Tag Archive for Hollywood Blvd

New LA-area bike lanes including Hollywood Blvd, and bill banning sharrows on higher-speed roads loses support

July 2, 2024 / / Comments Off on New LA-area bike lanes including Hollywood Blvd, and bill banning sharrows on higher-speed roads loses support
Just 182 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers updates on three LA-area bike lane projects.

  • The new separated bike lanes on the east end of Hollywood are partially in place on the eastbound side, and already rideable.
  • Bike lanes have been installed on the newly resurfaced Foothill Blvd in Lake View Terrace, demonstrating what’s possible with Measure HLA, which mandates building out the city’s mobility plan whenever streets are resurfaced — if city leaders would stop actively blocking it.
  • Redondo Beach extended and upgraded the bike lanes on a resurfaced section of Torrance Blvd, adding green paint in the conflict zones. Because as we all know, a dab of colored paint stops distracted, aggressive and/or intoxicated drivers every time.

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This is how the sausage is unmade.

 

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All you have to do is ask nice, right?

https://twitter.com/BikeLanesLA/status/1807498106285830367

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Riding a bicycle in the right lane of a multilane highway is legal.

Using a handheld cellphone to record them isn’t.

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It’s now 194 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

No bias here. The New York Times reports on a “bizarre culture war” against bike lanes in Queens, where nearly every home in the neighborhood sports a “No Bike Lanes” lawn sign, as residents prefer the convenience of parking directly in front of their homes to the safety of kids riding their bikes. Although as others have pointed out, nearly every news story about a similar conflict somehow identifies bike lane supporters as “cyclists,” while opponents are always “residents. Because evidently, people who use bike lanes never, ever live there.

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

An Iowa man was shot and killed by police offers after he shot two cops who had responded to reports of a bicyclist with a gun, in an incident in which the shooter’s form of transportation seems incidental, despite being treated by news outlets like the most important detail.

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Local 

Here’s your chance to tell Caltrans to improve safety on the deadly 22 miles of PCH that runs through Malibu, as the agency calls for comments on the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study; a virtual workshop will take place from 1 to 4 pm on Thursday, July 18th. Unfortunately though, the link to register for the workshop is broken.

 

State

A bill banning tuning kits that can allow an ebike to exceed factory speed limitations sits on the governor’s desk after passing both houses of the legislature.

The CEO of a San Diego micro ebike company calls for giving ebike buyers the tax credits they deserve, while fixing the outdated regulations that hold them back.

Five years after a 12-year old girl was nearly killed by 17-year old driver while riding her bike in a Sacramento crosswalk at an intersection on the city’s High Injury Network, her parents complain the city hasn’t done anything to fix it. Before you click on the link, though, be forewarned this one is really hard to read.

 

National

Time Magazine selects the best “cheap” ebikes for different types of riders, with most retailing for under a grand.

Cycling Weekly examines how a former Portland high school principal became one of the most in-demand custom bicycle painters, with a client list ranging from Andy Schleck to Ayesha McGowan.

A 31-year old photographer is recreating her great-great-grandfather’s cross-country bicycle trip from 128 years earlier, following his route from Seattle to Boston while taking pictures with the same model of early portable camera he used.

A Houston public radio station considers whether the city will get a new bikeshare, now that the current one has shuttered due to financial problems after a dozen years.

Hundreds of a naked and nearly naked bike riders turned out for Chicago’s nocturnal edition of the World Naked Bike Ride, as bystanders cheered them on.

Vermont now has a four-foot passing law, with a $200 fine for breaking it. But as we’ve seen, a passing law is only as good as the local cops commitment to enforcing it.

A DC train line was stopped for several hours after a man repeatedly stabbed another man on the platform, before throwing a bicycle onto the tracks.

The leader of a North Carolina search and rescue unit was killed when a squirrel caused him to crash after darting out in front of his bicycle, resulting in cardiac arrest and irreversible spinal damage.

A 23-year old Florida woman faces charges for killing a 67-year old Florida journalist and pastor in a drunken, high speed hit-and-run; she was traveling around 90 mph at the time of the crash, with a blood alcohol level more than two-and-a-half times the legal limit, while dragging the victim’s bicycle under her car nearly all the way back to her home.

 

International

Your next bike helmet could inflate before you wear it.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Residents of the 800-year old town of Huntingdon, England held a vigil to honor a “much loved” bike shop owner and bike safety advocate, killed by a careless driver while riding his bike.

Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive, an 83-year old British man walked without a single day behind bars for killing a 54-year old man riding a bicycle; he was still driving despite suffering from degenerate eyesight and failing a roadside vision test.

Momentum highlights the year’s top 15 European bicycling routes.

Cycling Weekly highlights their favorite bespoke bikes from the recent MADE Australia handmade bike show.

 

Competitive Cycling

About damn time. Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay became the first black African cyclist to win a stage in the Tour de France, capturing stage three in a mad sprint to the finish; meanwhile, former Giro champ Richard Carapaz slid into the yellow jersey, while matching the time of Tadej Pogačar.

USA Today highlights the three remaining Americans in this year’s Tour de France after Sepp Kuss withdrew due to Covid, including Tour rookie, US road champ and LA native Sean Quinn.

NBC explains the rules for Olympic road cycling, mountain biking, and BMX competitions.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your new bike shoes honor a tennis legend. You can find a lot of things riding a bike, including your new kitty.

And riding the Tour while unleashing your inner Batman.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

New Flax bike book out now, Hollywood Complete Street plan announced, and Senate bill promises local bike/ped funding

March 22, 2024 / / Comments Off on New Flax bike book out now, Hollywood Complete Street plan announced, and Senate bill promises local bike/ped funding
Just 284 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

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

We’re up to 1,022 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

And that’s my copy of Flax’s new book up there. 

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It’s now 93 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

No bias here. A group of merchants in the UK claim a new bike lane has killed their businesses, even though the project actually added 80 parking spaces.

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Local 

Over 80 kids and adults took part in South Pas Active Streets’ Park-to-Park family bike ride in South Pasadena last Saturday, sponsored by seven local groups.

 

State

Police in Orange busted a bike thief who stole a bicycle from a 14-year old boy while he was playing with friends.

Sad news from Watsonville, where a 58-year old bike rider died in the hospital, a week after being injured in a collision; police investigators said the victim was following the law when he or she was struck by the 31-year old driver.

A Berkeley father calls for safe streets after he and his son survived a collision when a driver hit the cargo bike they were riding.

A Gold Country cycling columnist says don’t let bad behavior define bicyclists, and it’s never appropriate to flip off a driver. No matter how much they might deserve it. 

 

National

Marketplace says cargo bikes offer a solution to package delivery trucks clogging city streets.

Forbes offers a “complete and comprehensive” guide to the year’s best bike brands.

A 24-year old Colorado woman was arrested for a fatal hit-and-run, two months after she knocked a 43-year old man off his bicycle and left him to die on an embankment on the side of the road; the victim wasn’t found for more than two days after the crash. Drivers like that should face a murder charge for making the conscious decision to let their victims die rather than stop and call for help. 

Kindhearted Idaho cops gave new bikes to a pair of cousins, after the five and four-year old boys survived getting hit by an intoxicated driver.

They get it. A Kentucky radio station says motorists need to watch out for bicyclists. True, in every sense.

Hoboken, New Jersey will now require ebike delivery riders to be tested, licensed, and wear a high-vis vest with a registration number; the city has gone seven years without a single traffic death.

DC shows how to launch an ebike rebate program similar to the highly successful Denver ebike voucher plan, just six months after it was unanimously approved by the city council. Not three years or more, like bumbling and incompetent California’s moribund plan. 

 

International

A 32-year old Austin, Texas man became the first openly gay man to ride a bike around the world, traveling 27,461 miles across 37 different countries in 280 days, and raising nearly $19,000 for for LGBTQ+ suicide prevention nonprofit The Trevor Project.

Momentum takes a look at the bike bus movement, and why kids love it so much. Short answer, because it’s fun. Longer answer, because it’s a lot of fun.

Thanks to the Church of Scotland, bike riders will have a new 1.6-mile path between two small villages, after the church donated a parcel of land for the project.

Life is cheap in Scotland, where 69 year old man walked without a day behind bars for killing a 22-year old French-American bike rider while driving with an obscured windshield, and dragging her more than half the length of a football field; the lawyer representing her family writes that drivers hold the key to keeping bicyclists safe, and mere sentencing won’t cut it.

The Daily Mail joins “London’s patron saint of cycling” on a ride through the city’s streets to see if it really is a death trap, while a former British news host calls out the aforementioned saint, BBC host Jeremy Vine, after he was nearly hit by bicyclists blowing through a red light. Because as we all know, every bike rider is responsible for the actions of every other misbehaving bicyclist.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website recommends the five best bicycling festivals to visit this year.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Australia, where a 62-year old man was killed while competing in the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, seven years after popular ultra-endurance rider Mike Hall was killed in the first edition of the race; another competitor was injured in a separate incident.

Arkansas’ Joe Martin Stage Race has been cancelled for this year; one of just four remaining UCI sanctioned races in the US, and the longest-held stage race in America — assuming it returns next year, as promised.

