Tag Archive for electric motorcycles

The abject failure of Vision Zero in America, the dangers of conflating ebikes and e-motos, and Calbike’s 2026 agenda

December 5, 2025 / / No comments
Day 339 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s Day 8 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Phaedrus and Michael for their generous support to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day, and ensure the corgi will find a little kibble in her stocking this year.

So don’t wait. It only takes a few clicks to donate via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo. 

And no, she won’t stop staring until you give her something. So start clicking. 

………

They get it.

The Washington Post takes a hard-hitting, and heartbreaking, deep dive into the abject failure of Vision Zero in the United States, with a focus on Los Angeles.

And deadly Vista del Mar, aka Deadly del Mar, in particular.

And I do mean heartbreaking.

LOS ANGELES — As the sun set over the Pacific Ocean one Sunday this past spring, Cecilia Milbourne returned from a walk on the beach with her dog, Gucci. To reach her parked Tesla, she had to cross a road that city officials have known for years poses a danger to people on foot.

Eight years ago, as part of a national initiative to stem traffic deaths called Vision Zero, the city shrank the number of lanes on the road, Vista Del Mar, and several connecting streets in the shoreside community just south of Venice. But they restored it to four lanes after an uproar by drivers — among them Octavio Girbau, who railed against a city official in a 2017 Facebook post stating he was stuck on one of those intersecting roads “in the traffic hell you created.”

On March 16, Girbau was driving south on Vista Del Mar as Milbourne was about to cross in a spot with no crosswalk and no sidewalk — just a concrete curb separating her from the moving cars. Girbau bumped another car, lost control and struck Milbourne on the side of the road, sending her flying as his Mercedes flipped onto the beach, according to a police report. Milbourne, 29, a hairdresser and actor who had moved to Los Angeles from Atlanta, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her dog died with her.

Deadly del Mar, to refresh your memory, is where then-Councilmember Mike Bonin ordered a road diet after the city settled with the family of a 16-year old girl killed crossing the roadway from Dockweiler Beach for a whopping $9.5 million.

Just one of the eight people killed on the little four-mile street since 2015.

Then gutless former Mayor Eric Garcetti pulled the rug out from under Bonin by ordering the roadwork ripped out, and restored to its dangerously high-speed previous state, in the face of outraged pass-through commuters, mostly from wealthy Manhattan Beach.

Which effectively marked the death of Vision Zero in Los Angeles.

In addition to pushback from outraged, or even slightly peeved, motorists, WaPo cites too little funding for the death of Vision Zero.

Like the $80 million called for initially in Los Angeles to even put a dent in traffic deaths, which never materialized.

And that has led to endless delays in making the safety improvements the city already knows we needed. Like in Koreatown, for instance.

In some cases, Angelenos have died as planned safety upgrades stalled.

It has been over a decade since the city decided to put a roundabout at the corner of 4th Street and New Hampshire Avenue in Koreatown, a neighborhood where 34 people have been hit by cars and trucks and killed between 2015 and 2023. But there was a dispute between the city and the state over funding, and some objected to the plan to include bike lanes. The roundabout was delayed.

On July 31, Nadir Gavarrete, a 9-year-old, was killed at the intersection while crossing the street on his scooter by a driver in a motor home.

LA guerrilla activists responded by painting their own DIY crosswalk at the intersection days later, working in broad daylight.

Which the city promptly painted over.

Meanwhile, Mayor Karen Bass is busy cutting ribbons at coffee shops, instead of addressing solutions to traffic deaths, which her office says she’s “working on.”

After all, she’s only had three years to come up with something.

Anything.

But back to Deadly del Mar, which Los Angeles is considering for one of the speed cams authorized by a state pilot program passed and signed two years ago.

None of which have yet been installed in the City of Angels, as city leaders continue their usual dithering and obfuscation.

One of the first locations being considered is the spot where Milbourne was killed on Vista Del Mar. This fall, Kevitt and some of his colleagues did their own radar testing on the road. They found that about half of drivers are going above the speed limit during rush hour. In the morning, more than a quarter of cars are going over 50 miles per hour.

Milbourne died near two sets of stairs that lead from the wide expanse of Dockweiler Beach to Vista Del Mar. At the top, there is barely space to stand between the sandy bluff and the road. Cars whip by fast enough to be heard over the sound of planes taking off at Los Angeles International Airport, which sits just east of the beach.

Inevitably, the first response to complaints about speeding drivers is to call for greater enforcement. Except, of course, from the speeding drivers themselves, who fear getting ticketed because they’re unwilling to actually slow down.

But there aren’t enough cops in California, let alone Los Angeles, to patrol every street in LA 24/7. Or even enough to make a difference.

The equation is simple. Lane reductions, aka road diets, slow drivers, sometimes by causing greater congestion at peak hours. But drivers don’t want to slow down, and definitely don’t want to get stuck behind other drivers, blissfully unaware that they themselves are the cause of that congestion.

Not road diets. Not bike lanes.

Not even other drivers.

Even on Deadly del Mar.

………

They get it, too.

Velo argues that the reason ebike injuries are up 1800% has little to do with ped-assist bicycles, and everything to do with e-motorbikes.

