Tag Archive for Long Beach

CA Post: Los Angeles is a liberal hell, a call for reasonable ebike legislation, and man dies after Long Beach hit-and-run

April 17, 2026 / / No comments

Apparently, life in Los Angeles and California is a living hell.

According to the New York, uh, California Post,

In LA and California, the cost of living is stifling. Traffic is suffocating. The public schools are ill-serving kids.

And state and local government, from the governor and legislature on down to the mayor, city council and school board, are out to lunch…

But the bottom line is this: Government at all levels is failing to lead, course-correct, and address –– with even minimal efficacy –– a range of issues that increasingly degrade life here.

In fact, elected officials, driven by cronyism, interest-group pressure and out-of-touch far-left ideology, mostly make the crises worse.

Look, I’m no fan of our current city leaders, but life here ain’t all that bad.

It just could be a lot better.

And something tells me, we might not agree on who the special interests are. Never mind what “far-left” ideologies are just practical solutions that we haven’t been tried yet.

Like building more bike lanes and providing safe, practical alternatives to driving, rather than doubling down on the same things that got us in this mess.

Liberal hellfire and damnation — or maybe just fire — photo by Sergey Meshkov from Pexels.

………

Calbike wants you to contact your state legislators to call for reasonable regulation of ebikes that doesn’t blame them all for the problems caused by e-motos.

California lawmakers are right to be concerned about the spread of high-powered electric devices marketed as e-bikes. There is some truth behind the now-familiar image of 12-year-olds doing wheelies through suburban streets on machines far more powerful than a legal electric bicycle. But too many of this year’s bills respond to that concern by going after the wrong target, and they will not deliver the results anyone actually wants. Instead of drawing a clear line between legal e-bikes and illegal e-motos, these proposals blur it further. They add burdens to the bikes people actually rely on, while failing to directly address the devices creating the confusion in the first place.

California needs to protect the promise of e-bikes, not let the e-moto backlash distort the law. In this century, e-bikes have been one of the most important transportation success stories in the state. They help people replace car trips. They expand access to biking for older adults, working families, and people who might not otherwise ride in hilly terrain. They make biking more practical for longer distances, hills, errands, school dropoff, and everyday life. In a state that talks constantly about climate, congestion, affordability, and mobility, e-bikes should be an obvious part of the solution, and under settled California law, they already are.

It’s worth checking out.

And taking just a few moments to voice your support.

Meanwhile, the North Torrance Bike Bus clearly explains the differences between a legal ebike, and an illegal e-moto.

………

This is who we share the road with.

Fifty-seven-year old Montebello resident Ronald Sera died Wednesday, nearly two months after he was run down by a hit-and-run driver in Long Beach.

Sera was found by police around 1:05 am on Saturday, February 28, near Redondo Ave and Anaheim Street.

Investigators still don’t have a suspect, but describe the vehicle as a Toyota Previa van that sped away west on Anaheim.

Anyone with information is urged to call LBPD Collision Investigation Detail Detective David Doughtery at 562/570-7355, or anonymously through LA Crime Stoppers at 800/222-TIPS (8477) or LACrimeStoppers.org.

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Streets Are For Everyone is joining with CD4 to call for help cleaning up the Forest Lawn Drive bike lanes on Saturday, April 25th ahead of this year’s Finish the Ride in Griffith Park (and good luck to Kayla as she competes in Hong Kong). For some reason, I can’t embed Instagram Reels, so you’ll have to click on the link.

SAFE is also celebrating the re-opening of the Marvin Braude Bike Trail in Pacific Palisades after it was washed out by last year’s storms, as well as progress on bike lanes in Griffith Park.

Finally, SAFE and Finish the Ride are bringing back the city’s much loved and lamented LA River Ride on May 3rd. And yes, it will still contain that confusing stretch south of DTLA where the bike path hasn’t been completed, and probably won’t be for some time.

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Streetsblog’s Joe Linton visits Santa Monica’s MANGo.

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New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks healthcare while vlogging from her bike seat.

Thanks to Megan for forwarding the video.

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

British bicyclists may be in for a surprise, after an English city finally got around to installing flexible wands to keep drivers from illegally parking in a bike lane. Which if Los Angeles drivers are any example, won’t actually stop anyone.

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

No bias here. London police ticketed 1,315 bike riders for jumping red lights in the past 12 months, an average of around just 25 a week — which doesn’t sound like that much in a city of 9.9 million. Especially compared to the approximately 4,000 drivers ticketed for the same offense, including over 1,500 caught two or more times in the past four years.

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Local 

Nice piece from LA Times Deputy Managing Editor Shelby Grad, who pens a paean to the joys of ebiking on the bikeways under the city’s overpasses, rather than driving over them.

The Pasadena City Council unanimously approved plans for the 710 Freeway stub, including housing and multimodal transportation initiatives, but wants to talk more about restorative justice for the mostly Black residents who were unceremoniously shoved out to make room for the never-built freeway.

Santa Monica Next reports on the problem of overhanging tree branches blocking the city’s bike lanes.

 

State

La Mesa became the latest California city to crackdown on ebikes, banning children under 12 from riding Class 1 or 2 electric bicycles.

Streetsblog points out that San Diego’s Mayor Gloria’s new budget cuts funding for the multimodal team at the city’s Department of Transportation, despite his promises to maintain funding for Vision Zero “even in a difficult budget year” when running for re-election just two years ago.

The victim who died riding an ebike in Point Mugu State Park on Saturday has been identified as a 76-year old Camarillo resident, who passed away from natural causes.

Bike East Bay is celebrating Bike To Wherever Day on May 14th. Or as it’s known in Los Angeles these days, Thursday. 

 

National

The Cherokee Nation announced the 12 participants in this year’s 950-mile Remember the Removal bike tour, which retraces the northern route of the infamous Trail of Tears.

A Colorado bike race requires you to eat at ten Taco Bells along the route. The winner is whoever packed a peck of Pepto in their kit. 

This is who we share the road with, too. Police is Sioux Falls, South Dakota threw the book at two young pickup drivers who were reported driving recklessly, doing burnouts 5 feet away from patios, committing traffic sign violations and putting pedestrians at risk, all while blaring their loud “train-style” horns.

A Waco, Texas woman was busted for allowing her son to skitch by holding the door handle of her car while riding his bike — although it didn’t help when they found almost two ounces of weed in her car.

Louisville, Kentucky has painted new downtown bike lanes a bright shade of neon green, not to keep drivers out, but to make them more obvious to pedestrians, who were falling off the curbs. Evidently, they don’t film many movies or TV shows there, because that looks like the same shade Hollywood producers went to war against here in Los Angeles. 

A new report from New York’s Transportation Alternatives shows an ongoing gender bias in bicycling, revealing women are more likely to ride where there are protected bike lanes and pathways.

Shockingly, business owners have “concerns” over a proposed new bike lane on a New York thoroughfare. In other words, kinda like every business owner everywhere when new bike lanes go in. Never mind that studies show their business is usually better within a few months afterwards.

 

International

A Canadian bike polo player funds a short film about the sport by recycling cans, using an old video camera he found in a back alley.

A London bike rider says he never got so much room on the road before he switched to riding a Lime bike without a helmet.

A Dublin, Ireland waste management company is using e-cargo bikes — or maybe pedal-operated mini box trucks — to collect trash after the city banned putting trash bags on the street.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — seven days of bikepacking through four of the Canary Islands.

A Palestinian group is using bicycling to bring residents from disparate parts of the war-ravaged country together to rediscover and reclaim the land.

The European Union ambassador to Ghana is riding with a team nearly 500 miles from Tamale to Accra to encourage more people in the country to ride bicycles.

Oopsie. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said recently that just 1,700 people use a new bikeway each day; that turned out to be the number of people who use the new showers at the end of the path, compared to 7,000 people who used the actual pathway in just a four-hour window.

 

Finally…

Nothing like riding through the fields of rural Transylvania, as long as you bless your hotel room with a little garlic and holy water. That feeling when the guy documenting his “avid” bicycle journeys made his bones with an 80s cover of Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.

Or when you rewatch the Hunger Games just to see the road-raging bike rider/actor who shot at your truck.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Strike one in Linton’s Measure HLA lawsuit, and driver charged in Long Beach hit-and-run death of Lori Ann Carreon

April 16, 2026 / / No comments

Sorry for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

I was pretty out of it from the effects of my meds Tuesday night — don’t even ask me how many tranquilizing pharmaceutical I take on a daily basis — and facing an early medical appointment yesterday. 

