Tag Archive for LADOT

Morning Links: LADOT releases three-year strategic plan, and GOP bill would require Vehicle Code on bike paths

January 5, 2018 / / 5 comments

LADOT released their strategic plan for the next three years.

The bicycling portion of the plan calls for filling in gaps in the bicycle network and a focus on first and last mile connections to transit, as well as improving connections to the LA River bike path, after the city installed just 26 miles of bike infrastructure last year.

LADOT shifted their measurements to lane miles a few years back, so in actuality, they only installed bikeways on 13 miles of roadway — far from the 40 miles a year we were promised in the 2010 bike plan. Those could also include sharrows and bike routes, further reducing their value.

And there’s no word on whether that 26 miles includes the bike lanes in Playa del Rey, which were ripped out after angry drivers cowed city officials into backing down.

The city will continue to focus on Vision Zero and the High Injury Network, so we may see some additional improvements there.

But it looks like anyone hoping LADOT and the City of Los Angeles would actually move forward with the multiple bicycle networks we were promised in the hard-fought bike plan, now part of the city’s mobility plan, will be very disappointed.

Then again, most of us would be happy with a single bike network that actually went somewhere.

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Get ready to signal your turns and ride to the right on bike paths.

Richard Masoner of Cyclelicious forwards word that Republican members of the state assembly have submitted a bill that impose the same vehicle code statutes that drivers are required to follow on anyone who rides a bicycle on any publicly maintained trail, road or bikeway.

In other words, if a driver has to pass a bicycle with a three-foot passing distance, so would you. If a driver has to signal a lane change — not that many do — you would, too. And if you rode off after colliding with someone, you could be charged with hit-and-run.

Of course, you’d also have to turn on your lights and windshield wipers if it rained, have windshield and side mirrors, and only leave the door of your bicycle open long enough to get in and out.

In other words, it’s a stupid law that would have ridiculous and unpredictable consequences.

Masoner suggests it might merely be a placeholder to meet the legislature’s cutoff date for introducing new bills, with the intention that it would be gutted and replaced with something different at a later date.

Although he notes it also appears to be a response to this case from Sacramento, where a runner was seriously injured in a collision with a man on a bike, who just rode off afterwards. And the local DA couldn’t figure out if the hit-and-run statutes applied to a crash on a bike path.

However, if that’s the case, then the proper response would be to specify that hit-and-run is hit-and-run, no matter where or how it occurs.

A heavy handed, scattergun approach like this is the worst possible way to go about it.

On the other hand, the GOP’s minority status in the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature means there’s almost no chance this bill will actually go anywhere.

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Today’s common theme is stolen bicycles.

The Davis police association teamed with a community church to buy a new recumbent tricycle for a local woman suffering from ALS, after hers was stolen Wednesday morning. And yes, there’s most certainly a special place in hell for whoever took her bike.

It takes a real jerk to steal an Aussie boy’s $2,000 mountain bike that he worked for two years to buy. On the other hand, his mom’s decision to leave it outside and unlocked while they went to diner wasn’t the brightest move, either.

And don’t even get me started on the kind of person who’d steal a vintage bike that an 88-year old British man had ridden since 1949.

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Local

Streetsblog is accepting votes for the advocate of the year through next Wednesday.

Doug Moore forwards the latest update on the MyFigueroa project, noting that work appears to have stalled out in recent weeks.

A passing mountain biker discovered a mobile home on fire in Castaic, where a woman’s body was found inside.

Santa Monica police will be running another bike and pedestrian safety operation today and Monday. Standard protocol applies: Ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits.

The LACBC’s popular Sunday Funday Ride rolls this Sunday with a mini food tour in Southeast LA.

 

State

Highway 101 could undergo a road diet in Carlsbad to make room for bike lanes and wider sidewalks.

WTF? A San Diego cop actually watches an elderly driver right hook a bike rider and then flee the scene, yet doesn’t bother to make an arrest. Seriously, why would anyone take hit-and-run seriously if the police don’t?

San Luis Obispo officials are debating which of two bike boulevard proposals to move forward with, while some residents prefer none of the above.

San Francisco officials and advocates discuss the city’s progress on Vision Zero.

A Bay Area paper lists nine unique bikes if you’re looking for an upgrade. As long as you’re very flexible on your definition of a bike.

A pair of Marin doctors got busted for illegally riding their bikes on prohibited trails, then trying to evade arrest; one of the men has a long history of riding outside the lines.

Sad news from Stockton, where a 60-year old bike rider was killed in a hit-and-run.

 

National

Bicycling offers advice on how to get a better bike butt.

Nothing like absolving a drunk of responsibility with passive language. An Oregon bicyclist is dead because a drunk driver “failed to negotiate a curve.”

Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagenize fame says Portland is “completely overrated as a bike city.”

Life is cheap in Washington, where a driver was sentenced to just three months of house arrest. Or as most people would call it, a staycation.

A Dallas-Fort Worth TV station says abandoned LimeBike dockless bikeshare bikes are turning into a bike apocalypse. Evidently, they have a very low standard for the end of the world in Texas.

Once again, bike riders are heroes. Participants in a frozen Chicago New Year’s Day ride saved the life of an elderly man who had apparently wandered off from a nursing home without a hat, coat or gloves in subfreezing temperatures. Thanks to J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.

Apparently, there’s nothing to stop drivers from taking a shortcut along a DC bike path.

A Florida DOT spokesman gets sharrows wrong, saying bike riders have the right to use the entire lane, but should ride to the right anyway. Sharrows actually indicate the proper lane positioning for people on bikes on lanes that are too narrow to safely share with a motor vehicle.

 

International

The CBC talks to Canadian frostbikers to discover why they like to keep riding through the winter, and whether cars and bikes can coexist on snowy streets.

A 27-year old London woman is committing to riding a bicycle again for the first time in 13 years, even though she’s afraid of riding around cars.

Scottish advocates are calling for all motor vehicles to be fitted with Intelligent Speed Adaptation, which can be set to keep drivers from speeding, though it can be overridden with the push of a button.

WTF? After an Irish bicyclist records himself being “bumped” by a driver, but the police say it wasn’t a collision.

Evidently, the courts aren’t any tougher on killer drivers in Ireland than they are here.

Irish biking groups complain about a Twitter poll run by the local police that asked if it was more dangerous for bicyclists to run red lights or vehicles to park in bike lanes; needless to say, the driving public overwhelmingly blamed the people on bikes.

Finland considers offering consumer subsidies for ebikes to encourage their use.

The war on bikes goes on, as one Australian rider is forced off the road by an angry driver, and another pushed off his bike after the man stops to yell at him following a punishment pass.

 

Competitive Cycling

A new BBC documentary looks at why cycling is more than a sport in Colombia.

You may soon be able to invest in the Chinese parent company behind the Ironman and Tour de Suisse.

America’s only remaining Tour de France winner says Chris Froome was a bad, bad boy and deserves to be punished.

Hundreds of cyclists turn out for a ride to honor Jason Lowndes; the rising young Australian was killed in collision while on a training ride just before Christmas.

Red Bull says cyclocross is the perfect winter biking pursuit.

 

Finally…

Lots of people try to steal their bikes back, just not from the police. Wayfinding is always more fun when it points the wrong way.

And now you, too, can ride in Patrick Swayze’s lightly worn cycling shorts.

 

Category: Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: New Mar Vista website, LADOT debuts micro-sweeper, and Caffe Luxxe hosts vintage bike exhibit

July 20, 2017 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: New Mar Vista website, LADOT debuts micro-sweeper, and Caffe Luxxe hosts vintage bike exhibit

LADOT has put up a website to keep track of updates on the Venice Great Streets project in Mar Vista.

Which should come in handy both to explain what’s going on and why, and to keep up with what promises to be an endless series of public meetings defending the project.

………

Speaking of LADOT, they unveiled their new micro-sweeper to remove debris from protected bike lanes, demonstrating it in the protected bike lane next to City Hall on Los Angeles Street.

Let’s just hope it’s powerful enough to suck up all the police cars that are usually parked in it.

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Just in time for the finale of the Tour de France, Santa Monica’s Caffe Luxxe is teaming with Helen’s Cycles to host an exhibition of rare vintage bikes starting today — July 20th, not January — through the end of September.

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LA County will host a safety training workshop for people walking and riding their bikes in the dangerous Florence-Firestone area this Wednesday.

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A writer for a Jewish magazine questions whether the legendary Italian racer Gino Bartali really saved Jews during WWII, despite his recognition as Righteous Among the Nations by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center’s Yad Vashem.

Michelle Sarfatti bases his refutation on Bartali’s famed reluctance to discuss his work during the war, and a problematic book written in the 1970s which was the first to claim Bartali had hidden forged identity papers in the frame of his bicycle to smuggle them past the Nazi’s.

Yet the Yad Vashem page cites Holocaust survivors whose identity papers were delivered by Bartali, and notes that he told his story to the daughter of the rabbi who founded the resistance network.

And the BBC reports that he told his story to his son in bits and pieces over the years, but made him promise not to tell anyone. A promise he kept until his father’s death.

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From ski jumper to Tour de France stage winner in just five years.

