Tag Archive for Gavin Newsom

Newsom plugs budget hole with Active Transportation funds, and Los Angeles traffic deaths jump once again in 2023

January 11, 2024 / / 4 comments

My eye is finally better, so let’s catch up on what we’ve missed the past couple days. 

We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so please accept my apologies in advance if I don’t acknowledge you for something you sent me.

I’ll try to make up for it next time. 

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

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

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No surprise here, as Governor Gavin Newsom proposed filling an unexpected $38 billion budget shortfall in part by taking $200 million from the state’s already underfunded Active Transportation Program.

The governor’s new budget leaves just $850 million in the ATP, but borrows $200 million from future funding to avoid cutting currently budgeted projects.

Calbike says there’s no budget shortfall in the state’s transportation budget, which is stuffed with more money than ever before.

Meanwhile, the Southern California Association of Governments, aka SCAG, proposes spending a whopping $750 billion on traffic projects over the next 20 years.

Their project list included a whole 4,000 miles of bike lanes — which works out to just 200 miles a year, spread out among the seven-county SoCal region.

The rest of the funding will go overwhelmingly towards highway projects to encourage more driving.

Which is exactly what we don’t need to meet the state’s climate goals.

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So much for Vision Zero.

KNBC-4 reports that LAPD figures show traffic deaths outpaced murders in the City of Angels last year.

The city saw 330 traffic deaths in 2023, a significant increase over 2022’s near-record numbers, “particularly fatal hit and runs and fatal pedestrian and bicycle collisions.”

At the same time, violent crime dropped 3.2%, with a total of “just” 327 murders.

The rise in traffic deaths comes as the city’s underfunded and under-implemented Vision Zero program was supposed to end traffic deaths by next year.

Instead, we’re further than ever from that goal, as people continue to die on our streets while our elected leaders do little or nothing about it.

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A series of bike rides in cities around the world this Sunday will mark 100 days since the vicious Hamas attack on Israeli settlements, and the abduction of hundreds of people as hostages.

Rides are said ti be scheduled for Barcelona, Paris, London, Melbourne, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Czech Republic, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, among others, though I can find no record of a Los Angeles ride.

Bicyclists are encouraged to tie yellow ribbons to your bike on Sunday, even it you’re not participating in one of the organized rides.

Ed Rubinstein forwards plans for a solidarity ride in Dana Point.

Unfortunately, the link he sent to the Thousand Oaks ride has expired, and I can’t find any details for that one, either.

This Sunday, January 14, will mark 100 days since the October 7 attacks, and the kidnapping of hundreds.  As you may have heard the Israeli Premier Tech pro cycling team and the Israeli Cycling Federation has joined with Bring Them Home Now to organize bike rides in many cities worldwide calling for the release of the 129 remaining hostages. There is a ride planned in Thousand Oaks, but I am not aware of one in Orange County. So, my wife Leti and I decided to create a local alternative.

If you are not going to the big ride in Thousand Oaks, please join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM in Dana Point Harbor in the parking lot at the corner of Golden Lantern and Dana Point Harbor Drive to show your concern for the hostages.  We will provide yellow ribbons to tie on your bikes as a display of solidarity with the hostages.  Then we will take group photos that I will post on social media with the hashtag: #RideToBringThemHomeNow.  After the photos, there are multiple options for unsupported rides ranging from short 5-mile flat rides within the Harbor, a longer flat ride to San Juan Capistrano to a rolly 35+ mile ride to the north end of Camp Pendleton.

This is a digital word-of-mouth effort. You too are encouraged to let your friends know.  I have no idea about how large of a response I will get, so if you can let me know if you plan to attend.

Meanwhile, untold numbers of bike riders took part in a worldwide rally in support of Palestine last weekend.

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More than a dozen wannabe bike burglars attempted to use a U-Haul truck to knock down the wall of a DTLA bike shop Saturday morning.

The thieves used the truck in an attempt to repeatedly batter their way into Just Ride L.A., near the corner of South Hill Street and Venice Blvd in the South Park neighborhood.

But despite their efforts, the wall held, saving the store from a loss that likely would have amounted to tens of thousands of dollars.

As it is, they’re looking at a $40,000 loss to replace the gate and repair the damage cause by the truck.

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Long Beach may have seen Southern California’s first bicycling death of the year, after 43-year old Alecia McCullough was struck by a driver as she was crossing PCH Sunday night — the third death on SoCal’s killer highway in Long Beach this year.

One witness said she appeared to be riding a bicycle. However, there’s no confirmation of that, and no mention of a bike by the police.

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Metro appears to have chosen Lyft to operate the Metro Bike bikeshare program.

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21 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law, and counting.

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

The same bone-headed Florida website that somehow condemned “bike herds” in response to an elderly woman hitting a group of bicyclists while driving on the wrong side of the road, is now calling on readers to submit photos of bike riders behaving badly. Meanwhile, the editor goes out of his way to blame the victims of the mass crash, despite conceding that the driver was on the wrong side of the road, and the victims were obeying the law by riding two abreast. Notice also how effectively “bike herds” dehumanizes the victims. 

No bias here. Despite the recent panic over London’s floating bus stops, and reports that 60% of bike riders fail to stop for pedestrians moving to and from them, new leaked government documents show a low risk of bike riders actually hitting someone.

After a cabbie scared the crap out of an English bike rider by passing him just inches away, the local authorities apparently responded to the video by sending the driver a sternly worded letter. On the other hand, that’s more than they’d do here, where video isn’t accepted by the cops for anything less than a felony. 

Someone ripped out nearly all the reflective plastic bollards marking a cycle track in Mysore — or Mysuru — India, for no apparent reason.

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

British TV presenter Alex Phillip blamed “a little shit on a bike” for the attempted mugging that made her drop her phone.

A pair of Swiss tourists were fined $400 and had their bikes confiscated by authorities after mountain biking through one of New Zealand’s most famous heritage trails, where any kind of vehicle is banned, including bicycles.

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Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton makes the case that “it shouldn’t take sustained advocacy pressure (and injury lawsuits) from cyclists to get the city to keep its walk/bike paths in a state of good repair,” as the city belatedly begins repairs on a decrepit section of the LA River bike path.

Linton also visits a new parking-protected bike lane on Variel in Woodland Hills.

The Larchmont Buzz looks forward to next month’s CicLAvia on iconic Melrose Ave, calling CicLAvia “one of the coolest community events ever.” When they’re right, they’re right. 

Pasadena announced the completion of the Cordova Street Complete Streets project, including 1.5 mile buffered bike lanes.

Santa Monica cops will be conducting yet another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation today, ticketing anyone who commits a traffic violation that could put either at risk — even if it’s someone walking or riding a bike who does it. So once again, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets written up.

Speaking of Santa Monica, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors took to their bikes for a team building ride along the beach, as the team was in town for games against the Lakers and Clippers; new team member Immanuel Quickley said it was his first time riding a bike.

Long Beach received a $326,000 state grant to promote bike and pedestrian safety projects.

 

State

A bill in the state Senate Transportation Committee would eliminate the need for repetitive and costly traffic studies for bike lanes that have already been studied and approved along the California coast, reducing red tape and speeding construction, at least in theory.

Velo explains how California’s new law allowing bikes to proceed on the walk signal, instead of waiting for a green light, makes biking safer.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever burned down the ghost bike and memorial for Matt Keenan, who was killed by a driver in a head-on collision in San Diego’s Mission Valley in 2021; Keenan’s wife has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to replace it.

A San Diego doctor, ultra marathoner and triathlete says if ebikes are going to be allowed on the county’s trails, the trails will have to be improved and maintained so others don’t have to jump out of the way.

To the surprise of no one, stolen bikes were offered for sale on OfferUp and Facebook in San Diego, as Bike Index listed 331 bikes stolen in the city last year. Professional thieves often move hot bikes from one city to another, so it’s always possible that a bike stolen in LA could be sold in San Diego. Or Riverside, or anywhere else in Southern California.

Sad news from Carpinteria, where an 80-year old man riding a bike was killed by a driver; naturally, sheriff’s deputies blamed the victim for making an unsafe lane change. Oddly, though, it was the car’s rear windshield that was shattered in the crash.

San Francisco public TV station KQED says the bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge has an amazing view, and an uncertain future, after the expiration of the pathway’s four-year pilot program, and calls to return the lane to motor vehicles. Because we all know that cars are more important than people. 

Bike Talk’s Nick Richert talks with San Francisco Streetsblog about the city’s failed Vision Zero program.

The Bay Area’s BART commuter train system finally figured out that people who ride bikes sometimes need to ride trains, too, allowing people to take bikes on most escalators and trains.

 

National

Life is cheap in Colorado, where the driver who killed a 65-year old Minnesota man a third of the way through his lifetime goal of riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route got just nine months of work release, and was ordered to pay for a memorial for the victim.

Police in Kansas ask for the public’s help in identifying the victim injured in a collision while riding his bike. Yet another reminder to always carry ID with you when you ride — and preferably something that won’t get stolen if you’re incapacitated. 

A bike-riding Brooklyn man was busted on hate crime charges for throwing a rock at a Jewish man and yelling “Free Palestine!” Seriously, don’t do that. Passions are high enough without making thins worse.

A Baltimore woman brought an ice cream bike, and turned it into a $20,000 a month side hustle.

The Maryland legislature is considering a new bill that would increase the penalty for hitting someone riding in a bike lane to up to two months in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. Drivers should automatically be at fault for any crash with someone riding legally in a bike lane.

Atlanta announced a new program to give residents up to $2,000 to buy an ebike, depending on income level and type of bike. And chances are, they’ll run out of funding before California’s moribund program ever launches.

A retired Florida cop finished a 147-day, 5,000-mile bike ride from Vancouver to San Diego, then across the US to raise funds for children’s cancer research.

 

International

Momentum lists the top 10 reasons to buy an ebike this year. Unless you’re counting on California’s moribund ebike incentive program, in which case you’re probably screwed. 

A Canadian legal site asks if allowing bike riders to run stop signs would make the roads safer. Except by definition, it’s not running the stop sign if it’s legal to treat it as as a yield, as in the Idaho Stop Law.