So like Brave Sir Robin, I bravely gave up and ran away to get some sleep. 

I’m just glad I’m not driving these days. And so is everyone else, whether or not they know it. 

Today’s photo is a bike coral outside a building on 3rd Street in West Hollywood.

And while I appreciate the gesture, the racks are so close to the building they’re virtually useless, allowing you to lock up the wheel of your choice, while thieves make off with the rest of your bike. 

………

Christopher Bryant was formally arraigned for the hit-and-run death of 54-year old occupational therapist Lori Ann Carreon as she rode bike back to her home in Long Beach’s Bluff Park neighborhood.

The 40-year old Bryant was charged with felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, hit-and-run resulting in death and reckless driving.

Prosecutors allege he ran a stop sign at Second Street and Redondo Avenue on Feb. 7, then sped away without stopping. Bryant turned himself in three days later, after calling the police dispatcher the next day to confess, giving himself plenty of time to sober up.

If he was under the influence, that is, which he hasn’t been accused of.

Bryant was released on a mere $50,000 bond. Once again demonstrating just how un-seriously the courts take traffic crime.

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That’s strike one in Joe Linton’s lawsuit against Metro and Los Angeles, alleging the transit agency violated Measure HLA by leaving out the bike lanes promised under the mobility plan from the semi-Complete Street makeover of the Vermont Ave corridor.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled against the administrative portion of Linton’s three-part lawsuit, dismissing the allegation that the city’s HLA ordinance undermines HLA as passed by voters.

However, that still leaves the main part of his suit standing, alleging that Past Vermont Avenue service road resurfacing should have triggered HLA, and that future Vermont Avenue bus (BRT) improvements should trigger HLA.

Here is how he explains it.

Chunks 1 and 2, if I win, will result in on-the-ground changes on Vermont Avenue. Chunk 3 is basically about the city’s ordinance (approved in 2025) that specifies the internal processes to administer HLA: who can appeal, when, how. When HLA was approved by voters it did not specify a deadline for when an individual could file an HLA lawsuit against the city, so people effectively had three years to file a lawsuit when a city project appears to not comply with HLA. Under the ordinance, people now have 30 days to file a city-level appeal, then if that appeal is denied (to date the city Board of Public Works has fully denied 22 of 24 appeals, and partially approved just two – conceding HLA was triggered but denying new bike and walk infrastructure), the appellant has only six months to file a lawsuit.

The city ordinance restricts HLA lawsuits; only people who appeal a project in the first 30 days can file a lawsuit later.

If the whole damn thing is hard to understand, I think that’s part of the point. The city process was written to make it hard to file an appeal, and even harder to file a lawsuit under the city’s interpretation of the measure.

So let’s all give Linton a round of thanks for undertaking this process, and fighting a process that most of us can’t even understand.

Or maybe it’s just me.

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A winded Cincinnati cop tries, and fails, to catch a scofflaw on a bicycle, in a battle royal caught on video.

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

San Diego’s mayor suggested balancing the budget on the backs of bike riders, cutting a number of proposed bike projects to address the city’s red ink.

A British letter writer calls for license plates and charging “road tax” — which no longer exists in the country — to “either moronic, uncaring or uneducated cyclists.” So if you don’t fit in any of those categories, carry on, evidently.

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

You’ve got to be kidding. A Florida woman was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a couple beer bottles at a toddler who kindly came over to check on her after she fell off her bike; she told sheriff’s deputies that she thought she was being attacked. Yes, by a toddler.

A Polish bike thief tried to make his getaway by joining a breakaway, attempting to escape the cops by blending in with the peloton in a local bike race — then standing out by catching, and briefly joining, the leaders.

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Local 

Los Angeles is considering a ban on ebikes on all equestrian, hiking and recreational trails, allowing them only on paths specifically intended for bicycling. And as usual, they seem to be lumping all ebikes together, from ped-assist bicycles to illegal dirt bikes.

West Hollywood Sheriff’s deputies will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian traffic safety operation from 5 am to 3 pm on Monday, ticketing any violation that could put anyone in either group at risk, regardless of who commits it. Which is the definition of a legal traffic operation, without biased enforcement. 

You may not be able to ride a bike with LA’s ostensibly bike-riding mayor, but Saturday you can ride with the mayor of Culver City to mark Earth Month.

A Portland, Oregon man is making a second attempt to complete a 1,320-mile ride down the Pacific Coast, five years after he was nearly killed by a Los Angeles driver, leaving him with a broken leg, shoulder, 10 broken ribs and punctured lungs; a crowdfunding campaign has raised less than $500 of the modest $1,300 goal to pay for expenses.

 

State

Calbike applauds California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s efforts to alert consumers to the difference between legal ebikes and faster, and somewhat less legal, e-motorbikes, but says now we need some actual enforcement.

A 14-year old boy was seriously injured when he was left-crossed by a driver in the Encanto area of San Diego, suffering a broken ankle, brain bleeds and other injuries. Although someone should tell San Diego’s Fox 5 News that a dirt bike is not a bicycle.

A 77-year old man was seriously injured when he fell off his ebike in San Diego’s Oak Park neighborhood, and struck his helmetless head on the pavement.

La Mesa will honor basketball Hall of Famer and noted bicyclist Bill Walton by naming an honorary street near his old high school after him. Because they certainly wouldn’t want to go to the trouble of actually renaming an actual street or anything. 

Fresno County residents turned in over 30,000 signatures to qualify the “Better Roads, Safe Streets” measure for the county ballot, which would increase the sales tax by half a percent, dedicating 65% to fixing local roads, 25% for public transit, 4% for innovative transportation and 5% to regional projects, including the Fresno airport; it would also commit to building 120 miles of bike lanes.

A San Francisco driver was caught on video pulling his Mercedes out from the curb cutting off a bike rider, then zooming to the corner and right-hooking a man riding a bicycle in the parking-protected bike lane — and then just keeps on going, leaving the victim lying in the street.

Scraper bikes are still a thing in Oakland. But apparently, only if you’re in Oakland.

Caltrans has lowered the speed limit from 55 mph to 45 mph on a five-mile stretch of PCH in Monterey County to improve safety. Which makes you wonder why they can’t do the same thing in Malibu, where the casualty count continues to rise. 

Sad news from ostensibly bike-friendly Davis, where a 20-year old UC Davis student was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle near campus.

 

National

Tune in, turn on and ride a “gorgeous” bike in honor of Albert Hoffman on Bicycle Day this Sunday.

Seattle will host an open streets event nearly every weekend this summer, banning cars from the city’s Lake Washington Blvd from Friday evening to Monday morning every weekend but one, from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

No, you don’t have to press the pedestrian button anymore at one Fayetteville, Arkansas intersection.

A Vanderbilt University survey shows that 71% of Nashville residents are in favor of more bike lanes.

Tragic news from Cape Cod, where an 86-year old man was killed by the driver of a box truck while riding a bicycle. Anyone still riding a bike at that age deserves better. Then again, so does anyone else. 

New York proposes a crosstown, river-to-rive protected bike lane, connecting key bikeways in Manhattan.

A New Orleans letter writer calls for curb-protected bike lanes to protect riders from dangerous drivers — and says people from outside the city can sue the city for more than $75,000 for dangerous roadway design if they’re injured biking on city streets, which could force the city to do something.

A Florida man is accused of driving over 80 mph with a BAC over twice the legal limit when he struck and killed a 31-year old man riding a bicycle last July; he faces a charge of DUI manslaughter.

 

International

This is who we share the road with. A 19-year old Ontario man offered a passenger in his truck $100,000 to lie for him, and claim they were behind the wheel when he killed someone on an ebike after drinking.

Almost 81,000 people went to the ER in the Netherlands due to bicycling crashes last year, up 25% from a decade ago.

A German writer gets pulled over in Switzerland for using his cellphone while riding and letting his nine-year old son ride a bike in the street, without actually ever getting pulled over.

Delhi, Dhaka and Accra, India are building bike lanes for the people they want to encourage to ride bicycles in wealthier areas, rather than protecting the low-income people who already do.

No more holding an umbrella while you ride in Japan, although it will only cost you the equivalent of 31 bucks.

