Tag Archive for killer drivers

Use caution in threatening heat, killer Long Beach driver waited 23 hours to turn himself in, and Grossman appeal rejected

March 18, 2026 / / 2 comments

My apologies for another unexcused absence. 

I was knocked on my ass by yet another migraine, which I’m told probably results from the TBI I got a couple decades ago in the Infamous Beachfront Bee Incident. 

And yes, I was wearing a helmet, and no, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. 

Then again, that’s probably the cause of my REM sleep disorder and potential pending Parkinson’s, too. 

Good times. 

And of course, I came back to yet another person killed riding a bicycle in Southern California. Which means we’re now averaging another bike death every 3.3 days this year. 

Image by Shafin Al Asad Protic from Pixabay. 

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A week of life-threatening dry air and epic March heat could threaten your safety for the next several days.

Wear light, quick-drying clothing, bring — and drink — plenty of extra fluids, and stick to cooler, shady routes if you can.

And if possible, do your riding in the cooler morning or evening hours, when you’re less likely to suffer from heat-related problems.

I say that as someone who used to love riding on the hottest days when I was only likely to encounter mad dogs and Englishmen on the roads.

Depending on where you are, temperatures could range anywhere from the high 80s to the low 100s, at a time of year when your body isn’t adjusted to the heat.

So just be careful out there.

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The driver who hit and killed 54-year-old Lori Ann Carreon last month called police to turn himself in the day after the crash.

But only after waiting seven hours following a call to Avis Car Rental to report he’d been in a crash in one of their cars. And even then, taking another three days to turn himself in at Long Beach police headquarters.

The beloved Long Beach occupational therapist was riding her bike just one block from her home when 40-year old Christopher Bryant allegedly blew through the stop sign at high speed, killing her on the spot.

Detectives seized his cell phone and filed search warrants to obtain phone records and GPS data, which could reveal not only where he went after the crash, but whether he was driving distracted at the time of the impact.

It would not show whether he had been under the influence when he killed Carreon, then drove home to his apartment in DTLA, however.

Bryant released on $50,000 bond after being booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

No charges have been filed yet.

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No surprise here.

A California appeals court upheld the conviction of socialite Rebecca Grossman, co-founder with her ex-husband of the famed Grossman Burn Center, in the speeding hit-and-run deaths of two young brothers in Westlake six years ago.

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It’s got nothing to do with bicycling — or only tangentially, anyway — but Streets For All asks you to support the staff-approved route for the K Line Northern Extension at today’s 11 am meeting of the Metro Planning and Programming Committee meeting.

As they put it,

Once built, this would be the busiest light rail line in the country, and connect the region to key destinations like The Grove, Farmers Market, the Beverly Center, Cedars Sinai, nearly all of West Hollywood, and the Hollywood Bowl!

But it’s not a done deal, and Metro needs to hear overwhelming support for the project.

Although without a big boost in funding, it’s not likely to happen in my lifetime.

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Megan forwards news that New York will be lowering speed limits to 15 mph in school zones.

Although you can lower speeds as much as you want, but without the right infrastructure, many drivers will just ignore it.

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A Cartagena, Colombia-based mountain biker hangs on for dear life after taking a spill near the edge of a cliff before pulling herself to safety.

@sol_y_bici

♬ sonido original – Sol ☀️

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

They’re onto us, comrades. An op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune suggests the city’s new bike lanes are part of a secret plot to enhance transit-oriented developments around the city, which would trigger SB 79 to allow greater housing density near transit stops, and foist it upon unsuspecting single-family neighborhoods. Although you’ll have to find your own way around the paper’s draconian paywall. 

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

Seal Beach police report an elderly woman was hospitalized with serious injuries when she was struck by a “juvenile riding a Surron electric bicycle.” Except a Surron does not look, ride or perform anything like a bicycle, and should be classified as an electric motorbike; at least KCBS gets it right. 

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Local 

The Los Angeles Times recommends riding a bicycle as one of the best things you can do for under twenty bucks in Los Angeles — and at least three times.

No surprise here either, as Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports drivers are destroying the new quick-build traffic circle at a deadly Koreatown intersection.

Linton also reports on quick-build bus lanes on the Westside, and a new protected bike lane Long Beach’s Pacific Ave.

Venice and Washington boulevards could get some of LA’s first automated speed cams.

A consortium of Altadena bike advocacy groups got a $2,000 Bike League grant to develop a concept for a continuous trail loop connecting West Altadena neighborhoods affected by the Eaton Fire.

Culver City finally dumps the muted green bike lanes forced upon us all by Hollywood filmmakers too cheap to digitally remove the brighter lanes.

About damn time. Santa Monica is on a path to become the first jurisdiction in California to implement automated bike lane enforcement.

 

State

Two SoCal teens are rewriting the narrative around ebikes by promoting responsibility, community and positive culture among young riders. Although the press is still conflating ped-assist ebikes with electric motorbikes and dirt bikes. 

A Victorville BMX rider was hospitalized with undisclosed injuries after being struck by a driver headed for a freeway onramp, while riding in a crosswalk.

Sad news from Salinas, where a woman in her 60s was killed when she was struck by not one, not two, but three drivers while riding her bike; naturally, the CHP blamed her dark clothing.

The Bay Area’s Caltrain commuter train is reconsidering plans to ban cargo bikes, panniers and bike child seats in the face of major blowback from bike commuters.

Sad news from San Jose, where a man riding a bicycle was killed by an alleged DUI Tesla driver, who inexplicably returned to his car after abandoning it following the crash.

 

National

Hack your own DIY illuminated bicycle pedals, while turning your small, lightweight clip-in pedals into bigass platforms.

A new study from Bicycle Colorado calls for automated enforcement after identifying 7,900 violations among just over 49,000 vehicles during 30-minute observations at 196 intersections across 25 Colorado cities and counties.

Um, okay. A website for a Chicago suburb remembers the final resting place of six-day bike race champ Albert Schock, “currently listed as the 31st greatest American rider of all time (behind Lance Armstrong and Greg Lemond.)” And no, I’m not merely mocking it because the period is in the wrong place. But that doesn’t help any.

An 83-year old Ohio man says repairing and donating bicycles is his “bicycle ministry,” giving away over 400 bicycles a month to kids and people in need. Which is an astounding number if accurate, since most organizations can’t even manage that, let alone elderly individuals. 

A local magazine says Richmond, Virginia’s mountain biking community has helped create the city’s outdoorsy culture.

 

International

He gets it. A writer for Cyclist says bikes have never mattered more because they give you a little sanity break while the world is burning. My bike got me through the death of my father, 9/11, and (insert your least favorite president here).

New bike lanes are helping to trigger “remarkable reductions” in air pollution in 19 cities around the world.

A London school kid says “safety is Paramount when you are cycling on the road.” True though it may be, the odd capitalization made me think safety matters only because it’s buying Warner Brothers. 

A British broadcaster unexpectedly finds himself riding with the country’s next king.

The head of Britain’s Asphalt Industry Alliance says it would take 12 years and the equivalent of nearly $25 billion to bring the roads of Wales and England up to standard conditions. Or as we call that here in Los Angeles, a down payment. 

A new report says bicycling saves the UK’s National Health Service the equivalent of $96 million a year in health costs. Meanwhile, it helps American insurance companies enjoy more of their record profits. 

No bias here. A British paper says the residents of Plymouth, England are up in arms for a decision to spend the equivalent of over $5 million to build a bike lane a little more than the length of two football fields, even though that involves boring through an abandoned railroad tunnel to connect two bikeways. Never mind that it should say “some” residents, and no one would likely complain if it was a car tunnel. 

The smallest bike lane in Killarney, Ireland — and possibly the entire country — measures just six inches at its narrowest point. Which even makes LA’s bike lanes seem absolutely capacious. 

The recent bicycle-friendly conversion of Paris, France may continue, as a former deputy of Mayor Anne Hidalgo is leading in early election results, after Hidalgo chose not to pursue a third six-year term.

India held the 65th edition of the nationwide Fit India Sundays on Cycle, which is a series of organized bike rides in 5,000 cities large and small.

A 40-year old Swiss bicyclist’s 10,500-mile journey from one end of Africa to the other was delayed for two weeks when military authorities in Cameroon detained him for filming a bridge in a restricted area. Because as we all know, international spies always prefer traveling by bicycle instead of high-powered sports cars.

That’s more like it. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority in the Philippines has opened a Bike-to-Work End-of-Trip shower facility to allow riders to clean up and change clothes after riding to work in the humid city.

Aussie university researchers consider the burning question of whether ebike riders should be required to have a driver’s license, aptly noting the pedelecs, or ped-assist bikes in this country, don’t pose a greater risk than regular bicycles.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mexico’s Isaac del Toro claimed the second CG victory of his career by winning Tirreno-Adriatico on Sunday.