When a teenager crashes an “e-bike” at dangerous speeds, communities call for sweeping bans. When batteries ignite and cause a fire in apartment buildings, local governments restrict where electric bikes can be charged. And when pedestrians are struck by riders on sidewalks, cities work swiftly to cut riding speeds or discuss implementing licenses.

The problem? Many of these e-bike injuries and incidents can be avoided if only we defined what makes an electric bicycle.

Several of these incidents involve what cycling advocacy group PeopleForBikes calls an ‘e-moto’: electric motorcycles and mopeds sold as “street legal” e-bikes that don’t need a license or registration.

Many – but not all – of these e-motos sell new following standard e-bike Class 1,2, or 3 speed classifications. But with some modifications, they can reach speeds of 30, 40, or even 50 miles per hour, and are causing growing problems nationwide.

The solution, they say — as does People For Bikes — is federal legislation classifying anything with a built-in capability exceeding ebike specifications to “be classified as a motor vehicle, period.”

That’s just the first step.

They also call for requiring more truthful advertising as to what is actually “street legal,” as well as standardizing state laws regulating ebikes, just like bicycling regulations are virtually identical from one state to another.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read.

Because as long as anything with an electric motor is considered an ebike, regardless of power or speed capabilities, we risk ill-informed crackdowns on, and condemnation of, all of us.

Like this hit piece in the anti-bike New York Post, which says a plan to create a separate lane for ebikes and e-scooters in Central Park is “plain crazy,” once again conflating dangerous e-motos with standard ped-assist ebikes.

………

Calbike posted their recent webinar to unveil their new legislative agenda for the coming year, and answered some of the questions they didn’t have time for.

Although a recap would have been nice, for those of us who struggle to find time to sit through an hour-long video this time of year.

So let me know if there’s anything in there about hit-and-runs.

………

‘Tis the season.

Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves donated 500 new bikes to the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem, with Batchelor and Batchelor in Paradise contestant, and season 16 Bachelorette ,Tayshia Adams on hand to help hand them out.

Sixty-two 3rd graders in Fayetteville NC got new bicycles, after telling the assembled that four kids earned one of the new bikes by winning in an essay contest, then announcing that everyone else would take one home, too.

………

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. Chicago residents complain about new bike lanes causing traffic to overflow onto surrounding streets and alleys — except what’s causing the backup is the construction work to build the bike lanes, not the bike lanes themselves. And a former daily bike commuter says he doesn’t think bike lanes are even necessary, apparently not grasping that bike lanes are for the people who don’t feel comfortable mixing it up with motor vehicles, rather than those who do.

………

Local 

The Snake is once again raising it’s seductive, if ultimately ugly, head, reopening six years after the dangerous 2.4-mile winding stretch of Mulholland Highway was closed due to the Woolsey Fire and subsequent mudslides; the road offers one of the area’s most popular bicycling climbs, while also attracting speeding motorcyclists and supercar drivers.

A CicLAvia-style open streets event is coming to East LA next weekend, when about 1.6 miles of City Terrace Drive and Hazard Ave will go carfree for the benefit of pedestrians, bicyclists, joggers and runners. As well as just plain, you know, people.

 

State

Longstanding Fountain Valley-based ebike maker Pedego has changed hands, and countries, after they were purchased by Chinese intelligent-ebike brand Urtopia.

 

National

Shockingly, the CEO of People For Bikes considers what the world’s happiest countries all have in common, and discovers the answer is — bikes.

Honda wants to move deliveries out of the traffic lane and into bike lanes, as it unveiled its new e-cargo bike storage locker on wheels; meanwhile, foldie maker Tern’s electric cargo bikes have covered more than one million miles of commercial delivery work in New York City. After all, most drivers would tell you no one is using the bike lanes now, anyway.

If your kid is wearing an Outdoor Master bike helmet purchased from Walmart or Amazon in the past year, get ’em a new one, because the feds have issued a recall notice saying they pose a “risk of serious injury or death.”

You know awareness of traffic safety is growing when lane reductions reach even Sparks, Nevada.

Life is ludicrously cheap in Montana, where a driver walked with a gentle caress on the wrist for killing a seven-year old boy riding his bicycle in a crosswalk, after prosecutors reduced a negligent homicide charge down to misdemeanor careless driving, and he was sentenced to a lousy $1000 fine — which the judge deferred for a year, meaning it could be dropped entirely if he keeps his nose clean.

In news that is equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, the family of a 13-year old Huntsville, Alabama boy who was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle have installed a Christmas tree at the roadside memorial marking where he was killed, and asked the public to come place an ornament on it.

 

International

Road.cc argues that the bicycle industry is not sustainable by design, and they could do their part to save the environment by returning to steel frames instead of carbon fiber, without sacrificing performance.

Toronto is moving to get around the provincial government’s prohibition on removing traffic lanes to build bike lanes by narrowing 12 miles of traffic lanes to make room for them.

A “passionate cyclist” from the UK is suing Lime over a crash that snapped his leg in four places, claiming the rear wheel unexpectedly skidded out when he braked to avoid pedestrians, leaving him with life-changing injuries.

