Tag Archive for Joni Yung

Why Vision Zero is failing in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and why you can’t get there from here in Playa Vista

Vision Zero is now nine years old in California, yet people keep dying on our streets.

The Los Angeles Times looks at why, examining the failure of Vision Zero in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the latter just two years away from the deadline by which it’s supposed to end traffic fatalities once and for all.

Not that anyone in city leadership seems to notice.

Or care.

But San Francisco, like Los Angeles, has spent the better part of a decade making such changes as part of an ambitious pledge to reduce traffic-related deaths to zero. Neither city is close to achieving that goal…

“It’s been an abject failure,” said John Yi, the executive director of Los Angeles Walks, a nonprofit that works with immigrants and communities of color to build safer pedestrian infrastructure in their neighborhoods.

Last year, 312 people were killed in car crashes and 1,517 were seriously injured, according to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Bicyclists and pedestrians represented 57% of deaths and 41% of severe injuries, though most people in Los Angeles travel by car.

The paper correctly points the finger at deadly speeds, noting efforts at the state level to lower speed limits and legalize speed cams.

But lowering speed limits will only do so much good in a state where they are universally ignored, and drivers routinely travel 10 to 15 miles above whatever limit in nominally posted.

And get angry if they’re stopped for doing so, apparently believing it’s their God-given right as Californians to travel above the speed limit.

Graphic by tomexploresla

Meanwhile, so much has been given away to appease the windshield-addled crowd that California’s proposed bill to legalize speed cams will be limited to a limited effect, in a limited number of cities.

Including a built-in 10 mph cushion above the limit, as state lawmakers seem willing to sacrifice human lives rather than force drivers to take their damn feet off the gas.

The simple fact is, our traffic engineers and planners know what it will take to end traffic deaths, but city and state officials are simply unwilling to do it.

Let alone fund it.

They lack the political will to make the wholesale changes necessary to channel and slow motor vehicles, and the heavy-footed, mistake prone people in them.

Let alone reimagine our transportation system for the 21st Century, abandoning the failed model that’s driven deaths, congestion and climate change for the past century, and moving towards a cleaner, healthier and more efficient model focused on transit and active transportation.

Which is not to say private motor vehicles must go away. But they must be deprioritized, no longer the first choice to transport individuals and goods, but the last.

So instead, we’ve found ourselves nibbling at the edges, adding crosswalks and beacons that work until they don’t. And counting on drivers to pay attention and obey the law, rather than reimagining roadways to force them to.

In the end, the problem causing Vision Zero to fail isn’t speed.

It’s money. And political leadership, or the lack thereof.

Neither of which our elected officials have been willing to invest.

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Evidently, you can’t get there from here.

Joni Yung comes up with a complicated workaround to get to and through Playa Vista.

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Call it a ciclovía with spectacular views.

A portion of Coast Road, aka Old Coast Road, through Big Sur in Monterey County is being closed to cars for repairs through the end of this year, but will remain open to bikes, hikers and equestrians.

The soils in the area of the slip out are not stable and adding to the danger, there is a redwood tree along the cutslope (hill) that is encroaching in the travel lane. From the edge of the tree to the edge of the erosion, there is approx. 8-ft, 10-inches of road width remaining. The downhill side is an approximately 12-ft drop into a creek. This is very narrow for any vehicle, car or truck. This reduced width could potentially be a concern for a motorist unfamiliar with the area.

However, despite the name, this isn’t Highway 1 along the coast, but a smaller inland roadway.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

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This is who we share the road with.

Twenty-three people were injured, some seriously, when an SUV driver plowed into a Denny’s restaurant in Rosenberg, Texas, southwest of Houston; fortunately, none of the injuries were expected to be life-threatening.

Police blamed a combination of speed and a wet roadway. Yet amazingly, the driver was not arrested or even ticketed at the scene.

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Apparently, you can add bicyclist to director, producer, writer, actor, blogger and political commentator, because Bob Cesca is one us.

https://twitter.com/bobcesca_go/status/1697747529419333917

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the tip.