The popular Belgian Waffle Ride, aka BWR, will return to North City in San Marcos on April 27-28.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you can’t find a place to do handstands and splits on your handlebars. And hell hath no fury like a bicyclist with a GoPro.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Major changes proposed for Hollywood Blvd, Parisians boost SUV parking fees, and Metro hasn’t changed its 710 stripes

February 5, 2024 / / One comment
330 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand LA Mayor Karen Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face just walking and biking on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. We’re up to 871 signatures, so let’s try to get it up over 1,000 this week!

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We could be looking at major changes on Hollywood Blvd.

Fingers crossed.

Thursday’s public meeting unveiled plans for one of the city’s first major lane reductions in the past several years for the east end of the boulevard, along with new protected bike lanes, providing a major safety improvement in addition to traffic calming.

Let’s just hope this moves beyond just talk and vaporware, for a change.

Click through on the links if the tweets disappear, which seems to be happening a lot lately.

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It’s not just the mayor.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has gotten a lot of the credit — or blame, depending on your perspective — for the recent changes making the city more climate friendly and livable, from new bike lanes to planning for a 15-minute city.

But clearly, Parisians are in her camp.

Not only did they re-elect her less than four years ago, but now residents of the city have approved her proposal to increase parking fees for SUVs.

And not by a small margin. Nearly 55% of voters agree to triple the cost to park an SUV on city streets, raising the cost for a private vehicle weighing over 1.6 tons — 3,200 pounds — to $20 an hour, in an effort to discourage their use in the city.

After all, few people will buy — let alone drive — oversized SUVs if they can’t afford to park them.

Your move, Los Angeles.

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Apparently, Metro’s cancellation of plans to widen the 710 Freeway really wasn’t a cancellation at all.

According to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, a new proposal from the agency still includes plans to widen the freeway, and may require demolishing homes along the route, which led to the original cancellation.

And the much-promised improvements for transit, walking and biking along the corridor apparently don’t amount to much.

All of which goes to show just how little the agency has changed its stripes.

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GCN examines the all-important question of how much speed can you actually buy, as we’ve all heard — or yes, said — that you can buy speed, but you can’t buy skill.

You can, however, buy a $7,100 skinsuit.

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It’s now 46 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 31 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.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? An op-ed from a Boulder, Colorado bicyclist asserts that bicyclists needs to take responsibility for their behavior, because “Most bicycle accidents are caused by improper, sometimes illegal, cyclist behavior,” and adding “There is almost no excuse for a single-operator (bicycle) crash.” As if drivers and poor road conditions have nothing to do with it.

The count is now up to six teenagers facing charges for intentionally running down a pair of Australian bike riders with a stolen car, in separate attacks that left at least one victim with life-changing injuries; the kids range from just 13 to 16, with a 14-year old and a 16-year old suspected of doing the driving.

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Local 

The next time you need to get something across Long Beach in a hurry, you may have to take it yourself, after the city’s only bicycle messenger service abruptly shut down after nearly a decade.

 

State

San Diego Magazine recommends a trio of roads in the Anza Borrego desert east of the city to explore by mountain bike.

San Francisco’s almost universally maligned Valencia Street centerline bike lane could already be on its way out, even though sales tax figures show businesses along the street are actually doing better than surrounding areas, despite claims of a slowdown.

Bay Area transportation planners are considering a proposal to reopen the westbound shoulder of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to motor vehicle traffic, even though it’s currently a protected bike lane. Because really, who gives a damn about those darn people on bikes if there’s a driver somewhere who thinks they’re being inconvenienced?

 

National

A groundbreaking new study shows cities with high levels of bicycling are usually safer for all road users — including drivers. Which really shouldn’t surprise anyone, but probably will. 

Colorado will host its Winter Bike to Work Day this Friday, including in my bike-friendly hometown. Which is our annual reminder that Los Angeles still doesn’t have a Winter Bike to Work Day, despite having a much more inviting climate — this week excepted. Then again, we didn’t have much of a summer one last year, either. 

Chicago bicyclists disproved the myth that no one rides in the winter, as hundreds of people turned out for last month’s Critical Mass ride in 39 degrees and rain.

A Tennessee recumbent rider was killed, and two other bike riders were injured, when a driver jumped a curb and crashed into a group of bicyclists waiting on a Murfreesboro sidewalk for the light to change; the local bike club urged people not to jump to conclusions about who was at fault. Although it’s kind of hard not to when the victims were on the sidewalk, and so was the driver.

Men’s Health explains how the head chef of an elite, two Michelin-starred Brooklyn restaurant manages to be an elite bicyclist, too.

After a North Carolina driver killed a man riding a unicycle, the state Highway Patrol quickly blamed the victim for not having a headlight. Which raises the question of where they expected him to put it.

 

International

How to celebrate Valentines Day with a bicycle. I mean, not as your date or anything, because that would be weird. 

A British Columbia writer says yes, bike helmets are helpful, but if you really want to improve safety, make drivers wear them, too.

A pair of Edinburgh bicyclists were left shaken after they were attacked by hooded thieves who made off with their bikes, worth over $12,000.

Disappointing news, as one of England’s oldest bike shops shuttered after 134 years.

The UK’s national Bikeability children’s bicycle safety training program says fewer kids are riding to school, even though more are passing through the program.

Good question. A BBC radio show considers why bicyclists with bike-cams are considered snitches, while drivers with dash-cams are responsible citizens.

A European travel site says put Valencia, Spain on your bike bucket list.

Sad news from Bengaluru, India, where the man known as the Century Cyclist or the Cycle Yogi for his unbroken streak of 42 months of daily metric century rides — 62 miles — died of a heart attack just days after finishing the streak; he was just 45.

A London bike rider says spending a week riding on a cycle track through Abu Dhabi’s breathtaking Al Wathba desert changed his mind about bicycling, in a good way.

An Aussie ebike rider was seriously injured by a woman driving at nearly twice the county’s .05 legal blood alcohol limit, but the tabloids had a field day after learning she was wearing nothing but leather lingerie at the time of the crash.

 

Competitive Cycling

Estonia’s Madis Mihkels and Belgian pro Gerben Thijssen made a donation to their Intermarché–Wanty cycling team’s junior team, and were asked to make a presentation to the junior team members on the values of cycling after they were yanked from last year’s Chinese Tour of Guangxi for making a common anti-Asian racist gesture.

 

Finally…

Use wind-power to run your bike lights. Who needs Critical Mass when you can have a monthly bike rave, instead?

And seriously, how low can you go?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0KYTXjv0Bg/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=33a07c8f-a11a-405f-aef2-962a6c6fb356

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Boerner calls for licensing ebike riders, the untapped power of ebike rebates, and H’wood Blvd remake presumably on track

July 10, 2023 / / One comment

And so it begins.

California 77th District Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, a Democrat from Encinitas, has responded to the Northern San Diego County city’s ebike state of emergency by calling for requiring a license to ride one.

Not for kids.

Not for specific classes of ebikes, like the high-powered, throttle-control ebikes that are really low-powered motorcycles disguised as electric bicycles.

But for everyone.

No matter how experienced you are on a bicycle, evidently. Or whether you’re already a licensed driver, or even hold a motorcycle license.

Let’s hope this was just a badly worded announcement. But this appears to be nothing more than an electrified version of the long-standing, and long debunked, demand that bike riders should be required have a license if we’re going to “share the road.”

You know, just like those grown-up, highly trained and law abiding people in the big, deadly machines.

And it would likely be the first step in a very slippery slope to requiring licenses for everyone on two wheels.

Not to mention it doesn’t do a damn thing to address the ever-increasing size of massive motor vehicles literally designed to do maximum harm to anyone outside of them. Or the people who buy and drive them, too often under the influence, frequently while distracted, and usually while speeding.

But sure, let’s blame kids riding their ebikes to school or the beach, because they’re an easy target. Especially when drivers see them rolling through stop signs they shouldn’t be required to stop for in the first place.

There’s a legitimate argument for providing ebike training, especially for teen riders too young for a drivers license.

And for taking another look at over-powered ebikes that are sold with “wink wink” speed limitation software that is easily hacked to exceed state ebike class restrictions. Or banning the use of pedal-less, throttle-controlled ebikes.

But throwing up a road block to the growth of ebikes is exactly the wrong move when our streets are slowly grinding to a halt due to too many cars in our cities, and our state is literally on fire as a result of extreme conditions fueled by climate change.

We need to do everything we can to get more cars off the roads, and more bikes on them, electric and otherwise.

Not put up legal roadblocks to stop it.

Thanks to BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette for the tip. 

Photo by Maxfoot from Pixabay.

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Speaking of ebikes, Bloomberg’s CityLab examines the untapped power of ebike rebates.

You know, like the untapped power of California’s long-gestating and underfunded ebike rebate program.

Their story is pretty well summed-up by this subhead:

Voucher programs can speed uptake of less-polluting electric bicycles and get more people out of cars. Why are states and cities limiting their effectiveness?

Why, indeed, Assemblymember Boerner?

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There may be hope yet.

A Twitter conversation over the weekend — yes, Twitter is still a thing, despite the best efforts of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk — raised the question of whether the plan to remake Hollywood Boulevard is still on track.