That’s more like it. A British distracted hit-and-run driver got nine years behind bars for killing a bike rider, after swearing he didn’t know he hit anyone and just thought his van’s engine had blown up; he’d avoided a previous driving ban for distracted driving by claiming he needed to drive for his job. Yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.

More on the new Irish study showing that protected bike lanes don’t slow emergency vehicles.

Bicycles provided by World Bicycle Relief are giving Kenyan farmers a route out of poverty by providing a safe alternative to paying for dangerous motorbike trips to get their produce to market.

 

Competitive Cycling

Norwegian pro Johannes Staune-Mittet learned the hard way that riding with earbuds isn’t allowed in Spain, even for WorldTour cyclists, when he was fined the equivalent of $116 after cops caught him using them on a training ride.

 

Finally…

We may stress about LA drivers drifting into bike lanes, but at least we don’t have to worry about who’s going to plow the drifts already in them. Now you, too, could own Tadej Pogačar’s Tour de France bike for the low, low price of 70 grand.

And nothing like getting an admitted doper and multi-time ex-Tour de France champ to narrate a doc about an iconic 130-year old bike brand.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Ebike & e-moto injuries rise 2.5 times faster than sales, and two teens busted for leading vicious Hermosa Beach attack

December 1, 2025 / / No comments
Day 335 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s Day 4 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. And we’re already off to a rip-roaring start!

So let’s all join in a round of applause for Rob, Robs, Ross, Stephen, Joshua, Eric, Johannes, David and Andrew for their generous support to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

So don’t wait! Take a moment to consider what this site is worth to you, how much you can afford to give, and donate now!

After all, what other bike sites offer all the best news and a cute little corgi spokesdog?

………

At last, we get a little context for the rise in ebike injuries — although, as usual, there’s no distinction between injury rates for ped-assist ebikes and e-motorbikes.

According to the New York Times, Marin County worked to get California law changed after a 15-year old girl barely survived a fall while riding on the back of a friend’s ebike, prompting a local surgeon to look into rising injury rates.

As the pandemic continued, the number of e-bike accidents increased. “You would expect that,” Alfrey says, “because sales were skyrocketing.” Indeed, in 2022, over a million e-bikes were sold in the United States, up from 287,000 in 2019, according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association. But what really struck Alfrey and Maa was that e-bike injuries were far more serious than those sustained on conventional bikes. Maa says they were more like what’s seen in motorcycle crashes. A pelvic fracture, for example, was uncommon on a pedal bicycle — only about 6 percent of conventional cycling injuries. For e-bike crashes, though, it was 25 percent.

The most alarming difference was the fatality rate. “On a pedal bike, the chance of dying from an injury is about three-tenths of 1 percent,” Alfrey says. On an e-bike, the data indicated, it was 11 percent.

These findings signaled what was unfolding around the country. During the same four-year period when nationwide sales quadrupled, e-bike injuries increased by a factor of 10, to 23,493 from 2,215, according to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. A study by the University of California, San Francisco, found that from 2017 to 2022, head injuries from e-bike accidents increased 49-fold.

Which means ebike injuries rose 2.5 times faster than ebike sales.

Now we finally know.

The paper goes on to note that Class 2 throttle-controlled ebikes have claimed the overwhelming majority of the market.

By “throttle devices,” he is referring to Class 2 machines, which have captured an estimated two-thirds of the e-bike market. According to PeopleForBikes, the rationale in 2015 for creating a class for bikes with throttles — which can eliminate even the modest exercise benefits of pedal assistance — was that many e-bikes already had them, and the trade organization didn’t want to exclude those products and companies.

But to Mittelstaedt and others, it’s inappropriate to consider these vehicles to be “bikes” at all. “The essence of bicycling is pedaling,” Mittelstaedt says. “A machine propelled by a motorcycle throttle just shouldn’t be considered a bicycle. It can go from zero to 20 faster than a regular bike without any exertion at all.”

As we’ve repeatedly stressed, anything that can travel faster than 28 mph isn’t legally an ebike. And anything without pedals isn’t a bicycle.

Some manufacturers — but not governments — have taken it upon themselves to call such machines “Class 4” e-bikes. Others refer to them as “out-of-class electric vehicles”; bicycle-advocacy groups, which want to avoid being associated with these machines, prefer “e-motos.” In any case, they aren’t bicycles, nor are they street legal without registration and a license, yet they still show up regularly on roads and bike paths. One online influencer called Sur Ronster, who also has a retail business called Ronster Rides, posts videos of bands of teenagers, dozens strong, outdoing one another’s daredevil feats at breakneck speed on city streets and highways.

Like this dual-engine Chinese ebike with a top speed of 46 mph, which would classify it as a motorbike in virtually every American state — yet is somehow still sold as a ped-assist bike.

It’s worth taking the time to read the whole Times story. Because it’s long past time we started making those differences clear.

But if you’re in a hurry, you can catch the Cliff Notes version in a brief interview with the writer.

Wait, is Cliff Notes even a thing anymore?