Newly released records show Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer — the equivalent of our Treasury Secretary — slashed funding for active transportation after buying into crackpot conspiracy theories about the 15-minute city.

Ireland announced plans to build a nearly 2,200-mile bike network over the next 16 years, which will connect more than 200 cities, towns and villages with over 5,000 residents. That’s the second-best reason, after the whiskey, for a little reverse migration if things continue to devolve here.

Shimano has applied for a patent to use trainable AI to automatically control mountain bike suspensions and dropper seat posts.

 

Competitive Cycling

Ranchers near the mountain town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, say they weren’t informed about the annual SBT GRVL race, and want the number of participants capped — even though race organizers held a series of public forums, and already cap the number of riders who can take part. Apparently, they don’t understand the meaning of “annual,” either. 

Pro-Palestinian protestors delayed the start of the Australian road cycling championships in an effort to target Israel–Premier Tech cyclist Simon Clarke.

 

Finally…

Blue legs and bike shorts on a cold winter’s day. Who needs an ebike when you can have your very own e-snowboard.

And you could have been the proud owner of Pee-wee Herman’s 1953 Schwinn DX Cruiser, not for “a hundred million, trillion, billion dollars,” but for the low, low price of $140,001.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Newsom approves limited speed cam pilot, Israeli bicyclists victims of Hamas violence, and DOJ sues eBay for rolling coal

October 16, 2023 / / Comments Off on Newsom approves limited speed cam pilot, Israeli bicyclists victims of Hamas violence, and DOJ sues eBay for rolling coal

Newsom signed this one, anyway.

LAist reports speed cams could be coming to Los Angeles, Long Beach and Glendale after Governor Newsom signed a bill authorizing a pilot program in the three cities, as well as three cities in Northern California.

However, the program will be limited to streets in “school zones, highway segments most prone to injuries, and areas identified by local authorities as having high volumes of speeders and street racing.”

The pilot program continues California’s insistence on reinventing the wheel, since speed cams have already proven successful in 200 communities in 21 other states, including New York City, Chicago and DC.

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You knew the recent Hamas massacre in Israel wouldn’t spare the bicycling community.

According to Marca, the heartless violence took the lives of an entire family of triathletes, and at least four mountain bikers were killed on their way to a training ride.

Another group of bike riders survived by hiding under bushes for hours to escape the attack.

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Yes, please.

The US Department of Justice is suing eBay for selling more than 343,000 illegal “rolling coal” pollution devices through the platform, illegally enabling drivers to modify emissions controls on their cars and trucks — and bury bike riders and pedestrians in a cloud of exhaust smoke.

The platform could face a well-deserved $5,580 fine for each devise sold under the Clean Air Act, for a total of nearly $2 billion.

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This is the future bike riders want.

Meanwhile, as today’s top photo demonstrates, the countless full bike racks at Sunday’s CicLAvia offered more proof that bikes mean business, with bars, restaurants and cafes jammed with happy participants.

Along with more than a few corgis.

And this one definitely won the most creative award at Sunday’s Heart of LA CicLAvia.

Although the LAPD responded to the end of Sunday’s CicLAvia with an illegal order telling bike riders to get off the street.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

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

No bias here. A former British city counselor accused local advocates of planning a “deeply distasteful” protest ride to demand safe streets in the wake of two recent bicycling deaths, saying it would put people off bicycling.

No bias here, either. Business owners in a UK city protested what they called a “totally crazy, ridiculous” plan to remove a whole two — yes, two — parking spaces to make room for eight bikeshare bikes.

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

A 73-year old man in the UK walked without a day in jail for crashing his bicycle into a pedestrian, leaving the 88-year old victim fighting for his life; the man thought he could ride safely even though he was left partially sighted after a stroke.

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. A Long Beach driver killed one woman and injured six other people when he drove into pedestrians and cars at Shoreline Drive and Aquarium Way Saturday evening.

 

State

An Orange County man was busted after completing a transportation theft trifecta, first stealing a car, followed by a bicycle, before being arrested while wearing the car owner’s shoes.

A Victorville woman was critically injured when her bicycle was struck by a motorcyclist while crossing a busy roadway Friday afternoon.

UC Santa Barbara Police recovered 18 purloined bicycles after busting an accused prolific bike thief.

A Bakersfield man suffered major injuries when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike, and left lying in the roadway Saturday evening.

Sad news from San Francisco, where bicyclist was killed in a collision while riding on a freeway; no word on why the rider was on the Interstate highway.

 

National

CleanTechnica calls ebikes a less-polluting option for commutes and errands as part of the new normal, while Momentum offers advice on what you need to know before buying one.

Gravel has officially gone mainstream, as CNN rates the year’s 12 best gravel bikes.

Gear Junkie offers tips on selecting the right bicycle helmet for the way you ride.

Hundreds of Las Vegas bicyclists turned out for the 10th Annual Ride to Remember, in honor of bike racer Pete Makowski, who was killed by a gravel truck driver while on a training ride in 2013, and all bike-riding victims of traffic violence.

Kindhearted Tucson, Arizona volunteers put together 1,200 bikes to donate to underserved kids.

A new Denver program is using heart rate data to identify bicycling danger zones before anyone gets hurt.

Life is cheap is Wisconsin, where a woman got just 18 months behind bars for killing a 29-year old man riding a bicycle, while driving at nearly twice the legal alcohol limit and nearly twice the posted speed limit.

Cincinnati Bengals punter Drue Christian stayed in shape by delivering meals for DoorDash on his bicycle during the off-season, then started buying meals himself and giving them to people in need.

Family members continue to call for justice two years after Pittsburgh police tased a homeless man up to ten times, even though he didn’t pose a threat to them or anyone else, just because he rode a bicycle that appeared to be abandoned around the block before returning it; the city has already paid an $8 million settlement in the case, but no officers have been charged in his death.

A South Carolina letter writer has a complaint bike riders everywhere can relate to, asking people to stop leaving yard waste and other trash in bike lanes.

 

International

Major bicycling brands, including Schwalbe, Rudy Project and Trek, are becoming more environmentally conscious and reducing their carbon footprint.

A Vancouver nonprofit calculates that switching from a car to a bicycle could save commuters over $9,000 a year.

Yes, please. A new Google Maps feature will allow London bike riders to consider current traffic conditions and the availability of high-quality cycling infrastructure in planning their route. Hopefully, that will roll out here in the US if it proves successful there. 

The Daily Mail complains that a Scottish ebike loan program has cost the country the equivalent of over $600,000, as people have purchased ebikes but failed to repay the cost.

A pair of British bike riders were the victims of a bikejacking by moped-riding muggers, who pulled up to them at a red light and ordered them off their bicycles.

A British man’s beloved bicycle was stolen outside his local pub, after it had taken him 22,500 miles around the world in just 430 days.

A Kenyon writer says it’s imperative that the country combine high-capacity buses and bicycling to “significantly reduce urban carbon emissions and foster cleaner, healthier cities for all.”

Police in South Australia said they have arrested the state’s infamous “Bicycle Bandit,” after DNA led them to a 73-year old man who allegedly robbed at least ten banks over a ten-year period beginning in 2004, using a bicycle as his primary getaway vehicle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch pro Milan Vader won his first WorldTour race at China’s Tour of Guangxi, a year after a bad crash during a Basque Country race last year left him in an induced coma with his spine fractured in eleven places, and doubts of ever riding again.

French cyclist Typhaine Laurance is walking away from pro cycling, retiring at just 25 due to the sports low pay; she was forced to continue living with her parents while earning the equivalent of just over $1,000 a month.

Conservative media was up in arms after two transgender cyclists took home gold and silver at a women’s ‘cross race in Chicago.

 

Finally…

Sometimes the best approach to slowing drivers is a mangled bike and a pair of legs sticking out of the hedge. Apparently, bike shorts aren’t used for bicycling anymore, even though they still are, except when they’re not.

And just blame Google Maps if you end up riding on a highway where bikes are banned.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Vegas teens plead not guilty to Probst murder, Mo Wilson’s accused killer makes a run for it, and Newsom digs daylighting

October 12, 2023 / / Comments Off on Vegas teens plead not guilty to Probst murder, Mo Wilson’s accused killer makes a run for it, and Newsom digs daylighting

Jesus Ayala and Jzamir Keys, the Las Vegas teenagers being tried as adults in the deliberate murder of a bike-riding former Bell, California police chief, both pled not guilty to several felony counts at their arraignment Wednesday.

The two teens, 17 and 16 at the time of their alleged August crime spree, are accused of at least three hit-and-runs while joyriding in a stolen car, including fatally running down 64-year old Andreas “Andy” Probst from behind as they laughingly filmed the attack.

Ayala and Keys are also accused of deliberately targeting another man riding a bicycle, although apparently he was not seriously injured.

They’re charged with murder, attempted murder, battery and residential burglary, as well as multiple counts of automobile grand larceny and possession of a stolen vehicle.

They each face up to life in prison if convicted on the murder charges, despite Ayala’s boast to the cops at the time of his arrest that he’d be out in 30 days.

Photo by Ekaterina Bolovtsova from Pexels.

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Kaitlin Armstrong, the woman accused of killing gravel cycling star Moriah “Mo” Wilson, made a run for it Wednesday, attempting to escape from sheriff’s deputies as she was being led back to a patrol car following a doctor’s appointment.

Armstrong is accused of fatally shooting Wilson last year in a jealous rage, in what she apparently perceived as a love triangle involving her then-boyfriend, pro cyclist Colin Strickland, who had been briefly involved with Wilson.

Armstrong was already considered a flight risk following her arrest in Costa Rico after a 43-day manhunt.

She had reportedly died her hair and undergone plastic surgery in an effort to change her appearance and hide her identity.

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After wielding his veto pen to strike down bike-friendly legislation, including a bill to allow sidewalk riding throughout the state, California Governor Gavin Newsom actually signed a safety bill yesterday.

Newsom added his signature to Assembly Bill 413, known as the Daylighting Bill, which will ban parking within 20 feet of a marked crosswalk to increase visibility and improve safety for pedestrians, as well as anyone else stopped at or using the intersection.

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Apparently, there really is an app for that.

Yesterday, I learned there’s an app to help organize bike buses to help kids get to school safely.

Which could probably be used to arrange bike commuting rides to find greater safety in numbers, as well.