America’s only remaining Tour de France winner says Warren Barguil will be the next French Tour winner — once Chris Froome gets tired of winning it, that is. Although Rigoberto Uran has shown himself to be Froome’s most dangerous challenger this year.

Bicycling looks at the science behind those WTF areo tucks.

If you haven’t seen it yet, this is what racing 100-plus miles every day for three weeks does to your legs.

It’s a start. Spain’s Vuelta has eliminated the obligatory kisses from podium girls, and will have podium boys — aka hosts and hostesses — as well.

………

Local

Marketplace talks with the founder of LA-based Thousand, asking if a better looking helmet will keep people safer on their bikes. Short answer, probably not. Longer answer, only if it gets people who wouldn’t otherwise wear one to strap it on.

A professor at LA-based Concord Law School offer five steps to follow if you’re involved in a bicycle crash.

Cal Poly Pomona is finally fixing deadly Kellogg Drive to make it safer for people walking or riding bicycles, four years after student Ivan Aguillar was killed while riding his bike to campus, and 13 years after another student died walking in a crosswalk. Although the reason for fixing it has nothing to do with safety, of course.

The Montbello Bicycle Coalition is hosting a Thursday Night Ice Cream Ride tonight.

 

State

The Orange County Register’s David Whiting rides the Santa Ana River Trail, saying OC hikers and bike riders are giving up on it now that it’s become a linear homeless encampment.

La Palma is putting its cops back on bicycles, a decade after cutting the bike cop program due to budget cuts. Meanwhile, a police website explains why bike cops matter.

San Diego police are stepping up efforts to bust bike thieves using GPS-equipped bait bikes, making 109 arrests in three years — with 107 convictions. Yet the LAPD is still reluctant to give it a try, fearing accusations of entrapment.

An Escondido bike rider was injured, apparently seriously, when he was hit by a truck Wednesday morning.

In an effort to encourage bike tourism, Ventura has declared itself a Bicycle Friendly City, just two months after getting a bronze-level recognition from the Bike League.

A Bakersfield artist is holding an exhibition of artwork from a cyclist’s perspective.

Sad news from Oakland, where a 60-year old man was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike, and his companion injured; a third Bay Area bike rider was injured in another hit-and-run.

 

National

Bicycle Times considers the etiquette of passing on a busy bike path.

A Seattle writer insists smoking dope makes him a better cyclist, and wonders if it will help with swimming. Probably not. On both counts.

That didn’t take long. Just days after Oregon passed the first country’s first bicycle tax, an anti-tax Colorado state senator proposes a similar bill. Because nothing encourages a healthy, non-polluting, non-destructive form of alternative transportation like taxing it.

A new Utah study says invest in bicycling and walking to improve the state’s economic and physical health.

A Missoula newspaper provides an obituary of Dennis Bernard Sparrow, a noted 1980’s frame builder and member of the 1960s proto-punk band The Missing Lynx.

Bad enough that thieves in a passing car mugged a Lincoln NE man and stole his BMX bike, along with his cellphone and cash; they also stole his puppy.

A Chicago writer questions whether the city’s Vision Zero plan has enough teeth to achieve its ambitious goals. Which is the same question many of us are asking about LA’s plan.

Minneapolis police are looking for a bike rider who may have witnessed officers attempting to resuscitate the unarmed Australian woman the cops shot after she had called 911 to report a sexual assault.

A Kentucky pickup driver is a hero after rescuing a man who wrecked his bicycle and taking him to the ER.

A Philadelphia man was sentenced to 29 to 62 years behind bars for gunning down a 16-year old kid as he rode his bike, following a dispute three months earlier. If he’d used a car instead of a gun, he might be looking at 62 weeks, instead. Or maybe days.

Talk about going the wrong way. Atlanta is the latest city to rip out an apparently success bike lane — in this case one built with the support of REI and People For Bikes — and replaced it with parking.

A Florida woman testifies that her boyfriend convinced her to take the blame after he ran down a bike rider while driving on a suspended license.

 

International

Bike Radar lists five cycling debates that just won’t die, from headphone and helmets to doing the wave.

Canadian bicyclists are calling for a change in the law in Nova Scotia, where dooring a bike rider remains perfectly legal.

A UK letter writer says enforcing the equivalent of a five-foot passing distance will cause gridlock on the streets. Which is pretty much the opposite effect of what it’s had anywhere else.

South African cyclists are planning a ride calling for enforcement of a safe passing distance, and the prosecution of drivers who crash into bike riders. Proving that bicyclists face the same problem exist everywhere.

Cyclists in Sydney, Australia are complaining about cars parked in a bike lane, putting children at risk from oncoming cars when they have to ride into traffic to get around them. Proving once again that the same problems exist everywhere.

Caught on video: An Aussie cyclist is lucky to escape when a driver zooms across his path at the last second.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to steal a bicycle, try not to take it from the local DA. Two drivers collided on a Minnesota bridge, so it’s the drunk bike rider’s fault.

And this pretty well sums up the absurdity of the great LA road diet debate.

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

Morning Links: Petition to ban bikes on Mandeville, Mowery moves on, and LA leaders keep our streets dangerous

May 18, 2017 / / 6 comments

They just don’t get it.

Todd Munson forwards news of an online petition calling for a ban on bicycles on Mandeville Canyon and Westridge Roads in West LA.

Which as of early Thursday morning, had managed to collect a whopping 70 signatures — 44 of them anonymous.

Maybe someone should point out that an anonymous signature is the same as no signature at all. Which leaves just 26 people brave, and mistaken, enough to put their name where their mouth is.

Mistaken, because California law allows bicycles on any public roadway where motor vehicles are allowed, with the exception of some limited access highways.

Which means that the only ways to ban bicycles from those roads is to —

A) Change the state law;

B) Start a crowdsourcing campaign to raise the several million dollars it would take to buy the roadways from the city, and convert them into private streets; or

C) Ban all motor vehicles from the streets, requiring residents to walk up the steep hillsides to get to their homes.

Personally, I’m all in favor of the last option; if they want to get rid of bikes, they can give up their expensive cars and massive SUVs. At which point they’d complain about all the damn hikers clogging the streets.

Then again, there is one other option.

They could accept that the public roadways belong to the public, and that anyone who wants to use them is entitled to do so, for any reason, using any form of street legal conveyance. And then slow the hell down and learn to drive safely.

But that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

Which is not to say the people on bikes aren’t part of the problem.

We can all make a point to be more courteous and ride safely, and make room for others on the road to get by when it’s safe to do so.

Even if we’re the only ones who do it.

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Congratulations to Michelle Mowery on her new job with the City of Long Beach.

It was under her leadership as Senior Bicycle Coordinator for LADOT that Los Angeles was named a Bicycle Friendly Community in 2012.

She spent years struggling with LADOT’s notoriously auto-centric senior engineers — and often, the city’s more vocal bike advocates. But showed what she could do when she finally got the chance under former Mayor Villaraigosa.

Too bad the progress they made has come to a screeching halt since then.

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Here’s a must read from Curbed’s Alissa Walker, who asks why city leaders want to keep LA streets dangerous.

Meanwhile, LA transportation advocates call on Mayor Garcetti to keep his promise to use Measure M funds to improve safety on LA streets, accusing the city of backpedalling on Vision Zero.

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Bring a bike — or a helmet — and ride free on Metro buses and trains today.

And don’t forget tonight’s Bike from Work Handlebar Happy Hours, in Claremont, Downtown LA and Santa Monica, just to name a few. Just try not to be like the beer-toting guy at the bottom of this post.

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The highlight of the Giro so far: Belgian cyclist Victor Campenaerts asked out the woman of his dreams by writing a message on his chest before competing in Wednesday’s time trial; fortunately, she said yes, especially since he was fined the equivalent of $87 for “damaging the image of the sport.”

Cycling Weekly asks if Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin can hold the leader’s pink jersey all the way to the Giro’s finish in Milan.

Wednesday’s fourth stage of the Amgen Tour of California finished with a five man breakaway in Santa Clarita. The Daily News says today’s fifth stage Mt. Baldy finish will be a contest to see who has the best legs.

Heartbreaking news from San Jose, where a cyclist was killed just hours after posting a video from the Tour of California as he was riding on the same descent where Toms Skujins crashed during Monday’s stage 2; he went over his handlebars trying to stop when he encountered a fire truck coming uphill as he was descending on a narrow road.

Bicycling says pro cycling has to address the risk of concussion, like pro football is just beginning to do.

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Local

The LACBC offers advice on what to do if you get a ticket riding your bike. Which is timely advice, since the tone-deaf LA County Sheriff’s Department celebrated Bike Week by cracking down on bike riders in Malibu yesterday.

This is all it takes to commute to UCLA from Santa Monica by bicycle.

Damien Newton talks with Bike SGV education director Jose Jimenez about the county’s first bike traffic school.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever robbed a 72-year old Irwindale man at gunpoint as he rode his bicycle home from a doctor’s appointment, after cutting him off with their car.

Writing for the International Journal of Transportation Innovation, the LACBC’s Tamika Butler asks uneasy questions about the role of Vision Zero in a racist society, and whether the engineers and policy makers responsible for implementing it have the skills to rectify inequity in city planning.