The proposal would reduce traffic lanes and parking, while installing wider, walkable sidewalks, bollard-protected bike lanes and outdoor dining areas appears to be moving forward, based on nothing more than the fact that its website is still live.

A lot depends on the council district’s current king, uh, councilmember, Hugo Soto-Martinez, though.

The project was developed by his predecessor Mitch O’Farrell, who used it as an argument for his re-election.

At the time, Soto-Martinez voiced his support for the project. But if he’s done so after his election, I haven’t heard it. And it doesn’t appear to be mentioned on his council website, which is odd for such a significant project.

Given the outsized power Los Angeles councilmembers have to approve, kill or modify any project within their council district, for any reason, his support will be mandatory before any work can begin on the street.

And don’t get me started on the long-standing need for a Times Square-style pedestrian plaza at Hollywood and Highland.

Thanks to Andrew Rudick for the heads-up.

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Here’s your chance to get in a good bike ride, while you advocate for improvements to South Los Angeles streets.

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The Los Angeles Times finally printed their story about gravel biking in yesterday’s paper, over a month after it appeared online.

Meanwhile, Cycling Weekly offers tips on how to turn your roadie into a gravel bike.

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I like it.

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

An English motorist faces charges after he was recorded on video using a separated bike lane as his own personal traffic bypass.

A road-raging Scottish cab driver screamed and swore at a bike rider for not using a bike lane that’s less than three feet wide and stops abruptly, before cutting him off and hitting him.

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

Yet another reminder to remain at the scene of a bike crash, as a Toronto bicyclist was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries following a collision with a hit-and-run bike rider. Seriously, you have the same obligation to stay after a crash as drivers do, even if too many of them don’t take it seriously. 

No, smashing the doors of a British grocery store in an attempted armed robbery is not a recommended use for a bicycle.

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Local 

She gets it. LA Times media columnist Carolina A. Miranda reviews a pair of new books discussing how America’s wasteful parking obsession results in needlessly high housing prices.

Los Angeles is considering mobility improvements in Central LA in advance of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, including new bus lanes, bike lanes and mobility hubs.

CD2 Councilmember Paul Krekorian officially reopened the new and improved intersection at San Fernando Road and Arvilla Ave as part of the final phase of the nine-mile San Fernando Bike Path project.

Walk Bike Glendale begins their Summertime Series of bike rides, starting with a community ride featuring Glendale Mayor Dan Brotman on July 22nd.

 

State

Fountain Valley police are looking for the hit-and-run driver who critically injured a 20-year old Huntington Beach man when he was rear ended while riding in a bike lane in the Orange County city on the 4th of July.

Loma Linda University Medical Center reports a teenager’s life was saved when surgeons discovered a non-cancerous tumor on his spine after he was seriously injured in a collision while riding his bike.

San Francisco bicyclists say there’s no salvaging the centerline protected bike lanes on Valencia Street.

 

National

CBS This Morning takes an in-depth look at America’s unsafe streets and rising pedestrian death rates, and the reasons behind them.

WaPo examines how car brakes and tires are spewing increasing amounts of particulates into the air we breathe, even as tailpipe emissions continue to decrease.

TechCrunch recommends the best ebikes for every type of rider.

A new Utah study shows that only 7.3 percent of suspected serious bike crashes and just 6 percent of fatal bike crashes occurred in or near a bike lane, while a third of bicycling deaths occur at intersections bike riders can’t find a safe way to cross.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The director of the Fargo Marathon was killed when he was struck by a pickup driver towing a boat trailer while he was riding a bike in the North Dakota city; he was described as an avid runner and cyclist, and the general manager of the local ski area.

A couple men in their 60s are recreating their bike ride to the Canadian border, 50 years after they first did it as Wisconsin teenagers.

A Cleveland bike advocacy group took the rare step of advising bike riders not to use a new green bike lane over a local bridge, warning that it ends abruptly after a short distance, dropping bicyclists into a busy shared lane.

Kindhearted Utica, New York cops gave a six-year old girl a new bicycle, after a group of teenagers “borrowed” the bike she got for her birthday just four days earlier, and never returned it.

A New York program is distributing donated bicycles to migrants recently arrived in the city.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers whether baking soda can make your bicycling performance rise like it does cakes.

An architecture site examines ten cities embracing bicycles as part of their urban planning. None of which is Los Angeles. And only one of which is even in North America. 

Thieves in Montreal cut down a small tree to steal a bicycle locked to it, a reminder not to lock your bike to living things. Like people. Or dogs. 

What Toronto’s new bike-friendly mayor could mean for the city’s bike lanes.

A Welsh father is committed to developing a popular bike park in memory of his son, who died in a mountain bike crash on a trail he built himself.

Police in the UK are facing well-deserved criticism for fining a young mother for “cycling-related anti-social behavior” for riding her bicycle on the sidewalk, rather than risk a dangerously busy street.

British bike advocates are criticizing Northern Ireland’s “shameful” failure to reduce bicycling deaths, as the rate of bicycling fatalities has remained the same over the past decade. Meanwhile, American bike riders would be happy if our rate of bike deaths was anywhere close to ten years ago.

What to pack for your next Irish bikepacking trip.

An Indian teenager amazingly avoided getting crushed when he was struck by a school bus and run over, after his brakes failed riding downhill on a wet street.

A 12-year-old Palestinian boy miraculously walked out of a Jerusalem hospital, after surgeons reattached his head to his neck when he suffered an internal decapitation in a collision while riding his bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

Very disappointing news, as Mark Cavendish’ attempt at breaking the legendary Eddy Merckx’ record for Tour de France stage wins came crashing to a halt when he crashed out of the race with an apparent broken collarbone in stage eight. Cav needed just one win to make the mark his own, in what was to be his final Tour — or is it? And does anyone really care what Lance has to say on the subject?

As the Tour reaches its first rest day, two-time winner Tadej Pogačar continues to make incremental gains, cutting his deficit in the race to just 17 seconds behind leader Jonas Vingegaard on the Puy de Dome, while Canada’s Michael Woods scored the biggest stage win of his career.

Once again, fan interference has caused a crash in the Tour de France, knocking podium contender Simon Yates down in the standings, and sending Steff Kras to the hospital by ambulance, and out of the race.

Velo reports the Dutch Alpecin Deceuninckteam is raking it in with Tour de France primes, while the once-mighty Soudal Quick-Step team languishes at the bottom.

L39ION of Los Angeles continues to dominate the American Crit Cup, as Skylar Schneider and Ty Magner won the elite women’s and men’s races at the Bailey & Glasser LLP Twilight race in Boise, Idaho.

 

Finally…

Who need bass strings when you can use bicycle brake cables? Who needs a horse and buggy when you’ve got an ebike?

And your next bicycle could be made of LEGOs.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

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

WeHo merchant calls for licensing cyclists, racist Palo Alto road rage attack, and Hugo calls for carfree Hollywood Blvd

October 4, 2022 / / Comments Off on WeHo merchant calls for licensing cyclists, racist Palo Alto road rage attack, and Hugo calls for carfree Hollywood Blvd

No bias here.

The owner of West Hollywood’s gay-forward novelty boutique Block Party says forget bike lanes and install EV chargers instead, while trotting out all the old cliches about licensing bike riders.

Fast forward to 2022, a debate about removing the parking lanes on Fountain and to install bike lanes in their place, eliminating two for cars to drive. Those bike lane people are ferocious in their arguments. If you had to drive a bike and cars whipped past you it might cause a sense of anger that you deserve a safe space too. But perhaps bike riders who choose to use the road should also be licensed. Maybe they should pass a written test to travel 40 miles down the road. Perhaps they can pay a license fee to help offset the cost of these installations. As a partially sighted part-time driver I can say that it is difficult to drive past the bikes who often show little respect for the road weaving in lanes. But that is another story.

Because apparently, our tax money doesn’t count — even though it pays for the roads he drives, whether we use them or not.

Never mind that studies have repeatedly shown that a licensing program for bicyclists would cost more than it would bring in, while dramatically reducing ridership exactly when we need more people on bikes. Or that bike riders pose a lot less risk to others than people in cars do.

Especially people with bad eyesight.

Besides, are you really going to tell a six-year old she can’t ride her bike because her license expired?

So maybe the next time you’re in WeHo, stop in and tell him why you’ll be spending your money somewhere else.

Besides, not many of us can really pull off the spangled banana hammock look.

Not that our significant others would actually want us to try.

………

Crap like this really pisses me off.

A Black Palo Alto man was the victim of a racist road rage attack and hit-and-run last week, for the crime of riding his bike in the traffic lane.

In other words, exactly where he should have been.

The victim had moved into the lane to pass a driver who was attempting to park. Yet when he stopped at the next stop light, he was accosted by a white pickup driver for “riding in the middle of the road.”

The two men began arguing, at which point the truck driver called the cyclist, who is Black, a racial epithet. The victim reported to police that the driver spat on him, reached out to grab his arm, and then drove the truck into the side of the bicycle. The cyclist fell to the ground.

The cyclist said the truck drove over his bicycle, and the driver turned north on Webster Street and then east on Lytton Avenue. The cyclist later saw the truck turn back onto University Avenue heading east and continue driving. The cyclist’s leg had a small laceration, which paramedics treated at the scene. His bicycle was damaged but remained rideable, police stated.