A British Continental team was the victim of an armed robbery when moped-riding thieves pulled bikes off the roof of a team car.

Jonas Vingegaard crushed the GC at Paris-Nice, sending a warning to the competition.

A Philadelphia writer looks back at Robin Morton, the first woman to own and manage a men’s professional cycling team back in the ’80s. That’s the 1980s, not the 1880s. 

 

Finally…

You could get stuck in your Waymo when restless residents rebel against our new robotic overlords. Who says bikes can’t climb trees (thanks to Steven for the heads-up)?

And only Michael Caine could look that posh on a foldie with a flat.

Michael Caine seems a bit deflated hereCheer up, Michael, it's your #BicycleBirthday!Born March 14, 1933

— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 2026-03-14T08:15:35.994Z

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

SF judge retires after elderly killer driver walks, most US bike lanes just paint, and LA drivers kill record number of animals

March 4, 2026 / / No comments

Good riddance.

The San Francisco judge who let an elderly driver off the hook for killing an entire family of four announced he’s riding off into the sunset.

And it can’t happen soon enough.

The Voice of San Francisco reports that 69-year old Judge Bruce Chan is retiring this year, one month after announcing he’ll let 80-year old Mary Fong Lau walk without a day behind bars, and three years before he’s set to face the voters again.

Because something tells me voters might have a long memory in this case.

It was just short of two years ago when Lau plowed her car into the bus stop where 40-year old Diego Cardoso de Oliveira and his wife, 38-year old Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto were waiting with their two children, 1-year old Joaquim Ramos Pinto de Oliveira and 3-month-old Cauê Ramos Pinto de Oliveira, after celebrating their wedding anniversary.

Diego and Joaquim were killed instantly, while Matilde and Cauê died days later in the hospital.

Lau was driving on the wrong side of the divided roadway at 70 mph at the time of the crash. Yet Chan bizarrely ruled that there was no point in punishing her, because she’s old and really, really sorry.

Which must be why she tried to hide her assets before the inevitable lawsuit.

According to the website,

As if the family of the victims hasn’t suffered enough, last month, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Bruce Chan expressed sympathy for the now 80-year-old Lau and stated it was unlikely she would serve any jail time or even a community service mandate after pleading no contest to four felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter…

After Lau changed her plea from not guilty to no contest, Chan said his duty “was to balance the deaths with the other factors of the case.” Those factors included Lau’s age, her lack of criminal history, and “her remorse,” as well as the fact that her own husband had died in a car accident early on in their marriage.”

Chan even injected some hearsay into the proceedings, saying that in the hospital after the crash, “Lau tearfully told medical staff she wished she could trade places with the family.”

Chan said jail time would mean Lau would probably die in prison. As opposed to her victims, who just died in the street and the local hospital.

Instead, he said he’d sentence her to a lousy two to three years probation. But at least she won’t be able to drive — legally, anyway — until her probation ends.

So we can expect Lau to get her license back when she’s 83, with the blood of four innocent lives on her record.

Seems reasonable.

But as writer Susan Dyer Reynolds notes, remorseful people don’t usually hide their assets.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, in July 2024, the surviving parents of Cardoso de Oliveira and Ramos Pinto filed a wrongful death civil suit against Lau. In May 2025, the relatives filed another civil lawsuit, this time asking a judge to void alleged financial transfers that Lau made after the first civil lawsuit was filed. The victims’ families accused Lau of transferring her ownership interest in several properties to new limited liability companies and selling properties to third parties, including her son-in-law, thereby transferring millions of dollars to avoid potential financial penalties from the civil suit. Hiding assets doesn’t sound like remorse to me…

Me, either.

So if you wonder why people keep dying on our streets, overly lenient judges like Chan are a damn good place to start.

But at least he won’t be around much longer to let any other killer drivers walk.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

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This is why people keep dying on our streets, part two.

An estimated 77% of bike lanes in the US offer nothing but paint for protection.

And a new study in the Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research shows that nearly two-thirds of those are on high-stress roads — aka, “fast, multi-lane corridors where traffic speed and volume make riding uncomfortable for most people.”

In other words, like virtually every bike lane in Orange County and much of Los Angeles, county and otherwise.

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Sadly, humans aren’t the only victims of traffic violence.

LA Reported says the number of animals killed by LA drivers reached a new high last year, with 33,458 deaths reported, including everything from family dogs and cats to deer, squirrels and birds.

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The annual Marathon Crash Ride returns to the streets of Los Angeles in the wee hours of Sunday morning, following the route of the LA Marathon before all those runners take over.

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. A 55-year old man was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI, vehicular manslaughter and misdemeanor battery after he somehow threw his car into reverse at high speed, backing over a curb and slamming into people sitting on the stoop of a Long Beach building, killing a 20-month old toddler and hospitalizing a 45-year old woman and a 12-year old girl.

 

State

A proposed San Diego ordinance would ban kids under 12 from riding Class 1 and 2 ebikes, as well as prohibiting a passenger from any ebike without a permanent passenger seat; children under 16 are already prohibited from riding Class 3 ebikes.

A 51-year old Hesperia man was hospitalized with major injuries, and his dog killed, when they were struck by a van driver while walking his bike across the street early yesterday morning. But you’ll have to get around the paper’s paywall to read the whole story. 

Alameda’s mayor writes that the city’s efforts to make roads safer for all users is paying off.

This is who we share the road with, part two. A Sacramento website reports that Black pedestrians are disproportionately more likely to be killed on the city’s streets, illustrating the story by describing a 26-year old South Sacramento man who was struck by a driver while crossing the street, then repeatedly run over by multiple drivers — all of whom fled the scene, and none were ever brought to justice.

 

National

A proposed IRS regulation could mean that bike couriers and pedicab drivers could write off their tips.

A Mesa, Arizona woman has filed a pair of $15 million claims against the city and county, after her 71-year old father was killed while riding an ebike when the lane he was riding in suddenly ended in a large pothole and a patch of gravel, with no warning in the dark because the stop sign was on the ground and there were no streetlights.

No surprise here. After the police chief of Greeley, Colorado hit a 15-year old bike rider while driving off-duty, the state police charged the kid, not the cop, for failure to yield.

An 82-year old Iowa man spends his winters repairing and refurbishing bicycles in Tucson, Arizona, before going home in the spring to work on more bikes.

That’s more like it. A Texas man was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for the hit-and-run that killed a popular 38-year old bike rider four years ago, and reporting his car stolen in an effort to cover up the crime. Does that ever work?

Indianapolis adopts Vision Zero, vowing to end traffic deaths by 2035. Let’s hope they take it more seriously than Los Angeles did. 

New York’s city council rakes the city’s new transportation commissioner over the coals for the miserable job expanding bike lanes done by the previous administration, with one councilmember arguing that meeting just 50% of the city’s goals earns it a “big, fat F;” however, the new DOT head won’t commit to doing any better.

Residents of Maplewood, New Jersey are raising funds for the leader of a local bike bus after a hit-and-run driver left him with life-threatening injuries; a crowdfunding page has raised nearly $40,000 of the $55,000 goal.

A Virginia driver says he’ll be riding a bicycle now after the war with Iran caused gas prices to spike. So there’s that, anyway.

Seriously? Police in Raleigh NC have no intention of filing charges against the driver who killed a 65-year old man riding a bicycle, even though he was in a crosswalk with the green light, apparently because a) the victim was riding against traffic, and/or b) because the driver wasn’t drunk — even though the investigation is still ongoing, for no apparent reason. Never mind that crosswalks are bidirectional, and being under the influence isn’t the only way a driver can be at fault. And be forewarned, there’s no way to opt out of the cookies if you click on the damn link. 

 

International

Road.cc takes you on a tour of the wonderful world of the year’s best bicycling shoes for beginners.

A writer for Cycling Weekly explains why his high-end bike tires cost three times as much as his crappy car tires.

A London law firm says they get contacted by an average of ten people a month who have been injured riding Lime bikes in the city, even though the company says 99.99 percent of journeys end without incident.

An Irish detective was awarded the equivalent of nearly $290,000 after he was suspended for three years for the crime of loaning a farmer an unclaimed bicycle that had sat for a long time at the police station during the pandemic.

Ireland’s transportation authority says active transportation takes up to 660,000 cars off the road every day in the country’s five largest metro areas. It could here, too, if people felt safer walking and biking.

 

Finally…

If this ebike bill passes, you’d better get used to lentils. How to make the bike of the year even better.

And now you, too, can be a super secret motor doper.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Smilianska guilty in death of US National Team’s Magnus White, and hit-and-run driver posted online looking for killer

April 7, 2025 / / Comments Off on Smilianska guilty in death of US National Team’s Magnus White, and hit-and-run driver posted online looking for killer
Day 97 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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About damn time. 

For the first time in four full weeks, my wife and I both finally tested negative for Covid over the weekend. 