 

State

Thousands are expected to take part in San Diego’s Bike to Work Day.

Two dozen riders turn out for the Ride of Silence in Riverside, joining riders from around the world.

KTLA-5 talks Bike Week with Jenson USA in Riverside.

Bike-friendly Redlands ups the ante by making plans for another 26 miles of bike lanes.

Caltrans plans to install green bike lanes on both sides of the exceptionally wide five lane main street through Joshua Tree. Not just to improve safety for bike riders, but to save the lives of pedestrians.

Bad news from Turlock, where a man on a bike was run down from behind by a pickup driver. Note to Turlock Journal: When someone is hit by a truck doing nearly 60 mph, it really doesn’t matter if he was wearing a helmet. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

 

National

A real estate website says yes, it is possible to live in the suburbs without a car.

A new nationwide insurance policy promises to provide liability coverage for bike riders anywhere in the US. Although here in California, your car insurance should cover you on your bike.

Blind Paralympic cyclist and Iditarod musher Rachael Scdoris-Salerno announces plans to run for Congress as an Oregon Democrat.

In yet another example of allowing dangerous drivers to remain on the road until they kill someone, an Oregon driver gets three and a half years for killing a bike rider, by driving with bald tires that caused his truck to fishtail in wet weather. He admitted to receiving somewhere between 30 to 40 tickets for driving with a suspended license, but would just buy another cheap used car when his got impounded.

Colorado passes a bill that will allow the state to suspend driver’s licenses drivers who flee the scene of an injury collision, regardless of whether they’re convicted. Which is something I’ve been advocating for years.

Slap, meet wrist. A Wisconsin woman was sentenced to 11 months behind bars for killing a bicyclist while texting — to be served one week a year on the anniversary of his death, apparently for the next 50 years.

Revenge is a dish best served cold when a squirrel makes you do a faceplant off your bike, as long as you’re a Chicago alderman.

Surprising no one, the NTSB concludes that the Kalamazoo crash that resulted in the death of five cyclists was due to a drugged driver, as a judge rules the driver’s prior DUI arrest can’t be used as evidence. The victims were remembered during Wednesday’s Ride of Silence.

Boston’s mayor says cyclists and pedestrians need to take more responsibility to avoid crashes, and “be more cognizant that a car is a car.” Because so many people who walk or ride bikes have no idea that getting hit by a car can hurt, apparently.

A Florida writer tells drivers to thank a cyclist. Or if they can’t manage that, at least put down their phones.

 

International

We missed Global Bike to Work Day by one week; riders logged 276,818 commutes on Strava, breaking the previous record by nearly 200,000.

Maybe there’s a forgotten network of 1930s separated bikeways here in the US, too.

Volvo’s LifePaint ad has been banned in the UK for misleading imagery; the reflective spray, which the company said works on any surface, was designed to work on dry textiles and fibrous materials, not bike frames, as the ad suggests.

Caught on video: Evidently, things are no different on the Emerald Isle than anywhere else, as an Irish cyclist records a 52-second highlight reel of punishment passes.

It took a bike thief just three seconds to make off with a Dublin bikeshare bike using a technique posted online.

Motorcycle legend Nicky Hayden was seriously injured in a bicycling collision in Italy on Wednesday, reportedly suffering severe head and chest trauma.

Adding insult to injury, a road-raging Kiwi driver tried to punch a bike rider and spit in his face after trying to ram him into a fence.

 

Finally…

If you have to get run down by an 80-something hit-and-run driver, at least make it a Rolls Royce. If you’re riding drunk and carrying a beer on your bike, try to avoid people driving at nearly four times the legal alcohol limit.

And our own Phil Gaimon reaches new heights in his Clif Bar commercial debut on Kimmel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDt05qM345A&feature=youtu.be

Category: Bike Access, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: New bike lanes go nowhere in Echo Park, and Laura Chick endorses Joe Bray-Ali in CD1

April 14, 2017 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: New bike lanes go nowhere in Echo Park, and Laura Chick endorses Joe Bray-Ali in CD1

The more I think about it, the madder I get.

Los Angeles took what appears to be a small step forward by installing bike lanes on dangerous Glendale Blvd in Echo Park as part of a repaving project over the weekend.

Three whole blocks, that is. With no plans to extend them in any direction.

In other words, yet another in LA’s dystopian non-network of disconnected bike lanes that don’t go anywhere or connect to anything.

They just are. Which may be very Zen. But it’s also just this side of worthless.

More troubling is why.

Why not extend bike lanes further south on Glendale to Downtown and north to Silver Lake? Apparently that would involve far more than restriping the road.

“Extending bike lanes north would require Caltrans involvement as [Glendale Boulevard] becomes a State Highway (Route 2) north of Berkeley,” Fremaux explained. “On either end, the existing width would not allow for the extension without removing lanes and/or parking. Exploring such an effort is not in our near-term workplan.”

Let that sink in.

They’re more than happy to install a bike lane as part of a repaving project, but only as long as it doesn’t inconvenience anyone.

As far as the city is concerned, your life and safety are less important than a parking space. Let alone your comfort and convenience on the road.

Which is the exact opposite of Vision Zero.

And the opposite of what cities like New York, Portland and Vancouver are doing by narrowing roads and removing parking spaces to make room for bike lanes. And resulting in not just better safety, but improved traffic flow, increased livability and better sales figures for businesses along the routes.

We expected better from Mayor Eric Garcetti and LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds. But until they’re willing to make the hard choices and stand up to local opposition and sometimes recalcitrant councilmembers, we’re not going to get it.

So we’ll have to settle for a disconnected non-network of three-block long bike lanes that don’t go anywhere.

Or protect anyone.

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Former city controller Laura Chick becomes the latest to endorse Joe Bray-Ali, saying “It’s important to have ethical and responsible leadership.”

Meanwhile, Jesse Creed offers lessons learned in his unsuccessful bid to unseat Paul Koretz in CD5.

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San Diego’s Jennifer Valente won her second world championship as part of the first place US team in the four-member women’s team pursuit.

Britain’s Team Sky is being investigated for violating the “no needles” rule, accused of injecting riders with an amino acid that aids muscle recovery.

A spectator may have deliberately tried to bring down Czech cyclist Zdenek Stybar at last weekend’s Paris-Roubaix.

Here’s your chance to get a spot on a pro cycling team. But only if you can beat another amateur rider in a head-to-head TV show competition.

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Local

USC removes bike racks and impounds eighty bicycles in preparation for next weekend’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books; students can get them back at no charge.

Brompton and Just Ride LA will hold a bike scavenger hunt in DTLA on the 30th.

June’s CicLAvia will roll through Glendale and Atwater Village.

CiclaValley says trucks are being banished from parking on Riverside Drive, which should make room for bicycles.

A writer for the Glendale News Press says the bicycle is man’s best inanimate friend. Meanwhile, financial writer Richard Reis calls it the ultimate money-saving device.

There’s an election in Pasadena next Tuesday for the last remaining seat on the city council between incumbent Andy Wilson, who supports the new Union Street cycle track and the coming bikeshare system, and challenger Phil Hosp, who complains about being stuck in traffic caused by the Gold Line.

Megan Lynch tweetstorms the story of nearly getting run over by a cyclist barreling down a South Pasadena sidewalk.

 

State

Cycling Weekly offers six reasons you should go cycling in California. Although the best one is it’s just outside your door.

A Santa Barbara paper looks at the success to Stinner Frameworks, which has grown from a local bikemaker to an internationally recognized brand.

It was a case of instant karma in Santa Rosa, when a driver who circled around to harass a bicyclist lost control of his car and crashed into a parked truck. Although someone should ask the Press Democrat what the hell difference it makes whether the bike rider was a transient.

Sad news from Fresno, where a bike rider was killed when a driver ran down his allegedly lightless bicycle from behind.

Tesla is paying employees to bike to work to deal with chronic parking overcrowding at their Palo Alto headquarters.

 

National

More Americans now work from home than bike and walk to work combined. Which is good for removing cars from the road, not so good for public health.

Ten things to do if you’re injured in a bike crash.

A new solar powered bike lock offers a double locking mechanism making it twice as hard to pick, and will notify you by Bluetooth if someone tries to break it.

A Montana paper says a state senator’s anti-bike campaign isn’t funny, and has already done damage to the state’s reputation.

Arkansas is the latest state to pass ebike legislation based on the California model.

Life is cheap in Michigan, where killing a member of the Triathlon Hall of Fame as she was riding her bike is only worth a lousy $3,000 fine.

A New York bike rider is asking a judge for a default judgment against the city’s former mayor after 89-year old David Dinkins refuses to sit for a deposition in the hit-and-run case.

A DC man has been charged with disobeying a traffic signal for killing a Kiplinger’s editor as she was crossing the street when he crashed his bike into her. He’ll be lucky if he avoids more serious, and possibly deserved, charges in the case.

New Orleans thinks twice after starting to remove a guerilla ghost bike sculpture installed on a median.

The last of Miami’s cocaine cowboys is one of us, too; Gustavo Falcon was busted while riding with his wife near Disney World after 26 years on the run.

 

International

Costa Rica’s state-owned bank is encouraging employees to bike to work, offering a bike parking area, lockers, and dressing rooms with showers.