It’s possible that the victim could have moved into the lane suddenly, without signaling or checking behind him, and cut off the driver. Or not.

None of which justifies violence, let alone racism.

The local police are investigating it as a hate crime, as well as an assault with a deadly weapon and injury hit-and-run.

Which is good, because there’s just no excuse for this. Ever.

Period.

And no pit deep enough for someone who could do something like this.

………

Things could finally be looking up in Hollywood.

While CD13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell has called for a much needed Complete Streets makeover of Hollywood Blvd, challenger Hugo Soto-Martinez has raised the ante with a call for pedestrianizing sections of the iconic tourist attraction.

Meanwhile, Los Angeleno examines the race between O’Farrell and Soto-Martinez; while O’Farrell has been justly criticized for blocking bike and traffic safety plans until recently, Soto-Martinez is calling for more bike lanes in the district.

………

Finish the Ride and the LACBC hosted a Clean Air Ride over the weekend.

Speaking of which, Metro will offer free bus, train and bikeshare rides tomorrow for California Clean Air Day.

………

Someone did an impressive job trolling St. Louis officials by installing old bike helmets and an official looking public notice calling on pedestrians to use them crossing the street.

All to call attention to the city’s unacceptably high death rate.

………

Evidently, ebikes have been around a lot longer than you may think.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1565791573530509317

………

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

Horrible story from the UK, where police are looking for four men who chased down a 21-year old bike rider with their car, then got out and stabbed him to death, apparently because the driver had crashed into the victim.

No bias here, either. A victim-blaming road sign in England’s Hertfordshire county instructs bike riders to “Please consider other road users.” Because anti-social bike riders kill so many motorists, evidently.

………

Local

Streetsblog eyes the new bike lanes on 1st, 3rd and 7th Streets in DTLA.

Your next bike could have a “Los Angeles” frame with a camo finish. Although that color choice may not be the best option if you actually want drivers to see you.

Santa Monica announced a crackdown on scofflaw drivers who park on the city’s sidewalks and parkways starting next month, urging people to “stop parking like a jerk.” Now tell them to do bike lanes, where the city has allowed delivery drivers to park for decades with no repercussions.

 

State 

Streets For All offers a full recap on transportation-related bills signed or vetoed by Governor Newsom, as well as bills that died in the state legislature. Meanwhile, Streetsblog offers a similar roundup of active transportation, transit and climate bills.

LAist takes a deep dive into California’s new Freedom to Walk Act, which doesn’t actually legalize jaywalking after all; it’s still technically illegal to cross the street in the middle of a block, but police are now directed not to cite it unless crossing poses an imminent danger. However, California’s restriction against jaywalking only applies to blocks with a traffic signal on each end, so it’s already completely legal anywhere else.

The CHP has received a $1.2 million federal grant to “promote the importance of drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians looking out for one another so that everyone can safely share the road.” Maybe they could put the money to better use by giving their officers more training in bike law and bicycle crash investigations.

The victim in Sunday’s fatal head-on crash in Fresno County has been identified as a 51-year old Anthropology professor at Clovis Community College; the driver of the Acura supercar who needlessly took her life as she rode her bike has been identified as a 47-year old Clovis man. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

 

National

Streetsblog talks with Elizabeth Creely, of the San Francisco-based grassroots advocacy organization Safe Street Rebel, on how to start a grassroots safe streets movement in your city. Or you could ask Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, who’s done a helluva job in just a few short years.

Singletracks revisits their most popular mountain bike product reviews.

Great idea. Bentonville, Arkansas will host the first-ever bike festival for deaf bicyclists next week.

Eleven scenic Hudson Valley bike rides for your next trip to the Empire State.

Philadelphia is investing $23 million in the city’s Vision Zero budget for next year, $6 million more than originally proposed. That compares with $38.5 million in Los Angeles, which has a population 2.5 times higher; LA would have to spend another $20 million to match Philly’s per capita spending.

Mississippi’s Gulf Islands National Seashore has reopened with the first phase of a new bike and pedestrian pathway, with the second phase due in two years.

 

International

The fourth annual Ebike Future Conference will be held virtually next week, including a virtual expo that will run automatically for the next 22 days.

Bike Radar examines why people and businesses are swapping cars for bikes, transforming their lives and operations by taking to two wheels.

Forget micromobility. The latest trend is minimobility, with three and four wheeled vehicles designed to carry one or two people and fill the gap between bicycles and motor vehicles. Which is a pretty damn big gap, if you ask me.

While bicycling fatalities continue to climb in the US, British bike deaths dropped 21% last year.

Brussels is the latest major European city learning to love the bicycle; the Belgian capital has already come a long way from its car-centric past.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as two riders explore archeological relics and forested parks — and the local hospitality — by biking Jordan’s ancient trade route.

No, an Indonesian bike shop isn’t giving away free ebikes in response to a government gas price hike.

Former Italian pro Omar Di Felice announced plans for a record bike ride across Antarctica, riding to the South Pole and across the continent to the base of the Leverett Glacier and back.

 

Competitive Cycling

Once again, the pro peloton is justifiably complaining about race conditions, saying “UCI doesn’t care about our safety,” after complaints about dangerous conditions in the CRO Race were ignored by officials.

Pinarello unveiled the world’s fastest 3D-printed bike, allowing maximum customization for Filippo Ganna in his attempt to set a new hour record.

Red Bull looks at L39ion of Los Angeles founder and multiple national crit champ Justin Williams, and his mission to change bike racing for the better.

 

Finally…

Get a Covid shot, get a shot at winning a bicycle. Apparently, bike surfing is an effective way to make sure drivers see you at night.

And few people realize that sharrow is a portmanteau of arrow and sheep.

………

G’mar chatima tova to all observing Yom Kippur tonight. 

Thanks to Matthew Robertson for his latest monthly donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day. Any donation, no matter how large or small, is always deeply appreciated. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Ebike buyers screwed in new climate bill, bike riders could be screwed in Hollywood, and Woody Allen helps kill NYC bike lane

July 29, 2022 / / One comment

Before we start, there’s a report that someone was killed in a collision involving a bicyclist in Azusa yesterday.

According to multiple sources, the crash occurred around 10:15 Thursday morning, at mile marker 24.19 on San Gabriel Canyon Road.

The California Highway Patrol confirms that at least one person was killed, but doesn’t identify the victim. And bizarrely doesn’t say whether it was the person on the bike, the driver or someone else.

Although chances are, we can figure that part out ourselves.

Hopefully we’ll get more information later today.

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels.

………

It looks like we got screwed in the new climate and energy bill agree upon this week by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and recalcitrant West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.

After months of going back and forth on how much of a rebate ebike buyers would receive in last year’s failed Build Back Better bill, the two raised a new proposal out of its ashes.

But left out was any kind of ebike incentives. Or anything else that would get people out of their cars and onto two wheels.

Even though it revives rebates up to $7,500 for electric car buyers.

As People For Bikes points out, a pair of bike bills have already passed in the House.

The House-backed E-BIKE Act (check out PeopleForBikes’ coverage of the act here and ​​here), would offer many Americans a low-cost, emissionless, active transportation choice and show a serious commitment from the federal government to a mode shift towards a low-carbon, multimodal future. Also already approved in the House is the bipartisan Bicycle Commuter Act, which would put money back into commuters’ pockets for choosing to bike to work. Both policies are popular, simple and effective tools our nation could leverage for emissions reductions, but were deprioritized to make more room for cars.

But if they’re not included as part of the reconciliation package along with the Inflation Reduction Act, their chances of passage in divided Senate are something less than zero.

And without significantly reducing the number of cars on the road, electric or otherwise, the chances of staving off climate disaster are pretty much the same.

………

Speaking of getting screwed, we may be about to get screwed once again courtesy of CD13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell.

It was just four years ago when O’Farrell cancelled shovel-ready plans for a much-needed road diet and bike lanes on Temple Street, in conjunction with former Councilmember “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo.

Now KNBC-4 reports that long-awaited work on improving Hollywood Blvd along the Hollywood Walk of Fame will begin next year.

But there’s no word on the protected bike lanes we’ve been promised.

According to the TV station, the $7.2 million project will include —

  • conversion of most of the parking lane on Hollywood Boulevard into an expanded pedestrian zone
  • street furnishing including tables and chairs
  • bus shelters, bicycle racks, and transit kiosks
  • planters and landscaping
  • bus boarding platforms
  • consolidated bus stops
  • space for activities like sidewalk vending, temporary art installations, and music and culture performances.

What it won’t include, apparently, are the bike lanes needed to tame traffic and improve safety on the dangerous corridor.

Let’s hope it’s just an oversight.

For his sake, too. Because it would be a bad move to screw LA’s bicycling community once again.

Especially in an election year.

………

Blame Woody Allen.

Yes, that Woody Allen.

According to Patch, the former comedian and film auteur was responsible for killing a planned bike lane on New York’s Upper East Side where a bike-riding woman was killed by a truck driver this week.

Allen’s objection was that the bike couldn’t be installed in a “graceful way.”

No, really. 

