Tag Archive for Gavin Newsom

Bass makes production of signing 2 CicLAvias worth of Metro open streets funding, and Newsom signs bill defining ebikes and e-motos

October 1, 2026 / / No comments

Welcome to the worldwide A Week Without Driving.

Or as I call it, Thursday.

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After ignoring bicycles since the last election cycle — pun intended — Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Karen Bass made a theatrical production of signing a resolution dedicating a whopping $1 million for CicLAvia and other open streets events.

According to LA Magazine,

“As a lifelong biker and native Angeleno, I know how important open and slow streets events like CicLAvia are to our city and the L.A. region. These events connect communities, bring people together, support local businesses, and help us reimagine public spaces in the second-largest city in the country,” said Mayor Bass.

Which is enough to fund two — count ’em, two — CicLAvias. But it’s better than nothing, which is what Metro’s budget originally included.

And speaking of which, CicCLAvia returns to the Heart of Downtown on October 11th, celebrating 16 years and one day since the first one on 10-10-10.

And yes, I still have the T-shirt. But either it shrank, or I didn’t.

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On the last possible day for California bill signings, Gavin Newsom signed Encinitas Senator Catherine Blakespear’s SB 1167, defining the difference between ebikes and e-motos.

Which Streetsblog’s Damien Newton called the best of all the many ebike bills debated by the legislature this year.

Here’s how PeopleForBikes explained it.

SB 1167 establishes a clearer distinction between legal electric bicycles and higher-powered vehicles that are not e-bikes under California law. The legislation reinforces the state’s existing 750-watt and maximum speed limits for e-bikes while strengthening requirements for how e-bikes and other electric vehicles are labeled, marketed, sold, and operated.

Now let’s hope the cops and press read it, and stop confusing the two every chance they get.

Meanwhile, another bill signed by the governor places a 10 mph speed limit on sidewalks — presumably for ebikes and e-scooters, as well as regular bicycles — and allows local authorities to set speed limits on bike paths and trails.

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Fox News considers what sets America’s greenest cities apart, as WalletHub ranks Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco as the top three in a Bay Area sweep.

San Diego is the top SoCal city at six, followed by Irvine at eight. Meanwhile, Los Angeles checks in at a relatively lowly, and overrated, 24, with green Long Beach just two notches higher.

And what sets the greenest cities apart is they’re all in blue states, which probably isn’t what Fox News had in mind.

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Thanks to Megan for forwarding a flyer for a rally in memory of two bike riders killed on the same street on or near UC Davis, as she says the university “punts” on safety measures, as well as responsibility.

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And credit the very prolific Megan again with forwarding video of a student-led ride in Kragujevac, Serbia as they launch an anti-corruption campaign in advance of elections later this month.

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

No bias here, as a TikTok user complains about being momentarily stuck behind two Colorado bicyclists riding in the roadway next to a “perfectly good” pathway, even though the bike riders aren’t doing a damn thing wrong, and he’s illegally filming them with a handheld phone.

@motorfeed

Cyclists are so annoying. 🤡

♬ original sound – MotorFeed

No bias here, either, as Megan again forwards video of New York residents alarmed by a block completely taken over by ebikes, while failing to even notice the line of cars parked across the street.

Two real rocket scientists sharing an ebike in York, England recorded themselves assaulting a bike rider by trying to push him off his bicycle as they passed — apparently not realizing they were just creating evidence for their own prosecution.

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

The woman hit by a bike rider near Boston University on Tuesday remains in critical condition, but is expended to survive with non-life-threatening injuries.

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Local 

Nice to see our old friend Kent Strumpell in the pages of the Los Angeles Times, arguing that the best approach to bike networks is building them out as quickly as possible.

 

State

San Francisco Streetsblog reports a driver killed a pedestrian at an intersection where a fully funded safety project was supposed to be finished three years ago.

 

National

The bike counter on Seattle’s Fremont Bridge just hit 1 million trips so far this year.

A Washington State bike rider was found badly injured in the bushes next to the roadway, with “at least” six broken ribs, broken jaw, a broken eye socket, broken clavicle, several abrasions and a brain bleed, but the cops don’t think he was a hit-and-run victim, insisting he said there wasn’t a car involved, even though all he remembers is waking up in the hospital. Which is pretty fucked up for just falling at less than 12 mph. 

Bicyclists want safer streets and expanded bike lanes in Louisville, Kentucky. Just like bike riders pretty much everywhere else. 

New York’s city council considers a ridiculous 23 separate bills to rein in ebike riders, or “the scourge of lawless riders” plaguing the city, according to the Post. However, New York’s delivery riders just fear the bills will result in more police stops and racial profiling.

Around 60 bicyclists occupied one lane of DC’s Connecticut Ave during the morning rush hour to call for the protected bike lanes they were promised, until the mayor dropped the plan two years ago citing parking and access for emergency vehicles — even though an ambulance didn’t have any problem passing the protestors.

Speaking of DC, Trump’s plans to turn a popular public golf course into upscale PGA-caliber links could jeopardize a beachfront roadway popular with bicyclists and runners by extending the course to the water’s edge.

New Orleans will offer rebates up to $1,000 on ebike purchases, with the first round limited to 100 people.

 

International

A London bicyclist records a taxi driver squeezing past him on busy Oxford Street, which is set to be pedestrianized later this month.

A British pro cycling site offers a guide to Nova Scotia’s nearly 200-mile Cabot Trail, saying it appears to be ideal for bicycling until you consider the steep grades. Which is the same problem I had with freshman algebra.

Taiwan’s Minister of Transportation and Communications biked a part of the island’s 633-mile Cycling Route No. 2 with other government officials, which differs from Cycling Route No. 1 in allowing people to ride at their own pace. No shit.

Road.cc considers why the West wants Chinese mountain bikes, and the Chinese want Western ones.

 

Competitive Cycling

Slovakian National Team masseur Vladimir Kovacik evidently rubbed pros the right way, saying many top cyclists came up to congratulate him for making it through the first 100 kilometers of the men’s elite road race at the recent World Championships, after he was pressed into service when none of the team members was able to make it to the starting line.

What do WorldTour cyclists think of Artificial Intelli…excuse me, Super Intelligence? We may never know, since I refuse to pay extra on top of my NY Times subscription to get The Athletic, otherwise known as the Time’s sports section. 

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can bid on an actual replica bike owned by the late, great Pee-Wee Herman and his adult theater-wanking alter-ego, Paul Ruebens. New York’s plan to stop homeless people from cycling between the streets and hospitals apparently has nothing to do with transportation.

And shaming the Eveready Bunny by signing a new pro contract at 50.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

LA River path costs double while Valley dog park suffers, last day for CA bill signing, and the fight goes on over deadly Forest Lawn Drive

September 30, 2026 / / 3 comments

The good news is that no one riding a bicycle appears to have been killed in Southern California yesterday, for only the fourth time in the last eight days. 

The bad news is that a report on the Citizen app showed the aftermath of a bike rider struck by a driver in my own Hollywood neighborhood yesterday, at Sunset and Detroit a little before 4 pm.

The video showed police closing Detroit to investigate, which is never a good sign, likely indicating a serious collision.

So fingers crossed.

Rendering of West Valley LA River bike path project shamelessly stolen from LA Streetsblog. And I’ll try to catch up with all the recent email submissions in tomorrow’s post.

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I hate to say it, but she’s got a point.

Writing for CityWatch, Miriam Preissel says she continues to fight the completion of the many named LA River bike path through the Sepulveda Basin, not because she hates bikes, but because she questions how the price tag ballooned to nearly $100 million.

I am not anti-bike. A safe, continuous RiverWay through Los Angeles is a good idea. But taxpayers should still be able to ask a basic question: How did less than three miles of bike and pedestrian improvements become a project approaching $100 million, while five major undercrossings once included in the plan were pushed into the future?

That is where this stops being just a bike-path story and becomes a public-accountability story.

That’s nearly double the original estimate.

Preissel also questions why the bike path has to take a chunk out of the San Fernando Valley’s only dog park, located in Balboa Park.

For years, I have asked a simple question: Why not keep the path on the south side?

The City has never provided what should settle the issue once and for all: a side-by-side analysis comparing the north-side and south-side routes, including cost, engineering constraints, available width, environmental effects and recreational impacts…

In 2023, the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas Steering Committee questioned the north-side alignment and said it could find “no supportable justification” for moving approximately a mile of the path from the south side to the north.

The committee also noted that the proposed north-side route would run only a few hundred feet from the existing Orange Line bike path along Victory Boulevard and questioned whether existing bicycle connections might provide much of the same transportation function. It also raised concerns about future floodplain and habitat restoration.

Then there’s the question of lighting, both on the bike path and in the dog park.

The RiverWay is expected to include roughly 233 lights. The dog park still has none.

The park closes at sundown. During the shorter days of the year, that means many working residents may not get home in time to use it. For apartment dwellers, the dog park is not merely a recreational luxury. It may be the only large, legal place nearby where their dogs can run off leash.

Yet the park continues to struggle with basics: irrigation, bare ground, supplies and routine maintenance. At the same time, a nearly $100 million transportation project is moving forward next door.

I wish I had the answers.

I suspect part of it is because construction on the bike path is paid for with grant money, while the dog park comes out of city funds. But if Los Angeles is ever to become the great city it professes and pretends to be, we’ve got to be able to do the basics.

Chop wood, carry water.

This city is failing, and has continued to fail for the past decade, to do the simple things that make a city livable.

Fix potholes. Pick up trash. Get the drug users and people with mental illnesses off the streets, and into housing and treatment programs. And for God’s sake, light and maintain the damn dog parks.

