
Day 281 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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Call it a mental health day.
I couldn’t get my head straight after writing about Sunday’s fatal bicycling crash in Lemon Grove, and just didn’t have it in me to write anymore about bikes yesterday. Or anything else, for that matter.
All these years of writing about fallen bike riders is really weighing on my heart, and I honestly don’t know how long I can keep it up.
Then again, if I don’t, who will?
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Of course he gets it.
Longtime community advocate Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes for the Los Angeles Wave Newspapers about the ongoing hit-and-run epidemic in South Los Angeles, even as the rate of hit-and-runs has declined in the rest of the city.
Although you could have fooled me on that last part.
And only an infinitesimal amount of LA’s hit-and-runs ever results in an arrest.
Here’s an idea of how rare that is. There were more than 7,000 known hit-and-run accidents in Los Angeles from 2022 to 2024. While only a small percent of the hit and runs resulted in death, the troubling, eye popping statistic was that an infinitesimal number of hit-and-run drivers were ever arrested. How infinitesimal? Exactly 1%.
It gets even worse. The number of hit and runs, according to Los Angeles Police Department figures, have dropped in the last year. But not in South Los Angeles, where a disproportionate number of the hit and runs occur. And as the figures show, the likelihood of an arrest is slim to almost none.
He also goes on to explain the most common reasons drivers flee.
A driver who strikes another vehicle or — worse a pedestrian — often panics. They fear arrest, jailing and potentially a conviction and imprisonment.
There are many circumstances that cause hit-and-run accidents. The most common are drug and alcohol impairment, speeding, driver distraction, cell phone use and sleep deprivation drowsiness.
Drivers that hit and run flee because they have been involved in a crime, lack a valid driver’s license and/or insurance, are intoxicated or on drugs. At the very least, a driver involved in a hit and run fears not just prosecution but loss of a driver’s license.
These days, you can add immigration status to that, as people fear they could be deported by ICE if they get arrested, let alone convicted, of a traffic crime.
Hutchinson goes on to add that even LA’s standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of killer hit-and-run drivers isn’t enough to get witnesses to come forward, who too often fear getting involved.
The solution, according to Hutchinson, is a proposal to create special multi-agency law enforcement hit-and-run task force, followed by tough prosecution of the drivers.
All I can say is about damn time.
And good luck with that.
Because California’s lenient hit-and-run laws actually provide an incentive to flee, since the penalty for hit-and-run is often lower than for DUI or other crimes. And LA prosecutors usually bargain away serious penalties to get a guilty plea, rather than go to trial.
But even if a driver is sentenced to jail time, California’s overcrowded penal system means it’s too often a revolving door that results in an unwarranted released after serving just a fraction of their term.
If you’ve been reading this site for awhile, you know what I propose to address, if not solve, the problem.
But one way or another, we have to do something.
Because failing to make an arrest, let alone get a conviction, not only means the driver won’t be held accountable.
It means the victims have to bear to full cost of recovering from their injuries.
And more California drivers will just continue to flee.
Today’s photo may be from Long Beach’s popular Beach Streets open streets event, but it’s a gentle reminder for drivers after a crash, too.
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At last there’s justice for former Bell police chief Andreas Probst, who was intentionally run down by a pair of teenagers while riding his bike in Las Vegas two years ago.
The crash was recorded by Probst’s killers, and shared with their fellow high school students. And quickly became one of the highest profile crashes in a nationwide rash of deliberate vehicular assaults on bike riders by teens in stolen cars, and recorded for social media.
According to Las Vegas News 3, the driver, Jesus Ayala, faces a sentence of 20 years to life after pleading guilty to felony counts of robbery, battery with the use of a deadly weapon, and second-degree murder.
The deadly weapon being a car, in this case.
Jzamir Keys, the passenger who filmed the attack and laughed afterward, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea on Tuesday of next week.
Probst’s wife and children have filed a lawsuit against Ayala and Keys, as well as Hyundai Motor Company, alleging that a defect in Hyundai Elantras enabled them to steal the car they used to murder him.
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The Victorville community is rallying to support a 13-year old boy who was severely injured by a DUI driver while riding his bike last week, according to the Victorville Daily Press.
A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $5,000 for the victim, identified as Manuel Sanchez.
