Los Angeles is banning pretext stops.
Again.
Several years after a fight with the police commission led to actions that would supposedly prevent cops from stopping drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians on some flimsy pretext to conduct what would otherwise be an illegal search, the city is doing it again.
Sort of.
The City Council voted unanimously to ask the Police Commission to pretty please take action to stop LAPD officers from doing what they already weren’t supposed to be doing.
Here’s how the Los Angeles Times put it.
The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted in favor of new restrictions on so-called “pretextual” traffic stops, signaling a growing impatience with the Police Commission’s failure to rein in a controversial LAPD tactic that critics say enables racial discrimination.
The vote requests that the department’s all-civilian watchdog adopt new guidelines similar to San Francisco, which bars police officers from pulling people over for broken taillights and other minor equipment violations unless there is a safety threat.
It has long been a problem with bicyclists, particularly bike riders who were the wrong color or in the wrong neighborhood.
Call it biking while Black or brown.
Roll a stop after almost coming to a complete halt, or fail to signal a lane change, and a flashing roof rack could light up behind you. And next thing you know, you’re standing on the side of the road in handcuffs as a cop rifles through your clothes and belongings.
That’s what led the city to eliminate the bike licensing requirement all the way back in 2009, because officers would too often pull people of color over on the pretext of checking for a bike license. If they didn’t find one — which was usually the case, since most people didn’t even know they were supposed to have one — and you could be humiliated at best, arrested at worst.
It was biased policing at its most heinous, particularly in the Rampart district.
The city council cancelled the requirement as a result. But advocates found themselves before the Police Commission a few years later, fighting for a promised reduction in pretext stops by making officers justify and record the stops on their body cams.
You can tell how successful that was, since the city council had to come hat in hand to ask the commission to do for real this time.
The problem is, in a bizarre quirk of the city charter, neither the council nor mayor has direct authority over the police. The Police Commission makes the rules on an independent basis, sort of like the Federal Reserve and other federal commissions in the pre-Trump era.
So the City Council is asking them, once again, to please ban the practice once and for all.
We’ll see how well that works out.
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As long as we’re rolling video, KCBS-2 covered Saturday’s ghost tire installation at the 99 Ranch Market in Westwood.
Three people were killed inside the store when a 92-year old woman hit a bike rider while apparently turning left onto Westwood, then continued on the wrong side of the road until plowing into and through the market.
Yet amid all the other questions over how to prevent something like this from happening again, no one seems to be asking whether a 92-year old woman belonged behind the wheel in the first place.
Until we start asking ourselves the hard questions and taking the difficult steps to address them, it’s not a question of whether this will happen again.
But when. And where.
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Once again, a motor vehicle has become a weapon of mass destruction, after a truck driver plowed head-on into a Deland, Florida group ride.
The immediate aftermath of the crash was visible on a home security cam, showing the swerving pickup driver nearly collide with another vehicle moments after slamming into the riders.
Eight riders were struck, with three transported to a hospital in serious condition, while a fourth was taken with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to the West Volusia Beacon,
The cycling group was estimated at 14 riders. FHP said the bicyclists struck were a 38-year-old male from DeLand, a 37-year-old male from DeLand, a 41-year-old male from Lake Mary, a 29-year-old male from DeLand, a 42-year-old male from DeLand, a 49-year-old male from DeLand, and a 33-year-old male from DeBary. No names were provided.
No word on the condition of the other four victims, or any information about the eighth victim. One rider described getting three staples in the back of his head, as well as suffering pain and bruising in his lower back and hip.
Most of the riders were customers of a Deland bike and surf shop, while one of the most seriously injured was reported to be the store manager.
The driver of the 11-year old pickup remained at the scene, and faces a fine of $65 to $300, and a whole 3 points on his driver’s license for failing to remain in his lane.
Chances are, he’s going to be drastically uninsured for the damages and injuries he caused.
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Analysis from a law group concludes, as you’d expect, that male bicyclists are more likely to be killed than female riders in most states.
But surprisingly, that statistic is reversed in 13 states, where more victims are women than men.
According to Cycling West,
In Idaho, women were 60 percent more likely to die in cycling crashes. Montana showed a gap of about 47 percent, and Utah 18 percent. The contrast with neighboring states is striking: in Colorado and Nevada, men were 170 percent and 160 percent more likely to be killed, respectively. In smaller states, however, limited data may make firm conclusions difficult.
States with higher female fatality rates span both rural and urban areas. Only Florida and California reported more female cycling deaths than Arizona, which ranked second nationally in per-capita deaths among women. Arizona also ranked third for male cyclist fatalities.
I don’t know what you can conclude from that, except maybe more women ride in those states. Otherwise, I don’t have a clue.
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A new report from Streets For All says Los Angeles faces a dire future if we continue to underinvest in city streets, opting for smaller-scale treatments and delaying compliance with long-standing federal accessibility laws
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A West Hollywood property owner suing the city over the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project, alleging the city failed to conduct an environmental impact assessment — even though state law exempts bike lanes from CEQA review.
No bias here, either. New York’s most consistently anti-bike columnist complains that plans to redesign iconic Park Avenue are a “convoluted mess,” arguing that a proposed lane reduction would add to Midtown gridlock, and that “like most recent traffic-pattern disruptions, the Park Avenue scheme is a Trojan horse for bike lanes.”
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Um, okay. British actor Benedict Cumberbatch was accused of a road-raging meltdown when he confronted a bicyclist who had chased him for blocks, accusing him of repeatedly breaking the law on his cargo bike, with Cumberbatch arguing that the other man sas “verbally abusing” him, before calmly charming bystanders and posing for selfies. Yeah, sounds like he was really out of control, all right.