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

We missed this one when I was out of commission with eye problems a couple weeks back, as a driver in a massive SUV attempted to terrorize a velomobile e-recumbent rider in El Cajon, California last month, which was compounded by a lecture from a cop who didn’t know the law.

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Local 

Streetsblog says Metro didn’t follow its own designs, let alone city-approved, CEQA-approved street standards, in providing access to the new Downtown Connector stations, implementing undefined changes focused on getting drivers onto freeways instead of providing the promised bike and walk facilities.

A letter from longtime LA-area bike advocate Kent Strumpell says Los Angeles can alter the course of the automobile’s role in climate change, and meet the pope’s call for bold climate action, with the rapid installation of a fully functional, citywide, protected bikeway network. From his keyboard to God’s ear. Or at least the mayor’s. 

 

State

The CHP has received a federal grant to support its education and enforcement efforts to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety throughout the state. Although we’d all be better served if they used the money to train their officers in bike law, and how to investigate bike crashes without their usual windshield bias.

San Diego Magazine lists eight of the city’s best bike events to attend each year, starting with next month’s Bike and Beer San Diego.

A young Frenso girl was lucky to survive with minor injuries when she was struck by a pickup driver while riding her bike, and ended up pinned under the truck.

Manteca is just the latest California city calling for a crackdown on reckless teenage ebike riders.

San Anselmo will conduct a study of the downtown area on how to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Sad news from Sierra County, where a Berkeley man was found dead after apparently riding his mountain bike off a trail; his body was found about a hundred yards downstream from where his bike was recovered.

 

National

AARP offers a pretty extensive tutorial on the different types of bikes for different riders and situations. And since they include balance bikes, it’s probably safe to say they’re not all aimed at their target market.

Trek has launched the industry’s first bicycle trade-in program, accepting used bikes made by the company for trade at their eponymous stores. Which makes me wonder what they’d give me for my first-gen mass production 1980 Trek roadie. For a change, read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you. 

Bicycling introduces Bivo founder Carina Hamel, saying she’s disrupting the bicycling water bottle market one stainless steel water bottle at time. This time, you can read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

At least one Portland hotel now approves of a recently contested downtown bike lane, insisting they want the hotel to be a welcoming space for bike riders, after the hotel’s former GM criticized the bike lane for what she termed dangerous conditions.

There’s not a pit deep enough for the bike thief who stole an adaptive tricycle from a 23-year old special needs man in Arizona.

The building that formerly housed my not-so-local Denver bike shop, which I traveled across the city to frequent, caught on fire last night, but it was quickly extinguished by firefighters; developers plan to raze the former local icon to build an 18-story mixed-use tower.

It takes a special kind of scumbag to drive off and leave a bike-riding five-year old Colorado kid bleeding in the street.

The highly anticipated movie Bike Vessel, which premiers this week at the Chicago Film Festival, tells the story of a father who took up bicycling after surviving three open-heart surgeries, and the son who joined him on a “rigorous” journey by bike from St. Louis to Chicago.

New York’s Black-owned Amsterdam News says there’s no going back, as ebikes continue to make inroads into neighborhoods of color throughout the city.

New York bike riders rallied to protest the city’s second-highest number of bicycling deaths ever, while calling out the mayor’s apparent lack of concern, even though he was considered a consistent ally when he served in the state senate.

That’s more like it. A 19-year old Richmond, Virginia man was sentenced to spend the next ten years and a month behind bars, after a judge suspended most of a 30-year sentence for plowing into a pair of bike-riding women while driving drunk and stoned, killing one and critically injuring the other.

 

International

A British man, who was placed in a medically induced coma for nearly two weeks after suffering major injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike in 2017, is now planning to take part in a fundraising hill climb challenge to benefit the air ambulance service he credits with saving his life.

 

Competitive Cycling

A new report accuses pro cycling of putting profits over safety, saying elite cycling has a “profound safety problem,” with safety “taking a backseat in the pursuit of performance or profit.”

The Intermarché-Circus-Wanty cycling team abruptly pulled Madis Mihkels from China’s upcoming Tour of Guangxi, after the 20-year old pro was shown making a racist gesture on social media by pulling back his eyes in mockery of Asians.

Three-time US Pro crit champ Luke Lamperti will join L39ION of Los Angeles as a guest cyclist at the inaugural invitation-only CRIT Championship in St. Petersburg, Florida later this month.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a minor suffers minor injuries after getting hit by a deer that was hit by a driver. If you were stopped by a motorcycle officer in East Valinda, you may have gotten a fake ticket from a fake cop.

And apparently crappy bike infrastructure is a problem everywhere.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Newsom’s veto could mean tickets for seeking sidewalk safety, and LA Times calls out California’s roadway climate fail

October 11, 2023 / / Comments Off on Newsom’s veto could mean tickets for seeking sidewalk safety, and LA Times calls out California’s roadway climate fail

No surprise here.

Both Calbike and CABO responded to Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto of a bill that would have legalized sidewalk riding on any street without adequate bike lanes.

And needless to say, they came out on opposite sides of the issue.

Calbike, aka the California Bicycle Coalition, decried the veto, arguing that sidewalk riding may not be the best choice, but it’s sometimes the only safe one.

“Is sidewalk riding ideal? No,” said Jared Sanchez, policy director for CalBike. “In a perfect world, most streets would be Complete Streets, with safe facilities for all modes of transportation. But that’s not the reality today, and it will take years to transform every dangerous roadway in California into a safe route for biking. In the meantime, people on bikes must, at times, travel on streets with fast traffic and no bike lanes. By vetoing this bill, the governor has taken an action that will lead to more deaths and injuries of people on bikes.”

While CalBike agrees with the governor’s assertion in his veto statement that building better bike infrastructure is the best way to provide safe spaces for people who ride bikes and that the state has moved in the right direction to create more protected and connected bikeways, infrastructure for safe biking remains woefully inadequate.

Meanwhile CABO — the California Association of Bicycle Organizations — applauded the governor’s veto.

An open letter from Alan Wachtel, Government Relations Director for CABO, pointed out the dangers of bicycling on sidewalks, both for bike riders and pedestrians.

While my organization and I appreciate the author’s intent to improve bicycle safety, this bill would instead have exactly the opposite effect. It would encourage dangerous bicycling habits, and it would constitute a huge step backward in the goal of routinely accommodating bicycle travel everywhere in the transportation network. Unfortunately, the author’s office has repeatedly declined to meet with us even to discuss these issues.

Under existing Vehicle Code §21650(g) (which I helped to draft), bicyclists may already ride on sidewalks everywhere, unless prohibited by the code or local ordinance. AB 825 would eliminate that local power unless the adjacent roadway includes a designated bicycle facility, except for last-minute amendments that provide complicated exceptions meant to protect pedestrians (but that are inadequate to do so).

But AB 825, despite being promoted as a bicycle safety bill, would, on the contrary, also be more dangerous for bicyclists. It relies on and actively perpetuates the misconception that the only safe places for bicycles are designated facilities and sidewalks.

This may be the rare instance where they’re both at least partly right.

CABO is correct that bikes don’t normally belong on sidewalks, where they pose a danger to pedestrians and an increased risk to bike riders, despite the perception of safety.

But it’s also true that a sidewalk can provide a refuge from dangerous roadways lacking safe infrastructure — especially the typical suburban California stroads, where riders often have to contend with speeding drivers exceeding the already high speed limits.

It’s also demanding too much to expect an inexperienced bike rider to take the lane on a busy street filled with impatient and distracted drivers.

It’s unreasonable to ticket someone for putting their own safety ahead of any local restrictions under those, or similar, circumstances.

Or to expect someone on a bicycle to always know when they’ve crossed from one city where sidewalk riding is allowed, to another where it’s prohibited, particularly when the restriction isn’t posted.

Then there’s the problem the bill was originally drafted to address, where police too often use sidewalk riding restrictions as a pretext to stop and search, or merely harass, people of color.

I always encourage people to ride their bikes in the street, both for their own safety, and that of people walking on the sidewalk.

But I understand if they choose not to, as I have myself for short distances, or when faced with dangerous situations on the street.

And penalizing them for making that choice is wrong — as was Newsom’s veto of the bill.

Besides, we all know sidewalks are really just parking spots for entitled drivers.

……..

The get it.

An editorial from the Los Angeles Times called out California’s transportation policies, arguing that the state’s highway spending doesn’t match it’s climate promises.

Then again, that’s what we’ve come to expect from the auto-centric Caltrans, despite its repeated commitments to Complete Streets and active transportation.

Two recent reports highlight the discrepancy. Regulators have warned that the state needs to slash the amount of miles people drive 25% below 2019 levels to help meet 2030 emission reduction targets. But traffic and car dependence has increased in recent years, according to a report from the progressive advocacy group NextGen Policy.

It’s no surprise why: California continues to spend the bulk of its transportation dollars to maintain and expand car-centric roads and freeways. Instead of doubling down on the existing system that makes it inconvenient and unsafe to travel by bike, foot and transit, California should be spending the bulk of its transportation funding to remake the urban landscape so people have real choices in how they get around.

But that’s not happening. Of the state’s primary transportation funding programs, just 19% of the money has gone to projects that help reduce the need to drive, such as building out bike lanes, sidewalks, rail service, electric buses and affordable housing near jobs, according to an analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council. These programs are in such demand that the state is regularly forced to deny funding to highly rated pedestrian and bicycle projects.

It’s worth reading the whole piece, because they’re right.

Caltrans continues to flush massive amounts of funding down the highway widening toilet, addicted to the never-ending chase to fix traffic congestion while fueling induced demand.

And like any other addict, the only solution is to quit.

………

It looks like Amazon’s Prime Days, which concludes today, is the bike world’s new October Black Friday.

………

Road.cc pits a $15,000 superbike against a $430 find from Facebook Marketplace to determine how much speed money can actually buy.

And concludes that it does make a difference, but not as much as you might think.

………

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

A Cambridge, Massachusetts newspaper says a court heard rehashed arguments in yet another lawsuit fighting the city’s separated bike lanes, after the city has already won preliminary injunctions and subsequent appeals in two similar cases.