A British man gets death threats after posting video of kids popping wheelies and riding with no hands, but at least one finger.

A new online tool shows how various factors can be changed to increase bicycling rates throughout the UK.

The UK’s Cyclist Magazine talks with London’s former cycling commissioner, who says the vast majority of road space is given to the least efficient users of it.

A new Singapore bikeshare company is offering a system that will award or deduct points based on rider behavior, which will determine how much they pay for their next ride.

 

Finally…

Actually, most elephants do look good in Lycra. It will be Lady Pippa next time she Races Across America.

And no, a mall is not a BMX track.

 

Category: Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Honoring #bikeLA’s successful women, Tour de Fat hates us, and Rail to River meeting tomorrow

March 22, 2017 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Honoring #bikeLA’s successful women, Tour de Fat hates us, and Rail to River meeting tomorrow

This one’s worth a listen.

The Cycle Feed podcast talks with our own Dorothy Wong, who walked away from Hollywood to become one of SoCal’s leading bike race organizers, and the driving force behind SoCal Cross.

And while we’re recognizing successful LA women, Grist honors LADOT’s Rubina Ghazarian and Metro’s Avital Shavit as part of the Grist 50 for their work getting LA on two wheels with the new Metro Bike bikeshare program.

………

The 2017 Tour de Fat schedule has been announced, with 33 stops throughout the US for the annual beer and bike festival.

But if you live in the LA area and want to attend, you’ll have to travel at least 120 miles, as they’re apparently avoiding Los Angeles like the plague. They’re making four California stops, with the closest one in San Diego on July 8th. Not to mention two in the Bay Area.

Seriously, was it something we said?

………

There will be a meeting in Huntington Park tomorrow to discuss plans for the awkwardly named Active Transportation Rail to River Corridor.

………

USA Cycling announces a new 12-race American Road Calendar; the only California race in the series will take place in San Dimas this weekend.

On the women’s side, USA Cycling has set a goal of becoming the number one women’s cycling nation in the world. But if they fail, they’ll probably feel like number two.

The head sprint coach for British Cycling makes an emotional appeal for organ donors as he discusses the liver transplant that saved his life. I’ve signed my donor card, though I’m not sure anyone would want my used parts anymore.

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Local

A 50-year old bike rider suffered unspecified injuries when he allegedly turned left into the path of a BMW in Glendale Friday afternoon; police concluded the victim was at fault. Let’s hope that’s based on something other than the statement of the driver involved.

Pasadena gets it. The Rose City has adopted a new Street Design Guide that focuses moving everyone, not just the people in cars, and “accommodate(s) all users such as pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit, skateboarders and scooters.”

Damien Newton talks with Monica Curiel of Bike SGV about the bike and pedestrian count planned for April 1st; volunteers are needed throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

The Long Beach Grand Prix course opens to the non-motorized public for a brief time next Tuesday with a mini Beach Streets-style ciclovía.

 

State

Jason Roy Rocha was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter, evading police and hit and run with permanent injury after fleeing the Sunday morning crash that killed Encarnacion Salazar Munoz as he rode his bike home from work in Anaheim. The OC DA takes traffic crimes like this very seriously; with a little luck, Mr. Rocha can look forward to a long time behind bars.

The recent $4.85 million settlement with a man who was injured while riding his bike on the sidewalk could lead to changes in how San Diego sidewalks are maintained.

Ventura County gets $3.3 million in grants for three active transportation projects.

The San Luis Obispo paper calls on SLO County to spend the money to add another 4.4 miles a popular bike trail.

More bad news from NorCal, where a man on a bike was killed in collision in West San Jose; no details are available. Al Williams fills in some of the details, reporting the crash occurred near his home on a four lane street with bike lanes and a 35 mph speed limit; he says there was a Porsche with a broken windshield stopped on the side of the road when he went by.

San Francisco gets new ferry boats with room for 50 bikes. And a lot of people, too.

 

National

No, really. Scofflaw cyclists don’t break the law more than anyone else.

PlacesForBikes Michael Andersen asks if women riders are really more risk averse, or just more honest about admitting their fears.

The Robb Report shares a first-person view of one of their staff members wiping out on an ebike. Repeatedly.

Bicycling seems to have a bit of a donut obsession lately.

The Idaho mountain biker who was shot and killed by police last week for threatening dog owners with a gun on a local trail was well known and liked at the local bike co-op.

A Montana physician says the bike-hating senator who wants to ban bicycles from state highways is wrong.

My hometown newspaper looks at the pain grieving families feel over the light sentences given killer drivers. And tips are running out in the investigation into a series of apparently random shootings in the area two years ago that took the life of a popular cyclist, along with another man.

Houston is prepared to pass a new bike plan, even though critics complain it goes too far to “appease a vocal cadre of cyclists.”

The stoned driver who killed five cyclists in the Kalamazoo massacre will reportedly plead insanity.

A Wisconsin man purchased a billboard to ask drivers to watch for cyclists in memory of his wife, who was killed while riding a year ago today.

New York is getting more serious about Vision Zero, as the city gets ready to break ground on safety improvement projects throughout the five boroughs, including more protected bike lanes.

DC could soon pay commuters to leave their cars at home. California has a similar law allowing employers who subsidize parking to offer employees the chance to cash-out their parking space and take alternative transportation instead.

A Charlotte NC cop only realizes he hit a salmon cyclist when saw his broken side mirror. But if he never saw the victim, how did he know he was riding the wrong way?

In another North Carolina crash involving law enforcement, a bike rider was killed in a collision with a state police officer after allegedly running a red light, while the driver was only doing 23 mph. Funny how it always seems to be the other guy’s fault when a cop gets in a crash.

 

International

Bike Radar asks if a new series of mixtes from Brit bikewear maker Vulpine are the ultimate urban bikes.

Sad news from Costa Rica, where the fourth victim of a hit-and-run driver has died, seven weeks after her riding companions were killed at the scene; the driver turned himself in only after police discovered his car.

The Guardian’s Peter Walker dives head first into the great helmet debate, saying that while he wears one most of the time when he rides, “you don’t make cycling safe by obliging every rider to dress up as if for urban warfare.”

Caught on video: An English bike rider comes to blows with a driver who reportedly blocked his path. Seriously, drivers can be jerks, but violence only makes a bad situation worse. 

A London bike rider is on trial for beating a man to death with his bike lock, when he and his friends followed the victim after a dispute in a chicken stand.

The strongman president of Turkmenistan is one of us, too.

A former South African rugby player got seriously banged up in a solo fall.

Trucks hauling dirt from a Melbourne rail tunnel currently under construction will be fitted with protective sideguards to protect bicyclists. Sideguards have been proven to improve safety and save lives; all commercial trucks should be required to have them installed, including here in the US.

Apparently there’s nowhere that cyclists can ride without some people complaining. Like the Aussie rider who was assaulted by a man who told him to “cycle on the road” — while he was riding in a velodrome. Yes, a velodrome.

Fortune says China’s app-based bikeshare model doesn’t make any sense, despite the investor funds that are pouring in.

 

Finally…

Yes, it looks beautiful, but how does it ride? If you’re going to rob a gas station with a toy gun, try not to ride your bike into a pole when you make your getaway.

And here’s your chance to catch up on the best bike vs animal videos, including the infamous zombie kangaroo herd.

Category: Bike Events, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Angry DASH driver tries to run rider off road, and endorsement for Pasadena city council

February 22, 2017 / / 3 comments

Apparently, a LADOT DASH bus driver is in need of some serious retraining.

Or the city might find itself on the hook for violating the its own bicyclist anti-harassment ordinance.

Or worse.

Thanks to Michael MacDonald for the heads-up.

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Bike the Vote LA continues their run-up for the March 7th election by endorsing Andy Wilson for Pasadena’s city council district 7.

Meanwhile, the Burbank Leader reports on the Burbank city council forum, where one of the candidates actually called for better bike infrastructure.

………

Lance says he loved wearing the US Postal Service uniform and hearing the national anthem played when he won, and being sued by the feds can’t take that away. Although they could take everything else.

Interesting piece from Cycling Weekly, as they look at ten racing inventors that changed cycling, with a few names you might know like Campagnolo and Cinelli.

VeloNews looks at the recent renaissance in French cycling, while Cycling News looks back at cycling’s “decadent” decade of the 1990s.

You may soon need a ticket to watch your favorite cyclists compete, as Belgian cycling promoters consider charging fans to watch the race.

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Local

A Covina bike rider was injured in what police believe was a gang-related shooting.

The Press-Telegram discusses the ebike expo coming to Long Beach this weekend.

Help restock books in the Silver Lake area on the monthly Street Librarians Ride this Sunday.

 

State

Richard Masoner of Cyclelicious offers a review of bike-related legislation in the state legislature, including the possible elimination of the ride-to-the-right law we discussed yesterday, and an actual bipartisan bill to legalize the Idaho Stop — a term Masoner helped popularize — in California. The only thing more shocking than the Idaho Stop actually being considered in California is the concept of Democrats and Republicans actually working together to pass it.

A Newport Beach bike rider suffered life-threatening injuries when he was apparently rear-ended by the driver of an SUV. Thanks to Lois for the link.