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Local
This is who we share the road with. The suspect who plowed through a group of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department trainees, killing one man and injuring more than two dozen people, will go to trail after backing out of a plea deal.
This is who we share the road with, part two. The LAPD is looking for the hit-and-run driver who killed a 65-year old man near Figueroa Street and 75th Street in South Los Angeles, after the Chicago Cubs fan had come to the city to see the Dodger’s-Cubs series with family members last month; as always, there’s a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the city of Los Angeles.
Streetsblog examines the new three-mile continuous bike lane on Colima Road, providing what will eventually be a five-mile scenic route from the edge of Whittier to Fullerton Rd.
Santa Monica began warning drivers caught blocking bike lanes by automated cams mounted on parking enforcement vehicles on May 1st, and will begin ticketing for real in July.
State
Submitted without comment. Streets For All has endorsed billionaire Tom Steyer for California governor.
Amazon has finally done the right thing, sort of, by removing “ebikes” with advertised speeds over 40 mph from their website in California. Never mind that anything that can go over 28 mph is already in violation of California law, and they likely only did it to reduce their legal liability. So bikes that only violate the law by 12 mph or less, carry on.
This is who we share the road with, part three. A 13-year old Santa Ana boy was killed in Garden Grove when the electric motorcycle he was riding hit the center divider, sending him flying; he was on the bike even though you have to be at least 16 year old and have a motorcycle license to legally ride one. But at least the police and press made clear he was on an e-motorcycle, rather than an ebike, this time.
Santa Barbara closes the final eight-mile gap connecting a network of separate bike trails to make a continuous pathway from Goleta to Santa Barbara.
A San Francisco teenager has dethroned reigning British National Hill Climb Championship titleholder Harry MacFarlane as King of the Hill, taking the KOM on San Francisco’s steepest climb two week’s after MacFarlane.
The executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition says everyone benefits when more people ride a bike.
National
Guardian readers share what it’s like to live in the US without a car. Speaking strictly for myself, it’s a huge effing relief, even if it is inconvenient sometimes.
A commenter on Pink Bike wants to know what dogs are doing on bike parks, after a pooch nearly took him out on a jump. Damn good question, actually, though it’s not clear if the dog is a stray or someone’s pet.
A Xavier University history professor has published a new book devoted to riding through the history of Dayton, Ohio, titled Bicycling Through Dayton — Twenty-One Historical Tours.
She gets it. A New York writer says once you notice a dangerous ebike rider zooming by, you see them everywhere — but “What fades into the background are the dozens of completely unremarkable, friendly cyclists in between.” Well said.
A New York State website recounts the journey of two friends, who biked nearly 450 miles through the Adirondacks from Montreal down to Brooklyn last September.
International
A 27-year old woman pled guilty to the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle in London’s Hackney neighborhood, who was riding while on a hands-free call with his parents at the time of the crash; the woman, who was high on “hippy crack,” aka nitrous oxide, and doing 50 in a 20 mph zone, will be sentenced to something below the 12 years she would have faced had she gone to trial.
Road.cc offers an excerpt from British adventure cyclist and former world bicycle speed record holder Guy Martin’s new book, All The Medals Have Been Handed Out, recounting a near-death experience in Turkey’s road-tunnel system as he attempted to ride from Istanbul, Turkey to Baku, Azerbaijan.
Bicycle business groups blasted the UK government’s proposal to limit ebike motors to 500 watts and cap speeds at 15.5 mph, calling the regulations “unnecessary,” “risky,” and “the wrong approach.”
Porsche is getting out of the performance ebike business, just four years after jumping in head first.
Tour talks with a “passionate” German collector of vintage racing bikes, jerseys and memorabilia.
A Philippine study argues that the national standard of 8-foot wide bike lanes is insufficient, concluding that physically separate bikeways must be at least 8.7 feet to be safe and comfortable for bike riders, while bike lanes on roadways should be at least 8.9 feet wide. Although you may need to read Tagalog to get the most out of the report.
China hasn’t just taken the lead in innovative electric cars; now they’re coming for established Western bike brands with bikes that “are ahead of the curve when it comes to cutting-edge tech.”
A New Zealand coroner reminds truck drivers of their obligation to check their blind spot for bike riders before making a left turn, after a 59-year old man riding a bicycle was killed in the Down Under equivalent of a right hook.
Competitive Cycling
Aussie cyclist Jay Vine crashed out of the second stage of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday, suffering a broken elbow and a concussion, with several riders going down when one rider lost traction on a slippery descent, and Vine crashed into a barrier with a sickening thud; Adam Yates and Derek Gee-West were also caught up in the major crash that caused the race to be briefly neutralized.
Spain’s Paula Blasi won the women’s La Vuelta Femenina on the final climb of the final stage, dropping previous leader Anna van der Breggen to finish second on the stage and take the overall GC win.
Former WorldTour pro Michael Woods embraces the “organized chaos of Spanish gravel racing.”
There’s a special place in hell for whoever decapitated a bronze statue of legendary cyclist Eddy Merckx in the Brussels, Belgium neighborhood where he grew up.
Thirty-eight-year old Italian amateur cyclist Felice Giangregorio was provisionally suspended after testing positive for for EPO for the second time, derailing his comeback after a previous four-year suspension, and casting doubt on the European gran fondo scene. But the doping era is over, right? And it’s a virtual guarantee that if European amateurs are doping, Americans are, too.
Finally…
Your next ebike could have a semi-solid state battery. Presenting the most crazy-ass bike of the week not made by LEGO.
And what mother wouldn’t love to spend Mother’s Day fixing bikes with their kids?
Aside from most moms, I mean.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