South Australia’s top traffic cop is facing an internal police investigation for the crime of taking a selfie while riding on a suburban street, and posting it to his Strava account. Which is apparently a no-no Down Under. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-three-year old Spanish cyclist Jaume Guardeno remains in critical condition in intensive care, two weeks after he was struck by a driver while on a training ride following March’s Volta a Catalunya stage race; he had been on track to lead his Caja-Rural cycling team in the Tour de France.

Cycling scion Taylor Phinney may have been out of the game for a few years, but he’s planning to make a comeback in track cycling for the ’28 LA Olympics, aiming for team pursuit.

A 27-year old Utah special ed teacher has made the rare transition from Indiana University’s Little 500 to a wild card entry at this year’s Life Time Grand Prix series, starting with this week’s Sea Otter Classic gravel race.

 

Finally…

The surprising joys of getting ‘bent. Your next bike could be a Ralph Lauren — as long as you don’t mind riding downhill on level ground.

And now you, too, can have your very own slightly worn yellow jersey.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Ghost bike placement tonight for pregnant woman killed in Playa, and memorial ride Sunday for Long Beach hit-and-run victim

February 19, 2026 / / One comment

Let’s start with a small correction. 

The other day, I tried to make one of my typically lame jokes, about why Islands magazine was writing about Montreal, when it isn’t one. 

Except, as Doug pointed out, it actually is. 

Which I suppose is the Canadian equivalent of not knowing Manhattan is an island. So I’ll just sit over here in the dunce corner for the rest of the day. 

Photo of one of SoCal’s far too many ghost bikes by Matt Tinoco.

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A ghost bike will be placed tonight for 36-year old Regan Cole-Graham, who was killed by an elderly driver while riding with her husband and two sons on Pershing Drive in Playa del Rey — right where a road diet was ripped out to appease angry drivers in 2017, after being installed just months earlier.

I’m also told a heartbreaking little white Strider bike is being prepared to honor her unborn child, who died with her just two months short of full term.

………

Long Beach bike groups are hosting a memorial ride for Lori Ann Carreon this Sunday.

According to Bike Long Beach,

…this coming Sunday, a number of Long Beach cycling groups will gather at 4:00 p.m. at 2nd Street and Redondo Avenue for a memorial ride to remember Lori Ann Carreon, the cyclist that was struck and killed by a speeding hit-and-run driver two weeks ago. At 4:30 p.m., the group will ride together to Bixby Park (approximately 1 mile, 2 miles round trip) for a sunset candlelight vigil as they honor her life and come together in community. All are welcome. The ride will be slow and accessible to all. Please ride safely and bring a candle if you’re able.

 

I wish installations and rides like this wen’t necessary. But as long as they are, I’m glad there are still people willing to do it.

And you can get flameless candles online for as little as ten bucks, some of which look pretty realistic if you opt for the flickering variety.

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Streetblog’s Damian Newton says the early reviews are bad on the proposed license plate-mandating ebike legislation we discussed here the other day, as bike safety advocates pan the bill.

And give him extra credit for quoting my comment that it’s just “an asinine political stunt.”

Meanwhile, Calbike wants your input to help fight the damn thing, as well as enforcing existing laws against illegally misrepresenting e-motos as legal ebikes.

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Bike Long Beach is also hosting their next Bikes and Coffee ride Sunday morning, with a nine-mile, no-drop ride exploring the city’s aviation history.

If you’re planning to attend, sign their ride waiver. And you’re encouraged to bring a helmet, bike lock, and repair kit, as well as a bike in working order.

The latter of which would seem to be a prerequisite.

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

No bias here. An English driving academy questions whether bicyclists have a right to the road, while using AI slop to conjure a not-quite right image of a bicyclist riding on the road near a narrow bike path, accompanied by a couple paragraphs of AI written copy.

No bias here, either. An Irish bike lane is scheduled to be redesigned, or maybe removed, after drivers complained it was a pilot program “with no pilot,” and compared it to a “North Korean style” bike lane that left poor, afflicted motorists with nowhere to pull over if they had a flat or engine trouble, while making it impossible for two combine harvesters to pass one another, which must be a common problem there. Although some of those North Korean bike lanes look better than a lot of LA bike lanes. 

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Local 

Eaton Fire recovery charity Lotus Rising LA will host a Lunar New Year bike ride this Saturday through Pasadena and Altadena to celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse.

 

State

Calbike is introducing their new line of bike-themed T-shirts and accessories. Some of them aren’t bad.

About damn time. San Diego is moving forward with a comprehensive plan to lower speed limits “around school zones, business corridors, key pedestrian and bicycle routes, and areas with a history of crashes.” Although in Los Angeles, that last clause could cover the entire city.

A Florida father is planning to ride across the country, from San Diego to the East Coast of Florida, to honor his sister who was killed on 9/11. With all due respect, though, riding across the country is hard, with countless unforeseen obstacles that can derail even the best plans — like when my brother was forced to ride out a tornado in a public restroom. So wake me when someone completes a ride, not when they’re planning one. 

Bike riders in San Francisco will highlight Black history and culture with a five-hour ride through the SoMa, Mission Bay and Bayview neighborhoods, culminating in a block party at the end of the ride.

Manteca has formally banned street takeovers by bicyclists, with a $1,000 fine if you’re caught participating, or a mandatory bike safety course and having their bike impounded for anyone under 16.

 

National

More than 1,100 organizations, including major bikemakers, sounded the alarm over funding cuts to bike and active transportation infrastructure, urging Congress to maintain current levels as it drafts the next national transportation bill.

Mountain Bike Action asks if a new drop bar ebike can erase the line between mountain and gravel bikes. Finally bringing this divided nation together. 

An enterprising 12-year old Bend, Oregon boy is detailing cars to raise money to buy his own ebike. You gotta applaud the spirit, even if kids that young shouldn’t be riding them — especially not throttle-controlled electric motorbikes. 

Sad news from Seattle, where a local TV station announced that a 14-year old spaniel has died, two years after he was the first dog to walk across a new pedestrian freeway overpass. No, really.

LV Sports Biz says Las Vegas paid $800,000 to a Henderson, Nevada firm for a Vision Zero study, but questions what difference that has actually made on the streets.

Over on the other coast, a 67-year old Connecticut man says the Watchman procedure has allowed him to get back on his bike, after 15 years on blood thinners. Yes, I know it’s a healthcare advertorial, but still. 

A New York bike club is suing the city over Central Park’s new 15 mph speed limit, calling it a real threat to active transportation.

 

International

Bike riders in Halifax, Nova Scotia complain that collisions are rising along with bike ridership, as the streets remain dangerous for people on two wheels.

A Welsh police captain has been forced to apologize after a “miscategorized” emergency call left an injured bike rider lying in a busy intersection for more than three hours before an ambulance arrived.

There may be dirty tricks afoot in London’s bikeshare wars, as dockless ebike firm Bolt is accusing its competitors of secretly moving the company’s bikes in the middle of the night to areas where they will get impounded by morning.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website busts a handful of ebike myths, starting with ebikes aren’t just for seniors and lazy people. Both of which could describe me these days. 

A British woman shares the highs and lows of her “magical” 6,214-mile bike ride across Africa, from Kigali, Rwanda to Cape Town, South Africa. Although getting chased by tsetse flies was probably one of the lows. 

New Zealand authorities are belatedly paving over a railroad track running through the middle of a bike path, after a 71-year old man suffered multiple injuries when his bike tire got caught in a rut.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a “Mensa reject” says you can avoid a ticket by putting your car’s license plate on the bike rack. Who needs an ebike when you’ve got an e-ski?

And nothing like pedaling a three-wheeled bike through the Moroccan desert loaded with 21 satellite dishes.

Or maybe on an artfully deconstructed and rearranged bike.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

New slate of bills stiffen CA DUI laws, completely incomplete killer pathway, and raising funds for LB hit-and-run victim

February 18, 2026 / / No comments

With all of yesterday’s holiday greetings, I forgot all about Mardi Gras for the first time since I lived in Louisiana with the Pirate Lafitte . 

But just like a flat inevitably follows a forgotten spare tube and patch kit, so Ash Wednesday must follow on the heels of Mardi Gras. 

So I hope you’ve gotten the partying out of your system at least for a day or two, and have a good Ash Wednesday if you’re so inclined.

Personally, I’m giving up flipping off dangerous drivers for Lent. 

I give it about three or four days. 