We may have a spiffy new bike trail to show off to the world at the ’28 Olympics, but it will only hide the fact that we’re failing as a city.

Yes, I want all 52 miles of the LA River bike path finally finished, from the headwaters of the Los Angeles River to its mouth to the Pacific in Long Beach.

But I also want a livable city.

Is that really too much to ask?

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Today is the last day for Governor Newsom to sign a number of outstanding bike and traffic safety bills. Anything left unsigned at the end of the day automatically becomes a veto.

Meanwhile, CalMatters looks at the four DUI laws that Newsom signed last week.

Now let’s focus on getting something passed in the next session allowing DAs to charge hit-and-run drivers with second-degree murder for making a conscious decision to flee rather than helping the victim, or at least calling for help.

Is that really too much to ask?

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LA Taco looks at the dispute over improving safety on Forest Lawn Drive.

Which isn’t really a dispute over safety, or even bike lanes. But whether a city street should be kept dangerous to placate the wealthy owners of Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai cemeteries.

Twitter post

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At least Culver City can get things done. Even if it takes a couple decades.

Twitter post

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As a side note, I revised that Spanish language version of my ghost bike t-shirt to make it brighter and highlight the bike, after realizing the previous version was a tad too dark.

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

A 34-year old North Dakota mother faces multiple charges after allegedly driving her car at a group of children at a reported 55-60 mph before swerving away at the last minute, allegedly because the kids hid her son’s bicycle as a prank before returning it; she says she was only doing 35 to 40 mph, which does not make it better.

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

The arch-right Daily Caller reports that bicyclists berated bystanders tending to the father who was struck and killed by a bike rider while walking in New York’s Central Park. Which is something no one else seems to have reported, so take it with a grain of salt, if not the whole bag.

A Singapore man calls the police after a teen riding with a group of boys accidentally crashed into his bicycle and apparently didn’t apologize sufficiently. He then tells the group they’re “kind of pathetic,” to which one of the kids answered “thank you for the compliment.” I’ll leave it to you to decide which side belongs here. 

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Local 

Volunteers with People’s Vision Zero once again embarrassed city officials by painting their own crosswalk where a 16-year old boy was killed by a driver in South LA last week, and his sister seriously injured. As we noted above, a city that can’t do basic things like install crosswalks will never be great, and barely be livable. 

Jim sends word that Palos Verdes Drive South will be fucked up for sewer repair work until next February, which may block access to the “switchbacks” on PVD East.

 

State

LAist says ebikes are Orange County teens’ ticket to independence, but questions if they’re too dangerous — then actually takes the time to explain the legal classifications for ebikes, noting that only 12% of ebikes used by middle and high schools in Marin and San Mateo counties fit into the legal classification system. And no, that’s not data from Orange County, but there’s probably a correlation there somewhere, and the same goes for LA County beach cities.

The LA Times reports on All Kids on Bikes classes in the Inland Empire, with Rancho Cucamonga kindergarten kids learning how to ride in gym class.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies are cracking down on bicycle and ebike violations in the Ojai Valley, as if the people on two wheels were somehow the biggest danger on the streets.

Road.cc says the phenomenon of Oakland’s scraper bikes continues. I saw my first scraper bike outside a Hollywood Target a few weeks back, although purists would argue it wasn’t a real scraper because it wasn’t in Oakland.

Mill Valley is building a citywide culture of bicycling by focusing efforts on getting elementary students at one school to bike to class, and measuring the results.

Horrible news from Sonoma County, where a woman’s body was discovered in a ditch eleven hours after a hit-and-run driver left her bicycle more than a mile from the crash site. And no, the detail about eleven hours isn’t in this Patch article, but the more detailed information is hidden behind the local newspapers’ paywalls. 

 

National

She gets it. A Salt Lake City op-ed says bicycling deaths like the writer’s father’s aren’t anomalies, but rather, the bloody cost of our car-obsessed world.

Iowa Democrats are calling the Republican candidate for governor a carpetbagger, after the man’s quickly deleted Strava account shows he actually lives across the border in Kansas.

A Boston woman suffered life-threatening injuries when she was struck by a bicyclist while walking near Boston University; the rider was also injured, but not as seriously.

The wacky New York Post says the city must rein in ebikes, arguing that ebikes should offer no speed advantage over regular bikes. Apparently forgetting that a skilled rider on fast bike can easily top 30 mph, which tops the maximum speed allowed by legal ebikes.

The honeymoon appears to be over for New York Mayor Mamdani, as Streetsblog contends he is allowing a street to be a fatality waiting to happen.

Two North Carolina men in their 40s were killed while sharing an ebike when they were struck by a 22-year old man; the driver was not arrested or cited, despite a history of five moving violations in three counties since 2022.

Electrek says a ticket issued to an 11-year old Florida boy for riding an illegal e-motorbike shows we don’t need more ebike laws, because the ones we already have are pretty good.

 

International

Momentum surprisingly offers a what appears to be a new story based on 2026 PeopleForBikes data highlighting ten North American cities quietly getting better for bicycling, including our own Long Beach.

The success of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge is reinvigorating historic neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, as bicyclists fill the streets, businesses boom and forgotten landmarks are being rediscovered.

A group of Toronto doctors, nurses and other front-line healthcare workers denounced the province’s move to rip out the city’s popular bike lanes, citing the risk of traffic violence.

A 69-year old Canadian man claimed the record as the oldest man to circumnavigate the earth by bicycle, riding 18,600 miles in 324 days in honor of his late wife.

If you build it, they will come. Gloomy Glasgow, Scotland saw a 74% jump in bicycling rates over just a two-year period after investing, and continuing to invest, in new bikeways.

Thousand’s of bicyclists turned out in Birmingham, England for a viral DJ-led drum and bass bike ride, saying it displayed the dangers bicyclists face in the city.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 15-year old kid riding an illegal e-moto was ordered to pay just the equivalent of $652 after crashing into a 46-year old father riding a bicycle, leaving the victim hospitalized with life-changing injuries after eight full months.

Spain introduces new bicycling rules allowing bicyclists to take the primary position in the lane and requiring drivers to take more care passing bicycles; however, the law now requires all bike riders to wear a helmet under all circumstances.

An Indian travel website offers a slideshow of the world’s ten most beautiful bicycling routes, including our own PCH on the California coast, which only turns really deadly once it reaches Ventura County.

A man from Kazakhstan is 100 days into a 3,200-mile bicycle journey from the country’s capital to Australia.

Beijing opened a new 21-mile section of what will eventually form a nearly 30 mile greenway on both sides of the Qing River.

 

Competitive Cycling

Outside profiles Brandon McNulty, who most Americans never heard of until he won the men’s world championship last week. And still haven’t.

It was a double victory for the US at the worlds, as American phenom Ashlin Barry became the first-ever Yank to win in the men’s U-23 race.

 

Finally…

That feeling when rising gas prices lead a ’90s pop group to trade their tour bus for Lycra and bicycles. Your next bike could be a Bugatti, for a mere $27,000 — or you could buy your toddler a Tesla balance bike for just $225. Your old bike could be someone’s new prosthetic leg.

And it’s probably not the best idea to punch someone in the chest at a bike lane meeting and call her a “stupid cunt” when you’re an elected semi-city official.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Newsom keeps Forest Lawn Drive deadly, Kings County judge gets lousy misdemeanor, and Metro find $1 million under cushions for open streets

September 21, 2026 / / No comments

May you have an easy fast for all marking the Day of Atonement today. 

And Jewish or not, we all have something to atone for. 

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Good news and bad from Sacramento.

On the good side, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ AB 2168.

The bill, which was sponsored by Calbike, is designed to strengthens California’s Active Transportation Program by improving how bicycle and pedestrian projects are chosen and funded, to deliver more connected, accessible walking and biking networks

The bad news is that Newsom also signed SB 194, a last-minute, apparently lobbyist-written bill enabling the state to interfere on behalf of a couple of wealthy cemeteries to keep Forest Lawn Drive deadly. The new law in designed to make it much harder to implement a shovel-ready Complete Streets plan that was supposed to start earlier this year.

Newsom should have had the integrity to veto the law, which was so narrowly written that Forest Lawn Drive is the only street in the entire state it applies to.

Then there’s this response to Street For All’s original tweet. Which tells you a lot about the kind of people we’re dealing with here.

Twitter post

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Life is cheap in Kings County, where County Superior Court Judge Kendra Weber was charged with a lousy misdemeanor, without gross negligence, for killing a 63-year old man riding a bicycle last year.

Weber allegedly hit him from behind after failing to give a safe passing distance.

Yet somehow, the California Attorney General’s office doesn’t even have the decency to mention the victim’s name. But I suppose we should probably just be grateful a judge was charge at all.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

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Streetsblog’s Joe Linton visits new protected bike lanes in Griffith Park, Hollywood and Arcadia. And writes that Metro has identified $1 million in unspent funds that can be devoted to funding open streets next year.

Metro had zeroed out any funding for open streets events that were not directly tied to this year’s World Cup and the ’28 Los Angeles Olympics, but Supervisor Lindsey Horvath insisted they find some money for next year, later joined by LA Mayor Karen Bass as she struggles for re-election.

Although that amount of funding will cover just two to three events. But that’s better than nothing. Hopefully other sponsors will step up to host more events.

Speaking of which, CicLAvia will return to the popular Heart of LA event in DTLA, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, Echo Park and the Arts District on October 11th. And the Santa Barbara website that brought it up even has the good taste to illustrate the story with a photo of a corgi.

