Let’s start with a bit of heartbreaking news, after someone stole the ghost bike recently installed for a pregnant mother in Playa del Rey.
According to Streets Are For Everyone Executive Director Damian Kevitt, the bike placed in memory of 35-year old Regan Cole-Graham, a mother of two who was seven months pregnant with her daughter Ophelia, was taken shortly after the ghost bike for Blake Ackerman in West Hollywood was stolen, then recovered a few days later.
Which raises the question of whether someone is purposely removing ghost bikes, or if this is just a strange coincidence.
Only the ghost bike installed for her unborn daughter remains where they were placed.
Cole-Graham and her daughter were killed by an elderly driver on Pershing Drive, where a road diet installed in 2017 was removed months later after backlash from angry motorists, mostly pass-through commuters from Manhattan Beach.
And yes, there’s not a pit in hell deep enough for any lowlife scumbucket who would intentionally steal a ghost bike, as if that’s somehow different than desecrating any other memorial.
A woman inside was just washing her clothes when the SUV came flying in through the door of the business around 6 pm, fatally pinning her against one of the machines.
A witness reported the driver appeared to be an elderly woman, who tried explaining her actions by telling police her foot got caught on the pedal. If true, it adds even more fuel to the burning argument over how old is too old to drive a car.
Either way, it’s more proof that motor vehicles pose a deadly risk to everyone, on or off the roadway.
………
California State Senator Catherine Blakespear will host a 90-minute webinar this evening to discuss solutions to ebike safety, in conjunction with CalBike, PeopleForBikes, Streets For All and Streets Are For Everyone.
Blakespear is the sponsor of SB 1167, a much-needed bill that would clarify the definition of ebikes, and crack down on illegal electric motorbikes being misrepresented as legal ebikes.
Someone let me know how it goes, because I’ll be on a much-needed mental health break today, going to my happy place where cars don’t exist, and the deer and the antelope play.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
You’ve got to be kidding. Orange County Sheriff’s deputies were called when two teenagers decided to terrorize shoppers in a Foothill Ranch Walmart by riding their ebikes — actually electric motorbikes — up and down the aisles. One more reason why California needs to clarify the definition of ebikes to distinguish them from e-motos and dirt bikes.
A group of Singapore bicyclists were termed “too arrogant to use the lane provided for them,” despite politely riding single file and hugging the fog line — never mind that the bike lane, just the shoulder of the damn roadway — was likely littered with debris, or that there were a series of warning signs next to the bike lane just down the road. Because arrogance is the only possible explanation when people on bicycles do things that drivers don’t understand.
This is how you get change. Hundreds of Chicago bicyclists took part in a “life-affirming” bike ride and die-in in memory of a city Complete Streets planner who was killed in a dooring while riding in a painted bike lane. I’ve never seen that many LA bike riders turn out for any protest or memorial except Critical Mass.
He gets it. An editor for Cycling Weekly says he is very aware of his vulnerability when he rides a bicycle, like virtually every other bike rider, and doesn’t need to be pulled over by the cops for a reminder, when it’s the people in the big, dangerous machines who should be told how vulnerable we are.
A British father and son completed a 400-day, 18,000-mile bike trip around the world, setting Guinness World Records in the process for the fastest bicycle circumnavigation of the world by a father and son, the longest bicycle journey by a father and son, and the most countries visited in a continuous bicycle journey by a father and son.
Wednesday was a very long day, and by the time I finally had a chance to write about the bicycling death in Santa Ana, it was too damn late to start on anything else.
On the other hand, this is the first time I haven’t had a migraine all week.
So there’s that, anyway.
Apropos of nothing, today’s photo is my coffee cup and a little light reading.
………
In late-breaking news — as in a 1 am press release — Streets For All and Streets Are For Everyone announced that SB 1167, which addresses the problem of illegal electric motorbikes being sold as ebikes by unscrupulous dealers, passed the state Senate and will move on to the Assembly.
Given the late hour, I’m just going to let you read the whole thing, rather than trying to rewrite it and edit it down.
This bill partially addresses the problem I’ve complained about for some time, that legal ped-assist ebikes too often get conflated and confused with illegal e-motos.
And this may be the first time I have so scrupulously used unscrupulous in any context on here.
California Senate Passes SB 1167 to Crack Down on Illegal E-Motos Fraudulently Sold as E-Bikes
SACRAMENTO — Recent news has seen a spike in reports of injuries or fatalities caused by “e-bikes,” such as 13-year-old Benson Nguyen or gangs of teenagers and young adults riding “e-bikes”. What is often missed is that most, if not all, of the vehicles being ridden are not legal e-bikes but are more correctly called e-motos (sometimes incorrectly called e-motorcycles). E-motos are high-powered two-wheeled electric devices that look similar to e-bikes or more like a cross between an e-bike and a motorcycle.
Under California law, legal e-bikes are limited to 750 watts and must fall within the state’s three-class e-bike framework.
But consumers, parents, schools, retailers, and law enforcement are increasingly encountering devices being fraudulently sold as e-bikes that can travel at much higher speeds – 30, 40, 50+ mph, and may legally require registration, licensing, insurance, or safety equipment.
SB 1167, legislation authored by Senator Catherine Blakespear of Encinitas, directly addresses the problem of e-motos and other high-powered electric devices being marketed and sold as street-legal “e-bikes” even when they do not meet California’s legal definition of an electric bicycle and are not street-legal. SB 1167 would make it clear that these devices cannot be falsely advertised or sold as e-bikes and can’t be ridden on the roads without proper registration, rider training, and safety features such as rear taillights, turn signals, and helmets.