Meanwhile, Harley Davidson is teaming with the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition to host a course on ebike safety, while the San Diego police issued warnings about riders on illegal e-motos capable of 80 mph zooming through traffic and crowded areas.

And Electrek warns parents about the dangers of Sur Ron and other high-powered electric motos. Thanks Ellectrek for the link.

And no, I don’t think they don’t mean ped-assist bikes.

………

Police in Hermosa Beach arrested two ebike — actually e-moto — riding teens for leading the vicious gang beatdown given to a man carrying his takeout pizza.

The boys were part of a group of five kids aged 13-15 identified by police as the attackers, who only broke off the assault when one of the boys mistakenly yelled that the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was dead.

Another man came forward after news of the attack surfaced, saying he, too, had been attacked by a gang of ebike-riding teens.

Initial police reports sparked angry comments for implying that the victim had somehow done something to instigate the assault, which the police later retracted.

………

Bike deals are continuing post-Black Friday with today’s Cyber Monday deals, with the best specials highlighted by Cycling News and Cycling Weekly.

………

A podcast host talks with two millennials who quit their jobs to bike around the world, and wrote a book about it.

………

A Freemont CA rancher has installed a gate across a formerly open roadway, blocking a path used by bicyclists and hikers for years.

Thanks to Megan for forwarding the video.

………

A YouTube video considers how Victoria, British Columbia, population 92,000, tripled its bicycling rate in just 11 years.

Thanks to Norm for the video. 

………

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. A Sunnyvale website says residents feel their voice is being “drowned out by a vocal cyclist lobby,” because they value their God-given right to park their cars on the curbs over the safety of people on two wheels. There’s that mythical bike lobby raising its ugly head again, and Hulk-smashing all who don’t bow down before it. 

A man and woman face charges in Lafayette, Louisiana after allegedly yelling at another woman, beating her and threatening her with a gun before yet another beatdown in front of her kid, all because her husband committed the crime of yelling at the woman to slow her car down while he was riding bikes with the couple’s young son.

But sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A 60-year old Gainesville, Florida man faces 11 separate charges, including possession of meth, resisting arrest and, yes, littering, after he ran away on foot when police tried to stop him for riding salmon and without lights on his bike.

A British reporter launches a “bold social experiment” to see if he can get his phone stolen by ebike-riding — actually, e-motorbike — thieves, then track it to reveal their location. Thanks again to Megan for the video.

………

Local 

The Malibu City Council approved a comprehensive, $50 million safety improvement plan for Pacific Coast Highway, including new and improved sidewalks and 9.7 miles of new bike lanes, with just a single dissenting vote.

 

State

Calbike will reveal its legislative agenda for the coming year in a webinar this Wednesday; sign up here for the 10 am video conference.

Police in Anaheim have arrested the alleged hit-and-run driver accused of hitting a 12-year old boy riding an ebike last week, leaving the kid with a concussion, broken leg and multiple bruises; 29-year old Fullerton resident Jonathan Diaz reportedly took off on foot after crashing his car a few blocks after he struck the boy’s bike, leaving behind evidence he was under the influence.

 

National

Bike Magazine is back in print for the first time since the heady pre-pandemic days of 2020.

Cycling Savvy explains how to navigate diverging traffic lanes on your bicycle.

Velo makes the case for why you should skip the crappy bikes, and buy your kid a decent bicycle to learn how to ride this Christmas.

A writer for Strongtowns makes the case that Complete Streets has run its course, leaving cities with “expensive, over-engineered corridors that win awards but fail the people they claim to serve.” Although I’d question whether the study the story is based on cherry-picked cities where Complet Streets failed, rather than where they have succeeded. 

Seattle has launched a commercial e-cargo bike program to encourage businesses to adopt cleaner alternatives to standard delivery trucks.

A pair of Seattle bike advocacy groups have purchased their own ebike-towed bike lane sweeper to clear out the wet, soggy leaves that pile up next to the curb.

 

International

Sometimes the best use of a bicycle isn’t riding it. A nine-year old Peruvian boy raffled off his beloved bicycle to fund a trip to Canada for the World Mathematics Championship, and came back home with a gold medal.

Despite rumors of budget cuts and caps on bike prices, Britain’s Bike to Work program that pays for bike commuters’ bicycles will be largely unchanged in the county’s new budget.

A study from Limerick, Ireland showed that the city’s new bike lanes “maintained or improved” access for ambulances, which could use the bike lanes to get through traffic when needed. So much for the myth that bike lanes keep emergency vehicles from getting through.

British bike writer and historian Carlton Reid talks with American Eric Hassett, who moved from Colorado to Malmö, Sweden to help design Thule’s sleek new pannier system.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. Colombian Tour de France sprinter Fernando Gaviria was given a suspended sentence for drunk driving in Monaco — despite being more than five times over the legal limit. Seriously, there’s no excuse for driving under the influence, no matter who you are.

That’s more like it. Croatia’s Silba Island has replaced engine noise with the sound of bike wheels, after banning cars from the island five decades ago.

Young workers in North Korea’s Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area are only turning up to state jobs on paper, instead ferrying goods and tourists on bicycles and motorbikes, rather than working without salaries or rations.