………

About damn time.

CalMatters continues their exceptional series on the ongoing epidemic of traffic violence in California with reporting on a slate of new bills in the state legislature that would finally get tough on drunk, stoned and killer drivers.

I’ll let them fill in the details, but these are the topline highlights.

  • Make vehicular manslaughter a violent felony and increase DUI penalties (SB 907)
  • Close the DMV point loophole for drivers who get diversion after a deadly crash (AB 1662)
  • Ensure deadly drivers don’t get their licenses back as soon as they get out of prison (TBD)
  • Increase DMV points for fatal crashes (AB 1685)
  • Allow prosecutors to charge DUIs as a felony on second offense (AB 1686)
  • Allow prosecutors to charge DUIs as a felony after third offense, increase repeat DUI penalties (AB 1546)
  • Revoke the licenses of repeat DUI offenders for longer (AB 1687)
  • Bar people convicted of serious or repeat DUIs from purchasing alcohol (AB 1605)
  • Mandate in-car breathalyzers for all DUI offenders (AB 1830)
  • Expand law enforcement DUI training (AB 1814)

Now if they’d just do the same thing for hit-and-run drivers.

………

No shit.

The Marin County Bicycle Coalition has a few questions after a 75-year old man was killed riding his bicycle on a “complete” section of the county’s SMART Pathway.

Like why wasn’t the driver charged for running the victim down from behind with a massive SUV, when only some form of carelessness or distract could reasonably explain why the driver couldn’t avoid someone on a bicycle directly in front of him.

It should have at least been a prima facie violation of the state’s three-foot passing law, since the driver trier to go through rather than around him

Then there’s the obvious question of why this section of the pathway is considered complete, when it’s just nine miles of narrow country road with no bike infrastructure or paved shoulder of any kind.

As in zero.

Never mind on a two lane farm road with a 55 mph speed limit.

It’s worth giving the full piece a read, because they raise a lot of the same problems we face down here, despite the more rural setting.

Like how the hell people are supposed to stay active as they age, when doing it puts them in the crosshairs of dangerous drivers.

………

I want to share a press release I received yesterday promoting a crowdfunding campaign to help pay funeral expenses for Lori Ann Carreon.

The beloved 54-year old occupational therapist was killed by a speeding hit-and-run driver while riding her bike just a block from her Long Beach home earlier this month.

The driver turned himself in four days later.

GOFUNDME CREATED FOR LONG BEACH CYCLIST KILLED BY HIT-AND-RUN-DRIVER

Long Beach, CA – Friends and family of Lori Ann Carreon, the bicyclist killed by a hit-and-run driver on Saturday, February 7th, have set up a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral and memorial expenses.

Carreon was killed while riding her bike just blocks from her apartment in the Bluff Park neighborhood of Long Beach. Carreon, a long-time Long Beach resident and occupational therapist, was a beloved member of the community.

She was hit by a driver going in excess of 60 miles an hour on Second Street while crossing the intersection of Redondo Avenue and East Second Street. The driver fled the scene and turned himself in to the police on February 11th.

The intersection of Redondo Avenue and East Second Street has been the scene of numerous accidents over the years, and residents have urged Councilmember Cindy Allen and Mayor Rex Richardson to take action to make it safer, either by adding speed bumps or a traffic light, but their pleas have so far been ignored.

Long Beach Police have increased patrols at the intersection following the accident and have issued dozens of tickets, underscoring the need for more substantive efforts.

People interested in making a donation can go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-lori-ann-carreon-beautiful-life-and-legacy.

As of this writing, the page has raised $17,500 of the $25,000 goal.

………

This weekend marks the return of Chinatown’s Annual Firecracker run, walk, bike, whatever, for the 48th year.

Below, the sponsors offer a schedule of the busy two day event, or rather, a series of events, including bike rides up to a half century, along with how to register and get more information.

WHEN:
February 28-March 1, 2026

  • Sat, Feb 28: 50-mile Bike Ride; 8 a.m. – via Chinatown, LA River Bike Trail, Griffith Park, Burbank, Glendale, Tujunga, La Crescenta, Montrose, La Canada Flintridge, Pasadena, Alta Dena, South Pasadena, El Sereno and Lincoln Heights
    • Sat, Feb 28: 20-mile Bike Ride; 8:15 a.m. – via Chinatown, LA River Bike Trail, Griffith Park
    • Sat, Feb 28: 2K PAW’er Dog Walk; 9 a.m.
    • Sat, Feb 28: 3rd Annual Lantern Paw Festival; Blossom Plaza, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.; A dog-centered Lunar New Year Celebration from https://www.instagram.com/pawsitivemgmt
    • Sat, Feb 28: Free Festival until 4 p.m.
    • Sun, March 1: 5K Run/Walk; 8:00 a.m.
    • Sun, March 1: 10K Run/Walk; 8:40 a.m.
    • Sun, March 1: 1K Kiddie Run: 9:45 a.m.; includes Kiddie Fun Zone (Carnival Games, Airbrush Tattoos, Pony Rides, Arts & Crafts, Rock Climbing Wall, Activities with the LA Zoo and LA Public Library, Freebies and Giveaways, and much more)
    • Sun, March 1: Free Festival until 1 p.m.

WHERE:
Los Angeles Chinatown Central Plaza
943 N Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles 90012

RUN/WALK, KIDDIE RUN, PAW’er DOG WALK & BIKE RIDE REGISTRATIONS:  $35 – $75

HOW TO REGISTER AND MORE INFORMATION:
• Firecracker L.A. Website: https://firecracker10k.org/
• Registration: https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/LosAngeles/LAChinatownFirecracker
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefirecracker10k
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firecracker10k/
• Twitter: https://x.com/firecracker10k
• Email: info@firecracker10k.org or Call 818-925-8434
• #firecrackerLA; #48years
• L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Trailer/Broll: Chinatown Firecracker 2025 3 minute 06.mov; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXnjkQtweFc

………

Be careful riding river pathways in this weather, for obvious reasons.

Ballona Creek bike path this afternoon. Impassable. Stay out. #StreetPhotography #SawtelleBlvd #BallonaCreekBikePath

— Ted Faber (@snorerot13.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T02:38:50.242Z

………

Joe Linton’s lawsuit over Metro’s failure to implement Measure HLA on the Vermont corridor is kinda headed to court today.

My lawsuit against LACity over #MeasureHLA will be in court next week: Wed Feb 18. But it won't be the big part of my case. There are 3 things I am contesting. Next week is a smaller wonky administrative chunk: asking the judge to nix the city's HLA ordinance. labikas.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/m…

— Joe Linton (@lintonjoe.bsky.social) 2026-02-14T17:46:51.870Z

………

Los Angeles is shamefully giving back millions in hard-won California Active Transportation Program funding, because city budget cutbacks mean we don’t have enough staffing to implement the projects.

And that’s because Mayor Bass and the city council approved massive, unfunded pay increases for police and other city workers.

The City of LA is about to give back millions of dollars of previously won money for active transportation projects because it can’t build things in any reasonable amount of time.

— Streets For All (@streetsforall.org) 2026-02-14T18:21:01.126Z

………

Apparently, LADOT is making up for their lack of staffing by conducting an endless series of surveys, including this one on improvements to Marmion Way.

………

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

This is a perfect example of dangerously impatient driver behavior. On the other hand, this wouldn’t have been a problem if the bicyclists had stuck to a single lane, leaving room to pass safely.

https://twitter.com/Roadman_Podcast/status/2023774901488763167

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton updates LA’s bizarre new policy of conducting “Large Asphalt Repairs” instead of resurfacing streets, which amounts to almost the same thing, without triggering Americans With Disabilities Act and Measure HLA requirements.

A Culver City paper is concerned that a proposal to divert funds that voters approved to fix deteriorating school facilities will be used to “force a connection in between through our quiet residential neighborhood.” Never mind that the purpose is to provide a safe alternative to the usual parent drop-off so kids can walk or bike to school. But what’s the safety of a few kids compared to keeping the riffraff and rugrats out of the ‘hood?

South Pasadena wants your input on improvements to the Huntington Drive and Fremont Avenue Corridor, including the possibility of new bikeways.

Baldwin Park has officially opened the 2.3-mile Baldwin Park Greenway, which is slated to expand to five miles in the coming years, allowing people to bypass the area’s busiest streets.

