Just 56 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
………
If you haven’t already, get out and vote today; Streetsblog offers a list of election resources to help out.
And regardless of what some random guy on the internet told you, if your ballot isn’t at least postmarked by today, it won’t count. At least here in California; in other states, your mileage may vary.
Then get out on your bike, or take a walk, or bury yourself in your work until the polls close to distract yourself and preserve your sanity today.
Don’t forget that LA Metro is free today, including half-hour Metro Bike rides (use code 110524), to help you get to and from the polls, along with most other local bus systems.
Uber and Lyft are also offering half-priced rides to polling places. But only directly to and from the polls.
………
West Hollywood city council candidate Larry Block calls for a short-term trial of protected bike lanes on Fountain Ave, to see if removing parking to install permanent protected bike lanes will work.
Which sounds reasonable, but will inevitably fail.
It takes time for drivers to adjust to any road change, let alone a major redesign involving the removal of parking spaces and a traffic lane on each side.
A pilot program of at least six months to a year could offer proof that the change will not result in the traffic and residential chaos opponents fear.
But anything less would just invite drivers to make temporary adjustments until the pilot project gets removed. Or just ignore it and embrace the chaos to force the hand of city planners.
Besides, concerns over similar projects are often overblown.
………
Metro has begun using automated bus cams to issue warnings to drivers blocking bus lanes, which should help free up space for people on bicycles, too.
https://twitter.com/metrolosangeles/status/1853467376248820131
Chicago is starting bus lane enforcement this week, too.
………
CicLAvia returns to the San Fernando Valley next month, with a route connecting Reseda and Canoga Park clearly designed for people afraid to make any turns on their bikes.
………
It’s now 320 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
………
Local
Streetsblog visits the roughly 200-foot-long revamped and reconfigured Farragut Ave walkway in Culver City, which is often used as a shortcut by bicyclist, as well as walkers.
State
Calbike says California’s Daylighting Law will save lives, as the bill’s author follows up on the law that went into effect at the first of the year.
Worrying news from San Diego, where a 46-year old man suffered life-threatening injuries when he fell off an e-scooter.
San Diego natives might spot themselves riding in this throwback news video circa 1977.
A landmark agreement will finally allow a new ADA-compliant bike and pedestrian trail connecting Goleta and Santa Barbara.
The New York Times examines the great feud over San Francisco’s Great Highway, as residents vote today on whether to permanently close the coastal roadway, and turn it into a linear bike and pedestrian park.
National
A writer for Cycling Weekly says yes, flat bar gravel bikes are silly, but he’s into it now.
Leading used-bike retailer The Pro’s Closet is back, after two longtime employees agreed to assume the helm.
More on Denver bicyclists expressing their furor over the cancelling of a promised protected bike lane, as city leaders choose the convenience of curbside parking over protecting human lives.
A former Florida lawmaker is recovering from neck surgery after crashing her bicycle during a triathlon.
International
Cyclist reviews the best shoes for roadies.
Momentum highlights “hidden gem” bicycling routes for your adventure travel needs, including the United State’s Great Divide Mountain Bike Route; another two are US adjacent.
More proof life is cheap in the UK, as a cabbie walks without a single day behind bars for killing a 61-year old headteacher as he rode his bike to school, after the driver played the universal Get Out of Jail Free card by insisting the sun was in his eyes.
Vogue wants you to spend the fall at France’s bicycle-filled Île de Ré, offering over 60 miles of well-tended bike paths.
A New Zealand website says yes, you can travel without harming the environment, including on your bicycle. Just don’t leave your old tubes, CO2 cartridges or spent gel packs on the side of the road.
Kiwi news site Stuff busts the top four myths about bicycling vacays.
ABC — no, the Australian TV network — says the bikelash is back, but this time it’s all about banning e-scooters.
Finally…
Apparently, Penny Farthings need parking, too. Now you, too, can build your own “dodgy” ebike made entirely of littered vape cartridges.
And not many people are aware that the ancient forebears of the modern bicycle lived in what is now Los Angeles during the Ice Age, as memorialized by these sculptures at the La Brea Tar Pits.
What.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
