Tag Archive for Florida

Driver asleep at the wheel in mass bike crash, criticizing criticism of criticizing reporters, and quitting bicycling because of bike rage

May 12, 2026 / / No comments

I guess that makes it okay then.

The Florida Highway Patrol says the pickup driver who plowed into a group ride in Deland was “asleep or fatigued,” at the time of the crash, which left three of the victims in the hospital awaiting surgery for potentially “life-changing” injuries.

After all, what possible option could someone have when they’re too tired to operate their vehicle safely?

It’s not like they could, you know, just not drive or something.

And if plowing through eight people on bicycles like they were bowling pins is the cost of people carrying out their God-given right to drive no matter what condition they’re in, we just have to accept that.

Right?

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He gets it.

A Pacific Beach resident offers an “unsolicited response” to a recent piece in one of San Diego’s least bike-friendly publications criticizing the criticism of journalists for their reporting on bicycle crashes, and saying bike riders should just “try safety first.”

In it, Paul C. LeBlanc argues that her central premise is off the mark.

The author contends that, rather than “lecturing reporters on how to do our jobs,” attention should be directed toward instructing cyclists to safeguard their own lives. That framing invites a more fundamental question: are journalists not themselves subject to critique? Thoughtful scrutiny of language and framing is not an affront to journalism; it is one of its necessary companions. Reporting, particularly on matters of public safety, carries an obligation to be precise, neutral, and grounded in evidence. To question how incidents are described is not to lecture, but to engage.

This discussion is not about absolving cyclists of responsibility. Cyclists, like motorists, are bound by traffic laws. Rather, it concerns the implications of language that may assign fault before facts are established. Words matter. They shape perception, and perception often precedes understanding. Precision, therefore, is not a luxury in reporting; it is its discipline.

LeBlanc goes on to make the argument that roadway design can have a significant influence on collisions, bike and otherwise. And that “sensible policy addresses conditions, not merely conduct.”

It’s worth reading the whole thing.

Because he makes a very good case that how articles about bicycling are framed makes a big difference.

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Seriously?

A columnist for The Times of London says it’s not getting older that’s put him off bicycling, it’s the risk of unpleasant interactions with other bike riders.

Being 61 rather than 31 was the least of my reasons for quitting. The main factor was other cyclists. They made me feel unsafe and ashamed. I loathe their aggression and their entitlement. Many cyclists now behave as monstrously as the worst road-rage motorists, as if the rules don’t apply to them and the whole road (plus the pavement) should give them priority. Now I prefer a combination of train, bus and my own two feet. Once a bicycle evangelical, I’m now an apostate, like those people who were fans of Wham! or the Human League, but only their early stuff, before they got popular…

The anger and arrogance is extraordinary. Cyclists used to be mild-mannered hippies. Now they’re often foaming-at-the-mouth bullies, not caring who or what is in their path. Or they’re sneaky GoPro provocateurs, looking to film reactions incited by their own crazy manoeuvres. Then there are the Just Stop Oil zealots, bursting with self-righteous fury, deliberately holding up traffic by sticking to the middle of the road.

Because people never get into disputes with other people on buses or when walking or anything.

I’ve had my life threatened when bicycling, walking, riding a bus and writing this blog. But oddly, never by someone else on a bicycle.

In fact, I’ve had far more pleasant interactions with other bicyclists and pedestrians than otherwise. That even goes for drivers, too.

It’s just that we’re hardwired to remember the unpleasant interactions, which get replayed over and over in our minds, while the friendly ones slip into the mists of time.

So if he doesn’t want to ride a bicycle anymore, that’s his choice. But don’t paint all of us with the same dirty brush.

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Streets For All is urging you to contact your legislators to oppose a bill that could outlaw a number of currently legal ebikes.

Sacramento is moving fast on e-bikes, and one bill could do serious damage.

AB 1557, currently advancing through the Assembly, would outlaw thousands of e-bikes that meet legal standards across the country — including cargo bikes and shared mobility services (like Baywheels and Lime) that San Franciscans (and Angelenos) depend on every day.

This legislation isn’t a solution to a real problem. A report from December 2025, required by a bill we supported, found that the vast majority of e-bike injuries and fatalities are caused by illegal high-powered e-motos, not legal e-bikes. The evidence points clearly to one fix: crack down on illegal devices and invest in protected infrastructure.

But AB 1557 does the opposite. It punishes legal riders, burdens the e-bike industry, and does nothing to address the actual danger on our streets.

Eight e-bike bills are moving through the legislature right now. Some are smart, but AB 1557 is not — and it needs to be stopped.

Streets For All is fighting back. Take 60 seconds to use our tool and contact your legislator today.

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Calbike is hosting a webinar on May 27th to discuss their 2030 strategic plan.

Hello friend –  I invite you to join me, CalBike Executive Director Kendra Ramsey, and members of the Board of Directors for A Future Full of Bicycles: CalBike’s Strategic Plan for 2030, a coalition webinar at noon on May 27 about the work ahead. Register now.

We will dive into CalBike’s 2030 Strategic Plan is a roadmap for the next chapter of bicycle advocacy in California: safer streets, stronger local movements, long-term funding, and a broader coalition for change. Leadership will share where CalBike is headed, what we believe this moment requires, and how our coalition can move together toward a California where bicycling is safe, joyful, and possible for everyone.

Together, we will take a look at our main priorities through 2030:

– Priority 1: Create a built environment where biking and walking are safe and accessible choices in all communities
– Priority 2. Secure long-term active transportation funding to support the mode shift required to meet California’s climate goals
– Priority 3. Strengthen the power of the active transportation movement in California
– Priority 4. Elect bike champions to public office and work in partnership with them to create a policy landscape that prioritizes bicycling
– Priority 5. Strengthen CalBike

As we often say, the most important word in our name is “Coalition” that means you, friend. So please, bring your questions about what we can do together to create a future full of bicycles.

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OB Cycler offers a visual reminder that it’s not always the person on the bike who’s at fault when a pedestrian gets hit.

Bluesky post

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

It’s happened again. A road-raging driver drove up on a Lewiston, Maine sidewalk to intentionally ram a man riding a bicycle following an altercation; fortunately, the victim was not seriously injured.

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

It’s happened again, again. A mob of teen “ebike” riders violently attacked a Huntington Beach man riding an e-scooter on a date night with his wife, apparently because he asked them to slow down, or maybe just because he tried to navigate through a few hundred teens hanging out on the beach and boardwalk. Although judging by the photos, those ebikes look more like illegal e-motos and dirt bikes; hopefully, they can find the attackers, who should be held accountable legally and civilly.

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Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that Los Angeles has resumed street repaving, rather than just “large asphalt repair,” but apparently nothing large enough to trigger the requirements of Measure HLA, leaving “Angelenos on track for failing bumpy unsafe roads for years ahead.”

This is where your bike or other stuff ends up if you leave it on an LA Metro bus or train.

 

State

A correction to yesterday’s story, as Amazon voluntarily removes “hooligan” ebikes from their website in California, banning anything in the state that travel faster than 28 mph, rather that 40 mph as we said yesterday.

When a bobcat is catnapping on a California bike park, you might want to find another place to ride. Just saying.

A 12-year old San Diego boy remains in a medically induced coma, more than a week after he was struck by a driver while riding an ebike, and his helmet came off when he struck the car’s windshield.

Le Mesa moves forward with a ban on ebike use for kids 11 and under.

A Palm Springs active transportation subcommittee considers a number of bicycle and pedestrian issues, from downtown wayfinding to a proposed bidirectional bike lane.

A Santa Barbara writer says a Vespa and an out-of-class ebike pose the same risks, but only one requires a license and registration. Except the real difference is that one is street legal, and the other isn’t.

Sad news from Woodside, where a 75-year old man died ten days after he was struck by a driver while riding a bicycle.

 

National

Momentum reminds CNN that there are other ways to commute besides driving, as gas prices continue to rise due to Trump’s little “excursion” in Iran.

The rich get richer. My Platinum level bike-friendly Colorado hometown continues to make improvements for bicycles, on streets I used to ride and streets that didn’t exist when I was a kid. I was also today years old when I learned there’s something called a “Michigan turn.”

A writer for Cycling West recalls bike touring through Yellowstone last September.

Sad news from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where a local website writes in remembrance of a kindhearted local bike advocate who refurbished and gave away hundreds, or possibly thousands, of bicycles; ironically, he had stopped by the website’s offices last week to remind them of Bike Month events, including next week’s Ride of Silence.

Baltimore will build 17 miles of new bike lanes over the next three years, which will put the city over the 300 mile mark. Although it doesn’t say whether those are centerline miles or lane miles, which would count each side of the road separately, resulting in half the amount of actual roadway.

 

International

Cycling News examines how seriously professional bike racing is taking sustainability. But you’ll have to be a member if you want to know the answer, because apparently it’s a secret. 

A German website explains what’s true or false about seven “bicycling myths.” Surprisingly, none of the myths turn out to be true. 

Collisions involving bicyclists and e-scooter users set a record high in Prague, Czech Republic last year, as the city failed to invest in bike infrastructure.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tejay Van Garderen says fellow former American pro cyclist Taylor Phinney can win gold in the ’28 Los Angeles Olympics at what will then be the ripe old age of 37, because Phinney “doesn’t do anything if he’s not ready to give it 100%.”

Canada pulls the plug on its women’s team pursuit squad due to a a lack of funding and fears they won’t be competitive in time for the ’28 Olympics, although the men’s squad will go on.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a favorite actor stars in a competitive bicycling psychological thriller in his “slutty little bike shorts.” Bike polo has gone international.

And that feeling when a collision leaves your motorcycle dangling from a traffic light.

I know it has nothing to do with bicycles.

But still.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA moves to ban pretext stops — again, ghost tires installed at 99 Ranch Market, and pickup a weapon of mass destruction in Florida

May 11, 2026 / / No comments

Los Angeles is banning pretext stops.

Again.