 

State

A Silicon Valley organization changes lives by rebuilding bicycles that are then donated to local charities to distribute to people in need.

 

National

The Velo podcast considers, among other things, the controversial ethics of hi-viz, and getting stalked by Bigfoot while riding through the woods.

No surprise here. The police chief of Greeley, Colorado, crashed into a 15-year old boy on a bicycle while driving his personal SUV, and the cops immediately blamed the kid on the bike for riding out in front of him. Which is entirely possible. But it’s a little strange that the cops never seem to be responsible for a crash, when even they will tell you they’re the worst drivers on the road.

Chicago Streetsblog accuses a candidate for alderman, aka councilmember, of being a Trump-aligned NIMBY who wants to rip out “obstructive bike lanes,” even though the traffic congestion is actually caused by utility construction.

A proposal in the New York State legislature would allow residents to set aside pre-tax funds for transportation, including transit and bike share.

 

International

London bike thieves stole around 40,000 bicycles last year, while the cops recovered a lousy 2%, or about 800 bikes.

After a British writer wrecks a high-end wheel hitting a massive pothole, he’s just happy it wasn’t worse.

Yesterday we mentioned that a man was killed in the UK when he allegedly fell off his ebike and crashed into a stopped police van when the cops attempted a traffic stop; now it turns out he was restrained by the cops as he lay dying — and bizarrely, had a “package” in his mouth that was removed by paramedics at the scene.

Cycling Weekly details a stunning handbuilt Italian Simoncini bicycle frame, saying it epitomizes the aero thinking of the 1980s.

A Finnish couple spent 20 months riding 13,000 miles from Finland to Singapore, passing through a mere 24 countries on a DIY tandem.

Only 30 or so people turned out in Seoul, South Korea, for a chilly Critical Mass, just the 14th in the city. Although it takes courage just to ride on Seoul’s crowded streets.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Visma‑Lease a Bike cycling team is looking for a new title sponsor, even though both firms remain firmly on board, as the costs of remaining competitive on the WorldTour continue to climb.

Mexican wunderkind Isaac del Toro continued his winning ways from his rookie season, winning stage 1 of the UAE Tour in stunning fashion.

The iconic Paris-Roubaix is now officially changing its name to the somewhat more cumbersome Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France, a moniker assured to be used by virtually no one who’s not required to.

 

Finally…

Nothing like putting a planter or two in the middle of a bike lane. And your next really expensive bike frame could be a rolling canvas.

But only if you put wheels and stuff on it.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Alleged Long Beach hit-and-run driver turns himself in 4 days later, and intense bicycling may reverse cancer cells

February 12, 2026 / / Comments Off on Alleged Long Beach hit-and-run driver turns himself in 4 days later, and intense bicycling may reverse cancer cells

Nothing like giving yourself several days to sober up before turning yourself in for a fatal hit-and-run.

Or maybe just to come up with a good excuse.

Or a good lawyer.

Forty-year old Los Angeles resident Christopher Bryant turned himself in to the Long Beach police yesterday, admitting that he was the alleged speeding driver who ran a stop sign and plowed into the bicycle ridden by 54-year-old Lori Ann Carreon.

Bryant hit Carreon so hard that she reportedly flew 60 feet through the air before smashing into the windshield of a parked car.

He was booked on $50,000 bond on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, hit-and-run involving death and reckless driving.

If there was any justice, he would be charged with murder for making the conscious decision to leave Carreon to die in the street while he sped away.

Although if past is prologue, the DA’s office probably just bargain this down to reckless driving, and send Bryant on his way with a few months in jail and a slap on the back.

Let’s just hope prosecutors can at least trace his actions prior to the crash to determine if he was under the influence, or if some other factor caused him to flee.

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

………

Evidently, riding a bike really is good for you.

A new British study shows that just a ten-minute burst of intensive exercise, like bicycling, can not only slow the growth of bowel cancer, but actually reverse cancer cell growth.

And it also lowers the risk of developing intestinal cancer by an estimated 20 percent.

There’s no mention of whether it has the same effect on other forms of cancer. But researchers intend to look into how exercise would interact with more traditional forms of cancer treatment like chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

……….

If you need a good laugh, Road.cc has collected the most hilarious anti-bike headlines from the very anti-bike Daily News, which isn’t exactly a fan of anyone on two wheels.

………

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

Nailed it. Cycling Weekly examines New Jersey and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad e-bike law.

A letter writer in the London Telegraph not only calls for registering and licensing bike riders, but turning everyone with a cellphone into vigilantes to report scofflaw behavior. Because apparently, we’re so much more dangerous than the people in cars.

………

Local 

Forty-five year old tree killer Samuel Patrick Groft got a well deserved two years behind bars for riding around DTLA on his bicycle and chopping down 13 trees with a chainsaw last April.

LA County is offering a $20,000 reward in the fatal shooting of a 32-year old Bell man; Jose Manuel Rangel was killed as he was riding his bike back home after visiting his mother on Mother’s Day in 2023.

 

State

California will start requiring Waymo to report all crashes to the DMV, which is currently allowed to just keep those things to themself, even though the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, requires reporting every incident — like the dooring that injured a San Francisco bike rider, or the crash that killed a popular Bay Area cat.

Oceanside police found a 52-year old man lying next to his ebike in the roadway near Coast Highway and Seagaze Drive shortly after midnight yesterday, suffering from critical injuries to his head and upper body; it wasn’t clear if he crashed on his own, or was the victim of a hit-and-run.

San Diego received a $6.9 million grant from the San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, including $3.5 million for the Chollas Creek to Bayshore Bikeway project.

San Bernardino County will open a new 3.8-mile segment of the Santa Ana River Trail at noon today.

The annual Tour of Paso ride returns to the Paso Robles wine country March 22nd.

The San Luis Obispo city council will consider final approval of the Higuera Complete Streets Project, a key part of the city’s Active Transportation Plan, on Tuesday evening.

A San Jose man walked away from a career with tech startups in his 40s to open a bike shop; now he offers free bicycles and repairs for homeless people, saying he’s “seen magical, magical things happen” with a bicycle for someone in need.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Sacramento is fast-tracking a road diet and new buffered bike lanes on a street where four people have been killed in just the last two years.

The Sacramento Bee says yes, you can get a DUI for riding a bicycle, e-scooter or even a golf cart while under the influence.

 

National

Field Magazine reports your favorite bicycle brand may be pivoting to running, because that’s where the money is these days. Or maybe it’s just because the bike industry is in deep trouble these days.

If you live in Portland, this 52-year old man has ridden his bike down your street, as well as every other street in the city.

Denver is expecting around 5,000 people to turn out for the city’s Winter Bike to Work Day on Friday. Los Angeles is expecting somewhere around zero, because we don’t celebrate Winter Bike to Work Day, for reasons.

Yesterday we mentioned that two sixteen-year old Texas boys were struck by drivers while riding with a companion in cities 45 miles apart; today we learned that the boy who died was riding with his 10-year old sister, who remains hospitalized. The other boy remains in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.

A Texas man was sentenced to 15 years behind bars after his dogs attacked and killed a 46-year old man who had the misfortune of riding his bike past the man’s property; animal control had picked up dogs from his property 18 times prior to the attack, and he was banned from adopting dogs from the local animal shelter.

Brujula Bike traces the rise of Trek from a Wisconsin barn to an international bicycle powerhouse.

Philadelphia will post No Stopping signs along the city’s bike lanes after receiving a $1 million state grant, but Philadelphia Magazine just wants to know when the city will clear the damn snow out of them.

Baltimore bicyclists are begging for bike lanes on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which represents a massive critical gap in the region’s bicycle network.

 

International

Road.cc rates the best hardtail mountain bikes you can get for the equivalent of around $950, while Off-Road.cc considers the best upgrades for your new mountain or gravel bike.

NPR reports on the weekly Sunday ciclovia on Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma, describing it as the most important street in Mexico, where a dog riding in a bike basket steals the show in his bike helmet and goggles.

Bicycling injuries are reaching an all-time high in London, with rental ebikes accounting for a fifth of serious injuries. Which sounds really bad, until you consider that one-fifth of 1,200 is just 240.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. An “otherwise decent” road-raging driver in the UK walked without a day behind bars for deliberately ramming a bike-riding man off the road.

