Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Arrest in knife attack on WeHo bike rider, cemeteries still fighting Forest Lawn Drive project, and maybe there’s hope for LA yet

May 8, 2026 / / No comments

Damn.

West Hollywood Sheriff’s detectives finally made an arrest in an attack on a bicyclist last August.

According to the Canyon News, a man was riding a bicycle near Westmount Drive and Rosewood Ave when someone threw a knife at him from a passing car, hitting him in the neck.

There’s no word on whether the rider was injured by the knife or how the suspect was located, nor is there any mention of possible charges.

But the suspect should be charged with attempted murder, because the knife assault could have been fatal if the attacker had better aim.

Image by Walter Bichler from Pixabay. 

………

Evidently, a group opposed to red light cameras has a lot more sway with local leaders than we do.

And oddly, they seem to be on our side.

According to the Jewish Journal, Mt. Sinai and Forest Lawn cemeteries are once again complaining about plans to improve safety on Forest Lawn Drive.

After talking with Mayor Karen Bass and CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman, they thought the project had been put on hold, only to see it revived in response to pressure from Safer Streets LA.

Which, according to their website, exists to “Stop red light camera rip-offs,” and “Stop the plan to impose speed cameras on California.”

Nowhere on their site can I find any support for bike lanes or lane reductions on Forest Lawn. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

Yet, written in black and white on the walls of cyberspace.

Two years ago, in 2024, (Mount Sinai General Manager Randy) Schwab met with Councilmember Nithya Raman to explain the potential impact on the two cemeteries and the traffic congestion the plan could create. “At the time she promised not to do it, but then I think Safer Streets LA got in touch with her and convinced her that it should be brought back.”

So we apparently owe them our thanks for their hard work and dedication to improve safety for us all, even as they try to make the streets more dangerous.

In fact, the plan has long been in the works due to the inherent dangers of the street, as anyone who has tried to use the painted lanes could testify.

The Journal contacted Councilmember Raman’s office and received the following response: “Forest Lawn Drive provides Angelenos access to key destinations, like Griffith Park and the LA Zoo, and is used by people driving, biking and running. About half of all drivers on Forest Lawn are speeding above the 45 mph legal limit, and at those speeds, a pedestrian or bicyclist struck by a car has a 50% chance of being killed. That is not acceptable, and we have been working to change it.”

Her office said the Forest Lawn Drive Safety & Mobility Project is intended to address these safety concerns by reducing vehicle speeds, adding physical protection for cyclists, and improving conditions for all users of the corridor. It also said the plan includes improved turns for both cemeteries and the Junior Achievement Center. A Raman spokesperson said issues raised by cemetery representatives were taken into account during the design process, and LADOT’s proposal includes expanded turn lanes.

Let that first paragraph sink in.

On a roadway commonly used by bike riders, as well as mourners on their way to visit or say farewell to loved ones, more than half of all drivers exceed the already too high 45 mph speed limit, turning the curving street in their own personal speedway.

Yet the cemeteries continue to fight changes that would benefit their own visitors, in what can only be seen as an apparent attempt to drive up business.

So, thanks Safer Streets LA.

We owe you one, apparently.

………

Let’s consider this statement from New York’s former DOT Commissioner, as Gothamist wonders whether Mayor Zohran Mamdani is the city’s first real Bike Mayor.

“I think it’s taken a long time, but I think the politics have really caught up with the people,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, the transportation commissioner under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Not so long ago, a lot of these ideas seemed like they were crazy, and today, a mayor who rides a bike for fun and for transportation is just another part of New York.”

So there may be hope for us yet.

………

The rescheduled memorial for three people killed when an elderly driver crashed through the 99 Ranch Market on Westwood Blvd in February will be held this Saturday.

Here’s a press release from Streets Are For Everyone announcing the event. And if you haven’t signed the letter demanding a Traffic Violence State of Emergency in the City of Los Angeles, there’s still time before it’s released at the event.

THREE GHOST TIRES TO BE PLACED BY THE COMMUNITY
HONORING VICTIMS OF 99 RANCH MARKET MASS TRAFFIC FATALITY EVENT,
CALLS FOR STATE OF EMERGENCY

LOS ANGELES, CA – On Saturday, May 9th, Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), People’s Vision Zero, family members of those lost, and community members will be holding a press conference and placing three Ghost Tires to honor the three lives lost and six people seriously injured in the mass traffic fatality event outside 99 Ranch Market on February 5th, 2026. They will also be addressing a second mass traffic fatality near Vista Del Mar on May 3rd, 2026, which killed two more people, including a one-year-old child, and left two others seriously injured. Speakers will call on the LA Mayor and City Council to declare a state of emergency due to traffic violence in Los Angeles.

Ghost tires will be decorated and placed at the site as a memorial to those killed. Victim family members and their legal representatives will address the press, followed by advocates and community leaders.

WHAT:   Ghost Tire Memorial and Press Conference honoring victims of the 99 Ranch Market mass traffic fatality and calling for emergency action on traffic violence in Los Angeles.

WHEN:   Saturday, May 9, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 11:20 AM

WHERE:  1360 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

WHO:

  • Family members of those lost
  • Damian Kevitt, Founder and Executive Director of SAFE
  • Jonny Hale, People’s Vision Zero
  • Phoebe Kiekhofer, SAFE Families

………

As long as we’re doing press releases, the Orange County Transportation Authority, aka OCTA, is holding a Bike Month Ride Along next week. And yes, I could write about it instead of just reposting the press release, but I’m getting lazy and fond of sleep in my old age.

OCTA Rolls out Bike Month 2026, Ride Along May 13
Annual Bike Rally features a 4-mile ride and prize opportunities, and pledge to bike during May for a chance to win an e-bike while staying active

ORANGE – OCTA is celebrating Bike Month this May by encouraging people across Orange County to get out and ride, whether for commuting, recreation or short everyday trips. The monthlong campaign highlights the benefits of biking as a convenient, healthy and sustainable way to travel.

As part of the celebration, OCTA will host its annual Bike Rally at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 13, featuring a 4-mile group ride from the Orange Metrolink Station to OCTA headquarters in Orange.

The rally serves as a signature Bike Month event, bringing riders together for a shared experience on city streets while showcasing how easy and accessible biking can be throughout the county. Participants will be entered for a chance to win an Aventon Pace 4 Step-Through e-bike, valued at $1,799, along with other prizes. Riders will also receive free Bike Month T-shirts and light snacks while supplies last.

Those who pledge to ride a bike during May will be entered for a chance to win an Aventon Soltera 2.5 e-bike, valued at $1,199, courtesy of Bike Month sponsors Aventon E-bikes and Spectrumotion.

Beyond Bike Month, OCTA continues to invest in active transportation infrastructure and programs that make it safer and more convenient for people to walk and bike throughout Orange County. Working in partnership with local cities and the county, OCTA helps fund and deliver projects such as protected bike lanes, regional trail connections and first- and last-mile improvements that link neighborhoods to transit.

These efforts are designed to reduce reliance on cars, improve air quality and support healthier, more active communities.

OCTA is also encouraging riders to make safety a priority. An e-bike safety video is available with tips for riding responsibly, and those who watch can be entered for a chance to win a $100 gift card.

Together, these efforts are designed to inspire more people to consider biking as an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way to get around.

For more information about Bike Month and to participate in the Bike Rally, visit www.octa.net/bikemonth.

………

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

No bias here. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers tips to keep bike riders safe on the roadways by offering advice for…bike riders. People in the big, dangerous machines, carry on.

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

A Singapore woman was criticized as “irresponsible and brainless” for riding her bike through a busy intersection with her Shiba Inu dog running behind on a leash, despite the hot pavement. I’ve never been a fan of riding with your dog on a leash, which poses too many opportunities for something to go drastically wrong, even if it is an easy way to exercise your dog. Or may over exercise it, because a dog will run itself to death to please you. 

………

Local 

Streetsblog considers how the new extension to the D Line, aka Purple Line, could change the way Angelenos get around.

 

State

A Seal Beach cop responds to a question about ebikes on the sidewalk, reminding readers that ebikes are banned from walkways under city ordinances, and that not everything called an ebike actually is one under California law. Although I’m not sure some of the state ebike requirements he mentions have actually passed the legislature yet, let alone been signed into law. 

Elementary school kids in San Francisco participated in bike buses on this week for Bike and Roll to School Week.

 

National

You know we’re making progress when they’re celebrating Bike Month and Bike to Work Day in the dusty, windswept cowtown college town of Laramie, Wyoming. I say that with all fondness, having grown up in the home of their collegiate arch rivals, about 40 miles away.

Another longtime bike shop is closing its doors, this time in St. Paul, Minnesota; Grand Performance owner and former USA Cycling National Team member Dan Casebeer has owned the shop since setting the US hour record in 1983.

Singer Amy Grant is one of us once again, riding a bicycle for the first time in four years after suffering a severe traumatic brain injury when she hit a pothole while riding her bike in Nashville in 2022. And yes, she was wearing a helmet when she fell.

A Boston bike lawyer and blogger says overall, the city is getting safer for bicyclists, even if dooring remains deadly. While dooring is one of the most common types of bicycling collisions, it’s rarely deadly, amounting to roughly one to 3 percent of bicycling deaths each year. Although one is still one too many. 

A Massachusetts woman has won an international grant competition with her design to put a roof over a local bike co-op, which currently works out of two disconnected shipping containers.

Police in Bay Ridge, New York are looking for the man who pushed a 13-year old boy off his ebike, apparently for the crime of riding on the sidewalk; fortunately, the kid escaped with just minor lacerations. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with some people?

 

International

This is why people keep dying on the roadways. A British pub owner was fined the equivalent of $900 and had his liquor license suspended for a whole three months for knowingly serving a 16-year old kid five pints of a strong lager, before the kid was killed when he drove his four-wheeled farm vehicle off the road on the way home.

