According to a cryptic report from My News LA, the LAPD is looking for a hit-and-run driver who killed a 30-year old man riding a bicycle in the Vermont-Slauson neighborhood of South Los Angeles.
Except there’s no time listed for when the crash occurred. Or a date, for that matter. Only that police asked for the public’s help on Wednesday, which doesn’t exactly narrow it down.
The crash also occurred in a manner that would seem to be physically impossible.
According to the story,
The crash occurred when the vehicle, which was speeding east on 67th Street toward Flower Street, hit the bicyclist as he rode east on Flower, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Except while 67th runs east and west, Flower runs north and south. Which means the victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was apparently either rear-ended as he rode east on 67th, or struck as he rode on Flower.
He died after being taken to a hospital, which was also unidentified.
The driver was last seen fleeing east on 67th Street toward Grand Ave. No description of the driver or vehicle was given.
Anyone with information is urged to call Officer Lozada at the LAPD’s South Traffic Division. But apparently, you’re supposed to look it up yourself, since there’s no number given.
Okay, I’ll save you the trouble.
It’s 323/421-2577, unless it’s 323/421-2500, since one is listed on the LAPD’s website, while the other came from a previous South Traffic Division press release.
Although you’d think they might have told us if they really want our help.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles. Maybe they want you to tell them when and how the crash occurred to collect the reward.
This is at least the 22nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; remarkably, it’s only the third we’ve learned about in the City of Los Angeles
This was also at least the sixth SoCal bike rider killed by hit-and-run drivers since the first of the year.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his loved ones.
Facchetti, who helps families recover after car accidents and injuries, says the giveaway is one of the most meaningful things his team does all year. “After seeing the struggles many of our clients go through, we wanted to create something that spreads joy.”
The event has grown steadily since its launch in 2021. Past winners included kids who helped care for siblings, stayed strong through medical challenges, or simply showed up every day with kindness. The firm invites the ten selected children to its Burbank office, where they receive their new bikes, helmets, and a round of applause…
“This community raised me,” Facchetti added. “This is one small way we can give back.”
Nominations are open for any child aged 6 to 17 who lives within ten miles of The Law Offices of Adrianos Facchetti at 4444 W. Riverside Drive, Suite 308, in Burbank. Submissions should explain how the child has gone “above and beyond” to help someone else, or positively impacted their siblings, classmates or community.
No bias here. A Santa Barbara grand jury examined complaints about bad behavior and near accidents involving young people on ebikes, concluding that better eduction and stricter enforcement were needed to rein them in — although the local paper doesn’t put it that nicely. And yes, some kids are out of control, with far too many e-motorbikes passed off as ebikes. But just wait until the jurors learn what drivers do out on the streets, as well the relative risk ebike riders pose compared to people in the big, dangerous machines.
The LA Country Sheriff’s Department will conduct another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation in West Hollywood on Thursday, ticketing anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it. So as usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line to make sure you’re not the one who gets written up. Thanks to David for the heads-up.
Family and friends of a 12-year old girl killed this April in an Encinitas crosswalk call out a proposal to widen deadly Encinitas Blvd to add a third traffic lane in each direction, calling for bicycle and pedestrian improvements instead.
Hats off to Oakland’s Bay Area Bicycle Rescue, which collects unloved bikes from community members and repairs them to redistribute to people who need them, saving over 1,200 bikes from the landfill last year alone.
Singletrackstalks with the Calirado Kid, a Sacramento-based mountain bike content creator “known for posting hilarious bike-related videos on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube,” while working with a science group to encourage riders to help document biodiversity in California.
He gets it, too. Alaska writer Craig Medred complains that the public is usually kept in the dark about traffic violence, at a time when even AAA says only 35% of American drivers can be classified as “good,” and “only luck and the capabilities of modern medicine” keep the carnage from being worse.
More on the Toronto bike lane that Ontario officials want to rip out “because no one uses it” — even though it carries more rush hour traffic than the traffic lanes next to it. Maybe they should rip out one of the lanes drivers use to make more room for bikes, instead.
They get it. An Irish bike advocacy group says we try to rationalize traffic violence as freak accidents, when the roads are “still engineered, policed and legislated for in ways that accept, and sometimes even enable, lethal outcomes.”