But I still missed yesterday’s Hollywood Meets Koreatown CicLAvia, as my diabetic body just doesn’t bounce back that fast anymore, and even just walking part of the route seemed like more than I could manage. 

So feel free to let me know how it went. 

And in other health news, I’m now on yet another medication that affects my balance, making my goal of finally getting back on my bike seem even more unlikely. 

Maybe I can find an ebike with a built-in gyroscope to keep me upright. 

Photo from USA Cycling website. 

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Guilty.

A Boulder, Colorado jury convicted 24-year old Ukrainian immigrant Yeva Smilianska for the 2023 death of US National Team cyclist Magnus White.

Smilianska admitted running the rising 17-year old cyclist down from behind, drifting off the roadway to plow into him at highway speed, after reportedly falling asleep at the wheel.

However, White’s father complained that she didn’t show any remorse or take responsibility until she got on the witness stand, 615 days after the fatal crash.

Prosecutors showed evidence that Smilianska had partied with a co-worker the night before, despite both denying they had been drinking. They also posted a text Smilianska reportedly sent a friend admitting she was drunk at the time of the crash.

The jury convicted Smilianska of reckless vehicular homicide, which in Colorado carries a penalty of two to six years behind bars, after just seven hours of deliberation.

She will be sentence in June.

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This is who we share the roads — and social media — with.

After a Tennessee man was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike, a 25-year old woman posted on Facebook to say how much the victim would be missed, and begging anyone who knew anything about the crash to come forward, adding that she couldn’t imagine leaving someone on the road to die alone.

You can probably guess what comes next.

Just hours after sharing her last post, she was arrested for the fatal hit-and-run, admitting she was drinking before the crash and drove to another county to get her car fixed in an effort to coverup the crime.

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

Houston bicyclists held a funeral for a protected bike lane, after the mayor had it ripped out because it inconvenienced drivers a little bit; a local letter writer says that’s the last straw, and they’re leaving the city because the mayor is making it less safe — although you’ll have to get past the paper’s paywall to read it.

No bias here. Residents of Grantchester, England have taken their fight against a new greenway all the way to London’s Royal Courts of Justice, arguing that the bike lane would ruin one of the UK’s most picturesque villages. Because as we all know, cars don’t ruin anything and only make villages more picturesque, right?

No bias here, either. A sign warns bicyclists using a Dublin bike lane to slow down for school children, posting that the village isn’t a racetrack. Yet no similar sign warns the people in the big, dangerous machines, who are more likely to treat the road like a racetrack, and can cause far more harm when they do.

Not even four-time Tour de France champs are immune from road-raging drivers, as Chris Froome angrily posted the license plate of a French driver he claims tried to intentionally drive into him as he tried to filter past on a training ride.

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

A Hong Kong veterinarian won widespread paise on the Chinese Weibo social media site after springing to action to perform CPR — including mouth-to-snout resuscitation — saving the life of a stray cat after it was struck by a bike rider.

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Local 

West Hollywood will consider a proposal to paint bike lanes green throughout the city at tonight’s city council meeting.

Burbank is looking for solutions to the rising tide of ebike “incidents.” Once again conflating ped-assist electric bicycles with electric motorcycles and dirt bikes that can travel nearly four times as fast. 

Long Beach will close Willow Street and Santa Fe Ave in West Long Beach to cars on Saturday, May 10th for the next edition of the city’s Beach Streets open streets event.

Speaking of Long Beach, the city will allow e-scooters on the beach bike path, starting next month.

 

State

Your next hoppy pale ale could be developed in collaboration with the San Diego Velodrome.

A Redwood City woman is on the verge of becoming the first person known to have ridden every mile of bikeable roadway and trail in San Mateo County, completing a five-year project to ride all 2,800 miles.

Caltrans has once again delayed a decision on removing the protected bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, as they attempt to strike a balance between the needs of motorists and cyclists. Or rather, whether people in cars will get every lane on both levels of the two-lane bridge, or if bike riders can continue to hold on to one measly little lane. 

Hats off to the Sausalito Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, after every member of the committee resigned in protest because the city rejected a half-million grant to build bike lanes on its main thoroughfare.

Marin County has taken the “unprecedented” step of banning kids under 16 from riding throttle-controlled Class 2 ebikes, as well as requiring anyone of any age riding a Class 2 ebike in unincorporated parts of the county to wear a helmet; the local paper says the new rules make sense. Although while my understanding is they can legally do the first part of that under a bill signed by the governor last year, requiring anyone over 18 to wear a bike helmet exceeds their authority under state law.

 

National

A group of Anchorage residents rode their bicycles through the city wearing signs of support for the people Palestine, in a campaign that began with the Gaza Sunbirds, a group paracyclists who launched a community aid campaign in Gaza.

In what may be the ultimate open streets event, Yellowstone roads once again opened to bicycles over the weekend before cars are allowed in.

An Arkansas organization is recycling used bicycle tires for use as industrial fuel in place of coal, saying burning the recycled rubber chips is more environmentally friendly than allowing them to sit in landfills — although it seems like a far cleaner use is mixing them into paving materials, rather than releasing the carbon to the atmosphere.

Tickets are on sale now for an escorted, five-mile mile bike ride to the Indianapolis 500, benefitting an Indianapolis bicycle advocacy group.

One of the two hit-and-run drivers who fled after killing a St. Louis bike rider was arrested when a tracker placed on her SUV by the dealership placed her at the scene; she admitted to drinking and using marijuana the day of the crash. Two other drivers also hit the victim, but remained at the scene.

 

International

Momentum rates Germany’s most “beloved” long-distance bicycling routes, and says look past Amsterdam for nine underrated international biking destinations. None of which are Los Angeles, of course.

A British Columbia family took matters into their own hands, drafting their own map showing the safest routes for kids biking in their neighborhood, as well as highlighting safety concerns.

Women in the UK report being bullied off the road by motorists, with one woman from Northern Ireland stating that people often shout that she shouldn’t be on the road with her bike, while that rarely happens to her male partner.

A new German study says mountain bike tires are polluting the atmosphere, releasing an average of 3.64 grams of rubber per 60 miles of off-road riding — about a third of the rubber wear from motor vehicles over the same distance. But just imagine if they tried to burn them for fuel. 

Bollywood superstar Salmon Khan is one of us, riding his bicycle and hitting the gym despite suffering a rib injury filming his latest movie.

Tern North America GM and former LACBC board member Steve Boyd says the industry can’t survive Trump’s tariffs, which were raised from zero to 46% for ebikes, and 57% for standard bicycles coming from Vietnam, where Tern is assembled; meanwhile, a Boston professor says tariffs could upend imports from Taiwan, much to the chagrin of builders, golfers and, yes, bicyclists.

Must be nice. A Kiwi writer says she commutes to work by boat and bike every day.

A pair of Aussie university researchers consider the challenge of getting people to shift from private vehicles to walking and biking, arguing that safe infrastructure is critical.

 

Competitive Cycling

Three-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar soloed to victory after attacking on the final climb of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, aka Tour of Flanders, on Sunday, winning the one-day classic for the second time; Belgian world champ Lotte Kopecky became the first woman to win the race three times.

Pogačar said he doesn’t follow social media, calling it “the cancer of our society.” So maybe save the online attacks for someone who cares enough to read it. 

Sad news from Belgium, where two of the 15,000 bicyclists participating in the Ronde van Vlaanderen Gran Fondo died of natural causes during the sportive, one day before the pros took to the course.

 

Finally….

We may have to twisted drivers, but sharing a bike lane with a sick sea lion is a new twist. That feeling when you get busted for speeding on your bike — in a triathlon.

And next time you ride your ebike, maybe leave the hidden stash of drugs and the jagged-edged sword at home.

Just saying.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

CA ebike incentive program launches tomorrow — no, really — and El Segundo bike lanes leave something lacking

December 17, 2024 / / Comments Off on CA ebike incentive program launches tomorrow — no, really — and El Segundo bike lanes leave something lacking
Just 14 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, a decade of failure in which deaths have continued to climb. 
Yet no city official has mentioned the impending deadline, or the city’s failure to meet it. 

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Just eight days left in the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Terese E for her generous, if somewhat lonely, donation keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way from around the corner, and around the world. 

But time is rapidly running out for this year’s fund drive. So what are you waiting for?

Stop what you’re doing and give now! 

………

It’s now 362 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 42 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

The California Ebike Incentive Program is finally scheduled to launch tomorrow, so get your application in. They offer these tips to get ready, for better or worse.

Let’s just hope they’re up to the task and have everything ready for the launch after this interminable delay.

We’re counting down the days to our official application launch on December 18, 2024 at 6pm PST — just a few days away!

To help you get ready, here’s a quick checklist of documents you’ll need to have ready when you apply. Documents need to be in a digital format to be uploaded. Digital file types include, but are not limited to PDF files, scans, JPEG or PNG file formats.