After biking nearly 400 miles across South Korea, a Malaysian writer wonders if a cross-country bikeway could unlock that country’s tourism potential, as well.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former Dutch pro Stef Clement is calling for cyclists to pass a proficiency test and “crash course” before they can ride in the peloton, while his countryman Tom Dumoulin says protective clothing should be normalized for pro cyclists.

The bicycle the legendary Eddy Merckx rode when he broke the hour record in Mexico City in 1972, cycling 49.4 kilometers, or 30.69 miles, in one hour stands on display in the Brussels metro station named after him.

Twenty-one-year old cycling rookie Isaac del Toro was named Mexico’s sportsman of the year with the country’s highest sports honor, the 2025 National Sports Award, after winning winning 16 pro races, nearly winning the Giro and climbing to third in the world rankings in just his first year on the WorldTour.

Thirty-five-year old Colombian cyclist Esteban Chaves called it a career after 16 years in the pro peloton, including five Grand Tour victories, podium finishes in both the Giro and the Vuelta, and winning Il Lombardia; he called it quits after he didn’t receive an offer for the upcoming season.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can turn your garage into a virtual fortress to protect your two-wheeled pride and joy. Go back to the future of bicycling.

And who needs a nightclub when you can DJ from the seat of your bicycle?

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

15-year old ebike rider busted for DUI, HLA foot-dragging means worsening LA streets, and trial date for killer Vegas teens

March 26, 2025 / / Comments Off on 15-year old ebike rider busted for DUI, HLA foot-dragging means worsening LA streets, and trial date for killer Vegas teens
Day 85 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Teenaged ebike riders are in the news once again.

And once again, for not-so-good reasons.

Like the 15-year old boy who was busted for DUI after crashing his ebike into a parked car in Newhall Monday night, suffering minor injuries and major problems.

Or the 16-year old ebike rider who was hospitalized after getting hit head-on by a driver while riding salmon in Rancho Cucamonga Tuesday morning.

Although, as always these days, the question is whether these scofflaw victims, who haven’t been publicly identified, were riding electric motorbikes or ped-assist bicycles.

Because police reports and the press don’t seem to be able to distinguish between them.

………

According to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, the city’s foot dragging on implementing Measure HLA is resulting on worsening conditions on some of the streets that had been scheduled for repaving.

That’s even though pavement cracks and pot holes can pose a significant risk to bike riders, especially after dark when they can be almost impossible to see.

And even though Los Angeles has already paid out large settlements for bike riders seriously injured by crumbling pavement.

………

Jesus Ayala and Jzamir Keys, the two formerly teenage suspects accused of recording themselves laughing as they intentionally ran down and killed former Bell police chief Andreas Probst as he rode a bike in Las Vegas, are now scheduled to go on trial November 3rd.

………

This is what the Vermont Corridor could look like, if Metro continues to refuse to comply with Measure HLA, which requires bike lanes, as well.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

He gets it. Former Top Gear host James May calls out the “anti-cycling rage” of London’s Telegraph newspaper, saying the “anti-cycling opposition out there ‘smacks of sheer bloody-mindedness.'”

………

Local  

Streetsblog takes a look at the newly opened Big Dalton Bike Path, nee Vincent Community Bikeway, which traverses three-miles through Irwindale, Covina, Azusa and unincorporated points in between, and is part of a planned 130-mile bike network through the San Gabriel Valley.

The manager of the Velo Pasadena bike shop says the shop has been burglarized “constantly” since the start of the pandemic, losing a total of over a hundred grand worth of bicycles — including three break-ins in just the past three months.

 

State

The Triathlon Club of San Diego talks with BikinginLA sponsor, Oceanside bike lawyer and tri supporter Richard Duquette.

La Mesa is starting its own ebike incentive program, offering 150 vouchers to people over 18 who live and plan to ride in the city. Let’s just hope they manage to do a better job than California has so far. 

After Berkeley gave 56 free ebikes to a group of low-to-moderate income residents, they reported driving less, but also learned how crappy it is to ride there.

Marin County approved an ordinance banning children under 16 from riding Class 2 throttle-controlled ebikes; presumably, Class 1 ped-assist bikes are still okay.

The Sacramento city council was scheduled to vote on approving a quick-build bike lane program for the state capital. Something a certain megalopolis to the south could stand to emulate. 

 

National

A writer for Cycling News says skip the power meter, and use a heart monitor instead — even if it’s ugly and sits on your chain collecting grease. Or better yet, skip them both and just enjoy riding a bike if you don’t race for a living.

A legal website calls out the deadliest and safest states for bicyclists, as well as offering strategies for how to make things safer. Good news and bad news — California didn’t make either list. 

Bike riders in Houston protested the removal of concrete armadillos along a formerly protected bike lane; they had intended to form a human bike lane, but moved to the sidewalk when police threatened them with criminal sanctions. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

You’ve got to be kidding. An Illinois county board member was cited for a lousy crosswalk violation, despite leaving the scene after hitting a little kid riding a bicycle with the walk signal; she ended up driving herself to the police station, claiming she was confused and didn’t know what to do. Seriously, if you don’t know that you’re supposed to stick around after a crash — especially after hitting a little kid — you shouldn’t be driving. Or in office, for that matter. 

