Tag Archive for Fountain Ave

Anger boils after deadly WeHo hit-and-run on Fountain Ave, and 79-year old San Diego man injured in crash with bike rider

July 14, 2025 / / No comments
Day 195 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A handful of protesters turned out on Friday evening to demand safety improvements on Fountain Ave, following the Thursday night hit-and-run that killed 26-year old Blake Ackerman.

According to WeHo Times,

Local cyclist and advocate Nicholas Renteria organized a grassroots demonstration at the intersection of Fountain Avenue and Gardner Street, where the deadly collision occurred on Thursday, July 10, around 9:47 p.m. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the victim, Blake Ackerman, 26, was riding westbound on Fountain when he was hit by an older-model BMW sedan, which fled the scene. The victim was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.

Anger has built following Ackerman’s death because individuals and advocacy groups have demanded action on the deadly corridor for more than a decade.

Plans have finally begun moving forward over the past few years, but are hung up by the usual demands to persevere parking at the expense of human lives.

As calls for accountability grow louder, local leaders have pointed to upcoming initiatives like the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project, which aims to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety with measures such as protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks. A community meeting about the project is scheduled for August 19 at Plummer Park.

Renteria hopes awareness leads to action before another life is lost. “This isn’t a fight between drivers and cyclists,” he said. “It’s a fight between people and a government that’s not being responsive.”

In addition to the community meeting next month, plans are underway for a ghost bike to be installed in the coming days.

You’ll know more when I do.

Photo: Streets For All and Measure HLA stickers on a bicycle parked at Lowes Home Improvement in Mid-City LA Sunday afternoon.

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A 79-year old man was seriously injured when he was struck by a bike rider while walking in a bike lane in San Diego’s Clairemont neighborhood.

The victim was hospitalized with a skull fracture and a brain bleed.

No word yet on what he was doing in the bike lane, or why the bicyclist was unable to avoid him.

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

Another Canadian province appears to be going the wrong way, as the provincial government of Alberta is “actively reviewing” bike lanes that have raised the ire of some residents, with the government questioning both current and planned bike lanes that “reduce road capacity.”

Police in Australia are looking for six men who brutally beat a man riding a bicycle in an apparent road rage attack; the occupants of two vehicles chased a pair of bike riders following an argument, before jumping the curb and beating one of the bike riders with baseball bats. The other rider somehow got away.

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

A New York teenager riding an ebike was killed a hit-and-run driver while he was being pursued by police who suspected him of a knifepoint robbery; a 28-year old driver was arrested for the hit-and-run shortly later.

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Local 

Streets For All offered their July newsletter, including news that a total of $7 million has been approved to move forward with necessary technical and environmental clearance work on the proposed extension of the Ballona Creek bike path.

 

State

Police in Huntington Beach busted a bike thief who stole a bait bike valued at over $2,000, enough to qualify for felony charges. Yet the LAPD still won’t use bait bikes, following outdated advice from the City Attorney’s office that it could be considered entrapment

 

National

Bike Magazine recommends a selection of the year’s best bike locks, depending on your needs.

Outside highlights seven of the best bikepacking trip across the US. None of which are in California.

A hit-and-run driver left an Oregon woman lying in a ditch all night after they crashed into her bike sometime Saturday night; she was found by a passerby after 7 Sunday morning suffering from serious leg, facial, and other injuries. The driver should be charged with attempted murder when they find them for making the conscious decision to risk the victim’s life by leaving her there to die. 

Sad news from Nevada, where the founder of Bob’s Bikes died following a battle with prostate cancer; retired mechanic Bob Crane had repaired and given away more than one thousand bicycles for needy kids.

A Wyoming website recommends putting a bell on your mountain bike, as well as shouting and carrying bear spray, to reduce the risk of deadly bear encounters. Mountain lions seem to pose a bigger risk on SoCal trails; I can’t recall a mountain biker mauled by a bear down here, even though we have a lot of ’em. 

Now even the trees are out to get us. Someone riding a bicycle was killed in Urbandale, Iowa when a tree fell on them as they were riding on a trail.

Forget the Tour de France. America’s only Penny Farthing bike race rolled for the 11th time over the weekend, with 50 competitors from the US and around the world competing on “wheels are bigger than most 5th graders.”

 

International

A Vancouver Grand Fondo resulted in yet another mass casualty event, as one person was killed and two others injured when a driver somehow plowed into a group of bicyclists.

Police in an Ontario city put bicyclists on a stationary bicycle so they could get a feel for what it’s like to be passed by a driver at the legally mandated one-meter distance (approximately three feet); most felt shaken after the experience, with several wanting the mandatory passing distance increased to two meters. Although it would have done a lot more good to put motorists on that stationary bike, so they would understand just how it feels.

That’s more like it. A drunk and stoned British driver was sentenced to nine years and three months behind bars for killing a 70-year old woman as she walked her bike across the street; his license was already suspended at the time of the crash for a previous DUI, among other offenses.

Cargo bikes dominated the recent Eurobike show, resulting in plans for a separate cargo bike-only show.

Irascible TV celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey completed his first triathlon in over a year in Luxembourg on Sunday, after he was seriously injured crashing his bicycle in June of last year.

The Malay­sian Natio­nal Cycling Federation calls out the lack of sharing on the country’s roads, where bicyclists have the right to ride but “tolerance between cyclists and motor vehicle drivers is declining.”

Bicycling rates are up in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, New Zealand, rising 40% since 2017. But like most American cities, there’s room for even more growth by tapping demand from people who don’t own bikes, or lack confidence to ride them.

 

Competitive Cycling

European road champ Tim Merlier sprinted to victory in Sunday’s ninth stage of the Tour de France to secure his second win of this year’s Tour, after the peloton reeled in Mathieu van der Poel following a day-long breakaway; van der Poel dropped to sixth in the GC standings despite Sunday’s long solo ride, while race leader Tadej Pogačar held onto the yellow jersey.

Pogačar’s chances of wearing yellow in Paris took a hit on Sunday, however, as key domestique João Almeida was forced to abandon, two days after breaking his ribs in a fall.

Tensions are starting to build in the Tour peloton, with Pogačar objecting to feed zone tactics from the Visma-Lease a Bike team that seemed intended to force him to defend the yellow jersey before he wanted; Pogačar was also caught on camera pushing Visma’s Matteo Jorgenson when Jorgenson got in his way, preventing both from getting their bidons.

Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini repeated as Giro champion after winning last year, securing a slim 18-second margin of victory on the final day, as Germany’s Liane Lippert won the stage in late breakaway.

Australian Sarah Gigante was thrilled just to make the Giro podium after a long and challenging comeback from iliac artery endofibrosis surgery.

Baja California’s Isaac del Toro proved he’s too legit to quit, showing his second-place finish at the Giro was no fluke by winning the 75th Tour of Austria.

 

Finally…

How to stop worrying and love the bicycle. How to play AirTag with a bike thief.

And that feeling when bike riders get buzzed by a cop traveling at twice the speed limit, yet commenters blame the people on the bikes, anyway.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Bike rider killed in West Hollywood hit-and-run on deadly Fountain Ave; one third of 2025 SoCal bike deaths hit-and-runs

July 11, 2025 / / 2 comments

This time it’s personal. And yes, I’m mad as hell.

Once again, someone riding a bicycle has been murdered by a hit-and-run driver, this time in West Hollywood.

And this time, at an intersection I’ve passed through literally thousands of times, on foot, on bike and in a car.

It was about 10 pm last night when a notification on the Ring app said someone had been struck by a driver at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street; video from the scene showed sheriff’s deputies had blocked the entire street in both directions, which is never a good sign.

That was confirmed today, when we learned the victim didn’t make it.

According to multiple sources, the victim was riding west on Fountain around 9:47 pm when he was run down from behind by the driver, who continued west on Fountain without stopping.

The victim was taken to the trauma center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he died of his injuries. He has not been publicly identified.

Investigators are looking for a white, older-model BMW sedan, which will likely have a shattered windshield on the passenger side. There is no description of the driver at this time.

Fountain has long been one of the deadliest streets in West Hollywood, along with Sunset Blvd just a few blocks north. Gardner connects them at the east end of the city, and has been the scene of fatal hit-and-runs at the intersections with both streets less than two weeks apart.

And if that’s not a problem, I don’t know what is.

Fountain is also a designated bike route, where bike riders are encouraged to ride by the presence of sharrows, regardless of experience. And despite drivers who frequently exceed the posted 25 mph speed limit, sometimes by two or three times.