  1. Proof of California Residency – California Driver’s License, AB 60 License, or California ID card. The document must be current/valid and issued by the California DMV. If the address on the identification is not up to date, this is a listof documents you can submit.
  2. Proof of Income Eligibility – Provide documents to verify that your annual gross household income is at or below 300% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). The easiest form to submit is a Federal Tax Transcript, easily downloaded or requested by mail from: tax records and transcripts. If you don’t file taxes, refer to this list of acceptable documents.

Taking a few minutes now to gather these documents will help streamline your application so you’re all set to apply as soon as the window opens.

WHAT CAN I DO NOW TO GET READY?

With just a few days ​until the launch of our electric bike incentives, let’s make sure you’re prepared.

Here’s what you need to focus on:

1) Check your eligibility – Click HERE to learn more about eligibility.

2) Watch our how-to apply video – Click HERE to watch our step by step application process video.

3) Prepare your income verification documents – Click HERE to learn more about income verification.

4) Have your current/valid California ID ready and ensure your ID is up to date to avoid any delays.

5) Watch our 2 online training videos – Click the links below to watch our training videos prior to applying.

6) Check out our FAQ’s – Click HERE to review our FAQ page.

For more information, please visit our website ebikeincentives.org.

Let me know how it goes if you apply.

Because to be honest, I’ve kinda lost interest in the whole damn thing.

………

South Bay Forward reports El Segundo has striped new bikes on the city’s newly resurfaced streets.

But the news apparently ain’t pretty.

You can submit your own feedback here.

………

Seriously, how whacked out does someone have to be to hit a person riding bicycle hard enough to throw him 65 feet through the air, and have no idea they did it — even though the victim’s bike was still embedded in the bumper of the driver’s car?

A 35-year old man in Boca Raton, Florida faces charges for killing a 41-year old man riding a bicycle, seven hours after he took Adderall, Vyvanse and Gabapentin, despite telling investigators he’s in rehab.

And just moments after he passed another man riding in the same bike lane “so closely (the bike rider) could touch the vehicle.”

………

‘Tis the season.

America’s Got Talent host Terry Crews, a former linebacker for the San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles, teamed with current members of the team to give new bicycles to hundreds of students at Compton’s McNair Elementary School.

A San Jose nonprofit founded by a surgical nurse has given away over 50,000 bicycles over two decades.

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels took part in a DC bike giveaway, where the Raising Cane’s restaurant chain gave away 100 bikes to kids from the Boys & Girls Clubs.

Over 400 donated bicycles are sitting in a North Carolina Salvation Army warehouse waiting for families to come get their free bike.

A Miami car dealer gave dozens of “gently used” bicycles donated by community members to children from the local Boys & Girls Clubs, for the 42nd straight year.

………

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

Once again, a UK bike lane has been intentionally sabotaged by “anti-bike psychos” who covered it with caltrops, a multi-spiked weapon dating back to the Roman era, resulting in crashes that caused at least one victim to suffer hearing loss; adding insult to literal injury, victims complained that Scottish police just “didn’t give a shit” when informed of the crime. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

………

Local  

Don’t forget tonight’s virtual meeting of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council to discuss the proposed protected bike lanes on deadly Forest Lawn Drive — or at least what passes for protection here in Los Angeles. The project is opposed by Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai cemeteries, in an apparent attempt to drum up more business.

 

State

PeopleForBikes announced the ten winners of their 2024 Industry Community Grants, including ten grand each going to Calbike, Rich City Rides and the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.

Velo recommends five winter bicycling destinations where you can leave your thermal clothes behind, including San Diego and Palm Springs.

Bike Magazine calls Natural State a must-see mountain biking movie; the film premiered in San Luis Obispo earlier this month.

 

National

America Walks has opened applications for their Community Change Grants program to provide mini-grants to organizations working to make walking — and apparently, bicycling — safer and more inviting; one recent grant went to a program to assess pedestrian and bicycle safety in Aptos.

A writer for Cycling Weekly discusses what he learned riding his fixie 100 miles through Arizona’s Sonoran Desert; he calls the bike the best $400 he ever spent.

A Colorado woman pled guilty to tampering with evidence for deleting a text proving she was driving while distracted when she killed a ten-year old boy riding a bicycle; she’s also being tried this week on a second misdemeanor charge, careless driving resulting in death. The crash occurred just an easy nine mile ride from where I grew up.

That’s more like it. A 51-year old Pennsylvania man will spend up to 17 years behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that killed a 31-year old father as he was riding a bicycle.

The Franklin, Tennessee police department locks the barn door after the horses escape, conducting a DUI operation in honor of a 54-year old man killed by a drunken Ft. Campbell soldier while the victim was riding his bike.

According to a new lawsuit, a “deeply religious” business owner is dead because a driver high on “Galaxy Gas,” aka nitrous oxide, killed him in a collision as he rode his ebike on an Atlanta sidewalk; the driver bought a canister of the gas labeled for food and beverage use only at a local smoke shop an hour earlier, and allegedly drove around doing “whippets” to get high.

 

International

Momentum explores the top 15 family-friendly North American bicycling routes and destinations from Alberta, Canada to the Florida Everglades.

A British Columbia letter writer says the city’s multi-use paths are great for recreation, but not so much for bike commuting, and the bike lanes aren’t much better.

 

Competitive Cycling

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website asks if there should be a salary cap for pro cycling, after Tadej Pogačar got a $2.3 million raise that increased his annual pay to $8.3 million. Although that pales in comparison to Shohei Ohtani’s $70 a year — let alone Cristiano Ronaldo’s $200 million in on-field earnings.

Aleix Espargaro took an early retirement from Gran Prix motorcycle racing to join a professional cycling team, just not as a cyclist; he’ll serve as an ambassador for Lidl-Trek team.

Cycling West recaps last weekend’s US national ‘cross championships.

 

Finally…

Nothing like a fully functional, and yes, rideable, steel framed bike too small for a corgi — and named Big Boy, of course. Colnago wants you to wear their clothes off the bike, too, as long as you have $890 to spend on a polo shirt.

And that feeling when your bike stunt garners a round of applause from the ladies who lunch.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Killer hit-and-run driver to be sentenced today, Torrance bike rider victim of a hit-and-run, and a bevy of bike April Fools

April 2, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 273 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 all face 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 1,030 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. 

………

An admitted hit-and-run driver will be sentenced in Banning today for fleeing the scene after killing a bike rider in San Jacinto in 2022.

Twenty-two-year old Savaughn JoJuan Colon Barnes pled guilty to a single count of hit-and-run resulting in death in the killing of Margarito Castro as he waited at a red light in December of 2022, after prosecutors agreed to drop charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a crime.

According to My News LA,

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Dawn Blair, about 8 p.m. on Dec. 4, Castro was in the center median, waiting to cross State Street at Dillon Avenue, when Barnes approached, going southbound on State “at a high rate of speed” in his Hyundai sedan.

“The driver of the Hyundai entered the center median … and struck the victim,” Blair said.

Unfortunately, under California’s overly lenient hit-and-run statutes, he now faces a maximum sentence of just four years behind bars.

And will likely be out in less than half that time.

………

It’s now 104 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 34 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

But Pedal Ahead, the San Diego nonprofit charged with administering the virtually moribund ebike voucher program, hints that it may finally be showing signs of life.

Even if it does fund non-UL-certified ebikes that could suddenly and unexpectedly burst into flames.

But seriously, what’s the worst that could happen?

Meanwhile, Colorado’s new ebike rebate program may be smaller than California’s, which starts at $750. But unlike California, it’s available to anyone.

However, the state’s governor seems a tad out of touch arguing that it’s still worthwhile for bike shops to participate, even though they may have to wait as long as a year to get reimbursed — in effect requiring small shop owners to finance the state program.

………

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

No bias here. The editor of Palo Alto paper complains about proposed bike lanes on El Camino Real, arguing that it would be unsafe for kids and kill local businesses. Even though it’s been repeatedly shown that bike lanes are good for business, and little kids aren’t the only ones who might want to ride their bikes on the local main street just like people in cars.

Bike riders in Providence, Rhode Island turned out to protest plans to remove downtown bike lanes, as the tone-deaf mayor’s office argues the removal is necessary to ease traffic congestion amid the years-long closure of a local bridge. As if people in cars are the only ones who need to get somewhere. 

A 29-year old South Carolina man says he’s lucky to be alive, after he was shot near the knee after being forced off the road by an apparent road raging motorist.

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

Actor Matthew Broderick is one of us in more ways than one, after he’s caught  running a red light and riding past a “Wait Here” sign while riding a bikeshare bike in London.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

She gets it. An Encinitas letter writer says drivers need to be more generous in sharing the road because too many people riding bikes have died in San Diego County, and paint is no protection from 2,000- to 4,000-pound vehicles.

San Diego’s Bike Anywhere Day will get a new Bike Week companion, as the city announced plans for a Bike Local Day to encourage people to ride in their own communities.