Here’s your chance to own a new limited edition Swiss watch honoring cycling great Fabian Cancellara, for the low, low price of nearly $6,400. Although the only nod to Cancellara is a few touches of yellow, so it could honor anyone of your choice who has ever worn yellow, if Sparticus doesn’t do it for you.
Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a judge acquitted a semi driver for killing a longtime bike commuter in their equivalent of a right hook, blaming poor road markings for making it unclear who had the right-of-way, even though the driver admitted to never even seeing the victim.
Although that amount drops a lot before they get to the “cleaner transportation” part. And even more before they get to the active kind of clean.
Nearly half of that 5 billion bucks is allocated for crumbling roadways, with another $1.45 billion to improve low-emission freight networks, while nearly $810 million goes to streamline freight movement to reduce truck idling and cut pollution.
You have to get all the way down to the bottom before bikes and pedestrians get a mention. Even then, it’s in the context of $483 million for passenger rail extensions, bike lanes and rapid transit bus systems, along with another $202 million for local rail, transit and pedestrian upgrades.
Which includes things $63 million to add a bridge and wildlife crossing for Riverside County’s Ramona Expressway — along with some bike lanes to help greenwash the project — as well $49 million for EV charging, and $28 million for ultra-fast vehicle chargers.
Oh, and there’s also a relatively minuscule $18 million to improve traffic safety near five Los Angeles schools, most of which will undoubtedly be spent to undo the damage caused by cars, rather than proactively improving biking and walking.
Even though that’s what kids do.
At least the ones who don’t get dropped off in big honking SUVs, pun intended.
She made a U-turn as bystanders yelled at her, before running down a second woman who heroically tried to use her bike to stop her.
Sheriff’s deputies working safety at the event finally brought the rampage to a halt, but had to bust out the car window to drag her out as she struggled and “became verbally abusive,” yelling racist statements at the cops.
No reason was given for the incident, and there’s no word on whether it was intentional.
But it sure as hell sounds like it.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Speaking of videos, an Edinburgh bike rider posted video of a run-in with a pedestrian that begins with the bicyclist running a red light, and ends with him repeatedly telling the other man to fuck off — then is surprised when commenters criticize him instead of the other guy.
Authorities in Montana are on the hunt for a killer grizzly bear who fatally mauled a 38-year old mountain biker on a trail trail just outside Glacier National Park after startling the bear, while his riding companion went for help.
A pair of New York women were both sentenced to six years behind bars for killing a 22-year old man riding a bicycle in New Jersey, even though only one woman actually hit him; both were driving separate cars up to 90 mph in a 50 mph zone, while passing other drivers on the shoulder of the roadway leading up to the crash.
A new survey shows half of Dutch bike riders have ridden after drinking, while half of those admit to riding drunk. Which may pose its own risks, but I still say it’s better than driving under the influence of anything.
Twenty-seven-year old French cyclist Eddy Finé was forced to give up the sport after the Cofidis team revealed he has an “abnormality in the iliac artery, a problem that is incompatible with top-level sport,” and had struggled to return despite three operations in six years with the team.
Good news for Angelenos for once, since Los Angeles doesn’t even show up on a list of the ten most dangerous California counties for bike riders, at least on a per capita basis; sparsely populated Plumas, Mono and Inyo counties lead the list, even though they have a combined total of just eight bike crashes.
The new head of British spy agency MI6 is one of us, after Blaise Metreweli chose to ride her bike to a last-minute meeting at a London Park before she was named to be the firs woman to lead the agency. Rather than borrowing 007’s iconic Aston Martin, evidently; we’ll forget that misguided foray into German BMWs.
Investigators now believe the driver may have been involved in one of several street takeovers that occurred in the area in the hours before the June 1st collision. One of which was broken up by police less than a mile from where Villalobos was killed at Century Blvd and San Pedro Street.
Surveillance video shows Villalobos being struck by a silver two-door Chevrolet Camaro with black racing stripes as he approached San Pedro on Century. The driver fled the scene, still dragging the bicycle beneath their vehicle as the car headed towards the 110 Freeway.
Police believe the driver was the same man who stopped at a nearby liquor store before the fatal crash.