A father and son duo from the UK set three world records with their 400-day, 18,600-mile ride around the world — and avoided arrest in a forbidden China county when one of the cops recognized them from their social media posts, sending them on their way after posing for selfies.

They get it. The Irish Examiner says riding a bicycle is one of the best ways for men to maintain their health as they age, from “improving cardiovascular health and muscle strength to boosting testosterone and lowering stress.” Hint: It works for women, too. 

German bike magazine Tour tests out the best bikes for the equivalent of under a grand.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist examines the top contenders for this year’s Giro d’Italia, which kicks off today with a 91-mile stage in Bulgaria. Yes, Bulgaria.

Cycling News does much the same, offering a team-by-team look at the Giro competitors.

Submitted without comment. Much of the planned Lotto-Intermarché risked missing the Giro, including Belgian sprinter Arnaud De Lie, after they fell ill from a cow dung infection — yes, cow dung — during the rain-soaked Famenne Ardenne Classic.

Dutch cyclist Jan-Willem van Schip says he feels unwelcome in road cycling, after he was booted from a race for the second time in eight months, and the fourth time in five years, for an unusual and, by UCI standards, illegal handlebar setup and seat position.

 

Finally…

When you get arrested for bike theft, it’s usually not the best idea to issue death threats to the arresting officers. Probably not the best idea to fire three shots at your girlfriend because her mother won’t help take an ebike out of the trunk, either.

And that feeling when you’re somehow walking while riding.

………

Thanks to someone who prefers not to be named for her very generous annual donation to help support this site, and keep our spokescorgi in kibble. Donations are always welcome and appreciated, for whatever reason might move you. 

And yes, spellcheck, “spokescorgi” is a real word that I made up. 

While we’re at it, let’s all thank Steve for making this site so much more attractive and work a lot better, especially if you’re viewing it on a phone. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Daily News endorses Kenneth Mejia, LAPD busts Playa road rage suspect, and sign LA traffic violence state of emergency

May 7, 2026 / / No comments

Before we get going, I had the misfortune of watching yesterday’s gubernatorial debate.

To quote Doonesbury, back when it was still funny, it had “all the subtle dynamics of a grade school recess.”

Six of the candidates kept insulting and shouting over one another, while Katie Porter asked people over and over not to interrupt her, which they continued to do.

If you listened to the only two Republicans on the dais, you’d be left with the assumption that Democrats were responsible for all the state’s problems, and if you just elect one of them, everything will be sunshine and puppies forever.

Personally, I thought former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came off best, although with this group, that’s such a low bar he could have tripped over it walking off the stage. But his chances of winning are somewhere south of a snowball in hell. 

My main takeaway when the whole damn thing was over was wondering if it was too late to get someone else.

Which it is.

I’d give you my take on the Los Angeles mayoral debate that proceeded it, but I fell asleep shortly after it began.

But considering the bickering that it began with, that would probably have been my take, anyway.

Photo of Kenneth Mejia and his corgis from Abundant Housing LA.

………

On a related subject, the conservative Los Angeles Daily News surprisingly endorsed bicyclist and corgi dad Kenneth Mejia for re-election as City Controller.

That comes despite a $1.5 million campaign from opponent Zach Sokoloff aiming to oust him, which is funded by Sokoloff’s mother.

Yes, his mommy is paying for the whole thing.

But the Daily News evidently doesn’t want you to know about it, because even their own opinions are hidden behind the paper’s draconian paywall.

You’d think if they really wanted people to vote for Mejia, they’d want everyone to read it.

But you would be wrong.

………

Looks like they got him.

The LAPD made an arrest in the Monday morning Play del Rey hit-and-run that killed a one-year old boy and a 27-year old man on Vista del Mar, aka Deadly del Mar, as they were driving home after a night at the beach.

Twenty-seven-year old Osvaldo Sandoval died at the scene, while his 14-month old nephew Roger Sandoval died after being taken to a hospital; Osvaldo’s 15-year old sister, and Roger’s aunt, remains on life-support at UCLA Medical Center.

To make matters worse, Oscar Sandoval, the driver of the car and the father of one-year old Roger, believes the crash was an intentional act of road rage.

According to KTLA-5,

Oscar Sandoval survived the crash and said he believes it may have been intentional. Family members also told KTLA’s Rick Chambers that the driver of the white Jeep had been flashing his lights and trying to cut them off moments before the collision.

“The Jeep hit my door where my son and brother were sitting, the ones who took the strongest impact,” Oscar said in Spanish. “My son was still alive, but barely.”

Police confirmed a suspect was arrested yesterday morning, but only identified the him as a Hispanic male.

If this was an intentional act, let’s hope prosecutors charge him with two counts of felony murder.

………

If you haven’t yet, sign your name, business or organization to the open letter urging city leaders to declare a state of emergency over traffic violence, sponsored by People’s Vision Zero and Streets Are For Everyone.

Because traffic injuries and deaths continue to be out of control, over ten years after former LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the city’s Vision Zero plan — and more than a year after it officially failed.

If you belong to an advocacy group, get them to sign it. If you belong to a bike club, sign for the club and ask members to sign individually. If you own or work for a bike shop or in the bike industry, do the same.

Add your name.

The letter will be released soon. So do it today.

Declare a State of Emergency in LA Due to Traffic Violence

Traffic Violence in Los Angeles is OUT OF CONTROL!

The City of Los Angeles has not been taking traffic violence and the public health crisis that is, seriously.

In 2015, the city committed to Vision Zero – its plan to end traffic violence by 2025. In 2025, traffic fatalities were reported by LAPD to be 290, 56% higher than in 2015.

For the past three years there have been more traffic fatalities than homicides.

An audit directed by the Los Angeles City Council found that Vision Zero failed – and thousands of people died – because of a lack of political will and poor coordination between city departments.

Traffic violence is the leading cause of death for children ages 4-14 in LA County.

Between 31 January and 5 February 2026, there were two mass traffic fatality events, resulting in 5 people killed and 7 others seriously injured.

The City of Los Angeles was about to return 100 million dollars in road safety funding to the State of California because it didn’t have the manpower to use the money.

What We’re Asking You to Do

Sign onto an open letter we will be releasing to the media and sending to the LA Mayor and City Council, demanding that they declare a State of Emergency due to traffic violence and treat it as the public health crisis that it is.

The full letter is on this page. Please spread this around to as many people as possible. Thank you!

Jonathan Hale — People’s Vision Zero
&
Damian Kevitt — Streets Are For Everyone

………

This puts the horrible state of LA’s roads in perspective.

Although Mr. Smith somehow seems to think it’s a “gotcha” that Streets For All is a PAC, which they’re very open about, and that progressives tend to support safer streets that serve all road users, unlike their more conservative brethren.

Shocking, I know.

Twitter post

………

Here’s a couple more posts from one of my favorite Bluesky accounts.

I confess, I never knew that Keith Haring rode a bicycle, let alone drew one. And ’60s bike advertising is just effing cool.

Bluesky post

Bluesky post

………

Nice story from San Diego, where a team of engineering students designed a pedal extension that allows a Marine vet to ride a bicycle for the first time since 2003, when an explosion shattered his leg while he was deployed to Iraq.

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

No bias here. When residents of the Scottish Isle of Cumbrae complained about drivers “speeding away from the ferry terminal and ‘pelting’ around corners towards oncoming traffic,” the local cops naturally responded by admonishing bicyclists, including toddlers on balance bikes.

………

Local 

Writing for Torched, the great Alissa Walker had a different, and more positive, take from mine yesterday about Mayor Karen Bass’ Capital Infrastructure Program for the City of Los Angeles, though we’re both in agreement that it was long-overdue.

Metro will offer free rides across the their system, including buses, trains and the Metro Bike bikeshare all weekend to celebrate the three-stop extension of the D, aka Purple, Line subway. Although it still won’t go far enough for my wife to take the train to work. 

Secret Los Angeles writes that Los Angeles will shut down four miles of streets next month when CicLAvia connects Exposition Park and Leimert Park, which is hardly a secret.

The LAPD reminds drivers to share the road during Bike Safety Month. The other eleven months, it’s as you were, apparently. 

 

State

San José Spotlight gently breaks the news that construction on a local street is due to a bike lane project. And yes, I take great pride in including the diacritical in the website’s name.

Oakland skips the work requirement, and celebrates next Thursday as Bike Anywhere Day, instead of Bike to Work Day. Or as it’s known in Los Angeles these days, Thursday. 

A Marin County serial ebike thief was arrested after he was caught using a rented Amazon truck to make reverse deliveries.

The family of a UC Davis student who was killed riding a bike on campus last month are calling for protected bike lanes to be installed in his honor.

 

National

A writer for Bike Mag opens up about how bicycling saved his mental health, forcing him to slow down and breathe following his diagnosis of ACHD.

It’s now illegal to block a bike lane anywhere in Colorado. California, not so much. 

Jefferson City, Missouri, population 43,000, adopts the “Idaho Stop Laws,” allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields, and stoplights as stop signs.

Rock Island, Illinois is celebrating a colorful new bicycling sculpture in memory of a long-time local bicyclist, who rode a custom-built bike without a saddle, which is replicated in the sculpture. If anyone designs a sculpture in my honor after I depart this mortal coil, put a damn saddle on it.

Tennessee titanium frame maker Lynskey Performance Products, LLC, is just the latest company in the bicycle industry to go belly-up, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in hopes of reorganizing after a disastrous move to Shopify.

Massachusetts approves a new four tiered system defining bicycles and ebikes by their speed, with traditional bicycles, Class 1 and Class 2 ebikes, low-speed scooters and mobility devices in the new Class 0, up to Speed Tier 3 covering anything above 40 mph.

Bike advocates in Saratoga Springs NY are complaining that the city is ignoring its Complete Streets plan as it repaves streets, despite an ostensible commitment to improving its multimodal infrastructure. Something people in a certain Southern California megalopolis can probably relate to.