Sacramento police are looking for a bike-riding knife-bearing bike path robber.

Mountain View considers whether a 15 mph speed limit is too high — or too low — on a popular bike and pedestrian trail.

A Marin columnist contends mountain bikers who want to force the county to open all trails to bikes are acting like spoiled children.

Redding police identify the bike-riding victim in last week’s traffic shooting; the case is still under investigation, even though it’s being described as self-defense.

 

National

Friendship Circle is sponsoring their 6th annual adaptive bike giveaway program for kids and teens with special needs.

A new study from the University of Duh says improving cardiovascular fitness may help extend your life. And here we all thought sitting on your couch eating Cheetos and watching TV was the key to outliving all your friends.

Tragic news from Arizona, where a bike rider is dead in an apparent road rage shooting after arguing with a driver and his passengers.

A bill in the Iowa legislature would force drivers to change lanes to pass bike riders, while requiring bicyclists to use front and rear lights at all times — even in broad daylight — while a competing bill would require riders to display a slow-moving vehicle flag.

Kindhearted Oklahoma firefighters replace a small boy’s bicycle after his was destroyed in a collision with a pedestrian.

A Boston man describes his decision to keep riding after doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in and around his lower spine.

New York police confiscate two bikes from teenage cyclist accused of riding recklessly. Too bad that doesn’t seem to apply to reckless drivers, who just get a ticket — if that — and get sent on their way.

Good read from a Gotham website, which says Vision Zero only works when victim blaming stops and accountability starts.

A Savannah GA writer says traffic fatalities are the real American carnage, even if they weren’t mentioned in the inaugural address.

A quintet of bike-riding NASCAR drivers promote bike safety before turning their attention to qualifying for the Daytona 500.

A Florida woman gets 22 years behind bars for intentionally running over her bike-riding friend. Makes you wonder what she’d do to someone she didn’t like.

 

International

Caught on video: Nothing like standing on the pedals of your fixie with your fluffy white cotton tail bouncing in the breeze.

Caught on video too: A Brit woman responds to catcalls from a van driver by ripping off its wing mirror, then just rides away. Or maybe not.

Caught on video three: This is what it looks like to be sideswiped by a passing van.

It’s been too long since we checked in with Scotland’s Town Mouse, who gives one more reason you otter ride a bike.

A Kiwi bike rider urges drivers to just look, already.

A Chinese writer tells his countrymen to stop creating bikeshare companies.

A new study suggests the implementation of a minimum passing distance in Australia’s Queensland state isn’t having a significant effect on the amount of harassment bicyclists experience.

We can’t seem to get away from Malaysia this week.

 

Finally…

We may have to deal with SoCal drivers, but at least we don’t have to ride in front of runaway bulls — although we do have to contend with machetes. Yes, blowing through red lights and clipping a cyclist while driving on just three tires was probably a very bad idea.

And hi-viz may not be necessary, but some clothing is usually recommended.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Bike Cam Video, Car vs Bike, Road Rage / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Vision Zero Action Plan released, bike riders behaving badly, and why our streets stay dangerous

January 27, 2017 / / 2 comments

Through the end of this month, BikinginLA is supporting local bike shops and other small businesses in the bike industry by offering deep discounts on our usual advertising rates. For more information, or to find out if your business qualifies, email the address on the Support and Advertising page.

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It was a surprise announcement.

And both heartening, and a little disappointing.

Word broke Thursday morning that LA’s Vision Zero Alliance had finally released its long-awaited Action Plan, explaining how the plan to reduce traffic fatalities by 20% by the end of this year, and eliminate them entirely by 2025.

While the report hits all the appropriate notes, it’s a little short on specifics.

For instance, it talks about the need to reduce speeds to drive down LA’s worst in the nation traffic death rate, but doesn’t actually commit to reducing speed limits to 20 or 25 mph, as other major cities have done. And it discusses working to change laws at the state level, without stating whether they will fight to remove the deadly 85th percentile law that drives up speeds and destroys livability — not to mention survivability — on city streets.

However, there are a few specific actions we can follow to verify that the plan is on track:

Vision Zero means designing a street network that is safe for all modes. The City will:

Install live-saving improvements on the priority corridors and intersections along the High-Injury Network, such as optimizing four-hundred traffic signals and redesigning at least twelve miles of City streets every year to accommodate safe transportation for all.

Update 100 percent of the expired speed surveys on the priority corridors by the end of 2017.

Update all City street-design standards used by the Bureau of Public Works, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of City Planning to be consistent with the National Association of City

Unanswered is whether the city will address the chronic understaffing problems at LADOT so they actually have the capability to work on Vision Zero, without throwing the hard-fought Mobility Plan out the window.

Some of those bicycling deaths could be prevented simply by building out the low-stress network of Bicycle Friendly Streets called for in the plan, giving riders a safer and more comfortable alternative to riding busier streets.

Also unanswered is how they will solve the problem of recalcitrant councilmembers who attempt to block desperately needed safety improvements in their districts, as Gil Cedillo and Paul Koretz have already done.

Not to mention LA’s rampant NIMBYism, which rises up to oppose virtually any changes on our streets, especially if there’s the slightest suspicion it might slow traffic down.

Which is pretty much the point.

Here’s what LA Curbed’s Alissa Walker and Streetsblog’s Joe Linton have to say on the subject.

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Today’s common theme, bike riders behaving badly.

Probably not the best idea to park your bike in front of a Palo Alto police station with a can of Colt 45 instead of a water bottle.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo police are looking for a butt-slapping bike rider who assaulted two women on campus in less than a week. Chances are, it’s not the same jerk who’s been assaulting English women in the same fashion for the last month.

Canadian police are looking for a bike-riding man who tried, and failed, to break into a business with a rock.

The Austrian man who was busted for trying to ride naked into a hotel in eight degree weather says he was trying to impress a girl. Although getting fired from his job as a pastry chef at the hotel probably isn’t the way to do it. And someone should explain to him about shrinkage.

A Pennsylvania bike rider was apparently under the influence when he was killed by a 17-year old driver; the victim had a water bottle filled with booze, and a dope pipe in his pocket.

University of Florida students are unnerved by a man riding his bike around campus wearing a swastika. Sometimes bike riders are the bad guys. And sometimes they’re just assholes. But even assholes have a constitutional right to be one.

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Life is cheap in North Carolina, where a distracted driver gets a whole 75 days in jail for killing a cyclist while apparently checking his email.

But not as cheap as Illinois, where a drunk driver cops a plea for killing a man who was riding his bike home from work, in exchange for a whopping ten days behind bars. Ten effing days. Thanks to J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.

And a three-time Brit traffic serial killer gets his suspended license back three years early because it’s an inconvenience to his family. It was probably pretty inconvenient for the families of his victims, too.

And then we wonder why nothing ever seems to stop the carnage on our streets.

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Nice to hear from Michael Wagner of CLR Effect, who offers news from LA County’s too often neglected Eastside.

Even if the news isn’t exactly what we want to hear.

Like the bad news that yet another local bike shop is going out of business, as the popular Coates Cyclery is closing is doors. And this time, it’s his LBS. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the first link.

He also sends word that there will be a clean-up day on Glendora Mountain Road Sunday, February 5th to pick up the trash left behind by the people who travel it. Not all of whom are in cars.

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The 3rd annual Night on Broadway will take place this Saturday, with over 60,000 people expected to celebrate with free events and music on DTLA’s main street; there will be a bike valet, so you can leave your car at home.

Santa Monica Planning is hosting a ride with SaMo’s mayor this Sunday. LA mayor Eric Garcetti agreed to ride with bicyclists when he was running for office four years ago, but to the best of my knowledge, no one has bothered to ask him to do it. Which should be a big hint to the LACBC, the BAC, LADOT…

Also on Sunday, community coalition Si Se Mueve is holding a free community bike ride through Northeast LA.

Yet another Sunday event, as Walk Bike Glendale is sponsoring their first Women’s Ride of 2017.

Finishing up a very busy Sunday, Black Kids on Bikes is holding a free bike tune-up session, followed by a freedom ride.

And one last reminder about the LACBC’s rescheduled Ask An Officer panel discussion on Monday in DTLA. Thanks to Kent Strumpell for the link.

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A Welsh Olympic gold medalist says there’s still a lot of sexism in cycling, but it’s not blatantly obvious. And the fluffy music played at women’s races doesn’t help.

NPR talks with the filmmaker behind Icarus, an amateur cyclist who filmed himself doping, only to accidently uncover the Russian doping scandal.

US Cycling membership now includes legal benefits, including a free consultation, reduced legal fees, and priority consideration for pro bono legal representation. Although virtually any bike lawyer will offer a free consultation.

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Local

The LA Times looks at bike trends for 2017, from comfort bikes and ebikes to lighted helmets and ultra bright headlights.

Speaking of the Times, they make the bizarre claim that ebikes may be the greenest form of transportation in human history. They’re a great alternative to driving, but it’s ridiculous to claim ebikes are greener than bicycling or walking.

If Elon Musk is building a tunnel in LA, can we ask him to put in a bike lane?