New York State will begin an ebike voucher pilot program in Ossining offering up to $1,000, with plans to eventually expand to the greater Hudson River region. Apparently, the rest of the state can keep paying retail. Unless you know a guy with a few that fell off a truck. 

 

International

An English man was left shaken after he tried to recover his bicycle from the young thieves who grabbed it outside a bike shop; he was chased, threatened and beaten, but somehow ended up with his bike.

Researchers in Sweden and Iran have developed a better shock-absorbing material that contracts bilaterally, resulting in bike helmet liners that provide better protection from head injuries; because it’s 3D printed, it can also be custom crafted to fit individual heads.

Forbes says add sunny Morocco to your bike bucket list.

An exploring website says the story of the bike-touring Chinese grandmother calls out the problem of “silver tourism,” as China caters to older tourists, while most Western country’s don’t.

A Kiwi website credits the extensive bike lane network Christchurch built after the city was devastated by a 2011 earthquake for its high rate of bike riding, using the damage as an opportunity to re-envision its streets. Something else a certain SoCal megapolis could learn from after the recent fires.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgian police raided the home of a doctor previously “affiliated” with a professional cycling team, after noticing “atypical prescribing behavior” that raised the possibility of doping practices. But the doping era is over, right? 

 

Finally….

Apparently, bike lanes make it hard to visit long-closed libraries. Now you, too, can take your final bike ride after you’re gone.

And if you’re not inclined to walk your bike up an incline, maybe you should be.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Grossman gets 15-to-life for high-speed vehicular murders, and Hermosa Beach can’t tell ebikes from electric motorbikes

June 11, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 204 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the city’s mean streets.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re up to 1,196 signatures, so don’t stop now! Let’s get just four more to get it up to 1,200 before I send it to the mayor’s office!

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

………

That’s more like it.

Wealthy socialite Rebecca Grossman was sentenced to a well-deserved 15 to life for the vehicular murder of two little kids.

The co-founder of the famed Grossman Burn Foundation, Grossman was convicted of the high-speed deaths of 11-year old Mark Iskander, and his 8-year old brother as they crossed a Westlake Village street with their parents.

Here’s how the Los Angeles Times describes the crash.

The boys’ mother testified during trial that her older children had been walking ahead of her and her youngest son in the marked crosswalk on Triunfo Canyon Road when she heard engines roaring. Two sport utility vehicles were barreling toward them.

Iskander dived for safety, grabbing her 5-year-old son. Her next memory, she said, is of Jacob and Mark crumpled on the roadway.

Grossman was driving behind Scott Erickson, a former Dodgers player, who earlier in the day had been drinking cocktails with her at a nearby restaurant. She was driving as fast as 81 mph and traveled another half-mile after slamming into the children, according to evidence presented at trial.

However, the judge apparently took pity on her, sentencing Grossman to two concurrent terms for the murders, plus another three years for the hit-and-run to be served concurrently.

She could have been looking at 33 years before she’d be eligible for release. Instead, the 60-year old Grossman could get out when she’s a relatively young 75.

On the other hand, her victims would have been young men of 26 and 23, respectively, if the married woman hadn’t decided to race her then-boyfriend after drinking and taking valium.

Although it would be nice if Erickson had been held accountable for his not-insignificant role in the boys’ deaths, rather than given a walk by prosecutors.

………

Hermosa Beach adopted an emergency ebike ordinance that mostly restates existing state law, but can’t seem to distinguish between electric bicycles and electric motorcycles.

And if it’s so effing urgent, why didn’t they include a link to the damn press release, and not bury it on their website?

Thanks to Dr. Grace Peng for the heads-up.

https://twitter.com/HermosaBchCity/status/1800198737479836037

………

CicLAvia looks forward to their fourth open streets event of the year, and the 53rd overall, when they come to Western Ave in South LA on the 23rd, with a list of where to eat and shop along the route.

………

It’s now 172 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. An Austin, Texas columnist complains the city is putting in all these bike lanes, when it just makes more sense to ride on side streets — which take riders out of the way and usually don’t have traffic signals. And says you should have to wear a numbered armband to ride in certain areas.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A Redditor rightfully complains about the “disgusting” amount of used gel packs, water bottles and other assorted detritus left behind following a mountain bike rice through the woods.

Once again, an elderly person has been killed in a collision with someone on a bicycle, this time a 70-year old woman in Dublin, Ireland. Note to Irish Cycle — putting an urgent call for more funding in the middle of a story about a woman getting killed by a bike rider probably isn’t the best look.

………

Local 

Spectrum News 1 profiles Finish the Ride and Streets Are For Everyone founder — and all-around good guy — Damian Kevitt, as he dedicates his life to making the roads safe for everyone.

More on the teenaged, motorbike-riding assholes who attacked beach goers and businesses with fireworks in Hermosa Beach on Saturday, as the press continued to blame “ebike” riders, apparently incapable of distinguishing between a ped-assist bicycle and a battery-powered dirt bike.