Okay, now he’s just rubbing it in. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn to take part in a bike bus to announce plans for two new bike boulevards. I’m not sure if LA Mayor Bass knows what a bike bus is, let alone has ever ridden one.

Alexandria, Virginia and the DC region will offer giveaways and prizes to encourage people to bike to work next week. Los Angeles, not so much.

Atlanta will celebrate the week-long Atlanta Cycling Festival next week, including Spoke & Word, a two-day “progressive dinner” combining bicycling and storytelling.

 

International

Momentum highlights Canada’s most bike-friendly cities, in case anyone wants to flee north of the border, where things seem a little saner these days.

Speaking of draconian paywalls, that’s the reason I don’t link to the BBC anymore.

A Deutschland magazine looks back on those heady days of National Socialism, when bike races were just another form of Nazi propaganda.

You can now bring your bicycle on China’s high-speed Beijing to Zhangjiakou train line, although it’s limited to stops between Beijing North and Chongli.

 

Competitive Cycling

Britain’s longest‑running, biggest and most prestigious single-day and somewhat cobbled road race marks its 70th Anniversary on Sunday.

Road.cc answers the question of what pro cyclists do after they retire, profiling seven former racers who now work in professions as diverse as firefighter, banker and sommelier — including America’s one-time ex-Tour de France champ-cum-CBD maven.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you’re stopped for illegally impeding traffic in a teeny, tiny little car, and people want to know how many clowns were inside. Or when you pedal across the country to spell out “kindness,” while inviting strangers to ride along.

And now you, too, can have a MagSafe dock in the shape of the world’s ugliest truck.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Bass belatedly releases Infrastructure Plan, LA belatedly proceeds with Forest Lawn Dr. project, and OC streets are appalling

May 6, 2026 / / 2 comments

To steal from Hamlet, something is rotten in the state of Los Angeles.

Or so it seems, anyway, as Mayor Karen Bass belatedly released her Capital Infrastructure Plan after more than three years in office. Something she should have done on Day One.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem to pass the smell test, to mix metaphors.

Not only because it reads like a plan to develop a plan, but because it has to be read in the context of an unpopular mayor running for re-election.

If you read the press release, you’ll see a handful of city council members falling all over themselves to praise Bass and the CIP; notably absent is Councilmember Nithya Raman, one of the mayor’s primary opponents.

And you have to wonder if this plan has only been released at this late date because Raman has developed her own plan.

According to the press release,

Mayor Bass’ Capital Infrastructure Program lays out a comprehensive roadmap for L.A. to reform and improve the way it maintains and builds new infrastructure, including 10 recommendations to achieve this vision by reforming City processes and the Charter. Greater transparency is also achieved by laying out a data-based foundation regarding how and where the City must address short and long-term infrastructure needs.

Included in the program are 29 Olympic and Paralympic legacy capital projects that will both prepare the City for 2028 and leave lasting investments for communities across L.A. 16 of these capital projects are currently funded in Mayor Bass’ proposed FY 26-27 budget. Working alongside the City Council, the Mayor’s Office will seek to advance the reforms in the Capital Infrastructure Program and begin the long-term funding and planning for the proposed capital projects.

For years, advocates have called for simplifying LA’s overly complicated infrastructure process by removing the silos separating LADOT, Streets Services and the Bureau of Engineering and combining them into a single department.

Instead, the mayor’s plan calls for greater cooperation between those silos, while creating an additional layer of bureaucracy by strengthening the Capital Planning Steering Committee, giving the Bureau of Engineering responsibility for creating the CIP, and establishing a new Director of Public Works.

It also calls for prioritizing projects for the ’28 Los Angeles Olympics, rather than, you know, resurfacing streets and filling potholes.

Never mind building bus and bike lanes for the people who already live here. And if there’s any mention of complying with Measure HLA, as mandated by the city’s voters, I didn’t find it.

I’m also not thrilled by this line, which places blame on the public, rather than the people we elect to actually do the hard things:

Angelenos do not have a clear understanding of what can realistically be funded and when, nor the city’s long-term priorities beyond those of a given year.

Never mind that Bass doesn’t seem to have any problem approving unfunded pay raises for cops and other city employees. But the public clearly seems to be expecting too damn much.

Although Bass and her staff at least seem to have a reasonable grasp of the problems.

The city’s current capital planning process is falling short:

  • Fragmented systems and data silos
  • No shared vision across city departments
  • Growing maintenance deferrals
  • Slow, inefficient capital planning
  • No capital project intake standards
  • Limited project scoring and prioritization
  • Highly decentralized and uncoordinated grants
  • Limited analytical capacity and predictive modeling
  • Resource planning and staffing misalignment
  • An opaque capital planning process
  • A growing need to quantify infrastructure needs

Missing from this list is the city’s endless series of public meetings before anything ever gets built, which stretches a process that could, and should, take months into years.

Many, many years, in some cases.

So this may be a good start. And it may even be an improvement over our current failed system.

But it’s about three years too late.

………

Speaking of Nithya Raman, her office announced the city is finally moving forward with the long-discussed Forest Lawn Drive Safety and Mobility Project, including what passes for protected bike lanes in the City of LA.

And yes, this should be seen in light of the mayor’s race, as well.

As should any pronouncements by anyone running for mayor for the next six months.

………

He gets it.

A writer for a Minnesota transportation advocacy site visits Orange County on a Costco packaged travel deal, and is suitably appalled by what he found.

Car dependency is a modern California birthright. It is very common to drive on avenues with 10 or more lanes and speed limits of 60 miles per hour. To be clear, that is an avenue with periodic traffic light intersections with five lanes in each direction and more turn lanes at intersections. The speed limits in Orange County were usually about 10 miles per hour higher than what would be expected in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

There were a small number of bicyclists. They typically were enthusiast athletes along Pacific Coast Highway and residents who cannot drive, like teenagers on a bike going to school. I felt sick for how dangerous the intersections were for these children. I also saw a family with a stroller crossing an unmarked intersection, and stopped my car to let them cross the street. Bike lanes are typically one line of paint and sometimes green paint at intersections. I did not see a single protected bike lane with any level of plastic bollard or curb protection. There were, however some multi-use paths in more recreational park areas. Practical cyclists — like the teenagers — typically rode on the sidewalk.

To be honest, it’s kind of pitiful and humbling, if not humiliating, the way people from other places see us.

Especially when they actually do.

………

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

No bias here. A San Diego driver, writing for what may be the city’s least bike-friendly local publication, blames bicycling deaths on “high-risk biking practices, like running stop signs and stoplights,” complaining that she’s never seen a campaign for bicyclists that on focuses putting safety first — except, of course, for the bike safety courses she mentions in her penultimate paragraph, which do exactly that. Never mind all those studies showing that the Idaho stop improves safety. Or that drivers are at fault in many, if not most, bicycling deaths.

No bias here, either. The only Member of Parliament representing the extreme right Restore Britain party complains about “central planning lunacy” resulting in a “very rarely used” used bike lane, saying “I declare bicyclists a very rare breed here.” Although with attitudes like that, it’s no wonder. 

………

Local 

Metro looks at what passes for Bike Month in Los Angeles these days, where no one really seems to give a damn anymore.

WeHo celebrates Bike Month, even if Los Angeles barely does.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers a bike-friendly report card on Los Angeles-area roundabouts, giving high marks to Santa Monica, good to Long Beach, West Hollywood and Culver City, and passing — or C — to Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. Which seems too high for one of the latter two, and too low for the other. I’ll let you decide which I mean.

Pasadena will host a beginner-friendly, six-mile Bagel Ride aimed at building confidence and carbs for city this Saturday. You can tell it’s for beginners because most experienced bicyclists won’t get out of bed unless you promise them a long ride, or donuts. 

Canyon News highlights Bike Month events on the gilded streets of Beverly Hills.

The Signal Tribune provides a non-paywalled look at Long Beach Bike Month events.

Despite all the city’s safety improvements, traffic deaths in Long Beach hit the highest level in a decade, with 53 people killed as a result of traffic violence.

 

State

Calbike invited advocates, community leaders, bike coalition staff, riders, parents and local organizers to meet with state legislators and staffers last month for the organization’s Lobby Day. Contrary to common assumptions, they don’t actually call it that because most legislators won’t let us past the lobby.

Speaking of Calbike, they announced a handful of endorsements in state legislative races in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego Counties. Although I’d really like to see them weigh in on the confounding governor’s race. 

San Diego can look forward to more ghost bikes and more pedestrian deaths, after the mayor’s new city budget eliminates the team of traffic engineers focused on improving safety.

Leaders of the century-old Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood say newly installed bike lanes are limiting access to the church, while making it more dangerous for older parishioners, and forcing them to unload caskets in the middle of the street. Never mind that it’s on a corner, with a side street that dead-ends three blocks away when people could be dropped off, living or otherwise. 

A kindhearted Fresno detective worked with police cadets to get a new bicycle for a local boy whose bike was stolen in a robbery, after seeing the brokenhearted look on the boy’s face when he learned that, even though an arrest had been made and his bike was recovered, he wouldn’t get it back because it was impounded as evidence.

As other bike industry events continue to shut down, Monterey’s Sea Otter Classic is rapidly becoming an international trade event.

Palo Alto will “experiment” with temporary, quick-build protected bike lanes. Because there are no studies showing whether protected bike lanes improve safety, apparently. Although I hear there’s a university in that town where they could look it up. 

This is who we share the road with. Police in Oakland and San Francisco cooperated with the CHP to seize 77 dirt bikes and ATVs following a nearly hour-long street takeover in San Leandro, East Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco, after trapping the riders on the Bay Bridge and cutting off any avenue for escape. Thanks to the cops for making clear the perps weren’t riding legal ped-assist ebikes. 

