Tag Archive for Joe Linton

LA Board of Public Works rejects Linton’s HLA appeals, and Rad Power rejects CPSC’s not-so-rad ebike battery recall

November 26, 2025 / / One comment
Day 330 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Just a quick note before we get started. 

As usual, this will be our last regular post for the holiday week. I’ll be taking tomorrow and Friday off to spend with family, so we’ll see you back here bright and early on Monday. 

Although if you’re not too busy hitting the Black Friday sales — or better yet, getting out on your bike and avoiding the hell out of the whole mess — come back Friday for the kick off of our 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. 

I’ll do my best to put the fun back in fund drive, while simultaneously begging you to part with a small portion of your own hard-earned funds to help keep this whole thing going for another year. 

Today’s photo depicts yours truly signing the original petition in support of Measure HLA, corgi in tow, with Streets For All founder Michael Schneider. 

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Okay, one more quick note. 

Because I’m thankful this year for a lifetime on two wheels, which has led me to so many of my best experiences and memories. 

And I’m even more thankful for you, and everyone else who reads this site. Because I couldn’t do what I do without you. 

So in all sincerity and with deepest humility, thank you. 

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To the surprise of absolutely no one, LA’s Board of Public Works rejected the overwhelming majority of Measure HLA appeals heard on Monday.

According to LAist,

First round of appeals: The Board of Public Works partially sided with the appellant in one appeal and rejected the other six. Joe Linton, in his capacity as a resident and not as editor of Streetsblog L.A., filed all the appeals heard on Monday. “It’s the very first time, so we’re kind of throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks,” Linton told LAist. “Not a lot stuck.”

One appeal approved: Linton partially won his appeal claiming the city did not adequately install pedestrian improvements along a nearly half-mile portion of Hollywood Boulevard that it resurfaced last year. The city said it will publish an “appeals resolution plan” to fix sidewalks there within the next six months. “It was really obvious to me that the city’s justification … was not true, so I was glad that that was acknowledged,” Linton said.

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton explains further.

Per the text of the Measure HLA ballot measure, the city does not have to implement its mobility plan if the city is only completing “restriping without other improvements.” This exemption is listed alongside pothole repairs, utility cuts, and emergency repairs. In the six appeals that the board voted to reject, the city did not “restripe” the existing configuration, but installed new lane striping to change traffic patterns, added parking, bike lanes, turn lanes, etc.

The appeals argued that these changes go beyond “restriping without other improvements.”

The city disagrees.

The city’s position appears to be more or less along the lines of: if a street reconfiguration project included installed pretty much any kind of lane striping, then it’s exempt from HLA because it’s considered “restriping without other improvements.”

In other words, the city is basically daring Linton to sue them, after he already filed one lawsuit over Metro’s failure to include the required bike lanes in the redesign of the Vermont Ave corridor — again, in his own capacity, and not as a representative of Streetsblog.

Four more appeals filed by Linton will be heard by the commission on Monday.

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Seattle ebike maker Rad Power Bikes says thanks, but no thanks, to the ebike battery recall ordered by the feds, arguing that such a massive recall would put them out of business.

Not that their prospects look too good right now, with or without it.

Meanwhile, a writer for a surf site puts tongue firmly in cheek to discuss the “grom immolation terror” brought on by the recall, while questioning why the Consumer Product Safety Commission is even still around following the Trump budget cuts. “Grom” being slang for a young or inexperienced surfer, and by extension, any inexperienced and/or overly enthusiastic teen — the opposite of what waits for me in the mirror every morning. And you’re welcome. 

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Thanks to the generosity of a fallen bicyclist’s family, all donations to Streets Are For Everyone will be matched dollar-for-dollar through the end of the year.

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

Cycling Weekly considers what it will take to turn down the hatred, opprobrium and vilification that bicyclists are subjected to on a near daily basis.

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Local 

Calbike examines how Metro’s Nina Kin, Tech Lead on LA Metro’s Digital Experience Team, is building more reliable data and trust for transit riders on bicycles, as Metro begins to recognize that transit and bikes are two “halves of the same promise.” And no, that’s not an exceptionally awkward and unwieldy job title at all.

Joe Linton, acting this time in his capacity as Streetsblog editor, offers an open thread and photos from Sunday’s Stranger Things 5 CicLAvia on Melrose Ave, where a good time was reportedly had by all, human and demogorgon alike.

Pasadena approved a contract of up to $4.8 million to move forward with a new design for the Pasadena Ave and St. John Ave Roadway Network Project, including a safer and more accessible bicycle and pedestrian network — without removing existing traffic lanes, of course.

Santa Monica announced plans for a Holiday Sweater Community Ride on Saturday, December 6th, offering guided bike tours of the Bergamot Area First/Last Mile Improvements, departing from the 17th Street/SMC Metro Station from 10 am to noon.

 

State

Evidently, those public radio budget cuts have hit hard, as San Diego public radio station KBPS is just now catching up with CARB’s heartless shiv through the heart of the California Ebike Incentive Program, while adding little or nothing to the story.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office urges parents to think twice before buying ebikes for their kids, warning that they can be held criminally liable for whatever mischief the little miscreants get up to with them. And once again, conflating electric dirt bikes and motorbikes with regular ped-assist ebikes, to the benefit of no one. 

The Kern County coroner identified the victim killed by a driver while riding his bike last week as an 81-year old man, who deserved better. Then again, so does anyone else who’s still riding at that age. 

Caltrans pushed bike lanes planned for a Tiburon street makeover back to 2029, after advocacy groups questioned limitations imposed by a school bus operator.

 

National

Vice examines hacks to safely store a bicycle in your apartment, and says ditch the backpack and try panniers, instead.

American voters approved nearly $2 billion in bicycling improvements sponsored by People For Bikes in the recent elections.

A pair of Congressional members introduced the bipartisan Bicycle Instruction, Knowledge, and Education (BIKE) Act, which would make bike safety education a standard part of youth learning nationwide.

A UK citizen married to a US resident was nabbed by immigration authorities while riding his bicycle in Montana, despite having a pending green card application.

 

International

A new study from the Journal of the Obesity Society suggests that evening is the best time for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity — like bicycling — to help improve and control your blood sugar. Note to Bicycling: If you intend to hide the story behind a paywall for subscribing members only, don’t leave a link to the story just above the blockage notice. And if the study is readily available, the story ain’t that exclusive.

The London Times examines how bicycles have changed lives for indigenous Colombian students and adults.

If you build it, they will come. Daily bicycling journeys in London are up 12.7 percent over last year, and 43 percent above pre-Covid levels.

A member of the British Parliament proposes legislation banning the annual World Naked Bike Ride, arguing that the country’s police can’t ignore “flashers on bikes.” Just wait until someone tells him about Lady Godiva.

A writer for Cycling Weekly imagines what the UK’s future could look like if the country could actually learn from the Netherlands. At this point, there just ain’t enough weed in the world to conjure up visions of an Amsterdam’ed Los Angeles. 

The New York Times talks with Dutch-Canadian author and advocate Melissa Bruntlett, co-writer with her husband Chris of the recently published Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation.

The New York Times also talks with French ultracyclist Sofiane Sehili, who spent 50 days in a Russian hoosegow after trying to cross the border despite Russian border guards refusal to acknowledge his previously approved visa, while attempting to set a new record for the fastest crossing of Eurasia.

 

Competitive Cycling

A sports website catches up with America’s other ex-Tour de France winner, turned whistleblower, turned weed entrepreneur, Floyd Landis.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you get busted for illegally modifying a DIY ped-assist ebike to do nearly 40 mph. Now you, too, can buy grandma her very own $40,000 one-off bespoke bike.

And your next indoor exercise bike could be a giant, horned, spinning marble disk.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA Public Works delays HLA appeals, not guilty plea in fatal PCH hit-and-run, and remembering the victims of traffic violence

November 17, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 321 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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You can cancel those plans to attend Los Angeles Board of Public Works meeting, in-person or online, today.

Apparently acknowledging their “oopsie” in scheduling hearings for appeals of Measure HLA denials without the required ten day notice, they have rescheduled the appeals for one week from today, on November 24th.

You’re urged to attend the meeting in person to support Joe Linton as he challenges the denials of seven projects he says met the requirements for implementation under Measure HLA.

Because it’s a lot harder to ignore a room full of bicycle and traffic safety advocates in person than a bunch of people waiting to comment online.

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The Long Beach woman accused of killing one bicyclist and injuring two others on PCH in Huntington Beach last month has pled not guilty.

Forty-three-year old Amber Kristine Calderon entered the plea to three felony hit and run charges in the death of 45-year old minister and father Eric John Williams, as well as critically injuring the other two men.

Calderon is free on a relatively paltry $100,000 bond; no word yet on the results of her toxicology tests.

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Sunday was the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which included a moving commemoration surrounding Los Angeles City Hall.

According to a notice from Streets Are For Everyone,

WHAT: As part of World Day of Remembrance for Traffic Victims (WDoR), Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), The Emily Shane Foundation, The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Auto Club of Southern California (Auto Club) and other traffic safety organizations will hold a visual tribute Sunday, November 16, to honor the 711 people killed in traffic crashes across Los Angeles County in 2024.

Volunteers will cover a nearly four-block radius surrounding Los Angeles City Hall Park Center with 711 empty black chairs, each adorned with a yellow rose. The display symbolizes the empty seats left behind at dining room tables, outdoor patios and upcoming holiday gatherings, highlighting the impact traffic violence has on the Los Angeles County area. Families of victims are invited to honor their loved ones by bringing a photo or personal memento, or by writing their loved one’s name on a remembrance card to place on one of the empty chairs.

WHY: In 2024, 711 people were killed in Los Angeles County due to traffic crashes. In 2023, there were 814 people killed in crashes on Los Angeles County roads. WDoR is a global event held every third Sunday of November to remember people left behind by traffic violence or personally impacted by car crashes – and a call to action to support safer streets and improve road safety.

Let that sink in.

Seven-hundred-eleven dead on LA County streets.

Then let something else sink in. Because as of this writing, no Los Angeles news outlet has even bothered to cover it. Or at least not post it online.

Evidently, people dying of traffic violence is just an everyday thing around here. Literally.

I’m not in the mood to punch down tonight. But as much as I appreciate this tweet/post from LADOT, they are the ones responsible for creating the road conditions that contributed to far too many of those deaths.

As well as the ones who haven’t fixed them.

Meanwhile, San Diego residents turned out Sunday to call for safer streets on the World Day of Remembrance, hosted by Families for Safe Streets San Diego.

More than 250 people mounted the steps of the Massachusetts State House to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, and demand stronger traffic safety laws to combat a rise in bicycling deaths.

And a ten-mile bike ride was set to roll Sunday from Bethesda, Maryland to Washington, DC for the World Day of Remembrance; past rides have drawn more than 1,000 people.

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In yet another study that shouldn’t surprise anyone, researchers in the UK have found that free bicycle programs in some of the most disadvantaged areas resulted in improved health and wellbeing, as well as reduced social inequality for those who use them.

Sport England commissioned the report on behalf of the Active Wellbeing Society and examined the effects of free bike schemes in Birmingham, Essex, and Ealing. Their results show that the scheme, which includes wraparound support of bike lessons, maintenance and group rides free of charge, also strengthened community cohesion and encouraged more sustainable, environmentally-friendly behaviours. The schemes receive public funding but also rely on volunteers.