A Streetsblog op-ed calls out a proposal supported by a majority of New councilmembers to license all ebike riders, which would create a bureaucratic nightmare and discourage ebike use, while ignoring the lackluster infrastructure and unsafe work standards at the root of the problem.

New Yorkers rode their “little bikes” last night in protest of the mayor’s derisive comments about being able to ride their “little bikes” safely thanks to him, at a time when the city’s bicycling deaths are up dramatically.

………

Local 

West Hollywood sheriff’s deputies reported three collisions involving pedestrians last month and four involving people on bicycles, while stating that enforcing the city’s restrictions on sidewalk riding is a low priority; it’s legal to ride on the sidewalk on any WeHo street without a bike lane.

 

State

Chinese ebike maker Velotric is offering discounts up to 20% to students, staff and faculty at UC San Diego, while the campus expands bike lockers and protected bike lanes.

San Marcos is getting a new eight-acre bike park, including a pump track, perimeter trail and jump lines for beginner, intermediate and advanced riders.

The campus police chief at UC Santa Cruz warns students about the growing bike theft problem at the school, while offering tips on how to keep your bike safe.

 

National

Electrek applauds Seattle’s cute little electric bike lane sweepers.

Denver drivers can’t seem to figure out how a traffic diverter works, continuing through on the wide bike lane instead of following the really big arrows on the street directing them to turn. Although the city deserves a lot of the blame for leaving enough room in the bike lane for cars to enter.

A 28-year old Denver man is nearly 8,000 miles into an effort to visit every US National Park in the Lower 48 states on one continuous bicycle trip; so far he’s made it to just 19 of the 51 parks on his itinerary.

A writer for Kansas’ Rider University student paper describes how a bright blue bicycle took him from an awkward 16-year old kid stuck at home during the pandemic, to a bike-riding man about campus.

This is why we need to ban right turns on red lights. A Kansas driver was caught on video slamming into a bike rider, who had waited until it appeared to be safe before crossing in a crosswalk with the light, and was right hooked by the driver after riding off the curb.

Road diets in Philadelphia led to a 34% decrease in fatalities on the city’s recently constructed Complete Streets.

Abandoned bikeshare bikes continue to litter a South Carolina town after the city’s provider shut down last spring.

 

International

Momentum says riding in a dress this fall is not as difficult as you might think.

A member of Britain’s Conservative Party says he will continue to call for a mandatory bike helmet law in Parliament, despite his own party repeatedly rejecting the proposal.

The mayor of Manilla’s Quezon City returned from a trip to Copenhagen, vowing to use the Danish city’s bicycle-friendly infrastructure as a role model to make her town the bicycling capital of the Philippines.

An Aussie bike advocacy group condemned video of an “entitled” SUV driver crossing the double yellow lines to pass both a bike rider and a second driver who was patiently following the bicyclist waiting for a safe opportunity to pass.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgian pro Nathan Van Hooydonck says he immediately knew his cycling career was over when he was nearly killed in a car crash after suffering a heart problem while driving; he retired after waking from a coma and being fitted with an internal defibrillator to correct any future cardiac arrhythmia.

 

Finally…

Why settle for being a coffee roaster or a wrench when you can do both? That feeling when the heroine who defends you from bike thieves is an angry mom with a spade.

And why just ride on rubber when you can put the rubber to the rubber?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Good but not great year for CA street safety bills, and 17-year old Las Vegas killer driver could be tried as adult

September 19, 2023 / / 3 comments

It could be a good year for California traffic safety, if the governor’s veto pen cooperates.

Streetsblog reports Governor Gavin Newsom has until October 14th to sign legislation “championed by safety and sustainable transportation advocates (that) actually made it all the through the sausage making.”

Among the bills that passed are measures to legalize a speed cam pilot program, provide transparency on highway building and emissions, require daylighting at intersections, and prohibit criminal charges for transit fare evasion.

Bicycling bills that made it to Newsom’s desk would create a Caltrans bike czar, legalize sidewalk riding throughout the state, allow vehicle-mounted cameras to enforce bike lane parking restrictions, and require landlords to let tenants store and charge ebikes and e-scooters inside.

Based on Newsom’s previous actions, I’d expect the sidewalk bill to face the greatest veto risk, followed the ebike charging bill, due to the risk of fires.

Other measures would unbundle parking costs from rent, allow businesses to share excess parking, require a human driver in autonomous trucks, and study the costs and benefits of imposing a weight-based vehicle fee.

Another measure would remove restrictions on lowriders and legalize cruising throughout the state — lifting lowrider culture over traffic safety and the climate emergency.

Bills that didn’t make it include the ban on pretextual traffic stops, free transit passes for youths, and requiring the state to take climate change into account on highway projects and monitor air pollutants.

That’s in addition to the latest attempt at passing a Stop As Yield bill, aka Idaho Stop, which was pulled by Assemblymember Tasha Boener, apparently over fears Newsom wouldn’t sign it. Which seemed pretty clear to begin with, since he’s vetoed two previous attempts.

Meanwhile, Calbike considers the risk that speed poses to all road users, but particularly bike riders and pedestrians, as well as making the case for why everyone should support ebikes, even if you don’t ride one.

Image from Schoolhouse Rock – I’m Just a Bill.

………

No surprise here, as Nevada’s Clark County DA announced plans to try a killer teenaged driver as an adult.

The 17-year old driver was recorded on a now-viral video deliberately aiming his car at retired Bell police chief Andreas Probst as he rode his bike in a Las Vegas bike lane last month.

It’s also no surprise that the car was stolen, one of several auto thefts the teen is accused of taking part in that day. Or that the driver had used it to sideswipe another car moments earlier, apparently just for the hell of it.

Investigators are also trying to identify the passenger who filmed the fatal crash, who could faces charges, as well.

………

They get it.

The Boston Globe writes that it will take more than just infrastructure to get people onto bikes, and meet the city’s goal of a 8% bike commuting rate by 2030, which is four times the current rate.

Reaching that goal is vital to the city’s health. The increased use of bikes usually means the decreased use of cars, which will shrink the city’s carbon footprint and its need for costly parking spaces. At a time when the T is slow or undependable, cycling can not only fill gaps in the transit system but can also be the most efficient mode of travel.

Moreover, bicycles add to the vibrancy of street life, a potential boon to neighborhood stores, restaurants, and cafes. And let’s face it, we could all use a bit more exercise.

Yes, it will require a network of safe, connected bike lanes, the paper argues.

But it will also take adult bike classes, and bicycle training in elementary schools. Along with state and local ebike subsidies, and tax deductions to help defray the cost of bike commutes or pay for Uber rides in bad weather.

As well as growing Boston’s docked bikeshare system.

All of which applies equally well right here in Los Angeles, or pretty much anywhere else in the US.

And while we’re on the subject, Momentum asks if it’s time for governments to start paying people to bike to work.

Short answer, yes. Longer answer, oh hell yes.

………

Longtime Los Angeles bike advocate and former LACBC board member Kent Strumpell will interview Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, founder of the Streets For All PAC, in a webinar hosted by Climate Action Santa Monica this Thursday.

………

That feeling when a 16-year old trail rider could probably drop you like freshman English.

Or maybe that’s just me.

………

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

No bias here. San Diego’s KPBS is once again raising the panic over ebike and e-scooter injuries, as ER doctors cite a painfully small study showing a jump in injuries coinciding with the rise in e-scooter use. Although as any middle school science student could tell you, correlation does not equal causation. And an increase in injuries is to be expected with any increase in usage; the question is whether that rise exceeds what would be expected with greater usage.

Once again, someone has boobytrapped a bike trail in the UK, stringing a nest of orange twine across the trail to ensnare any mountain bikers who failed to spot it; fortunately, a man saw the trap before he hit it at nearly 20 mph, and dismantled it with a small knife from his bike kit.

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

After a pair of bike-riding teenaged theft suspects attempted to escape down a Missouri bike path, a local cop following on foot borrowed a bike from a woman taking part in a corporate relay race, and chased down one of the suspects; the woman’s team was allowed to finish the race despite being shorthanded.

Friends and family members are looking for answers after the beloved assistant director of the New York Chinatown Head Start program died days after she was struck by a hit-and-run ebike rider while walking to work.

………

Local 

Streetsblog offers photos and an open thread about Sunday’s NoHo CicLAmini.

 

State

San Marcos will close part of Via Vera Cruz Road for a months-long construction and resurfacing project, including adding bike lanes to the street.

A San Diego op-ed examines how speed cams could help reduce the hundreds of lives lost to traffic violence in the city each year. Yet the just-passed speed cam pilot program inexplicably excludes California’s second-largest city.

The Manual recommends mountain biking into Death Valley to watch next month’s solar eclipse.

Bakersfield bike riders now have a new bicycle repair station near Beach Park along the popular Kern River Parkway.

The San Francisco Standard examines what the hell is taking so long with the scaled-back Better Market Street Project, which no longer includes plans for a sidewalk-level fully separated bike lane.

 

National

How to charge your ebike using an electric car charging station.

Electrek says budget ebikes are driving retail sales, which is why leading bikemakers like Trek and Cannondale are introducing low-priced ebikes that undercut their own high-end models.

Bicycling recommends the best bike deals in advance of next month’s two-day Amazon Prime Big Deal Days. This one doesn’t appear to be paywalled, but you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you, since it doesn’t seem to be available elsewhere. 

Portland’s transportation director has ordered staffers to rip out a 16-block, parking protected bike lane downtown, for no apparent reason, just one year after completing the final segment.

A Maryland man has filed suit against Seattle’s Rad Power Bikes after the front wheel of his RadRunner bike came off as he was riding.

Seattle’s new waterfront bike path is coming into focus as construction nears completion, although, as usual, last-minute changes undercut previous promises.

Following the time-tested model of NIMBYs everywhere, residents of a Denver neighborhood are protesting a new bike lane “protected” by flimsy plastic car-tickler bendie posts, blaming them and a new roundabout for a series of minor crashes.

Bikepackers and hikers are bringing life back to an old Wyoming gold mining town along the Continental Divide Trail, just a small part of the estimated $454 billion outdoor recreation adds to the nation’s gross domestic product.