The UC Davis student newspaper says students and community members are right to demand better bike safety.

 

National

Bike industry advocacy group PeopleForBikes considers what it will take to get kids riding to school again. Hint: Whatever it takes to make parents believe their kids will come back in one piece.

The Hawaii legislature approves plans for speed cams, while joining the parade of jurisdictions cracking down on ebikes.

A bike rider was badly injured in a collision yesterday next to Denver’s Washington Park, exactly where I used to ride on a near-daily basis when I lived in the city back in the Mesolithic period.

This is who we share the road with. A 56-year old woman in Waco, Texas — or maybe Wacko, in this case — faces DUI and attempted assault charges for driving on the sidewalk in a deliberate attempt to run down a young kid riding a dirt bike, then trying to break into a nearby house half an hour later.

A Detroit city worker crashed into a woman riding a bicycle while going the wrong way on a one-way street, waving her on when she stopped for him before lurching forward and running over her; a bystander was placed in handcuffs for trying to record the scene on his cellphone. For anyone unclear on the subject — including Detroit cops, evidently — you have a First Amendment right to record anything that happens in public, as long as you don’t actually interfere with the police. And no, standing several feet away and recording them is not interference. 

Um, okay. A New York bike rider says he was intimidated by group rides until he developed “jalopy pace,” which is his way of describing a moderately paced ride with no one left behind. Don’t tell him those have been around for years. Just let him enjoy the moment.

The Pennsylvania teenager who killed a Swarthmore mathematics professor as he was riding in a bike lane last December, has been charged with “homicide by vehicle, driving without a license, DUI and related offenses” because he was high on cannabis and driving with just a learner’s permit. Something tells me he’s already failed his driver’s test.

Traffic deaths in Pennsylvania dropped to the lowest level since the state has been keeping records, although bicycling deaths were up nearly 50%.

Apparently, the animals are out to get us, too. A woman was injured while riding on a bike trail in Arlington, Virginia when a white-tailed deer crashed into her at full speed, knocking her off her bike and, appropriately, into a patch of deer-tongue grass.

How many times do we have to say it? If you’re riding your bike after dark while carrying meth and a pipe, put a damn light on it — something a Georgia man learned the hard way. And by the way, you don’t have to consent to a search of your body or belongings if you’re pulled over for a traffic stop. 

That’s more like it. Prosecutors will recommend that a Florida woman has her license permanently revoked after pleading guilty to the hit-and-run death of a 67-year old man who was riding in a bike lane, as part of her sentencing next month.

A former Florida cop is on trial for the 2021 murder of a bike shop owner, who was fatally shot and set on fire, apparently for the crime of dating a woman the former cop had been involved with.

 

International

Momentum highlights the year’s best routes around the world for epic bikepacking trips, only one of which is in North America.

They get it. A Quebec coroner concluded that the lack of a bike lane on one of Montreal’s busiest streets contributed to the death of a woman who crashed her bike into a parked and fell into the traffic lane as she tried to avoid a truck coming up behind her, recommending that the city install one there.

The story of Tony Parsons, the man killed by a drunk driver during a Scottish charity ride, who then worked with his twin brother to hide his body for four years before confessing to his fiancee, is now being featured on Should I Marry a Muderer on Netflix.

A writer for the New York Times explores the lasting racial, social and economic legacy of apartheid on a short, ten-mile ride from Cape Town, South Africa to the fringes of the Langa township.

 

Competitive Cycling

NBC looks at plans for bicycling events at the ’28 Los Angeles Olympics.

The “only independent organization representing the views and interests of female professional riders” complains about UCI’s lack of progress in promoting women’s cycling, suggesting staging festivals around women’s races.

The Navajo Nation will host the annual Hashkéníinii Bike Road Race May 25th, with a course winding through the striking terrain surrounding Navajo Mountain in the Four Corners Region; the race commemorates the legendary Diné leader who guided the Naatsisaan, Paiute Mesa and Oljeto communities during the Long Walk period of the 1860s.

 

Finally…

Your next bicycle could be powered by hydraulics. Or maybe it could be a LEGO.

And your next bicycle built for two could be a banana.

On orange slices, no less.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Two more innocent victims on Deadly del Mar, and 81-year old dies 2 weeks after OC teen on illegal e-moto crashed into him

May 4, 2026 / / No comments

Deadly del Mar just got deadlier.

Just four miles long, Playa del Rey’s Vista del Mar is, mile for mile, one of the deadliest streets in Los Angeles; according to the Washington Post, eight people have lost their lives on the beachfront street in the past ten years — a fatality rate nearly equal to the death toll on PCH on a per-mile basis.

Or maybe even worse now, after a 25-year old man and a 1-year old child were killed in a head-on hit-and-run collision early Sunday morning.

A woman was also hospitalized in critical condition, while another man was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries. KABC-7 identifies them as the father and aunt of the one-year old child.

The crash occurred at 4:34 am near the intersection of Vista del Mar and Culver Blvd, when a southbound vehicle crossed into the northbound lane and struck the other vehicle head-on.

The driver of a white Jeep fled on foot, as the victims in the other car can be heard in an apparent Ring video screaming in shock and pain.

If the street sounds familiar, it’s because it received lane reductions in 2017 to slow traffic and improve safety after a 16-year old girl was killed crossing the street — only to be ripped out when then-LA Mayor Eric Garcetti caved to angry pass-through commuters and shock jock radio hosts, who blamed the nonexistent bike lanes.

Since then, the death toll has continued to mount. Now you can add two more innocent victims, who were just on their way home to Van Nuys after a night at the beach.

………

This is who we share the road with.

Heartbreaking news from Orange County, where 81-year old Vietnam vet Ed Ashman died Thursday, two weeks after he was struck by a 14-year old boy who was popping wheelies on an electric motor bike in the middle of a Lake Forest street.

The next day, the Orange County DA’s office upgraded charges against the boy’s mother, Tommi Jo Mejer, to involuntary manslaughter. 

She had originally been charged with child endangerment and accessory, because she had been warned that the bike required a license, the kid was too young to legally ride it, and he was doing so in a dangerous manner.

And she faced criminal charges if she kept letting her son ride it, which was 16-times more powerful than a standard ebike.

Now elderly man is dead, and a mom faces up to four years behind bars.

No word on whether the kid will face charges, too.

………

A Los Angeles LGBT newspaper highlights the $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the hit-and-run driver who killed a bike rider in LA’s Jefferson Park neighborhood last month.

The reward is part of the city’s standing reward program for hit-and-runs, ranging from $1,000 for simple property damage, to $25,000 for hit-and-runs resulting in serious injuries and $50,000 for fatal crashes.

The victim in the crash was identified Saturday as 37-year old Melvin Salgado.

The only description of the suspect vehicle is still just a dark-colored Jeep Wrangler, with no model year given.

………

Metro Bike is holding a free Bike Month drawing for one-year bikeshare pass and swag, as well as offering free rides on Bike Day May 21st.

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

No bias here. The London Times says that despite recent panicked stories that 1,300 bike riders were caught jumping red lights in the city last year — an average of 3.5 a day — drivers get caught running red lights an average of 380 times a day.

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

Um, no. A British Columbia letter writer and 60-year bicyclist says there’s no shortage of bad drivers and bad bicyclists, but there’s more of the latter, since drivers have to pass a test. Except studies have shown both break the law in equal measure, but most drivers break the law for convenience while most bike riders break the law out of perceived safety — and drivers who do pose a far greater risk to others. 

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Local 

Los Angeles is preparing to toss out the baby with the bath water, as the city council instructed the city attorney to draft an ordinance banning ebikes from the city’s outdoor trails, restricting legal Class 1, 2 and ped-assist bikes along with somewhat less-legal e-motos and dirt bikes, like the one the 14-year old in Orange County was riding.

Streets For All wants to know why it costs $10,000 to install two curb cuts in Beverly Hills, $15,000 for Caltrans — and $50,000 to do the exact same thing using the same materials in Los Angeles.

Hundreds of runners took part in Saturday’s Finish the Run in Griffith Park in honor of Regan Cole Graham and her unborn baby daughter Ophelia, both killed by an elderly driver while biking in Playa del Rey, just blocks from where yesterday’s victims were killed; several hundred bicyclists were expected to take part in yesterday’s Finish the Ride in their honor, as well.

The owner of Boyle Height’s Esquina Bicycle Shop is volunteering his time and skills, along with other volunteers, to refurbish nearly 280 bicycles abandoned in the basement of LA’s long-shuttered General Hospital, giving away 45 bikes to mark last month’s Earth Day. Read it on Yahoo if the paper blocks you. 

BikeLA, Los Angeles Walks and Sunset For All are teaming with LADOT and Metro Bike to host a bike ride to Clockshop’s Kite Festival at LA State Historic Park on Saturday.

The West Hollywood City Council will vote today on hosting July’s Meet the Hollywoods CicLAvia, which apparently isn’t a done deal yet. So show up at the 6 pm council meeting or contact your councilmember before then to urge them to sign off on it. 

The Signal highlights the Santa Clarita bike trails, as well as the city’s new. bike park, saying they offer a variety of terrain for every type of rider.

Santa Monica kicked off Bike Month by deploying California’s first AI-powered cams to enforce illegal parking in bike lanes, which will be mounted on parking enforcement vehicles.

The Press-Telegram highlights Bike Month events in Long Beach, from tomorrow’s Pedal to the Metal May Ride, to a Bike to Work Week popup on the 15th and a nine-mile Moonlight Mash bike ride on the last day of the month. But you’ll have to get past the paper’s paywall to read it. 

 

State

An annual bike ride honoring the memory of Shannon Morris, a 21-year old woman who died from suicide, raised $32,000 for UC Irvine’s Psychological Services Center in just its third year, more than twice what the ride brought in last year.