Plans have been in the works for at least two years now to fix Fountain, but have been held up by the usual endless series of public meetings and redesigns, as if residents concerned about parking somehow know more about designing safe streets than the people trained to do it.

The next meeting is planned for August 19th at 6 pm, in the Plummer Park Community Center.

And yes, I will do my best to be there.

Anyone with information related to the collision is urged to contact traffic investigators at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station at 310/855-8850. Anonymous tips can be called into Crimestoppers at 800/222-TIPS (8477), or by texting 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads).

This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

This was also at least the eighth SoCal bike rider killed by hit-and-run drivers since the first of the year.

But at least the Sheriff’s Department told us about it right away, unlike the LAPD.

Update: The victim has been identified as 27-year old Blake Ackerman, no city of resident given. 

According to a crowdfunding page to support his mother and sister,

Anyone who knew Blake was lucky to call him a friend. Many of his friends became an extension of his family. Blake and his family welcomed everyone with open arms, into their home, their gatherings, and their family dinners. No matter who you were, you were always welcome.

Blake was full of limitless potential. He lived well and accomplished so much in his all-too-short years. He was a born leader, he served as student-body president and vice president at Beverly Hills High School, undergraduate vice president at USC, senior articles editor for the Loyola Law Review, and president of Loyola’s Surf & Ski Club. He also co-founded a human-rights advocacy group dedicated to prison-to-school education.

Prior to graduating law school, Blake externed for Judge Autumn D. Spaeth of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. In 2023, he earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School, then clerked for Judge Clyde J. Wadsworth of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals in Oahu, where he met his soulmate, Torie. Together they moved back to his hometown of Los Angeles, and Blake joined Morgan Lewis as a litigation associate. Even in his busy professional life, Blake’s caring heart extended to pro bono work, he arranged one final matter to help someone in need, and his firm has honored to carry it forward in his memory.

As of this writing, the page has raised over $126,000 of a $150,000 goal.

Photo of Blake Ackerman from GoFundMe page

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Blake Ackerman and his loved ones. 

Thanks to Brian Nilsen for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

It’s Election Day, so Bike the Vote, already; Block calls for Fountain Ave bike lane trial; and Metro bus lane parking enforcement

November 5, 2024 / / Comments Off on It’s Election Day, so Bike the Vote, already; Block calls for Fountain Ave bike lane trial; and Metro bus lane parking enforcement
Just 56 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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If you haven’t already, get out and vote today; Streetsblog offers a list of election resources to help out.

And regardless of what some random guy on the internet told you, if your ballot isn’t at least postmarked by today, it won’t count. At least here in California; in other states, your mileage may vary.

Then get out on your bike, or take a walk, or bury yourself in your work until the polls close to distract yourself and preserve your sanity today.

Don’t forget that LA Metro is free today, including half-hour Metro Bike rides (use code 110524), to help you get to and from the polls, along with most other local bus systems.

Uber and Lyft are also offering half-priced rides to polling places. But only directly to and from the polls.

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West Hollywood city council candidate Larry Block calls for a short-term trial of protected bike lanes on Fountain Ave, to see if removing parking to install permanent protected bike lanes will work.

Which sounds reasonable, but will inevitably fail.

It takes time for drivers to adjust to any road change, let alone a major redesign involving the removal of parking spaces and a traffic lane on each side.

A pilot program of at least six months to a year could offer proof that the change will not result in the traffic and residential chaos opponents fear.

But anything less would just invite drivers to make temporary adjustments until the pilot project gets removed. Or just ignore it and embrace the chaos to force the hand of city planners.

Besides, concerns over similar projects are often overblown.

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Metro has begun using automated bus cams to issue warnings to drivers blocking bus lanes, which should help free up space for people on bicycles, too.

https://twitter.com/metrolosangeles/status/1853467376248820131

Chicago is starting bus lane enforcement this week, too.

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CicLAvia returns to the San Fernando Valley next month, with a route connecting Reseda and Canoga Park clearly designed for people afraid to make any turns on their bikes.

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It’s now 320 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 41 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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Local  

Streetsblog visits the roughly 200-foot-long revamped and reconfigured Farragut Ave walkway in Culver City, which is often used as a shortcut by bicyclist, as well as walkers.

 

State

Calbike says California’s Daylighting Law will save lives, as the bill’s author follows up on the law that went into effect at the first of the year.

Worrying news from San Diego, where a 46-year old man suffered life-threatening injuries when he fell off an e-scooter.

San Diego natives might spot themselves riding in this throwback news video circa 1977.

A landmark agreement will finally allow a new ADA-compliant bike and pedestrian trail connecting Goleta and Santa Barbara.

The New York Times examines the great feud over San Francisco’s Great Highway, as residents vote today on whether to permanently close the coastal roadway, and turn it into a linear bike and pedestrian park.

 

National

A writer for Cycling Weekly says yes, flat bar gravel bikes are silly, but he’s into it now.

Leading used-bike retailer The Pro’s Closet is back, after two longtime employees agreed to assume the helm.

More on Denver bicyclists expressing their furor over the cancelling of a promised protected bike lane, as city leaders choose the convenience of curbside parking over protecting human lives.

A former Florida lawmaker is recovering from neck surgery after crashing her bicycle during a triathlon.

 

International

Cyclist reviews the best shoes for roadies.

Momentum highlights “hidden gem” bicycling routes for your adventure travel needs, including the United State’s Great Divide Mountain Bike Route; another two are US adjacent.

More proof life is cheap in the UK, as a cabbie walks without a single day behind bars for killing a 61-year old headteacher as he rode his bike to school, after the driver played the universal Get Out of Jail Free card by insisting the sun was in his eyes.

Vogue wants you to spend the fall at France’s bicycle-filled Île de Ré, offering over 60 miles of well-tended bike paths.

A New Zealand website says yes, you can travel without harming the environment, including on your bicycle. Just don’t leave your old tubes, CO2 cartridges or spent gel packs on the side of the road. 

Kiwi news site Stuff busts the top four myths about bicycling vacays.

ABC — no, the Australian TV network — says the bikelash is back, but this time it’s all about banning e-scooters.

 

Finally…

Apparently, Penny Farthings need parking, too. Now you, too, can build your own “dodgy” ebike made entirely of littered vape cartridges.

And not many people are aware that the ancient forebears of the modern bicycle lived in what is now Los Angeles during the Ice Age, as memorialized by these sculptures at the La Brea Tar Pits.

What.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Tinkering at edges of PCH safety, fighting WeHo bike lanes that could benefit all, and more on Parisian road rage murder

October 21, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 70 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It’s now been a full year since a driver killed four members of a Pepperdine sorority while allegedly speeding at over 100 mph in a 45 mph zone, at the appropriately named Dead Man’s Curve in Malibu. 

It took the deaths of Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams to call attention to the dangers bike riders have been aware of for years. Or at least since Scott Bleifer and Stanislav Ionov were killed by a food truck driver almost 20 years ago.

And probably a lot longer, and far too many since. Including people on foot, and on bicycles.

In the year since, Malibu residents have gone from too frequently opposing safety improvement on the killer highway, to actually demanding them.

It’s about damn time.

The city and state have made a number of improvements over the past year, from increasing traffic enforcement to getting state approval for a limited number of speed cams.

Not to mention adjusting traffic lanes, widening shoulders and introducing a public safety campaign.

None of it seems to have made a significant difference, at least not yet. Despite everything, there has been just one less crash on the highway this year than this time last year, with most speed related.

And it probably won’t. At least unless and until the highway is re-imagined from the current pass-through speedway, to the beachfront roadway and Malibu Main Street it always should have been.

Tinkering at the edges didn’t prevent the deaths of those four students, and more tinkering probably won’t prevent the next tragedy.

Or the ones after that.

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No bias here.

According to WeHo Online, over half of people responding to West Hollywood’s 2024 Strategic Plan Baseline Survey are concerned or very concerned about traffic congestion, while 43% thought lack of safe bike lanes was “not too serious” a problem.

Even though safe and convenient bike lanes could help reduce congestion by providing an alternative to driving.

But that apparently never occurred to them.

Meanwhile, West Hollywood residents conducted dueling rallies for and against the lane reduction and protected bike lanes proposed for Fountain Avenue.

The West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition hosted the Rally for Safer Streets and Vigil for Victims of Traffic Violence calling for improvements to the deadly street, which has seen 93 traffic crashes in just the last five years.