 

Competitive Cycling

Earlier this week, we mentioned a Phoenix, Arizona man who killed a woman riding a bicycle when he allegedly fell asleep behind the wheel, claiming he would trade his life for hers if he could. Today we learned the victim was 26-year old Canadian triathlete Hannah Henry, the 2017 and 2018 US national collegiate triathlon champ, who started competing when she was just nine years old.

California mountain biker Kyle Strait would like whoever stole his custom 2024 Red Bull Rampage Ari to return it. Now.

To the surprise of no one, the track cycling events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will be held at the VELO Sports Center in Carson. Because seriously, where else would they hold it? 

Finally…

Happy 147th birthday to the country’s first bike club. That feeling when you’ve got an e-cargo bike, a snow plow and a craving for Vietnamese food.

And if you’re going to ride your ebike while drunk, try not to fall off in front of sheriff’s deputies.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Update: Woman riding bicycle killed by speeding hit-and-run driver in Long Beach; 11th SoCal bike rider killed in last 4 weeks

February 8, 2026 / / Comments Off on Update: Woman riding bicycle killed by speeding hit-and-run driver in Long Beach; 11th SoCal bike rider killed in last 4 weeks

This is getting really old.

For the 11th time in the past 30 days — okay, 28 — someone has been killed riding a bicycle on the mean streets of Southern California.

And once again, the victim was murdered by a hit-and-run driver.

According to the Long Beach Police Department, a woman riding a bicycle was mowed down by a motorist who ran a stop sign in broad daylight, then just kept running.

The crash occurred at 4:48 pm Saturday — about 45 minutes before sunset — at Redondo Avenue and East 2nd Street.

Police report the victim was riding south on Redondo when the driver blew through the stop sign on westbound 2nd at a high rate of speed, striking her, then continuing west on 2nd without stopping.

When police arrived, they found the woman, who has not been publicly identified, being tended to by a bystander who had stopped to help. She was taken to a local hospital, where she died.

Authorities are looking for the driver of a 2025 gray Hyundai Sonata; there’s no description of the driver at this time.

Long Beach Watchdog reports she was the fifth person killed as a result of traffic violence in the city already this year, two of the dead were on bikes.

According to the Long Beach Post,

Fatal traffic collisions have been a growing problem in Long Beach despite the city promising it would try to eliminate them completely by 2026. Last year, there were 53 deadly crashes in the city. Most people killed were outside a car: walking, biking or riding an e-scooter.

Long Beach’s strategy is to force drivers to slow down, but the city has faced criticism for moving too slowly on some tactics, such as installing automated speed cameras.

Anyone with information is urged to call LBPD Collision Investigation Detail Detective Edwin Paredes at 562/570-7110, or anonymously through LA Crime Stoppers at 1-800/222-TIPS (8477).

This the 11th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the sixth in Los Angeles County; three of those SoCal deaths were caused by hit-and-run drivers.

Update: The victim has been identified as 54-year old Long Beach resident Lori Ann Carreon, a beloved local occupational therapist who worked with school-age children.

She was just one block from her home when she was killed. 

Forty-year old Christopher Bryant of Los Angeles turned himself in on Wednesday, admitting that he was the driver who fled after killing Carreon.

He was booked on $50,000 bond on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, hit-and-run involving death and reckless driving.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Lori Ann Carreon and her loved ones. 

Thanks to Chris and Danny for the heads-up. 

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

Long Beach traffic deaths doubled since 2015; LADOT installed pathetic 30 lane miles of bikeways, ignores Vision Zero

January 22, 2026 / / Comments Off on Long Beach traffic deaths doubled since 2015; LADOT installed pathetic 30 lane miles of bikeways, ignores Vision Zero

Welcome to our world.

Traffic fatalities in Long Beach have more than doubled in the ten years since the city vowed to eliminate traffic deaths within a decade, rising to the highest level in the last ten years.

That corresponds with the City of Los Angeles, which adopted a Vision Zero program that promised to end traffic deaths by last year.

And you know how that worked out.

Now LA’s Vision Zero is a forgotten program, trotted out only when the city wants to assure us that they are really, truly doing something to reduce traffic violence, without actually holding themselves accountable for it.

Like Los Angeles, most of Long Beach’s traffic deaths have been inflicted on people who weren’t encased in a couple tons of steel and glass.

According to the Long Beach Post story in the above link,

Their greatest toll has been on people outside of cars. Last year, 32 people were killed while walking, biking or riding an e-scooter. That eclipses the number of people murdered here last year: 29.

At least in LA, it’s only the total number of traffic deaths that exceeds the city’s murders.

Photo by Zariflavin from Pexels.

………

LADOT has released their 2026 Annual Report, touting their usual list of successes for the past year, modest though they may be.

Including a rather underwhelming, if not pathetic, total of 31 lane miles of new bikeways installed during the last fiscal year. Which includes 1.3 lane miles of sharrows, which studies have shown are literally worse than nothing.

So make it a little less than 30 miles.

And since lane miles count each side of the roadway separately, that amounts to less than 15 miles out of the city’s 6,642 miles of city streets.

Just 0.23 percent.

I also challenge you to find a single mention of Vision Zero anywhere in the report.

If you can, you’re a better reader than I am.

………

Interesting idea.

An Idaho legislator is trying to close a loophole in the law, after a judge dismissed a case where a driver hit an ebike rider.

According to the judge, the law in Idaho defines a bicycle as a “human-powered” vehicle, and it wasn’t clear to his or her honor if an ebike is actually human powered.

And that’s the problem. Some ebikes are human powered with an electrical assist, while others are strictly throttle controlled, or a combination thereof.

So defining an ebike as human powered could be the solution to the current dilemma of cities cracking down on ped-assist ebike riders for the problems caused by people on electric motorbikes and dirt bikes.

Something which was made clear by New Jersey’s new law that requires a driver’s license and registration to ride even the slowest ped-assist bike.

Meanwhile, Vermont legislators say the state’s ebike laws can’t keep up with technical advances leading to ebikes that can easily exceed the state’s 28 mph limit.

………

We mentioned last month that you can, in fact, use an HSA/FSA — Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account — to buy an new bicycle or ebike, as well as bike gear, using pretax dollars, resulting in an average savings of 30%.

Now Marvin forwards word that Trumed will be the source you’ll have to use.

He adds,

The reason I really like this is because it supports the middle class. if I was poor, I could get help purchasing an e-bike. If I was rich, I could get help purchasing an EV. Finally, with FSA/HSA benefits, I can finally qualify for something that helps me.

The only downside I see is that no one can establish a new or add to an existing FSA/HSA until Nov 2026.

………

Streets Are For Everyone will hold a die-in on the steps of City Hall this Saturday to protest the unacceptable level of traffic violence in this city.

In 2025 alone, 286 people were killed on our streets — deaths that were preventable.

This Saturday, SAFE and partner nonprofits will gather to honor lives lost and demand action after a decade-old City pledge to eliminate traffic deaths was missed.

4th Annual Die-In for Safer Streets
📍 LA City Hall Steps, 232 N. Spring Street
🕙 Saturday, January 24 | 10:00–11:00 AM

Signing up is appreciated, but walk-ups to the event without signing up are also welcome.

Lives are on the line. Inaction is no longer acceptable.

………

Streets for All invites you to register for all their upcoming mobility debates/discussions this month.

………

Local 

The LA Chinatown Firecracker will be back for the 48th consecutive year on weekend of February 28-March 1, marking the lunar new year with running, walking, bicycling and dog walking events.

Glendale is very slowly moving forward with plans for the Glendale-Los Angeles Garden River Bridge Project, a landscaped bridge, currently in the environmental review stage, connecting with Griffith Park across the LA River.

Santa Monica police will conduct yet another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation tomorrow, as usual, ticketing anyone who commits a violation that endangers either one — even if you’re only endangering yourself, at least in their eyes.

 

State

A San Diego bike shop owner is still trying to cope with Trump’s tariffs, after a near year of uncertainty.

Residents of San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood are calling for safety improvements following the death of six-year old Hudson O’Laughlin, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver as he and his family were riding bikes on the sidewalk — even though all the previous traffic calming measures introduced in recent years were removed following complaints from residents.

A travel website says Northern California’s Forest of Nisene Marks State Park is “a rather secluded and uncrowded haven” for hiking or biking surrounded by towering redwoods.

 

National

A nine-year old Washington State boy got a new bicycle from a local group after his broke down, nominated for his leadership and friendship to others — and he immediately named it for his favorite soccer star.

