Day 210 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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He gets it.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, a Colorado auto and traffic safety writer says it’s long past time to address the real problem behind the 845,000 deaths on American roadways.
The poorly trained drivers behind the wheel.
Approximately 94 percent of car crashes involve some form of driver behavior like speeding, distraction, failing to yield or DUI identified as a contributing factor, although this doesn’t mean the driver is always solely responsible — bad roads, confusing or obscured signage, wildlife darting into the road, mechanical failures and other factors play their part, too.
But mostly, the problems lie with us. We aren’t very good drivers. And there is a potential solution: better driver training. If we can fix bad driving, at least partially, we can save thousands of lives.
Although he adds that better eduction of drivers can only do so much to lower the appalling death rate on our roads.
It would be wonderful to lower the death rate from 30,000 deaths a year to 25,000 or 20,000. I don’t think anyone thinks we’re going to get to zero. Some people will just be rotten drivers all their lives, and others will always ignore the rules.
But if we change the narrative and empower people to drive safely and skillfully, that’s a start.
His stats are just a tad out of date, though, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration celebrated last year’s drop to “just” 39,345 traffic deaths, the first time this decade it’s been below 40,000.
And he may be right about never getting to zero, at least as long as humans are doing the driving.
But we can do a hell of a lot better than 20,000 to 25,000 people sacrificed to the almighty motor vehicle every year.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.
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Not many people can claim to have taught both a pope and a saint to ride a bike.
Even if it was the same person.
A Roman Catholic website recounts the story of the legendary Gino Bartali, a two-time winner of both the Giro and the Tour de France, as well as a member of the Italian resistance honored as Righteous Among the Nations for saving an estimated 800 Jews during WWII.
The modest Carmelite Catholic never told his own story, which only came to light after his death.
As if that wasn’t enough to stake his claim to fame, he’s also said to have taught Pope John XXIII, who was canonized in 2014, how to ride a bike.
That alone should be the first miracle to get him sainted.
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This may not be why people keep dying on our roads.
But it sure as hell doesn’t help.
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Bicycling lifestyle brand Rapha joined with Los Angeles area bicyclists to mount a ghost bike on Stunt Road for Marvin Cortez, who was killed by a reportedly speeding and reckless driver last month.
Thanks to Aaron 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.
London’s Kensington and Chelsea council said “oopsie,” and cancelled a fine equalling the equivalent of $133 issued to a university professor for the crime of riding his bike in a shared bicycle and pedestrian lane, exactly where he was supposed to.
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Local
The Ballona Creek Bike Path will be closed for the next two days for maintenance from Overland Ave to Higuera Street between 6 am and 4 pm
State
Singletracks looks at five of California’s best mountain bike trails.
A San Diego public radio station examines Vista’s plans to rip out newly installed protected bike lanes, because drivers just couldn’t deal with them, and a number bicyclists didn’t like them, either.
Santa Barbara County is recruiting bike-riding volunteers to offer direct feedback on “comfort factors” like lane width, and traffic speed and volume, to confirm the results of an AI survey of county streets.
Oakland has broken ground on a $5.4 million project to build a barrier-protected bike lane near the city’s Lake Merritt, to be named for a four-year old girl who was killed there while biking with her father two years ago.
National
Electrek calls ebike rebate programs a rare win-win offering cleaner air, less traffic and more mobility for people who need it most, as more cities and states provide them.
Seattle Bike Blog says no, those new lines are fog lines, not bike lanes.
A People Magazine podcast questions whether a University of Idaho student was the victim of a serial killer, after she disappeared while riding her bike to her sister’s house in 1981 and her dismembered body was found floating in the Snake River nine days later.
A new study from an Arizona law firm shows that North Dakota paid the highest dollar cost for bicycling deaths at $14,177 per 1,000 residents between 2020 and 2023, followed by Alaska, Montana and South Dakota. Although the story doesn’t explain how they calculated that cost, and doesn’t provide a link to the study.
This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Two years after a teenage boy was killed by a driver while riding on a residential Chicago street, and another bike rider badly injured, the city removed a traffic lane and converted it to a far safer neighborhood greenway.
CNN is finally starting to catch on, as Elon Musk’s The Boring Company promises to solve Nashville’s traffic problems, after the company’s vaporware solutions in other cities.
A Senator from Vermont has introduced a bill to restore the tax deduction for riding a bike to work, which was killed by Republicans during the first Trump administration after nine years, while expanding it to include ebikes, bikeshare and scooters.
The Washington Post provides a reminder that Cycling Without Age allows infirm elderly people to feel the wind in their hair while riding in a pedicab.
International
The New York Times “Wellness Around the World” series joins pre-dawn bicycle “trains” in Bogota, Columbia, as groups of up to 100 riders join together for protection against thieves and get their days off to a great start.
A Vietnamese bike touring company is introducing a “bold” ten-day gravel bike tour starting in Saigon, and traveling past tea and coffee-growing highlands, ancient Cham ruins, quiet fishing villages and bustling coastal towns, and the memorial to the infamous My Lai massacre, ending in the UNESCO World Heritage site Hoi An.
Competitive Cycling
USA Cycling awarded 40 titles at last week’s four-day 2025 USA Cycling Junior Track National Championships. Seriously, when I was that age, I barely knew bike racing was a thing, let alone track cycling.
Dutch cyclist Lorena Wiebes won Monday’s stage of the Tour de France Femmes in a “furious” sprint, as race favorites Demi Vollering and Kim Le Court were caught in a late crash, allowing Marianne Vos to reclaim the yellow jersey after Le Court held it for just two days. But does that mean Le Court has to give up her new yellow bike?
The crash left Vollering “limping and emotional” with pain in the knee, glutes and back.
Finally…
That feeling when you end the world’s most famous bike race with a fiancé, instead of a trophy.
And that looks like fun.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