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

No bias here. After a bike rider was seriously inured when he was left-crossed by a driver who violated his right-of-way, a Kansas City TV station was quick to blame the victim for hitting the back of the driver’s car. Even though they’d be unlikely to blame a driver who hit another car in the same situation.

Um, okay. A road raging West Virginia driver threatened to kill a bike rider with a pickax and poison the victim’s food if he ever ordered from the pizza place where the man works, apparently just for riding his bike on the street. Or maybe merely existing on the planet.

A London bus driver has been metaphorically rapped across the knuckles by his employer for tailgating a bike rider, then getting out of his bus and swearing at the victim, before attempting to call the police because the guy on the bike “got on his nerves.”

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

Pioneering Chicago drill rapper Lil Reese bought a local hip hop DJ a new bicycle to make up for stealing the man’s bike when they were both kids.

A Michigan man faces charges for threatening cops with a large metal rod after he was stopped for riding his bike on a freeway; police found two concealed butcher knives and a vial of pepper spray after managing to de-escalate the situation.

A group of bicyclists in the UK were stopped by police for riding 40 mph in a 30 mph zone, but allowed to leave with “appropriate words of advice,” since there’s no speed limit for bicyclists.

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Local 

Hermosa Beach will now require students to complete an ebike safety course before they can ride theirs to school.

 

State

There’s a special place in hell for the hit-and-run driver who left a bike-riding 14-year old Corona boy lying seriously injured in the street.

Bakersfield motorists are slowly adjusting to green bike lanes on the streets famously trod by the late, great Buck Owens.

A pair of Bakersfield contractors were credited as heroes after they chased down a thief who stole a bike from the house they were working on, and returned it to its owner.

 

National

Federal funding for bicycle safety projects is at risk in the upcoming budget battle, after House Republicans zeroed out funding for RAISE grants, while a Senate budget bill continues them.

A writer for Electrek lists his favorite biking gear so far this year, whether for electric or conventional bikes.

Scottsdale, Arizona is fighting the battle over semantics, attempting to reach the Bike League’s Platinum Level without using the term “road diet.”

A Utah woman was arrested for drunk driving after killing a teenage boy riding a bicycle, telling police she consciously choosie to hit the soft, fragile person ahead of her rather than the hard car coming in the opposite direction.

An Albuquerque, New Mexico man was found guilty of murder for shooting a man he accused of riding his stolen bicycle. One more reminder that no bike is worth a human life. 

Life is cheap in Kansas, where a driver was sentenced to just 41 months for killing a woman walking a bicycle, after prosecutors pled down from 2nd degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.

A repeat DUI driver in Iowa was resentenced to a mere 40 years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run that killed a bike rider, after an appellate court ruled his original 55-year sentence was out of line.

Thousand of bicyclists took to Chicago’s famed DuSable Lake Shore Drive on Sunday to participate in the carfree Bike the Drive, although the the registration-only fundraising ride was the opposite of an open streets event.

After someone posted a video to X, nee Twitter, of bike riders flowing through a plaza supposedly in the Netherlands, while complaining about being unable to build something like that in the US, commenters were quick to point out that the video was several years old, and showed a public plaza in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Few New York delivery riders are taking advantage of a program to trade-in older, fire-prone ebikes for safer new ones, citing complicated logistics and the cost of a trade. Meanwhile, fire investigators are on the lookout for fake UL stickers affixed to older, unapproved batteries.

Life is cheap in Louisville, Kentucky, where a woman failed to stop after killing a 61-year old man riding a bicycle, but apparently that wasn’t enough to merit a traffic ticket, let alone an arrest.

A Louisiana Catholic priest will have his commitment to forgiveness sorely tested after a thief was caught on video stealing his bicycle in broad daylight.

 

International

Momentum says research confirms that physical activity can improve brain power in children and youth, so if you want your kids to do well in school, get them to bike there.