………

Walk ‘n Rollers is clearing out the cupboards, and holding a garage sale to raise funds and move out excess merch.

………

Gravel Bike California wants to take you riding in Big Sur.

And what could possibly be wrong with that?

………

Streets For All announced their next virtual happy hour on August 10th, feating Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency.

And that’s CalSTA, not Caltrans.

………

At last, a bike bell for people who don’t want anything that looks like a bike bell. Or anything else, for that matter.

But at least it sounds pretty.

………

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

A Portland bike rider suffered significant arm and wrist injuries when he crashed into a barely visible chain someone had strung across a designated bike route.

No bias here. A Minnesota letter writer says maybe the city should focus more on crime than bike lanes, after his catalytic converter was stolen for the second time in three months. Never mind that police have nothing to do with striping streets.

A Mississippi VFW post replaced a Black teenager’s broken bike, after a driver posted video racist attack on a group of Black teens. Although someone should tell Action News 5 not to call a fully grown Black teenager a “boy.”

Unbelievable. Police in the UK blame a bike rider for a road raging driver, saying the rider’s shout of “watch out” contributed to the driver slamming on his brakes and backing towards the bicyclist — and running over a dog in the process. Schmuck.

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

Four recent fires in Spokane, Washington are blamed on a bike-riding arsonist.

An 18-year old British man will be tried on a charge of causing bodily harm through wanton or furious driving after injuring a pedestrian last November.

………

Local

The Los Angeles City Council Public Works Committee approved a proposal to provide an additional $706,000 to remove graffiti and provide other maintenance on the new Sixth Street Viaduct; that’s in addition to the nearly $600 million already spent to build it — almost none of which went towards protecting people on bicycles or slowing speeding drivers.

LA plans a new pedestrian bridge and bike path through the Pacoima Wash connecting Pacoima with San Fernando, five years after a teenaged boy was swept to his death when he fell into the Wash during a fierce rainstorm.

 

State 

Goleta is planning to build a new bike path connecting Calle Real to the Atascadero Creek Bikeway, including a new bike and pedestrian bridge over San Jose Creek.

Sad news from Santa Maria, where a 38-year old woman was killed when she was struck by a driver while riding her bike Monday evening.

A handful of Oakland streets are in line to get protected bike lanes and a new cycle track, while another will be shut down entirely for a pedestrian plaza.

San Francisco Streetsblog editor Roger Ruddick explains his bicycling injury last week, warning others about an unmarked, wheel-grabbing grate in Golden Gate Park

 

National

CNET recommends seven great deals on ebikes available on Amazon right now, although chances are, you’ve never heard of any of them. Meanwhile, Schwinn is still hanging in there after 125 years, and making a comeback with the ebike revolution.

CleanTechica says most ebike laws, like California’s, are largely unenforceable because they’re based on how fast the bike can go, rather than how fast someone rides them.

A Wyoming mayor and his wife were run down by a juvenile driver as they rode their bikes at 6 am; the couple were both conscious and coherent immediately following the crash.

No surprise here. San Antonio, Texas police are quick to blame the victim for running a stop sign, after a man on a bicycle crashes into the surprise of a police cruiser.

Chicago remains committed to hardening the city’s protected bike lanes with concrete barriers, though construction delays have held up work.

Chicago Streetsblog says it’s time for drivers to stop killing children, as the city sees its fifth child victim of traffic violence in the last month — three of them on bicycles.

A one-car Minnesota family finally makes the dog happy by buying a bucket-front cargo bike.

Christian music icon Amy Grant is one of us; the singer was hospitalized for a couple nights in Nashville’s Vanderbilt Hospital after suffering cuts and abrasions falling off her bicycle earlier this week. And yes, if it matters, she was wearing a helmet. Although it’s hard to believe she was kept overnight — let alone two nights — just to be treated for cuts and abrasions, no matter how good her insurance is. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

Calls continue for a Jersey City councilwoman to step down after video circulates of her fleeing the scene, without bothering to stop or slow down, after crashing into a bike rider.

Protesters shut down DC’s Pennsylvania Ave to demand safer streets, saying bicyclists are sick of paying with their lives.

A Georgetown website recommends a self-guided bike tour for your next trip to DC.

 

International

The Guardian questions why so many bicycles end up in a watery grave, noting that more bicycles are found during the decennial draining of Paris’ Canal Saint-Martin than anything, other than wine bottles and mobile phones.

A British man is riding 2,400 miles from Italy to the Arctic Circle to raise funds for a mental health charity.

Flanders updates its infrastructure handbook to call for wider bike paths and more space for bicyclists, as bike commuting rates jump and people ride longer distances.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from France, where 25-year old Japanese triathlete and aspiring Olympian Tsudoi Miyazaki was killed in a collision when she was struck by a driver while training on her bike near Orléans; her death comes just days after she competed in Spain’s Pontevedra World Cup. Thanks to Christian for the tip.

The New York Times says there’s a long way to go for women cyclists to achieve parity with the men; not only is the Tour de France Femmes two weeks shorter than the Tour de France, with abbreviated stages, but the women will divide a little more than a tenth of the prize money enjoyed by the men.

Dutch pro Lorena Wiebes outsprinted world champion Elisa Balsamo and general classification leader Marianne Vos for the win on Thursday, while Rouleur questions whether the women really need emulate the Tour’s long, boring stages with a hectic sprint finish.

Nearly half the peloton hit the pavement in what Cycling Weekly termed an unnecessary crash on a long, straight and wide road.

Italy’s Barbara Malcotti was DQ’d for receiving mechanical assistance from her team car, apparently because she stopped at the front of her bunch, rather than dropping back to the rear.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your new ebike has enough battery power to climb Mt. Everest, although probably not the traction. Congratulations to Los Angeles on making the list of top cities for naked bike riding.

And that feeling when you don’t crash until the easy part.

@mcwigglehips

#kidfails #funnykids #funnykidsvideos #waituntiltheend

♬ original sound – Adam Elliott

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Council committee delays adoption of uninspired LADOT Strategic Plan, and Insta users want carfree Hollywood Blvd

March 3, 2021 / / 2 comments

Before we get started, I hope you’ll join me in thanking our title sponsor Pocrass & De Los Reyes for renewing their sponsorship for the coming year. Keeping up with this site is a more than full-time job, and it’s the support of our sponsors, and people like you, who make it possible. 

Photo by Valeria Boltneva from Pexels.

………

Maybe we’re lucky they pulled the plug yesterday.

At almost the last minute, Streets For All sent out a notification that the city council’s Transportation Committee would consider LADOT’s new Strategic Plan for the next four years at yesterday’s virtual meeting.

That’s the weak-kneed plan we mentioned last month, which sets the bar so low agency staffers have to be careful not to trip over it on the way to work every morning.

Here’s how Streetsblog’s Joe Linton summed it up.

In his introductory statement, Mayor Garcetti calls the plan “an honest, assertive strategy that reflects my priorities for LADOT as your mayor.” While there are laudable goals in the plan, it is anything but “assertive,” except perhaps assertively reiterating that there will be little change to L.A. streets’ status quo. Overall the plan does feel very Garcetti: proclaim lots of great high-minded much-needed goals (Vision Zero, more bikes, more CicLAvias), set some far-off benchmarks, then deliver very little, and avoid courting even minimal confrontation – especially with drivers.

It’s sad just how accurate that is. Garcetti’s tenure has been marked by bold, visionary plans that never seem to manifest on the streets.

Or anywhere else.

Apparently, LADOT has figured out his management style, and now takes care to underpromise, knowing they’ll probably live down to it.

Again, this is how Linton saw it yesterday.

The most dismal portion of the document is in the Health and Safety section, which includes active transportation – walking and bicycling. LADOT states that its goal is to “increase the share of people walking and biking to support healthy communities.” This is the action with which LADOT plans to accomplish this:

“Complete one major active transportation project (such as a protected bike lane on a major street) per year to support the build out of a comprehensive network of active transportation corridors in the city.”

Really. One major project each year. That’s by a department with a $500+million budget, in a city with four million people, more than 6,000 miles of streets, and an approved plan for hundreds of miles of new bikeways by 2035. One major project per year, which might be a protected bike lane… who knows for what distance.

That was exactly my take on it, too.

Garcetti recruited one of the county’s most respected transportation planners in Seleta Reynolds, and brought her in, supposedly, to transform our streets and reduce the city’s ever-growing reliance on motor vehicles.

You can see how well that worked out.

Unless you happen to live Downtown, where a PeopleForBikes-funded initiative spurred some change, chances are you haven’t seen a single infrastructure improvement where you actually live and ride.

Evidently, they plan to keep it that way. And keep LA deadly in the process.

More worthwhile goals paired with minimum implementation show up in this section on Vision Zero:

“Continue to deliver high impact safety treatments on the High Injury Network (HIN), including an annual multimillion dollar signal program and significant roadway improvements to priority corridors”

The disappointing key word here is, arguably, “continue.” The city never actually got around to funding and implementing those “high impact safety treatments” and “significant roadway improvements,” largely due to resistance from city council and backlash from drivers. The plan appears to signal that the city’s weak steps toward Vision Zero will continue to be weak.