At the same time, a smaller group sponsored by the WeHo Chamber of Commerce called for keeping the street just as dangerous as it is now so they won’t have to slow down, and can keep their parking spaces.

Maybe they should read this Momentum piece, which offers eight ways bike lanes benefit communities.

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Bicyclists gathered by the hundreds in Paris and around France to demand an end to road rage, after a driver intentionally ran down a 27-year old man as he rode his bicycle on a physically separated bike lane last week.

The driver faces charges of culpable homicide, which is a significant step down from the original murder charge, and appears to be comparable to our involuntary homicide.

Unfortunately, others responded by vandalizing dozens of SUVs in an overnight revenge attack, puncturing the tires of 65 oversized vehicles.

Le Monde calls the crash a “tragic illustration of the difficulties of coexisting in a society marked by increasing individualism and incivility.”

Or it could just be that motor vehicles just bring out the worst in people who are safely ensconced in a mobile weapon of mass destruction.

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Hats off to Specialized, which will offer free basic repairs on Saturday in an effort to get one million bikes back on the road.

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One of the most common arguments against installing bike lanes is that they could inconvenience handicapped people, who need to get around, too.

Never mind that bicycles can make effective mobility devices for people who might otherwise struggle to get around.

But don’t take my word for it.

Our German correspondent, Ralph Durham, took a break from Octoberfest to forward photos of a bike he regularly encounters, which has been specially customized to accommodate a man who needs crutches to get around.

Photos by Ralph Durham

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Megan Lynch forwards a reminder that we got to lay a little rubber on San Diego’s I-805 before all those drivers ruined it for us.

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It’s now 306 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Thousand Oaks will introduce its own ebike incentive program for income-qualified residents in January. Which will probably be long before we ever see the statewide program launch, if it ever does. Thanks again to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

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

Toronto’s mayor says she does not support an anti-bike plan from the Ontario premier and transport minister to put the province in charge of when and where bike lanes are built; Toronto letter writers say the transport minister’s anti-bike lane arguments are easily refuted, then proceed to do it. Of course, “not supporting” is not the same as actively opposing it.

Ireland’s Social Democrats are accused of engaging in anti bike-lane “culture war nonsense.” Which is a pretty good way to describe most anti-bike lane campaigns. 

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

Police in Des Plaines, Illinois released photos of an apparent road-raging bike rider who repeatedly stabbed a driver.

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Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Laguna Beach is gearing up for the first ever Laguna Bicycle Festival this coming weekend.

 

National

Proving once again that there are still good people in the world, a TikToker calling himself the Neighborhood Bike Repair Dude keeps snacks and drinks on hand for hungry kids, responding “that’s the point” when someone said the kids would keep coming if he kept feeding them.

If you know Justin Timberlake, these Portland kids want him to join their weekly bike bus.

Now you, too, can bike all 33 miles around the rim of Oregon’s Crater Lake.

Not surprisingly, New York bicyclists aren’t happy about being unable to crash the New York Marathon route before the race starts. Just like Los Angeles bike riders used to be able to do, but can’t anymore. 

Only in New Orleans can you bike the vote to a second line beat.

 

International

Tragic news from the UK, where two best friends, both fathers, were killed when one fell off his ebike after a daylong pub crawl, and the other stepped into the roadway to stop traffic; both men were struck by the driver of a Mini Cooper, who was exonerated by police after claiming he didn’t have time to stop on the dark roadway.

Britain’s transport minister says he”d feel safe letting his young kids ride bikes on the streets of London. No word, however, on whether he actually does let them.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 82-year old Dutch woman isn’t just still riding — she’s still riding the same bike she’s had since she was 13.

Japan is cracking down on scofflaw bicyclists; anyone who rides under the influence or uses a cellphone while riding will be subject to heavy fines or possible jail time. Thanks once again to Megan Lynch.

Australian experts are calling for more innovative steps to make city’s cleaner and improve public health, like offering financial incentives to stop driving and take transit or bike to work.

 

Competitive Cycling

Heartbreaking news from the UK, where six-time Olympic cycling champ Sir Chris Hoy announced he has stage four prostate cancer, which has spread to form tumors in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine and ribs; his doctors say he has just two to four years to live. Meanwhile, his wife suffers from multiple sclerosis, an incurable, degenerative autoimmune disease.

 

Finally…

That feeling when bike lanes are, indeed, brat. You can’t judge a book by its cover, but apparently you can judge a potential date by their bike.

And more proof you can carry just aboutanything on a bicycle.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Compromise offer on WeHo streets, Caltrans promises bike lanes in San Pedro, and LA failing us on speed cams

October 18, 2024 / / One comment
Just 73 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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I am now officially a non-driver.

Yesterday morning, I went to the DMV to trade my driver’s license for a non-driving ID.

Between my medical issues and the meds I’m on, I simply don’t belong behind the wheel. And I probably never will.

It wasn’t an easy decision to make. I’ve held onto my license despite not driving for the past several years, just in case I needed it at some point. 

But it’s just not worth the risk I could pose to others. 

I only wish more people would realize that. 

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In a surprisingly reasonable op-ed, West Hollywood city council candidate Larry Block, who has opposed bike projects in the past — especially in front of his Santa Monica Blvd store — offers a compromise on his opposition to removing parking for a lane reduction and protected bike lanes on Fountain Ave in the largely residential Mid-City area.

Or as he puts it, a little argy-bargy, a term that should be familiar to fans of cycling announcer Phil Liggett.

Bike lane supporters need to recognize the daily needs of disabled residents, emergency vehicles, delivery trucks, and basic services. Bike supporters must understand that residents need access to their driveways, and services like city garbage trucks and emergency vehicles need space to do their jobs. We can’t take away that access in favor of a ‘build it, they will come’ mentality’. Residents also need to accept that many people can’t afford a car, and keeping WeHo vibrant means making room for bikes and other ways to get around. Their safety matters, too, and it’s our responsibility to do what we can.

While there’s a lot we could take issue with there — like how ebikes ca serve as mobility devices for handicapped people, and the myth of bike lanes slowing emergency vehicles — Block goes on to call for developing a master plan to improve safety and livability in WeHo’s Mid-City area.

We should focus on creating a Mid-City Master Plan while working on the Fountain Ave. Streetscape and Bike Lane project. Instead of just arguing about bike lanes, we need to shift the conversation to mid-city livability and make Fountain Ave. improvements part of the bigger plan.

There’s a livability and safety problem on Fountain Ave., and we need to look at the big picture. Let’s discuss a Mid-City Master Plan that incorporates the needs of all residents. But for now, after several accidents on Fountain Ave. in recent weeks, our top priority should be making Fountain safe today.

If this is the approach a bike lane opponent — or possibly former opponent — is willing to take, there may be hope for WeHo yet.

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As a followup to Tuesday’s piece about an apparent violation of Measure HLA along Western Avenue and 1st Street in San Pedro, Ken Shima forwards a screenshot from CD15 Councilmember Tim McOsker saying the current striping is just a temporary measure, and bike lanes really are coming.

But from Caltrans, not Los Angeles.

As Joe Linton clarified in a comment to Tuesday’s post, HLA applies to “any paving project or other modification,” other than limited work like “restriping of the road without making other improvements, routine pothole repair, utility cuts, or emergency repairs.”

Which would mean it should apply here.

However, as a state agency, I’m not sure if Caltrans is required to abide by HLA, unlike Metro or the City of LA. But it’s definitely something to keep an eye on, to make sure those promised bike lanes really do go in.

Regardless of who is responsible for them.

Meanwhile, Linton visits the new bike/walk path along San Pedro’s Front Street from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to just west of Pacific Ave.

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San Francisco has selected the vendor for the city’s speed cam pilot program, with 33 cams expected to be fully operational by early 2025.

Compare that with Los Angeles, which hasn’t.

Here’s what a press release from Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, had to say on the subject.

“While Los Angeles continues to ignore the problem, San Francisco takes speeding seriously. I commend San Francisco for taking this significant step towards making its citizens safer. Through their selection process, the city has done the hard work and set the stage for other cities to follow,” said Damian Kevitt, Executive Director of Streets Are For Everyone. “Los Angeles and the other pilot cities have no excuse for bureaucratic feet-dragging that is risking people’s lives.”

At the start of 2024, the Chief of Police and Mayor of Los Angeles announced that there were a staggering 336 traffic fatalities, the highest in almost 50 years and more traffic fatalities in 2023 than homicides. Across the state, 35% of fatalities are speeding-related, with over 1,500 speeding-related fatalities in 2021. Traffic violence in Los Angeles continues to get worse, and there is insufficient effort being put into implementing sensible solutions to save lives.