 

National

A longtime New York bike advocate decries the lack of privately owned, traditional strictly pedal-powered bicycles on the city streets, complaining that ebikes and bikeshares are taking over the bike lanes. And in other news, an old man yelled at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. 

Um, okay. To the surprise of virtually everyone, a local TV station invites outdoor enthusiasts to bike Sparta, Wisconsin, declaring it the Cycling Capital of America. Said no one else, ever, which may or may not be the point.

Hundreds of Wisconsin kids got new bikes as part of a statewide program to teach bike skills to elementary and middle school students.

The “biggest party on two wheels” is returning to Winston-Salem, North Carolina this September, with the multi-day Gears and Guitars music and bicycle festival. The only question is, how the hell am I going to get there, and who’s going with me?

 

International

Bollywood actress Saiyami Kher is one of us, calling for more bike-friendly infrastructure in Mumbai following a spike in bicycling collisions.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your crash is so embarrassing, even your bike tries to run away. If you’re going to steal a bicycle, it’s probably not the best idea to take it off the back of a parked sheriff’s patrol car — especially without checking for cameras first.

And I kinda wish this last one wasn’t just an April Fools joke.

Thanks to Norm Bradwell for the link.

……... 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Why killer drivers seldom get charged, and SaMo considers speeding needed traffic safety improvements tomorrow

November 13, 2023 / / 2 comments

My apologies for another unexcused absence on Friday. 

One of the many insidious effects of diabetes is a dramatic decline in stamina; busing to a couple of medical appointments was enough to knock me out all night, and most of the next morning. 

On the plus side, at least I’m starting the week well rested. 

………

Ryan Fonseca of the Los Angeles Times takes a look at why killer drivers are so rarely charged with murder in California.

Which is something we’ve probably all asked at one time or another.

Although to be fair, it’s not just here. From what I’ve seen, most drivers walk with just a slap on the wrist, no matter where it happens.

If they get charged at all.

Here’s how he explains it.

First off, killing someone with a vehicle is simply viewed differently under the law. That difference is codified in California’s criminal law, where manslaughter — “the unlawful killing of a human being without malice” — is divided into three kinds: Voluntary, involuntary and vehicular.

The key difference between murder and manslaughter is intention. There’s also the idea of implied malice, or what’s sometimes called a depraved heart — when someone should have reasonably known that an act was potentially deadly, but they did it anyway.

Like driving 104 mph in a 45 mile zone, for instance. Or weaving in and out of traffic at speeds up to 100 mph with a suspended license while stoned .

Or dragging someone under your car for nearly a mile while trying to flee the scene; police are still looking for the heartless coward in that one.

Let alone the rash of recent cases where crashes appeared to be intentional.

But perhaps the chief limiting factor, according to former prosecutors, is what a jury made up of 12 people who drive is willing to convict on, combined with prosecutors well-founded fear of losing.

Which is why you see so many killer drivers plead out for a misdemeanor instead of a felony. Or a lousy traffic ticket, for that matter.

And that means drivers get away with things they wouldn’t if they killed someone using any other means.

Damian Kevitt, executive director of the advocacy nonprofit Streets Are For Everyone, often meets with families who have lost a loved one to traffic violence. He told me the focus on a driver’s intent in a fatal crash creates a level of protection that doesn’t exist outside their cars.

“Instead of assuming that you have a responsibility and you have an obligation to drive safely, it’s more… ‘we’re going to assume that you have the best of intentions,’” he said. “That’s not right — not when you’re [operating] a two-ton vehicle that has just as much ability to kill someone as a gun.”

It’s worth reading the whole thing.

Because public pressure, or the lack thereof, can be the deciding factor on how serious the charges are that a driver could face.

And how much time they might end up serving.

……..

Santa Monica will consider a motion to speed up traffic safety improvements at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

According to an email from Streets For All,

This item will direct the city manager to expedite requests for stop signs, update the city’s guidelines to upgrade unsignalized intersections, update the process through which residents can report dangerous intersections, improve communication between SMPD and the Department of Transportation, update the Take The Friendly Road campaign, develop a proposal to allocate funding towards infrastructure in daylighting zones to address dangerous illegal parking, and more.

It can’t come fast enough.

Because a man riding a bicycle was lucky to escape with minor injuries when he was struck by a driver, at the exact intersection where Tania Mooser was killed in a collision while riding her bike just two weeks earlier.

And where local residents have spent years demanding safety improvements, with no one at SaMo City Hall seeming to give a damn.

……..

Don’t forget to voice your opinion on the LA County bike plan.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1719817893846614346

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1722818649856069795

………

Nice to see a good turnout for the ghost bike ceremony honoring fallen Hollywood producer Bob George.

Maybe someday, things like this won’t be necessary anymore.

………

Because of course he was one of us.

………

GCN considers the true cost of bicycling, including buying all the gear.

Never mind that you can get a used bike for a couple hundred bucks, and just start riding.

………

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

No bias here. Writing for the Orange County Register, the western director of a conservative think tank says sorry, but bicycling isn’t going to change the world, and only bicyclists demand “the world be rebuilt to cater to (their) somewhat-dangerous hobby.” He also compares bike lanes to social engineering, and insists, without evidence, that closing streets to cars destroys cities. Just wait until someone tells him about the social engineering that forces everyone into cars.

No bias here, either. A Marin paper says everyone has to accept that few people want to ride their bikes on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge compared to the 80,000 daily drivers. But fails to mention that drivers have connecting roadways leading to and from the bridge, while bike riders are still waiting for safe connections to get on and off. The paper’s editorial cartoonist weighs in, as well.

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

A Florida man is back behind bars for running down a pedestrian on his ebike while stinking of booze, after previously serving ten years for a DUI manslaughter.

A Scottish bike rider confesses to being one of those demon cyclists who jump red lights and ride on the sidewalk, sometimes putting his own life over the “the irritation of motorists and occasionally pedestrians.”

………

Local 

Streetsblog reports the LA City Council has taken the first steps to implement an automated speed cam program, and officially committed to using “crash,” “collision” or “incident,” rather than “accident” to describe two drivers trying to defy the laws of physics by occupying the same space at the same time. Although I’m more impressed that the LA Times is now using the term “traffic violence.”

 

State

Readers of the San Diego Reader compiled a list of the city’s most dangerous spots for bike riders, including Friars Road, Nimitz Blvd and University Ave. Which shows some things haven’t changed since I lived down there over 30 year ago. 

A bike-riding Santa Barbara boy suffered minor injuries when he was struck by a driver, although he apparently broke his guitar — unless the website meant a broken fender, not Fender. The story also suggests the driver may have been blinded by the sunset, which seems somewhat unlikely at three in the afternoon. 

A Santa Cruz website considers the ripple effects of one free bicycle given to a kid nearly two decades ago.

Who was that masked man? An unidentified San Francisco bike rider saved the day when burglars tried to break into a van belonging to Minneapolis-based indie band Yam Haus, apparently smacking one of the thieves to disrupt the break-in before riding off into the sunset.

Sad news from Oakland, where someone riding a bicycle was killed in a collision Friday night; the driver either did or didn’t remain at the scene.

A couple of men were busted after a man tracked his stolen bike to their car, then they drove into him when he tried to get it back; police tracked the suspects to their home, and arrested them on a raft of theft and drug charges.

Lake Tahoe’s Incline Village is banning scofflaw ebike riders from city sidewalks, adding ebikes to a current prohibition on sidewalk riding, although a spokesperson for the sheriff swears it’s only enforced when people ride recklessly.

 

National

Electrek explains why drivers should love seeing more people on ebikes — or any other bicycles, for that matter — from more bikes means less traffic and more parking, to better roads and more money in your pocket. Maybe someone should tell that guy from the Orange County Register.

Clean Technica looks at the “slow, painful process” of eliminating the sale of dangerous ebike batteries.

Bicycling reports the annual Cranksgiving food-drive ride is back after a three-year Covid hiatus, with over 100 rides currently scheduled in 35 states, although the nearest one to Los Angeles/Orange County appears to be in Redlands. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you; however, the second link works, regardless.

An Oregon state legislator responded to the death of a 16-year old boy riding an ebike by introducing legislation to ban throttle-controlled ebikes for anyone under 16, limiting younger riders to ped-assist ebikes.

NPR conducts an exit interview with Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who has been bicycling’s biggest champion in Congress in recent years.

A Washington bike rider urges drivers to please respect the city’s new purple bike lanes. Apparently painted in an effort to make Barney feel at home.

Apparently, killing a 13-year old Denver-area boy as he rode his bike to school last month is just a minor traffic violation, after the driver who killed him got a lousy ticket for careless driving resulting in death.

Former President George W. Bush hosted his annual Warrior Ride for America’s veterans at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, expressing his gratitude and support for vets.

New York’s Transportation Commissioner considers how to safely integrate ebikes into the city’s traffic system.