So naturally, police used the press conference to deliver an important safety message, reminding drivers that street takeovers are illegal and that they are legally required to stop after a crash.
Right?
Guess again. According to LAPD Det. Ryan Moreno,
“Whether you’re a pedestrian, on a bicycle, on a scooter, skateboard, whatever it is, you have to also take your safety in your own hands. Don’t assume people see you. Don’t assume the public sees you. And if they do see you, don’t assume they’re going to stop,” he said.
Which may be good advice. But it’s the wrong message, delivered to the wrong people, when they should have been talking to the ones in the big, dangerous machines who have a bad habit of killing other people.
As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
That leads Texas on the first count, and Colorado on the second.
In fact, Colorado had an average value of nearly $2,000 per purloined bike, nearly a third more than California, at just under $1,500. And roughly two-and-a-half times the average value of Texas bike thefts.
Not surprisingly, Alaska had the least number of bicycles stolen.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A British town councilor complains about the “bullying and intimidation” from the “unelected” bike lobby over approval of a new pump track. Even though the only pressure a bike group can actually apply stems from their public support. And isn’t responding to the public what elected officials are supposed to do?
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Local
A California man is suing Amazon and Los Angeles-based ebike maker Actbest Technology Inc, alleging he suffered catastrophic injuries when he was thrown to the ground after the handlebars on his foldable ebike gave out. Then again, what would you expect from $369 electric foldie?
Sad news from Marin, where Mountain Bike Hall of Fame member and co-director Don Cook died from a heart attack while riding his mountain bike on Tuesday; the 66-year old Cook was inducted into the hall in 1989, in just the second class, and co-directed the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame with his wife, Kay Peterson Cook, who was inducted into the hall six years after her husband.
An Anchorage, Alaska woman learns the hard way that it takes more than a thousand bucks to bribe a cop into letting you go home from the drunken crash that killed a bike rider as he was on the phone with his mom in Baja California. And yes, we mentioned this one earlier in the week. But still.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that bikes have a right to the road and don’t have to automatically pull over to make room for motor vehicles; instead, road conditions should determine whether a bike rider needs to make way for faster vehicles in order not to impede traffic.
A man from the UK was sentenced to 12-years behind bars for hacking a 75-year old man to death with an axe after visiting Finland on a fundraising bike tour, telling police he had killed the man as he slept in his bed the morning after spending the night with him because the victim had drugged and raped him — even though police found “no evidence of illicit substances or materials that the elderly victim could use to restrain the young and physically fit aggressor.”
A new German documentary quotes an anonymous pro cyclist as saying it’s a joke to believe “nothing illegal has been taken at the Tour de France since 2015” — and not only is doping still going on, but as many as 14 people alleged to have been involved in a previous doping scandal are still involved in pro cycling.
Even though freeway projects go against California’s ostensible commitment to Complete Streets, as well as the state’s pollution and climate goals.
But if it gives drivers a faster commute for a few months until the corresponding crushing increase in traffic makes it worse for the rest of eternity, it’s worth it.
Right?
Tell the CTC: No More Freeway Widening!
The California Transportation Commission (CTC) on Thursday is considering funding (tab 21) widening the 71 freeway in Pomona (State Route 71 Gap Closure Project – Phase 2), a project being proposed by Metro Los Angeles.
This is Destruction For Nada! The expensive trend of disastrous highway widening projects must stop.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Tell the CTC that you DO NOT support freeway widenings! Let’s use that funding on sustainable projects instead.
Never mind that they keep running into the recurring problem that handlebars already serve a purpose, which isn’t helped if the damn things keep moving on you.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A Eugene, Oregon TV station reports on a “vehicle versus bicycle crash,” which apparently had no humans involved in or on either vehicle. Although their primary concern is just warning drivers about the traffic inconvenience, rather than any potential risk to human life or anything.
No bias here, either. A radio station on the Isle of Man released a petition calling for banning bike riders from a 13-mile roadway, claiming it’s too dangerous for bikes and cars to share — which garnered a whopping 200 signatures, representing less than 0.25% of the island’s population. Something tells me they’d get more signatures if they called for banning cars, instead.