Yep.

That pretty much sums it up.

It took years of fighting in the state legislature to finally pound out a compromise allowing Los Angeles, Long Beach and Glendale to try a speed cam pilot program, along with three NorCal cities, including San Francisco. That was later amended to allow speed cams on PCH in Malibu, as well.

But all of that appears to be wasted on the City of Angels, which seems to be moving with all due non-haste at its usual glacial pace.

Mayor Bass has often said that she was elected to solve the city’s homelessness crisis.

Too bad that’s the only crisis she seems to think she was elected to address.

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It’s now 303 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

No bias here. The anti-bike OB-Rag writes that San Diego officials are “quietly picking our pockets” with things like a $155,000 bike counter, which amounts to a rounding error on the city’s $104.6 million streets budget. Let alone the SANDAG’s $1.3 billion — yes, with a B — highway budget.

No bias here, either. A 76-year old Baltimore man died weeks after a driver pulled out of a sidewalk and cut him off while riding on the sidewalk, but the local press somehow blames the victim for crashing into the car. And waits until the penultimate sentence to mention the car even had a driver.

He gets it. An Ottawa, Ontario columnist says Premier Doug Ford’s plan to give the provincial legislature final say over bike lanes is all about politics, not safety or traffic flow, while the mayor of Waterloo says Ford is stepping directly into municipal jurisdiction.

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

A 22-year old Novato man faces a felony hit-and-run charge for fleeing the scene after after crashing his bicycle into an eight-year old boy; fortunately, the kid was hospitalized with minor to moderate injuries. Which raises the question of why a felony charge was filed, which under state law on only applies in cases resulting in serious injuries. 

………

Local  

Pepperdine remembered the four sorority sisters killed by an alleged speeding driver on PCH a year ago, as they were walking from their car to a party; their accused killer was reportedly doing 104 mph in a 45 mph zone. But hey, about those speed cams.

 

State

Congrats to the Costa Mesa Police Department for busting a thief who made off with a family’s e-cargo bike; the department has already returned it to the owner.

 

National

CNN considers the best bike lights, settling on a pair from Cygolite.

Annapurna’s scenic bicycling adventure game Ghost Bike is getting a makeover, and will re-emerge next year as Wheel World, with a lighter design to make it more fun to play. Because ghost bikes may be a lot of things, but fun ain’t one of them. 

Parents, classmates and the Littleton, Colorado community came together to call for safer streets, a year after a seventh-grade boy was killed riding his bike to middle school. Yet another reminder that the time to fight for safer streets if before it’s too late, not after. 

A Tulsa, Oklahoma TV station responds to the state’s appalling NHTSA ranking as the nation’s 6th deadliest state for bike riders by examining safety concerns for bicyclists. Meanwhile, in 6th ranked California <crickets>.

A writer for Business Insider takes a 330-mile bikepacking trip from Pittsburgh to Maryland, and says she’d absolutely do it again, despite the challenges.

Prosecutors have added a murder charge to the long list of charges against the alleged drunken and speeding hit-and-run driver who killed a beloved young doctor out for a bike ride; he was allegedly driving over twice the speed limit with a BAC double the legal limit.

Roanoke, Virginia shows how it should be done, installing multiple temporary bike lanes to encourage people to ride their bikes to the city’s largest outdoor fest. Now they just need to make them permanent.

 

International

Momentum rates the six best foldies currently on the market.

A writer for Bike Radar takes a six-day, 400-mile bike tour along South Korea’s “stunning” Four Rivers route from Seoul to Busan.

A cop in New South Wales, Australia faces charges for dangerous driving for a crash that killed a 16-year old boy riding a bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

One of the brightest American cycling prospects, 21-year old Boulder, Colorado resident Jared Scott, walked away from his burgeoning European pro career to become a professional DJ.

A Welsh Continental cycling team learns the hard way the dangers of relying on a bikemaker’s promise that their frames will meet UCI standards.

 

Finally…

How to not pull an endo on your mountain bike. Making a Pashley the star of Swan Lake.

And seriously, who doesn’t need a sidecar for your ebike? Or a corgi car, in my case.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

“Silent majority” claimed to oppose WeHo’s planned Fountain Ave bike lanes, and San Diego makes street safety top priority

September 17, 2024 / / One comment
Just 105 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

No bias here.

WeHo Online’s Steve Martin — no, not the comedian — continues his campaign against the planned safety improvements on Fountain Ave through West Hollywood, insisting there is a “silent majority” rising up in opposition to the plan, despite an informal online survey showing it was supported by two-thirds of respondents.

Then again, he complains that people from outside the city were allowed to respond to it, as if only people who live on Fountain Ave ever use the street.

He also takes issue with a perceive lack of outreach, even though those of us who were paying attention were aware of the plan to remove traffic lanes and street parking to widen sidewalks and add protected bike lanes at least two years ago. As were all those people who took the time to respond to that online survey he disparages.

But they don’t count, evidently.

Then there’s his complaint that Bike LA, formerly the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, will assist with outreach to prepare residents for the changes, calling them “hardly an unbiased party.” And adding that the group will work in conjunction with Streets For All, and “will be able to skewer whatever conversations take place.”

As if merely explaining a project that has already been approved by the city council requires any actual “skewering.”

The city council was scheduled to vote last night to accept a $5 million grant from the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB — and yes, he even gets that name wrong in his sputtering anger — to help pay for the life-saving changes on Fountain.

Let’s hope they had the sense to say yes. And that the approval will finally put an end to this nonsense.

But I wouldn’t count on it.

Graphic for a virtual workshop to discuss plans for Fountain Ave from October, 2022.

 

………

That’s more like it.

The San Diego City Council passed a resolution making street safety the city’s highest transportation priority. Which means it will finally outweigh other considerations, such as street parking and level of service.

Or should, anyway.

Which would no doubt cause apoplexy to the afore-mentioned “silent majority” in West Hollywood. Not to mention in here Los Angeles, where the ability to go “zoom zoom” to your heart’s content is taken as a God-given right, consequences be damned.

Except for all those people who voted for Measure HLA by a similar — wait for it — two-thirds margin, suggesting that maybe, just maybe, that online survey wasn’t so wrong after all.

………

Los Angeles opened a nearly five-mile segment of a bike path paralleling San Fernando Road in the east San Fernando Valley.

The new segment combines with an existing pathway to provide nearly ten miles of continuous off-street riding from the Burbank Airport to Sylmar.

………

It’s now 271 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 39 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

Local  

Streetsblog offers an open thread and photos from Sunday’s Lincoln Heights CicLAmini.

Los Angeles Magazine says Venice’s “Bike Whisperer” is just one of the many Los Angeles street vendors benefitting from the city’s new rules.

 

State

Congratulations to Streetsblog California on their 10th anniversary.

A pilot project will allow bikes on seven miles of trails on Marin’s Mount Tamalpais, regarded as the birthplace of mountain biking, after being banned for four decades.

The steady drumbeat of sad news from Northern California continues, where a 53-year old Ukiah man was killed when he hit something on the trail he was riding and was thrown from his ebike, striking his head; police say he was wearing a helmet, but didn’t have it secured properly.

 

National

Good question. Velo says that good bike parking is inexpensive, easy to implement and encourages more bicycling, so why is it so hard to find?

Rivendell Bicycle Works founder and bicycle designer Grant Petersen celebrates the joys of riding slowly and leaving your spandex at home.

It’s been seven years since someone shot Colorado mountain biker Tim Watkins, leaving his body next to the trail he was riding near the town of Monument, and police still haven’t found his killer or figured out why he was shot.

Safety efforts in Chicago are paying off, as the city has seen just one bicycling death this year — which advocates correctly note is still one too many.

Vermont opened a new 39-mile adaptive trail offering 6,000 feet of vertical gain and loss, the first leg of a planned 485-mile mountain bike trail stretching from Massachusetts to the Canadian border.

New York’s Washington Bridge will get a new bus lane and two-way protected bike lane connecting Upper Manhattan to the Bronx over the Harlem River.

Miami motorcyclist Kadel Piedrahita was found guilty of shooting and killing Alex Palencia in 2019 as Palencia rode in a peloton with several other bicyclists; prosecutors argued that the shooting stemmed from a feud that had developed days earlier.