An editorial in USC’s Daily Trojan calls California’s ban on headphones for bike riders a new, overbearing law. Except the law only prohibits wearing headphones in or on both ears, rather than one. And it’s not new. Wearing headphones in both ears has been illegal for years, just as it is for drivers; all that changed with the new law was to eliminate loopholes to include any form of headphones or earpieces.

This Wednesday is the deadline for Santa Clarita high school seniors to apply for a college scholarship in honor of fallen cyclist, musician and teacher Rod Bennett.

Long Beach is looking for a Mobility and Healthy Living Programs Officer. They had me right up to the healthy living part.

Let’s face it. CiclaValley is probably having more fun than the rest of us these days.

 

State

Momentum Magazine previews April’s Sea Otter Classic at the famed Laguna Seca raceway in Monterey, calling the world’s premier cycling festival.

San Jose’s Good Karma Bikes helps teens learn how to keep their bikes in good working order while teaching job skills.

Fresno puts off a vote on the city’s new Active Transportation Plan that would add 950 miles of bike lanes, routes and trails.

 

National

The founder of Justin’s nut butters is one of us, too.

Bicycling reviews the warmest clothes for winter riding. And they list six epic bike events you probably don’t know about, including two in California.

Heartbreaking story from Texas, as cyclists react to the hit-and-run death of a 19-year old racer; his own mother found his body and mangled bike after he didn’t come home from a ride. Thanks to Shannon for the tip.

A recent Rutgers University study concludes that concerns about racial profiling are a barrier to bicycling in communities of color. It’s not just their imagination; blacks are more likely to be stopped and ticketed by police in northern cities, as well as in the deep south. And from what I’ve heard, that goes for black and Latino riders in SoCal, too.

A New Jersey paper recommends renting a bike when you travel to Europe, rather than trying to take yours with you.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Chattanooga national masters champ is doing back-to-back 75-mile rides to celebrate his 75th birthday.

 

International

Cycling Weekly lists eight reasons you should talk your friends into bicycling. They also list six “essential” tips for losing weight by bicycling, all of which you could figure out on your own.

Seventy-one percent of people responding to an online poll in one Canadian town think winter bicycling should be banned; one bighearted driver thinks running over a cyclist could provide extra traction on icy streets.

Toronto ups the ante for the combination of a coffee shop and bike shop by throwing in an art gallery, too.

London’s police department is going to put undercover cops on bikes to bust drivers making dangerous passes; they want to send the message that anyone on a bike could be a cop. We’ve been trying to talk the LAPD into trying that for years, but without success so far.

Britain sets aside £300 million — the equivalent of $376 million — for bicycling, then spends it on other things.

An Irish cyclist tries to reassure local businesses that bike lanes and parking can coexist, and that bike riders shop, too.

In a truly bizarre case, Dutch police have filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice against a UN lawyer from Jamaica who claimed she had been brutalized by cops who arrested her when she got off her bike and walked it across a busy street.

Who needs a mountain when you’ve got a parking garage? Adelaide, Australia cyclists compete in their own indoor hill climb. Thanks to Adam Ginsberg for the news.

Bangladeshi bicyclists set a new world record for the longest single-file line of moving bicycle traveling together, with 1,186 riders. Even that’s probably not enough to convince some drivers it’s better to let cyclists ride abreast.

 

Finally…

If you have to ask a Tostitos bag if you’re too drunk to drive, you’re too drunk to drive. Better stick to IPAs; the beer you drink could say you’re likely to have your bike stolen.

And this is what happens when a town gets serious about promoting bicycling, without getting too serious.

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Thanks to Todd Rowell for his generous donation to support this site. Donations are always welcome to help us bring you the best, freshest and most accurate bike news in this post-truth era of alternate facts and fake news.

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

Morning Links: Road rage assault in San Diego County, and LAPD looking for shooter of Echo Park bike rider

October 27, 2016 / / 3 comments

Come back later today when we’ll have a guest post from Mr. CiclaValley himself as he talks with Toluca Lake resident and pro cyclist Phil Gaimon about next weekend’s inaugural Malibu Gran Cookie Fondo.

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This is who we share the roads with.

San Diego’s 10News reports a road raging driver intentionally knocked a local radio host off his bicycle as he was escorting a disabled cyclist on the Coast Highway in Carlsbad, just a few miles from the end of the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s 620-mile Million Dollar Challenge.

As the rider worked to make it up a small hill, an impatient driver began honking his horn, despite a support van warning cyclists were ahead. So KOGO host Bob “Sully” Sullivan rode back to explain that his riding partner was a paraplegic using a handcycle to get up the hill.

“‘We’ve gone 590 miles, give me 90 seconds, I’ll have him up and over this grade, you can be on your way,'” Sullivan said he told the man. “Completely agitated, he says to me, ‘I don’t care if it’s f-ing God up there. Get out of the f-ing road.'”

Sullivan said that’s when he stopped talking to the man and got back on his bike. The truck’s driver accelerated and hit Sullivan’s bike, causing him to fall to the roadway.

Yet despite the presence of an off-duty Carlsbad cop riding in the opposite direction, no charges have been filed.

“I think he needs to be arrested,” Sullivan said. “Somebody who purposely hits somebody on a bicycle using his car is either assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, at the very least shouldn’t be driving a car right now.”

Seriously.

Thanks to Todd Munson for the heads-up.

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The LAPD is asking for the public’s help in finding the person who shot and killed a bike rider in Echo Park last week; 37-year old William Perea was hit with gunfire as he rode at Mohawk and Montana the night of October 17th.

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LADOT says safety remains the top priority on the LA River bike path, as they remind both walkers and bike riders about the statutes governing the pathway and the need to share it safely, in the wake of a collision with a bicyclist that sent an elderly woman to the hospital.

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Equity is the common theme of the day.

Momentum Magazine looks at the nationwide movement to build greater equity in bicycling.

People for Bikes says the massive racial wealth gap is a major barrier to bicycle use, noting that a bike can’t save you money if you don’t have enough to buy one.

And Curbed looks at the speech given by the LACBC’s Tamika Butler that brought down the house at last month’s NACTO conference.

The LACBC deserves a lot of credit for starting this conversation, even before Butler came on board, with its outreach to lower income immigrant communities in the last decade. Along with notable presentations at the National Bike Summit that marked the bike coalition as a national leader on the subject.

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Don’t forget to vote for LA Bike Trains and SAFE (Streets Are For Everyone) for this year’s LA2050 challenge grants; voting ends tomorrow.

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Local

KCET discovers the delicious marriage of bicycling and desserts that is Sweet Ride USA, with new episodes appearing online every Wednesday through November 16th.

KPCC discusses solutions to the first mile/last mile problem for transit users.

The Westwood Village Improvement Association discusses how to improve business and better serve the surrounding community. Oddly, making it safer to walk and bike there doesn’t seem to be an option, even though both would benefit the Village’s long suffering businesses.

Pasadena’s bikeshare system is expected to open next July as the Metro Bike system expands northward; the system is expected to have 400 bikes at 34 docking stations around the city.

The new and improved Agoura Road, complete with shiny new bike lanes, opens in Agoura Hills after a year of construction.

Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson recounts Tuesday’s civil obedience protest ride and lengthy council session in Palos Verdes Estates in his own inimitable style.

 

State

Hats off to OC’s Special Spokes and the San Clemente Rotary for providing special-needs kids with adaptive bicycles. With all the negativity this election year, it’s nice to see people working to make a real difference in kids lives.

A Clovis driver faces up to a year in jail for fatally rear-ending a bike rider last April.

An unidentified man was shot and killed as he rode his bike in Fresno Tuesday night; police are unsure if the shooting was gang-related.

 

National

There’s a special place in hell for someone who would steal a bicycle on loan to a vet from Ride 2 Recovery so he could ride across the US with his dog, who’s suffering from terminal cancer. And in my hometown, no less.

Bike lawyer Bob Mionske writes about a new Close Call Database allowing bike riders to report punishment passes from angry motorists to establish a paper trail in case the driver does it again. Or worse.

A Texas rider says learn to ride safely and obey the law, or don’t ride at all.

A Maine newspaper says the technology for today’s carbon fiber bicycles got its start in the state with Aegis Bicycle, but the company couldn’t hold out against increasing competition and the demand for ever lighter frames.

New York tells cyclists and pedestrians to make themselves more visible, and drivers to pay more attention, in advance of the end of daylight savings time next month. Meanwhile, a new proposal would allow bike riders to get a head start at traffic signals by going with the walk signal for the leading pedestrian interval.

Who was that masked man? A Bronx bike rider is a hero after retrieving a woman’s stolen purse, then riding off before she could thank him. No word on whether he left a silver bike chainlink behind.

Philadelphia police arrested a 17-year old boy in the shooting of a Good Samaritan who got off his bicycle to try to stop an armed robbery; he faces charges including attempted murder and aggravated assault.

Bikes and dogs are now officially banned from Arlington National Cemetery.

A Charleston writer says the city deserves the distinction of being called America’s worst city for bicycling.

 

International

You know Calgary has a lot of bike riders when the city’s bike counter gets maxed out with 68 days still left in the year.

Ella Cycling Tips offers advice on how to recover mentally from a bicycling crash.