Coronado’s Pedal Beach Tours nonprofit e-pedicab service is fighting the city’s one-size-fits-all ebike ban, after the city refused to renew the company’s permit, jeopardizing their annual Christmas giving program for people in need. Sometimes I feel like I’m beating a dead horse — or a dead ebike — but that’s the problem with ebike bans and restrictions that don’t differentiate one type of ebike from another, which is like banning all cars because people in sports cars are speeding. 

A 12-year old boy suffered life-threatening injuries when his ebike was struck by a driver as he tried turning left from the westbound bike lane on Del Mar Heights Road onto Old Carmel Valley Road in San Diego’s Carmel Valley neighborhood, and was struck by a Tesla driver traveling in the same direction, the boy required emergency surgery for a broken collarbone and multiple brain bleeds.

A Victorville bike rider was hospitalized after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver, who fled on foot, Saturday afternoon; no word on his condition, but it appears his bike was flattened when the driver ran it over.

Tragic news from the town of Atwater, in Central California, where a ten-year old boy was killed when he was hit by a truck while riding his bike — although the local TV doesn’t bother to mention that the truck had a driver until the last of 17 paragraphs.

 

National

PeopleForBikes says the next two to three months will determine what bike infrastructure funding and policies — if any — make it into the final federal transportation bill. The GOP has seemed more focused on a return to highway funding since Trump got back in office, so we may have to fight for every scrap we can get.

The runner-up on The Traitors TV game show is one of us, as Rob Rausch ended up with facial cuts and a concussion after going over his handlebars when dog ran out in front of him — and after he had loaned his helmet to a friend he was teaching to ride a bike.

Seattle will pay a whopping $9.25 million settlement to a 25-year old man who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury that his lawyer blamed on a bad bike lane design resulting in a blind spot, which led to a driver turning in front of him.

Forbes makes the case for why you should try gravel riding, calling it the hottest trend in bicycling.

Speaking of PeopleForBikes, the bike industry advocacy group looks to an Iowa City, Iowa bike library to make the case for how and why bike libraries increase bicycle access for everyone.

Roughly 32,000 people fought their way through strong winds to take part in Sunday’s 48th annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour in New York City, while New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani became the first sitting mayor to ride the tour and stop in all five boroughs.

 

International

A New Brunswick woman has given away thousands of bicycles and tricycles over the past 14 years, including 400 in the last year alone, just to see the joy on kids’ faces.

The London-based bicycle and ebike subscription service Buzzbike is selling their bikes to subscribers at a substantial discount, as the company shuts down after the collapse of its largest shareholder.

A travel site considers Europe’s best bike trails, from the Atlantic Coast to the Black Sea.

A judge told a 27-year old woman to expect a long prison sentence after she pled guilty to killing a 27-year old music student as he was riding a bicycle in London, while she was high on nitrous oxide and doing 52 mph in a 20 mph zone; the judge criticized her for not taking any responsibility until she walked into the court, and worried she wouldn’t afterwards.

A British husband and wife team is setting off on an 18,000-mile bikepacking trip, attempting to set a new record for riding around the world in a 150 days or less.

Even as war continues in her homeland, a 35-year old Iranian woman is riding more than 3,700 miles across Asia with a message of peace.

Dozens of Wellington, New Zealand bicyclists stood in the street to form a human bike chain — aka a people-protected bike lane — to protest infrastructure cuts in the city. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

Ebike sales have seen a three-times increase in Darwin, Australia, as Aussies struggle to cope with the rapid rise in gas prices resulting from the war in Iran.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Italy, where former Formula 1 and CART race car driver, and paracycling champ Alex Zanardi died suddenly on Friday; after losing both of his legs crashing in the US CART series in 2001, Zanardi took up hand-cycling, winning four Paralympic gold medals, as well as 12 rainbow jerseys. He was just 59.

Not only is LA native Sean Quinn competing on the WorldTour, he’s also creating his own beats along the way.

The Tour du Rwanda relies on an elite bike mechanic named Jean de Dieu Rafiki Uwimana, better known as Rafiki, to keep the cyclists’ bikes humming.

A Missouri newspaper looks back fondly to the only world championship held in the area — an 1887 bike race on a 20-mile road course, using ordinary bikes, or what we’d know as a Penny Farthing.

 

Finally…

Your next bike camper trailer could feature a built-in toilet. Who says you can’t ride a bike with a bag over your head?

And somehow, you know bikes got the blame for this.

Twitter post

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

A tragic ride through memory lane, no bikes or buses in Bass’s climate plan, and LA can build curb-protected lanes after all

May 1, 2026 / / One comment

Congratulations on making it through April. 

The way this year has gone, we should all hold May Day celebrations today just for making it this far. 

Today’s photo shows the ghost bike for Joseph “Joey” Robinson installed by his coworkers, courtesy of Biking Brian.

………

Some things you just never forget.

I’ve written about literally hundreds of fallen bicyclists over the past 12 years. Yet when I saw the tragic photo from the ghost bike for Joseph “Joey” Robinson on the Voice of OC yesterday, I instantly recognized the former worker from an Irvine bike shop.

The 21-year old man was riding in the bike lane on Santiago Canyon Road on February 2, 2014, when he was run down from behind an 18-year old woman driving while stoned at 7 am on a Sunday morning, killing him instantly.

Sommer Gonzales was arrested when an off-duty Orange County Fire Battalion Chief spotted her fleeing the scene with a shattered windshield, then saw Robinson’s black bike shoe in the roadway.

Gonzales was sentenced a year later to 11 years for killing Robinson while high on meth.

According to the OC DA’s office, Sommer Nicole Gonzales pleaded guilty to:

  • one felony count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated
  • one felony count of hit and run with death
  • one misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance
  • one misdemeanor count of use and under the influence of a controlled substance
  • one misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance paraphernalia
  • a sentencing enhancement allegation for fleeing the scene of a vehicular manslaughter

Unfortunately, similar cases in Los Angeles County typically get pled down to a single charge and a few years just to get a conviction.

………

Apparently, it never crossed the mind of our ostensibly bike-riding mayor to include bike lanes, bus lanes, or Measure HLA in her Climate Action Plan as she runs for re-election.

Because everyone knows bikes, buses and walking could do nothing to improve the health of our beleaguered planet. And the people who use them don’t vote.

Right?

Twitter post

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Proof Los Angeles can, in fact, build curb-protected bike lanes.

They just take years longer, cost a lot more, and require endless public meetings compared to similar lanes in Santa Monica or Culver City.

Twitter post

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

A road-raging Missouri truck driver was arrested for intentionally knocking an 85-year old man off his bicycle, breaking his hip — although the driver says he “only tapped the bike with his truck. He also spit on a cop and grabbed one by the balls during his arrest. Although someone might want to introduce the TV station to the concept of commas, so they don’t write things like the victim was “riding a bicycle while driving a truck.”

Maybe the reason bicyclists in the UK don’t use the bike lane is because there are, count ’em, six drivers parking in it.

Seriously? Maybe they need better driver training in Australia’s New South Wales, where Yahoo reveals a “little known road rule” that allows bicyclists to take up the entire traffic lane by riding two abreast; three abreast, though, not so much.

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

A Fort Meyers, Florida newsman does a gotcha report on those darn bike riders, both on ebikes and otherwise, ignoring a ban on sidewalk riding in the downtown area. Although as others have said, no one rides their bike on the sidewalk unless they don’t feel safe in the street.

His highness has given royal assent to a new law that could sentence British bike riders to up to life in prison for killing someone while riding recklessly.

………

Local 

LA’s Glendale Hyperion Bridge is set to undergo extensive reconstruction for the next five to six years to improve earthquake-resistance and traffic flow, as well as adding bike lanes and a sidewalk, while preserving the historical design. Although that’s one sidewalk, on just one side, forcing pedestrians to cross two bike lanes and four lanes of motor vehicle traffic if they want to walk across the bridge.

Pasadena Weekly offers more information on the city’s Bike Month events. Or as it’s known in Los Angeles, May. 

 

State

A San Diego op-ed says the city needs a bikeshare system like other big cities, after a previous effort failed. But you’ll have to get past the Union-Tribune’s draconian paywall. 

The remake of San Francisco’s Valencia Street from a center-running bike lane to curbside protected bike lanes has improved safety, but there’s still a four block gap with no timeline for completion.

British hill-climb champ Harry Macfarlane is sitting back and enjoying the KOM battle he set off by matching the best time on San Francisco’s steepest climb.

Sad news from Oakland, where a 38-year old man riding a bicycle died two days after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver.

 

National

If you bought a set of Malker Bicycle Light from Amazon last October or November, throw them away and contact the company for a refund; they’ve been recalled because kids can swallow the batteries.

A new bike lane will finally complete Seattle’s City Center bike network — except for all the sections that haven’t been built yet.

A Las Vegas writer rides his mountain bike along the Strip corridor to Downtown Las Vegas and back the old fashioned way, with no ebikes, bike lanes or trails.

A Laramie, Wyoming newspaper examines the relatively recent rise in the popularity of gravel riding and racing. Which I mention just because it’s just 40 minutes from where I grew up. And no, I never tried to ride my bike there because the wind in Wyoming blows. 

Madison, Wisconsin is planning a more than 250-mile low-stress bike network, though it could take decades to build out.

WTF? There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for a 65-year old Texas man who struck a five-year old kid riding a bicycle, dragging the boy under his truck, then stopping briefly before fleeing the scene and leaving the kid lying in the street with road rash and a brain bleed; police arrested the man at a casino for hit-and-run and DUI.

 

International

PeopleForBikes examines how World Cup host cities in the US, Mexico and Canada can take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move fans more efficiently by biking and walking, including closing key corridors to motor vehicle traffic and turning them into fan zones.

A local newspaper looks at the bike co-op at the University of Toronto.