 

International

British active transportation nonprofit Sustrans called for an end to bicycling inequality, after a recent report found that 38 percent of low income or unemployed UK residents want to ride bikes, but are priced out by high costs and a lack of discount offers. Even though you can buy a decent used bike for around a hundred bucks on ether side of the Atlantic.

The London Evening Standard recommends the best pedal systems for roadies.

British bicyclists raised the equivalent of more than $264,000 with a 390-mile ride from Paris to Suffolk in honor of the 18 members of an English rugby team killed in a plane crash outside Paris 50 years ago.

 

Competitive Cycling

The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will conflict with the final week of the Tour de France, forcing the world’s premier stage race to move from its traditional July date, or making the sport’s top riders choose between the two.

 

Finally…

If you were planning to ride London’s biggest annual charity bile ride next year, your 2025 calendar just opened up. When you’re carrying a baggie of coke on your bike, put a damn light on it, already.

And that feeling when you catch bicycle while magnet fishing.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Hollywood producer Bob George killed by dooring in East Hollywood/Silver Lake Tuesday; 10th SoCal bike death in 13 days

October 21, 2023 / / 6 comments

At least now we know.

A Hollywood producer is dead, apparently because Los Angeles refused to remove parking to build a damn bike lane.

For three days, we’ve been searching for confirmation of a bicycling fatality in East Hollywood, since word first surfaced late Tuesday. Friday it came, not from the traditional media, but from the Hollywood trade publications.

Multiple sources are reporting that 51-year old movie producer Bob George was killed Tuesday when he was doored while riding his bike. They place the location as Silver Lake, though it appears to be the same crash.

According to the stories, the story broke when writer-director Ben York Jones posted news of George’s death on Instagram.

Jones told The Hollywood Reporter that George, who reportedly rode his bike everywhere, was doored by the driver of a parked car as he rode in a bike lane. then immediately struck by the driver of an oncoming car.

The reports I received indicated the fatal crash occurred Tuesday at Fountain Ave and North Edgemont Street, next to the Church of Scientology complex on Sunset Blvd. That appears to be in East Hollywood, but it could be considered Silver Lake.

A bike lane was added to westbound Fountain between Vermont Ave and Kingsley Drive earlier this year, crossed in-between by Edgemont. Eastbound Fountain has sharrows instead of a bike lane, in order to preserve curbside parking on both sides of the street.

If the city had removed the parking from either side, they could have installed protected bike lanes in both directions, instead of a single door zone bike lane.

That decision apparently cost Bob George his life.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Peoria, Illinois native began his career as production accountant on big-budget films, including Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Sum of All Fears, The Lone Ranger and three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, before moving up to producing.

He was a production consultant on Divergent (2014) before producing his first feature, Scott Free’s Newness (2017). Starring Nicholas Hoult and Laia Costa and written by Jones, it premiered at Sundance and was acquired by Netflix.

He reunited with Doremus on the Ewan McGregor and Léa Seydoux-starring Zoe (2018), which bowed at Tribeca and was picked up by Amazon, and Endings, Beginnings (2019), a Toronto title that starred Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan and Sebastian Stan and was acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films.

George was currently working with Jones on Aurora, another Doremus film, as well as serving as a production consultant on the upcoming Brad Furman action thriller Tin Soldier, starring Jamie Foxx and Robert De Niro.

He is survived by his wife, artist Yasmine Nasser Diaz, as well as his sister.

This is at least the 45th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, the 11th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County, and the sixth in the City of Los Angeles, although there are probably more we haven’t learned about.

George was also the tenth SoCal bike rider killed in just the last two weeks.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Bob George and all his loved ones. 

Thanks to Damian Kevitt and Sean Meredith for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Las Vegas teen filmed vehicular murder of former Bell police chief, and “car-owning” WeHo bicyclist decries Fountain plans

September 18, 2023 / / One comment

Now we know why it’s murder.

It took about two weeks after the crash for Las Vegas police to determine that the killing of retired Bell, California police chief Andreas Probst in an August hit-and-run was intentional.

The reason became evident this weekend when horrifying video of the collision surfaced and quickly went viral.

In the video, which was AirDropped to students at a local high school at the end of last month, the teenage driver and his passenger(s) can be seen cursing at passing cars, before spotting Probst riding his mountain bike in a bike lane.

This is how TMZ described the lead-up to the crash.

The 17-year-old driver and his passenger were cruising down a street in Las Vegas on August 14, coming up behind Andreas Probst as he rode his cycle in the bike lane. Filming with his cell phone, the passenger was chuckling with the driver as they plotted to run over Probst. You can hear them say, “Ready?” and “Yeah, hit his ass.”

So much for any question of intent.

According to The Daily Mirror,

The vehicle is seen in the footage coming up behind a red-clad man riding a bicycle alongside the road. The motorist pulls into the bike lane behind him, honks his horn, and purposefully strikes the cyclist’s back tire, sending him flying with the encouragement of his buddies.

The passenger records Andreas lying helplessly on the side of the road behind the vehicle. “Damn that n* got knocked out!” the passenger says as the driver can be heard stepping on the gas.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal says, despite attacks from rightwing sources including Elon Musk, James Woods and Fox News commentator Greg Gutfeld, not only were they aware of the video within hours of the crash, they were instrumental in getting it to the police.

The Review-Journal’s coverage of the incident was also heavily criticized by readers who posted screenshots of a news obituary that ran in the Review-Journal on Aug. 18 — more than a week before the video surfaced — with a headline describing the incident as a “bike crash” and not an intentional killing.

In fact, a source had contacted the Review-Journal about the existence of the video more than two weeks ago, and a reporter had instructed the caller on how to forward the video to Metropolitan Police Department detectives investigating the case. Nine hours later, police announced that the incident had been deemed a homicide.

The Review-Journal also reports the passenger has not been charged, which seems inexplicable unless they were captured on the video screaming in horror at the deliberate carnage.

Hint: they weren’t.

At the very least, such a heinous crime would seem to call for a felony conspiracy charge, since both the driver and the passenger appear to have been planning the fatal assault.

It also calls into question whether the teenaged driver arrested for last week’s vehicular rampage in Huntington Beach that killed one man riding a bicycle and injured two others was a copycat attack.

It’s possible he may have seen video of the Las Vegas murder, or one of the other similar video circulating online, and attempted to copy them.

Or he may have simply lashed out on his own, for reasons known only to him.

………

No bias here.

Writing for WeHoVille, a “car-owning bicyclist” rides his bike down the sidewalk along Fountain Ave, to demonstrate that few people currently ride bicycles along the deadly thoroughfare, and insist that two years of construction to install a protected bike lane will devastate the businesses along the half block that actually has them.

Never mind that his own decision to ride on the sidewalk, rather than risk riding in the street, makes the case for building the bike lanes.

Let’s be clear: While WeHo talks a big game about “uplifting” marginalized people and “amplifying” their voices, the city’s pedestrians — those blue-collar, minimum-wage earning people the city claims to care so much about — are silently struggling just to get from Point A to Point B every day, as they’ve done for decades.

But fixing sidewalks isn’t glamorous, and that’s why WeHo hasn’t given a fuck thus far.

Even now, the impetus for reconstructing Fountain Avenue wasn’t to benefit pedestrians or disabled people. They were an afterthought.

Installing bike lanes, the cause celebre of every young politician and hip urban planner, was the point of this project.

Never mind that many of the “blue-collar, minimum-wage earning people the city claims to care so much about” are forced to ride their bikes to work along busy, dangerous corridors choked with traffic.

And not many use the sidewalks, because they can’t afford to live there.

………

When is a bike lane not a bike lane?

When it’s a parking lot.

………

Streetsblog celebrates yesterday’s NoHo CicLAmini.

………

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

A St. Louis moonlight bike ride was cancelled at the last minute as people were gathering at the start line, because drivers had moved the barricades blocking roadways along the route, and a third-party company hadn’t secured it.

An English bike rider is left waiting in vain for the police to do something after he catches a punishment pass on his bike cam, as the driver yells at him to “Get off the fucking road.”

No bias here. A Singapore website accuses an ebike rider and a motorist of road rage for engaging in a heated dispute in the middle of the roadway. Never mind that the bike rider was minding his own business until the impatient driver started honking at him for no apparent reason.

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

Tragic news from New York, where police are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who killed a 69-year old woman as she was crossing a “chaotic” intersection. Since the bicyclist was on a bikeshare bike, police should be able to access user and GPS data to determine who was using a bike at that time and location. Which raises the question of why they apparently haven’t yet.