More than 12,000 bikes have been distributed since 2015 through the respective schemes (Birmingham Big Bikes, Essex Pedal Power and Let’s Ride Southall) and are estimated to have delivered an average return on social and economic investment of £11.80 for every £1.

That works out to $15.55 for every $1.32 invested.

The more than 1,200 bicycles distributed in three cities also resulted in significant reductions in preventable deaths and disease.

Comparing the data to the Office for National Statistics found that the scheme prevented 16% of expected new cases of disease among participants and 6% of expected deaths. The participants’ life satisfaction, when measured on a scale of 1-10, also increased by averages between 0.5 and 1.8.

So what the hell are we waiting for?

I mean, besides safer streets to ride them on.

Meanwhile, another study shows that households that use cargo bikes can cut their car miles in half.

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They get it.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1990099317294551051

But you may not be out of luck if you live in the San Gabriel Valley.

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‘Tis the season.

The kindhearted staff at a Duluth, Minnesota ski and bike shop collected over 300 pounds of food from their equally kindhearted customers, and delivered it by bicycle to a local nonprofit.

Hundreds of volunteers turned out in Pensacola, Florida to build over 500 bicycles to donate to local kids in need.

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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 Kansas City letter writer says she supports safe infrastructure for bicyclists, but the city is going too far in prioritizing bike riders over drivers by removing traffic lanes on several major streets. As if drivers still don’t have near-total dominion on the overwhelming majority of city streets.

No bias here, either. The author of a Portuguese website dismisses a lawsuit filed by a bike advocacy group to keep the new mayor Gaia from ripping out a bike lane, because he never heard of them.

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

You’ve got to be kidding. It turns out that the yellow bicycle that 2019 Tour de France champ Egan Bernal rode into Paris wasn’t stolen after all — the Colombian cyclist staged the whole thing as a publicity stunt to promote his gran fondo. Let’s hope that nobody goes. 

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Local 

KTLA-5 reminds us that the Melrose Ave CicLAvia this coming Sunday will host a takeover by Netflix’ Stranger Things.

The Los Angeles Times reports we have a limited opportunity to save an El Sereno open space for a new park offering panoramic views of the LA area, but only if the 110 acre Elephant Hill Open Space can be saved from developers, and local landowners convinced to sell.

The LAPD arrested a man they called “the Mountain Bike Bandit,” accused of committing over 20 burglaries and escaping by bicycle.

Apparently having ended crime in Hermosa Beach, local officials touched briefly on the decrease in crime at a recent public forum, before devoting all their attention to the problem of, yes, ebikes.

 

State

Ouch. Jalopnik blames “now-deceased cycling-obsessed weirdo” John Forester for making bike riding worse for everyone else by instructing people to be “the kind of stereotypical, aggressive rider that so many people love to hate,” arguing that you now usually just find “obsessive weirdos” like the San Diego-based Forester in enthusiast forums. I may disagree with many Forester followers, but I’d describe the ones I know as passionate bicyclists, not “obsessive” or “weirdos.”

Sad news from Berkeley, where a man in his 60s was killed by a pickup driver while riding a bicycle on iconic Telegraph Ave near UC Berkeley.

More sad news, this time from Rancho Cordova, where a man was killed when he crashed his bicycle into a pole; police concluded it was a solo bike crash, and there was no foul play involved.

 

National

Life is cheap in Oregon, where a driver walked without charges for killing a 21-year old college student as she rode her bike in a crosswalk, after the driver in the right lane stopped for her, but the driver in the next lane blew right through the crosswalk as if it wasn’t there and the other driver had just stopped at random; cops said they couldn’t prove there was a “gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would observe” in a similar situation. Other than, you know, stopping for someone in a crosswalk and not killing someone. 

National Geographic says Seattle is a city best explored by bicycle.

A transit user and advocate pulled off a surprising upset to win the race for mayor of Seattle.

Geek Wire considers the rise and fall of the once-mighty Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes, which is now on the brink of shutting down.

Sad news from Moab, Utah, where 56-year old Moab trail builder, mountain bike racer, pizza maker and campground host Fred Wilkinson died of natural causes while camping earlier this month.

Further adventures in bad headlines. Judging by the headline, a Salt Lake City TV station says a driver was charged with manslaughter for killing an ebike, because it doesn’t mention the person on the bike at all.

Advocacy groups are trying to raise the final $5 million needed to close a 3.6-mile gap in the Teton Pass trail system in Teton National Park, part of the 180-mile Greater Yellowstone Trail; engineers call it the “most technically ambitious pathway ever proposed in the Tetons.”

A group of bicyclists calling themselves Cyclingxsolidarity once again took to the streets of Chicago on Sunday to buy out food vendors so they could go home and stay safe from ICE agents.

When demand for Minnesota’s ebike voucher program was so great it crashed the website, it spurred a university study and forced the state to fix the technology. When the same thing happened in California, they just cancelled the whole damn program after a single round. 

A writer for Cycling Weekly calls Bentonville, Arkansas one of the weirdest places he’s ever been, but also one of the best American cities for bicycling.

A kindhearted New Jersey cop gave his own bicycle to a former D.A.R.E. and police youth academy student after the kid’s was stolen.

Around 800 people took part in the 26th edition of a 500-mile bike ride from the mountains of North Carolina to the coast.

 

International

Momentum recommends 12 “amazing” cities to explore by bicycle in the coming year. None of which are Los Angeles.

A cycling psychologist explains how to avoid bicycle burnout.

The London borough of Camden responded to resident surveys by releasing plans to redesign several streets that advocates termed “mind-glowingly good.” Which shows what can be done when cities actually care enough to listen to their residents.

That’s more like it. The British government is now dropping the previously recommended 12-foot lane width, and advising that traffic lanes should now be limited to 10 foot 8 inches to keep drivers from passing bicyclists without changing lanes.

While American cities continue to restrict ebikes, Dutch and Belgian seniors are using them to avoid slowing down as they age.

An Indian news site argues that “the bicycle, hailed worldwide as the greenest, cheapest way to get around,” remains the forgotten road user in Guwahati, “ridiculed by drivers, overlooked by planners, and left to dodge death daily.”

Cambodia’s ancient Angkor Archaeological Park now draws an average of over 100 bicyclists each day with a roughly 14-mile route through forests and rice fields, as bike tourism continues to grow post-COVID.

In a story we’ve heard far too often, a New Zealand man is giving up on bicycling after he and his wife were nearly struck by a driver after swerving their tandem to avoid a dooring.

 

Competitive Cycling

French cyclist Hugo Toumire announced his retirement from the pro tour at just 24, after the Cofidis team lost its WorldTour license, and he was diagnosed with endofibrosis.

Spain’s Aleix Espargaró decided that life as a pro cyclist isn’t compatible with life as a pro motorcyclist after all, and gave up his brief one season experiment with both.

Tragic news from Australia, where multi-time world paracycling champ Paige Greco died at her home Sunday after “experiencing a sudden medical episode;” she was just 28.

UCI is trying to turn the clock back half a decade, reducing key measurements on WorldTour bikes to cut their aerodynamics and slow them down a little in an effort to improve safety.

Cyclist rates how every women’s WorldTour team did this year.

Nothing like testing your new race bikes in a tunnel full of helium bubbles and laser beams.

Dutch cycling officials are trying to set up Mathieu van der Poel and Puck Pieterse to complete in both road cycling and mountain biking in the ’28 LA Olympics.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you learn to ride a bike, but still don’t know the difference between Lance and Neal Armstrong. Or when bicycling is less passion and more lifestyle.

And before you jump into a lake to avoid a traffic stop for a bicycling violation, make sure you can swim first.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Accused PCH hit-and-run killer faces just 5 years, LA rejects HLA appeals without hearing, and LA not carfree best or worst

October 24, 2025 / / One comment
Day 297 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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We’ve learned a lot more about the man killed by a hit-and-run driver on PCH in Huntington Beach Monday morning.

The Daily Pilot reports a ghost bike has already been installed at the crash site for 45-year old Eric John Williams, a pastor and youth counselor who founded a Garden Grove church with his wife in 2011.

I’ve updated my story to reflect all the new details, so you can read about it here.

But in brief, the alleged driver, Amber Calderon, was arraigned on Wednesday, and we learned more about the condition of the other victims.

So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll quote myself this one time.

Calderon was charged with one felony count of hit and run causing permanent injury or death, and two felony counts of hit and run with injury.

Thanks to California’s lax hit-and-run laws, she faces a maximum sentence of 5 years and four months, according to the DA’s office. She did not enter a plea, and the hearing was rescheduled for Nov. 13 in the West Justice Center in Westminster…

The DA’s office says the other two victims, who should not be overlooked in the anger and grief over Williams death, suffered serious injuries “including spinal fractures, broken ribs, a broken ankle, as well as cuts and bruises.”

Calderon’s charges could be changed based on her toxicology report, which is still pending.

But 64 months hardly seems like justice for killing one person and severely injuring two others, then just driving away.

Compare that to a Florida hit-and-run driver who faces up to 30 years behind bars after accepting a plea for fleeing the scene of a fatal crash that took the life of someone on a bicycle.

Maybe something in between would be nice.

Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels.

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Longtime LA bike advocate Joe Linton writes that Los Angeles is dealing with appeals over projects that should be governed by Measure HLA exactly the way we expected.

By rejecting them.

Now the city is responding to #MeasureHLA appeals – with rejection letters (three so far that I am aware of). Here's my rejection letter for bike lanes on Ohio Ave: labikas.wordpress.com/wp-content/u…

— Joe Linton (@lintonjoe.bsky.social) 2025-10-21T03:19:19.259Z

Linton writes that LADOT has begun sending out rejection letters, despite the lack of a hearing before the Board of Public Works, as required by the city’s HLA ordinance.

Evidently, our president isn’t the only one who doesn’t feel constrained by the rules.

Or maybe the city is just bored of Public Works.

Linton writes that the city’s rejection an appeal over a missing crosswalk at Western & Marathon is emblematic of their actions so far.

GM Rubio-Cornejo appears to have missed the point raised in the appeal: that the resurfacing – though mostly on Marathon Street – also overlapped with part of Western Avenue. See the overlap outlined in yellow in the above photo. The area where the crosswalk goes – along Western – was repaved.

The rejection of Western/Marathon is one of at least a half-dozen similar rejections. I haven’t had time to post them all here, but most are similar to Western/Marathon. An appellant requested the city add missing crosswalks on a PED street, and LADOT GM Rubio-Cornejo rejected the request, without it even going to a hearing of the Board of Public Works, which is where the city HLA ordinance states that appeals will be decided.

There are dozens of HLA appeals already filed – more than a dozen from me. Most of them are still waiting for any kind of city response. If you’re interested in filing a Measure HLA appeal, see my instructions.

The city’s attitude seems to be, “So sue us.”

Linton already has, filing suit over Metro’s rejection of bike lanes on the Vermont Ave corridor during their work to install bus lanes, even though they’re contained in the city’s Mobility Plan.

Metro’s argument is that as a city ordinance, HLA doesn’t apply to them as a county agency. Even though the work is being done on a city street, in junction with the city.

Something tells me Linton’s won’t be the last HLA lawsuit.

Especially at this rate.

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More clickbait city ratings, this time from a storage website, which ranks the best and worst car-optional cities in the US.