A Texas family is coping with the grief of losing a baby by attempting a long-distance bike ride to raise funds to support families facing high-risk pregnancies. Although how long they consider long-distance isn’t clear.

That’s more like it. Students, faculty and employees of Cincinnati’s Xavier University can now use the city’s bikeshare system for free.

 

International

Road.cc recommends the year’s best road bikes.

Cyclist offers recommendations on the best insulated water bottles. Which I misread as “the best insulted water bottles,” which would make for a much more interesting article.

Tragic news from Peru, where 29-year old Florian Berg was killed by lightening on Saturday when the German climate activist was caught in a severe thunderstorm in the Andes, after more than a year spent riding around the world.

Next City says Victoria, British Columbia is one of the best bike cities not traditionally known for it, after tripling its rate of bicycling in just 11 years. Although they can’t seem to spell Victoria correctly. Or British, for that matter. 

A Scotsman resigned from the rat race, quitting his high-stress job as a communications director for a renewable energy company for a much calmer career fixing bicycles. As I know all too well after a career in advertising, the problem with the rat race is the rats usually win. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Denmark’s Tobias Lund Andresen outsprinted the sprinters to win the first stage of the Tour Down Under.

Bike Radar asked the pros at the Tour Down Under how to make pro cycling safer, and was told the solution is slower bikes and safer courses.

The first stage of India’s Tour of Pune was temporarily halted due to a crash involving around 30 riders; fortunately, no one was seriously injured, though three riders were forced to withdraw.

French cyclist Simeon Sebastien Green is still competing at twice the age of many his competitors.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you’re a legendary British DJ, and the best bike ride of your life started in West Hollywood. Or when the local golf club is infested with ebikes of the non-bicycle variety.

And waxing eloquent about a blue touring bike bought on an informed impulse — for the equivalent of just 270 bucks.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Update: Man riding an ebike killed, apparently by hitting a median in solo Long Beach crash

January 17, 2026 / / Comments Off on Update: Man riding an ebike killed, apparently by hitting a median in solo Long Beach crash

A man was apparently killed riding an ebike in Long Beach Friday night.

Apparently, because the victim was found lying unresponsive on the center median of Artesia Blvd.

And because it’s not clear what kind of electric bike he was riding, or how it happened.

According to My News LA, police responded to reports of an unconscious man in the median on Artesia Blvd near Indiana Ave around 9:40 pm.

Despite the efforts of paramedics, the victim, who was not publicly identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators speculated that he somehow lost control of his ebike while riding in the left lane and hit the median, and was thrown from his bike.

The belief that he was riding in the left lane and hit the curb with enough force to cause his death suggests he may have been riding an electric motorbike or dirt bike, rather than a bicycle.

However, it’s also possible that he was on a ped-assist bike, and may have been forced into the median by a motorist or hit a pothole.

With the limited information available, all we can do is speculate. Hopefully, we’ll learn more soon.

This is the third bicycling fatality that I’m aware in of Southern California this year, and the third in Los Angeles County.

Update: The victim was identified as Robert Neal, but no age or city of residence was given. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Robert Neal and his loved ones. 

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

Speeding Long Beach driver kills 2 — after killing bike rider 3 months earlier, and Mandani loses a just little bike street cred

January 8, 2026 / / One comment

Un-effing-believable.

A 24-year old woman was formally charged with felony manslaughter for the October death of a bike rider in Long Beach.

Just one day after she was arrested for killing two other people in a Long Beach hit-and-run on Sunday.

According to the Long Beach Post, Ahkeyajahniq Owens was arraigned on a single count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for running down 35-year old Long Beach resident Raul Augustin Gallopa on October 6th.

Owens was allegedly driving her BMW around 100 mph when she slammed into Gallopa while he was attempting to turn left off of Fourth Street near Bonita Ave.

Remarkably, given Owen’s speed, he survived for two weeks in the hospital before dying of his injuries.

The deputy district attorney mentioned the additional killings almost in passing as she asked that Owens to be held without bail, arguing that she is “a huge risk to the community.”

Well, no shit.

Like the earlier crash, she’s accused of running red lights at over 100 mph before slamming into two cars at Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue in Sunday’s crash, killing two people and injuring three others.

Which makes you wonder how the hell she manages to survive those high-speed crashes.

It also makes you wonder why her license wasn’t immediately pulled after killing one innocent person, let alone three.

It’s also stupendously idiotic that Owens wasn’t taken into custody after the first crash; instead, she was let loose on society after getting booked on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless driving.

Because apparently, inflicting life-threatening injuries at 100 mph on someone riding a bicycle is merely “reckless.”

In a functioning society that actually gives a damn about human lives, that would have been enough to suspend her license at least until a decision was made whether to file formal charges.

But we don’t seem to live in that society.

Instead, we just give dangerous drivers a pat on the back, and send them back out to get their cars fixed, and do it again three months later.

To say I’m disgusted and sickened would be a huge understatement.

To cap it all off, California’s lax traffic laws mean she faces a maximum of six years behind bars if she’s convicted for Gallopa’s death.

Too bad the judge can’t add a year for each 10 mph over the speed limit.

The only good news, if you can all it that, is that she should face a similar sentence for each of the two people she is alleged to have killed on Sunday. Although the DA should upgrade it to 2nd degree murder by arguing that she should have known the danger of speeding after the earlier crash.

We can hope, anyway.

At the end of Monday’s hearing, Owens was ordered held on $200,000 bail.

No word on whether the judge also took away her license until the trial is completed.

Thanks to Chris for the heads-up. 

Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels. 

………

We finally got to see the first crack in the New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani thus far flawless bike-friendly veneer.

According to Streetsblog, Mamdani agreed that scofflaw bike riders shouldn’t be getting criminal summons in the Big Apple, rather than regular traffic tickets.

But he stopped short of saying he would direct NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to end the policy she implemented last year, instead just saying they’re still having “conversations.”

“These are part of the conversations that we’re having,” Mamdani said. “In addition to the question of what kind of a summons, we also have to make it easier to be a cyclist in compliance with the law, because I will tell you that you will find a cyclist biking on a pavement, and sometimes when you ask them why they’re doing so, they’ll point to the car that’s driving in the bike lane.

“We have created infrastructure issues for cyclists that we are then ticketing them for, where it is easier to be out of compliance with the law than in compliance with the law,” the mayor added.

Although if wants to maintain the bicycle street cred he’s built up in the first two weeks of his administration, he needs to stop conversing and start stopping things.

………

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

The Canadian Constitutional Foundation is entering the battle over Toronto bike lanes, joining the appeal of a judge’s ruling blocking the province’s effort to rip them out, by contesting the constitutional basis for it.

Road.cc claps back about why “certain MAMILS” ride in the roadway rather than in a bike lane, in response to an anonymous Facebook poster complaining about four people riding perfectly legally two-abreast next to the kerb, uh, curb.

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton takes a look at the work by Caltrans contractors to prepare for new lanes on Santa Monica Blvd in the Sawtelle neighborhood, which can also be used by bicyclists once it’s finished.

 

State

A Wasco man will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars after being sentenced to 86-years to life for fatally shooting a 51-year old man in a dispute over a stolen bicycle — which is convenient since there’s already a state prison right there. Seriously, no bike is worth a human life. Just let it go, and let the cops handle it. 

 

National

Bike Magazine hosts three expert framebuilders discussing the challenges of building bicycles in the US, and the tradeoffs involved in making bikes overseas.

CyclingSavvy offers a lesson on the safe use of separated bikeways.

Forbes writes that ebike regulations are being tightened across the US in the wake of irresponsible drivers. But by “drivers,” they mean the people operating ebikes, not the ones in the big, dangerous machines.

Like Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, a Massachusetts man says he depended on the kindness of strangers on his recent three-and-a-half year, 46,000-mile bike journey around the world.

New York will appeal a judge’s ruling that blocked an Astoria bike lane, while also addressing the concerns she cited.

A December demonstration project showed the practicality of delivering fresh seafood to a New York market via freight ferry and heavy-duty cargo bikes.

A Wilmington, North Carolina public radio station examines ghost bikes through the lens of a man who would have been 38 yesterday, if he hadn’t been killed by a driver while riding his bike over seven years earlier.

A recent South Carolina college graduate considers the people he met and the lessons learned riding his bike across the US, while raising $2,500 for charity.