Life is cheap in Pennsylvania, where intentionally trying to back over a bike rider while threatening to “smoke” the victim will get you two months of home vacation, followed by just two lousy days behind bars each week for 15 whole weeks.

Birds are bad enough. A South Carolina bike rider was startled when a deer literally jumped over him as he took part in a club ride.

 

International

Momentum readers nominate the world’s worst bike lanes.

Bike Radar suggests five areas of training that will make you a better roadie. None of which are better roadway courtesy or yielding to pedestrians, however.

Police in Ontario — no, the one in Canada — are searching a cornfield for a missing 34-year old man after his ebike was found in the middle of the field with a flat tire, and the wires leading to the battery dangling down.

This is who we share the road with. A London bike rider’s helmet cam captured video of a security van driver watching porn on his phone and masturbating while he was driving. Wanker.

That’s more like it. A British truck driver got eight-and-a-half years behind bars for killing a 53-year old woman riding a bike, and seriously injuring her 19-year old son, while using a social media app on his phone.

Finland addressed a smattering of people illegally crossing from Russia on bicycles by banning anyone from riding a bike across the border, months after a similar ban on people arriving in motor vehicles.

Over 35,000 people turned out for the fourth annual Dubai Ride, the region’s largest bike ride.

Don’t obscure your license plate with your trunk-mounted bike rack in Abu Dhabi.

 

Competitive Cycling

There may not be a 38th edition of Japan’s Tour de Hokkaido next year, after a cyclist was killed in a head-on collision that resulted in the immediate cancellation of this year’s event.

Up to 15 riders were injured in a mass pile-up in the final stage of Australia’s Tour of Tasmania.

One of the four climate activists on trial for disrupting the road Worlds by gluing their hands to the roadway claims the cycling community is complicit in the climate crisis through ignorance of the “oil and gas companies sponsoring their races.” Trust me, they know.

 

Finally…

Your next titanium road bike could be worth its weight in gold — or painted with it, anyway. Who needs 29 inch wheels when you can ride 36ers?

And Red Bull says it gives you wings, but maybe they should hand you floaties, instead.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

70-year old armed road raging driver, 80-year old bike-riding storm chaser, and 95-year old driver kills 88-year old bike rider

January 25, 2023 / / 2 comments

Today’s common theme is elderly bike riders and drivers.

Although your definition of elderly may vary, most likely depending on how old you are.

A road raging, 70-year old Tiburon, California driver faces charges for following a bike rider in his car before getting out and threatening him with a knife, because he believed his intended victim had hit his car with his hand; the bike rider teamed with a nearby witness to hold the man down until police arrived.

A 69-year old alleged drunken, hit-and-run driver faces up to a decade behind bars for killing a 20-year old Ohio bike rider.

An 80-year old former reporter for the Miami Herald is riding his bike up and down the East Coast chasing weather systems, after spending the last two decades exploring storm systems on the West Coast and the middle of the country.

Tragic news from Florida, where an 88-year old man riding a bike was killed by a 95-year old woman in a Buick as he was attempting to cross a roadway. No word on who was at fault, but the crash once again raises the question of how old is too old to drive. 

A Japanese study shows requiring cognitive tests for drivers over 70 can prevent crashes caused by men — but oddly, not by women. However, injuries among bike riders and pedestrians increased as cognitively impaired former drivers took to biking and walking.

………

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

Parks workers in Portland, Oregon will be retrained after staffer mistakenly posted a sign banning bikes from unpaved park trails, even though official city policy explicitly allows bicycles.

A London counselor is calling for bike-blocking barriers in front of a pedestrian tunnel under the Thames, despite long-stalled plans to allow bike riding in the tunnel; the two-pound fine for violating the bike ban hasn’t ben raised since 1912.

No bias here. A long-running BBC host agrees with an anti-bike tweet, saying “Too much testosterone squeezed into slightly too little Lycra tends to prove explosive.” Then again, so do broadcasters who are full of shit.

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

That feeling when a bunny loses its cottontail in a crash with a speeding Stanford University bike rider. Although someone should tell the Stanford student paper that a tail is not a limb.

………

Local 

High-end Swiss bikemaker Thömus held a cocktail reception to unveil their new store on Santa Monica’s Montana Ave, and introduce their 25-pound, $6,000 ebike, which they claim is the lightest ebike currently on the market. So, should we be offended that we weren’t invited? Maybe this site is too proletarian for their taste.

Police in Santa Monica will be conducting yet another bike and pedestrian safety operation on Thursday from 6 am to 8 pm, ticketing any traffic violations that could endanger bike riders or pedestrians, regardless of who commits them. Standard protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit lines, at least for that one day, so you’re not the one who gets a ticket.

 

State

You might want to avoid PCH through Huntington Beach today, after flooding from high tides blocked the highway in both directions at Bolsa Chica Beach on Tuesday; at least part of the highway is expected to remain closed through today.

San Francisco-based Strava offered a mea culpa over the botched rollout of their recent price increases, saying they moved too fast without providing enough clarity on pricing. Yet they didn’t roll back their prices, so they can’t be too sorry.

San Francisco’s Mission Local examines the hit-and-run epidemic, calling it the perfect crime in some ways, since over 70% of Bay Area drivers who flee from crashes get away with it. That number is significantly higher here in Los Angeles, where 92% of hit-and-run drivers are never caught.

 

National

They get it. Wired says store owners still fight to protect their curbside parking, even though installing protected bike lanes tends to boost local businesses.

That’s more like it. A new bill in the Montana legislature would clarify that ebikes are not motor vehicles, mopeds or off-highway vehicles, and should be allowed anywhere regular bicycles are allowed.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. We mentioned yesterday that an alleged drunken hit-and-run driver was sentenced to up to 15 years behind bars — actually 20 — for killing a 13-year old boy riding his bike; now it turns it he had five previous DUIs, yet could still walk after less than one year with good behavior. Just another example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.

Houston’s transit agency is considering investing half a million dollars to take over the city’s bikeshare system to improve connectivity to buses and trains.

The trial of accused terrorist Sayfullo Saipov is nearing the end, as prosecutors argue he turned a popular New York bike path into a battlefield strewn with mangled bikes and bodies; the Halloween Day, 2017 vehicular attack left eight dead and dozens injured, some permanently. Meanwhile, a Dutch woman met the cop she credits with saving her life after losing both her legs in the attack.

 

International

Bicycling visits seven massive bike garages around the world they say you have to check out. None of which are in the US, naturally. For a change, read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.

Road.cc revisits some of the best, worst and weirdest bicycle patents, from Shimano’s 14-speed sprocket to Google’s human flypaper designed to prevent serious injuries by making bike riders and pedestrians stick to the cars that hit them. No, really.

A new study from the UK shows as little as six to nine minutes of vigorous activity — like riding your fast or uphill — is enough to keep your brain working at peak efficiency.

A British CEO is biking 1,000 miles across Europe to raise enough money to remove 40 Russian landmines in Ukraine.

British insurance company ETA examines tactical urbanism and DIY crosswalks, including the efforts of LA’s Crosswalk Collective.

Popular Dutch ebike maker VanMoof is losing money on every bike they sell due to supply chain issues. But they plan to make it up in volume.

Toyota is teaming with French ebike maker Douze to introduce a new flatbed e-cargo bike designed for both businesses and individuals; it can also be configured to carry passengers.

An unidentified 16-year old is facing life in prison after he was convicted of stabbing a Perth, Australia man to death in a dispute over a stolen bicycle; the victim was attempting to reclaim a bike taken from a ten-year old boy.

 

Competitive Cycling

The US National Mountain Bike Team will now be based in Bentonville, Arkansas. Just like Walmart.

American Quinn Simmons was the surprise winner of the third stage of Argentina’s Vuelta a San Juan; the 22-year old redhead claimed victory on a closed circuit car racing track.

The nascent National Cycling League announced their 2023 schedule, with races planned for Miami, Atlanta, Denver and Washington DC. Which seems to give them a decidedly East Coast bent. 

 

Finally…

Your next bike rack could charge your ebike. Riding your bike with a vision-blocking array of 64 smartphones because you gotta catch ’em all in Pokémon Go.

And Arnold has clearly been one of us for a long time. But let’s hope someone has introduced him to the concept of bike shorts in the years since.

Or underwear, anyway.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

PR plug for killer socialite, transportation ideas for CD13, and ex-Tour de France champ discussed in racist recording

November 22, 2022 / / One comment

Forget Black Friday. It’s just three more days to the official start of the 8th Annual BikinginLA holiday fund drive!

Thanks to our longtime friend Jim L for getting us off to an early start with his generous donation!

………

The pre-trial PR campaign is kicking into high gear.

Wealthy socialite Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of the prestigious Grossman Burn Center, wants us to know that she is just so very misunderstood, and isolated from all her rich friends.