Surprisingly, Los Angeles doesn’t make either one, but Santa Clarita and Lancaster both check in at the Bad Place, at #7 and #20.

Not surprisingly, no Southern California city appears in the Good Place. In fact, San Francisco is the only California city to make the list of the most car-optional cities, at #12.

And if a site pimping storage facilities and equipment doesn’t know all there is to know about living without a car, who does?

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Cal State Northridge will host their third annual Bike Fest a week from Sunday.

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Nice to know there are no serious crimes that need the attention of Glendale cops, or anything.

Not to mention that sidewalk riding would be legal in all of California if not for Governor Newsom’s almighty veto pen.

https://bsky.app/profile/eddiethelazor.bsky.social/post/3m3s5paesks2w

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

An Arizona man known locally as Bicycle Barry after he gave up driving for health reasons is now battling an ankle infection that could cost him his leg, ten months after he was nearly killed by a road-raging driver. Never mind that driving is so normalized that merely giving up your car is enough to earn you a bicycle sobriquet.

No bias here. A London train station draws complaints from commuters when a newly unveiled bike hub is only accessible by carrying your bike up and down a flight of stairs.

No bias here, either. An Irish city counselor says nobody wants bike lanes and no one uses the ones they’ve already got, anyway; local bike riders beg to disagree.

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

A Chicago man is blaming the cops for a $3,000 ambulance bill after he was struck by a young woman riding an ebike as he was getting out of his car, complaining that they let her go without a citation. Although the fact that they didn’t cite her just might suggest she wasn’t at fault.

Police are on the lookout for a 53-year old inmate who escaped from the Henderson County, Kentucky jail by simply riding off on a bicycle he had been repairing with two other inmates.

A Singaporean website examines the online debate after a video goes viral of a teenage bicyclist who failed to apologize after crashing into an elderly woman walking on a bike path.

An Australian mom is calling for stricter regulation of ebikes, a year after her toddler daughter was run down by someone riding one.

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Local 

Streets For All wants you to take LADOT’s survey about the Westwood Safety and Mobility Project, and urge them to install protected bike lanes all the way down to National Blvd, rather than stopping at the Expo station. Although it’s kind of pathetic that we’re still fighting this same battle after more than a dozen years. 

LA’s new bike-trailer street sweeper custom built for the Hollywood Blvd bike lanes was powered by Olympic hopeful cyclist Kayla Hankins. At least for the official unveiling, anyway. 

Lime is introducing pedal-free throttle-controlled LimeGlider bikes to the streets of LA. Because honestly, what could go wrong?

A carfree Angeleno examines the promise of a carfree LA Olympics, even if Mayor Karen Bass walked it back just days later. Speaking of Bass, word is she bet the mayor of Toronto she’d ride a bike wearing a Blue Jays jersey if the Dodgers lose the World Series. Which I’m pretty sure is the first time she’s mentioned riding one since she was elected. 

Culver City officially cut the ribbon to open the Robertson Boulevard Complete Street project, complete with the bike lanes that make it that way.

Malibu marked two full years since the tragic deaths of four Pepperdine sorority sisters on PCH, victims of SoCal’s killer highway, as well as a speeding driver; a crowdfunding campaign is raising money to install a permanent memorial.

 

State

Everyone seems impressed with the first bike from Irvine-based Rivian’s new ebike spinoff, with Robb Report praising its whopping 100-mile range, while a writer for Outside calls it the most impressive bike he’s ridden all year, Velo says it’s absolutely wild — in a good way, and Singletracks writes it’s a full-suspension ebike “unlike any other you’ve seen.”

While everyone else was focused on Rivian’s new ebike, Gear Patrol asks if their new spinoff just invented the perfect bike helmet.

Seriously, it takes a major schmuck to take off after hitting a 12-year old kid riding a bicycle in El Cajon.

Mountain Bike Action looks back on the early days of downhill BMX racing in Corona, all the way back in 1975.

Volunteers with the Kern River Bike Patrol ride the popular bike path to aid bicyclists in need.

Despite a recent report showing Stockton’s bike fatality rate was six-times the national average as of 2023, recent safety improvements have brought that down to zero this year. More proof that bike deaths can be eliminated, if cities are willing to spend the money and do the work. Looking at you, Los Angeles.

 

National

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Peter Flax, who writes for Bicycling about nine “badass” women who’ve raised millions for cancer research, calling them “the fiercest sisterhood in cycling.” Unfortunately, though, the story is hidden behind their paywall for members only. 

No surprise here, as the US bicycle industry is waking up to Trump’s “crushing” 50% tariffs on aluminum, with one bike shop owner comparing it to “screaming into the void.”

If you have a Favoto bike helmet, the Consumer Products Safety Commission says stop wearing it, cut the straps and toss it in the trash, because the helmets “violate the positional stability, certification and labeling requirements of the mandatory safety standard for bicycle helmets.”

Portland, Oregon bike riders demanded the city council either “approve or improve” a settlement negotiated with the city to resolve a lawsuit that alleged that the Portland Bureau of Transportation has violated a state law requiring the construction of bicycling facilities on major projects.

A Lubbock, Texas bike rider was lucky to escape without injuries, along with her dog, when she was struck by a sheriff’s deputy in an unmarked car; naturally, the person on the bike got the blame, and a citation. Because cops are never at fault, right?

Tulsa, Oklahoma firefighters honored a local teenager for helping to save the life of a friend after a mountain biking crash.

The mayor of Kansas City is proposing a ban on right turns on red in a school zone during school hours — a week too late for a nine-year old girl killed by a driver while riding her bike to school.

The same goes for an Illinois mayor’s call for safe streets and protected crossings, but only after a 13-year old boy was killed by a semi driver while riding his bicycle.

Good idea. A Cambridge, Massachusetts bike safety group works year-round to help bike-friendly politicians win local elections.

Florida now has its first glowing bike path, with the 4.4-mile, 12-foot wide bike path on Okaloosa Island giving off a blue glow at night, thanks to paving with bioluminescent rock.

 

International

An adventure site takes a deep dive into how adventure bicycling could benefit your mental health.

Sixty-six-year old Jean Louis, the only bicyclist named Sportsman of the Year for the Caribbean isle of Saint Lucia, was killed by a driver while riding in Ontario, Canada.

They get it. Momentum says Ontario, Canada’s plan to ban bike lanes is proof that “stupid is as stupid does.”

Yet another study, this time from an English university, shows that physical barriers separating bicyclists from drivers and pedestrians is key to safer streets.

A 20-something man in Oxford, England was stabbed in an unprovoked attack while riding on a bike path, after two men approached him and started an altercation, leaving on e-motorbikes afterwards.

Britain’s Liberal Democrats political party is urging the country’s National Crime Agency to set up a bait bike unit to catch bike thieves. No American political party has even mentioned bike theft since cars took over the roads. 

The 25-year old Ukrainian Bike Project is still building bicycles for “residents, service workers, educators, ministry leaders and the military,” despite the three-year old Russian invasion.

In a surprising move, a Russian court released French ultracyclist Sofiane Sehili, who was busted for an illegal border crossing while trying to set a new record for the fastest endurance ride from Lisbon to Vladivostok; he was released after being fined 50,000 rubles — the equivalent of $612.

 

Competitive Cycling

A New Zealand researcher says pro-cycling crashes may be dangerous, but slower bicycles aren’t the solution.

 

Finally…

Your next saddle could support each butt cheek separately, and rock with every peddle stroke. Who needs a naked bike ride when you’ve got a two-wheeled second line?

And if you’re riding your bike with outstanding warrants, try not to get hit by a driver while crossing the street.

Or better yet, just don’t cross against the light.

……… 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Good time had by all at CicLAvia, Austin Beutner runs for LA mayor, and Pasadena considers Vision Zero in all but name

October 14, 2025 / / No comments
Day 287 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It looks like lots of people loved Sunday’s Heart of LA CicLAvia.

One that I missed out on, since neither my wife or corgi were up to it — one because still recovering from a heart attack, and the other after getting a bunch of shots at the vet.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide which was which.

Regardless, Joe Linton offers an open thread and his usual great photos at Streetsblog, making it appear a good time was had by all.

And a trio of videos capture the fun.

………

To the surprise of no one, former LA schools superintendent, LA Times publisher and Karen Bass supporter Austin Beutner announced he’s running against Bass for mayor, arguing that Los Angeles needs change.

Beutner was a big supporter of bicycling when he first ran for mayor a little over a decade ago, following a bike crash led him to change careers from building a successful business to serving as Antonio Villaraigosa’s deputy mayor.

We’ll have to see if that’s still a priority for him this time around.

………

The Pasadena City Council’s Municipal Services Committee will consider a Local Roadway Safety Action Plan at today’s meeting, focusing on fixing the city’s most dangerous streets with a goal of ending traffic deaths by 2035.

The proposal is then scheduled to go to the full council on October 27th.

Meanwhile, a survey of residents lists driver behavior as their top concern, followed by biking and rolling safety, then crossing safety.

Something we can probably all agree with.

………

Streets Are For Everyone reminds you that time is running out to register for the Santa Clarita Finish The Ride, which helps fund the group’s statewide fight for safer streets.

This is shaping up to be our best Santa Clarita event ever, and we can’t wait to see you there.

As a reminder, advance registration prices end at midnight on October 25—register now to lock in the best rate!

Whether you’re riding or running, you’ll be supporting Streets Are For Everyone’s mission to make our roads safer—and we couldn’t be more grateful for your help.

As usual, there will be an amazing raffle at the event! You can pre-purchase tickets, pick them up at packet pickup, or at our merchandise table during the event!

Thank you for being part of this important cause. We can’t wait to see you at the starting line!

Date: Sunday, October 26th, 2025

Location: West Creek Park, Santa Clarita

Event Options (Routes are subject to change):

Ride:

Run/Walk:

Get all the event details!

‍♂️‍♂️ Costumes are encouraged, but optional for participation! ‍♂️

………

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

It’s happened once again, again. A day after we discussed a Massachusetts driver who used his car as a weapon to run down someone on a bike, we learn that police in the UK are looking for a hit-and-run van driver who ran over a 49-year old man’s bicycle after first “racially abusing” the victim, then deliberately trying to run him over.

………

Local 

Say hi to Hollywood Blvd’s new bike lane “Sweeping Beauty.”

 

State

Fullerton residents called for protected bike lanes and better street lighting at last week’s city council meeting, after two Cal State Fullerton students were critically injured when they were struck by a truck driver while sharing an e-scooter. Although someone should tell the CSUF student newspaper that most trucks still usually have drivers.

 

National

NBC News offers video of Portland’s rain-soaked emergency naked bike ride to protest Trump’s militarization of the city; the reported thousands of riders were also confronted by a few dozen counterprotestors. But if the riders are wearing clear rain ponchos, are they really naked?

A college senior in my bicycle-friendly Colorado hometown credits a free bike helmet she got as a freshman with saving her life when she went headfirst over her handlebars, returning to the same event as a volunteer four years later to hand them out herself. And yes, that’s exactly the kind of relatively slow speed crash bike helmets are designed for, not protecting riders from massive SUVs as most drivers seem to assume.

Syracuse, New York has struggled to pass Vision Zero for a full decade, despite a fatality rate 40% above the state average — and could lose out on federal safety funds as a result.

A new bike rider in upstate New York tries to fix her own brakes, finding that she may not need a bike mechanic, but she does need her dad.