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WeHo Online talks with the attorney representing the family of fallen bicyclist Blake Ackerman in their lawsuit against the city.

And it’s definitely worth taking a few minutes to read the lengthy piece. Take this brief segment, as the city takes the classic defense tactic of blaming the city, and/or claiming Ackerman’s death was an act of God.

The lawsuit isn’t claiming West Hollywood should have somehow predicted the event. It argues the City knew Fountain was dangerous, said so repeatedly and still did not make the changes it had been considering for years.

“They’ve become local experts since losing their son,” Gammill said of the family. “When things feel avoidable, preventable, it’s harder to swallow.”

“If lightning strikes, that’s just a fact of life. But when it’s not so much a lightning strike and it feels more like somebody left a live electrical cord laying out, that’s just harder to swallow.”

In other words, it may not be their fault that a hit-and-run driver plowed into Ackerman’s bicycle at Fountain and Gardner. But it is their fault that they’ve known for years, if not decades, how dangerous the street is and did nothing to make it safer.

That’s the unforgivable part.

And I will go to my grave blaming myself for not fighting harder to hold the city to account, before it was too late.

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Speaking of the need for atonement, there’s not a pit in hell deep enough for the 23-year old Irvine man who struck a man in a wheelchair in Long Beach, and left him there in the crosswalk to die.

Allegedly.

Ethan Chung was booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter. He was apparently arrest later the same day, following the crash at 12:35 am Friday.

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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 driver gets angry with a bike rider for not using an expensive new bike lane — even though the work isn’t finished and it’s not even obvious what it is yet.

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

A Singapore teenager has been charged with a rash act causing death after the 16-year old boy crashed his bike into a 74-year pedestrian, killing the man.

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Local 

Pasadena’s new biking and walking plan is now open for comments, with a goal of achieving zero traffic deaths. In other words, Vision Zero by any other name.

The Crescenta Valley Weekly looks at last week’s call for Los Angeles to declare a traffic violence state of emergency, which seems to have fallen on the usual deaf ears at the city council and mayor’s office. After all, you don’t want to piss off driving voters in an election year just to save a few hundred lives. 

 

State

A 20-year old Orange County man was the first in line to return his ebike at the OC DA’s recent ebike buyback event, after spending months on life support following a crash.

A Helendale man was arrested in Irvine with a stolen bike and an outstanding felony warrant from Riverside County, but faces only 6 months in county and a $1,000 fine unless the bike turns out to have a value over $950.

The San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, is building seven bikeway projects totaling 21 miles, annoying at least some drivers in the process. On the other hand, SANDAG followed LA’s lead in returning $17.1 million in unspent Active Transportation funds for four projects after they couldn’t meet state deadlines. Except Los Angeles had to give back over $100 million.

A large group of San Diego bicyclists turned out on Saturday riding everything from pedal bikes and mountain bikes to dirt bikes to honor 14-year old Owen Harris after the boy was killed by a driver while riding his ebike in Pacific Beach last weekend.

A bike rider in Ventura suffered “significant” injuries when they were struck by a driver on Telegraph Road Friday. But the local paper doesn’t want you to know about it, hiding the story behind a paywall, even though it’s likely based on a public report from the city police.

Palo Alto will be moving forward with a pair of long-delayed bicycle projects.

A paywalled story from the San Francisco Standard looks at the city’s alt-cycling movement, described as “an anti-optimized ethos” emerging “from ‘broke people riding old mountain bikes’,” exemplified by a ‘zine called Calling In Sick. Or as it’s called anywhere else, just normal people riding cheap bikes.

 

National

Life is cheap in Tucson, Arizona, where a driver faces another lousy misdemeanor for killing a bike rider in a left-cross collision.

He — or maybe she — gets it. A Salt Lake City letter writer says whether acting as a bicyclist, pedestrian or diver, their safety depends on whether the road itself is poorly planned, or others on the road are acting unsafely.

Great idea. An Oklahoma bike tour took riders through some of the state’s historic Black communities over the weekend.

In a touching story, a group of bicyclists in College Station, Texas rode Saturday to remember Kerry Snow-Alley, a 47-year old woman who refused to let her stage 4 breast cancer define her, describing her as “a beast” on her bike but adding “Off the bike, she was generous, relentlessly positive, and the kind of person who quietly showed up for the people around her;” she died from the disease September 10th.

Two residents of a Wisconsin religious mission rode through rain, chilly temperatures and steep hills yesterday on a 101-mile bike ride to “celebrate their sobriety, express their faith and raise awareness for the program that helped them turn their lives around.”

It only took 30 years, but Minnesota finally finished a 165-mile bike path, one of the longest paved bike trails in the US.

A kindhearted Indiana cop dug into his own pocket to buy a kid a new bike, after the boy got stiffed for a grass cutting job.

Tragic news from New York’s East Village, where a 15-year old girl was killed by the driver of a garbage truck while sharing a bikeshare bike with a 16-year old companion; she appeared to be riding in the handlebar basket when the 57-year old driver hit them both while they were riding in a crosswalk.

Gothamist offers a look at plans for New York’s re-imagined Park Avenue, which will finally be more of one.

A Georgia man ‘fessed up to shooting another man in an argument over the victim’s bicycle, but there’s no word on why they were fighting about it. Regardless, there is no bicycle on Earth that’s worth a human life. Just let it go, already. 

 

International

A Canadian woman became an advocate for safer streets after her husband was killed riding his bicycle; 20 years later, she’s still honoring his legacy by working to keep us all safer. The sad thing is that she still has to do, because 20 years later things still haven’t improved.

An English woman was knocked off her bicycle by a legally blind driver, suffering a broken leg, heel and several toes, as well as lacerations and a fractured elbow, because the man “forgot” to put on his glasses before getting behind the wheel.

The co-chair of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh’s air pollution working group is now advising Scottish bicyclists to wear close-fitting masks when they ride, arguing that bike riders “hugely increased” their intake of such pollutants compared to drivers and walkers by breathing more heavily. Although another study showed that drivers breathe in much more pollutants than bicyclists, because the smog gets trapped inside their cars.

The co-founder of British fashion brand Mint Velvet remembers how she “just crumbled” when she learned her son wouldn’t survive after being struck by a driver while riding his bike ten years ago.

Four out of five Dutch bicyclists say they feel less safe now sharing bikeways with fat bikes and ebikes.

Now we know what killed 36-year old German ultracyclist Max Riese, who crashed into a deer on a high-speed descent near his home in Salzburg, Austria. 

Our old friends Melissa and Chris Bruntlett, now Dutch-based authors and mobility experts, visit Estonia and observe both the progress, and lack thereof, in the country’s two largest cities.

Istanbul’s Visa Maximiles Black L’Etape Türkiye by Tour de France 2026 gave riders the rare opportunity to through two continents on a single 20 to 60 mile route. Although it probably takes longer to say the name than it would to ride the short course. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser threw herself a party for her 36th birthday by winning a second-consecutive women’s elite time trial world title on Sunday. Meanwhile, Remco Evenepoel doubled Reusser’s record, making it four in a row by taking the men’s world time trial title, also on Sunday.

 

Finally…

Now you can own the only three-wheeled e-car prototype built before ebike maker SONDORS gave up on the project. Lime is now willing to rat you out to the cops if you misbehave.

And no, there’s no hypocrisy at all in demanding that bike riders pay a tax for using roads, when owing the government $20 million in unpaid taxes and fees.

Why do you ask?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Yaroslavsky decries traffic violence, LAPD waits 5 months to ask for hit-and-run help, and just 4 CA safety bills signed into law

October 15, 2025 / / Comments Off on Yaroslavsky decries traffic violence, LAPD waits 5 months to ask for hit-and-run help, and just 4 CA safety bills signed into law
Day 288 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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At least now I can name the dog.

CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky discusses the hit-and-run crash that severely injured one of her staff members and killed the staffer’s beloved corgi — something I mentioned here last week — saying walking shouldn’t have to feel like an act of courage.

And yet, far too often, it does.

Last Sunday morning, someone driving a pickup truck struck a member of our team in a hit-and-run while she was walking her dog in the Miracle Mile neighborhood. She sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized with multiple fractures for several days. She is now in stable condition and recovering. Tragically, her beloved dog, Kobe, was killed in the crash.

Kobe was part of our office family. His playful energy and easy affection brought smiles to everyone who met him, whether in the office or out at community events like CicLAvia, where he was a familiar face. Our office feels emptier without him, and our thoughts are with our colleague as she recovers from both her injuries and this heartbreaking loss.
The driver has since turned herself in, but this devastating incident is a reminder that far too many Angelenos are hurt or killed on our streets every year. In 2024 alone, more than 300 people lost their lives to traffic violence, many while simply walking or biking in their own neighborhoods. Behind every death or injury is a family changed forever, a community left grieving.

As I mentioned, the victim is a friend of my wife’s and mine, and Kobe was probably our corgi’s best friend.

They were always together, every time we saw her. And our corgi would run to give her kisses, and around Kobe a like a lovesick puppy.

Which she probably was.

To say I’ve been devastated by this whole damn thing is probably the understatement of the year.

The most heartbreaking part was when she posted news of Kobe’s passing on Instagram, saying her final memory of the dog she adored was staring into one his eyes after the crash, both unable to move to comfort the other.

And if that doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, you’re a stronger person than I am.

There’s no word yet on whether the driver has been charged. But at most, she’ll face a maximum of four years and a fine up to $10,000 for felony hit-and-run causing serious injury. Which LA prosecutors will probably bargain down to misdemeanor to get a guilty plea, unless someone puts pressure on them.