 

International

Momentum ranks the bicycle festivals worth traveling to this year, starting with Monterey’s Sea Otter Classic in April.

Quartz highlights ten of the world’s best bike cities. None of which is Los Angeles, of course. Or even in the US. 

An Irish writer considers why bicycles are a favored symbol of the country’s rural life, despite the damp and dreary weather.

A group of Indian soldiers are riding a thousand miles across the subcontinent, retracing the march of Peshwa Bajirao to victory in the 1737 battle of Delhi.

A kindhearted South African woman worked with a local bike shop to repair and refurbish her gardener’s broken bicycle at no cost, which is his main mode of transport.

A Chinese province used a recent mass bike ride to propagandize against “xie jiao,“ or “illicit religions, ranging from Falun Gong to perfectly orthodox Christian churches.

Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to Beijing with a new ebike, along with Chinese ceramics, a coffee cup set, apples and dried persimmons, and a traditional Korean painting symbolizing peace and prosperity. Seriously, he had me at ebike.

 

Competitive Cycling

In a surprise announcement, 33-year old British pro Simon Yates decided to quit at the top, calling it a career after after winning last year’s Giro, seven years after his first grand tour win in the 2018 Vuelta and 13 years after debuting alongside his twin brother Adam.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can cosplay being a real Tour de France cyclist. Nothing like a bunch of rapping skinny ass white kids in spandex to get you in the mood for racing season.

And post this one under “problems SoCal bike riders seldom have.”

I had to give up..
byu/manspih inbikecommuting

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

SAFE takes Long Beach and Los Angeles to task for failing on speed cams, and how to request improvement on county roads

December 9, 2025 / / Comments Off on SAFE takes Long Beach and Los Angeles to task for failing on speed cams, and how to request improvement on county roads
Day 343 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s Day 12 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Brian, Kathleen, Steven and Lisa for their generous support for SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy!

So what are you waiting for? It only takes a few clicks to donate via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo, and guarantee our spokescorgi will find a little kibble in her stocking this year.

And yes, that’s the same photo of our official spokescorgi that we used yesterday, because it’s after 4 in the damn morning and I want to go to sleep, already. 

………

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, is also conducting a year-end fund drive, and more than deserving of a few bucks.

Or maybe more than a few.

………

Speaking of SAFE, the organization takes Glendale, Los Angeles and Long Beach to task, along with Oakland and San Jose, for failing to implement the state’s speed cam pilot program, over two years after it was signed into law.

Only San Francisco has actually placed speed cams on the streets, getting a 100% A+ grade in SAFE’s scoring system, while seeing a dramatic decrease in speeding where the cameras have been installed.

Los Angeles, on the other hand, gets a D grade, with Long Beach only slightly better at D+.

Although, while I can’t speak to Long Beach, that’s probably being undeservedly kind towards LA.

Malibu, which was added to the plan a year later as residents clamored for speed cams on deadly PCH, has done much better at implementing the program, already achieving a B+ in SAFE’s scoring.

………

Thanks to Luc for forwarding a response from LA County on how to request safety signage or other improvements on country roads.

Report a Problem: Bike Path:
Hi – Not a problem but a proactive measure to enforce safety for all. Now that the Rockstore section on Mulholland is finally open to all traffic:
Who do I ask for a sign to be placed showing to “share the road with cyclists”?
Thank you!

Answer:
Thank you for contacting the website for Los Angeles County Public Works. We provide services to the unincorporated areas of L.A. County. Your concerns have been forwarded to the Traffic Investigator for the subject location, who should be contacting you shortly. You may also contact them at 626-300-4848.

………

LADOT wants your feedback on the South Broadway Mobility Project, as well as input to help shape their upcoming Mobility Action Plan.

And no, “more protected bike lanes everywhere” is probably not quite what they’re looking for.

But still.

………

Gravel Bike California discovers some some hidden trails and camps in the Verdugo Mountains in the inaugural Tour de Dugo.

………

………

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

Once again, business owners try to shoot themselves in the foot, protesting new curb-protected bike lanes in Chicago while alleging they were losing business after just 45 days, even though studies show protected bike lanes usually result in increased sales if they just give it a little time.

New York Streetsblog examines everything that’s wrong with a judge’s order to rip out a Queens bike lane, accusing her of overstepping her jurisdiction.

………

Local 

LAist offers more details on the $10.5 million Complete Streets makeover of Huntington Drive, which adds bus lanes, curb-protected bike lane, wide sidewalks and a narrow median, while removing a traffic lane in each direction.

Bikeshare is booming at UCLA, where students and staff took roughly 15,000 Metro Bike trips last year, including nearly 6,500 trips on campus.

Burbank Bike Angels will hold their annual celebration tomorrow at Burbank City Hall to display hundreds of new and restored bicycles that will be donated to local children.

 

State

Carlsbad became the second city in San Diego’s North County area to crack down on ebikes, including restrictions on where they can be ridden.

A Fresno driver was on the wrong side of the roadway when he struck and killed a 51-year old anthropology professor three years ago as she was riding with three other bicyclists, according to a woman riding with her; the 50-year old driver faces a vehicular manslaughter charge, as well as a couple misdemeanors for her death.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Yesterday we mentioned that someone riding a bicycle was killed by a driver on the famed Pebble Beach 17 Mile Drive; today we learned the victim was a 66-year old former professor from CSU Monterey Bay, who founded the school’s Service Learning Institute and led it for 25 years.

A 24-year old man pled not guilty to DUI and hit-and-run charges in San Mateo County, after he allegedly hit a 15-year old boy riding an ebike in a bike lane, and dragged the kid several blocks before crashing into a couple parked cars; police found half gram of meth and 14 empty beer cans in his car after the crash. No word on how the boy is doing, but he can’t be good after that.

 

National

Momentum recommends the best rail trails in the US for “cycling bliss.” None of which are anywhere near Los Angeles, of course. 

San Antonio, Texas is proposing a $67 million plan to remove a lane in each direction from a seven-lane roadway, while adding wider sidewalks and a bike path.

An Illinois bill would create a 15 mph speed limit on all bike paths in the state for all bicycles, as well as low-speed ebikes, low-speed gas bicycles, motor-driven cycles and mopeds.

The New Jersey legislature advanced a bill that would reclassify all ebikes, including ped-assist bikes, as motorized bicycles, and require a drivers license for anyone over 17 to operate one, or a motorized bicycle license for anyone 15 to 16. A perfect example of how lumping all forms of electric bikes, including motorbikes and dirt bike, together as ebikes can result in a crackdown that harms everyone.

High school students in Tampa, Florida worked with a local legislator to file a bill requiring bike helmets for all ebike riders under the age of 18. Although bike helmets aren’t designed to protect against the speeds many e-motorbikes and dirt bikes are capable of achieving. 

 

International

Speaking of Momentum, the magazine updates their list of the world’s worst bike lanes. Oddly, Los Angeles doesn’t make the list, but San Diego does. Twice. 

‘Tis the season. Volunteers in Winnipeg, Manitoba reclaimed and refurbished 350 bicycles headed for the landfill to donate to local children in need.

No surprise here, as officials say a new $26 million bike path connecting a Northamptonshire, England railway station to the town center will offer “enormous benefits,” as well as “a safer and greener environment for everyone.”

They know us so well. The UK’s CyclingElectric offers their list of the best Christmas gifts for ebike riders and bicyclists, including a local craft beer. Sign me up, Santa. 

Amsterdam considers a ban on fat-tired ebikes, hoping that restrictions on tire widths will substitute for a ban based on engine power or potential speeds.

A South African appeals court called for a new inquest into the 2016 death of a woman who fell off a cliff while mountain biking with her husband, after a magistrate had ruled that her husband was implicated in her death “on the face of it,” without hearing any testimony; she supposedly fell when he turned his back after stopping to take a photo.

Chinese authorities took nearly $1.6 million worth of fake Specialized bike parts off the market, while tracing the counterfeits back to the factories that made them.

An “everyday athlete” from Australia rode his bike over 2,600 miles across the continent. Or rather, two bikes, after his original bike was stolen as he slept in his one-man tent.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly examines the disturbing trend of young cyclists giving up on the sport.

 

Finally…

Now even the gods are out to get us. It may not be such a long way to Tipperary soon.

And apparently, you’re not the only one who tosses your valve caps.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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