SB 1167 strengthens consumer protections by requiring clearer labeling and disclosure when a device does not meet the legal definition of an e-bike. The bill also requires every e-bike sold in California to include a visible frame label identifying its class and maximum assisted speed, making it easier for riders, parents, retailers, schools, and law enforcement to understand what kind of device is being used.
“The e-bike panic in California has too often missed the real problem. Legal e-bikes are helping people replace car trips, save money, and get around more easily — but high-powered electric motorcycles being sold as e-bikes create confusion, real safety risks, and reasonable public backlash. SB 1167 is exactly the kind of smart, targeted legislation we need: protect consumers, crack down on misclassified devices, and keep legal e-bikes moving,” said Marc Vukcevic, Director of State Policy at Streets For All.
Under SB 1167, e-motos up to 3000 watts of power would be categorized the same as a moped, requiring the same registration, driver training, and safety features (taillights, turn signals, front lights, etc.) in order to be legally ridden on the road. E-motos above 3000 watts would be classified as either a motor-driven cycle or a motorcycle.
“We know we aren’t going to be getting rid of e-motos. That genie is already out of the bottle. The point of SB 1167 is not to outlaw e-motos but to bring them back under the law and ensure they are being used in a way that is safe for the rider and those around them,” said Damian Kevitt, Executive Director at Streets Are For Everyone.
The legislation also improves incident reporting by requiring law enforcement to include e-bike label information when documenting crashes and other incidents. That improved data collection will help California better distinguish between legal e-bikes and other electric two-wheeled vehicles, ensuring future policy is based on the actual source of safety concerns.
E-bikes are an increasingly important transportation option for Californians. They help families replace car trips, give young people and older adults more independence, support workers who rely on affordable transportation, reduce emissions, and make biking a more practical option for longer trips and hilly communities. Streets For All and SAFE support policies that protect legal e-bike riders and responsible retailers while ensuring that e-motos sold are used safely, with proper registration, training, and safety features one would expect of any high-powered vehicle used on our roads.
SB 1167 is co-sponsored by Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All, Calbike, and PeopleForBikes. The bill now heads to the Assembly for consideration.
A photo shows the carbon-frame Factor bike snapped in half, with the scooter embedded in between.
The scooter should have never been on the streets, where New York has a 20 mph speed limit for stand-up e-scooters, which is common in many cities and states; California has a 15 mph limit for throttle-controlled scooters.
Never mind that the rider wasn’t legally allowed in the bike lane, let alone riding salmon.
Now two people have paid the price for one man’s bad choices.
According to witnesses, the driver was chasing the ebike rider when he caught up to the victim at a stop sign, then got out of his car and fired several shots as the bike rider tried to back away.
Despite taking two to three bullets to the chest, the victim got back on his ebike and rode to the next town over, where a friend called 911. He was hospitalized in critical condition.
Police arrested the driver hours later. Possible charges will likely depend on whether the victim survives his injuries.
AB 2168, authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, would strengthen California’s ATP by making it more focused, more coordinated, and more accountable. The bill requires updates to the ATP guidelines to give greater emphasis to safe routes to transit, including projects that improve biking and walking access to transit facilities, school bus stops, transit station areas, planned stops, transit corridors, transit-oriented development areas, and underserved or rural areas.
The most important change in AB 2168 is also one of the most practical: it pushes California to stop treating active transportation as a small, separate category of transportation spending. The bill calls for commitments of State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) funds to ATP-funded projects so California can scale up larger and network-level active transportation improvements. Committing STIP funds, which typically funded larger general roadway projects, to active transportation projects increases available funding for biking and walking infrastructure, increasing the reach far beyond the oversubscribed, underfunded ATP. In plain terms, that means ATP dollars should be used as a corollary, complementary piece for bigger investments, not as the only money available to build safer streets.
………
Personal injury attorney Steven M. Sweat emailed with a good reminder that California’s three-foot passing law was changed three years ago to require drivers to change lanes to pass a vulnerable road user when there’s a lane available.
But drivers still can’t legally put two wheels across the magic yellow line in the center of the road to pass a bike rider safely on a two-lane road, thanks to our outgoing governor’s overactive veto pen.
………
Bike Angeles rides the D.
Twitter post
………
If, like me, you’re still making last-minute decisions on local offices before Tuesday’s Election Day deadline, LAist offers a detailed Voter’s guide.
Meanwhile, Streets For All endorses Nithya Raman, my fellow corgi dad Kenneth Mejia, and Marissa Roy in the upcoming election.
Twitter post
……….
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Metro approved a number of motions at Thursday’s board meeting, including a new budget that will continue to flush nearly a billion dollars down the induced demand toilet, along with a motion to move the plans for the LA river bike path forward with a lower-cost design that could possibly, maybe, kinda hopefully be finished in time for the ’28 Olympics. LA Mayor Karen Bass was also voted in as board chair for the upcoming fiscal year, though voters may have a say in that come November, if not on Tuesday.
State
Another Orange County mom could face charges for the sins of her son, after the teenager fled from cops attempting a traffic stop by riding against traffic at a high rate of speed and blowing through a red light, following several previous warning about his alleged illegal behavior.
Better news from San Diego’s Carmel Valley, where a 12-year old boy was moved from the ICU nearly a month after he was struck by a driver while riding his ebike; Mark Maldonado has shown significant improvement since he was removed from a ventilator and a medically induced coma. A crowdfunding page has raised nearly $21,000, while classmates at his elementary school raised over $1,800 with a bake sale and lemonade stand.
A British advocacy group says the government should invest in electric bicycles, because ebike incentives are twice as effective as grants for electric cars. Maybe someone should tell the California Air Resources Board, since they stole the funding for the state ebike incentive program to give it to electric car buyers, instead.