Just because she killed two innocent little kids while speeding along on surface streets at what police investigators have estimated as up to 80 mph in a 45 mph zone.

No, she says, she wasn’t drunk or street racing with her friend, former Dodger Scott Erickson, even though they were reportedly zig zagging and leap frogging one another’s cars.

And no, I don’t remember him, either.

I do, however, recall her victims, 11-year old Mark Iskander and his 8-year old brother Jacob, who were violently run down as they were crossing the street with their family.

She faces 34 to life if she’s convicted on both murder counts, and is walking free on $2 million bail pending a March trial.

Hopefully she’ll show up for that one, unlike five previous hearings.

Seriously, LA Magazine should be ashamed for allowing themselves to be used like this.

………

Today’s must-read comes from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, who has 11 transportation suggestions for newly elected CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez.

The ideas range from implementing the Sunset4All Complete Streets project, and the Temple Street lane reduction and bike lanes blocked by outgoing Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, to capping the 101 Freeway with a public park.

It’s more than worth the eight minutes it will take to read.

Let alone turning all the ideas into action.

………

The LA Times has compiled an annotated transcript of the racist and otherwise offensive recording that lead to the resignation of former City Council president Nury Martinez and LA County Federation of Labor chief Ron Herrera.

The recording has also lead to repeated calls for councilmembers Kevin de León and “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo to resign, although the latter will be leaving next month anyway, after losing his bid for re-election, while the former refuses to do the right thing.

The conversation also bizarrely featured disgraced ex-Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

Kevin de León
Over the weekend, I called a buddy of mine who is a former U.S. attorney.

Nury Martinez
I have one of those, too. It’s good to have one of those.

Kevin de León
Cool. We’re very close. And he, he had the Lance Armstrong case too, when they were going to indict Lance Armstrong.

Nury Martinez
The cyclist?

Kevin de León
The cyclist. Yeah.

Nury Martinez
What did he do? Doping. Is it doping

Kevin de León
Yeah. And the case was coming out of the L.A. office of the U.S. attorney’s office here…

………

Enter this number in your phone. And take it with you when you ride.

Meanwhile, Ann Arbor, Michigan, is considering following New York’s lead by offering a bounty on drivers who block bike lanes.

Maybe our new councilmembers could consider something like that here.

………

This is who we share the internet with.

That was followed by this comment, from someone who apparently fails to grasp the concept of a protected bike lane.
Car drivers have to move over in the lane for obstructions all the time (mail trucks, trash trucks, etc.). How hard is it for a biker to move over? What happening to sharing the road?

………

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

No bias here. A regional transportation group has put a Des Moines, Iowa model bike safety on hold, somehow fearing a backlash over the common sense reforms.

A British driver was caught on video speeding down a protected bike lane, either oblivious to or not caring about the oncoming bike riders who were forced out of the lane.

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

A 20-year old man in the UK was sentenced to six-months time served for rebelling against his parents attempt to have him committed by brandishing a machete while riding with a group of other bike riders, even though the only injury anyone suffered was a dog bite after the group was chased by a small pack.

………

Local

Babe star James Cromwell added his voice to a campaign to halt plans to restore the ecologically degraded Los Angeles Ballona Wetland Ecological Reserve, which includes plans for a ten-mile bike and pedestrian path; no word on what the pig had to say.

Ride hailing and micromobility provider Lyft has pulled all of their bikeshare bikes and e-scooters out of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, after failing to secure a longterm contract from city officials.

Glendale has received a $6 million state grant for the Verdugo Wash Visioning Project, which will create a 9.4-mile-long linear park and nature trail for walking and cycling, courtesy of Assemblymember Laura Friedman.

 

State 

A mountain biker used his bike as a shield when he was charged by a mountain lion on a San Luis Obispo trail, leading to a brief standoff before the big cat retreated. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

The $20 million bike and pedestrian path on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is entering the final year of its four-year pilot program, as impatient motorists chomp at the bit to get it back.

The CHP has released a photo of the suspect vehicle in the hit-and-run that killed a man riding a bike in North Highlands earlier this month.

 

National

Fortune says the four-year old e-scooter industry is finally getting around to being as green and sustainable as they claimed, after quietly polluting for years.

No irony here. A Portland bike rider was lucky to escape serious injury when he was run down by a red light-running hit-and-run driver in a crash caught on video, while he was riding to an event to mark the World Day of Remembrance for victims of traffic violence.

A Kansas City business owner says his business is suffering because Missouri drivers are apparently incapable of figuring out a parking-protected bike lane.

A decades old Fayetteville, Arkansas bicycle charity is shutting down after giving away tens of thousands of bikes to kids in need; the 76-year old wife of the man known locally as the Bicycle Man continued the program for nine years after his death, and hopes to give away another 1,000 bicycles before shutting down after the holidays.

‘Tis the season. A Louisville country music station has collected over 1,500 bicycles, as well as monetary donations for Toys for Tots and the Salvation Army, to ensure that every local kid has a gift for the holidays.

The rich get richer, as New York announced plans to expand the city’s bike lane network next year.

A 60-year old New Jersey man is on his 14th bike trip across the US; he’s covered over 39,000 miles since he first hit the road on his ‘bent five years ago, after recovering from getting hit by a drunk driver.

‘Tis the season, too. A kindhearted Baton Rouge, Louisiana lawyer is giving away over 450 new bikes to local kids.

 

International

In honor of the World Cup, Road.cc creates their own all-star team of bike-riding soccer stars.

British residents say they want a bike with an ABS anti-lock braking system.

An Irish paper is up in arms after local officials “wasted” the equivalent of nearly $12,000 building a 600-foot separated bike lane, complaining it’s an “embarrassment” that even bike riders don’t want.

Pink Bike features seven weird and wonderful bikes currently for sale on the platform.

Hanoi, Vietnam is considering establishing a public bikeshare service to to reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution, with 1,000 bikes at 94 stations.

 

Finally…

Your new fixie could be a Wu-Tang Clan bike. That feeling when the kids are riding on thin ice. No, literally.

And bike riding while blind and blind drunk.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

1st quarter traffic deaths jump again, proof pickups and SUVs cause more deaths, and holding killer drivers accountable

August 18, 2022 / / One comment

No, it’s not your imagination.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported yesterday that more people have died on American streets in the first quarter of this year than any year in the past two decades.

Early NHTSA estimates show 9,560 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes through the end of March, a seven percent increase over last year, which saw the highest number of traffic deaths in 16 years.

In other words, we are going the wrong way, at an ever-increasing pace.

There’s a wide range of likely reasons, ranging from speeding and distracted drivers to trucks and SUVs with high, flat grills designed to kill.

None of which are beyond our ability to solve today.

We only need to get enough people to care enough about the lives of innocent victims to demand change.

But so far, that, too, has been beyond our reach.

………

On a related note, Ontario, Canada safety advocates say they have the numbers to prove pickups and SUVs cause more deaths, and have written the province’s chief coroner to request an investigation.

One of the studies, from 2021, estimates 8,131 pedestrians between 2000 and 2019 could have survived if they were struck by sedans instead of SUVs or trucks.

Another study, published in the Journal of Safety Research in June, found that while SUVs and trucks made up just 26.1 per cent of pedestrian and cyclist collisions, they accounted for 44.1 per cent of fatalities.  That study also suggested that because of their larger size, SUVs and trucks are more likely to hit vulnerable road users in the chest or head than a sedan.

Maybe they could write a few letters to US officials while they’re at it.

………

A writer for Outside takes a deep dive into the aftermath of a tragic New York bicycling collision that took the life of a young woman, to examine why drivers are so seldom held accountable for killing another person.

And what can be done about it.

As part of the story, he looks back to the magazine’s groundbreaking Cycling Deaths project, which attempted to document every bicycling traffic death in 2020, recording nearly 700 fatalities.

In most of the stories we gathered information on, there were no consequences for the driver or even scrutiny of their behavior. Law enforcement rarely issued a ticket to drivers who killed cyclists. Criminal charges for the crash itself were even less common, often occurring only when a driver was intoxicated. It was hard not to read through each case and wonder: Is that the way things should be? Does driving that results in someone’s death cross the legal threshold for punishment that infrequently?

It’s very hard to find comprehensive data on penalties issued after car crashes, but among the safe-streets advocates and legal experts I talked to, it’s generally taken as a matter of course that people who kill cyclists while driving—even recklessly, even illegally—are rarely held legally accountable for their actions. The big picture, those observers say, is that drivers are offered a kind of impunity that doesn’t exist in just about any other situation where a human kills another human. “The judicial system is applying laws in a way that results in widespread injustice to victims of traffic violence,” says Gregory Shill, a law professor at the University of Iowa. “I would go beyond courts—a common root of all this is that we have a high social acceptance of traffic deaths.”

As the story points out, drivers should automatically lose their license if they kill another person, but seldom do.