An ebike-riding man is recovering from injuries and faces sexual assault charges, after a Virginia woman flagged down a passing car when the man groped her on a bike path, then smiled as he rode away; she was able to catch up with him and apparently kicked his ass, knocking him off his bike and placing him in a chokehold until police arrived.

A Toronto cop was hospitalized, and a bike rider faces charges, after the cop was hit by someone who was allegedly riding his bicycle erratically and weaving between pedestrians in the city’s Entertainment District.

………

Local 

Metro’s new rush hour bus and bike lanes on La Brea Blvd are officially open for business. But that hasn’t stopped anyone from using them — and loving them — already.

Streetsblog says Metro has installed new plastic bollards to protect the First Street bike lanes, which could be the first step in meeting their commitment to on bike/walk connections the promised for Metro’s new subway stations. However, it’s worth noting that the new bollards are spaced too far apart to keep motorists from driving or parking in the bike lanes, and won’t actually protect anyone from anything.

West Hollywood will consider a program to implement a bicycle repair station pilot program at tonight’s city council meeting.

Culver City is moving forward with plans for both painted and protected bike lanes along the southern section of Overland Blvd, at the same time the city is trying to rip out the MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes through downtown.

Santa Monica’s ebike voucher program for low-income residents is set to begin next year; qualified people could receive up to $2,000 to purchase an ebike and accessories.

 

State

Huntington Beach will consider new ebike regulations at tomorrow’s city council meeting; the proposed ordinance would create different classes of electric bikes — which the state has already done — while providing for criminal or civil citations, and adding a section for unsafe riding. However, all of that may be moot and illegal, since regulating ebikes falls under the authority of the state, along will all other traffic regulations. 

A La Jolla father calls for action on traffic safety measures after his 14-year old son suffered broken bones in his hand and foot when he was struck by a driver in a left cross crash, as he rode his ebike in a marked bike lane; the driver was waved through the intersection by another motorist, and failed to see the kid on his bike.

San Diego faces concerns about meeting the city’s climate goals, after a crackdown on e-scooter providers dropped ridership 80%.

The days of having The Snake to yourself could be coming to an end, with plans in place to reopen the curvy, 2.4-mile stretch of steep canyon road in the Santa Monica Mountains to motor vehicles next year.

A San Jose councilmember denies striking a bike-riding man with his car, despite three witnesses who say he gave the man money after running him down; he claims it was a near miss, and he only gave money to help the victim, who appeared to be homeless.

San Francisco Streetsblog says bicyclists are furious that protected bike lanes are no longer on the table for Arguello in the Presidio, when champion cyclist Ethan Boyes was killed earlier this year.

 

National

The Manual says don’t bother buying an e-mountain bike because government regulations limit where you can ride it. However, a travel website disagrees, listing ten of the best trails around the US where ebikes are welcome.

A Park City, Utah columnist says “Bike thieves suck” after her ebike and foldie are stolen from her building’s garage, apparently because she locked them together rather than to a fixed object. Although even that wouldn’t stop a determined thief with enough time. 

The local community came through for a five-year old Texas boy after his bike was stolen; within minutes of his father posting news of the theft online, he had offers for two bikes.

An 80-year old New York man was murdered by a black-clad man on a bicycle who circled the area apparently waiting for the victim to return home from a party, then rode up and shot him two times point blank in front of the victim’s horrified wife, in a killing caught on video; using a bike allowed the killer to approach his victim quickly and silently, without drawing undue attention.

A reminder that Hugh Jackman is one of us, after he’s spotted riding bikeshare bike through New York’s Tribeca neighborhood a day after announcing his separation from his wife of 27 years.

More proof bike riders are tough, as a man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana walked himself to the hospital, despite three stab wounds in his back, after three people stabbed him and stole his bike and wallet, then left him bleeding on the sidewalk.

 

International

Residents of a Toronto neighborhood jeered the borough mayor when he said a new bike path had nothing to do with the traffic death of a woman as she walked along the newly narrowed roadway.

Montreal’s mayor is demonstrating the political courage to close a popular park roadway to motor vehicles, and reclaim Mount Royal Park for bike riders and pedestrians. In other words, the kind of courage we seldom see in Southern California. Let alone Los Angeles.

The murder bug has apparently spread across the pond, as two men face attempted murder charges for deliberately running down a bike rider on the streets of Glasgow.

Nineties pop icon Jason Orange is one of us, as the tabloids say the Take That star is virtually unrecognizable riding a bikeshare bike through the streets of London. Even though all of them seem to have spotted him.

A radio station remembers the day 65 nude women rode bicycles around London’s Wembley Stadium to film the video for Queen’s iconic hit Bicycle Races. 

Wales has become the first country in the UK to drop speed limits from 30 mph to 20 mph. Because 20 is plenty in urban areas.

After courts awarded her the equivalent of over $620,000 for the death of her husband, a British woman decried the “inhuman” response of city leaders, who blamed him 100% for his own death after he was killed by a garbage truck driver as he rode his bike.

A French consortium pans to build a nearly 3,000 foot, 900 kilowatt solar panel bike path along the Rhône River capable of powering over 700 homes. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link. 

A Belgian bicyclist shown on video kneeing a five-year old girl in a viral video from Christmas Day 2020 has now won a defamation suit against the girl’s father, after a court fined the bike rider the equivalent of a dollar, concluding he didn’t intend to hurt her.

Heartbreaking story from India, where a 17-year old girl was killed when someone on a passing motorbike grabbed the traditional stole she was wearing as she biked home from school with a friend, causing her to fall into the path of another motorbike rider; two suspects were shot by police after they attempted to escape following their arrest, stealing a rifle and firing on the cops as they fled.

Once again, a bike rider is a hero, as a Singaporean bicyclist jumped off his bike to save someone who had fallen into a canal, along with members of the country’s civil defense force.

Helmet use has tripled among Japanese bike riders in the wake of a new law requiring them, although the lack of punishment for violating the law means it’s still only up to 13.5%.

An Aussie man warns bike riders to beware of swooping magpies, after he nearly lost an eye when one attacked him two year ago.

 

Competitive Cycling

It’s official. Twentynine-year old Colorado resident Sepp Kuss won the Vuelta on Sunday, days after his own teammates attacked in an apparent attempt to wrest the red leader’s jersey from his shoulders.

Kuss is the first American to win a grand tour since Chris Horner won the Vuelta in 2013, and just the second person to win one grand tour after riding in all three.

Guyana’s junior cycling team was left standing at the airport, instead of flying to the Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships, because someone apparently forgot to check the airline’s strict no baggage policy, which includes racing bikes.

 

Finally…

A mountain biker demonstrates why actual wheels usually work best. Yes, you can get a DUI while riding a horse in California.

And there may be bicycle-riding ghosts out there, but this probably ain’t one of ’em.

Especially since that video seems awfully familiar.

………

A special thanks to Steve Fujinaka for a very unexpected and generous donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way that lifted my spirits over the weekend. 

Donations are always welcome and appreciated, whatever the reason.  

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

He doesn’t need WeHo bike lanes so you don’t either, just say no to guns on bikes, and bike lanes are handicap mobility lanes

August 24, 2023 / / 2 comments

No bias here.

The editor of WeHoVille says he’s a bicyclist. And because he doesn’t need bike lanes, neither do you.

Then again, it’s always a red flag when someone feels the need to self-identify as a bicyclist before making their case.

True to form, Brandon Garcia writes that he’s more than happy to take back roads to get where he’s going, and thinks that the planned bike lanes on Fountain Ave and Santa Monica Blvd will be too disruptive to the city.

Never mind, he says, that the existing bike lanes on Santa Monica are usually blocked by buses or double-parked drivers. Although that would seem to be a reason to enforce the laws against blocking bike lanes, than oppose building them.

What the city wants to do with Fountain and Santa Monica will disrupt the lives of too many people who depend on those roads to get across town. Who depend on those parking spaces for their guests or their customers, or whose leases don’t include a parking spot.

Up to 37,000 cars travel down Fountain every day. At most, there are 145 bicycles that use it daily.

The city expects the removal of two lanes on Fountain to reduce traffic by 900 vehicles every hour. 600 of those will be diverted onto Santa Monica or Sunset. The drivers of 250 cars per hour will simply decide not to make the trip, the city oddly believes.

Never mind that, as others have noted before, you can’t judge the need for a bridge by how many people swim across the river. The fact that most bike riders don’t feel safe on Fountain is a far better argument for making it safer, rather than keeping it dangerous.