A bicyclist in Key Biscayne, Florida shares his perspective on the risks riders face on the roads, explaining that what may look like dangerous “pack mentality” from the outside is just the safest way for large groups to ride

 

International

The Toronto Star examines how bikeshare went from death’s door to one of the city’s fastest-growing means of transportation, but says Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s fight to rip out the city’s bike lanes could decide whether it survives.

A British TV show re-examines the collision that killed a 52-year old triathlete competing in a time trial, finding the victim was in the driver’s field of view for 18-seconds before he rear-ended her bike in a “catastrophic misjudgement;” the driver was sentenced to four years behind bars after being convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.

Britain’s busking piano bike player had to cancel a planned tour when someone stole her dad’s van, which held her personal possessions, costumes and spare piano parts.

A new Irish report finds a distressing 262% jump in single-bicyclist collisions over a ten-year period, especially in the Dublin area. Although it’s possible that at least part of that is due to an increase in the country’s bicycling rates over the same period. 

Paris set a new record in its transformation to a bicycling city, with counters clocking 1,817 bicycle trips on a single route in just one day.

Roughly a hundred people turned out for a bike ride sponsored by the Danish Embassy in Guangzhou, China to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Guardian looks back on Tadej Pogačar’s total domination of the cycling season, despite battling a bout  of mid-season depression, while Tour de France Femmes champ Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s extreme weight loss proves almost as divisive as trans women in amateur bike races.

Pogačar doesn’t like all the comparison’s to the great Eddy Merckx, even if he keeps writing them with his own legs.

Spanish cyclist Francisco ‘Paco’ Mancebo finally called it a career after a remarkable 27 years cycling career that predated social media.

The University of Colorado highlights the return of paracyclist Jason Macom, whose track cycling career ended with a severe knee injury that eventually resulted in an amputation, then a second career as a paracyclist ended when his prothesis irritated his knee; a new procedure that grafted a prothesis directly onto the bone has allowed him to make a comeback, qualifying for this week’s 2025 Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, could own Strava — or a piece of it, anyway. Leave your helmet out on your bike too long, and you could be a baby bird’s new mom or dad; thanks to Megan for the link.

And seriously, we get the hint, already.

good morning to the bike lane big finish designers

— trick van treat (@derek.bike) 2025-10-13T13:06:35.439235Z

……… 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Celebrating 10 years of SAFE & why I do what I do, Metro joins HLA lawsuit, and MAAP LaB LA lands on Abbot Kinney

September 15, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 258 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

I got a little dose of inspiration yesterday.

My wife, the corgi and I attended the first part of SAFE’s 10th anniversary celebration yesterday evening, before we had to leave for a family commitment.

The nonprofit group known as Streets Are For Everyone was born from Damian Kevitt’s first Finish the Ride, after more than 600 people turned out to ride with him to finish what started out as a pleasant bike ride with his wife, before it was interrupted by a heartless hit-and-run driver.

I covered that horrific 2013 crash from the very beginning as best I could, based on the cryptic reports available at the time.

But in time, it became clear that Kevitt had been struck by the driver of a van while riding on Zoo Drive, and dragged hundreds of feet onto the northbound 5 Freeway by the fleeing driver.

He freed himself from under the van by sheer force of will. And likely survived only because the trailing drivers saw what was happening and stopped to protect him, and because some of those cars has people with medical training, who began treating him at the scene before paramedics arrived.

The odds that he would survive his multiple life-threatening injuries were somewhere between slim and none. But his mother refused to give up and fought for him at every turn. And Damian’s sheer will to live was evident when he told her and his wife that he would one day finish that ride, whatever it took.

In those ten years, Damian has gone from a victim to founder of a successful organization that has spawned other traffic safety groups and shepherded a number of important bills through the state legislature, as well as memorializing victims and calling attention to our most dangerous streets.

He has become someone I truly admire and consider a good friend. And along with Streets For All founder Michael Schneider and Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, he’s one of the first people I reach out to with any bike or pedestrian safety problem that demands a solution.

We are lucky to have people and groups like that fighting for us every day.

Listening to the inspiring stories from other victims of traffic violence, along with SAFE staffers and volunteers, it coalesced in my own mind just why I do what I do, and what keeps me fighting when our mean streets and uncaring officials continue to drag me down and break my heart.

For the first time in a long time, or maybe ever, I can now sum it up in two simple sentences.

I want everyone who wants to ride a bicycle to be able to ride one, regardless of who they are or where they live.

And I want everyone who leaves home today on a bicycle to get home safely.

That’s it.

I’ll keep fighting for that as long as I have any fight in me. Sometimes I think that day was yesterday. And sometimes I think I’m just getting started.

One other note before we move on.

One of the speakers yesterday described how he was struck by a driver and badly injured just five months after moving to Los Angeles. And yesterday’s CicLAvia was the first time he had ridden a bike in this city since.

It was a reminder just how important CicLAvia and other open streets events like Beach Streets in Long Beach, and Active Streets in the San Gabriel Valley, are to all of us.

Because without them, many people in the this car-choked megalopolis wouldn’t ride bikes again.

Or at all.

Top photo: Damian Kevitt speaking at SAFE 10th Anniversary event.

………

Speaking of Joe Linton, his HLA lawsuit over the city’s failure to include bike lanes in the Vermont Ave bus lane project was in court on Friday, as Metro fought to be included in the case.

And it’s important to note that Linton’s lawsuit is a personal matter, unrelated to his work for Streetsblog.

In a very narrow ruling, the judge concluded that Metro could join the suit, but could only focus on the Vermont case, and not any other possible cases.

As Linton describes it on his personal website B.I.K.A.S, which stands for Bicycle Infrastructure Knowledge Activism and Safety,

In the discussion in court, the judge engaged Metro’s lawyers regarding how expansive this case would be. Metro’s earlier filing noted that my lawsuit “attacked” Metro’s authority to build “the Vermont Project and other Metro projects.” The judge asked Metro’s lawyer if it was ok to strike references to other projects, and just focus on Vermont. Metro’s lawyer agreed. Towards the end of the discussion, the judge summarized that this trial would focus on one project on Vermont, and that another day could focus on another project on, for example, Western or Alameda

That’s it for now.

Going forward, Metro will undoubtedly argue that HLA is a city ordinance that does not apply to them as a county agency, while Linton’s attorneys will argue that Metro is working for the city on a city project, on a city street included in the city mobility plan.

It will be interesting to see how this develops from here.

………

Conservative media was up in arms over a former member of the USA Cycling National team, after the transgender BMX rider appeared to celebrate the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Although I’m not sure if they were more appalled because of the Instagram posts or the gender identity of the person behind them.

I haven’t commented about the shooting here because it falls outside of the scope of this site.

But as someone who lived through the killings of both Kennedys and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the attempted assassinations of Presidents Ford and Reagan, and the near-fatal shooting of Alabama Governor George Wallace, I can attest that no good ever comes from political violence.

And you can’t kill an idea, good or bad, with a bullet.

………

Aussie bikewear brand MAAP has opened their first North American store right here in Los Angeles.

Known for high-performance gear and a culture-first approach, the company’s MAAP LaB Los Angeles landed on iconic Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice, their eighth location outside of Australia.

According to StupidDope, it’s designed to be a creative hub for bicyclists and creatives.

At its heart lies a social coffee bar, an anchor point meant to bring riders together before and after their rides. It’s more than a retail space; it’s a venue where cyclists and Venice locals alike can gather, share stories, and connect over a shared passion for performance and design. This approach reflects MAAP’s “Life Around Bikes” philosophy — a reminder that cycling culture is about more than the ride itself.

They’re not the first to try that approach.

And Abbot Kinney is littered with the gravesites of other high-end bike brands who thought they had a “can’t miss” concept in the ideal location.

But let’s hope it succeeds this time.

………

Don’t forget the two important meetings today

First the Encino Neighborhood Council’s Traffic and Transportation Committee considers the threatened Amestoy Ave pedestrian bridge over the 101 Freeway in a virtual meeting starting at 4:45 pm.

Then starting at 6 pm, the West Hollywood City Council takes up the Fountain Ave safe streets makeover. WeHo residents can watch on Spectrum Cable channel 10 and YouTube; I’m hoping the latter works for those of us in LA, too. And comments can submitted online prior to the meeting.

………

Local 

Well, no shit. LAist says Los Angeles is lagging behind on installing the speed cams approved over a year ago by the state legislature. If “lagging behind” means not installing any yet, that is. 

A Long Beach man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening upper and lower body injuries, after allegedly swerving his bicycle in front of a driver while on PCH in Long Beach. Although we often find that drivers swear a bike rider swerved in front of them or came out of nowhere, when in actuality they just weren’t paying attention. 

 

State

Costa Mesa will offer free ebike safety lessons for school kids on September 27th.

Carlsbad is looking for input on whether to ban ebike use for kids under 12. I’m down with that, but maybe make 14, instead.

A kindhearted Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy arranged the donation of a new bike to a nine-year old kid after his was stolen.

The CEO of The San Francisco Standard news site describes what it’s like to get sideswiped by a pickup driver while nearing the end of a 100-mile training ride. But be careful if you don’t want to see it, because security cam video at the top offers a disturbing view of the crash.

A Streetsblog op-ed from a San Francisco environmentalist and transportation rider says the city can’t afford to build safe streets so slowly, as peer cities like Austin, Texas show it can be done swiftly and cheaply. Maybe Los Angeles could take notes, too. 

 

National

Bike riders in Santa Fe, New Mexico are calling for safety changes and greater accountability after a man was killed riding his bike in June, and the driver who killed him walked with a deferred sentence.

The mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming is about to become a former bike shop owner, after he announced the store will be closing after 35 years — leaving just one other bike shop in the state’s largest city.

A 21-year old autistic man from Billings, Montana got his stolen adaptive tricycle back after community outrage encouraged someone to drop it off at city hall.

Bike riders in Houston bared all for the World Naked Bike Ride, while accusing the city of backsliding on safety; some people did the same in Los Angeles, too.

A five-day bike ride is traveling 700 miles across Wisconsin to support military families and first responders, while focusing on children of fallen service members and disabled veterans.

The US Department of Transportation pulled a $675,000 grant to finish an Illinois bike trail, although grants for similar projects in red states Wyoming and Idaho appear to be moving forward.

Bicycling collisions reached an eight-year high in Michigan last year, with a 42% jump over 2021.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 78-year old New Hampshire man is circumnavigating the state on his bike; he expects to finish in nine days, riding 70 miles a day. Must be a small state.

A DC food delivery worker traded her moped for an ebike in an attempt to appear less obtrusive to ICE agents.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A North Carolina police officer was killed in a traffic collision while ride a bike with his wife, less than a year after joining the force.

That’s more like it. A 30-year old Florida man with a long history of reckless driving and hit-and-runs was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for the high-speed hit-and-run crash that killed a 15-year old boy riding a bicycle; the car’s onboard computer shows he hit the kid at 75 mph without braking.

 

International

Road.cc takes a look at the very first Brompton foldie, on the company’s 50th anniversary.

London bicycle crashes spiked 44% last week as more than 2 million people took their bikes as a result of a strike by subway workers — although that jump amounted to just eight more crashes than usual.

After a British man restored a 1936 French bicycle, he’s riding it back to the home of the original owner to surprise them, while raising money to fight pancreatic cancer.