Several years after a fight with the police commission led to actions that would supposedly prevent cops from stopping drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians on some flimsy pretext to conduct what would otherwise be an illegal search, the city is doing it again.

Sort of.

The City Council voted unanimously to ask the Police Commission to pretty please take action to stop LAPD officers from doing what they already weren’t supposed to be doing.

Here’s how the Los Angeles Times put it.

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted in favor of new restrictions on so-called “pretextual” traffic stops, signaling a growing impatience with the Police Commission’s failure to rein in a controversial LAPD tactic that critics say enables racial discrimination.

The vote requests that the department’s all-civilian watchdog adopt new guidelines similar to San Francisco, which bars police officers from pulling people over for broken taillights and other minor equipment violations unless there is a safety threat.

It has long been a problem with bicyclists, particularly bike riders who were the wrong color or in the wrong neighborhood.

Call it biking while Black or brown.

Roll a stop after almost coming to a complete halt, or fail to signal a lane change, and a flashing roof rack could light up behind you. And next thing you know, you’re standing on the side of the road in handcuffs as a cop rifles through your clothes and belongings.

That’s what led the city to eliminate the bike licensing requirement all the way back in 2009, because officers would too often pull people of color over on the pretext of checking for a bike license. If they didn’t find one — which was usually the case, since most people didn’t even know they were supposed to have one — and you could be humiliated at best, arrested at worst.

It was biased policing at its most heinous, particularly in the Rampart district.

The city council cancelled the requirement as a result. But advocates found themselves before the Police Commission a few years later, fighting for a promised reduction in pretext stops by making officers justify and record the stops on their body cams.

You can tell how successful that was, since the city council had to come hat in hand to ask the commission to do for real this time.

The problem is, in a bizarre quirk of the city charter, neither the council nor mayor has direct authority over the police. The Police Commission makes the rules on an independent basis, sort of like the Federal Reserve and other federal commissions in the pre-Trump era.

So the City Council is asking them, once again, to please ban the practice once and for all.

We’ll see how well that works out.

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As long as we’re rolling video, KCBS-2 covered Saturday’s ghost tire installation at the 99 Ranch Market in Westwood.

Three people were killed inside the store when a 92-year old woman hit a bike rider while apparently turning left onto Westwood, then continued on the wrong side of the road until plowing into and through the market.

Yet amid all the other questions over how to prevent something like this from happening again, no one seems to be asking whether a 92-year old woman belonged behind the wheel in the first place.

Until we start asking ourselves the hard questions and taking the difficult steps to address them, it’s not a question of whether this will happen again.

But when. And where.

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Once again, a motor vehicle has become a weapon of mass destruction, after a truck driver plowed head-on into a Deland, Florida group ride.

The immediate aftermath of the crash was visible on a home security cam, showing the swerving pickup driver nearly collide with another vehicle moments after slamming into the riders.

Eight riders were struck, with three transported to a hospital in serious condition, while a fourth was taken with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to the West Volusia Beacon,

The cycling group was estimated at 14 riders. FHP said the bicyclists struck were a 38-year-old male from DeLand, a 37-year-old male from DeLand, a 41-year-old male from Lake Mary, a 29-year-old male from DeLand, a 42-year-old male from DeLand, a 49-year-old male from DeLand, and a 33-year-old male from DeBary. No names were provided.

No word on the condition of the other four victims, or any information about the eighth victim. One rider described getting three staples in the back of his head, as well as suffering pain and bruising in his lower back and hip.

Most of the riders were customers of a Deland bike and surf shop, while one of the most seriously injured was reported to be the store manager.

The driver of the 11-year old pickup remained at the scene, and faces a fine of $65 to $300, and a whole 3 points on his driver’s license for failing to remain in his lane.

Chances are, he’s going to be drastically uninsured for the damages and injuries he caused.

………

Analysis from a law group concludes, as you’d expect, that male bicyclists are more likely to be killed than female riders in most states.

But surprisingly, that statistic is reversed in 13 states, where more victims are women than men.

According to Cycling West,

In Idaho, women were 60 percent more likely to die in cycling crashes. Montana showed a gap of about 47 percent, and Utah 18 percent. The contrast with neighboring states is striking: in Colorado and Nevada, men were 170 percent and 160 percent more likely to be killed, respectively. In smaller states, however, limited data may make firm conclusions difficult.

States with higher female fatality rates span both rural and urban areas. Only Florida and California reported more female cycling deaths than Arizona, which ranked second nationally in per-capita deaths among women. Arizona also ranked third for male cyclist fatalities.

I don’t know what you can conclude from that, except maybe more women ride in those states. Otherwise, I don’t have a clue.

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A new report from Streets For All says Los Angeles faces a dire future if we continue to underinvest in city streets, opting for smaller-scale treatments and delaying compliance with long-standing federal accessibility laws

Twitter post

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

No bias here. A West Hollywood property owner suing the city over the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project, alleging the city failed to conduct an environmental impact assessment — even though state law exempts bike lanes from CEQA review.

No bias here, either. New York’s most consistently anti-bike columnist complains that plans to redesign iconic Park Avenue are a “convoluted mess,” arguing that a proposed lane reduction would add to Midtown gridlock, and that “like most recent traffic-pattern disruptions, the Park Avenue scheme is a Trojan horse for bike lanes.”

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

Um, okay. British actor Benedict Cumberbatch was accused of a road-raging meltdown when he confronted a bicyclist who had chased him for blocks, accusing him of repeatedly breaking the law on his cargo bike, with Cumberbatch arguing that the other man sas “verbally abusing” him, before calmly charming bystanders and posing for selfies. Yeah, sounds like he was really out of control, all right. 

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. The suspect who plowed through a group of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department trainees, killing one man and injuring more than two dozen people, will go to trail after backing out of a plea deal.

This is who we share the road with, part two. The LAPD is looking for the hit-and-run driver who killed a 65-year old man near Figueroa Street and 75th Street in South Los Angeles, after the Chicago Cubs fan had come to the city to see the Dodger’s-Cubs series with family members last month; as always, there’s a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the city of Los Angeles.

Streetsblog examines the new three-mile continuous bike lane on Colima Road, providing what will eventually be a five-mile scenic route from the edge of Whittier to Fullerton Rd.

Santa Monica began warning drivers caught blocking bike lanes by automated cams mounted on parking enforcement vehicles on May 1st, and will begin ticketing for real in July.

 

State

Submitted without comment. Streets For All has endorsed billionaire Tom Steyer for California governor.

Amazon has finally done the right thing, sort of, by removing “ebikes” with advertised speeds over 40 mph from their website in California. Never mind that anything that can go over 28 mph is already in violation of California law, and they likely only did it to reduce their legal liability. So bikes that only violate the law by 12 mph or less, carry on. 

This is who we share the road with, part three. A 13-year old Santa Ana boy was killed in Garden Grove when the electric motorcycle he was riding hit the center divider, sending him flying; he was on the bike even though you have to be at least 16 year old and have a motorcycle license to legally ride one. But at least the police and press made clear he was on an e-motorcycle, rather than an ebike, this time.

Santa Barbara closes the final eight-mile gap connecting a network of separate bike trails to make a continuous pathway from Goleta to Santa Barbara.

A San Francisco teenager has dethroned reigning British National Hill Climb Championship titleholder Harry MacFarlane as King of the Hill, taking the KOM on San Francisco’s steepest climb two week’s after MacFarlane.

The executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition says everyone benefits when more people ride a bike.

 

National

Guardian readers share what it’s like to live in the US without a car. Speaking strictly for myself, it’s a huge effing relief, even if it is inconvenient sometimes. 

A commenter on Pink Bike wants to know what dogs are doing on bike parks, after a pooch nearly took him out on a jump. Damn good question, actually, though it’s not clear if the dog is a stray or someone’s pet. 

A Xavier University history professor has published a new book devoted to riding through the history of Dayton, Ohio, titled Bicycling Through Dayton — Twenty-One Historical Tours.

She gets it. A New York writer says once you notice a dangerous ebike rider zooming by, you see them everywhere — but “What fades into the background are the dozens of completely unremarkable, friendly cyclists in between.” Well said. 

A New York State website recounts the journey of two friends, who biked nearly 450 miles through the Adirondacks from Montreal down to Brooklyn last September.

 

International

A 27-year old woman pled guilty to the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle in London’s Hackney neighborhood, who was riding while on a hands-free call with his parents at the time of the crash; the woman, who was high on “hippy crack,” aka nitrous oxide, and doing 50 in a 20 mph zone, will be sentenced to something below the 12 years she would have faced had she gone to trial.

Road.cc offers an excerpt from British adventure cyclist and former world bicycle speed record holder Guy Martin’s new book, All The Medals Have Been Handed Out, recounting a near-death experience in Turkey’s road-tunnel system as he attempted to ride from Istanbul, Turkey to Baku, Azerbaijan.

Bicycle business groups blasted the UK government’s proposal to limit ebike motors to 500 watts and cap speeds at 15.5 mph, calling the regulations “unnecessary,” “risky,” and “the wrong approach.”

Porsche is getting out of the performance ebike business, just four years after jumping in head first.

Tour talks with a “passionate” German collector of vintage racing bikes, jerseys and memorabilia.

A Philippine study argues that the national standard of 8-foot wide bike lanes is insufficient, concluding that physically separate bikeways must be at least 8.7 feet to be safe and comfortable for bike riders, while bike lanes on roadways should be at least 8.9 feet wide. Although you may need to read Tagalog to get the most out of the report. 

China hasn’t just taken the lead in innovative electric cars; now they’re coming for established Western bike brands with bikes that “are ahead of the curve when it comes to cutting-edge tech.”

A New Zealand coroner reminds truck drivers of their obligation to check their blind spot for bike riders before making a left turn, after a 59-year old man riding a bicycle was killed in the Down Under equivalent of a right hook.