The one bit of good news comes in regards to CicLAvia, with a dramatic increase in open streets events.

Although as Linton points out, we’ve heard all that before.

The new plan calls for more CicLAvia events:

“Increase the frequency of open streets events to monthly by 2022 and to weekly by 2023.”

This sounds depressingly familiar. Garcetti’s Sustainability pLAn called for more CicLAvias back in 2015. LADOT’s 2014 Strategic Plan had monthly CicLAvias in 2017.  In 2020 Garcetti pledged to make CicLAvia weekly by 2022. Why keep pushing back the goalposts for what is probably the most popular event in the history of Los Angeles? What’s the hold-up?

Linton’s piece spells out a pattern of repeated downsizing of the agency’s goals, followed by a repeated failure to live up to them.

If that sounds depressing, it is.

Along with a waste of Reynold’s talents.

But that’s what the Transportation Committee was being asked to agree to yesterday, before the meeting was cancelled just before the 3 pm start time.

Maybe we’ll get a little more notice before it comes up before the committee again, so we can call in and demand better.

And in the meantime, we can all contact our councilmembers — especially the ones on the Transportation Committee — and tell them to reject this shameful effort to avoid making any meaningful commitment to change.

Other cities around the world have shown it can be done, and done quickly.

It’s long past time we expected that, too.

Correction — Call it a false alarm. According to a comment from Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, LADOT’s pitiful strategic plan has already been carved it stone, and the council was just going to talk about it after the fact.

How sad is that?

fwiw – the Strategic Plan is already published/adopted – it’s just an executive thing from LADOT – doesn’t need to be approved by City Council. The T-Committee meeting yesterday was set to discuss it – but not to adopt it.

………

According to a nonscientific poll of Instagram users, Hollywood Blvd in Los Angeles is one of eight city streets around the world people want to see go carfree, along with Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Then again, it’s not just people outside of LA who are begging for that.

………

After yesterday’s discussion of protected bike lanes, let’s remember who they’re really for.

https://twitter.com/JuliaRidesBikes/status/1366240769741266948

………

A mobile repair service funded in part by a small state grant has fixed 428 bikes in eight communities on the Navajo Nation to help get kids on their bikes.

The nonprofit service is also teaching kids how to fix their own bikes, since there isn’t a single brick-and-motor bike shop on the 29,500 square mile Hopi and Navajo reservation.

………

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

Seattle’s bike-hating radio jerk, uh, jock is back at it again, calling bike advocates delusional for fighting a bike helmet law that is disproportionately enforced against people of color, with Black bike riders ticketed at four times the rate of white riders.

A Brazilian bike rider discovers even nature is out to get us, after getting bombed by a helmet-cracking jackfruit.

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

An Idaho man could serve up to five years behind bars after being convicted of riding his bike over an hour to stalk a woman in another town who had a protection order against him. Although he could serve just a year if he successfully completes a diversionary program.

………

Local

LA Times columnist Patt Morrison examines why so few people jaywalk in Los Angeles, pointing the finger at a heavy-handed police response not seen in other cities. Although under California law, it’s not illegal unless you cross on a block controlled by traffic signals or police officers on either end.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against LADOT’s data-sharing requirement for micromobility providers, which was filed by the ACLU on behalf of a group of plaintiffs.

Everyone’s least favorite 007 is one of us, as 81-year old George Lazenby used his ebike to go shopping in Santa Monica.

 

State

Tragic news from San Bernardino, where a 29-year old Cherry Valley man was fatally shot in a driveby while riding his bike.

You can now subscribe to a bicycle in Davis,while the Cycling Tips podcast wants to know if you’d lease a roadie.

American Canyon approves plans for a wine warehouse after the company commits to fill an 800-foot gap in a bike path to meet an obligation to offset vehicular traffic.

 

National

A new proposal in the US Congress would commit states to design and build Complete Streets that are safer for everyone.

Yanko Design considers mostly tech-inspired bicycle accessories designed to make your rides “safe, secure and fun.” Including zip-on bike tire treads and a bike helmet that looks like it was inspired by Devo.

Bicycling says it’s time to move ebikes way up on your to do list. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

Speaking of which, the New York Times examines the growing confluence of ebikes and bikeshare.

The Manual makes some interesting picks for the nine best fat bikes.

An op-ed for Cycling Tips questions why tech progress is so slow for road bikes, compared to other types of bicycle.

A couple in New Mexico have joined the fight against distracted drivers after the husband was critically injured by one while riding his bike, spending the last year attempting to recover from his injuries.

A North Carolina teenager was shot in a driveby while riding in his own neighborhood; he may have to carry the bullet near his spine for the rest of his life.

 

International

Bike Radar explains how to assemble your internet-bought bike in a box in ten relatively easy steps.

A new ebike promises to let you haul up to 400 pounds, for when you really need to carry a load.

People who bought a futuristic-looking bespoke 3D printed bike on Indiegogo last year aren’t happy, with many still waiting for delivery, and disappointed by the devolving design.

A London investor is understandably livid that police cited a lack of witnesses in refusing to file charges against a truck driver who crashed into his bike — even though the crash was caught on a security cam.

A former soldier from the UK who can no longer walk, talk or swallow after suffering a brain injury in Iraq rode 60 miles on an adaptive stationary bike to raise funds for other wounded veterans.

While Lime rolls out it’s 4th generation ebike, complete with phone and cup holders, they’e giving new life to old ebike batteries by partnering with a British company to make rechargeable portable speakers.

If art school design students have their way, these are the ebikes you’ll be riding through European cities in the not-too-distant future.

Streetsblog considers how the Dutch manage to maintain bike lanes during the winter, when American cities can’t seem to manage it.

 

Competitive Cycling

New pro cyclist Ayesha McGowan is hosting a free virtual summit later this month to celebrate the joy of bike riding for BIPOC — aka Black, indigenous and people of color — bicyclists. Once again, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

 

Finally…

Nothing like stealing a bike to ride to city hall, and stand shirtless in the middle of the road yelling at cars. When bourbon infused cold brew coffee isn’t enough, put a bicycle selfie station inside to draw the crowds.

And who knew that car-choked, bike-unfriendly Los Angeles is an ideal city?

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

LA shrinks All Black Lives Matter mural because cars, how Vision Zero should work, and bike thieves in action

August 27, 2020 / / One comment

LA had a chance to do the right thing for once.

The city had the perfect opportunity to respond to community demands and build a pedestrian plaza around the All Black Lives Matter mural at Hollywood & Highland.

Instead, the city decided to shrink the mural painted on Hollywood Blvd for the massive June March down to a single lane in the center of the roadway, so as not to take a single inch of the roadway from drivers.

So yes, all Black lives will still matter on the streets of Hollywood.

They just seem to matter more if they’re in a car.

………

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work.

Boston suburb Cambridge, Massachusetts is installing a quick-build separated bike lane, just weeks after a man was killed in a collision with a semi driver while riding his bike.

Needless to say, this is the exact opposite of what usually happens in Los Angeles.

In fact, I can only recall one time a bike lane was installed after a bicyclist was killed. And even then, it took over two years.

………

Former UFC champ Connor McGregor is one of us, riding shirtless in the Monaco rain.

………

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

As we mentioned yesterday, Baltimore police are looking for a pickup driver who dangerously harassed people participating in a community bike ride, before intentionally slamming into a group of riders, seriously injuring one man.

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

Once again, a British bike rider has been charged with killing an elderly pedestrian; the 22-year old bicyclist faces a manslaughter count for knocking down a 72-year old man as he was walking home from his job with the National Health Service.

………

Local

Metro wants your input on proposed first mile/last mile improvements around the Sepulveda station on the erstwhile Orange Line, to make it easier and safer to walk to and from the station.

Streets For All will host a virtual happy hour with LADOT head Seleta Reynolds on September 9th.

 

State

California state legislators amended Assembly Bill 1286, removing a poison pill provision banning liability waivers that could have forced bikeshare and e-scooter providers out of business.

No surprise here, as bike thefts are up in San Mateo.

 

National

Outside tells you what you need to know about bike lights. I can attest to the benefits of daytime lights, which dramatically reduced the rate of close calls once I started using them.

Bicycling offers everything you need to know about wearing bike shorts, but were afraid to ask. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if the Bicycling site blocks you out. But seriously, just skip the underwear. 

I’m not sure what it means when Bicycling drops its paywall to tell you “how to handle spit and snot safely” during the coronavirus pandemic. Hint: Just don’t.

CNN says cargo bikes are the Swiss Army knives of bicycles, and could be the SUV of the future. Which is a hell of a lot better than saying they’re the new toilet paper.

A new Portland study shows that if just 15% of drivers switched to ebikes, it could result in a 12% reduction in carbon emissions.

This is how it’s supposed to be done, too. Portland is replacing car parking with separated bike lanes after a street gets repaved. Unfortunately, while Los Angeles has sped up repaving projects, they haven’t been installing bike lanes, even on streets that call for it in the city’s Mobility Plan.

A new Green Bay, Wisconsin coffee shop and cafe will deliver your meal by ebike.

An upstate New York man rode his bike continuously for 24 hours straight to raise funds for his grandson, who is suffering from leukemia; so far he’s raised over twice the $5,000 goal.