As Traffic author Tom Vanderbilt put it, a drivers license is too easy to get, and too hard to lose. 

If I had my way, killer drivers would be sentenced to work-release, required to serve in emergency rooms and morgues during the day to tend to the victims of traffic violence, before returning to their cells at night.

Although the courts would probably consider that cruel and unusual punishment to subject them to that kind of emotional and psychological torment.

Unlike, say, their victims and their loved ones, who have to suffer that pain for the rest of their lives.

………

This is who we share the city with, unfortunately.

Maybe they’re care more if it was 58. Or 59.

………

Time’s running out to score a great deal on a vintage bike, and support a good cause in the process.

………

Yes, your morning commute can be green, and actually make you happy.

Even in chilly Minnesota.

………

Remember this the next time you have to lock your bike up to a banged-up wheel-bender rack.

https://twitter.com/citycyclists/status/1559900618713612290

Thanks to Glenn Crider for the heads-up. 

………

GCN wants to help you improve your average speed on your bike.

………

Our German correspondent Ralph Durham forwards a photo of race walkers at the European Championships in Munich, where he’s working as a volunteer.

And points out that even they have to cope with race motos. Although the slower pace probably means they pose less risk to the racers.

………

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

That’s more like it. An Idaho driver has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars, with three years fixed, for chasing bike-riding kids through a public park with his pickup, then running over one boy’s bike after he jumped off. But it’s okay, because he’s really, really sorry. No, really.

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

LAPD officers shot a bike-riding young man waving a machete after he refused orders to drop the knife and allegedly advance on officers; no word on his condition.

Elderly London residents say they’ve stopped walking on a roadway that was closed as part of the city’s Low Traffic Neighborhood, the equivalent of a Slow Street in the US, out of fear of red light-running bicyclists and confusion over who has the right-of-way.

………

Local

The Eastsider reports city officials will make the temporary closure of Griffith Park Drive through Griffith Park permanent, after a traffic study showed the closure eliminated cut-through commuter traffic without increasing traffic on Zoo Drive (scroll down).

LADOT is bringing protected bike lanes and bus islands to a one-mile stretch of Central Ave in Watts.

 

State 

A California firm is working with Toshiba to improve the chemistry of ebike batteries to reduce charging times and the risk of battery fires.

A coalition of San Diego advocacy groups have endorsed Alternative D for the planned reconstruction of Park Blvd through Balboa Park, which calls for eliminating parking and installing bus lanes and a separated bike lane.

He gets it. A spokesperson for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition says the problem isn’t that ebikes are unsafe, it’s a wakeup call to how unsafe the roads are.

Anson Williams, the 72-year old actor who played Potsie in Happy Days back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, is running for mayor of Ojai on a platform that includes expansion of bike paths and trails. He’s got my vote.

This is who we share the road with. A UC Santa Barbara cop was busted for a drunken hit-and-run in Solvang earlier this month; fortunately, his only victim was a parked minivan. Thanks to Ted Faber for the link.

A San Jose homeowner says he’s spent $30,000 to construct reinforced barriers to stop out-of-control drivers, after 23 drivers have slammed into his home since the 680 freeway opened 50 years ago.

 

National

Next City offers more on the recent NACTO report suggesting that bike laws aren’t keeping bike riders safe, while leading to over-policing of people of color.

Cycling Tips offers a beginner’s guide to what matters most in selecting entry-level road and gravel bikes.

More than 2,100 Denver residents have received ebike rebate vouchers up to $1,700 since the program began in April; most putting their ebikes to good use, with around half riding them on a daily basis. On the other hand, California’s fully funded ebike rebate program remains in limbo, apparently awaiting a chilly day in hell. 

Congratulations to Nebraska, which is no longer the nation’s least bike-friendly state; that dishonor now goes to Wyoming, which is unfriendly to bikes and Cheneys, apparently.

Chicago Magazine talks with Christina Whitehouse, the founder of Bike Lane Uprising, an app allowing bike riders to log the location and submit photos of vehicles illegally parked in bike lanes.

No bias here. Chicago cops responded to a protest over drivers running red lights by changing the traffic signal to green for a full five minutes, stranding everyone waiting to cross the street.

A kindhearted Pittsburgh cop bought a new bike and helmet for an eight-year old girl, after firefighters weren’t able to save her bike from a fire at her grandmother’s house.

TMZ offers more information on the death of Ironman triathlete and Norristown PA cop Brian Kozera, who allegedly ran a stop sign on his bike and crashed into the side of a pickup, before being run over by the truck’s rear wheels. As always, the question is whether there were any independent witnesses to the crash, or if investigators are relying on the word of the driver.

 

International

If you’re looking for a new business opportunity, you could do worse than a solar-powered food ebike.

They get it. Calgary, Alberta is installing a bike lane to remove excess road space and slow speeding drivers.

Pilot protected bike lanes on one of Toronto’s busiest streets saw up to a 193% jump in ridership over a single year, while resulting in a less than one minute delay in motor vehicle traffic.

A seven-year old British boy became one of the youngest people to ride from Paris to London after his father was killed in an industrial accident, raising the equivalent of over $42,000 for bereaved children on the 200-mile journey.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker says a proposal to requite license plates on bicycles in the UK makes bicyclists the latest target in the culture wars. The proposed regulations are reminiscent of North Korea, where people are required to pass a bicycle proficiency test and display a metal license plate on their bikes; that country also bans women from riding bikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

For nearly two decades, we’ve been supposed to pretend Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis never won the Tour de France. Now we’re supposed to pretend Nairo Quintana didn’t have a top ten finish in the Tour last year, after UCI stripped him of 6th place for using the prohibited painkiller tramadol; Quintana denies ever using it, of course.

Ramona High School graduate Gwendalyn Gibson, class of 2017, became the only American to win a World Cup mountain bike race this year, after taking first in a West Virginia race last month.

In case you missed it yesterday, NPR offers a good look at gravel racing, and the sport’s emphasis on diversity and inclusion. Thanks to Lionel Mares for the reminder.

This week’s 2022 Para-Cycling Road World Championships somehow slipped under the radar, even as the US is making a good showing.

 

Finally…

Evidently, bike mechanics hate triathletes — and not just because they wear speedos, evidently. That feeling when American tourists have no idea why there are so many bicycles parked at European train stations; thanks to Erik Griswold for the tip.

And now you, too, can have your very own DIY beer stabilization system to avoid spilling your suds as you ride around Burning Man.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

This is the cost of traffic violence — Six innocent victims killed in fiery, high-speed Windsor Hills crash

August 5, 2022 / / 8 comments

Sometimes the news is so bad, I don’t even want to write about it.

Or anything else, for that matter.

That’s the case today, after six innocent people were killed, and eight injured, by a speeding driver who ran a red light in LA’s Windsor Hills neighborhood yesterday afternoon.

The driver, reported to be a traveling nurse in her 40s, was traveling at an excessive rate of speed when she blew through the stop light at La Brea and Slauson directly into heavy cross traffic.

One of the cars immediately exploded into a fireball, as witnesses described bodies and debris raining into a gas station on the opposite corner.

At least six vehicles were involved in the crash, with one victim found inside a burned-out car hours later.

The victims included a pregnant woman; both she and her baby were killed, along with another infant.

The injured included several other children, ranging in age from 13 months to 15-years old.

The driver was hospitalized with serious injuries, and being held in custody as she receives treatment. At least one report indicated she wasn’t tested for drugs or alcohol, because they wouldn’t have shown up after the emergency medications she received at the scene and in the ER.

As others have noted, the design of the wide, multilane intersection and straight roadways engineered for high-speed traffic have to be seen as major contributory factors, along with cars capable of exceeding the speed limit to such a degree.

The technology exists to reign in speeding drivers; we just refuse to use it. And fail to demand it.

On a personal note, I have only watched the video above a single time. But that’s all it took to burn it into my consciousness; I’ve been unable to stop seeing that image as it plays over and over in my head.

And with it comes a renewed sense of failure and despair. I’ve been working for safer streets for a decade and a half now, while others have struggled for much longer. We’ve all seen decades of promises from city officials to do something.

But it’s always too little, too late. If they do anything at all.

LA’s Vision Zero program will be seven years old later this month, just three years from that magic date when we were promised traffic deaths would be eliminated, once and for all. Instead, they have steadily increased, with bike riders and pedestrians paying a disproportionate cost.

La Brea was one of the the first streets identified as part of the city’s High Injury Network, and should have seen significant efforts to tame traffic violence.

Yet it has been allowed to languish as an over-designed, high-speed car sewer. And now six people have paid the price for that inaction in a single fiery incident.

Six innocent people.

We’re bound to hear more about it in the days to come, as city officials mourn the victims and make more promises that they will inevitably fail to fulfill.

I’m disgusted and angry with it all.

I hope you are, too.

We’ll be back on Monday with our usual Morning Links. But right now, I don’t even want to think about it.

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , , ,
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