There’s a special place in hell for any driver who would leave someone in their 80s to die alone in the street, like this bike-riding 80-something Irishman killed by a hit-and-run driver.

A new survey shows 83% of Netherlanders support requiring bike helmets for young ebike riders, though it doesn’t say how young.

Officials in Seoul, South Korea are cracking down on brakeless fixies after the recent death of a teenage bike rider, well over a decade after the brakeless fixie panic in the US.

 

Competitive Cycling

As expected, Jonas Vingegaard won the Vuelta on Sunday, his first Vuelta win after two Tour de France titles; Portugal’s Joao Almeida was second, with Britain’s Tom Pidcock third; Pidcock called his first podium the biggest performance of his career.

However, the final Vuelta stage never completed, as organizers abandoned the stage with nearly 40 miles to go when up to 100,000 pro-Palestinian protesters flooded the streets — and that was after the stage was already shortened by 3.1 miles before the race in anticipation of the protests.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez praised the protesters, calling it a just cause.

The Pro-Palestinian protests extended to Canada’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal, where 200 protesters gathered to protest the Israel-Premier Tech team, but didn’t interfere with the race itself.

Americans took three of the first four spots in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal, with Brandon McNulty edging teammate Tadej Pogačar as they crossed the finish line together; Quinn Simmons was third and Neilson Powless fourth.

South African Alan Hatherly won the men’s world mountain bike championship on Sunday, despite a switch to road cycling for most of the year, and Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds won the women’s championship, in a return to the sport after she fell into severe depression and an eating disorder following her gold in the Rio Olympics.

 

Finally…

If you can’t find a sexy tandem, just learn to build your own. Who needs a little metallic trill when you could have your very own digital bike bell with eight distinct sounds?

And nope, nothing will ever get people to ride bikes.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

WeHo Council to hear Fountain Ave Monday (oops), HLA lawsuit in court today, and Amestoy Ave bridge zoom Monday

September 12, 2025 / / Comments Off on WeHo Council to hear Fountain Ave Monday (oops), HLA lawsuit in court today, and Amestoy Ave bridge zoom Monday
Day 255 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Today is the anniversary of 2007’s Infamous Beachfront Bee Encounter.

That was when a massive swarm of bees on the beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail tried to kill me, sending me to intensive care and four months of medical home confinement. 

And set me on a path to 18 years of bike advocacy, and whatever the hell it is I do now. 

All without a single sting. Go figure. 

It’s worth a read if you don’t know my own origin story. 

Photo of Fountain Ave opponents protesting proposed safety changes by Joe Linton/Streetsblog.

………

Okay, I fucked up.

I wrote yesterday that the West Hollywood City Council would consider the makeover of deadly Fountain Ave at their meeting on Tuesday.

Except the meeting is actually on Monday.

I don’t know where I got the wrong date. But I take full responsibility for the massive fuckup, and for not checking the city’s website to verify the date.

So the good news is you have Tuesday night free, but you’ll have to clear your schedule for Monday. Because opponents of the makeover will undoubtedly come out in force, and we need all the support we can get.

But be prepared for a long night, because Fountain Ave is way down on the agenda at item E.1.

If you can’t attend the meeting in person, you can watch live on WeHoTV via Spectrum Channel 10 if you live in West Hollywood, or on YouTube

Public comments can submitted online through September 15th.

………

The Measure HLA lawsuit over the city’s failure to include the promised bike lanes in the bus lane makeover of the Vermont Ave corridor will be in court today, as Metro tries to shoehorn in.

The lawsuit, by longtime LA bike advocate Joe Linton, was filed against the city for failing to build the bike lanes as required by HLA, since they’re included in the mobility plan already approved by the city.

Although it’s important to note that Linton is acting on his own behalf, and not as a representative of Streetsblog, where he serves, admirably, as Los Angeles editor.

Metro is arguing that they should be included in the lawsuit, since they are funding the project, even though the work is being done on a city street. Their hope is that they can get the case thrown out if they’re named a party to the lawsuit, since Metro is a county agency, and HLA is a city ordinance.

Let’s hope the judge rules against them. But either way, there could still be a settlement that includes more bike and pedestrian elements as part of the makeover.

You can read the actual lawsuit file here.

………

Monday will be a busy day.

In addition to the WeHo Council meeting, the Encino Neighborhood Council’s Traffic and Transportation Committee will host a virtual meeting to consider the fate of the threatened Amestoy Ave pedestrian bridge over the 101 Freeway in Encino.

Caltrans already removed another pedestrian bridge at Encino Ave in 2022, forcing bike riders and pedestrians onto busy thoroughfares and highway underpasses to get from one side of the freeway to the other, which slices across the Valley like an ugly scar.

Removing the Amestoy Ave bridge would make a difficult crossing that much worse for everyone.

………

Speaking of Linton, as we were above, he’s compiling an archive of Measure HLA appeals that have been filed with the Los Angeles Board of Public Works on his personal website, B.I.K.A.S., which stands for Bicycle Infrastructure Knowledge Activism and Safety.

According to Linton, there have been 22 separate HLA appeals that he is aware of, which he has posted here, here and here. Most involve relatively minor issues like missing crosswalks and curb ramps that should have been completed when the streets were resurfaced.

However, Linton himself has filed a four-page appeal over elements that were left out when Los Angeles reconfigured a section of Victory Blvd in the east San Fernando Valley.

The city removed an existing peak-hour travel lane to restore car parking during rush hour. But they skipped the bike lanes included in the mobility plan, even though there’s enough space to add basic painted lanes.

And credit Joe with being enough of a bike-riding man about town that he’s familiar with projects like this in far-flung quadrants all over the city.

If you’re interested in filing your own HLA appeal, Linton also offers complete step-by-step instructions on his website.

……….

The Los Angeles Times The Wild newsletter recommends a pair of bike events this weekend, from Saturday’s World Naked Bike Ride to Sunday’s Historic South Central meets Watts CicLAvia.

Which should pretty much fill your weekend dance card.

1. Bike through Historic South–Central and Watts
Nonprofit CicLAvia will host a free open streets festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday where participants can traverse a 6.25-mile route through Historic South-Central and Watts. Visitors can walk and bike the route or choose any other people-powered means of transport. The route will include music, local food vendors and more. Learn more at ciclavia.org.

2. Bare it all on bikes in L.A.
L.A.’s World Naked Bike Ride will start at 10 a.m. Saturday downtown. Riders can choose from a more challenging ride at 10 a.m. or an easier 9-mile ride at 2 p.m. Participants can skate, scoot, jog or bike in their birthday suits along the ride. Body paint optional! Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.

………

I’m told there are still a few tickets left for Streets Are For Everyone’s 10th Anniversary celebration at The Morrison in Los Feliz, with CD4 Councilmember Nytha Raman as the closing keynote speaker.

However, the deadline to purchase tickets is midnight tonight, so get a move on. Although you’re welcome, along with everyone else, to drop in for the free pre-reception hour from 3 pm to 4 pm, no tickets necessary.

And yes, you’ll see me there along with my wife. Just look for the couple with the corgi (she’s a service dog, so she gets a pass — the corgi, that is, not my wife).

Meanwhile, you just have four days left to get early bird pricing for next month’s Santa Clarita Finish the Ride and Finish the Run, put on by the fundraising arm of SAFE.

The events commemorate founder Damian Kevitt’s inspiring return to finish the ride he had started before a hit-and-run driver nearly took his life.

And no, that driver was never caught.

………

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

No bias here. In a story that reads like it was written by AI, Newsweek says an Idaho altercation began when a bicyclist yelled “Fuck Charlie Kirk,” at a vigil for the murdered conservative activist. Except the person in question was on a scooter, rather than a bicycle, and the video starts with people surrounding and punching him, and doesn’t show the alleged shout.

A London paper lists the city’s worst intersections for bike riders jumping red lights, with the busy Oxford Circus shopping district reaching 50%. Although they don’t bother to offer any reason why, which could have at least something to do with people not feeling safe stopping at the dangerous intersection. 

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

A bike thief was busted by Huntington Beach cops when he was spotted two miles away, after police were alerted by quick-acting witness.

 

National

Bicycling examines the surprising causes of hand numbness among bike riders, and what you can do to avoid it. But evidently, they want you to keep those numb fumble fingers, because the story is only available to subscribers. Although what worked for me was moving my hands to different positions on the handlebars, holding the bars less tightly, and putting less weight from my shoulders on them. 

Trek launched new “pro-tested” 3D-printed saddles, promising to eliminate saddle sores, as well as sit bone and soft tissue pain. In other words, no more numb nuts.

A 67-year old Philadelphia man described as a “cyclist’s kind of cyclist,” who built his own bikes, rode safely and carefully, and advocated for safer streets was killed while riding his bike Tuesday when he was struck by one of two drivers traveling at high speeds, on what should have been a quiet street.

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 15 to 40 years behind bars after pleading guilty but mentally ill to the random shooting of a man riding a bicycle, who he had never met; he reportedly was turned away by both the police and a local hospital when he tried to get help for paranoia caused by issues with mental health and drug addiction, before killing the victim.

Bicyclists in Charlotte, NC are calling for a shift in mindset to make drivers more aware of bike riders on the roads. You know, kinda like people who ride bikes everywhere else.

 

International

A hit-and-run driver in Canada’s Yukon Territory was sentenced to six-and-a-half years behind bars for killing a man riding a bicycle, along with a ten-year driving ban; with credit for time served, he still has five years left on his sentence.

An 80-year old Calgary, Alberta man suffered life-threatening injuries when he tried to stop a man trying to steal his bicycle; the alleged thief pushed him backwards and he fell, striking his head. Seriously, hide a tracking device in your bike, and just let the cops deal with it. Because no bike is worth your life.

A 36-year old soccer player for Mansfield Town in the third-tier English Football League One was named to the roster for the coming year — but only after striker Lucas Atkins is released from prison for killing a 33-year old man riding a bicycle with his $271,000 Mercedes.

British surgeons say ebike injuries are placing a massive burden on the country’s health system. Although once again, they don’t seem to differentiate between ped-assist ebikes and electric motorbikes.

Bike Rumor visits the Zefal plant on the banks of France’s famous Loire River to tour one of the oldest and most affordable accessory manufacturers in the bicycling industry. Speaking of oldest, I remember when nearly everyone had a Zefal pump attached to their steel frame.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website asks why can’t bicyclists do vacation photos like normal people, and stop doing things like leaning your bike up against a landmark, lifting it in the air in front of some tourist attraction, or recording yourself unboxing it at the airport.

 

Competitive Cycling

Once again, a race moto sent multiple cyclists to the hospital when a cop on a motorcycle cut from one side of the road to the other with no warning, knocking riders off their bikes as they sprinted to the finish in stage 3 of the Vuelta a Venezuela, while sending at least one competitor flying over the retaining wall.

Cycling Weekly considers what data-driven road cycling can learn from rough-around-the-edges downhill mountain biking, which they call “cycling’s coolest discipline.”

Velo says a new bike racing format called Stadiobike maybe the answer to the cycling’s perennial problems, by staging bike races in front of fans in grandstands on automotive tracks.

 

Finally…

Your next handmade bespoke steel bike could come from Namibia — with “only” a 15% tariff for now. Nothing like buying your own bike back for just 700 bucks, 25 years after building it for a legendary Olympian.