New York’s famed Metropolitan Museum of Art is offering a free bike valet service for the next month, starting with Saturday’s official reopening.

Over 100 New Yorkers are riding south to Washington DC to raise awareness about the dangers of Biking while Black, while advocating for “safer cycling opportunities for all people of color;” the group plans to arrive in time for Friday’s March on Washington.

A DC high school teacher is asking for bicycles and helmets to help make kids currently cooped up inside by the pandemic more active and keep them off the streets. By getting them on the streets, evidently.

When a first-year student at North Carolina’s Appalachian State University shipped a new, unassembled bicycle to herself at the school, she didn’t expect kindhearted staffers at the university post office to put it together for her.

It’s a sad commentary when the life of a Florida bike rider is only worth four damn sentences in the local newspaper. And one of those is about his lack of a helmet.

 

International

Cycling Weekly thinks you need to up your sock game. And your bike-riding kids could dress better, too.

A travel site recommends the five best bike paths in Columbia for your next trip to South America.

How Rad went from box office bomb to BMX cult favorite, even if it was shot in Canada.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a driver walked with just a warning for the wrong-way crash that left a bike rider with a broken back.

No bias here. Sixty-four percent of Brits think people on bicycles should be forced to carry liability insurance; surprisingly, even bike riders were split on the issue.

Dubai is rapidly becoming a bike-friendly city, with plans to build over 400 miles of cycle tracks within the next five years.

 

Competitive Cycling

McLaren is taking its ball and going home, after just one year co-sponsoring the Team Bahrain McLaren cycling team.

Staffers for Britain’s Cyclist magazine offer their picks for the Tour de France, going well beyond the yellow jersey to categories like most stage wins and biggest surprise. Although I’d have to agree with the guy who doesn’t think the race will actually happen. Or finish, anyway.

A Kenyon sports site says the word impossible doesn’t exist in four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome’s cycling road of success. Maybe it should, because it’s literally impossible for him to win a fifth Tour this year, because his team didn’t even enter him in the race.

 

Finally…

Seriously, if you’re carrying meth and a pipe on your bike, stop for the damn stop sign, already. If you’re going to tell the cops you borrowed a bike from a friend after stealing it at knifepoint, make sure the victim isn’t still carrying the receipt.

And this is what bike thieves look like. Or would be, if they knew how to use their own power tools.

https://twitter.com/blogTO/status/1298616358754816001

 

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

America bikes for racial justice, cars become weapons against protesters, and H’wood k-rails protect mural not bike riders

June 22, 2020 / / Comments Off on America bikes for racial justice, cars become weapons against protesters, and H’wood k-rails protect mural not bike riders

Not everyone was marching for racial justice this past weekend.

Some were riding and rolling, as LA bike riders took part in a solidarity ride from Echo Park to Los Angeles City Hall on Saturday.

San Diego boarders and bicyclists rolled out over the weekend to protest racism and police violence.

Things didn’t always go peacefully, however, as someone in a plateless SUV drove through a Portland Black Liberation Ride, damaging at least one bicycle.

Dozens of people took the call for racial justice to the casinos on Las Vegas Blvd in a peaceful protest organized by a retired NBA player.

Rochester NY celebrated Juneteenth with a bicycle Freedom Ride, in memory of the Freedom Riders of the 1960s.

By far the biggest ride took place in New York, where an estimated 10,000 people came out on Saturday for a New York City ride to protest police brutality and champion Black Lives Matter.

Hundreds turned out to ride in support of Black Lives Matter in the former capital of the Confederacy in Richmond VA.

Photo by Life Matters from Pexels.

………

Meanwhile, NPR says at least 50 drivers have intentionally rammed protesters, as right-wing extremists turn their cars into weapons.

Like this Michigan driver, who asserted her God-given right to the road, regardless of who might be in her way, by driving through a group of protesters, injuring two people and driving over a 71-year old man’s bicycle.

………

Let’s just leave this one right here for now.

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Heartbreaking news, as former F-1 and CART champ Alex Zanardi is in a medically induced coma after he was severely injured during a handcycle race in Italy.

Doctors report he is in grave neurological condition, unsure if he will suffer mental impairment.

Zanardi became a champion Paralympic cyclist after losing both his legs in a horrific CART racing crash in 2001, winning gold and silver medals in the London and Rio games.

I got in trouble with someone on Twitter over the weekend after mistakenly saying Zanardi lost his legs in a Formula 1 crash, rather that in CART, trusting nearly 20-year old memories rather than pausing to look it up.

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This is who we share the roads with.

A Corona driver rear-ended a motorcyclist. Then kept driving with the motorbike stuck under his minivan.

Fortunately, the victim was not seriously hurt, and the driver has been arrested.

If there’s any justice, this will be the last time he ever drives.

Thanks to John Damman and Victor Bale for the heads-up.

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The president of Oakland’s city council is belatedly noticing that the local police are targeting kids on scraper bikes.

I’m not sure who sent this one, but thank you, whoever you are!

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BBC presenter Jeremy Vine discovers that we turn invisible on a bicycle.

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Speaking of who we share the roads with, it’s one thing to pull out in front of someone on a bicycle.

But it takes a special skill to pull out in front of a steaming locomotive.

https://twitter.com/Ogilvie_CJ/status/1274602928502956037

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The Urban Cycling Institute goes in-depth to examine the great French street reclamation, as Paris and Nice respond to the pandemic by stepping up plans to reimagine what our streets can be.

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Pink Bike says it’s time to get to know Japanese stunt rider Tomomi Nishikubo.

Meanwhile, don’t watch this downhill chase full screen on an empty stomach.

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

Last week we shared news of a horrible attack on a Florida bike rider, who was shot in the head with a crossbow by a passing driver for no apparent reason — although it’s worth noting that the driver was white, and the victim is Black. A crowdfunding page has raised nearly $64,000 of the $75,000 goal. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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

A Santa Rosa nurse says she was punched in the face by a man on a bike, after she was accused of driving recklessly through a group of protesters who shattered her windshield with a skateboard and a bicycle. Seriously, don’t do that. Take video, take photos and take down the license. But don’t resort to violence. And don’t abuse your bike. 

Police in Chicago are looking for a bike-riding groper who assaulted a woman walking her dog on the city’s Lakefront Trail.

A man suffered a concussion when he was pushed off his bicycle by an aggressive bicyclist on an Indiana trail; witnesses say the attacker was swearing profusely before he intentionally elbowed the victim.

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Local

Free your schedule for tomorrow evening, when the LA Department of Engineering will host a virtual town hall to discuss plans for the LA Riverway through the San Fernando Valley, between Lankershim and Whitsett.

 

State

As we’ve noted before, it takes a major schmuck to repeatedly burglarize a San Jose bike co-op that’s given away over 3,500 bicycles to homeless people.

San Francisco will keep a pilot protected bike lane on a section of Valencia Street, after the temporary lane proved successful.

The Redding bike rider killed in a solo crash earlier this month is described as someone who “did good deeds for everyone;” he was killed when he his head on a curb while riding without a helmet. Crashes like this are exactly what bike helmets were designed for; they were never intended to protect against motor vehicles.

More bad news from Chico, where a man was killed riding his bike in a collision with an apparently driverless car; the victim was blamed for riding through a stop sign. Thanks to John McBrearty for the link.

 

National

It was nice while it lasted. Auto traffic in the US has rebounded to 90% of pre-pandemic levels. Which means time is rapidly running out to take streets back from the big, dangerous machines. Thanks to Aurelio Jose Barrera for the second link.

The new lighted smart helmet from Lumos debuted on Kickstarter over the weekend, taking just four minutes to meet the $60,000 goal — then surpassed it by roughly 2500%. Thanks to Tim Rutt for the tip.

The Daily Beast offers advice on how to plan a long-distance bike ride in the age of Covid-19.

The New York Times offers tips on how to store a big bicycle in a small apartment.

The Today Show considers why bicycling has soared in popularity during the pandemic. Maybe because it’s good for you, with built-in social distancing, and safer when there are fewer cars on the streets. And it’s fun.

Kindhearted members of an Arizona riding club replaced a young girl’s stolen bicycle, and tossed in a lock and a gift certificate for a new helmet.

Speaking of kindhearted strangers, a trail riding group bought a new bicycle for a seven-year old Fort Worth, Texas girl after hers broke. And gave it to her just in time for her Marine father to come home on Father’s Day.

A Michigan man is riding 100 miles a week, with a goal of 1,000 miles by Labor Day, to raise $10,000 for Black Lives Matter.

Even though they’re thousands of miles apart, a father and son spent the weekend riding together in a virtual ride across Maine.

A Brooklyn woman completed a three-year project to ride every block in the New York borough, covering over 4,400 miles.

You already have the Greater Allegheny Passage-C&O Towpath bicycle trail leading 350 miles from Pittsburgh to DC on your bike bucket list, right?

You can now legally ride an ebike anywhere a bicycle is allowed in Florida, as the state rushes to catch up to the 21st Century.

A laid-off Disney World performer has ridden his bike over three thousand miles since the pandemic began in an effort to spread smiles around the area.

 

International

Great story from Brazil, where a man built an adaptive tricycle by hand for his granddaughter with cerebral palsy.