Thirty-four-year old Danish cyclist Michael Valgren fought his way to his biggest victory since a devastating crash at the 2022 Route d’Occitanie nearly ended his career, by winning Wednesday’s stage 17 of the Giro.
A Santa Ana man has died three days after he was struck by a driver while riding an ebike.
According to a press release from the Santa Ana Police Department, first responders found the victim lying in the street with “significant injuries” at Chestnut and Cypress avenues around 9:35 pm Saturday.
The victim, identified as 55-year old — or possibly 51-year old — Santa Ana resident Rey Flores, was taken to a hospital, where he died on Tuesday.
A preliminary investigation determined Flores was riding west on Chestnut, when he was hit by a driver headed south on Cypress.
A street view shows bike lanes on Cypress north of Chestnut, and on Chestnut east of Cypress, but not in the other two directions. That would have put Flores on the bike lane before he entered the intersection, which is controlled by four-way stop signs.
The driver remained at the scene and did not appear to be impaired.
However, the press release notes that detectives are determining whether Flores was under the influence — which suggests they may have some reason to believe he might have been at fault, or at least impaired.
The police say multiple times that Flores was riding an e-bicycle, suggesting it was a ped-assist bike, rather than an electric motorbike.
Anyone with information is urged to call Detective Corporal M. Pardo of the Santa Ana Police Department Collision Investigation Unit (CIU) at 714/45-8208, or the Santa Ana Police Department Traffic Division at 714/245-8200.
This is the 31st bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the fourth we know about in Orange County; Flores is also the second bike rider killed in Santa Ana this month.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Rey Flores and all his loved ones.
The map will be unveiled on June 3rd for World Bicycle Day.
That will come about a month before the city begins work on a new Active Transportation Plan intended to update the 2006 Pedestrian Plan and 2015 Bicycle Transportation Action Plan, as well as other documents, combining them into a single comprehensive blueprint.
If you spend enough time reading local news headlines these days, you’d be forgiven for thinking electric bicycles are one of the greatest threats facing American streets. Teenagers on fat-tire e-bikes, viral videos of wheelies, stories about injuries complete with ER doctor interviews… the same themes are playing on repeat…
Some riders behave irresponsibly. Some companies sell vehicles that blur the line between e-bikes and electric motorcycles. Some inexperienced riders are suddenly traveling at speeds they aren’t prepared to handle.
But somewhere along the way, the conversation seems to have lost all sense of proportion.
According to Toll, ebike and e-scooter deaths are averaging around 135 a year across the entire US. That includes everything from Lime scooters to illegal, high-speed motorbikes passing as bicycles.
Meanwhile, motor vehicles kill over 40,000 people every year. A difference of a mere 29,500%.
Clearly, we have to do something to rein in ebikes that exceed the legal limits, and don’t meet the definition of a bicycle, ped-assist or otherwise.
But focusing on the dangers posed by ebikes is like trying to swat a fly on a crashing jet.
In practice most of the people with an instinct for obeying a speed limit aren’t going to be the people who were any sort of problem – morons will continue to moron, delivery riders will still need to earn enough to eat. Why am I so sure, you ask? I’ll refer to you our roads in general. And, as on the roads in general, enforcement will be minimal. Meanwhile, cyclists will continue to take abuse from everyone, from the local paper to the House of Lords, much of it because of a group who aren’t actually riding bicycles. Honestly, it’s time to start treating different things differently.
And yes, “morons will continue to moron” sums up the debate as well as anything else I’ve seen.
But at least a California bill intended to address the illegal e-moto issue is moving forward.
Twitter post
………
Riding a bicycle in Los Angeles may feel like number two, but we’re actually number three, according to a Texas law firm.
We have Megan to thank for a trio of news stories, beginning with a report on Boise, Idaho’s “Blessing Bike” getting seniors back out for a ride.
Karim Alim, co-founder of the Gaza Sunbirds paracycling team made up of Palestinians who have been injured or lost limbs as a result of the Israeli invasion, says their riding is a form of resistance.
And a group of Austin, Texas bike riders are roaming the city delivering food to people who may otherwise fall through the cracks.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
This is who we share the road with. Former NYPD Blue star Kim Delaney reportedly settled a lawsuit over a hit-and-run crash that injured a motorcycle rider on Venice Blvd; witnesses say she appeared to be intoxicated, but she insists she only left the scene since she felt threatened because of her celebrity. Terms of the settlement were not made public.
A San Raphael man must not like bike riders. The 64-year old man was arrested after he allegedly confronted a bunch of bike-riding kids, swinging a fist at one before grabbing another child’s bicycle, first threatening to steal it, then throwing it at the kid when they wouldn’t let go; the same man was arrested three years ago for punching a man on a bicycle, knocking him off the bike, then striking him with a pipe during an apparent theft attempt.
A 75-year old Bay Area man says he’ll be riding in a SAG wagon in support of one of the two two legacy events replacing the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride, which ended last year; he’s aiming to raise $1,500 supporting the ride, after raising over $6,000 riding in the other legacy ride — and surviving with HIV since before the disease had a name.
A law group ranks the 25 bridges that bike riders fear the most; surprisingly, none are in Southern California. Although the results were based on a survey of just over 3,000 bike riders nationwide, raising questions of how someone is capable of judging bridges across the country that they’ve likely never seen, let alone ridden.
The Sierra Club and Sunrise Movement are hosting the Ride to End Fossil Fuels, a century ride across Connecticut calling for elected leaders and state agencies to take action to address the climate crisis.
Cardiff, Wales is combining new bike infrastructure with water conservation, designing bikeways that function as rain gardens and wildlife habitat, as well as providing shade, cooling the surrounding area and filtering air pollutants.