Meanwhile, numerous studies have shown that making driving more difficult results in a reduction in the number of cars on the road — not an odd belief, but simple traffic science.

And that reduction is absolutely necessary in the face of our current climate emergency, when the world is literally burning from over-reliance on fossil fuels.

The simple fact is, people on bicycles have places to go, just like people in cars, and need safe routes through the city to get there.

He may not need them, or want them.

But that doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t.

………

Back when I lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana about a hundred or so years ago, I had a friend who dealt with the city’s abusive and road raging drivers by riding with a .22 strapped to his bike.

By his account, it made most motorists give him a wide berth. And if anyone actually threatened him, just a tap or two on the holster was enough to defuse the situation.

Maybe.

Although I doubt many drivers actually saw it as they zoomed by. Never mind the fact that they came pre-armed with a multi-ton weapon of their own, should they choose to use it.

I mention that because a writer for Outside has written a response to the Armed Cyclist seen below, an influencer who calls for arming yourself — whether with a gun or some other weapon — for self-defense when you ride.

Frederick Dreier describes an incident when a driver began harassing, then threatening him as he rode in New York. 

His response was to first kick out a headlight, then hurl his U-lock, shattering the car’s rear windshield, before disappearing down a one-way street.

OK, back to my anecdote involving the hurled lock. Look, I wish I had the calm and mature demeanor to simply bite my upper lip and walk away from situations like the one I had a decade ago. I’ve been to therapy and I’m working on becoming an enlightened and self-actuated member of society. But I’m not there yet. I can still transform into a raging lunatic at times—specifically when some jerk driver messes with me on my bike. Had I been carrying a gun during my moment of rage years ago, I probably would have emptied the clip into the windshield, which means I’d likely be writing pithy takes from a cell in Rikers right now. And that ugly encounter is hardly the only one I’ve had with drivers. Over the years I’ve been sideswiped, t-boned, intimidated, and buzzed too many times to count. If I rode with a gun, I might be responsible for multiple crimes.

That’s precisely why I don’t own a gun.

I have a temper, which I manage to control most of the time. And I’m a firm believer in nonviolence.

But if I had a gun, there’s just too much chance I might use it.

And one weapon is one too many in most situations, even if most people just call it a car.

Read the story on Yahoo if Outside blocks you. 

………

Remember this the next time someone tells you bike lanes are bad for handicapped people.

A New Zealand writer says she uses a wheelchair and bike lanes, rejecting the argument that people with disabilities need more car parking.

It is infuriating and painful to see people speak on behalf of disabled people when they are really only trying to protect their non-disabled car parks. Have you ever wondered where these people go when it’s time to fight for a building code that requires accessible universal design features like lifts, ramps and doorways of a decent width? Or why these same faces and names appear again to oppose the social housing initiatives in their neighbourhoods that would house disabled people? Or why they’re not advocating for more mobility parking at all?!

She goes on to write that many disabled people use bicycles, and consider their ebikes, scooters and trikes to be their mobility devices.

And need safe places to ride them.

………

Joni Yung loves the new bus and bike lanes on La Brea, even if they’re too often blocked with parked cars.

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GCN offers bike handling drills to elevate your skills and confidence on the bike.

And impress the hell out of your friends while you’re at it.

Meanwhile, the site also looks at the fast-growing gravel fondo in my Colorado hometown.

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

Seriously? A Vermont columnist responds to a self-admitted scofflaw bicyclist by saying consider how bad a driver would feel if they hit him with their car. Never mind how bad he might feel after bouncing off a couple tons of glass and steel.

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

If you’re already on state-supervised probation with a lengthy rap sheep, maybe don’t rob a couple of stores, then ride your bike back to your apartment. And definitely ditch the bike and clothes before the cops find ’em.

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Local 

LA County Sheriff’s deputies will conduct a bike and pedestrian safety operation in West Hollywood on Tuesday, ticketing anyone who commits a violation that could put either one at risk. So ride to the letter of the law until you’re safely back in LAPD or Beverly Hills PD jurisdictions. Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up. 

Pasadena will host the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Union Street protected bike lane on Saturday, September 9th in front of City Hall. That’s Pasadena City Hall, not Los Angeles or any of the other 86 cities in LA County.

 

State

An environmental law website says California policy makers are embracing ebikes, despite the New York Times wrongheaded take, but questions whether the state is falling behind.

Monterey County Weekly considers how fast is too fast on a bike path, with one local city setting a 12 mph speed limit that the writer considers far too low. My take is ride as fast as you want if you’re the only one on it, but slow down around slower bike riders and pedestrians. At least, that’s what I always did. 

Sticking with Monterey County, a 14-year old junior track star ran down a purse-snatcher on a BMX, grabbing back the stolen handbag before the thief could get away.

 

National

Gizmodo says Peloton’s business is as busted as its bike seats, which have been recalled due to a risk of breaking off if you pedal too hard, sending the company’s stock into a tailspin.

Portland’s all-new MADE handmade bike show is making its debut this week; Cycling Weekly discusses three things they’re excited to see.

While potential ebike buyers continue to wait for California’s long-delayed rebate program, with the latest update nearly two month’s old, Boulder, Colorado is already gearing up for its second round of rebate vouchers.

Gravel bike tires could be growing, as Colorado-based Moots introduces the 750d standard, which Bike Radar says is comparable to a 29″ mountain bike tire.

This is who we share the road with. A Galveston, Texas bike rider was seriously injured when a driver swerved into oncoming traffic, hit the victim and carried them both over the seawall and onto the beach.

A convicted drunk driver has been sentenced to anywhere from three-and-a-half to 15 years behind bars for dragging a Michigan bike rider for one-and-a-half miles under his van as he fled from the crash site; he was nearly three times the legal limit after his arrest, with multiple bottles of booze rolling around in his van.

A Massachusetts artist is unveiling a new series of paintings inspired by a local bike path. And yes, it makes me want to ride it.

The rich get richer. New York is removing a traffic lane on the city’s Tenth Ave through Hell’s Kitchen and narrowing traffic lanes to make room for a spacious, ten-foot wide, two-way protected bike lane.

An Andover, Maryland study finds there wasn’t a single reported bicycle crash in a city square during the study period, despite a total lack of bike infrastructure — but also found most bike riders avoid it like the plague.

 

International

Momentum looks at “awe-inspiring” bicycle infrastructure from around the world. None of which is in LA, or anywhere else in the US.

A woman riding a bike was killed by a hit-and-run driver fleeing from police in Mississauga, Ontario; the victim was found lying in the grass an hour-and-a-half after the police chase, and half an hour after police found the abandoned car nearby.

A 69-year old Scottish truck driver will finally face charges for killing a 22-year old French woman as she rode her bike in Glasgow eight months ago, although there’s no word on what he’s charged with.

This is who we share the road with, too. An English driver was busted for doing a whopping 61 mph in a 30 mph zone, while passing just feet from a child riding a bicycle.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a woman was sentenced to just 14 months behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run that left a bike-riding man seriously injured.

NPR reports on the bankruptcy of Dutch ebike maker VanMoof, noting that it’s left owners of the bikes stranded with no way to repair the company’s nonstandard designs. And that owners of the bikes in the Netherlands have resorted to stealing other people’s VanMoof’s just to strip them for parts.

 

Competitive Cycling

Transgender British cyclist Emily Bridges was named to an annual roundup of Britain’s 25 Powerhouse women by the country’s edition of Vogue Magazine; needless to say, the British tabloids took offense, if only to rile up readers to drive up readership. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

However, Out Sports reports Bridges has quit competitive cycling in the face of both British and UCI bans on trans women competing in women’s cycling.

American ultra-cyclist Nick DeHaan won the 758-mile Paris-Brest-Paris on Tuesday, finishing 48 minutes ahead of his nearest rival while setting a modern course record of 41 hours, 46 minutes and 30 seconds.

 

Finally…

Get your bikes for Burning Man. Why settle for double ebike suspension when you can have triple?

And don’t ride alone to the state fair when you can join a pedaling pastor and a public radio announcer.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Fountain & SaMo bike lanes back in WeHo, K’town to H’wood CicLAvia, and new Adventure Cycling LA short routes

August 17, 2023 / / 2 comments

There may be hope yet in WeHo.

Nine months after proposals for new and enhanced bike lanes on Fountain Ave and Santa Monica Blvd were nearly derailed over concerns about increased traffic and lost parking spaces, WeHoVille reports they will be back before the West Hollywood city council next week.

According to the paper, the Fountain Ave proposal is planned for two phases.