 

State

Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry looks at the latest tranche of bike and transportation bills in the state legislature, including a bill to exempt bike lanes, bus lanes and pedestrian projects from the need for additional Coastal Commission studies.

The San Francisco Chronicle says the city is ready to throw in the towel on the deeply unpopular centerline bike lanes on Valencia Street, and replace them with some form of side lanes, even though putting the bike lanes in the middle of the street has reduced doorings. Which makes you wonder how the hell someone gets doored when they’re riding in the middle of the street.

Good news from Davis, where a member of the UC Davis cycling team finally awakened from a coma, five weeks after the freshman was struck by a driver while she was riding her bike.

 

National

Bloomberg says the goals of the 15-minute city are laudable, but questions whether it’s even possible to put retail, services and jobs that close to every resident. Hey, nobody said it was going to be easy.

Electrek considers why more American teens are choosing ebikes over driver’s licenses. Maybe they’re just a lot smarter than we give them credit for.

Velo examines whether Biden’s new Chinese tariffs will raise the cost of your next ebike, concluding it’s complicated.

Men’s Journal recommends their choices for Father’s Day gifts for bicyclists that won’t get stashed in the back of the drawer — including a liquor flask, in case you somehow feel the need to get sloshed during your next ride.

CNN Underscored once again considers the best bike locks, sticking with choices from Kryptonite and Hiplok.

A Brooklyn paper talks with the New York borough’s legendary bikeshare-riding stuntman famed for balancing various objects on his head.

Tragic news from upstate New York, where a teenaged boy was killed when he went off the top of a five story parking garage while riding an ebike with a group of friends. Although once again, what kind of ebike isn’t specified.

The annual 900-mile Remember the Removal Bike Ride bike ride is underway, as a group of bicyclists with Cherokee ancestry follow the infamous Trail of Tears their forebears walked from Georgia to Oklahoma.

 

International

Lime will bring the first bikeshare system to a First Nations community when they open an ebike system on British Columbia’s Squamish Nation.

If you build it, they will come. Just a month after critics said a new bike lane in Colchester, England was an accident waiting to happen and would cause carnage, bicycling rates are up 300% on the route while gaining positive reviews from riders.

More than half of bike riders in the UK say the roads are in terrible shape due to potholes and cracked pavement following months of rains.

British carmaker Ariel is releasing its first bicycle in 92 years; the company made the first mass-produced bicycle in 1871, but switched exclusively to cars in 1932.

UK police warn that drivers can’t see you if you’re wearing dark clothing. Even in broad daylight, apparently.

 

Competitive Cycling

Once again, a cyclist loses after celebrating too soon, this time in the women’s Tour of Britain when retiring Luxembourg champ Christine Majerus raised her arms in victory before losing at the finish line.

https://twitter.com/TourofBritain/status/1799821631201902952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1799821631201902952%7Ctwgr%5E7a41bc1f59a4e4d89f72caec2115b760319db438%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-11901174861121623140.ampproject.net%2F2405231944000%2Fframe.html

 

Finally…

That feeling when you take your new tall bike to extreme lengths. Or when your band performs on a bicycle built for six.

And when you’re on felony probation and carrying illegal weed on your bike, just stop for the damn stop sign, already.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Ebikes blamed for actress injured in e-motorbike crash, and bill banning sharrows on high-speed roads gets CA Senate nod

May 24, 2024 / / One comment
Just 221 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve inched up to 1,147 signatures, so don’t stop now! I plan to forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now! 

Photo from Nina Dobrev’s Instagram account. 

………

When is an ebike not an ebike?

Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev posted before and after photos showing her on an electric off-road motorcycle, and in a hospital bed wearing neck and knee braces, saying it’s going to be a long road to recovery.

The problem comes, like Simon Cowell before her, in how the media has reported it.

News stories have variously described the motorbike she was riding as an ebike, an electric dirt bike and an electric motorcycle. Or sometimes more than one.

But only the last two are accurate.

By conflating all two-wheeled electric bikes as ebikes, they add to the misperception that ebikes are dangerous, as Malcomb Watson points out below.

Part of the problem comes from the ebike classifications that began in California, and have been adopted by states across the US.

But there’s a big difference between a ped-assist ebike with a top speed of 20 mph, and a throttle-controlled moped that can do 30 mph.

Let alone a motor scooter or electric motorcycle.

Yet to most of the media — and much of the public — they’re all ebikes. So if you wonder what the ebike panic is all about, that’s a good place to start.

Chart by Orange County Bicycle Coalition

………

A bike bill moving on to the state Assembly would ban sharrows from streets with speeds over 30 mph.

Now we just have to ban them from all the other streets, too.

………

Gravel Bike California offers a beginners guide on where to start.

………

It’s now 155 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A Houston woman was the victim of a road-raging terrorist, who allegedly tossed roofing nails onto the side of the road following a back-and-forth encounter with a group of bicyclists; she suffered a broken collar bone, pelvic bone injuries and a concussion after hitting the nails on her bike while riding at around 25 mph. A crowdfunding page to help pay her medical expenses has raised over $11,000 of the $15,000 goal.