A scoping review of 87 studies from 19 countries found clear benefits for social wellbeing in every study that measured it, concluding that bicycling not only improves physical fitness but also enhances mental well-being, reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression, strengthens social connections, and sharpens cognitive function.
But you probably didn’t need a study to tell you that, since you live it every time you ride.
At least, when the angry people in the big, dangerous machines let you.
That was posed this week by road.cc reader the little onion, who sparked the debate by revealing that they are shouted at by people in vehicles “once per hour or so of riding” in the north of England.
And almost always, the commenter noted, at the hands, horns and lips of male drivers.
“I reckon that about once per hour or so of riding, I get someone in a vehicle – almost exclusively male – winding down their window to randomly shout abuse at me, telling me to get a car, get off the f***ing road, or something like that.
“Mostly it is people overtaking, sometimes people travelling the other direction. And completely unprovoked, not reacting to anything I may have done, other than existing as a cyclist. Am I unique here? Does this chime with other people’s experiences?”
Evidently so, since that observation has been born out by recent studies.
However, while men are the usual perpetrators, the abuse seems to fall equally on both sides of the saddle.
“Unfortunately, it isn’t just you,” said NickSprink. “South of England here, I’d say just as common, especially if beeping of horns and finger gestures are included.”
Clem Fandango wrote: “Twice in the last six months I’ve been making my way along a quiet two-lane road. No vehicles behind me and no drama. Until on each occasion the driver of a vehicle coming the other way, and in no way affected by me minding my own business on the other side of the road, decided to roll down the window as they passed, to drop a C-bomb on me.
“No need for any conflict or interaction of any kind in that situation, it’s just pure narrow-minded abuse.”
In North America especially, roads have been culturally framed as spaces built for cars first. So when someone rides a bike in traffic, some drivers react as if a social rule has been broken.
And because cycling has become tangled up in conversations about climate change, bike lanes, urban politics, and “car culture,” a simple bike commute can suddenly become symbolic to people already angry about broader social changes.
At the same time, roads themselves feel more hostile than they used to. Drivers are stressed, distracted, impatient, and increasingly isolated from one another inside vehicles. Cyclists — visible, exposed, and vulnerable — become easy targets for frustration that often has nothing to do with them personally.
One Reddit commenter captured it perfectly: “You are subject to this abuse simply because you are vulnerable to it.”
“People have the opinion that cyclists don’t have the right to use the public roads,” said Maggie Ardito, who advocates for greater safety for cyclists as president of the St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop Alliance and as a board member of the Florida Bicycle Association.
Ardito says the sight of a group of cyclists can enrage drivers, and – in Ardito’s experience as a cyclist and a leader of the biking community in Florida – it’s been happening more and more.
And with predicable outcomes.
Data shows a concerning trend: Recent years have seen a sharp increase in bicyclist fatalities among men over the age of 20, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute. Deaths have increased 15% since 1975, and 86% since an all-time low point in 2010. Meanwhile, fatalities have decreased for children. In 2024, 1,103 bicyclists died in traffic crashes, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data shows.
Granted, not every crash or death is the result of enraged drivers. The paper also blames over-engineered roads that encourage higher speeds and reckless driving.
Another reason, they say, is simply a numbers game. More bicyclists on the roads, combined with a post-pandemic rebound in motor vehicle traffic and a lack of safe bicycle infrastructure, means more people competing for the same space on the roads.
And yes, sometimes it’s the people on two wheels who are to blame, for crashes as well as going ballistic on the roads.
People who are more prone to road rage are more easily triggered than others by their experiences on the road, and may tend to perceive incidents (whether accidental or not) as personal slights, Hennessy said. Bikers can be just as guilty of aggressive behavior or dangerous driving, said Hennessy, who is a frequent cyclist himself.
“There are some cyclists who are antagonistic toward drivers,” he said. A cyclist might think a driver is coming up too close to them “because they’re a jerk,” he said. “In their mind, ‘How do you deal with a jerk? Well, you just piss them off even more, maybe you teach them a lesson.’ ”
Admittedly, we’re not all saints. Some of us are assholes most of the time, while most of us are assholes some of the time.
The difference is that people who ride bikes aren’t operating multi-ton weapons of mass destruction, capable of mowing down anyone and anything in their way.
Intentionally or otherwise.
But physically protected bike lanes can make a difference. There are situations where even in the presence of a dedicated bike lane, unless it is protected by barriers, it may still be safest for a cyclist to ride in the road, Von Hagen said. Bike lanes can be risky if they are too narrow, and it’s all too easy for a car to drift or swipe a rider with a side mirror, she said. Bike lanes tend to be where people illegally park, or where garbage cans or accumulating fall leaves pile up.
The team at Rutgers studied driver and cyclist behavior before and after the implementation of a temporary bike lane in New Jersey. Men are generally more likely than women to ride in the street, while women are more likely to ride on the sidewalk, Younes said. When there is a protected lane, with physical barriers or a parking lane between a bike lane and car traffic, use is more universal, and people who are more risk-averse will use it instead of the sidewalk, Younes said.
And there’s nothing like that heady blend of antisemitic and anti-bike hate. Thanks to Ted Faber for the heads-up.
Reddit post
………
Streets For All reports they helped kill two bad ebike bills in the state legislature, and are working to get two others over the finish line.
Last week, two bills that would have devastated e-bike access in California died in the legislative process. Your advocacy helped make it happen.
AB 1557 (Papan) would have severely limited access to legal e-bikes by dismantling the standard 3-class e-bike system and limiting the speed and power of e-bikes. AB 1942 (Bauer-Kahan) would have required licensing and registration for e-bikes, products which do not currently exist in California.
Both AB 1557 and AB 1942 died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee after hundreds of you called, wrote, and lobbied your legislators.
