
Day 93 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Caltrans forwards word that the upcoming PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study Workshop will take place a little earlier than planned.
Please be advised that the upcoming April 9th meeting at the Malibu City Hall will now start at 5:30 PM instead of 6:00 PM. This extra time is an open house period to provide more opportunities for attendees to review project information displays and ask Caltrans staff questions.
Thank you for your time, and we’re excited to have you at the event!
PCH photo from Caltrans press release.
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More heartbreaking testimony in the death of US National Team junior cyclist Magnus White.
Day three in the reckless driving trial of Yeva Smilianska featured more descriptions of the crash that killed the 17-year old White, as a forensic investigator estimated that White went from 25 mph to 55 in “milliseconds” when Smilianska rear-ended him.
Another bicyclist who was following White on that “perfect” Boulder, Colorado day two years ago reported seeing the recent Ukrainian immigrant’s car strike White’s bicycle so quickly he would have had no chance to react.
He also said he gave up bicycling after what he saw that day.
The other notable piece of news came from a police investigator who said the woman Smilianska was with the night before the crash told him neither of the women drank because she wouldn’t allow alcohol in her house, and both got six hours of sleep the morning of the crash.
Yet examination of Smilianska’s phone showed video of her taking a drink out of a tumbler, as her friend asks if that’s whiskey. Smilianska said yes, nodding, and the friend took a drink herself, contradicting her earlier comments to the police.
And yes, once again prosecutors showed photos depicting the crash, this time White’s bloodied bike helmet. So make sure that’s something you really want to see before you click on the link.
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A new report in the medical journal JAMA shows ebike injuries among children and teens jumped from 751 in 2017 to 23,493 in 2022, while e-scooter injuries climbed from 8,566 in 2017 to 56,847 in 2022 — likely more reflective of the climb in ridership rather than an increase in risk.
That was demonstrated by a crash in Orange Tuesday night, when two teens riding an e-scooter were critically injured when they slammed into the side of a Tesla while riding upstream on the wrong side of the road.
A tragic reminder that it’s not what you ride, but how that matters.
Thanks to Arthur W Bauer for the Orange heads-up.
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Doris Day was one of us.
Actress, singer, and bike lover Doris Day riding her bicycle around Beverly Hills. The license plate reads, "This vehicle is smog free."Happy #BicycleBirthday, Doris!April 3 (1922-2019)
— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 2025-04-03T04:00:08.526Z
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Norm Bradwell forwards the clearest view yet of the remarkable changes underway in Paris, with the transformation of the iconic and formerly car-clogged Rue de Rivoli.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps going on.
No bias here. ESPN sportscaster Randy Scott posted video of a group of “sad” bicyclists riding single file while politely hugging the shoulder, saying “These monsters must be stopped” because they made him slow down a little bit. Never mind that he’s the one who could be breaking the law by using a handheld cellphone to record the video, or that he crashed his own car into a concrete barrier last year, without the help of anyone on two wheels.
Click here for the video if Elon is still screwing with embedded X/Twitter posts.
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Local
Culver City will host the final walking tour this Saturday to help develop the city’s new Complete Streets Design Standards. Actually, all they have to do is go back to the MOVE Culver City Complete Streets project. You know, before they ripped it out.
So, am I the only one who thinks the Long Beach Grand Prix should include a bike race on the closed circuit course for us two-wheeled racing fans?
State
San Diego authorities are offering a $1,000 reward for the driver of a gray Mercedes E-Class sedan who fled the scene after killing an ebike rider in the city’s Clairemont neighborhood last week.
Chula Vista opened a new 39-acre bay front park, compete with two-and-a-half miles of walking and biking trails.
This is who we share the road with. A road-raging Riverside driver knocked a motorcyclist off his bike and dragged him with his car following an argument, in a crash captured on helmet cam.
They get it. The Planning Commission in the Sonoma County town of Windsor says walking and biking should be as easy, pleasant and natural as driving. Although driving may be the norm in the US, but there’s nothing natural about it.
National
No surprise here, as a new study of 14 small to mid-sized U.S. cities shows that bicycle-friendly cities are safer for everyone. Yes, even the people in the big, dangerous machines.
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation and People For Bikes are launching the eBike eCourse to help improve safety and riding skills for people on ebikes, presumably with or without pedals.
Escape drops their paywall to consider what Rad Power and VanMoof got wrong, and what can be learned from the fall of the two iconic ebike brands.
Momentum suggests taking advantage of Trump’s “Liberation Day” to liberate yourself from driving by riding a bicycle.
Bicycling posts their favorite bikes of the year. But you’ll need a subscription to click on the links.
This is who we share the bike path with. A Portland man was forced off a bike path, and narrowly avoided getting hit head-on, by a driver in a massive SUV blithely cruising down the biking and walking path, taking the concept of a multi-use path just a little too far.
Tragic news from St. Louis, where a man riding a bicycle was killed when he was struck by not one, not two, not even three, but four drivers, only two of whom bothered to stick around afterwards.
A South Carolina woman charged with killing a bike-riding father of three while allegedly driving drunk with an open bottle of vodka in her car has been arrested once again, on charges of “unlawful conduct toward a child, with the risk of abuse or willful abandonment,” as well as possession of meth and coke.
International
Road.cc says Trump’s tariffs could be the final blow for the bike industry, which is already in the toilet.
An iconic South London bike shop is throwing in the towel after 43 years due to “rising costs, a brutal economic climate, and a million other small battles.”
Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, with the village of Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne along France’s 500-mile Loire à Vélo bicycling route, home to ancient megalithic sites and a 1,000-year old priory.
A new Dutch study contradicts the usual perception in this country by showing that delivery bike riders are safer and more law-abiding than casual bicyclists in the Netherlands.
A 38-year old Indian man is riding over 3,700 miles in 35 days, from Bengaluru to Tamil Nadu and back, despite losing one hand in a machining accident when he was 18.
Competitive Cycling
A major upset in Belgium, where American Neilson Powless stunned Wout van Aert and his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates by outsprinting them at the finish to win the men’s Dwars door Vlaanderen on Sunday; Italian champ Elisa Longo Borghini won the women’s race in a solo breakaway.
Sorry, folks. Life Time Grand Prix has banned cyclists from drafting riders outside their own category in any of their races, such as Unbound Gravel.
A writer for Outside says skip the Tour de France, and go to Europe to watch the Tour of Flanders, instead.
Finally….
Recharge your next ebike with your phone charger. We may have to worry about feral LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to contend with a loose bull moose.
And nothing like that feeling when you order a new bicycle on Temu, and this is what you get.
@cloud9ceo Temu gave me the biggest April Fool
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.