 

Competitive Cycling

Aussie cyclist Jay Vine crashed out of the second stage of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday, suffering a broken elbow and a concussion, with several riders going down when one rider lost traction on a slippery descent, and Vine crashed into a barrier with a sickening thud; Adam Yates and Derek Gee-West were also caught up in the major crash that caused the race to be briefly neutralized.

Spain’s Paula Blasi won the women’s La Vuelta Femenina on the final climb of the final stage, dropping previous leader Anna van der Breggen to finish second on the stage and take the overall GC win.

Former WorldTour pro Michael Woods embraces the “organized chaos of Spanish gravel racing.”

There’s a special place in hell for whoever decapitated a bronze statue of legendary cyclist Eddy Merckx in the Brussels, Belgium neighborhood where he grew up.

Thirty-eight-year old Italian amateur cyclist Felice Giangregorio was provisionally suspended after testing positive for for EPO for the second time, derailing his comeback after a previous four-year suspension, and casting doubt on the European gran fondo scene. But the doping era is over, right? And it’s a virtual guarantee that if European amateurs are doping, Americans are, too. 

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could have a semi-solid state battery. Presenting the most crazy-ass bike of the week not made by LEGO.

And what mother wouldn’t love to spend Mother’s Day fixing bikes with their kids?

Aside from most moms, I mean.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Disinformation campaign opposes Better Overland project, and Florida adults rough up kid for pulling ebike wheelies

April 7, 2026 / / No comments

She gets it.

A writer for Culver City Crossroads complains about a lawn sign campaign to “Save Overland” from the Better Overland Complete Streets project.

She argues that the opposition campaign is “both amazing and shocking. Also, laughable.”

The slogans on these signs are not just false, they are complete reversals of truth. That is organized disinformation.

So, first of all, there is no plan to remove all the parking from Overland Ave. Making this the top slogan shows that the people leading this campaign are consciously using a bait-and-switch approach to getting your attention.

She goes on to make the case that the project has been thoroughly vetted, and if people didn’t know about it, it’s only because they weren’t paying attention.

Actual, verifiable facts: The Better Overland project has been in process since May of 2024, and has been approved twice by the Culver City Council. Twice.

City staff held eight public meetings for the community, in addition to multiple private meetings with smaller organizations that were stakeholders in the process.

There were QR codes posted along the entire length of Overland Avenue so that everyone using the street could post their thoughts and ideas regarding Overland directly to the project portal. They received more than a thousand public comments, the vast majority in favor of the project.

It’s typical whenever a project like this goes in that some people will somehow insist there wasn’t enough public outreach, no matter how many times they were given an opportunity to provide their input.

Or that they were never informed, despite repeated efforts to do just that.

That was what happened in Playa del Rey, when opponents said they were never informed about the road diets to Vista del Mar, Pershing Drive and Manchester Ave, or given a chance to voice their objections.

Even though the project was designed by local residents, part of a multi-year public process that included several meetings at a local school, as well as outreach efforts to contact local residents.

So if anyone didn’t know about it, it was because they had their heads firmly buried in the sand at Dockweiler Beach.

Never mind that any increased congestion usually goes away as motorists find other routes, or other ways to get around, like walking or riding a bicycle.

Then there’s the ultimate trump card for the driving public, which seems to be in play with Better Overland, that officials are coming for your parking spaces.

Even though most homes have driveways, and the curb space along the street belongs to the city, not local homeowners. And any actual loss of parking is usually mitigated nearby.

It’s inevitable that no matter what a city does to prepare residents for road changes, some people will always complain. It’s human nature to resist change.

But as former New York DOT director Janette Sadik-Khan put it, people always fight to prevent changes. Then once they get used to it, they’ll fight to keep it.

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A group of at least five adults are being investigated for allegedly roughing up a kid in Palm Beach, Florida who was doing wheelies on his ebike, while a woman heckled the boy from the sidelines.

They are also accused of stealing the boy’s phone, which contained video of the altercation.

No matter what the boy was doing, or what kind of ebike he was riding, they had no right to put hands on him or take his property.

If he was actually causing a problem, call the cops. That’s what they get paid for.

@sab.trader445

Crazy, who do you thinks at fault? – #fyp #viral #ebikekid #karen #xyzcba

♬ original sound – CrazyClips

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Streets For All is endorsing CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman for Mayor of Los Angeles, calling her the change agent the city needs.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/2041309360010494095

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LADOT is looking for input on creating a low-stress bikeway along Marmion Way and Monte Vista Street, rather than implementing the road diet long planned for the deadly, high-speed North Figueroa corridor.

The Complete Streets project was killed by former Councilmember Gil Cedillo, who was for it before he was against it. Cedillo conducted a series of sham public meetings, which ostensibly gauge public opinion, while blocking comments from those in favor of the project.

Twitter post

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

Sad news from Tulare County, where the CHP was quick to blame the victim when someone riding a bicycle was killed after allegedly veering left in front of an SUV driver — which a local paper TV station reported by saying “it” veered in front of the SUV. Talk about a great job of dehumanizing someone. Never mind that what actually happened depends entirely on whether there were any independent witnesses, or if the CHP relied entirely on the driver’s perspective. 

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

Schmuck. A British bike rider is justifiable criticized after posting video of himself telling a pedestrian to “use a bit of fucking common sense” when the man steps out in front of him as the bike rider ran the red light. Seriously, don’t do that. 

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Local 

No significant action yet on Joe Linton’s lawsuit to force Metro to comply with Measure HLA by installing bike lanes on the Vermont Avenue project, after the first day in court last week.

 

State

Sad news from San Jose, where a man was killed trying to put out an ebike battery fire in his apartment; a woman was able to escape without serious injury. A tragic reminder to only use UL or European certified lithium-ion batteries, as well as a battery that’s made for your bike.

That’s more like it. Santa Rosa is installing 120 new U-shaped bike racks in key locations along the city’s bicycle network.

 

National

Portland, Oregon is launching a $20 million ebike rebate program to help pay for more than 6,000 ebikes over the next three years. Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, which has invested exactly $0 in ebike rebates to help improve traffic congestion and air quality by getting cars off the road.

Washington State is rolling out another round of ebike rebates up to $1200 for a Class 1, 2 or 3 bike, with recipients chosen by lottery. That compares favorably to California’s ebike rebate program, which now only pays for electric cars after the funding was stolen by the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up. 

You’ve got to be kidding. A 52-year old Arizona man died in police custody after he was repeatedly struck and tased by cops for fleeing a traffic stop — because he didn’t have a damn headlight on his bicycle.

A Las Vegas writer says you can easily bike to any of the city’s three major sports arenas in ten minutes or less from the Las Vega Strip, with bike parking available at each site.

A Wyoming group is opposing a bike trail over fears it would cut off a vital migration route for a mule deer herd, even though supporters says it would be on the opposite side of a lake and wouldn’t affect the herd.

A writer for Cycling West recounts her experiences exploring the bikeways of the Grand Tetons National Park, easily among the most beautiful spots in the US.

A pair of sisters in their 60s are riding more than 2,000 miles from Miami to Cape Cod along the East Coast Greenway to raise climate awareness.

Hats off to a group of Fort Meyers, Florida nonprofits, who provided eight adaptive bicycles to local kids with disabilities.

 

International

Momentum offers 20 reasons why the Netherlands is a bicyclist’s paradise, as if we needed any convincing; the magazine also shares six lessor-known bike-friendly cities around the world. None of which is Los Angeles. Or even on the West Coast. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 72-year old Indian man is joining six other men to ride more than 2,200 miles across Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Prices for Chinese ebikes are going up, as the price of raw materials goes up and the country reduces trade-in incentives.

A 33-year old Australian man faces culpable homicide and DUI charges after a woman was killed in a skitching incident last year, when she lost her grip on the man’s SUV and fell into the car’s path.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar could etch his name in history as just the fourth cyclist to win all five Monuments, including the great Eddy Merckx; Pog has already won Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and Il Lombardia, and only needs a win at Paris-Roubaix to complete the cycle.

The 40th edition of the Redlands Bicycle Classic kicks off tomorrow with a time trial at Lake Perris.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole the bike and belongings of Polish endurance cyclist Justyna Jarczok, which she described as everything she owns, including her house keys, when she stopped at a gas station after winning one of the UK’s toughest bikepacking events; her belongings were found at a local park, but her rare Kona mountain bike is still missing.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you somehow find humor in the idea of running someone down with an SUV.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Report on bike deaths appears prepared by trained monkeys, and more details on road rage stabbing of Sausalito bike rider

November 11, 2025 / / One comment
Day 315 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Maybe someone can make sense of this.

Because I sure as hell can’t.

A new report on bicycling deaths from a legal group professes to list the safest and most dangerous states for people riding bicycles.

According to the report, Florida is the most dangerous state in the US, with a whopping 234 people killed riding bicycles in 2024, up from 222 in 2023. California ranks second with 145, which would be a significant drop from 177 the year before.

Although they note that the 2024 figures are based on their own analysis, since official states aren’t yet available.

However, the report seems to misplace the Golden State, however, calling California “a close neighbor of Florida,” as if it had somehow switched places with Alabama or Cuba. It only makes sense in the context of the state’s ranking one and two, even though Florida had 89 more deaths, which doesn’t seem close at all.

The rankings are also based on sheer number of deaths, without taking population into account. On a per capita basis, California had roughly one bicycling fatality per 274,000 people, while Florida had one death per 98,000.

So which of these is not like the other?

Then there is this bizarre chart, which bears no correlation to the actual rankings, placing California 4th, and Florida 8th.

 

It also lists Washington State “1th,” Massachusetts “2th.” and Oregon “3th.” And no, that’s not a typo.

Or at least, not mine.

Apparently, that what you get when you let AI do the work for you. Or farm it out to the lowest bidder in some non-English speaking country.

Or maybe just leave all the work to a bunch of trained monkeys.

But at least that’s better than the report on that report published by The US Sun, which offered this mind-boggling set of stats.

The report also showed that cyclist fatalities have increased significantly since 2015, starting at just over 20,000 a decade ago and now amounting to roughly 28,000 in 2024.