According to his uncle, he’s hospitalized on a breathing tube, with injuries including a broken leg, broken arm, lacerated liver and kidney, internal bleeding in his stomach, as well as bruised lungs and injuries to his small intestine and spleen.
Thirty-six-year old Victorville resident Rosalie Marie Morales was released on $250,000 bond, after she was booked on suspicion of DUI involving both alcohol and drugs causing severe bodily injury.
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BikeLA is gearing up for its annual Bike Fest fundraiser and silent auction next month, which replaced the beloved LA River Ride as the group’s primary fundraising event.
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Anyone who has ever tried to bike through the notorious, traffic-choked Wilshire and Western intersection probably wishes there was still a roundabout controlling traffic.
Although LA drivers probably still wouldn’t know how to navigate one.
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Dr. Grace Peng rightfully complains that bicyclists are not allowed to use the “beautiful newly widened underpass where PCH crosses the old Pacific Electric Railway in Manhattan Beach.”
The only problem is, Manhattan Beach refuses to allow bikes to use it. @calbike.bsky.social @streetsforall.org @bikinginla.bsky.social @streetsblogla.bsky.social
— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng.bsky.social) 2025-10-05T23:14:19.340Z
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A workshop will be held tonight on the campus of Cal State LA to discuss options for the now-canceled 710 Freeway extension through Alhambra.
And yes, I’d vote for this one.
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Don’t miss the latest edition of Bike Talk, which has shifted from its original local Los Angeles focus to a national perspective.
@strongtowns.org founder Chuck Marohn with Strong Townish Love Letter to Suburbia author Diane Alisa, @ericbrightwell.bsky.social on the fight for bikes in WeHo, Boston Bikeway Block Party, Bikes, Birds, & BART with @bikingmzstacey.bsky.social, and more. soundcloud.com/biketalk/253…
— Bike Talk (@biketalk.bsky.social) 2025-10-07T02:17:46.017Z
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Megan forwards news of Boston drivers availing themselves of a local bike path to bypass traffic.
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It’s the last day of the fall Amazon Prime Day, as Velo, Singletracks and Cycling Weekly highlight the best deals.
Or you could visit your local bike shop, and spend your money right here at home, where it will do the most good.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. A Palo Alto website notes the opening of a $55 million protected bike lane — then complains that it’s “sparsely used” when only one bike rider passes by in the first 15 minutes.
Police in the UK complain about “inaccurate” news reports that they won’t investigate bike thefts from train stations if the bikes have been parked for more than two hours, before confirming that it is, in fact, true.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
There’s a special place in hell for the alleged Brooklyn hit-and-run bike rider accused of crashing into a 12-year old dog walking in a Prospect Park crosswalk with her owners; the elderly dog will need hip surgery.
A Brooklyn family is demanding answers after a 60-year old woman was killed when she was struck by two men riding an ebike, just moments after she got off a bus. Although have you ever noticed that that bike riders always get blamed anytime they collide with someone, but it’s always just an “accident” when drivers do.
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Local
Keep your eyes open for kids walking and biking to and from school today, as students throughout LA Country were urged to take part in today’s National Walk and Roll to School Day, while calling attention to bicycle and pedestrian safety.
Here’s your chance to name LA’s shiny new bike-pulled Hollywood Blvd protected bike lane sweeper.
A writer for Vogue says if you really want to get to know Los Angeles, ride the bus. Or better yet, ride a bike, like she did to get to her bus after moving here from New York after college.
Happy days are here again, as newly revived LA-based bikewear maker SWRVE reopens their office showroom for in-person shopping from 11am to 4pm Saturdays, offering closeout deals and items not sold online.
The Hermosa Beach City School District was honored with the Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association for its Be Safe, Be SMART ebike safety campaign.
State
A San Diego TV station says a new road diet and parking-protected bike lanes on the city’s Claremont Drive draws a mixed reaction from drivers and bicyclists — while apparently talking to exactly two people. And for the woman worried about evacuating in a fire, in the event of an emergency, feel free to use the center turn lane and wide bike lane buffer, which probably mean there’s actually more room for cars to escape, not less.
Temecula has installed new solar lights and improved bicycle access to the city’s Murrieta Creek Trail.
This is the cost of traffic violence. A 35-year old woman became the fourth person to be killed in a Ventura County crash in just four days, after she allegedly rode her motorcycle onto the wrong side of the road on a blind curve on Southern California’s killer highway.