And here in California, the hit-and-run murder of her dog is just a misdemeanor property crime.

He deserves so much better.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Rest in peace.

………

Seriously?

The LAPD is finally getting around to asking for the public’s help to find a hit-and-run driver, only five months after the fact.

Talk about letting the trail go cold.

The 64-year old victim, who hasn’t been identified, was reportedly riding on Hoover Street at 20th around 3:15 am on May 28th, when he was hit head-on in a left cross by a driver turning left onto Hoover.

Or maybe the driver was going west on Hoover Street and was making a left to go west on 20th Street, striking the victim as he rode across 20th Street in the crosswalk.

Who knew that both Hoover and 20th could go east and west?

What makes far more sense is if the victim was riding south on Hoover, and was struck by the northbound driver turning left onto 20th. Although you’d think that after five months the cops could get the damn details right.

The suspect vehicle, described only as a white sedan, was last seen headed west on 20th Street toward the 10 Freeway west on-ramp.

The victim was hospitalized with severe injuries. There’s no information on his current condition.

Anyone with information is urged to call Detective Holmes of the LAPD’s West Traffic Division at 213/473-0216.

And yes, there is a standing $25,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in any serious injury hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.

This is yet another reminder that the LAPD still refuses to use the hit-and-run alert systems provided by both the city and the state, both of which were patterned on Colorado’s successful system that has helped the Colorado state police reach a nearly 100% hit-and-run clearance rate.

Which compares somewhat favorably with the LAPD’s abysmal 1% clearance rate.

………

Streetsblog catches us up on the precious few bike and traffic safety bills that actually made it through the legislature and were signed by the governor this year, including —

  • SB 720 making it easier to install and enforce red light cams
  • AB 366 indefinitely extending the operation of breathalyzers for drivers found guilty of two DUIs
  • AB 383 lowering speed limits in school zones to 20 mph
  • SB 71 extends CEQA exemptions for bike, pedestrian, and transit projects past 2030

Governor Newsom also promised to sign a bill next year requiring interlock devices for anyone convicted of DUI, which would be a great step forward.

Maybe next year they could finally do something to stop hit-and-run, too. Because the LAPD sure as hell isn’t.

https://twitter.com/StreetsR4Every1/status/1977883748474794462

………

No surprise here.

A new study from an Austrian university found that reducing residential speed limits from 50km/h to 30 km/h — roughly 31 mph to 18 mph — would protect bicyclists while having little or no effect on traffic.

Reducing the speed limit to 30km/h across residential areas doubled the amount of bike travel on low-stress streets – creating a safer environment for children and less confident cyclists, said the study’s lead researcher, Dr Afshin Jafari.

“Slowing traffic makes bicycle riding less stressful, encouraging more people to choose bikes as a safe and viable mode of transport,” Jafari said…

Meanwhile, the study – which was published in Cycling and Micromobility Research – found car travel was barely affected by the 30km/h limit, as it was only applied on local streets rather than the busier roads – such as main roads or highways – that were designed to maximise the flow of traffic.

………

Now that’s a service dog.

When drivers fail to stop so a blind man can cross the street, his guide dog goes out and gives them a piece of his mind, telling them to stop in no uncertain terms.

Twitter post

………

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

A writer for Cycling Weekly says he was passed so badly by a truck driver that an inch the wrong way would have meant he wouldn’t still be here to tell the story — and that’s normal for bicyclists, who are expected to just accept it. As the bard put it, “‘Tis true, ’tis pity, And pity ’tis, ’tis true.”

No bias here. An Irish TV commentator accuses “mouthy” wealthy cargo bike owners for a property crisis brought on by soaring home prices by trying to “ringfence cities as active travel playpens for the better off,” and forcing an entire generation to live at home with their parents. Although that doesn’t explain why we’re having the same problem over here. 

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

Alameda parents raised safety concerns after a teenager was injured crashing into another bike rider when he tried to pop a wheelie while riding to school.

A woman in Cape Cod, Massachusetts called for more regulation after she was struck by a ped-assist ebike rider, and somehow impaled under her eye by the handlebars.

………

Local 

President Trump threatened to move next year’s World Cup out of Boston, and take the 2028 Olympics away from Los Angeles, ostensibly because of potential safety concerns. Or more likely, because he just doesn’t like us, never mind that he doesn’t have the authority to do that.

Pasadena residents strongly backed slow speed greenways on El Molino Ave, Wilson Ave, Sierra Bonita Ave and Craig Ave, with over 1,000 people signing petitions backing them, and 18 local organizations endorsing the projects, as well as 200 emails and around 35 speakers who supported them at Monday’s council meeting.

Next door in South Pasadena, Huntington Drive and Fremont Ave are set to get Complete Streets makeovers, including lane reductions and lower speed limits, along with bikeways and better sidewalks.

 

State

Ocean Beach installed a stone memorial and plaque memorializing OB resident and UPS employee Steven Krueger on the bike path near Robb Field Skate Park; Krueger was killed when a plane crashed into his mail truck in 2021.

Sad news from Merced, where a 46-year old woman was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bike Monday afternoon; the driver was arrested after he was captured on surveillance video, despite trying to run away from the cops.

 

National

You’ve got to be kidding. US House Speaker Mike Johnson says Portland’s “emergency” naked bike ride was “the most threatening thing” he’s seen yet, adding “I mean, it’s getting really ugly;” meanwhile, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley applauded Portland residents for “demonstrating with joy and whimsy.” Although if Johnson thinks that was ugly, he hasn’t seem me naked on a bike.

As expected, 18-year old Jzamir Keys pled guilty to second-degree murder in the death of former Bell, California police chief Andreas Probst as he was riding a bicycle in Las Vegas, with a sentence of 18-to-life; Keys was a passenger in the car who laughed and filmed the murder as Probst was intentionally run down by 20-year-old Jesus Ayala, who pled guilty last week.

Heartbreaking news from Kansas City, where a ten-year old girl was killed by a van driver in a left cross collision while riding her bike in a crosswalk with the green light on her way to school.

He gets it. A Cambridge, Massachusetts letter writer says bike safety will be his voting priority in the upcoming city election. Which is exactly what we all should do. 

 

International

A professional bike tester writes that there are six things he never worries about when setting out for a ride, from tire pressure and chain lube to on-bike nutrition.

The Guardian offers “expert” advice on cleaning and maintaining your bike, including a tip that you could save hundreds just by giving your bike a bath once a fortnight. Or every two weeks for those of us on this side of the pond. 

Cycling Weekly says you probably haven’t checked the setting on your pedals in years, as the two smallest screws on your bike could have one of the biggest impacts on safety.

Britain’s Neil Campbell set a new world bicycle speed record of 175.89 mph by drafting behind a high-powered pickup truck at a competition in Arkansas last week, topping his previous record of 174.33 mph. And to think I was happy when I finally topped 30 on level ground. 

The BBC visits the 900 mile, “87% car-free, culturally rich and surprisingly accessible” Rhine Cycle Route, which follows the river from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea.

A Melbourne, Australia economist and bike advocate says the city is too car centric, and bicycles are just an afterthought.

 

Finally…

Your new t-shirt could honor an iconic, if “cheekily named,” two-wheeled BMW. Who needs a white picket fence when you’ve got bike frames?

And I’ve known more pig-faced cyclists than the other way around.

Instagram post

……… 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA and Metro ignore HLA-mandated bike lanes on Vermont, and Gov. Newsom may not understand the risks of speeding

October 7, 2024 / / Comments Off on LA and Metro ignore HLA-mandated bike lanes on Vermont, and Gov. Newsom may not understand the risks of speeding
Just 84 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Conceptual rendering of bike lane-free Vermont courtesy of Streetsblog LA.

………

Sadly, no surprise here.

A large collection of Los Angeles advocacy groups, led by Streets For All and ACT-LA, are complaining that Metro’s plan for bus lanes on Vermont Ave don’t comply with the requirements of Measure HLA.

The ballot measure, initially sponsored by Streets For All, passed with overwhelming support in the March primary election, winning two-thirds of the vote in the City of Los Angeles.

It ordered the city to comply with a very simple requirement to build out the already approved Mobility Plan 2035 whenever streets in the plan get resurfaced.

Or maybe not so simple, since LA officials have apparently been busy dragging their feet and looking for loopholes ever since.

According to Streetsblog LA, Metro has been working on plans to add bus lanes to Vermont for over a decade, scaling back what had been 12 miles to just six.

And just bus lines.

Advocates see Vermont as a key opportunity. If you can’t go big, be thorough, and make transit and transit riders a top priority on one of Metro’s and the nation’s highest ridership corridors, where can you?

The Alliance for Community Transit (ACT-LA) is currently circulating a letter (sign on as an individual or organization) in support of improving Vermont for people on bus, bike, and on foot – from Sunset Boulevard to the Metro C (Green) Line Athens Station. ACT-LA and two dozen organizations are calling for following features all along the nearly 12-mile-long project:

  • uninterrupted bus lanes
  • protected bike lanes
  • pedestrian scrambles at high injury and bus transfer intersections
  • tree planting, non-hostile shelters, signage, wayfinding, trash bins, and a bus rider bill of rights at every stop
  • wait time displays and public water at all major intersections
  • electrification of buses along the corridor
  • preserving all street vending and expanding the sidewalk in areas with high vending concentrations

But Metro’s current scaled-back, penny-pinching plan includes “little for pedestrians, and nothing for cyclists.”

Metro somehow claims that’s consistent with the mobility plan, and “helps support” Measure HLA.

Streets For All disagrees. And they should know, since they wrote the damn thing.

