San Diego Association of Governments falsely sold a package of highway expansions under the promise of improving the environment, while kicking bike and walking projects down the road.

The Voice of San Diego says a recent road diet on the Coast Highway in Oceanside marks the end of the road for the car-only highway. We can only hope.

A gofundme account has been established for a Bakersfield 6th grader who was seriously injured in a collision while riding to school on Monday.

Classic bicycle fans from 29 countries took part in last weekend’s three-day Eroica California bike fest in Paso Robles.

San Francisco Streetsblog asks if new paint and phased traffic signals are enough to keep bike riders safe on a dangerous intersection.

A Bay Area website recommends five stunning destinations you can ride to from San Francisco.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is looking for a part-time graphic designer.

 

National

The Atlantic says the absurd primacy of the automobile in American life is insane.

A new study from the University of Duh discovers drunk bike riders are more likely to be injured than sober ones. No, really, they needed a study to figure that out.

The next time you head to Ikea for a bookshelf, you can pick up a unisex, belt-drive bicycle, too. No word on whether you have to assemble it yourself.

Seattle’s Transit Blog tells drivers to relax about cyclists blowing through red lights.

Robin Leach, of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous fame, calls gambler Dan Bilzerian’s successful $1.2 million bet a “dangerous and nearly impossible ride” through the brutal Mojave desert. Even though countless other cyclists have done it for free.

A Chicago couple quit their jobs to travel 4,000 miles across the US on just $6,000.

Charleston cyclists call for a trial bike and pedestrian lane over a bridge to be made permanent since it’s the only safe and, so far, legal route over the river; the local paper says so far, so good.

Louisiana considers a vulnerable user law with real teeth, establishing a $2,000 fine and three months in jail for injuring a bicyclist, pedestrian or motorcyclist, and up to $5,000 and five years in prison for killing someone who isn’t in a motor vehicle.

 

International

The Times recommends a three-day mountain bike, llama and rafting tour of Peru’s Sacred Valley.

Modacity’s Chris Bruntlett writes in praise of the upright bike.

A Toronto bike blog imagines how treating traffic collisions like we do aircraft or marine disasters, where human life has absolute priority, would change our driving culture. Thanks to Chuck Castillo for the tip.

A British opposition MP says there’s a real gap between the government’s words and their actual support for cycling.

A Brit woman says she was just driving alone minding her own business, giving a man walking his bike plenty of passing room, when he just randomly picked up his bike and threw it at her car for no apparent reason. Sure, that seems credible. Let’s go with that.

Now that’s refreshing. After a London cellist hits a woman riding her bike while on his way to rehearsal — in front of an Aussie actor and recording star, no less — he takes full responsibility and tells other drivers to slow down.

Once again, someone has sabotaged a bike trail in the UK, this time stringing fishing line at neck level on a pathway popular with children.

A Brit bike rider says today’s focus on sportives, carbon frames and Rapha kits is sucking the life out of cycling.

All the world is a bikeway, and all the men and women merely cyclists marking the 400th anniversary of the Bards’ death.

A Malaysian writer says it’s hard to grow cycling in the country if there aren’t any races and little or no support at the club level.

An Aussie driver says the equivalent of a three-foot passing law wouldn’t be necessary if they weren’t such a bunch of Neanderthals behind the wheel. Maybe they should pass a law protecting cyclists from kangaroos, too.

A Chinese man is under arrest for allegedly riding his bike up to a car, taking his clothes off, and lying under it to pretend he’d been hit by the driver and demanding compensation. But can someone please tell me what being naked has to do with it?

The 82-year old founder of the world’s biggest bicycle maker is now the poster boy for Taiwanese bicycling; oddly, he didn’t take up bicycling himself until he was 73.

 

Finally…

Yes, you can draw a bike from memory, but you probably can’t ride it. If you’re going to ride off with an $11,400 bike from a bike shop, make sure it has pedals on it first.

And you’re not a bike rider, you’re a member of the Federali terrorist group.

 

Category: Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Update: Busted for going too slow? Or Biking While Brown in Gardena?

July 12, 2013 / / 23 comments

Update: Here’s video of the  incident. I wonder how many motorists are frisked or searched for weapons for a simple traffic violation?

Something tells me a white, middle-aged man like me would have have been treated far differently under similar circumstances.

………

We’ll hope it was just a mistake.

On Wednesday night, a group of bike riders were on their way for a meeting with the Gardena City Manager when an apparently over-enthusiastic police officer pulled the entire group over. And ticketed them for a violation that didn’t apply under the circumstances.

From the Los Riders Facebook page

From the Los Riders Facebook page

Representatives of the United Riders, made up of members of Los Riders and East Side Riders, were on their way to city hall with relatives of hit-and-run victim Benjamin Torres in their continuing fight for justice in the still unsolved case. As well as  to discuss the issue of ghost bikes following the removal the memorial for Torres.

In the absence of a bike lane or other bicycling infrastructure, they were riding in the right lane, outside the door zone — as they are legally entitled to do — when they were pulled over by a squad car on the 15400 block of South Western Avenue.

According to the Los Riders Facebook page, they were told to sit on the curb while the officer waited for her Sargent to arrive with another four patrol cars in tow.

All for a handful of bicyclists riding slowly  on their casual cruiser bikes.

Maybe too slow for the officer in question, who, after consulting with her superior, ended up citing the group for impeding traffic under CVC 22400.

Yet according to the LAPD, the standard for impedance requires a minimum of five vehicles stuck behind the slower moving vehicle and unable to pass, which was not likely in this case. And it doesn’t apply on roads with two or more lanes in each direction — like Western, for instance — where a driver could simply change lanes to go around the slower vehicle.

Or bike.

Or group of bikes.

In other words, despite the presence of at least six patrol officers, including a police Sargent, they couldn’t come up with a valid violation to cite the riders with.

And it’s pretty well guaranteed that those six patrol cars impeded traffic far more, and far longer, than a group of slow moving bike riders would have.

Meanwhile, the riders eventually got to city hall for their meeting. And ran into Gardena police chief Ed Medrano, who promised to talk with the officers in question.

No word on whether the tickets will be rescinded, however.

Which brings up the question of whether the riders were really stopped by an officer who didn’t understand the law because they were riding too slow.

Or because they were profiled based on their appearance and attire.

That’s not a question I can answer.

But its one I wish I didn’t have to ask.

Thanks to Danny Gamboa and Lynn Ingram for the heads-up.

Impeding Traffi Ticket

Update: The five vehicle standard in found under CVC 21656, which also notes it only apply on two-lane roads; thanks to billsd for the heads-up.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman offers a detailed look at what happened. 

Update 2: According to my records, Gardena has had at least three bicycling fatalities since 2010, including two in the last nine months — a horrible record for a town of under 60,000 people. And all of those were hit-and-runs.

They have far bigger problems than a few bicyclists riding in the traffic lane.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bikes & the Law, Law Enforcement / Tags: , , , , , , ,
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