Hats off to 17-year old Santa Barbara bicyclist Ray McPhee, who completed a double Everest over the weekend, climbing 58,000 feet of elevation while riding 300 miles in just 48 hours.
A Berkeley paper says ebikes are everywhere in the city now, “because they’re fun, they’re green, (and) they’re cheaper than ever.”
National
Planetizen considers what the country’s five safest cities for bicyclists have in common, as Momentum argues the list proves safety has nothing to do with luck.
Momentum also makes the case for why cities should pay people to bike to work to improve public health, combat climate change, reduce traffic congestion and enhance mental well-being.
They get it. Government Technology says law enforcement is lagging behind as ebikes become e-motorcycles, and lawmakers and police departments scramble to address the problem.
It looks like Justin Timberlake and Benson Boone are both one of us, as they agreed to ride the bus in Portland — the bike bus, that is.
The organizers of Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride have set this Sunday as the date for their “emergency ride” in response to President Trump’s efforts to deploy the National Guard in the city. Which gives you plenty of time to get up there and join in, no suitcase necessary.
A CNN video profiles an Arizona mom who uses her ebike to transport her young daughter with cerebral palsy. Thanks to our old friend Mike for the video link.
A Tucson TV station examines why so many homeless people camp along a local bike path, after a bicyclist was stabbed to death confronting a homeless man who was hurling insults at a passing group ride.
Heartbreaking news from Las Vegas, where a 12-year old girl died after she was run down by the driver of a school bus while riding her bike home in a marked bike lane.
It’s Waymo-blamo in Atlanta, after police blamed the victim when a bike rider collided with a self-driving Waymo vehicle, alleging the bicyclist ran a stop sign and crashed into the Waymo, which had the right-of-way.
International
Cycling Weekly asks if bike paths are doomed, as Donald Trump declares war on bicycles, and cities in the UK just don’t use available funding to build them.
The organizer of British Columbia’s Okanagan Granfondo announced that the ride has been permanently cancelled after a crash that killed one woman, and injured two other people taking part in it.
A Canadian radio program discusses a world-traveling adventure cyclist, who returned home to ride from one end of Edmonton, Alberta to the other, and posted the video to YouTube. Although it’s kinda hard to see the video on the radio broadcast. Thanks again to Megan for the heads-up.
An op-ed writer says if anyone is truly outraged that the country spent €100,000 — the equivalent of $116,000 — to build secure bike parking at an Irish hospital, they should see what car parking costs, let alone the country’s “investment in congestion, pollution and the continuation of car-first planning.” Yes, credit Megan for that link, too.
Horrible news from Gurugram, India, where a 35-year old man was bludgeoned to death by three friends he was drinking with, over accusations of stealing a bicycle.
A Senegalese bicyclist is using social media to bring calm to the roads and end the transportation culture wars, arguing that “We’re not the enemy, and drivers aren’t either.” Which is true, except only the drivers are operating multi-ton weapons of mass destruction.
A Japanese man with hearing problems is worried about the country’s new ban on bicycling with earbuds, afraid that will mean an end to the noise-cancelling ones that allow him to hear when he rides.
Competitive Cycling
Outside says America’s 34-year losing streak in mountain bike racing has finally ended, with American Christopher Blevins winning the World Cup overall title.
Only 17 of the 97 cyclists who started the European Championships elite men’s road race crossed the finish line, as the rest just said the hell with it somewhere along the way.
Mexico’s National Road and Time Trial Cycling Championship will be held in Baja California later this month.
Yet another young cyclist is throwing in the towel, as 23-year old Alexandre Vinokurov announced his retirement from the XDS-Astana cycling team, saying he’s “been riding in fear and pain” since a devastating crash in March when he was struck by a driver while training in Greece.
The Israel Premier Tech cycling team is dropping its national identity in the face of mounting pro-Palestinian protests. Although the protests will probably continue as long as the team remains based in Israel.
The Maryland Cycling Classic will expand to three days next year.
Finally…
Don’t claim you’ve got bike skills until you can pull off a six-and-a-half hour wheelie. A list of the “best bike helmets for protecting your noggin,” as if you would somehow wear one on your ass otherwise.
And there are always a few bicyclists who act like babies, but only a few who actually wear diapers.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.