Life is cheap in Belize, where champion cyclist Marlon Castillo is fined just $13,000 for the careless driving collision that killed his friend.

Ottawa police release a new PSA campaign explaining how to use and drive around the city’s new bike box and bi-directional bike lanes.

Caught on video: A British cabbie clips a cyclist with his mirror, then launches into a foul-mouthed temper tantrum claiming the rider somehow hit him. And yet some actually question who was in the right.

Tom Cruise is one of us, as he reportedly rides through the English countryside with his new girlfriend.

A Brit cyclist born with just one arm is raising funds to buy a prosthetic arm so he can compete in the Paralympic Games; a Go Fund Me account has raised a little more than half of the £7,500 goal, the equivalent of $9157.

A nine-year old cyclist may be a better climber than most of us, topping Italy’s famed Mt. Ventoux and Stelvio climbs in under 48 hours.

An Aussie writer says Sydney needs to focus less on fining bike riders and more on building some decent infrastructure for them.

A German cyclist survives a night in the snake and crocodile-infested Australian wilds after taking a header over his handlebars and dislocating is shoulder.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to use a bicycle to make your getaway after stealing a bag-full of booze, try not to ride into a lamppost. Why settle for a mere sag wagon when you can have your very own bike butler?

And in LA we have police chases; in London, it’s investment bankers biking away from bobbies.

 

Category: Car vs Bike, Morning Links, Road Rage, Violence & Crime / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Goodbye and thank you to Michelle Mowery, and improvements and closures on LA River bike path

October 21, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Goodbye and thank you to Michelle Mowery, and improvements and closures on LA River bike path

Bittersweet news from LADOT, as longtime bicycle and active transportation coordinator Michelle Mowery announced today that she is leaving for a position with the mayor’s office, focusing on the LA River Bike Path.

On  Monday, October 24th, I will be beginning a new assignment with Mayor Garcetti’s LA Riverworks Team to focus on the Los Angeles River Bicycle Path.  While I am excited about working full-time on the River; it will be very, very difficult to leave my home at LADOT.  I will miss working with all of you on projects that have, and continue, to make bicycling more accessible in the City of Los Angeles.

The last 22 years with the City have been the most exciting and fulfilling of my 39 years in public service.  I can’t tell you all how wonderful it has been to see cycling established a real means of transportation in Los Angeles.  I will miss many of you as I shift my focus in the City but expect to continue to see you in my efforts on behalf of the River.  It has been my greatest pleasure to serve the City as a transportation professional on two wheels.

Thank you all for your cooperation and support over the years.

When I first got involved in bike advocacy efforts in Los Angeles, I found myself loosely allied with a group of advocates who blamed Mowery for the city’s decades of failure to do anything to protect the safety of bicyclists, and who made it their not-so-secret goal to have her fired.

I resisted those efforts, to the point that I found myself ostracized and attacked because I questioned whether she was really to blame.

And openly wondered what she could do with the actual backing of the city, instead of the old school, auto-centric senior LADOT engineers, who have since retired or otherwise moved on, squashing her every effort.

I think the last several years have more than answered those questions.

Since bicycling first received the attention and backing of the mayor’s office during the Villaraigosa administration, Los Angeles has installed hundreds of miles of bike lanes, including the city’s first parking and curb protected bike lanes, as well as an actual bike network in Downtown LA.

Under her tenure, Los Angeles was named a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists for the first time in 2012. And made Bicycling Magazine’s biannual list of the country’s best cities for cycling, currently checking in at a lofty 24.

Which is not to say we don’t still have a long way to go. It only takes a few hours riding the mean streets of Los Angeles to realize just how inadequate LA’s bicycling infrastructure is for a car-centric city this size.

But it made huge leaps under Mowery’s guidance, once she was finally allowed to do her job.

We owe her a big round of thanks for sticking in there and doing the best she could when the job was impossible, and she was the focal point for every cyclist angry over everything that didn’t get done.

And showing us all what this city could be once she was given the chance.

………

The LA Weekly takes a surprisingly even-handed look at the call for banning bikes on the LA River Bike Path through Elysian Valley, in the wake of an elderly woman who was seriously injured in a crash with a bike rider.

Not to mention they have the good taste to quote yours truly.

The story notes that that someone placed an illegal, DIY sign at the entrance to the path reading “Bike Path Closed,” which was largely and justifiably ignored.

Meanwhile, LA Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell says the city will be making safety improvements to the path to notify riders to slow down or dismount in areas with a high level of pedestrians.

As well as increasing police presence on the path. Which is something bike riders, as well as pedestrians, have long called for.

Although the call to dismount is highly questionable. Especially since people somehow seem to manage sharing the path on the far more crowded beachfront bike path.

And it should be noted, as we mentioned here yesterday, that the rider stopped and cooperated with police following the crash.

Although none of it may really matter now, since the bike path is once again being closed for the winter, for reasons that have yet to be explained.

………

The LACBC’s Zachary Rynew, aka Mr. CiclaValley in his off-duty hours, sends word about the organization’s new team kit, which is available for preorder right now.

LACBC’s 2017 Kit is now for sale by preorder for a limited time until October 30th. To support the local cycling community, LACBC collaborated with L.A.-based collective superdomestik on design and California-based manufacturer Voler on production.

Go to LACBC’s Facebook Page to find out how you can win gear and go to the team store to purchase from the 2017 collection.

lacbcfsprosq

………

USA Cycling announces the Pro Road Tour racing schedule for next year. The tour comes to California just twice, in April and May, for the Dana Point Gran Prix and the Redlands Bicycle Classic.

………

Local

CD1 city council candidate Josef Bray-Ali writes about how to get the people who ride for fun to join forces with people who ride for transportation, and make the city more bike-friendly without additional funding.

Police are looking for a bike-riding gunman who shot and killed a man in San Fernando Thursday night.

The Santa Monica College student newspaper looks at last weekend’s CicLAvia in the Heart of Los Angeles.

Metro is sponsoring a free Bicycle 101 class at the El Monte bike Hub.

 

State

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a four-wheel, surrey-style bike from a school for autistic children in San Diego.

Authorities are looking for the heartless coward who hit a young child in Victorville as he was riding his bike and left him lying in the street; the boy may have suffered serious head trauma in the hit-and-run collision.

The new bikeway over half of the San Francisco Bay is finally expected to open this Sunday.

Chico approves a free citywide bike registration system, while a 93-year old Chico man remains in critical condition eleven days after he was hit by SUV while driving his bike.

 

National

CityLab urges you to ride with a boombox on your bike instead of headphones, so you can annoy more people with your excellent taste in music. However, it may take some practice to develop the retro skills required ride your bike with a massive boombox perched on one shoulder, ‘70s style.

Eyewear maker Bollé introduces a mountain bike helmet with features that actually make sense for a change, including a detachable visor, slots to store your glasses and space for an embedded tail light.

Anti-bike terrorists have struck again, sabotaging a Colorado mountain bike trail with spike-embedded boards buried in the dirt. If you question the use of that term, consider what would happen to a rider who suffers a blowout while zipping down a trail.

The Michigan senate responds to the Kalamazoo massacre by passing bill requiring a five-foot passing distance, and another requiring three hours of bike and motorcycle safety training in all driver’s ed courses.

New York bike messengers form a union to fight for better treatment from Uber and other delivery firms.

A Philadelphia cyclist correctly resists police efforts to make him stop recording an arrest and to hand over his phone as evidence. You have a 1st Amendment right to record anything that occurs in a public place, and police have no right to stop you as long as you don’t interfere with their actions. And they can’t seize your phone without probable cause, or delete any of the contents. Which does not mean they won’t try.

 

International

A new report from the United Nations Environment Program calls for countries around the world to spend at least twenty percent of their transportation budget for safe bike lanes and sidewalks, noting that people on foot and two wheels, with or without motors, make up nearly half of the 1.3 million people killed in crashes worldwide each year.

A London hospital spent the equivalent of $12,000 to fight a protected bike lane in an apparent attempt to drum up business; 315 bike riders were killed or injured on the roads approaching the hospital over the last ten years, including some directly in front of their entrance.

A British man has been jailed for 28 months following a racist attack on a bike rider; he was one of three men who swerved at the victim in their car, doored him and forced him off his bike, then violently attacked him while screaming racial epithets.

Winston Churchill’s grandson is one of us.

A six-year old Irish boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy is able to ride a bike for the first time thanks to a new medication. Nice to finally see some hope for this cruel disease.

Caught on video: A British railway worker saves an apparently drunk bicyclist at the last minute after he had fallen on the tracks. Or maybe not.

The brother of a fallen cyclist begs a Dublin county council to reconsider its decision not to include safe routes to schools in their draft development plan.

Security camera footage shows thieves casually bicycling on their way to rob Kim Kardashian in Paris, then back again with her $10 million jewelry in tow.

Caught on video: An Aussie cyclist loses a piece of his ear when a Magpie swoops down and attacks without warning.

Justice and common sense prevailed in Australia, where a drugged-out driver will spend at least three years in jail for killing a bike rider, despite attempting to use her newborn baby as a Get Out of Jail Free card.

 

Finally…

Your next U-lock could raise a real stink. Does this bike really look like a Lamborghini to you?