Bicycling offers tips on how to survive riding in the heat now enveloping more than half the country. But it doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else, so you may have to bake of the magazine blocks you; my best advise is to ride early or late, drink plenty of water, and stick to shaded routes if you ride midday.
Santa Fe, New Mexico will consider adopting a Vision Zero program this week. But it comes too late to save a 42-year old competitive cyclist, staple of the city’s pickleball scene, and veteran of the famed Little 500, who was killed by a driver while riding his bike last week.
Colorado will celebrate the summer Bike to Work Day today, offering the second part of their twice-yearly Bike Day schedule. Never mind that Los Angeles, with its ideal weather and mostly flat terrain, barely observes one Bike to Work Day anymore, let alone two.
Cheyenne, Wyoming is hosting a Bike to Work Day of their own today. Which is only surprising if you ever tried riding the extremely bike-unfriendly, cowboy-centric home of the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo back in the day, which I was only brave enough to attempt once.
A New York grand jury indicted a 54-year old man for murder, manslaughter, unlawful fleeing a police officer, leaving the scene of an incident, and assorted other related crimes, for allegedly killing a 36-year-old woman riding a bicycle while he was fleeing from the cops.
Day 175 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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This is who we share the road with.
A kindhearted North Carolina driver stopped to politely give a little safety advice to a woman riding a bicycle, who politely thanked him for his thoughtfulness.
Or maybe not.
In an incident caught on video — see below — the road raging driver backed up his pickup to scream at the victim, right after subjecting her to a horn-blaring punishment pass, even though she had moved far to the right after her rear-facing radar notified her of an approaching driver.
“I’m just letting you know one person has already got killed on this f****** road riding a bike,” yelled the man in the video. “You’re in a f****** curb. When these trucks come around and hit you and kill you, you’re gonna be f****** dead.”
I could be wrong, but I don’t think that missing seven-letter word was “factual”
But wait, there’s more.
In the video, Faith can be heard explaining she had a radar, but Currin drives off. She then yelled at him as he drove away, “Drive better, m**********!” After that, he stopped his truck and drove it in reverse to face her again.
“You need to watch your f****** mouth,” Currin yelled. “Let me give you some good advice, b****, don’t cuss me the f*** out. I’m telling you you’re going to get hit.”
“You’re cursing me out!” Faith yelled back before the video ends.
So let me get this straight.
The driver was so concerned about the woman’s safety that he first threatened it with his truck, then backed up to swear at her. And somehow got mad when she responded in kind.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Drivers like that, she added, are probably why she doesn’t see more women riding solo when she’s out.
Imagine you are just riding your bike solo and this gem “offers help”. I have ridden this road more times than I can count. I follow all the laws and when my radar tells me someone is coming I move even closer to the white line. (I know I don’t have to.) This “helpful” guy flies by me within inches blaring his horn. I stopped when I saw him slowing down to avoid him. I didn’t get to record the first part when he yelled I shouldn’t be on the road before the first reverse. I guess my bike could have been confused as a grass bike and not a road bike. I am thankful a random driver stopped and waited until the red faced “man” drove off. This was towards the end of my 4 hour ride and I had been thinking all of the drivers were so nice today. Bro said “hold my beer”. I don’t think my heart rate went back down to zone 2 after that either. Just the other day I wondered why I didn’t see more ladies riding solo when I’m out and now we have a good reason. Angry people like this that could have just kept driving. Anyone know this guy or his license plate? It happened on Oakridge Duncan Rd, Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526. #cycling#cyclist#roadcyclist#roadcycling#roadbike#badddrivers#cyclinglife#cyclingwomen#bike
To make matters worse, the victim, who recently became an American citizen, was using his headphones to talk with his mother in Baja California when he was struck and killed. Which will probably haunt her for the rest of her life.
Traffic cameras showed the woman driving over a median, turning left against the light, and driving on the wrong side of the road before drifting off the road and striking the victim while exceeding the posted 50 mph speed limit.
She was still in the driver’s seat, reeking of booze, when police arrived.
Then there’s this.
“Following arrest and during transport to the Anchorage jail, (Dill) told the arresting officer that she would give him $1000 if he dropped her off down the street and ‘acted like nothing happened,’” the summary report said.
The officer asked her to repeat herself, it said, and she “assured him that she had $1,000 cash on her and would give it to him.”