An English driver was charged with the equivalent of reckless driving and DUI for the head-on crash that seriously injured a bike rider, after he apparently got tired of waiting at a red light, and went around another car onto the wrong side of the road. The crash was caught on video, but be warned it’s hard to watch.

A “rampaging” British driver is being held on a psych evaluation on suspicion of murder for deliberately running down and killing a pedestrian and a bike-riding man, before crashing into a building and attempting to run away.

A 44-year old woman reached the end of a 3,000-mile bike ride around the circumference of mainland Britain on a bamboo bicycle to raise awareness of the climate crisis.

The pope now has his own personalized bike jersey to go with the bikes he no longer owns or rides.

A vigilante bike patrol in a Finish city has now reclaimed nearly 1,300 stolen bicycles after “cracking the code” to figure out where bikes end up after they’re stolen.

The Philippines is considering amending the law to allow the state to charge road raging drivers on the victim’s behalf, after a bike rider failed to come forward in a road rage case caught on video.

 

Competitive Cycling

Colorado’s Sepp Kuss took the leaders jersey in the Vuelta on Friday and retained it through the weekend, becoming the first American to lead a Grand Tour in a decade. However, Remco Evenepoel called him an outsider, downplaying Kuss’ chances and saying he “kicked a hornet’s nest full of majestic eagles!” Um, okay. 

A reminder to keep your friends close and your pets closer, as a small dog causes chaos when he ran out into the Tour of Britain peloton, causing at least one rider to go over his handlebars.

A Kiwi triathlete was caught on video being taken out by her own teammate as they rode side-by-side in the bicycling portion of a French triathlon; fortunately, she wasn’t seriously injured in the “brutal” “horror” crash.

Twenty-two-year old Danish cyclist Mattias Skjelmose won the second annual Maryland Cycling Classic on Sunday afternoon in a more than two minute breakaway.

 

Finally…

How to get your kids to school by bike. Walking your bike through the mud of Burning Man.

And anyone can let their dog hang out of the the car window, why not let your pet bull hang out of the sunroof?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

A call to remove the Marina Freeway, why more people don’t ride bikes in LA, and car-ticklers don’t protect a damn thing

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

After surviving through hours of pouring rain, I lost my internet connection just as the storm was letting up — and just as I was about to put Monday’s post online. 

Then waited nearly 19 hours to get it back again. 

So here’s the post you were supposed to get yesterday. We’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on Monday’s news after I have a chance to catch up myself. 

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I hope everyone came through this weekend’s hurriquake in one piece. 

If you’re riding anywhere in Southern California today, try to avoid going through any standing water. 

As much fun as it might be to relive your splash-filled youth by riding through puddles, there’s usually no way to know how deep it is, or what may be hidden underneath. 

The result could be anything from a broken wheel to a broken collarbone. So it’s just not worth the risk. 

Image from From Streets For All/SWA Group.

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Urbanize examines the call from Streets For All and landscape architecture firm SWA Group to remove the underused Marina Freeway stub, and replace it with a linear park.

The concept unveiled yesterday, dubbed Marina Central Park, calls for converting the roughly 128-acre right-of-way lined with nearly 4,000 new homes, as well as roadway with space for vehicles, bus rapid transit, and bikeways. Renderings show low-rise structures located throughout the park, standing five stories in height with commercial uses located at the first floor.

Likewise, the proposal calls for reconnecting the freeway corridor surrounding ecological resources such as the Ballona Wetlands and Centinela Creek, which is shown with new terrace decks lining the concrete channel.

It’s worth considering, even if the prospect of removing a freeway —even one as useless as the Marina Freeway — in car-addled LA seems unlikely, at best.

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According to Joni Yung, aka ayogist, if you want to know why more people don’t bike in the LA area, consider the quality of our roads.

Or the lack thereof.

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This is why LADOT’s favorite form of bike lane “protection” doesn’t protect a damn thing.

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The East Side Riders Bike Club forwards news of Saturday’s Non-Profit Day in Watts.

Hope in the Community! / Esperanza en la Comunidad!

Watts Non-Profit Day!

This Saturday August 26th

10:00am-3:00pm

Watts Civic Center

1513 E. 103rd St, Los Angeles, 90002

It’s an opportunity for everyone to come together and celebrate our triumphs in our amazing City!

Non-Profit Day with East Side Riders Bike Club is not just a one-time event, it’s a steppingstone toward lasting Community Transformation, Empowerment, and Unity. The purpose of the day is to bring all non-profits in Watts and surrounding areas together so we can get to know one another, showcase their work to the community and bring Government Departments together so non-profits can interact and learn from their local government on policies and procedures. It’s a STEPPINGSTONE toward lasting community transformation.

As the organization’s email says, they’re more than just a bike club.

A lot more.

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Once again, a someone riding a bike was a hero, and a bicycle was the difference between life and death in an emergency, as a man in Maui borrowed a bike to get past a long line of stalled traffic and warn his grandmother in time to escape the flames of the Lahaina fire.

Meanwhile, a Kona bike shop owner is collecting “gently used” bikes to donate to victims of the Lahaina fire to meet their needs for transportation and recreation.

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Today’s best story comes from the UK, where an English man sold his bikes to pay for an operation for his dog.

When his dog, named for the bikewear brand Rapha, needed a lifesaving operation costing over $7,600, he put his four bicycles up for sale to pay for it.

So he was surprised when one of the buyers turned out to be a friend of his, who gave the bike back to him.

And when word got out about what he’d done, a local bike shop gave him another bike so he could keep riding.

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The recent world championships in Glasgow included competition in cycle-ball.

Seriously, raise your hand if you even knew that was a thing.

 

And don’t watch the next two videos if you want to remain proud of your ability to track stand or bunny hop.

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Alpha Romeo F1 driver Valtteri Bottas is one of us, competing in a Colorado hillclimb dressed as Duffman, the iconic Duff Beer mascot from the Simpsons.

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

A Utah columnist says the local government tries to appease bike haters by randomly chip sealing the most popular riding routes, even if it forced them to repaint all the bike lanes. With tongue firmly in cheek, I hope.

No bias here. An Irish paper asks why Mike van Erp, aka Cycling Mikey, is Britain’s most hated bicyclist, just because he films drivers breaking the law.

A New Zealand paper says “bike lane bullies” are putting bike riders at risk, with road raging repeat offenders and bike lane-encroaching drivers needlessly increasing the danger for people on bikes.

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

A 40-year old man has been arrested for a string of sexual assaults in San Mateo County, accused of riding his mountain bike on local trails and assaulting women as he rode by.

There’s a special place in hell for the Portland man who allowed his dog to attack a beloved 17-year old cat outside its owner’s home, then stomped on the wounded animal and rode his bike over it to finish it off, before riding off with the cat’s lifeless body.

Police in New York are looking for the couple who attacked a pair of Orthodox Jews when a woman passenger on a bikeshare bike slapped a man on the back of the head as they rode by, then attacked an Orthodox woman; another Orthodox man was attacked when a man got off his e-scooter to knock the victim’s yarmulke off his head.

North Carolina cops are looking for the spandex-clad bike rider who tried to kick over a political sign saying “Trump won,” before returning at night to set the sign on fire.

British bike riders competing in a wildcat race — aka “thugs” in tabloid parlance — were accused of plowing into an elderly woman and a tourist, and nearly striking a little boy, although only the latter can be seen on video.

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Local 

Long Beach wants to know how you use bikeshare and dockless e-scooter programs in the city.

Sixty-four-year old former Bell police chief Andreas Probst was killed while riding his bike near his northwest Las Vegas home last Monday when he was struck by an alleged speeding, underaged driver; his daughter learned about the crash through a notification from Probst’s Apple Watch moments after it happened.

 

State

Police in La Mesa are looking for the hit-and-run driver who seriously injured a 51-year old man riding a bicycle on Wednesday; the driver of the pickup is described as a Hispanic male in a white T-shirt, black shorts and white shoes.

Good question. The San Francisco Standard wants to know why you can’t ride your bike across the Bay Bridge, with bike riders currently required to turn around halfway.

Megan Lynch forwards word that UC Davis is now offering accessible bikeshare, although with no recumbents or trikes, it may not be accessible for everyone.

 

National

The maker of a cargo bike designed to transport kids saw a big jump in sales after a successful 2021 Shark Tank appearance, although they faced a recent recall for exceeding federal lead paint guidelines.

A writer for Electrek argues that we need more kids on e-balance bikes, not fewer, even though The New York Times calls them motorcycles for kids.

After biking 3,000 miles across the US, a German man is now attempting to run all the way back, running more than a marathon distance every day.

The Cherokee Nation is accepting applications for next year’s Remember the Removal Bike Ride, which retraces the northern route of the Trail of Tears through seven states over a span of three weeks and 950 miles; applicants must be between 16 and 24 years old, and members of the Cherokee Nation.

A Chicago man is riding across the city bearing signs calling for 10% of the city’s streets to have bike lanes, instead of the current 2%.

Minneapolis-based All-City Cycles is on the way out, after its parent company announced the bikemaker won’t be releasing any new models after next year, despite its cult-like following.

In what may be a dangerous prank gone wrong, a Buffalo, New York man faces up to 25 years behind bars for fatally shooting a 38-year old man riding a bike with a BB gun.

New York’s recent Vision Zero progress has come completely undone this year, as the city sees its deadliest year for bike riders in decades, and with no one but the victims paying the price.

A 28-year old Philadelphia man faces life behind bars after he was convicted of the fatal driveby shooting of a 67-year old man riding a bike in Camden, New Jersey.

 

International

A Whistler, British Columbia pro mountain biker returned home to conduct her own anti-racism mountain biking clinics, teaching bike riders to be not only better mountain bikers, but better humans, as well.

Life is cheap in Ontario, Canada, where a 22-year old man will spend six years behind bars for killing two First Nation’s women out for an early morning bike ride, while driving under the influence.

Fed up with drivers blocking bike lanes, a Toronto bike advocate is dressing up as a World Cup referee and handing out yellow cards to offending motorists.

A Glasgow university professor has created a music map of the city to encourage people to ride their bikes or walk between music venues.

The British manufacturer of a new anti-theft smart bike light claims it’s more secure than most relationships. Which is probably true, sadly.

Bundesliga star Kevin Behrens is one of us, as the German soccer player rode his bike home after scoring a hat trick in a recent game.

A young man from Malta rode his bike over 2,700 miles from the Mediterranean island through Europe, traveling from the boot of Italy through Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, while carrying just his tent, sleeping bag, four changes of clothes and a phone charger.

An Indian paper says bike riders struggle for space on the roads in Chennai at the risk to their own safety, as the city of nearly 12 million has lost its love for bikes over the past 90 years.

A Nigerian man rode his bicycle for 15 days and 500 miles just to meet afrobeats star Davido in Lagos.

That’s more like it. Motorcyclists in the Philippines will face arrest if they continue to use a bike lane on a major roadway, although the fine converts to less than $18.

 

Competitive Cycling

Newly crowned world road champ Mathieu van der Poel may extend his WorldTour season to train for mountain biking.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the highly touted new bike route just leads to a pair of locked gates. When you’re trying to escape from the cops, try not to ride your bike into a stopped police van.

And now you, too, can own a bicycle custom made for the legendary Fausto Coppi, for the low, low price of nearly $132,000.

So who wants to start a crowdfunding campaign so I can buy it?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Weekend Links: Bike the Vote rates Culver City candidates; Sadik-Khan speaks at Hammer Museum

Bike the Vote LA is out with their voter’s guide for the upcoming Culver City elections.

tumblr_inline_o3v4i8iIh11qakqep_500

And in case you’re wondering why former Culver City Detective Jay Garacochea scored so low, it might have something to do with prioritizing traffic flow over pedestrian safety, even if he does ride a bike.

You can find the full responses for all the candidates by visiting their website.

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The Guardian talks with former NYDOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan about her new book and the battle to give the city’s streets back to people, instead of cars. Thanks to Jon for the link.

Speaking of which, she’ll be speaking with LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne at the Hammer Museum in Westwood this Wednesday. Tickets to the event are free.

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My friend, popular cyclist and LA yoga maven Joni Young, is raising funds to take part in this year’s Climate Ride as part of Team LACBC. As of this writing, she’s raised $711 of the $3,000 goal.

If you’d like to help a great person raise money for a good cause, here’s your chance.

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Lots of news on the bike racing front.

Former pro cyclist and current Cannondale team manager Jonathan Vaughters says it’s time for professional cycling to grow up.

VeloNews is giving away a new BMC bike hand-painted by cycling scion Taylor Phinney.

Forty-six-year old Columbian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle gets a four-year ban for doping after failing a drug test at last year’s Pan American Games.

UK track cyclist Victoria Williamson is recovering after the devastating fall that nearly left her paralyzed while competing in Rotterdam.

Bo knows biking. Former football, baseball and track star Bo Jackson says the real athletes ride in the Tour de France.

And an Israeli cycling team will ride the same roads cycling legend Gino Bartali rode as he smuggled documents to save Jews during WWII; the devout Catholic also hid a Jewish family in the cellar of his Florence, Italy home until it was liberated in 1944.

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Local

The LACBC’s monthly Sunday Funday ride, delayed a week because of last week’s CicLAvia, rolls this Sunday with a pre-St. Paddy’s day tour of DTLA.

The annual Fargo Street Hill Climb up LA’s steepest street rolls next Sunday, the 20th.

The Source provides a calendar-ready list of open streets events through the end of June.

Metro turns to students at the Otis School of Design for fashion-forward styles to encourage more women to get on their bikes.

Santa Monica police will be conducting yet another bike and pedestrian safety crackdown on Sunday. So try to ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits.

Whittier police use a sting bike to bust a pair of bike thieves.

 

State

Laguna Niguel opens a .7 mile multi-use path along Oso Creek.

Newport Beach considers a road diet complete with buffered bike lanes to improve safety on Bayside Drive.

The tipping point that caused the Marines to crack down on trespassing Miramar mountain bikers came when riders on a covertly crafted trail crashed the funeral for a fallen Marine.

 

National

People for Bikes reports 19% of people over 55 ride bikes in 2014, since it offers low-impact exercise with a long list of health benefits.

Next City offers women advice on how to deal with harassment when you ride, sexual and otherwise.

A Washington man recovered his stolen bicycle from in front of the same credit union where it was stolen two years earlier; another man parked it there after buying it from a thrift shop.

The Denver engineer who invented the sharrow says he came up with it because he was constantly pressured to do less.

Evidently they take traffic crime seriously in Colorado, as a 20-year old drunk driver who ran down a cyclist will be 30 when he gets out of prison.

What the hell is wrong with people? East St. Louis drivers actually drove around an 11-year old boy as he lay injured in the street following a hit-and-run.

Chicago could have an elevated bike path stretching nearly two miles along the Chicago River by the end of 2017.

A Minneapolis baker puts his buns in the saddle to make his deliveries by bicycle.

A Virginia bill would impose a $50 fine for dooring a cyclist. Make it $500, and people might actually pay attention.

 

International

Cycling Weekly traces the evolution of the cycling cap from practical bikewear to hipster fashion.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A British driver gets just seven years for a fatal DUI collision, despite 31 previous convictions, including eight for drunk driving and six for driving without a license. But at least he lost his license for nine years. Not that it will stop him, evidently.

Australia’s New South Wales is apparently going out of its way to put an end to bicycling, including fining two cyclists the equivalent of over $300 for doing trackstands at traffic lights. Which isn’t even against the law there.

 

Finally…

It’s not a bike, it’s a 75 pound two-wheeled weather station. If you can’t ride, at least you can color.

And before you sue a bike seat maker for wrecking your marriage, make sure that was really the problem.