This means that California just narrowly avoided the fate of New Jersey, where a new e-bike law going into effect in July is creating massive new bureaucratic hurdles to owning and riding an e-bike.
But we’re not stopping at just killing the bad bills.
This Monday our team went to Sacramento to build on the momentum for e-bikes. We met with legislators to make the case for SB 1167 (Blakespear), which would establish clear labeling requirements that distinguish legal e-bikes from illegal e-motos. We also pushed for more funding for California’s Active Transportation Program and a new statewide e-bike incentive program.
Here’s what we’re seeing: legislators want to get e-bike policy right. When they understand the real issue — that illegal e-motos, not legal e-bikes are what need regulating — most of them get it. SB 1167 already has strong bipartisan support. And AB 1569 (Davies), which directs the department of education to create an e-bike education curriculum for 7th-12th graders, just passed the Assembly and is heading to the Senate.
The two harmful bills are dead for this year. But they could easily return next session.
That’s why Streets For All works year-round in Sacramento: So the people making policy understand the difference between a legal e-bike and an illegal e-moto before the next bill drops.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A South Seattle writer complains about the city’s closure of a lakefront drive to motor vehicle traffic for 15 “Bicycle Weekends” this summer, framing it as a gentrifiers’ assault on “one of the very few simple pleasures enjoyed by the BIPOC and other marginalized communities that have been push-broomed into South Seattle,” because they can’t take a drive along the shore from Friday night to Monday morning. Apparently only wealthy, white people ride bicycles and “the BIPOC and other marginalized communities” never, ever want to take pleasant strolls or ride bikes on the lakefront.
The incident happened along the East Coast Park Service Road on Saturday (May 23) evening. #sgnews#Singapore#Cyclist#Road#Safety 📹: Facebook/SG Road Vigilante
LADOT is asking the city council to speed the implementation of the city’s pilot speed cam program without putting it through the usual competitive bid process, instead piggybacking off a contract approved by Oakland after going through competitive bidding up there. After all, what could possibly go wrong, since Los Angeles and Oakland are identical in every way?
Like mother, like daughter, I guess. When Britney Spears was being arrested for DUI in Ventura County in March, she blurted out that her mom had killed a bicyclist in 1975; her mother Lynne was acquitted for killing a 12-year old boy when she was 20 years old.
An award-winning San Francisco chef reduces the stress of running two restaurants in the city while opening two more in Napa with “lethally fast” century rides.
Cycling Westlooks at “the incredible life of Paul Willerton,” a nearly lifelong bicyclist and founder of the bicycling sock brand DeFeet, who helped Greg LeMond recover his bike skills after he got an accidental shotgun blast to the gut courtesy of LeMond’s brother-in-law, who mistook the cycling great for a turkey.
A 48-year old Queens, New York man was critically injured when he was doored by a 15-year old girl opening the back door of the car she was in, knocking him into the path of an oncoming car. Dooring is one of the most common types of bicycling crashes, which is why both the Bike League and CyclingSavvy recommend riding in the middle of the traffic lane, away from swinging doors.
A couple men are in the midst of a 50-day, 2,500-mile bike ride to raise awareness of the plight of Whooping Cranes, North America’s most endangered bird; the men are following the Central Flyway migration route from the Gulf Coast through central Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and the prairies of central Saskatchewan, Canada.
Cycling Weeklytakes a look at the competitors for this weekend’s 20th edition of Unbound Gravel in the Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas, including defending champ Cam Jones and our old favorite Taylor Phinney, with Polish cyclist Karolina Migoń and three-time US gravel champ Lauren Stephens heading up the women’s roster.
The victim, described only as a man around 48-years old, was thrown onto a parked car with enough force to cause significant damage to the rear of the car.
He died at the scene.
The driver fled following the crash. No arrest has been made, and there is currently no description of the suspect vehicle.
There is also no word on how the crash occurred, or where the victim and the driver were located in relation to the intersection.
We also don’t know at this time what kind of ebike the victim was riding; whether it was a Class 1, 2 or 3 ebike, or an e-motorbike or electric dirt bike. An earlier report describes the bike as a motorized or motorbike, but that description was removed from the later update.
The earlier report also describes the victim as 38-years old.
This the 28th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the tenth in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fifth we know about in the City of Los Angeles.
Eight of those deaths have involved hit-and-run drivers.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any fatal hit-and-run driver in the City of Los Angeles.
Update: The victim has been identified only as a 38-year old man, pending notification of next-of-kin, while police are now looking for the owner of a dark-colored Jeep Wrangler, no model year given.
Anyone with information is urged to call Officer Diaz and Sergeant Nily at 323/421-2577, or 1-877/527-3247 during non-business hours. Or call anonymously at 1-800/222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.
I hope you had a good, environmentally conscious Earth Day yesterday.
I celebrated by spending most of the day on it.
Meanwhile, today’s image is Metro’s new limited-edition Earth Day TAP card; the fully functional bamboo TAP cards are available at any Metro Customer Center until they run out.
AB 1557, which redefines an ebike as having a motor limited to maximum of 750 watts, and lowers the maximum assisted speed for Class 1 and Class 2 ebikes to 16 mph, passed out of the Assembly Transportation Committee 12-0; the purpose is to clearly distinguish ebikes from e-motos of questionable legality.
AB 2284 passed the committee with 15 votes in favor; it would require the state Attorney General to maintain a public list of electric two-wheeled devices that don’t meet the state’s legal definition of an ebike.
Now for the bad news.
AB 1942 also passed the committee, and would mandate that all Class 2 and Class 3 ebikes have to be registered with the DMV and display license plates, just like cars, trucks and SUVs. It would be one of the most effective ways to put the brakes on ebikes, limit the growth of an otherwise legal alternative to driving, and start us down the slippery slope that could lead to licensing regular bikes and their riders.