Toronto residents are taking advantage of good weather and a partially closed boulevard along the lakefront to get out on their bikes.

A local website suggests eight Montreal bike paths with incredible views for your next trip to the bicycling city.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a British priest’s bicycle.

Bikes are really booming in Great Britain, where 5% of consumers have bought a bicycle since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. Although some of those are probably healthcare workers replacing their stolen bikes.

Kate Moss is one of us, as she goes for a leisurely bike ride in the UK’s Cotswolds.

Nice. A new cross-border bike path will connect the Slovak and Czech cities of Trencin and Brumov-Bylnice.

Greek bicyclists stripped down and hopped on their bikes for this year’s edition of the World Naked Bike Ride, which has been cancelled virtually everywhere else due to the coronavirus.

Residents of Dhaka, Bangladesh, explain why they’re taking to their bicycles during the city’s coronavirus lockdown.

Talk about not getting it. The mayor of Manilla says he’s opposed to bike lanes in the city, because the streets are too dangerous to try to make them safer for bike riders.

Pedestrian advocates call for banning bike riders from shared pathways in Queensland, Australia, after a 93-year man was killed in a head-on collision with a man on a bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Call it a fixed false alarm. Aussie cyclist Lachlan Morton didn’t set a new record for Everesting after all las week. Then he did, shaving ten minutes off the existing record.

The founder of the Dirty Kanza gravel race has been fired after a social media post calling the Atlanta shooting of Rayshard Brooks justified. However, the name of the race is also problematic; Kanza is another name for the Kaw Nation and its people, which means Dirty Kanza could be read as “dirty Indian.”

A French website says there’s nothing to suggest the rescheduled Tour de France won’t start as planned this August. I wouldn’t hold your breath, though.

 

Finally…

Your next bicycle could read your mind. Your next car could be a single seat backward e-tricycle.

And when you’re carrying heroin, cocaine, fentanyl and crystal meth on your bike, with an outstanding arrest warrant, put a damn horn on it, already.

On the other hand, how the hell could a passing cop even tell if you had one? Never mind what a stupid law that is.

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Thanks to David E. for his generous donation to support this site, and keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way every day.

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

Proposal for bike-friendly Hollywood Blvd, where to ban cars from LA streets, and a bigger Bird hits Los Angeles

January 31, 2020 / / Comments Off on Proposal for bike-friendly Hollywood Blvd, where to ban cars from LA streets, and a bigger Bird hits Los Angeles

CD13 City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell unveiled proposals for a much-needed head-to-toe makeover of Hollywood Blvd.

The plans calls for reducing or eliminating parking, widening and fixing the already wide sidewalks, and installing bike lanes on either side.

However, the plans don’t call for protected bike lanes, or closing the boulevard entirely to create a pedestrian plaza at Hollywood and Highland.

If approved — and it still has a long damn way to go — they could create the first east-west bike lanes in Hollywood.

And no, sharrows don’t count.

They could also improve safety for the tens of thousands of tourists who visit the street every day, while improving livability for the rapidly growing residential population in Hollywood.

O’Farrell reports that $4 million in funding has already been secured for the project, which could go a long way towards making it a reality.

Rendering by Gensler.

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As we’ve discussed for the past few weeks, cars are now officially banned San Francisco’s formerly busy Market Street.

The LA Times throws down the gauntlet, saying if the Bay Area city can close one of its largest and most iconic streets to motor vehicles, Los Angeles can do it, too.

Streetsblog then picks it up, suggesting ten LA-area streets from Pasadena to Santa Monica that could use a similar treatment — including the afore mentioned Hollywood Blvd; we mentioned Curbed’s seven suggestions earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Car and Driver wants to know how far this carfree streets thing is going to spread, and Fast Company lists 11 additional cities where it already has.

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Call it Big Bird.

C|net reports that Bird is introducing a heavier, more durable and hopefully, more vandalism resistant e-scooter they’ve dubbed Bird Two.

The vehicle comes with “autonomous damage sensors” that are designed to detect potentially dangerous maintenance issues. It has puncture-resistant tires, an anti-tipping kickstand and “enterprise level anti-theft encryption.” And its design minimizes exposed cables and screws.

“The absence of excessive exposed screws helps create a sleeker design while also reducing injuries and vandalism,” the company said in a statement. Bird said this feature will also help with safety (which makes sense considering some scooter haters like to cut brake cables).

The site says the company is introducing the scooters in San Francisco, then eventually rolling them out to other cities.

Evidently, they forget to tell that to their LA-area staff.

I spotted this one while walking the foster corgi in Hollywood; other Twitter users reported seeing them along the Figueroa corridor.

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

Long Island police are looking for a bike-riding man who stole $3,000 from an unlocked car. Then again, what kind of idiot leaves three grand in his car, and doesn’t bother to lock it?

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Local

A Larchmont newspaper profiles all four candidates in the CD4 race — incumbent David Ryu and challengers Sarah Kate Levy and Nithya Raman, as well as write-in candidate Susan Collins; both Levy and Raman have been endorsed by Bike the Vote LA. And speaking of Levy, she’s asking transit and mobility fans to canvas for her this weekend.

Santa Monica could cut the number of dockless bike and e-scooter providers in the city by half under new rules approved by the city council.

 

State

Eroica California returns to Cambria this April, now with rides for modern and classic bikes on different days.

Tragic news from Galt, 27 miles south of Sacramento, where a 34-year old man riding a bike was killed in a collision with a motorist.

A Sebastopol writer talks with a zero-waste, locavore, electric vélomobile owner.

Plans for a median-protected bike lane move forward in Modesto, despite the inevitable complaints from local businesses that it would take space away from cars.

 

National

Streetsblog says the national transportation policy proposed by the Democrats in Congress has a lot to offer, even if it has little chance of becoming law.

A writer for Mashable tries out a $4,000 ebike for a year, and is surprised to learn it’s heavy, and can replace a car, but only in good weather. Never mind that lots of people ride ebikes and regular bikes year ’round, in all kinds of weather.

Ebike prices continue to drop, like this barely sub-$1,000 bike from Propella. And no, I’ve never heard of the brand, either.

A new active transportation advocacy group intends to make Spokane WA friendlier for people on bikes and on foot.

Once again demonstrating that the Bureau of Land Management has no respect for the land they’re supposed to manage, the BLM has put two parcels up for oil and gas drilling near Moab, Utah, even though it could result in irreversible damage to the famed Slickrock mountain bike trail.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is really cheap in Wisconsin, where a hit-and-run driver got a lousy three months behind bars for the drunken crash that injured a bike rider; he hit the victim as he was driving to another bar, and blew over twice the legal limit when he was arrested.

Tragic news from Brooklyn, where a bike rider was killed in a collision with the driver of a flatbed truck, becoming the first bicyclist killed in New York this year after the city suffered a nearly three times increase in bicycling deaths last year. As usual, the driver wasn’t ticketed or detained, despite being caught on video making an illegal U-turn. Warning — that last link clearly shows the victim getting hit, so be sure you really want to see that before clicking it. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up. 

A North Carolina mother is under arrest after her four-year old son was found riding his tricycle naked at 12:30 am, in front of a bar, in 40° weather.

Nice gesture from a New Orleans Mardi Gras krewe, which is hosting a block party to call for bike and pedestrian safety at the site of the drunken crash that killed two bike riders and injured several others during last year’s Mardi Gras celebrations.

 

International

A young man from Matamoros, Mexico just graduated from a college in Brownsville, Texas, thanks in part thanks to the $40 flea market bicycle he rode across the border every day.

A London woman describes how she went a full year using only her feet or bicycle for transportation.

The mayor of Paris says if she’s re-elected, every street in the city will by bicycle-friendly by 2024.

SUVs should be banned from urban areas, according to a Brussels-based safety think tank, which called for urgent action to protect bike riders and pedestrians.

A Belgian ex-cyclist-turned-journalist makes, then deletes, then apologizes for a sexist joke about how little an Argentine reporter was wearing; apology not accepted, evidently, after she responded by calling him a brontosaurus.

Vienna is offering free admission to museums and concerts to people who leave their cars at home in an effort to cut traffic and pollution.

VeloNews goes to Germany to jerk their chains. And otherwise test 13 of the most popular bike chains.

A South African radio station says it could be the death of motoring, as Millennials and Gen Zers are falling out of love with cars.

It better be a damn big reward. Indonesian authorities want a volunteer to take a motorcycle tire from around a 13-foot crocodile’s neck.

 

Competitive Cycling

A Colorado man looks back on a half-century as a cyclocross racer, starting long before most American cycling fans ever heard of the sport.

Still more sad news, as British cyclist Josephine Gilbert was killed last week when she was struck by a truck driver while riding in the UK; the 25-year old rider was called an inspiration by her teammates. She becomes just the latest in a long line of professional and amateur racers killed or seriously injured by drivers in recent years.

 

Finally…

It may be broken English, but “Abandoning boy to death” drives the point home better than the more pedestrian “hit-and-run.” If you want to keep passing as a blind beggar, leave the SUV at home.

And this is who we share the roads with. And yes, it’s pretty much the definition of an entitled driver.

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