Life is cheap in Illinois, where a 76-year old driver walked without a single day behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 20-year old bike-riding man, after the judge suspended his entire five-year sentence for negligent homicide. But at least he’ll be 101 before he’s allowed to drive again.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever shot an 11-year old Saginaw, Michigan boy as he was riding his bicycle; fortunately, his wounds weren’t life-threatening.

A Brooklyn writer argues that foldies aren’t just for city living, and should be part of your outdoor adventures, as well.

A pair of men were injured, one critically, when they were struck by a driver while taking part in a Maryland gran fondo, apparently because they were unable to stop on the wet roadway.

 

International

Dueling groups of demonstrators turned out Monday over plans to widen and protect a Montreal bike lane; as usual, the issue was the planed removal of 250 parking spaces to make room for it.

A bike-riding Dublin, Ireland woman was seriously injured in a collision with another bicyclist Monday morning.

A Ukrainian woman rode her bike more than 125 miles around London to draw an outline of the UK, to thank the country for supporting Ukraine.

A UK letter writer supports a call to reduce traffic congestion by eliminating parking, saying the roads are too dangerous for “all but the most experienced and intrepid” bike riders.

A Bangladeshi financial site writes that the local bicycle industry is facing the worst period in memory, apparently falling victim to the worldwide financial upheaval cause by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Competitive Cycling

The fan-based @GCSeppKuss account on X/Twitter started out as a joke, then gained followers as Kuss took the lead in the Vuelta — including Kuss himself.

The last American to win a grand tour before Kuss says his victory could provide a timely boost for a flagging road cycle racing scene in the US.

Velo says the attitude throughout the peloton is that no one deserves a grand tour win more than Sepp Kuss.

The once high-flying Astana-Qazaqstan team brought home less than $5,000 in prize money for three weeks work in the Vuelta.

This about sums up this year’s racing season. Even if the winners of the first two tried to keep the last one from winning.

 

Finally…

One more way bikes are better than cars for the climate — we don’t need windshield washer fluid.

And you should always wear the proper attire for bike racing, even if it’s a suit jacket and knickers.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Newsom kills funding for CA ebike rebates beyond 1st year, and Bixby bike-ped path opens on Gateway bridge this weekend

May 17, 2023 / / Comments Off on Newsom kills funding for CA ebike rebates beyond 1st year, and Bixby bike-ped path opens on Gateway bridge this weekend

It was nice while it lasted.

California’s long-delayed ebike rebate program, which hasn’t even begun yet, is already at risk after Governor Newsom failed to extend funding for the program beyond this year in his revised budget.

Calbike reports that over 17,000 people have expressed interest in the program, which only has $7.5 million left for actual rebates after the state has blown through $2.5 million of the original $10 million budget on outreach and overhead.

Which is kind of what happens when you spend a couple years dithering about what it should look like, instead of just getting the money out to people who need it.

The remaining funds should be good for just 3,000 to 7,000 vouchers, meaning at least 10,000 people are likely to walk away empty handed and out of luck.

And most will probably keep driving, instead of switching to a far cleaner, cheaper and more efficient form of transportation.

The revised budget also includes cuts to Complete Streets and investments in disadvantaged communities. Which is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing in the midst of a climate crisis, when the state is literally burning and people are suffering.

And the opposite of Newsom’s campaign promises to confront the crisis.

Photo by Alex from Pexels.

………

The long-delayed Mark Bixby Memorial Bicycle Pedestrian Path is offically opening this weekend, along with the Ocean Boulevard Connector leading to it.

The bikeway on the new Long Beach International Gateway Bridge is named for Long Beach bike advocate Mark Bixby, scion of the city’s influential Bixby family, who was killed with four other people in a private plane crash a dozen years ago.

………

San Diego will now close Fifth Avenue in the city’s Gaslamp district to cars every afternoon and evening.

Because, apparently, they don’t do mornings down there.

Thanks to Glenn Crider for the heads-up.

………

More proof you can carry pretty much anything on a bicycle — despite the constant chorus of naysayers who insist you need a massive SUV to carry anything bigger than a coffee cup.

https://twitter.com/rendermack/status/1657509136614199297

………

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

We’re constantly reminded about stop sign-running bike riders as the reason we can’t have anything nice. But when someone on a bike runs a stop sign, they usually don’t kill anyone, unlike an on-duty DEA agent who was caught on video running a stop sign just before killing a Salem, Oregon man riding a bicycle.

No bias here. A Cambridge, Massachusetts letter writer says being bike friendly is a good thing, but the city is taking this whole bike safety thing too far, because some people might be inconvenienced, and stuff. Although getting killed or maimed by a driver is pretty damn inconvenient, too.

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

Five teenage bike riders were caught on security cams illegally riding through a Boston freeway tunnel, splitting traffic lanes and popping wheelies, to the chagrin of drivers behind them.

………

Local 

Burbank is hosting a pair of pit stops today for the city’s annual “Bike and Walk to Work Day.”

They get it. Alhambra residents stood up to object to the city’s proposed widening of Fremont Ave, along with the on and off ramps to the 10 Freeway, calling it a waste of the city’s share of Metro funds for the abandoned plans to extend the 710 Freeway.

 

State

Laguna Beach will host a bike safety expo this Sunday.

A 14-year old French Valley girl was airlifted to a hospital after suffering serious injuries when she was struck by a pickup driver while riding her bike in unincorporated Murrieta.

Even Bakersfield is hosting a series of bike events to mark Bike Month. Although closing the bike path to conduct “bug maintenance” probably wasn’t on their bike bingo card.

A 31-year old Fresno man was hospitalized with cuts and a broken leg after getting hit by a truck driver while allegedly riding salmon and running a red light.

A 4th generation San Franciscan, developer evangelist and substitute tennis coach writes glowingly about her first SF Bike Party, which is like Critical Mass, but more fun.

Writing for a nonprofit architecture and design site, a San Francisco architect says it’s time to consider the benefits of a 15 mph city.

 

National

The US Bureau of Statistics confirms that the pandemic bike boom was real, as spending on bikes and accessories jumped a whopping 640% over the past three years. And suggests this could be another banner year.

The Cherokee Nation announced the six women who will participate in this year’s Remember the Removal Bike Ride, ranging in age from 18 to 40; the ride follows the route of the horrific Trail of Tears, when tribal members were forcibly removed from their ancestral homes in the south, and made to march hundred of miles to new reservations.

A craniofacial trauma surgeon considers whether it’s worth spending a little more to get a MIPS bike helmet, and ends with a resounding yes.

After he was paralyzed in a snowboarding accident, a self-described adrenaline junkie finds the cure for his depression in riding an adaptive bicycle with a Washington state bike club.

A group of Houston bike riders will hold a ride and dine in support of a historic restaurant threatened by the real estate developer next door, who is blocking access to parking long used by restaurant patrons.

Authorities in Fargo, North Dakota are looking for a man who drove through a local bike race while leading a police chase last weekend; fortunately, no one appears to have been seriously injured.

A Congressional bill named for a fallen Wisconsin bicyclist would make it easier to use federal funds to build protected bike lanes; Sarah Debbink Langenkamp’s hometown officially endorsed the bill named for her.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever murdered a 56-year old Dayton, Ohio man, just 12 hours after he was bike-jacked at gunpoint and forced to walk ten blocks to report the crime.

CBS has picked up the story of the white hospital worker who tried to wrestle and whine a New York bikeshare bike out of the hands of the Black teenager who had rented it, saying the hospital she works for is looking into the incident. Which is probably bureaucratese for she can kiss her job goodbye.

They get it, too. DC bike advocates continue to fight for safer streets, despite the city’s backpedaling on a pair of planned protected bikeways, saying there can be no compromise on making biking and walking safer.

Speaking of DC, hats off to the lone bike rider who shouted down a group of white supremacists gathered for a march to the capital.

Forget tweed rides. Roanoke, Virginia is hosting a fancy dress bike ride this weekend, encouraging participants to don their finest and fanciest attire.

Kindhearted Georgia sheriff’s deputies replaced a 12-year old boy’s BMX bike after his was stolen.

Former NFL star Jimmy Graham is one of us, as he gets back on his bike after suffering cuts and bruises when a driver smashed into him in a SMIDSY* crash. *Sorry Mate, I Didn’t See You.

 

International

Canadian Cycling Magazine considers five goofy things non-bicycling people ask bicyclists, including “doesn’t your butt hurt,” and the ever-popular “why do you shave your legs.”

After a London van driver told bike-riding BBC presenter Jeremy Vine to fuck off, Vine responded by telling nearby pedestrians “He seems like the kind of guy who might not come to my birthday party.”

Bicycling considers what the bicycling mecca can teach the world — and the writer’s hometown — about bike infrastructure, reminding us that the Netherlands wasn’t always the bike-friendly paradise we see now. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Foldie maker Dahon wowed visitors to a Chinese bike show with they’re latest bikes and tech, including a new frame cable that reportedly makes single-bar folding bikes “more rigid, stronger and faster than some large-wheeled mountain bikes.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Denmark’s Magnus Cort Nielsen overcame the cold and wet weather to win Tuesday’s 10th stage of the Giro, as former Tour de France champ Geraint Thomas kept a tight grip on the pink leader’s jersey.

Movistar cyclist Will Barta managed to escape serious injury crashing on a wet descent in Tuesday’s 10th stage, but he can’t say the same for his bike, which snapped in two during a brush with a retaining wall.

Bicycling applauds 21-year old Dutch cyclist Puck Pieterse’s podium vibes, which she displays with increasing frequency competing in ‘cross, mountain biking and road racing. Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.

 

Finally…

Telling bike riders not to do something they wouldn’t do driving a car probably doesn’t have the intended impact, in a world where people do whatever the hell they want behind the wheel. Your next bike could have magnets instead of gears, or maybe not.

And if you get chased out the home you’re burglarizing, try not to leave your bike behind. And if you do, don’t go back for it.

……….

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Stop as yield passes Assembly committee, MOVE Culver City debate goes late, and bike-riding teens shot in Florence drive-by

April 25, 2023 / / Comments Off on Stop as yield passes Assembly committee, MOVE Culver City debate goes late, and bike-riding teens shot in Florence drive-by

The state Assembly’s Transportation Committee has once again passed a version of the Idaho Stop Law.