And who needs a helmet when you’ve got a bird house on your head?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Fountain Ave design meeting tonight, LA opens HLA appeals process, and recaps from Sunday’s successful CicLAvia

August 19, 2025 / / One comment
Day 231 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

A quick reminder before we start about this week’s anticipated heat wave, with temperatures in Woodland Hills, LA County valleys and the Inland Empire expected to top well over 100°. 

So try to ride early or late if at all possible, stick to shady, tree-lined routes when you can, and drink plenty of non-alcoholic fluids. 

And keep your phone handy to get help if you get overheated. 

Seriously, stay safe out there. I need every reader I’ve got these days. 

………

West Hollywood with host a meeting tonight to discuss plans for the long-delayed Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project tonight in Rooms 5 & 6 of the Plummer Park Community Center on Santa Monica Blvd.

The presentation starts at 6 pm with an open house and refreshments, followed by a presentation and Q&A session.

You can review a pdf of the draft plan here.

Unfortunately, I’m not comfortable leaving my wife alone so soon after her heart attack, so I’m disappointed I won’t be there this time.

And yes, I feel guilty as hell asking you to go in my stead, but supporters need to turn out in force if you can make it.

Because opponents of the plan are certain to be there to fight for their precious free curbside parking spaces and a not-so-secret alternative to busier Sunset and Santa Monica Blvds, valuing convenience over protecting human lives.

Photo by Joe Linton/Streetsblog depicts protesters opposed to Fountain Ave bike lanes.

………

Los Angeles officially opened the appeals process for street projects that bypass Measure HLA’s strict requirement to build out the city mobility plan whenever streets get significantly resurfaced or re-striped.

Acting on his own behalf, Joe Linton wasted no time filing an appeal for work not done on Ohio Avenue.

Today I submitted a city-level appeal for protected bike lanes that the city did not install during resurfacing on Ohio Avenue – along the Bundy Triangle Park in Sawtelle. Read my appeal letter.

He is also aware of a number of other appeals that should be filed soon.

I have discussed possible appeals with several people, and I understand that other folks are planning to file city-level appeals today. Below are additional appeals that I am aware of today. (I am adding to this list as I learn of additional appeals.)

  • Appeal of Corinth Avenue in Sawtelle Japantown – pdf
  • Appeal of Kingsley Dr. in Koreatown – one page image
  • Appeal of Kingswell Ave. and Rodney Dr. in Los Feliz – pdf or page 1, 2
  • Appeal of Mesa and Eagle Dale Avenues in northeast L.A. – pdf
  • Appeal of Middlebury St. in East Hollywood – pdf

This is the first step required by the city before a lawsuit can be filed to enforce the requirements of Measure HLA — even though that was not part of the proposition passed overwhelming by LA voters.

………

Streetsblog offers an open thread on Sunday’s Culver City meets Venice CicLAvia, along with Joe Linton’s typically great photos.

David also forward several photos, along with these brief comments.

This was an extraordinary one. Maybe the largest group of cyclists ever for a Ciclavia.  It was an impressive turnout of cycles.

Councilwoman Tracy Park set up a Tent in Mar Vista and the Venice end and unlike any other elected politician ever she stayed there from morning till it was done handing out bike flashing to everyone and chatting with anyone about anything that stopped on their bike. I saw her in the morning at Mar Vista and later at almost 4 pm in Venice.

Usually the electeds stay for the 1 hour morning photo-op to start the event and leave their staffers at the table the rest of the day.

Attached is a photo of me with Tracy Park and some Misc photos from the Venice end.  I did not take a lot of photos at this one just wanted to enjoy the experience.

Photos by David Drexler

Finish the Ride was there, too.

 

………

Today’s common thread is just how cheap life your life is held if you ride a bicycle.

Like in Nebraska, where an Arkansas man was sentenced to a lousy 31 months behind bars for the attempted hit-and-run death of an 82-year-old man riding a bicycle.

Or in Louisiana, where a former state trooper walked without a day behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a man biking with his two sons, after a judge sentenced him to a three-year suspended sentence and three years probation.

Or Singapore, where a garbage truck driver was sentenced to just six months behind bars for killing a 60-year old man riding a bicycle, insisting he only realized he’d hit someone when he felt a bump under his wheels, although an eight-year driving ban will keep him from working again until he’s 72.

On the other hand, a 28-year old Texas man got 15 years for the hit-and-run that killed a Fort Worth father of five as he was riding his bicycle last year; the driver’s mother told police he wasn’t sure if he hit a deer or a homeless man, neither of which would justify just driving away — or covering his car with a tarp to hide it from the cops.

………

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

No bias here. Indianapolis, Indiana scrapped several segments of a planned bike lane after gradually paring it down so drivers could keep their precious curbside parking, choosing their convenience over everyone’s safety.

A bike rider in Cheshire, England says people riding on the county’s roads are “fair game for crazy drivers,” after police reject video evidence of dangerous driving due to a lack of witnesses. Although it seems like the cops themselves would be witnesses if they just watched the videos.

Bicyclists in West Yorkshire, England criticized the cops following yet another mass casualty event when a driver cut back into a group of bicyclists while attempting to pass on a blind curve, resulting in serious injuries to two riders, with several others hurt; the “abysmal” police report failed to criticize the driver, or even mention that the car had one.

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

A 20-year old British man was sentenced to eight years and three months in a young offenders’ institution for the hit-and-run death of an 86-year old man just walking to a fish and chips shop, moments after popping a wheelie and swerving all over the road on his ebike. Although it sounds more like he was riding an e-motorbike than a ped-assist ebike, but still. 

………

Local 

KCBS-2 looks at Metro’s adopt-a-bike program to assist families affected by January’s devastating Eaton and Palisades firestorms

Secret Los Angeles looks forward to Santa Clarita’s forthcoming $7.4 million Haskell Canyon Bike Park. Even though that scheduled opening is only a secret if you haven’t been paying attention.

ICE agents are accused of snatching a man off his bicycle in a Santa Clarita raid, and heartlessly leaving the man’s bicycle lying in the roadway.

 

State

A Davis columnist recommends an ebike for a friend’s son, saying it’s the perfect solution to allow the 6’10” 16-year old to attend a school in another neighborhood with a better basketball couch.

 

National

Bicycling recommends eight jersey’s built for this month’s extreme heat, with no paywall this time because they hope to make a little on the backend.

Cycling Electric recommends the year’s best e-gravel bikes. Or gravel ebikes. Or something.

A member of the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission busts the myth of wrong-way riding being safer for bicyclists. I still hear from people on a regular basis who insist salmon bicycling is safer than riding with traffic, all evidence to the contrary.

Residents of Houston, Texas demanded better police protection after a 77-year old man was fatally stabbed by a transient as he was riding his bicycle to work on an East Houston bike trail.

An Iowa college professor is employing lessons in the classroom she learned on a 56-day bike ride from Kentucky to San Francisco with her husband along the Trans American Bicycle Trail and Western Express Bike Route.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 90-year old Milwaukee man is still riding his e-recumbent around 150 miles a week when weather allows.

A Boston company now allows you to rent a cargo bike in eight neighborhoods throughout the city.

The rich get richer, as New York releases a masterplan of 100 projects to expand the city’s 506-mile bicycle greenway network, designed to “connect underserved communities, spur economic development and provide environmental benefits.”

Great idea. Alexandria, Virginia is recruiting bike-riding volunteers to deliver food from local farmer’s markets to residents in need as part of their Bike for Good program.

 

International

A new McGill University study shows Montreal doesn’t have enough bicycle infrastructure to meet demand, taking up just two percent of street space despite a measurable need for more in some areas.

An Icelandic man is working to raise funds and awareness for multiple myeloma, after a new treatment helped ease his pain and get him back on his bike.

Cycling UK opens a new multi-day bikepacking route through “Majestic rolling hillsides, historic regal villages and bluebell-lined woodland trails,” just a stones-throw from London.

A bicycling professor offers advice on how newcomers can safely bike through Amsterdam. Which would seem to be a lot safer than biking in LA, newcomer or otherwise.

 

Competitive Cycling

Canadian Tour de France stage winner and world championship medalist Michael Woods calls it a career, arguing that it’s a “ludicrously dangerous sport,” but Velo says he has big plans going forward.

Former South African champion Ryan Gibbons calls it quits after nine years in cycling’s highest tier, the last two as Mads Petersen’s key lead-out man.

Belgian “domestique extraordinaire” Tim Declercq also calls it a career after 14 years, torching the peloton on his way out for having too many riders who don’t care if they crash and take ten other riders out with them.

A writer for Cycling Weekly argues for making bike racers take a skills test, just like motorsports drivers, with tongue placed firmly in cheek.

 

Finally…

That feeling when “Lime Bike leg” only seems to afflict London bike riders.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

First shot fired in Vermont Ave HLA battle, NYT argues for sprawl, and lack of interest in LA Neighborhood Council elections

April 11, 2025 / / Comments Off on First shot fired in Vermont Ave HLA battle, NYT argues for sprawl, and lack of interest in LA Neighborhood Council elections
Day 101 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

And so it begins.

After speculating yesterday that officials were virtually daring someone to file suit alleging Metro’s Vermont Avenue bus rapid transit project is violating Measure HLA, someone did.

Longtime bike advocate and Streetsblog Los Angeles editor Joe Linton filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles alleging that the city failed to implement the safety improvements included in the mobility plan, as required by the Healthy Streets LA ordinance passed overwhelmingly by voters last year.

According to a statement Linton provided to Streetsblog,

I live very close to Vermont Avenue, where my family and I walk, bike, and/or take transit nearly every day. Since 2014, I have attended meetings focused on Vermont transit improvements, where I and many other advocates have pressed for complete streets, including bike lanes that have long been part of the city’s plans for Vermont. I was, and still am, excited that L.A. City voters approved Measure HLA, which requires the city to gradually implement its plan for a more transit-friendly, more walkable, and more bikeable Vermont.

In researching my Streetsblog coverage of Measure HLA and the Vermont Transit Corridor project, I became frustrated encountering repeated instances where the city continues to ignore its own plans for a safe and truly multimodal Vermont.

Linton goes on to say he’s not looking for any personal gain, other than recouping his attorney fees.

Rather, he hopes the lawsuit will result in a settlement that will deliver long-delayed safety improvements that will “save lives, foster public health, stem climate-harming emissions, and improve the quality of life for Vermont Avenue’s pedestrians, bus riders, and bicyclists.”

Linton is represented by a pair of attorneys who should be well-known in the Los Angeles area, former state Assemblymember Mike Gatto and longtime Bicycle Advisory Committee member Jonathan Weiss.

Which suggest LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto will have her hands full trying to defend Los Angeles in this matter.

Lord knows I wouldn’t want to go up against either one of them. Let alone both.

You can read the full text of the lawsuit here.

Something tells me it won’t be the last.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

………

A writer for the New York Times Magazine makes the case for more sprawl as the answer to America’s crippling housing shortage.

No, seriously.

According to Conor Dougherty, author of Golden Gates: The Housing Crisis and a Reckoning for the American Dream,

The solution is to build more. That’s not controversial — housing is one of the few remaining areas of bipartisan agreement. The rub, as always, is where and how to get it done. Over the past decade, dozens of cities and states have tried to spur construction by passing laws that aim to make neighborhoods denser: removing single-family zoning rules, reducing permitting times and exempting housing in established neighborhoods from environmental rules.