Another bike brand has risen from the dead, as a British retail empire has swooped in to buy children’s bikemaker Frog Bikes out of bankruptcy.

Road.cc recommends the best road bikes for under the equivalent of two grand, although the links will likely take you to retailers in the UK.

Irish President Catherine Connolly says she’s working on a plan to get back on her bike, after security concerns forced her to stop riding following her election.

Dublin police conducted a number of raids to capture modern teenaged highwaymen who hijacked and robbed bicyclists and pedestrians on a popular greenway.

Momentum has everything you need to know about Japan’s 43-mile Shimanami Kaidō bike route linking the islands of Honshu and Shikoku, with “dedicated lanes, clear signage, and plenty of places to stop, snack, and soak it all in,” making it “one of the most enjoyable cycling routes anywhere.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Rapha’s CEO tells UCI that pro cycling has to evolve, like the English Premier League did, or it will wither and die.

Durango, Colorado’s Iron Horse Bicycle Classic rolls out for the 53rd year this weekend; the race began with two brothers competing against each other, as one rode a bicycle and the other took a train.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you evidently don’t know the difference between the United States and the country’s capital. Or somehow feel the need to demonstrate your city’s keen grasp of the obvious by explaining a tall bike is like a regular bike, but taller.

And who knew bike tires could get moldy?

Which is why you should always store your bicycle in the refrigerator.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

New round of ebike vouchers for SGV, bike lane tames(?) deadly Griffith Park road, and Bike Month cometh

April 30, 2026 / / No comments

Good news for the San Gabriel Valley.

The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments is teaming with the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), Active SGV and the California Transportation Commission to open up a second round of funding for ebike vouchers.

But only for income-eligible residents of the SGV, over the age of 18.

The groups are providing around 475 vouchers that can be redeemed for $2,000 off the purchase of an e-cargo bike worth $1,600 to $2,500.

Image by Cely_ for Pixabay.

………

A Redditor shares photos of the new and improved Crystal Springs Drive/Zoo Drive through Griffith Park.

The former, where 77-year old bicyclist Andrew Jelmert lost his life; the latter, where Finish the Ride/Streets Are For Everyone founder Damian Kevitt lost his leg, and nearly his life, when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike, and dragged onto the nearby 5 Freeway in 2013.

Reddit post

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Cycling West offers a remarkable list of Bike Month events in Utah, and cities across the West, including San Francisco and the East Bay.

Needless to say, Los Angeles isn’t even mentioned.

Then again, even Geneva’s CERN lab, home to the Large Hadron Collider, is hosting a Bike to Work challenge, while Ireland host a nine-day National Bike Week.

………

How to find great food in Los Angeles without having to set a tire on the streets.

………

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

A man’s family remembers him after he was intentionally killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike in a St. Louis alley, then pushed into a garage to hide his body; police arrested the suspect at his home as he was hiding under a bed.

Wish I knew what this one is about. An Australian paper reports a knife-wielding woman was arrested at gunpoint after chasing a bike rider — but the story is hidden behind a paywall, like most Aussie papers.

………

Local 

UCLA student newspaper Daily Bruin writes about Sunday’s West LA CicLAvia, the 65th open streets event staged by the organization — and connects the story to CicLAvia Executive Director Romel Pascual, a graduate of the university.

The Los Angeles Fire Department rescued a mountain biker from Mulholland Drive Tuesday evening, airlifting the man to a hospital after he suffered severe injuries to his lower body. Let’s hope he has a full and fast recovery, because that doesn’t sound good.

 

State

A crowdfunding campaign has raised over $700 of the $900 goal to buy a new ebike for an 81-year old El Cajon jokester, who has gained internet fame in a series of viral videos, after the ebike he relied on for transportation was stolen.  Which is a damn good reminder that ebikes can provide mobility people long after they stop driving. And for those who should. 

Encinitas will open the Coast Highway 101 to bikes and pedestrians with the Cyclovia Encinitas open streets events from 10 am to 2 pm on Sunday, May 17.

Advocates are pushing for safety improvements on a dangerous roadway, after a UC Davis student was killed riding her bike.

 

National

They get it. The American Bicycling Education Association calls on the AP to add a section on ebikes to its industry-standard AP Style Book, defining an ebike as having fully operable pedals and an electric motor of 750 watts or less, as well as limited speeds (typically 20–28 mph), suggesting electric motorcycle, electric dirt bike or off-highway electric vehicle for bikes that don’t meet that definition.

Seattle bike commuters outpaced the rest of the US by riding more than 3.3 million miles last year, according to Strava, followed by Chicago with 2.5 million miles, and Minneapolis-St. Paul’s 1.7 million miles. But if that Strava list is posted online, I can’t find it. 

A 27-year old Texas man faces a manslaughter charge for killing a man riding a bicycle while driving distracted last November; he drove through a stop sign while busy trying to pair his phone with the new truck he just bought.

A Texas flood control district destroyed a DIY offroad bike park, despite allowing it to remain for years after it was illegally built, after negotiations with bicyclists to save it failed.

Seven MIT students are biking 4,000 miles across the US, from DC to San Francisco, stopping along the way to hold STEM workshops for children in rural communities.

New York’s iconic 5 Boro Bike Tour rolls this weekend, bringing 32,000 bike riders onto a closed course traversing the entire city.

 

International

Nice story from Cuba, where a family got back the items that were stolen in a burglary after police arrested the thieves, including a bicycle that had belonged to a daughter who had died 18 years before.

An English Green Party candidate says the potholes on the local roads are so bad, they forced his kids to stop riding their bikes.

A Jesuit website tells the story of a Catholic priest who chose martyrdom over safety, riding his bicycle from his missionary parish in India to a nearby village to confront a Hindu mob attacking their Muslim neighbors; he stood in front of the mob demanding an end to the violence, only to be killed himself.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you use training wheels to get back on your bike after a major TBI, as your husband walks next to you playing Eye of the Tiger. Or when you have to add Queens to your mountain bike bucket list.

And that feeling when Santa Monica is the apparent epicenter of the vegan Crossfit cycling community.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Suspect vehicle ID’d in Jefferson Park hit-and-run, Twenty-Eight for ’28 now 1 for 18, and killer driver drags bike rider a mile

April 29, 2026 / / No comments

The LAPD is now looking for the owner of a dark-colored Jeep Wrangler in the hit-and-run death of a 38-year old man riding an ebike in Jefferson Park late Saturday night.

As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for this, or any other fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Officer Diaz or Sergeant Nily at 323/421-2577, 1-877/527-3247 after business hours and weekends. Or anonymously at 1-800/222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

This should surprise absolutely no one who has been paying attention for the past several years.

Things are not looking good for the completion of the vaunted Twenty-eight by ’28 projects that we were promised would be finished in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Even after the list was dumbed down by removing the hard stuff, like finishing the LA River Bike Path through DTLA and Vernon.

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It’s happened once again.

A man in Louisville, Kentucky was killed when a hit-and-run driver dragged him nearly a mile under his car, after hitting the vicim and his wife as they rode their bikes.

The driver eventually stopped and called the police, but only after being chased down by a witness, who apparently stopped to pick up the victim’s wife after she had been knocked in a ditch.

Local residents have called for safety improvements following multiple hit-and-runs on the roadway, where speeding is common.

………

CicLAvia urges support for open streets events included in the proposed LA city budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

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Speaking of which, as promised, and at long last, here are the photos David forwarded from Sunday’s West LA CicLAvia, where I’m told a good time was had by nearly all.

All photos by David Drexler

As an added bonus, he also sent along a reminder why you don’t park under a palm tree on a windy day, spotted outside a Porsche dealership along the route.

………

This is who we share the road with.

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Thanks to Megan for forwarding video of the bicyclist who inspired Breaking Away looking back on his victory in the Little 500.

………

Local 

Finish the Ride and Finish the Run will take place in Griffith Park this weekend to call for safer streets and honor the victims of traffic violence; the events will take on added poignancy as Caitlin Cole, the sister of fallen bicyclist Regan Cole Graham — who was seven months pregnant with her daughter Ophelia when they were both killed in Playa del Rey — will ride Regan’s bike to complete the ride they never finished.

 

State

You can now ride the full length of California’s iconic coastline highway from San Francisco to LA once again.

Electrek takes a hard look at the $1 billion valuation for Irvine-based Rivian’s new ALSO ebike startup before a single bike has been sold, arguing that we’ve seen this before with brands like VanMoof and Cake ending up in bankruptcy court.

There’s a special place in hell for anyone who could leave an injured child on the side of the road after a crash, like the older woman in a black Mercedes who stopped briefly after hitting an eight-year old kid riding a bicycle in Novato, then just drove off without helping the victim; fortunately, the child only suffered minor injuries.

Over 100 people turned out in Oakland for a ride to celebrate East Bay bike trails, while offering a reminder that bicyclists can still only go halfway across the Oakland Bay Bridge.

Bad news from East Oakland, where a 38-year old man was in grave condition after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle Monday night; police are looking for the owner of a black Land Rover who just kept going without stopping after striking the victim, who is believed to be homeless. Unfortunately, you’ll have to find a way around the paper’s paywall to read the story. 

 

National

A writer for Outside recommends things that will help make your life on the bike easier, based on his 20 years as a bike commuter.

Streetsblog talks with Josh Naramore of the National Association of City Transportation Officials about how cities can get ready for the robo-taxi revolution, arguing that it can be done without losing momentum on building livable streets for people outside of cars, too, if it’s done right.

Jonathan Maus, the editor of Bike Portland, is stepping back from the daily grind of writing one of the nation’s most popular and successful local bike blogs, asking readers what they want from the site as he moves forward.

A Georgia public radio station discusses how bike boulevards have improved life in Henrietta, after a successful fight by bike advocates.

 

International

A writer for Bikepacker makes his yearly pilgrimage to “the epic and wild Vuelta de Citlaltépetl,” circumventing Mexico’s highest peak on a mountain bike and trailer.