San Diego Assemblymember Tasha Boerner tweets that AB 73 would allow bike riders 18 and over to treat stop signs as yields, but only when it’s safe to do so.

She also notes that “9 other states already allow policies like these because the data shows it’s safer for cyclists & other drivers.”

Whether that will be enough to get Governor Gavin Newsom to yield veto pen — after he rejected two previous drafts — remains to be seen.

Photo by ALTEREDSNAPS for Pexels.

………

Things aren’t looking great in Culver City.

The city council meeting discussing a proposal to rip out the successful MOVE Culver City mobility project is still ongoing as I write this; delaying discussion of controversial issues like this is a time-tested method of waiting out the opposition in hopes they’ll leave before the proposal comes up.

However, as the following tweet suggests, opposition to the project is firmly entrenched, wrong though it may be.

Bike Culver City is doing a great job of live-tweeting the debate, as comments go back and forth between members of the council.

Meanwhile, the list of elected officials coming out in favor of the project continues to grow.

Finally, it’s hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like a good turnout for the protest ride in favor of retaining the project.

https://twitter.com/possumlives/status/1650683058746699777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1650683058746699777%7Ctwgr%5E24c54dac64f9ece62c388d1a78fc9becbccc449b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbikinginla.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D52349action%3Dedit

………

Seriously, why the hell isn’t this bigger news when a pair of teenagers get shot riding a bike in LA’s Florence neighborhood?

According to the Daily Breeze, a 16-year-old boy and 18-year-old girl apparently sharing a bicycle when they were critically injured in a drive-by shooting.

So is the problem that we just take shootings for granted now? Or just shootings “down there”?

Or do bike riders — or communities of color — just not matter anymore?

Or maybe all of the above.

………

Tragic news from Newport Beach, where bike shop owner Don Feuer was struck by a driver while riding a scooter.

Feuer, owner of Victory Ebikes, was just one block from his store when he was critically injured in the crash on Saturday, April 16th.

According to a crowdfunding page set up to help pay his medical expenses and benefit his family, the crash left Feuer with a damaged spinal cord after breaking his C1 & C2 vertebrae, leaving his prognosis uncertain, at best.

The page has raised just over $8,600 of the $50,000 goal in five days, though word of his injuries is just getting out.

Given the extent of his injuries, however, even the full $50,000 is likely to be just a drop in the bucket for his future medical expenses.

Thanks to Psmith for the heads-up.

………

Guerrilla DIY infrastructure group Crosswalk Collective demonstrates LA’s firm commitment to whatever is the opposite of Vision Zero, in which the death of a pedestrian results in a memorial sign and the removal of the group’s DIY crosswalks.

And shamefully, no other action in the seven years since.

Thanks to Tim Rutt for the tip.

………

Gravel Bike California takes in the superbloom while riding the century old Ridge Route through the Angeles National Forest.

………

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

No bias here. A Kentucky law firm asks if bike riders can ever be liable for traffic collisions, before responding, in effect, “Let us count the ways…”

No bias here, either. A Minnesota letter writer says it’s time to stop giving carte blanche to bike path developers, accusing proponents of being divided between absolutists and “rational people.” As if developers of any bike path, anywhere, have ever been given carte blanche.

A Boston-area group opposed to bike lanes conducted their own study, and unsurprisingly concluded that some bike lanes are bad.

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

Police in Durham, North Carolina are looking for a bike-riding groper who’s assaulted six women, including three in the last month.

………

Local 

A Los Angeles Times podcast considers whether anything can stop distracted driving. Short of a federal law requiring cellphones to shut off when cars are in motion, probably not.

As long as we’re talking podcasts, former LA Councilmember Mike Bonin’s What’s Next, Los Angeles podcast talks with Streets For All founder Michael Schneider.

Speaking of Schneider, he’s back with another op-ed in the LA Times, arguing that you’re not imagining it, Los Angeles traffic signals really do favor cars, not people.

UCLA’s Daily Bruin looks at the new Westwood Connected campaign to improve walking and biking in the area surrounding the campus.

 

State

You have just one week left to order Calbike’s 2023 bikewear collection.

Sad news from San Luis Obispo, where a Cal Poly student has died after being disconnected from life support, after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike last week.

Momentum Magazine examines the controversy over San Francisco’s planned center-lane pseudo-protected bike lane on Valencia Street; the city has already begun construction before more people can complain.

 

National

Lifewire says Velotric’s new ebike with a built-in Apple “Find My” feature is total genius.

Bicycling considers four Black bicycling clubs working to diversify the roads and trails, including All Clubs LA, which was founded by Kenneth Vinson and legendary cyclists LA cyclists Rahsaan Bahati, Justin Williams and Charon Smith. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Seattle builds a two-way, concrete-protected bikeway stretching a little more than half a mile in the southwest part of the city.

It wasn’t a good weekend for a bike rider in Orange, Texas, either.

A Kansas City TV station says ebikes from the city’s bikeshare system are the best way to get around during this week’s NFL draft.

An Indiana man was sentenced to up to forty years behind bars — or as little as three — for the hit-and-run crash that killed a man riding a bicycle four years ago; he also got a whole eight-day sentence for driving without a license — suspended, of course.

New York announced plans for another ten miles of hardened bike lanes, featuring the sort of concrete barriers most of us would actually consider protection, rather than the usual flimsy plastic car-tickler bendy posts.

New York bicyclists call on the city to keep those bikeway improvements coming, as bicycling deaths continue to climb.

Finishing our New York trifecta, the city considers a proposal to eliminate red tape when it comes to expanding bike lanes and create a real-time map of current bikeway conditions, while a New York councilmember accuses the NYPD of being part of the problem.

DC is reassessing plans for downtown bus and bike lanes in the wake of an organized bikelash.

 

International

An English county counselor was left bloodied and bruised after he was the victim of a hit-and-run driver who left the road and jumped a berm to hit him as he was riding on a fully separated bike path.

A new study from the UK says autonomous vehicles will need to understand the secret language of bicyclists to better understand their intentions, and vice versa.

The police escort for Britain’s prime minister now includes multiple bike cops, the better to force people off the roads.

A new German survey suggests the country isn’t a bicycling country yet, as a national bike club rates it “sufficient.”

That’s more like it. An Israeli driver will spend the next ten years behind bars for the drunken Yom Kippur death of a 12-year old boy riding his bike in Jerusalem two years ago, as well as being banned from driving for 20 years.

An African writer says bicycles present the solution to safe, healthy and inclusive cities on the continent, which continue to choke under air pollution, vehicular traffic and and traffic fatalities.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar suffered a setback on his way to steamrolling the competition this spring, breaking multiple bones in his wrist; he’ll be out four to six weeks following successful surgery. The Slovenian cycling star says he’s was lucky that was all he broke, concluding “Shit happens.”

 

Finally…

How to pick the right seat for your tush. Your next gravel bike could be a Lamborghini — unless you’d rather have a new motorcycle-ish ebike inspired by a Land Rover.

And is it really a winning strategy to market your fat tire bike primarily to fat people?

……….

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Reseda bike rider dies of apparent natural causes; and eligibility reduced for CA ebike rebates, still no start date set

January 19, 2023 / / Comments Off on Reseda bike rider dies of apparent natural causes; and eligibility reduced for CA ebike rebates, still no start date set

Sad news from Reseda, where someone died of an apparent medical crisis while riding a bike on the sidewalk on the 7000 block of Tampa Ave Tuesday night.

Despite initial reports of a traffic collision, authorities believe the victim collapsed on their own, and was beyond medical help by the time paramedics arrived.

There’s no word on the identity of the victim.

Photo by Tucă Bianca from Pexels.

………

Calbike tells Governor Gavin Newsom that California needs more active transportation funding, not less, as he attempts to claw back half of the already approved funding in the coming budget.

And there’s still no date set for the start of California’s long-delayed ebike rebate program, though eligibility has been reduced from 400% of the federal poverty level to just 300%.

………

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, calls for volunteers for Saturday’s big die-in at LA City Hall to protest traffic violence and deaths in the City of Angels.

………

But it there was a bike path there, it would be closed.

Right?

………

LADOT invites you to a family friendly ride on newly improved Anaheim Street in Wilmington next month.

………

The East Side Riders are hosting their annual Ride 4 Love on February 11th, just three days before Valentines Day.

………

More proof that bike people are the best people.

Although that looks like a pants suit, to me.

………

We’re always told no one will ride a bike in LA’s 60° winters.

So how do you explain Londoners riding to work at 26°?

………

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

An Indiana woman faces charges for intentionally running down a man riding a bicycle, after they had allegedly had a physical confrontation at her home.

A Scottish driver was fined for throwing a tub of hair gel at a pair of bike riders, after becoming angry because they weren’t moving fast enough. Either that, or he was kindly assisting them with the inevitable helmet hair at the end of their ride. 

Well, that’s a new one. Residents of an oceanfront British town formed a conga line to protest a new segregated bike lane.

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

A dozen or so teenaged bike riders stormed the San Francisco Bay Bridge, popping wheelies and swerving through traffic on the roadway where bikes are banned, before being escorted off the bridge by the CHP.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cnf3pvDBmmd/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=0462d8c9-86ba-4841-97f1-eea98f2b2a14

The US Marshall’s Service pats themselves on the back for capturing their Fugitive of the Week for November 30th, after arresting a repeat flasher who failed to register as a sex offender, and attempted to escape from authorities on his bicycle. And failed.

………

Local 

Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry took their two-year old daughter on a cold weather bike ride to the Los Angeles Zoo.

WeHoVille encouraged “residents and renters who’ve voiced their dismay” over proposed bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd and Fountain Ave to make themselves heard at last night’s meeting to present a feasibility study on the bike lanes. Because evidently, their belief that the bike lanes are infeasible should outweigh whatever the study shows.

LA County has ordered a safety study of two Altadena roads after a pair pf pedestrian deaths; reports on Holliston and Fair Oaks avenues are due back in 45 days.

The annual San Francisco to Los Angeles AIDS/Lifecycle fundraising ride will end near the Santa Monica Pier this year. Although I wonder how much that has to do with the death of Glen Brown in a solo fall at the end of last year’s ride in LA’s Fairfax district. 