Which is about 25 times the estimated total of 1,109 bike deaths in the US last year, and 24 times the total for 2015.

At least that appears to stem from some staffer incapable of reading a badly drawn chart from the lawyers group report that conflates total US traffic death with bicycling fatalities.

But at least The US Sun ends their story about bicycling deaths with these helpful safety tips.

No, really.

………

More details are starting to come out about the Bay Area bike rider who was stabbed by a Tesla driver near Sausalito, in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Velo reports the incident appears to be the result of a road rage dispute that began on a narrow road with poor sight-lines, and a history of being unsafe for cyclists. The stabbing itself appears to have occurred just as the roadway widens to make room for a dedicated bike lane.

Both parties were taken into custody once police arrived, with the bike rider taken to a hospital where he is reportedly in stable condition.

There’s no word on who started the dispute, or who was the aggressor. But there’s no question who was the victim.

………

BikeLA, formerly known as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is hosting their happy hour fundraiser this Saturday, rain or otherwise.

Rain or shine — BikeFest 2025 is on!

We’re celebrating this Saturday, November 15, from 12–3 p.m. at Highland Park Brewery – just a hop, skip, and roll from the Chinatown Metro Station. A little light rain might join the fun, so come prepared with a jacket and your best bike spirit.

Join us for this Pedal-Powered Party and enjoy:
  • Free bike valet
  • One beer or non-alcoholic drink
  • A commemorative BikeLA bandana
  • ️ Our largest-ever bike-themed silent auction, featuring gear from Spurcycle, Patagonia, Yakima, Tern, Road Runner Bags, ABUS, Kryptonite, and more – the auction is live now, so you can start bidding today!

Come celebrate with us and help support BikeLA’s mission to make L.A. a safer, more connected place to ride.

Get Your Tickets Here

………

Streets For All is hosting a mobility debate for Los Angeles Council District 1 next month, including incumbent Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez.

………

Holiday gift guides for your favorite bike rider are starting to roll out, with new guides from Bike Rumor and Cyclist. Even if your favorite bike rider is you.

………

Local 

Damn good question. A San Francisco website examines how the planned completion of LA River bike path through DTLA ended up in bureaucratic hell.

 

State

Once again, an AirTag hidden in an ebike led to the arrest of an Orange County bike thief, after Huntington Beach cops tracked a surfer’s missing bike to Anaheim.

Sad news from Tulare County, where someone riding a bicycle was killed in a collision with the driver of a milk truck; the victim was reportedly riding on the centerline when the milk truck approached from behind, and the driver veered off the road to avoid a crash, just as the bike rider inexplicably veered right, and struck the truck. No, it doesn’t make any sense to me, either. As always, the question is whether there were any witnesses who survived the crash, other than the driver. 

Over 60 people rode their bikes across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge on Sunday to celebrate the sixth anniversary of bikes being allowed on the bridge, though the mood was darkened by the recent loss of the bike lane across the bridge on weekdays.

 

National

Bike Magazine provides a tutorial on how Trump’s tariffs are affecting mountain biking, and what it all means for bikes, frames and parts.

The New York Times examines how the Sierra Club entered a doom spiral by embracing social justice at the expense of its core environmental mission, leaving it in a weakened position to combat changes under Trump.

Once again, bike riders were heroes, as a Seattle search and rescue team rode ped-assist ebikes to save a hiker in distress on a local peak as night fell and temperatures dropped.

Popular Seattle ebike maker Rad Power Bikes is reportedly circling the drain, as the company battles “significant financial challenges,” and could shut down operations within the next two to three months.

A sightless man rode in the 43rd-annual LoToJa bike race, completing the 200 mile race from Logan to Jackson Hole, Wyoming riding a tandem.

A 46-year old Illinois man was critically injured when a nine-year old boy darted out from between two cars, and into the path of the man’s ebike; fortunately, the kid escaped with just minor injuries.

Kindhearted Ohio cops gave a new bicycle to a ten-year old boy after the one he had worked all summer to buy was stolen.

A New Jersey judge ruled that prosecutors can use a statement from Sean Higgins, the driver accused of the drunken killing of the hockey-playing Gaudreau brothers as they rode their bicycles last year, admitting that he tossed the empty beer cans he’d been drinking from into a cornfield before investigators arrived.

A kindhearted Louisiana lawyer is planning to give away 600 bicycles and helmets to kids across the state before the holidays, in his 10th annual bicycle donation program.

They get it. Fox News reports that a 15-year old Florida boy faces felony charges after leading police on a dangerous chase while riding an electric dirt bike, weaving through traffic at speeds up to 70 mph. But at least they made clear it was not a ped-assist ebike.

 

International

Momentum recommends seven cities around the world where biking is the “coolest” way to explore them. None of which are Los Angeles, of course. Or even in the US. 

Cleveland police vetoed plans for a new bike path through a field, arguing that it would exacerbate a problem with drug runners who cut through while riding off-road motorbikes. No, the one in England.

An Aussie writer explores the “five countries” of the British Isles by bicycle. Even though Northern Ireland isn’t technically a country.

An Irish newspaper remembers a doctor who dedicated his life to caring for the Tarauacan people of Brazil while riding a folding bicycle he brought with him from Ireland; he was 89.

A Spanish website says Malaga, Spain may seem like a bicyclist’s paradise to tourists biking along the sun-drenched coast, but a lack of safe bike lanes make riding impractical for many residents.

 

Competitive Cycling

A 24-year old British cyclist says it hasn’t sunk in yet that he’s a world champion, after winning the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And no, I didn’t know that was a thing, either.

Speaking of UCI, bike racing’s governing body is actively monitoring suspicious betting activity across gambling platforms in an effort to prevent corruption or race fixing, which has recently affected basketball and baseball.

 

Finally…

Your purloined bicycle could be stripped and turned into a makeshift shotgun. When you’re illegally packing a pistol on your ebike, don’t ride on the damn sidewalk (although you’ll have to find a way around the paper’s paywall to read it).

And don’t ride your electric motorbike through a Rancho Cucamonga mall.

Or any mall, for that matter.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Haralson murder trial delayed again, how to succeed in Hollywood without a car, and a Florida weapon of mass destruction

November 10, 2025 / / Comments Off on Haralson murder trial delayed again, how to succeed in Hollywood without a car, and a Florida weapon of mass destruction
Day 314 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

No surprise here.

An update from Edward indicates that the trial of 37-year old LA resident Zachary Thomas Haralson for the — alleged — drug-induced murder of 72-year old bike rider Jeff Rosenthal in Laguna Hills has been postponed yet again.

The new date for the trial, which was supposed to begin last week, is February 20, 2026, nearly three-and-a-half years after he took the life of an innocent man.

So mark your calendar.

………

The Hollywood Reporter reports that it is in fact possible to succeed in the industry without a motor vehicle.

Among the carless industry insiders featured,

One of them is Bill Wolkoff, a writer and producer who recently worked on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and The Man Who Fell to Earth. Wolkoff began commuting by bike nearly two decades ago after his car broke down. At the time, he was a script coordinator — not a job known for its remuneration — and couldn’t afford to buy a new car. He could, however, buy a new bike. Nearly 20 years later, he’s still biking to work from his home in Mount Washington.

Also featured is Tom Smuts of Mad Men and Bosch fame, who we mentioned here leading his bike tours to the Emmys in years past.

Some industry workers find that going car-less can have its professional perks. Mad Men and Bosch writer-producer Tom Smuts made headlines in the mid-2010s when he led bike rides from Santa Monica to downtown for the Emmys. Today, when he has a job in the L.A. basin, he still bikes to work one to a few times a week. (He also likes to ride his motorcycle.) “I have medium ADHD, and I find it’s really hard for me to sit and work,” says Smuts. “So I often write by either hiking or biking and just recording my thoughts.”

Then there’s this from Adam Conover, of Adam Ruins Everything and The G Word With Adam Conover.

“The idea that we don’t have public transit here is a myth, and the fact that people repeat it is bad for the city because it means we don’t invest enough in transit,” he says.

Yep.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A police pursuit of an alleged street racing reckless driver wasn’t wreck-less. Or deathless.

A 22-year old Tampa, Florida driver is under arrest after losing control of his car and slamming into a crowded gay bar while fleeing from police, killing four people and injuring another 13, while leaving some with life-threatening injuries.

Just one more example of a car becoming a weapon of mass destruction in the wrong hands. And innocent people dying as a result a police chase.

My apologies to whoever sent this to me. Your email seems to have disappeared off my laptop, out of the cloud and off the surface of the earth after I clicked on the link, despite all my attempts to retrieve it. 

So please accept my anonymous thanks, and I’ll be happy to credit you if you want to email me again. 

………

Whoa.

A pair of British bicyclists, including including record-breaking time triallist George Fox, barely avoided becoming roadkill when a driver lost control on a slight bend, skidding sideways down the road at high speed and missing them by mere inches — and only because they had just moved to single file to let a van pass.

………

They get it.

A Christian organization in Tampa, Florida is closing in on their 3,000 bicycle donation as it enters the holiday season.

According to a press release release from Bikes For Christ,

A simple gift of a bicycle can be life-changing — enabling a low-income parent to travel to work, attend parenting classes, or visit a doctor. For children, it can mean a safe way to commute to school, attend tutoring sessions, or reach their first job.

That about sums it up.

And something tells me that if Jesus were to come back today, he’d be more likely to be on a bicycle than riding around in back of a bigass black limo.

……….

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

A Tesla driver stabbed a bike-riding man multiple times following some sort of confrontation in a Marin Headlands parking lot, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge; the victim was reportedly conscious, breathing and stable, but both the victim and the alleged stabber were detained by park police.

A man in Odesa, Ukraine suffered serious injuries when he was pushed off his bicycle by one of two men who had just gotten out of a van, suffering multiple multiple broken ribs, as well as a broken shoulder blade, femur, bruised lung and pneumothorax; the attacker, who has been arrested, was reportedly a member of a military recruitment unit.