Somewhere in between good and bad, and also moving forward, are AB 1569, which requires students from kindergarten up to complete an approved electric bicycle safety training course before they could park an ebike on school grounds, and AB 2595, which creates a pilot program allowing cities in San Mateo County to ban kids under 12 from riding any form of ebike.
Mejer had been warned by deputies last year that the Surron Ultra Bee she purchased for her son was an illegal electric motorcycle capable of speeds up to 58 mph, and that her son had been riding it recklessly.
She is accused of lying to investigators about after the crash, claiming neither she nor her son owned a similar e-moto.
Meanwhile, former Marine pilot and substitute teacher Ed Ashman remains hospitalized, facing a long and costly recovery; a crowdfunding page to help pay his medical expenses has raised over $87,000 of the $90,000 goal.
………
The Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council is hosting a CD13 City Council candidate forum next Thursday.
My finely honed political instincts tell me incumbent Hugo Soto-Martinez will probably cruise to re-election in the June primary. But I’m often, if not usually, wrong about such things, so take that with a bag of salt.
………
The City of LA reminds us about the first West LA CicLAvia this Sunday.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes — and pedestrians — just keeps on going.
County officials in Ireland are urging the country’s government to reconsider a plan for mandatory hi-visibility clothing at night for bicyclists and e-scooter users, even though the initial plan to require hi-viz collapsed within a day from a withering backlash; then again, they’re also calling for pedestrians to wear hi-viz when walking 24/7. Which is about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
The Victor Valley News reports an ebike rider was hospitalized after being struck by a driver Wednesday evening — although photos of the bike make it look at lot more like a dirt bike or e-moto than anything that could be classified as an electric bicycle under current California law.
The boy was reportedly riding recklessly when he collided with the victim as the older man was crossing the street. Deputies identified the suspect and arrested him after serving a search warrant at a nearby home in Lake Forest.
The Orange County Sheriffs Department reports he was on a Surron e-motorbike, which is not street legal and can reach speeds up to 68 mph, depending on the model.
And thanks to the OCSD for making it clear the boy on an e-moto, and not a Class 1, 2 or 3 ped-assist ebike.
Although whether the results can be replicated in other car-dependent countries, such as the US, remains to be seen.
………
We could be getting bike lanes on Vermont Ave after all.
Although the motion only calls on the city to study adding bike lanes to the project. And as well all know, studying is what this city does best, rather than actually, you know, doing anything.
Twitter post
………
Someone please get me this painting for my birthday. Or Cinco de Mayo or Memorial Day, or something.
Video circulated throughout the Mideast showing the President of Iran casually riding a bike with the governor of Isfahan and other officials over the weekend, appearing unfazed by the American and Israeli attacks.
Once again, a bike trail has apparently been sabotaged, this time in France near the Swiss border, when someone strung a cable across the trail at eye level that knocked two kids off their bicycles while on a family outing.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Maybe it’s the result of a bad translation. Two sets of South Korean parents were arrested and released on charges of child neglect after their middle school kids reportedly threatened people with their “Pixie” bikes, the site says is an abbreviation for “fixed-gear.” Can’t speak for you, but “pixie bike” kinda has a ring to it.
………
Local
An op-ed in the new Rupert Murdoch-owned California Post looks at LA’s invention of the phrase “large asphalt repair” rather than repaving, which would trigger legal mandates increasing the costs, concluding that fewer streets will get fixed and we’ll all be worse off as long as “fixing a street means triggering a cascade of costly mandates.”
The Smithsonian, of all sources, looks at the history of yesterday’s Bicycle Day, 83 years after Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally ingested LSD before bicycling home from his lab in Basel, Switzerland, taking the first trip on two wheels.
Taiwan’s Giant bicycle is reportedly on the verge of launching the first ebike powered by a semi-solid-state battery, a step between lithium-ion and solid-state batteries, which could provide more energy for less weight, longer life and less risk of fires.
And state and local government, from the governor and legislature on down to the mayor, city council and school board, are out to lunch…
But the bottom line is this: Government at all levels is failing to lead, course-correct, and address –– with even minimal efficacy –– a range of issues that increasingly degrade life here.
In fact, elected officials, driven by cronyism, interest-group pressure and out-of-touch far-left ideology, mostly make the crises worse.
Look, I’m no fan of our current city leaders, but life here ain’t all that bad.
It just could be a lot better.
And something tells me, we might not agree on who the special interests are. Never mind what “far-left” ideologies are just practical solutions that we haven’t been tried yet.
Like building more bike lanes and providing safe, practical alternatives to driving, rather than doubling down on the same things that got us in this mess.
Liberal hellfire and damnation — or maybe just fire — photo by Sergey Meshkov from Pexels.
California lawmakers are right to be concerned about the spread of high-powered electric devices marketed as e-bikes. There is some truth behind the now-familiar image of 12-year-olds doing wheelies through suburban streets on machines far more powerful than a legal electric bicycle. But too many of this year’s bills respond to that concern by going after the wrong target, and they will not deliver the results anyone actually wants. Instead of drawing a clear line between legal e-bikes and illegal e-motos, these proposals blur it further. They add burdens to the bikes people actually rely on, while failing to directly address the devices creating the confusion in the first place.
California needs to protect the promise of e-bikes, not let the e-moto backlash distort the law. In this century, e-bikes have been one of the most important transportation success stories in the state. They help people replace car trips. They expand access to biking for older adults, working families, and people who might not otherwise ride in hilly terrain. They make biking more practical for longer distances, hills, errands, school dropoff, and everyday life. In a state that talks constantly about climate, congestion, affordability, and mobility, e-bikes should be an obvious part of the solution, and under settled California law, they already are.