The first phase of the study, known as Phase 1 PS&E (Planning, Specifications, and Estimates), focuses on the design of protected bike lanes, with specific plans to reduce travel lanes from four to two and remove approximately 150 on-street parking spaces on the north side of Fountain Avenue. This phase includes an 11-month timeline, with an expected conclusion in July 2024. The construction phase is anticipated to begin in early 2025, taking another 4-6 months. The preliminary construction cost for Phase 1 is estimated to be between $5 million and $10 million…

As the study progresses to Phase 2, the focus shifts to the permanent installation of protected bike lanes and the redesign of sidewalks along Fountain Avenue. The timeline for Phase 2 spans 16 months, starting in January 2024, with potential construction beginning in Q1 or Q2 of 2026. The construction of Phase 2 is estimated to be between $30 million and $35 million.

Meanwhile, the council directed the city to study the feasibility of upgrading the existing painted bike lanes on the western portion of Santa Monica Blvd to protected bike lanes.

City staff were also told to conduct a block-by-block analysis of the feasibility of installing painted bike lanes on the narrower eastern segment of the boulevard, which would likely involve narrowing traffic lanes and the removal of parking spaces.

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CicLAvia comes back to Hollywood and Koreatown this Sunday with a return of the Koreatown Meets Hollywood route, first explored in the epic DTLA to Hollywood route celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the LA Symphony four years ago.

According to a press release from CicLAvia,

On Sunday, August 20; between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., CicLAvia – Koreatown meets Hollywood, presented by Metro, and in partnership with LADOT, welcomes everyone of all ages and abilities to its 47th car-free open streets event connecting Hollywood and Koreatown along Vine St, Melrose Ave, Western Ave, and Wilshire Blvd, for participants to jog, ride, bike, skate, run, walk, skateboard, spectate, play, to enjoy the 5-mile route. Always free, CicLAvia participants just show up anywhere along the route at any time to enjoy the open streets and to take the time to explore two of L.A.’s iconic communities. Participants are encouraged to take Metro.

There are many local gems, activities, and businesses to check out near and along the route – discover them through CicLAvia’s new Interactive Digital Map. Hubs have family-friendly activities, restrooms, free water refilling stations, free basic bike repair, bike parking, and first aid. In addition, free pedicab rides, sponsored by AARP, are available at each information booth. Activities along the route can be found here.

A press conference kicking off the event will be held starting at 8:30 am on Sunday, August 20th, at 1750 Vine Street, at the Hollywood Hub next to Capitol Records.

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Adventure Cycling announced the launch of their Short Routes Program, featuring shorter bike touring routes designed to break down barriers accessibility and make bike travel more approachable, regardless of experience level or how much time someone has available.

The program launches with routes starting from Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Austin and Seattle.

Anyone can submit a route in the US that a beginner can bike in two to five days, with approximately 20-50 miles of riding each day.

According to the group, there are three short routes currently available in the Los Angeles area:

Carpinteria to Refugio

Created by tour leader, Johnny Lam, this route has camping available at both ends, in Carpinteria — where riders can easily get to by Amtrak or car with many amenities including a great coffee shop and various restaurants — and Refugio, where the hiker biker site is given the best plot of land looking over a beach and the Pacific Ocean.

LA to Catalina Island

Created by local transportation planner Danielle Parnes, this is a fun bikepacking trip full of beautiful beaches, mountains, and wildlife. It’s relatively easy to get to from L.A. via a ferry departing near Long Beach but feels like a faraway destination. Campsites on this route are only accessible by hiking or biking, making for calm, quiet evenings, and the dirt roads have few cars.

Santa Monicas Overnight

Also created by Danielle Parnes, the Santa Monicas Overnight route leaves from West LA and goes up fire roads into the Santa Monica Mountains, camping in Topanga State Park, and then down to the beach, with a mix of city, desert mountains, and ocean views and swims. This route starts and ends at Expo line light rail stations in West LA, for easy access from downtown or other parts of the city.

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Streets For All announced a call to remove the three-mile 90 Freeway in Marina del Rey, converting the remaining stub of the otherwise unbuilt highway into a linear park.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1691892199338951011

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Good point.

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Remember these tables from a tweet by traffic planner and co-host of The Planning Commission Podcast Don Kostelec the next time someone complains about the great ebike menace.

And remind them what the real danger is.

 

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Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić one of us, riding his bike to a horse track in his native Serbia.

https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/1691492802235133952

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

A British news producer was slammed for comments comparing 20 mph speed limits for motorists to bicyclists using training wheels, while sarcastically suggesting that maybe cars should have giant beanbags attached to them, as well. Actually, I might be in favor of that one.

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

A man carrying a cross somehow managed to ride his bicycle through burned-out Lahaina, Hawaii, despite being closed to the public after the town was destroyed by a wildfire last week.

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Local 

An op-ed from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider calls for banning cars from streets around schools, which would greatly improve safety for kids, and everyone else.

The Los Angeles Times considers the benefits and challenges of living carfree in the City of Cars, uh, Angels.

The Eastsider reports a final design has been chosen for the 12-acre Paseo del Rio greenway being created on the former Taylor Yard railroad property next to the LA River.

 

State

Sad news from Ridgecrest, where a 48-year old man was killed when he apparently struck the center median with his ebike; police suspect he was riding under the influence.

This is who we share the road with. A 71-year old woman was arrested for vehicular manslaughter and failing to yield to pedestrians after killing a four-year old girl crossing a San Francisco street with her parents, and critically injuring her father. But at least she stayed at the scene, so there’s that.

The partner of fallen San Francisco cyclist David Sexton is still looking for answers, over a month after he was killed in a hit-and-run crash in the East Bay city of Richmond. A tragic reminder that most California hit-and-runs are never solved. 

This is the cost of traffic violence. According to the LA Times, 20 bears have been killed by motorists in Lake Tahoe, and nearly as many seriously injured.

 

National

NACTO calls out six things to look for in the forthcoming revision of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, aka MUTCD, which sets the standard for traffic control laws and devices in the US, including elimination of the deadly 85th Percentile Rule.

The bike industry is rallying around a pair of bike shops destroyed in the Lahaina wildfire.

An Albuquerque NM man faces a murder charge for allegedly stabbing another man 15 times in a dispute over a stolen bike.

My Colorado hometown newspaper examines the causes of bike and pedestrian crashes in the platinum level bicycle-friendly community, as bicycling collisions trend downward, but remain the most common crashes affecting vulnerable road users — including another one injured by an SUV driver just two days ago.

No surprise here, as the website for Colorado’s new ebike rebate program crashed due to overwhelming demand. Meanwhile, California’s program still suffers from failure to launch.

Four years after Cape Cod voters rejected plans to extend a 25.5-mile bikeway, there are still no options to replace the proposal.

Bizarre tragedy in Mississippi, where a 64-year old man was killed when a trailer being towed by a pickup broke loose and fell off an Interstate Highway flyover, striking the man as he rode his bike on the shoulder of a another freeway down below.

De Soto County in central Florida is the deadliest county for bicyclists in the nation’s deadliest state.

 

International

Ouch. A new international report finds that senior leadership within the bike industry remains overwhelmingly white, male and heterosexual, and that efforts towards equality, diversity and inclusion were described as “tokenistic and shallow” at best, while revealing “cultures of harassment and unfair treatment.”

A Scottish man is called the “unluckiest cyclist in Scotland” when he was run down by a driver for the third time in two years, but at least this driver stopped, unlike the first two. Although considering he survived all three, I’d call him pretty damn lucky.

Missing Iranian cyclist Mohammad Ganjkhanlou has reportedly been granted asylum in the UK, a week after he disappeared following the world championships, where he placed 66th in the time trial.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly examines the nascent National Cycling League, and says there may be hope for its fan-first format.

I want to be like them when I grow up. A pair of 81 and 79-year old men will complete in Maine’s Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, 50 years after competing in the inaugural race up the tallest mountain in the Northwest. Meanwhile, a man who’s suffered from Parkinson’s disease for nearly five decades will once again compete in the annual race, after finishing the difficult climb in just under one hour and twelve minutes last year.

Former Syracuse basketball player Terrence Roberts suffered three broken ribs and a collapsed lung after crashing with another bicyclist on a June training ride, just three days after the 6’10” former forward completed in his first crit with LA’s Major Motion Cycling team.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the 122-year old, first-ever motorized bicycle prototype goes on display, even if it is a replica. How to tell when a roadie rides a mountain bike.

And how cars took over American streets, explained.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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