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

Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond argues that it’s your obligation to keep yourself safe on the streets, and not everyone else’s job to avoid crashing into you if you do careless stuff on your bicycle.

………

Local 

The latest edition of Bike Talk covers a wide range of topics, from systemic reform to a book about 1885 world bicycle circumnavigator Annie Londonderry banned from the Pentagon for violating Trump’s DEI policies, apparently for the crime of being a Jewish woman.

Streetsblog catches up on new bike lane projects on Sunset Blvd, Ohio Ave and in South Whittier.

Urbanize looks at the Ohio Ave protected bike lane project, as well as yet another effort to put protected bike lanes on Westwood Blvd.

Sunset Magazine says Malibu is “bouncing back stronger and dreamier than ever” now that PCH has reopened. Although notably, walking or riding a bicycle along PCH is not one of the activities they recommend.

 

State

Calbike calls for permanent funding for ebike vouchers, in the wake of the cancellation of California’s voucher program.

No bias here. A San Diego TV station says Encinitas residents are divided on “upgrades” to Santa Fe Drive, which most safety advocates would consider significant downgrades.

San Diego Union-Tribune subsidiary La Jolla Light continues its so-far four-part series on ebikes, this time talking with teen riders who admit some kids do “stupid stuff” — like yelling racial and sexual slurs while flipping people off. But the paper continues to conflate ped-assist ebikes with often-illegal electric motorbikes and dirt bikes. 

It only took 14 years, but the 40-mile CV Link bike trail circling most of the Coachella Valley is finally as finished as it’s going to get, with a grand opening in Palm Springs on Friday, although Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells opted out of the trail, leaving significant gaps. However, you’ll have to find a way around the Desert Sun’s paywall if you want to read the second link.

Mountain View is cancelling plans for a bike and pedestrian bridge over Highway 101, after concluding that commuting patterns and office market conditions have changed since the pandemic.

 

National

Nike is introducing a new “mind-altering” sensory shoe platform designed to “reawaken the foot, the body, and the mind,” that could result in incremental performance gains from new bike shoes.

She gets it. A Missoula, Montana woman argues that a new downtown street improvement project will improve safety for pedestrians and drivers, but it’s lacking quality bicycle infrastructure, or any at all, in some areas.

A San Antonio bike rider was hospitalized after he was sideswiped by a hit-and-run city bus driver; no word on how seriously he was injured, but at least he was able to call the cops to report it.

A podcast from a Houston public radio station discusses the evolution of bicycles and personal freedom.

This is how you make Vision Zero work. Kansas City has responded to the death of a nine-year old girl riding her bike to school by banning right turns on red lights during school hours. Although a better step would be to ban right on red, period. And someone please tell the city’s public radio station it wasn’t a car that killed the little girl, it was someone driving one. 

This is the cost of traffic violence. A doctor specializing in spinal cord injuries is in a coma after he was run down by a hit-and-run driver while on his usual bike commute from a Chicago hospital.

A bike rider was critically injured in a New Jersey collision where the combined ages of the victim and driver was 179 years; the victim was a mere youth of 80, which raises the question of what the hell was a 99-year old woman doing behind the wheel.

 

International

The Manual revives a study from last year to explore whether bicyclists can benefit from strength training, concluding exactly what you’d think it would.

Brujula Bike compares and contrasts the differences between a 3,000 euro and 10,000 euro bicycle — roughly $3,500 to $11,500.

Cycling Weekly says bicyclists aren’t considered a nuisance in Colombia, saying the country is a superb, if far flung cycling destination with plenty of big climbs.

Derby, England-based bikemaker Mercian Cycles is back from the dead after being rescued from bankruptcy by local businessmen, celebrating the company’s 80th anniversary with their first new bike model in 20 years.

A 19-year old London woman was knocked cold and suffered facial injuries and broken teeth when the Lime ebike she was riding suddenly malfunctioned and stopped without warning, throwing her over the handlebars.

Bicyclists are celebrating a new segregated bike lane linking three cities in southern England, which could eventually extend to 26 miles.

A travel website says the Netherlands is joining Germany, Japan, Argentina, and Chile in defining the future of sustainable tourism, with bicycling routes designed to get the attention of American tourists. Proving that we Yanks are still welcome somewhere. 

The war in Ukraine claimed a civilian man riding a bicycle, who was a victim of a Russian drone attack in Kostiantynivka. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling News introduces the full 20-man roster of George Hincapie’s new Modern Adventure Pro Cycling team, including 12 Americans, which will debut as a UCI ProTeam, a step or two below the WorldTour.

Velo says pro cycling has never faced a transfer market this bad following the collapse and mergers of multiple teams, leaving 60 to 70 pro cyclists competing for eight to ten remaining slots; 36-year old Italian cyclist Davide Cimolai considers a life after racing, after failing to keep his contract with Movistar.

Former Tour de France champ Sir Bradley Wiggins is headed to one of America’s leading trauma rehabilitation clinics to deal with his addiction, mental health and financial problems since retiring as a pro, with seven-time ex-Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong kindly picking up the entire tab. Although British tabloids are only interested in the American influencer Wiggins is dating.

Premier Tech has pulled their support from the bike team previously known as Israel Premier Tech, citing the firm’s “untenable position” following pro-Palestinian protests at the Vuelta and other races, despite the team dropping “Israel” from its name.

 

Finally…

Get your Czechs on Route 66. After 130 years, it’s safe to say bicycles are probably here to stay.

And Google AI gets me. I mean, they really get me.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Florida man who fled with hit-and-run victim lodged in windshield is repeat offender, and Willowbrook taco ride tonight

September 23, 2025 / / Comments Off on Florida man who fled with hit-and-run victim lodged in windshield is repeat offender, and Willowbrook taco ride tonight
Day 266 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

No surprise here.

It turns out that Xavier Omar Rigby, the 22-year old Florida man accused of killing a 38-year old woman riding an ebike — then driving eight blocks with her body lodged in his windshield before falling off — is a repeat offender.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, he admitted to drinking alcohol and smoking weed after he was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road two years ago. Although the Daily Mail reports prosecutors plea bargained the charged down to just reckless driving last year.

The Daily Mail also says this wasn’t even Rigby’s first hit-and-run, since he was involved in another hit-and-run in 2022 — three years before killing the bike-riding Florida mother last week.

Oh, and when police arrested Rigby this time, they found him at a liquor store about a mile from the crash scene.

He’s currently being held on $750,000 bond. Which seems a tad low under the circumstances.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

People For Mobility Justice is hosting a taco bike ride in Willowbrook and East Rancho Dominguez this evening.

………

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

That’s more like it. A pair of British men have been sentenced to life behind bars on murder charges for deliberately driving their pickup into a couple of young men riding ebikes, after chasing them on the wrong side of the road when they mistook them for burglars; the driver will have to spend at least 34 years in prison before he can be considered for parole, while his passenger was sentenced a minimum of 29 years.

Authorities in the UK have arrested six men and one woman for attempted murder after intentionally crashing into an 18-year old bike rider; five of the suspects have already been released on bail. Must have been a very crowded clown car.  

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

She gets it. A Tahoe writer says “We can’t stop reckless e-bike riders from taking risks, but we can make sure we’re driving safely in order to prevent tragedy.” If everyone thought like that, our roads would be a lot safer. 

………

Local 

Streetsblog says Culver City’s new Robertson Blvd curb-protected bike lane is shaping up nicely, as part of a safe first/last mile connection to the Metro E Line Station

 

State

Seriously? A 57-year old man suffered multiple broken ribs when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike in Pacific Beach on Sunday, then run over when the driver got out of his car without putting it in park. But at least the guy stopped, right?

An op-ed from a staffer with the Marin County Bicycle Coalition calls on Governor Newsom to sign the recently passed law making it easier to install red light cams, to improve safety for everyone, including people on bicycles.

 

National

Bike Magazine says the “Ivy League of bicycle framebuilding schools” will open next year in Portland, Oregon. Never mind that the Ivy League isn’t a school.

Trump is rescinding hundred of grants for trails and bike lanes that are somehow deemed “hostile” to cars. Which appears to translate to anything that might possibly inconvenience someone in a car even a tiny bit.

A Colorado magazine recommends eight fall bike rides in and around Denver. Which was always my favorite time to ride when I lived in the city, after the tourists were gone and the students in class, the air was crisp and cool, and the leaves turned vibrant colors. 

Life is cheap in Colorado, where a 46-year old man walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a bike rider; he received just one year of probation and a lousy 20 hours of community service as part of a very lenient plea bargain.

An Illinois professor and futurist is nearing the end of a 1,000-mile solo bike ride around Lake Michigan, raising $25,000 for Michigan communities.

DC’s new strategic bike plan could balance the distribution of bicycle infrastructure in the city, which currently skips low-income areas.

Great idea. A Hattiesburg, Mississippi bike shop is giving away Naloxone, the opioid overdose drug, to anyone who walks in during a four-hour window on Thursday.

 

International

Cycling Weekly questions whether modern training methods are really doing the job of helping bicyclists pedal harder to go faster.

A Montreal PhD candidate crunches the numbers, and finds that despite the bikelash, bike lanes only take up 2.3% of the city’s roadways, with infrastructure for the big, dangerous machines claiming the other 97.7%.

French ultra-distance bicyclist Sofiane Sehili is appealing his detention for illegally crossing into Russia, after he had been denied entrance while nearing a record for the fastest crossing of Eurasia by bicycle. Yeah, good luck with that. 

 

Competitive Cycling

The Israel – Premier Tech cycling team is at serious risk of going under, as bikemaker Factor threatens to pull its sponsorship unless the team changes its name and the country it represents, following repeated protests against the team this year by pro-Palestinian groups.

A 24-year-old Rwandan cyclist is redefining what it means to be an African woman in the sport by competing in road, gravel, mountain biking, and ultra-distance races.