It’s worth checking out.
And taking just a few moments to voice your support.
Investigators still don’t have a suspect, but describe the vehicle as a Toyota Previa van that sped away west on Anaheim.
Anyone with information is urged to call LBPD Collision Investigation Detail Detective David Doughtery at 562/570-7355, or anonymously through LA Crime Stoppers at 800/222-TIPS (8477) or LACrimeStoppers.org.
………
Streets Are For Everyone is joining with CD4 to call for help cleaning up the Forest Lawn Drive bike lanes on Saturday, April 25th ahead of this year’s Finish the Ride in Griffith Park (and good luck to Kayla as she competes in Hong Kong). For some reason, I can’t embed Instagram Reels, so you’ll have to click on the link.
SAFE is also celebrating the re-opening of the Marvin Braude Bike Trail in Pacific Palisades after it was washed out by last year’s storms, as well as progress on bike lanes in Griffith Park.
Instagram post
Finally, SAFE and Finish the Ride are bringing back the city’s much loved and lamented LA River Ride on May 3rd. And yes, it will still contain that confusing stretch south of DTLA where the bike path hasn’t been completed, and probably won’t be for some time.
Instagram post
………
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton visits Santa Monica’s MANGo.
………
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks healthcare while vlogging from her bike seat.
Thanks to Megan for forwarding the video.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
British bicyclists may be in for a surprise, after an English city finally got around to installing flexible wands to keep drivers from illegally parking in a bike lane. Which if Los Angeles drivers are any example, won’t actually stop anyone.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
The Pasadena City Council unanimously approved plans for the 710 Freeway stub, including housing and multimodal transportation initiatives, but wants to talk more about restorative justice for the mostly Black residents who were unceremoniously shoved out to make room for the never-built freeway.
Louisville, Kentucky has painted new downtown bike lanes a bright shade of neon green, not to keep drivers out, but to make them more obvious to pedestrians, who were falling off the curbs. Evidently, they don’t film many movies or TV shows there, because that looks like the same shade Hollywood producers went to war against here in Los Angeles.
Shockingly, business owners have “concerns” over a proposed new bike lane on a New York thoroughfare. In other words, kinda like every business owner everywhere when new bike lanes go in. Never mind that studies show their business is usually better within a few months afterwards.
Oopsie. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said recently that just 1,700 people use a new bikeway each day; that turned out to be the number of people who use the new showers at the end of the path, compared to 7,000 people who used the actual pathway in just a four-hour window.
Before we get started, I hope you’ll join me in thanking Cohen Law Partners for renewing their ad and their support for another year.
Looking back, they’ve helped sponsor this site for 13 years now.
It’s their support, and that of our other sponsors, that allows me to keep bringing this site your way every day.
………
Now that’s more like it.
I saw this Tennessee license plate while riding in my wife’s car in West Hollywood on Sunday. And could only wish we had something like it in California.
A Bicycle Awareness license plate was in the works a few years back, but to the best of my knowledge, it ever got enough pre-orders to go into production, though I’d love to be corrected on that.
But even that wouldn’t directly address the three-foot passing law, or any other specific bike safety laws, like specifying our right to take the lane in most cases.
But we can hope, I guess.
………
WTF?
Patch offers a muddled, barely comprehensible look at the rise of ebikes, focusing primarily on enforcement and injuries, while not only conflating the usual ped-assist bikes and e-motorbikes, but also tossing e-scooters into the mix while they’re at it.
In fact, they offer only one sentence addressing the difference between legal ebikes and illegal e-motos.
Law enforcement and researchers alike caution that rising injury numbers mirror the explosion in ridership. Still, confusion between legal e-bikes and higher-powered “e-motos” continues to complicate enforcement and policy. That confusion has triggered a wave of legislation.
That’s it.
Then there’s this, as they loop older, helmetless e-scooter jockeys into the mix.
Because they can, I guess.
Not all accidents or scofflaws involve children or teens. On Wednesday a 61-year-old Petaluma man traveling on the wrong side of a sidewalk on an electric scooter without a helmet collided with a pedestrian. However, accidents are more common among youth. And a study by the Mineta Institute reported that existing evidence points to a wide variety of people using electric bicycles for transportation, including children, older adults, and people with disabilities. The study’s authors also noted that electric bicycle patients 65-years and older had both the highest hospitalization rate and highest head injury rate.
They also say a part of the problem is a lack of age limits, while failing to mention that California passed a law last year allowing cities to ban ebikes for younger riders, and faster e-mopeds and e-motos require a license.
And that Class 3 ebikes are limited to riders over 16 — as are e-scooters and hoverboards, for that matter.
But the last half of the piece is devoted entirely to a debate over Lamorinda Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s AB 1942, which would require visible licenses for all ebikes, and Encintas State Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s SB 1167, which creates a clear distinction between ebikes and e-motos, while banning deceptive advertising promoting the latter.
In case anyone needs a refresher, here is how ebikes are currently classified under California law.
Streetsblog LA’s “This Week in Livable Streets” is always a must read to keep up on all the meetings and events happening each week in safer streets and livable communities, as well as our own wonderful world of bicycles.
So apparently, the people in the big, dangerous machines don’t have to obey traffic signals or pass safely if someone on a bike isn’t in a bike lane.
Never mind all the other little things like not speeding, not driving distracted as long as you minimize the distractions, or even swigging some swill before getting behind the wheel.
And bike riders are free to do all kinds of stupid and potentially dangerous things, as long as they don’t ride salmon and stop for red lights.
Got it.
………
Gravel Bike California rides the Redlands Strada Rossa XII(4K).