Cycling Tips profiles Compton’s own Rahsaan Bahati, after the Black former national cycling champ founded his Bahati Foundation to get more people on bikes who look like him.

 

State

A Bay Area TV station says Marin County bike thieves are using sophisticated tools to steal bike from garages with glass windows, cutting a small hole in the glass, then inserting a long hook to defeat the lock. Doesn’t sound that sophisticated to me, but what do I know?

A Bay Area man will face a murder charge for intentionally crashing into a 52-year old man riding a bike three years ago; the passenger in his car testified that 40-year old Ric Acosta announced he was going to run the victim down; he had to wrestle the wheel from Acosta to keep him from running over the victim a second time.

Heartbreaking story from Oakland, where a local website examines the 35 lives lost to traffic violence last year. Maybe if every city did that, we might have fewer of them. 

 

National

Momentum offers a “quick and easy” guide to bike fenders, while a writer for CyclingNews provides lessons learned while traveling with a bike.

A Portland artist says he didn’t mean to offend anyone with his installations of all-white children’s bicycles as part of an anti-violence campaign, not realizing the significance ghost bike-like white bikes have for the bicycling community.

Seattle’s Rad Power Bikes is introducing a three-wheeled e-cargo bike for stability-challenged riders.

Tempe, Arizona’s new Culdesac development is intended to provide a walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented community of 761 apartments with blissfully carfree streets.

A Las Vegas nurse says she was just in the right place at the right time to save the life of a 61-year old man who suffered a massive heart attack while riding his bike.

Another Las Vegas bike rider wasn’t so lucky, the victim of a DUI driver who was on her way to the methadone clinic when she smashed into him at 4 am, before flipping her car.

A San Antonio, Texas man credits his Apple Watch with saving his life when he broke his femur failing to make a corner on his bike in the rain; his watch automatically called paramedics, and gave his exact location when he didn’t know where he was.

The parents of a three-year old girl killed riding her bike in a Chicago bike lane last year have filed a lawsuit against the city alleging “willful and wanton misconduct” for failing to maintain the bike lane, as well as against the power company whose driver parked in the bike lane, forcing the family into the traffic lane where the girl was killed by the driver of a semi-truck.

Speaking of Chicago, the city will begin a pilot program using city-owned cameras to ticket drivers who park in bus and bike lanes.

They get it. The Houston Chronicle says it may seem counterintuitive to slow traffic and remove lanes on a major Houston street, but it makes perfect sense when you consider the purpose is to save lives. Hint: Try stopping the page as soon as it loads to get around the paper’s paywall.

Contemporary Christian singer Amy Grant says she’s still suffering from memory loss following her July bike crash in Nashville, forgetting the lyrics to her songs and even the death of a longtime friend’s husband.

Video show the admitted killer of eight people in an ISIS-inspired attack running with what turned out to be fake guns at the end of his 14-block rampage on a New York bike path; Sayfullo Saipov is on trial to determine whether he will be executed for his crimes.

 

International

Road.cc recommends their picks for the best winter road bikes. Because evidently, N+1 dictates different bikes for fair and foul weather.

Bike Radar offers eight tips they wish they knew before they started mountain biking. Here’s one more — make sure your health insurance is up to date. Because sooner or later, you’ll need it. 

Talk about a silver lining. More Europeans are turning to bicycles and e-scooters to combat rising energy prices, with 69% of motorists now using their cars less than before.

The next time you can’t find a safe place to lockup your bike, try not to think about Amsterdam’s new 7,000 space underwater bike parking garage. 

A bicycling group slammed plans for an elevated bike and pedestrian pathway through Brussel’s European Quarter, calling it an unneeded vanity project.

A new Japanese study shows that traveling farther distances by walking or cycling may help older adults prevent early functional disability and mortality.

This is why you don’t try to stop a bike thief yourself. A 16-year old Australian boy is on trial for fatally stabbing a man who was trying to stop him from stealing a kids bike; he was reportedly overheard confessing the crime to his best friend by the other boy’s mother.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australia’s Grace Brown beat Amanda Spratt in a sprint to win the final stage of the women’s Tour Down Under, topping the podium for the three-stage race.

Rain put a damper on the men’s Tour Down Under prologue won by Italy’s Alberto Bettiol; Australia’s Rohan Dennis won stage 2.

Bicycling reports competitors in the Tour Down Under’s individual time trial went out of their way to bend the rules prohibiting time trial bikes. Read it on AOL, which somehow still exists, if the magazine blocks you.

British pro James Knox was kicked off the Tour Down Under for drafting on a team car after he crashed; needless to say, he was not pleased.

Mark Cavendish will get one more chance to set the record for most stage wins at the Tour de France after signing with Astana-Qazaqstan; the 37-year old pro from the Isle of Man is currently tied with the legendary Eddy Merckx at 34 stage wins. As it turns out, I have something in common with Cav, since the Isle of Man is my family’s ancestral home, as well. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when authorities attempt to thin the herd by placing a power pole in the middle of a cycle track. Or when you’re driving drunk on three wheels, when you should have four.

And more proof you can haul ass on your bike.

Or a donkey, anyway.

https://twitter.com/MazaCiclismo/status/1615380185171349506

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Flawed Metro bike map & bikeshare changes, parking reform house party, and odd non-endorsement of Newsom foe

October 19, 2022 / / One comment

We should be so past this crap by now.

A couple stories popped up this week that expose the sort of needless problems that shouldn’t even exist after decades of advocacy.

Not to mention Metro’s repeated lip service to supporting active transportation.

First up, Streets For All sent out a notice about proposed changes to the Metro Bike bikeshare program. Changes that have virtually everyone scratching their heads, trying to figure out what the hell it all means.

Here’s what Streets For All had to say on the subject.

THIS THURSDAY, Metro’s Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee has an item on its agenda to consider a staff recommendation to mostly privatize Metro Bike Share.

While we’re not against this in principle, the fact is that Metro has treated its own bike share program as the odd man out, and not like a real transportation mode.

Regardless of which model the bike share program ultimately becomes, the next phase must include:

  1. A major expansion, based on equity, starting in our most underinvested neighborhoods
  2. The ability to put bike share stations at Metro train and bus stations (right now, Metro’s employee union blocks this)
  3. Treating bike share like a real transportation mode part of Metro’s bus/rail system, not an afterthought. This means real funding and integration into the rest of the system.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

CALL INTO METRO’S COMMITTEE MEETING THURDAY AT 12:30PM

EMAIL THE COMMITTEE IN ADVANCE

The second issue came up when Metro released the interactive map we linked to yesterday showing the agency’s Draft Prioritized Active Transportation Network, which purports to show bikeways, pedestrian districts and first-last-mile station improvements prioritized by the agency.

The problem is, they can’t even get the existing infrastructure right.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton was the first to call out the problem, noting a number of errors in the following Twitter thread.

It raises obvious questions of how we can count on Metro to plan future bikeway and pedestrian improvements when they don’t even know what the hell we already have.

And combined with the Metro Bike changes, makes it clear active transportation continues to be an afterthought at the county transportation agency, and the lack of seriousness with which they consider it.

Let alone address it.

And by extension, the local governments that make up the Metro board, who certainly should know better by now.

Then again, why bother with a million dollar bikeway when they can keep flushing billions down the toilet with more induced demand-inducing highway projects in the midst of a climate emergency?

………

Another notice that popped up in my email yesterday was a reminder from Bike Talk’s Nick Richert about tomorrow’s parking reform house party, with special guest UCLA parking meister and The High Cost of Free Parking author Donald Shoup.

I’m reaching out to invite you to a fundraising house party for an organization that I believe is doing important work on an issue that doesn’t get enough attention … parking reform!

We’ll be gathering at the home of Lindsay Sturman, in Larchmont Village, LA on Thursday, October 20th. Drinks and Socializing at 7:00PM, with a short program at 7:30 PM

Car parking can be enormously  expensive – often costing upwards of $40K per stall to construct – and takes up so much space – an average parking space, including aisles, is 300 square feet. Because of outdated rules that ensure we’ll continue to over-build parking whether we need it or not, these costs are baked into our cities … and we are just beginning to pay the full tab.

The Parking Reform Network is a 501(c)3 non profit organization with a mission to accelerate the adoption of critical parking reforms through research, coalition-building, and direct advocacy.

Over the last two years, PRN has released a widely cited map of US cities that eliminated parking mandates, produced a how-to guide for advocates working to create new  parking benefit districts, worked with Congressman Blumenauer’s office to introduce federal legislation introducing a parking cash-out benefit (HR 8555), and built a membership of nearly 300 practitioners, activists, and academics worldwide.

This fundraiser will support:

  • Grants and organizational support to local reform campaigns
  • Developing presentations and training speakers to educate policymakers and stakeholders about parking reforms.
  • Creating materials to advise government agencies who are in the thick of parking reforms, and need technical and/or communication support to get their plans across the finish line.

Please RSVP via this web page, or email la-party@parkingreform.org, and also let us know if you’re planning to bring a +1.

On behalf of all our party co-hosts: Lindsay Sturman, Tony Gittelson, Terence Heuston, Jennifer Levin, Eduardo Mendoza, Gerhard Mayer, Thomas Small, Abundant Housing LA, Livable Communities Initiative, Hang Out Do Good, Culver City Forward, Bike Talk, Sunset4All, and Culver City Forward …

We hope to see you there!

………

Um, okay.

An editorial from the Southern California News Group says nothing will change as long as Gavin Newsom is governor, citing among his many perceived flaws “diverting” funds collected for road maintenance to “perceived climate-friendlier projects such as bike lanes.”

Yet oddly, they don’t endorse the other guy running against him.

Never mind that anyone who doesn’t recognize that bike lanes are better for the climate than highway projects probably shouldn’t be writing editorials in the first place.

………

Enough said.

………

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

A Denver bike rider was intentionally run down by a road raging driver, for the crime of accidentally brushing the maniac’s mirror.

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

An apparent homeless man riding a baby blue beach cruiser was arrested for attacking a Catholic priest in La Jolla with a box cutter and half a pair of scissors when the pastor asked him to leave the Catholic school parking lot.

………

Local

Northridge-Chatsworth Patch reminds us that Cal State Northridge is hosting its first BikeFest this Sunday.

