Just 77 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
The graph on the left is from Streets Are For Everyone; you can find a larger version on the link below.
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The carnage continues.
And it’s getting worse.
Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, reports that Los Angeles is on track for its deadliest year on record, as we gear up for next month’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
For those commemorating this solemn occasion in Los Angeles, World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims stings a little more this year. In 2024, LA is once again besieged by traffic violence: 210 people have been killed so far this year on LA’s streets — more traffic deaths than this time last year, which was already the deadliest year for traffic fatalities since 2003, the first year that data’s readily available.
The group goes on to add this.
Crossing the street has never been more dangerous in Los Angeles: motorists killed 112 pedestrians in the first 209 days of this year, or a pedestrian was struck and killed by a motorist every other day — a 1% increase from last year, which was itself a record-setting year for vehicular violence against walkers.
Hit-and-runs also remain frighteningly high: of the 210 fatal car crashes so far this year, 74 of the drivers have left their victims to die in the street, a 10% increase from 2023.
Let that last one sink in.
In over one third of all fatal collisions in Los Angeles — 35.24% — heartless, cowardly drivers left their victims to die alone on the streets.
Unfortunately, the story’s not any better for bicyclists.
According to LAPD statistics, as of the end of August, 15 people have been killed riding their bikes in the City of Angels, a 15% increase over last year.
Most of those fatalities — 73% — have been in the department’s South Bureau.
And just as we expected, we haven’t heard about a number of those crashes. I showed just ten bicycling deaths in Los Angeles at the end of August. Which means either the police failed to publicly report a full third of all bicycling deaths, or the local press failed to report them.
Neither prospect is very comforting. Because if we don’t know what’s happening, we can’t do anything to fix it.
Let alone remember the victims.
But thanks to SAFE for keeping us informed, anyway.
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Which takes us to the latest bad news on our streets.
A 66-year-old Pasadena man was critically injured when he has struck by an unlicensed driver in a pickup truck while riding his bike in the city Thursday morning; at last report, he remained in critical condition with injuries including a fractured skull.
A teenaged La Mesa boy finally came from the hospital following three pelvic surgeries after he was run over by the driver of a trash truck last month; Caleb Carvalho insists he will walk again, but it could be a couple years before he’s back to normal. A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $73,000 for his medical care.
Tragic news from Laguna Niguel, where longtime Laguna Beach High School golf coach Sean Quigley is paralyzed from the waist down, after suffering severe spinal injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike, leaving him with just a 5% chance of regaining function in his legs; a crowdfunding campaign has raised over $75,000 of the $200,000 goal.
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No surprise here.
A Las Vegas court placed the case against 19-year old Jesus Ayala on hold after he was ruled unfit to stand trial.
Ayala was charged along with another teen for intentionally running down and killing former Bell, California police chief Andreas Probst as he rode his bike on a Vegas street.
The judge ordered the move out of an “abundance of caution” after evidence was presented that Ayala had suffered “significant” brain damage; he was sent to a maximum security psychiatric facility in Sparks, Nevada.
Meanwhile, another case was filed against Ayala accusing him of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and grand larceny auto. He’s also facing an attempted murder charge for a separate “extremely violent” group attack where another man was stabbed multiple times
So evidently, he’s not so brain damaged he can’t keep committing crimes.
Allegedly.
His 17-year old accused accomplice is scheduled to go on trial next month.
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They’re all one of us.
Gerard Butler took a stylish bike ride with a friend through the streets of New York.
Leonardo DiCaprio took a virtually incognito ride through the Big Apple with his girlfriend, model Vittoria Ceretti, and his niece.
Formula 1 star Valtteri Bottas rode a bike with his girlfriend while vacationing in Baja California during a break in the racing schedule.
Then there’s this.
Fashion designer Ralph Lauren riding in New York City, ca. 1970s
Happy #BicycleBirthday, Ralph!#BornOnThisDay October 14, 1939 pic.twitter.com/jZl4252pwx
— Cool Bike Art (@CoolBikeArt1) October 14, 2024
And this.
Roger Moore stokes a tandem in Stockholm, Sweden in 1965.
Happy #BicycleBirthday, Roger!#BornOnThisDay October 14 (1927-2017) pic.twitter.com/kuncVtubPz
— Cool Bike Art (@CoolBikeArt1) October 14, 2024
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It’s now 299 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And an even 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Momentum says riding a bike in the city is turning into a culture war.
A road raging Tennessee driver faces charges for repeatedly trying to run down a man riding in a bike lane, before getting out of his car and throwing the victim’s bike at him — all because the victim tapped the car’s hood because he thought the driver was going to bump him.
Once again, a British bike rider has been the victim of an unprovoked attack, with the man suffering a broken arm when he was pushed off his bicycle by a passenger in a passing car, just for giggles.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A road raging 73-year old Utah man went off on a calm driver in his 20s, who recorded the whole incident, claiming the driver almost hit him and demanding that the police come and arrest him, at one point screaming “I have more rights than you.” Which isn’t true, of course. And sadly, almost hitting someone isn’t illegal — but disorderly conduct is.