This week, the advocacy group Streets for All, the main proponent of Measure HLA and one of the signatories of the ACT-LA letter, wrote to Mayor Karen Bass and Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins in support of Metro’s Vermont project proceeding in full compliance with Measure HLA. The letter states:

“As designed, the BRT project brings (welcome) improvements to Vermont Avenue… Those trigger the City’s obligation to install Mobility Plan enhancements. Therefore, were the City to issue permits for the project without assuring implementation of its Mobility Plan enhancements at the same time, the City would violate its ordinance, waste public funds, and allow Vermont’s dangerous conditions to remain despite the voters’ mandate.”

Streets for All notes that the project complies with the city’s plan for transit and pedestrian facilities, but not for bikeways.

It would be bad enough if this were a one-off. But Streetsblog includes a long list of current projects that don’t appear to comply with the mobility plan or HLA.

HLA gives Angelenos the right to sue to force implementation of the measure, and that could be where we’re heading.

Los Angeles seems to be daring these organizations to take them to court, either thinking they won’t do it, or in hopes of somehow getting the measure overturned.

Which seems unlikely, since it’s now part of the city charter.

We thought we had won when HLA passed. But clearly, this battle is just getting started.

………

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, notes that California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a wide range of traffic safety measures passed in the last legislative session.

These range from mandating that Caltrans follow its own Complete Streets policies, to bills extending the statute of limitations for hit-and-run if the driver flees the state.

But Newsom dropped the ball when it came to speeding drivers, vetoing a bill to increase the penalty for speeding more than 26 mph over a 55 mph limit, as well as a bill to mandate an audible warning when drivers exceed the posted speed limit by more than 10 mph.

You can read SAFE’s full article explaining both Newsom’s reasons for the vetoes, and why they think he was wrong.

But for now, let’s just say they raise serious questions over whether the governor truly grasps the dangers posed by speeding drivers to everyone around them, both on and off the roadway.

If he did, he would work with the legislature to fix the bills or to craft alternatives that he would favor, rather than just killing them with a stroke of the pen.

People both in and out of motor vehicles are injured and dying at ever increasing rates, many through no fault of their own.

And speeding is one of the leading causes of that.

If the governor doesn’t understand that, nothing will improve until he leaves office.

………

A bike ride on Saturday, October 19th will explore the new bike lanes on Hollywood Blvd, which many people noted weren’t ready for prime time during the recent Hollywoods CicLAvia.

Instagram post

………

It’s now 292 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And an even 40 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.

Call if a false alarm this time. It turns out the dangling wire a Milwaukee bike rider was nearly decapitated by when it wrapped around his neck as he rode past a light pole was part of an Eruv that had fallen, used by a Jewish community to allow them to move about celebrate the Sabbath more freely.

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

Seriously, if videos show bike riders avoiding a newly constructed Melbourne, Australia protected bike lane, there’s probably a reason for it.

………

Local  

A travel writer visits Los Angeles, and finds it surprisingly bikeable — as long as you’re on a guided bike tour, and do much of your riding on bike paths.

 

State

About damn time. Caltrans is finally getting around to adding bike lanes on San Diego’s busy Friars Road. I wasn’t comfortable riding on Friars when I live down there, and that was nearly four decades ago.

 

National

A British travel writer rode his bike 4,000 miles through the heart of conservative small town America, relating what he learned about “guns, politics and Trump.”

Your next road bike could be 3D printed — and the most aero bike ever built  — while your next racing tires could inflate themselves, automatically adjusting for differences in terrain.

An Idaho reporter talks about the interesting and crazy people he bumped into riding his bike down the left coast.

He gets it. A Boston writer says bike lanes don’t just benefit people on bicycles, they help everyone — yes, even businesses — improving safety and accessibility, traffic flow, and environmental sustainability.

Cambridge, Massachusetts is making $1.5 million in safety improvements to a local street, weeks after a father was killed when a driver lost control and drove up onto the sidewalk he was riding his bike on. As usual, only making the improvements they knew they needed after it’s too late.

A New York woman is being called a hero after she stopped her car to save the life of a man who suffered a heart attack while he was riding, giving the experienced triathlete CPR on the side of the road until paramedics arrived.

New York City is encouraging safe and fun bicycling through their Biketober initiative, with events scheduled throughout the month in all five boroughs. Just let me know when to show up for Biketoberfest.

He gets it, too. An op-ed from a South Carolina writer says the problem isn’t dangerous bicyclists, but speeding drivers — and it’s time to slow them down.

 

International

Road.cc explains everything you need to know about bike cams but were afraid to ask.

A newspaper in Edinburgh, Scotland talks with local bike riders about what makes them feel unsafe on the road, including potholes, narrow roads and dangerous drivers.

A London man got his stolen ebike back by posing as a locksmith, knowing the thief — or the schmuck he sold it to — would need a new one to make it work.

A British bicycling instructor is using his bike cam to bring bad drivers to justice. Too bad that’s illegal here. 

Cycling Weekly explores why twice as many bicyclists are killed riding on rural roads in the UK compared to busy city streets, and what can be done to bike riders safe on country roads.

A government minister in the Netherlands wants to see a quarter of all bike riders wearing helmets within the next decade, in a country where only four percent currently do.

Hong Kong’s police chief calls for mandatory bike helmets, as bicycling deaths rise in the city; six of the eight bicyclist killed this year weren’t wearing one. Yet somehow, no one seems to be calling for banning large trucks and SUVS, or any of the other multitude of factors that could be causing the jump, besides what the victims did or didn’t have on their head.

An Aussie man decided to move to China permanently after touring the country by bicycle, personally witnessing the changes in the countryside in the two decades when he lived and worked in Guangdong.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mathieu van der Poel won this year’s Men’s Gravel World Championships riding an actual gravel bike this time, instead of riding his roadie.

Pro cyclist Lachlan Morton shattered the record for riding around Australia, completing the 8,800 mile journey in just 30 days, nine hours and 59 minutes, and beating the old record by nearly seven days — despite a close call with a kangaroo.

Good news, as Belgian cycling star Wout van Aert is back on his bike for the first time since a devastating crash in the Vuelta last month.

 

Finally…

Forget a tent on your next bike tour, and tow a trailer — unless your trailer is a bike, of course. Sometimes it takes a village to get your stolen ebike back.

And we may have to deal with predatory LA drivers, but at least we don’t usually have to worry about migrating great white sharks.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

San Diego County singled-out for ebike exception, volunteer for Finish the Ride, and happy Pedestrian Safety Month

October 4, 2024 / / Comments Off on San Diego County singled-out for ebike exception, volunteer for Finish the Ride, and happy Pedestrian Safety Month
Just 87 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Sorry, kids.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assemblymember Tasha Boerner’s AB 2234, which creates a four-year pilot program allowing San Diego County, or any cities in the county, to ban children under 12 from riding ebikes.

Not that it’s necessarily a bad idea.

It’s asking a lot for a little kid to handle something that can generate significantly more power and speed than they can on their own.

What I’m not comfortable with is giving one county the right to write their own traffic laws and override existing state regulations, leading to a patchwork of laws marked only by a thin line on a map.

What’s legal on one side of the line could be illegal on the other, and they’re expecting little kids to know just where the hell it’s drawn.

If they really want to change the law, change it statewide so it applies to everyone, then study the results so we know whether or not it really made a difference.

Maybe we could start by revising the current ebike classifications to better differentiate between ped-assist electric bicycles and what are in effect throttle-controlled electric motorcycles.

Ebike photo by Maxfoot from Pixabay.

………

Finish the Ride is looking for volunteers to help with this month’s event in Santa Clarita.

Ride Marshals are essential for guiding participants through tricky spots, monitoring safety, and providing assistance along the route. Their role is key to creating a safe, enjoyable experience for all riders. From helping with flats to keeping an eye out for heat exhaustion, they serve as both guides and guardians.

Bicyclists interested in becoming Ride Marshals can sign up here (all the details are in the volunteer sign-up sheet). Ideally, marshals will be available on either October 13th or 19th for a run-through of the route at West Creek Park in Santa Clarita before the event on the 27th.

Key responsibilities include:

  • Guiding riders through trouble spots and ensuring safety
  • Monitoring for unsafe behavior and stepping in when necessary
  • Providing updates at pit stops and supporting fellow marshals
  • Assisting with minor repairs, flats, and medical issues
  • Serving as friendly ambassadors while ensuring the event runs smoothly

………

It’s time to address pedestrian safety, according to the giant federal agency that allows giant Tesla Trucks and SUVs on the road.

https://twitter.com/NHTSAgov/status/1841100829761101909

………

Take a break in your day to watch a little mountain biking on the biggest rock slabs on Earth.

………

It’s now 289 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And an even 40 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. An “accomplished automotive journalist” suggests that bicyclists may be the new biker gangs — apparently blaming everyone who rides a bicycle for the actions of a few swarms of out-of-control teenagers.

No bias here, either. An active transportation plan bicyclists say will lead to a safe and more pleasant town center for an English city is branded the “biggest, most expensive cat litter tray in history” by disgruntled residents, who say they’re ready to move out because of it. Well, don’t let the door hit you. And empty that litter box on the way out. 

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

At least three parents have done the right — and very hard — thing, turning in their own kids for participating in the bike-riding teenage flash mob that looted several LA-area 7-11s.

A blind British man says he’s worried about simply walking on the sidewalk after a bike rider illegally using it shattered his white cane and hurled abuse at him.