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Police in Florida went out of their way not to blame an elderly driver for a collision that injured two triathletes, using the most passive language possible by reporting that “The driver and bicyclists ‘did not identify” each other ‘until the crash was unavoidable'” — even though the 74-year old driver right-hooked them on a lane that was supposed to be closed to traffic.
Visit California explains how to get around Los Angeles without a car, but somehow forgets to mention walking or riding a bike. Or even renting a damn scooter, for that matter.
A pair of Navy vets plan to ride from California to Shanksville, Pennsylvania and on to New York City to mark the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, while benefitting the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. California is a big place, though, so maybe they should mention where they’ll be leaving from.
Heartbreaking news from Spartanburg, South Carolina, where two kids were killed by an alleged drunken, unlicensed driver violating the open container law; the victims, just 9 and 12-years old, were riding their bikes on the sidewalk when the driver jumped the curb.
Before we get started, I hope you’ll join me in thanking Cohen Law Partners for renewing their ad and their support for another year.
Looking back, they’ve helped sponsor this site for 13 years now. Their support, and that of our other sponsors, is how I can continue to keep bringing this your way every day.
………
Now that’s more like it.
I saw this Tennessee license plate while riding in my wife’s car in West Hollywood on Sunday. And could only wish we had something like this in California.
A Bicycle Awareness license plate was in the works a few years back, but I don’t think it ever got enough pre-orders to go into production, though I’d love to be corrected on that.
But even that wouldn’t directly address the three-foot passing law, or any other specific bike safety laws, like specifying the right to take the lane.
But we can hope, I guess.
………
WTF?
Patch offers a muddled, barely comprehensible look at the rise of ebikes, while focusing primarily on enforcement and injuries, and conflating not only the usual ped-assist bikes and e-motorbikes, but tossing e-scooters into the mix while they’re at it.
In fact, they offer only one sentence addressing legal ebikes and illegal e-motos.
Law enforcement and researchers alike caution that rising injury numbers mirror the explosion in ridership. Still, confusion between legal e-bikes and higher-powered “e-motos” continues to complicate enforcement and policy. That confusion has triggered a wave of legislation.
That’s it.
Then there’s this, as they loop older, helmetless e-scooter jockeys into the mix.
Because they can, I guess.
Not all accidents or scofflaws involve children or teens. On Wednesday a 61-year-old Petaluma man traveling on the wrong side of a sidewalk on an electric scooter without a helmet collided with a pedestrian. However, accidents are more common among youth. And a study by the Mineta Institute reported that existing evidence points to a wide variety of people using electric bicycles for transportation, including children, older adults, and people with disabilities. The study’s authors also noted that electric bicycle patients 65-years and older had both the highest hospitalization rate and highest head injury rate.
They also say a part of the problem is a lack of age limits, while failing to mention that California passed a law last year allowing cities to ban ebikes for younger riders, and faster ebikes require a license.
And that Class 3 ebikes are limited to riders over 16 — as are e-scooters and hoverboards, for that matter.
But the last half of the piece is devoted entirely to a debate over Lamorinda Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s AB 1942, which would require visible licenses for all ebikes, and Encintas State Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s SB 1167, which would create a clear distinction between ebikes and e-motos, while banning deceptive advertising regarding the latter.
In case anyone needs a refresher, here is how ebikes are currently classified under California law.
Streetsblog’s “This Week in Livable Streets” is always a must read to keep up on all the meetings and events happening each week in safer streets and livable communities, as well as our own world of bicycles.
So apparently, the people in the big, dangerous machines don’t have to obey traffic signals or pass safely if someone on a bike isn’t in a bike lane.
Never mind all the other little things like not speeding, not driving distracted as long as you minimize the distractions, and go ahead and swig a few gallons of booze before you drive.
And bike riders are free to do all kinds of stupid and potentially dangerous things, as long as they don’t ride salmon and stop for red lights.
Got it.
………
Gravel Bike California rides the Redlands Strada Rossa XII(4K).
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Police in Florida go out of their way not to blame an elderly driver for a collision that injured two triathletes, by using the most passive language possible, reporting that “The driver and bicyclists ‘did not identify” each other ‘until the crash was unavoidable'” — even though the 74-year old driver right hooked them on a lane that was supposed to be closed to traffic.
Visit California explains how to get around Los Angeles without a car, but only focuses on Metro, and forgets to mention you can also walk or take a bike. Or even rent a scooter, for that matter.
A pair of Navy vets plans to ride from California to Shanksville, Pennsylvania and on to New York City to mark the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, while benefitting the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Although California is a big place, so they might want to mention where they’re leaving from.
Heartbreaking news from Spartanburg, South Carolina, where two kids were killed by an alleged drunken, unlicensed driver with an open container in his car; the victims, just 9 and 12-years old, were riding their bikes on the sidewalk when the driver jumped the curb.
A town in Norfolk, England is being criticized for spending nearly $700,000 to build a mile-long bike lane, which has supposedly made it less safe by narrowing the street, even though that’s been shown to slow drivers while improving safety for everyone — although bicyclists have a legitimate complaint because haven’t kept delivery drivers from blocking them.
The AP correctly notes we’re living in a golden age of cycling, with “weekly brilliance and once-in-a-lifetime rivalries,” thanks to Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard. And you can add Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and the incomparable Marianne Vos, as well.
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
A town in Norfolk, England is being criticized for spending nearly $700,000 to build a mile-long bike lane, which has supposedly made it less safe by narrowing the street, even though that’s been shown to slow drivers while improving safety for everyone; although bicyclists have a legitimate complaint because the city hasn’t kept delivery drivers from blocking the lane.
The AP correctly notes we’re living in a golden age of cycling, with “weekly brilliance and once-in-a-lifetime rivalries,” thanks to Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard. And you can add Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and the incomparable Marianne Vos.