Must be nice. Bicyclists in the Netherlands can now install an app on their phones to give them quicker green lights at traffic signals.

 

Competitive Cycling

The USA Mountain Bike National Championships will once again be held in Roanoke, Virginia, in a repeat of last year’s races.

Evidently, Tadej Pogačar is a weight weenie, choosing weight savings over aerodynamics for his new time trial bike.

Britain’s Ineos Grenadiers Cycling Team will will have a new name and team colors for next month’s Giro d’Italia; they will now be known as the Netcompany Ineos Cycling Team after signing the AI company to a five-year sponsorship agreement.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can submit your original books and bikes artwork for people to drive over.

And if the seat’s buzzing, maybe think twice about getting on.

Just saying.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

CicLAvia returns to South LA in June, SaMo bike & ped enforcement day today, and road-raging man rams Georgia group ride

April 28, 2026 / / No comments

To be honest, I’m pretty wrung out after writing about our third SoCal bicycling death in just three days.

And I don’t have a lot of time left to work tonight after dealing with all that before my last drop-dead deadline to get some sleep — hopefully not literally. So let’s just see how much we can get done, and try to catch up on more tomorrow.

And that includes the photos I promised you from Sunday’s CicLAvia, so I hope you’ll be patient with me for a few days.

………

Mark your calendar for at least two more CicLAvias this year, despite Metro’s threats of cutbacks to future events that would only coincide with the World Cup and the ’28 Olympics.

Next up is a return to South LA with Leimert Park meets Expo Park at the end of June.

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Streetblog’s Joe Linton offers photos from Sunday’s very busy West LA CicLAvia, including the newly repaired bakery window at the 99 Ranch Market, where an elderly driver killed three people crashing into the building February 5th.

Redditor johnnyshotit has some nice shots, too, while Michael Schneider offers video from the day.

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And speaking of Schneider, he spotted a new LA modal filter.

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………

Police in Santa Monica will conduct yet another of the LA area’s traffic safety enforcement operations targeted at traffic violations that endanger pedestrians and bicyclists today.

The operation will be in force this afternoon and evening, from 2 pm to 8 pm.

As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, because the cops may be focused on motorists, but they’re legally required to enforce any violations they see, regardless of who commits it.

Meanwhile, today may be your best day to ride a bike on a state roadway, as the CHP begins a 24-hour Maximum Enforcement Period focused on speeding drivers. Unless you can top the posed speed limit on your bike, which was always a personal goal of mine.

………

Once again, a driver has deliberately attacked bike riders for the simple crime of being in his way.

This time, the assault came in Cherokee County, Georgia, where a 72-year old man faces charges for deliberately driving into a pair of bicyclists on a 33-mile group ride, after calling 911 and repeatedly honking his horn — even though the next lane was empty and he could have easily just gone around them.

The driver later told sheriff’s deputies “it wasn’t ‘reasonable’ for cyclists to take a whole lane, so ‘he drove into them.'”

“I told him I had video of the incident and offered to show it to him, which he stated he didn’t want to see because he knew he did nothing wrong,” the report says.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

He is now being held without bond on two counts of aggravated assault, hit and run, reckless driving, aggressive driving and failure to maintain a safe distance from a bicycle.

Which is a lot of charges for “not doing anything wrong.”

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UCLA will mark Bike Month with two days of pit stops, and three bike repair days.

Meanwhile, Pasadena announces a full month of Bike Month activities.

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

Trash collection company Waste Management pinky swears they’re going to stop leaving empty trash bins in the bike lane on LA’s Reseda Blvd.

A 73-year old Wisconsin man faces charges for pointing a gun at a 13-year old boy riding an ebike, after the kid kept riding away when the older man tried to confront him; no word on whether the gun was loaded.

Waymo effectivesly tells London bike riders “screw you,” arguing that it’s just too high a bar to expect their autonomous cabs to keep out of bike lanes, because customers want to be dropped off in them. Although the few times I’ve used one, I can’t recall ever being asked whether or not I want to be let out in a bike lane. I can recall getting extremely carsick, however.

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

A Binghampton, New York man faces charges for playing repo man with a baseball bat, beating another man senseless when the victim didn’t pay everything he owed after buying an ebike from him; he then rode off with the bike in question.

………

Local 

Bike thefts in West Hollywood surged a whopping 250% last year, ten times the increase in shoplifting, though the overall numbers are relatively small.

You’ll now find a new conservation mural facing the Ballona Creek Bike Path on the ima Members Lounge building on Sepulveda Blvd; created by Victor Ving with support from the League of Conservation Voters, the mural calls for protecting our public lands.

 

State

Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry reviews Calbike’s California Bike Summit in Sacramento last week, with the first installment focused on advice for living with Caltrans.

A Eureka father and son made just their 5th stop at a Major League ballpark in San Diego Monday, after roughly one month and 1,500 miles on the road in their journey to visit all 30 American and National League parks in support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

A 26-year old Stockton man was lucky to escape injury when a car pulled up next to him as he was riding his bike, and someone fired a gun out the window.

There’s a new king of the hill in San Francisco, where British hillclimb champ Harry MacFarlane set a new KOM for the city’s steepest hill, with a ridiculous 41% average gradient.

Streetsblog says San Francisco’s two-mile linear Sunset Dunes park is an unqualified success on it’s first anniversary, as the city’s traffic safety has improved, merchants are doing better and the park is more popular than ever.

Sacramento’s CapRadio explains why California’s crackdown on ebikes may not solve the biggest safety risks, which are caused by e-motorbikes and dirt bikes, often of questionable legality.

 

National

Governing writes that ebike regulations are proliferating across the US, while advocates warn “some laws risk over-regulating low-speed bikes while ignoring high-speed e-motos.” No shit. 

There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for a Pennsylvania man accused of fleeing the scene after killing a third grader riding a bicycle, while driving under the influence; when police smelled alcohol on his breath after tracking him to his home, he first asked “How can I get a DUI if I have been drinking at my house all day?”, before admitting he’d felt “a bump” while he was driving home.

Heartbreaking news from North Carolina, where a 51-year old man faces multiple charges after he “veered off” a roadway while under the influence of coke, opiates and benzodiazepines, and slammed into a nine-year old boy as he sat on a bike in his own driveway, knocking the kid into retaining wall and severing his leg. Speaking of that pit in hell…

 

International

Residents of Liverpool, England say they don’t think plans for a five-mile bike lane connecting two other bikeways is popular with locals due to a loss of parking, even though 77% of respondents support it, and 69% say they’ll use it.

Velo looks at “jaw-dropping” custom road and gravel bikes at London’s Bespoked Show.

Bicycling deaths climbed nearly 4% in Germany last year, with over 61% of the victims aged 65 or more, while nearly half involved ebikes.

Katmandu, meet Los Angeles. Asian News Network says bicycling used to be central to life in Nepal, but now it’s done mainly for sport, as “poor infrastructure, unsafe roads, and status-driven attitudes continue to keep cycling from becoming a mode of commuting.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar and French wunderkind Paul Seixas battled back and forth before Pogačar pulled away to wrap up his third consecutive Liège-Bastogne-Liège; Remco Evenepoel settled for third, his day doomed by a badly timed breakaway.

Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering ran away with a solo win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, demonstrating her mastery of women’s cycling following her uphill victory on Wednesday in Flèche Wallonne.

Tragic news from Spain, where former WorldTour pro Cristian Muñoz died in Spain Thursday night from complications due to a knee infection following a crash at France’s Tour du Jura Cycliste on April 18; the Colombian cyclist was just 30 years old.

More tragic news, this time from Belgium, where U-23 cyclist Milan Bral was killed when he was struck while training for next month’s Gent-Wevelgem under-23 race; Bral is the nephew of Soudal-Quickstep sports director and former pro cyclist Sep Vanmarcke.

Former WorldTour pro Mike Woods asks the burning question we’d all like to know, what the hell happened to North American bike racing in the decade-plus since he competed on the circuit.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be a weird little solar powered, 75 mph car — but yes, you still have to pedal it. If you’re going to try to run down someone on a bicycle, try to make sure it’s not a bike cop first.

And yes, it’s true.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Update: Man riding ebike killed by hit-and-run driver in LA’s Jefferson Park neighborhood; 8th SoCal bike rider killed in hit-and-run this year

April 27, 2026 / / No comments

Another day, another person killed riding an ebike in Southern California.

This time in Los Angeles.

And this time in a hit-and-run.

Just hours after a 13-year old boy was killed by was killed by an Amtrak train in Simi Valley, a man was killed by a driver in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

According to KTLA-5, which is currently the only outlet reporting on the crash, the victim was struck while riding near 36th Street and 5th Ave around 11 pm Saturday night.

The victim, described only as a man around 48-years old, was thrown onto a parked car with enough force to cause significant damage to the rear of the car.

He died at the scene.

The driver fled following the crash. No arrest has been made, and there is currently no description of the suspect vehicle.

There is also no word on how the crash occurred, or where the victim and the driver were located in relation to the intersection.

We also don’t know at this time what kind of ebike the victim was riding; whether it was a Class 1, 2 or 3 ebike, or an e-motorbike or electric dirt bike. An earlier report describes the bike as a motorized or motorbike, but that description was removed from the later update.

The earlier report also describes the victim as 38-years old.

This the 28th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the tenth in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fifth we know about in the City of Los Angeles.

Eight of those deaths have involved hit-and-run drivers.

As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any fatal hit-and-run driver in the City of Los Angeles.

Update: The victim has been identified only as a 38-year old man, pending notification of next-of-kin, while police are now looking for the owner of a dark-colored Jeep Wrangler, no model year given. 

Anyone with information is urged to call Officer Diaz and Sergeant Nily at 323/421-2577, or 1-877/527-3247 during non-business hours. Or call anonymously at 1-800/222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.