Human Rights Watch says UCI’s comments about Rwanda’s “remarkable journey of transformation” and “warm hospitality” hosting the Road Cycling Worlds can’t cover up the country’s abusive human rights record.

 

Finally…

Riding a half century-plus on granny’s three-speed bike for fun and nonprofit.

No, seriously. That’s all I’ve got this time.

………

L’shana tovah to everyone celebrating tonight. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

No justice for Florida bicyclists, bikes outnumber cars on Parisian streets, and speed cams could be coming to PCH

April 11, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 265 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 needlessly mean streets of LA.

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

We’re now up to 1,057 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

………

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. Diabetes, a bum shoulder and a bad back, and suddenly becoming a full-time caregiver for my wife and my dog, all combined to knock me on my ass Tuesday night. And it probably won’t be the last time. 

………

It’s now 112 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 34 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 Henderson, Nevada bike rider has launched a “Save Our Bike Lanes” website, after city leaders in the formerly bike-friendly city embarked on a decidedly bike-unfriendly campaign to remove them.

Houston’s new mayor has pulled a 180 from his bike and pedestrian friendly predecessor, ordering pedestrian islands ripped out and freezing plans for bike lane.

The city council of Providence RI has gone on the record as opposing the mayor’s plan to rip out a bike lane on a bridge to make more room for, yes, cars.

A Winnipeg, Canada city councilor spent yesterday backpedaling without a bike after coming under withering and well-deserved criticism for saying bicycle Nazis want to “take away all the lanes and the cars,” apologizing for making the statement at a city council meeting.

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

A Wisconsin man was arrested for threatening deputies and assaulting a nurse, after he was found lying in a ditch next to his bicycle, heavily intoxicated.

………

Local 

Metro is hosting a telephone town meeting on Tuesday to discuss next year’s budget.

LAist looks back at LA’s elevated, wooden bicycle freeway, which never quite made it all the way to Pasadena before cars took over in the early 1900s; the route now forms the basis for the Pasadena freeway.

The two executives from North Hills-based Hope the Mission have made it to Oklahoma City on their cross-country bike ride to raise attention to the plight of homelessness. Meanwhile, my brother has made it to eastern New Mexico on his cross-country ride, after encountering several weather delays.

Glendale is hosting a Bike Safety 101 workshop on the last Sunday of this month.

Active Streets Mission to Mission, nee 626 Golden Streets, will return April 28th to the popular route along five miles of San Gabriel Valley streets, winding from the San Gabriel Mission to South Pasadena.

 

State

Friday is the deadline to sign up for Calbike’s California Bike Summit in San Diego.

A 36-year old Hayward man faces charges for the hit-and-run death of a man riding bicycle last September, after seven months on the lam.

San Francisco bicyclists now have their own sidewalk-level bikeway. Which is one more than Los Angeles has. 

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Electrek says there’s a simple solution to virtually every ebike problem — just invest in better bike infrastructure.

Nice gesture. A bicycle shop in Lahaina, Hawaii is giving away over 100 bicycles to Maui residents displaced by last year’s wildfires.

An Oklahoma man set off on a 600-mile ride to visit all of the state’s historic all-Black towns in a single week.

Once again, you can ride your bike to the Indianapolis 500 for the low, low price of just $25 — or $30 the day of the race — which does not actually get you into the race.

Boston bicyclists will return at midnight Sunday for the 16th annual, officially unofficial and unsanctioned 26.2-mile ride along the Boston Marathon route, before the race runs later that morning. The same thing used to take place every year in Los Angeles — until the city made it an official event, then cancelled it, ostensibly over insurance concerns.

Florida man strikes again, as a 73-year old man was arrested for pulling a knife on a boy for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk, instead of a bike lane, telling police he thought his life was in danger because the kid was riding right at him.

Make that Florida man strikes again, again, as a man faces charges for firing his gun in a dispute over a bicycle — then left the bike just lying there, of course.

 

International

Momentum lists the world’s ten bike bicycling destinations. None of which is Los Angeles, for obvious reasons. 

That’s more like it. British Columbia drivers will now have to give bike riders a three-foot passing distance, increasing to roughly five feet above 31 mph.

Sad news from Toronto, where a popular 59-year old ride leader for a local bicycling club was killed by a driver.

A new Scottish study shows bike rates remained flat, even as most people now recognize the benefits of bicycling, from better health and happiness to saving money and being better for the environment; as usual, safety remains the biggest barrier.

Drivers in the UK think a new 12-foot wide, two-way bike lane is just too wide and too confusing, accusing city officials of using it as a ruse to drive drivers out of town.

Just as in the US, traffic deaths in the Netherlands continue to drop, despite ever-increasing rate of bicycling deaths; 40% of the bike victims were killed by delivery van drivers.

A new Romanian-made laminated bamboo-frame bike claims to be the world’s lightest ebike, even though at 33 pounds, it probably isn’t.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — bikepacking the spectacular Alps of western Slovenia.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 89-year old Japanese man rode his bike nearly 375 miles just to visit his 61-year old son.

Life is cheap in Australia, where a 23-year old driver got just six to sixteen months behind bars for killing a bike rider, despite using Instagram on her phone while driving at least 50 mph. And not surprising, ays she never saw the entirely innocent victim she killed.

 

Competitive Cycling

Aussie cyclist Jay Vine took his first tentative steps using a walker, after suffering a fractured skull and vertebrae in the Tour of the Basque County crash that also left cycling stars Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel facing injuries; Belgian cyclist Steff Cras though he was going to die in the crash.

The spectator who launched a hat at the rear wheel of Mathieu van der Poel’s bike as he soloed to victory at Paris-Roubaix says she didn’t mean to cause any harm. Meanwhile, someone made off with the race’s iconic cobbles.

Tragic news from Russia, where 34-year old former pro cyclist turned hockey player Alexey Tsatevich has died.

Tyler Stites edged Tom Williams to win stage 1 of the Redlands Classic, while Canadian Mara Roldan won a group sprint over Maeghan Easler and Alia Shafi on the women’s side.

 

Finally…

A-tisket, a-tasket, a bird nest in your bike basket. That feeling when a collegiate women’s team pursuit isn’t a frat strategy for a sorority mixer.

And why should motorcyclists get to hog all the sidecars?

Make it corgi-sized to fit an e-cargo bike, and I’m all in.

……... 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bass visits bike-friendly Paris, gets $900m for LA transportation; living in a state of happiness; and just another Florida oopsie

March 13, 2024 / / One comment
Just 293 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 face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

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

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,013 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

Photo by Matteus Silva for Pexels. 

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Fifteen years ago, then-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had his eyes opened when he visited Copenhagen, and saw how cities can thrive when they provide safe alternatives to driving.

Let’s hope current Mayor Karen Bass gets the same message on her pre-Olympic excursion to Paris, where Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been removing highways and building bike lanes to create a 15-minute city.

Bass will have plenty of money to spend on it, after the city secured nearly $900 million in federal funding for transportation and infrastructure projects ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

Although more than $700 million of that will go to rail projects.

But still. The other $200 million could go a long way towards fixing what ails LA.

………

It’s now 84 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 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.

No bias here. A London media personality questions who is at fault in a five-year old crash where a driver cut a corner and hit a bike rider waiting to turn head on — making who was really at fault glaringly obvious.

https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1766515138654306533

Police in Mumbai, India denied permission for bicycling groups to gather for a silent protest to draw attention to unsafe road conditions for bike riders and pedestrians, despite planning the rally for a spot designated for protests.

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

Authorities in Dublin, Ireland are looking for video evidence after a middle-aged woman was pushed off her bicycle by a “group of lads on bikes,” for no apparent reason.

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Local 

The two leaders of the nation’s largest homeless rescue mission, Hope the Mission in North Hills, are on their way to DC on a 3,500-mile bike ride to advocate for homelessness programs.

Good news for Pasadena, where bike-friendly former city mayor, Los Angeles assistant mayor and Santa Monica city manager Rick Cole has been re-elected to the Pasadena city council, receiving just over 60% of the vote.

Speaking of Pasadena, the city’s police will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation on Friday, ticketing anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it; Santa Monica cops will also hold one on Thursday and Friday. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined.

Streetsblog talks with South Bay-based writer Peter Flax, whose new book, Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle, offers a broad look at bike riding, with a common theme that bicyclists have to work together because strength comes from unity. And yes, I’ve ordered my copy.

 

State

This is who we share the road with. An unlicensed driver with four previous DUIs over the past decade hit and killed a pedestrian in Orange Tuesday morning, and was arrested after fleeing the scene and leading police on a short chase. And yes, he showed signs of intoxication as he was taken into custody. Which is what happens when authorities take someone’s license away, but let them keep their keys.

Caltrans will provide millions of dollars for a pilot program to build parks, bike lanes and other amenities to reconnect communities in southeastern San Diego and National City that were divided by the 805 Freeway; the program will also seek to reconnect similarly divided communities in Arcata and San Francisco.

A man suffered major injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike in Palm Desert last night.

 

National

That’s more like it. An Oregon man got 12 years behind bars for killing a woman biking with two friends while under the influence, and in possession of controlled substances. Although it’s shameful that it took seven years for the victim to get justice. 

The horrific story of the Washington mountain biker attacked by a mountain lion gets even worse, with news that the 60-year old woman’s entire head was in the cougar’s mouth for a full 15 minutes before her companions managed to pin it down with a bike frame; a crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $75,000 for the victim.

They get it. The Baltimore Sun, which was recently purchased by the owner of a conservative media group, asks why bike lanes won’t work there, if they’re so successful in Cambridge, Massachusetts, even though the Baltimore bike plan has recently come under from residents and city leaders.

In news that will undoubtedly confound California officials, the District of Columbia will somehow managed to launch their new ebike voucher program next month, just seven months after it was approved by the city council. Which is 26 months less than California’s moribund program’s failure to launch has taken — and counting.

 

International

Momentum offers 33 reasons to start bike commuting this spring, ranging from reducing your carbon footprint to getting some alone time while connecting to your community. Although they forgot to mention that it’s a lot more fun than driving, too. 