Maybe not the best move.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A columnist for USA Today adds to the anti-ebike and e-scooter hysteria, calling them the hazard tourists never saw coming and insisting it’s time to put an end to the madness — while acknowledging that ebike riders only rarely injure tourists, and that it’s not always the rider’s fault.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Calbike argues that the deadly 85th Percentile Rule, which allows drivers to set speed limits with a heavy right foot, belongs on the dustin of history, while calling for support of AB 1014 to extend the ability of cities to lower speed limits by 5 mph to state roadways. Which isn’t exactly getting rid of it, but it helps.
Officials in Tiburon sent a 143-word letter to Caltrans expressing their concerns over a planned bike lane on the city’s eponymous boulevard, with the mayor and a councilmember dissenting; the former because it didn’t address all of her concerns, and the latter because he just wants the whole damn thing stopped. Or part of it, anyway. Maybe it could have addressed all the mayor’s concerns if they’d just made it 145 words. Or even 150.
No bias here, either. A candidate for Boston mayor criticizes the current mayor’s “failed and dangerous bike lanes, speed bumps and removal of parking spaces across the city,” agreeing that he might rip out a new curbside bike lane — even though it went in to improve safety, along with new crosswalks, signals and turn lanes, after a woman was killed just crossing the street to get a cup of coffee.
Mariska Hargitay is one of us, riding her bike on the New York set of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit with her joyfully screaming three-year old son following on a tag-a-long trailer. Or at least she was, since the three-year old boy shown in the photo would be 18 now. No word on whether he’s still screaming, joyfully or otherwise.
The late New Yorker John F. Kennedy Jr. was one of us in real life, and will be again on a new TV series. No, not the dead president. Or the current vaccine-skeptic Health and Human Services secretary.
Friday afternoon, I spoke with a witness to the crash that killed 37-year old Marvin Cortez as he was riding on Stunt Road on Saturday, June 14th.
What she told me changed our entire understanding of what happened. And more importantly, who was likely responsible.
Initial reports said that Cortez was on the wrong side of the road when he was struck head-on by the driver. But she said the motorist was driving recklessly, with the sound of his engine “reverberating through the canyon” even before he came into sight, roaring around a corner “like he was on a racetrack.
The moments later, she and her friends hear a loud pop, and saw debris flying through the air.
LAPD Sgt. Carlos Gonzalo Coronel faces charges for felony DUI and hit-and-run, along with a felony enhancement for allegedly causing great bodily injury.
Yet Coronel could have been charged with second-degree murder after previously admitting to driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs in 2011.
He likely would have been required to sign a Watson advisement, which states that he could be charged with murder if he ever killed someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.
Suzanne Morphew disappeared while going for Mother’s Day bike ride five years ago. Her body was finally found three years later when investigators were searching in an unrelated case, long after her abandoned bike and helmet were discovered in separate locations near her home.
An autopsy revealed she had been dosed with an animal tranquilizer, which Morphew reportedly had access to.
Barry Morphew was arrested for her presumed murder in 2021, but charges were dropped in April 2022, just before he was supposed to go on trial.
Maybe this time they can make the charges stick.
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That’s more like it.
A French public broadcaster reports that cars are no longer welcome in the country’s third largest city.
Thanks to Megan for forwarding the video.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A road-raging 59-year old Utah man faces charges for intentionally swerving his SUV into a 24-year old man riding an ebike, resulting in a serious head injury, after the ebike rider allegedly cut him off; it was the second time he had confronted the victim in just a matter of days.
No bias here. A local newspaper in exclusive Palm Beach, Florida says there’s just no room for packs of bicyclists on the state’s coastal highway, complaining about plans for sharrows that might encourage people to ride bikes where and how they are legally entitled to ride, because it could inconvenience car-driving local residents.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Sheriffs officials in Calabasas are on the lookout for a high-end mountain bike thief, described as a white man between 30 and 35 years old, wearing a black hat, light-colored pants, a black long-sleeve sweatshirt, and black and white tennis shoes. Unless maybe he changed clothes, of course.
State
Officials in Carlsbad are removing a pair of traffic circles in response to complaints. Although the metric they should consider is whether the circles improved safety, rather than how many people complained. It’s also worth considering that people who don’t object usually don’t say anything. Thanks to Phillip for the link.