That shift is important, especially in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles that have little chance of lowering housing costs or reducing their homeless populations without building up. But cities are difficult and expensive places to build because they lack open land. Adding density to already-bustling places is crucial for keeping up with demand and preventing the housing crisis from getting worse. It will not, however, add the millions of new units America needs. The only way to do that is to move out — in other words, to sprawl.

He goes on to examine what has limited growth over the last several decades, from anti-sprawl legislation and stringent zoning requirements, to the pervasive effects of NIMBYism.

Even if all the regulatory restraints were removed tomorrow, developers couldn’t find enough land to satisfy America’s housing needs inside established areas. Consequently, much of the nation’s housing growth has moved to states in the South and Southwest, where a surplus of open land and willingness to sprawl has turned the Sun Belt into a kind of national sponge that sops up housing demand from higher-cost cities. The largest metro areas there have about 20 percent of the nation’s population, but over the past five years they have built 42 percent of the nation’s new single-family homes, according to a recent report by Cullum Clark, an economist at the George W. Bush Institute, a research center in Dallas.

Admittedly, Dougherty makes a strong case.

But what he fails to consider is the concomitant problems of endless sprawl, as we in SoCal know so well, from crushing traffic congestion and smog to declining inner cities and the ever-rising casualties from traffic violence.

Not to mention living, not miles, but hours from the services you rely on, such as healthcare and courts, and continuing to mandate car dependency while killing walkability and bikeability.

Yes, we desperately need more housing. A lot more.

But we need to build it in places and ways that don’t exacerbate all the other problems that destroy our quality of life at the same time.

………

No surprise here.

According to LAist, elections for LA’s Neighborhood Councils are seeing their lowest voter turnout in years.

Part of the problem, aside from the difficulty of casting a ballot, is an almost total lack of local news coverage in today’s Los Angeles, resulting in a large segment of the population who have no idea what Neighborhood Council district they’re in, or that they even exist in the first place.

The other problem is that for every NC like Mid-City West or North Westwood council that’s responsive to and representative of the local community, you have too many overly dominated by one or two strong personalities, or NIMBYs who just say no to everything.

They should be a place we can go to address city problems on a micro, rather than macro, level, and trust those concerns will be heard and acted on. Especially in a city with far too few council districts, where every councilmember represents more than a quarter million people.

Mayor Bass is reportedly considering ways to reform, reinvigorate or replace the Neighborhood Council system.

But while change is needed, I’m not sure she’s earned the trust to lead this process anymore.

………

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

No bias here. A London tabloid says “fuming Brits” have initiated a petition demanding numbered license plates and liability insurance for all bike riders. Even though the last petition demanding the same thing died for lack of interest.

………

Local 

West Hollywood approved a proposal to study the feasibility of installing Class IV protected bike lanes on Beverly Blvd, although without any changes to the current lane design, which would seemingly hamstring the project.

 

State

Calbike examines the 14 ebike bills currently under consideration in the state legislature, including efforts to redefine some ebikes to clean up the blurred lines between electric bicycles and e-motorbikes, which we’ve been calling for here.

The California Coastal Commission approved plans for a bike path connecting Cayucos and Morro Bay along Highway 1 in San Luis Obispo County, filling a gap in the 1,200-mile California Coastal Trail.

Yesterday marked the first day of the four-day Sea Otter Classic, as more than a thousand bike industry brands showed off their wares at the Laguna Seca racetrack

Palo Alto is in the process of updating its 2012 bike plan, including opening up more of the city’s major roadways by installing protected bike lanes.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is understandably protesting plans to allow driverless Waymo autonomous cars on the city’s currently carfree and pedestrianized Market Street. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

 

National

Forbes offers advice on how to stay safe on your next ebiking vacation.

A Grand Junction, Colorado writer examines the push for better bike and pedestrian infrastructure, after voters elected a full slate of city council candidates opposed to a new protected bike lane.

Is nothing sacred? Someone stole a $450 bicycle from a Kroger Coca-Cola display promoting Indiana University’s iconic Little 500.

Madonna is one of us, bundling up for a cold-weather ride through New York’s Central Park.

South Carolina bicyclists protested plans for a new luxury hotel in an area they say is “just a heaven for cycling,” fearing it could harm their safety on the road.

Urbanize questions whether Atlanta is worthy of the new Atlamsterdam moniker, saying it’s not as bike-friendly as the city in the Netherlands, but getting closer. On the other hand, as a nickname, it kinda sucks.

 

International

Momentum offers ten ways bicycles deliver the freedom cars only promise. Although I would swear we’ve seen this one before.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says he’s already lost over four pounds and his head feels clearer just a month into exploring sober curiosity. I’m a week into involuntary sobriety myself, thanks to a new medication that’s incompatible with my occasional beer. 

The Surfrider Foundation is protesting plans to build a two-mile paved bike path along the Puerto Rican coast, arguing it’s being built too close to the shore and fails to adopt a nature-based approach, fearing it could both destroy and be destroyed by the waves.

An English rugby player is biking 220 miles from his home stadium in Batley to London to raise funds to upgrade the stadium’s floodlights, after he was banned for eight matches for his role in a mass brawl. But isn’t mass brawling the whole point of rugby? 

Yet another study, this time from Finland, shows that bike commuting is still the smartest and healthiest way to get to work.

Three young men captured the attention of South Africans by riding their bikes the 1,100 miles from Limpopo to Cape Town.

A new Australian study warns of the dangers of hidden bike flaws that can lead to catastrophic failure of frames or key parts, suggesting changes need to be made at an industry-wide level.

 

Competitive Cycling

Look, I like American cyclist Sepp Kuss as much as anyone outside his own circle of family and friends, but is taking part in an early Basque Country breakaway that ultimately fizzled out really something to celebrate?

On the other hand, Portuguese cyclist João Almeida’s solo breakaway win in the same race is something to celebrate.

 

Finally….

The next time you ride your bike across the border, maybe leave the half-pound of meth and fentanyl hidden in the frame at home. Your next bike could double as a sex toy.

And your next golden raincoat could be made four of waterproof copper.

Yes, there’s a golden opportunity for a sex joke there. And no, I’m not going to make it.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

A $7 million SD safety fail, U-T sharrows fail, and taking a pass on what passes for record CA traffic safety investment

October 3, 2024 / / Comments Off on A $7 million SD safety fail, U-T sharrows fail, and taking a pass on what passes for record CA traffic safety investment
Just 88 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

L’Shana Tova to everyone celebrating the new year today!

And apropos of nothing, I’m happy to report I wrote today’s entire post wearing a T-shirt with a bear riding a bicycle, as bears are wont to do. 

Just saying.

………

Call it a $7 million fail — one that ultimately cost the life of a San Diego bike rider.

That’s the amount the city paid out to the family of Marc Woolf, who died 17 months after he was struck by a pair of drivers and paralyzed from the next down, dying of sepsis 17 months later.

Woolf was on his way home from his job at the San Diego zoo in May, 2021 when a driver coming out of a blind driveway backed into him, knocking him onto the other side of the street, where he was hit again by second driver.

But instead of blaming the drivers, Woolf’s legal team accused the city of creating and maintaining poor road conditions.

According to San Diego CBS8, those conditions included —

  • Restricted site lines and distances caused by physical conditions
  • Insufficient red curb prohibiting parked cars
  • Overgrown vegetation
  • Confusing and misleading shared lane striping
  • An improperly maintained light fixture which was not functioning on the night of the incident

The station reports the city finally extended the red curb to improve sightlines along the corridor in response to the crash.

As usual, only acting after it was too late.

Now Wolff’s family is $7 million richer, and the city’s taxpayers are $7 million poorer.

But as his daughter notes, no amount of money can bring Wolff back, or ease the pain the new grandfather suffered for so many months.

Meanwhile, the Union-Tribune blamed sharrows in general for the crash.

The case highlights the potential dangers of “sharrows,” marked bike routes that require cars and bicycles to share portions of roadway instead of giving cyclists areas reserved only for them.

I’m no fan of sharrows, which studies have shown to be worse than nothing when it comes to protecting the safety of bike riders.

But that’s a discussion for another day.

The paper was clearly mistaken, at best, in blaming any and all sharrows for this particular crash, rather than the poorly designed and implemented sharrows on this one particular street.

I’ve heard that some San Diego bicyclists have called on the paper for a retraction.

And they may have a point this time.

………

California is making a record investment in traffic safety and enforcement as traffic deaths continue to rise, according to the Governor’s office.

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) is awarding a record $149 million in federal funding for 497 grants that expand safe biking and walking options and provide critical education and enforcement programs that will make roads safer throughout the state. This is the third consecutive year of historic funding, exceeding last year’s amount by $21 million.

Yet that record spending to “expand safe biking and walking options” includes just $13 million for bicycle and pedestrian safety programs, up a modest 12% from the previous grant cycle.

Even though bicyclists and pedestrians account for most, if not all, of the recent increase in traffic deaths.

Meanwhile, a whopping $51 million will go to law enforcement agencies to conduct what’s described as “equitable enforcement targeting the most dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding, distracted and impaired driving, as well as support education programs focused on bicycle and pedestrian safety.”

In other words, more daylong — or usually, just a few hours — enforcement actions targeting violations that could put bicyclists and pedestrians at risk, regardless of who commits them.

Which, to the best of my knowledge, hasn’t been proven to do a damn bit of good reducing deaths or serious injuries among either group.

So if that’s what passes for a record investment, I’ll pass.

………

Streets For All politely reminds Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass that Measure HLA applies to Metro projects in the City of Los Angeles, too.

Never mind that the city’s barely competent and very conservative City Attorney’s Office continues to drag its feet on crafting guidance for city departments regarding the measure, nearly seven months after it went into effect after passing overwhelmingly.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that new bike lane mileage in Los Angeles fell to a five-year low for the most recent fiscal year, adding up to a massively underwhelming 22.5 lane-miles of new and improved bike facilities.

And remember, lane-miles means they count each side of the road separately, so we’re only talking a measly 11.25 miles of actual street.

Then there’s this.

While there is some year-to-year variation, and some lag time between project planning getting underway and on the ground upgrades, the first full fiscal year does not look like a promising start for Mayor Karen Bass. Bass has prioritized critical housing issues and not paid much attention to safer multimodal streets – at least not yet. FY2024 did see Mayor Karen Bass appoint Laura Rubio-Cornejo to head the city Transportation Department (LADOT). Rubio-Cornejo replaced interim GM Connie Llanos last September.

No shit.

If anyone has heard Bass even mention safer and/or multimodal streets, let me know. Because I sure as hell haven’t heard it.

Then again, the city’s freeze on resurfacing projects to avoid implementing HLA hasn’t helped.

And neither has Bass’ continued failure to meet with us.

………

Momentum wants to see your pics of bike lane fails, of which we should have more than a few.

https://twitter.com/MomentumMag/status/1841505396596342989

………

Presenting the cutest BMX balance bike stunt video you’ll see all day.

………

It’s now 288 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And an even 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, apparently tired of waiting, San Francisco will consider a proposal for their own yet-to-be defined ebike rebate program.

That deafening silence you hear is Los Angeles not considering one.

………

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

Apparently, elected office provides no protection from dangerous drivers, as an Ottawa, Canada city counselor captures a way-too-close punishment pass on his bike cam while riding past several parked cars.

