Just 15 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, a decade of failure in which deaths have continued to climb.
Yet not one city official has mentioned the impending deadline, or the city’s failure to meet it.
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It’s Day 18 of the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Just nine days left to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy! So thanks to Patt M, Stephen H, Scott G, Michael M, Jim M and Joseph M for their generous donations over the weekend!
Time’s running out for this year’s fund drive. So don’t wait, give now!
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No bias here.
A 44-year old man riding a fixie suffered major injuries when he was struck by a driver in Oxnard’s La Colonia neighborhood Friday morning.
Yet the local paper somehow felt the need to note that he didn’t have brakes on his bike, and wasn’t wearing a helmet, even though there’s nothing in the article to suggest either was a factor in the crash.
It’s unlikely his lack of a helmet caused the crash, and it’s not relevant to his injuries unless he suffered a head injury, which is not noted in the story.
It also doesn’t say the victim ran the stop sign or was unable to stop before riding out in front of or crashing into the driver, which is the only reason his lack of brakes should matter.
The point isn’t that the paper shouldn’t have reported those facts, but that they need to connect the dots to show why they’re relevant.
Or just leave them out if they can’t.
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An 18-year old man suffered a broken bone in his arm when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding an ebike in a bike lane in San Diego’s Pacific Highlands Ranch on Tuesday.
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Another mass casualty crash, this time in Australia, where two people were killed and four others injured when a woman crashed her car into a group of people competing in a bike race.
Her car continued on before crashing into a tree and bursting into flames; the 30 year old driver and a man in his 60s died as a result.
No word on why she was apparently unable to see or avoid a large group of people on bicycles directly in front of her.
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The Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council will host a special meeting tomorrow to consider the proposed protected bike lanes on Forest Lawn Drive.
The desperately needed safety improvement is opposed by the cemetery and mortuaries, in an apparent attempt to drum up more business.
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‘Tis the season.
A Bakersfield man has given away dozens, if not hundreds, of bicycles and toys over the past 30 years, in an effort to make every kid’s Christmas special.
Volunteers in French Camp worked throughout the year to refurbish 250 bicycles to give to local kids for the holidays.
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It’s now 361 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 42 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
The program is finally scheduled to launch on Wednesday, so get your application in; Calbike with host a webinar on today to go over the application process.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here, either. A Staten Island site calls for requiring licenses & registration for ebikes and e-scooters to “stop the carnage,” after 46 people have been killed riding ebikes in New York since they were legalized five years ago. Never mind that the stat counts people killed by negligent and distracted drivers, as well as other cases where the person on the ebike may have been the victim, rather than the one at fault.
The Urbanist offers a video discussing “the extreme lies that (Ontario Premier Doug) Ford has passed off to justify bike lane removal” in Toronto, while someone posted a banner over a freeway asking what bike lane was responsible for this traffic. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the last link.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Laguna Beach woman complains about reckless teens riding ebikes, including one who crashed into her husband’s car but rode off without stopping, before disappearing down a trail. But from the description, it sounds like what she’s really talking about are electric motorcycles.
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Local
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is poised to appoint a new member to the Metro board to replace termed-out Councilmember Paul Krekorian; San Fernando Valley leaders say she has to appoint someone else from the Valley.
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton looks at the new Pacoima Wash walk and bike path in San Fernando, and the modular curb-protection added to the protected bike lanes on Main Street in DTLA.
State
Streetsblog offers more information about the open letter from a large number of bicycling groups urging state leaders to focus on the real threats to safety, and stop hampering the adoption of ebikes.
Desert Hot Springs will install new bike lanes and crosswalks as part of a $9.7 million infrastructure project to fix deadly section of Palm Drive.
Sad news from Merced, where a man was killed after allegedly riding his bike through a stop sign, and was struck by a driver on the cross street.
A group of San Francisco merchants are abusing California’s CEQA laws to halt the city’s plan to move the Valencia Street protected bike lane from the center of the roadway to a curbside position, which was never the intent of the regulations.
San Francisco public television station KQED examines the ongoing saga of the barrier-separated bike and pedestrian path on the upper deck of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge; five governmental bodies have voted unanimously against a proposal to convert the lane to a motor vehicle breakdown lane on weekdays, while a petition protesting the plan has gained just under 3,100 signatures.
An op-ed from a Marin County supervisor and a local pediatrician make the case that ebikes are vehicles and not toys, urging parents to do their homework and think twice before buying one for their kids.
National
A Washington State police chief wasn’t held responsible for pulling out of an alley in front of a man riding a bicycle, after the victim admitted to riding “hella fast” on the sidewalk, in a town where sidewalk riding is prohibited; fortunately, the bike rider only suffered a bruised knee.
Speaking of Washington, Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the news that the Bike League named the country’s best place to ride a bicycle. Somehow, I can’t imagine California Governor Gavin Newsom even noticing or acknowledging something like that. Thanks to Mike Burk for the tip.
Nice gesture from the City of Cincinnati, which declared Saturday “Bicycle Santa Day” to honor a longtime local bike advocate who died recently of pancreatic cancer, and was known for riding his bike dressed as Santa Claus.
US Weekly summarizes the case against Sean M. Higgins for killing NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they were riding their bikes along a New Jersey highway, when Higgins reportedly tried to pass another driver on the right, while allegedly under the influence.
Police in Alabama are asking for the public’s help identifying a man who was killed riding a bicycle at an intersection where ten people have been killed by traffic violence in 16 years. Seriously, the intersection should have been redesigned after the first death, not the tenth, if then, And this is yet another a reminder to always have some form of ID with you when you ride.
International
Momentum recommends the 15 best holiday gifts for the bicyclist in your life. Even if the bicyclist in your life is, well, you.
A writer for Pink Bike shares his photos and story of a mountain biking adventure through Ecuador.
They get it. A Buenos Aires paper says the Argentinian city should expand its bike lanes, not remove them, noting it’s the parked cars that block the streets, and that bicycling is the solution, not the problem.
Hundreds of people turned out for a London Santa ride to raise money for charity.
A UK bike rider won the equivalent of more than $5,000 in damages against a hit-and-run driver who ran him down from behind, saying all the driver had to do to avoid it was stop and say “sorry.”
Membership in British Cycling has dropped by 15,000 in the two years after the nonprofit organization signed Shell Oil as a sponsor, as bicyclists have complained about the “nauseating greenwashing” deal.
A Czech man learns the hard way that his satellite-enabled Garmin is illegal in India, thanks to a 1933 law that predates both Garmins and satellites. Thanks to D-J Haanraadts for the link.
An 86-year old Australian man known as “Mr. Fix-It” has donated a handful of his whimsical handcrafted bicycles reimagined from used bikes and parts, with features such as misaligned wheels or unusual frames that offer a quirky riding experience.
Competitive Cycling
A Slovenian paper talks with the parents of triple Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar; his secret advantage was that neither of them knew anything about cycling.
Legendary cyclist Eddy Merckx says he’ll never ride a bike alone again after fracturing his hip when he crashed on a railroad track in a drizzling rain, lying alone in fear and pain before others came by to help him.
Finally…
Your next ebike could be 3D printed and look like a normal bike. Riding a bike can give you new hope and help you feel at home, even in a new country.
And probably not the best idea to attack the cops who try to give you a breathalyzer test for biking under the influence.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