In yet another example of cops without a clue when it comes to bike law, a Georgia man was detained for riding his ebike in the street after dark, with the cops apparently unaware what an ebike is, and why he couldn’t just ride it on the sidewalk, where it’s prohibited.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A 36-year old San Francisco man is under arrest after allegedly running a red light on his bicycle and slamming into a 65-year old woman, then fleeing the scene and leaving the victim with life-threatening injuries. Yet another reminder that you’re required to stick around after hitting someone with your bike, just like the people in the big, dangerous machines. Even if they too often don’t. 

………

Local 

Enjoy a ride under the full moon with tonight’s Moonlight Mash in Long Beach.

 

State

Caltrans officially opened a new bike underpass beneath the 5 Freeway in San Diego’s Carmel Valley, providing a new connection to the State Route 56 Bike Path, North Coast Bike Trail and Coastal Rail Trail.

This is who we share the road with. A Subaru driver apparently tried to turn a Goleta 7-11 into a drive-thru, plowing through the front windows to completely embed his Outback in the convenience store. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

Speaking of Goleta, a recent series of bicycle and pedestrian safety stings operations resulted in 53 citations, but the story doesn’t break down how many drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians got them. Thanks again to Megan Lynch. 

The Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission moved a step closer to ripping out the bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and turning the bridge over to the people in motor vehicles, who want the whole damn thing for themselves.

Streetsblog asks how many San Francisco bike riders have to get doored before the city stops installing painted bike lanes.

 

National

Bike Index has launched a new app to simplify registering your bikes, for free, from anywhere in the world.

After 412 days and 18,000 miles, Spencer McCullough has finished riding to all 51 National Parks in the lower 48 states.

Gear Junkie picks 13 of the year’s best bike helmets for roadies.

Bicycling looks back at the horrific coal rolling case that nearly killed six bicyclists in a rural community outside of Houston. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you. 

Indianapolis is now the first American city to offer free bikeshare to all its residents, with a fleet of 325 new ebikes. Which could be the best way to keep people from stealing them, since they can just go out and use another one.

Tennessee invited bike riders to “explore 52 stunning, epic landscapes” on the state’s 52 curated bike routes, traversing 1,739 miles across 53 counties, complete with a nifty pedaling logo on their website.

A writer for the Harvard student paper says the contentious new bike lanes currently being built on the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts represent a bitter division in the city’s politics, leaving may residents at a loss for how it can be bridged.

New York’s Indian Consulate noted the “disturbing trend” of Indian citizens getting killed in the US, after an Indian student at SUNY university was killed in a collision while riding a bike on Wednesday; needless to say, the driver wasn’t charged.

 

International

Momentum offers ten must-try North American summer bike touring routes. The magazine also offers a guide to the World Naked Bike Ride, spreading its cheeks in over 70 cities across 20 countries this year; Los Angeles is set to bare it all on June 24th. Or most of it, anyway.

Road.cc offers tips on how to diagnose and deal with saddle pain, and why your bike seat may not be the problem.

A Cuban radio station recounts the many benefits of bicycling, in advance of next month’s UN World Bicycle Day.

Parents in the London borough of Ealing won’t let their kids ride bikes on the street, despite millions spent on new bicycling infrastructure, because illegal parking, congested roads and a lack of traffic enforcement have made many bike lanes virtually useless.

Londoners will get a new bike and pedestrian bridge connecting the boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham over the River Lea.

This is who we share the road with, part two. After finishing a 40 month sentence for killing a 15-year old bike rider in a 2021 hit-and-run, a British man led the cops on a chase at speeds up to 100 mph, despite a three year driving ban that began the day he got out.

Cycling Weekly considers why speed limits don’t apply to Brits on bicycles, and whether that really means you can ride as fast as you want in the UK.

A new Danish study shows people who bike for transportation seldom choose the shortest route, but rather one that feels the shortest, with fewer interruptions.

The Global Times examines the historic “cycling craze” that’s sweeping Chinese cities — and inspiring demand for luxury bikewear.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former pro cyclist Lizzy Banks describes how a false positive on a drug test derailed her racing career, and took a toll on her “mental health, finances, future earnings as a pro, and her love and faith in the sport,” despite being cleared of any wrong doing. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you.

Bicycling Australia says if there’s anyone who can win the rare Giro – Tour de France double in the same year, it’s Tadej Pogačar, who has the first part pretty much wrapped up.

Former Unbound gravel race champ Ivar Slik suffered a severe concussion, broken nose and cuts and bruises when he somehow crashed into a car while on an Arkansas training ride with a group of his fellow Dutch cyclists.

Several cyclists collided on the 4th stage of the Tour of Albania; no word on any possible injuries. Bonus points if you even knew there is a Tour of Albania, now in its 81st year. 

 

Finally…

Busted for looking like a wanted man’s doppelgänger. Why go to court, when you can battle it out with the cops on Facebook?

And when you’re carrying meth and fentanyl on your bike, stop for the damn stop signs, already — and put a taillight on it.

The bike, that is. Not the drugs.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,
 
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee