Tag Archive for Juaquin Mercer Moraga

Booting bike advocates for advocating for bikes, and mental health eval for driver in 2022 Palm Springs vehicular rampage

January 14, 2025 / / No comments
We’re now 14 days into LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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No bias here.

A pair of Danville “councilmembers run amok” are trying to kick a pair of bicycle advocates off the city’s Bicycle Advisory Commission, after failing to disband the commission a year earlier.

Apparently for the crime of “annoying” city staffers by trying to advise them on bicycling policy.

Which would seem to be the whole purpose of a bicycle advisory commission, but maybe that’s just me.

According to a columnist for the Mercury-News, Councilmembers Newell Arnerich and Robert Storer are attempting to remove original members Al Kalin and Bruce Bilodeau from the commission, all because they insist on a data-driven approach to bicycle safety,

As opposed to just throwing darts at a map, evidently. Or maybe the esteemed council folk don’t want to know about anything that might adversely the ability of drivers to continue thinning the city’s bicycling herd.

To wit, as columnist Daniel Barenstein puts it,

Kalin and Bilodeau led efforts to identify collision hotspots in Danville and document the very real dangers of posts installed too close together just before street crossings along the Iron Horse Regional Trail, which runs through the town.

It was exactly what the commission was charged with doing when it was directed to, among other things, “assess the conditions, operations, and safety of existing bicycle facilities and non-motorized transportation…”

There’s been a troubling lack of specifics about what Kalin and Bilodeau have done wrong. In a verbal lambasting at a council study session last month, Storer did provide one example, criticizing the study of the poles, also called bollards:

“I don’t care about the sizing of the bollards on the Iron Horse trail,” Storer said. “I care about the (street) crossings on the Iron Horse trail. That’s what we should be looking at.”

Maybe because bollards only protect bicyclists and pedestrians, while a focus on street crossing protects every motorist’s God-given right to go “zoom, zoom” to their hearts content, without having to use that little stoppie pedal thing on the floorboard.

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Well, no shit, Sherlock.

A sentencing hearing for 30-year old Palm Springs resident Juaquin Mercer Moraga was suspended when his attorney requested a mental health evaluation.

Moraga was convicted last March on three counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, two counts each of misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor vandalism, and one count each of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery for a bizarre hours-long series of physical and vehicular attacks on multiple motorists and a man riding a bicycle in 2022.

He attempted to run down the latter head-on, gunning his car from the opposite side of the road and jumping the median at an estimated 60 mph, forcing the man to jump off his bike to avoid getting hit.

All accompanied by shouted non-sequiturs demanding people stop following him or challenging them to fight, telling one driver “you’re not man enough to use a gun.”

According to the trial brief filed by the defense, Moraga was in the throes of paranoid delusions due to major depressive disorder and cannabis use disorder, while suffering from post-traumatic stress.

The evaluation will determine whether Moraga is eligible for a post-conviction diversion to Mental Health Court, as opposed to a pre-trial mental health provision.

It sounds like he should be a shoe-in, under the circumstances.

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

A British letter writer pleads for someone to consider the poor, forgotten children instead of wasting money on bike lanes that could be used by those same poor, forgotten children riding their bikes.

Once again, someone has boobytrapped bike paths in a deliberate attempt to injure people riding bicycles, after someone used fence wire to string across multiple pathways near Adelaide, Australia, injuring at least three people and causing extensive damage to their bicycles.

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

Police in Lakewood, Colorado are on the lookout for a bike-born butt slapper, who glides up behind women on an ebike and smacks them on the ass, making him subject to sexual assault charges once they find him.

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Local  

An Australian man evacuated from last week’s Palisades wildfire on his bicycle along with his 18-month old daughter, stopping on his way out to knock on neighbors doors to warn them about the flames.

 

State

A UC Santa Cruz sociology professor says she found people working to solve problems while riding her bike along the backroads of Kansas.

 

National

A new Congressional bill would require automakers to install automatic emergency braking systems on new vehicles designed to obey speed limits, detect vulnerable road users, and recognize different skin tones and complexions, as well as clothing and protective gear.

New York bicyclists are grumbling about a price hike for the city’s Citi Bike bikeshare service, but most say they’ll continue to use it anyway.

 

International

Bosch wants to deter thieves by enabling you to lock your ebike battery using a smartphone app.

Forty-two people have now been charged with riot-related offenses following the deaths of two Welsh teenagers who crashed the ebike they were riding as they were being followed by the cops, although police insist they weren’t actually pursuing them and didn’t crash into them.

A British PhD candidate examines the role women bicyclists played in the “uphill climb to equality.” Then again, you seldom hear about anyone climbing downhill or across level ground.

A Malaysian website says biking to work in the country isn’t for the faint-hearted, yet a “small but determined group of bike commuters” brave the hazards to embrace the freedom and sustainability of bicycling.

 

Competitive Cycling

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website highlights the women’s cyclists to watch this year in multiple disciplines, from road cycling to BMX. Although it does seem to be a little light on women from this country.

NBA star Lebron James isn’t the only dad who wants to compete alongside his son, as 42-year old Venezuelan climbing specialist José Rujano came out of retirement to ride the eight-day Vuelta al Táchira stage race next to his son Jeison.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you waste your roadie upgrade funds on pointless weight weenie exotica. And use our chain lube or you, too, could die of cancer.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Guilty verdict in bizarre Palm Springs attacks, South Pas rips out safer streets, and new CicLAvia summer event maps

March 29, 2024 / / Comments Off on Guilty verdict in bizarre Palm Springs attacks, South Pas rips out safer streets, and new CicLAvia summer event maps
Just 277 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

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

We’re now up to 1,029 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

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A 29-year old Palm Springs man was convicted on nearly a dozen charges for a bizarre series of attacks against other motorists and a bike rider.

Including forcing a man to jump off his bicycle to avoid getting run over when the seemingly maniacal driver suddenly hit the gas and jumped the median, aiming directly at victim at an estimated 60 mph.

Juaquin Mercer Moraga was found guilty of three counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, two counts each of misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor vandalism, and one count each of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery, after less than a day of deliberation.

The defense argued that Moraga was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the attacks, as a result of “major depressive disorder,” “cannabis use disorder” and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Which the jury clearly didn’t buy.

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It’s now 100 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

Austin, Texas claims it’s cracking down on people illegally parking in bike lanes. Although it’s hard to call it a crackdown when they’ve cited an average of less than two people a day.

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

London’s Daily Mail reports on “amazing videos” depicting “exploding” rider-on-ride road rage. Which amounts to a motorcyclist gently criticizing bicyclists for riding through a red light, and a trailing bicyclist berating another bike rider for not undertaking a large truck.

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Local 

Los Angeles Public Press has more on Metro’s decision to give ride-hailing service Lyft the heave-ho, and keep the Metro Bike bikeshare program’s union-managed operating system in place, at least for now.

The LAFD used a hoist to airlift a 19-year old man out of a remote area in Tujunga Tuesday, after he suffered an arm injury while mountain biking.

Los Angeles County will hold a virtual public meeting April 16th to discuss the county’s Bicycle Master Plan.

 

State

Following the death of her friend on a Berkeley street last month, a writer for Cal Matters calls for safer streets through the passage of a pair of Senate bills, which would force Caltrans to adhere to its own Complete Streets policies, and require speed governors to limit the ability of drivers to exceed the posted speed limit by more than 10 mph.

San Francisco marked ten years of the city’s failed Vision Zero program, as the city doubles down despite rising rates of traffic deaths, and city officials pinky swear to do better.

Oakland is down to the last five days for public input on proposals to redesign one of the city’s most dangerous streets by reconfiguring traffic lanes and auditing bike paths. Just please, please, please don’t put the bike paths in the middle of the damn roadway. No, seriously.

 

National

CBS News reports traffic deaths are spiking in the US, despite billions spent on improving safety. Except the $2.4 billion they’re talking about doesn’t go very far when spread among all the cities and states in the US, and doesn’t do a damn thing to reduce the size of SUVs, or get drivers to put down their phones and stop speeding. 

E! Online rates the best bikes and kick scooters for your little kids. Or grandkids. Or whatever.

Good Housekeeping recommends gifts for mountain bikers, triathletes and casual bike riders to put in your Easter, Passover or Ramadan basket this year. 

A 76-year old Oregon man says goodbye to his trusted and rusted J.C. Higgins bike, which was originally purchased from Sears three years before he was born.

Oregon’s bicycle tax, the only statewide bike tax in the US, reflects a significant bike boom in 2022, followed by a moderate bust back to pre-pandemic levels for 2023.

Rounding out today’s Oregon trifecta, federal funds from the 2020 Great American Outdoor Act will pay for new dirt on a “stomach-churning” singletrack trail along a cliff in the Columbia River Gorge.

Colorado’s $450 ebike rebate program kicks off on Tuesday, even though only 24 bike shops in the entire state are participating, after being told they could wait over a year to be reimbursed. Although something tells me the odds are somewhere north of 100% that California’s $750 ebike voucher plan will take even longer — if it ever launches.

Telugu actor Naveen Polishetty is one of us, after breaking his arm recently while riding in Dallas.

An Indiana city repealed its bike licensing law, a registration requirement so old, hardly anyone knew it existed.

Streetsblog considers the disaster on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, questioning why we treat major transportation tragedies with so much urgency, while ignoring “our collective car crash epidemic” with over ten times the number of victims on the bridge dying as a result of traffic violence in the US every day.

A South Carolina traffic engineer says he’s not ready to tell his peers he represents one of the safest biking towns in the US, when the city’s new bike lanes are just a thin painted strip in the middle of the roadway.

 

International

Gaza’s paracycling team has turned to delivering more then $70,000 in aid, after their dreams of competing in Paris were shattered by the war with Israel.

Velo visits a Giant factory in Taiwan to see how normal-sized carbon fiber bikes are made.

 

Competitive Cycling

Olympic favorite Wout Van Aert faces an uncertain schedule to return to the peloton after surgery to repair multiple fractures, following his high speed crash in the Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday; he could miss May’s Giro d’Italia, as well as the spring classics.

Velo offers the “ultimate guide” to the upcoming gravel racing season.

 

Finally…

Iron Man’s ebike is a Porsche. Many drivers may act childish, but not many actually are one.

And someone’s taking vehicular cycling just a tad too far.

https://twitter.com/motorisms/status/1773566868684505246

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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