Police in Des Plaines, Illinois are on the lookout for a road raging bike rider who stabbed a motorist multiple times, after they got in an argument because the man on the bike was riding salmon.
A Montreal columnist says the city’s roads are still nerve-racking places plagued by reckless cowboys in cars, because their behavior is all better now — it’s the people on ebikes, e-scooters and other “e-contraptions” plaguing the streets now.
An Aussie bicyclist got into a fist fight with a postal worker, after punching the side mirror and the side of the van, complaining that the driver had cut him off and threw something at him. Seriously, violence is always the wrong answer. And even you’re in the right, you’ll get the blame as soon as you throw the first punch.
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Local
Streetsblog USA considers how to defeat car culture in the country’s deadliest city for pedestrians, but other sources say we’re not even in the top ten per capita.
If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t ride your bike through the gated streets of Country Club Park in Mid-City, a writer for Afro LA does a deep dive into the cause. And the effects on the people who live nearby.
Streets For All offers their endorsements on two ballot measures, urging a yes vote on Measure A and Proposition 5, while Streets for All founder Michael Schneider explains why bike lanes often seem “empty” in LA.
Speaking of SAFE, the group is teaming the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council and Council District 13 to clean up debris and litter in the new Hollywood Blvd bike lanes this Saturday.
Yesterday’s Heart of LA CicLAvia leaves just two major open streets events remaining in the LA area this year.
State
Calbike urges you to Bike the Vote this November.
Streets For All offers their final update on the safe streets bills in this year’s state legislative session, for better or worse.
San Diego-based Juiced Bikes appears to be just the last ebike manufacturer to go belly up, with all products out of stock, and ghosting concerned customers.
Sad news from Alamo, in the East Bay, where a woman was killed when a driver pulled out from the side of the road, striking her bike.
Sad news from Sacramento, where a man riding a bicycle was killed by a suspected DUI driver.
National
Bike Magazine highlights the ten most scenic bike trails in the US, including one in Death Valley.
Velo offers a buyers guide to almost all the best bike lights.
This is the cost of traffic violence. A popular Bend, Oregon chef was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his ebike in nearby Medford; police arrested the driver shortly later for DUI.
Another Arizona mass casualty crash, when an SUV driver plowed into six members of the Major Taylor Phoenix Riders from behind as they road in a bike lane, sending three people to the hospital the hospital with serious injuries; no word on why the driver couldn’t see six people on bikes riding in an effing bike lane — or why the driver wasn’t charged.
Missouri bike thief busted while naked, stoned and armed with a chainsaw. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong?
Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website takes their bike love to the city that never sleeps.
International
A Cycling Weekly columnist blocks out the trauma of paying for his last bike, arguing that high prices put dream bikes in fantasy land for most of us.
Road.cc considers the problem inherent with calling a cyclists “cyclists.” Which is why I don’t.
Momentum suggests eight of the best “affordable” commuter ebikes. Although affordable is a relative term.
Momentum readers forward their picks for the world’s crappiest bike lanes, including two in San Diego.
An op-ed from Ontario, Canada’s minister of transportation says the province needs to rethink policies that leave drivers stuck in traffic, and should only place bike lanes “where they make sense.” In other words, not where they’ll get in the way of all those hard-working people in cars.
Now you, too, can rent a home on the English street made famous in Ridley Scott’s 1973 Hovis ad.
A writer for Bike Radar takes a “near-perfect” two-week Scottish bikepacking with his partner, on “incredible island roads” marred by a mere 30 minutes of rain.
A British startup says their “perfect” handlebars will be a greatest aero advancement of the coming year.
An Irish writer explores why greenways are love by bike riders, but loathed by landowners.
Mumbai’s bicycling community continues to grow despite the city’s urban chaos, including a near-total lack of bike infrastructure.
A writer for AFAR spends five days riding through Rwanda, and explains why it’s the best way to see the country.
Competitive Cycling
Tragic news from the European Gravel Championships, where Italian masters cyclist Silvano Jane died of a sudden heart attack during the race; he was 69.
This one goes under the heading of bicyclists behaving badly, as former European ‘cross champ Eli Iserbyt stomped on a rival’s bike after a crash during an altercation in the first race of the season. Which does not bode well for the rest of the year.
No surprise here, as this year’s GOAT won Italy’s Il Lombardia classic, with Tadej Pogačar topping Olympic Champion Remco Evenepoel and Giulio Ciccone in a long solo breakaway.
Pogacar responds to the rumbling that he must be on something, saying people don’t have trust in cyclists these days. And for very good reason.
Finally…
Pedal your way out of your next hospital stay. Your next bike helmet could inflate like an accordion.
And now you know what happened to your stolen bike.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