………

Local  

The Los Angeles Times examines the race between incumbent Heather Hutt and Grace Yoo for LA’s 10th Council District; Yoo served as a transportation commissioner under former Mayor Villaraigosa, while Hutt chairs the city council transportation committee, and is described as a “champion of transit” and a supporter of Measure HLA.

 

State

A writer for the San Diego Reader considers the ups and downs of riding a bike in the city’s hilly Cel Cerro neighborhood, with a 14% grade leading up to his home.

A 21-year old Aussie law student and competitive swimmer received a $167.5 settlement after the bicycle he rented on a visit to San Francisco came apart as he was riding it, throwing him over the handlebars.

 

National

Streetsblog looks at eight ways people re-imagined parking spaces from last month’s Park(ing) Day, which seems to have come and gone with little notice here in LA.

Strong Towns says whether bike lanes cause or reduce congestion asking is the wrong question.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an Austin, Texas ghost bike for a 74-year old hit-and-run victim for the third time.

Life is cheap in Connecticut, where the hit-and-run driver who killed a 69-year old high school custodian as he rode his bike got a lousy two years behind bars, after he accepted a plea deal for evading responsibility for the fatal crash.

Brooklyn artist Taliah Lempert is carving out a unique space for herself in the New York art world by fusing her passion for painting and bicycles.

New York’s steps to improve ebike safety appear to be paying off, with fewer ebike fires inside buildings, and fewer deaths as a result.

Bicyclists are going all in on hurricane relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Helene, from North Carolina-based Fox Factory’s employee-assistance fund to launching crowdfunding campaigns.

 

International

Momentum highlights the best Canadian rail trails for a fall bicycling getaway.

The mountain resort town of Banff, Alberta is considering how they can slow speeding bike riders on local tails.

UK-based bicycle distributor I-ride, maker of the in-house Orro bike brand, says there’s still hope for a takeover by an industry insider, days after an investor pulled out at the last minute, leaving the company bankrupt.

No surprise here, as international students tend to have more bicycling crashes than native Dutch bike riders in the Netherlands.

A man who calls himself the Cycle Baba has ridden his bike more than 80,000 across more than 100 countries since he left his home in India eight years ago to promote a message of eco-friendly living.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclinguptodate considers the current state of American road cycling, arguing that Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss offer hope; otherwise, not so much.

 

Finally…

Your next handlebar bag could be a recycled billboard. That feeling when a flooded ebike battery is the least of your problems.

And something tells me this Parisian suburb looks just a little different these days.

Twitter post

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

A $7 million SD safety fail, U-T sharrows fail, and taking a pass on what passes for record CA traffic safety investment

October 3, 2024 / / Comments Off on A $7 million SD safety fail, U-T sharrows fail, and taking a pass on what passes for record CA traffic safety investment
Just 88 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

L’Shana Tova to everyone celebrating the new year today!

And apropos of nothing, I’m happy to report I wrote today’s entire post wearing a T-shirt with a bear riding a bicycle, as bears are wont to do. 

Just saying.

………

Call it a $7 million fail — one that ultimately cost the life of a San Diego bike rider.

That’s the amount the city paid out to the family of Marc Woolf, who died 17 months after he was struck by a pair of drivers and paralyzed from the next down, dying of sepsis 17 months later.

Woolf was on his way home from his job at the San Diego zoo in May, 2021 when a driver coming out of a blind driveway backed into him, knocking him onto the other side of the street, where he was hit again by second driver.

But instead of blaming the drivers, Woolf’s legal team accused the city of creating and maintaining poor road conditions.

According to San Diego CBS8, those conditions included —

  • Restricted site lines and distances caused by physical conditions
  • Insufficient red curb prohibiting parked cars
  • Overgrown vegetation
  • Confusing and misleading shared lane striping
  • An improperly maintained light fixture which was not functioning on the night of the incident

The station reports the city finally extended the red curb to improve sightlines along the corridor in response to the crash.

As usual, only acting after it was too late.

Now Wolff’s family is $7 million richer, and the city’s taxpayers are $7 million poorer.

But as his daughter notes, no amount of money can bring Wolff back, or ease the pain the new grandfather suffered for so many months.

Meanwhile, the Union-Tribune blamed sharrows in general for the crash.

The case highlights the potential dangers of “sharrows,” marked bike routes that require cars and bicycles to share portions of roadway instead of giving cyclists areas reserved only for them.

I’m no fan of sharrows, which studies have shown to be worse than nothing when it comes to protecting the safety of bike riders.

But that’s a discussion for another day.

The paper was clearly mistaken, at best, in blaming any and all sharrows for this particular crash, rather than the poorly designed and implemented sharrows on this one particular street.

I’ve heard that some San Diego bicyclists have called on the paper for a retraction.

And they may have a point this time.

………

California is making a record investment in traffic safety and enforcement as traffic deaths continue to rise, according to the Governor’s office.

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) is awarding a record $149 million in federal funding for 497 grants that expand safe biking and walking options and provide critical education and enforcement programs that will make roads safer throughout the state. This is the third consecutive year of historic funding, exceeding last year’s amount by $21 million.

Yet that record spending to “expand safe biking and walking options” includes just $13 million for bicycle and pedestrian safety programs, up a modest 12% from the previous grant cycle.

Even though bicyclists and pedestrians account for most, if not all, of the recent increase in traffic deaths.

Meanwhile, a whopping $51 million will go to law enforcement agencies to conduct what’s described as “equitable enforcement targeting the most dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding, distracted and impaired driving, as well as support education programs focused on bicycle and pedestrian safety.”

In other words, more daylong — or usually, just a few hours — enforcement actions targeting violations that could put bicyclists and pedestrians at risk, regardless of who commits them.

Which, to the best of my knowledge, hasn’t been proven to do a damn bit of good reducing deaths or serious injuries among either group.

So if that’s what passes for a record investment, I’ll pass.

………

Streets For All politely reminds Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass that Measure HLA applies to Metro projects in the City of Los Angeles, too.

Never mind that the city’s barely competent and very conservative City Attorney’s Office continues to drag its feet on crafting guidance for city departments regarding the measure, nearly seven months after it went into effect after passing overwhelmingly.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that new bike lane mileage in Los Angeles fell to a five-year low for the most recent fiscal year, adding up to a massively underwhelming 22.5 lane-miles of new and improved bike facilities.

And remember, lane-miles means they count each side of the road separately, so we’re only talking a measly 11.25 miles of actual street.

Then there’s this.

While there is some year-to-year variation, and some lag time between project planning getting underway and on the ground upgrades, the first full fiscal year does not look like a promising start for Mayor Karen Bass. Bass has prioritized critical housing issues and not paid much attention to safer multimodal streets – at least not yet. FY2024 did see Mayor Karen Bass appoint Laura Rubio-Cornejo to head the city Transportation Department (LADOT). Rubio-Cornejo replaced interim GM Connie Llanos last September.

No shit.

If anyone has heard Bass even mention safer and/or multimodal streets, let me know. Because I sure as hell haven’t heard it.

Then again, the city’s freeze on resurfacing projects to avoid implementing HLA hasn’t helped.

And neither has Bass’ continued failure to meet with us.

………

Momentum wants to see your pics of bike lane fails, of which we should have more than a few.

https://twitter.com/MomentumMag/status/1841505396596342989

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Presenting the cutest BMX balance bike stunt video you’ll see all day.

Instagram post

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It’s now 288 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And an even 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, apparently tired of waiting, San Francisco will consider a proposal for their own yet-to-be defined ebike rebate program.

That deafening silence you hear is Los Angeles not considering one.

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

Apparently, elected office provides no protection from dangerous drivers, as an Ottawa, Canada city counselor captures a way-too-close punishment pass on his bike cam while riding past several parked cars.

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

Maybe something was lost in translation, as an Ottawa letter writer complains about the incivility of local bicyclists who “love listening to the music of the folk group With No Headphones,” while riding their bikes without a “ten dollar doorbell.”

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Local  

Looks like they slipped one past us this time, as a planned two-day closure last week for repairs on the Ballona Creek Bike Path only took one day, with the path reopening before some of us (i.e. me) knew it wasn’t.

Start times for the Long Beach Marathon have been moved up due to a high heat warning, with the bike tour now scheduled to start the same time as the runners at 5:30 am.

Speaking of Streets For All, the Los Angeles-area transportation PAC is hosting a fundraiser in Franklin Hills this Sunday afternoon.

 

State

The CHP has received a $1.55 million federal grant for year-long initiative focusing on “educating the public and enforcing traffic safety laws for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.” Maybe they could spend some of the money on educating their patrol officers a little better on bike law and how to investigate collisions involving bicyclists. 

San Diego was dubbed the greenest city in the US for the third year in a row; needless to say, Los Angeles wasn’t, coming in 18th.

San Diego pediatrician Dr. Mike Nelson dropped by a Claremont Mesa fire station to thank the first responders who saved his life when he crashed his bicycle on the way to an appointment a couple months back.

A San Francisco neighborhood is tearing itself apart fighting over a proposal to permanently close a highway to motor vehicles, even though it’s eroding into the ocean anyway.

 

National

Momentum offers ten “amazing coastal cities” in the US for bicycling; Santa Barbara is #9 on the list, while Huntington Beach is #2 — even though three people lost their lives riding in the city in just the last 12 months.

Bicyclists in the Pacific Northwest are challenging online marketplaces like OfferUp to do more to fight the reselling of stolen bikes on their platforms.

An editorial from a local Boston paper says bicycling isn’t safe in the city. Then again, the same could be said in virtually any city in the US. Los Angeles included. 

A proposed Pennsylvania law could authorize parking-protected bicycle lanes for the first time in the state.

Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport is encouraging travelers to skip the taxi and ride their bikes to the airport. Maybe LAX should be taking notes.

More proof bikes make the best emergency vehicles, as a North Carolina family grabbed their chainsaws and hopped on their bicycles to rescue the family’s 87-year old matriarch when they couldn’t contact her after Hurricane Helene.

 

International

Bike Radar considers why mixed-terrain ultra-distance cycling events are rising in popularity.

Residents of a British Columbia city aren’t sold on plans for a new bike path if it means chopping down a tree.

London bicyclists will soon be shuttled through a new motor vehicle-only tunnel under the Thames on special double-decker buses.

The rich get richer, as London bicyclists will soon get a £4 million — $5.3 million — bike route through the heart of the city.

There won’t be any more changes to the UK’s infamous “optical illusion” bike lane, even though it’s led to more than 100 trip and fall injuries. Sounds like they need better injury attorneys over there. 

 

Competitive Cycling

That’s Sir Mark Cavendish to you, as the Manx Missile gets knighted at Windsor Castle. Unless you’d rather call him the new High Performance Ambassador for Aston Martin.

Cyclinguptodate compares UCI to the Mafia for the way they managed the recent Zurich world championships, arguing that the organization implements rules, then neither complies with or implements them.

Rouleur considers the recent rise of WorldTour mega-contracts.

 

Finally…

Maybe your new wireless shifters can be hack-proof, after all. Now you, too, can trade your ten gallon hat for a helmet and bike through LBJ’s Texas ranch.

And maybe you were a bicycling British soldier in a past life, bad teeth be damned.

Twitter post

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Governor signs Caltrans Complete Streets bill, kills car excess speed alarms; and pledge to ride or walk for Clean Air

September 30, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 91 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Governor Newsom finally got around to signing SB 960 on Friday, aka the Complete Streets Bill, which will require Caltrans to actually follow their own Complete Streets policies.

But as the governor giveth, he also taketh away.

Newsom failed to sign SB 961, which would have required all new cars to give an audible alarm when drivers exceeded the speed limit by more than 10 mph; his action is the equivalent of a veto, but without actually have to wield his veto pen.

Twitter post

While groups like Calbike, Streets For All and Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE) fought to get him to sign it, SB 961 was much-watered down from the original bill, which would have required speed limiting technology to actively prevent drivers from speeding more than ten miles over the limit.

It also raised the question of why exceeding the limit by 10 mph was apparently acceptable, when exceeding it by any amount is against the law.

But maybe we can try again in a few years, with a different governor and a stronger bill.

………

This Wednesday is California Clean Air Day, when the Coalition For Clean Air is asking you to pledge to take transit, shop local, or take other actions to benefit the air we all share.

Although something tells me they’d be happy if you just leave your car at home and ride your bike or walk that day.

………

The new Hollywood Blvd bike lanes have been popular so far, but clearly not everyone is giving them rave reviews.

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1839732645150003465

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Walk Bike Glendale invites you to join them on a bike tour to examine new safety improvements in the city this Saturday.

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It’s now 285 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.

………

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

London’s Metropolitan Police told bike riders not to bother submitting bike cam video of dangerous and illegal drivers, saying they’re much too busy to do anything about it — but don’t confront the driver who just almost killed you.

Sir David Attenborough — yes, the world-famous British broadcaster, biologist, writer and historian — wrote to an 11-year-old boy advising him on how to stop construction of a protected bike lane, and save 26 trees on the chopping block.

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

Heartbreaking news from Santa Cruz, where an 82-year old woman was killed when she was hit by an 80-year old man riding an ebike on the shoulder of a roadway early Friday morning; the elderly man on the bike was also hospitalized for his injuries.

A British man was sentenced to a well-deserved five years and four months behind bars for punching a 78-year old man who complained that he was riding his bike on the sidewalk, killing him, before trying to flee the scene.

………

Local  

This is who we share the road with. Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer pled not guilty to misdemeanor manslaughter for killing a 47-year old man walking in an Alhambra crosswalk, while making an ill-advised left turn in his car. Yet somehow, we have to learn about it from a newspaper in the UK?

 

State

Bakersfield is asking for public input on the city’s new Active Transportation Plan to craft a long-term vision for pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

San Francisco’s crookedest street is also one of the city’s deadliest.

Kindhearted Sacramento cops recovered an ebike that was stolen from a 14-year-old boy on his birthday, and returned it to him, along with a birthday cake.

 

National

In a surprising story, US News & World Report recommends the year’s seven best bikes for women. No, it’s not the bikes that’s surprising, it’s the fact that the magazine is still a thing. 

A Denver writer describes what it was like to spend 14 days riding the Colorado Trail, a 549-mile mountain bike route stretching from Denver to Durango.

Chicago bicyclists are frustrated over rising crime rates. Sort of like people who ride bikes just about everywhere. 

The New York Times tells a questioner that yes, a co-op building can ban their ebike, and no, that’s not housing discrimination, even if they use it to take their kid to the doctor.

 

International

A London charity is working to reduce Britain’s prison population by teaching ex-cons to repair bicycles, in hopes of cutting the recidivism rate.

 

Competitive Cycling

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Tadej Pogačar won the men’s road world championship, becoming the first male cyclist in 37 years to win the Tour de France, Giro and worlds in the same year.

American Chloé Dygert fell just short of victory in the women’s road race, finishing just behind Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky in a mass sprint; her silver goes with the bronze she won in last week’s time trial. Meanwhile, the Netherlands was kept off the women’s worlds podium for the first time in a decade.

There was heartbreaking news from worlds, though, after 18-year-old Swiss cyclist Muriel Furrer died, one day after crashing her bike on rain-slicked roads in the junior women’s road race on Friday; still, her family bravely requested that the championships go on as scheduled. However, there’s still no word from UCI on what actually happened, as the president of cycling’s governing body said “You don’t ride a bike to die.”

A writer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation calls Furrer’s death “another example of the failings and risk of the peloton.”

In more bad news, the Dutch Cycling Association announced the death of 24-year old Bas van Belle, a rider for the Wielerploeg Groot Amsterdam cycling team, and the older brother of WorldTour pro Loe van Belle; no word on how he died.

It probably wasn’t just beginner’s luck. An 18-year old woman from my bike-friendly Colorado hometown won the collegiate national championship in the 500 meter time trial at the USA Cycling National Collegiate Track Championship earlier this month; it was Rita Fedewa’s first-ever college cycling race, in a discipline she’s only trained in for seven months after switching from BMX, making her the first-ever national champion for her tiny Catholic university.

 

Finally…

Here’s your chance to be a motor-doping spy for UCI. And nothing like riding your bike wearing fairy wings to save a historic theater.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

CA Governor Newsom signs bills to speed coastal bike lanes, and ban requiring road widening with new construction

September 24, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 97 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Photo of protected bike lane in Redondo Beach by Ted Faber.

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Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will make building bike lanes near the coast faster and easier by removing a requirement for a Coastal Commission study.

Twitter post

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The state also stepped in where Los Angeles tried and failed, as Newsom signed a bill banning cities from requiring automatic road widening with new building projects.

Twitter post

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The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is launching a new campaign to “demand a visionary Biking and Rolling Plan from our city officials, that helps us achieve our transportation, climate, and congestion goals — and makes our streets safer and more joyful. ”

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

Demi Moore is one of us — or was, anyway — riding her bike 60 miles roundtrip from her Malibu home to the Hollywood studio where she was filming Indecent Proposal back in the ’90s, to lose weight after the birth of her second child. Then again, the Boss was one of us back in the day, too.

………

Add this one to the pantheon bad headlines.

Because of course it was the woman on the bicycle who hit the car, and not the other way around. And yes, there might have been a driver involved, too.

………

It’s now 279 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.

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

An English bike rider narrowly avoided serious injury when copper thieves failed to replace a manhole cover on a narrow bike path, leaving a large, gaping hole.

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

A group of bike-riding Stockton, California teens caused a couple thousand dollars damage by throwing terracotta pots at passing cars. Although it’s questionable what their bicycles had to do with it.

………

Local  

There will be a public meeting in El Monte tomorrow evening to discuss dedicated bus lanes and class IV physically separated bike lanes on Rosemead Blvd in South El Monte.

Streets For All endorsed Santa Monica’s Measure K increasing the city’s Parking Facility Tax to improve traffic safety and safe routes to schools, while rejecting Measure PSK to divert half of that new revenue to the cops and other public safety departments.

 

State

Residents of San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood are just the latest to complain about teenaged kids recklessly riding ebikes, although the ones shown are better classified as low-powered electric motorcycles.

Police in Santa Barbara busted a trio of suspected knife-wielding bike thieves after tracking them with an AirTag.

Ouch. A Fresno bicyclist was rushed to surgery with multiple stab wounds after his bike was stolen by a man armed with a garden rake.

Speaking of Fresno, the local cops wrote 206 citations during the city’s latest bicycle and pedestrian safety operation on Saturday, including 41 bicyclists and pedestrians.

 

National

Bicycling offers budget-friendly upgrades to improve your bike rides. But reading the article isn’t one of them, because you’ll need a subscription to do it. 

NPR’s Code Switch podcast considers the question of whether bike lanes cause gentrification, as UCLA researcher Adonia Lugo says says that’s the kind of question you have to ask to be part of the mobility justice movement.

Now you, too, can ride you bike to the 14,115-foot summit of Colorado’s iconic Pikes Peak — home to the iconic Pikes Peak Hill Climb auto race — covering 19 miles and more than 6,500 feet of vertical gain.