An op-ed in the Loyola Marymount University student newspaper says forget more parking, and build safe infrastructure to encourage more students to bike to campus, instead.

A Long Beach man pled not guilty in the September murder of a man outside a gay bar in the city, and the stabbing of his partner; 56-year old Michael Smalls allegedly rode up on a bicycle as the couple was trying to disarm a man with a Taser, and stabbed them both. He’s being held on $3 million bond.

 

State 

An op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune says closing the successful Diamond Street Slow Street in Pacific Beach would be a mistake, despite the calls from some residents.

San Diego and Caltrans are preparing to flush $39 million down the toilet by widening State Route 56 from four to six lanes, promising it will reduce congestion, even though both science and experience show it will just result in more induced demand. But at least the project includes a new bike bridge and extending an existing bike path.

A kindhearted Mountain View cop bought a new bicycle for a toddler who was struck by a driver, along with his father, outside the local library; fortunately, both father and son escaped with minor injuries.

A Streetsblog op-ed calls for a dedicated political action committee, aka PAC, for safe streets in San Francisco. They’ve got a point. Los Angeles street safety PAC Streets For All has made a huge difference in just a few short years.

 

National

Apparently, it’s not just the flesh and blood drivers you have to worry about.

Consumer Reports recommends their picks for the best foldies. But you’ll have to be a member if you want to see it.

A San Francisco site argues that while the city dithers on street design, Seattle is demonstrating that bikes drive local business. Meanwhile, Seattle is committing just $8.3 million to fund its Vision Zero program, despite the deadliest year for traffic deaths since 2006.

Nice move from my platinum level Bicycle Friendly Community hometown, which is raising funds to provide a free bicycle for every 2nd grade student in the local school system.

Speaking of Colorado, the state has renamed a classic bikeway as the Mestaa’Ėhehe Pass ride, replacing a racial slur for indigenous women.

Once again, a bike rider is a hero, after a man on a ebike led a moose away from a Wyoming soccer pitch after it crashed a kids match.

The 67-year old person of interest in the gruesome murder and dismemberment of four Oklahoma friends who disappeared on a bike ride was arrested 1,200 miles away in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida; Joseph Kennedy is being held without bail on an unrelated charge pending extradition.

More on the white Milwaukee man seen on video grabbing a Black man by the neck while accusing the victim’s friends of stealing a bicycle from the white man’s friend; despite initial reports that the victim was a boy, he’s actually a 24-year old man.

In another tragic reminder to always carry ID when you ride, a missing Tennessee man’s family finally learned of his death two weeks after he was killed in a collision while riding his bike.

A compact-framed 1890’s direct-drive safety bicycle sold at auction in New York for $52,800, vastly exceeding initial estimates of $4,000 to $6,000.

A travel site highlights three “amazing” bike rides along the Great Allegheny Passage.

A Georgia teenager will spend the rest of his life behind bars for fatally shooting a 60-year old man at a bus stop, just to steal his bicycle. As we’ve said before, no bike is worth a human life.

 

International

Road.cc review’s Knog’s new bike alarm and tracker, designed to fit beneath your water bottle holder.

Cycling Weekly considers the difference between gravel and road bikes. Maybe I should start my own magazine for people who ride like I do these days; we could call it Cycling Weakly.

So much for that. A campaign by London’s mayor to keep drivers out of bike lanes has resulted in just 12 citations in three months.

A giant hedgehog on a bicycle, built with the help of local children, was crowned the winner of the national Tour of Britain’s land art competition.

Introducing a new French-made ebike apparently designed for people who really want to pretend they’re riding a motorcycle, instead. No word on whether it makes vroom! vroom! noises, or if you have to provide those yourself. 

Globalization in action, as Ukrainian ebike brand Delfast introduces their new U-frame Delfast California model; the bikemaker has managed to remain active despite the Russian invasion.

 

Competitive Cycling

A 78-year old former Santa Monica resident describes setting a record as the oldest person to complete the Kona Ironman competition.

A Welsh triathlete is being remembered as a “warrior princess” after she was killed in a crash while riding her bike last weekend.

 

Finally…

Maybe he should stick to driving spaceships. No one has ever had to draw from the strategic oil reserve to support bicycling.

And seriously, who doesn’t need pumpkin spiced, uh…chain lube?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

CA doubles driver insurance requirements, state legalizes jaywalking, and Sunset4All goes to council committee Thursday

October 3, 2022 / / One comment

Let’s start by catching up with a few items sent into us by Oceanside bike lawyer and newly renewed BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette.

While we away last week, Governor Newsom signed Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s Bicycle Omnibus Bill, which addresses four separate bike safety and bike law issues:

  • Requires drivers to change lanes to change lanes to pass someone on a bicycle whenever possible;
  • Improves access for ebikes by clarifying where they can and can’t be prohibited;
  • Clarifies that bikes are allowed to use leading pedestrian intervals and other walk signals;
  • Bans mandatory bike licensing laws, though voluntary bike licensing programs are still allowed

Duquette also sends word that Newsom signed SB 1107, which raises the minimum coverage for auto insurance policies once it takes effect in 2025.

  • $30,000 injury or death to one person, up from $15,000
  • $60,000 injury or death to more than one person, up from $30,000
  • $15,000 property damage, up from $5,000

Those amounts increase to $50,000 / $100,000 / $25,000 in 2035

Finally, he sends word that applications to fill Calbike’s vacant Executive Director position are due before midnight on Sunday, October 16th. So if you know someone who would be a good fit, tell ’em to get on it, already.

………

A couple more bill signings of note.

Thanks to Gavin Newsom’s signature, it will now be legal to cross the street, after the new law goes into effect on January 1st.

And active transportation and transit projects will continue to be exempt from environmental review requirements for the foreseeable future.

………

The Sunset For All compete streets plan is finally getting a hearing at City Hall this Thursday, if only because CD13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell is feeling his opponent breathing down his neck in the lead-up to next month’s general election.

But whatever the reason for his Road to Damascus turn to support the much-needed plan, we’ll take it.

This is what Sunset For All had to say in a recent email.

Great News:

Sunset4All is up for consideration at the City Council Transportation Committee thisThursday at Noon!  WE NEED YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR SUPPORT TO THE COUNCIL FILE TODAY!

By clicking on the buttons below you will send a message to the city council that Sunset4All should be one of their top priorities.  This is an essential step to achieving a Sunset4All!  Don’t wait!  Send in your public comment TODAY!

Make Public Comment on the Council File

Send an Email to CD 13 to Support the Motion

………

Megan Lynch did a little research, and came up with the date and location for this race, too.

Which just happens to be exactly 129 years ago today.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1576802524111073280

………

Seriously? No, I can’t.

………

That about sums it up.

………

Don’t mind me.

I’m just going to sit here and stare at this for awhile.

Click on the image if it doesn’t fully load.

………

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

A British nurse was lucky to escape serious injury when she was knocked off her bicycle in a drive-by egging, which she suspects was a social media prank.

Someone in France has definitely had enough of drivers parking in bike lanes.

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

A Studio City man suffered a shattered scapula, collapsed lung and three broken ribs when he was attacked with a pipe by a homeless man who was riding a Door Dash bicycle.

An Illinois State University administrator died four days after he was struck by a bicyclist riding on the sidewalk.

………

Local

Baldwin Park has broken ground on a new 2.3-mile bike/walk path along Big Dalton Wash and the San Gabriel River.

Not only was Jason Bateman one of us as a kid, he almost ran over Michael Jackson while riding his bike around Universal Studios.

A man is in stable condition after he was shot in the chest while riding his bike on the Los Angeles River bike path near Long Beach Blvd in Long Beach.

 

State 

The Encinitas Advocate looks at the numbers behind Carlsbad’s bicycling state of emergency, with nearly 250 bicycle-involved crashes since 2019, half involving motorists.

Sad news from Fresno County, where a woman in her 50s was killed when the driver of an Acura supercar veered onto the wrong side of the road on a curve, and hit her bicycle head-on.

A San Francisco website looks back on 30 years of Critical Mass, noting that it has never been anti-car, but rather, pro-bicycle.

The UC Davis student newspaper offers advice on how to ride a bike around campus, noting that you’re better off with a secondhand bike because it’s less likely to get stolen.

 

National

Streetsblog takes a deep dive into roundabouts, explaining that they’re not all the same when it comes to bike safety, with some designs actually increasing the risk to riders.

Forbes talks to “industry experts” to pick the best bicycles for everyone from beginners to pros.

More proof bikes are good for business. Despite fears from business owners that it would kill their businesses, a new protected bike lane on Queens’ Skillman Ave actually resulted in a 12% increase in sales, and a 10% jump in new businesses.

 

International

Over 100 people lit up downtown Toronto with phones, fairy lights and bike lights to demand better rights and safety for people on bicycles.

Forget corking. Scotland allows leaders of bike buses to control red lights using a military-grade encrypted signal until the last riders have passed.

Three-quarters of Brits don’t expect police to even investigate a stolen bicycle. The sad news is, they’re probably right.

Actor Jared Leto is one of us, taking a purple-haired Parisian bikeshare ride with a woman friend.

A German expat explains how the United Arab Emirates got the bicycling bug, 20 years after he opened a bike shop in Dubai.

A full 44% of Swiss bike riders don’t wear bike helmets, which the country only requires for users of fast ebikes.

The Jerusalem Post says riding a bike with friends or through the desert is the perfect way to contemplate self-improvement in the days leading up to Yom Kippur. It’s also one of the best times to ride a bike in Israel, thanks to nearly empty streets on the holiday.

A Malaysian website offers seven ways bicycling is good for your mental health, including as meditation. I’ve used riding as a moving meditation for years, usually until some jerk in a car pulls me out of it.

Over a thousand Philippine bicyclists turned out in matching purple jerseys to call for a switch to renewable energy.

 

Competitive Cycling

Spain’s Enric Mas topped Tadej Pogačar to win the Giro dell’Emilia, in a tuneup for the year’s final Monument.

 

Finally…

Who needs a boat when you can just ride a gigantic water unicycle (thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up). Someone tell them you don’t need a massive  flatbed tow truck for a single e-scooter.

And we may have to deal with drivers in massive SUVs, but at least we don’t have to cope with mountain goats on steroids.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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