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

Maybe something was lost in translation, as an Ottawa letter writer complains about the incivility of local bicyclists who “love listening to the music of the folk group With No Headphones,” while riding their bikes without a “ten dollar doorbell.”

………

Local  

Looks like they slipped one past us this time, as a planned two-day closure last week for repairs on the Ballona Creek Bike Path only took one day, with the path reopening before some of us (i.e. me) knew it wasn’t.

Start times for the Long Beach Marathon have been moved up due to a high heat warning, with the bike tour now scheduled to start the same time as the runners at 5:30 am.

Speaking of Streets For All, the Los Angeles-area transportation PAC is hosting a fundraiser in Franklin Hills this Sunday afternoon.

 

State

The CHP has received a $1.55 million federal grant for year-long initiative focusing on “educating the public and enforcing traffic safety laws for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.” Maybe they could spend some of the money on educating their patrol officers a little better on bike law and how to investigate collisions involving bicyclists. 

San Diego was dubbed the greenest city in the US for the third year in a row; needless to say, Los Angeles wasn’t, coming in 18th.

San Diego pediatrician Dr. Mike Nelson dropped by a Claremont Mesa fire station to thank the first responders who saved his life when he crashed his bicycle on the way to an appointment a couple months back.

A San Francisco neighborhood is tearing itself apart fighting over a proposal to permanently close a highway to motor vehicles, even though it’s eroding into the ocean anyway.

 

National

Momentum offers ten “amazing coastal cities” in the US for bicycling; Santa Barbara is #9 on the list, while Huntington Beach is #2 — even though three people lost their lives riding in the city in just the last 12 months.

Bicyclists in the Pacific Northwest are challenging online marketplaces like OfferUp to do more to fight the reselling of stolen bikes on their platforms.

An editorial from a local Boston paper says bicycling isn’t safe in the city. Then again, the same could be said in virtually any city in the US. Los Angeles included. 

A proposed Pennsylvania law could authorize parking-protected bicycle lanes for the first time in the state.

Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport is encouraging travelers to skip the taxi and ride their bikes to the airport. Maybe LAX should be taking notes.

More proof bikes make the best emergency vehicles, as a North Carolina family grabbed their chainsaws and hopped on their bicycles to rescue the family’s 87-year old matriarch when they couldn’t contact her after Hurricane Helene.

 

International

Bike Radar considers why mixed-terrain ultra-distance cycling events are rising in popularity.

Residents of a British Columbia city aren’t sold on plans for a new bike path if it means chopping down a tree.

London bicyclists will soon be shuttled through a new motor vehicle-only tunnel under the Thames on special double-decker buses.

The rich get richer, as London bicyclists will soon get a £4 million — $5.3 million — bike route through the heart of the city.

There won’t be any more changes to the UK’s infamous “optical illusion” bike lane, even though it’s led to more than 100 trip and fall injuries. Sounds like they need better injury attorneys over there. 

 

Competitive Cycling

That’s Sir Mark Cavendish to you, as the Manx Missile gets knighted at Windsor Castle. Unless you’d rather call him the new High Performance Ambassador for Aston Martin.

Cyclinguptodate compares UCI to the Mafia for the way they managed the recent Zurich world championships, arguing that the organization implements rules, then neither complies with or implements them.

Rouleur considers the recent rise of WorldTour mega-contracts.

 

Finally…

Maybe your new wireless shifters can be hack-proof, after all. Now you, too, can trade your ten gallon hat for a helmet and bike through LBJ’s Texas ranch.

And maybe you were a bicycling British soldier in a past life, bad teeth be damned.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Hero bike rider battles brush fire, LA falsely blames HLA for sidewalk costs, and Parthenon Place gutter bike lane opens

March 1, 2024 / / 4 comments
Just 305 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.

As of this writing, we’re stuck at 1,005 signatures, so keep it going, and urge your friends, family and coworkers to keep signing the petition until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

And we can use some video endorsements, if anyone wants to post a video to the petition page explaining why you signed. 

Photo by Adonyi Gábor for Pexels. 

………

I’ll be taking Monday off, because my adventure cycling, formerly Iditarod mushing, brother will be town this weekend, before setting out on the first leg of a planned ride across the US. 

As usual, I’ll see you on Tuesday to catch up on anything we missed.

So stay safe out there, because I don’t have to write about you. Unless maybe you jumped off your bike to beat back a brush fire, or something.

You know, like the guy below. 

………

Once again, a bike rider is a hero.

Literally.

Los Angeles news radio station KNX honored Benjamin Levy as their Hero of the Week for halting a ride with his wife on the Westside to battle a brush fire near some railroad tracks.

Levy flagged down an oncoming train to request the engineer’s fire extinguisher, then used it to knock down the flames until firefighters arrived, preventing the fire from spreading.

………

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offered a fact check on the city’s absurd $2 billion price tag for sidewalk work under Measure HLA.

The city estimated that if the measure passes, Los Angeles would be on the hook for $200 million a year for ten years to fix its crumbling, buckling and non-ADA compliant sidewalks.

Except the city is committed to spending that anyway, regardless of whether HLA passes.

According to Linton,

So, right now L.A. City street resurfacing is apparently triggering ADA work – whether HLA passes or not.

If HLA passes, street resurfacing will trigger that very same ADA work, plus bus lanes and bike lanes.

The CAO is saying $200 million worth of annual ADA work is “included in the cost” of Measure HLA. But if right now the city is already on the hook for all that ADA work anyway, none of it should be included as HLA costs.

It appears that city leaders are making HLA into a scapegoat. The CAO is exaggerating estimates, pitting bus/bike against walk/wheelchair, all of which the city has neglected for decades. If HLA passes, city leaders can blame HLA (instead of decades of city neglect) for increased budgets for ADA compliance.

Nothing like our city leaders putting their thumb on the scale.

Or maybe putting their whole ass into it.

Meanwhile, USC’s Daily Trojan student newspaper endorsed Measure HLA, arguing it will force the city to follow through on its Mobility Plan, while easily dismissing the usual arguments against it.

In fact, improving systems of non-automobile transportation would take more cars off the street as drivers switch to carless transportation, decreasing traffic in high-congestion areas. More efficient and safer streets benefit people without cars and drivers alike.

Additionally, gridlock delays affect emergency vehicles: If there’s bumper-to-bumper traffic, ambulances and firetrucks can’t move through. But, on roads with bus lanes, emergency vehicles are allowed to use these lanes to respond in an emergency. Separate lanes that can only be used by buses and emergency vehicles would improve response times, not delay them.

And Westside public radio station KCRW frames the debate from a driver’s perspective, saying Measure HLA promises safer, but slower, streets.

Which is kind of the point, yes.

Improving safety requires slowing LA”s speeding drivers by designing roadways to discourage, if not prevent, excess speeds.

The station also quotes the president of the firefighters union as saying “If we pass HLA, we’re going to see chaos all over this city.”

Um, no.

Chaos is what we already have, as traffic congestion builds and drivers slam into one another — and bike riders and pedestrians — with ever increasing, and ever deadlier, frequency.

The whole point of the Mobility Plan 2035 — and Measure HLA, which would force the city to implement it — is to bring order to that chaos by improving traffic safety and providing safe and efficient alternatives to driving.

Finally, the California Planning & Development Report examines why the Los Angeles firefighters union opposes Measure HLA.

And highlights the absurdity of their argument that HLA will slow response times for the crashes it’s designed to prevent.

………

LADOT says it’s finished work on the new Parthenia Place bikeway.

Although the first thing I notice is that half of the curb side runs through the gutter, which will force people to ride close to the center divider, and needlessly increase the risk of head-on bike-on-bike collisions.

………

The Partnership for Active Travel and Health sent out a save the date notice for their second annual online symposium in September.

………

We shared this one last year, but it’s worth repeating, as an interventional radiologist at Loma Linda University Heath shares how the hospital saved his life twice — figuratively and literally — following a horrible bicycling collision.

Thanks to Eric Lewis for the heads-up.

………

It’s now 72 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 32 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

The ironically named Cambridge Streets for All lost a second “frivolous” lawsuit fighting a local law requiring construction of a 25-mile separated bike lane network in the Boston suburb. And making it clear that their definition of “Streets for All” just means all of the people in cars.

A Glasgow city councilor threatened to impose licensing and insurance requirements on all bicyclists unless bike delivery riders start observing the UK’s traffic regulations, warning it could have a detrimental impact on bicycling

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

When you’re carrying eight grams of meth on your ebike, stop for the damn stop signs, already.

………

Local 

Metro explains what’s in their Draft Long Beach – East Los Angeles Corridor Mobility Investment Plan, including $90 million in active transportation seed money, and $188 million for arterial roadways and Complete Streets. Although something tells me more of the $188 million will go to the former than the latter.

The East Side Riders Bike Club wants your feedback on an incredibly short survey.

The Los Angeles Times recommends three scenic paved trails to avoid riding in a muddy mess after the current round of rains.

 

State

Calbike is hosting an online preview session for the annual California Bike Summit next week, discussing state Senator Scott Wiener’s bill to require Complete Streets on Caltrans roadways.

 

National

Apparently, Utah drivers can’t figure out how to drive next to a bike lane, and find the green paint very confusing.

New York finally opened the first of the city’s long-promised ebike charging station for delivery riders, in an attempt to reduce the risk of lithium-ion battery fires.

Atlanta’s Magnet Man has given himself the under-appreciated task of riding his bike around the city towing a powerful magnet to attract roadway detritus that could pose a risk to the tires of motorists.

 

International

Momentum writes in praise of bike commuting on a humble beater bike.

Winter bicycling is on the rise in the frigid Canadian cities of Whitehorse, Saskatoon and Montreal, driven by a “robust camaraderie…and the delight of navigating winter landscapes on two wheels.” Yet people insist no one will ever ride a bike in LA’s mild winters. Even though countless people do it every day.

Hamilton, Ontario is making a $60 million commitment to building 74 miles of bike lanes by 2028. That compares favorably with LA’s commitment to not make a commitment to building bike lanes.

“Terrified” London bicyclists are reportedly ditching their Bromptons and other high-end bikes to avoid attracting violent, moped-riding bike theft gangs.

A Conservative Member of Parliament says pedicabs have turned parts of London into the Wild West. Because we all remember those classic westerns where the outlaws lay in wait to rob the pedicab as it rode through a blind gulch.

The UK’s Conservative government has proposed doubling the power allowed for ebikes under the previous European Union regulations, and removing the prohibition against throttle-controlled bikes; London’s walking and bicycling commissioner called the plan “madness.”

The European Union wants to get more people on bicycles.

Australia’s leading bicycling safety, awareness and advocacy organization is shutting down after two decades, due to a lack of government funding.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Spain, where yet another a young cyclist has been killed in a training ride. Although there’s no word yet whether 18-year old Spanish cyclist Juan Pujalte, a member of the Valverde U-23 cycling team, was killed in a fall or a collision.

Velo wraps up Black History Month with a profile of Butch Martin, the first Black American Olympic cyclist to compete in both track and road cycling.

Dutch police want to have a little chat with the bike racing “fan” who threw their drink on the legendary Marianne Vos as she rode to victory at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

 

Finally…

Trading in your old bike on a new model is a thing now. That feeling when the bicycling Pied Piper is a drum and bass DJ.

And that feeling when an impatient driver honks at you to get out of his way — while cruising down a protected bike lane.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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