British Columbia will invest $50 million in active transportation projects over the next three years.

He gets it. A Toronto columnist questions why the city is cutting funding for safe streets, when it just experienced the deadliest month for bike riders and pedestrians since the heady days before the pandemic.

The Dutch Cycling Embassy explains how fire trucks and bike lanes can peacefully co-exist, despite the largely debunked belief that they slow response times and limit the ability to respond to emergencies.

An Austrian tech company is training AI to enable smart bicycles to analyze their surroundings. On the other hand, would you want to trust your safety to a technology that draws people with three legs, and gets lawyers sanctioned by making up legal precedents?

Dubai opened two new separated cycle tracks in the residential communities of Al Khawaneej and Mushrif, part of the emirate’s goal of building 1,000 km — 621 miles — of bike paths by 2030.

Here’s your chance to mountain bike the Serengeti this fall, while you help fight poaching.

Bike Radar highlights eight weird and wonderful road, gravel and urban bikes from the Taipei Cycle Show.

Police in Australia are revisiting the seven-year old cold case shooting of a 72-year old man, who was shot multiple times in the head and chest by a man who got out of a parked car to fire at him as he rode his motorized bicycle on a rail trail; he somehow survived, but even a half-million dollar reward hasn’t been enough to solve the case.

An Aussie professor says subsidizing micromobility-share programs can benefit people on low incomes or with disabilities.

 

Competitive Cycling

Pro cycling gets its kicks from caffeine.

Ghana’s Sports Minister blamed the country’s Cycling Federation for the national team’s equipment fiasco at the Africa Games, as cyclists were forced to compete using the same worn gear they’d been training on.

Triple world champion Ellen van Dijk won the time trial in the final stage of Spain’s Vuelta Extremadura Féminas on Sunday, just five months after giving birth, while Dutch cyclist Mareille Meijering took the general classification for the three stage race; no American finished in the top 25.

 

Finally…

That feeling when they build a new separated bikeway, and leave a lamppost in the middle of it. Or when you get a call from your dead friend’s phone asking for his bicycle back.

And a snow covered reminder of why we ride in California.

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month today. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Driver blames bike rider for riding legally, Bob George ghost bike gone, and no SoCal counties deadliest for bike riders

February 14, 2024 / / One comment
Just 321 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 face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. Just over 70 signatures to go to reach 1,000!

………

In a letter to the Los Angeles Times, Norwood Paukert recounts the story first told here last week about being intentionally run down by a pair of young men on Griffith Park’s Zoo Drive.

I have no memory of the impact, but I was told by the park ranger on scene that witnesses had watched a car with two young men inside intentionally swerve into the bike lane and ram me from behind, throwing me over the handlebars into the street, and then laughing as they sped away.

We’ve seen similar stories coming from all over the world — as near as Huntington Beach and Las Vegas, and as far as Australia — of young men deliberately running down people on bicycles, usually while driving stolen cars.

Yet no one seems to be connecting the dots here, despite with rumors circulating of a hit-and-run challenge targeting bicyclists.

Meanwhile, another letter on the same Times link asks a “bike enthusiast” to explain why an Eagle Rock bike rider would be riding against traffic on the sidewalk, right next to the painted bike lanes on Colorado Blvd.

When there was a large gap, I checked again for pedestrians, and started to move forward. Out of nowhere, here comes a bike rider, on the sidewalk, coming from my right against the traffic flow. I came within millimeters of knocking him down.

I have seen many cyclists use the bike lanes correctly, but I have also seen them riding in groups so that they overflow the bike lanes into traffic. I’ve seen them at night with no reflective gear on.

Let’s start with the idea that the rider came “out of nowhere.”

Bikes are allowed on the sidewalk in Los Angeles, and drivers have a responsibility to look both ways. That includes looking for anyone walking or biking on the sidewalk, which is bi-directional — meaning there is no right direction, and people are entitled to travel in either direction.

Even people on bicycles.

Secondly, there is no requirement to ride in the street, even if it has a bike lane.

It’s possible that riding with traffic on the opposite side of the street may have been inconvenient if the rider was heading to or leaving a business or residence on the near side of the street, or connecting to a street on that side.

Or they may have just been uncomfortable riding on a busy street with nothing more than a thin strip of paint for protection.

And it’s odd that drivers can accept illegal, dangerous and otherwise bizarre behavior from other drivers, but somehow can’t comprehend when someone on a bicycle does something similar.

People are people, regardless of how they choose to travel. And people will inevitably do what’s most convenient, or which seems to make sense at the time.

So maybe it’s time to lighten up when someone on a bicycle acts like a human being.

Meanwhile, GCN examines just what we do that manages to piss drivers off so much.

………

Sadly, the ghost bike for fallen bicyclist and Hollywood producer Bob George has been removed already, his memory erased from a town that forgets too easily.

Twitter post

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A new report from personal injury law firm Bader Scott analyzed data the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, to determine the nation’s most dangerous counties for bicyclists.

To the surprise of no one, the worst offenders came from Florida. In fact, the top three counties, and 14 of the top 20, are in the state, which is the nation’s deadliest state to ride a bike in.

California was also represented near the top, with San Joaquin County ranking eight, and Stanislaus County 15th. (Hint: Stop the page from loading to get around the paper’s paywall.)

Surprisingly, no SoCal county ranked in the top 20. Although it would be interesting to see what the rest of the list looks like.

………

There’s still time to reserve your spot in next weekend’s L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Bike Ride celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year, Year of the Dragon.

Here’s how a recent press release described the event.

The 46th Annual L.A. Chinatown Firecracker 5K/10K Run/1K Kiddie & PAW’er Dog Run/Walk & 20/50-Mile Bike Ride – which will be held over the weekend of February 24-25, 2024, where thousands will take to the streets and where the events start and end, as well as a free to the public post-event festival at the historic Los Angeles Chinatown Plaza (Event Festival until 3pm on Saturday as well as a Lantern Paw Festival in Blossom Plaza from 11am-4pm in conjunction with Saturday’s Paw’er Dog Walk, and on Sunday, the Firecracker event festival goes until noon).

In addition, the 50-mile Bike Ride snakes through DTLA, LA River, “Frogtown”, LA Zoo, Travel Town, Burbank, Glendale, Verdugo Foothills, Montrose, La Canada, Pasadena, Altadena, San Marino, South Pasadena, El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, and much more.

The L.A. Chinatown Firecracker is one of the largest and oldest running races in the U.S. which had its humble beginnings from a few Belmont High School Alums (a public school located in the Westlake community just outside of Chinatown).

Meanwhile, there’s just two weeks left to get early bird pricing on the April Finish the Ride and Finish the Run in Griffith Park.

………

It’s now 55 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 31 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.

No bias here. A San Diego TV station blames the victims by suggesting the safety of Encinitas ebike riders is in the hands of Gen-Z, meaning teenage ebike riders. Even though the real danger comes from the drivers they’re forced to share the road with, thanks to a lack of safe infrastructure.

No bias here, either. In a clear indication of who they think poses the greatest risk, Fresno police cited 32 drivers in their latest bicycle and pedestrian safety operation — and 96 bicyclists and pedestrians.

Or here. A London bike rider famous for riding with his cat was scolded for riding around a car, after the driver had just pulled out and cut him off.

An Irish driver complains that a bike rider must “enjoy playing with traffic” by riding in the traffic lane when there’s a perfectly good bikeway right next to it — even though it’s blocked by a bollard.

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Local 

The LA Times sums up the prosecution’s case against wealthy socialite and Grossman Burn Center co-founder Rebecca Grossman as “Liquor, Valium, speed and recklessness;” Grossman is on trial for two counts of murder for the high speed hit-an-run deaths of two little kids as they crossed the street with their parents and siblings in Westlake Village last September.

Yo! Venice offers video of the badly damaged Marvin Braude Bike Trail, which collapsed during last week’s heavy rains; remarkably, the bike path appears to have been build with little or no rebar or other means of support beyond the concrete itself.

Hermosa Beach is considering a proposal to allow cops to impound bicycles and ebikes of riders cited for traffic violations. Although that would appear to violate state law, which does not permit it.

 

State

Sad news from Los Altos, where a woman riding a bicycle was killed in a collision.

San Francisco State Sen. Scott Wiener discusses his proposed bill to require speed limiting devices in all new cars, which keep drivers from exceeding ten miles over the speed limit. And which would probably do more to save lives than anything else the state could do right now.

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Bicycling says stop the ebike hate, and love your fellow bicyclists regardless of how they dress or what they ride. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you may be screwed if the magazine blocks you. 

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a writer for Visor pens a love letter to bicycling, expressing “the simple yet profound joy of riding a bicycle.”

Portland, Oregon rebounded from a “precipitous drop” in bicycling rates last year with a modest 5% increase in this year’s count.

The rich get richer. On top of Denver’s successful ebike voucher program, residents of the city can now get paid $1 a mile to ride their bikes instead of driving, up to a maximum of $200 a month.

New York bicycling deaths dipped just slightly last year, a full decade into the city’s failed Vision Zero program.

A pair of bills in the New Jersey legislature would impose an $8 annual registration fee and require a $35,000 liability insurance policy for even slow-speed, ped-assist ebikes, as well as e-scooters, in an apparent attempt to kill the ebike boom and keep people in their cars.

 

International

A new report suggests the post-pandemic sales slump affecting the worldwide bike industry will last through at lease next year; meanwhile, sales at Shimano’s bicycle division were down 30% last year.

A writer for Cycling Weekly describes what it’s like to ride in the worst bike lane in the world.

Momentum offers ten ways to go on a bicycle date.

Cyclist explains how to get more aero on your bike. Unless you ride an upright bike, in which case, as you were. 

Canadian Cycling Magazine nominates a Toronto driver for the most egregious case of driving in a bike lane. Which sounds like a challenge to SoCal drivers.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A driver walked without a single day behind bars, despite being convicted of intentionally ramming a bike rider into a large truck, breaking the victim’s spine and leaving him a “hollow shell of a person.”