Houston’s Metro transportation agency pulled the plug on the city’s $10.5 million bikeshare program.

The Illinois State University student newspaper asks if bicycling is a form of civic engagement. Short answer, yes. Longer answer is the same.

Sad news from Massachusetts, where Parlee Cycles founder Bob Parlee died at age 70 after a four-year battle with cancer; Cycling Weekly credits Parlee with “revolutionizing the handmade bicycle industry with his expertise in composite materials.”

A handful of New York bicyclists found a way to game the Citi Bike bikeshare algorithm, earning thousands of dollars a month by bike flipping — moving bikes from one station to another, then moving them back 15 minutes late. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

BMX pro Nigel Sylvester introduced a new version of his Nike Bike Air shoes at the Sneaker Con convention in New York, but no word on whether they will be released to the public.

A Baltimore program teaches kids how to fix their own bicycles, repairing their perspectives in the process.

 

International

A strategist for a London ad agency says bicycle brands need to reduce the cost of bikes before they lose the next generation of bicyclists.

A Chinese website looks back to consider how Shanghai became the country’s city of bicycles, producing China’s first bicycle in the 19th Century, before becoming home to the Phoenix and Forever brands after the communist revolution.

 

Competitive Cycling

L39ion of Los Angeles crit specialist Skylar Schneider is making her way back to the WorldTour, rejoining the SD Worx-Protime team three years after leaving to race in the US.

The African cycling movement continues to grow, as Tanzanian cyclist Richard Laizer became the first rider from the country to compete in the worlds.

Belgian pro Thomas De Gendt called it a career after 16 years with the pro tour, including stage wins in Tour de France, Giro and Vuelta.

 

Finally…

No, your ebike isn’t supposed to go 70 mph — especially on city streets. Your new ebike could be just one letter from a real schmuck.

And it’s never too early for a skeletal pedicab driver.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Sac school boosts attendance by giving students bikes, and more CA bike bills awaiting the governor’s signature

September 10, 2024 / / Comments Off on Sac school boosts attendance by giving students bikes, and more CA bike bills awaiting the governor’s signature
Just 112 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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That’s more like it.

A Sacramento middle school was able to reduce tardy arrivals and boost attendance by giving bicycles to students with attendance problems, so they can ride to school.

According to the local CBS NEWS station,

“Attendance is everything,” said Michael Rosales, an attendance technician at Mills Middle School. “The child cannot learn if they aren’t here. The child can’t be social if they aren’t here.”

“Traffic is horrible around here, and sometimes, if we can alleviate that where the child can ride to school, it helps the parents get the other students to their schools on time,” he said.

Now all they need is enough safe infrastructure to protect the kids on their way to class, and make their parents feel comfortable letting them ride there.

Photo by Ch Jawad for Pexels. 

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Calbike recounts the bills passed by the legislature this year that they want to governor to sign, including:

  • Safer Vehicles Save Lives Bill, SB 961 (Wiener): The second half of Senator Wiener’s street safety package, which CalBike sponsored along with the Complete Streets Bill, will require most cars, trucks, and buses sold in California to include passive intelligent speed assist (ISA) by 2030. ISA gives drivers a signal when they exceed the speed limit by 10 miles per hour and can help prevent speed-related collisions, saving lives. It is already required in Europe and uses existing technology that is widely available.
  • Transportation Accountability Act, AB 2086 (Schiavo): An excellent complement to the Complete Streets Bill, this measure will require Caltrans to account for where California’s transportation dollars go. It will be an essential tool for advocates who want to make sure our spending matches our climate and equity goals.
  • Banning Bridge Tolls for People Walking and Biking, AB 2669 (Ting): This bill makes permanent a measure that sunsets next year. It allows toll-free crossings for people who walk or bike across toll bridges. It will have the biggest impact in the Bay Area, which has several toll bridges with bicycle and pedestrian lanes.
  • Bike Lanes in Coastal Areas, SB 689 (Blakespear): This bill limits the ability of the Coastal Commission to block the development of new bikeways on existing roads in coastal areas.
  • Limits on Class III Bikeways, SB 1216 (Blakespear): Class III bikeways are lanes shared by bike riders and car drivers. While they may be appropriate for neighborhood streets and some other contexts, they are sometimes used in place of more protective infrastructure because the cost is much lower. This bill would limit the use of state funding to create Class III bikeways on high-speed routes. It was originally in conflict with a provision of AB 2290, but since that bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee, we’re happy to see this measure reach the governor’s desk.
  • E-Bike Battery Safety Standards, SB 1271 (Min): This bill requires all e-bikes sold in California to use batteries with safety certifications. It will help prevent most, if not all, battery fires, as those are usually caused by substandard batteries.
  • Unsafe Speed Penalties, SB 1509 (Stern): Continuing the speed theme, this bill would increase penalties for speeding more than 25 mph over the speed limit on roads with speed limits of 55 mph or less.

Not included on the list are some key bills that didn’t make it through the legislature, including bills to create a quick build bike lane pilot program at Caltrans, and once again pass a Stop As Yield bill for the governor to veto.

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In a followup to yesterday’s lead story, Meredith Gaudreau, the wife of fallen bicyclist and NHL star Johnny Gaudreau, announced at the funeral of Johnny and his brother Matthew that she is pregnant, too, just like Matthew’s wife — which mean’s neither kid will ever know their father.

Meanwhile, Katie Gaudreau, sister of the two Gaudreau brothers, revealed she learned about her brothers deaths on  the day of her wedding, and engraved their initials into her wedding ring as a memorial to them.

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It’s now 264 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.

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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 New Jersey radio broadcaster says he’s going to feel really bad when he hits your kid “doing stupid stuff” on his bike.

A Miami cop got fired for driving off when witnesses to a fatal hit-and-run asked him to help the victim, who had been riding an ebike, telling them to find someone else. And he should have been, too.

No bias here. A Toronto cop got into a heated exchange with people on a memorial ride for a fallen bicyclist, insisting they needed to keep moving after they paused near the crash site for a moment of silence.

Twitter post

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

A London writer says progressive politicians and responsible bicyclists need to speak up against the “everyday menace of antisocial behavior by cyclists” who dump ebikes and casually break the rules, giving us all a bad name.

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Local 

Streetsblog reminds us about this Sunday’s CicLAmini on Broadway in Lincoln Heights.

 

State

A Laguna Nigel man completed a cross-country fundraising ride from Seattle to New York last month, but is still collecting donations in an attempt to raise $25,000 for the 13 American service members who were killed in the bombing at Kabul airport in Afghanistan three years ago.

San Diego officials defended the planned Normal Street Promenade in the Hillcrest neighborhood — complete with a fully separated bikeway — despite a nearly 50% increase over previous estimates, calling it a model for park-deprived neighborhoods throughout the city.

San Francisco’s successful, but highly unpopular Valencia Street centerline protected bike lane will be moved to a more traditional curbside position, possibly as soon as January.

After a local news site asked a police use-of-force expert to review the recent pepper spraying and arrest of a couple teenagers by a Redding cop, the expert concluded that the cop never gave them the required warnings or attempted to de-escalate the situation.

 

National

She gets it. A writer for Clean Technica says we can’t let governments regulate ebikes to death.

Glamour recommends the best gifts for bicyclists — some of which you might actually want,  for a change.

The tony resort town of Vail, Colorado is offering six free ebikes to essential low-income workers employed in the town, defined there as earning less than $58,000 a year.

Here’s another reason to ride a bike. A Texas couple got married in front of 1,800 people at a Waco bike race because bicycling brought them together. No one can guarantee you’ll find true love, of course. Except you’ll probably love your bicycle. 

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A 68-year old man riding near the end of a Fort Worth, Texas group ride was killed when a woman entering from a side street drove through the group, hitting the victim with enough force to kill him instantly — but won’t be charged after she remained at the scene, and was very distraught. Although I imagine the victim’s loved ones were even more distraught. 

This is why people stop riding their bikes. A 70-year old Texas man says he’s never getting on another bike after he was the victim of a hit-and-run.

He gets it. A Mad City driver and bicyclist says yes, there are several factors causing traffic problems in the city, but the bike lanes ain’t one of ’em.

A New York father faces charges for failing to secure his guns after his 11-year old son came out carrying a shotgun, and ordered a 13-year old boy riding a bicycle to get away from their house. But it’s okay, ’cause he never pointed it at the kid or anything. 

 

International

Bike Radar offers a size guide for women’s bikes of every type.

The Department of DIY struck in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where someone spray painted their own bike lane and bike box at an intersection where a woman was fatally right hooked by a cement truck driver last year.

Oops. Belfast, Ireland opened a new Grand Central Station for buses without a single bicycle parking space, forcing people to lock their bikes anywhere they can.

A new survey says no, New Zealanders aren’t “sick and tired” of spending tax money building bike lanes, despite what the country’s Transport Minister claims.

 

Competitive Cycling

Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic tied the record by winning his fourth Vuelta on Sunday, finishing over two and a half minutes ahead of second place Ben O’Connor, while Enric Mas finished third. Sepp Kuss was the top American finisher at 14th.

Brennan Wertz and Lauren Stephens won the men’s and women’s US Gravel National Championships this past weekend.

Thirty-five-year old former pro Serghei Tvetcov successfully transitioned to gravel racing after leaving the WorldTour when he was diagnosed two years ago with chronic myelogenous leukemia, an incurable blood cancer.

 

Finally…

Bicycling is where carmakers come to die. Who needs a car for a 24-hour Nürburgring endurance race when you’ve got a bicycle?

And that feeling when your campaign ad features your goggle-wearing dog riding in a bucket bike.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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