Update 2: The victim has been identified as 37-year old Melvin Salgado, no city of residence given.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Melvin Salgado and all his loved ones.

 

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

West LA CicLAvia rolls on Sunday, LA Critical Mass rolls tonight, and Raman rocks new bike/walk/transit friendly website

April 24, 2026 / / No comments

One last reminder about Sunday’s CicLAvia, the year’s first and the first to visit Westwood Village.

Walk ‘n Rollers will be at the Santa Monica hub giving out free bike helmets while supplies last, as well as hosting a bike repair station and workshops on basic bicycle maintenance.

Public radio station and website LAist will also be at the Santa Monica hub, sharing swag and meeting listeners.

Tell ’em I sent you.

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Speaking of LAist, they take a first-person look at the monthly Los Angeles Critical Mass, calling it the country’s largest community bicycle ride with around 4,000 participants each month.

The ride takes place on the last Friday of every month on the corner of Western and Wilshire across from The Wiltern. Routes change monthly, turning each ride into a moving tour of the city. Some rides head west toward Marina del Rey, others east toward Mariachi Plaza, passing through neighborhoods that rarely feel connected outside of car travel.

As the ride moves through different neighborhoods, it often brings energy — and customers — to local businesses along the route as riders stop for food, drinks and supplies throughout the evening.

By my calculations, that means it rolls tonight, making it a perfect kickoff for CicLAvia weekend.

………

Andrew forwards news that Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman finally has a website up, after throwing her hat in the ring at the last minute.

In addition to pledging affordable housing for all and protecting Angelenos from ICE and harassing landlords, she offers an extensive section on transportation and traffic safety, including this:

Angelenos are tired of sitting in traffic, feeling unsafe on their streets, and navigating broken sidewalks. We’ve voted for real change — Measure R (2008) and Measure M (2016) committed $120B to the expansion of rail and transit across the county, and Measure HLA (2024) mandated that street safety improvements happen when streets get repaved, not decades later. We’ve been waiting for City Hall to deliver on those promises with the urgency they deserve. Los Angeles moves too slowly, spends too inefficiently, plans too haphazardly, and acts too timidly to give people the transportation network they’ve already voted for…

Since 2015, Los Angeles has had a Vision Zero policy, a commitment that no one should die on our streets from traffic violence. Instead, traffic deaths have risen by more than 50%. It has never been treated as a genuine priority. Walking, biking, and driving are all less safe than they should be.

Residential streets are overwhelmed by cut-through traffic. Bike lanes lack physical protection. Roads are too fast and crosswalks are too few. Every time the city repaves a street without fixing any of this, we miss the cheapest chance we’ll ever get to make it safer.

And enforcement is aimed at the wrong things. LAPD spends too much time on pretextual stops and equipment violations that have nothing to do with the dangerous driving that is actually killing people.

That’s a damn good start, especially after four years of Mayor Bass ignoring bike and pedestrian safety on our streets, and dragging her foot, if not her ass, on implementing Measure HLA.

But we’ve heard promises like this before, most recently from former Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was great at formulating policy, and not so much on follow through. So what matters isn’t what a candidate says, but what actually ends up in the city budget.

And we won’t know that until after she, or someone else, is elected.

Things are looking good for Raman, though, with betting on the Kalshi prediction market showing her with a good chance of winning on the first vote.

And yes, betting is the right word, since Kalshi and similar sites are just semi-legal workarounds for online betting bans in the US.

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Apparently, there’s yet another ebike bill to keep an eye on in the California legislature.

According to a release from the California Medical Association,

A bill sponsored by the California Medical Association (CMA) that aims to reduce the growing number of severe electric bicycle (e-bike) injuries advanced out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

Joint-authored by Assemblymembers Lori Wilson and Marc Berman, and co-sponsored by the California Orthopaedic Association, AB 2346 establishes speed limits for e-bikes (15 mph for riders under 16 years old and 10 mph on sidewalks) and would allow local jurisdictions to set speed limits on bike paths and multi-use trails. It would also require manufacturers, sellers, and distributors of e-bikes to equip e-bikes with speedometers and lights and provide safety-related disclosures to consumers at the point of sale.

It seems relatively harmless, primarily affecting kids under 16.

The question is whether ebike makers will respond to that limit by making 15 mph the standard speed for all Class 1, 2 and 3 ebikes, since the bill doesn’t seem to make any distinction between classes, or for older riders.

Meanwhile, Agoura Hills banned all ebikes from sidewalks and parks, regardless of the rider’s age, and once again failing to distinguish between legal ped-assist ebikes and e-motos and dirt bikes.

Agoura Hills City Engineer Charmaine Yambao also noted how complicated and confusing the states ebike classes and regulations are — which The Acorn somehow managed to explain in one simple paragraph.

And the Newport Beach schools have banned ebikes for kindergarten through 8th grade, but tells high school students to carry on.

………

Bicycling man about town Joe Linton reports Los Angeles has finally gotten around to building a one-block semi-sorta protected bike lane on 2nd Street in DTLA, which was inexplicably left out when Metro’s Regional Connector was built.

Bluesky post

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Must be nice to have a mayor who actually rides a bike home from work, while using a helmet cam, no less.

And yes, I’m looking at you, New York.

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Scott Sports shares a short film of veteran endurance cyclist Hanna Otto’s successful attempt to set the fastest known time climbing Hawaiʻi’s 14,000-foot Mauna Kea.

The fastest descent was probably set by whoever the hell was on it when Mauna Kea last erupted.

………

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

Hopefully, justice delayed won’t turn into justice denied in Wisconsin, where a man who admitted to driving onto a bike path and deliberately killing a man by repeatedly hitting him with his truck was ruled incompetent to stand trial, after he refused to appear in court, and appeared to have no understanding of the court proceedings; however, the judge said he could be competent within a year with treatment. It’s not clear from the description if the victim was actually riding a bike, though.

No surprise here. Over half of Irish bicyclists say the country’s streets are getting more dangerous, while 53% experienced a dangerously close pass on their most recent ride. Actually, the only real surprise is that the figure is so low.

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

An Irish judge says a bike rider was right to reach into a driver’s car, grab his car keys and throw them away, after the driver was convicted of an “outrageous” road rage assault. Proving that sometimes doing the wrong thing is the right thing. 

That feeling when your sweat-corroded handlebar drop just dropped off. Because if that kind of neglect isn’t bad bike behavior, I don’t know what is.

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Local 

The Wild newsletter from the Los Angeles Times recommends the American Discovery Trail, “a contiguous 6,800-mile coast-to-coast nonmotorized route of multiuse trails that runs from Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County to Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware.” And yes, bicycles are allowed on most, if not all, of the trail. 

Streets For All has issued a new report on how bad LA streets are going to get, now that the city has halted repaving to avoid complying with Measure HLA and the Americans with Disabilities Act — not to mention the drastic budget cuts to pay for the unfunded raises cops and city workers received. Let’s just say they’re painting the city red, and not in a good way. 

 

State

A San Diego letter writer says that city’s bike lanes are used much more than opponents claim. Although as usual, you’ll have to get past the Union-Tribune’s draconian paywall.

The La Mesa Police Department safely located a 12-year-old boy yesterday, who had gone missing while riding an ebike.

 

National

HR 7353, aka the Magnus White and Safe Streets for Everyone Act, has passed the US House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trademark, and could be included in this year’s Surface Transportation Reauthorization package; the bill — named for the 17-year old USA Cycling team member killed by a drunk driver in Boulder, Colorado — would require automatic emergency braking systems capable of detecting vulnerable road users such as bicyclists, motorcyclists, and wheelchair users in all new passenger vehicles by 2029, something that is already required by the European Union.

Midwest Living recommends riding Minnesota’s 42-mile “mostly flat and paved” Root River State Trail, which connects nine communities on the banks of the river, five of which offer free bikeshare.

A 55-year old ebike rider was hospitalized after crashing into a parked car in Cleveland, as the owner was working underneath it at 12:30 in the morning.

A Cape Cod website says residents are confused by the December appearance of a ghost bike on a local lane, with no idea who it’s for, why it’s there and who put it there.

New York Streetsblog says the media is misrepresenting a recent study about the rapid rise of e-mobility injuries at a city hospital, arguing that it makes a better case for safer streets than it does an anti-e-mobility, pro-driving agenda.

 

International

Momentum recommends the year’s best bicycle festivals around the world; unfortunately, you’ve already missed the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California.

London’s Tube strike resulted in an overnight 1500% jump in the number of bike riders on the city’s Embankment bikeway.

For some bizarre reason, a new $1.3 million English active travel path was designed with stairs on one side, and fences and turnstiles on the other, making it inaccessible for wheelchair users and many bicyclists.

Tour recommends exploring north Ireland — as opposed to Northern Ireland — by bicycle, saying you’ll find few road bicyclists and lots of greenery. And wind, and rain.

A Berlin accountant and bike blogger offers his favorite routes, cafes and bike shops in the bustling city.

Tragic news from Poland, where a 36-year old member of the country’s Parliament was killed when a driver veered onto the wrong side of the road, and hit him as he rode his bicycle; a member of the New Left Party, Lukasz Litewka was known for his animal rights advocacy and a billboard campaign to help shelter dogs find homes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Olympic road champ Kristen Faulkner set a personal best power record by building her own AI system.

London officials hope hosting of the first ever women’s team time trial in the next year’s Tour de France Femmes will encourage more women to ride bikes in the British capital. Or maybe they could just, you know, build more and safer bikeways. 

 

Finally…

Nothing like riding a tandem the length of the UK towing a couple of garbage cans. That feeling when you didn’t get a bicycle for Christmas, so you become a legendary guitarist, instead — and yes, a defense consultant.

And John Bolton now volunteers with his church to repair and refurbish free bikes for former prison inmates.

No, the other John Bolton.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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