Harry Styles is one of us, as he goes on a late-night bikeshare ride through the streets of London with girlfriend Taylor Russell.

Dublin, Ireland offered a plan to halt pass-through traffic in the city center to make room for buses, bicyclists and pedestrians, along with drivers who actually have a destination in town, after a study showed that 60% of downtown Dublin drivers were just passing through.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Seattle, as former Giro and ‘cross cyclist, and longtime bike industry pro, Tim Rutledge died following a battle with cancer at age 65.

 

Finally…

At 15, most of us were happy just to ride a bike, not run your own bike shop. Now you, too, can ride your bike like the Swiftie you are.

And a corgi on an ebike is all I really ask of life.

Twitter post

Thanks to Dr. Grace Peng for forwarding the tweet, or whatever the hell it’s called these days.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

A call to ban “bike herds” after Florida crash, the American problem of traffic violence, and LA-area bike path news

January 8, 2024 / / 3 comments
If you haven’t already, stop what you’re doing and sign this petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to listen to the dangers we face just walking and biking on the streets of LA.

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

………

Surprisingly, last minute donations are still trickling in for the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. So thanks to an anonymous donor for their generous gift to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!

While the fund drive is officially over, donations of any amount are welcome anytime, for any reason.

………

Unbelievable.

After an elderly Florida woman driving on the wrong side of the road plowed head-on into a group of eight bicyclists, sending seven to the hospital — two still critical — a local news website responds by firmly assigning blame.

On the victims, of course.

Asking if “bike herds should be banned,” they say the crash “raises new questions about whether bicyclists belong on area roads.”

Often a nuisance to drivers as they ride in packs, Florida law does permit these bicyclists to use a roadway when no bike lane exists. But these bike herds rarely ride at the speed of traffic. They often seem to lack any awareness that in a bike-versus-car collision, the car almost always wins.

Although a much better question would be whether elderly drivers who can’t confine themselves to the right side of the roadway should be allowed on them.

And maybe someone could assure them that we are all quite aware that cars are bigger than we are, and they hurt.

Unfortunately, however, the writer, or writers, aren’t done yet.

Now we ask you, our readers: should packs of bicyclists be permitted on area roads? Should they be permitted to interfere with traffic? Are there times of day where bike herds should be outright banned, or conversely, are there times of day where you believe it would be okay for bicyclists to ride on area roads? And this question: does anyone really believe that tight, brightly colored spandex offers any additional safety for these people at all?

They obviously don’t realize that we only form herds for protection from apex predators in motor vehicles.

And the purpose of our tight, brightly colored spandex is to get drivers to check out our butts and massive thighs, so they might actually see us for a change.

But hopefully not from the front, as they hurtle blissfully along on the wrong side of the road.

Seriously, the site’s whole argument makes no more sense than suggesting schools should be banned to prevent mass shootings.

Meanwhile, the local sheriff’s office is responding to the wrong way crash, in which the elderly driver was 100% at fault, by reminding bike riders of their duty to obey traffic laws.

Because evidently, someone, somewhere, once rode a bicycle through a red light, which somehow caused this whole mess.

But still.

………

A CNN op-ed from journalist Jill Filipovic decries the ever-increasing death toll on American streets, arguing that “Like gun deaths, this epidemic of car-related deaths is a particularly American problem.”

One that she blames in part on the ever-increasing size of American motor vehicles. But she takes it several steps further, to look at other factors contributing to the problem.

Growing vehicle size is a big part of the problem. But it’s far from the only problem. America has too-lax road rules and too few spaces where pedestrians are prioritized. American drivers are too often distracted by cell phones (European drivers, who are much more likely to operate manual-transmission cars, are as a result less likely to have a free hand to hold a cell phone). And enforcement of existing laws is weak: In many areas, officers reportedly have been told not to pull drivers over even for breaking the law.

One solution, she says, is increased camera enforcement — like the speed cams that were recently approved for a handful of California cities, including Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach.

Along with red light cams, which are currently prohibited in the City of Angels, because drivers didn’t like getting caught breaking the same laws they accuse bike riders of breaking.

Then she adds this, making the same case I’ve been making for some time.

If your license has been suspended several times, or if you’ve been convicted of multiple DUIs, or if you have double-digit numbers of speeding tickets in your name, or if you’ve been involved in multiple crashes that were your fault, you should lose the privilege to drive entirely. And if you have a record of this kind of reckless or dangerous driving and then you hit and injure or kill someone, you should pay an especially steep price.

Yet over and over and over again, people with long records of dangerous driving are allowed back on the road; dangerous drivers often aren’t even punished when they eventually maim or kill someone, or see penalties that amount to little more than a slap on the wrist. It is exceptionally rare for a driver, even one with a history of dangerous driving, to be charged with murder when they kill someone on the road. Killing someone with a car is, in the United States, too often essentially a free pass.

It’s worth reading the whole thing.

Because things will never get better until we get dangerous cars and drivers off the roads.

Permanently.

Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.

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Thanks to Joel Falter for forwarding news that the annual maintenance work on the Ballona Creek Bike Path will begin today, with intermittent closures this week that could affect your ride or commute.

You can find a full work schedule on the Culver City website.

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Now that nearby freeway work is nearing completion, the city is finally getting around to fixing the north end of the LA River bike path. And hopefully, connecting it to new segments in the San Fernando Valley.

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1743001554138050647

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I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been tempted to crawl over — or through — vehicles whose drivers carelessly block the crosswalk to enjoy their God-given right to turn right on red.

Twitter post

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The camera aspect appears to make this look even more extreme, as if it’s not extreme enough.

Thanks to Mike Burk for the forward. 

https://twitter.com/mikeburk/status/1743918919138816270

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19 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 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.

LA-based former pro cyclist Phil Gaimon warned “sane motorists” about “homicidal maniacs on the road” who threaten the safety of vulnerable road users, after a driver responded to the innocuous post below showing Gaimon and friends riding past crawling I-5 traffic — on the shoulder, no less — warning that he would “turn the wheel to the right and ram you” in the same situation. If he actually said he “would,” rather than he’d like to, that constitutes a threat under California law, and should be reported to the police to get that fool off the road before he kills someone.

Instagram post

GCN talks with bicycling historian and journalist Peter Norton about the roots of road rage directed from drivers towards people on bicycles, driven in part by street designs that tell drivers the roads were made for them. Thanks to Steven Hallett for the link. 

No bias here. A Madison, Wisconsin letter writer insists that bike riders need to pay for their own infrastructure, apparently unaware of who actually pays for local streets, or that bike riders cause a minute fraction of the damage to roadway surfaces that drivers do, and we pay the same taxes as anyone else.

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

Leaked traffic data shows that only 40% of London bike riders actually stop for pedestrians as required at the city’s floating bus stops, where people have to cross a bike lane to get it.

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. Speeds clearly haven’t declined on PCH, as a speeding Malibu driver slammed head-on into three other cars at over 100 mph, then escaped after bugging out through the brush on the nearby hillside.

An unidentified Hermosa Beach bike shop was the victim of a holiday week smash and grab, after someone broke out a window to make off with a high-end bike. Thanks to Jim Lyle for forwarding the story.

Metro Bike is hosting a bikeshare community ride along the Expo Line Bike Path on January 20th. But shouldn’t the path be renamed the E Line Bike Path now, since the Expo Line doesn’t officially exist anymore?

 

State

No news is good news, right?

 

National

Chicago Streetsblog pats itself on the back for convincing a local business to stop illegally telling bike riders they can’t park there.

A Florida man argues that he is a victim of political and social manipulation of physical and circumstantial evidence, insisting that he had a legal and constitutional right to fatally shoot a bicycle-riding man during a confrontation, part of which he live streamed from his motorcycle; he’s been behind bars awaiting trail for nearly four and a half years, largely because he keeps firing his defense attorneys.

The only form of life lower than a hit-and-run driver is someone who’d flee the scene after hitting a Florida paraplegic riding a handcycle. Schmuck.

 

International

Road.cc looks at the history of the bizarre, A-framed, belt-drive Strida foldie, calling it one of the most unusual city bikes ever made. Which is an understatement. 

Costa Rica is dealing with a sharp rise in traffic deaths over the past year, as more Costa Ricans drive like Americans.

So it begins. A Toronto letter writer draws from the standard “But this isn’t Amsterdam” playbook to argue that the city will never be a bicycling paradise like Paris. (Scroll down. No, keep scrolling.)

A woman with no previous interest in bicycling decided to ride 340 miles from her home in Wales to the Eiffel Tower to honor her bike-riding father, after he died following a short battle with brain cancer.

I’m not sure if we mentioned this one from last month, as The Guardian takes a look back at the four-year history of London’s Black Unity Bike Ride, born out of Covid restrictions and a fight for racial justice; there’s a podcast version of the story if you’d rather listen than read. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

Irish police were criticized for confusing messaging that mixed the legal requirement to have lights on a bike with advice not to wear dark clothing, which isn’t required. But others applauded the cops for ticketing a lightless rider in dark clothes.

The attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea could be leading to another round of shortages of bike parts, just as the industry is recovering from the pandemic-era shortages.

A Singapore man explains how he turned his love of bicycles into a fulfilling career running a bike repair shop, despite dropping out of school at 15 — including a stint sharpening his skills in the US.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclists participating in Australian women’s road cycling championship paused for a moment of silence to honor Olympic gold medal track cyclist Melissa Hoskins, who was killed when she reportedly fell off the hood of the pickup driven by her husband, two-time world time trial champ and Tour de France stage winner Rohan Dennis; Hoskins was remembered as a “beacon of strength” and “a freewheeling spirit.”

 

Finally…

If you think pro cycling is hard, try building a Millennium Falcon out of Legos. Prepare for your next road-raging driver with new bullet-resistant ebike batteries.

And probably not the best idea to kick the cop who tells you to get off your bike in a no riding zone.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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