The 16-year old Albuquerque boy charged with killing Scott Habermehl, while riding with three other boys joyriding in a stolen car, as the Sandia Laboratory scientist was bicycling to work, is now charged as an adult and facing a murder charge.
Life is cheap in Wisconsin, where a 45-year old woman walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run that left an ebike rider with “multiple visible injuries.” As long as courts refuse to take hit-and-runs seriously, drivers will continue to trying to get away with it.
New York City counselors are complaining that current mayor Eric Adams — who is likely on this way to becoming ex-mayor after next week’s Democratic primary — is reneging on promises to install 500 secure bike parking pods throughout the city’s five boroughs.
This is who we share the road with, too. A 32-year old Virginia man has been arrested for the hit-and-run death of 40-year old Sara Burack, after the luxury real estate agent and star of Netflix’s Million Dollar Beach House was found dead on the side of a Long Island roadway.
A Vancouver district counselor calls for making bike bells mandatory, arguing they’ “a simple yet effective solution to address a range of issues related to safety, visibility and courteous riding practices.” Although the next step would likely be requiring bicyclists to use them — and holding them accountable if someone claims they didn’t.
The suspect vehicle is described as a silver Chevrolet Camaro, whose driver fled without stopping.
“Following the crash, the driver of the Camaro made a right turn onto San Pedro Street, continued northbound, and then turned westbound onto East 98th Street, fleeing the scene without stopping to render aid or identify themselves, as required by law,” police said.
There’s no description of the driver at this time.
The LAPD has posted video of the crash, which occurred with other vehicles around, suggesting that someone may have seen it. But be forewarned, the video shows the crash and the aftermath, so be sure you really want to see it before you click on the link.
Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD South Traffic Division at 323/421-2500, or anonymously via Crime Stoppers at 800/222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.
As always, there is a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of LA.
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If you were planning to go to the Historic South LA meets Watts CicLAvia this Sunday, you can make other plans.
POSTPONED: CicLAvia—Historic South Central meets Watts
Out of care and safety for our communities during our city’s current situation, and in collaboration with our partners, we are postponing this event which was scheduled for this Sunday, June 22, 2025.
It’s a sad commentary that so many Angelenos don’t feel safe on our streets these days.
Blame the ICE raids that have terrorized the city’s Latino residents — even legal residents and American citizens — into staying off the streets, and the small number of troublemakers who have taken advantage of the resulting protests to spread chaos.
Not to mention the gratuitous and inflammatory militarization of our city to score political points and look tough on Fox News.
Surprisingly, Brooklyn leads the list of big cities, followed by Minneapolis and Seattle, with Queens not far behind; San Francisco is the only California city in the top ten.
Even though two of those are actually New York boroughs, rather than cities.
Davis and Berkeley, California, head the list of medium-sized cities with populations between 50,000 and 300,000, topping Corvallis, Oregon and Platinum Bike Friendly Boulder, Colorado.
Michigan’s carfree Mackinac Island naturally leads the list of small cities, while Paris is tied with Delft and The Hague atop a Dutch-heavy list of international cities.
And Los Angeles?
We’re all the way down at 977th among US cities, 1,191 internationally, with a pathetic — but well-deserved — score of 25 out of a possible 100. Which puts us behind 161 other cities in California.
That shouldn’t be the case. Los Angeles has everything we need to be one of the world’s best bike cities. Except for political leadership.
Americans are much more likely to support bike lanes in their local area than to oppose them (76% vs. 15%). Americans who live in cities (81%) and suburbs (78%) are more likely than people who live in towns (71%) and rural areas (66%) to support bike lanes in their area. Democrats (90%) are more likely than Republicans (66%) to support bike lanes.
It’s surprising that the last stat isn’t surprising, because there’s a very strong conservative case to be made for bike lanes.
But then, nothing about politics really makes sense these days.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
If you’re reading this early enough, you may still have time to make the 8 am start time for the free Black Folk Juneteenth Freedom Day Ride from Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza to Leimert Park.
Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse reintroduced the Magnus White Cyclist Safety Act in the US House; the bill, named in honor of the fallen 17-year-old USA Cycling Team member, would require motor vehicle Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) systems to detect pedestrians, as well as bicycles and motorcycles.
A group of Texas kid are under investigation after they surrounded someone riding a bicycle, and shot the person in the stomach with a flare gun after claiming the bike belonged to one of them; another shot missed and nearly hit a passing car.
Over 100 people turned out in the rain for a memorial ride in Whitehorse, in Canada’s Yukon territory, to honor a teacher killed by a hit-and-run driver last year while riding his bike just hours before the alleged driver pled guilty to multiple charges related to his death.
An American couple exported this country’s hit-and-run epidemic to Iceland, fleeing the scene after hitting a man riding his bicycle and telling Búi Aðalsteinsson, host of the Hjólvarpið podcast, aka The Bikecast, that they were just going to look for a parking space. And yes, I included those Icelandic names just to see if they would reproduce here.
Life is cheap on the Isle of Man, where a speeding driver walked without a day behind bars for a crash that left a woman riding a bike with a broken back, after attempting to pass the victim on a bend while driving with no insurance and two bald tires.
Although even that may look good next year, after DOGE cuts decimated the agency.
The good news is that overall traffic deaths dropped 4.3% compared to the previous year.
The bad, bicycling deaths went the opposite direction, going up 4.4%, while bicycling injuries jumped even more, increasing by 8.2% over the year before.
And yes, that includes ebikes as well as traditional bicycles, as well as any other pedal-powered vehicle; presumably, that also includes the faster and more powerful electric motorbikes that at usually lumped in with ebikes.
It’s very disturbing that bicycling deaths continue to climb, as motor vehicles get safer inside and more dangerous outside. Never mind the people operating them.
Equally troubling is that 23% of the 1,166 bicycling deaths in the US two years ago involved hit-and-run drivers, which means there’s a one-in-four chance a driver won’t stick around after a crash, no matter where you live.
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Amphibious cars are making a comeback, but amphibious bikes have been here all along, with a history going back 160 years.
Thanks to Steven for the heads-up, whose discovery of the term Cyclomer led him down a water bike rabbit hole.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
This is why people keep dying in our streets. A Portland, Oregon bike rider describes what happened when he alleges a road-raging driver intentionally crashed into him as he rode with another person on the popular Pedalpalooza ride; a poorly trained cop blamed him for riding in the “car lane,” before refusing to file charges against the driver because of “conflicting stories.”
Los Gatos has received funding for a $14.7 million highway widening project intended to relieve summer gridlock from people headed to the beach — although it’s more likely to just make things worse due to induced demand. But at least it includes funds for safer sidewalks and bike lanes.
A Dallas photographer famed for riding his bike through the city to take “perfect” photos of the city’s skyline is out of commission for awhile, after someone broke in and stole his bicycle — then days later, he confronted another would-be thief inside his apartment.
Some people never learn. A 27-year old Indiana man faces a raft of charges and sentencing enhancements after he was arrested for drunk driving with a blood alcohol level at least twice the legal limit, ten years after he killed a 22-year old woman biking with her cousin while driving with a B.A.C. over three times the legal limit; he served just 4.5 years of a six-year sentence for that one.
A New Jersey woman is fantasizing about taking a baseball bat to the headlights of the next driver who comes too close to someone she loves, after repeatedly being endangered by entitled drivers during a vigil for a bike-riding child killed by a driver.
A 75-year old English man became the first person in the country to get a 3D-printed face, after suffering severe burns when he was trapped under a vehicle driven by a drunk and distracted driver while bicycling with two friends, who were also injured.
A record number of British bicyclists sent videos of dangerous drivers to the police for potential prosecution, as 58% of the country’s drivers had no idea how close they could legally pass someone on the bicycle. The law in the UK allows for video evidence of traffic violations, unlike most, if not all of the US, which is still operating in the pre-video — let alone digital — age.
Life is cheap in the UK, where a 22-year old man was sentenced to just 15 months behind bars — of which he’ll be required to serve only 2/5 — for destroying evidence of the hit-and-run that killed a 19-year old man riding a bicycle, as well as two other counts of dangerous driving police found on his phone (see above); however, he wasn’t charged for killing the victim due to a lack evidence.