And anyone can ride a bike the usual way. But how many can do it facing backwards?

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Disappointment on 6th Street road diet, and new bikeways drop under new LADOT leadership

September 30, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Disappointment on 6th Street road diet, and new bikeways drop under new LADOT leadership

Hopefully, we’ve got the problem fixed, and subscribers received an email notification of this post. If not, we’ll take another shot at it tomorrow.

………

This is why Vision Zero will fail in Los Angeles.

It’s no secret that LA’s 6th Street between Fairfax and La Brea is one of the most dangerous streets in Los Angeles.

And not just for bike riders, but for pedestrians, drivers and even residents of the street, given the number of drivers who lose control and smash into the buildings alongside it.

In fact, according to the Beverly Press, collision data shows it’s three times as dangerous as the average street in Los Angeles.

Yet even though there’s a shovel-ready plan to fix it, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

LADOT has proposed a road diet for the one-mile stretch of street, reducing it to one lane in each direction with a center turn lane, and much-needed bike lanes on either side. It’s a plan that’s won significant community support, including the backing of the Mid City West Community Council that represents the area.

And it’s a proven solution. According to the Federal Highway Administration, road diets have been shown to reduce collisions as much as 47%, while retuning road space back to the community.

The resulting benefits include a crash reduction of 19 to 47 percent, reduced vehicle speed differential, improved mobility and access by all road users, and integration of the roadway into surrounding uses that results in an enhanced quality of life. A key feature of a Road Diet is that it allows reclaimed space to be allocated for other uses, such as turn lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, bike lanes, sidewalks, bus shelters, parking or landscaping.

Although at every community meeting where the results of any study are mentioned, someone will inevitably ask if it was conducted in Los Angeles. As if there is something magically different about this city that makes water run uphill and two plus two equal five.

But this time, the answer is yes.

Because the latest research shows that the needlessly contentious Rowena road diet accomplished exactly what it was supposed to do.

Since the road diet was installed more than three years ago, LADOT has been collecting data on traffic patterns. An analysis of that data makes it clear that the project has worked as intended: Average speeds dropped from 39 mph to 35 mph, and safety has significantly increased on Rowena, with no effect on overall traffic volume.

Let’s repeat that.

Despite the claims of local residents that cut through drivers have run roughshod over their neighborhoods, Rowena post-road diet carries the same number of vehicles as it did before. But far more safely.

But that’s where the good news ends.

Because the Beverly Press reports CD4 Councilmember David Ryu, who represents the area, questions the benefits of the road diet, preferring incremental changes to improve safety.

Like bollards, for instance.

And he’s concerned about how a road diet would affect other local development projects, such as a joint Metro/Los Angeles project to encourage transit ridership, new jobs and development along the transit corridor formed by the planned La Brea, Fairfax and La Cienega subway stations, which won’t open until 2023.

So instead of trusting the people the city pays to design safer streets, he prefers to overrule their judgement, and that of the local community, and drag his feet for months, if not years to come.

So a lot of people could be needlessly injured or killed on the street in the next seven years.

And that’s the problem.

Just as we’ve seen with Westwood Blvd, Central Ave, Lankershim and North Figueroa, a single LA councilmember has the power to stop much needed safety projects, sometimes based on nothing more than their own personal whims.

Which means that safety can improve dramatically in one council district, and grind to a halt in the next.

Vision Zero will be impossible to achieve if individual councilmembers are allowed to carve their districts out, and keep the streets dangerous at the behest of constituents fearful of any change to what they consider their streets.

Even if it’s change for the better.

And even though the streets belong to all of us.

We had high hopes for Ryu, who professed to support Vision Zero, as well as encouraging bicycling and walking when he ran for office.

But based on this decision, as well as his votes in support of removing Westwood and Central from the Mobility Plan, we may be disappointed.

………

If you thought bikeway construction had slowed down dramatically under Seleta Reynold’s stewardship at LADOT, you’re right.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton took at deep dive into the department’s recently released annual report, and found that the city installed only 17.1 miles of bikeways in the 2015-2016 fiscal year. And that’s using the new lane mile metric, which counts each direction of travel separately.

So that 17 miles of bikeways represents just 6.5 miles of roads and pathways.

That compares to 38 lane miles in Mayor Garcetti’s first year in office, when Reynolds was appointed several months into the year.

And 120 lane miles in Mayor Villaraigosa’s final year in office, far exceeding his commitment to build 40 miles of bike lanes — 80 lane miles — a year.

As Linton points out, LADOT has a number of projects in the works for the coming year.

If all goes according to plans, FY2016-17 looks like it should be better. LADOT is poised to implement plenty of quality bikeway mileage during the current fiscal year, with protected bike lanes anticipated on Figueroa Street (MyFig), Venice Boulevard, Spring Street, Main Street, Van Nuys Boulevard and (newly announced in the report) Highland Avenue.

But he adds,

LADOT has recent accomplishments to be proud of, but, given Reynolds, a committed walk and bike champion at the helm, it is falling short of expectations. Cyclists, communities and advocacy groups will need to continue to press LADOT and L.A. electeds to ensure that progress continues.

Let alone if we ever hope to see even a fraction of the hard-fought gains reflected in the 2010 Bike Plan, now part of the Mobility Plan 2035, on our streets.

Minus Westwood Blvd and Central Ave, of course.

………

Today’s common theme is ebikes.

An Escondido father tours Catalina Island on an ebike with his young daughter.

A British Columbia man takes a 1,553 mile ebike ride to next month’s Desert Trip classic rock festival in Indio.

Financial Review calls a new e-cargo bike the equivalent of a muscle car.

And if you like your ebikes to look like 1920’s motorcycles, this one’s for you. Then again, as Cyclelicious points out, America has a long history of making pseudo-motorcycle bicycles.

………

The head of the Tour de France says cycling is shedding its image as the black sheep of the sports world as it cleans up its act, while other sports are rocked with doping scandals.

Although Deadspin says trusting anyone in cycling is a loser’s game.

………

Local

The LA Times endorses Measure M to provide alternatives to LA’s soul-crushing traffic. However, a representative of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association urges a no vote, saying the plan isn’t perfect yet — in part because it doesn’t include a plan for parking. Which kind of misses the point of getting people out of their cars.

UCLA has established the area’s first online bike traffic school, allowing students to improve their knowledge of bicycle traffic regulations instead of having to pay a traffic ticket. Meanwhile, thirty years ago you could have ridden a pedicab through Westwood Village.

CiclaValley offers a video breakdown of the popular Nichols Ride.

Better Bike’s Mark Elliot points out that the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills set a new record for injury collisions involving bicyclists or pedestrians in August, with six and ten respectively — over four times the average number of bicycling injuries for the previous seven months.

Cycling in the South Bay goes back to third grade dealing with anti-bike Palos Verdes NIMBYs at a pair of city safety meetings, while including his notes of the various NIMBY uninformed comments.

 

State

Governor Brown signed a bill requiring ignition interlock devices for anyone convicted of drunk driving, to keep them from operating their cars while under the influence. Not as good as impounding their vehicles until they get their licenses back, but it’s a start.

A bike path becomes a contentious issue in the Encinitas council election. Yes, a bike path.

Palm Springs uses bait bikes to bust two bike thieves.

A crowdfunding account has been established for the 88-year old grandfather who was killed riding his bike in Goleta last week.

A Monterey bicyclist jumps head-first into the great helmet debate, saying even hard-headed people should wear helmets while biking. Meanwhile, your next helmet could be made from a honeycomb of hollow neon green tubes.

 

National

A stoned Oregon driver gets six years and three months for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider while he was high on marijuana, which is legal in the state. However, driving under the influence isn’t.

There’s a special place in hell for anyone who would try to sell a Chicago ghost bike on Facebook.

Kindhearted North Chicago police buy a new bicycle for a seven-year old boy after his was destroyed in a collision.

A Minnesota writer reviews a new book that says Bike Lanes Are White Lanes, as bike advocacy too often leaves communities of color behind.

New York passes three laws guaranteeing bicycle access to commercial and residential buildings.

It takes a special kind of road raging jackass to pull a gun on anyone, let alone former pro and Lance lieutenant George Hincapie and his eight-year old son as they rode near their South Carolina home.

 

International

Momentum Magazine looks at three grassroots bicycle organizations shaking things up in cities around the world, including our own East Side Riders Bike Club.

Canada is creating a national task force to reduce injuries and fatalities to cyclists and pedestrians. That sound you hear is the silence of the US doing nothing.

Bicyclists in Edmonton, Canada already treat stop signs as yields, even without an Idaho Stop Law. As opposed to LA, where too many riders simply ignore them.

It’s official. The Right Bank of the Seine River through the heart of Paris will be taken back from cars and returned to the people.

Southern Germany features over 120 bike routes with 5,000 miles of dedicated pathways.

A Formula 1 driver wiped out while rounding a corner at nearly 30 mph on his bicycle when he ran over a Thai chicken.

 

Finally…

It’s not a bomb, it’s an inflatable bike helmet. The perfect bike for when you want to ride in a semi-Superman position, cape optional.

And your next bike tour could be led by a pair of porn stars.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure, Vision Zero / Tags: , , , , , , ,
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